Hockey Champions

The Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves are the 2008 national midget AAA champions after defeating the Winnepeg Thrashers 6-4 in the 2008 Telus Cup Sunday. The loss in the final game was Winnepeg's first loss in the tournament. In the third place game, the Séminaire St-François Blizzard downed the Calgary Buffaloes 7-4.

The Oakville Blades defeated the Newmarket Hurricanes for the second time in the 2008 Dudley Hewitt Cup to earn the tournament win and a berth in the 2008 RBC Cup. After Newmarket beat the Dryden Ice Dogs 2-1 in overtime in the semi-final game, they found themselves down by four goals early in the final game and couldn't fight back, losing the championship game 6-3. Oakville will be headed to Cornwall for the RBC Cup beginning Saturday.

WHL Final

In the WHL conference finals, the number three seed in each conference defeated the regular season conference winners to earn a spot in the final. The Lethbridge Hurricanes downed the Calgary Hitmen in four games in the Eastern Conference finals while it took all seven games for the Spokane Chiefs to defeat the Tri-City Americans in the Western Conference finals. After playing seven games, five of which went into overtime and three of those were not decided until the second overtime period, over the past twelve days, the Chiefs have only two days to rest and prepare for the WHL finals. Lethbridge finished the regular season with 11 points less than spokane Spokane but did win the only meeting of the season between the two teams. That solo meeting was a 2-1 vicotry for Lethbridge at home in early December. Either team is capable of winning but the Chiefs could tire if the series is extended. This series begins Friday in Spokane.

OHL Final

The Kitchener Rangers and Belleville Bulls face off tonight in game one of the OHL finals. The winner of this series will be awarded the J. Ross Robertson Cup as the top team in the OHL in 2007-2008. This should be an exciting series as both teams have already secured a berth in the national title tournament, the Memorial Cup, so they can focus solely on winning this series.

These two teams finished first and second overall in the regular season and their payoffs have been equally dominant. This excerpt from the article on the OHL website titled "Rogers OHL Championship Series kicks off on Wednesday" shows just how closely matched these two teams are: There isn’t a lot to separate these teams. The Rangers scored 289 goals in the regular season and allowed 174. The Bulls scored 280 and allowed 175. One of them will lose more playoff games in this series than they both have combined to this point. (Kitchener has lost one game in the playoffs...to the Greyhounds in the western conference finals...while Belleville has lost two games...one to Peterborough in the opening round the other to Oshawa in the eastern conference finals).

Around the CHL

As the semi-final series’ are coming to a close now, with five of the six series in the CHL decided, I thought I should write a little something on the subject. In the OHL, both conference finals went five games with the conference leaders of the regular season advancing to the OHL final. In fact, the conference finals consisted of the top two teams from each conference. These series went as expected, if a bit quicker then some would have thought, so I won’t spend any more time on this.

The story of the CHL playoffs so far has got to be the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. They have played three series so far and have played the minimum twelve games. Talk about a team getting on a roll when it matters. In the first round they swept the Val d’Or Foreurs; the second round was the Rimouski Oceanic that had the misfortune of facing the Huskies and dusted off their golf clubs after the fourth game; and in the semi-final round, the Huskies made quick work of the Saint John SeaDogs. They have a tough task in the QMJHL finals as they are up against the Gatineau Olympiques who have lost only two games this playoff year and has the top scorer in the playoffs in Claude Giroux. Can the Olympiques tame the Huskies or will the Huskies sweep their way to the Memorial Cup? We will have to wait until next week to find out.

Out in the west, they are seeing perhaps the best series of the playoffs so far as the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs are tied at two games each. Three of the four games have gone into overtime with two of them going into double overtime. There have been only nine goals scored in the series with all games being decided by two goals or less. The goaltenders have been stellar as Dustin Tokarski of the Chiefs has shutout the Americans in two games and Chet Pickard has one shutout. The Lethbridge Hurricanes have the luxury of watching this series unfold as they have already advanced to the finals by sweeping the Calgary Hitmen.

2008 OLA Sr B Lacrosse Season

With all my focus being on the Canadian Hockey League's playoffs, I almost forgot about the Major Series Lacrosse and the OLA Sr B lacrosse seasons are quickly approaching. The MSL season begins next month but the Sr B season starts this coming Sunday in Brooklin when the Norwood Nitro takes on the Brooklin Merchants. Game time is 4:00 PM at the Luther Vipond Arena in Brooklin. Next weekend the season really gets going as all six teams combine to play five games. The schedule can be found here.

Two More Shutouts on the Day

Bobby Orr made a brief return to Oshawa last Monday, or at least a trophy named in his honour did, and gave the Generals some inspiration. With the trophy at the GMC, the Generals were able to steal a win from Belleville in the OHL Eastern Conference final series. Belleville came back tonight and jumped all over Oshawa defeating them 11-0 at the Yardmen arena. Leading the Bulls offence was Matt Beleskey with a hat trick and an assist and Adam Perry with two powerplay goals and two assists. Twelve others had at least one point while Mike Murphy stopped 28 shots for the shutout.

I felt the Bulls played a very disciplined hockey game and did not allow Oshawa to sucker them into any foolish penalties. Belleville had just eight minutes on four penalties. Oshawa on the other hand, spent almost half the game in the penalty box with 29 minutes on 14 penalties. Belleville made the most of their chances as they scored six goals with the man advantage.

The Wayne Gretzky trophy was also awarded tonight. It went to the Kitchener Rangers as they shutout the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds 5-0. The game was close heading into the final six minutes of the third but then the Greyhounds got into penalty trouble and allowed Kitchener to score three powerplay goals to put the game out of reach. The usual suspects are seen on the scoresheet for Kitchener with Matt Halischuk on top with two goals. Nazem Kadri had three assists, Justin Azevedo and Yannick Webber had two assists and Nick Spaling had one goal and one assist. Josh Unice was not tested much but was up to the task and stopped all 14 shots to record the third shutout of the day for Canadian hockey goaltenders.

With Kitchener heading to the OHL final, the Eastern Conference champion Belleville Bulls gets a berth in the Memorial Cup next month. Both teams are capable of winning so I expect a great series. I am looking forward to seeing the Rangers play on a bigger ice surface in Belleville too.

A Golden Shutout

Revenge is sweet for team USA in the 2008 IIHF World U18 Hockey Championship as they defeated Sweden 6-3 for the bronze medal. Sweden was the only team that beat USA in the preliminary round. Sure it wasn’t the medal they were hoping for upon entering this tournament, but they still have to be pleased with their performance nonetheless. They regrouped after their disappointing loss to Russia in the semi-final game to defeat the top team in Group B. USA was lead by Jeremy Morin and Robbie Czarnik who each netted two goals in the win.

The USA loss to Russia and Canada’s win over Sweden in the semi-finals led to the first ever U18 medal game match up between Russia and Canada. In the gold medal game Canada jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period, added two more in the second, and finished the game with an 8-0 victory to win the gold medal. Jake Allen stopped all 29 shots he faced to earn the shutout while seven skaters scored a goal in front of him. Jordan Eberle led Canada in scoring with two goals and one assist. Cody Hodgson also had a three point performance with three assists

In other action, Germany defeated Finland 4-3 on a shorthanded goal with less than a minute to play in the game to earn fifth place overall. Belarus and Denmark have been relegated to the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championship Div I after they finished ninth and tenth respectively.

2008 Allan Cup

After a 3-2 loss to the Shawinigan Xtreme Bionest on opening day, the host Brantford Blast won their next four games to take the 2008 Allan Cup. En route to the cup victory, Brantford defeated the Bentley Generals 5-3, the Whitby Dunlops 7-2, the Dundas Real McCoys 3-2 in overtime, and the Bentley Generals in the Cup final. The 2009 tournament will be played in Steinbach Manitoba.

The Conference Finals

There will be no Memorial Cup repeat this year for the Vancouver Giants as they were defeated four games to two by the Spokane Chiefs in the last quarter final series to be decided in the CHL. Spokane will face the Tri-City Americans in the Western Conference final of the WHL while in the Eastern Conference final, the Calgary Hitmen will face the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Spokane Chiefs finished the 2008 WHL season with 107 points, outdone only by one team, their conference final opponents, the Tri-City Americans who had 108 points. This series has the feel of a seven gamer as the two teams battled each other tough all season. In the twelve games between the two teams, the Americans won seven of them to take the season series. The Americans also outscored the Chiefs by one goal in the season match ups (33-32) but the Chiefs shutout the Americans twice while scoring at least one goal in all twelve games. Three games went into overtime with two of them being decided by a shootout (Tri-City won all three of these games).

The Eastern Conference will also be a tight series as Lethbridge finished three points behind Calgary in the East Division. The six game season series was dominated by Lethbridge five games to one and they outscored Calgary 20-11 in those games. The last three meetings between the two teams were decided by one goal, all going in Lethbridge’s favour. Calgary was also shutout twice by Lethbridge so it would appear that the Hurricanes have the edge in this series.

Moving east into Ontario saw four quarter final series that really were not that close. The conference leaders in the regular season, the Belleville Bulls and the Kitchener Rangers, swept their series while the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds won in five games and the Oshawa Generals won in six games. As a result, the Kitchener Rangers will face the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds in the Western Conference final and the Belleville Bulls will face the Oshawa Generals in the Eastern Conference final.

During the season, Kitchener and the Soo met four times and other than a 5-1 Kitchener win in mid December, the games were closely fought affairs with the first game being decided in a shootout. The remaining two games were decided by two goals or less. The season series ended in a tie with Kitchener winning two games and the Greyhounds winning two games with the Rangers outscoring the Greyhounds 13-11. This conference final series does have the potential to go the distance but I feel that Kitchener is playing extremely well right now and has such a well balanced offensive attack that they will take the series before the seventh game. I was way off in my previous predictions so I will leave this one really general.

Unlike the western side of the OHL, the Belleville Bulls were clear winners of their season series with the Oshawa Generals, winning five of eight. Perhaps the most alarming stat from the regular season for a Generals fan is the dominance Belleville showed over Oshawa in the last half of the season. Oshawa was unable to defeat the Bulls in all four contests losing two of them by five or more goals. Those two games were a big reason why Belleville outscored Oshawa 37-28 in head-to-head match ups during the season. The two overtime games between the two went in the Bulls favour. Oshawa has picked up their game during the playoffs and might have found their steam during the last series with Niagara so they will not go easily for the Bulls. This series might come down to who wants it more and I get the feeling that Belleville will outlast the Gens for the series win in seven.

Finally, in the QMJHL, the Halifax Mooseheads are set to take on the Gatineau Olympiques in the one semi-final series while the top team in the regular season, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, will take on the Saint John Sea Dogs. Halifax swept the two game season series with Gatineau while Rouyn-Noranda did the same to Saint John.

The conference finals will begin in Ontario tomorrow with both conferences in action. The WHL will get started in Calgary on Thursday while the QMJHL doesn’t start until Friday in Rouyn-Noranda.

Multi-coloured Medals for Canada

Team Canada came up a goal short in the final game of the 2008 IIHF World Women's Hockey Championship and will have to settle for a silver medal. After falling behind 4-1 after two periods to the United States, the Canadians battled back to within a goal in the third but could not complete the comeback and suffered their second loss of the tournament to the Americans. Canada allowed only one goal against in the round robin but their defence and goaltending couldn't repeat in the qualifying round and allowed as many goals against as goals scored (6). Finland defeated Switzerland 4-1 for the bronze medal. Below are the final standings:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Finland
4. Switzerland
5. Sweden
6. Russia
7. Japan
8. China
9. Germany

Kevin Martin's statistics in the world curling championship now includes a gold medal to go along with the silver he won in 1991. After finishing on top of the round robin at 10-1, they were forced into the semi-final game when Scotland stole the page playoff game from them 7-6. In the semi-final game, Norway stole a single point in the tenth end but it was one point too little and Canada won 5-4. The final game saw team Canada to get on the board first by stealing a single point in the second end. The lead was extended to 3-1 by the fifth end break and after a steal in the seventh end and another deuce in the ninth, Canada ran Scotland out of stones in the final end to take the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship on a 6-3 victory.

Gait's Record Falls

Athan Iannucci of the Philadelphia Wings wasted little time in breaking Gary Gait's single season goals record this weekend as he netted six goals Friday night in Philly's 13-10 win over Portland and then tied and surpassed the record Saturday in Minnesota with 3 more. The nine goals gives Athan 63 goals this season so far and he still has two more games to play. At a scoring rate of 4.85 goals per game, he is on pace to score 72 goals this season. In addition to the nine goals Iannucci scored this weekend, he assisted on five others to give him 90 points and the league lead (four points ahead of John Grant Jr).

Two Down, Two to Go in the ‘O’

Last night the Kitchener Rangers put an end to Sarnia Sting’s Memorial Cup hopes with a convincing 6-2 victory in Sarnia. With this series win, Kitchener moves onto the Western Conference final and one step closer to winning the conference and allowing an Eastern Conference team into the Memorial Cup. Kitchener now has to wait and see the opponents as the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds and Guelph Storm continue to battle. The Greyhounds hold a 3-1 series lead and have a chance to advance tonight at home. In the Eastern Conference, the Belleville Bulls swept the Barrie Colts and are awaiting the winner of the Niagara IceDogs / Oshawa Generals series. Oshawa holds also holds a 3-1 series lead and have a chance to advance tomorrow night at home.

The Excitement Builds

As the weekend nears, my excitement grows and not just because I get two days away from the hell I call work. This weekend will mark the first, of what I hope to be many, road trips of the 2008 year for me. Sure I’ve been to Buffalo four or five times already this year but that was more like an outing than a real road trip. The HSBC arena is my home during the National Lacrosse League season so a drive there is commonplace and does not get the road trip status, although it is still a lengthy drive.

My road trip begins Saturday when I head to Rochester with my sister to see the baby Jays take on the Red Wings followed by a great meal at Main Street Bar & Grill and ending with the Buffalo Bandits versus the Rochester Knighthawks lacrosse game. Although I am only driving about 30 minutes further than Buffalo, I see this trip as a real road trip. Perhaps my view arises because I will be seeing two sporting events (depending on the weather) or maybe it arises because I don’t go to Rochester very often. Maybe it’s because this trip signifies the beginning of road tripping weather, I don’t know. But whatever the reason is I can’t wait to leave, even though the drive for me will start at 7:30 AM.

Even with my excitement boiling over, I am also a bit nervous about the lacrosse game. You see, every time I traveled in the past to the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial to watch a game, the team I cheer for has always come out on the losing side. To make things worse, Rochester is fighting for a playoff spot and needs this win badly. With only three games to go, they will be playing with desperation. The Bandits have perhaps the best team in the league when they play well but can look like the worst team when they don’t. No matter the outcome of either sporting event, I think this will be a fun trip. Go Chiefs! And Go Bandits!

Where's the Support?

As I was sitting at my desk preparing to start the day, I got to thinking that the people of San Jose are missing out on a good thing by not attending the Stealth games at the HP Pavilion. Averaging a mere 3,354 fans a game, they have the lowest attendance in the league and it does not do them justice. Despite the low attendance at home, the San Jose Stealth is a half game out of first place in the West division with a chance to clinch a playoff spot this weekend at home against the Edmonton Rush. They have the league’s leading scorer in Jeff Zywicki with 43 goals and 37 assists for 80 points. To help out Zywicki up front are Colin Doyle (one of the premier players in the league and a true team leader), currently tied for seventh in league scoring, Luke Wiles, Cam Sedgewick, Gary Rosyski (who has played in only 9 games so far this season) and the rookie Frank Resetarits. Rookie goaltender Aaron Bold has stepped up and performed well when called upon in the backup role for Anthony Cosmo.

This team has performed well the past two seasons, making it to the division finals last year in their first playoff appearance since 2004, and is now on the verge of making the playoffs in back to back years for the first time in franchise history. With the dedication these players show throughout the season and their recent successes, the Stealth deserve the respect and adulation of the masses. It is time for the people of San Jose to give the players that respect and go to the HP Pavilion to support their team. After all, in the ever changing landscape of the NLL, one never knows just how long the Stealth will stay in San Jose and once they leave, I doubt they or the league will return.

Kitchener Rangers

It seems I may have underestimated the Rangers potent offence. They have taken a commanding 3-0 series lead in the quarter final round against the Sarnia Sting and other than a three overtime affair in game two, the games have not been close. Perhaps the most impressive stat from the series is the penalty kill of Kitchener that is operating at an astounding 95.45%. They have only allowed one goal in their 22 penalty kill situations this series. If Kitchener keeps shutting down other teams power plays and continues to get offensive support from their entire line-up, they may find themselves with the OHL trophy and perhaps even the Memorial Cup when the dust has settled on the season.

Iannucci Closes in on NLL Record

A few short years (3 years to be exact) after one of lacrosse’s greatest players retired from the National Lacrosse League, Gary Gait’s single season goal scoring record is on the verge of being shattered. In his first twos games of the season, Athan Iannucci of the Philadelphia Wings scored five goals in each and he hasn’t slowed down since then, with the exception of a March 29 game where he scored a mere three goals in a loss to Rochester.

Through his first seven games, Athan was averaging 5 goals per game; during his last five that dropped to 3.8 goals per game. His season rate is still an impressive 4.5 goals per game. He scored six goals in a game twice so far this season and five goals per game three times. In total, Athan has netted 54 goals in his twelve games this season leaving him seven goals shy of Gait’s record of 61 set in 2003 (when Gait was with Colorado) with four games remaining. At the explosive rate Iannucci is putting balls past goaltenders, he could tie and perhaps even break the record this Saturday in Minnesota. If he doesn’t do it then, he will get the chance to reward the Philadelphia fans by breaking the record at home on April 19th against the New York Titans.

Canadian Ringette Champions

There were three champions crowned at the 2008 Canadian Ringette Championships, the juniors, the Belle and the National Ringette League champions. At the junior level, the perfect host St Albert team (10-0-0-0) beat Ontario (8-3-0-0) 6-5 on a pair of goals by Deja Leonard and Danielle Pronovost. It appears that Ontario defeated Alberta (7-3-0-0) in a semi-final game 4-2 to advance to the finals. The team from Ontario (8-0-1-0) won the Belle championship by defeating Manitoba (7-3-0-0) 3-1. Allison Gabel netted two goals for the Ontario side while Carrie Nash scored the lone marker for Manitoba. Manitoba defeated Alberta (6-2-1-0) 3-2 in the semi-final game to reach the final. In the National Ringette League championship, the Montreal Mission (6-1-1-0), winners of Pool B, were defeated by the Cambridge Turbos (7-2-0-0) in the championship game after the Turbos downed the Calgary Rath (6-2-0-0) 6-4 to decide the Pool A winner.

Another Hockey Gold for Canada

The 2008 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship concluded Saturday when Team Canada downed Team Norway 3-2 in the gold medal game on a goal with just nine seconds left in the game. Canada opened the tournament with a huge 11-0 win over the team from Italy. They continued their winning ways through the round robin as they defeated Germany 6-3, Japan 3-1, the host USA 3-0, and Norway 5-1 to claim top spot in the tourney and a gold medal game appearance. Norway's only loss in the round robin was the 5-1 game against Canada. They defeated Germany 1-0, Japan 5-1, USA 3-2, and Italy 6-1 in their other round robin games to finish second.

Japan claimed third place in the round robin and a bronze medal game appearance after posting a 3-2 round robin record. Other then their losses to Norway and Canada, Japan defeated USA 5-1, Germany 3-2, and Italy 4-1. The host USA completed the playoff teams as they finished the round robin in fourth place with a 2-3 record. Their two wins were a 4-0 game against Italy and a 5-1 game against Germany on the final day to earn a spot in the bronze medal game. Although they may have been disappointed with their fourth place finish, Team USA gave their home crowd something to cheer about when they defeated Japan 3-1 to win the bronze medal.

Germany won the fifth place game by defeating Italy 6-1 after going winless in the round robin. Italy's only win in the tournament came against the Germans in a 4-3 shootout game last Tuesday.

CHL Quarter Final Update

The quarter final round in the three leagues of the CHL are heading into the third games for most series and there are several close matchups. Each of the four series in the western league are tied at one game apiece while in the Quebec league, all four higher seeds have jumped out to a 2-0 series lead. The OHL is a little less straight forward as all four series are at different stages so each series has a different record. Belleville is up 3-0 and looking to sweep tomorrow night in Barrie; Kitchener won a 3OT affair Saturday night to take a 2-0 series lead on (Steven Stamkos) the Sarnia Sting; Oshawa beat Niagara at home last night to take a 2-1 series lead; and Guelph and Sault Ste Marie are tied 1-1.

News of Note from the OHL – Playoff Edition

In day two of the quarterfinals of the OHL playoffs, Oshawa found their scoring touch and pounded Niagara 6-1. Brett Parnham led the charge with two goals while Brett MacLean opened the scoring in the first with his only goal of the game and Dale Mitchell scored the eventual game winner late in the first for his lone goal of the game. John Tavares and Patrick Asselin rounded out the scoring for Oshawa. The single goal for Niagara came off the stick of Alex Pietrangelo in the third.

In the other two games, Belleville opened the scoring 12:56 into the first period and never trailed in their 5-1 win over Barrie. That win gave the Bulls a 2-0 series lead. In the Soo, Drew Doughty scored the game tying goal in the third period before Guelph went on to score three more times to open the series with a 4-1 win.

I Expected More Than This

Last night I had the privilege of attending my first Leafs game at the ACC and was extremely disappointed. I expected the fans to be a bit more, how should I say it, alive. Even Blue Jays fans are louder than the blue and white faithful were last night but in their defense, they really didn’t have much to cheer for. Despite the Leafs being out of the playoffs, they were playing their arch rivals, the Ottawa senators, and even had a chance to knock the Sens out of the playoffs so I was expecting some sort of emotion from the team and a better showing from the fans.

The game started like the “Battle of Who Could Care Less” (Ben Folds Five) and the most excitement was generated by a hit to the head to Alfredsson. (Just an aside: since the NHL has no recourse for head hits, that hit was within the rules of the game and was a great hit). The true class of the Leafs fans showed itself after that hit. Alfredsson was knocked down and seemed to be in a lot of pain while the Leafs fans cheered, louder than when the Leafs scored their first goal. Cheering when someone gets hurt playing a sport is just not something that should ever be done. At that moment, when Alfredsson was writhing on the ice, there should not have been any cheers. That moment quickly ended when Alfredsson jumped to his feet as if waking up from a nap and leisurely glided to the bench. This is when the fans should have got on him, and many did. I am an anti-Leaf fan but even I was unimpressed with the theatrics put on by Alfie. Unfortunately, the way the game is officiated these days that type of shenanigans frequently results in a penalty for the offending team.

After the Alfredsson incident, the rest of the first period became more like a roller derby on skates. To the benefit of the game, the buffoonery climaxed at the end of the period and the teams, or at least the one team, decided to play hockey in the second period and for most of the remainder of the game. The Leafs were only going through the motions, finishing up the second to last game of another dismal season, and never really threatened the Sens. 8-2 Senators win.

I would like to get to a Leafs game that means something before I really cement my opinions of the Leafs game experience because that game did not elicit the best effort of the fans. If the game meant something and the fans were into in (if the players were even into it), then maybe this would have been an enjoyable experience. As it was, the game was just an expensive night out with my wife and son in cramped quarters with 18,000 strangers.

Round 2 Begins

The CHL second round of playoffs began last night in Belleville where the Bulls dominated the Colts in a 7-2 win. Two more series begin tonight, including game 2 of the Bulls/Colts series. The Guelph Storm open up in Sault Ste Marie at 7:00PM and the IceDogs travel to Oshawa to open their series against the Generals. That leaves the only series yet to commence is the highly anticipated Sarnia Sting/Kitchener Rangers series (that begins tomorrow night in Kitchener). Both the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League start tomorrow night with all four of their respective series.

Here are the series in the WHL and QMJHL:

WHL
Calgary Hitmen vs Swift Current Broncos
Kootenay Ice vs Lethbridge Hurricanes
Spokane Chiefs vs Vancouver Giants
Tri-City Americans vs Seattle Thunderbirds

QMJHL
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Halifax Mooseheads
Rimouski Oceanic vs Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Quebec Remparts vs Gatineau Olympiques
Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs