Prince George Spruce Kings set to renew rivalries in 2009/10

The Prince George Spruce Kings and the British Columbia Hockey League have officially released the 2009/10 schedule that features a later start to the season than in past years. The Spruce Kings will begin play in their fourteenth season in the BCHL with their season opener at home on Friday September 11th against the Westside Warriors. The regular season will also wrap up at home with an inter-conference game against the Burnaby Express on Saturday February 20th.

The sixty game schedule will consist of thirty home and thirty road games against the sixteen other teams in the BCHL. After testing the single interlock model last season, the BCHL has gone back to a full double interlock schedule that will see every team play each other at least once in every team's barn. This season also marks the return of the Williams Lake Timberwolves to the league following a two year absence.

The Spruce Kings will play the Timberwolves and the Quesnel Millionaires a total of ten times each and the rest of the Interior Conference teams four times. The make-up of the schedule promotes a regional rivalry that has existed for many years between Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake that dates back through the Rocky Mountain and Peace Caribou Leagues. The games against the Penticton Vees, Salmon Arm Silverbacks, Vernon Vipers, Merritt Centennials, Westside Warriors and Trail Smoke Eaters will be equally important with the reduced amount of chances to take points away from them.

"Rivalries bring out the best in a player," explains Spruce Kings head coach and general manager, Ed Dempsey. "It's all about competing and getting those points. A good rivalry can make an average player a great player and solidify their chances of taking their game to the next level."

The Prince George Spruce Kings feel they have a favourable schedule with a good balance of teams, dates and travel. Again this year, the league will be idol on Mondays with no teams playing that day. The Spruce Kings have seventeen mid week games with nine of those being played on the road. There are also eight Sunday matinee games split evenly between the Coliseum and the road. The majority of games will be played on either a Friday or Saturday night including nearly a third of the season schedule in the Castle.

Leading up to the start of the regular season, the Spruce Kings will start their main training camp on August 28th followed by a week-long exhibition schedule with games against the Quesnel Millionaires and Williams Lake Timberwolves. Details on the exhibition games are still being finalized and should be available shortly.

September will feature a total of seven games with four being played at home. October will see the team with its heaviest workload of the season playing a total of thirteen games, seven of those will be played in the friendly confines of the Coliseum. In October, the Spruce Kings will also host three Coastal Conference teams starting with the Surrey Eagles on October 2nd, the Langley Chiefs on October 15th and the Powell River Kings on the following night.

November is another busy month with a dozen games, half of those in the Castle. In December, the Spruce Kings will start the first portion of their longest road string of the season. Eight consecutive games will be played out of a suitcase with three of them coming before the Christmas break. The road trip will continue into January with four games against the former Mainland Division teams. First up will be the Powell River Kings and Surrey Eagles on back to back nights followed by a day off and then two in two nights against the Burnaby Express and Langley Chiefs.

January will leave the team with the feeling they play out of the Coastal Conference with eight of the twelve games being played outside the Interior Conference. After starting the month in the Lower Mainland, the Spruce Kings will finish out the month with the four Vancouver Island based teams starting with the Nanaimo Clippers on January 27th. After a day off, the Spruce Kings will play the Cowichan Valley Capitals, Alberni Valley Bulldogs and Victoria Grizzlies in less than three days. The month of February will be a much easier month with only eight games to finish out the season, five of those will be at home including Coastal Conference rematches against Nanaimo, Victoria and Burnaby.

The Spruce Kings will play three home-and-home series against the Williams Lake Timbewolves and one against the Quesnel Millionaires. The team's longest home stretch is five games in the first half of December with a few four and three game stretches throughout the season. The longest road stretch is eight games that spans four weeks and includes both the Christmas and the All-Star breaks.

All home games will start at 7:00pm, with Sunday matinee games at 3:00pm. The Prince George Spruce Kings schedule is available for viewing and printing from the team's website; and will be available shortly as a downloadable file for Microsoft Office Calendars and other handheld devices.

For more information, please contact the Spruce Kings office at 250.564.1747.