Last week was a busy one for Powell River Kings, but after the dust settled they had welcomed some new players, said goodbye to others and in the process inched their way up in the standings.
They picked up six out of six points by clipping Surrey Eagles 3-2 on Friday night, January 13, at Hap Parker Arena, biting Alberni Valley Bulldogs 7-0 in Alberni on Saturday and bearing down on Victoria Grizzlies Sunday 10-2.
Four new players took the ice on Friday but Teal Burns, who hadn’t played in the BC Hockey League for quite a while, felt right at home on his first shift.
“Back when I was younger, Lindores [Eagles’ forward Robert] and I used to go at it,” he said, “and when I saw him with the puck I just wanted to hit him.”
Burns had himself quite a debut when he scored the first Kings’ goal on a nice setup from Steven Schmidt.
Cohen Adair, on a great individual effort, scored the second to tie the game 2-2 at the end of regulation.
This game, due to its importance, had a playoff feel to it and perhaps that’s why the lid nearly came off the arena when Craig Dalrymple got the winner at 3:54 of overtime.
“I found an opening and Teagan [Waugh] gave it to me and I hit the net,” said Dalrymple.
An excited team left for Vancouver Island the next day to meet Alberni at Weyerhaeuser Arena. Their energy carried over to a 7-0 pounding of the Bulldogs.
Dalrymple scored the first and last goal of the game with Jordan Benton, Brandan Smith, Burns, Evan Richardson and JP Villeneuve adding singles.
Sean Maguire recorded his third shutout of the year with 36 saves.
Sunday, the Kings hustled down to Victoria, where the Grizzlies were waiting at Bear Mountain Arena.
Both teams were playing their third game in three days but unlike the Kings, who traded up on January 10, the Grizzlies recently lost eight players to trades or injuries.
What was left wasn’t enough to handle the goal-hungry Kings on Sunday and with Jonah Imoo in goal, they skated to an easy 10-2 win.
Richardson and James Neil scored twice with Brandon Tidy, Jarryd Leung, Brendon MacDonald, Daniel Schuler, Schmidt and Adair adding a goal each.
Imoo was very sharp in the net and recorded his first Kings victory with 18 saves.
It seemed, after the three games, like the Kings addressed some of their concerns with their trades at the deadline.
The 3-0 record validated Burns’ desire to come to Powell River. “I knew this was the team I wanted to be on,” he said. “I’ve been on some losing teams lately and I love winning so I’m happy to be here.”
He was one of three trades made by the Kings on January 10. “We had to do what was best for the club, the fans and the sponsors,” said Kent Lewis, head coach and general manager, “so we need to put the best product on the ice all the time.” Kings often don’t make a move mid-season, but “in this situation, in one of the deals we were forced into moving a player and in the other ones we really felt it benefitted all parties.
“Jonah Imoo came about very late,” he said. “We owe a lot of gratitude toward Richmond Sockeyes who are a heck of a hockey club and lost their starting goaltender. They understood our situation and they allowed him to go, so hats off to them.”
Hats off also to Brenden Forbes (Nanaimo) and Carter Shinkaruk (Merritt), who scored for their new teams in their first home games, and also Jamie Phillips who led the league in a number of netminder categories.
If fans thought the Surrey game on Friday had a playoff feel to it then this weekend should be even more intense.
Kings host conference-leading Cowichan Valley Capitals at 7:30 pm on Friday, January 20 and Saturday, January 21.
DIVISION: Coastal Conference
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS
Cowichan Valley 41 25 10 1 5 56
Powell River 42 25 13 2 2 54
Surrey 39 24 10 1 4 53
Coquitlam 39 22 13 2 2 48
Nanaimo 39 17 15 0 7 41
Victoria 42 18 24 0 0 36
Alberni Valley 38 14 22 2 0 30
Langley 41 13 24 1 3 30
