For almost two months this season, longtime North Vancouver Wolf Pack player Kaz Minemoto made his noise off the ice.
Suffering from a shoulder injury, the forward spent much of the year as the team’s hype man, getting the boys fired up by revealing the starting lineup in the dressing room before each game. Then he’d sit and watch as the team would go on to put up the best record in the league.
Minemoto finally made it back onto the ice just before the playoffs started, and he made the biggest noise when it mattered most, scoring a hat trick in the team’s 5-1 win over the Langley Trappers March 20, clinching a 4-0 sweep in the PJHL championship series and giving the Pack its second league title in franchise history.
“It was awesome for him to get that hat trick,” said Wolf Pack general manager Matt Samson. “The 3-1 goal, [Langley] had a bit of momentum, they’d just got their goal and had almost tied it. We as a group kind of lost our focus and we got a little bit too emotional. We had a few shifts in a row that weren’t good and then their line settled it down and he got that big goal for us.”
Minemoto scored once in each period, including the eventual game-winner in the first, while Jacob Fournier picked up a goal and an assist and Dominic Davis notched up a pair of assists as goaltender Spencer Eschyschyn claimed the championship-clinching win, sparking a celebration at Langley’s George Preston Recreation Centre.
“It’s a good feeling, seeing the boys celebrate,” said Samson. “It’s good to have a good record in the regular season, which we did, but we had to back it up and have a good playoffs. Basically anything short of wining our league this year would have been a disappointment I think with the group that we put together. It was a bit of a relief – you’re happy, but it’s almost like we were expected to do it, so the pressure was off (once we won).”
Fournier and captain Justin Lee led the way throughout the playoffs with 20 points each in 14 games, while defenceman Jacob Callas racked up 16 points and Barker collected 14 points. Eschyschyn split duties nearly equally with Niklas Hoem, with each goalie picking up six victories as North Van went on a dominant 12-2 run through the playoffs.
“We showed up pretty much every game. It’s junior hockey, there were situations where we didn’t play well at times, but we got good goaltending,” said Samson. “If you look through all the 12 wins I think you’d see a lot of different ways that we won the games, which I think is good. … The boys were focused for every game, we felt we had them prepared and ready to go. They had to go and execute, and they did that.”
The team picked up some PJHL awards after collecting the league banner. Lee, a North Vancouver native, was given the league’s sportsmanship award. It was well earned by the Wolf Pack captain, said Samson.
“Justin is just a very unassuming kid off the ice, but he’s a fantastic player to watch play. He’s vocal when he needs to be, but he lets his play do the talking on the ice. It speaks for itself. He works so hard in practice, he’s got really good control of the group, he has the respect of everyone in the room including all the coaches and ownership. … He’s going to have a bright future whatever he decides to do.”
Hoem, a rookie on the team and another North Van product, earned the PJHL goaltender of the year award.
“I hope somebody takes a good look at him and gives him an opportunity in the BCHL,” said Samson. “He could definitely step in and play there.”
Hoem and Eschyschyn split time all year, with both putting up numbers that placed them amongst the league’s top goalies.
“To me they’re 1-2 in whatever order you want,” said Samson. “They were able to work well as a [rookie and a] 20-year-old veteran with junior A experience.”
The team’s head coach, Bayne Koen, was also recognized as the PJHL’s coach of the year. It was well deserved, said Samson, and not just because North Van ended with the best regular season record.
“He did an awesome job,” said Samson. “It was nice of the league to recognize him. We had a mix of veterans, rookies, and guys that we acquired. It was not like we just had like 13 returning 19- and 20-year-olds. We had a mix, we had to make it work. He did a really good job making it work.”
The Pack will now turn its attention to the Cyclone Taylor Cup, the four-team junior B provincial championship tournament scheduled for April 11-14 in Campbell River. North Van is in the odd position of having to wait for three full weeks before the tournament, while the other clubs are still in the thick of their league playoffs.
“It’s one of those things where I’ve never been in this situation as a coach,” said Samson of waiting three weeks for a championship tournament. “Talking to our players, nobody has been in that situation as a player. We’re talking to different people in the hockey community … just getting some ideas of what to do, keeping these guys fresh.”
They will play some competitive games while they wait, including an intra-squad game featuring alumni and other invited participants this Saturday starting at 6:30 p.m. at the North Shore Winter Club. Donations collected at the game will be split between the team for travel costs for provincials as well as Special Olympics B.C.–North Shore.
When they get to the Cyclone Taylor Cup they’ll have a tough test right off the bat as they’ll face the host Campbell River Storm in prime time on opening night immediately after the opening ceremony.
“That place is going to be packed. We have to prepare for a crazy atmosphere that we haven’t seen all year,” said Samson, adding that the Cyclone Taylor Cup is a different animal than the PJHL playoffs. “It’s not a seven-game series, so the big thing for us is we’ve got to focus on our group and how we play and what we do well. We’ve got to get to know these other teams a little bit, but at the end of the day I think we’re going to have to play our game and try to focus on our strengths, and hopefully that’s going to be enough to get the job done.”
No matter what happens, it’s been a satisfying season for Samson, who co-founded the Wolf Pack franchise with his father in Squamish in 2008 before moving it to North Van. Samson, who is also the Wolf Pack’s director of hockey operations and an assistant coach, spent the past three years as an assistant coach with the junior A Merritt Centennials but returned home this year to rejoin the Pack.
“To see these guys come together, and then to be able to add a couple of pieces, and delete a couple of pieces that weren’t the right fit, it feels good,” he said. “Just winning, having fun at the rink every day – that’s important. It’s something that gives you a sense of accomplishment. And it’s something I missed – we didn’t have a ton of success in Merritt, so it’s nice to be winning for sure.”
