I see on Gregg Drinnan's blog - and on NHL.com now - that former NHL goaltender and WHL coach Hank Bassen died of a heart attack on Friday at age 76.
Gregg mentioned what a great person he thought Bassen was, and I have to offer up my own encounter with Hank Bassen as well. About 8 or 9 years ago I was watching the Hitmen playing the Regina Pats, back when the Pats had a kid named Chad Bassen playing for them. Yes, Hank's grandson. Anyway, this older couple happened to be sitting in the two seats next to me and were cheering for the Pats. I got to chatting with them during the first intermission and as you've probably figured out already, it was Hank Bassen and his wife, I believe her name is Shirley?
I've met a lot of nice people in my days of being a WHL fan but the Bassens really stand out in my mind. They were like the grandparents everybody wished they had, just a couple of super nice folks who spent a good chunk of that game chatting with me - somebody they didn't even know. Hank & I both agreed the crappy canned music being played at the game was much, much too loud, and he told me about the experience of playing for the Blackhawks in the old Chicago Stadium when there was no scoreboard exhorting you to CLAP!!! or YAHOO!!! and no audio clips of "musicians" of questionable talent being played at ear-bleeding volumes, just an organ and thousands of leather-lunged fans. What a guy.
So, it's a sad day to hear this news. ...
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Draft reports for your reading enjoyment....
If you're interested (and if you're a fan of the WHL, you probably should be), Red Line Report western scout Mike Remmerde is posting his NHL draft analysis of the draft-eligible WHLers on his blog NHL Draft Notes, now.
Be warned: if you're looking for reports which blow sunshine up the ass of your favourite players, then his reports probably aren't good reads for you. But if you want an honest analysis of these players from the point of view of somebody who gets paid to do this for a living and has been getting paid to do this for a living for quite a few years now, then it's a good read.
Yes, Remmerde is only one guy and other scouts might have different opinions on some players. But you can be sure that the pros and cons he has noticed about each player have been noticed by other in the NHL scouting business as well.
Be warned: if you're looking for reports which blow sunshine up the ass of your favourite players, then his reports probably aren't good reads for you. But if you want an honest analysis of these players from the point of view of somebody who gets paid to do this for a living and has been getting paid to do this for a living for quite a few years now, then it's a good read.
Yes, Remmerde is only one guy and other scouts might have different opinions on some players. But you can be sure that the pros and cons he has noticed about each player have been noticed by other in the NHL scouting business as well.
...and Truitt in...
...and Moose Jaw's G.M. vacancy will last two days. Numerous reports now indicate that former Kelowna head coach Jeff Truitt - who has been coaching the Oilers' AHL farm club since leaving the Rockets - will be named the Warriors' new general manager on Monday.
Truitt has no G.M. experience in the WHL but does have a lot of coaching experience obviously so he's at least familiar with the league and what it takes to build a winner here.
The next question is what this does for the stability of current Warriors coach Dave Hunchak's position. Truitt is only the G.M. but how long before he decides he'd like to coach the Warriors too?
Also, it's apparently not accurate to say Chad Lang was fired as Warriors GM....he was headed into the option year of his contract with the team and the club simply decided not to pick up the option. So technically he got laid off, or became a free agent, or however you want to word it....
Truitt has no G.M. experience in the WHL but does have a lot of coaching experience obviously so he's at least familiar with the league and what it takes to build a winner here.
The next question is what this does for the stability of current Warriors coach Dave Hunchak's position. Truitt is only the G.M. but how long before he decides he'd like to coach the Warriors too?
Also, it's apparently not accurate to say Chad Lang was fired as Warriors GM....he was headed into the option year of his contract with the team and the club simply decided not to pick up the option. So technically he got laid off, or became a free agent, or however you want to word it....
Lang out?
The Regina Leader-Post's Greg Harder is reporting that his sources tell him the Moose Jaw Warriors have fired G.M. Chad Lang.
Personally, I always thought Lang was doing a decent job with the Warriors. Sure, they were a bad team this year but at least Lang had the guts to do what some G.M.s just can't seem to do when times are bad: commit 100% to a rebuild.
Personally, I always thought Lang was doing a decent job with the Warriors. Sure, they were a bad team this year but at least Lang had the guts to do what some G.M.s just can't seem to do when times are bad: commit 100% to a rebuild.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Import/Overage changes
Seems my post on the import draft stirred up a bit of debate in the comments about possible changes to the import and/or overage numbers in the league.....so, let's talk about this some more here.
It seems like this overage/Euro debate comes up every year but there obviously hasn't been any serious appetite for change at the CHL level in the recent past or else it would have happened by now. Is there serious appetite for change today? I don't know....I know a number of G.M.'s around the WHL and OHL have expressed a desire to change the import numbers down to one. I haven't heard any serious interest anywhere in making changes to the number of overagers allowed.
Thing is, it's not enough for the WHL to decide it wants to use, say, four O/As and one import (which I think would be a good idea, BTW). The OHL and QMJHL need to sign off on that change too, so you all can imagine the headache required to make a change of this magnitude.
I thought Euros were a good thing at one time, back when there were good ones coming over. Any time you can add some high-skill players to your league, it raises the overall calibre of your product and the North American kids in the league benefit too from playing with and against better quality players. But the calibre of the average import in the WHL today has fallen so far from where it was 10 years ago that you really have to wonder why many WHL teams even bother having some of these duds taking up roster space anymore.
This past season in the WHL, there were TWO imports in the top 100 scorers in the league. Milan Kytnar of Saskatoon was 43rd with 64 points, and Bostjan Golicic of Calgary was 73rd with 56 points. Think about that for a minute: TWO out of 100, and none in the top 40.
Now, I know points aren't the be-all and end-all of player quality and I'm sure there were some good import defencemen and goaltenders in the WHL this year too: Sbisa, Niemi, Ulmer, Kundratek, Metsola, etc. But the point is still that the quality of imports in the league has fallen off quite a bit. No longer does everyone have two Euros playing in their top six forwards and top four defencemen. Now the best Euros stay home and play for money and WHL teams are just as likely or even more likely to have imports playing average depth roles as they are to be playing impact roles. Unless that changes, I think we're better off letting North American kids play those roles rather than Europeans.
So, why not drop the allowed number of imports down to one, and offset their loss (not much of a "loss" in many cases) by allowing four overagers per team instead of three? To those who say there aren't enough good overagers as it is right now, I say phooey on that - there are dozens of good 20 year olds playing Jr A and if WHL clubs were allowed to use more of them, then some of those kids might get more attention. Any WHL club that can't find a 20 year old Jr A forward to be a 3rd line role player instead of using an import 3rd line role player just isn't looking hard enough for them.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Import draft
It's not for a month yet, but I see the CHL website has the 2009 import draft order up for viewing. Moose Jaw has the first WHL pick, at #2 overall.
You can see the traded picks, etc....in the WHL, Everett has Regina's first rounder (17th overall), Moose Jaw has Brandon's first rounder (53rd overall), and Regina has Vancouver's first rounder (59th overall, 2nd last in the first round). So Everett and Moose Jaw have two first round picks while Brandon and Vancouver don't have one at all.
By my count, the number of picks each WHL team will be able to make this year, unless they trade/drop some of their existing imports first:
Brandon: 1
Calgary: 2
Chilliwack: 1
Edmonton: 0
Everett: 2
Kamloops: 1
Kelowna: 1
Kootenay: 1
Lethbridge: 1
Medicine Hat: 1
Moose Jaw: 2
Portland: 2
Prince Albert: 0
Prince George: 0
Red Deer: 0
Regina: 1
Saskatoon: 1
Seattle: 1
Spokane: 1
Swift Current: 1
Tri-City: 1
Vancouver: 0
Remember, overage imports do not count towards your two-import limit during the summer, so some of these teams may have '89 imports who could return as overagers next year, but that doesn't stop them from drafting new ones anyway; you are allowed to have up to two 17-19 year old imports on your roster even if you have some overage ones too. They just have to be down to two imports total on their roster by the overage deadline in early October, that's all.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Pats re-hire Hunt
Various sources are reporting tonight that the Regina Pats have reached an agreement with Curtis Hunt to return to the team as head coach.
Hunt was the Pats' coach for four seasons from 2004-05 through 2007-08 before leaving for an NHL job as assistant coach to Craig Hartsburg in Ottawa. That didn't work out well for him since the Senators fired Hartsburg in midseason this year and Hunt finished the season as coach of the Senators' AHL club instead. I guess he wants to return to the junior game rather than stay at the pro level.
A decent move for the Pats, I think. Hunt didn't have much postseason success in Regina (one playoff series win in four years) but he did put winning teams on the ice in the regular season at least. And since he has only been away for one year, he is still familiar with most of the players and prospects in the organization, so he should be able to slip right back in.
It had been reported earlier that Hunt was one of two finalists for the job, with former Hurricanes coach Michael Dyck being the other. Since Dyck has obviously lost out on the Pats opening, look for his name to move to the top of the list for other coaching vacancies around the league now....Chilliwack, Everett, and even his former job in Lethbridge perhaps.
Hunt was the Pats' coach for four seasons from 2004-05 through 2007-08 before leaving for an NHL job as assistant coach to Craig Hartsburg in Ottawa. That didn't work out well for him since the Senators fired Hartsburg in midseason this year and Hunt finished the season as coach of the Senators' AHL club instead. I guess he wants to return to the junior game rather than stay at the pro level.
A decent move for the Pats, I think. Hunt didn't have much postseason success in Regina (one playoff series win in four years) but he did put winning teams on the ice in the regular season at least. And since he has only been away for one year, he is still familiar with most of the players and prospects in the organization, so he should be able to slip right back in.
It had been reported earlier that Hunt was one of two finalists for the job, with former Hurricanes coach Michael Dyck being the other. Since Dyck has obviously lost out on the Pats opening, look for his name to move to the top of the list for other coaching vacancies around the league now....Chilliwack, Everett, and even his former job in Lethbridge perhaps.
Spitfires win Memorial Cup
No doubt the best team won today....the Rockets dug themselves a very early 3-0 hole and could not climb out of it.
All the laughing I & other WHL fans did at the Spitfires earlier this week sure makes us look foolish now. They weren't good enough, they couldn't possibly win four straight after those two weak early efforts, etc, etc....well, they WERE good enough. They won four straight games while facing elimination in each one - you can make the comparision to a team coming back from down 3-0 in a playoff series. You have to win four straight and if you don't, you're out. And the Spitfires pulled off that nearly impossible feat.
You have to feel like the Rockets brought this on themselves with that pathetic effort on Tuesday. They could have knocked the Spitfires out of the tournament with a win last Tuesday and instead they mailed in the two points that kept the Spits alive. Everyone does (or should) know you don't give a team that dangerous a second chance, and they did....and look what happened. If they finished off Windsor the first time, they could have played one of the QMJHL teams today instead and maybe the result would have been different.
Oh well. It was a good season for the Rockets even if the final result was not what we WHL fans had hoped. They were definitely the best team in the WHL since January so the season overall is nothing to hang their heads over.
And congrats to the Spitfires and all their fans....they came back to win when nobody gave them a chance. And I understand their losses for next season are not that devastating, so there is a very good chance they could be back in Brandon next year looking for back-to-back Memorial Cup titles.
And.....that's the end of the junior hockey season. Next item on the calendar is the NHL draft on June 26th & 27th in Montreal....
All the laughing I & other WHL fans did at the Spitfires earlier this week sure makes us look foolish now. They weren't good enough, they couldn't possibly win four straight after those two weak early efforts, etc, etc....well, they WERE good enough. They won four straight games while facing elimination in each one - you can make the comparision to a team coming back from down 3-0 in a playoff series. You have to win four straight and if you don't, you're out. And the Spitfires pulled off that nearly impossible feat.
You have to feel like the Rockets brought this on themselves with that pathetic effort on Tuesday. They could have knocked the Spitfires out of the tournament with a win last Tuesday and instead they mailed in the two points that kept the Spits alive. Everyone does (or should) know you don't give a team that dangerous a second chance, and they did....and look what happened. If they finished off Windsor the first time, they could have played one of the QMJHL teams today instead and maybe the result would have been different.
Oh well. It was a good season for the Rockets even if the final result was not what we WHL fans had hoped. They were definitely the best team in the WHL since January so the season overall is nothing to hang their heads over.
And congrats to the Spitfires and all their fans....they came back to win when nobody gave them a chance. And I understand their losses for next season are not that devastating, so there is a very good chance they could be back in Brandon next year looking for back-to-back Memorial Cup titles.
And.....that's the end of the junior hockey season. Next item on the calendar is the NHL draft on June 26th & 27th in Montreal....
Friday, May 22, 2009
More on the NHL in Phoenix
Some interesting numbers coming out of the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy case. Basically, the Coyotes lost almost $54 million last year despite having one of the smallest payrolls in the NHL.
Fifty-four MILLION dollars. Think about that number for a moment here.
Since they can't cut player costs - they're already just barely above the NHL salary floor - then if we assume there isn't a lot of other fat to trim from the budget, how can this team be even remotely viable in Phoenix? They need to increase revenues by more than 75% over current levels just to break even. For a team that derives almost 50% of its revenue from ticket sales and NHL revenue-sharing money, that's simply impossible. With numbers like those, why is there anyone at all interested in buying the team and keeping it in Phoenix?
(I guess they could start by firing Gretzky as coach. He makes $6.5 million a year - more than five times the league average for a coach - and hasn't made the playoffs yet in four years behind the bench. Losing his salary would cut the losses by 10% right there.)
This team can't survive in Phoenix....bottom line. Time to call the Phoenix experiment a failure and start looking for someplace else to play.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Rimouski goes home
The first of the four teams at the Memorial Cup to be eliminated is the host Rimouski Oceanic, who couldn't beat the resurgent Windsor Spitfires in the tiebreaker game tonight, losing 6-4. So Rimouski is out, while Windsor plays Drummondville tomorrow night in the semifinal, with the winner tangling with Kelowna for all the marbles on Sunday. At least we know there will be no "back door" Memorial Cup champion this year....the three teams remaining are all the champions of their respective leagues.
This loss has to really sting for the Oceanic, who really deserved to have won last night's game with Drummondville and the free pass to the semifinal that came with it. They couldn't get it done though and then tonight they just got beat by a better team. Windsor carried the play tonight and definitely deserved this win in my books.
I don't think Rimouski would have tied the game anyway, but that penalty called against them with 95 seconds left was one of the worst calls of the year at any level. Referee Marc Muylaert should be embarrassed to have taken the game out of the hands of the Oceanic players with a call like that, at that point of that game.
This was definitely Windsor's best game of the tournament in my opinion. It's going to get interesting now if the Spitfires pull out the semifinal win over Drummondville. That would get them another match-up against the Rockets, who could have sent the Spits home on Tuesday night but mailed the Spitfires' season-saving win in instead.....
This loss has to really sting for the Oceanic, who really deserved to have won last night's game with Drummondville and the free pass to the semifinal that came with it. They couldn't get it done though and then tonight they just got beat by a better team. Windsor carried the play tonight and definitely deserved this win in my books.
I don't think Rimouski would have tied the game anyway, but that penalty called against them with 95 seconds left was one of the worst calls of the year at any level. Referee Marc Muylaert should be embarrassed to have taken the game out of the hands of the Oceanic players with a call like that, at that point of that game.
This was definitely Windsor's best game of the tournament in my opinion. It's going to get interesting now if the Spitfires pull out the semifinal win over Drummondville. That would get them another match-up against the Rockets, who could have sent the Spits home on Tuesday night but mailed the Spitfires' season-saving win in instead.....
Tough loss for Oceanic
How about that game last night, a 3-2 OT win for Drummondville over Rimouski....if that wasn't the most entertaining game of the Memorial Cup so far this year then I don't know what was. Two QMJHL teams playing the style of hockey we all expect from the "Q".
Rimouski totally, absolutely, 100% deserved to win that game though. They outshot the Voltigeurs by a 2-1 ratio and were simply the better team everywhere but on the scoreboard. Drummondville goaltender Marco Cousineau is the ONLY reason his team is in the semifinal tomorrow. He was spectacular and if not for his efforts, this game would have been 7-2 or 8-2 for Rimouski in regulation.
So, because of the tough loss, Rimouski now has to play the tiebreaker game tonight against Windsor. The winner of the tiebreaker plays Drummondville tomorrow night for the right to play the Rockets in Sunday's final.
Don't you just KNOW that the Rimouski boys would love to beat Windsor and get another crack at Drummondville after the way last night went....but to do that, they're going to have to play a lot better against Windsor tonight than they did in their round-robin meeting. Rimouski won the round-robin game 5-4 on Sunday but they were quite outplayed by the Spitfires in that game so the Oceanic are going to have to bring a much better effort tonight, because the Spits are likely to be pretty fired up.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Lowry to coach Team Canada
Hitmen coach Dave Lowry has been named the head coach of the Canadian U-18 team which will play at the annual Ivan Hlinka memorial tournament in the Czech Republic in August.
Rumours have been swirling ever since the Hitmen season ended that Lowry could have opportunities in the pro ranks next year. Unfortunately for the Hitmen, this Hockey Canada job doesn't make it less likely that Lowry could move on to the pro ranks; after all, last year this team was coached by Bill Peters of the Spokane Chiefs, and Peters moved on to the AHL anyway.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Kelowna spares Spits
Well, that was a poor imitation of the Kelowna Rockets we saw tonight in a 2-1 loss to Windsor. No passion, no spark, no life in that team at all. The last two or three minutes of the game said it all - Kelowna lazily skating around with the puck, no effort being made at all to tie the game. Hell, they never even pulled Guggenberger at all. They didn't care if they lost.
I mean, I get why they didn't care....they're in the final regardless. And really, there is no harm in having Windsor win and thus require the tiebreaker game to be used - it basically opens up the possibility that Kelowna's opponent on Sunday will have had to play Thursday AND Friday, and maybe Wednesday too if it's one of the QMJHL teams that advances to the final. So it increases the chance of Kelowna's Sunday opponent being a tired hockey club.
But all I can say is, they better win on Sunday now and not have any bad habits from tonight's snoozefest carry over into the championship game.....
I mean, I get why they didn't care....they're in the final regardless. And really, there is no harm in having Windsor win and thus require the tiebreaker game to be used - it basically opens up the possibility that Kelowna's opponent on Sunday will have had to play Thursday AND Friday, and maybe Wednesday too if it's one of the QMJHL teams that advances to the final. So it increases the chance of Kelowna's Sunday opponent being a tired hockey club.
But all I can say is, they better win on Sunday now and not have any bad habits from tonight's snoozefest carry over into the championship game.....
Monday, May 18, 2009
Winning ugly
Little bit of an ugly game today, not a very dominating performance from Kelowna but they did get the job done in a 6-4 win over Drummondville. Jamie Benn had four goals for the Rockets, one shy of the tournament record for most goals in a game. It would be safe to say though, I think, that neither team will be extremely happy with their performance today. Some soft goals at both ends of the ice and overall not the same level of execution as we saw from the two teams in their opening wins.
With the win, the Rockets have clinched first place in the standings and will definitely play in the final next Sunday, which means they now have five days before their next game of any meaning. They play Windsor tomorrow but the game means nothing to the Rockets apart from a chance to send the champions of the OHL (does it stand for Ordinary Hockey League?) home winless.
The rest of the tournament will unfold thusly:
With the win, the Rockets have clinched first place in the standings and will definitely play in the final next Sunday, which means they now have five days before their next game of any meaning. They play Windsor tomorrow but the game means nothing to the Rockets apart from a chance to send the champions of the OHL (does it stand for Ordinary Hockey League?) home winless.
The rest of the tournament will unfold thusly:
- if Kelowna beats Windsor tomorrow, then the playoffs are set. No Thursday tiebreaker will be needed, and Drummondville and Rimouski will play in the semifinal on Friday regardless of who wins their head-to-head game on Wednesday. All that Wednesday game would decide is who is the "home" team on Friday.
- if Windsor does beat Kelowna, the Rockets still go to the final on Sunday, but the Spitfires would then survive to play a Thursday tiebreaker against whoever loses the Drummondville - Rimouski game on Wednesday. The winner of the Wednesday game would play the winner of the Thursday tiebreaker in Friday's semifinal, with the winner of that game of course advancing to play the Rockets on Sunday.
Memorial Cup, Sunday
I watched about half of the Drummondville-Windsor game yesterday and the Rimouski-Windsor game today. All I can say is, is that all Windsor's got?
Sure, they were close in both games and you could make a case that they might have deserved at least one win out of the two games, but bottom line: they didn't win. For all the hype about what a great team they were, they sure didn't live up to that hype. They had an awful lot of trouble today with a Rimouski team that Kelowna manhandled pretty easily. It's getting tiring listening to the Eastern media pump the tires of these ordinary OHL teams every year. The last hyped OHL team to actually live up to the hype was London in 2005.
It doesn't help Windsor that their goaltending sucks. That Engelage guy is SLOW and he has given up more than a couple stinkers in just two games. This is a tournament of champions, you can't give up weak goals at all.
If history means anything, Windsor's dreams of winning the Memorial Cup are over. Since the tournament went to a 4-team format in 1983, no team with 2 losses in the round-robin has ever won the Cup. In fact, in those 26 years, only 4 times has a team with 2 losses even made it to the championship game.....needless to say, all four of them lost that game, including Kitchener last year. So basically, the Spitfires are toast...no doubt they'll be a desperate team when they face Kelowna on Tuesday because they absolutely have to win that game to go any further, but I just don't see Windsor as being a Memorial Cup championship calibre team anymore. The really good teams win these critical games and they didn't.
As for Kelowna, they take on Drummondville tomorrow and a win would lock up first place and a spot in the final. At 2-0 with wins over the two QMJHL teams, the Rockets could lose to the Spitfires and would still finish in first place - they'd be 2-1 and whichever Quebec team won their head-to-head meeting on Wednesday would also be 2-1, but Kelowna would get first place because they beat that team, whoever it was.
Sure, they were close in both games and you could make a case that they might have deserved at least one win out of the two games, but bottom line: they didn't win. For all the hype about what a great team they were, they sure didn't live up to that hype. They had an awful lot of trouble today with a Rimouski team that Kelowna manhandled pretty easily. It's getting tiring listening to the Eastern media pump the tires of these ordinary OHL teams every year. The last hyped OHL team to actually live up to the hype was London in 2005.
It doesn't help Windsor that their goaltending sucks. That Engelage guy is SLOW and he has given up more than a couple stinkers in just two games. This is a tournament of champions, you can't give up weak goals at all.
If history means anything, Windsor's dreams of winning the Memorial Cup are over. Since the tournament went to a 4-team format in 1983, no team with 2 losses in the round-robin has ever won the Cup. In fact, in those 26 years, only 4 times has a team with 2 losses even made it to the championship game.....needless to say, all four of them lost that game, including Kitchener last year. So basically, the Spitfires are toast...no doubt they'll be a desperate team when they face Kelowna on Tuesday because they absolutely have to win that game to go any further, but I just don't see Windsor as being a Memorial Cup championship calibre team anymore. The really good teams win these critical games and they didn't.
As for Kelowna, they take on Drummondville tomorrow and a win would lock up first place and a spot in the final. At 2-0 with wins over the two QMJHL teams, the Rockets could lose to the Spitfires and would still finish in first place - they'd be 2-1 and whichever Quebec team won their head-to-head meeting on Wednesday would also be 2-1, but Kelowna would get first place because they beat that team, whoever it was.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Memorial Cup, game 1
Kelowna rolled to a lopsided 4-1 win over host Rimouski tonight.....I say lopsided despite the respectable-looking score because the score could just as well have been 10-1 after that pathetic showing from the Oceanic.
Rimouski went out in the 3rd round of the QMJHL playoffs in four straight games to the eventual QMJHL champs, Drummondville, but after watching tonight's game I would say the Oceanic would not have made it out of the 2nd round of the playoffs if they were in the WHL. In fact, they might have been first round fodder. They were that bad, that outmatched against the Rockets.
Kelowna played the same game that was so successful for them in the WHL playoffs - take care of things in your own end first and capitalize on what the other team gives you offensively. And the Oceanic gave in their own end 'til it hurt.
After this game, I'm pretty confident we can eliminate the hosts from having any chance of playing next Sunday. We know from the QMJHL playoffs that Drummondville can manhandle them, the Rockets certainly had their way with them tonight, and with all the hype about Windsor I can't see the Spits having trouble with the Oceanic either. So it's a three-team race now.
Tomorrow: Windsor against Drummondville. It'll be interesting to watch this one and see if either team shows any signs of having what it takes to go up against the Rockets.
Rimouski went out in the 3rd round of the QMJHL playoffs in four straight games to the eventual QMJHL champs, Drummondville, but after watching tonight's game I would say the Oceanic would not have made it out of the 2nd round of the playoffs if they were in the WHL. In fact, they might have been first round fodder. They were that bad, that outmatched against the Rockets.
Kelowna played the same game that was so successful for them in the WHL playoffs - take care of things in your own end first and capitalize on what the other team gives you offensively. And the Oceanic gave in their own end 'til it hurt.
After this game, I'm pretty confident we can eliminate the hosts from having any chance of playing next Sunday. We know from the QMJHL playoffs that Drummondville can manhandle them, the Rockets certainly had their way with them tonight, and with all the hype about Windsor I can't see the Spits having trouble with the Oceanic either. So it's a three-team race now.
Tomorrow: Windsor against Drummondville. It'll be interesting to watch this one and see if either team shows any signs of having what it takes to go up against the Rockets.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thursday notes
So the first of the NHL's three game 7's last night was a bust, as the Capitals crapped the bed at home and lost 6-2 to Pittsburgh. The Caps were down 4-0 by two minutes into the 2nd period and the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Oh well. The series was billed as a matchup of two of hockey's biggest stars, and it did live up to that billing at least - Alex Ovechkin had 14 points in the 7 games and Sidney Crosby was right behind him with 13 points in 7 games.
Two more game 7's tonight in Detroit and Boston.
Got a reader request to fulfill here, after I posted the signing statuses of the 2007 NHL draft picks in the WHL. A reader wants to know if I can do the same for the 2008 picks, although there is no pending deadline to sign them. So I put together what I could....additions/corrections are welcome.
The signed picks:
Tyler Myers - Kelowna Rockets (1st round - Buffalo)
Zach Boychuk - Lethbridge Hurricanes (1st round - Carolina)
Jordan Eberle - Regina Pats (1st round - Edmonton)
Colten Teubert - Regina Pats (1st round - Los Angeles)
Chet Pickard - Tri-City Americans (1st round - Nashville)
Luca Sbisa - Lethbridge Hurricanes (1st round - Philadelphia)
Luke Schenn - Kelowna Rockets (1st round - Toronto)
Tomas Kundratek - Medicine Hat Tigers (3rd round - NY Rangers)
Braden Holtby - Saskatoon Blades (4th round - Washington)
Dustin Tokarski - Spokane Chiefs (5th round - Tampa Bay)
Myers, Eberle, Teubert, and Sbisa are all 1990-born and thus are eligible to play in the WHL again next year and will have to stick with their NHL clubs or else they will be back here. The rest of them would all be overagers next year and so we can probably assume they are gone from the WHL.
And these players are (to the best of my knowledge) unsigned:
Tyler Ennis - Medicine Hat Tigers (1st round - Buffalo)
Kyle Beach - Lethbridge Hurricanes (1st round - Chicago)
Mitch Wahl - Spokane Chiefs (2nd round - Calgary)
Colby Robak - Brandon Wheat Kings (2nd round - Florida)
Travis Hamonic - Moose Jaw Warriors (2nd round - NY Islanders)
Eric Mestery - Lethbridge Hurricanes (2nd round - Washington)
Brandon McMillan - Kelowna Rockets (3rd round - Anaheim)
Lance Bouma - Vancouver Giants (3rd round - Calgary)
Geordie Wudrick - Swift Current Broncos (3rd round - Los Angeles)
Jyri Niemi - Saskatoon Blades (3rd round - NY Islanders)
Jacob DeSerres - Seattle Thunderbirds (3rd round - Philadelphia)
Michael Stone - Calgary Hitmen (3rd round - Phoenix)
Ian Schultz - Calgary Hitmen (3rd round - St. Louis)
Matt Delahey - Regina Pats (4th round - New Jersey)
Colin Long - Kelowna Rockets (4th round - Phoenix)
James Wright - Vancouver Giants (4th round - Tampa Bay)
Stefan Warg - Seattle Thunderbirds (5th round - Anaheim)
Matt Calvert - Brandon Wheat Kings (5th round - Columbus)
Brent Regner - Vancouver Giants (5th round - Columbus)
Teigan Zahn - Saskatoon Blades (5th round - Chicago)
Prab Rai - Seattle Thunderbirds (5th round - Vancouver)
Joel Broda - Calgary Hitmen (5th round - Washington)
Matt Tassone - Swift Current Broncos (6th round - Dallas)
Jared Spurgeon - Spokane Chiefs (6th round - NY Islanders)
Morgan Clark - Swift Current Broncos (7th round - Vancouver)
All of these players should be back in the WHL next year unless their NHL clubs sign them before the start of the NHL season. Ennis, Delahey, Long, Calvert, Regner, Rai, Broda, Tassone, and Spurgeon would all be overagers next year if they are back.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
2007 signed/unsigned
With the deadline for NHL teams to sign their 2007 draft picks or else lose their rights coming up on us, here's the WHLers who were selected in that draft and their current contract situation.
First, the signed players:
Thomas Hickey, Seattle Thunderbirds (4th overall, Los Angeles Kings)
Karl Alzner, Calgary Hitmen (5th overall, Washington Capitals)
Zach Hamill, Everett Silvertips (8th overall, Boston Bruins)
Keaton Ellerby, Kamloops Blazers (10th overall, Florida Panthers)
Brandon Sutter, Red Deer Rebels (11th overall, Carolina Hurricanes)
Colton Gillies, Saskatoon Blades (16th overall, Minnesota Wild)
Jonathon Blum, Vancouver Giants (23rd overall, Nashville Predators)
Mikael Backlund, Kelowna Rockets (24th overall, Calgary Flames)
Jim O'Brien, Seattle Thunderbirds (29th overall, Ottawa Senators)
Nick Ross, Vancouver Giants (30th overall, Phoenix Coyotes)
Taylor Ellington, Everett Silvertips (33rd overall, Vancouver Canucks)
Michal Repik, Vancouver Giants (40th overall, Florida Panthers)
Dana Tyrell, Prince George Cougars (47th overall, Tampa Bay Lightning)
Oscar Moller, Chilliwack Bruins (52nd overall, Los Angeles Kings)
T. J. Galiardi, Calgary Hitmen (55th overall, Colorado Avalanche)
Garrett Klotz, Saskatoon Blades (66th overall, Philadelphia Flyers)
Spencer Machacek, Vancouver Giants (67th overall, Atlanta Thrashers)
John Negrin, Swift Current Broncos (70th overall, Calgary Flames)
Drayson Bowman, Spokane Chiefs (72nd overall, Carolina Hurricanes)
Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Vancouver Giants (80th overall, Pittsburgh Penguins)
Brett Sonne, Calgary Hitmen (85th overall, St. Louis Blues)
Tyson Sexsmith, Vancouver Giants (91st overall, San Jose Sharks)
Justin Falk, Spokane Chiefs (110th overall, Minnesota Wild)
Colton Sceviour, Lethbridge Hurricanes (112th overall, Dallas Stars)
Keith Aulie, Brandon Wheat Kings (116th overall, Calgary Flames)
Mark Santorelli, Chilliwack Bruins (119th overall, Nashville Predators)
Jamie Benn, Kelowna Rockets (129th overall, Dallas Stars)
Cody Almond, Kelowna Rockets (140th overall, Minnesota Wild)
Jordan Knackstedt, Moose Jaw Warriors (189th overall, Boston Bruins)
Carson McMillan, Calgary Hitmen (200th overall, Minnesota Wild)
Frazer McLaren, Moose Jaw Warriors (203rd overall, San Jose Sharks)
Paul Postma, Calgary Hitmen (205th overall, Atlanta Thrashers)
Dan Gendur, Everett Silvertips (206th overall, Vancouver Canucks)
These guys all have nothing to worry about....they'll be moving on to pro hockey next year. Some of them were already pros this past season.
Now for the unsigned players:
Alex Plante, Calgary Hitmen (15th overall, Edmonton Oilers)
Justin McCrae, Spokane Chiefs (102nd overall, Carolina Hurricanes)
Mitch Fadden, Tri-City Americans (107th overall, Tampa Bay Lightning)
Dwight King, Lethbridge Hurricanes (109th overall, Los Angeles Kings)
Linden Rowat, Regina Pats (124th overall, Los Angeles Kings)
Brett Leffler, Regina Pats (125th overall, Washington Capitals)
Milan Kytnar, Saskatoon Blades (127th overall, Edmonton Oilers)
Ondrej Roman, Spokane Chiefs (136th overall, Dallas Stars)
Torrie Jung, Edmonton Oil Kings (183rd overall, Tampa Bay Lightning)
Ryan Molle, Swift Current Broncos (207th overall, New Jersey Devils)
These guys all need to sign by the end of this month or else their NHL teams lose their rights. I believe Kytnar may be an exception because he was actually drafted from a European team, but all the others were drafted from the WHL so the rule applies to them.
If they do not sign, Fadden becomes an unrestricted free agent, while all the others will re-enter the 2009 draft pool and will become unrestricted free agents if they are not re-selected.
I think the Oilers want to get Plante signed, he's the only first rounder in the bunch and he had a terrific season this year so there's no reason why they would not want him in the fold. And I would be surprised if the Stars didn't want to get Roman locked up too.
Everybody else....not such sure things. They all have some question marks and so I think they're probably going back into the draft. But I've been wrong before....Dwight King is probably the best of the rest, he is a dominant player when he wants to be, and therein lies his problem: is he consistent enough to be a good pro prospect? Rowat's a good goalie but the Kings are an organization that has seven goalies under contract already. Do they have room for an 8th? I think the Kings' signing of Hitmen goalie Martin Jones as a free agent tryout last fall might have slammed the door in Rowat's face in SoCal. We'll see. Fadden is a dynamic offensive player who comes with a reputation of not being a team player; will that rep hurt him? Actually, if I were him, I wouldn't even bother negotiating with Tampa Bay, just wait to become a UFA and then you can negotiate with 30 teams instead of 1. Somebody will sign him. Jung had a good season this year with the Oil Kings but is that enough to erase his so-so 17 & 18 year old seasons in Kelowna? McCrae's a good heart and soul guy but he is coming off a serious injury and had a very poor season numbers-wise this year after returning. Brett Leffler had the best year of his career this year but also had the worst of his career in 07-08 right after being drafted; which is the real Brett Leffler? And Ryan Molle was a project pick who hasn't progressed much since being drafted. He's not a bad player, just an average WHLer and those don't usually move on to the pros.
Wednesday notes
By now most folks have heard this elsewhere, but if you haven't: Medicine Hat Tigers coach/GM Willie Desjardins will be named the head coach of Canada's World Junior team for next season. Excellent choice IMO....Desjardins has been putting consistently good, winning, entertaining teams on the ice in the Hat for six or seven years now.
He also has a lot of familiarity with the rink and the city of Saskatoon (where Canada will play all its games) since he is an alumnus of the University of Saskatchewan and also was an assistant coach with the Blades for a while, although I don't know how much of an advantage that truly is at this tournament. Probably not much.
To the NHL, it's going to be an exciting two days today and tomorrow since three of the four 2nd round series are going to game sevens. Washington-Pittsburgh goes tonight, and if you haven't been watching this series then you're missing some really entertaining hockey. Boston-Carolina and Detroit-Anaheim play their game 7s tomorrow night.
Think about this scenario for a second - if Pittsburgh, Carolina, and Anaheim win those game 7's, then the top three seeds in both conferences will all be out by the 2nd round. It kind of makes the regular season seem a lot less important when the top seeds can be knocked off so early in the playoffs, doesn't it. It certainly helps make the case that parity is very strong in the NHL when the "weak" teams can so easily test and even beat the "strong" teams.
Coming later today - the deadline for signing 2007 NHL picks is approaching. I'm putting together a list of signed and unsigned WHLers in that draft....
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday stuff
Slow week as we await the start of the Memorial Cup on Friday.....the QMJHL champ will be crowned tonight as Drummondville and Shawinigan play game 7 of the QMJHL finals, and then the Memorial Cup participants will be all set.
Some interesting light reading on the results of the recent WHL bantam draft today....credit to Lance from GiantsBeat for compiling the stats.
Birth month of the players selected:
January: 42 (18.03%)
February: 30 (12.88%)
March: 30 (12.88%)
April: 26 (11.16%)
May: 27 (11.59%)
June: 16 (6.87%)
July: 17 (7.3%)
August: 8 (3.43%)
September: 8 (3.43%)
October: 11 (4.72%)
November: 12 (5.15%)
December: 6 (2.58%)
By quarter:
Jan - Mar: 102 (43.78%)
Apr - Jun: 69 (29.61%)
Jul - Sep: 33 (14.16%)
Oct - Dec: 29 (12.45%)
If you assume that an equal number of babies are born each month of the year (which seems a reasonable assumption?), these numbers prove once again that the Canadian hockey development model is greatly skewed in favour of children born in the first six months of a calendar year. 73.4% of players selected were born in the months January to June 1994.
This is not an anomaly; this same trend happens every year. The system uses birth year to break kids into age groups to play in, which is fine except that a kid born in January 1994 is almost a full year older than a kid born in December 1994. At age 14 or 15, that's not a big deal but at age 4 or 5 when they're starting out in hockey, that's huge. So the skill development of the early-born kids progresses faster than the late-born kids in their "age group" and so by the time they get older it's the early-born kids who are playing on the top-tier rep teams in each age group while the late-born kids are stuck in house league for life.
Yeah, I'm a late-born....I'm bitter because my NHL career was scuttled at conception.
All laughing aside, it's a legitimate concern but also one without an easy answer. Some people have suggested splitting each of the early age classes into two groups, one for kids born in January to June of a year and one for kids born in July to December. So instead of (for example), the "Tyke" class just being 5 & 6 year olds, you'd have a "Tyke Jan-Jun" of 5 & 6 year olds and a "Tyke Jul-Dec" of 5 & 6 year olds. You wouldn't need more teams or coaches or ice times since the number of players enrolled remains the same - although in areas where there are only enough kids enrolled to have one team in an age group anyway, then they would probably have to continue using the current system. Once the kids get older, like around the peewee or bantam groups, you could do away with the split since by then the physical development advantages enjoyed by early-born kids have faded.
I don't think it would work....but I don't know what the answer is either. For now, I guess if you're a parent who is dead-set on raising an NHLer, you need to work on your timing so your superstar is born in January.....
Couple other things Lance also compiled...
Drafted kids by home province/state:
Alberta: 72 (30.9%)
British Columbia: 57 (24.46%)
Saskatchewan: 46 (19.74%)
Manitoba: 33 (14.16%)
California: 8 (3.43%)
Colorado: 7 (3%)
Texas: 3 (1.29%)
Arizona: 2 (0.86%)
Minnesota: 2 (0.86%)
Alaska: 1 (0.43%)
North Dakota: 1 (0.43%)
Washington: 1 (0.43%)
And by position:
Forward: 132 (56.65%)
Defence: 81 (34.76%)
Goalie: 20 (8.58%)
Monday, May 11, 2009
Stasiuk fired
As per Gregg Drinnan's blog, the Lethbridge board of directors met this morning, and as a result, General Manager Ray Stasiuk has been fired.
Which brings up the question of whether Michael Dyck is really through as coach of the Hurricanes or not....his contract with the team runs through the end of May, which means he technically is still the coach of the team since he was never fired, Stasiuk simply announced that Dyck's contract would not be renewed when it expired. So, there would probably be no reason why Dyck could not be re-signed now that Stasiuk is gone, and thus remain the coach.
Makes you wonder how much of an effect that Lethbridge Herald article last week had, with the quotes from Rich Sutter and Ben Wright which basically skewered Stasiuk and his management of the club. Was that story the motivating force behind today's decision?
And, as Gregg points out, at this time a year ago the Canes were competing in the WHL finals, and today they do not have either a coach (unless Dyck stays of course) or a GM, so things have obviously fallen into some serious disarray pretty quickly. But perhaps some new faces can halt the dysfunction....
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Rockets' opponents
Just something to chew on....the WHL's final regular season standings:
1. Calgary, 59-9-3-1, 122pts
2. Vancouver, 57-10-2-3, 119pts
3. Saskatoon, 49-18-3-2, 103pts
4. Tri-City, 49-20-0-3, 101pts
What do three of the four teams on that list have in common.....yes, they all lost to the Rockets in the playoffs. Kelowna (who were #6 overall) beat three 100+ point teams and three of the top four teams in the league.
One other thing to note - this is six years in a row now, and 8 of the last 10, that the regular season champion has failed to win the playoff title.
1. Calgary, 59-9-3-1, 122pts
2. Vancouver, 57-10-2-3, 119pts
3. Saskatoon, 49-18-3-2, 103pts
4. Tri-City, 49-20-0-3, 101pts
What do three of the four teams on that list have in common.....yes, they all lost to the Rockets in the playoffs. Kelowna (who were #6 overall) beat three 100+ point teams and three of the top four teams in the league.
One other thing to note - this is six years in a row now, and 8 of the last 10, that the regular season champion has failed to win the playoff title.
Rockets win WHL title
Kelowna was the better team tonight, no question about it. We saw the return of the Rockets that played in the first three games, with the attention to detail in their own zone - and as a result, once again the Hitmen offence was stifled.
I think special teams did the Hitmen in, their inability to score on any of those five powerplays they had in the first half of the game really hurt them. Right before Kelowna tied the game up at 1-1 I was thinking how much easier the game would be for the Hitmen if they had managed a goal or two on those powerplays and were leading 2-0 or 3-0 instead of 1-0. But at 1-0 and the way the Rockets were dominating the game at even strength it was only a matter of time before they got a goal to tie it up and from that point on Calgary was just really scrambling for the rest of the game.
Not real happy about the penalty in overtime, I thought it was a cheesy call given that on the replay it was obvious that Duval embellished the hook more than a little bit. But that's the way it goes, you have to kill the penalties whether they're good or bad and unfortunately for the Hitmen, they didn't get that one done. But I take it we'll finally stop hearing from Rockets fans about how the refs were against them, after getting that call in overtime.
And, cheesy call or not, you simply cannot argue that Kelowna deserved to win this game. In fact, it should not have even been in overtime; Calgary was very, very lucky to be in the position of even being in OT after the way the Rockets ran the show for most of regulation. If not for Martin Jones' 47 saves, this game would have been over a lot earlier. Even without the penalty, I'm sure most observers were expecting Kelowna to win eventually, the way they were dominating the play.
Rockets are off to the Memorial Cup starting Friday in Rimouski....in fact, they play in the tournament's first game on Friday against the host Oceanic. I think as long as the Rockets who won the four games against the Hitmen show up, they should be favoured to win the tournament. They are so good defensively that I think they will make life difficult even for the big offences of the OHL and QMJHL. Of course, if the Rockets who lost games 4 & 5 show up instead......then no chance. So here's hoping the "good" Rockets are the ones who make the trip out East.
If you're a WHL fan, I don't care what team you cheer for, you should get behind the WHL reps at the Memorial Cup. To cheer against them because they're not "your" team is petty jealousy....we play the best junior hockey in the world here in the west and the only way to keep proving that to the rest of the country is to keep winning Memorial Cups. So, go Rockets!
BTW, Windsor won the OHL title last night, 4 games to 2 over Brampton, so the Spitfires are the OHL rep. The QMJHL final is not over year, Drummondville leads Shawinigan 3-2 with game six tomorrow night.
I think special teams did the Hitmen in, their inability to score on any of those five powerplays they had in the first half of the game really hurt them. Right before Kelowna tied the game up at 1-1 I was thinking how much easier the game would be for the Hitmen if they had managed a goal or two on those powerplays and were leading 2-0 or 3-0 instead of 1-0. But at 1-0 and the way the Rockets were dominating the game at even strength it was only a matter of time before they got a goal to tie it up and from that point on Calgary was just really scrambling for the rest of the game.
Not real happy about the penalty in overtime, I thought it was a cheesy call given that on the replay it was obvious that Duval embellished the hook more than a little bit. But that's the way it goes, you have to kill the penalties whether they're good or bad and unfortunately for the Hitmen, they didn't get that one done. But I take it we'll finally stop hearing from Rockets fans about how the refs were against them, after getting that call in overtime.
And, cheesy call or not, you simply cannot argue that Kelowna deserved to win this game. In fact, it should not have even been in overtime; Calgary was very, very lucky to be in the position of even being in OT after the way the Rockets ran the show for most of regulation. If not for Martin Jones' 47 saves, this game would have been over a lot earlier. Even without the penalty, I'm sure most observers were expecting Kelowna to win eventually, the way they were dominating the play.
Rockets are off to the Memorial Cup starting Friday in Rimouski....in fact, they play in the tournament's first game on Friday against the host Oceanic. I think as long as the Rockets who won the four games against the Hitmen show up, they should be favoured to win the tournament. They are so good defensively that I think they will make life difficult even for the big offences of the OHL and QMJHL. Of course, if the Rockets who lost games 4 & 5 show up instead......then no chance. So here's hoping the "good" Rockets are the ones who make the trip out East.
If you're a WHL fan, I don't care what team you cheer for, you should get behind the WHL reps at the Memorial Cup. To cheer against them because they're not "your" team is petty jealousy....we play the best junior hockey in the world here in the west and the only way to keep proving that to the rest of the country is to keep winning Memorial Cups. So, go Rockets!
BTW, Windsor won the OHL title last night, 4 games to 2 over Brampton, so the Spitfires are the OHL rep. The QMJHL final is not over year, Drummondville leads Shawinigan 3-2 with game six tomorrow night.
Knives come out in Lethbridge
I have a copy of the Lethbridge Herald article about the dismissal of Michael Dyck now. There are some really unhappy people in Lethbridge and they're not afraid to say what they think and put their names to their opinions...
Rich Sutter, who worked as a consultant with the team from February through the end of the season, and Ben Wright, the team captain for the last two seasons, voiced their opinions:
Sounds like a real fun situation there......
Rich Sutter, who worked as a consultant with the team from February through the end of the season, and Ben Wright, the team captain for the last two seasons, voiced their opinions:
Sutter said part of his job with the Hurricanes was to help liaise between Stasiuk and the coaching staff as well as mentor the coaches. But while he said Dyck, Kabayama and assistant coach Cregg Nicol welcomed his advice and input, he didn’t receive the same courtesy from “upstairs.”
“I was brought in, I was brought in to help, to work with the coaches and to smooth over some of the bumps between the upstairs and the downstairs,” said Sutter. “But only one side of that equation had any intention of dealing with me honestly and, you know actually, of dealing with me at all.”
Sutter said he was disappointed by the board’s decision regarding Dyck, not just because of his coaching ability, but because the organization has lost a lot of credibility in the community.
“People know what’s going on and frankly, I’m disappointed that some of them aren’t doing anything about it. It’s not a question of whether the team is winning, it’s a question of honesty and integrity and that’s missing right now.”
Sutter also said the coaching staff did not select their own gameday lineups and that the choice was taken out of their hands. “You’ve got a coach, a proven winner, a guy who’s been to a league final and he can’t even pick his own team. Let me put it this way, GMs in the real world don’t run screaming and yelling into the dressing room area. Those kids saw it, they know what happens. People in this organization that sit back and let that happen, it’s frustrating and very disappointing.”
Wright, who spent four years with the team, the last two as captain, said the players knew about the rift and he also made it clear he thought Dyck should stay. After hearing the news the coach would not be back, Wright said he wasn’t shocked but disappointed. “I’m definitely very disappointed that he didn’t come back and I’m kind of embarrassed to call myself a Lethbridge Hurricane alumni,” said Wright, one of three graduating 20-year-olds from the ’Canes this past season. ”He’s won so many games and has done so much for that organization. To just throw him away like that, I don’t think it was the right move.”
The Hurricanes struggled to a 35-32-3-2 record this season, traded away two firstround picks for Kyle Beach near the trade deadline and upset the second-ranked Saskatoon Blades in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. They lost in four to the Hitmen next and now, according to Sutter, they’ve lost more than that. “You’re talking about two communityminded guys. You hear a lot of that around that organization: family values, community, integrity and it’s obviously not that important because they’ve just let two guys who embody that go. I’m telling you, they held a night in January where my family was honoured to have the team and the community induct us into their hall of fame. Now, though, they’ve put a black mark on that. They’ve told me that my experience, that my expertise in 25 years of this game, that it doesn’t mean a thing. And they’ve told the community that the values I think it stands for aren’t worth a lot, either.”
Sutter said he thinks the shareholders need to remind the people who run the Hurricanes who owns the team.“I’m not going to run anybody down personally but this community needs to remember that it’s their team. No one else owns this team. They should be proud of that but I know there are some people in that organization who think it’s their team. And that’s wrong. It’s not theirs, it’s not mine, it’s not yours. It’s the community’s team. This is a dark day for hockey in Lethbridge.”
“I was brought in, I was brought in to help, to work with the coaches and to smooth over some of the bumps between the upstairs and the downstairs,” said Sutter. “But only one side of that equation had any intention of dealing with me honestly and, you know actually, of dealing with me at all.”
Sutter said he was disappointed by the board’s decision regarding Dyck, not just because of his coaching ability, but because the organization has lost a lot of credibility in the community.
“People know what’s going on and frankly, I’m disappointed that some of them aren’t doing anything about it. It’s not a question of whether the team is winning, it’s a question of honesty and integrity and that’s missing right now.”
Sutter also said the coaching staff did not select their own gameday lineups and that the choice was taken out of their hands. “You’ve got a coach, a proven winner, a guy who’s been to a league final and he can’t even pick his own team. Let me put it this way, GMs in the real world don’t run screaming and yelling into the dressing room area. Those kids saw it, they know what happens. People in this organization that sit back and let that happen, it’s frustrating and very disappointing.”
Wright, who spent four years with the team, the last two as captain, said the players knew about the rift and he also made it clear he thought Dyck should stay. After hearing the news the coach would not be back, Wright said he wasn’t shocked but disappointed. “I’m definitely very disappointed that he didn’t come back and I’m kind of embarrassed to call myself a Lethbridge Hurricane alumni,” said Wright, one of three graduating 20-year-olds from the ’Canes this past season. ”He’s won so many games and has done so much for that organization. To just throw him away like that, I don’t think it was the right move.”
The Hurricanes struggled to a 35-32-3-2 record this season, traded away two firstround picks for Kyle Beach near the trade deadline and upset the second-ranked Saskatoon Blades in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. They lost in four to the Hitmen next and now, according to Sutter, they’ve lost more than that. “You’re talking about two communityminded guys. You hear a lot of that around that organization: family values, community, integrity and it’s obviously not that important because they’ve just let two guys who embody that go. I’m telling you, they held a night in January where my family was honoured to have the team and the community induct us into their hall of fame. Now, though, they’ve put a black mark on that. They’ve told me that my experience, that my expertise in 25 years of this game, that it doesn’t mean a thing. And they’ve told the community that the values I think it stands for aren’t worth a lot, either.”
Sutter said he thinks the shareholders need to remind the people who run the Hurricanes who owns the team.“I’m not going to run anybody down personally but this community needs to remember that it’s their team. No one else owns this team. They should be proud of that but I know there are some people in that organization who think it’s their team. And that’s wrong. It’s not theirs, it’s not mine, it’s not yours. It’s the community’s team. This is a dark day for hockey in Lethbridge.”
Sounds like a real fun situation there......
Friday, May 8, 2009
Just notes
Bunch o' stuff from here and there....
First, I have at least one answer to the question I posed yesterday about teams that came back from 3-0 holes only to lose game seven. A reader e-mailed me to tell me that in 1989-90 the Saskatoon Blades went down 3-0 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes before coming back to tie the series, only to lose game seven in Lethbridge in OT.
The Portland Winter Hawks have changed their team name....sorta. They are dropping the space and will now be known as the Winterhawks.
Giants beat writer Steve Ewen has a blog piece today in which he says Giants G.M. Scott Bonner is drawing NHL interest and could be in line to leave the WHL for an NHL front-office job this summer. That would be a big blow to the Giants, whom Bonner has built into a consistently strong club since their expansion years.
We won't even talk about how much worse it would be for them if Don Hay left for an NHL job as well.
And still with the coaching vacancies, Regina Pats beat writer Greg Harder says that Michael Dyck has already expressed an interest in the Pats' job (he's a former Pats player too), and that the rumoured front-runner for Dyck's old job in Lethbridge is former Rockets head coach Jeff Truitt.
I'm also hearing something about an article in today's Lethbridge Herald in which several people close to the team take potshots (on the record!) at Hurricanes G.M. Ray Stasiuk over the dismissal of Dyck. The article is not on the Herald's site, unfortunately, but if this is true, then the shinola is probably going to hit the fan in Lethbridge before long.
Oh, and lastly....the finals of the World Hockey Championships are set, with Russia defeating USA and Canada defeating Sweden in the semifinals today. Canada will play Russia for gold & silver on Sunday afternoon. USA will play Sweden for the bronze.
Another coaching vacancy
Gregg Drinnan is reporting that the Lethbridge Hurricanes will be parting ways with coach Michael Dyck sometime in the next couple days. Reportedly Dyck and G.M. Ray Stasiuk haven't seen eye to eye for some time now, so somebody has to go - and when was the last time a G.M. lost one of those battles of wills with his coach?
Assuming Dyck does lose his job in Lethbridge, I believe there will be four head coaching vacancies in the WHL: Chilliwack, Everett, Regina, and Lethbridge.
Regina apparently already has their shortlist down to two people - former Warriors & Pats coach Curtis Hunt, and one other person who Pats G.M. Brent Parker did not identify. Apparently Marc Habscheid is NOT in the running in Regina, which means that Chilliwack, Everett, and Lethbridge still are.
And one other WHL finals note this morning - Kelowna and Calgary both flew back to Kelowna after the game last night. And yes, they were on the same plane again.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Game five notes
Well, that was one-sided.....this was undoubtedly Kelowna's worst effort of the series and it showed as they were beaten in every area of the game tonight. Final score 6-1 for Calgary, final shots on goal 50-19 for Calgary, powerplays were 2/9 for Calgary and 0/4 for Kelowna....there are no positives for the Rockets in this one.
The amazing team defensive effort we saw from the Rockets in the first three games of the series was nowhere to be found for the 2nd straight game, and Calgary's offence had their way with the puck in the Rockets zone all night. Mark Guggenberger actually played a pretty good game, he really couldn't be faulted on any of the goals as almost every single one of them came off the stick of a Hitmen player camped out around the crease area. Calgary now has 12 goals in the last two games after mustering only three total goals in the first three games.
The Rockets scored the nicest goal of the night by far, maybe the nicest of the series as Cody Almond was found all alone in the slot and went top shelf backhand on Martin Jones, but that was the only thing Jones gave the Rockets all night. They didn't have a lot of chances but Jones shut the door on everything else with some nice saves.
So the Hitmen have cut the Rockets' seemingly invincible 3-0 series lead to 3-2. It's obviously still an uphill climb for the Hitmen, especially with game six in Kelowna, but momentum is definitely on Calgary's side now and some big, huge cracks are showing in Kelowna's armour.
Kelowna looked like a tired team tonight. Are they now feeling the effects of playing two tough series with Tri-City and Vancouver before this one, whereas the Hitmen had three very easy series?
I think game six is going to decide this series....if the Rockets win, obviously it's over. If Calgary wins though and forces a game seven, I just can't see Kelowna coming back to Calgary and winning a game seven when Calgary will have all the momentum and emotion going their way.
The amazing team defensive effort we saw from the Rockets in the first three games of the series was nowhere to be found for the 2nd straight game, and Calgary's offence had their way with the puck in the Rockets zone all night. Mark Guggenberger actually played a pretty good game, he really couldn't be faulted on any of the goals as almost every single one of them came off the stick of a Hitmen player camped out around the crease area. Calgary now has 12 goals in the last two games after mustering only three total goals in the first three games.
The Rockets scored the nicest goal of the night by far, maybe the nicest of the series as Cody Almond was found all alone in the slot and went top shelf backhand on Martin Jones, but that was the only thing Jones gave the Rockets all night. They didn't have a lot of chances but Jones shut the door on everything else with some nice saves.
So the Hitmen have cut the Rockets' seemingly invincible 3-0 series lead to 3-2. It's obviously still an uphill climb for the Hitmen, especially with game six in Kelowna, but momentum is definitely on Calgary's side now and some big, huge cracks are showing in Kelowna's armour.
Kelowna looked like a tired team tonight. Are they now feeling the effects of playing two tough series with Tri-City and Vancouver before this one, whereas the Hitmen had three very easy series?
I think game six is going to decide this series....if the Rockets win, obviously it's over. If Calgary wins though and forces a game seven, I just can't see Kelowna coming back to Calgary and winning a game seven when Calgary will have all the momentum and emotion going their way.
Failed 3-0 comebacks?
Got an email from a reader who asks an interesting question which I do not have any answers for.
They pointed out that we all know about the (few) famous successful 3-0 comebacks - but how many teams have come back from 3-0 to tie the series at 3-3, only to lose game seven?
I can not think of any at either the WHL or NHL levels off the top of my head. Anyone know of any?
Snakes On A Plane 2
Turns out that not only did the WHL allow the Hitmen and Rockets to fly from Kelowna to Calgary after the game last night, but the league chartered the plane and put both teams on it. Calgary in the back, Kelowna in the front, media and officials in the middle.
Ummm.....that would have been a tense flight, considering these teams don't like each other much at the moment.
Can we have one more chorus of "Love Is In The Air"? No?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Game four
I guess this series falls into the 30.6% of cases where a team takes a 3-0 lead but fails to finish the sweep on home ice in the fourth game, as the Hitmen post a come-from-behind 6-2 win to stave off elimination. One down, three to go!
The game was a lot closer than the score would indicate, as Kelowna was holding a 2-1 lead well past the midway mark of the 2nd period and it was still a 2-2 tie with three minutes left in the second. Calgary got two goals in the last three minutes of the 2nd and then another one midway through the third to salt it away, plus a meaningless late powerplay goal to finish the scoring. The Hitmen finished 3-for-4 on the powerplay, which is a huge improvement over the 0-for-10 they put up in the first three games.
The main story of the game tonight was Calgary's prolific offence finally made its first appearance of the series. After managing only three goals combined in the first three games, they doubled that output in game four alone. Funny thing is, I'm not sure they were doing anything different than what they did in the three losses, the passes & shots were just getting through and the pucks were going in tonight. I think Kelowna's defensive effort was maybe not quite up to the level it was in the earlier games, that could be part of the story here. Calgary had a lot more success tonight at penetrating to the front of the Rockets net, with five of the six goals scored from the slot to crease area, so I suspect the Rockets will be displeased with their failure to contain Calgary in that area like they did so easily in the three wins. And certainly Calgary's effort level couldn't be faulted tonight though (something that wasn't so true at times earlier in the series) and that has something to do with their offensive success too.
Martin Jones was outstanding in the Calgary net tonight too, the first time all series that he has outperformed his rival at the other end. Guggenberger was fairly ordinary tonight.
So, it's back to Calgary for game five tomorrow night. I hear the league is allowing the teams to fly for this trip, so no overnight bus ride will be required.
The question now is: was tonight an anomaly, or has Calgary really figured out how to beat the Rockets' defensive play? If it's the former, then the Rockets should probably close it out. But if it's the latter, we might have ourselves a suddenly interesting series.
Couple other notes.....
I was curious about the rule that allowed Calgary's 4th goal tonight to stand - the one where the player leaving the ice was hit by the puck, and his replacement then played the puck, keeping it in Kelowna's zone, eventually resulting in a goal. The referees ruled that Calgary did not commit a too many men on the ice infraction. So, I looked it up, and they made the right call.
This is rule 74.1 from the WHL's online rulebook:
74.1 Too Many Men on the Ice - Players and goalkeepers may be
changed at any time during the play from the players’ bench provided
that the player or players leaving the ice shall be within five feet (5') of
his players’ bench and out of the play before the change is made.
...
If in the course of a substitution either the player(s) entering the
play or the player(s) retiring is struck by the puck accidentally, the play
will not be stopped and no penalty will be called.
So, since both Calgary players were within five feet of the bench, it was a legal substitution. And since the player who was leaving the ice had his back turned when he was hit by the puck, it was clearly an accidental touch of the puck and therefore the play should not be stopped and no penalty assessed.
So there....sometimes the refs do get the rule right, even when many of us think they got it wrong.
Also, in regards to the disallowed Kelowna goal in the first period, it was obvious on the replay that the whistle was not blown prior to the Rockets scoring, which caused some more confusion. But it turns out the refs got this one right too:
32.2 Disputes - The Referees shall have general supervision of the game
and shall have full control of all game officials and players during the
game, including stoppages; and in case of any dispute, their decision
shall be final.
As there is a human factor involved in blowing the whistle to stop
play, the Referee may deem the play to be stopped slightly prior to the
whistle actually being blown. The fact that the puck may come loose
or cross the goal line prior to the sound of the whistle has no bearing if
the Referee has ruled that the play had been stopped prior to this
happening.
So the ref is allowed to say that the play officially stops a few seconds BEFORE he blows the whistle. If he sees an infraction and is unable to blow the whistle to stop play before a goal is scored by the offending team, he is allowed to disallow the goal despite the whistle not having been blown in time. Which is exactly what happened - Grantham was getting a penalty and the Rockets scored before the ref could blow the whistle.
So again, a good call from the refs here.
The game was a lot closer than the score would indicate, as Kelowna was holding a 2-1 lead well past the midway mark of the 2nd period and it was still a 2-2 tie with three minutes left in the second. Calgary got two goals in the last three minutes of the 2nd and then another one midway through the third to salt it away, plus a meaningless late powerplay goal to finish the scoring. The Hitmen finished 3-for-4 on the powerplay, which is a huge improvement over the 0-for-10 they put up in the first three games.
The main story of the game tonight was Calgary's prolific offence finally made its first appearance of the series. After managing only three goals combined in the first three games, they doubled that output in game four alone. Funny thing is, I'm not sure they were doing anything different than what they did in the three losses, the passes & shots were just getting through and the pucks were going in tonight. I think Kelowna's defensive effort was maybe not quite up to the level it was in the earlier games, that could be part of the story here. Calgary had a lot more success tonight at penetrating to the front of the Rockets net, with five of the six goals scored from the slot to crease area, so I suspect the Rockets will be displeased with their failure to contain Calgary in that area like they did so easily in the three wins. And certainly Calgary's effort level couldn't be faulted tonight though (something that wasn't so true at times earlier in the series) and that has something to do with their offensive success too.
Martin Jones was outstanding in the Calgary net tonight too, the first time all series that he has outperformed his rival at the other end. Guggenberger was fairly ordinary tonight.
So, it's back to Calgary for game five tomorrow night. I hear the league is allowing the teams to fly for this trip, so no overnight bus ride will be required.
The question now is: was tonight an anomaly, or has Calgary really figured out how to beat the Rockets' defensive play? If it's the former, then the Rockets should probably close it out. But if it's the latter, we might have ourselves a suddenly interesting series.
Couple other notes.....
I was curious about the rule that allowed Calgary's 4th goal tonight to stand - the one where the player leaving the ice was hit by the puck, and his replacement then played the puck, keeping it in Kelowna's zone, eventually resulting in a goal. The referees ruled that Calgary did not commit a too many men on the ice infraction. So, I looked it up, and they made the right call.
This is rule 74.1 from the WHL's online rulebook:
74.1 Too Many Men on the Ice - Players and goalkeepers may be
changed at any time during the play from the players’ bench provided
that the player or players leaving the ice shall be within five feet (5') of
his players’ bench and out of the play before the change is made.
...
If in the course of a substitution either the player(s) entering the
play or the player(s) retiring is struck by the puck accidentally, the play
will not be stopped and no penalty will be called.
So, since both Calgary players were within five feet of the bench, it was a legal substitution. And since the player who was leaving the ice had his back turned when he was hit by the puck, it was clearly an accidental touch of the puck and therefore the play should not be stopped and no penalty assessed.
So there....sometimes the refs do get the rule right, even when many of us think they got it wrong.
Also, in regards to the disallowed Kelowna goal in the first period, it was obvious on the replay that the whistle was not blown prior to the Rockets scoring, which caused some more confusion. But it turns out the refs got this one right too:
32.2 Disputes - The Referees shall have general supervision of the game
and shall have full control of all game officials and players during the
game, including stoppages; and in case of any dispute, their decision
shall be final.
As there is a human factor involved in blowing the whistle to stop
play, the Referee may deem the play to be stopped slightly prior to the
whistle actually being blown. The fact that the puck may come loose
or cross the goal line prior to the sound of the whistle has no bearing if
the Referee has ruled that the play had been stopped prior to this
happening.
So the ref is allowed to say that the play officially stops a few seconds BEFORE he blows the whistle. If he sees an infraction and is unable to blow the whistle to stop play before a goal is scored by the offending team, he is allowed to disallow the goal despite the whistle not having been blown in time. Which is exactly what happened - Grantham was getting a penalty and the Rockets scored before the ref could blow the whistle.
So again, a good call from the refs here.
3-0 comebacks
Some interesting stats on the chances of teams coming back from down 3-0....according to WhoWins.com, since 1905 in the NBA, MLB, and NHL, only three teams have ever, EVER come back from that: the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders in the NHL, and the 2004 Boston Red Sox in MLB. It has never been done in the NBA.
271 times a team went up 3-0 in a series in those three leagues in that time frame, and only three times failed to win the series - a 98.9% success rate. Overall, 175 times out of 271 (64.6%) the series ended up a sweep, and 69.4% of the time it ended up a sweep when the team leading the series 3-0 got to play game four at home.
These stats do not include the results of any leagues other than the NHL, NBA, and MLB, and obviously there will have been some 3-0 comebacks at other levels. But you'd expect to see similar statistical trends there. So those are the numbers Calgary is up against.
Also, according to the Calgary papers, the Hitmen chose not to practice during the off-day yesterday. Somebody's going to have to explain to me why that was a good idea....if you're having trouble figuring out how to score goals, wouldn't you want to practice adding a new wrinkle or two into your gameplan? Or maybe work on a powerplay that is 0-for-10 in the series? Oh well.
Wednesday notes
Game four of the WHL championship goes tonight in Kelowna, with the Rockets having the chance to win the WHL title on home ice if they beat the Hitmen a 4th straight time. If Calgary is able to pull it out, the teams will be on the bus right after the game because game five is scheduled for tomorrow night in Calgary, so an overnight bus ride back to the prairies will be required.
I'm not sure what we will see tonight; that was a pretty beaten looking Calgary team we saw in the dying moments of game three. I think we'll probably see Calgary come out very strong tonight but if it doesn't pay off with some goals and they fall behind again, I can see the tents being folded. The players aren't dumb, they know it's all but impossible to come back from 3-0. It has only been done once in WHL history - the 1996 first round, Spokane lost the first three games to Portland but came back to win four straight, including game 7 in OT. But Spokane was 41 points better than Portland that year, so Spokane SHOULD have won that series anyway - which makes them pulling off four straight wins considerably less remarkable than having somebody do it in a battle of two fairly evenly matched teams like Calgary & Kelowna.
In other hockey news, Jim Balsillie is at it again. The Blackberry billionaire has made a $213 million U.S. offer for the Phoenix Coyotes (who filed for chapter 11 bankrupty protection the other day), with the offer conditional on Balsillie being able to move the Coyotes to Southern Ontario. My understanding of U.S. bankruptcy law is that when selling the team or dividing up its' assets, the bankruptcy court is obligated to accept the offer which best compensates the team's creditors....assuming Balsillie's deal is for cash, it means somebody else is going to have to offer more money in order to prevent the court from selling the team to Balsillie. It's not a case anymore where the owner of the team can choose to accept a lower offer if he wanted to.
I'm sure Balsillie is quickly becoming a major pain in the ass for Gary Bettman. Balsillie has been involved in trying to purchase every NHL team that has been on the market or in any kind of financial trouble for the last four or five years now. I don't think the NHL is enamoured with his maverick ways and would probably prefer that he never owns a team, but the guy has real money and isn't going away. Good luck to the NHL trying to find somebody else willing to pay $213 million for the Coyotes in this economy.
Just a thought, but if Balsillie wants to bring NHL hockey to Southern Ontario so bad, why doesn't he buy the Maple Leafs and try to make them an NHL team?
Update: TSN's Bob McKenzie has just weighed in with a good article outlining the NHL's dilemma. My question is, why is the NHL seemingly so intent on keeping a team in Phoenix, at the apparent financial detriment of the league itself, since the league is now owed $35 million by the Coyotes? The Coyotes have never made money in Phoenix....when are the losses enough? I wonder how the other owners in the NHL feel about their money being used to prop up a money pit like the Coyotes, and how many of them would probably just rather sell it to Balsillie, let him move the team and be done with this headache. Sure, letting Balsillie into the league probably brings its own set of headaches, but at least they won't be ones that hurt the NHL in the wallet.
Update #2: now even Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come out in favour of the Coyotes moving to Ontario....I believe the ball is in Barack Obama's court now....
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Pats clean house
The Regina Pats have announced this morning that head coach Dale Derkatch and his assistant, Terry Perkins, have been relieved of their duties.
I believe this is the first offseason coaching change this summer....Prince George hired Dean Clark last week but he replaced an interim coach and the actual firing was done during the season there.
Now, let the Habscheid-to-Regina rumours begin again!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Get out the brooms
Calgary needed a win tonight in game three to avoid the dreaded 3-0 'deficit of death', and instead for the first 40 minutes put forth their worst effort of the playoffs. 3 shots in the first period of a game they should have come out firing in....that's embarrassing. Compare the Hitmen's third period effort - which saw them control the play and get several chances around the Rocket net - with what they put out in the first 40 minutes....not good enough.
Kelowna played picture-perfect defence for the full 60 minutes tonight and are full value for the win, they gave Calgary next to nothing all night and as a result the Rockets are going to be the 2008-09 WHL champions. It's only a matter of when, not if....I predict they'll finish the job in game four. I doubt the Hitmen have any fight left in them after these three losses.
Calgary had a great year and have a great collection of players but Kelowna is the far, far superior TEAM. Who can argue with that after watching these three games? As a Calgary fan it really, really stings to be so good all season, and then get this close and lose, but it's not like they're being beat by a bunch of chumps....Kelowna is just better and they are peaking at exactly the right time. I can deal with that.....
Honestly, look at the collection of firepower the Hitmen have and they can only get three goals in three games so far. I don't care who Windsor or Brampton or Drummondville or Shawinigan or Rimouski have for snipers....can anyone really see the Rockets getting beat in the Memorial Cup if they keep playing like this? The only thing that could beat them in my view might be the typically questionable officiating you see in that tournament sometimes.
Kelowna played picture-perfect defence for the full 60 minutes tonight and are full value for the win, they gave Calgary next to nothing all night and as a result the Rockets are going to be the 2008-09 WHL champions. It's only a matter of when, not if....I predict they'll finish the job in game four. I doubt the Hitmen have any fight left in them after these three losses.
Calgary had a great year and have a great collection of players but Kelowna is the far, far superior TEAM. Who can argue with that after watching these three games? As a Calgary fan it really, really stings to be so good all season, and then get this close and lose, but it's not like they're being beat by a bunch of chumps....Kelowna is just better and they are peaking at exactly the right time. I can deal with that.....
Honestly, look at the collection of firepower the Hitmen have and they can only get three goals in three games so far. I don't care who Windsor or Brampton or Drummondville or Shawinigan or Rimouski have for snipers....can anyone really see the Rockets getting beat in the Memorial Cup if they keep playing like this? The only thing that could beat them in my view might be the typically questionable officiating you see in that tournament sometimes.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Game two
Hmmm....wellllll.....who saw this coming? I mean, even the most biased Rockets homer probably didn't foresee them winning TWO games in Calgary.
Tough loss for a Hitmen fan, as the Hitmen were easily the better team for the first 40 minutes tonight and with a bit more luck (read: a bit more finish around the net!) could have had a safe lead after two periods. But they didn't get the goals and then the Rockets steamrolled them in the first half of the third. Calgary owned the second half of the third period too but the damage was done.
I don't know what to say about the Rockets other than that their defensive play is impeccable. It's a five-man defensive effort every shift and all five guys get down there below the hash marks and make it impossible for the Hitmen to get anything going in front of the net. Shots are being blocked all over the place and the ones that do get through, there's no rebounds for Calgary to feast on as they are quickly cleared away. You can't get a pass across the Rockets zone and so unless you create something off the rush, you get nothing. This is exactly the way you should be playing in the playoffs so full marks to the Rockets for their execution.
Calgary's forwards need to start fighting through the traffic in front of Guggenberger and getting chances in front of the net or they're never going to score enough goals to win the games.
Kelowna is also winning the goaltending battle; I said before the series that I thought the Hitmen had the edge in net but Guggenberger is making a believer of me here. He hasn't had to make any really spectacular stops, but he's just there in the right place every time and he's so big the shots just hit him. At the other end, Jones is having a bit of trouble, with another couple questionable goals tonight. On the 2nd goal he can't control a loose puck in the crease which leads to Duval jamming it in, and on the 4th goal he made the original save but lost sight of the puck (did it hit him in the head? I couldn't really tell) and was victimized on the rebound.
Calgary is now in the extremely difficult position of having to win both games 3 & 4 in Kelowna to stay in the series....we all know game three is a must win since being down 3-0 means certain death in the playoffs, but even a split in Kelowna still leaves them down 3-1 in the series and I don't think they would be able to claw their way out of that one against this Rockets team.
Last note, each team lost a forward to injury tonight and might be without them going forward too. Calgary saw Tyler Fiddler leave the game with a shoulder injury in the first period after being crunched into the boards, and then a few minutes later the Rockets lost Jamie Benn to what looked like a possible concussion after he was drilled at the side of the net by Keith Seabrook and fell heavily into the end boards. Both were clean hits but neither player returned. The Shaw guys said Fiddler went to the hospital right away for x-rays......nothing more is know about Benn's status though.
Tough loss for a Hitmen fan, as the Hitmen were easily the better team for the first 40 minutes tonight and with a bit more luck (read: a bit more finish around the net!) could have had a safe lead after two periods. But they didn't get the goals and then the Rockets steamrolled them in the first half of the third. Calgary owned the second half of the third period too but the damage was done.
I don't know what to say about the Rockets other than that their defensive play is impeccable. It's a five-man defensive effort every shift and all five guys get down there below the hash marks and make it impossible for the Hitmen to get anything going in front of the net. Shots are being blocked all over the place and the ones that do get through, there's no rebounds for Calgary to feast on as they are quickly cleared away. You can't get a pass across the Rockets zone and so unless you create something off the rush, you get nothing. This is exactly the way you should be playing in the playoffs so full marks to the Rockets for their execution.
Calgary's forwards need to start fighting through the traffic in front of Guggenberger and getting chances in front of the net or they're never going to score enough goals to win the games.
Kelowna is also winning the goaltending battle; I said before the series that I thought the Hitmen had the edge in net but Guggenberger is making a believer of me here. He hasn't had to make any really spectacular stops, but he's just there in the right place every time and he's so big the shots just hit him. At the other end, Jones is having a bit of trouble, with another couple questionable goals tonight. On the 2nd goal he can't control a loose puck in the crease which leads to Duval jamming it in, and on the 4th goal he made the original save but lost sight of the puck (did it hit him in the head? I couldn't really tell) and was victimized on the rebound.
Calgary is now in the extremely difficult position of having to win both games 3 & 4 in Kelowna to stay in the series....we all know game three is a must win since being down 3-0 means certain death in the playoffs, but even a split in Kelowna still leaves them down 3-1 in the series and I don't think they would be able to claw their way out of that one against this Rockets team.
Last note, each team lost a forward to injury tonight and might be without them going forward too. Calgary saw Tyler Fiddler leave the game with a shoulder injury in the first period after being crunched into the boards, and then a few minutes later the Rockets lost Jamie Benn to what looked like a possible concussion after he was drilled at the side of the net by Keith Seabrook and fell heavily into the end boards. Both were clean hits but neither player returned. The Shaw guys said Fiddler went to the hospital right away for x-rays......nothing more is know about Benn's status though.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Finals game one
Decent game tonight, not a classic of entertainment but an OK start to the series between two teams that were probably feeling each other out a little bit.
Obviously as a Hitmen fan I'm disappointed in the outcome but you really have to give credit to Kelowna for their strong defensive effort in the game. Every time a Calgary player touched the puck they immediately had a big red blanket on them, and that's the way you want to play in the playoffs - don't give the other team an inch of space.
Not a strong goaltending game, I didn't think....for Calgary, Jones should have had the first Kelowna goal for sure, while at the other end Guggenberger looked like he was fighting the puck on a number of shots, with some bad rebounds and juggling of the puck - plus he was saved by the post on three or four shots. Neither goalie really made any big, goal-saving stops either.
Kelowna was also a lot more physical in the game than the Hitmen were, which kind of surprised me that Calgary was so passive, so tentative in that area of the game. The Hitmen brought the physical game in the 2nd period and it's not a coincidence that the 2nd was their best period. They need to play that way more consistently.
The Hitmen's winning streak is over, so they'll remain tied for the longest playoff win streak at 12 games, instead of claiming it all to themselves. And the Rockets have now taken home ice advantage away from Calgary, so the Hitmen now need to win a game in Kelowna to win the series.
Game two is tomorrow night. I expect a much stronger effort from Calgary, as they definitely won't want to lose the first two games at home.
Obviously as a Hitmen fan I'm disappointed in the outcome but you really have to give credit to Kelowna for their strong defensive effort in the game. Every time a Calgary player touched the puck they immediately had a big red blanket on them, and that's the way you want to play in the playoffs - don't give the other team an inch of space.
Not a strong goaltending game, I didn't think....for Calgary, Jones should have had the first Kelowna goal for sure, while at the other end Guggenberger looked like he was fighting the puck on a number of shots, with some bad rebounds and juggling of the puck - plus he was saved by the post on three or four shots. Neither goalie really made any big, goal-saving stops either.
Kelowna was also a lot more physical in the game than the Hitmen were, which kind of surprised me that Calgary was so passive, so tentative in that area of the game. The Hitmen brought the physical game in the 2nd period and it's not a coincidence that the 2nd was their best period. They need to play that way more consistently.
The Hitmen's winning streak is over, so they'll remain tied for the longest playoff win streak at 12 games, instead of claiming it all to themselves. And the Rockets have now taken home ice advantage away from Calgary, so the Hitmen now need to win a game in Kelowna to win the series.
Game two is tomorrow night. I expect a much stronger effort from Calgary, as they definitely won't want to lose the first two games at home.
Friday notes
Missed one trade yesterday at the draft - Prince George traded '91 defenceman Matt Cumming to his hometown of Kamloops for a conditional 2010 draft pick. The deal gives Cumming's WHL career new life, since he had already been told by the Cougars that they were not bringing him back next year. By the same token, I expect the "conditional" part of the trade to be that Cumming has to be good enough to make the Blazers next year or else the Cougars get nothing.
As per Gregg Drinnan, the Blazers also released import defenceman Michal Siska yesterday, so he will not be back with the team for a second season next year.
WHL final starts tonight in Calgary, 7:30pm at the Saddledome and on Shaw TV.
Time for my prediction....I was 1-1 in the last round, picking Calgary in five and Vancouver in seven. This time, I'm picking the Hitmen in six.
This might be the best series we've seen all playoffs, because of how evenly these two teams match up. They both have three-plus strong forward lines and two-plus excellent blueline pairings. For me, the areas which give Calgary the edge are goaltending, special teams, and having home ice advantage. I know some people are high on Mark Guggenberger in the Rockets net, but I just don't see how he is better than the Hitmen's Martin Jones. And that home ice advantage is a big one - the Hitmen are 38-3-1 (.917) at home this season, and the Rockets need to win a game in Calgary to take the series - and they have not been one of the best road teams this year (.569 in the regular season and .625 in the playoffs). Calgary is also 33-6-2-1 (.821) on the road, so I'm going with the Hitmen to take it in six.
Looking at the depth these teams have, it's no surprise they have both gone as deep as they have....lots of teams in the league have some good top-end talent but usually it's depth that makes the difference in the playoffs, and Calgary & Kelowna both have that depth.
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