It came down to a shootout to decide Sunday’s B.C. Hockey League preseason game in Trail and the Smoke Eaters left the ice at Cominco Arena holding the smoking guns.
Chase Dafoe and Zack Feaver each scored on Prince George Spruce Kings goalie Aaron Trotter to give the Smokies the 2-1 edge they needed to cinch a 2-1 shootout victory. University of Connecticut recruit Logan Terness blocked 20 of 21 shots and made two shootout saves as the game’s second star to cinch the win.
Kings centre Connor Bowie, on loan from the WHL Cougars, had a chance to end the game on a breakaway with about two minutes left in overtime but Terness made the save and followed up with a glove stop to deny Christian Buono.
Rowan Miller scored the regulation time goal for Prince George after he was set up in front by Kolton Cousins, who beat out a potential icing call chasing a loose puck.
“I thought we played a very good hockey game today,” said Kings head coach Alex Evin. “We started a little slow, we had some trouble on the wall getting out of our d-zone but we made a little adjustment and I thought we were the better team for the rest of the game. We had enough chances to win and didn’t give up much. It was a solid road game and it was unfortunate it went to a shootout.”
Trotter, coming off a 38-save performance Saturday in Cranbrook in what turned out a 2-1 win over the expansion Bucks, was also superb in Sunday’s game, stopping 20 of 21 shots through 60 minutes of regulation time and five minutes of overtime. The 19-year-old from Victoria was picked as the game’s third star.
“At 19, you’re going to be expected to play some minutes and I thought he was pretty shaky for the first two periods on Saturday but third period he was pretty solid and didn’t really give up any rebounds and he carried that over to (Sunday),” said Evin.
Feaver, who opened the scoring 16:46 into the game, was selected as the first star Sunday, helping Trail improve to 6-2-0-0 in preseason play. The Spruce Kings dropped to 4-2-1-0. The Kings earned three of a possible six points in their three-game roadtrip to the Kootenays, which started Friday with a 6-2 loss in Cranbrook.
“I thought we played better each game,” said Evin. “We were obviously below standard on Friday and on Saturday (while being outshot 39-14) we actually played pretty well in the first and in the third period we did as good job killing penalties and hung onto the lead and I thought we were pretty decent (on Sunday).
“Hopefully we can keep building on our team play, which was positive this week.”
The Kings’ power play stumbled. Trail held the Kings scoreless in four chances and they went without a goal in four opportunities combined in the previous two games.
Tanner Main, one of the Spruce Kings’ top defencemen, suffered what could be a serious leg injury when he was knocked awkwardly into the boards in the third period of Sunday’s game. The 20-year-old Main was a key acquisition for the Kings over the summer, coming to Prince George from the Wenatchee Wild. Main was taken to the hospital in Trail and the team was still waiting for a medical report when Evin called the Citizen.
“We don’t know what’s happened, if you’re in the hospital things don’t usually look good,” said Evin. “We’re hoping for some positive news.”
Defenceman Amran Bhabra sat out Sunday’s game with a lower-body bruise after blocking a shot Saturday in Cranbrook. He’s listed as day-to-day. The Kings were also without winger Carter Cochrane (lower body), defenceman Aiden Reeves (shoulder) and goalie Carter Woodside (upper body).
The Kings will finish the exhibition season Saturday in Merritt against the Centennials. The Cents are due to travel north to face the Spruce Kings in the BCHL season-opening weekend set that starts Friday, Dec. 4 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. Fans will not be permitted in the building that night due to a provincial health order brought on by the pandemic. The Kings webcasts are available on hockeytv.com.
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