Skills Competition

[Big Ern]

Great showing at the competition tonight by the Broncos. Team Switzer looked promising, but Team Keen would prove to be the winner eventually.
Highlights included Dale Weise shooting 99 MPH, which astounded most people in attendance. He WRUNG the shot, and with everyone expecting Doyle or Postma to win in that category, it came as a surprise. Good for Weise! He just WIRED it! 20 shots in the shootout, and only two shots went in, both by Daniel Rakos, who of course was on Keen's team. Spencer McAvoy and Daniel Rakos were the winners in the shot accuracy. Both got all targets in an amazing nine seconds, and both were also on Jon Keen's team. Zack Smith won the fastest skater competition. WOW, can he fly!!
So everyone had an enjoyable evening. For once, even though it was Switzer vs. Keen, it was really not a win/loss atmosphere. Great for a change. The guys needed it, and will get back on track in P.A. on Friday. Tonight was great!
I forgot to mention something. Jon Keen tried two shots himself. He tried the "patented Jussi Jokinen move" on Yonkman, and no dice!! His second attempt was stopped too. Credit Keener for trying though. Broncos assistant coach, Dave Hunchak, tried the shot accuracy test, and it took him 19 seconds to do what two players did in nine seconds. Youn know what I say? "FIRE THE COACH!!!" HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! No, I'm kidding. Nice try Hunch!
LET'S GO SWIFTY!!!

[transplantedbronco]

I tell that was a lot of fun to watch last night. To see the players having so much fun with one another was great. You could not plan that event at a bettter time if you tried. There are some great characters on this team and they were showing it after at the community skate. Schendo and Wilson I must say awesome hair dos ( they both died a wide blonde streak down the middle of their heads). All in all great evening, thanks guys.

[Scout]

Keen's Korner

Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Broncos Impress at Skills Showcase





How 'bout this guy in the skills competition last night. Dale Wiese's blast of 99 mph wowed the crowd at the Houston Pizza Skills Challenge. Dale's shot edged Eric Doyle's 94 mph slapper just moments later. 99 mph? That's getting it up there isn't it. Team White edged Team Black 4-1 in the hardest shot contest.







Daniel Rakos took the shooting accuracy event as he hit all nine targets in 9.49 seconds. This event was a fun one as players had an unlimited amount of pucks to knock out the nine targets. The target zones would light up after they were hit by the pucks. Team White beat Team Black 3-2.


Zack Smith (pictured left) had the wheels going to take the fastest skater event. His lap of 11.80 seconds surprised many to be the winning time. Zack was a bit of a darkhorse in this event. You don't think of blazing speed with Zack Smith but now he's the reigning champ until next year's event. Derek Claffey did his best to stay upright. He almost lost it around two of the corners and later pulled up to me and said "they forgot to sharpen my skates."

"AAA" Home Hardware Legionnaire Shane Neigum (who's already played games with the Medicine Hat Tigers this season) and bantam "AA" Kabos Raider Luke Barry had strong showings in the event. Team Black dominated this event winning 5-1 in the head-to-head match-ups.




Kyle Moir (left) was perfect in the breakaway challenge making all 10 saves as the shooters tried to get creative in the one-on-one battle. Daniel Rakos scored on both his attempts on Travis Yonkman as he back-handed a puck through the 5-hole on his first attempt and went "bar and in" on a shot in his 2nd attempt. Moir and Rakos helped Team White to pick up the five points for the shootout win.


As mentioned in my last post, my shootout attempts both failed. You see, the moves I tried both require a fair amount of skill, oops. Maybe next year. I had fun though. It's not often you get a chance to do that with the guys. Overall Team White (Keen) edged Team Black (Switzer) 12-9 to win the event. I hope everyone in attendance had a good time and will be back next year.


In other news, the WHL Board of Governors are meeting in Calgary the next couple days. There are apparently eight topics on the ledger to be discussed. Broncos Head Coach and General Manager Dean Chynoweth says all eight have a lot of importance. One item that will be discussed will be the conference playoff rankings moving back to 1 through 8 like we had a couple years back. Teams would make the playoffs based on their performance against the Conference, not their division. The league got away from that format to try and get rivals to meet in the first round of playoffs. We'll see if there is any movement on that from
BOG. I will be talking to Broncos Governor Ben Wiebe to get a recap of the meetings once he returns. I'll post some thoughts at a later date and also try and use something for the Broncos pre-game show.



Also, former Bronco captain Dustin Friesen helped Team Canada win a gold medal at the World University Games in Italy last month. They beat Russia in the final 3-1. He'll be on an upcoming Bronco Big Show, hopefully Friday night before the Broncos take on the Prince Albert Raiders. Thanks to the Ramage billet family for giving me the heads up on that story.




Finally, as heard on the "Breakfast Boys" Eagle morning show. Did you hear about Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman? Apparently he was out for supper last night with three of his teammates last night in a Chicago restaurant. A couple of upset Bears fans following the Super Bowl loss made some comments in passing like "nice game Rex" and "thanks for blowing the big one". After the 5th or 6th comment, Rex stood up and tossed his plate of food across the restaurant. Apparently one of the patrons intercepted it and ran it back all the way for a touchdown.




Back to work,
Jon

[Scout]

Houston Pizza Skills Challenge Results
FEB 6 - Last night the Centennial Civic Centre hosted the 2007 Houston Pizza Skills Challenge featuring the Swift Current Broncos. Fans in attendance were treated to an entertaining evening and witnessed four competitions including: fastest skater, hardest shot, breakaway challenge, and accuracy shooting.

The event results, in order of competion, were as follows. (Asterisk designates point for respective team):

FASTEST SKATER:

*Levi Nelson - 12.32s (Team Black) vs.
Dale Weise - 12.35s (Team White)
*Brady Leavold - 11.95s (Team Black) vs.
Daniel Rakos - 12.24s (Team White)
*Paul Postma - 12.15s (Team Black) vs.
Derek Claffey - 12.62s (Team White)
Ryan Molle - 12.32s (Team Black) vs.
*Geordie Wudrick - 12.22s (Team White)
*Zack Smith - 11.80s (Team Black) vs.
Phil Gervais - 12.37s (Team White)
*Shayne Neigum (SC Legionnaires) - 12.50s (Team Black)
Luke Barry (SC Raiders) - 12.90s (Team White)
Team Black - 5 Team White - 1
HARDEST SHOT (all times are miles per hour):

Paul Postma - 89, 89, 91 (Team Black) vs.
*Eric Doyle - 92, 94, 91 (Team White)
R.J. LaRochelle - 89, 85, 89 (Team Black) vs.
*Jeremy Schenderling - 90, 89, 89 (Team White)
Spencer McAvoy - 87, 89, 85 (Team Black) vs.
*Dale Weise - 94, 99, 94 (Team White)
*Ryan Molle - 85, 85, 82 (Team Black) vs.
Phil Gervais - 83, 83, 85 (Team White)
*Kyle Bortis - 85, 89, 87 (Team Black) vs.
Grant Toulmin - 59, 84, 85 (Team White)
Team Black - 7 Team White - 4
BREAKAWAY CHALLENGE:

Travis Yonkman (Team Black), Kyle Moir (Team White)

5 Points rewarded to winning goaltender

Levi Nelson (Team Black) vs. Kyle Moir (Save, Save)
Geordie Wudrick (Team White) vs. Travis Yonkman (Save, Save)
Brady Leavold (Team Black) vs. Kyle Moir (Save, Save)
Daniel Rakos (Team White) vs. Travis Yonkman (Goal, Goal)
David Stieler (Team Black) vs. Kyle Moir (Save, Save)
Grant Toulmin (Team White) vs. Travis Yonkman (Save, Save)
R.J. LaRochelle (Team Black) vs. Kyle Moir (Save, Save)
Myles Rumsey (Team White) vs. Travis Yonkman (Save, Save)
Michael Wilson (Team Black) vs. Kyle Moir (Save, Save)
Eric Doyle (Team White) vs. Travis Yonkman (Save, Save)
Team Black - 7 Team White - 9
ACCURACY CHALLENGE:

All players shot 9 targets. Lowest time wins point.

Zack Smith (Team Black) - 17.14s vs.
*Jeremy Schenderling (Team White) - 12.02s
David Stielder (Team Black) - 11.36s vs.
*Daniel Rakos (Team White) - 9.49s
*Kyle Bortis (Team Black) - 19.19s vs.
Dale Wiese (Team White) - 19.61s
Michael Wilson (Team Black) - 18.22s vs.
*Myles Rumsey (Team White) - 15.26s
Spencer McAvoy (Team Black) - 10.75s vs.
Derek Claffey (Team White) - 17.04s
Team Black - 9 Team White - 12