The Vitals
Game: Powell River Kings vs Victoria Grizzlies
Arena: Bear Mountain Arena
Puck Drop: 7:15pm
Broadcast: Starting at 7:00pm on 95.7 SunFM
The Numbers
Kings This Season vs Grizzlies: 6-0-0-1
Last Meeting: Kings won 6-0
Kings on the Road: 14-12-1-1
Kings Last 10: 7-3-0-0
Grizzlies at Home: 11-18-0-0
Grizzlies Last 10: 3-7-0-0
The Setup for the Kings
The Kings went a long way to sewing up 1st place in the Coastal Conference last night, with a messy 3-1 win over the Nanaimo Clippers. The win puts the Kings in the position of just needing 1 points from the remaining 2 games to seal up 1st place on a tiebreaker, more obviously wins it outright.
There are many ways you can look at last night’s game, and why it went the way it did. The refereeing was not what it should be, and I’m not one to blame the refs (I ref soccer myself in the summer and I know that’s hard enough, without adding in the speed of hockey), but some obvious and interesting calls were made last night. From a Kings standpoint, the disallowed Teal Burns goal was a big moment late in the 2nd last night. In talking with several folks in the media booth during the intermission, all felt it was in, as did a lot of Clipper fans around the concourse, according to Assistant Coach Geoff Grimwood. Fortunately the no-goal didn’t factor into the result.
The other bit of news was late in the 3rd when the Kings went to call their timeout on a faceoff to the right of Sean Maguire. The referee did not allow them to take it, claiming they had already called it during the 2nd period. From what I’m told, that idea came from the Kings indicating to the referee it was time for the league timeout in the 2nd period. Another quirk, which didn’t play out in the result of the game (although the Kings scored their empty net goal afterwards), but will no doubt be talked about.
In terms of lineup for the Kings, I haven’t been told either way, but I would expect Jonah Imoo to start tonight, and potentially tomorrow for the Kings. The team has said all along that it wants Jonah to get as much ice as possible, and Imoo’s record against the Grizzlies is flawless. That, again, is just my speculation, we’ll find out later this afternoon. James Neil will not dress tonight, and I haven’t heard anything about Craig Dalrymple or Brendan Tidy, both of whom sat last night.
The Setup for the Grizzlies
It will be a pride-type of game for the Victoria side tonight, as it will be their coach’s last game behind the bench. Victor Gervais is moving on, so there is a lot to play for in the regular season finale in Victoria. It is also expected to be a good crowd, as the Grizzlies will be giving away their jerseys following the game.
Victoria is in a battle of their own, albeit not one that they are proud of. A win last night over Langley vaulted them into 7th place in the Coast, 1 ahead of the Rivermen (although Langley does have a game in hand), and last place in the Coast will be settled this weekend as well. Nolan DeJong came out and said that avoiding last place is a huge goal, and if the team can achieve that, it will “show you how good a team we had before we traded people away and suffered injuries.” ‘Pride’ was a word used last night in Nanaimo, it’ll be a theme here tonight as well.
For the Grizzlies’, I’d imagine we’ll see Taylor Pears in goal, playing his final Junior A game. The former King, who came onto the Grizzlies roster with the injury to Garrett Rockafellow, should get the change for his 4th win of the year.
On the Broadcast
On the show tonight, we’ll talk a little history of the Kings with Head Coach Kent Lewis, as the team continues its retro jersey auction. I might even try and throw in a couple of curve ball questions and see if we can find out who Kent Lewis’ favourite former number 9 is, as two of them played in the NHL. In the 2nd intermission, we’ll look back to the World Junior A Challenge with Kent Lewis, Sean Maguire and Evan Richardson bringing home Gold.
