As much as this can be billed a Battle of the Kings or a Battle Royale or the cliche of your choice, there is no doubt that the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of the Spruce Kings as they play host to the Coastal Conference leaders, the Powell River Kings. Over the years of these two teams engaging in their battle of royal supremacy, it has been the home team that has come out victorious more times than not.
Last year without the full interlock schedule, the Spruce Kings never had to make the long travel through the Sunshine Coast to Powell River and so the teams only met once here in Prince George. In that game, it was the Spruce Kings that came out with the win defeating Powell River 6-3. The Kings then went on to establish dominance in the Coastal Conference and were front runners all the way to the end before finally losing to the Vernon Vipers in the BCHL Championship.
This year the Powell River Kings have started where they left off and have a lock on top spot in the Coastal Conference and third overall in the league with 21 points in 14 games. Their strength comes from a team contribution offensively and a pair of goaltenders that rank in the top three in the league. Goal scoring is spread predominately among four players with a pair of nineteen year olds both having 16 points, Andrew Petite and Jordan Grant have identical records of 9 goals and 7 assists heading into tonight's contest.
The Powell River Kings also have a couple of players with Prince George connections in defencman Darcy Huisman and goaltender Michael Gartieg. Huisman was a part of the 2006-07 Spruce Kings roster that won silver at the 2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup and is the last active member in the BCHL from that team. Gartieg is a Prince George minor hockey product who played last year with the Quesnel Millionaires before hooking up with the Coastal Kings for this season.
The Prince George Spruce Kings were involved in a rough one last night when they tangled with the Langley Chiefs. The game was a "chippy" one with lots of stick work and uncalled infractions. The scene blew up in the second period after Sam Muchalla was cut down in front of the net and Brooks Robinson checked into the boards. The ensuing melee resulted in a pair of fights including Sam Muchalla man-handling Tim Daly and winning that tilt decisively. The other fight saw Joe Morgan take off after Dennis Robertson and get assessed a one-game suspension for being the second fight.
After the fight and a few more stiff penalties to keep things in check, the Spruce Kings were able to contain the Langley Chiefs and keep them off the score sheet but the damage had already been done. The Chiefs took away two points with the 4-2 victory leaving the Spruce Kings to sort out their powerplay that hasn't been able to produce anything in four complete games going 0-25 in that time. On the plus side, the penalty kill has been looking pretty strong and although there were two against last night, the Spruce Kings have only allowed a total of four goals in their last 35 short handed situations.
Rosters ...
Powell River Kings
1 Michael Garteig (G 6'01" 185 11/5/1991 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
2 Reid Campbell (D 5'10" 185 2/4/1989 Haines Junction, YK, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
7 Brenden Forbes (D 5'10" 165 12/15/1992 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
8 Josh Wyatt (F 6'02" 170 4/10/1991 Victoria, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
10 Andrew Pettitt (F 5''11" 180 10/22/1990 Whitehorse, YK, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
11 Steve Axford (F 5'10" 180 5/25/1991 Victoria, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
12 Jordan Grant (F 5'10" 180 8/17/1990 Ladysmith, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
14 Mitch Labreche (F 5'10" 175 5/3/1990 Nelson, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
15 Jason Yee (D 6'00" 175 7/17/1990 Sidney, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
16 Craig Eisenhut (F 5'11" 190 5/19/1990 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 4 G 0 A 2 Pts 2 04 PIMs)
17 Ben Schmidt (F 6'02" 195 3/17/1989 Campbell River, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
18 Brandon Formosa (F 6'00" 170 3/10/1993 Mission, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
20 Alex McDougall (D 6'00" 210 2/25/1990 Whitehorse, YK, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
21 Chad Niddery (F 5'10" 165 10/5/1990 Penticton, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
22 Mat Bodie (D 6'00" 160 3/7/1990 East St. Paul, MB, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
23 Carter Shinkaruk (F 5'10" 185 11/11/1991 Langley, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
24 Darcy Huisman (D 5'10" 175 3/15/1989 Smithers, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
25 Justin Dasilva (D 6'05" 215 5/22/1990 Cambridge, MA, USA) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
27 Robbie Bailey (F 6'03" 190 3/28/1989 North Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
35 Josh Watson (G 6'02" 180 9/7/1990 Lititz, SK, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
Prince George Spruce Kings
1 Alex Wright (G 6'01" 185 4/20/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 00 PIMs)
3 Wes McLeod (D 6'02" 185 9/30/1990 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 5 A 10 Pts 15 21 PIMs)
4 Clayton McEwan (D 6'00" 180 11/26/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 04 PIMs)
5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 3 A 4 Pts 7 19 PIMs)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/1990 Sicamous, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 06 PIMs)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/1/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 16 PIMs)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/1990 Fraser Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 10 G 2 A 2 Pts 4 02 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 12 G 1 A 0 Pts 1 04 PIMs)
16 Jeff Earnest (F 5'10" 175 2/8/1991 Whittier, AK, USA) (GP 11 G 3 A 3 Pts 6 19 PIMs)
17 Brooks Robinson (F 5'11" 180 8/18/1989 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 4 A 16 Pts 20 14 PIMs)
18 Colten Derickson (F 6'00" 200 11/15/1989 Westbank, BC, CAN) (GP 5 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 10 PIMs)
20 Jeff Datoff (D 5'10" 160 5/26/1992 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 02 PIMs)
21 Stewart Lambert (F 6'00" 175 4/5/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 02 PIMs)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/1991 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 46 PIMs)
23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 3 A 6 Pts 9 04 PIMs)
24 Josh Pineiro (D 5'10" 211 8/25/1989 Huntington Beach, CA, USA) (GP 11 G 5 A 7 Pts 12 23 PIMs)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/8/1989 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 4 A 7 Pts 11 21 PIMs)
26 Sam Muchalla (F 5'08" 150 8/14/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 7 A 11 Pts 18 19 PIMs)
35 Kyle Nielsen (G 5'10" 170 7/21/1990 New Westminster, BC, CAN) (GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
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