Chilliwack, here we come.
The Prince George Spruce Kings claimed the final playoff spot in the BCHL’s Coastal Conference after a 5-0 drubbing over the league-worst Powell River Kings in front of a crowd of 1,689 fans at the Kopar Memorial Arena on Sunday.
After getting an assist from the top-ranked Chilliwack Chiefs the night before, a 7-5 win against the Langley Rivermen, it was a win and your win proposition for the Spruce Kings.
An enviable spot when you consider they were eight points out of a playoff spot on February 2nd.
Nicolas Papineau opened the scoring for Prince George at 7:11 of the first period as a shot by Nick Metelkin deflected off the over ager and past Powell River goaltender Vincent Lamberti.
Nicolas Papineau has the icebreaker in PG!
Needing a win to sneak into the playoffs, he goes hard to the net and gets the bounce to give his team the lead.
🎙️ @KCAndo23 | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/JBsB3SP6i8
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) March 30, 2025
Tempers began to flare prior to the intermission as Powell River defenceman Calvin Beard targeted Spruce Kings defender Trent Ballentyne with four seconds remaining, sneaking in several punches with Ballentyne an unwilling combatant.
That drew the ire of fellow PG defenseman Isaac Holt who stuck up for his teammate by scrapping with Jace Harder.
After it was all said and done, Beard and Harder each received fighting majors and a game misconduct – Beard was also slapped with roughing and instigator penalties.
Despite not dropping his gloves, Ballentyne was assessed a fighting-major and a ten-minute misconduct while Holt was tossed from the game along with his fighting major.
Aidan Carolan notched his first BCHL goal in the second period as he sprung in on a 2-on-1 blasting a hard slap shot over the glove of Lamberti to double the Spruce Kings lead to 2-0.
Rookie forward Ryan Wachtel started the play with a pass that connected with Corson Maguire who returned the favour to his 19-year-old linemate.
What a time for your first in the BCHL!
Aidan Carolan buries off the rush for his first goal in the league in the biggest game of the year and PG is up 2-0.
🎙️ @KCAndo23 | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/N7U7xQwe6H
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) March 30, 2025
Powell River put up a brief push to begin the third period attempting to spoil the shutout bid for Spruce Kings netminder Charles Gravel. Niccolo Mansueto had the best chance to score but Gravel swept the puck away from the crease aiding in a Spruce Kings clear.
Frustrated and dismayed, Powell River once again came unglued in the discipline department allowing three power-plays goals in a span of 4:30.
Owen Goodbrand fired a hard shot low-glove side on Lamberti, picking the corner extending the PG lead to 3-0.
Brendan Giles of Powell River took his frustrations out on anyone wearing a blue jersey a little too much acquiring a five-minute major for cross-checking and game-misconduct.
On that man-advantage, Linden Makow and Kazumo Sasaki worked the puck around and located Brock Cummings parked in front of the net, made a move past Lamberti and tucked the puck into the yawning cage.
Will Moore added the exclamation point with a one-timer via a Papineau pass.
Due to the chippy play from Powell River, Spruce Kings head coach Brad Tesink elected to pull Gravel in order to avoid any cheap shots late. He was replaced by local product Ryder Green who turned aside three shots in 11:49 seconds of action.
Prince George outshot Powell River (9-39-5-1) 25-24 but when 3-for-8 on the power-play. The Kings failed to score on four tries.
The Spruce Kings finished the regular season with a mark of 23-25-4-2, tied in points with the Langley Rivermen (21-23-9-1) but were awarded eighth spot due to more victories.
Gravel made 24 saves for the shutout.
While Cummings was named team MVP at the awards banquet on Friday – you can make a case that Gravel was the Spruce Kings best player down the stretch finishing with a 10-3-0 record with a sparkling 1.98 goals against average and a .930 save percentage.
Gravel is no stranger to playoff hockey as he help Baie-Comeau of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League to the finals against the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
In that playoff run, the native of Levis, Quebec went 12-4-1 with a 2.37 GAA coupled with a .910 save percentage.
Furthermore, Prince George has been playing playoff-style hockey the last two months going 10-5-2-1.
Since Brad Tesink took over as interim head coach on November 24th, PG went 16-15-2-1.
The Spruce Kings set their sights on its best-of-seven quarterfinal series against the Chilliwack Chiefs (37-12-5-0).
PG went 1-4-0-2 in the regular season against the Chiefs, with four of those contests being decided by one goal.
Games One and Two are slated for Friday and Saturday at the Chilliwack Coliseum. Games Three and Four are Tuesday April 8th and Wednesday, April 9th at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
A full schedule is expected to come out on Monday.
Game #54 meant the most pic.twitter.com/YiUQ6hPB9b
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) March 31, 2025
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