Too many goals against, not enough saves. It all added up to a tough night Saturday for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
But there was a silver lining – they’ve clinched a B.C. Hockey League playoff spot.
Hoping to make up some ground against the teams ahead of them in the Mainland Division standings, the Kings visited Chilliwack Saturday and lost 7-3 to the Chiefs.
Jake Smith stoked the Chilliwack offence with a goal and two assists. Colin Bernard, Aaron O’Neill, Cole Poliziani, Ben Fanjoy, Jordan Kawaguchi and Linden Hora also scored for Chiefs.
Kyle Johnson accounted for all the Prince George scoring – his first career BCHL hat trick.
Mark Sinclair picked up the win in goal for Chilliwack, stopping 37 of 40 shots. Aris Anagnostopoulos made 32 saves in his second-straight start in the Prince George nets.
The Chiefs improved to (35-10-5-0, second in Mainland) to remain five points behind the league-leading Wenatchee Wild, 9-1 winners Saturday night in Surrey. That Surrey loss means the Eagles can’t catch the Spruce Kings for the fourth and final Mainland Division playoff spot.
Prince George started the trip by shutting out the Surrey Eagles 9-0 on Thursday, then defeated the Langley Rivermen 5-2 on Friday.
The Spruce Kings (22-22-4-20) have eight games left in the season to try to catch the Langley Rivermen for third place in the division. The Rivermen (26-16-5-2) hammered Salmon Arm 11-2 Saturday to move nine points ahead of Prince George. Langley has nine games left to play.
The Kings return to home ice for their final regular-season game at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena Thursday when they host the West Kelowna Warriors.
