Petkau bids Bruins farewell

October 05, 2007

Dan Kinvig - The Progress

Under normal circumstances, high-scoring forward Ken Petkau’s surprising retirement announcement this week would have been devastating to the Chilliwack Bruins.

Fortunately for the local WHL club, they were able to quickly snap up another offensive-minded 20-year-old to take Petkau’s place. The team brought in former Everett Silvertip Brandon Campos this week to fill the scoring void.

“We got really lucky,” Bruins coach Jim Hiller said. “To lose Kenny and then pick up Brandon essentially the next day made a really hard situation much more manageable.”

Petkau, a Surrey product, was a first-round bantam draft choice (13th overall) by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in 2002. The speedy forward spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Hurricanes before moving on to the Red Deer Rebels midway through the 2005-06 season.

The Bruins plucked Petkau off the Rebels’ roster during the expansion draft in 2006, and the winger seemed to find a home in Chilliwack. In 55 games last year, Petkau set career highs across the board, notching 24 goals and 18 assists for 42 points to finish fourth in team scoring.

But after a slow start to the 2007 season (one goal in five games), Petkau elected to retire from hockey. According to Hiller, the player felt that his opportunity to play pro hockey in the future was limited.

“I was surprised, because we all felt that Ken had a chance to play pro, but he just didn’t feel that way himself,” Hiller said. “But I wasn’t completely taken aback, because he hadn’t seemed to play with the same fire and passion this season as he did last season.

“We had really hoped that he would have come in and dominated and built on last season, but it just wasn’t happening. I think he might have been struggling with it (the decision to retire) over the summer, and it’s really hard in such a good league – if you’re not mentally in tune and physically in tune, it’s hard to make yourself noticed in a positive way.”

The Bruins acted quickly to fill Petkau’s overage spot. Campos, a five-foot-10, 185-pounder, put up huge numbers with the junior A Merritt Centennials in 2005-06 (27-53-80 in 46 games), and posted 10 goals and 14 assists in 67 games with the Silvertips last season, his first in the WHL.

Campos was caught in a numbers crunch in Everett, where he was one of six 20-year-olds competing for three overage spots. He had a goal and two assists in Everett’s first two games this season, but was placed on waivers on Tuesday. Campos becomes the third Port Coquitlam minor hockey product with the Bruins, joining Dylan Chapman and Colby Kulhanek.

Hiller said he’s confident that Campos can replace the production the Bruins are losing with Petkau’s departure.

“He’s not a big player, but he’s very tenacious and very skilled,” Hiller said. “I think he fits in very well with the type of team that we have, and I think he’ll complement our first line very well. We’re really excited to have him.”

Hiller has had Campos skating on a line with rookie centre Jadon Potter and second-year man Kulhanek in practice this week, replacing 16-year-old rookie Ryan Howse on the second unit. Campos will be in the lineup for the Bruins this weekend when they face the Vancouver Giants and the Kamloops Blazers.

Five days after their landmark 3-2 shootout victory over the Vancouver Giants at Prospera Centre, the Bruins renew hostilities with the defending Memorial Cup champs tonight (7:30 p.m., Pacific Coliseum). Last Sunday night’s win marked the first time the Bruins have beaten their local rivals in regular season play.

If the Bruins are victorious, they would take over first place in the B.C. Division. Vancouver (4-0-0-1, nine points) currently holds a one-point advantage over Chilliwack (4-1-0-0, eight points) for top spot.

On Saturday night, the Bruins welcome the Kamloops Blazers (2-1-0-0) to Prospera Centre for a 7 p.m. start. Heading into the season, the Blazers were thought to be the team that would challenge the Giants for B.C. Division supremacy, but the Bruins posted an impressive 2-1 victory over the Kamloops squad on opening night.