Intra Squad Game

Over the past week or so I have fielded a few calls down at the Spruce Kings office asking when main camp is, when and where are the exhibition games as well as a few other scheduling type questions. Obviously there is a feeling that summer has come to an end or at least is quickly on its way out and it is time to start thinking about hockey. The Spruce Kings have been making news over the summer and the stories worth mentioning are escalating, but I just want to give you some dates and times and - in at least one circumstance - a location to help you make the transition from summer.

First of all, look who's back in town ... Joe Morgan, Tyson Hall and Nick DeSousa are already here as is Sam Muchalla and RJay Berra who is back from the Lower Mainland. I spoke with Wes McLeod today who let me know that he will be in Sunday afternoon and Colten Derickson is thinking he will arrive Monday afternoon. The rest of the players will be in town in the first few days of this last full week of August.

As for action on the ice, the players are going to start skating at the Coliseum on Tuesday; although, many of them have had ice whether it be at the Elks Centre and the Coliseum for the local boys or other rinks around the province for those out-of-towners. The ice times will be fairly free flowing with the players themselves pushing each other to be ready for Friday and the start of the team's main camp.

Registration for the main camp begins at noon with the players being assigned to one of four teams. The first two teams will hit the ice for a controlled practice headed up by Ed Dempsey at 2:00 and the rest will run through their drills beginning around 4. In a round-robin style format, there will be scrimmages throughout the weekend beginning with the first two teams meeting at 6:00 Friday night.

Saturday will feature a pair of scrimmages in the morning with the first one at 9:00am and two more in the evening beginning at 6:30pm. In the afternoon all players will go through an intense fitness testing with the team's official trainers from X-Conditioning. The fitness testing will be tough and will include sprinting, the beep test, pro agility test and other strength tests.

Now Sunday might be a day you want to mark down as it will feature the annual Intra Squad Game or Blue and White Game. The day will start with the final two scrimmages of the main camp followed by the Intra Squad Game that gets started at 3:00pm at the Coliseum. This will be a full game with 20 minute periods, floods and all the bells and whistles that you would expect at a regular season game. Admission will be cheap, it's not confirmed yet but it is expected to be just a toonie.

That will then lead into the start of the pre season and the Spruce Kings first test as a team when they play host to the Quesnel Millionaires on Tuesday night at 7:00pm in the Prince George Coliseum. The second game of the exhibition schedule will be played on Wednesday night as the back half of a home-at-home series with the Millionaires in the Smithers Civic Centre. Smithers has been abuzz with the rumours of this event for about a month, but it was only just made official last week and I'm told that more than half the tickets have already been sold.

After a day off, the Spruce Kings will be back at it on Friday night with the three hour bus ride to Williams Lake to welcome the Timberwolves back into the BCHL. After going dark for two seasons, the Cariboo Community Complex will once again be lit up for a Junior 'A' hockey game. The drop of the puck on Friday night in Williams Lake is scheduled for 7:00pm and then the two teams will travel back to Prince George and the final game of the preseason on Saturday night, 7:00pm in the Coliseum.

The following week marks the unofficial end of summer with Labour Day and the return to school, it will also be the first full week of practice for the Spruce Kings in preparation for their first regular season game. The Spruce Kings will open their 14th season in the BCHL at home with a game against the Westside Warriors on Friday September 11th and then Saturday night the Penticton Vees will be in the Castle to meet the royal ones.

It is pretty exciting stuff and the great news is that the ticket prices haven't increased from last year and, in some cases, ticket prices have gone down with the different ticket packages available. One in particular that has come back this year and will provide great value for a family of four is the Family Pack that features game tickets, popcorn and pop for all four people for a cost of $35 ... that's not even $9 a person!

Okay well there you have the schedule of events for the next couple of weeks ... if you would like more, the full schedule is posted on the Spruce Kings website ... or you can CLICK HERE for a printable version (you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader).