A full house, a full lineup and Jacob Pritchard filling the net with pucks capped off an exciting weekend for Powell River Kings.
Interruptions like the World Junior A Challenge, Canadian Junior A Prospects and lengthy injuries to key players had created a MASH unit that, with the help of an army of affiliate players, successfully held the team together.
Faced with choosing healthy scratches, head coach and general manager Kent Lewis warned his troops of being overly exuberant.
“I was a little worried,” he said, because, “if we thought hey, we got a bunch of guys back that things were going to get easier—no they are going to get harder. Three players got back into the lineup and it’s almost like a trade deadline deal. We played a long time without Stephen Hiff, Austin Kamer and Brent Lashuk and it’s nice to have them back.”
The three lined up together and were a factor in beating Langley Rivermen 5-1, tying league-leading Penticton Vees 3-3, but possibly the team was a little complacent in a 5-2 loss to Nanaimo Clippers.
The trio’s excitement and enthusiasm was infectious against Langley on Friday, February 6, when the Kings out-hustled their mainland rival throughout the game.
Pritchard did most of the damage with his three-goal performance while linemates Jarid Lukosevicius added a shorthanded goal and Kurt Keats completed the scoring with an empty netter courtesy of an unselfish two-on-one pass from Lukosevicius.
While the scoring prowess of the Kings’ first line is a great story, the bigger one on the evening was the return of the injured players on the “Band-Aid line.”
Kamer was initially told he could possibly miss the rest of the season with a broken thumb. He surprised everyone when he healed quickly and returned a full three weeks early.
“Unbelievable,” he said, grinning, with one word to describe the feeling. “Missing 18 games is a big deal so coming back is awesome,” he said. “I thought we played pretty well together with all of us getting our timing back. It was good to play penalty kill, too, and good to be part of the team again. It feels great.”
As good as it felt, the challenges of a super competitive weekend arrived in the form of the league-leading Penticton Vees on Saturday.
Kings went stride for stride with the Interior powerhouse and led 2-1 after the first period and were tied 2-2 heading into the third.
Penticton got a huge big break when Brett Magnus went behind the net to play a puck that never got there due to a bounce that sent the puck right out to a driving Vees.
Dakota Conroy deposited the biggest gift goal of his life at 0:10 seconds but the Kings dug in and Pritchard scored his third goal for his second hat trick in two nights to send the game into overtime.
Kings actually had the jump on the Vees in the extra time and Rylan Ball, on a great rush, rattled a shot off the goal post.
Keats also had a breakaway with 20 seconds to go in the second overtime but his shot was kicked aside by the game’s third star, goalie Hunter Miska.
First star of both games, Pritchard not only had back-to-back hat tricks but he also threw himself on the ice to block shots.
“With playoffs coming up everyone has to play ‘D,’” he explained. “You’re going to win with ‘D’ not with offence.”
He came from a long way off to slide in front of one point shot against Langley and he said, smiling, “I think I broke my toe on that one. I can’t bend it, but it’s fine.”
There was an official conference on his third goal against the Vees but Pritchard said, “his pad was behind the goal line and it hit his pad and I think it still stayed in the net.”
The only controversy in the Kings’ next game, Monday afternoon, was the parking situation at Powell River Recreation Complex for over 1,400 fans.
While an announcement to find the owner of a vehicle blocking another was music to the ears of the sponsors of Family Day, the Kings were stuck in park.
Nanaimo hustled to an easy 5-2 win over the Kings with Tony Devito and Pritchard the only ones to solve Clippers’ goalie Guillaume Decelles.
Kings wind up a six-game home stand with just a single game at 7:15 pm Friday, February 13, against Merritt.
DIVISION: Island Division
Standings Expanded Standings
TEAM GP W L T OTL PTS OTW GF GA
x-Nanaimo 52 36 13 0 3 75 6 218 145
x-Powell River 53 26 17 1 9 62 7 194 187
Victoria 51 22 18 1 10 55 3 184 190
Alberni Valley 49 24 20 2 3 53 3 174 160
Cowichan Valley 51 19 28 2 2 42 5 153 208
