Scout
02-20-2008, 11:40 AM
Courtesy Alan Caldwell
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Notes
Whole bunch of stuff from the last few days to catch up on here....probably nothing more pressing though than the Portland situation. If there has been a team in a bigger mess in WHL history than Portland is right now, I don't know what it is. For starters, they have lost 16 games in a row. Injuries have ravaged the team so badly that right now they are only dressing 14 skaters per game and one of them is a 15 year old callup. And on top of all that on-ice trouble comes the word that the WHL is investigating the way the team is being run.
Definitely read Gregg Drinnan's blog today for all the gory details; I've seen the internet rumours about the Hawks just like the rest of you probably have, and while I'm not one to put a lot of stock in internet rumours, Gregg did the legwork with his contacts around the league, and what he found gives some of these rumours the look of truth. For example, apparently the team really is running out of sticks since they haven't paid their stick supplier. Worse than that, there may be some truth to the really ugly rumour that the team cancelled injured overager Kevin Undershute's shoulder surgery in Portland and told him to go home to Canada and have it done. The reasons for that aren't clear (and there could be legitimate reasons for it) but the ugly suggestion here is that the team didn't want to pay any costs of the surgery and instead sends the player home to have it done in Canada where it won't cost them (or him) anything. I'm a little skeptical of this....I mean, I would think all the U.S. teams would have decent medical insurance packages for their players, for just this reason. Surely the league requires that. If Portland doesn't.....or if they just didn't want to pay any additional costs not covered by their insurance.....then this looks really, really bad on them.
Hopefully the truth will come out here, and if the players in Portland are indeed being mistreated then the league needs to take action on this front, NOW.
Getting away from the rumours and back to the on-ice and locker room problems, there's a very good article in the Portland Oregonian today which talks to several current and former players about the team's situation. Some really good quotes in there, including:
"Is everyone in here really tired? Is everyone putting their full effort in?" - current Hawks overager Jacob Dietrich
"We'd come into every game wanting to win, but as soon as the other team scored a goal, a lot of the guys on the team would quit." - former Hawk Nick Hotson
"We all felt we were going to lose. And we did lose." - former Hawk Colton Sceviour.
"Guys are just too comfortable" - current Hawk Matt Schmermund
"Out in the community, it's pretty tough. People ask, 'How's the team doing?' You always have to say 'Not too bad.' But we really are." - Schmermund again.
Very unfortunate that one of the league's most successful franchises has been reduced to this. Hopefully this mess can get sorted out and the team can have a little more success next season because it's becoming a real ugly mark on the league.
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Couple other notes now....
To finish up a topic I've mentioned a couple times here in the last couple weeks: yes, the Winnipeg AAA midget Thrashers completed a perfect 40-0-0 season on the weekend. I know it's just midget, and I know Winnipeg teams often dominate that league, but this is still a very impressive accomplishment at any level of sport.
Interesting moment in last night's Kelowna-Spokane tilt (see summary) when brothers Collin Bowman (Kelowna) and Drayson Bowman (Spokane) had a scrap early in the third period. No word on whether Mrs. Bowman sent them to their rooms afterwards. I remember after another brother scrap a few years ago between twins Brent and Kyle Howarth (actually, that might have been a Rockets-Chiefs game too?), one of them revealed that mom was none too pleased with them afterwards.
The BCHL's Surrey Eagles have lifted their team suspension of forward Adam Basford for "inappropriate off-ice conduct", which frees Basford up to join the Vancouver Giants. My question is, if Basford is an off-ice distraction - and apparently this was not his first incident with the Eagles - why would the Giants want to bring a player like that onto their team? They don't need the help, they're already one of the best teams in the league. Risky move IMO.
I've seen Regina's last two games now, their 7-1 loss in Calgary last night and their 5-2 loss in Lethbridge on Saturday. I have to say, any rumour that the Pats have the best defence in the league is just that, a rumour. Linden Rowat could have sued his teammates for non-support in both games. Last night was obvious to anyone looking at the scoreboard, but that Saturday game was even worse. It could have been 10-2 if Lethbridge could have finished their chances or converted on their powerplays. The Pats were outshot 80-45 in the two games and are the worst defensive team amongst the playoff-bound Eastern teams. Here's something to think about: before the trade deadline deals which were supposed to solidify their defence, the Pats were allowing an average of 28.3 shots and 2.81 goals per game. Since the deadline, they are giving up 30.1 shots and 3.24 goals per game.
Oh, and J.D. Watt is killing that team.
And lastly, hopefully later today, I'll have another stats post on rookie scoring. I'm also going to try to address a couple stats questions from the comment sections of the last few stats posts....I haven't forgotten you guys, just haven't gotten a chance to do anything yet.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Notes
Whole bunch of stuff from the last few days to catch up on here....probably nothing more pressing though than the Portland situation. If there has been a team in a bigger mess in WHL history than Portland is right now, I don't know what it is. For starters, they have lost 16 games in a row. Injuries have ravaged the team so badly that right now they are only dressing 14 skaters per game and one of them is a 15 year old callup. And on top of all that on-ice trouble comes the word that the WHL is investigating the way the team is being run.
Definitely read Gregg Drinnan's blog today for all the gory details; I've seen the internet rumours about the Hawks just like the rest of you probably have, and while I'm not one to put a lot of stock in internet rumours, Gregg did the legwork with his contacts around the league, and what he found gives some of these rumours the look of truth. For example, apparently the team really is running out of sticks since they haven't paid their stick supplier. Worse than that, there may be some truth to the really ugly rumour that the team cancelled injured overager Kevin Undershute's shoulder surgery in Portland and told him to go home to Canada and have it done. The reasons for that aren't clear (and there could be legitimate reasons for it) but the ugly suggestion here is that the team didn't want to pay any costs of the surgery and instead sends the player home to have it done in Canada where it won't cost them (or him) anything. I'm a little skeptical of this....I mean, I would think all the U.S. teams would have decent medical insurance packages for their players, for just this reason. Surely the league requires that. If Portland doesn't.....or if they just didn't want to pay any additional costs not covered by their insurance.....then this looks really, really bad on them.
Hopefully the truth will come out here, and if the players in Portland are indeed being mistreated then the league needs to take action on this front, NOW.
Getting away from the rumours and back to the on-ice and locker room problems, there's a very good article in the Portland Oregonian today which talks to several current and former players about the team's situation. Some really good quotes in there, including:
"Is everyone in here really tired? Is everyone putting their full effort in?" - current Hawks overager Jacob Dietrich
"We'd come into every game wanting to win, but as soon as the other team scored a goal, a lot of the guys on the team would quit." - former Hawk Nick Hotson
"We all felt we were going to lose. And we did lose." - former Hawk Colton Sceviour.
"Guys are just too comfortable" - current Hawk Matt Schmermund
"Out in the community, it's pretty tough. People ask, 'How's the team doing?' You always have to say 'Not too bad.' But we really are." - Schmermund again.
Very unfortunate that one of the league's most successful franchises has been reduced to this. Hopefully this mess can get sorted out and the team can have a little more success next season because it's becoming a real ugly mark on the league.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Couple other notes now....
To finish up a topic I've mentioned a couple times here in the last couple weeks: yes, the Winnipeg AAA midget Thrashers completed a perfect 40-0-0 season on the weekend. I know it's just midget, and I know Winnipeg teams often dominate that league, but this is still a very impressive accomplishment at any level of sport.
Interesting moment in last night's Kelowna-Spokane tilt (see summary) when brothers Collin Bowman (Kelowna) and Drayson Bowman (Spokane) had a scrap early in the third period. No word on whether Mrs. Bowman sent them to their rooms afterwards. I remember after another brother scrap a few years ago between twins Brent and Kyle Howarth (actually, that might have been a Rockets-Chiefs game too?), one of them revealed that mom was none too pleased with them afterwards.
The BCHL's Surrey Eagles have lifted their team suspension of forward Adam Basford for "inappropriate off-ice conduct", which frees Basford up to join the Vancouver Giants. My question is, if Basford is an off-ice distraction - and apparently this was not his first incident with the Eagles - why would the Giants want to bring a player like that onto their team? They don't need the help, they're already one of the best teams in the league. Risky move IMO.
I've seen Regina's last two games now, their 7-1 loss in Calgary last night and their 5-2 loss in Lethbridge on Saturday. I have to say, any rumour that the Pats have the best defence in the league is just that, a rumour. Linden Rowat could have sued his teammates for non-support in both games. Last night was obvious to anyone looking at the scoreboard, but that Saturday game was even worse. It could have been 10-2 if Lethbridge could have finished their chances or converted on their powerplays. The Pats were outshot 80-45 in the two games and are the worst defensive team amongst the playoff-bound Eastern teams. Here's something to think about: before the trade deadline deals which were supposed to solidify their defence, the Pats were allowing an average of 28.3 shots and 2.81 goals per game. Since the deadline, they are giving up 30.1 shots and 3.24 goals per game.
Oh, and J.D. Watt is killing that team.
And lastly, hopefully later today, I'll have another stats post on rookie scoring. I'm also going to try to address a couple stats questions from the comment sections of the last few stats posts....I haven't forgotten you guys, just haven't gotten a chance to do anything yet.