Corey Cunningham did the simian shake, while Kobe Grant played kitty-bar-the-door.
It all added up to a 3-0 victory over the Merritt Centennials for the Prince George Spruce Kings, who won their fourth straight to tighten their grip on first place in the B.C. Hockey League’s Chilliwack pod Sunday night.
Grant posted his second shutout in as many starts in goal for the Kings, making 23 saves. Not bad for a rookie with only four BCHL games under his belt.
Cunningham, the 19-year-old left winger who led the Kings with 26 goals last season, finally threw that monkey off his back and gave the imaginary creature a stomp with his skate as he skated to the bench after scoring his first of the season to kickstart the Prince George offence on a power play 7:59 into the game.
Cunningham had his stick in the deep slot to deflect Christian Buono’s shot for his first goal in 13 games in the pod.
Nick Rheaume added to the total a couple minutes later on a five-minute power play with Prince George minor hockey product Brandon Dent booted out of the game for an illegal head hit on Kolton Cousins.
Cousins kept up his hot streak in the third period, scoring his sixth of the season and fifth in four games. He found the net with a shot from the right circle with an assist from Cunningham, the game’s first star.
The Kings fired 38 shots at Josh Dias and outshot the Cents 38-23.
The win improved the Kings’ record top 9-3-0-1-0, three points ahead of the second-place Chilliwack Chiefs. Merritt dropped to 2-9-0-0-0. The Cents are 0-5 against the Spruce Kings this season.
The Spruce Kings will be back on the ice at Chilliwack Coliseum Wednesday for a rematch against Merritt.
