Troy Kaczynski once again proved why he was the league MVP and this time he did it from the stands.
With their best player and league scoring champion sidelined with an injury, the Richmond Sockeyes simply couldn’t generate enough offence and saw their season end in a seven game series loss to the Grandview Steelers.
The Pacific Junior Hockey League quarter-final match-up concluded Monday night at Minoru Arenas where the visitors got a pair of goals from Cameron Ginnetti, including the winner with under five minutes remaining, in a 3-2 triumph.
Kaczynski, the 20-year-old power forward who produced 41 goals and 74 points in just 40 games, suffered a sprained AC joint in his shoulder during Richmond’s final regular season game at Port Moody on Feb. 14. It’s an injury that typically takes four-to-six weeks to heal. The Richmond Minor product tried to play in game three but only managed a couple of shifts before shutting it down for the night.
“That’s 41 goals out of our line-up. Obviously it was a big loss for us,” said Sockeyes head coach Judd Lambert. “Take away three empty net goals and we scored 14 in seven games. That’s just not going to get it done.
“That being said we had our chances and just didn’t capitalize on enough of them.”
The Steelers finished 17 points back of Richmond in the league standings but enjoyed a solid second half to the season, especially after acquiring Port Moody’s leading scoring Adam Rota — son of former Canuck Darcy Rota.
Grandview looked to have the Sockeyes in a heap of trouble by winning games one and two at Minoru. However, Richmond bounced back to win the next three, keyed by back-to-back shutouts for Kurt Russell.
The Steelers avoided elimination with a 6-2 home ice win on Sunday, setting the stage for game seven. The Sockeyes took a 2-1 second period lead on goals by Jacob Wozney and Daniel Oakley but Grandview answered on a power play, leading to a tense third period.
“They worked hard, were very tenacious on the puck and were very physical,” said Lambert of his opponent. I thought we worked hard too but that wasn’t enough.
“It’s a small margin of error when you are scoring so few goals. A lot of that had to do with Grandview’s style of play, our inability to take good shots and their goalie (Cole McInnes) not letting in a weak goal the whole series.”
Mac Colismone missed game six with a concussion and rookie Tyler Andrews left game seven in the opening period after a hit to the head.
"In the end, we ran out of guys," added Lambert.
The Steelers move on to face the North Vancouver Wolf Pack in the Tom Shaw Conference finals.
Kaczynski and Oakley are the only two players the Sockeyes are losing to graduation next season.
