After playing much of the first two months of their B.C. Hockey League schedule on the road, the Prince George Spruce Kings are about to find out if a stretch of home cooking will cure their scoreboard woes.
They've lost four straight away from the friendly confines of Kopar Memorial Arena and were outscored a combined 26-7 over that stretch. On Friday, the Spruce Kings play host to the West Kelowna Warriors in the first of a two-game weekend set.
Just four of the Kings’ 13 games so far have been played on home ice and their 3-7-3 overall record is a reflection of all those long bus rides. They’ve dropped to seventh place in the Interior Conference and now face the challenge of taking on a Warriors team that’s off to a 9-4-2 start, good enough for third place in the division.
The teams met Oct. 13 in West Kelowna and the Warriors won that one 3-2 in overtime.
Three of the eight games the Spruce Kings played in October were considered home games and one of them, a 7-2 loss to the Nanaimo Clippers, came at the BCHL Showcase in Seattle.
The Kings now sport at 2-1-2 home record and are 1-6-1 on the road.
Six of their next eight games this month will be played at Kopar.
Left winger Killian McGregor-Bennett leads the Spruce Kings in scoring with six goals and five assists for 11 points in 13 games, followed closely by a pair of BCHL newcomers – right winger JR Perdion (4-5-9) and defenceman Max Ranstrom (3-6-9).
