EXPRESS DOUBLE UP SPRUCE KINGS

A much better defensive effort, and a 6 goal explosion did the job for the Express Friday as they took the rematch with the Prince George Spruce Kings winning 6-3 Friday night.

A solid contribution from the top 3 lines and steady goaltending from Gordie Defiel paced the Express on this night.

8 of the top 9 forwards hit the scoresheet for the Express. The only forward of that group to not hit the scoresheet was Cody Boyd but made his presence felt with his physical play.

The top line opened the scoring as captain Ryan Rosenthal slid the puck into the Spruce Kings zone, Alex Murray came out of his crease to play the puck and sweep it behind the net. But the Express captain read the play well and picked off the clearing attempt and quickly set up Adam Rockwood who tapped it home.

Brent Lashuk evened it up for Prince George as he took the puck off the boards and cut into the middle of the ice and snapped a shot low to the glove side past Gordie Defiel.

The Express re-stored their lead before the first period came to an end. Marc Biega led the rush into the Prince George end and fired a shot that snuck through the legs of Murray at 18:21. It was Biega's 6th goal of the season and his 5th on home ice this year.

Marco Ballarin pulled the visitors even early in the second period as he had multiple whacks at the rebound of a Sean Landrey shot before lifting it over Defiel just 53 seconds into the 2nd period.

The tie didn't last 3 seconds as Jace Henning broke out of the Express zone and led the attack and snapped a shot that hit the stick of a Spruce Kings defender and past Murray to put the Express in the lead for a 3rd time at 3-2.

Now the Express began to work at pulling away from Prince George.

Bo Pieper blasted home a one timer on the power play on a set up from his brother Canon to put the Express up a pair.

Just 1:02 later Braiden Epp briefly pulled Prince George back within one on a set up from Mitch Eden.

81 ticks of the clock later the Express again were up by 3 as Joey Santucci buried the rebound of a point shot for a 5-3 Express lead.

Then it was the Pieper brothers teaming up again and this time it was Canon banging home a rebound to put the Express up 6-3.

The line of Joey Santucci and the Pieper brothers teamed up for 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in the second period.

The third period was fairly uneventful as the Express cruised to victory the rest of the way.

They fired 35 shots on this night while limiting the opposition to just 25 shots on goal.

The Express penalty killing had a bounce back night after getting torched the previous 4 outings killing off all 3 Prince George power plays. The Express power play struck once on their 3 advantages.

They will have a day of rest before playing host to the Vernon Vipers Sunday afternoon. 

EXPRESS AND EAGLES BURN OUT THE GOAL LIGHTS

There will be new goal lights required before the Express next home game vs. Prince George after they won a goal filled affair with the Surrey Eagles 9-6.

The Express exploded out of the gates. Joey Santucci had what would turn out to be a memorable sequence for the 19 year old forward who got his night started by opening the scoring at 3:16 snapping home a pass from behind the net.

48 seconds later Canon Pieper was hauled down and awarded a penalty shot. He made no mistake beating Devon Fordyce with a deke to the forehand.

Then the Santucci show resumed. He scored his second of the period just 24 seconds later to make it 3-0. Then 9 seconds after that Santucci capped off his hat-trick to give the Express a 4-0 lead.

At the end of it the Express had scored 4 times in a span of 1:21 with Santucci scoring 3 of his goals in the same 1:21 span. I don't have any official records, but it may have been the fastest hat-trick recorded by an Express player in franchise history.

Up 4 less than 5 minutes into the game, the Express appeared to be in cruise control.

Before the period was done the Eagles brought the Express back down to earth somewhat.

Braeden Russell got the Eagles on the board just 1:19 after Santucci's 3rd of the night.

Then the Eagles pulled within one on goals by Joseph Drapluk and Russell's second of the game 1:35 apart late in the period and it was 4-3 after 20.

Surrey completed their come back just over two minutes into the second period as Russell completed his hat-trick swatting home a loose puck at the side of the Express net.

Then the Express went back on the attack.

Adam Rockwood re-stored the Express lead powering the puck to the net and sliding it home for his 7th of the season and 3rd goal in his last 4 games.

1:25 later Marc Biega broke out on a 2 on 1 with Joey Santucci, and the defenceman decided to keep the puck instead of trying to set up Santucci for his 4th of the game. It turned out to be the right decision as Biega snapped it past Fordyce.

Then on the power play Ryan Rosenthal from the high slot re-directed a Marc Biega point shot to put the Express up 7-4.

These teams were filling the net after two periods. Why stop in the third?

Nathan Renouf picked his his 4th point of the night scoring at the side of the net to go with his 3 assists at 1:40.

Jackson Cressy responded for the Express 2:20 later banging home the rebound of a Jace Hennig shot.

The teams finally settled down and took a 14 minute break from scoring goals until Canon Pieper scored his second of the game into an empty night while the Express were shorthanded. It's their 10th shorthanded goal this season. Canon now his 3 of them. And the Express as a team have now scored 4 of their shorthanded goals vs. the Surrey Eagles this season.

Nic Pierog scored a powerplay goal with 25 seconds left in the third period. Then finally the clock had run out on this high scoring affair to put an end to a wild night.

With the win the Express re-store a 3 point lead on Surrey for 3rd place in the Mainland division. They will now begin to use up their 3 games in hand on the Eagles with a trip to the Island for games in Alberni Valley Saturday and Nanaimo Sunday.