With a poise and delivery that could easily be considered that of seasoned broadcaster, Dustin Scafe came in from Fort St. John to put on the headset and provide the play-by-play of both games in this past weekend's double header. Scafe is working in Fort St. John at Moose FM and like so many other young broadcaster was very excited when given the opportunity to call the games from the Spruce Kings press box. Working with Todd Doherty, Scafe was well prepared and possessed accurate and indepth knowledge of players on both sides of the puck. After the games he provided his take for the blog, here is his post for Sunday's 3-0 Spruce Kings shutout victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
For the second time in as many nights, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks were victims of the Prince George Spruce Kings quick and vicious attack. During Saturday’s meeting between the two teams, the Spruce Kings scored goals inside of the 5 minute mark to take a 2 goal lead over the ‘Backs, and Sunday afternoon was no different as Myles Fitzgerald put the Spruce Kings up 2 goals at 3:13 of the second period with a beauty power play goal that beat Salmon Arm net minder Adam Clark with a cross crease pass. Tyson Witala sealed the deal with 16:35 remaining in the third period, with the assists going to Stefan Bazar and Ben Woodley; who had two A’s in the victory. Bazar also continued his hot play since coming over from Canmore, racking up his 10th point in just 5 games.
Opening the scoring in the first period on the power play, Ben Matthews had a goal and an assist in his better game of the home-at-home series. The goal came midway through the opening frame after Brett Knowles took an undisciplined slashing penalty. In fact, undisciplined is a good word to define the play of the Silverbacks in this game, as late in the game Ben Woodley would be forced to drop the mitts with a frustrated Knowles. Jeff Kennedy also got in to the party after Jeff Earnest and he collided in front of the net, Kennedy then proceeded to antagonize Earnest before picking up the lone penalty in the mix of things, a cross checking call. During that same stoppage, Salmon Arm coach Colin O’Hara seemed to be having some unpleasant words with the officials, resulting in his ejection from the contest.
Overall, it was a fans game. The pace was very quick, the emotions were running high, the goaltenders were hot and best of all, the home team finished with a shutout - thanks in no small part to Kirk Thompson. The 19 year old made 31 saves for his first career BCHL shutout, something I am shocked to be saying. This goaltender has the potential to lead the Kings deep in the Fred Page Cup playoffs this season. In a losing effort, Adam Clark made 38 saves in his best performance of his fresh BCHL career, Clark made several big stops and did everything in his power to keep his team in it.
As far as players who made an impression go, Connor Fynn, an AP call up from the Sicamous Eagles, came in to the Silverbacks lineup for the first time on Saturday and played one or two shifts the entire evening, but Sunday afternoon would prove to be his big chance. Fynn played each of his shifts at 200% and it resulted in his team gaining momentum from his play. He forced Thompson out of his net and he proved that even with a small body, he is capable of ripping a big league shot. The Spruce King that impressed me the most, other than the obvious Kirk Thompson, would easily be Chase Golightly. Here’s a 19 year old sophomore in the league, leading his time on the back end. The Kings have so much depth at the point, that Chase could be playing 3rd unit and still be considered a top 2 d-man on several BCHL squads. He moves the puck with such ease and has the speed to go end to end, which he did several times on Sunday afternoon.
I would like to extend a thank you to the Prince George Spruce Kings for this opportunity to step in as the play by play broadcaster for the weekend. I have never had so much fun calling a game, and I owe it to the organization for making it all happen. I hope to do it again in the near future, and I look forward to continuing chats with everyone I talked with at the Castle over the weekend. I also want to send out a personal thanks to Ron Gallo, Matt Anthony and Todd Doherty for going out of their ways to accommodate me. These things never go unnoticed and they are greatly appreciated. Also thanks to Scott Campbell, the voice of the Silverbacks, as we had some nice discussions and I feel he helped me to better my broadcast.
My name is Dustin Scafe and I hope to see you at the rink again soon!
As I mention, this young man did a very good job providing the play-by-play and recaps of both games. Thank you Dustin from everyone with the Spruce Kings. We all hope there another opportunity to get your voice on our broadcast.
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