Game Preview ...
The two teams met last night in Williams Lake with the Timberwolves proving that they aren't afraid to fight for the rights in the BCHL. The Timberwolves put on a physical relentless approach and at one point early in the first period led 10-4 on the shot clock. The Timberwolves also established two one goal leads through the game beginning with the game's first goal as a result of a converted 2-on-1 rush. In the third they had a brief 4-3 lead as a result of that relentless pursuit of the puck that resulted in a give-away and the go ahead goal.
As the final score suggests, the Spruce Kings were able to stem the tide and post the 6-4 win with a number of players receiving footnotes beside their names for their contributions. In no particular order, I'll start with the Spruce Kings newest netminder - Steve Papciak (pronounced Pap_see_ak). Acquired from the Okotoks Oilers earlier in the week, Papciak had only two practices before his first start in the BCHL. Papciak was strong in net during the early goings of the game making some key stops and also keeping the play rolling when he felt he had time to move the puck.
The first goal of the game is long known to be a killer goal for the team scored upon, but in this case it was a good goal that the Spruce Kings were able to shrug off and continue on with. The play started in the Williams Lake end with a quick outlet past that found a pair of wingers breaking. Trent Murdock was the reciepient of the pass and carried into the Spruce Kings end of the ice. Just inside the right faceoff circle he let a hard rising shot go that Papciak got a piece of but was unable to contain. The puck slipped under the goaltender's left arm and fell to the blue paint where the other winger, Dane Rupert, was able to get a stick on it and poke it into the back of the net.
The Spruce Kings seemed to rally around their new goaltender after this goal and started picking up their play and forcing the issue inside the Timberwolves zone. On one such play with less than two minutes to go in the opening period, Zac Rasmussen found Sam Muchalla on the right wing. From the top of the faceoff circle, Muchalla let a hard shot go that the Williams Lake Timberwolves goaltender could not control. In a similar fate, Nick DeSousa found the puck just laying in the crease and made no mistake finding the back of the net left vacant by the goaltender that came out to challenge the shooter.
Before the first period was done, Rasmussen was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked down in front of the net while in the motion of shooting the puck on goal. Rasmussen used a sweeping outside roll to the right before cutting back in to the net across the top of the crease. Perhaps looking for the goaltender to over commit, Rasmussen went looking for the five-hole only to find the big blade of the stick. The first came to an end with the teams tied at one goal apeice.
In the second the Spruce Kings turned it on and were rewarded with an early powerplay chance that Jeff Earnest used to collect his fourth of the season and give the Spruce Kings a one goal edge. One shift later Earnest was back at it again and this time blew a hard shot over the glove of Sean Donnelly for his second of the game and fifth of the season. Getting his first point of the season on the goal was the sixteen year old Major Midget magician, Lyndon Martell who setup Earnest with a nice pass just inside the top of the zone. Martell is the other acquisition for the Spruce Kings this week who was leading all others in the BC Major Midget League with 12 goals and 11 assists through 10 games with the Cariboo Cougars.
The Timberwolves would answer both of those goals back and tie the game at three before the midway mark of the second period. The two goals were the result of hard work from the captain of the newest team in the BCHL, Justin Bardason. The rookie captain first worked another perfect 2-on-1 situation with Justin Hogan the receipient of the pass. A few moments later Bardason went hard after the puck behind the Spruce Kings net and came up with the turnover that he dished out front to a waiting Danny Merth. The two traded shots to end the second period tied at three goals each.
In the third period, the Timberwolves looked to have salted away the Spruce Kings with another pressure play in the visitor's end. Again it was Bardason that went hard on the defence and stole the puck away getting it to Ryan Stanimir who made no mistake with a shot labelled for the top corner on Papciak. Again the Spruce Kings calmly went to work and showed that a focused practice plan during the week can and does pay off in a game situation.
In the past few games the Spruce Kings have been guilty of not getting pucks through to the net from the point. Josh Pineiro was the first to demonstrate the practice pay off with a right point shot that got all the way through to RJay Berra who tipped the puck into the back of the net to tie the game. Moments later it was Tyler Miller back in his first game after missing the past six that fired a hard shot through from the right point that rebounded off the goaltender right to a waiting Kyle Manlow.
The rookie from Murietta California collected his second of the season and the game winner finding the back of the net behind Donnelly. In the dieing minutes of the third period, Team Canada West member, Wes McLeod was assessed an interference call giving the Timberwolves a chance to tie the game with the extra attacker. The first part of the powerplay didn't go according to plan for Williams Lake, so they pulled their goaltender making for a 6-on-4 man advantage. Some hard work along the left hand wall by Rasmussen and Pineiro got the puck out of the zone and onto the stick of Brooks Robinson who out-waited a sprawling defenceman firing the puck up and over and into the empty net with 11 seconds remaining in regulation time.
The win gives the Spruce Kings a 4-3-0-1 road record and improves the team to fifth place in the Interior Division with an overall record of 6-10-0-1 through the first seventeen games of the season. The win was Steve Papciak's first in the BCHL and helped to put the brakes on a four game losing streak that the Spruce Kings were in while players were fighting off injuries and the flu bug. The two teams are going to go with essentially the same lineups tonight when the puck drops at 7:00pm from the Prince George Coliseum.
Rosters ...
Williams Lake Timberwolves
1 Sean Donnelly (G 5'11" 170 4/21/1990 White Rock, BC, CAN) (GP 4 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
3 Casey Fratkin (F 5'10" 165 6/5/1989 Burnaby, BC, CAN) (GP 7 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 19 PIMs)
4 Darren Tarasoff (D 6'01" 195 3/10/1990 Castlegar, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 1 A 3 Pts 4 12 PIMs)
5 Colin Wandfluh (D 5'11" 180 8/8/1990 Abbotsford, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 1 A 3 Pts 4 06 PIMs)
6 Riley Sweeney (D 5'11" 185 8/31/1992 Delta, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 1 A 4 Pts 5 08 PIMs)
7 Calvin Johnson (F 5'10" 165 5/28/1992 Smithers, BC, CAN) (GP 9 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 32 PIMs)
8 Dane Rupert (F 5'08" 170 4/16/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 5 A 3 Pts 8 08 PIMs)
11 Ryan Stanimir (F 6'00" 175 3/4/1990 West Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 7 A 7 Pts 14 19 PIMs)
13 Laine Keyes (F 5'09" 170 4/13/1990 Chase, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 3 A 5 Pts 8 28 PIMs)
14 Kyle Leung (F 5'07" 165 3/5/1990 Port Coquitlam, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 08 PIMs)
16 Anthony DeLong (F 6'00" 165 2/8/1991 Castlegar, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 20 PIMs)
18 Justin Hogan (F 5'11" 185 8/28/1990 Val Therese, PQ, CAN) (GP 13 G 0 A 11 Pts 11 18 PIMs)
19 Cameron Hoffman (F 6'01" 185 7/1/1991 Lake Stevens, BC, CAN) (GP 4 G 1 A 0 Pts 1 16 PIMs)
20 Danny Merth (F 6'00" 190 4/19/1991 Anmore, BC, CAN) (GP 4 G 1 A 3 Pts 4 05 PIMs)
21 Keenan Bailey (F 6'00" 175 2/10/1991 Westbank, BC, CAN) (GP 9 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 11 PIMs)22 Justin Bardarson (F 5'10" 190 6/6/1990 Burns Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 5 A 4 Pts 9 37 PIMs)
23 Trent Murdoch (F 5'11" 155 7/31/1991 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 6 A 7 Pts 13 02 PIMs)
24 Jake Harcoff (D 5'10" 185 10/17/1990 Surrey, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 17 PIMs)
27 Jason Diehl (F 6'02" 195 7/24/1989 San Diego, CA, USA) (GP 9 G 3 A 3 Pts 6 04 PIMs)
28 Kyle Beaulieu (D 6'03" 195 1/16/1991 Surrey, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 1 A 4 Pts 5 18 PIMs)
55 Evan Dauenhauer (G 5'11" 175 12/19/1989 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 6 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
Prince George Spruce Kings
1 Steve Papciak (G 5'11" 185 4/26/1990 Des Plaines, IL, USA) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
3 Wes McLeod (D 6'02" 185 9/30/1990 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 5 A 11 Pts 16 27 PIMs)
4 Clayton McEwan (D 6'00" 180 11/26/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 15 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 04 PIMs)5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 3 A 6 Pts 9 25 PIMs)
6 Tyler Miller (D 6'03" 210 1/24/1991 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 3 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 11 PIMs)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/1990 Sicamous, BC, CAN) (GP 15 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 10 PIMs)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/1/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 20 PIMs)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/1990 Fraser Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 3 A 4 Pts 7 04 PIMs)
10 Brad Bourke (D 6'01" 175 4/21/1989 Onoway, AB, CAN) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 02 PIMs)
11 Kyle Manlow (F 5'10" 165 6/28/1991 Murrieta, CA, USA) (GP 16 G 2 A 0 Pts 2 08 PIMs)
14 Lyndon Martell (F 6'01" 190 1/13/1993 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
15 Luke Hannas (F 6'02" 185 9/9/1991 Williams Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 2 Pts 2 55 PIMs)
16 Jeff Earnest (F 5'10" 175 2/8/1991 Whittier, AK, USA) (GP 15 G 5 A 3 Pts 8 23 PIMs)
17 Brooks Robinson (F 5'11" 180 8/18/1989 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 6 A 17 Pts 23 14 PIMs)
18 Colten Derickson (F 6'00" 200 11/15/1989 Westbank, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 10 PIMs)19 Joe Morgan (F 5'08" 180 4/7/1989 Kitimat, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 2 A 6 Pts 8 11 PIMs)
20 Jeff Datoff (D 5'10" 160 5/26/1992 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 02 PIMs)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/1991 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 51 PIMs)23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 5 A 6 Pts 11 06 PIMs)
24 Josh Pineiro (D 5'10" 211 8/25/1989 Huntington Beach, CA, USA) (GP 15 G 5 A 10 Pts 15 25 PIMs)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/8/1989 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 16 G 4 A 9 Pts 13 36 PIMs)
26 Sam Muchalla (F 5'08" 150 8/14/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 15 G 9 A 14 Pts 23 28 PIMs)
35 Kyle Nielsen (G 5'10" 170 7/21/1990 New Westminster, BC, CAN) (GP 3 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
