Neal's Notes

[CdnSailor]

Victoria Royals’ practice missed a key piece of the puzzle today. A few members of the media arrived and right away the question was asked: Where’s Hayden Rintoul? Fortunately, it’s not injury related. Rintoul is under the weather today and Royals’ play-by-play man Marlon Martens made a good point; the amount that Rintoul has played this season, a day off might not be a good thing.

Taylor Crunk, who last played on October 14 thanks to an upper body injury, was in an orange line uniform with Luke Harrison and Brendan Persley today. Crunk’s return to the line-up could be as early as tomorrow against the Vancouver Giants when the Royals head to the Pacific Coliseum. Defenceman Jesse Pauls, who has not played since October 10, is also day-to-day with an upper body injury and could be back in either tomorrow against the Giants or Saturday against the Kootenay Ice.

Obviously, Kevin Sundher is in Regina for the CHL SUBWAY® Super Series game tonight against Team Russia. Team WHL lost both games last year, which allowed Team Russia to win its first series since it began in 2003. Sundher will return to Victoria tomorrow and be set to go this weekend.

Vancouver Giants’ forward Brendan Gallagher was named Captain for Team WHL tonight and Moose Jaw Warriors’ forward Quinton Howden is Captain for tomorrow in Moose Jaw.
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Posted a feature story on the Royals’ website on forward Brandon Magee and the fact that he’s on a tear right now as he and the Royals’ head into two games. Magee is on a four game point streak, with three goals and seven points over that span. Magee finished 19th in WHL rookie scoring last season with 12 goals and 29 points and as mentioned yesterday, he scored the bronze medal winning goal in the 2011 World Under-17 Challenge in Manitoba. Magee is a fourth round pick of the Chilliwack Bruins in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft and is arguably the best fourth round pick from that group in 2009. Magee is one of seven players drafted in the fourth round in 2009 that is on a WHL roster and the only player that you could argue has more of an impact is 17-year-old goalie Chris Driedger of the Calgary Hitmen. Driedger was originally drafted by the Tri-City Americans and has played in 14 of the Hitmen’s 20 games this season. Driedger has posted a record of 6-4-1-1, with a goals against average of 2.74 and a .901 save percentage. Of the six skaters in the WHL, Magee has had clearly the biggest impact on his team.
The other players out of that group are Tyrel Seaman (Brandon Wheat Kings), Jeff Hubec (Kootenay), Jaimen Yakubowski (Lethbridge), Travis Brown (Moose Jaw) and Sawyer Lainge (Prince Albert).
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The BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 list came out today, with three WHL teams on the list. The Tri-City Americans rank highest among WHL teams at number-3, behind the top ranked London Knights and St. John Sea Dogs, who are second. The Americans, who are 15-5-0-0 on the season and have won five straight, were ranked third last week. The Saskatoon Blades, who are on a five game win streak and have a 15-6-0-1 record, jumped into the rankings for the third week at sixth overall. The Red Deer Rebels, who have won six of the eight straight games that they have collected points in, are 7th and like Saskatoon, have climbed back in the rankings for a third week. The Medicine Hat Tigers and Brandon Wheat Kings got honorable mentions. They have an identical 14-6-1-1 record and collide Friday in Brandon.

The Kootenay Ice and Kamloops Blazers have higher win percentages than both the Tigers and Wheat Kings, but did not get a mention.

[CdnSailor]

The Victoria Royals welcomed their latest roster addition to practice this morning. 18-year-old Ben Walker of Edina, Minnesota, put on his Royals’ gear for the first time and will wear number-10 for the Royals. Walker also had his first WHL media scrum, with Victoria media in attendance to catch their first glimpse of the 5’9”, 165 pound right-hand shooting forward, who is known to have good speed and describes himself as a playmaker. Walker has spent the last two seasons with the Edina High School Hornets, posting 24 goals and 20 assists in 49 games over that time. I had a chance to speak with Ben today about his move to Victoria.

Q: How did it come about that you wound up in Victoria?
A: I got a call from (Royals’ scout) P.J. Atherton in Minnesota. He wanted to sit down and talk about the league and the team. He came to our house and educated my family on the whole thing. (Royals’ Director of USA Scouting) Glen Carrier talked to us and let me know that they wanted me to come to Victoria. It was all within a week having to decide, so that was a pretty difficult decision. But we decided that it was a really good opportunity and we decided to take it.

Q: Are the Royals the only WHL team to contact you?
A: Yah, they were the only ones to contact me. My family advisor said that there were a couple other teams, I think he said Medicine Hat, but I’m not positive on that. I hadn’t talked to them or anything, so this was the first team that I really spoke with.

Q: What did you think of your first practice with the team?
A: It was really high speed. Kind of a shocker. I hadn’t practiced since last season and the high school season hadn’t started so I felt a little winded, but hopefully I’ll catch up here.

Q: As far as your hockey development, how much did the WHL appeal to you?
A: It appealed a lot. I was really fired up when they contacted me. To just get the opportunity to come up here and play hockey and play in a lot of games. It’s kind of like making hockey your job up here. In Minnesota, it was kind of like an on the side thing.

Q: What has Head Coach Marc Habscheid told you as far as the team expectations from you this season?
A: Not sure quite yet, just play me game and make a spot, I guess.

Q: What is your game?
A: Pretty much a play maker and move the puck. I like to bring a high tempo game. I like to fly a little bit.

Q: When did you start playing hockey?
A: I actually started skating when I was three. My parents started me in hockey at the same time I started skating in Fargo, North Dakota. Just kind of started there and moved to Edina after about four years of Mites, played two more years in Edina. I just kept playing, I guess.

Q: Anyone else in your family that plays hockey?
A: I’ve got two younger brothers that play. Both my dad and uncle were soccer players.

Q: Minnesota Wild fan?
A: A little bit. I’ve never been a fan of any individual team. I’d rather watch the players that I like to watch and follow them.

Q: Who is your idol or a player that you pattern your game around?
A: I really like Martin St. Louis. I like the way he plays. He’s very tenacious and always working hard. He’s probably my favourite player.

Q: Do you know where Moose Jaw is, because you’re going there in January?
A: I have no idea, actually.

Q: What do you think of having to go on road trips that are 20 or so hours long?
A: I’ll have to wait to see how prepared for those I am, I guess. I’ll try to prep before, but I don’t really know what’s going to happen so we’ll see when we get there.

Q: What is the farthest you’ve ever had to travel to play hockey?
A: I’ve gone to Toronto and I’ve gone to Lake Placid, New York, for tournaments through summer hockey teams. I’ve gone up to Brandon and Winnipeg a lot of times, like every summer for the last 10 years.

Q: You’ve been in Victoria for less than 12 hours, but what do you think of your new surroundings?
A: From what I have seen, it’s a great city. I haven’t had too much time to go around, but it looks great.

Ben seems like a very good young man and hopefully he can make a smooth transition to the WHL.

The Royals, following a rough weekend to say the least, will be on the road this weekend to face Kamloops and Kelowna Friday and Saturday. In fact the next six games are against either of those two teams, with four dates against the Blazers and two with the Rockets.

[CdnSailor]

Nov 29/11

The Victoria Royals have a couple games coming up with the Kamloops Blazers tonight and tomorrow and this is the first time they’ve hosted the Blazers this season. In two games in Kamloops this season, the Blazers have out-scored the Royals 12-3. The first meeting in October was an 8-2 win for Kamloops, followed by a 4-1 decision last Friday night.

The Royals are trying to end a four game losing streak and the constant in those four games is the fact the Royals have fallen behind 2-0 in each of those games. Granted, the Royals stormed back to take a 3-2 lead in Kelowna before the Rockets finally won 6-5 Saturday, but it’s quite a large a large 8-ball to get behind to trail by two goals. The last time that didn’t happen, the Royals defeated the Red Deer Rebels 4-3 in a shoot-out November 13.

Another troubling trend is the fact the Royals have not produced the first goal in a game since November 5 in a 5-3 loss at home to Vancouver. That’s seven straight games that the Royals have allowed the first goal in a game heading into tonight’s tilt with Kamloops.

Kevin Sundher is back on a streak going into the first game of two with the Blazers. Sundher has produced a goal in each of the last three games for the Royals and has four points over that span. 18-year-old Colin Smith leads the Blazers in scoring this season with 13 goals and 28 points on the season. The Blazers are tied for seventh in the league for goals scored with 95, five more than the Royals.
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Of the 90 goals the Royals have scored this season, 61 have come from the five players on the team that have scored at least 10 goals this season: Kevin Sundher (16), Robin Soudek (14), Logan Nelson (11), Jamie Crooks (10) and Steven Hodges (10). The Royals are tied with the Brandon Wheat Kings for the league lead in players with at least 10 goals. The Wheat Kings top five goals scorers, which includes league points leader Mark Stone with 24, have produced 79 of the Wheat Kings 122 goals.

Those 61 goals from the top 5 Royals’ goal scorers amount to 67.8% of the team’s offence. That is second only to Medicine Hat, with their top five producing 70.8% (75 of 106) of their goals. Emerson Etem and Hunter Shinkaruk of the Tigers have 52 goals between them.
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All the talk since yesterday morning has been about Canada’s invites to the National Junior team selection camp. Obviously here in Victoria, Kevin Sundher looked like he would be a lock to get an invite, but didn’t. It was disappointing to see that he did not get the call and with his speed and playmaking ability, I was one who thought he would at least get that. In fact, Kevin is fourth in scoring in the WHL among players eligible to play for Canada and overall he sits seventh. Also, playing for a team that has given up the most goals in the league makes his -3 rating a little more forgivable. When you throw in talent from the Ontario and Quebec Hockey League’s and NCAA programs, there’s only so much room for skilled players. But Team Canada is not built on who can get on the scoresheet and Sundher’s not the only player in the league producing over a point-per-game that didn’t get the call. Hunter Shinkaruk of the Medicine Hat Tigers (38 points in 28 games), Jordan Weal in Regina (38pts, 25gp), Edmonton’s Michael St. Croix (33pts, 26gms) and Josh Nicholls from Saskatoon (31pts, 27gms) to name a few. The people who had to make these choices are far better hockey folks than the bloke writing this blog and they have a bevy of talent to choose from across this country.

Michael Ferland of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Mark McNeill of the Prince Albert Raiders were the surprise picks in my opinion of the 16 players from the WHL that made the team. Ferland is more of a pleasant surprise because he’s not a guy going into the season that most would expect to be in this position. But the fifth round pick of the Calgary Flames in 2010, who was not part of the National Junior Team’s summer development camp, has had a terrific season in Brandon with 17 goals and 25 assists for 42 points. He also brings size at 6’2”, 208 pounds.

McNeill, a first rounder in 2011 by the Chicago Blackhawks, hasn’t been a huge offensive force this season, with nine goals and 22 points in 27 games. However, he is on an eight game point streak, which is currently tied for the longest in the WHL. McNeill also had a fantastic CHL SUBWAY® Super Series game in Moose Jaw earlier this month with two goals and an assist and a +3 in a 7-5 loss to Russia. The Edmonton product does have a history with Hockey Canada, with six assists in seven games at the World Under-18 Championship in Germany this past April. He’s got size, speed and skill, which he demonstrated Friday when he scored the overtime winner against Vancouver in a 4-3 Raiders’ victory.

The selection camp starts December 10 in Calgary. Canada begins the 2012 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship against Finland on Boxing Day.
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Heading into Sunday, I was pretty certain Michael St. Croix of the Edmonton Oil Kings was going to win the WHL’s Player of the Week honors. St. Croix had a hat-trick and five points against Lethbridge Wednesday, then had four more points against the Hurricanes Saturday and finished with five goals and nine points in three games.

Then Portland’s Ty Rattie met Swift Current Sunday. Rattie had four goals and five points in that game and finished the week with seven goals and 12 points in four games. He was also a +8. Rattie was awarded the CHL’s Player of the Week honors today. Rattie is a second round, 32nd overall pick of the St. Louis Blues in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
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Two games are on the schedule for me this week on Shaw TV. Tomorrow night, the Medicine Hat Tigers entertain the Lethbridge Hurricanes. I’ll then fly to Kamloops Thursday for the Blazers home contest with the Prince George Cougars.

The Eastern Conference has been very competitive this season and all eight teams in the playoff picture on that side of the ledger have at least 30 points. Calgary, sitting eighth, would be fifth in the Western Conference. The Hitmen have been on a roll lately and have pulled into the top eight with wins in six of their last seven games. After starting the season with only one win in the first six games, the Hitmen have gone 13-6-1-0 since October 16. They handed Saskatoon its first home ice loss of the season Friday, then ripped Prince Albert the following night 8-2. Only the Kootenay Ice is on a longer streak than the Hitmen with five straight wins.

[CdnSailor]

It’s not back-to-back wins, but the Victoria Royals picked up three of a possible four points on the weekend. That equals what they had done in the previous 10 games and we’ll see if they can parlay that into more positives with three games coming up in four nights this week in Alberta. The Royals have played three solid games without one of their leading scorers, with forward Robin Soudek still serving a four game suspension that was handed to him following Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Tri-City Americans at home. Without Soudek’s 17 goals and 32 points in 31 games in the line-up for supplemental discipline, the Royals gave the WHL leading Americans all they could handle on Wednesday night, before they eventually fell 5-3. The Royals then handed the Lethbridge Hurricanes an 8-5 set-back Friday night and are the only team to hold Hurricanes’ forward Cam Braes from scoring a goal in his last nine games. Friday’s game saw two of the Royals’ top players be just that, as leading scorer Kevin Sundher recorded a four point night and Jamie Crooks picked up his second hat-trick of the season, along with a four point night of his own.


On Saturday, it could have been easy to throw in the towel when they trailed 3-0 through 40 minutes. Yet the Royals found a way, and on the same five minute power play, to charge back and tie the game. Although they lost in a shoot-out, that’s got to be a major lift for the players to leave Kent, Washington, with one point against a team that is trying to hunt them down in the race to get into playoff picture. The Royals are four points ahead of the Thunderbirds and Victoria currently owns the sixth seed in the Western Conference.


Looking ahead to this week, not many challenges will be more difficult in the league for the Royals than their foes on Wednesday night. The Royals will face the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rexall Place, just over a month after the Oil Kings took an 8-2 win out of the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on November 8. The Oil Kings are on a nine game win streak and have surged to the top of the Eastern Conference. Expectations were high for the Oil Kings as they entered their fifth season in the WHL and they have lived up to it, with arguably the most complete team in the East. The Oil Kings made the first big move prior to the trade deadline with the acquisition of 20-year-old forward Tyler Maxwell from the Everett Silvertips in November, a 41-goal scorer last year. To say the trade has worked out well for the Oil Kings would be putting it very mildly. Maxwell is on an 11-game point streak, including his first eight games with Edmonton where he has posted six goals and 15 points. Teammate Dylan Wruck is also on an 11-game point streak, Michael St. Croix was last week’s WHL Player of the Week and sits in the top 10 in league scoring with 46 points, and TJ Foster is another forward over a point-per-game pace with 15 goals and 35 points in 29 games. The defence is very strong with NHL draftees Martin Gernat (5th rnd, Edm ’11), Mark Pysyk (1st rnd, Buf ’10) and Keegan Lowe (3rd rnd, Car ’11) and sure-fire first round prospect for the 2012 NHL Draft Griffin Reinhart. Pysyk, however, will not be playing since he is at Canada’s World Junior selection camp in Calgary. The Oil Kings also boast Laurent Brossoit in goal. Brossoit, a sixth round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 2011 NHL Draft, has the WHL’s third best goals against average (2.35) and the fifth highest save percentage (.916).


The Royals and Oil Kings game can be seen on Shaw TV starting at 6:00pm. The Royals and Hurricanes will meet again Friday night and then the Royals face the Tigers in Medicine Hat Saturday to go into the Christmas break.
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It was great to see the emergence of 17-year-old forward Zane Jones to the Royals’ attack recently. Until November 30, Jones had three goals in the first 27 games of the season. In the following seven games, Jones has five goals and seven points and his run included a four game goal scoring streak.


Kevin Sundher is back on a consecutive point’s streak, which has reached four games. Sundher has three goals and five assists over that span to run his team lead in scoring to 21 goals and 52 points. Logan Nelson has a three game point streak, with two goals and three assists over that time. He and defenceman Jesse Pauls both have three game assist streaks, as well.
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Mike Winther of the Prince Albert Raiders is the WHL’s Player of the Week after he posted eight goals and 10 points in four games. Winther, a sixth overall selection by the Raiders in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft, had his first WHL hat-trick Tuesday in a 6-3 victory over the Regina Pats, part of a five point night for Winther. Winther currently holds a five game goal scoring streak, with nine goals.


The WHL’s nominee for the CHL Goalie of the Week honors is Ty Rimmer of the Tri-City Americans, who went 2-0-0-0 and blocked 59 of 61 shots. Rimmer was in goal for the Americans 6-2 victory over the Royals Tuesday, and then shut-out the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday.
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Interesting stat posted on twitter by WHL Facts: Over the past 178 games, the Portland Winterhawks have been shut-out nine times. Five of those have come against the Americans, including two this season, both by Rimmer.
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With the NHL’s realignment of four conferences and playoff structure to next season, a few of us with the WHL on Shaw crew talked about whether it was worth it for the WHL to look into a playoff structure change, most likely back to divisional match-ups. The WHL is committed to the current “Top 8 Get In” look for the next few seasons, so there’s no need to worry about a change if you like the way it is right now.


But there are certainly compelling and hard to argue debate topics for both sides. The biggest one for keeping the current playoff format in tact is the fact that the top 8 will get in and there will be no worry about teams getting in that should not be there. On the other side of the ledger, to have a bitter rival or any division opponent in the first two rounds is more of a draw for fans than a BC division team squaring off with a US division team in the first round, or East vs. Central. It’s funny that the first round of the playoffs is watched by fewer fans in most cities than in the regular season and there is a feeling that fans aren’t interested in going to first round games, especially when you have the non-division showdowns. In the eight first round series’ in the 2011 playoffs, half were played between division opponents and they were the 1-8, 2-7 matchups in both conferences. In Prince George last year, the prospect of playing the Kelowna Rockets was far more appealing to watch than going up against Portland or Tri-City. Not to mention travel can get long early for some teams, like if Brandon and Kootenay were to meet in round 1.


However, the current playoff structure works well and the teams that deserve to be in get in. But, it’s an interesting debate and one that draws plenty of people to the argument.

[CdnSailor]

Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season. It’s been a while since I’ve been down at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. Although the last WHL on Shaw broadcast was on December 16 in Saskatoon, I’ve been filling quite a bit of time at CHEK-TV, which has been great. But I have missed the rink and actually leave Thursday for Lethbridge and the first 2012 edition of the WHL on Shaw, when the Hurricanes face the Medicine Hat Tigers Friday night.

The Royals are coming off a wild 9-4 loss to the Calgary Hitmen Tuesday. Logan Nelson picked up the second hat-trick in as many games for the Royals, after Jamie Crooks pulled it off in Portland on Friday. Zane Jones had a goal and an assist and was plus-1, giving the 17-year-old three goals and four points in the last two games and he’s +3. Kevin Sundher kept his scoring streak alive with an assist on Nelson’s hat-trick goal, which puts Sundher on a 10-game point streak. Sundher’s streak is tied with Brendan Shinnimin of the Tri-City Americans for longest current streak in the league. Shinnimin has 11 goals and 23 points in that stretch and Sundher has 13 assists and 17 points over his streak. Brandon Wheat Kings forward Mark Stone still holds the longest streak of the season of 18 games, which were the first 18 of the season for him.

But once again, keeping the puck out of the net kept the Royals from ending their losing streak, which has hit seven games. Since the start of November, Victoria has won just four of 23 games and has been out-scored 125-77. That’s an average of 5.4 goals allowed since November 4. In only four of the 23 games, the Royals have allowed three or fewer goals in a game, in either regulation or overtime. They won three of those and lost the other in a shoot-out, which gave Seattle a 4-3 win on December 10. The Royals are averaging over three goals a game over that span, but it just hasn’t been enough most nights.

I watched an interview Head Coach Marc Habscheid did with Paul Haysem of CHEK Sports and one thing really stood out to me. Marc talked about the fact that, yes, the Royals are a young team, but you just can’t be a young team. They have to show improvement. The team is working hard at doing that, but a bounce here and a breakdown there has just added up after the team started the season 10-7-0-1. The team did some battle drills at the end of practice today which got quite spirited. Steven Hodges took a stick to the face, but was okay, and both goaltenders got bumped and not just small taps, either. It was very quiet on the ice after practice and you can’t help but feel bad for these guys because the passion to win is there, just the W’s have been tough to come by.
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The Royals will get 16-year-old defenceman Keegan Kanzig back in the line-up Friday for their tilt against the Kelowna Rockets. Kanzig has been with Team Pacific in Windsor, ON, for the World Under-17 Challenge, which started in late December. Kanzig had two penalty minutes in five games played and Pacific finished fifth overall. The tournament ends tonight with the US to face Russia in the gold medal game.
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Just wanted to make a quick comment on the Canada/Russia semi-final game last night in Calgary. Even in a loss, how can we not be proud of those young men? I was thinking of how that may have gone down as one of the worst Canadian losses in World Junior history when it was 6-1 early in the third period. How Canada seems to pull off the impossible at this tournament is simply amazing. Not only that, Canada really deserved a lot better last night. They out-shot Russia 56-24, but for the first 50 minutes, it was like Canada had to work so hard just to get one goal, while the Russian squad seemed to get rewarded just for hitting the Canadian blue-line. Canada had a few goal posts and remember the slam dunk Jonathan Huberdeau had in the first period at the lip of the goal crease that somehow didn’t go in. Ryan Murray, a potential top-5 pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft of the Everett Silvertips, couldn’t have had worse luck around his own goal. The first three Russian goals went off him in some way before going in the net. On Russia’s fifth goal, the puck went through his skates on a pass from behind the goal that he went to block. Great player who had a tough night, not for his play but for the lousy puck-luck he had. It was one of those nights, but they almost pulled off a miracle.

Keep in mind, while this is the first time since 2001 that Canada has not been in the gold medal game, Canada has won a World Junior medal at every tournament since 1999. Finland, who seem to always be in the bronze medal game, hasn’t won a medal since 2006.

Forward Brett Connolly was in my opinion Canada’s top forward last night. He could have had four or five goals on the evening and really lived up the leadership role that I’m sure was expected from him as one of the four returning players. It’s been great for me to see Brett do so well this year, with a goal in each of Canada’s five games played. I got to know him while working for the Prince George Cougars before moving to Victoria and in his interview with TSN’s Farhan Lalji after the game, he showed how much he cares about winning, but was very composed given the circumstance. Brandon’s Mark Stone and Vancouver’s Brendan Gallagher have been terrific and the latter of those two had a great game last night as well. Best of luck to those players Thursday against Finland.
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Less than a week to go before the WHL trade deadline, which is on Tuesday, January 10. Four moves have been made and I really like the trade the Kamloops Blazers put-together with the Prince Albert Raiders in acquiring 20-year-old Brandon Herrod. The 20-year-old from Meadow Lake, SK, is a tough player who can make a significant contribution in the offensive zone, with 19 goals and 37 points in 41 games this season. Herrod scored in his first game with the Blazers on New Year’s Day against the Cougars. Probably the most interesting move so far is the deal swung between the Raiders and Spokane Chiefs on December 28. The Raiders, 12 points out of a playoff spot, got Chiefs’ leading scorer Anthony Bardaro. So the 11th place team in the Eastern Conference gets the top scorer from the fifth place team in the Western Conference. Don’t see that happen very often. However, Bardaro is a guy that will likely be back as a 20-year-old next season that can lead a Raiders team that got younger in the deal with the Blazers by getting 17-year-old forward Logan McVeigh, a second round bantam pick in 2009. The Raiders also got 18-year-old goalie Luke Lee-Knight and a fifth-round pick, while the Chiefs received 18-year-old goalie Eric Williams, who had been the Raiders’ number-1 goalie this season. Todd Fiddler, an 18-year-old forward, also went to Spokane. Fiddler had 23 goals in his rookie season last year, but has only five this season. Hopefully a fresh start can get him going.

Now, what are the Royals going to do? General Manager and Head Coach Marc Habscheid may have a decision to make on Kevin Sundher. Now that Sundher has a contract with the Buffalo Sabres, his chances of playing next season in the WHL as a 20-year-old now seem out the window. He’s among the top 5 in scoring in the WHL and could certainly make the same impact for a team that a player like Tyler Maxwell has made with the Edmonton Oil Kings after he was traded there by Everett. Last year, the price for a high-end player was through the roof for players like Cody Eakin, who went from Swift Current to Kootenay. Brayden Schenn brought the Brandon Wheat Kings a huge haul of future players when he was dealt to the Saskatoon Blades. Will the price tag be as high this season? We’ll find out in the next week.

The Royals will likely be going for youth in a deal, but perhaps an established young defenceman will be part of the asking price from Victoria in the ’93 or ’94 birth year range. This is one of the most exciting times of the WHL season and there’s already been some movement. Can’t wait to see what’s in store before the 2:00pm Pacific Time trade deadline next Tuesday.

[CdnSailor]

Well, no one is surprised what the Victoria Royals did Monday. The only question in the BC capital leading up to Tuesday’s 2:00pm WHL trade deadline was where the club was going to trade Kevin Sundher and when. The answer came close to 6:00pm Pacific Time. The first tweet came from the Brandon Wheat Kings, announcing they had acquired Sundher for 18-year-old defenceman Jordan Fransoo, 17-year-old forward Dakota Conroy and a the Wheat Kings first round pick in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft.


Kevin told Paul Haysem from CHEK Sports in Victoria he is “sad to be leaving, but excited for the new experience. Very bittersweet day.” He added, “I have a little piece of the Island that will stay with me forever. It was a lot of fun.” Kevin leaves Victoria as the all-time Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals’ leader in assists (151) and points (241). Sundher also finished just two games shy of Jeff Einhorn’s club record for games played, which is 257. If not for an injury in mid-November, Sundher would have tied Einhorn’s mark.


It’s hard to believe that the Wheat Kings go into Tuesday as the number-8 seed in the Eastern Conference with the amount of offence they possess. Sundher, who is seventh in league scoring with 64 points, joins the WHL’s third highest scorer and Team Canada World Junior standout Mark Stone, who has 68 points. The Wheat Kings have four 20-goal scorers already (Sundher, Stone, Michael Ferland and Darian Dziurzynski), Allesio Bertaggia’s at 18 tallies on the year and Brenden Walker has 15. So there’s no questions about their top two lines. Makes you wonder if Kelly McCrimmon will be looking for some added depth on the blue line before the deadline arrives. The Wheat Kings may be sitting eighth, but they’re only six points out of third in the Eastern Conference.


For the Royals, they got younger while adding a pair of players that can step in right now. I got a chance to see Jordan Fransoo play in November for a game in Brandon for the WHL on Shaw and I thought he played pretty well. Fransoo comes to Victoria after being selected by the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The North Battleford, SK, product has two goals and 11 points in 41 games and is a +2 on the season with 33 penalty minutes. Fransoo also brings size to the Royals’ back end, measuring 6’3”, 190 pounds. With Jesse Pauls announcing his retirement last week, an added body on the blue line will be a welcome sight.


In Conroy, the Royals’ pick up a third round pick from the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft. Conroy is 6’1”, 190 pounds and has four goals and eight points in 37 games in his rookie season. The native of Edmonton played with Royals’ forward Brandon Magee when the two grew up in the Alberta capital. Conroy becomes the ninth player on the Royals’ current roster born in 1994, a core group of Royals’ for a couple years.
The part that gets everyone excited is a first round pick. The Wheat Kings had two to work with thanks to the Brayden Schenn deal with the Saskatoon Blades at last season’s trade deadline. That trade included the Blades 2012 first round bantam selection.


It won’t be long until the Royals face Sundher for the first and likely only time when the Royals clash with the Wheat Kings Saturday in Brandon.
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The Royals set out on a six game East division road trip that opens Friday in Regina. They will see former Assistant General Manager and Head Coach Pat Conacher, who has done a stellar job with the Pats this season. Regina is 6-2-2-0 in their past 10 games and they picked up defenceman Luke Fenske from the Vancouver Giants Friday in exchange for a third round bantam pick in 2013.


The Royals will be without 17-year-old forward Zane Jones, who will sit out this weekend’s games because of a two game suspension that was handed down today. Jones was called for a boarding major in Saturday’s 4-3 shoot-out loss to the Kelowna Rockets. Jones, who has 11 goals and 20 points in 42 games this season, will get back into action on January 17 in Swift Current.
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With Sundher now out of the fold, that means fellow ’92 born forward Jamie Crooks takes over the team lead in points. Crooks has been on a roll of late, with four goals and six assists for 10 points during his five game point streak. On the season, Crooks has 21 goals and 43 points in 42 games. Hayden Rintoul will carry a three game point streak on the road, with two goals and four points in that span.
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The Sundher deal came on the heels of another eyebrow raising trade. Cam Braes, the heart and soul of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, was dealt to the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for a first round pick in 2012 and a second-rounder in ’13. Braes has been very strong in his fifth and final year in the league, with 24 goals and 45 points in 44 games. The Hurricanes had announced a 1:00pm Mountain Time media conference and I had a feeling Braes would be at the centre of it. Braes was the Hurricanes Captain and led by example and he will bring an added touch of offence to a Warriors line-up that could use another quality threat up front. It is a win-win for the Hurricanes, who give Braes a true shot at contending in his final season in the WHL, while getting some meat in the next two bantam drafts with high picks.


The Vancouver Giants added some offence to their blue line with the pick-up of Tyler Vanscourt from the Warriors. Vancourt, who had been acquired by Prince Albert from Spokane before the season began, has 21 points in 40 games this season, with 12 of those points on the power play. The Giants surrendered a fifth round bantam pick in 2012.
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Lots of talk about Edmonton Oilers prospect Martin Marincin being dealt by the Prince George Cougars. The Pipeline show in Edmonton reports five teams hope to get the big Slovak defenceman: Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Portland and Saskatoon. Marincin is a power play threat and with his long reach, is effective in the defensive zone. The Cougars and Giants square off in the only game Tuesday.


There are also rumours swirling in Medicine Hat that Emerson Etem could be on the move. Seems hard to believe, especially with the Tigers tied with Kootenay for third in the Eastern Conference and have a chance to make a run at it all again this season.
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Giants’ forward Brendan Gallagher is the WHL’s Player of the Week with seven points. All of those came in one game. Gallagher, who was tremendous for Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta, had three goals and four assists in the Giants 8-4 victory over Portland Saturday. Ty Rimmer of the ridiculously hot Tri-City Americans is the WHL nominee for CHL Goalie of the Week. Rimmer posted back-to-back shut-outs in wins over Moose Jaw and Everett. The Americans have won 13 in a row and are the number-1 team in the CHL Top 10.
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Two games this week on the WHL on Shaw. Wednesday will see our first look at the reigning WHL Champions, the Kootenay Ice, when they face the Rebels in Red Deer. It is the Rebels’ first game on Shaw this season. Then on Friday, I’ll be at Pacific Coliseum for what should be a great clash between the Americans and Giants. A potential Western Conference playoff preview. The Americans sit first overall and the Giants are fourth in the Western Conference.

[CdnSailor]

Wednesday night was the first night for a few players to get acquainted to playing with their new teammates. However, it was a low scoring night in the WHL, with Portland and Spokane the only teams out of the 12 that played on Wednesday to post more than two goals.

Former Royal Kevin Sundher made what had to have been a highly anticipated debut for the Brandon Wheat Kings at home against the Saskatoon Blades. However, Kevin, along with the rest of the Wheat Kings, were blanked by 16-year-old Alex Moodie, who posted his first WHL shut-out by blocking 37 shots. Marcel Noebels, who yielded two first round picks from the Winterhawks to the Seattle Thunderbirds, was held off the scoresheet in a 4-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets, but Cam Reid notched a goal for Portland. He was acquired from Edmonton for an 8th round bantam pick. Jesse Mychan, acquired by Tri-City from Everett for a draft pick, also scored for his new team, although the Americans saw their 13-game win streak come to a close in Kamloops.

The Victoria Royals will get to see two-thirds of their pieces in the Sundher trade in action for the first time tomorrow night when they square off with the Regina Pats to kick off a six-game East division road trip. The more I think about that trade, the more I like it for the Royals because, and this may sound odd, it may have helped them for a playoff push. Yes they lose their leading scorer, but they have offensive weapons. Jamie Crooks has taken off, currently on a five game point streak and his 21 goals is just one behind Sundher. Logan Nelson, who is one of three rookies in the WHL with 40 points right now and one off the lead, has 17 goals along with Robin Soudek. Brandon Magee and Steven Hodges are both capable offensive threats in their sophomore seasons. Although the team’s biggest weapon isn’t there anymore, the Royals still have the ability to score some goals. But where the deal helps the Royals is on the back-end, where 18-year-old Jordan Fransoo is a much needed addition. The Royals have allowed 212 goals this season, exactly 100 less than what Regina allowed a season ago; and there’s still 30 games left to play. Fransoo, a seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators, at least gives the Royals more strength at the top of their defensive depth chart.

We won’t see in Victoria for a couple weeks what impact 17-year-old forward Dakota Conroy brings, but size is one asset, as he’s at 6’1”, 185 pounds.

Fransoo and Conroy will face their former mates Saturday in Brandon.

The Royals sit three points ahead of the Cougars for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and the Cougars dealt defenceman Martin Marincin to the Regina Pats and Tuesday against Vancouver dressed eight 16-year-olds. Swedish defenceman Ricard Blidstrand came back in the deal from Regina and played well Tuesday, considering he just got off a plane.

Time will tell if the Royals can keep the Cougars, or even the Everett Silvertips who are nine points back, at bay.

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The amount of draft picks that were dealt leading up to the deadline was staggering, and hearing from many people who have been around the league for some time, the price for these draft picks seems low. When Prince Albert and Spokane dropped the first chip in the draft deadline pool, it was the first of 22 trades since December 28. There were a total of 31 draft picks that changed hands. The following outlines how many in which rounds:
1st – 6*
2nd – 5*
3rd – 4
4th – 3
5th – 6
6th – 2
7th – 3
8th – 2
* - Includes conditional picks.

17 of the 31 draft picks traded are for the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft, 11 are for 2013 and three more are for 2014. The Prince George Cougars acquired a first, second and third round pick in the ’12 draft between their trades for forward Charles Inglis to Red Deer and Martin Marincin to Regina. With the rights of Brett Connolly sent to Tri-City, the Cougars also have two fifth round picks in 2013 and if Connolly, and it doesn’t seem likely, gets sent back to junior by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Cougars would also get a first round pick next year and a second round choice in 2014.
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The WHL’s three longest current point streaks all came to an end last night. With Kevin Sundher and the Wheat Kings shut-out by the Blades, Sundher’s 12 game streak came to a halt. Brendan Shinnimin had a 13-game streak come to an end with Tri-City’s 3-2 loss to the Kamloops Blazers. Prince Albert’s Justin Maylan had an 11-game point streak snapped by Matt Hewitt and the Regina Pats. Hewitt posted a 26-save shut-out in the Pats’ victory.

Patrick Holland of the Americans and the WHL’s leading point man, Ty Rattie, now own the longest current point streak at eight games. Holland has seven goals and 21 points over that span and Rattie has picked up six goals and 17 points for the Portland Winterhawks during his streak.

The season high is 18 games set by Brandon’s Mark Stone at the beginning of the year.

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NHL Central Scouting came out with its mid-term rankings for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, with two Victoria Royals making the list. Steven Hodges, with 13 goals and 26 points on the season, ranked 55th overall among North American skaters. Logan Nelson, who has 17 goals and 40 points in his rookie campaign, ranked 108th.

Nail Yakupov of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sarnia Sting is the top ranked North American skater. The top skater from the WHL in the mid-term rankings is Everett Silvertips defenceman Ryan Murray, who is seeded third. Five WHL goalies made the list among North American ‘tenders, led by Saskatoon Blade and Team Russia standout Andrey Makarov, who is ranked 10th.

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Congratulations are in order for Spokane Chiefs Head Coach Don Nachbaur, who became the sixth member of the 500 wins club among WHL coaches. The Chiefs hammered Everett 6-1 Wednesday. Nachbaur, originally from the Prince George area, was drafted by the Hartford Whalers in 1979 and played 223 games in the NHL for the Whalers, Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers.

Nachbaur has won the WHL’s Coach of the Year award for three different teams: Seattle (1995), Tri-City (2008) and Spokane (2011). Nachbaur joins Ken Hodge, Ernie McLean, Don Hay, Lorne Molleken and Pat Ginnell to reach the 500 wins plateau behind a WHL bench. I interviewed Tyler Johnson last season during his 53 goal campaign and asked about playing for Nachbaur, who was in his first season as Head Coach for the Chiefs. Johnson said you definitely don’t want to do something wrong to get on Nachbaur’s bad side, but the players loved playing for him because he respected them like he would want to be and is a very fair coach.

He’s also been a very successful one.

Prince George Cougars Head Coach Dean Clark appears to be the next active coach to have the best shot at 500, as he entered the season with 427.

[CdnSailor]

The Victoria Royals have a date set with the Kamloops Blazers this weekend for Friday and Saturday at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. When talking with some of the players after they arrived home from a 2-and-4 East division road trip, there was certainly a sense of going in the right direction for the stretch run of the season. They were encouraged by the fact they were in every game of the trip, except lapses over a few minutes or an off period cost them a few games.

No doubt one of the most exciting aspects of the Royals’ first home game since January 7 for fans is the first look at defenceman Jordan Fransoo and forward Dakota Conroy on the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre ice. Royals’ General Manager and Head Coach Marc Habscheid spoke about the trade with Brandon last month that saw Kevin Sundher head east and said it filled a couple holes in Victoria while allowing the team to get better in the future.

“We got Fransoo, which was an important part of it. The date of birth was right for us since we’ll have him again next year and possibly as an overage player. Conroy fits with our 94’s and gives us more depth at our forward position. Especially the first round pick, as well, that adds to it too. So we just felt where we are as an organization, we don’t feel we are that far away. Half our team is 16 or 17-years-old, so we’re a young group. We want to nurture that group along and reinforce that group and fill some holes where we thought we have and not build for 10 years down the road but for next year and the year after where we think we can make a push.”

Fransoo, a draft pick of the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round of the 2011 NHL Draft, has had a nice start to his Royals’ career. Fransoo, a 6’3”, 190-pound product of North Battleford, SK, has four assists in six games and is even in plus/minus. Fransoo talked about expectations the Royals’ have of him.

“I think they just want me to be a consistent player and keep things simple. We want to keep the puck out of our net. I see Victoria has the most goals against and as a defenceman, you take pride in being a plus player every night. That’s going to be a big goal of mine.”

17-year-old Dakota Conroy brings size up front at 6’1”, 190 pounds. The native of Edmonton is the eighth player on the Royals’ roster born in 1994, which will be a core group for this team and its plans to make a run over the next few years. Conroy talks about the emotions he had when he found out he was a Royal.

“I had friends on this team, and now I even have more. I was excited. I was shocked, but excited. It was nice to be on the road with the guys to start out on the road trip because I was always with them.”

Both said it was weird to have to face the Wheat Kings just a few days after being dealt to the Royals, but Conroy scored, Fransoo had an assist and the Royals defeated Brandon 4-3 in a shoot-out.
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Now it’s the number-1 team in the WHL showing up to Victoria on the weekend, as the Blazers finally lost in the month of January with a 3-2 setback in Kelowna Wednesday. These two games will open a four-game home-stand for the Royals, who entertain the Prince George Cougars for critical games next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Blazers and Rockets were the feature game on the WHL on Shaw Wednesday and there aren’t many holes on that Blazers team. Biggest difference for them this year compared to last is the solid goaltending they have had from 18-year-old Cole Cheveldave. The rookie from Calgary is third in the WHL in goals against average (2.32), fourth in wins (25) and save percentage (.918). WHL on Shaw Color Analyst Bill Wilms had a great stat last night on the broadcast as he mentioned the last time the Blazers had a goalie with a save percentage over 91% was current Edmonton Oiler netminder Devan Dubnyk in the 2005-06 campaign, at .912. That wasn’t even in the top 10 among WHL goalies that season, with Dubnyk 12th.

Balanced scoring certainly helps. For a non-playoff team last season, I thought they were a dangerous team offensively and it’s even more so this season. Philadelphia Flyers prospect Brendan Ranford leads the team with 25 goals and 59 points in 45 games. The Blazers have five 20-goals scorers and likely will have two more added to that total by the end of the year. It’s a shame Jordan DePape has had trouble staying healthy, because he’s another weapon for the Blazers. DePape is out with an upper body injury.

Puck drop is 7:05pm at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre both nights. Friday will be the sixth meeting of the season between the two teams and the Royals are after their first win against the Blazers this season.
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Back to that trade with Brandon, hopefully for the last time. Kevin Sundher scored just his second goal for Brandon last night in a lopsided loss to Calgary. Sundher has scored in each of the last two games, but has two goals and six points in nine games since joining the Wheat Kings and the Wheaties have just two wins since the trade deadline. Scoring shouldn’t be an issue, but giving up goals is. Brandon has allowed 40 goals in the nine games since the deadline, and that includes a shut-out win over Kootenay on Tuesday. Red Deer is just four points behind Brandon for the eighth and final playoff spot and hold three games in hand. That will be very interesting to see how it turns out over the next month and a half. The Wheat Kings face the Rebels in Red Deer Saturday. That would be a huge surprise if the Wheat Kings miss the playoffs and if this was “The Biggest Loser”, they are getting dangerously close to that yellow line.
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The WHL’s weekly report came out yesterday and two Royals’ are listed as out indefinitely with upper body injuries; Jesse Zgraggen and Tyler Stahl. Both were on the receiving end of wicked checks to the head. Stahl just got back on the ice for the first time Tuesday since he was hit by Charles Inglis in Prince George on October 1. Zgraggen’s hit happened last Wednesday in Moose Jaw from Dylan McIlrath late in the second period of a 2-0 Warriors’ win. McIlrath received a 8-game suspension and after seeing the hit a couple days after it happened, the punishment handed out fit the crime. The league explained the ruling on its website: Primary contact was the head, the hit resulted in an injury and it was McIlrath’s second suspension this season.
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Two teams in the middle of the pack in each conference are clubs that you might not think of as contenders right away, but are playing great right now. The Spokane Chiefs are only one point back of the Vancouver Giants for fourth and home ice advantage in the Western Conference. The Chiefs, who lost big-time players from last year such as forwards Tyler Johnson and Levko Koper and defenceman Jared Cowan, have won four straight and nine of 11. In the east, it seems like Calgary can’t lose. Mike Williamson deserves a ton of credit for guiding the Hitmen from a slow start to the season to sixth in the conference with victories in 11 of 12 games. The Hitmen, who were a last place team just a season ago, are three points out of third in the conference. The worry for Calgary might be, and that’s a big “might” with the way they’re going, is 15 of their final 24 games are against Central division teams and the Hitmen have the worst record among the six teams against Central division foes. Calgary is 6-10-1-0 and they will play eight of those 15 division games on the road.

[CdnSailor]

The Victoria Royals held firm against the WHL’s top team through 40 minutes last night, leading 2-1 and 3-2 during the game and were tied at three after the second period. But again, another three goals allowed in one period, this time the third, did the Royals in. That’s now 29 of the Royals’ 60 games played that they have allowed three goals in a frame. Tough enough to win when you only get 15 shots, too, but they held a 3-2 lead at 4:19 of the second and Cam Lanigan, who started the game in goal for Kamloops, left the game with an injury. Cole Cheveldave came in to replace Lanigan and blocked all eight shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Royals’ power play went 2-for-3, but gave up four Blazers’ power play goals on just six times short-handed. Until last night, the Royals had fared well against the Blazers’ power play all season, allowing just four goals on 31 short-handed situations.

So once again, nothing changes in the race for the last two playoff spots in the Western Conference. Since Saturday, when the Cougars defeated the Royals 3-1 and the Silvertips knocked off Vancouver in a shoot-out, five games have taken place involving the four teams in the pack, which includes Seattle. The playoff structure hasn’t budged for 7th and 8th, with Seattle and Victoria holding those spots at 42 points. Everett is at 41 and Prince George is at 40.

The Royals and Cougars finish their season series Friday and Saturday at CN Centre in Prince George, which kicks off an 8-game home stand for the Cougars. The Royals picked up two wins in Prince George at the start of the year and could really do themselves a huge favor by doing the same thing this weekend. Although we thought that last weekend and look what happened, a split of the two games at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The Royals will meet a Cougars team with the weakest home record in the WHL, going 8-18-0-1 on home ice this season. Although, only the Prince Albert Raiders have had a tougher time on the road than the Royals, who are 7-20-1-2 away from home this year.
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As I mentioned before, it’s been almost a week and there has been no movement for those last two spots in the Western Conference. Now with Kamloops out of the way, the Royals have, by win percentage, the best schedule left of the four teams. Their opponents .529 win percentage is lower than Everett’s .536, Seattle’s .540 and Prince George’s .558. What helps the Royals is the fact they only have two games left with any of the top three teams in the conference and league: Kamloops, Portland and Tri-City. Those teams are separated by three points for home ice advantage throughout at least the first three rounds. The Royals finish the season, at home, to the Winterhawks March 14 and 16. Everett has six games to go (3 vs. TC, 2 vs. Por, 1 vs. Kam), Seattle has five left (3 vs. TC & 2 vs. Por) and the Cougars finish the season with four games against the Americans and Blazers.

Talk about a shot at revenge for the Blazers. It was the Cougars who knocked them out of playoff contention last season in a home and home series on the final weekend of the year. They will do it again this season and the Blazers may get a shot at returning the favour, while also in a hunt for tops overall.
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We have been in awe all season of the scoring pace set by Medicine Hat’s Emerson Etem, but he might not finish with the most goals in the league this year. Ty Rattie of the Portland Winterhawks has been on fire of late and trails Etem’s 52 goals by just one. Rattie, who is also second in overall points to Brandon’s Mark Stone, had gone through a six game goalless drought before missing a Winterhawks game against Vancouver on February 6, the start of the team’s eight game win streak. Since then, Rattie has nine goals in the last seven games, with 15 total points and is a +11 in that span. The Winterhawks have played two fewer games than the Tigers this season, so while Etem has, for the most part, been the pace setter in goals in the WHL, Rattie has a good chance to be the league’s top sniper when all is said and done.

In fact, Etem has one goal in the last five games since he hit the 50-goal plateau in his 50th game of the year. Meanwhile, Tri-City Americans forward Brendan Shinnimin is on a seven game goal streak to get him to 44 markers on the season. Shinnimin has 13 goals over that span and has 13 games to reach the 50-goal mark. Hard to believe, but the last time an Americans’ player scored 50 goals was Dylan Gyori and his 53 in the 1998-99 season. In fact, the Americans haven’t had a 40-goal scorer since Colton Yellowhorn led the league with 48 in 2007-08. This year, they could have two, with Shinnimin likely hitting 50 and Adam Hughesman at 35 right now.

Brandon’s Michael Ferland might get there, with 40 at the moment. He had nine goals in four games last week to earn the CHL Player of the week honors, but was shut-out by Kootenay Tuesday.
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No division can claim to be as strong as the Central, with Eastern Conference leading Edmonton at 85 points and Medicine Hat, Calgary and Kootenay sitting third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Four teams with at least 74 points and Red Deer out of the playoff picture at 60, same as sixth place Kelowna. Lethbridge’s 49 would have them comfortably in the playoff picture in the West, but now they hope to move up in the bantam draft lottery. Bet Calgary wishes they were on the other side of the Rockies, though. The Hitmen have fared the worst of the Central division teams against their own division, with a 9-14-1-0 record and a .396 win percentage. Their last seven games are against division foes, including three with the Ice, who sit a point behind the Hitmen right now for fourth. The Hitmen will host the Kelowna Rockets on Sunday and will try to make it 10 straight wins over a BC division team. After they fell 3-1 at Prince George on December 28 to open a BC division trip, the Hitmen have won their last nine encounters with Kamloops, Vancouver, Kelowna, Victoria and Prince George, and all of those in regulation.

Time is the biggest enemy for the Rebels right now. They have points in five of their last seven games and wins in four of those. The Wheat Kings, who occupy the eighth seed, are eight points ahead and have played well of late, with victories in seven of their last nine and a shoot-out point against Kootenay Tuesday. The Rebels are 10 behind Regina and the Pats have won five of their last six games, so Red Deer is getting no help.

Red Deer is 18 points ahead of the Royals, but they could get a higher first round pick than Victoria if the Royals get in and the Rebels do not. The six non-playoff teams are put into the WHL Bantam Draft lottery and will comprise the first six spots in the first round of the draft. Starting in round 2, draft positions are determined by regular season points. So instead of the eighth or ninth overall pick, the Rebels could get, for instance, the fourth pick, if things stay the way they are now and if they win the lottery. Interesting stuff.

[CdnSailor]

Back from Calgary today after a WHL on Shaw broadcast last night which saw the host Hitmen defeat Swift Current 5-4. That’s wins in six of the last seven games for the Hitmen, who move three points ahead of Kootenay for fourth in the Eastern Conference and stay four behind Medicine Hat for third. Give the Broncos credit, though. They are a team that know they won’t make the playoffs and fought back from two one-goal deficits in the first and early in the second, and nearly erased a three-goal third period Calgary lead.

Had a chance to talk with WHL Commissioner Ron Robison in the first intermission and the first thing we discussed was the debate on fighting, which grabbed headlines earlier this week. The New York Times reported Monday that Hockey Canada and USA Hockey are seriously considering rules to end fighting in non-professional leagues as soon as next season. Canadian Hockey League President David Branch is also on board with that course of action. We asked Mr. Robison for his take on the issue and it’s clear the WHL is not in favour of the idea. Firstly, the Commissioner said the WHL is preparing kids for the NHL and as long as fighting is allowed in the pro game, it will be a part of the WHL game as well. I quoted Branch’s statement in the story that “an appetite is there” to eliminate fighting, or severely crack down on it, and asked Robison if he has noticed that appetite in Western Canada. His response was that he has not had that impression among WHL fans and the league is not on side with the notion to remove fighting from the junior game.

Earlier today, The Province newspaper reported that Boston Bruins’ forward, and former Vancouver Giant star, Milan Lucic is “totally against it,” and that he thinks more injuries will occur because there would be no fear of fighting. That story is here.

Gregg Drinnan, Sports Editor for the Daily News in Kamloops, has a number of different articles on a few sides of the debate posted on his blog.

And Chris Epp reports on the story for CTV Calgary, which you can see here.
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Well, the bad news for the Victoria Royals is they got swept in a mid-week double-header with the Spokane Chiefs. The good news is they’re essentially closer to clinching a playoff spot thanks to no movement in the hunt for the seventh and eighth positions in the Western Conference and the season a little closer to being over. The Royals were dumped 6-1 last night by the Chiefs, after a 4-2 setback on Tuesday night. Jared Rathjen made his fifth consecutive start in goal for the Royals last night, but I would think the reigns will be handed back to Keith Hamilton between the pipes for Vancouver this weekend. But while the Royals fell to the Chiefs, Everett couldn’t recover from a 3-0 deficit at home to the Kamloops Blazers and lost 3-2 and the Prince George Cougars dropped a 4-1 decision to Medicine Hat. The Tigers took two from PG. That loss to Kamloops by the Silvertips was their first game with 20-year-old Brennan Yadlowski back in the line-up after he served a 10-game suspension for unacceptable off-ice actions in a game that he was ejected from in Portland on February 3.

So the Royals still sit in seventh in the West with 46 points, two ahead of Seattle and three clear of Everett. The Cougars, who are 0-and-4 on their eight-game home stand, remain four points behind the Thunderbirds. Seattle has a game in hand on PG and Everett and two on the Royals. Seattle is at Everett tomorrow while the Cougars will host the Chiefs, in what must be quite a road trip for Spokane. Four games in five nights between the two furthest teams away from each other in the BC division.
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One thing is for certain, the Giants bring out the best of the Royals at home. The Royals’ have won two of their three meetings with the Giants in Victoria and very easily could be 3-for-3. The Royals won their home opener on September 24, 5-3, and then got by the Giants 2-1 on November 4. The next night, it was 3-2 Victoria headed for the third, but the Giants cashed in with three goals for a 5-3 victory. Hard to believe these teams haven’t squared off since November 18, but they played seven games within the first two months of the year.

As much as the Royals need these four points up for grabs, this weekend is big for the Giants, considering they lead Spokane by a point for fourth in the West and both teams have nine games to go. The Giants are better at home than they are on the road, but not to the severity of the Chiefs in that regard. Spokane is 21-8-1-1 on home ice this season for a .710 win percentage, ahead of Vancouver’s .694 mark at the Pacific Coliseum. But while the Giants are a game over .500 on the road, Spokane is a game below the .500 mark away from home. Getting home-ice in that first round series, which looks like it’s inevitable that they will meet in the opening best-of-7, will be huge.

The Royals host the Giants Saturday, starting at 7:05pm, and then they have a 1:05pm showdown at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Sunday.
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It was pretty easy to predict the winner of the WHL’s Player of the Month award. 20-year-old Brendan Shinnimin of the Tri-City Americans was the easy choice after a month of pure offensive dominance. A month ago, or even three weeks ago, I don’t think Shinnimin would have been considered a serious threat to win the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league’s leading point producer. It was, for the most part, between Brandon’s Mark Stone, Medicine Hat’s Emerson Etem, Edmonton’s Michael St. Croix and Portland’s Ty Rattie. But now, Shinnimin is running away with the league scoring title. During a 14-game point streak, which started February 3 at home to Seattle, Shinnimin has posted 23 goals and 43 points over that span. I was looking up how other top scorers have produced over the last 14-game stretch, and the closest that I came across was 30 points by Ams’ teammate Patrick Holland and Sven Bartschi of Portland. Stone has 29 points, Rattie has had 23 and Etem with 20. Shinnimin, who had 96 points last year and 82 in 2009-10, has 117 on the season, with 52 goals, 11 points ahead of Stone and all of a sudden he’s tied with Rattie, one behind Etem, in goals scored. In fact his last game was an off night, and he still had two assists against Seattle on Tuesday. In the previous four games, Shinnimin had at least four points, including a six point game on February 21 against Everett.

Shinnimin and Adam Hughesman are already past 100 points for the Americans and Holland is on the verge of hitting that mark as well with 97. The last time a team had three players to hit the century mark in points was back in 1995-96, when Saskatoon (Mark Deyell 159, Frank Banham 152 & Clarke Wilm 110) and Kamloops (Hnat Domenichelli 148, Jarome Iginla 136 & Bob Maudie 101) could boast that. A total of 15 players hit 100 points that season. Should Holland get to 100, which seems ridiculous to question after his terrific month of February, it would be on the 20th anniversary of the last time three Ams’ players pulled off the feat: Terry Degner 139, Brian Sakic 128 and Vladimir Vujtek 102 in 1991-92.