(Liam Watson-Brawn, Photo by: James Doyle Photography)
The penalty boxes were a revolving door, and Prince George won the special teams battle enroute to a 5-2 victory. Entering the game, Langley was riding an eight game winning streak, with the team having scored five goals or more in all eight of the victories.
Langley started the first strong, but after scoring on their first shot it was all Prince George. Brendan Budy opened the contest with his 14th 2:01 into the game. Angus Crookshank nearly doubled the lead shortly after, but rang the puck off the post.
Four minutes later, the Spruce Kings would even the score as Jarod Hovde potted his second goal in as many games. Two minutes later on the power play, Adam Burnett took a cross ice feed, and slapped a shot past Didur for the Spruce Kings second goal on three shots.
Looking to tie the game on a power play, the Rivermen were unable to capitalize, and as Liam Watson-Brawn came out of the box, Ben Brar turned a puck over, and sprung Brett Mennear on a breakaway. The Captain made no mistake deking past Didur and upping his goal scoring streak to four games.
On a late man advantage of their own, Ben Brar roofed the puck at 15:45 for his 17th goal of the season putting him in second place behind only Mennear, and putting Prince George up 4-1.
After allowing a goal on the first shot, Aris Anagnostopoulos was key in shutting down the Rivermen including a Crookshank shot that could have made it 2-0 early on.
The offense wasn’t quite as plentiful in the second, as Prince George scored the lone goal. After going goalless in his first 13 games, Keegan Ward made it three goals in three games getting a tip in front off a Tyler Anderson shot.
Langley’s best chance came with over a minute to go in the frame as Ryan Barrow was hauled down by Drew Lennon on a breakaway for a penalty shot. The crowd was excited for the chance to make it a three goal game, but Anagnostopoulos came up with the save keeping it 5-1 after two.
In the third, Langley scored shorthanded, but that’s all the goals they could muster. The line of Travis Schneider, Parker Colley, and Keegan Ward drew four power plays in the final frame. Prince George was unable to score on any of them, and it was Sean Gulka getting the shorthanded tally as Gavin Payne drove the net with the puck, and the rebound popped out for Gulka to chip in.
The Rivermen pulled their goalie late trying to tie the game, and Parker Colley was hauled down on the partial breakaway, but PG was awarded a power play instead of an automatic goal.
Picking up his first win with 26 saves, Aris Anagnostopoulos was the third star of the game, Ben Brar with the final goal of the first period and an assist was the second star, while Captain Brett Mennear with the same stats was the first. The game was the first for Spruce Kings AP Ethan Leyh who was called up from the Vancouver NE Chiefs of the BCMML. Leyh is committed to play at the University of Wisconsin for the 2019/20 season.
Prince George caps off their roadtrip Saturday in Chilliwack with a match against the Chiefs. 7pm puckdrop, with the pre-game show beginning at 6:50.
