No Prince George Spruce Kings were picked for B.C. Hockey League individual awards and Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes is OK with that.
Hawes was hoping Layton Ahac would win the top defenceman award (it went to James Miller of the Penticton Vees) and thought Logan Neaton might get the nod as top goaltender (Penticton's Jack LaFontaine won the award).
Hawes acknowledges there was some disappointment among the team but it's the big prize that matters most to the Spruce Kings. Last year's league finalists are after their very first BCHL championship and nobody can outvote them on that one. Their play on the ice will dictate their playoff destiny in their quest to win four best-of-seven series.
"It's nice to get those accolades but it's also nice that those guys were in the running for it," said Hawes. "It's hard to complain about it, a pretty good goalie won the goalie of the year and a pretty good d-man won the d-man of the year. It's hard to argue with either one.
"I know while they're probably upset a bit, both Logan and Layton are more interested in having team success. Mags (Kings head coach Adam Maglio) certainly could have been in the running for coach of the year but you can only nominate one guy in each division for the finalists and it's hard to argue what Chilliwack did this year with having to essentially rebuild their whole roster after the Royal Bank Cup. Brian (Mainland Division finalist Maloney) did a tremendous job."
Merritt Centennials head coach Joe Martin won the Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy as the BCHL's coach of the year.
The real season begins Friday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena for the Spruce Kings, who host the Coquitlam Express in Game 1 of the Mainland Division semifinal.
The Spruce Kings (39-13-1-5, second in Mainland Division, second overall in BCHL) won six of the eight games over Coquitlam head-to-head in the regular-season series and finished 22 points ahead of the Express (28-24-3-3, third place Mainland).
Coquitlam scored more goals (209) than the Spruce Kings (181) but Prince George was tighter defensively, allowing 120 goals in the season as compared with the 198 goals the Express gave up in a 58-game schedule.
"Coquitlam is a skilled group, they've got a really good group of forwards, they can score
and they proved that this year," said Hawes. "I don't think they defend as well, obviously, but they have a group of d-men who like to chip in offensively. Our defensive game will have to at its top level again for us to have success against them and they've got two pretty good goalies (Kolby Matthews, Clay Stevenson) to rely on who have had pretty good years.
"It's going to take a lot of hard work for us to knock them off in the first round."
The teams haven't met in the playoffs since 2014, when Coquitlam won a six-game opening-round series.
The Spruce Kings host opening-round games Friday and Saturday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, then the series switches to Coquitlam for Games 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday. If Game 5 is needed that would be played next Thursday in Prince George. Game 6 (if needed) would be the following Saturday in Coquitlam, with Game 7 (if necessary) Monday, March 11 in Prince George.
Hawes says reserved-seating tickets are selling quickly and he expects near-sellouts for the first two games this weekend. All Spruce Kings playoff games will be broadcast on CFIS 93.1 FM. Brendan Pawliw will call the play-by-play for home games and Kyle Anderson will be behind the mic on the road.
n The other award winners announced by the league were: Vern Dye Memorial Trophy (most valuable player) - Victoria Grizzlies forward Alex Newhook; Bruce Allison Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) - Victoria Grizzlies forward Alexander Campbell; Bob Fenton Trophy (most sportsmanlike player) - West Kelowna Warriors forward Mike Hardman.
The league also handed out three non-voting awards: Brett Hull Trophy (top scorer) - Alex Newhook – Victoria Grizzlies – 38 goals, 64 assists, 102 points; Wally Forslund Trophy – top goalie tandem(lowest combined goals-against average) - Jack LaFontaine and Derek Krall, Penticton Vees, combined 2.33 GAA; Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy – regular-season champions - Chilliwack Chiefs 42-15-1-0 record, 85 points.
