Skogen Schrott maybe 3,300 miles away from home, but he’s settling in quite nicely north of the border.
The 18-year-old forward from Lithia, Florida, a half-hour southeast of Tampa is one of the few sparkplugs on the ice for the Prince George Spruce Kings in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday in front of 1,407 fans at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
While only 5’8, Schrott plays a fast, aggressive skilled game that can turn the momentum of a game in an instant.
Following a Noah Laframboise hooking penalty during the early stages of the second period, the sixth man advantage of the game for the Chiefs, it would be the 18-year-old who was flanked with newcomer Rylan Brady and Quinn Disher who helped put PG in a position to earn at least a point.
During a post-game interview with MyPGNow.com, Schrott said it was vital to uplift a team that seemed to be sagging in energy despite having a week-off between games.
“We had a lack of energy during a lot of points (in the game) tonight and I think we need to build on that. We just didn’t have any energy at all – we had no energy at all in my opinion.”
“We must create it. We need to grind shift after shift, I think that is what we need to do, and we haven’t done that yet.”
Thanks to a swarm of NHL expansion back in the early 1990’s Sunbelt states such as Florida were awarded the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning – fast forward 30 years later and more professional hockey teams operating, the sport at the grassroots level has exploded not only in Florida, but also Texas, California, Nevada and Arizona.
Schrott jokingly told the media he came across the game by accident, but the initial exposure was more than enough to get him hooked.
“It’s a long story. I went to a Lightning game when I was four and they were playing the Devils (New Jersey) and saw Marty Brodeur and all the OG Devils and Stammer (Steven Stamkos of the Lightning) that was followed up by a learn to skate lesson and I have been doing it ever since.”
Appropriately, Schrott looked up to another famous Lightning scorer in Martin St. Louis as well as Brayden Point.
“I actually played Marty’s team a lot growing up – I am a fan of him but he is an enemy to me because we played against each other so much. But I would say him and Pointer are two guys I model my game after.”
“You would think hockey in Florida is not that popular, but it is in Tampa and in southern Florida. Honestly, the hockey in Florida is pretty good once you get started in the AAA level and you start moving out of state and playing other teams like Michigan and beating them. That is how you know Florida hockey is pretty good.”
Schrott was a scoring star for the Florida Alliance U16 and U18 programs. The 18-year-old is committed to Michigan Tech for the 2024-25 NCAA season.
Prince George opened the floodgates 2:37 into the first period as Killian McGregor-Bennett accepted an Alexis Cournoyer pass shorthanded, beating Chiefs goalie Aaron McNicholas for a 1-0 lead.
Don't leave Kilian McGregor-Bennett alone with your goaltender! What a move, what a goal! 🚨#BCHL | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/xdPrqkWcRf
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) September 30, 2023
The play was started at the Spruce Kings blueline thanks to a strip check by Tristan Taylor on a Chilliwack forward.
A pair of infractions from Laframboise and Linden Makow turned the momentum in Chilliwack’s favour. Right after a power-play, Nico Grabas scored his first of the game past Spruce Kings netminder Ryan Sanborn for a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes.
Chilliwack continued to dominate the game well into the second period but were unable to solve the acrobatic goaltending of Sanborn.
Both teams traded goals in the third period. Following a McGregor-Bennett feed, JR Perdion screamed down the left wing and wripped a shot past McNicholas for a 2-1 edge.
Stone Rolston evened the score for the Chiefs at 13:40 of the third re-directing an Olvier Beaulier point shot past Sanborn forcing overtime.
After chances at both ends, Grabas notched the game-winner improving the Chiefs early season record to 2-2.
Nico Grabas gets it done for the Chiefs in overtime! 🚨#BCHL | @Chiefs_Hockey pic.twitter.com/yexoRp3v5O
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) September 30, 2023
Chilliwack outshot PG 38-25 overall. Both teams went 0-for-6 on the power-play.
The Spruce Kings drop to 0-1-1 and host the Merritt Centennials (1-2-0-0) in a Saturday matinee at 3pm from the Kopar Memorial Arena.
FInal. pic.twitter.com/HTcGpTBnAH
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) September 30, 2023
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