Game: Nanaimo Clippers vs Powell River Kings
Arena: Hap Parker Arena
Puck Drop: 5:0pm
Broadcast: Starts at 4:30pm
95.7 SunFM Free Audio
FastHockey PPV Video
Kings This Season vs Opposition: 1-1-0-0
Last Meeting: Clippers won 4-3 (November 1st, 2013)
Kings 2013/2014 Record: 13-3-0-1 (1st Island)
Kings at home: 9-3-0-0
Kings Last 10: 7-2-0-1
Kings vs Island: 6-2-0-0
Opposition 2013/2014 Record: 9-8-0-1 (4th Island)
Opposition on the road: 4-3-0-1
Opposition Last 10: 5-4-0-1
It seems “good news, bad news” is the theme of the week for the Powell River Kings. The bad news this time around is the fact there’s not much to like about last night’s game, especially the start. The Kings were flat-footed through much of the game, and while it did get better as the game went on, the team gave the Clippers too big of a lead and weren’t able to reel it in.
The good news is that last night game was somewhat of a free-pass standings wise. The Kings did little more than burn a game in hand in both the Island Division and overall game standings, and despite the poor effort, still find themselves in 1st overall. Having said that, games in hand aren’t there to burn, they’re there to build a lead, which is something we’ve said all along the Kings must do during this long home stand to set themselves up for a successful December when they begin to really hit the road.
The roster should look more or less identical, as everyone who was out last night, is still out tonight. Matt Scarth is a week or two away, Kyle Chatham should be ready by next week and Luke Nogard is wrapping up a suspension today. Kurt Keats is obviously on the other side of the country, and will play tonight, but for the red and white, not the green and gold. In net, Derek Bachynski indicated that Jonah Imoo would start tonight, a game after I thought he played quite well, coming in cold after replacing Jeff Smith mid-way through the 2nd period.
The Clippers handed the Kings their 4th loss of the season last night in a game that scoreboard-wise, was quite similar to the 1st meeting between these two teams. The biggest difference was the lack of a collapse from Nanaimo, resulting in a close victory. The Clippers held the fort well and did enough to keep the Kings at bay.
One of the biggest things to take from last night was the goaltending of Jayson Argue, who made a handful of fantastic saves. One in particular on Luke McCaw could have prevented a drastically different game from being played. There is a question mark on him, as he finished last night’s game in some pretty noticeable discomfort on his glove side following a Kings shot which he caught, then immediately dropped.
For the 2nd game in the series, Bo Brauer notched a pair of goals and used the most of his ice-time.
In our pre-game show, we’ll chat with the coaches from both benches and talk on last night’s game. We’ll also have your tale of the tape, scene setter and keys to the game. In the 1st intermission, we’ll talk to captain Aidan Wright, defenceman Jordan Burns and forward Hunter Findlater.
In the 2nd intermission, our player profile segment continues with forward Drew Dorantes. Derek Bachynski is due to join us in the post-game show after 60 or so minutes to talk about the game.
