Showing posts with label Trail Smoke Eaters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trail Smoke Eaters. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Cougars on top of CHL heap . . . Blades add veteran forward . . . Tigers stun Warriors in OT

The Prince George Cougars went to bed on Wednesday night knowing — apologies to Frank Sinatra — they are kings of the hill, top of the heap. . . . At No. 8 in the CHL rankings a week ago, the 
Cougars were No. 1 when the latest list was released yesterday. . . . Under new head coach Richard Matvichuk, who must be the most popular man in Prince George these days, the Cougars are 6-0-0, the first such season-opening streak in franchise history. They won their first four games on the road, then took a doubleheader from the visiting Kelowna Rockets last weekend. . . . Next up for the Cougars? A visit from the Vancouver Giants. They’ll play Friday and Saturday nights. The Giants, who lost 3-2 to the visiting Victoria Royals last night, now are 1-5-0. . . . Other WHL teams in the top 10: 5. Brandon Wheat Kings (1-1-1); 8. Regina Pats (3-0-1). . . . The Everett Silvertips, who beat the visiting Tri-City Americans 3-1 last night to go to 4-0-1, garnered an honourable mention. . . . The rankings are selected by a panel of anonymous NHL scouts.
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The Prince Albert Raiders placed F Kolten Olynek, 20, on waivers and the arch-rival Saskatoon Blades claimed him on Wednesday. The two teams are scheduled to meet tonight (Thursday) in Saskatoon and Olynek, who skated with the Blades on Wednesday, is expected to play. . . . This season, Olynek, who is from Saskatoon, had two goals and an assist in three games with the Raiders. . . . Olynek was a second-round selection by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2011 bantam draft. He also has played with the Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors and Spokane Chiefs. In 189 regular-season games, he has 20 goals and 31 assists. . . . With Olynek’s arrival, the Blades have four 20-year-olds on their roster, although F Ryan Graham has yet to play this season, thanks to an undisclosed injury. He is likely to be out for a few more weeks. . . . The two other 20s are D Bryton Sayers and F Jesse Shynkaruk. . . . Olynek and Shynkaruk were teammates with the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts. . . . The Raiders put Olynek on waivers in order to get down to the maximum three 20s — F Austin Glover, G Rylan Parenteau and F Tim Vanstone. The Raiders also have F Reid Gardiner on their roster, but he is in camp with the AHL’s Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins.
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The Regina Pats have dropped F Erik Gardiner, 17, from their roster and he will join the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos. Gardiner was a second-round selection in the 2014 WHL bantam draft. . . . Last season, the Humboldt native led the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League in scoring, with 59 points, including 21 goals, in 43 games. . . . Gardiner was pointless with the Pats this season, having dressed for two of their four games. . . . He is the younger brother of F Reid Gardiner, 20, who played the past four seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders.
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BCHLRich Murphy, a Minnesota-based businessman, is in the process of finalizing the purchase of majority ownership of the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters. For $600,000, Murphy will get 90 per cent of the franchise; the non-profit society that has been operating the team will retain 10 per cent. The Smoke Eaters are about $400,000 in debt. . . . The team has been community-owned, but the society wasn’t able to find a local buyer. Murphy is the president and CEO of Midwest Railcar Corp. . . . His son, Ryan, 18, has two goals in eight games in his freshman season with the Smokies. . . . Kari Lee Campbell has more right here from the Nelson Daily.
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JUST NOTES:

The Everett Silvertips have named F Noah Juulsen as the 13th team captain in franchise history. Juulsen, 19, is from Surrey, B.C. He is into his fourth season with the Silvertips. . . .
Nathan Van Oosten of Vancouver, who is a WHL linesman, has been selected to work at the 2017 World Junior Championship. The tournament runs from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Montreal and Toronto. . . . 
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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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Coaching
BCHLRick Lanz, a former assistant and head coach with the Tri-City Americans, has joined the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles as an assistant coach. He replaces Colin Hemingway, who left the team for family reasons. . . . Lanz, who also is a former Eagles head coach, will work with Blaine Neufeld, Surrey’s GM and head coach. . . . Nick Greenizan of the Peace Arch News has more right here.
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Check out this video of illusionist Darcy Oake in action . . .  

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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:


At Everett, D Noah Juulsen, named the captain earlier in the day, had a goal and an assist to help the Silvertips to a 3-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . This was the second of three straight games between these teams. The Americans won 3-2 at home on Sunday. They will play the third game on Friday in Everett. . . . Last night, F Max James gave the Americans a 1-0 lead at 14:41 of the first period. . . . The Silvertips pulled even when F Dominic Zwerger scored a PP goal at 1:31 of the second period. . . . Everett (4-0-1) won it with two third-period goals. F Graham Millar’s fifth goal, at 14:40, proved to be the winner. . . . Juulsen added an empty-netter at 19:32. . . . Everett G Carter Hart blocked 15 shots. At the other end, Back Warm turned aside 30. . . . The Americans (2-3-0) were 0-2 on the PP; the Silvertips were 1-4. . . . Everett is without F Eetu Tuulola (shoulder). He was injured in a game against the host Americans on Sunday and will be out for up to a month. . . . Announced attendance: 2,733.
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At Lethbridge, the Kelowna Rockets exploded for five goals in the third period as they beat the Hurricanes, 6-3. . . . Rockets F Calvin Thurkauf’s PP goal forged a 2-2 tie at 2:33 of the third. . . . Lethbridge F Tyler Wong snapped the tie with a PP goal at 9:05. . . . Kelowna F Kole Lind tied it at 11:23 and Thurkauf’s second goal of the game, at 13:22, proved to be the winner. . . . Thurkauf added an assist to his brace of goals, while F Tomas Soustal had a goal and an assist. . . . The Rockets (2-4-0) welcomed F Nick Merkley back to their lineup. He picked up one assist. Merkley, 19, last played on Feb. 5 against the visiting Spokane Chiefs. He suffered a torn ACL during that game and needed surgery on his right knee. He did play in two exhibition games with the Arizona Coyotes, who selected him in the first round of the NHL’s 2015 draft. . . . At the same time, though, the Rockets are without F Dillon Dube, 18, who suffered a sprained knee while with the Calgary Flames. He could be out for a month. . . . Kelowna G Michael Herringer stopped 24 shots, three more than Stuart Skinner of the Hurricanes (3-2-0). . . . The Rockets were 2-4 on the PP; the Hurricanes were 2-8. . . . Announced attendance: 3,099.
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At Medicine Hat, the Tigers, who trailed 4-0 early in the third period, got a goal from F Max Gerlach at 1:25 of OT to beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-4. . . . Moose Jaw F Jayden Halbgewachs’ fourth goal, at 19:37 of the second period, gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. . . . The Tigers got rolling with three goals in a span of 43 seconds in the third period. F Zach Fischer got it started with his fourth goal, at 5:03. F John Dahlstrom scored at 5:24 and F Mason Shaw got the home boys to within a goal at 5:46. . . . Fisher tied it with a PP goal at 17:48. . . . Shaw added an assist to his goal, while F Steve Owre had two assists. . . . The Warriors got a goal and an assist from F Nikita Popugaev and two assists from F Noah Gregor. . . . G Nick Schneider stopped 18 shots for the Tigers (4-1-0), while Zach Sawchenko turned aside 56 for Moose Jaw (3-0-2). . . . The Tigers held a 27-6 edge in shots in the third period. . . . Each team was 1-2 on the PP. . . . Announced attendance: 3,845.
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At Prince Albert, F Cody Glass scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Portland Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Raiders. . . . The Winterhawks (4-2-0) are 1-1-0 on their East Division tour. They lost 7-3 to the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday. . . . Glass, a 17-year-old sophomore, had 27 points, including 10 goals, in 65 games last season. This season, he has a WHL-leading 12 points, nine of them assists, in six games. . . . The Winterhawks scored the game’s first four goals and took a 4-0 lead into the third period. . . . The Raiders (2-3-0) then scored three times, cutting the deficit to 4-3 on F Simon Stransky’s fourth goal at 10:28. . . . Portland F Joachim Blichfeld got the empty-netter at 18:39. . . . Blichfeld also had an assist, while F Keegan Iverson had two assists. Portland F Colton Veloso ran his goal streak to three games. . . . The Winterhawks got 25 saves from G Cole Kehler. . . . Prince Albert starter Rylan Parenteau gave up four goals on 22 shots in 33:17. Ian Scott came on to block all 17 shots he saw. . . . Portland was 1-3 on the PP; Prince Albert was 0-3. . . . Raiders D Loch Morrison was back after missing three games with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Winterhawks scratched Latvian F Rodrigo Abols, 20, for a third straight game. . . . Portland D Jake Hobson, in his first WHL season, is from Prince Albert. He is the son of Doug Hobson, who played on the Raiders’ 1985 Memorial Cup-winning team. . . . Announced attendance: 1,859.
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At Red Deer, the Rebels erased a 3-0 first-period deficit with five straight goals en route to a 5-4 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Blazers led this one 2-0 on two goals by F Deven Sideroff in the first five minutes of the first period. . . . Kamloops F Matt Revel upped the lead to 3-0 at 19:37. . . . Red Deer F Austin Pratt cut into the lead with goals at 10:11 and 10:50 of the second period. . . . F Akash Bains pulled the Rebels (2-2-2) even with 57.9 seconds left in the period. . . . Red Deer F Brandon Hagel scored shorthanded at 5:36 of the third period, and D Josh Mahura got the eventual winner at 9:32. . . . F Rudolfs Balcers got the Blazers (2-4-0) back to within a goal at 18:38. . . . Red Deer G Riley Lamb, an 18-year-old freshman from Rivers, Man., came on in relief to start the second period and stopped 32 of 33 shots. Starter Trevor Martin gave up three goals on 14 shots. . . . Kamloops got 34 saves from G Connor Ingram. . . . Each team was 0-2 on the PP. . . . Announced attendance: 4,123.
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At Langley, B.C., F Jack Walker scored three goals to lead the Victoria Royals to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Walker, who went into the game without a goal in his first two games, opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the game. . . . The Giants then took a 2-1 lead on second-period goals from F Ty Ronning, at 3:40, and F Brendan Semchuk, his third, at 5:45. . . . Walker tied the score on a PP at 10:29 of the second. He got the eventual winner at 2:04 of the third period. . . . It was the third three-goal game of Walker’s career. The 20-year-old from Edina, Minn., had one in each of the past two seasons. . . . D Ryan Gagnon had two assists for the Royals (2-4-0). . . . G Griffen Outhouse stopped 28 shots for Victoria, while Ryan Kubic blocked 25 for the Giants (1-5-0). . . . Victoria was 1-2 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-3. . . . Announced attendance: 3,127.
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THURSDAY’S GAME (all times local):

Prince Albert at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:56 PM
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Friday, November 19, 2010

Russians take home the trophy

How many coaches would yank a goaltender less than four minutes into one game and start him again the very next night? That’s what Team Russia head coach Valery Bragin, the tie-less one, did with goaltender Dmitry Shikin in the two Subway Super Series games that were played in Kamloops and Prince George on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Shikin gave up two goals on three shots and left Wednesday’s game with his side down 2-0 just 3:36 into the game. Emil Garipov came on and was excellent in backstopping the Russians to a 7-6 shootout victory.
Last night, the Russians stoned Team WHL 5-2 in Prince George to win the Super Series for the first time in its eight years and perhaps save what, prior to this month, had been a mediocre series, at least out west.
Going into this year, the WHL had won 13 of the 14 games it had played against the Russians in this series.
The Russians had always, for whatever reason, brought over a markedly weaker team than was needed to compete with CHL teams. Four years ago, the last time the series stopped in Kamloops, the WHL posted an 8-1 victory in what was a simply awful hockey game.
This year, however, the Russians brought over an older team that was stronger and more mature than what we have seen in past years. Every player on the 22-man roster for the game in Kamloops was born in 1991. Of those 22 players, 16 had played for Bragin at the U-20 Fourth Nations tournament in Sweden in September.
This bunch of Russians took every bump and then some. They were quick on transition, strong on the puck and they gave the WHL’s defence fits, especially in deep on the forecheck. The WHL defencemen really had have a tough time dealing with that pressure.
The WHL, which actually held a 6-3 lead in the third period of the game in Kamloops, carried over only six players to the game in the Prince George. And it took until six or seven minutes into the third period before the WHL team looked comfortable. By then, the Russians held a 4-0 lead and were on their way to winning the series for the first time.
This reminded me a bit of 1972 when the Canadians (NHL) and the then-Soviet Union met in the first Super Series. The NHL stars that year were caught off guard by just how good the Soviet players were. I would suggest that the WHL players were expecting less than what they got in these two games.
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Through this series the Russian players are mostly nameless teenagers to most observers.
Which is why it was so wonderful to watch these players celebrate at the end of the game in Prince George. Watching them go to centre ice, shed gloves and sticks, and pose for one of those championship team photos with the trophy, well, it was just like watching a North American team celebrate a title.
If you don't think this thing meant something to them, you weren't paying attention.
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So . . . what’s next?
Well, Hockey Canada will release the list of players invited to its selection camp on Nov. 29. From there it’s on to the camp in Toronto, Dec. 11-15.
The 2011 World Junior Championship will be contested in Buffalo, Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.
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2010 SUPER SERIES:
Nov. 8, at Saint John, N.B.: Russia 5, QMJHL 4
Nov. 10, at Drummondville: Russia 4, QMJHL 3
Nov. 11, at London: OHL 4, Russia 0
Nov. 15, at Sudbury: OHL 2, Russia 1 (SO)
Nov. 17: at Kamloops: Russia 7, WHL 6 (SO)
Nov. 18: at Prince George: Russia 5, WHL 2
Russia 4-1-1-22-21-12
CHL 2-3-1-21-22-6
OHL 2-0-0-6-1-5
QMJHL 0-2-0-7-9-0
WHL 0-1-1-8-12-1
(Note: Three points for regulation victory; two points for shootout victory; one point for shootout loss.)
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With the Subway Super Series having wrapped up, it’s time to start thinking about the various World Junior Championships that will be held over the next six weeks.
F Kristians Pelss of the Edmonton Oil Kings will play for Latvia in the 2011 World Junior Championship, Division 1A, that runs Dec. 13-19 in Bobruisk, Belarus. Pelss, 18, was the 19th pick in the CHL’s 2010 import draft. He also was a seventh-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL’s 2010 draft. Pelss has a goal and three assists in 20 games with the Oil Kings. . . . Latvia will compete against Belarus, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, two WHL players are on Germany’s preliminary roster for the 2011 World Junior Championship that will be held in Buffalo, Dec. 26 through Jan. 5. F Marcel Noebels of the Seattle Thunderbirds and F Bernhard Keil of the Kamloops Blazers are on the German roster that right now features four goaltenders, 15 forwards and nine defencemen. Noebels has 14 points in 19 games with Seattle, while Keil, who has struggled to adapt to the grind of the WHL, has one goal in 15 games with the Blazers. He has been a healthy scratch four times in the last eight games.
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I was told late Thursday night that F Kyle St. Denis, 20, has been released off the injured list by the Kelowna Rockets. St. Denis has had multiple concussions and didn’t get medical clearance to start this season with the Rockets. From Trail, B.C., he had 22 points in 22 games in 2008-09 and 22 points in 26 games last season. Of course, the games played is the key statistic. Obviously, he has the skill to play in the WHL but the concussions just wouldn’t let him. . . . I also am told that his junior A rights belonged to the BCHL's Vernon Vipers, who have dealt them to the Victoria Grizzlies. St. Denis, however, wants to play with the Smoke Eaters, whose roster includes his brother Travis, who has 39 points in 22 games.
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The Kelowna Rockets dealt D Antoine Corbin, 18, to the Prince Albert Raiders on Thursday. The Rockets got back a 2012 third-round bantam draft pick. Corbin, who is in his second WHL season, was a fifth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . He had four points and 25 penalty minutes in 11 games this season with the Rockets. . . . Corbin, who is from Kelowna, is expected to play for the Raiders tonight against the Hurricanes in Lethbridge.
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If you were wondering, it took the Pats 22 hours 30 minutes to get from Regina to Vancouver, where they open B.C. Division tour tonight against the Giants. . . . The Pats have three prospects with them for the next few days. D Kyle Burroughs, a third-round pick from Langley, B.C., D Nolan De Jong, a seventh-round selection from Saanich, B.C., and F Demico Hannoun, a product of North Delta., B.C., who was taken in the ninth round, have practised with the club the last couple of days. . . . The Prince Albert Raiders have added F Tyler Paslawski, 18, to their roster for their three-game weekend. Paslawski, was assigned to the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks almost a month ago and had two assists in eight games. . . . BC Hockey has selected Kamloops as the host site for the 2011 U-16 B.C. Cup. The tournament will be held April 27 through May 1 at Interior Savings Centre. . . . Marc Weber of the Vancouver Province reports on the Dub Hub that the Vancouver Giants are down to five defencemen Luke Fenske (shoulder) the latest of their players to be injured. The Giants are at home to the Regina Pats tonight but then don’t play for a week. F Brendan Rowisnki, who was acquired last week from the Moose Jaw Warriors, won’t play, either. He had major offseason knee surgery and played two games with the Warriors before being traded. But he hasn’t received medical clearance from the Giants’ staff. Fenske and Rowinski both may be back for that Nov. 26 game when the Giants meet the Oil Kings in Edmonton. . . .
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More than a handful of former WHL players have been shuffled around over the last couple of days. . . . F James Wright (Vancouver, 2005-10) went from the AHL’s Norfolk Road Admirals to the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. . . . The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks returned F Mario Bliznak (Vancouver, 2005-08) to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. . . . The NHL’s Florida Panthers sent D Keaton Ellerby (Kamloops, Moose Jaw, 2004-08) to the AHL’s Rochester Americans and recalled F Michal Repik (Vancouver, 2005-08). . . . Repik was the Americans’ leading scorer, with 22 points, including 18 assists, in 17 games. . . . The NHL’s Minnesota Wild assigned D Justin Falk (Calgary, Spokane, 2004-08) to the AHL’s Houston Aeros. . . . The NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes recalled D Brett Carson (Moose Jaw, Calgary 2001-06) from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers on Wednesday and returned him on Thursday.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 2:05 AM
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