Calgary makes big statement in Game 1

In Calgary, the Hitmen rolled over the Tri-City Americans 7-0 in Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series. The Hitmen scored four goals in less than five minutes in the first period chasing Ams goalie Drew Owsley who gave up the four goals on only nine shots. Cody Sylvester starting the scoring at 6:08 when he netted his 10th of the playoffs. That was followed by back to back goals less than a minute apart from Matt MacKenzie, both on the power play. MacKenzie now has six goals in the playoffs. Misha Fisenko added another goal 51 seconds later to make it 4-0 and send Owsley to the bench. Back up goalie Alexander Pechurskiy who hasn't played in a long long time, only fared slightly better allowing three goals on 14 shots. On the other side Martin Jones saved all 26 shots he faced for the shut out. Jones is a very hot goaltender at the absolute best possible time for the Hitmen. Calgary added to their lead with two more goals in the second and a goal in the third. Fisenko ended up with two goals on the night and now has six in the playoffs.Brandon Kozun scored his 8th of the playoffs and Ben Wilson scored his first. The Ams went 0 for 5 on the power play while Calgary was 2 for 4. Nearly 11,000 people took in game 1. The Americans simply got their butts kicked in this game and they'll need to make a very quick recovery as Game 2 will be Saturday night in Calgary. Another performance like this one by the Ams and this could end up being a very short series.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Thoughts on the bantam draft as Seattle goes bigger.. but is it better?

This is going to be a shock to most of you but I think I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about the draft rather than rattling on about this pick or that pick. The fact remains that with this draft of 14 and 15 year old kids it's nearly impossible to know what you're going to get. Some may never show up in Seattle and others can underachieve or overachieve based on expectations. No league that any of these guys come from can compare to the WHL and playing 72 games with all of the travel involved. So until two or three years from now we won't know much. There is no such thing as a "sure thing" in life, just ask the Washington Capitals.

Seattle first pick was Jared Hauf a D man from Calgary (yes..another) who is already 6'4" 170. So he's going to be huge in size at least. This means nothing of course until he puts his size to good use. Some people wanted a forward, a word that doesn't seem to exist in the T-Birds vocabulary it would seem. I have heard from one source that has seen him play that right now he's "not bad." But here I am rattling on.. what do you have to say?

The Birds put out a press release with quotes from Russ Farwell and "scouts" saying wonderful things about everyone. I don't want to quote spin so I won't. Some of the remarks may very well be on the mark but who knows?

In the second round Seattle picked yet another D-man but not from Calgary! It's Taylor Green from Port Coquitlam B.C. and he checks in at a whopping 6'6" 202!  What will that translate to in three years?

In the third round finally a forward..James Neil..6'0" 165 from White Rock, B.C. Also in the third round another D-man.. Shea Theodore..5'11" 145 from Aldergrove B.C.

 So let me start off the conversation by giving you a few quotes from my own "anonymous" sources:

"The bigger we draft the dream seem further away..."

"We should have picked Morrissey" (this would be D-man Josh Morrissey who went two picks after Seattle to Prince Albert in the first round)

"Russ is trying to emulate Portland.."  (This is true.. but can they SKATE?)

"I wish we would have picked a forward in the first round..."

For some rain man like coverage of the draft you can go to Alan Caldwell's Small Thoughts at Large blog. Also check out Greg Drinnan's Taking Note.

One side note..Forward Robbie Ciolfi is officially gone from the Birds.

OK now it's your turn...

I can be reached at [email protected]

Calgary Hitmen will be crowned WHL Champions

So here is my final prediction of the 2010 WHL playoffs. It has been a great post-season for sure. We've seen lots of road victories, big performances from the top scorers, and some great goaltending from unlikely sources. Many feel that it should indeed have come down to the top two teams in the league during the regular season going at it for the Ed Chynoweth Cup. That's exactly what we're going to get as the Tri-City Americans take on the Calgary Hitmen. Tri-City has never reached this point before and Calgary has only won it all once, in 1999. It should be a great series.

My pick is in bold


Calgary vs. Tri-City

The Hitmen survived a big scare in the first round against the Moose Jaw Warriors who took them to seven games after going up 3-1. Since that point the Hitmen have gotten better and better. In the second round they beat the Medicine Hat Tigers in six and in the Conference Final they defeated a very good Brandon team in just five. Goalie Martin Jones who struggled a bit early in the playoffs has also hit his stride. Brandon Kozun has led the way for the Hitmen with 26 points while Joel Broda has 12 goals. Many were calling for Head Coach Mike Williamson's head during the Warriors series but he has led his team back to the Finals.

The Ams weren't impressive in their first round series either, as the Chilliwack Bruins took them to six games. In the second round they faced the Kelowna Rockets who had just ousted the Everett Silvertips and were the defending champs. They took care of them in just five games. In the Conference Final they had to take on Don Hay's high flying Vancouver Giants and won the series in six. They sport a very potent power play and when they play well five on five are tough to beat. Brendan Shinniman leads the Ams with 22 points while Kruise Reddick has 21. Drew Owsley has been the best goalie so far in the playoffs with a 2.14 GAA. Their head coach Jim Hiller who was unceremoniously fired by Chilliwack after last season has done what Don Hay, Don Nachbaur and no other Tri-City coach has been able to do.. get the AMS to the Championship Series. The Ams accomplishments this season have been admirable but now they face a very confident, playoff savvy team that it hungry to finally end the post season disappointments. It's not an easy series to call but with home ice advantage I think Calgary will take the crown.


Offense: even
Defense: edge Calgary
Goaltending: edge Calgary
Special Teams: edge Calgary
Coaching: edge Calgary

Prediction: Calgary in 6


Coming Thursday: The Bantam Draft.. Greg Drinnan whose blog, Taking Note is listed in my favorite blogs section reports that the Birds might be looking to trade their number four pick for an 18 or 19 year old impact player. This isn't a bad idea because Seattle needs something for this coming season and they need to get older. Also we all know Colin Alexander's draft record. I say go for it. We'll see what happens.

Update: The WHL awarded goaltender of the year to Calgary's Martin Jones. This is not a surprise but it's also wrong. Jones had what is soon to be the best team in the league playing in front of him. He didn't come close to facing the amount of shots that Calvin Pickard faced and one wonders how many quality shots he ended up facing with that D. Calvin played on the 4th worst team in the league. Calvin actually played 800 more minutes and faced nearly 1,000 more shots.. a thousand! Yet he still had a stellar .914 save percentage and gave up only around  .8 of a goal more per 60 minutes than Jones. He played in 62 games to Jones' 48.


There is no doubt a Calgary bias in this league and that's no surprise either.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Tri-City wins their first Western Conference Championship

So with all of the road victories and underdogs performing valiantly throughout these playoffs, it will still be the two top seeds from their respective conferences heading to the WHL Championship Series. The Tri-City Americans defeated the Vancouver Giants by a score of 5-2 in Game 6 in Vancouver to win their series 4 games to 2. This will be the first time the Ams get a chance to win the league championship and advance to the Memorial Cup in Brandon. It was the Giants who got things started with a goal from Milan Kytnar, his 3rd of the playoffs on the power play at 9:27 of the first period. However less than a minute later the Ams scored a power play goal as Johnny Lazo (6th) tied the game. Shortly after Lazo tied it, Justin Feser (3rd) gave the Ams the lead with another power play goal at 12:49 of the first. Tri took a 2-1 lead into the second period but Craig Cunningham scored his 12th goal of the playoffs at 7:35 on the power play to tie the game at 2. That's the way things would stay until the opening minute of the third when Patrick Holland netted his 3rd of the playoffs to give the Ams a 3-2 lead and behind the goaltending of Drew Owsley that lead would hold up. Kruise Reddick (9th) and Sergei Drozd (8th) finished the scoring for the Ams. Five of the seven goals in the game were on the power play as Tri went 3 for 7 and Vancouver went 2 for 9. Owsley stopped 30 of 32 shots and Mark Segal stopped 27 of 32. Since the Canucks were playing in Game 6 as well in Los Angeles there was a small crowd watching this one as only 5,538 were in attendance. 


The Giants went further than many thought they would behind some solid offense, especially by Gallagher and Cunningham and better than expected goaltending by Mark Segal. The Ams were clearly the better team though in this series and going into the WHL Championship against Calgary it looks like their power play is on fire and they have been getting offense from several different players. Drew Owsley has been the best goaltender in the playoffs thus far but he'll have his work cut out for him against the Hitmen forwards. He'll also have Martin Jones across the ice and Jones has been getting better and better as the playoffs have moved along. 


It should be a great series and I'll have my preview in the next day or two.




Right now it's time to recap how I did with my third round predictions:


Tri-City over Vancouver...ding!
Brandon over Calgary..buzz!




Calgary really did surprise me especially winning in 5. So 50/50 in the third round and now 11 of 14 overall.


I can be reached at [email protected]

Calgary returns to WHL Championship Series, Ams one game away...U.S. wins gold once again

In Calgary, the Hitmen dominate the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-1 and win the Eastern Conference Championship 4 games to 1. Over the last two post-seasons the Hitmen have won 8 of 9 against Brandon. Calgary out shot Brandon 39-21. I didn't see this game but it sure looks like Brandon did what some thought they would do which is phone the game in being down 3 games to 1 and knowing they are headed for the Cup anyway. Brandon was never really in this one as Calgary scored the first four goals of the game and led 4-0 halfway through the third period. Mark Stone finally scored for Brandon at 12:00 of the third to get them to within three goals but that would be the only goal the Wheaties could muster off Martin Jones who stopped 20 shots. Brandon Kozun had a big night for the Hitmen, with 2 goals and 2 assists. Kozun now has 7 goals in the playoffs. Jaynen Rissling had his first goal of the playoffs and two assists.  Brandon went back to Jacob DeSerres in net and he was peppered all night long facing 14 shots in the first, 13 in the second and 12 in the third. He stopped 33 of 39 overall. Calgary was 2 for 8 on the power play and Brandon was 0 for 4. There were 11,222 spectators taking in the big series clinching game. So now Brandon will head home for a few weeks to rest up and practice in anticipation of the Memorial Cup and possibly another shot at finally defeating the Hitmen. Calgary will wait and see who wins the Tri/Vancouver series before hosting Games 1 and 2 of the Championship Series in which they will have home ice advantage.


In Kennewick, the Tri-City Americans take a 3 games to 2 lead against the Vancouver Giants after a 4-1 victory in Game 5. Brendan Shinnimin had a goal and two assists for the Ams and Drew Owsley stopped 40 of 41 shots to earn the victory. The game was tied at 1 about halfway through the game when Tri scored two goals in less than three minutes, both on the power play, as Tyler Schmidt (5th) and Brooks Macek (6th) scored. Vancouver goalie Mark Segal stopped 27 of 31 in the loss. The Ams were 2 for 2 on the power play and Vancouver was 0 for 1. Ams goalie Drew Owsley has been outstanding for the better part of these playoffs and he and his Americans are now one game away from heading to the Chanpionship Series for the first time in their history. Game 6 will be in Vancouver on Sunday.


In Belarus, Team U.S. repeats as gold medal champions in the U-18 Championship defeating Sweden 3-1. Jack Campbell stopped 33 of 34 shots in net for the victory. Finland takes the bronze.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Tri evens up series against Vancouver, regains home ice advantage

In Vancouver, the Tri-City Americans defeat the Giants by a score of 5-2 to even the series at two games each. Vancouver struck first on the power play as Brendan Gallagher scored his 11th goal of these playoffs at 9:32 of the first period. Tri responded with goals from Plouffe (1st) and Messier (5th) to take a 2-1 lead at 5:01 of the second period. Less than three minutes later it was David Musil with his second of the playoffs on the power play to tie the game at 2. However Tri once again responded, this time on the power play to take a 3-2 lead at 10:49 of the second period as Adam Hughesman scored his second goal of the playoffs. That would end up being the game winner as Tri was able to hold the lead the rest of the game as well as add two empty net goals from Reddick (8th) and Feser (2nd). Ams goalie Drew Owsley had a solid game, stopping 30 of 32 while Vancouver's Mark Segal did not have one of his best games stopping 20 of 23. Unlike previous games the Ams were able to score five on five as only one of their goals came on the PP. They went 1 for 2 in that category while the Giants went 2 for 3. The Ams regain home ice advantage as the scene now shifts back to Kennewick for Game 5 which because of a scheduling issue will be played Friday night. A short turnaround for a big swing game.


In Belarus, Team Canada finished their U-18 Championship tournament by defeating Slovakia 4-2. It was another fairly quiet night for Calvin Pickard as he only had to face 19 shots making 17 saves. So that does it for Canada who will return to the top Group next season. Team U.S. plays Friday night against Sweden for the gold medal.


I can be reached at [email protected]

Brandon changes goaltenders again.. now find themselves facing elimination

In Brandon, Wheat Kings Head Coach Kelly McCrimmon pushes the panic button once again and switches from Jacob DeSerres to Andrew Hayes to start Game 4. Hayes ends up giving up 4 goals on only 24 shots as the Wheat Kings lose to the Calgary Hitmen 4-3 and now trail 3 games to 1. Brandon out shot Calgary 37-24 but Calgary's Martin Jones stopped 34 shots for the big win. Brandon scored the first two goals but Calgary responded by netting four straight, three in the second period to take a 4-2 lead midway through the third period. In the middle of all of the scoring for Calgary was Kris Foucault who scored back to back goals within a minute and a half of each other and he now has 8 goals in the playoffs. Brenden Walker scored his second goal of the playoffs with just under three minutes left in the game to get the Wheat Kings to within one but it was too little too late. Brandon can look at two things when it comes to why they are one loss away from elimination (until the Memorial Cup). First of all they went 0 for 6 on the power play (Calgary was 0 for 3). Secondly, I don't know why McCrimmon went with Hayes in this game. He has done this at least twice in these playoffs after DeSerres has had an off night and while it may be understandable early in the playoffs by the third round you can't press the panic button after one game. DeSerres has obviously been his number one guy, and he's gotten his team this far so why change now? Hayes hadn't played in a bit and it probably affected his performance tonight. The eventual game winning goal was given up in the third period when Calgary only managed 3 shots. Basically you are telling your back up guy that he has to win in a must win situation. I wouldn't expect this kind of decision from a veteran bench boss like McCrimmon. It may have just cost his team dearly. Brandon now must win the next three games, two of which will be in Calgary. That's where Game 5 will be on Friday night.


In Belarus, Team Canada behind a solid if not relatively easy effort by Calvin Pickard defeat Latvia 5-1 to stay in the top Group for next year's tournament in the U-18 Championships. Pickard stopped 15 of 16 shots.Canada will take on Slovakia in their final game Thursday which will be all but meaningless. Meanwhile team U.S. defeats Finland 5-0 and will now defend their gold medal from last year's tournament against Sweden on Friday.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Calgary wins a big swing game in Brandon and Vancouver takes out Tri in OT...also Edmonton cans Pleau

In Brandon, the Calgary Hitmen defeat the Wheat Kings 6-3 despite being out shot 43-21. After out scoring Brandon 4-0 in the first period including goals from Cody Sylvester(9th) and Joel Broda(10th) it was Matt Calvert who tried to carry his team on his back by scoring a hat trick in the second period to pull Brandon to within one at 4-3 going into the third period. Calvert scored all three second period goals and now has nine in the playoffs. The last two of his goals were shorthanded both assisted by Brayden Schenn. The game remained at 4-3 until the last 1:50 of the third when Tyler Fiddler scored two goals within 19 seconds to seal the deal for Calgary who regains home ice advantage and leads the series 2 games to 1. Calgary's Martin Jones had one of his better games of the playoffs stopping 40 of 43 shots while Jacob DeSerres seemed to struggle as he stopped only 15 of 20. The Hitmen were 1 for 4 on the power play and Brandon was 0 for 3 with the two shorties. Game 4 will be played in Brandon on Wednesday night.


In Vancouver, the Don Hay led Giants continue to defy the odds as they defeat the Tri-City Americans by a score of 3-2 in overtime. The Giants now lead the series 2 games to 1. The Giants took an early 2-0 lead on goals by Wright (7th) and Manning (1st) but the Ams came back to tie the game on two power play goals by Macek (5th) and Messier(4th).In overtime it was Tomas Vincour with his 7th of the playoffs at 3:49 to win the game for the Giants. It was another stellar performance by Vancouver goalie Mark Segal that helped lead his team to victory as he stopped 33 of 35 shots and was the first star of the game. Tri-City goalie Drew Owsley stopped 24 of 27. So far in the series Tri seems to be falling into a pattern that plagued them during the season as they are scoring most of their goals on the power play and are being outplayed five on five. Tri was 2 for 3 on the PP while the Giants were 1 for 4. If you asked most people before the playoffs they would have said that the Giants had little chance to go deep with Segal in goal but now they are only two wins away from heading to the WHL Championship Series.Game 4 will be in Vancouver on Thursday night.


I thought team Canada played Tuesday in the U-18 Championship in Belarus but they don't play till Wednesday. They will face Latvia and if they win it means they return to the top division next year if they lose the group remains wide open. Team U.S. won Tuesday over the Czech Republic 6-0 and will now play in the semi-final.


The Edmonton Oil Kings fired Head Coach Steve Pleau and Assistant Coach Rocky Thompson on Tuesday. Pleau had been coaching Edmonton since its first season in 2007-2008. Under his guidance they went 67-116-12-21. The Oil Kings missed the playoffs this season. Edmonton hasn't decided on a new bench boss as of yet.

Kevin Constantine anyone?

Correction: A reader informs me that Matt Calvert of the Wheat Kings actually had three short handed goals not two. Therefore he had a shorthanded natural hat trick. I've never heard of that happening before. Too bad it was in a losing cause.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Seattle gets 4th pick in Bantam draft but does it matter? Also why Constantine won't be coming to Seattle

We are only 10 days away from the big Bantam draft in Edmonton and as we all know by now the Thunderbirds have the 4th overall pick. I've been hearing for months now that the top six or seven guys stand apart from the rest of the pack so we can't mess this one up. Or can we?

If we look at Seattle's recent history when it comes to the draft we have cause for concern. Let's look at the first round picks since 2005.
2005..16th overall pick..Cody Hanson
2006..11th overall pick..Steve Chaffin
2007..16th overall pick.. Erik Fleming
2008..14th overall pick ..Connor Sanvido
2009...12th overall pick..Brandon Troock

As we can see Seattle's first round picks haven't exactly been blockbusters. Hanson had 47 games played with 4 assists and 60 PIM's. Three spots later Kelowna picked Tyler Myers currently of the Buffalo Sabres. Chaffin is out of hockey at least for now, Fleming hasn't looked like a first round pick through two seasons, and Sanvido didn't make the team as a 16 year old, we'll see what happens next season. Troock looked great in limited play at the end of this season but a bad hip injury sidelined him.

In that same time period Everett picked.. Kyle Beach(10th), Kellan Tochkin(13th), Kent Simpson(22nd), Ryan Murray(9th) and Nicholas Walters (8th). Beach is NHL bound, Tochkin has had two outstanding seasons, Simpson is going to be drafted after a spectacular season, Murray as a 16 year old could very well have been the rookie of the year on D, and we have yet to see Walters.

So you are probably thinking.. well yes but now we draft 4th so like I said we can't screw this one up. Well here is a look at 4th overall picks and how they have played out. These are from around the league not just the T-Birds. We will go from 1990 to 2004 to see how these various players have done.. this is tons of info and it comes from the great Ryland Harris Spencer. Thanks Ryland!


What you will find is rather alarming, only one player drafted #4 overall has made the NHL at any point in his career (Cam Barker). Of the 15 players only 9 were even drafted by the NHL. Of those 9, only 1 was in the first round (Cam Barker, 2004 1st Round, 3rd Overall). Not one player averaged a point per game during his time with the highest being Eric Johansson with a .97 PPG.  Of the 15 players there was 10 Forwards, 4 Defensemen and 1 Goalie (Eventual T-Bird Josh Lepp).
 

1990: Bob Brown, Brandon, Center.

GP: 258, G:106, A:110, P: 216. .84 PPG in 4 years all with Brandon. Never drafted. Played as high as the AHL for 1 season and finally retied in 2007.

1991: Dean Kletzel, Spokane, Center.

GP: 166, G:13, A: 24, P: 37. .22 PPG in 5 years with Spokane, Brandon and Kamloops. Never drafted and Never played higher than the WHL

1992: Jake Deadmarsh, Portland, Defense.

GP: 108, G: 2, A:13, P: 15.  .14 PPG in 4 years with Portland, Seattle and Kamloops. Drafted in the 7th Round of the 1996 Draft by San Jose. Never played higher than the ECHL.

1993: Travis Tipler, Moose Jaw, Left Wing.

GP: 136, G:23, A: 27, P: 50. .37 PPG in 3 years with Moose Jaw and Prince George. Never drafted and never played higher than the Central Hockey League.

1994: Dylan Kemp, Prince Albert, Defense.

GP: 168, G: 4, A: 31, P: 35. .21 PPG in 3 years with Prince Albert, Lethbridge and Saskatoon. Drafted in the 9th Round of the 1997 Draft by Buffalo. Never played higher than the WHL.

1995: Paul Elliot, Lethbridge, Defense.

GP: 331, G: 55, A: 153, P: 208. .63 PPG in 6 years with Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Kamloops and Regina. Drafted in the 5th Round of the 1998 Draft by Edmonton. Played as high as the AHL for 3 seasons, still playing in the CHL with the Loredo Bucks.

1996: Stephen George, Moose Jaw, Center.

GP: 24, G: 1, A: 1, P: 2. .08 PPG in 1 season between Moose Jaw and Prince Albert. Biggest flop of the bunch... His PPG is better known as the Legal Limit.

1997: Eric Johansson, Tri City, Center.

GP: 278, G: 114, A: 157, P: 271. .97 PPG in 5 seasons with the Tri City Americans. Drafted twice, first in the 8th Round of the 2000 Draft by Minnesota, then in the 6th Round of the 2002 Draft by New Jersey. Played as high as 3 season in the AHL. Statistically the best Forward.

1998: Greg Watson, Prince Albert, Center.

GP: 283, G: 74, A: 102, P: 176. .62 PPG in 5 seasons with Prince Albert and Brandon. Drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2001 Draft by Florida. Played as high as the AHL for 3 seasons.

1999: Paul Brown, Regina, Left Wing.

GP: 243, G: 51, A: 80, P: 131. .54 PPG in 6 seasons with Regina and Kamloops. Drafted in the 3rd Round of the 2003 Draft by the Nashville. Played as high as the AHL for 3 seasons. 

2000: Josh Lepp, Kelowna, Goalie.

GP: 145, W: 47, L: 68, T:13. Played 5 seasons for Kelown, Seattle, Moose Jaw and Red Deer. Other goalies drafted that same season, Brian Bridges and Mike Wall. Bad year to draft a goalie.

2001: Cam Barker, Medicine Hat, Defense.

GP: 270, G: 64, A: 151, P: 215. .80 PPG in 5 seasons with Medicine Hat. Drafted 3rd Overall in the 2004 draft, by Chicago, behind Ovechkin and Malkin. Has played 212 Games in the NHL with 16 Goals and 68 Assist. Easily the best player drafted out of the 4 spot.

2002: Chris Durand, Seattle, Center.

GP: 364, G: 86, A: 139, P: 225. .62 PPG in 5 seasons with Seattle, Prince George and Saskatoon. Drafted in the 2nd round of the 2005 Draft by Colorado. Picked behind him in the WHL draft were a lot of good names, Carey Price, Devon Setoguchi and Kendall McCardle just to name a few.

2003: Ryan DePape, Prince Albert, Center.
 GP: 291, G: 57, A: 67, P: 124. .42 PPG in 4 seasons with Prince Albert and Regina. Never drafted and never played higher than the WHL.

2004: Dwight King, Lethbridge, Center.

GP: 313, G: 88, A: 123, P: 211. .67 PPG in 5 seasons with Lethbridge. Drafted in the 4th Round of the 2007 Draft by LA. Has yet to play an NHL game but has played in the AHL.

So as you can see just because we get the 4th pick doesn't make it a sure thing that we're getting a top notch player. Colin Alexander, Seattle's scouting boss and draft guru says it is but he's the guy that helped make those recent first round picks that I mentioned earlier. We can always hope for the best.

Speaking of hoping for the best there has been some talk about former Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine, who was just let go by Houston of the AHL, coming back to the WHL. While this may or may not be a reality I don't think there is much chance of him coming to the Thunderbirds. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think that Russ Farwell is more than happy with Rob Sumner and he also wouldn't give Constantine the kind of control he would want. Someone brought up another good point which is that after hiring former Tips head coach John Becanic and letting him go after just one season Russ probably wouldn't want to hire yet another former Tips coach. I haven't heard anything about Constantine wanting to come back to the Dub as of yet but if he does want back I would think that a team such as Spokane would be a better fit for him. We'll revisit this in the future if circumstances change.


I can be reached at [email protected]

Team Canada loses again in U-18 tournament, headed to relegation play

No WHL playoffs till Tuesday night so other than the NHL playoffs there is the U-18 tournament in Belarus. Team Canada knew going into play Sunday that they were out of contention for the championship and were headed to relegation play. I've been informed this means that they will have to win relegation play in order to not drop to Pool B next year. Evidently Pool B is not good. Since the game was meaningless Canada (1-3) didn't start Calvin Pickard.Canada plays Latvia on Tuesday in the first relegation game. Team U.S. on the other hand finished second in the round robin. They play the Czechs on Tuesday in the quarterfinal.  I don't know enough about this tournament to comment on Canada's play but I know that the best players were in the playoffs here so they couldn't participate in the tournament. However I also understand that Canada should have performed a bit better despite this fact. Here is a little recap from the International Ice Hockey Federation's website.

On Monday I will talk a bit about the upcoming WHL bantam draft in particular I will take a look at the Thunderbirds performance or should I say lack of, in past drafts. I will also look at past number four picks since that is where Seattle will draft this time around.

I know that Kevin Constantine has been let go by Houston of the AHL and there has been some talk that he may return to the WHL. We'll discuss where he might go and why he won't be coming to the T-Birds.

Also, am I the only one hooked on the opening montage of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast?

I can be reached at [email protected]

All even after two games in round three

Following in the footsteps of their NHL counterparts both series in the WHL playoffs are tied at one game a piece as Calgary and Tri-City get revenge from Friday night's losses.

In Kennewick, the Americans defeat the Vancouver Giants 4-0 behind the goaltending of Drew Owsley who makes a quick comeback from his sub par performance in Game 1 by stopping all 26 shots he faced. Tri-City got goals from Messier,Shinniman, Lazo and Reddick to cruise, if you will, to the easy victory. As I said after Game 1 the Ams needed to play more disciplined if they wanted to win this series and that's exactly what they did tonight as the Giants were only allowed three power play chances. Obviously they didn't convert on any of them while the Ams went 1 for 7 on the man advantage. That goal, scored by Shinniman, was the result of a double minor assessed  to Vancouver's Craig Cunningham for... get this..head butting! I don't think I've even seen that called before but I guess it drew blood. Vancouver goalie Mark Segal saved 22 of 26 shots after stopping 42 of 44 in Game 1. Once again there was a lackluster crowd in Kennewick as 3,875 took in the game. Game 3 will be played on Tuesday night in Vancouver.


In Calgary, the Hitmen were the recipients of a 5 on 3 power play in overtime and they took advantage as Ian Schultz scored the game winner at 2:23 to give his team the 3-2 win. It was Schultz's 6th goal of these playoffs. I haven't seen the penalties but it's odd to get a two man advantage in overtime especially in the playoffs. The Hitmen blew an early 2-0 lead as Brandon came back to tie it with two goals of their own in the second period. In overtime the Hitmen out shot the Wheat Kings 6-0 thanks in part to that two man advantage. Brandon goalie Jacob DeSerres was 28 of 31 on the night while Calgary's Martin Jones was 24 of 26. The Wheat Kings went 1 for 6 on the power play while Calgary was 1 for 4. There were 8,697 in attendance at the Saddledome. Game 3 of the series will be played in Brandon on Tuesday night.

I don't know about you guys but these playoffs along with the way the NHL playoffs has started have proven to be some of the tightest most evenly matched I've ever seen. Parity anyone?

I can be reached at [email protected]

Road team domination continues as Brandon,Vancouver take Game 1

Keeping in line with the way these playoffs and the NHL playoffs have gone so far the road team wins Game 1 in both series.

In Calgary, the Wheat Kings defeat the Hitmen by a score of 4-2 behind the stellar goaltending of Jacob DeSerres who saved 33 of 35 shots. After falling behind 1-0 the Wheat Kings scored three straight goals capped by Brayden Schenn's 8th of the playoffs. They took that 3-1 lead late into the third until Calgary's Joel Broda scored his 9th of the playoffs with the extra skater to cut the lead to 3-2. However with just one second remaining Matt Calvert scored into the empty net to end the suspense. Calgary goalie Martin Jones saved 26 of 29 shots. The Hitmen were 1 for 2 and Brandon was 1 for 3 on the power play. A pretty decent crowd in Calgary as 8,669 took in the game on a Friday night. Game 2 will be played Saturday in Calgary and then the series will move to Brandon for Games 3 and 4.

In Kennewick, the Tri-City Americans out shoot the Vancouver Giants 44-23 including 19-5 in the third period yet the Giants pull out a 4-2 win thanks to the goaltending of Mark Segal who stopped 42 shots including all 19 in the third. On the other side Drew Owlsey was only 19 of 23. Lots of penalties in this one as there were 16 power plays combined with Vancouver going 2 for 9 and Tri-City 1 for 7. I talked in my preview about the Ams penalty killing issues and they were hurt in that area tonight allowing the Giants to have 9 power play chances. Usually the Ams don't take many penalties and if they want to win this series they will have to get back to that disciplined play. Vancouver scored the final three goals as Brendan Gallagher began that streak by netting his 10th of the playoffs. The eventual winning goal was scored by Greg Lamoureux, it was his first of the playoffs. Tyler Schmidt scored both goals for the Ams. The big story though has to be Mark Segal who stole this one for the Giants. For some reason he wasn't given a star of the game in Tri-City where only 3,899 showed up for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Game 2 will be played there on Saturday and Games 3 and 4 will be in Vancouver.


Calvin Pickard and team Canada lost 5-0 to team U.S. today in Belarus as Pickard made 33 saves while team U.S. goalie Jack Campbell stopped all 30 shots he faced. Canada is now 1-2 in the round robin while team U.S. is 2-1. On Sunday the U.S. will play host Belarus and Canada will play unbeaten Sweden to wrap up the round robin play.


Correction: A reader informed me that I had the power plays backwards for the Tri-City/Vancouver game and they are right. Tri was 2 for 9 while Vancouver was 1 for 7. This is still more penalties than Tri usually takes and they are playing with fire against the Giants top notch PP. I would expect both teams to take fewer penalties from here on out as they were both probably looking to send a message in Game 1. 

Thanks for the correction!


I can be reached at [email protected]

WHL Conference Finals Predictions

 Update..4/15....Team Canada won today against host Belarus in the U-18 Championship by a score of 11-3. Calvin Pickard stopped 18 of 21 shots and Kent Simpson stopped 5 of 5.  Canada will play the U.S. tomorrow in a big game in the tournament. 

Well so far I'm 10 out of 12 in my playoff series predictions and we are down to the final four teams. I'm feeling confident about this round but of course anything can happen. We have seen in the first two rounds that home ice advantage hasn't meant much in fact I can't remember a post-season where the road team has won so many games. We had three series go to seven games in the first round and three series go to six games in the second round. What will the Conference Finals bring?

My picks are in bold...
The 1 seeds have home ice advantage

Western Conference Championship:

1) Tri-City vs. 2) Vancouver

The Ams have never won a Conference title but I think this year the match-ups have been in their favor and they will play in the WHL Championship Series for the first time. After struggling against the Bruins the Ams played a much better series against a tougher opponent, the Kelowna Rockets. Goaltender Drew Owsley has been the most consistent goalie in the playoffs as he continues to surprise and impress. The Ams can score with the best of them and their defense is much improved from last season. Very few thought the Giants would get this far but under the steady hand of their head coach Don Hay they are back in the Conf Final once again. They lost it last season in six games to the Kelowna Rockets, a team that wasn't better than they were. This year they are facing a superior team for sure. After taking care of the Blazers and the Winterhawks I think this will be the end of the line for them. The Ams PK is suspect but they make up for it by not taking many penalties. It's not easy going against the Hay but I don't see the Giants D and goaltending (Mark Segal) holding up against the Ams.

Offense: even
Defense: edge Tri-City
Goaltending: edge Tri-City
Special Teams: edge Vancouver
Coaching: edge Vancouver

Prediction: Tri-City in 6


Eastern Conference Championship:

1) Calgary vs. 2)Brandon

Yes the Calgary Hitmen will disappoint their fans once again and fall short this post-season. After barely holding on against the Warriors in the first round and going to overtime in Game 6 against the Tigers in round two, I don't see the Hitmen defeating the offense rich Brandon Wheat Kings in the Conf Final. Calgary swept this series last season but there are differences this time around. First of all Calgary isn't as good as last year when they finished with 122 points. Their star goalie Martin Jones hasn't been impressive so far this post-season when he faces some real shot totals. On the other side the Wheat Kings are improved on offense and in goal with Jacob DeSerres and they have a big boost knowing they are hosting the Memorial Cup and they seem to want to go in as league champs. The Wheaties struggled with their PK this season but I think DeSerres will be their number one penalty killer in this series. Their coach Kelly McCrimmon is a veteran bench boss and he knows how to win. The Wheat Kings will get their revenge.

Offense: edge Brandon
Defense: edge Calgary
Goaltending: edge Brandon
Special Teams: edge Calgary
Coaching: edge Brandon

Prediction: Brandon in 6


Remember if Brandon wins this series the winner of the Tri-City/Vancouver series will get automatic placement into the Memorial Cup.


I can be reached at [email protected]

Portland's inability to win at home sends them home.. Vancouver advances

In Portland, the Winterhawks lose all six home games in the playoffs as they drop Game 6 by a score of  3-1 and therefore the Vancouver Giants, who win the series 4 games to 2, advance to the Western Conference Final for the second time in as many years and the fourth time in their nine year history. All of the goals were scored on special teams with Vancouver getting two power play goals and a short handed goal while Portland's lone goal was on the power play. Vancouver struck first as Brendan Gallagher scored his 9th of the playoffs and it was shorthanded. Only 31 seconds later Nino Niederreiter scored on the power play for Portland to tie it up. At 7:25 of the second period it was Brandon Scholten with his first of these playoffs on the power play to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. James Henry scored his 6th of the playoffs about midway through the third period on the power play to put the Giants up 3-1. Vancouver goalie Mark Segal, who has played much better than expected so far in the playoffs, stopped 32 of 33 shots. Portland goalie Mac Carruth stopped 26 of 29. The Giants were 2 for 4 on the PP while the Hawks were 1 for 5. The WHL website says the game was played at the Memorial Colosseum but it was actually played at the Rose Garden in front of 5,589.

When looking back at their playoff run the Winterhawks will have to wonder what might have been if they could have just won a game or two at home. They went 0-6 at home while going 6-1 on the road. Young teams usually do just the opposite. Why couldn't they win on home ice? I have no idea and I'm not sure if they do either but it was most definitely their undoing. I've also talked about trying to go deep into the playoffs with a 17 year old goaltender and as it turned out they couldn't, even though Mac Carruth had a few really solid games. Speaking of going deep with young goaltenders, the last team I can think of that accomplished that feat were these Vancouver Giants with 17 year old Tyson Sexsmith  in 2007 when they won the Memorial Cup. It seems as though Don Hay can work wonders and so far he's done just that this season. With an unknown 18 year old goaltender and a team that was certainly weakened from last season he has put his guys back in the Conference Final. Credit also has to go to General Manager Scott Bonner who made some big trade deadline moves.

The Giants lost last year to the Kelowna Rockets in the Conference Final in six games and they will face Tri-City this year beginning Friday night in Tri, who has home ice advantage not that it has meant much this post-season. With all of the changes from last season to this one, three out of the four teams in the Conference Finals are the same.

Just a little bragging... let's see how I did in my second round predictions..

Calgary over Medicine Hat.. ding!
Brandon over Saskatoon...ding!
Tri-City over Kelowna...ding!
Vancouver over Portland..ding!

Oh, would you look at that.. a perfect 4 for 4!

On that note, I will have my Conference Finals predictions Wednesday....

Over in Bobruisk, Belarus... Switzerland upset team Canada 3-1 on the opening day of the World U-18 Championship. Calvin Pickard was in net.. and here is an excerpt of the story from the International Ice Hockey Federation's Jenny Wiedeke...

Canada worked its way back into game, cutting the lead in half midway through the second period when Quinton Howden scored. Although the shots were relatively even, Switzerland had the better chances throughout the game with several breakaways and a few post shots. Canadian goaltender Calvin Pickard was largely responsible for keeping his team in the game.

But there was little Pickard could do in the waning moments of the game to help his team get the tying goal when he was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. Despite spending much of the nail-biting minute in the Swiss zone, Canada could not get the 2-2 equalizer. Joel Vermin got credit for the Swiss empty-netter with five seconds left after he was slashed on the breakaway, giving Switzerland the 3-1 win.

Sound familiar T-Bird fans?


I can be reached at [email protected]

Brandon and Calgary.. together again

In Saskatoon, the Brandon Wheat Kings come back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Blades 5-4 and punch their ticket back to the Eastern Conference Final against the Calgary Hitmen. The two met last season and Calgary swept the series. In the game tonight the Blades scored the first three goals of the game and had a 3-0 lead early in the second period but the Wheat Kings with their powerful offense answered with four straight goals to grab a 4-3 lead. Saskatoon's Charles Inglis scored his first goal of the playoffs to tie the game at 4 at 7:11 of the third period. However less than a minute later the Wheat Kings responded again as Matt Calvert netted his 5th of the playoffs to take back the lead for the Wheaties, and goalie Jacob DeSerres held the fort from that point on to improve to 7-1 in the playoffs. Brandon ends up winning the series 4 games to 2. DeSerres stopped 33 of 37 shots and Saskatoon's Steven Stanford stopped 30 of 35. The Wheat Kings were 1 for 3 on the power play and the Blades were 1 for 4. 8,606 were on hand to watch Game 6.

Some will say that Saskatoon's suspensions hurt them early in this series but the fact remains that they couldn't win any of their three home games and that's what did them in. Brandon is a very talented team offensively and with DeSerres playing well while also knowing they will be in the Memorial Cup, they are a dangerous team for sure. They also want revenge from last season's Conference Final bust against the Hitmen. We shall see.

I want to congratulate former Thunderbird Scott Jackson who played in his first NHL game Sunday with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jackson logged almost 14 minutes of ice time.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Foucault sends Calgary back to the Conference Final

In Medicine Hat, Calgary forward Kris Foucault scored both the game tying goal and the series winning goal late in overtime to lead the Hitmen to a hard fought 3-2 victory over the Tigers and their fourth consecutive trip to the Western Conference Final. The Hitmen won the series 4 games to 2. Foucault tied the game at 2 with just over two minutes remaining in the third period to send the game to OT. Then with just under two minutes left in OT he netted the series winner, Foucault has six goals in these playoffs. Both goals were unassisted. Calgary dominated for most of the game out shooting the Tigers 46-27 and the game probably would never have reached overtime if not for the play of Med Hat goalie Tyler Bunz who ended the game with 43 saves. Calgary's Martin Jones finished with 25 saves. Medicine Hat was 1 for 5 on the power play and Calgary was 0 for 4. The attendance in Medicine Hat was the usual 4,006.

It's been a tough road so far for the Hitmen who ended the regular season with 107 points and the best record in the league for the second year in a row. Since they entered the league in 1995 the Hitmen have finished in first place six times and have hit 100 plus points five times. This will be their sixth trip to the Conference Final yet they have won the WHL Championship only once, back in 1999. I would think they would need to go all the way this season or the comparisons to the Atlanta Braves may begin if they haven't already. The Hitmen will face the winner of the Saskatoon-Brandon series and they will have home ice advantage.

I don't usually write about the NHL and I'm not just saying this because I'm a New York Rangers fan but I think it sucks that a team's season should end on the shootout. I've always hated the SO and this makes me hate it even more. Every league should go to the 10 minute OT then end with a tie. Would fans like the SO if it were called what it really is...the CRAP SHOOT? I think not.


I can be reached at [email protected]

Brandon wins swing game and Portland stays alive

It's still only the second round of the WHL playoffs and we've already had three Game 7's. After tonight's action it looks like there could be at least a couple more before we get to the Conference Finals.

In Brandon, the Wheat Kings become the first home team to win a game in their series as they defeat the Saskatoon Blades 3-2 in Game 5 to take a 3 games to 2 lead. Toni Rajala scored the game winner with just over two minutes remaining in regulation to break a 2-2 tie. Former Thunderbird Sena Acolatse scored his first of the playoffs on the power play for the Blades which at the time tied the game at 2. Jacob DeSerres was in net for the Wheat Kings and he had a great game stopping 34 of 36 shots. Steven Stanford stopped 38 of 41 for Saskatoon. Both teams were 1 for 3 on the man advantage. Saskatoon D-man Jyri Niemi, who was assessed a match penalty in Game 4, played in the game so no suspension has been handed down as of this post. Brandon will try to close out the series in Game 6 which will be played Monday night in Saskatoon.


In Vancouver, the Giants couldn't imitate what their former teammate Evander (Holyfield) Kane did to Matt Cooke in Atlanta as the Portland Winterhawks stay alive in the series to force a Game 6 and if necessary a Game 7 in Portland. The Hawks take Game 5 by a score of 5-4 as they continue to defy the odds by improving to 6-1 on the road in these playoffs. Nino Niederreiter (7 goals in the playoffs) scored the first two goals of the game for the Hawks who took a 3-0 lead before Vancouver responded with three goals of their own, all within two minutes of each other in the second period to tie the game at 3. Tomas Vincour had two of those goals and now has four in the playoffs. However just over a minute after the Giants flurry it was Ryan Johansen with his sixth of the playoffs who put the Hawks back in front 4-3. Stefan Schnieder added an insurance goal for Portland early in the third and it was a big one as Vancouver's Craig Cunningham got the Giants back to within one with his 11th of the playoffs at 9:07 of the third. That would be the end of the scoring though as Portland goalie Mac Carruth kept the Giants at bay for the final 11 minutes. Carruth stopped 36 of 40 on the night while Vancouver's Mark Segal stopped 34 of 39. Vancouver was 2 of 7 on the power play, Portland was1 of 2. Game 6 will be played in Portland on Tuesday night. The Hawks are 0-5 at home so far in the playoffs.


Just as a side note it was great watching CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" all day today and hearing the numerous mentions of former CHL players now in the NHL and even some talk about the current playoffs in our league. Too bad other networks don't do the same. Great job as always up there in Toronto.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Ams headed to the Conference finals, Portland on the brink of elimination and two series get more interesting

In Brandon, the Saskatoon Blades even up their series at two games a piece as they pull out a 4-3 victory over the Wheat Kings. The road team has now won every game in the series. This is a pattern we have seen a lot of so far this postseason and it really makes you think about how important home ice advantage really is when it comes down to it. Saskatoon's Walker Wintoneak broke a 2-2 tie with his 4th of the playoffs at 14:48 of the third and Jeremy Boyer who quit the Thunderbirds before the season, added an empty net goal. There was a bizarre incident involving D-man Jyri Niemi of the Blades at the end of the first period. He and Alexander Urbom got into a fight and they each got five minutes but Niemi was also assessed a five minute major and match penalty for an illegal substance on his hands. There has been much speculation about what it might have been ranging from tape to tin foil but whatever it was it caused Urbom to bleed. Saskatoon had just finished serving all of their suspensions from the Red Deer series and now it looks like they'll have to deal with the loss of a veteran D-man. Jacob DeSerres was back in goal for the Wheat Kings and he suffered his first loss of the playoffs stopping 26 of 29 while Steven Stanford stopped 31 of 34 in the win. Saskatoon was 0 for 1 on the PP while Brandon was 1 for 3. Game 5 will be in Brandon Saturday night. Another Brandon loss means that Saskatoon will steal home ice advantage.

In Calgary, the Medicine Hat Tigers stave off elimination by defeating the Hitmen 5-4. Calgary now leads 3 games 2 with the scene switching to Medicine Hat for Game 6 Sunday night. Calgary blew a 3-1 lead as the Tigers scored four unanswered goals with the eventual game winner being scored by Thomas Carr, his first of the playoffs. Tigers goalie Tyler Bunz stopped 35 of 39 shots and received the second star of the game while Martin Jones stopped 24 of 29.Jones also stopped a penalty shot by Zdenek Okal. The Tigers were 1 for 4 on the PP while Calgary was 1 for 7. Over 9,000 spectators took in the game. With Medicine Hat being so tough at home it wouldn't be a surprise if this one went the distance.

In Vancouver, the Giants take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead as the Portland Winterhawks finally lose a road game. They had been 5-0 in the playoffs on the road. They will now have to win one more on the road and then win two at home, where they are 0-5 if they want their season to continue. The Giants take Game 4 by a score of 5-3. Craig Cunningham (10 goals in the playoffs) and James Wright (6 goals) each scored twice for the Giants. Ian Curtis got the start once again for the Winterhawks but he had a rough night stopping only 24 of 29 shots while Vancouver's Mark Segal stopped 33 of 36. The Giants scored 2 PP goals on 6 chances and Portland went 0 for 4. There were over 8,800 in attendance. The Giants can close out the series at home in Game 5 on Saturday night.

In Kennewick, the Tri-City Americans end the Kelowna Rockets WHL title defense as they comeback from a 3-1 third period deficit and score the last three goals of the game to pull out a 4-3 overtime victory. Tri-City wins the series 4 games to 1. The series winning goal was scored by Kruise Reddick at 5:37 of OT. It was Reddick's 6th of the playoffs.Overtime was forced after Johnny Lazo tied the game with only 1:24 left in regulation. Sergei Drozd added two goals for the Ams while Brandon McMillan had a pair for the Rockets. The Americans Drew Owsley who had a fantastic series stopped 36 of 39 while Mark Guggenberger stopped 37 of 41. That one goal on 80 shots difference came on the power play as the Ams were 1 for 5 while Kelowna went 0 for 6. The Rockets put up a valiant effort in defending their title but after losing several players after last season along with some key injuries this season they just didn't have enough to take out two top U.S. division teams as their series victory against Everett was impressive in its own right. Meanwhile the Americans advance to the Western Conference final getting some revenge from last season when they were beat in six games by the Rockets. They will take on the winner of the Vancouver-Portland series and will have home ice advantage.

I can be reached at [email protected]

We just won a championship so let's beat up the coach!

It's an off night in the WHL playoffs so not much to write about other than  this bizarre story. It seems as though these guys were so overjoyed about winning a championship that they couldn't help but celebrate by beating the crap out of their coach. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this could be a sign that we are in big trouble as a society. What happened to respect? Are these players so emotionally screwed up and so spoiled that they think they can get away with anything they want?

The "reason" for the beating is that the coach allowed a 19 year old backup goalie to drive and that the kid had too much to drink and crashed the car. Who knows if that's actually how it went down but it really doesn't matter. It wasn't just one or two guys that beat coach Mike Posma with wooden traffic signs but six players.Who knows what would have happened had they actually lost. In fact it was the team's third consecutive title! Maybe they could use a humbling loss or two.

When did things change so much that something like this could go down? And just because it happened in Slovenia doesn't mean that it couldn't happen here. Even more troubling are some of the comments that have been posted about the incident. Some are saying the coach "deserved it for letting the kid drive" or that there's no story because they were "just drunk." One person thinks that they "all deserved a beating." Another guy was wondering where the video was!

Let's get this straight. Over a quarter of the hockey team beat their coach senseless. Things are sick out there and getting sicker.

Oh, all six players were released. Thankfully the playoffs resume Friday night.

I can be reached at [email protected]

A big night for the road teams

All four road teams win Wednesday night in round two of the WHL playoffs. In Vancouver, the Portland Winterhawks continue to do things the hard way as they improve to 5-0 on the road to go along with their 0-5 home record in these playoffs, edging out the Vancouver Giants 3-2 in Game 3 of their series. The Giants still lead the series 2 games to 1 but now Portland needs only to win one of the next two in Vancouver in order to get the series back to Portland for a possible Game 6 and 7. The Giants were handed their first loss of the playoffs after winning the first six. Chris Francis had three assists for the Hawks while James Wright scored twice for the Giants. It was a tight game on all counts with Portland out shooting Vancouver 38-31 while going 2 for 5 on the power play while the Giants went 1-4. Ian Curtis got the start for Portland instead of Mac Carruth and he played well making 29 saves on 31 shots while Mark Segal stopped 35 of 38. Can Portland continue to dominate on the road? We shall see as Game 4 will be on Friday night.

In Kelowna the Tri-City Americans win 3-2 despite being out shot 35-13 to take a commanding 3 games to1 lead in their series against the Rockets. The Ams won both Games 3 and 4 in Kelowna and can now close out the series at home in Game 5 on Friday night. It was another outstanding game for Ams goalie Drew Owsley who made 33 saves while Mark Guggenberger only made 10 saves all night. The Rockets could ill afford to let the Ams steal one and that's exactly what they did. Kruise Reddick broke a 2-2 tie about halfway through the third with a power play goal , his fifth goal of the playoffs. Tri-City went 1 for 3 on the power play while the Rockets managed only one goal on 6 chances. It's going to be a tough road now for the defending league champs as they will have to win the next three including two in Tri in order to continue the defense of their title.

In Brandon the Saskatoon Blades defeat the Wheat Kings 5-4 and now trail 2 games to 1. This marked the first loss for the Wheat Kings in the playoffs after winning their first six games. The Blades came back from a 3-1 second period deficit with four straight goals capped off by a pair from Darian Dziurzynski who also had  an assist in the game. Brandon started Andrew Hayes in net for the second straight game and he struggled making only 23 saves on 28 shots while Saskatoon goalie Steven Stanford stopped 32 of 36. It will be interesting to see if Brandon will go back to Jacob DeSerres in Game 4 which takes place on Friday night in Brandon. The Wheat Kings were 1 for 3 on the man advantage while the Blades went 0 for 2.

In Medicine Hat the Calgary Hitmen now have a strangle hold on the Tigers after a 4-1 victory as they lead the series 3 games to 1 as they head back to Calgary for Game 5 Friday night. The Hitmen shut down the Tigers powerful offense by limiting them to only 19 shots while registering 27 of their own. Cody Sylvester had two goals and an assist for Calgary and he now has tallied seven goals in the playoffs. He was also a plus 3 in the game. Calgary's Martin Jones had a fairly easy night making 18 saves on 19 shots while Tyler Bunz stopped 23 of 26, getting the second star of the game for some strange reason. The Hitmen were 1 for 6 on the power play while Med Hat was 1 for 5. They drew their usual 4006 in The Hat. In order to draw that number again this season they will have to find a way to pull out a victory in Calgary.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Owsley blanks Rockets and Etem wins it for the Tigers in OT

A big night for Tri-City Americans goalie Drew Owsley as he stops 31 shots and the Ams defeat the Kelowna Rockets 2-0 in Game 3 of their series in Kelowna. The Americans now recapture home ice advantage and lead the series 2 games to 1. With the Ams up 2-0 Owsley stopped all 13 Kelowna shots in the third period and was named the first star of the game. The Rockets end up out shooting the Americans 31-24. Rockets goaltender Mark Googenberger made 22 saves. Sergei Drozd and Johnny Lazo scored for the Ams. It's been an interesting year for Owsley who surprised many people with his outstanding work in net and he's been the goaltender of choice in these playoffs for the Ams who doggedly persued Russian goalie Alexander Pechurskiy all season long. On the power play Kelowna was 0-4 while the Ams went 0-2. Game 4 of the series will be in Kelowna on Wednesday night.

In Medicine Hat, the Tigers are showing why they are such a tough team to beat at home as they come from behind twice to defeat the Calgary Hitmen by a score of 4-3 in overtime. They get on the board in the series as Calgary now holds a 2 games to 1 lead. The Hitmen's five game winning streak was snapped. Calgary held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 thanks to two goals by Joel Broda (6 in the playoffs) but at 11:53 of the third Linden Vey tied the game at two on the power play. After Broda put the Hitmen back up 3-2 it was Emerson Etem less than a minute later who got the Tigers back even. At 8:26 of overtime it was Etem once again, netting the game winner.Calgary goaltender Martin Jones stopped 29 of 33 while the Tigers Tyler Bunz stopped 28 of 31. The Hitmen went 2 for 4 on the PP while the Tigers scored one PP goal on 5 chances. Game 4 is Wednesday night in The Hat.


The two other series resume Wednesday night with Brandon hosting Saskatoon in Game 3 of their series. Brandon leads 2 games to 0 so it's really a must win for the Blades. It will be interesting to see if Brandon goes with Jacob DeSerres in net or Andrew Hayes. DeSerres started the Wheat Kings first five games (all wins) but Hayes was given the start in the last game and played well stopping 30 of 31 shots.

Portland and Vancouver play Game 3 of their series as the scene switches to Vancouver. The Giants lead 2 games to 0 but the Winterhawks are 4-0 on the road so far in the playoffs. Their road warrior status better continue if they want to make a series of it. So far in the first two games the teams have combined for 26 goals.


Over on the WHL website there is a player profile of Colin Jacobs of the T-Birds. Colin had 13 goals and 13 assists this season for Seattle and played in all 72 games. If the Birds are to be a real contender next season Jacobs will have to continue to improve on those solid rookie numbers.

I can be reached at [email protected]

Is Don Hay the greatest WHL coach ever?

I know we are only about halfway through the second round of the playoffs but I'm already impressed at what Don Hay has accomplished this post season with a Vancouver Giants team that only finished with 88 points in the weakest division in the league. I mean even my Seattle Thunderbirds beat his team twice including a 5-0 victory in Vancouver. After that game Hay said that it was the most dominating performance by a team on their home ice all season long. My Seattle Thunderbirds..wow! It really had to be an off year for his boys in order for him to say that. Still, the Giants won their fifth division title in a row, no small feat, which includes four consecutive 100 plus point seasons. That got me thinking about Hay's lifetime numbers behind the bench.

Coming into this season Don Hay had 11 years as a head coach under his belt with three teams, the Giants, Ams, and Blazers. Over those seasons he compiled a record of 445-221-57 which computes to a winning percentage of .655. These are certainly impressive regular season numbers but I've always thought that a great coach shows what he's made of come the playoffs and it's here that Hay's numbers are quite frankly mind-blowing. Including this post-season Hay has compiled a record 97-51 which adds up to winning percentage over .650 almost exactly the same as his incredible regular season numbers. Talk about consistency. Some of the greatest coaches in league history have post season winning percentages much lower than Hay's if they are even above .500 at all.

Let's look at Ken Hodge for instance. Hay is now only five playoff wins away from taking over the record for most playoff victories all time. Hodge holds that record with 101 but that was with about 50 more games coached than Hay. Hodge's winning percentage was only .518. The great Ernie McLean (five WHL championships) has the exact same number of playoff games coached as Hay does right at this moment...148 but even he could only muster 87 wins and a .618 winning percentage. Ken Hitchcock may have compiled a higher winning percentage at .695 but he only coached in 95 post-season games, a much smaller sample than Hay's 148.

Most impressive of all the numbers are Hay's championships. Over nearly two decades of coaching with the Blazers and the Giants he has won three WHL championships (Kamloops 1994, 1995 &Vancouver 2006) AND three Memorial Cup championships (Kamloops 1994, 1995 &Vancouver 2007). Between those two organizations Hay has also won seven division titles, two Scotty Munro Trophy's (Most points in regular season) and compiled six 100 plus point seasons. The Vancouver Giants have won the division every year since he's been the head coach (2005-2006 season). Hay has also won WHL coach of the year twice (1999 with Tri-City, 2009 with Vancouver).So basically he's won awards with every team he's been with in the league. Not to mention his 1995 gold medal as head coach of the Canadian junior team.


We can look at these numbers and digest them and come to the conclusion that Hay is indeed the greatest coach in the history of the league. I'm sure some will disagree and if so I'd like to hear who that coach might be if not Hay. However we could be witnessing Hay's greatest coaching accomplishment so far with this year's Giants. It's early yet I know, believe me I know, but through their first six games of these playoffs the Giants are yet to be defeated including two huge wins in Portland. They lost big players from last season like Evander Kane and Tyson Sexsmith, they have an 18 year goaltender that nobody had heard of in Mark Segal and probably their most flawed defense in several years, yet they continue to win.

When the Giants come to Seattle or when I travel up there I love getting on Hay's case but it's only because I admire him. While my praise of his team's current playoff run might be a little premature I truly don't believe that anything that has preceded this can be considered anything less than a monumental achievement in coaching, be it this league or any other league as well.


I would like to send my congratulations to Calvin Pickard who was named to Team Canada for the Under-18 World Championships in Belarus from April 13 to April 23. There he will join T-Birds head coach Rob Sumner.Way to go Calvin, the hits keep on coming kid!


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Vancouver and Calgary both halfway home

In Portland the Vancouver Giants have taken a commanding 2-0 series lead as they defeat the Winterhawks 7-4. In the first two games of their series the Giants have scored 16 goals as they are showing they can more than go toe to toe with the Hawks offense. The teams combined for 98 shots with the Giants edging out Portland 50-48. For the second straight night Portland goaltender Mac Carruth was pulled in favor of Ian Curtis after giving up four goals on 20 shots. Curtis stopped 27 of 29 in relief. Vancouver's Craig Cunningham scored two goals and now has eight in the playoffs. Portland is 0-5 at home this postseason and 4-0 on the road. Games 3, 4 and if necessary 5 will be played in Vancouver. It was a good night for Vancouver goaltender Mark Segal as he stopped 44 of 48 shots. Portland was 2-4 on the power play while Vancouver was 1-4. Vancouver's Kevin Connauton was a plus 4 on the night while on the flip side Portland's Ryan Johansen was a minus 5. The Giants are now undefeated in the playoffs having won their first six games. They only drew 3,757 at the Memorial Colosseum. The Winterhawks inability to win at home means they will have to continue their solid road play and win at least two of three in Vancouver if they want to get the series back to Portland for a Game 6. Game 3 will be played in Vancouver on Wednesday.


In Calgary the Hitmen continue to dominate as they win their fifth straight defeating the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-0 and now take a 2-0 series lead into The Hat for Game 3 which will be on Tuesday. Calgary's Tyler Shattock tallied two goals to increase his playoff total to four. It was a tight game defensively with Calgary managing 21 shots to Medicine Hat's 19. They drew nearly 7,000 fans at the Saddledome. The Hitmen's Martin Jones made 19 saves in picking up the shutout while Med Hat's Tyler Bunz stopped 17 of 21. Calgary was 1-5 on the power play while the Tigers were 0-5. Calgary accomplished exactly what they wanted in winning the first two at home since it's always a tough assignment to win in The Hat.


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Brandon rolling, Kelowna grabs home ice and 15 goals in Portland

We haven't seen many games like this is the Western Conference all season long let alone in these playoffs as the Vancouver Giants defeat the Portland Winterhawks 9-6 in Game 1 of their series in Portland. Portland is now 0-4 at home this post-season. Brendan Gallagher registered four goals in the game for the Giants and he now has eight goals through only five games in the playoffs. For Portland Ryan Johansen had a goal and three assists. Vancouver out shot Portland 49-37. Both teams have goaltender issues with Portland going with 17 year old rookie Mac Carruth (maybe someone can tell me the last time a team won a championship with a 17 year old rookie in net) while Vancouver has been going with 18 year old Mark Segal. Carruth gave up six goals on 41 shots before being pulled in favor of Ian Curtis who allowed two goals on seven shots.Segal gave up six goals on 37 shots. I figured this would be a high scoring series but I didn't expect a 15 goal affair in Game 1.Believe it or not there was only one power play goal in the game which went to Vancouver. Portland registered a short handed goal. Vancouver has now stolen away home ice advantage. I would expect both teams to tighten up defensively for Game 2 which takes place Sunday in Portland.


In Kennewick the Kelowna Rockets also grab home ice as they beat the Tri-City Americans 3-2 to tie the series at 1-1. Brandon McMillan of Kelowna registered the eventual game winner, an empty net goal, his second of the playoffs. After a penalty rich first game there were only three called in Game 2. Kelowna goalie Mark Guggenberger saved 35 of 37 while the Ams Drew Owsley stopped 25 of 27. Kelowna continues to look like a team that is going to be hard to beat with the defense of their WHL championship on the line. Game 3 will be played in Kelowna on Tuesday.

In Saskatoon the Blades fall for the second night in a row to the Brandon Wheat Kings by a score of 4-1. Brandon now leads the series 2-0 and are 6-0 in the playoffs. Interestingly enough the Wheat Kings started Andrew Hayes for the first time in these playoffs despite the fact that Jacob DeSerres is 5-0. Hayes stopped 30 of 31 while the Blades Steven Stanford stopped 27 of 31. So far the Blades have not been able to stop to Wheat Kings powerhouse offense which was lead by Brent Raedeke who scored two and now has four in the playoffs.The big difference in the game was the power play as Brandon went 2-8 while Saskatoon was 0-6. Blades coach Lorne Molleken will be back behind the bench for game 3 which doesn't take place till Wednesday in Brandon. He will find his team in a big 0-2 hole needing to win at least two of three on the road to take the series back to Saskatoon.


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Calgary, Brandon and Tri all get a leg up

A fairly high scoring night for the first game of the second round of the WHL playoffs as two home teams and one road team go up 1-0. In Calgary the Hitmen got off to the start they needed by defeating the Medicine Hat Tigers by a score of 5-2. The Hitmen scored the first four goals of the game as they ended up with five different goal scorers. The Tigers were limited to just 17 shots in the game. The Hitmen have dominated their last four playoff games and are now looking like the team that finished the regular season with 107 points. They drew over 8,400 people at the Saddledome. Game 2 will be played on Sunday.

In Saskatoon the Blades lost their first game of the playoffs as the Wheat Kings remain undefeated after a 6-5 victory. It was a back and forth affair but Brandon pulled it out after scoring the final two goals of the game. They also scored the first two goals. Brandon's Michael Ferland tallied a hat trick, the goals were the first of the playoffs for Ferland. Saskatoon's Marek Viedensky had two goals for the Blades. Both goaltenders looked mortal for once as Jacob DeSerres stopped 35 of 40 and Steven Stanford stopped 24 of 30. Even though Brandon has home ice advantage the first two games are in Saskatoon because of a scheduling conflict. Saskatoon was 3-5 on the power play. Brandon's Paul Ciarelli was a plus 4 and Brodie Melnychuk was a plus 5. Game 2 will be played Saturday. If Saskatoon doesn't pull out a win the series probably won't go as deep as some(including myself) thought.

In Kennewick, the Tri-City Americans had a big third period to pull out a 5-3 win over the Kelowna Rockets.The game was tied at 2 heading into the third. It was a chippy first game with four fighting majors handed out as well as three 10 minutes misconducts and a game misconduct which went to Colton Jobke of Kelowna. Looks like this could be the series to watch for some big fireworks as this is a re-match of last year's second round in which the Rockets defeated the Ams in 6. Game 2 will be played Saturday.

Game 1 of the Vancouver-Portland series will take place Saturday night in Portland. It will be interesting to see if the long layoff helps or hurts the Giants. All of the games in Portland will unfortunately take place in the Memorial Colosseum. I guess the Hawks either couldn't work with the Trailblazers schedule or they just weren't drawing enough fans to warrant playing in the Rose Garden.

Everyone in Portland seems to be talking about the similarity between their first round victory against the Chiefs and their first round victory against the T-Birds in 2006. Portland won Game 7 on the road in both series and also came back from down 3-0 to win both games in overtime. What I haven't heard much of is that in the second round in '06 the Hawks played the Giants and lost in 5. Not sure if they want that piece of history repeated in Portland.

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WHL playoffs... round two predictions

It gets a little bit tougher now as we are down to four teams in each conference. This is the round that begins to separate the contenders from the pretenders. I've really had to think hard about these match ups but I think I have a handle on who will be advancing to the conference finals. At least I hope I do. The number in ( ) is the re-seeding for the second round. The team in bold is my pick.

Western Conference:

(1) Tri-City vs. (4) Kelowna

This will not be an easy series for the Americans who struggled against the Bruins. The Rockets upset the Silvertips in seven games and as defending league champs they are proving to be hard to beat. That being said I don't see how Kelowna can continue to defeat the best teams in the U.S. Division and I don't think they will be able to contain the Ams potent offensive attack for very long. In order for the Rockets to have any chance at all Mark Guggenberger will have to be at his playoff best.


Offense: edge Tri-City
Defense: edge Tri-City
Goaltending: edge Tri-City
Special Teams: even
Coaching: edge Kelowna

Prediction: Tri-City in 6


(2) Portland vs. (3) Vancouver

I know what you're thinking. If Portland beat Spokane why won't they beat Vancouver especially since they have home ice in this series. Well, how many games did Portland win on home ice in the first round? None. I don't want to take anything away from the Winterhawks exceptional victory against the Chiefs but I think their youth and 17 year old rookie goalie Mac Carruth will prevent them from going any further. If the Giants had a top notch goalie they would be looking at another possible Memorial Cup run but there lies the weakness for Vancouver.18 year old Mark Segal is no Tyson Sexsmith and it showed against Kamloops. I think that Vancouver can make up for it by being physical against Portland, hitting them consistently, which is something the Chiefs didn't do. Slowing down the Hawks offense will help and so will the fact that Vancouver can go toe to toe with them in that area. This should be a high scoring series.  Then there is Mr. Hay. I think this will be a superb series coaching wise with Hay vs. Johnston.The Giants have had a lot of time to rest, practice and get ready for the Hawks while Portland just finished a grueling series against Spokane. Certainly a tough series to call but someone has to do it.

Offense: even
Defense: edge Vancouver
Goaltending: even
Special Teams: edge Vancouver
Coaching: even

Prediction: Vancouver in 6


Eastern Conference:

(1) Calgary vs. (4) Medicine Hat

I think now that the Hitmen have survived their first round scare against Moose Jaw they are ready to make their big Mem Cup run. When they decided to play there was no stopping them and I don't think that will change against the Tigers. I try to not underestimate Medicine Hat as they usually do better than expected in the playoffs and they are coming off of an impressive victory against a hot team in Kootenay. While I don't expect it to be an easy series for Calgary I think it will be much easier than the last one.The Hitmen will need to come out strong though because they don't want to have to win more than one game in The Hat.

Offense: even
Defense: edge Calgary
Goaltending: edge Calgary
Special Teams: edge Calgary
Coaching: edge Medicine Hat

Prediction: Calgary in 6

(2) Brandon vs. (3) Saskatoon

This is going to be good. Two of the top teams in the east will go at it and one won't be making it to the conference finals. Brandon knows they are in the Memorial Cup but they also know they have the goods to go in as WHL champs. The two goalies in this series, Jacob DeSerres for Brandon and Steven Stanford for the Blades both had an outstanding first round. If that continues this could be a low scoring series despite Brandon's powerhouse offensive numbers. But it's just that offensive prowess that will make the difference in the series and I think DeSerres will continue his hot play. This one could go the distance especially if Saskatoon's suspensions don't hurt them in the first couple of games. I predict this will be the most exciting series of the second round. Line brawl anyone?

Offense: edge Brandon
Defense: even
Goaltending: edge Brandon
Special Teams: even
Coaching: edge Brandon

Prediction: Brandon in 7


This really was much harder than the first round. There should be some amazing games over the next couple of weeks and maybe another Game 7 or two. It should be fun to watch.


I can be reached at [email protected]