PARKSVILLE BC – The Prince George Spruce Kings were able to battle back from being down three goals and defeat the Alberni Valley Bulldogs by a 4-3 score at Oceanside Place in Parksville.
In the opening frame, goaltender Jett Alexander stole the show. The Spruce Kings goaltender made five sensational saves to keep the game scoreless. Bulldogs goaltender Jackson Glassford was busy as well, as the Spruce Kings mustered 19 shots towards the goaltender’s way. The game remained scoreless after the opening twenty minutes.
In the second period, it was the Bulldogs who started the scoring. Stephen Castagna redirected a point shot that found its way to squeak past Alexander to give the Bulldogs an early lead. Just over two minutes later, affiliated player Josh Pederson scored his first BCHL goal in his first game getting a backdoor feed from Jacob Bosse to make it 2-0 Bulldogs. 43 seconds later, the Bulldogs struck for a third time. The line of Ryan Doolin, Mitch Deestra, and Dawson Tritt connected for a nice goal. Doolin was able to get a feed from Deestra to make it 3-0 Bulldogs. The Spruce Kings began to chip away. PG found themselves on the man advantage and were able to convert. Nick Poisson continues to impress, as #24 was able to fire the puck on the glove side of Glassford to get the Spruce Kings on the board. Just under five minutes later, the captain Nolan Welsh made a heck of an individual effort driving to the goal and going top corner on Glassford to make it a one goal game after two periods.
In the third frame, it took Prince George just over a minute to tie the game up at three. Jaxon Steele had some space inside the circle and wristed it past Glassford to complete the comeback and tie the game up at three. The Spruce Kings weren’t done. Evan Orr made a nice pass to Andrew Seaman who redirected to the puck to Poisson in the neutral zone and Poisson drove the goal and snuck the puck through the five hole of Glassford to give the Spruce Kings the lead. Alberni was able to press late, but some big blocked shots, faceoff wins, and good goaltending held the fort for PG to give them a 4-3 win in the first game of the five game road trip.
Next up for the Spruce Kings are the Nanaimo Clippers in the second game of the five game road trip. You can catch all of the action on HockeyTV and Mixlr. Pre-game will be at 6:45, with play by play at 7:00.
3 STARS
- Nick Poisson (2 Goals) (PG)
- Nolan Welsh ( 1 Goal 1 Assist) (PG)
- Jackson Glassford (37 Saves) (AV)
FORTIS ENERGY PLAYER OF THE GAME : Olivier Fizet (AV)
