(Kinistino Tigers/ Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Eye of the tiger

Kinistino Tigers yet to reach maximum potential as Christmas break arrives

Dec 21, 2021 | 6:38 PM

The Kinistino Tigers, part of the Wheatland Senior Hockey League, currently sit in a tie for second place, as the 2021 part of the season has concluded.

The Tigers currently hold a record of 6-2-1, as they look towards 2022 and the seven of 16 total games they have remaining.

Kinistino’s General Manager Kris Babbings told northeastNOW he’s happy with the results to this point, however, he knows his club isn’t quite in their full form.

“Once Christmas time rolls around, that’s when I think guys start getting a little more serious about it,” he said. “At times we haven’t had all of our players with us, which is pretty typical for senior hockey. It’s always a bit of a struggle in the first half of the season to get everyone together but as the calendar turns into January that typically starts to change, so I think our best hockey is still ahead of us.”

And as far as how he hopes the second half plays out, Babbings said he hopes his team can finish in the top three.

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“We’re currently sitting in a tie for second, so that’s something we want to continue to do,” he said. “We have three more games against the two teams that we’re chasing, so there is going to be an opportunity for us to move up and that’s certainly what we want to do. Getting as many home ice playoff games as possible is really important to us.”

For Babbings he also mentioned how nice it was to be able to finish a whole half of hockey, especially with what happened last year, having only played four games total. With playoffs approaching, however, he said that’s in the past and the only focus now is playing.

“At the start of the year, there was some hesitation or concern regarding how long we’d actually be doing this,” he said. “There was always this feeling that we could get shut down but now we’ve played nine games and it kind of feels back to normal. The players are just happy to be playing hockey and the focus isn’t really on that anymore.”

And come playoff time, Babbings knows there are some tough teams to beat, so his club just needs to continue to get better and play their best hockey down the stretch.

“Wadena is the team to beat, they’re 8-0,” Babbings said. “I think we have the right amount of youth and experience, we just need to get together and play some more games as a team. Just continue to build on some of the things we’ve seen in the first part and develop as a team. We’re still integrating some of the guys we added last year, so continuing to get everyone out, find our way and build momentum, so we’re peaking at the right time.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8