The 2009/10 British Columbia Hockey League season witnessed its fair share of feel-good stories and nowhere was that more evident than the remarkable turnaround in Quesnel.
The Millionaires, after a number of lacklustre seasons, turned the tide with 22 wins this season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Yet only a year ago they were running on life support with a community-based society that was struggling to make ends meet financially.
But the fortunes of the franchise all changed last summer with one transaction. With the society facing an uphill battle to keep the franchise afloat, a Quesnel-bred ownership group led by Bob Sales and former owners Gary and Kit Collins took over the Millionaires with a business plan and strong committment to revitalize the team.
“It certainly gave the team some new energy and new people all with hockey backgrounds and enthusiasm,” says BCHL Commissioner John Grisdale. “When you get new people that are really committed, you see a real resurgence of a program and that’s what we’ve seen in Quesnel.”
The ownership change was complimented by a playoff appearance less than 12 months later, and the Millionaires made the most of their opportunity with a first-round upset over Salmon Arm in six games to earn their first-ever series win.
It was an emotional moment for a franchise that had its fair share of struggles since joining the league in 1996. And when Quesnel won two games against the defending RBC Cup champion Vernon Vipers, the community erupted with the kind of passion that hadn't been seen in years.
“When we tied [the semi-final] up in Quesnel, we had over 1,135 fans there. It was unbelievable. It was a great night for the Millionaires,” says Sales.
After a coaching search, Glen Watson was hired as head coach and GM for a second stint in Quesnel and quickly changed the losing culture within the Mills franchise. Many players did not want to return following another losing season last year, but he won over many of the disgruntled players early.
“They wanted out, but they weren’t going to get out. `You’re going to sit or you’re going to start playing,'” explains Watson, who was also the Millionaires’ head coach from 1993-1995 when they played in the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League. “I said to them, `you’ve got to give me that chance and believe what I’m trying to do here.’ The kids were receptive to it.”
Watson's motivational tactics down the stretch were a big part of the postseason run. The head coach broke the last 20 games into four best-of-five series to prepare his players for playoff hockey; it was a tactic that worked out quite well for the Millionaires.
“It challenged the players to play at their best level, especially in the second half of the season,” says Watson.
Sales agrees: “I watched practice at the end of the season and said to myself `we’ve got ourselves a pretty good hockey team.’ I started noticing it really late in the season. It looked to me like the team was really coming together.”
Trever Hertz was a terrific leader for the Millionaires through the 2009/2010 campaign with career-highs in goals (35), assists (38) and points (73) to propel his club into the playoffs; he followed it up with 10 points in two series. Taylor Holst contributed 14 points to finish second in playoff scoring behind Darick Ste-Marie, who caught fire in the postseason and helped Quesnel challenge the defending RBC Cup champion Vernon Vipers to a six-game series.
Ste-Marie, who carried the team offensively at times, notched a pair of four-point games against the SilverBacks and finished the series with eight goals and 13 points. In November, he was reunited with former Quebec Rempart teammate Joshua Desmarais, who scored 24 goals and 50 points in 40 total games with the Millionaires.
Other late-season acquisitions also turned into gold for Quesnel. Justin Hogan, who was traded from Williams Lake and put on the top line with Hertz and Holst, accumulated 44 points during the regular season and added 10 points in the postseason. Rookie Clayton Chessa made an impact with 15 points in 19 games after being picked up from Surrey in November.
And like any contending playoff team, the Mills also received outstanding goaltending from Kirby Halcrow, who was their star most nights. A goals-against average of 3.45 in the postseason may not look stellar, but Halcrow stole a couple wins for his team, specifically in Game 2 against Vernon when Quesnel was heavily outshot 57-22.
The standout performances in the playoffs pointed to a turnaround for the Grand Prairie native. Halcrow was recognized with a rare selection to suit up for Team Canada West behind Sean Bonar at the World Junior A Challenge in November. But he watched all the festivities from the bench and returned to Quesnel refocused and more motivated than ever, Watson says.
“Kirby really turned the tide in the last six weeks of the season,” he says. “And going into the playoffs he was right back to form.”
His 55-save effort in Game 2 at the Wesbild Centre gave the group confidence against the BCHL’s best team, who they beat again 3-1 at home in Game 4 to mark one of the great moments in Millionaires history.
Even two weeks after their season ended, the reception in the community has also been terrific and the team is taking full advantage of the marketing opportunities on and off the ice.
Quesnel has already secured 76 additional season-ticket holders for the 2010/2011 season, most of which were sold during the thrilling Millionaires playoff run.
“We’ve created a lot of interest,” he says. “I think our marketing is going to improve. I talked to Glen the other day and he figures the recruiting will be easier; he’s got kids coming to his spring camp next weekend. They’re usually going somewhere else, but they’re coming to our camp.”
Despite the recruiting challenges of being in an isolated hockey community, Sales has felt the positive energy among the returning players who are looking forward to making it two straight playoff appearances next year.
“The exit meetings with the kids were very positive. I don’t think there was one kid that didn’t want to come back. Last year when we had our exit meetings, we just got beat by Prince George 11-0 and we fired our coach [Tom Bohmer] and there were no kids that wanted to come back.”
In only a season, the culture has seemingly turned around in the great hockey community of Quesnel. And despite losing six 20-year-old players — Ste-Marie, Hertz, Holtz, Desmarais, Eliot Raibl and Jacob Verheyden — there is confidence in the young talent like 17-year-old Spencer Garboski as well as veterans Tyler French and Hogan. Watson believes the valuable experience of battling through two rounds of playoff hockey will only serve the returning players well for next season.
