Friday stuff

Few things today....day or two late on some of them, I know....

First, the Kootenay Ice are into the WHL final after sweeping Medicine Hat in the Eastern conference final. The Ice have now won 11 straight playoff games (that's one game off the WHL record, held by five teams) and includes four straight wins over the #1 (Saskatoon) and #3 (Medicine Hat) teams in the East, plus 3 straight wins over the #5 team (Moose Jaw). Considering that the Ice themselves are #4, the only team in the top five that they haven't plowed over in the last five weeks is Red Deer.

Spokane and Portland may have finished higher in the overall league standings than the Ice did, but the Ice are playing awesome hockey right now and I sure wouldn't want to play them in the league final if I had a choice. The Chiefs/Hawks winner isn't going to have a choice, however.

Speaking of league finals, the OHL's final is all set with the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors taking on the Owen Sound Attack. And since the Majors are hosting the Memorial Cup this year, the Attack are now guaranteed a berth in the Cup regardless of which team wins the OHL title.

Owen Sound also accomplished another feat in getting to the OHL final - they eliminated the Windsor Spitfires in the semifinal. That's the first time Windsor has been eliminated in three years. Of course, they were the back-to-back Memorial Cup champs, but there won't be a three-peat.

In the QMJHL, the Saint John Sea Dogs have advanced to the final, where they are now awaiting the winner of the other semifinal between Quebec and Gatineau.

Another interesting factoid about that QMJHL final - former Seattle Thunderbirds and Brandon Wheat Kings goalie Jacob DeSerres plays for the Sea Dogs. Should the Sea Dogs win the QMJHL (and they will be favored to do so), DeSerres will play in the Memorial Cup for a 2nd straight year, but in a different league. Now, I do not have the kind of stats library I need to look this stuff up, but I would venture a guess that there haven't been very many players in CHL history who can say they played in the Memorial Cup with entries from two different leagues. Different teams, there's dozens and dozens of those players, I'm sure. But different leagues.....maybe that has never happened before?

Back to the WHL now, but still with the Ice and with the Memorial Cup - the longtime coach of the Ice, the man who coached them to their Memorial Cup win in 2002, Ryan McGill, is out of work today after the NHL's Calgary Flames declined the option on his assistant coach contract for 2011-12. McGill may have other pro offers coming to him, but if he wants to return to the WHL I am positive there will be teams with vacancies who will be interested. He made the Ice into a perennial contender in his years there.

Lastly, an interesting bit of news out of the WHL office yesterday when they announced that for the first time ever, the bantam draft this year will be streamed live on the league website, and free of charge to boot. I'm not sure how interesting it will be to watch, as opposed to just following the results page, but it'll certainly be worth checking out at least. It's unlikely any of the players being picked will be there - maybe Calgary might have the #1 pick there for a photo op, but since they are the only team that knows ahead of the draft who they are picking, it'll be hard for other teams to bring players in. So probably all you'll get is a video shot of the lectern where you can see scouts/GMs for the teams going up there and making the announcements. Not terribly exciting stuff but I'll probably check it out anyway for fun.