When the Prince George Spruce Kings recruited Liam McCloskey this summer out of the major midget ranks they didn't just sign up a goalie, they locked up a cheering section.
The 17-year-old from Pitt Meadows has lived in the Lower Mainland all his life but considers Prince George his second home.
His dad James grew up in the city, and Liam has a family network that includes his grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins living here who will become regulars in the stands this season at the Coliseum cheering him on at Spruce Kings games.
"I've got tons of family up here and I love the city -- to play here for the Spruce Kings is a dream come true," said McCloskey. "I want to hopefully earn a scholarship and go play (NCAA hockey) in the States and Prince George would be the perfect place to achieve that. I love the rink and I'm really looking forward to seeing everybody out there, it's going to be awesome."
McCloskey was one of the top goalies in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League last season, helping the Coquitlam-based Vancouver Northeast Chiefs win their first league championship with a two-game sweep of the Cariboo Cougars in a final series played at Kin 1. He went 15-2-3 in the season with a 2.25 goals-against average, having joined the Chiefs after a year with the Yale Academy Elite 15s.
Kings rookie forwards Parker Colley and Kyle Johnson also got into the winning habit last year playing for the Chiefs.
"Winning that (major midget title) was the best hockey memory of my life," said McCloskey.
For as long as he's been a goaltender, McCloskey has been coming to P.G. for family visits and to to attend goaltending camps in the summer. His uncle is Ken Wood, a longtime local baseball coach, and Liam is now living with Ken and his wife Mary.
His dad played goal for UBC and was his goalie coach until peewee hockey. But Liam has yet to experience a northern winter and can't wait for the inevitable snow and cold.
"Growing up in the Lower Mainland, we don't have frozen ponds and I'm really excited to play shinny on a frozen pond, and to have a lot of snow," he said.
McCloskey realizes he'll be watching a lot of games from the bench in his rookie season as the understudy to 20-year-old junior A veteran Alex Brooks-Potts. The starter's job is his to lose and that won't happen if he plays as well as he did in 2014-15. His numbers from last season weren't spectacular -- 3.56 goals-against average, .891 save percentage and 11-14-0 record -- but together with Jesse Jenks they formed one of the top tandems in the league.
"We pushed each other all year," said Brooks-Potts. "It's a tough position to be in when you both want to be in the net but I think in the end it made us better goalies. It's always good when you a goalie working just as hard as you and deserves to be in net just as much.
"Liam is a great goalie who works hard and I think he'll have a great season. He's young and will probably be with the team for a couple of years and he's pushing me to work harder."
The six-foot, 170-pound Brooks-Potts spent the summer at home in Burlington, Ont., working out with goalie coach Nick Ranger and personal trainer Adam Lloyd and he's in the best shape of his life. The rebuilding Kings have just nine returning players and will need Brooks-Potts to be at his best to find success this season.
"You always want to be the number one guy, the guy the team looks to play the big games and I'm looking forward to it," said Brooks-Potts. "Obviously we have a lot of hard work ahead of us and I just have to take it one game at a time and make sure I'm always playing at my best for the team."
The Kings have a lot of new faces and will miss the scoring punch of graduated players Justin Rai, Chad Staley, Jeremiah Luedtke and Michael Buonincontri, however Brooks-Potts is confident the team will win under new coaches Chad van Diemen and Adam Maglio.
"We have a really good group coming back and Adam and Chad have been working hard with the guys teaching them some new things -- everyone's buying in to the new systems and with our strong defence it will create offence for us," said Brooks Potts. "It helps having size on the back end and they're all pretty fast and they all have good hands so I think it's going to be on of the best D-corps in the league."
The Vernon Vipers visit the Kings tonight at 7 at the Coliseum in the final preseason home game for Prince George. Brooks-Potts will start the game and come out in the second period to allow McCloskey to play the second half. Brooks-Potts is expected to play the entire game Saturday when the same teams meet in Vernon.
"We're excited to see what Alex can do, given the opportunity to be the starter, as of now we plan on Alex being the guy to carry the load for us."" said van Diemen. "Last year was tough with him splitting the time knowing if you lose a game you might not be in there because another guy your age is going to get that shot.
"I think Liam is going to be a very good goalie. He battles and we want him to push Alex to be his best too and that makes for a good relationship. They're both competitive people who hate to lose and that's a good start."
