DAY BEFORE THE GAME
The WHL’s weekly report is on the league website now and the news is not good for a couple of Royals’ regulars. Defenceman Tyler Stahl is out at least a month, right now, after that wicked elbow to the head he took from Charles Inglis of the Prince George Cougars last Saturday night. The incident landed Inglis a 10-game suspension. That’s a big blow to the Royals’ blue line to lose a veteran like Stahl. Also, Brandon Magee is gone for three weeks with a lower body injury suffered in the Royals’ 8-2 loss to the Kamloops Blazers Sunday. Magee had a four game point streak to start the season and is a real spark plug for Victoria who can provide sufficient offence for the team. His loss will force a few adjustments to the lines, no doubt.
Back-to-back games coming up with the Medicine Hat Tigers, who have won their last two games. Emerson Etem has five goals in four games and Hunter Shinkaruk is a 17-year-old forward who will be getting plenty of attention from NHL scouts this season. Shinkaruk helped Canada to a gold medal at the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in August with a goal and an assist in five games. The Tigers have one of the best goalies in the WHL with Tyler Bunz, an Edmonton Oilers prospect. The bus ride to Victoria appears to have taken something out of Bunz, though. He tweeted Wednesday morning “14 hour bus ride…Now waiting for the ferry to head to Victoria. Starbucks with the boys #givemecaffine.”
Following these two games with the Tigers, the Royals will head south of the border Saturday to meet the Seattle Thunderbirds. After Saturday’s game, the team will travel to Vancouver and face the Giants Monday afternoon at Pacific Coliseum.
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The CHL announced its Top 10 list and the Regina Pats, coached by former Royals’ Assistant GM and Ass’t Coach Pat Conacher, are the highest ranked WHL team. The Pats are ranked fourth overall with a 4-1 record. The London Knights of the OHL are the top ranked CHL team. The Tri-City Americans are ranked seventh and the Kelowna Rockets are still ranked ninth overall. The Moose Jaw Warriors got an honorable mention.
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We’ll find out next week which team will host and get a free berth into the 2013 Memorial Cup. The Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades and Kelowna Rockets are the final three candidates to host the CHL championship tournament, eliminating Prince George and Lethbridge earlier in the off-season. My money has been on Red Deer to get the event, especially with expansions being done to the Enmax Centrium, including 14 luxury suites and adding 1,000 seats to the 6,000 seat facility. Red Deer has hosted the IIHF World Junior Championship and is a relatively short drive between two major cities, Edmonton and Calgary. Kelowna just hosted, and won, the Memorial Cup in 2004, although it was a smashing success and gives good reason to go back to the Okanagan. Saskatoon hosted the Memorial Cup in 1989 and had the 2010 World Junior Championship, so the Bridge City is more than capable to host the event, as well. I really believe, though, that Red Deer will get the call for 2013.
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The Prince George Cougars opened their Eastern road trip with a 6-3 win over the Prince Albert Raiders. Alex Forsberg and Jordan Tkatch, a pair of 16-year-old rookies for the Cougars, both had a goal and an assist. The Cougars have six players on their roster from Saskatchewan and another from Lloydminster, the border city with Alberta. Some may feel right at home on that trip. Cougars are in Saskatoon tonight. Two other BC division teams are playing tonight; Vancouver hosts Spokane and Kelowna has a date with the Tri-City Americans in Kelowna.
