It’s often said your best players must be your best players.
In the case of the Prince George Spruce Kings, it was a message well received.
JR Perdion led the charge with a goal and an assist lifting the Spruce Kings to a 5-3 victory over the Merritt Centennials in front of 701 fans at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
After a sluggish home opener, PG found their skating legs out shooting the Cents by a 17-5 margin in the first period, however, that did not come without some early adversity.
Zachary Losier opened the scoring for Merritt at 4:03 of the first blowing past a flat-footed Noah Lafromboise for a 1-0 lead.
Zachary Losier opens our Saturday Night scoring in Prince George! 🚨#BCHL | @BCHLCentennials pic.twitter.com/Cf0SZIfj7l
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) September 30, 2023
Just over four minutes later, Scott Cousins picked the Spruce Kings off the mat rifling a wrist shot past the glove side of Andrew Ballantyne tying the game at 1-1. The 19-year-old local product accepted a feed from Evan Bellamy who feathered into a seam past the Merritt defence.
The hometown kid, Scott Cousins gets Prince George even! 🎯#BCHL | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/cPx01xfX2J
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) September 30, 2023
In the second, PG continued to pick up steam, coming in waves on the forecheck against the Centennials.
Alexis Cournoyer collected his first of the season lifting a shot past Ballantyne for a 2-1 lead. Ten minutes later, an Owen Fancy holding call led to a Killian McGregor-Bennett power-play goal extending the hosts advantage to a pair.
However, Merritt provided some late push back prior to the intermission. A sharp angle shot by Aiden Lindblad found some room over the shoulder of Spruce Kings netminder Marcus Ouellet.
This came off the heels of a save-of-the-year candidate from Ouellet where he sprawled out and robbed Luke Melnik who was unable to convert into a yawning cage.
🛑 LARSENY IN PRINCE GEORGE!!! 🛑
Marcus Ouellet makes a miraculous save for an early Save-of-the-Year Candidate!#BCHL | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/88QAcWLVTf
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) September 30, 2023
Skogen Schrott and Perdion added to the PG lead in the third period while Ryan Spinale replied for Merritt.
The Spruce Kings (1-1-1) outshot the Centennials 42-29. PG went 1-for-5 on the power-play while Merritt was 1-for-3.
Both teams will play each other again October 10th from the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena in Merritt.
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