Kelowna falls to Windsor in Memorial Cup Final

I know this is old news and one may ask why it is only being posted now? Well the answer to that is my computer broke down and is in the shop getting fixed. About the game. This is the first time in a while that a team who lost the first 2 games of the tournament fought back and won the Memorial cup. Everyone knew that the Spitfires would have more than enough motivation to try and win it all. They had that motivation all season long and yes I am talking about former Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud who collapsed suddenly in his home. The Spitfires hounoured him by hanging his jersey in the locker room and on the bench at the Memorial Cup. Windsor was congradulated at the Wings/Blackhawks game 5 in Detroit. Kelowna was also welcomed home even though they did not win the big game. Kelowna fans were still proud of their team.

As I mentioned in my last update that I took in the Saturday on ice portion of the spring camp. I liked very much what I saw. There will be some rookies looking to battle and grab a spot on the team,so those line combos that I made for next season you can probably forget about those.

I am VERY excited for the start of the season!!!!!! The next important event that I can think of is the NHL draft on June 26th and 27th (and I think that it would be safe to say that Lorne Molleken will be in attendance) and CHL Import Draft which happens on my 21st birthday June 30th.

Again the Blades can still pick a player but they can only use this player if overage euro Milan Kytnar does not sign with the Oilers and if Kytnar still wants to play for the Blades and not retun home. I hope he does return and plays for the Blades next season.

Kelowna VS Windsor in the Mem Cup Championship game..... & Blades Spring Camp

While Kelowna had a layoff until Sunday's Championship game Windsor and Drummondville played for their hockey lives in hopes of facing the Rockets in the final game of the tournament. The Windsor Spitfires won that game and will face off against the WHL Champion Kelowna Rockets. OHL VS WHL for the Memorial Cup on Sunday!!!!!!

In other news that is closer to home the Blades will be having their on ice portions of the Spring Camp to take a look at the team's 15,16 and 17 year olds, 32 players in total and it all gets started with the first on ice session at 10:30 Saturday morning going until 12 noon. I will be there to take it all in. Sunday the on ice session runs from 10:30 AM until 11:30 AM. If my work schedule permits I may be able to see Sunday's session.

Former Blades and where they are now......

This information I found on the Saskatoon Blades website. Some of these names I do recognize and I some I do not because they are before my time.

http://www.saskatoonblades.com/News/Blades_News/627/

Wade Belak	Nashville Predators Florida Panthers	NHL NHL
Martin Erat	Nashville Predators	NHL
Garnet Exelby	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL
Colton Gillies	Minnesota Wild	NHL
Mike Green	Washington Capitals	NHL
Darcy Hordichuk	Vancouver Canucks	NHL
Steve MacIntyre	Edmonton Oilers	NHL
Warren Peters	Calgary Flames Quad City Flames	NHL AHL
Aaron Rome	Columbus Blue Jackets Syracuse Crunch	NHL AHL
Cory Sarich	Calgary Flames	NHL
Devin Setoguchi	San Jose Sharks	NHL
Brent Sopel	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL
Rhett Warrener	Calgary Flames	NHL
Joe Barnes	Hartford Wolf Pack Charlotte Checker	AHL ECHL
Garett Bembridge	Iowa Chops Idaho Steelheads	AHL ECHL
Brad Cole	Quad City Flames	AHL
Dane Crowley	Houston Aeros Phoenix Roadrunners	AHL ECHL
Derek Couture	Binghamton Senators Elmira Jackels	AHL ECHL
Brent Henley	Norfolk Admirals Augusta Lynx Mississippi Sea Wolves	AHL ECHL ECHL
Adam Huxley	Springfield Falcons Stockton Thunder	AHL ECHL
Denny Johnston	Manchester Monarchs Ontario Reign	AHL ECHL
Anton Khudobin	Houston Aeros Florida Everblades	AHL ECHL
Garrett Klotz	Philadelphia Phantoms	AHL
Wacey Rabbit	Providence Bruins	AHL
David Schulz	Lake Erie Monsters Johnstown Chiefs	AHL ECHL
Craig Valette	Houston Aeros Syracuse Crunch Stockton Thunder	AHL AHL ECHL
Mark Wotton	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL
Scotty Balan	Bakersfield Condors	ECHL
Ryan Menei	Mississippi Sea Wolves Asiago HC	ECHL Italy (Serie A)
Mike Reich	Florida Everblades	ECHL
Jason Duda	Wichita Thunder	CHL
Jason Goulet	Rapid City Rush Basingstoke Bison	CHL United Kingdom (EIHL)
Brett Jaeger	Texas Brahmas	CHL
Scott Reid	Rocky Mountain Rage	CHL
Jake Riddle	Tulsa Oilers Hull Stingrays	CHL United Kingdom (EIHL)
Ryan Tobler	Colorado Eagles	CHL
Kevin Armstrong	Muskegon Lumberjacks	IHL
Jared Dumba	Flint Generals	IHL
Steven Later	Muskegon Lumberjacks	IHL
Justin Keller	Knoxville Ice Bears Fayetteville FireAntz	SPHL SPHL
Ryan Senft	Richmond Renegades	SPHL
Ondrej Fiala	Moscow Spartak	Russia (KHL)
Michael Garnett	HC MVD	Russia (KHL)
Kirby Law	Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik Fribourg-Gotteron	Russia (KHL) Switzerland (Suiss-A)
Marcus Paulsson	Farjestads BK	Sweden (SEL)
Bjorn Svensson	Timra IK	Sweden (SEL)

Rockets are no longer undefeated....

Well we might as well throw the records out the window for this particular game because Windsor ended up winning the 3 goal contest. With that win it keeps the Spitfires alive for at least one more game. Hopefully this little hit does not phase the Rockets much or at all.

I now have 3 days off to allow me to get caught up and watch more games of the Memorial Cup,so I can think of things to write and keep this thing rolling.

Rockets still undefeated........

Yes the Kelowna Rockets beat the Voligeurs from Drummondville by a score of 6-4, Dallas Stars prospect Jamie Benn had a 5 point night and he almost had 6 points but was denied by the goal post with about 3 seconds left in the game. So now the Rockets are headed for an automatic trip to Sundays final. They do play the winless Windsor Spitfires on Tuesday night and if the Spitfires do not win this game that means that they will not have a chance to play Kelowna in the final. It was good to see a fair amount of Rocket fans at the games in Rimouski.

I hope to attend a Memorial Cup one day and it would be even better if the Blades were playing in it,not particularly as the host but as WHL Champions...the wait drags on haha. Anyways I enjoyed watching this close match-up and the Rockets continue to succeed. One more thing if Tyler Myers is not in the NHL next year I will be surprised but the Rockets would reep the benifits of his return it all matters if Buffalo wants to let him to test out the NHL for a couple games (which probably will happen) Will we see the Rockets still remain undefeated? Well watch the game on Tuesday and find out.

Kelowna looking for 2nd straight win........

I did manage to watch Kelowna's 1st game and I thought that the Rockets controlled the flow of the entire game,the Rockets were just too much for the Oceanic to handle. Now the Rockets will play the Drummondville Voltigeurs who are also 1-0. I am excited that I do not have to work on Monday and guess what that means!!!!!!! I will be able to watch the Rocket's second game but I just have to remember that it starts at 5 PM Saskatchewan time. GO ROCKETS!!!!!

Kelowna's 1st game....

I have this one taped so I can watch it tomorrow at about 8:30 ish after I get home from work. I may want to watch the Drummondville VS Windsor game but I have a feeling that I will miss some maybe all of it. I see that the Rockets won the game 4-1 and once I watch the game I will leave my thoughts until then. It is obviously good to see them win their opening game.

I was in Cole's book store today and right away I rushed to where the sports books were and found two hockey books: The Kid,a book written about Sidney Crosby and his 1st season in the NHL, and the other one is called Travels with Stanley,so I bought them and have not been able to read them yet but I will. They look like good books. If you do not already own these books may I suggest that you go to your local book store and buy these books.

Ok something that is old news:The Calgary Flames AHL Affiliate relocate to Abbotsford BC. I know that plenty of WHL GM's are not too pleased with this because of the supposed agreement that the WHL and AHL have and that is that the WHL will not put a team where the AHL already has a team and vice versa. A good example of this is Winnipeg Manitoba,the AHL has the Moose there but the AHL just put a team in the B.C area that will have conflict with the WHL and fan bases of WHL teams in the area. So what if The WHL was to put a team in say Winnipeg(This probably would not happen because there is a WHL team already in Brandon) but just to give the AHL a taste of their own medicine!!! I mean that is just rediculous because I am sure that there is somewhere else out there that the Flames affiliate could have relocated to a city that will have no issues.

This May long weekend of mine will be spent working,but too all who read this blog have a good long weekend.

NHL Playoffs Round 3 and other Random Thoughts

So those dreaded Wings were victorious over the Ducks and the Hurricanes defeated the Bruins,so the Conference Final match-up shakes down like this: Chicago plays Detroit,and Carolina faces off against Sidney Crosby and his crew. My dream Stanley Cup match-up would be to see Pittsburgh and Chicago. I sure hope it happens but we shall be patient and enjoy the hockey that will be seen across the globe. Ok now that NHL news is out of the way.

Lets talk about Team Canada I like the choice of Willie Desjardins for head coach because he puts together a very good team in Medicine Hat every year and I think that it should translate into continuing success for the red and white (Yes I mean Team Canada and not the Red Wings haha) I hope that a fair amount of star players from all over are allowed to play in the tournament simply because it is being held in my own backyard. (well not really but close enough to it) I think it would have been fitting to name Lorne Molleken the head coach and maybe he was a candidate? I do not know. Just like the All-Star game in Montreal with the amount of home team players that were picked by the fans...

Now let's take a step back sorta but on the subject of All Star games and something that I have wondered about but I am pretty sure that the OHL for sure does an All-star Game with a skills competition. The QMJHL may do it as well but I do not think that the WHL has not recently done it. Instead I think they put in the WHL VS Russia Superseries and that is fine but not all the time does Russia send their best players and if they do not do this then, I think that they should scrap the whole idea (who likes watching what are mostly 1 sided hockey games? NOT ME.) and substitute the CAN vs RUS superseries for a WHL All-star competition just like they do with the CHL Top Prospects game.

The Memorial Cup starts tomorrow and if you check out Regan Bartel's blog(the Link can be found in my blog list on the left) He does a FANTASTIC job with pictures as do all of the WHL broadcasters who blog. Sadly I will be forced to work this weekend when the games are going on but I am taping the Rockets games (if I get some help with that haha) but I have a couple of days off during the week so I should be able to watch some games then.

One last thing before I call it a night. The month is May,we are halfway through it and there was snow on the ground!!!!! Well this is Saskatchewan after all. I think my mom told me once that there was snow on the ground in June when I was just a little troublemaker back in the day.

NHL Playoff Chatter

I am disappointed that there are no Canadian teams left....I thought that the Nucks could beat the Blackhawks but Chicago's youthful team that is loaded with CHL players (including Kyle Beach) proved to be the better team in the 7th game. 2 others series have been pushed to the limit, Carolina VS Boston and Detroit VS Anahiem. I hope that the Ducks eliminate the Wings. I would like to see another team besides the Wings closer to the Stanley Cup because I think that they have way to much success and no doubt they are a GREAT team but I would just like to see other teams that have not had a chance to experience a Stanley Cup win. In the Pens VS Caps series I was hoping that Washington could have pulled through because I like watching Ovechkin,and the fact that they have many former WHL players in their system including former Blades Mike Green and Braden Holtby is another reason why I like the Caps. I think I will still cheer for the Pens though as long as the Wings are defeated this round or next!!!!!

When it comes to the NHL and when the Leafs are not playing I always root for the team with the most former WHL'ers or if they have super skilled players like Crosby or Ovechkin. Now even a team like Chicago is fun to watch.

Now to talk about the Leafs and Luke Schenn.... The Kelowna Rockets had Schenn on the team last season, yes he made the NHL as a 19 year old and could have returned for another 2 seasons of junior hockey but the Leafs decided that he was good enough to play in "THE SHOW" with the pro's. Now think of what his hockey resume would have looked like if he remained a Rocket for at least this past WHL season. That would have been one very impressive hockey resume but I thought that it was a situation similar to that of Colton Gillies with some differences of course. I hope that the Leafs (who currently own the 7th overall pick in the NHL draft) select Brayden Schenn for the obvious reason that Luke plays on the team and too see them play on the same team would be awesome. The other reason being that Brayden Schenn is a good hockey player.

Some Thoughts From Today

With the all of the positive hype that is here in Saskatchewan surrounding the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships, the possibility of some Blades players playing in the tournament & also players from Saskatoon or even Saskatchewan (yes I have tickets for this event already!!!!!) it started to make me think about some things that are sort of old news .

Yes they are adding more seats to the Credit Union Centre, which is a good idea for other popular events and if the Blades COULD continuously generate decent crowds then it would create a better atmosphere at hockey games but I also think it would be fun to see Blades games in a sold out arena but sadly these days that is a rare sight because of the size of the Credit Union Centre.

The Blades last season were in first place in the East Division all season long if my memory serves to be correct. The crowds would be ok at best and yes a number of "excuses" will come up...The games start at 7:05,the areana is on the way out of the city and the ticket prices are kind of high......the list goes on. I think if you enjoy watching junior hockey enough(LIKE ME) you should ignore the excuses and come out to support the Blades and just be thankful that Saskatoon has a WHL franchise.

Ok my rant is done. I am very excited about next season and I wish that I could get out and see the Blades Spring Camp on May 22th-24th @ the Schroh Arena. Maybe I still can. I am excited to be a hockey fan because with the 2010 WJR's coming up and the possibility of another strong Blades season are good reasons to be a die hard hockey fan but if you are just a casual fan that is ok too.

The 2009 Memorial Cup Participants Are Set!!!!!!

Representing the WHL:The Kelowna Rockets. Representing the OHL: he Windsor Spitfires and the 2 teams that are representing the QMJHL are the host team: the Rimouski Oceanic and the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The tournament starts on Friday May 15th and runs until the 24th of May and all of the action can be seen on Rogers Sportsnet. Just by looking at the rosters on the Memorial Cup website the WHL's Rockets and the OHL's Spitfires match up pretty well in the size department. I am very excited for the start of the tournament on Friday but I have a feeling that work will pull me away from watching the games on T.V. I may just tape the Rockets games if I can.

The Kelowna Rockets to Represent the WHL at the Memorial Cup.

I was not too happy that the Rockets took out the Giants,and I was hoping that Calgary would have somehow found a way to beat them. That was not the case though. I think the Rockets kind of surprised some people (even me) when they developed a 3-0 series lead over the Hitmen. Nothing can be done about that now. I will cheer for the Rockets in the Memorial cup and if I did not that would be just silly. I really hope that the Rockets can carry that momentum into the Memorial Cup. Now the only 2 people (that I can see) who have some ties to Saskatchewan are the Assistant Coach(and former Rocket) Ryan Cuthbert and also Regan Bartel the Kelowna Rockets Play by Play Broadcaster. I am sure he is thrilled with the way the Playoffs have unfolded.

The Rockets have booked a well deserved trip to the Memorial Cup. Go Rockets!!!!

Another thought, now that we know who the Western Hockey League Champs are for this season. Two former Rockets Colin Joe and Milan Kytnar were Kelowna Rockets until an off-season trade last summer brought them both to the bridge city. I am sure now they both wish that they were never traded but how did they know that the team that they were traded from would represent the WHL in the Memorial Cup?

CHL Import Draft

The Blades can only participate in the draft if Milan Kytnar is not signed by Edmonton Oilers. If the Blades do to use their pick (57th overall) or trade up I think they will draft a forward or maybe a goalie if the Blades can not find one to potentially back up Adam Morrison. The only downside of keeping Kytnar is that he would take up 2 spots because he is a European player(a very good one) and also is 20 years old. Another question one could as is what European country will the player be from? (if of course the Blades pick) I do not think we will see a Russian,so maybe another Finn? Who knows..... Stay tuned for the results of this situation.

Early line combos for 09-10

Ok yes I know that it is very early for this and alot can happen to change these combos but here is what I have come up with.

Hulak-Euro-Galimore
Langkow-Toomey-Hamilton
Dziurzynski-Inglis-Nicholls
Crooks-Benson-Patterson

Neimi-Elliott
Zahn-Siemens
Klassen-Thrower

Holtby
Morrison

Hulak-Euro-Galimore
Langkow-Toomey-Hamilton
Dziurzynski-Inglis-Nicholls
Crooks-Benson-Patterson

Neimi-Elliott
Zahn-Siemens
Klassen-Thrower

Morrison
Krahn

Depending if the Blades choose a player in the Import Draft in June, I think the line-up could look similar to that but maybe some other rookies could steal a spot on the forth line. Who knows I could be completely wrong with these but I am just trying to have some fun.

The Blades and the 2009 NHL Entry Draft In Montreal on June 26 & 27.

This year 3 Blades players (Burke Gallimore,Adam Morrison and Stefan Elliott) made the cut in terms of being listed on the the NHL Central Scouting final rankings. There is always the possibility that other Blades that are undrafted and still able to be drafted MAY be drafted... One situation in particular I remember was in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft when the Flyers selected Garrett Klotz 66th overall, and everyone's reaction was WHAT??? & WHO IS THIS GUY??? Will we see a surprise like that again?? Good luck to all the 2009 draft eligible Blades in this years NHL Draft.

My thoughts on the 08-09 season

So the Saskatoon Blades season and playoffs are over. I will now share my thoughts on both the season and playoffs.

The Blades had a record of 49-18 which made them a 103 point team in the regular season. I will also throw in there that they had the best road record in the WHL with a record of 28-6 which gave them 58pts on the road and on home ice they were 21-12 which gave them 45 points. They won their 1st Division banner since 1994. In my opinion that is a very successful season no matter which way you slice it.

In the playoffs the 2 seed Blades played the 7 seed Lethbridge Hurricanes and let me tell you one thing... this series was not your typical 2 vs 7 first round playoff match up, it was a much closer series and it took 7 games to decide who the winner was and yes the more experienced Hurricanes prevailed on the road in game 7. (but they were swept in the the very next round by the Calgary Hitmen.) Another note about the Hurricanes... they are looking for a new head coach as Michael Dyck's contract is not going to be extended. That is 3 head coaching positions that I can think of now that are vacant:Regina,Chilliwack and Lethbrdge. The Hurricanes are also looking for a GM as well now because Roy Stasiuk has been released. I hope that with a new Head Coach and GM that things can stay on track for the Canes.

Another thing I would like to talk about is the trade deadline,and I know the Blades tried to bolster there roster with the tools that could have taken them further in the playoffs but no trades were made that added players to the roster. Which was a surprise to me because in previous years Lorne Molleken has not really been quiet on trade deadline days. I really think that the Blades should have added another offensive weapon but during the season the Blades had a very balanced scoring attack,so I would think that Blades would not want to mess anything up.