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Kings' Cozzi fires OT dagger

Patrick Cozzi is blessed with blazing speed and if you give him room to skate and put the puck on his stick he’s liable to make something good happen.

Patrick Cozzi is blessed with blazing speed and if you give him room to skate and put the puck on his stick he’s liable to make something good happen.

Kind of like what he did for the Prince George Spruce Kings Saturday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

Playing 3-on-3 hockey in double-overtime with a chance to neat the first-place Langley Rivermen,  Cozzi accepted a pass off the boards and took off down the right wing. In scoring range, the 19-year-old from Greenlawn, N.Y. let that puck go with a wristshot along the ice that zipped through the legs of Langley Rivermen goalie Braedon Fleming for a 3-2 victory.

“Kyle Johnson won a battle in the corner to Layton Ahac and he just chipped it to me and I took off and just shot it and somehow it went in,” said Cozzi, who also picked up an assist centring a line with Johnson and Dustin Manz that was put together just before the Rivermen came north for the two-game weekend series.

“I’ve been playing with Dustin for pretty much the whole year and we have great chemistry together and then adding a skill guy like Johnson makes us a lot better.”

The win moved the Kings to within two points of the Rivermen for first place in the BCHL Mainland Division. Langley won Friday’s game 2-1.

“We played a good game (Friday) but just didn’t get the outcome we deserved and today we did,” said Cozzi. “They’re a top rival right now, we’re battling for first place and I think we’re going to catch then by the end if the year if we keep playing the way as well as we are.

Evan DeBrouwer continued to sparkle in net for the Spruce Kings, making 33 saves to notch the win, improving his record to 16-9-4-2.

The Kings built a 2-0 lead in the first period. Ben Brar tipped in a low shot from Ben Poisson to get them started 5:37 into the game – Brar’s 16th goal of the. Johnson, a Yale University recruit for next season doubled the lead late in the period, finishing off a pretty three-way passing play started when Manz gained the zone and dished the puck to Cozzi. Cozzi’s cross-ice pass found Johnson standing off the side of the net and he one-timed a high shot in from a sharp angle high.

The Rivermen picked up the pace in the second period and were rewarded with two goals to leave the ice on even terms heading into the third period. John Wojciehowski was in perfect position to redirect a centring feed from linemate Eric Butte, who gained possession of the puck of a strange bounce in the corner to get the Rivermen on the scoreboard with 5:54 gone in the period.

Defenceman Jordan Dawson raced in from his point position to take a pass from Angus Crookshank for the second Langley goal with 38 seconds left in the second period. Dawson’s 30-foot wrister sailed high in behind DeBrouwer - the first goal for the 19-year-old since joining the Rivermen in early December from the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings.

The Kings built some momentum off a couple of power-play chances in the third period and had the better opportunities but couldn’t beat Fleming, who made 15 saves in the period.

“We knew we needed this one tonight and that’s a big win for us,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. “We were happy with our game (Friday) night, to be honest. “We outchanced them pretty bad last night but we couldn’t find the net. They did a good job blocking shots and I think we had 12 missed nets. But our guys stuck with it tonight and we got off to a good start. We had a good third and got it done in OT.”

Prince George (20-12-2-4) still holds a game in hand over the Rivermen (18-9-10-2). The Rivermen and Spruce Kings play each other two more times, Jan. 25 and the regular season-ender Feb. 25. Both games are in Langley.The Spruce Kings will hit the road for games in Penticton, Vernon and Salmon Arm - the first of three roadtrips left this season which will have the Kings playing three games in three days.