It’s a Friday the 13th contest and a brand new Kings roster will take to the ice at the Hap Parker Arena tonight, looking to begin the road towards playoffs. They are facing a team that are right in the thick of the battle for the 4 playoff spots in the Coastal Conference…it’s a true 4-point game if ever there was one. Here’s the rundown:
The Vitals
Game: Surrey Eagles vs Powell River Kings
Arena: Hap Parker Arena
Puck Drop: 7:30pm
Broadcast: Starting at 7:10pm on 95.7 SunFM and BCHL PPV
The Numbers
Kings This Season vs Eagles: 2-1-0-1
Last Meeting: Kings won 3-1 (January 6th in Surrey)
Kings at Home: 13-2-1-1
Kings Last 10: 5-4-0-1
Eagles on the Road: 6-7-0-1
Eagles Last 10: 7-2-1-0
The Setup for the Kings
The Kings were arguably the busiest team on trade deadline, pulling the trigger on 4 deals which saw Carter Shinkaruk, Brenden Forbes, Taylor Carmola and Jamie Phillips all leave the Castle, and Brendon MacDonald, JP Villeneuve, Teal Burns and Jonah Imoo all land with the Kings.
The new additions will have far reaching impact all up and down the lineup. The team gets more grit, experience and leadership through former Cowichan captain Brendon MacDonald, as well as scoring talent from Teal Burns and JP Villeneuve. The stats are pretty much a wash between Forbes/Carmola/Shinkaruk and Villeneuve/Burns/MacDonald in terms of points, but you factor in Burns’ WHL experience, and his proven points production at this level (56pts in 55 games with Nanaimo in his last BCHL season), plus the prospect of Villeneuve having more room to work out there with guys like Cohen Adair and Steve Schmidt clearing the way, and you have a lot of reason to be very optimistic this season. The veteran presence of MacDonald is an intangible, and while he hasn’t put points on the board this year, more experience can do wonders for others in the lockerroom, and MacDonald’s presence shouldn’t be undervalued.
In net, Kent Lewis is on record as saying the Kings felt Jonah Imoo was a Junior A goaltender at the start of the season. Unfortunately for Jonah, he was behind two very good goalies in Jamie and Sean Maguire, and thus his start in the PIJHL this year. Now with Jamie gone, Jonah gets the chance he deserves, and he has half a season of experience, dominating a very good league, under him.
With tonight’s game, it will be about putting in procedures for the rest of the season, and seeing how the team gels after a short time together. It’s only been a couple of days, and with the absence of Shinkaruk and Forbes, the powerplay and penalty kills will have to be adjusted. Even strength, expect the line of Richardson-Adair-Waugh to stay together, for no other reason than that they’ve played well together and there’s no reason to change. The rest are up in the air, as you have lots of talent down the middle to play with, and plenty of different combinations to work on.
Sean Maguire will likely get the start, and the bulk of the starts from here on out. With 21 games left, the Kings have put the team in his hands. Jonah will get his opportunities no doubt, but the ball is Sean’s to run with this season, and Jonah will benefit from the experience gained this season, when he likely suits up as the Kings’ number 1 next year. This is all, of course, my opinion, and given the numbers that Jonah has put up this year, wouldn’t be surprised to see him slot right into Jamie’s spot in a 1a/1b situation and see who comes out on top.
The Setup for the Eagles
The Eagles were silent on trade deadline day, however made a few moves leading up to the deadline, so it will be the same lineup the Kings saw last weekend during their final visit to Surrey. The Eagles are tied with the Kings in the standings, however have games in hand. The thing with the Eagles though is that they will have A LOT of road games to make up this year. Through 36 games, the Eagles have played 22 at home, and only 14 on the road, and their 6-7-0-1 road record will need to be a lot better to try and stave off the teams chasing (like the Kings, Express and Clippers), and/or catch the Capitals.
As we’ve seen this year, the Eagles are very strong up front. The Morley brothers are Surrey’s answer to the Sedins (minus the identical twin part), however they are much more than a 1-line team. What struck me most from the 3-1 win last week for the Kings, was how hard the Eagles came out hitting in the 1st period, and even after the radio timeout in the 1st as well. I think that if they keep that up through 60 minutes, they are tough to beat, but they only seemed to get it from the likes of Charles Orzetti, Robert Lindores or perhaps Linden Saip. The Morley’s aren’t going to hit much, so that 15 minutes from the Orzetti line will have to be very good to knock the Kings around, especially with their increased grit and toughness.
In net, both Andrew Hunt and Conor Barrie have seen time against the Kings, although I suspect it’ll be a similar situation in Surrey as it might be in Powell River, where one gets the bulk from here on out. Of Hunt’s 32 starts this year, 11 have been on the road, compared to 3/6 for Barrie.
On the Broadcast
It’s going to be a very very busy night on the show. We’ll talk with all the new players (or as many as we can), we’ll also breakdown the trade deadline across the league with Brian Wiebe, and talk with Josh Statham during the 2nd period on his continuing segment. Chad van Diemen will pinch hit for Geoff Grimwood during the post game show, and our trivia contest of the night will award a pair of tickets to a future Kings home game.
