By: Dante De Caria | Photo: Alicia BaasÂ
Port Alberni, BC – Jack Brackett scored twice, helping the Powell River Kings (17-14-2) to a 4-1 win over the Alberni Bulldogs (16-13-2) on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 896 at the Weyerhaeuser Arena.
The Kings were without P.J Garrett, Nolan Krogfoss and Dawson McKay, leaving the Kings to dress 10 forwards and six defencemen.
“It showed our resiliency, and our commitment to each other,” said Kings assistant coach Brock Sawyer. “Guys are starting to figure things out, and it’s showing in our play. It’s a hungry group playing without some key pieces. I give full marks to our guys, they came ready to play.”
Brackett opened the scoring early midway through the first, lifting a shot off the post and in on a partial breakaway. Kings improve to 14-0 when scoring first.
The Bulldogs made it a 2-1 game after two periods of play. Carson Hemenway shot the puck on net from the point, Kings goaltender Derek Krall made the first and second save, but not the third, as Josh Zary tapped the puck past him for his fourth of the season.
The Kings took a 3-1 lead early in the third, as Brackett drove past the Bulldogs defence, and beat goaltender Luke Pearson short-handed.
“His bread and butter is his speed,” added Sawyer. “I liked his tenacity to get to the net, and for him to just push the defence, and use a power move to the net is just a great effort. If you want to score goals, you need to get to the blue paint, and he did that today.”
Krall recorded his 13th win this season (8th in a Kings uniform), making 33 saves on 34 shots, winning his third straight outing. Bulldogs goaltender Luke Pearson stopped 25 of 29, and Alberni Valley had their three game winning-streak came to an end.”
“He (Krall) was awesome today, and made a couple big saves to keep us in the game early. He just reads the play so well, and that game could have easily been 3-0 for them early on. Him and Thomas (Wardle) did a great job this weekend, and gave us a chance to win, and we got out of here with five of six points.”
Kings also received singles from Nic Porchetta and Brett Pfoh. Michael Abgrall extended his point-streak to seven straight games (1G/9A), and Brackett gathered three points (2G/1A), giving him four goals and three assists during his three game point-streak.
The Kings finish their three-in-three weekend 2-0-1, and have now won eight of their last 11 games (8-1-2). The Kings have also not lost in regulation since November 15th, going 5-0-2 since that date.
The Powell River Kings will play four of their last five games before Christmas on the road. The Kings are back this Friday at 7:00 p.m., against the Merritt Centennials for our annual Food Bank Drive presented by Coast FM, City Transfer and Save on Foods.
