Weekend Recap is presented by Iris Optometry
It was week 3 of the Kings homestand and after two tough defeats to the BCHL’s best in the Clippers and Vees, the Kings hosted the Merritt Centennials who came into this contest with an identical record to the Kings.
The Cents were coming off a big OT win at home against the Silverbacks on Sunday and carried that momentum into the early portions of the game by out shooting the Kings 9-0 early on and they would also open the scoring on those 9 shots on a man advantage when Kyle Isenbergs long wrist shot managed to get by Liam Vanderkooi to give Merritt the early lead. The Kings would tie the game a few minutes later on their first shot when Noah Eyre fed Anthony Yu cross ice as he hammered home his 9th of the season as were tied after one period.
In the second the Kings struggled to get anything going offensively as the Cents were very strong on the puck carriers. The Cents would take control in the second half of the period by scoring three goals in six minutes to take a 4-1 which they held going into the third period.
After a rough middle period where the Kings were just held to 6 shots the Kings would start to wake up and put the pressure on the Centennials. They would get within two 8:27 on Cam Symons third of the season and then with 90 seconds remaining they would close the gap to one on the power play when Jack Blanchett scored his 8th. With the extra attacker out the Kings were desperate to push the game to OT the Kings outshot the Cents 18-4 in the third but the offensive outburst was too little too late as Cents captain Davide Patella iced it with an empty netter to give the Cents the 5-3 victory.
The Power play would be the story of this game for the Kings as they only went 1 for 7 on the man advantage which included a 5 on 3 and a 3 minutes power play in the first period. The highlight for the Kings would be Karter McNarland who has two assists on the night.
On Saturday the Kings looked to rebound as they took on the Cowichan Valley Capitals for the first time this season on Teddy Bear Toss night at the Hap. It was early in the season but it was a important game as the Caps entered the game at the bottom of the BCHL standings just one point behind the Kings.
It was Deja Vu for the Kings at the start as for the second game in a row they gave up the first goal on a power play 5 minutes in, this time it was Cole Melady getting the scoring started after he drove to the net. Just like on Friday, the Kings would answer back to tie it in a matter on minutes. Ryder Ringor would find former Capital Turner Richards on the right wing who then rifled the puck past Lukas Renaud for his first BCHL goal and the all important teddy bear toss goal. After all the stuffed animals were cleaned up play resumed and just 13 seconds later the Kings would take the lead when Anthony Yu would pot home the rebound off a Will Jones shot for his 10th as Yu has scored in three consecutive games. The Kings would hold on to the one goal lead heading into the second period.
In the second the Kings would extend the lead to three with two goals. First Noah Eyre would score his second of the season at 3:43 then Anthony Yu would get his second of the game two minutes later as Yu’s second would be the end of the night for Lukas Renaud as he allowed 4 goals on 18 shots. After the goalie change the Caps would get one back on another power player when Cole Melady tipped in the puck for his second on the night as the Kings held a 4-2 lead after two.
With a two goal lead against a divisional opponent the Kings knew they had to keep to pressure on and they did just that in the final period. 4:23 in Anthony would score a goal of the year candidate make a great move to get by a defender then going to the backhand to beat McCoy Bidewell for his 6th of the season. 90 seconds later the Kings would add another when Noah Eyre fed Cam Symons who put home his 4th of the year as he had a goal and an assists to extend his point streak to 8 games which is currently the second longest active streak in the BCHL. Being up by four wasn’t enough for the Kings as they would add two more late in the period from Marcus Dashevsky who ended a 12 game goalless drought and Noah Eyre who had two goals on the night as the Kings would go on to win 8-2.
7 players would have multi point nights for the Kings with Anthony Yu and Noah Eyre leading the way with two goals and an assist each while Kyle Metson made 26 saves for his 5th win on the year.
The Kings now have a record of 7-14-1-2 and a 3-3 record on the 8 game homestand which will wrap up this Friday and Saturday against the Surrey Eagles, which will also be the final home games of 2022. Both games will start at 7pm.
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