They faced a couple of important challenges last week and Powell River Kings handled each of them with confidence and consistency.
They continued to collect points on the road with a 3-2 win in Nanaimo and 3-0 shutout in Alberni Valley, then returned home to gain an exciting 1-1 tie versus Victoria Grizzlies.
No question, they have enjoyed an unusually weighted home schedule to start the season but detractors, who have pointed to that as the reason for the Kings’ early success, are close to choking on those words.
Except for a last-minute lapse and overtime loss in Penticton last month, the Kings are a near perfect 6-0-0-1 away from Hap Parker Arena and that bodes well for their road-dominated schedule in December.
They started last week in Nanaimo on Wednesday against the Clippers where one of the hottest scoring Kings, Luke Nogard, tipped in Trevor MacLean’s point shot at 13:27.
Drew Dorantes put the Kings up 2-0 at 6:41 of the second but the Kings uncharacteristically suffered a mental lapse and Nanaimo scored twice in just 18 seconds.
Kings regrouped and came close to winning it when Kurt Keats almost snuck one over the goal line and did on JJ Coleshaw’s powerplay goal in the third period for a 3-2 final.
Jonah Imoo made 35 saves for his 10th win of the year and was particularly sharp in the last two periods when Nanaimo outshot the Kings 30-18.
The win was especially gratifying to general manager Kent Lewis, who was honoured in a brief pre-game ceremony, to celebrate his 1,000th game as a coach.
“It’s pretty neat,” said Lewis of the milestone. “About 900-plus have been here [in Powell River] so I, like 600 people and a board of directors, put our hearts and souls into it every night and we care about it. I’ve been very lucky to work with great kids, great staff and a very supportive family to be able to do it.”
On to Port Alberni Thursday night where goalie Jeff Smith looked to extend his two-game shutout streak against the Bulldogs.
He succeeded with a 27-save performance that helped the Kings roll to a 3-0 victory while lowering his league-leading goals against average to a scintillating 1.68.
Lots of smiles after the win were reserved somewhat by an innocent-looking collision in the second period that resulted in Matt Scarth favouring the same leg that kept him out of action for over a month.
Happily, what looked to be serious turned out to be a deep bruise, and the high-scoring forward’s return is sooner rather than later.
“I thought it was broken again, but I got lucky and it’s not,” he said. “I’ll be back in the lineup and practicing come Monday.”
Consequently, he joined fans in the stands to watch an exciting 1-1 draw with Victoria on Saturday night.
Kings rose to the challenge of their closest contender, winners of its last six games, with a solid effort and several great chances to win that brought fans out of their seats.
They did get out to the lead when Jarid Lukosevicius knocked in a rebound off Brian Rideout’s point shot in the second period.
They played confidently with the one-goal lead but a weak clearing attempt by Imoo led to Victoria’s tying goal at just 0:21 seconds into the third period.
They battled through regulation and two five-minute overtime periods but the stellar play of both goaltenders and some very narrow misses by the Kings resulted in a 1-1 tie.
“I thought we played well, I thought they played well and it was a game that was hard fought,” said Lewis. “We had a four-minute powerplay that did some good things and some chances to score but we just couldn’t bury the puck.”
Kings will try to bury it on the road this week as they depart on a gruelling road trip.
They are in Chilliwack on Friday, November 29, Merritt on Saturday, November 30 and then all the way up to Prince George for a 3 pm start on Sunday, December 1.
Kings Scroll: The Kings dropped two spots in the Canadian Junior Hockey League standings from fourth place to sixth.
DIVISION: Island Division
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS
Powell River 25 19 4 1 1 40
Victoria 28 17 7 3 1 38
Nanaimo 27 13 13 0 1 27
Cowichan Valley 30 11 18 0 1 23
Alberni Valley 29 7 18 2 2 18
