A taste of things to come  

Written by TED CLARKE, Citizen staff    

Wednesday, 09 April 2008 

Manning raves about stint with Bruins

Brandon Manning knew it would be a step up.

He didn’t think it would require a ladder. How wrong he was.

Manning took the leap the day the Prince George Spruce Kings were eliminated from the B.C. Hockey League playoffs and was thrown into the fire immediately playing defence for the Chilliwack Bruins.

The smooth-skating 17-year-old defenceman with a nose for the net responded with flair to his new assignment trying to prevent some of the world’s best junior forwards from scoring. Manning’s rookie initiation, which lasted six WHL regular season games and a four-game playoff series, came as comforting reassurance he’d made the right choice to forego a chance at an NCAA scholarship.

“It was awesome, I’m really happy about my decision,” said Manning, who grew up in Prince George.

“Everyone talks about how junior A is a lot similar to the Dub, but it’s a lot better hockey -- everyone is better, you don’t have any weak players. I just liked the professionalism of the whole league overall, right down from your general manger to your coaches and teammates, everyone was awesome with me.

“You’re watching video every day, always going over stuff. In Prince George (with the Spruce Kings) it was pretty straight forward, you go over a few systems and go out and play.”

The six-foot, 175-pound Manning ranked second among Kings defencemen in scoring with 26 points, including seven goals and 19 assists in 58 games. He was held off the scoresheet in his 10 games with the Bruins.

“Personally, I was very happy with the way I played, I put myself in a good position for next year and the coaches and general manager were really happy with me,” said Manning. “I didn’t know what to expect coming in but I played a ton, I played every regular season game, every playoff game, something to build on for next year.”

The second-year Bruins were swept by the Vancouver Giants in their first-round playoff series, but all four games against the defending Memorial Cup champions were decided by one goal. Game 3 went into a third overtime period, the fourth-longest game in WHL history, before Craig Cunningham scored for the Giants less than a minute into the sixth period.

“Obviously, everyone wrote us off early but it was a tight series and we only lost by four goals,” Manning said. “A couple bad breaks kind of put us away. We were a really young mix this year and the experience was good -- you can never have a bad playoff experience.”

Twenty-year-olds Dylan Chapman and Nick Holden (who signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets) are the only Bruin defencemen not eligible to return next season. That leaves Manning, Matt Strong and Jeff Einhorn as 18-year-olds; a 19-year-old former Prince George Cougar Chris Van Duynhoven; and a 17-year-old Scott Ramsay.

Two other local players, forwards Ryan Howse of Prince George, 16, and Liam Darragh of Quesnel, 18, also played for the Bruins. Howse had 10 goals and seven assists as a rookie, not including his goal in Game 3 of the playoffs. He’ll play next season as a 17-year-old, hopefully having put behind a string of injuries that limited his effectiveness in 54 regular season games.

“Ryan was one of our best players in the playoffs,” said Manning. “He really picked up his game and showed why he’s going to be a first-round draft pick next year. He was absolutely flying and made some great plays playing with Oscar (Moller) and Mark (Santorelli).”

Manning had planned to start last season with the Bruins but a knee injury kept him home and he joined the Spruce Kings following their first road trip. He has no regrets about his season spent in the BCHL.

“Playing as much as I did with the Spruce Kings was a good opportunity for me -- Stew (associate coach Malgunas) helped me get my confidence up,” Manning said. “Another year at home and not having to worry much about anything but playing was definitely beneficial to me.”

Manning’s brief WHL season highlight came was the last regular season game of the year in Vancouver against the Giants, March 17. Gordie Howe, a part-owner of the Giants, was in the building at the Pacific Coliseum to celebrate his 80th birthday.

“Having 12,000 people watching you play was one of my best welcome-to-the-WHL moments,” said Manning. “It was pretty awesome. It was probably one of the worst games I played, but I talked to Jim (Bruins head coach Hiller) about it and they were happy with the way I bounced back in the playoffs.

“I just have to get bigger and stronger and I’ll be all set to come to training camp next season.”