Powell River Kings capped off their most successful season ever with wins over Salmon Arm Silverbacks 4-1, Cowichan Valley Capitals 6-5 and Alberni Valley Bulldogs 4-1.
The three wins gave them 46 on the season which surpassed the franchise record of 44 set by the Paper Kings in 1993-1994.
They also broke a couple of team records set by Vernon Vipers last year with the lowest team goals against average of 1.92 and the lowest total goals against of 115.
Individually, goaltender Michael Garteig, who is heading to Quinnipiac University north of New York City next year, recorded the lowest goals against average (1.69) and matched the shutout record of seven to enter the record books of the BC Hockey League.
Kings began the week on Wednesday when they faced the high-scoring Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Just as they have with several other contenders, the Kings shut down the league’s scoring champion, Mike Hammond, while putting in a few nice goals themselves.
Chad Niddery collected two with Steven Schmidt and Matt Garbowsky adding singles in the 4-1 win.
Kings went to Cowichan on Friday night and were severely tested by the Capitals who were on the brink of elimination.
Lead changes dominated the see-saw battle that had one of the wildest endings of the year for either team.
Goals by Chris Williams, Bond Hawryluk, Brenden Forbes and two from Justin Dasilva had given the Kings a 5-4 lead with only seconds to go.
Incredibly, the Capitals tied it 5-5 at 19:50 of the third period but Kings’ sniper Garbowsky snuffed out their playoff hopes with the winner at 3:09 of the first overtime.
The last game of the year was played in Port Alberni on Saturday where Garteig nearly captured his record-setting eighth shutout.
The Bulldogs scored with only four minutes remaining in the game to ruin his bid but on a happy note Kings’ Jason Yee did get his first goal of the season and the last goal of the Kings’ regular season.
Kings put Yee up front with Garbowsky and Niddery for the game in an attempt to get him out of his scoring slump, but in dramatic fashion the veteran waited until the dying seconds to score.
“Just before that I missed a shot from our blue line,” he said of his attempt on the empty net with a minute to go. He spoke of how his teammates wanted him to score even more than he did. “I tried to come off the ice but they wouldn’t let me and Nids said ‘you’re getting it.’ Garbo passed it over to me,” he said of the two-on-one rush, “and I thought ‘what would happen if I missed the net?’”
Fortunately, his goal-scoring instincts kicked in and he drilled his first goal and the Kings’ last of the season into the centre of the net.
Looking ahead, Yee commented on the pros and cons of the upcoming bye in the playoffs.
“At this point in the season everyone is over trained on the ice, and groins, hips and whatnot are acting up so a few days off the ice will just do wonders for guys’ brains and bodies. Those first few days off are key and then we’ll ramp up the intensity toward the playoffs.”
Not about to predict results in the playoffs, Yee did say, “We’re confident with our depth. Looking at the team this year we have the first two lines that can contribute under pressure and solid third and fourth lines too.” The goaltending and defence numbers speak for themselves.
Kings’ opponent will be the low seed to come out of the best of seven first round series which will see Victoria Grizzlies versus Nanaimo Clippers, Langley Chiefs versus Alberni and Surrey Eagles against Coquitlam.
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Kings finish the season ranked number two in the nation behind the Alberta Junior Hockey League Spruce Grove Saints.
