That beeping sound heard at Hap Parker Arena might be the delivery of awards won by Powell River Kings last week.
Just as they dominated the BC Hockey League standings, the Kings walked off with the majority of honours to close out the regular season.
Matt Garbowsky (Coastal Conference most valuable player), Justin Dasilva (top Coastal Conference defenceman) and Kent Lewis (top Coastal Conference coach) were all selected by the coaches of the league for excellence at their positions.
A winner by virtue of his outstanding statistics was Michael Garteig (goaltender award for lowest goals against) and he also garnered the top goaltending tandem with Sean Maguire as they posted the lowest combined 1.88 goals against average.
It has to be said that to a man each of the winners humbly spoke of the support of everyone from teammates to billets and that their focus was only on the playoffs.
But to win the recognition of peers is a significant achievement and each of them has a bright future in hockey, even Lewis who, with over 20 years of experience, said, “I’m still young.”
Garbowsky is a brilliant talent and an integral part of both the powerplay and penalty-killing team.
“I like killing penalties,” he said. “It’s fun because the other team is always kind of slack and you can outwork them and get some good chances even on the penalty kill.”
Dasilva capably backed up the speedy forward on the point but of late has joined him up front on a few productive powerplay shifts.
“Knowing the point and knowing the position,” he explained, “allows me to know what they’re going to do with the puck and also I’m a big body.”
That big body gave opposing goaltenders fits but the Kings’ goalie tandem complimented their defence to combine for the top award.
“I’ve never been the backup before,” said Maguire, “but I’m just happy to be here and get as many games as possible.”
He had two shutouts of his own and was thrilled to share an award with the league’s top goalie. “He helped me with my early jitters and emotions and he was a really good mentor.”
The feeling was mutual for Garteig who said, “He is like a little brother to me. We get along great and when the year is over I’m going to miss him a lot.”
Although he worked hard in the off-season to prepare, Garteig was somewhat surprised by the numbers he posted.
“It’s kind of surreal but now that it’s happened it’s good for my confidence in knowing that I can do it and hopefully do the same in college. Now I want to focus on keeping it going through playoffs and helping the team to win.”
Kings also won the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy for finishing first on completion of the schedule and for that Lewis said he earned the praise of the other coaches.
“It’s an award that depends on how well your team does,” said Lewis humbly, “so if you recruit good kids and have a good team, that’s what I look at and it’s an award that is shared with my staff and my players.”
Two all-star teams were announced by the league as well.
First year sensation Craig Dalrymple cracked the league All-Rookie team and the Kings dominated the Coastal Conference All Stars with Garteig, Dasilva, Garbowsky and Chad Niddery, each topping the polls from league coaches.
All in all it was a very successful campaign but every recipient still has one eye on the prize that has eluded them for the last two years.
Kings Scroll:
First round playoff series is in progress with Langley leading Alberni 3-0, Surrey 3 Coquitlam 0 and Victoria 2 Nanaimo 1 after Monday’s action. Kings will play the low seed to advance at 7 pm on Tuesday, March 8 at Hap Parker Arena.
