WENATCHEE – The Prince George Spruce Kings kept themselves disciplined and out of the penalty box as they went on to defeat the Wenatchee Wild 4-1 in front of a crowd of 3,521 inside Town Toyota Center on Saturday night.
Prince George improves their record to 18-13-2-1 and maintains fourth position in the Interior Division standings. Meanwhile, the Wild see their record go down to 16-18-1-2. They sit seventh in the nine-team division.
Saturday’s game completed the season series between the two teams with Prince George winning four of the five meetings.
Aidan Feddema won his second game of the season, turning away 28 of the 29 shots fired from the Wild attack.
The Wild opened the scoring in the first period. The goal came after Arvega Hovsepyan worked the puck down the left side, deking his way through the Spruce Kings defence before firing a shot on Feddema. The Spruce Kings goalie made the initial save but couldn’t control the rebound. Alexios Georgaklis stepped up and potted the rebound in past Feddema to make it 1-0 for the Wild.
Wenatchee took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Spruce Kings got their offence rolling.
The first goal came as Jack Stockfish worked the puck from along the top of the right-wing circle to the left of the net, snapping a shot to the far side of the net to tie the game up. Owen Goodbrand and Ben LeFranc earned the assists on the play.
Less than two minutes later, Kai Greaves forced a turnover in the neutral zone. The Spruce Kings defenceman entered the Wenatchee zone, creeping in along the right wing, and fired a shot near-side on Millward to make it 2-1. The goal was unassisted.
The first and only penalty of the game was handed late in the period when Christian Kim was called for boarding on Amran Bhabra, however, the Spruce Kings were unable to capitalize on the powerplay.
Prince George carried that lead into the second intermission.
In the third period, the Spruce Kings added to their lead. A turnover near the top of their own zone quickly turned into a two-on-none for Prince George. What looked like a blown opportunity turned into another goal as Linden Makow made a late pass to Austin Fraser. Fraser then put the puck in past Millward to make it a 3-1 lead. Makow and Greaves were credited with assists on the play.
A few minutes later, the Spruce Kings added another as John Herrington found Jake Schneider on the back step of the goal. Herrington and Kilian McGregor-Bennett earned assists on the Spruce Kings fourth goal.
Herrington’s assist put him up to the century mark for career points in the BCHL, tallying his 100th point since entering the league during the 2018-19 season.
The score would stand at 4-1 as the Spruce Kings secured their 18th win of the season while the Wild see their record drop to 16-18-1-2.
The Spruce Kings will now have two weeks until their next game due to the BCHL’s 60th Anniversary All-Star Weekend in Penticton, Jan. 20-21.
Prince George will take on the Trail Smoke Eaters on Friday, January 27 at Kopar Memorial Arena at 7:00 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Spruce Kings: Stockfish, Greaves, Fraser, Schneider
Wild: Georgaklis
Goaltending
Spruce Kings: Aidan Feddema (W) 60:00 (1 GA, 28 saves)
Wild: Owen Millward (L) 60:00 (4 GA, 27 saves)
Power-Play
Spruce Kings: 0/1 (0%)
Wild: 0/0 (0%)
Shots
Spruce Kings: 31
Wild: 29
Next Game: Friday, January 27th versus the Trail Smoke Eaters at Kopar Memorial Arena in Prince George, BC.
