It’s becoming an all too familiar feeling for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Another trip to the Fraser Valley turned out to be a bust as the Chilliwack Chiefs tallied five unanswered goals enroute to a 6-2 victory Friday night to begin the BCHL regular season.
The Spruce Kings found themselves ahead after the first 20 minutes taking a 2-1 lead after some quick strike offense from Marcus Lougheed and Michael Denney lighting the lamp three seconds apart.
Darik Olson provided the turning point of the game for the host Chiefs scoring shorthanded 8:13 into the second period.
Six minutes later, Ryan Small put Chilliwack ahead for good capitalizing on a scoring play from Olson and Nico Grabas beating PG netminder Colin Reay.
The offensive tsunami reached another gear in the third period as Jack Plandowski, Ty Campbell and Milan Mrsic delivered the knockout blows 1:19 apart.
Friday’s lid lifter proved once again both teams have no love lost between one another.
Spruce Kings captain Isaac Holt and Chilliwack forward Dustin Renas received fighting majors and game misconducts with 3:47 remaining.
Grabas (Chilliwack) and Carter Hesselgrave (PG) were given misconducts in the same sequence.
Olivier Beaulieu opened the scoring for Chilliwack at 4:49 of the first period.
The Chiefs outshot PG 29-24 while going 1-for-2 on the power-play. The Spruce Kings failed to score in their two opportunities.
Reay made 23 saves in defeat. Ben Laurette picked up the win in goal for Chilliwack stopping 21 PG pucks.
Since winning 3-2 over the Chiefs on September 21st, 2024, Prince George has lost eight consecutive games at the Chilliwack Coliseum including all four trips during its hard-fought first round playoff exit in the spring.
PG (0-1) is off until next Friday (September 26th) when they play the Surrey Eagles (0-1) in their home opener at 7pm from the Kopar Memorial Arena.
Surrey was whitewashed in its lid lifter tonight (Friday) against the Cowichan Valley Capitals dropping an 8-0 decision.
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