Finally, after 23 years of chasing down their puck dreams in the B.C. Hockey League, the Prince George Spruce Kings are provincial junior A hockey champions.
They completed a remarkable playoff run to the Fred Page Cup with a 3-1 victory over the Vernon Vipers to complete a four-game championship series sweep Wednesday night in Vernon.
The Prince George power play proved a deadly difference in ending the Vipers’ season, scoring on two of its first three opportunities for a 2-0 lead. The first came from Nolan Welsh, who parked himself in front of the net and was perfectly positioned when defenceman Layton Ahac directed a shot-pass which hit the blade of Welsh’s stick. That came after a brief 5-on-3 power play and Vipers defenceman Landon Fuller was still in the box serving a tripping call.
Kings head coach Adam Maglio wanted a better start from his troops after getting outshot by wide margins in Games 2 and 3 of the series and the Kings responded, outshooting Vernon 9-4 in the opening period. They appeared to have better skating legs and offered the Vipers very little skating room, clogging the neutral zone effectively and that set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Kings kept their lead intact but not without a little excitement around their own net when Vernon defenceman took the puck in deep and fired a shot that went off the leg of goalie Logan Neaton and grazed the post. The puck was left unguarded just outside the crease until Neaton dove to smother it. Nick Poisson nailed the post at the other end with a backhander late in the period.
Fuller was off for interference when the Kings made it a 2-0 count. Patrick Cozzi set up Ben Poisson for his 13th goal of the playoffs. Poisson, who scored the overtime winner in Game 3, teed off on Cozzi’s pass from the top of the face-off circle.
The Vipers cut the lead in half on their third power play of the game, 12:42 into the third period. Teddy Wooding let go a hard shot from the circle that fooled Neaton.
Neaton bailed his team out in a big way with 4:22 left to preserve the lead when he kicked out his leg to deny Jesse Lansdell, whose shot came from point-blank range.
The Vipers came close a few more times with the goalie out in the dying minutes. Connor Marritt had the best chance to tie it but missed the net with an open shot. The Kings iced it with an empty-net goal from Patrick Cozzi with 40 seconds left.
The Kings went 16-1 in the playoffs. Their one loss came on March 5 in the third game of the opening round when they lost 3-0 in Coquitlam. They dispatched the Express in five games, then reeled off back-to-back sweeps over the Chilliwack Chiefs and Victoria Grizzlies. The Kings finished the regular season second overall in the 17-team league with a 39-13-1-5 record, one point behind Chilliwack.
They will move on to the Doyle Cup best-of-seven series against the Brooks Bandits, which starts Friday, April 26 in Brooks, Alta. Both teams will advance to the national junior A hockey championship, May 11-19 in Brooks. Just once in their BCHL history have the Spruce Kings reached the national championship. In 2007 as the host team of what was known as the Royal Bank Cup they made it as far as the final, losing 3-1 to the Aurora Tigers.
BCHL commissioner Chris Hebb, in his first season since taking over the reins from John Grisdale, presented the Fred Page Cup to Ben Poisson, the Kings captain.
LOOSE PUCKS: Kings defenceman Liam Watson-Brawn returned to action after missing three games with an upper-body injury… The Kings went 2-for-5 on the power play while Vernon was 1-for-3… The shots ended up 19-18 for the Vipers… The Kings will be traveling home today with the cup.
BCHL final
Fred Page Cup championship
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS VS. VERNON VIPERS
(Spruce Kings win best-of-seven series 4-0)
Game 4
Tuesday’s summary
Spruce Kings 3 at Vipers 1
First Period
1. Prince George, Welsh 4 (Ahac, Coyle) 9:28 (pp)
Penalties – Judson Ver (tripping) 6:23, Fuller Ver (tripping) 7:55, Manz PG (slashing), Lansdell Ver (slashing) 20:00.
Second Period
2. Prince George, B.Poisson 13 (Cozzi, Coyle) 5:14 (pp)
Penalties – Keranen PG (hooking) 0:17, Fuller Ver (interference) 3:34.
Third Period
3. Vernon, Wooding 6, 12:42 (pp)
4. Prince George, Cozzi 2 (Brar) 19:20 (en)
Penalties – Kowalski Ver (tripping) 6:26, Zablocki Ver (high-sticking) 8:39, Lee PG (tripping) 12:08, Judson Ver (misconduct) 19:20.
Shots on goal by
Prince George9 4 5 -18
Vernon 4 9 6 -19
Goal – Prince George, Neaton (W,16-1); Vernon, Porter (L,12-9);
Power plays – PG: 2-5; Ver: 1-3.
Referees – Trevor Nolan, Troy Paterson; Linesmen – Dustin Minty, Cody Wanner.
Attendance – Not available.
Scratches – Prince George: D Jason Chu (healthy), F Tyler Schleppe (healthy), F Spencer DenBeste (healthy), F Craig MacDonald (healthy); Vernon: D Will Dow-Kenny (healthy), F Nicholas Cherkowski (healthy), F Elan Bar-Lev-Wise (healthy).
