Distance chart

Thanks to blog reader and Silvertips season-ticker holder Andy Head, the distance (in miles) between each WHL city:



I just know that's going to format brutally (my fault, not Andy's), so you'll have to click on the image for a better, larger view.

In a nutshell, here's how far each team travels with their schedule this season:

Brandon Wheat Kings: 19336 miles / 31118 kilometers
Kootenay Ice: 17846 miles / 28720 kilometers
Prince George Cougars: 17018 miles / 27388 kilometers
Spokane Chiefs: 15714 miles / 25289 kilometers
Portland Winter Hawks: 15499 miles / 24943 kilometers
Prince Albert Raiders: 15452 miles / 24868 kilometers
Red Deer Rebels: 14982 miles / 24111 kilometers
Tri-City Americans: 14962 miles / 24079 kilometers
Medicine Hat Tigers: 14691 miles / 23643 kilometers
Vancouver Giants: 14542 miles / 23403 kilometers
Kelowna Rockets: 14489 miles / 23318 kilometers
Edmonton Oil Kings: 14456 miles / 23265 kilometers
Kamloops Blazers: 14385 miles / 23150 kilometers
Moose Jaw Warriors: 14277 miles / 22977 kilometers
Saskatoon Blades: 14225 miles / 22893 kilometers
Swift Current Broncos: 13506 miles / 21736 kilometers
Seattle Thunderbirds: 13148 miles / 21160 kilometers
Regina Pats: 13005 miles / 20930 kilometers
Chilliwack Bruins: 12880 miles / 20728 kilometers
Calgary Hitmen: 12597 miles / 20244 kilometers
Lethbridge Hurricanes: 12321 miles / 19829 kilometers
Everett Silvertips: 11892 miles / 19138 kilometers

I'll have some more thoughts later, when I have some time to do it properly.

What's the NHL equivalent of bus legs?

Found this interesting entry at Globe & Mail staffer James Mirtle's blog. Basically, a listing of how many kilometers each NHL team will travel this season. In a nutshell, Vancouver will travel the most (87,440 km) while New Jersey travels the least (38,815). I'm not sure how the calculations were derived (airport-to-airport distance? arena-to-arena distance) and whether the author assumed direct flights in every case. Plus I'm pretty sure teams like the Devils don't fly to road games against the Rangers or Islanders. But regardless, it's really interesting.

The circumference of the Earth at the equator is about 40,000km. So, the Canucks travel schedule this year sees them fly the equivalent of more than twice around the equator. Kinda makes that 2,441km Portland-to-Brandon WHL bus ride seem like a nice short commute, doesn't it?

Well, except that NHL teams fly first class on chartered flights, and stay in individual suites in five-star hotels. WHL kids ride the iron lung and stay two to a room at Motel 6. Plus the longest single flight an NHL team would have to make (say, Vancouver to Miami? Anaheim to Montreal?) probably takes less time than it takes the Cougars to bus down to Kamloops - which is their shortest trip of the season.

But, add this to the list of things I want to do for fun but probably never will: figure out what the total kilometerage is for each WHL team in one season.

Simon suspension

I see the NHL has handed down its' judgement on the Islanders' Chris Simon for stepping on/kicking Jarkko Ruutu last weekend. He has been given 30 games, and with that, Simon has broken his own record for longest on-ice suspension in NHL history.

Is this the end for Chris Simon's NHL career? He has been suspended eight times now and by the time this suspension is over in February, he'll have spent basically 10 months of the preceding 12 months under suspension. He's also 35 years old (36 in January) and is likely to face ever-increasing suspensions each time he steps out of line after this. Given the style he plays, the likelihood of yet another suspension (should he return to play) is not a small one. I think this is the end.....as it probably should be.

WHL prospects: Richmond International Midget Tournament

Blog reader Jon Whiting asked me about WHL prospects playing in the Richmond International Midget Tournament this year, from December 27 to 31 in Richmond, BC. For Jon - and anyone else out there on the left coast who might want to catch a few games of that tournament - here are the WHL prospects in the Elite division:

Alaska All-Stars U-16:
Scott Wamsganz (F-92) - Kelowna (2007 5th rd)

Kent Valley Selects:
Ryan Doner (F-92) - Everett (listed player)
Tyler Parker (F-92) - Everett (listed player)
Tyler Vanscourt (D-92) - Kootenay (2007 7th rd)

Los Angeles Jr Kings U-18:
Brandon Underwood (D-92) - Kamloops (listed player)

Nevada Stars U-18:
Brandon Carlson (D-92) - Seattle (2007 3rd rd)

North Island Silvertips:
Nick Bell (D-90) - Prince George (2005 10th rd)
Colton Cyr (F-91) - Kelowna (listed player)
Gregory Fraser (F-92) - Prince George (2007 15th rd)
Braeden Johnson (F-92) - Saskatoon (2007 4th rd)

South Island Thunderbirds:
Nick Buchanan (D-91) - Kamloops (2006 9th rd)
Jamie Tucker (G-91) - Vancouver (2006 4th rd)
Ian Wilson (D-92) - Kamloops (listed player)
Simon Witt (D-92) - Vancouver (2007 5th rd)

Valley West Hawks:
Kyle Golz (F-91) - Prince Albert (listed player)
Stefan Gonzales (D-92) - Kamloops (2007 6th rd)
Zak MacDonald (D-91) - Chilliwack (2006 3rd rd)
Austin Madaisky (D-92) - Calgary (2007 1st rd)
Dylen McKinlay (F-92) - Chilliwack (2007 3rd rd)
Josh Monk (D-92) - Tri-City (2007 4th rd)
Adam Morrison (G-91) - Saskatoon (2006 3rd rd)
Drew Spencer (F-91) - Chilliwack (listed player)
Kevin Sundher (F-92) - Chilliwack (2007 1st rd)
Alex Theriau (D-92) - Lethbridge (2007 1st rd)

Vancouver Northeast Chiefs:
Nick Buonassisi (F-92) - Prince George (2007 11th rd)
Jared Chernoff (F-91) - Red Deer (2006 7th rd)
Tim Daly (D-92) - Calgary (2007 6th rd)
Jay Deo (G-92) - Vancouver (2007 11th rd)
Ryan Johansen (F-92) - Portland (2007 7th rd)
James Lively (D-92) - Kelowna (2007 8th rd)
Bruin McDonald (D-92) - Prince George (2007 7th rd)
Elgin Pearce (F-92) - Kootenay (2007 2nd rd)
Connor Redmond (F-92) - Red Deer (2007 1st rd)
Mitch Spooner (D-92) - Vancouver (2007 1st rd)

Yorba Linda Blackhawks:
Markus McCrea (F-92) - Everett (2007 6th rd)

Looks like the Lower Mainland teams - Valley West Hawks and Vancouver Northeast Chiefs - are the teams to watch in this tournament if you want to see WHL prospects. 20 prospects between them, including 5 WHL first-round bantam picks.

The Alaska All-Stars U-18, Alaska North Stars U-18, and Nevada Stars U-16 teams are also in the Elite division but I did not find any WHL prospects on their rosters.

Tuesday notes

Finland has released their final roster for the World Juniors. Two WHLers on the team - goaltender Riku Helenius of Seattle, and forward Juuso Puustinen of Kamloops. Jyri Niemi of Saskatoon did not make the team. I have updated the who's-away-this-month list (below) with those names plus the return of the B-pool WJC players.

ISS (International Scouting Services) has released their updated 2008 NHL draft rankings. The OHL's Steven Stamkos continues to top the list; the rest of the country will get a good look at him on the Canadian Junior team after Christmas. Top WHLer on the list is Rockets defenceman Luke Schenn at #4.

No WHL goalies on the top five goalies listed there. I know he was eligible last year and not picked, but what does a guy like Portland's Kurtis Mucha have to do to attract any NHL interest? He has a .902 save percentage this year despite facing a ridiculous 39.6 shots per 60 minutes on average. At 6'2", he has the size that NHL teams covet in goaltenders as well.....so why does he get no respect from NHL scouts? For any flaws he has, the guy stops a ridiculous number of pucks....and style or weaknesses be damned, isn't that what the position is about? Surely somebody will use at least a 7th round pick on him next summer.....won't they?

Christmas break

The WHL's 10-day Christmas break is here, and so the supply of WHL news has dried up. It will be sure to be a hectic time once play resumes on December 27 though; the trade deadline is January 10th so there will be just two weeks following the break for teams to decide which direction they're going this season and make any roster moves accordingly.

One team that sounds like it might be involved in a few is Kamloops. Reading Gregg Drinnan's column in the Kamloops paper yesterday, he reports that there are rumblings around town that several Blazers players intend to request trades when they return to town after the holidays. All I can say is: from all appearances, a majority of Blazers fans wanted an ownership change. They got it. With that kind of change comes some other changes as the new owners put their stamp on their team. And with all the changes come some unhappy campers....assistant coaches and players alike. And the jury is still out on whether the new owners are as good at running a team as they are at playing the game.

Only other WHL news to report today is that Brandon star Andrew Clark has a broken ankle, suffered on Saturday, and will be out until the end of January. No good time to lose your best player to an injury like this but if it had to happen, this is probably as good a time as any since the first 10 days of his recovery feature no games to miss.

At the B-pool World Juniors, Calgary's Bostjan Golicic and his Slovenian teammates will not be earning promotion to the A-pool next year in Ottawa. Slovenia will finish either 2nd or 3rd in the tournament; their loss to Belarus will prevent them from finishing first. The team earning promotion will be either Belarus or Latvia, who are playing their round-robin meeting this morning. Latvia needs to win in regulation time to win the pool. Any other outcome favours Belarus.

In the other B-pool. the Raiders' Max Brandl and Germany beat the Chiefs' Stefan Ulmer and Austria to win promotion from that pool, so Germany will play in Ottawa next year with Canada, USA, and the other big dogs. Too bad Brandl won't be eligible to play in it next year though due to age.

Overall, the 'dub boys in the B-pools didn't do too badly. Ulmer had two points (1g-1a) and 6 PIM with a +4 in 5 games for Austria. Brandl had 3 points (1g-2a) and 16 PIM with a +4 in 5 games for Germany. And Golicic also had three points (2g-1a) with 18 PIM and an even +/- in 5 games for Slovenia.

With the league on break and the holidays approaching, this blog might not be updated every day for the next little while.....with no WHL news to comment on, I might try to do some stats stuff as well as some prospects stuff but it all depends on how much time I can squeeze in between drinking eggnog and making uncomfortable small talk with great-aunts.

It's going to be crazy starting Boxing Day. World Juniors, WHL, World U-17s, Macs midget tourney, trade deadline.....is there a better time to be a junior hockey fan than right after Christmas? Enjoy your holidays......

Player Absences

Best as I can tell, these are the current roster players which WHL clubs will be losing to World Junior camps, World Junior tournament itself (both A-pool and B-pool) and World U-17 Challenge, with the dates that they are expected to be away. Players merely attending their country's WJC tryout camp at this point will only say "camp" until they are actually confirmed on their teams.

Brandon:
Daniel Bartek, F (Team Czech Republic - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Scott Glennie, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Brodie Melnychuk, D (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Brayden Schenn, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Calgary:
Karl Alzner, D (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Matt McKenzie, D (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Chase Schaber, F (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Chilliwack:
Ryan Howse, F (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Oscar Moller, F (Team Sweden - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)

Edmonton:
Robin Figren, F (Team Sweden - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)

Everett:
- None -

Kamloops:
Jimmy Bubnick, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Ivan Rohac, F (Team Slovakia World Junior Camp. Dec 10-??)
James Priestner, G (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Juuso Puustinen, F (Team Finland - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)

Kelowna:
Tyson Barrie, D (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Luke Schenn, D (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)

Kootenay:
Arnaud Jacquemet, F (Team Switzerland World Junior Camp. Dec ??-??)
Brayden McNabb, D (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Lethbridge:
Carter Ashton, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Zach Boychuk, F (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Luca Sbisa, D (Team Switzerland World Junior Camp. Dec ??-??)
Brennan Yadlowski, D (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Medicine Hat:
Linden Vey, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Moose Jaw:
Riley Holzapfel, F (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Justin Maylan, F (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Portland:
- None -

Prince Albert:
Ryan Button, D (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Brandon Herrod, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Prince George:
- None -

Red Deer:
Landon Ferraro, F (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Brandon Sutter, F (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)

Regina:
Garrett Mitchell, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Logan Pyett, D (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Alex Pym, D (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Saskatoon:
Stefan Elliott, D (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Colton Gillies, F (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)

Seattle:
Steve Chaffin, D (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Riku Helenius, G (Team Finland - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Thomas Hickey, D (Team Canada - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
Brendan Silvester, F (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Spokane:
Jared Cowen, D (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Swift Current:
Cody Eakin, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Tri-City:
Jason Gardiner, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Adam Hughesman, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Mason Wilgosh, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

Vancouver:
Jon Blum, D (Team USA - World Juniors. Dec 26 - Jan 5)
James Henry, F (Team Western, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)
Evander Kane, F (Team Pacific, World U-17 Challenge. Dec 29 - Jan 4)

This is up-to-date as far as I know. Any oversights or errors, corrections are welcome.

Friday notes

A short while back, I took a shot at the Prince George Cougars for their habit of issuing ridiculously short press releases - basically a statement of a fact, with no accompanying information for anyone reading.

Well, the Cougars have some company in this category now. The Kamloops Blazers have relieved assistant coach Andrew Milne of his duties, and this is the release they issued to announce it: "Andrew Milne has left the Kamloops Blazers effective immediately. No further comment will be made at this time."

More news.....Red Deer has acquired 17 year old prospect goaltender Darcy Kuemper from Spokane for a conditional 2009 7th round bantam pick. The pick is conditional, which means whether Spokane gets anything probably hinges on whether Kuemper makes Red Deer's roster before then.

A curious move on Red Deer's part IMO.....they already have two goalies on their roster and last month they picked up 18 year old David Aime from Prince Albert in a trade for defenceman Zac Stebner. They must be setting up for a trade of starter James Reimer to a contender.

The Blades made two roster moves yesterday as well, assigning 18 year old defenceman Colton MacPherson to Junior A, and adding 16 year old defenceman Mitch Berg from midget. Berg was the Blades' 2006 1st round bantam pick but didn't make the team out of training camp. Sounds like he is there to stay now though.

A WHL record will be set tonight for the most games on a single day. Every team in the league is in action tonight for the first time this season, which will set a WHL record with 11 games today. I believe 11 games in one day will happen twice more this year, but not again until March 8th and 15th.

In the B-pool World Juniors, Germany (P.A.'s Max Brandl) and Austria (Spokane's Stefan Ulmer) will meet in their final game tomorrow, with promotion to the A-pool on the line for the winner. Germany lit up Ukraine 11-1 last night; Brandl had one assist in the game.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is now 0-4 and have been outscored 25-8. They must now beat Poland and have Lithuania lose to Norway in order to avoid joining the ranks of the 3rd-rate hockey countries next year in the C-pool.

In the other B-pool, the Hitmen's Bostjan Golicic had a goal as Slovenia beat Latvia 3-2 yesterday. Slovenia is now 2-0 along with Belarus, which means the game between those two teams tomorrow could well decide the pool winner and who gets promoted to the A-pool next year.

Shootout stats

Here's some stats in response to an e-mailed request....basically, is it an advantage to shoot first or last in a shootout? The home team gets to pick whether they shoot first or second. So, which is better?

Well, there have been 34 shootouts in the WHL this year. The team that took the first shot has won 18 of them, or 53%. The team shooting second won the other 16, or 47%. Given the sample size, I'd say that 18 to 16 is not a statistically significant advantage either way.

So, which does the home team tend to choose? Well, this one is clear: the home team far more frequently chooses to shoot last: 22 out of 34 times, or 65% of the time. The sarcastic viewpoint here is that since the team shooting first wins more often, the home teams are choosing to lose.

And lastly, does home ice give an edge in the shootout? Well, overall the home team has won 57% of all the games played this year. In the shootout, the winning percentage is nearly the same: the home team has won 18 of the 34 games, or 53%. So basically, home ice with the home fans cheering your shooters on provides no advantage....it's even a slight disadvantage, although a near-insignificant one.

Personally, when I think about it, I don't see any logical reason why going either first or second would provide more of an advantage....if you go first and score, you put the pressure on the other team's shooters to also score. But on the flip side, if you go first and DON'T score, now the pressure is on your goalie to make a save. And if he doesn't, then it's onto your shooters since another miss means the other team can win the game on their next shot. There's pluses and minuses both ways which is why I find it interesting that coaches have a definite preference for shooting second when given a choice.

But here's something else interesting though: in 26 of the 34 shootouts, the team that scored the first goal of the shootout eventually won it. In fact, in 21 of those, the losing team never scored at all. In other words, a single goal in the shootout is enough to win 62% of the time - and scoring the first goal will mean you win 76% of the time.

So in that case, why do more home teams not elect to shoot first? And not only that, but get your best two shooters out there to take your first two shots. Every time. Don't hold any big shootout gunners in reserve in case you need a goal on the 3rd, 4th, 5th shot. Odds are that the shootout will be won or lost in your first couple of shots most times.

Thursday notes

Final cuts are in from the Canadian World Junior camp, and it's bad news for the WHL as seven of the thirteen cuts are from the 'dub. Both WHL goalies - Leland Irving and Tyson Sexsmith - got the axe, as did defencemen Keaton Ellerby and Ty Wishart and forwards Zach Hamill, Dana Tyrell, and Ryan White. That removes both Everett Silvertips and both Prince George Cougars players from the team.

With those cuts, the Canadian roster for this year's WJCs is:

Goaltenders:
Jonathan Bernier (QMJHL)
Steve Mason (OHL)

Defencemen:
Karl Alzner (WHL)
Drew Doughty (OHL)
Josh Godfrey (OHL)
Thomas Hickey (WHL)
Logan Pyett (WHL)
Luke Schenn (WHL)
P.K. Subban (OHL)

Forwards:
Zach Boychuk (WHL)
Colton Gillies (WHL)
Claude Giroux (QMJHL)
Matthew Halischuk (OHL)
Riley Holzapfel (WHL)
Stefan Legein (OHL)
Brad Marchand (QMJHL)
Shawn Matthias (OHL)
Wayne Simmonds (OHL)
Steven Stamkos (OHL)
Brandon Sutter (WHL)
John Tavares (OHL)
Kyle Turris (NCAA)

I have updated the "who's away this month" post below with the WHL's cuts.

And while we're talking about World Juniors, how about an update on how the WHL's players at the two B-pool championships are doing.....Spokane's Stefan Ulmer and his Austrian team are in first place at 4-0 in the B-pool tournament in Germany, and the stage seems set for a Saturday showdown with Prince Albert's Max Brandl and Germany (3-0) in the final game for both teams. These tournaments use a straight round-robin, no playoffs - best team at the end of the round-robin wins the tournament and gets promotion to the A-pool for next year. Assuming Germany beats Ukraine today to move to 4-0 with Austria, that game between the two teams on Saturday will determine first place.

Speaking of Ukraine though.....they are in last place and have been beaten by Norway and Lithuania. Didn't the Ukraine use to produce a number of good players on the old Soviet teams? How come now that the USSR has fallen apart, Ukraine no longer produces any good hockey players? I mean, if they finish last in this thing, they'll get relegated to the C-pool with the likes of Iceland, Romania, and Mexico....and I'm pretty sure the 12 year olds on my community pond could give the Mexican national U-20 team a run for their money.

Anyway, Ulmer has two points (1g-1a) and a +4, with 6 PIM, in Austria's 4 wins. Brandl has one goal, a +2, and 16 PIM in Germany's three wins.

In the other B-pool championship now underway in Latvia, Calgary's Bostjan Golicic had one goal and 12 PIM as he and his Slovenia teammates started the tournament with a shootout win over Great Britain. Golicic's goal actually was the one that tied the game for the Slovenians with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period and helped send the game to overtime and then the shootout.

WHL prospects on Macs rosters

The WHL prospects playing in this year's Macs Midget tournament after Christmas....players are listed by midget team, with WHL affiliation and how the WHL club acquired them. First-round bantam picks in red.

The team lineup & schedule was announced this morning and can be seen on their website. I notice the total lack of non-Prairie teams this year.....only the Russian team, Severstal. No other European teams, no American teams, no Eastern Canadian teams. Just teams from B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Good news for WHL fans though as it increases the number of WHL prospects in the tournament.

Beardy's (Duck Lake, SK) Blackhawks:
Justin Bertow (F-91) - Spokane (2006 3rd rd)
Clark Breitkreuz (F-91) - Regina (listed player)
Chuck Day Chief (F-91) - Brandon (2006 13th rd)
Dominick Favreau (F-92) - Regina (2007 1st rd)
David Greyeyes (D-91) - Swift Current (2006 5th rd)
Graham Hildebrand (G-91) - Brandon (listed player)
Graham Hood (F-92) - Regina (2007 2nd rd)
Jorden Iron (F-91) - Prince Albert (2006 6th rdA)
Braeden Laroque (D-92) - Edmonton (2007 5th rd)
Zane Morin (D-92) - Saskatoon (2007 8th rd)
Justin Waskewitch (F-92) - Everett (2007 4th rd)
Dylan Wruck (F-92) - Edmonton (listed player)

Calgary Buffaloes:
Erik Bonsor (D-91) - Calgary (2006 4th rd)
Chris Collins (F-92) - Chilliwack (2007 4th rd)
Cole Grbavac (F-91) - Kamloops (listed player - drafted by Portland 3rd rd 2006 but dropped by them)
Riley Reinbolt (F-91) - Moose Jaw (2006 6th rd)
Hayden Rintoul (D-91) - Kootenay (2006 4th rd)
Brody Sutter (F-91) - Saskatoon (listed player)
Blair Wentworth (F-92) - Chilliwack (2007 7th rd)

Calgary Flames:
Alistair Chapman (D-92) - Swift Current (2007 5th rd)
Curt Gogol (D-91) - Kelowna (2006 8th rd)

Calgary Northstars:
Cory Scott (F-91) - Moose Jaw (2006 8th rd)

Calgary Royals:
Matt Marantz (F-91) - Regina (listed player)
Simon Skrudland (F-91) - Kootenay (2006 3rd rd)
Taylor Vause (F-91) - Swift Current (2006 6th rd)
Evan Warner (F-91) - Swift Current (listed player)

Cariboo (Prince George) Cougars:
Brett Bulmer (F-92) - Kelowna (2007 11th rd)
Brett Connolly (F-91) - Prince George (2007 1st rd)
Chapen Leblond (F-91) - Red Deer (listed player)
Alex Wright (G-90) - Medicine Hat (listed player)

Edmonton CAC:
Burke Gallimore (F-91) - Spokane (2006 2nd rd)
Jordan Kochan (F-91) - Prince Albert (2006 9th rd)
Josh Middleton (D-92) - Saskatoon (listed player)
Brendan Ranford (F-92) - Kamloops (2007 1st rd)
Briemen Snell (F-92) - Spokane (2007 8th rd)

Edmonton Knights of Columbus:
Michael Burns (F-91) - Edmonton (listed player) - picked in 2006 3rd rd by MJ....traded to Portland, dropped, and added by Edmonton
Killian Hutt (F-91) - Medicine Hat (2006 6th rd)
Baxter Niziol (F-91) - Spokane (listed player)
Dane Olsen (D-91) - Prince Albert (2006 8th rd)
Tyler Rimmer (G-92) - Brandon (2007 14th rd)
Patrick Terriss (G-91) - Edmonton (listed player)
Ryan Wilkinson (D-91) - Edmonton (listed player)

Fort Saskatchewan Rangers:
Quinn Gould (F-90) - Kootenay (listed player)
Jonas Lopushinsky (F-91) - Kelowna (2006 3rd rd)
Jeff Pelletier (G-91) - Edmonton (listed player)
Brett Rock (D-91) - Brandon (2006 8th rd)
Justin Rose (F-91) - Portland (2006 11th rd)

Leduc Oil Kings:
Nic Bourgeois (F-91) - Moose Jaw (2006 7th rd)

Lethbridge Y's Men:
Robbie Ciolfi (F-91) - Lethbridge (listed player)
Connor Cox (D-92) - Moose Jaw (2007 4th rd)
Brad Deagle (D-92) - Red Deer (2007 3rd rd)
Blake Gal (F-92) - Spokane (2007 2nd rd)
Brock Hirsche (F-92) - Prince George (2007 2nd rd)
Reid Johnson (D-91) - Seattle (2006 9th rd)
Carson Machacek (D-91) - Kootenay (listed player)
Drew Owsley (G-91) - Tri-City (listed player)
Mark Reners (F-92) - Lethbridge (2007 1st rd)
Brad Ross (F-92) - Portland (2007 1st rd)
Max Ross (D-90) - Lethbridge (listed player)
Dylan Tait (G-91) - Kelowna (2006 5th rd)

Moose Jaw Warriors:
Mitch Boucher (D-92) - Everett (2007 7th rd)
John Calkins (F-90) - Brandon (2005 9th rd)
Troy Gasper (F-92) - Moose Jaw (2007 9th rd)
Riley Gillies (F-90) - Kootenay (2005 4th rd)
Andrew Herle (F-91) - Medicine Hat (2006 3rd rd)
Brock Montgomery (F-92) - Portland (listed player)
Travis Sparrow (D-91) - Regina (2006 7th rd)
Lee Stykel (F-92) - Brandon (2007 9th rd)
Nathan Tomac (F-91) - Kamloops (2006 5th rd)
Zane Weal (F-92) - Moose Jaw (2007 8th rd)
Tory Wilfong (D-91) - Red Deer (listed player)

Notre Dame Hounds:
Zac Ashdown (F-91) - Seattle (2006 2nd rd)
Catlin Foley (F-92) - Prince George (2007 6th rd)
Richard Hubscher (F-91) - Vancouver (2006 7th rd)
Brooks Macek (F-92) - Tri-City (2007 2nd rd)
Jordan Messier (F-92) - Tri-City (2007 2nd rd)
Jesse Pauls (D-92) - Tri-City (listed player)
Jaden Schwartz (F-92) - Tri-City (2007 8th rd)
Kevin Woodyatt (D-92) - Red Deer (listed player)

Okanagan Rockets:
Austin Baecker (D-92) - Lethbridge (2007 11th rd)
Cody Beach (F-92) - Calgary (2007 3rd rd)
Michael Betz (F-92) - Spokane (2007 1st rd)
Curtis Gedig (D-91) - Calgary (listed player)
Keith Hamilton (G-92) - Portland (2007 2nd rd)
Ryan Harrison (F-92) - Prince Albert (2007 2nd rd)
Daniel Medland-Marchen (D-92) - Kamloops (2007 2nd rd)
Cody Sylvester (F-92) - Calgary (2007 8th rd)

Prince Albert Mintos:
Sean Aschim (F-92) - Prince Albert (2007 3rd rd)
Chad Crawford (D-91) - Calgary (listed player)
Tyler Fiddler (F-90) - Calgary (listed player)
Brant Henry-Norton (F-91) - Saskatoon (2006 6th rd)
Kyle Janzen (D-92) - Everett (2007 5th rd)
Josh Manson (F-91) - Prince Albert (listed player)
Drew McDermott (D-91) - Everett (listed player)
Cody Michelle (F-92) - Prince Albert (2007 11th rd)
Tyson Newell (D-91) - Medicine Hat (2006 7th rd)
Travis Statchuk (F-90) - Prince Albert (listed player)
Jordan Washburn (G-90) - Prince Albert (listed player)

Red Deer Optimist Rebels:
Nicholas Bell (D-90) - Prince George (2005 10th rd)
Rodger Craig (F-91) - Swift Current (2006 4th rd)
Justin Feser (F-92) - Tri-City (2007 9th rd)
Justin Krabben (D-91) - Seattle (2006 5th rd)
Cameron Maclise (F-92) - Edmonton (2007 9th rd)
Lane Menage (F-91) - Prince George (2006 6th rd)
Justin Moir (F-91) - Red Deer (2006 6th rd)
Brady Poulsen (D-92) - Kelowna (2007 6th rd)
Michael Salmon (G-92) - Prince George (listed player)

Regina Pat Canadians:
Drew Czerwonka (F-92) - Kootenay (2007 1st rd)
Taylor Ernst (D-92) - Swift Current (2007 2nd rd
Tanner Exner (F-91) - Chilliwack (listed player)
Tyler Kizuik (D-92) - Prince George (2007 3rd rd)
Brody Luhning (D-92) - Swift Current (2007 8th rd)
Kenton Miller (F-91) - Regina (2006 7th rd)
Dominic Perrault (D-91) - Red Deer (2006 9th rd)
Brent Struble (F-91) - Regina (listed player)
Derek Tendler (G-92) - Regina (2007 5th rd)
Adam Wihak (F-91) - Tri-City (2006 4th rd)

Saskatoon Blazers:
Antoine Corbin (D-92) - Kelowna (2007 5th rd)
Tanner Dusyk (F-92) - Red Deer (2007 9th rd)
Darren Gillen (F-91) - Saskatoon (listed player)
Braeden Johnson (F-92) - Saskatoon (2007 4th rd)
Woody Klassen (D-91) - Saskatoon (listed player)
Darcy Kuemper (G-90) - Red Deer (trade with Spokane) - Chiefs picked in 2005 3rd rd
Neil Landry (F-92) - Kamloops (2007 5th rd)
Garrett Leedahl (D-91) - Spokane (2006 6th rd)
Christian Magnus (F-92) - Swift Current (2007 1st rd)
Brett Miller (F-91) - Regina (2006 1st rd)
Josh Roach (D-92) - Chilliwack (2007 9th rd)
Lane Scheidl (F-92) - Vancouver (2007 3rd rd)
Byron Sorenson (D-91) - Regina (2006 8th rd)
Colton Stephenson (F-92) - Edmonton (2007 3rd rd)
Josh Thorimbert (G-92) - Kamloops (2007 3rd rd)
Jake Trask (F-91) - Kamloops (2006 3rd rd)

St. Albert Raiders:
Tyler Bunz (G-92) - Medicine Hat (2007 1st rd)
Dru Cotterill (D-90) - Regina (2005 4th rd)
TJ Foster (F-92) - Edmonton (2007 2nd rd)
Brenden Kichton (D-92) - Spokane (2007 3rd rd)
Brent Martin (F-92) - Lethbridge (2007 3rd rd)
Ryley Miller (D-92) - Brandon (2007 2nd rd)
Mackenzie Royer (F-92) - Calgary (2007 2nd rd)
Stephen Wall (F-91) - Spokane (2006 6th rd)

Thompson (Kamloops) Blazers:
Nick Amies (D-92) - Kelowna (listed player)
Spencer Asuchak (F-91) - Tri-City (listed player)
Josh Cowen (F-91) - Red Deer (listed player)
Spencer Donaldson (D-92) - Edmonton (2007 8th rd)
Ryan Hanes (F-92) - Kamloops (2007 5th rd)
Brody Moen (F-91) - Everett (2006 3rd rd)

Tisdale Trojans:
Tyler Henry (F-90) - Spokane (listed player)
Jay Hudon (G-92) - Brandon (2007 8th rd)
Jesse Ismond (F-91) - Kootenay (2006 6th rd)
Tayler Jordan (F-90) - Portland (2005 5th rd) - played for Portland in 06-07, requesting trade this year
Denton King (D-92) - Saskatoon (listed player)
Joey Leach (D-92) - Kootenay (2007 3rd rd)
Koltyn Miller (D-91) - Regina (2006 4th rd)

UFA (Strathmore) Bisons:
Jordan Evans (D-92) - Swift Current (listed player)
Erik Fleming (D-92) - Seattle (2007 1st rd)
Austin Fyten (F-91) - Lethbridge (2006 2nd rd)
Kyle Knelsen (F-91) - Kootenay (2006 10th rd)
Corban Knight (F-90) - Lethbridge (listed player)
Mike Snider (G-91) - Calgary (listed player)

Vancouver Canadians:
Anthony Bardero (F-92) - Spokane (2007 6th rd)
Sean Bonar (G-91) - Red Deer (listed player)
David Dotan (D-91) - Prince Albert (listed player)
Brendan Gallagher (F-92) - Vancouver (2007 9th rd)
Spencer Humphries (D-92) - Tri-City (listed player)
Brayden Jaw (F-92) - Medicine Hat (2007 3rd rd)
Colton Jobke (D-92) - Kelowna (2007 10th rd)
Kyzen Loo (F-92) - Portland (2007 2nd rd)
Byron Maxwell (F-91) - Red Deer (2006 5th rd)
Josh Nicholls (F-92) - Saskatoon (2007 2nd rd)
Taylor Peters (F-92) - Portland (2007 4th rd)
Linden Saip (D-91) - Vancouver (2006 8th rd
Dominic Toigo (D-92) - Vancouver (2007 11th rd)

Vancouver NW Giants:
Jared Eng (D-92) - Vancouver (listed player)
Cole Gelley (D-91) - Chilliwack (2006 7th rd)
Matthew Hutchinson (D-91) - Prince George (2006 13th rd)
Chad Ketting (G-91) - Swift Current (listed player)
Joey Laleggia (D-92) - Medicine Hat (listed player)
Spencer Main (F-92) - Kelowna (2007 2nd rd)
Garrett Milan (F-91) - Vancouver (listed player)
Max Reinhart (F-92) - Kootenay (2007 4th rd)
Kenny Tanaka (F-91) - Prince George (2006 14th rd)
Jarryd Ten Vaanholt (F-91) - Swift Current (2006 8th rd)
Jordan Weal (F-92) - Regina (2007 4th rd)

Ages updated

Back on November 6, I posted a breakdown of the average age of each WHL team's roster this season. I've had a request to re-calculate those ages to see how they have changed with the moves that some teams have made since then. Which is actually a really interesting idea since, at least in theory, teams which are rebuilding would usually get younger as the season went on - due to moving vets for prospects - while teams looking to win this year would tend to get older as they add veteran depth. So, here we go. The previous post is linked above, but I'll repost the November 6 findings after the new ones....

Here's the current average age, with league ranking in that category:
Edmonton: Avg age: 18.227 (1)
Everett: Avg age: 18.174 (2)
Kamloops: Avg age: 18.130 (T-3)
Chilliwack: Avg age: 18.130 (T-3)
Lethbridge: Avg age: 18.130 (T-3)
Swift Current: Avg age: 18.091 (6)
Spokane: Avg age: 18.087 (7)
Calgary: Avg age: 18.080 (8)
Moose Jaw: Avg age: 18.043 (9)
Portland: Avg age: 18.042 (T-10)
Medicine Hat: Avg age: 18.042 (T-10)
Prince George: Avg age: 18.042 (T-10)
Prince Albert: Avg age: 18.040 (13)
Kootenay: Avg age: 18.000 (T-14)
Regina: Avg age: 18.000 (T-14)
Brandon: Avg age: 18.000 (T-14)
Saskatoon: Avg age: 18.000 (T-14)
Red Deer: Avg age: 17.917 (T-18)
Vancouver: Avg age: 17.917 (T-18)
Tri-City: Avg age: 17.87 (20)
Seattle: Avg age: 17.818 (21)
Kelowna: Avg age: 17.792 (22)

And this is how it looked back on November 6:
Everett: Avg age: 18.217 (1)
Edmonton: Avg age: 18.19 (2)
Chilliwack: Avg age: 18.125 (T-3)
Prince George: Avg age: 18.125 (T-3)
Swift Current: Avg age: 18.091 (5)
Kamloops: Avg age: 18.087 (T-6)
Spokane: Avg age: 18.087 (T-6)
Regina: Avg age: 18.083 (8)
Calgary: Avg age: 18.08 (T-9)
Portland: Avg age: 18.08 (T-9)
Medicine Hat: Avg age: 18.077 (11)
Lethbridge: Avg age: 18.043 (T-12)
Prince Albert: Avg age: 18.043 (T-12)
Moose Jaw: Avg age: 18.042 (14)
Brandon: Avg age: 18 (15)
Kootenay: Avg age: 17.958 (16)
Saskatoon: Avg age: 17.913 (17)
Tri-City: Avg age: 17.875 (T-18)
Vancouver: Avg age: 17.875 (T-18)
Red Deer: Avg age: 17.826 (T-20)
Seattle: Avg age: 17.826 (T-20)
Kelowna: Avg age: 17.783 (22)

All changes are very small - as you might expect from an average of 20-some players. Notably though, Prince George and Regina have gotten younger (0.083 years on average) while Saskatoon, Lethbridge, and Red Deer have gotten older.

Tuesday notes

A change has been made to the Team Pacific roster for the World U-17s. Vancouver Giants defenceman Neil Manning will not be able to play in the tournament due to injury, so he has been replaced on the team by Calgary Hitmen defenceman Matt McKenzie. I have made that change on the "who's away this month" rosters below.

Speaking of that, the first of the two B-pool World Junior tournaments is underway in Germany. This one features Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine - including Spokane's Stefan Ulmer (Austria) and Prince Albert's Max Brandl (Germany). The winner of the tournament gets promoted to the A-pool with the big powers for next year. After two games for Austria, Ulmer has one goal and a +4. Brandl also has one goal and a +2 after two games for Germany.

Same goes for the other B-pool tournament which starts tomorrow in Latvia and features Belarus, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Latvia, and Slovenia. The only WHLer in this one (as far as I know) will be Calgary's Bostjan Golicic playing for the Slovenians.

Still with tournaments, one of the biggest tournaments on the annual midget hockey calendar (and many WHL scouts' calendars) is the annual Macs AAA Midget tournament in Calgary from December 26 - Jan 1. 25 top AAA midget teams from across Western Canada, plus a few from the USA and Europe - and there will be literally dozens of top WHL prospects in the tournament. The Macs will announce their team lineup tomorrow and I'll break down which team's prospects are playing in the tournament after the announcement. I always try to catch at least a few games in this tournament every year, and you should too if you live anywhere in the area. This tournament is a big deal to the kids who play in it and that never fails to make for great hockey. The tournament can also be followed at their website.

More WJC rosters

More World Junior rosters have been announced - preliminary rosters are available at TSN for the Czech Republic, Russia, and Switzerland. These look like tryout rosters since there are way more players on each roster than the 22 allowed by the IIHF on the final roster.

But, for WHL players NOT on those rosters, they likely aren't going to be playing. The Russian roster, for example, does not have a single CHLer on it - which means Everett's Vitaly Karamnov isn't going.

For the Czechs, they have numerous CHLers on their list but none from the WHL. So, no Tomas Vincour of the Oil Kings, no David Steiler of the Broncos, no Ondrej Roman of Spokane, etc, etc.

There are two WHLers on the Swiss roster - Lethbridge defenceman Luca Sbisa, and Kootenay forward Arnaud Jacquemet.

Interesting to note that the Czechs have Radek Meidl on there - he played for Seattle last year but was released before the import draft. Nobody else in the CHL picked him up. So, good enough to play for the Czechs at the World Juniors but not good enough to play for Seattle? Or were there other issues why he was released and not picked up anywhere in the CHL? Maybe he didn't want to play in North America anymore.....who knows.

Anyway, I have updated the list of players who will be away from the WHL clubs (below).

If the season ended today....

Just for fun, if the WHL season ended today, here's how the playoffs would look....I ranked the teams by winning percentage instead of points, to smooth out differences in games played:

Eastern Conference:
#8 Medicine Hat at #1 Calgary
#7 Moose Jaw at #2 Brandon
#6 Swift Current at #3 Lethbridge
#5 Kootenay at #4 Regina

Edmonton, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and Red Deer would all miss the playoffs. In fact, there is quite a drop from Medicine Hat at #8 (.581) to Edmonton at #9 (.435) so barring a big surge from any of those four teams, it is quite likely that come March, they all WILL miss the playoffs. Some definite potential trade deadline sellers there.

Western Conference:
#8 Everett at #1 Spokane
#7 Kamloops at #2 Vancouver
#6 Seattle at #3 Tri-City
#5 Chilliwack at #4 Kelowna

Prince George and Portland miss the playoffs. As with the East, there is a huge gap already between Everett at #8 (.516) and Prince George at #9 (.344) so it is already fairly likely that the Cougars and Hawks will be out of the postseason dance.

And yes, I know that #3 Tri-City has a better winning percentage than #2 Vancouver. But, Vancouver would be the B.C. division champ and thus get the #2 seed ahead of the Americans.

Two rematches of last year's first round in the West - Everett/Spokane and Seattle/Tri-City.

Wednesday stuff

USA Hockey has named their roster for the World Juniors. One WHLer on the team, Vancouver Giants defenceman Jon Blum. I see Team USA has suffered the same fate as Canada when it comes to eligible players in the NHL. There are three Team USA-eligible players in the NHL (Patrick Kane, Erik Johnson, Peter Mueller) and none of them have been made available to USA Hockey by their NHL teams, just like none of Canada's six NHLers were made available to them.

Sweden has also named their roster for the World Juniors. Two WHLers on that one - Robin Figren of Edmonton and Oscar Moller of Chilliwack.

Still with Chilliwack, they have now answered my question from yesterday about how there's enough ice time for Chris Vanduynhoven when there wasn't enough for Cam Stevens: they have reassigned veteran defenceman Kevin Boutillier to the AJHL's Brooks Bandits.

Best '91s?

My attention was called the other day to a post on a WHL message board regarding who the best 16 year old (1991-born) players in the league were this year. There must have been a good half-dozen names up for discussion.

So far this year, there have been 37 16 year olds who have played at least 15 games in the league this year. Here they are, with position, team, and stats:

Brayden Schenn (F-BRN) 29gp, 26pts, 43pim, +11
Tyson Barrie (D-KEL) 29gp, 20pts, 18pim, +7
Stefan Elliott (D-SAS) 29gp, 20pts, 21pim, -15
Evander Kane (F-VAN) 29gp, 17pts, 39pim, +4
Landon Ferraro (F-RDR) 30gp, 16pts, 30pim, -6
Scott Glennie (F-BRN) 23gp, 15pts, 16pim, +2
Jared Cowen (D-SPO) 28gp, 11pts, 22pim, +16
Cam Braes (F-LTH) 29gp, 10pts, 18pim, +7
Linden Vey (F-MH) 20gp, 8pts, 0pim, +3
Adam Hughesman (F-TRI) 23gp, 8pts, 7pim, +1
Jimmy Bubnick (F-KAM) 28gp, 8pts, 16pim, -2
Brandon Herrod (F-PA) 30gp, 8pts, 17pim, -2
Cody Carlson (D-MH) 22gp, 6pts, 19pim, +7
Brad Hoban (F-SC) 28gp, 6pts, 11pim, -5
Brodie Melnychuk (D-BRN) 22gp, 5pts, 23pim, +5
Matt Mackenzie (D-CGY) 24gp, 5pts, 6pim, +8
Justin Maylan (F-MJ) 15gp, 4pts, 6pim, -3
Jason Gardiner (F-TRI) 16gp, 4pts, 35pim, -2
Ryan Howse (F-CHI) 22gp, 4pts, 0pim, -6
Cody Eakin (F-SC) 26gp, 4pts, 33pim, -1
Curtis Hamilton (F-SAS) 28gp, 4pts, 12pim, -5
Garrett Mitchell (F-REG) 29gp, 4pts, 47pim, 0
Brenden Silvester (F-SEA) 17gp, 3pts, 4pim, +2
Ryan Kowalski (F-PG) 29gp, 3pts, 29pim, -7
Brayden McNabb (D-KTN) 30gp, 3pts, 21pim, +4
Alex Pym (D-REG) 17gp, 2pts, 16pim, -1
Ryan Button (D-PA) 22gp, 2pts, 16pim, -8
Collin Bowman (D-KEL) 25gp, 2pts, 20pim, +5
James Henry (F-VAN) 16gp, 1pts, 18pim, +2
Brett Ponich (D-POR) 20gp, 1pts, 8pim, -7
Charles Wells (F-SEA) 22gp, 1pts, 9pim, -2
Steve Chaffin (D-SEA) 26gp, 1pts, 37pim, -10
Art Bidlevskii (D-PG) 28gp, 1pts, 33pim, +1
Joe Antilla (F-KTN) 28gp, 1pts, 23pim, -3
Chase Schaber (F-CGY) 19gp, 0pts, 2pim, -2
Joel Rogers (D-SC) 21gp, 0pts, 21pim, -6
Brennan Yadlowski (D-LTH) 23gp, 0pts, 25pim, +5

The list is ordered by points, but at least in the case of defencemen, you don't need to have a lot of points to be doing your job. So take that into consideration.

One thing jumps out: when it comes to points, Brayden Schenn is dominating. A six point lead at this point translates into a 15-20 point lead at the end of the year. He is also a +11 on a team which many pundits didn't think would be that good. At least among forwards, he has no equals in the "best 16 year old" category. He's big, he scores, he's scrappy, what's not to like here.

Among the defencemen though, there's at least three obvious, serious candidates for "best": Barrie, Elliott, and Cowen. Personally, I think Elliott's -15 is a bit high for my liking, even considering the overall weakness of the Blades defensively. This is a guy who, while he is scoring a lot of points, is probably having some problems defensively if he is a -15. And on the other side of the coin, it's hard not to be impressed by Jared Cowen's big +16.....but in a reverse of Elliott, Cowen is playing for an overall strong team defensively. So you have to consider that too - if the two were to switch teams, their +/- numbers would probably be a bit different. And then right smack in the middle is Barrie, who has both Elliott's scoring numbers as well as Cowen's strong +/- number. Hard to pick just one, I like them all for different reasons. But Barrie seems to be a good compromise choice. Overall though, I have to go with Schenn as the best '91 in the league so far this year. My opinion only though.....your opinion is no less right or wrong.

I also want to single out a guy like Cody Carlson, who does not have a lot of points but is a strong +7 on a Tigers team that is allowing as many goals as it scores.

Tuesday news

Little bit behind the times on a few player moves that were made over the weekend but which I haven't had a chance to mention until now, so it's probably old news to most readers....

Prince George dealt defenceman Chris Vanduynhoven to Chilliwack for a 4th round draft pick. This deal comes a day after Chilliwack dealt Cam Stevens to Lethbridge, citing the lack of playing time available for Stevens in the 'wack. So, if there wasn't enough playing time for Stevens, how is there enough for Vanduynhoven?

The Cougars also released forward Matt Sokol. This move was announced through the most detailed press release in sports history. Seriously.....Cougars press releases are always like that. Would it kill them to be less wordy on these things?

And thirdly, the much-travelled defenceman Todd Panchyson's career will have at least one more stop, as Seattle released him on the weekend. In the last two and a half seasons, Panchyson has played for Kootenay, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Portland, and Seattle in the WHL, plus Nipawin in the SJHL. I would think that for now he is probably headed back to Nipawin but maybe somebody in the WHL is looking for a veteran 6th/7th defenceman, a depth guy who won't hurt you in that role?

Here's something you won't see from most teams, but which the Americans are pretty good about making available on their site: the contents of their protected player list. That's a list of 27 of their prospects and how they're doing this year.....if you add the current team roster to that, you've pretty much got their full 50 player list. It's good to see a team making this kind of info available to their fans who want to follow their teams' prospects - and the Ams have been listing their prospects on their site for a long time.

I wish more teams would do this and quit acting like the PPLs are the crown jewels that need to be such closely guarded secrets. Every team in the league knows who is on every other team's list so there is no proprietary information that they are protecting from their opponents here. The official party line, as best as I've ever heard it, is that they keep the PPLs secret from fans in order to keep the pressure off the young prospects. But this is a load of BS....the league publicizes the bantam drafts each year, and most kids on the PPLs come from the bantam drafts, so their names are already known to fans. The only ones being "protected" then are the ones who are listed outside of the draft. So are the drafted kids less in need of "protecting" from fan scrutiny than the undrafted listees? So, there is no good reason not to be sharing this information for the serious fans who want to follow their teams' prospects. Good on the Americans for sharing theirs.

While we're on the topic of PPLs, Portland has a new overseer for theirs. They have hired Matt Bardsley as their new director of player personnel. Bardsley is a longtime scout for the team, and replaces Gord Loiselle, who left the team during the summer.

WJC Invites

Hockey Canada has released the list of players invited to try out for the Canadian World Junior team next week: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/14990/la_id/1/season_id/228/team_id/772/ss_id/21712.htm

15 WHLers invited plus one NCAA-er from WHL territory. No 16 year olds invited, although there are two 17 year olds plus the apparently 105-year old Matt Halischuk from the OHL. (Now THAT'S an over-over-over-overager!). Personally, I don't know why everyone gets so surprised at the lack of 16 & 17 year olds invited to this thing.....this is a tournament that is traditionally for 18 & 19 year olds. Canada (and most other countries) have very rarely had more than 1 or 2 16 or 17 year olds each year and this year will be no exception.

Six kids not invited because they are in the NHL: Jon Toews, Sam Gagner, Milan Lucic, David Perron, Jordan Staal, and James Sheppard. Should their NHL teams make any of them available, you'd think they would be welcome, but Hockey Canada has said in the past that they don't expect any of them to be made available. The Canadian team should already be the favourite in this thing even without those players, based on the way the top Canadian juniors manhandled the Russians in September.....how much better could the Canadian team be with the addition of six current NHLers?

One other note.....Dana Tyrell of the Cougars hurt his knee yesterday against the Hitmen and may not be able to take part in camp. They may name a replacement, or they may not.

Friday notes

One minor trade yesterday, as Chilliwack has shipped 18 year old defenceman Cam Stevens to Lethbridge for a 7th round bantam pick. Stevens was one of Chilliwack's original expansion draft selections, but has not played this year due to an offseason broken leg.

The WHL beat the Russians 4-1 last night to conclude the thrilling annual CHL-Russia series. Oh, how I long to be able to rewrite that last sentence to end with with "forever".

Pre-arranged fighting

Here's some numbers in an attempt to answer an e-mailed question from a reader....many WHL fans know that Vancouver's Garet Hunt was suspended earlier this year for fighting off the opening faceoff of a game too many times. Seems the league is trying to crack down on those kind of pre-arranged fights where guys agree beforehand that they're going to fight at the drop of the puck. So, who else is a big offender at this? Well, it's very difficult to tell just from stats - how can you tell from a summary whether a fight at 5:19 of the 2nd period was off a faceoff and prearranged? But where you CAN tell is the ones at the start of a game. So, here's all the participants in fights this year which occurred within 10 seconds of the start of a game:

Garet Hunt: 4
Jordan Bendfeld: 2
Frazer McLaren: 2
Cody Almond: 1
Mike Berube: 1
Brett Breitkreuz: 1
Shayne Brown: 1
Brady Calla: 1
Ryley Grantham: 1
James Henry: 1
Garrett Klotz: 1
James McEwan: 1
John Negrin: 1
Kevin Philp: 1
Karey Pieper: 1
Nick Ross: 1
Zack Smith: 1
Brennan Sonne: 1
Bretton Stamler: 1
Shayne Wiebe: 1
Luke Wiens: 1

Obviously there is nobody else in the same category as Hunt here....yet, anyway. He has double the number of anyone else and most people on the list have only one.

PIM Leaders

One of the things that bugs me about the WHL statistics is that some years ago, they quit counting 10-minute penalties like misconducts and game misconducts in players' PIM totals. Only minors and majors count....for what reason this move was made, it has never been clear to me. One can speculate that the league hoped to improve its' image by reducing the PIM totals of its' more thuggish players.

But whatever the reason, this move basically made the league's career PIM records irrelevant since today's players can never hope to attain the same PIM totals that players of yesteryear (when they counted 10-minute penalties) did. The league's single-season record of 511 minutes held by Brent Gogol of the 1977-78 Victoria Cougars and Billings Bighorns, for example, will never be touched. It is all but impossible to get 511 minutes in 72 games when you only count minors and majors. Today a season total of half that much (255) would be considered a very high number.

So, what would today's PIM numbers look like if you added misconducts back on? Here's the league's current top 15 PIM leaders, using the no-misconducts method:

1. Benn Olson: 101
2. Kyle Beach: 99
3. Scott Gabriel: 93
4. Matt McCue: 92
5. Garet Hunt: 86
6. Mike Gauthier: 81
7. John Flatters: 76
8. Ryan Bender: 72
9. Ryley Grantham: 70
10. Jordan Bendfeld: 68
10. J.D. Watt: 68
12. Frazer McLaren: 66
13. Mike Wuchterl: 64
14. Colten Teubert: 63
15. Colton Gillies: 61

And the top 15, if you count misconducts:
1. Scott Gabriel: 133
2. Kyle Beach: 129
3. John Flatters: 116
3. Garet Hunt: 116
5. Matt McCue: 112
6. Mike Gauthier: 111
6. Benn Olson: 111
8. J.D. Watt: 108
9. Mike Reich: 102
10. Ryan Bender: 102
11. Frazer McLaren: 96
12. Mike Wuchterl: 94
13. Chad Erb: 86
14. Josh Elder: 85
15. Colten Teubert: 83

The leaders themselves don't change a whole lot, but the totals do - by 20-30 minutes. Extrapolating over a whole season, you can probably add 70-100 minutes minimum onto the totals of many of the league's most penalized players if you were to add misconduct minutes.

All the players in the league with three or more misconduct penalties (both 10's and games) so far this year:

Mike Reich: 5
Josh Elder: 4
John Flatters: 4
Scott Gabriel: 4
Mark Hall: 4
J.D. Watt: 4
Kyle Beach: 3
Ryan Bender: 3
Lucas Bloodoff: 3
Chad Erb: 3
Mike Gauthier: 3
Garet Hunt: 3
Frazer McLaren: 3
Garrett Thiessen: 3
Brennan Sonne: 3
Mike Wuchterl: 3
Teigan Zahn: 3

Thursday thoughts

So, the WHL all-stars (at least the Canadian ones anyway - American and European WHLers aren't allowed to play in this thing) lost to Russia in Cranbrook last night 5-1 in a game which featured a couple fights at the end. Ho-hum. Didn't watch, don't care, yadda yadda.

The Giants have landed yet another NCAA-bound player, their second in a couple weeks. This one is 18 year old forward Garry Nunn, who is passing up a scholarship at Minnesota State-Mankato to join the Giants. The smallish (5'9", 175 lb) Nunn is a very fast skater and was leading the BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies in scoring this year with 40 points in 28 games. His BCHL page with career stats there is here.

How is it that the Giants seem to attract NCAA-bound players regularily while some other WHL teams can never get even one?

The Cougars roster has also swelled by one, with the addition of 16 year old defenceman Matt Cumming from the BCHL's Vernon Vipers. Sounds like Cumming is there to stay.

The bus carrying the ECHL's Elmira Jackals was involved in a highway accident early this morning, seriously injuring the driver and causing minor injuries to a few players. Identities of the players are not known yet but there are two WHL alumni on the team right now as far as I can tell: goaltender Joel Martin and defenceman Luke Fritshaw. Other WHL alumni such as Kirill Starkov, Martin Sagat, and Tomas Kudelka have played for Elmira this year but are not currently on their roster as far as I can see.

Shot differential

After a few games in the last few weeks which featured huge shot differentials, I got to wondering....which teams in the league average the most shots per game? The most shots against per game? And how does usually outshooting your opponent affect how often your team wins? It would stand to reason that the team with the most shots will win the game more often on average since they have more chances to score.....and the stats bear this out, as it turns out:

Vancouver: 33.11 shots for; 21.68 shots against. Diff: 11.43. Win%: 0.696 (3)
Calgary: 34.21 sh. for; 24.1 sh. against. Diff: 10.1. Win%: 0.690 (4)
Spokane: 33.12 sh. for; 23.04 sh. against. Diff: 10.08. Win%: 0.820 (1)
Brandon: 33.93 sh. for; 26.44 sh. against. Diff: 7.48. Win%: 0.648 (6)
Tri-City: 32.6 sh. for; 27.36 sh. against. Diff: 5.24. Win%: 0.760 (2)
Regina: 33.14 sh. for; 28.17 sh. against. Diff: 4.97. Win%: 0.621 (8)
Medicine Hat: 29.81 sh. for; 25.67 sh. against. Diff: 4.15. Win%: 0.593 (T-9)
Lethbridge: 27.59 sh. for; 24.34 sh. against. Diff: 3.24. Win%: 0.655 (5)
Swift Current: 29.79 sh. for; 27.14 sh. against. Diff: 2.64. Win%: 0.625 (7)
Kamloops: 26.58 sh. for; 24.31 sh. against. Diff: 2.27. Win%: 0.538 (T-12)
Chilliwack: 28.14 sh. for; 27.04 sh. against. Diff: 1.11. Win%: 0.518 (16)
Kootenay: 31.21 sh. for; 30.25 sh. against. Diff: 0.96. Win%: 0.589 (11)
Kelowna: 26.81 sh. for; 27.04 sh. against. Diff: -0.22. Win%: 0.593 (T-9)
Everett: 27.64 sh. for; 28.25 sh. against. Diff: -0.61. Win%: 0.536 (14)
Moose Jaw: 28.73 sh. for; 31 sh. against. Diff: -2.27. Win%: 0.538 (T-12)
Seattle: 27.75 sh. for; 31.08 sh. against. Diff: -3.33. Win%: 0.521 (15)
Saskatoon: 28.37 sh. for; 31.89 sh. against. Diff: -3.52. Win%: 0.389 (19)
Red Deer: 23.5 sh. for; 31.2 sh. against. Diff: -7.7. Win%: 0.317 (21)
Prince Albert: 25.24 sh. for; 32.97 sh. against. Diff: -7.72. Win%: 0.414 (18)
Edmonton: 24.25 sh. for; 34.36 sh. against. Diff: -10.11. Win%: 0.429 (17)
Prince George: 23.29 sh. for; 34.54 sh. against. Diff: -11.25. Win%: 0.357 (20)
Portland: 23.71 sh. for; 39.46 sh. against. Diff: -15.75. Win%: 0.208 (22)

In other words, on average Vancouver is outshooting their opponents by 11.4 shots per game every night. And that is reflected in the standings - by winning percentage, they are the 3rd best team in the league. On the other side of the coin, Portland gets outshot by almost 16 shots a night on average - and they are also the worst team in the league by win%.

So we can say that generally speaking, the best teams outshoot their opponents more often, and by greater numbers. Nothing earth-shaking there, I don't think. But there's the numbers so far this year.

To add to this, there have been 9 games this season where one team was outshot by 25 shots or more. That team won two of the games and lost the other seven:

11/24/2007: Chilliwack outshot Portland 68-30. Portland won game 4-3
11/10/2007: Seattle outshot Portland 54-17. Seattle won game 3-1
11/23/2007: Calgary outshot Edmonton 53-19. Calgary won game 5-3
10/26/2007: Vancouver outshot Moose Jaw 56-26. Vancouver won game 4-3
11/24/2007: Calgary outshot Red Deer 47-17. Calgary won game 2-0
9/29/2007: Vancouver outshot Kelowna 43-14. Vancouver won game 5-0
10/17/2007: Chilliwack outshot Seattle 46-19. Chilliwack won game 6-2
9/22/2007: Spokane outshot Prince George 50-23. Spokane won game 7-2
11/18/2007: Calgary outshot Prince Albert 45-18. Prince Albert won game 4-3

There have also been 63 games this year where one team was outshot by 15 shots or more. The number of times each team has been on the short end of that stick:

Prince George: 10
Prince Albert: 8
Edmonton: 7
Portland: 7
Red Deer: 6
Seattle: 5
Moose Jaw: 4
Swift Current: 3
Everett: 2
Kelowna: 2
Saskatoon: 2
Brandon: 1
Chilliwack: 1
Kamloops: 1
Kootenay: 1
Lethbridge: 1
Medicine Hat: 1
Tri-City: 1

And the number of times on the larger end of the 15+ shot differential:

Calgary: 10
Vancouver: 8
Tri-City: 7
Medicine Hat: 5
Regina: 5
Brandon: 4
Lethbridge: 4
Kootenay: 3
Seattle: 3
Spokane: 3
Chilliwack: 2
Everett: 2
Kamloops: 2
Moose Jaw: 2
Swift Current: 2
Prince George: 1

I believe I will let the shots-on-goal point die now.....I've beaten it to death three times over in this post alone.

Wednesday notes

I'm back.....took a day longer to get back to the blog than I would have liked, but you can't control the circumstances sometimes, eh.

The travelling CHL-Russia circus pulls into the WHL tonight for a game tonight in Cranbrook and then tomorrow in Medicine Hat. The Russkies are 1-3 so far this year and are 0-8 all-time against the WHL teams. Rumour has it that this years' edition might be the best squad the Russians have sent to this thing, but I wouldn't know because I haven't watched the games. Nor will I watch tonight or tomorrow. But certainly the Russian team has not been blown out in any of the losses this year - all the games have been close scores so far, unlike in some past years.

Bunch of player moves in the last few days:

- Raiders acquire 19 year old defenceman Zach Sim from the Tigers for a 2008 5th round pick. Sim continues his slow but steady move northeast through the WHL....Everett, then Tri-City, then Medicine Hat, now Prince Albert. Next stop, Iqaluit. They'll have a team there soon enough the way this league expands. (And yes, I know Everett to Tri-Cities is actually southeast, not northeast....)
- Lethbridge trades 18 year old forward Josh Gionfriddo to Kootenay for a 2009 7th round pick that Kootenay had previously acquired from the Hurricanes for Paul MacDonald. So essentially MacDonald has been traded for Gionfriddo now.
- Gionfriddo replaces Travis Gorman on the Ice roster. Gorman, recently acquired from Tri-Cities, decided to leave the Ice for unknown personal reasons.
- Portland has acquired the rights to 17 year old James Kerr from Kelowna for a conditional 2009 4th round pick. The condition is that Kerr must report to Portland - so far he appears to be eyeing the college route. But, Kerr played Jr B for Hawks coach Rich Kromm last year with the KIJHL's Summerland Sting, and Kerr's father (ex-NHLer Alan Kerr) is a friend of Kromm's. You'd have to think that Portland's chances of getting Kerr into their lineup are a lot better than Kelowna's were.

Lethbridge picked up contract options on coach Michael Dyck and G.M. Roy Stasiuk yesterday, ensuring they'll be at their jobs through the end of 08-09. Unless they get fired, I mean.

The Hitmen announced yesterday that there are only 400 tickets left for Sunday's Teddy Bear Toss game. It seems safe to assume that with four days of sales left, plus walk-ups, that the game will be a sellout - which would set a new CHL single-game attendance record at 19,289.

Speaking of bears and records, Portland collected 20,372 bears at their Toss on Saturday. The Hitmen intend to re-take that record, which topped Calgary's 15,540 from last year.

And still with Portland, their 2006 1st round pick, Riley Boychuk, is likely going to be out for the rest of the season.....he is apparently considering surgery on his troublesome hip which has only allowed him to play 5 games so far this year. Thanks to Andy Kemper's blog for that tidbit.

And a nice note now.....with the Roughriders winning the CFL's Grey Cup on Sunday, the Getzlaf family has now won two professional sports titles this year. Younger brother Ryan won the Stanley Cup with Anaheim in June, and older brother Chris is a backup slotback for the Riders.

Dumb jocks? Nope.....apparently, WHL players know how to read.

UPDATE: Another trade. This one sees the Tigers send 19 year old forward Scott Wasden and a 7th round pick to Kamloops for 18 year old forward Travis Dunstall. Dunstall was the Blazers' 1st round pick in 2004 but I'm guessing the new regime doesn't see the same potential in him that the old regime once did. Dunstall set the Alberta Major Bantam league record for goals in a season with 58 in 2003-04, and held the record until last year when Mark Reners scored 61. Dunstall has not been able to bring that kind of goalscoring to the WHL level though - he has only 21 goals there in 130+ games.

Thursday notes

Couple teams pared their rosters by a player each yesterday....Kootenay has sent 16 year old goaltender Nathan Lieuwen to Jr A with the Westside Warriors of the BCHL. Lieuwen made the team out of training camp but suffered a concussion in a single-car accident after his first game of the season and had not been cleared to play again until recently. In the meantime, Thomas Heemskerk had solidified himself (2.16 GAA, .919 sv%) as the team's backup, which means Lieuwen is out of a job. He was the Ice's 2006 1st round bantam pick and should be back to stay next year.

Meanwhile, Vancouver has sent 17 year old defenceman Dillon Scholten to an unspecified team the BCHL. The Giants tidbit is from Steve Ewen's blog, where he also reports that Giants teammates Jon Blum and Spencer Machacek got into a fight at practice yesterday. It was quickly broken up and nobody was hurt; hopefully it was just due to some temporary frustrations and not a sign that the captain (Machacek) and alternate (Blum) don't like each other. It can't be good for a team to have two leaders being at each others throats all the time.

Couple random notes.....anyone who might have questioned the Blazers' firing of Dean Clark and/or the trading of Keaton Ellerby for Brady Calla is probably quiet now. Since the firing/trade, the Blazers are 6-1 (.857); they were 6-9-1-1 (.412) before. They are averaging 3.57 goals for per game and 2.25 goals against per game since the changes; they were at 2.18 goals for and 2.88 goals against before the changes. Meanwhile, Moose Jaw is 1-4-1 (.250) since the trade and were 9-5-3-1 (.611) before it. That means Keaton Ellerby's record this year is 7-13-2 (.386), if you're keeping track of all that.

Second note, the blog might not be updated again after today until next Tuesday. I'm going away for the weekend and may not be able to update it tomorrow or Monday. I'll be in Lethbridge on Saturday and am going to try to take in the Hurricanes-Oil Kings game that night....it has been a while since I saw a game in another rink between two teams I have no stake in, so it should be fun. Funny how the quality of the league's reffing always improves 100% when you're not cheering for either team.....

Getting away from hockey for a minute and moving to the CFL, Winnipeg head coach Doug Berry got in a good candidate for quote of the year yesterday at the coaches' press conference for this weekend's Grey Cup. When asked his position on his players having sex in the days leading up to Sunday's game (somebody ALWAYS asks that question at these championship game pressers just for shits and giggles, don't they?), Berry replied "If it's with themselves".

And another non-hockey note.....I see that a gold medal in 2008 is now worth a $70,000 cheque to Canadian swimmers. I know that many other countries do this already, but to me it just begs the question of whether this is just another reason to induce young athletes to cheat. The vast majority of athletes from every country are nowhere near medal-calibre and never will be, and I know that winning a gold medal already brings a lot of athletes everywhere a treasure chest of cash through endorsements and whatnot - to the point where this extra $70,000 might not be all that much. But do we need to keep adding more and more incentive for the B-level athletes to cheat in order to take those extra tenths or hundredths of a second off their times and become contenders?

Wednesday notes

One minor trade in the league yesterday, Tri-Cities sending 18 year old forward Travis Gorman to Kootenay for a 2009 6th round pick. Gorman wasn't playing much in Tri and with the Ice needing depth at forward (they have only 12 forwards on their roster), Gorman should be able to help fill that bill while getting more playing time as well.

While the Ice were adding a forward to their roster, the Bruins were paring one off, as they assigned 17 year old forward Colton Graf to Melfort of the SJHL.

Linden Vey of the Tigers is fitting right in as a 16 year old in the WHL.

Carter Smith is enjoying being back in the WHL with the Rebels after being unsure about his hockey future earlier this year. Also includes some thoughts from Smith on the aftermath of The Accident and its effect on his life.

Another gripe about the WHL website today.....there have been a few games rescheduled this year for new dates or new times, so I thought I would get the list of them from the WHL site just to keep my own schedule up to date. So, I click on the "Schedule Changes" section of the WHL site's calendar. Apparently I've been imagining all these announced changes, because the OFFICIAL WHL SITE says there haven't been any. Oh well.

Tuesday notes

One trade yesterday in the WHL, the Rebels finally moving the disgruntled Luke Betts to Spokane for Cody Esposito in a swap of 18 year old forwards. Esposito provides more size and toughness to the Rebels lineup; it's less obvious why the Chiefs wanted Betts, who hasn't really proven anything or really found a role in the WHL.

The Chiefs made another move yesterday too, reassigning goaltender James Reid. Reid had been with the team all year but had not gotten even a single minute of playing time.....which makes you wonder why it's the 3rd week of November and he was still there instead of somewhere where he could play and develop. Hopefully he can still catch on with a good Jr A or midget program.

The annual CHL-Russia borefest got underway last night, with the Russkies scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the QMJHL all-stars 6-4. This was Russia's 4th win in 25 games over five years at this thing....and their 3rd win over the QMJHL in 9 tries.

Monday stuff

One trade over the weekend, with the Rebels shipping out yet another one of their rebuilding blocks. This time it's 17 year old defenceman Zak Stebner - their 2nd round pick in 2005 - off to Prince Albert for the rights to goalie David Aime. Aime, you'll recall, was the Raiders backup last year but lost his spot on the team to newcomer Steven Stanford this year. Since the Rebels still have two very capable goalies on their roster - James Reimer and Morgan Clark - we have to assume that acquiring Aime is just insurance in case one of them goes down, or perhaps in case they decide to deal Reimer to a contender at the trade deadline. Otherwise, why is a rebuilding team dealing former 2nd round picks away for so-so goalies who will likely never play for them?

Wondering how former WHL star - and brief NHLer - Dan Blackburn is doing these days since injuries forced him out of hockey? Wonder no more.

Raiders import Max Brandl is feeling a little more comfortable these days, now that his father has arrived in Prince Albert for a visit. So comfortable, he scored his first home goal of the season in the first game his dad watched.

Speaking of dads visiting - heck, of the whole family visiting - the Kraus clan gathered in the Tri-Cities over the weekend for the one and only meeting of the season (barring a trade) between older brother Tim (Pats) and younger brother Kevin (Americans). And with Tim being an overager this year, this was the last time the two will face each other in a high-level game like this, unless they end up playing professionally against each other of course.

Article on new Oil King, Jeff Lee, who left the NCAA to join the WHL earlier this year.

Team Pacific announced

Team Pacific roster was just announced.

14 of 22 are off WHL rosters....here's the breakdown, with current WHL team and/or which WHL club owns their rights:

Goaltenders:
Nathan Lieuwen - Kootenay Ice
James Priestner - Kamloops Blazers

Defencemen:
Tyson Barrie - Kelowna Rockets
Ryan Button - Prince Albert Raiders
Steve Chaffin - Seattle Thunderbirds
Stefan Elliott - Saskatoon Blades
Neil Manning - Vancouver Giants
Dylan Olsen - Medicine Hat Tigers prospect
Brennan Yadlowski - Lethbridge Hurricanes

Forwards:
Michael Burns - Edmonton Oil Kings prospect
Landon Ferraro - Red Deer Rebels
Ryan Howse - Chilliwack Bruins
Killian Hutt - Medicine Hat Tigers prospect
Clayton Jardine - Kootenay Ice prospect
Evander Kane - Vancouver Giants
Justin Maylan - Moose Jaw Warriors
Steve Oursov - Seattle Thunderbirds prospect
Cameron Reid - Edmonton Oil Kings prospect
Chase Schaber - Calgary Hitmen
Brendan Silvester - Seattle Thunderbirds
Kellan Tochkin - Everett Silvertips prospect
Dillon Wagner - Swift Current Broncos prospect

As a side note, Burns was dropped by Portland either during the summer or following training camp, and promptly snatched up by Edmonton. Apparently the people picking this team, as well as many other WHL scouts, think he is one of the top 6 '91 forwards in Alberta.....but not Winter Hawks brass. Is this a symptom of the problems in Portland?

Friday notes

The Team Pacific (B.C./Alberta) roster for the World U-17 Challenge will be announced this afternoon. There were 16 WHLers on the Team Western roster and there should be a similar number on the Pacific roster, I would think.

The Hitmen are close to announcing a sellout of the Teddy Bear Toss game on December 2 against the visiting Prince George Cougars. At a capacity of 19,289, it would set a new WHL attendance record - the current record is a crowd of 19,103 to see a game in Portland in March 1997. They also hope to top last year's total of 15,540 teddy bears collected.

After waiting out the first part of the season, former WHL star and onetime NHLer Jared Aulin finally becomes eligible to play for the University of Calgary hockey team this weekend. We'll see how he does.....there's not a lot of former NHLers who have played at this level so he should be a dominant player, but the Dinosaurs also aren't a very good team this year either so he might not have a lot of support.

Jim Swanson of the Prince George Citizen takes a look at whether the WHL is starting to win more and more of the recruiting wars with the NCAA over players.

The Blades' Ondrej Fiala is, apparently, fearless. So says both his shins AND coach Lorne Molleken.

More on Casey Pierro-Zabotel's move to Vancouver. Sounds like he'll start on a line with a couple of rookies and work his way up?

UPDATE: Mike Reich is on the move again, as he was traded today from Vancouver to Saskatoon for a 2009 7th round pick. Not a surprise as he has been a healthy scratch in 4 of the Giants' last 5 games, and 19 year olds can't do that and stay on a team. In the little over two years since November 2, 2005, Reich has now been with five teams: Spokane, Calgary, Regina, Vancouver, and now Saskatoon.

The numbers on 3-in-3's

This post is in response to a question posed to Gregg Drinnan from a Portland fan, Curt Kemper. Gregg passed it along to me....basically, Curt wants to know how many times this year each WHL team plays the dreaded 3-in-3: 3 games in 3 nights, almost always on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday. A schedule heavy on these can make things rougher on a team since usually by the third game everyone's butt is dragging and makes it tough to win those games, especially against a better-rested team. Not to mention the increased chance of injuries as minds and muscles become fatigued.

So, here's the totals for each team this year. In every case but one (a Thu-Fri-Sat trio by Everett after Christmas), they are Fri-Sat-Sun combos.

Portland: 11
Seattle: 11
Vancouver: 9
Tri City: 8
Chilliwack: 7
Spokane: 7
Calgary: 6
Everett: 6
Kamloops: 6
Lethbridge: 5
Medicine Hat: 5
Moose Jaw: 5
Prince George: 5
Regina: 5
Brandon: 4
Prince Albert: 4
Red Deer: 4
Edmonton: 3
Kelowna: 3
Kootenay: 3
Saskatoon: 3
Swift Current: 1

Whoever made Swift Current's schedule should get a pat on the back for accomplishing that.

How about the number of times each team plays 4 games in 5 nights...note that for this stat, I required distinct groups of games for each. ie, you could argue that a team that played Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun, and Tue did it twice (Wed-Fri-Sat-Sun and Fri-Sat-Sun-Tue), but I counted that only once because the Fri-Sat-Sun games were common to both groups. The totals:

Chilliwack: 8
Portland: 7
Prince George: 7
Seattle: 7
Spokane: 7
Calgary: 6
Everett: 6
Kamloops: 6
Lethbridge: 6
Brandon: 5
Prince Albert: 5
Red Deer: 5
Saskatoon: 5
Tri City: 5
Medicine Hat: 4
Moose Jaw: 4
Swift Current: 4
Vancouver: 4
Edmonton: 2
Kelowna: 2
Kootenay: 2
Regina: 1

Or how about the killer 5 games in 6 nights:

Prince Albert: 2
Seattle: 2
Brandon: 1
Calgary: 1
Edmonton: 1
Medicine Hat: 1
Portland: 1
Prince George: 1
Red Deer: 1
Spokane: 1

I see most teams don't even have to do that this year.

Or, the just slightly-easier 5 games in 7 nights:

Calgary: 7
Portland: 5
Red Deer: 5
Edmonton: 4
Seattle: 4
Brandon: 3
Everett: 3
Prince George: 3
Lethbridge: 2
Medicine Hat: 2
Prince Albert: 2
Saskatoon: 2
Swift Current: 2
Tri City: 2
Chilliwack: 1
Kamloops: 1
Kelowna: 1
Moose Jaw: 1
Spokane: 1

Kootenay, Regina, and Vancouver never have to play five games in a one-week span this year.

Thursday stuff

Bunch of player movement to mention....first, 19 year old forward Levi Lind has left the Regina Pats in favour of playing Jr A in the SJHL. It's probably not a great loss as Lind had no points and little icetime and his playing time might be better off being given to a younger player with more upside.

Still with the Pats, they healthy-scratched vets Troy Ofukany and Josh Elder for last night's game for disciplinary reasons which coach Curtis Hunt would not discuss. Is it just me or do the Pats seem to have a lot of disciplinary scratches? If so, is that condemnation of some of their players, or a commendation to the organization for being more willing to admit to why vets are scratched?

By the way, want to know what Pats coach Curtis Hunt thought of the officiating last night in Medicine Hat? Some choice comments from him in Pats p-b-p guy Rod Pederson's blog. Sez Hunt: "I thought we played a great game but it almost was taken away from us with the usual homer calls you get here in Medicine Hat. You know those long sticks they use to clean swimming pools in the summer? Sometimes I'd like to get one of those and put a boxing glove on the end of it."

Hmmm.....you don't suppose Hunt's wallet will be lighter in the next few days, do you? I don't think the league will let a coach make an allusion to punching a referee and get away with it.

Next, the SJHL lost a player to the WHL as well, with former Warrior and Silvertip Carter Smith joining the Red Deer Rebels yesterday, where he made a stylish debut by scoring the winning goal in Red Deer's victory over Edmonton. As I mentioned when he left Everett, Smith has not been the same player since The Accident and hopefully this is a step towards him finally realizing the promise he once had as a 2nd round bantam pick.

As mentioned yesterday, Casey Pierro-Zabotel has joined the Vancouver Giants. I've already seen/read people making fun of him because he was forced to give up his scholarship when he couldn't academically qualify for university. That, I think, is unfortunate.....not everyone in the world is cut out for post-secondary educations. There are a lot of current players in the WHL (and some in the NCAA too!) who will never earn a university degree. I don't see why this is something to poke fun at the kid over.

And still with the Giants, a great story here about 20 year old super-pest Garet Hunt and his "little billet brother", 16 year old Neil Manning. Meanwhile, Giants goaltender Tyson Sexsmith billets with the mom of Chiefs forward David Rutherford, which makes for some tough games for Rutherford's mom when the two teams face each other.

And another billet story, this one in Chilliwack where overage defenceman Dylan Chapman was tasked with easing import David Hoda's transition into North America.

Lastly, the Hitmen have introduced a special jersey for the annual Teddy Bear Toss game on December 2nd. It's kind of an amusing idea as they have kept the usual stick-wielding masked "hitman" logo but have added a Santa hat to the character, as well as snowbanks on top of all the numbers, and the shoulder patch is a teddy bear. The jerseys themselves are bright red instead of the usual black. Pictures here and here. The jerseys will be sold at a game a week later via a silent auction and proceeds distributed to charity.

Giants land NCAA recruit

The Giants have apparently signed 2007 NHL 3rd round pick Casey Pierro-Zabotel to a WHL contract. Pierro-Zabotel gives up his NCAA scholarship to Michigan Tech after repeatedly failing to score high enough marks to get into university.

Pierro-Zabotel has been playing with the BCHL's Merritt Centennials this year, as he has for the past three years. 15 goals and 12 assists in 17 games there so far this year. His rights have been owned by several WHL teams over the last few years but none have been able to recruit him; now the NCAA music has stopped and the Giants have apparently grabbed the only remaining chair.

Wednesday notes

The roster for Team Western - the Saskatchewan/Manitoba joint entry in the World U-17 Challenge which takes place in London, Ontario after Christmas - was announced yesterday and includes 16 current WHLers in its 22 players. The other 6 players are all WHL prospects who are not in the league this year. The roster:

Goaltenders:
Graham Hildebrand, Brandon Wheat Kings prospect
Mathew Krahn, Saskatoon Blades prospect

Defencemen:
Paul Bonar, Moose Jaw Warriors prospect
Jared Cowen, Spokane Chiefs
Brayden McNabb, Kootenay Ice
Brodie Melnychuk, Brandon Wheat Kings
Dominic Perrault, Red Deer Rebels prospect
Alex Pym, Regina Pats
Paul Sohor, Everett Silvertips prospect

Forwards:
Carter Ashton, Lethbridge Hurricanes
Jimmy Bubnick, Kamloops Blazers
Brett Chartier, Everett Silvertips prospect
Cody Eakin, Swift Current Broncos
Jason Gardiner, Tri-City Americans
Scott Glennie, Brandon Wheat Kings
James Henry, Vancouver Giants
Brandon Herrod, Prince Albert Raiders
Adam Hughesman, Tri-City Americans
Garrett Mitchell, Regina Pats
Brayden Schenn, Brandon Wheat Kings
Linden Vey, Medicine Hat Tigers
Mason Wilgosh, Tri-City Americans

The roster for Team Pacific (joint B.C. /Alberta entry) should be announced in the next few days. You can see the shortlists for B.C. and Alberta for an idea of who might make that team. Each province provides 11 players.

It took a few days longer than I thought it would, but former WHL goalie David Reekie has indeed landed in the OHL. He was picked up yesterday by the Windsor Spitfires as part of an overhaul of the Spits' goaltending. The good news for Reekie is that Plymouth is one of the top contenders in the OHL this year; the bad news is that the Spitfires also acquired goalie Michal Neuvirth from the Plymouth Whalers in a trade yesterday, and Neuvirth will very likely be the new #1 goalie there since he is one of the best in the OHL and has Memorial Cup experience from last year with the Whalers. So, Reekie may be looking at the backup job behind Neuvirth - but the Spits also still have another goalie, Andrew Engelage, who has played almost all their games so far this year. Oh, and they also have three other overagers still, but the OHL has different overage rules which don't require them to get down to three until January 10 - although only three can play per game. So, there's obviously some roster juggling to be done there yet and we'll have to wait and see when Reekie gets to play and how he does.

Oil Kings defenceman Cameron Cepek has made a smooth switch from wheels to blades.

From the NHL: forget the flashy Italian wheels or the intimidating Hummers which many of his fellow NHLers drive. No, Sharks rookie Devin Setoguchi is getting around San Jose in a rented Toyota Corolla. "Twenty bucks a day", he brags. A good deal, I'd say, when your $850,000 contract averages out at what, $4500 a day over the season?

Tuesday notes

As per the comments section of yesterday's post, and Andy Kemper's blog, it turns out that Portland has adjusted their roster down to 25, as well as ended their three-goalie experiment, by sending Mark Guggenberger home for disciplinary reasons. No idea what he did but it must either be pretty serious or a repeat offence if he's getting sent home and kicked off the team for it.

NHL legend Johnny Bower is going home to Prince Albert for the Raiders game tomorrow night. He's also coming clean about his age: he has been lying about it all his life, and it turns out he's actually only 17 so he's going to join the Raiders for the rest of the year.

Everett has replaced the traded Matt Strong on their blueline by recalling 16 year old Jeff Regier from Junior A. Regier started the season in Everett but was sent down to Jr A in October. Presumably he is back to stay now.

Prince George defenceman Jesse Dudas is hurt. Wow, who saw that coming?

I'm surprised nobody turned out the lights: Russia and the USA brawl at the end of the Four Nations U-17 tournament in Dmitrov, Russia last weekend. Some pretty dirty play there from some of the Russians....like the guy who grabs the American player's (former NHLer Uwe Krupp's son Bjorn, no less) head from behind with both hands and almost rips his head off. Or the guy sitting on top of the American player and punching him in the back of the head. Grow some balls and at least go after people from the front.

Love him or hate him, the NY Rangers' Sean Avery is entertainment. For those who haven't seen or heard it yet, Avery got into a few pre-game talking matches last week before games with New Jersey and Toronto. Don Cherry talked about it on HNiC on Saturday; you can see the pre-game incidents (and hear Grapes' comments) here. Later in the game, Toronto's Darcy Tucker took his shot at Avery in a scrap. Then, the Leafs' Wade Belak proved after the game that he's as dumb as he looks by threatening to hit Avery over the head with his stick. Meanwhile, Tucker whined after the game that Avery "has no class". Pot, meet kettle.

Tips, Rebels swap 20's

Everett and Red Deer have swapped overage forwards this afternoon. The Rebels send Clayton Bauer and a 6th round pick in 2008 to Everett for Brennan Sonne and 17 year old defenceman Matt Strong.

Bauer is the best player in the deal, as evidenced by the Silvertips having to give up a good 17 year old like Strong in order to make up the difference between Bauer and Sonne. So the rebuilding continues in Red Deer while the Silvertips try to add a little more punch up front, which Bauer should be able to provide as a decent 20-25 goal guy.

Red Deer still needs to find something to do with Luke Betts, incidentally. He remains suspended by the team after refusing a trade a couple weeks back.

Monday thoughts

And here I thought the changes Portland made were going to improve their defence. It's early days yet, but initial results are not very promising - in two weekend games, the Hawks gave up 107 shots. They were averaging 37 shots against per game prior to the trades. Those 107 shots only cost them eight goals, but that's a credit to goaltenders Jordan White and Kurtis Mucha, and probably not something they want to have to rely on every night.

That's an interesting stat that I don't have handy, but I'd like to see: how shots-against correlates to wins and losses. It stands to reason that in general, the more shots you give up, the less games you will win since you're giving your opponent more chances to score. But where's the tipping point, the shot total at which teams begin to lose more disproportionately? I would guess it's somewhere in the 32-35 shot range but that's just a guess. I have no stats on this but might try to rustle some up if I have time at some point this week.

Portland also made a blueline trade on the weekend, moving out 19 year old veteran defenceman Todd Panchyson to Seattle for a conditional draft pick. (Seattle fans can only dream that this is the Kevin Popp trade in reverse). Panchyson is a former 1st-round bantam pick but has played for Kootenay, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Portland, and now Seattle in his WHL career. I would imagine the trade was necessitated by Portland being over the roster limit. Which, by my count, they still are since they're at 26 players. Check the WHL site roster....don't count Brad Ross (affiliate player) or Brock Cornish (out for the season) and you still get 26.

The Portland roster will shrink by one more player soon though, as scrappy '90 forward Tayler Jordan has requested a trade, which G.M. Ken Hodge has said the team will try to fulfill. Thanks to Gregg Drinnan's blog for that scoop. I would guess that Jordan's role is different under new coach Rich Kromm than it was last year with Mike Williamson.

Also from Gregg's blog, and on a sad note, former WHL defenceman Chris Chubb was killed last Sunday in a car accident. Here is the obituary and the Edmonton Journal blurb on the accident is here. Chubb played one season, for the Kootenay Ice, in 1999-00 - and a great season that was too since the Ice won the WHL title and played in the Memorial Cup. I remember him as a big guy who was a depth defenceman for the Ice but played almost every game and was a willing fighter. Reading the obituary, the very first comment in the guestbook is from Chubb's former coach, Ryan McGill.

Still with Kootenay, the Ice made a trade on the weekend, with Swift Current. The Ice pick up 17 year old Broncos list player Kris Foucault for a 2008 6th round bantam pick. Foucault failed to make the Broncos out of training camp, but that was probably due to number and not because he isn't good enough to play in the WHL. Foucault had been playing AAA midget in Calgary so far this season and has joined the Ice already.

Another new face in the league as well, as the Edmonton Oil Kings have picked up forward Jeff Lee from the NCAA's University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Big kid but he doesn't look like he has a history of scoring a lot of points, even in Jr A. We'll see what the Oil Kings see his role being in the WHL.....and on another Oil Kings note, they were involved in their 6th shootout of the season already on Saturday night. That's 6 shootouts in 22 games, or 27% of their games. They are a respectable 3-3 in the game-deciders. Runner-up in the most-shootouts category is Vancouver, who have been in four of them so far. Medicine Hat, Portland, Prince Albert, and Regina still haven't been in one this year.

Still no word on the hockey future of former WHL goalie David Reekie. He has been a free agent for several days now and I thought for sure some team in the OHL or QMJHL would have picked him up by now. But, still nothing. At this rate I'm starting to think we might see him heading to Jr A until there's a major junior team that's interested. The hard part might be finding a Jr A team willing to let him come play for them, knowing it's just a stopping-off point for him.