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Weekend Recap: Spruce Kings fall twice on the road

PRINCE GEORGE- The Prince George Spruce Kings hit the road this weekend, heading south to the Okanagan for dates with the Penticton Vees and the Merritt Centennials. 

It all started on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. The Spruce Kings hit the ice against the Vees for the second time this season. Just like the first, the Vees flexed their muscles. 

In the first period, the Vees would score three times. Two goals were five on five. The third was on the power play. 

The second was the Spruce Kings’ best period. The period started with a couple of great offensive chances for Prince George. Ultimately, Ryan Sanborn (’05) allowed the Spruce Kings to hang around until the third period, making multiple highlight reel saves. The score was still 3-0 after 40 minutes. 

The floodgates would open for the Vees in the third. Penticton would score five times in the final frame. The Spruce Kings would also get on the board once. Kilian McGregor-Bennett (’03) let a shot go from the blue line that Vees goaltender Andrew Ness (’04) would bobble before allowing it to pass him for the Spruce Kings only goal of the game. The final score was 8-1 for Penticton. 

Game Summary

Scoring 

Prince George: K. McGregor-Bennett (8)

Penticton: S. Meier (5), Z, Stringer (2), C. Hellyer (3), A. Lippai (8), T. Pichette (4), C. Hellyer (4), T. Pichette (5), A. Lippai (9)

Goaltending 

Ryan Sanborn (L) 60:00 (8GA 39 saves)

Andrew Ness (W) 60:00 (1GA 21 saves)

Power-play 

Prince George: 0/3

Penticton: 2/6

24 hours later, the Spruce Kings would be back on the ice in Merritt to take on the Centennials. 

The Spruce Kings would put up a better fight Saturday night, but would surrender the first goal again. 

Sawyer Prokopetz (’04) would score his first goal of the season on a bad bounce in front of Spruce Kings starter Marcus Ouellet (’04). After 20 minutes in Merritt, it was 1-0.

The second period would be the busiest of the three. Prince George Struck first when Linden Makow scored his sixth goal of the season on an absolute rocket that found where ‘Mamma hid the cookies’. 

Merritt would respond well. Over the next 10 minutes of game time, the Centennials would score three times, extending their lead to 4-1 late in the second period. 

The Spruce Kings would get one goal back with three minutes left in the period. Alexis Cournoyer would finish on an incredible shift that started with Lucas Veilleux (’05). The Ottawa, Ontario, product would fight off three Merritt checkers, keeping the play alive, which led to Cournoyer’s fourth goal of the season. 4-2 was the score after two periods. 

Prince George would throw everything they had at the Centennials in the third period. Owen Goodbrand (’04) would get the Spruce Kings within one with his second goal of the season. 

The Goodbrand goal would set up an extremely tense final two minutes. Head Coach, Alex Evin, would pull his goalie after using his timeout late in the third. With the extra attacker, the Spruce Kings would get close but were unable to beat the Merritt goalie, Karlis Mezsargs (’03). 4-3, the final from Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. 

Game Summary

Scoring 

Prince George: K. McGregor-Bennett (8)

Merritt: 

Goaltending 

Marcus Ouellet (L) 60:00 (4GA 28 saves)

Karlis Mezsargs (W) 60:00 (3GA 26 saves)

Power-play 

Prince George: 0/4

Merritt: 1/3