Spruce Kings need win tonight to force Game 7

Now that the Prince George Spruce Kings are one step closer to taking the Surrey Eagles to the limit in their best-of-seven B.C. Hockey League playoff series, the real hard work begins tonight in Surrey.

For the Spruce Kings to have a chance at moving on to the third round, they have to find a way to win on that big frozen pond at South Surrey Arena. That rink has brought nothing put misery this season for the Kings, who lost all six games they’ve played there this season, including Games 3 and 4 of the Mainland Division final series.

But after a convincing 4-1 win Thursday on home ice, the Kings are feeling a lot better about themselves, still trailing 3-2 in the series but one win away from pushing the Eagles to a Game 7 encounter Sunday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

“It was due time for us to get back in the win column, we’ve worked really hard in the series so far and we took a step in the right direction to coming back here for Game 7,” said Kings captain Kyle Johnson, who had two assists in Game 5.

“One optimistic thing we saw in the last couple periods of Game 4 was we started to figure out the Olympic ice and I think going back down there for Game 6 we’re definitely more confident than we have been. It was great to see (in Game 5) we have that extra gear when it really matters and hopefully we can bring that moving forward here.”

Three of the Kings goals in that game came as a direct result of offensive-zone face-off wins, a stat that had favoured the Eagles in the previous two games in Surrey. Two of the four Prince George goals came on power plays, another element that needs some consistency.

“We made a couple of adjustments and I thought our guys were hungrier around the puck,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. “If we give them too much room they have guys who can make plays and we did a better job with our forward group just tracking the puck harder and getting a little more aggressive on them and we had some key guys step up.

“Our power play has been good all series, to be honest. We missed a couple tap-ins down in Surrey in that last game and we’re certainly getting chances and it was good to see them put it in the back of the net (Thursday).

“Home-ice advantage is huge for us and has been all year. We still have to make a couple more adjustments on that ice (in Surrey) and there’s no doubt in my m mind we can win on that rink. We just have to be ready to win a road game and then it’s our Game 7.”

Eagles head coach Brandon West said his team got what it deserved in Game 5 while getting outshot 37-19. But after dominating the Kings in Surrey and outscoring them 9-1 in the two games West expects to see much more offence out of his team playing in comfortable surroundings.

“The bounces went their way (Thursday) and I didn’t think we earned a ton of opportunities either,” said West, a 33-yearold Prince George native, in his first season with the Eagles.

“We’re not a team that overly shoots the puck a ton anyway. I liked our start and we kind of faded after we gave up those goals in the first and second that put us on our heels.

“They were playing with desperation, fighting for their lives, and I don’t think we were very sharp in the little details. We just didn’t play enough offence.”

The Kings are obviously comfortable playing at home, where they’ve won five of the seven playoff games at RMCA and the Eagles seem to have difficulty getting their feet moving on a rink that’s 10 feet shorter and 15 feet narrower.

“It’s a lot smaller barn than we have back home and those guys did a good job the first two games we had here – they play real hard, they’re a fast and quick team and I think we have a little trouble with their speed and forecheck down low,” said Eagles 20-year-old winger John Wesley.

“Their season was on the line, they wanted it real bad and they deserved it (Thursday). But I think back in our barn that gives us little more freedom to get to the middle and go wide and use our speed to back their D off and push their forward off. I know they’re going to come out super-strong and it’s going to be a heckuva Game 6 and we’re looking forward to it.”

The Kings won the first game 9-1, lost 3-1 in Game 2, then dropped the next two games in Surrey, 5-1 and 4-0. Quick starts have been key in the series. In all five games the team that scored first went on to win.

“We stress that a lot in the locker room, getting the momentum right off the hop and we need to score first,” said Kings winger Jarod Hovde, who assisted on Patrick Cozzi’s third-period power-play goal in Game 5.

“Every game from now on in this series is desperation and I think if we can get a win in their building and bring it back home here I think we’ll have real good chance. We were all over them (Thursday) in the o-zone forechecking hard and we need to keep that in our game going on the road.

“If we give them time and space in their rink they have some skilled players who can score goals so we need to take those players away from their game and we need to score more on the road to give (goalie Evan DeBrouwer) a fighting chance there. He’s our best player every night and he deserves to have some scoring in front of him.”

If it goes to Game 7, it will be played Sunday at 7 p.m. Game 6 will be broadcast on CFIS FM 93.1, starting at 7 p.m.