The season has come to a close for the Terrace River Kings of the Central Interior Hockey League. Once again, it was a successful one for the club. Finishing with a record of 16-2-0, they’ll head into the playoffs as the #1 seed, which includes a bye-in.
“It’s been a great year,” said Manager Germain Francoeur. “I think going back, that might be one of our best records, and now we’re looking forward to playoffs.”
Ever since stats have been collected for the CIHL, this is the best record the River Kings have ever held, with a .888 points percentage.
The River Kings are currently the team to beat, with the accolades to back it up. Going back to the 2023-24 season, they won the Lightning Cup trophy for best regular season, the Cameron Kerr Cup as playoff champions, and won the Coy Cup in a provincial dual in a 5-4 overtime thriller last spring. This was the first time the River Kings have won the Coy Cup, which is a trophy that is more than 100 years old.
“We’ve been pretty consistent over the past four or five years,” said Francoeur. “We were lucky enough to win it last year in Powell River. There’s been a lot of good teams in our league, so we’re continuing to do our own thing. Every game is important no matter what team we’re playing, we’re always looking ahead and we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
To end the season, The River Kings are coming off of a loss against the Hazelton Wolverines from this past weekend, but as Francouer puts it, obtaining a loss is perhaps needed from time to time.
“The loss is maybe a wakeup call for our team, cause it’s our second loss of the year,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a good thing for your team to face a little adversity ahead of the playoffs. But the playoffs won’t be easy and there’s a lot of good teams.”
Despite that, teams will fight to get a top two seed to play out their options. It allows more time for preparation, as well as a few more weeks for the bumps and bruises to heal.
“We have three weeks off, so we’ll have extra ice time. We’ll be out there skating and working on some things and getting ready for whoever we may be playing in round two.”
The CIHL playoffs will be starting this weekend, with a Friday night tilt between Hazelton Wolverines against the Prince Rupert Rampage in the West Division. The following evening, the Williams Lake Stampeders and Smithers Steelheads will be battling it out in the East Division. Each series will be a best-of-three.
The Quesnel Kangaroos have the other bye-in the East, and the River Kings will play the winner of Hazelton or Prince Rupert.