Keranen sparks Kings in win
We’ve got ourselves a series.
The Prince George Spruce Kings made sure of that Saturday night in a tense 2-0 win over the Chilliwack Chefs at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena which tied the best-of-seven BCHL Mainland Division series 1-1.
After getting skunked through the first five periods of the series, the Spruce Kings finally scored, and the game-winner came from an unlikely source, 37 seconds into the third period.
Ethan de Jong started it when he took off on a long rush to catch up to a lead pass and drew both Chiefs defencemen as he got the puck on net. Before the rebound could get cleared, Kings defenceman Jay Keranen streaked in and lifted the puck high into the empty net behind goalie Daniel Chenard.
For Keranen, a 19-year-old from Brighton, Mich., one of the Kings’ top shutdown defenceman, who joined the team 19 games into the regular season from Topeka of the North American Hockey League, it was his first goal of any kind in any BCHL game. He admitted the Kings were feeling the pressure of not being able to score so long into the series.
“I saw Ethan take off up ice – I knew if I flipped it up there he could make a play and he did – and I just followed up and got the puck on my stick and put it away,” said Keranen.
“That was huge, going into Game 3 tied 1-1 is a lot better than going down 0-2. We beared down and got it done tonight. I was thinking about that going into the third, it’s not usual for us, usually our top line has a goal a game.
“That’s got to be the biggest one since about mites, I would say,” Keranen laughed. “It was a good thing I waited this long, that was a big one.”
Keranen’s goal cracked open what had been an extremely tight-checking affair. The Chiefs had the edge in the quality-chance department the rest of the period but could not put one past Evan DeBrouwer. He was superb, as he has been most of the season, making 20 saves for his first career BCHL shutout.
The Chiefs offered significant push-back after Keranen scored, starting with a P.J. Marrocco shot right away that DeBrouwer had to kick aside. The Kings came within a Kyle Johnson goalpost of making it a 2-0 count eight minutes into the period but were hanging on for their dear lives a few times towards the end.
It got so tense, with Chenard on the bench for the extra skater, Kings general manager Mike Hawes from his perch in the press box couldn’t handle the suspense and had to look away from the action on the ice. That tension finally melted when Ben Brar got the puck at centre and fired it into the empty net to seal it.
After having to endure some catcalls from the Chiefs during and after their 3-0 victory in Game 1 Friday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, Brar couldn’t resist a little chin-wagging of his own after he scored with 38 seconds left and that drew the ire of the Chilliwack bench as Adam Berg retaliated with a bit of a cross-check directed at the Kings left winger. Tempers flared on both sides at that point but the officials managed to keep a cap on the violence until time expired.
“Patty (Cozzi) found me there and I put it in the empty net to kind of ice the game,” said Brar. “I kind of looked at their bench and they were chirping a lot yesterday but didn’t have much to say today. You’ve got to stir the pot a little bit.”
The teams will resume hostilities Monday night in Chilliwack, with Game 4 to follow on Tuesday. The Kings’ win guarantees they will play again in front of a home crowd, with Game 5 in Prince George Thursday night. If needed, Game 6 will be Saturday in Chilliwack, while a seventh game would be played Sunday night at RMCA.
“They’re a good team, obviously (Friday) night we got the better of them and (Saturday) they gave a good effort and worked hard and stuck with their game plan and they ended up capitalizing,” said Chiefs forward Will Calverley. “It’s a close series and it can go either way any night.”