It’s not often a 17-year-old defenceman leads his team to victory, but when it does happen it can be pretty special.
Johnny Tychonick’s four point performance gave the Penticton Vees a methodical 4-1 victory on Thursday over the Prince George Spruce Kings from the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Tonight's @CapriCMW 3-Star Selection:
Fortis BC Energy Player – Dylan Anhorn (@digger_194)
3rd Star – Evan DeBrouwer
2nd Star – Penticton's Jackson Keane
1st Star – Penticton's Jonny TychonickMore great BCHL action in Prince George Friday against the Vernon Vipers
— Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) January 19, 2018
After a scoreless first period, the Spruce Kings broke the ice in the middle frame thanks to a shorthanded goal by Ben Poisson who angled past James Miller giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.
The lead would be short-lived however, as Jordan Henderson rifled home a point shot past the glove-hand of Evan DeBrouwer tying the game at 1-1.
Prince George then fell behind late in the period when Chris Klack converted on a goal mouth scramble providing the Vees with a 2-1 edge, something that didn’t sit well with Spruce Kings Head Coach Adam Maglio.
“I thought once they got their first one we were ok, not great, but it’s that last fifteen seconds where the goal against is a killer.”
“Our record isn’t great when we give up a goal in the last two minutes of a period and we fell asleep for about 20 seconds and was a big momentum shifter for us.”
Despite missing six guys from their lineup, the Vees kept it simple and used the fundamentals of the game to their advantage as they outshot the Spruce Kings 36-25 overall, a philosophy that didn’t surprise Maglio.
“The lineup they had tonight is one they have played with for a while, they play well together and they were the team that was willing to keep it simple and didn’t have many turnovers. I thought when we pressured them good things happened for us in the first and we completely got away from our game plan in the third and they capitalized.”
Cassidy Bowes and Tychonick added singles for Penticton in the third.
The Spruce Kings drop to 21-14-4-4 on the season and are back in action on Friday against the Vernon Vipers at 7 PM.
Local product and former Cariboo Cougar Chris Jandric plays for the Vipers.