Powell River U18 Kings suffered a heartbreaking loss on Sunday, February 5, in their first playoff matchup.
In a seesaw game with multiple lead changes, Oceanside Generals fought back from a two-goal, third-period deficit to tie the score 4-4. The visiting club then added the winning goal with just 2.6 seconds remaining on the clock, right after a shot rang off the post.
Powell River started strong, with Dreydan Harris converting a breakaway opportunity to open the scoring 28 seconds into the game.
While the teams were playing four on four, Oceanside responded with 42 seconds remaining in the first period, then went ahead 2-1 courtesy of a power play goal midway through the middle frame.
Kings’ forward Evan Piniewski slapped in a rebound 21 seconds later to knot the game at two goals apiece. His teammate Chase Fontaine tapped home another rebound late in the second period, giving the home team its second lead of the day.
Braedyn Louie took advantage of a third period miscue by the Oceanside goaltender, sending a shot into the back of the net for a 4-2 lead, but 15:25 remained for the visitors to mount a comeback, and they didn’t waste much time.
Generals cut the lead in half 33 seconds later, then made it 4-4 with 11:46 on the game clock.
Oceanside outshot Powell River 40-29.
U18 Kings travel to Port Hardy for a playoff matchup against North Island Eagles, the other team in the North Island round-robin group, on Saturday, February 11. North Island defeated Oceanside 5-1 on February 4 to open the three-team playoff.
U13s sweep weekend games
U13 Kings also began postseason play over the weekend, defeating Oceanside 11-1 in Parksville on February 4, and downing Alberni Valley 7-1 the next day, also on the road.
Cooper Lawry scored a pair of goals for Powell River on Saturday, while Kooper Kozmeniuk, Lucas Vizzutti, James Barrows, Blake Peters, Reid Stekman, Carson Laing, Cameron Milne, Gabriel Calderone and Lucas Gruntman had one goal each.
Kozmeniuk scored a hattrick on Sunday. Lawry added another pair of goals and singles went to Marin Carlos and Gruntman.
