24 hours after a disappointing start to the home portion of the 2013/2014 season, the Kings were able to hold the Grizzlies at bay and double up Victoria 4-2 in front of the home town crowd. Here are the highlights from the game:
Here are some brief thoughts:
- Anytime you score 17 seconds into a game, it’s probably going to be a good one. Lukosevicius’ finish wasn’t exactly a powerful shot, but this goal doesn’t happen without Kurt Keats. The hustle off the opening faceoff, beat Albertini to the puck and creating a chance for Chatham and eventually Lukosevicius in the slot.
- While we’re on Keats, Luko’s 2nd goal again doesn’t happen without a forecheck from Keats, who got the puck behind the net and fed Lukosevicius alone in the slot who got everything on a wrister to beat Dillon.
- A nice ‘real’ debut for Jeff Smith. As we noted on the broadcast, Smith debuted with the Kings last season and played just 20 minutes in a 6-1 loss to the Bulldogs. This one I’m sure if the game Smith considers his ‘first’ and it’s good for him to get a win. His positioning is good, he takes away a bit more of the net than Imoo (due to being bigger). To beat a divisional rival one night after a tough loss, that’s a big plus for Jeff moving forward.
- The Fitzgeralds (without Leo who didn’t play) were not nearly the factor that they were last night. That’s part due to missing 1/3 of the top line, and part due to the physical nature that the Kings, particularly the D, took with them. Given them credit though, they play 200 feet, with Gerry or Myles routinely starting a rush from behind their own net.
- Nice to see some emotion in both last night and tonight’s game. This was 2 of 9 games between the clubs this season and we’re already seeing some dislike between the two squads. I’m excited for the next 7 games between the two teams to see how this rivalry develops.
Following the game, we hosted a live-post game show in a side room of the Rec Complex…it featured Kings forward Ryan Scarfo, defenceman Aidan Wright and coach Kent Lewis. We also took questions from an audience, talking about the game, player histories and their favourite music. Here’s the post-game show:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/110503035″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
The Kings now have a full 7 days off before entertaining 2 more divisional opponents. On Saturday it’s the Nanaimo Clippers, on Sunday the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
Here are some photos from last night’s game, courtesy Alicia Baas:
