Home hasn’t been very sweet in the 2010 Coastal Conference Finals and the Powell River Kings took full advantage of that trend to keep their season alive with a 2-1 win Thursday night at the Weyerhaeuser Arena. Ben Schmidt's goal with five minutes remaining broke a 1-1 tie to give Powell River life and continue the unprecedented run of road victories between the two teams.
The Kings' win in Game 5 marked the fourth road winner in five games, as only the Bulldogs have successfully defended their home ice (in a Game 2 overtime triumph). But this is nothing new, as the home team won only twice during the six-game season series, and the trend has merely continued in the playoffs.
In Game 5, Josh Watson backstopped Powell River to the tight one-goal victory, turning aside 33 shots from Alberni Valley to earn first-star honours.
Chad Niddery opened the scoring for the Kings 11:49 into the contest, teaming up with Andrew Pettitt and Mitch Labreche to put the road team in a familiar position leading 1-0. The Bulldogs responded late in the second period when Tye Lewis beat Watson to even the score, with Ryan Renz and Matt Hatch providing the assists.
In the third, the game remained tied until there was 5:01 remaining when Schmidt finished off passes from Daniel Carr and Matt Garbowsky to notch the eventual game-winning goal past Alberni Valley netminder Frank Slubowski.
The Kings face another elimination game tonight back on their home ice at the Powell River Recreational Complex at 7:00 PM, only hoping to break the series trend of road victors. With a Kings win, the seventh and deciding game would go Saturday night in Alberni Valley.
