Revenge was sweet indeed for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
And it did not take long for the Kings to make amends for their 5-2 loss to the Cowichan Valley Capitals last weekend in Duncan.
They scored two power-play goals in the first period and added one at even strength, then let goalie Logan Neaton and their team defence do the rest in a 3-0 win in their first home game of 2019 in front of a crowd of 1,110 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Mike Vandekamp's Capitals got into trouble early when they were handed a delay-of-game bench penalty before the opening puck drop. Patrick Cozzi made them pay 1:21 into the penalty when he scored his seventh goal of the season.
Nick Poisson made it a 2-0 count, 9:31 into the game, when he hooked up with Dustin Manz and Nick Bochen. That came five seconds into a slashing penalty handed to Caps' winger Cole Broadhurst.
Ben Brar finished off the scoring at even strength, 4:28 into the second period. It was Brar's team-leading 24th goal of the season and it came a day after the Kings announced the 20-year-old winger has come to terms on an NCAA scholarship agreement to attend Merrimack College.
Neaton, a 20-year-old UMass-Lowell recruit, blocked 22 shots for his second shutout of the season. The Kings outshot Cowichan Valley 38-22.
The win moved the Spruce Kings (26-11-2-2) back into sole possession of first overall in the B.C. Hockey League as they crept one point ahead of the Chilliwack Chiefs, who lost 4-3 Friday in Coquitlam.
The Spruce Kings will meet the Chiefs in Chilliwack on Sunday (2 p.m. start). The Kings will board the bus for Chilliwack today and will meet up with newly-acquired forwards Lucas Vanroboys (traded Friday from Cowichan Valley) and Nick Wilson (added from the junior B Richmond Sockeyes).
