It’s a goaltender conundrum of epic portions for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The duo of Ryan Sanborn and Charlie Zolin had a night to forget in between the pipes allowing seven goals on 26 shots, during a 7-4 defeat to the Cranbrook Bucks in front of 906 fans at the Kopar Memorial Arena on Friday.
A pair of quick first period goals from Jack Silich and Tyler Wishart saw Zolin get the hook from PG bench boss Alex Evin just 5:31 into the contest.
Following the switch to Sanborn, the Spruce Kings found their offensive mojo in the latter half of the opening 20 minutes. A too many men on the ice penalty by the Bucks proved costly as Owen Goodbrand potted his seventh of the BCHL season, re-directing a point shot by Swedish blueliner Max Ranstrom.
JR Perdion notched his first of a pair at the 18:37 mark of the first, blasting a slap shot past the five-hole of Bucks netminder Braedyn Mcintosh to even the score at 2-2.
Cranbrook only needed 15 seconds to regain their lead to kick off the second period. A missed chance by PG led to a quick 2-on-1 transition rush where Tyler Wishart found Loke Sodergren on the far wing eventually beating Sanborn.
Six minutes later, an innocent looking shoot in by Malachi Frei from the Bucks bench inexplicably went off the glove of Sanborn and into the net adding insult to injury on an already tough night between the pipes.
At the tail end of a PG power-play, Perdion collected his second of the game blasting a shot from the far-point beating a screened Mcintosh to make it 4-3.
Please join us in Congratulating Amran Bhabra🥳🥳
As of his first shift tonight, he has now suited up in 200 career regular season games in the BCHL. All of which have been in a Spruce Kings jersey!
A Spruce Kings Legend👑 pic.twitter.com/Mi3LsLwrMN
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) February 3, 2024
However, the tide of the game changed dramatically after Vanderhoof product Linden Makow was assessed a five-minute charging major and a game misconduct following what appeared to be a clean hit on Bucks blueliner Nic Leggett.
Blake Cotton began the offensive fireworks for Cranbrook beating Sanborn clean, restoring the two-goal spread.
The Spruce Kings looked to get a momentous shot in the arm 54 seconds later as a shorthanded goal by Killian McGregor-Bennett lifted the crowd to its feet.
However, during the celebration head coach Alex Evin elected to put Zolin back in the net, a decision that later backfired.
A minute after that sequence, Cotton picked up his second power-play goal of the game as Trent Ballentyne and Zolin collided in the creasing leaving open a wide-open cage.
Jacob Fletcher then added a late single for the Bucks who improved to 16-22-2-0, seven points up on PG (12-21-3-0) for sixth place in the Interior Conference.
Zolin allowed four goals on nine shots in 22:37 seconds of action. Sanborn on the other hand, who relieved Zolin, ended up taking the loss after giving up three markers on 17 shots in 37 minutes.
Both teams play again tonight (Saturday) at 6pm from the Kopar Memorial Arena.
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