The Cranbrook Bucks didn’t get a warm welcome Thursday night from their Caribou counterparts in Prince George.
The Spruce Kings were able to cruise to a 3-0 win in Cranbrook’s first visit to the BCHL’s northernmost market.
The Sprucies wasted little time finding the scoreboard. Just eighteen-seconds into the first period, a well-positioned Colton Cameron was able to redirect puck past Nathan Airey to put the home team up 1-0. The Bucks had a hard time getting pressure on Prince George’s end to start the game, and they finished the first twenty minutes with only two shots to their credit.
Cranbrook found their legs in the second period, and they responded with twelve shots on the Prince George goal while Airey turned aside sixteen tries form the Spruce Kings. Despite both sides getting plenty of chances, neither team could crack the opposing goalie’s code in the middle frame. The Bucks entered the third period looking to dig out of a 1-0 deficit.
Both teams were able to stand pat on the scoreboard until the latter stages of the third period. The Spruce Kings added a pair of goals in the last half from Ty Gagno and Austin Fraser to claim a 3-0 win over the Bucks.
Prince George more than doubled Cranbrook in the shots battle at 44-20, Spruce Kings goalie Jordan Farlie earned his second shutout of the season. Special teams were not a large factor in the game, the Bucks finished with a 0/3 power play and 1/1 penalty kill.
With the loss, Cranbrook falls to 10-9-1, they remain sixth in the Interior Conference. Prince George’s record improves to 12-7 and jump to third in the Interior Conference following Thursday’s win.
Cranbrook will hope to muster more shots on Prince George in Friday night’s rematch, it will be the second of three straight meetings between the two clubs.
Bucks Tracks:
- 1-2 record through three games of a six-game run of road games.
- Cranbrook’s first shutout loss of the season.
- Bucks held to single digit shot count in first and third periods (2 and 6).
- Forward Luke Pfoh (injured) missed fifth game in a row (last appeared Nov. 21 vs Penticton).
