To celebrate their 50th season, the Prince George Spruce Kings unveiled the team's anniversary logo and announced players will be wearing five jerseys from each decade of the team’s legacy on special feature nights.
“I just want to talk about how excited the organization is for our 50th anniversary season,” said general manager Mike Hawes, as the team unveiled its 50th season logo at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA).
“To say it has taken a lot of work to get the organization to this point has been an understatement. The team started in 1972 and has a long history and the legacy of the team in Prince George is strong and getting stronger and we anticipate being here another 50 years. We are excited for this season and we know we are going to have a strong group on the ice.”
Hawes said that growing up in Prince George he remembers how exciting it was to watch the Spruce Kings play.
“One of the biggest things for us in the 50th anniversary is to capture what I meant for the Spruce Kings to be in this city for 50 years,” said business operations manager Kyle Anderson.
He said for the 50th anniversary logo the team wanted something very simple that represents what it means to be a Spruce King.
“The professionalism we expect of our players and the types of players we bring in we wanted to make sure it was all there on the logo as we honour the 50 seasons of Spruce Kings Hockey.”
The team will also be holding five “decades nights” at the RCMA where the players will honour the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s by wearing the Spruce Kings jerseys from those decades.
“It is also the BC Hockey League’s 60th anniversary season, so it is double special for that, and there will be a BCHL 60th series of retro nights across the BCHL that we are looking forward to participating in.”
Anderson said the team will wear its 1970s jersey for the BCHLs 60th Anniversary event. This will be an outdoor all-star weekend featuring a 3-on-3 all-star game, a skills competition an alumni game which will take place from Jan. 14-16, 2022.
The team says the 1970s jersey design will be revealed at a later date.
“It was a lot of fun to make sure we got those jerseys as historically accurate as possible. The one colour picture we had of the 1980s jersey was enough,” added Anderson.
The 1980s jersey will be worn in December when the Kings take on the Cranbrook Bucks, the 1990s jersey will be worn in late January against the Surrey Eagles, and the 2000s jersey will be worn in February against the Wenatchee Wild.
Then in March, the Spruce Kings will wear their 2010s jersey when they play the Vernon Vipers, the team they beat in the 2019 Fred Page Cup final.
“Those are the four jerseys for our decade nights and we are definitely very excited to get it all started,” said communications director Cole Waldie.
The team has launched a brand new online store where fans can purchase merchandise that includes a 50th season line, a vintage line, and a traditional line of items.
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Spruce Kings have also partnered with 99.3 Rewind Radio to broadcast 10 Spruce Kings games for the 2021-22 season.
The Spruce Kings regular season kicks off Oct. 8 against the Merritt Centennials, while the home opener goes down the following week also against the Centennials.
You can find more information about the Spruce Kings upcoming season on its website.
