Anticipation for the Doyle Cup has hit a fever pitch in Prince George as the Spruce Kings head to Alberta this weekend to play the Brooks Bandits.
Prince George went a remarkable 16-1 during the 2019 BCHL playoffs en route to the team’s first ever Fred Page Cup.
Tickets continue to fly off the shelves as capacity crowds are expected for the first two homes next week at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Marketing Manager Kyle Anderson tells My PG Now the buzz around the team has only got bigger since the playoffs began.
“It’s really exciting to see how Prince George has gotten behind this Spruce Kings hockey team since the first round against Coquitlam putting 1200 people in the building and it just kept building. You know, round-by-round it just keeps getting busier and busier and we’re looking at two more capacity crowds next week.”
Anderson believes this will be a unique opportunity for the fans to watch their team as the northern capital hasn’t seen the Spruce Kings play this deep into the spring at any point since they hosted the RBC Cup at CN Centre in 2007.
“Fans in Prince George haven’t seen this round before as part of the playoffs so it’s going to be exciting hockey as both leagues have agreed to play for the cup, it’s going to be some exciting times both in Brooks starting this weekend and then returning home to Prince George for the rest of the series.”
Because the Spruce Kings were so dominant during the 2019 BCHL Playoffs, which included three consecutive sweeps, the fanbase has had less opportunity to see the team play compared to the 2018 playoffs when they fell in five games to the Wenatchee Wild during the 2018 Fred Page Cup.
“The craziest stat of the whole playoffs is that we’ve only played nine home games so the fans have only seen us nine times compared to 13 games last year and for them to see us anywhere from two to five more times before they head off to the National Junior A Championship is definitely going to be exciting times here.”
Standing room tickets are available for the first home date next week while there are less than 100 seats plus standing room for the second home game against the Bandits.
If the two teams split, a third game would also be played in Brooks on Sunday.
The Spruce Kings will have home games either Tuesday and Wednesday or Wednesday and Thursday.
A full schedule of the games can be found here: