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Error costs Kings in OT |
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Written by TED CLARKE
Citizen staff
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Friday, 28 November 2008 |
Did you see the game Friday night at the Coliseum?
Nearly 1,000 people were in the building to watch the Prince George Spruce Kings lose 5-4 in overtime to the Quesnel Regency Millionaires but those fans in attendance probably left the rink wondering what really happened out on the ice.
On a night when video replay would have come in handy to clear up the confusion and nail down what transpired, there was no doubting Adam Stuart was the hero for Quesnel. With 1.6 seconds left in the first overtime period, Stuart was in the right place to take the puck from Alex Wright and dump it into the open net. Wright, the Kings goalie, made the first save off Thomas Kala and tried to shovel the puck into the corner to kill the clock, but put it right on Stuart’s stick.
It was a weird end to an unusual night of hockey.
Three goals in a span of 1:22 late in the third period turned an otherwise one-sided game in favour of the Kings into an overtime thriller.
The Kings had taken a 3-2 lead on a strange goal 12 seconds into the third period. From deep in the corner, Joe Morgan flipped a shot on net from an extreme angle that got tangled in the equipment of goalie Evan Kamambelis and trickled in. Although they were outshot and outplayed, the Mills weren’t finished, not by any means. Eliot Raibl’s point shot hit a stick and it deflected in over Wright’s shoulder to tie it up with three minutes left. Then Trevor Hertz gave the Mills the lead eight seconds later with a wide-angle blast. Sam Muchalla forced overtime with a quick tap-in from the side of the net at 18:14.
Quick starts have led to favourable results for the Kings, who came into the game sporting an 11-3-1-2 record when they score first, and they thought they were about to end the first period with a lead after Colten Derickson’s first goal of the season, 3:28 into the game. But with 3.3 seconds left in the period, the Millionaires had a delayed goal to celebrate when referee Jim Storey consulted his linesmen and determined Eric Galbraith’s high shot had gone in and out of the net about 45 seconds earlier while the Mills were at the tail end of their first power play.
Galbraith’s shot from the slot caught the mesh just behind the midpoint of the crossbar. The red light did not come on, Storey waived the goal off, and play continued until the Kings carried the puck offside into the Quesnel zone. That’s when one of the linesmen told Storey he’d seen the puck go into the net.
Morgan put the Kings ahead 2-1 with 6:19 gone in the second period. The 19-year-old Kitimat native put on a burst of speed down the left wing, let the shot go and chopped in the rebound under the glove of goalie Evan Karambelas. The Kings were killing a penalty a few minutes later when Sean Ambrosie came close to scoring shorthanded with a backhander that caught the inside of the goalpost that caused the goal judge to flip the switch, but none of the on-ice officials saw it that way and play continued. On the ensuing rush, Hertz beat a stick-check attempt through the slot and lifted a high wrist shot over Wright’s trapper.
The Kings carried most of the play in the first two period and built a 27-8 shot advantage but the game was tied 2-2 at the intermission.
The Kings’ busy weekend continues tonight (7 p.m. start) when the Westside Warriors come to town for the first time this season. The Trail Smoke Eaters visit the Kings Sunday at 3 p.m.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 28 November 2008 )
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