When: September 7th @7pm
Where: Town Toyota Center, Wenatchee
The Prince George Spruce Kings will look to bite back this weekend against the Wenatchee Wild. The American squad came up to Prince George in the second week of the BCHL season, and outscored the Spruce Kings 23-6 in three games.
It was the first three games of the season for Wenatchee, and eerily similar to last year where they opened 2-0 in two games against PG outscoring the team 13-1 in a pair of games.
Since those losses, Prince George have managed to turn their season around. They have won three of their last four games, and the lone loss was a tight 3-2 decision against the Penticton Vees at the BCHL Bauer Showcase. The Wild started the season strong, and haven’t slowed down going 3-0-1-0 with the lone OT loss coming at the Showcase where they fell to the Powell River Kings.
STANDINGS:
The Prince George Spruce Kings are tied with the Coquitlam Express for third in the Mainland Division. The Express sit ahead at the moment due to a better goals for/against differential. The Langley Rivermen sit two points back with a game in hand, and play a doubleheader with Coquitlam this weekend.
Wenatchee sits atop of the division not having lost a game in regulation. They are third in the BCHL, and are one point behind Penticton and Victoria who both have played more games than the Wild.
STREAKS
The Wild have a number of players who have some lengthy streaks going. Dakota Raabe didn’t score in the first game of the season against Prince George, but has since rattled off seven goals in the last six games. Meanwhile, Brendan Harris and Troy Conzo have yet to have a game this year where they haven’t assisted on a goal. Both players have helpers in all seven contests they’ve played.
Brett Mennear leads all Spruce Kings with points in his last five games. The captain has recorded nine points in his last five games. Ethan de Jong doesn’t have his first BCHL goal yet, but has six assists in his last six games.
WHO TO WATCH:
SPRUCE KINGS: Speaking of searching for his first BCHL goal, Ethan de Jong has been one of the best Spruce Kings all season long. He almost knocked a puck into the open net against the Cowichan Valley Capitals, but missed, and the goal would have been disallowed anyhow as it was knocked down by the high stick of a teammate. If the Spruce Kings want to pick some points up this weekend, de Jong will need to continue his strong play.
WILD: There are a few choices here. The Wild feasted offensively in their first week of games, including Brendan Harris who had eight points in those three games. Technically holding him to two points was a good showing by the Spruce Kings as in seven games, Harris has recorded two points or less just twice. He is coming off a four assist performance in a 9-0 drubbing of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
