After a one-game COVID-created postponement, the Prince George Spruce Kings are back on the ice Friday in Cranbrook.
They’ll saddle up for a two-game series with the Cranbrook Bucks with a chance to create a wider degree of separation in the B.C. Hockey League standings between themselves and the Bucks.
Point-wise, the fourth-place Spruce Kings actually trail the fifth-place Bucks by two points, but with the league rife with postponements and cancellations this season due to the pandemic, each team’s winning percentage is what ultimately will determine the order of finish when the regular season ends in March.
The Spruce Kings (14-9-1-1-0) have 30 points in their 25 games and sport a .600 winning percentage, while Cranbrook (15-10-2-0-0) has 32 points and a .593 winning percentage, having played 27 games so far.
The Kings went 4-3-1-1-0 in the month of December, returning from the Christmas break Dec. 30-31 in Wenatchee, where they earned three of a possible four points with a 5-3 win over the Wild, coming on the heels of a 2-1 overtime loss. The Bucks had their five-game winning streak end Sunday afternoon in Merritt, where they lost 3-2 in overtime – just the second win in 25 games this season for the Cents.
Special teams remain a bright spot for the Kings. Their power play ranks third in the 18-team BCHL (28.6 per cent) and their penalty-killing has improved to sixth-overall (80.2 per cent)
“We’re playing a little bit better as of late – I know there was a stretch at the tail end of December that I wasn’t overly pleased with and I don’t think the coaches or any of the players were, they know they needed to be better,” said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes.
“That’s going to happen in the course of a season to any team and maybe that was a bit of downtime for us at that point and I would certainly look for January to be a better month for us than December was. That being said, we’re still in a real good spot in the standings in what is the toughest division in junior A hockey in Canada. We’re five games over. 500 and looking to build on that with a strong January.”
It helps that the Spruce Kings have the hottest goalie in the BCHL. The league made that official Wednesday when it selected Jordan Fairlie as the third star of the month for December. The 19-year-old from Fort. St. John posted back-to-back shutouts against Salmon Arm (Dec. 4) and Cranbrook (Dec. 9) while compiling a 1.35 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Fairlie now sports a 6-2-2 record and a league-leading 1.77 GAA with a .921 save percentage, fourth-best in the BCHL.
“Jordan is a dynamic goaltender who has the ability to be a pro goaltender down the road and he has shown that for sure,” said Hawes. “He’s a 19-year-old and we look forward to having him back next season as one of the best in the league. He’s already that. I know he’s very proud of his numbers, statistically, but from my standpoint the biggest for a goaltender is W’s, and when Jordan’s in there he gives us every opportunity to get those wins.”
Aaron Trotter, 20, has been the Kings’ starting goalie since the start of the season, but lately Fairlie is getting more frequent opportunities to show his puck-stopping abilities. Trotter, a St. Thomas recruit, ranks 10th in the league with a 2.75 average and .899 save rate. He has a 8-7-0-0 record.
“(Fairlie has) been getting his fair share of starts and he’s earned them,” said Hawes. “In my role as the GM I certainly want to have two goaltenders that can be Number 1 guys and we’re fortunate that we have that. It’s certainly nice to have a tandem like these two that with either one of them in net the group feels real confident in front of them.”
Wednesday’s postponement was a precautionary measure taken after the Smoke Eaters reported to the league there were positive COVID tests among the team. The Smoke Eaters were then required to enter into a five-day mandatory quarantine pause of all team activities.
No Spruce Kings have been affected. Eight of the players at the Canadian border were required to submit to PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests within 24 hours of their arrival in Prince George following their games in Washington state and none of those tests produced positive results. The Kings practiced Tuesday and Wednesday before boarding the bus Thursday for Cranbrook.
“We’re fine,” said Hawes. “We’re taking the same precautions everyone is taking but it’s been luck to this point. This thing is so transmissible and if it does catch up with us at some point and we have to postpone a couple games and do a five-day pause, then so be it. Credit to the staff, the coaches and our trainer Mitch (Karapita) and the players, I know they work really hard to do everything to stay safe.”
The Spruce Kings have no injuries to report heading into their weekend set in Cranbrook.
The league has rescheduled the Prince George-Merritt game for Saturday, Jan. 15 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, replacing the original date of Tuesday, Jan. 25. Wednesday’s game in Trail will be rescheduled later by the league. The cancellation of the league’s 60th anniversary all-star game activities Jan. 14-15 freed up time for teams to make up postponed games.
That gives the Kings three home dates around the same week, with West Kelowna visiting next Wednesday and Penticton coming to Prince George on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The league scrapped cross-conference play in November when highway connections to the Lower Mainland were disrupted by an historic rainstorm. All those additional games for Prince George against Interior Conference opponents have been rescheduled.
“It’s been one thing after another, but the boys are staying resilient and staying positive while they deal with some adversity and I know other teams throughout the league are, just doing the best we can, and I’m really confident we’ll get our full season in and the playoffs,” said Hawes. “That’s all part of the sporting world right now, whether it’s the NHL or all junior levels, you’ve got to roll with the punches, everything’s pretty fluid.”
The Kings have until the Jan. 10th deadline to set their roster.
