The Back of the Net

Bentley are Alberta Champs

2009-03-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

The Flyers are going to have to go through Bentley to get to the Allan Cup.

The Generals won game 7 tonight against Stony Plain to clinch their 3rd consecutive Alberta Championship meaning this will be the 3rd consecutive times these two teams will meet to see who represents the Pacific region at the Allan Cup. The Flyers will be looking for a 3rd time lucky as they have lost the previous two Mac Cups that they have played against the Generals.

Game 1 goes one week from tomorrow. Thursday April 2nd live on Moose FM. Game time will come in later posts as will a detailed breakdown of the Generals and the Flyers.

Flyers are Campbell Cup Champions

2009-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

It's funny how a team can come together and win something, a trophy that maybe they view as a step in a process but far from the end goal, and when that trophy gets in their hands the accomplishment starts to sink in.

The Flyers are 2009 Campbell Cup Champions.

For the first time in their history the Flyers are NPHL champs. And no one can argue they don't deserve it. They only lost twice all year in the regular season. They only lost 3 in the playoffs. And they went through Spirit River and Grand Prairie, the two other top teams in the league, to win the Campbell Cup. The MacKenzie Cup and Allan Cup, and normally the Savage Cup although not this year, are the goals. They are what this team is built for and what they have their sights set on. But once that Campbell Cup got into the dressing room you could tell, and hear from the cheering, that the Flyers were proud of their win and excited to have won the NPHL title.

The final game turned into a blowout after Matt Shuya beat Dave Larson in the GP goal with a slapshot from outside the blueline. Suddenly all the good work the A's had done in the first period had gone out the window, it was 2-2, and the Flyers smelled blood in the water. Goals came from all over, Arlo Hadland, Ian Munro and Luke Middleton to name a few and it was 6-3 after 2. The Championship was there for the taking so the Flyers took it with 4 3rd period goals, 2 of them from Jeff Fast, for the 10-3 victory and a 4-2 series win. And there you have it. The Flyers are 2008-2009 NPHL Champions.

Anytime you win a trophy as a team there is a real sense of togetherness, of coming together to achieve a common goal, the bond that is created is strong and no matter how many times you win a trophy with that group, all of them are special. So in 8 days the Flyers will start the MacKenzie Cup with the knowledge that they have already, and therefore can again, come together to get their hands on a trophy.

Ian Munro was awarded the playoffs MVP trophy. Munro has been excellent all year and has raised his game since last season. He works hard and throws his body around and no one scored more game winning goals. Hence why from now on the GWG stat will be renamed as an Ian Munro. Munro also won the dice game we played on the bus ride home. It was a good day to be Muney.

There are more steps in the process to come though. So while the Flyers enjoyed winning their first ever Campbell Cup championship and they will continue to feel good about it for a while, they will know that the more important weeks are to come. It starts where? We will know tonight but one week from tomorrow the Flyers will be headed to Alberta with another trophy on their minds. The MacKenzie Cup. You can bet there will be some twists and turns to come but I can't wait for the ride.

Flyers on brink of Campbell Cup

2009-03-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Flyers are on the brink of the NPHL's Campbell Cup Championship. They won two games over the weekend. One in GP Saturday night and then back on home ice Sunday night. Tyler Brough was in the lineup and sometimes you forget how good of a hockey player this guy is. He missed a hat full of chances but that might be expected because he hasn't played a lot of hockey lately. He created a ton of chances as well and looked to be in pretty good shape. Ryan Carter looked like well Ryan Carter and Adam Loncan played very well over the weekend. Troy Hunt let in a couple of soft ones but also made a couple big saves in the third. It was a typical GP game. They didn't send anyone in to forecheck. They sat in the neutral zone waiting for the Flyers. GP also like to just throw pucks out of their zone and the Flyers would pick those pucks up and dump them right back in. But GP also takes advantage of mistakes as well as any team you will see and the Flyers made about 3 or 4 mistakes all game and GP scored 3 times. But in the third the Flyers pulled away with 2 goals from Todd Alexander and put themselves on the brink of glory.

This isn't the end goal though so while it will be nice to win the Campbell Cup I think you will see muted celebrations if they clinch it tomorrow night. You can hear that game live on Moose FM at 7:15.

Still no idea who the Flyers will play in the Mac Cup as the Alberta series is going to a game 7 after each team won a home game over the weekend. So far the home team has won every game so it seems like Bentley should take the series on Wednesday but you never know. We thought Stony would win on home ice in game 7 last year and look what happened.

Flyers and GP right back at it

2009-03-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

Game 4 was almost the exact opposite of game 3 for the Flyers. They were much more physical than GP, the Flyers special teams were excellent and the score reflected the Flyers domination. 8-2 was the final in GP with Ryan Carter contributing 3 goals and his line, Loncan Kersey and Carter combined for 11 points. Vizzutti was solid and made a couple of great saves and the Dmen for the Flyers were moving the puck a lot better. So game 3 was a blowout for the A's and game 4 was a blowout for the Flyers. What will happen tonight in game 5? Who knows?

It sounds like Tyler Brough will be in the lineup tonight so it should be interesting to see what the line combinations look like. Luke Middleton should be in the lineup tonight as I don't think he will take any time off despite losing some teeth last night.

GP played Scott Taje up front in game 4 which I thought was a mistake. Taje was outstanding in game 3 and is a very solid D man who can provide offense from the back end. He did score but didn't look overly comfortable as a forward. Mike Mohr wasn't very good either and I don't know if it was GP's game plan or if the Flyers were just doing a good job on the PK but Mohr saw very little of the puck with the man advantage. He scored twice with blasts from the point in game 3 so you would have though the A's would have done more to get him shots especially when up a man.

Game time tonight is in a little over an hour at 7:30 local time.

I am going to wear my new Nike's to the game that I bought in GP last night. I also got a new watch as well. And after the game Jon and I got some poker in as well. I flopped quad queens at one point and took a big pot off of none other than Spirit River forward Shane McCormick. Shane was a super nice guy and for some reason a couple people at our table were into senior hockey so we had a great conversation going for a long time. McCormick wears number 19 and will be playing during Senior Men's A and AA provincials in Spirit River coming up this week. If they make the finals and I am not busy I would think about going to check that out. It would be sweet if Spirit met GP in the AA final. What a game that would be. Plus anytime you can go see Mark Wallman and Donny Lloyd play it is worth the price of admission.

Flyers in GP for game 4

2009-03-21T10:52:00.001-07:00

So the Flyers look to bounce back today from their worst performance of the season in game 3. And don't get me wrong the GP Athletic's deserve a lot of the credit for the way they performed. They keep the Flyers to the outside and do a great job allowing their goalies to see shots. They also clog up the neutral zone well, their puck support is excellent and the capitalize on scoring chances. In their own building they are a little more adventurous as well and they were certainly the more aggressive team in game 3 and they out hit the Flyers. How often do the Flyers get out hit?

Ryan Carter is expected to be in the lineup and Chad Vizzutti should still be in town as well. Hopefully we will see the Shipton's, Bahm and Tyler Loney. Heck, with the Mac Cup less than 2 weeks away it would be nice to see Tyler Brough as well. It would also be nice to see the Flyers come out and pressure GP's defence and hit everything that moves. I wouldn't even mind seeing them take some penalties because they are being over aggressive. Over is better than not at all.

The game is at 7:30 local time here in Fort St John and you can catch it on Moose FM with the pregame at 7:15.

The crowd in GP was excellent on Thursday for game 3. Maybe not as loud as the crowd in FSJ but it was large and it is good to see people turning out to support what is a very good senior hockey team. And don't be surprised if GP does very well at Provincials next week. Especially if Larson is ready to go by then. Carriere is a good goalie but Larson is unreal. The guy makes saves that not a lot of other goalies could make.

Flyers worst performance of season

2009-03-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Wow. The Flyers were very poor last night. I mean it was bad. The running line on the bus on the way home was basically "Well we can't get any worse."

Give GP credit because they have a system, it works, and they play it very well. They are disciplined, they support the puck incredibly well and they are very good in their own end. Their trapping style seems to be frustrating the Flyers as well. Mike Mohr had two bombs from the point on the power play to make the game 2 nothing after the first. 2 more in the second without reply and Chad Vizzutti's night was done. He wasn't playing badly but coach Brash wanted to try to spark his team. It didn't work though as GP scored twice more in the 3rd before a late consolation goal from Dave Alexander broke the shutout bid of Lincoln Carriere in the GP goal. Dave Larson seems to still be nursing a bad ankle but the back up was good when he had to be.

Special teams killed the Flyers. They were 0-8 on the PP and GP was 3-5. To make matters worse the Flyers had well over 3 minutes of 5-0n-3 in the second period with a chance to get back into the game but failed to even really test the GP goal.

So now the Flyers trail the series and have less than two weeks to get it going before the MacKenzie Cup starts. Ryan Carter should be in the lineup this weekend which will help. But the loss of Kip Noble is really being felt by the Flyers and especially on the PP.

Game 4 is Saturday in GP live on Moose FM at 7:15 with the pre-game, 7:30 the puck drops. Game 5 will be Sunday here in FSJ.

Huskies season wrap up

2009-03-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

They exceeded expectations. It was supposed to be a bad year for the Fort St John Huskies. A rebuilding year even. They lost guys like Brett Loney and Jeff Shipton. They would be without Jack Christian and Bryce Novak. Brennan Billey didn't play this season and Jordan Shipton missed the second half as well. That's a lot of talent that left the Huskies so who would step up and fill those voids? Kole Norris came out of nowhere to become one of the top offensive players in the league. As did Steve Fast. Cody Kalb and his top line showed they were ready to carry the load as a top line and provided a ton of offense. And additions throughout the year like Cam McKinnon and Cody Hildebrand stepped in and contributed. Not to mention the stalwarts on defense in Captain Jon Spence, Payden Wongstedt and Linden Apsassin.

Luckily no one told the Huskies they weren't supposed to be any good. The year started out a little slow as the Huskies tried to find their identity. They were also trying to find a number 1 goalie. But by Christmas they were rolling and the North Peace Arena was a fortress where good teams not only lost but they got thumped. Zack Blain got better and better as the season went on and really took over the goaltending duties and matured into a very good goalie right in front of our eyes. The Huskies wound up clinching the number 2 overall spot in the league thanks to a great second half and an incredible home record.

In the playoffs they stumbled a little against Slave Lake but mostly thanks to the schedule maker and a bizarre 2 game start on the road despite the Pups having home ice. But they finished Slave Lake off in 4 games and got set for the North Peace Navigators. A team with some history against the Huskies. Again the Huskies struggled at times although in a series that went 7 games the Huskies were maybe the better team in 6 of them. But it took them all 7 games to finish off the Navs thanks to some good goaltending by Zack Blain and one of the best game 7 performances I have ever seen from Dylan Apsassin. That kid is a stud hockey player and his 4 goals and 1 assist in a game 7 was truly impressive.

It may have been this 7 game series that prevented the Huskies from really pushing Whitecourt in the finals. The Wolverines are a team that ditched good local kids in order to bring in studs like Jessie Synatinski, who will be playing Major Junior in Brandon next year, in order to win a championship. It worked, although I know it annoyed some of the local players and fans. The Huskies were maybe the only team in the league capable of pushing Whitecourt in a 7 game series but unfortunately they were never able to get over the hump. A team that had already played 5 games in the last 6 days went to Whitecourt and battled. They really did play their asses off in those two games. There were just times when they didn't seem to have the energy to keep up with the Wolverines. A couple of mistakes and some missed chances and the Huskies were down 2 games to none. They had already won the respect of the Whitecourt fans though for the way they had battled and given it their all. One Whitecourt fan even went out of his way to pop his head onto the bus and tell the guys who much he respected their effort level and determination. It was a pretty cool moment.

Back in FSJ the Huskies looked poor in game 3. All year in games that the Huskies HAD to win, they found a way to get it done. I just think the exertions of the last couple weeks had taken their toll on the Pups and they didn't have the legs. They were still in the game though and they had some chances late in the second to get back into the game with some PP time but couldn't find a way to get it done. An injury to Cody Kalb didn't help either. Cody played despite probably being injured to a point where most other players would have sat out. But that typifies the Huskies. Without such a big part of their offense being at 100 percent though, the Pups weren't able to get anything done on home ice.

Game 4 saw the Wolverines win the NWJHL title on FSJ's home ice. Something I know the Huskies didn't want to see. They didn't go down without a fight though and were right in the game until the 3rd period when Whitecourt pulled away a little. So the Huskies get swept in a series that they played well in but at the end of the day, despite being a great group of guys and giving it all they had, Whitecourt was just the better team. I can't wait til next year.

My playoff MVP's for the Huskies will take a 3 stars format.
This is tough because there are a lot of guys who played well. Zack Blain gets one of the starts for sure. He was excellent and played a ton of hockey. He played all but 1 of the Huskies 15 playoff games.

1st Star- Zack Blain
2nd Star- Cody Kalb
3rd Star- Cam McKinnon

Zack is an easy one. His numbers were excellent, he made some incredible saves and the way he bounced back after a bad overtime goal in game 5 against North Peace showed how much he has matured and what a good goalie he has become.
It was tough to leave Pappin and Dylan out, especially after how good Dylan was in that game 7 and how good Pap was in the first two games of the finals in Whitecourt. But Cody Kalb lead the league in playoff points and was dynamic all the way along. If he hadn't got hurt? Who knows what would have happened on home ice against Whitecourt?
Cam McKinnon stepped up and had a great playoff. He put up better numbers than he had in the regular season and his physical play and penalty killing got him this 3rd star.
Honourable mentions went to Spence (who logs a ton of ice time), Wongstedt (a stud D man who is a game changer), and Kole Norris (who continues to impress offensively).

It was a lot of fun covering this team all year and there are some players who I have come to know a little and I want to thank all of them. The whole team is a group of guys that FSJ can be proud of. And they never gave up. They showed that hard working never say die attitude that we are known for. Dan Pappin get special mention because he is a guy who works all the time. He gives it 100% at all times and does whatever the team asks of him. If he isn't the captain next year I would be surprised.

Also a big thanks to Coach Bob Kalb, Vince Pedersen and Bill Snow and all the staff behind the scenes for helping to make this a great season. It's amazing how much time these guys put in and they do it for the love of hockey and deserve a ton of respect.

Bring on the 09-10 season.

Head Shots

2009-03-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a topic of discussion for those of us who invest time broadcasting the NWJHL for a while now. Between myself and Jon Zacks, Dave Dawson from Whitecourt, Damian Gnass from Peace River, and Darren Dupont from Dawson Creek. The topic is head shots and all of us want to see more done to protect the players. It's something that all teams are guilty of and in fact Coach Bob Kalb told me on the bus recently that head shots need to penalized and pointed to 3 incidents in the game we had just watched in which a head shot wasn't penalized and he went out of his way to mention a hit delivered by one of his players as well that needed to be penalized and wasn't. Even the borderline hits have to be called. You have to clamp down hard on clear head shots and penalize borderline hits as well if you want to clean the game up. There is no bigger danger in sports and especially hockey than head shots yet no one seems willing to do anything about it. I have commented on this a number of times recently so I won't say too much more. But read this editorial from Jon Zacks it is an excellent read (and not only because he quoted this blog).

http://www.energeticcity.ca/news/03/17/09/head-shots-editorial

Huskies back at it after well earned break

2009-03-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Huskies get back at it today after a well earned couple of days off. The Pups are on home ice for game 3 of their NWJHL Championship series against the Whitecourt Wolverines. The Wolverines took advantage of a tired hockey team over the weekend and capitalized on some defensive breakdowns to win both games by a wide score despite both games being fairly even in terms of scoring chances. The Huskies played well but weren't able to bury some chances.

So they hit the home ice tonight in search of their first win in the series in a building where they are fairly dominant. They have only lost 4 times on the NPA ice all season including the playoffs but 2 of those losses are at the hands of the Wolverines. Zack Blain will have to continue to play well in net and I am sure he will. The second line got going in game 2 and they will have to continue to be good. Fast, Norris and MacKinnon have the ability to score in bunches and if they can score a couple times and the top line can pop a couple home then the Huskies will be in good shape. The D men need to limit Whitecourt scoring chances and overall the team needs to find a way to slow Whitecourt down as they are lightning fast through the neutral zone.

A big crowd will help the Huskies as well so get down to the NPA tonight at 8pm.

Flyers even series

2009-03-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

This was one of those games where I don't think the scoreline really reflected the play on the ice. At times the Flyers seemed to have set up camp in the offensive zone. But that is part of the Athletic's strategy. They are quite content to keep teams to the outside of the ice, tie guys up in front, let their goalies make saves and try to capitalize on mistakes. And that's what they did. The first two GP goals were scored short handed on break aways and both times it was Mike Shipton who kind of got beat to set up the breaks. And both times there was no mistake made by the GP forwards which meant Troy Hunt didn't have much of a chance. Huntsey was good last night as the only other goal that beat him was a bouncing puck that it looked like Paul Wiens kicked into his own goal. Obviously that wasn't what Wiens was hoping to accomplish.

The Flyers got most of their offense from Dustin Kersey who set up 4 goals and Adam Loncan who broke out with a hatty. The first was a perfectly placed shot from the backhand and off the post and in over the shoulder of Dave Larson in the GP net. The second goal was a tap in after good work from Kersey and the third was a professional goal. It was a goal scored by a guy who played Pro Hockey. In alone with just the goalie to beat Loncs came in on the forehand did just a little shoulder fake and shelfed the puck top cheddar with zero back lift. No backlift, just snap shelf. It was a beauty.

The other goals were from Wiens who managed to score one for each team, and Ian Munro who was set up by Kersey on a 2 on 1 and Munro went forehand to the backhand and slid the puck into a yawning cage. It was a nice goal and showed good poise. Munro also hit iron at least twice in the game. The Flyers hit the post or cross bar around 5 or 6 times.

I told Munro after the game that he was a quarter inch from being the best player in the league. He said the only reason he didn't make the show was that he always hits the post too much. It was a funny little exchange. Overall Munro was excellent all night.

So the Flyers won the game in a style you have to play against GP because they are content to allow you so much possession and then try to counter attack. Game 3 in the series goes tomorrow night at 7:30 local time on Moose FM.

Some facts and some agreement

2009-03-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

This post is a direct response to Dave Dawson's most recent post. I need to set the record straight on a couple things and agree with Dave on a couple things as well. You can read that one by going to my blog list by clicking on The Voice. -------------------->

First of all Dave is a great broadcaster and a very good blogger who always entertains me (he is not very good at Darts though) but I felt like I needed to set some things straight. In no way am I angry with Dave. There are just some facts that need to be put out there. Starting with Kyle Porter. Porter got more than 2 minutes for jumping Gerry Young in game 4 of the Navs series, I just checked that game sheet and he got 2 for cross-checking, 2 for being the aggressor, 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting and a game misconduct. Plus he did miss the next game as both teams came to the agreement that he should miss that game.

The reffing in the John can be bad, even laughable at times, but that statement applies to every building in the league as I am sure you know but for those people reading this who weren't in Whitecourt for game 2 I will try to explain the reffing. OK well let's start by saying the reffing was appalling. With the score tied at 3 the ref starting giving the Huskies penalties like Clowns give candy at a parade. I mean he did call Dylan Apsassin for holding. The reason that call is one of the more ludicrous I have ever seen? Apsassin HAD THE PUCK!!!!! WTF?????????? How does he hold someone while he has the puck and is trying to protect it from the Wolverines? Maybe I could see a holding the stick penalty if he had grabbed a D man's stick while protecting the puck but he didn't and that wasn't the call. Dylan got hit along the boards when he had the puck, both players fell and he got a holding penalty. So unbelievable you just have to laugh about it. Plus a clear high stick that every fan in the building saw was let go and led directly to a goal. It's something that happens everywhere. You just have to deal with it I guess but while in most games the ref doesn't affect the outcome he certainly had something to do with it in game 2. Not to mention the fact that the referee would not come over to talk to the Huskies bench. Not ONCE did he skate over to explain a decision or to let Coach Bob explain his point of view. Yet the ref was chumming it up with the Wolverines bench at every opportunity. This is the one thing that bothers me more than anything else about the reffing in this league. I might post a rant about it later.

As for Coach Kalb deserving a suspension for sending Porter out to take on Gerry Young this is where the agreeing start. Dave I think you are probably right about that but there is no way the ref would have known at the time what had happened. And I don't think the league is organized enough to sort that out after the fact. Coach Bob was doing what he had to do to protect his players and if it meant him missing a game I don't know that he would have done anything differently. Perhaps Porter didn't go about it the right way but on the other hand Gerry Young runs around cheap shotting anything that moves and then won't stand up and fight so eventually he is going to get what's coming to him. Gerry Young delivers more hits to the head than Justin Timberlake. I'm not sure if that joke worked but seriously Young leads with his hands or his elbow to the heads of players all the time. Of course they have to be pretty small for Young to reach them but that is another story. Eventually you have to take your punishment and if the refs don't take care of it then the players have to start policing themselves and that's when it can get ugly.

I agree with you about Coach Kalb in terms of his crusade against headshots. He has been saying for a while that players, even his own, need to punished heavily for head shots. That's why he sent Porter after Young. The game needs to be cleaned up in that respect but no one seems willing to do what has to be done to protect the players. For instance, how about when there is a clear head shot that the refs miss they get punished? Or give the linespeople the ability to penalize hits to the head as well as the ref. Something needs to be done to protect the players.

I'm looking forward to seeing Dave tomorrow at the NPA and joining him for what should be a great game and hopefully a very good broadcast. Maybe we will even have a good discussion at some point about what can be done about headshots. Safe to say the answer is something...anything. Nothing can be worse than what's being done right now. And that would be nothing.

Huskies lose 2 in Whitecourt

2009-03-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well the Huskies gave it their all and they certainly won the respect of the Wolverines fans after gutting out two games in Whitecourt. The Huskies has already played 3 games in a row before jumping on a bus Saturday morning to head to Alberta. So by the time game 2 was wrapped up it was 5 game in 5 days and 7 in the last 8 for these young men. they battled hard though and for long stretches of both games they were playing right there with Whitecourt. Unfortunately, some untimely penalties and a couple of defensive zone breakdowns were the difference in both contests. Game 1 ended 6-1 for the Wolverines with Dan Pappin getting the lone goal for the Pups. They maybe had as many scoring chances as Whitecourt in the game though but they were not able to finish. The problem is if you give Whitecourt 5 or 6 scoring chances they will score most of them. Despite Zack Blain being excellent in both games and making some spectacular saves it wasn`t enough. In game 2 the Huskies actually lead 2-1 after 2 goals from Pappin in the first but in the 2nd period with the score tied at 3 the Wolverines capitalized on a couple of mistakes and before you knew it the score was 6-3. With the score 7-4 thanks to a Kole Norris marker in the 3rd, the Huskies had a PP chance to get back into the game but they failed to convert and moments later Whitecourt sealed the win 8-4.

A Whitecourt fan actually took the time to pop onto the bus after we pulled into the arena on Saturday to tell the Huskies how much respect he had for them after the way they battled in game 1. The fans in Whitecourt turn out in numbers and are smart enough to know that when a team keeps up with the Wolverines they must be good. And to do it after having played so much hockey in so little time shows how much heart and character the Huskies have.

Dan Pappin went with Mitch Ternan I believe in game 3 in the 3rd period. This was a great tilly with Pappin standing in against a bigger guy and delivering a number of haymakers. He also took some big shots as well but was no worse for wear on the bus ride home. Pappin asked me on the bus after the game who won the tilt and I said I had to give the decision to the Whitecourt guy but just barely. Most guys in that situation would strongly disagree and bravado would lead to them claiming they beat the you know what out of the other guy. But not Pappin. Dude is a great guy and he said I was probably right as the Wolverines player maybe landed a couple more punches. The best part was the mutual respect from both players after the fight was over. They were both obviously too tired to go anymore so they tapped each other on the bum and went their separate ways. If only every guy in the league had that kind of class and respect for his opponent.

Games 3 and 4 are in FSJ on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8. It would not be a surprise to see the Huskies win both on home ice as they are capable of beating the Wolverines. A big crowd would help as will Cody Kalb who seemed a little injured on the bus ride home. If he is out that`s a big blow to the Huskies. If he is in they have a good shot.

Flyers look to rebound

2009-03-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

I wasn`t at the NPA as Jon and I were in Whitecourt covering the Huskies games so I have no idea how the Flyers lost game 1. But there is a possibility that they had a bit of a let down after winning a tough second round series over the Spirit River Rangers. GP has a decent team and has now won 3 of the 5 meetings between the teams this year but the Flyers are too good to lose to GP in a 7 game series. I think you will see them bounce back tomorrow night (Tuesday) at the NPA. Kersey, Shuya and Loncan won`t be held off the score sheet too many nights and the kid line has been flying lately as well so the Flyers should get going. A big crowd wouldn`t hurt either.

Puck drops at 8:30

NWJHL Final. Game 1 Tonight

2009-03-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Live on 100.1 Moose FM and online at moosefm.ca you can listen to Jon Zacks and I as the Huskies head to Whitecourt for a date with the Wolverines. The bus is leaving in about 2 hours and I think the coaches made the decision to leave an hour or two later than normal in part just to let the guys get some extra rest in their own beds. They will need it with the amount of hockey they have played this week. And there are still 2 more games this weekend of course. Game 1 will be tough for the Huskies but they do have a shot. Last year the Wolverines lost in the finals to the Peace River Navigators in an upset that most people didn't see coming. If there is a team that can pull off a similar upset this year it would be the Huskies. If they are to win tonight I think they will need to score about 3 or 4 goals in the first. The Wolverines haven't played in over a week so there will be some rust. No matter how hard Joey Bouchard has been working his troops there is a huge difference between a hard practice and game speed. So if the Huskies can use the adrenaline of a finals and jump on the Wolverines early they could find a way to get an early lead and hold on. Zack Blain has been very good for the last 2 months and will have to make some big saves to try and steal a game in Whitecourt. It can happen, but will it happen? We will find out tonight. Puck drops at 7 local time and Jon and I will have the pre-game show at 6:45 live in Moose Country.

Flyers vs Grand Prairie, Game 1 Tonight

2009-03-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Flyers play a game 1 tonight against Grand Prairie in the NPHL Campbell Cup finals. The Flyers are coming off of a series against Spirit River in which FSJ won in 5. But that series was close all the way and the Rangers gave the Flyers all they could handle at times. The best team won the series as is always the case and now the Flyers can win the Campbell Cup if they can overcome GP. Of course the Athletic's are the only team that beat the Flyers in the regular season and they did it twice. In my opinion those were the worst two games the Flyers played all season but some of the credit for that must go to GP. The Flyers should be ready to go, they should be starting to peak as they are a couple weeks away from the Mac Cup so I think they will win this series and I think they will do it quickly. I know GP has a good team (Jon Zacks doesn't think I give them enough credit) but the Flyers have to start getting to their top level which they reached once or twice in the Spirit River series. They need to reach that level consistently in this series against GP and that spells bad news for the A's. Plus I think we will see Ryan Carter a couple times and he is a difference maker.

Prediction: Flyers in 4

Game 1 is tonight at the NPA. The puck will drop at 8:30 and you should be there. There will be good competitive close games in this series even if the Flyers do sweep GP.

Huskies vs Whitecourt Preview

2009-03-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

The Huskies against the Whitecourt Wolverines. Number 1 against number 2. The league's best team against maybe the only team that are capable of giving the Wolverines a run for their money. The Huskies lost all 5 against Whitecourt this season but 1 of those losses was in the OT and the two game before that were close. It was only the first two games in Whitecourt that the Huskies struggled in but that was a long time ago. Zack Blain has been magnificent in the playoffs and seems to be a big game goalie. He will have to be good. I think the top 2 lines for the Pups will have to be at the top of their games and Spence and Wongstedt have to be flawless as well. But those things can happen and I think this will be a good series.

Whitecourt:
A dominant force in the regular season. They have stud D men who can move the puck. A top notch puck stopper and 4 lines blessed with speed, toughness and skill. Rod Lavoie is the best scorer in the league and the Huskies will have to find a way to silence him and his linemates.

Key Player: Ryan Demharter. He was the reason the Wolverines were able to win the last 3 games of the regular season matchup as the Huskies had trouble solving the puck stopped. If he is good the Wolverines as good of a hockey team as you will find. They have too many good players at the other positions as well so I have to focus on goaltending.

X-factor: Jeff Chalifoux. He is a Gerry Young type player. Don't let him get under your skin and be careful when he is on the ice because he is just as likely to dangle you for a beauty goal as he is to spear you behind the play.

FSJ Huskies:
Two very good top line with Cody Kalb and Steve Fast two of the better offensive centers in the league. Spence, Apsassin, Wongstedt and the addition of Walters give the Huskies great top end talent and depth on D. Zack Blain has been outstanding in the playoffs as his sub 3.00 GAA tells us.

Key Player: I think it has to be Steve Fast. Capable of scoring or setting guys up. When he is on he is a 2 or 3 point a game type player. The top line has to be good for the Huskies but they need the second line to take some pressure off. Fast can be a difference maker in any game.

X-factor: Scoring from the back end. The Huskies got a ton of that in the Peace River series. If that trend continues they should be able to keep up with the Wolverines and make a real series of this.

Prediction: Wolverines in 6
The Huskies are a great team. I think the schedule hurts them. But they are good at home and have the confidence of coming off a hard fought 7 game series. How will Whitecourt respond if they are challenged in this series. I think the Wolverines are too good to lose this series but it won't be easy for them.

Huskies advance in game 7 thriller

2009-03-13T23:02:00.001-07:00

Wow. What a game. That's what a game 7 should be all about. First of all a big congratulations to the North Peace Navigators and their players and coaching staff. They made the Huskies earn every bit of this series win. And Coach Darcy Haugan is one of the classiest people you could ever meet. I approached him after the game to congratulate him and his team on a great season and a great series and he was gracious and even told me he thought the best team won. What a classy guy I can't say enough good things about coach.

The Huskies started off game 7 flying and dominated the first period taking the game to North Peace. Unfortunately the score did not reflect the way the Huskies played as Bretton Stewart was fabulous making save after save to keep his team in the game. So it was 1-0 after the first period thanks to a goal from Cam McKinnon. The second period was much more even as the Navs began to get their feet moving. The Huskies cashed their chances though and were up 3-zip when Gerry Young found a bouncing puck on his stick with an empty net to get the Navs on the board and back into the game. That's when Dylan Apsassin took over however potting a goal just 7 seconds later to get the Huskies their 3 goal lead back.

That's when the reffing (which wasn't good all night) went against the Navs a little and coach Haugan went off on the ref getting 2 for unsportsmanlike and eventually getting tossed. That is when the fun started. Coach realized he had a chance to get his team going and he took it. He threw sticks, goalie equipment, crates and more onto the ice in the best coach freak out of the season. And it worked. His team scored almost immediately after the pucked dropped to make it 4-2 thanks to a great solo effort from Mitch Kohut.

The third was the perfect period for the Huskies. They closed up shop played great defensively and went home happy. Well not quite. The Navs actually made a game of it after going down 6-2 thanks to goals from Dylan Apsassin Cody Kalb. The Navs then scored two quick ones, Tyler LeMire and Gerry Young with his second, in the middle of the period to get within 2 of the Pups and it seemed momentum was against the Huskies. The score was 7-5 and Dylan Apsassin already had a hat trick. But he wasn't finished. Dylan "The Assassin" Apsassin cashed again for his 4th goal of the game to make it 8-5 and that's how she ended. Cam McKinnon fought Joel Balfour late and we will call it a draw as no one really got a punch off.

This game was fast, physical and had it all. The only thing missing was a penalty shot and we should have had one as Robbie Sidhu was in alone from the red line when his feet were taken out from under him. A clear penalty shot. The ref somehow missed it. He said he didn't see the trip. What on EARTH was he looking at then?????????????? That's unacceptable, and he made it worse when he gave Sidhu 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike. Sidhu was right and the ref should have allowed the youngster to vent. The Navs of course scored on the power play and for a time it seemed like that might have been a real turning point in the game.

Another assured performance from Jordan Walters on the back end. It sounds like Walters, Sidhu and David Green will be making the trip to Whitecourt tomorrow morning.

Good to see Tyson Peterson out on the ice in the 3rd after taking a big hit early in the game and being seemingly out cold. He will be making the trip as well and the only notable absence will be Brendan Smith who is still dealing with a bad shoulder.

And finally a big thank you to the crowd who came it in numbers, I believe 685, and made a lot of noise. The boys have played a lot of hockey recently and don't think that didn't help. The crowd was lead by Brinkworth, Smith and Green who were banging drums all night and there is no way that the crowd didn't help the Pups in the third.

So we are off to Whitecourt.......

Huskies force game 7

2009-03-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well this is why the Huskies wanted to finish the regular season in second overall in the league. This is why they played sooooo well down the stretch winning all the games they had to win to ensure that if they went to a game 7 it would be on home ice. This is the one game in a series that you want to play at home. This is where home ice advantage makes a difference. That's why the NPA HAS to be packed tonight. The puck drops at 8pm tonight.

It was last night that the Huskies showed just what they are made of. Every time they have a game where they need to step up and show what they are capable of, and where their backs are against the wall they seem to find another gear. What a complete hockey game they played last night. They scored first and by the end of the first period it was three zip for the Huskies. An early Gerry Young inspired Navs goal just 7 seconds into the 2nd made you start to wonder what would happen the Huskies confidence but they stepped up and restored their 3 goal lead thanks to midget call up Robbie Sidhu. This is a kid who has the skill to play major junior and although he looked a little jaded as the game moved on you gotta love a player who doesn't have a great game but scores a goal anyway.

The third period rolled around with the Huskies up 4 to 2 and when Cody Kalb scored just 2 minutes into the third you felt the Huskies would go on and win the game. From that goal on they played a nearly perfect road period and despite killing almost 6 straight minutes of penalties they never really allowed a clear cut scoring chance.

Zack Blain. The kid was distraught after letting in what was a bit of a weak goal in OT the night before. What a bounce back performance as Blain was excellent. But the turning point may have come early in the 2nd after the Navs had already made it 3-1 when Blain made a spectacular pad save and then found the rebound first and covered the puck for the whistle. If the Navs had made it 3-2 that early in the period who knows what would have happened?

The other player who deserves a mention is Jordan Walters. This kid has all the tools. Along with Sidhu, Walters is a midget call up that was filling in as the Huskies were a little short staffed last night. Walters started the game alongside Payden Wongstedt and there may not be a D pair in the league with that much raw talent in the entire league. Walters even broke up a 2 on 1 on his first shift and looked great after that. He was on the ice for a goal against but also had an assist so that evens out. And he was a key part of the penalty kill as well. If this kid doesn't play major junior at some point I will eat my hat. The only way I could see Walters not playing at that level is if he plays Junior A next year and then goes off to play in the NCAA.

Game 7 is tonight. NPA. 8pm.

DO NOT MISS IT!!!!!!!!!!

Huskies lose in OT AGAIN!!

2009-03-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

I am starting to wonder what is wrong with the Hockey gods. Or maybe, more specifically, what did the Huskies do to piss them off? The Peace River Navigators now lead this best of 7 series 3 games to 2 after another OT victory. The difference this time was they actually won IN Fort St John which is rare for any team this season. The Huskies trail in the series despite arguably being the better team in every game and certainly in 4 of the 5. Unfortunately for the pups Hockey games are won by the team that scores the most goals not necessarily the team that dominates.

The Huskies hit the post or cross bar at least 3 times and were robbed another half dozen thanks to Bretton Stewart who played well for pretty much the first time all year at the NPA. Dan Pappin, who had 4 goals in game 4, couldn't buy a goal and was particularly snake bitten by the goalie's best friend.

It was the second line that saved the day with less than 30 seconds left in the third and the Huskies trailing by a goal. Kole Norris found the puck on his stick as the Huskies were buzzing around the offensive zone with goalie Zack Blain on the bench for the extra attacker. And Norris made no mistake with time and the puck on his stick the kid is deadly and he rifled a wrister up under the bar to send the game to overtime.

Just as in game 3 in Peace River the Huskies should have won this game several times in OT but the finishing just wasn't there. It wasn't there all night. Chance after chance went by the board and all the lucky bounces that went the Huskies way in game 4 went the other way. Bretton Stewart continued to play well as did Huskies goalie Zack Blain at the other end. He was making the few saves he was asked to make as he would go several minutes at a time without seeing any action.

Then disaster struck as the Navs fired a slapshot on the rush from the face off circle that beat Blain five hole. Blain was understandably distraught after the game and the rest of the team seemed stunned. Now the Huskies backs are against the wall as they head to Peace River for game 6 tonight. We will have the game live on the all new Moose starting at 6:45 local time.

Can the Huskies bounce back? Can Zack Blain shake off one bad goal and continue to play well? Will the Huskies top line dominate the way the did in game 4 or be a little invisible as they were last night? There are a lot of questions but not a lot of answers until the two old rivals hit the ice tonight.

NWJHL playoff leaders

2009-03-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Dave Dawson from the Whitecourt Wolverines broadcast has been putting together a league leaders for playoff stats in the NWJHL. The website that the NWJHL operates is....well.....oh I want to be diplomatic but whatever, it's crap.

Dave's blog will have the stats. Check it out in my links to other blog section.
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Flyers go for the kill

2009-03-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

The FSJ Senior Flyers can eliminate the Spirit River Rangers in tonight's game 5 at the NPA. Don't let the 3-1 series lead for the Flyers fool you though this series has been very, very close. Very close. Lots of OT and one goal games. And the physical play has been there as well. The Flyers could be up a couple goals in the third (I think they will be because they are just too much for Spirit especially on home ice) and there could be fireworks. Shuya, T. Alexander and co have some scores to settle with this Rangers team and it will be interesting to see what happens once they have secured the series. Do they leave the payback until next season or do they take care of it tonight? You will have to get down to the NPA tonight to find out.

Remember this?

2009-03-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of the last time the Huskies met the Navigators in the NWJHL playoffs. Game 7 overtime. Wish I could have been here for that. Look at the talent on the ice for the Huskies though. Wendel Dyer, Jeff Shipton the rookie of the year in the NPHL this year, Brett Loney was out there and apparently was just a man amongst boys, and Bryce Novak to name a few. This years Huskies team is good and could be very good if they had everyone in the lineup but that last championship team was really good. Jack Christian was out there too. So many good players. Anyway this should get you primed for game 5 tomorrow night at the NPA. 8 pm is the puck drop and you don't want to miss it. There might be some fireworks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06ptAEsFlo

Huskies crush Navs in game 4

2009-03-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not even really sure where to start about tonight's game. The Huskies are MUCH better on home ice than they are on the road. That isn't a revelation to anyone at this point but who knew they were this good at home. A 12-1 thrashing of North Peace in game 4 tonight has put the Huskies back into the driver seat in their series with the Navs. 4 goals from Dan Pappin plus the second line chipping in with a bunch of goals. You get the idea. If you want a full rundown head to www.energeticcity.ca/huskies.

The Huskies got a lot of goals from a lot of places and I know it might seem like they ran up the score but the 4th line was out on the power play and Coach Bob rolled his four lines. The kids even stopped celebrating their goals so as not to rub the Navs faces in it. The PP was 5 for 5 and it seemed that every lucky bounce was going the way of the Huskies. When they play on home ice they seem to get the breaks. Loose pucks find their way onto Husky sticks and shots find the top corner rather then whistling just over the bar. They say you earn your breaks though and the Huskies do play well on home ice and do earn those breaks.

The game did get a little ugly in the last minute as Kyle Porter went after Gerry Young. This is where I am torn about what to write. I know Kyle Porter fairly well obviously and I know what a good kid he is. I also know that the Huskies feel that Young runs around dishing out cheap shots and particularly head shots (Kole Norris for one at the end of the regular season and Robby Sidhu a young midget call up who Young went after with a high hit tonight) and doesn't back it up by dropping the gloves. You can read a recent post on the Whitecourt blog if you want to read a good rant about head shots and not backing up your cheap shots with a fight.

So Porter was sent out to get some pay back. Perhaps he didn't go about it in the right though as he jumped Young after cross checking the Navs forward. You just can't jump a guy when he is down on the ice. Even if he is pretending to be hurt. For a guy who dishes out a lot of stick work Young does seem to spend an awful lot of time on the ice or looking at the ref when he gets a shot back. Porter as I said is a good kid and plays a certain role as a 4th liner and has to play a certain way to stay in the lineup. He has a job to do and a role to play and he plays it. But as I said it is unacceptable to jump a guy who is down on the ice. That's my on the record opinion anyway and I will leave it at that.

Apparently Cash Brinkworth wanted to go with Gaydosh as the final seconds ticked off the clock but Gaydosh wanted none of the big Husky. It will be very interesting to see what happens in game 5 Wednesday night. I think Gaydosh wants a piece of Porter but I would be surprised if the FSJ forward avoids a suspension. I think the coaching staff of the Huskies did a great job when they pulled Wongstedt off the ice with about 15 seconds left. Payden is way too good to have him getting involved in any extra curricular activities. And you know he wanted a piece of someone. Wongstedt will always stick up for his teammates. Sometimes in the wrong way though and you can't afford to have him suspended in the playoffs.

I will find a way to get to the bottom of why the Huskies are so good on home ice. And once I do I will bottle it and make a fortune. Maybe it's the home cooking. I am not sure but once I find out I will let you know.

Huskies lose OT heartbreaker

2009-03-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

What can I say about the Huskies and their game with the Navs last night.

So game 3 was canceled because the Navs couldn't make the trip due to weather and road conditions. So Sunday night which was supposed to be game 4 turned into game 3. Confused yet? That means game 4 will be tonight at the NPA game 5 will be Wednesday at the NPA. Game 6 if necessary will be Thursday night in Peace River and game 7 will be here in FSJ if necessary although I have no clue when that game would be played.

So it was game 3 and because of the unusual circumstances of the game it was a huge pivotal game in the series. The Huskies could have gone up 2 games to 1 with 3 of the last 4 games of the series at home where the Huskies are almost unbeatable. But they weren't able to pull the victory out and they return home down 2-1 and the Navs have all the momentum and a chance, if they can steal one on the road, to return home with the series on the line. They could even win the series with 2 victories in FSJ but let's not contemplate that at this time.

So game 3 was played on Sunday night in Peace River and it was all Huskies. They were dominant in the first 2 periods carrying the play to the Navs. Their fore check was causing the Navs fits. The only time Peace River were able to release the pressure was when their top line was on the ice. That's probably why they were playing every second shift by the third period. It was Bunn, Young and Richardson almost all the time for the Navs. Other than the two times they hit the iron in the second period it was comprehensive for the Huskies. The problem? They only has a 2-0 lead and with a minute left in the period disaster struck. The Huskies took a bad penalty late in the period, the Navs won the offensive zone faceoff and scored with less than a minute left in the period. Then with about 8 seconds left in the period Payden Wongstedt blew a tire in the neutral zone, couldn't bat the puck away from Gerry Young who sped in alone and scored. 2-2 after 2 and the Huskies must have been deflated.

They come out well in the 3rd period though and managed to restore a lead thanks to Robby Sidhu who had already set up Cody Kalb earlier in the game thanks to a great pass. The young Midget call up was playing his first game as a junior and made a great play. He threw the puck to the front of the net. Steve Fast provided the screen and it floated in past Bretton Stewart in the Navs goal. It was then that the Navs really dug deep and thanks to that top line they changed the momentum and eventually got the tying goal and we went to OT for the first time in the series. The Huskies had chances including a great one for Cam McKinnon early in OT that Stewart stopped with his stick. In fact the shot broke Stewart's stick and he continued to use it. Should have been penalty but the ref missed it.

What a heartbreaking end for the Huskies who were unlucky when the puck found it's way to the in form player of the series Kyle Richardson. He was alone on the door step and roofed it over a sprawling Zack Blain and the Navs won the game with 15 seconds left in the first OT. For Richardson it was his 6th goal of the series so far in 3 games.

The Navs celebrated like a group of youngsters would after an emotional victory. Although I will say this, Joel Balfour went out of his way to celebrate in the face of Huskies captain Jon Spence after he Navs captain came off the bench to celebrate with his teammates. I mean skated straight over to Spence with his arms in the air and was yelling and celebrating while staring and Spence. It happens because these are kids and they are young and their emotion gets the best of them. I hate to criticize these kids as well. But I will say this. It lacked a little class. And my coach when I was a kid and my father if he had seen that both would have whipped my ass. If there is one thing you should never do in my opinion it is show up and disrespect an opponent.

You can't blame the Navs for being happy though as they now have a 2-1 lead in the series and a chance to do some damage here in FSJ. Game 4 goes tonight at the NPA at 8 pm.

Rangers give Flyers another run for their money

2009-03-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

So much to blog about. First of all let's start with Saturday night because I don't think I already blogged about the Flyers huge double OT win in Spirit River. I want to start by saying that although I don't always respect the way they play the game, the Rangers that is, I do respect the heck out of the way they compete. No other team in the NPHL this year has shown the guts and effort and determination to play against this Flyers team. That's why the fact the Flyers are up 3 games to 1 in the series doesn't tell the whole story. Game 4 was a gritty affair and right off the face off Shuya got into it with Lefley. You might want to come to the NPA Tuesday night to see the continuation of that rivalry alone. Chad Vizzutti got the start and played well. The game had a good flow and there were lots of scoring chances. Tyler Loney was playing as a forward for the night and made a couple of moves, one in particular, that belied his size and strength and made him look more like Paul Coffey than Chris Pronger. Nimble is the only way to describe the move that included a toe drag and a spin-o-rama. Wade Hocking scored a beauty as well and at times the Flyers fore check and physical play threatened to overrun the Rangers. But they never quit and they have a very high level of compete to borrow a phrase from Marc Crawford.

Mark Wallman was buzzing all night and the guy has speed and all kinds of moves. He scored from his back late to get the Rangers within 1 goal with 2 minutes left and they eventually tied the game up and off to OT we went. Kip Noble was hit hard in the OT session and didn't return but fortunately the Flyers have depth on D and Tyler Loney was able to slot back into his usual Dman role. The kid line was unstoppable in the first period of game 3 and they found some of that magic in OT. Donny Lloyd, who is one of the best D men in the league and maybe the best (Noble included), reversed the puck in his own zone but instead of finding a teammate who would then have cleared the puck, he found Clayton Bahm instead. Maybe Lloyd was just as surprised as we were that Bahm actually made a road game. Thankfully he did for the Flyers as he intercepted Lloyd's pass and found Jeff Fast who couldn't dig the puck out of his skates but managed to get the puck over to Jeff Shipton who banged home the winner. What a thrilling game it was and congrats to Jon Zacks who picked Jeff Shipton to score the winner. The Flyers can now close this series out in 5 games tomorrow night on home ice but in no way is this a series that the Flyers will win easily.

Navs tie series at 1

2009-03-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

It was all going so well for the Huskies. Leading game 2 by a score of 2-0 after the 1st and they looked to be well on their way to a game 2 victory. Peace River looked disheartened, they looked like a team that couldn't figure out how they were going to be the Huskies. Then it all fell apart. 3 goals in less than 2 minutes from Peace River, including 2 in the space of 11 seconds, and the players believed again. The Huskies had beaten the Navigators 9-2 in game 1 and 7-1 the last time they played in Peace River in the regular season. Now suddenly the Navs believed they could beat the Huskies. It was 3-3 heading to the 3rd after a nice goal from Steve Fast but once again in the 3rd the Navs found a way to get a couple og quick goals. Payden Wongstedt picked up a fighting major and a game for going after Gerry Young who recieved just 2 for roughing. The Navs scored during the 4-on-4 and then again once Young came out of the box putting the Navs on the PP. Cam McKinnon fired the Huskies back within 1 but a bad pinch from Cash Brinkworth, who was trying to push the tempo and create some offense for the trailing Huskies, led to another goal for the Navs making it a 6-4 final. The Huskies played well at times but found themselves letting in goals in bunches. Kyle Richardson had 3 goals and 2 assists. Gerry Young chipped in 2 goals for the Navs as well. Game 3 goes Saturday at the NPA.

Flyers and Huskies

2009-03-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

Lots of hockey involving the FSJ teams tonight as the Flyers look to reestablish their dominance over Spirit River and the Huskies look to continue theirs over Peace River.

The Flyers lost game 2 of their series on Tuesday night in Spirit River due in large part to a hard fought game by Spirit River and the fact the Flyers were short benched having arrived with just 11 skaters. The Flyers tend to bring more guys out to their home games and will be looking to get back to the level of play they showed in game 1 of this series. Adam Loncan was dealing with some back issues towards the end of game 2 and it will be interesting to see if he plays tonight. Puck drops at the NPA at 8:30.

As for the Huskies, they continued their dominance over Peace River with a 9-2 victory in game 1. Goals cam from all over the ice including from 4th liner Kyle Porter who scored for the third game running. The top line also really produced for the Huskies and Zack Blain continued his strong play in net. The only issue for the Huskies and it is hard to find even one is that Steve Fast has not been lighting it up in the playoffs the way he did in the regular season. If the Huskies can get Fasty going they will have a real shot at making this a short series. The last time these two teams met in Peace River the game was a 7-1 blowout for the Huskies with Kole Norris getting injured late on a hit by Gerry Young. The Huskies players got into it with the Navigators crowd a little so it will be fun to see how big the crowd is and how it responds to the Huskies. Game 2 is tonight in Peace River live on moosefm. Puck drops at 8.

NWJHL PLAYOFFS

2009-03-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

1. Whitecourt vs. 5 Grand Prairie

Game 1 is tonight in Whitecourt which is a quick turn around for GP who just won their series versus Dawson in game 5 Saturday night in Dawson. The Wolverines are the best team in the league as I have said before so I don't expect this to be a long series. GP will hang with the Wolverines at times (not tonight though I wouldn't think) but I am going to call a Whitecourt sweep.

Key Players: For Whitecourt the key player in this series will be Ryan Demharter. Grand Prairie has some fire power and since we know the Wolverines will score goals as long as Demharter is solid they will win these games. For Grand Prairie I will have to go with Cody Atkinson. By the sounds of things he was a beast against Dawson and will need to continue to score for the Wheelers to have any chance of extending this series.

Prediction: Wolverines in 4

2. FSJ vs 3. Peace River

This is the matchup both sets of fans wanted to see. The age old rivalry between the two most prestigious and decorated teams in the NWJHL. A rivarly that at one point had seen 4 or maybe even 5 straight finals played between the Huskies and Navs with the Huskies winning 3 of them. I will check but I wonder if maybe all 4 of the Huskies championships have been won at the expense of the Navs. Either way this is going to be a great series and the bad blood is there. A hit on Kole Norris late in their last regular season game that resulted in an Ambulance being called and Norris being stretchered off the ice will ensure that the Huskies will be fired up to play this Navs team. I think the Huskies are too good at home for Peace River and will find a way to win a game in Peace.

Key Players: For the Huskies it's Zack Blain. He has been very good in the playoffs posting a 2.00 GAA so far in 3 games against Slave Lake. He was spectacular in Peace River the last time the Huskies were there and if he plays to that level all series the Huskies should have no problems. Honourable mention to Steve Fast who needs to get going a little offensively. Second on the team in goals in the regular season was Fast but he hasn't found the back of the net yet in the playoffs. For the Navs it's Bretton Stewart. At times brilliant and at times awful. Stewart won game 1 against Beaverlodge with the shutout in a one nothing game but let in a crap load of goals in Beaverlodge including when the Navs threw away a 5-2 lead and lost game 4 7-5. If he can match Blain the Navs have a shot.

Prediction: Huskies in 6 (I want to say 5 but the Navs are a good team and Selluck Bunn being back helps them so I will be a little more conservative)

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In case you missed it I went 3 for 3 on my predictions on the first round. I even correctly picked Grand Prairie over Dawson in 5 games and Peace over Beaverlodge in 5 as well. The only thing that stopped me from running the table on the winners and the number of games was that Huskies loss in Slave Lake. I let Zack Blain hear about that the other night.

FLyers down Spirit in game 1

2009-03-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

The Flyers continued their playoff winning streak last night with a 3-1 victory in game 1 over Spirit River. FSJ is now 4 and 0 in the playoffs so far but last night's win was much different than the previous 3 blowouts against Lakeland. The Rangers come to play and they compete hard if not always fairly and they also have fabulous goaltending in the form of Matt Yesminski. The Flyers, on the other hand, are gearing up for a MacKenzie Cup series in early April and have been looking forward to playing Spirit River to get as close to that AAA level as they can in their A league. And the Flyers played like a AAA level hockey club for the first time in a while although this has more to do with the level of competition they have been playing rather than their own performance. The Flyers pounded the Rangers physically all night, they dominated puck possession and they vastly outshot Spirit River. The coaching staff was even happy with the PP based on puck movement and getting shots to the net and not on the results of those power plays as the Flyers were 1 for 10. Goals from Shuya, Noble and an empty netter from Todd Alexander ensured the victory along with a solid performance from goalie Troy Hunt. He only saw about 15 shots and only maybe 2 quality scoring chances but made an unreal save to absolutely rob Spirit River late in the third when the score was 2-1.

Dustin Kersey told me after the game it was the most lopsided 3-1 game he had ever been a part of. Good to see the Flyers are putting revenge for some late season cheap shots by Spirit to the back burner while they focus on preparing for AAA play. Stony Plain is through the final series in Aberta by the way and Bentely has been pushed to a game 7 which will go Wednesday night to see who will play Stony in the series which will decide who hosts the Flyers in the Mac cup.

I enjoyed watching the Ref get into it with the time keeper Gary Hunt last night over 4 seconds being put on the clock. The ref eventually tossed Mr Hunt who was upset because he was sure he had stopped the clock properly. I like the passion hockey brings out and thought it was funny to see Troy Hunt's dad getting kicked out of a game as a timekeeper. Haven't seen that before.

2009-02-28T21:43:00.001-08:00

I am going to run through the text messages I sent and received tonight on a crazy night in the NWJHL playoffs.

We had game 4 between Peace River and Beaverlodge from Beaverlodge.
Game 5 between Dawson Creek and Grand Prairie from Dawson Creek
Game 4 between FSJ and Slave Lake from the NPA

The texts I received from Dawson were from Jr Canucks play-by-play voice Darren Dupont, from Beaverlodge the texts were sent by Peace River Navigators play-by-play man Damien Gnass. I was sending to both unless otherwise stated.

8:12pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: 2-0 Peace River 5 minutes in.

8:13pm (sent) - 2-0 Huskies 6 minutes in.

8:14pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: 2-1 Peace River .

8:14pm (sent) - 3-0 Huskies All three guys on top line have 3 points.

8:21pm (sent) - 4-1 Huskies Kyle Porter.

8:23pm (received) - From Dawson Creek: 0-0 8 minutes left in 1st.

8:24pm (received) - From Peace River: 2-2. Shots are 16-2 for Navs but game is tied.

8:29pm (sent) - 4-3 Huskies. We started our backup he's made 4 saves.

8:35pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: 1st period summary. 2 to 2 score. Goals by Bagan, Bunn and Dumas twice (for Beaverlodge). Shot 21-7 for Navigators.

8:36pm (received) - From Dawson Creek: 1-0 Grand Prairie after PP goal Atkinson 19:59 mark tipped high out of air.

8:39pm (sent) - 5-3 Huskies after first. 13-11 shots for FSJ. Reffing appalling both ways.

After 1st Period:
FSJ 5 - Slake Lake 3
Dawson Creek 0 - Grand Prairie 1
Beaverlodge 2 - Peace River 2

9:03pm (sent) - 5-4 Huskies. 3 soft goals on backup goalie.

9:07pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Navs up 4-2 early in second.

9:22pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Two man advantage goal for Navs, 5-2 Navs.

9:24pm (sent) - 5-4 Huskies after 2. This would have been like 15-1 until our goalie let in the bad goals.

9:26pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Blades goal late second. Power Play. 5-3 Navs.

9:28pm (received) - From Dawson Creek: 3-1 GP after 2.

9:34pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Second Period summary. Goals from Richardson Smith and Richardson again and Cody Moulds (Blades) Shots 18-13 Navs. Score is 5-3 after 2.

After 2nd Period:
Huskies 5 - Slave Lake 4
Dawson Creek 1 - Grand Prairie 3
Beaverlodge 3 - Peace River 5

9:50pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Blades goal in first min. 5-4 Navs.

9:50pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: 5-5 in third.

9:53pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Tied at 5. Robinson (Blades) break away goal.

9:59pm (sent) - 6-5 Slave Lake MacIsaac.

10:00pm (received) - From Dawson Creek: 3-2 GP 4 min left.

10:02pm (sent) - MacIsaac just took a 4 minute High Sticking pen 6:30 left in 3rd.

10:03pm (received) - From Beaverlodge: Blades power play goal to lead 6-5 10 minutes left.

10:04pm (sent) - Wongstedt ties it 6-6 on PP for Huskies.

10:10pm (sent) - 7-6 Huskies 1 min left. Kole Norris.

10:10pm (received) From Dawson Creek: 5-2 GP FINAL. Dawson is out. 2 EN goals.

10:20pm (received) From Beaverlodge: Blades power play goal. 7-5 with 2 min left.

10:22 (sent) - 7-6 Huskies FINAL. Huskies win series 3 games to 1.

10:23pm (received) From Beaverlodge: 7-5 Final.

10:26pm (received) From Beaverlodge: Third Period summary. Shots 16-6 Blades. 4 straight goals after Navs take 8 penalties.

10:28pm (sent to Beaverlodge) - Good Calls? Or typical NWJHL dodgy reffing?

10:29pm (received) From Beaverlodge: Horrible. 2 Navs players got interference penalties at same time?

So that wraps up a crazy night in the NWJHL playoffs. The Blades come back from 5-2 down to win 7-5 on home ice and force a game 5 tomorrow night in Peace River. Grand Prairie wins game 5 on the road in Dawson Creek, win the the series 3-2.

And the Huskies win a thriller which shouldn't have been a thriller but they got the job done after trailing in the third they rally for the 7-6 win and a 3 games to 1 series victory.

Huskies win game 3

2009-02-28T16:17:00.001-08:00

Game 3 was last night at the NPA and the Huskies showed just why their record was so good on home ice this season. The Huskies came out flying against Slave Lake and were dominating play in the offensive zone leading to goals from Cody Kalb, Dustin Heitman with a beauty backhand shelf job on a breakaway and Linden Apsassin that were sandwiched around a fluke goal from the Wolves that deflected off Cash Brinkworth and past Zach Blain. The second period was more of the same and by the time the score was 7 - 1 I was on my way out of the NPA as I was sick as a dog and wasn't in doubt about who would win the game. Kyle Porter scored in the second and Jordan Hartnell added one as well to give a goal to all 3 of the guys playing on the 4th line. Cody Hildebrand scored as did Kole Norris on his return to the lineup as the Huskies rolled to a 10 - 1 victory and a 2 games to 1 lead in the series. Cody Kalb fought Nick Plourde and won the Jon Zacks decision.

Game 4 is tonight at the NPA and the Huskies can clinch the series and set up a second round match-up with either Peace River if they win their series or the winner of Dawson Creek and Beaverlodge if Peace gets upset by the lodge.

Huskies back at it tonight, Flyers on Sunday

2009-02-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

Huskies get back at it tonight. Game 3 against Slave Lake is at the NPA at 8 pm. Let's pack that place. Apparently the Peace River fans have been setting attendance records so far in the playoffs. We can't let them outdo us, so let's set some records of our own. Look out for #87 Tyson Price from Slave Lake, he has 3 goals in the 2 game so far. Also, #51 Nick Plourde likes to run around and hit everything and takes A LOT of PIMs so keep you eyes on him as well. Looks like Kole Norris will be back in the lineup tonight as well.

Flyers schedule for round 2 against Spirit River has been released. Check it out here:

http://www.energeticcity.ca/news/02/26/09/senior-flyers-set-face-spirit-river-round-2

Playoff waiting game

2009-02-26T08:38:00.001-08:00

Not a lot going on lately as we wait for the playoffs to get back underway. The Huskies are back in action at the NPA Friday night at 8 for game 3 against Slave Lake. The Huskies need to continue to work the special teams that were excellent for the most part and killed off 4 or 5 5 on 3 situations and they scored 3 times with the man advantage. Lots of offense from the back end through the first two games as well which is encouraging and needs to continue throughout the playoffs. The Huskies get offense from Spence and Wongstedt and even Disher has been chipping in with some assists lately and combine that with two very good scoring lines and the Huskies should have a nice balanced attack and that is huge in the playoffs. The top line does need to step up this weekend though and start scoring at a similar rate to the regular season when they were one of the best units in the league. The Huskies have made the NPA a fortress and they rarely lose on home ice, and i don't see them losing anymore games in this series.

The Flyers have been sitting around waiting to play round 2 as they need to find out who they will play next and that depends on Falher and Peace River. Game 5 of that series goes tonight so the Flyers will know who they play next and hopefully when and where they play next by tomorrow. Not sure if we will see Ryan Carter in this next round but if the Flyers do end up with Spirit River in the next round you might see Carter making the trip for a weekend. Matt Shuya was a beast in the first round. A lot of guys scored a lot of points during the series against Lakeland but Shuya had 18 points in three games to lead the team. It's good to see Shuya playing well and hopefully in a series against Spirit he will get his pay back for a broken nose by putting the Rangers to the sword offensively.

NWJHL playoffs

2009-02-25T08:42:00.001-08:00

Dawson Creek lost game 3 last night in Grand Prairie so the Wheelers have a 2 games to 1 lead in that series with game 4 in Grand Prairie. Dawson Creek is in tough and are still without their top player Charles Radke who is down in the lower mainland for school but would be back if his mates can force a game 5. The final score last night was 3 - 0 for GP.

Peace River Stamps force game 5

2009-02-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

Bad news Flyers fans. Falher lost to Peace River last night so that series is tied at two. If Falher wins that series the Flyers will play Spirit River in the next round of the playoffs and that is what we want. I am not sure when the deciding game 5 will be but I will let you know when I know who won and what the Flyers playoff schedule looks like.

The return of the Champions League

2009-02-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Today is the return of the Champions League.

There are several glamour matches in this the first round of the knockout stages of the Champions League. Arsenal v Roma, Real Madrid v Liverpool (two of the three most successful teams in this competitions history) and Chelsea v Juventus. But for me the clash between the defending champions of England and Europe who are currently leading the table in England against the current leaders in Italy is the draw that has me nervous. Inter have won the Italian crown the last two years and have a healthy lead again this year. As do my team in England.

For those of you who don't know me then I will let you know that above Hockey, above even Baseball the sport with the highest place of honour in my heart is Football. Not that American crap where they almost never use their feet. No the real Football. The Football of Pele, Maradona and George Best. The 5th Beatle as he was known. And yes I am a Manchester United supporter. Call me a glory hunter if you would like but my father has been a United supporter since the 50's. In fact I can pinpoint the exact day. May 3rd 1958. That's the day that Manchester United lost the FA Cup final to Bolton. A remarkable final because just months earlier Manchester United's plane crashed while trying to take off from the Munich airport. Several players died in that crash and one of the most promising young teams in the sports history was decimated. Duncan Edwards was killed in that crash and he was only 21 at the time and already considered one of the best players in the world and some people who saw him play saw he would have gone on to become the greatest ever to play. So a team with many of it's stars dead and it's coach in a coma managed to play a match just 13 days after the crash. And several months later they reached the FA Cup final and then lost with 4 crash survivors playing in the game along with a couple of new recruits and some young players called up from the reserve team. My father listened to that game on the radio and cried for days after United lost. And that is how Manchester United got into my blood. He stuck with them through the 70s and 80s when they weren't great and Liverpool were, but now we are the dominant force in England and long may it continue.

So I am nervous today. I am as nervous as a 10 year old at the Neverland ranch when the lights go out. I can't sit still. Manchester United play Inter Milan today in the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions Leage. It's the knockout stage, you play two game one home and one away and whoever has the most goals wins. And Inter Milan is coached by Jose Mourinho a charismatic leader who stopped United's dominance when he was at Chelsea in England and who always seems to have United's number. And we are without several key defenders for the first game which is in Italy at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza or the San Siro as it is commonly known. This is an intimidating stadium to play in. But we have a ton of experience in this competition. We are defending champions and I am confident we can get a result. A score draw will do nicely. 2 - 2 would be ideal. Then we go back to Old Trafford for the second leg and take care of them on our turf. I can't wait.

Blades win game 3

2009-02-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Beaverlodge wins in double OT. The series between the Blades and the Navigators is now Peace River 2 - 1. Game four will be in Beaverlodge Saturday.

Let's break this down a bit.

Game 1 - Peace River 1 - Beaverlodge 0
Game 2 - Peace River 4 - Beaverlodge 3 (OT)
Game 3 - Beaverlodge 4 - Peace River 3 (2OT)

So they have played 2 plus OT periods and all three games have been decided by one goal. Could this series be any tighter? I guess it looks like it will go to game 5. I wish Peace River was closer to FSJ so I could go see game 5 if there is one. I can honestly see a scenario where Peace and Dawson lose their series. I think that you would obviously want the top seeds to progress and play each other but everyone loves an underdog.

Game 3 between Dawson and GP is tonight in GP. You can listen at peacefm.ca to Darren Dupont and the Jr Canucks broadcast. He does an excellent job and you can check out his and Dave Dawson's blog in my blog list. They both blog a lot about the NWJHL and have lots of good insight.

Playoff Update

2009-02-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

NWJHL playoffs

1. Whitecourt - 1st round Bye

2. FSJ Huskies vs 7. Slave Lake Wolves (Series tied at 1)

Game 3 should be Friday. Huskies have all the remaining games of the series on home ice. I don't see anything unexpected happening at the NPA. But they should be good games. Slave Lake plays a physical style so the Huskies PP should decide this series.

3. Peace River vs 6. Beaverlodge (Peace River leads 2 - 0)

Peace can finish that series tonight in Beaverlodge but that sure is a tough place to play and this series is closer than it looks. Peace won game 1 by a score of 1 zip and game 2 by a score of 4 - 3 in OT. You can listen to game 3 if you like on Kix 106's website.

4. Dawson Creek vs 5. Grand Prairie (Series tied at 1)

Grand Prairie earned the split in Dawson and took home ice advantage from the Jr Canucks who will be looking to earn it back in a tough place to play. GP is good at home just ask the Huskies. They played a couple of OT games there this year. Game 3 sounds like it will be tomorrow night listen to Peacefm.ca if you would like to hear that game.

Flyers win series

2009-02-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Flyers won 21 - 7 and won the series 3 games to none. What else is there to say about that?

They should get Spirit River in the next round and fingers crossed that series could start on Thursday night here in FSJ. That will be a good series and well worth the price of admission. Once we know for sure we will start promoting that series a bit more.

Huskies versus Slave Lake game 2

2009-02-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

Game 2 was a heck of a lot of fun for us to broadcast.

The Wolves again came out flying in their home barn and they played out of the skins. The were hitting everything that moved and using some hometown reffing to their advantage. Tyson Price scored twice in the first and after 20 minutes the Huskies were down 2. The strong play in the Slave Lake goal continued and there was more to come. Travis Chartier does not look like your typical goalie but he was excellent all weekend. The Huskies were sparked by the second line with Steve Fast playing with Cam McKinnon and Cody Hildebrand after Jason Arnouse was kicked out early in the game after a charging call that he apparently questioned, he then got a 10 minute misconduct penalty (apparently he asked what the call was) and was tossed for losing it after that.

*Rant Alert* If that is truly what Arnouse said to the stripes then I can understand him losing it a little. It gets really old to watch the referees in this league not allow players to question calls. It smacks of a lack of confidence and these are young kids who will occasionally allow their emotions to get the best of them. Have some thicker skin. You only have to ask the Whitecourt Wolverines about this. They had a guy kicked out of the game when they were playing in FSJ that was suspect at best. Here is a quick memo for the stripes. No one cares about you, no one is there to see you play, no one is interested in you and no one wants to see you deciding games so figure it out. *Rant Over*

Anyway, Hildebrand scored a couple of goals going to the front of the net after joining that second line and the Huskies eventually took a lead when Wongstedt popped up at the front of the net and found a lose puck in a scramble to give the pups the 4 - 3 lead. Slave Lake tied the game though when Kyle Pichette scored his second of the game and we were headed to overtime.

How Cam McKinnon missed a basically empty net in OT is beyond me. The puck looked like it rolled on him and he kind of scooped it over but give him that chance another hundred times and he scores 99 of them. Then Chartier made a spectacular glove save stealing one from Dan Pappin. That was the turning point. The game should have been over. Linden Apsassin was on the ice and had maybe the best view of anyone not named Pappin and his expression said it all. I could read his lips. Here it is Linden Apsassin after Chartier robbed Pappin, "WOW." That says it all. Wow. Slave Lake had Tyson Price on a breakaway that he fired wide and the Huskies killed a PP late in the first overtime so we were off to double overtime. So much fun but when you are getting on a bus for a 4 hour ride back to FSJ after the game you start to notice how late it is getting. Only during the intermission though because the play on the ice was great. A great pace to play considering the boys had played the night before and the physical play continued in overtime.

Jon and I predicted who we thought would win the game so I went off the board and picked Lovelace and Spence a guy who doesn't score a ton and a D man. Zacks went Steve Fast and Tyson Price I believe. He went way out on a limb with those two. Turns out I was closer. The winner was scored by a fourth liner who had played no more than 5 or 6 shifts all game. Tyler Couch found the puck on his stick behind the ride line so he threw it towards the net. Never a bad play and it worked as Zack Blain was trying to get to his post but was a little late and the puck hit his skate and trickled into the net.

Series tied at one each and Slave Lake players celebrating like it was 1999. What a game.

Game 3 will be Friday we believe at the NPA. The Huskies will win this series. If they get Smith, Brinkworth and Norris back in the lineup it shouldn't be close but credit to the Wolves for giving it their all in game 2 and deserving the win. It was their first over the Huskies all year.

Huskies Game 1

2009-02-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the delay in posting. Getting internet signals in Slave Lake was like getting a

Game 1 Huskies 4 - Slave Lake 1

The Huskies played a pretty good road game in game one. They were very tight in their own end and for the most part they handled the very physical nature of the Wolves game plan. Slave Lake kept it close though thanks to some good goaltending and some bad finishing from the Huskies. The special teams battle really told the story of the game. The Wolves were 1 for 8 on the PP but they had 3, 5 on 3 advantages during the game. They scored on the third to make it 3 to 1 at that point. The Huskies were 2 for 5 on the PP and despite being shorthanded for the last 7 minutes of the game they managed to hold on and a Payden Wongstedt short handed empty netter sealed the 4 to 1 victory. The Huskies will be happy with the defensive effort because they were missing Brandon Smith and Cash Brinkworth on the back end. They were also missing Kole Norris who had expected to make the trip but is still suffering some issues related to a concussion he received the weekend before in Peace River. Zack Blain continued to play well in goal and Jon Spence was excellent. The one issue for the Huskies continues to be discipline. You just have to find a way to stay out of the box in the pastseason.

Huskies start playoffs tonight on the road!

2009-02-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

The Huskies kick off their NWJHL playoffs tonight in Slave Lake. The Huskies do have home ice advantage in this series but were unable to get ice time this weekend so they will start with two games on the road and we would assume 3 at home next weekend if they are necessary. They shouldn't be necessary though as the Huskies were purely dominant against the Wolves this season. The Huskies won all five games with Slave Lake in the regular season and only one was close.

Oct. 26th Huskies 4 - SL 3
Nov. 1st Huskies 12 - SL 2
Nov 23rd Huskies 8 - SL 1
Dec. 6th Huskies 6 - SL 3
Dec 7th Huskies 7 - SL 1

That's a total of 37 goals for the Huskies in the five games while they only allowed ten. It is interesting to note that the Huskies haven't seen Slave Lake since before Christmas so we won't know for sure what they have to offer in this series. Plus it is playoffs and so the regular season numbers don't really mean a whole lot. Slave Lake will be looking to put on a show in front of their home fans and do have some toughness in the lineup. The Huskies should win both games but you just never know.

Game time tonight is 8:30 with the pregame at 8:15 on Moose FM. You can listen online at www.moosefm.ca

Game 2 goes tomorrow night we believe at 7:30 I will try to let you know when we have a game time confirmed.

Flyers lead series 2 games to none

2009-02-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

The Flyers only managed to take 10 players to Lakeland to take on the Eagles in game 2 of their first round series. But just like an old sitcom with a similar name 10 is enough for the Flyers. They dominated the Eagles en route to an 18 to 6 pasting. Click on the link to the Flyers for more info or you can go to www.energeticcity.ca/flyers

Looks like Dustin Kersey led the way with 5 goals and 2 assists and Matt Shuya had a big night as well with a hat trick to go along with 5 assists.

Also I should say a quick congratulations to Flyers who won league awards. Kip Noble was top D man as well as League MVP. Troy Hunt was named top goalie and Jeff Shipton was named top rookie. For more info check out the story on energeticcity.ca

http://www.energeticcity.ca/news/02/15/09/nphl-awards-and-all-star-teams-announced

Griffey

2009-02-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

I know this is a hockey blog and in particular a FSJ Flyers and Huskies blog but I want to talk about something very very close to my heart right now. I could not be a bigger baseball fan. I love that sport and my team, The Cubs, perhaps more than is healthy. I get excited about spring training. When I am older I will be one of those guys who goes to spring training and plays in fantasy baseball camps. Baseball and soccer are my two main sports loves and then hockey. And there is one man who I cannot help but admire and respect a man who, in this era of steroids in baseball, I feel will go down as the best player of my generation. The best player I have ever seen with my own two eyes. A player I saw play live on more than one occasion. In fact, there was one catch you may remember him making at the Kingdome where he ended up hanging from the wall sort of on all fours and actually broke his wrist. I was at that game. The picture above is the moment right before he hit the wall. I was AT THAT GAME. Oh yeah, he hit a homer earlier in that game. I believe his seventh of the year. But I digress, what I want to say is........Ken Griffey Junior is, and always will be in my opinion, the greatest baseball player of the steroid era. And he did it clean. There has never been even the slightest hint or whisper that Griffey wasn't clean. He is good friends with Barry Bonds because they shared, excuse the pun, the bond of both having basbeall players for fathers and I believe their fathers were friends as well. Despite being linked with Bonds in friendship Griffey has never been linked to him in the steroid scandal. If Griffey isn't clean (And this is a BIG if) I think I might lose all faith in the sport. But as long as there isn't even a tiny shred of a hint that Griffey was dirty I will continue to beat this drum. Ken Griffey Junior is the greatest player of our generation. He is, and might well always be, the greatest play I ever saw. 611 homeruns puts him in 4th on the list of guys who didn't use steroids and how many games did he miss through injury? He missed an average of 36 games per season in his career through injury. That's a total of 720 games. Another close to 3000 at bats that he would have had in his career. In case you are wondering Griffey hits a home run every 15 at bats on average in his career. So if he had been healthy his whole career he would be close to or at 800 home runs. Clean!!!! 800 freaking home runs. And despite all those injuries he is still one of the all time greats. Plus, he was one of the best defensive outfielders of all time making the spectacular seem routine. He could run, throw, make spectacular catches and hit for power and average. When you look up 5 tool baseball player in the dictionary there should be a picture of The Kid. I might be running out of steam on this rant right now.

Oh yeah, Griffey is returning to the Mariners. I am soooooooooooooooo pumped about this. I am going to go to Safeco as soon as possible and as many times as possible to watch this man in the flesh once again. I can't wait. I am giddy right now.

Flyers vs Lakeland Game 2 Tonight

2009-02-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

Our FSJ Senior Flyers get back in action tonight in Lakeland. Well, technically in McLennan Alberta but they are playing the Lakeland Eagles. The Eagles should be able to find more than 8 guys to play in this game and that alone will make it a little more difficult for the boys from FSJ. I don't see it being a problem for the Flyers even without Troy Hunt. Ryan Bjorklund showed all season what a capable goalie he is and there won't be much of a drop off in goal for the Flyers with Ryan in between the pipes. Kersey was big in game 1, but then who wasn't good for the Flyers? This should be another easy win for FSJ setting them up to clinch on home ice on Saturday. I will try to blog and let you know what happened as soon as I find out tomorrow.

I will do something I don't normally do here, I am going to make a prediction.

10 - 2 Flyers.

NWJHL Playoffs underway

2009-02-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

The NWJHL playoffs are up and running with two series getting going last night.

Grand Prairie 3 - Dawson Creek 2

GP leads series 1 - 0

In the series that I predicted the upset the #5 ranked Wheelers get a huge road victory in game 1. Check out Darren Dupont's blog for more about last night's game. The link is in my other blogs section. I have to say I am not surprised by this result. The Jr Canucks looked uninspired and lost in their final regular season game against Peace River. They haven't been playing well of late and it is hard to get it turned around and rolling in the playoffs.

Peace River 1 - Beaverlodge 0

PR leads series 1 - 0

Wow, that's a crazy score. Peace River is a very good team in their own end of the rink and they are well coached. I am not that surprised to see them playing low scoring games but this is a missed opportunity for Beaverlodge. I made Aaron Dumas my key to this series and this game demonstrates why. The Blades only allow one goal and lose. If Dumas and Robinson had found a way to score a couple they steal home ice away from the Navs. This series is going to get very interesting. Will Peace be able to win in Beaverlodge? That's a tough place to play for road teams, just ask the Huskies last season. Hmm, this is already a fascinating playoffs.

Thoughts

2009-02-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

Just some random thoughts about sports that I have had rattling around in my head lately. Pierre McGuire's roster for Team Canada that he had on TSN was pretty much the same as mine actually. I even had Brendan Morrow in my team. Look I know we could take 13 offensive players and there are lots better than Morrow. But you put him with Mike Richards and Shane Doan and you have a line that can shut down the other teams top line, they can agitate and draw penalties, and the can score a little too. You can't just take all the best talent, you have to make a team. Just ask the Dream Teams of recent years. I think if you were to take Morrow out of that mix Toews would be the obvious choice to replace him. Also, Luongo has to be the number 1. He just has to play in his home building and the city he plays in. That to me is a no brainer. And people who are having a hard time with Gagne being on that team. The guy is a point a game guy right now who is coming back from almost a season off and he has a lot of experience at International level. I think he has to be there too.

Ok, so Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has lost something like 6 billion pounds of his own personal wealth thanks to this global economic crisis. Luckily he still has around 10 billion left. But that is a lot of money to have just up and disappear. I know people all over the world are dealing with this same problem and on a smaller and more impactful scale. I get that people have lost their entire life savings and won't be able to retire and all of that. And it sucks. But this guy in his own little world were he has lost that much money must be depressed. I would be. I think I would pay someone to let me punch them until I felt better.

This has nothing to do with sports but I have just heard that Guy Ritchie's new movie RockNRolla is very good but there is no Jason Statham. It won't be the same without "Handsome Rob" but apparently there was a scheduling conflict. I think he was making "The Transporter 6: Gearshifts and Gridlock" Soon those Transporter movies will just be Statham's character successfully getting a letter delivered overnight. There won't even be any bad guys. Just some road work and a flat tire slowing him down. They have to be running out of story ideas about a guy who drives things places and fights people. In fact, it's hard to believe they got one story out of that.

The Canucks are on fire. What have they won 6 out of 7? What happened to Ryan Kesler? I am loving it right now. They are winning without Luongo playing overly well. What happens when he kicks it into gear? I would love to see a first round match-up with Chicago too which is how it would set up if the playoffs started today. That would be a fabulous series. I am a huge Toews fan and can't wait to see what he does in the post season. He is a big game money type player as we saw at the World Juniors.

Here's a shocker, the Flyers won!!

2009-02-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Not a surprise here. Lakeland showed up with 8 skaters. Shinny broke out and the Flyers won. This is not ideal preparation for AAA hockey. 12 - 3 was the final with Dustin Kersey recording 2 goals and 2 assists. Game 2 will be Thursday night in McLennan Alberta but there will not be a broadcast of the game. Game 3 will be back at the NPA on Saturday at 8:30. Then hopefully if everything works out the Flyers will play Spirit River and we will see some good games.

Huh???

2009-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

So this is great news. (Because tone is sooooo difficult to convey in a blog I will insert this comment: I am being sarcastic)

The Fort St John Huskies, who clinched second place in the NWJHL last weekend and have home ice advatange in the first two rounds of the playoffs, will start their playoff run IN Slave Lake. That's right folks. Friday night and Saturday sometime the Huskies will play games 1 and 2 on the road. That would mean games 3 through 5 would be played in FSJ the weekend after. Of course those games won't be necessary so the Huskies are losing out on a playoff gate plus will have to shell out for a hotel. All because they couldn't get ice. I am starting to like the enerplex more today to be honest. Surely someone could have booked some ice in anticipation of a playoff game??? Oh well. It looks like Jon and I will get to broadcast 2 first round games instead of just one.

I am now contemplating going to watch the Flyers in Lakeland on Thursday and then finding a way to Slave Lake the next day to broadcast the Huskies. At least it would break up a long ass bus ride into two parts.

NWJHL Playoffs

2009-02-17T08:52:00.001-08:00

NWJHL Playoff Match-ups

1. Whitecourt vs 8. Sexsmith (Still not sure if this series will be played)
Sexsmith might be forced to fold after forfeiting a number of games late in the season. Whitecourt will win easily if they do play the series.

Key Players:
Whitecourt - Take your pic. I will say Lavoie. I could have picked between 8 to 10 guys and you would have a hard time arguing.
Sexsmith - God. Seriously if God was at center and Jesus was in net (he does save after all) I still think the Wovlerines would win the series. What I am getting at is that there is no chance for Sexsmith.

Prediction - Whitecourt in 3. And only if and because they have to play 3 games. If a team could find a way to win a best of 5 in 2 games it would be Whitecourt against Sexsmith.

2. FSJ vs. Slave Lake
The Huskies looked so good this weekend that I have decided they will blow away Slave Lake. I don't think the Huskies will lose a game in that series.

Key Players:
Huskies - I would go with Jordan Shipton if he was going to be in the lineup but since we don't know how often if at all we will see the gritty forward I will go with Payden Wongstedt. He was fabulous over the last weekend. Anytime the number 2 team in a league plays number 1 and you are the best player on the ice for most of both games that shows how good you are. Dave Dawson from the Whitecourt broadcast was blown away with Wongstedt's ability. Needs to stay composed and disciplined and stay on the ice.
Wolves - Alex MacIsaac. This kid led his team in scoring but in 5 games against the Huskies he only had 3 points. And they all came in the same game. Needs to be better and more consistent against the Pups if Slave has any hope of causing an upset.

Prediction - Huskies in 3.

3. Peace River vs. Beaverlodge
Peace versus Beaverlodge. Now this is an interesting series. The Navigators are a defence first team that are usually (Friday against FSJ not included) very good in their own zone. They play a good system, they are very well coached, and say what you want about Gerry Young but the kid scores in big games. He had two in the third last night to ice the Jr Canucks and clinch 3rd overall for his team.

Key Players:
Navigators - Bretton Stewart. He will be tested by the Blades who do have a talented if not deep group of forwards led by Dumas and Robinson. Stewart will need to be solid and focused as he may go long stretches without seeing any shots before a flury of activity that will test him. The Navs don't score a ton so he has to avoid the weak goal.
Blades - This is tough. Dumas, Robinson or Longson. I am going to have to go with Dumas. The temptation is to go with the goaltender who will have to stand on his head at times to win games in this series. But even if Longson does stand on his head he will need to see some pucks go in at the other end. So against a team that plays solid D I am going to go with the talented forward. Is there a better offensive player in this league not named Lavoie? Oh yeah, and Dumas has 12 points in 5 games against Peace River this season. If he can do that in this series it might just go 5 and then anything can happen.

Prediction - Peace River in 5 games. I want to pick an upset here but based on what I saw last night as the Navs shutout Dawson I have to think they will find a way to win this series.

4. Dawson Creek vs. Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie actually won the season series over Dawson Creek with one of those victories coming in overtime. Part of the reason Dawson fell apart a little at the end of the season and didn't challenge for 2nd and then missed out on 3rd overall was the fact that Radke was out of the lineup for most of the stretch drive. Sounds like he will be back for the playoffs though.

Key Players:
Jr Canucks - Jason Higson. 5 points in 5 regular season meetings between DC and GP. Also has close to 50 minutes in PIMs in those games as well. Can be excellent or almost non-existent. Needs to be good all series long and stay out of the box.
Wheelers - Cory Littman - 3rd on the team in goals despite only playing about half the games. Hasn't been playing in many games of late. If he is the in lineup GP has a more balanced attack and some of the pressure comes off of McVey.

Prediction - Wheelers in 5. Have to pick an upset at some point right? Based on season series and the total lack of effort by Dawson last night in a massive game I think that the Wheelers might pull this series out.

If I am right about all of this it would set up a match-up between the two most storied franchises in NWJHL history. Navigators versus Huskies would not only be fun and a great series but would bring back a lot of good and bad memories for the fans of each team. Playoffs get underway tomorrow in Peace River. I will try to update the playoff scenario as often as possible.

NPHL Playoffs

2009-02-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

I felt like I should provide a list of the playoff match-ups in the NPHL and the NWJHL.

We will start with the NPHL because the Flyers get under way tonight.

1. FSJ vs 8. Lakeland
2. Falher vs 7. Peace River
3. Grand Prairie vs 6. High Prairie
4. Spirit River vs 5. Hythe

The Flyers potential second round match-up if everything were to go according to plan, and it rarely does in the playoffs, would be Spirit River. In fact that Hythe vs Spirit series would be a fun one to watch. Peace River I think has the only shot at the upset in their series with Falher. Don't let the 2 vs 7 rankings fool you Falher only had 4 more points than Peace all season. Everything here should go according to plan setting up a mouth watering second round Spirit River vs FSJ match-up.

Flyers vs Eagles Round 1 Game 1 tomorrow

2009-02-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, the wait is over. Finally might I ad.

The playoffs have arrived. This is exciting for several reasons, not least of which is that the playoffs come right around the time when spring seems within touching distance. But more importantly the Senior Flyers really begin to make that run towards the 2009 Allan Cup. It all starts tomorrow night at the NPA as the Flyers do battle with the Lakeland Eagles. Now, Lakeland is the worst team record wise of the teams that made the playoffs and of course the Flyers are the top team in the league so this first round series might not be the best but it is still playoff hockey. Let's pack the NPA tomorrow night and show the Flyers a ton of support. I for one can not wait. 8:30 pm is puck drop.

Huskies lose a pair to Wolverines

2009-02-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

Well that was a tough way to end what was a pretty good weekend for the Huskies. Friday night they clinched second overall so the games yesterday and today against Whitecourt were meaningless in the standings but not for the players and coaches. They were all looking forward to this weekends matchup as a great tune up for the Playoffs. The Huskies played very well last night controlling play for the better part of the first two periods but once again against Whitecourt they were unable to bury their chances while the Wolverines managed 4 scoring chances and scored on 3 of them. No blame at all on any of the goals to Zach Blain who was very good in net all weekend. In fact, I will say that Blain played like one of the top two or three goalies in this league over the weekend. Maybe only Ryan Demharter was playing better than Zach but unfortunately Demharter plays for the Wolverines. Whitecourt ended up winning a 5 - 1 decision in a game that could and should have been closer. The Huskies just can't seem to find a way to put away their scoring chances against Whtiecourt. Today it was a different story as the Huskies dominated the majority of the first two periods. They had several chances that they didn't convert but Cody Kalb and Dan Pappin got the Huskies going and Steve Fast added a goal on a deflection of a Jon Spence point shot and heading into the third the pups were up 3 - 1. Whitecourt had a lot of jump in the third, came out flying and really took it to the Huskies. Wolverines D man Darcy Charrois scored a beauty, the Hore brothers combined in overtime and Whitecourt escaped the NPA with the 4 - 3 victory. Again I thought Blain played well. Spence and Wongstedt were massive all weekend and the top line played great and maybe deserved more points than they got. But at the end of the day the Huskies had a 3 point weekend rather than the 6 that they wanted.

They now roll into the playoffs to take on Slave Lake. Game 1 goes Friday at the NPA and game 2 will be Sunday afternoon live from Slave Lake on Moose FM. I will let you know the game time as soon as I get that info. Kole Norris should return to the lineup and what a welcome addition he will be and you wonder what a difference he might have made this weekend against Whitecourt. Hopefully we see some of Jordan Shipton in the playoffs as well.

I had a lot of fun doing colour for Dave Dawson broadcasting the games back to Whitecourt and tried my best to be unbiased and fair. Hopefully it worked. My honest opinion was that the Huskies maybe outplayed the Wolverines on the whole in both games but didn't score enough of their chances where Whitecourt was more clinical in their finishing.

The game was delayed by a bench door malfunction that saw Dan Pappin, in his full gear, do some cutting or welding, I am not too sure what he was doing down there, and the door eventually got fixed.

The league was left looking a little foolish after last nights all important playoff seeding determining game between Dawson and Peace was never played because no officials were scheduled to work the game. That's embarrassing. The game will now go tomorrow night from what we understand. So I will get to go watch. Looks like things worked out ok for me.

Huskies clinch second

2009-02-14T01:56:00.000-08:00

The Huskies played as good a game as they have played all year last night as they easily beat the Peace River Navigators 7 - 1 in a must win situation. The victory clinches second place in the NWJHL and home ice in the first two rounds of the playoffs for the Huskies. The D was solid all night, nice to have Cash Brinkworth back in the lineup, and made almost every little play that the D men have to make. Wongstedt really played well and stepped up in the second period and really created the first two goals of that period with his skating and stick handling ability. He scored one and set up the second and before the Navs knew what had hit them it was 3 - 1. Two more in that period for the Huskies, the fourth goal of the period came with just 0.6 left on the clock, and it was 5 - 1 after two and the Huskies were cruising. Zach Blain was very solid in net and at times was forced to make some pretty difficult saves but for the most part the puck was at the other end of the ice. The Huskies fore-check and cycle were both working well and despite the second line being held in check and no points for Cody Kalb the pups still skated out of Peace River with the big W.

Man was it good to see Kole Norris climb aboard the bus. In case you missed the game Kole was laid out by a Gerry Young hit (a hit we couldn't see because of the broadcast location in the River but opinion very divided on the legality of the hit) and was down on the ice for a very long time. Norris eventually came to and was stretchered off the ice and taken to the Hospital for precautionary reasons. There was about a 5 to 10 minute period there when it was a little scary so it was great to find out "Chuck" was OK. The Ref made the right call as well when he ran the last 45 seconds off the clock while Norris was lying on the ice. No need to finish playing that game at that point.

So the Huskies have two left with Whitecourt tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Meaningless in the standings but super important as both teams tuneup for the playoffs. Oh yeah, and the Huskies really need to prove they can beat Whitecourt. If you haven't already decided to go to these games stop thinking about it and just do it. They will be excellent. I will be filling in as colour man for Dave Dawson as he broadcasts the game for XM105 back in Whitecourt. You can listen online at xm105.com

Peace River now head to Dawson Creek tomorrow to take on the Junior Canucks. Dawson lost to Grand Prairie last night 3 - 2 which sets up tomorrows tilt perfectly. Whichever team wins tomorrow between Peace and Dawson will finish third and set themselves up for a tough first round series with Beaverlodge and a potential second round playoff series with FSJ. Should be a great game in DC as well.

Huskies big weekend.

2009-02-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a fun weekend for Huskies fans. The pups travel to Peace River tonight knowing that a win will clinch second overall in the league and home ice advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs. A loss and it gets a whole lot more complicated. That's because the Huskies play Whitecourt on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon here at home at the NPA. Basically the Huskies need to get 1 more point in those three games to clinch that ever important second spot in the league. As I said this is going to be fun. The Huskies have lost both games they have played in the River 4 to 2 in November and 5 to 3 in December. A part of me wants them to lose tonight just so there is something to play for when Whitecourt rolls into town. The games against Whitecourt should be epic as it would be a matchup between the two best teams in the league. The Wolverines are a phenomenal hockey team that you have to see to believe how good they are. Probably the best goalie in the league, the best overall D corp, and the best most talented and deepest group of forwards. Hence just 3 losses on the season. They have handled the Huskies pretty well this season but the pups are WAY better at home. I can't wait for Saturday. Look out for Layne Brown and Rod Lavoie. They are both sick hockey players. There are a bunch of guys on Whitecourt who are good, in fact they basically have 3 or 4 lines that would be top lines on most other teams, the Hore brothers on D as well as Darcy Charois are all names to keep your eyes on. It's going to be a lot of fun at the NPA and we need to pack that place. But let's not forget about tonight.

Tonight's game is huge. The Huskies need to shut down Gerry Young and Mitch Kohut and if they do then they will have a very good chance in this game. FSJ has won 10 of their last 12 including a win over Peace the last time these two teams met at the NPA. In fact Navigators goalie Bretton Stewart didn't see the end of the second period in that game. This should be a good one. You can hear it starting at 7:45 with the pregame as always on Moose FM.

Huskies beat GP

2009-02-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

The Huskies beat Grand Prairie last night in a shootout. It sounds like they had Zach Blain pulled late when they tied the game and sent it to overtime. It might have been ugly but they needed the 2 points and it didn't matter how they got them. Second place is still up in the air so today's game between Dawson and Peace River is huge. You can listen live online at peacefm.ca

The Huskies now face a must win Friday in Peace River if they hope to finish in that coveted second spot. I will post more when I find out more details about the game last night.

Flyers overcome Spirit

2009-02-08T13:30:00.001-08:00

Wow. OK where to start? The Flyers won last night. The first goal of the game was scored early on by Venhola from Spirit River. The Flyers responded with three straight goals of their own and looked to be taking over. Jeff Fast twice and Jeff Shipton scored for FSJ before Mike Lefley and Mark Wallman scored to tie the game up at three just ten minuted into the first period. Clayton Bahm scored the final goal of the first period with 3:54 left in the period to give the Flyers the 4 - 3 lead. There were 108 minutes in penalties in the first period, more on that later. In the second Kip Noble had two goals and an assist and by the end of the period the Flyers were leading 7 -4. 116 penalty minutes in the second period. In the third there weren't a lot of players left from either team as several guys had been tossed from the game, more on that later, Spirit River scored two third period goals sandwiched between goals from Noble and Middleton that made the final score 9 - 6. 254 minutes in penalties in the game.

Alright. It started on the opening puck drop with Shane McCormick getting his stick up on Dave Alexander and throwing a couple of gloved punches while Dave just kind of held McCormick off but both guys were given double minors for roughing and 10 minute misconducts. Colin Lefley and Tyler Loney got into it in the first period as well but even though both had dropped the mitts, no punches were thrown so both were given double minors for roughing and ten minute misconducts. A fight ended the third with Aaron Scheppers tossed them with DJ Barbarich. Neither one of them landed any punches of real consequence so the bout will be called a draw. In the second was when things got out of control. Matt Shuya was run from behind and went into the boards behind the net face first but there was no cal from the ref. So Shuya popped up and you could tell he was pissed off. Shuya through three big hits in a row after the hit from behind and all three were clean but were right on the borderline. The thing is someone could have got hurt and it all started with the ref missing a call. If the stripes gets the original hit from behind what occurred next doesn't happen. After Shuya delivered the third of his big hits on Colin Lefley it was Lefley who took exception. They two squared up and looked to be about to fight when Lefley cross checked Shuya in the face. Shuya ended up going to the hospital with a broken nose and a bad cut to his lip where his teeth had come right through the lower lip. Shuya and Lefley then engaged in a fight and luckily Lefley never landed any punches on Shuya. Probably another draw. Lefley received a 5 minute major from cross-checking Shuya in the face and a match penalty which should carry with it a suspension. Again the hit from behind was dangerous, Shuya angry running around hitting everything was a little dangerous, the cross-check to the face and the fight would have all been avoided and the safety of the players protected if the Ref had called the original hit from behind. It was during the ensuing power play that things got scary. Chad Wilchynski slashed Luke Middleton and was about to receive a 2 minute minor when he lost his mind. Todd Alexander was trying to cross the blue line with the puck and Wilchynski cross checked Todd in the face. Todd was wobbly to say the least as he tried to make his way to the bench and it was a little scary to watch him trying to find his feet. He left the game with a concussion and didn't return. Meanwhile 3 different Flyers went after Wilchynski but it was Todd's cousin Dave the captain who got there first. Wilchynski is a big boy but Dave was pummeling him so Wilchynski decided to lye down on the ice and turtle. I can't express how much of a chicken sh*t move it is to turtle and especially after cross-checking someone in the face. You have to stand there and fight and if you get beat up oh well that's what you have to do. You just can't turtle. Wilchynski then got up after Dave had been pulled off and seemed pissed off that the ref was throwing him out of the game. Spirit River is a chippy team that does a lot of stick work and that is fine but the whining they do after some of the horrible penalties they take is almost worse. That was it for fights in the second period. In the third the only fight was Tyler Loney and Mazurek. Loney easily won this fight landing all of the punches that were thrown and Mazurek got one shot in before the linesmen tried to break up the fight. It was then that Mazurek started really throwing punches. OK. Wow. It was eventful last night to say the least.

Shuya's nose sounds like it will be OK in a couple weeks as there was no major damage and Todd seemed like he was doing fine on the bus on the way home although he did say he had been better, and I don't doubt it. With a bit of a break now until the playoffs both guys should be ready to go with Shuya possibly wearing a full cage. What was most interesting is what happened on the bus ride home. A movie was never put on. No one was playing any games. The boys all gathered in a big group and were laughing and joking. That was the most lively the bus has been after a game in a long time. It really felt like this team became a closer group after last night's game. Coach Brash said it was a bit like old time hockey and the Flyers weren't scared of that kind of game. They certainly responded in the right away, stood up for each other, and won the game on the scoreboard as well. I think this game will go a long way to bringing this team together and they really are ready for the playoffs now.

Monday I will try to post a little bit of a wrap up of the season.

Huskies in GP

2009-02-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Huskies go to Grand Prairie on Saturday. We will be in Spirit River so there won't be any coverage of the game which is too bad but we just can't be in two places at once. The Huskies need to win this one to really give themselves a good shot at 2nd overall in the league. We will endeavor to provide updates but it will be tough. This will be the Huskies only game this weekend. Not to look past the GP game but next weekend the Huskies play Friday at Peace River, then home Saturday and Sunday against White Court. That is going to be an epic weekend and I already can't wait.

Flyers beat Hythe look to Spirit River

2009-02-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

The Flyers rolled into Hythe last night looking to extend their one game winning streak. The Flyers bounced back after a loss in Grand Prairie last weekend to beat High Prairie 14 buzz last Saturday. Well last night in was the Mustangs on the card and maybe the perfect opposition for the Flyers, a team that competes hard every night but that isn't good enough to play with the Flyers. That allowed the Flyers to play a good period, period and a half of competitive hockey against Hythe before they pulled away. Paul Wiens scored one and set up another in the first after the Stangs had taken the lead to make the score 2 to 1 after the first. The second period has been the Flyers period all season and so it continued. They scored four times with Todd Alexander scoring the pick of the bunch with a snipe job. The third was all Flyers again and they made the final score 8 to 1. Shuya, Fast and Wiens would probably have been the three stars in the game if we had a three stars award, but not in that order. Good to see Shuya getting back to where he was before he went Grizwald for a couple months. The bus got stuck before the game in the Hythe & District memorial arena parking lot. The ice in that parking lot may have been better than the ice inside the rink. Next up for the Flyers will be Spirit River who are a potential second round playoff matchup for the Flyers. The game may have some playoff implications or it may not depending on what GP does in it's next game but both teams will be gearing up for playoffs so it should be a good matchup.

Huskies lose in Whitecourt

2009-02-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry it took so long for me to post about the Huskies Wolverines game from Saturday. I was detoxing from the 22 hours I spent on a bus over the weekend.

The Huskies played well in Whitecourt and just that fact is a good sign for FSJ. They haven't showed a whole lot in either of the previous games that they played in the court. The Wolverines are a fabulous team and they bury chances so you have to play a near perfect game to defeat them. The Huskies made one and a half mistakes in the first period, allowed the Wolverines at best 3 scoring chances and they were down 2 to nothing at the end of the period. Rod Lavoie is a sniper and he put a snap shot past Zach Blain that was hard and perfectly placed. The Huskies number 1 has been playing well lately and he made key stops in the second period that kept his team in the game. Dylan Apsassin scored a beauty of a little deflection through the legs of Ryan Demharter in the Wolverines goal. At that point though the Huskies were already down 3 zip but they had their chances. After Dylan scored to make it 3 - 1 the Huskies had a couple of powerplays that would have got them right back in the game. They couldn't cash though a 3rd period goal by Jeff Chalifoux sealed the 4 - 1 Wolverines victory. The Huskies showed that they can play with Whitecourt though and should take confidence from this game. They are better at home so we will see how they do on the 14th and 15th at the NPA when they host the Wolverines.

They get great fan support in Whitecourt and the crowd was boisterous if not a little bias. The referee was OK overall I thought but a couple of phantom calls and the fact that Chalifoux shot the puck at Jon Spence after the second period ended and it went uncalled kept him from having a very good game. Chalifoux is a great player but unfortuanately does some strange and frankly uncalled for things on the ice at times. Jon Spence should not have speared a Wolverines player during the All Star game, that is uncalled for as well, but there is no excuse for shooting a puck at a player, even if you don't like him because someone could get seriously injured. I met a couple of the Whitecourt guys after the game they seem like solid guys and I look forward to a potential play off match-up between the Huskies and Wolverines despite the amount of bus travel that that would entail. Ran into Wolverines coach Joey Bouchard after the game and he had nothing but good things to say about the Huskies. He said they know that the Huskies are a good team and they are loving that their preparation for the playoffs will be those final two games at the NPA in a couple weeks. I can't stress enough how good those games will be. A big thanks goes out to the Slave Lake Wolves for going into Dawson Creek and beating the Jr Canucks. Down 2 nothing and with just 10 players making the trip you would have forgiven the Wolves had they packed it in early but they fought back for a 3 to 2 victory which was very good for the Huskies and for Peace River. There are a lot of key game left for all those teams in the battle for 2nd. The fact that DC and PR pay each other twice more helps the Huskies. As long as those games don't go to OT only one of the teams will get points. If they split them and the Huskies can win one of their games against Grand Prairie or the one against Peace that they have left and the pups should get second place. It is going to be an interesting few weeks. Thanks to Dave Dawson who does the Wolverines play by play for showing us the night life in Whitecourt and for pumping up this blog when I went on his radio station during the second intermission. Next up for the Huskies is on the road in GP but we won't be covering that game unfortunately. We will be with the Flyers as they wrap up their regular season in Spirit River.

Huskies win in GP

2009-01-31T01:17:00.001-08:00

The Huskies tonight played their first road game since December 13th when they were in Dawson Creek. It was a hard fought and well deserved 3 - 1 victory for the pups over the Grand Prairie Wheelers. Zach Blain didnt have a ton of work to do in net but the saves he had to make he made. The only goal that got past him was scored by Jeff McVey during a 5 on 3 powerplay for GP. Kole Norris had 2 goals and both were absolute roof jobs from the slot up under the bar. Dan Pappin also chipped in with a beauty snipe of his own. Seems like the Huskies might be starting to buy into the system and playing a lot better in their own zone with both the D and the forwards defending well and getting pucks out of the zone whenever they can. Brandan Smith has been playing very well of late and helped, along with Huskies player of the game Jon Spence, to make up for the absence of Payden Wongstedt. A similar effort tonight in Whitecourt will really go along way to helping the pups clinch 2nd spot in the NWJHL. The pregame show kicks off at 8:15.

Flyers lose?

2009-01-31T01:12:00.000-08:00

The Flyers lost? 3 to 2 in OT was the final in Grand Prairie on Thursday night. Ryan Bjorklund stood on his head for FSJ and was the best player on the ice for either team. The Flyers continue to struggle to find their identity. The game the Flyers want to play a physical style of game that involves an aggressive fore check and they haven't been playing that game lately. They will be back in action taking on High Prairie Saturday night at the NPA. I would blog a bit more in depth but it is 2 in the morning and it has been a loing couple days. Not to mention I will be back on a bus in 8 hours to head to Whitecourt.

Flyers @ GP Athletic's

2009-01-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

The last time these two teams met the Athletics showed up at the NPA with 8 skaters. What ensued was basically a game of shinny. A 10 - 2 Flyers victory was almost inevitable given the few number of GP players who made the trip. Tonight's match up should be a little better. The game being in Grand Prairie means that the A's should have a full bench. They get great goal tending from their number 1 Dave Larson. This guy stand on his head and was one of the main reasons that GP beat the Flyers on opening night which is still the Flyers only loss of the season. FSJ just added a new player for their AAA playoff run, Mike Hoffstrand played with Dave ALexander at SAIT and played pro in Bakersfield with Todd Alexander. Unfortunately the new guy won't be able to play any games during the regular NPHL season nor the NPHL playoffs. One guy who should be in the lineup tonight and who will be a welcome addition to the Flyers lineup is Matt Shuya. Shuya is back from a long trip and is dying to get back in the lineup. Shuya is a grinder who brings it every night and never takes a shift off. He is a little like Corey Perry in that he is a grinder with some hands. 7 goals and 9 assists in 7 games so far this season show that Shuya has finish. The Flyers should win tonight but this is one of the few games where we could see an excellent battle. Look for a 6 - 2 final score for the Flyers. 8:15 pregame live on Moose FM.

Team Canada and the ruskies

2009-01-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

I am going to post a preview of tonight's Flyers versus Grand Prairie game but I need to get something off of my chest. I am really getting sick and tired of people going on and on about the Russian team and how scary good they will be at the next Olympics. First of all they will be good. There is no doubt they have the top end talent. Do they have the depth? That's an interesting question, I mean with the way Ovechkin plays the game there are no guarantees he will be healthy for the Olympics, and will Russia be scary good without him? Probably not as scary. But even if every team is healthy, isn't there one other team that is not only scary good but has incredible depth? That's right Canadians, there is one country that fits that description and guess what, that country is Canada. Iginla, Crosby, Thornton, Marleau, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Lecavalier, Nash, Getzlaf, Perry, Marc Savard, Doan, Gagne, Heatley, Spezza, Staal, Cammalleri, Toews, I could go on and on. That's not to mention Boyle, Phaneuf, Green, Bouwmeester, Weber, a handful of guys in Chicago who are shut down type guys plus Campbell is a stud having a slightly off year. Notice I didn't include Pronger or Neidermayer. We have the best goalie in the world and guys like Mason and Price are up and coming guys who could back up not to mention Gigeure and Turco. Let's be honest I probably forgot a handful of guys who could be on this team. What I am trying to say is while the other countries will have good teams and Russia might, might, have more high end talent I don't like that people focus on how good the other countries are and they forget to talk about how good our country is. And you do have to factor in the home town crowd and the physical nature of that team especially on the back end. Will Canada win gold? Who knows. Are Russia scary good? Sure. Is Canada scary good? Absolutely. And let's not forget it.

Huskies sweep their weekend

2009-01-25T22:56:00.000-08:00

That was a close one. If you were at the NPA this afternoon you witnessed one of the great goal tending performances in NWJHL history. Sheldon Longson stood on his head for the first 43 minutes of the game. It took 50 shots, that's not an error, 50 shots for the Huskies to finally beat Longson. The Beaverlodge Blades are the third worst team in the NWJHL standings but after two periods they were leading the Huskies 2 zip. The second period was pure domination from the Huskies who hit 3 or 4 posts to go along with the 15 or 16 spectacular saves Longson made in the period but the Huskies still trailed by 2 after the second. In the third period Cam McKinnon, Cody Hildebrand, and Dan Pappin scored in quick succession to give the Huskies the lead. The Blades tied the game up at three on a goal that Vlad would have wanted back. It was the end of his afternoon as Zach Blain came in and shut the door the rest of the way. Kole Norris found a loose puck at the side of the net and he roofed the puck to give the pups the 4 to 3 victory. The Huskies now have a three point lead over Dawson Creek and a game in hand in the battle for second place. Branden Smith had two assists and I thought Payden Wongstedt had a very good game on the back end. Steve Fast and Kole Norris looked sharp as well. Aaron Dumas had a fairly quiet game for the Blades whose stand out player was obviously Longson.

Some other things that stood out for me today. I hadn't really realized how bad the coffee is at the NPA until today. I still had two cups but I wasn't happy about either. At one point in the game Dan Pappin broke his stick and was forced to borrow a stick from Steve Fast as he skated by the bench. Guys must really hold their breath when someone else is using their lumber. I know I would be pissed if someone broke my stick but even worse would be if they scored using it. As we all know there are only so many goals in each stick. In one of the Flyers games this weekend someone, Kip Noble maybe, used a borrowed stick and ended up getting an assist. He then seemed to indicate he was keeping it. That would suck too. The Huskies next action is a road game in Grand Prairie next Friday and then Whitecourt Saturday. GP is still kind of on the cusp of that battle for 2nd place although it doesn't look like they have much of a chance of leap frogging all the teams ahead of them. The last time we were in Grand Prairie with the Huskies was on Halloween for one of the more entertaining games all year. The final was 8 - 7 Huskies. Zach Blain was pulled after the first with the Huskies trailing 5 - 1. Vlad came in and shut the door in the second as the pups staged the comeback. 5 to 5 after the second. In the third the Wheelers took the lead twice with Jordan Shipton tying the game at 6 then tying it again at 7 with 40 seconds left. Shipton then scored the winning goal in overtime to complete his hat trick. (Highlights here http://www.energeticcity.ca/news/11/01/08/huskies-win-8-7-over-grand-prairie-wheelers) Let's hope for more of the same this Friday. Whitecourt is a different story. They have beat the heck out of the Huskies twice in Whitecourt already and to be honest the fans in Whitecourt, the players and even the broadcast team in Whitecourt don't think the Huskies are a good team. Let's hope they show they are a good team on Saturday. Both games will be live on Moose FM Friday the pregame goes at 7:45.

Flyers secure giant win over Navigators

2009-01-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

Huge win last night for the Huskies. Huge. At times it wasn't pretty and their penalty killing was not good but they got the two points and that was all that mattered.

The first period was all Huskies. Peace River barely mustered a scoring chance of note while the Huskies sent wave after wave of attack into Bretton Stewart's zone and before the Navigator's goalie knew what had hit him the score was 3 nothing Huskies after one. Luke McInerney opened the scoring when his own rebound bounced over some sticks and right back to Luke in the slot and he put it home. Then Jason Arnouse made it two nothing after a good long shift of offensive pressure from the Kalb, Pappin and Apsassin line. After what seemed like about a minute and a half of play in the Nav's zone Apsassin changed on the fly, Arny came over the boards and almost immediately fired a shot home. Jon Spence made it three zip on the power play before the end of the period.

The second period was the strangest period of hockey I can remember. The Huskies dominated play, controlled the puck in their offensive zone for long stretches at a time and played as physical a period as maybe they have played all year. They also lost the period on the scoreboard 3 to 2. There were 3 powerplay markers for Peace River and 2 pp goals for the Huskies in that second period and when Cam McKinnon made it 4 zip that was the end for Stewart in the Nav's goal. Tavis Clark came in and made some outstanding saves to keep the game close. Luke McInerney scored again for the Huskies but three goals by the Nav's against the run of play made the score 5 to 3 after 2 periods of play. The Huskies should have been way out in front. They hit the post, missed two or three open nets when pucks were bouncing over sticks and Clark made 3 outstanding saves, all of which happened in the second period.

In the third the Huskies played some solid D and when the Nav's took a bench minor for arguing what seemed to be a good tripping call the Huskies were able to score on the ensuing 5 on 3 thanks to Cody Kalb. The Huskies killed 7 minutes of Nav's power play advantage in the third to secure the 6 - 3 victory. Payden Wongstest got kicked out of the game for a shot to the head which Jon thought should have just been a 4 minute penalty, Payden agreed with Jon, I thought it was simply a 2 minute minor for roughing. Gerry Young, who is a gifted hockey player, laid on the NPA ice for about 3 or 4 minutes milking it a little before hopping up and playing significant time on the ensuing power play. I have to say in my opinion he conned the ref into kicking out Wongstedt and you hate to see guys pretending to be hurt.

This was a huge win for the Huskies who not sit 1 point clear of the Junior Canucks for second in the league with the Huskies having two games in hand. The pups are also 6 points up on the Navigators now with Peace River having one game in hand. The Huskies take on Beaverlodge today at the NPA and the puck drops at 2 pm. Aaron Dumas leads the way for Beaverlodge and he may be the most offensively gifted player in the entire league. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Flyers sweep weekend

2009-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

The Flyers realed off a pair of wins this weekend. First they beat Spirit River on Thrusday night in a game that was close all the way through. The Flyers don't play many tight games so it was good to see the lads have to fight to pick up the victory. Spirit River was lead by a strong performance from Wallman who chipped in with a couple of goals in the second and the Flyers actually trailed going into the third period. Adam Loncan had two goals in the game the second of which tied the game up and actually broke the puck as he wired it up off the underside of the bar and in. Luke Middleton, playing as a forward, teamed up with Ian Munro on a 2 on 1 and managed to squeak his shot through Yesminski to give the Flyers the lead back. The play was all set up though by a nice little saucer pass from Munro that took the defender out of the play and allowed Middleton to skate onto the puck and in on what was almost a breakaway.

Last night the Flyers took on Fairview who could only muster 10 skaters. The Flyers, who were unhappy with their performance the night before, took a while to get going but with Fairview being so short benched the Flyers were able to eventually turn on the jets and skate away with a fairly lopsided victory. Todd Alexander has been on fire lately and score another against Fairview as did Kersey, Hocking, Noble and Fast. Brett Loney also found the back of the net to make the final 7 to 2. The Flyers are back in action on Thursday in Grand Prairie. Jon and I will have the call starting at 8:15 with the pregame show.

Off the to NPA to check out the Huskies as they take on the Peace River Navigators.

Flyers at home against Spirit River

2009-01-21T20:48:00.001-08:00

The Flyers take on the Rangers at the NPA Thursday, which is tomorrow as I write this with a puck drop scheduled for 8:30. The last time these two teams met we billed it as the best two teams in the league. Well we found out it was really just the best team in the league and the Rangers are in a group with a lot of other teams that aren't in the same class as the Flyers. Hopefully this next match up will be a better game than the previous two. Not sure what the rosters will look like as guys like Vizutti and Carter probably won't be in the lineup this weekend. Matt Shuya is expected back soon as well but I think this weekend will be too early for him to make his return. With any luck Spirit River will have a full bench, the Flyers will have most of their key guys in the lineup and for once the Flyers will get pushed hard by a team in the NPHL.

NWJHL All Star Game and other musings

2009-01-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

So I am sitting here trying to watch the Australian Open and watching what appears to be a never ending interview with Lance Armstrong. Is it possible to be sick and tired of an inspirational story? Also, to the best of my knowledge, Lancer has little or nothing to do with tennis. All I wanna see is Ana Ivanovic. I would also like to see Andy Murray hit the court but for different reasons. It's always nice to see a young up and comer figuring out how to become a champion. I am nursing some sore neck muscles today. It was Kip Noble's birthday today and so we went out and had a couple drinks with the Flyers after the "game." I wasn't even that hung over just an unfortunate combination of events led to some face to face dealings with porcelain. It could have been worse, it is always bad when the waitress responds to a question about what the specials are with the phrase, "triples." It makes for a strong drink.

I guess that Luongo being out wasn't the only problem facing the Canucks. At least Manchester United keep rolling, 10 straight clean sheets and top of the league pending Liverpool versus Everton tomorrow. Gotta love a good Merseyside derby. (Only if Everton win) I shouldn't have to explain myself but my dad is English and has been a United fan since 1958 so I was born into it.

So the All Star game was yesterday and it sounds like it was a big time success. Congrats to the Huskies who took part. The East won the game 8 to 4 and were described in Dave's blog (http://dawsonscrease.blogspot.com/) as serious and intense. The West came out to have fun and were in a party mood. That sounds like it would be more fun I mean it was an All Star game after all. Dan Pappin had a couple assists, Kole Norris and Jon Spence had goals for the West. Looking at the scoring summary you have to ask where were McLean and Radke from DC? Congrats to Zach Blain as well for winning the goaltending portion of the skills comp. The Huskies return to action this weekend with a home game on Saturday at the NPA when they face Peace River. Flyers versus Spirit and Fairview could both be pretty good games, Huskies versus PR will be a good game so get out to the NPA all three nights.

Flyers win again

2009-01-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday night was not a great night for hockey at the NPA. The Valleyview Jets showed up for their clash with the Flyers with about 11 skaters. Never a good sign for a team that was going to get blown out anyway. The Flyers were short players as well but it didn't matter they won 16 to 1. I am not going to get into too much analysis of the play. Just wanted to update the final result. The FLyers have won 19 in a row. Two home games next week Thursday and Friday against Spirit River and Fairview.

Flyers @ Fairview

2009-01-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

The Senior Flyers are back in action tonight in Fairview with another road game. They won in Hythe on Tuesday in what started out looking like a difficult game and ended up as an easy victory. Fairview currently sit 5th in the West division of the NPHL which also places them 5th overall in the league. Let's just say the Eastern teams are a little weaker. Fairview has added a few new players however, including a former NHL tough guy Darren Van Impe, one of which we think played with Todd Alexander in Bakersfield. Some people on the NPHL message board seem to think that with all of their players in the lineup that Fairview will be able to beat the Flyers. Time will tell and I hope they do give FSJ a good hard run for their money. Man do I wish Lakovich would be in the lineup tonight. Lakovich versus Van Impe would be a fight worth the price of admission in itself. You would expect Troy Hunt to get the start in goal tonight. Hopefully the Flyers bring a nice full bench. Pre-game starts at 8:15 on MooseFM.

Whitecourt @ Dawson Creek and The Huskies

2009-01-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

Jon Zacks and I hit the road last night and went to check out the Wolverines game against the Junior Canucks in DC. Good game. The Creek jumped out to a 3 goal lead midway through the second period but then Rodney Lavoie, probably the best player in this league, decided to turn it on. 25 seconds after DC made it 3 zip Lavoie snapped a wrister up under the bar to get his team rolling. It was 3 - 3 after two thanks to Wayne Quaife and Jeff Chalifoux. Whitecourt never looked back and despite some pretty solid goaltending from DC's Cody Garnett, Rod Lavoie was able to blast home the winning goal on a PP in the third. 5 to 3 was the final. Probably one of the better NWJHL games I have seen this season and definitely the fastest. DC and Whitecourt have to be the two fastest teams in the league. Whitecourt has and incredible amount of offensive depth. It really is impressive. Dawson Creek now has 9 losses on the season helping to cement the Huskies hold on second place. The Huskies have this weekend off as the NWJHL All Star game is Saturday in Whitecourt. The Huskies next regular season action is next Saturday at home against Peace River.

Flyers versus Hythe

2009-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

Haven't been staying on top of the blog this week and I do apologize. The Flyers took on the Hythe Mustangs on Tuesday in Hythe. The first period was nice. Fast and physical and just the one goal a Luke Middleton backhander on a partial breakaway. Middleton was playing forward on the night and never looks out of place up front but he is such a good D man it seems like a bit of a waste. The highlight of the first period for me was when Jon Zacks called our radio station Moothe FM. The look on his face after he said it was hysterical, I laughed all the way through the commercial. The lisp crack he made didn't help. The second period the Flyers shifted gears and the Mustangs couldn't keep up. Arlo Hadland decided to take matters into his own hands firing rockets from the point like he thought he was Ray Bourque. A goal and 3 assists all came directly from Arlo putting shots on net. One of the assists should have been a goal but after Hadland hit the bar Paul Wiens was on hand to slot home the rebound. A 4 point period for Hadland, which he declared was his best offensive period of his life, gave the Flyers a 6 to 1 lead after 2. Four more goals in the third for the Flyers made it a 10 - 1 final. Kersey, Wiens, Loncan and Hadland leading the way. Two good fights late on as Tyler Loney went with Hythe tough guy Oakfold and Loney got the clear victory. Wiens later went with Kam Kyle, much to the chagrin of Luke Middleton who wanted a piece of Kyle himself, and despite Kyle landing a haymaker that Wiens shrugged off the split decision went to Wiens. Next up will be Friday at Fairview. Live on Moose FM at 8:15pm.

Flyers lose two close encounters with Stony Plain

2009-01-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

The FSJ Senior Flyers played a weekend exhibition series against the Stony Plain Eagles Saturday and Sunday in Dawson Creek. First of all let me just say that while the Encana Events Center is a nice new modern building some of the design flaws in that place are laughable. The AV room faces away from the ice and doesn't have any windows. That would definitely make operating the "jumbotron" and providing music for hockey games more of a challenge. Also, why on earth is there no press box? If Dawson Creek was ever to get a Junior A hockey team surely there would need to be a press box from which to broadcast the games? Even places like Beaverlodge and Sexsmith have press boxes. And don't get me started on the bathrooms.

To the ice where in game one the Flyers got off to a shaky start when Chad Vizzutti let in a weak backhander that gave the Eagles a short handed opener. The Flyers responded with a shorty of their own when Ryan Carter used some hand eye co-ordination to steal a clearing atempt by Eagles goalie Jason Fricker who was then way out of position as Carter fed Dustin Kersey in front who equalized for the Flyers. Kersey, a Dawson Creek native, was perhaps the best Flyer forward throughout the course of the weekend. Tyler Brough scored for the Flyers as the first period ended 2 - 1 for the sort of home town team. In the second period the Eagles got goals from MacKee and Thompson to take a lead before Ryan Carter tied the game, again short handed, with a snipe just over the pad but under the blocker of Fricker and just inside the post on a partial breakaway. The game eventually ended in a shootout after Kersey was stopped on a breakaway almost straight from the face-off to start overtime and Vizzutti performed highway robbery stopping Clem Arsenault in front. Arsenault found himself all alone in front with the puck on his stick and enough time to bake a cake but he was robbed when Vizzutti stacked the pads in desperation. Drummond and Hennes scored in the shootout for Stony Plain and they took game one.

Game two saw Clayton Bahm score after some nice work in front of the net to tie the game at one after the first period. It was all down hill after that for the Flyers though as goals from Drummond, Arsenault and Beaudin cancelled out one from Dustin Kersey to make the score 4 to 2 after two periods of play. The Flyers had a number of opportunities on the PP in the third but were unable to cash any of them leading coach Brash to call the power play "atrocious" over the course of the weekend. Ryan Carter did set up another local star Adam Loncan but it was too little as the Eagles took game two by the same 4 to 3 margin.

Overall the Flyers will be dissapointed with the play of their PP and the series lacked the real physical edge that I think we were expecting. The good news is that once the McKenzie Cup roles around if these two teams play each other there will already be a healthy dislike between the teams. Especially after Dean Tiltgen from the Eagles speared a Flyer in the face in game two leading to some rough stuff and some trash talking from Wiensy. Two fights in game two as new comer Greg Lakovich, dude is intimidating on and off the ice, beat MacKee after landing an uppercut that snapped back the head of the Eagles player drawing a big reaction from the crowd. Tyler Loney also fought and was maybe just shaded to the decision.

Fan Tokey Roberts walked away with a new car after an exciting, if not overly well organized, shootout. Moose FM Sports director and Husky and Flyer play-by-play voice Jon Zacks was one number away from winning the chance to shoot for a new car. The winning ticket number ended in 063 and Zacks had 060, 061, and 062. Too bad he is cheap.

The Flyers get back to regular season play tomorrow night in Hythe. That game will be on Moose FM with pre-game at 8:15 local time.

Huskies shutout Sexsmith

2009-01-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

The Fort St John Flyers did something on Saturday that they haven't done a lot of this season. They blew out a team that they were expected to blow out. The Huskies beat up on the Vipers thanks to a trick from Cody Kalb, 5 points from Dylan Apsassin and 3 assists from Brennan Billey plus a strong performance from goalie Zach Blain who earned his, and the teams, second shutout of the season. The final score at the NPA was 8 to nothing. The Huskies next game will be Saturday the 24th as they host the Peace River Navigators at the NPA in what should be an important battle in the race for second place. The NWJHL will be off this upcoming weekend, the 17th and 18th, as Whitecourt hosts the All Star Game.

Huskies vs. Sexsmith & Fill the Bus

2009-01-09T12:23:00.001-08:00

The FSJ Huskies will be in action at home at the NPA Saturday night as they take on the Sexsmith Vipers. Sexsmith plays tonight in Dawson Creek so they will be a little tired and the Huskies should be fresh having not played since last Saturday. The Vipers are frankly not a very good team as well. The Huskies should take it to the Vipers but as we have seen in the first half of the season, the Huskies don't always take care of business the way we would expect. If you can't make it to Dawson Creek to check out the AAA action then make sure you get to the NPA for the Huskies.

Fill the Bus is on Sunday. The Huskies will be going around town collecting non-perishable food items for the Food Bank. Please give as much as you can and if you are planning on heading to the game in Dawson on Sunday then swing by the NPA on your way and drop off a donation. This is the biggest fund raiser of the year for the Food Bank in FSJ and they need your help.

Flyers take on Stoney Plain

2009-01-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

Jon and I will be previewing the weekend series between the Flyers and Eagles tonight at 5:30 on the mighty Moose. After that show I will post an update on what the rosters will look like and what the teams are looking to get out of this series.

NWJHL All Star Game

2009-01-07T12:11:00.001-08:00

The Fort Saint John Husky who were named to the NWJHL All Star game were announced today. Congratulations to Payden Wongstedt, Captain Jonathan Spence, Kole Norris, Steven Fast, Dan Pappin, and Cody Kalb. All of them are deserving of representing the Huckies in Whitecourt. Dylan Apsassin and Jordan Shipton would certainly have been in consideration had they played more games.

The format of the All Star game will be East versus West with the Huskies along with Beaverlodge, Dawson Creek and Sexsmith representing the West. There will be a skills competition in the afternoon followed by the game later on in the evening. The players will also attend a banquet and have a chance to mingle with fans. The game will be broadcast on XM105 in Whitecourt and if you want to listen I am sure you will be able to listen through their website. www.xm105.com

If you happen to be in Whitecourt on the weekend of January 17th you can pick up your tickets at several locations around Whitecourt, for more info check out The Voice, that's the blog of Whitecourt play-by-play voice Dave Dawson. There is a link to his blog in my links section.

Back from Vacation and ready for Stoney Plain

2009-01-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

So I am now back from my holiday vacation to the sunny and warm climate that is Vancouver BC. Seriously, it snowed every single day I was in the Lower Mainland. What a waste of a trip. If it wasn't for my friends and family I would have gone somewhere sunny. Luckily my flight got canceled and I had to drive down on Christmas Eve, arriving home at 6 in the a.m. on Christmas Day. I am back now though and ready to get back at it.

I can not express how excited I am about heading to Dawson this weekend to watch the Flyers take on Stoney Plain. It was a great matchup where the Flyers went to the Plain earlier in the season and the Flyers are in better shape now than they were then. Not sure about the rosters yet but The Flyers will miss Shuya if he isn't there and I wouldn't expect him to be, Shuya was a monster in the first Stoney Plain series. The two teams split those first two games and I expect two more great tilts this weekend. Probably the best hockey you will see until the McKenzie Cup.

On an unrelated note, is anyone not excited about the game tonight? Hopefully Canada pulls it off with a couple of goals from Canuck prospect Cody Hodgson. And where would Canada be without Evander Kane? A late injury replacment, Kane has been massive in the knockout rounds. The Vancouver Giants continue to produce great WHL talent.

Flyers @ Falher Sat. Dec 20th

2008-12-22T14:52:00.001-08:00

Don't know anything about the game except the score and the identity of the goal scorers. The final score was 8 -3 marking the 14th straight victory for the Flyers. Jeff Shipton lead the way with another hat trick plus 2 helpers. I think we decided this must have been Shipton's 3 or 4th hatty of the season. The guy has phenomenal hands and has been fitting in really well in his first year as a Flyer. I didn't get to see it but I can only imagine how much this guy dominated the NWJHL last year playing for the Huskies. Luke Middleton scored a couple and Kip Noble had 3 assists. I can't wait for the New Year as the Flyers gear up for a run at the Allan Cup.

Huskies vs. Sexsmith Sat. Dec 20th

2008-12-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

So I was at my staff Christmas party on Saturday and didn't get a chance to watch the Huskies game. Coach Bob Kalb had called the game a must win when he spoke with Jon Zacks earlier in the week. According to the league website (and I say this because that website is notorious for being wrong) the Huskies won 9 - 3. A good example of the league website being shoddy to say the least, Van Der Merwe let in 2 goals and only played 54 minutes. Who played the other 6? As far as I was aware Zach Blain had already left town to head home for the holidays. And who let in the other goal?

Anyway, that is a good win for the Huskies who sometimes struggle to play to their own level rather than down to the level of their opponent. Cody Kalb and Kole Norris each had 2 goals and an assist. Steve Fast also had a 3 point game with 1 goal and 2 assists. Paydon Wongstedt had a goal and racked up 17 minutes in penalties. Not a surprise as Paydon sometimes losses his composure and gets in trouble with the officials for running his mouth. Good player though so the Huskies need to find ways to keep him on the ice as much as possible. The other thing I noticed when looking at the league website was that Brennan Billey was listed as having played in the game. I will try to confirm that and then tell you what I think about it later on.

********************************************************************

Ok so it has been confirmed that Brennan Billey was in the lineup on Saturday and that he has sorted out his work situation which will enable him to play this season. I had thought that the Brennan Billey ship had sailed but apparently we were premature in that judgement. Good player that will most likely skate on the top line. It depends what coach Kalb wants to do but he could make himself one hell of a checking line with MacKinnon and Hildebrand and maybe Pappin. I am not sure what the lines will look like at this point but the Huskies are a better team now than they were on Friday. You just feel they still need a D man or two for some depth. I really cannot wait for the Huskies to take on Whitecourt here in FSJ if they can have a full lineup. I think it would be a game. If the Huskies sort out their troubles on the road and find a way to compete harder every night than they are an elite team in this league.

Flyers vs GP Athletics Dec 19th

2008-12-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

Not much to report from last nights "game" between the Flyres and the Atheltics. Grand Prairie only showed up with 8 skaters and one goalie. The Flyers were a little short benched as well but the still had 3 full forward lines and 2 D pairs. Luke Middleton spent some time playing as a forward and didn't look that out of place. Luke has some pretty good puck handling skills and dangled a couple guys last night. He usually gets in one or two dangles per game. Ian Munro should have scored 5 or 6 and Dustin Kersey did pop in at least 3 maybe more. To be honest the game became secondary to the argument I was having with Jon Zacks. I am not saying that the NHL HAS to change anything but the second assist is kind of a ridiculous stat. And the glowing puck wasn't as bad an idea as people make it out to be and I love the camera angle that TSN uses that is behind the net looking sort of over the goalies shoulder when a team is on the PP. It's a damn good camera angle. Now if only the NHL could get on board with the cable cam. If I was running things...

Anyway, GP's goalie stood on his head and made 7 or 8 spectacular saves. If they could get out a full team it would be a good game with FSJ. It really is too bad when teams show up with short benches, I mean people did pay to watch that. The league needs to do something. I have read that GP is having a hard time right now and that after Christmas they will have more players. Hopefully that is true. For the most part it seems as though most teams are just afraid to play against the Flyers. You would think guys would want a crack at the best team in the league and would want to test themselves against the best. Flyers are taking on Falher and the Huskies are at home tonight against Sexsmith. I will be drinking at my staff Christmas party and hopefully not doing anything that might jeopardize my place at Moose FM.

Sundin signs

2008-12-18T15:15:00.001-08:00

So first of all well done to the Canucks on last nights ceremony. Class all the way around which is what you expect from the Canucks and Linden. It was good to see all the old timers out there as well. I wonder how much Geoff Courtnall spends on fake tanning products? Looks like Sundin has decided to sign in Vancouver. I heard the news from a reliable source about 10 minutes ago but didn't get a chance to blog about it in time to have the scoop. Maybe next time. I will write a little later on about what I think about this signing.

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I can't really understand what some Canuck fans seem to have against the Sundin signing. The Nucks are tied for first in their division despite the best goalie in the league missing the last 3 or 4 weeks with a groin problem. They are scoring better than expected but the power play is struggling a little bit. Sundin is a 6'5" 250 pound center who scores a tonne of point on the PP. The Canucks have not had a big physically dominant center in recent memory and Sundin can match up against guys like Joe Thornton. There is still cap room available for GM Mike Gillis to play with (some reports suggesting Vancouver still has as much as 3 million in cap space left) and Sundin has been assured he won't be the last piece added. I know it's a long shot because they play in our division but Gaborik might be available at the trade deadline. Also, with Sundin signing a one year deal the Canucks still have lots of flexibility come the off-season to try and resign some of their own players or go after free agents. (possibly Gaborik)

Are the Canucks a legitimate Stanley Cup contender? If they aren't then only Detroit and SJ are and if they add another top 6 forward then VERY few teams would have a better goalie, better D corp top to bottom and better forwards. I think that Kesler, Burrows and Hansen (or whoever is gets on that other wing from time to time) is the best 3rd line in hockey. The Canucks are now the best team in their division and should make some noise before the deadline to make themselves a legitimate Stanley Cup threat.

CP Athlete of the Year

2008-12-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

So for the first time in my life I said, "I am going to blog about this later." And here I am.

Moose FM sports director Jon Zacks has a vote for male and female athlete of the year that is given out by the CP. I have decided that since not very many people get the honour of participating in this vote that I want to be a part of it. He is going to narrow it down to 5 or 6 people and we will have a lively debate about who he should vote for. The female one should be a little more Olympics heavy simply because we don't get to see these athletes on TV very often unless it is an Olympic year. While the same can be said about Olympic male athletes you do have to consider the Morneau's and Nash's and of course Crosby's of the world.

Special consideration to Adam Van Koeverden for being on TV after choking in the K-1 1000m race and apologizing to the Canadian public for letting us down. He then went out and won a silver in the K-1 500m. He also recently donated 8 Lenovo computers to a youth program that focuses on improving computer literacy amongst youth. That's a quality human being and someone all Canadians should be proud of.

The newest hockey celebration?

2008-12-16T08:45:00.001-08:00

I just stumbled across this article and I realize it is now a couple of months old but I was unsure if everyone had seen it.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/other-sports/ice-hockey/swedish-ice-hockey-game-delayed-by-sex-toys-14014655.html

I won't spoil it with too much info about what it is but the fact that it says Swedish Ice Hockey Game Delayed by Sex Toys in the link should really whet your appetite. Let's just say it take throwing octopus's or rats onto the ice to a whole new level.

Huskies versus Dawson Creek Saturday Dec 15th

2008-12-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Won't be posting much about the game as I was in Spirit River so obviously I didn't get a chance to see the game. Would have liked to have been able to do both the Huckies and Flyers games that weekend but the schedule makers weren't putting me first this time. Sounds like the Huskies outshot the Canucks but that doesn't amount to a hill of beans. The important thing is the scoreboard. The Huskies haven't played well on the road all season. They have also struggled at times in their own zone and have struggled at times to score goals.

It is a big if but one of these days if they could put together a 60 minute effort with all of their top guys in the lineup then maybe we would see how good they really are. It is giong to be a struggle now to claim second in the NWJHL which is where you want to finish to try to avoid Whitecourt as long as possible in the playoffs. Hopefully the new year brings a more consistent effort out of the Huskies game in and game out.

Flyers at Spirit River Saturday 13th

2008-12-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

The second half of a home and home between the two best teams in the NPHL and once again it was the Rangers getting off to the better start. The game wasn't as physical as we were expecting and it was the Rangers who were the more intense of the two teams. Another big second period for the Flyers set up the victory and it was Dustin Kersey with an absolute beauty beating the defence to the red line before cutting to the front of the net and roofing a shot under the bar. To be honest the Flyers played a fairly lackluster game and were outshot for maybe the first time all season. Vizutti was strong in net and two more goals, one into an empty net, for Ryan Carter sealed the victory. I am not going to go into too much detail here since you can listen to a highlights package of the game over at energeticcity.ca/flyers

No fights in the game which I think both Jon and I found very surprising especially given some of the stick work the Rangers call "hockey." I speak in particular of a cross check to the mouth that Dustin Kersey received while trying to cross the blue line. That's not hockey at any level and you hate to see it in a work man's league like the NPHL and against Kersey who is a good player and a good guy as well.

The Rangers barn is not the nicest I have been to but the broadcast location that we were able to use was fabulous. Directly about the benches and within ear shot of the players. Only once did we have to try to ignore some verbals from Lefley (Mike I think) who, safe to say, doesn't like Bryan Lewis. I am sure the folks at home heard the language which is unfortunate but I love being that close and getting an even better idea of what was going on in the game.

As usual the bus ride home with the Flyers was fun. Not profitable but fun.

I am going to give three stars to the Kersey, Wiens, and Carter line. They played well in both games and were the best forwards for the Flyers over the course of the two games. Wiens even had a nice fat upper lip to show for his efforts courtesy of some more Rangers stick work.

Flyers vs Rangers Thursday Dec 11th

2008-12-15T16:02:00.001-08:00

The Flyers had a big weekend taking on the top team, at least in the standings, in the NPHL. The Spirit River Rangers were in town on Thursday at the NPA for what was a highly anticipated tilt. I have to admit that I missed the first ten minutes of the game and was very worried that I would have missed my chance to throw my teddy bear on the ice. I made it in time though, as when I arrived, the score was 1 zip for the Rangers. Craig Venhola had opened the scoring before I managed to reach the rink. From what I saw, and from what Jon Zacks told me once I arrived, Spirit River was the better team and were talking it to the Flyers early on. It was Ryan Carter who got the Flyers back in the game late in the first. With Chad Wilchynski in the box for an interfernce call Kip Noble fed a beauty of a cross ice pass from the right hand point to the top of the left hand face off circle. Carter one timed a rocket up under the bar for a power play marker and the teddy bears flooded the ice.

The second period was when the game turned. Some suspect calls by the referee and some overzealous , and frankly embarrassing complaining from the Spirit River bench (including captain Faron Duthie getting tossed for beaking the ref which was also a little embarrassing) coupled with some strong play from the Flyers combined to find the Rangers down 5 to 1 after 2 periods of play. The Rangers scored twice to start the third and make a game of it but that's when the captain popped one home followed by 2 goals on the PP and Flyers ended up taking an 8 to 3 victory in a game in which they quite frankly didn't play that well. Late fight for Tyler Loney against Trevor Mazurek while I was in the restroom. Jon Zacks gave the split decision to Loney.