Thursday, January 15, 2009
Flyers versus Hythe
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.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Flyers lose two close encounters with Stony Plain
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.
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
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.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Huskies vs. Sexsmith & Fill the Bus
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.
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
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.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
NWJHL All Star Game
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.
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.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Back from Vacation and ready for Stoney Plain
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
