Spruce Kings Alumni Called Up by the Pittsburgh Penguins

I have been posting a couple of newspaper stories dug up from the archives on former Spruce Kings that were knocking on the doors of pro hockey. Today this story jumped to my attention featuring a Spruce Kings alumni that was called from his NCAA team to become a black ace on a Stanley Cup winning team. Since 2009, when Brad Thiessen first had his taste of the NHL, he has as recently as this past season made headlines around the League posting his first win against the Columbus Blue Jackets and also picked up wins against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets.

Brad Thiessen was acquired by the Prince George Spruce Kings from the Penticton Vees at the trade deadline on January 10, 2005. He played 10 games in the tail end of that season picking up 5 wins and 4 losses. It was the following season that will be forever etched in the Spruce Kings record books, for it was the 2005-06 season that Thiessen really shined in the BCHL and started down the path that would eventually lead to the NHL.

In his 19 year old season, Thiessen played in 36 games for a total of 2058 minutes between the pipes with a goals against average of 2.89 and a save percentage of .925. As impressive as those numbers are, the number that Brad Thiessen owned was for shutouts posting five of them. Three of which came in consecutive games to set a record of 250 minutes of shutout hockey that still stands today in any amateur league.

A year after arriving in Prince George, Brad Thiessen was again the subject of a trade deadline deal that sent him to the Merritt Centennials. Thiessen would not play his last year of eligibility in the BCHL, instead opting to go on to the NCAA ranks with Northeastern University. After his third season with the Huskies, Thiessen signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins as an undrafted free agent and started playing for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins of the AHL.

This past season was another banner year in the hockey career of this Spruce Kings alumni who has achieved numerous awards and recognition for his contributions on the ice. The memories that this young man has accumulated over the years is nothing short of phenomenal. He shares one of them with Emanuel Sequeira of the Penticton Western News in this article dated June 12, 2012.

Bradley Thiessen, who played in the BCHL with the Spruce Kings,
stops Rick Nash in his NHL debut and first NHL win.

BCHL alumni loved call up with Penguins

by Emanuel Sequeira - Penticton Western News

Bradley Thiessen received congratulations in a surprising way after helping the Pittsburgh Penguins double up the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Feb. 26.

"I got shaving cream pie in the face from Kris Letang," said Thiessen, a BCHL alumni, whose career started with the Penticton Panthers/Vees, and also had stops in Prince George and Merritt. "It was after the game and the coach was talking and he came up behind me. They got me good on that one."

The Aldergrove resident, who has spent the last three seasons with the American Hockey League's Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, said the experience was awesome as he made 21 saves.

"It was something that you always work towards. That's the goal is to be able to play in the NHL and be able to get there and play games," said Thiessen, who is 72-37-0-4 with 13 shutouts in the AHL. "Being able to contribute to winning for the team was a lot of fun."

Thiessen liked that his NHL debut against the Blue Jackets was in the afternoon. It didn't allow him the time to sit around and worry about it or think about it all day. He also had his family and fiancé in attendance for support.

"Skating on the ice and hearing the national anthem and all the fans and what not kind of hits you," said Thiessen, who played three years at Northeastern University. "It was pretty cool just to be able to be a part of."

Thiessen admitted to feeling nervous, especially because of who he had wanting to make him look bad.

"It's the NHL and you have Rick Nash coming down on you and other guys like that, it's definitely a little nerve-wracking," he said.

Eventually he felt comfortable and that he belongs in the NHL. Adding to that feeling was playing with the Penguins young studs like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Letang and Jordan Staal.

"You get a lot of good practice with those guys," he said.

As for being around Crosby and Malkin, Thiessen said the best way to describe them is that they are just regular guys. Great teammates who care about the team and fun to be around.

"Having a front row seat from the bench, on the ice and in practice was a great experience," he added. "They are both extremely talented. There would be times during games one of them would do something and you just say, 'Wow' because there are not many players who can do some of the things that they do."

At season's end, Thiessen's future has become uncertain after the recent signing of Tomas Vokoun, acquired from the Washington Capitals to be Marc-Andre Fleury's backup.

"I have to talk to my agent and see what the options are and what direction Pittsburgh is heading," said Thiessen, a restricted free agent. "Vokoun and Fleury are pretty established goalies. Looks like they are set there."

But Thiessen believes he is ready to be a backup. Getting wins under his belt gave him the confidence to believe.

"It would be nice to have the opportunity where I can fight for a spot to play in the NHL," said Thiessen, whose favourite goalie was Felix Potvin growing up and more recently is Fleury.

President's Report - 2008/09

by Darcy Buryn, President, Prince George Spruce Kings Junior A Hockey Club.

On ice, our team finished fifth in the regular season in a very competitive Interior Conference and then went on to an exciting five game first round series loss to the Penticton Vees.

Coming out of the 2007/08 season, I set out the following two overriding principles that we as a board use to guide us in the decisions that we make and the issues that we face:

Make the Prince George Spruce Kings a team of choice for players who want to play in the British Columbia Hockey League.

Develop an organizational culture whereby those players expect of themselves, and feel a responsibility on behalf of the entire organization, to play every shift of every game until there are no games left on the schedule.

We are making progress in this regard, but look forward to the opportunity to continue.

As evidence of the progress we are making in the development of our program, six players on our roster this season received scholarship commitments to NCAA schools to date. I had the opportunity to watch two NCAA games in Denver this past season and the players graduating from our program to that level are in for a exciting phase of their hockey careers.

Also former Spruce Kings goaltender, Brad Thiessen signed a professional contract this season at the conclusion of his third NCAA season and then had the opportunity to travel with the Pittsburgh Penguins on their road to the Stanley Cup, culminating in joining the team for their on-ice celebration and being handed the Cup by Sidney Crosby.

Wes McLeod committed to the University of Alaska-Anchorage, attracted the attention of the NHL's central scouting bureau and we are hoping to hear his name called in this weekend's NHL Entry Draft in Montreal.

We have recently committed to Ed Dempsey and Mike Hawes for the next two seasons to continue their efforts to push our hockey program forward.

We held our second consecutive evaluation camp in April, with players attending from throughout the Province of BC as well as Alberta and Ontario. There were also a number of players that came from California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Alaska and Arizona. Several players from that camp have received invitations to the 2009 main camp in August. Four players from the Spring camp have also accepted cards to join our roster for the 2009/10 season.

The 2009 Show Home lottery brought us the second consecutive sell-out of available tickets. Despite the revenue generated from the sell-out, we continue to be challenged by the rising construction and land development costs. Also, the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation has informed us that they are going to run a house lottery of their own. They tried to get it together for the Spring of 2009, but were not successful and will try again in Spring 2010.

The dates of the 2010 Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery period will commence again in October with the draw to be held again on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2010. We have also decided to increase the tickets to be sold in the coming Lottery to 7,499.

I would like to commend the efforts of Jim Young and his sales staff, including my dad Wally, who is celebrating his 70th birthday tonight, in leading us to a sell-out of tickets.

As the governor of the team, I have attended several league meetings and conference calls. I have given up my role as the Chair of the Education Committee for the League to focus on the League financial and budgeting process, working closely with David Sales, executive director of the BCHL.

Darcy Buryn.

Spruce King Touches the Stanley Cup

Well I'm sure there are a number of people happy that the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup on Friday night and I am one of them. Yeah there are the usual reasons for picking a team and cheering for them, but here is another one that every Spruce Kings fan should be proud of. With Mario Lemieux being interviewd on the ice, the CBC cameras found former Spruce Kings netminder Brad Thiessen hoisting the Cup after receiving it from Sidney Crosby.

I knew from talking with Brad that after his season with Northeastern ended and he signed with the Pittsburg Penguins that he went on to be a member of the black aces with the team. He participated in practices and traveled with the team all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. At the end of the game there were a number of players on the ice that won't see their names etched onto the holy grail of hockey and Brad Thiessen was one of them. What Brad does get is to sip champagne from the cup and know what a team has to go through to win the big prize in hockey.

Following that thrilling game seven final, I had a quick opportunity to speak with Ed Dempsey who has always been one of Thiessen's biggest supporters and followers. The pride in Ed's voice was unmistakable when he explained to me that this is why he coaches - to see those players that he had an opportunity to work with go on to bigger and better things. They don't come much bigger than this and the smile on Thiessen's face said it all.



Congratulations to Brad Thiessen ... oh and of course the entire Pittsburgh Penguins organization. There is no better game than the great Canadian game and for the Spruce Kings there is no bigger thrill then seeing one of their own hoist the Stanley Cup.