The Prince George Spruce Kings suffered from a bad case of the Thursdays against the Penticton Vees falling 4-1 at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Despite a shorthanded goal by Ben Poisson early in the second period, Prince George was unable to have an answer for 17-year-old defenceman Johnny Tychonick who put up a goal and three assists.
After Jordan Henderson tied up the game at one, Penticton held the lead for good late in the second after Chris Klack chipped home a greasy to give the Vees a 2-1 after 40 minutes.
“I thought once they got their first one we were ok, not great, but it’s that last fifteen seconds where the goal against is a killer,” says Adam Maglio, Spruce Kings Head Coach
“Our record isn’t great when we give up a goal in the last two minutes of a period and we fell asleep for about 20 seconds and was a big momentum shifter for us.”
Penticton continued their mastery over the Spruce Kings in the third despite missing several regulars from the lineup due to injury, something that didn’t sit well with Maglio after the game.
“The lineup they had tonight is one they have played with for a while, they play well together and they were the team that was willing to keep it simple and didn’t have many turnovers. I thought when we pressured them good things happened for us in the first and we completely got away from our game plan in the third and they capitalized.”
Cassidy Bowes and Tychonick added singles for Penticton in the third.
The Spruce Kings drop to 21-14-4-4 on the season and are back in action on Friday against the Vernon Vipers at 7 p.m.
The Vees went 1 for 4 on the power-play while the Spruce Kings were o for 2.
Evan DeBrouwer made 32 saves in defeat for Prince George.
-Spruce Kings
