NCAA - CHL thaw coming?

Some of you may have noticed I added a new blog to my links section the other day - Neate Sager's junior hockey blog for Yahoo Sports. If you're not reading it regularly already, you should start - he has a good roundup of CHL related stuff there.

And his blog is where I got informed about this piece this morning. An interesting read, focusing on the ongoing battle between the NCAA and CHL for top prospects. Of particular interest is the suggestion by College Hockey, Inc. (which represents the NCAA's interests in this fight) head Paul Kelly that the two sides may be prepared to try and work out an agreement that would reduce the tug-of-war over players.

Anything that makes the decision-making process easier on 15, 16, 17 year old kids cannot be a bad thing. I wonder though, what is in it for the CHL to deal with the NCAA when the "poaching" process is a one-way street that favors the CHL - the CHL can poach players from the NCAA all it wants. The NCAA's own rules prevent it from doing the same to CHL players. Unless the NCAA is prepared to budge on its position that the CHL represents professional hockey and CHL players are therefore ineligible to play NCAA hockey, I'm not sure what the NCAA has to offer players by way of a compromise.

One comment from Kelly stands out too: "I don't think the CHL should be drafting 14-15-16-year-old kids. But do I see that changing? That isn't going to happen."

I wonder, was he able to keep a straight face when saying that? Remember, he represents an organization that allows this. And this. And this. There's a saying about people who live in glass houses.

Chiefs announcement

The Spokane Chiefs will hold a press conference tomorrow at Avista Stadium in Spokane to announce "a special event".

They're holding a press conference at the local baseball stadium....gee, what could this announcement involve?

Minor trade

Spokane has acquired depth defenceman Bruin McDonald from the Prince George Cougars for a conditional 2011 6th round bantam draft pick.

I know what you're thinking....my first reaction too was, "somebody wanted a player not named Connolly or Forsberg off the Cougars' 09-10 roster? Really?".

I'm guessing the the conditions on the pick are that McDonald has to be able to stay in the Chiefs lineup past a certain date. The 18 year old McDonald has played 107 games for the Cougars over the last three seasons, including 6 games as a 15 year old in 07-08.

QMJHL distance traveled

Might as well complete the entire CHL on this now - here's the distance traveled by the QMJHL teams:

		km	miles
1	Cape Breton	29855	18551
2	Rouyn-Noranda	27111	16846
3	Halifax	24600	15286
4	Val-d'Or	23813	14797
5	P.E.I.	23719	14738
6	Acadie-Bathurst	22825	14183
7	Lewiston	22288	13849
8	Saint John	22214	13803
9	Gatineau	21572	13404
10	Moncton	21309	13241
11	Shawinigan	21014	13057
12	Québec	20933	13007
13	Montréal	20478	12724
14	Victoriaville	20334	12635
15	Baie-Comeau	20070	12471
16	Rimouski	20008	12432
17	Drummondville	19982	12416
18	Chicoutimi	19644	12206

Overall the QMJHL clocks in exactly where I expected they would - most of the teams in the QMJHL travel more than any OHL teams but less than most WHL teams. Couple big exceptions though, most notably Cape Breton, who have the distinction of being the most-traveled team in the entire CHL. Yes, they travel 39 more kilometers than Prince George does. And Rouyn-Noranda would be in the WHL's top four as well if they played in that league with that mileage. 

Of course these numbers are not written in stone and there are undoubtedly going to be some mistakes made on my part when trying to figure out whether a team stays over in a hotel after a game or returns home, etc, etc. So they are just estimates.....but I used the same approach for all three leagues so if I made mistakes, hopefully I made them equally everywhere.

One thing I did notice about the QMJHL schedules was that, like the OHL, they are very efficient with their road trips. Most teams in the QMJHL do not take the kind of 4 or 5 game road trips we see almost every team in the WHL take once or twice a year. Yes, some QMJHL teams do - but even when they do, it seems to be a Wednesday, Friday-Saturday-Sunday trip and then back home. You see WHL teams spend 8 or 9 days on the road to play 4 or 5 games sometimes. So, the OHL and QMJHL seem to be more efficient in their road trips but perhaps the smaller distances makes that easier.

I gave the longest and shortest distances in the WHL and OHL in earlier posts, so I'd best do it for the "Q" as well: longest driving distance between two cities in the QMJHL is (no surprise) Cape Breton to Rouyn-Noranda, which comes in at 2086 km. Shortest distance is Drummondville to Victoriaville, at 62 km. All distances, for all three leagues, come from Mapquest.

So, to wrap this up and rank the entire CHL.....I've taken the total km and divided it by the number of road games each team plays (to account for the fact that the WHL plays a 72 game schedule while the other two leagues play 68 games) and calculated the average driving distance per road game per team:

	team	league	km	games	avg km/game
1	Cape Breton	QMJHL	29855	34	878.1
2	Prince George	WHL	29816	36	828.2
3	Rouyn-Noranda	QMJHL	27111	34	797.4
4	Brandon	WHL	28548	36	793.0
5	Kootenay	WHL	28124	36	781.2
6	Edmonton	WHL	26931	36	748.1
7	Spokane	WHL	26856	36	746.0
8	Prince Albert	WHL	26785	36	744.0
9	Halifax	QMJHL	24600	34	723.5
10	Swift Current	WHL	25757	36	715.5
11	Tri-City	WHL	25602	36	711.2
12	Portland	WHL	25451	36	707.0
13	Kamloops	WHL	25393	36	705.4
14	Val-d'Or	QMJHL	23813	34	700.4
15	P.E.I.	QMJHL	23719	34	697.6
16	Lethbridge	WHL	24957	36	693.3
17	Medicine Hat	WHL	24825	36	689.6
18	Red Deer	WHL	24465	36	679.6
19	Saskatoon	WHL	24441	36	678.9
20	Acadie-Bathurst	QMJHL	22825	34	671.3
21	Regina	WHL	24111	36	669.7
22	Lewiston	QMJHL	22288	34	655.5
23	Saint John	QMJHL	22214	34	653.4
24	Vancouver	WHL	23096	36	641.5
25	Calgary	WHL	22941	36	637.3
26	Gatineau	QMJHL	21572	34	634.5
27	Moncton	QMJHL	21309	34	626.7
28	Everett	WHL	22447	36	623.5
29	Moose Jaw	WHL	22425	36	622.9
30	Kelowna	WHL	22346	36	620.7
31	Shawinigan	QMJHL	21014	34	618.1
32	Québec	QMJHL	20933	34	615.7
33	Seattle	WHL	21913	36	608.7
34	Montréal	QMJHL	20478	34	602.3
35	Victoriaville	QMJHL	20334	34	598.1
36	Baie-Comeau	QMJHL	20070	34	590.3
37	Rimouski	QMJHL	20008	34	588.5
38	Drummondville	QMJHL	19982	34	587.7
39	Chicoutimi	QMJHL	19644	34	577.8
40	Sault Ste Marie	OHL	19491	34	573.3
41	Ottawa	OHL	18579	34	546.4
42	Chilliwack	WHL	19231	36	534.2
43	Sudbury	OHL	17302	34	508.9
44	Erie	OHL	17089	34	502.6
45	Saginaw	OHL	16370	34	481.5
46	Plymouth	OHL	16325	34	480.1
47	Windsor	OHL	16198	34	476.4
48	Sarnia	OHL	15672	34	460.9
49	Kingston	OHL	15614	34	459.2
50	Belleville	OHL	14923	34	438.9
51	Niagara	OHL	14486	34	426.1
52	London	OHL	14437	34	424.6
53	Kitchener	OHL	14281	34	420.0
54	Guelph	OHL	13961	34	410.6
55	Owen Sound	OHL	13947	34	410.2
56	Oshawa	OHL	13491	34	396.8
57	Barrie	OHL	13387	34	393.7
58	Peterborough	OHL	13214	34	388.6
59	Brampton	OHL	12503	34	367.7
60	Mississauga	OHL	11784	34	346.6

When you look at those numbers at the top of the list and you realize that the Cape Bretons and the Prince Georges of the league are driving more than 800 km on average to play each road game....I think it gives us fans another perspective on the level of dedication these players have to the game. These guys are averaging 8 or 9 hours - at least - of bus travel for every three hour road game they play. That's commitment.

Distance traveled: WHL vs OHL

After my post yesterday about the distance traveled by WHL teams each season, a reader suggested that I calculate the distance traveled by the OHL teams and compare it to the WHL. Something I haven't done before, and I thought it made for an interesting idea. So, here we are.

No past years to compare it to, but here's the 2010-11 OHL projected travel distances:

		km	miles
1	Sault Ste Marie	19491	12114
2	Ottawa	18579	11547
3	Sudbury	17302	10753
4	Erie	17089	10621
5	Saginaw	16370	10174
6	Plymouth	16325	10146
7	Windsor	16198	10067
8	Sarnia	15672	9740
9	Kingston	15614	9704
10	Belleville	14923	9275
11	Niagara	14486	9003
12	London	14437	8973
13	Kitchener	14281	8876
14	Guelph	13961	8677
15	Owen Sound	13947	8668
16	Oshawa	13491	8385
17	Barrie	13387	8320
18	Peterborough	13214	8213
19	Brampton	12503	7771
20	Mississauga	11784	7324

As you can see by comparing this chart to the WHL one below, OHL teams have it a LOT easier than the WHL teams do. Which should be no surprise really, given that the entire OHL is contained within one province (and mostly within one small chunk of that province too) and three U.S. cities which are all fairly close to the Ontario border.

We need to keep in mind that the OHL teams only play 68 games instead of the WHL's 72, so they have 2 less road games to travel to, which bumps their numbers down slightly when comparing. But even if you add 5% or so to the OHL totals to account for those missing 2 games, only one OHL team - Sault Ste Marie, the most "remote" outpost in the league, has a travel schedule which is worse than the cushiest the WHL has to offer. And the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors travel only 11,784 km this season.....in the WHL, we call that "a weekend".

This isn't intended to be a bash-the-OHL post though.....the travel is what it is. I'm just showing the degree of the disparity in what the leagues go through. If I have time, I'll even do the QMJHL in the next few days too. I suspect the "Q" is probably going to rank somewhere in between the WHL and OHL - their teams are more spread out than the OHL's but not quite as much as the WHL's.

Couple other things.....

 - WHL fans can be dismissive of the shorter driving distances in the OHL but we do need to consider that some of these "shorter" drives actually take longer than the mileage would suggest, due to highways in Southern Ontario being considerably busier than the TransCanada is going through Saskatchewan. It may only be a 150 km trip but if your bus is only averaging 50 km/h, that takes three hours.

 - I've never really analyzed an OHL schedule before, and I was very surprised to see that there are actually very few road trips of longer than 3 games, for any team. I guess this is a luxury afforded by shorter distances of travel, even for inter-conference games. A typical "long" OHL road trip appears to be a weekend 3-in-3 and even then the total distance traveled may be only slightly more than what the Prince George Cougars do for a Wednesday one-off trip to Kamloops and back.

 - Longest driving distance between two cities in the OHL is between Sault Ste Marie and Erie, which clocks in at 969 km. In the WHL, it's Brandon to Portland, which is 2444 km.

 - Shortest distance in the OHL is Brampton to Mississauga, which measures (try not to laugh) 6.4 km between the two arenas. After a bad game the visiting coach could make the players walk home and nobody would complain it was abuse. The shortest distance in the WHL is Regina to Moose Jaw, which comes in at 71 km, followed very closely by Everett to Seattle at 74 km.

2010-11 road warriors

With the release of the official 2010-11 WHL schedule yesterday, it's time again to do something I've done here on the blog for the last couple years, and that's figure out how much travelling each team in the league does.


I've taken each team's schedule and calculated the distance they must travel from one game to the next, whether that is to the next city on a road trip, or whether it's going back home for a home game, or back home for a few days before heading out to the next road game, etc, etc. 

The chart below shows each team's estimated travel for 2010-11 in both kilometers and miles. Also included are the increase/decrease - in kilometers - from their 2009-10 travel, as well as where they ranked on travel in 2009-10 and 2008-09. 

		km	miles	change (km)	09-10 rank	08-09 rank
1.	Prince George	29816	18531	3288	3	3
2.	Brandon	28548	17743	-3504	1	1
3.	Kootenay	28124	17479	1810	4	2
4.	Edmonton	26931	16738	-695	2	4
5.	Spokane	26856	16691	1026	5	6
6.	Prince Albert	26785	16647	958	6	8
7.	Swift Current	25757	16008	1577	9	13
8.	Tri-City	25602	15912	2069	11	12
9.	Portland	25451	15818	-297	7	9
10.	Kamloops	25393	15782	2574	14	7
11.	Lethbridge	24957	15511	2132	13	11
12.	Medicine Hat	24825	15429	2344	16	20
13.	Red Deer	24465	15205	1744	15	5
14.	Saskatoon	24441	15190	1405	12	17
15.	Regina	24111	14985	4891	22	22
16.	Vancouver	23096	14354	1600	19	19
17.	Calgary	22941	14258	-1115	10	16
18.	Everett	22447	13951	1843	20	18
19.	Moose Jaw	22425	13937	683	18	14
20.	Kelowna	22346	13888	-2755	8	10
21.	Seattle	21913	13619	2086	21	21
22.	Chilliwack	19231	11952	-2526	17	15

As you can see, the four most-travelled teams have not changed in the last three years - it is always Brandon, Edmonton, Kootenay, and Prince George in some combination. Safe to say that this is because those are the teams most isolated from their closest competition. Edmonton being on that list always surprises me because they are actually fairly close geographically to a couple of their divisional rivals....but I guess overall they are far enough from enough teams to add up to a big mileage total.


On the other hand, Chilliwack has it the cushiest - they travel 2700 km less than their nearest competition at the bottom of the list. I couldn't believe that disparity when I saw the numbers the first time, so I recalculated Chilliwack to make sure it is right. It is.


To put things in another perspective there, Chilliwack travels 10,600 km less this season than Prince George does. Assuming the buses average 100 km/h on the road, that is 106 hours less travel time for the Bruins than for their divisional opponent up north. That's almost 4.5 complete days less on the bus.

Go west, young men

Yesterday saw a goaltender head from Saskatchewan to B.C.; today it's two defencemen in a pair of trades between East and B.C. division teams.

The first deal is between Prince Albert and Kelowna, and sees overage defenceman Brendan Wall heading to the Rockets for a 2011 7th round bantam pick.

The second deal is a swap of 19 year old defencemen between Moose Jaw and Kelowna and sees Kevin Smith heading to the Rockets, while Collin Bowman goes to the Warriors in return.

Broncos overage move

Swift Current resolved their goaltending issue today, shipping overage goaltender Morgan Clark to Prince George for a 2011 7th round bantam pick.

Clark was in competition with fellow overager Mark Friesen for the goaltending job in Speedy Creek. The Broncos obviously weren't going to keep two overagers in net, so now the job is Friesen's and they can work in a rookie goalie like Austin Smith as the backup....or Joni Ortio if he does come over from Finland. Although Ortio wouldn't come over to be the backup, I'm sure.

For the Cougars, Clark now gives them competition with 19 year old Hudson Stremmel for the #1 job there. Perhaps they keep both those guys as their tandem, or perhaps the loser of the #1 battle gets shipped out in favour of a younger goalie as backup....but that's what camp is for after all...

UPDATE: the Cougars' press release about the trade clarifies their situation - Stremmel has decided not to return to the WHL next season and will instead remain home in Reno, NV, to pursue his education. So, I guess Clark is the starter in P.G. now, with a rookie backup to be decided in camp....

A 2nd outdoor game?

The WHL's #1 reporter, Gregg Drinnan, has unearthed the fact that the WHL is actually planning TWO outdoor games this season. The second game is not finalized yet and as such may not happen, but it certainly sounds like they are pretty far along in the planning for it anyway.

So, the Calgary-Regina game may not be the only one.....in fact, it may not even be the first one, depending on when the "second" game gets scheduled in.

Gregg threw out Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver, Portland, and Kamloops as possible locations. Maybe it's just me but Vancouver and Portland can't be serious candidates due to the mild winter weather there. Vancouver is one of the warmest cities in Canada in winter and (according to Environment Canada) on average has only five days a year with temperatures below freezing. Portland is even further south and also has daily average lows of above freezing. So while it is possible that these cities could have adequately cold weather to support an outdoor rink on game day, it's pretty risky as more likely you are looking at having temperatures of well above freezing. It definitely could not be done without an ice plant to keep the ice frozen and once you do that you might as well put a roof on it....it's not really a "real" outdoor game when you're using artificially frozen ice, is it?

And yes, I know the NHL installs an ice plant for all their outdoor games and so the game in Calgary will have one....doesn't change the fact that they don't need to use that plant to keep the ice frozen if the weather is already doing that for them.

Regina and Edmonton make sense as they are known for their cold weather in the winter - every city in the Eastern conference is fine for those reasons actually. Kamloops also tends to have winter temperatures slightly below freezing, so it'll probably work there too. Wherever it ends up, I just hope they stick to putting it in places with actual winter weather.....lets not make the spectacle any goofier than it already is. Remember the NHL played an exhibition game outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas once too....is that what we want to see again?

Outdoor game announced

The WHL and the Calgary Hitmen made official today what many of us have known/suspected for a while: the WHL will play its first outdoor game this coming season, on February 21 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The Regina Pats will provide the Hitmen's opposition for the afternoon game.

The NHL will be holding an outdoor game there the previous day, between the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens, so the WHL will not have to go through the expense of setting up a rink in the football stadium - the NHL will take care of that and the WHL will simply use it the next day before it is torn down.

Personally, I think the outdoor game concept is getting a little overused already but it's still fun to see the WHL get involved. I'm sure many of the players in the league played on frozen ponds or outdoor community rinks when they were growing up so there's a connection there. But perhaps the outdoor game idea can be put to bed in the near future....it's not going to be interesting that much longer.

Now, we hope for a good -30C prairie winter day for the NHL game, followed by a nice Calgary chinook to warm things up to a pleasant -5 or so, or even 0 for the WHL game the next day.....

One other bit of WHL news to pass along, this one from the Tri-City Americans. Defenceman Eric Mestery has decided to retire from hockey rather than play next season as an overager. Mestery's decision will reduce the players competing for overage spots on the Americans down to probably four.

Team Ontario picked

Hockey Canada yesterday named the 22 players that will represent Canada at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial U-18 tournament in the Czech Republic later this month.

To the surprise of nobody who follows the WHL, the team that a famous person once dubbed "Team Ontario" cut 7 of the 11 WHLers trying out, leaving just four western boys on the team - defencemen Myles Bell (Regina Pats), Ryan Murray (Everett Silvertips) and Duncan Siemens (Saskatoon Blades), and forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Red Deer Rebels).

The head coach is from the OHL. Even better, there are THREE players on the team from the OHL team he coaches. He's got almost as many of his own players on that team as he does from the entire WHL. That better be one hell of an OHL team he has there. They finished 2nd last overall in the OHL last year so I doubt it.

Four of the WHL cuts - forwards Michael St. Croix, Ty Rattie, Adam Lowry, and Colin Smith - had better seasons points-wise last year than all but two of the nine OHL forwards who did make the team. Heck, they even took a forward who played Jr A in Ontario last year ahead of any of those WHL guys. St. Croix lead his WHL team in scoring last season but apparently he's not better than a kid who played Jr A.

Team Ontario, indeed.