Junior hockey can be cruel sometimes.
One minute you’re on top of the world, only to see your championship aspirations disappear in the blink of an eye.
A promising season ended with a resounding thud for the Prince George Spruce Kings on Wednesday falling 6-2 to the Nanaimo Clippers in front of 1,679 fans at the Frank Crane Arena.
Nanaimo swept the best-of-seven series 4-0 and will move on to the league final and await the winner of the Interior Final between the Cranbrook Bucks and Brooks Bandits.
Champions of the Coastal Conference 🏆
📸 Island Images pic.twitter.com/37zF2oLu7X
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) May 7, 2026
The fans were treated some first period fireworks seeing three goals in a span of 5:10.
Charles Beland opened the scoring for the Clippers a mere 3:12 into the contest, taking advantage of a Isaac Holt checking from behind minor, which also led to a 10-minute miscondut.
Prince George clawed back a mere 25 seconds later courtesy of Tai Ushio as he blasted his third of the postseason past Nanaimo netminder Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau.
The play began off the stick of Ryan Wachtel who found Trent LeDrew who did the rest of the yeomans work to find the fellow 20-year-old out of Japan.
WELL THAT DIDN’T TAKE TOO LONG ⏰
Tai Ushio with a snipe evens up game 4 just 26 seconds after the Clippers opened the scoring
🎙️ @KCAndo23 #BCHL | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/mWMd6ubKgy
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) May 7, 2026
However, Beland continued his stellar play for the home side as he notched his second of the period off a Miller Kay feed giving the Clippers a 2-1 edge after 20 minutes.
In the second, Patrick Fortune notched his first of two in the mid-week tilt slipping past a check and taking advantage of a Maxime Lapointe pass, beating Spruce Kings netminder Colin Reay.
THE CLIPPERS HAVE A HEADING 🧭
Patrick Fortune off a rebound gives the Clippers a 2 goal lead in game 4
🎙️ @danmarshall77 #BCHL | @ClippersHockey pic.twitter.com/XbIuFAkpoj
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) May 7, 2026
Lucas Busch brought the Spruce Kings within one at 9:56 of the middle frame capping off a River Arnason pass that landed on the American’s tape, trimming the deficit to 3-2 at the end of two periods.
Sadly, the wheels came off for Prince George in the third allowing three unanswered goals, ending its 18-game post season marathon.
Former Vancouver Giant Will Subject made it a 4-2 spread at 7:19 of the final frame as he was the recipient of a Fortune pass.
THE CAPTAIN GETS ON THE BOARD 🫡
Will Subject pads the Clippers lead in game 4 with a snipe top shelf
🎙️ @danmarshall77 #BCHL | @ClippersHockey pic.twitter.com/UTu2vjsXqz
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) May 7, 2026
Speaking of Fortune, he connected on his fifth of the post-season and second of the contest courtesy of Kay who tallied his second assist of the evening.
Sebastien Miles added an empty-netter for Nanaimo to add insult to injury.
The Clippers outshot PG 44-33 and scored on their lone power-play of the evening while the Spruce Kings went 0-for-5.
In a do-or-die scenario, the Spruce Kings were without forwards Marcus Lougheed and Cooper Faughnan. Defenceman Nick Bianchi missed his 11th straight game following a knee injury in the first round against the Langley Rivermen.
The bitter defeat also marks the end of the Junior A career for Lougheed, Ushio, LeDrew, Carter Hesselgrave, Reay, Holt, Busch, Ozbej Rep and Evan Bellamy.
Rep exits his one-year BCHL tenure with a Defenceman of the Year Award in toe after tallying 52 points in the regular season.
Ushio led the Spruce Kings in scoring with 66 points (31 goals, 35 assists) while Lougheed tallied 60 points acting as the primary set up guy on the top line.
Ushio is committed to Alaska-Fairbanks next season while Lougheed is attending the University of Guelph.
Hesselgrave, who is from Quesnel, recorded a career-high 43 points in 53 games. The 20-year-old will attend Lakehead University in Ontario.
Also heading east and enjoying a home coming next year will be LeDrew who is suiting up for the Windsor Lancers.
Reay is staying in Western Canada and attend Edmonton-based MacEwan University.
Holt is bound for the University of Toronto while Wachtel, Gabriel Simpson and Faughnan all have secured NCAA scholarships that are slated to take effect in 2026-27.
For the Clippers, Beland is leading the playoffs in goals with 13 after lighting the lamp five times in four games against the Spruce Kings. Nanaimo has three of the top six postseason scorers, which also includes Jack Rimmer and Tanner Bruender.
Seguin-Lescarbeau has been equally as clutch for the Vancouver Island bunch going 12-3-0-1 with a 2.33 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.
Game 5 of the Interior final between the Bandits and the Bucks is slated for Friday at 7pm Mountain Time (6pm Pacific) in Cranbrook. Brooks leads the series 3-1.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
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