Carter Woodside looked like a one-man band for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
On Wednesday, the 18-year-old from Asquith, Saskatchewan stood on his head in a 3-2 shootout loss against the Wenatchee Wild in front of 850 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Woodside turned away 38 Wild shots, 10 of which were in overtime.
However, Brett Chorske and Sam Morton found a chink in the armour dring the shootout to secure the road win.
After the game, Woodside spoke with MyPGNow.com on what looked to be a shooting gallery as the Wild had an opportunity to win the game on a 4-on-3 power-play.
“Oh, it wasn’t terrible, like I said a lot of the chances came from the outside with some scrums in front but it was a lot nicer I guess you could say.”
Carter Woodside of @SpruceKings chats with @mypgnow after 3-2 shootout loss to @WenatcheeWild1 in @GoBCHL action #CityofPG #sports pic.twitter.com/Vl3Ms2wvwC
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) February 6, 2020
It was a character effort from the Spruce Kings who had to dig down deep to secure a point after trailing for most of the game.
Tyler Young found the back of the net for the Wild at 3:33 of the second period to give Wenatchee a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes.
The Wild continued to suffocate PG holding them to just 12 shots heading into the third period and even got the insurance marker from former Moose Jaw Warrior Luke Ormsby making it a 2-0 advantage.
Nick Poisson changed the fortunes of the Spruce Kings as he slapped home a one-time shot on the power-play past Wild goalie Daniel Chernard.
Prince George continued it’s late surge courtesy of Corey Cunningham who re-directed a Nick Bochen point shot to even the score at 2-2 after regulation.
Despite being outshot 40-16 overall, Woodside states the team showed a lot of grit and determination to stay in the game.
“Our team doesn’t give up. Everybody works hard, we followed the team structure and good things happen when you do that.”
“We need to start building for the playoffs and we start playing with that grit and simplify the game as the playoffs are more tight-checking with less opportunities to score and I think everybody did that tonight with guys blocking shots.”
On the other hand, Cunningham was equally complimentary of the team’s stellar penalty killing going a perfect 6-for-6.
“Our penalty kill was outstanding tonight, props to them as our team wasn’t very disciplined.”
“Wow, was our penalty kill good.”
.@SpruceKings forward Corey Cunningham scores goal in 3-2 shootout loss to @WenatcheeWild1 in @GoBCHL action on Wednesday, chats with @mypgnow post game #CityofPG #sports pic.twitter.com/HMuR4WCrYC
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) February 6, 2020
Cunningham was also quick to give kudos to Woodside who was the game’s first star.
“He’s been unbelievable, I love that guy. He’s my stallmate and we are best best buds, it’s exciting to see that guy play everyday.”
Over the Spruce Kings past three games, Woodside has either been the first or second star of the game.
Prince George drops to 17-28-2-4 on the season, but have clinched a playoff spot.
They also remain six points back of Langley for fourth place in the Mainland Division.
Wenatchee improves to 25-22-3-1, good enough for fifth spot in the ultra-tough Interior Division.
The Spruce Kings are back in action on Friday when they play host to the Merritt Centennials (10-37-1-3) at 7:00pm from the RMCA.