After everything was said and done, after the Kings announced Aidan Wright as the team’s captain, after the. players were introduced, after the fans, sponsors, staff and players were thanked for 25 years of support, and after Mark Donnelly belted out one of the best renditions of Oh Canada I’ve ever heard in Powell River, the dust settled and the Grizzlies walked away with a 3-1 win to spoil the Kings party.
Here are some thoughts from the game:
- Dream start. The Kings spent 4 of the opening 5 minutes in the offensive zone, but came away not only goalless, but basically shotless. That’s turning point number 1 for tomorrow, shoot the puck.
- The first goal for the Grizzlies was exactly what we thought it would be, and really what it had to be considering it’s Friday the 13th. Scary, ugly, ‘fluke’ goal with Schwartz throwing it to net from above the goal line. I haven’t watched it back, but I think Imoo may have thought pass, and he left a hole near-side.
- On the flip side of that, Imoo had two brilliant glove saves that took away certain goals…things even out.
- The Kings didn’t do enough in my opinion in shutting the Fitzgerald triplets down. They looked threatening and took advantage of some slow feet on the Kings D. There were too many times where they were left alone to the side or in front of the net. One goal came of it, but many more could have if not for the aforementioned Imoo saves.
- Really impressed by Jesse Schwartz. The UCONN committ will fly under the radar this season and play 2nd fiddle to the Fitzgeralds, but he earned 1st star honours tonight. 1 goal and 1 assist.
- Hiff’s chance early in the game could have really changed the outcome. Instead the Kings get denied on one of their first shots by an unreal save from Renyard. If Hiff buries that, or to be more accurate, if Renyard doesn’t make that crazy save, different ball game and the Grizzlies are chasing, not fending off challenges.
- Loved the enthusiasm showed by Truman Gonzales after his goal. To get a goal back in just 14 seconds was a momentum booster, unfortunately the Kings couldn’t cash in on it.
The same two teams go back at it Saturday night at the Hap, a more Eastern-friendly time of 5pm PST (8pm EST) is the opening faceoff. Broadcast goes live at 4:30 with the pre-game show.
