Former Fort Saskatchewan Trader Matt Frattin has officially bounced back from some tough times. Today Frattin, a North Dakota Fighting Sioux forward was named one of the 3 finalists for the Hobey Baker award, given out to the NCAA's most outstanding player.
News earlier today from the Oilers (via Oklahoma City) that Acadie-Bathurst netminder Olivier Roy has signed a 3-year entry level contract with Edmonton. The news hit Twitter earlier in the day when Barons beat writer Ryan Aber first reported it.
The Pipeline Show is excited to be able to bring you some bonus content from our new friends at PuckLife. From time to time, we'll be posting player profiles written by some of PuckLife's scribes but that still fit the format of what we do here at Coming Down the Pipe and on the air with TPS.
Tuesday night we welcomed the top rated goalie (by NHL central scouting) for the NHL draft, a GM fresh off firing his head coach, a Commissioner turned head coach and our CHL insider with news of the Chilliwack Bruins potential sale and relocation.
Tonight we'll find out from Seattle G.M. Russ Farwell why he made his coaching change today, and what the TBirds need to do in order to get back into the WHL post season.
As TPS eluded to last night, the Seattle Thunderbirds have made a move behind the bench, electing to not renew Head Coach Rob Sumner. Here's is the full release with quotes from TBird GM Russ Farwell. 
Is the WHL moving back to the Island?
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wasn't the main story on Saturday night, but he did get the party started for fans at the Enmax Centrium. RNH and Andrej Kudrna picked up Saturday where Friday ended with Nugent-Hopkins 3rd straight goal going back to game 1. After that the Oil Kings did a pretty good job of shutting down and targeting physically the budding star for most of the night. It was Brett Ferguson and Adam Kabeitz who did the damage instead. Both had 3 points as the Rebels grabbed a 2-0 lead in the series. The shots were even at 28, but that was about it, as Edmonton's power play is sputtering. It's 0-9 in the two games and only has clicked once all season vs. Red Deer. The Series shifts to Edmonton for game 3 Monday night (TEAM 1260, SHAW TV)
This morning Guy and I recapped every CHL and NCAA playoff game, went in depth with 3 different CHL series and a bracket of the NCAA tournament and discussed concussions and why one NHL rookie has the most impressive stats in the Calder trophy race. Click here to go inside the world of prospects hockey.
Game one between Edmonton and Red Deer started off where the last two games left off. Just seconds in It was captain on captain when Red Deer's Colin Archer tried to cream Oil King blueliner Mark Pysyk. The Buffalo Sabre draft pick just got out of the way and avoided most of the hit. Things continued at the other end when Darcy Kuemper gave TJ Foster a face full of leather, drawing a scrum and giving Edmonton their first power play.
Laury Ryan stepped down as SJHL president today, but according to some it was only a matter of time. Word is Ryan didn't receive a vote of confidence in each of the past 2 seasons and there was a movement afoot to replace him. 'They're 4th among the 4 western league's' one source told TPS referring to where the SJHL ranks among junior A loops from Manitoba to BC.
TPS has learned that Swift Current Broncos forward Justin Dowling is in the sights of the Calgary Flames and in fact, may have already signed a contract with the NHL club. I have not yet been able to confirm that a deal is done but it sounds to be close at the very least. It is possible that this will not be the standard 3-year entry level deal but instead a minor league agreement for a year or two. [It has now been confirmed that Dowling has signed an ATO and will head to AHL Abbotsford].
The Pipeline Show is excited to be able to bring you some bonus content from our new friends at PuckLife. From time to time, we'll be posting player profiles written by some of PuckLife's scribes but that still fit the format of what we do here at Coming Down the Pipe and on the air with TPS.
The Red Deer Rebels announced today they will make a bid for the 2013 Mastercard Memorial Cup.If five or more cities bid for the 2013 Mastercard Memorial Cup, then the WHL will review preliminary bid information and shortlist the bids to a maximum of four by June 15, 2011.
The presentations to the WHL Board of Governors will be made October 15, 2011. The final decision will also be made that day.
More details about the Red Deer bid, and its committee, will be released at a later date.
Brent Sutter, President/Owner of The Red Deer Rebels Hockey Club – “We’re in a position now with our hockey club that we believe that we can compete at this level. We also know our community can support an event of this magnitude. The Mastercard Memorial Cup is one of biggest hockey events in our country, and we think Central Alberta would be the perfect place to host such a prestigious event.”
THe WHL Bantam Draft lottery was held this morning and was won by the Kamloops Blazers who move up a couple of spots and will now select 4th. It didn't change the results at the top though as the 1st overall selection will still be made by Brad Whelen and the Calgary Hitmen.
I received a text today that suggests something pretty surprising. It said that Tom Anastos, Commissioner of the CCHA Conference, is leaving that post to become the new head coach at Michigan State. The Spartans position is currently vacant after the (forced?) retirement of Rick Comley.
Tuesday night was Prediction Night on The Pipeline Show as we went through all three CHL leagues as well as the NCAA National Tournament bracket with our no holds barred predictions. Joining us for each segment was another TPS regular who closely follows the league in question and not surprisingly, each of them contributed tidbits that we'd overlooked.
Part one of this series came out last week with an in-depth report of how the scouting community views Oil Kings forward Dylan Wruck. Continuing the "Pickin' Brains" series, this week I'm revealing the results of the informal poll of scouts when asked to name the top WHL blueliner available in the Class of 2011.
The Pipeline Show received an update on the status of key 2011 eligible prospect Matt Puempel of the Peterborough Petes. The forward has been sidelined since February 21st but still finished the season as the club's top scorer with 69 points. The 6', 190 lb left winger is Peterbough's nominee for the Red Tilson Trophy which goes to the OHL's most outstanding player.
Okotoks Oilers blueliner Rhett Holland is heading to Michigan State University for next season. Holland is a 6.01, 212 pound defenceman from Calgary, who's team is in the AJHL South Division final right now with the RBC host Camrose Kodiaks. However Holland isn't playing as he's been out since mid January with an upper body injury.
TPS has learned that Calgary Hitmen bench boss Mike Williamson will be named Canada's Head Coach for the upcoming Under 18 World Championship. Joining him will be a former Oiler and Winnipeg Jet in current Swift Current and Barrie Colt Head Coaches Mark Lamb and Dale Hawerchuk. An announcement will be made on Wednesday.
After the Conference playoffs, some number crunching and calculator button mashing, the NCAA National Tournament bracket has been officially announced. As usual, there are going to be some fantastic match ups in the four Regionals and the potential for a very compelling Frozen Four still exists, although not the four teams I was hoping for.
Can you manufacture a rivalry? We’ll find out next Friday. The media in both Edmonton and Red Deer are hoping that facing each other in the post season creates a provincial grudge between the two clubs. It won’t hurt that the two clubs faced each other twice to close out the season and the 2 tilts featured 4 scraps (3 in the first period of Friday night) and both games were essentially one goal games. (RD scored an ENG Saturday night)
Saturday on The Pipeline Show Dean and I spoke with an assortment of guests that cover a wide spectrum of the hockey world. We talked Major Junior, NCAA, AHL, NHL, the NHL Draft and more. In other words, more of what you've come to expect when you tune in to The Pipeline Show.
It's not yet confirmed by the Oilers or the Barons but TPS has learned that the Edmonton Oilers have recalled Ryan O'Marra, Chris VandeVelde and Alex Giroux and that all three will be in the line up on Thursday night. The trio arrived in Edmonton just after midnight after playing in Grand Rapids on Wednesday evening.
There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Minnesota Golden Gopher Head Coach Don Lucia. The Gophers will be spectators at the National Championship for a 3rd straight year and after getting swept by Alaska-Anchorage, they will also miss the WCHA Final Five for a second straight season.
The man who guided the Spokane Chiefs to the 1991 Memorial Cup could be returning to the WHL. Sources have told TPS that Bryan Maxwell has met with the Vancouver Giants about a "hockey job" meaning he could be returning to a bench soon.
The WHL finally decided on the appropriate length of suspension for Kamloops forward Brendan Ranford after his game misconduct back on March 11th. The Blazers will be without their leading scorer for the rest of the regular season and the start of the playoffs as he's been handed a 6-game suspension for abuse of an official.
Red Deer Rebels forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is bringing it right now. The WHL POW has March Madness with 15 points in 6 games this month. He's racked up 2 hat tricks, a 5 and 4 point game, and he reached the century mark over the weekend. The highest ranked WHL player for the NHL draft has 102 points and sits tied for 3rd in league scoring. RNH has more assists (74) this year than he had points (65) last season.
There are 4 teams still looking to clinch a spot in the WHL's Western Conference; Prince George is in 7th with 66 points followed immediately by Everett with 66. Currently on the outside looking in are the Kamloops Blazers with 63 points and Seattle with 61.
Over the last month or so I've been contacting a number of scouts in order to get a strong gauge on how they feel about a few different players and groups of players in the Class of 2011. "Pickin' Brains" I call it.
This was another one of those shows that kind of came together late in the week as a player we had lined up had to cancel yesterday and a couple other guests were tough to track down and get confirmations from. In the end, we did what we always do; we talked CHL with one of the best play-by-play guys in the game, looked more at the 2011 NHL Draft, checked in on the NCAA playoffs, talked Calder Trophy and also updated listeners on the CIS playoffs.
We are getting reports that Kamloops forward Brendan Ranford was kicked out of the Blazers game tonight with Kelowna for Cross checking a linesman. Midway through the 2nd period, Ranford, a Flyers 2010 draft pick was given a 2 minute slashing penalty and a game misconduct.
Last weekend Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley coached his last game for the Spartans as Comley is leaving (or was asked to step down depending on who you talk to) after this season. Tonight word coming down that Tim Army is giving up his bench boss duties with the Providence Friars. The official release can be found here.
Continuing with Chapter 5 of his guest blogging series with us is Dylan Willick, forward of the Kamloops Blazers. The native of Prince George, B.C. submitted his first entry to the blog back on November 1st with Part 2 arriving at the end of November. Part 3 came early in 2011. On February we were treated to the 4th installment.
One of the biggest supporters of junior hockey in Edmonton passed away last Friday. Vic Mah was 91. (above, middle)
Tonight on TPS we doubled dipped our 2011 draft segment, went across the CHL and tried to get to the bottom of the Rick Comley fan incident that took place in Alaska over the weekend.
One thing is for certain; the IQ of the Oilers organization just skyrocketed. Edmonton announced earlier today that they have signed Princeton Tigers captain Taylor Fedun to a 2-year entry level contract. The local product just finished his 4-year tour of duty in the NCAA and is en route to Oklahoma City where he will join the AHL's Barons for the rest of the season and playoffs.
The 2011 World U18 will be held in Dresden Germany beginning on April 9th. As always, that start time means Canada will be severely shorthanded as most of their best players will still be playing in the CHL playoffs. That will also affect some European teams as they may have two or three players overseas in the same situation.
Last night's game between Lethbridge and Kelowna was highlighted by a 3rd period incident centering around 'Canes head coach Rich Preston. The play-by-play voices from both teams have done a great job of painting the picture on their blogs so instead of me recapping the scene, here is the Lethbridge and Kelowna perspectives.
Last night the Michigan State Spartans played their final game of the year as they were bounced from the CCHA conference playoffs by the Alaska Nanooks. The game went to overtime for the second consecutive night and ended the same way it did Friday, with a goal from sophomore Nik Yaremchuk.
Halfway through our 'Game Day' edition of The Pipeline Show this morning we received word that there allegedly was a post game incident involving Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley and some Alaska fans last night.
Saturday's guest list was a bit of a moving target as one intended participant had to drop out and another forgot he was getting on a plane before his segment. But being the professionals we are, we improvised and pulled out another solid show. We covered the CHL and NCAA action from Friday night, talked about the Taylor Hall fight/injury and how that might impact the Calder Trophy race, went East to look closer at the Quebec Remparts, covered some NCAA stuff and looked ahead to the World U18s for Canada.
The Pipeline Show has learned that Prince George Cougars defenceman Sena Acolatse has been signed by the San Jose Sharks. The 20-year-old is in his final season in the WHL and has earned the 3-year entry level contract with his performance for the Cougars.
Continuing his guest blogging series with us today is Travis Ewanyk, forward of the Edmonton Oil Kings. The product of St.Albert, AB wrote the first entry to the blog back in October and followed that up with Part 2 in December. Since then the Oil Kings have improved their team play and climbed the standings to 6th place in the WHL's Eastern Conference.
Wednesday night at Rexall Place the Edmonton Oil Kings jumped out to a 4-2 lead over the top team in the WHL after 20 minutes of play. I'm sure Saskatoon head coach Loren Molleken peeled some paint in the first intermission and it worked. The Blades outscored Edmonton 6-1 in the final 40 minutes to pick up their 49th win of the season.
Tuesday night we were joined by the most talked about prospect leading up to the NHL trade deadline, a Michigan Wolverine/"love expert"/Ottawa Senator, a Top (Sea) Dog for the NHL draft and our CHL insider from Rogers Sportsnet.
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