Five different players scored for the Dauphin Kings on Friday night as they played their best game of the season in a 5-2 victory against the visiting Neepawa Titans.
One of the five goals was scored by Garrett Hrechka of Dauphin as he took a nice pass from Slade Stanick, went to his backhand and tucked it past Emerick Demers. It was Garrett’s first-ever goal as a King and his second point after he recorded an assist last season in four games.
Kaden Bryant scored his first of the season 8:47 into the game and Dauphin never looked back. Sean Williams scored his first as a King to give Dauphin a 2-0 lead in the second before Will Highet brought Neepawa back into the game. Parker Malchuk scored on the powerplay at the 12:13 mark of the second to give Dauphin a 3-1 lead after 40.
Slade Stanick scored his first as a King, 3:02 into the third as Dauphin went up 4-1 before Brayden Michalchuk scored to cut Neepawa’s deficit in half. But that’s as close as the Titans would get as the Dauphin boy, Hrechka found the back of the twine to give Dauphin a 5-2 lead and that was the final goal of the game.
Carson Cherepak picked up his second win as a King, making 15 saves on 17 shots. Demers, making his debut for Neepawa, took the loss for the Titans giving up five goals on 22 shots.
Dauphin and Neepawa will square off once again on Saturday night at the Yellowhead Centre. You can hear that game with Darnell Duff on 730CKDM beginning with the Parkland Source for Sports pregame show at 7:15.
King Tips:
- Entering the evening 0-for-2 on the man advantage, Malchuk’s goal in the second period was Dauphin’s first powerplay marker
- Luke Morris’ two-game goal streak was snapped
- Two of Dauphin’s goals came from rookies (Williams and Stanick)
- Colby Jaquet earned first star honours after assisting on three goals
- Neepawa’s 11 shots in the third were the most they recorded in a period. They had just two shots in the second period and four in the first. Dauphin finished with 22 shots.
- Dauphin moved to 2-1 in the season series.