Wednesday's Takes

• Day 2 at the World Junior A Challenge in Penticton is in the books. Team Switzerland is the early story as they downed the Russians 5-1 and Team Canada East trounced Sweden 6-2. The Swiss have booked a spot in Saturday's semi-finals. For complete coverage of the tournament head here.
• Team Canada West plays the Russians tonight at 7:30pm. You can watch all the action on FASThockey with Silverbacks announcer Patrick Haas.
• I know I'm two days late but congratulations to Cents' Regan Soquila for being named BCHL Player of the Week. The rookie collected 3 goals and 7 points in Merrit's three wins last week.  Don't look now but Merritt is one of the hottest teams in the BCHL, 6-2-0-2 in their last 10.
• Umm did the Canucks know they were playing last night in Montreal?....yesssh.
• I was watching tape from Friday's 5-3 win over Cowichan and the Kings almost tied an old BCHL record. Steven Schmidt and Matt Garbowsky scored 9 seconds apart. The record for the fastest two goals in a game is 6 seconds. Reached by Bill Haynes (Kelowna) 1975, Russ Wilderman (Langley) 1975 Carl Poeschek (Merritt) 1979 
• I have been hearing that Powell River is a trap hockey team. I guess that's the go to reasoning you will hear when a their allowing a full goal less then any other team. In fact, the Kings are tied for 4th in the league with 83 goals. However success will always have its detractors.
• One name not mention a whole lot when it comes to the Kings offense is Steven Schmidt. The Campbell River native has scored 3 goals in 4 games playing on the third line with Brenden Forbes and Scott Renner. Speaking of Forbes, you can point to his goal on Friday as the turning point in the 5-3 victory over Cowichan Valley.
• I was interviewed by Evan Hammond this morning on his radio show. The Alberni Valley Bulldogs play caller asked me about attendance. The Kings owning the best record in the BCHL only sit 6th in the Coastal Conference in gate receipts. Do I think we need more fans to come? short answer-yes. However, many simply can't afford to go to a game every weekend. That isn't just isolated here attendance league wide in down. The recent fall and slow return of the economic climate in the province plays significant role. Let's hope more come out as the season wears on.