It is safe to suggest that Penticton Vees were glad to see the lights of Powell River for the last time this year as they flew out of the city on Saturday night.
Powell River Kings were in every game of the Fred Page Cup series but couldn’t top the Vees as they lost game three 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday and four on Wednesday 3-2 bringing the series to a close 4-0.
There was plenty of optimism at Hap Parker Arena on Tuesday and a good crowd of over 900 saw a trend that carried over from the first two games in Penticton.
Kings carried the play, outshot their opponent but suffered the inability to make the most of their chances, which cost them.
They did, however, get off to a great start when Cohen Adair scored at 3:33 and then capped off a great first period when Brendon MacDonald gave them a two-goal lead at 18:03.
In the second they could have added to the score but goalie Chad Katunar was easily the best Vees player in the series and he stoned Adair, Steven Schmidt and Evan Richardson.
If he wasn’t making the saves then the Kings, like defenceman Jon Jutzi, were searching the heavens for answers after missing the net from close range.
As happens, opportunities missed sometimes come back to haunt and the Vees closed the gap to 2-1 at the end of the second period.
Kings’ Adair got his second goal at 9:19 to make it 3-1 but uncharacteristically the Kings sagged into a more defensive posture and the Vees were able to score twice and send the game into overtime.
At 5:03 of the extra frame a bad turnover by the Kings cost them as one pass and a shot slipped through the pads of Sean Maguire to end in a heartbreaking 4-3 loss.
Down 3-0 in the series Kings might have been excused for not bringing their game on Wednesday. None needed however, for the team that has won four Coastal Conference titles in a row and continues to set the standard for hard work in the BC Hockey League.
Despite falling behind 2-0 Kings never quit and began a comeback after the midway point of the second period when Adair scored a powerplay goal from the slot.
Vees were able to reply to make it 3-1 by the end of the second period but Matt Scarth gave the Kings a chance when he scored at 14:44 of the final frame.
Kings pulled goalie Jonah Imoo late in the game and even got the puck in the net with six seconds left but it was waived off because Daniel Schuler gloved in the puck.
After the game Kings shook hands with the Vees and the referees, then left the ice to the Vees who accepted the Fred Page Cup from commissioner John Grisdale who said, “Congratulations to the Kings on a hard-fought series and I know they’ll be back next year.”
One player who will be is netminder Imoo who said later, “That’s my first start in a big playoff game so I tried not to think about it too much and just focus. Watching the first three games definitely helped,” he said. “Playing in this one was a good learning experience.”
Experienced defenceman Craig Dalrymple said losing in four games two years in a row is tough but not indicative of the play in the series.
“That is tough,” he admitted. “You’re going to go home and tell your friends ‘yeah, we did great, finished first in our division, won the coast and got swept by Penticton.’ But you’ve got to try to explain to them we didn’t deserve to get swept, we outshot them and outplayed them every game but they just scored more goals than we did.”
Unfortunately, that’s the statistic everyone will remember.
Vees move on to the Doyle Cup to meet the Brooks Bandits of Alberta Junior Hockey League, a team the Kings shut out 3-0 in Trail in September.
