Monday, January 28, 2013

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Outlaws calm Blizzard

After a game featuring many uncalled dirty hits, a lot of hitting, and a few pretty plays, the Midget Outlaws walked out of the SaskCan Arena with a 5-3 win against the Kenaston Blizzards in game 1 of SHA Midget "D" Provincials.

Wilkie kickstarts a rush into the zone.
 The Outlaws started out strong, and eventually potted the first goal of the game 6 mins in, and then promptly went on the penalty kill, which was killed off. Kenaston took a holding penalty 11 mins in, and made use of the short handed oppourtunity by tying it up a minute later. Wilkie ended the 1st period in style by scoring with 0.3 seconds left on the clock, and took a 2-1 lead into the locker room.

The teams came out firing in the 2nd, albeit in different directions. The Blizzards took a tripping penalty 4 seconds in, and the Outlaws capitalized 27 seconds into the power play. 30 some seconds after this, the same player took the same penalty, but this time, the Outlaws couldn't do anything with power play #3. Wilkie proceeded to give Kenaston their 2nd power play of the night 3:24 in, and 23 seconds later, it was 3-2 Blizzards on the PPG.

Outlaws buzz the net early in the 1st, right before goal number 1
The period slowed down quite a bit due to offsides, icings, etc; until the latter stages of the 2nd, where the Outlaws took a penatly at 15:06. Kenaston couldn't do anything with the extra man, but Wilkie did something with their 4th PP of the night, making it 4-2 going into the 3rd.


The 3rd period turned into the most exciting period, as Kenaston scored a ES goal 5 mins into. Shortly after this, one Blizzards player took a double minor for a hit to the head, and added 2 more mins to the count for chirping the ref. Wilkie went 1/3 on these PP's, making the score 5-3 late in the 3rd by the time all the penalties were done. Wilkie took two penalties late, but held off the pressing Blizzards to make the final 5-3 heading to Kenaston. Game 2 happens Friday, February 1st at 8pm at the Kenaston Arena.

Outlaw Stats

Tristan Huber: 3G, 1A
Riley Thomas: 1G, 1A
Dustin Glackin: 1G, 2A
Jaymon Sander: 1A
Jordan Laturnus: 1A
Cody Thomas: 1A
Derek Sutherland: 1A



Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Many questions about future of SIJHL

Losing a team right after a season has started is never a good thing for any league.

But when you lose a second team a couple of months later, then a number of questions have to be asked, especially when it comes to the Superior International Junior Hockey League.

Back in October, the Sioux Lookout Flyers suspended operations for the remainder of this year just three games into a new campaign, with a lack of players among the multitude of reasons mentioned for the team closing up shop for the time being.

Now, just three months later, the Duluth Clydesdales have been revoked from the league after finding themselves in a precarious situation when it came to a lack of players and had their last three games cancelled as a result, which is what happened to the Flyers prior to the end of their campaign.
Prior to that, however, no one seemed to have any idea what is happening next with the franchise, with rumours and hearsay spreading throughout the internet.

Over the weekend, there were rumours that the team had either folded or that or that they were suspended from play by the league itself.

Then, following the cancellation of Tuesday’s contest in Thunder Bay against the North Stars, the Clydesdales said that the league had voted them to be eliminated from the league, while the SIJHL remained quiet on the matter until a press release was posted on the league website later that night.

All in all, it’s an utter mess.

From the Clydesdales side of things, the organization has said in an interview with the Junior Hockey News blog and in a post on the SIJHL’s message board that they had enough players to meet the league’s roster requirements and that players were also committed to finish out the remainder of what had been a rough campaign for the 2-32-0-1 club.

While the year has been a tough one for the squad, the Clydesdales had shown some improvement in recent games, and it is disappointing for those involved with the team, including the players who gave all that they had night after night and fans of the franchise who supported them through the rough times.

At the present time, the team is planning to appeal the decision and then possibly play an independent schedule for remainder of the season with a mixture of opponents from other junior leagues before finding a league to compete in for the 2013/14 campaign.

The bigger questions for me though comes with the SIJHL itself, especially when it comes to it’s future.
While I didn’t expect the league to make statements day in and day out on what the situation was with the Clydesdales, the fact that the continued rumours about the club’s future grew such over the last few days without an official quote from the league itself other than small blurbs from commissioner Ron Whitehead was quite alarming.

Since most fans aren’t visiting message boards or blogs on a daily basis, at least some sort of statement on the SIJHL’s official website would have been beneficial for all parties.
However, what’s more worrisome is that the league now finds themselves down to five teams for the final stages of the regular season, which will lead to some changes for the final few scheduled games of the campaign and the post-season.

While the league has been competitive this year, other than the runaway leaders in the Minnesota Wilderness, how viable is the SIJHL going to be with just five teams?
Now granted, the Flyers might return to the league when the 2013/14 season comes around, but I find it hard to see a team that nearly shut down due to financial issues in 2011 being able to come back after a season away.
And although the league has stated they might return to the Duluth area with a team in the future, I personally think it’s quite hard for a Junior ‘A’ club to succeed in that city where high school hockey and the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs are king.

Over the past few years, teams in Thunder Bay, Marathon, Schreiber, and where I work in Fort Frances have gone away from the SIJHL but the league has continued on.
But given the current economic climate that we are living in, and the ever present possibility that the American teams (the Wilderness and Minnesota Iron Rangers) could move on to another league under the USA Hockey banner, it might become harder and harder to see the SIJHL continuing under it’s current form.
And what that means for the three teams in Canada (the Dryden Ice Dogs, Fort Frances Lakers, and Thunder Bay North Stars) is anybody’s guess.

By: Lucas Punkari, Sports Reporter, Fort Frances Times.

Duluth gets the boot.

It's official, and I still have no idea why, but the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) has yanked the Duluth Clydesdales rights to play in the league.

Here's the release from the team:

We just received official confirmation of the league's decision to revoke our franchise. Needless to say we're disappointed the league made the decision they did, as we had a dedicated group of players and staff ready to finish out the final month and a half. We're still investigating different paths, first and foremost is an appeal of the decision. Another option we're seriously considering is playing an independent schedule the rest of the season, possibly involving a mix of nearby junior teams from the MnJHL, NA3HL, NAHL, and NOJHL. At any rate, we do not intend for the Clydesdales to have played their final game. Over the spring and summer, we'll be seriously considering all options for the Clydesdales to compete within in 2013-14 and the foreseeable future.

AND here's what the SIJHL had to say in their release:



SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013
SIJHL revokes Duluth Clydesdales franchise
THUNDER BAY, Ont. -- The Superior International Junior Hockey League announced Tuesday that the SIJHL board of governors has voted to revoke the Duluth Clydesdales member franchise, effective immediately.
The SIJHL Board made the decision based on a number of determining factors, including Duluth not being able to ice enough players on a consistent basis for the remainder of the season.
“It’s extremely unfortunate that this step has been taken, but we must take into account that with the Clydesdales having postponed or forfeited a number of games already and an uncertainty of whether they would be able to have enough players on a consistent basis moving forward, it is in the best interest of player safety and the league as a whole that this decision has been made,” stated SIJHL President/Commissioner Ron Whitehead.
“Duluth is a great hockey market and the success of our two other Minnesota-based organizations this season bodes well for the league,” added Whitehead. “We certainly look forward to working with the people in Duluth in an effort to reestablish a franchise there in the not too distant future.”
Despite this decision the league is looking forward to the remainder of the regular season and upcoming playoffs.
“Certainly we’ve had a couple setbacks this season, but we’ve also had some major positives as well,” offered Whitehead.
“The Minnesota Wilderness is currently the No. 2 team overall in the entire CJHL; the Minnesota Iron Rangers have done a great job getting things turned around there while Dryden, Fort Frances and Thunder Bay remain ultra-competitive with each member group having solid ownership, management and coaching staffs in place.”
An announcement on the remaining games in the regular season that were to have involved Duluth will be made once that is finalized.

MORE INFO TO COME SOON

Thursday, January 10, 2013

PROVINCIALS BABY

It's that time of year again people! Today, SHA released all the provincial draws for the race to the 2012 crowns.



Here's a breakdown of everything I know about the teams Wilkie will play in the various divisions:

The Senior Outlaws will drop the puck with the Wheatland Hockey League's Allan Flames. Sound familiar? Last year's 1st round opponent, the Dundurn Wheatkings, play in the same league.

Allan sits in 1st, similar to the Wheatkings last year, with a 13-1-12 record, good for 28 points. They have a league best 95 goals for (which is light years ahead of the 2nd place team with 88), but sit 7th out of the 11 team league in GA, with 62.

While they seem to have a endless amount of scoring prowess, goaltending seems to be equal in skill as they have started both of them pretty much down the middle throughout the year thus far.

NoNamePosition GPGAPPENPPGSHGWGT
 0 Craig Reinhardt 1
 4 Evan Pasternak 10 2 5 7 16 1
 5 James Pasternak 13 2 12 14 14 1
 7 Justin Wright 15 8 9 17 44 3 1
 8 Joel Thompson 10 11 11 22 14 1 2
 10 Kevin Clayton 12 8 11 19 14 2 1 3
 12 Devon Geib 15 3 7 10 4 1
 14 Brent Psovsky 11 2 2 6
 15 Kelsy Nordmarken 15 9 12 21 18 1 1
 16 Derek Lepage 7 2
 17 Shane Smith 11 2 7 9 45 1
 18 Kent Sommerfeld 4 1 1 12 1 1
 19 Kourtney Wesolowski 12 9 8 17 60 2 2
 20 Braden Olszewski 6 15 2 17 37 1 7 2
 22 Dwayne Hoppenreys 7 6
 24 Brody Johnson 12 1 1 12
 25 Dustin Mischuk 13 2 2 4 12 1
 26 Brett Doucette 6 2 5 7 2 1
 37 Brendon Hamilton 12 2 3 5 4 1
 41 Layton Senger 2 1 1
 44 Adam Wutzke 15 7 7 14 22 2
 51 Kelly Boon 14 3 7 10 4 1
 71 Derald Hanson 5 5 3 8 4 1

 Goalie
NoNameGOIMinGAGAA
 Brent Olzewski 8 480 37 4.63
 Todd Pederson 0 0 0 0
 Brandon Schatz 7 428 24 3.36




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Midgets, however, appear to have an easier path in the 1st round, as they drew the Last Mountain Hockey League's Kenaston Blizzards.

The Blizzards sit 6th in the 10 team league with a 4-6-1 record, good for 9 points. They have a league low 34 Goals For, but sit 5th in Goals Against with 47.

Definitely worth noting that both goalies have gotten equal starts here too, but seem to have fallen victim to low scoring games (all but 3 games are 3 goals or less difference), so it's defence first for this team, but they don't have the scorers to keep up when the other team pots a couple quick goals.



#LastFirstGPGAPTSPPGSHGGWGPIM
7SiraSteven10731000032
16NorrishJaden1154902022
3RowlettKody743700050
15EnglotMatthew1034710210
12DanilukAustin114261004
9BristowAustin1115610014
8MillsBryce112351002
4BoydWalker92351010
11ZdunichDalton62351000
14BleackleyKealin613401043
10DubykKenton111230012
5BumphreysMax912300020
2AndersonCody912300010
18BookJared1003300012
6SimonsenKirk1101100012
1MoirGreg110000000
29AshdownReid100000002
11SoanesJackson40000002
29McKayZachary20000000
18NorrishCarter10000000

Goalies

#LastFirstGPWLTMPGASASAVSAV%GAASO
1MoirGreg6231360:00271801530.854.500
29AshdownReid5230300:00201501300.874.001




The Sr Outlaws need their round finished up by February 11th.

The Midgets finish theirs up before February 4th.

Worth noting as well, The Biggar/Wilkie combined team play the St. Louis Blues in Bantam "B", to be finished by February 4th, and the Wilkie Peewee's play the Lashburn Flyers in "D", to be completed by February 18th.