~ Tuesday night we welcomed in our weekly CHL insider Sam Cosentino from Sportsnet. FYI for all you Sam fans, he will be in studio with us Saturday morning at 10 am mst to answer any questions you might have. As for Tuesday night we covered everything from what underaged should be invited to Hockey Canada's camp to a perceived bias in the OHL to how many goalies should be invited when Hockey Canada reveals it's list of invitees on Monday.
~ "We're not very comfortable with where we are right now with our goaltending situation" - Kevin Prendergast (Head Scout - Hockey Canada)
We are one week away from finding out who will receive invitations to Hockey Canada's December WJC selection camp in Calgary and as of now, the picture between the pipes is incredibly hazy.
~ Who says there is no hockey to talk about in the summer? Saturday morning we had a show that was wall-to-wall hockey featuring a couple of newcomers to TPS, a former TEAM 1260 personality, a regular media contributor from the Hockey East conference and possibly Dean Millard's favorite segment since I blindsided him with an Andy Moog wedding present back in Season 2.
~ Hockey Canada's U20 camp dominated discussion today on TPS as should be expected when the summer World junior camp is going on in our back yard. But we also made time for a WHL GM who made a massive coaching move this past week and we also went south of the border to check in on Team USA's summer camp as well.
~ The Hockey Canada U20 World Junior Championship summer development camp is 2 days in and it's been fun to watch 2 teams of highly skilled and motivated players.
I only saw part of Thursday's controlled scrimmage because of my shift at Global TV, but Guy and I caught the first two days of practice sessions this week and it's clear to me that there is more pure skill at this camp than last year's. If Canada can get the right guys back and everyone is mostly healthy Canada should be the favourite heading in despite two straight Silver Medals.
~ Some big names were shuffled around today as the QMJHL trade deadline came crashing down and the division between the contenders and the pretenders is now extremely clear. There was a total of 21 transactions completed and here are a few of the major ones that will have huge ramifications on the league down the stretch to the playoffs and beyond.
There are a lot of really good scouting services out there - as well as a few shady ones - but the agency that gets people the most excited, is also the one endorsed and ran by the league. NHL Central Scouting started 33 years ago, and for some it's the bible of the scouting world. If that's the case then we were blessed by an almighty presence Tuesday night on TPS. Okay, that's a little much, but E.J. McGuire, central's head man, does carry a lot of weight when it comes to deciding the future of young hockey players. McGuire joined us after watching Kitchener battle London in the OHL and we started our conversation with him about the top two dogs in Ontario, Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin. When the year began Hall was the top ranked player and consensus first overall pick by most people. But when central's November rankings came out the Windsor Spitfire was #2 behind the Plymouth Whaler Seguin. Expect the duo to flip flop the year before, and McGuire says if you like them in the OHL, you better get to see them this year.
"There were 6 this year who jumped from the 2009 draft into the NHL draft, there were 11 from the year before, and these two - Hall and Seguin - will be on NHL teams come October of next year."
Cam Fowler (Windsor) and Erik Gudbrandson (Kingston) are next in the OHL rankings followed by Barries Alexander Burmistrov. The next Canadian forward on the list is Sudbury's John McFarland. I was really impressed with McFarland during the Subway Super Series on Rogers Sportsnet, especially the way the 6.0 200 lb forward used his big frame.
"Strong on his skates," McGuire began before adding McFarland has missed time due to injuries this year.
Missing action has been a common theme for a few players this year, as Guy pointed out Brett Connolly (Prince George), Joey Hishon (Owen Sound) and Kirill Kabanov (Moncton) are all out of their respective line ups. McGuire explained how central deals with evaluating injured players.
"We try not to drop them in the ratings, we try to grab viewings and hold to those kind of principals. But it's tough when the other guys are scoring hattricks right before your eyes."
The Moncton Wildcats owns the top 2 QMJHL players ranked by central scouting as well as the number one slotted goaltender Louis Domingue. While the injured Kabanov is #2, defenceman Brandon Gormley is projected to be the top Q player selected in this Junes draft. Gormley starred for Canada at the Ivan Hlinka tournament this summer and McGuire made a lofty comparison to the rearguard.
"To maybe compare him to other years, he might be in the category of Victor Hedman." McGuire qualified the comparison by saying Gormley is a few inches and pounds shy of Hedman, but that their offensive instincts are similar.
Another defenceman getting rave reviews from McGuire is Edmonton's Mark Pysyk, mostly because of his skating. EJ agreed with Guy's comparison of Pysyk to John Moore drafted in the first round by Columbus last season.
From the blueline to the last line of defence, we talked goalies. McGuire made it clear that he doesn't pretend to be a pipeman expert, but defers to central staffer and former Washington Capital Al Jenson. There are 3 goalies garnering a lot of attention right now. Calvin Pickard (Seattle), Louis Domingue(Moncton) and Jack Campbell (US National Development team).
"Those will be 3 goalies for the first time that will probably sneak into the mid to later part of round number one, and that hasn't happened in a couple of years"
After our conversation with EJ McGuire we had a short discussion about Jack Campbell and how according to Western College Hockey Blog, he'll be jumping ship to Windsor next year rather than attending Michigan, which would be following a Wolverine teammate who just left the den for the OHL.
You can hear the entire conversation by clicking here.
~ September has always been preview month for us and for the last few weeks we've been breaking down the CHL. Every week we try and introduce listeners to another prospect that is eligible for the next NHL draft and we did that again yesterday. Lastly, over the last few episodes we've taken a closer look at the Canadian NHL teams and their training camps and on Tuesday we ticked another team off the list.
In case you're wondering about the title... that would be The Pipeline Show Season 5, Episode 4.
Dean and I also announced the start of a couple new contests for the year - our annual Name the Opening Night Roster contest as well as the yearly Pipeline Show Hockey Pool. For details on the pool, just click on the link and you'll be taken to the site's contest page where you can see the instructions and the groups of players to start building your own team.
The Opening Night Roster contest is pretty straight forward: email us the 23 names you believe will be with the Oilers on opening night. We don't care who the healthy scratches are or what the line combos are either - just the 23 names who are with the team when game #1 gets underway on Saturday October 3rd. But you don't want to wait to enter... as always, the tie breaker goes to the earliest entry so get your 23-man list in to us today. Email us at pipeup@thepipelineshow.com
Segment two saw us head out East and welcome Adam Proteau of The Hockey News back tot he program. Adam tore the lid off of Toronto Maple Leafs camp and gave us a breakdown of who will, who won't and who might make the team out of camp. We also talked about Phil Kessel and what that trade means to the Leafs, a club supposedly in a rebuild that willingly gave up significant building blocks to acquire a single player. Nazem Kadri played a central role in our discussion in regards to his balancing his career with his religious priorities. You can hear Adam Proteau's Maple Leafs preview HERE.
Our 2010 eligible prospect this week is already considered a top-10 pick. Brandon Gormley is a blueliner with the Moncton Wildcats and joined us to talk about the outlook for the season in the Q as well as his experience at the Ivan Hlinka tournament wearing the Maple Leaf for Canada. Gormley comments on Russian forward Kirill Kabanov and goalie Louis Domingue - both teammates in Moncton, as well as Mark Pysyk all of whom are eligible this June for the draft. Hear what Brandon Gormley had to say HERE.
Over the last couple of weeks we've previewed the OHL and the QMJHL so this week we turned our attention to the Western Hockey League. To give us a rundown on the Eastern Conference we tapped the shoulder of Cam Moon, the voice of the Red Deer Rebels and analyst for Shaw TV. Covering the Western Conference for us is Allan Bristowe from PGTV in Prince George. You can hear Part 1 and Part 2 of our WHL previews by clicking on the links.
We also played an interesting round of Bad Ass Trivia during which a "frustrated" Bob Stauffer called in to show up the list of failed callers that came before him. Unfortuantely for Bob... he proved he wasn't quite as Bad Ass as he'd hoped. Our AJHL Alumni Player of the Week and Game of the Week were also announced earlier in that segment.
NEXT WEEK: We will preview the USHL as well as one of the 6 NCAA Conferences as hockey south of the border gets going in early October. we'll also meet another top prospect for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and more!
"We're not very comfortable with where we are right now with our goaltending situation" - Kevin Prendergast (Head Scout - Hockey Canada)
Who says there is no hockey to talk about in the summer? Saturday morning we had a show that was wall-to-wall hockey featuring a couple of newcomers to TPS, a former TEAM 1260 personality, a regular media contributor from the Hockey East conference and possibly Dean Millard's favorite segment since I blindsided him with an Andy Moog wedding present back in Season 2.
Hockey Canada's U20 camp dominated discussion today on TPS as should be expected when the summer World junior camp is going on in our back yard. But we also made time for a WHL GM who made a massive coaching move this past week and we also went south of the border to check in on Team USA's summer camp as well.
The Hockey Canada U20 World Junior Championship summer development camp is 2 days in and it's been fun to watch 2 teams of highly skilled and motivated players.
Some big names were shuffled around today as the QMJHL trade deadline came crashing down and the division between the contenders and the pretenders is now extremely clear. There was a total of 21 transactions completed and here are a few of the major ones that will have huge ramifications on the league down the stretch to the playoffs and beyond.
September has always been preview month for us and for the last few weeks we've been breaking down the CHL. Every week we try and introduce listeners to another prospect that is eligible for the next NHL draft and we did that again yesterday. Lastly, over the last few episodes we've taken a closer look at the Canadian NHL teams and their training camps and on Tuesday we ticked another team off the list.
Dean and I also announced the start of a couple new contests for the year - our annual Name the Opening Night Roster contest as well as the yearly Pipeline Show Hockey Pool. For details on the pool, just click on the link and you'll be taken to the site's contest page where you can see the instructions and the groups of players to start building your own team.
