Spruce Kings had a day off from their four game Coastal Conference road trip after dropping another close contest on Wednesday night to the Surrey Eagles. In that game Prince George had to respond to being down 2-0 early in the first, but were able to tie it up 2-2 on the strength of a pair of goals from Brooks Robinson before heading to the dressing room. In the second period, Sam Muchalla scored to give the Spruce Kings a 3-2 lead, but that would be taken back by the Eagles on a powerplay goal of their own and they would add another and take a 4-3 lead before the end of the second.
In the third period, the Spruce Kings tied up the game again with a great end to end rush by Brad Bourke who squeezed through no less than three checks to get into the Eagles zone before saucering a nice pass to an open Nick DeSousa on the other side of the net. After that things started conspiring against the Spruce Kings as highlighted by a controversial delay of game penalty being made against the newest member of the Spruce Kings, goaltender Andrew Walsh.
The nets in the South Surrey Arena are not secured in place with the typical plastic pegs found in most other rinks but instead are just set in place on a divet in the ice. The natural movements of a goaltender and even pressure by the offense at the side of the net resulted in the net coming dislodged no less than seven times in the game prior to the one that resulted in the penalty call. With the Eagles pressing and trying to get Walsh to move side-to-side, the big goaltender kicked out his right leg to make a skate save and hit the net knocking it off its moorings. The referee made the call putting the Spruce Kings down a man with Josh Pineiro serving the penalty for Walsh.
On the ensuing penalty kill, Wes McLeod was called for a slash after he turned to force his man into the corner and his stick hit the stick of Andrew Wallace. On the delayed penalty call it appeared that at least one member of the Spruce Kings squad touched the puck but the whistle never sounded. Wallace used the confusion to take a shot on goal that Walsh stopped but the rebound was picked up by Wallace and fired into the back of the net. At the end of the play McLeod took some frustration out on Wallace and the check put the Eagles forward into the net; the hit drew a five minute major and a game misconduct to go along with the two minute minor.
Killing off the seven minute penalty successfully still proved costly for the Spruce Kings as they spent a good portion of that time in their own zone and were tired afterwards, never able to really get any good pressure in the Eagles zone. In the last minute and some odd seconds, Andrew Walsh was pulled from the goal for the extra attacker and for the second consecutive night gave up an empty net goal in the dying seconds of the game. Wallace eventually got the goal although it took him three tries to do it after missing the first one wide and having the second attempt deflected away by the good stick work of Marcus Watson.
During the day off, the Spruce Kings did get some ice time at the Langley Events Centre with an hour long practice in the newest building in the BCHL. The practice was intense and gave the boys a good feel for the ice and the building for their game against the Langley Chiefs on Saturday. Before Langley though it is the Burnaby Express and a team that finds itself in the same place as the Spruce Kings - on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.
The Burnaby Express who have a game in hand on the Prince George Spruce Kings are two points back of the Cowichan Valley Capitals and desperate for some wins to try and cover some of that gap. The Express have played four games since the Christmas break and three points as a result of two of those games going to overtime. The Express haven't played since Sunday afternoon when they lost 5-2 to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
This is the first of the two meetings between the Express and the Spruce Kings, the second will be the Spruce Kings final regular season game of the season in the Coliseum on Saturday February 20th. By the numbers the Express have struggled offensively this year scoring the league's second lowest number of goals and averaging 2.80 goal per game compared to the Spruce Kings 3.50 average a game. Defensively the Express have slightly better numbers allowing 4.20 goals against per game while Prince George has been known this year to allow 4.40 against every game.
The top three forwards for Burnaby are 19 year old Brad Reid (18-21), 20 year old import Rich Manley (16-22) and 19 year old Garrick Perry (17-14). Four year vet of the BCHL, Dylan Herold has 15 goals on the season and is the team's fourth point getter with 23 points. Former Penticton Vees players, James Bettauer and Jimmy Geerin, are among the team's leading setup guys with a combined 30 assists.
This game has an interesting twist to it with RJay Berra getting a chance to play against the team that held his rights during the summer months but eventually traded them back to Prince George just before the start of training camp. Berra hasn't thought too much about it until recently and would like to use the game as a chance to show the Express what he is capable of doing. Another player that will be in the spotlight tonight will be Sam Muchalla; the spotlight will start shining on Muchalla before the first puck drops when Bernie Pascall will interview Muchalla for an upcoming Inside BCHL video feature for the league's website.
Game time tonight is 7:30 with game audio available on 93.1 CFIS-FM and online from the Spruce Kings website (click on the CFIS-FM Listen Live link) beginning at 7:20pm. The Spruce Kings will wrap up their four game Coastal Conference road trip on Saturday night in Langley against the Chiefs before returning home to Prince George for a few days and then a home-and-home against the Quesnel Millionaires starting in Quesnel on Friday January 15th.
Rosters ...
Burnaby Express
1 Scott Ismond (G 6'00" 185 5/05/89 Victoria, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
2 Stefan Gonzales (D 6'02" 175 5/07/92 Surrey, BC, CAN) (GP 38 G 0 A 2 Pts 2 28 PIMs)
7 Alex Petan (F 5'08" 155 5/02/92 Delta, BC, CAN) (GP 30 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 22 PIMs)
8 Malcom McKinney (F 5'08" 150 9/27/92 West Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 13 G 1 A 0 Pts 1 06 PIMs)
9 James Bettauer (D 6'01" 180 3/19/91 Burnaby, BC, CAN) (GP 16 G 5 A 12 Pts 17 45 PIMs)
11 Rich Manley (F 6'05" 228 12/22/89 Buffalo, NY, USA) (GP 36 G 16 A 22 Pts 38 51 PIMs)
14 Garrick Perry (F 6'01" 186 5/14/90 Apple Valley, MN, USA) (GP 41 G 17 A 14 Pts 31 43 PIMs)
15 Jimmy Geerin (D 6'01" 185 12/28/89 Anchorage, AK, USA) (GP 41 G 4 A 18 Pts 22 32 PIMs)
17 Brodie Jamieson (F 5'10" 170 9/01/92 North Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 38 G 3 A 5 Pts 8 22 PIMs)
18 Zac Ashdown (F 6'01" 190 9/07/91 Campbell River, BC, CAN) (GP 9 G 1 A 6 Pts 7 14 PIMs)
21 David Dotan (D 6'04" 218 6/18/91 Richmond, BC, CAN) (GP 30 G 1 A 3 Pts 4 22 PIMs)
24 Michael Mackie-Kwist (F 6'02" 195 1/01/91 Clevland, OH, USA) (GP 4 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
25 Paul de Jersey (F 6'02" 185 1/01/92 West Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 27 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 15 PIMs)
30 Nick Enegren (G 5'08" 150 10/08/92 New Westminster, BC, CAN) (GP 17 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
44 Chris Van Duynhoven (D 6'05" 230 2/15/89 Burnaby, BC, CAN) (GP 24 G 0 A 7 Pts 7 47 PIMs)
77 Simon Denis (D 5'10" 160 8/20/91 Burnaby, BC, CAN) (GP 41 G 4 A 7 Pts 11 22 PIMs)
83 Brad Reid (F 6'01" 174 6/20/90 Delta, BC, CAN) (GP 41 G 18 A 21 Pts 39 28 PIMs)
91 Colby Kulhanek (F 6'01" 195 8/11/89 Port Coquitlam, BC, CAN) (GP 19 G 2 A 12 Pts 14 26 PIMs)
Prince George Spruce Kings
1 Steve Papciak (G 5'11" 185 4/26/90 Des Plaines, IL, USA) (GP 8 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
3 Wes McLeod (D 6'02" 185 9/30/90 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 35 G 9 A 27 Pts 36 63 PIMs)
5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 42 G 5 A 27 Pts 32 60 PIMs)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/90 Sicamous, BC, CAN) (GP 37 G 0 A 4 Pts 4 27 PIMs)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/01/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 39 G 4 A 5 Pts 9 41 PIMs)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/90 Fraser Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 38 G 19 A 7 Pts 26 22 PIMs)
10 Brad Bourke (D 6'01" 175 4/21/89 Onoway, AB, CAN) (GP 39 G 5 A 17 Pts 22 40 PIMs)
11 Kyle Manlow (F 5'10" 165 6/28/91 Murrieta, CA, USA) (GP 41 G 5 A 2 Pts 7 14 PIMs)
12 Marcus Watson (F 6'03" 198 1/17/89 San Jose, CA, USA) (GP 38 G 13 A 22 Pts 35 32 PIMs)
14 Lyndon Martell (F 6'01" 190 1/13/93 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 26 G 9 A 12 Pts 21 08 PIMs)
15 Luke Hannas (F 6'02" 185 9/09/91 Williams Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 36 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 88 PIMs)
16 Jeff Earnest (F 5'10" 175 2/08/91 Anchorage, AK, USA) (GP 34 G 8 A 8 Pts 16 48 PIMs)
17 Brooks Robinson (F 5'11" 180 8/18/89 Duncan, BC, CAN) (GP 42 G 18 A 40 Pts 58 20 PIMs)
19 Joe Morgan (F 5'08" 180 4/07/89 Kitimat, BC, CAN) (GP 33 G 8 A 22 Pts 30 22 PIMs)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/91 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 36 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 85 PIMs)
23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 42 G 8 A 10 Pts 18 13 PIMs)
24 Josh Pineiro (D 5'10" 211 8/25/89 Huntington Beach, CA, USA) (GP 36 G 7 A 19 Pts 26 34 PIMs)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/08/89 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 38 G 13 A 20 Pts 33 81 PIMs)
26 Sam Muchalla (F 5'08" 150 8/14/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 40 G 23 A 30 Pts 53 44 PIMs)
30 Andrew Walsh (G 6'02" 185 12/15/90 Dawson Creek, BC, CAN) (GP 27 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 16 PIMs)
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