Spruce Kings look to keep momentum going

The Prince George Spruce Kings are on a roll.

With victories in each of their previous four B.C. Hockey League games, the squad went into Salmon Arm on Sunday looking to continue the streak. The host team looked to halt the visitors’ momentum.

The SilverBacks weren’t even close.

In an 8-2 rout for the visitors, seven different Spruce Kings recorded multiple point games. They outshot the home team by a whopping 52-20 margin, and went 2-for-4 on the power play. The win followed a road doubleheader sweep against the Trail Smoke Eaters, wins of 4-1 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday.

Sunday’s victory was the fifth in a row for the Spruce Kings, matching a season high. It boosted their position in the Interior Conference standings, leapfrogging the Merritt Centennials for second with a record of 27 wins, 17 losses, two ties and four overtime defeats (27-17-2-4).

Although the Centennials regained their second-place position with a 7-1 home-ice victory over the Vernon Vipers on Tuesday night, improving to 27-17-2-5, the third-place Spruce Kings are only one point behind with a game in hand.

The Spruce Kings are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games. With playoffs around the corner, and 10 regular-season games left on the 2011-12 schedule, the timing of their winning streak couldn’t be much better.

“They’re games that we had to win, and obviously the points were nice,” Spruce Kings head coach Dave Dupas said.”It puts us in the driver’s seat. We either have more points or we have games in hand where we can catch teams.”

While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement, the Spruce Kings know they haven’t achieved their main goal yet. The league-leading Penticton Vees (44-3-0-2) have already secured the division title and home ice advantage, while the Spruce Kings and Centennials are among four teams battling for the conference’s three remaining playoff berths.

The Vipers and Chilliwack Chiefs are the other two teams in the hunt. Vernon carried a 25-22-1-2 record into Thursday night’s road game against the Nanaimo Clippers. As for the Chiefs, who sport a 26-20-1-2 mark, it just so happens that their next contest is this evening in Prince George (7 p.m. at the Coliseum).

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Dupas said of tonight’s contest. “Every game that we’ve played against them has been a one- or two-goal game, overtime games, just a bounce here or bounce there. That’s been the difference.”

Vernon carried 53 points into Nanaimo, while Chilliwack has 55. The Chiefs are five points behind the Spruce Kings. While Nanaimo plays out of the eight-team Coastal Conference, how they fare this weekend will factor into the four-team Interior playoff battle, since they’re at the Coliseum to play the Spruce Kings on Saturday night.

Nanaimo was 22-18-0-9 entering its home game against the Vipers, fifth in the Coastal division. Dupas expects a hard-fought game on Saturday evening between a pair of evenly matched teams.

First, the Spruce Kings will try an extend their winning streak to six with a victory over the Chiefs. In the last meeting between the two teams, Jan. 20 at the Coliseum, Chilliwack won 4-2 to earn a split in a doubleheader.

“They play the same as Merritt. They play the same as Trail. That same kind of dump it in, dump it out, work real hard,” Dupas said. “They just have more talent so if we give them their chances they’re able to score and make us pay for it, as opposed to a Trail where if they get their chances, a lot of times they’re not going to score on their chances.”

Notes:

Schedule – The Spruce Kings have four more games at the Coliseum before the end of the 2011-12 regular season. After six consecutive road games, they host the Penticton Vees on March 9 and 10, the final weekend before playoffs begin.

Top player honour – One of the Spruce Kings’ Fitzgerald triplets, forward Gerry, was named the BCHL Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 12. In the team’s three weekend games, Gerry tallied four goals and an assist. The Port Alberni product scored the game winner in each of the Spruce Kings’ victories at Trail.

Dupas called the Fitzgerald line, rounded out with Myles and Leo, their best in the three road games.

“When you have a line that’s going like that, it’s tough for the other team to match up,” he said. “It’s one thing to shut down one line, but you can’t shut down two.”

First-time feat – The weekend marked the first time the Spruce Kings had won three road games in as many days since joining the BCHL in 1996.

Leading scorer – Spruce Kings forward Paul De Jersey continues to lead the BCHL in scoring, now with 40 goals and 48 assists for 88 points in 49 games.

Injury – Only one player won’t be suiting up tonight due to injury, defenceman Cody Bardock, who continues to battle a shoulder injury. Dupas remains hopeful Bardock will be back in the lineup before the playoffs begin, but the injury may be season-ending.