Brett Mennear's immediate thought when he found out last spring he'd been traded from the West Kelowna Warriors to the Prince George Spruce Kings was he was in for a precipitous slide, from first to worst.
The Spruce Kings weren't exactly rock-bottom in the B.C. Hockey League but they were close.
Until the 20-year-old West Kelowna native arrived for his final junior season, it probably didn't cross his mind he would emerge as the leader of a cultural revolution.
But when you consider the profound impact he's had in his short tenure as captain of the Spruce Kings, there's no arguing he's been the linchpin of the team's abrupt turnaround, and the league has taken notice.
Mennear was an obvious choice as BCHL player of the week after he picked up eight points (three goals and five assists) in a pair of weekend home-ice wins. He now has 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points in 27 games to jump into fourth place in the league scoring race.
Now in his fourth BCHL season, Mennear is just two points shy of his 42-point season total from 2015-16 in which he played 52 regular season games for the RBC Cup-champion Warriors. Most importantly for Mennear, the Spruce Kings are winning hockey games, a habit he grew to like last season while running the table all the way to the national championship.
"It's a lot better when your team wins as well, we're playing really good hockey right now," said Mennear.
Are they ever. Since their 1-0 loss to Powell River, Oct. 16, in which they outshot their opponents 51-21 and still lost, the Spruce Kings have been one of the league's hottest teams, going 10-2-1-1 in their last 14 games. Ranked third in the Mainland Division, the Spruce Kings (14-10-1-2) have reduced the gap to 11 points between themselves and the second-place Chilliwack Chiefs (19-7-4-0, their opponents tonight (7 p.m.) at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
When Prince George and Chilliwack last met - a 4-1 Prince George win on Oct. 20 - the Spruce Kings were four games below the .500 mark, owners of a 4-8-0-1 record. Seven of those losses were to either Penticton or Wenatchee, who now rank 1-2 respectively as the top two teams in the BCHL.
"Playing those teams early was tough for us, especially because their wasn't a winning culture here," said Mennear. "We had a lot of new faces in the room and it was hard for us to gel right away. But after that we built a lot of character and we knew how good we had to be to compete with those teams.
"(Beating Chilliwack) was one of our biggest wins of the year and I think it kind of turned our team around at that point of the year. We knew we could compete with the better teams in the league. That feeling of winning never gets old. It was the best moments of my life last year so I want that again this year and we have a good shot."
Last season, the Spruce Kings won just 14 of 58 games. Just six full-time players from that team are back this season. One key in the team's resurgence is their penalty-killing, which ranks fourth in the BCHL - an 81.8 per cent success rate.
"Discipline is huge, if you're in the box all game you're not going to score goals, we want to keep our offensive guys on the ice," said Mennear, who had 19 points in nine games in November.
"From top to bottom we're just a well-rounded team. Our goalie, Tavin Grant, is playing great for us, we've got offensive d-men, we've got guys who can shut the other team down a and up front we have high-end skill and depth. The well-roundedness is similar to our team last year in West Kelowna."
Mennear centres a line with Jamie Huber at left wing and Chong Lee on the right side. Lee stepped into that role on the top scoring line three weeks ago when Tanner Campbell was sidelined with a neck injury. The chemistry they've developed led Mennear to a three-goal, one-assist night in the Kings' 8-0 win last week over Coquitlam and he collected four assists in a 6-3 win Saturday over Salmon Arm. Mennear prides himself on his ability to win face-offs and his ability to dominate the circle has led directly to more than a handful of goals for his teammates this season.
Mennear is one of three former Warriors now with the Spruce Kings. Campbell played half the season in West Kelowna and had been playing well with the Kings up until the time he got hurt. The Kings swapped 20-year-olds Sept. 28 when they sent forward Braiden Epp to West Kelowna in exchange for defenceman Tyler Anderson, who has helped the Kings' back end immensely.
"He's a big body and his offensive game is going too, which we didn't see much of last year," said Mennear. "We had one of the best d-corps last year so he kind of fell under the radar as shutdown guy and now he's contributing at both ends of the ice."
The Chiefs defeated the Coquitlam Express 3-1 Wednesday night in Chilliwack.
Seven Chiefs have already been recruited to join NCAA teams next season. That college list includes forward Jordan Kawaguchi, a 19-year-old University of North Dakota recruit who has 21 goals and 43 points, third-most in the BCHL, as well as forwards Kohen Olischefski (Denver), Kale Kane (Vermont), Will Calverley (RIT) and Justin Dickson (UMass-Amherst), and defencemen Connor McCarthy (Clarkson) and Carver Watson (Michigan Tech).
"Since we beat them they haven't lost many games since, they're a good team," said Kings head coach Chad van Diemen. "They're well-coached (by head coach Jason Tatarnic), they have a lot of guys up front who can put the puck in the net and they have a good strong d-corps.
"Kawaguchi has been real good lately. He had a bit of a slow start and he's turned it on. Kane wasn't in the lineup against us but he was really good against us last year."
Mennear (Bentley University) and Spruce Kings forwards Kyle Johnson (Yale) and Keegan Ward (Northern Michigan) have signed college commitments and Mennear figures more of their teammates will soon follow suit.
"I know a few guys are already talking to schools - schools like winners and winning games always helps, I think it's just a matter of time," said Mennear.
On the injury front, the Kings are still without goalie Stefan Wornig, who is home in Surrey undergoing tests to determine the cause of muscle- cramping issues. In his place, Zach Wickson, an affiliated player, has been called up from the Cariboo Cougars major midget team. Defenceman Trent Huitema (shoulder injury) has yet to play for the Kings since he was picked up in a trade from Surrey. Ward is also expected to miss tonight's game with a rib injury. The Kings have also brought in 17-year-old forward Lucas Barker from the Burnaby Winter Club prep team.
LOOSE PUCKS: On Friday, the Island Division-leading Victoria Grizzlies pay their annual visit to Prince George... Fans coming to the rink tonight are being asked to bring nonperishable food items to stock the shelves at St. Vincent de Paul drop-in centre as part of the Five-Hole For Food Challenge Night. This is the Spruce Kings chance to win a league-wide promotion to bring in the most food of any of the 17 teams. The Nanaimo Clippers currently lead with a 5,513-pound total.
