Six players head to world championship camp

BC Hockey League’s first-place team, the Powell River Kings, is sending six of the league’s 27 top prospects to the World Junior A Challenge camp at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary from October 26 to 30. After collecting a silver medal last year, it’s the second call for defenceman Luke Ripley and goaltender Jonah Imoo. They will be joined by Jeremy Leclerc, Jordan Burns, Jarid Lukosevicius and Kurt Keats who played for Team Canada East last year. It’s quite an endorsement for the franchise, and coach and general manager Kent Lewis is extremely pleased for both the organization and its players. “You take that as a huge compliment for your program,” he said. “You go out and recruit young players and people obviously like what they see. Our guys get added exposure because there are a lot of NHL and college scouts there and it’s an opportunity for them to make our team [Canada West] and represent our country.” In the players’ absence Kings are going to rely heavily on their affiliate player (AP)replacements. “I like our AP list,” Lewis said. “Credit to our staff of coaches who’ve assembled some good APs and it may be the best AP class we’ve had.” One of the players heading to Calgary is Leclerc who was pleasantly surprised to be included in the list. “I wasn’t expecting it but it’s a big honour and I’m excited to get going to Calgary,” said the rookie defenceman. “It’s a big opportunity to play faster, more skilled players and the exposure that comes with playing on the Canada West team.” His decision to come to Powell River is paying off already and the Saskatoon native said the Kings “have a real good reputation as being an honest, hard-working club and that was a big reason why I came here.” In the meantime, he and his teammates faced a couple of tough challenges at Hap Parker Arena on the weekend. They lost 2-1 to Vernon Vipers then won 4-2 over Cowichan Valley Capitals. In the first game on Friday, the Vipers sparked an old rivalry and delivered a couple of timely goals to upset the Kings. In a close checking game with very few good scoring chances, Vernon got the first one at 11:20 of the second period. Kings tied it 1-1 at 5:20 of the third but the Vipers scored the winner on the powerplay at 15:20. It was a typical tight game between the two teams where a bounce or break would have changed the outcome. “We’ve had some nights this year where shots from everywhere were going in but tonight they were hitting off skates, sticks, bodies and two posts,” said forward Luke Nogard. “But in the end we make our own luck and if we had worked harder we would have had that luck. We will definitely be ready to play Cowichan on Sunday.” He and his linemates Truman Gonzales and Stephen Hiff were, indeed, ready and able to play against the troublesome Capitals, especially after a couple of greasy goals in the first period. Unbelievably, the first shot of the game came from the Capitals’ point, hit a skate and changed direction to elude Imoo at just 0:25 seconds. JJ Coleshaw tied it shorthanded on a nifty deflection of Ripley’s point shot at 7:02 but then Cowichan went up 2-1 at 10:30 with another point shot and scrambly goal on the rebound. Kings regrouped in the second period and tied 2-2 on Nogard’s fifth goal of the year before they put the game away in the third. Gonzales and Drew Dorantes each scored to make it a 4-2 final while Imoo stopped 25 shots, including a couple of sparkling saves on breakaways, for his sixth win of the year. “It’s kind of a wake-up call,” said Dorantes of the Capitals’ quick start. “That was the first shift and it usually sets the tone. Obviously, it wasn’t the tone that we wanted, but we battled back and we got the win.” Kings next host Trail Smoke Eaters at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 25 and then Victoria Grizzlies, same time on Saturday, October 26.