by Glen Gibbs Peak Sports It’s not the way Powell River Kings would want it but home cooking appears to be a key ingredient in their success this year.
After a dismal 1-5-1 record during their seven-game absence from Hap Parker Arena, the Kings shut out Westside Warriors 5-0 on Friday night and edged Trail Smoke Eaters 3-2 in double overtime Saturday.
The two wins were timely, especially considering the absence of Kent Lewis, coach and general manager, for both games and four players, Evan Richardson, Teagan Waugh, Jordan Paddock and Sean Maguire, against Trail.
They are currently at the World Junior A Championship final selection camp in Langley and depending on their success, Kings could be without some or all of them for the first half of November.
Nonetheless, with 18 of the 34 participants from BC Hockey League, it’s a great opportunity for affiliated replacements, such as Kings’ Mitch Ball, Brody Coulter, Cameron Large and Robert Zadra, to get some quality ice time.
Friday, Kings’ special teams were given an opportunity to shine and they came through with flying colours.
Westside brought their physical style to Hap Parker but the Kings cashed in going 4-7 on the powerplay and added their league-leading ninth shorthanded goal to hand the Warriors a 5-0 defeat.
Richardson, Steven Schmidt and Waugh got the singles while Craig Dalrymple scored with and without the man advantage.
Maguire picked up his second shutout of the young season but almost saw it slip away near the end of the game.
Westside’s Brett McKinnon and virtually every other player on the ice crashed into Maguire with a little over two minutes to go and half of them, including the puck, ended up in the net.
After a brief melee around Maguire and a goal posted on the board for Westside, it was deleted when McKinnon went to the box for goaltender interference.
Maguire said the Warriors’ physical style didn’t intimidate
his teammates at all.
“We are a bunch of big, fast boys,” he said, adding that the team’s ability to hit and be rough is what the coach likes. “He wants us to thrive on that.”
On Saturday the Interior’s last-place team, Trail, was the opponent and it looked as though the Kings were guilty of playing down to their opposition.
They weren’t as sharp as the night before and almost blew a game that by all accounts should have been relatively easy to win.
Fortunately they eked out a double overtime victory over their non-conference opponents thus picking up the valuable two points.
Daniel Schuler went from goat to hero after he took a tripping penalty deep behind Trail’s net to take the Kings off a powerplay in the first overtime but scored at 1:05 in the second overtime to win the game.
“I thought we were going to win right then and there,” he said of the powerplay chance they had, “but my stick got caught up in his legs...and my heart dropped.”
About his redeeming winner, Schuler said “[Dalrymple] gave me the pass and I had speed. It was nice to have that rebound come right out to my stick.”
His initial deke was saved but he took his time and made no mistake putting the rebound in for the 3-2 final.
Despite the Kings’ sloppiness Chad van Diemen, assistant coach, said, “The wins at the end of the day are more important than the way you’re playing. You have to learn from the mistakes such as the lead we gave up tonight and video will show us what we did wrong and what we need to address.”
Kings enjoy home-ice advantage again this weekend when they host Cowichan Valley Capitals (8-5-1) at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 4 and Prince George Spruce Kings (7-6-1) at 7:30 pm on Saturday, November 5.
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