Image: Prince George Spruce Kings / Chilliwack Chiefs defenceman Oliver Beaulieu battles a Prince George defender during BCHL playoff action.
Chilliwack Chiefs

Despite outshooting Spruce Kings 45-25, Chiefs come up short in PG as series heads back to Chilliwack

Apr 10, 2025 | 10:04 AM

PRINCE GEORGE — The Chilliwack Chiefs outshot the Prince George Spruce Kings by a 45-25 margin, but came up short Wednesday night in a 5-2 loss at Kopar Memorial Arena.

The two teams were separated by 27 points in the regular season standings, but none of that matters now that the Spruce Kings and Chiefs are all tied up in their first round BCHL playoff series.

The power play scored twice and the Prince George Spruce Kings stayed with it after the game got tied in the second. Brock Cummings got the first power-play goal of the series for Prince George as his deflection of a Trent LeDrew point shot for his fourth of the playoffs, in a period where the Spruce Kings were out-shot 13-3 in the frame.

Linden Makow made it 2-0 just 6:39 into the second period as he deflected a Ludvig Basth point shot past Quentin Miller as LeDrew picked up his second assist.

The Chiefs fired back on a 5-on-3 when Caleb Elfering put a rebound home off a Carter Anderson one-timer as Mateo Mrsic grabbed the second assist. Mrsic would tie the game at 14:53 after blocking a point shot and heading in to beat Charles Gravel on the glove side.

Prince George demonstrated their resiliency just 1:22 later as Makow scored his second of the night on a 4-on-3 power play as Kazumo Sasaki found Cummings down low and his backhand pass went right to Makow who capitalized.

Ryan Wachtel scored 1:11 later, burying a rebound from a Nicolas Papineau shot as Brendan Gillmore picked up the secondary assist to give the Spruce Kings a 4-2 lead. The Spruce Kings punctuated the win shorthanded at 18:49 when Owen Goodbrand’s backhand clearance slid into the empty net after LeDrew blocked a shot down low.

Goalie Charles Gravel stopped the Chiefs on countless occasions with 43 saves.

Game 5 happens Friday night in Chilliwack at 7 p.m., and can be heard online thanks to 99.3 Rewind Radio out of PG.

Game 6 will be at Kopar Memorial Arena this Sunday, Apr. 13.

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