A see-saw game that saw lead changes, highlight reel goals, fantastic saves, and some physical, emotional play from two divisional rivals resulted in a wild finish and a 6-4 Kings win over the Nanaimo Clippers on Saturday night.
Here are some thoughts of the game:
- Before I get to the game, I wanted to apologise for a big error on my part. I incorrectly called Kurt Keats’ 3rd period goal his first BCHL tally. He reminded me in the post-game show that he did indeed score in the Showcase, on a beautiful pass from Jarid Lukosevicius. It was a lapse on my part and I’m sorry for the mistake. Now onto the game…
- The start. Ugly. Surrending a goal on the first shift is never good, but the silver lining to the grey cloud that was the 1-0 goal is that the Kings came away the better team. For the next 5-odd minutes the Kings did nothing but push and generate chances. The pressure was finally too much when Matt Scarth scored not once, but twice within 2:11 to give the Kings the lead.
- The 1st was really a see-saw. The Kings deserved to be on top, but give the Clippers credit for a taking advantage of their chances. The two they got were pucks thrown on net, and while neither goal was ‘pretty’, both were the result of putting a puck on the goaltender and seeing what happens. It was something Nanaimo didn’t do enough through the evening, as evidenced by the shot totals (45-17).
- Speaking of Nanaimo goals, not the best night for Jonah Imoo. Statistically it’ll hurt, but the win will make it not really matter. It’s so tough for a goalie to get into a game when you just don’t get shots. Jonah had to deal with 4 pucks in the 2nd period, and it’s difficult to get a rhythm without constant action. Jonah probably faced more shots in warmup than he did in the game.
- How many good things can we say about Kurt Keats? Coming to Powell River, all the feedback I’d gotten on him was ‘he works hard’, ‘never quits’, ‘determined’…all the buzz words you like to hear about a player. Most, if not all have been true and again his goal, and the 4 assists he had were the result of hard work. I don’t think he’s had a shift yet this season where he hasn’t been noticeable.
- Along that same line, Scarth-Keats-Lukosevicius play well together. 13 points between the 3 tonight, with all three in on 3 of the 6 goals…and probably would have been 4 had Scarth played the whole game. Scarfo took Scarth’s place on that line and had an assist on the 6th goal.
- On the subject of Scarfo, he takes over the scoring race outright, with 4 goals and 6 assists. Keats’ 5-point night vaults him to a 6-way tie for 2nd place with 2 goals, 7 assists.
- Good on Luke McCaw for scoring an ugly one. It’s hardly the pretty goals that we saw in camp, but it’s goal number 1 regardless. That was also the TSN Turning Point, not only tying the game at 4, but seemingly running Jayson Argue off the tracks. The Clippers netminder had been so good all night, but that one, where he felt it should not have counted, seemed to rattle Argue, and led the floodgates to open.
- I thought the Kings did a good job containing the emotions. They played physical, they stepped up when needed (see: Nogard’s response to the attempted hit on Keats), but stayed out of it. There was pushing and shoving, but the Kings did well not being drawn into a special teams battle.
- Finally, linesman Brady Casparie from Powell River was one of the officials for tonight’s game…great to see a local ref getting some Junior A time. Casparie is a fully accredited BCHL official, and I’m excited to see another Powell River-ite striving ahead with his goals. Congrats!
Here’s our chat with Kings assistant coach Chad van Diemen and Kings forward Kurt Keats after the game:
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Three Stars of the Game
- Kurt Keats (Kings) – 1 goal, 4 assists
- Matt Scarth (Kings) – 2 goals
- Jayson Argue (Clippers) – 39 saves
The Kings entertain the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Sunday afternoon at the Hap Parker Arena, a 3:00pm faceoff.
Here are some shots of Saturday’s game, more are available at Alicia Baas’ website:
