QUICK UPDATE

I know the blog has been quiet for the past two days and I apologize for that. However I'm putting together an in-depth mid season report card. This will review the first half of this season and compare it to the first half of last season.

This will take a few hours of number crunching, please stand by.

Kings Halt the Express 4-0

Box Score

The Powell River Kings dominated play right from the puck drop as they skated to their fourth straight victory and third against the Express.

The opening shift saw the Kings control the puck inside the Express zone for over a minute resulting in a couple of scoring chances for Matt Garbowsky and Chad Niddery. The opening shift fore shadowed what would follow over the next 59 minutes.

Niddery opened the scoring notching his 11th of the season and first in 17 games. It was good to see Niddery score after being snake bitten in the past six weeks.Sooner or later you knew he was going to snap the goal less skid.

Powell River controlled the pace of the entire game, outworking and out skating what looked to be tired Express club. The shots on goal were reflective of the play, as the Kings held the Express to just 15 shots, including only two in the third. Coquitlam had difficulty generating offense and were troubled with their entries into the offensive zone.

Other goals went to Garbowsky, Tegan Waugh and Brendon Hawryluk. Mike Garteig picked up his league leading fifth shutout and is approaching the BCHL record. I believe the record for most shutouts in a single season is seven.

The Kings have improved their record to 24-5-3-2 for 53 points. Their next action will be on Wednesday in Langley.

KINGS CROWN CHIEFS; EXPRESS TOMORROW

Boxscore

Game Recap

• The Kings continued their home dominance of the Chiefs as they now have won three straight at the Hap Parker Arena aganist Langley. The 3-2 OT loss back on October 15th looks more like a blip on the record than anything else.
• Mike Garteig looked terrific at the start of the game making three keys saves off the Chiefs who came out with a lot of jump. If the Chiefs would have scored early it could have been a much different story for the Kings. Garts was solid throughout and looked like his familiar self once again.
• Does Sean Maguire go tomorrow? I would tend to think Garteig deserves to get the call once more. Maguire earned two starts with his performances last weekend so I would think the same applies for Garts'.
• Teagan Waugh sure knows how to make an entrance. The second year King scored in his return to the line-up from injury. What impressed me was the hands he showed on the scoring play going fore hand back hand on Huggins at full speed. Waugh also chipped in with a helper on the opening goal.
• That line of Waugh, Carter Shinkaruk and Brenden Forbes collected five points. Shinkaruk showed a nice touch on the opening goal, snapping one over Huggins' right shoulder.
• That trio was put together to fill the injuries to Andrew Pettitt and Cohen Adair. Now I know it's only one game, but do you break up that line when Pettitt and Adair return? It will be interesting to watch how it unfolds.
• How can you not root for a guy like Chad Niddery. Yes he is known for his scoring and offensive flare, but what he showed last night tops all of that. To stand up to a player who out weighs you by 40 pounds and has 4 inches on you takes guts. His tilt with Tyler Miller sent a message to the Chiefs that they can't intimidate the Kings and it did not go unnoticed.
• Does Langley have a goaltending controversy? Cole Huggins looked terrific in the loss to the Kings. His save off of Niddery in the second period was eye popping. I liked what I saw from the Colorado native as he kept the Chiefs in the game well into the third period.
• The power-play showed that it's getting back on the right track. The Kings only scored once but looked confident with the puck and created plenty of chances with the man advantage. 
• Justin Bardarson was solid in his debut for Powell River. The feisty forward had a good scoring chance in the second period. He pays close attention to the details and does the smaller thing right in the game. That's what coaches rave about in video sessions.

The Kings have a Saturday off. Yes the first one of the season and it won't be the last either. Next week the Kings are off Saturday and Sunday.

Tomorrow the Express from Coquitlam will be in town for a matinee affair at 1:30pm. They were shelled 6-2 in Nanaimo last night and are in Alberni Valley tonight. The Kings will look to take advantage of a weary team come tomorrow.

GAME PREVIEW: CHIEFS at KINGS

19-10-1-4 (2nd)

Last 10: 6-3-1-0

22-5-3-2 (1st) 

Last 10: 6-1-2-1

Big Story: This will be the fifth meeting between the Kings and Chiefs. Through four games Powell River has a slight edge in the season series with a record of 2-0-1-1. Langley is making their final visit to the Sunshine Coast. In three games in Powell River the Kings have out scored the Chiefs 12-5.

Team Scope:

Chiefs: Harvey Smyl's club is coming off a 3-1 win last night in Alberni Valley. The win was their first on the road since November 10th when they downed Victoria 6-4. Langley has already won 12 times on the road and it's a good thing too as they have played the most road games in the BCHL. However it was a halloween scare for the Chiefs on their last visit to Powell River.

The Chiefs were drubbed 6-1 and 4-1 on Halloween weekend which saw plenty of fireworks and bad blood between the two Coastal Conference foes. It's that short fuse the Chiefs show at times that gets them in trouble. Langley is the most penalized team in the league as they have already racked up 609 penalty minutes. To put that into perspective, that's 97 more penalty minutes than the second most penalized team. For Langley to be successful they will have to find a way to keep their cool.

Kings: Powell River will be looking to rebound on home ice after coming off two road wins over the weekend. If you recall the Kings were doubled up by Nanaimo 6-3 last Wednesday at the Hap. Kent Lewis stated that was their worst effort of the season. It is a rare sight to see the Kings out worked on home ice. However the Kings still boast the best home record in the league. 

Justin Bardarson will be in the line up tonight for the Kings. The 20 year-old was acquired from the Melfort Mustangs on the December 1st dead line. Bardarson was at home in Burns Lake, BC at the time of the trade. He was formerly the captain of the Williams Lake Timberwolves. Bardarson has a connection with Kings Assoicate Head Coach, Chad van Diemen. Bardarson played under Chad when he was an assistant with the Chase Chiefs in the KIJHL.

Who's Hot: Matt Garbowsky was the Armitage Mens Wear Player of the Month for November. In 11 games Garbowsky scored 11 goals and tallied four assists. Craig Dalrymple recorded nine points last month and Justin DaSilva chipped in with eight. Chad Niddery has hit a dry spell in the goal department. Niddery did not score last month and hasn't scored since October 22nd in Merritt, a stretch of 16 games. However he did tally 9 assists last month and is averaging a point a game during the 16 game slump.

Brandon Thompson is on a roll for the Chiefs.The left winger has assisted in four straight games and is riding a six game point streak.

Stat Pack: The Kings have enjoyed their fair share of success against the Chiefs in the past three years. The Kings sport an 11-5-2-1 record against the Chiefs since the 2008-09 season. Langley has won once in three tries in Powell River this season and hasn't won in regulation in Powel River since September 19th, 2008.

Injury Report: Cohen Adair, Andrew Pettitt and Scott Renner are out due to injury. Teagan Waugh returns to the line-up for the Kings. Mike Tebbutt and Mason Blacklock won't be dressed for the Chiefs tonight.

Puck Drop: Tonight is the annual Teddy Bear Toss for the Kings. Everyone is encouraged to bring a stuffed toy to tonight's game. Rona will be on hand to collected the stuffed toys after the Kings first goal tonight. The toys will go to various groups in Powell River.

BRING A STUFFED TOY

Broadcast Note: New start time for the pre-game show. Join myself and Josh Statham starting at 7:00pm on 95.7 SUN FM.

November by the Numbers

As we enter a new month in the BCHL it's time to look back at the month of November for the Powell River Kings. I have have crunched the numbers and have come up with statistics that cover most areas with the team.

RECORD: 7-1-2-1
GF: 35
GA:22
HOME: 3-1-0-0
GF: 15
GA: 12
ROAD: 4-0-2-1
GF: 20
GA: 10

• As you can tell by the number the Kings were actually a better team on the road last month. Just look at the goals for and against.
• At home I saw a team and individual players put too much pressure on themselves to provide an entertaining product. Whether that was one too many passes or too much individual play, it had a direct result in their play.
• Let's not push the panic button yet however. Winning three out of four games on home ice is pretty darn good and I'm sure a majority of coaches would be thrilled with that record. But one bad game as we saw with Nanaimo can leave a bad taste in your mouth.
• How good was Powell River on the road? They only surrendered on average 1.4 goals per game. Furthermore, their opponent was only able to score more than one goal once. That was the 5-4 OT loss in Duncan. That span also includes shutting out the Nanaimo Clippers.
• The Kings now are tied with Langley for the BCHL's best road record.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

POWER-PLAY: 8-53 15.1%

• The Kings had 14 different players register at least one point on the man advantage and six players with multiple points.
• Matt Garbowsky lead all players in power-play points with five (2-3-5) followed by Justin DaSilva with three (1-2-3) and four other tied with two points each.
• Garbowsky was tied with Cohen Adair in goals (2) but lead in assists (3).
• However as of today the power-play sits 13th (18.47%) only better than Cowichan, Vernon and Quesnel.
• Kent Lewis stated last Friday his team needed to simplify their approach to the man advatange and capitalize on their opportunites.
• How do you simplify your power-play? By putting pucks at the net from the point and converting on rebounds in front.
• I expect you will see that simpler style starting tomorrow against Lanley.

PENATLY-KILL: 49-56 87.5%

• Not much you can say about a team who owns the league's best PK overall (89.66), at home (87.14), and on the road (92.00).
• Garbowsky lead the team in short-handed goals with two.
• Cowichan was the only team to score two goals on the power-play in the same game in November.
• Five times Powell River held their opponent without a power-play goal.
• The Kings high mark was a nine for nine performance against the Express on November 20th.
• Besides Garbowsky, I thought Andrew Pettitt was one of the Kings best penalty-killers. I can't recall a player blocking so many shots over this past month. As Geoff Grimwood said in one of our interviews, not many 35 goal guys do what he is willing to do.
• I would be remiss not to show love to Mike Garteig and Sean Maguire as well. The old adage came true last month. Your goaltenders do have to be your best penalty-killers.

OFFENSE:

GF: 35
ESG: 27
PPG: 8

• Only two Kings didn't record at least a single point in the month of November. Just goes to show the depth Powell River does have on hand. Kent Lewis told me when I first started, you must have four lines that can play at any given time. So far we are seeing that from the Kings.
• What many hockey experts say for a team to be successful is that they needto be able to score five on five. Powell River did just that scoring 27 goals. That's 77 percent of their goals in November.
• Garbowsky once again was leading the pack for the Kings. The 20 year-old recorded 15 points in 11 games. He also scored the most goals, collecting nine.
• One thing that surprised me was Chad Niddery's scoring slump. The playmaker did not score in the month of November and hasn't scored since October 22nd in Merritt.  That's a 16 game stretch. However he had nine assists in eight games last month. He missed three games due to injury. 
• Niddery is more of a playmaker than a scorer. Just look at his totals from one season ago.  He needs to look to shoot the puck more if he intends to break out of his slump.
• Craig Dalrymple caught fire from the blue-line scoring four goals and adding five assists.  Two of his nine points were on the power-play.
• Justin DaSilva wasn't far behind racking up eight points with two goals and six assists. DaSilva scored one PPG as well.
• Speaking of sleepers, Brenden Forbes and Carter Shinkaruk both quietly put together strong Novembers. Forbes scored twice and had eight points whereas Shinkaruk scored three times for eight points.
• Also having strong Novembers were Pettitt, Adair and Dan Schuler who had seven, six and five points respectively.

DEFENSE:

GA: 22
GAA: 2.00
SO: 1
1 GOAL GAMES: 6

• The defense continues to be the story for Powell River this season in the BCHL. The Kings lead the league in goals against (58) and average (1.8). In fact, Powell River has surrenderd 20 goals less than second place Vernon.
• Jason Yee and Jon Jutzi continue to develop into a top shut down pair in the BCHL. Yee and Jutzi see opposition team's top lines on a daily basis and for the most part shut down those units.
• In the 11 games the Kings played in November, on average they surrendered 23.9 shots a game.
• Powell River held their opponets under 30 shots eight times and 25 and under four times.
• Mike Garteig was 4-1-2-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .920 Save Percentage including being named the BCHL player of the week for the week ending November 21st.
• Sean Maguire was just very good when called upon going 3-0-0-1 with a 1.75 GAA and .934 save percentage including one shut out.

NOVEMBER REPORT CARD: A-

• It's hard to find fault in the league's best team and third best in the country. However the Kings had two bad showings in the past month to Cowichan and Nanaimo, two teams below them in the standings.  It's not the losses that were discouraging, it was the effort displayed during those two games.  The team needs to be prepared to battle every night.  Those losses are a directt result of what can happen when the team isn't prepared to play 60 minutes.  Also the power-play needs to improve.  There are some talented players on the team who should be able to score more goals with the man advantage.

KINGS MAKE TWO MOVES BEFORE DECEMBER 1ST DEADLINE



The Powell River Kings have acquired Justin Bardarson (90) from the SJHL's Melfort Mustangs for future considerations.

The native of Burns Lake, BC had 7 points in 18 games this season with the Mustangs before leaving the team. Bardarson isn't new to the BCHL as he was the captain of the Williams Lake Timberwolves last season in his second stint with the now defunct team. In 57 games last season the fiery forward put up 42 points including 14 goals.

"As a 20 year-old we felt he will bring valuable experience to our hockey club and provide us with depth up front." Stated Associate Head Coach & Assistant GM Chad van Diemen. "Having coached Justin in Chase (KIJHL), he is a character guy who adds some grit to our lineup.  He has proven he can put up some offensive numbers in our league and it says a lot about him that he was the captain of WIlliams Lake as a rookie in the BCHL last season" van Diemen went on to say.

Bardarson is expected to join the team in time for Friday's home game against Langley.

To make room for Justin, the Kings traded import Ryan Elliot (92) to the Winnipeg Blues of the MJHL for future condsiderations.

The Stonewall, Manitoba native played in 21 games for the Kings scoring once and collecting eight penalty minutes. Elliot came in as an 18 year-old rookie from the Interlake Lightening of the MMAAAHL.

The Powell River Kings would like to thank Ryan for his contributions to the hockey team and wish him the best of luck with the Blues.

The move leaves the Kings with 23 players, including six 20 year-olds.

CRAIG DALRYMPLE COMMITS TO OHIO STATE FOR 2012



Kings first year defenseman Craig Dalrymple has commited to Ohio State University for the fall of 2012. The 19 year-old is the third King to sign on with the Buckeyes as he joins Chad Niddery and Justin DaSilva. Niddery and DaSilva will be going to Columbus next fall.

Through 32 games Dalrymple has 8 goals and 12 assists.

I spoke with Associate Head Coach and Assist GM Chad Van Diemen about Dalrymple's commitment.
listen here

I will speak to Dalrymple later today and post the audio as soon as I can.

Here's Dalrymple's interview
Dalrymple