What a way to start the season. Powell River Kings were perfect at the BC Hockey League (BCHL) showcase in Chilliwack with a 6-1 victory over the Chiefs on Saturday, September 7, followed by a 5-1 win over Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Sunday morning.
The second annual showcase has become the official season opener for the BCHL and offers all 16 teams a chance to gather together in one location for a couple hundred National Hockey League and college scouts.
Besides the obvious benefits of showcasing talent, players also had access to a college seminar to hear from Canadian and American college hockey coaches and BCHL education advisors.
Of course, the real focus was on hockey and the Kings let the other teams know they are focused on regaining their stature in the league.
They started with host Chilliwack in front of just over 1,000 at Prospera Centre, with a win that brought a smile to their coaches.
Just as he did last year, Matt Scarth got the Kings’ first of the season at 10:12 of the opening period and then Ryan Scarfo scored two quick ones to give them a 3-0 cushion after one.
Jeremy Leclerc scored his first BCHL goal and Drew Dorantes finished a nice passing play to go up 5-0 before the Chiefs could get a puck by Kings’ goaltender Jonah Imoo.
In the third Jarid Lukosevicius dangled, then patiently fed Kurt Keats by the side of the net to make the final 6-1.
Despite an abbreviated two-game exhibition schedule, Kings looked every bit the better prepared team in this contest.
Perfect on the penalty kill, dangerous on every powerplay and sufficiently tight on defence, the Kings looked very mature and controlled throughout the game.
Also extremely gratifying were the performances of the newcomers to the team. Scarfo brought his scoring touch, Lucas Grayson played with an edge, Lukosevicius set up a beautiful goal by hard-working Keats and Aidan Wright hit people.
There was so much more but the gist was a very solid effort with everyone working hard and executing the plan laid out by the coaches.
Associate coach Chad van Diemen said, “it starts with a great group of guys who push each other in practice and that carried through to this game. You never know until you actually start playing games for real, but we were good and just worked hard.”
With barely time to bask in the glow of the win, Kings returned to Prospera less than 12 hours later to face the Silverbacks.
Salmon Arm had lost its first game 5-4 in overtime to Victoria Grizzlies on Saturday so they were hungry for a win.
Things didn’t start so well for the Kings as Scarfo crossed the centre line in warm-up and sat in the penalty box for the first 10 minutes of the game.
His teammates, however, showed no signs of fatigue from the previous night’s game and promptly took it to the Silverbacks.
JJ Coleshaw opened the scoring at 17:42 of the first period and Leclerc and Dorantes scored early second period goals to, again, give the Kings a three-goal cushion.
Salmon Arm got one back on the powerplay before the end of the second period but the Kings secured the 5-1 win with two more goals in the third by Brian Rideout and Truman Gonzales.
All in all, it couldn’t have gone smoother for the Kings. “We had a lot of compliments from college teams,” van Diemen said. “We had a lot of kids talk to schools and we expect some commitments and fly-downs soon. I think we opened some eyes and turned some heads, which is good.”
With the weekend dust having now cleared, the Kings sit atop the Island Division along with Nanaimo. Scarfo leads the league in scoring with five points and Imoo leads the goaltenders’ statistics.
They open their home schedule with two games against the Grizzlies, first at 7:30 pm on Friday, September 13, and then 5 pm on Saturday, September 14, at Hap Parker Arena.
