When BC Hockey League teams talk about the Powell River franchise one often hears the phrase “Kings’ hockey.” The reference is to grit, hustle, determination and hard-nosed hockey that other teams hate to play against.
There’s no doubt that, on paper, Powell River Kings have a roster that can compete with any team in the league but in their losses they are making it too easy for the opposition and that’s not sitting well with the coaches.
After the set of four games last week starting with a 2-1 win in Cowichan on Tuesday, October 14, then a 4-3 overtime loss in Nanaimo on Wednesday, a 5-4 overtime loss to Prince George at home on Friday and finally a 4-1 loss to Nanaimo Sunday afternoon, head coach and general manager Kent Lewis appeared to be very frustrated.
“It was a tight game today,” he said, Sunday, after the loss, “but we didn’t get the effort we needed. We’re just not where we need to be and don’t have the determined effort that I feel we need.
“Today we had two soft goals in terms of our defensive approach by not picking up guys, nothing on the goaltender. It’ll get a lot harder before it gets easier.”
The week started out promisingly in Duncan as the Kings built a well deserved two-goal lead over Cowichan Valley Capitals, on goals from Kurt Keats and Jarid Lukosevicius.
They held the 2-0 lead all the way to the 16:58 mark of the final period when Cowichan scored to get within a goal.
With just a second left on the clock the Capitals almost tied it up but Brett Magnus sprawled out to foil Luke Novak.
On to Nanaimo, Wednesday, where the Clippers scored twice in the first five minutes before the Kings could get untracked.
Powell River called an early time out and recovered to get the next two goals by Jacob Pritchard and Lukosevicius but Nanaimo held a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal to end the second period.
Keats got the Kings even 3-3 on the power play but neither could win it in regulation.
The first overtime was scoreless but at 2:24 of the second period the Clippers ended it 4-3.
Back home at Hap Parker Arena on Friday, Kings spotted the Spruce Kings a four-goal lead before completing a four-goal comeback led by Keats with two, Lukosevicius and Pritchard.
Again, however, Powell River lost in double overtime at 1:24 for a 5-4 final.
There came a chance to avenge the loss of three days earlier in Nanaimo when the Clippers paid a visit to the Hap on Sunday afternoon but it appears that team has Powell River’s number this year.
After an evenly matched first period, the Clippers held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Once again it was Keats for the Kings who evened the score 1-1 but Clippers restored a 2-1 lead in less than a minute.
Into the final period, the Clippers put it away with two more within 13 seconds to skate to their second win over the Kings in three nights.
Aside from their fourth-place standing, the most glaring statistic for the Kings is a 4.50 GAA (goals against average), the second worst in the entire league.
They’ve tried to address this with a couple of moves that include the acquisition of two defencemen, Ross Hnidy who was released by the Saskatoon Blades in September and Tony DeVito of the US Junior Hockey League’s Lincoln Stars. To make room for DeVito, Kings sent defenceman Cole Arcuri to the Merritt Centennials for future considerations.
For a coach who prides himself on keeping moves to a minimum, this early activity is a strong indication of Lewis’s desire to plug holes in the defence quickly.
Kings hit the road for three games this week starting with Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday, October 24, then Merritt on Saturday, October 25 and winding up in Prince George Sunday, October 26.
