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Goalie's gamble pays off

Spruce Kings cancel Express 6-1, complete weekend sweep

Logan Neaton considers himself a conservative goalie, not the roaming type who strays far from his crease to play the puck.
He knows his own capabilities as the Prince George Spruce Kings’ starting netminder and he would admit puck-handling is not one of his strong suits.
But every so often the opportunity to become a wanderer presents itself, like it did about 13 minutes into Saturday’s game against the Coquitlam Express at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Trailing 1-0, the Express came close to firing the equalizer when Dustin Manz mishandled the puck at the far blueline and Express centre Cooper Connell intercepted. He chipped the puck ahead with his stick and took off on a breakaway, but before Connell could catch up to the sliding puck goalie Neaton raced out of his crease past the ringette line and got to it first. Neaton whiffed on the clearing attempt and the puck landed on Joshua Bruce’s stick but his rushed shot at the empty net went wide.
It was one of only a handful of misadventures in an otherwise uneventful night for Neaton, who stopped 23 of 24 shots as the Kings cruised to a 6-1 victory in front of a crowd of 926.
“That probably wasn’t my smartest decision. Looking back I probably should have taken the breakaway against, but my defenceman did a great job of filling in behind me and making a big play for us especially early in the game,” said Neaton. “I read the play and I knew we’d probably be meeting at the same time and I ended up getting the puck but their second forechecker ended up beating me to the loose puck. If there’s no defenceman there he might have had an easier shot.”
Manz scored two goals to pace the Kings’ attack. Liam Watson-Brawn, Patrick Cozzi, Ben Poisson and Nick Poisson were the Prince George goal-scorers. Jared Power scored the Express goal on a shorthanded breakaway, spoiling Neaton’s bid for his fourth B.C. Hockey League shutout with less than five minutes to play.
The shutout would have been a nice addition to the three he’s already collected in his first BCHL season but the win, the Kings’ second of the weekend against Coquitlam, was what’s important to Neaton.
“We’re coming down the stretch here, every point’s important. Us and Chilliwack are in very tight quarters so for me it’s all about wins and if one happened to get by me, it is what it is,” said Neaton, a 20-year-old native of Brighton, Mich.

“Especially with how the points are now, you can’t let any game slip away.”
The win moved the second-place Spruce Kings (29-12-1-5) 10 points ahead of the third-place Express (25-19-2-2) in the Mainland Division standings. The Kings remained five points behind the first-overall Chilliwack Chiefs, 2-1 shootout winners Saturday in Wenatchee.
The Kings struck first, 3:20 into the game, when Watson-Brawn left his point position and went after a loose puck in the corner and while standing near the goal line found a sliver of net behind goalie Clay Stevenson.
Nick Poisson added to the tally midway through the second period deflecting a shot in off an Express defender while standing behind the net. Five minutes later Cozzi scored with a 20-foot shot after a face-off win in the Coquitlam end.
The teams started to show their dislike for each other in the latter stages of the second period. The Spruce Kings successfully killed off a lengthy two-man disadvantage and then it was Coquitlam’s turn in the third period. The Express took six straight minor penalties and the Kings cashed in with three power-play goals.
Manz started it when he drove to the net and was rewarded when Dylan Anhorn fired a hard pass out of the corner into the slot that kicked off the skate of Manz and trickled in.
The Kings scored their prettiest goal of the night with seven seconds left in a 5-on-3 advantage, a tic-tac-toe passing play from Nick Bochen to Ben Brar that Manz finished with a wrist shot after Brar found him in the slot. After Power went to his backhand to score on Neaton, Ben Poisson capped the scoring in the final minute, picking up his 18th of the season, blasting a one-timer from the right side, set up by defenceman Layton Ahac.
Shots were 38-24 in favour of the Kings.
“I thought the group responded well today, just a couple minor adjustments and we stuck to it,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. “Where it counted in the third, we stayed disciplined and stuck to our game plan. When you put yourself in good spots and work hard for it, good things happen and we earned that tonight.”
Express head coach and general manager Jason Fortier said his players didn’t match the intensity they showed Friday coming back from a 3-1 deficit in their 4-3 shootout loss to a Spruce Kings team they could face in the first round of playoffs in early March.
“You’ve got to make your own breaks and unfortunately we had a good first (period) and didn’t answer back,” said Fortier “They’re a good team and they have a high work ethic and if you don’t match their work ethic you’re not going to have success against them. If you slow down against this team they’re going to hurt you.
“Unfortunately in that third period I don’t think any of those should have gone in. As a coach you kind of get lost for words when your team doesn’t step up and put their body on the line and block shots, especially when other teams do it like these guys do it to us. They make the power play very tough.
“We’ve already beaten them, we know we can beat them in the playoffs if that’s a matchup. I think we’ll be a lot more robust in the playoffs.”
The Kings are at home this weekend for two games against the Surrey Eagles.


Saturday’s BCHL summary
Express 1 at Spruce Kings 6
First Period
1. Prince George, Watson-Brawn 2 (Lee, N.Poisson) 3:20
Penalties – Cameron Coq (holding) 4:35, Connell Coq (tripping) 6:45. Kimens Coq (roughing), Keranen PG (roughing) 15:26. Donaldson PG (holding) 15:39.
Second Period
2. Prince George, N.Poisson 12 (B.Poisson), 10:35
3. Prince George, Cozzi 11 (Brar, Bochen) 15:45
Penalties – Danol Coq (roughing), Anhorn PG (roughing) 13:02, Gregga Coq (roughing), Farrell Coq (misconduct), Manz PG (roughing), Coyle PG (misconduct), B.Poisson PG (unsportsmanlike conduct) 16:14, Watson-Brawn PG (roughing) 16:49.
Third Period
4. Prince George, Manz 25 (Anhorn, Brar) 11:20 (pp)
5. Prince George, Manz 26 (Brar, Bochen) 14:22 (pp)
6. Coquitlam, Power 8 (Wildauer, Santalucia)15:14 (sh)
7. Prince George, B.Poisson 12 (Ahac, Cozzi) 19:35 (pp)
Penalties – Kimens Coq (slashing) 10:40, Danol Coq (goaltender interference) 12:28, Cameron Coq (slashing) 13:22, Santalucia Coq (holding) 15:59. Walton Coq (slashing) 18:28.
Shots on goal by
Coquitlam    6    10    8    -24
Prince George    6    15    17    -38
Goal – Coquitlam, Stevenson (L,12-10-0-1); Prince George, Neaton (W,25-7-0-3).
Referees – Kevin Crowell, Evan McKinnon; Linesmen – Tyler Garden, Anthony Maletta.
Attendance – 926.