The Prince George Spruce Kings cooled off the red hot Cranbrook Bucks Saturday, Jan. 8, at Western Financial Place, giving the home team a 5-0 drubbing and getting revenge for their 1-0 overtime loss Friday.
Both teams are battling for fourth place in the Interior Conference standings of the BCHL.
The Bucks got into some penalty trouble in the first period, with three in a row, and the Spruce Kings’ Ty Gagno capitalizing on one of those power play chances. Killian McGregor-Bennett made it 2-0 a few minutes later. Both teams had 14 shots on goal in the first.
Cranbrook outshot their opponents in the second period 16-12, but Aaron Trotter made the stops in net for Prince George. The Spruce Kings got two past Nathan Airey in net for Cranbrook, making it 4-0 on goals by Rowan Miller and Luc Laylin.
Kolton Cousins notched a fifth goal for PG in the third period, and the Spruce Kings handed the Bucks their first ever shut-out loss on home ice. The Bucks outshot Prince George 36-32, but to no avail.
The Spruce Kings also move back into fourth place in the conference standings, with the Bucks holding fifth.
Prior to Saturday night’s loss, the Cranbrook Bucks were on a roll — 7-0-1 in their last eight games, including a 1-0 overtime thriller over Prince George in Cranbrook on Friday.
It was a bona fide goaltenders’ duel, as the score implies, between Nathan Airey for the Bucks and Jordan Fairley for Prince George.
The Bucks, as they are wont to do with their explosive offence, outshot their opponents 29-23, throughout three periods.
But Noah Quinn’s 13th of the season sealed it for the Bucks at the 1:21 mark of OT (Bauer Morrissey assisting). Final shot tally, 31-24.
It was the third shutout of the year for Nathan Airey, and his second straight on home ice. And Noah Quinn’s tally was his first OT goal of his BCHL career.
2,008 was the announced attendance on Friday, 1,963 on Saturday.
The Cranbrook Bucks’ next game is at home on Thursday, January 13, to play host to the Wenatchee Wild for the first time this season.