Prince George Spruce Kings head coach Chad van Diemen has kept a close watch on the other Kings of the B.C. Hockey League.
Prior to getting hired two summers ago to run the Spruce Kings bench, van Diemen served six seasons as associate coach and assistant general manager of the Powell River Kings and he knows what longtime Powell River coach Kent Lewis brings to the table.
Powell River and Prince George meet just twice each regular season and tonight in Powell River it's the Kings' turn to host the Spruce Kings. Back on Oct. 16, a road-weary Powell River team beat a well-rested Spruce Kings squad 1-0 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, despite getting outshot 51-21.
Since then, neither team has suffered from a lack of offence. The Spruce Kings (18-14-2-2, second in Mainland Division) have 141 goals in 36 games, the fourth-highest total in the 17-team league, while Powell River (22-16-0-1, second in Island Division) is not far off that pace with 137 goals in 39 games, sixth in the BCHL
"They're a high-scoring team with a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net and they've made a couple additions on the back end and its obvious they want to win this year," said van Diemen.
"It's a tough building to go in and get two points from but if we play the game the way we can, like we did against them up here we'll give ourselves a good chance to win."
Powell River has just added to its roster veteran defenceman Carmine Buono, a 19-year-old who played NCAA Division 1 college hockey the past 1 1/2 seasons at UMass-Amherst. Buono played for Powell River in 2014-15. The Kings have also picked up 18-year-old defenceman Matthew Cairns, a Cornell University recruit from Mississauga, Ont.,the Edmonton Oilers third-round draft puck in 2016. Cairns played the first half of the season in the USHL with the Fargo Force.
From Powell River, the Spruce Kings will travel to Port Alberni to play the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Saturday night, then will move on to Nanaimo to face the Clippers Sunday afternoon. Both the Bulldogs and Clippers have losing records.
The Spruce Kings are winners of their last two games, both overtime wins at home over the Langley Rivermen last week. Ten of the Spruce Kings' 13 games this month and all but one of their 11 games in February will be played in opposition rinks. They'll return home to play the Vernon Vipers on Wednesday and host the Chilliwack Chiefs next Friday and Saturday.
The Spruce Kings are still without forward Tanner Campbell (neck injury) and goalie Aris Anagnostopoulos (knee strain). For the roadtrip, they've picked up 18-year-old goalie Dawson Rodin (Aldergrove, junior B), as well as forward Ryan Stack and Tom Sweeney from the Burnaby Winter Club academy team.
