Ethan de Jong seems to have a thing for big moments.
The 18-year-old sophomore forward scored two clutch goals for the Prince George Spruce Kings on Sunday leading them to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Surrey Eagles in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,112 at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
“Honestly, that’s huge especially coming back from a 3-1 deficit, it is just the character in this room and what it takes and everybody did there job today – every single guy, so that’s huge.”
De Jong, the Spruce Kings leading scorer, kicked things off with the opening goal of the game flipping it top corner past Eagles goaltender Mario Cavaliere to make it 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.
.@SpruceKings score first thanks to a steal from Ethan De Jong & erupts the RMCA crowd; it’s 1-0 against the @SurreyEagles in Game 7 | #CityOfPG #Sports pic.twitter.com/5I4Yu6gLor
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 26, 2018
Prince George continued to pepper the Eagles who seem to be hanging on for dear life every time they were defending but Cavaliere kept them in the contest turning aside all 15 Spruce Kings shots to keep it a one goal game after 40 minutes.
After a tight checking start to the third, de Jong finally got the insurance marker at 17:13 sliding home a Kyle Johnson feed to put the game and the series out of reach.
Ben Brar and Nolan Welsh added two more late to seal the deal and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
“We knew if we stuck with it we would get a few at the end there and it was great character by the guys,” added de Jong.
The series clinching win tastes that much sweeter after Prince George was seemingly down and out after trailing 3-1 in the playoff matchup, dropping a 4-0 decision to Surrey earlier in the week.
“I think we knew we could come back as we were getting tons of chances and we just had to bury them. We were getting tons of opportunities but couldn’t finish but we eventually did and I’m proud of our group.
Prince George outshot Surrey 38-14 overall in the game.
The Spruce Kings outshot the Eagles 174-67 in the four games played in PG.
Liam Watson-Brawn served game one of his four-game ban following an interference major on Eagles Desi Burgart who did not dress for game seven.
Watson-Brawn will miss the first three games of the next series before being eligible to come back in game four.
The Spruce Kings advance to the third round and will face the Powell River Kings starting next Friday and Saturday at the RMCA.
The Spruce Kings and Powell River tied 3-3 on October 20th and PG won on home ice 4-2 on January 21st.
“In the season series I think we have a win and a tie against them but with the series probably being a two-three-two format, we’ve got to win these two games at homes, that’s where it counts so these first two games really matter to us.”
Puck drop is slated for 7 PM both nights.
The Interior Division Final will finally be decided on Monday as the Wenatchee Wild will await the winner of game seven between the Penticton Vees and Trail Smoke Eaters.
.@SpruceKings’ Ethan De Jong notched 3 points (2G, 1A) in Game 7 win over @SurreyEagles; overwhelmed by sold-out crowd & surprised to hear the team has never made it this far in #BCHL Playoffs | #CityOfPG #Sports pic.twitter.com/vSbvKftAc3
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 26, 2018