Not WHL, but a prominent WHL alumni makes some unusual news yesterday....Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf had his truck stolen when he stopped for a coffee on his way to the Saddledome for last night's Flames-Avalanche tilt. He left the truck running (bad Dion!) and a thief couldn't pass up the opportunity.
After reporting the theft, Phaneuf had to hitch a ride with some of Calgary's finest in order to get to the game on time.....he refused to talk to the media about it after the game but his teammates were getting some mileage out of it, so to speak.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
More stats
Going to toss out some more stats today.....
First, for the reader who was wondering how many penalty minutes per game each referee assessed on average:
Ryan Bonnett: 25 games, 56.44 min/avg
Ryan Agar: 30 games, 52.17 min/avg
Trevor Hrycuik: 40 games, 52.03 min/avg
Sheldon Dean: 27 games, 51.19 min/avg
Carl Poole: 23 games, 50.87 min/avg
Chris Crich: 27 games, 50.33 min/avg
Adam Byblow: 31 games, 50.1 min/avg
Graham Skilliter: 36 games, 50 min/avg
Colby Smith: 37 games, 49.14 min/avg
Steve Papp: 42 games, 48.31 min/avg
Tyler Johnson: 13 games, 46.85 min/avg
Reagan Vetter: 45 games, 46.33 min/avg
Curtis Howe: 25 games, 44.72 min/avg
Chris Savage: 34 games, 44.5 min/avg
Pat Smith: 65 games, 44.46 min/avg
Nathan Wieler: 47 games, 43.57 min/avg
Sean Raphael: 40 games, 43.43 min/avg
Devin Klein: 34 games, 43.12 min/avg
Russell Berdusco: 24 games, 43.08 min/avg
Jason Nissen: 13 games, 42.85 min/avg
Derek Herman: 44 games, 41.61 min/avg
Cory McLean: 25 games, 41.2 min/avg
Jon Stephenson: 23 games, 40.7 min/avg
Ryan Thompson: 26 games, 40.27 min/avg
Andy Thiessen: 62 games, 39.92 min/avg
Matt Kirk: 47 games, 39.64 min/avg
Derek Zalaski: 57 games, 39.28 min/avg
Jason Mercer: 24 games, 39 min/avg
Trevor Hanson: 35 games, 35.97 min/avg
Saad Al-Jadir: 24 games, 35.21 min/avg
Kris Liber: 17 games, 29.59 min/avg
There you have it.....Ryan Bonnett's games, on average, feature the most penalty minutes. So either he has had some really bad luck with lots of rough games, or he likes to call games a little tighter than some other refs.
On that same note, the highest and lowest PIM totals in games so far this season...
Highest:
Saskatoon @ Regina, Feb 1: 243 min.
Portland @ Edmonton, Jan 26: 214 min.
Chilliwack @ Kamloops, Dec 1: 214 min.
Saskatoon @ Brandon, Jan 18: 209 min.
Vancouver @ Everett, Sep 22: 176 min.
Lowest:
Spokane @ Kootenay, Feb 1: 4 min.
Prince Albert @ Spokane, Jan 26: 6 min.
Spokane @ Calgary, Nov 30: 6 min.
Lethbridge @ Edmonton, Dec 8: 6 min.
Spokane has been involved in three of the four lowest-PIM games this year.....although all were against non-conference opponents. No Chiefs-Americans games on that list....
On the other hand, a penalty-free Spokane vs. Tri-City game would not be that shocking, since both teams are amongst the least-penalized in the league this year:
Saskatoon: 29.6 PIM/gm
Regina: 28.2 PIM/gm
Moose Jaw: 26.8 PIM/gm
Portland: 26.6 PIM/gm
Kamloops: 24.9 PIM/gm
Everett: 24.6 PIM/gm
Vancouver: 24.2 PIM/gm
Red Deer: 23.1 PIM/gm
Kelowna: 22.3 PIM/gm
Chilliwack: 21.9 PIM/gm
Swift Current: 21.9 PIM/gm
Edmonton: 21.6 PIM/gm
Prince George: 20.9 PIM/gm
Lethbridge: 20.5 PIM/gm
Kootenay: 19.8 PIM/gm
Spokane: 19.5 PIM/gm
Medicine Hat: 18.2 PIM/gm
Brandon Wheat: 18.1 PIM/gm
Prince Albert: 17.9 PIM/gm
Seattle: 17.2 PIM/gm
Calgary: 17.0 PIM/gm
Tri-City: 16.8 PIM/gm
And still on the penalty thing, an update on something I looked at a few months back: which players are in the penalty box the most often when their team gives up a powerplay goal? Below is the number of times each player has put his team shorthanded ("TSH"), and the number of times a goal has been scored as a result:
Victor Bartley: 36 TSH, 16 goals
Nick Ross: 40 TSH, 14 goals
Chris Van Duynhoven: 36 TSH, 12 goals
Ryan Bender: 47 TSH, 12 goals
Levi Nelson: 44 TSH, 11 goals
Matt Swaby: 25 TSH, 11 goals
Scott Gabriel: 49 TSH, 11 goals
Mike Gauthier: 33 TSH, 11 goals
J.D. Watt: 45 TSH, 11 goals
Benn Olson: 52 TSH, 11 goals
Patrik Magnusson: 35 TSH, 10 goals
Colten Teubert: 35 TSH, 10 goals
Paul Kurceba: 46 TSH, 10 goals
Some of these guys just take a lot of penalties and that's why they're on the list.....you take enough penalties and the other team is going to score on some of them. Others might be on it because they're key guys on their teams' penalty killing units and having them in the box instead of killing the penalty hurts the team's chances of killing those penalties.
And a last one today, just for fun....which players are padding their goal totals with the most empty-netters? Here's everyone with more than one EN goal:
Tyler Ennis: 4
Bud Holloway: 4
Dale Weise: 3
Colton Yellow Horn: 3
Kruise Reddick: 2
Curtis Kelner: 2
Jordan Eberle: 2
Brennan Sonne: 2
Dwight King: 2
Tyler Dittmer: 2
Zach Boychuk: 2
Tyler Shattock: 2
Most of these guys just score a lot of goals, so they're bound to get some empty netters in there. But Curtis Kelner only has six goals this year and 1/3 were EN's. I'd say he needs the help of not having a goalie. Ditto for Brennan Sonne, who only has nine goals and two were EN's.
First, for the reader who was wondering how many penalty minutes per game each referee assessed on average:
Ryan Bonnett: 25 games, 56.44 min/avg
Ryan Agar: 30 games, 52.17 min/avg
Trevor Hrycuik: 40 games, 52.03 min/avg
Sheldon Dean: 27 games, 51.19 min/avg
Carl Poole: 23 games, 50.87 min/avg
Chris Crich: 27 games, 50.33 min/avg
Adam Byblow: 31 games, 50.1 min/avg
Graham Skilliter: 36 games, 50 min/avg
Colby Smith: 37 games, 49.14 min/avg
Steve Papp: 42 games, 48.31 min/avg
Tyler Johnson: 13 games, 46.85 min/avg
Reagan Vetter: 45 games, 46.33 min/avg
Curtis Howe: 25 games, 44.72 min/avg
Chris Savage: 34 games, 44.5 min/avg
Pat Smith: 65 games, 44.46 min/avg
Nathan Wieler: 47 games, 43.57 min/avg
Sean Raphael: 40 games, 43.43 min/avg
Devin Klein: 34 games, 43.12 min/avg
Russell Berdusco: 24 games, 43.08 min/avg
Jason Nissen: 13 games, 42.85 min/avg
Derek Herman: 44 games, 41.61 min/avg
Cory McLean: 25 games, 41.2 min/avg
Jon Stephenson: 23 games, 40.7 min/avg
Ryan Thompson: 26 games, 40.27 min/avg
Andy Thiessen: 62 games, 39.92 min/avg
Matt Kirk: 47 games, 39.64 min/avg
Derek Zalaski: 57 games, 39.28 min/avg
Jason Mercer: 24 games, 39 min/avg
Trevor Hanson: 35 games, 35.97 min/avg
Saad Al-Jadir: 24 games, 35.21 min/avg
Kris Liber: 17 games, 29.59 min/avg
There you have it.....Ryan Bonnett's games, on average, feature the most penalty minutes. So either he has had some really bad luck with lots of rough games, or he likes to call games a little tighter than some other refs.
On that same note, the highest and lowest PIM totals in games so far this season...
Highest:
Saskatoon @ Regina, Feb 1: 243 min.
Portland @ Edmonton, Jan 26: 214 min.
Chilliwack @ Kamloops, Dec 1: 214 min.
Saskatoon @ Brandon, Jan 18: 209 min.
Vancouver @ Everett, Sep 22: 176 min.
Lowest:
Spokane @ Kootenay, Feb 1: 4 min.
Prince Albert @ Spokane, Jan 26: 6 min.
Spokane @ Calgary, Nov 30: 6 min.
Lethbridge @ Edmonton, Dec 8: 6 min.
Spokane has been involved in three of the four lowest-PIM games this year.....although all were against non-conference opponents. No Chiefs-Americans games on that list....
On the other hand, a penalty-free Spokane vs. Tri-City game would not be that shocking, since both teams are amongst the least-penalized in the league this year:
Saskatoon: 29.6 PIM/gm
Regina: 28.2 PIM/gm
Moose Jaw: 26.8 PIM/gm
Portland: 26.6 PIM/gm
Kamloops: 24.9 PIM/gm
Everett: 24.6 PIM/gm
Vancouver: 24.2 PIM/gm
Red Deer: 23.1 PIM/gm
Kelowna: 22.3 PIM/gm
Chilliwack: 21.9 PIM/gm
Swift Current: 21.9 PIM/gm
Edmonton: 21.6 PIM/gm
Prince George: 20.9 PIM/gm
Lethbridge: 20.5 PIM/gm
Kootenay: 19.8 PIM/gm
Spokane: 19.5 PIM/gm
Medicine Hat: 18.2 PIM/gm
Brandon Wheat: 18.1 PIM/gm
Prince Albert: 17.9 PIM/gm
Seattle: 17.2 PIM/gm
Calgary: 17.0 PIM/gm
Tri-City: 16.8 PIM/gm
And still on the penalty thing, an update on something I looked at a few months back: which players are in the penalty box the most often when their team gives up a powerplay goal? Below is the number of times each player has put his team shorthanded ("TSH"), and the number of times a goal has been scored as a result:
Victor Bartley: 36 TSH, 16 goals
Nick Ross: 40 TSH, 14 goals
Chris Van Duynhoven: 36 TSH, 12 goals
Ryan Bender: 47 TSH, 12 goals
Levi Nelson: 44 TSH, 11 goals
Matt Swaby: 25 TSH, 11 goals
Scott Gabriel: 49 TSH, 11 goals
Mike Gauthier: 33 TSH, 11 goals
J.D. Watt: 45 TSH, 11 goals
Benn Olson: 52 TSH, 11 goals
Patrik Magnusson: 35 TSH, 10 goals
Colten Teubert: 35 TSH, 10 goals
Paul Kurceba: 46 TSH, 10 goals
Some of these guys just take a lot of penalties and that's why they're on the list.....you take enough penalties and the other team is going to score on some of them. Others might be on it because they're key guys on their teams' penalty killing units and having them in the box instead of killing the penalty hurts the team's chances of killing those penalties.
And a last one today, just for fun....which players are padding their goal totals with the most empty-netters? Here's everyone with more than one EN goal:
Tyler Ennis: 4
Bud Holloway: 4
Dale Weise: 3
Colton Yellow Horn: 3
Kruise Reddick: 2
Curtis Kelner: 2
Jordan Eberle: 2
Brennan Sonne: 2
Dwight King: 2
Tyler Dittmer: 2
Zach Boychuk: 2
Tyler Shattock: 2
Most of these guys just score a lot of goals, so they're bound to get some empty netters in there. But Curtis Kelner only has six goals this year and 1/3 were EN's. I'd say he needs the help of not having a goalie. Ditto for Brennan Sonne, who only has nine goals and two were EN's.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The mess gets messier
More Hawks hooey today, thanks again to majority owner Jim Goldsmith's bumbling management style and his big mouth. Read the story in today's Portland Tribune.
OK, Management 101: Communication is very important. Apparently, this front office has little to none since Goldsmith is telling the press that he's going to replace Ken Hodge as G.M. and move Hodge to scouting full-time, but Hodge knows nothing about it. Honestly, Ken Hodge should tell Goldsmith to !*&% off and just quit. Why is he putting up with this garbage treatment from this buffoon? Is it because he wants to get the rest of his money out of the sale? He must surely be ruing the day he ever heard Jim Goldsmith's name.
Secondly, Goldsmith just publicly called the people who hold his arena lease "pigs". I'm sure that will encourage them to want to renegotiate.
I don't get this guy....he has made some money in his life so he must have some business sense, but so far we haven't seen any of it when it comes to running his hockey team.
To the team's on-ice performance now, an amazing (and somewhat depressing) stat, courtesy of blog reader Jon Whiting: When Portland opened the scoring last Friday night in their eventual 3-2 loss to Vancouver, that represented the first time the Hawks had been in the lead in a game since they opened the scoring against Spokane on January 21. That's a span of 32 days and over 13 games, a total of 827:51 of playing time. I don't think the league keeps stats on that, but it's got to be up there for longest drought of all-time without holding a lead.
Which brings up the next question: in the all-time annals of the WHL, where do this year's and last year's Hawks rank among the worst teams? Not just in terms of wins & losses, but in how badly they lose? To figure this out, I took all the standings going back to 78-79 and calculated how many goals each team scored each year for every goal they gave up. A team with a value of 2, for example, scored twice as many as they gave up. Using that stat, the ten worst WHL teams of the last 30 years are:
89-90 Victoria Cougars: 221GF, 565GA = 0.391
79-80 Great Falls Americans: 73GF, 186GA = 0.392
83-84 Winnipeg Warriors: 239GF, 580GA = 0.412
07-08 Portland Winter Hawks: 112GF, 260GA = 0.431
90-91 Victoria Cougars: 201GF, 437GA = 0.46
06-07 Portland Winter Hawks: 146GF, 316GA = 0.462
03-04 Saskatoon Blades: 140GF, 279GA = 0.502
81-82 Spokane Flyers: 102GF, 196GA = 0.52
04-05 Regina Pats: 154GF, 285GA = 0.54
01-02 Vancouver Giants: 198GF, 365GA = 0.542
The 79-80 Americans and 81-82 Flyers are asterisk teams since they both folded mid-season those years. And the 01-02 Giants were an expansion team that year and can be cut some slack for being bad.
But, you can see that this year's Portland team (so far) is 4th-worst, with last year's being 6th-worst.
OK, Management 101: Communication is very important. Apparently, this front office has little to none since Goldsmith is telling the press that he's going to replace Ken Hodge as G.M. and move Hodge to scouting full-time, but Hodge knows nothing about it. Honestly, Ken Hodge should tell Goldsmith to !*&% off and just quit. Why is he putting up with this garbage treatment from this buffoon? Is it because he wants to get the rest of his money out of the sale? He must surely be ruing the day he ever heard Jim Goldsmith's name.
Secondly, Goldsmith just publicly called the people who hold his arena lease "pigs". I'm sure that will encourage them to want to renegotiate.
I don't get this guy....he has made some money in his life so he must have some business sense, but so far we haven't seen any of it when it comes to running his hockey team.
To the team's on-ice performance now, an amazing (and somewhat depressing) stat, courtesy of blog reader Jon Whiting: When Portland opened the scoring last Friday night in their eventual 3-2 loss to Vancouver, that represented the first time the Hawks had been in the lead in a game since they opened the scoring against Spokane on January 21. That's a span of 32 days and over 13 games, a total of 827:51 of playing time. I don't think the league keeps stats on that, but it's got to be up there for longest drought of all-time without holding a lead.
Which brings up the next question: in the all-time annals of the WHL, where do this year's and last year's Hawks rank among the worst teams? Not just in terms of wins & losses, but in how badly they lose? To figure this out, I took all the standings going back to 78-79 and calculated how many goals each team scored each year for every goal they gave up. A team with a value of 2, for example, scored twice as many as they gave up. Using that stat, the ten worst WHL teams of the last 30 years are:
89-90 Victoria Cougars: 221GF, 565GA = 0.391
79-80 Great Falls Americans: 73GF, 186GA = 0.392
83-84 Winnipeg Warriors: 239GF, 580GA = 0.412
07-08 Portland Winter Hawks: 112GF, 260GA = 0.431
90-91 Victoria Cougars: 201GF, 437GA = 0.46
06-07 Portland Winter Hawks: 146GF, 316GA = 0.462
03-04 Saskatoon Blades: 140GF, 279GA = 0.502
81-82 Spokane Flyers: 102GF, 196GA = 0.52
04-05 Regina Pats: 154GF, 285GA = 0.54
01-02 Vancouver Giants: 198GF, 365GA = 0.542
The 79-80 Americans and 81-82 Flyers are asterisk teams since they both folded mid-season those years. And the 01-02 Giants were an expansion team that year and can be cut some slack for being bad.
But, you can see that this year's Portland team (so far) is 4th-worst, with last year's being 6th-worst.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Friday notes
Big night tonight with a slate of ten games that could see the remaining playoff spots decided. Wins by Moose Jaw, Edmonton, and Kamloops would finish off everything....a Moose Jaw win eliminates Saskatoon AND Edmonton and clinches a spot for the Warriors, while a Kamloops win coupled with a P.G. loss to Edmonton would knock the Cougars out and clinch a spot for the Blazers.
More info on the Portland situation in today's Oregonian. Love the quote from WHL commish Ron Robison about Hawks owner Jim Goldmith also functioning as director of hockey operations: "We don't believe he's experienced or qualified for that position." Robison has told the Hawks to replace Goldsmith with somebody qualified to do the oh-so-unimportant tasks of that job, things like overseeing the draft, recruiting players and approving trades.
On the positive side though, more info about the allegations of Kevin Undershute not getting proper medical treatment from the team. Undershute is interviewed for the article and says the decision to return home to Canada instead of having shoulder surgery in Portland was HIS choice, and he has actually decided - after consulting with a surgeon - not to have surgery at all and instead to rehab his shoulder.
Another article, in the Portland Tribune, quotes WHL VP Richard Doerksen as saying that Canadian players on U.S. teams almost always return to Canada for surgery. That is the policy of Hockey Canada, and under a similar USA Hockey policy, American players are insured for surgeries in the United States. So, it would appear there is no wrongdoing here....which should put some egg on some faces.
However, the team does acknowledge some bills are not being paid, and Robison says the Hawks have the worst arena lease in the league. Issues that may be related and will have to be addressed. I know the arena folks don't want to renegotiate the lease with the team, but they also have to consider the possibility that if they don't renegotiate, that the team might just move somewhere else at the end of the lease....leaving the arena without a tenant at all. The mess is far from cleaned up....but I love team president Jack Donovan's conviction that they are just a year away from a five-year run as contenders. Rosy glasses in the rose city....
An interesting situation developing in the Manitoba AAA midget league....many of you already know that the Winnipeg Thrashers went 40-0-0 in that league this year, and Winnipeg teams have usually dominated the league. Which is not surprising since the entire province has 1.2 million people and half of that number are in Winnipeg. In the 12-team league, there are two teams from Winnipeg - so are drawing from 300,000 population each - and ten teams outside Winnipeg who are drawing from an average of 60,000 each. Of course Winnipeg teams dominate the league.
Anyway, that's going to change next year. The other ten teams are threatening to vote the two Winnipeg teams out of the league next year unless the Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association adds a third AAA midget team in the city for next year. Story in the Winnipeg Sun today. It's not really a WHL story but since most WHLers from Manitoba play in that league at some point, it's related anyway.
More info on the Portland situation in today's Oregonian. Love the quote from WHL commish Ron Robison about Hawks owner Jim Goldmith also functioning as director of hockey operations: "We don't believe he's experienced or qualified for that position." Robison has told the Hawks to replace Goldsmith with somebody qualified to do the oh-so-unimportant tasks of that job, things like overseeing the draft, recruiting players and approving trades.
On the positive side though, more info about the allegations of Kevin Undershute not getting proper medical treatment from the team. Undershute is interviewed for the article and says the decision to return home to Canada instead of having shoulder surgery in Portland was HIS choice, and he has actually decided - after consulting with a surgeon - not to have surgery at all and instead to rehab his shoulder.
Another article, in the Portland Tribune, quotes WHL VP Richard Doerksen as saying that Canadian players on U.S. teams almost always return to Canada for surgery. That is the policy of Hockey Canada, and under a similar USA Hockey policy, American players are insured for surgeries in the United States. So, it would appear there is no wrongdoing here....which should put some egg on some faces.
However, the team does acknowledge some bills are not being paid, and Robison says the Hawks have the worst arena lease in the league. Issues that may be related and will have to be addressed. I know the arena folks don't want to renegotiate the lease with the team, but they also have to consider the possibility that if they don't renegotiate, that the team might just move somewhere else at the end of the lease....leaving the arena without a tenant at all. The mess is far from cleaned up....but I love team president Jack Donovan's conviction that they are just a year away from a five-year run as contenders. Rosy glasses in the rose city....
An interesting situation developing in the Manitoba AAA midget league....many of you already know that the Winnipeg Thrashers went 40-0-0 in that league this year, and Winnipeg teams have usually dominated the league. Which is not surprising since the entire province has 1.2 million people and half of that number are in Winnipeg. In the 12-team league, there are two teams from Winnipeg - so are drawing from 300,000 population each - and ten teams outside Winnipeg who are drawing from an average of 60,000 each. Of course Winnipeg teams dominate the league.
Anyway, that's going to change next year. The other ten teams are threatening to vote the two Winnipeg teams out of the league next year unless the Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association adds a third AAA midget team in the city for next year. Story in the Winnipeg Sun today. It's not really a WHL story but since most WHLers from Manitoba play in that league at some point, it's related anyway.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Rookie scoring
One of the things that irks me about the WHL is their broad definition of a rookie when it comes to rookie awards. They go rather literally - if it's your first year in the league, you're a rookie. To me, I think it's ridiculous that 16 year olds have to compete for these awards with 18, 19, even 20 year olds who benefit from being so much older and more experienced.
I mean, think about it: even an 18 year old rookie has some combination of 3 years of either midget or junior A/B experience prior to coming to the WHL. In the case of Europeans, they usually come with high-level junior experience from their homelands and may even have played a few games in a mens pro league. Compare that to the lowly 16 year old, who has at most one year of midget and probably a couple fewer years of shaving under his belt. It's not a level playing field, but the WHL makes them compete. Look at the WHL site's "rookie" scoring leaders: Benn, Galiardi, Calvert, O'Brien, Lazo, and Pierro-Zabotel are four of the top five, and all in the top 12. All of those guys are 18 or older this year. That makes the accomplishments of Brayden Schenn - in 3rd with 58 points - all the more remarkable.
If it were up to me, I would restrict the WHL's "rookie" classification to only 16 and 17 year old players. The vast majority of players in the league come into the league at one of those two ages anyway.
So, to give credit to the younger guys who are overlooked in the rookie race, here's the the top
point-getters for 16 and 17 year old rookies:
16's:
Brayden Schenn (BRN): 58
Scott Glennie (BRN): 44
Tyson Barrie (KEL): 37
Evander Kane (VAN): 34
Stefan Elliott (SAS): 33
Adam Hughesman (TRI): 32
Jimmy Bubnick (KAM): 25
Landon Ferraro (RDR): 23
Brandon Herrod (PA): 18
Cam Braes (LTH): 17
Linden Vey (MH): 16
Justin Maylan (PG): 16
Curtis Hamilton (SAS): 16
Jared Cowen (SPO): 15
Cody Carlson (MH): 14
James Henry (VAN): 14
Ryan Howse (CHI): 13
Cody Eakin (SC): 13
Garrett Mitchell (REG): 11
Brayden McNabb (KTN): 10
17's:
Brandon Kozun (CGY): 44
Kyle St. Denis (KEL): 35
Tomas Vincour (EDM): 35
Luca Sbisa (LTH): 29
Tyler Johnson (SPO): 29
Steele Boomer (KTN): 26
Wacey Hamilton (MH): 26
Brent Raedeke (EDM): 25
Ian Schultz (CGY): 25
Jyri Niemi (SAS): 25
I mean, think about it: even an 18 year old rookie has some combination of 3 years of either midget or junior A/B experience prior to coming to the WHL. In the case of Europeans, they usually come with high-level junior experience from their homelands and may even have played a few games in a mens pro league. Compare that to the lowly 16 year old, who has at most one year of midget and probably a couple fewer years of shaving under his belt. It's not a level playing field, but the WHL makes them compete. Look at the WHL site's "rookie" scoring leaders: Benn, Galiardi, Calvert, O'Brien, Lazo, and Pierro-Zabotel are four of the top five, and all in the top 12. All of those guys are 18 or older this year. That makes the accomplishments of Brayden Schenn - in 3rd with 58 points - all the more remarkable.
If it were up to me, I would restrict the WHL's "rookie" classification to only 16 and 17 year old players. The vast majority of players in the league come into the league at one of those two ages anyway.
So, to give credit to the younger guys who are overlooked in the rookie race, here's the the top
point-getters for 16 and 17 year old rookies:
16's:
Brayden Schenn (BRN): 58
Scott Glennie (BRN): 44
Tyson Barrie (KEL): 37
Evander Kane (VAN): 34
Stefan Elliott (SAS): 33
Adam Hughesman (TRI): 32
Jimmy Bubnick (KAM): 25
Landon Ferraro (RDR): 23
Brandon Herrod (PA): 18
Cam Braes (LTH): 17
Linden Vey (MH): 16
Justin Maylan (PG): 16
Curtis Hamilton (SAS): 16
Jared Cowen (SPO): 15
Cody Carlson (MH): 14
James Henry (VAN): 14
Ryan Howse (CHI): 13
Cody Eakin (SC): 13
Garrett Mitchell (REG): 11
Brayden McNabb (KTN): 10
17's:
Brandon Kozun (CGY): 44
Kyle St. Denis (KEL): 35
Tomas Vincour (EDM): 35
Luca Sbisa (LTH): 29
Tyler Johnson (SPO): 29
Steele Boomer (KTN): 26
Wacey Hamilton (MH): 26
Brent Raedeke (EDM): 25
Ian Schultz (CGY): 25
Jyri Niemi (SAS): 25
Notes
Whole bunch of stuff from the last few days to catch up on here....probably nothing more pressing though than the Portland situation. If there has been a team in a bigger mess in WHL history than Portland is right now, I don't know what it is. For starters, they have lost 16 games in a row. Injuries have ravaged the team so badly that right now they are only dressing 14 skaters per game and one of them is a 15 year old callup. And on top of all that on-ice trouble comes the word that the WHL is investigating the way the team is being run.
Definitely read Gregg Drinnan's blog today for all the gory details; I've seen the internet rumours about the Hawks just like the rest of you probably have, and while I'm not one to put a lot of stock in internet rumours, Gregg did the legwork with his contacts around the league, and what he found gives some of these rumours the look of truth. For example, apparently the team really is running out of sticks since they haven't paid their stick supplier. Worse than that, there may be some truth to the really ugly rumour that the team cancelled injured overager Kevin Undershute's shoulder surgery in Portland and told him to go home to Canada and have it done. The reasons for that aren't clear (and there could be legitimate reasons for it) but the ugly suggestion here is that the team didn't want to pay any costs of the surgery and instead sends the player home to have it done in Canada where it won't cost them (or him) anything. I'm a little skeptical of this....I mean, I would think all the U.S. teams would have decent medical insurance packages for their players, for just this reason. Surely the league requires that. If Portland doesn't.....or if they just didn't want to pay any additional costs not covered by their insurance.....then this looks really, really bad on them.
Hopefully the truth will come out here, and if the players in Portland are indeed being mistreated then the league needs to take action on this front, NOW.
Getting away from the rumours and back to the on-ice and locker room problems, there's a very good article in the Portland Oregonian today which talks to several current and former players about the team's situation. Some really good quotes in there, including:
"Is everyone in here really tired? Is everyone putting their full effort in?" - current Hawks overager Jacob Dietrich
"We'd come into every game wanting to win, but as soon as the other team scored a goal, a lot of the guys on the team would quit." - former Hawk Nick Hotson
"We all felt we were going to lose. And we did lose." - former Hawk Colton Sceviour.
"Guys are just too comfortable" - current Hawk Matt Schmermund
"Out in the community, it's pretty tough. People ask, 'How's the team doing?' You always have to say 'Not too bad.' But we really are." - Schmermund again.
Very unfortunate that one of the league's most successful franchises has been reduced to this. Hopefully this mess can get sorted out and the team can have a little more success next season because it's becoming a real ugly mark on the league.
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Couple other notes now....
To finish up a topic I've mentioned a couple times here in the last couple weeks: yes, the Winnipeg AAA midget Thrashers completed a perfect 40-0-0 season on the weekend. I know it's just midget, and I know Winnipeg teams often dominate that league, but this is still a very impressive accomplishment at any level of sport.
Interesting moment in last night's Kelowna-Spokane tilt (see summary) when brothers Collin Bowman (Kelowna) and Drayson Bowman (Spokane) had a scrap early in the third period. No word on whether Mrs. Bowman sent them to their rooms afterwards. I remember after another brother scrap a few years ago between twins Brent and Kyle Howarth (actually, that might have been a Rockets-Chiefs game too?), one of them revealed that mom was none too pleased with them afterwards.
The BCHL's Surrey Eagles have lifted their team suspension of forward Adam Basford for "inappropriate off-ice conduct", which frees Basford up to join the Vancouver Giants. My question is, if Basford is an off-ice distraction - and apparently this was not his first incident with the Eagles - why would the Giants want to bring a player like that onto their team? They don't need the help, they're already one of the best teams in the league. Risky move IMO.
I've seen Regina's last two games now, their 7-1 loss in Calgary last night and their 5-2 loss in Lethbridge on Saturday. I have to say, any rumour that the Pats have the best defence in the league is just that, a rumour. Linden Rowat could have sued his teammates for non-support in both games. Last night was obvious to anyone looking at the scoreboard, but that Saturday game was even worse. It could have been 10-2 if Lethbridge could have finished their chances or converted on their powerplays. The Pats were outshot 80-45 in the two games and are the worst defensive team amongst the playoff-bound Eastern teams. Here's something to think about: before the trade deadline deals which were supposed to solidify their defence, the Pats were allowing an average of 28.3 shots and 2.81 goals per game. Since the deadline, they are giving up 30.1 shots and 3.24 goals per game.
Oh, and J.D. Watt is killing that team.
And lastly, hopefully later today, I'll have another stats post on rookie scoring. I'm also going to try to address a couple stats questions from the comment sections of the last few stats posts....I haven't forgotten you guys, just haven't gotten a chance to do anything yet.
Definitely read Gregg Drinnan's blog today for all the gory details; I've seen the internet rumours about the Hawks just like the rest of you probably have, and while I'm not one to put a lot of stock in internet rumours, Gregg did the legwork with his contacts around the league, and what he found gives some of these rumours the look of truth. For example, apparently the team really is running out of sticks since they haven't paid their stick supplier. Worse than that, there may be some truth to the really ugly rumour that the team cancelled injured overager Kevin Undershute's shoulder surgery in Portland and told him to go home to Canada and have it done. The reasons for that aren't clear (and there could be legitimate reasons for it) but the ugly suggestion here is that the team didn't want to pay any costs of the surgery and instead sends the player home to have it done in Canada where it won't cost them (or him) anything. I'm a little skeptical of this....I mean, I would think all the U.S. teams would have decent medical insurance packages for their players, for just this reason. Surely the league requires that. If Portland doesn't.....or if they just didn't want to pay any additional costs not covered by their insurance.....then this looks really, really bad on them.
Hopefully the truth will come out here, and if the players in Portland are indeed being mistreated then the league needs to take action on this front, NOW.
Getting away from the rumours and back to the on-ice and locker room problems, there's a very good article in the Portland Oregonian today which talks to several current and former players about the team's situation. Some really good quotes in there, including:
"Is everyone in here really tired? Is everyone putting their full effort in?" - current Hawks overager Jacob Dietrich
"We'd come into every game wanting to win, but as soon as the other team scored a goal, a lot of the guys on the team would quit." - former Hawk Nick Hotson
"We all felt we were going to lose. And we did lose." - former Hawk Colton Sceviour.
"Guys are just too comfortable" - current Hawk Matt Schmermund
"Out in the community, it's pretty tough. People ask, 'How's the team doing?' You always have to say 'Not too bad.' But we really are." - Schmermund again.
Very unfortunate that one of the league's most successful franchises has been reduced to this. Hopefully this mess can get sorted out and the team can have a little more success next season because it's becoming a real ugly mark on the league.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Couple other notes now....
To finish up a topic I've mentioned a couple times here in the last couple weeks: yes, the Winnipeg AAA midget Thrashers completed a perfect 40-0-0 season on the weekend. I know it's just midget, and I know Winnipeg teams often dominate that league, but this is still a very impressive accomplishment at any level of sport.
Interesting moment in last night's Kelowna-Spokane tilt (see summary) when brothers Collin Bowman (Kelowna) and Drayson Bowman (Spokane) had a scrap early in the third period. No word on whether Mrs. Bowman sent them to their rooms afterwards. I remember after another brother scrap a few years ago between twins Brent and Kyle Howarth (actually, that might have been a Rockets-Chiefs game too?), one of them revealed that mom was none too pleased with them afterwards.
The BCHL's Surrey Eagles have lifted their team suspension of forward Adam Basford for "inappropriate off-ice conduct", which frees Basford up to join the Vancouver Giants. My question is, if Basford is an off-ice distraction - and apparently this was not his first incident with the Eagles - why would the Giants want to bring a player like that onto their team? They don't need the help, they're already one of the best teams in the league. Risky move IMO.
I've seen Regina's last two games now, their 7-1 loss in Calgary last night and their 5-2 loss in Lethbridge on Saturday. I have to say, any rumour that the Pats have the best defence in the league is just that, a rumour. Linden Rowat could have sued his teammates for non-support in both games. Last night was obvious to anyone looking at the scoreboard, but that Saturday game was even worse. It could have been 10-2 if Lethbridge could have finished their chances or converted on their powerplays. The Pats were outshot 80-45 in the two games and are the worst defensive team amongst the playoff-bound Eastern teams. Here's something to think about: before the trade deadline deals which were supposed to solidify their defence, the Pats were allowing an average of 28.3 shots and 2.81 goals per game. Since the deadline, they are giving up 30.1 shots and 3.24 goals per game.
Oh, and J.D. Watt is killing that team.
And lastly, hopefully later today, I'll have another stats post on rookie scoring. I'm also going to try to address a couple stats questions from the comment sections of the last few stats posts....I haven't forgotten you guys, just haven't gotten a chance to do anything yet.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Friday notes
If you haven't already read Gregg Drinnan's excellent piece on the WHL's "Power Players", you should definitely rush over to his blog and read it now. Gregg talked to folks around the league and came up with a list of the WHL's 25 most influential people. At the top? No surprise, it's Kootenay Ice owner/governor/president Ed Chynoweth. Big Ed was the WHL commissioner for 25 years prior to his job with the Ice, and apparently his considerable power as commissioner hasn't waned at all.
One surprise (to me, anyway) name missing from the list? Portland's Ken Hodge. Another guy who has been around the league since day one, it must be a sign of how far he has fallen within the Portland organization under their new ownership that he isn't even one of the 25 most influential people in the league anymore. He and Brian Shaw used to almost rule the league.
One other article I want to link to is this one. It has been out for a few days and has been posted in a few other places already, and so many of you have probably already seen it. I haven't gotten around to posting it here until now....if reading that doesn't increase the amount of respect you have for what some players in the league are going through behind the scenes, then I don't know what will.
One surprise (to me, anyway) name missing from the list? Portland's Ken Hodge. Another guy who has been around the league since day one, it must be a sign of how far he has fallen within the Portland organization under their new ownership that he isn't even one of the 25 most influential people in the league anymore. He and Brian Shaw used to almost rule the league.
One other article I want to link to is this one. It has been out for a few days and has been posted in a few other places already, and so many of you have probably already seen it. I haven't gotten around to posting it here until now....if reading that doesn't increase the amount of respect you have for what some players in the league are going through behind the scenes, then I don't know what will.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Statsapalooza III: Balanced scoring
How does your team score goals? Do they have one or two big gunners, or do they score more by committee, with multiple smaller-total snipers?
40+ goal scorers:
Tri-City: 1 (Colton Yellow Horn)
30+ goal scorers:
Brandon: 1 (Tyler Dittmer)
Calgary: 1 (Kyle Bortis)
Kootenay: 1 (Steve DaSilva)
Medicine Hat: 1 (Tyler Ennis)
Regina: 1 (Jordan Eberle)
Seattle: 1 (Bud Holloway)
Spokane: 1 (Drayson Bowman)
Tri-City: 1 (Colton Yellow Horn)
20+ goal scorers:
Brandon: 4 (Matt Calvert, Tyler Dittmer, Matt Lowry, Brayden Schenn)
Calgary: 4 (Kyle Bortis, Ian Duval, Brock Nixon, Ryan White)
Everett: 4 (Clayton Bauer, Kyle Beach, Dan Gendur, Zach Hamill)
Lethbridge: 4 (Zach Boychuk, Mitch Fadden, Dwight King, Colton Sceviour)
Tri-City: 4 (Taylor Procyshen, Kruise Reddick, Shaun Vey, Colton Yellow Horn)
Chilliwack: 3 (Brandon Campos, Oscar Moller, Mark Santorelli)
Kelowna: 3 (Jamie Benn, Brady Leavold, Colin Long)
Kootenay: 3 (Andrew Bailey, Steve DaSilva, Dustin Sylvester)
Medicine Hat: 3 (Tyler Ennis, Yashar Farmanara, Daine Todd)
Moose Jaw: 3 (Jason Bast, Joel Broda, Jordan Knackstedt)
Spokane: 3 (Drayson Bowman, Chris Bruton, Judd Blackwater)
Vancouver: 3 (Evander Kane, Spencer Machacek, Michal Repik)
Prince Albert: 2 (Ryan McDonald, Matt Robertson)
Seattle: 2 (Bud Holloway, Greg Scott)
Swift Current: 2 (Erik Felde, Dale Weise)
Kamloops: 1 (Juuso Puustinen)
Prince George: 1 (Dana Tyrell)
Red Deer: 1 (Brandon Sutter)
Regina: 1 (Jordan Eberle)
10+ goal scorers:
Spokane: 11 (Drayson Bowman, Chris Bruton, Judd Blackwater, Seth Compton, Tyler Johnson, Levko Koper, Justin McCrae, Ondrej Roman, David Rutherford, Jared Spurgeon, Mitch Wahl)
Calgary: 10 (Kyle Bortis, Ian Duval, T.J. Galiardi, Bostjan Golicic, Brandon Kozun, Carson McMillan, Brock Nixon, Paul Postma, Ian Schultz, Ryan White)
Kelowna: 9 (Cody Almond, Jamie Benn, Lucas Bloodoff, Evan Bloodoff, Dylan Hood, Brady Leavold, Colin Long, Brandon McMillan, Kyle St. Denis)
Moose Jaw: 9 (Jason Bast, Joel Broda, Terrance Delaronde, Riley Holzapfel, Jordan Knackstedt, Frazer McLaren, Neal Prokop, Ty Wishart)
Vancouver: 9 (Mario Bliznak, Jonathon Blum, Lance Bouma, Craig Cunningham, Evander Kane, Spencer Machacek, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Michal Repik, James Wright)
Brandon: 8 (Daniel Bartek, Andrew Clark, Tyler Dittmer, Scott Glennie, Nathan Green, Matt Lowry, Brayden Schenn)
Everett: 8 (Clayton Bauer, Kyle Beach, Dane Crowley, Dan Gendur, Zach Hamill, Shane Harper, Jonathan Harty, Vitaly Karamnov)
Lethbridge: 8 (Carter Bancks, Zach Boychuk, Cam Braes, Mitch Fadden, Nicholas Hotson, Dwight King, Colton Sceviour, Mike Wuchterl)
Regina: 8 (Ryan DePape, Scott Doucet, Jordan Eberle, Kirt Hill, Tim Kraus, Michael MacAngus, Logan Pyett, J.D. Watt)
Seattle: 8 (Jeremy Boyer, Bud Holloway, Ian McKenzie, Lindsay Nielsen, Jim O'Brien, Prab Rai, David Richard, Greg Scott)
Swift Current: 8 (Keegan Dansereau, Erik Felde, Levi Nelson, Zack Smith, David Stieler, Matt Tassone, Dale Weise, Geordie Wudrick)
Kamloops: 7 (Brady Calla, Kenton Dulle, Juuso Puustinen, Alex Rodgers, Ivan Rohac, C.J. Stretch, Scott Wasden)
Prince Albert: 7 (Justin Bernhardt, Max Brandl, Dustin Cameron, Jared Jagow, Devon LeBlanc, Ryan McDonald, Matt Robertson)
Tri-City: 7 (T.J. Fast, Johnny Lazo, Taylor Procyshen, Kruise Reddick, Jason Reese, Shaun Vey, Colton Yellow Horn)
Edmonton: 6 (Brett Breitkreuz, Brenden Dowd, Robin Figren, Craig McCallum, Brent Raedeke, Tomas Vincour)
Medicine Hat: 6 (Brennan Bosch, Travis Dunstall, Tyler Ennis, Yashar Farmanara, Colton Grant, Daine Todd)
Chilliwack: 5 (Brandon Campos, Nick Holden, Oscar Moller, Evan Pighin, Mark Santorelli)
Kootenay: 5 (Andrew Bailey, Steve DaSilva, Arnaud Jacquemet, Michael Stickland, Dustin Sylvester)
Red Deer: 4 (Landon Ferraro, Colby Kulhanek, Troy Ofukany, Brandon Sutter)
Saskatoon: 4 (Chris Durand, Ondrej Fiala, Colton Gillies, Derek Hulak)
Prince George: 3 (Greg Gardner, Alex Poulter, Dana Tyrell)
Portland: 2 (Jacob Dietrich, Tyler Swystun)
It's not a coincidence that most of the best teams in the league are high on the list of multiple 10+ and 20+ scorers. They have balanced scoring attacks that can get them enough goals to win games even when one or two players are shut down or even out of the lineup.
One exception to this is Tri-City, currently #1 overall but a team with less secondary scoring than some of the others around the league - only 7 players with 10+ goals, compared to their rivals in Spokane (for example) who have 11 players with 10+ goals. The Ams rely fairly heavily on Colton Yellow Horn for goals: his output this year represents 20% of their total goalscoring. This is something that Americans watchers might be a little leery about come playoff time, since Yellow Horn has always seen his goal production dry up in the playoffs: just one goal in each of the three playoff seasons he has played in.
Another team that surprised me here was Regina.....for one of the best teams in the league, they have only one player with more than 17 goals! They do have eight players with more than 10 though, so they have some good balance.
Incidentally, Yellow Horn isn't even the player who has scored the highest percentage of his teams' goals this year. That distinction belongs to Regina's Jordan Eberle, whose 35 goals represents 20.35% of Regina's total of 173. Yellow Horn's 43 goals is 20.19% of Tri-City's 213 goals.
Other players who have scored more than 15% of their teams' goals this year:
Tyler Ennis (M.H.): 18.92%
Oscar Moller (CHI): 17.68%
Brandon Sutter (RDR): 17.65%
Drayson Bowman (SPO): 17.59%
Bud Holloway (SEA): 17.44%
Steve DaSilva (KTN): 17.22%
Dana Tyrell (P.G.): 15.71%
Dustin Sylvester (KTN): 15.56%
Greg Scott (SEA): 15.12%
40+ goal scorers:
Tri-City: 1 (Colton Yellow Horn)
30+ goal scorers:
Brandon: 1 (Tyler Dittmer)
Calgary: 1 (Kyle Bortis)
Kootenay: 1 (Steve DaSilva)
Medicine Hat: 1 (Tyler Ennis)
Regina: 1 (Jordan Eberle)
Seattle: 1 (Bud Holloway)
Spokane: 1 (Drayson Bowman)
Tri-City: 1 (Colton Yellow Horn)
20+ goal scorers:
Brandon: 4 (Matt Calvert, Tyler Dittmer, Matt Lowry, Brayden Schenn)
Calgary: 4 (Kyle Bortis, Ian Duval, Brock Nixon, Ryan White)
Everett: 4 (Clayton Bauer, Kyle Beach, Dan Gendur, Zach Hamill)
Lethbridge: 4 (Zach Boychuk, Mitch Fadden, Dwight King, Colton Sceviour)
Tri-City: 4 (Taylor Procyshen, Kruise Reddick, Shaun Vey, Colton Yellow Horn)
Chilliwack: 3 (Brandon Campos, Oscar Moller, Mark Santorelli)
Kelowna: 3 (Jamie Benn, Brady Leavold, Colin Long)
Kootenay: 3 (Andrew Bailey, Steve DaSilva, Dustin Sylvester)
Medicine Hat: 3 (Tyler Ennis, Yashar Farmanara, Daine Todd)
Moose Jaw: 3 (Jason Bast, Joel Broda, Jordan Knackstedt)
Spokane: 3 (Drayson Bowman, Chris Bruton, Judd Blackwater)
Vancouver: 3 (Evander Kane, Spencer Machacek, Michal Repik)
Prince Albert: 2 (Ryan McDonald, Matt Robertson)
Seattle: 2 (Bud Holloway, Greg Scott)
Swift Current: 2 (Erik Felde, Dale Weise)
Kamloops: 1 (Juuso Puustinen)
Prince George: 1 (Dana Tyrell)
Red Deer: 1 (Brandon Sutter)
Regina: 1 (Jordan Eberle)
10+ goal scorers:
Spokane: 11 (Drayson Bowman, Chris Bruton, Judd Blackwater, Seth Compton, Tyler Johnson, Levko Koper, Justin McCrae, Ondrej Roman, David Rutherford, Jared Spurgeon, Mitch Wahl)
Calgary: 10 (Kyle Bortis, Ian Duval, T.J. Galiardi, Bostjan Golicic, Brandon Kozun, Carson McMillan, Brock Nixon, Paul Postma, Ian Schultz, Ryan White)
Kelowna: 9 (Cody Almond, Jamie Benn, Lucas Bloodoff, Evan Bloodoff, Dylan Hood, Brady Leavold, Colin Long, Brandon McMillan, Kyle St. Denis)
Moose Jaw: 9 (Jason Bast, Joel Broda, Terrance Delaronde, Riley Holzapfel, Jordan Knackstedt, Frazer McLaren, Neal Prokop, Ty Wishart)
Vancouver: 9 (Mario Bliznak, Jonathon Blum, Lance Bouma, Craig Cunningham, Evander Kane, Spencer Machacek, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Michal Repik, James Wright)
Brandon: 8 (Daniel Bartek, Andrew Clark, Tyler Dittmer, Scott Glennie, Nathan Green, Matt Lowry, Brayden Schenn)
Everett: 8 (Clayton Bauer, Kyle Beach, Dane Crowley, Dan Gendur, Zach Hamill, Shane Harper, Jonathan Harty, Vitaly Karamnov)
Lethbridge: 8 (Carter Bancks, Zach Boychuk, Cam Braes, Mitch Fadden, Nicholas Hotson, Dwight King, Colton Sceviour, Mike Wuchterl)
Regina: 8 (Ryan DePape, Scott Doucet, Jordan Eberle, Kirt Hill, Tim Kraus, Michael MacAngus, Logan Pyett, J.D. Watt)
Seattle: 8 (Jeremy Boyer, Bud Holloway, Ian McKenzie, Lindsay Nielsen, Jim O'Brien, Prab Rai, David Richard, Greg Scott)
Swift Current: 8 (Keegan Dansereau, Erik Felde, Levi Nelson, Zack Smith, David Stieler, Matt Tassone, Dale Weise, Geordie Wudrick)
Kamloops: 7 (Brady Calla, Kenton Dulle, Juuso Puustinen, Alex Rodgers, Ivan Rohac, C.J. Stretch, Scott Wasden)
Prince Albert: 7 (Justin Bernhardt, Max Brandl, Dustin Cameron, Jared Jagow, Devon LeBlanc, Ryan McDonald, Matt Robertson)
Tri-City: 7 (T.J. Fast, Johnny Lazo, Taylor Procyshen, Kruise Reddick, Jason Reese, Shaun Vey, Colton Yellow Horn)
Edmonton: 6 (Brett Breitkreuz, Brenden Dowd, Robin Figren, Craig McCallum, Brent Raedeke, Tomas Vincour)
Medicine Hat: 6 (Brennan Bosch, Travis Dunstall, Tyler Ennis, Yashar Farmanara, Colton Grant, Daine Todd)
Chilliwack: 5 (Brandon Campos, Nick Holden, Oscar Moller, Evan Pighin, Mark Santorelli)
Kootenay: 5 (Andrew Bailey, Steve DaSilva, Arnaud Jacquemet, Michael Stickland, Dustin Sylvester)
Red Deer: 4 (Landon Ferraro, Colby Kulhanek, Troy Ofukany, Brandon Sutter)
Saskatoon: 4 (Chris Durand, Ondrej Fiala, Colton Gillies, Derek Hulak)
Prince George: 3 (Greg Gardner, Alex Poulter, Dana Tyrell)
Portland: 2 (Jacob Dietrich, Tyler Swystun)
It's not a coincidence that most of the best teams in the league are high on the list of multiple 10+ and 20+ scorers. They have balanced scoring attacks that can get them enough goals to win games even when one or two players are shut down or even out of the lineup.
One exception to this is Tri-City, currently #1 overall but a team with less secondary scoring than some of the others around the league - only 7 players with 10+ goals, compared to their rivals in Spokane (for example) who have 11 players with 10+ goals. The Ams rely fairly heavily on Colton Yellow Horn for goals: his output this year represents 20% of their total goalscoring. This is something that Americans watchers might be a little leery about come playoff time, since Yellow Horn has always seen his goal production dry up in the playoffs: just one goal in each of the three playoff seasons he has played in.
Another team that surprised me here was Regina.....for one of the best teams in the league, they have only one player with more than 17 goals! They do have eight players with more than 10 though, so they have some good balance.
Incidentally, Yellow Horn isn't even the player who has scored the highest percentage of his teams' goals this year. That distinction belongs to Regina's Jordan Eberle, whose 35 goals represents 20.35% of Regina's total of 173. Yellow Horn's 43 goals is 20.19% of Tri-City's 213 goals.
Other players who have scored more than 15% of their teams' goals this year:
Tyler Ennis (M.H.): 18.92%
Oscar Moller (CHI): 17.68%
Brandon Sutter (RDR): 17.65%
Drayson Bowman (SPO): 17.59%
Bud Holloway (SEA): 17.44%
Steve DaSilva (KTN): 17.22%
Dana Tyrell (P.G.): 15.71%
Dustin Sylvester (KTN): 15.56%
Greg Scott (SEA): 15.12%
Statsapalooza II: Attendance
Average attendance for each team so far this season:
Vancouver: 8269
Calgary: 8154
Everett: 6198
Spokane: 6186
Kelowna: 6115
Red Deer: 5883
Edmonton: 4982
Regina: 4975
Kamloops: 4535
Chilliwack: 4465
Saskatoon: 4142
Tri-City: 4101
Portland: 4061
Brandon: 4046
Medicine Hat: 4006
Lethbridge: 3885
Seattle: 3817
Kootenay: 2941
Prince George: 2799
Moose Jaw: 2348
Prince Albert: 2128
Swift Current: 2005
Now, I've taken the attendance for each individual game, and calculated the % higher or lower than the home team's average attendance - ie, is that game drawing more or less people than a 'typical' game. Then I took those numbers, plus the visiting team for each game, and calculated how much a team's attendance increases or decreases depending on who the visiting team is. Basically, which teams are the best visiting-team draws, league-wide?
This is how much a home team's attendance changes when the opponent is:
Seattle: +9.47%
Vancouver: +7.19%
Kootenay: +2.81%
Chilliwack: +2.78%
Tri-City: +2.71%
Medicine Hat: +2.19%
Kelowna: +1.57%
Edmonton: +0.64%
Calgary: -0.29%
Red Deer: -0.32%
Prince George: -0.74%
Moose Jaw: -0.75%
Portland: -1.03%
Spokane: -1.1%
Everett: -1.68%
Regina: -1.68%
Saskatoon: -1.85%
Kamloops: -2.08%
Swift Current: -2.94%
Prince Albert: -3.72%
Lethbridge: -4.2%
Brandon: -5.41%
Basically, fans make more of an effort to go to the rink when Seattle or Vancouver is in town, but they prefer to stay home and catch up on the TIVO'd lawn bowling when Lethbridge or Brandon visits.
Vancouver: 8269
Calgary: 8154
Everett: 6198
Spokane: 6186
Kelowna: 6115
Red Deer: 5883
Edmonton: 4982
Regina: 4975
Kamloops: 4535
Chilliwack: 4465
Saskatoon: 4142
Tri-City: 4101
Portland: 4061
Brandon: 4046
Medicine Hat: 4006
Lethbridge: 3885
Seattle: 3817
Kootenay: 2941
Prince George: 2799
Moose Jaw: 2348
Prince Albert: 2128
Swift Current: 2005
Now, I've taken the attendance for each individual game, and calculated the % higher or lower than the home team's average attendance - ie, is that game drawing more or less people than a 'typical' game. Then I took those numbers, plus the visiting team for each game, and calculated how much a team's attendance increases or decreases depending on who the visiting team is. Basically, which teams are the best visiting-team draws, league-wide?
This is how much a home team's attendance changes when the opponent is:
Seattle: +9.47%
Vancouver: +7.19%
Kootenay: +2.81%
Chilliwack: +2.78%
Tri-City: +2.71%
Medicine Hat: +2.19%
Kelowna: +1.57%
Edmonton: +0.64%
Calgary: -0.29%
Red Deer: -0.32%
Prince George: -0.74%
Moose Jaw: -0.75%
Portland: -1.03%
Spokane: -1.1%
Everett: -1.68%
Regina: -1.68%
Saskatoon: -1.85%
Kamloops: -2.08%
Swift Current: -2.94%
Prince Albert: -3.72%
Lethbridge: -4.2%
Brandon: -5.41%
Basically, fans make more of an effort to go to the rink when Seattle or Vancouver is in town, but they prefer to stay home and catch up on the TIVO'd lawn bowling when Lethbridge or Brandon visits.
Statsapalooza
I've updated my 07-08 stats database recently, so I'm going to throw some stats out here in the next few posts....some categories more offbeat than others. If you just want to know who has the most goals or points or best GAA, the WHL site can do that for you. Here (and in some other posts in the next few days) are some things you won't find on their site.
Suggestions for things you'd like to see are welcome; use the comments section of this post. I can't promise that I can do what you're looking for, but if I can, I will.
So....which teams play the quickest games? Here's the average length of game for each team so far this year:
Prince Albert: 2:12
Medicine Hat: 2:13
Prince George: 2:13
Lethbridge: 2:14
Kootenay: 2:14
Spokane: 2:14
Seattle: 2:14
Calgary: 2:15
Kelowna: 2:15
Brandon: 2:15
Red Deer: 2:15
Swift Current: 2:15
Kamloops: 2:15
Portland: 2:16
Vancouver: 2:16
Regina: 2:16
Chilliwack: 2:16
Edmonton: 2:17
Tri-City: 2:17
Moose Jaw: 2:19
Everett: 2:19
Saskatoon: 2:21
So, not a huge difference from fastest to slowest, although Prince Albert is all alone with the fastest games and Saskatoon is by far the slowest. The Raiders play their games in (on average) nine less minutes than the Blades do. Considering the performance of those two teams this year, you could say that's a blessing for Raider fans and needless torture of Blades supporters.
How about the effects of a big factor in the length of the games: the refs? Some refs like to call it tight, which leads to more whistles and longer games. Others "let 'em play". Here's the average length of game for each ref this year:
Cory McLean: 2:12
Jon Stephenson: 2:12
Kris Liber: 2:13
Saad Al-Jadir: 2:13
Derek Zalaski: 2:13
Ryan Thompson: 2:14
Derek Herman: 2:14
Curtis Howe: 2:15
Chris Savage: 2:15
Matt Kirk: 2:15
Russell Berdusco: 2:15
Devin Klein: 2:15
Pat Smith: 2:15
Reagan Vetter: 2:15
Steve Papp: 2:15
Nathan Wieler: 2:15
Sean Raphael: 2:16
Ryan Agar: 2:16
Adam Byblow: 2:16
Ryan Bonnett: 2:16
Trevor Hanson: 2:16
Carl Poole: 2:16
Trevor Hrycuik: 2:16
Colby Smith: 2:17
Graham Skilliter: 2:17
Tyler Johnson: 2:18
Chris Crich: 2:18
Andy Thiessen: 2:18
Jason Mercer: 2:19
Sheldon Dean: 2:19
Jason Nissen: 2:20
Does Jason Nissen call tighter games with more penalties than Cory McLean? Might be....
And how about games with one ref vs games with the two-ref system? Does having two refs mean more calls and slower games?
One ref: 2:15
Two refs: 2:16
So, basically no difference. Although I'd be interested to know how a two-ref pairing of Jason Nissen and Sheldon Dean did against a pairing of Cory McLean with Jon Stephenson.....
And from a user request, the average length of games where Kelly Balaberda (who is well-known for taking forever to drop the puck at faceoffs) is a linesman: 2:18. The average length of a game overall is 2:15, so yes, Balaberda's games do take longer. Let's see.....5-10 seconds longer per faceoff, times 20-30 faceoffs conducted per game.....yep, 3 minutes right there.
The ten longest games so far this year:
2:59 (Nov 30, Saskatoon at Lethbridge)
2:54 (Oct 19, Vancouver at Seattle)
2:50 (Dec 29, Regina at Saskatoon)
2:47 (Feb 6, Saskatoon at Moose Jaw)
2:44 (Nov 24, Chilliwack at Portland)
2:44 (Dec 1, Chilliwack at Kamloops
2:41 (Dec 2, Prince George at Calgary)
2:40 (Oct 24, Brandon at Tri-City)
2:40 (Nov 10, Swift Current at Saskatoon)
2:39 (Sep 22, Vancouver at Everett)
Some of those games were no doubt teddy-bear-toss games though, which contributed to lengthening them. Same goes for shootouts and overtime games.
And the ten shortest games:
1:59: (Oct 2, Swift Current at Lethbridge)
1:59: (Oct 27, Vancouver at Kamloops)
2:00: (Nov 24, Prince George at Kelowna)
2:01: (Nov 17, Lethbridge at Prince Albert)
2:01: (Jan 23, Portland at Kelowna)
2:02: (Nov 9, Medicine Hat at Swift Current)
2:02: (Jan 2, Vancouver at Kelowna)
2:02: (Jan 25, Prince Albert at Kootenay)
2:03: (Jan 27, Spokane at Chilliwack)
2:03: (Sep 21, Chilliwack at Kamloops)
More to come later.....
Suggestions for things you'd like to see are welcome; use the comments section of this post. I can't promise that I can do what you're looking for, but if I can, I will.
So....which teams play the quickest games? Here's the average length of game for each team so far this year:
Prince Albert: 2:12
Medicine Hat: 2:13
Prince George: 2:13
Lethbridge: 2:14
Kootenay: 2:14
Spokane: 2:14
Seattle: 2:14
Calgary: 2:15
Kelowna: 2:15
Brandon: 2:15
Red Deer: 2:15
Swift Current: 2:15
Kamloops: 2:15
Portland: 2:16
Vancouver: 2:16
Regina: 2:16
Chilliwack: 2:16
Edmonton: 2:17
Tri-City: 2:17
Moose Jaw: 2:19
Everett: 2:19
Saskatoon: 2:21
So, not a huge difference from fastest to slowest, although Prince Albert is all alone with the fastest games and Saskatoon is by far the slowest. The Raiders play their games in (on average) nine less minutes than the Blades do. Considering the performance of those two teams this year, you could say that's a blessing for Raider fans and needless torture of Blades supporters.
How about the effects of a big factor in the length of the games: the refs? Some refs like to call it tight, which leads to more whistles and longer games. Others "let 'em play". Here's the average length of game for each ref this year:
Cory McLean: 2:12
Jon Stephenson: 2:12
Kris Liber: 2:13
Saad Al-Jadir: 2:13
Derek Zalaski: 2:13
Ryan Thompson: 2:14
Derek Herman: 2:14
Curtis Howe: 2:15
Chris Savage: 2:15
Matt Kirk: 2:15
Russell Berdusco: 2:15
Devin Klein: 2:15
Pat Smith: 2:15
Reagan Vetter: 2:15
Steve Papp: 2:15
Nathan Wieler: 2:15
Sean Raphael: 2:16
Ryan Agar: 2:16
Adam Byblow: 2:16
Ryan Bonnett: 2:16
Trevor Hanson: 2:16
Carl Poole: 2:16
Trevor Hrycuik: 2:16
Colby Smith: 2:17
Graham Skilliter: 2:17
Tyler Johnson: 2:18
Chris Crich: 2:18
Andy Thiessen: 2:18
Jason Mercer: 2:19
Sheldon Dean: 2:19
Jason Nissen: 2:20
Does Jason Nissen call tighter games with more penalties than Cory McLean? Might be....
And how about games with one ref vs games with the two-ref system? Does having two refs mean more calls and slower games?
One ref: 2:15
Two refs: 2:16
So, basically no difference. Although I'd be interested to know how a two-ref pairing of Jason Nissen and Sheldon Dean did against a pairing of Cory McLean with Jon Stephenson.....
And from a user request, the average length of games where Kelly Balaberda (who is well-known for taking forever to drop the puck at faceoffs) is a linesman: 2:18. The average length of a game overall is 2:15, so yes, Balaberda's games do take longer. Let's see.....5-10 seconds longer per faceoff, times 20-30 faceoffs conducted per game.....yep, 3 minutes right there.
The ten longest games so far this year:
2:59 (Nov 30, Saskatoon at Lethbridge)
2:54 (Oct 19, Vancouver at Seattle)
2:50 (Dec 29, Regina at Saskatoon)
2:47 (Feb 6, Saskatoon at Moose Jaw)
2:44 (Nov 24, Chilliwack at Portland)
2:44 (Dec 1, Chilliwack at Kamloops
2:41 (Dec 2, Prince George at Calgary)
2:40 (Oct 24, Brandon at Tri-City)
2:40 (Nov 10, Swift Current at Saskatoon)
2:39 (Sep 22, Vancouver at Everett)
Some of those games were no doubt teddy-bear-toss games though, which contributed to lengthening them. Same goes for shootouts and overtime games.
And the ten shortest games:
1:59: (Oct 2, Swift Current at Lethbridge)
1:59: (Oct 27, Vancouver at Kamloops)
2:00: (Nov 24, Prince George at Kelowna)
2:01: (Nov 17, Lethbridge at Prince Albert)
2:01: (Jan 23, Portland at Kelowna)
2:02: (Nov 9, Medicine Hat at Swift Current)
2:02: (Jan 2, Vancouver at Kelowna)
2:02: (Jan 25, Prince Albert at Kootenay)
2:03: (Jan 27, Spokane at Chilliwack)
2:03: (Sep 21, Chilliwack at Kamloops)
More to come later.....
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Playoff numbers, again
The fat lady is warming up in Portland....with the Hawks' loss last night, they are now on the brink of being the first team in the league mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this year. The only way they can make the playoffs now is to win every single game the rest of the way, and have Chilliwack lose every one of their games in regulation. That would get them a tie with the Bruins for the last playoff spot in the West and set up a one-game tiebreaker for the right to make the playoffs. You know, I just don't like the chances of this happening.
Portland was mathematically eliminated on February 10 last season. It will almost certainly happen earlier than that this year. I bet Portland gets shown to the golf course tomorrow night when they host Tri-City.
What's required for teams to make the playoffs.....
East:
Lethbridge: 4 wins or Edmonton losses
Regina: 5 wins or Edmonton losses
Moose Jaw: 6 wins or Edmonton losses
Kootenay: 6.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Medicine Hat: 6.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Swift Current: 7 wins or Edmonton losses
Brandon: 8 wins or Edmonton losses
West:
Kelowna: 1 win or Prince George loss
Seattle: 5 wins or Prince George losses
Everett: 5.5 wins or Prince George losses
Kamloops: 9 wins or Prince George losses
Chilliwack: 9.5 wins or Prince George losses
And what it will take for the 6 non-playoff teams to be eliminated:
Portland: 0.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
Red Deer: 3 losses or Brandon wins
Saskatoon: 5 losses or Brandon wins
Prince Albert: 5.5 losses or Brandon wins
Edmonton: 8 losses or Brandon wins
Prince George: 9.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
Portland isn't alone....I would put money on Red Deer being mathematically eliminated by the end of the weekend as well. They have three tough games this weekend against Calgary, Swift Current, and Medicine Hat, while Brandon plays Prince Albert (twice) and Saskatoon. I'm sure somewhere in those six games there will be a total of three Rebels losses and/or Wheat King wins.
Speaking of Red Deer's weekend games, they are bringing in their 2007 first round bantam pick, Connor Redmond, for his first taste of WHL regular season action in those games.
Happy Chinese New Year today to those of you who celebrate it. I understand this coming year is the year of the rat, which no doubt bodes well for at least one WHLer.
Back to something I mentioned last week.....the Patriots obviously fell short in their quest for a perfect season, but the AAA midget Winnipeg Thrashers are still 36-0 with four games to play. They play tomorrow and Saturday, and then again next Friday and Sunday. A perfect season is an impressive feat at any level, and AAA midget hockey might not be the NHL or even the WHL but it's still a very competitive level. Half of the kids on the Thrashers are property of WHL clubs and could be in the WHL next year, including defenceman Cory Baldwin (Spokane 2007 4th round), right wing David Conrad (Spokane 2006 3rd round), center Matt Glowa (Prince Albert 2007 7th round), center Jesse Hall (Brandon 2007 6th round), center Mike Hay (Swift Current 2007 4th round), left wing Rob Lazo (Tri-City list player), goaltender Brett Martyniuk (Tri-City list player), right wing Kyle Mulder (Regina 2006 8th round), defenceman Jesse Pearson (Edmonton list player), right wing Mark Stone (Brandon 2007 5th round), and defenceman Jeff Weselake (Kamloops 2006 10th round). Mulder, Conrad, Hall, and Stone are all in the top 15 in league scoring.
Portland was mathematically eliminated on February 10 last season. It will almost certainly happen earlier than that this year. I bet Portland gets shown to the golf course tomorrow night when they host Tri-City.
What's required for teams to make the playoffs.....
East:
Lethbridge: 4 wins or Edmonton losses
Regina: 5 wins or Edmonton losses
Moose Jaw: 6 wins or Edmonton losses
Kootenay: 6.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Medicine Hat: 6.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Swift Current: 7 wins or Edmonton losses
Brandon: 8 wins or Edmonton losses
West:
Kelowna: 1 win or Prince George loss
Seattle: 5 wins or Prince George losses
Everett: 5.5 wins or Prince George losses
Kamloops: 9 wins or Prince George losses
Chilliwack: 9.5 wins or Prince George losses
And what it will take for the 6 non-playoff teams to be eliminated:
Portland: 0.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
Red Deer: 3 losses or Brandon wins
Saskatoon: 5 losses or Brandon wins
Prince Albert: 5.5 losses or Brandon wins
Edmonton: 8 losses or Brandon wins
Prince George: 9.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
Portland isn't alone....I would put money on Red Deer being mathematically eliminated by the end of the weekend as well. They have three tough games this weekend against Calgary, Swift Current, and Medicine Hat, while Brandon plays Prince Albert (twice) and Saskatoon. I'm sure somewhere in those six games there will be a total of three Rebels losses and/or Wheat King wins.
Speaking of Red Deer's weekend games, they are bringing in their 2007 first round bantam pick, Connor Redmond, for his first taste of WHL regular season action in those games.
Happy Chinese New Year today to those of you who celebrate it. I understand this coming year is the year of the rat, which no doubt bodes well for at least one WHLer.
Back to something I mentioned last week.....the Patriots obviously fell short in their quest for a perfect season, but the AAA midget Winnipeg Thrashers are still 36-0 with four games to play. They play tomorrow and Saturday, and then again next Friday and Sunday. A perfect season is an impressive feat at any level, and AAA midget hockey might not be the NHL or even the WHL but it's still a very competitive level. Half of the kids on the Thrashers are property of WHL clubs and could be in the WHL next year, including defenceman Cory Baldwin (Spokane 2007 4th round), right wing David Conrad (Spokane 2006 3rd round), center Matt Glowa (Prince Albert 2007 7th round), center Jesse Hall (Brandon 2007 6th round), center Mike Hay (Swift Current 2007 4th round), left wing Rob Lazo (Tri-City list player), goaltender Brett Martyniuk (Tri-City list player), right wing Kyle Mulder (Regina 2006 8th round), defenceman Jesse Pearson (Edmonton list player), right wing Mark Stone (Brandon 2007 5th round), and defenceman Jeff Weselake (Kamloops 2006 10th round). Mulder, Conrad, Hall, and Stone are all in the top 15 in league scoring.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Rattie's record
One of the top prospects for this May's bantam draft, Airdrie Extreme AAA bantam forward Ty Rattie, has demolished the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League's single-season record for goals. That record was set last year by Mark Reners of the Lethbridge Golden Hawks, with 61 goals. Rattie is now at 64 goals after 28 games and still has five games to play. He is the runaway league scoring leader by 20 points (!!!!) and will probably be one of the first few players picked come the draft on May 1. Rattie, Saskatchewan forward Brent Benson, and Winnipeg forward Michael St. Croix (who is the son of former NHL goalie Rick St. Croix) are maybe the top three prospects for the draft.
One other note though, while looking over the AMBHL scoring leaders, I spotted a name that rang a bell. 1994-born forward Hunter Shinkaruk of the Calgary Royals is the little guy in this award-winning picture. That's him - at age two - trying to get into the pre-game scrum around the Hitmen net in a game back in 96-97. The picture won Calgary Sun photographer Dave Chidley a Canadian Newspaper Association award for best feature photography in 1997.
One other note though, while looking over the AMBHL scoring leaders, I spotted a name that rang a bell. 1994-born forward Hunter Shinkaruk of the Calgary Royals is the little guy in this award-winning picture. That's him - at age two - trying to get into the pre-game scrum around the Hitmen net in a game back in 96-97. The picture won Calgary Sun photographer Dave Chidley a Canadian Newspaper Association award for best feature photography in 1997.
More magic
Edmonton lost last night, so for the Hitmen, their playoff spot is now officially mathematically clinched. They are the first Eastern team to do so, and join Spokane, Tri-City, and Vancouver in the playoff picture so far.
As for everyone else.....
East:
Lethbridge: 4 wins or Edmonton losses
Regina: 5 wins or Edmonton losses
Moose Jaw: 7 wins or Edmonton losses
Swift Current: 7 wins or Edmonton losses
Kootenay: 7.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Medicine Hat: 7.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Brandon: 8.5 wins or Edmonton losses
West:
Kelowna: 1.5 wins or Prince George losses
Everett: 6 wins or Prince George losses
Seattle: 6.5 wins or Prince George losses
Kamloops: 9.5 wins or Prince George losses
Chilliwack: 10.5 wins or Prince George losses
And what it will take for the eventual 6 non-playoff teams to be mathematically eliminated:
Portland: 1.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
Red Deer: 3.5 losses or Brandon wins
Prince Albert: 6 losses or Brandon wins
Saskatoon: 6 losses or Brandon wins
Edmonton: 8.5 losses or Brandon wins
Prince George: 10 losses or Chilliwack wins
I see Brandon has now completed their free-fall from contending for first place in the East earlier in the year, down to 8th place.
Regina has now dropped out of 2nd place in the overall East standings for the first time in, well, a really long time. Lethbridge has overtaken them after the Canes laid a beating Edmonton last night while the Pats lost their third straight, to Medicine Hat. The Pats still have the #2 seed in the conference for the first round due to leading the Eastern division, but those seeds go out the window in the 2nd round so home ice beyond the first round is at stake for the Pats now.
Couple other notes....Portland overager Kevin Undershute's WHL career is over. He will have season-ending shoulder surgery to fix a problem that has kept him out of the lineup since early January. More details on Andy Kemper's blog - link is on the left.
Swift Current's Jesse Dudas is out with a knee injury. Shocking, I know. This guy spends more time in doctor's offices than most doctors.
Two weeks after playing in the Top Prospects game, James Wright of the Giants is now a healthy scratch. He has found his way into coach Don Hay's doghouse due to lackadaisical play.
And lastly, a story with mostly NHL content but some WHL implications: the Edmonton Oilers' ownership group members have voted to sell the team to Edmonton billionaire (Rexall drugstore chain, mostly) Daryl Katz. The Oil Kings have not been mentioned in any of the stories surrounding the sale of the Oilers, but since the Oilers own the Oil Kings, presumably the Oil Kings will be part of the deal and will also be owned by Katz now. You wouldn't think that there would be any problems for the Oil Kings coming out of this deal, but I guess we'll just have to see. Maybe Katz will decide he's not interested in junior hockey and will look to sell the WHL team. Who knows.
As for everyone else.....
East:
Lethbridge: 4 wins or Edmonton losses
Regina: 5 wins or Edmonton losses
Moose Jaw: 7 wins or Edmonton losses
Swift Current: 7 wins or Edmonton losses
Kootenay: 7.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Medicine Hat: 7.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Brandon: 8.5 wins or Edmonton losses
West:
Kelowna: 1.5 wins or Prince George losses
Everett: 6 wins or Prince George losses
Seattle: 6.5 wins or Prince George losses
Kamloops: 9.5 wins or Prince George losses
Chilliwack: 10.5 wins or Prince George losses
And what it will take for the eventual 6 non-playoff teams to be mathematically eliminated:
Portland: 1.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
Red Deer: 3.5 losses or Brandon wins
Prince Albert: 6 losses or Brandon wins
Saskatoon: 6 losses or Brandon wins
Edmonton: 8.5 losses or Brandon wins
Prince George: 10 losses or Chilliwack wins
I see Brandon has now completed their free-fall from contending for first place in the East earlier in the year, down to 8th place.
Regina has now dropped out of 2nd place in the overall East standings for the first time in, well, a really long time. Lethbridge has overtaken them after the Canes laid a beating Edmonton last night while the Pats lost their third straight, to Medicine Hat. The Pats still have the #2 seed in the conference for the first round due to leading the Eastern division, but those seeds go out the window in the 2nd round so home ice beyond the first round is at stake for the Pats now.
Couple other notes....Portland overager Kevin Undershute's WHL career is over. He will have season-ending shoulder surgery to fix a problem that has kept him out of the lineup since early January. More details on Andy Kemper's blog - link is on the left.
Swift Current's Jesse Dudas is out with a knee injury. Shocking, I know. This guy spends more time in doctor's offices than most doctors.
Two weeks after playing in the Top Prospects game, James Wright of the Giants is now a healthy scratch. He has found his way into coach Don Hay's doghouse due to lackadaisical play.
And lastly, a story with mostly NHL content but some WHL implications: the Edmonton Oilers' ownership group members have voted to sell the team to Edmonton billionaire (Rexall drugstore chain, mostly) Daryl Katz. The Oil Kings have not been mentioned in any of the stories surrounding the sale of the Oilers, but since the Oilers own the Oil Kings, presumably the Oil Kings will be part of the deal and will also be owned by Katz now. You wouldn't think that there would be any problems for the Oil Kings coming out of this deal, but I guess we'll just have to see. Maybe Katz will decide he's not interested in junior hockey and will look to sell the WHL team. Who knows.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
More magic numbers
Updating the magic numbers today.....three teams (Spokane, Tri-City, and Vancouver) have already clinched playoff spots; I know the league has proclaimed the Hitmen to have clinched one but if you crunch the numbers, you see that in reality they could end up tied with Edmonton for the 8th spot....and while the Hitmen would have more wins, that doesn't get them into the playoffs. Ties for the final playoff spot in the WHL are settled with tiebreaker games. So, in theory the Hitmen could lose all their remaining games (has to be in regulation!), the Oil Kings could win all theirs, and then the Oil Kings could win the tiebreaker game and the Hitmen would then miss the playoffs.
Of course, I could be struck by lightning while claiming a million-dollar lottery ticket too. But the point is, it's not mathematical. Yet.
Here's what is required for the remaining teams to clinch:
East:
Calgary: 0.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Regina: 6 wins or Edmonton losses
Lethbridge: 6 wins or Edmonton losses
Moose Jaw: 8 wins or Edmonton losses
Kootenay: 8.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Swift Current: 9 wins or Edmonton losses
Brandon: 9.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Medicine Hat: 9.5 wins or Edmonton losses
West:
Kelowna: 1.5 wins or Prince George losses
Everett: 6 wins or Prince George losses
Seattle: 6.5 wins or Prince George losses
Kamloops: 9.5 wins or Prince George losses
Chilliwack: 10.5 wins or Prince George losses
And what it will take for the eventual 6 non-playoff teams to be mathematically eliminated:
Portland: 2 losses or Chilliwack wins
Red Deer: 3.5 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Prince Albert: 6 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Saskatoon: 7 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Edmonton: 9.5 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Prince George: 10.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
One actual hockey note.....those 6 Raider losses - plus the other games they'll play this year - will be done with their 2006 1st round bantam pick in the lineup. Yes, Cole Penner has officially rejoined the team, putting an end to his odd travels this season which saw him leave the Raiders in training camp, play Jr A in Brooks, then leaving Brooks in November and dropping back down to AAA midget in Medicine Hat - where he played one game and hasn't played a game since then this year. Now he's back with the Raiders and hopefully can get his WHL career on track.
And now the playoff matchups, if the season ended today.....this is using the standings based on points:
East:
#8 Medicine Hat at #1 Calgary
#7 Brandon at #2 Regina
#6 Swift Current at #3 Lethbridge
#5 Kootenay at #4 Moose Jaw
West:
#8 Chilliwack at #1 Spokane
#7 Kamloops at #2 Vancouver
#6 Seattle at #3 Tri-City
#5 Everett at #4 Kelowna
And the matchups if you based the standings on winning percentage instead:
East:
#8 Swift Current at #1 Calgary
#7 Medicine Hat at #2 Regina
#6 Kootenay at #3 Lethbridge
#5 Brandon at #4 Moose Jaw
West:
#8 Kamloops at #1 Spokane
#7 Chilliwack at #2 Vancouver
#6 Everett at #3 Tri-City
#5 Seattle at #4 Kelowna
Of course, I could be struck by lightning while claiming a million-dollar lottery ticket too. But the point is, it's not mathematical. Yet.
Here's what is required for the remaining teams to clinch:
East:
Calgary: 0.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Regina: 6 wins or Edmonton losses
Lethbridge: 6 wins or Edmonton losses
Moose Jaw: 8 wins or Edmonton losses
Kootenay: 8.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Swift Current: 9 wins or Edmonton losses
Brandon: 9.5 wins or Edmonton losses
Medicine Hat: 9.5 wins or Edmonton losses
West:
Kelowna: 1.5 wins or Prince George losses
Everett: 6 wins or Prince George losses
Seattle: 6.5 wins or Prince George losses
Kamloops: 9.5 wins or Prince George losses
Chilliwack: 10.5 wins or Prince George losses
And what it will take for the eventual 6 non-playoff teams to be mathematically eliminated:
Portland: 2 losses or Chilliwack wins
Red Deer: 3.5 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Prince Albert: 6 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Saskatoon: 7 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Edmonton: 9.5 losses or Medicine Hat wins
Prince George: 10.5 losses or Chilliwack wins
One actual hockey note.....those 6 Raider losses - plus the other games they'll play this year - will be done with their 2006 1st round bantam pick in the lineup. Yes, Cole Penner has officially rejoined the team, putting an end to his odd travels this season which saw him leave the Raiders in training camp, play Jr A in Brooks, then leaving Brooks in November and dropping back down to AAA midget in Medicine Hat - where he played one game and hasn't played a game since then this year. Now he's back with the Raiders and hopefully can get his WHL career on track.
And now the playoff matchups, if the season ended today.....this is using the standings based on points:
East:
#8 Medicine Hat at #1 Calgary
#7 Brandon at #2 Regina
#6 Swift Current at #3 Lethbridge
#5 Kootenay at #4 Moose Jaw
West:
#8 Chilliwack at #1 Spokane
#7 Kamloops at #2 Vancouver
#6 Seattle at #3 Tri-City
#5 Everett at #4 Kelowna
And the matchups if you based the standings on winning percentage instead:
East:
#8 Swift Current at #1 Calgary
#7 Medicine Hat at #2 Regina
#6 Kootenay at #3 Lethbridge
#5 Brandon at #4 Moose Jaw
West:
#8 Kamloops at #1 Spokane
#7 Chilliwack at #2 Vancouver
#6 Everett at #3 Tri-City
#5 Seattle at #4 Kelowna
Friday, February 1, 2008
World Juniors back to the prairies?
News is out today that Calgary and Edmonton will be joining together in a bid to host the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships, which the IIHF has already awarded to Canada to host.
I think this is a great idea.....provided, of course, that all the Canadian games are in Calgary, while Edmonton hosts the big sellers like Germany vs. Ukraine and Slovakia vs. Lithuania. I think Ukraine might be a big hit in Edmonchuk.
Fun-poking aside, this is good news for junior hockey fans on the prairies. And, I would say it is extremely likely that Calgary/Edmonton will win this bid, unless the 2010 World Juniors - which are also in Canada but as yet no host has been picked - end up west of Ontario first. I understand Saskatoon is planning on bidding for that one so if they got it, then I think 2012 probably goes to some place in the east. But assuming it ends up in Edmonton/Calgary, it's going to be a great chance for us prairie dwellers to see this tournament. I remember back in 1995 when Red Deer was the host, and gave Calgary and Edmonton the chance to host one or two of the Canadian games each....that Canada vs Czech Republic game, with the huge 3rd period comeback by the Canadians to win, is easily in my top couple hockey games I've ever seen in person.....and I've seen Stanley Cups awarded and WHL championships won. It was that good.
I think this is a great idea.....provided, of course, that all the Canadian games are in Calgary, while Edmonton hosts the big sellers like Germany vs. Ukraine and Slovakia vs. Lithuania. I think Ukraine might be a big hit in Edmonchuk.
Fun-poking aside, this is good news for junior hockey fans on the prairies. And, I would say it is extremely likely that Calgary/Edmonton will win this bid, unless the 2010 World Juniors - which are also in Canada but as yet no host has been picked - end up west of Ontario first. I understand Saskatoon is planning on bidding for that one so if they got it, then I think 2012 probably goes to some place in the east. But assuming it ends up in Edmonton/Calgary, it's going to be a great chance for us prairie dwellers to see this tournament. I remember back in 1995 when Red Deer was the host, and gave Calgary and Edmonton the chance to host one or two of the Canadian games each....that Canada vs Czech Republic game, with the huge 3rd period comeback by the Canadians to win, is easily in my top couple hockey games I've ever seen in person.....and I've seen Stanley Cups awarded and WHL championships won. It was that good.
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