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Confident Kings leave for national tournament

Jason Chu just about missed his ride to the national junior A hockey championship. Prince George Spruce Kings driver Bobby Huard had the bus in gear about to leave the parking lot at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena heading to Brooks, Alta.
Spruce Kings mugs Coyle Williams.jpg
Prince George Spruce Kings defenceman Max Coyle, left, and centre Fin Williams show off their attempts to grow a playoff beard. The Kings begin play at the Canadian junior A hockey championship Sunday in Brooks, Alta., against the Oakville Blades of Ontario,

Jason Chu just about missed his ride to the national junior A hockey championship.

Prince George Spruce Kings driver Bobby Huard had the bus in gear about to leave the parking lot at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena heading to Brooks, Alta., Wednesday morning when a frantic Chu rushed up to knock on the door.

The 18-year-old defenceman got there just in time.

Good thing.

The Spruce Kings could require his services next week as they try to bring home their first national title. They begin play at the five-team tournament in Brooks Sunday afternoon against the Oakville Blades, the Central champs from Ontario.

Chu, a BCHL rookie this season, was inserted into the lineup just before the Kings advanced to the Fred Page Cup final against the Vernon Vipers to fill in for injured defenceman Liam Watson-Brawn and played an even more critical role on the blueline when the Kings dropped down to just five defencemen when they lost Jay Keranen to injury in Game 2 of the Doyle Cup series.

The good news is Watson-Brawn and Keranen are healthy again and are expected to play in the national tournament, which gives the healthy Kings a full crew of seven rearguards next week when they take on the best teams in the country.

Watson-Brawn suffered an upper-body injury in Game 2 of the Victoria series and was in street clothes when the Kings won the Fred Page Cup and Doyle Cup. He plans to be wearing his uniform and skates two Sundays from now in Brooks to help carry the National Junior A Cup, if the Kings get that far.

"It's good to be back," said Watson-Brawn, as the team loaded up the bus Wednesday for the trek to Calgary, where they're based for two nights. "I'm going to be a little bit rusty so I just want to make as much of an impact, whatever I can do to have the boys win the cup."

On Saturday in front of a full house at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, the BCHL-champion Kings captured their second trophy this season, winning the Doyle Cup Pacific regional championship in six games over the Brooks Bandits. They'll try to complete the championship trifecta in Brooks on Sunday, May 19, at the end of a nine-day tournament.

Watson-Brawn, a 20-year-old Colgate University recruit from Vancouver, is one of 10 Spruce Kings moving on to college hockey next season and he nothing would be better than to add a national title to his hockey resume.

"We believe in each other, our lineup is very deep - even with five D, all of them played very well, said Watson-Brawn. "We work really hard and we've put all the preparation in, now it's our time to shine right now. This is our goal, our dream, and we're just trying to make it come true."

The Spruce Kings went 16-1 in the BCHL playoffs and are 20-3 in the postseason after a perfect 15-0 run on home ice. Since Jan. 25, they've put together a 32-4 record and their .870 winning percentage in the playoffs is the highest of any team that has won the Doyle Cup, which dates back to 1985.

"It's been an amazing experience so far and we know what's lying ahead of us and we're all excited for that and looking forward to it," said Kings goalie Logan Neaton, who played all 23 playoff games and compiled a 1.56 goals-against average and .939 save percentage with three shutouts.

"We're a really confident group and know what we have to do to be successful. It definitely was good to go down there (to Brooks) and play some games and get used to playing games in that building."

As the most geographically-isolated team in the BCHL the Kings travel more than most junior A teams and they've adopted a road-warrior mentality that had taken them deeper into the playoffs than any Kings team in the 23-year history of the franchise.

"It's something that helps us a ton, just to be used to travel and what it takes to be successful on the road," said Neaton. "It's something we've gotten used to, just with being where we are, something that's helped us a lot throughout the year."

Defenceman Max Coyle, at 21 one of the oldest Spruce Kings, is billeted with centre Fin Williams, who just turned 16 on April 21. Coyle's face hasn't seen a razor since before the playoffs began in March and his playoff beard is the team's hands-down winner. Williams was with his Burnaby Winter Club midget team until their season ended in mid-March and he has yet to sprout a whisker.

"It's not much of a contest, I've got a couple years of experience on him but, oh well," said Coyle.

Williams scored his second junior A playoff goal in Game 2 of the Doyle Cup and he's fit in well playing a much intense brand of hockey against older and stronger opponents.

"It's been really cool to be here and learn from the older guys and coaches here and I'm excited to do well at the (national tournament)," said Williams. "The pace is a lot faster and it took a little bit to get used to that but I'm happy I can be here for a couple games before I play here for a full year next year. I played at the Canada Winter Games with Team B.C. (in March in Red Deer) and that was really big, but nothing like it will be like at this event."

In the Doyle Cup, the Spruce Kings rode Neaton's shutout goaltending to a 2-0 win in the opener in Brooks 2-0, then lost 3-1 and 4-0 to the Bandits. Prince George won the next three at RMCA, 3-1, 4-1 and 4-2.

"It's not that we're oozing confidence, we're going into their rink and we didn't have that much success in the first three," cautioned Coyle. "We definitely didn't show up with our best performance; yeah we snuck one by them the first night but the second two we probably didn't show up with 50 per cent of our effort and the way we're supposed to play, which didn't really work out in our favour. We came back here and had our fans and kind of just rolled with the momentum.

"That best-of-seven series was definitely huge for confidence and I guess we'll have to roll with that going to Brooks."

Winger Corey Cunningham, who turned 18 on May 4, has six goals and assists in the playoffs. He and winger Craig MacDonald, 18, who played the last three Doyle Cup games, are both Prince George minor hockey products who grew up watching the Kings play, long before they became the only community-owned team in BCHL history to win the championship.

That sense of accomplishment and the pride they feel wearing the crown on their chests was never more apparent than on Saturday when they took their turns parading the Doyle Cup around the ice at RMCA after knocking off the Bandits, the top-ranked team in the country.

"I think it's awesome, doing this for my hometown and for myself, too," said Cunningham. "It's super exciting, I never thought I'd get to be in the spot I'm in now.

"Now we know the rink we're playing in and who are opponent is. We know what to expect going into the tournament and we have a lot of confidence."

As Pacific champs, the Spruce Kings have a sweet schedule. They have the first day off to scout all of their opponents in action at Centennial Regional Arena, then play Oakville less than a day after the Blades have to play the AJHL champion Bandits in a Saturday night encounter. On Monday, Prince George takes on the Ottawa Junior Senators (East), then have a day off Tuesday. The Kings play the Portage Terriers (West) Wednesday and wrap up the round-robin tournament Thursday night against the host Bandits.

The team that tops the round-robin standings will have its choice of playing in either semifinal, afternoon or evening, on Saturday. The semifinal winners meet in the final, set for 2 p.m. PT Sunday.

All round-robin games will be webcast on hockeycanada.ca. The semifinals and final will be televised live on TSN.