Powell River Kings’ record against the three teams they are chasing in the standings is five wins and 14 losses.*
It shouldn’t be surprising then that a 2-1 overtime loss to Cowichan Valley Capitals, 6-2 defeat to Victoria Grizzlies and 2-1 loss to Alberni Valley Bulldogs yielded just a single point on a three-game road trip to Vancouver Island.
Inconsistency, lack of effort and discipline were discussed post-game. Disturbingly, coach and general manager Kent Lewis is lost for words as to why, after 46 games, the team continues to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Whether physical or mental, the Kings find a way to shoot themselves in the foot in many of the 21 losses so far.
Against Cowichan on Friday, January 25, they opened brilliantly when Evan Richardson got to a puck in the crease and knocked it in at 2:31.
Kings played a near perfect game for almost two periods until Drew Dorantes took exception to a hard hit from Kai Cathers and lit into him with both fists.
The problem was Cathers didn’t fight back and Dorantes took a two, a five and a 10-minute penalty while Cathers got the two-minute minor.
Caps promptly scored the tying 1-1 goal in 20 seconds and that’s the way it ended after regulation.
Kings were great in overtime until Jordan Burns took a hooking penalty at 2:06 and naturally the Capitals took full advantage with the powerplay winner at 4:04 to end the game 2-1.
On Saturday Kings visited Victoria’s Bear Mountain Arena to try and right the ship but the Grizzlies reeled off six straight goals in a 6-2 win.
Jonah Imoo started in goal but was pulled for Braeden Ostepchuk after allowing four goals in 19 shots.
Defensive lapses, inability to finish chances on the Grizzlies’ net and discipline, such as Brandan Smith’s four-minute spearing penalty after a Victoria goal, led to a loss the Kings would sooner forget.
One royal bright spot was near the end when Jordan Benton slapped in a goal from the blue line and then Richardson, with his team down two men, peeled down the right wing and scored at 19:35.
They had one game left to salvage some pride and, even though they lost to the Bulldogs 2-1, put in a game they could be proud of.
It didn’t start out great when Bulldog defenceman Chase Van Allen let a shot go from the point that was deflected in by Mitch Makin at 0:19.
Kings came roaring back and actually had more chances to score in this period than they had had in the two previous games.
They capitalized on only one of them, however, and it came off the stick of Matt Dupont, who had a couple of cracks at it before putting the puck in at 8:10.
Tied 1-1 after the first period, Bulldogs went ahead at 9:58 of the second when Imoo made the initial save but the rebound went to Chase Paylor who had a lot of net and time to score the winner.
Imoo gave his team every chance to win with a solid 30-save performance, but the Kings couldn’t find the equalizer.
The best opportunity came right at the end when Luke Nogard, who had just returned from serving a penalty, was alone in front, but he narrowly missed on his shot with five seconds to go.
Kings have fought through injuries the entire season and the trend continues with players like Luke Ripley, Matt Scarth, Jarryd Leung, JJ Coleshaw and Smith on the mend.
Unfortunately, the schedule waits for no one and this week the Kings get the country’s fourth ranked Junior A team for three games.
They host the Grizzlies at 7:30 pm on Friday, February 1, 5 pm on Saturday, February 2 and then travel to Victoria for an evening game on Tuesday, February 5.
(*Editor's note: This story has been revised from the original version. Only the first sentence has changed, to correct the Kings' record.)
