Dennis GM Western Kings captain leads by example in quest for provincial championship - story by The Western Star

As captain of the Dennis GM Western Kings in his final year, the six-foot-four power forward is certainly doing everything he can to improve his stock.

Griffin-Hefford leads the Kings in scoring with 21 points in 15 games as the boys from the west sit atop the standings in a provincial major hockey league. Just three points separate the top three teams.

“I’ve been training as hard as I can to get better and it’s slowly starting to show,” Griffin-Hefford said Tuesday.

The Kings are in the midst of a week off before hosting the Tri-Pen Osprey for a two-game series Dec. 13-14 at the Pepsi Centre.

Earlier this summer, the big forward was drafted by the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and a draft pick of the expansion St. Stephen Aces of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League.

He believes he has played some good hockey for the Kings, but insists he can take his game to another level.

He is gunning for the scoring title and a championship in his final year.

It’s something he sees as realistic when he looks at his teammates, who aren’t caught up in personal success.

He trails scoring leader Conal McNamara of the Tri-Pen Osprey by 11 points, but he only returned to the Kings lineup last weekend for the road trip to Whitbourne after serving a five-game suspension for kicking a player.

Griffin-Hefford has his own version of what happened, but he lived with the decision.

Being on the sidelines for five games was no picnic, but he learned a lesson from it and is ready to forge ahead.

“It was brutal,” he said of the suspension. “I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t even want to watch.”

He would prefer to be on the ice burying pucks past opposing goalies.

He believes the team has been playing some solid hockey with everybody being cognizant of their respective roles and working toward a common goal.

He saw the same cohesiveness when he won a championship with the Kings two years ago, and likes where the team is heading.

“We’re nowhere near our peak yet, and once we hit it we’re going to fire it right up, I know it,” he said.