There was a point in Friday’s PJHL playoff game between the North Van Wolf Pack and Grandview Steelers when it was obvious that No. 10 and 22 in white had been playing together for a long time.
The Wolf Pack was clinging to a 2-1 lead early in the second while killing a 5-on-3 Steelers power play. With Grandview heading up the ice on a breakout play, No. 10, Spencer Quon, calmly skated backwards while having an unhurried conversation with No. 22, his twin brother Dyllan. Spencer, the Wolf Pack’s No. 1 centreman, and Dyllan, the team’s top defenceman, were calmly laying out the strategy — while in the middle of the action — that they would employ over the next 60 seconds to thwart any and all Grandview attacks. It was the kind of display you might expect if you knew that Spencer and Dyllan had been playing on the same hockey teams together, without ever being separated, since they were four years old. With a decade and a half spent honing their skills together, the two Wolf Pack stars, now 20, have unmatchable rapport in the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
“It really helps a lot — the chemistry — especially on five-on-threes where you’ve really got to talk,” said Dyllan.
“I’ve played with him every year I’ve played hockey and I don’t feel as confident with anyone else,” added Spencer after the Wolf Pack finished off the Steelers with a 6-2 win. “It makes me feel confident and secure knowing where he’s going to be all the time.”
The brothers, in fact, are giving the whole Wolf Pack organization a sense of confidence and security as they chase the first championship in franchise history. In Friday’s win, which sent the Pack to the league finals for the first time ever, Spencer scored the game-winning goal off of a slick deke through traffic, while Dyllan picked up a pair of assists and was named the game’s first star.
“Those guys, they quietly lead this team,” said North Van head coach and general manager Matt Samson following the win. “Spenny was phenomenal tonight, he had the game-winning goal. Dyllan played tons of minutes, he and (defensive partner Daniel) Delbianco are such a great pair to have. It’s a great thing to have as a coach when you know you can send them onto the ice for 30-plus minutes and you know what you’re going to get out of them.”
That praise differs slightly from the message Samson gave to Spencer and Dyllan in September of 2011 when the two were 17-year-olds trying out for the new junior B team in town. The boys looked good but Samson ultimately cut them from the opening day roster.
“We kind of reassigned them,” said Samson with a laugh when reminded about the transaction. “We knew that they were talented, we thought that maybe they could use another year, or half a year, in midget.”
The twins were registered as Wolf Pack affiliate players but sent back to their North Van Minor teams.
“I remember that day,” said Spencer. “I was a little disappointed, obviously. I really wanted to push to make the team.”
They used it as motivation, said Dyllan.
“We got a little taste of junior hockey in the preseason there and when I got cut it fired me up to get back to this level and make the team.”
It didn’t take long, however, for them to make a return, and when they did it became abundantly clear that they were never going back to minor hockey. In their first PJHL game — a 4-4 tie against Grandview about a month into the 2011-12 season — Dyllan scored a sweet goal and Spencer set up the game-tying marker in the dying minutes of the third period.
“I remember the first game we called them up,” said Samson. “It was like, whoa, let’s get these guys back here. Like, ASAP.”
Four years later Spencer has obliterated the franchise record for points, putting up 218 in 152 regular season games. Dyllan, meanwhile, holds the club record for defencemen with 100 points in 146 games and was named the league's Best Defenceman this season.
When the Quons first signed on with the Pack the team was one year removed from a relocation from Squamish to North Van and the club still needed to scratch and claw just to get into the playoffs. The team has been able to add more pieces every season in part because word was getting out about the talented twins.
North Vancouver native Mitch Crisanti, the team’s leading scorer this season, chose to join the squad midway through last season after bouncing around the junior hockey world. He said the Quons were two of the main selling points.
“I knew the Quons pretty well, I knew they were good players, and I knew it was five minutes from my house,” he said of why he joined his hometown team.
“It’s a draw,” said Samson. “You know you’re going to come and play with two good guys.”
With other new recruits playing starring roles and homegrown players stepping up, the Wolf Pack is now one of the league’s elite teams. They won the regular season title this year and are now taking on the Mission City Outlaws in the league championship series. Spencer said he and his brother are happy to see how far the team has come during their tenures.
“It’s so good for our organization because now people know that North Van, they don’t mess around any more,” he said. “They’re a good team and they’re going to continue to be good for the next couple of years here. Hopefully those top recruits come to North Van and we’ve made a positive influence on a new set of players coming into the league. . . . The whole organization has come a long way. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. It’s really special for me and Dyllan.”
Most exciting, however, is the thought of ending their junior careers with a championship.
“It’d be unbelievable,” said Dyllan. “It’s all I can think about right now.”
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The Wolf Pack will need to dig out of an early hole in the finals after dropping Game 1 Monday night at Harry Jerome Recreation Centre. Crisanti and Spencer Quon picked up three points apiece as North Van built a 3-1 lead in the first period but the Outlaws scored three unanswered goals in the final 40 minutes — including the game-winner with less than five minutes left in the third — to steal the victory.
Game 2 will be held Wednesday night starting at 7 p.m. at the Mission Leisure Centre while Game 3 will be back at Harry Jerome Friday night starting at 8 p.m. If necessary, Games 5 and 7 will be held at the North Shore Winter Club Tuesday, March 24 starting at 7:45 p.m. and Saturday, March 28 at 7:15 p.m.
