Game Day vs Surrey Eagles

Christian Weidauer (7) eludes a couple of checks
in a recent game against the Surrey Eagles

The Prince George Spruce Kings return to the Castle tonight for the first of two this weekend against the Surrey Eagles and a Mainland Divisional matchup. These two teams have met three times already this season – all of which were in Surrey – and have split the series evenly with a win, a loss and a tie.

The Spruce Kings current streak of picking up at least a point in nine consecutive games started in Surrey on October 19th with a 4-4 tie and since then has resulted in a record of 6-0-2-1. The Spruce Kings currently sit a point out of top spot in both the Mainland Division and the BCHL as a whole. This all comes despite being short-handed to the tune of six players during that time.

Jake LeBrun makes his return to the linuep tonight after missing out on the team’s previous 14 games due to a concussion suffered in a game on October 4th. Cole Todd makes his return after missing the previous 4 games after an injury he suffered in the last meeting with the Surrey Eagles. Sean Landrey is also back in the lineup tonight after missing three games as a result of an upper body injury on November 2nd in Langley.

Jesse Jenks also returns to the Spruce Kings for his first game since October 24th. Jenks was away making a name for himself while playing in every game for Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge and helping his team win a bronze medal in the International tournament. Mitch Barker (day-to-day) is still out of the lineup as is Bryant Christian who is out long term and not expected back until mid-December at the earliest.

Even with all of the injuries the Spruce Kings have been finding ways to win and pick up valuable points thanks in large part to the play of Chad Staley, Jeremiah Luedtke and Brent Lashuk. The three have been on fire as of late and have combined for a total of 42 points (17 goals and 25 assists) in the past nine games.

Staley picked up Player of the Week honours after posting 10 points (4G, 6A) in three games over the weekend. Luedtke has a ten game point streak himself with 5 goals and 12 assists in that stretch. To aid the top line, the Spruce Kings have been getting secondary scoring from their younger players and the defence continues to chip in as well.

Tonight’s game is the first of a double header against the Surrey Eagles with both teams hungry for the much needed points. The Eagles (9-14-1-0) would like the points to leap over the Coquitlam Express (9-9-0-2) and their 20 points as well as pull away from the Chilliwack Chiefs (5-14-1-2) who have been closing the gap on Surrey over the past little while.

Game time tonight is 7pm with the game broadcast live through the pay-per-view feed on Fasthockey.com and the free audio only through the Spruce Kings Mixlr Channel beginning with the pregame show at 6:40pm. The two teams will be back at it again tomorrow night in the Coliseum.