After a successful November homestand Powell River Kings started December on a three-game road trip littered with potholes.
Surrey Eagles, winners of just three games all year, beat them 4-3 in overtime on Friday, December 5, Penticton Vees, losers of just six games, won 3-1 and then Sunday afternoon, Kings minus six starters, beat Trail Smoke Eaters 5-3.
For whatever reason, be it preparation, lots of Kings’ parents in the stands or the desperation of Surrey, Powell River just didn’t seem to be ready for the win-starved Eagles who were on a 16-game losing streak.
Despite the statistics heavily in their favour, Kings squandered several power-play opportunities early in the game and were fortunate to be leading 1-0 after the first period.
A soft Surrey goal in the second tied it 1-1 before Jacob Pritchard gave the Kings a 2-1 lead midway through the third.
Another softy by Surrey came two minutes later but Pritchard scored again late at 18:12 to put the Kings up 3-2.
They couldn’t hang on though when Surrey scored at 19:47 to send the game into overtime.
Playing four on four, Kings were penalized for having too many men on the ice and Surrey promptly scored to win their fourth of the year at 3:25.
Disappointed to say the least, the Kings had just enough time to get over the Coquihalla and play Penticton, the top team in the BC Hockey League.
In this one, statistics were deceiving as the Kings played much better but recorded just a single shot in the first period and 16 through three periods.
Behind the brilliant goaltending of Brett Magnus they held the Vees to a single goal in each of the first two periods and then went down 3-0 midway through the third.
Pritchard gave them some life with five minutes to go in the game but despite a late surge they couldn’t come all the way back.
It was a good road effort for the Kings that would have been good enough the night before in Surrey, but not against the top-seeded Vees.
Again, the team climbed back on the bus and drove quickly over to Trail where the tired players would patch together a lineup to take on the Smoke Eaters mid-afternoon.
The tired crew, missing Kurt Keats, Jarid Lukosevicius, Carmine Buono and Stefan Wornig to the Western Junior A camp in Calgary and Stephen Hiff and Brent Lashuk to injury, was bolstered by the addition of Nash Dabb and Ryan Pouliot of the Major Midget league Northwest Giants.
Coaches, in situations like this one, invariably say that “now is the time for everyone to step up their game.”
That’s exactly what happened in Trail right down to the affiliated players.
Despite the fatigue and depleted roster, the Kings, again behind the solid net-minding of Magnus, played an inspired 60 minutes of bone-weary hockey to beat the Smokies 5-3.
They fell behind 1-0 in the first but fought back on goals from Jonny Evans and Pritchard to lead 2-1 at the end of the period.
Trail got the only goal of the second and looked to pull away when they scored 3-2 on a power play just 0:33 seconds into the third period.
Kings, however, got a second wind when Pritchard started a comeback with his second goal at 0:59 seconds and then JJ Coleshaw and Mitchell Hawes, with his first BCHL goal, iced the well-deserved win.
Three valuable points were picked up by the Kings overall who hope for a speedy recovery by Lashuk and Hiff for the remainder of a tough December schedule.
They return to Hap Parker Arena at 7:15 pm on Friday, December 12, to take on Vernon Vipers and then head to Victoria on Saturday, December 13.
