The British Columbia Hockey League may be developmental in nature, but the playoffs are a different animal.
In the end, age and experience won out in a seven-game slugfest between the Prince George Spruce Kings and Chilliwack – and for the second year in a row, the home team came away with the spoils.
Despite being down two key forwards in Carter Hesselgrave (suspension) and Tai Ushio (injury), the depth of the Spruce Kings rose to the occasion again in a 3-1 victory Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd of 1,739 at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
LONG REIGN THE SPRUCE KINGS 🌲👑
Prince George vanquish the Chiefs in Game 7 and sally forth to the Conference Finals! pic.twitter.com/LZTKYTj0rx
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) April 29, 2026
Tied at one heading into the third period, the blue-collar players of the Spruce Kings put their work boots on and got rewarded for their efforts.
Cariboo Cougar alumni Mason Loewen collected the game-winning goal at the 2:35 mark as he negotiated some real estate from his familiar spot in front of the opposing net and jammed home a loose puck by sprawled out Chilliwack netminder David Di Girolamo as well as a slew of crimson red jersey that collapsed around the high-traffic area.
“I joke with Mason all the time, that the puck doesn’t need to touch his back hand for it to go in the net. When he gets it on his forehand, good things happen. For Mason, it was well deserved and well-earned,” said Brad Tesink, Spruce Kings head coach.
Ben Vreugdenhil started the play by keeping the puck in before dishing off to River Arnason, who later found the 19-year-old power forward from Charlie Lake.
With a spot in the conference final on the line, you could cut the tension with a knife inside one of junior hockey’s oldest arenas.
Down by one, Chilliwack pushed hard for the equalizer only to be turned away by Spruce Kings netminder Colin Reay and the stingy defensive unit.
Adam Kral nearly evened the score for the Chiefs as he rung a hard blast off the crossbar before going wide. Reese Shaw also had a look in tight but was turned away at the side of the PG goal.
With over two minutes left, Chiefs head coach Bryan Maloney elected to pull Di Girolamo in favour of the extra-attacker. After a brief flurry, the visitors lost a puck battle and allowed Michael Denney to skate in and pot the empty netter.
Chilliwack outshot Prince George 36-31 however, both teams failed to score in their loan power-play opportunities.
For the seventh straight game, the Chiefs opened the scoring as Boris Borin who took advantage of a misplay of the puck that eluded Reay and into the back of the goal for a 1-0 edge after 20 minutes.
After a slow start to the second period, PG found its legs in the dying moments.
With 1:34 remaining, the Spruce Kings took advantage of an awkward bounce off the corner, where Spencer Masters after being stopped on his initial attempt slid the rebound across the line to even the score.
Masters, who centered a makeshift checking line in the absence of Hesselgrave, played alongside Loewen and Arnason, accounting for two goals and three points.
After the game, Tesink told MyPGNow, Masters could very easily be playing bigger minutes elsewhere but has braced the role and succeeded in providing grit with some offensive touch.
“On any other given team in this league, I think Spencer Masters is playing in the top six or top nine (forwards). We are lucky enough to have the depth at centre he can filter into a our fourth line spot but he’s unbelievable in the circle for us and was able to step in and play some big minutes tonight.”
NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PLAY 😤
Spencer Masters keeps on trying and is rewarded with a big time goal
🎙️ @KCAndo23 #BCHL | @SpruceKings pic.twitter.com/Gki0qX9a1C
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) April 29, 2026
“I was so impressed by his details.”
The Chiefs were without leading scorer and 20-year-old Nico Grabas while fellow forward Drew Dallasalla sat out due to injury.
Dating back to last year’s playoffs, the home team has won the head-to-head matchup 21 straight times.
PG advances to the Coastal Conference Final as they will play the Clippers with Game 1 starting at 7pm from the Kopar Memorial Arena, Game 2 will be played on Saturday.
“They are well coached; they are deep and play a heavier style of game. It is going to be a great battle – it’s going to be a grind, a boxing match with knockouts in each round coming back and forth. I expect nothing but their best coming up here for game one,” added Tesink when speaking about Nanaimo.
In the other two Game 7’s, the Brooks Bandits coasted past the Sherwood Park Crusaders by a 6-1 score while the Cranbrook Bucks doubled the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 4-2.
Reay’s last playoff ride
After platooning for the majority of the regular season with Ryder Green, Reay has caught fire and has been a difference-maker inside the Spruce Kings crease.
The 20-year-old from Sherwood Park was named the game’s first star after turning aside 35 Chilliwack pucks.
Reay has gotten the nod in both Spruce Kings Game 7 wins and told MyPGNow the seven-game war with the Chiefs was a series to remember.
“No matter who it is, it is tough to beat a team multiple times in a row. We have been great at home all year, they have been great at home all year. There is an old saying where it is not a series until somebody loses at home and that is what happened today, we gutted it out in the third. It was good.”
Following surgery last year, Reay had a so-so regular season with the Spruce Kings posting a record of 14-11-0-0 with a 3.04 goals against average and .904 save percentage.
Reay has found another gear in his final junior hockey playoff run tallying a 7-3 mark with a 2.31 goals against average and a .919 save percentage.
“Playoffs is a different game, we have the oldest team in the league and a lot of experience. Including myself, I rely on my experience – it’s my fourth year of junior now, I know what playoffs is like and I think it has been a collective thing as a group, it is the funnest hockey to play.”
Reay is committed to MacEwan University for next season.
Chiefs tip their cap to the Kings
It was a case of so close but yet so far for the Chiefs who played their best game inside the Kopar Memorial Arena only to come out on the losing end.
Stewing over what could have been, Chiefs head coach and general manager Bryan Maloney told MyPGNow.com, with a roster that consists of ten players 18 years of age and younger, it was a valiant effort that will help the players grow.
“They are a first-place team for a reason. They are an older group that checks extremely well and it’s a tough place to play when you are playing against grown men. It’s a credit to our guys based on where we came from (1-8 start to the season).”
Reflecting on what was a war of attrition, Maloney believes his team had its fair share of chances to steal a game on enemy ice but couldn’t seal the deal.
“We probably blew our chances up here. I thought two out of three up here we had a chance to win. I think the last time we played them we kind of let our emotions get the better of us and took some bad penalties. I thought that was costing us in some ways in this series, but I thought this was our best game on the road (Game 7).”
“If I take a step back, it’s a development league. I told these guys we want to win it all, but I think it’s more important that this is junior hockey and they are learning from this. Sometimes, it takes a loss like this and learning how to fight. They are going to take this into next year and be hard to play against.”
Chilliwack dispatched the Coquitlam Express in five games during the first round.
Bring on Nanaimo
Heading into round three, the Spruce Kings won all four games in the season series against the Clippers outscoring them by a 25-13 margin.
In the two meetings inside the friendly confines of the Kopar Memorial Arena, the goal light at both ends received a major workout with PG skating to a pair of 7-4 and 9-5 victories on October 18th and 19th.
Switching to the Frank Crane Arena, PG claimed a convincing 5-1 win on November 19th and then up-ended the host Clippers 4-3 in overtime on February 6th.
Loewen is expecting more blue-collar hockey against a team similar to them.
“They are a solid team. It is big we have home ice advantage, and we are looking forward into this series and bringing another one home.”
Coached by Colin Birkas, Nanaimo had four guys with over 50 points including Tanner Bruender, Jack Rimmer, Hayden Fechner and Patrick Fortune.
Alaska-Anchorage commit Charles Beland is having a clutch playoff with 8 goals and 10 points. He had 31 points and over 100 penalty minutes in the regular season.
On the back end, the Clippers are led by Landon Pappas who had 39 points alongside former Vancouver Giant Will Subject and Winnipeg-born blueliner Blake Jones who joined them after the Christmas Break from the New Jersey Junior Titans of the North American Hockey League.
In goal, Nanaimo leans on Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau who is 8-3 with a 2.81 goals against average and .903 save percentage. He is backed up by ex-WHL’er Matthew Hutchinson who is a hometown product (Nanaimo).
For PG, Hesselgrave is eligible to return from suspension in Game 2 while Ushio and blueliner Nick Bianchi await clearance to suit up again. Bianchi missed the entire second round versus the Chiefs due to a knee injury.
A full series schedule should be released later today (Wednesday).
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