A recent post I saw on a message board got me thinking.....which teams have had the toughest schedule so far this season? So, I worked it out. Below is the average winning percentage of each team's opponents to date. To calculate this, I took the winning percentage of each opponent ON THE DAY OF THE GAME and totalled them, then divided by games played. This should reflect the strength of the opponent at the time the game was played, not necessarily today.
The results:
Prince George: 0.742
Kelowna: 0.695
Portland: 0.671
Kootenay: 0.623
Prince Albert: 0.611
Red Deer: 0.61
Chilliwack: 0.607
Vancouver: 0.603
Kamloops: 0.6
Lethbridge: 0.587
Edmonton: 0.56
Saskatoon: 0.555
Tri City: 0.55
Medicine Hat: 0.538
Everett: 0.538
Moose Jaw: 0.535
Swift Current: 0.53
Brandon: 0.522
Calgary: 0.519
Spokane: 0.503
Regina: 0.477
Seattle: 0.438
Surprise, surprise.....the worst teams have generally faced the toughest schedules, while the best teams have generally had easier schedules. Notable exceptions would be a team like Chilliwack, which has faced an average .607 opponent but have managed a .700 record against those opponents. Impressive.
That's your stat fact for the day.....
UPDATE: I got an e-mailed question asking for clarification on how these numbers were calculated, and pointing out that almost every team has faced an average opponent over .500, which seems questionable. Well, to answer the 2nd question, the "average" team in the WHL so far this year is .549, not .500, since some games can have 3 points awarded and others only 2.
To answer the first question, I'll give an example. I'll use Seattle since they have played the fewest games. Here's Seattle's schedule so far, with the winning percentage of their opponent at the time of the game:
Sep 22: @ Kamloops (1.000)
Sep 29: Everett (.000)
Oct 5: @ Kelowna (.375)
Oct 6: Kelowna (.300)
Oct 12: Tri-City (.875)
Oct 13: Kamloops (.500)
Oct 17: @ Chilliwack (.700)
Oct 19: Vancouver (.800)
Oct 20: @ Portland (.100)
Oct 26: Saskatoon (.269)
Oct 27: @ Spokane (.769)
Oct 28: Brandon (.567)
Add up all those winning percentages (comes to 5.255) and divide by 12 total games to get an average (.438). And yes, the numbers are skewed slightly higher by the fact that I started every team at 1.000 at the start of the season instead of at .000. Matters little; had I started them at .000 the numbers would have skewed lower instead. As the season progresses, that initial 1.000 will become less and less significant in this stat.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Wednesday notes
Not strictly WHL, but it certainly will have an effect on WHL players both past and future: the University of British Columbia is considering applying to have some of their sports teams - including the men's hockey Thunderbirds - compete in NCAA Div. 1. There are two immediate, obvious consequences of this for the WHL and its players: first, the UBC men's hockey program which currently plays in the CWUAA (CIS) and provides a place for WHL alumni to play and use their WHL scholarship money would undergo some major changes. Any players on that team who have previously played in the WHL would be ineligible to play for the NCAA Thunderbirds. Those players would have to transfer to other CIS schools if they wished to keep playing hockey. You can bet this situation will have an effect on the Thunderbirds' recruiting efforts starting right now, as this year's crop of graduating WHL players start exploring their university options. Do they want to go to UBC knowing that in a couple years you might not be able to play hockey for them anymore? Or would they rather go to U of A, U of C, U of S, etc, knowing they can play there for the full four or five years?
The second effect is that having an NCAA team in Vancouver would probably be an incentive for more local B.C. talent (and probably some from the other prairie provinces too) to spurn the WHL in favour of NCAA scholarships to UBC. So, we'll have to watch how this shakes out.
Looks like a slow news day, so I think that's it for now.
From the NHL: This guy is nuts, but the idea is very cool. He'll be in the WHL's neck of the woods on November 13, 14, and 15 as he takes in NHL games in Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton. Expect to see more written in the local papers about him then.
Hmmm....anyone up for a "22 games in 22 nights" tour of the WHL?
The second effect is that having an NCAA team in Vancouver would probably be an incentive for more local B.C. talent (and probably some from the other prairie provinces too) to spurn the WHL in favour of NCAA scholarships to UBC. So, we'll have to watch how this shakes out.
Looks like a slow news day, so I think that's it for now.
From the NHL: This guy is nuts, but the idea is very cool. He'll be in the WHL's neck of the woods on November 13, 14, and 15 as he takes in NHL games in Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton. Expect to see more written in the local papers about him then.
Hmmm....anyone up for a "22 games in 22 nights" tour of the WHL?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday notes
Everett has one less defenceman today after the team sent 17 year old Eddie Friesen home yesterday for disciplinary reasons. The fact that Friesen got sent home while Karamnov and Mistelbacher have been reinstated probably means that either Friesen's transgression was more serious, or it wasn't Friesen's first offence. Or you could be cynical and say that he was expendable to the team while the other two weren't. Either way, credit to the team for having the moxie to make these tough decisions. It's a message to the rest of the team that team rules have to be followed. Friesen, meanwhile, can go play Jr A at home for the rest of the year and hope he matures enough that he'll get another chance at the WHL next year.
Is Tommy Tartaglione about to unseat Real Cyr as the permanent #1 in Prince George? Tartaglione shut out the Giants last night, and a look at the two's numbers would indicate that Tartaglione is playing far better to Cyr this year: 2.94 vs 4.64 GAA, .910 vs .861 SV%. About the only place Cyr is better is in the wins-losses department.....but with numbers like those, it's not necessarily Tartaglione's fault that he isn't winning.
After first calling out his goaltenders, then the entire team, Saskatoon coach/GM Lorne Molleken has run out of players to blame for the team's poor play lately. So, who to single out now? The coaches!
The Hitmen finally named their captain and alternates yesterday. Karl Alzner is the captain, with the alternates being veteran forwards Ryan White, Carson McMillan, and Brett Sonne.
From Andy Kemper's blog: in their last four visits to Portland, the Spokane Chiefs are 4-0 and have outscored the Winter Hawks 33-8. Wow. Talk about putting the boots to a rival while they're down. I am honestly surprised how bad Portland is this year - really they are not any better than they were last year and they may actually be worse. Last year they had 37 points in 72 games, with 146 GF and 316 GA. With the pace they are on this year, they will finish with an amazingly bad 19 points, and only 130 GF with 288 GA. That's a slight improvement on defence but a few less goals scored and a lot less points. For the record, the WHL mark for fewest points in a 72 game season is owned by the 89-90 Victoria Cougars, who recorded only 12 points that year. I don't think anyone would suggest that Portland is as bad as those truly horrible Cougars teams were, but 19 points is 19 points and the league is a lot more watered-down now than it was in 89-90 when there were just 14 teams. I didn't think Portland was going to make the playoffs this year but I thought they would come close and at least be competitive.....and they aren't. At this rate they could be mathematically eliminated by the trade deadline.
UPDATE: Vancouver is down a player now after defenceman/forward Nolan Toigo has quit the team and maybe hockey altogether. More on Steve Ewen's blog. Sounds like Toigo just didn't have his heart in it anymore. He is the nephew of Giants owner Ron Toigo.
Is Tommy Tartaglione about to unseat Real Cyr as the permanent #1 in Prince George? Tartaglione shut out the Giants last night, and a look at the two's numbers would indicate that Tartaglione is playing far better to Cyr this year: 2.94 vs 4.64 GAA, .910 vs .861 SV%. About the only place Cyr is better is in the wins-losses department.....but with numbers like those, it's not necessarily Tartaglione's fault that he isn't winning.
After first calling out his goaltenders, then the entire team, Saskatoon coach/GM Lorne Molleken has run out of players to blame for the team's poor play lately. So, who to single out now? The coaches!
The Hitmen finally named their captain and alternates yesterday. Karl Alzner is the captain, with the alternates being veteran forwards Ryan White, Carson McMillan, and Brett Sonne.
From Andy Kemper's blog: in their last four visits to Portland, the Spokane Chiefs are 4-0 and have outscored the Winter Hawks 33-8. Wow. Talk about putting the boots to a rival while they're down. I am honestly surprised how bad Portland is this year - really they are not any better than they were last year and they may actually be worse. Last year they had 37 points in 72 games, with 146 GF and 316 GA. With the pace they are on this year, they will finish with an amazingly bad 19 points, and only 130 GF with 288 GA. That's a slight improvement on defence but a few less goals scored and a lot less points. For the record, the WHL mark for fewest points in a 72 game season is owned by the 89-90 Victoria Cougars, who recorded only 12 points that year. I don't think anyone would suggest that Portland is as bad as those truly horrible Cougars teams were, but 19 points is 19 points and the league is a lot more watered-down now than it was in 89-90 when there were just 14 teams. I didn't think Portland was going to make the playoffs this year but I thought they would come close and at least be competitive.....and they aren't. At this rate they could be mathematically eliminated by the trade deadline.
UPDATE: Vancouver is down a player now after defenceman/forward Nolan Toigo has quit the team and maybe hockey altogether. More on Steve Ewen's blog. Sounds like Toigo just didn't have his heart in it anymore. He is the nephew of Giants owner Ron Toigo.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday notes
Firstoff today, a big blow to the Vancouver Giants as the Boston Bruins have apparently informed the Giants that they will be keeping Milan Lucic for the entire year. They had previously indicated to the Giants that they would keep Lucic past the 9/10 game mark which caused his contract to kick in for the entire 07-08 season, but now it looks like he's in the NHL to stay. They have also told Lucic to find a place to live in Boston and move out of the hotel he has been living in. Big blow to the Giants to lose a player like Lucic, who would have been hands-down the best power forward in the WHL this year.
Congrats are in order to Lethbridge head coach Michael Dyck, whose wife had a baby boy yesterday morning. Presumably this one was born in the hospital and not in the back of a car in the arena parking lot.
Something that won't surprise Regina fans: Kelowna made Justin Bernhardt a healthy scratch for Friday night's game because they were unhappy with his work ethic in practice last week. In related news: leopards still can't change their spots.
Rumour has it that BCHL star (and 3rd round NHL pick) Casey Pierro-Zabotel may be walking away from his Michigan Tech scholarship and joining the Vancouver Giants, who own his WHL rights. His WHL rights have actually been owned by about five or six WHL teams but none have been able to convince him to come this route yet. I have heard a few times though that he is having trouble academically qualifying for university - the only reason he is still in the BCHL this year and not NCAA is because he couldn't academically qualify - and it may be the case that he is ready to throw in the towel on trying to improve his marks and instead play in the WHL for a year and a half.
Congrats are in order to Lethbridge head coach Michael Dyck, whose wife had a baby boy yesterday morning. Presumably this one was born in the hospital and not in the back of a car in the arena parking lot.
Something that won't surprise Regina fans: Kelowna made Justin Bernhardt a healthy scratch for Friday night's game because they were unhappy with his work ethic in practice last week. In related news: leopards still can't change their spots.
Rumour has it that BCHL star (and 3rd round NHL pick) Casey Pierro-Zabotel may be walking away from his Michigan Tech scholarship and joining the Vancouver Giants, who own his WHL rights. His WHL rights have actually been owned by about five or six WHL teams but none have been able to convince him to come this route yet. I have heard a few times though that he is having trouble academically qualifying for university - the only reason he is still in the BCHL this year and not NCAA is because he couldn't academically qualify - and it may be the case that he is ready to throw in the towel on trying to improve his marks and instead play in the WHL for a year and a half.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday notes
Trade yesterday, as Spokane sends defenceman Patrick Kozyra to Medicine Hat for a 2008 5th round pick. How the heck did Medicine Hat have a picture of him in a Tigers jersey so quick, to put on that release? That can't be Kozyra in the pic, can it? Doesn't look like a Photoshopped pic either. Not a bad deal for Spokane all around though, they only paid a 6th rounder for Kozyra when they acquired him from Red Deer in the summer. 5th rounder is an upgrade.
UPDATE: Not mentioned in the Tigers release, but mentioned in the Chiefs release on this deal is that (in an apparently separate deal) the Chiefs also send the rights to Andrew MacWilliam to the Tigers for future considerations. MacWilliam was the Chiefs' 9th round pick in 2005 and is currently playing Jr A in the AJHL. He is a very good prospect (played with numerous WHLers on the Alberta team at the 2007 Canada Winter Games) but I believe he is pursuing the NCAA route. Any return on this deal for the Chiefs is probably conditional on the Tigers being able to persuade MacWilliam to take the WHL route instead.
Giants defenceman Jon Blum has family in the path of the wildfires burning in California right now. I imagine some of the other California kids in the WHL are similarily affected....hopefully everyone comes out OK and nobody gets hurt.
Good article on Everett sniper-pest Kyle Beach in the Everett paper today. Love him or hate him, the kid is a well-rounded package of skill, size, and toughness. It's interesting though that he was left off the list of players who will represent the WHL in the CHL-Russia thing....the tournament is a tuneup for potential invitees to the Canadian World Junior camp, and that is usually a thing for 18 & 19 year olds, while Beach is still just 17. But, they did invite 17 year old Pats sniper Jordan Eberle to play against Russia, so top younger players do get asked. Eberle is actually leading the WHL in scoring at the moment but Beach is in 3rd so he's not far off. I would guess that Beach's undisciplined style is going to hurt him when it comes to chances to play in the big international tournaments, since Beach's style of hockey plays very poorly in the eyes of European referees. He has to learn to play a more emotionally controlled game if he's going to be the best player he can be.
Couple potential Ice scoops from Jeff Bromley's blog today - Jeff says the Ice have picked up 18 year old former Pat and Rocket forward Jason MacDonald, who was dropped by the Rockets earlier this year after coming over from Regina as part of the big six-player trade last season. The other tidbit is the possibility that the Montreal Canadiens may return Ryan Russell to the Ice to play his overage season in the WHL. Russell has gotten into only two games this season with the Habs' AHL affiliate in Hamilton.
From the NHL last night, I haven't seen this much blood on the ice after a good fight in a long time. Two ex-WHLers (both ex-Cougars actually) going at it in a good clean fight but Chara lands that one awesome punch that re-broke Koci's nose and turned on the red faucet. Koci broke his nose two days ago fighting Toronto's Wade Belak (another ex-dubber there!) but was willing to go with Chara just two days later. Got to give him credit for guts but he'd better lay off the fighting for a while and let it heal.
Not hockey related, but still sports: the NLL provides a shining example of how not to manage a professional (and I use that term VERY loosely here) sports league. For those who don't follow lacrosse, the NLL announced two weeks ago that they were cancelling their 07-08 season after failing to come to an agreement with their players on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league told their teams that they could release any booked arena dates, etc. But negotiations continued behind the scenes and yesterday the two sides strike a deal which saves the 07-08 season (which starts in December). Oh, wait....but teams like New York (which play in MSG) and Boston (an expansion team this year) might have to be dormant this year because they can't get their arena dates back now. What a bunch of clowns run this thing. Not to mention how they've jerked around all their fans, casually manipulating them as part of the negotiations with the players. George Johnson of the Calgary Herald nails it this morning.
UPDATE: Not mentioned in the Tigers release, but mentioned in the Chiefs release on this deal is that (in an apparently separate deal) the Chiefs also send the rights to Andrew MacWilliam to the Tigers for future considerations. MacWilliam was the Chiefs' 9th round pick in 2005 and is currently playing Jr A in the AJHL. He is a very good prospect (played with numerous WHLers on the Alberta team at the 2007 Canada Winter Games) but I believe he is pursuing the NCAA route. Any return on this deal for the Chiefs is probably conditional on the Tigers being able to persuade MacWilliam to take the WHL route instead.
Giants defenceman Jon Blum has family in the path of the wildfires burning in California right now. I imagine some of the other California kids in the WHL are similarily affected....hopefully everyone comes out OK and nobody gets hurt.
Good article on Everett sniper-pest Kyle Beach in the Everett paper today. Love him or hate him, the kid is a well-rounded package of skill, size, and toughness. It's interesting though that he was left off the list of players who will represent the WHL in the CHL-Russia thing....the tournament is a tuneup for potential invitees to the Canadian World Junior camp, and that is usually a thing for 18 & 19 year olds, while Beach is still just 17. But, they did invite 17 year old Pats sniper Jordan Eberle to play against Russia, so top younger players do get asked. Eberle is actually leading the WHL in scoring at the moment but Beach is in 3rd so he's not far off. I would guess that Beach's undisciplined style is going to hurt him when it comes to chances to play in the big international tournaments, since Beach's style of hockey plays very poorly in the eyes of European referees. He has to learn to play a more emotionally controlled game if he's going to be the best player he can be.
Couple potential Ice scoops from Jeff Bromley's blog today - Jeff says the Ice have picked up 18 year old former Pat and Rocket forward Jason MacDonald, who was dropped by the Rockets earlier this year after coming over from Regina as part of the big six-player trade last season. The other tidbit is the possibility that the Montreal Canadiens may return Ryan Russell to the Ice to play his overage season in the WHL. Russell has gotten into only two games this season with the Habs' AHL affiliate in Hamilton.
From the NHL last night, I haven't seen this much blood on the ice after a good fight in a long time. Two ex-WHLers (both ex-Cougars actually) going at it in a good clean fight but Chara lands that one awesome punch that re-broke Koci's nose and turned on the red faucet. Koci broke his nose two days ago fighting Toronto's Wade Belak (another ex-dubber there!) but was willing to go with Chara just two days later. Got to give him credit for guts but he'd better lay off the fighting for a while and let it heal.
Not hockey related, but still sports: the NLL provides a shining example of how not to manage a professional (and I use that term VERY loosely here) sports league. For those who don't follow lacrosse, the NLL announced two weeks ago that they were cancelling their 07-08 season after failing to come to an agreement with their players on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league told their teams that they could release any booked arena dates, etc. But negotiations continued behind the scenes and yesterday the two sides strike a deal which saves the 07-08 season (which starts in December). Oh, wait....but teams like New York (which play in MSG) and Boston (an expansion team this year) might have to be dormant this year because they can't get their arena dates back now. What a bunch of clowns run this thing. Not to mention how they've jerked around all their fans, casually manipulating them as part of the negotiations with the players. George Johnson of the Calgary Herald nails it this morning.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
CHL - Russia series
The WHL has released the list of players who will represent the WHL against the Russians next month in the annual ADT Canada-Russia Challenge. Unless the Russians start taking this tournament seriously and send some good players this year, the WHL kids should easily run their lifetime record in this challenge-less "Challenge" to 10-0.
For the hell of it, I did some research. Guess how many of the players that the Russians send to this tournament actually make their 22-man roster for the World Juniors each year? Pretty much none:
2003: 3 players (13.6% of WJC roster)
2004: 6 players (27.3% of WJC roster)
2005: 3 players (13.6% of WJC roster)
2006: 4 players (18.2% of WJC roster)
Probably not surprisingly, 2004 saw the Russians post their best result, winning both games against the QMJHL to go 2-4 in the tournament. They were 1-5 in 2003 and 0-6 in both 2005 and 2006.
And how many of the eventual 22-man Canadian WJC roster takes part each year:
2003: 20 players (90.9% of WJC roster)
2004: 21 players (95.5% of WJC roster)
2005: 18 players (81.8% of WJC roster)
2006: 19 players (86.4% of WJC roster)
Now, you have to consider that the CHL ices 70+ players in this thing each year while the Russians use 25 or so, so it's a lot easier for Canada to have their eventual WJC players playing at least a couple games. But still, even if you divided the Canadian %'s by three, they are still using a heck of a lot more eventual WJC players than the Russians are.
In fact, if you consider that some of Canada's WJC roster is playing NCAA every year and not even eligible for this tournament, the facts are that actually 100% of eventual CHLers on the Canadian WJC roster in the last four years have played in this tournament first. What's Russia's excuse for bringing 15% of their best players to this thing?
They don't take it seriously and neither should we the fans, or the CHL. Time to scrap it and go back to a CHL all-star format.
For the hell of it, I did some research. Guess how many of the players that the Russians send to this tournament actually make their 22-man roster for the World Juniors each year? Pretty much none:
2003: 3 players (13.6% of WJC roster)
2004: 6 players (27.3% of WJC roster)
2005: 3 players (13.6% of WJC roster)
2006: 4 players (18.2% of WJC roster)
Probably not surprisingly, 2004 saw the Russians post their best result, winning both games against the QMJHL to go 2-4 in the tournament. They were 1-5 in 2003 and 0-6 in both 2005 and 2006.
And how many of the eventual 22-man Canadian WJC roster takes part each year:
2003: 20 players (90.9% of WJC roster)
2004: 21 players (95.5% of WJC roster)
2005: 18 players (81.8% of WJC roster)
2006: 19 players (86.4% of WJC roster)
Now, you have to consider that the CHL ices 70+ players in this thing each year while the Russians use 25 or so, so it's a lot easier for Canada to have their eventual WJC players playing at least a couple games. But still, even if you divided the Canadian %'s by three, they are still using a heck of a lot more eventual WJC players than the Russians are.
In fact, if you consider that some of Canada's WJC roster is playing NCAA every year and not even eligible for this tournament, the facts are that actually 100% of eventual CHLers on the Canadian WJC roster in the last four years have played in this tournament first. What's Russia's excuse for bringing 15% of their best players to this thing?
They don't take it seriously and neither should we the fans, or the CHL. Time to scrap it and go back to a CHL all-star format.
Thursday notes
Prince George has picked up Portland Winter Hawks castoff forward Matt Sokol and now have six American players on their team. I do believe that ties them with Spokane for most American players in the league.
Slow day today.....the league will announce the players for the CHL-Russia games later today, and there's a rare Thursday night game tonight as well.
UPDATE: I'm far from a Maple Leafs fan, so their struggles this year and fans (and media) calling for the head of G.M. John Ferguson Jr. have not interested me in the slightest. Until now. Ferguson has pulled off his stupidest move yet: he has offered 17 year old phenom John Tavares a contract to play for the Leafs' AHL farm team. Tavares is not eligible for the NHL draft until 2009, and this move - even despite its astronomically slim chances of succeeding - should make Ferguson a pariah amongst NHL G.M.'s. I suppose this would not be that big of a deal provided that the Leafs weren't basically offering Tavares a huge amount of money to not declare himself for the 2009 draft.
If the Leafs want Tavares so badly, then why not just keep Ferguson as G.M. - they'd be a good bet to pick #1 in 2009 anyway in that case.
Slow day today.....the league will announce the players for the CHL-Russia games later today, and there's a rare Thursday night game tonight as well.
UPDATE: I'm far from a Maple Leafs fan, so their struggles this year and fans (and media) calling for the head of G.M. John Ferguson Jr. have not interested me in the slightest. Until now. Ferguson has pulled off his stupidest move yet: he has offered 17 year old phenom John Tavares a contract to play for the Leafs' AHL farm team. Tavares is not eligible for the NHL draft until 2009, and this move - even despite its astronomically slim chances of succeeding - should make Ferguson a pariah amongst NHL G.M.'s. I suppose this would not be that big of a deal provided that the Leafs weren't basically offering Tavares a huge amount of money to not declare himself for the 2009 draft.
If the Leafs want Tavares so badly, then why not just keep Ferguson as G.M. - they'd be a good bet to pick #1 in 2009 anyway in that case.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday thoughts
Another day, another player leaves the Edmonton Oil Kings for "personal reasons". This time it's 19 year old winger Scott Skrudland, following in the departing footsteps of Michael Hengen yesterday. Skrudland will head home to Manitoba and play Jr A there, just as Hengen is apparently bound for Jr A in B.C., where he wants to get on with his schooling as well. The Edmonton Journal has an article on the departures, as well as G.M. Bob Green's thoughts on replacing them on the roster.
The Oil Kings are now down to just 21 players - 13 forwards, 6 d-men, and 2 goaltenders - so they're going to have to bring somebody in from somewhere pretty soon. Only 1 extra player (and no extra d-men!) on your roster just doesn't work for any team.
The WHL has announced a press conference for tomorrow in which they will name the roster for the WHL's two games of the annual CHL-Russia snorefest which features the best Canadian World Junior hopefuls in the CHL taking on a team of Russian also-rans while planeloads of Russian scouts and team officials take notes on the Canadian players for use in the tournament. For the record, the Russian team has never won a game against the WHL in four years of this thing, going 0-8 and being outscored 47-11. This year's games will be held in Medicine Hat and Cranbrook.
Another, perhaps final, chapter has been written to the Ken Petkau saga; the Giants have placed Petkau on their suspended player list after he declined to report to them and has in fact stopped returning their phone calls. It would appear he is indeed retiring which is what he told Chilliwack in the first place. So, by putting Petkau on the suspended list, the Giants now have an opening for an overager again. By coincidence, Everett is going to have to make a decision on their O/As pretty soon as David Reekie comes off the 60 day injured list on November 9. The Tips moving Reekie may set off a chain reaction of deals which ends up filling either or both of Vancouver's and Edmonton's empty O/A slots, who knows.
One day after calling out his goaltending, Blades coach/G.M. Lorne Molleken is now calling out the entire team for "lack of desire". Must be a fun bus trip to be on. Cory Wolfe does seem to be enjoying himself though....his road trip diary is updated again this morning. Love the reference to Everett fan Marty Aalto.....that's got to be the same Marty who is a regular commenter here on this blog, eh?
The Oil Kings are now down to just 21 players - 13 forwards, 6 d-men, and 2 goaltenders - so they're going to have to bring somebody in from somewhere pretty soon. Only 1 extra player (and no extra d-men!) on your roster just doesn't work for any team.
The WHL has announced a press conference for tomorrow in which they will name the roster for the WHL's two games of the annual CHL-Russia snorefest which features the best Canadian World Junior hopefuls in the CHL taking on a team of Russian also-rans while planeloads of Russian scouts and team officials take notes on the Canadian players for use in the tournament. For the record, the Russian team has never won a game against the WHL in four years of this thing, going 0-8 and being outscored 47-11. This year's games will be held in Medicine Hat and Cranbrook.
Another, perhaps final, chapter has been written to the Ken Petkau saga; the Giants have placed Petkau on their suspended player list after he declined to report to them and has in fact stopped returning their phone calls. It would appear he is indeed retiring which is what he told Chilliwack in the first place. So, by putting Petkau on the suspended list, the Giants now have an opening for an overager again. By coincidence, Everett is going to have to make a decision on their O/As pretty soon as David Reekie comes off the 60 day injured list on November 9. The Tips moving Reekie may set off a chain reaction of deals which ends up filling either or both of Vancouver's and Edmonton's empty O/A slots, who knows.
One day after calling out his goaltending, Blades coach/G.M. Lorne Molleken is now calling out the entire team for "lack of desire". Must be a fun bus trip to be on. Cory Wolfe does seem to be enjoying himself though....his road trip diary is updated again this morning. Love the reference to Everett fan Marty Aalto.....that's got to be the same Marty who is a regular commenter here on this blog, eh?
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Road trip diary
After searching for this thing for almost a week now, I finally found it: the home of Saskatoon beat writer Cory Wolfe's online road trip diary. The Blades' trip through the U.S. division is almost over now but it's a good read if you want to catch up on what life on the road with a WHL team is like. U.S. division fans may also enjoy some references to their local arenas and watering holes, etc.
Fact that surprised me: the Spokane paper tracks 160 high school football teams each Friday. One hundred and sixty high school teams? I'm in Calgary, which has just over 1 million people; there are 21 high schools in Calgary. Even accounting for each school having two teams, that's still only 42 teams for a city of one million people. According to Wikipedia, the metro Spokane area has less than half as many people.....so either Spokane has a lot of really small high schools, or they are tracking football teams from a heckuva lot of places outside of Spokane. I knew high school ball was a really big deal south of the border but these are the kind of numbers that bring that fact home. Just me anyway.
Fact that surprised me: the Spokane paper tracks 160 high school football teams each Friday. One hundred and sixty high school teams? I'm in Calgary, which has just over 1 million people; there are 21 high schools in Calgary. Even accounting for each school having two teams, that's still only 42 teams for a city of one million people. According to Wikipedia, the metro Spokane area has less than half as many people.....so either Spokane has a lot of really small high schools, or they are tracking football teams from a heckuva lot of places outside of Spokane. I knew high school ball was a really big deal south of the border but these are the kind of numbers that bring that fact home. Just me anyway.
Tuesday trade
Kamloops and Prince Albert have swung a swap of overage defencemen. The Raiders ship Mike Gauthier to the Blazers for Ryan White and a 2008 5th round bantam pick.
Wonder if this has anything to do with Gauthier losing his letter the other day? (See next post down for the details on that move). One thing is for sure though, the Raiders under Bruno Campese are making a 180 degree turn away from the style of hockey preferred by former coach Peter Anholt. Gone from last season's roster are the likes of Gauthier, Cody Vann, Justin Palazzo, John Flatters, and Josh Elder. What did all those players have in common? Yep, their main skill was their fists. The Raiders were in 78 fights last year (3rd most in the league) and those guys were in 53 of them.
Which is probably just as well for Raiders fans since the other thing you can say about Anholt's style is that he doesn't win. He has a career .491 record in the WHL, and .444 - and without a single winning season - since he left Seattle after the 91-92 season.
Wonder if this has anything to do with Gauthier losing his letter the other day? (See next post down for the details on that move). One thing is for sure though, the Raiders under Bruno Campese are making a 180 degree turn away from the style of hockey preferred by former coach Peter Anholt. Gone from last season's roster are the likes of Gauthier, Cody Vann, Justin Palazzo, John Flatters, and Josh Elder. What did all those players have in common? Yep, their main skill was their fists. The Raiders were in 78 fights last year (3rd most in the league) and those guys were in 53 of them.
Which is probably just as well for Raiders fans since the other thing you can say about Anholt's style is that he doesn't win. He has a career .491 record in the WHL, and .444 - and without a single winning season - since he left Seattle after the 91-92 season.
Tuesday notes
The Oil Kings are down to four overagers now after defenceman Michael Hengen left the team for personal reasons. Whatever those reasons are, I would think somebody in the league has to be interested in Hengen if the Oil Kings wanted to move him. He might not be the greatest player in the league defensively but he's a 4+ year veteran defenceman who can put up .5 points a game or so and work on your powerplay.
Portland goalie Kurtis Mucha has been suspended for three games and fined $250 for his part in the game-ending line brawl with Seattle on Saturday night. The league has (curiously) not issued a release about this, but the punishment can be seen in the suspensions section of the league site. It would be nice for the league to clarify the situation, such as.....oh, I don't know.....whether the guy came off the bench or not?!?!
The Rebels have reassigned 18 year old forward Jordan Draper to the AJHL. I feel kind of bad for Draper because this is a kid who really, really wanted to play in the WHL. It seemed like every training camp for the last four years there were stories written about Draper and how bad he wanted this and how hard he worked and did everything he was asked. Unfortunately, there's times when your best just isn't good enough and it looks like Draper's WHL dream might be over, given his age.
Prince Albert is going through a leadership crisis, it would appear. And I'm not talking about the pending Saskatchewan provincial election either.....Raiders coach Bruno Campese has stripped the letters off of his team captain and three of the four alternates and publicly dressing them down for lack of discipline. Only defenceman Jeff May still has his alternate's "A", which could mean he's in line to become the captain if Campese's opinion of stripped captain Ryan DePape doesn't improve.
And speaking of calling out players, Saskatoon coach/G.M. Lorne Molleken is very unhappy with the play of his two goaltenders recently. Starter Braden Holtby's numbers are very average (3.19 GAA, .900 SV%) but when you look at backup Garrett Zemlak's numbers (4.58 GAA, .855 SV%), you wonder how long before Zemlak plays himself out of the league with numbers like those.
Are you between the ages of 5 and 13, and live in Prince George? Are you tired of being picked on by the school bully and having him take your lunch money every day? If so, this might be the program for you. Imagine that bully's reaction when you show up at school with your new best friend, Patrik Magnusson.
And lastly (for now anyway) - best trade of the year so far? I'm thinking it's the deal Brandon made to get 19 year old forward Matt Lowry out of Medicine Hat for a lowly (sorry) 6th round bantam pick. All Lowry has done for the Wheaties is post 16 points (8g-8a) in 11 games so far, with a +9 and even a couple scraps too.
Portland goalie Kurtis Mucha has been suspended for three games and fined $250 for his part in the game-ending line brawl with Seattle on Saturday night. The league has (curiously) not issued a release about this, but the punishment can be seen in the suspensions section of the league site. It would be nice for the league to clarify the situation, such as.....oh, I don't know.....whether the guy came off the bench or not?!?!
The Rebels have reassigned 18 year old forward Jordan Draper to the AJHL. I feel kind of bad for Draper because this is a kid who really, really wanted to play in the WHL. It seemed like every training camp for the last four years there were stories written about Draper and how bad he wanted this and how hard he worked and did everything he was asked. Unfortunately, there's times when your best just isn't good enough and it looks like Draper's WHL dream might be over, given his age.
Prince Albert is going through a leadership crisis, it would appear. And I'm not talking about the pending Saskatchewan provincial election either.....Raiders coach Bruno Campese has stripped the letters off of his team captain and three of the four alternates and publicly dressing them down for lack of discipline. Only defenceman Jeff May still has his alternate's "A", which could mean he's in line to become the captain if Campese's opinion of stripped captain Ryan DePape doesn't improve.
And speaking of calling out players, Saskatoon coach/G.M. Lorne Molleken is very unhappy with the play of his two goaltenders recently. Starter Braden Holtby's numbers are very average (3.19 GAA, .900 SV%) but when you look at backup Garrett Zemlak's numbers (4.58 GAA, .855 SV%), you wonder how long before Zemlak plays himself out of the league with numbers like those.
Are you between the ages of 5 and 13, and live in Prince George? Are you tired of being picked on by the school bully and having him take your lunch money every day? If so, this might be the program for you. Imagine that bully's reaction when you show up at school with your new best friend, Patrik Magnusson.
And lastly (for now anyway) - best trade of the year so far? I'm thinking it's the deal Brandon made to get 19 year old forward Matt Lowry out of Medicine Hat for a lowly (sorry) 6th round bantam pick. All Lowry has done for the Wheaties is post 16 points (8g-8a) in 11 games so far, with a +9 and even a couple scraps too.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday musings
I'm sometimes critical of the job the WHL office does of marketing their product and keeping fans informed. It's only fair, then, that I give them credit when they do something right: the league has introduced a "Plays Of The Week" feature on their website, which is a video clip of some of the top plays from the previous week. The October 19 edition is up there now, and here's a direct link to the video section of the site. For now it sounds like they'll be keeping it to a weekly top five plays, but we can only hope they will eventually expand this to show more and more of the great highlights the players in this league generate on a nightly basis.
For now at least, Giants star Milan Lucic is going to remain in the NHL. The Boston Bruins have informed the Giants that they intend to keep Lucic in the NHL beyond the 10- game mark which will cause 07-08 to count as the first year of Lucic's entry-level contract, as well as a year of pro hockey for future waiver eligibility purposes. The Bruins can still return Lucic to Vancouver later in the season but the longer he stays in the NHL, the lesser the chances of that presumably become.
The fate of the WHL's other junior-aged star in the NHL, Phoenix/Everett forward Peter Mueller, is still up in the air. Phoenix has only played 7 games, so they have a couple more games yet before they need to make a decision there.
And while we're talking about junior-aged players in the NHL, if any Americans fans feel the urge to ruin the rest of their day with the old what-could-have-been question, they can check out this clip of Chicago's Jonathan Toews scoring a highlight-reel goal for the ages on Friday night. You might not see a prettier individual goal this year. He goes end-to-end and beats the backchecking forward as well as both Colorado defencemen 1-on-1, finishing by undressing the goaltender. And this guy is only 19 and would still be eligible to play for the Tri-Cities if he had ever reported. The way he is playing (6pts in 6 games), Team Canada can just forget about getting Toews for the World Juniors this year - which he is also still eligible for. For that matter, Team USA can forget about getting Toews' Chicago teammate Patrick Kane (9pts in 8 games) too. The future is very bright in Chicago (finally!) with those two guys leading the team for at least the next seven years.
And now while we're on the topic of high bantam picks who spurned the WHL, the Kelowna Rockets can't be ecstatic about this news. Phoenix forward Colton St. Clair - Kootenay's 10th round pick in the 2007 bantam draft - has apparently verbally committed to Colorado College of the NCAA. The kid is only 15 and not even eligible to play college (unless he accelerates his high school education of course) until 2010-11. The Ice lose a prospect here although it's obviously not a severe blow since he was only a 10th round pick. The real potential story for the WHL though is that this is another one of 2nd overall pick Luke Moffatt's Phoenix bantam teammates who isn't going the WHL route. While at least in theory this is completely irrelevant to Moffatt's eventual WHL vs NCAA decision, it certainly couldn't hurt the WHL's side of the equation if they had a few friends and/or former teammates of Moffatt's around the league. As it is, there are two Arizona players in the WHL right now - Curtis Kelner of Spokane, and Kyle Verdino of Kelowna. Verdino is hurt and hasn't played yet this year but he at least is 16 and may have been a teammate of Moffatt's in the past. Kelner is probably too old to have ever played with Moffatt.
Back to Patrick Kane for a moment - as mentioned, he's a junior-eligible (OHL's London Knights) player who is likely to stick the season in the NHL. As is his 06-07 London teammate Sam Gagner, who seems destined to hang around the Oilers for the year - 5pts in 7 games for one of the NHL's worst teams so far this year is pretty decent. I think Team Canada might have a better shot at getting Gagner for the World Juniors than they do Toews, but it's still probably a longshot if the kid keeps playing well for the Oil. But all this begs a question: how good would the London Knights be this year if they had both Kane and Gagner in their lineup? They are sputtering along at 5-6 this year but if they had the 40-50 points that Kane/Gagner would have generated in those 11 games, would they be 11-0? 10-1? This is the conundrum that junior teams find themselves in....everyone wants superstars, just not ones that are so good that they make the NHL before they're 20. When it happens, it can kill a team's multi-year buildup to a title run.
Still in the OHL, failed WHL overage candidate Lyon Messier (released by Kelowna 10 days ago) has landed in the OHL with the Erie Otters. What is it with the quality of overagers in the OHL - it seems like every year some guys who couldn't earn O/A spots in the WHL end up in the OHL.
And one final note here - how can things get worse for Portland? Well, having their star goaltender suspended for a lengthy period of time would qualify in that category. Kurtis Mucha engaged Seattle's Jacob DeSerres in a fight during a line brawl at 20:00 of the 3rd period of Portland's 2-0 loss to Seattle on Saturday night. There is some suggestion (although I have read nothing concrete either way) that Mucha left the bench (presumably he had been pulled for an extra attacker?) to take part in the fight. Either way, he was not in the Hawks lineup for their game on Sunday so that would seem to suggest that something might be going on. The suspension for leaving the bench to fight is minimum ten games so that would keep him out of the Hawks lineup for quite a while if it's true - and I'm not saying it is. There is also an automatic suspension for the coach of a team which has a player leave the bench, so this could cost Rich Kromm some time behind the Hawks bench as well. We'll see how the league rules.
UPDATE: in regards to the Mucha situation, I was just checking out the rules on the WHL's site and it looks like they have stricken the section which calls for a mandatory 10 game minimum suspension for players leaving the bench. The rule is still there, it's just crossed out in the WHL's rulebook. So, perhaps Mucha is not looking at a suspension of that length....for which he can consider himself lucky then since that's what the rule was for as long as I can remember.
For now at least, Giants star Milan Lucic is going to remain in the NHL. The Boston Bruins have informed the Giants that they intend to keep Lucic in the NHL beyond the 10- game mark which will cause 07-08 to count as the first year of Lucic's entry-level contract, as well as a year of pro hockey for future waiver eligibility purposes. The Bruins can still return Lucic to Vancouver later in the season but the longer he stays in the NHL, the lesser the chances of that presumably become.
The fate of the WHL's other junior-aged star in the NHL, Phoenix/Everett forward Peter Mueller, is still up in the air. Phoenix has only played 7 games, so they have a couple more games yet before they need to make a decision there.
And while we're talking about junior-aged players in the NHL, if any Americans fans feel the urge to ruin the rest of their day with the old what-could-have-been question, they can check out this clip of Chicago's Jonathan Toews scoring a highlight-reel goal for the ages on Friday night. You might not see a prettier individual goal this year. He goes end-to-end and beats the backchecking forward as well as both Colorado defencemen 1-on-1, finishing by undressing the goaltender. And this guy is only 19 and would still be eligible to play for the Tri-Cities if he had ever reported. The way he is playing (6pts in 6 games), Team Canada can just forget about getting Toews for the World Juniors this year - which he is also still eligible for. For that matter, Team USA can forget about getting Toews' Chicago teammate Patrick Kane (9pts in 8 games) too. The future is very bright in Chicago (finally!) with those two guys leading the team for at least the next seven years.
And now while we're on the topic of high bantam picks who spurned the WHL, the Kelowna Rockets can't be ecstatic about this news. Phoenix forward Colton St. Clair - Kootenay's 10th round pick in the 2007 bantam draft - has apparently verbally committed to Colorado College of the NCAA. The kid is only 15 and not even eligible to play college (unless he accelerates his high school education of course) until 2010-11. The Ice lose a prospect here although it's obviously not a severe blow since he was only a 10th round pick. The real potential story for the WHL though is that this is another one of 2nd overall pick Luke Moffatt's Phoenix bantam teammates who isn't going the WHL route. While at least in theory this is completely irrelevant to Moffatt's eventual WHL vs NCAA decision, it certainly couldn't hurt the WHL's side of the equation if they had a few friends and/or former teammates of Moffatt's around the league. As it is, there are two Arizona players in the WHL right now - Curtis Kelner of Spokane, and Kyle Verdino of Kelowna. Verdino is hurt and hasn't played yet this year but he at least is 16 and may have been a teammate of Moffatt's in the past. Kelner is probably too old to have ever played with Moffatt.
Back to Patrick Kane for a moment - as mentioned, he's a junior-eligible (OHL's London Knights) player who is likely to stick the season in the NHL. As is his 06-07 London teammate Sam Gagner, who seems destined to hang around the Oilers for the year - 5pts in 7 games for one of the NHL's worst teams so far this year is pretty decent. I think Team Canada might have a better shot at getting Gagner for the World Juniors than they do Toews, but it's still probably a longshot if the kid keeps playing well for the Oil. But all this begs a question: how good would the London Knights be this year if they had both Kane and Gagner in their lineup? They are sputtering along at 5-6 this year but if they had the 40-50 points that Kane/Gagner would have generated in those 11 games, would they be 11-0? 10-1? This is the conundrum that junior teams find themselves in....everyone wants superstars, just not ones that are so good that they make the NHL before they're 20. When it happens, it can kill a team's multi-year buildup to a title run.
Still in the OHL, failed WHL overage candidate Lyon Messier (released by Kelowna 10 days ago) has landed in the OHL with the Erie Otters. What is it with the quality of overagers in the OHL - it seems like every year some guys who couldn't earn O/A spots in the WHL end up in the OHL.
And one final note here - how can things get worse for Portland? Well, having their star goaltender suspended for a lengthy period of time would qualify in that category. Kurtis Mucha engaged Seattle's Jacob DeSerres in a fight during a line brawl at 20:00 of the 3rd period of Portland's 2-0 loss to Seattle on Saturday night. There is some suggestion (although I have read nothing concrete either way) that Mucha left the bench (presumably he had been pulled for an extra attacker?) to take part in the fight. Either way, he was not in the Hawks lineup for their game on Sunday so that would seem to suggest that something might be going on. The suspension for leaving the bench to fight is minimum ten games so that would keep him out of the Hawks lineup for quite a while if it's true - and I'm not saying it is. There is also an automatic suspension for the coach of a team which has a player leave the bench, so this could cost Rich Kromm some time behind the Hawks bench as well. We'll see how the league rules.
UPDATE: in regards to the Mucha situation, I was just checking out the rules on the WHL's site and it looks like they have stricken the section which calls for a mandatory 10 game minimum suspension for players leaving the bench. The rule is still there, it's just crossed out in the WHL's rulebook. So, perhaps Mucha is not looking at a suspension of that length....for which he can consider himself lucky then since that's what the rule was for as long as I can remember.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Friday notes
Kind of a slow news day today from the looks of it....
Here's a cool story on Rockets goalie Kris Westblom. In the famous words of Reggie Dunlop, "they brought their ^&$%@*# toys with them!". I think Westblom deserves credit for even being willing to publicly admit that he collects toys, considering the amount of grief he will get from teammates (and possibly opponents too) for doing so.
And a profile on Spokane defenceman Jared Cowen, from the Saskatoon paper since the Blades are in Spokane tonight to play the Chiefs. It would be nice to see some more coverage of the U.S. teams in their local papers, beyond the standard day-after game stories. I realize high school co-ed backgammon ranks higher in the eyes of sports editors south of the 49th, but the true lack of coverage never really hit me until I started trying to find links for posting on this blog this year. The Everett Herald does a good job of covering their team, while the Spokane and Tri-City papers are OK but well below the level any of the Canadian teams get. Portland and Seattle are almost completely ignored by the media in their markets.
Back to the Blades trip for a second, p-b-p guy Les Lazaruk tells the tale of the Blades road trip in his blog. Hopefully Les is able to continue updating it regularily throughout the U.S. division jaunt.
The Oil Kings have a nice promotion for tonight's inaugural Battle Of Alberta against the Hitmen. Families can bring their packed suitcases to the rink and enter a contest which will see the winning family sent to Calgary right after the game. Besides the fact that everyone in Edmonton loves to visit Calgary, the winners also get tickets to the Flames-Oilers game tomorrow night at the Saddledome, plus accomodations in Calgary. A thought here - if the Oil Kings don't start playing better defensively than they did last weekend against Swift Current and Medicine Hat, it might be their goaltenders who need the vacation after this weekend.
The AHL seems to be following the NHL's lead in issuing tougher suspensions for hits to the head. Former WHL nutjob Dale Purinton has just been hit with a 25 game suspension for sucker-punching an unsuspecting opponent earlier this week.
Here's a cool story on Rockets goalie Kris Westblom. In the famous words of Reggie Dunlop, "they brought their ^&$%@*# toys with them!". I think Westblom deserves credit for even being willing to publicly admit that he collects toys, considering the amount of grief he will get from teammates (and possibly opponents too) for doing so.
And a profile on Spokane defenceman Jared Cowen, from the Saskatoon paper since the Blades are in Spokane tonight to play the Chiefs. It would be nice to see some more coverage of the U.S. teams in their local papers, beyond the standard day-after game stories. I realize high school co-ed backgammon ranks higher in the eyes of sports editors south of the 49th, but the true lack of coverage never really hit me until I started trying to find links for posting on this blog this year. The Everett Herald does a good job of covering their team, while the Spokane and Tri-City papers are OK but well below the level any of the Canadian teams get. Portland and Seattle are almost completely ignored by the media in their markets.
Back to the Blades trip for a second, p-b-p guy Les Lazaruk tells the tale of the Blades road trip in his blog. Hopefully Les is able to continue updating it regularily throughout the U.S. division jaunt.
The Oil Kings have a nice promotion for tonight's inaugural Battle Of Alberta against the Hitmen. Families can bring their packed suitcases to the rink and enter a contest which will see the winning family sent to Calgary right after the game. Besides the fact that everyone in Edmonton loves to visit Calgary, the winners also get tickets to the Flames-Oilers game tomorrow night at the Saddledome, plus accomodations in Calgary. A thought here - if the Oil Kings don't start playing better defensively than they did last weekend against Swift Current and Medicine Hat, it might be their goaltenders who need the vacation after this weekend.
The AHL seems to be following the NHL's lead in issuing tougher suspensions for hits to the head. Former WHL nutjob Dale Purinton has just been hit with a 25 game suspension for sucker-punching an unsuspecting opponent earlier this week.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Thursday thoughts
The Pats have a new website today. I never minded their last one, but this one is a nice look too.
Dean Clark is feeling the heat in Kamloops....after Tuesday's loss to the Americans, Clark is threatening player moves and has called out two vets by name - Travis Dunstall and C.J. Stretch. (The article will only be there for the rest of today.....you can still read it at Gregg Drinnan's blog too if you're reading this too late)
Making matters worse for Clark, at least in the short term, is the news that starting goalie Justin Leclerc has an ankle sprain and will miss the team's two-game trip into Alberta this weekend. So, the Blazers will face the Rebels (Saturday) and the Hitmen (Sunday) with two 16 year old goaltenders. James Priestner will probably start both games and will be backed up by the recently recalled Jon Groenheyde.
Speaking of goalies, Medicine Hat's rookie import goaltender Tomas Vosvrda is getting more at home with the WHL. That 5-1 record, 1.70 GAA and eye-popping .935 SV% are all the proof anyone should need that he is settling in nicely and looks like the real deal. By comparision, battery-mate Ryan Holfeld's numbers are horrible and they won't be splitting time very long at this rate.
The Edmonton Oil Kings are looking to get back on track after their disastrous road trip last weekend that saw them get blown out in Swift Current and Medicine Hat by a combined score of 16-3. Their next game, tomorrow night, is the first installment of the latest version of the Battle Of Alberta, as the Hitmen and Oil Kings tangle in the first of eight meetings this year. The Hitmen have lost three straight games after a 9-1 start so they'll be looking to get back on track as well.
From last night's results, Seattle became the last team in the WHL to lose a game in regulation time after falling 6-2 to the Bruins in Chilliwack. They did so in fine style too, getting outshot 50-15 (!!!) by the Chilliwackers. So, is Chilliwack really this good or were the Birds just really that bad last night?
And lastly, for this morning anyway, how about going back to Tuesday night in the NHL for a nifty shootout-winning goal from young L.A. Kings star Anze Kopitar? And for a chuckle, the wire service writeup of the game, obviously written by a hockey neophyte, described the goal this way: "...Kopitar shifted from forehand to backhand several times on his chance...". Uh, yeah....it's called stickhandling.
Dean Clark is feeling the heat in Kamloops....after Tuesday's loss to the Americans, Clark is threatening player moves and has called out two vets by name - Travis Dunstall and C.J. Stretch. (The article will only be there for the rest of today.....you can still read it at Gregg Drinnan's blog too if you're reading this too late)
Making matters worse for Clark, at least in the short term, is the news that starting goalie Justin Leclerc has an ankle sprain and will miss the team's two-game trip into Alberta this weekend. So, the Blazers will face the Rebels (Saturday) and the Hitmen (Sunday) with two 16 year old goaltenders. James Priestner will probably start both games and will be backed up by the recently recalled Jon Groenheyde.
Speaking of goalies, Medicine Hat's rookie import goaltender Tomas Vosvrda is getting more at home with the WHL. That 5-1 record, 1.70 GAA and eye-popping .935 SV% are all the proof anyone should need that he is settling in nicely and looks like the real deal. By comparision, battery-mate Ryan Holfeld's numbers are horrible and they won't be splitting time very long at this rate.
The Edmonton Oil Kings are looking to get back on track after their disastrous road trip last weekend that saw them get blown out in Swift Current and Medicine Hat by a combined score of 16-3. Their next game, tomorrow night, is the first installment of the latest version of the Battle Of Alberta, as the Hitmen and Oil Kings tangle in the first of eight meetings this year. The Hitmen have lost three straight games after a 9-1 start so they'll be looking to get back on track as well.
From last night's results, Seattle became the last team in the WHL to lose a game in regulation time after falling 6-2 to the Bruins in Chilliwack. They did so in fine style too, getting outshot 50-15 (!!!) by the Chilliwackers. So, is Chilliwack really this good or were the Birds just really that bad last night?
And lastly, for this morning anyway, how about going back to Tuesday night in the NHL for a nifty shootout-winning goal from young L.A. Kings star Anze Kopitar? And for a chuckle, the wire service writeup of the game, obviously written by a hockey neophyte, described the goal this way: "...Kopitar shifted from forehand to backhand several times on his chance...". Uh, yeah....it's called stickhandling.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Wednesday news
Gregg Drinnan brings this to our attention......former WHLer Jeremy Thompson (also the brother of current Oil Kings assistant coach Rocky Thompson) is now an alderman in Medicine Hat after winning a seat on their city council in Monday's municipal election. Check out his campaign website for more info. Hmm.....I wonder where he stands on one of the contentious issues of the day in Medicine Hat: the building of a new arena for the Tigers.
Another former WHLer, Brian Varga, also ran for alderman but did not win a seat. See the final election results for Medicine Hat for the vote counts if you're interested; the top eight vote-getters become the aldermen. Thompson was 7th, while Varga fell about 300 votes short and finished 10th.
Ken Petkau has told the WHL's Richard Doerksen that he is not interested in playing in the league anymore. If that is the case, then this dispute between Vancouver and Chilliwack over the conditions under which Vancouver obtained his rights can be put to bed since he'll never play for Vancouver. Doerksen will speak to Petkau again in a week to see if he has changed his mind before making a ruling on who can do what.
On Monday the WHL suspended Red Deer's J.D. Watt six games for a hit to the head of Saskatoon's Teigan Zahn; continuing what appears to be a crackdown on hits to the head, they have now suspended Regina's Colten Teubert two games for a hit to the head of Moose Jaw's Riley Holzapfel. Good to see the league taking some action on this kind of play.....the nature of the game means there are always going to be some unavoidable hits to the head and I think most everyone understands that. The problem is when players have the opportunity to avoid hitting an opponent in the head and choose to do it anyway. Or worse, deliberately go for the head, like we saw Jordin Tootoo do in that game against Phoenix last week. It truly is only a matter of time before somebody dies if there doesn't start being more respect among players for each other's health. Why can't some players be happy with a good solid shoulder-to-chest jolt instead of always trying to knock the opponent goofy with a shoulder-to-face hit?
Another former WHLer, Brian Varga, also ran for alderman but did not win a seat. See the final election results for Medicine Hat for the vote counts if you're interested; the top eight vote-getters become the aldermen. Thompson was 7th, while Varga fell about 300 votes short and finished 10th.
Ken Petkau has told the WHL's Richard Doerksen that he is not interested in playing in the league anymore. If that is the case, then this dispute between Vancouver and Chilliwack over the conditions under which Vancouver obtained his rights can be put to bed since he'll never play for Vancouver. Doerksen will speak to Petkau again in a week to see if he has changed his mind before making a ruling on who can do what.
On Monday the WHL suspended Red Deer's J.D. Watt six games for a hit to the head of Saskatoon's Teigan Zahn; continuing what appears to be a crackdown on hits to the head, they have now suspended Regina's Colten Teubert two games for a hit to the head of Moose Jaw's Riley Holzapfel. Good to see the league taking some action on this kind of play.....the nature of the game means there are always going to be some unavoidable hits to the head and I think most everyone understands that. The problem is when players have the opportunity to avoid hitting an opponent in the head and choose to do it anyway. Or worse, deliberately go for the head, like we saw Jordin Tootoo do in that game against Phoenix last week. It truly is only a matter of time before somebody dies if there doesn't start being more respect among players for each other's health. Why can't some players be happy with a good solid shoulder-to-chest jolt instead of always trying to knock the opponent goofy with a shoulder-to-face hit?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Shootout numbers
Slow day today so for fun, here's some shootout stats.....I took the results of every shootout the WHL has had since they introduced it in 05-06, and here are the all-time best shooters amongst players with at least five attempts:
Martin Hanzal: 4 for 5 = 80%
Brennan Sonne: 6 for 8 = 75%
Dustin Boyd: 4 for 6 = 66.67%
Juraj Gracik: 4 for 6 = 66.67%
Chris Ray: 4 for 6 = 66.67%
Ian McDonald: 5 for 8 = 62.5%
Daine Todd: 5 for 8 = 62.5%
Garret Festerling: 3 for 5 = 60%
Juuso Puustinen: 3 for 5 = 60%
Riley Holzapfel: 3 for 5 = 60%
Cody Almond: 3 for 5 = 60%
Nick Holden: 3 for 5 = 60%
And the worst, again amongst players with at least five attempts:
Brett Robertson: 0 for 7 = 0%
Troy Brouwer: 0 for 6 = 0%
Brad Erickson: 0 for 6 = 0%
Blake Comeau: 0 for 5 = 0%
Kirill Starkov: 0 for 5 = 0%
Dana Tyrell: 0 for 5 = 0%
Colton Sceviour: 0 for 5 = 0%
Codey Burki: 1 for 12 = 8.33%
Mitch Fadden: 1 for 10 = 10%
Andrew Clark: 1 for 9 = 11.11%
Michal Repik: 1 for 9 = 11.11%
Brandon Sutter: 1 for 8 = 12.5%
Drayson Bowman: 1 for 8 = 12.5%
Marc Desloges: 1 for 7 = 14.29%
Ryan Russell: 1 for 7 = 14.29%
Funny how some big-time snipers on that list can't score a goal in a shootout to save their lives, while a grinder like Brennan Sonne is shootout money.
And the best goalies, amongst guys who faced at least ten shots:
Devan Dubnyk: 1 goal on 15 shots = 93.33%
Joey Perricone: 4 goals on 28 shots = 85.71%
Matt Esposito: 3 goals on 20 shots = 85%
Matt Keetley: 12 goals on 50 shots = 76%
Leland Irving: 15 goals on 62 shots = 75.81%
Jesse Deckert: 11 goals on 45 shots = 75.56%
Carey Price: 7 goals on 28 shots = 75%
Anton Khudobin: 4 goals on 16 shots = 75%
Kurt Jory: 3 goals on 12 shots = 75%
And the worst, again amongst those who faced at least ten shots:
Linden Rowat: 18 goals on 36 shots = 50%
Jacob DeSerres: 5 goals on 10 shots = 50%
Dustin Tokarski: 5 goals on 10 shots = 50%
Real Cyr: 15 goals on 32 shots = 53.13%
Michael Maniago: 7 goals on 15 shots = 53.33%
Kris Lazaruk: 6 goals on 13 shots = 53.85%
Torrie Jung: 8 goals on 18 shots = 55.56%
Dustin Slade: 8 goals on 19 shots = 57.89%
Alex Archibald: 14 goals on 35 shots = 60%
Team facts.....overall, the chance of scoring a goal in a shootout attempt is 31.8% - 399 goals in 1255 attempts all-time. The team scoring rates at shootouts are:
Tri-Cities: 20 goals in 42 attempts = 47.62%
Everett: 36 goals in 86 attempts = 41.86%
Medicine Hat: 22 goals in 56 attempts = 39.29%
Spokane: 23 goals in 60 attempts = 38.33%
Saskatoon: 26 goals in 68 attempts = 38.24%
Regina: 23 goals in 62 attempts = 37.1%
Moose Jaw: 13 goals in 37 attempts = 35.14%
Lethbridge: 20 goals in 60 attempts = 33.33%
Calgary: 21 goals in 67 attempts = 31.34%
Brandon: 24 goals in 80 attempts = 30%
Chilliwack: 6 goals in 20 attempts = 30%
Kamloops: 15 goals in 51 attempts = 29.41%
Prince George: 14 goals in 48 attempts = 29.17%
Kootenay: 9 goals in 31 attempts = 29.03%
Edmonton: 2 goals in 7 attempts = 28.57%
Swift Current: 21 goals in 74 attempts = 28.38%
Portland: 17 goals in 60 attempts = 28.33%
Kelowna: 12 goals in 43 attempts = 27.91%
Prince Albert: 22 goals in 80 attempts = 27.5%
Red Deer: 16 goals in 62 attempts = 25.81%
Seattle: 22 goals in 91 attempts = 24.18%
Vancouver: 15 goals in 70 attempts = 21.43%
And the team winning percentages at shootouts are: (Seattle fans may want to avert their eyes)
Everett: 17 wins in 22 attempts = 77.27%
Moose Jaw: 8 wins in 11 attempts = 72.73%
Saskatoon: 13 wins in 18 attempts = 72.22%
Tri-Cities: 10 wins in 14 attempts = 71.43%
Chilliwack: 5 wins in 7 attempts = 71.43%
Kamloops: 8 wins in 13 attempts = 61.54%
Medicine Hat: 10 wins in 17 attempts = 58.82%
Portland: 8 wins in 15 attempts = 53.33%
Spokane: 9 wins in 17 attempts = 52.94%
Calgary: 9 wins in 17 attempts = 52.94%
Edmonton: 1 win in 2 attempts = 50%
Kelowna: 6 wins in 13 attempts = 46.15%
Swift Current: 9 wins in 20 attempts = 45%
Regina: 8 wins in 18 attempts = 44.44%
Brandon: 9 wins in 21 attempts = 42.86%
Lethbridge: 6 wins in 14 attempts = 42.86%
Prince Albert: 9 wins in 22 attempts = 40.91%
Prince George: 6 wins in 15 attempts = 40%
Kootenay: 4 wins in 10 attempts = 40%
Red Deer: 6 wins in 16 attempts = 37.5%
Vancouver: 6 wins in 20 attempts = 30%
Seattle: 5 wins in 22 attempts = 22.73%
Martin Hanzal: 4 for 5 = 80%
Brennan Sonne: 6 for 8 = 75%
Dustin Boyd: 4 for 6 = 66.67%
Juraj Gracik: 4 for 6 = 66.67%
Chris Ray: 4 for 6 = 66.67%
Ian McDonald: 5 for 8 = 62.5%
Daine Todd: 5 for 8 = 62.5%
Garret Festerling: 3 for 5 = 60%
Juuso Puustinen: 3 for 5 = 60%
Riley Holzapfel: 3 for 5 = 60%
Cody Almond: 3 for 5 = 60%
Nick Holden: 3 for 5 = 60%
And the worst, again amongst players with at least five attempts:
Brett Robertson: 0 for 7 = 0%
Troy Brouwer: 0 for 6 = 0%
Brad Erickson: 0 for 6 = 0%
Blake Comeau: 0 for 5 = 0%
Kirill Starkov: 0 for 5 = 0%
Dana Tyrell: 0 for 5 = 0%
Colton Sceviour: 0 for 5 = 0%
Codey Burki: 1 for 12 = 8.33%
Mitch Fadden: 1 for 10 = 10%
Andrew Clark: 1 for 9 = 11.11%
Michal Repik: 1 for 9 = 11.11%
Brandon Sutter: 1 for 8 = 12.5%
Drayson Bowman: 1 for 8 = 12.5%
Marc Desloges: 1 for 7 = 14.29%
Ryan Russell: 1 for 7 = 14.29%
Funny how some big-time snipers on that list can't score a goal in a shootout to save their lives, while a grinder like Brennan Sonne is shootout money.
And the best goalies, amongst guys who faced at least ten shots:
Devan Dubnyk: 1 goal on 15 shots = 93.33%
Joey Perricone: 4 goals on 28 shots = 85.71%
Matt Esposito: 3 goals on 20 shots = 85%
Matt Keetley: 12 goals on 50 shots = 76%
Leland Irving: 15 goals on 62 shots = 75.81%
Jesse Deckert: 11 goals on 45 shots = 75.56%
Carey Price: 7 goals on 28 shots = 75%
Anton Khudobin: 4 goals on 16 shots = 75%
Kurt Jory: 3 goals on 12 shots = 75%
And the worst, again amongst those who faced at least ten shots:
Linden Rowat: 18 goals on 36 shots = 50%
Jacob DeSerres: 5 goals on 10 shots = 50%
Dustin Tokarski: 5 goals on 10 shots = 50%
Real Cyr: 15 goals on 32 shots = 53.13%
Michael Maniago: 7 goals on 15 shots = 53.33%
Kris Lazaruk: 6 goals on 13 shots = 53.85%
Torrie Jung: 8 goals on 18 shots = 55.56%
Dustin Slade: 8 goals on 19 shots = 57.89%
Alex Archibald: 14 goals on 35 shots = 60%
Team facts.....overall, the chance of scoring a goal in a shootout attempt is 31.8% - 399 goals in 1255 attempts all-time. The team scoring rates at shootouts are:
Tri-Cities: 20 goals in 42 attempts = 47.62%
Everett: 36 goals in 86 attempts = 41.86%
Medicine Hat: 22 goals in 56 attempts = 39.29%
Spokane: 23 goals in 60 attempts = 38.33%
Saskatoon: 26 goals in 68 attempts = 38.24%
Regina: 23 goals in 62 attempts = 37.1%
Moose Jaw: 13 goals in 37 attempts = 35.14%
Lethbridge: 20 goals in 60 attempts = 33.33%
Calgary: 21 goals in 67 attempts = 31.34%
Brandon: 24 goals in 80 attempts = 30%
Chilliwack: 6 goals in 20 attempts = 30%
Kamloops: 15 goals in 51 attempts = 29.41%
Prince George: 14 goals in 48 attempts = 29.17%
Kootenay: 9 goals in 31 attempts = 29.03%
Edmonton: 2 goals in 7 attempts = 28.57%
Swift Current: 21 goals in 74 attempts = 28.38%
Portland: 17 goals in 60 attempts = 28.33%
Kelowna: 12 goals in 43 attempts = 27.91%
Prince Albert: 22 goals in 80 attempts = 27.5%
Red Deer: 16 goals in 62 attempts = 25.81%
Seattle: 22 goals in 91 attempts = 24.18%
Vancouver: 15 goals in 70 attempts = 21.43%
And the team winning percentages at shootouts are: (Seattle fans may want to avert their eyes)
Everett: 17 wins in 22 attempts = 77.27%
Moose Jaw: 8 wins in 11 attempts = 72.73%
Saskatoon: 13 wins in 18 attempts = 72.22%
Tri-Cities: 10 wins in 14 attempts = 71.43%
Chilliwack: 5 wins in 7 attempts = 71.43%
Kamloops: 8 wins in 13 attempts = 61.54%
Medicine Hat: 10 wins in 17 attempts = 58.82%
Portland: 8 wins in 15 attempts = 53.33%
Spokane: 9 wins in 17 attempts = 52.94%
Calgary: 9 wins in 17 attempts = 52.94%
Edmonton: 1 win in 2 attempts = 50%
Kelowna: 6 wins in 13 attempts = 46.15%
Swift Current: 9 wins in 20 attempts = 45%
Regina: 8 wins in 18 attempts = 44.44%
Brandon: 9 wins in 21 attempts = 42.86%
Lethbridge: 6 wins in 14 attempts = 42.86%
Prince Albert: 9 wins in 22 attempts = 40.91%
Prince George: 6 wins in 15 attempts = 40%
Kootenay: 4 wins in 10 attempts = 40%
Red Deer: 6 wins in 16 attempts = 37.5%
Vancouver: 6 wins in 20 attempts = 30%
Seattle: 5 wins in 22 attempts = 22.73%
Tuesday thoughts
The league has handed down judgement on Red Deer's J.D. Watt for his hit on Saskatoon's Teigan Zahn, and it's a stiff one by the usual WHL standards: six games. Seems like most WHL "supplemental discipline" suspensions are the 1 or 2 game variety, so the league must not have liked what they saw in this hit at all.
The next question I have about this situation is what is being done about the officials at the game. Watt was not even assessed a penalty on the play, but what he did was bad enough apparently to warrant a six game suspension? There has to be some accountability for why with a two-ref system either neither of them saw this incident, or neither thought it was a penalty. The refs for the game were Adam Byblow and Trevor Hrycuik; Byblow was apparently the back referee on the play (which means he should be watching for infractions away from the puck), which somehow is not surprising to me. Byblow, you may recall, was suspended by the league last November for his poor performance in a game, with the league stating that "the performance of the referee was below the expected standard of officiating in the League". Given how rare it is for a sports league to publicly acknowledge incompetence by their officials, he must have really stunk. Hopefully this latest game draws him some scrutiny as well.
And the last note on this incident goes to all the cynics who join me in wondering whether Watt would have gotten six games if Brent Sutter were still running the league. Err, I mean running the Rebels.
With no games yesterday, it's kind of a slow news day today, so for fun, I took a look back at my season predictions of just a month ago, to see how I'm doing. That's when the fun went out of it. Overall, not too bad but some of the picks are looking like real stinkers now. Ouch!
My picks for the Eastern division, from September 18:
1. Regina
2. Swift Current
3. Moose Jaw
4. Prince Albert
5. Saskatoon
6. Brandon
Current East standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Swift Current (.750)
2. Brandon (.750)
3. Regina (.636)
4. Moose Jaw (.556)
5. Saskatoon (.438)
6. Prince Albert (.333)
Obviously I grossly overestimated the Wheat Kings' decline due to rebuilding. I should have known better, I under-respected them in their last rebuilding year three years ago too. Nothing else seems too terribly off although I definitely expected the Raiders to be better than .333. I thought for sure they'd have better than the 2nd-worst offence in the league.
My picks for the Central division, from September 19:
1. Calgary
2. Medicine Hat
3. Lethbridge
4. Kootenay
5. Red Deer
6. Edmonton
Current Central standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Medicine Hat (.773)
2. Calgary (.731)
3. Edmonton (.500)
4. Lethbridge (.450)
5. Red Deer (.409)
6. Kootenay (.292)
Really, really underestimated how much the Ice would struggle. I thought they would have a chance to fight with Medicine Hat and Lethbridge for 2nd-3rd-4th. A team with this many veteran players could not be this bad after finishing 2nd last year, could they? As it is now, they may have to fight to avoid the basement.
My picks for the B.C. division, from September 20:
1. Kamloops
2. Vancouver
3. Chilliwack
4. Kelowna
5. Prince George
Current B.C. standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Vancouver (.800)
2. Chilliwack (.700)
3. Kamloops (.500)
3. Kelowna (.500)
5. Prince George (.222)
I thought Chilliwack would be improved over last year but no way did I think they'd be at .700 at this point. And Kamloops is a bit off a lot of people's expectations as well.
My picks for the U.S. division, from September 20:
1. Everett
2. Seattle
3. Spokane
4. Tri-City
5. Portland
Current U.S. standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Seattle (.833)
2. Tri-City (.700)
3. Spokane (.667)
4. Everett (.444)
5. Portland (.111)
Everett is the big surprise here, and not in a good way. So many 3 and 4-year vets on that team too, how can they be having this much trouble? Surely Peter Mueller can't be the only reason....and I picked them first even with the expectation that Mueller would not return. They might be missing Constantine a lot more than I gave him credit for. Tri-City is also doing a fair bit better than I expected, while Portland is a lot worse. I mean, I know I picked Portland for last so right now that one is actually bang-on but I thought they'd be better than .111 this year. Worst offence in the league and 3rd-worst defence. Yikes!
The next question I have about this situation is what is being done about the officials at the game. Watt was not even assessed a penalty on the play, but what he did was bad enough apparently to warrant a six game suspension? There has to be some accountability for why with a two-ref system either neither of them saw this incident, or neither thought it was a penalty. The refs for the game were Adam Byblow and Trevor Hrycuik; Byblow was apparently the back referee on the play (which means he should be watching for infractions away from the puck), which somehow is not surprising to me. Byblow, you may recall, was suspended by the league last November for his poor performance in a game, with the league stating that "the performance of the referee was below the expected standard of officiating in the League". Given how rare it is for a sports league to publicly acknowledge incompetence by their officials, he must have really stunk. Hopefully this latest game draws him some scrutiny as well.
And the last note on this incident goes to all the cynics who join me in wondering whether Watt would have gotten six games if Brent Sutter were still running the league. Err, I mean running the Rebels.
With no games yesterday, it's kind of a slow news day today, so for fun, I took a look back at my season predictions of just a month ago, to see how I'm doing. That's when the fun went out of it. Overall, not too bad but some of the picks are looking like real stinkers now. Ouch!
My picks for the Eastern division, from September 18:
1. Regina
2. Swift Current
3. Moose Jaw
4. Prince Albert
5. Saskatoon
6. Brandon
Current East standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Swift Current (.750)
2. Brandon (.750)
3. Regina (.636)
4. Moose Jaw (.556)
5. Saskatoon (.438)
6. Prince Albert (.333)
Obviously I grossly overestimated the Wheat Kings' decline due to rebuilding. I should have known better, I under-respected them in their last rebuilding year three years ago too. Nothing else seems too terribly off although I definitely expected the Raiders to be better than .333. I thought for sure they'd have better than the 2nd-worst offence in the league.
My picks for the Central division, from September 19:
1. Calgary
2. Medicine Hat
3. Lethbridge
4. Kootenay
5. Red Deer
6. Edmonton
Current Central standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Medicine Hat (.773)
2. Calgary (.731)
3. Edmonton (.500)
4. Lethbridge (.450)
5. Red Deer (.409)
6. Kootenay (.292)
Really, really underestimated how much the Ice would struggle. I thought they would have a chance to fight with Medicine Hat and Lethbridge for 2nd-3rd-4th. A team with this many veteran players could not be this bad after finishing 2nd last year, could they? As it is now, they may have to fight to avoid the basement.
My picks for the B.C. division, from September 20:
1. Kamloops
2. Vancouver
3. Chilliwack
4. Kelowna
5. Prince George
Current B.C. standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Vancouver (.800)
2. Chilliwack (.700)
3. Kamloops (.500)
3. Kelowna (.500)
5. Prince George (.222)
I thought Chilliwack would be improved over last year but no way did I think they'd be at .700 at this point. And Kamloops is a bit off a lot of people's expectations as well.
My picks for the U.S. division, from September 20:
1. Everett
2. Seattle
3. Spokane
4. Tri-City
5. Portland
Current U.S. standings (using winning % to smooth out differences in games played):
1. Seattle (.833)
2. Tri-City (.700)
3. Spokane (.667)
4. Everett (.444)
5. Portland (.111)
Everett is the big surprise here, and not in a good way. So many 3 and 4-year vets on that team too, how can they be having this much trouble? Surely Peter Mueller can't be the only reason....and I picked them first even with the expectation that Mueller would not return. They might be missing Constantine a lot more than I gave him credit for. Tri-City is also doing a fair bit better than I expected, while Portland is a lot worse. I mean, I know I picked Portland for last so right now that one is actually bang-on but I thought they'd be better than .111 this year. Worst offence in the league and 3rd-worst defence. Yikes!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Giants/Raiders deal
Prince Albert sends 18 year old defenceman Justin Palazzo to Vancouver for a 6th round bantam pick.
For the Raiders, the deal washes their hands of a first-round bantam bust. To get only a 6th round pick for Palazzo shows his progression since being drafted hasn't been as good as was obviously projected on draft day.
For the Raiders, the deal washes their hands of a first-round bantam bust. To get only a 6th round pick for Palazzo shows his progression since being drafted hasn't been as good as was obviously projected on draft day.
Monday notes
Still keeping an eye on that Ken Petkau situation between Chilliwack and Vancouver. Something just smells bad about this whole situation. According to the Vancouver Province's Steve Ewen, Giants players were talking about there being more to the situation back on the day the Bruins announced Petkau had retired. Now, how could any Giants players know that unless some of them know Petkau (no surprise there, almost everyone in the league has friends on other teams) and knew he wasn't planning on retiring at all? Then it turns out Petkau showed up to Bruins camp out of shape and played so poorly to start the year that he was dropped to the 3rd line; it almost makes you think he wanted out, doesn't it? And now Petkau is saying he quit the Bruins because they didn't get him an NHL tryout like they apparently promised him; the Bruins are saying that they tried but no NHL team was interested in him; plus, they point out that since he showed up out of shape, he wasn't very serious about an NHL tryout in the first place. And now, finally, the Giants say that Petkau is eager to play for them. More on this story here, including the revelation that Petkau should probably consider finding a new agent....like one who knows the basic rules about player rights transfers between the CHL and the minor pros.
The league has ruled that Petkau's rights belong to the Giants, but they will not allow him to play for the Giants until the league can talk to Petkau personally about the situation. Got to make sure this is all on the up-and-up and not a planned-behind-the-scenes situation between Petkau and the Giants, or at least Petkau and some Giants players?
To me, I don't understand why the league doesn't get around this kind of thing by allowing teams to keep the rights of retired players without having them count against the 50 player protected list. Teams actually own the rights to more than 50 players at a time, but some of them don't count because the league has a bunch of alternate player lists such as the 60 day injured list, the College list, and the "Special" list for WHL-eligible players in the NHL/AHL, or Imports who never showed up, etc. Why not add another list, a "Retired" list for players who are no longer playing hockey? That way the Bruins could have simply transferred Petkau's rights to that list and he would have been unable to be picked up by the Giants. End of problem.
For what its worth, the Bruins can't be too unhappy about the situation since Petkau's departure enabled them to pick up Brandon Campos from Everett. In five games, Campos has four goals and six points. He is easily making up whatever offence Petkau (who probably would have been good for about 55-60 points on the season if he were motivated to do so) would have provided. Best of all, Campos was free, so they didn't even have to give up anything to get him either.
Rebels overager J.D. Watt has been suspended indefinitely by the WHL for what was apparently a high hit to the head on Blades defenceman Teigan Zahn on Friday night that has left Zahn with a concussion. Watt has already sat out the Rebels games on Saturday and Sunday since the WHL doesn't do business on those days and so suspension decisions have to wait until after the weekend. How goofy is it that a league which plays 462 out of 792 games (that's 58% of its schedule) on Friday and Saturday nights doesn't do business on Saturdays and Sundays? If you get a match penalty on a Friday night, you're suspended until the league gets around to reviewing it on Monday. If it was an unwarranted call, you could have sat out two games for no reason.
Back to the hit though; not having seen it, I can't comment on what happened, but if it was another deliberate hit to the head then I'd like to see the WHL start getting tougher on the offenders. We'll see what the league has to say about it when they hand down their ruling, probably today or tomorrow.
In a nice finish to the Rebels/Blades game though, the entire Blades team - including coach/GM Lorne Molleken - shaved their heads at center ice after the game, to raise money for breast cancer research.
More Regina-Moose Jaw rivalry antics last night. The highlight was Moose Jaw goalie Joey Perricone spearing Pats forward Kirt Hill after Hill had just fought Ryan Stanton and was being escorted to the penalty box by the officials. How stupid do you have to be to spear a guy while he's being escorted by a linesman? There was 9 minutes left in the game and the Warriors lead 4-0; a spearing double-minor could have given the Pats a chance to score a couple quick powerplay goals and it's a different game. Not a veteran move at all.
Are the Oil Kings finally coming down to the level of an expansion team? After 7 points in their first five games, the newcomers have just two points in their last four games and - more tellingly - have been outscored 24-8 in those games. Those are worse than 06-07 Portland GF/GA numbers. Kings goalie Dalyn Flette has given up 8 goals on 23 shots in just over 30 minutes of play in those four games and now owns a 6.98 GAA and .807 sv%. If those numbers don't get better, his stay in the WHL is ticking away quickly.
And lastly, many of us could not understand the Hurricanes' decision to release Yashar Farmanara in favour of Mike Wuchterl at the overage deadline on Thursday. Farmanara wasn't out of the league long though, as the Hurricanes' rival Medicine Hat Tigers picked him up on Friday and had him in the lineup Friday night against - yup, the Hurricanes. He had an assist and was a +2 in the Tigers' 3-2 win over the team that cast him off 24 hours earlier in favour of a third 20 year old 4th-liner. In the rematch on Sunday night, he had a goal in a 4-3 Tigers win. And in-between, he had a goal and an assist and a +1 in a 6-2 Tigers win over the Oil Kings. Not a bad debut weekend: three games, three wins (two over the team that just cut you), with 2g, 2a, and a +3. After just this weekend, he now has twice as many points for the Tigers as Wuchterl, Wiens, and Dietrich combined have for Lethbridge this year. They're a combined two points and -7 in 20 games. We often don't know the whole story behind these moves but on the surface, Hurricanes G.M. Ray Stasiuk's overage choices this year are looking just a little bit.....uh, stupid?
The league has ruled that Petkau's rights belong to the Giants, but they will not allow him to play for the Giants until the league can talk to Petkau personally about the situation. Got to make sure this is all on the up-and-up and not a planned-behind-the-scenes situation between Petkau and the Giants, or at least Petkau and some Giants players?
To me, I don't understand why the league doesn't get around this kind of thing by allowing teams to keep the rights of retired players without having them count against the 50 player protected list. Teams actually own the rights to more than 50 players at a time, but some of them don't count because the league has a bunch of alternate player lists such as the 60 day injured list, the College list, and the "Special" list for WHL-eligible players in the NHL/AHL, or Imports who never showed up, etc. Why not add another list, a "Retired" list for players who are no longer playing hockey? That way the Bruins could have simply transferred Petkau's rights to that list and he would have been unable to be picked up by the Giants. End of problem.
For what its worth, the Bruins can't be too unhappy about the situation since Petkau's departure enabled them to pick up Brandon Campos from Everett. In five games, Campos has four goals and six points. He is easily making up whatever offence Petkau (who probably would have been good for about 55-60 points on the season if he were motivated to do so) would have provided. Best of all, Campos was free, so they didn't even have to give up anything to get him either.
Rebels overager J.D. Watt has been suspended indefinitely by the WHL for what was apparently a high hit to the head on Blades defenceman Teigan Zahn on Friday night that has left Zahn with a concussion. Watt has already sat out the Rebels games on Saturday and Sunday since the WHL doesn't do business on those days and so suspension decisions have to wait until after the weekend. How goofy is it that a league which plays 462 out of 792 games (that's 58% of its schedule) on Friday and Saturday nights doesn't do business on Saturdays and Sundays? If you get a match penalty on a Friday night, you're suspended until the league gets around to reviewing it on Monday. If it was an unwarranted call, you could have sat out two games for no reason.
Back to the hit though; not having seen it, I can't comment on what happened, but if it was another deliberate hit to the head then I'd like to see the WHL start getting tougher on the offenders. We'll see what the league has to say about it when they hand down their ruling, probably today or tomorrow.
In a nice finish to the Rebels/Blades game though, the entire Blades team - including coach/GM Lorne Molleken - shaved their heads at center ice after the game, to raise money for breast cancer research.
More Regina-Moose Jaw rivalry antics last night. The highlight was Moose Jaw goalie Joey Perricone spearing Pats forward Kirt Hill after Hill had just fought Ryan Stanton and was being escorted to the penalty box by the officials. How stupid do you have to be to spear a guy while he's being escorted by a linesman? There was 9 minutes left in the game and the Warriors lead 4-0; a spearing double-minor could have given the Pats a chance to score a couple quick powerplay goals and it's a different game. Not a veteran move at all.
Are the Oil Kings finally coming down to the level of an expansion team? After 7 points in their first five games, the newcomers have just two points in their last four games and - more tellingly - have been outscored 24-8 in those games. Those are worse than 06-07 Portland GF/GA numbers. Kings goalie Dalyn Flette has given up 8 goals on 23 shots in just over 30 minutes of play in those four games and now owns a 6.98 GAA and .807 sv%. If those numbers don't get better, his stay in the WHL is ticking away quickly.
And lastly, many of us could not understand the Hurricanes' decision to release Yashar Farmanara in favour of Mike Wuchterl at the overage deadline on Thursday. Farmanara wasn't out of the league long though, as the Hurricanes' rival Medicine Hat Tigers picked him up on Friday and had him in the lineup Friday night against - yup, the Hurricanes. He had an assist and was a +2 in the Tigers' 3-2 win over the team that cast him off 24 hours earlier in favour of a third 20 year old 4th-liner. In the rematch on Sunday night, he had a goal in a 4-3 Tigers win. And in-between, he had a goal and an assist and a +1 in a 6-2 Tigers win over the Oil Kings. Not a bad debut weekend: three games, three wins (two over the team that just cut you), with 2g, 2a, and a +3. After just this weekend, he now has twice as many points for the Tigers as Wuchterl, Wiens, and Dietrich combined have for Lethbridge this year. They're a combined two points and -7 in 20 games. We often don't know the whole story behind these moves but on the surface, Hurricanes G.M. Ray Stasiuk's overage choices this year are looking just a little bit.....uh, stupid?
Friday, October 12, 2007
Friday news
The Raiders lost yet another player yesterday when tough guy defenceman Cody Vann left the team for "personal reasons". I'll take a wild guess and say the "personal reasons" are related to the fact that he has been scratched for five of the first nine games under Bruno Campese after being a lineup regular last year for Peter Anholt.
Vann is the third player to voluntarily decide to leave the Raiders this year. Shane Malone and Cole Penner were the other two. Vann is one of the tougher kids in the league and if the Raiders are interested in trading him, I'm sure somebody out there will be interested.
The Ken Petkau situation will only add fuel to the Giants/Bruins rivalry. Petkau tells the Bruins he is retiring last week and so they release him. Vancouver seizes the opportunity and adds him yesterday (after releasing Mike Wuchterl to make room), hoping he can score 30 goals for them. Turns out the Giants haven't even spoken to Petkau about playing for them but they're hoping they can persuade him. In another twist though, Petkau is currently in Oklahoma City trying out for the Central Hockey League's Blazers, which seems to fly in the face of his statement to the Bruins that he was going to get out of hockey and move on with his life. Even better, the Giants had to call the Central League and request that Petkau not be allowed to try out for the Oklahoma City Blazers, presumably because he wasn't released from the WHL. And then there's the angle which has the Giants doing this as revenge for what the Bruins did a year ago when they claimed Chad Scharff after the Giants were forced to release him at the overage deadline. The Giants subsequently ran into problems with Dustin Slade, cut Slade and tried to reacquire Scharff, but couldn't make a deal with the Bruins. Articles on this many-faceted story here and here.
Speaking of Wuchterl, I'm still puzzled about Lethbridge's decision to release a guy (Yashar Farmanara) who scored 46 points last year in favour of a guy (Wuchterl) who doesn't have that many in his career. I realize that Wuchterl brings things to the team other than scoring prowess, but do the Canes really have enough forward depth that they can use three overage forward spots on three guys with a combined 79 points in 529 career games? Oh, can't forget the 577 PIM from Wiens & Wuchterl. I know they have the big line of Boychuk-King-Fadden which is going to score a hundred goals this year but it's kinda thin on the forward ranks on that team after that and that's where you'd hope that three decent overagers might provide a little secondary scoring. Tough to do that from the penalty box or the bench which is where Wuchterl and Wiens will be a lot. And Dietrich is pointless and a -4 after 8 games this year; did they even release the right guy? I have to think Farmanara will be back in the WHL somewhere by the end of the year, unless of course he doesn't want to be.
Oil Kings G.M. Bob Green faces his old team, Medicine Hat, for the first time tomorrow night. And for the team, it's their first visit to two of the classic old barns in the league, something which has apparently interested the Edmonton media for some reason despite the fact that most of the Oil Kings players have played in Swift Current and Medicine Hat's rinks before with other teams.
Want to get Saskatoon defenceman John Flatters off his game? Make the pre-game meal something with cranberries.
Still with the Blades, they couldn't be happier with the progress of their two 16 year olds this year. Stefan Elliott and Curtis Hamilton should be very good players for several years to come.
If you said before the season that three weeks into the year the league's scoring leader would be Kruise Reddick (who?), then you're looking like a pretty smart person today. But I'm pretty sure nobody predicted that, including Reddick himself.
Prince George rookie Ryan Kowalski isn't just impressing his coaches, he's making his dad proud.
Chilliwack forward Mark Santorelli is a superstitious guy leading up to games.
Seattle forward Jim O'Brien is familiar with one of his new T-Birds teammates, Thomas Hickey. When they were 12, Hickey nailed O'Brien's dad between the eyes with a puck at a tournament in Winnipeg.
And lastly, back to the NHL cheapshots again but with a WHL twist this time. Former Brandon pest Jordin Tootoo was despised by many fans around the league, who will no doubt enjoy this clip from last night's NHL action which shows Tootoo getting clotheslined by former Kootenay Ice defenceman Craig Wellar. Wellar will no doubt get a few games off for the incident, but when is the league going to do something about Tootoo? Watch what he did to Daniel Winnik that prompted Wellar's retaliation - he takes a 40-foot run at a player who can't see him coming, then makes sure to raise his shoulder to deliberately catch Winnik in the head. These are the kind of deliberate head shots that the league needs to do away with; it wasn't enough for Tootoo to charge Winnik (he takes about 6 or 7 strides into the hit), he wasn't satisfied with a good shoulder-to-chest hit, he had to go for the head.
UPDATE: TSN's Bob McKenzie has weighed in on the Tootoo hit as well.
Vann is the third player to voluntarily decide to leave the Raiders this year. Shane Malone and Cole Penner were the other two. Vann is one of the tougher kids in the league and if the Raiders are interested in trading him, I'm sure somebody out there will be interested.
The Ken Petkau situation will only add fuel to the Giants/Bruins rivalry. Petkau tells the Bruins he is retiring last week and so they release him. Vancouver seizes the opportunity and adds him yesterday (after releasing Mike Wuchterl to make room), hoping he can score 30 goals for them. Turns out the Giants haven't even spoken to Petkau about playing for them but they're hoping they can persuade him. In another twist though, Petkau is currently in Oklahoma City trying out for the Central Hockey League's Blazers, which seems to fly in the face of his statement to the Bruins that he was going to get out of hockey and move on with his life. Even better, the Giants had to call the Central League and request that Petkau not be allowed to try out for the Oklahoma City Blazers, presumably because he wasn't released from the WHL. And then there's the angle which has the Giants doing this as revenge for what the Bruins did a year ago when they claimed Chad Scharff after the Giants were forced to release him at the overage deadline. The Giants subsequently ran into problems with Dustin Slade, cut Slade and tried to reacquire Scharff, but couldn't make a deal with the Bruins. Articles on this many-faceted story here and here.
Speaking of Wuchterl, I'm still puzzled about Lethbridge's decision to release a guy (Yashar Farmanara) who scored 46 points last year in favour of a guy (Wuchterl) who doesn't have that many in his career. I realize that Wuchterl brings things to the team other than scoring prowess, but do the Canes really have enough forward depth that they can use three overage forward spots on three guys with a combined 79 points in 529 career games? Oh, can't forget the 577 PIM from Wiens & Wuchterl. I know they have the big line of Boychuk-King-Fadden which is going to score a hundred goals this year but it's kinda thin on the forward ranks on that team after that and that's where you'd hope that three decent overagers might provide a little secondary scoring. Tough to do that from the penalty box or the bench which is where Wuchterl and Wiens will be a lot. And Dietrich is pointless and a -4 after 8 games this year; did they even release the right guy? I have to think Farmanara will be back in the WHL somewhere by the end of the year, unless of course he doesn't want to be.
Oil Kings G.M. Bob Green faces his old team, Medicine Hat, for the first time tomorrow night. And for the team, it's their first visit to two of the classic old barns in the league, something which has apparently interested the Edmonton media for some reason despite the fact that most of the Oil Kings players have played in Swift Current and Medicine Hat's rinks before with other teams.
Want to get Saskatoon defenceman John Flatters off his game? Make the pre-game meal something with cranberries.
Still with the Blades, they couldn't be happier with the progress of their two 16 year olds this year. Stefan Elliott and Curtis Hamilton should be very good players for several years to come.
If you said before the season that three weeks into the year the league's scoring leader would be Kruise Reddick (who?), then you're looking like a pretty smart person today. But I'm pretty sure nobody predicted that, including Reddick himself.
Prince George rookie Ryan Kowalski isn't just impressing his coaches, he's making his dad proud.
Chilliwack forward Mark Santorelli is a superstitious guy leading up to games.
Seattle forward Jim O'Brien is familiar with one of his new T-Birds teammates, Thomas Hickey. When they were 12, Hickey nailed O'Brien's dad between the eyes with a puck at a tournament in Winnipeg.
And lastly, back to the NHL cheapshots again but with a WHL twist this time. Former Brandon pest Jordin Tootoo was despised by many fans around the league, who will no doubt enjoy this clip from last night's NHL action which shows Tootoo getting clotheslined by former Kootenay Ice defenceman Craig Wellar. Wellar will no doubt get a few games off for the incident, but when is the league going to do something about Tootoo? Watch what he did to Daniel Winnik that prompted Wellar's retaliation - he takes a 40-foot run at a player who can't see him coming, then makes sure to raise his shoulder to deliberately catch Winnik in the head. These are the kind of deliberate head shots that the league needs to do away with; it wasn't enough for Tootoo to charge Winnik (he takes about 6 or 7 strides into the hit), he wasn't satisfied with a good shoulder-to-chest hit, he had to go for the head.
UPDATE: TSN's Bob McKenzie has weighed in on the Tootoo hit as well.
Friday morning rant
The WHL's problem with being unable to keep fans informed continues this morning. Yesterday Kelowna released Lyon Messier and Saskatoon released Michael Kaye and Curtis Patterson, yet nothing to that effect can be found anywhere on the WHL site, the Rockets site, or the Blades site. Indeed, all three sites still have those players listed in the roster sections as well, as of 8:30am MDT anyway. It is now the following day, and Michael Kaye is actually in Oklahoma right now trying out for the CHL's Oklahoma City Blazers (thanks to Gregg Drinnan for that) but as far as the WHL and the Blades would have us believe, he is still with the Blades and the Blades will be permitted to use five overagers for the forseeable future.
Some people in this league just don't give a shit about keeping fans informed and never have. Certainly there are some teams and individuals who are exceptions, but the league office is particularily bad. Not issuing a press release about the overage decisions in these two cities is bad enough, but it would have taken about 30 seconds out of someone's day to update the rosters on the websites and that was too much to ask as well.
A hundred years ago, getting news a few days (or more) after the event was the standard. There was no means for getting news out any quicker to the people who wanted to hear it. But this is the 21st century and the internet is the greatest information dissemination tool ever invented, allowing instantaneous worldwide transmission. But the league doesn't use this to their advantage, because they don't understand the desire by fans to have this information. Some of us care, damn it! We're not all part-time fans who are content to read a weekly roundup of league happenings in the local fishwrap. Start taking the job of keeping fans informed seriously. Don't make a big deal about overage deadline day and then not bother telling us which four and five year veteran players some teams released.
UPDATE: As of 9am MDT, a Blades employee has taken the 30 seconds and updated the roster on their website to remove Kaye & Patterson. Still no press release, although p-b-p guy Les Lazaruk confirms it in his blog on the site. The Rockets site and the WHL site still have nothing about Messier or Kaye/Patterson, and still have them on the rosters.
Some people in this league just don't give a shit about keeping fans informed and never have. Certainly there are some teams and individuals who are exceptions, but the league office is particularily bad. Not issuing a press release about the overage decisions in these two cities is bad enough, but it would have taken about 30 seconds out of someone's day to update the rosters on the websites and that was too much to ask as well.
A hundred years ago, getting news a few days (or more) after the event was the standard. There was no means for getting news out any quicker to the people who wanted to hear it. But this is the 21st century and the internet is the greatest information dissemination tool ever invented, allowing instantaneous worldwide transmission. But the league doesn't use this to their advantage, because they don't understand the desire by fans to have this information. Some of us care, damn it! We're not all part-time fans who are content to read a weekly roundup of league happenings in the local fishwrap. Start taking the job of keeping fans informed seriously. Don't make a big deal about overage deadline day and then not bother telling us which four and five year veteran players some teams released.
UPDATE: As of 9am MDT, a Blades employee has taken the 30 seconds and updated the roster on their website to remove Kaye & Patterson. Still no press release, although p-b-p guy Les Lazaruk confirms it in his blog on the site. The Rockets site and the WHL site still have nothing about Messier or Kaye/Patterson, and still have them on the rosters.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Overage moves
First move is made: Brandon trades defenceman Mark Louis to Red Deer for a 2009 3rd round pick. Great move for the Rebels, I think. Louis is a steady veteran defenceman which the Rebels can really use, and he is from Ponoka which is only 30 minutes or so from Red Deer so he gets the added bonus of playing at home.
UPDATE: Have I mentioned lately how useless the WHL is at getting info out? If not, let me do that now. They put out this release detailing the results of the overage dispersal draft, which nicely informs us that Vancouver filled their open spot by adding Ken Petkau (maybe he decided to un-retire, that is going to piss off the rival Bruins), and that Lethbridge added Mike Wuchterl and released Yashar Farmanara (guess the Canes really needed to use two overage spots on limited-talent tough guys).
But, not a word on what happened in Kelowna or Saskatoon, where the Rockets had to release one of Brady Leavold, James McEwan, Lyon Messier, and Kris Westblom, and the Blades had to release two of Chris Durand, John Flatters, Ondrej Fiala, Michael Kaye, and Curtis Patterson.
Those players must have been released by now, but neither the league (in their supposed wrap-up press release) nor the team websites (as of 4:15pm MDT) have seen fit to tell anyone who they are. They even say at the bottom, "All other 20-year-olds who were available but not selected in the cut-down draft now become free agents". Well, why the f*#@ don't you tell us who they are? Your fingers were tired from typing the first three paragraphs? What a little-league operation.
UPDATE: Have I mentioned lately how useless the WHL is at getting info out? If not, let me do that now. They put out this release detailing the results of the overage dispersal draft, which nicely informs us that Vancouver filled their open spot by adding Ken Petkau (maybe he decided to un-retire, that is going to piss off the rival Bruins), and that Lethbridge added Mike Wuchterl and released Yashar Farmanara (guess the Canes really needed to use two overage spots on limited-talent tough guys).
But, not a word on what happened in Kelowna or Saskatoon, where the Rockets had to release one of Brady Leavold, James McEwan, Lyon Messier, and Kris Westblom, and the Blades had to release two of Chris Durand, John Flatters, Ondrej Fiala, Michael Kaye, and Curtis Patterson.
Those players must have been released by now, but neither the league (in their supposed wrap-up press release) nor the team websites (as of 4:15pm MDT) have seen fit to tell anyone who they are. They even say at the bottom, "All other 20-year-olds who were available but not selected in the cut-down draft now become free agents". Well, why the f*#@ don't you tell us who they are? Your fingers were tired from typing the first three paragraphs? What a little-league operation.
Thursday thoughts
Today is overage deadline day, which means that by the end of the day, Brandon, Kelowna and Saskatoon will have had to trade or release one, one and two overagers, respectively. Everett also has too many but they have David Reekie on the 60-day injured list so they'll get some more time before having to make a decision.
Biggest news of the day in the WHL yesterday was probably that the league has approved the sale of the Kamloops Blazers to a group headed by Vancouver businessman Tom Gagliardi and also including a whack of NHLers, all former Blazers who want to "return the team to its glory years", or some such PR quote. They can start doing that today now, and they have not given Dean Clark a vote of confidence as coach/GM so Clark better hope the team starts playing better than they have so far this year.
Couple more moves in the WHL yesterday; the Raiders have reassigned two 18 year olds to Jr A, defenceman Colin Scherger and goaltender David Aime. Aime was last year's backup but lost his job this year to rookie Steven Stanford and overager Dustin Butler. The move means that neither of the two goalies that the Raiders started 06-07 with - Aime and Tyler Esau - are in the WHL anymore. And in another twist on that, Scherger is the player they got from Seattle when they traded Esau last year.
The other move yesterday was Red Deer releasing forward Tyler Halladay.
The Pats' snipers got a close-up look at some snipers of a different sort yesterday when they spent the afternoon with some members of the Regina Police SWAT team. One of the SWAT instructors was former WHLer Darren McKechnie, and the visit was set up by Pats assistant coach (and Regina police officer) Todd Strueby. If I'm not mistaken, Pats forward Matt Strueby is Todd's son too.
I always like to see stories like this. Blades coach Lorne Molleken and a bunch of the Blades players will shave their heads at centre ice in a fundraiser for breast cancer research after tomorrow night's game against Red Deer.
More WHL news later, as the overage moves are made.
And it's not WHL, but the NHL has another head-shot-slash-intent-to-injure PR problem on its hands this morning.....the Flyers' Jesse Boulerice is in trouble after cross-checking Ryan Kesler of the Canucks in the head last night. You can see the YouTube video here. It looks to me like he actually broke that composite stick in half over Kesler's face. Expect to see Boulerice get a double-digit suspension and for the Flyers to be a better team while he's gone. Actually, expect Boulerice to return to the minors where he belongs after the suspension, since he got zero support from his teammates and coaches after the game. Boulerice is a talentless meathead and what's worse, this isn't the first time he has taken a stick to somebody's head; some of you might remember back to an OHL incident in 1998 when Boulerice was charged with aggravated assault after clubbing Guelph forward Andrew Long to the ice from behind with his stick. He was suspended one full year by the OHL for that incident; hopefully that is something the NHL will take into consideration here but their past practice is to ignore incidents that didn't happen in their jurisdiction, unfortunately.
Biggest news of the day in the WHL yesterday was probably that the league has approved the sale of the Kamloops Blazers to a group headed by Vancouver businessman Tom Gagliardi and also including a whack of NHLers, all former Blazers who want to "return the team to its glory years", or some such PR quote. They can start doing that today now, and they have not given Dean Clark a vote of confidence as coach/GM so Clark better hope the team starts playing better than they have so far this year.
Couple more moves in the WHL yesterday; the Raiders have reassigned two 18 year olds to Jr A, defenceman Colin Scherger and goaltender David Aime. Aime was last year's backup but lost his job this year to rookie Steven Stanford and overager Dustin Butler. The move means that neither of the two goalies that the Raiders started 06-07 with - Aime and Tyler Esau - are in the WHL anymore. And in another twist on that, Scherger is the player they got from Seattle when they traded Esau last year.
The other move yesterday was Red Deer releasing forward Tyler Halladay.
The Pats' snipers got a close-up look at some snipers of a different sort yesterday when they spent the afternoon with some members of the Regina Police SWAT team. One of the SWAT instructors was former WHLer Darren McKechnie, and the visit was set up by Pats assistant coach (and Regina police officer) Todd Strueby. If I'm not mistaken, Pats forward Matt Strueby is Todd's son too.
I always like to see stories like this. Blades coach Lorne Molleken and a bunch of the Blades players will shave their heads at centre ice in a fundraiser for breast cancer research after tomorrow night's game against Red Deer.
More WHL news later, as the overage moves are made.
And it's not WHL, but the NHL has another head-shot-slash-intent-to-injure PR problem on its hands this morning.....the Flyers' Jesse Boulerice is in trouble after cross-checking Ryan Kesler of the Canucks in the head last night. You can see the YouTube video here. It looks to me like he actually broke that composite stick in half over Kesler's face. Expect to see Boulerice get a double-digit suspension and for the Flyers to be a better team while he's gone. Actually, expect Boulerice to return to the minors where he belongs after the suspension, since he got zero support from his teammates and coaches after the game. Boulerice is a talentless meathead and what's worse, this isn't the first time he has taken a stick to somebody's head; some of you might remember back to an OHL incident in 1998 when Boulerice was charged with aggravated assault after clubbing Guelph forward Andrew Long to the ice from behind with his stick. He was suspended one full year by the OHL for that incident; hopefully that is something the NHL will take into consideration here but their past practice is to ignore incidents that didn't happen in their jurisdiction, unfortunately.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
More trades
Minor deal this morning as Everett ships 19 year old forward Morgan MacLean to Prince George for unknown compensation.
Vancouver and Swift Current have swung a deal as well, with '90 forward Phil Gervais going to the Giants from the Broncos for a 2008 3rd round pick.
And in a third deal, the Hitmen have traded '89 forward Ryan Letts to the Chiefs for a 2008 6th round pick.
Vancouver and Swift Current have swung a deal as well, with '90 forward Phil Gervais going to the Giants from the Broncos for a 2008 3rd round pick.
And in a third deal, the Hitmen have traded '89 forward Ryan Letts to the Chiefs for a 2008 6th round pick.
Overage picture
More movement on the overage front yesterday as the Giants have released agitator forward Mike Wuchterl. Expect more movement today and tomorrow as teams try to settle on their three players by tomorrow's deadline.
Chilliwack, Edmonton, Kamloops, Kootenay, Lethbridge, Moose Jaw, Portland, Prince Albert, Prince George, Seattle, Spokane, Swift Current, and Tri-City are all at three O/A's already. Calgary, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Regina, and Vancouver are all at just two and could add another one if they wanted to. Regina is probably going to hold their spot for the possible return of Myles Stoesz from the pros, while Red Deer will probably wait and see if either Brett Sutter or Kirill Starkov make their way back from the pros too. Medicine Hat also has a ton of 87's away at AHL/ECHL camps so they may want to wait and hope for an unexpected return (Gord Baldwin? David Schlemko?) as well. That may only leave Calgary and Vancouver as possible destinations for surplus players.
Four teams - Brandon, Everett, Kelowna, and Saskatoon - have too many players and need to make some moves. Everett will probably get some extra time to make their decision since one of their players, David Reekie, is currently on the 60 day injured list with mononucleosis. They will be allowed to wait until he comes off the injured list to declare their three. This is actually a case where getting mono might be one of the best things that ever happened to Reekie's career since this buys him another three or four weeks, by which time another team in the league may have finally realized they need a goaltending upgrade and may be willing to trade for him when Everett finally makes him available. Either that or if things don't turn around in Everett in the next few weeks, the Tips may decide that Leland Irving and his .876 sv% is the one to be dealt, and Reekie sticks as the Tips' #1 goalie. Of course that would mean that one of Gendur, Sonne, or Crowley would have to go too though.
In Brandon, it seems likely that defenceman Mark Louis is going to be the odd man out there, and wouldn't he be the kind of workhorse blueline help that Vancouver is looking for? In Kelowna, it's probably going to be the end for Lyon Messier, seeing as how he has been in the stands for the last three games since the Rockets acquired Brady Leavold. I'm not sure that anyone in the league is going to be interested in Messier so he'll probably end up in Jr A somewhere. I suppose that if there were a trade partner out there willing to pay a decent price, that the Rockets might part with Kris Westblom instead though.
Saskatoon has to pare two players from their group of five but the decision has probably already been made there since Curtis Patterson and Michael Kaye were the two odd men out on Monday. In Patterson's case, newly-acquired John Flatters was already wearing Patterson's #5 so that's a really obvious sign of the end for him. Lorne Molleken has been unhappy with Kaye's performance so far this year as well.
In Kaye's case, there's probably a decent chance that he lands somewhere else in the league, although I don't see either Calgary or Vancouver being interested. Patterson is probably destined for the SJHL.
I'm not sure if Calgary will even pick up another overager at this point. Things are obviously going well with only one 20 year old (Ryan Gillen) playing right now (Dan Mercer hasn't played all year due to injury) and Adam Ross was released because the 17 year old forwards like Ian Schultz (5 pts in 8 games) and Brandon Kozun (5 pts in 9 games) were outplaying him, so if the Hitties were to bring in another overage forward it would have to be a top-line type player and that kind of move is more likely made closer to the trade deadline?
More stuff later....
Chilliwack, Edmonton, Kamloops, Kootenay, Lethbridge, Moose Jaw, Portland, Prince Albert, Prince George, Seattle, Spokane, Swift Current, and Tri-City are all at three O/A's already. Calgary, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Regina, and Vancouver are all at just two and could add another one if they wanted to. Regina is probably going to hold their spot for the possible return of Myles Stoesz from the pros, while Red Deer will probably wait and see if either Brett Sutter or Kirill Starkov make their way back from the pros too. Medicine Hat also has a ton of 87's away at AHL/ECHL camps so they may want to wait and hope for an unexpected return (Gord Baldwin? David Schlemko?) as well. That may only leave Calgary and Vancouver as possible destinations for surplus players.
Four teams - Brandon, Everett, Kelowna, and Saskatoon - have too many players and need to make some moves. Everett will probably get some extra time to make their decision since one of their players, David Reekie, is currently on the 60 day injured list with mononucleosis. They will be allowed to wait until he comes off the injured list to declare their three. This is actually a case where getting mono might be one of the best things that ever happened to Reekie's career since this buys him another three or four weeks, by which time another team in the league may have finally realized they need a goaltending upgrade and may be willing to trade for him when Everett finally makes him available. Either that or if things don't turn around in Everett in the next few weeks, the Tips may decide that Leland Irving and his .876 sv% is the one to be dealt, and Reekie sticks as the Tips' #1 goalie. Of course that would mean that one of Gendur, Sonne, or Crowley would have to go too though.
In Brandon, it seems likely that defenceman Mark Louis is going to be the odd man out there, and wouldn't he be the kind of workhorse blueline help that Vancouver is looking for? In Kelowna, it's probably going to be the end for Lyon Messier, seeing as how he has been in the stands for the last three games since the Rockets acquired Brady Leavold. I'm not sure that anyone in the league is going to be interested in Messier so he'll probably end up in Jr A somewhere. I suppose that if there were a trade partner out there willing to pay a decent price, that the Rockets might part with Kris Westblom instead though.
Saskatoon has to pare two players from their group of five but the decision has probably already been made there since Curtis Patterson and Michael Kaye were the two odd men out on Monday. In Patterson's case, newly-acquired John Flatters was already wearing Patterson's #5 so that's a really obvious sign of the end for him. Lorne Molleken has been unhappy with Kaye's performance so far this year as well.
In Kaye's case, there's probably a decent chance that he lands somewhere else in the league, although I don't see either Calgary or Vancouver being interested. Patterson is probably destined for the SJHL.
I'm not sure if Calgary will even pick up another overager at this point. Things are obviously going well with only one 20 year old (Ryan Gillen) playing right now (Dan Mercer hasn't played all year due to injury) and Adam Ross was released because the 17 year old forwards like Ian Schultz (5 pts in 8 games) and Brandon Kozun (5 pts in 9 games) were outplaying him, so if the Hitties were to bring in another overage forward it would have to be a top-line type player and that kind of move is more likely made closer to the trade deadline?
More stuff later....
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Tuesday news
Getting back at it here after my week off....
Two trades today, as Kootenay finalizes their overage situation by sending Clayton Bauer to Red Deer for Matt Fraser and a draft pick. Saskatoon also resolves their import problem by sending Robert Brandis to Brandon.
Two trades today, as Kootenay finalizes their overage situation by sending Clayton Bauer to Red Deer for Matt Fraser and a draft pick. Saskatoon also resolves their import problem by sending Robert Brandis to Brandon.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Gone this week
After realizing I used the offensive word "Euro" several times last week (darn, there I go again), I have decided to follow the OHL's precedent and suspend myself for five days.
I'm off to Sin City for the week....back at it on the 8th or 9th.
I'm off to Sin City for the week....back at it on the 8th or 9th.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)