Somebody better check those Bauer hockey sticks the Prince George Spruce Kings were holding in their hands Sunday afternoon.
They might find out the B.C. Hockey League’s official equipment sponsor shipped out a defective batch.
Or maybe the Spruce Kings just spent their supply of live ammunition two nights prior to that while slaughtering the visiting Alberni Valley Bulldogs 8-0.
A more plausible explanation for their 1-0 loss Sunday to the Powell River Kings was the wet blanket Mitch Adamyk hung up in front of his goal crease at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. The 17-year-old Powell River goalie bailed out his road-weary teammates with a 51-save shutout, his first in the BCHL.
Redemption was sweet for Adamyk, relieved of his duties Saturday night in a 6-4 loss to Merritt after allowing five goals on 31 shots.
“That was just unreal, I kind of let the boys down a bit in Merritt and got yanked and I just wanted to come back and show that’s not how I play,” said Adamyk. “I was really focused all game, prepared well and saw every puck.”
The six-foot-three, 177-pound native of East St. Paul., Man., who backstopped the Winnipeg Blues to the triple-A midget provincial title last season, was courted by a few WHL teams but chose Powell River and Kings head coach Kent Lewis was counting his blessings for that as they boarded the bus for the long ride home
“He had a tired group in front of him today and he came up big for us,” said Lewis, whose team won 6-2 Friday in Coquitlam. Sunday’s win moved Powell River ((9-7-0-0) into second place in the Island Division, one point behind Victoria.
“It’s a tough trip with three games and we got in late (from Merritt) and the guys were on fumes a little bit. We played God-awful and we were tired and we relied on our goalie to hold us in. You’ve got to win ugly sometimes and Mitch was the difference.”
Josh Coblenz scored the only goal, tapping in a loose puck that had bounced off the glove of Spruce Kings goalie Stefan Wornig, who had trouble corralling a sharp-angle shot from Hunter Findlater.
The goal came late in the first period and the Spruce Kings answered right away with their best scoring chance of the game. Jamie Huber put the puck right on Brett Mennear’s stick in forehand position and he launched a close-range rocket, but Adamyk anticipated correctly and dove in time to trap the shot in his glove.
The Spruce Kings came oh-so-close a number of times. Cavin Tilsley and Tyler Anderson both put shots off the posts. Mennear, centring a line with Huber and Tanner Campbell, probably had 10 shots on net as the Spruce Kings outshot their opponents 51-21. Powell River had brief flurries of offence in the third period and despite long periods of inactivity, Wornig did his job in net, keeping it to a one-goal game.
“There are games when you run into hot goalies and it’s tough but we have to find ways to score,” said Mennear. “It was a tough night for everyone. He made a great save on me and I have to find a way to finish those. I had at least five Grade-A chances. We’re playing good hockey right now and I think we deserved more than we got tonight.”
The Spruce Kings went 0-for-4 on the power play and successfully killed off the one Powell River power-play chance.
The Spruce Kings (4-8-0-1, fourth in the Mainland Division) were looking to stretch their home ice win streak to four games. Other than their lack of finish, head coach Chad van Diemen could not find much fault in his players.
“Overall I thought we played pretty well, we outplayed a team quite badly the whole game and weren’t able to capitalize,” said van Diemen. ”When we get that many shots on net and that many chances we have to capitalize. You’re not going to win every game but if you play like that you’ll win the majority of them. Hopefully the guys can see how we need to play and that it works and will stick to it. The goals will come, as we saw Friday.”
LOOSE PUCKS: D Mark O’Shaughnessy made his debut Sunday as a Spruce King, the 19-year-old Kelowna native’s first game since he was traded to Prince George Friday from Cape Breton of the Maritime Hockey League in a deal for future considerations... Former Spruce King D Brandon Manning picked up two assists for the Philadelphia Flyers in their 4-3 overtime loss to Arizona Saturday in Phoenix. He also had a helper in a win over the Kings Friday in Los Angeles Kings… The Spruce Kings host the Chilliwack Chiefs Thursday, then play the Surrey Eagles Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
