Team Sites
Follow the BCHL
BCHL

Offence Fires, Defence Stands Tall in 9-1 Win

For the second time in three games, the Kings offence scored eight or more goals in a single game, putting up a season high of nine goals in a 9-1 win over the Nanaimo Clippers in Nanaimo on Friday night. Kevin Obssuth led the way offensively with a 5 point night including his first BCHL hattrick, while Matteo Paler-Chow won his first BCHL start, stopping 36 shots.

Here are some thoughts from the game:

Textbook opening period and a twenty minutes of action that will be watched back in its entirety moving forward. It was very similar to the first period during last Friday’s home opener where the Kings got after pucks, dominated the play, earned extended pressure in the offensive zone, forced turnovers and scored two real good goals. Both Williams and Turnbull’s goals were a result of the way the Kings went about their business with Williams skating to earn his snipe, and the powerplay clicking to provide Turnbull a goal.

On Turnbull’s goal, that’s his 50th in the BCHL during the regular season. Turnbull achieved this feat in 107 games.

The 2nd period was, in many ways, much like the first period of Saturday’s game. Nanaimo came out the much better team and probably deserved a little better fate. They scored early to cut the lead to one before having one disallowed and another pair denied by Paler-Chow who made two stops on breakaways within a few minutes of each other.

Again on Paler-Chow, no signs of nerves or anything from the rookie who looked very very good from start to finish. He can be very happy with his first full outing in the BCHL and the players in front of him will grow in confidence knowing that both Paler-Chow and Adamyk are in fine form to start the season.

A real turning point in the game was Gavin Rauser’s shortie late in the second period. A 2-1 score going in the 2nd intermission would be a very different game than the deflating way the Kings made it 3-1. Rauser’s off-season training paid off as he wired a puck over the shoulder from the top of the circle. A bullet and a big goal from the captain.

How about that third period? Let’s do the math. Six goals in the period from 3:31 to 12:28. That’s 8:57. The Kings scored 4 times in 2:10 between 3:31 and 5:41. Obssuth’s third period hattrick took 7:38 to complete.

As typical in the early portions of a season, a few first. Mitch Williams notches his first as a King as he opened the scoring. As noted above, a good goal where he kept feet moving and then used his very heavy shot to beat the goalie. Also a first, Ethan Kimball scored his first goal in his first game. Kimball joins the Kings as roster member number 22 and balances the Kings roster at 13 forwards and 7 defencemen.

Click here to see what Brock Sawyer had to say in the post-game show, where we discussed this game, some of the key moments and the crucial point that Saturday against Cowichan is a big game.

The Kings continue their road trip on Saturday night in Duncan at the Island Savings Centre against the Cowichan Capitals. Broadcast coverage begins at 6:40pm, with the play by play and puck drop at 7:00pm.