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Kings bear down on Grizzlies

Doubleheader win keeps team together

In a pair of pivotal games against Victoria Grizzlies last weekend, Powell River Kings won 4-3 in overtime on Friday, January 9, and 6-4 on Saturday, January 10, but some supporters wore big smiles for other reasons.

Lucky tickets were drawn for 12 more prizes in the Kings’ giant raffle and grand prize winner Dan Dupuis was the happiest of them all.

The announcement of his name drew a loud cheer from over 900 fans and he raced out to centre ice to claim a cheque for $50,000.

It has to be said that most ticket purchases are made with birth dates, lucky numbers and gut feeling but in his case Dupuis was the recipient of a gift.

“We got the ticket for Christmas,” he said, smiling. “My mother- and father-in-law bought it for us.” Still in shock, he said: “When they announced Roseann and Dan Dupuis, I was just freaking.”

Dupuis is a realtor who just purchased a home and he said, “The money will pay off some renovations that we’ve done on the house and maybe we’ll finally get a vacation.”

In addition to the excitement of the draw, fans were treated to a great game that was tied 2-2 heading into the final period.

Kurt Keats and Jarid Lukosevicius scored the first period goals and then linemate Brent Lashuk got the lead at 3:30 of the third.

The first five goals were scored on the power play and the Grizzlies made it six for six to tie 3-3 and eventually send the game into overtime.

Kings almost blew it when they suffered a two-man shortage and four-minute minor late in the game but the penalty killers stood tall and held Victoria off the scoresheet.

Then, with 10 seconds remaining in the first overtime and a penalty about to be called on Victoria, Kings’ defenceman Nick Nonis headed to the slot and drilled home the winner, his first BC Hockey League goal, on a pass from Jacob Pritchard.

“I knew the delay call was on so I decided it was a good time to jump up and maybe get a scoring chance,” he said later. “Pritch found me in the slot there and I just shot it. It caught the five hole and went in and was a great way to score my first. It felt like a playoff game. It was a great atmosphere tonight.”

Head coach and general manager Kent Lewis agreed. “It was a tight game as we knew it would be and it came down to special teams. We had to kill a huge four-minute penalty at the end of the game and that took great guts.”

Looking toward the second game of the weekend, he said, “We have to be better tomorrow with our pucks. Our guys have to get used to a verbal bench, even coaches chirping our players, and deal with that and be disciplined.”

There were just six minor penalties in the next game but the Kings led 3-2 after the first period, 5-4 after two and scored the only goal in the third to win 6-4.

Lukosevicius had a pair with Curtis McCarrick, JJ Coleshaw, Keats and Liam Lawson doing the damage for the Kings.

Lawson’s insurance goal at 9:35 of the third period was a blast from the blue line that caught everyone off guard.

“Jonny [Evans] kept it in there and flipped it in the middle,” he said, “and their D-man just backed right up so I thought why not take a slapshot here. It worked out well, because the goalie wasn’t expecting it from that high and the D-man was setting a pretty good screen for him so it went right upstairs.”

“Laser” Lawson, as some fans were calling him, also spoke of the importance of the set with Victoria. “It’s important to come together as a group,” he said, aware of the passing trade deadline. “It’s nice to dig deep there with everyone in the lineup and get a good effort.”

Kings will need another good effort this week on a long road trip that includes Friday, January 16, in Coquitlam, Saturday, January 17, in West Kelowna and a mid-afternoon game Sunday in Salmon Arm.