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Kings open new season in style |
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Written by TED CLARKE
Citizen staff
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Friday, 05 September 2008 |
Jordan Simpson of the Spruce Kings and Tyler Barr of the Centennials get set to toss knuckles at each other Friday night at the Coliseum. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
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No, it has nothing to do with the pungent pong of the pulp mills in P.G., or the sickening scent of fields of farmland fertilizer in the Nicola Valley. Bad blood between the teams dates a long way back into the Kings’ 13-year BCHL history, so it would have been foolish to think a transfusion has suddenly taken place with the dawn of a new season.
Give the Cents credit for trying to beat the Kings with their hockey skills Friday night at the Coliseum but they were no match for Kevin Genoe, who made all 25 saves to shut out the Cents 4-0.
Coming off a last-place overall finish, there’s only one way for the Cents to go, playing with a 60-game clean slate. But their sluggish start did not sit well with head coach Al Glendinning, who gave his troops the green light to resort to combat tactics to try and change the mood, trailing 3-0 midway through he second period.
Tyler Barr picked Kings winger Jordan Simpson, the six-foot-three, 240-pound former BCHL goaltender, to swing with in a heavyweight duel that got the large opening-night crowd of 1,681 on its feet. A few seconds after the puck drop, Cam Brodie of the Cents locked horns with Matt Lees. The officials broke that one up and Lees was headed to his five minutes of purgatory when Cents winger Brad Davis, the former Penticton Vee, decided to attack Lees with a sucker punch to the head, touching off a mini-brawl that left the penalty boxes chock-a-block full on both sides.
“We knew Merritt was going to do that, they don’t have all the skill in the world and they have to do whatever they can to stay in the game after we went up 3-0,” said Kings winger Alex Allan, who opened the scoring in the first period.
“It’s important for us to not get caught up in the fighting and it was good we stood up for each other, but we’re not about fighting. We have to beat teams on the scoreboard and that’s what we did (Friday).”
The Kings played close to nine minutes of the first period on the power play and clearly dominated but were held off the scoreboard despite outshooting the Cents 15-5. The Kings kept up that pace the rest of the way, collecting 45 shots.
“They come at you in waves and their goaltending was good,” said Glendinning. “Both teams stood up for themselves and that’s just the way it goes when guys are jacked and ready to go. Both teams played hard, we just have to capitalize.”
It didn’t take long into the second period for the Kings to find the net, scoring twice on the power play and once right after a penalty-kill to jump ahead 3-0. Sammy Muchalla, packing 20 pounds of newly-acquired muscle on his five-foot-eight frame, threaded a backhand pass from behind the net through the crease and onto the blade of Allan. The 19-year-old Alabama-Huntsville recruit had nothing but net to shoot at for his first goal as a Spruce King, 49 seconds into the period.
Sean Ambrosie kept his feet moving to beat his check and strip the puck off the end boards, allowing the Moorhead, Minn., import to set up Tyson Hall for his first BCHL goal. Then at the 10-minute mark, Zach Davies, the newly-appointed Kings captain, took the puck at centre and cruised into shooting range unmolested. Davies, from a sharp angle, caught Merritt goalie Graeme Gordon not hugging the post with his leg and picked the corner.
One other BCHL newcomer collected his first league goal, Kings left winger Michael Nardi, who was rewarded in the third period after two near-misses off the pipes. Nardi had all kinds of time to unload a wrist shot from the danger zone that completed the scoring early in the third.
Because of the Friday fights, several players will miss tonight’s rematch at the Coliseum (7 p.m. start). “Anytime our team and Merritt gets together it’s always very physical and sparks usually fly, and tonight was no different,” said Kings head coach Ed Dempsey. “Kevin was very solid in goal and our defence did a god job controlling the tempo of the game, and our forwards played pretty well.”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 05 September 2008 )
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