Game Day vs Langley Rivermen

Tonight the Prince George Spruce Kings will host their mainland divisional rival, the Langley Rivermen in a game that has top spot bragging rights at stake. These two teams have been all over each other over the past couple of weeks jockeying for that top spot and running away from the rest of the pack.

Earlier this week the Prince George Spruce Kings were recognized for their strong play, earning an honourable mention in the weekly CJHL Top Twenty rankings. Through the past thirteen games, the Spruce Kings have picked up points in twelve of them (9-1-2-1).

The Spruce Kings offense has blossomed during that time as well with Chad Staley leading the way. With an even split of 12 goals and 12 assists, Staley has climbed into the top five among the BCHL Leading Scorers with a total of 33 points (14G, 19A). Not far behind in point production is linemate Jeremiah Luedtke who compiled 23 points (5G, 18A) in the past thirteen games and currently has 26 points overall (6G, 20A).

Offensive production has also come from the defensive core led by Christian Weidauer who has compiled twelve points in the past thirteen games including a big game last Saturday night. While celebrating his 20th birthday, Weidauer was the deciding factor in the third period helping the Spruce Kings come from behind to tie and eventually win 4-3.

Tonight’s game is the fourth meeting of the season between these two divisional opponents and will be the last time they see each other until well into the new year. The first three meetings were all held in Langley with the Spruce Kings picking up five of a possible six points with 2 wins and an overtime loss. Beginning on February 13, 2014, these two teams will play each other another five times over a three week window.

The Langley Rivermen would like to use tonight’s game to extend their current two game winning streak and give their busy weekend schedule an adrenaline boost. After a Thursday night off, the Rivermen will play Friday in Penticton, Saturday in West Kelowna and then Sunday afternoon back in Langley versus the Chilliwack Chiefs. It is one of the longest road trips of the season for the Rivermen aside from an early season three game trip through the BCHL’s Island Division.

The Spruce Kings, who are very accustomed to long road trips and three game weekend sets, get an uncharacteristic break this weekend with Thursday, Friday and Saturday off to prepare for their battle royale with the Powell River Kings on Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

Tonight's game will be broadcast online with the pay-per-view feed from Fasthockey.com and a free audio only online broadcast from the Spruce Kings Mixlr Channel beginning at 6:40pm with a pregame show. Ron St. Clair and Matt Wakeham will have the call of the game beginning with the puck drop at 7pm.

Game Day vs Salmon Arm Silverbacks

After a quick road trip to Langley Thursday, the Spruce Kings return home for the first of three in a row at the Castle. Tonight it will be the Interior Division Salmon Arm Silverbacks in their one and only regular season road trip to Prince George.

In Langley, Braiden Epp provided the spark scoring his first of the season early in the game after driving hard to the net and then bouncing the puck in off the back of the goaltender’s leg. Later in the game, Epp also helped set up Matt Painchaud for his first BCHL career goal.

Epp’s first star honours in that game were the result of continued hard work over the past month and a half by the Prince George hockey product. Coach Dave Dupas has been extremely happy with the work ethic shown and has rewarded that with more ice time and patience.

It’s never easy heading down the road for a single game and then having to return afterwards. The day turned into a full 24 hour road trip with the team arriving back at the Coliseum almost at the same moment they left the day before. Certainly the Salmon Arm Silverbacks aren’t about to show any sympathy because their road trip to Prince George was just as strenuous after playing in Langley last night.

The Silverbacks lost 3-2 to the Rivermen in overtime picking up a valuable single point in a tight Interior Division race. There are only four points separating the top five teams in that division – Merritt Centennials (34), Vernon Vipers (34), Penticton Vees (33), Salmon Arm Silverbacks (31) and West Kelowna Warriors (30).

The Mainland Division is turning into a two horse race for top spot. The Prince George Spruce Kings (15-8-2-2) come into tonight’s game with a single point lead over the Langley Rivermen (15-9-1-2) and both teams seeing action. The Coquitlam Express (24) defeated the Vees last night to put a little distance between them and the Surrey Eagles (21) while the Chilliwack Chiefs (17) continue to challenge for a playoff spot.

Tonight’s game will showcase one of the most offensive lines in the BCHL. Landon Smith (20G, 21A) leads the entire league with 41 points while team mates Evan Anderson (13G, 20A) and Alex Gillies (18G, 13A) both find spots in the top ten.

Chad Staley (13G, 16A) is the lone Spruce King in the top fifteen among league leading scorers. However, both goalies make the grade with top five showing in goals against average and save percentage. Jesse Jenks leads the way with a 2.37 GAA and .922 SV%, Alex Murray is expected to start tonight with a 2.46 GAA and .909 SV%.

Tonight's game will be broadcast online with the pay-per-view feed available from Fasthockey.com and a free audio only online broadcast through the Spruce Kings Mixlr Channel beginning with a pregame show at 6:40pm.

Game Day at Langley Rivermen

The Spruce Kings will be looking to stay ahead of the Langley in
tonight's PG Motors Feature Game of the Month on 99.3 the Drive

The Spruce Kings take to the road today to defend top spot in the Mainland Division against the Langley Rivermen for a 7:15 showdown in the Langley Events Centre. The game is the third edition of the Prince George Motors feature Game of the Month on 99.3 the Drive and will be broadcast live on Prince George's sports station beginning at 7pm.

It won't be easy one with the Langley Rivermen hungry to reclaim that number one position after giving it up last Friday night. Prior to staking a week long hold on the top spot, the Prince George Spruce Kings have been nipping at the heels of the Rivermen since late October. On November 10th, Prince George staked their first claim at the top but were only able to hold it for a day.

This week the ride at the top has been secondary after the Spruce Kings saw their ten game points streak come to an end in their last game after suffering their first regulation time loss since October 18th. The ten game record broke down into sixteen points (7-0-2-1) and featured a win and an overtime loss to the Langley Rivermen. Now with an overall record of 14-8-2-2, the Spruce Kings will be looking to put some padding between them and the second place Rivermen - who do have a game in hand.

Show Home Grand Opening This Sunday

PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The Prince George Spruce Kings Junior A Hockey Club is proud to announce the launch of the 32nd Annual Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery. The Show Home boasts many custom designed features making the home worth $491,225. Alongside the grand prize, there are a number of early bird prizes making the whole lottery worth over $519,000.

The Show Home is located at 2626 Links Drive in the Aberdeen Glen Subdivision of Prince George, British Columbia. Built by Scheck Construction, this year’s Show Home has 1702 square feet of living space and a partially finished basement. Modern accents paired with classic finishings bring out the warmth and desirability of the home.

"Brent (Scheck Construction) and his team have done a phenomenal job with this custom designed home," said Spruce Kings Communication Director, Ron Gallo. "This home has some truly technologically advanced features with the Home Alive automation system from Curtis Elite. The Northern Hardware has once again outdone themselves with appliances that will be included and the staging of this house. People will be excited about the prospect of winning of this home."

The Grand Opening of the Show Home is at 11am on Sunday November 24th. Show Home Lottery tickets are on sale now at Pine Centre Mall and Canadian Tire with other venues opening up soon. Tickets are also available for purchase over the phone by calling 250-962-IWIN (4946) or toll free from inside the Province of British Columbia at 1-855-962-IWIN (4946).

Tickets may be sold and purchased only in the Province of British Columbia and ticket purchasers must be 19 years of age or older. Rules of play, ticket locations and additional information can be retrieved from the Spruce Kings office, located in the Prince George Coliseum, or online from the Prince George Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery website.

For more information call the Spruce Kings office at 250.564.1747.

Chances are 1 in 8,500 (total tickets for sale) to win a grand prize  BC Gaming Event Licence #59144

Problem Gambling Help Line: 1-888-795-6111  www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca Know your limit, play within it. 19+

Game Day vs Surrey Eagles

The Prince George Spruce Kings reeled off a pair of hat tricks last night against the Surrey Eagles to take over sole possession of first place in the Mainland Division. Brogan O’Brien was the first to score in the game and would add a second, but it was on three shots in the second period by Brent Lashuk that opened the game up and led to the win.

The first shot was a bullet shot that saw the net bulge but the puck ripped right through the net and bounced off the back wall leaving people scratching their head as the play continued. The play went on for about two minutes before the next stoppage in play allowed the officials to converge and have a conversation on what may have happened.

Lashuk was awarded the goal, the clock was reset and the Spruce Kings forward scored twice more to record a natural hat trick in the game. Justin Rai also scored in the second period and O’Brien completed his hat trick with the only goal of the third period.

Double headers are an interesting thing and tough to claim both halves. The Surrey Eagles for sure will be inspired to take home at least a split in their first trip North and even up the season series again. Right now the Spruce Kings have that one game edge over the Eagles with a record of 2-1-1-0.

Last night started off with an emotional charge after the announcement that four of the recent scratches were back in the lineup. Jesse Jenks was also recognized for his bronze medal win with Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge by the Mayor of Prince George.

Jenks will get the night off after coming up with a solid performance and Alex Murray will get the start tonight. The Spruce Kings are not expected to make any other changes to their lineup while the Surrey Eagles will get back Jonah Renouf after he served his one game suspension last night.

Tonight’s game is one of seven games in the BCHL with only the Vernon Vipers and the Merritt Centennials from the Interior Division being idle. With the race at the top of the standings catching a lot of people’s attention, the Powell River Kings will be looking to repeat against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs while the Langley Rivermen will want to rebound against the visiting Victoria Grizzlies.

The Powell River Kings currently sit in top spot overall with 33 points followed by the Prince George Spruce Kings (32) right behind them. The Langley Rivermen and the Penticton Vees are tied in third place with 31 points each.

Tonight's game has a scheduled start time of 7pm in the Prince George Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live online with a pay-per-option through Fasthockey.com and a free audio only broadcast on the Spruce Kings Mixlr Channel beginning with the pregame show at 6:40pm.

Game Day vs Surrey Eagles

Christian Weidauer (7) eludes a couple of checks
in a recent game against the Surrey Eagles

The Prince George Spruce Kings return to the Castle tonight for the first of two this weekend against the Surrey Eagles and a Mainland Divisional matchup. These two teams have met three times already this season – all of which were in Surrey – and have split the series evenly with a win, a loss and a tie.

The Spruce Kings current streak of picking up at least a point in nine consecutive games started in Surrey on October 19th with a 4-4 tie and since then has resulted in a record of 6-0-2-1. The Spruce Kings currently sit a point out of top spot in both the Mainland Division and the BCHL as a whole. This all comes despite being short-handed to the tune of six players during that time.

Jake LeBrun makes his return to the linuep tonight after missing out on the team’s previous 14 games due to a concussion suffered in a game on October 4th. Cole Todd makes his return after missing the previous 4 games after an injury he suffered in the last meeting with the Surrey Eagles. Sean Landrey is also back in the lineup tonight after missing three games as a result of an upper body injury on November 2nd in Langley.

Jesse Jenks also returns to the Spruce Kings for his first game since October 24th. Jenks was away making a name for himself while playing in every game for Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge and helping his team win a bronze medal in the International tournament. Mitch Barker (day-to-day) is still out of the lineup as is Bryant Christian who is out long term and not expected back until mid-December at the earliest.

Even with all of the injuries the Spruce Kings have been finding ways to win and pick up valuable points thanks in large part to the play of Chad Staley, Jeremiah Luedtke and Brent Lashuk. The three have been on fire as of late and have combined for a total of 42 points (17 goals and 25 assists) in the past nine games.

Staley picked up Player of the Week honours after posting 10 points (4G, 6A) in three games over the weekend. Luedtke has a ten game point streak himself with 5 goals and 12 assists in that stretch. To aid the top line, the Spruce Kings have been getting secondary scoring from their younger players and the defence continues to chip in as well.

Tonight’s game is the first of a double header against the Surrey Eagles with both teams hungry for the much needed points. The Eagles (9-14-1-0) would like the points to leap over the Coquitlam Express (9-9-0-2) and their 20 points as well as pull away from the Chilliwack Chiefs (5-14-1-2) who have been closing the gap on Surrey over the past little while.

Game time tonight is 7pm with the game broadcast live through the pay-per-view feed on Fasthockey.com and the free audio only through the Spruce Kings Mixlr Channel beginning with the pregame show at 6:40pm. The two teams will be back at it again tomorrow night in the Coliseum.

Game Day at Salmon Arm Silverbacks

The Prince George Spruce Kings will finish off their three game Interior Division road trip this weekend with a stop in Salmon Arm for a matinee game versus the Silverbacks. It is the first meeting of the season between these two teams and could be tough to match what the Spruce Kings have already been through this weekend. After the long bus trip into Trail for Friday's game and last night's double overtime game that took almost four hours to play, a nice simple game would be ideal for Prince George.

This will probably turn into another memorable BCHL game as both teams want the two points that are up for grabs. The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (11-8-1-1) sit in fifth spot in the Interior Division, two points back of the West Kelowna Warriors (12-6-0-2) while the Spruce Kings (12-7-2-2) are one point back of the Langley Rivermen (13-6-1-2) and top spot in the Mainland Division. Interestingly enough, a Prince George win would catapult the Spruce Kings to first overall in the entire British Columbia Hockey League!

This comes with six players out of the lineup - Jake LeBrun, Bryant Christian, Sean Landrey, Cole Todd and Mitch Barker are all still out with injuries and Jesse Jenks is making his way back from the World Junior A Challenge where Team Canada West won bronze. Prince George has called upon reserves to help fill the voids and have been getting exceptional play from their young guns and veteran players stepping up to take on additional roles.

One player that is loving the extra ice time is Chad Staley and he has delivered this weekend with four goals and three assists picking up his second BCHL career hat trick last night in Vernon. Staley opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal and added two more powerplay goals to extend his season total to 12 goals and 11 assists in 23 games. The point production has put the second year player into the League's Top Twenty scoring race.

That leaderboard is currently being led by Salmon Arm Silverbacks sniper Landon Smith (14G, 18A) in his first year in the BCHL. Smith is an import from Denver Colorado that played the previous two seasons in the USHL and is committed for next season to the University of Denver. Sitting in thirteenth spot on that leaderboard is Alex Gillies, another Silverbacks player playing on a line with Smith.

The Silverbacks have a lot of offensive weapons and despite sitting fifth overall in their division, lead the Interior Division with an average of 3.62 goals a game. This could be an offense versus defense game as the Spruce Kings come in with a 2.61 goals against average and an ever improving penalty kill. In last night's game they held the Vipers off the scoreboard on their man advantages and even scored a shorthanded goal. The Silverbacks penalty kill is also pretty good and is currently ranked second in the BCHL.

This is one of those games that the tale of the tape really has nothing to add and only sixty minutes or more will ultimately be required to sort out these two teams in their first meeting of the season. The game is a 3pm start in Salmon Arm and will be broadcast live online with the pay-per-feed through Fasthockey.com and a free audio only online feed from the Spruce Kings Mixlr channel beginning with the pregame show at 2.40pm. Following the game, the team will head home with an expected arrival time of 2am, barring any extenuating circumstances. Members of the Spruce Kings will being participating in Monday's Remembrance Day ceremonies in Prince George.