When the Prince George Spruce Kings step onto the ice Wednesday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, they'll have a new offensive engine on the blueline.
On Monday, the local B.C. Hockey League team announced the acquisition of 18-year-old defenceman Luc Salem from the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The Kings picked up the five-foot-nine, 160-pound Salem in a future considerations transaction.
"He's a smooth-skating, skilled, offensive player who is going to fill a void for us on defence," said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes. "He's a good puck mover - we have some guys back there that are good at it but to have another guy who's a good puck mover in today's game is certainly going to be to our advantage. Luc is good offensively but he's also really good on the power play and that's an area where we can improve a little bit. You can always get better on the power play so having Luc be able to contribute there is going to be good as well."
Salem will be in the lineup when the Kings host the Merritt Centennials on Wednesday. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
This AJHL season, Salem played eight games for the Bandits and had three assists. As a native of Los Angeles, he spent last season with the Anaheim Junior Ducks Under-18 team and put up 24 points (five goals, 19 assists) in 32 games.
The Kings don't have to make any roster moves to create room for Salem. He slides into a spot left vacant by 20-year-old defenceman Nick Sutter, traded by the Kings last week to the AJHL's Drumheller Dragons.
"We're still running a d-man short," Hawes said.
"I'm still looking to acquire another d-man at some point in the future."
Heading into the game against the Centennials, the Spruce Kings lead the five-team Mainland Division with a 6-3-1-1 record. Even though the Cents are seventh and last in the Interior Division with a mark of 3-7-0-0, they always seem to play tough against the Kings. In head-to-head meetings this season, each team has won once - the Spruce Kings prevailed 4-3 on Sept. 22 in Chilliwack during the BCHL Showcase and the Centennials won 5-2 on home ice on Oct. 1.
"Merritt has been a hardworking, blue-collar team for years and years and I expect nothing different," Hawes said.
The Spruce Kings are coming off a weekend that saw them earn three of a possible four points against the visiting Surrey Eagles. On Friday, the Eagles won 3-2 in overtime and, on Saturday, the Kings responded with a 4-3 victory. Friday's winner was courtesy of Surrey's Johnny Wesley. On Saturday, Layton Ahac of the Kings got the winning goal when his soft wrister from just inside the blueline found its way into the net at 14:26 of the third period.
"It was a good weekend," said Hawes, whose team has now played the Eagles five times this season and has a 3-1-0-1 record. Two of the wins came with exclamation points - 5-0 and 4-1 on Sept. 15-16 in Prince George.
"I have to give (Eagles head coach) Brandon West and their staff and the players some credit," Hawes added. "The team has come a long way, especially from the first weekend that we played them. They battled us hard this weekend for sure and were full marks for their overtime win in the first game. Even the second game was a hard-fought battle that came right down to the end. But credit to our guys as well, especially in that second game where it was a close game in the third period but we gutted it out and found a way to win. Those are positive things for our group moving forward."
Defenceman Brennan Malgunas of the major midget Cariboo Cougars suited up for the Kings in the Friday game.
