After getting spanked 7-1 by the Prince George Spruce Kings in their first loss of the season, Wednesday in Prince George, Penticton Vees captain Fin Williams vowed his team will give the Kings a much rougher ride in tonight’s rematch.
That starts with staying out of the penalty box.
In Wednesday’s battle for first place in the Interior Conference, the Vees gave the Spruce Kings seven power-play chances and were stung five times by the B.C. Hockey League’s top power play. It was a humbling lesson for the Vees, who had won all their games, exhibition and regular season, leading up their Wednesday encounter with the Kings.
“For us to show up like that on the penalty kill is disappointing and we have a lot of steps to try and take the next few weeks to get that perfection,” said Williams. “They have a really good team, we just didn’t come to play and we’re pretty embarrassed and disappointed with how we played, we just got outworked. We’re going to be reread to go and excited about Friday’s game after a loss like that.
“Better now than 30 games in, it’s going to be a good lesson for us.”
Tonight’s game in Penticton is the start of a two-day roadtrip for the Spruce Kings, who also visit Merritt on Saturday.
Vees head coach and general manager Fred Harbinson wasn’t surprised the Spruce Kings brought their A-game. They showed their capabilities in a one-goal preseason loss to the Vees in September in Penticton and Harbinson knows it’s going to be a dogfight for the rest of the season whenever the teams meet again.
“No question, they showed us how the game is supposed to be played,” said Harbinson. “Obviously we took too many penalties and allowed them to show what they can do on the power play, but on top of it, they’re still the defending champs, as funny as it is, and they showed that they kind of want to hang on to that. Full credit to P.G., they put us in situations where it looked like we didn’t want to be in and we’ll have to want to be in those spots (tonight).”
None of the current Spruce Kings are still with the team that captured its first BCHL championship in 2019, but Williams remembers that playoff run well. He joined the Spruce Kings as a 15-year-old coming up from the Burnaby Winter Club and played eight games that postseason leading up to the Kings’ runner-up finish in the junior A national championship. In his last season before he heads to the University of Michigan, the 18-year-old is looking forward to a better showing from his team when the Vees make their only other trip to Prince George to face the Kings Dec. 1 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena on Dec. 1.
Nick Rheaume led the Kings’ cause Wednesday with a three-goal game, his first hat trick since joining the team a season ago. The 19-year-old winger from Sherbrooke, Que., a UMass-Lowell recruit, already has seven goals and six assists for 13 points, one fewer than his entire 20-game point total in the 2021 pod season.
The Spruce Kings (6-1-0-0-0) now lead the Interior Conference with 12 points, two up on the Vees (5-1-0-0-0) and Kings’ centre John Herrington expects his team to come out with similar intensity tonight (7 p.m., 99.3 FM REWIND Radio, Hockey TV).
“We were moving the puck well and 5-on-5, they don’t like to get hit, so we were physical on them and they kind of shut down, which made it easier,” said the 19-year-old Herrington. “On special teams, even our penalty kill, we felt confident and everyone did exactly what we were told to do and it obviously showed.
“I think they’re a good team, but when we play our game we’re a better team. Coming in (to the season), people knew the Spruce Kings would be good, it showed on paper, and it’s good to see that’s translating into our performances. I think the score (tonight) is going to be a lot tighter, it’s going to be a harder-checking game. I don’t know how many penalties they had but it was a lot and, clearly, you don’t want to do that against our team.”
Herrington centres a line with Kolton Cousins and Kilian McGregor-Bennett and they’ve been outstanding through the first month of the season. Herrington signed an NCAA scholarship commitment for next season at Lake Superior State and it won’t be long before his linemates follow suit.
Herrington, 19, the pride of Hudson’s Hope, collected a goal and two assists in the Vees game for a six-goal and 12-point that ranks him fourth in the BCHL scoring race, on point behind Rheaume.
“I’m feeling a lot more confident than last year in the pod, I just feel like, with or without the puck, I know what I’m doing, and I’m used to the sped of the game,” said Herrington.
Through seven games now, the Spruce Kings’ power play is striking at an astounding 46.7 per cent clip (14 goals in 30 opportunities). For perspective, Salmon Arm, the league’s second-best power play, has a 25 per cent success rate.
“Our group deserves a lot of credit for how they’re playing,” said Kings head coach Alex Evin. “They play really hard and they’re disciplined, for the most part and they’re playing together. We just have to keep getting better, there’s always areas to improve and lots of positive early. I really liked our transition game; we want to move pucks up quick and our D did a great job of that.”
“Obviously we didn’t expect to score five power-play goals and it’s nice when you have a game like that. Five-on-five, the game was pretty even, we were quite sloppy at times, but the power play was huge. It’ll be a different game (tonight). If we lost 7-1 I think we’d bounce back with a good effort so we better be ready for Penticton to play its best game of the year.”
Aaron Trotter was rock-solid in the Kings’ net, stopping 22 of 23 shots, and don’t be surprised if he gets the nod again tonight. The Kings are one of the stingiest teams in the BCHL and Trotter stacks up well with the league’s best, sporting a 2.21 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. Jordan Fairlie is also garnering the attention of college and pro scouts with a sparkling 2.00 GAA and .900 save percentage.
