The Powell River Kings will be returning home to the Sunshine Coast with home-ice advantage in the 2010 Fred Page Cup Finals, as the Coastal Conference champions tied the series 1-1 on Saturday night with a gritty 3-1 victory at the Wesbild Centre.
The Vipers, who took the opener by a goal on Friday, came out of gates quickly, creating nine shots and beating Kings’ netminder Josh Watson for their lone marker of the evening. Connor Jones recorded his second goal of the Fred Page Cup on a power play 6:36 into the game after a pass from Sahir Gill, who also has two points in the series.
But Powell River responded with an impressive middle frame in which they threw 14 shots towards Graeme Gordon. The offensive chances resulted in Matt Garbowsky’s first of the championship affair on the man advantage, as the 25-point playoff man finished off passes from Justin Dasilva — the game's first star with two assists — and Mat Bodie with 1:46 remaining in the second.
The Kings then took their first lead of the Fred Page Cup three minutes into the third period when Cody Rainaldi scored to make it a 2-1 game in favour of the visitors. Watson turned aside all 13 shots by Vernon in the final frame and Mitch Labreche provided the empty-netter to preserve the crucial road victory.
Powell River avoided falling behind 2-0 against the Vipers for the second consecutive BCHL Championship as the teams take a travel day to the Sunshine Coast for Game 3 on Monday night.
