The Kings dug themselves a huge hole and very nearly got out of it with a resilient battle in Trail against the Smoke Eaters on Saturday night.
A horror start to the game for the Powell River Kings who found themselves down 1-0 just over the 5 minute mark through Tyler Ghiradosi. The bad dream continued to build towards nightmare status as the Kings conceded three goals inside the final 5 of the period with Trail opening up a 4-0 lead through 40. To compound matters, the Kings also lost leading scorer Ben Berard before the period was over to a hit on a drive wide, forcing him to leave the game and the arena to get evaluated by medical personnel.
The second period saw the Kings come out a different team and begin to chip away at the lead. Early, Ryan Pouliot converted on a powerplay for his first goal in the BCHL and a 4-1 score. 2 minutes later, Ben Thomas completed a nice rush down the ice with Matt Fawcett headmanning for Christian Buono to give to Thomas for a nice effort in the slot and his 2nd of the season. It made the game 4-2 heading into the final period with the Kings all the momentum.
And early third period goal was needed from the Kings, and they got it with Perry Winfree finding himself down low around the net to poke in a loose puck following a Kyle Kawamura shot from the faceoff circle, Winfree’s first as a King and a 4-3 game. Powell River continued to push and push and push but were unable to find an equalizer, having a goal waved off in the third period to boot, and fall by a score of 4-3. Mitch Adamyk started and stopped 10/14 before being pulled in the first intermission. Hayden Missler went the rest of the way, stopping 14 of his own.
Here’s what Brock Sawyer had to say in the post game show:
Three Stars of the Game
- Sean Donaldson (Smoke Eaters) – 1 goal, 1 assist
- Ben Thomas (Kings) – 1 goal, 1 assist
- Diarmad DiMurro (Smoke Eaters) – 1 assist
The Kings return to Powell River and prepare to head back on Vancouver Island next weekend, beginning in Cowichan on Friday night, Victoria on Saturday and Nanaimo on Sunday.
