A gritty effort lasting 60 minutes wasn’t quite enough for the Prince George Spruce Kings to knock off the Langley Rivermen on Friday.
In a first place showdown between Mainland Division rivals, the Spruce Kings fell 2-1 to kick off the second half of their BCHL season.
After a scoreless first two periods, Devin Leduc broke the deadlock for Langley on the power-play by blasting a one-timer past goaltender Evan DeBrouwer for a 1-0 lead,
Braedon Fleming made several ten bell saves for the Rivermen to deny the Spruce Kings any scoring punch, allowing his team to go up by a pair courtesy of a Trevor St. Jean empty-netter expanding the lead to 2-0.
Prince George didn’t go down without a fight however, as Ben Brar tucked home a Dustin Manz pass cutting the deficit in half.
Ben Poisson had a chance to even up the score with a one-timer but his stack shattered inside the Langley blueline and missed the net entirely.
Prince George outshot Langley 19-18 overall and now fall three points back of the Rivermen for top spot in the Mainland Division.
Both teams play again tomorrow night at 7pm from the RMCA.
The Spruce Kings honoured Ethan de Jong, Kyle Johnson along with Langley forward Angus Crookshank and Brendan Budy who all won gold at the World Junior A Challenge in Truro, Nova Scotia.
-Spruce Kings
