It’s been over four years since the Prince George Spruce Kings gave up nine goals against a B.C. Hockey League (BCHL) opponent.
On Wednesday night (Jan. 29), the red, white and blue suffered a 9-2 beating by the Trail Smoke Eaters, dropping their third straight on a six-game road trip through the Mainland and Interior Divisions.
This was the first time Prince George allowed nine pucks get by them since Dec. 18, 2015 when they lost 9-1 on the road in Nanaimo.
Jett Alexander is given last night’s loss between the pipes, his first start in four games, but was pulled after letting in six goals on 19 shots all before 5:30 into the second period.
Carter Woodside replaced the veteran goaltender for the remainder of the contest, stopping 18 of 21 from the fourth-best team in the league so far.
It was a surprisingly busy Wednesday night in the BCHL! There were four games, and the home team skated away victorious in all of them.
— BC Hockey League (@GoBCHL) January 30, 2020
Catch the highlights in #BCHLin60 presented by @ChevroletCanada! pic.twitter.com/wVl409FiMd
Corey Cunningham scored both Spruce Kings’ markers, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his Junior ‘A’ career.
The Prince George product and team scoring leader potted his first of the night 40 seconds into the middle frame, cutting the first intermission deficit to 3-1.
His next goal came off a pass from Nick Bochen at 8:14 of the same stanza, who also hit 20 on Wednesday in the assist column for the 2019-20 campaign.
Cunningham’s second of the night, however, came after Trail scored three unanswered goals to make it 6-2 on the board.
The Smoke Eaters grabbed one more before the second intermission and followed with two more in a four-minute span before the final buzzer sounded on a 9-2 final.
The orange and black had seven different goal-scorers, but forward Braden Costello was the star of the night with four assists.
The ‘Kings drop their regular-season record to 16-27-2-3 with 10 games left and only four spots remaining for the BCHL playoffs.
Two more tilts are left on the road swing for Prince George, starting in Vernon on Friday (Jan. 31, 7 p.m.) and in West Kelowna Saturday (Feb. 1, 6 p.m.).
The Spruce Kings return home for two games on Feb. 5 to host Wenatchee and Feb. 7 against Merritt.
