It was 500 and counting for coach Kent Lewis on Sunday afternoon and his team went out and added one more to the win column 6-3 over the Express.
Two tired teams took the ice after each had had a three game in three day weekend but it was fairly obvious the Kings were much more used to the schedule.
They had more jump right from the get-go but despite dominating the first period only Chad Niddery could get them on the board to make it 1-0 at the break.
He was positioned at the side of the net where Mike Sones got him the puck and he buried it from the bad angle.
Kings just kept getting stronger as the game went on and Scott Renner scored next when he patiently backed up from the side of the net and shot the puck over Devji and it was 2-0.
Niddery got his second of the game, first shorthanded, on a nice feed from Garbowsky and his patented backhand deke and up to make it 3-0
Express made it 3-1 midway through the period but Powell River's favourite AP got his first goal as a King.
Mitch Ball one timed a nice pass from Brenden Forbes and his shot from the slot found nothing but net.
While the offense was humming, goalie Sean Maguire was stellar in the nets for the Kings.
The Express had a 5 on 3 advantage and Maguire made a brilliant glove save to rob Destry Straight of a sure scoring opportunity.
He continued the great play in third with a few more saves on shots wired for the top corner and if the Express weren't already frustrated with Maguire on the powerplay Niddery scored his second shorthanded goal of the game to make it 5-1.
This time he faked to go to his backhand and hesitated to shift the puck forehand and steer it in past the reach of Devji.
“What I always do with Garteig and Maguire is I go backhand then back to the forehand but I stop and I kind of lost it on the last one there but it seemed to work out okay.”
Express scored their second on the powerplay to make it 5-2 but less than a minute later Forbes was pleasantly surprised when the Express defense allowed him to walk all the way in where he wristed the Kings' sixth goal past Devji.
Third star of the game Austin Carroll got the final goal of the game for a 6-3 final and the Kings fans cheered loudly for the win on Kent Lewis's special day.
“I was caught off guard,” said Lewis.
“I knew there was going to be something but I didn't expect all that and I was kind of taken aback by it.”
League officials, team officials and family were on the ice with him for the ceremony but after the game, the longest serving King added his thoughts to the others.
“He puts together guys that come together like a family,” said Niddery.
“He recruits players that are so down to earth and it's rare that there's a cancer on the team.”
“He puts together guys that come together like a family – they go to the rink with lunch boxes,” he explained, “unlike the other teams who recruit pretty boys, rich kids – we have nothing like that, we chop wood all the time and that's just the way Kent runs the team, but honestly it couldn't get any better than it is here.”
“He's got a great hockey sense and he deserves every bit of praise that comes his way,” he said emphatically.
It must be working as Niddery was the Ron Armitage Mens Wear 1st star of the game.
2. Mitch Ball
3. Austin Carroll
