Ben Brar and Patrick Cozzi made sure the love ran out for the West Kelowna Warriors on Valentine’s Day.
The dynamic duo of the Prince George Spruce Kings put on a show once again leading them to a convincing 5-2 win on Thursday in front of 1,066 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
A hat-trick performance by Brar led the way for Prince George who pull within five points of the Chilliwack Chiefs for top spot in the Mainland Division as both teams play each other three teams before the playoffs.
The 20-year-old from Abbotsford benefitted from Cozzi’s magical performance as he assisted on all three of his markers.
“I knew my other linemate Dustin Manz was at 29 so I really wanted to crack the 30-goal mark but like in any other situation I would have probably dropped back a pass for him to get his 30th much like Cozzi did for me.”
“My eyes definitely lit up when Cozzi got me the puck and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss the net,” said Brar.
Prince George remained in the driver’s seat the entire game, never trailing in the contest and outshooting the Warriors 45-28 overall, including a 33-18 stretch in the last two periods.
Aside from Brar’s three-goal performance, Ben Poisson joined the offensive parade ripping a hard slap shot past West Kelowna goaltender Connor Hopkins at the end of the second period.
The victory was made complete when Jay Keranen finally got his first goal of the season slapping home a bouncer in between the legs of Hopkins.
Keranen said after the game, who said they owed West Kelowna after putting forth a pair of subpar outings against them earlier in the season.
“In the showcase, we kind of got embarrassed and obviously a couple of weekends ago we got embarrassed so we kind of owed them one.”
The Spruce Kings improve to 36-12-1-5 on the season and will play the first of those three critical outings against the Chiefs on Sunday.
Cozzi believes all three games will have a playoff type feel.
“It’s probably going to be the three most important games of the year so I’m really looking forward to it as I know the team is so it’s going to be three great games.”
Logan Neaton picked up a 26-save victory in between the pipes, padding his BCHL league lead in wins with 30 along with the top goals against average, which sits at 1.89.
Prince George’s final two home games of the regular season will be February 22nd and 23rd at 7pm against Chilliwack.
