It certainly wasn’t pretty but the Prince George Spruce Kings got the job done.
Locked in a scoreless draw heading into the third period Saturday against the Chilliwack Chiefs, the same team they beat handily 5-1 the previous night, there was no sense of panic on the Spruce Kings’ bench.
They did their best to take over the game in the final 20 minutes but the Chiefs refused to go away quietly. The visitors came out of it one goal shy, losing 2-1, and in the process put the fear of doubt into the defending B.C. Hockey League Coastal Conference champions.
All the scoring happened in the third period. Sam Kozlowski and Patrick Cozzi had the Kings goals. Kevin Wall struck for the Chiefs.
Kozlowski is in his last season of junior before he makes the jump to U.S. college hockey next season at RIT in Rochester, N.Y. The 20-year-old from Delta was acquired Tuesday in a trade that sent the rights to forward Ethan O’Rourke and future considerations to the Chiefs.
Kozlowski’s first week with his new team could not have played out much better, as he scored in both games to help the Kings get off to 2-0 start.
“It’s been an awesome experience, I really enjoy it here so far – I love the guys and the coaching staff has been awesome,” said Kozlowski, who opened the scoring Saturday on the power play when he put in the rebound of a Liam Watson-Brawn point shot, 4:52 into the third period.
“It was a hard-fought battle for the first 40 and in the last 20 we just played it simple and got pucks to the net and I think that’s how we won. This team has plenty of depth and it’s just really fun to play with these guys.”
Cozzi doubled the lead 6:13 into the final period, collaborating on a 2-on-1 with Nick Poisson. Poisson fed the pass across to the right side and Cozzi cruised in and delayed his shot, waiting for the hole to open up behind goalie Mathieu Caron. It was the first of the season for Cozzi, one of 13 returning Kings from last year’s BCHL finalists.
Wall’s second goal of the weekend came on a Chilliwack power play with 4:45 left. Logan Neaton made the first save but kicked out a rebound to Wall and he slipped the puck into the open side before the Kings’ goalie could get across to cover up.
The shot count favoured the Kings, 37-23.
The Chiefs had a few sniffs at the net in the late stages but Neaton was flawless the rest of the way, picking up his second career BCHL victory, allowing just two goals in the two weekend games.
Brian Maloney has just seven players back from the Chiefs team he inherited after the Spruce Kings eliminated Chilliwack in the first round of the BCHL playoffs. Maloney, a former Chiefs captain, replaced Jason Tatarnic as head coach and guided the RBC Cup hosts to the national championship, nearly two months after they lost that opening series to Prince George.
“It’s a new group with lots of new faces and we’re just trying to teach them how to defend, really, and I thought they did that tonight,” said Maloney, whose assistant is Cam Keith, who took the Trail Smoke Eaters to the Interior Conference final last year.
“The next step will be creating more offence, but if we can start defending like that I like our chances. (The Spruce Kings) are a heck of a squad and will be one of the powerhouses in the league this year. They’ve got a lot of returnees, and we’ve got to feel good about it. I liked our compete level. This was a good character test for lots of these guys, who haven’t been around this league or this atmosphere.”
Guilty of trying to stick-check the speedy Kings too often in Friday’s game, in the rematch the Chiefs tightened up their zone defence and took away a lot of the ice, giving the partisan crowd of 823 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena little to cheer about for two periods.
“Both teams played well defensively in the first (period), there wasn’t a lot of ice out there and they did a better job with some gap control through the neutral zone,” said Spruce Kings head coach Adam Maglio.
“We started turning some pucks over and it was a little bit sloppy. That team is young this year but they work hard and playing back-to-back games, they’re never going to be the same games and I think it’s good learning for us. You’ve got to bring it each night.
“Sam certainly helped our power play tonight and I know that’s going to be a big piece for him, contributing on the man advantage for us. He’s a smart player and he’s got a good shot and good footspeed.”
The Spruce Kings host the Coquitlam Express, Kozlowski’s former team, in a two-game set at RMCA this Friday and Saturday.
