vees:blog

WEATHER

Rain, rain, rain, power outage, rain, power outage, rain, rain.

Welcome to Powell River, ironically located on the ‘Sunshine Coast’ of BC, where candles line the hallways of the Powell River Town Centre Hotel.

The weather report is pretty soggy here. Unlike most places North of the 49th parallel you might trade in a block heater and a snow shovel for an umbrella and a pair of rain boots in the winter.

Getting games played here in Powell River has been a nightmare in the last week. The locals are getting antsy here after the last two home games have been cancelled due to nutso weather. On Sunday high winds suspended ferry sailings that kept the Nanaimo Clippers on Vancouver Island. On Wednesday the Vipers were in town only to have the game cancelled due to a 3.5 hour power outage.

Hopefully tonight we’ll see hockey in PR.

The song getting love on my iPod is appropriately named ‘The Rain’ by Calvin Harris.

KINGS NOTES

As for the hockey here - the Kings are on a bit of a skid after leading the Coastal Conference for the lion’s share of September and October. With just 2 wins in their last 12 games the Kings have slid to fourth in the Coastal Conference.

The King’s strength is from the net out as the tandem of Josh Watson and Michael Garteig have kept opponents well under 3 goals a game.The Powell River defense has four returning cogs that played a bunch in last season’s run to a Coastal Conference Championship.

The glaring weakness for this club is their lack of skilled players upfront. The Kings used all six 20-year-olds slots on forwards last season, which leaves them without most of their firepower from last season.

Lebreche in Training Camp

Mitch Lebreche will play his first game against his former club tonight. Lebreche was part of the 07/08 Fred Page Champion Vees and was moved from Penticton in the pre-season. Mitch is enjoying his most productive season of his BCHL career as he sits on career highs in goals, assists, and points as a 19-year-old.

Last season, the Vees were shellacked in Powell River in Jordan White’s first game of the season. The much older Kings dismantled the Vees as league leading scorer Darcy Oakes buried a pair of goals including one on the first shot of the game. The Kings would win 8-4 with ease.

The Kings have been very solid on home ice this year (like last year) having lost just 2 games in regulation in eleven games at the Rec Centre.

Here’s more from a Vees perspective courtesy Emanuel Sequiera of the Penticton Western News.

TRAVEL ITINERARY

It took the Vees 10 hours to get to Powell River yesterday. Two ferries and a lot of time on the bus was need to finally arrive in the isolated community.

The Queen of Surrey

The Vees were on the bus at 10 AM, at Horseshoe Bay (Vancouver) by 2:30, On the Queen of Surrey at 3:30, back on the bus to drive from Langdale to Earl’s Cove, onto the Island Sky at 6:30, and finally pulled into to Powell River at 8PM. That’s a long way for a single hockey game (you could get to Calgary with less hassle, lower cost, and in less time).

Tomorrow the Vees will need two ferries to get back to Burnaby for their 7:30 game with the struggling Express.