Merritt, B.C. – The Prince George Spruce Kings will be looking for hometown fan support to get them back into their BCHL Interior Conference semi-final when it switches to Prince George on Monday.

The Kings fell for the second straight night to the Centennials in Merritt, losing 3-1 Saturday night to go down 2 games to nothing in the best-of-seven series. The Kings were outscored 7-2 in the two contests down south, with league scoring champion Paul De Jersey held totally in check and off the scoreboard by the Centennials.

Prince George took the lead in game 2 with 11 second left in the first period as Zack Rassell cashed in, assisted by Chase Golightly and Ben Woodley. The Centennials got on the board at 2:50 of the second with Carter Shinkaruk putting the puck in the net. Evan Stack made it 2-1 Cents at 14:02 and that’s how the period ended. The only goal of the third was scored again by Shinkaruk on the power play at 16:17. Unlike Friday night’s penalty-filled opener there were just six minors in game 2, four of them to Prince George. The Spruce Kings outshot Merritt 28-25.

So it’s back to Prince George for games 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday nights and hopefully a packed Coliseum will help the Spruce Kings get back into the series.

In the three other series, Surrey and Powell River used home ice to go up 2-0 in their respective semis while surprise, surprise, Chilliwack knocked off the Vees in Penticton 3-2 in overtime to even that one at a game apiece.