DINEEN CUP: After a three-week layoff, the Spud Kings hold off the South Shore Kings in championship opener

IDAHO FALLS – After a three-week break, the Spud Kings were back in action on Friday night.

Well, it wasn’t exactly a break.

Defending Dineen Cup champion Idaho Falls lost the best-of-5 divisional series to Grand Junction back on April 4, and had to wait to see who they would play in the championship round.

As defending champion, the Spud Kings already had an automatic berth to the finals secured, which could have been a blessing or a curse.

Spud Kings coach Anthony Bohn preferred to look at the layoff as a blessing.

“We needed a break,” Bohn said after the Spud Kings held off the South Shore Kings 5-4 in Friday’s championship round opener.

The team may have looked a little tired in the last series, as Grand Junction won the last three games and the Spud Kings scored just three goals during that stretch and were shut out in the clincher.

The offense definitely looked out of sync, so the down time proved beneficial.

“It was like a reset of training camp all over again” Bohn said of the break between games. “We went through a three week plan of how we wanted it to look and the boys did an unbelievable job being resilient.”

The South Shore Kings, which finished 44-7 in the New England East Conference, opened the scoring in the first.

But the Spud Kings rebounded with a goal by Hunter Whisenand and then a power-play goal by Daniel Macleish to give Idaho Falls the lead.

The offense continued to shine in the second period as Tyler Atchison added to the lead with a power-play goal.

Kane Kennedy added another power-play goal, followed by a goal by Camden Cunningham less than 30 seconds later.

“I thought (the offense) was good and we generated it different ways, which is what we talked about,” Bohn said. “It was good to see it come to fruition. Now we just need to carry it through to the next game.”

The Shore Kings made a run in the third period, scoring twice in the first five minutes to cut the lead to 5-3.

Felix-Antoine Laflamme pulled the Shore Kings within 5-4 with a goal with 50 seconds left, but the Spud Kings were able to hold off the late charge as the clock ticked down.

“It was good for us because we haven’t played a game in three weeks, and for us to find a way to get greasy at the end and pull one out, that’s more important,” Bohn said.

The Spud Kings will face their nemesis Grand Junction on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The River Hawks defeated the P.A.L Jr. Islanders 2-1 in double overtime as Bradley Boniface scored the game-winner for the River Hawks.

The South Shore Kings and P.A.L Jr. Islander play an elimination game at 2 p.m.