Prince George Spruce Kings

Spruce Kings prepared for round two against Chilliwack

Apr 16, 2026 | 4:45 PM


PRINCE GEORGE – Fresh off a gritty, hard-fought seven-game series victory over the Langley Rivermen, the Prince George Spruce Kings are returning to home ice to kick off the Coastal East Division Finals. This marks the team’s first appearance in the second round since their 2019 championship run, setting the stage for an intense divisional battle.

“Obviously it’s a short turnaround for us but we’re still in game mode. I think the competitive nature that we showed in game six and game seven should roll over to game one here. So today was about just making sure that the guys felt the ice a little bit and brought our energy back up. We’ll get a quick morning skate in tomorrow and be ready to go at 7:00 p.m. .”said Spruce Kings Head Coach Brad Tesink.

The two division rivals are no strangers to each other as they met 7 times this season with the Kings winning four out of seven. But Tesink says the team cant look back to the regular season because both teams have changed since those meetings with several personnel coming in and going out, so this is a clean slate. Tesink adds the Spruce Kings know what they have to do to start off right and take advantage of home ice.

“It starts first and foremost in our rink. We understand what Kopar memorial Arena is all about. We know that we can get on their defense quickly if we do the right things and manage lines. So for us it’s more so about what we’re going to accomplish on our side of things than them. They have a ton of depth up front on the back end as well so for us it’s about getting involved in the series physically at first and making sure that we take care of things through the middle of the ice.” added Tesink

With Chilliwack dispatching Coquitlam in 5 games they will be coming in to the series with a week of rest but the Spruce Kings locker room doesn’t see that as an advantage and they know exactly what it will take to punch their ticket to the BCHL Conference finals.

“I don’t really think it changes anything. I mean they had a couple days off but we’re a little more game ready having played game seven not too long ago. I think it’s just sticking to our game plan and we saw that in the first series. When we played our game and stuck to our game plan we had a lot of success. When we try to stray from that, I don’t think we’ve had as much success. So I think that’s the plan.” said Spruce Kings forward Ryan Wachtel.

The Prince George Spruce Kings host the Chilliwack Chiefs– in round one action at Kopar Memorial Arena with game one set for 7pm Friday and game two at 6pm Saturday.