B.C. BANTAM PROVINCIALS
Kamloops Jardine Blazers
Possibly the favorites going in to the tournament have had great success this year in several major tournaments in BC and Alberta. Key players to watch for include Ryan Gropp and Chad Butcher on Forward, and Joe Hicketts on Defense. Kamloops also has decent goaltending, and more than one line that can score. Kamloops are a balanced team overall with good speed and finish. This team has found a way to win against some of the top teams and will not go away easily.
KINGPIN: Joe Hicketts - The diminutive defenseman led all BC bantam defenseman in +/- with an outstanding +104. Hicketts will block shots, hit everyone in his wake and also put up 21-44-65 in just 55 games.
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins
Best League play record in BC going undefeated this year. BWC plays the best overall team game of any of these teams, and are deadly on the power play. Balanced team with a few standout players but overall just great team systems play. Lead by 97’s Barzal and Chris Seto, along with 96’s Dombrovsky, Cam Seto, Del Grosso. Look for a challenge from BWC for top spot. They are very consistent, great power- play, and a patient team. With good discipline and special teams that could be the difference for BWC. This team doesn’t take many penalties.
Kingpin: Matt Barzal – Since a young age, Matt has drawn natural comparisons to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Both have had huge minor hockey careers with with the BWC program and both play a similar style. It will be interesting to see if Barzal can lead his team to the championship. Odds are likely he’ll go #1 in 2012.
Abbotsford Hawks
Improving all year long, Abby recently upset BWC 5-2 at the final Four to earn a spot through the front door of Provincials. Potentially the best set of forwards at the Provincials, Abby has a combination of speed and enough grit to play with anyone. Lead by 96 Forwards Jake Virtanen, Skapski, Bamford, and others this group will contend with BWC and Kamloops for top spot. Abby is not as strong overall on the back end but has seen steady improvement on D and in goal. They have the potential to outscore any of the teams at the tournament which may be what they need to do to win the Provincials. They have a great Power play, but they also must keep out of the penalty box.
Kingpin: Jake Virtanen – Jake is a phenominal skater who loves to take the body and play with an edge. His stick handling abilities and hockey sense will be on display this weekend. Virtanen was the leading scorer in the PCAHA this season with 62-45-107 in just 55 games. Jake also accumulated 124 pims and was a +64.
Cloverdale Colts
With a 6-4 win over Seafair at the final 4 Cloverdale earned a spot in the Provincials and will provide a challenge to the top three of Abby, BWC, and Kamloops. These teams will have to keep in mind that Cloverdale has had wins against Kamloops and Abby this year, but not against BWC. A combination of a strong Defense and Goaltending Lead by Riley Stadel on D, this fairly speedy team has to find a way to capitalize on opportunities and bury their chances to advance. Has a chance against any of these teams 5 on 5, and will potentially upset one or two of the top three but they need to stay out of the penalty box (atop the penalty minutes in PCAHA Tier 1 with an average of 16 minutes per game). The team also requires more consistent scoring to challenge ABBY/BWC/Kamloops for top spot.
Kinpin: Riley Stadel – Riley is an offensive defenseman who makes a tremendous first pass, sees the ice well and has an above average shot. Lately he’s developed a good two-way game and will be heavily relied upon in this tournament.
Team Ranking by position (Survey)
Offence
1. Kamloops Jardine Blazers
2. Abbotsford Hawks
3. BWC Bruins
4. Nanaimo Clippers
5. Cloverdale Colts
6. Prince George Cougars
Defense
1. BWC Bruins
2. Kamloops Jardine Blazers
3. Cloverdale Colts
4. Abbotsford Hawks
5. Nanaimo Clippers
6. Prince George Cougars
Goaltending
1. Cloverdale Colts
2. Kamloops Jardine Blazers
3. BWC Bruins
4. Prince George Cougars
5. Abbotsford Hawks
6. Nanaimo Clippers
20 comments:
To all posters:
The blog portion of this system is supposed to be a fun, entertaining addition to the overall product.
I WILL NOT allow any such posts that contain what I consider to be slanderous remarks, putting down the blogger, parents, players or anyone else.
If you want to stick to hockey related topics and talk, then your posts will be added. If the certain few continue to try to post remarks such as the one's that aren't posted here and you people know who you are. I will report them to the webmaster.
regards,
WEHP
Should be a great tournament. Lots of great players to watch on all of these teams. Great game to start the provincials with BWC vs Abbotsford.
I can't wait for u16!! BC is going to have a great squad - The team to beat for sure!
prince george and nanaimo do not deserve to be participating in provincials. There are much more deserving teams in B.C.
it looks like there are quite a few goalies trying out for BC U16
1:10 pm you are right as far as Nanaimo and PG being in the Provincial's when it comes to the team(s) ability. However, in most sports in Canada and the USA these State and Provincial Finals are somewhat based on geopraphy, not saying it is right, but it will probaly never change.
In Alberta the AA Provincial rules are absurd, many kids regradless of their teams ability and/or record have no chance of going to Provincials. I'm commenting on Rural hockey; example how the Okotoks and Foothills kids are carded. It is a shame.
Silly comments about PG and Nan. What do you want a 4 team provincial ? Good luck PG hopefully you can pull an upset again like Abby tourney.
Every year in BC it is PCAHA final 4 that is the tightest best hockey. One team from outside PCAHA will challenge the others will not. This year kamloops, last year penticton etc..
there should be 4 teams from pcaha. Sefair and surrey should be in instead of nanaimo and PG. That would make comptetition better but again, still going to be a fantastic tourney.
i think the goalie survey was interesting. When forbes is on his game, he is near impossible to beat. But like i said "IF". he has proved to be inconsistent, but has pulled huge upset like beating kamloops and abby this season.
WEHP.Just wondering if stats on Virtainnen are correct.If so,how are you aware he lead PCAHA?Have obtained all the teams stats?
yes, i agree with the stats. Can you post the top ten leaders and where did barzel and sandhu finsh? i wanna know everyones's stats.
I would love to post all the stats on here. However, my managers and coaches would be rather upset if I did. I can tell you that both Sandhu and Barzal didn't have as much as Virtanen.
Tyler Sandhu had 46-45-91 14pim in 44 games.
Matt Barzal had 48-50-98 10 pim in 45 games. I think Chris Seto, another 97 born was close.
Chad Butcher from Kamloops had more points than all of those players but played in a different league. However, they played only about 16 league games. He had 63-75-138 in 57 games and was a +111.
Ryan Gropp had 59-59-118 in 54 games. Those were some of the highest totals.
Let's get some of you hockey fans to start picking the U16 on line for fun....
Butcher, Gropp, Vertanin
Sandhu, Bolduc, Mennear
Seto, Stadel, Adamson
Rasovic, _______, _________
Hicketts, Thrower,
Meek, Dosange
Cochrane, Mayo
_______, _________
Fourth Lines...????
You'll need to be drafted to get an invite to final u-16 camp FYI.
that is a joke, first off, stadel aint now fwd, he is a dman. the dmen should be thrower, hicketts, dosanjh, stadel, baron and one other.
Im not so sure about P.G... we havnt seen them play in a while and over christmas p.g. placed second in edmonton, beating leduc aaa 6-2 in round robin.. wildcard anyone?
The stats you would have to question how accurate as there are no published stats for teams from coast. You can see how many games teams have played. Abbotsord for example would have played in or around 55 plus games Kamloops stats are on their team web page including league and tourrny games. Kamloops has a record of 19 wins 5 losses and 1 tie in tourneys in chilliwack medicine hat and burnaby x mas and st Albert. Winning medicine hat and st Albert .
U don't seem to realize by dropping some names and not others is putting down players
Maybe Mr. Western elite would post his top 12 Forwards and 6 D and 2 goalies from BC in order from his rankings. Would stop the arguing.
3-2 Abby game 1
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