Scout
05-10-2008, 07:35 AM
Courtesy Alan Caldwell
Friday, May 9, 2008
Friday notes
The Belleville Bulls held off elimination in the OHL final, beating the Rangers last night to cut the Rangers' lead in the series to 3-2. The Rangers lead the series 3-0 at one point so the Bulls are now halfway to the very improbable comeback. Both teams are going to the Memorial Cup no matter what, but unless the Rangers want the "back door" tag hung on them should they win the Memorial Cup the way it was on Vancouver last year, Kelowna in 2004, etc, then they'd better finish off the Bulls.
In the QMJHL, Gatineau leads Rouyn-Noranda 3-1, with the Olympiques' first chance to wrap up the series and clinch their trip to Kitchener coming in game five tonight.
In the Royal Bank Cup, the round-robin is over with the AJHL's Camrose Kodiaks having clinched first place with a perfect 4-0 record. In 2nd place are the host Cornwall Colts, with the SJHL's Humboldt Broncos in third. Fourth place went to the Maritime Junior league's Weeks Crushers, meaning the Ontario champs, the Oakville Blades, miss out on the playoff round. In the semifinals tomorrow, Camrose will play the Crushers while Humboldt plays Cornwall. The winners play in the final on Sunday, so we could still see an all-prairie final if the Kodiaks and Broncos both win in the semis.
Back to the WHL, Regina has traded another import pick, this time with Vancouver. Regina has traded a 2008 first-round import pick to the Giants for the Giants' 2009 first-round import pick. This comes only a week after the Pats acquired Everett's 2008 first round pick in exchange for Regina's 2009 first round pick. Try to follow the Pats' logic here, because I can't: first they trade their 2009 pick for another 2008 pick. Then they trade a 2008 pick for a 2009 pick, essentially reversing the first trade except that in 2008 they'll pick in Everett's spot instead of their own and in 2009 they'll pick in Vancouver's spot instead of their own. For 2008 this makes sense since Everett's pick is a lot higher than Regina's is, but for 2009 the Pats could very well be worse off than the Giants which means they'll be picking a lot later.
Anyway, what these trades amount to is that Everett doesn't have a 2008 pick, which means they probably plan to have the same two imports (Vartovnik and Karamnov) back again. Vancouver will make two first round picks this year so they'll replace both Bliznak and Repik with two 17 or 18 year olds who will be there for two years, rendering their loss of their 2009 pick unimportant. Regina will still make one pick unless they plan to release Rudolf Cerveny.
I mentioned that Trevor Glass has won back-to-back WHL titles now and with different teams. I see Gregg Drinnan dug up an even cooler fact from the final: Lethbridge's Mike Wuchterl played in the WHL finals three times in his five-year career, with three different teams (Everett in 2004, Vancouver in 2007, Lethbridge in 2008) and lost all three times. He did win the Memorial Cup with Vancouver in 2007 though.
And to WHL alumni in the NHL, one of the NHL's longest-serving players with one team appears to be moving on next season. Olaf Kolzig says he will not return to the Capitals after almost 20 years in the organization. Kolzig is a free agent this summer and is upset about watching the playoffs from the bench while Cristobal Huet played, even when the team was down in the series. I see Kolzig's point; he's a classy guy who carried that team on his back for a decade, including a trip to the Cup finals and a lot of other years when they really stunk and he was the only reason they were in a lot of games. His reward for that is for the team to get a new goalie at the trade deadline this year and stick Kolzig's butt on the bench. It doesn't seem fair.....that being said, he didn't have a very good year this year and Huet's performance blew Kolzig away in the regular season. Kolzig is near the end of his career and is probably not more than a backup goalie anywhere next year anyway.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Friday notes
The Belleville Bulls held off elimination in the OHL final, beating the Rangers last night to cut the Rangers' lead in the series to 3-2. The Rangers lead the series 3-0 at one point so the Bulls are now halfway to the very improbable comeback. Both teams are going to the Memorial Cup no matter what, but unless the Rangers want the "back door" tag hung on them should they win the Memorial Cup the way it was on Vancouver last year, Kelowna in 2004, etc, then they'd better finish off the Bulls.
In the QMJHL, Gatineau leads Rouyn-Noranda 3-1, with the Olympiques' first chance to wrap up the series and clinch their trip to Kitchener coming in game five tonight.
In the Royal Bank Cup, the round-robin is over with the AJHL's Camrose Kodiaks having clinched first place with a perfect 4-0 record. In 2nd place are the host Cornwall Colts, with the SJHL's Humboldt Broncos in third. Fourth place went to the Maritime Junior league's Weeks Crushers, meaning the Ontario champs, the Oakville Blades, miss out on the playoff round. In the semifinals tomorrow, Camrose will play the Crushers while Humboldt plays Cornwall. The winners play in the final on Sunday, so we could still see an all-prairie final if the Kodiaks and Broncos both win in the semis.
Back to the WHL, Regina has traded another import pick, this time with Vancouver. Regina has traded a 2008 first-round import pick to the Giants for the Giants' 2009 first-round import pick. This comes only a week after the Pats acquired Everett's 2008 first round pick in exchange for Regina's 2009 first round pick. Try to follow the Pats' logic here, because I can't: first they trade their 2009 pick for another 2008 pick. Then they trade a 2008 pick for a 2009 pick, essentially reversing the first trade except that in 2008 they'll pick in Everett's spot instead of their own and in 2009 they'll pick in Vancouver's spot instead of their own. For 2008 this makes sense since Everett's pick is a lot higher than Regina's is, but for 2009 the Pats could very well be worse off than the Giants which means they'll be picking a lot later.
Anyway, what these trades amount to is that Everett doesn't have a 2008 pick, which means they probably plan to have the same two imports (Vartovnik and Karamnov) back again. Vancouver will make two first round picks this year so they'll replace both Bliznak and Repik with two 17 or 18 year olds who will be there for two years, rendering their loss of their 2009 pick unimportant. Regina will still make one pick unless they plan to release Rudolf Cerveny.
I mentioned that Trevor Glass has won back-to-back WHL titles now and with different teams. I see Gregg Drinnan dug up an even cooler fact from the final: Lethbridge's Mike Wuchterl played in the WHL finals three times in his five-year career, with three different teams (Everett in 2004, Vancouver in 2007, Lethbridge in 2008) and lost all three times. He did win the Memorial Cup with Vancouver in 2007 though.
And to WHL alumni in the NHL, one of the NHL's longest-serving players with one team appears to be moving on next season. Olaf Kolzig says he will not return to the Capitals after almost 20 years in the organization. Kolzig is a free agent this summer and is upset about watching the playoffs from the bench while Cristobal Huet played, even when the team was down in the series. I see Kolzig's point; he's a classy guy who carried that team on his back for a decade, including a trip to the Cup finals and a lot of other years when they really stunk and he was the only reason they were in a lot of games. His reward for that is for the team to get a new goalie at the trade deadline this year and stick Kolzig's butt on the bench. It doesn't seem fair.....that being said, he didn't have a very good year this year and Huet's performance blew Kolzig away in the regular season. Kolzig is near the end of his career and is probably not more than a backup goalie anywhere next year anyway.