The Mister Transmission Orillia Jr. B Kings are on a roll.
Last night, the Kings hit the road and earned their third straight win — a hard-fought 6-4 triumph against the Brampton Excelsiors.
The Kings took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after the first frame and led the rest of the game. Goalie Quinton Greenfield played another strong performance between the pipes, earning player of the game honours while picking up a pair of assists.
His confidence in net, communication with his defenders and presence on the floor made a significant difference in this road victory, noted coach Jim Meredith.
Six different goal scorers contributed in the win. Gabe Neely, Mark Watters, Aidan Colebrook, Jack Marwick, Noah Quarrinton and Colsen Maracle all notched singles to secure the victory.
The Kings defence deserves credit as they managed to shut down the Brampton offence; they have showed improvement each game, said the coach. They have become a force to be reckoned with and have improved their transition game, giving the offence lots of opportunities on the fast break.
Meredith applauded Greenfield's "great goaltending," and cited the team's defence as a key factor in the win.
"We spent Tuesday’s practice working on our defence after watching video of our game in Newmarket," said Meredith. "It was great to see that what we practised made the difference in the game as well as some little things we practise every practice are starting to become habits at both ends of the floor.
"Something as simple as breaking out of our own end has improved our transition game and is making a difference," he explained.
The victory over the Excelsiors followed a sweep of a pair of weekend contests against the Newmarket Saints.
On Saturday night, the Kings defeated the Saints 13-5 at Orillia's Rotary Place.
The first period started slowly, ending in a 1-1 draw, but the Kings took over in the second frame and took a comfortable 7-3 lead into the third en route to the win.
Liam McCrimmon and Mark Watters led the offence with hat tricks. Noah Quarrington and Riley Thayer each had two and singles went to Carson Thayer, Bjorn Deilmann and Sam Neely. Riley Thayer earned the honour of being named the Dapper Depot player of the game for an outstanding effort.
In the rematch Sunday afternoon in Newmarket it was a much closer event.
The Kings got off to a slow start and were down 7-4 after the first period. They battled back to win the next two periods and finish with a "very important" 14-11 win.
Watters led the way on the scoresheet with four on the day. Jesse Ashkewe picked up a hat trick, while McCrimmon and Jake Curran each picked up two goals in the come-from-behind victory. Single goals were tallied by Deilmann, Colsen Maracle and Quarrington, who potted an empty net goal. Jake Curran was named the Dapper Depot player of the game and notched the first of what will no doubt be many goals for the Kings.
With the trio of victories, the Kings improve to 6-7-1 on the season and will look to keep their winning streak alive Saturday when they travel to Halton Hills to battle the Bulldogs (5-7).
Orillia then travels to Gloucester and Nepean before finally returning to Rotary Place June 14 when they host West Durham.
