The Spruce Kings will look to get back into the win column as they host the Westside Warriors tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Prince George enters tonight's contest having dropped their last three games, all to division rivals. All three have been decided by just a goal, but you can bet that that isn't a good consolation prize for the Spruce Kings players and coaches. Tonight will feature the first time the Westside Warriors have been in Prince George since the pre season. It's a big 4 points for both teams, so let's preview the match up to see who has the upper hand on paper:
The Breakdown:
The Westide Warriors came out of the gates flying to start the season, winning their first five games. But November was a much more cruel beast to the Warriors of Westside. They only managed to win one game in November, while losing eight. December hasn't started out any better for the Warriors, as they dropped a 7-2 decision to the Penticton Vees last night. There is a big upside for the Warriors though, as they have a few high flying players returning to the line up for them in Max French and Brennan Clark. Plus with the addition of former Vernon Viper Marcus Barasa, the Warriors are poised to return to the win column, and should not be looked at as a team that comes in having lost nine of their past ten. As we know all to well, momentum is everything in hockey, and if the Spruce Kings let Westisde run out of here with 4 points, it could wake up a very dangerous beast.
As mentioned, the Spruce Kings have lost three in a row heading into tonight. The losing streak did come off the back end of a four game winning streak, but in the competitive Interior Conference and with the new playoff format, losing three games to division rivals just can't happen. The Spruce Kings would love to be able to help put the Warriors deeper in the standings this weekend. The two teams are separated by 6 points, meaning if Westside can come away with 2 wins this weekend, it will go a long way in helping them vault back into the 4th playoff spot. But, on the other side of things, If Prince George can take down the Warriors on both Saturday and Sunday, it would go a long way in helping push Westside even further beneath them.
This Season:
These two teams have met just once this year in the regular season, a 6-2 win for Westside at home. They still have 6 meetings this season to decide who is the better of the two, with three of them happening in December. It should be noted that they did also meet in pre season action back in September, Westside won that contest as well, 3-1.
New Faces:
The Spruce Kings have added a few new faces to their roster this week. Former AJHL goaltender Ty Swabb was picked up by the team via trade that saw Stefan Bazar head to the St. Albert Steel. Also coming to the Spruce Kings organization, the hulking forward Michael Betz. Betz is a 6'2 forward who has spent time in the BCHL with the Trail Smoke Eaters and the Penticton Vees. Unfortunately while adding players, Prince George had to let a few move on to make some room for the new guys. As it has been stated, the organization and it's fans would like to thank Spencer and Scott Mchaffie, Stefan Bazar and Marcus Beesley who all were reassigned or traded this past week.
Game Time:
The puck will drop on tonight's contest at 7pm at the Castle. Then tomorrow, these two teams will go at it again, this time with an afternoon start of 3pm. Both games will be broadcast on the live web cast here. You can also listen to the FREE audio broadcast of the games here
Go Spruce Kings
No comments:
Post a Comment