After playing 26 of their first 42 games on the road, the Spruce Kings will finish their season with 13 of the final 16 in the Prince George Coliseum. They started things off with a Thursday/Friday matchup against the Trail Smoke Eaters, and Victoria Grizzlies.
Against the Smoke Eaters, Prince George got some excellent goaltending from Liam McCloskey, and skated to a 2-0 win. With 37 saves, the Pitt Meadows native picked up his first BCHL shutout.
In the first, despite there being 31 shots, neither team could score on one another. Liam McCloskey came up big late in the period when Matt Stief was in the box for tripping. Prince George scored in the last two games where they had power plays, but went 0 for 5 against the Smoke Eaters.
The second period would finally provide a goal, as Jordan Funk drove towards the net, and had a centring pass from Parker Colley go off his foot and past MacBurnie who was far out of his net pressuring Colley. That marker would prove to be the winner, and both of Jordan Funk’s goals this season are game winners.
With Trail pressuring in the third attempting to tie things up, it would be Prince George getting the all important second goal of the game. Cavin Tilsley stole the puck inside the Trail blue line, and drove down the right wing. His first attempt was stopped by MacBurnie, but was able to pick up his rebound, and wrap it around the net for the 2-0 lead.
There was a scary moment a few minutes later, as Adam Burnett collided with Ross Armour behind the play, and both players went down. Burnett got up after about a minute, but Armour was down on the ice for over five minutes. Eventually he got up thanks to the help of both team trainers looking after him, along with some team mates skating him to the dressing room.
Levi Johnson, a callup from the Kamloops Storm would take a late penalty, but the Spruce Kings were able to kill it off, and them Smoke Eaters Ryan Swanson sat for two to give Prince George valuable offensive time. With Newton came out of the box (serving the additional penalty Swanson took) the Smoke Eaters would pull the goalie, but couldn’t beat McCloskey. Prince George would hold on for the final 2-0 win, and kick off their lengthy home stand on a good note. 13 of the next 16 games will be played at the Coliseum.
Following a 2-0 win over Trail the previous night, the Spruce Kings had another thrilling game Friday night against the Victoria Grizzlies.
Entering their second game at home in a row, the Spruce Kings were looking to beat Victoria after falling 2-1 in double overtime at the BCHL Showcase, and then 7-3 in Victoria.
Things started out well for the visitors, as less than five minutes in Tyler Welsh was able to beat Liam McCloskey who had made 37 saves against the Smoke Eaters for his first BCHL shutout.
That’s how things would finish in the first frame, but Prince George was eager to get the crowd back into it in the third. It started early, as Connor Logan was able to slip a puck between the post and Mitchel Benson’s pad to even the score at two. It was the Victoria native’s third goal of the season.
Just over two minutes later, the Spruce Kings took their first lead of the game off the stick of Chong Lee. In his fourth game since being called up from the Port Moody Panthers of the Pacific Junior Hockey League, the big forward took a fast pass from Tanner Campbell, and beat Benson with a quick shot.
Turning Point: Opportunity would then arise for the Grizzlies, as they earned two quick power plays, and wound up with 1:15 of 5-on-3. Part way through McCloskey’s stick got tangled up in the netting, and took Matthew Stief’s stick, so the Spruce Kings played about 30 seconds that way. Finally they would get a whistle, but just as Penner stepped out of the box, Brett Stirling scored on the one man advantage to tie the game up once again.
With six minutes remaining in the second, Cody Van Lierop took a long shot, which took a deflection, and beat McCloskey who didn’t even see it due to the screen in front of him.
That would stand to be the difference, as both team’s traded scoring chances in the third. Brayden Gelsinger had a pair of breakaway’s stopped by McCloskey, while Cavin Tilsley had a breakaway as well that was denied by Benson.
Mitchell Barker would score into an empty net, to ice the game at 4-2.
PG will be back in action next week Thursday/Friday, as the Langley Rivermen travel up to play in the Coliseum for the first time since losing in the playoffs to Prince George last year.
