Hard to see Flyers coming back
The world of junior hockey is often a volatile one, with players being shipped off to far-flung locales, and teams sometimes moving to different cities during the long off-season.
But a franchise shuttering their doors just a couple of weeks into a new campaign? That seems completely absurd doesn’t it?
That strange sounding scenario actually occurred in the SIJHL a couple of weeks ago, as the Sioux Lookout Flyers announced on Oct. 4 that they would be suspending operations for the remainder of the 2012/13 season.
In the press release that team posted on their website that day, the club said that “due to a series of unfortunate events our organization has found itself in a position in which it is unable to continue in a competitive and professional manner for the season.”
Prior to that incident occurring, the team hadn’t played a game since an 8-2 loss to the Thunder Bay North Stars on Sept. 25, with suspensions and injuries beings cited at the time as the reason for the cancellation of three games.
However, in an interview with the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, former head coach and general manager Derek Levanen shed light on what was happening with the club before he resigned earlier in the week.
“We were getting there. We had six more guys from North Bay who were getting there,” he said to Reuben Villagracia.
The interview also noted that AHL defender Ryan Parent was helping to run the hockey operation and practices in town before Levanen was to move to Sioux Lookout, but he could not commit full-time.
(For those interested the full article can be read here: http://www.chroniclejournal.
While there has been so many different things that have been said about what has happened to the Flyers, and the club has stated that they will come back next year, optically things don’t look that good.
This is a team that nearly bit the dust in the spring of 2011 due to financial issues, and I’m not fully convinced that the Flyers will be back in when the 2013/14 season begins.
And for a league that has seen many teams come and go over the last decade, it will be quite hard to try and bring something back when it disappears.
No clear-cut favourite in SIJHL yet
Although the league has dropped down to six teams for the remainder of the 2012/13 campaign, the level of play of the SIJHL so far this season has once again been quite entertaining.
Whether it be a high-scoring affair, a goaltending clinic, or an overtime thriller, there has been something for everyone as the first month of play draws to a close.
However, the one drawback in my opinion to all of this exciting play so far is that it’s getting quite hard to figure who will be the team to beat over the rest of the season in the race for the Bill Salonen Cup.
Other than the winless Duluth Clydesdales, the rest of the league is only separated by eight points heading into tomorrow’s game between the Minnesota Iron Rangers and the Fort Frances Lakers, which proves once again that parity is reigning supreme.
The aforementioned tilt between Iron Rangers and the Lakers at the Ice for Kids Arena tomorrow night is intriguing on a number of levels, especially since it’s the first time since both teams have matched wits since the Iron Rangers took a 3-2 win in Hoyt Lakes back in September.
That loss marked the beginning of a four game winless skid for the Lakers to start of the regular season, but since then, the local side has moved back into fourth place in the standings with a four game winning streak that came to an end on Monday in a 7-5 loss against the Dryden Ice Dogs.
Other than that high-scoring affair a couple of days ago, the Lakers defensive unit has shut down their opponents over the last set of games, with Tanner Hamilton turning in a number of sterling efforts between the pipes.
Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the offence has been firing on all cylinders recently, with Fort Frances native Colton Spicer currently leading the team in scoring with 15 points in nine games.
The Iron Rangers, meanwhile, have easily shook away any remnants of their previous iteration as the Iron Range Ironheads with their level of play thus far with four wins to start off the season.
While a 4-5 record might not seem that impressive, keep in mind that it took the erstwhile Ironheads until December of last year to reach the four-win mark.
Having not seen the Iron Rangers in person yet, I’m very interested to see how they will look live here tomorrow night, as well as how well they will preform for the rest of the season.
At the top of the heap right now are the usual suspects, with the defending league champion Minnesota Wilderness currently leading the way with an 8-2 record, while the Thunder Bay North Stars and the Ice Dogs sit close behind.
As per usual, the Wilderness team is doing the same things that have made them the winners of the last two Bill Salonen Cup trophies, when they were then known as the Wisconsin Wilderness.
The forwards on the team are lighting the lamp for fun at this point, with the newly acquired Michael MacKinnon leading the SIJHL in scoring with 17 points, and netminders Gordy Defiel and JoJo Jeanetta frustrating the opposition with huge saves.
Thunder Bay might have made the most noise in the off-season to an extent with nobody knowing who the head coach was going to be until their home opener, when Kevin Kahoot was unveiled as the man behind the bench, but since then they have been letting their play do the talking.
Putting aside Saturday’s 8-3 drubbing handed out to the North Stars by the hands of the Lakers at the Ice for Kids Arena, the North Stars have been a very solid lineup this year, despite having a much younger lineup than they have had at their disposal in the past.
However, it’s been a pair of 20-year-olds that have been the leaders for the Lakehead squad at this point, with Matt Kaarela leading the team in scoring and former Sioux Lookout netminder Jayme Brattengeier standing tall at the other end of the rink.
But if I had to put my money down on a team that I think could make the most noise come playoff time at this very early stage, it might just be the Ice Dogs.
Granted, they may not have the firepower of a team like the North Stars or the Wilderness on paper, but the Ice Dogs do seem to have that gritty approach about them which is always a key when you get into a best-of-seven series.
The biggest thing for me is the fact there are a number of veteran players who are back with the Ice Dogs once again for another campaign, such as forward Jesse Linner and defenceman Len Pelletier.
There is nothing like experience at the junior hockey level, and that could be the biggest reason why the Ice Dogs might be representing the SIJHL at the Dudley Hewitt Cup in North Bay this April.
Granted, there is still a long way to go before we reach that part of the season, and anything can, and will, happen.
Big thanks to Lucas Punkari
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