Standing Predictions

[here for the long run]

I don't like Roy so much but his team made it to the WHL finals which is hard to argue with.

He left the team with a lot of big talent that easily could have been traded for young talent to make up for what we lost in going to the WHL FINALS (something this team isn't even close to thinking of).

Staisiuk was a dick that should have been let go but that doesn't excuse the god awful job this pathetic group has done with the Hurricanes.

I guess we are supposed to be happy that there is a team here to cheer for but I would prefer to cheer for something more than an 8th place finish in 4 years time.

Roy’s trade for Beach was way worse than the Merkley trade. Rich did poorly in the Beach trade considering what Roy gave up for Beach. I think Rich did ok on the Sibsa trade as Johnston is currently our best player. The Ashton trade is likely the best trade the Canes have made in years. Pilon, Erkamps and Hood. Roy did give us a WHL finals and I give him credit for that. The problem for me isn’t the job of the GM it’s the job the Head coach. Rich needs to find his replacement as head coach and see what this roster can do.

[moon]

Roy’s trade for Beach was way worse than the Merkley trade. Rich did poorly in the Beach trade considering what Roy gave up for Beach. I think Rich did ok on the Sibsa trade as Johnston is currently our best player. The Ashton trade is likely the best trade the Canes have made in years. Pilon, Erkamps and Hood. Roy did give us a WHL finals and I give him credit for that. The problem for me isn’t the job of the GM it’s the job the Head coach. Rich needs to find his replacement as head coach and see what this roster can do.

Johnston might be our best player but that is because the team sucks. On a Edmonton or Portland he is likely the 4th defenseman.

Pilon may save the Ashton trade but Erkamps is just okay and Hood is basically crap. A guy that is easily replaceable and doesn't bring much to the team at all.

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

1-EDM
2-*P.A.
3-CALG
4-SASK
5-R.D.
6-S.C.
7-KOOT
8-LETH or MED HAT
-------------------------
10-REG
11-BRAN
12-M.J.

The Canes and Tigers end the season with a home and home series. Those 2 games will be like playoff games and will decide 8th and 9th place. I hope the Canes make the playoffs but we have a fairly road heavy schedule and it will be very tight..

[shushu]

1-EDM
2-*P.A.
3-CALG
4-SASK
5-R.D.
6-S.C.
7-KOOT
8-LETH or MED HAT
-------------------------
10-REG
11-BRAN
12-M.J.

The Canes and Tigers end the season with a home and home series. Those 2 games will be like playoff games and will decide 8th and 9th place. I hope the Canes make the playoffs but we have a fairly road heavy schedule and it will be very tight..

their craping the bed worse than we are............

[Bocephus]

With 40 seconds left and a one goal lead Preston sends Maxwell's line on the ice but instead of big Axel joining them Preston taps Soffilas on the shoulder. I presume in case Russ was booted from the draw. 10 seconds later Soffilas was putting the puck in the empty net. It was hilarious to watch Preston at that very moment do a strut on the bench. I couldn't stop laughing at how proud of himself he was. Gotta hand it to him. That was a fantastic coaching decision.
Then, he sends Simpson, Derko, and Hood onto the ice for the center ice draw. He looked even more impressed with himself.
6-4 victory over the Hitmen. Tomorrow it's the Rebels. Go Canes

[Harvest]

How's our guy derko doing?

[TooLoud]

How's our guy derko doing?

I dunno...first shift out, penalty...and a stupid one at that. Next shift out, penalty. All tolled, 8 minutes in his first game. Unfortunately, the first one cost the team a goal. His shot, as advertised, is a bullet, as he literally put one through the goalie, but his discipline is a bit suspect. IMHO, a legitimate tough guy plays hard, hits hard, and drops the mitts if required, but does not resort to the cheap crap, the high hits to the face, the incessant yapping, or the non-stop pushing and shoving after the whistle. Think of Dustin Donoughay from a few years ago. Rarely saw him doing those stupid things, but no one ever doubted his ferocity. Even our Captain is starting to play this way. I have heard lots about Mr. Derko, let's hope he lives up to the hype, and makes this questionable trade palatable.

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

their craping the bed worse than we are............

as they play Reg, MJ and Brandon for about 1/2 of their remaining games. Also PA is not that strong and the Blades play them about 3 or 4 more times. I still think they are going to get it together and with that schedule they should put up quite a few points.

The Central Division is a lot tougher than the Eastern Division so RD, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Kootenay are going to have a much tougher time getting points than the Blades as these teams will be playing each other, as well as Calg and EDM a lot. The Canes finish the season with a home and away series with both the Ice and the Tigers. All 4 of those games could determine if the Canes, Ice or Tigers finish any where from 4th to out of the playoffs altogether.

The best place to finish if not in the top 4 or 5 would be 7th and get PA in the first round.

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

they are 8th overall when you look at their winning/points percentage. The scary thing is the red hot Kootenay Ice are the team right behind us and they could bump the Canes down to 9th soon. The 2 teams directly ahead of us are the HAT and SC and they are both 7-3 in their last 10 games and are playing good hockey. If none of these other teams hits a slump the Canes need to play well over .500 hockey to get into the playoffs. With all the road games the Canes have left, one of these teams will need to have a poor ending to their season for the Canes to get 8th or higher. Better yet would be for the Canes to get hot and keep up with or pass these teams.

1 Edmonton Oil Kings 51 35 11 2 3 75 0.735

2 Calgary Hitmen 49 32 13 1 3 68 0.694

3 Prince Albert Raiders 49 28 17 1 3 60 0.612

4 Red Deer Rebels 52 26 20 4 2 58 0.558

5 Saskatoon Blades 48 24 21 0 3 51 0.531

6 Swift Current Broncos 50 24 21 3 2 53 0.530

7 Medicine Hat Tigers 51 25 23 2 1 53 0.520

8 Lethbridge Hurricanes 53 23 22 1 7 54 0.509

9 Kootenay Ice 50 23 25 2 0 48 0.480

It is interesting to see that Saskatoon has slowly moved up to 5th place and I still feel they could get 4th overall. It's a long shot, but the Blades could even catch PA and be the 2nd seed in the first round. The Blades are playing .700 hockey as of late and PA is playing just under .500 hockey. At that rate the Blades will end up with about 85 points vs the Raiders 83 points. Should be a lot of fantastic playoff type hockey come March 1st and onward in the East.

[lethbridgefan83]

If the Canes keep losing games 7-1 and 10-3 I dont think Canes fans have anything to worry about come the playoffs. Although the record in January isnt too terrible I guess, 6 wins, 3 losses and 4 shoot out losses for 16 points out of a possible 26, problem is they were outscored 57 to 43, blown out twice and shutout twice.

They have 19 games left, only 7 at home. They will need to play .500 hockey on the road and somehow come up with 5 or 6 wins at home (and do well against Red Deer, and get some help from a few teams from below) to avoid a 1st round matchup against Edmonton or Calgary. If they end up against Edmonton its going to be a massacre..