There is something about the Langley Rivermen that keeps bugging the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Perhaps it could be some of their skilled players in Brendan Budy or Angus Crookshank or the team’s rope-a-dope style of play.
Whatever it was on Friday turned out to be the difference maker as the Spruce Kings fell 4-1 to the Rivermen.
It only took three minutes for Langley to get on the board as former Spruce King Nicholas Ponak beat Evan DeBrouwer on the power-play giving the home side a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The second period didn’t start out much courtesy of Sean Gulka who buried home a feed from Budy doubling the lead to 2-0.
Later in the period, Ben Poisson provided the ice breaker for Prince George scoring on the man advantage, cutting the deficit in half at 2-1.
Unfortunately, the struggles for DeBrouwer continued when Crookshank joined the goal parade by finishing off a three-way passing play from Budy and Colin Bernard advancing the Langley lead to 3-1 at the end of two periods.
Crookshank then potted his second of the night – late in the third period to ice the victory.
The Spruce Kings outshot the Rivermen 29-20 overall but only went 1 for 9 on the power-play.
Prince George remains in a three-way tie for top spot in the Mainland Division with Langley and Surrey with 54 points each.
The Eagles fell 7-4 to the Trail Smoke Eaters on the road.
The Spruce Kings next game is on Saturday against the Coquitlam Express.
-Spruce Kings
