Sitting out a four-game suspension in the playoffs was a punch in the gut for Prince George Spruce Kings forward Blake Hayward but he's found salvation.
The Spruce Kings gave the 20-year-old a new lease on life in the B.C. Hockey League playoffs when they eliminated the Chilliwack Chiefs with a thrilling win Sunday in the seventh and deciding game of the series. The Kings overcame a one-goal deficit with three goals in the final eight minutes to beat the Chiefs 3-1.
Now it's on to facing the Surrey Eagles and Hayward can't wait to pick up where he left off after being forced to miss four games of supplemental discipline after he elbowed Chiefs forward Skyler Brind'Amour in the third period of Game 3 of the Chilliwack series.
"It was really hard to watch the team when I wasn't with them there, especially going into Game 7 down to the wire, I was kind of stressed out," said Hayward. "I'm really excited about getting back in the lineup, I think I can make a difference in the series. Something I feel I bring to this team is some physicality and wearing down their top guys and their defence and getting in hard on the forecheck and laying some hits."
Hayward will start tonight's game playing the left side on a line with Nolan Welsh and Chong Min Lee. With top-line centre Ben Poisson sidelined after a ruptured spleen, Hayward and Dustin Manz have taken up some of the slack and both are have shown they are dependable face-off artists. Gaining puck possession will be key trying to contain a potent Surrey offence.
"We've been working all week on being able to shut down those guys and being really tight in our coverage and outworking them," said Hayward. "If we do that, our systems are going to beat their systems because we're just a better hockey team. But if we let them run around and do what they want it's going to be a tough series."
Hayward brings energy to the forward lines and power-play unit, is good on face-offs and was one of the most consistent point producers for the Kings down the stretch. He scored six goals in five games in February and had two assists in Game 3 of the Chilliwack series, a 2-1 overtime win.
The Eagles are more of an offensive-minded team than Chilliwack and Kings defenceman Chays Ruddy anticipates a much different series.
"They've got that top line that definitely knows how to put the puck in the net and they score more goals than Chilliwack but they don't forecheck as hard - it's two different beasts that we have to deal with but I think the guys are ready," said Ruddy. "Defence has been the strong point of our game all season. We've had a bit of a hard time with Surrey so far, going with three wins and five losses against them this season, but it's kind of eye-opening for the boys to make them realize we have to bring it every game to make it past them and into Round 3."
The 20-year-old Ruddy scored his first goal as a Spruce King in Game 3 in Chilliwack and his teammate, defenceman Jay Keranen, also waited until the playoffs to score his first career BCHL goal. Keranen had the opener in Game 2 and also fired the series winner in Game 7.
"For the way Jay and I play it's a bit of an extra to put the puck in the net," said Ruddy. "We joked around all year we were going to save it for big moments and I guess we weren't really joking around there."
Kings defenceman Layton Ahac, named to the BCHL's all-rookie team on Wednesday, said the Kings proved in the Chilliwack series they can respond to playing a physical game and still come out on top. The Chilliwack series taught the 16-year-old Ahac it's not easy playing seven games at playoff intensity in just 10 days.
"It was a pretty gritty Round 1 but we battled really hard and just stuck to our game and didn't let them get under our skin and that's how we came out with the win," said Ahac. "In the playoffs you have to compete hard every single day and you're never going to be at 100 per cent but you just have to keep going no matter what."
The Eagles won their six-game opening-round series against the Langley Rivermen in dramatic fashion - Matt Campese scored on a wrist shot 30 seconds into overtime for a 5-4 win last Friday at South Surrey Arena.
"Winning the first two games on the road was key, Langley is a tough building to play in and we were resilient all series," said Eagles head coach Brandon West. "Both teams left it all out there, it was fast and physical and there was never any time in the series that one team took it over. The amount of momentum shifts were crazy and I know it was absolutely entertaining for the fans."
Left winger Desi Burgart has been on fire in the playoffs with eight goals and one assist in six playoff games. He plays on a line with centre Ty Westgard and right winger John Wesley (both BCHL second-team all-stars) which has been a deadly combination all season. Westgard finished third in the BCHL scoring race with 70 points, including 15 goals, while Wesley was fifth with 68 points and collected 37 goals.
"If you give them room they're going to take it and if you don't give them room they have to change their game and I think we have to play them tighter than they were played last series," said Kings head coach Adam Maglio.
The Eagles-Spruce Kings match-up means the Eagles, who play on an Olympic-sized rink (200 feet long, 100 feet wide) will have to get used to playing the first two games of the series in Prince George at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, which is 190 feet long and 85 feet wide. The Kings will have to make the adjustment to playing with a lot more real estate when the series switches to Surrey for Games 4 and 5 Monday and Tuesday.
"We're not used to playing in the small rink and we have to be on our toes all the time, I mean the bounces in that rink, pucks come off all areas real quick," said West.
The Spruce Kings allowed the third-fewest goals through a 58-game regular season and aside from a 6-1 blowout loss in Game 6 of the Chilliwack series, which included two empty-netters, they held the Chiefs to three goals or fewer in the other six games.
Maglio didn't want to divulge any secrets about how rink size will factor into his game-plan but in his practices this week he tried to get the team playing a style that will work in either city.
"We need to keep the puck off the walls on the big ice and once you do that you can open up a lot of room," said Maglio. "We've tried to work on a transition game that we can use in both rinks instead of trying to switch. You make adjustments but we don't need to make big switches."
Having played all their home games on a small rink probably favours the Kings in the series simply because the defence is more accustomed to moving the puck quicker out of the zone to reduce the risk of turnovers. While the Kings often change lines on home ice with a dump-in, giving up puck possession, that doesn't work as well on the bigger ice, where it takes longer for the far-side winger to come off the ice. To avoid the possibility of quick counterattacks on the bigger ice surface, teams have to hang onto the puck longer, dragging it back into the zone or passing to a partner to wait until the line change is complete.
"With the long change in that rink we got killed early on during the season) - they scored three goals as a direct result of a bad change by us," Maglio said. "We have to do more with the puck when we're changing."
The Kings will have to find a way to counter the freewheeling Eagles in South Surrey Arena, where they sported an 18-8-2-1 record this season - not quite as good as the Spruce Kings' 22-5-1-1 record at RMCA, but close.
The Eagles have a money goaltender in 20-year-old Mario Cavaliere, who went 10 games deep into the Ontario Junior A Hockey League playoffs last season with the Burlington Cougars and put up sparkling numbers in a half-season with the Georgetown Raiders before the Eagles acquired his services in January. The Eagles' 8-5 loss in Game 5 dropped Cavaliere's goals-against average to 3.52 and he sports an .899 save percentage. Evan DeBrouwer was solid and sometimes spectacular playing all seven playoff games for the Kings and his 1.92 average and .927 save percentage are quite close to his season numbers
The Surrey blueline revolves around Jackson Ross and Owen Norton and both have had to play more than their share of shifts due to some injuries. Norton showed his offensive abilities, finishing sixth in team scoring with four goals and 27 assists.
According to West, defencemen Cory Babichuk and Perry Winfree, who got hurt in the Langley series, will miss at least the first two games of the Spruce Kings series. Ty Schultz, 20, a former Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman whose BCHL rights were acquired at the deadline from Coquitlam, broke his leg stopping a slapshot in a game with the Tigers last season and hasn't played since. But he has been skating and could return soon. Left winger Jordan Robert, a Clarkson University recruit and the captain of the Eagles, has been out of the lineup since he suffered a hip injury in a game against Langley Jan. 4. Poisson and defenceman Oliver Lester (sprained ankle) are the only injured Spruce Kings.
The Eagles won five of the eight games this season head-to-head, putting up a 5-3-0-0 record against the Spruce Kings. Surrey won all four games at home in regulation time and the Kings went 3-0-1-0 at RMCA. All of those games except the Kings' 5-3 loss in Surrey in February were played in September and October.
"Something we've talked a lot about is there's not a lot of familiarity with each other's team right now and we can't rely on what the season series was, we have to reestablish the rivalry right away," said West. "We know it's going to be a hostile environment up there and I think we're in for a tight series. It's not going to be as offensive as some people may think it will be. It's going to be tight-checking and you're going to have to capitalize on your chances."
"The stats in the regular season go out the window in the playoffs. The teams that are more disciplined and are more committed to defence, you're going to have a better chance to go through. Both teams have been quite disciplined all year long and this is a good match-up."
Just 12 points separated the first-place Spruce Kings from the third-place Eagles and all indicators point to a long series. If it does go seven games, and it probably will, the Kings have two things going for them. They start the series with home ice advantage and because of their remote location as the BCHL's northernmost team they are well used to lengthy bus trips, which the Eagles rarely are forced to endure. There's one other factor: defence wins championships and the Kings are better at keeping the puck out of their own net.
Prediction: Spruce Kings in seven.
Statistical breakdown
Surrey Eagles
Regular season finish: 26-22-8-2, third in Mainland Division
Goals for: 189 (first in Mainland, ninth overall)
Goals against: 208 (fourth in Mainland, 12th overall)
Power-play efficiency: 14.0 per cent (fourth in Mainland,
16th overall)
Penalty-killing efficiency: 79.0 per cent (fifth in Mainland,
14th overall)
Penalty minutes: 687 (11th most overall)
Shorthanded goals for: Four (14th overall)
Shorthanded goals against: 11 (tied for third-most overall)
Leading scorer: John Wesley (15g-55a-70pts, third in scoring race).
NCAA college commitments: D Cory Babichuk, RPI; LW Chase Danol, Bowling Green; C Jeffrey Stewart, Colgate; LW Desi Burgart, Quinnipiac; RW Connor Sundquist, Colorado College.
Prince George Spruce Kings
Regular season finish: 33-17-4-4, first in Mainland Division
Goals for: 170 (tied for second in Mainland, 12th overall)
Goals against: 138 (first in Mainland, third overall)
Power-play efficiency: 13.5 per cent (lowest in BCHL)
Penalty-killing efficiency: 84.9 per cent (best in BCHL)
Penalty minutes: 587 (lowest in BCHL)
Shorthanded goals for: 12 (tied for fourth overall)
Shorthanded goals against: Four (tied for fewest overall)
Leading scorer: Ethan de Jong (17g-46a-63pts, ninth in BCHL scoring race).
NCAA college commitments: G Evan DeBrouwer, Arizona State; D Layton Ahac, Ohio State; D Liam Watson-Brawn, Colgate; C Dustin Manz, Lake Superior State; C Blake Hayward, Union College; RW Ethan de Jong, Quinnipiac; LW Brady Bjork, Notre Dame; C Kyle Johnson, Yale; LW Patrick Cozzi, Colorado State.
Head-to-head
Surrey (5-3-0-0); Prince George (3-5-1-0)
Season series
Sept. 15 in Prince George
Spruce Kings 5 Eagles 0
(Evan DeBrouwer 26-save shutout, five Kings scored goals).
Sept. 16 in Prince George
Spruce Kings 4 Eagles 1
(Brad Cooper stopped 36 of 37 shots for first career BCHL win).
Oct. 6 in Prince George
Eagles 3 Spruce Kings 2 (OT)
(John Wesley scored his 10th of the season, 1:45 into OT).
Oct. 7 in Prince George
Spruce Kings 4 Eagles 3
(Layton Ahac scores the only goal of the third period to break a 3-3 deadlock).
Oct. 13 in Surrey
Eagles 4 Spruce Kings 3
(Ty Westgard fires winner, 9:36 into third period, Kings respond with two to make it close, shots 40-36 in favour of the Eagles).
Oct. 29 in Surrey
Eagles 4 Spruce Kings 2
(Unanswered goals from Desi Burgart, Domenic Masellis and Cody Schiavon in the third period).
Feb. 19 in Surrey
Eagles 5 Spruce Kings 3
(Kings trailed 3-0 seven minutes into second period and came back to tie it early in the third. Eagles respond with goals from Ryan Bruschett and Westgard).
