On most nights the Prince George Spruce Kings play hockey, the chance to see centre Brett Mennear in action is well worth the price of admission.
Well he proved that again Friday night in a 6-5 double-overtime loss to the Chilliwack Chiefs at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
With the game on the line in the dying seconds and the Spruce Kings trailing the Chilliwack Chiefs by a goal, Mennear, the Kings' captain, took matters into his own hands.
With goalie Tavin Grant on the bench, Mennear carried the puck deep into the Chilliwack end, went behind the goal and came back out to the blueline, leaving the puck for pointman Tyler Anderson, who wisely gave it back, and Mennear took the shot. The rebound came out to Ben Brar, who popped it in for his second of the game to tie the game 5-5 with just 10 seconds left.
That guaranteed a point for the Kings, and Mennear came close to making it a two-point improvement in the second five-minute overtime period. Mennear took off on a breakaway by his shot was saved my Mark Sinclair, the last of 53 saves the Chiefs goalie had to make. Mennear tried to keep the play alive in the Chiefs' end but got tripped up and Kale Kane took off in alone and beat Tavin Grant for the winner 2:35 into the second OT.
"Brett's the heart and soul of our and he has been all year and he showed it again tonight," said Kings general manger Mike Hawes. "He put the team on his shoulders and led the way and made a great play late in the game to create that tying goal for us and good job by Ben Brar to bang that one in.
"It was great to get a point after falling behind and struggling in that third period. They gutted it out against a tough team to play against. Any time we can get a point against a team like that is good for us and it's going to make for a pretty good game tomorrow night."
The Chiefs (28-9-5-0) solidified their hold on second place in the BCHL Mainland Division. They're now 16 points ahead of the Spruce Kings (19-17-3-2)
A season-high crowd of 1,525 turned out to see the Spruce Kings and Chiefs battle in the first of a two-game set at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
The goals came fast and furious in the first period and the Kings got out of it with a 3-1 lead. Rob Raju, an 18-year-old who played last season for the provincial Tier 1 midget champion Prince George Coast Inn of the North Cougars, got called up to the Spruce Kings for his first BCHL game and it took him just six minutes to notch his first goal. The Prince George native got his stick on Anderson's wrist shot from the blue line and it sailed into the net behind Sinclair.
Less than a minute later, at 6:54, Jarod Hovde dove in the crease to chip in a loose puck after Mennear fired from point blank range and the Kings led 2-0. The Chiefs won the ensuing face-off and after a mad scramble in front of Grant, Chiefs forward Will Calverley knocked a bouncing puck into the net. Brar scored the third Prince George goal, ripping a high wrister that caught the top corner in behind Sinclair.
Chilliwack outscored the Kings 4-1 in the second period to take a 5-4 lead. Kane got the Chiefs going 7:56 into the period when he filed away a high wrist shot on a feed from Chiefs' leading scorer Jordan Kawaguchi, who had nailed the goal post a few minutes earlier. Anderson restored the three-goal cushion not long after Kane scored, the 15th goal this season for the big Spruce Kings defenceman.
But within a nine-minute span the Chiefs responded with unanswered goals from Calverley, Ben Fanjoy and Connor McCarthy to carry a one-goal lead into the final 20 minutes.
The opening puck drop tonight is at 7 p.m.
Chiefs, Spruce Kings 5 (2 OT)
First Period
1. Prince George, Raju 1 (Anderson) 6:07
2. Prince George, Hovde 14 (Mennear) 6:54
3. Chilliwack, Calverley 9 (Olischefski) 7:07
4. Prince George, Brar 10 (Mennear, Watson-Brawn) 9:34
Penalties - Burnett PG (kneeing) 11:57, Kane CH (unsportsmanlike conduct), Russell PG (unsportsmanlike conduct) 16:20, Calverley CH (interference) 18:10.
Second Period
5. Chilliwack, Kane (Kawaguchi, Watson) 7:46
6. Prince George, Anderson 15 (Mennear, Lee) 8:19
7. Chilliwack, Calverley 10 (Bunz) 9:48
8. Chilliwack, Fanjoy 2 (Kane, Zweep)13:28
9. Chilliwack, McCarthy 10 Kane, Arseneau) 18:23
Penalties - Mennear PG (hooking) 7:07, CH bench (too many men, served by Bunz) 15:02, McCarthy CH (holding) 19:51.
Third Period
10. Prince George, Brar 11 (Mennear, Anderson) 19:50
Penalties - None.
First Overtime
No scoring.
Penalties - None.
Second Overtime
11. Chilliwack, Kane 9, 2:35
Penalties - None.
Shots on goal by
Chilliwack 13 11 8 3 1 - 37
Prince George 15 15 18 5 1 -53
Goal - Chilliwack, Sinclair (W,22-10-0, 52 shots-47 saves), and at 8:19 of second, Scheibel (1-1), replaced by Sinclair at 8:26 of second; Prince George, Grant (L,12-13-0).
Power plays - CH: 1-1; PG: 0-3.
Referees - Duncan Brow, Greg Taylor; Linesmen - Josh Albinati, Anthony Maletta.
Attendance - 1,525.
