by Glen Gibbs Peak Sports After winning 4-0 in Victoria last week, Powell River Kings wanted to keep the heat on Victoria Grizzlies and separate at least one club from the six-pack at the top of the BC Hockey League Coastal Conference standings.
They could do that with a two-game sweep of Victoria at Hap Parker Arena, but despite a convincing 5-2 win in game one, they lost a squeaker 4-3 in overtime on Sunday.
Saturday night was the traditional teddy bear toss game for the Kings and the players responded with a quick goal by Armitage Mens Wear Player of the Month, Craig Dalrymple.
After toys and warm clothing for various charities were collected, there was no scoring until the Grizzlies made it 2-1 with a couple of goals early in the second period.
Kings’ Teagan Waugh and Cohen Adair restored the one-goal lead 3-2 by the end of the period and everyone breathed a little easier when Daniel Schuler scored on a breakaway at 17:35 of the third.
Matt Scarth iced it with an empty netter at 19:19 while winning goaltender Jamie Phillips received full credit for his 13th win with 31 saves.
Two Kings made the scoresheet for the wrong reasons and while Jon Jutzi received a game misconduct for his hit from behind, Evan Richardson received a two-game suspension for his hit to the head of former teammate Sean Robertson.
Robertson had taken Richardson in high and hard on the boards and on the same shift Richardson, although unintentionally, levelled Victoria’s captain.
“We were going in on a rush and I thought he was going to hit me,” explained Richardson, “and I gave him a shot. I was trying to protect myself but I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Robertson lay prone for some time and needed the support of two teammates to leave the ice.
Despite showing concussive symptoms he returned for a couple of shifts on the powerplay, which begs the question, why was he back in the game?
His return stresses the need to support Vancouver-Langara Liberal Party MLA Moira Stillwell’s proposed legislation to remove athletes from competition until cleared by a licensed health care professional.
Historically the Sunday rematch has been a tough one for the Kings and like a bad habit, they let another one get away.
Jordan Benton, Adair and Dalrymple scored to give the Kings a 3-2 lead but discipline reared its ugly head to give Victoria two important powerplay opportunities.
The first one tied the game at 7:25 of the third period and the overtime winner was scored 14 seconds into a four-on-three man advantage for Victoria.
Assistant coach Chad van Diemen has seen this movie many times this year. “It was two different games,” he said. “Not a great start, not a lot of emotion and we played their game today.”
Kings are faced with four games in a five-day road trip before they scatter for the holidays and van Diemen insists that’s a lot of schedule left so it’s way too soon to be thinking about Christmas.
“We’re not looking far into the road trip,” he said. “We’ll just take it game by game starting in Surrey on Wednesday. We have a long way to go before the break.”
They play on Wednesday, December 14 against Surrey Eagles, have a day off before playing on Friday, December 16 against Langley Rivermen. Then, it’s into the interior on Saturday, December 17 to play Penticton Vees and finish up at 3 pm on Sunday, December 18 with Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
DIVISION: Coastal Conference
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS
Cowichan Valley 31 19 7 1 4 43
Powell River 30 17 9 2 2 38
Surrey 28 15 9 1 3 34
Nanaimo 30 14 11 0 5 33
Coquitlam 30 14 12 2 2 32
Victoria 32 16 16 0 0 32
Langley 31 12 17 1 1 26
Alberni Valley 28 11 15 2 0 24
