The Prince George Spruce Kings continued their domination over the last place Express, winning for the seventh time in as many games against Coquitlam.
They were led by a three-point performance by Ethan de Jong whose goal and two assist outing paced the Spruce Kings to a 5-1 win at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
After the 18-year-old forward evened the score at the end of 20 minutes, Prince George found its legs in the final two frames scoring four goals in row from Jarod Hovde, Tyson Slater, Ben Poisson and Blake Hayward.
For Slater, it was his first goal of the BCHL season and as a Spruce King since being acquired from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs for Luc Salem.
The veteran blue liner is relieved to get the monkey off his back.
“It is nice to get that first one, but definitely happy just to get the win and the four points this week too, considering we are sick and pretty beat up the guys battled through it we found a way, which is good.”
The Spruce Kings find themselves ten points up on the Langley Rivermen for top spot in the Mainland Division after they leapfrogged the Surrey Eagles by a 7-6 score.
Prince George wraps up its regular season home schedule on Valentines Day against the Trail Smoke Eaters.
With the volume of games slowly winding down, the Spruce Kings are focusing on how to be successful in the post-season regardless of where they finish.
We are playing playoff hockey right now and we need to think of these games as playoff games and every game is a must win game,” says Hovde.
Poisson and Nolan Welsh left Saturday’s game against the Express due to injury while backup goalie Bradley Cooper was unavailable due to the flu.
Cariboo Cougars netminder Ryan Buchan served as the emergency backup.
Evan DeBrouwer made 25 saves in goal for Prince George.
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