Three games in two and a half days could be considered the ultimate BC Hockey League (BCHL) challenge and, judging by results over the weekend, this year’s edition of the Powell River Kings thrives on challenges.
The team played well but stumbled in game one on Friday, September 18 in Duncan, with a 5-1 loss to the Capitals, then bounced back on Saturday to defeat the Clippers 4-3 in Nanaimo, and wound up the weekend Sunday afternoon with a 7-0 thrashing of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
In Friday’s game, it was evident that the season is young and the Kings are still a work in progress with a few things to clean up.
They were, however, good enough to outplay and outshoot the Capitals, but it was one of those games where they were much better than the scoreboard indicated.
Kings were having a pretty good opening period but it was the Capitals, on a deflection, who snuck in the game’s first goal at 7:27.
Caps took advantage of some bad turnovers and a couple of more good bounces to make it 4-0 midway through the second period before Jeremy Leclerc got the Kings on the board at 15:37.
Goalie Jeff Smith was replaced by Stephan Wornig after the fourth goal, but the move wasn’t enough of a spark in this game.
Despite being outshot 33-23, the Capitals made the Kings pay for almost every mistake and taught them an early-season lesson.
Apparently, the Kings took the loss to heart the next night against the Clippers when their fortunes completely flipped.
This time they were the ones to benefit from the other team’s mistakes. Behind the stellar goalkeeping of Smith, the Kings collected their second straight win against the Clippers.
Nanaimo outshot Powell River badly but when they slipped up the Kings were on the Clippers’ doorstep to slap in the first three goals.
Mitchell Hawes, Curtis McCarrick and Leclerc, with a power play goal, gave the Kings a 3-0 lead midway through the second period.
Things were really looking up for the Kings when a Clippers defenceman took a five-minute major and was ejected from the game at 19:04 for a high hit on Tristin Mullin.
Kings squandered a golden chance to increase their lead by allowing Nanaimo to score a shorthanded goal at 19:45 to get back in the game, 3-1.
In the final period, Kings couldn’t add to their lead in the remaining four minutes of the major but the Clippers, buoyed by the big penalty-killing effort, drew a goal closer at 6:52.
It stayed 3-2 until late in the game when the Kings took a penalty and the Clippers pulled their goalie for a two-man advantage.
Just as he left the penalty box, Kings defenceman Andy Stevens collected a turnover inside his own blue line and drifted a long shot into the vacated net to make it 4-2 at 18:33.
Clippers forward Sheldon Rempal, who had been frustrated by Smith all night, including a save on a penalty shot, finally beat him with a goal at 19:12, but the Kings held on for the 4-3 win.
The team carried the momentum of that win to Sunday when they blew by the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on goals from Mullin, Hunter Findlater, McCarrick, Jeremey Leipsic, Rylan Ball, Kyle Betts and Jack Long.
Long, who was celebrating his 16th birthday, also picked up an assist and the game’s first star while netminder Wornig scooped up the second star with 34 saves for his first BCHL shutout.
Perhaps the best compliment paid to the Kings was from Alberni Valley Bulldogs commentator Evan Hammond who said, with reference to their tough schedule, “I’d hate to see them at the start of a road trip.”
Clearly, the Kings are improving with every game and with a few games under their belts they will benefit from the experience heading into this week’s BCHL showcase in Chilliwack.
Kings are scheduled to play in the first two days of the four-day event with the opener on Thursday, September 24 at 10 am against Coquitlam Express and then Friday, September 25 at 1 pm versus Surrey Eagles.
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