Midget Kings reach finals at Elmvale tournament

The Prestige Construction Midget Kings enjoyed another great tournament performance over the weekend as they went 4-0 on their way to the finals of the Brian English Memorial in Elmvale.  In game one on Friday the Kings squeaked out a close 2-1 win over the Highland Storm.  Tyler Philip scored from Scott McQuaid and Seth VanVlack early in the first period and that goal held until the Storm evened things up less than two minute into the final frame.  With Brad Wells closing the door on Highland shooters, McQuaid was the hero as he tipped in a Riley Greer point blast in the final minute of the game to give the Kings the win.

Later on Friday the Kings took on the Midland Centennials in game two and turned in a solid effort at both ends of the ice to earn a 3-0 win.  Goalie Alex Ward got the shutout while Westin Ferguson, McQuaid and VanVlack did the scoring.  Helpers went to Brad Reid, Jake Staley and VanVlack.

On Saturday the Kings faced off against the home-town Elmvale Coyotes in the final game of their round-robin pool.  Philip opened the Kings scoring less than two minutes into the first period on a feed from McQuaid.  The Coyotes answered back soon after to tie it up but the Kings took back the lead when Ferguson notched the boys’ second goal from Dallas Hunter and Robert Stapley.  With solid goaltending from Wells the Kings held on to the one-goal lead until the last minute of the game when Philip scored with some help from Ferguson and Bryce VanGrootheest to nail down the 3-1 win.

The Kings finished first in their pool and faced the Shelburne Wolves in the semi-final game on Sunday morning.  The teams were well matched and the goal tenders perfect as the game ended regulation time in a scoreless tie.  The five-minute four-on-four overtime period solved nothing so it went to a shoot-out where VanVlack was the only player to score, giving the Kings the 1-0 win and earning second goose-egg of the weekend for Ward.
The win set up the tournament final and rematch with the Highland Storm on Sunday afternoon.  Neither team could score in the first period but at 4:36 of the second frame the Storm took the lead.  Then the Kings got into penalty trouble and the Storm took advantage in the third period when they scored with the man-advantage to make it a 2-0 game.  With just under two minutes to go in the contest, Ferguson scored on a feed from Vangrootheest and Staley to give the Kings life. But despite a Storm penalty and six-on-four power play for the Kings, they were unable to even things up before the final buzzer.  Wells had another strong game in the Kings cage and ended the tournament with a 1.33 GAA.

The Kings return to league play and their next home game is Saturday night at 7:00 PM in Picton when they host the Loyalist Jets.