For the third consecutive year, the Prince George Spruce Kings were knocked out of the B.C. Hockey League playoffs in the first round.
So what should the reaction be?
The immediate impulse is to criticize, and no doubt some hockey watchers in the city will do just that. After all, the goal of every team is to march all the way through the post-season and lay mitts on the big prize. In the Spruce Kings' case, that would be the Fred Page Cup, which goes to the BCHL champion. Beyond the Fred Page Cup, there's the Western Canada Cup and the RBC Cup, the latter of which is presented to the junior A national champion.
At the end of January, it was written in this space that the Spruce Kings -- who were second in the Mainland Division and sixth in the league at the time -- would ultimately be judged by their success or lack thereof in the playoffs. It was further stated that they needed to get past the first round and then make some serious noise.
A first-round loss to the underdog Coquitlam Express -- who beat the Kings four games to two in a best-of-seven series that ended Tuesday night in Coquitlam -- certainly doesn't rate as successful. And on the noise meter, it's the sound of a feather landing on velvet.
So yes, the Spruce Kings have left themselves open to criticism. They had all the pieces in place to challenge for a banner and, instead, will now sit on the sidelines as the playoffs continue without them.
But, in this case, the Kings were brought down by something no team can control -- injuries to key people.
Coaches and players don't often use medical issues as an excuse for failure. The standard line is that injuries are part of the game and that the remaining players have to "step up" and find ways to win. The Spruce Kings, however, would be justified in blaming their downfall on the injury bug.
It bit top-six forward Brent Lashuk in the second-to-last game of the regular season. Lashuk, who had 22 goals and 43 points in 49 games, suffered a torn knee ligament and was missed dearly by the Kings not only for his offence but for his defensive awareness and reliability.
To make matters worse, team captain Bryant Christian -- who normally played on a line with Lashuk -- missed Games 2, 3 and 4 of the series after he took a puck in the mouth in Game 1. The Kings, perhaps not coincidentally, lost the second, third and fourth games and suddenly found themselves down 3-1 in the series.
As if losing Christian wasn't enough, the Kings also had to deal with the absence of blueliner Karan Toor for the last four games against the Express. Toor, co-winner of the Spruce Kings' defenceman of the year award, was knocked out of the series by a groin injury.
Even if the Kings were the most well-rounded junior A team in Canada, they would have felt the effect of these injuries.
To go deep in the playoffs at any level of hockey, healthy bodies are a must. That means teams have to have some luck on their side, and the Kings didn't have any.
So Prince George hockey fans shouldn't be too hard on head coach Dave Dupas and his players. Instead, the games against the Express should be remembered for the fact the Kings gave everything they had to give. And then, of course, there was the pure entertainment value.
The Game 1 win -- 3-2 on home ice on March 4 -- was thrilling, especially Mitch Eden's third-period slapper that stood up as the winner and goaltender Alex Murray's brilliance in preserving the victory.
And Game 5, played at the Coliseum on Monday, was perhaps the most memorable Spruce Kings game since the team went to five overtime periods to beat the Camrose Kodiaks 3-2 in the semifinal round of the 2006 RBC Cup.
Monday's double OT contest featured what may become known in Spruce Kings' lore simply as 'The Save' -- Murray lunging across his net in the first overtime period to take a series-ending goal away from the Express. Then, to cap things off in the second extra session, Jeremiah Luedtke fired the winner off the rebound of a Chad Staley shot. The Spruce Kings triumphed 3-2 and, in front of close to 1,000 delirious fans, forced a sixth game. Moments like those -- life or death in the context of a sporting event -- are what make playoff hockey so compelling.
While the Spruce Kings' playoff run barely got out of the starting blocks, fans shouldn't forget that the team did have a terrific regular season (32-20-4-2 record) and was worth the price of admission pretty much every home game. Paying customers want to see effort, and they saw it with this group.
Moving forward, the good thing for the Spruce Kings is that the majority of their players will be back in uniform in 2014-15, including five of their top six scorers -- Staley, Luedtke, Justin Rai, Lashuk and Jake LeBrun. All of the returnees will be a year older and wiser and will have learned some valuable lessons from this year's playoff experience.
And you can bet they'll be motivated to make next year's post-season last a lot longer.
