At the Quarter Mark in the Season

As I work my way back into more of my usual role with the Spruce Kings I decided to catch up with the General Manager and cover what has transpired over the first 14 games of the what is the Spruce Kings 40th season. There have been some ups and there have been some downs along the way, but the one thing that is noticeable is a winning record, especially at home. I touch on that and whole lot more in my interview with Mike Hawes who had some interesting things to say about the team both positive and negative.

It was a lengthy interview so I broke it down into four parts. In this first part we just went over some of the general impressions of the season to date and talked about the pleasant surprises so far from a team that has been hovering at or above the .500 record and hanging around in the top half of the Interior Division since the opening night.

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Now certainly through the course of a season not everything can go according to plan and sometimes things go completely the opposite direction. I asked Mike about some of those games that I saw as huge positives and early season momentum boosters such as the 8-0 win over the Trail Smoke Eaters, the 5-4 double overtime victory over the Penticton Vees and the recent 3-2 win over the Vernon Vipers. But there were also some disappointing results in there as well.

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Some big tests lay ahead for the Spruce Kings including their first meeting against the reincarnation of the Quesnel Millionaires, the Spruce Kings will play the Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday night as the first of three in a row this weekend.

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I wrapped up the interview by getting his thoughts moving forward and asking about the impact some of the rule changes are having on the team and their performance especially with the pressure of having to perform every night with only four playoff positions available in each conference.

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I, for one, am very encouraged by what I have seen through the early part of the season and am looking for many more positives from Mike Hawes, Dave Dupas and the coaching staff and especially the players that have shown so much potential and have invigorated the hockey fans of Prince George with a fun, exciting, entertaining and winning work ethic on the ice.