08-09 Prospects: Brandon

Brandon voters have them in first place in the poll right now, so here goes.....I know the theme is 08-09 prospects but I have listed every player on the team's protected list who was not a full-time WHLer last year. Anyone with a 08-09 age of 15 is ineligible to play in the WHL full-time next season....but you all knew that already.

Still no stats for the AMHL or SAML so I've proceeded without them....feel free to check those two leagues' websites (links on the left) for the stats on those players sometime in the future.

You can stop voting for Brandon now....any more votes for them won't matter. Everett, Spokane, and Portland will be the next three teams done, hopefully today or over the weekend.

Darren Bestland Acquired: listed player
Defense, 5'11", 185 lb 08-09 Age: 18
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Selkirk Steelers (MJHL Jr A)	60	3	27	30	151
Selkirk Steelers (MJHL Jr A - PLF)	5	0	0	0	4
Ryan Breen Acquired: 2007 10th round bantam pick
Defense, 6'1", 180 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Sturgeon Heights (Winnipeg H.S.)	17	1	11	12	57
Sturgeon Heights (Winnipeg H.S. - PLF)	4	0	1	1	0
Tanner Butler Acquired: 2008 10th round bantam pick
Defense, 5'9", 135 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Westman South (Directors Cup)	4	0	1	1	2
Souris (MB AA bantam)	stats not available
Souris Valley Vipers (Westman (MB) H.S.)	2	0	1	1	0
John Calkins Acquired: 2005 9th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 6'2", 160 lb 08-09 Age: 18
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Moose Jaw Warriors (Macs Midget)	4	1	0	1	14
Moose Jaw Warriors (SMHL AAA midget)	42	15	31	46	93
Moose Jaw Warriors (SMHL AAA midget - PLF)	4	0	0	0	4
Paul Ciarelli Acquired: listed player
Center, 6'1", 175 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Winnipeg South Blues (MJHL Jr A)	1	0	0	0	0
Winnipeg Wild (MMHL AAA midget)	39	14	14	28	82
Winnipeg Wild (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	8	1	1	2	10
Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)	5	0	0	0	0
Chuck Day Chief Acquired: 2006 13th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 6'2", 190 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Beardys Blackhawks (Macs Midget)	3	0	0	0	12
Beardys Blackhawks (SMHL AAA midget)	41	5	5	10	56
Beardys Blackhawks (SMHL AAA midget - PLF)	4	0	0	0	8
Jordan De Pape Acquired: 2007 3rd round bantam pick
Right Wing, 5'10", 175 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Winnipeg Wild (MMHL AAA midget)	40	34	27	61	14
Winnipeg Wild (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	8	4	2	6	4
- DePape is the younger brother of Ryan DePape of the Pats.
Dallas Ehrhardt Acquired: 2007 4th round bantam pick
Defense, 6'2", 195 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Calgary Northstars (Macs Midget)	3	0	0	0	0
Calgary Blazers (SAML midget 15 y.o.)	28	8	11	19	98
- Ehrhardt is the younger brother of Travis Ehrhardt of the Winter Hawks.
Josh Elmes Acquired: 2008 8th round bantam pick
Defense, 6'1", 188 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Brandon (Directors Cup)	4	0	0	0	4
Brandon Wheat Kings (MB AAA bantam)	3	1	3	4	0
Brandon Wheat Kings (WMHA AA midget)	7	2	2	4	4
Brandon Wheat Kings (WMHA AAA bantam)	30	5	17	22	24
Ross Fox Acquired: listed player
Left Wing, 6'1", 195 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Lethbridge Hounds (SCAHL AA midget)	30	67	29	38	127
Jordan Fransoo Acquired: 2008 5th round bantam pick
Defense, 5'9", 135 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Notre Dame Hounds (KIBIHT)	7	1	2	3	0
Notre Dame Hounds (SSMHL AAA bantam)	26	6	22	28	44
Notre Dame Hounds (St. Albert tournament)	5	1	3	4	4
Spencer Galbraith Acquired: 2008 12th round bantam pick
Defense, 5'6", 135 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Northwest Sharks (Alberta Cup)	4	2	1	3	8
Spruce Grove Timberwolves (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	8	15	23	85
Spruce Grove Timberwolves (AMBHL AAA bantam - PLF)	2	0	0	0	2
Spruce Grove Timberwolves (Edmonton tournament)	5	1	1	2	4
Jesse Hall Acquired: 2006 7th round bantam pick
Center, 5'11", 160 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Winnipeg Thrashers (MMHL AAA midget)	38	25	27	52	56
Winnipeg Thrashers (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	9	5	5	10	8
Winnipeg Thrashers (Telus Cup)	7	4	9	13	8
Graham Hildebrand Acquired: listed player
Goaltender, 5'9", 160 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	GAA	W	L	T/OTL	SV%
Beardys Blackhawks (SMHL AAA midget)	27	2.30	16	8	3	0.918
Beardys Blackhawks (SMHL AAA midget - PLF)	4	3.12	1	3	0	0.868
Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)	1	2.96	0	0	1	0.921
Western (World U-17 Challenge)	1	6.00	1	0	0	0.846
Jay Hudon Acquired: 2007 8th round bantam pick
Goaltender, 6'2", 175 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	GAA	W	L	T/OTL	SV%
Tisdale Ramblers (CFHL AA midget)	13	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Wheaton King Acquired: 2007 6th round bantam pick
Center, 6'2", 170 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Brandon Wheat Kings (MMHL AAA midget)	39	9	16	25	53
Brandon Wheat Kings (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	6	1	3	4	6
- younger brother of Sanfred King of Brandon. This guy will own the coolest name in the league if he makes the team: "Wheat King of the Wheat Kings"....
Kyle Krzyzaniak Acquired: listed player
Defense, 6'2", 170 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Yellowhead Chiefs (MMHL AAA midget)	40	6	13	19	60
Yellowhead Chiefs (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	5	2	1	3	4
Aaron Lewadniuk Acquired: trade with Portland
Center, 5'11", 172 lb 08-09 Age: 19
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Omaha Lancers (USHL)	58	15	24	39	59
- Lewadniuk is headed NCAA (Bemidji State) in 2008-09.
Austin Lewis Acquired: 2008 9th round bantam pick
Center, 5'8", 160 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Brandon (Directors Cup)	4	0	1	1	4
Brandon Wheat Kings (MB AAA bantam)	6	2	7	9	2
Brandon Wheat Kings (WMHA AA midget)	1	0	0	0	0
Brandon Wheat Kings (WMHA AAA bantam)	30	25	17	42	34
Liam Liston Acquired: 2008 3rd round bantam pick
Goaltender, 6'1", 165 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	GAA	W	L	T/OTL	SV%
Northwest Sharks (Alberta Cup)	4	3.67	1	1	2	0.939
St. Albert Sabres (AMBHL AAA bantam)	19	3.40	8	7	4	0.903
St. Albert Sabres (AMBHL AAA bantam - PLF)	2	7.50	0	2	0	0.847
St. Albert Sabres (St. Albert tournament)	4	3.25	2	2	0	0.915
Jens Meilleur Acquired: 2008 7th round bantam pick
Right Wing, 5'10", 130 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Central Plains (Directors Cup)	4	1	3	4	4
Winnipeg Hawks (WMHA AAA bantam)	30	20	15	35	14
Ryley Miller Acquired: 2007 2nd round bantam pick
Defense, 6'1", 185 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
St. Albert Raiders (AMHL AAA midget)	stats not available
St. Albert Raiders (Macs Midget)	4	1	0	1	8
Jeff Olson Acquired: 2008 5th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 5'11", 155 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
West Central Klippers (CFHL AA bantam)	18	21	24	45	77
Beardys Blackhawks (CFHL AA midget)	24	10	21	31	36
Jesse Pentland Acquired: 2007 11th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 6'1", 170 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Calgary Rangers (SAML midget 15 y.o.)	stats not available
Brandon Regier Acquired: 2007 1st round bantam pick
Right Wing, 5'11", 180 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Fraser Valley Bruins (BCAHA AAA midget)	31	15	4	19	150
Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)	4	0	0	0	0
Tyler Rimmer Acquired: 2007 14th round bantam pick
Goaltender, 5'8", 155 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	GAA	W	L	T/OTL	SV%
Edmonton K of C Pats (AMHL AAA midget)	stats not available
Edmonton K of C Pats (Macs Midget)	3	4.96	0	1	1	0.853
Stephane Robidaux Acquired: 2006 11th round bantam pick
Defense, 6'1", 175 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Pembina Valley Hawks (MMHL AAA midget)	38	6	16	22	58
Pembina Valley Hawks (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	11	1	6	7	14
Brett Rock Acquired: 2006 8th round bantam pick
Defense, 6'2", 195 lb 08-09 Age: 17
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (AMHL AAA midget)	stats not available
Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (Macs Midget)	4	1	0	1	0
Brendan Rouse Acquired: 2007 5th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 5'11", 160 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Abbotsford Pilots (PIJHL Jr B)	1	0	0	0	0
Rylan Schwartz Acquired: trade with Spokane
Center, 5'10", 180 lb 08-09 Age: 18
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Notre Dame Hounds (Macs Midget)	4	4	0	4	4
Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL Jr A)	56	29	34	63	83
- Schwartz is bound for Colorado College in 08-09.
Jesse Sinatynski Acquired: 2007 13th round bantam pick
Center, 5'10", 160 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (REM midget 15 y.o.)	29	37	46	83	123
Derek Sobkow Acquired: 2008 11th round bantam pick
Defense, 5'8.5", 130 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Brandon (Directors Cup)	4	0	0	0	6
Brandon Wheat Kings (WMHA AA midget)	3	0	0	0	4
Brandon Wheat Kings (WMHA AAA bantam)	30	2	9	11	28
Mark Stone Acquired: 2007 5th round bantam pick
Right Wing, 6'1", 170 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Winnipeg Thrashers (MMHL AAA midget)	40	22	31	53	28
Winnipeg Thrashers (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	9	7	7	14	2
Winnipeg Thrashers (Telus Cup)	7	8	5	13	4
- Stone is the younger brother of the Hitmen's Michael Stone.
Lee Stykel Acquired: 2007 9th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 5'10", 155 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Moose Jaw Warriors (Macs Midget)	3	0	1	1	0
Moose Jaw Warriors (SMHL AAA midget)	39	4	3	7	18
Moose Jaw Warriors (SMHL AAA midget - PLF)	4	0	1	1	0
Jason Swyripa Acquired: 2008 2nd round bantam pick
Center, 5'8", 155 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
South Senators (Alberta Cup)	5	4	4	8	12
Airdrie Xtreme (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	37	70	107	95
Airdrie Xtreme (AMBHL AAA bantam - PLF)	10	7	9	16	18
Airdrie Xtreme (Western championships)	5	4	7	11	14
David Toews Acquired: 2005 6th round bantam pick
Left Wing, 5'10", 180 lb 08-09 Age: 18
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Shattuck-St. Mary's (USA H.S.)	51	44	56	100	20
- Toews is headed to NCAA (North Dakota) for 08-09.
Brenden Walker Acquired: 2007 12th round bantam pick
Center, 5'11", 170 lb 08-09 Age: 16
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Eastman Selects (MMHL AAA midget)	39	24	24	48	46
Eastman Selects (MMHL AAA midget - PLF)	5	4	4	8	0
Klarc Wilson Acquired: 2008 1st round bantam pick
Right Wing, 6'0", 183 lb 08-09 Age: 15
	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Edmonton North Oilers (Alberta Cup)	5	1	2	3	12
Edmonton K of C Squires (AMBHL AAA bantam)	31	34	45	79	52
Edmonton K of C Squires (Edmonton tournament)	4	3	5	8	8
Edmonton K of C Centennials (REM midget 15 y.o.)	2	0	1	1	0

NHL non-signings

The deadline for NHL teams to sign their 2006 draft picks passed over the weekend....of WHL relevance, the Wild did not sign Ondrej Fiala (Saskatoon), the Blue Jackets did not sign Ben Wright (Lethbridge) or Jesse Dudas (Swift Current), the Flames did not sign Juuso Puustinen (Kamloops), the Canadiens did not sign Cameron Cepek (Edmonton), the Canucks did not sign Evan Fuller (Moose Jaw), and the Lightning did not sign Dane Crowley (Everett).

From the WHL perspective, the non-signings of Fiala, Crowley, and Puustinen make no difference since none of them were going to be in the league next year anyway - Fiala and Crowley were overage this past year while Puustinen has already signed a pro contract in Finland for next year.

Wright, Dudas, Cepek, and Fuller though will all now re-enter the 2008 draft this month, and their chances of being back in the WHL as overagers next season just went way up.

First offseason trade

First trade of the offseason was made tonight between Seattle and Red Deer. Red Deer acquires '91 forward Steve Oursov from Seattle for '90 forward Mike Krgovich and a 2010 5th round bantam pick. Oursov played three games for Seattle last year but spent the season in the BCHL with Trail. Krgovich played 63 games for Red Deer last year, posting 7 points.

This must be the beginning of the annual Red Deer purge, where the Rebels trade away everybody who played for the team last year and start the new season with 20 new guys. They've done that the last two or three years now.

Monday notes

Still plugging away on the prospects stuff. Looking at the poll, I think we might have some ballot-stuffing going on from a Brandon fan or two since that team went from about 10 votes to about 35 overnight. I have no way to enforce that people only vote once in this poll, so all I can say is just please play nicely. Every team is going to get done eventually no matter how many or few votes they might get.

For today, if you want an interesting read, you should check out Mike Remmerde's blog, NHL Draft Notes. Mike is a scout for the independant NHL scouting service, Red Line Report, and for the last few days he has been posting his analysis of a good number of the WHL's top prospects. Want to know what somebody who actually gets paid to scout possible NHL players thinks of some of your favourite draft-eligibles this year? Check it out.....

One more thing about Mike Remmerde's comments.....I know he sounds critical of some of the kids and I know that isn't going to play well with some fans. But you have to remember that an NHL scout's job is not to analyze how well a kid does against WHL competition but rather to project how he might do against NHL competition starting in three or four years. All of these players are very good players at the WHL level and sometimes as WHL fans it might look like they don't have many faults. But keep in mind that almost every single player in the NHL was also a big star when he was junior aged. At the WHL level, future NHL prospects are playing against (typically) no more than 2 or 3 future NHLers on each opposing team. At the NHL level, it will be like playing against a CHL all-star team. A defenceman who is a little slow of foot can probably get by at the WHL level because most of his opponents probably are too, but at the NHL level he'll get burned. A goaltender who is a little weak on high shots might be OK in the WHL because most WHL forwards can't consistently pick those top corners, but in the NHL they can and the kid will get lit up. A WHL forward who needs that extra half-second to find the open man can probably still put up the points in the WHL, but at the NHL level the defenceman will tie him up before he can get the pass away. It goes on and on...so scouts have to focus on those weaknesses. It's their job to come up with reasons why a kid might NOT play in the NHL just as much as it is to come up with reasons why he WILL. Just keep that in mind....

Prospects update

Just a quick note....I hope I didn't mislead anyone about the timeline of these team prospect capsules I'm working up. You won't be seeing any of them before early next week at the earliest and it will probably take me a couple weeks to get all 22 of them posted.

Part of what's holding me up is the lack of final season stats from the Alberta Midget Hockey League (http://www.amhl.ab.ca), since there's a lot of WHL prospects in that league. Also no final stats from the Southern Alberta Midget League (http://www.saml.ca) and there's a number of '92 WHL prospects in that league last year too. The AMHL should make theirs available eventually....I wouldn't be so sure of the SAML doing it though, they did last year but not the year before that. If I have everything else done and still no stats from one or both of those leagues then I'm just going to go ahead and do it without them.

I have the team prospect lists and about 90% of the stats I need so it's just a matter of matching up prospects with stats and looking up heights, weights, etc. Not rocket science stuff but it is time consuming so that's why you won't see anything until after the weekend.

Meantime, keep voting if you haven't already.....Everett, Portland, and Saskatoon are looking like the first teams I'll be doing. After that, it's pretty close down the board....

Bourdon killed

One of the Vancouver Canucks' top prospects, defenceman Luc Bourdon, was killed this morning in a motorcycle accident in his home province of New Brunswick. Reports are that he lost control of his motorcyle and collided with a semi-trailer.

He was the 10th overall pick in the 2005 NHL draft and won the 2006 and 2007 World Junior gold medals with Canada as well as starring at the 2006 Memorial Cup with the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats.

Very sad.....

Team-by-team prospects

Well, it's now the offseason in the WHL, which means there's really only one thing for fans to do: start talking about next year's team!

So, what I'm going to do over the next little while (days, weeks, however long this takes) is go team-by-team through the prospects of each WHL team. You're not going to get a lot of detail since I don't know a lot about most players, so what you'll get will be the basics: age, position, height, weight, 07-08 stats, and how the team acquired that player's rights.

Doesn't matter to me what order I do the teams in....so what I'll do here is make it interactive and let you readers decide that. I'll set up a poll and you guys can vote on the team you're most interested in.....and when I have time to do a team, I'll look at which team is currently leading the poll. OK?

Tuesday

Chiefs dynasty coming?

Could this be just the start of a 2 or 3 year run for the Chiefs? It could very well be....their losses for next season, while not inconsequential, are not crippling either. In fact, of the 23 players on their 07-08 roster, they should have 17 of them back next season. The only six losses will be the three overagers (Blackwater, Bruton, Rutherford) which every team in junior hockey loses, plus three of their six '88s since they can only keep three of them as next year's overagers.

The six overage candidates are Armstrong (G), Compton (F), Falk (D), Glass (D), Kelner (F/D), and McCrae (F). Falk and McCrae may be headed pro since they were both drafted last year, but on the other hand, their NHL teams still have another year yet to sign them so they may end up being returned to junior. If one of both of those guys comes back, they are no-brainers to have overage spots next year. The other no-brainer is Glass, who was probably the team's best defenceman if it wasn't Falk. Compton and Kelner's statuses probably depend on whether Falk and/or McCrae are back, but neither Compton nor Kelner would be a huge loss if they were not back. They were both 3rd/4th line depth players more than key players on this year's team. Valuable depth players, yes, but much more easily replaceable than a top-liner. Armstrong is pretty much a sure thing to be gone since he is the backup goalie and almost nobody keeps overage backup goalies. He'll be traded somewhere else in the WHL for next year, someplace where he can be the starter.

They will definitely return three of their four top scorers (Bowman, Wahl, Roman), plus at least five (Glass, Spurgeon, Reddington, Ulmer, Cowen) of their top six defencemen, and (maybe most importantly) their #1 goaltender, Tokarski. With a few other forwards like Johnson and Koper probably ready to take on larger offensive roles to help offset the loss of guys like Bruton, Blackwater and Rutherford, I don't see why this team can't be just as good next year as they were this year.

Looking even longer-term than this, I think a three-year run is not out of the question for the Chiefs either, given that players like Wahl, Johnson, Koper, Ulmer, Reddington, and Cowen are all 17 or younger and will be around for two more years yet, barring them going to the NHL. 18 year olds like Tokarski and Spurgeon are decent to good bets for overagers in two years as well, because of their height and/or NHL undrafted status. That is a really good core group there for two years from now yet, and assuming the management continues to surround those guys with more good 16/17 year olds this year, they could still be a force in 2009-10.

Couple other notes.....maybe a bit of a rant, actually.

I'm sick already of people (Kitchener fans mostly but not exclusively) talking about how the Rangers "should" have won the Cup and how the Chiefs are destroying the game of hockey with their dull style, yadda yadda yadda.

Let's straighten this out: the only trophy the Rangers should have won is Most Overrated. They were 2-3 at the Memorial Cup: that's not even .500 and some idiots think they deserved to have won it instead of a team that was 4-0? They lost not once but TWICE to Spokane in their own rink, and some idiots still think they deserved to have won it?

The Rangers scored 18 goals in three games against everyone else. They scored two goals in two games against Spokane. The Memorial Cup's most overrated player, Justin Azevedo, scored 11 points against the rest.....ZERO against Spokane. The evidence is clear: Kitchener was not better than Spokane.

Then there's the goofs who have to point out that Kitchener's best player, goalie Steve Mason, did not play in the Cup because he was hurt. And I say, who cares....would Mason have scored a couple goals against Spokane? Because that's what did the Rangers in, their inability to score goals when it counted, and not their goaltending. The Rangers took 91 shots at Dustin Tokarski over two games, and scored on TWO of them. Brutal.

For that matter, anyone who says the Chiefs play a trap is nuts: they gave up 91 shots in those two games. If that's playing the trap, then they are the worst trapping team of all time since one of the signatures of an effective trap is low shot totals. The Chiefs were the 4th-highest scoring team in the WHL this year, and 2nd-best defensively....yes, they stress defence first, but it's not like they don't score. They play very well at both ends of the ice, and that's why they won.

Spokane vs Ktichener

1-1 after one period....the first period unfolded as many expected, with Kitchener coming out extremely hard and carrying the play for the first 8-10 minutes of the period. They get a goal on a pass out of the corner which sees Tokarski play the puck right onto the stick of Brandon Mashinter standing in front of the net. 1-0 Rangers.....not a real big deal, they've scored first in all four games they've played in this tournament and still only won two of them.

Chiefs started coming around a little bit more after the midway point or so and get a powerplay goal from Judd Blackwater after a nice feed into the slot from Ondrej Roman going around the net. Both Rangers d-men decided to chase Roman, leaving the front of the net open....obviously defensive hockey isn't something practiced a lot in Kitchener.

Thought the Chiefs got the benefit on a couple calls/non-calls from the refs. Fans in Kitchener not happy with the refs, they might have a case. No complaints here.

Second period starts soon.....

Update: second period over now and it was a much better one for the Chiefs. They carried the play overall, and two goals in the first five minutes of the period have staked them to a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. Fairly similar goals, the first a partially-screened wrister from Drayson Bowman at the top of the left circle, and then just over a minute later, on a powerplay, Trevor Glass takes the puck off a faceoff and puts a wrister just perfectly into the top right corner from above the right faceoff circle. Neither of them will go on Rangers goalie Josh Unice's career highlight reel but to be fair, that was a hell of a shot from Glass.

Refs were more pro-Kitchener in this period....I'd call them pretty even on the game now. Rangers powerplay is terrible though, while the Chiefs are 2-for-4. Anyone seen CHL "player of the year" Justin Azevedo this afternoon? He has 11 points in three games against Belleville and Gatineau but completely invisible in five periods against the Chiefs so far this tournament.

The Rangers' Mike Duco won the trophy for the CHL's stupidest facial hair, and it's easy to see why it was a unanimous win. He's also very lucky not to have gotten a penalty for cross-checking Dustin Tokarski as time expired in the period.

Chiefs are 20 minutes away from being Memorial Cup champs....if they keep playing like they did in the second period, it'll happen....

Update: game's over.....as I felt at the end of the second, if the Chiefs played the third the way they did in the second, they should win, and they did. The Rangers poured it on and had a number of scoring chances but could not put the puck in the net. The only goal of the period was Josh Cowen's empty-netter to make it a 4-1 final. Going all the way back to the third round of the WHL playoffs, the Chiefs won nine straight games to close out the season. Every champion team wins their last game....how many win their last NINE?

True to form, the two idiots on Sportsnet's broadcast team never stopped yapping about the Rangers, what a great team they were, blah blah blah. Only the usual platitudes were extended to the Chiefs. No respect from those goofs at all. I think Rob Faulds even introduced Mitch Wahl as "Nick Wahl" while interviewing him after the game.

The Chiefs might also end up being the last team to ever win THAT Memorial Cup, since Chiefs captain Chris Bruton dropped the Cup on the ice while trying to pass it off to his teammates, as the Cup broke into two pieces in his hands, the bowl snapping off from the base. I'm sure David Branch gave it a good whack before handing it to Bruton....Branch screwing the Chiefs yet again.

On the positive side, it meant two Chiefs players got to celebrate with the Cup at a time....one hoisting the base while the other hoisted the bowl. Sure cut down the length of time required for on-ice celebrating....

Anyways, that wraps up the junior hockey season. Big congratulations to the Spokane Chiefs and their fans, they did the WHL proud and are clearly the best team in the CHL this year. With their relatively young roster, who knows, they could be back to do it again next year. They'll certainly be one of the big favourites to win the WHL again next year come September.

Oh, and the winner of the WHL quote of the year....

"Oops!"

- Chris Bruton, May 25, 2008.

Chiefs vs. the greatest team ever

It will be the Chiefs against the Kitchener Rangers for the Memorial Cup, after the Rangers laid a horrific beating on Belleville in the semifinal, 9-0. Nine goals is the largest margin of victory ever in a Memorial Cup semifinal or final since the round-robin format was introduced.

This was not the Rangers team we saw in their three round-robin games. This was the team we were expecting to see from the beginning of the tournament. They were very, very good tonight and if they play like this on Sunday, the Chiefs are going to have their work cut out for them.

All that being said, I found the incessant fawning over the Rangers coming from Sportsnet's commentators to be very off-putting. This game was all but over by the end of the first period (when Kitchener lead 4-0 already) and by midway through the second period, those two clowns had abandoned any pretense of calling the action and instead conducted a Rangers love-in for the rest of the game, ignoring the play and just gushing on and on and on about this guy and that guy and the next guy on the Rangers. The dozens of future NHLers on the team, how Peter DeBoer needs a bridge or a national park or something named after him, and I think they might have even dipped into discussing which current Rangers' future offspring will discover the cure for cancer, but I finally had to mute them. The hard-ons these two guys have for Kitchener are unreal....I can understand Cosentino's OHL fixation since I don't think he has ever actually been outside of Ontario, but you'd think Loubardias could temper the Kitchener drooling a little considering he's from Saskatchewan and used to do p-b-p for the Pats....

If the Rangers wallop the Chiefs on Sunday then I'll be the first one to agree they're the best team. But they haven't won anything yet and if the Chiefs beat them on Sunday I certainly hope we'll get to listen to Tweedledee and Tweedledum sing the same kind of praises of the Chiefs players and coaches as they did tonight for the Rangers. I won't hold my breath that they will though.....

Friday notes

Just a few notes from the last few days after an off-day yesterday at the Memorial Cup....

Prince Albert became the third WHL team to sign their 2008 first-round bantam pick yesterday when they inked Mark McNeill. The first two to sign their first-rounders were Edmonton (Michael St. Croix) and Kamloops (Colin Smith). There may actually be others that have already signed, but those are the first three to be announced, anyway. Some teams might not make announcements...

Hot on the heels of the Smith signing though, Kamloops fired director of player personnel Gord Loiselle today. This move comes almost a year to the day after Loiselle was cut loose from his head scouting job with Portland. I'm guessing he didn't see eye-to-eye with new Blazers G.M. Craig Bonner on some PPL management or drafting issues.

Two more WHLers signed NHL contracts this week - Brady Calla of Kamloops signed with Florida, and Calgary's Karl Alzner signed with Washington. The signings probably put an end to any chance of either player returning to the WHL next season.....not that Alzner was ever likely to in the first place, but Calla could have been an overage candidate for the Blazers had he not been able to get signed.

Regina Pats hecklers be warned: the Pats' Garrett Mitchell is also one of the best high school-aged discus and javelin throwers in Saskatchewan. In other words, from the blueline he can throw his stick far enough to hit you, ten rows up behind the far net. Keep that in mind next year before you comment on his abilities.....