By Jeromy Corrigan

NWJHL

Kings look back on memorable 2018-2019 campaign

Apr 12, 2019 | 8:25 AM

If there was one word to describe the JDA Kings during the 2018-2019 season it would have to be resilient.

The Kings season was a roller coaster ride which saw them begin the year at the bottom of the standings, saw them roar back in the 2nd half of the year to finish 3rd, and ended up making the NWJHL Finals and Junior B Provincials.

The Kings wrapped up Provincials last week where they finished with a 1-2 record in the round robin and missed out on the playoff round.

“Overall I thought we played pretty well. We had a few moments there where our game dropped a bit, but the effort was always there. Obviously, Provincials is a tough grind and we played some really good teams. However, I thought we matched up pretty good,” said Head Coach Kyle Chapple.

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The Kings knocked off Calgary in their opener of the tournament and then dropped their final two games of the round robin.

When looking at the grand scheme of things, the 2018-2019 was a wild year according to the Kings bench boss.

“We obviously got off to a terrible start this year. We were down in last place in the standings. The players really stuck with the process of slowly getting better as they year went on. We had a game in November against the top team in the league where we played really well, and we beat them and that really turned our season around.”

That moment substantially turned the campaign around for the Kings as they climbed all the way out of the basement of the NWJHL standings and into 3rd place by the end of the regular season where they finished with a 19-15-2 record.

The no quit attitude continued into the post-season as the Kings trailed their 1st round best-of-five series with Sexsmith 2-1 and their 2nd round best-of-seven series 3-2. Both times the Kings found a way to claw back and win both series to earn their spot in the league final where they fell to the Fort St.John Huskies in 6 games.

Despite not winning a league or provincial championship this season, Chapple knows this has been a memorable year for the players, coaches, and organization.