The only thing that stood in the way of a perfect weekend for the Prince George Spruce Kings was Kurtis Chapman.
The 20-year-old junior hockey journeyman goalie put up a larcenous 40-save performance on Friday at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA) as the Victoria Grizzlies edged out a 4-3 win in front 774 fans.
Prince George swarmed Chapman and the Grizzlies right out of the gate with several chances in the first minute of the contest where they eventually outshot the visitors 21-11.
Unfortunately, it was the Grizzlies who jumped out to a sizable 3-0 lead at the end of 20 minutes courtesy of New York Rangers prospect Riley Hughes, and the brother act of Alexander and Charlie Campbell.
“We knew he was a good goalie coming in (Chapman) and our game plan was to get as many shots on him as possible, get him tired and get traffic and it eventually sunk in,” said Ben Poisson, Spruce Kings Captain.
In the second, the Spruce Kings finally solved Chapman shorthanded as Poisson slapped home a Nolan Welsh pass to make it 3-1.
Prince George would go on to tie up the game before the intermission thanks to brother Nick (Poisson), who took advantage of a Chapman turnover in the far corner and cut the deficit to a single goal.
To put the cherry on the sundae, Nick Bochen joined the scoring party and ripped a point shot past the screened Victoria netminder, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
However, highly touted NHL Draft prospect Alex Newhook played the hero for the Grizzlies late in the third tucking home a Hughes pass over Spruce Kings netminder Logan Neaton.
Before the final buzzer, Chapman came up huge one more time robbing Dylan Anhorn in the final 30 seconds from a sharp angle.
“I think we outplayed them for a lot of the game and I think we just have to focus on scoring when we get the chance and I think we did our part to keep them away from the net they just ended up scoring on their chances,” added Poisson.
“You’re not going to win every game and I’m proud of the guys for coming back from three nothing, that shows a lot and was good to see.”
Prince George outshot Victoria 43-22 in the game.
The Spruce Kings fell out of first place in the Mainland Division after the Chilliwack Chiefs defeated the Coquitlam Express 5-4 on Friday evening.
Ben Brar received a late two-minute minor and a misconduct with 2:24 remaining in the third period after the official said he had made contact from the team bench with one of the Victoria players.
The Powell River Kings will make the trek to the Northern Capital on Thursday when they play the Spruce Kings at 7PM from the RMCA in a rematch of the 2018 Coastal Conference Championship series.