vees:blog

‘Tis the season of delayed flights, wind chill, and power outages…

With the Vees Blog stuck at the Kelowna Airport at this unfathomable hour (its 05:52 PST) nursing a coffee and eyeing a multiple hour flight delay, I’ve surrendered a third of my net worth for a 24 hour wireless internet pass (thanks to the Scrooges at Rogers Hotspot) and the opportunity to update the Blog!

Merritt After Dark!

Upon arriving at the Nicola Valley Arena in Merritt last night the Vees were informed that the Arena had no power. I’d love to tell you that the Vees players and staff were shocked and dismayed, but for some reason nobody was surprised. After an hour of taping sticks by cellphone light, the game was called. The Cents have apparently enacted Murphy’s Law for the 2008-2009 campaign.

On the bright side, a world record may have been set as 1,359 people crammed into the Merritt Subway. Located just across the street, somehow Subway had power and heat (it was -30) when the rink didn’t, but they were out of Parmesan Oregano Bread. The game will be rescheduled later in the season… I CAN’T WAIT!

HNIC Experiment & Misc. Habs Info

With the game in Merritt postponed, one lonely play-by-play hack found himself with no work on a Saturday Night for the first time since October 18th (I have no social life). Curious about what a Saturday Night away from the Arena is like I ventured to Sturgeon Hall in Kelowna.

[If you are ever in Kelowna and the Habs are playing on TV I demand you go to Sturgeon Hall… They have a Maurice Richard Burger among other famous Habs appearances on the Menu and a surprisingly large contingent of Canadiens Fans]

There was no Habs game on the tube on this night, though with the Canucks hosting the Blackhawks for the 2nd game on Hockey Night in Canada I could still conduct my experiment on the effects of combining hockey on TV and Big Rock Traditional Ale. The results were fantastic!

If you haven’t been talking about the Blackhawks this year, it is time to start doing so! They have now won 7 in a row (their longest streak in nearly 28 years) and are showing poise late in games. The Hawks are dripping with young talent with Towes, Kane, Sharp, Keith (former Panther!), Versteeg & Seabrook (teammates from the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL), among others, but I was particularly impressed with depth of the club and their ability to hold off a late surge from the Canucks. The Winter Classic from Chicago should live up to it’s title on Jan 1st.

View from the Top

The Vipers and Silverbacks played round 2 of 4 straight last night, with the Vipers winning 6-4.

The Jones Twins (or the ‘Conner Twins’ as Al Formo calls them) had a night at the Sunwave Centre racking up 3 points each (as did linemate Bryce Kakoske) the whole line was named as the 3 stars.

I think Vernon is the stronger of the two clubs with a slight edge in the net and in depth up front. That makes the Vipers a tougher team to play in a 7 games series in March (and likely April and May too).

The Silverbacks now lead the Vipers by just 3 points at the top of the Interior Standings with the next 2 of the 4 consecutive meetings going down on the 29th (@SA) and 30th (@VRN).

21 +

With the Merritt game postponed until after X-mas, the Vees have 21 games left on the sched… here’s the breakdown.

4 x Vernon (2 home, 2 away)

4 x Salmon Arm (2 home, 2 away)

3 x Prince George (2 home, 1 away)

3 x Quesnel (2 home, 1 away)

2 x Westside (1 home, 1 away)

2 x Trail (2 home, 0 away)

2 x Merritt (0 home, 2 away)

1 x Nanaimo (1 home, 0 away)

With 12 of 21 left at home, post-holiday play will be exciting, who knows where the Vees will finish?!

Hextall Helping Fighting Sioux

Last year’s captain is making an impression south of the border. Brett Hextall was named the WCHA rookie of the week for the final week of pre-holiday NCAA action as his North Dakota Fighting Sioux swept the St. Cloud State Huskies (where Fred Harbinson spent 5 years as an Assistant Coach). Hextall called his former coach earlier the week for a ribbing!

Holiday Best!

With Mother Nature toying with travelers all over the continent, many Vees players are trapped in airports and/or waiting for runways to be cleared (my flight to Seattle just got moved back another hour!). Hopefully all will be safe and sound at home in short order to spend time with loved ones.

Enjoy the holidays and thanks for visiting the Blog! See you after X-mas!