Playing well wasn’t enough to win Game 1, but the Nanaimo Clippers will keep at it.
The city’s B.C. Hockey League club dropped the opener of its best-of-seven playoff series with the Powell River Kings by a 3-2 score on the road Tuesday.
Nanaimo jumped to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period on goals from Mason Mitchell and Devin Brosseau, but Powell River got both those goals back before intermission. A goal midway through the second period held up as the winner, even though the Clippers put up a pretty good flurry of pressure to try for a tying goal.
“We’re both teams that forecheck very hard, trying to cause breakdowns in the other team’s end,” said Dave Johnston, assistant coach. “So that’s what we did. We did a good job of trying to create some opportunities. We just didn’t get a bounce here or a bounce there.”
Shots were 33-30 for the home team, with Jayson Argue making 30 saves for Nanaimo. Edwin Hookenson assisted on both the Clippers' goals.
“It was a good game. We were really happy with how our team played,” said Johnston. “We worked hard, we played a very structured game, we just unfortunately didn’t get the result … The only thing we’re disappointed in is that we didn’t win.”
GAME ON … Game 2 is Wednesday (March 5) at 6:30 p.m. at Powell River's Hap Parker Arena. Game 3 will be Friday (March 7) at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena and Game 4 will be Saturday, also 7 p.m. at Frank Crane.
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