Jaxon Steele and Andrew Seaman’s goals were not quite enough as the Spruce Kings dropped a 4-2 decision to the Cowichan Valley Capitals in front of over 1100 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
In the opening frame, it was very fast paced. However, there was not a whole of Grade A chances in the opening minutes. It took until 10:37 for the line of Matthew Crasa, Brady Lynn, and Luc Wilson to connect. It was Lynn putting it past Alexander giving the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Crasa and Wilson were credited with the assists. The Capitals took a 1-0 lead to the dressing room after twenty minutes.
In the second period, it was all Prince George in the opening ten minutes. The Spruce Kings held the Capitals to 0 shots in the first ten. Jaxon Steele scored his first goal as a Spruce King dragging the puck and firing it top corner on goaltender Ben Howard to knot the game up at one.
Just over two minutes later, Andrew Seaman made a heck of a play splitting the defenceman and going post and in to give the Spruce Kings a 2-1 lead. The Seaman marker was unassisted and came at 8:51 of the second. After the media timeout, the Capitals began to get take over some control.
Defenceman Dmitri Mikrogiannakis threw the puck from his own blue line off the glass to spring Brady Lynn on a breakaway and Lynn made no mistake on Alexander tying the game. It was then at 18:13 when Zach Brooks found some loose change in the blue paint and whacked it past Alexander to regain the Capitals one goal lead. Despite Prince George outshooting Cowichan 14-6, they still remained down a goal after two.
In the third frame, it was quite wild. Capitals forward Tanner Sidaway had a huge hit on Cole Leal behind the PG net leading to Evan Orr stepping in and eventually dropping the flippers with a tough customer in Sidaway. Orr and Sidaway both landed some decent shots and it got the RMCA stomping their feet. A few minutes later, Nick Poisson took a hooking penalty that sent Cowichan to their first power-play of the night, and they made most of that opportunity. Luc Wilson fired home a one timer off a back-door pass from Lynn with 5:24 to go to pretty much seal it for the Capitals. A scary moment ensued with the extra attacker on the ice for the Spruce Kings in the final minute. Mason Waite hammered a one timer from the blue line that was blocked by Dan McIntyre. McIntyre blocked the shot with his neck and he was laying on the ice for a lengthy amount of time before being stretchered off. Thankfully, McIntyre has been released from hospital and is on the Capitals bus to continue the team’s road trip. At the end of it all, it was the Capitals defeating the Spruce Kings 4-2, handing PG their 5th straight loss.
Next up for the Spruce Kings are the West Kelowna Warriors Saturday night. It is another College night, as tickets are just 8 dollars for College students. Tickets will be available in the Spruce Kings office opening at 12:00 PM. You can also get your tickets online on the Spruce Kings website.
If you cannot make it, you can catch all the action on Hockey TV or Mixlr. Pre-Game will be at 6:45 with play by play at 7:00.
3 STARS
- Brady Lynn ( 2 G 1 A) (CV)
- Jaxon Steele ( 1 G ) (PG)
- Dmitri Mikrogiannakis (1 A) (CV)
FORTIS ENERGY PLAYER OF THE GAME : Andrew Seaman (1 G) (PG)