(Photo Courtesy: Vicki Brown, MyLight Sports Photography)
WEST KELOWNA – The Prince George Spruce Kings (25-19-4-1) wrapped up the season series against the West Kelowna Warriors (26-18-5-0) with a winning effort, taking a 7-4 victory inside Royal LePage Place on Friday night.
John Herrington tallied his second hat trick of the season in the win as he finished the game with three goals and one assist, claiming the game’s top star.
Aidan Feddema earned his fifth win of the season between the pipes for Prince George as he stopped 33 shots of 37 shots.
With the win, the Spruce Kings maintain their spot in fifth of the Interior Division as they find themselves in a heated playoff race for final seeding after the Wenatchee Wild and Vernon Vipers both earned wins Friday night, keeping them hot on the tail of the Spruce Kings.
The scoring opened up early in the game when Herrington scored a pair of goals 30 seconds apart, giving Prince George an early 2-0 lead.
Hunter Price made it 3-0 just past the five-minute mark of the period as he tallied his first BCHL goal.
The Warriors battled back to tie the game at 3-3. But the tie wouldn’t stand for long as Colton Cameron wound up for a shot and fired the puck in to reclaim the lead. Linden Makow gave some insurance less than a minute later after he swept in off a faceoff and scored his 15th of the season.
Herrington tallied his third goal of the night at 12:14 of the period when Ty Gagno found his power-play mate crashing down the slot. The goal made it a 6-3 lead for the Spruce Kings as the Warriors pulled Cayden Hamming in favour of Angelo Zol.
Hamming allowed six goals on 27 shots through a period and a half between the pipes for West Kelowna.
Rylee Hlusiak scored his second of the night as the Warriors found themselves back on the powerplay following a cross-checking penalty to Jack Stockfish.
In the third period, Makow added his second goal of the game as the Spruce Kings capitalized once again with the man advantage to increase the score to 7-4.
Prince George held the score from there as they went on to win their first game in Royal LePage Place since February 1, 2020.
The Spruce Kings will now venture to Vernon to take on the Vipers at Kal Tire Place Saturday night. The game will get underway at 6:00 p.m. and will mark the final regular season meeting between the two teams. The Spruce Kings are 2-0 at Kal Tire Place this season.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Spruce Kings: Herrington (3), Price, Cameron, Makow (2)
Warriors: Nelson, Hlusiak (2)
Goaltending
Spruce Kings: Aidan Feddema (W) 60:33 (2 GA, 20 saves)
Warriors: Cayden Hamming (L) 32:14 (6 GA, 21 saves)
Angelo Zol 27:46 (1 GA, 5 saves)
Power-Play
Spruce Kings: 2/5 (40%)
Warriors: 2/5 (40%)
Shots
Spruce Kings: 32
Warriors: 37
Next Game: Saturday, March 11th versus the Vernon Vipers at Kal Tire Place in Vernon, B.C.