Powell River Kings have developed a serious case of road rash after losing two more games on the road.
This weekend they were edged 3-2 by Nanaimo Clippers on Saturday night and then dropped a 4-2 decision to Cowichan Valley Capitals on Sunday afternoon.
Powell River has had an inordinate number of away games early in the schedule. However, it’s not just the losses but the manner in which the team plays that has coaches scratching their heads.
Three Kings’ players started the week with good news when Hockey Canada and Canadian Junior Hockey League asked them to join 58 others at the four-day selection camp in Calgary for Team West tryouts for the World Junior A Challenge.
Kings’ coach and general manager Kent Lewis was in Calgary as well to mentor this year’s coaches and Evan Richardson, Luke Ripley and goaltender Jonah Imoo left for the Stampede city on Sunday.
All three were in the lineup Saturday in Nanaimo where the game took on the look of a typical Kings-Clippers match.
Instead of Richardson, who has been a target in previous games, it was Drew Dorantes’ head that had the bull’s eye on it and Nanaimo’s Mason Mitchell knocked him to the ice in the first period.
Ripley came in to take on Mitchell and both were sent off for 17 minutes while Dorantes was lost to the Kings for the rest of the game and the next one in Cowichan.
The strategy is an old one for Nanaimo but Kings did get the upper hand when Braydon Low reached a rebound and beat the goaltender on the left post at 3:39 of the second period.
They managed to protect the 1-0 lead until 15:42 when former King Brendan Forbes scored unassisted. Then, in the third, Nanaimo turned a poor clearing attempt into a 2-1 lead.
A couple of penalties to Nanaimo midway through the third allowed JP Villeneuve to tie the game 2-2 at 13:54 but he and his teammates were unable to contain the Clippers for a full 60 minutes.
Nanaimo had beaten Cowichan 6-5 the night before, scoring the winner with eight seconds to go and, with a poor clearing attempt by the Kings, they did it again with a mere 12 seconds to play.
Little things like getting a puck out and standing around with less than a minute to go are going to cost the team valuable points.
Such as it is, Kings had an afternoon date with the Capitals, who likely had vengeance on their minds, the next day.
Powell River had yet to lose to Cowichan Valley in three games. However, this one started differently when the Caps opened the scoring.
Matt Grant took the first one at 3:04 and then, after Kings took a couple of offensive zone penalties, Troy Patterson made it 2-0 on the powerplay.
King’s newcomer, Jaret Smith, scored with his own rebound on the powerplay before the end of the first period but Cowichan made it 3-1 with the only goal of the second.
Teal Burns stretched it to 4-1 with his first goal against his former team at 1:30 of the final period and Jarryd Leung struck to close the gap to 4-2 at 3:05.
Drawing even closer became a real possibility when Cowichan took a double minor for high sticking but Kings were ineffective on the powerplay and had to settle for their second loss of the weekend.
Kings have their work cut out for them in the weeks ahead as Nanaimo overtook them and Cowichan closed the gap in the standings.
They begin the week at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 2, by hosting Coquitlam Express at Hap Parker Arena. They then depart on Saturday for Vancouver Island to play Cowichan once again and then Sunday afternoon, November 4, they will play Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
