Bauer International Invite
We are really starting to get in to full swing in western Canada and the western U.S.A. as most leagues are at about the 1/3 mark through their respective leagues. That said, the true gauge of just how good some of these players and teams really are will be tested at a pair or big tournaments both north and south of the 49th.
The Bauer International Invite will take place in Chicago this weekend. The 1997 AAA "Elite" dviision will have 8 divisions of 5 teams per division. There will be a team from Ukraine but that is the only team outside of North America in this age group. The teams we will focus on are: LA Jr. Kings, Arizona Bobcats HA, Colorado Thunderbirds, San Jose Jr. Sharks, Dallas Ice Jets and the LA Selects.
Action will begin tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM Eastern time.
To a lesser extent, we will watch some of the 98's from south of the border. It is interesting to note that the 98 Winnipeg Sharks led by captain Garrett Kuklica will be down in Chicago taking part.
Regina Bantam AA Tournament
Then next weekend the Regina AA Bantam Tournament will take place. This will give scouts and evaluators there first real look at most of the talent from Saskatchewan all in one place. Saskatchewan will be the final province to hold a tournament as Kelowna and Chilliwack have held fairly big tournament in B.C., Red Deer had a tournament from Alberta and the first of four Manitoba showcases have already taken place.
Action will begin next Thursday at 9:15 am with the Saskatoon Bandits and the Regina Canucks. Here is a quick look at the pools once again and the current records of each team. In the next newsletter, which comes out on November 7, 2011, we will give an in depth preview or atleast we hope to.
Red Pool
Regina Canucks 4-2-0
Saskatoon Bandits 1-0-2
North East Wolfpack 7-0-0
Moose Jaw Warriors 1-4-0
Blue Pool
Prairie Storm 4-0-0
Saskatoon Outlaws 1-0-2
Sask Valley Vipers 4-3-1
Estevan Bruins 2-3-0
Green Pool
Yorkton Terriers 3-2-0
Saskatoon Maniacs 0-1-1
North Battleford Barons 1-2-1
Oakville Rangers NA
Orange Pool
Regina Hurricanes 0-6-1
Saskatoon Stallions 1-1-0
Prince Albert Raiders 1-1-2
Swift Current Raiders 3-6-0
Purple Pool
Regina Senators 2-3-1
Saskatoon Generals 1-2-0
Humboldt Broncos 0-5-1
Brandon Wheat Kings 6-4-0
Black Pool
Regina Oilers 2-2-0
Saskatoon Frostbite 1-1-1
WC Wheat Kings 4-2-1
Vernon Renegades 0-5-0
SBAAHL teams not attending:
Weyburn and Melville.
Of course the Medicine Hat tournament will be taking place the weekend after and this will be a huge indicator of who should fall where in terms of team and individual players. We hope to have a preview in the next newsletter as well.
Thursday Bantam Update Scores
Winnipeg Bantam AAA League
Monday, Oct 31st - Winnipeg Monarchs 4 - Winnipeg Sharks 5
The Winnipeg Sharks would storm out to a 5-2 lead after 2 periods and hang on to win their first game of the season. Dallas Miller finally had a bit of a break out game with 1-2-3, D- Ryan Gardiner 1-1-2 and Braden Purtill had 1-1-2. The Monarchs got goals from Veloso, Court, Bouchard and Esteves. Nick Holben got the win for the Sharks.
SBAAHL Saskatchewan
Weyburn Cres Point Energy Wings 6 - Moose Jaw Warriors3
The Wings improve to 4-2-0 led by Regan Nagy once again. Nagy scored 3 goals, giving him 13 goals in 6 games now to start the season. D- Drew Fellner had 1-1-2 in the victory. Weyburn held a 29-27 shot advantage over the now 1-4-0 Moose Jaw Warriors. Rylan Blacklaws had 1-1-2, his first two points of the season.
PCAHA British Columbia
Cloverdale 6- Surrey 0
Tyler Fyfe scored 3 goals, Jordan Funk scored a pair and Chris Seto scored the other in the shut-out win. Goaltender Gregory Maggio turned aside 19 shots for Cloverdale. The Colts continue to play without Tyler Soy who they hope to have back sometime in December. Cloverdale is now 5-2-1 in tiering, just ahead of 4-1-1 Semiahmoo and 4-1-0 NSWC. Of course the other teams have games in hand though. Cloverdale's losses have come against BWC and NSWC, both by lopsided scores and they tied Semiahmoo. We wonder what kind of difference a healthy Tyler Soy would've made in some of those games?
It really seems as though the B.C. landscape has tiered off in to two groups at the top.
BWC, NSWC, POE, Semiahmoo, Cloverdale at the top
OHA, Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George and Seafair in the 2nd group.
Also from B.C., it is very interesting to see that Mission and the Sno Kings are completely dominating Flight 3 right now. Sno Kings are 8-0-0 with 50 goals scored and 9 against while Mission is 6-1-0 with 53 goals scored and 7 against. The only Mission loss was a 3-2 loss vs. the Sno Kings. Mission does have big wins over Vancouver and North Delta but have yet to play one of the big 4 teams.
AMBHL Alberta
Calgary Bisons 10 - Calgary Northstar Sabres 5
The Bisons offence was in full swing once again on Wednesday night, reaching double digits against their eastern cross town rivals Northstar Sabres. Brayon Shmyr 2-3-5 and Nick Merkley 2-2-4 led the way once again for the Bisons. Merkley (37) and Shmyr (35) are now 1-2 in league scoring ahead of Estephan (34), however Estephan has 2 games in hand. For the Sabres, 98 born Brayden Dunn scored two more goals and fellow 98 born Parker Aucoin had 2 assists. Dunn and Aucoin each have 15 points in 13 games so far and are just 1 point back of team leader Jordan Xavier.
Exciting times in Bantam hockey! Cloverdale vs OHA would be a good game - These 2 are tweeners: better than most Association tier 1 teams but a step below the elites. Maybe it'll happen in Abbotsford?
ReplyDeleteRegina Bantam AA Tournament Predictions
ReplyDeletePool Winners
Red - North East
Blue - Prairie Storm
Green - North Battleford
Orange - Saskatoon Stallions
Purple - Brandon
Black - West Central
Wild Card - Saskatoon Bandits
Wild Card - Sask Valley
Based on the way they walked through the Kelowna tourney last week and dominated everyone including Kelowna (9-2) in the final, OHA is a team on the rise and merits consideration for top tier status. Okotoks barely touched the puck in their game and if it weren't for the Okotoks goalie it would have been a major blowout.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why Weyburn and Melville were omitted from tourney?
ReplyDeletered-North East
blue-Prairie Storm
green-Yorkton
orange-Swift current
purple-Brandon
black-anybody
Saskatoon might surprise in a couple pools but doubt it.
okotoks has won 10 of their last 75 reg season games over last 2 + seasons....why are they your benchmark of top tier hockey?---a not very good team in a good league
ReplyDeleteHow can OHA be considered for top tier 1 status when they lost 7 to 0 to POE .They arent even close!Didnt they just barely tie Kelowna.
ReplyDeleteOkotoks were the only AMBHL team at the event so there isn't another comparison available yet. Just previous to the Kelowna Tournament Okotoks had won two of their last four AMBHL games beating Red Deer and the Northstars and losing close games to the Bisons and Lethbridge. Hopefully there will be more teams crossing over the Rockies to play each other soon so we have more reference points.
ReplyDeleteWinnipeg Sharks Dallas Miller also got called up to play with the AAA city Midget Sharks. He scored a goal and also got an assist.
ReplyDeleteYeah and then OHA laid an egg vs Kelowna last week 5-5... 14 y.o. boys playing a fun game, go figure!
ReplyDeleteOHA vs POE next week.
You might want to take a look at what you said about the 2nd group of teams.
ReplyDeleteAbbotsford beat Kamloops, Seafair and Prince George pretty easily.
Abbotsford split with Kamloops during pre-season then beat PG 5-4 in Chilliwack and yes defeated Seafiar 3-2 fighting back after being down 2-0 after one! So beating team handily..... Hmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you keep blocking my comment asking about the Oakville team?
ReplyDeleteThe only reason Oakville comments would be blocked is because, ummmm, lets see, what are the words I am looking for, oh ya, because who cares. I would much rather talk about the strength of the Orange Pool. Can a champions come from that color. lol. I am thinking maybe, if they were playing peewee house.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the criteria for comments being allowed here? It's strange to think that ANY comment could be blocked when Nov 5 9:36 is put through...
ReplyDeleteObviously an Ontario team entering a Saskatchewan tournament is an interesting occurrence. It would be nice to know whether they should be expected to compete.
Weyburn and Melville not getting into Regina tourney is a disgusting act. Having said that, the Regina teams are probably scared to get beat by 10 goals against each team, so they have to protect themseleves from yet another beating. To answer your question, Regina hates losing to teams from the south and just couldn't stand to see these teams in there beating their children who are barely tier 2 level.
ReplyDeleteI heard Weyburn and Melville didn't send their deposits into the tournament, and that's why they didn't get in. I guess it COULD be some massive anti-Weyburn / Melville conspiracy, though.
ReplyDeleteYes, Abbotsford did not dominate on the score sheet!! And Yes, they did dominate on time of possession and territorial play vs Kamloops, Seafair And PG.
ReplyDeleteAbbotsford will challange Cloverdale for the final spot in final 4!
I thought Weyburn had already lost to one of the terrible Regina teams, and Melville is so awesome, that if I am not mistaken, they lost twice to Swift Current. If I was a betting man, I am guessing that is why they never got in. Just because you think you are good, and let everyone who will listen know how good Nagy and Cole and Boutin are, if you don't get your deposit in, you don't get in. You can't call it a disgusting act, you can call it crappy managers. On the positive side, at least it isnt another comment about how good POE or BWC are. Or how many players were sick, injured or suspended when one of them beat the other. GO Hurricanes GO.
ReplyDeleteAbby will challenge Cloverdale for a final 4 spot ??
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about tier 1 ?
If I'm not mistaking they have played twice and Abby got hammered twice. NSWC, BWC, Cloverdale and Semiahmoo are the four if they can stay relatively healthy.
An upcoming Kamloops tourney may see them face off again. A pool - Winnipeg, Calgary, Abby, Kamloops, Prince G. B pool - Cloverdale, Mission, Kelona, Wenatchee, Victoria.
Should be a good tourney but I cant see Abby getting past Mission, Wenatchee, nor Cloverdale and who knows what Calgary team is showing.
Okotoks actually has a decent team considering the pool they pull from. They have now Tied Both Bisons and Med Hat in which they were winning both games. If they would have stayed out of the penalty box they might have won both games. Those were both the Top Tier teams in the South. I would expect if OHA came to AB they would see how they fit in. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThere's a tourney in Abbotsford at the end of the month which should confirm some relative teams strengths. Maybe Abby uses home ice to enter the conversation of 'good' BC teams. That Kamloops tourney looks Tier 2-ish - not the KIMIHT - I foresee Cloverdale over Kamloops in the final.
ReplyDeleteHurricanes? Aren't you guys 0 and 16?
ReplyDeleteLosing teams(aka terrible teams) always take more penalties, hit more posts, have more players hurt or sick, than winning teams. I guess the easy way to type that would have been "Losing teams always have more excuses" for losing.
ReplyDeletea poor showing by the bisons for okotoks to tie...only way okotoks gets points is if they work really really hard and mcarty plays really really well and their oposition plays down to their level
ReplyDeleteOha did not go out and by or give away spots to become the team to beat in september, the academys are development programs, we will see how it develops over the season then make your stupid comments, jeez were di these guys leardn about hockey
ReplyDeleteKamloops tourney looks tier 2ish..Wake up!! Just because the winter clubs and academies arent going!! Its finally a legitimate tourney where all teams are on an even playing field. (no special residency rules)
ReplyDeleteTo the parents of the 3rd liners on these teams spouting off how great they are. Wait until your 3rd liner is back in his home assoc playing midget AA next year.
Teams for Abbotsford Tournament Nov 24 weekend: Abby, PG, La Jr Kings, JDF // Mission, Chilliwack, Langley, Surrey // Richmond, OHA, MLAC, Nanaimo // Wenatchee, VRC, Cloverdale, Kelowna.
ReplyDeleteA & B final format so teams will be going all out in round robin.
Some Fraser Valley and island variety there for those who missed out on Med Hat.
Blowout candidates - Nanaimo, JDF, Langley, LA. MLAC & Wenatchee could surprise.
How about Abb vs Mission and OHA vs Clov for Semis?
Seto will light it up in both tournaments.
ReplyDeleteAbby tourney could be interesting. FYI LA Jr Kings always has strong programs and have to be considered a contender. OHA and Cloverdale may finally meet to see who joins BWC, POE, NSWC and Semi in top five in BC. OHA won Kelowna Tourney by a wide margin and hasn't lost a game since Semi beat them in OT in Chilliwack QFs.
ReplyDeleteWeyburn just beat the Hurricanes 15-1 in a two game series. If I were from the Hurricanes, the last thing I would do is be beaking off about Weyburn.
ReplyDeleteOHA will get their big chance when they play POE this weekend.Last time it was 7 to 0.I suspect will be different game this time.
ReplyDeleteI think OHA vs POE might be postponed for this weeknd - both teams depleted with sickness, absents.
ReplyDeleteRE: LA JR KIngs - does California Bantam AA hockey = BC AAA? Just wondering - that hasn't been my experience at younger levels, where the Selects and Sharks (AAA)compete OK in spring hockey.
Hurricanes are terrible, but Weyburn isnt as good as they think they are.
ReplyDeleteJust watch two periods of P.Storm and Saskatoon?? someone?? sorry onesided, Saskatoon had four shots in two periods I am assuming they are the bottom toon team??
ReplyDelete