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Power play key in P.G. win

An effective power play can take you places in hockey. The Prince George Spruce Kings made that point abundantly clear to the Powell River Kings in the opening game of their BCHL conference final.
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Dustin Manz of the Prince George Spruce Kings tries to fire the puck through Powell River Kings defender Carmine Buono on Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. The teams clashed in Game 1 of a BCHL semifinal series. – Citizen photo by Vicki Brown

An effective power play can take you places in hockey.

The Prince George Spruce Kings made that point abundantly clear to the Powell River Kings in the opening game of their BCHL conference final.

The Spruce Kings continued their improved play with the man advantage and scored both of their goals on power plays to beat the other Kings of the BCHL 2-1 in front of a crowd of 1,973 Friday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

Jarod Hovde collected his first goal of the playoffs in the second period and Ben Brar came up with the winner, 5:10 into the third period, then the Spruce Kings survived a late push by their opponents to put Game 1 into the books.

"A 2-1 game in the third round of playoffs is what you expect, tight-checking and both teams didn't give up much and they capitalized on the power play," said Powell River head coach Brock Sawyer.

"We didn't do enough to get pucks and bodies towards the net and pay a price to go to that area to score and that's something we have to adjust. Obviously our power play's struggling but we can't make excuses about guys out of our lineup. We need to get pucks to the net and get around it for rebound opportunities and give them credit, they're very disciplined on their kill. They block shots and keep us to the outside so we need to have quicker puck movement and get to the net more."

Evan DeBrouwer was at his best late in the game, making six saves in the final five minutes to record his ninth win of the playoffs. Ben Berard was only Powell River shooter to beat the 20-year-old goalie in a 24-save effort. Shots were 33-25 in favour of the Spruce Kings.

The game was decided on special teams. The Spruce Kings scored on two of their seven chances while the drought continued for Powell River. They went scoreless in 16 power-play chances in the Victoria series and finished the game Friday 0-5.

"I think we could have come out stronger in the first period but we did a good job sticking with it and got the job done," said Hovde. "The power play was huge and the penalty kill, we had a couple 5-on-3s and the guys did a heckuva job out there. Special teams battle this series is going to be huge."

The Spruce Kings got off to a good start and owned the puck for large chunks of the first period but the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes.

The game opened up a lot more in a penalty-filled second period. Berard, the overtime hero for Powell River in their Game 5 clincher in the Island Division final in Victoria last week, scored the first goal of the series at even strength. He was perfectly-positioned standing off the post when pointman Carmine Buono let go a slapper that appeared to be going wide of the net and DeBrouwer had no chance on the low deflection which came 3:52 into the period.

The Spruce Kings' power play, which was firing at a 30 per cent clip in the Surrey series, got the home team back on even terms. Hovde was back on the point with only a few seconds remaining in an interference penalty to Neal Samanski when he let go a shot that caught a piece of goalie Matteo Paler-Chow's pad but not enough to keep the puck from slipping between his legs and in. That came at the 6:44 mark.

The Kings penalty-killers were forced to kill four minors in the second period, including a lengthy two-man disadvantage, but got through it unscathed.

The Spruce Kings started the third period on the power play and Brar came within a crossbar ding of giving them their first lead 33 seconds into the period. But on their sixth power play of the game, the Spruce Kings made it count. Dylan Anhorn sent a hard pass in from the point to Kyle Johnson, whose shot form the side of the net was stopped by Paler-Chow. The rebound came out to Brar, who slid it low into the net.

"It feels nice to get the first win, we got great support from the home fans here tonight," said Brar. "Our power play's been clicking, we kind of struggled in the regular season but we kind of figured it out now. We got good puck movement and got pucks the net and good things happened."

The best-of-seven series resumes tonight with Game 2 starting at 7. Games 3 and 4 will be played in Powell River Monday and Tuesday.

The other semifinal series started Friday in Wenatchee, where the Wild beat the Trail Smoke Eaters 5-2.

LOOSE PUCKS: Powell River got a bit of scare when sniper Carter Turnbull had to be helped off the ice after a knee-on-knee collision with Spruce Kings defenceman Chays Ruddy as Turnbull crossed into the Prince George zone with the puck, eight minutes into the second period. Ruddy was assessed a two-minute penalty which gave Powell River a two-man advantage but the visitors were unable to score... Turnbull, a University of Connecticut recruit, came into the game leading his team in scoring with six goals and 15 points in 11 playoff games... A familiar face wearing black and white stripes returned to his old stomping grounds. Referee Ward Pateman was one of the chosen ones by BCHL officiating director Brad Lazarowich to work the first two games of the semifinal. Pateman was born and raised in Prince George and left the city several years ago to pursue a career as an on-ice official. Now based in Kelowna where he regularly works BCHL and WHL games, Pateman, whose father John is the Prince George Cougars' part-owner and president, was called up last week to the American Hockey League and made his professional debut as a referee in the game in Toronto between the Marlies and Belleville Senators.