If there was any fear in Brad Cooper’s eyes it sure didn’t show.
The 18-year old rookie goaltender put in a sterling 36 save performance in his first start for the Prince George Spruce Kings in what was a gruelling 4-1 win over the Surrey Eagles on Saturday from the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA).
3️⃣ STARS
⭐️ = @lwb_26, ??
⭐️⭐️ = @digger_194, ?
⭐️⭐️⭐️ = @bradleycooper01 ?@FortisBC ? = @BenPoisson12 pic.twitter.com/5ImLTWoiIH— Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) September 17, 2017
Cooper put the Spruce Kings on his back at a key point in the second period after 20-year old defenceman Chays Ruddy was escorted out of the game after receiving a five minute major penalty for kneeing Eagles forward Desi Burgart.
Surrey enjoyed over six minutes of power-play time, which included a lengthy 5-on-3 but Cooper and the Spruce Kings stood tall and swung the momentum the rest of the way.
Not bad for your first ‘Welcome to Prince George’ moment. “I turned it on and started going there and I elevated my game, focused as hard as I could and we killed it so that is all I could ask for,” said Cooper.
He is no stranger to the Junior A level after suiting up in 4 games last season for the Langley Rivermen recording a 5.50 goals against average.
Cooper also played in 32 games for the Burnaby Winter Club over the past two seasons recording a .925 and .930 save percentage respectively.
It is a perfect situation for the 18-year old, not only does he get to learn from starter Evan DeBrouwer, he also gets to pick up some pointers from former BCHL goalie and assistant coach Alex Evin.
Head coach Adam Maglio thinks its an enviable position. “It’s super important. Evan (DeBrower) has been great and he’s a mentor for him and shows him how the league works, how to manage games and then having Alex, I mean you just see improvements with him everyday. I didn’t think goalies could improve that much but holy they have come a long way since we started camp and that has been a shining star for us.”
The Spruce Kings started the game fast thanks to another goal from Patrick Cozzi in the opening frame putting it past Surrey netminder Daniel Davidson.
Johnny Wesley evened the score for the Eagles after 20 minutes.
Prince George reclaimed the lead late in the second thanks to Liam Watson-Braun followed by two more goals in the third from Kyle Johnson and Jarod Hovde, chasing Eagles netminder Daniel Davidson.
WE WIN AGAIN!!! @19kylejohnson and @18Hovde pot two more to pace @SpruceKings to a 4-1 win over @SurreyEagles. pic.twitter.com/87osEIiNM0
— Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) September 17, 2017
Even though the Spruce Kings are now 3-0-1 on the season, Maglio adds the team still needs to better in certain areas before heading to next week’s BCHL Showcase in Chilliwack. “It’s weird how our penalty kill gave us momentum in that game because nothing else was. Overall, we have to be a lot better 5-on-5, we’ve got to be better on the power-play so we have a lot of work going forward but we were happy at the end of the day with the two points.”
The Spruce Kings went 0 for 4 on the man advantage while Surrey was just 1 for 7.
The Eagles outshot Prince George 37-29.
Both teams will play each other again in the northern capital on October 6 and 7 from the RMCA at 7pm.