When you only look at the scoresheet, sometimes the real successes are missed. Now in a three game road trip ... the longest road trip to date this season I might add ... the Spruce Kings came up with three points and were one shot away from potentially making it a five point weekend.
The bread in this particular road trip sandwich was a pair of teams that were and remain tied in the standings; the Westside Warriors and Salmon Arm Silverbacks both had to come from behind to post 4-3 victories over the Spruce Kings. The Warriors did it in overtime while the Salmon Arm Silverbacks finally cracked the league's best road penalty kill team with a pair early in the third and then held on for the same 4-3 final, but in regulation time.
The filling for that sandwich was a desparate team looking to add some points in the win column. The Trail Smoke Eaters are team that can play a physically demanding game and can be relentless. The Smokies seemed to be on the way to breaking out of their funk at the expense of the Spruce Kings building up a 3-0 lead in the first period. The visitors were able to regain their composure and starting working at getting shots through to the net.
Justin Fillion was the first to start chipping at the lead with a shot from the high right point that went through a pair of legs and then bounced off the five hole cushion and behind Garrett Beckwith. In the second period the Spruce Kings got their garbage goal off a goal mouth scramble and a delayed penalty call.
With Zac Rasmussen trying to setup a screen in front of Beckwith he was cross checked to the ice resulting in the delayed penalty. From their the puck went off the stick of Nick DeSousa putting it out into the slot where a sprawled out Rasmussen swung at it giving it to RJay Berra standing at the side of the net. Berra snapped the one-timer into the back of the net and the Spruce Kings found themselves back to within one.
Early in the third a pair of defenceman played key roles in tying up the game. The play started deep inside the Spruce Kings zone where Wes McLeod made the perfect play. Pinching off the forechecker, McLeod was able to tap the puck off the wall where it was picked up by Brad Bourke. The newest member of the Spruce Kings defensive core had been playing as a forward when Prince George traded for him from Merritt. Bourke moved the puck up the right side wall and at one time was thinking pass when the puck bobbled in the nuetral zone leaving Bourke no choice but to gain the blue line and fire a shot on net.
Proving once again that there is no such thing as a bad shot on goal, the puck fooled Beckwith and went in above his glove hand leavivng the score tied at three. From there both teams worked to get the go-ahead goal, but neither could turn on the red light and that included the first full five minute sudden death overtime period as well.
Just over a minute into the three-on-three second overtime period, the Trail Smoke Eaters one last chance for a shot on goal that Alex Wright was able to stop and turn aside. Again McLeod used his soon to be patented pinch play to hold off the forechecker and get the puck to Josh Pineiro. The twenty year old defenceman carried the puck up the right side wall and wrapped wide around behind the net where he spotted Rasmussen coming down the slot. With a quick pass, Raz wasted no time and in one continuous move was able to beat the Trail goaltender back to the short side of the net with a quick wrister.
The win was big as the team had to battle from being three goals down late in the first period after having spent over five hours on the bus getting to Trail. Excuses could have been plenty, but the players sucked it up and systematically went to work stealing away momentum from the home team and frustrating them on their chances. The Smoke Eaters had five powerplay opportunities but like they did the night before, the Spruce Kings didn't allow any odd man goals against.
After the game was another five hour bus ride back to the team's home base in Vernon. Perhaps the long road trip finally caught up with them or it was just a case that you can't stop every power play chance that the other team gets, but a third game with an identical 4-3 score would not come out in favour of the Spruce Kings.
Sunday afternoon was the wrap to the road trip with a matinee game in Salmon Arm. The Silverbacks were fairly well rested having only played one other game on the weekend in their own barn. The Spruce Kings surprised the Silverbacks not once but twice to take a 1-0 lead to the dressing room after the first period and then answer quickly back in the second period after Salmon Arm had tied the game.
While the Spruce Kings were up 2-1, they also ended up with a power play and were trying to tame that beast when they gave up a short handed breakaway chance to Brett Knowles. The Silverbacks forward went hard in on Alex Wright before getting caught by Nick DeSousa and stopped by Wright. The referee following in on the play ruled that there was enough interference to warrant a penalty shot.
Knowles pushed the puck into the Spruce Kings zone with only his right hand on the stick, when he got between the faceoff circles he made one last push that pulled Wright to his left leaving the right side of the net open. Knowles pulled the puck back to his forehand and fired along the ice looking to find the inside of the post. Wright kicked out with his right leg to make a spectacular save with the blade of his skate and then slapped the puck down the ice with his goal stick.
The save could only be characterized as one of the unbelievable kind, so much so that the Silverbacks general manager Rylan Ferster had to tap me in the shoulder to ask if that was even possible. One could have only hoped that the save would provide the adrenaline boost that the visitors needed, but unfortunately this is where things would start to come undone for Prince George.
Shortly after the penalty shot, the Spruce Kings found themselves unable to get the puck past the official in the nuetral zone and instead ended up getting sent back into their own zone. From there a mad scramble ensued that saw Alex Wright forced to make two big saves, but third shot towards the net tipped off a stick and went over the glove and gave the Silverbacks a two-two tie.
Before the end of the second period, Jeff Earnest was assessed a double minor that would carry over into the third period. While on the penalty kill another call would go against the Spruce Kings giving the Silverbacks a two man advantage that they would capitalize on. Still on the powerplay, Salmon Arm would get another two man advantage extending their power play into over five minutes of continuous pressure that resulted in a goal from an impossible angle.
Mark Zengerle just flipped one from behind the goal line towards Wright and the puck took a Salmon Arm bounce into the net. Now with a two goal lead, the Silverbacks just stayed on task trying to wear down their opponents. Prince George would get one goal back on a head's up play from Sam Muchalla who fed the puck to Pineiro in the high slot who snapped in his sixth of the season. A late push with Wright on the bench saw Muchalla run out of room and then have the puck gloved off his stick.
With a powerplay late in regulation, the Spruce Kings just couldn't get any more chances and as the puck was cleared out of the Silverbacks zone, Justin Fillion was assessed a minor that brought the puck back into the Spruce Kings zone with only 2.4 seconds remaining in the game. Wright would have to make one more save, but the damage had already been done and the Spruce Kings came up on the wrong end of this 4-3 score.
So that was what transpired on the score sheet, but take a closer look and you'll see some interesting things. How about only two powerplay goals against in sixteen opportunites ... that leaves the Spruce Kings with the league's best penalty kill numbers for visiting teams. Brad Bourke picked up a goal and two assists as he finds his grove in the Spruce Kings lineup. Saturday night's hero was Zac Rasmussen with the overtime winner and a key assist in the second period. And Sam Muchalla getting back onto the scoresheet in two of the three games including a pair of goals and an assist on Sunday.
There is a longer list of players that include Alex Wright who has been adding consistency between the pipes and coming up with huge saves. Josh Pineiro continues to add offensive numbers while patrolling the blue line. Kyle Manlow picked up his first BCHL point, a beautiful goal on the rush in Westside. RJay Berra has been playing on a line with Zac Rasmussen and Nick DeSousa and those three have been causing troubles for the opposition who now have two lines to watch out for. Of course the top line continues to be called upon to win key faceoff draws with Brooks Robinson taking most of them and Jeff Earnest adding a physical element to the top line's offensive threat.
Wes McLeod is another player that has been making huge contributions; unofficially with 15 points as a defenceman, Wes is waiting to find out whether his name will be called as a member of the Team Canada West roster for the World Junior A Challenge. Speaking with Rylan Ferster on Sunday, all I know for sure is that the announcement will come later this week. I also know that Ferster is extremely impressed with the abilities of Wes and spoke highly of him in our first intermission interview.
It all leaves me waiting for the next game and to see what they can do next. Well the next game is Thursday night against the Langley Chiefs and Friday night against the Powell River Kings. Following a Saturday night off, the Spruce Kings will then host the RBC Royal Bank Cup Champions as the Vernon Vipers meet the Spruce Kings for the first time on Sunday afternoon.
If you're looking for a good deal on tickets, may I suggest the Family Pack ... it offers a family of four tickets, pop and popcorn for everybody for just $35. Of course there are 15 and 5 game punchcards as well as single tickets. Give the Spruce Kings office a call at 250.564.1747 to get more details.
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