Fans who left Hap Parker Arena after watching Jarid Lukosevicius score in overtime Friday night against Salmon Arm Silverbacks, missed something many hockey fans have never seen—two goals required to win in sudden death.
Lukosevicius had scored on a one-timer with a minute to go in the first overtime. As fans exited the building, the officials’ conference ended with the goal being called off because Kurt Keats’ visor was lost during the scoring play. He received an ineligible player minor penalty.
In the second overtime Jacob Pritchard gave the remaining fans a thrill when he went end to end in the first minute, waited for the goalie to go down, and then roofed the winner.
After a couple of weekend wins, 4-3 against Silverbacks and 4-1 versus Victoria Grizzlies, it is apparent that Powell River Kings’ stock is rising in the BC Hockey League.
However, this is a league of parity and, as was clearly illustrated in their game on Friday, to be successful they’ll need to roll up their sleeves and work hard for the entire game—not just 30 minutes.
It has always been a mystery why a capable group shows up flat for a game but that’s exactly what happened early against the Silverbacks.
The visitors virtually ran over the Kings early and without the stellar goaltending of Stefan Wornig the score could easily have been much worse than 1-0.
With the Silverbacks on a five-on-three man advantage, the Kings’ six-foot, six-inch rookie goaltender stood tall blocking a flurry of shots, but had one slip by him.
Kings were still sluggish in the second period but found energy with a goal from Kurt Keats who tied the game 1-1 at 4:53.
Despite the goal, Salmon Arm still controlled play at this point and got two more to lead 3-1 midway through the period.
A switch went on for the Kings when Jordan Burns’ wrist shot went in through a screen. Then the game was tied again 3-3 on Keats’ shorthanded goal a minute later.
In the third period Kings had the Silverbacks on the run but neither team could score before a bizarre set of circumstances set up an exciting finish—a disallowed goal followed by a second sudden-death marker.
With reference to their success the previous weekend, head coach and general manager Kent Lewis said, “We’re good, 6-1 over Chilliwack and life’s great. Tonight we got outworked, outhit and we weren’t ready at all. Our power play let us down. It was a little individualistic and silly but on the bright side Wornig, good for him, because he had to deal with a lot of stuff tonight.”
The rookie goaltender was certainly the difference early in the game and was excited to get back into the action after his injury.
“I hated missing the games,” he said. “The first period was key. I got 16 shots with the first shot at 15 seconds so I really felt the puck early and got into the game focused and ready to go.”
Forward Liam Lawson admitted to a collective lacklustre effort early for the Kings. “We really didn’t get our legs going until at least halfway through the second,” he said, “but once we did we really took it to them.”
The important thing is the Kings recovered in time to earn a valuable two points in a tight divisional race.
“The win is huge,” Lawson stressed, “especially in our division where there’s guys right behind us and first is not too far out of our reach.”
Apparently, the added incentive of hosting divisional rival Victoria gave the Kings plenty of reason to carry over the momentum of Friday’s success.
They got to work from the opening whistle and 644 fans got a good look at what this team is really capable of.
Scoreless after the first period the Kings kept working hard and then, at 15:55 of the second, Brent Lashuk’s stick deflected Justin Sadler’s errant pass in front of the Victoria net and the puck fluttered over the Grizzlies’ surprised goalie.
As the Kings grew stronger the Grizzlies buckled under their aggressive forecheck and Jonny Evans and Ross Hnidy each added a goal.
Grizzlies broke Brett Magnus’s shutout bid at 17:22 but Lawson sealed the win when he deposited an empty-netter with a second to go to round out the 4-1 win.
Captain JJ Coleshaw summed up a weekend that started slow but finished strong. “It wasn’t the best yesterday, but this game was awesome,” he said. “The guys played great, every single one of them. So we’re very happy with that and we’re starting to play Kings hockey now.”
They’ll need it against a desperate team, Cowichan Capitals, who visit for a doubleheader starting 7:15 pm Friday, November 28, and again 5 pm Saturday, November 29, at Hap Parker Arena.
DIVISION: Island Division
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS OTW GF GA
Nanaimo 25 17 8 0 0 34 4 108 74
Alberni Valley 24 14 7 1 2 31 2 98 76
Powell River 24 12 7 0 5 29 3 84 85
Victoria 24 11 9 0 4 26 2 82 92
Cowichan Valley 24 5 18 0 1 11 1 62 104
