- the goalie battle is over in Kamloops, at least for now. With Taran Kozun leaving camp of his own choice yesterday, the Blazers are down to incumbent Jon Groenheyde and 16 year old Troy Trombley as their goaltenders in camp.
- the goalie battle is also mostly over in Red Deer, where yesterday's cuts leave the team with only overage incumbents Darcy Kuemper and Kraymer Barnstable, and 16 year old Bolton Pouliot. Since the Rebels are not going to be carrying two overage goalies this year, it looks like Pouliot has won the backup job behind whichever of the overagers the team keeps.
- Swift Current already got down to just two goalies, incumbent Mark Friesen and 17 year old Austin Smith. And the thinking in Prince Albert seems to be that 16 year old Brendan Fiebelkorn is only in camp for the experience, which means that Jamie Tucker and rookie 17 year old Eric Williams are going to be the netminding battery there.
I've updated most of the team rosters (below) recently, so they should mostly be fairly accurate. Still no rosters for Chilliwack, Kelowna, or Portland. None for Brandon, Calgary, Kootenay, or Lethbridge either but they all just started their rookie camps so we'll cut them some slack yet.
Going off a bit here now....one thing that keeps rattling around in my brain is the great "Red #23" mystery from Portland's camp. For those who don't know what that was, it seems there was a player in their camp earlier this week who wasn't listed on the roster sheets they provided to fans. He put on quite a show and fans started wondering if it was the elusive Rocco Grimaldi, reporting to the Hawks. The team responded by saying No, it wasn't Grimaldi, just a player who was accidentally left off the roster sheet. Fair enough.
But, I don't think the question has been answered yet: who IS the player then? Everyone else in Portland's camp had their names made public on the sheets, so what's the issue with identifying this player? Was his name Bob Bell? Or Conor McRae?
We've beaten this horse many times but the issue isn't going away.....the WHL should conduct business professionally, in the open. This hush-hush secrecy that a few (emphasis on few) teams throw over their camps benefits no one. I don't believe for a minute that in this day and age any of these teams are doing anything shady but why would you not want to avoid at all costs even the slightest appearance that you are?
There are teams in this league - and very successful ones, I might add - who email me (and I'm a nobody, not even an actual media person!) rosters and updates directly, without even being asked. And then there's some who guard the identities of the players in their camps the way the identities of the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices are guarded. Why the polar opposite approaches to things?
13 comments:
Good stuff Alan. Looking through your team lists I was astounded to see that Prince George had 11 (eleven) goalies in camp. I've heard of leaving no stone unturned, but that must be some kind of record.
With the announcement of the Kamloops/Vancouver game in Whitehorse, I believe that makes Vancouver the second highest in terms of distance traveled for the year. Thats quite a road trip.
It'll boost Kamloops' mileage as well since they now have to travel 2400 km for a HOME game. :)
I suspect the teams are going to fly to Whitehorse for that game though since it makes zero sense to bus all that distance for one game in the middle of the season. So, I'll leave the bus travel charts as they are...
If I had a blog, it would be like yours, only better. I know everything.
Then make ur own blog then Devin since you know everything.
Hey Alan...love the blog
Sounds like something is a little shady in the "Rose City" (portland)
Seems kinda strange and "sketchy" that they would have a player play in an scrimmage - and then not identify the player
Just makes Portland and the league look bad
Devon - I wholeheartedly support your blog idea.
May I suggest you call it "Don't Feed The Trolls"?
Alan, Enjoy your blog and appreciate your work.
FYI, the poster above named Devon also posted similar comments on Bartel's blog.
Alan,
Are there any rules that specify that the name of all players attending a training camp or playing in a scrimmage (not a game, a scrimmage) needs to be released to the public? If not then the Winterhawks have done nothing wrong. The question of whether the act of not doing so reflects poorly on the league or the team is debateable. It should also be noted that if the player hadn't scored 3 goals in the scrimmage nobody probably would have even questioned it much. Perhaps it simply just isn't any of our business.
Anonymous - there is no rule that the names need to be released to the public.
They have done nothing wrong by not releasing the name. I haven't suggested they did.
What gets everybody's curiosity piqued though is that they DID release the names of every other player, and then when speculation began about this player, they only stated who he WASN'T. So that gives the impression that they may be trying to conceal the identity of one player....even if they weren't, that is how it looks, since they did identify everyone else. And that's what makes the tongues start wagging.
They should have said "it's not Grimaldi, it's Joe Blow" and then the issue would have died on the spot. The continued nonidentification of just one player is what keeps this thing alive.
And yeah, the fact that he was a standout has a lot to do with it too. After all, nobody would care if the unnamed player only looked like your standard camp fodder. :)
So, the fact remains that they did nothing wrong, it's really none of our business, and they don't have to tell us if they don't want to. Everyone can speculate all they want, but I fail to see what all the big fuss is about. The kid scored 3 goals in a run and gun scrimmage...doesn't mean it will translate to a real WHL game anyway.
Anon: don't belabour the point already. I am always interested in who is at the camps, who is cut, and who is staying. I know some of these kids, and am interested is how they are doing. Rule or not, why not inform the masses? BTW, great work Alan.
Teams are required by league rule to make main camp rosters available to the media.
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