The Prince George Spruce Kings won their second straight game at the 2019 National Jr. A Hockey Championship in Brooks, Alta. on Monday.
After dominating the Oakville Blades in a 5-1 win in Game 1 Sunday, the Spruce Kings continued their stingy defensive play with a 4-0 shut-out victory over the Ottawa Jr. Senators Monday.
“I think we just focused on our own game tonight,” said Prince George coach Adam Maglio. “I didn’t think our first period yesterday [against Oakville] was where it needed to be and we didn’t defend hard enough. We’re realizing this tournament is more about our game so that was our focus – to defend hard, check hard and the offence will take care of itself.”
Ben Brar had a goal and an assist and Logan Neaton made 13 saves for the shut out over Ottawa in the lone game Monday at the National Junior A championship.
Nicholas Poisson, Nick Bochen and Dustin Manz also scored for Prince George, while Dylan Anhorn and Patrick Cozzi chipped in with two assists apiece.
The Spruce Kings had the better chances early and Poisson was the recipient of good work behind the net by Chong Min Lee, who spun away from multiple defenders before throwing a pass across the crease for an easy tap-in and a 1-0 lead.
Nick Bochen doubled the advantage in the final minute in the first period, stepping in and snapping a quick shot through bodies and past Ottawa goaltender Francis Boisvert just seven seconds into a four-minute power play.
Prince George was gifted a two-man advantage to start the second and Brar needed only 36 seconds to make it a three-goal lead, hammering a one-timer past Boisvert off a feed from Anhorn.
Manz added one final marker late in the middle frame, wiring a backhand upstairs from between the hashmarks to make it a 4-0 game after 40 minutes.
All that was left to decide was whether or not Neaton would get the shutout, and he needed to make just three stops in the third period to finish off his fourth clean-sheet of the playoffs.
The Jr. Senators fall to 1-1 after opening the tournament with a 3-0 win over the Portage Terriers on Saturday.
“Our goal is to make it to the top four and then try and steal a game on Saturday,” said Sens head coach Martin Dagenais. “We want to make sure we’re healthy going into the weekend, if we can get there … We’re going to regroup and be better tomorrow night and hopefully we get a better result.”
The Spruce Kings outshot Ottawa 29-13, and went 2-for-5 on the power play and a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK.
Prince George is back on the ice Wednesday night to face the Portage Terriers at 7 p.m. MT while the Jr. Senators played the Brooks Bandits on Tuesday night but the result was unavailable at press time.
