Liam McCloskey has been waiting patiently to pitch his first perfect game.
Thursday night at the Coliseum the 17-year-old rookie goaltender got what he was after. McCloskey stopped all 37 shots the Trail Smoke Eaters fired his way to earn the first B.C. Hockey League shutout of his young career.
Jordan Funk and Cavin Tilsley handled the scoring duties to give a partisan crowd of 742 in attendance a win to celebrate in the Kings' first home appearance of 2016.
McCloskey was zoned in from the opening face-off and he was good when he had to be throughout the game, helping the Kings earn their 11th win of the season.
Probably his best save came in the second period with the Kings nursing a 1-0 lead. McCloskey stayed on his feet to make a pad save on a shorthanded 2-on-1 chance for Trail forwards Ross Armour and Nick Halloran. Halloran, who redirected Armour's pass on the fly, was looking for his 21st goal of the season as the Smokies' leading pointgetter.
Funk, an 18-year-old from Surrey who started out with the BCHL Eagles, scored his second goal of the season and fifth of his two-year career, using his leg to deflect linemate Parker Colley's shot from the side of the net while standing in front of Trail goalie Bailey MacBurnie.
The Kings made it 2-0 at the 7:38 mark of the third period, a great individual effort from 17-year-old rookie Cavin Tilsley. Tilsley took to the puck to the net and let go a backhander that was turned aside by MacBurnie, but the shot left the Trail goalie out of position and Tilsley took advantage, scoring his fifth of the season on a wraparound.
Shots were 46-37 in the Kings' favour.
They put up a shot-blocking wall in front on McCloskey during a couple late penalty kills, one caused by McCloskey when he cleared the puck over the glass with 21 seconds left and the Smokies pressing to break up the shutout bid with the extra attacker.
The Spruce Kings dressed three affiliated players - forwards Levi Johnson (Kamloops Storm, junior B), Chong Lee (Port Moody Panthers, junior B) and defenceman Austin Crossley (Kamloops Storm, junior B).
The 19-year-old Lee, a native of South Korea, played right wing on the top scoring line with centre Kyle Johnson and left wing Tanner Campbell and wasted no time creating offence for his new team. Lee had several quality shots on net in his Coliseum debut and used his six-foot-one, 198-pound bulk to force turnovers in the Trail end.
The win improved the Spruce Kings' fifth-place Mainland Division record to 11-29-2-1. Trail (18-23-1-0) remained tied with Vernon for fourth place in the Interior Division.
The Spruce Kings play host to the Victoria Grizzlies tonight at the Coliseum (7 p.m. start). The Grizzlies (17-20-4-0) are fourth in the Island Division.
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes with 8:04 gone in the third period when Armour and Kings defenceman Adam Burnett collided head on to the right of the Kings net with the play heading the other way.
Armour fell to the ice face-first and laid motionless for several minutes before he got to his knees and was helped off the ice by his teammates.
LOOSE PUCKS: Prince George born-and-raised defenceman Stephen Penner played his first game since being named captain of the Spruce Kings. The 20-year-old was given the 'C' worn by Jake LeBrun, who was traded last week to West Kelowna... Lee played for the Spruce Kings last weekend on their Mainland Division roadtrip and picked up his first BCHL points with assists in Surrey and Chilliwack. The Spruce Kings are allowed to keep Lee for maximum of 10 BCHL games, then will have to return him to Port Moody. Lee is a candidate to play for South Korea's Olympic team when his country hosts the Games in PyeongChang in 2018. He played for South Korean at the Tier 4 world junior championship, where he collected two goals and five points in five games. He led the Korean high school league in scoring last season as captain of the Sun Duck team, then went to La Crosse, Wisc., to play for the Coulee Region Chill of the North American Hockey League, where he had three points in 13 games. He also played for the La Crosse Freeze of the Tier 3 NA3HL and had seven goals and 14 points in 14 games for the Freeze in 2014-15.
Thursday BCHL summary
Smoke Eaters 0 at Spruce Kings 2
First Period
No scoring.
Penalties - MacBurnie TR (delay of game, served by Redler) 9:17, Stief PG (tripping) 19:13.
Second Period
1. Prince George, Funk 2 (Colley, Hovde) 6:04
Penalties - Howarth TR (slashing) 16:13
Third Period
2. Prince George, Tilsley 5 (Logan) 7:38
Penalties - Halloran TR (hooking) 3:44, MacEachern TR (cross-checking, misconduct) 9:55, Johnson PG (interference) 14:34, Swanson TR (tripping, misconduct), Penner PG (misconduct) 16:47, McCloskey PG (delay of game) 19:39.
Shots on goal by
Trail 13 15 9 --37
Prince George 18 15 13 --46
Goal - Trail, MacBurnie (L,13-20-0-0); Prince George, McCloskey (W,6-13-0-1).
Power-plays - TR: 0-2; PG: 0-5.
Referees - Ryan Dawson, Nick Panter; Linesmen - Nick Albnati, Brett Burton.
Attendance - 742.
