Brogan McNeil made sure some home cooking to end 2024 left a delicious taste in the mouth of his Prince George Spruce Kings teammates.
A night after inexplicably falling 6-5 in overtime to a shorthanded and undisciplined Nanaimo Clippers squad – the 18-year-old power forward bookended the PG offense with a pair of goals in a 4-1 win over Nanaimo on Sunday in front 1,002 fans at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
McNeil first connected on a one-time pass from Brock Cummings on the power-play to put the hosts up 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.
PG continued its tenacious forechecking ways into period two. This time it would be Cummings who played the role of finisher.
After winning an offensive zone draw, Cummings posted himself in front of the Clippers goal and re-directed a puck by goaltender Chazz Nixon for a 2-0 lead.
Shorthanded and frustrated, the Clippers turned what was a pleasant Sunday matinee into a circus – coming unglued in the discipline department.
Two minutes after the Cummings goal, James Johnson and Luke Lavery were both given ten-minute misconducts by official Braiden Epp.
The Clippers lack of self-awareness spilled into the third period as Anthony Biakabatuka and Julien Brown were given minor penalties plus ten-minute misconducts.
This led to four more visiting players accomplishing a tight squeeze inside the visitor’s penalty box – a comical sight even the most casual hockey fan would appreciate.
Skogen Schrott made it 3-0 Spruce Kings after the Red Sea parted through the middle of the ice – the 19-year-old from Florida scooted inside enemy territory and fired a wrist shot past the glove of Nixon.
Earlier in the sequence, PG rookie forward Cooper Williams goated a Clippers blueliner into a jaw-jacking fest at the other end of the ice leading to the Schrott breakaway.
Lavery spoiled the shutout bid for newly-acquired Spruce Kings netminder Dylan Johnson – sneaking in behind the defense and blasting a puck over the shoulder of the Dallas, Texas native.
McNeil added an empty netter with five seconds remaining to improve the Spruce Kings mark to 10-15-3-1, tying them with Nanaimo for the final playoff spot in the Coastal Conference.
The Clippers dropped to 11-16-2-0.
Johnson made 27 saves in his PG debut earning himself third-star honours. Seventeen of those stops came in the third period.
He flew into PG on Boxing Day after getting signed by general manager Mike Hawes on Christmas Eve following season-ending surgery to fellow goalie Colin Reay.
Johnson has spent the last year and a half toiling in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers and Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Before that, he suited up in the North American Hockey League with North Iowa Bulls and Oklahoma Warriors. He won a championship with the Warriors in 2022-23.
The weekend also saw the debuts of Swedish blueliner Ludvig Basth and Korean overage forward Min-Joon Huh.
Both players flew over 30 hours during the holiday break to make their BCHL debuts on Saturday.
PG heads out on the road to battle the Surrey Eagles and Chilliwack Chiefs Friday and Saturday.
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