In order to be an elite hockey team, sometimes you have to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
This old adage rang true for the Prince Spruce Kings on Friday night skating away with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the Cranbrook Bucks in front of 1,000 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Kolton Cousins came through in another clutch moment blasting a one-time feed from Nick Marciano, past Bucks netminder Nathan Airey with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
The 20-year-old also began the scoring for the Spruce Kings on the game’s opening shift, accepting a pass from John Herrington, firing a wrist shot past the glove hand of Airey for an early 1-0 edge.
A Liam Hansson slashing call three minutes later put the BCHL’s top power-play to work and eventually made the Bucks pay.
A seeing-eye wrist shot from Dylan Schives was re-directed by Rowan Miller to extend the PG advantage to 2-0.
Cranbrook, however, refused to lay down and die and ultimately turned the tables.
Tyson Dyck deflected a Johnny Johnson blast on a delayed penalty past Spruce Kings netminder Aaron Trotter, making it 2-1.
Trotter’s night would prematurely end courtesy of Kellan Hjartarson who squeaked a soft shot through the arm and put the Bucks back on even terms at the end of the first period.
Cranbrook took it to the Spruce Kings in the early part of the second but some point blank saves from Jordan Fairlie kept the score deadlocked.
Following a blow to the head minor by Linden Makow, the Bucks took the lead on the man advantage as Dyck potted his second of the contest.
However, the trio of Austin Fraser, Killian McGregor-Bennett and Ty Gagno provided some key secondary scoring.
McGregor Bennett bounced home a sharp-angle shot past Airey, sending the crowd back into a frenzy.
PG (13-7-0-0) picked up their third straight win and went 2-for-6 on the power-play while Cranbrook (10-10-1-0) scored once on four attempts.
The Spruce Kings outshot the Bucks 28-23.
Both teams play the third and final game of the mini-series tonight (Saturday) at 7pm from the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.