The Prince George Spruce Kings magical season took another turn for the good on Saturday.
After trailing 2-1 heading into the third period against the Brooks Bandits, the BCHL’s Fred Page Cup champs potted three goals in the final twenty minutes, claiming the franchise’s first ever Doyle Cup with a 4-2 victory in front of a sold crowd of 2,112 at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Chong Min Lee scored the clincher following a nice saucer pass from captain Ben Poisson past a sprawled out Pierce Charleston to put the hosts in front for good.
“We have a great group of guys and a lot of them from last year and they know how to play and they helped our rookies follow their lead.”
“This is awesome, I mean we worked hard and we played hard it’s awesome to win the cup and we’re going to be ready for the National Junior A Championship.”
.@SpruceKings forward Chong Min Lee on game winning goal to clinch Doyle Cup pic.twitter.com/Zd4FRzLAm3
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) May 5, 2019
The rally was started in the third period where Ben Brar one-timed a feed from Dustin Manz to send the crowd at the RMCA into a frenzy.
Logan Neaton was the backbone again for Prince George making 22 saves in the victory.
“It’s unbelievable, such a good feeling to accomplish this with this group of guys but we still have some work to do.”
Does winning the Doyle Cup at home elicpse winning the Fred Page Cup in Vernon a few weeks ago?
Neaton said that’s a hard question to answer.
“The Fred Page Cup is pretty big and is great title but to do this in front of these fans, we owe it to them and win something in front of them so to be able to do that for them means a lot.”
Logan Neaton post game with @mypgnow following @SpruceKings clinching win over @BrooksBandits to secure Doyle Cup pic.twitter.com/LY3XC4p3Nt
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) May 5, 2019
Patrick Cozzi sealed the victory with an empty-netter after Brooks elected to pull the goalie for the extra attacker.
Lucas Vanroboys added a single while Tyler Campbell and Mack Hancock scored in defeat for Brooks.
Brooks held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 at various points in the game before giving way in the final period.
Both the Spruce Kings and Bandits are off to the National Junior A Championship taking place in Brooks from May 11 to 19th.
Doyle Cup Champs @SpruceKings @mypgnow #cityofpg #sports pic.twitter.com/6Qj9JTEDW0
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) May 5, 2019
. @SpruceKings are Doyle Cup Champions after defeating @BrooksBandits 4-2 on Saturday #cityofpg #sports pic.twitter.com/fAXR73efQN
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) May 5, 2019