Having dropped seven of their last eight games, Powell River Kings turned back the clock and went old-school in a double practice for their game on Friday, November 13, at the Hap Parker Arena. The tactic paid dividends with a lopsided 9-3 victory over the Langley Rivermen in the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
“After Tuesday night [a 5-2 loss to Victoria], we kind of had an old-school Wednesday and then followed that up with a very good practice on Thursday,” said head coach Kent Lewis prior to Friday’s game. What followed were nine goals, 40 shots and a much-needed victory.
Kyle Betts opened the scoring at 1:22 of the first period, his first of two on the night, sending teddy bears flying from many of the 916 in attendance.
“Going into that game, everyone wants to score that goal and I was lucky enough to have two great plays by my line-mates [Tristan Mullin and Curtis McCarrick] to set me up perfectly,” said Betts on the goal. “It was an easy one for me to score.”
Betts joins Jonny Evans (2014), Jarryd Leung (2013), Stephen Hiff (2012), Craig Dalrymple (2011) and Carter Shinkaruk (2010) as recent Teddy Bear Toss goal scorers, but the timing of the goal didn’t sit well with at least one of his team mates.
“I think that one was way too early, I couldn’t even get a shift out there and an opportunity to score it,” joked Nick Halagian after the game.
With the main attraction aside, the Kings went to work. Jake Kohlhauser and Tristan Mullin scored their first and seventh goals of the season before the period was out as the Kings led 3-1 through 20 minutes. Two more in the second period from Liam Lawson and Jonny Evans extended the lead despite the Kings being outshot 36-24 after two periods.
Into the third, and after Betts made it 6-1, the Rivermen found life and fought back with a pair of goals.
“Give them credit,” said Kings assistant coach Brock Sawyer. “Their forwards are little, tiny guys that can find holes and get open, so we just have to do a better job of knowing who’s who and taking care of the front of the net.”
The insurance goals came via Gavin Rauser, Nick Halagian and finally Chris Protopoulos who all scored inside the final two and half minutes to secure the victory.
Goaltender Jeff Smith had his busiest night of the season, stopping 47 of 50 Langley shots for his tenth win of the year. Only four players missed out on a point in the Kings’ highest offensive output since a 13-1 win over Victoria in February of 2012.
“We capitalized on some great offensive chances and you could say we were opportunistic, but I think the goals we got were goals you’d get on anybody; they were good goals,” said Lewis after the game. “It was nice getting contributions from almost everybody.”
The win moves the Kings to a record of 12-10-0-0 (24 points) and is being looked at as a big confidence-booster moving forward.
“We know what kind of team we have. We have a lot of skill and we’ve been searching a bit for our identity,” said Betts after the game. “Today was a big step in the right direction.”
Lewis said for the team to get out of their slump, they need to take it one step at a time.
“It wasn’t a complete game and we definitely gave up too many shots, but you’ve got to take steps, nothing is perfect,” said Lewis. “You can watch it at any level and there are mistakes. It’s part of the season to improve and work through those.”
The Kings hit the road this coming weekend for one of their toughest trips of the season. Three games in three days open up in Chilliwack on Friday, before visiting Merritt Saturday and Prince George on Sunday. All three games are broadcast live online at powellriverkings.com.
