The kick off to round two of the BCHL’s Fred Page Cup playoffs looked more like a slaughter than a series.
A 51-shot performance by the Prince George Spruce Kings led them to a 9-1 whitewash over the Surrey Eagles Friday night in front of 1,532 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Liam Watson Brawn led the way offensively in the opening period with a pair of goals past Eagles goaltender Mario Cavaliere for a 2-0 lead.
Jackson Ross potted the lone Surrey goal following a timeout, ripping a point shot past the glove of Evan DeBrouwer cutting the deficit to a single goal at the end of 20 minutes.
After Kyle Johnson lit the lamp a pair of times in the middle frame, the Spruce Kings continued to swarm the Eagles and showed no mercy in the third finding the back of the net five more times and chasing Cavaliere after allowing six goals on 39 shots.
American-born forward Patrick Cozzi had a goal and two assists in the victory and says starting fast was key after coming out of the gate slow a number of times in round one against the Chilliwack Chiefs.
“They play a little bit different than the Chiefs, they are really a more offensive team and if we play defence the offense will come, and we played really good defensively.”
The Eagles came in to the second round limping due to some key injuries on the blueline as they were without Perry Winfree, Cory Babichuk and Ty Schultz who has yet to play a game all season.
Furthermore, the Spruce Kings also shut down the explosive Surrey trio of Johnny Wesley, Ty Westgard and Desi Burgart limiting them to a pair of assists.
“We definitely want to keep playing in our o-zone, just grind them down and make them tired so when the third period rolls around we’re still fresh,” added Cozzi.
Prince George continued to get some contributions from some unlikely sources as Jay Keranen collected his third goal of playoffs, while the fourth line of Sam Anzai, Brady Bjork and Spencer Chapman took advantage of their extra ice time with a pair of late goals, both by Anzai.
“It feels good, my line mates helped me out a lot and we have developed some chemistry and it feels really good to pitch in but we have to be ready again tomorrow and play another big game,” says Anzai.
Evan DeBrouwer made 14 saves on 15 shots in the win while Daniel Davidson saved nine pucks on 12 shots in relief for Surrey.
The Spruce Kings lead the best-of-seven series 1-0 with game two set for Saturday at 7 PM from the RMCA.
Tonight’s @CapriCMW 3-Stars
3rd – Kyle Johnson (2 G)
2nd – Patrick Cozzi (1 G, 2 A)
1st – Liam Watson-Brawn (2 G, 2 A)Fortis BC Energy: Jay Keranen (1 G, 1 A) pic.twitter.com/F1fyrD81Ya
— Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) March 17, 2018