Dante De Caria
Alberni Valley, BC – The Powell River Kings kicked off their pre-season with a 3-2 overtime win over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Thursday night at Weyehauser Arena.
Jack Brackett capped off a two-goal game with the overtime winner, pouncing on a loose puck in the crease and depositing it into the net.
Brackett was credited with the goal after he got the final touch, but he says that Jack Long’s shot was behind the winner.
“I saw it slowly crossing the goal line, and I couldn’t really tell if I got it or not but that doesn’t really matter because we (Powell River) got the win,” said Brackett after being at the bottom of the dog pile following the goal.
The Kings were held scoreless until the mid-portions of the second period. Seconds after Bulldogs’ forward Ethan Jones scored off a partial breakaway, Michael Abrall bounced a shot off Luke Pearson’s pad to the tape of Brackett for his first of the game.
Levi Glasman gave the Kings the lead early in the third, pulling off a nifty toe-drag move in the slot before finding the top left corner. Minutes later, the Bulldogs would tie the game 2-2, as Stephen Castagna scored on a scramble in front of Kings’ goaltender Alex Rolfe.
Brackett said that he felt the Kings got better as the game went on.
“You’re going to have a little bit of rust in your first game,” said Brackett. “We (Powell River) improved as the game went on and got the result.”
Powell River outshot Alberni Valley 35-28. The Kings are back in action on Friday, August 23rd at 2:00 p.m., for another exhibition contest against the Bulldogs
