Playoff Preview: Kings vs Grizzlies (Island Division Final)

The rematch is on as the Powell River Kings will take on the Victoria Grizzlies for the second consecutive year in the Island Division Final (full schedule available here). It was a high-offence series that saw almost 9 goals per game scored between the two teams, and the Grizzlies capture five of the eight games, including one in overtime.

Here is a statistical look at the two teams through not only their 8 game season series, but the regular season as well.

Season Series
The Victoria Grizzlies won the season series by a 5-3 margin, however both teams had success on the road. Both teams split games in Powell River with the Kings winning the first leg of each double header, followed by a Grizzlies comeback in the second. In Victoria, the Kings were 1-3 in their four trips to The Q Centre this year.

In those eight games, the Kings outscored the Grizzlies 36-35, while also operating at 32.35% on the powerplay. Shots on goal were equally as tight, with the Kings holding a 297-296 advantage. The Grizzlies man advantage finished at a league-best 22.9% through the regular season and was slightly better than that (24.14%) against the Kings.

The Offence
Powell River scored 5 or more goals against the Grizzlies four of the eight games, including eight on opening night. In that game, and for the remainder of the season series, scoring came easily more often than not. Unlike the Kings’ series against the Nanaimo Clippers were games were close and goals came largely at a premium, neither the Kings or Grizzlies had trouble finding the back of the net.

Much like the season series, not a whole lot separated the two teams through the regular season in terms of offence. The Grizzlies scored 216 goals, while the Kings potted 214. Defensively the Kings were a little better by allowing 176, 5th best in the BCHL. Victoria were middle of the pack by allowing 187.

The Kings were led against the Grizzlies this year by Carter Turnbull (7-2-9) and Ben Berard (1-8-9). The supporting cast featured Kyle Kawamura (4-4-8), Kevin Obssuth (4-4-8) and Jonny Evans (2-6-8). Gavin Rauser notched 7 points while Andy Stevens and Callum Volpe each registered 6. Overall, only Sam Pouliot, Ben Thomas and Ethan Schmunk failed to registered at least a point against Victoria.

Victoria’s leading scorer in the season series was Alex Newhook, who after a slow start rolled to 3 goals and 8 assists in seven games against the Kings. Following him were a trio of players with 10 points including Ethan Nother (4-6-10), Justin Michaelian (5-5-10) and Jamie Rome (4-6-10). Shawn O’Malley notched 8 points, while Marty Westhaver and Cam Thompson each got 7. In the Grizzlies playoff roster, only two players didn’t registered at least one point.

The Defence
As noted above, the Kings were the better team (marginally) in the defensive category this season. They allowed one less goal in the season series and 11 less in the regular season overall. It wasn’t just goals on the scoreboard that the Kings were the better team at stopping this season, but chances as well. The Kings were 9th in the BCHL in shots against with 1923 (33.16/game), while Victoria allowed 2222 (38.31/game). That number was ‘bettered’ only by the Cowichan Valley Capitals.

The Kings blue line also chipped in offensively. As above, both Andy Stevens and Callum Volpe registered 6 points each. Carmine Buono had 5 assists while Ben Raffler and Nathan Kelly each had a goal and helper. Jack Long contributed a goal, the first goal of the season for the Kings back on September 8th.

Goaltending
It’s not surprising that with a series featuring just under 9 goals per game that the goaltending stat lines suffered a great deal. Both teams used three goaltenders in the eight games, with Mitch Adamyk shoulding a bulk of the load for the Kings. He went 3-4 with a 3.63 goals against average and .897 save percentage. Matteo Paler-Chow made two appearences against Victoria but failed to complete either game and finished with a 0-0 record, a 9.01 GAA and .800 save percentage. Derek Krall came in relief of Paler-Chow for one game, took the loss with a 5.86 goals against average and a .865 save percentage.

Victoria’s netminders didn’t feature much better. Zach Rose started the series and was pulled in game one. He eventually compiled a 3-2 record, a 4.75 GAA and .881 save percentage. Used sparingly before leaving the Grizzlies was Shawn Parkinson who went 0-1, a 4.73 GAA and .874 save percentage. Coming in down the stretch in December and January was Kurtis Chapman. He went 2-0 against the Kings, with a 3.07 GAA and .927 sv%.

Of the eight games between the two teams, four saw goaltending changes…two for each team.

Special Teams
The Kings were able to generate some excellent powerplay numbers against Victoria this season, thanks in large part to the first half of the season series. In the opening four games of the series, the Kings went 9/23 (39.13%) before eventually settling at 32.35% through eight games. That’s way above their season average of 18.9% which had them at 9th in the entire BCHL. The Kings went 4/21 against the Nanaimo Clippers in the first round, 7th in the league at 19%.

The Grizzlies powerplay clicked against the Kings, but given the amount of offence compared with the form of the Grizzlies powerplay, perhaps it was not to the same frequency they had wanted. Still operating at 24.14% against the Kings, ahead of their 22.9% league leading number in the regular season. Victoria went 2/20 in their first round series against Alberni, 13th out of 16 playoff teams.

Overall Season
The Victoria Grizzlies won the Island Division with a record of 32-18-4-4, 72 points. It was 2 clear of the Nanaimo Clippers and 4 up on the Kings. The Kings finished 3rd with a record of 29-19-4-6, 68 points.

In the Island Division
The Kings lost some key games in December and January to Island Division opponents and that resulted in a closer-to-500 divisional record than the team would like. The Kings compiled a 15-11-1-5 record against Divisional opponents this season