On paper, there isn't much separating the Prince George Spruce Kings from their first-round B.C. Hockey League playoff opponents, the Langley Rivermen.
The season series was almost a dead heat. The Rivermen won five games, while the Spruce Kings won four. So far in the playoffs, each team had one win in Langley. The Kings took the Game 1 nailbiter 1-0 on Tuesday and Langley scored a 4-2 victory Wednesday night.
All things considered, Spruce Kings goalie Jesse Jenks says the matchup on the ice is as close as it gets. But looking up at the stands in their respective home buildings, the 20-year-old Kings goalie says it's no contest. The Kings are back tonight playing the Rivermen in front of a home crowd at the Coliseum and Jenks can't wait to feel the noise.
"With our fans, I think we have a big advantage coming back here -- coming back into the Coliseum will be amazing, hopefully we can get a good crowd out for the game (tonight)," said Jenks, a native of Crofton, on Vancouver Island.
"To be honest, I think we had just as many fans (in Langley) as they did. I had a few quite fans there and I know the guys from Vancouver had a lot of family there and a few diehard fans from Prince George drove down. When we scored, it was almost as loud as when they scored."
The midweek games at the Langley Events Centre drew just 315 spectators on Tuesday and attendance was slightly better Wednesday, with 415 seats occupied. The Rivermen averaged 839 per game in the regular season, 11th best in the league, while the Spruce Kings' attendance at the Coliseum averaged 1,026, seventh-best in the BCHL.
Jenks has been playing so well in the series he's been given the nod over Alex Brooks-Potts to start Game 3 tonight. Jenks began the series with a 34-save shutout and turned away 27 shots in Game 2. Two of Langley's goals came on power plays in the second period and two were a result of deflections. Jenks wasn't on the ice when Kevan Kilistoff scored Langley's fourth goal Wednesday into an empty net.
"I feel comfortable and confident out there, the last few games of the regular season and in the playoffs team has really buckled down defensively and that helps me out and it helps (Brooks-Potts) out too," said Jenks.
"The first one, there was a bunch of people in front and it went off somebody's skate and went to (Ben Butcher) back door and he potted that one, and the third one was going at least two feet wide of the net and it went off someone's skate and I didn't see it until it was right beside me."
The Kings have yet to score a power-play goal in 12 opportunities this series and planned to work on that aspect of their game in the morning skate today.
"Our power play looked good, we had a lot of good chances and (Bo) Didur made a lot of good saves," said Jenks. "They have a really strong penalty kill as well as a strong power play and we need to get the puck moving around a bit more and get them spread out and we should be able to get more chances this weekend.
"Our work ethic for both the games was good, we didn't give them any easy chances or any easy goals. It was good to see everyone battling and everyone's working hard for each other."
Jenks, an Alaska-Fairbanks NCAA Division 1 recruit, finished his second BCHL season with a 16-16-1 record with a 3.57 goals-against average and .902 save percentage. The Kings will continue to ride his hot hand.
"It's Jesse's ball to run with right now -- he was really good in both games, especially that first game when he made 34 saves and should have been awarded the first star," said Kings general manager Mike Hawes.
"None of the goals (Wednesday) night were his fault and he's been tremendous. He's a good enough goalie in this league he can be a difference-maker in the series. We're playing well defensively and limiting Langley's chances and we've created some offensive chances. But we need to find a way to capitalize on those chances and we'll lean on our top two lines this weekend to produce offensively."
That puts the onus on the line of Chad Staley, Michael Buoninconti and Jeremiah Luedtke, and the Brogan O'Brien-Braiden Epp-Jarryd Leung combination. Hawes would also like to see more secondary scoring from Marco Ballarin, Cole Todd and Jake LeBrun and for Daniel Nachbaur to add to his two playoff points.
Playing on the road is difficult and some Kings followers are content the series is tied, but Kings head coach Dave Dupas says his players should not be thinking they've gained the advantage in the series by winning just one on the road.
"We can't afford to have any sort of mindset where we're happy with losing any of the games because they add up quickly and all of a sudden you're in trouble," said Dupas. "We haven't done our job until we win four. We had an advantage when we won the first one and we kind of gave it back. We scored three goals in two games and that's not enough. We're defending well enough but if we only score a goal-and-a-half a game we're not going to win the series."
Langley blocked a lot of shots in both games. Up front, the Rivermen's top line of Marcus Vela, Hunter Anderson and Gage Torrel dominated the ice at times Wednesday and they were rewarded on the scoreboard.
"We did have some great chances to score but we're running into a hot goaltender (Didur)," said Dupas. "Either that or we're just not burying them. We have to get shots to the net and when they get there we have traffic".
"Vela, Anderson and Torrel are not only their top line but they're huge guys and once they get a cycle going it's difficult to stop them. We have to make sure we get pucks out quick and make sure they can't establish a cycle, and for the most part we've been doing a good job of that."
Defenceman Adam Clements (upper-body injury) is the only Spruce King sidelined for the weekend games. Game time tonight is 7 p.m.
