The Prince George Spruce Kings have not encountered a ton of resistance from their playoff opponents in their push to the national junior A hockey championship.
It shows in their 20-3 postseason record.
Their ride down easy street hit a few roadblocks in the Doyle Cup when the Kings played the top-ranked team in the country, the Brooks Bandits. After winning 2-0 in the first game of the best-of-seven series, the Kings lost 3-1 and 4-0 and faced a 2-1 series deficit coming back to P.G.
They turned it around in a hurry, winning 3-1, 4-1, then scoring three times in the third period of Game 6 to beat the Bandits 4-2 and stake their claim as Pacific champions. The Bandits provided plenty of pushback in all six games and that was no more apparent than in the series-clincher a week ago at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
"It certainly was good thing, facing a bit of adversity in that round against Brooks, to kind of prepare us for this short-term tournament," said Kings head coach Adam Maglio.
"I thought getting a win in their rink in Game 1 was huge. We learned we can beat any team on any ice surface, which was great. When we came home down 2-1 in a different playoff format the guys really took advantage of that. Playing our way and sticking to it, if you do the right things it usually works out."
The Kings went 16-1 in their run to the Fred Page Cup to claim the title for the first time in their 23-year B.C. Hockey League history. But they were not alone in dominating their respective league playoffs. The Oakville Blades, who provide the Kings their first challenge in the five-team tournament Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. PT), went 16-3 while winning the Ontario Junior Hockey League title, then captured the Dudley Hewitt Cup in four games.
The Portage Terriers swept their first two series, then needed a Game 7 win in the Manitoba league final against Swan Valley. In the Anavet Cup they defeated the Saskatchewan league-champion Battlefords North Stars in five games.
The Ottawa Junior Senators went 12-2 in the Central Canada Hockey League, then won five straight in the Fred Page Cup playoffs to advance to Brooks. The national tournament host Bandits, after a 57-3 regular season, went on a 12-3 roll in the Alberta league playoffs before they ran into the Spruce Kings.
As Doyle Cup champions, Prince George inherited a schedule the Bandits likely had hoped was going to be theirs. The Kings will get to watch from the stands at Centennial Regional Arena Saturday while the other four teams play each other. It starts at 1 p.m. when Ottawa plays Portage at 1 p.m., followed by the Oakville-Brooks game at 6 p.m. PT.
In their tournament opener the Kings will be playing an Oakville team that will have less than a day to recover from their first game.
"It's a team we've never seen," said Maglio. "Video is going to give you some tendencies but you've got to get out there playing and we'll do our best to prepare without seeing them but we have to focus more on our own game here.
"We're not playing on Day 1 and Oakville has a pretty short turnaround between games so you want to take advantage early on teams like that. Our schedule with two games and one day off is like a normal playoff series for us. No excuses."
Prince George faces Ottawa in the only tournament game on Monday (6 p.m. PT), then has the day off Tuesday before going back to work Wednesday night against Portage, followed by a rematch with Brooks Thursday night to conclude the round-robin schedule. The top team after round-robin play gets to choose which semifinal game they will play on Saturday, May 18, either 1 or 6 p.m. PT.
All five of the Kings' playoff series so far have been best-of-seven affairs. The format is much different this week in Brooks. Each team plays each other once in the round-robin to determine the four semifinalists with one team eliminated.
"There's a point where you don't get another day," said Maglio. "You can't lose (in the playoff round) and if you do you're done and if you win you move on and I think that's going to be the learning curve. Time is not on your side in tournaments like this."
If the Spruce Kings advance to the final they will have played six games in eight days.
All round-robin games and the two semifinals Saturday will be webcast on the Hockey Canada site, hockeycanada.ca. The final on Sunday, May 19 will be televised live on TSN starting at 2 p.m. PT.
The Kings spent two days in Calgary booked into the Fairmont Palliser, one of the oldest and swankiest downtown hotels. After their practices on the ice each day the players had free rein to check out the sights, do some shopping and explore the city's extensive river trail network on rented bikes. They also crossed paths with the Colorado Mammoth, in Calgary to take on the Roughnecks in the National Lacrosse League West Division final.
"They really enjoyed it, it's just a nice change," said Maglio. "It was a great hotel in a great location and great hospitality. it was obviously neat for the guys to see a pro lacrosse team because they're pretty fit, big guys. Some guys haven't seen a city downtown like that, to be honest."
