Spruce Kings suffer late-game collapse

If only playoff hockey games lasted 55 minutes and 30 seconds, the Prince George Spruce Kings would have left the rink smiling Friday night in Trail.

That last 4:29 of the game was enough to make them cringe.

They lost their 1-0 lead over the Trail Smoke Eaters at that point when Matt Osadick scored on a rebound, and 85 seconds later Trail captain Philippe Lapointe found a loose puck in front of the Spruce Kings goal and blasted a shot in behind goalie Jett Alexander.

That was all the Smokies needed to clinch a 2-1 victory and draw first blood in the best-of-seven B.C. Hockey League opening round playoff series.

The Spruce Kings had a couple penalties to kill to start the game but withstood the pressure facing one of the top offensive teams in the league. Trail got caught taking a pair of minors nine seconds apart late in the opening period and the Kings took advantage of the 5-on-3. 

Nick Bochen connected on a onetimer fed to him by defence partner Mason Waite. The goal came 17:26 into the period and that’s the way it stayed until Osadick finally gave the partisan crowd of 1,933 at Cominco Arena a reason to cheer.

The play of 20-year-old goalie Alexander and the Kings penalty-killers were what held the Smoke Eaters in check for so long. Alexander made 35 saves while his team was outshot 37-26 and the Kings stymied their opponents while killing off all six penalty situations.

“We played a pretty good game but the result sucks,” said Kings head coach Alex Evin. “We’re a young group and for a lot of kids this was their first playoff game. Hopefully we’ll learn from it.”

Logan Terness, the BCHL’s rookie of the year, made 25 stops for his first BCHL playoff victory.

Lapointe’s gamewinner was set up by Kent Johnson, the BCHL scoring champion with 41 goals and 101 points, who earlier this week won the league’s MVP award. Johnson edged Kings winger Nick Poisson in the voting for the Bob Fenton Memorial Trophy as most sportsmanlike player. Poisson returned to the lineup after missing the last four games of the regular season with a lower-body injury.

Game 2 goes Saturday night in Trail (7 p.m., CFIS 93.1 FM). The series switches to Prince George for Game 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday. Tickets are on sale at the Kings office at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. If Game 5 is needed it would also be played at RMCA. If it goes beyond that, Game 6 and 7 would be played in Trail next Saturday and Sunday.