Prince George Spruce Kings when it comes to B.C. Hockey League playoff experience.
That started two seasons ago when he broke into the league as a rookie winger with the Victoria Grizzlies, a team that went 16 games and three rounds deep into the playoffs in 2017.
Traded to Prince George that summer, Welsh was with the Spruce Kings every step of the way as they advanced to the Fred Page Cup league final, a 24-game stretch that ended in a five-game series loss to the Wenatchee Wild. Add in the nine postseason contests he played for the Kings in the first two rounds this year and that gives the 19-year-old Whistler native a 49-game playoff resume.
Now Welsh has a chance to make the Grizzlies rue the day that deal was made. He and the Spruce Kings will take on the Grizzlies in the best-of-seven Coastal Conference final series which starts tonight (7 p.m.) at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
"It's real exciting, it's just a chance to see where you were on that team and know you're on the better team now, which would be awesome to prove," said Welsh.
"I've been in a few different (playoff) runs now and this one definitely is special. I really think we have the team to do it this year."
Welsh followed the path of his older brother Tyler to Victoria and played 52 regular season games in his rookie year. The Kings acquired his rights in a future considerations trade a month before the 2017-18 season began and he jumped at the chance to play for a team loaded with his former Burnaby Winter Club teammates.
He scored five goals and 20 points in 43 games this season and has emerged as one of the Kings' top two-way forwards, averaging nearly a point per game in the playoffs with a goal and seven assists. Welsh plays the right side on a line with centre Lucas Vanroboys and left winger Corey Cunningham, which has provided some third-line scoring punch.
The Grizzlies-Spruce Kings series pits the most explosive offence in the BCHL (Victoria led the league with 161 goals in 58 games, averaging 3.98 per game) against the stingiest defence (Prince George allowed 120 goals in the season, a 2.06 average).
"It seems we're two very different teams," said Welsh. "We're a very structured defensive team and they are very offensive. They loop around and look for the odd-man rushes and we kind of stay and look for the right opportunities. We have a really good defensive corps and that goes up through our lineup from the goalie to the forwards. We all do our assignments well and play on the right side of the puck and it's been working so far."
The Kings scored 181 regular-season goals (3.12 average) and had a plus-60 goal differential, while the Grizzlies were plus-40, giving up 169 goals (2.91 average). In 11 playoff games the Grizzlies have scored a league-high 50 goals and have allowed 27 for a plus-23 differential - same as the Spruce Kings. In their nine games they scored 36 times and gave up a league-low 13 goals.
The Grizzlies endured a physically-demanding seven-game series with Powell River which wrapped up Monday, after opening the playoffs with a four-game sweep of Alberni Valley. The Spruce Kings needed just five games to finish off Coquitlam in the first round, then won all four games in the second round against Chilliwack. The Grizzlies are hoping the 10-day break between series has left the Spruce Kings a little rusty.
The Kings will be playing close attention to league MVP Alex Newhook. The 18-year-old centre won the BCHL scoring race wiith 38 goals and 64 assists for 102 points in 53 games and the St. John's Nfld., native has kept up the pace in the playoffs, leading the Grizzlies with nine goals and 18 points in 11 games.
Newhook's linemates are Alexander Campbell, the BCHL's rookie of the year (21-46-67 in the regular season) and New York Rangers draft pick Riley Hughes (24-34-58), who ranks third in playoff scoring, just behind Newhook, with 17 points.
"We've had a great season and obviously those guys work extremely hard and they're super-talented and they've helped raise the level of the guys around them to make everybody a better hockey player," said Craig Didmon, the Grizzlies head coach and general manager.
"They're very driven and committed to be professional hockey players and that commitment has kid of worn off."
Three other Grizzlies have averaged a point per game or better in the playoffs, including Marty Westhaver (8-6-14), Cameron Thompson (3-8-11) and defenceman Carter Berger (5-10-15). Berger, Jeremie Bucheler, Nico Somerville and Kenny Johnson have sparked the offence from the blueline all season.
Twenty-year-old Cole Noble and Brady MacDonald are the Grizzlies' shutdown specialists on the back end.
Other Victoria players to watch are forwards Kyle McGrath and Stephen Konroyd, McGrath joined the Griz in a deadline trade from the St. John's Caps in Newfoundland and put up nine points in 11 games to finish the season. Konroyd is the 18-year-old son of former NHL defenceman Steve Konroyd. Victoria captain Ryan Nolan, a forward, will serve two more games of a three-game suspension for his third hit-to-the-head penalty this season.
Kurtis Chapman has played every playoff game in net for Victoria. The 21-year-old from Airdie, Alta., is in his second BCHL season, joining the team after helping the Portage Terriers win the Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship in 2017.
Chapman made 55 saves in a 4-3 win over the Spruce Kings in Prince George, Oct. 5. In the only other meeting between the teams this season, Jan. 6 in Victoria at the end of a three-game, three-day roadtrip, the Spruce Kings outshot the Grizzlies 41-29 but lost 3-0.
Victoria (36-18-0-4) finished first in the Island Division, eight points back of the Spruce Kings (39-13-1-5), who finished second in the Mainland Division, one point behind the first-overall Chiefs.
Both teams have an abundance of playoff experience. Half the Kings' roster went all the way to the BCHL final last year. The Grizzlies have four holdovers - Westhaver, Somerville, Berger and Thompson - who were with the team for the 2017 playoffs and they have 10 players who were around for a 12-game stretch that ended with a five-game second-round series to Powell River last season.
The Spruce Kings outscored Chilliwack 21-3, shutting down a Chiefs' offence that ranked as the fifth most productive in the season. They are counting on a similar defence-first approach to limit the Grizzlies' goalscorers.
"If we play the right way I think our style of game suits up well against teams that are a little more freewheeling like Victoria," said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. "I certainly think we need to stick to our structure because if we shy away from that they will expose you if you're not on good spots on the ice."
The Kings' top scoring line - Patrick Cozzi-Dustin Manz-Ben Brar has done its job generating offence, amply supported by captain Ben Poisson, who leads the team in playoff scoring (8-5-13). Poisson and his brother Nicholas (3-3-6) and Chong Min Lee (3-4-7) have spread the scoring load around, taking pressure off the Manz line as gamebreakers. Defencemen Layton Ahac (3-4-7), Dylan Anhorn (2-4-6) and Max Coyle (2-4-6) are getting their share of points as well.
Almost lost in the two series wins was the consistency shown by Kings goalie Logan Neaton, who sports a league-best 1.29 goals-against average with two shutouts in the playoffs. His .940 save percentage ranks second-best in the BCHL.
"They do have a good d-corps and their goalie has played very well this season so it's a big challenge for sure," said Didmon. "You have to come up with the optimism that you can compete in their barn and we're going to have two cracks at it and we're going to give a great effort (tonight) and hope for good results.
"Similar to (the Spruce Kings), we've shown great character to battle through some adversity and when times were tough we've found a way to get ourselves out of trouble. We have a lot of veterans on this team, guys who have been to the semifinals, and the fact they're getting another crack at it, they're excited."
Ahac, an Ohio State recruit, and Newhook are both highly-touted NHL prospects expected to go in the earlier rounds in the June draft in Vancouver . For one of them, this playoff series will be their last chance for them to showcase their talents for a BCHL crowd before they move on to their respective college teams. The Kings know Newhook's capabilities and Ahac says they will be ready with a plan to limit the damage he can cause.
"He's incredibly fast and smart, every shift he plays he's a threat - incredible offensive ability - and he'll be a tough player to play against but if we play the right way we can do it," said Ahac.
"They're a really good team, they're opportunistic and if we overshoot they score on their chances. If we can limit their opportunities we'll have a ton of success. We just have to stick to our plan. We play with a lot of structure, we take care of our own end and play the right way, we play physical, we play hard and we play fast. They played Game 7 Monday and it was a physical series too and think we're at a huge advantage going into the series."
As of Thursday afternoon only a handful of seats remained unsold for Friday's game and a sellout crowd is also expected for Game 2 on Saturday at RMCA. Long bus trips are in store for both teams if this series goes the distance. The Grizzlies will host Game 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday. Game 5 would be played next Thursday in Prince George, with Game 6, if necessary, to follow on Saturday, April 6 in Victoria. Game 7 would be played Monday, April 8 in Prince George.
Prediction: The Spruce Kings have the best defence and have enough firepower to keep pace. They'll win this one in seven.
