Monday notes

Signs that the apocalypse is close: wars, pestilence, famine, lawlessness, earthquakes, and a Pats/Warriors trade.

Yes, it sounds like the two hated rivals may actually be close to pulling off a significant trade. All reports are that the two teams have had their GMs at each others' last few games and the Warriors are believed to have interest in one of Regina's three goaltenders - probably either Jeff Bosch or Damien Ketlo since the Warriors need more than a one-year answer which is what Linden Rowat is.

If you were the Pats, would you trade a potential #1 goalie, who could play 3 or 4 years in the league yet, to your most hated rival so he could beat you eight times a year for the next four years?

Speaking of goalies, what's the saying, scoring sells tickets but defence wins championships? Well, here's the league's best defensive teams - or at least the teams who allow the fewest shots on goal per 60 minutes of action:

(the number in parentheses is the team's current position in the league overall standings, using win %.)

Vancouver Giants	20.7 (1)
Kelowna Rockets	23.24 (9)
Kootenay Ice	23.32 (13)
Calgary Hitmen	25.73 (2)
Medicine Hat Tigers	27.57 (11)
Tri-City Americans	27.97 (3)
Saskatoon Blades	28.26 (5)
Brandon Wheat Kings	28.28 (8)
Swift Current Broncos	29.19 (6)
Seattle Thunderbirds	29.4 (17)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	29.56 (12)
Regina Pats	29.7 (7)
Edmonton Oil Kings	29.85 (16)
Red Deer Rebels	31.22 (19)
Spokane Chiefs	31.37 (4)
Kamloops Blazers	31.57 (14)
Moose Jaw Warriors	33.66 (21)
Prince George Cougars	34.15 (18)
Everett Silvertips	34.76 (10)
Prince Albert Raiders	34.97 (14)
Chilliwack Bruins	35.45 (20)
Portland Winter Hawks	35.7 (22)

I see we've got a couple of teams near the top who are obviously very good defensively but failing in a bunch of other areas since they're only middle-of-the-pack teams overall.

On the same topic, here's the average number of shots faced per 60 minutes for every goalie who has played at least 300 minutes this year:

Kurtis Mucha	Portland Winter Hawks	37.53
Mark Friesen	Chilliwack Bruins	36.88
Steven Stanford	Prince Albert Raiders	35.50
Shayne Barrie	Everett Silvertips	34.79
Kent Simpson	Everett Silvertips	34.71
Garrett Zemlak	Prince Albert Raiders	34.27
Lucas Gore	Chilliwack Bruins	34.18
Todd Mathews	Moose Jaw Warriors	33.43
Kevin Armstrong	Prince George Cougars	32.92
Jacob DeSerres	Seattle Thunderbirds	32.68
Jeff Bosch	Regina Pats	32.53
Morgan Clark	Red Deer Rebels	32.45
Devin Dubyk	Moose Jaw Warriors	32.21
Torrie Jung	Edmonton Oil Kings	31.99
Dustin Tokarski	Spokane Chiefs	31.66
Juha Metsola	Lethbridge Hurricanes	31.61
Justin Leclerc	Kamloops Blazers	30.92
Cam Lanigan	Edmonton Oil Kings	30.88
Damien Ketlo	Regina Pats	30.69
Mark Guggenberger	Swift Current Broncos	30.28
Andrew Hayes	Brandon Wheat Kings	30.17
Darcy Kuemper	Red Deer Rebels	30.15
Dan Spence	Calgary Hitmen	29.75
Chet Pickard	Tri-City Americans	28.68
Braden Holtby	Saskatoon Blades	28.24
Dalyn Flette	Edmonton Oil Kings	27.96
Calvin Pickard	Seattle Thunderbirds	27.78
Ryan Holfeld	Medicine Hat Tigers	26.80
Travis Yonkman	Swift Current Broncos	26.79
Linden Rowat	Regina Pats	26.45
Kris Lazaruk	Kelowna Rockets	25.84
James Priestner	Brandon Wheat Kings	24.46
Thomas Heemskerk	Kootenay Ice	24.41
Martin Jones	Calgary Hitmen	24.24
Jamie Tucker	Vancouver Giants	22.62
Nathan Lieuwen	Kootenay Ice	21.79
Tyson Sexsmith	Vancouver Giants	19.61
Adam Brown	Kelowna Rockets	18.66

Note the huge difference between some goalies on the same team. For example, the Rockets allow 7 fewer shots per game on average when Adam Brown is in net than when Kris Lazaruk is. That's huge....part of that may be that Brown faces weaker opponents but part of it is probably some players' tendancy to play a little looser when they have a goalie in net that they trust to bail them out. Except this year, Lazaruk hasn't been doing that. Hmmmm.