The Prince George Spruce Kings continue to suffer the effects of U.S. college hockey’s rule change that allows players with major junior experience to join the NCAA.
On Monday, Jan. 20, defenceman Evan Bellamy became the fifth Spruce King to defect to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League in the past six weeks when he accepted an offer to play for the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
Considered one of the Kings’ top defencemen, the 19-year-old from Hampton, N.B., had three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in 32 games in his second BCHL season in Prince George
He joins former Kings forward Skogan Schrott, a 20-year-old Michigan Tech recruit who left in early January for Baie-Comeau.
Last week the Kings lost 18-year-old forward Brogan McNeil, their third-leading scorer, who went to the Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL. McNeil had 11 goals and 12 assists for points in 32 games and scored his first BCHL hat trick Jan. 11 in a game against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
Nineteen-year-old forward Ethan Montroy became the first to leave the Spruce Kings for the QMJHL when the Ottawa native joined the Charlottetown Islanders in early December.
Forward Lucas Veilleux, 19, was in his second season with the Spruce Kings when he bolted for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL) after playing his last BCHL game in Nanaimo Dec. 29.
“It’s happened and is happening to every team in our league and it just seems it’s our turn now,” said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes, who spent most of Monday on the phone trying to find a replacement for Bellamy.
“These are good players from my team but at the end of the day everybody’s replaceable and I’m going to find a d-man that’s going to replace Evan in our lineup.”
Until the rule was changed last summer, CHL players were considered professionals, ineligible to play in the NCAA because their major junior teams paid a monthly stipend of up to $600.
Collectively, BC Hockey League teams have lost more than 60 players to major junior teams and most have gone to the QMJHL.
Talk of the NCAA problem dominated the discussions among league governors at the all-star break festivities this past weekend in Salmon Arm.
“We don’t have the answers yet,” said Hawes. “Unfortunately right now there is no real way to fix it. Every one of the players that left the team talked about how much they loved it here and loved the team and you kind of hope for a sense of loyalty. But these are young guys and either the NCAA schools they’re committed to prompting them to leave for a different league or sometimes it’s their agents or advisors prompting them to do it.”
Hawes said of the three major junior leagues, the QMJHL is far outstripping the Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League, taking the lion’s share of players from the BCHL.
“It says a lot about the values of team in the QMJHL, that’s the league that’s run rampant through our league, as far as poaching players,” said Hawes. “They don’t send anyone out to see our kids play live, they’re just basing it off statistics. There’s not a lot of due diligence or legwork done when they bring these guys in and it goes to show you why that league doesn’t have a great reputation.”
The BCHL roster deadline is Feb. 10.
The Spruce Kings' next game is on Wednesday (7 p.m., Kopar Memorial Arena) where they will face the Surrey Eagles.
The Kings expect to have winger Kazumo Sasaki back in the lineup to face the Eagles after two weeks of playing for the Japanese national team at the IIIHF world junior Division 1 Group B tournament in Estonia. Sasaki finished fourth on tournament scoring with four goals and five assists in five games.
Japan beat Ukraine 7-2 Saturday in the championship game to claim the silver medal.
Hawes said injured Kings’ forwards Linden Makow and Owen Goodbrand resumed practice this week and could be ready to play sometime next week.
