The BCHL playoffs don’t kickoff until March, however, the Prince George Spruce Kings and Penticton Vees aren’t waiting until then.
A hard-fought, back and forth game between the two Fred Page Cup title contenders ended with a Ben Poisson overtime goal ensuring a 3-2 victory in front of 745 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena on Saturday.
The captain was set up for his second of the game thanks to a great individual effort from Patrick Cozzi during the three-on-three overtime session – giving Poisson a partial breakaway who then put the puck in between the legs of Penticton netiminder Derek Krall.
“Obviously, Penticton is a great organization in this league and we prepared well against them as they did against us and it ended up being a really good game.”
The Spruce Kings improve to 14-6-0-1 on the season and are now three points back of the Chilliwack Chiefs for top spot in the Mainland Division.
Prince George got some help on the out-of-town scoreboard thanks to a 4-3 victory by the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in Chilliwack.
The Vees found themselves up 1-0 after 20 minutes of play courtesy of Ryan Sandelin who put home a pass from playmaking centre David Silye beating Spruce Kings netminder Logan Neaton.
Ben Brar evened the game in the middle frame after parking himself on top of the blue paint to deflect home a Dustin Manz pass from the corner.
Poisson and James Miller (Penticton) traded power-play goals in the third period to force overtime.
The second half of this four-game homestand continues for the Spruce Kings next Friday and Saturday against the Langley Rivermen (9-10-0-1) who fell to the Vernon Vipers 5-1 tonight (Saturday).
Poisson is expecting another hard-fought battle from the division rival.
“Our division has been really tight so any points we can get are very important and we’re looking to climb the standings a little bit.”
Prince George also recorded a 2-1 win over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Friday at the RMCA with local products Corey Cunningham and Craig MacDonald lighting the lamp.
The Spruce Kings outshot the Bulldogs 46-19.