2011 draft order

I've had some additional information supplied to me about some missing trades, etc, and I now have what I believe is pretty much the official 2011 bantam draft order as it stands now, with info on all traded picks, etc.

I'm only listing the first 10 rounds....questions/comments welcome as always....

First round:

Overall	Pick	From	Trade details
1	Calgary
2	Swift Current
3	Lethbridge	Regina	first Carter Ashton deal, Dec 9/09
4	Kamloops
5	Lethbridge
6	Seattle
7	Everett
8	Prince Albert
9	Edmonton
10	Prince George
11	Brandon
12	Victoria
13	Swift Current	VAN via KTN	in Cody Eakin deal, Jan 9/11. KTN had acquired from VAN for David Musil, Jun 24/09
14	Moose Jaw
15	Kelowna
16	Regina	Tri-City	in second Carter Ashton deal, Dec 10/10
17	Kootenay
18	Medicine Hat
19	Spokane
20	Vancouver	Portland	in Craig Cunningham deal, Dec 28/10
21	Red Deer
22	Brandon	Saskatoon	in Brayden Schenn deal, Jan 10/11

Second round:

23	Calgary
24	Swift Current
25	Regina
26	Lethbridge
27	Seattle
28	Vancouver	Kamloops	for J.T. Barnett, Jul 30/10
29	Lethbridge	Everett	in Brennan Yadlowski deal, Oct 5/10
30	Vancouver	Prince Albert	for Jamie Tucker, Jan 6/10
31	Edmonton
32	Brandon	PG via SAS	in Brayden Schenn deal, Jan 10/11. SAS had acquired from PG for Charles Inglis, Sept 6/10
33	Moose Jaw	Brandon	in Erhardt/Hamonic deal, Jan 10/10
34	Victoria
35	Vancouver
36	Moose Jaw
37	Kelowna
38	Vancouver	Tri-City	swap of 2010 first round picks, Apr 29/10
39	Swift Current	Kootenay	in Cody Eakin deal, Jan 9/11.
40	Everett	Medicine Hat	in Tochkin deal, Jan 10/11
41	Spokane
42	Portland
43	Red Deer
44	Moose Jaw	Saskatoon	for Connor Cox, Nov 11/10

Third round:

45	Calgary
46	Swift Current
47	Regina
48	Lethbridge
49	Seattle
50	Kamloops
51	Kelowna	EVT via SAS	for Curt Gogol, Jan 10/10 (SAS acquired from EVT in Chris Langkow deal Sep 22/09; SAS also sent this pick to PG in Marek Viedensky deal, and PG returned it to SAS for Sena Acolatse)
52	Prince Albert
53	Prince Albert	Edmonton	for Jordan Hickmott, Jun 28/10
54	Brandon	Prince George	BRN sends James Priestner to PG for 2011 3rd rounder and rights to Aaron Ness, Aug 21, 09
55	Victoria	Brandon	for 2011 8th rounder & 2009 first round import pick, June 30, 2009.
56	Victoria
57	Edmonton	Vancouver	in Vincour deal, Jan 10/10
58	Prince Albert	Moose Jaw	in Svendsen/Hlinka deal, Jan 10/11
59	Prince George	Kelowna	in Jackson/Halliday deal, Jan 10/10
60	Calgary	Tri-City	for Zak Stebner, Oct 14/10
61	Kootenay
62	Medicine Hat
63	Spokane
64	Portland
65	Vancouver	Red Deer	for Simon Witt, Sep 15/09
66	Saskatoon

Fourth round:

67	Victoria	Calgary	for Carter Berg, Nov 12/09
68	Edmonton	Swift Current	for Graham Black, Dec 22/10
69	Medicine Hat	Regina	for Cody Carlson, Oct 18/09
70	Kootenay	Lethbridge	for Cason Machacek, Dec 7/09
71	Saskatoon	Seattle	for Travis Toomey, Sept 17/10
72	Kamloops
73	Everett
74	Prince Albert
75	Tri-City	Edmonton	for Lane Werbowki, Nov 18/09
76	Prince George
77	Brandon
78	Prince Albert	VIC via TRI	for a 2010 first round import pick (Nikita Nesterov), June 29, 2010. (TRI had acquired from VIC for Mitch McColm, Apr 30, 2009)
79	Medicine Hat	Vancouver	for Matt Mackay, Jun 18/10
80	Regina	Moose Jaw	in Thomas Frazee deal, Sep 24/10
81	Tri-City	Kelowna	in Zak Stebner deal, Dec 8/10
82	Tri-City
83	Kootenay
84	Seattle	Medicine Hat	for Scott Ramsay, Jan 7/11. Conditions on this pick - SEA can take this pick and give MH a 2013 6th rounder in return, or they can leave this pick with MH and take MH's 2012 5th rounder instead.
85	Spokane
86	Portland
87	Red Deer
88	Prince Albert	Saskatoon	Steven Stanford deal, Oct 5/09

Fifth round:

89	Calgary
90	Kelowna	Swift Current	for Kyle Verdino, Jan 10/10
91	Saskatoon	REG via VAN	for Randy McNaught, Sep 24/10 (VAN acquired from REG in Derek Tendler/Cass Mappin deal, Dec 9/09)
92	Portland	Lethbridge	in Sbisa deal, Jan 10/10
93	Calgary	Seattle	for Erik Bonsor, Dec 2/09
94	Brandon	Kamloops	for Jesse Sinatynski, Oct 14/10
95	Kamloops	Everett	for Curtis Kulchar, Dec 12/09
96	Brandon	Prince Albert	for Dalyn Flette, Oct 4/09
97	Edmonton
98	Kootenay	Prince George	for Petr Senkerik, Jan 10/10
99	Brandon
100	Victoria
101	Lethbridge	Vancouver	for Brent Henke, Jan 10/10
102	Kelowna	Moose Jaw	in Riley Grantham deal, Jan 7, 2009
103	Kelowna
104	Swift Current	Tri-City	for Mike Brown, Jan 10/10
105	Kootenay
106	Moose Jaw	Medicine Hat	for Matt Mackay, Sept 29/09
107	Spokane
108	Portland
109	Red Deer
110	Saskatoon

Sixth round:

111	Calgary
112	Vancouver	Swift Current	for Derek Tendler, Oct 7/10
113	Regina
114	Lethbridge
115	Saskatoon	SEA via LTH	for Tyler Kiziuk, Dec 11/10 (LTH had acquired from SEA for Austin Baecker, Feb 2/10)
116	Prince Albert	KAM via MJ	in Svendsen/Hlinka deal, Jan 10/11 (MJ had acquired from KAM for Jeff Bosch, Sep 17/10)
117	Everett
118	Saskatoon	Prince Albert	in Steven Stanford deal, Oct 5.09
119	Edmonton
120	Kamloops	Prince George	for Kurt Torbohm, Sep 13/09
121	Kootenay	Brandon	for 2010 first round import pick (Mark Mieritz), June 29, 2010
122	Victoria
123	Edmonton	VAN via POR and VIC	for Robin Soudek, Apr 29/10. (VIC acquired from POR in swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft; POR acquired from VAN in Craig Cunningham deal, Dec 28/10)
124	Medicine Hat	Moose Jaw	for Mike Forsyth, Sept 29/09
125	Kelowna
126	Tri-City
127	Kootenay
128	Medicine Hat
129	Spokane
130	Moose Jaw	Portland	in swap of 2009 first round import picks, June 30/09
131	Red Deer
132	Prince George	Saskatoon	for Tyler Kiziuk, Sep 15/09

Seventh round:

133	Vancouver	Calgary	for Mikhail Fisenko, June 29, 2009
134	Swift Current
135	Regina
136	Everett	Lethbridge	for Drew McDermott, Jan 7/10
137	Swift Current	Seattle	for Scott Ramsay, Oct 8, 2009
138	Kamloops
139	Kootenay	Everett	swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft, Apr 29/10
140	Prince Albert
141	Edmonton
142	Prince George
143	Seattle	Brandon	for 2010 8th, 9th, 10th round picks
144	Victoria
145	Vancouver
146	Moose Jaw
147	Prince Albert	Kelowna	for Brendan Wall, Aug 10/10
148	Kelowna	Tri-City	in Zak Stebner deal, Dec 8/10
149	Kootenay
150	Medicine Hat
151	Spokane
152	Portland
153	Red Deer
154	Saskatoon

Eighth round:

155	Prince George	Calgary	for Del Cowan, Nov 3/09
156	Swift Current
157	Regina
158	Lethbridge
159	Seattle
160	Kamloops
161	Everett
162	Prince Albert
163	Edmonton
164	Prince George
165	Brandon
166	Brandon	Victoria	BRN sends 2011 3rd rounder to CHI for 2011 8th rounder and 2009 first round import pick, June 30, 2009.
167	Vancouver
168	Moose Jaw
169	Kelowna
170	Tri-City
171	Kootenay
172	Medicine Hat
173	Lethbridge	Spokane	for Michael Tadjdeh, Oct 9/09
174	Portland
175	Red Deer
176	Victoria	Saskatoon	in Collins/Gogol deal, Nov 2/10

Ninth round:

177	Calgary
178	Swift Current
179	Regina
180	Lethbridge
181	Seattle
182	Kamloops
183	Everett
184	Prince Albert
185	Edmonton
186	Prince George
187	Brandon
188	Victoria
189	Kamloops	Vancouver	swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft, Apr 29/10
190	Moose Jaw
191	Moose Jaw	Kelowna	swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft, Apr 29/10
192	Tri-City
193	Kootenay
194	Medicine Hat
195	Kamloops	Spokane	swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft, Apr 29/10
196	Portland
197	Red Deer
198	Saskatoon

Tenth round:

199	Calgary
200	Swift Current
201	Kamloops	Regina	swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft, Apr 29/10
202	Lethbridge
203	Seattle
204	Kamloops
205	Everett
206	Prince Albert
207	Edmonton
208	Prince George
209	Brandon
210	Victoria
211	Vancouver
212	Moose Jaw
213	Swift Current	Kelowna	swap of picks at 2010 bantam draft, Apr 29/10
214	Tri-City
215	Kootenay
216	Medicine Hat
217	Spokane
218	Portland
219	Red Deer
220	Kamloops	Saskatoon	swap of picks at 2009 bantam draft

Round three predictions

Third round of the playoffs starts tonight so I guess I better get these predictions done ASAP here....

Eastern Conference Final:

This should be a good matchup between a couple of evenly matched teams both featuring currently hot goaltenders. The Tigers have home ice, but the Ice had a handy edge in the head-to-head play this year. Plus, I bet against Kootenay beating Saskatoon.....I won't make that mistake again. Kootenay in six.

Western Conference Final:

Man, this one is a tough call. It's easy to see either one of these teams winning this series, but I think I like Spokane just a little more. But it'll be very close - Chiefs in seven.

Wednesday notes

Big news today is that the WHL has a press conference at Victoria's Save-On Foods Centre at 11:30am local time. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that this isn't an announcement about the league playing one of the Subway Super Series games against the Russians in Victoria next year, or anything like that. We all know what this announcement is going to be about.

I just hope the media at the press conference will ask the tough questions, while they've got Rob Robison on the spot: What does the future hold for the WHL in Chilliwack? Who is the other WHL team supposedly negotiating a move to Chilliwack, as per Brian Burke's comments? Why was there NO serious attempt made to keep the Bruins in Chilliwack with new owners? Is the WHL fast-tracking this move to Victoria in a pre-emptive effort to keep the AHL out of Victoria if the Manitoba Moose have to move? If so, why? Are there plans for a 2nd team on the Island in the near future? Where? What is the league and/or the Victoria team going to do about the big increase in travel costs that teams will now incur in travelling to the Island?

And how about: "Is Darryl Porter still one of the owners of the Victoria franchise or has he sold all of his interest to Graham Lee's group? If he still owns part of the team, should fans in Victoria be careful of getting too attached to the team?"

Moving on here.....the WHL semifinals are set after the last 2nd round series ended last night with Spokane's 5-4 OT win over Tri-City. Spokane will now visit Portland in the Western conference final, while in the Eastern conference the Kootenay Ice will visit the Medicine Hat Tigers. I'll make my predictions later this week. I did OK in the 2nd round, picking Portland in six correctly and being only 1 game off in my picks of Spokane in 7 and Medicine Hat in 6. I was just a teeny-tiny bit off in my pick of Saskatoon over Kootenay in 5 games, however.....

At the World U-18 championships in Germany, Canada (with its 6 WHLers) opened with wins over the Czechs, Finns, and Norwegians before losing their last round-robin game to Sweden yesterday. Canada finished 2nd in their pool and will play Germany tomorrow in a quarterfinal, with the winner facing USA in a semifinal.

Think that's it for today.....still accepting any bantam/midget stats (see below) if you have 'em....

Call for stats

The bantam draft is fast approaching, just over two weeks away now. As a result, I've been gathering the stats I could find on the players who are likely to be selected in the draft, so I can post the stats here on the blog on draft day.

I've pretty much collected all the stats I usually collect, but a number of teams/leagues do not post their player statistics and/or don't make it easy to gather this info (it's 2011 already, British Columbia!). So, in the interest of having as much info as possible to post on draft day, here's a request to any readers of this blog who may have some of this info and may be able to share.

What I already have:
B.C. major midget AAA league
Alberta bantam AAA (AMBHL)
Alberta minor midget AAA (AMMHL)
Calgary & Edmonton bantam & midget AA
South Central Alberta bantam & midget (SCAHL)
South Saskatchewan minor hockey league (SSMHL) AA bantam
Centre Four AA bantam (CFHL)
Saskatchewan midget AAA (SMAAAHL)
Manitoba major midget AAA (MMHL)
Winnipeg AAA bantam & city midget
Zone4, Westman, and Winnipeg high school leagues
Provincial camps - Alberta Cup and Manitoba P.O.E.; for SaskFirst I have rosters, no stats. Have B.C. Cup rosters, tournament is next weekend.

Also have Tier 1 Elite league bantam & midget AAA stats from the U.S., plus Minnesota high school league stats.

What I'm mostly missing:
B.C. AAA (and AA) bantam team stats. Have a couple teams but only a couple.
Alberta AAA midget league (they usually make this available but so far this spring have not)
Greater Saskatoon League team stats. Have rosters, few stats.
Anything from the top U.S. teams - California, Texas, Arizona teams, etc. If they compete in the Tier 1 Elite league I have them, otherwise not. Have a couple rosters, almost no stats.
Stats from SaskFirst bantam if anyone has them. Have rosters, no stats.
Rural Manitoba AA & A team stats - have a couple teams but not many

Anything is welcome....from simple rosters (names, maybe ht/wt) to complete season stats for players.

If you have any of this stuff and want to share, my email address is over there on the side, or you can add it as a comment to this post if you like. Or maybe you just know of a link to some of this stuff which I have missed, that is definitely welcome too. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

The harder they fall....

Both Saskatoon and Red Deer lost their game three's last night to go down 3-0 to Kootenay and Medicine Hat. Game four for both series is tonight as the top two overall teams in the league try to save their seasons from ending in the 2nd round.

Unfortunately, past years indicate that it's probably a lost cause. In the history of the WHL, only one time has a team successfully come back from a 3-0 series deficit to win the series - 1995-96 when Spokane came back to beat Portland in the first round. There's still hope for the Blades and Rebels obviously, but it's such a huge longshot that either of them can pull off the comeback.

The obvious question now is what will the repercussions be of these upsets? Red Deer still has a good young core group and if they get Ryan Nugent-Hopkins back from the NHL next year, there's no reason why they can't have another season like this one and take another shot at it.

For Saskatoon though, this is the end of their run - they will lose guys like Schenn, Hamilton, Elliott, Zahn, Viedensky, and Stanford after this season and those are significant losses. More importantly for the Blades, they surrendered their 2010, 2011, and 2012 first round bantam picks, 2010 and 2011 second round bantam picks, and 2012 first round import pick for what is likely going to amount to about 40 games from Brayden Schenn. A few years from now that could very well be regarded as one of the most one-sided deals in WHL history. Will coming up so short on such a huge gamble cost Blades coach/G.M. Lorne Molleken his job?

Tuesday notes

All four WHL 2nd round series play their Game Threes tonight, and while the Western series are (not all that surprisingly) knotted at 1-1 apiece, it's gut-check time for the two Eastern conference favourites tonight.

#1 Saskatoon and #2 Red Deer both lost the first two games on home ice on the weekend, to #4 Kootenay and #3 Medicine Hat respectively, and now both favourites face what is pretty much a must-win situation tonight on the road. Lose tonight and they go down 3-0, a situation from which nobody ever recovers.

What an upset it would be to see the #1 and #2 overall teams in the league both fail to advance out of the second round.

Two other notes today:

First, NHL Central Scouting has released their final rankings for the 2011 NHL draft. You can find those final rankings here. Most noteworthy from the WHL perspective is that Red Deer's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has vaulted from #3 in the midterm rankings to #1 in the final rankings of North American skaters. The QMJHL's Sean Couturier, who was considered a contender for #1 for most of the season, has dropped to #6 among N.A. skaters in the final rankings. Nugent-Hopkins' main competition for #1 overall is probably the #1 player on the European list, Swedish defenceman Adam Larsson.

Which NHL team has the coveted #1 overall pick will be determined tonight, as the NHL holds its draft lottery for the non-playoff teams.

Secondly, another big signing in as many weeks for the Tri-City Americans. Last week they inked 2010 first round bantam pick Eric Comrie to a contract; yesterday they signed up 2010 8th round pick Brian Williams. Williams, you may recall, was considered one of the top 1995-born players eligible for the 2010 bantam draft but dropped to the 8th round due to concerns teams had about his NCAA aspirations. Apparently Williams has settled on the WHL and as a result, the Americans have picked up a first-round talent with an 8th round pick.

Thursday notes

The WHL's second off-season coaching vacancy (Seattle was the first) opened up today with the news that Moose Jaw has decided not to renew the contract of coach Dave Hunchak.

This move kind of surprises me a little bit, I thought after a 40 win season that Hunchak would get another season behind the Warriors bench. You almost have to think the Warriors have somebody in mind already if they're going to let go of a guy who got a .600 season out of the league's 2nd-youngest lineup.

Second note today, the hosting privileges for the 2012 Memorial Cup have been awarded by the QMJHL to the Shawinigan Cataractes. The Cataractes finished 7th overall in the QMJHL this year with a team composed heavily of 17 & 18 year olds, so they are ideally positioned to have a strong season next year and be deserving hosts on the ice as well as off. They have a brand new (2 years old) 5,200 seat rink to host the tournament as well.

Lastly today, the 2nd round of the WHL playoffs starts tonight so I guess it's time for some predictions. I managed to go a perfect 8-for-8 in my first round picks and also managed to get the # of game correct on four of the series, so let's try to keep this roll going here....

Eastern Conference:

Saskatoon vs Kootenay: I think this is the 2nd round matchup that Kootenay was hoping that acquiring Cody Eakin would bump them up the standings enough to avoid. Obviously, that didn't work. Despite being given a rougher time of it in the first round than many expected, the Blades are still the team to beat in this conference and Kootenay just doesn't stack up that well against them. Blades in five.

Red Deer vs Medicine Hat: this one is the hardest series in the first round to pick, IMO. The Rebels finished as the higher seed but the Tigers won the season series 5-1, including a perfect 3-0 at the Centrium in Red Deer. But I'm concerned about the Tigers' injured stars, Bunz and Pitlick....especially Bunz. I think I'm going to gamble on this one......Tigers in six.

Western Conference:

Portland vs Kelowna: despite their sweep of Prince George in the first round, I still feel Kelowna is the "thing not like the others" in the West's top four. I don't think the Hawks will have this one as easy as they did with Everett in the first round, but I don't think Kelowna is going to win this battle either. Portland in six.

Spokane vs Tri-Cities: if Rebels-Tigers isn't the hardest series to pick, then it's this one. These two rivals were quite evenly matched in the regular season and it is easy to see this series going either way. Spokane has home ice advantage but the series is going to follow a 2-3-2 format and I can't help but wonder if that helps the Ams more than you might think. I'm going with the Chiefs but I can see it going either way. Spokane in seven.

Canadian U-18 team named

Hockey Canada has named the 22 players who will represent the country at the World U-18 Championships starting next week in Germany.

The team, which is made up of CHLers whose teams either missed the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round, has only six WHLers amongst the 22 players - defencemen Ryan Murray (Everett), Morgan Rielly (Moose Jaw), and Reece Scarlett (Swift Current), plus forwards Travis Ewanyk (Edmonton), Mark McNeill (Prince Albert), and Colin Smith (Kamloops).

Rielly is one of three underage (1994-born) players on the team. The other 19 players are 1993-born.

Bruins sold

To the WHL's credit, they (finally!) issued a statement on the Chilliwack situation today.

Basically, it's bad news for Bruins fans - the league says it has conditionally approved the sale of the franchise to an unnamed buyer. Note that they do NOT state that they have approved the franchise moving, which is another story altogether. But I think we can assume that a move is part and parcel of the deal here.

I'm glad they have broken their silence. But there is more to be explained yet - like Brian Burke's suggestion that the league (THE LEAGUE!!!!) is working to move another existing team to Chilliwack.

I do realize there are legal issues in what people can and cannot say on some matters. But in the meantime, WHL fans in 2, 3, 4, 5 or more cities twist in the wind, not knowing if their team is moving, whether they'll have WHL hockey next fall, or anything else really. The league really does need to make some more statements in the next few days and clarify what is going on as best as they can.

Monday notes

All but one of the WHL's first-round playoff series have wrapped up now, including all four of the Western conference series:

 - Portland swept Everett 4-0
 - Tri-City swept Vancouver 4-0
 - Kelowna swept Prince George 4-0
 - Spokane took five games to eliminate Chilliwack 4-1

I think the Western conference has unfolded pretty much the way most observers expected - no upsets and while the underdogs winning only one game in total across the four series (and that was an OT win, to boot) was probably a little less competitive than most people expected, certainly the winners of the series were no surprises.

After re-seeding by regular season points, we have our 2nd round matchups in the West now:

#1 Portland vs #4 Kelowna
#2 Spokane vs #3 Tri-City

Those two series get underway on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

In the East, only one series remains to be resolved:

Red Deer swept Edmonton 4-0
Kootenay beat Moose Jaw 4-2
Saskatoon beat Prince Albert 4-2
Medicine Hat leads Brandon 3-2 (the Tigers and Wheat Kings play their game six tonight in Winnipeg)

On a nostalgic note, the elimination of the Warriors brings to an end the tenure of the "Crushed Can" as a WHL arena. The Warriors will have a brand new home rink when they start play again in the fall.

The East's 2nd round matchups are dependant on the outcome of the Tigers-Wheaties series, but it breaks down like this:

Saskatoon will host Kootenay if the Tigers win, or host Brandon if the Wheaties win
Red Deer will host Medicine Hat if the Tigers win, or host Kootenay if the Wheaties win

Last note today, now that the Chilliwack Bruins' season is over, it would be nice if the league and/or the parties involved could provide some clarity to fans regarding what the future holds for that franchise. I get that it's the middle of the playoffs and the league doesn't want anything to detract attention from the on-ice product at this most critical point of the year, but we have thousands of fans who are feeling betrayed and/or jerked around by their owners and the league and they're not getting any reliable information from anyone about which way this thing is going to go. This is a P.R. problem for the league.

Wild-assed rumors abound about multiple franchises moving, one team on the Island, two teams on the Island, no teams on the Island, the league is expanding, the league isn't expanding, Prince George and/or Kootenay are moving too, Prince George and/or Kootenay are not moving too, etc, etc. And the league is quiet on all this....how about some leadership from the WHL office and make a statement to clarify what is and isn't going on. Like I said, I know they don't want to take away from the focus on the playoffs, but anything is preferable to the current rumor-filled situation. The league shouldn't have to look very far to see that many fans' focus has already been shifted from the playoffs to the Chilliwack situation.

I mean, today an article has surfaced by Jim Mullin of Vancouver radio station CKNW, in which he quotes from a letter he received from Bruins part-owner Brian Burke (or from Burke's lawyers anyway) in which Burke states that it was "...the WHL's and Mr. Lee's desire to have an established team in Victoria rather than an expansion team. This will not leave Chilliwack without a WHL team. The WHL is in the process of negotiating the movement of another WHL team to Chilliwack..."

So the WHL wants an established team to move to Victoria? And the WHL is in the process of arranging for another established team to move to Chilliwack to replace the Bruins?

Yes, I think the WHL owes its fans some answers. Preferably right now.

2011 bantam draft order

By request, I've tried to figure out which teams have which exact picks in this year's bantam draft. I think this is pretty complete, although in a few cases it was impossible to determine which picks had been traded when a team had more than one pick in a round and traded one of them.

If anyone has any details on which exact picks were traded in the deals I'm not sure about (broken down after each round's listings), please let me know and I can make the changes and keep this list as accurate as possible.

Details of missed trades are welcome too! I scoured for all the trades I could find but there are no doubt going to be 1 or 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5) that I missed.



First Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
1	Calgary
2	Swift Current
3	Lethbridge	Regina	first Carter Ashton deal, Dec 9/09
4	Kamloops
5	Lethbridge
6	Seattle
7	Everett
8	Prince Albert
9	Edmonton
10	Prince George
11	Brandon
12	Chilliwack
13	Swift Current	VAN via KTN	Cody Eakin deal, Jan 9/11 (KTN had acquired from VAN for David Musil, Jul 10/09)
14	Moose Jaw
15	Kelowna
16	Regina	Tri-City	second Carter Ashton deal, Dec 10/10
17	Kootenay
18	Medicine Hat
19	Spokane
20	Vancouver	Portland	Craig Cunningham deal, Dec 28/10
21	Red Deer
22	Brandon	Saskatoon	Brayden Schenn deal, Jan 10/11

Second Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
23	Calgary
24	Swift Current
25	Moose Jaw	Regina	Thomas Frazee deal, Sep 24/10
26	Lethbridge
27	Seattle
28	Vancouver	Kamloops	J.T. Barnett, Jul 30/10
29	Lethbridge	Everett	Brennan Yadlowski deal, Oct 5/10
30	Vancouver	Prince Albert	Jamie Tucker, Jan 6/10
31	Edmonton
32	Brandon	PG via SAS	Brayden Schenn deal, Jan 10/11 (SAS had acquired from PG for Charles Inglis, Sept 6/10)
33	Moose Jaw	Brandon	Erhardt/Hamonic deal, Jan 10/10
34	Chilliwack
35	Vancouver
36	Moose Jaw
37	Kelowna
38	Vancouver	Tri-City	swap of 2010 first round bantam picks, Apr 29/10
39	Swift Current	Kootenay	Cody Eakin deal, Jan 9/11
40	Everett	Medicine Hat	Kellan Tochkin deal, Jan 10/11
41	Spokane
42	Portland
43	Red Deer
44	Moose Jaw	Saskatoon	Connor Cox, Nov 11/10 (could be PG's pick instead)

Second round trade notes:
 - SAS acquired PG's pick for Inglis. They traded a 2nd rounder to MJ for Cox; I have assumed this was SAS's own pick traded for Cox but it could have been PG's pick as well.
 - SAS then traded another 2nd round pick to BRN in the Schenn deal. I have assumed that was PG's pick but it could have been SAS's own pick instead.

Third Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
45	Calgary
46	Swift Current
47	Regina
48	Lethbridge
49	Seattle
50	Kamloops
51	Kelowna	EVT via SAS	Curt Gogol, Jan 10/10 (SAS had acquired from EVT in Chris Langkow deal Sep 22/09)
52	Prince Albert
53	Prince Albert	Edmonton	Jordan Hickmott, Jun 28/10 (could be RDR's or VAN's pick)
54	Brandon	Prince George	James Priestner deal, Aug 21/09
55	Chilliwack	Brandon	for 2009 first round import pick, June 30/09
56	Chilliwack
57	Edmonton	Vancouver	Vincour deal, Jan 10/10. Could be RDR's pick
58	Prince Albert	Moose Jaw	Svendsen/Hlinka deal, Jan 10/11
59	Prince George	Kelowna	Jackson/Halliday deal, Jan 10/10
60	Calgary	Tri-City	Zak Stebner, Oct 14/10
61	Kootenay
62	Medicine Hat
63	Spokane
64	Portland
65	Vancouver	Red Deer	Simon Witt, Sep 15/09
66	Saskatoon		SAS sent this pick to PG in Marek Viedensky deal; PG returned it to SAS for Sena Acolatse, Oct 3/10

Third round trade notes:
 - VAN acquired RDR's pick for Witt. VAN then sent a pick to EDM in the Vincour deal. I have assumed the Vincour pick was VAN's own but it could have been RDR's pick.
 - EDM then sent a pick to PA for Hickmott. I have assumed this was EDM's own pick but it could have been RDR's or VAN's pick instead, depending on which of those EDM got for Vincour.

Fourth Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
67	Chilliwack	Calgary	Carter Berg, Nov 12/09
68	Swift Current
69	Regina
70	Kootenay	Lethbridge	Cason Machacek, Dec 7/09
71	Saskatoon	Seattle	Travis Toomey, Sept 17/10
72	Kamloops
73	Everett
74	Prince Albert
75	Tri-City	Edmonton	Lane Werbowki, Nov 18/09
76	Prince George
77	Brandon
78	Tri-City	Chilliwack	Mitch McColm, May 1/09
79	Medicine Hat	Vancouver	Matt Mackay, Jun 18/10
80	Regina	Moose Jaw	Thomas Frazee deal, Sep 24/10
81	Tri-City	Kelowna	Zak Stebner deal, Dec 8/10
82	Prince Albert	Tri-City	for a 2010 first round import pick, June 29, 2010 (may also be EDM or CHI's picks)
83	Kootenay
84	Seattle	Medicine Hat	Scott Ramsay, Jan 7/11. Could be VAN's pick.
85	Spokane
86	Portland
87	Red Deer
88	Prince Albert	Saskatoon	Steven Stanford deal, Oct 5/09

Fourth round trade notes:
 - MH acquired VAN's pick for Matt MacKay. MH then traded a pick to SEA for Scott Ramsay; I have assumed the Ramsay pick was MH's own but it could have been VAN's pick instead.
 - TRI first acquired CHI's pick for Mitch McColm and EDM's pick for Lane Werbowski. TRI then traded a pick to PA for a 2010 import pick; I have assumed the pick sent to PA was TRI's own but it could have been CHI's or EDM's pick instead.

Fifth Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
89	Calgary
90	Kelowna	Swift Current	Kyle Verdino, Jan 10/10. Could be TRI's pick instead
91	Vancouver	Regina	Derek Tendler/Cass Mappin deal, Dec 9/09
92	Portland	Lethbridge	Sbisa deal, Jan 10/10
93	Seattle
94	Brandon	Kamloops	Jesse Sinatynski, Oct 14/10 (could be EVT's pick instead)
95	Kamloops	Everett	Curtis Kulchar, Dec 12/09
96	Brandon	Prince Albert	Dalyn Flette
97	Edmonton
98	Kootenay	Prince George	Petr Senkerik, Jan 10/10
99	Brandon
100	Chilliwack
101	Lethbridge	Vancouver	Brent Henke, Jan 10/10. Could be REG's pick instead
102	Kelowna	Moose Jaw	Riley Grantham deal, Jan 7/09
103	Kelowna
104	Swift Current	Tri-City	Mike Brown, Jan 10/10
105	Kootenay
106	Medicine Hat
107	Spokane
108	Portland
109	Red Deer
110	Saskatoon

Fifth round trade notes:
 - SC acquired TRI's pick for Mike Brown. SC then traded a pick to KEL for Kyle Verdino. I have assumed the Verdino pick was SC's own but it could have been TRI's pick instead.
 - KAM acquired EVT's pick for Curtis Kulchar. KAM then sent a pick to BRN for Jesse Sinatynski. I have assumed the Sinatynski pick was KAM's own but it could have been EVT's pick instead.
 - VAN acquired REG's pick in the Tendler/Mappin deal. VAN then sent a pick to LTH for Brent Henke. I have assumed the Henke pick was VAN's own but it could have been REG's pick instead.

Sixth Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
111	Calgary
112	Vancouver	Swift Current	Derek Tendler, Oct 7/10
113	Regina
114	Saskatoon	Lethbridge	Tyler Kizuik, Dec 11/10 (could be SEA's pick instead)
115	Lethbridge	Seattle	Austin Baecker, Feb 2/10
116	Moose Jaw	Kamloops	Jeff Bosch, Sep 17/10. Could be PG's pick instead.
117	Everett
118	Saskatoon	Prince Albert	Steven Stanford deal, Oct 5/09
119	Edmonton
120	Kamloops	Prince George	Kurt Torbohm, Sep 13/09
121	Kootenay	Brandon	for 2010 first round import pick (Mark Mieritz), June 29/10
122	Chilliwack
123	Kelowna	VAN via POR	for a 2009 7th round pick (POR acquired from VAN in the Craig Cunningham deal, Dec 28/10. Could be SC's pick instead)
124	Prince Albert	Moose Jaw	Svendsen/Hlinka deal, Jan 10/11. Could be KAM, PG, POR pick instead
125	Kelowna
126	Tri-City
127	Kootenay
128	Medicine Hat
129	Prince George	Spokane	Bruin McDonald, Aug 17/10
130	Moose Jaw	Portland	swap of 2009 first round import picks, June 30/09
131	Red Deer
132	Prince George	Saskatoon	Tyler Kiziuk, Sep 15/09

Sixth round trade notes:
 - LTH acquired SEA's pick for Austin Baecker. LTH then sent a pick to SAS for Tyler Kizuik. I have assumed the Kizuik pick was LTH's own but it could have been SEA's pick instead
 - KAM acquired PG's pick for Kurt Torbohm. KAM then traded a pick to MJ for Jeff Bosch. I have assumed the Bosch pick was KAM's own but it could have been PG's pick instead
 - VAN acquired SC's pick for Derek Tendler. VAN then sent a pick to POR in the Cunningham deal; I have assumed the Cunningham pick was VAN's own but it could have been SC's pick instead.
 - MJ acquired POR's pick in the 2009 import pick swap. MJ also acquired either KAM's pick or PG's pick from KAM for Bosch. MJ then traded a pick to PA in the Svendsen deal; I have assumed the Svendsen pick was MJ's own but it could have been POR's, KAM's, or PG's instead.

Seventh Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
133	Vancouver	Calgary	Mikhail Fisenko, June 29/09
134	Swift Current
135	Regina
136	Everett	Lethbridge	Drew McDermott, Jan 7/10 - conditional pick, probably cancelled?
137	Seattle
138	Kamloops
139	Everett
140	Prince Albert
141	Edmonton
142	Swift Current	Prince George	Morgan Clark, Aug 9/10
143	Seattle	Brandon	for 2010 8th, 9th, 10th round picks
144	Chilliwack
145	Vancouver
146	Moose Jaw
147	Prince Albert	Kelowna	Brendan Wall, Aug 10/10
148	Kelowna	Tri-City	Zak Stebner, Dec 8/10
149	Kootenay
150	Medicine Hat
151	Spokane
152	Portland
153	Red Deer
154	Saskatoon

Eighth Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
155	Prince George	Calgary	Del Cowan, Nov 3/09
156	Edmonton	Swift Current	Graham Black, Dec 22/10
157	Regina
158	Lethbridge
159	Seattle
160	Kamloops
161	Everett
162	Prince Albert
163	Edmonton
164	Prince George
165	Brandon
166	Brandon	Chilliwack	in deal for CHI's 2009 first round import pick, June 30/09
167	Vancouver
168	Moose Jaw
169	Kelowna
170	Tri-City
171	Kootenay
172	Medicine Hat
173	Lethbridge	Spokane	Michael Tadjdeh, Oct 9/09
174	Portland
175	Red Deer
176	Chilliwack	Saskatoon	Collins/Gogol deal, Nov 2/10

Ninth Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
177	Calgary
178	Swift Current
179	Regina
180	Lethbridge
181	Seattle
182	Kamloops
183	Everett
184	Prince Albert
185	Edmonton
186	Prince George
187	Brandon
188	Chilliwack
189	Vancouver
190	Moose Jaw
191	Kelowna
192	Tri-City
193	Kootenay
194	Medicine Hat
195	Spokane
196	Portland
197	Red Deer
198	Saskatoon

Tenth Round:

Overall	Team	From	Trade Details
199	Calgary
200	Swift Current
201	Regina
202	Lethbridge
203	Seattle
204	Kamloops
205	Everett
206	Prince Albert
207	Edmonton
208	Prince George
209	Brandon
210	Chilliwack
211	Vancouver
212	Moose Jaw
213	Kelowna
214	Tri-City
215	Kootenay
216	Medicine Hat
217	Spokane
218	Portland
219	Red Deer
220	Saskatoon

One unknown traded pick - Portland traded Killian Hutt to Regina for a conditional 2011 pick on Sept 28, 2009. The exact round of that pick has never been announced, as far as I can tell. But one of Regina's picks above does instead belong to Portland from that deal.

Two other later round picks traded: Chilliwack traded their 12th round pick to Prince Albert for Marc MacKenzie and their 13th round pick to Moose Jaw for Mike Forsyth. I can find no mention of other picks later than the 10th round having been traded.

Victoria Bruins?

I know, 3rd post today....it's a flood!

Rogers Sportsnet CHL analyst Sam Cosentino apparently has a source who has told him that the Chilliwack Bruins to Victoria rumors actually represent a done deal and that the parties involved are just waiting for the Bruins' season to end (they trail Spokane 2-0 in their first round playoff series) to make it official.

You can hear Cosentino's comments here.

Transcript of his comments here.

One thing appears to be missing here though - the WHL board of governors needs to approve (A) the move and (B) the sale of the team to new owners - and neither of those things has happened.

After the league bent over backwards to help keep the Americans in Tri-City (an event which led to the existence of the Bruins in the first place), you would certainly think that the league would want to do the same to try to keep the Bruins in Chilliwack.

Especially since the majority owner, Darryl Porter, is the same in both cases. Hey, maybe at some point you have to question who the real problem is here and whether Porter tries hard enough to make things work before looking for greener pastures.

ACAC title dispute

An interesting situation has arisen today in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) - where many WHL alumni head after their WHL days - following Mount Royal University's game five win over SAIT in the deciding game of the ACAC best-of-five championship series.

MRU's starting goaltender was injured in game four, forcing their backup to play game five. They found an emergency backup for game five, who dressed and sat on the bench but did not play in the series-clinching win.

Then the problems started - it's not clear right now whether SAIT complained or whether the ACAC discovered this on their own, but that emergency backup was found to be an ineligible player and the ACAC ruled that MRU's win in game five did not count. Apparently SAIT was given the option of having the game declared a forfeit win for them (making them the champions) or replaying the game. They chose to replay the game, which will take place on Saturday.

MRU is not happy and their players have indicated they will forfeit the game to SAIT rather than play the do-over game.

I kind of have to side with MRU, I think.....yes, technically their emergency backup is an ineligible player and thus they broke the rule. But the guy never saw the ice, so thus had no effect on the game. And we're not talking about the NHL here, where teams have entire AHL rosters of eligible replacement players available at a moment's notice - this is fairly low-level college hockey and these are unpaid student-athletes. Finding a backup capable of playing at this level on less than a day's notice - and on a weekend to boot - is far from a sure thing. If they hadn't found the guy they did, then presumably the next plan would have been to put the pads on one of their forwards or defencemen.....which is just asking for an injury and not something that needs to happen at this level.

There was no intent to cheat or deceive and the player had no effect on the game. I think the league and the teams should take a good look at the SPIRIT of the rule, not just the black-and-white wording of it, and make the sensible ruling here.

Anyone see things differently?

BTW, WHL alumni on the two teams involved include:

SAIT: Ryan Nieszner, Scott Orth, Clinton Pettapiece, Colin Scherger, Tommy Tartaglione, Mike Ullrich, Joel Woznikoski

MRU: Brad Bakken, Barry Horman, Jason MacDonald, Grant Toulmin

Wednesday notes

After five days of games, the WHL playoffs have five series that have played 3 games, and three series that have played 2 games.

Of the five series that have played 3 games, three of them are in 3-0 situations:

Red Deer leads Edmonton 3-0
Kelowna leads Prince George 3-0
Tri-City leads Vancouver 3-0

The picture is pretty grim for the Oil Kings, Cougars, and Giants - a 3-0 deficit has been overcome only once in WHL history. It seems pretty likely that those three teams are going to see their seasons end this week.

The other two series which have played a game 3 are seeing the underdog leading the series:

Moose Jaw leads Kootenay 2-1
Brandon leads Medicine Hat 2-1

And the Warriors & Wheat Kings still get to play game four at home yet too, an excellent chance to take a 3-1 lead and move within a game of the only upsets (looking that way anyway) of the first round.

The other three series are at 2-0, with the heavy favourite leading all three:

Saskatoon leads Prince Albert 2-0
Portland leads Everett 2-0
Spokane leads Chilliwack 2-0

Right now I'm thinking we'll see 4 or 5 or even 6 sweeps in the first round, which would make this one of the least interesting first rounds ever.

Couple other things today...

The first coaching opening of the 2011 offseason has become available, after the Seattle Thunderbirds announced yesterday that they will not renew the expiring contract of head coach Rob Sumner. Sumner has been the head coach of the Thunderbirds for the last seven seasons and was an assistant coach for eight years before that, so he has been behind the Seattle bench since the fall of 1996.

In Sumner's 7 years as head coach, the team averaged 76 points (.531) and made it out of the first round of the playoffs three times (although they lost in the 2nd round all three times), but they have missed the playoffs the last two seasons.

The other note is, the WHL appears to have launched a new section called Prospects Central, without any fanfare or announcements. You can see the new section, which focuses on the bantam draft, right here.

I like the idea, this is another marketing tool for a league which hasn't always done a good job of selling the hype. Fans care about this stuff - the draft, upcoming prospects, etc, and it's good to see the league taking steps to provide the fans with info they're craving.

Two things I'd like to see:

• first, some attribution of those bantam draft player rankings would be nice. The WHL itself has no "central scouting" type organization which ranks players, all the teams are responsible for all their own scouting. So the league is using somebody's rankings here....explanation of which scouting service provided those rankings, or how those rankings were determined, would be nice

• second, I'd like to see a breakdown of traded bantam draft picks. I've tried to do this here on the blog but whatever I come up with is unofficial and surely contains some mistakes since I don't have access to all the official details of trades. A simple breakdown of all picks in upcoming drafts, which ones have been traded, who they were traded to, and for what, would be a great resource for fans and shouldn't be very hard for the league to put together. Just a suggestion.

First round picks

Playoffs start tonight with six games, so that means it's time for some fearless predictions....

Eastern Conference:

#1 Saskatoon vs #8 Prince Albert: the Raiders had to scrap right down to the last week of the season to clinch a playoff spot. Saskatoon had long wrapped up first overall before then, and ended the season averaging one more goal for and one less goal against per game than the Raiders did. The Raiders have no chance in this one - Saskatoon in four.

#2 Red Deer vs #7 Edmonton: Edmonton made big strides this year and look like a team that could make some noise in a year's time. They didn't take quite as big strides as Red Deer did though, as the Rebels have completed the transformation from a team that missed the playoffs two years in a row (2008, 2009) to 2nd place overall this year. They are also the top defensive team in the league by quite a margin, and defence wins games in the playoffs, as we all know. Red Deer in five.

#3 Medicine Hat vs #6 Brandon: Brandon has been one of the hottest teams in the league since the trade deadline, scoring goals like crazy and believe me, it is very tempting to use this opportunity to pick an upset. But the Tigers have finished the season very strong as well and I think that while Brandon may have a better offence, the Tigers have better and much more experienced defence and goaltending. I think Brandon may give the Tigers a stiff challenge but in the end the Tigers will prevail. Tigers in six.

#4 Kootenay vs #5 Moose Jaw: As befits a #4 vs #5 matchup, this is the toughest series to predict, IMO. But actually, despite that, it's not really that difficult to decide on a winner. Kootenay has the better group of forward and defencemen, and they are older, bigger, and a lot more experienced. Moose Jaw's ace in the hole? Goaltending, where I give them a big edge with the game-stealing Thomas Heemskerk. But can he steal a series when the Ice are so much better in other areas? I don't see it. Ice in six.



Western Conference:

#1 Portland vs #8 Everett: Portland finished strong and are the #3 overall team in the league. Everett finished dead in the water and scored about 130 fewer goals this year than the Hawks did. This one is a no-brainer. Hawks in four.

#2 Kelowna vs #7 Prince George: You could say Prince George lucked out a bit in the first round - they're the 7th best team in the conference and because of the system, they get to play the 4th best team in the conference instead of the 2nd best. But, Kelowna has been strong down the stretch while the Cougars seemed to peak around Christmastime. And I like the Rockets in almost every roster category as well. Not that hard to pick actually. Rockets in five.

#3 Spokane vs #6 Chilliwack: Chilliwack's last 10-15 games of the season were a very impressive run which moved them from outside the playoff picture all the way up to 6th place - almost 5th place too. Just bad luck on their part that they've been drawn against what might be the best balanced offensively/defensively team in the league. It was a nice run which should build nicely for next year, but they're not going to beat Spokane. Chiefs in five.

#4 Tri-City vs #5 Vancouver: two teams that stumbled a little bit late in the season - Tri-City had a stretch of the blahs which caused them to fall off the pace in the race for #1, and Vancouver was debilitated by injuries and lost 8 or 9 in a row at one point. All that aside, it may be a #4 vs #5 series but I found this one easier to handicap than some of the other Western series. I hate to bet against a Don Hay team but I can't see the Giants pulling this one off. Tri-City in six.

Yes, I picked the favourite (higher seed) in every series. Predictable, I know. I just don't see the potential for a lot of upsets this year; in my view the top 3-4 teams in both conferences are clearly superior to those in the lower half of both playoff brackets. The 2nd round should be much more interesting this year.

Thoughts from readers?

Lottery results

The bantam draft lottery was held this morning, and the team with the smallest chance of winning - Kamloops - was the winner.

As the #6 seed, Kamloops will move up two spots to the #4 position, and the rest of the first round order remains unchanged. Calgary will pick first, Swift Current second, Lethbridge (from Regina) picks third, the Blazers are 4th, Lethbridge's own pick drops to 5th, and Seattle drops to 6th.

For the six non-playoff teams, the season is essentially over now until the draft in six weeks.

Draft lottery Wednesday

For six teams, the 2010-11 season is over except for one last bit of business - the bantam draft lottery, which will be held Wednesday morning at 11am MST at the WHL offices in Calgary.

All six non-playoff teams will get a number of balls in the lottery machine, from which one ball will be drawn. The team whose ball that is will move up two spots in the draft order, with everything else remaining the same.

The current draft order, with number of balls in the lottery and corresponding chance of winning the lottery:

1. Calgary (6 balls - 28.57%)
2. Swift Current (5 balls - 23.81%)
3. Lethbridge (from Regina) (4 balls - 19.05%)
4. Lethbridge (3 balls - 14.29%)
5. Seattle (2 balls - 9.52%)
6. Kamloops (1 ball - 4.76%)

Obviously only the teams currently in the #1, #2, and #3 positions have a chance at landing the first overall selection. If the #4, #5, or #6 team wins the lottery, then they move up two spots and the Hitmen retain the first overall pick.

So, the chance at landing the first overall pick:

Calgary: 57.14%
Swift Current: 23.81%
Lethbridge: 19.05%

Any way you look at it, Lethbridge has to be feeling pretty good about the bantam draft, as they are going to definitely have two picks in the top five and an 86% chance of two picks in the top 4, including a 19% chance of picking first overall.

One race left

The full schedule of 11 games tonight settled all but one of the playoff races, leaving Sunday as a day of rest for all but one team tomorrow.

Settled tonight were:

Medicine Hat beat Calgary and thus clinched the #3 seed in the East ahead of Kootenay, who will be #4.

Brandon won and thus clinched the #6 seed in the East ahead of Edmonton, who will be #7.

Portland won and Spokane lost, meaning Portland is the U.S. division and Western Conference champion. They will be #1 seed in the first round. Spokane will be #3 seed. The big head to head meeting between the two teams tomorrow in Portland is now meaningless unless Portland cares about getting one more point to pass Red Deer for 2nd overall in the league.

Portland's victory was over Seattle, and the loss by the Thunderbirds means they are eliminated from the playoffs and Everett has clinched a spot.

Lastly, Prince George won, clinching the #7 seed in the West in the process.

The only thing left to be decided is #5/#6 in the West, which currently sees Chilliwack leading Vancouver by one point. Chilliwack is done their schedule though while Vancouver has a date tomorrow with Everett. One point by Vancouver in that game will give them #5. An Everett regulation win leaves #5 with the Bruins.

All four playoff matchups in the East are set now, along with two of the matchups in the West.

In the East:
#1 Saskatoon will play #8 Prince Albert
#2 Red Deer will play #7 Edmonton
#3 Medicine Hat will play #6 Brandon
#4 Kootenay will play #5 Moose Jaw

In the West:
#1 Portland will play #8 Everett
#2 Kelowna will play #7 Prince George

Big night tonight

Two days left in the WHL regular season, and tonight's games could determine a lot of things.

Firstoff, two teams were mathematically eliminated last night - Lethbridge and Kamloops. With the Canes going out, Prince Albert has claimed the 8th spot in the East, and thus we also have our first playoff matchup determined - the Raiders will play Saskatoon in the first round.

Back to Kamloops; their demise at the hands of Prince George also allowed Prince George to clinch a playoff spot, meaning the final playoff spot in the West is now between Everett and Seattle. Don't bet on Seattle though as they need to win both their remaining games and have the Silvertips lose both their remaining games in regulation in order to have a shot through a tiebreaker.

And one last note on last night's outcomes - Red Deer has clinched the #2 spot in the East behind Saskatoon.

Tonight's important games:

MH vs CGY and KTN vs LTH. Kootenay is still pursuing the Tigers for #3 in the East. To pull it off, they need to win tonight and have the Tigers lose to Calgary either tonight or tomorrow.

MJ vs BRN and EDM vs RDR: Edmonton and Brandon are still battling for the #6/#7 spots in the East. Edmonton will get 6th if they win tonight and Brandon loses in regulation. Any other outcomes gives #6 to the Wheat Kings.

POR vs SEA and SPO vs TRI: A Portland win combined with a Spokane loss will give Portland the conference title. Any other outcome means they'll settle things head-to-head tomorrow.

CHI vs EVT and VAN vs KEL: Chilliwack and Vancouver are scrapping for the #5/#6 seeds in the West. A Chilliwack win with a Vancouver loss gives the #5 spot to the Bruins. A Chilliwack loss with a Vancouver win gives it to the Giants. Any other outcomes mean the Bruins will have to await the outcome of Vancouver's game tomorrow.

And of course, the EVT and SEA games are important for another reason as well - one point by Everett or one lost point by Seattle will eliminate the Thunderbirds and give the final playoff spot to Everett.

Wednesday games & playoff races

Six games last night....how did they affect the postseason pushes:

First, Saskatoon beat Moose Jaw 3-2 in a shootout. This game had no playoff implications at all since Saskatoon has clinched first place overall and Moose Jaw is locked in to the #5 seed in the East.

Next, Prince Albert beat the Hitmen 6-2. This was a big win for the Raiders because it clinches them at least a tie for the 8th playoff spot in the East. The only way Lethbridge can make the playoffs now (and knock Prince Albert out) is to win both their remaining games and hope the Raiders lose both their remaining games in regulation. Then the two teams would have a one-game playoff to decide who gets the 8th spot. In other words - it's all over, Lethbridge.

Portland beat Vancouver 5-3. Important win for the Hawks as they try to hold off Spokane (who also won) for #1 seed in the West. Still one point apart and both teams have three games left. For the Giants, it's their 7th straight loss and they've now fallen out of 5th place down into 6th. It's looking more and more like Vancouver's season might have its earliest end in years.

Spokane topped Chilliwack 2-1 in a shootout. As mentioned above, Spokane is pursuing Portland for #1 in the West and they needed the win to keep pace with the Hawks. For Chilliwack, the loser point moves them ahead of Vancouver and into the #5 spot. Pretty good for a team that was battling for a playoff spot just three weeks ago.

As an aside, the shots on goal in the Spokane-Chilliwack game were recorded as 78-23 for the Chiefs. If this is true, then Chilliwack goalie Lucas Gore turned in the goaltending performance of the year in the WHL (by a mile!) in stopping 77 of 78 shots. However, that shot count is very, very hard to believe so hopefully the league will verify whether it is in fact accurate.

Everett edged Tri-City 2-1. Big win for Everett and they take a giant step towards clinching a playoff spot. One more win in their last three games should do it for them, I would think.

And lastly, Seattle shutout Kelowna 5-0, a huge win for Seattle as they try to get themselves into a playoff spot. They are now 3 points back of Prince George in 8th and have a game in hand on the Cougars. It's still an uphill climb for the Birds but since a loss would have almost killed their chances, they are still alive at least. For Kelowna, the loss represents a blown chance to pass Tri-City for 3rd overall in the West, since the Ams lost. Kelowna still trails the Americans by one point and the Americans have a game in hand. Of course Kelowna is going to be #2 seed for the first round but the overall standings could be important in the 2nd round.

Tuesday's games

Few notes on the outcomes of the three games in the WHL last night and the impact on the playoff races...

First, Swift Current beat Regina 6-0. The loss by the Pats mathematically eliminates them from the playoffs, so they join the Broncos and Hitmen as teams not going to the postseason in the East.

Edmonton shellacked Lethbridge 8-1. For Edmonton, the win used up their game in hand on Brandon and moved them to just one point back of the Wheat Kings. Both teams have two games remaining, so their race for 6th/7th place will be decided on Friday & Saturday. The wins are the same now (31 each) and Edmonton owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Wheaties if they finish tied in points AND wins.

For Lethbridge, the loss was a blow to their hopes of catching Prince Albert for the 8th and final playoff spot. They still trail the Raiders by two points and now the Raiders have a game in hand. Lethbridge must now play Kootenay twice, while the Raiders get to play Swift Current and Calgary. Realistically, it's all over for the Hurricanes now, you gotta think.

And lastly, Kootenay beat the Tigers 4-1, which keeps alive the Ice's slim chances of catching the Tigers for the #3 seed and also dealt a near-fatal blow to the Tigers' chances of catching the Rebels for #2. For the Tigers to claim #2 now, they have to win both their remaining games and have the Rebels lose both their remaining games in regulation. The Tigers finish with two against Calgary, so them winning both those games is a good possibility. The Rebels finish with two against Edmonton though, so them losing both those in regulation is somewhat less likely.

For the Ice to catch the Tigers for #3, the Ice need three more points from their last two games (against Lethbridge) than the Tigers get from their last two games against Calgary. Yeah, it's unlikely since Kootenay needs Calgary to beat the Tigers twice, at least once in regulation.

More playoff race stuff

As promised, the West now....did the East last night (below)....

Nobody is eliminated in the West yet; all 10 teams could still make the playoffs. Six of the eight playoff spots have been claimed, but only two of those six spots are 'locked in'. And even those two teams might not want to take it easy....

There's probably four distinct races going on in the West this week:

First and most obviously, there's a four way race for the last two playoff spots between Prince George, Everett, Kamloops, and Seattle. This is definitely the most interesting race (though probably not the most important when you consider the winners are probably still first round fodder for the big dogs), because two teams (Everett and Seattle) have four games remaining each while the other two teams have only two games remaining each. Everett and Seattle, while having four games remaining, have tough schedules that are either road games or against top-four teams, or both. Kamloops and Prince George, who only have two games left, play both those games against each other....so somebody's going to lose some possible points.

Right now, Prince George (66pts) and Everett (65pts) are holding down the playoff spots with Kamloops (63pts) and Seattle (61pts) on the outside. Obviously Kamloops can take Prince George's spot if they sweep the two games between the two teams. On the other hand, one win for the Cougars probably clinches a spot for the Cougars AND probably eliminates Kamloops. For Everett, they play all their remaining games on the road, which is not a good thing for them since they're the worst road team in the conference. I think they probably need three points this week OR some Kamloops & Seattle losses. Seattle is in the toughest spot, they probably need to win minimum three or preferably all four of their remaining games, which is brutal since all four of their games are against the top four seeds, one against each. Honestly, I think Seattle is probably out of it. The other three teams though....should be a fun week.

There's also a race for top spot in the conference and the #1 seed through the first three rounds of the playoffs, between Portland and Spokane. The Chiefs trail the Hawks by 1 point and both teams have four games to play this week. Even better, they finish the season with a Sunday tilt against each other in Portland which could decide the title. Before Sunday though, Portland will entertain Vancouver and Everett, and pay a visit to Seattle. The Chiefs will host Chilliwack and Seattle, and visit the Tri-Cities. Portland has the tiebreaker edge in wins and the much easier schedule, unless Spokane beats the Bruins and Americans first I have a feeling that Sunday's game might not matter.

The third race is between Vancouver and Chilliwack for the #5/#6 seeds. They are currently tied with 71 points, with the Giants having one game in hand over the Bruins. Tough schedules all around though - they both play Everett once at home but other than that, the Bruins visit Spokane and Tri-City while the Giants have a home-and-home with Kelowna and a visit to Portland. No easy points for anyone. Giants are really sputtering lately while the Bruins are surging, so don't be surprised to see Chilliwack take the #5 spot despite having fewer games to play.

The last race, one that won't matter until the 2nd round of the playoffs if at all, is between Kelowna and Tri-City for 3rd overall in the conference. For the first round, Kelowna is going to be the #2 seed and Tri-City is going to be the #4 seed. That is set in stone. But for the 2nd round of the playoffs, the divisions are dropped and everyone gets reseeded by points. Assuming the top 4 seeds all win in the first round, Portland/Spokane will be #1/#2 in the 2nd round, and Kelowna/Tri-City will be #3/#4. So, their remaining games are not meaningless....unless you don't care whether you're #3 or #4 since right now it's impossible to determine who of Portland/Spokane #1 & #2 will be.

So, lots of drama still to come in both conferences with just five days of games remaining....

Playoff races and notes

I'm back...all is well. A little look at the conference playoff races as we enter the final week of the season....

In the East, seven teams have clinched playoff spots now, and the final playoff spot race is going to come down to two teams - Prince Albert and Lethbridge. Regina mathematically has a chance, but their chance requires them to win all three remaining games while having the Raiders lose their remaining three, all in regulation. The Pats would then have to beat the Raiders in a one-game playoff. Oh, and Lethbridge couldn't win any games either. So, there's really no chance there for Regina - they join Calgary and Swift Current as three of the four Eastern teams who will miss the playoffs.

Back to the Raiders/Hurricanes race - Prince Albert has a huge edge over the Hurricanes in that race. Both teams have three games remaining, but the Raiders have a two point lead AND also have a much easier remaining schedule - all three of their remaining games are against Swift Current (twice) and Calgary. The Hurricanes have to play Kootenay twice, plus Edmonton. Since the 'Canes have to make up two points on the Raiders, they may have to sweep their remaining games and then hope the Raiders lose two points to the Broncos or Hitmen. It doesn't look pretty for the Canes.

In the other races, only two teams aren't in one. Saskatoon is going to be seed #1, and Moose Jaw is going to be #5. They can coast this week; everyone else could still change spots.

Kootenay is very likely going to be #4 and play Moose Jaw. They could catch Medicine Hat for #3 but it probably requires the Ice to win their last three games while having the Tigers lose their last three - and the Tigers play Calgary twice so this is a longshot. But the Ice & Tigers do meet on Tuesday in the Hat so let's see what happens there first.

The Tigers are also in another race, with Red Deer for the #2 seed. Again, this feat will probably require the Tigers to win all three remaining games though, while having the Rebels lose one of their season-ending home-and-home with the Oil Kings.

The two "Kings", Brandon and Edmonton, are also not done settling the #6/#7 spots either. Brandon has a 3 point lead on the Oil Kings, who have one game in hand on the Wheat Kings. Brandon finishes up with a home-and-home against Moose Jaw, while Edmonton has the aforementioned two with Red Deer plus one against Lethbridge. Moose Jaw has nothing to play for, so they may not be as much help as Edmonton would like. And Brandon has been one of the hottest teams in the league for weeks now, so I think they'll hold onto this one. But we'll watch it anyway.

And last East note, Calgary has locked up last overall. If they win only one thing the rest of the year, I'm sure they hope it is next Wednesday when the bantam draft lottery is held.

The Hitmen were first overall last year. I need to research this some more, but going back 20 years to 1990 at least, there has not been another case in the WHL of a team going from first overall to last overall in successive years.

I will do the Western conference playoff races Monday morning. Promise.

And one last thing today, from the NHL world. The infamous Zdeno Chara vs Max Pacioretty incident has dominated the NHL headlines the last week or so, and at least in my opinion it is highly likely that this incident is going to force the NHL in the offseason to take a firmer stance on actions that result in hits to opponents heads. No doubt whatever the NHL does will trickle down to the CHL level within a year (or even less) so it's something that definitely bears close watching if you're a major junior fan.

My take.....I'm not howling for Chara's blood like some are. I think everyone can agree that it was a fairly routine hockey play, something you see a lot of - forward chips the puck past the defenceman, tries to beat him outside while he pivots, and gets rubbed into the boards. I understand why the NHL took no action. I know some people say it was interference - yes, by the letter of the law it was since Pacioretty didn't have the puck. On the other hand, players have always been allowed to "finish their checks", which almost always means hitting a guy who doesn't have the puck anymore.

I think though, given the epidemic of head injuries we're seeing, that some of our ideas about what is a "routine play" or "finishing your check" are going to have to change. Do we need a rule that simply states that if you hit an opponent and the result is either that you make contact with his head or that his head contacts the boards, then that's a penalty?

And oh yeah....one more thing, about the two sponsors, Air Canada and Via Rail, tsk-tsking the NHL over its decision to not suspend Chara. While they probably echoed the sentiments of some fans around the league, the fact that these happen to be two companies whose corporate headquarters are in Montreal and thus their head offices are likely stuffed full of Habs fans makes their "outrage" come across as a little un-objective, perhaps? I can picture a boardroom full of outraged Habs-fans-slash-Air-Canada-employees, allowing their emotions as fans to override their professionalism and deciding to use their company to make a statement.....completely ignoring what might be best for the stakeholders of the company. I think in the end, A-C and Via have come off looking foolish in this situation and that is surely not what is in the best interests of their stakeholders.

Oh yeah, and Via Rail is still funded by the Canadian government. Your tax dollars at work, folks.....those north of the border anyway.

Stretch run stats 2011

Down to the final week now. Some stats of interest....

Remaining games by team:

Brandon (2)
Home (1): Moose Jaw
Away (1): Moose Jaw

Calgary (3)
Home (2): Prince Albert, Medicine Hat
Away (1): Medicine Hat

Chilliwack (3)
Home (1): Everett
Away (2): Spokane, Tri-City

Edmonton (3)
Home (2): Lethbridge, Red Deer
Away (1): Red Deer

Everett (4)
Away (4): Tri-City, Portland, Chilliwack, Vancouver

Kamloops (2)
Home (1): Prince George
Away (1): Prince George

Kelowna (3)
Home (2): Seattle, Vancouver
Away (1): Vancouver

Kootenay (3)
Home (1): Lethbridge
Away (2): Medicine Hat, Lethbridge

Lethbridge (3)
Home (1): Kootenay
Away (2): Edmonton, Kootenay

Medicine Hat (3)
Home (2): Kootenay, Calgary
Away (1): Calgary

Moose Jaw (3)
Home (1): Brandon
Away (2): Saskatoon, Brandon

Portland (4)
Home (3): Vancouver, Everett, Spokane
Away (1): Seattle

Prince Albert (3)
Home (1): Swift Current
Away (2): Calgary, Swift Current

Prince George (2)
Home (1): Kamloops
Away (1): Kamloops

Red Deer (2)
Home (1): Edmonton
Away (1): Edmonton

Regina (3)
Home (1): Saskatoon
Away (2): Swift Current, Saskatoon

Saskatoon (3)
Home (2): Moose Jaw, Regina
Away (1): Regina

Seattle (4)
Home (2): Portland, Tri-City
Away (2):  Kelowna, Spokane

Spokane (4)
Home (2): Chilliwack, Seattle
Away (2): Tri-City, Portland

Swift Current (3)
Home (2): Regina, Prince Albert
Away (1): Prince Albert

Tri-City (4)
Home (3): Everett, Chilliwack, Spokane
Away (1): Seattle

Vancouver (4)
Home (2): Kelowna, Everett
Away (2): Portland, Kelowna

Last updated: after games of March 13th.

If the season ended today, the playoff matchups would be:

Eastern Conference:
#1 Saskatoon Blades vs #8 Prince Albert Raiders

#2 Red Deer Rebels vs #7 Edmonton Oil Kings

#3 Medicine Hat Tigers vs #6 Brandon Wheat Kings

#4 Kootenay Ice vs #5 Moose Jaw Warriors

Western Conference:
#1 Portland Winterhawks vs #8 Everett Silvertips

#2 Kelowna Rockets vs #7 Prince George Cougars

#3 Spokane Chiefs vs #6 Chilliwack Bruins

#4 Tri-City Americans vs #5 Vancouver Giants

No updates for a bit

I know the blog has been a bit quiet lately so I'm sure this isn't going to impact any of you that much, but there will be no updates for the next 3-4 days - that includes the remaining schedules and magic numbers, etc.. I'm going in to the shop for some repairs.

Hopefully when I return I will be able to update more frequently than I have for the last month. Playoffs are coming, after all....

Warriors clinched?

I see both the WHL and the Warriors are saying that Moose Jaw has clinched a playoff spot.

Now, we all know they're going to make the playoffs, but my math shows that they in fact have not clinched a spot at all. They have 73 points right now; if the 9th place team (Lethbridge) were to win all of their remaining games, they would also have 73 points, meaning the Warriors and Hurricanes would be tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in that case.

WHL rules require a 1-game playoff if that happens. If the Warriors lost that game, they would miss the playoffs. So I don't see how they can be declared to have clinched a spot. Or am I missing something here?

I know it's irrelevant since they will surely get one more point sometime this season and then it will be mathematical. Just trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong in my calculations here....or what the league has done wrong.

Best of the West

One of my favourite annual events in the WHL is the release of the "Best Of The West" and "Best Of The East" polls, where the players and coaches around the league are asked to rate the top opponents in various categories. Well, the Tri-City Herald released this year's Best Of The West yesterday. This will be the last year for the Best Of The West, which next year will be renamed the Tyler Johnson Awards.

I made that last part up. But Johnson has won a number of B.O.W. categories over his career in the WHL and capped off his last season in the league this year by winning four categories (Best Overager, Best Defensive Forward, Best Skater, and Top Faceoff Man) outright, and finishing 2nd in Most Valuable Player and 3rd in Most Accurate Shot.

Remember, these awards are chosen by his peers - the other teams in the western conference. So this is a heckuva lot more meaningful IMO than something chosen by the fans or beat writers.

Given all this recognition over the years, plus the fact that he is currently leading the WHL in scoring, and let's not forget about that WJC gold medal from 2010, why is this guy still an undrafted free agent in the NHL?

I know he's 5'9" and that's an issue for NHL teams. It's also reasonable to assume that he probably isn't going to be a big offensive contributor at the NHL level; if any of the 30 NHL teams saw any chance of that possibility coming true, he'd have been drafted or signed by now. But so what? Is there no team in the NHL that can use a good-skating defensive forward who's good on faceoffs? Even if he's not a blue-chip prospect, I think you have to at least acknowledge that the kid has a chance to play at that level....there's a lot of pretty untalented 6'4", 6'5" guys getting drafted in the late rounds of the NHL drafts and yet nobody will give a good smaller player a chance. In some ways, the NHL hasn't changed very much at all.