Brock Cummings admits it was a pretty tough go in February battling injuries and playing hurt just to keep the Prince George Spruce Kings in the BC Hockey League playoff picture.
The pain he felt going through the daily grind of being his team’s top-line centre was tempered by the pleasure of watching his Spruce Kings start to creep up in the standings on the Langley Rivermen.
What was once an eight-point gap between Prince George and Langley is now down to a single point after the Kings pounded out a 3-1 victory Friday in front of crowd of 1,126 at Kopar Memorial Arena.
Cummings notched the gamewinner on a Prince George power play - his first goal in nine games - hammering home a perfect feed off the sidewall from Owen Goodbrand for his 13th of the year and that gave the Kings a lead they would not relinquish.
Nic Papineau iced it with an empty-netter in the dying seconds.
“The shoulder’s been hurting and it’s been awhile since I scored and it feels good,” said Cummings, a 20-year-old Dartmouth College recruit for next season.
“I was just in the right spot at the right time and it was a good pass on the power play. Our power play was good tonight. It was a lucky shot I guess, it’s nice to get back on the scoresheet. Our line was buzzing tonight.”
The Rivermen drew first blood 6:12 into the second. Off a face-off win, Keenan Ingram got his stick on a point shot from Hunter Curtis and the puck skipped through the legs of Charles-Edward Gravel.
That 1-0 lead did not last long. Just before the midway mark of the period, with Rivermen winger Jacob Wingfield serving a hooking penalty, the Kings’ power play went to work and after they mustered a couple dangerous shots on net they finally connected.
With Cummings creating open ice for his linemates, Kings captain Linden Makow spotted Kazumo Sasaki alone in the far circle and fed him a crisp cross-ice pass and the Japanese import blasted it in for his 18th of the season.
The Kings poured it on the rest of the period, outskating the Rivermen, winning the loose puck battles and creating turnovers and they kept goalie Dylan Johnson busy, outshooting their opponents 21-7 in that middle frame.
“You could see they were slowing down and they were getting tired, and they were taking penalties because of it and our power play scored,” said Cummings.
Special teams were certainly a factor. The Kings scored twice on four chances and the Rivermen were blanked on all three of theirs.
“We’ve had a great penalty kill all year so we just have to keep working at it and I thought the boys battled hard, we just have to stay out of the penalty box,” said Johnson, a goalie selected by the Prince George Cougars 26th overall in the 2019 WHL US Prospects Draft.
“We got some momentum at the start and it was good to see our momentum paid off there. it was nice to get the first goal but the penalties killed the momentum.”
Like Prince George, the Rivermen have gone through their share of goaltenders and on Jan. 25 Langley picked up 19-year-old Johnson in a futures deal from the Spruce Kings. The Dallas, Texas native drew the start Friday, his 10th game with the Rivermen since the trade and first time to face his former teammates.
“It’s always a great opportunity to play your old team, especially in this situation, both fighting for a playoff spot,” said Johnson. “That’s why you play, it’s really fun to be out there to compete and we look forward to tomorrow. There’s a lot of belief in our group. We all know we can do it, we just have to put a full 60 minutes together and we’ll get the job done tomorrow and hopefully have a good rest of the year and make the playoffs.”
Gravel, looking for his sixth win in eight starts since joining the Kings at the start of February from the QMJHL, had to be sharp in the early going facing a Rivermen power play that produced half of their eight shots in a scoreless opening period.
The 20-year-old from Levis, Que., didn’t get a lot of work in the second period but made some difficult saves late in the game that kept his team’s lead intact.
“Charles has been great for us, he’s unreal, he gives us the confidence to need play how we know we can every night and we know if some mistakes are made that he’s going to have us covered and have our backs,” said Kings defenceman Isaac Holt.
The win improved the Spruce Kings ninth-place record to 19-24-3-1, while eighth-place Langley dropped to 17-21-8-1.
Both teams have seven games left in the regular season.
The rematch is set for Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kopar.
“Every game we’ve got to play it like it’s our last,” said Holt. “We’re desperate for points and we want to get into the playoffs. Every game is super important. It feels good now but the job’s not finished and we’ve got to live by that.”
LOOSE PUCKS: Pam and Jennifer Staley will be at centre ice to drop the ceremonial face-off before Saturday’s game. They made the trip up from Kennewick, Wash., to mark the five-year anniversary of the death of their son Chad, a former Spruce Kings captain, who died of a fentanyl overdose on March 9, 2020. The Staleys oversee the Chad Staley Memorial Foundation and on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Prince George Golf and Curing Club, next to Chad Staley Memorial Arena, the Prince George Community Foundation executive director Rae Ann Noonan and Engage Sport North director of high performance Simone Lamarche will be on hand to announce this year’s recipient of a cash award, which creates opportunities for young people who lack the financial means or opportunity to get involved in playing organized sports.…. Spruce Kings GM Mike Hawes will receive a King's Coronation Medal Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Courtyard Marriott presented by Prince George-Cariboo MP Doherty for outstanding service to the community.
