Terrace River Kings defeated Powell River Regals 5-4 in triple overtime at Hap Parker Arena to win the BC Hockey Senior AA Coy Cup provincial hockey championship on Saturday, March 30.
Regals started strong but it was the River Kings who opened the scoring in the first period and eventually took a 2-0 lead, despite being thwarted on two breakaways by goaltender Laszlo Tamasik. Late goals by Regals' captain Jack Long, whose shot through a defender's legs after an end-to-end rush eluded the Terrace goalie, and fellow defenceman Gabe Shipley, who scored with a shot high to the glove side, knotted the game at two goals apiece prior to intermission.
“It’s hard to put into words, going down two then tying it up with a great response,” said Regals’ coach Tod English. “You could see our group gaining confidence all week in their abilities and as a team, being battle-tested.”
Nic Porchetta scored the only goal of the second period, at the 14:53 mark, also with a hard shot to the top corner of the net, giving the home team a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Terrace responded midway through the third period and then went ahead 4-3 with under four minutes to play. That lead was short-lived, however, as Cory Burnett sent a rebound from a Porchetta shot into the back of the net 30 seconds later, forcing an overtime that featured mulitple chances at both ends of the rink before the visitors tapped in a rebound with 7:50 into the third extra period. Burnett was chosen as player of the game for the Regals.
“Terrace was a good hockey club, but our boys had so many pushes late in the third period and in overtime, all while Laszlo made a few game-saving stops,” said English. “We outshot them and had more possession of the puck in overtime.”
Regals outshot the River Kings, whose goaltender Daniel Paul was named his team’s top player, by a margin of 71-57. The first overtime was 10 minutes; the second was a full 20 minutes.
“We talked between overtime periods about how a bad bounce would probably win it, and true to form a shot off the back boards and bad bounce ended an epic week,” added English. “Hats off to Terrace.”
It was the first-ever Coy Cup win for the River Kings, who won the Central Interior Hockey League title earlier in March. Regals, who last won the coveted trophy in 2010, were seeking to hoist the cup for a sixth time.
The host Regals finished third in the round-robin portion of the tournament, behind Terrace (first) and Williams Lake Stampeders (second), then rallied late in the semi-final to defeat the Stampeders to book a spot in the final. River Kings earned a bye to the final after tying the Regals on day one, then edging the Stampeders and thrashing Penticton Silver Bullets to complete the round-robin undefeated.
Williams Lake entered the semi-final with a record of two wins and one loss; Powell River recorded one win, one tie, one loss in the round-robin. Penticton was winless.
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