It was billed as an eight-point weekend for first place in the BC Hockey League’s Coastal Conference and Powell River Kings got all of them when they beat Cowichan Valley Capitals 2-1 in the first game and 5-1 in the second.
Hard work, a break or two and even a contribution from Vancouver Canuck’s Green Men, made for a happy Hap Parker Arena where over 2,000 fans cheered the Kings in their sweep of the Capitals in this pivotal miniseries.
Opening night on Friday featured the spandex-clad duo known as the Green Men who dropped the ceremonial puck between captains Devin Gannon of the Capitals and Kings’ Chris Williams.
Photo taken of the ceremony was somewhat revealing in that Gannon was wearing a big smile while Williams looked like he had a world of hurt on his mind.
It’s difficult to read too much into that but the Kings did look like the more determined team when the game began.
Both teams played it tight to the vest in the scoreless first period but the Kings caught a big break at 10:45 of the second. Steven Schmidt fired the puck from the right wing to the slot and it fooled the Capitals’ goaltender when it was redirected off his defenceman’s skate.
Down 1-0, Capitals picked it up a notch and got their equalizer just four minutes later on a nice setup to even the score 1-1.
Play settled back into a tight checking pattern once again but just when overtime was creeping into everyone’s minds, Cohen Adair rushed down the left wing on a power play, fed Evan Richardson in the slot and the young sniper nailed the 2-1 winner.
After the game Kent Lewis, head coach and general manager, said, “It wasn’t a great 60 for us but the final 20 was good. We were a little too cute and we got outworked in the second, but we were better in the third and I guess that was the key period to be better.”
Brendon MacDonald, who was the Capitals’ captain until he was released and snapped up by the Kings on January 10, almost scored the first goal of the game on a shorthanded breakaway.
“Getting that chance and the fans going crazy,” he said later, “I thought geez this would be nice if I could put this one in. It didn’t work out but we won so that feels great.” He quickly added, “Tomorrow is what we’re going to focus on.”
It’s easy to see why he was Cowichan’s captain because the next day Mac, as he’s known to his teammates, played like a Mack truck in the early minutes.
After throwing some punishing checks on his first shift he literally drove through anyone in his way on his second and kept whacking at the loose puck in the crease
until he had the Kings’ first goal.
After that the Kings maintained their focus for a much better 60-minute effort which yielded goals by JP Villeneuve, Teagan Waugh, James Neil and Richardson in the 5-1 win.
Sean Maguire was, for the second night in a row, very good in net for the Kings as he made 45 saves on 47 shots on the weekend.
Commenting on his team’s success, the game’s first star Waugh said, “We circled this weekend and we knew it was going to be huge. To come out on top and be first place in the standings is awesome.”
Ferry cancellations meant that the Capitals’ game on Sunday against Surrey Eagles had to be cancelled so Kings hung onto that status a little longer.
Two more home games and a lot of excitement wrap up the month of January for the Kings as they host Alberni Valley Bulldogs at 7:30 pm on Saturday, January 28 and then make the draws for their giant raffle during Sunday’s game, starting at 1 pm, January 29.
Kings Scroll:
Kings’ current five-game winning streak has earned them a 19th place ranking in Canadian Junior Hockey League’s top 20.
DIVISION: Coastal Conference
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS
Powell River 44 27 13 2 2 58
Surrey 41 25 10 1 5 56
Cowichan Valley 43 25 12 1 5 56
Coquitlam 41 23 14 2 2 50
Nanaimo 41 19 15 0 7 45
Victoria 44 18 26 0 0 36
Alberni Valley 40 15 23 2 0 32
Langley 42 14 24 1 3 32
