Special teams proved to be "too special" for the Sunshine Coast Hitmen to overcome in dropping an 8-5 decision to the Powell River Regals last Saturday night in Gibsons.
The Hitmen saw leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-3 evaporate with untimely penalties leading to six power play goals from the Regals.
The game started off well for the hometown Hitmen playing their first West Coast Senior Men's League game since the Christmas break in front of a good-sized crowd at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre.
Graham Sheppard got the Hitmen on the board nine minutes in after he finished a nifty passing play from Brad Wingfield and Marc Chabot.
That line helped put the Hitmen up 2-0 with a power play goal three minutes later, and just over a minute later, Wes Agassiz beat Regals' goalie Rene Holmgren, who had a shaky first period, to put the Hitmen up 3-0. Aaron Portman and Mike Cote added the assists.
The Regals found their legs, coming out much harder in the second and got on the board six minutes in as Tyson Boucher went top shelf on Hitmen goalie Keith McKenzie.
Wingfield restored the three-goal advantage just over a minute later when he beat Holmgren five-hole on a two-man breakaway, shorthanded. Sheppard picked up the lone assist.
But shortly after the 4-1 goal, things began to unravel for the Hitmen as they took back-to-back penalties, resulting in two power play goals in less than two minutes from Joe Calderone and Will Malcolm.
The Hitmen were able to survive the rest of the period and went to the locker room up 4-3.
The Hitmen started the final period with a two-man advantage of their own and failed to score, but with the heat still on, Adam Nansen scored from Mike Onzick and Cote to go up 5-3.
But the Hitmen just couldn't stay out of the penalty box and the Regals capitalized with a goal from Malcolm at the 5:09 mark, the tying goal at the 7:04 mark from Eric Albertson and the eventual game-winning goal from Tyler Labree at the 9:36 mark -on another power play, this time a two-man advantage.
Another power play goal from Malcolm at 15:47 and the last power play goal from Albertson with three minutes left sealed the deal for Powell River.
"We did a good job in the first couple of periods, but obviously things fell apart in the third," said Wingfield. "It comes down to discipline, and that hurt us big time and cost us the game. You can't blame the refs - they're just doing their job. They maybe called a few penalties that they shouldn't have, but they also let some go, so it balances out in the end.
"The bottom line is that we scored five goals and that should be enough to win. We have to stay out of the penalty box and play better defensively."
The Hitmen have another shot at the Regals on Saturday, Jan. 22, in Powell River, and then play the Regals on Friday, Feb. 4, in Sechelt. The Mid Island Blazers come to town on Saturday night, Feb. 5.
The Hitmen also have another home game against the Blazers, which still needs to be re-scheduled, as well as a home exhibition game against Langley. The date for that game has also not been announced.
