Shaking off more than a year of rust, it’s going to take time for the Prince George Spruce Kings to work out the kinks and become a well-oiled machine.
The Chilliwack Chiefs threw a wrench into the Kings’ clockwork in their opening game Saturday night in in Chilliwack, handing Prince George a 4-1 loss.
Abram Wiebe, Kyle Penney, Trevor Longo and, Ray Fust, into an empty net, were the goalscorers for Chilliwack. Andrew Seaman spoiled the shutout bid for Chiefs goalie Mathieu Caron late in the game on a Kings’ power play.
Caron made 25 saves for his second win of the season. The Chiefs began their 20-game schedule in the Chilliwack pod with a 5-3 win Friday over Merritt.
“You never want to lose games but just being realistic, we had so much time in isolation and you can’t replace that game feel,” said Kings head coach Alex Evin. “We played with a lot of energy but struggled with a lot of simple concepts - lots to work on.”
It was a nervous beginning for the Spruce Kings, playing their first meaningful game since a playoff loss to Trail on March 3, 2020. They took 10 minutes of penalty time in the opening period and got behind early. Wiebe took a pass through the crease and chipped the puck into the open net to open the scoring right after the Kings had killed off their first penalty.
Chilliwack took advantage of four-minute kneeing penalty to Kings winger Nick Rheaume to make it a 2-0 count. Ethan Bowen rifled a shot that slipped under the arm of Trotter and Penney got his stick on the puck as it trickled in behind Trotter. The Kings’ penalty killers were busy most of the period but several great opportunities to score – Andrew Seaman and Hunor Torszok each had breakaways – but were foiled by Caron.
The 19-year-old Trotter, a product of the Shawnigan Lake School playing in his first junior A league game, bailed the Kings out with a couple of tough glove saves to keep it a two-goal deficit heading into the break. But with the team not firing on all cylinders, the Kings needed stellar netminding and Trotter was able to give it to them.
“I thought he was just OK,” said Evin. “He made a couple big saves but there’s probably two of those goals you don’t want to give up. But that’s learning. He hadn’t played a regular season game yet and maybe that’s something we’ll clean up between the pipes.”
The Chiefs’ power play that went 2-for-8 in the game continued to move the puck well in the offensive zone and struck again early in second period. Trevor Longo took a pass in the face-off circle and ripped a high wrister in under the bar for a 3-0 lead, while Carter Cochrane was off serving a goalie interference call.
The Kings finally got some zone time of their own later in the period and tested the four-year veteran netminder Caron, a 21-year-old Brown University recruit from Abbotsford. Corey Cunningham, a 26-goal man for Kings last season, had the puck on his stick in front but Caron made a shoulder block to keep the Kings off the board on an even-strength chance. Seaman was also denied on a dangerous chance late in the period with the Kings on the power play.
On their seventh power-play chance of the night the Kings finally connected on their passes and Seaman took a return feed from Christian Buono and found the net with about four minutes left. Too little, too late for a comeback.
“I thought we had enough chances to score, some opportunities we just missed,” said Evin, “and I thought we gave up a few too many and let them off the hook a few too many times. It was a bit of a scrambly game and hopefully we just get better.”
The Spruce Kings will be back on ice at Chilliwack Coliseum Sunday at 5 p.m. to face their other pod rivals, the Merritt Centennials.
