Exhibition Game #1 - Third Period

With the younger and less experienced Spruce Kings skating against the older and more experienced Quesnel Millionaires, Prince George kept pace with the visiting team but came up one goal short in a 4-3 loss. Again in the third period the two teams would trade goals and it was the home team that had to come back from a two goal deficit. 4:20 into the third period, Lucas Ford scored his second of the night from Adam Wade.

Quesnel would hold onto that two goal lead until the 13:49 mark when Prince George wass able to convert on a delayed penalty situation and a rush that started from their own goal line. With Cameron Large heading to the bench for the extra attacker, Luke Hannas started the play by finding a way through the maze of blue jerseys into centre ice and gave the puck to Adam Baldassarre. The twenty year old forward was able to get the puck to the net after going around the goal. The initial try was stopped, but Colten Derickson banged at the loose net and watched it hop over the glove of Luke Simens and into the Millionaires net.

The goal seemed to spark the Spruce Kings who started buzzing, but could not get the tying goal. With 1:34 remaining in the third period, Ed Dempsey called a time out to get his goaltender out of the net in favour of the extra attacker in the time remaining. After the Mills iced the puck, the Spruce Kings took advantage of the offensive zone faceoff and extra attacker. One glorious chance saw the puck deflect off a defender and just sail behind Nolan Grauer while he cruised past the far side of the net.

The Spruce Kings had to settle for the 4-3 loss, but were upbeat about the accomplishments of the younger squad. Final shots on goal were even at 28 each with the Spruce Kings firing 15 on Simens and Large facing 11 Quesnel shots. During his 28:50 in net for Prince George, Cameron Large faced a total of 15 shots and Luke Simens faced 18 in 30:05 in net for the Quesnel Millionaires. On the special teams, Prince George went 1 for 4 with the man advantage and added another goal with the offical waiting to assess a penalty to Quesnel. Meanwhile the Millionaires finished with one powerplay goal in their six chances.

The two teams will now head to Smithers for the second half of the home and home series. The game will be played in the Smithers Civic Centre Arena at 7:00pm and will be broadcast on 93.1 CFIS-FM. Audio from the game will also be available on the Spruce Kings website.