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Hockey royalty wins three in a row

Kings begin to fight back
Glen Gibbs

Powell River Kings kicked off their weekend with a 2-0 shutout on the road against Alberni Valley Bulldogs before returning home to whip Cowichan Valley Capitals 5-1 and then Chilliwack Chiefs 4-1.

This was a terrific weekend for the team that has struggled early to find its game and there is every indication that this work in progress is, indeed, making progress.

On Thursday Kings paid their second visit of the year to Weyerhaeuser Arena in Port Alberni. After losing the first 4-3 in overtime, this time the team held high scoring Bulldogs off the scoreboard.

James Neil scored the winner at 7:01 of the opening period when he capitalized on the hard work of Luke Ripley and Matt Dupont.

Kings’ insurance goal came at 10:49 when Jordan Burns scored from the point on the powerplay. The rest was up to the game’s first star, Jonah Imoo, who turned aside 22 shots to blank the Dogs.

His first shutout of the year was also the Kings’ first road win and they returned to Powell River energized on Friday to take on the Capitals.

Kings had beaten them earlier in back-to-back wins at Hap Parker Arena and in their third meeting they chalked up five goals to win easily 5-1.

In a strong first period where they held the Caps to just two shots, Kings got the early lead on goals from Braydon Low and Luke Nogard.

They added one more when Teagan Waugh scored his first of the year at 4:17 of the second period but allowed the Caps a glimmer of hope when they made it 3-1 at 6:04.

Kings buried the Caps early in the final period with a goal from Burns at 0:58 and the last one of the game from Drew Dorantes at 6:30.

First star Burns finished with a goal and three assists and later said of his productive game, “I was just trying to get shots through from the point and things are going now.”

Perhaps a little gun shy, he was cautiously optimistic when asked about the mainland division leaders, Chilliwack, coming in on Sunday.

Asked if the Kings could keep it going he smiled and said, “I certainly hope so.”

Turns out they could and he had a big part in Sunday’s afternoon game against the Chiefs.

His assist on Evan Richardson’s first of the year on the powerplay at 8:37 got the Kings off to a great start and they never looked back.

Chilliwack answered with its own powerplay goal midway through the first period but the Kings’ JP Villeneuve tipped in a shot from Brandan Smith with the man advantage at 7:20 of the second to give his team the lead heading into the final period.

Kings’ leading goal scorer Jarryd Leung put them up 3-1 with a laser to the top shelf at 9:37 and Richardson added his second of the game into an empty net to make the final 4-1.

Coach and general manager Kent Lewis noted Chilliwack’s recent run. “They hadn’t lost in nine games and had two wins on this trip and they’ve got a good team this year,” he said. “I thought we were there but were a little tentative with the lead. The third goal was huge with a beautiful pass by Richardson and a great finish by Leung.”

Richardson was due to do some damage and, more than his goals, he was happy to talk about the winning week.

“Obviously, if we keep working hard it’s going to start going our way. This weekend we got the bounces, and I finally got one and it feels good.”

Winning sure beats losing and Richardson said, “If we play the way we’re capable of playing every single game we’ll get results like we did today.”

Kings have one more road trip before a home-friendly schedule in November.

A short trip on Saturday, October 27, to Nanaimo Clippers and then a Sunday afternoon game in Cowichan completes a challenging couple of months for the Kings.

Kings Scroll:

Jonah Imoo is the BC Hockey League Player of the Week after stopping 72 of 74 shots and recording three wins with a 0.67 goals against average. Jordan Burns was one of five runners up with two goals and four assists.