Photo: Border Kings goaltender B.J. Boxma had a busy afternoon, making 47 stops in Sunday's shootout loss to Stony Plain.
By Robb Fenton
While it shows up as an overtime loss in the standings, it is a bit more to the Lloydminster Border Kings.
The Kings dropped a 3-2 decision in a shootout to the Stony Plain Eagles Sunday afternoon, but after suffering a 7-2 loss Saturday on the road, the results and effort have the team feeling pretty good.
“Saturday night we went to Stony Plain shorthanded, so we looked at that as an opportunity to play a different style of hockey, quite passive, limit their scoring opportunities and just be patient and wait for our own. And for two periods Saturday we did a heck of a job doing that,” Border Kings head coach, Kent Staniforth said, adding his team was only down 2-1 after 40 minutes.
“With a full lineup (Sunday) we have the ability to be in games. Unfortunately offensively speaking we have to work twice as hard to score goals, but I give the guys a lot of credit, we had lots of opportunities. It doesn’t come easy for us scoring goals and that’s the difference.”
The team has only managed 16 goals in their six games, but Staniforth feels there isn’t a reason for concern and the goals will come as the team gels more and continues to play a solid overall game.
“You have to evaluate your bench, you have to recognize what you have on there and be patient with that. I don’t expect guys that aren’t goal scorers to create something they just can’t do. I want them to play the game they can and with some luck and hard work, we’ll score some goals,” Staniforth said. “We’re not frustrated overall. Some of the players get frustrated after those games, but in all reality, it was a solid weekend for us.”
With only 16 goals scored, the defence and goaltending have to be sharp and they certainly are.
B.J. Boxma made 47 saves Sunday and has only allowed 22 goals this season and that includes seven Saturday night.
“We can take some positives out of the weekend. The game Saturday night we were with them the whole game, we just didn’t capitalize. We showed we can play with the elite teams in this league and it’s not the results we want, but we’ll take a point and take some positives,” Boxma said.
While Boxma was on his game all night, he was at his best in overtime, stopping six shots, including a handful on a power play and a 2-on-0 break after a bad bounce sent in two Eagles.
“It’s huge. Not even for the league so much, but for the guys in the room. There are a lot of young guys, a lot changes from last year, so we can take a lot of positives out of the last three games, hopefully we can just put some Ws together,” Boxma said of the importance of sticking with the top teams.
One of the players that stood out on either side, was Boxma, who Staniforth said has given them a chance to win every game.
“You know he’s good when you’re sitting on the bench and saying ‘wow,’ Staniforth said of his goalie. “He made some saves to keep us in it and that’s what we need and that’s what we expect. He’s a competitor and a confident quite leader for us.”
Up next for the Border Kings (2-3-1) is a road game this weekend in Fort Saskatchewan against the Chiefs, (5-1-0) before returning home for a pair of home games in Lashburn, Dec. 5 and 6.