Power packing a scoring punch

Playing on the Nationals’ top line, Zach Power, who’s scoring at a career-high clip, finds himself atop the league’s scoring leaders.

(Photo: Bruce Laing).

Zach Power is off to the best start to a season of his career. 

A newcomer to the Nationals this year, the 20-year-old has made an impressive first impression. In fact, following London’s home win Wednesday, a 4-2 victory over the Strathroy Rockets, Power leads the entire GOJHL in scoring, with 47 points.

Nipping at his heels is teammate Jeff Burridge, London’s captain, but Power will enter Thursday’s contest against Leamington one point ahead of his linemate in their friendly competition for scoring leader (his average of 2.35 points per game in 20 contests is also best in the league).

New to the Nats, Power is no stranger to the league, of course, having played for two seasons for the Chatham Maroons. He also had a stint with the CCHL’s Navan Grads. This year, he decided to take his talents to London.

“I had been talking to Pat Powers a little bit through Junior, and the Nationals are always a number one team in the league,” the forward said. “So, for my last year (in junior), I just wanted to give myself the best chance to win.”

Power seems to have made a good choice. Through their first 21 games this season, the Nationals are 16-3-1-1, good for first place in the Western Conference (at 34 points, they’re six ahead of their Thursday opponent, the Flyers, who’ve played two fewer games). They got off to a hot start to begin the season, and they haven’t really cooled off.

Scoring has been the name of the game, and Power has supplied plenty of it, playing a significant role in the team’s success thus far. And while the Nationals haven’t yet reached the halfway point in their season, it’s safe to say their new top scorer is headed for a career year.

In Power’s first taste of GOJHL hockey, he scored 24 points (including 10 goals) in 48 games during the 2018-19 season with Chatham. Then he became a point-per-game player the next year, finishing with 50 points (20 goals) in 50 games during the regular season. This year? He’s already at 47 points in 20 games (his 32 assists are already a career high). This, despite essentially a year away from competitive hockey due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

(Photo: Bruce Laing).

Power credits the improvement in his game to his growing experience playing in the faster-paced GOJHL. Where once he was feeling his way around, now he’s used to the pace and more confident on the ice.

“I’m just seeing it a lot slower now,” he says, “and I’m able to make more plays, better plays, smarter plays.” 

Of course, having good teammates helps. Luckily for Power, he’s got one of the best in the league as his linemate. Burridge is right on his tails with 46 points while averaging 2.19 ppg (also second in the GOJHL). The pair are tied for the team lead with 15 goals apiece. 

“It’s great to know he’s on my line and we can really count each other,” said Power. “He makes it easy for me. Most of my goals are practically tap-ins.” 

Before the season started, Power and Burridge joked about both reaching the 100-point mark. Now, that’s no joke. They’re both on pace to reach the impressive plateau – at least through 40 percent of the season.

“Obviously, that’s a big milestone,” said Power. “But we’re just trying to do whatever it takes to help the team win.”

So far, both Power and Burridge have been doing just that, having helped the Nats to the top spot in the Conference (trailing only the Hamilton Kilty B’s of the Golden Horseshoe Conference overall).

There’s always room for improvement, though, and Power thinks the team could be even better with a bit more discipline, taking fewer penalties.

“We’ve been stressing with our guys a lot that we just have to play a full 60 minutes,” he said. “When we’re not in the (penalty) box, we’re in the other teams’ end the whole game.”

Power cited a game against Leamington at the beginning of November where the Nats nearly let one slip away. Ahead 3-0 in the second period, London got into some penalty trouble which led to the Flyers scoring two power-play goals. The Nats held on to win, but they came dangerously close to losing two valuable points to their division rival.

Perhaps they sent a message the next two games when they scored seven and eight goals, respectively. For the month, they won seven times and lost twice (picking up a point in both losses), and now they’ve opened December strong with Wednesday’s win over Strathroy.

Throughout, Power has been scoring in bunches. His breakout year raises questions about his future on the ice, which certainly looks promising. But the forward, who hails from Glencoe, Ont., says right now he’s focused on this season and helping lead the Nationals to a run at a GOJHL championship.

“I’m giving myself the best opportunity to continue playing hockey, but I’ll see what options are available after the season,” he said. “Right now, we’re just trying to win hockey games.”