vees:blog

On the heels of Fred Harbinson being annointed GM, here’s a more in depth look at the Vees Coaching Staff.

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* One of the reasons we love sport is for its unpredictability. No other form of entertainment is as raw or unscripted. When the hero always saves the day in Hollywood, the 18-0 Patriots can lose to a double digit underdog in the biggest sporting event of the year.

This unpredictability of Sport is certainly present in the BCHL. Anybody previewing the Merritt Centennials and Prince George Spruce Kings this past weekend would have prognosticated a PG win. Clearly that didn’t happen.

Coming in 3-0 having outscored their opponents by a 16-5 margin the Spruce Kings had to be favoured against a winless Merritt hockey club that had been beaten twice already in this short season by the Spruce Kings. Worse than the two losses were the nature of the games as the Cents recorded just 4 Goals For while surrendering 17 Goals Against coming into their 4th game of the season. Here’s the boxscore.

* Dustin Johnson was named the BCHL’s Player of the Week after amassing 2 Goals and 4 Assists over the weekend. The Penticton native was nabbed off the Vees AP (Afilliated Player) list last year by Nanaimo, before getting traded this Summer to Merritt. He won’t have any issues with his ice-time this year!

* Westside and Salmon Arm’s lacklustre starts are even more intriguing considering the age of the teams. The Warriors have just 2 players under the age of 18 on their roster, while the Silverbacks have 3 (compare that with the 7 the Vees have), the Warriors have 9 rookies (2 in net) while the Silverbacks have 7 (compare to the 11 Vees first year players).

* Anybody who thought Quesnel would be leading the league in Goals Allowed (that’s fewest not most) raise your hand. Yeah… I thought so!

* The Vees are back at it this weekend as they venture North to face Quesnel and Prince George. The impressive start from the Mills and Kings would be wisely noted by the Vees as they enter there second weekend.

Here are the results of the Vees Playoff Picks from the 1st Round of the NHL Playoffs.

1 point for each series winner picked. A bonus point for also selecting the number of games in the series.

Example: 1 point for picking Montreal in 4 Games, 2 Points for picking Montreal in 7 Games, No points for picking Boston in 7 Games

Points Total - Name (bonus points)

9 - Pond (3), Smith (2), Perdicaro (2), Evin (3)

8 - Knudsen (2), Pinder (2)

7 - Maxwell (1), Lebreche (1), Muchalla (1), Hengen (1)

6 - Nill (1), Mountain (0), Manderson (1), Dalpe (1), Kroshus (0), Josepher (1), Westover (1), Hextall (0), Guzzo (1)

5 - Johnston (1), Schneider (1), Krogh (0), McMurphy (0), McKenzie (1), Bettauer (0)

4 - Grossmann (0)

3 - Wagner (0)

Here a piece of YouTube Gold…

Kodiaks Superfan Alexander Andreassen is just 4, his cousin David dons #9 for the Bears.

With our weekly radio show ‘Boston Pizza Vees This Week’ wrapped up, the last bit of housekeeping was to give away our grand prize of a team autographed jersey and a $50 gift certificate to Boston Pizza.

Here’s how it sounded!

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Here’s your Holiday quota of locker room feedback from the Vees.

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Time for another completely bias ranking of the Vees

#1 - Brett Hextall - Captain has 8 goals in 9 playoff games - (last rank - 1)

#2 - Kyle McMurphy - 4 points including OT winner in Game 2 - (last rank - 3)

#3 - Alex Evin - Save of the year to send Game 2 to OT with less than a minute to play - (last rank - nada)

#4 - Ryan Wagner - Weyburn Warrior has been near perfet in the post season - (last rank - 2)

Honorable Mentions:

Cory Schneider - Solid Two-Way Play, Zac Dalpe - ZD is back in top gear, Anthony Perdicaro - Super-Pest has cut back his penalty minutes

A full set of players cards and just four fridge magnets, here are the latest Fridge Rankings:

#1 Brett Hextall - Captain has been the Vees best in the post-season - (last rank: 3)

#2 Ryan Wagner - 20-year-old D-man has been a rock on the back end - (last rank: 4)

#3 Kyle McMurphy - Another Vet providing consistancy and heavy hits, not to mention the team’s lead in scoring - (last rank: nada)

#4 Austin Smith - It looked like Smitty was lined up for the winner Saturday Night, but we all know how that ended - (last rank: nada)

Also Recieving Votes: Alex Evin - Game 5 the only hiccup in a solid postseason, Denver Manderson - Showing why he won the Robert Skinner Award of Courage at the Awards Banquet

Again, A very simple ranking system.

I have a full set of Vees Hockey Cards, but only four magnets to hold them to the fridge, thus the top four guys shall bask in the glory of being afixed to my fridge.

#1 Denver Mandreson - Warrior beats hulking Bigos to set up OT winner in Game 4 - (last rank: 2)

#2 Alex Evin - Best in the League. Period - (last rank: 1)

#3 Brett Hextall - Captain responds with big goal after a skirmish following Game 3 with Goliath-esque Bigos - (last rank: 4)

#4 Wagner and Knudsen - Trusty duo were on the ice at every key moment in Vernon. Strong Beard Quotient Too! - (last rank - nada)

Also Recieving Consideration: Michael Guzzo - playing his best hockey when it matters most, Kyle McMurphy - garbage goals + heavy hits = beautiful, Austin Smith - Texan has stepped up game in the post-season.

Pull up a chair at the Vees Breakfast Wednesday Morning

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