Powell River Regals, representing the West Coast Senior Men’s League, were in Prince Rupert last week fighting for the Coy Cup.
Ready to defend the title they had won at Hap Parker Arena last year, the Regals’ lineup consisted of a young contingent of local players strengthened by a handful of recruits called up for the week-long tournament.
They were successful in the round robin with two 5-3 wins over Prince Rupert Rampage and Kitimat Ice Demons but lost to Williams Lake Stampeders 4-1 which put them in the semifinal for a rematch.
Williams Lake had the Regals’ number this year and in a wild finish on Friday night, hung on to defeat the defending champions 6-4.
Regals left Powell River on Tuesday morning and after a couple of flights arrived at the airport on Digby Island with just enough time to get checked into their hotel and over to Jim Ciccone Memorial Arena.
They began their defence of the cup against Prince Rupert, which is the newest entry in the Central Interior Hockey League (CIHL) and had just completed its most successful season ever with a solid record
of 11 wins and five losses.
Obviously, the home team was energized by the crowd and jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Regals after one period. Regals bounced back to tie 2-2 after the second and edged the Rampage 5-3.
Tyson Boucher, Keegan Young, Andy Welsh and John Murgatroyd with two scored for the Regals while Rene Holmgren picked up his first Coy Cup win in goal.
Up next on Wednesday were the reigning CIHL champions Williams Lake Stampeders and they proved to be too much for the Regals.
After a scoreless first period Regals drew first blood but trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Unlike the night before, they didn’t seem to have any jump in the final period and lost 4-1.
“That was our bus-legs game,” said Coach Tod English. “We just didn’t have it and they definitely outworked us in this one.”
Needing a win to have a chance at the bye into the final Regals did their job with a solid 5-3 win over previously undefeated Kitimat on Thursday.
They skated to a 3-1 lead after one period and never looked back with a Murgatroyd hat trick and a couple of goals from Welsh.
“Our legs were better and we executed a better game plan in this one,” said English who added, “All we could do was to wait for the decision from the other game.”
The host, Prince Rupert, had to defeat Williams Lake but it didn’t happen, so the coveted bye went to Kitimat while the Regals played their fourth game in four nights against the Stampeders on Friday in the semifinal.
Williams Lake built a 3-0 lead after two periods and could have had more if not for the heroics of Regals’ goalie Holmgren.
In the third period the Regals incredibly clawed back to 5-4 but an empty netter sealed their fate and eliminated them from further competition.
Welsh, Murgatroyd and Joe Caldarone with two goals rounded out the scoring for the Regals who, considering their long layoff of over one month, had themselves a pretty good tournament.
“The host was great,” English summed up, “and the teams were all great. There were no shenanigans, no fights or I would even say bad hits. It’s a tough tournament to win. In 18 years there are only seven times we haven’t won. In Coy, Savage or in an Allan we’re so expected to win that it is just very disappointing.”
Regals can take some solace in the fact that they were the only team to beat the 2011 Coy Cup champions Ice Demons who won 8-5 in the final over Williams Lake.
