Kings, Wild go long in Game 3
The rally towels were out in full force Monday and the Prince George Spruce Kings needed all the help they could get, down two games to none when they took to the ice to play the Wenatchee Wild in front of a full house at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
It was a must-win situation for the Spruce Kings, knowing they could not afford to fall behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven BCHL Fred Page Cup championship series.
The teams were tied 3-3 heading for the second overtime period when The Citizen’s press deadline arrived.
If the Kings ended up winning Game 3 they’ll have a chance to tie the series 2-2 with a win tonight at RMCA. Game time is 7 p.m. A Prince George win Monday guarantees there will be a Game 5 Thursday in Wenatchee. If the series goes to a sixth game that would be played Saturday in Prince George, with Game 7 scheduled for Monday night in Wenatchee.
If it was Wenatchee that got the job done in overtime the Wild will have a chance to wrap their first BCHL championship with a win tonight in Game 4.
Wenatchee is trying to become the first American team to win the championship since 1979, when the Bellingham Blazers beat the Kamloops Rockets for the title.
Wenatchee forced overtime with the tying goal nine minutes into the third period. Defenceman Jacob Modry fired from just inside the blueline and his high shot got through a screen in front of goalie Evan DeBrouwer.
The only goal of the second period, the second of the game for Kings centre Blake Hayward, came as a result of some hard work by Patrick Cozzi. Cozzi took the puck from linemate Nolan Welsh and kept his feet moving as he went behind the goal line, drawing two Wild checkers with him. Cozzi dug the puck out for Hayward, who streaked in from the left side and ripped a hard shot high in behind Austin Park.
The Wild grabbed the early lead, pouncing on a turnover at the Kings’ blueline when playoff scoring leader Jasper Weatherby picked off Chays Ruddy’s clearing attempt off the boards. Weatherby got the puck in deep for AJ Vanderbeck and he went bar-down with his shot from the faceoff circle just 3:14 into the game. His assist extended Weatherby’s playoff point streak to 12 games.
The Wild had a chance to add to the lead on a power play and had the puck in the offensive zone for a good chunk of that time until Ruddy seized an opportunity to atone for his earlier mistake. The Kings defenceman got his body in the way of Matt Dorsey, stripped him of the puck and saw nothing but white ice ahead of him. Ruddy tried a backhand deke on Park and was stuffed. Kyle Johnson followed up on the rebound and Park made the save but the puck kicked out to Ethan de Jong, who shovelled it in along the ice for his 11th of the playoffs. The shorthanded goal, 7:09 into the first, came with six seconds left in Hayward’s slashing penalty.
Three minutes later, the Kings scored at even strength for a 2-1 lead. Chong Min Lee gained the zone with burst of speed on a left wing rush and Hayward went right to the net and was rewarded when Lee, his South Korean-born linemate, fed him a perfect pass just outside the crease for the tap-in. The Wild power play was firing at a 24.2 per cent clip in the playoffs heading into Monday’s game and came through with another goal to get the visitors back to even terms, 13:16 into the period. Wenatchee won the faceoff in the Kings’ end and Vanderbeck sent Dorsey in behind the defence with a perfect pass. Dorsey dragged the puck through the crease and while falling, tucked it in the open side behind DeBrouwer.
Did you know that the Spruce Kings have more American-born players (five) than the Wild has Canadian content (two)? Holding U.S. passports are Prince George forwards Cozzi (Greenlawn,
LOOSE PUCKS:
N.Y.), Dustin Manz (Vanderbilt, Mich.), Brady Bjork (Mequon, Wis.), Sam Anzai (Los Angeles) and defenceman Jay Keranen (Brighton, Mich). Wild forward Josh Arnold is from Cloverdale and forward Nathan Iannone is a native of Penticton… Before the game the teams gathered side-by-side in a circle at centre ice to pay tribute to the Humboldt Broncos and the 16 people who died in the bus accident April 6. Don Richmond, who heads the BCHL’s chaplain program and Spruce Kings chaplain Jim Brown offered their prayers on behalf of the Broncos... Longtime Spruce Kings equipment manager Malcolm Poburan was among the sellout crowd of 2,112 who packed the RMCA to witness the first-ever BCHL championship game played in Prince George. Poburan, who has been with the team for 30 years, has terminal cancer and has been in hospice care since January.