Powell River Kings weren’t the only winners over the weekend when they beat Alberni Valley Bulldogs 5-4 on Saturday night and again 4-3 in double overtime on Sunday afternoon.
The Kings’ giant raffle winner was drawn during the second game after it was announced that 4,162 tickets were sold. The lucky winner, Laura-Lee Maguire, was in the crowd to claim her Chevy Equinox from Massullo Motors.
“I’m utterly shocked,” she said in disbelief.
Her windfall came on the heels of the Kings’ victory on Saturday where a stubborn Alberni squad refused to quit.
Kings had a comfortable 5-2 lead after two periods but the Bulldogs struck for two goals to give the home side a scare.
Alberni almost tied it when Lars Hepso fired a puck off the post with seven minutes to play but the Kings held on for the 5-4 win.
JP Villeneuve scored his third and fourth goal as a King with Cohen Adair, Evan Richardson and Daniel Schuler adding singles.
Sean Maguire picked up win number 11 with 15 saves on 19 shots.
“A lot of things were pretty good,” said Kent Lewis, head coach and general manager, “but we had a lot of brain cramps and silly things and we paid for it. We turned pucks up the middle and they capitalized on our mistakes.”
Villeneuve, the game’s first star, enjoys playing with linemates Schuler and Teal Burns.
“They are great play makers,” he said, “and it’s good to play with skilled guys like that.”
He is well aware that he has landed in the middle of a playoff race saying, “Our goal is to stay in first place, obviously. There are a couple of teams with games in hand on us so we just have to keep winning and keep the pressure on them.”
With one win in the books Kings wanted to send the Bulldogs packing with two losses but Alberni had other ideas Sunday afternoon.
Every time the Kings scored the Bulldogs answered until regulation ended in a 3-3 tie.
Jordan Benton, Burns and Jarryd Leung each scored for the Kings in regulation but it was just enough to send the game into overtime.
The first overtime was scoreless but in the second session Teagan Waugh was penalized when he slapped at and broke his check’s stick, which in three-on-three play is an automatic penalty shot.
Jonah Imoo, in his first home start for the Kings, extended his personal perfect penalty shot record against Alberni’s Brandon Adams with a little bit of luck.
“I’ve faced two or three before,” he said, “but I’ve never been scored on. I was lucky with that one because he fanned on it and missed the net.” He then admitted, “I bit for his fake but I got lucky.”
Nevertheless, a shift after that one Alberni’s captain Trent Dorais returned the favour by crosschecking Adair and the big forward stood at centre to take his turn at a penalty shot.
“We were saying that the whole game, shoot blocker, blocker, blocker,” Adair said of his strategy, “so that’s what I did,” with a shot just inside the post.
Adair’s goal extended the Kings’ winning streak to seven games and their lead in the division to four points.
Kings host nemesis Coquitlam Express at 7:30 pm on Thursday, February 2 before leaving to play Nanaimo Clippers on Friday, February 3 and then Victoria Grizzlies on Saturday, February 4.
