The Spruce Kings are one game away from being back on home ice after being away for a month and it is an important game as the royal ones go looking for the elusive two points. It is the first half of a home-and-home series with the Quesnel Millionaires, a team that the Spruce Kings have played eight times already. The two games this weekend marks the end of the regular season series between the two long-time rivals and one team will stand tall as champions of the CNC Challenge Cup.
Through those eight games the two teams have remained fairly evenly matched with each claiming four victories over the other; the Millionaires do have an extra point as a result of an overtime loss. Each team has also won twice in the other's building and twice in their own. Goals for and against are just as close with the Spruce Kings outscoring the Millionaires 30-28. That stat could have been even closer or gone the other way too had it not been for an 11-4 victory for the Spruce Kings back on November 21st. The last time these two teams met was on Coliseum ice on December 15th in a game that saw the Millionaires come from behind to take away two points and the series lead.
It's hard to say just how much those games will linger in the memories of the players as the teams have undergone some roster changes since they last saw each other. Most notable roster change for the Quesnel Millionaires is the abscence of Catlin Bigsnake who was cut from the team. The Millionaires also added a couple of players from the Williams Lake Timberwolves in Justin Hogan and Darren Tarasoff. Of course for Prince George there are five players missing as a result of trade deals made at the trading deadline. Gone are Wes McLeod, Brooks Robinson, Marcus Watson, Josh Pineiro and Steve Papciak. The Spruce Kings roster tonight will see three new names that weren`t there a month ago with goaltender Andrew Walsh acquired from the Langley Chiefs on January 4th and a pair of affiliate players in Max Mois and Jordan Cool.
With the departure of the five players on January 10th, the Spruce Kings roster was also cut down to 18 players leaving two holes that will need to be filled with APs for the remainder of the season. Talking with the hockey operations staff, this is an excellent opportunity for prospects of the team to come in a play a few games. Getting an opportunity to play in the BCHL and experience hockey game at the Junior 'A' is an important in the development of all players and the long term success of a team; Cool and Mois will get that chance this weekend. Jordan Cool plays for the Chase Chiefs of the KIJHL and was just named the player of the week after netting two goals in two games. Cool is third among goal scorers and fourth for points. Mois has only been in Prince George for a month and has played four games at the AAA level after coming over from Germany where he was playing hockey for the Rosehiem Starbulls of the DNL.
Sixteen games remain in the regular season for the Spruce Kings and, with four teams (five with the Williams Lake schedule taken into consideration) for the bottom three playoff spots, every game against those teams has the ability to shift the balance of power and change the standings. It all starts with these next two games against the Quesnel Millionaires and a chance to move to within two points of that team and hold onto the CNC Challenge Cup for seventh consecutive year. Game time tonight is 7:30 with the game broadcast on 93.1 CFIS-FM and online from the Spruce Kings website beginning with a pregame show at 7:10pm. As well as the play-by-play of the game, Ron Gallo will be talking with both AP's, Brad Bourke and the coaches before the game.
Rosters ...
Quesnel Millionaires
3 Anderson White (D 6'04" 205 8/16/91 Caledon, ON, CAN) (GP 20 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 11 PIMs)
4 Darren Tarasoff (D 6'01" 195 3/10/90 Castlegar, BC, CAN) (GP 36 G 3 A 8 Pts 11 33 PIMs)
4 Jacob Verheyden (F 5'10" 186 1/11/89 Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 14 G 6 A 8 Pts 14 17 PIMs)
5 Sam Higgins (D 5'10" 165 3/23/90 Calgary, AB, CAN) (GP 39 G 3 A 18 Pts 21 33 PIMs)
6 Spencer Graboski (F 6'02" 170 1/06/93 Quesnel, BC, CAN) (GP 35 G 7 A 7 Pts 14 08 PIMs)
8 Tyson Price (F 5'11" 178 8/18/91 Slave Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 26 G 1 A 3 Pts 4 18 PIMs)
9 Marley Keca (D 6'00" 170 3/08/93 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 4 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 06 PIMs)
14 Skyler Smutek (D 6'00" 175 5/07/90 Seattle, WA, USA) (GP 42 G 6 A 17 Pts 23 90 PIMs)
16 Trevor Hertz (F 6'00" 189 10/11/89 Jaffray, BC, CAN) (GP 43 G 27 A 25 Pts 52 17 PIMs)
17 Taylor Holst (F 6'01" 185 4/24/89 Kelowna, BC, CAN) (GP 43 G 22 A 24 Pts 46 78 PIMs)
18 Joshua Desmarais (F 6'00" 250 1/15/89 St. Laurent, PQ, CAN) (GP 11 G 10 A 6 Pts 16 23 PIMs)
19 Justin Hogan (F 5'11" 185 8/28/90 Val Therese, PQ, CAN) (GP 39 G 9 A 21 Pts 30 57 PIMs)
20 Darick Ste-Marie (F 5'11" 195 9/19/89 St-Bruno, PQ, CAN) (GP 43 G 11 A 22 Pts 33 31 PIMs)
21 Tyler French (F 5'07" 165 9/15/90 Westside, BC, CAN) (GP 37 G 8 A 13 Pts 21 19 PIMs)
22 Mitch Galbraith (F 6'02" 183 4/21/90 Quesnel, BC, CAN) (GP 29 G 5 A 3 Pts 8 34 PIMs)
24 Brandon Watson (F 5'11" 173 2/24/92 Keremeos, BC, CAN) (GP 28 G 1 A 2 Pts 3 43 PIMs)
25 Rylan Stanyer (D 6'02" 210 4/19/90 Burns Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 20 G 0 A 4 Pts 4 24 PIMs)
26 Chris Kerr (F 6'00" 175 10/22/92 Penticton, BC, CAN) (GP 37 G 3 A 2 Pts 5 14 PIMs)
27 Eliot Raibl (D 5'11" 184 3/28/89 Vancouver, BC, CAN) (GP 43 G 5 A 26 Pts 31 57 PIMs)
28 Tyler Billon (D 6'02" 190 7/18/92 Chilliwack, BC, CAN) (GP 31 G 0 A 4 Pts 4 16 PIMs)
29 Clayton Chessa (F 5'10" 185 4/22/91 Surrey, BC, CAN) (GP 30 G 2 A 10 Pts 12 32 PIMs)
31 Kirby Halcrow (G 6'02" 218 3/13/91 Grande Prairie, AB, CAN) (GP 31 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 08 PIMs)
35 Luke Siemens (G 5'11" 165 11/06/92 Delta, BC, CAN) (GP 16 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
Prince George Spruce Kings
5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 44 G 5 A 27 Pts 32 62 PIMs)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/90 Sicamous, BC, CAN) (GP 39 G 0 A 4 Pts 4 29 PIMs)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/01/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 40 G 4 A 5 Pts 9 41 PIMs)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/90 Fraser Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 40 G 19 A 9 Pts 28 22 PIMs)
10 Brad Bourke (D 6'01" 175 4/21/89 Onoway, AB, CAN) (GP 41 G 5 A 17 Pts 22 40 PIMs)
11 Kyle Manlow (F 5'10" 165 6/28/91 Murrieta, CA, USA) (GP 43 G 5 A 2 Pts 7 14 PIMs)
12 Max Mois (F 5'11" 165 1/27/93 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
14 Lyndon Martell (F 6'01" 190 1/13/93 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 28 G 9 A 12 Pts 21 10 PIMs)
15 Luke Hannas (F 6'02" 185 9/09/91 Williams Lake, BC, CAN) (GP 38 G 0 A 3 Pts 3 98 PIMs)
16 Jeff Earnest (F 5'10" 175 2/08/91 Anchorage, AK, USA) (GP 36 G 8 A 8 Pts 16 53 PIMs)
17 Jordie Cool (F 5'10" 165 4/16/92 Tumbler Ridge, BC, CAN) (GP 0 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
20 Jeff Datoff (D 5'10" 160 5/26/92 Nanaimo, BC, CAN) (GP 29 G 0 A 1 Pts 1 07 PIMs)
21 Stewart Lambert (F 6'00" 175 4/05/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 23 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 04 PIMs)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/91 Vernon, BC, CAN) (GP 38 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 87 PIMs)
23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 44 G 10 A 10 Pts 20 13 PIMs)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/08/89 Kamloops, BC, CAN) (GP 40 G 13 A 20 Pts 33 88 PIMs)
26 Sam Muchalla (F 5'08" 150 8/14/90 Prince George, BC, CAN) (GP 42 G 23 A 32 Pts 55 46 PIMs)
30 Andrew Walsh (G 6'02" 185 12/15/90 Dawson Creek, BC, CAN) (GP 29 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 18 PIMs)
35 Kyle Nielsen (G 5'10" 170 7/21/90 New Westminster, BC, CAN) (GP 18 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 00 PIMs)
2 comments:
Hey there Ron, I was wondering - by AAA level, do you mean Max Mois was playing with the Cariboo Cougars of the BCMML; or is it a Jr B team - maybe in the KIJHL or elsewhere?
Thanks in advance!
Minor hockey can sometimes be tough to sort out especially at the levels before Junior 'A' Junior 'B' and even the Major Midgets. Max Mois plays for the Coast Inn of the North Midget Tier I team out of the Prince George Minor Hockey Association.
According to my source in the PGMHA, the "AAA" is no longer used as the official recognition of that level of hockey and has been replaced by the "Tier I" notation. So I should have properly identified it as such in my blog as well.
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