The Prince George Spruce Kings would like to congratulate the Burnaby Express on winning their first ever RBC Royal Bank Cup National Championship. The Express may have been ranked second to the Yorkton Terriers, but they seemingly handled the Terriers with ease defeating the number one ranked team 8-2.

The 2006 RBC Royal Bank Cup Champions - the Burnaby Express

Photo Courtesy: Hockey Canada

The Burnaby Express saved their offensive output for the final game, which was televised to a national audience on TSN, scoring 8 goals while allowing only 2 by the Yorkton Terriers. In a tournament full of overagers, it was the youngest player on the ice that led his team to the RBC Royal Bank Cup National Hockey Championship.

The BCHL Rookie of the Year, Kyle Turris, scored three times and added an assist to lead the Express to the victory. Turris opened the scoring with a power play marker from Geoff Irwin and Dave Simoes. Although the scoresheet didn’t give Irwin the assist it was quite evident on the TSN coverage that Irwin fed the puck from the half wall to Turris who was sitting on high off the faceoff circle.

Kyle Turris and mom

Photo Courtesy: Hockey Canada

Burnaby’s second goal was a highlight reel goal coming just seconds after Jovan Matic stepped out of the penalty box and received a clearing pass; Matic carried it in and fed a streaking Turris who faked forehand and then potted the backhand into the open side of the net. The Burnaby Express did not ease up and continued to force the issue adding their third goal at 11:41 of the first period and headed to the dressing room up 3-0.

In the second period, Mark Soares turned on his game and scored a short handed marker for the Express. Soares also setup two more including Kyle Turris’ third of the night. Turris beat Brett Bothwell for the second time high to the glove side and then just seconds later Mark Sanotrelli chased Bothwell with quick wrister while coming down on a 2 on 1 odd-man situation.

With the score 6-0 and the pre-tournament favourite in danger of being completely embarrassed in front of a national audience; the Terriers were able to squeeze two past Bryce Luker, but still trailed the Express 6-2 after forty minutes of play. The Terriers player of the game, Dustin Nehring, got Yorkton’s first goal of the game at 14:51 of the second and then setup the Terrier’s second goal on the powerplay with 1:36 remaining in the middle frame.

The Burnaby Express got those two goals back early in the third and then shut down the Yorkton Terriers to win the RBC Royal Bank Cup Championship 8-2 in front of an empty Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ontario. Television couldn’t do anything to help disguise the empty purple seats and well after the game was a final the attendance figures were still not posted on the website.

Related Links:
2006 RBC Royal Bank Cup
Championship Game Article, Boxscores and Photo Gallery
Hockey Canada
Burnaby Express
BC Hockey League
2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup - Royal Route Newsletter

Torch is passed to the Prince George Spruce Kings

From all reports, the Brampton host committee did a good job with the RBC Royal Bank Cup tournament – all games went off without a hitch. During the game, 2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup Host Committee Co-Chair, Dan Rogers let the nation know that Prince George was already working on many aspects of the tournament to make improvements over previous events and fill up the CN Centre for all games whether they feature the Prince George Spruce Kings or not.

“We have a goal of making the 2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup the best ever,” said Dan Rogers. “We want to set the benchmark for future tournaments and we have already started with major sponsors committed and ticket sales are 45% sold out.”

The Prince George Spruce Kings will be the host team at the 2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup and are currently recruiting for the 2006/07 season. The Prince George Spruce Kings are expected to make numerous announcements regarding player signings once June 1st rolls around officially opening the Spruce Kings 10th season in the BCHL and 35th season in Prince George.