Filling the net with pucks on home ice is becoming easy for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
For the fifth time this season at the Kopar Memorial Arena, the BCHL’s most northern franchise lit the lamp at least seven times, pacing their way to a convincing 7-3 victory over the Victoria Grizzlies in front of 1,291 fans.
On the Drop the Gloves and Sock It To Em night in support of St. Vincent De Paul, PG wasted little time seeing their home ice surface get littered with warm winter clothing.
Tai Ushio lit the lamp at 7:05 of the first period batting home an airborne puck past Victoria netminder Spencer Michnik.
Just over a minute later, the Spruce Kings put their second-rated power-play on the ice and it paid immediate dividends.
Jackson Froysland snapped a shot under the bar past the glove of Michnik making it a 2-0 edge.
Victoria picked themselves off the mat and got back into the game, trimming the deficit in half as a Landen Ward deflection fooled everyone in the building including Spruce Kings netminder Ryder Green where an airborne puck took a funny hop and behind him.
Levi Eiter evened the score for the Grizzlies on a four-on-four sequence, taking advantage of a misplay at the Victoria blueline by the Spruce Kings, springing the 19-year-old American forward on a breakaway.
In a game that seemed to be trending back to the visitors favour, the Spruce Kings top line of Ushio, Ben Vreugdenhil and Dominic Szczygiel re-ignited the spark for the hosts.
A chip pass on a 3-on-2 by Ushio found Vreugdenhil, who made no mistake finding his other teammate who went backhand over the glove of Michnik.
The turning point in the game came at the intermission where Grizzlies forward Landen Ward received a five-minute major for slashing while PG’s Evan Bellamy received a minor.
In the three minutes of remaining power-play time, the Spruce Kings opened the floodgates as Ryan Wachtel snapped a shot past Michnik – reinserting the two-goal edge.
A minute later, Froysland tallied his second taking advantage of a Spencer Masters screen giving the hosts their third power-play goal of the contest.
Masters added one of his own at the 5:54 mark to extend the edge to 6-2.
Wachtel then chalked up the exclamation point for good measure as his second displaced the water bottle behind the Victoria netminder.
Landon Mackie added a single late for Victoria, tipping home a pass from Reece Gault.
Vreudegnhill ended the contest with a team-high three assists. Prince George went 3-for-7 on the power-play while Victoria was 0-for-5.
Green picked up the win in net tallying 25 saves.
Prince George improves to 14-9-1-0, tied for first with the Coquitlam Express for top spot in the Coastal East Division.
Both teams play each other in the first of seven meetings Friday night in Coquitlam. The Spruce Kings then play Langley on Saturday evening.
Green made 24 saves in the win.
PG has scored the second-most goals in the BCHL trailing only the Blackfalds Bulldogs.
Victoria drops to 13-12-0-0, fourth place in the ultra-tough Island Division.
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