WEHP is proud to announce this morning the weekly western Canada top 10 team rankings.
1. BWC Bruins (9-0-2) - Coming off a huge tournament championship in Medicine Hat which included wins over NSWC, POE, Bisons and Lloydminster.
2. NSWC Winterhawks (7-1-1) - Lost in the final to BWC but defeated them in Chilliwack and have made two major finals already.
3. POE (5-0-0) - Haven't made a major tournament final as of yet. Until that happens, they can't be placed higher than 3rd. Lost to BWC twice 5-2 (CHWK) and 9-6 (MH).
4. SSAC Southgate Lions (13-1-2) - Have dominated the AMBHL but losses to NSWC and POE in Medicine Hat cement them here for now.
5. Semiahmoo Ravens (8-2-1) - Only two league losses have come to BWC. Lost to the Bisons and St. Albert in Med Hat which is concerning but did beat 6th ranked Royals.
6. Calgary Royals (12-1-2) - Not the most excited team but win games with goaltending and defense. Beat Lloydminster in Med Hat. Have allowed just 28 goals in 15 league games. Tops by far.
7. Lloydminster Heat (13-2-1) - They had a hot and cold Med Hat tournament as did many of the teams their. Lost barely to BWC 7-6 but then lost to the Bisons.
8. Cloverdale Colts (5-3-1) - Coming off a Abbotsford tournament win. Were not invited to Medicine Hat. Tyler Soy has returned which means a lot to this team. League losses to BWC, NSWC and Seafair.
9. Calgary Bisons (10-4-2) - Have had a couple concerning losses in league play, thus the drop in the rankings. Made the semi finals in Med Hat. Beat Semi and Lloyd in Med Hat.
10. Sherwood Park (11-2-2) - Have been lights out in league play, going undefeated in the past 8. Feature a tough defense.
Honorable Mentions
St. Albert Sabres - AMBHL
Balgonie Prairie Storm - SBAAHL
North East Wolfpack - SBAAHL
OHA - OMAHA
Winnipeg Monarchs - WPG AAA
36 comments:
Winnipeg Monarchs are really settling into a groove, beating the defending league champs two games in a row 5-3 and 6-2. If they clean up their defensive end they will have no trouble being the team to beat for the rest of the year as they have no problem scoring.
Did you forget the words "in Manitoba"?
NSWC getting some love at number 2
Be nice to see Poe play North Shore
Cloverdale is higher than the Bisons, doesn't surprise me. The Colts have been on fire lately winning the Kamloops and Abbotsford Tourneys. They had an upsetting loss to Seafair, 6-5. But recovered in their next 2 season games beating Chilliwack, 14-2 and Mission, 6-0.
Its deplorable that you are swearing in a kids hockey forum that shouldnt allow comments in the first place. Alberta/BC hockey is deeper and stronger , they are bigger provinces. Please finally shut down the comments. I am from Sask by the way.
December 1, 2011 6:30 AM
You are so correct, for example P Storm are undefeated in league play and only given up about 1.5 goals per game. Also their strength of schedule is second to none, over half their league games have been against those powerhouse teams a few miles to the west. Based on their undefeated record, solid goals against avg. and SOS, they will certainly show everyone how deserving they are in St. A. The Sk inferiority complex will not stop this team, Be the little engine who could. .....Just deplorable...
Bisons outplayed Royals big time last night. Bisons won 4-2. Royals cant sustain top spot with their lack of scoring. Goaltending suspect last night (Sawchenko)
Has PS played any of these 14 teams listed ? To give them some balance to where they should be placed ?
I am just asking, From what people say here they are a very good team.
But all of these teams listed have played against each other to show a degree of prove of where they belong.
Can't wait for the POE NSWC game, that should be a good one. Bisons loose when their back up is in, he has 5.26 gaa and is 6-5-1, the other goalie is 11-3-1 with 2.91 gaa according to their web site. Burnaby should be # 1, their p.p is deadly. I'm looking forward to watching Cloverdale in St.Albert tourney. St.Albert gave themselves a pretty easy pool, but that's to be expected
Have watched the bisons play a few times now. They are a great team when they want to be. Then, other nights they aren't very good. Go from losing to okotoks, to beating royals all in one week. If they can ever find consistency, they'll be really good down the stretch.
December 1, 2011 9:10 AM
I just hope the P.Storm team doesn't come up against a physical team or teams because they will be done, they don't like contact and avoid it at all possible costs. They are a good team no doubt, they just shy away from the physical play.
That list is the truth right now. Sk & MB teams will have to prove themselves vs. BC, AB. So far, they haven't.
We will see how good Cloverdale is when they play BWC, NSWC, SEMI Remember NSWC 10-1 over Clov!!!
They beat Mission 6-0 Mission had 11 skaters(3 key players out 2 top scorers and a def)...and they were 2-0 going into third. Clov is good but I am not sold they are deep enough. Time will tell just one persons opinion!
The Bisons struggle with consistency and it is well known that they have probably the worst defense in southern alberta - if not the entire league. From what I have seen, the talent seems to be there, but it is either a complete lack of hockey sense or perhaps a lack of defensive coaching / know-how that results in the countless turnovers, odd-man rushes, and breakaways the Bisons give up. They cannot continue to do this and hope to be successful.
On that note, the Bisons have a very good goaltender (Thompson) who has been a key component in MANY of the Bisons wins so far, and last night was no exception. Last night, he played another solid game and stopped a penalty shot in the 3rd with the score 4-2; which had a huge bearing on the Bison's vistory as the Royals had the heat turned up and seemed to play the majority of the period in the Bison's end. He doesn't seem to get any recognition here though, but this kid faces a lot of quality shots and consistently rises to the occasion giving his team wins, which is what goaltending is all about. I'm willing to bet the real scouts are on to this kid though.
The Bisons have proven they can beat some of the higher ranked teams, as evidenced by their results in Medicine Hat. However at the same time, they have also proven they can turn around and easily lose to a bottom placed team.
For them to be successful in St. Albert and beyond:
1) Their D has to improve and stop turning over the puck and giving up odd-man rushes / breakways. Quick outlet passes are a rarity with the Bisons.
2) They need secondary scoring. The team can't rely on their top line of Merkley, Smhyr, and Olson all the time. It is rare for anyone else to score on this team. Other than Merkley, Shymr, and Olson, there are no other Bisons even making the league's top 50 scorers.
3) The top line needs to play as a line. For a while, Merkely and Shmyr were neck and neck with Estephan, however he now has a 9 point lead over Merkley, and 12 points over Shmyr. Estephan plays a team game, and isn't afraid to make a pass. Unless Merkley, Shmyr, and Olson figure this out, they can only watch as Estephan continues to pull away from them in the scoring race. No room for individual play at this level.
4) They need a powerplay. Recognizing the very strong D of the Royals, last night the Bisons had probably 7 powerplays, and I don't think they scored a single PP goal. It appears as though there is no structure, but just a freewheeling attack, which doesn't work against a solid defensive team.
5) Thompson needs to continue to play solid. The team does not have the depth to outgun their opponents if he is having an off game, and without strong goaltending, the Bison's don't have a hope. The Bison's backup goaltending is questionable, at best.
It was a good game last night between the top two teams in Calgary, although I was not surprised the Bisons got the win. The Bisons, when firing on all cylinders, should probably be in the #5 spot on your ranking.
The Royals are waaaay overrated, and so is their goaltending. Medicine Hat proved that and after St. Albert, maybe you will realize that and adjust your rankings.
Cloverdale racked up 56 Shots against Mission last night, and they had about 10-20 shots that either missed the Net or hit the Post. Mission had their 1 and only key player out. Cloverdale has outscored Mission, 24-7 in 4 games between the 2. Cloverdale is a really good team, im very surprised they arent higher in the Rankings. NSWC beat Cloverdale but Maggio the Goaltender had a bad game. Cloverdale can beat Semiamhoo, the record between those 2 teams this year is 1-1-1.
Cheema is and should be Cloverdale's starter. Maggio let in 10 against POE and then another 10 against North Shore.
seafair has a killer pk and was able to beat cloverdale, tie bwc 1-1 and now they have tied semiamoo 5-5 with questionable reffing. They should at least be honorable mentions.
How is there no acknowledgement of the NWCAA BRONKS, i've got out to a couple of there games, probably the best team i've seen from lines 1 to 4 and there defensemen are solid, and there to goalies are unreal. I went to the game were they smashed the bisons 6-1 very disappointed that they didn't get the invite to St. Albert or a mention on here
Seafair last 3 games... 6-5 win over Clover, 1-1 tie vs BWC, 5-5 tie vs Semi... and get bumped off honourable mention list.
Im not a huge Royals fan (boring hockey), but going 12-2-2 (were 12-1-2 before last loss) is not by accident. Simple hard working team rewarded for defensive play. Unusual that a top bantam team is very low scoring, but I wouldnt hate on them for not being your typical "10 goal a game" top Bantam team. This said, they have work to do, like all other teams. Im first to admit that I like seing the high scoring games far more.
The Bisons have beat everyone in the south, Semi and Lloyd--brutal powerplay and took their best player (Merkley) and moved him 50 ft from the net to the point in order to try and make something happen--Bisons did this 2 years ago with his bother Jay who is a pass first guy---Nick Merekly has never been a playmaker who uses his teammates or trys to make them better--Bisons are in the toughest pool in St.Albert---# 2 and 3 are in there---It's St. Albert's tourney--to be expected because the only chance they have of making a semifinal is by engineering the draw
Its unfortunate that draw-fixing still happens at this level, but that's nothing new for Edmonton teams. St. Albert's draw is obviously "engineered" in their favour.
Curious to see if the refereeing will also be as biased towards the Edmonton teams as it has consitently been in the past.
Seafair has awesome coaching. They match lines and get the best out of their players.
December 1, 2011 9:46 PM most be a goalie parent - would say you are incorrect with this comment Maggio and Cheema rank equally and deserve the same respect... Could say more but comments like this just do not deserve a debate.
Bisons should be ranked 5th after beating the 5th, 6th and 7th placed teams and making it to the top 4 teams in Med Hat.
The Bisons defence is not as bad as people think. Forrest, Lester, Krabben, and Walker are all skilled and reliable D men. It's only when the back up goaltending is in net when the GAA goes up. But when Thompson is in net, the Bisons defence can play as good as any other team with the help of their powerful offence.
How is there no acknowledgement of the NWCAA BRONKS???
Well they beat Bison once and Airdrie once, but who else?
NE Wolfpack may be the first team to come out of Sask with real depth. Good goal-tending, strong D and a whole team committed to shutting down the shallower teams.
I'm looking forward to seeing how deep into their lineup the real scouts are watching.
I see the rankings and here about so many teams, I'm just wondering if someone could clear something up for me. How many AAA Bantam teams are in B.C. ? Alberta seems to have 22 Looking at there ambhl.ab.ca web site. I am proud to be from Saskatchewan and know that we have 24 AA Bantam teams which we consider our top level. In a province with a population of about 250,00 less than Calgary alone and much less than a quarter the size of B.C. Prairie Storm will not win in St. Albert nor should they, but they will compete!
just watched Red Deer beat Bisons-at least 2 goals and probably 3 the D fault giving away odd man rushes and breakaways-goalie had to be better today to give the Bisons a chance-no pp at all best player on either team has no idea what to do on the blue line on the pp-looks like they have no QB back there and less coaching to show them what to do-pain to watch them win against Royal and lose to Red Deer who should never beat them-which team shows up tomorrow against Medicine Hat? Now we get to drive home in the blinding snow storm-drove up to Red Deer for this?
Response to Dec 1st, 11:52. Cloverdale 8 Abbotsford 1. Scoring well spread around and a solid TEAM effort from the D-Men, Goaltending and Forwards. BWC 4 Abbotsford 2. Should be a big game this Wednesday night Clov VS BWC.
OHA obliterated Kelowna 10 to 0 Saturday. This team will be scary good in second half.
December 1, 2011 9:46 PM and December 1, 2011 3:52 PM
Cloverdale in the loses to POE (Chilliwack) and NSWC (Tiering) were without Soy, for both games and missing a couple of other with injuries if I am not mistaken. Last I checked it is a TEAM Game. In the POE game Cloverdale kept it close into the 2nd period,(2nd game of the day) - conditioning might of played a part in the game as the team started to colaspe and loose their legs and energy leaving their goalie hanging (9-2). North Shore game 1st period was not too bad, but with the heavy forchecking by NSWC it wore down Cloverdale who had problems handling this type of play and once again started to colaspe making poor decisions in the Defensive Zone - no team will win only scoring 1-2 goals at this level - left the goalie hanging more than once in this game (Cloverdales average goals a game is around 6 and 3 against)- Once again no Soy and Seto had been struggling without the presence of Soy on his line - The whole team did not show up to play. Goaltending could have been better but they would not have won. With a healthy team we will see how things progress and if both goalies our more consistant and Cloverdale reduces giveaways - who knows.
I am from Saskatchewan and I will admit that hands down, BC and Alberta have stronger "teams" this year. But... and this is a big but... Saskatchewan will hands down produce the most "hockey players" per capita as it does every year.
Maybe Seafai could get on the top 15 list with their 1-1 tie game against BWC, 6-5 win over Cloverdale, another 5-5 tie with Semiahmoo, and Seafairs victory over POE's A1 team 2-1.
Seafairs team is playing well, Coached Great and is made up of local city kids (no imports-and not a private club), Seafair roster is also made up of 7 first year players that seem to be contributing in their own ways
Maybe Seafair has now earned the respect for being a +500 team with some of the top teams in this Western Division
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