Showing posts with label Cariboo Cougars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cariboo Cougars. Show all posts

Saturday, May 6, 2017

WHL final all even ... Pats' Mahura wins Game 2 in OT ... Brooks out of action


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 While the Seattle Thunderbirds welcomed back F Keegan Kolesar, their top scorer in these playoffs, from a one-game WHL suspension, the Regina Pats were without F Adam Brooks for Game 2 of the championship final in the Saskatchewan capital on Saturday night.
If you haven’t seen it, here’s the hit Brooks, a point-a-game man, absorbed from Seattle D Turner Ottenbreit in Game 1:

There was much debate after the game and well into Saturday as to whether Ottenbreit should have been suspended. This was one of those classic cases where it depends whose ox is being gored.
Regina fans, for the most part, are of the opinion that, yes, Ottenbreit should have been slapped with a suspension. Seattle fans are saying it was a legal hit.
Of course, had that been Seattle F Mathew Barzal, say, on the receiving end of a hit from Regina D Sergey Zborovskiy, chances are that the opinions would have been reversed.
While the check may have been legal, I really question, in this day and age when player safety is supposed to be first and foremost, whether that’s the kind of hit that should be welcomed in junior hockey. Keep in mind that this is precisely the kind of hit that the NFL has outlawed when it involves an defenceless receiver.
Of course, if all the junior hockey talk about player safety being a priority is just lip service, well then, hit away.
In the meantime, Brooks, who won the 2015-16 scoring champion and who put up 250 points over the past two seasons, most likely is going through the concussion protocol. He has five goals and 13 assists in these playoffs.
Brooks suffered a knee injury in Game 2 of the second-round series against the Swift Current Broncos and never skated another shift until the Eastern Conference final with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
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In the QMJHL, the host Saint John Sea Dogs scored a 4-0 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Saturday night and now lead the championship series, 2-0. . . . Announced attendance was 5,872. . . . F Julien Gauther had two goals and an assist, giving him six points in the first two games of the series. . . . G Callum Booth earned the shutout with 27 stops. . . . They’ll play Game 3 on Tuesday in Blainville-Boisbriand.
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If you have some information you would like to share or just a general comment, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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Coaching

 The Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League have shaken up their front office. Trevor Sprague, a two-time coach of the year, has stepped aside as head coach, but will remain the organization’s general manager. Sprague goes out on top as the Cougars won the league championship this season; they also were the host team for the TELUS Cup national championship tournament. . . . The new head coach is Tyler Brough, who has worked as an assistant coach with Sprague for the past two seasons. . . . The assistant coaches will be Justin Fillion and RJ Berra, while Bryan MacLean, who had been an assistant coach, now is the assistant GM. . . . Fillion and Berra both played for the Cougars and the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . Pam Solmonson is returning for a second season as the Cougars’ trainer.
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SATURDAY’S GAME:


At Regina, D Josh Mahura scored two PP goals, the second in OT, to lead the Pats to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Regina scored the game’s last three goals as it erased a 3-1 deficit to tie the WHL’s championship series for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, 1-1. . . . The Thunderbirds had won Game 1, 2-1 in OT, on Friday. . . . The series will resume with Game 3 in Kent, Wash., on Tuesday night. In fact,
JOSH MAHURA
the next three games will be played in the ShoWare Center in Kent, meaning the Thunderbirds now have the opportunity to win their first WHL title on home ice. . . . A year ago, the Thunderbirds lost the WHL final to the Brandon Wheat Kings, 4-1. The first three games all went to OT, with Brandon posting three 3-2 victories. . . . Last night, the Thunderbirds appeared to take control when they struck for three goals in 56 seconds early in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. . . . The Pats took a 1-0 lead just 50 seconds into the game as F Sam Steel (9) took advantage of a Seattle turnover deep in its zone. . . . D Austin Strand (5) pulled the Thunderbirds even at 3:56 of the second period, his shot from just above the left circle getting through traffic and changing directions before beating G Tyler Brown. . . . Just 16 seconds later, D Turner Ottenbreit’s second goal, a slap shot from the point, gave the visitors the lead. . . . Just 40 seconds after that, F Alexander True (9) scored on a rebound while on a PP. . . . The Pats’ comeback began as Mahura pinched on a 5-on-3 PP and scored from beside the Seattle net at 18:35 of the second period. . . . Regina tied it at 5:20 of the third when F Filip Ahl (5) forced a turnover deep in the Seattle and then scored off it. . . . Seattle F Keegan Kolesar was giving a kneeing minor after he gave the business to Regina D Connor Hobbs following a stoppage at 4:59 of OT. Mahura, who has six goals in the playoffs, scored just 23 seconds later, beating Seattle G Carl Stankowski with a 70-foot snapshot through some traffic. . . . Brown finished with 27 saves, five more than Stankowski. . . . Regina was 2-7 on the PP; Seattle was 1-3. . . . F Dawson Leedahl had two assists for Regina, while Steel and Ahl each had one. . . . Steel, the regular-season scoring champion, now has 27 points in the playoffs, one behind F Reid Gardiner of the Kelowna Rockets, who leads with 28. Steel leads playoff scorers in assists (18). . . . The Thunderbirds got back Kolesar from a one-game suspension. He went into the game leading them in goals (9) and points (22) in these playoffs. . . . Regina scratches: F Adam Brooks, D Dawson Davidson and F Jake Leschyshyn, all with injuries, G Max Paddock, F Duncan Pierce and F Owen Williams. With Brooks out, F Kjell Kjemhus got into the lineup. . . . Seattle’s scratches: G Rylan Toth (injured), F Elijah Brown, F Tyler Carpendale, F Dillon Hamaliuk, D Jake Lee and F Luke Ormsby. . . . Announced attendance: 6,484.
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has a game story right here.
Andy Eide of 710 ESPN Seattle has a game story right here.
Darren Steinke, the Travellin’ Blogger, posted this piece right here.
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TUESDAY’S GAME (all times local):

Regina vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m. (Series tied, 1-1)
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WEDNESDAY’S GAME (all times local):

Regina vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m.
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FRIDAY’S GAME (all times local):

Regina vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 11:30 PM
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Sunday, March 26, 2017

Hurricanes, Cougars tie up series . . . Things are Rocky in Windsor . . . Block story amazing




Steve Ewen of Postmedia continues to keep tabs on the Vancouver Giants while he kicks cancer’s butt for a second time. In his most recent piece, Ewen looks at five things the Giants need to address before another season gets here. That piece is right here.
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Rocky Thompson, the head coach of the Windsor Spitfires, can expect a call from the OHL office early this week. Someone from the league office will be calling to lighten Thompson’s wallet.
Why?
Because Thompson officially got the playoffs underway on Sunday by ripping into the referees following a 5-2 loss to the defending Memorial Cup-champion Knights in London. The head officials were Mike Cairns, a veteran of eight OHL seasons, and Scott Oakman, an 18-year man.
Among the Thompson quotes in the Windsor Star:
“These are two veteran referees who are well respected around the league and it was just ridiculous. You’re not only playing a very tough and good opponent, you’re playing the referees as well.”
“It’s unreal to think of what happened on the ice. It’s obvious they didn’t want us to win this game and we played well enough after the first period to deserve it.”
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen it this bad since I’ve been here.”
I’m thinking Thompson should get out front of this one and just send OHL commissioner David Branch a cheque for a grand to cover this one.
BTW, the series is 1-1 and the teams head to Windsor for games on Tuesday and Thursday.
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Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon Express: “Would homers in the Toronto media please quit comparing Matthews and Marner to Toews and Kane. You’re embarrassing yourselves by thinking Matthews will ever bring the intangibles to the rink that Toews does.”
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Patrick O’Sullivan, a former NHLer, made the statement that Connor “McDavid is the most explosive and dynamic skater in the history of hockey. That’s not a stretch at this point, I think it’s a fact.” . . . To which Hutchinson added: “Of course everyone at TSN, especially knucklehead Jeff O’Neill, knows the greatest skater of all-time is Auston Matthews.”
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The Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars won the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League championship on Sunday, riding G Marcus Allen to a 4-0 victory over the visiting Greater Vancouver Canadians. Allen stopped 22 shots in posting his second straight shutout. It was a best-of-three final, with the Canadians winning the opener Friday, 3-2 in 2OT, and the Cougars winning 2-0 on Saturday. . . . The Cougars will be the host team for the Telus Cup, which is scheduled for April 24-30. . . . In Saskatchewan, the Regina Pat Canadians, who enjoyed a 36-6-2 regular season, won the midget AAA title with a 7-0 playoff run.
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Kieran Block played four seasons with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. At 22, he was soon to join the U of Alberta Golden Bears, when he was involved in a cliff-diving incident in which he shattered both legs. He would spend almost a year in a wheelchair and later played for Canada’s national sledge hockey team. Block is 31 years of age now and, after numerous surgical procedures, he played senior AAA hockey this season. What an amazing story this is and Jason Hills of the Edmotnton Journal has it all right here.
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After the first weekend of WHL playoffs, a lot of people are talking about two goaltenders.
Carl Stankowski, a 16-year-old from Calgary, has stepped in for the Seattle Thunderbirds, taking over the starting role, at least on a short-term basis, for the injured Rylan Toth and has put up two victories over the Tri-City Americans.
“I can’t even imagine,” Seattle F Scott Eansor told Andy Eide of 710 ESPN Seattle after Stankowski stopped 28 shots in a 5-2 victory in Game 2 on Saturday.“My first year in playoffs I was a little starstruck. I can’t even imagine him, being alone in the net. He’s been mentally strong and you can tell right now that he’s continuing to do that on the ice, I’m really proud of him.”
Stankowski was a second-round pick by Seattle in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. He got into seven regular-season games, going 3-0-1, 2.18, .910.
Meanwhile, Michael Herringer, a 20-year-old from Comox, B.C., followed a 4-0 shutout over the Kamloops Blazers on Friday with a 3-2 victory on Saturday. While Herringer faced only 15 shots in Game 1, he was a whole lot busier in Game 2 when he stopped 33 shots.
His night’s work included what may have been a game-saver off the stick of Kamloops F Collin Shirley.

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If you enjoy stopping off here and would care to make a donation to the cause, please feel free to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
If you have some information you would like to share or just a general comment, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
If interested, you also are able to follow me on Twitter at @gdrinnan.
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SUNDAY GAMES:


At Lethbridge, F Egor Babenko scored three times to lead the Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Red
EGOR BABENKO
Deer Rebels. . . . Red Deer had posted a 4-2 victory in Lethbridge on Saturday. . . . Games 3 and 4 are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Red Deer. . . . Babenko, from Tyumen, Russia, is in his third season with Lethbridge. Last season, he had 69 points, including 29 goals, in 67 games. This season, he scored 24 goals and added 31 assists in 66 games. . . . He was scoreless in five games in last season’s playoffs, so these were his first post-season goals. . . . The Hurricanes took control by scoring the game’s first five goals. . . . F Ryan Bowen got things started at 6:56 of the first period. . . . Babenko made it 2-0 at 1:17 of the second period. . . . It moved to 3-0 as F Tanner Nagel scored, shorthanded, at 11:57. . . . Babenko added two more goals, at 17:17 of the second and 2:18 of the third. . . . Red Deer got two third-period PP goals, from F Michael Spacek, at 5:59, and F Evan Polei, at 11:46. . . . Lethbridge got two assists from each of Alec Baer and Jordy Bellerive. . . . F Lane Zablocki drew two assists for Red Deer, and Spacek had one. . . . The Hurricanes got 24 saves from G Stuart Skinner. . . . Red Deer starter Riley Lamb was beaten five times on 25 shots in 42:18. Lasse Petersen finished up, stopping the four shots he faced in 17:42. . . . Red Deer was 2-5 on the PP; Lethbridge was 0-6. . . . The Hurricanes made one lineup change, inserting D Ty Prefontaine for D Kyle Yewchuk. . . . Announced attendance: 3,380.
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At Prince George, the Cougars scored the game’s first five goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the
TY EDMONDS
Portland Winterhawks. . . . Portland had won Game 1, 4-2, in Prince George on Friday. . . . The series will resume in Portland with games on Wednesday and Thursday. . . . This series has a 2-2-1-1-1 format, so they’ll be back in Prince George for Game 5 on Saturday. . . . The Cougars had F Brad Morrison back in their lineup and he scored the game’s first goal, at 15:57 of the first period. Morrison, who has had three straight 20-goal seasons, hadn’t played since Feb. 24 — he missed 10 games — when he suffered an ankle injury during a fight. . . . F Aaron Boyd upped the lead to 3-0 with goals at 8:32 and 18:35 of the second period. . . . D Shane Collins made it 4-0 just 22 seconds into the third period and F Radovan Bondra added a PP goal 35 seconds later. . . . Portland got a PP goal from F Cody Glass at 12:53 of the third. . . . D Brendan Guhle had two assists for the Cougars. . . . The Cougars got a big game from G Ty Edmonds, who finished with 40 saves. This is his third playoff season; he had one victory in 10 decisions going into this game. . . . Cole Kehler started for Portland, and stopped 19 of 24 shots in 40:57. Shane Farkas came on in relief and stopped all 12 shots he faced in 19:03. . . . Each team was 1-4 on the PP. . . . Announced attendance: 4,141.
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MONDAY GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.
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TUESDAY GAMES (all times local):

Moose Jaw at Swift Current, 7 p.m. (Series tied, 1-1)
Medicine Hat vs. Brandon, at Dauphin, Man., 7:30 p.m. (Medicine Hat leads, 2-0)
Regina at Calgary, 7 p.m. (Regina leads, 2-0)
Kelowna at Kamloops, 7 p.m. (Kelowna leads, 2-0)
Everett at Victoria, 7:05 p.m. (Series tied, 1-1)

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:46 PM
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Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Cougars' home getting enhancements . . . Get your 'He's Back' t-shirt here

Mike Johnston and the Portland Winterhawks haven’t been the most popular parts of the WHL's operation in recent seasons. But I don't thank they lose any sleep over it. Johnston was the general
manager and head coach when the WHL thrashed the Winterhawks for “violations related to player benefits” in November 2012. Since then, he had a stint as head coach of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, before returning to the Winterhawks in May as vice-president, general manager and head coach. . . . And now the Winterhawks’ store is selling “He’s Back” t-shirts at US$20 a pop. In a league where blandness often seems to be the rule, this is a stroke of marketing genius. . . . If you want one of these t-shirts, click right here. . . . No, I’m not in on the action. I just think this is a terrific marketing idea.
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The CN Centre, the home of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, is getting something of a different look, all of which should be completed by some time in October. According to a news release: “The CN Centre is being enhanced with new flooring in the lobby, a new score clock, enhanced media 
experiences for patrons, and new seating arrangements.” . . . The City and the Cougars are picking up the tab. . . . When a decision was made to replace the score clock, the cost estimate was $390,000, but that price ended up at $546,000 after a request for proposal. “The City will provide these funds and the Cougars will invest additional funds to enhance graphics capability and increase the number of camera locations and other media inputs,” according to a news release. “These improvements will tie in with the enhanced digital goal judge system recently installed by the Cougars to provide the same quality and type of automatic replays used in the NHL.” . . . There also will be change to some of the seating. As the news release explains: “The Cougars have worked with the City to renovate an existing area of seats to provide a new seating arrangement that is emerging in many modern arenas and stadiums. Called loge seating, this renovation consists of high-end chairs arranged along a table or small counters and provides an option between regular seating and suites. The loge seating renovation is being funded by the Prince George Cougars and will involve 44 seats.” . . . Greg Pocock, the Cougars’ governor and president, said his organization has put more than $1 million into the facility. “Most recently,” he said, “my partners and I asked the City to go beyond just replacing what we had before, and the Cougars stepped up to pay the additional costs for a vastly improved system. These investments, along with the new loge seating, the digital goal judge system, additional speakers for the sound system, upgrades to the media box, and renovations to the Cougars office and dressing room, have all been done to enhance the experience for our fans and players. Our investment in the CN Centre over the last 28 months totals more than $1 million.”
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The Calgary Hitmen have welcomed their two new imports to the Alberta city. D Vladislav Yeryomenko, 17, is from Vitebsk, Belarus, while F Andrei Grishakov, 17, is from Chelyabinsk, Russia. You can learn more on both players right here. . . . Last season, Calgary’s imports were Belarusian F Pavel Karnaukhov, now 19, and Russian F Radel Fazleev, now 20. The Hitmen revealed prior to the CHL’s 2016 import draft that Karnaukhov had signed with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. He had 31 points, 12 of them goals, in 49 games with Calgary last season. One season earlier, as a freshman, he put up 20 goals and 22 assists in 69 games.. . . Fazleev is expected to play in the Philadelphia Flyers organization this season.
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Fans of the Medicine Hat Tigers will be able to watch their favourite WHL team in training camp later this month, which is something they weren’t able to do a year ago. . . . Back then, the Canalta Centre wasn’t completely ready for occupancy and the Tigers and City of Medicine Hat hadn’t agreed on a lease. Thus, for insurance reasons, fans weren’t allowed into the arena to watch training camp. . . . This year, the Tigers, who open camp on Aug. 26, are inviting fans to come out and watch through next weekend. With the Tigers not having scheduled any home exhibition games, it will be the only opportunity for fans to see their favourites in action before the regular season opens.
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The major midget Cariboo Cougars, who play out of Prince George, are making strides as they work to make everyone associated with their organization aware of issues involving mental health. . . . They are calling their program MindRight and it is all-encompassing — they have a Twitter page (@CCMindRight) that states “MindRight is a mental health lifestyle program designed to educate and support (Cougars) players, coaches, parents and supporters.” . . . You should consider giving the page a follow — @CCMindRight. . . . They also are on Facebook — just search for MindRight — and have a website (mindright.info) that is under construction. . . . The Cougars also have Myles Mattila involved as their spokesperson, and that is a splendid move. . . . This is an organization that obviously is a step ahead of the game when it comes to mental health awareness. A tip of the hat to Trevor Sprague, the Cougars’ GM and head coach, his staff and the volunteers involved in all of this. Well done!
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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:59 PM
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