Poisson a Maine man Spruce Kings forward will play NCAA hockey with Black Bears
Ben Poisson is the latest member of the 2017-18 Prince George Spruce Kings to lock up a scholarship south of the border.
The Spruce Kings announced on Tuesday Poisson’s commitment to the University of Maine. He’ll join the Black Bears men’s hockey team for the 2019-2020 NCAA Division 1 season.
“We are very excited for Ben Poisson’s commitment to the University of Maine,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio in a team release. “Ben possesses exceptional work ethic, leadership and skill, in which he makes players around him better. He has earned everything he has got in hockey and he strives to be better daily by being a student of the game.”
This B.C. Hockey League season was Poisson’s second with the Spruce Kings. In 52 games, he scored 22 goals and added 29 assists for 51 points. Before he was sidelined by a late-season injury, he helped the Kings win their firstever BCHL regular-season division championship. The team kept rolling in the playoffs and went all the way to the Fred Page Cup final against the Wenatchee Wild. Poisson was able to return to the lineup for the last two games of that series, won in five by the Wild.
Including Poisson’s signing, this season’s Spruce Kings now have 12 players with post-secondary commitments – 11 in the NCAA and one in USports, the top university league in Canada.
Next season with the Kings, Poisson will have the opportunity to play alongside his younger brother, Nick, who committed to the team last week.
• The Wild, who defeated the Alberta-champion Spruce Grove Saints in the Doyle Cup, will begin play at the RBC Cup national tournament on Saturday night in Chilliwack. In their first game, they’ll take on the host Chiefs, who haven’t seen game action since they were eliminated by the Spruce Kings in the first round of the BCHL playoffs. Other teams in contention for the Canadian title are the Steinbach Pistons (Manitoba Junior Hockey League), Ottawa Junior Senators (Central Canada Hockey League) and Wellington Dukes (Ontario Junior Hockey League).