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Spruce Kings hit the road, minus de Jong

For the rest of the regular season, the Prince George Spruce Kings are going to have to do without Ethan de Jong.
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For the rest of the regular season, the Prince George Spruce Kings are going to have to do without Ethan de Jong.

The impressive rookie right winger from North Vancouver has been sidelined with a shoulder injury and is expected to miss the next four weeks. De Jong got hurt last Wednesday while playing for Team West in the Canadian Junior Hockey League Propects Game in Cornwall, Ont.

The 17-year-old had been playing on the Kings' second line with Kyle Johnson and Jarod Hovde and in 43 games he had five goals and 25 assists for 30 points, fifth in team scoring. Losing de Jong is a crushing blow for the team, which is trying to catch the Langley Rivermen for third place in the B.C. Hockey League's Mainland Division.

The five-foot-10, 165-pound De Jong, who signed with the Kings last year after leading the Burnaby Winter Club prep team in scoring, also draws significant minutes on the power play and penalty-killing units. With 21 healthy bodies, that just means more icetime for the forward who takes his place in the lineup this weekend when the Spruce Kings are on the road to play three Mainland Division opponents, starting tonight in Surrey against the Eagles.

Last weekend, the Kings earned three of a possible six points in their three-game tour of the Interior Division. It started with a 3-1 win in Merritt, followed by a 3-1 loss in Salmon Arm. On Sunday they lost 5-4 in double-overtime to the Vernon Vipers, a game in which Prince George blew a 4-1 lead in the third period.

"That was a good game for 54 minutes," said Kings head coach Chad van Diemen.

"At that point, with six minutes left and a 4-1 lead, we've got to be able to just ice that away. We gave up a goal, which can happen, but then we took a couple penalties and they scored on the power plays. It was a pretty disappointing way to end what we could have salvaged as a pretty good weekend."

The quick starts for the Spruce Kings in all three games were a major improvement over the previous weekend, when they went to Wenatchee and fell behind 3-0 in the first period of both games and went on to lose.

Tavin Grant was another bright spot for the Spruce Kings. The 18-year-old from Burnaby, who played 18 WHL games for the Prince George Cougars in 2014-15, made a combined 114 saves in the three games last weekend.

"Tavin was solid, he played more like he's capable of playing," said van Diemen. "He gave us a chance to win all three games. In Vernon, to get that 4-1 lead he played really well through the first two periods, and that was big point to get on the road. We're going to need him and Aris (backup goalie Agnostopoulos) to give us chances to win games."

The Spruce Kings (20-21-4-2) are going to be living out of their suitcases for the next month. All but one of their 11 remaining games are on the road. Their only home game left is next Thursday when they host the West Kelowna Warriors at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

"The travel is what it is," said van Diemen. "We leave the day before the games and we practice the day we leave. Once we're down in our (Lower Mainland) destination, the travel is pretty much next to nothing. It's more of a mental thing and the guys are starting to realize it's not a big deal."

The Spruce Kings are 11 points behind the third-place Langley Rivermen, their Friday opponents, who have already clinched a playoff spot.

The Kings want to finish as the higher seed to avoid having to face first-place Wenatchee in the first round. They would rather play Chilliwack, a team they've beaten once and taken to overtime once in a close four-game season series.

"All you can do is focus on yourself, the teams around you will do what they do and that's out of our control," said van Diemen. "Credit to (the Rivermen), they've strung it together. I think the only losses they've had since the start of December have been to us.

"Another positive thing from last weekend is we looked very comfortable playing in tight, low-scoring games, which you're going to have to do come playoff time."

The Kings visit Chilliwack to play the Chiefs Saturday night.