Let it be said that Kent Lewis, coach and general manager of the Powell River Kings, is the best coach the BCHL has ever had. On Sunday he was surrounded by friends, family and officials to celebrate his 500th win, a feat largely achieved in his hometown.
He is the poster boy for the BCHL having played and coached for more than 20 years but no other coach has reached this milestone faster or done it with such passion and commitment. Powell River and the Kings owe Lewis a huge debt of gratitude but he, in typically humble fashion, asked later, “Can I send you an email–there’s so many people I forgot to thank?”
His players thanked him in the best way they could with a couple of wins over the weekend, 3-1 over Cowichan Valley Capitals and 6-3 on Sunday against Coquitlam Express.
They started out with a 6-4 loss to Surrey Eagles on Friday when the injury bug and a couple of bizarre goals conspired to put the Kings in a hole early in the game. Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one period before the Kings could get untracked.
Chad Niddery scored twice while Steven Schmidt and Andrew Pettitt added singles in the second period but in the end the deficit was too large to overcome.
“We always say with the hockey gods,” said captain Niddery, “if you work for it the bounces will go your way. Tonight it just didn’t work out for us because we weren’t very good defensively.”
Kings haven’t lost back-to-back games all year and Niddery promised a different outcome on the trip to Cowichan.
Saturday night his team had a superior defensive effort and shut down the Capitals to win 3-1.
Behind the 30-save performance from goaltender Michael Garteig, Scott Renner, Matt Garbowsky and Carter Shinkaruk scored to allow the Kings to tie the most points by the franchise, set by the Paper Kings in 1993-1994.
On Sunday Kings and Express, who were in Alberni Valley, shared a ferry to face each other in the afternoon.
Following the short ceremony for Lewis, Kings got right to work and made sure the occasion would be a happy memory for their coach with a 6-3 win.
Niddery started things off with the first of his three goals in the game and Brenden Forbes, Renner and local product Mitch Ball, with his first as a King, rounded out the scoring.
“It was a great play by Forbes,” said Ball who was beaming after the game. “He just threw it out from behind the net and I kind of went blank there and just shot and it went in.”
It truly was a great day for hockey in Powell River and a former King, Dave Sales, who was on hand to represent the BCHL, said, “Kent is a real example of what our league is all about. It’s sort of a perfect storm here to have a local guy who is able to understand the community, the kind of players who flourish here and his accomplishments speak for themselves.”
His captain, and longest serving active player, echoed those thoughts and from a personal standpoint added, “It’s hard to explain what that man has done for this community. He’s literally put an entire city on the map,” Niddery said. “When I first came here four years ago I didn’t know where Powell River was and no one back home in Penticton knew where it was. I’ve never seen one man turn around a team like this.”
Niddery, who had a college commitment last year, added “He’s such an honest man. I wanted a better school like a lot of other guys and he made it happen like he said he would.”
Lewis was immensely touched by the events of the afternoon and said later, “You certainly don’t do those things by yourself. There’s a whole committee of people, a team that does that,” he explained. “I’ve been lucky to do it here and there’s a lot more to come.”
Kings continue working on the next 500 7 pm tonight, Wednesday, February 16 when they host Salmon Arm Silverbacks at Hap Parker Arena in their last scheduled home game of the year.
They finish the schedule on the road on Friday, February 18, in Cowichan and Saturday, February 19, in Alberni Valley.
