It was a difficult weekend for the Wheatland Kings, who dropped both of their games. On Friday they played in Medicine Hat where they lost to the Cubs 9-6, and on Saturday they hosted the Cochrane Generals in a 6-2 loss. This puts the Kings at 3-5-1 on the season, and they now face the unenviable task of working their way back up to .500.

While losing both games isn't how they wanted the weekend to go, Kings GM Lee Smith says there were good things that came out of the weekend too.

"Friday night in Medicine Hat, things were going really well. The first period probably we played our period of the year, then we came out in the second half very flat. Things just didn't go our way, they took a commanding lead, they (Medicine Hat) had 6 unanswered goals, which really isn't good. In the third period, we came out and we played our way back in the game and there was an opportunity to catch up and we just didn't get there."

Saturday's game was a different story, as the Kings struggled to get things going.

"We just came out really flat, we're working through some things with the young club. There's lots of learning and a lot of these guys, they're playing well but we have to put it all together."

Smith said the Kings are a young, talented team, but when you're young there are some growing pains along the way.

"I think there's been parts of the season that have been disappointing, there's the element of youth. A lot of the teams we're playing against have a lot of 20 year olds, where we don't have as many. The base of our group is 18-19 years old, we're young compared to the rest of the league for sure."

Despite this, Smith still has full confidence in the team and thinks they'll play up to their talent level with more time and experience.

"We just gotta keep playing together and playing as a team. We gotta play within the systems and try to figure it out. It goes right from the coaching down to the players, we have lots of stuff to work on, and that's where we're at."

As for what they need to work on, Smith said it comes down to consistency.

"We gotta play as a team, we gotta play a full 60 minutes, and we gotta stay out of the penalty box. Those are the keys to us, we haven't played a full 60 minutes since near the beginning of the season, and it's cost us."

The Kings have a great chance at redemption this weekend, as they face the undefeated Okotoks Carstar Bisons and the Cochrane Generals again, both on the road. A win against the top teams in the league would go a long way toward building the Kings up to where they want to be.

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