Everything But a Winner

Karan Toor (10) lays out a heavy hit,
but it wasn't the heaviest hit of the game

In a game that featured literally everything, except a winner, the Prince George Spruce Kings extended their points in a game streak to eight games after settling for a 4-4 double overtime tie versus the Vernon Vipers. Chad Staley had a four point night picking up his second BCHL career hattrick and adding an assist, but that doesn't even compare to the exploding glass and fireworks late in the third period.

After a slow start to the game, everybody in the rink was commenting about how they had never seen a game with so much excitement and would have like to see this one go longer than it did. The first ten minutes of the game featured a single shot on goal by each team and no chances. To say this game was looking like a dud was an understatement as most of the play happened between the blue lines. During the BCHL timeout, somebody flicked a switch and the game immediately turned to one the fans and players won't soon forget.

A one-time member of the Prince George Spruce Kings, as a fifteen year old draft choice, provided the first real spark to the game. Tyler Povelofskie fired a shot into the Spruce Kings zone that bounced off the wall and came back at Alex Murray, bouncing through the goaltender that left the crease to play it. The puck landed in the crease and looked like an easy goal just waiting for Povelofskie to find, but Murray was able to dive back to the net and get a glove on it before that could happen. The Vernon Vipers forward fell on Murray and in the melee that followed, Skylar Pacheco received a two minute minor for high sticking.

The Vernon Vipers powerplay looked dangerous with cross crease passes and hard point shots, but Murray saw them all and stopped them all. The Vipers tallied five shots on goal during the powerplay and were looking for a sixth from the right point when Mark Hamilton (yes the player that hit Jake LeBrun) lost an edge and fell down unable to reach the puck. Chad Staley jumped on the loose puck and headed up the ice with only the linesman between him and the goaltender at the other end.

The official got caught in no-man's land and fortunately just froze in place about five feet from the boards. Staley took the outside lane to get around the official in front of the Vernon Vipers player's bench and then made his cut to net. The speed of Staley was too much for Austin Smith to handle and he couldn't get in good position as Staley found the top corner with a back hand flip. Staley's tenth goal of the season came with five seconds still remaining in Pacheco's penalty on just the second Prince George shot on goal at 14:27 of the opening period.

With the game now getting exciting to watch, the place was about to erupt. The Spruce Kings used that goal as a momentum shift and started on the attack again. On a play in the Vernon end, Braiden Epp lined up a defenceman against the back wall for a hit and did he hit him. The glass behind the net exploded leaving fragments of glass all over the ice behind the net and extending up four rows in the seats behind. The players were left with bits of glass in their equipment that had to be taken out.

This happened with 5:10 remaining in the opening period and at 7:30pm local time. It was thought that the delay would take about ten to fifteen minutes, leaving the players on the ice waiting to resume the play. Unfortunately it started to take a little longer than that to clean up the broken glass and then the wrong piece of glass came out. It was then decided that the players should go to the dressing room for an early first intermission break. In all the delay took just over an hour as the team's were brought back to resume play at 8:32pm.

The Spruce Kings would add two more shots in the last five minutes and the Vipers one in a period that took 90 minutes in all to play. In the second period, the Spruce Kings started to find their stride again and were getting some scoring chances that led to their first powerplay. Prince George controlled much of the man advantage and as they worked the puck around the perimeter and back to Karan Toor, it was the defenceman that took the big point shot only to have it blocked by his own guy. Chad Staley picked up the puck, looked at the net, saw the goaltender had gone down looking to make the save and fired into the top half of the net for his second goal of the game and eleventh of the game giving Prince George a 2-0 lead.

The Vernon Vipers would get that one back a few minutes later off a nice solo effort from Liam Coughlin who followed cut to the net from the left wall and outwaited Murray before lifting a back hander into the far top side corner. The goal gave the Vipers life and they started to come on leading to fluky goal from Povelofskie. Playing in his twentieth game of the season and in front of parents on parent's weekend in Vernon, Povelofskie drove hard to the net and had to retrieve the puck from below the goal line.

Looking to make a centring pass, he shot the puck out just as Spruce Kings defender Danny Kiraly dove feet first to block the pass. Unfortunately the puck would catch Kiraly's skate and was kicked towards the far side post where it just squeezed in over the line. There was a short conversation as to whether or not the puck actually crossed the line but it was counted, tieing the game at two goals a-piece. That's how the second period would end with Prince George credited with ten shots on goal for a two period total of 14 and Vernon getting eight more for a two period total of 16.

As all the other games in the BCHL were coming to a close, this one was just heading into the third period. Prince George would again put the pressure on the Vernon Vipers, hemming them in their own end. In a play that saw the puck roll along the dasher board from the corner to just before the glass ends at the Vipers bench, Jeremiah Luedtke grabbed it off the wall to keep the play alive. Luedtke was able to play the puck enough to get it to Chad Staley who came in and picked up the puck out of feet and then fed it across the ice to Christian Weidauer who came in off the right point untouched and fired in his fifth of the season giving the Spruce Kings back their lead.

The play would go back and forth with the Vernon Vipers getting the better of the chances, but again Alex Murray stood tall in net and would not give up that tying goal. The Spruce Kings would find themselves on their third powerplay of the game just past the midway mark of the third period. The Prince George powerplay looked impressive on this night and for 54 seconds Mitch Eden quarterbacked the man advantage from the top slot before finally getting the shot he wanted from the right point. The shot got through traffic and was laying in the paint between the feet of Staley who tapped it backwards between his feet and through the five hole of Smith to restore Prince George's two goal lead.

The Vernon Vipers would not go away and less than a minute later they had clawed their way back into this game with a shot that found its way through Murray at 13:07 to make it a 4-3 game. In everything that had gone on to this point in the game, the Studio Cuts Crowning Moment of the Game was just about to be played out.

Hit last night with a high elbow but able to play in tonight's game, Braiden Epp became the centre of attention again when he was reaching for the puck against the wall in his own zone and was hit from behind while in an awkward position. Matty Saharchuk leveled Epp leaving the Prince George forward on the ice. The players came together in a scrum and were pushing and shoving and jawing at each other. Christian Weidauer and TJ Dumonceaux came together and looked like they may go when Dumonceaux dropped his gloves and started trying to land a shot.

Ryan Dawson, one of the linesman came in to seperate the two players and as he did he was hit a first time by Dumonceaux. It looked like that was where it was going to end but the Vipers forward continued to try and get loose from the clutches of Dawson and then with another right, Dumonceaux connected but it was the face of Dawson that he hit sending the linesman crashing to the ice where he laid for over thirty seconds. Cam Smith, the Spruce Kings trainer who was already on the ice attending to Epp, went to the official to offer help. The official had been cut and there was blood on the ice as he got up holding a cloth to his face.

Thinking that Vipers would get a five minute major for the Saharchuk boarding call and a two minute instigator penalty to Dumonceaux for dropping the gloves and looking to start a fight, the referee surprised everybody and called just a single minor for the boarding, gave both Weidauer and Dumonceaux ten minute misconducts and a game misconduct to Dumonceaux for tagging the official. The strange interpretation of what happened left the Spruce Kings in disbelieve and provided a source of inspiration for the Vipers.

Prince George didn't get much of anything on the man advantage and as the penalty came to an end, it was the Vipers that went on the offensive and found the equalizer with three minutes still to play in regulation time. Neither team could score in the remaining time leading to overtime where both teams would again trade chances in end to end rushes combining for 17 shots on goal in total in the extra time. The Vernon Vipers finished with 9 shots through overtime for a game total of 41 and the Spruce Kings were credited with 8 shots for a game total of 28.

The single point extended the Spruce Kings points per game streak to eight games with five wins, and three overtime decisions including two 4-4 ties dating back to October 21st versus the Surrey Eagles. Prince George remains one point back of the Langley Rivermen for top spot in the Mainland Division and will now go looking to claim top spot with a win in Salmon Arm. It is the first meeting of the season with the Silverbacks who are coming off of a 3-2 come from behind win over the Trail Smoke Eaters Saturday night.

Nothing Gained, Nothing Lost

Chad Staley (22) about to take the shot that leads to his
third of the season against the Surrey Eagles
photo courtesy Garrett James Photography

The Prince George Spruce Kings picked up a single point as did the Surrey Eagles in a game that went the distance and then some only to end in a 4-4 double overtime tie. In the BCHL, there is no such thing as a clear cut winner if neither team can score the winning goal through ten extra minutes of four-on-four and three-on-three play.

The Spruce Kings played a very good game and were full marks with four goals on 45 shots through 70 minutes of play but had to settle for a single point giving them a record of 7-7-1-1 and 16 points in 16 games. The goals on the night came from Bryant Christian, Chad Staley and pair from Brent Lashuk. The two scored by Lashuk came sixteen seconds apart on the same shift just moments after the Eagles had a disallowed goal that would have put Prince George down 4-2 in the third period.

The Surrey Eagles started the scoring at 14:51 of the first period on an offensive zone faceoff. Brett Mulcahy won the draw back to Danton Heinen who fired a shot that was blocked. Jesse Jenks went for the save and couldn't get back in position before Heinen would get his own rebound and fire the shot through the Spruce Kings goaltender.

The Spruce Kings would get that one back 38 seconds later when Justin Rai started the play inside his own zone winning a puck battle to Christian Weidauer. The Spruce Kings leading offensive defenceman started a three-on-two rush up the right side wall. As he gained the Eagles zone he fed the puck over to Cole Todd who let go a shot that was tipped in front by Bryant Christian for his fifth of the season. In the arena, the goal was credited to Cole Todd as the rookie's first BCHL career goal but Todd showed that he is a team first player and that he wants his first to be legitimate after letting team officials know that it was indeed Christian's goal.

Less than two minutes later the Spruce Kings would take their first lead of the game off a strong play in the corner by Mitch Barker. Fighting for the puck in the corner, Barker was able to dislodge the puck for Riley Hawes who fed the puck to Chad Staley waiting in the faceoff circle. Staley walked the puck towards the slot and when he thought he had enough room, fired a shot to the topside corner on the far side over the glove of Devon Fordyce. That goal would stand up until the 8:37 mark of the second period.

After giving up an early shot on goal in the second period, the Spruce Kings reeled off a series of chances and tallied seven shots on Fordyce through the first eight minutes of the middle frame. Under pressure in their own zone, Matt Dawson elected to go with a designed breakout play off the glass to the waiting winger on the centre ice line. Danton Heinen was able to tip the puck sending it up into the air landing just inside the Spruce Kings blue line. Brett Mulcahy picked up there and went to the net hard with Mitch Eden all over him. As Mulcahy was falling he slapped at the puck and knuckler got through Jenks to tie the game 2-2.

The Surrey Eagles would get life from that goal and applied some pressure on the Spruce Kings getting five more shots before the Spruce Kings would finish the period strong. Shots on goal in the second period favoured Prince George 15-7 and 28-15 through forty minutes. To start the third the Eagles would score first in the period just over two minutes in. Nic Pierog added a fourth goal on the weekend after a hat trick on Friday night, his wrister found twine as it worked its way through a screen set up in front of the net.

Just past the midway mark of the third period, the Eagles fired the puck on net where it sat in the blue paint among skates. With the players pushing and fighting to get a stick on the puck, the puck would go off a skate blade just as the net came off its moorings. The goal light would go on but the referee immediately indicated no-goal. After an extended conversation with his linesman, Nick Swaine stuck to his call on the ice and waved off the goal with the explanation that the net had come off before the puck crossed the goal line.

The Spruce Kings and specifically the line of Chad Staley, Jeremiah Luedtke and Brent Lashuk used that as fuel and led the charge for the visiting team. On a rush up the ice, Danny Kiraly found Staley who then slid the puck over to Lashuk who buried his third of the season to tie the game 3-3. Before the goal could be announced in the South Surrey Arena, the trio were back at it again off the faceoff win by Staley, Luedtke carried the puck over the blue line and spotted Lashuk with it who then scored his fourth of the season giving the Spruce Kings a 4-3 lead just 16 seconds after his first of the night.

Lashuk would have a chance at the hat trick as he came down the middle trailing a play that saw Staley's hard shot kicked into the slot by Fordyce. Lashuk may have waited a split second too long as he looked up before taking the shot that the Eagles goaltender was able to find.

Two and a half minutes later it would be a pair of defenceman for the Surrey Eagles combining on the 4-4 tying goal. On a play that started from behind their own net Kale Bennett spotted Matt Dawson on the right side with a nice pass that left Dawson only one option. Racing down the wall, Dawson elected to shoot as he got to the top of the faceoff circle. The puck caught Jenks on his right side and rolled through his equipment to fall behind the netminder onto the blue paint. As Jenks reached behind him to find the loose puck, it kept rolling out of his reach as it crossed the goal line.

That is how the third period would end with both teams having chances before the end of regulation time to stake a claim on both points. As the game headed to overtime, both teams were given the automatic single point and through ten additional minutes of play, neither team could find a quality shot on goal.

After the game, the Spruce Kings learned that the Coquitlam Express had lost in regulation time meaning that Prince George retains third in the Mainland Division two points back of the Express. The Langley Rivermen and the Penticton Vees also went the full distance with nothing being settled after seventy minutes in a 1-1 final. The single point for the Rivermen gives them 20 on the season and a four point cushion against their next opponent - the Prince George Spruce Kings.

It will be a quick turn-around for both teams with a 2pm scheduled puck drop from the Langley Events Centre. Sunday's matchup with be the first of the season between these two Mainland Divisional opponents. The game will be available online beginning with the pregame show at 1:40pm on Fasthockey.com and the Spruce Kings Mixlr channel.

Spruce Kings Tally Seven on the Chiefs

Danny Kiraly (5) finishes the two-on-one

The Prince George Spruce Kings first crowded the net, then filled it on Friday night as they defeated the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs 7-1 at the Coliseum.

Making the most of offensive chances was key to the Spruce Kings' game plan coming into Friday night's home opener and the trick seemed to be getting as many bodies as possible in front of Chiefs starter Lyndon Stanwood.

That was certainly the case in the decisive second period as all three of the Spruce Kings goals in the middle stanza came with Stanwood's crease crowded.

Jake LeBrun gave Prince George a lead it would never relinquish at 3:11 of the second when his shot from the high slot beat Stanwood. Brent Lashuk and Mitch Eden picked up the assists, but it was Bryant Christian in front who provided the screen. Christian even waved his stick at the puck as if to tip it and that may have distracted Stanwood enough to allow LeBrun's shot through.

There was even more chaos in front of the Chiefs net when Lashuk made it 3-1 at 14:32 of the second. Stanwood was laying on his back after getting knocked down by a pile of players battling for position in front of the blue paint. Lashuk found the loose puck and lifted it over Stanwood while the Chiefs' bench protested for a goaltender inference penalty. None was forthcoming and instead the head coach, Harvey Smyle was given a game misconduct. Mitch Eden and Bryant Christian were awarded the helpers on the Lashuk goal.

Caleb Thompson put a dagger through the Chiefs' chances at 16:39 of the second when his seeing-eye point shot found its way through the traffic out front and past Stanwood. The power-play tally was assisted by Riley Hawes and Christian Weidauer.

Into the third, LeBrun added another insurance marker at 7:55 when he was left alone in the slot and fired one past Stanwood. Lashuk had the lone assist, his third point of the night.

LeBrun could have had even more if the pesky posts would have gotten out of the way. He clanked shots off the iron in the first and second periods.

Defenceman Danny Kiraly added to the onslaught at 14:14 of the third, converting a feed from Justin Rai on a two-on-one break. Thompson set up the rush and picked up another assist.

And to prove things were just really going the Spruce Kings way, a Skylar Pacheco dump-in attempt found its way in for the Spruce Kings seventh goal of the night at 17:53 unassisted.

Wideauer also had a multiple-point night, picking up an assist in the first to go along with his second period helper. He maintained the early season team scoring lead with six - one goal, five assists - in three games. His first helper came just 1:21 into the game when he helped set up Justin Rai's game-opening goal. Chad Staley picked up the other assist.

Jaret Babych tied the score before the first period was out, taking a feed from Austin Plevy and beating Spruce Kings goalie Alex Murray.

Traffic in the crease wasn't the only key to the Spruce Kings offensive success Friday, they also directed plenty of rubber Stanwood's way even when the goalie had clear sight lines.

The home side held the edge on the shot counter every period and finished the night with 53 shots to Chilliwack's 19. The two teams meet again on Saturday night at the Coliseum, game time is 7 p.m.

Blog written by Peter James

Off-Season Recruiting Underway

Danny Kiraly (10) fends off a forechecker in a game
from earlier this season with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes

Less than 48 hours after the Annual Spruce Kings Player Awards Banquet officially wrapped up the 2012-13 season, the team was busy putting out a press release announcing a second player commitment for the coming year of hockey. Hockey truly is a year-round sport with players expected to compete on the ice from September until March or longer and then spend the off-season preparing themselves with an aggressive training program for another go.

Likewise the hockey operations staff remain vigilant in their efforts to recruit the best players out there to build up a team capable of winning it all. Having scouts placed strategically around rinks in Western Canada and the United States, allows the Spruce Kings to have eyes on players eligible to make the jump to the next level. Quite often that means sending scouts and even members of the coaching staff to various tournaments no matter where they are being held.

Recently Spruce Kings assistant coach, Colton Buffie headed out to Minnesota to take a look at a Tier I Elite League playoff tournament. There were over 500 players on 24 teams playing in the four day weekend tournament, providing an opportunity for Colton to see a great deal of talent from all over the United States assembled in one area. One of the players that stood out was a 17 year old defenceman with the Phoenix Junior Coyotes.

Danny Kiraly's skating ability was one of the first things that Colton Buffie noticed about the 6-foot-1 180 pound right handed defenceman.

"His ability to control the game made it look like everybody else was standing still," said Colton Buffie. "He was able to skate the puck from one end of the ice to other with ease and create scoring chances almost every time he touched the puck. I was able to talk to Danny after one of his games and got to know a little bit more about him."

Kiraly started as a forward and made the transition to defence two seasons ago, not that that deterred his abilities to be an effective player. For two seasons, he was selected as one of the top two hundred in the nation to attend the US National Team Camp, once as a forward and the following year as a defencman.

"I was a forward and I actually transitioned back to defence two years ago," explained Danny Kiraly. "I mixed the two styles together between forward and defence, so yes, I can say easily that I am an offensive defenceman."

Braiden Epp (24) separates himself from a defender to get
to the puck first in a playoff game with the Spruce Kings

Kiraly becomes the second player to commit to the Prince George Spruce Kings for the 2013-14 season with Braiden Epp having done so himself just last month. Epp played two games for the Spruce Kings during the regular season and another three in the post season scoring a highlight reel goal in game five of the best-of-five series with the Chilliwack Chiefs.

"Playing those playoff games helped my confidence," said Braiden Epp. "That was a great experience and stepping stone for myself. It let me know where I need to be to be ready for next season."

Epp finished second in team scoring with the BC Major Midget League Cariboo Cougars, and third overall in the League itself, scoring 29 goals and setting up 40 more to finish with 69 points in 38 games. That offensive skill from the local Prince George hockey product will be a big asset for his hometown team next year as the Spruce Kings look to add depth and top line scoring with the departure of Coltyn Hansen.

Its all about building for the next season and without question the Spruce Kings are busy doing that right now as they prepare to host over 100 young prospects at the annual Spring Prospects Camp at the Prince George Coliseum from April 12 - 14th.