The Prince George Spruce Kings fell short of National glory on Sunday afternoon in Brooks, Alberta, falling 4-3 to the host Brooks Bandits in the National Junior A Championship Game.
The Bandits came out flying off the word go, scoring just 1:33 into the game as Simon Boyko wrapped one around and tucked it home past Logan Neaton to make it 1-0.
William Lemay made it 2-0 just six minutes later as his one timer from the top of the circles beat Neaton off a set up from Randy Hernandez.
The lead would grow to 3 goals when Nathan Plessis buried a rebound, and the crowd went absolutely nuts at 13:20.
The Spruce Kings would get on the board in the second period as Patrick Cozzi scored on the power play at 2:22, cutting the deficit to 2 goals.
The Bandits would get a late goal in the frame, in the final five minutes as Boyko’s second of the game was snapped shelf past Neaton as he stopped up on the rush after a lead pass from Nick Hale.
In the third, Prince George would get within a pair at 10:26, as Nick Poisson’s 6th of the tournament made it 4-2.
In the final minute, Nolan Welsh deflected a Dylan Anhorn point shot to make it 4-3 with 45 seconds to go.
The Spruce Kings would get another look though, but the puck rolled away from Nick Bochen with 5 seconds remaining.
The Bandits won their 2nd National Championship with the victory, while the Spruce Kings fall for the second time in the final, after dropping another heart-breaker in Prince George in 2007.
