Apparently all great things must come to an end, in this case the Saint John Kings quest for a cup was brought to an abrupt, hitting a brick wall type stop end. The Kings ran into ODBHL top goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who finally snapped his mediocre playoff run to stop the Kings in their tracks, shutting them out 1-0 in the sixth and final game of the finals giving The Angry Ducks a back to back Cup win. This was an entertaining series with the Kings playing a slightly more aggressive game than they did during the regular season. There were many highlights, including that despite the fact the Kings who had the best all-time regular season record finally won their first ever finals playoff game. Recently inked free agent Leon Draisaitl lead the team in scoring with some very impressive support by young winger Lucas Raymond and centre Liam Foudy shows this team is not one and done and should be in the rink to compete again next season.
This was a very taxing playoff run with Saint John first getting by the Moncton Melons 4 games to 2. This was a great feat as the Melons seemed to bounce all over the Kings dominating 6 games to 2 in the regular season. Then Kenny and company had to deal with the Riverview Royals in the Royalty series. This meant dealing with the Bullwinkle line who seemed to dominate the score sheets of the ODBHL all season and then avoiding being run over by the Russian mafia in the form of Alexander Alexeyev and Mikhail Segachev who literally crushed opponents all season. The Kings stood tall here as well managing another 4 games to 2 victory. These 2 matchups combined with the Ducks power play and intimidating goaltending put the final nails in the coffin of the Kings playoff aspirations this season.
The fans of the Loyalist City know that despite a lack of draft capital and running up against the salary cap, that there will inevitably be a few changes and tweaks to this Kings roster as Kenny will reload to make another run at championship. We did get to speak to GM John Kenny briefly, he advised "I would first like to congratulate The Angry Ducks and GM Quintin Sullivan on a great series and to all the fans, we will be ready for next season!"
Telegraph Journal
7/10/2024 - 397 words
