There are just a few more shopping weeks until Christmas, which means there are only a few more weeks before the World Junior Championship begins in Toronto and Montreal. Monday, Hockey Canada released its list of the players invited to the selection camp. In total, 14 WHLers were named to the camp, which opens on December 11th in Toronto.
If you’re looking for someone to root for from the Dub, why not Joe Hicketts? The camp is filled with high-end draft picks that you would expect to be there, but that label doesn’t apply to Hicketts. The diminutive defenceman from Kamloops was not drafted last year, but impressed the Detroit Red Wings enough in their summer camp that they signed him to a contract.
There are a lot of good blueliners Team Canada can choose from, but why not one who can move the puck, has great hockey sense and is leading all WHL D-men in scoring?
On the other side of things, how was Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry not invited to the camp? Nothing against the two goalies who were—Zach Fucale from Halifax and Eric Comrie from Tri City—but Jarry is a proven winner on some pretty big stages. Last year’s MasterCard Memorial Cup hero is off to a fine start this year with the Oil Kings, sporting a 2.42 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .920. What more does the guy have to do?
Here’s the rest of the week’s WHL notables:
Vancouver Giants look to the NHL
The Giants became the second WHL team to make a coaching change this season when they removed Troy Ward from behind their bench last week. Vancouver is currently at the bottom of the Western Conference and has lost seven of its past 10 games. Former Winnipeg Jets coach Claude Noel was hired Monday to be the new head man. Noel was fired by the Jets last January and will now be tasked with rejuvenating a somewhat stagnant Giants franchise.
The big question of course will be how he relates to teenage hockey players after spending so much time in pro hockey. While Noel does not have much relevant junior hockey experience, he has a lot of years in the AHL (including a Calder Cup in 2004), IHL and ECHL under his belt, so he should be familiar with younger players still developing their craft.
Either way, Noel has his work cut out for him with a team that struggles defensively and plays in a competitive division and conference.
Claude Noel meeting with @WHLGiants troops at his first practice. pic.twitter.com/8JYC2WlCnh
— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) December 1, 2014
Pats storming the East
It’s another week and we have another hot team in the Eastern Conference. There’s a pattern growing here. With middle-of-the-pack teams in the East taking turns getting hot. First it was the Kootenay Ice—who are still playing well, if a little cooler—then it was the Prince Albert Raiders who went on a run. Now, it’s the Regina Pats.
The Pats won three straight, and, with eight victories in their past 10, have vaulted into third place in the conference. They pulled off a most impressive win Saturday night, in Kelowna, where they stunned the Rockets 3-1. Rookie Sam Steel put the Pats ahead with his fifth goal and netminder Daniel Wapple—who has the best name in the league—made 27 saves. Hot streak aside, head coach John Paddock told Kelowna radio play-by-play man Regan Bartal that Regina would be sellers at the trade deadline. Paddock said that the Pats have six 19-year-olds and since only three can return next year, they are looking to move some of them. The most notable in that bunch is 2013 Calgary Flames first-rounder Morgan Klimchuk. But it also includes leading scorers Connor Gay and Dryden Hunt, you know, the heart of the team basically.
It will be interesting to watch what the Pats do here. They have attractive pieces to trade and seem willing to part with them.
The jumbled West
If the Western Conference was a piece of art, it would be a dark undecipherable blotch. Outside of runaway leaders Kelowna Rockets, the conference standings are tight. After this week’s games only eight points separated ninth place Seattle from third place Victoria. On top of that, the third place Royals trail second place Everett by just four points.
How are the Spokane Chiefs winning games? The Chiefs had a six-game win streak snapped Sunday in Seattle but have are fourth in the conference with a 14-8-3-0 record and are doing it with a roster devoid of household names. What coach Don Nachbaur is getting though, is solid defence (they only allow 2.76 goals per game), a good penalty kill and some timely scoring. One player to keep an eye on is rookie centre Kailer Yamamoto. Yamamoto is a Spokane native and possesses killer speed that often has defencemen on their heels. At only 16, the speedster has scored seven times to go with 11 assists in 21 games this year and has helped the Chiefs become an early surprise in the WHL.
They got rolling a couple of weeks ago, but the resurrection of the Portland Winterhawks continues. Portland is on a five-game winning streak and is tied with Spokane in the standings. Remember all that talk about the Winterhawks being sellers at the trade deadline? You can forget that now. They are getting some great goaltending from rookie Adin Hill, who has won his past four starts and seems to be taking over for the somewhat beleaguered Brendan Burke.
Player of the week
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Portland Winterhawks The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect was as hot as his team last week. Bjorkstrand lit the lamp six times in four games and has points in nine straight contests. He has 17 points over those games and has made his way up the WHL scoring leader board into ninth place.
NHL Draft tracker
Nick Merkley, C, Kelowna Rockets Had a 12-game scoring streak snapped in the Rockets’ loss to Regina Saturday. He also saw his teammate, Rourke Chartier, jump two points ahead of him in the league scoring race. The Calgary native still leads the WHL in assists, however, and is climbing up NHL draft rankings each week.
Ivan Provorov, D, Brandon Wheat Kings Picked up two more assists this past weekend and continues to be the top WHL rookie in scoring with 30 points. He was the only Dub player invited to the Russian world junior camp.
Jared Bethune, LW, Prince George Cougars The former University of Minnesota-Duluth commit is still getting his WHL legs under him, but picked up two points this past week. The ‘B’ rated draft prospect has nine points in his 17 games with the Cougars.
Zak Zborosky, RW, Kootenay Ice Another ‘B’ prospect, Zborosky has had an up and down start to the year. After not picking up any points for five straight games he got back on the scoring sheet with a goal this weekend. It was his seventh of the year and perhaps his numbers will improve with the return of Tim Bozon and Sam Reinhart.