Portland Advances to WHL Final

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Craig Cunningham and Sven Bartschi both recorded 3-points to pace the Portland Winterhawks to a 6-3 win on Monday eliminating the Spokane Chiefs and punching their ticket to the WHL finals. Portland outshot Spokane 38-27 overall and in each individual period as well but they needed a big third period to take out the Chiefs.

CHL Playoff Update

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Just two games on the ice tonight in the CHL playoffs, it was Game 5 between Quebec and Gatineau and Game 4 in the Portland and Spokane series. There were 19 goals between the two games though so plenty of action in major junior hockey on Friday.

WHL Playoffs: Portland Advances, Chiefs Take Lead

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Two big games in the WHL playoffs tonight as one club faced elimination while two others went to overtime looking to take control of their series. Things didn't work out for Kelowna or Tri-City though as Portland dumped the Rockets 4-2 and move on to the Western Final. The Americans now travel to Spokane down 3-2 to the Chiefs with the last two games coming at the Veterans Memorial Arena.

Saturday Morning Special - April 2

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It was quite a diverse guest list that graced The Pipeline Show on Saturday. We had a former NHL head coach turned ESPN analyst, a junior goaltender looking to make Memorial Cup history, the head scout of a National program, the voice of a legitimate WHL contender not getting the media respect they deserve and our weekly visit from our NHL Insider.

Rebels, Hawks get out the broom: WHL playoff round up

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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did a lot of damage to the Edmonton Oil Kings with his hands, and vision. But it was the Red Deer Rebels leg/knee that did the Kings in for good Thursday night in Edmonton.

Is Brian Maxwell Coming Back To the WHL?

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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.

Cowen signs deal with Sens, Scary incident in Oil Kings/Rockets game, and Team USA adding 2 blueliners

Jared Cowen has inked an entry level deal with the Ottawa Senators. He was the 9th overall pick in the 2009. Cowen played a big role in the Spokane Chiefs Memorial Cup victory in 2008 when he was +27 with 62 penalty minutes in 68 games. Cowen did suffer a knee injury the next season and while some think he still hasn't recovered, after struggling during the 2010 World Juniors, the Senators seem convinced. Read the release here

Also, things sounded a bit scary in Kelowna as Graham Skilliter was injured and needed help off the ice. No word on his condition. Maybe Rockets play by play man Regan Bartell will have an update. I missed what happen, but heard the voice of the Oil Kings AJ Jakubec talking about it. Maybe it AJ's out there he could let us know in the comments section? The game finished with the two linesman calling it and Kelowna won it in a shoot out.

Team USA is adding 2 defencemen to replace the injured Mike Komisarek and Paul Martin, according Chris Botta. Tim Gleason getting mentioned as one. I was impressed with him Monday, there's not a ton of muscle on the Canes, but Gleason has toughness. Gleason you might remember was picked up from the Canes for Jack Johnson.
(Photo courtesy Claus Anderson/Getty Images)

One on One: Kyle Beach

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Recently the Spokane Chiefs rolled through town and with them this year is one of the most divisive players in the WHL. Kyle Beach is a player with followers in one of two camps: haters and believers. Every season Beach comes to Edmonton and he's wearing a different jersey and each time I make a point of speaking a few minutes with him. This trip through was no different and I was able to catch up with Beach for about 10 minutes prior to the game against the Oil Kings.

The photo above was taken during this very conversation; that would be Beach on the left (mustache is for 'Movember', a charity tradition to raise money for cancer research) and my ugly mug on the right. The picture was snapped by Gary Peterson who was along on the Chiefs' trip through Alberta and is compiling the photos he took into a keepsake collector's photo journal that will be a must-have for Spokane fans. Keep your eyes out for it!

As for Beach, I've been able to carve out a decent enough rapport with him over the last few years that I'm sure he knows to expect to see me at the rink for our regular pre-game chat. His first time through Edmonton was with Everett and he scored one of those classic "scoop from behind the net and tuck in under the cross bar" goals. We turned that interview into a feature on the radio show combining comments from his Silvertips coach of the time, John Becanic. You can Hear that one by clicking HERE.

His next visit to Rexall Place was with the Lethbridge Hurricanes after a WHL trade deadline deal took him to the Alberta city. We chatted about that and also about his reputation that was continuing to dog him. You can hear that March 2009 interview by clicking HERE.

And that brings us to this year. I started this conversation off by asking him about fitting in with a dressing room full of guys who used to have a first rate hate-on for him when he was with the arch-rival Silvertips. I was going to use Mitch Wahl by name but I think Beach knew where I was headed and decided to tackle that answer on his own.

"It's definitely been interesting... me and [Wahl] always had a battle within the game and now him and I are pretty much best friends. You can look at Ryan Letts who jumped me a couple of times and every time I was on the ice he was all over me... we're great buddies now, I mean we've even had a couple sleep overs!"

I'll admit i was struggling to keep a straight face when he said that and you'll here him chuckle a bit too, I think because he realized how awkward that statement sounded.

I was interested to hear how he would respond to my next question which was why he felt he was on his 3rd WHL team in less than a year. As I expected, he saw the positives of his situation and understood the way his former teams viewed his worth. Here is just a brief excerpt of what he told me:

"I think teams have tried to add me as a piece of the puzzle to make a run and unfortunately that didn't quite work out in Lethbridge but... we already have a great team here but if we can add one of two more pieces we'll be golden. Everett kind of rebuilt last year, got rid of me and got some great prospects. Lethbridge now rebuilding this year, traded me and got two very good defencemen, you look at what they've done and they've helped that team a ton."

I decided to lighten things up a bit by pointing out another difference so far this year: that he hasn't been suspended yet.

"[laughing] no, not yet... it's been a nice surprise actually!"

The interview always eventually gets to his past reputation but Beach says things are different now and listed a few reasons why that is, including having a guy like Ryan Letts on his team and simple maturity on his part.

"I'm growing up. I'm 19 now so there's no excuses. chicago's given me pretty strict guidelines... changing and maturing happens with age and now I just have to keep working on that and hopefully I'll win a couple more refs over."

Since he mentioned Chicago, the team that drafted him, I figured it was time to take the conversation in that direction.

Some of you will recall that Beach joined Chicago's AHL affiliate after the Hurricanes were eliminated from the playoffs last Spring. His stay in Rockford was a short one as both he and fellow Hawks prospect Akim Alui were sent home for disciplinary reasons. Shortly after, former Lethbrdige GM Roy Stasiuk revealed on our show that the Blackhawks had sent the pair home for... a food fight. I asked Beach when the last time he had gotten into a food fight was, hoping for at least a small comment on the incident. Instead... I pretty much got a play-by-play account of the scene.

"It was a weird situation; there were three of us... Logan Stephenson, Tyler Mosienko and myself plus Akim Alui were all sitting there and we were debating which league was better: the OHL or the WHL. It was 3 against 1 and Aliu wasn't too happy so he dipped a napkin in teriyaki sauce and threw it on me. I grabbed one of those mini corn on the cob, threw it back at him and it escalated from there... and I got a full plate of food covering me head to toe in teriyaki sauce. I think we almost fought in the parking lot too..."

Naturally my follow us was to ask what the relationship is now with Alui especially after coming together again at training camp in the fall. I don't want to spoil it here so I'll let you hear what Beach said in regards to Aliu, his full account on the food fight and how things stand with Chicago these days. You can here the entire interview with Kyle Beach by clicking HERE and believe me... I highly recommend listening to this one, it still seems almost unbelievable to me.

I also talked to Spokane head coach Hardy Sauter about Beach and how he's fit in. Sauter admitted he had some concern ealry on considering Beach's history and reputation but made a point of stating that the player has been anything but a problem in their room or on the team. I asked the coach if he felt that Beach has been unfairly labeled as a delinquent and subsequently black balled by organizations like Hockey Canada (who haven't even called to ask the coach about Beach this year!). Sauter told me that he felt the criticisms directed at Beach early on in his WHL career were "fair" but again pointed out that the player has matured and there hasn't been a problem with him whatsoever this year.

I also asked Mitch Wahl who confirmed that he and Beach have become friends. Wahl described Beach as a person and player who every team in the league (and their fans) might hate but all of them would love to have him on their roster... once they got to know him.

The Pipeline Show has always been willing to give Beach the benefit of the doubt; both Dean and I feel that Hockey Canada has been hypocritical in their obvious disdain for Beach while at the same time have opened their team to a player like Steve Downie. Both of us have taken some heat and ridicule for our support of Beach but honestly, we don't care. We see a player who as a youngster, possibly crossed the line of good sportsmanship [Lucic], wasn't afraid to stand up (with others) for his beliefs while with Hockey Canada [U17], plays on the edge with an intent to drive opposing players bananas and has a boat load of ability to play the game.

Beach currently has 19 goals in 22 games, the second best scoring per game ratio in the league behind Swift Current sniper Cody Eakin. He is second on team scoring behind Mitch Wahl who has a single point more than Beach but with 2 games more under his belt.

The fact that he was not invited to play in the Subway Super Series is an obvious declaration from Hockey Canada that despite his talent and value, Beach shouldn't expect a call for the December evaluation camp. And that is just a shame.

Maybe Hockey Canada should follow Beach's example and show some growth and maturity of their own.

(Photos credits: Gary Peterson, the WHL, The Everett Silvertips, NHL.com)

One on One: Jared Cowen

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After a a serious knee injury wiped out the second half of his 2008-09 season likely leading to a slight drop at the NHL Draft, Jared Cowen is doing everything he can to prove his real worth.

Spokane was recently in Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings and I had a chance to speak with a few of the players including Cowen, the captain of the Chiefs.

Last year began about as good as he could have hoped for; Cowen was ranked as a top-5 prospect, the top blueliner available from North America and second overall behind only Victor Hedman. He was coming off a Memorial Cup win where, as a 17-year-old, he was one of the best defencemen in the tournament.

The dream season took a hit in December when his name didn't appear on Hockey Canada's invite list for the final World Junior selection camp. In hindsight, you can't really say Hockey Canada made a mistake because they went to Ottawa and captured their 5th straight gold medal. However, Cowen's omission did raise a few eyebrows when the camp list initially came out.

Not being able to partake in the WJC tournament was a negative for a player so highly touted during his draft year. Things went from bad to much worse shortly after the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game when Cowen sustained a knee injury against the Chilliwack Bruins. Cowen suffered "an MCL sprain and a high grade injury to his ACL" and missed the rest of the regular season, the WHL playoffs and he was limited to near-observer status at the NHL combine.

He was still drafted very early in the NHL event but did not go in the top 5 like most predicted he would earlier in the season. Eventually he fell into the lap of the Ottawa Senators in the 9th position who, according to Tim Murray, were expecting to choose a forward. The draft day results received mixed reviews from Cowen who was pleased with who took him but clearly disappointed that his stock did slide a bit because of the inactivity.

"Even though I was injured it was kind of nice to end up going to a Canadian team," Cowen said, "If I hadn't of been injured I think I probably would have gone (earlier) to somewhere in the States but that's fine. Staying in Canada was probably the best thing that could happen so in hindsight it was kind of a good thing to have [the injury] happen."

Off season training took on a different meaning as it wasn't just about knocking off the summer rust but in rehabilitating the knee and preparing for a NHL camp. When the time came, Cowen admits he still wasn't 100%.

"It was a different than what most guys experience because everyone else there was healthy except for me." he said, "Coming back from the ACL injury was doubly hard for me. Your first NHL practice you're just trying to get your legs going and I only had a leg and a half I guess but it was still lots of fun."

Cowen had 21 points at the time of his injury last season. This year he is adding points at a higher rate and currently has 14 through 20 games. The team underwent a few changes over the summer including the loss of sniper Drayson Bowman and starting netminder Dustin Tokarski. When the captain returned to the club from Ottawa's training camp, the team had changed a bit more by adding former arch-rival Kyle Beach to the fold. I asked Cowen how the former Everett Silvertips forward was fitting into the dressing room.

"It's been good. When I came back he was already with the team, [Spokane] had already made the trade, so it was a pretty short adjustment period," the big defenceman smiled, "He's fit in pretty well. He's one of the boys already so it's good. He's a really good player too so he's helped us out in every area that we expected him to."

As for the goaltending situation with the Chiefs, Cowen says he's not at all worried about whether James Reid is up to the task of replacing Tokarski.

"He's really picked it up over the last few games here and was named the CHL Goaltender of the Week," he said, "[Reid's] been playing good and Kyle has been scoring goals so those holes have been filled pretty well so far."

This year the Chiefs can't afford to have players who aren't performing their best every night. The WHL's U.S. Division might be the tightest from top to bottom in the entire league as there really is no weak sister for the others to beat up on. The Seattle Thunderbirds are in the cellar but can't be taken lightly just because their 22 points puts them there. Spokane is in fourth place, just 5 points up on the T-Birds and within spitting distance of second place Portland.

"I think this year its one of the strongest divisions for sure," Cowen agreed, "Tri-Cities is up there again, Portland is having a good year for the first time in a long while so that's a bit of a change. We've got our work cut out for us here but it's a good challenge to have."

Although his focus is clearly on the business at hand, even Cowen admits that he's looking forward to finally getting his shot at Canada's team roster the World Junior Championship.

"Yeah, I've been waiting for a while now, the last couple years, to get on that squad," he said, "I think the biggest thing for me is to try and get my knee feeling as good as possible so that I'm comfortable. First up is the Subway Super Series and then after that... the waiting game."

Somehow I don't think Cowen is going to have to wait long for Al Murray and Hockey Canada to call.

(Photos Courtesy: Hockey Canada, the WHL, NHL.com)

Beach Traded.... AGAIN.

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It's going to be a very long season for Lethbridge Hurricane fans. The club that has lost a ton of talent from last year decided to deal away one of the few offensive pieces they had remaining on their roster. Kyle Beach is on the move again and headed back to the US Division where he will pull on the sweater of the Spokane Chiefs.

Here are the details from Spokane.

Beach had 66 points in 54 games last year split between Everett and Lethbridge and now joins a team he once considered THE ENEMY. The rivalry between Spokane and Everett is certainly well documented and Beach was a central figure in that dispute when he wore green.



Some of the players from that clip are no longer be there, like Chris Bruton, but Mitch Wahl is. You have to wonder how this move will go over with the Chiefs and whether or not it will affect the chemistry in the room. Dean and I have been supporters of Beach over the last few years but I can tell you quite honestly that judging by conversations I have had with people throughout the WHL... we're in the minority. Beach isn't the most well-liked guy out there and so I can foresee some issues this year in Spokane.

Definitely a powder keg scenario but... will it blow?

Chiefs' Bowman POW

It's no coincidence that the hottest team in the WHL has the hottest player right now, as Spokane's Drayson Bowman was been named the Boston Pizza player of the week today. You can read the full release here

The defending Memorial Cup champions look poised to make another run as they've rung up 11 straight wins, but thanks to Tri-City and Vancouver also playing pretty well over that span, still sit 3rd in the Western Conference. They weren't in last week's national top ten rankings, but you have to think they'll bowl their way in on Wednesday. This past week the Littleton, Colorado product lit the lamp 5 times and helped do it 5 more while earning a plus 6 rating in 3 Spokane wins.

The 2007 3rd round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes didn't get off to as good of start as he did last year, despite the massive amount of praise he was getting at the World Junior Championship from a certain broadcaster. Bowman played only 66 games last year and recorded 82 points. Up until he left for the WJC he was on pace for just 79 points and that was over a full season. If you pro rated it over the 66 games he suited up for last year it worked out to just 72 points.

Whether it was motivation from the U.S. having a disappointing showing, or that he only notched 4 points in 6 games while playing on the all WHL line with fellow Chief Mitch Wahl and Seattle's Jim O'Brien, Bowman has been lights out since returning to Spokane. He has a 10 game scoring streak going right now racking up 10 goals and 9 assists over the span. He's also been plus 13 with 26 penalty minutes, including a fight with Tri Cities Tyler Schmidt a week ago Saturday. Bowman scorched the Chilliwack Bruins this past Saturday with 3 goals and 2 helpers.


Bowman's sizzling play has his pro rated point totals higher than before the WJC, if he plays in all of the Chiefs remaining 22 games he could top out at 81 points. Just for fun though I pro rated his numbers as if he could keep up his current pace and it would give him 61 second half points ad 94 overall. Regardless if he keeps up his 1.9 point per game pace or not, Bowman should head into the WHL's playoff race red hot, which is where he was deadly for Spokane last year, putting up 20 points in 21 games, then adding 6 goals for 8 points in 4 games as the Chiefs won the 2nd Memorial Cup in team history.

Notes: Drayson Bowman might not be the only Chief getting some hardware this week. Goaltender Dustin Tokarski went 3-0 with 2 shuts outs and 81 saves on 82 shots. The World Junior gold medalist is the WHL's nomination for CHL goaltender of the week, but he'll be in tough to beat out Scott Stajcer of Owen Sound who made 130 saves in 3victories for the Attack.

The OHL's players of the week is Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion. The full release is here. Hodgson beats out his World Junior teammate and current London Knight John Tavares, despite a 6 point outing from the projected #1 pick this June.

Finally in the Q, Chicoutimi Saguenéens forward Jacob Lagacé and Val-d’Or Foreurs goaltender Raffaele D’Orso were named the offensive and defensive players of the week. That release can be found here.

Spokane's Smashing Success

The Spokane Chiefs have done what no American based CHL team has managed to do in the last decade - win the Memorial Cup. Not only did they wreak havoc on the competition but they pretty much destroyed the trophy in the process.

No seriously.



All jokes aside, and you can be sure that captain Chris Bruton will hear a ton of them over the next few weeks, the Spokane Chiefs are worthy champions and have done the WHL proud.

We expect to be speaking with tournament MVP and 2008 NHL Draft eligible goaltender Dustin Tokarski on Tuesday's show. More later on about the Chiefs and their big win.