Gravel’s 42-save effort not enough as Spruce Kings edged by Chilliwack

Never apologize for elite goaltending, even if you still come up one goal short.

Charles-Edward Gravel nearly pulled a Houdini for the Prince George Spruce Kings.

Nearly of course, being the key word in that sentence.

A pair of second period goals by Dwayne Jean Jr and Carter Anderson proved just enough as the Chilliwack Chiefs survived another heroic effort by Gravel in a 2-1-win Friday night in front of 2,493 fans at the Chilliwack Coliseum.

The Chiefs lead the best-of-seven quarter-final series 3-2.

To put it mildly, the Spruce Kings were literally hanging on by a thread in the opening 20 minutes as Chilliwack played keep away, outshooting the boys in blue by a 14-2 margin –  only to be stymied by Gravel’s excellence in net.

The so-called swing game of the series continued to resemble a half-court basketball game in the second as Chilliwack outshot PG 27-4, finally cracking the ice against Gravel.

Jean Jr got the Chiefs on the board while on a power-play as a nifty cross-ice pass by Nico Grabas found the 20-year-old’s stick and then fired a wrist shot that Gravel barely missed with his glove.

Roughly 90 seconds later, Anderson picked up his second of the series as a blocked shot by a Spruce Kings played boomeranged right to the forward’s stick and quickly shot it past an outstretched Gravel to go up 2-0.

After all that, Prince George still found themselves in the game and got a much-needed spark from Nicholas Papineau who dropped the gloves against Grabas.

That seemed to have given the Spruce Kings a jolt of energy as they outplayed Chilliwack for much of the final 20 minutes.

Trent LeDrew put the Spruce Kings within one as his point shot on the power-play got through a maze of bodies as well as Chiefs goalie Quentin Miller.

Linden Makow and Ryan Wachtel had a pair of chances to even the score but were turned aside by Miller. PG’s best chance to tie it came with Gravel on the bench for the extra attacker as Owen Goodbrand was parked in front of the Chilliwack net and as he was about to tap in a loose puck, his stick was lifted at the last moment.

The Chiefs outshot Prince George 44-16 and went 1-for-4 on the power-play while the visitors were 1-for-2.

Gravel had another stellar outing with 42 saves in defeat. Even with a 2-3 record this postseason, the Mercyhurst commit has a 2.45 goals against average and a .931 save percentage.

For the first time in the 2025 BCHL Playoffs, the Spruce Kings will face elimination as they return home for Game 6 on Sunday at the Kopar Memorial Arena.

Well over 1,000 tickets have already been sold.

Puck drop is at 6pm.

Elsewhere in the BCHL playoffs, Brady and Kenyon McIsaac of Prince George are off to the second round as the Alberni Valley Bulldogs ousted the second-seeded Surrey Eagles 4-3 on Friday night to win the best-of-seven 4-1.