Wade Belak found dead

The horrible, horrible summer for NHL tough guys continues apparently, with the news that the recently-retired Wade Belak was found dead in a Toronto condo/hotel complex today.

That makes three deaths this offseason - first Derek Boogaard, then Rick Rypien just 16 days ago, and now Belak. All current (or very recently former, in Belak's case) NHL enforcers, and coincidentally also all former WHLers.

And every one a tragedy.

Exhibition games on WHL site

I know a lot of fans were extremely critical of the WHL and the way the website changes were conducted last fall. I was one of them.

So, time to give the WHL credit for doing something right: they finally have real-time scoring of exhibition games available on the site. Up until now, information on exhibition games has been sketchy at best - fans never really knew who was playing or even who got goals, etc, unless they were actually at the game.

Well, starting with last night's game between Swift Current and Moose Jaw, the WHL has real-time scoring summaries for exhibition games just like they do for regular season and playoff games. And even better, it looks like these stats will be available in the same report options that we have for regular season and playoff games as well - top scorers, top goaltenders, team-by-team scoring stats, etc.

This is a very valuable addition to the serious fan's arsenal of data as we track the progress of our teams and their prospects through the preseason. So, good on the league for getting this done.

Rosters note

Quick note to all those who are here looking for updated camp rosters - I'm swamped with work at the moment and so it might take a few hours or a day for me to get things updated on the blog.

I'll get there, I promise......just taking a little longer is all.....

Chiefs/Hitmen trade

A trade went down in the league this morning, Spokane sending 18 year old forward Brady Brassart to the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a conditional bantam draft pick. The pick will be either Calgary's 2012 4th round pick or their 2013 3rd round pick, at Spokane's option. Presumably Spokane will choose which pick they want shortly before the 2012 draft.

Brassart gives the Hitmen something they only had one of before - a '93 forward. He adds to the ever-increasing group of veteran forwards on the Hitmen (13 now), so it is becoming clear that several of last year's Hitmen veterans are going to be fighting for their jobs when camp starts in 10 days.

Rick Rypien dies

Only three months after the too-early death of Derek Boogaard, another former WHLer-turned-NHL-tough-guy has also died. RCMP confirmed tonight that the body of 27 year old Rick Rypien was found at his home in Coleman, Alberta. Foul play is not suspected.

Rypien played 3 years for the Regina Pats, from 2002-03 through 2004-05, then spent the last 6 years in the Vancouver Canucks organization, playing over 100 games in the NHL for the Canucks in that time.

Rypien got into trouble with the NHL last October after grabbing a fan on his way to the dressing room. He was suspended by the NHL and then later by the team for unspecified non-hockey issues, amid speculation Rypien was suffering from mental health issues.

Sadly, whatever his problems, the end result is another tragic death.

More player movement

Tri-City G.M. Bob Tory has been a busy man lately, as he swung his fourth trade of the last three weeks today.
This latest deal has the Kootenay Ice sending the rights to '94 defenceman Matt Benning (who was Kootenay's 2nd round pick in the 2009 bantam draft) to the Americans, in exchange for conditional 2012 3rd and 6th round picks.

Since Benning has never committed to the WHL route, it's probably safe to say that the conditional nature of the picks requires Benning to report to the Americans before Kootenay gets the picks.

Benning is the son of former NHLer Brian Benning, and in the Americans press release announcing the trade, Tory says he hopes to sit down with both Bennings soon and "complete the recruiting process".

The other note today, taken from Hurricane Watch, is that the Lethbridge Hurricanes released two 19 year old veteran forwards last week - Ryan Moser and Neil Tarnasky. Both players have apparently already landed tryouts with other WHL clubs, but considering their low numbers over their two year careers, their releases probably weren't a surprise to anyone either.

Another Ams trade

Another trade by the Americans tonight - the last deal was with the Prince George Cougars yesterday, and tonight they swing a deal with the new team in the Cougars' old locale.

Victoria has sent 18 year old defenceman Mitch Topping to the Americans, and in return the Americans send 16 year old forward Justin Spagrud and a 2013 2nd round bantam pick to the Royals.

The deal lands the Americans a pretty good defenceman - Topping was Victoria's 1st round pick in the 2008 bantam draft - but at the price of a 2nd round bantam pick and a pretty good prospect - Spagrud was Tri-City's 3rd round pick in the 2010 bantam draft.

For Victoria, they had 7 defencemen aged 18 or older on the roster and obviously feel they can get by with one less, which also opening a spot for a younger player and acquiring some good pieces for the future. Could be a deal which helps both teams here.

Ams - Cougars trade

Apparently all the speculation about whether trading Chris Driedger meant the Tri-City Americans were going to use an overage spot on goalie Drew Owsley is now moot.

The Ams have dealt Owsley and a conditional 2013 7th round bantam pick to the Prince George Cougars in exchange for 19 year old goaltender Ty Rimmer, a 2012 3rd round bantam pick, and a 2013 5th round bantam pick.

I would speculate that the condition on the 2013 7th rounder is that Prince George only gets it if Rimmer plays as an overager in 2012-13.

This deal actually opens up a few avenues of discussion while clarifying others.

First, does the deal mean the Americans plan to give 16 year old Eric Comrie the quote-unquote starter's role and hand him the majority of the starts? Rimmer was the starter for the Cougars last year but he is not a Drew Owsley calibre starting goaltender. Is Rimmer now an Am just to provide a veteran to fall back on if Comrie has some struggles?

Two, with Owsley out of the picture, the Ams can now keep three of their other four high-quality overage candidates: Shinnimin, Hughesman, Wilgosh, and Mackenzie. Seems to me like one of the forwards would be the odd man out there, but that is a great-looking overage trio anyway you slice.

Three, this is the end of the line for overage goalie James Priestner in Prince George. Owsley is coming in to be the starter there and presumably the Cougars would add a rookie backup, probably one of 17 year olds Devin Fordyce and Tyler Santos.

Big Wheat Kings news

Some big news from the Brandon Wheat Kings this afternoon. Head coach & G.M. Kelly McCrimmon has stepped down as coach and will focus on his G.M. duties.

The new head coach? Former Kootenay Ice and Ottawa Senators head coach, Cory Clouston. This is a pretty good "get" for the Wheaties, landing a coach of Clouston's pedigree.

McCrimmon did a pretty good job as coach too and he has long been one of the WHL's better G.M.'s. This move allows him to devote all his time to his hobby of fleecing other teams in trades, which is bad news for almost every other team in the league.

Ontario bias?

I've gotten a few emails about the potential Ontario bias that I mentioned in yesterday's post (see below), and now Neate Sager of the Yahoo junior hockey blog Buzzing The Net has linked to my post with one of his own which examines the issue.

So, how about some numbers and then you can be the judge for yourself? I've taken the rosters for the IIHF U-18 tournaments, IIHF U-20 tournaments (the "World Juniors"), and the Ivan Hlinka summer U-18 tournaments for the past 10 years and broken them down by league affiliation of the players who made the cut. Just for fun, I threw in the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Olympic teams as well. All numbers are the percentage of players on the team from that league. I didn't consider positional breakdowns or bigger/smaller roles on the teams that players may have. All teams had 22 players, except the Olympic teams, which had 23.

Players who were not WHLers/OHLers/QMJHLers at the time of the event but whom later played in those leagues were counted with those leagues. Players who never played major junior (ie, NCAA players) do not factor into these percentages, obviously. And this is the reason why not all percentages add up to 100% for each team - because I don't have an NCAA column.

I've also added a column showing the Canadian team's result in each tournament.

First, the summer-18 tournament now known as the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka. (Previously it was known as the "Junior World Cup" and before that. the "Eight Nations tournament"):

Event	WHL%	OHL%	QMJHL%	Result
2002 Eight Nations	45.5%	27.3%	27.3%	Gold
2003 Junior World Cup	54.5%	22.7%	18.2%	4th
2004 Junior World Cup	27.3%	45.5%	13.6%	Gold
2005 Junior World Cup	45.5%	27.3%	22.7%	Gold
2006 Ivan Hlinka	50.0%	27.3%	18.2%	Gold
2007 Ivan Hlinka	31.8%	36.4%	31.8%	4th
2008 Ivan Hlinka	50.0%	36.4%	13.6%	Gold
2009 Ivan Hlinka	31.8%	45.5%	18.2%	Gold
2010 Ivan Hlinka	18.2%	63.6%	18.2%	Gold
2011 Ivan Hlinka	22.7%	59.1%	13.6%	n/a

Observations: well, the OHL definitely skews quite heavy in the last two years. In the 8 years before that, it seems fairly even overall, with one league having a slight edge in some years and the other having an edge in other years.

Funny enough, in 2007 - the year Kyle Beach caused controversy by calling the team "Team Ontario"  - the team was actually very balanced that year. Beach's issue was more to do with the roles being given to different players (he thought the coach was leaning on OHL guys too much) but the roster itself was very equal across all the leagues.


Next, the official IIHF World U-18 tournament, held every April. The numbers here are slightly skewed because some CHL players are not available due to their teams still competing in CHL playoffs. But let's assume those absences are fair for all the leagues:

Event	WHL%	OHL%	QMJHL%	Result
2002 U-18	40.9%	27.3%	31.8%	6th
2003 U-18	36.4%	36.4%	27.3%	Gold
2004 U-18	54.5%	31.8%	4.5%	4th
2005 U-18	27.3%	36.4%	31.8%	Silver
2006 U-18	40.9%	40.9%	18.2%	4th
2007 U-18	31.8%	36.4%	22.7%	4th
2008 U-18	31.8%	40.9%	22.7%	Gold
2009 U-18	36.4%	54.5%	4.5%	4th
2010 U-18	31.8%	59.1%	9.1%	7th
2011 U-18	27.3%	63.6%	9.1%	4th

Observations: again, the OHL is skewing heavier over the last three years. Before that, both the OHL and WHL tended to have 30-40% of the players on each team.

Then the World Juniors (IIHF U-20 championship). Again, some players are not available because they're in the NHL. But let's assume that affects everyone equally again:

Event	WHL%	OHL%	QMJHL%	Result
2002 WJC	45.5%	40.9%	9.1%	Silver
2003 WJC	36.4%	40.9%	18.2%	Silver
2004 WJC	45.5%	31.8%	18.2%	Silver
2005 WJC	63.6%	22.7%	13.6%	Gold
2006 WJC	31.8%	36.4%	13.6%	Gold
2007 WJC	31.8%	36.4%	18.2%	Gold
2008 WJC	36.4%	45.5%	13.6%	Gold
2009 WJC	54.5%	27.3%	13.6%	Gold
2010 WJC	36.4%	36.4%	27.3%	Silver
2011 WJC	40.9%	31.8%	18.2%	Silver

Observations: this teams seems to have remained fairly constant - two bumps up above 50% for the WHL, but for the most part the WHL and OHL are both being represented in about 30-45% of the players on the team.

Lastly, the Canadian Mens Olympic Teams. Since these players are all in the NHL at the time, obviously we are talking about graduates of the respective leagues here and not active CHL players:

Event	WHL%	OHL%	QMJHL%	Result
2002 Olympics	26.1%	39.1%	13.0%	Gold
2006 Olympics	34.8%	26.1%	21.7%	7th
2010 Olympics	34.8%	30.4%	21.7%	Gold

Observations: again, no noticeable biases here. There's no great variations in the percentages, with WHL and OHL grads making up 25-40% each of all three teams.


So....it looks like the only real evidence of an OHL bias - if such a thing does exist - comes in the two U-18 teams (Hlinka and U-18 tournaments) over the last 2-3 years. This could be easily explained if you assume that the Ontario 1993 and 1994 birth years are/were stronger than the western talent from those years. Are they actually stronger? Only time will tell on that question.

FWIW, I don't believe there is an actual conspiracy to favor OHL players. As in, they don't sit around in a room and decide to screw over the WHL kids. Absolutely not. But the significantly higher numbers of Ontario players on the last several editions of Canadian U-18 teams is a trend which bears some watching, at least.

Ivan Hlinka roster named

Hockey Canada named their 22 player roster for the summer Ivan Hlinka U-18 tournament tonight:

http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/172031/la_id/1.htm

Gee, how can you tell the head coach is from the OHL? Just five of 22 players are from the WHL and four from the QMJHL or the Quebec midget league. So 13 of 22 are from the OHL or the Ontario midget league, including a staggering 10 of 13 forwards.

Four of seven defencemen are from the WHL, so the 'dub is slightly over-represented there, by one player. And no goalies from the WHL, which I don't really have a problem with as the '94 birth year does not seem to be the strongest group of goalies the WHL has ever had. But come on, ONE forward from the WHL? Nine WHL forwards went to the camp and eight got cut. By comparison, 13 OHL forwards went to the camp and ten of those made the team.

It's hard to swallow that guys like Troy Bourke and Connor Rankin got cut - guys I thought should be near-locks to make that team. I admit I know very little about many of the OHLers on the team but all I can say is this better be the highest-scoring team at this tournament if the OHL coach is going to justify picking almost exclusively forwards from his league. Just win, baby.....anything less is going to leave him wide open to criticism, again, about the "Team Ontario" bias that a lot of WHL and QMJHL fans think exists with this summer team....