The retooling of the Prince George Spruce Kings for the 2019-20 season began long before they celebrated their first Fred Page Cup win as champions of the B.C. Hockey League this past spring.
Months before they beat the Brooks Bandits for the Doyle Cup Pacific regional title and came up one win short of claiming the national junior A hockey championship after a one-goal loss to the Bandits in the final in Brooks, Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes was fielding calls from U.S. college hockey coaches. They had NCAA-bound players wanting to come to Prince George to play in the BCHL for the Spruce Kings. Hawes was more than willing to accommodate them, knowing he had 15 spots open for next season's roster.
The cupboards were then restocked with the likes of defenceman Brendan Hill (Lake Superior State), Nolan Barrett (Merrimack) and forwards Ryan McAllister (Western Michigan), Andrew Seaman (Union College), Thomas Richter (Union) and Henry Wagner (Yale).
Hawes's phone continued to ring in the summer and before long he'd found his starting goalie when Jett Alexander asked for and received a trade from his North York, Ont., team to Prince George. Major problem solved.
Add to the mix a returning core that includes Nick Bochen and Jason Chu on the back end and forwards Nolan Welsh, Corey Cunningham, Nick Poisson, Chong Min Lee, Craig MacDonald and Fin Williams and all of sudden the Spruce Kings under first-year head coach Alex Evin appear to have a crew capable of taking a run at the BCHL title for a third straight season.
The BCHL has become a factory for producing NCAA college talent and the best teams find ways to turn over their rosters annually and find comparable replacements. But there's no quick way to replace the best blueline brigade to hit the BCHL in years now that Vegas Golden Knights third-rounder Layton Ahac, Dylan Anhorn, Max Coyle, Jay Keranen and Liam Watson-Brawn have all moved on to college hockey.
Also lost to the college ranks are goalie Logan Neaton, drafted in the fifth round by the Winnipeg Jets, as well as forwards Ben Brar, Dustin Manz, Patrick Cozzi and Ben Poisson, their top four scorers last season.
The Kings were league finalists for the first time in 2017-18 and have been penthouse suite occupants for two years now but it would be far-fetched to think they can duplicate the magic that made last season the best in the franchise's 23-year history.
But there's still plenty for Kings' fans to get excited about, starting with the raising of their first two championship banners to the rafters at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena Friday night when they open the season against the Surrey Eagles, the first of 58 games they will play between now and the end of February.
"We're certainly proud of what we did last year and what we've done the last several seasons, and obviously it culminated in a league championship and a Doyle Cup last year," said Mike Hawes, entering his 10th season as Spruce Kings general manager. "As a group and organization we're turning the page as an organization and hopefully we'll do our best this season to follow it up with another championship run. We've got a good group of retuning guys with that championship pedigree and they learned a ton from last season.
"We're very happy at this point with the pieces we've been able to add in the off-season through recruiting and acquisitions and I'm very encouraged and excited for the season. The success we've had as an organization has certainly allowed the recruiting to be a little bit easier. We still work extremely hard to identify players and to make sure our network is large throughout North America. It certainly is at a point now where I think we'll have continued success moving forward because of the players that do want to come here now."
Looking ahead to the new season Friday, here's how the new-look Spruce Kings are shaping up:
Goaltending
The 20-year-old Alexander is a born leader and his puck-stopping credentials are impeccable. His 10 shutouts with the North York Rangers set an Ontario Junior Hockey League record and he was the obvious choice as the league's top goalie award. He's showing all the signs he'll be one of the best at his trade this year in the BCHL and will attract a multitude of NCAA scholarship offers. At six-foot-five, 195 pounds, he'll get the bulk of the work while grooming 18-year-old Jack McGovern of Waterdown, Ont., for the starting job next season.
"Jett's leadership abilities are amazing, he's a very calm composed guy, especially with a new d-corps with a lot of new faces, it's important to have that stability and hopefully he can give us that," said Evin
Defence
Michigan State recruit Bochen is the only defenceman who played significant minutes for the team last season. Chu came through in the playoffs as an adequate injury replacement and that experience is priceless. Newcomer Sol Seibel was the captain of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks last season and you can never have too many leaders. The other new faces are Barrett, Hill, Colton Cameron, Cole Leal and Nelson native Amran Bhabra, yet another Burnaby Winter Club alumni.
"Our D was the key last year and I'll be surprised if we have a D-corps like that in our league in the next 10 years even - the group was that strong and it was certainly something special," said Hawes. "But it takes more than just a good D-corps to have a championship-type team and we had all the components that you needed."
Defence was the key to the Kings' dominant 16-1 playoff run to the BCHL title.
"We're going to play the same way," said Hawes. "Everyone has to play Spruce Kings hockey and pay attention to details and there's a lot of coaching going on right now, just like there was last year at this time with Adam and Alex. Now it's Alex and Jessie (Leung), trying to get the players playing the way we know they need to play to have success."
Forwards
Their speed, skill and experience makes this a position of strength. Welsh will wear the 'C' as team captain this season with Lee and Poisson as assistants. They all have gamebreaking abilities, as does homebrew winger Cunningham. Brett Pfoh, whose father Rob played for the Spruce Kings in their Peace-Cariboo Hockey League days in the '80's, showed his soft hands in the preseason with three goals in two games. Thomas Richter has NHL bloodlines as the son of legendary New York Ranger goalie Mike Richter and another winger to watch is Mack Stewart, who dad Michael had his number retired by his Austrian elite league team. Williams could be a rookie-of-the-year candidate after proving he could score in the playoffs as a 15-year-old. Preston Brodziak, 20, came over in a deal from Cowichan Valley for his third BCHL season. Henry Wagner, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and Seaman, who grew up in Winetka, Ill., could have what it tales to replace Americans Manz and Cozzi. Carter Cochrane and Jake McLean will also push for playing time.
The 32-year-old Evin will need time to figure out how to fully utilize his strengths as a coach, after two years as the associate coach with Adam Maglio, who has jumped to the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs. Evin played five seasons in the league as a goalie and has six seasons behind him as a BCHL coach. He also played four seasons at Colgate University and he's proven his talent for utilizing his college contacts to recruit top prospects.
Evin won't stray to far from the systems Maglio put in place the past two seasons, preaching the defence-first mentality that's worked so well for the Kings.
"So far I really like our energy and our focus with this group," said Evin. "We've got a lot of new guys and it will take time for the team to come together and fully embrace our identity but so far it's been a positive start.
"We just need to be competitive every night and I think we will be, especially our returning players. They play with such a high compete level and hopefully our new players will follow that. Last season will be a tough one to beat, but our goal is to be right in there this year and I'm confident with the team game if the buy-in is there with our group we should be right where we need to be at the end of the year."
Among the faces on the staff, Leung brings two seasons of experience as a BCHL assistant with the Trail Smoke Eaters to fill Evin's associate role. Nick Drazenovic will be teaching hockey skills as director of player development, a job he held the past two seasons with the Prince George Cougars. There's a new athletic therapist/trainer with David Rowe taking over from Rick Brown.
