Jarod Hovde and Ben Brar each scored and goaltender Evan DeBrouwer stopped 24 of 25 shots as the Prince George Spruce Kings beat the Powell River Kings 2-1 in Game 1 of the league semifinal Friday night.
After a scoreless first period, Powell River took a 1-0 lead on Ben Berard’s ninth goal of the playoffs, but Hovde responded with his first of the postseason less than three minutes later to tie the game 1-1 after two. Brar gave the Spruce Kings the lead 5:10 into the third period and DeBrouwer shut the door from there as his team held on for the 2-1 win.
Berard’s ninth goal ties him for second-most in the playoffs, while Powell River goalie Matteo Paler-Chow continued his solid play this postseason as he stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced in the loss.
The Spruce Kings will take their 1-0 series lead into tomorrow night’s Game 2 at 7 p.m. in Prince George.
After going down 1-0 early, the Wenatchee Wild scored four goals in the second period and outshot the Trail Smoke Eaters 34-20 in the game en route to a 5-2 win in Game 1 of the Interior Division finals Friday night. Trail took a first-period lead on Levi Glasman’s unassisted goal midway through the frame, but Wenatchee responded with second-period goals by Nathan Iannone, Lucas Sowder, Slava Demin and Zak Galambos. Braeden Tuck added one for the Smoke Eaters and the Wild led 4-2 heading into the third where AJ Vanderbeck scored with seconds remaining to to give Wenatchee the 5-2 win and a 1-0 series lead. Jasper Weatherby led the way offensively for the Wild, piling up three assists and taking over the BCHL playoff scoring lead with 20 points in 11 games. Game two goes tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. in Wenatchee.
