Kings inch closer to first division title
One point.
That’s all the Prince George Spruce Kings need in their remaining five games to put the wraps on their first-ever B.C. Hockey League regular-season crown.
They pulled two points closer to that banner after a hard-fought 3-1 win over the visiting Trail Smoke Eaters Wednesday night in front of 714 witnesses at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Blake Hayward, Jarod Hovde and Ben Brar (into an empty net) did the damage offensively for Prince George. Ethan de Jong, the game’s first star, drew two assists. Tyler Ghirardosi had the lone goal for Trail.
The Mainland Division-leading Spruce Kings (30-15-4-4) are now 12 points ahead of Chilliwack, Langley and Surrey, all tied with 56 points. The Langley Rivermen lost 4-1 Wednesday in Merritt and are down to their last five games. Second-place Chilliwack has six games left and third-place Surrey has five left.
The Smoke Eaters (31-16-4-1) remain fourth in the Interior Division. The win improved the Spruce Kings’ home record to 22-5-1-1, second only to Wenatchee in the BCHL.
“We’re trying to control our own destiny by winning the division and that’s kind of been the goal all year,” said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes. “It’s come down to one point. We went in and talked to the players a couple games ago about the importance of this and the first division title since being in the league and it’s a feather in their cap if they can get it done here.”
Trailing 2-0 with only seven minutes left, the Smoke Eaters cut the lead in half when Ghirardosi got behind goalie Evan DeBrouwer and batted in a rebound.
A Trail power play late in the game when Chays Ruddy got caught cross-checking put the pressure on the Kings, but it was Smokies goalie Adam Marcoux who was under siege. He had to come up with two quality saves – one that robbed de Jong on a 2-on-1 setup, and Marcoux stuck out his glove to take one away from Brar on the same penalty kill.
The Kings lost one of their best players in Saturday’s win against the Coquitlam Express when centre Ben Poisson suffered a season-ending injury as he fell sideways into the end boards trying to win a footrace with defenceman Jordan Schulting for a loose puck. Poisson, the Kings’ second-leading scorer, was rushed to hospital where it was determined he had a ruptured spleen and partially-separated shoulder.
Hayward took Poisson’s place in the lineup centring the top line with de Jong and Brar and made the most of his opportunity, scoring his 10th of the season to open the scoring just 14 seconds into the game. He took a feed in front from de Jong and went to his backhand to fire one past the glove of goalie Marcoux.
That was the only quality chance the Spruce Kings were able to generate in the opening period. The Smoke Eaters had the Kings reeling late in the period but DeBrouwer was on his game, stopping all 10 shots he faced.
The second period was tilted more in the Kings’ favour and they came out of it with a 2-0 lead. Jarod Hovde cashed in on the power play for his 12th of the season. Hovde took a pass in the slot from Dustin Manz and with one knee down on the ice Hovde didn’t get all of it but the shot had enough power to go in off the glove of Marcoux.
The goal came with Smokies winger Daine Dubois, a former Cariboo Cougar midget, in the box for cross-checking.
“We got off to a great start obviously, scoring on the first shift of the game to set the tone for us and Trail did a good job of responding but we weathered the storm and had a much better second and third period,” said Hawes.
Each team finished with 30 shots. The Kings head out on the road this weekend for games Friday in Langley and Saturday in Coquitlam. They wrap up the regular season the following weekend with two games in Chilliwack and a Sunday afternoon date in Langley.
At the time of his injury Poisson was the Spruce Kings’ secondleading scorer on a point-per-game pace with 22 goals and 30 assists for 52 points in 52 games. The 18-year-old from Vancouver remains at University Hospital of Northern B.C. and is expected to fly home to Vancouver on Saturday… Spruce Kings equipment manager Bill Baldridge had the unenviable task of picking up two of de Jong’s teeth after the first period when they were knocked out of his mouth by a puck that deflected off a stick... The BCHL playoffs start Friday, March 2. The Kings will have home ice advantage to start the first round and will host the first two games of the best-of-seven series… The Spruce Kings’ awards banquet is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Ramada Hotel.
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