North Dakota Fighting Sioux defenceman Corey Fienhage signed on with the Kamloops Blazers today, bringing to three the number of NCAA players who have defected to the WHL for next season.
Besides Fienhage, there is also North Dakota forward David Toews (WHL rights owned by Brandon), and Minnesota State forward Tyler Pitlick, who is joining Medicine Hat. Pitlick will be 19 next year while the other two will both be overagers.
And we're not even into June yet - there could be more after the NHL draft in a month's time.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Cup over
So....not the result that many WHL fans wanted to see on Sunday, but probably the one that most of us expected to see. Windsor was just too strong, too good for anyone else at this tournament.
It will be interesting to see how Windsor does next year after they lose Hall, Henrique, Nemisz, Cundari, Mitchell, Timmins, Wellwood, Young, etc. Maybe Cam Fowler too, depending on who drafts him. They have some top-notch talent coming in but that's still a lot of losses there.
Same goes for Calgary and Brandon too - both those teams are going to be rebuilding next year when you go down the list of players who are definitely (or at least very likely) gone from those teams:
Calgary: Broda (O/A), Cowan (O/A), Nyren (O/A), Kozun (pro with L.A.), Schultz (pro with St. Louis), Shattock (pro with St. Louis), Stone (pro with Phoenix), Jones (pro with L.A.), Foucault (maybe pro with Minnesota), Fisenko (probably pro in Russia), Burgart (not going to be an O/A).
Brandon: Calvert (O/A), Fehr (O/A), Lewadniuk (O/A), Raedeke (pro with Detroit), Robak (pro with Florida), Hamonic (pro with NY Islanders), Urbom (pro with New Jersey), Rajala (maybe pro with Edmonton), DeSerres (maybe pro with Philadelphia), Schenn (maybe pro with L.A.), and then on top of that there's five other undrafted 20 year olds for next year (Wiebe, Schneider, Hale, Bestland, Hayes) and they can only keep three of those as O/A's.
That's 10, maybe 11 players gone from the Hitmen, and 9 to maybe as many as 12 players gone from Brandon. And both teams gave up some younger players in deals this year, players who would help them next year. Headed for a drop in the standings next year, both those teams.
2010-11 starts now - or at least the speculating does.....
It will be interesting to see how Windsor does next year after they lose Hall, Henrique, Nemisz, Cundari, Mitchell, Timmins, Wellwood, Young, etc. Maybe Cam Fowler too, depending on who drafts him. They have some top-notch talent coming in but that's still a lot of losses there.
Same goes for Calgary and Brandon too - both those teams are going to be rebuilding next year when you go down the list of players who are definitely (or at least very likely) gone from those teams:
Calgary: Broda (O/A), Cowan (O/A), Nyren (O/A), Kozun (pro with L.A.), Schultz (pro with St. Louis), Shattock (pro with St. Louis), Stone (pro with Phoenix), Jones (pro with L.A.), Foucault (maybe pro with Minnesota), Fisenko (probably pro in Russia), Burgart (not going to be an O/A).
Brandon: Calvert (O/A), Fehr (O/A), Lewadniuk (O/A), Raedeke (pro with Detroit), Robak (pro with Florida), Hamonic (pro with NY Islanders), Urbom (pro with New Jersey), Rajala (maybe pro with Edmonton), DeSerres (maybe pro with Philadelphia), Schenn (maybe pro with L.A.), and then on top of that there's five other undrafted 20 year olds for next year (Wiebe, Schneider, Hale, Bestland, Hayes) and they can only keep three of those as O/A's.
That's 10, maybe 11 players gone from the Hitmen, and 9 to maybe as many as 12 players gone from Brandon. And both teams gave up some younger players in deals this year, players who would help them next year. Headed for a drop in the standings next year, both those teams.
2010-11 starts now - or at least the speculating does.....
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Go Brandon
Didn't get a chance to post after the semi-final last night....
As a Hitmen fan, that was a tough loss. Especially when you know that it's highly likely that Calgary is the better team of the two; they played seven times between the WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup and the Hitmen won five of the seven.
But one thing there is no doubt about: Brandon deserved to win last night. They may have been a little shaky in the first period but starting with the 2nd period, the Wheat Kings owned that game. Calgary fans can bitch all they want about who the better team really was but it all comes down to this: both teams knew they had to win last night. Only one of them played like it.
And I see WHL people saying they'll cheer for Windsor now tomorrow because they don't want a "backdoor" team to win. Please....stop with the "backdoor" stuff and the criticisms of the host team format the tournament uses. It's not Brandon's fault the tournament is this way. It's not their players' fault. And it's not like they are some collection of chumps; I firmly believe that had they beaten the Hitmen in the WHL playoffs, they would have been the WHL champs. They are probably the 2nd-most qualified team to represent the WHL. So let's support them and cheer for them to bring the Memorial Cup back to the best junior hockey league in the world tomorrow.
As for the Memorial Cup format....yeah, it has some flaws. But you know what? Every year we debate this and nobody has yet come up with a better idea. You can't just have the three league champs in a (possibly) neutral site and still expect to sell all these tickets. And you can't have three league champs in one of them's building and still have the tournament be the big event that it is; you can't put together a party like that in one week or two weeks. For the Memorial Cup to have the kind of big party atmosphere that we all love and expect, you need the predetermined host city, and you need their team to be in the tournament if you want the local interest that is also required. It's not perfect but it is the best format that we have to choose from.
As a Hitmen fan, that was a tough loss. Especially when you know that it's highly likely that Calgary is the better team of the two; they played seven times between the WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup and the Hitmen won five of the seven.
But one thing there is no doubt about: Brandon deserved to win last night. They may have been a little shaky in the first period but starting with the 2nd period, the Wheat Kings owned that game. Calgary fans can bitch all they want about who the better team really was but it all comes down to this: both teams knew they had to win last night. Only one of them played like it.
And I see WHL people saying they'll cheer for Windsor now tomorrow because they don't want a "backdoor" team to win. Please....stop with the "backdoor" stuff and the criticisms of the host team format the tournament uses. It's not Brandon's fault the tournament is this way. It's not their players' fault. And it's not like they are some collection of chumps; I firmly believe that had they beaten the Hitmen in the WHL playoffs, they would have been the WHL champs. They are probably the 2nd-most qualified team to represent the WHL. So let's support them and cheer for them to bring the Memorial Cup back to the best junior hockey league in the world tomorrow.
As for the Memorial Cup format....yeah, it has some flaws. But you know what? Every year we debate this and nobody has yet come up with a better idea. You can't just have the three league champs in a (possibly) neutral site and still expect to sell all these tickets. And you can't have three league champs in one of them's building and still have the tournament be the big event that it is; you can't put together a party like that in one week or two weeks. For the Memorial Cup to have the kind of big party atmosphere that we all love and expect, you need the predetermined host city, and you need their team to be in the tournament if you want the local interest that is also required. It's not perfect but it is the best format that we have to choose from.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Back to life
Sorry for no posts this last week or so - I've been in the middle of moving to a new house and haven't had time to update the blog.
I did see the Brandon/Windsor game last Friday, the Calgary/Brandon game last night, and most of the Calgary/Moncton game on Saturday. Saw none of the Brandon/Moncton, Calgary/Windsor, or Windsor/Moncton games, unfortunately although I saw the highlights.
I posted about the Brandon/Windsor game already. Some thoughts on the rest of the Memorial Cup....
I thought Moncton was better than an 0-3 team. They very nearly beat Calgary and they didn't look terribly out of place against Brandon or Windsor. Granted, Calgary and Windsor could have played better for portions of those games against Moncton. Was it just me or did the Windsor/Moncton game look like Windsor would have been OK with a loss? They were already guaranteed a spot in the Sunday final and a Moncton win would have forced a tiebreaker game tonight between Moncton and the loser (Brandon) of last night's Calgary/Brandon game.
Windsor looks awfully good and it's going to take a heckuva effort by Calgary/Brandon to beat them on Sunday. Whoever the WHL rep in the game is, they will need better goaltending than they got in their round-robin games with the Spitfires. If they're going to beat a team like that, they can't give up any freebies.
Calgary has gotten better as the tournament progressed. Poor first 40 minutes against Moncton. Better effort against Windsor but still not as good as they can play. Good effort against Brandon.
The game last night may have been almost meaningless in the standings picture (Calgary's win gives them last line change tomorrow night, and that's about it) but are the psychological implications more important for the Hitmen? They have now beaten the Wheat Kings five straight times, including three straight times in Brandon's rink. The last two meetings have a combined score of 11-2 for the Hitmen and have both seen Brandon's play get chippier and chippier as their frustration built. Methinks Calgary is in Brandon's collective heads right now...."can we beat this team or not?".
Question for the Hitmen right now: do they play Brandon Kozun tomorrow night against the Wheat Kings? So far his sprained ankle has not allowed him to play more than a few shifts in the tournament, in the game against Moncton. So do you dress him tomorrow night in the first do-or-die game of the tournament? Or do you take the chance that you can beat Brandon without him, just like you did last night? That would allow his ankle two more days of rest and hopefully allow him to play on Sunday against Windsor. But of course, the risk is that if you don't beat Brandon tomorrow night, then there is no game to play on Sunday. Tough call, I think....what would you do?
I did see the Brandon/Windsor game last Friday, the Calgary/Brandon game last night, and most of the Calgary/Moncton game on Saturday. Saw none of the Brandon/Moncton, Calgary/Windsor, or Windsor/Moncton games, unfortunately although I saw the highlights.
I posted about the Brandon/Windsor game already. Some thoughts on the rest of the Memorial Cup....
I thought Moncton was better than an 0-3 team. They very nearly beat Calgary and they didn't look terribly out of place against Brandon or Windsor. Granted, Calgary and Windsor could have played better for portions of those games against Moncton. Was it just me or did the Windsor/Moncton game look like Windsor would have been OK with a loss? They were already guaranteed a spot in the Sunday final and a Moncton win would have forced a tiebreaker game tonight between Moncton and the loser (Brandon) of last night's Calgary/Brandon game.
Windsor looks awfully good and it's going to take a heckuva effort by Calgary/Brandon to beat them on Sunday. Whoever the WHL rep in the game is, they will need better goaltending than they got in their round-robin games with the Spitfires. If they're going to beat a team like that, they can't give up any freebies.
Calgary has gotten better as the tournament progressed. Poor first 40 minutes against Moncton. Better effort against Windsor but still not as good as they can play. Good effort against Brandon.
The game last night may have been almost meaningless in the standings picture (Calgary's win gives them last line change tomorrow night, and that's about it) but are the psychological implications more important for the Hitmen? They have now beaten the Wheat Kings five straight times, including three straight times in Brandon's rink. The last two meetings have a combined score of 11-2 for the Hitmen and have both seen Brandon's play get chippier and chippier as their frustration built. Methinks Calgary is in Brandon's collective heads right now...."can we beat this team or not?".
Question for the Hitmen right now: do they play Brandon Kozun tomorrow night against the Wheat Kings? So far his sprained ankle has not allowed him to play more than a few shifts in the tournament, in the game against Moncton. So do you dress him tomorrow night in the first do-or-die game of the tournament? Or do you take the chance that you can beat Brandon without him, just like you did last night? That would allow his ankle two more days of rest and hopefully allow him to play on Sunday against Windsor. But of course, the risk is that if you don't beat Brandon tomorrow night, then there is no game to play on Sunday. Tough call, I think....what would you do?
Friday, May 14, 2010
Message Sent
Well, that was Ugly. Capital-U ugly, if you're a Brandon or WHL fan. Windsor, considered by many/most to be the pre-tournament favourite to repeat as Memorial Cup champs, went out and whacked the Wheat Kings 9-3 in the opener of the tournament tonight.
The score would have been much worse if Windsor hadn't taken the third period off. They were dominant and the Wheat Kings looked powerless to do anything to stop the onslaught of Spitfire attackers. It probably didn't help that Brandon hadn't played a game in three weeks but I doubt even a game-ready Wheaties squad would have fared significantly better. Windsor was making a statement tonight....consider the message sent.
Next up, the Hitmen take on the Moncton Wildcats tomorrow afternoon. We saw tonight how strong Windsor is; tomorrow's game should give us a measuring stick to gauge the QMJHL entry by.
P.S. - am I the only one who thought it was pretty much impossible to read the numbers on the backs of those Brandon uniforms? They are nice looking jerseys but clearly there wasn't any testing done to see whether anyone could make out the numbers....
The score would have been much worse if Windsor hadn't taken the third period off. They were dominant and the Wheat Kings looked powerless to do anything to stop the onslaught of Spitfire attackers. It probably didn't help that Brandon hadn't played a game in three weeks but I doubt even a game-ready Wheaties squad would have fared significantly better. Windsor was making a statement tonight....consider the message sent.
Next up, the Hitmen take on the Moncton Wildcats tomorrow afternoon. We saw tonight how strong Windsor is; tomorrow's game should give us a measuring stick to gauge the QMJHL entry by.
P.S. - am I the only one who thought it was pretty much impossible to read the numbers on the backs of those Brandon uniforms? They are nice looking jerseys but clearly there wasn't any testing done to see whether anyone could make out the numbers....
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Memorial Cup set
The Moncton Wildcats downed the Saint John Sea Dogs last night to win the QMJHL title 4 games to 2. So with that, the field and schedule for the Memorial Cup is set:
Fri May 14: Brandon Wheat Kings (host) vs Windsor Spitfires (OHL champ), 7pm
Sat May 15: Calgary Hitmen (WHL champ) vs Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL champ), 2pm
Sun May 16: Brandon vs Moncton, 2pm
Mon May 17: Calgary vs Windsor, 7pm
Tue May 18: Moncton vs Windsor, 7pm
Wed May 19: Brandon vs Calgary, 7pm
Thu May 20: 3rd/4th place tiebreaker game (only if necessary), 7pm
Fri May 21: Semi-final (2nd vs 3rd), 7pm
Sun May 23: Final, 2pm
(all times Central)
As usual, the two teams from the host league have the best schedule. Neither Brandon nor Calgary need to play on back-to-back days this year - something Moncton and Windsor will need to do once each.
Despite my pro-WHL bias, I think the pre-tournament favourite probably has to be Windsor. They are the defending champs and their roster boasts 12 players who were on last year's team - a year older, better, and with that winning experience. And in those 10 or so players that weren't there last year, they have added a couple big-time players like Cam Fowler and Zack Kassian. I think they have to be favoured.
That said, this tournament is all about one-game showdowns. I might pick Windsor to take Brandon or Calgary out in a best-of-seven series but for the Wheaties and Hitmen, beating Windsor is just about being the best in one game on Friday or Sunday. And I think both Brandon and Calgary stack up well enough that they can beat the Spitfires for 60 minutes.
I don't know much about Moncton....what I do know though is that it seems like the QMJHL has a boom-or-bust history when it comes to the Memorial Cup. Their team is either good enough to win, or bad enough for last. The "Q" has only won one of the last nine Memorial Cups and haven't been in the Sunday final since 2006, but before that they did have a stretch of putting at least one team into the final for seven straight years. We'll have to wait until Saturday to see how the Wildcats stack up against the Hitmen before we'll have a feel for how good they'll be this year.
One last thing: the last seven times the WHL has hosted the Memorial Cup, a WHL team has won the title. Not since 1986 has a WHL-hosted Memorial Cup seen the champion come from another league; the WHL champ has won five times and the WHL host has won three times (Kamloops in 1995 was both the WHL champ AND the host). So, good karma for Brandon and Calgary? Let's hope so.....
Fri May 14: Brandon Wheat Kings (host) vs Windsor Spitfires (OHL champ), 7pm
Sat May 15: Calgary Hitmen (WHL champ) vs Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL champ), 2pm
Sun May 16: Brandon vs Moncton, 2pm
Mon May 17: Calgary vs Windsor, 7pm
Tue May 18: Moncton vs Windsor, 7pm
Wed May 19: Brandon vs Calgary, 7pm
Thu May 20: 3rd/4th place tiebreaker game (only if necessary), 7pm
Fri May 21: Semi-final (2nd vs 3rd), 7pm
Sun May 23: Final, 2pm
(all times Central)
As usual, the two teams from the host league have the best schedule. Neither Brandon nor Calgary need to play on back-to-back days this year - something Moncton and Windsor will need to do once each.
Despite my pro-WHL bias, I think the pre-tournament favourite probably has to be Windsor. They are the defending champs and their roster boasts 12 players who were on last year's team - a year older, better, and with that winning experience. And in those 10 or so players that weren't there last year, they have added a couple big-time players like Cam Fowler and Zack Kassian. I think they have to be favoured.
That said, this tournament is all about one-game showdowns. I might pick Windsor to take Brandon or Calgary out in a best-of-seven series but for the Wheaties and Hitmen, beating Windsor is just about being the best in one game on Friday or Sunday. And I think both Brandon and Calgary stack up well enough that they can beat the Spitfires for 60 minutes.
I don't know much about Moncton....what I do know though is that it seems like the QMJHL has a boom-or-bust history when it comes to the Memorial Cup. Their team is either good enough to win, or bad enough for last. The "Q" has only won one of the last nine Memorial Cups and haven't been in the Sunday final since 2006, but before that they did have a stretch of putting at least one team into the final for seven straight years. We'll have to wait until Saturday to see how the Wildcats stack up against the Hitmen before we'll have a feel for how good they'll be this year.
One last thing: the last seven times the WHL has hosted the Memorial Cup, a WHL team has won the title. Not since 1986 has a WHL-hosted Memorial Cup seen the champion come from another league; the WHL champ has won five times and the WHL host has won three times (Kamloops in 1995 was both the WHL champ AND the host). So, good karma for Brandon and Calgary? Let's hope so.....
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday notes
Couple things this morning...
It sounds like the Brandon Wheat Kings will have another candidate for their overage spots next year. The Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald is reporting that forward David Toews (younger brother of Jonathan Toews) will leave the University of North Dakota and play major junior next year. The Wheat Kings own his rights and he is from Winnipeg, so presumably he's headed for Brandon.
Toews is a 1990 born player so he'd be an overager next year. The Wheat Kings have probably six players on their current roster who would be in contention for overage jobs next year - forwards Jordan Hale and Shayne Wiebe, defencemen Mark Schneider and Darren Bestland, and goaltenders Jacob DeSerres and Andrew Hayes - so Toews makes seven guys competing for three spots. (I'm assuming that Brent Raedeke, Colby Robak, Alexander Urbom, and Travis Hamonic - who have all signed pro contracts - will not be back next year)
The 2011 Memorial Cup, which will be held in the OHL, is expected to see its hosting honours be awarded today to the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. This is kind of a surprise considering that the Majors are near the bottom of the OHL in attendance. I suppose being owned by Eugene Melnyk - the guy who owns the Ottawa Senators - doesn't hurt them though. I wonder how many zeros are in the "profits" figure the Majors promised to share with the rest of the league?
I think most of us were expecting the Windsor Spitfires to win the bid. The Spits won last year's Memorial Cup, are probably the favourites going into this year's Memorial Cup, and will still have a heckuva team next year too. But I guess they'll have to win the OHL for a 3rd straight year if they want to be in the Memorial Cup next year as well.
Still with the Memorial Cup, the QMJHL plays game six of their final series tonight. The Moncton Wildcats lead the Saint John Sea Dogs 3 games to 2 and can book their ticket to Brandon with a win tonight in Moncton. A Saint John win means they'll play game seven tomorrow night in Saint John.
Lastly, the BCHL's Vernon Vipers won their 2nd consecutive Royal Bank Cup yesterday, emblematic of Canadian Jr A hockey champions. There were three former WHLers on the Vipers - former Blazer/American Kevin Kraus, former Silvertip/Winterhawk Jonathan Milhouse, and David Robinson, who voluntarily walked away from the WHL in January after playing two and a half years for Chilliwack. They also have several players who were WHL prospects but chose the NCAA route - Sahir Gill (Kamloops), Dan Nycholat (Spokane), Curtis Gedig (Calgary), etc.
It sounds like the Brandon Wheat Kings will have another candidate for their overage spots next year. The Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald is reporting that forward David Toews (younger brother of Jonathan Toews) will leave the University of North Dakota and play major junior next year. The Wheat Kings own his rights and he is from Winnipeg, so presumably he's headed for Brandon.
Toews is a 1990 born player so he'd be an overager next year. The Wheat Kings have probably six players on their current roster who would be in contention for overage jobs next year - forwards Jordan Hale and Shayne Wiebe, defencemen Mark Schneider and Darren Bestland, and goaltenders Jacob DeSerres and Andrew Hayes - so Toews makes seven guys competing for three spots. (I'm assuming that Brent Raedeke, Colby Robak, Alexander Urbom, and Travis Hamonic - who have all signed pro contracts - will not be back next year)
The 2011 Memorial Cup, which will be held in the OHL, is expected to see its hosting honours be awarded today to the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. This is kind of a surprise considering that the Majors are near the bottom of the OHL in attendance. I suppose being owned by Eugene Melnyk - the guy who owns the Ottawa Senators - doesn't hurt them though. I wonder how many zeros are in the "profits" figure the Majors promised to share with the rest of the league?
I think most of us were expecting the Windsor Spitfires to win the bid. The Spits won last year's Memorial Cup, are probably the favourites going into this year's Memorial Cup, and will still have a heckuva team next year too. But I guess they'll have to win the OHL for a 3rd straight year if they want to be in the Memorial Cup next year as well.
Still with the Memorial Cup, the QMJHL plays game six of their final series tonight. The Moncton Wildcats lead the Saint John Sea Dogs 3 games to 2 and can book their ticket to Brandon with a win tonight in Moncton. A Saint John win means they'll play game seven tomorrow night in Saint John.
Lastly, the BCHL's Vernon Vipers won their 2nd consecutive Royal Bank Cup yesterday, emblematic of Canadian Jr A hockey champions. There were three former WHLers on the Vipers - former Blazer/American Kevin Kraus, former Silvertip/Winterhawk Jonathan Milhouse, and David Robinson, who voluntarily walked away from the WHL in January after playing two and a half years for Chilliwack. They also have several players who were WHL prospects but chose the NCAA route - Sahir Gill (Kamloops), Dan Nycholat (Spokane), Curtis Gedig (Calgary), etc.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Ex-Dubber make good
If you were a fan of the WHL this season, you'll want to check out the three star selections from this AHL playoff game.
What do all three of those stars have in common? Yes, they all played in the WHL this season and only joined the AHL after their WHL seasons ended. Pretty impressive....from playing junior to being game stars in an AHL playoff game in just a few weeks.
What do all three of those stars have in common? Yes, they all played in the WHL this season and only joined the AHL after their WHL seasons ended. Pretty impressive....from playing junior to being game stars in an AHL playoff game in just a few weeks.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Saturday notes
The hangover has worn off enough to post....
The Hitmen won the 2010 WHL championship last night, beating Tri-City 4-1 in game five at the Saddledome in Calgary. I thought the Americans put in a pretty good effort in this game but the Hitmen won the second period 3-0 and played the Americans fairly even throughout the game otherwise and that was the difference.
So Calgary wins their 2nd WHL title in franchise history, and will now represent the WHL at the Memorial Cup in Brandon starting next weekend. In their 1999 Memorial Cup appearance, the Hitmen lost the championship final in overtime to the Ottawa 67's. You can't get any closer than that without actually winning....so this year's team will hope to be just that one goal better than the 1999 team.
With Windsor and Calgary now having been crowned OHL and WHL champs, the QMJHL representative is the only team left to be determined. The Moncton Wildcats beat the Saint John Sea Dogs tonight in game five of the QMJHL final, so the Wildcats now lead that series 3-2 and can wrap it up with a win in game six on Monday night. A Saint John win on Monday will force a game seven on Tuesday.
One other bit of WHL news - longtime Regina Pats G.M. Brent Parker has announced that he is resigning his G.M. position effective immediately, and the team will hire a new G.M.....I think a lot of Pats fans have been waiting for this day for a while, as the criticism of Parker has been building and building over the last few years. I guess now Pats fans will get their chance to have a new person at the reins of the team for the first time in a long, long, long time....
The Hitmen won the 2010 WHL championship last night, beating Tri-City 4-1 in game five at the Saddledome in Calgary. I thought the Americans put in a pretty good effort in this game but the Hitmen won the second period 3-0 and played the Americans fairly even throughout the game otherwise and that was the difference.
So Calgary wins their 2nd WHL title in franchise history, and will now represent the WHL at the Memorial Cup in Brandon starting next weekend. In their 1999 Memorial Cup appearance, the Hitmen lost the championship final in overtime to the Ottawa 67's. You can't get any closer than that without actually winning....so this year's team will hope to be just that one goal better than the 1999 team.
With Windsor and Calgary now having been crowned OHL and WHL champs, the QMJHL representative is the only team left to be determined. The Moncton Wildcats beat the Saint John Sea Dogs tonight in game five of the QMJHL final, so the Wildcats now lead that series 3-2 and can wrap it up with a win in game six on Monday night. A Saint John win on Monday will force a game seven on Tuesday.
One other bit of WHL news - longtime Regina Pats G.M. Brent Parker has announced that he is resigning his G.M. position effective immediately, and the team will hire a new G.M.....I think a lot of Pats fans have been waiting for this day for a while, as the criticism of Parker has been building and building over the last few years. I guess now Pats fans will get their chance to have a new person at the reins of the team for the first time in a long, long, long time....
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Thursday notes
Tri-Cities avoided elimination last night with a 4-2 win over the Hitmen. I thought the game was actually not much different from game three; it was a good-paced, close game for 60 minutes. The difference in this one was that Tri-City got the bounces they didn't get in the earlier games - their good scoring chances went in instead of wide or saved by Jones, and this time it was Calgary that was snakebitten around the net, unable to finish on several chances that would have been goals in the first three games.
The league will now fly both teams back to Calgary for game 5 on Friday night. If you believe in karma, it's worth noting that Friday's date is May 7th. The Hitmen's previous WHL championship, against Kamloops in 1999, was also won at home on Friday, May 7th, 1999 - and it was also a game 5.
The league will now fly both teams back to Calgary for game 5 on Friday night. If you believe in karma, it's worth noting that Friday's date is May 7th. The Hitmen's previous WHL championship, against Kamloops in 1999, was also won at home on Friday, May 7th, 1999 - and it was also a game 5.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Wednesday thoughts
The Hitmen can clinch the WHL title tonight in the Tri-Cities. Looking at the situation they are in right now, it's really hard to believe that six weeks ago today they were down 3-1 to Moose Jaw in the first round and facing elimination unless they could win three straight against the Warriors.
One other bit of WHL news from yesterday - the Spokane Chiefs announced that they will not bring Hardy Sauter back as their coach next year. Sauter's dismissal means there are now two coaching vacancies in the WHL at the moment - Spokane and Edmonton.
And in the OHL, the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires booked their return ticket to the big tournament by finishing the 4-0 sweep of the Barrie Colts in the OHL finals. So two of the four teams in this year's Memorial Cup are set now.
In the QMJHL, the Saint John Sea Dogs got back into the QMJHL final with a win over the Moncton Wildcats. The Wildcats still lead that series 2-1 with game four in Moncton on Friday. That series is also using the unusual 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 format; but, the two cities are only about 200 km apart so the travel is pretty easy as far as league finals go.
Hitmen up 3-0
It was the must-win game of the series for the Tri-City Americans tonight, and despite a decent effort from them, the outcome of the game was the same as the first two games of the series: a Calgary win.
The Hitmen now lead the series 3-0 and can clinch their 2nd ever WHL title (1999 was the first) tomorrow night in game four in Kennewick.
The Ams played well enough tonight but as in the first two games, they are not able to penetrate to the net to get scoring chances. Meanwhile Calgary kept executing their game plan - shut down the Tri-City attack and take advantage of their scoring chances when they get them. Alexander Pechurskiy started in net for the Americans tonight and he was....OK. Two of the goals - the 2nd and 3rd goals - were a little on the weak side. But he did keep Calgary off the scoreboard in the 2nd and 3rd periods, giving his team a chance to mount a comeback. The fact that they didn't isn't his fault.
As I said last year after the Rockets got up 3-0 on the Hitmen: we all know it's is over and Calgary will be the 2009-10 WHL champions. It is so hard to come back from down 3-0 even when the series has been close; in this series, the Americans have 2 goals in 3 games and have yet to even have a lead at any point in the series. Logic suggests they aren't going to win 4 in a row. They have a reasonably young team though, perhaps they can do what Calgary did - use this loss as a learning/motivational tool and come back stronger next year.
The Hitmen now lead the series 3-0 and can clinch their 2nd ever WHL title (1999 was the first) tomorrow night in game four in Kennewick.
The Ams played well enough tonight but as in the first two games, they are not able to penetrate to the net to get scoring chances. Meanwhile Calgary kept executing their game plan - shut down the Tri-City attack and take advantage of their scoring chances when they get them. Alexander Pechurskiy started in net for the Americans tonight and he was....OK. Two of the goals - the 2nd and 3rd goals - were a little on the weak side. But he did keep Calgary off the scoreboard in the 2nd and 3rd periods, giving his team a chance to mount a comeback. The fact that they didn't isn't his fault.
As I said last year after the Rockets got up 3-0 on the Hitmen: we all know it's is over and Calgary will be the 2009-10 WHL champions. It is so hard to come back from down 3-0 even when the series has been close; in this series, the Americans have 2 goals in 3 games and have yet to even have a lead at any point in the series. Logic suggests they aren't going to win 4 in a row. They have a reasonably young team though, perhaps they can do what Calgary did - use this loss as a learning/motivational tool and come back stronger next year.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday
The WHL final resumes tonight in Kennewick with game three between the Hitmen and Americans.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that tonight is the most important game of the series....a Hitmen win will put the Americans down 3-0 and we know that almost nobody ever digs out of that hole - combined in the histories of the NHL, NBA, and MLB, teams leading a series 3-0 are 275-3 in the series, so they win the series 98.9% of the time. So realistically, if the Ams want to have any chance of winning the series, they NEED to win tonight. And if they do win, now it's a 2-1 series, they have a little momentum and they have game four in their rink tomorrow night. Calgary probably really wants to avoid that scenario. So yeah, tonight is critically important to both teams, I would think.
One thing we haven't seen much of in this series is anything that resembles the emotion of a rivalry. It hasn't been a nasty series at all....no big hits on star players (Shinnimin on Kozun excepted), no goalies being run, and only two fights - and both fights were in the last few minutes of decided games. That may change as things go along, but I think we're unlikely to see anything approaching the animosity of the current OHL final.
You may have already seen this video of Barrie forward Darren Archibald running Windsor's goaltender in the last minute of the game three loss that put Barrie down 3-0 in the series. Archibald has been suspended indefinitely by the OHL for that. But there's some off-ice stuff going on too between the two teams that may be sparking even deeper emotional reactions.
Seems Barrie used their first round pick in the OHL draft on the weekend to take Windsor G.M. Warren Rychel's son Kerby. Windsor had been hoping to draft Kerby in the 2nd round; apparently most other OHL teams were fine with that since most of them projected Kerby as a 2nd round talent. But not Barrie.....they took him late in the first round and now they own the rights to the son of the G.M. of the team they are playing for the OHL title. It's probably safe to say that there's not a lot of love for the Barrie Colts in the Rychel house right now.....
I don't think it's a stretch to say that tonight is the most important game of the series....a Hitmen win will put the Americans down 3-0 and we know that almost nobody ever digs out of that hole - combined in the histories of the NHL, NBA, and MLB, teams leading a series 3-0 are 275-3 in the series, so they win the series 98.9% of the time. So realistically, if the Ams want to have any chance of winning the series, they NEED to win tonight. And if they do win, now it's a 2-1 series, they have a little momentum and they have game four in their rink tomorrow night. Calgary probably really wants to avoid that scenario. So yeah, tonight is critically important to both teams, I would think.
One thing we haven't seen much of in this series is anything that resembles the emotion of a rivalry. It hasn't been a nasty series at all....no big hits on star players (Shinnimin on Kozun excepted), no goalies being run, and only two fights - and both fights were in the last few minutes of decided games. That may change as things go along, but I think we're unlikely to see anything approaching the animosity of the current OHL final.
You may have already seen this video of Barrie forward Darren Archibald running Windsor's goaltender in the last minute of the game three loss that put Barrie down 3-0 in the series. Archibald has been suspended indefinitely by the OHL for that. But there's some off-ice stuff going on too between the two teams that may be sparking even deeper emotional reactions.
Seems Barrie used their first round pick in the OHL draft on the weekend to take Windsor G.M. Warren Rychel's son Kerby. Windsor had been hoping to draft Kerby in the 2nd round; apparently most other OHL teams were fine with that since most of them projected Kerby as a 2nd round talent. But not Barrie.....they took him late in the first round and now they own the rights to the son of the G.M. of the team they are playing for the OHL title. It's probably safe to say that there's not a lot of love for the Barrie Colts in the Rychel house right now.....
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Hitmen now up 2-0
Much, much better effort from the Americans tonight resulted in a closer score, but ultimately the same result - a 4-1 Hitmen victory gives them a 2-0 lead in the WHL championship series.
Unlike game one, the Americans were able to create some pressure in tonight's game and got a fair number of scoring chances as a result. But, they were only able to get one puck past Martin Jones.
Calgary also played well though and outshot the Americans almost 2:1 on the night. For the second straight game Ams starter Drew Owsley got the hook, this time after 3 goals on 15 shots in 24 minutes of play. He was replaced by Alexander Pechurskiy again, and Pechurskiy was solid in stopping 25 of the next 26 Hitmen shots. Owsley is 0-2 with a 12.09 GAA and .708 SV% in two games in this series; I think it's a no-brainer that Pechurskiy should start game 3 on Tuesday. Owsley didn't have a chance on goals #1 and #3 tonight but goal #2 - the eventual game-winner - was a weak one, high short side from a bad angle. (That goal was also the first career WHL goal for Hitmen defenceman Peter Kosterman....tough to top a gamewinner in the Final for your first career goal).
It'll also be interesting to see whether the Americans have to play game three without leading scorer Brendan Shinnimin, who was tossed from the game in the 2nd period for a textbook dirty hit from behind on league scoring champ Brandon Kozun. If this were the regular season, Shinnimin would for sure be getting a game or three for that hit....but it's the WHL Final so maybe cheap shots are punished less severely here when the offender is a star - remember Tyler Myers on Craig Schira last year. I think Shinnimin should get one game. We'll see if the league agrees.
Tri-City needs to get their powerplay working. Prior to the series much was made of the Americans powerplay prowess and how the Hitmen would need to stay out of the box. The Ams had 7 powerplays tonight and while they were able to get some pressure on some of them, they got no goals and are now 0-for-12 in the series with the man advantage. A couple PP goals tonight and it could be a different outcome.
Game 3 on Tuesday will be pivotal. We all know the grim statistics for teams that go down 3-0 in a playoff series so it is an absolute must-win for the Americans. Their rink, their fans, they should be pumped up. We'll see if that makes the difference for them....
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