Spruce Kings Power Through Road Show Game One

The Prince George Spruce Kings scored four times on the power play as they defeated the Coquitlam Express 5-2 on Saturday night at the BCHL Road Show in Burns Lake.

Marcus Lougheed scored twice on the man advantage in the opening frame, as he first opened the scoring at 12:03 when Tai Ushio went end to end and delivered a great pass across the crease where Lougheed was able to tap it home while being taken down.

Just 1:32 later off a Ben Vreugdenhil faceoff win, Ushio jumped in to grab the loose puck and he found Lougheed sliding over to the right circle and he hammered a one-timer home to make it 2-0.

In the second, the Express responded as Tyler Chiovetti snuck off the bench undetected on a change and took the pass from behind the net from Michael Munroe and outwaited Ryder Green as he deked around him and slid it into the open net.

The Spruce Kings responded as they caught the Express changing and Robby Hoch found Mathis Laplante at the far blue line. As Laplante walked in, Ushio beat his defender to the net and Laplante found his stick to make it 3-1.

Coquitlam’s Jack L’esperance scored his first BCHL goal off a faceoff at 9:27 to make it a one goal game heading to the third.

In the final frame, Carter Hesselgrave scored on the power play from Lougheed and Vreugdenhil at 13:53, then added a power play empty netter at 18:02 from Ozbej Rep to complete the scoring.

Ryder Green made 35 saves in the win. The two teams will faceoff again at 1:00 pm Sunday to complete the Road Show.