For the third game in a row, the Prince George Spruce Kings will match up against a team yet to play a BCHL regular season game. The team started out well in a 2-2 tie against the Merritt Centennials, but were unable to find any offense in a 4-0 loss at the hands of the Penticton Vees.
New netminder Stefan Wornig has been stellar in his two starts so far, stopping 81 of 86 shots. He was the reason Prince George was able to escape with a tie against Merritt, and limited the damage against the Penticton Vees as best he could rejecting 46 of 50 shots.
Wenatchee enters the game, and will look to repeat the success they had early in the Prince George last year. In the Spruce Kings 2015/16 home opening weekend the Wild dominated play outscoring the home team by a combined score of 13-1 over the two games, and the lone PG goal a deflection from in front of the net by a Wild defender.
Tonight kicks off a three game series between the two teams, as they will also play in the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena on Friday and Saturday. Last year the Spruce Kings were 1-5-1-0 against the Wild with the lone win coming at home and Dante Raposo scoring the game winning goal.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
The Prince George sit tied for third in the league for penalty killing having been successful in eight of nine times when down a man. They were able to shutdown all six of Penticton’s opportunities on Saturday including a five-on-three to finish the game. The Spruce Kings are 12th on the powerplay among the 16 teams who have played a game this season converting once on seven chances.
In this year’s pre-season, Wenatchee won three of the four games they played, and had a strong showing on both sides of their special teams. The powerplay was clicking at 30% while the league’s returning top PK unit was 86.7%.
LEADING SCORER
SPRUCE KINGS: Jamie Huber and Brett Mennear each have one goal and one assist in two games played.
WENATCHEE: Brendan Harris returns who had 56 points in 57 games, and then put up 14 in 10 playoff games.
