Anyone old enough to remember the 1960s-era Batman TV series might remember that whenever the Caped Crusader and his sidekick Robin were beating up the villains, the floor was always tilted.
Kind of like the ice was in the Prince George Spruce Kings’ favour for much of the game Saturday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
They had the youth-injected Chilliwack Chiefs under siege most of the night and came out of it with a 4-1 victory in the final game of the regular season for the two top teams in the B.C. Hockey League.
It was almost a foregone conclusion the Spruce Kings were going to win this one. The Chiefs left a third of their roster back home in Chilliwack to get their veterans rested up for the playoffs and came north with a bunch of affiliated players to finish out the 58-game schedule with a couple games against their Mainland Division rivals.
With nothing at stake in the standings, the Kings gave backup goalie Keenan Rancier a rare start and sat out Ben Brar, their leading goal-scorer, as well as forward Chong Min Lee and defenceman Max Coyle. Otherwise, they iced a full-strength lineup.
Just as they did in a 5-3 win on Friday, they largely dictated the proceedings on the ice.
Dustin Manz, with two goals, Layton Ahac and Liam Watson-Brawn took care of the Spruce Kings’ scoring.
Midget call-up Cade Cavallini notched the only Chiefs goal with a behind-the-net shot that deflected in off Rancier’s skate with one second left in the second period.
Rancier came that close to notching his first career BCHL shutout.
“I went to see if anyone was back door (in front of the crease) and he shot the puck off my skate and in through the five-hole, but I’m happy to get the win,” said Rancier.
“The feeling’s great right now, the guys are really excited and really hyped up and we hope we have a long playoff run. We could definitely well be in Brooks with RBC Cup this year.”
The Kings let off the gas a bit in the third period and had to kill off a couple of penalties which skewed the shot count more in the Chiefs’ favour – 8-5 in the third period – but Prince George maintained a 36-24 edge in the game.
With their 39th win Saturday the Spruce Kings (39-13-1-5) set a team record for wins in a season, eclipsing the former record of 38 set in 1998-99, when they finished a 60-game schedule with a 37-20-0 record. They ended up this season with 84 points, also a team record, one shy of the first-overall Chiefs.
Watson-Brawn returned Saturday after serving a four-game suspension for an illegal hit Feb. 10 in Surrey and came back with a first-star performance.
“It was nice, the boys helped me out a lot and I just tried to keep it simple and it worked to my favour,” said Watson-Brawn. “These games are hard because you’ve got to stay dialled through 60 and sometimes you go down to their level but you’ve got to keep playing your game and keep grinding.
“It’s going to be a very tight-checking series (with Coquitlam) and we’re looking forward to how the playoffs go for us this year. Our defence is huge, we gave up very few shots a game and that really helps. If we play like that we’re going to go far.”
The Spruce Kings host the third-place Coquitlam Express in Game 1 of that best-of-seven series Friday at RMCA. Tickets are on sale at the Kings’ office. The Chiefs will take on the fourth-place Langley Rivermen in the other Mainland series which also starts Friday.
Prince George won five and lost three head-to-head in the season series with Chilliwack.
Both will have to win their opening-round playoff series for the teams to face each again this season.
Chiefs assistant coach Cam Keith, who filled in for head coach Brian Maloney, who was in Red Deer scouting the Canada Winter Games tournament, would like to see his team meet the Spruce Kings in the playoffs.
“Our focus for the weekend was to get some of our APs a couple of games of experience playing against what will hopefully be the two best teams in the league playing in playoffs so it was a great test for them, especially in this rink, it’s always a tough battle,” said Keith.
“We’re going to be focused on our first round of course but in the back of our minds we’re hoping this will be our second-round matchup.”
The Kings got through the weekend without injuries. Nolan Welsh returned to the lineup Friday after missing five weeks with a concussion. Last year’s BCHL finalists are going into the playoffs having won 13 of their last 14 games.
“Obviously you want to go into playoffs on a winning note and feeling good about your game,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. “We still have to clean up on some things, our consistency through a whole game, we need to get a little better.
“I think the guys who have gone through a long playoff series understand how important every shift is and we have some guys who have to learn that the little things really do matter in playoffs an hopefully it’s cleaned up before and we’re not learning that during the playoffs.”
LOOSE PUCKS: Prince George minor hockey product Matthew Marotta, who usually skates for the Cariboo Cougars major midget team, played his second game of the weekend as an affiliated player on the Chiefs’ blueline. He has two goals and 22 points in 33 games this season with Cariboo… Manz reached the 70-point plateau with his empty-netter. The 19-year-old Lake Superior State University recruit from Vanderbilt, Mich., played all 58 games and led the Kings in scoring… A group of about 100 athletes, coaches and support staff on the teams in Prince George for the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships turned out to watch… Attendance was announced at 1,403, which brought the average crowd count up to 983 fans per game, up from last year’s 898 average.
