Once the Prince George Spruce Kings are back in regular-season action this year, keep an eye out for the following three players:
- Christian Buono
- Andrew Seaman
- Mason Waite
Combined, they’ve tallied seven critical special teams’ points in four exhibition games thus far, including three goals.
On Saturday night (Nov. 7), they scored two short-handed goals in a single period to catapult the Spruce Kings to a convincing 5-1 victory over the Merritt Centennials to improve to 3-1 during 2020-21 cohort camp.
For the 1st time in nearly 10 months, the @SpruceKings have won a game in the RMCA 🚨 They beat Merritt 5-1 with Jordan Fairlie nabbing his 2nd Jr. ‘A’ victory with 18 saves on 19 shots.
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) November 8, 2020
The last win on home ice was Jan. 17 vs. Langley | #CityOfPG @GoBCHL @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/PUtwvBvMzM
In the second and final preseason contest in the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA), Christian Buono came up strong on offense against his former club, contributing a team-high three points, all assists, on the evening.
One came on Andrew Seaman’s eventual game-winner, which came 90 seconds into the second period on unusual circumstances when a goal was initially waived off, then given back to Prince George on an officials’ conference a minute later.
The red, white and blue started the night on a right note as Colton Cameron scored 53 seconds into the first period with helpers from Buono and Austin Spiridakis, who then gave the home team a 2-0 advantage minutes later.
.@SpruceKings score right off the bat 53 seconds into the game 🚨 Goal by Colton Cameron from @A_Spiridakis & Christian Buono @chrisbuono19 gives PG an early 1-0 lead | #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/kZTtJheAFq
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) November 8, 2020
The Cents’ only tally of the evening came at the 11:28 mark to cut the scoreboard in half, 2-1, in leading to the first intermission.
After Seaman’s shorty, defenceman Mason Waite followed suit with a short-handed goal of his own with six ticks left in the second period, going nearly coast to coast.
The fifth lamp was lit 11:23 into the third stanza off a fortunate bounce from behind the Centennials net and onto the stick of Hunor Torzsok for his first as a Spruce Kings and also against his previous team.
Goaltender Jordan Fairlie earned his second win during exhibition play with 18 saves on 19 shots from Merritt.
This was the fourth of five matches against the Cents.
Prince George will finish the exhibition season on the road starting Nov. 13 and 14 in Cranbrook, Nov. 15 in Trail and Nov. 21 in Merritt before the Dec. 1 season start.
.@GoBCHL, on Thursday (Nov. 5), announced a 32-game season for 2020-21 starting Dec. 1 🏒 The @SpruceKings have 5 more exhibition matches slated before opening night, including one right now (Nov. 7) against Merritt in a fanless RMCA once again | #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/7lRD6zG7P8
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) November 8, 2020
