For whatever reason, home ice has not been kind this season to the Prince George Spruce Kings.
They've won just six of 23 games at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena and were disappointed again last weekend when one of their BCHL Mainland Division rivals, the Surrey Eagles, came north and beat the Kings 4-3 Friday and 4-1 Saturday to move seven points ahead of Prince George.
That doesn't bode well for the defending BCHL champions, who have just 16 regular season games left to try to lock up one of the four divisional playoff spots to avoid having to play outside of their own division in the first round if they do indeed qualify for the postseason.
The Kings (14-23-2-3-0) are in Salmon Arm tonight to play the Silverbacks (22-18-1-1-0, fourth in the Interior Division) and revenge will be on the minds of the Kings, who lost 1-0 to the Silverbacks on Oct. 12 at RMCA.
After putting together a three-game winning streak to end 2019, the Silverbacks have lost three of their last four games.
The Spruce Kings will have a quick turnaround between games, with the Langley Rivermen visiting them at RMCA for their last regular season encounter on Friday. The Kings have won all five previous meetings with the Rivermen. The teams will meet again for two games in Kitimat, Feb. 15 and 16.
The Kings will be wearing throwback Prince George Mohawks jerseys on Friday to commemorate the Mohawks' legacy as a Canadian intermediate hockey power in the '50s, '60s and '70s. It's the only remaining home game for Prince George in January.
After that, Kings fans will have just four games left to watch their team at RMCA - Feb. 5 (Wenatchee), Feb. 7 (Merritt) and Feb. 21-22 (Coquitlam).
