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Spruce Kings part of five-team BCHL logjam

Final weekend of the season will decide playoff positions
spruce-kings-ty-gagno
Ty Gagno has 17 goals and 36 points in 40 games this season for the Prince George Spruce Kings. He and the Kings wrap up the regular season this weekend in Cranbrook.

The Prince George Spruce Kings will board the bus Thursday morning for the 9 1/2-hour ride to Cranbrook to play their final two games of the regular season Friday and Saturday.

Depending on how the final weekend of the B.C. Hockey League season shakes out, the Spruce Kings could finish as high as third place or as low as seventh in the Interior Conference.

The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (27-18-4-2-0) could stake their claim on third with a win at home tonight over the Penticton Vees. Salmon Arm has three games left in the season and is two points ahead of West Kelowna, Prince George and Vernon, who rank fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, one point ahead of Wenatchee. All but Salmon Arm are down to heir last two games.

Nailing down consecutive wins against the second-place Bucks (35-13-1-3-0) this weekend would give the Kings (26-20-5-1-0) some traction heading into the playoffs. They need to finish at least in fourth to lock up the right to host the first two games of the first round of the playoffs at Kopar Memorial Arena next weekend.

“It’s pretty wild, it’s good that we get to play some meaningful games going into playoffs, it’s good prep,” said Spruce Kings head coach Alex Evin.

The West Kelowna Warriors (26-20-6-0-0) play Merritt and Salmon Arm this weekend. The Vernon Vipers (26-20-2-4-0) will face Penticton Friday and Merritt on Saturday, while the Wenatchee Wild (27-22-1-2-0) wrap up their season with games this weekend at home against Trail.

If teams are tied in points at the end of the season, total wins is the next deciding factor, followed by head-to-head regular season results, then whichever team has a better goals-for, goals-against ratio in games against each other.