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Kings players eyeing international event

Two members of the Prince George Spruce Kings have earned the chance to skate for Canada West in the upcoming World Junior A Hockey Challenge. Forwards Ethan de Jong and Kyle Johnson will be in Calgary from Dec. 2-5 to try out for the team.
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Two members of the Prince George Spruce Kings have earned the chance to skate for Canada West in the upcoming World Junior A Hockey Challenge.

Forwards Ethan de Jong and Kyle Johnson will be in Calgary from Dec. 2-5 to try out for the team. The tournament - which will also feature a Canada East club, the Czech Republic, the United States, Switzerland and Russia - will be held Dec. 10-16 in Truro, N.S.

Both players attended last year's tryout camp and Johnson made the team. He recorded two assists and helped Canada West to a fifth-place finish. Forward Blake Hayward, who recently joined the Spruce Kings from the Coquitlam Express, also played for Canada West in the 2016 event.

So far this B.C. Hockey League season, de Jong leads the Spruce Kings with nine goals and 31 points in 27 games. Johnson is third on the team list with 12 goals and 22 points in 27 outings.

"We are very happy for Kyle and Ethan," Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes said of their invitations to the Canada West camp. "Both are tremendous individuals who play huge roles on our team. They are very deserving of this opportunity to try out for Team Canada West and I know they will represent themselves and the Spruce Kings organization very well."

The World Junior A Hockey Challenge is a Hockey Canada event.

The Spruce Kings, fourth in the BCHL's Mainland Division with a 12-10-2-3 record, will face the Express on Friday and Saturday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. The start time for both games is 7 p.m.