Powell River Kings wrapped up a six-game home stand, with back-to-back games against last place Cowichan Valley Capitals, and ticked off every item on the “to do list” except for one.
They shone in 60 minutes to dominate the Caps 6-1 Friday but, despite playing well enough on Saturday, allowed Cowichan to leave with a 3-2 win in double overtime.
The three-point weekend gave them 16 of a possible 20 in the month of November and 11 of 12 during the extended home stand.
Perhaps buoyed by the good news of Hockey Canada invitations extended to Kurt Keats, Jarid Lukosevicius, Carmine Buono and goaltender Stefan Wornig for the World Junior A Challenge in December, the Kings played one of their best games of the year Friday.
Despite just the single goal by Jordan Burns in the first period, Kings hit more iron than a farrier during the Kentucky Derby. Together with stellar goaltending from Wornig, the team was playing well.
They struck early at 0:37 seconds of the second on a pair of pretty ones by Lukosevicius and Keats before Cowichan got on the board at 14:20.
Kings’ Curtis McCarrick immediately answered in 26 seconds and then captain JJ Coleshaw gave them a big 5-1 cushion at 18:02.
Lukosevicius finished a pretty three-way passing play from linemates Jacob Pritchard and Keats to top off a very good effort by the Kings who were praised by their coach after the game.
“You’ve got to play the right way and now I think the guys understand what that is,” said head coach and general manager Kent Lewis. “You just can’t stray from it.”
Colton Sandberg returned to the lineup after a lengthy injury.
He suffered a nasty cut on his very first shift of the game and returned for limited duty in the second period with a stitched up cheek.
“A guy dumped the puck in and it hit me in the face,” said the gutsy defenceman.
Secondary scoring and special teams have improved the Kings’ statistical standing but more than that depth players, like Austin Kamer, are having more of an impact.
“It took a while for me to find a spot in the lineup,” he said, “but it’s good to step up and be rewarded with some more minutes and penalty kill time. You just do the little things and the game gets so much easier and you start winning.”
Kings had an historic stranglehold at home over the Capitals but they still had to be focused for the rematch on Saturday.
“We’re expecting a better effort from them tomorrow,” Kamer predicted, “and it’s going to be a much tougher game.”
He was right but, save for the ending, the Kings should have won the game.
Coleshaw and Pritchard got them out to a 2-0 lead and Capitals clawed their way back to tie in regulation.
After a scoreless first overtime period Keats was stripped of the puck at centre and Cap’s Darien Craighead completed the upset by stuffing in the winner on Brett Magnus’s short side.
Kings’ successful home stand in November flips to a tough 12-game December schedule with 10 of those on the road.
The loss of four candidates to Team Canada West for all or parts of the three-week month represents some familiar challenges for Powell River.
“It’s all good,” said Lewis. “We’ve been faced with this before and the key is having the depth and playing without them. You take it as a compliment to your program and you’re losing people for all the right reasons.”
Of the schedule he said, “You’re never really at home much in December and I’ve liked us on the road so far. We’re 4-4 and 4 with a lot of games going into overtime but we’ve shown good resilience, which is a plus. Hopefully we’ll prove it.”
A busy December starts with a visit to Surrey on Friday, December 5, then Penticton on Saturday, December 6 and finally Trail Sunday afternoon, December 7.
Kings Scroll:
The four Kings will attend Canada West selection camp December 7, 8 and 9. Those who make the team will travel to Kindersley, Saskatchewan to play against Team Canada East, United States, Russia, Sweden and Denmark December 14 to 20. In other news, Powell River native Micah Aivazoff has left his position as assistant coach for Victoria Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are going through their 10th coaching change in eight years. Craig Didmond, who was replaced this year by Brad Knight, is back and Knight has now gone.
DIVISION: Island Division
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS
Nanaimo 28 20 8 0 0 40
Powell River 26 13 7 0 6 32
Alberni Valley 26 14 9 1 2 31
Victoria 26 11 10 0 5 27
Cowichan Valley 27 7 19 0 1 15
