WEHP are proud to announce this morning the top ten team rankings as of December 12, 2011.
1. North Shore Winter Club - They have met BWC in two major tournament finals and have each won a game. NSWC has shown to be a bit stronger vs. the same competition. They are 1-1-1 against each other with just 8 goals combined in the 3 match-ups.
2. Burnaby Winter Club - See above for reasoning on placement. Could be considered 1A at this point.
3. Pursuit of Excellence - Due to their win against SSAC in the Medicine Hat tournament and their consistent appearances in tournament semi-finals, they earn the spot still. Sure they have lost to BWC twice and Seafair recently but still are a top team.
4. SSAC - Have rolled through the AMBHL this year with a record of 16-2-2 with 126-62 GF and GA. Strong team with a good mix of everything needed to win. Having a pair of first year goalies could come back to haunt them. Only one loss in Med Hat and that came to NSWC.
5. Semiahmoo - Consistently strong team this year. Have had a few glitches this year but still deserving of a top 5 rated team.
6. Cloverdale Colts - A few losses this year that have come to BWC, POEx2 and a loss in the opening game of league play vs. Seafair have the Colts down a bit right now. They are healthy and can compete with all the top teams.
7. Sherwood Park Flyers - A team who has been a bit under-rated this year can not hide anymore. Led by one of the top defense cores in western Canada. The Flyers are 15-2-3 and have allowed 2.5 GPG this year only. Haven't lost a league game since Oct, 16.
8. Lloydminster Heat - Strong team game and only 3 league losses through 20 games. A nice mix of size, skill with good depth. Had a shaky Med Hat tournament but showed they can compete with the best which included a 7-6 loss to BWC
9. Seafair Islanders - A team that simply can't be ignored anymore. Winners of the Victoria tournament. They haven't lost a regulation game through 6 in the PCAHA. Included in that are ties against BWC and Semiahmoo and a win vs. Cloverdale!
10. Calgary Royals - Not a flashy team by any means. They are a team that is built from the goalie out and have consistently showed well this year. Runner up to Seafair at the recent Victoria tournament. Med Hat was a success with some big wins and a couple narrow losses.
Honorable Mention
St. Albert
Calgary Bisons
Brandon Wheat Kings
Winnipeg Warriors
Top Saskatchewan teams.
1. Balgonie Prairie Storm - Won the Prince Albert "AA" tournament and haven't lost a league play game as of yet.
2. North East Wolfpack - Won the Regina "AA" tournament. Only one league loss to Sask Valley this year and showed well in Prince Albert without Seaman.
other top teams
Weyburn, Sask Valley and Saskatoon Maniacs
Saskatoon Maniacs are the worst team in SMHA right now. They got into the A final in PA by having the luck of being in the obviously pre-arranged weakest pool. They even lost to Moose Jaw who are near the bottom of the league (nice draw set-up, PA. Too bad it still didn't get you past the semis). They coasted to the A final against a weak NB team. They're not even close to being a top team in SK.
ReplyDeletewell they proved they are this weekend didn't they?
ReplyDeleteThats the way I like to see the Standings. Cloverdale is where they should be and maybe they could've been ahead of Semiamhoo.
ReplyDeletePOE got beat by Seafair this weekend in overtime and you have Seafair ranked 9? Calgary Royals beat Seafair, but also lost to them in overtime in the A final. POE ALMOST lost to Abbostford in overtime in the B final this weekend in Victoria and the Royals killed Abbostford 5-1 and 6-1. Seafair deserves higher and POE deserves a lower ranking, they are too inconsistent. Also being a scout in the AMBHL, the Royals do play very boring hockey but almost always come out with the win. They deserve 6 or 7 spot.
ReplyDeleteI like that you're starting to list the Sask teams in a separate ranking. It makes sense, since they draw from a drastically smaller population base. There are still great players in the province, and it's nice to read your thoughts on how the teams they play on stack up against one another. It would be nice to see an entire Sask top 10 list.
ReplyDeleteno. they were on a very weak side of the draw.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 3:15 PM. Elite Bantam hockey is such a moving target that there should be more variability in these standings. POE is struggling just now and teams in St Albert should be licking their chops at the chance to take out the "number 3" team.
ReplyDeleteevery team in PA had weak teams and every team had strong teams. The Maniacs did what they had to do and finished 2nd in a 20 team tournament. Therefore they are in the top percent. If anyone should complain it is Weyburn. They had to play against a top team late into Saturday night while Prairie Storm got some arbitrary bye and showed up fresh and rested just by being in a pool that got a bye for no reason. Weyburn played a slug fest until 10 at night and still had to go home and eat and go to bed while Prairie Storm had almost a whole day off.
ReplyDeleteSask South AA Bantam Top Team Ranking
ReplyDeleteSouth:
Prairie Storm #1- balanced team with limited weakenesses. However with the Lumsden franchise folding this past year there were a few key players amalgamated with Storm franchise which adds to their depth.
Weyburn #2- strong defence but game style dump and chase dump and chase. Well coached by Rooney but teams offecce is 1 dimesional compared to last seasons skill set.
The Weyburn goal tending is hit and miss similair to Melville which hads ahuge impact in many games. Lucky the wings have Nagy.
Melville #3- A team that can beat anyone... or be beat by anyone with their Goals against in net. This team is the most improved from the start of season and seems to be climing the ladder. The Millionaires faced the mighty NE WolfPack and were down 2-0 after 20mintes of play and faught back and then were up 3-2 with a couple minutes left in game. The Game ended 3-3 draw.
Swift Current #4- A team that has to work hard with their limited talent this year. However Lind a 1998 player is caring much of the load todate for their team. Lind is one of the strongest first year forwards (1998) forward play maker in the league right now.
#5-12 Ranking up for grabs.
December 12, 2011 6:51 PM
ReplyDeleteWhich day did PS almost have off?
Wonder why a tournament would let them play less games.
According to tournament site, Storm played one game mid friday, two games sat and two sun, where is the day off???
ReplyDeleteThe way this tournament was set up, two A side playoff teams would need to win 2 games to reach the final. All other A side teams just had to win 1. This creative schedule by the organizers had it structured that the North East/Melville pool and the Weyburn/West Central would where these teams would come from. Yes, it could be argued that these teams plus Sask Valley, Prairie Storm, and North Battleford maybe the stronger teams entering the tournament. From those two pools, Weyburn and North East came out of their pools and had to play that "extra-game" Saturday night. With the winner taking on the Pool Winner of Prairie Storm/Sask Valley (which became Prairie Storm) Sunday morning, it was already clear that either North East or Weyburn would be bruised and tired. From all accounts, Saturday night's game between Weyburn and North East it was almost like a scene from "Youngblood" as these two teams went hard. Weyburn came out on top and would face Prairie Storm Sunday morning. Storm defeated Weyburn to advance to the final against Saskatoon Maniacs. Storm did play 2 games Saturday too, but if they were to claim the Tournament (which they did), they would play 5 games. If Weyburn and North East wanted to claim the title they would have to play 6.
ReplyDelete4 pools of 5 teams instead of 5 pools of 4 teams maybe would have eliminated the creative schedule.
Overall, Prairie Storm are a very solid club and the scheduling issue should not take away their impressive showing at the tourney.
Congratulations Wings.
Your continued high praise and high ranking for Lloyd is questionable. When they play top level teams they are likely to lose. League losses are against SSAC, Sherwood Park and St Albert. In Med Hat only won one game against Kamloops and lost to Peg Warriors, Bisons, BWC and Royals. Maybe HM at best, but not a ranked team.
ReplyDeletethe winner of the storm's pool got a bye directly to the semis after three games. the winner of weyburn and northeasts pool had to play a saturday quarter. when storm and wings met, it was the storm's 4th game and weyburn's 5th. weyburn played a hard game as 4th gamr while storm rested. storm got weyburn tired and they were rested. just a fact.
ReplyDeleteCould someone from SHA please explain how they could sanction a tournament with a set up like this?
ReplyDeleteIts very unfortunate the way the PA tournament was structured. The A finals were truely not an A Finals. No disrespect to the Maniacs, but from watching most of the tournament the best game was without question the Northeast/Weyburn game. Throw Northeast, Weburn, or Prairie Storm on the ice together at any time and you will get superb Bantam AA hockey.
ReplyDeleteIt sure sounds like the Maniacs didnt deserve to be in the finals losing by a whopping 4-2 (including an empty net goal).
ReplyDeleteCalgary Bisons only an honorable mention...?
ReplyDeleteSwift current #4(4-7-1), and melville #3(5-4-0)?
ReplyDeletereally have to question your thought process here 9:01, a.375 win percentage team is fourth in the provnce???
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteIt sure sounds like the Maniacs didnt deserve to be in the finals losing by a whopping 4-2 (including an empty net goal).
Then I guess we will never really find how good the Maniacs are. Maniacs, like the other Saskatoon teams, are part of the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association and have been denied an opportunity to compete at the provincial level. So when comments do appear about the top teams in Saskatchewan do Saskatoon teams carry any weight?
Becareful. Saskatoon wasnt denied anything, they chose not to oompete. Nor will they be able to for 2 years after this.
ReplyDeleteWho won seafair nswc
ReplyDeleteNSWC won 3-1...Seafair up 1-0 in first then NSWC scored 3 goals (last one was a bit of a bad bounce). NSWC did have territorial advantage throughout game but fair number of shots from perimeter although NSWC did did deserve the win. Good game...
ReplyDeleteTo whomever it was that thought Swift Current with a record of 4-7-1 was 4th in the South division of the SBAAHL with there silly ranking may like to know, they had a close one today with Prarie Storm! Ya, they got beaten narrowly 9 - 1. Maybe throw 4th to last in a hat now!!! And to Storm doubters, todays win should aknowledge the Storm can at the very least compete at St. Albert!!!!
ReplyDeleteon whoever put up those top teams for saskatchewan. swift current is nowhere near up there. there golatending is weak and have minimal options for defence. there defence are slow and quite weak. the forwards arent creative or good with puck handling. they are not a team that is up in the top 10
ReplyDelete