Last night's game for the Spruce Kings will go down on paper as a loss at the hands of the Vernon Vipers, but in so many other ways it was a win for the players. Many fans were quick to acknowledge the hard work of the team from start to finish in the game. There were comments about the lack of puck luck and had that been different it could very well have been a game that the Spruce Kings should have won.
In Friday night's game the Spruce Kings opened the scoring after a rare defensive miscue by one of the rookie defenders on the Vipers roster. Joe Morgan intercepted a fanned clearing attempt and went in on Graeme Gordon with a shot that handcuffed the league's best netminder leaving a juicy rebound for RJay Berra to pick up and bury for his sixth of the season. The Vipers followed that goal up with some relentless offensive play but were stymied by Spruce Kings netminder, Kyle Nielsen. The first ended with the Spruce Kings up 1-0.
The second period proved to be the turning point in the game although Prince George did fight back - especially in the second half of the third period. In the middle frame it would be a boy from McBride that would step up for the Vipers in front of 22 of his family and friends that made the trip in for the game. Dylan Walchuk pulled the Vipers even with a highlight reel goal picking up the puck from the back wall and walking around a pair of Spruce Kings to sneak a backhander to the far side past Nielsen. Walchuck would add a pair more to finish the night with a hat trick including a powerplay marker and an empty netter.
Unfortunately for the Spruce Kings and the BCHL, video review is not a part of the game but recording the games to DVD are. After the game, while reviewing the game tape, it appears that Vernon may have been given an unearned goal. A nice shot from aforementioned Walchuck rang off the goal post and settled on the ice in the blue paint under Nielsen. The red light went on and the referee signaled goal, but when Nielsen got up the puck was over a foot in front of the goal line.
There are two things that come immediately to mind from that last paragraph including the cliche that you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. There is no denying that the Vernon Vipers are good. Also you can't cry over spilled milk and perhaps that is a lesson that Korey Martens was trying to teach the Spruce Kings too as shortly after that he assessed a game misconduct to the coach.
With the game 4-1 in favour of the visitors and only one coach on the bench for the home team, Jonathan Gibson was the recipient of a complete good effort shift from the Spruce Kings that started inside their own zone. Clayton McEwan and Justin Fillion completed a 'D' to 'D' breakout and were able to spring Zac Rasmussen, Jeff Earnest and Gibson into the offensive zone. It was Rasmussen that made sure the puck was put on net and Gibson did the rest lifting a saucer short side on Gordon to cut the Viper's lead in half.
After that the Spruce Kings manufactured no less than six scoring chances including a shot that sailed over a wide open net, one off a goal post and a breathtaking three-way passing play that hit the base of the post and was kept out by the skate blade of Gordon. The Vipers managed only nine shots on goal in the final frame and were outshot in a period for the first time this season. The ninth shot by Vernon came from the stick of Dylan Walchuk who had an easy time finding the middle of the empty net.
Here's to the Spruce Kings carrying all of those positives, and many more, in to tonight's game versus the Williams Lake Timberwolves one of only two teams that they have a better than .500 record against. The Spruce Kings have a three wins a tie and a loss in five games with their Interior Division rivals and will be looking to move back into fifth spot in the Conference. Game time is 7:00pm with the game broadcast live on 93.1 CFIS-FM and also online from the Spruce Kings website and the radio station's website ... www.cfisfm.com
Rosters...
Williams Lake Timberwolves
1 Sean Donnelly ( G 5' 11" 170 4/21/1990 White Rock, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 00 PIMs)
3 Casey Fratkin ( F 5' 10" 165 6/5/1989 Burnaby, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 24 PIMs)
4 Darren Tarasoff ( D 6' 01" 195 3/10/1990 Castlegar, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 1 A 3 Pts 4 18 PIMs)
6 Riley Sweeney ( D 5' 11" 185 8/31/1992 Delta, BC, CAN) (GP 16 G 2 A 8 Pts 10 10 PIMs)
7 Calvin Johnson ( F 5' 10" 165 5/28/1992 Smithers, BC, CAN) (GP 11 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 41 PIMs)
8 Dane Rupert ( F 5' 08" 170 4/16/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 16 G 5 A 3 Pts 8 08 PIMs)
11 Ryan Stanimir ( F 6' 00" 175 3/4/1990 West Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 10 A 9 Pts 19 21 PIMs)
13 Laine Keyes ( F 5' 09" 170 4/13/1990 Chase, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 3 A 0 Pts 3 38 PIMs)
14 Kyle Leung ( F 5' 07" 165 3/5/1990 Port Coquitlam, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 3 A 4 Pts 7 14 PIMs)
16 Anthony DeLong ( F 6' 00" 165 2/8/1991 Castlegar, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 3 A 4 Pts 7 22 PIMs)
18 Justin Hogan ( F 5' 11" 185 8/28/1990 Val Therese, PQ, CAN) (GP 17 G 2 A 12 Pts 14 26 PIMs)
20 Danny Merth ( F 6' 00" 190 4/19/1991 Anmore, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 2 A 7 Pts 9 05 PIMs)
21 Keenan Bailey ( F 6' 00" 175 2/10/1991 Westbank, BC, CAN) (GP 12 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 13 PIMs)
22 Justin Bardarson ( F 5' 10" 190 6/6/1990 Burns Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 6 A 6 Pts 12 41 PIMs)
23 Trent Murdoch ( F 5' 11" 155 7/31/1991 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 7 A 11 Pts 18 02 PIMs)
24 Jake Harcoff ( D 5' 10" 185 10/17/1990 Surrey, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 17 PIMs)
26 Brendan Nadolny ( D 6' 02" 190 8/1/1990 Chilliwack, BC, CAN) (GP 3 G 2 A 2 Pts 4 04 PIMs)
27 Jason Diehl ( F 6' 02" 195 7/24/1989 San Diego, CA, USA) (GP 13 G 5 A 7 Pts 12 11 PIMs)
28 Kyle Beaulieu ( D 6' 03" 195 1/16/1991 Surrey, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 2 A 6 Pts 8 28 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 4 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
4 Clayton McEwan (D 6'00" 180 11/26/1991 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 08 PIMs)
5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 22 G 3 A 10 Pts 13 27 PIMs)
6 Tyler Miller (D 6'03" 210 1/24/1991 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 8 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 23 PIMs)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/1990 Sicamous, BC, CAN) (GP 20 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 16 PIMs)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/1/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 19 G 2 A 2 Pts 4 32 PIMs)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/1990 Fraser Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 19 G 4 A 4 Pts 8 08 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 21 G 3 A 0 Pts 3 10 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 17 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 62 PIMs)
16 Jeff Earnest (F 5'10" 175 2/8/1991 Whittier, AK, USA) (GP 20 G 6 A 5 Pts 11 27 PIMs)
17 Brooks Robinson (F 5'11" 180 8/18/1989 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 22 G 8 A 23 Pts 31 18 PIMs)
19 Joe Morgan (F 5'08" 180 4/7/1989 Kitimat, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 4 A 9 Pts 13 11 PIMs)
20 Jeff Datoff (D 5'10" 160 5/26/1992 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 15 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 02 PIMs)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/1991 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 63 PIMs)
23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 22 G 6 A 6 Pts 12 06 PIMs)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/8/1989 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 21 G 6 A 11 Pts 17 49 PIMs)
26 Sam Muchalla (F 5'08" 150 8/14/1990 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 20 G 9 A 18 Pts 27 30 PIMs)
35 Kyle Nielsen (G 5'10" 170 7/21/1990 New Westminster, BC, CAN) (GP 5 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
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