The Prince George Spruce Kings are pleased to announce that 20 year old forward Brett Mennear has been named team captain for the 2016-2017 season. The alternate captains will be Adam Burnett, Braiden Epp, Kyle Johnson, and Connor Russell.
Brett Mennear was a big part of the West Kelowna Warriors team that just recently completed a dream season by winning the RBC Cup, Canada’s National Junior A Championship. Last season with West Kelowna, Mennear was an assistant captain and had 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points in 52 regular season games played. In the lengthy run to the National Championship Mennear had 7 goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 35 playoff games played.
“It’s a huge honour to be named captain of such a historic franchise. We’ve got a lot of great leaders, and it’s an honour to be picked,” said Mennear on receiving the captaincy.
Adam Burnett is entering his second season with the Prince George Spruce Kings, and after playing all 58 games last season recorded three goals and ten assists. Two years ago Burnett was the captain with the Milton Icehawks.
The 2016-2017 season will be Braiden Epp’s fourth full season with the Spruce Kings. In 46 games last season Epp had nine goals and 11 assists while wearing the “A” to cap the season off. In 160 regular season games, the forward has 77 points. Epp won the CNC Fan Favourite Award last season.
Kyle Johnson will be coming into his second year with the team after being signed from the Vancouver North East Chiefs of the BCMML. Johnson led all forwards in points last years with 41 points in 58 games. The Port Moody native cleaned up at the awards ceremony winning Scholastic Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and MVP. In the offseason Kyle Johnson committed to Yale University for the 2018-2019 season.
Connor Russel will be playing his first season with the Spruce Kings, but brings two years of BCHL experience. The veteran defenseman played half of a season with the Penticton Vees before being traded to the Cowichan Valley Capitals where he spent the remainder of the season, and all of last year. In 102 BCHL games, Russell has five goals and 24 assists for 29 points.
The announcement comes ahead of this week’s home opener against the Merritt Centennials on Friday September 9th.
