Powell River Kings were the last BC Hockey League (BCHL) team to play its first exhibition game and perhaps that had something to do with a winless trip on the weekend.
Kings lost a close one to Coquitlam Express 4-3 on Friday, September 12, the next game 7-3 to Chilliwack Chiefs on Saturday and then a wild 9-7 dust up in Langley against the Rivermen on Sunday afternoon.
Kings have only been playing against each other for the last two weeks but the majority of the 26 players on the bus got their first look at real competition against last year’s Fred Page Cup champion, the Express.
Neither team looked particularly sharp in the scoreless first period, as veterans Stephen Hiff, JJ Coleshaw, Jarid Lukosevicius, Cole Arcuri and Curtis McCarrick watched from the stands.
Express got a soft one to start the second at 16 seconds but the trouble for the Kings was just getting started.
Back-to-back majors awarded to Austin Kamer for an open ice hit and Jordan Burns for a hit from behind gave the Express a five-on-three for almost five minutes.
The game was delayed while an ambulance was called to attend to Express forward Jackson Cressey and when play resumed Coquitlam added three powerplay goals to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Jacob Pritchard got the Kings on the board to make it 4-1 after two periods and added another 13 seconds into the third with a great solo effort.
Kings called a time out with a couple of minutes to go, and Kurt Keats did score to cut the lead to 4-3, but despite some good pressure they couldn’t get closer than that.
The penalty kill during the five-minute two-man advantage definitely hurt them but aside from that the Kings performed very well in their first game together.
Brett Magnus recorded his first loss as a King in the net.
The next night in Chilliwack, Kings led the Chiefs 3-2 after one period on goals from Wes St Amand, Nick Nonis and McCarrick.
It was all Chiefs the rest of the way, however, with four goals in the second and one more in the third to cruise to a 7-3 win.
Stefan Wornig and Chilliwack native Dawson Rodin combined to face 47 shots in the loss.
Sunday afternoon was everything one would expect an old-time exhibition game to be.
Fights, ejections and buckets of goals made for a wild affair that ended up with the Kings on the short side of a 9-7 score.
Not the perfect scenario for the Kings who had yielded seven powerplay goals the previous two nights but sometimes a Slapshot-type of game can have a positive affect on a team.
Kings surrendered four more powerplay goals and were good on four of 10 chances with the man advantage.
Lukosevicius led the team with two goals while Magnus and Wornig paired up in the Kings’ third loss.
“It was a little bit stupid,” said head coach and general manager Kent Lewis, of the extracurricular activities. “The game was meant to be played a certain way and our team has always played with some edge, but that was a little stupid today.”
With the BCHL showcase scheduled for this weekend, Kings will want to keep the edge but bring the smarts to Prospera Arena in Chilliwack.
That’s where they’ll play in front of a packed house of National Hockey League scouts and college recruiters at 7 pm on Saturday, September 20 against the Chiefs and then get right back on the ice the next morning at 10:30 am to face Trail Smoke Eaters.
