Powell River Kings acquired Kurt Keats last summer in exchange for three players and that move has already paid off huge dividends early in the season.
The young 1995, five-foot seven-inch, 170-pound sparkplug is off to a quick start to share the BC Hockey League (BCHL) top spot in scoring and leads a productive offence for the Kings.
Last week’s BCHL Player of the Week once again put in a clutch performance on Friday, September 27, to post a 4-2 victory over the visiting Langley Rivermen.
Both teams looked like visitors in the first period with a slow start and an in-cohesive attack that yielded few shots and no goals.
Even with a two-man advantage, Kings registered no shots and ended the first period with a meagre 7-6 lead on the shot clock.
Obviously, after a substandard performance, Kings stepped up the pace in the second period and Jarid Lukosevicius broke the 0-0 tie on a Langley turnover and perfectly placed shot off the iron and in at 8:04.
Langley answered right back at 9:10 but Kings added two more in the second half of the period, Keats at 14:47 on the powerplay and Stephen Hiff at 18:29, to lead 3-1 at the break.
The third period was interesting only because the Kings made it so.
They stretched their lead to 4-1 when Keats fed a perfect centring pass in to Ryan Scarfo who tipped it in at 6:40.
It looked as though Powell River could just skate it out from there but a string of bad penalties late in the game allowed Langley to give them a scare.
Luke Nogard for interference at 17:07 and JJ Coleshaw for tripping at 17:44 gave Langley a two-man advantage for the balance of the game.
In addition, a penalty shot was awarded when defenceman Luke Ripley lifted the Kings’ net off the ice, but goalie Jeff Smith held his ground and Austin Azurdia’s shot went off the post at 19:49.
Kings took a timeout to discuss the situation when Langley pulled their goalie with over a minute to play to gain a six-on-three advantage.
But it was pretty much left to Smith to make several saves on point-blank shots and preserve the win.
There was a lot of relief expressed after a scary win in the only game scheduled for the Kings on the weekend.
“Dumb penalties,” said head coach and general manager Kent Lewis, “and I wasn’t happy about it. You’ve just got to be smart and read the game and we didn’t get away with a simple hack, so hey, put the sticks away...but the penalty kill was huge and Smitty again was good.”
Smith collected his second win in a row with Jonah Imoo on a college visit, and he admittedly was a little lucky when he faced his second penalty shot in as many games.
That and the shorthanded situation added a considerable amount of stress for the goaltender. “They are big guys,” he said of the screen during the six-on-three situation, “and I was having trouble seeing the puck. Fortunately, when the shots were on the net, I was in the right position.”
Keats, who once again was prominent on the scoresheet with a goal and two assists, commented on the Player of the Week award. “It was exciting,” he said of the recognition. “The pucks seemed to bounce my way last week. But I don’t think you look into it too much because it’s still pretty early and as long as the team is winning I’m happy. With team success, the individual awards will come for everybody.”
Of the game he said, “We’ve got a lot of guys out of the lineup and I’m just excited to see what we could do with a full lineup.”
Of his new team, Keats said, “I love it here in Powell River. I love the coaching staff, the guys on the team, I love the town, so I’m having lots of fun.”
Kings host the interior division leader, West Kelowna Warriors, at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 4, then travel to Duncan on Saturday, October 5, to play Cowichan Valley Capitals.
Kings’ Scroll: Canadian Junior Hockey League has the Kings moving up two spots this week, from sixth to fourth in national standings.
