Heading into the start of the season a month ago armed with three rookie goaltenders, only one of whom had played a junior A hockey game, the Prince George Spruce Kings left for Chilliwack not knowing how their puckstoppers would fare when the real bullets started flying.
Now 13 games into the abbreviated 20-game season, nobody’s questioning the Spruce Kings’ strength in goal. Aaron Trotter, Jordan Fairlie and Kobe Grant have all done their jobs admirably well, providing the backbone the Kings have needed to remain in the hunt for top spot in the three-team Chilliwack pod.
Trotter and Fairlie have drawn the bulk of the starts and have the numbers that peg them second only to Penticton’s Kaleb McEachern and Kaeden Lane among the BCHL’s top-two tandems.
Trotter, a 2001-born Victoria native, joined the Kings last fall from Shawnigan Lake School U18 Prep and has his numbers speak for themselves. Heading into Wednesday's game against the Merritt Centennials (5 p.m. start), Trotter has a 4-2 record games and has a 1.42 goals-against average (second in the BCHL) and .938 save percentage (second in the league) with two shutouts.
Fairlie, a Fort St. John native who turns 19 in November, played three seasons at Okanagan Hockey Academy before he came to Prince George to play major midget for the Cariboo Cougars. He’s seen four games of BCHL action and has 2.27 average and .916 save percentage while winning three of his first BCHL starts.
Grant arrived just before the Kings left for the pod, having played one BCHL game each for Salmon Arm and Vernon over the past two seasons while he was with the U18 Thompson Blazers. Grant, who turned 19 in March, is from Sicamous and he endeared himself to his Kings teammates April 16 with a 19-save shutout of the Merritt Centennials and he did it again Sunday when he blanked the Cents again with a 23-save shutout.
“Our five-on-five game has been OK, obviously we’re trying to limit scoring opportunities and when we have been giving up some chances our goalies have been really solid,” said Kings head coach Alex Evin.
“They didn’t have much experience and this is a perfect time to get that for these three, especially for Aaron. He’s 19 and for him, not playing games this year would have been very challenging next year to have a 20-year-old rookie on your roster. He’s doing really well and we’re proud of him, and Jordan and Kobe are doing well as well. Right now I don’t have to worry about it, whoever’s in, they’ve earned the team’s confidence and it’s a credit to them. They’ve all come a long way since the start of the year.”
As a team, the Kings have allowed just 22 goals in their 13 games, second-best in the BCHL, and that’s helped them reach the top rung in the Chilliwack pod with an 9-3-0-1-0 record. With their 3-0 win over Merritt on Sunday the Kings moved three points ahead of the Chiefs (8-5-0-0-0).
Twenty-year-olds Mason Waite and Tanner Main, who recovered from a broken ankle suffered in the preseason in November, have been pillars of strength on the blueline. Colton Cameron, Amran Bhabra and Zach Gabruch have taken steady strides forward as sophomores and rookies Ben LeFranc and Connor Elliott are showing the scoring touch that made them regular point producers with their midget teams last year. The Kings will go with six defenceman the rest of the season after Josh Wright suffered an upper-body injury. He’s returned to his home in Ontario.
Christian Buono, with seven goals and nine assists continues to lead the Kings in scoring, playing his final junior season with his fourth BCHL team. The Burnaby native has been ferociously effective on the penalty kill, and the Kings have had to rely on him often as the second-most penalized team in the league. Heading into tonight they’ve allowed only six power-play goals in the 60 times they were shorthanded, a 90 per cent kill rate – third-best in the BCHL.
“He’s been doing great,” said Evin, referring to Buono. “He was going to be a big part of our group in a full season and he still. He’s playing in all situations, contributing on the penalty kill, contributing on the power play and playing well five-on-five.”
Evin has been preaching discipline since the start of the season and the Kings have been much better lately at avoiding penalties..
“The kids know we have to be a better checking team with our sticks, a lot of it is avoidable penalties,” said Evin. “The last game was a good step in the right direction, we only took two penalties and played more five-on-five and we like our five-on-five game.
“We don’t want to stress too much about wins or losses, we’re more worried about playing consistent games and the wins will take care of themselves. But it’s definitely more enjoyable when you win.”
Andrew Seaman the only other overaged Kings’ forward, has also been a pleasant surprise, producing eight goals and 14 points in 13 games.
“Andrew has improved so much and I’m really glad,” said Evin. “He stuck with it as the only American, he didn’t go across the border, didn’t go home for Christmas. He made so many sacrifices and it’s really nice to see, as an individual, he’s getting rewarded for it.”
Quebec native Nick Rheaume and former Powell River King Rowan Miller have started to heat up lately and are now among the team scoring leaders. Rookie John Herington, another former Cariboo Cougar, has four goals and nine points. Corey Cunningham, the Kings' leading goal scorer in 2019-20 with 26, finally scored his first of the season in Sunday's win over Merritt.
Life in the pod is busy and with games just about every other day and sometimes back-to-back, and only one practice session on off-days, there's not a lot of time for the Kings players and staff to do anything that’s not hockey-related. Their hotel rooms are about a 15-minute to the rink at Chilliwack Coliseum and they’ve had no trouble keeping the players sequestered from the public to limit the possibility of getting COVID-infected. The hotel has a team-only banquet room with an outdoor patio and the players are able to spend some time there to chill out between games and get some fresh air and sunshine.
“It’s like the old-school T-shirts when you’re growing up as a kid – eat, sleep, play hockey - that’s literally what we’re doing,” said Evin. “We’re obviously doing a good job so far, and I’m sure the other teams in the league are too, kind of sticking to ourselves. We’re not hanging out in a big group at the same time either, just when we need to be at the rink.”
