The Prince George Spruce Kings scored twice in the first 4:05 of the game and completed a 3-1 victory over the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Saturday night in front of 889 fans at Kopar Memorial Arena.
Michael Denney got the party started on a rush down the left wing by Jackson Froysland who centered a pass that deflected perfectly off the outside of Ryan Wachtel’s skate and Denney put it past Rhett Stoesser.
Just 1:10 later, Froysland got an early Christmas present from a Capitals player who put the puck right on his tape inside the attacking zone, and he went under the crossbar past Stoesser to make it 2-0.
The tide turned a bit in the favour of the Capitals the rest of the period, as they turned a 5-3 deficit on the shot clock into a 14-7 advantage, but trailed by two after 20 minutes.
A scoreless second period saw a couple of power plays, but an even period, with the Spruce Kings put on a late man advantage.
Prince George would see 1:35 of power-play time to start the third period, but it was Tristan Gravenor of the Capitals who celebrated as he blocked a shot in the defensive zone, and headed back the other way with Ryan Harvey. After working it below the goal line, Harvey found Gravenor in the slot and he beat Colin Reay to make it 2-1.
Reay would make key stops throughout the third period, before Tai Ushio sealed the game into an empty net with 1:20 to go after Ben Vreugdenhil knocked down a shot then distributed the puck forward to Ushio, who made no mistake.
Final shots on goal were 35-21 Cowichan Valley. Reay earned the third star with his 34 saves, while Froysland picked up 1st star honours.
The Spruce Kings next game is in Spruce Grove on Friday January 2nd.
