Prince George, BC – The Langley Rivermen are back in first place in the BCHL's Mainland division after a 2-1 win over the Spruce Kings in Prince George Wednesday night. Langley's third straight win improves their record to 17-9-1-2, one point ahead of the Spruce Kings.
The first half of the game was relatively non-eventful with neither team generating much by way of scoring chances as Prince George outshot the Rivermen 20-14 through 40 minutes. Late in the second, Jakob Reichert stole the puck at centre putting himself on a break scoring on his own rebound to put the Rivermen up 1-0 heading into the second intermission.
The Rivermen picked up in the third where they left off as Will Cook scored his seventh of the season off a James Robinson rebound to take a 2-0 lead. The third saw a much more open style of play with both teams trading beautiful scoring chances while Brock Crossthwaite was stellar in net making 32 saves and earning the game's first star. The Spruce Kings broke Crossthwaite's shutout streak of more than 129 minutes at the 17:49 mark when Braiden Epp scored his second of the season. Despite pulling Jesse Jenks for the extra attacker with well over a minute remaining, the Spruce Kings couldn't find the tying marker as the Rivermen begin their three-game road trip in style.
Next up for Langley is a stop at the South Okanagan Events Centre to face the Interior division leading Vees Friday night before a matchup with the West Kelowna Warriors on Saturday.
