PHOTO: Garrett James
CHILLIWACK BC – Christian Buono netted home his second hat-trick of the pod season, while Kolton Cousins, Nick Rhéaume, Hunor Torzsok, and Simon Labelle all found the back of the net, as the Prince George Spruce Kings were 7-0 winners over the Merritt Centennials on Wednesday night at the Chilliwack Coliseum.
1st Period:
PG: AT 17:23 of the first period, Colton Cameron made a great feed from his own zone to Christian Buono on a breakaway and was able to slide the puck to his backhand and by Colton Phillips-Watts to start the scoring for the Spruce Kings. Buono’s 8th in the pod was assisted by Cameron and Ben LeFranc.
SHOTS:
PG 11 MER 1
2nd Period:
PG: At 4:49 in the second frame, Kolton Cousins got the puck at the side of the goal and wrapped it around and in past Phillips-Watts to give PG a 2-0 lead. Cousins’ 7th in the pod was assisted by Carter Cochrane and Corey Cunningham.
PG: After a long hard battle in the right-wing corner, Simon Labelle was able to find Nick Rhéaume at the right circle and slid the puck underneath the blocker of Phillips-Watts to give the Spruce Kings a 3-0 lead. Rheaume’s fifth in the pod was assisted by both Labelle and Rowan Miller.
PG: Carter Cochrane did the bulk of the work carrying the puck into the attacking zone and made a great feed to Christian Buono who made a great move around the Merritt goaltender to add to the PG lead. Buono’s second of the night was assisted by Cochrane at 13:44.
SHOTS:
PG 11 MER 7
3rd Period:
PG: 3:03 into the period, Connor Elliott made a great feed into the middle for Hunor Torzsok who tipped home his first in the pod. Torzsok’s tally was assisted by Elliott and Amran Bhabra.
PG: On a Spruce Kings power-play, the connection of Nick Rheaume and Simon Labelle clicked once again. Off a feed from Rheaume, Labelle was able to put it by Brayden Melnyk to give PG their sixth goal of the evening. Labelle’s first BCHL goal had the lone assist from Rheaume at 6:07.
PG: On a Centennial power-play, Christian Buono was able to grab the puck up the right wing and took it right to the goal and made another nice move around the Centennial goaltender for his hat-trick marker and team leading 10th of the pod. Buono’s short-handed marker was unassisted at 9:43.
SHOTS:
PG 12 MER 8
FINAL SCORE:
PG 7 MER 0
FINAL SHOTS:
PG 34 MER 16
POWER-PLAYS:
PG 1/5 MER 0/5
GOALTENDERS:
PG: W Jordan Fairlie – 16 Save Shutout (4-1)
MER: L Colton Phillips Watts 17 Saves
Brayden Melnyk 10 Saves
3 STARS:
- PG: Christian Buono (3 G)
- PG: Nick Rhéaume (1 G 1 A)
- PG: Jordan Fairlie (16 Save Shutout)
FORTIS BC ENERGY PLAYER OF THE GAME:
MER: Chase Cooke
