Even more impressive than the seven goals scored by the Powell River Regals in the opener was the dazzling manner in which they put the puck in the net.
Poise, finesse and even the wow factor took full advantage of the tired Stony Plain Eagles who arrived shortly before the drop of the puck.
Regals took the lead on John Murgatroyd’s low shot at 1:12 of the first period but Stony Plain responded with two goals to lead 2-1 after one.
Powell River roared back with five unanswered goals in the second and one more in the third to skate to a relatively easy win.
David Brumby snagged his first win with a solid 18-save performance in goal and the Regals were off to a great start in the series.
After a day’s rest the Eagles made their own statement when they brought a much better effort to game two.
Goaltender Dave Rathjen gets much of the credit as he stopped 29 of 31 shots to chalk up his first win 6-2.
This game was much more chippy than the first with 54 minutes in penalties but the strategy worked well for the Eagles who tied the series 1-1.
Saturday night was much of the same when the Regals ran into a determined flock of Eagles.
Stony Plain scored the first goal at 6:59 and answered the Regals every time they tied the game. This trend continued through to the end of the second period with the Eagles leading 4-3.
The tight battle continued until the middle of the final period but when the Regals opened up to get the equalizer they gave the Eagles a number of odd man rushes.
The Alberta champions took advantage of their opportunities and put the game on ice with four unanswered goals in the last 10 minutes to make the final 8-3.
With the Eagles leading the series 2-1, Regals knew they had to get to work early in game four on Sunday and put in a strong 60 minutes.
They controlled much of the play early and were eventually rewarded when Elias Godoy gave them a 1-0 lead at 6:26 of the first period.
Eagles were able to tie the game at 11:49 but Powell River continued to work hard and took two unanswered goals in the second period.
Godoy picked up his second of the game at 1:30 and then, on the powerplay, Dale Lupul turned a Godoy centring pass into a hard one-timer that found its mark at 12:22.
Regals were outshooting the Eagles by a lopsided 23-10 total after two periods and if they could carry their energy into the third period it looked as though they would extend the series to a fifth game.
Eagles, however, must have had quite the motivational speech during the break because a different team took the ice in the third and it was much better than the one that played periods one and two.
They ripped off two goals in the first five minutes and then scored the eventual winner on a bad Regal turnover at 9:01 to take the lead 4-3 and never look back.
Doug McKenzie, namesake of the McKenzie Cup, was on hand to award the trophy to his grandson-in-law, Mike Thompson, who was very pleased with his team.
“We struggled for the first couple of periods,” Thompson said. “Powell River was not going to just give us the game and they sure didn’t. Hats off to the boys for playing that third period the way they did.”
Coach Tod English was equally proud of his team and said, “We just had two- or three-minute breakdowns and it’s good hockey and that’s what happens. That was really our seventh game and I think we were mentally fatigued. If we’d played a little better in the third we’d be playing tomorrow.”
As it is the Regals will have to wait for next year.
