vees:blog

BCHL Commissioner John Grisdale, Power Rankings, Weekend Highlights, Vees Part Owner Eric Sorensen on the All Star Game, News and Notes, and more!

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It’s the game everybody has had circled on their calendar for months!!!

Oh, never mind… That’s Salmon Arm and Penticton on Friday (they haven’t played for nearly 3 months). Well, at least we’ve got a nice smattering of some the best Junior ‘A’ players from across North America.

Over the next 3-4 hours I’ll be doing what I call ‘LIVE GAME BLOGGING’ here from the Wesbild Centre the site of the 2009 BCHL ALL-STAR GAME.

If you have any questions or comments on the game or even if you are curious about how to make a tasty Mojito (it might make the game better, and it seems like an all-star bevey!) send me emails at VEESVOICE(at)GMAIL(dot)COM. I’ll be responding to them throughout the night.

I’ll continue to update this posting as the night goes on so be sure to refresh the page as you go (if it’s Wednesday Night).

6:42 PM

Puck Drop is 7:30, and the teams just stepped on the ice for Pre-Game Warm-Up.

Tonights ALL-STAR Referees are the Trail Duo of Jim Manniago and Grant Tyson while Ryan Dawson and Nick Swaine are working the lines. Yes, you read that right, the BCHL is using a 4 man team tonight… for an ALL-STAR GAME… I don’t know how many penalties the league is expecting, but nice to honour the officials either way!

6:52 PM

Todd Miller is calling tonight’s game in the BCHL’s Fanzone, and has Patrick Haas at ice level getting interviews from the benches, should be a good broadcast! I went down to talk with Patrick at the Interior’s bench and Curtis McKenzie promptly squirted me with a water bottle. Not impressed! All year I’ve been pumping his tires… He’s got a grin from here all the way back to Golden!

The Skills Competition will go at the intermissions tonight, so players are doing shoot-out drills in the warm-up… the Interior looks good. Manderson, Connor Jones (Kellen was injured early in the year and didn’t make the team) and Zengerle just made Andrew Hammond look like a midget goalie!!

My prediction of 1-0 for the Interior may not come to fruition. I kid.

7:02 PM

Just ran into Eric Sorensen and Scott Carter, nothing earth shattering to report from the league meetings today. I hope they talked about the schedule. Not a fan of less than a single interlock (that’s a nerdy hockey term for a home and home with the out of conference foes over the course of a season).

Looks like a strong walk-up crowd tonight, or maybe it’s the Vernon fans getting to the rink thinking it’s a 7:00PM puck drop (that’s their regular season start time). I hope to see 2,500 that seems like a nice number that will bring some energy to the game.

7:08 PM

We’ve got mascots playing 2-on-2 right now… SSSSSSNIPER (Vernons non-snake mascot) & GENERAL (the Westside mascot that looks like a ‘300′ extra) vs. KONG (the Silverback) & GRIZZ (yep, from Victoria). No truth to the rumour the league is looking at 5 minutes of 2-on-2 if games are tied after Double OT… Although I think Al Glendenning could use this GRIZZ character, he skates real well!

What ever happened to the idea of a Vees Mascot?? Randy Bedard (Vees Marketing Man and Ice Level Host from last year) and I were hoping for a peach mascot gritting his teeth… that would be awesome.

7:21

Crowd doubtful to reach my hopeful number of 2,500… The Swedish Team played here in the last few weeks and may have stole some of the thunder of tonight.

Now we have kids on the ice… not ’92s… like 2002s… they’re clapping their stick on the ice because…

!!!HERE COME THE ALL-STARS!!! COASTAL TEAM FIRST

Matt Bodie is the only rookie in the ALL-STAR GAME, bet you didn’t know that! ***ERROR*** JF Boisvert is also a rookie***

Here comes the Interior Team. The PG ALL-STARS look hilarious with their red hockey pants… Bah Ha Ha!

Vipers are getting love from the home town fans… I think the Jones Twins should run for Mayor.

7:30 PM

Ceremonial Faceoff. Home Team wins again. It’s like the Harlem Globetrotters!

Interior starts with the Salmon Arm top line… Connor Morrison…

SCORES!!!!!!!

1-rip Interior! 1:00 into the Game!

1:45 1st Period

Genoe starts for the Interior, 3 big saves already… and Walrod just wired one off the pipe!

3:57 1st Period

Vos off the pipe!!

SCORES!!!!!!! DARCY OAKES! The coast is on the board.

SCORES!!!!!!! DEREK GRANT! 2-1 Coastal Conference.

The Interior Conference D looks brutal… no atmosphere or intensity to speak of yet.

6:55 1st Period

Icing on the Interior… JF Boisvert looks like he just took down an XL Poutine… not sharp!!

Can’t be more than 1,300 people here.

The Coastal Team just passed there way out of a 4-on-1. Cute.

SCORES!!!!!! Lee Baldwin goes ‘bar-down’ for the Coastal Conference. Wicked shot!

3-1 @ the 9:00 minute mark.

10:42 1st Period

SCORES!!!!!! Adam Hartley!

4-1 for the Coastal Conference. This is getting ugly!

SHOTS ARE 19-4… Yowzsa!

13:45 1st Period

SCORES!!!! 5-1 Coastal Team.

DEREK GRANT (2nd tonight)

Shots are now 24-4. This isn’t good for the league, the Interior looks disinterested in playing hockey.

I may start warming up the car.

Kevin Genoe has been the only player that I can recognize as having a pulse to this point for the Interior Conference. He’s quite a talent, but has yet to pick one of the many NCAA programs stalking him.

5-1 at the Intermission… Shots are 30-7. Gross.

FIRST INTERMISSION

OK, I’m back. Just snuck a beer into the Press Box… I needed one after that period!

Carsen Chubak somehow escaped the 1st facing just 7 shots! I did not expect that.

SKILLS COMPETITION

PUCK HANDLING

Curtis McKenzie is into the finals for the puck handling drill in the second intermission… He was flying through that exercise! Scouts have to love that. He is the youngest ALL-STAR here as the only ‘91 birth year player, and his skating is the one area that has to improve. I Love C-Mac.

FASTEST SKATER

Justin Courtnall blew a tire in the fastest skater drill as he raced around the one net… “AHAHA” goes the crowd. It’s the loudest they’ve been all night.

This beer tastes great.

***DISCLAIMER*** Beer is for adults, don’t drink and drive. This is my one drink for the night. That’s it.

BREAKAWAY DRILL

Pighin 2/3 on Hammond (WOW two beauties to start)

Manderson 1/3 on Wong (sexy goal to the roof on the backhand)

Grant 1/3 on May (tried the spinning lacrosse move twice messed it up twice, but scored on the miss once, whooops!)

Pritz 1/3 on Chubak

Oakes 1/3 on Genoe (nearly got a kick to the stick Forsberg Goal)

Grassi 1/3 on Chubak (6.0 for artistic impression as he plays tennis with the puck)

Davies 2/3 on Wong

That’s it for the skills comp until the 2nd Intermission.

2nd Period

Dang, I almost forgot how putrid that first period was.

“Go back to the skills competition!”

6:30 2nd Period

Connor Jones just got dinged up. Slow to his feet. Slow to the bench. Vernon fans are worried.

It’s 6-1 now by the way as Evan Pighin made Andrew Hammond look silly. Pighin is scary within 20 feet of the net. Killer instinct.

8:45 2nd Period

Real good shift for the Interior Conference (their first of the night, just before the midway point of the game)

SCORES!!!! Conor Morrison.

6-2

10:50 2nd Period

Cy Young would be proud. This is a no-hitter.

BIG SAVE HAMMOND!! Post to Post, and big save with the right pad.

SCORES!!!!! Hammond couldn’t stop that. It’s 7-2 for the Coastal Conference as they score on their 2nd 4-on-1 of the night. Goodman finishes the tic-tac-toe play.

SCORES!!!!! Now Vos! Yikes, it’s 8-2.

I wonder about Powell River this year… the Vees only saw them once, and they have all but one player 18 or older. Veteran club, with all sorts of weapons upfront. They could be scary. The flip side of the coin is that they haven’t improved since the Fall with all that age… they’ve plateaued if not slid back a bit with Langley just 6 back. Hmmmm.

Hartley Again!

Vos Again!

17:13 2nd Period

It’s 10-2. I see people heading for the exit.

I have a theory on this. I think with the much more balanced schedule in the Interior Conference (Coastal teams play in division a ton) there are more guys who don’t want to be sitting on the same bench with their bitter enemies. For example: Pimm and Manderson fought last time the Vipers and Vees played here in Vernon… they aren’t looking for each other on the ice, they are looking for anybody BUT each other out there. Also saw Zengerle and Jones keep the puck in obvious passing situations on a 2-on-1 with enemies as line-mates.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

End of the 2nd period. 10-2 Coastal Conference. I see Fred Harbinson yawning in the concourse from my perch here in the Press Box… we’ll break on that note.

THIRD PERIOD

I’m done talking about the game… shots are 53 to 28. ’nuff said.

The breakaway event just turned into who can make the deke of the century. Not surprisingly nobody could take home the honours. There were more pucks rolling into the corners than shots on net, too bad. The first intermission was fun to watch this last one fell flat.

Mark Zengerle won fastest skater, not a shocker there. He reminds me of Dalpe last year the way he operates at top speed. Calm, soft hands, good shot. Everything can keep up with his legs, not many guys can operate in 5th gear like that.

There’s 7:16 remaining on the clock… 12-3 on the scoreboard… the exits are a popular destination right now.

The Interior didn’t come to play tonight… Skills competition was solid, but this game is tough to watch.

Give the Coastal Conference credit, they’ve been great and seem to care (it’s 13-3 now) about the game. You can’t hold Courtnall’s squad accountable for this debacle of a game. I truly believe their is so much distaste for team-mates on the Interior Team that they don’t want to be playing together.

It’s time for a new format for the All-Star Game. BLEH!

A tough night for the organizing group from the Vernon Vipers who have worked very hard for months to put on this event, only to be let down by the team. The only thing they couldn’t control has been the only disappointing part of the past 2 days. Thank yous are in order for a great 2 days minus a hockey game.

13-5 is the final. January 14th, 2009 will be remembered in my mind as the HALF-STAR GAME… The Coast was great.

Final Shots 71-33. I can’t comprehend what I’ve just witnessed. Blank faces among the remaining fans in the building (mayyyybe 250)

Cameron Brodie and Harrison May named MVPs. Hmmmmmm… bit of head scratcher. I don’t think I could come up with a MVP for the Interior.

Well, I certainly look forward to Friday’s game (Silverback @ Vees). Should be a beauty. See you then.

Goodnight from Vernon.

There is lots of talk on how to make the BCHL All-Star experience more competitive. The game in it’s current format pits Coastal Conference vs. Interior Conference, but seems to lack intensity. I’m not here to knock the All Star Game, which I’m somewhat excited about tonight, but I wonder how to extract more entertainment out of it in the future.

This year in an effort to coerce more fire from the participants, the BCHL has a sponsored scholarship for the MVP of the game, which could help a smidgen, but I doubt it will alter the feel of what host Dr. Duncan Wray (Vernon Owner) called a ‘pond hockey’ game.

Some suggestions and alternatives bandied about are:

1) AJHL vs. BCHL - these two Jr. ‘A’ leagues produce the most NHLers, NCAA commitments, fans, and media coverage in the country. Bragging rights between the two circuits would be a fun event drawing the eyes of more hockey fans and scouts also being an All-Star would be that much more of an honour with each league producing one roster instead of two.

To raise the stakes further the winning team’s league could be granted home ice for the Doyle Cup rather than home ice alternating each season.

Each league would have 2 years to gear up for hosting, easing the burden of organizing the event. With each league holding the event every other year, the game would be much more enticing for fans, as the opportunity to get to a game would be a unique opportunity.

2) Prospects Game - Combining draft eligible and NCAA eligible players would make for a much more competitive game with scouts in the stands and stakes high for players. With a possible scholarship or draft pick on the line, there would be no shortage of work ethic. A glaring problem would be that many of the league’s best players would be overlooked due to the criteria and filling two rosters could mean weaker players are invited.

The dates would have to change as the game currently shares the same spot on the calendar as the CHL prospects game (1 scout can’t be in 2 places).

3) Home Ice?? - Make home ice in the League Final (Fred Page Cup) the reward for a Conference winning the All-Star Game. Major League Baseball adopted this tactic to spice up their showcase event and it has helped improve the intensity of the game. I imagine the BCHL would enjoy the same effect.

4) Scrap it - Hosting and organizing the event is a large undertaking, while turning a profit is far from a guarantee. Perhaps creating an end of the season list (like NCAA Football’s All Americans) would honour the leagues best without the hassle of a game to organize. This route seems a bit lazy, rather than working to make the game better, but has some support among hockey purists.

5) Outdoor Game - Okay, that’s a reach!

As the league’s annual showcase event moves along I’ve decided to keep a tab of all people, places and things BCHL using the simple measures of good and bad.

ALL-STAR POWER RANKINGS (V.1)

HIGH FIVE

#1 - Geoff Courtnall - Raffled off a signed St. Sundin Jersey (he nearly walks on water) to the All-Star Players after winning the Live Auction for the Jersey ($$), and earns bonus marks for purchasing evening rounds of Earl Grey Tea.



#2 - Dave Sales - League VP brings down the house with dry humour in pinch hitting speech at banquet.



#3 - Coffee! - Today is a great day to celebrate the coffee bean and it’s invigorating effects.



#4 - Vernon Vipers - Okay, so I know Vees hate Vipers and all that, but the host organization has done a great job welcoming and entertaining the BCHL masses.

#5 - All-Star Jerseys - I wasn’t warm to the silks at first, but the jerseys have a retro feel to them…Think Houston Astros of the 80’s!



LOW BLOWS

#X - Banquet Horseradish - brings more tears than an Oilers Farewell Press Conference!



#XX - Westside Warriors (& Merritt Centennials… kinda) - I can understand Merritt not making it to the All-Star Game with their financial restraints and perhaps the paperwork after the trade deadline fiasco, but Westside not in attendance last night (aside from their 2 All-Stars)? What the heck?? The other 14 teams had brass at the banquet last night, and none are closer than the Kelowna area… boooo!

#XXX - BCHL Schedule - The only thing that got hit harder than the buffet (there are now a dozen less cows on earth) was the Schedule-Maker, haven’t heard a positive word about this years set-up with only 8 games Out-Of-Conference.



(Working on 2009/2010)

Ahhh, to be with the movers and shakers of the BCHL for an evening of hockey jokes, roast beef, and All-Stars!

Hit List: Curtis McKenzie (Interior All-Star), Denver Manderson (Interior All-Star), Brodie Reid (Coastal All-Star), Tommy Bohmer (Quesnel Head Coach and GM), Darcy Oakes (Coastal All-Star and BCHL Scoring Leader), Dr. Duncan Wray (Vipers Owner), Ed Dempsey (Prince George), Patrick Haas (Salmon Arm Broadcaster), Todd Miller (Vernon Broadcaster).

Be sure to keep close to the Vees Blog over the next 24 hours for more All-Star updates from Vernon.

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