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Spruce Kings answer the call of the Wild with 3-2 victory

The Prince George Spruce Kings exacted a measure of revenge against the Wenatchee Wild.

The veteran-laden team held off the defending champs in front of 912 spectators at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena on Thursday courtesy of a 3-2 victory.

“It was real nice, all the returners knew what we had to do to get the victory and we knew it was a big win for sure,” said Dustin Manz, Spruce Kings Forward.

The Spruce Kings came out swinging in the first 40 minutes outshooting Wenatchee 24-7 and taking a into the second intermission courtesy of Manz, Liam Watson-Brawn and, Nolan Welsh.

Even though the marker by Watson-Brawn marker will stand up as the game-winner, it was the goal by Manz that set the tone after Wild goaltender Austin Park came out to play the puck and turned it over giving the 19-year-old one of his easier goals.

“The puck chipped off my foot and came right to me and I guess he made a poor play at shot it right at Brar (Ben) and it went off the post right to me.”

“The goals were huge for us as we really needed those especially after our first was pretty good but our second needed to be better and we came out with a real good second on those goals too.”

The Spruce Kings were led by 17-year-old Layton Ahac  on the blueline who relished the rivalry game.

“It was a lot of fun especially how it ended, I feel unreal right now and it feels amazing to beat that team after last year and we just stuck to our game and it paid off. I’m real happy.”

It’s been a good week for the Ohio State commit who was also ranked as a “B” skater in the NHL’s central scouting’s Players to Watch List preliminary ranking for the June Draft taking place in Vancouver.

The ranking projects him to go in the 2nd or 3rd round but Ahac admits that’s a long way off.

“At the end of the day, the draft is in June and right now its October so there’s a lot of hockey that needed to be played but it’s a good feeling to be recognized for something like that.”

Prince George improves to 7-2-0-1 on the season and leapfrogs the Chilliwack Chiefs and Coquitlam Express for top spot in the Mainland Division.

Logan Neaton picked up the win in net making only 15 saves and PG outshot the Wild 30-17 overall.

The Spruce Kings return home on Friday when the welcome Alex Newhook and the Victoria Grizzlies (6-3-0-0) at 7 PM from the RMCA.