Just when the Prince George Spruce Kings were showing signs they had what it took to extend their BC Hockey League winning streak to five games, they made one mistake and the Chilliwack Chiefs burned them for it.
A 3-on-2 rush provided the Chiefs the only goal they needed, a onetimer in the slot from Dwayne Jean Jr., set up on a pass from Nathan Morin that rippled the net behind goalie Ryder Green.
All of sudden, all that hard work the Spruce Kings brought to the table to contend with the top team in the Coastal Conference and give them all they could handle for most of Friday’s game vanished in the ether of a 6-4 defeat.
But for a while there it looked like the Spruce Kings were going to at least salvage a point for their fans in the crowd of 1,108 at Kopar Memorial Arena.
Down by two goals in the third period, they refused to quit and found a way to tie it up.
Captain Linden Makow was parked in the circle when he wired a shot in off the post to score the Kings second power-play goal of the night at the 8:17 mark. On the following shift, Nicolas Papineau had Chiefs on either side of him and as he skated towards the net he shoveled a pass to Ryan Wachtel, who banged in his second of the game.
But less that two minutes later the Kings got caught up ice and the Chiefs made them pay for it. They still had nine minutes left to try to get back on even terms after Jean Jr’s goal but the Chiefs locked it down like any good first place team would and Dustin Renas sealed it with an empty-net kiss, his second of the game.
“That team is on top of our division and it was a good game, we stayed in it the whole time and we made a couple mistakes that goals but I feel that we controlled the game for the most part and put up almost 40 shots on them,” said Wachtel, an 18-year-old New Jersey native.
“We just need to minimize our mistakes and be more dialed in t make up for them and be more engaged for the full 60 minutes.”
The Chiefs improved to 28-9-5-0 and with the loss the Spruce Kings (17-20-3-1) dropped one point further off the pace of the eighth-place Langley Rivermen (17-19-7-1). Langley lost 6-5 in overtime Friday in Surrey to gain a point and the Rivermen are now four points up on the Spruce Kings, who have two games in hand over Langley.
The Spruce Kings had it going from the get-go and earned full marks for being tied with the Chiefs after one period. They matched them on the scoreboard and nearly doubled the visitors on the shot clock, holding 19-11 edge heading into the break.
The Chiefs struck first. Renas, in his fifth game since joining Chilliwack from the Yorkton Terriers (SJHL), led a left wing rush and laid a backhander on Green. The Kings netminder got a piece of it but the puck dropped in behind into the net with 13 minutes gone.
The Spruce Kings’ power play delivered the equalizer. Brendan Gillmore fired off a shot from the point that was blocked by goalie Quentin Miller and Wachtel was all over the rebound. He got one shot away from close range that Miller blocked with his leg. The puck bounced back to Wachtel and the Princeton University recruit tucked it in for his third of the season.
The Spruce Kings controlled the puck for much of the rest of the period and generated extended periods of zone time. Near the end of the period Kazumo Sasaki was sprung on a breakaway pass from Trent Ballentyne but the Chiefs caught up to the Japanese import and he was unable to get a clean shot away.
“I didn’t like our start,” said Chiefs head coach and general manager Brian Maloney. “I thought we were kind of sleepy at the start and we’re playing a team that’s playing really well of late and obviously playing some desperate hockey lately and is a team fighting for a playoff spot.
“But then we started playing to our identity a bit. We’re usually a 200-foot team and we started to do that in the second half. It was sloppy junior hockey at its finest but at the end if the day it’s about getting the two points for us.”
Three goals in the second period gave the Chiefs some breathing room and a 4-1 lead.
It started with a Prince George power-play chance early in the second period that backfired on them in the worst way. They were on their breakout when Nathan Morin intercepted a cross-ice pass at centre ice and skated in alone to go forehand-backhand through the legs of Green for the go-ahead goal at 2:39.
A tip-in from Brendyn Van Oene made it a 3-1 count while the Chiefs were on a 4-on-3 power play 9:21 into the period and 84 seconds later Chilliwack’s top line connected when leading scorer Mateo Mrsic fed a goalmouth pass to Brady Milburn, who lit the lamp behind Green.
The Kings got one of those back just before the second intermission thanks to some hard work by Wachtel-Papineau-Will Moore forward trio. Moore had just missed a setup that trickled off his stick with nobody near him deep in the Chiefs’ end and the puck was going the other way when a Chief left it behind for Moore, who gained the zone and put the brakes on as he cut into the slot and he unleashed a toe-drag howitzer that found the net behind Miller for his 13th goal to cut the gap to 4-2.
“They’re a good team and I felt we traded chances both ways, and we had a couple breakdowns that led to goals but I think we’ll be able to bounce back (Saturday) night,” said the 20-year-old Moore, a native of Westfield, Ind., committed to RIT next season.
“Our confidence in the room is definitely high. We’re a tight group in the room that’s going to work together. (Miller’s) a good big goaltender but if we get enough pucks in traffic I think no one can handle it. At times we outplayed that team and I think we’ll get it done (Saturday) night.
“I think the fans were great tonight and it helps us a lot, the support’s awesome.”
The rematch is set for 6 p.m. Saturday and Maloney expects another difficult game.
“You can tell they’re playing hard, (head coach Brad) Tesink’s got them going pretty good,” said Maloney. “We’ve obviously played a lot of teams in our league and the Spruce Kings look good, they look like a playoff team and they deserve to be in the playoffs.”
LOOSE PUCKS: Spruce Kings goalie Charles-Edward Gravel was sick and was not available for Friday’s game. He’s won all four games he’s played for Prince George since joining the team Feb. 2 from the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League… Ben Polhill served as the backup to Green on Friday… Chilliwack signed their goalie Miller Jan. 6 from the Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL). The 20-year-old Montreal native was a fourth-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2023. In two seasons with the Quebec Remparts and Rimouski Oceanic Miller compiled a 36-21-1 record with a 2.58 goals-against average and .909 save percentage and three shutouts. Friday’s game was Miller’s third in a Chiefs uniform. In his other two BCHL games, both wins, he allowed only two goals… Chilliwack was one of the first and hardest hit teams to lose players to Canadian Hockey League teams. They’ve had eight players leave since the NCAA changed its eligibility rule to allow players with CHL experience to play US college hockey. The Spruce Kings lost five from their roster.
