Spruce Kings Clinch Coastal East!

The Prince George Spruce Kings won their first division banner since 2018 with a 5-2 victory over the Coquitlam Express on Sunday afternoon on Kopar Memorial Arena.

The win secured the Coastal East Division and set up a first round matchup with the Langley Rivermen.

Cole Bishop opened the scoring for the Express at 15:39 on a deflection, but the Spruce Kings responded at 17:57 as Dracen Campbell’s 5th of the season beat Ryan Parker to tie the game.

The second period kicked off with a good forecheck by Lucas Busch, who popped the puck free on the end wall, which bounced off Ben Vreugdenhil right to Ryan Wachtel who hammered it top shelf to take a 2-1 lead.

The Express responded with Cooper Wilson scoring at 5:36 as his shot from the right circle beat Ryder Green to tie the game.

Prince George would score on the power play just 1:21 later as Ozbej Rep found Marcus Lougheed who’s shot was deflected by Ben Vreugdenhil for his 11th of the season.

Before the midway mark of the frame, Lougheed pushed the puck straight forward on the draw, and sent it across to Tai Ushio to tap it home for a 4-2 lead.

In the third, after a penalty kill, the Spruce Kings scored at 5:48 after Dominic Szczygiel got the puck to Mathis Laplante who put it off the post, but Spencer Masters batted it out of mid-air for his 9th of the year to complete the scoring.

The Spruce Kings head down to the lower mainland for a playoff preview on Friday against the Langley Rivermen and Sunday afternoon against the Surrey Eagles.

Playoff ticket information to come soon.