Spruce Kings head out on first-place mission
The Prince George Spruce Kings have it within their power to go into the Christmas break as a first-place team.
All the Kings have to do to move past the Langley Rivermen into top spot in the B.C. Hockey League Mainland Division standings is win all three of their games on the road this weekend. Then it won’t matter what the Rivermen do in their next two games at home before the break.
Just one point separates the two teams and the Spruce Kings have a game in hand.
Pulling off a road trifecta is a difficult task, especially considering the Kings (18-10-2-3) haven’t exactly been world-beaters playing in enemy rinks. At Rolling Mix Concrete Arena they’ve been practically unbeatable, building a league-best 14-2-1-1 home record, where they’ve collected 30 of their 41 points.
But on the road, the Kings have lost twice as many games as they’ve won. No doubt the long distances to travel from Prince George play a role in that 4-8-1-2 record. Their isolation from the rest of the league is why the Kings have so many three-game weekend road trips (eight) packed into a 58-game season.
This weekend’s three-game torture test starts Friday in Coquitlam against the muchimproved Express, winners of three of their last four games. The Spruce Kings also visit Victoria on Saturday night and Cowichan Valley on Sunday afternoon. Each of those teams has won its last three.
“It’s certainly not going to be an easy weekend, Coquitlam is playing much better, Cowichan is playing better and Vic is always hard to play against,” said Spruce Kings head coach Adam Maglio.
“Three-in-three is tough but we have experience this year doing it, so it’s not something new for us. We know our road record has to get better and there was good buy-in from the guys that the game on the road needs to be played a bit differently. We need to keep it really simple and momentum is a big thing on the road. Scoring first is important and defending well is important as well.”
The Kings have had spring in their steps all week after Saturday’s comeback 4-3 win over the Wenatchee Wild, the third-ranked team in the BCHL. In that game the Kings trailed 3-1 after one period. Maglio took steps this week in practice to address some of the neutralzone mistakes which resulted in turnovers in the early going and the fact Wenatchee was able to make more line changes while keeping puck possession which led to Wild scoring chances.
“There were parts of that Wenatchee game that were really good and parts that we didn’t like, and that was the first half,” said Maglio. “With our group, maybe we try to overdo it off the start, try to hit the home run. We have to keep it really simple off the start and outchange the other team. The only way you can outchange the other team is to get pucks deep and not turn them over through the neutral zone.
“At one point they outchanged us 3-1 and there were multiple times at the start where they changed 2-1 on us. That’s been a big part of our success is how we change and there is a system to changing. You can’t do that if you’re turning pucks over and you’re stuck in your end.
“But at the end of the day you get the two points against a good hockey team and that builds some momentum going into this weekend.”
On the most recent homestand the Spruce Kings won seven of eight games, utilizing one of the youngest lineups in the 17-team league.
“At this point we’ve shown we’re a good team in this league, that we can compete against any team in this league and we’ve had a good trial period,” said Maglio, in his rookie season as a junior hockey head coach. “We have to be proud of that but there’s still work because at the end of the day we want to be the last team playing.”
The Express has a 3-2-1 record since Jason Fortier took the coaching reins from the fired Barry Wolff on Nov. 27. All three of Coquitlam’s latest wins came against teams with .500 records or better. The Express posted wins over Victoria, Vernon and Langley.
Forward Spencer Chapman remains sidelined with a leg injury but the Spruce Kings are otherwise healthy. They will be without two of their top forwards – Ethan de Jong and Kyle Johnson – until at least Sunday’s game. Both are playing for Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge in Truro, N.S. Canada West played the Czech Republic in a tournament semifinal Thursday night.
Chong Min Lee took up some of that scoring slack, playing on a Prince George line with Jarod Hovde and Blake Hayward. Lee, an 18-year-old rookie right winger from South Korea, earned BCHL player of the week honourable mention status after he picked up three goals and two assists in two games last weekend.
“He has so much potential so it was nice to see him reach that last weekend,” said Maglio. “Consistency is the hardest thing and maybe he has that mindset now where he can be consistent. We believe he has the skill set to play that way every game and I think he’s over the hurdle.
“That was probably our best line on the weekend. Blake plays the game hard, certainly had a good weekend, and he was battling the flu and it’s nice to see Hovde has some swagger back and that’s real nice to see those three contribute. We feel he deserves a scholarship and we’re happy to see him play that way. He’s been playing well for a couple weeks now.”
Forward Tyler Schleppe and defenceman Ben Wozney, both 16-year-olds, have been called up from the Burnaby Winter Club prep team to play for the Spruce Kings this weekend.
Maglio hadn’t announced his starting goalie for the Coquitlam game but did say 20-yearold Evan DeBrouwer will start two of the three games. Brad Cooper, 18, is coming off his first career shutout two weekends ago against Salmon Arm.
The Rivermen (16-9-9-10, 42 points) host Surrey on Friday and Chilliwack on Saturday.