The Prince George Spruce Kings got what they wanted out of their home opener with five special teams goals in a 8-3 victory over the West Kelowna Warriors.
Mason Loewen got the Spruce Kings fans going early at 2:51 when he stripped a Warriors defender at the blueline shorthanded and went in on a breakaway to beat Ethan Sawyer to open the scoring.
Loewen wasn’t done in the opening frame as he deflected home a Nick Bianchi point shot to make in 2-0 on the power play for his third of the season.
Brock Fairbanks would get a gift to make it 2-1 as he stole the puck from goaltender Ryder Green behind the goal and then tucked it into the empty net.
The Spruce Kings re-upped their two-goal lead in the final minute of the first period as Cooper Faughnan got his first of the season from Michael Denney and Bianchi to make it 3-1 with 5.7 seconds left in the frame.
Prince George got another pair of goals in the first seven minutes of the second as Dominic Szcygiel beat the Warriors defense and Sawyer to end his night, before Denney got his first on the power play on Austin Ball who entered the game for the Warriors.
Emmanuel Chan got the Warriors into the power play goal category with a marker at 12:30.
With 3:10 remaining in the second period, Daniel Podvalov got his first in the BCHL with a deflection in the slot of the Noah Smith point shot to make it 6-2.
The Warriors got back within three at 27 seconds on the power play from Max Dinneen, but the Spruce Kings power play struck twice on the man advantage to wrap up the hockey game.
First, Ryan Wachtel scored on a five-on-three, then Faughnan got a rink wide pass from Noah Franzina and tucked it around Ball to round out the scoring.
The Spruce Kings will welcome the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday night at 6 PM. The Backs fell 5-1 to Vernon on Friday night. Tickets available at www.sprucekings.bc.ca/tickets
