After an extended off-season layoff made longer by the pandemic, the Prince George Spruce Kings are back in business.
Twenty skaters and two goaltenders began their on-ice workouts at Kin 2 when training camp began last Thursday night.
The COVID crisis has temporarily forced the Kings out of their usual surroundings at Rolling Mix Arena, which has complicated camp logistics for team staff, but on the ice it's back to hockey as usual for the team as it prepares for the start of the B.C. Hockey League season in December.
The Kings have a roster loaded with players who already have BCHL resumes. Last year's team suffered through a major rebuild after a mass migration of players from the 2018-19 team that won the Fred Page Cup league championship and Doyle Cup and advanced to the national junior A final. The Kings endured a losing season in 2019-20 and ended up fifth in the Mainland Division with an 18-32-3-5-0 record before being swept out of the playoffs in the first round by the Trail Smoke Eaters.
"Obviously we're more of a veteran group and I think the guys that are back learned a lot and they've all showed up in really good shape," said Alex Evin, entering his second season as the Kings' head coach. "We were young last year and had injuries to our core players and that combination probably hurt what we could have been.
"Our new guys have complemented the group well, especially the ones we acquired via acquisitions. They've played in this league, they're fast and gritty and that's kind of our makeup. They seem like great kids and we've had a really good first four days on the ice. I think overall, our staff's done a good job bringing in the right people."
The current roster has eight returning Spruce Kings, including forwards Corey Cunningham, Kolton Cousins, Carter Cochrane and Andrew Seaman, defencemen Mason Waite, Colton Cameron and Amran Bhabra, and goalie Carter Woodside.
Kings general manager Mike Hawes was busy this past summer swinging trades and signing players he thinks will add significant firepower and feistiness which the team lacked last season. The new faces include five forwards each with at least two years of BCHL experience, including Austin Spiridakis (Alberni Valley Bulldogs), Rowen Miller (Powell River Kings), Hunor Torzsok (Merritt Centennials), Darwin Lakoduk (Penticton Vees/Victoria Grizzlies), Christian Buono (Merritt Centennials).
"We added Hunor late and he brings us some size (six-foot-two, 210 pounds) and we kind of needed another forward with some size and he will bring that," said Evin. "He's a great teammate and he scored 16 goals last year, so he can play.
"Christian is another 20-year-old and we really like the way he plays, he's very gritty, heavy player with a good skill-set on him and he can make plays and we're excited to have him here."
The Kings also acquired offensive-minded defenceman Tanner Main, a native of Ontario who played last year for the Wenatchee Wild and blueliner Zach Gabruch, from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Woodside, a 19-year-old who took over the starting position in the second half of the season, will fight for time in the crease with 19-year-old Aaron Trotter, who played last season at Shawnigan Lake School.
"Carter has come in in a lot better shape and we have two good goalies," said Evin. "Obviously we like Woody, he got better last year and was our most consistent goalie after Christmas and in his one playoff start I was very impressed with how he played against Trail and that's something to build off going into this year."
The other new players are defencemen Connor Elliott and Ben LeFranc, as well as forwards Max Borovinskiy, Kilian McGregor-Bennett, Nick Rheaume and John Herrington, a former Cariboo Cougar Tier 1 midget.
The team has a full complement of six 20-year-olds, the league limit, with Waite, Main, Torzsok, Lakoduk, Buono, Seaman all heading into the final junior season. Waite and Main both possess above-average puck-handling skills and will be looked up to lead offensive rushes.
Three American-born players the Kings recruited won't be playing in the BCHL this season for reasons directly related to the pandemic. Defenceman Brendan Hill, a Michigan native who played 42 games for the Spruce Kings last year, was turned away at the customs office in Calgary and returned home, while the families of forwards Connor Tait and Alex Krause decided not to risk allowing their sons to cross the border.
The weekend sessions brought the Kings full coaching staff together with Evin joined by his assistants Nick Drazenovic, Jason Garneau and newcomer Lukas Lomicky. Lomicky, a 32-year-old native of the Czech Republic, joined the team in a April after three seasons in the KIJHL with the Revelstoke Grizzlies.
The Spruce Kings also have a new trainer, Prince George native Joel Walkey, who graduated who earned his degree in athletic therapy at Camosun College in Victoria.
The Kings begin their lengthy exhibition season Saturday with a road game in Merritt and the same teams meet Oct. 23 in Merritt.
"Obviously it's a bit different, you have to match with teams in regional play or cohort play but to us it doesn't matter," said Even. "Our kids are just excited to be here training and hopefully building every week. It doesn't matter who we're playing, I think we're just happy to be playing."
The Centennials will travel north to face the Spruce Kings on Sunday, Oct. 25 and again on Saturday, Nov. 7. Those games will be played at Kin 1, unless the Kings can convince the city to open Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, their usual home, which has been closed since March.
The Kings will be making a presentation in Monday night's meeting at city hall to try to convince city council to allow them to move back to their usual home. They are only BCHL team whose home arena is still closed.
For Evin, the next two months will be a rare opportunity for him and the coaching staff to work on practice drills and skill development with only a few exhibition games scheduled during that time.
"It's a new challenge for everybody involved in our sport right now, there no handbook on how to handle the protocols and all this COVID stuff going on but I'm really excited for the two months of training we get to have," said Evin. "I think sometimes, from my experience, you get rushed into camp and it goes right into exhibition and before you know it you're playing exhibition games. Hopefully we're going to be able to develop a lot better habits and more chemistry with our kids and they're able to get stronger and used to how we do things. We get to do more team-building and we have a lot more time, so we're able to slow things down and work on stuff in a bit more detail."
with the Spruce Kings home arena, Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, still shuttered due to the pandemic.
The Spruce Kings are the only BCHL team whose home arena is still closed.
After an extended off-season layoff made longer by the pandemic, the Prince George Spruce Kings are back in business.
Twenty skaters and two goaltenders began their on-ice workouts at Kin 2 when training camp began last Thursday night.
The COVID crisis has temporarily forced the Kings out of their usual surroundings at Rolling Mix Arena, which has complicated camp logistics for team staff, but on the ice it's back to hockey as usual for the team as it prepares for the start of the B.C. Hockey League season in December.
The Kings have a roster loaded with players who already have BCHL resumes. Last year's team suffered through a major rebuild after a mass migration of players from the 2018-19 team that won the Fred Page Cup league championship and Doyle Cup and advanced to the national junior A final. The Kings endured a losing season in 2019-20 and ended up fifth in the Mainland Division with an 18-32-3-5-0 record before being swept out of the playoffs in the first round by the Trail Smoke Eaters.
"Obviously we're more of a veteran group and I think the guys that are back learned a lot and they've all showed up in really good shape," said Alex Evin, entering his second season as the Kings' head coach. "We were young last year and had injuries to our core players and that combination probably hurt what we could have been.
"Our new guys have complemented the group well, especially the ones we acquired via acquisitions. They've played in this league, they're fast and gritty and that's kind of our makeup. They seem like great kids and we've had a really good first four days on the ice. I think overall, our staff's done a good job bringing in the right people."
The current roster has eight returning Spruce Kings, including forwards Corey Cunningham, Kolton Cousins, Carter Cochrane and Andrew Seaman, defencemen Mason Waite, Colton Cameron and Amran Bhabra, and goalie Carter Woodside.
Kings general manager Mike Hawes was busy this past summer swinging trades and signing players he thinks will add significant firepower and feistiness which the team lacked last season. The new faces include five forwards each with at least two years of BCHL experience, including Austin Spiridakis (Alberni Valley Bulldogs), Rowen Miller (Powell River Kings), Hunor Torzsok (Merritt Centennials), Darwin Lakoduk (Penticton Vees/Victoria Grizzlies), Christian Buono (Merritt Centennials).
"We added Hunor late and he brings us some size (six-foot-two, 210 pounds) and we kind of needed another forward with some size and he will bring that," said Evin. "He's a great teammate and he scored 16 goals last year, so he can play.
"Christian is another 20-year-old and we really like the way he plays, he's very gritty, heavy player with a good skill-set on him and he can make plays and we're excited to have him here."
The Kings also acquired offensive-minded defenceman Tanner Main, a native of Ontario who played last year for the Wenatchee Wild and blueliner Zach Gabruch, from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Woodside, a 19-year-old who took over the starting position in the second half of the season, will fight for time in the crease with 19-year-old Aaron Trotter, who played last season at Shawnigan Lake School.
"Carter has come in in a lot better shape and we have two good goalies," said Evin. "Obviously we like Woody, he got better last year and was our most consistent goalie after Christmas and in his one playoff start I was very impressed with how he played against Trail and that's something to build off going into this year."
The other new players are defencemen Connor Elliott and Ben LeFranc, as well as forwards Max Borovinskiy, Kilian McGregor-Bennett, Nick Rheaume and John Herrington, a former Cariboo Cougar Tier 1 midget.
The team has a full complement of six 20-year-olds, the league limit, with Waite, Main, Torzsok, Lakoduk, Buono, Seaman all heading into the final junior season. Waite and Main both possess above-average puck-handling skills and will be looked up to lead offensive rushes.
Three American-born players the Kings recruited won't be playing in the BCHL this season for reasons directly related to the pandemic. Defenceman Brendan Hill, a Michigan native who played 42 games for the Spruce Kings last year, was turned away at the customs office in Calgary and returned home, while the families of forwards Connor Tait and Alex Krause decided not to risk allowing their sons to cross the border.
The weekend sessions brought the Kings full coaching staff together with Evin joined by his assistants Nick Drazenovic, Jason Garneau and newcomer Lukas Lomicky. Lomicky, a 32-year-old native of the Czech Republic, joined the team in a April after three seasons in the KIJHL with the Revelstoke Grizzlies.
The Spruce Kings also have a new trainer, Prince George native Joel Walkey, who graduated who earned his degree in athletic therapy at Camosun College in Victoria.
The Kings begin their lengthy exhibition season Saturday with a road game in Merritt and the same teams meet Oct. 23 in Merritt.
"Obviously it's a bit different, you have to match with teams in regional play or cohort play but to us it doesn't matter," said Even. "Our kids are just excited to be here training and hopefully building every week. It doesn't matter who we're playing, I think we're just happy to be playing."
The Centennials will travel north to face the Spruce Kings on Sunday, Oct. 25 and again on Saturday, Nov. 7. Those games will be played at Kin 1, unless the Kings can convince the city to open Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, their usual home, which has been closed since March.
The Kings will be making a presentation in Monday night's meeting at city hall to try to convince city council to allow them to move back to their usual home. They are only BCHL team whose home arena is still closed.
For Evin, the next two months will be a rare opportunity for him and the coaching staff to work on practice drills and skill development with only a few exhibition games scheduled during that time.
"It's a new challenge for everybody involved in our sport right now, there no handbook on how to handle the protocols and all this COVID stuff going on but I'm really excited for the two months of training we get to have," said Evin. "I think sometimes, from my experience, you get rushed into camp and it goes right into exhibition and before you know it you're playing exhibition games. Hopefully we're going to be able to develop a lot better habits and more chemistry with our kids and they're able to get stronger and used to how we do things. We get to do more team-building and we have a lot more time, so we're able to slow things down and work on stuff in a bit more detail."
