This past week saw three Spruce Kings alumni commit to taking their on-ice talents to the next level to play collegiate hockey. Two of the three players finished out the season with the Spruce Kings and one was traded early on in the season.
First of all congratulations to both Zac Rasmussen and Brad Bourke who secured their play with CIS schools. Rasmussen will be playing in his hometown of Kamloops with the TRU WolfPack for the start of the 2010-11 season at the Thompson River University. Across the Rockies, Bourke will be suiting up for the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings.
Both of these players joined the Spruce Kings early in the season with Bourke coming in exchange for Andrew Pickering via the Merritt Centennials. In the short time that he spent wearing the crown for the Spruce Kings, it was obvious to see that Pickering had a ton of ability and talent and that made him a sought after commodity. After a tough decision was made to add some experience on the back end, a trade was made with the Merritt Centennials that brought Brad Bourke to the Spruce Kings.
After the trade, Pickering continued to work hard in his new environment and continued to stay in touch with those that he felt were influential to his game. In his opinion, it all led to his recent NCAA Div I scholarship to the University of Alaska Anchorage to play for the Seawolves with another Spruce Kings alumni, Wes McLeod. I had an opportunity to talk to Andrew and congratulate him on his scholarship and also about his junior career with the Spruce Kings and the BCHL.
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Showing posts with label Zac Rasmussen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zac Rasmussen. Show all posts
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
2009-10 Annual Player Awards
The Prince George Spruce Kings recognized their achievements on the ice with the presentation of the annual player awards. In front of over 150 fans, volunteers and other members of the hockey club a total of eleven trophies were presented on Monday.The awards presentation started with a thank you to the billet host families and the volunteers and that led into the first award of the night to the Volunteer of the Year, Edna Stitt. With over fifteen years of volunteer work with the Spruce Kings as an off-ice official, Stitt has given tirelessly to the Spruce Kings.
The second trophy was the Craig Dziuballe memorial for Outstanding Community Service presented to RJay Berra, who also heard his name called out for the Scholastic Player of the Year and the Seventh Man. The awards recognized Berra’s commitment to the team and himself to excel both on the ice and in the classroom.
The other multiple award winner was Sam Muchalla who picked up this year’s scoring title, Most Dedicated Player and MVP. In his third season, Muchalla finished fifth in the BCHL scoring race with 29 goals and 58 assists. With a three season career total of 161 games, 64 goals and 117 assists, Muchalla has his name in the Spruce Kings record book for games played, goals, assists and points.
Another player that played himself into the top ten categories for defenceman was Justin Fillion who won the Defenceman of the Year award. Nick DeSousa shot out the lights in the second half of the season to score almost four times as many goals from his rookie season and was recognized with the Most Improved Player of the Year award.
Lyndon Martell won Rookie of the Year; the youngest player on the roster joined the Spruce Kings at the quarter mark of the season and finished with 44 games played, 13 goals and 18 assists. The Most Inspiration Player award was handed out to Zac Rasmussen; sometimes seen as an agitator on the ice, “Raz” backed up his character with big points in his final year scoring 25 times including 5 game winners.
The night ended with the recognition of four graduating players including the three twenty year olds Joe Morgan, Zac Rasmussen and Brad Bourke as well as the nineteen year old Sam Muchalla who has committed to a four year scholarship to Northern Michigan set to begin in the fall of 2010.
Monday, February 8, 2010
"Raz" Earns Top Honours This Week
Congratulations to Zac Rasmussen on being named the BCHL Player of the Week following a three game set that saw the Spruce Kings forward pick up a total of nine points. Zac started with a pair of goals and an assist against the Williams Lake Timberwolves on Wednesday. He then followed that up on Friday with a self proclaimed "career game" against the Nanaimo Clippers scoring the game winning goal as one of his two power play tallies and also a shorthanded shot that resulted in his first BCHL hat trick. One night later he followed that up with another two goal and one assist performance against the Victoria Grizzlies.
Rasmussen first joined the Spruce Kings on their first road trip of the season and immediately started making an impact with his new team. Often seen as a bit of an agitator, Raz's game can be as much getting under the skin of the opposition as it is racking up points. The twenty year old forward is second in team scoring and has put up as many numbers this season in Prince George as he did in both of his seasons with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
After the weekend, Zac has played in 49 games with Prince George and has a record of 23 goals and 25 assists good for a point a game average. His offensive production has resulted in a team leading 5 game winning goals, 5 powerplay goals and 2 shorthanded goals. He has also served his fair share of time in the sin bin having been credited with a total of 107 minutes in penalties this season. Perhaps one stat that should be measured is the amount of penalties that the other team has taken because of him.
A true character player and a true team first player, Zac is a leader on and off the ice and the league recognition of his play this past week is a nice honour. It's also an honour that he was quick to dismiss pointing out that Sam Muchalla has been on fire lately and had a big week too. The line combination of Rasmussen, Muchalla and Berra came away with a total of thirty points (13 goals, 17 assists) and figured in all but 14 of the 17 goals scored in the three games.
I had a chance to talk to Zac about being named the BCHL Player of the Week and what this means to the third year player in the league ...
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photo credit: Next Level Media
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Spruce Kings Looked to the Future at the Trade Deadline
It is never easy at this time of the year with player's playing lives hanging in the balance while the powers that be discuss possible scenarios to make their teams better. Some want to be better right away and find that one piece that can complete the puzzle and compliment their core while others have to look to next season and beyond. For the Spruce Kings, they were the latter but with a condition that they don't want to completely give up on the current season and that was evident by the final moves on trade deadline day.
Widely rumoured to be going, Wes McLeod ended up proving all the arm chair general managers correct, but who would have expected the Spruce Grove Saints to win this lottery. The Saints are leading the Alberta Junior Hockey League and are ranked second in the country with an impressive record of 37 wins, 3 losses, 1 tie and 3 overtime losses for a total of 78 points. Not a shoe-in to win the league championship but well on their way, the Saints are 15 points up on their next closest competitor - the Grande Prairie Storm - with sixteen games remaining in their regular season.
The addition of Wes McLeod gives the Spruce Grove Saints the most NCAA committed players on an Alberta Junior Hockey League roster with five. Perhaps best of all for McLeod, who has only played for the Spruce Kings in his Junior A career, there are two other players committed to his school - the University of Alaska Anchorage. Brett Cameron is another 19 year old that will be moving on in the fall of 2010 with Wes to play for the Seawolves. Scott Allen is also 19 years old but has an option to play one more year of junior before moving up to the college level.
Wes McLeod spent the better part of three seasons with the Spruce Kings and became the centre of attention because of his play and skating style. Selected twice to represent the Prince George Spruce Kings at the BCHL All Star game, McLeod has also played in the CJAHL Prospects Game and represented Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge. Wes is a soft spoken and unassuming individual off the ice but a fierce competitor on the ice.
The only other 19 year old player to be moved off the Spruce Kings roster as part of a trade deadline deal saw goaltender Steve Papciak head to the AJHL with the Canmore Eagles. After Alex Wright was acquired by the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, the Spruce Kings struck a deal with the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL that brought Papciak over the Rockies to play in the BCHL. Papciak played in eight games with the Spruce Kings compiling a record of 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie before missing a handful of games due to an injury.
Three twenty year old players were also dealt on this day with Josh Pineiro being the only player to be traded within the BCHL; Brooks Robinson was traded to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons and Marcus Watson to the Grande Prairie Storm. Pineiro was a mid-season acquisition from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs last year and has played in 70 games for the Spruce Kings. During his stay with Prince George, Pineiro scored 9 goals and added 27 assists.
Perhaps his biggest goal was scored in overtime on October 6th to give the Spruce Kings a 2-1 win over the Millionaires. Pineiro's goal celebration saw him slide through centre ice banging on an imaginary drum for members of the Blue Man Group to see. The musical group was so impressed with the game and the goal celebration that they requested a dressing room visit and gave the entire team tickets to their show the following night.
For the second consecutive trade deadline, Brooks Robinson is heading from a royal family in the BCHL to a team in the northern division of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Last year at this time saw Robinson dealt from the Powell River Kings to Grande Prairie where he eventually helped the Storm win the league championship, this year Robinson will be leaving the Spruce Kings to head farther north in Alberta to play for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.
Robinson led the Spruce Kings with points from the beginning of the season, finishing with 18 goals and 40 assists. His 58 points was good enough to put him in the top ten among the league leaders tied for ninth spot with Mark McMillian of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Robinson's gift was in the faceoff circle and finding the open man as evident by the number of assists he tallied over 44 games. The forty helpers he tallied with the Prince George Spruce Kings is fifth among the league leaders this season.
Marcus Watson was the only other player traded before the trade deadline going to the Grande Prairie Storm. Watson only played in eleven games with the Spruce Kings, but in that short time managed to average better than a point a game finishing with 3 goals and 11 assists. Watson was no stranger to Prince George having played here with the Cougars before being sent to the Langley Chiefs.
In his final game with the Spruce Kings, Watson was able to play against his former team. Although he recieved a warm welcome on the video screen, the same couldn't be said about the reception he recieved from his former teammates. On one rush around the Chiefs net, Watson was caught with a clean hip check that put the speedy forward horizontal to the ice surface level with the dasher. The check was hard enough to dislodge the glass behind the goal resulting in a ten minute stoppage in play.
All five deals were made with the Spruce Kings getting future considerations in return for the players. It will be interesting to see what players the Spruce Kings will get next year to compliment their roster as they will now finish out the season with still a strong core of players. I expect to be seeing a few of the holes filled for the remaining games with at least a couple of the players that the team has listed as their affiliate players or APs.
The core that remains are still confident that they can make a push for the playoffs as one of the four teams vying for the three bottom playoff spots. That core includes Sam Muchalla, Zac Rasmussen, Joe Morgan and Brad Bourke who will all finish their Junior A careers with Prince George. Justin Fillion, RJay Berra and Nick DeSousa are second season veterans that will also be called upon to fill leadership roles. The departure of the five players will provide a great opportunity for the rookies and younger players to elevate their game, push for a playoff spot and gain some much needed experience for seasons to come.
Trade deadline day is never easy for the players or those that try so hard to make sure they do the absolute best they can for the player and for the team. Perhaps lost in all of this is the thanks that needs to be given to Ed Dempsey and Mike Hawes who worked very hard over the past few days to make sure the best interests of all the players was taken into consideration before any trade was made. I wish only the best for Wes McLeod, Steve Papciak, Josh Pineiro, Brooks Robinson and Marcus Watson. I also firmly believe the players that remain have what it takes to make it to the playoffs and once the second season starts anything is possible.
Widely rumoured to be going, Wes McLeod ended up proving all the arm chair general managers correct, but who would have expected the Spruce Grove Saints to win this lottery. The Saints are leading the Alberta Junior Hockey League and are ranked second in the country with an impressive record of 37 wins, 3 losses, 1 tie and 3 overtime losses for a total of 78 points. Not a shoe-in to win the league championship but well on their way, the Saints are 15 points up on their next closest competitor - the Grande Prairie Storm - with sixteen games remaining in their regular season.
The addition of Wes McLeod gives the Spruce Grove Saints the most NCAA committed players on an Alberta Junior Hockey League roster with five. Perhaps best of all for McLeod, who has only played for the Spruce Kings in his Junior A career, there are two other players committed to his school - the University of Alaska Anchorage. Brett Cameron is another 19 year old that will be moving on in the fall of 2010 with Wes to play for the Seawolves. Scott Allen is also 19 years old but has an option to play one more year of junior before moving up to the college level.
Wes McLeod spent the better part of three seasons with the Spruce Kings and became the centre of attention because of his play and skating style. Selected twice to represent the Prince George Spruce Kings at the BCHL All Star game, McLeod has also played in the CJAHL Prospects Game and represented Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge. Wes is a soft spoken and unassuming individual off the ice but a fierce competitor on the ice.
The only other 19 year old player to be moved off the Spruce Kings roster as part of a trade deadline deal saw goaltender Steve Papciak head to the AJHL with the Canmore Eagles. After Alex Wright was acquired by the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, the Spruce Kings struck a deal with the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL that brought Papciak over the Rockies to play in the BCHL. Papciak played in eight games with the Spruce Kings compiling a record of 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie before missing a handful of games due to an injury.
Three twenty year old players were also dealt on this day with Josh Pineiro being the only player to be traded within the BCHL; Brooks Robinson was traded to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons and Marcus Watson to the Grande Prairie Storm. Pineiro was a mid-season acquisition from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs last year and has played in 70 games for the Spruce Kings. During his stay with Prince George, Pineiro scored 9 goals and added 27 assists.
Perhaps his biggest goal was scored in overtime on October 6th to give the Spruce Kings a 2-1 win over the Millionaires. Pineiro's goal celebration saw him slide through centre ice banging on an imaginary drum for members of the Blue Man Group to see. The musical group was so impressed with the game and the goal celebration that they requested a dressing room visit and gave the entire team tickets to their show the following night.
For the second consecutive trade deadline, Brooks Robinson is heading from a royal family in the BCHL to a team in the northern division of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Last year at this time saw Robinson dealt from the Powell River Kings to Grande Prairie where he eventually helped the Storm win the league championship, this year Robinson will be leaving the Spruce Kings to head farther north in Alberta to play for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.
Robinson led the Spruce Kings with points from the beginning of the season, finishing with 18 goals and 40 assists. His 58 points was good enough to put him in the top ten among the league leaders tied for ninth spot with Mark McMillian of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Robinson's gift was in the faceoff circle and finding the open man as evident by the number of assists he tallied over 44 games. The forty helpers he tallied with the Prince George Spruce Kings is fifth among the league leaders this season.
Marcus Watson was the only other player traded before the trade deadline going to the Grande Prairie Storm. Watson only played in eleven games with the Spruce Kings, but in that short time managed to average better than a point a game finishing with 3 goals and 11 assists. Watson was no stranger to Prince George having played here with the Cougars before being sent to the Langley Chiefs.
In his final game with the Spruce Kings, Watson was able to play against his former team. Although he recieved a warm welcome on the video screen, the same couldn't be said about the reception he recieved from his former teammates. On one rush around the Chiefs net, Watson was caught with a clean hip check that put the speedy forward horizontal to the ice surface level with the dasher. The check was hard enough to dislodge the glass behind the goal resulting in a ten minute stoppage in play.
All five deals were made with the Spruce Kings getting future considerations in return for the players. It will be interesting to see what players the Spruce Kings will get next year to compliment their roster as they will now finish out the season with still a strong core of players. I expect to be seeing a few of the holes filled for the remaining games with at least a couple of the players that the team has listed as their affiliate players or APs.
The core that remains are still confident that they can make a push for the playoffs as one of the four teams vying for the three bottom playoff spots. That core includes Sam Muchalla, Zac Rasmussen, Joe Morgan and Brad Bourke who will all finish their Junior A careers with Prince George. Justin Fillion, RJay Berra and Nick DeSousa are second season veterans that will also be called upon to fill leadership roles. The departure of the five players will provide a great opportunity for the rookies and younger players to elevate their game, push for a playoff spot and gain some much needed experience for seasons to come.
Trade deadline day is never easy for the players or those that try so hard to make sure they do the absolute best they can for the player and for the team. Perhaps lost in all of this is the thanks that needs to be given to Ed Dempsey and Mike Hawes who worked very hard over the past few days to make sure the best interests of all the players was taken into consideration before any trade was made. I wish only the best for Wes McLeod, Steve Papciak, Josh Pineiro, Brooks Robinson and Marcus Watson. I also firmly believe the players that remain have what it takes to make it to the playoffs and once the second season starts anything is possible.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Source of Contributions
Looking at the score sheets over the past couple of games it's not hard to see who is contributing. The top line of Sam Muchalla, Brooks Robinson and Joe Morgan have combined for a total of 21 points in three games; add in Wes McLeod and there's another eight points. In fact most of those goals have come from the veteran defenceman's stick who has notched five goals in those three games.Robinson is the leader as far as being the setup man goes and it all starts in the faceoff circle for the twenty year old centreman. Eight of his nine points are assists coming from the hard work of winning and controlling the draw. Joe Morgan may not like the idea that he doesn't have a goal to show for his hard work on the top line, but being in the right place at the right time to find the right guy has paid off with four helpers.
Perhaps the biggest breakout over the past couple of games is that of Sam Muchalla who has lit the lamp in breathtaking fashion with highlight reel goals. After getting off to an admittedly slow start on the opening weekend that resulted in missing two more games, the Spruce Kings captain has been the biggest contributor with his nine points including one game winning goal. That particular goal showed off the heads up play making ability of another veteran from the blue line, as Josh Pineiro feathered a perfect bank shot to spring Muchalla on an uncontested breakaway.
That goal was scored on Friday in front of the home town fans, but for those listening to the game in Williams Lake on Wednesday night they also picked up on the American born player registering a Gordie Howe hattrick. Pineiro was probably the happiest guy on the night and didn't need any help identifying the significance of such a feat. Pineiro's goal is the only short handed goal scored by the team so far and full credit has to go to Zac Rasmussen and Joe Morgan.
Rasmussen found the puck in his feet along the wall in front of his own bench and turned on the rockets with a move that caused one Timberwolves defenceman to blow a tire creating a two on one with Pineiro and Joe Morgan trailing on the play. Rasmussen dropped the puck to Morgan who looked to be teeing up a howitzer but instead slipped a nice pass through the legs of the defenceman and onto Pineiro's stick. The play was so perfect that Pineiro had to admit that he never realized he had scored until he got mobbed by his team mates.
One other player that has helped to lead his team to a three victories in four games and back-to-back wins over the Williams Lake Timberwolves is Alex Wright. The Prince George minor hockey product played the role of backup to Kevin Genoe last year. This year after some preseason seasoning with the Spokane Chiefs, Wright is looking at laying claim to the starter's role ... something he is well on his way to doing. Already in the top five among Spruce Kings netminders for shutouts, goals against average and save percentage, Wright is looking to find his place in the record book for all time wins as well.
Again those are hard numbers that can be crunched at any time by anybody, what isn't nearly as noticeable is the contributions of the unsung heros. Following the game in Williams Lake, Jeremy Wiebe came out of the dressing room wearing the Spruce Kings hard hat for his efforts in the game. If you don't think that is an honour, I beg to differ especially after seeing Jeremy still wearing his hard hat following a Thursday skate. Wiebe found himself involved in two fights Wednesday night and in all had to answer the call against three different Timberwolves over the two games ... that call was answered successfully each and everytime I might add.
Now all of these players and the long list of players not mentioned here comes the task of maintaining their momentum and reaching that all important .500 mark. The Spruce Kings will head into a pair of weekend games against the Surrey Eagles (Friday) and the Williams Lake Timberwolves (Saturday) with a chance to register more wins than losses on the season.
Currently sitting with three wins and four losses, the Spruce Kings know they control their own fate and will be ready for the challenge of their first Coastal Division opponent on Friday night. Game time at the Coliseum is 7:00pm with the game available on 93.1 CFIS-FM and also online from the Spruce Kings website as well as the BCHL Fanzone for those that won't be able to attend in person.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
New Faces
Two new players will be in the Spruce Kings lineup on Friday night after the team swung a deal for a 20 year old forward from Salmon Arm and then picked up a free agent goaltender. The moves should help the team up front and between the pipes.
Okay this one is a steal, I think, afterall this is a player that totally fits the ideal of a Spruce King player. Zac Rasmussen is a feisty player with an edge and no fear at times. I have seen him get under other player's skin and then go hard to the net looking to make something happen out of nothing. This is quite an addition to the Spruce Kings lineup and perhaps the game to watch what Zac can really do will happen on Sunday afternoon in the Coliseum when his new team faces off against his old team.
I like it!
Okay now Kyle Nielsen, here is a goaltender that has had some success in the past and was on the Vancouver NW Giants major midget team that went to the 2007 Telus Cup in Red Deer, Alberta. The following year Kyle played Junior B hockey with the Chase Chiefs where he picked up two shutouts in 37 games played and posted wins in 17 of those games with a 90.35 save percentage. Last season he was one of the few players that stuck through a constantly reshuffling deck of players in Merritt.
Without trying to assume anything, it is safe to say that the new hockey operations staff had their eyes on two other netminders for the role and released Kyle making him a free agent. Cue the Spruce Kings and Kyle finds himself a new home in the BCHL. I don't know what the plan is for Friday's game in Merritt, but that would be kind of interesting to see Kyle get the start against the team that discarded him ... don't you think he would be just a little fired up!
Talking with Mike Hawes and Ed Dempsey, they see both players coming in and making an immediate impact on the team. And we all know that an immediate impact is needed to get the team moving in the right direction again. In Quesnel on Wednesday night, I saw a team that wanted to win and was doing everything right to start the game only to have a bounce go against them. This team is much better than what the stat sheet shows and I'm looking to see the right combination of confidence and execution, skill and work ethic materialize on Friday night against the Centennials.
Okay this one is a steal, I think, afterall this is a player that totally fits the ideal of a Spruce King player. Zac Rasmussen is a feisty player with an edge and no fear at times. I have seen him get under other player's skin and then go hard to the net looking to make something happen out of nothing. This is quite an addition to the Spruce Kings lineup and perhaps the game to watch what Zac can really do will happen on Sunday afternoon in the Coliseum when his new team faces off against his old team.
I like it!
Okay now Kyle Nielsen, here is a goaltender that has had some success in the past and was on the Vancouver NW Giants major midget team that went to the 2007 Telus Cup in Red Deer, Alberta. The following year Kyle played Junior B hockey with the Chase Chiefs where he picked up two shutouts in 37 games played and posted wins in 17 of those games with a 90.35 save percentage. Last season he was one of the few players that stuck through a constantly reshuffling deck of players in Merritt.
Without trying to assume anything, it is safe to say that the new hockey operations staff had their eyes on two other netminders for the role and released Kyle making him a free agent. Cue the Spruce Kings and Kyle finds himself a new home in the BCHL. I don't know what the plan is for Friday's game in Merritt, but that would be kind of interesting to see Kyle get the start against the team that discarded him ... don't you think he would be just a little fired up!
Talking with Mike Hawes and Ed Dempsey, they see both players coming in and making an immediate impact on the team. And we all know that an immediate impact is needed to get the team moving in the right direction again. In Quesnel on Wednesday night, I saw a team that wanted to win and was doing everything right to start the game only to have a bounce go against them. This team is much better than what the stat sheet shows and I'm looking to see the right combination of confidence and execution, skill and work ethic materialize on Friday night against the Centennials.
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