Spruce Kings Fall to Capitals Late
The Prince George Spruce Kings saw a tied game late in the third period get away as the Cowichan Valley Capitals scored three times in the final 99 seconds to win 5-2 on Friday night at the Cowichan Community Centre.
The Capitals opened the scoring at 7:25 of the first period as Ryder Dembo had time and space to walk into the slot off the rush, snapping his shot past Colin Reay to make it 1-0.
The Spruce Kings killed off three penalties in the opening 20 minutes as they were outshot 16-7.
Early in the second period, River Arnason worked the puck across the blueline and dropped a pass to Evan Bellamy. As Bellamy worked down the left side to the bottom of the circle, he found Ozbej Rep with a pass across the crease to tie the game. It was Rep’s third of the season.
Just over five minutes later, Trace Frieden gave the Capitals the lead again off a Spruce Kings turnover, as he got a pass in the slot from Taite Donkin to score his third of the year. After 40 the Spruce Kings trailed 2-1 on the scoreboard and 32-19 on the shot clock.
Prince George would be able to draw even once again as Rep scored his second of the night, this time driving down the middle to receive a pass from Jackson Froysland, as Bellamy picked up his second assist.
As the game looked like it could be headed to overtime, a lengthy shift in the defensive zone saw Tyler Rowland of the Capitals sneak down off the blueline and take a pass from Frieden to beat Reay and make it 3-2 with 1:39 remaining.
The Spruce Kings couldn’t get the goaltender out for the extra attacker off the following faceoff, and Gavin Rocha made it 4-2 with 59 seconds left as his shot deflected off the glove of a Spruce King and past Reay.
Hunter Yanick iced the game into an empty net with just over eight seconds left.
The Spruce Kings penalty kill went 4 for 4 on the night.
These two teams will battle again on Saturday night at the Cowichan Community Center as the Spruce Kings wrap up their 5-game road trip. You can catch the action on FloHockey or Mixlr.