Exhibition Game #4 - Third Period

The Spruce Kings picked up where they left off and got a quick goal in the opening minute of the period. Officially it is recorded as an unassisted tally, but Brooks Robinson deserves the credit for this one as he went in hard on the forecheck, came up with the puck and fired a hard shot that the goaltender could not handle. The rebound came out to RJay Berra who made no mistake as he picked up his second of the preseason and gave the Spruce Kings a 3-0 lead early in the third.

Perhaps an early lead wasn't what the Spruce Kings needed, but rather the spark that set off the Williams Lake Timberwolves as they started firing on all cylinders and getting some great scoring chances on Chris Solecki. I counted at least three hard to the net plays by the attacking Timberwolves that resulted in the net getting dislodged and faceoffs in the Spruce Kings end. The hard work paid off for the visitors as they got on the board at 4:54 on an odd-man rush and a shot that squeezed through the short side between the pads and the post.

The Timberwolves kept the pressure on the Spruce Kings defence and netminder, in total they would fire fifteen shots at Solecki getting two past the sixteen year old goaltender from Burns Lake. The second would come on a power play very late in the period. On a call made away from the play, Joe Morgan was given a slashing call and then assessed a 10 minute misconduct for disputing the call at 19:35 of the third. With the goaltender on the bench, Williams Lake essentially had a two man advantage and a ton of pressure in the offensive zone. With 7.4 seconds remaining in regulation time, Landon Andrusiak scored his second of the game to get the Timberwolves to within one. Like the night before in Williams Lake, that was as close as they would come with the Spruce Kings preserving the one goal victory.

Final score was 3-2 Prince George, but it was the Williams Lake Timberwolves that outshoot their opponents with a final tally of 37-32. Chris Solecki faced 15 in the third period alone to go along with his 10 in his half of the second period. The performance of all five goaltenders through the course of the exhibition season will make it tough for the coaching staff to pick their final two goaltenders for the season.

The Spruce Kings roster will have to be down to twenty-three players, including six twenty year olds, before the puck drops on the regular season Friday September 11th.