While there is no doubt that the Powell River Kings rode a complete team effort to come back from down 3-1 in their Coastal Conference Championship series against Alberni Valley, it's easy to pinpoint one player who's contributions keyed the team's 3-0 Game 7 victory.
Kings netminder Josh Watson continued his stellar play on the road Saturday night, stopping all 41 shots he faced to shut out the Bulldogs and launch the Coast's second seed into the Fred Page Cup Finals for the second consecutive season.
Watson made a statement early in Game 7, turning aside 20 shots over the course of the opening 20 minutes to help the visitors weather a first period storm. And his teammates did their part at the other end of the rink in the second, as team captain Mat Bodie broke the ice at 4:22 of the middle frame. An insurance marker came minutes later off the stick of Brenden Forbes, and Watson shut down the powerful Alberni Valley offence the rest of the way. Ben Schmidt scored into an empty net to salt away the win late in the third period.
The home side outshot the Kings by a margin of 41-25 on the night.
Frank Slubowski made 23 saves in net for the Bulldogs, who saw their incredible turnaround season draw to a close in front of their home fans. The Coast's top seed did look destined to make it through to the next round after taking a 3-1 series lead on Tuesday evening, but they scored just two goals in the three games that followed and paid the price with a Powell River comeback.
The Kings now advance to face a familiar opponent for their first BCHL Championship, as they will travel to Vernon for Game 1 of the Fred Page Cup Finals later this week. The series is tentatively set to begin Friday, but a full schedule will be released on Sunday evening.
