Austin Fraser is big, strong and fast on his skates and hits with the force of flying anvil.
Just ask anyone unfortunate enough to get between Fraser and the boards of a B.C. Hockey League rink.
While he excels at the physical side of hockey, the 18-year-old Fraser also can score goals and he did that 13 times in 44 games this season. Like the rest of his Spruce Kings teammates preparing for the opening game of their Interior Conference best-of-seven quarterfinal playoff series with the Cranbrook Bucks, the 18-year-old from West Vancouver plans to hit everything that moves in a Bucks uniform.
The series starts Friday at 7 p.m. at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
“I’m super-pumped, it’s my first BCHL playoffs and first playoffs in a while,” said the six-foot-two, 205-pound native of West Vancouver. “I’m super-pumped to bring energy tomorrow night, play my game, play physical. I love getting into stuff and being gritty and setting the tone early here.
“It’s definitely something I’ve been working towards the past two seasons, honing my size and strength and using my physical advantages and my shot.”
Fraser, the team-leader in penalty minutes with 53, will start the series playing the right side on a line with centre Ty Gagno and left winger Kilian McGregor-Bennett.
“I’ve known them through minor hockey and Iove playing with them, we have good chemistry,” said Fraser. “We’re just all hard workers. McGregor-Bennett is a speed demon who hunts down pucks everywhere and Ty Gagno is just a great two-way player and then you’ve got me, who likes to bring physicalness. I think that makes a great combo to bring us success in the playoffs here.”
Tickets sales have been steady and a crowd of about 1,200-1,300 is expected for the series opener Friday. The more the merrier, as far as Fraser’s concerned.
“I love the crowd, any good hits thrown, any close chances, you hear the crowd and it gives an extra boost,” he said. “Whatever it gives us, it’s great. I’d hate to come into this barn when you’ve everyone cheering a hootin’ and hollerin’ and cheering for us, it’s definitely intimidating to play against. I’m super-pumped for the turnout and hopefully we can bring a good win.”
Last spring, there were no playoffs and teams played only a 20-game regular season schedule. The 2020 BCHL playoffs were cancelled after just one round for all teams in the league when the pandemic hit the country. Strange as it seems, that makes the Spruce Kings the three-time defending league champions this spring.
Nineteen-year-old Nick Rheaume, picked as the Spruce Kings MVP, joined the team last season and he’s never played a BCHL playoff game.
“We’ve been practicing the past two weeks and getting ready all year for this and everyone’s pumped, everybody’s healthy and we’re ready to go,” said Rheaume, who led the Spruce Kings with 29 goals and 30 assists for 59 points.
“Obviously it’s fun to play in front of a lot of people and honestly I think it’s not fun to come play us here. That’s an advantage for us and we can’t wait.”
The 19-year-old from Trois Rivieres, Que., expects a charged playoff atmosphere in the building formerly known as the Prince George Coliseum when the Kings step out to take on the Bucks. Rheaume is moving on to NCAA college hockey next season at UMass-Lowell and he wants to accumulate a lengthy playoff resume in his final season in the BCHL.
“We just have to concentrate on going game by game and we can’t look ahead but we obviously have a big goal in the back of our heads,” said Rheaume. “This is my first playoffs, we didn’t have that chance last year. We had a good team and we won the (Chilliwack) pod, which was good, but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming up.
“I think we have a team that’s built for playoffs. We play hard, we play physical and playoff hockey is a more physical game. We really have good goalies, good d-core and good forwards and it’s really our type of hockey.”
The Kings won three of the five games against Cranbrook this season. Three of the five games were decided by one goal.
“They have a young team and they have a good team that can score on the rush and they like to play a river-hockey type of game, and I think that’s just perfect because we’re the complete opposite of that,” said Rheaume. “We have an old team and we like to be physical and I think we just have to wear the down from the first game. Just hit them and play hard on them and those young guys won’t keep up.”
It doesn’t hurt the Kings’ cause that they are facing a team that spent 10 hours Thursday traveling in a bus. They also hold home-ice advantage for the first two games, playing on a rink that’s 10 feet shorter than an NHL-sized rink.
“They’re not used to that, their rink’s a little bit bigger than ours and we are used to and it obviously helps,” said Rheaume. “We know how to play here and they don’t and we’re going to take that advantage and be ready to try to get two wins right here in front of our fans.”
Kings defenceman Colton Cameron is one of only three Spruce Kings with BCHL playoff experience (Kolton Cousins and Rowan Miller are the others). Cameron and Cousins were with the Kings in 2020 when they were swept by the Trail Smoke Eaters in a four-game opening round series, while Miller played 17 playoff games over two years (2019 and 2020) for Powell River.
“It’s very exciting, all of this season leading up to this moment and I’m looking forward to our matchup against Cranbrook,” said Cameron, who collected two goal and 22 assists in 2021-22.
“I think as long as we play physical and disrupt their skilled plays we should be good here. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be very close games and we’re really excited to start playing.
“The crowd will be loud (Friday) and it’ll be a little nervewracking, but playoff hockey is so exciting, very fast and physical and that’s probably what I’m most looking forward to.”
Now in his third season with the Spruce Kings, the 19-year-old from Cloverdale has emerged as the team’s top defenceman and has locked up a scholarship to play at Bentley University starting in 2023.
The Kings (27-15-4-8-0) finished fourth in the Interior, three points ahead of the fifth-place Bucks (29-20-2-3-0). Prince George struggled to put together wins over the last month of the season but finished their 54-game schedule winning two of their last three and they’ve had nearly two weeks of practice to work out the bugs.
“During the season we’ve been inconsistent being able to play a full three periods, but I think we’re all dialed-in and ready to go,” said Cameron, who will have family up for the first two games at RMCA, Friday and Saturday. “You’ll see a very physical team, fast, making simple plays and really bearing down on every chance we get.
“We’re rested up and we’ve recovered from injuries so we have no excuses going into this. We’re ready.”
The series will shift to Cranbrook for games 3 and 4 next Monday and Tuesday.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Spruce Kings have called up three affiliated players from their respective academy teams, who will be available for the playoffs as injury replacements. Forward Luca Primerano is up from the Burnaby Winter Club, while forward Brayden Skogstad and defenceman Luke Schraeder have joined the team after finishing their season with Rink Academy in Kelowna. All are 16-year-olds slated to join the Kings full-time next season… The BCHL playoffs started Thursday in Penticton, where the host Penticton Vees lost 5-3 to the Trail Smoke Eaters… One other Interior series starts Friday with Vernon at West Kelowna, while on Saturday, Wenatchee opens its series at Salmon Arm… The four Interior Conference quarterfinals series start Friday with Cowichan Valley at Alberni Valley, Surrey at Nanaimo, Coquitlam at Chilliwack and Victoria at Langley.
