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Kings come back to beat Chiefs

Needing just a point to clinch second place overall in the B.C. Hockey League, the Prince George Spruce Kings outshot and outplayed the Chiliwack Chiefs by a wide margin Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena but couldn't seem to put them away.
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Prince George Spruce Kings forward Dustin Manz and Chilliwack Chiefs defender Max Wutzke battle for the bouncing puck while Chiefs goaltender Nolan Hildebrand keeps a close eye on the play on Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. – Citizen photo by James Doyle

Needing just a point to clinch second place overall in the B.C. Hockey League, the Prince George Spruce Kings outshot and outplayed the Chiliwack Chiefs by a wide margin Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena but couldn't seem to put them away.

Coming off a 2-1 win over the Spruce Kings Sunday in Chilliwack which gave them home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs as regular-season champions, the Chiefs had nothing riding on Friday's game as far as the standings are concerned.

They chose to scratch two veteran defencemen and six everyday forwards to rest them up for the playoffs. The Spruce Kings iced a full lineup, knowing what was at stake.

But their plans for a victory celebration started to fray when Chiefs' defenceman Colton Kitchen, a Prince George minor hockey product, let go a wrist shot on the power play that found the net through a screen to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead, 6:37 into the third period.

Willpower took over, and the Kings responded with three unanswered goals to cinch a 5-3 victory. Captain Ben Poisson tied it with a shot from the point, Ben Brar popped in his second of the night and team-leading 35th of the season on a rebound for the gamewinner at 17:33 and defenceman Dylan Anhorn joined the rush to score late in the game on a Kings' power play.

The win moved the Spruce Kings (38-13-1-5) within three points of the Chiefs (42-14-1-0) but with just one regular-season game left for both teams it's too late for Prince George to catch up.

"It's important to have home ice through a large portion of the playoffs and it's nice to clinch second throughout the league," said Kings general manager Mike Hawes. "It didn't go quite as planned but in the end they found a way to get it done.

"It was a tough one for us last weekend in Chilliwack. I thought we outchanced them and outplayed them and did everything but win the game, which was probably the biggest game of the year. It was letdown, no doubt, and it was nice to see them bounce back with the effort tonight. The effort was good throughout, we just struggled to score some goals and credit to Chilliwack, they battled hard with a young lineup tonight."

The Kings' veteran element was readily apparent in the first period and they were all over the Chiefs from the opening puck-drop and came out of the opening 20 minutes leading 2-0.

Lucas Vanroboys, a trade-deadline acquisition from the Cowichan Valley Capitals, opened the scoring with a shot from the slot on a 1-on-2 opportunity, using the Chiefs defenceman as a screen to sneak his shot past Nolan Hildebrand.

Brar scored his 34th of the season 12 minutes into the game, going wide across the crease as he tucked it in the open side.

The Chiefs and their affiliated players came back to tie it in the second period. Dawson Good, called up from the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds midget team, stole the puck in the neutral zone and fed it over to Jacques Bouquot, who completed the 2-on-1 rush with a tap-in behind Logan Neaton.

The tying goal came with eight minutes gone in the period. After a foiled wraparound from linemate Alexander Marrocco the puck was left in the crease for Cade Cavallini and the West Vancouver Academy prep team call-up banged it in past Neaton for his first BCHL goal.

The Kings outshot the Chiefs 47-14.

The Spruce Kings will finish second in the Mainland Division and will face the Coquitlam Express in a best-of-seven division semifinal series that starts next Friday. Tickets for that series are on sale at the Kings' office at RMCA.

The Chiefs, last year's junior A national champions, will take on the Langley Rivermen in their first-round matchup starting Friday in Chilliwack.

A season-high crowd of 1,572, which included the College Heights Secondary School drum line, turned out on fan appreciation night. The same teams meet again tonight to end the regular season.