While hoisting the Fred Page Cup wasn’t a possibility for the Prince George Spruce Kings, earning top spot at the three-team Chilliwack pod isn’t a bad consolation prize.
PG finished with a solid 14-5-0-1 record ahead of the host Chiefs and Merritt Centennials – building up momentum for next season – whenever that may be.
Head Coach Alex Evin told MyPGNow.com the team had a nice balance of youth and experience.
“We liked our group this year. It was a mix of youth and experience and I think we have a lot of players returning next season that we are happy with. Playing these games was important for us as a program to continue building.”
The winning formula was goaltending and defense.
The Spruce Kings gave up only 37 goals during the short ended BCHL season – the second-fewest in the league
Only the Penticton Vees ranked higher allowing a paltry 23 goals against.
Evin had nothing but praise for his trio of rookie goaltenders Aaron Trotter, Jordan Fairlie, and Kobe Grant.
“We are proud of our goalies the way they improved and our entire team defense was good as well. We were not giving up a lot of scoring chances five-on-five so it was easier for them to make that transition to junior hockey.”
It was a season like no other for the Spruce Kings as well as junior hockey players everywhere in Canada, either playing a limited season with no fans or not being able to play at all (Ontario).
Evin mentioned the whole hub experience is hard to explain unless you are in it.
“I am not sure you can truly describe what it was truly like unless you are living that experience. Spending fourteen days in isolation and then heading onto the bus all while staying 42 nights in Chilliwack in a hotel. It’s not easy on anybody as I am sure that is the longest all of us as a staff or our players have been away from friends and family. It was really nice to that we were together as we had an awesome setup. We were within walking distance from the hotel to the arena and pretty much all we did was eat, sleep and play hockey.”
The Spruce Kings bench boss was pleased to give his departing veteran core consisting of Corey Cunningham, Tanner Main, Andrew Seaman, Mason Waite, Hunor Torzsok, and Christian Buono a somewhat proper send-off.
Evin spoke glowingly about the two-year tenures of both Waite and Seaman.
“For our captain Mason Waite he has been great in his two years here. On and off the ice he has improved himself so much by earning a scholarship to the next level and for him to not have been able to play this year would have been pretty tough while preparing for college. We are happy for guys like that.”
“It’s the same for Andrew Seaman. He was our only American and stayed with it the entire year. He came across the border, he didn’t go home for Christmas – we appreciate that. He was dedicated to our program and to the team and when we finally got to play it was nice to see guys make sacrifices like that. He was having a great pod season before he got hurt.”
PG welcomes back a nice young core for next year, which includes the likes of Linden Makow, Nick Rheaume, Carter Cochrane, Simon Labelle, Ben Lefranc, John Herrington, and Max Borovinskiy just to name a few.
Barring any further roster turnover, the leadership core will consist of Kolton Cousins and Rowan Miller who are the likely frontrunners to wear the “C” in the fall.
Out of all the departures, Buono and Seaman may prove to be the hardest to replace lighting the lamp a combined 24 times – roughly a third of the Spruce Kings offensive output.
In either case, one thing is for certain, it will be a pleasure to watch the Spruce Kings inside the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena again regardless of how many fans are allowed in.
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