After finding their sea legs in the Lower Mainland, a trip to Nanaimo was nothing but a breeze for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The BCHL’s most northern franchise conquered game one of their three-game Vancouver Island excursion, skating to a 5-1 win over the Nanaimo Clippers on Wednesday in front of 945 fans at Frank Crane Arena.
PG was backstopped by the solid goaltending of local product and Cariboo Cougar grad Ryder Green who made 29 saves and was named first star.
The only blemish was a Samuel Boisvert goal at 3:58 of the first period giving the host Clippers there only lead of the hockey game.
Nine minutes later, Jackson Froysland evened the score for the Spruce Kings collecting a Ryan Wachtel pass beating Nanaimo netminder Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau.
Michael Denney recorded the game-winner in the second period capping off a pass from fellow Ontario-born linemate Marcus Lougheed.
After a game-saving glove save by Green on Charles Beland, early in the third, PG found its killer instinct, tallying three straight goals.
Slovenian blueliner Ozbej Rep tallied his second of the campaign from Mathis Laplante and Spencer Masters extending the advantage to 3-1.
Quesnel’s Carter Hesselgrave and Mason Loewen of Chetwynd – two more Cariboo Cougars alumni found the back of the net in the final frame past Seguin-Lescarbeau turning the close game into a route.
Shots on goal were 30 apiece for both sides. Nanaimo went 0-for-3 on the power play while PG failed to score on its lone opportunity.
It’s the third straight win for the Spruce Kings who improve to 10-8-0-0 on the season, six points back of the Coquitlam Express (13-3-0-0) for top spot in the Coastal East Division.
The Express have two games in hand.
It’s been a renaissance year for Green who struggled in his rookie campaign.
The 18-year-old is 6-2-0-0 on the season with 2.33 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.
In 19 games in 2024-25, Green went 4-10 with a 3.97 GAA and .873 save percentage.
Green is making his case to steal the starter’s job away from 20-year-old Colin Reay, who has struggled since coming off a season-ending surgery.
Reay, who was acquired from the Vernon Vipers is 4-5-0-0 this year with a 3.58 goals against average. His save percentage is .887.
Prince George continues its road swing with a pair of games in Duncan Friday and Saturday against the Cowichan Valley Capitals (14-5-1-0).
Puck drop is 7pm both nights.
League scoring leader Kazumo Sasaki and Tai Ushio are playing for Team Japan in the IIHF Asia Championship that starts tomorrow (Thursday) in Beijing, China.
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