After a week of celebration after winning its first SJHL title since 2006 it is now time for the Terriers to get back to work all over again as they look to advance to the Royal Bank Cup in Summerside, PEI. Gone is the Anavet Cup series with the MJHL Champions and in its place is a new format designed to bring the best teams in Western Canada together to play in a five team tournament to advance the top two teams on to the RBC Cup.
Joining the Terriers will be the champions of the AJHL, (Brooks Bandits) the MJHL champions (Steinbach Pistons) as well as the BCHL champion Surrey Eagles and the host Nanaimo Clippers in what is going to be a gauntlet of some of the best teams in Junior A hockey. Something that head coach Trent Cassan is prepared to plan for and expect.
"Four of these teams are champions of their leagues so every game is going to be a battle, but just finishing up playoffs I feel that we as well as all the other teams are prepared for the task at hand and the players are all eager to get back at it" said Cassan.
Being the first team qualified into the Western Canada Cup the Terriers were given the benefit of some time to heal up last week and enjoy the moment of winning the league title. On Thursday they attended the Yorkton Minor Hockey Awards Banquet where they were honored guests amongst other celebration that coach Cassan hopes allowed his team to recharge the batteries after hard fought playoff series against the Estevan Bruins, Melville Millionaires, and the Humboldt Broncos. "Having a week off we all kind of got to enjoy the moment of winning a league title and the guys enjoyed the break and we were back at it over the weekend with spring camp that kept most of the staff busy but you can tell that the guys were ready to get back onto the ice and we will all be fired up for a week of good practice before heading out to Nanaimo."
The Terriers arguably have the most difficult round robin schedule of the teams at the Western Canada Cup. Playing the host Nanaimo Clippers who went out in the first round of the BCHL playoffs on Saturday night before playing the Manitoba champs Steinbach on Sunday afternoon is an extremely jam packed schedule for a team that will be travelling much of Friday, but in the world of junior hockey crazy road trips and back to back games are something that every player has experienced and Cassan feels that their experiences in the regular season as well as back to back games during the SJHL playoffs will prepare the Terriers for what will be a crucial weekend of the round robin.
"We have had our share of tough scheduling all season long," says Cassan. "We played on back to back nights on the road on multiple occasions this season and are prepared as players and as a coaching staff to deal with it, whether it is guys playing on two straight nights with tired legs or some players taking a night off as a healthy scratch to provide a jump the next day we will be prepared to do what it takes to be first ready for the Nanaimo Clippers than prepare for the game against the Steinbach Pistons the following day" says Cassan. Cassan also keyed in on how important nutrition and preparation will be heading into the travel schedule and the back to back games saying, "We will have to focus as a group on getting players to get the correct fuel into themselves prior to the first game as well as for recovering to be able to perform at the same level the next night which will be a team focus, but it shouldn't be much of a concern as it is something we have done this season before and is what we have to deal with again here."
The Nanaimo Clippers despite losing out in the first round of the BCHL playoffs will be a tough test for the Terriers as the host team. Led by former Prince George Cougar Greg Fraser the Clippers finished second in their division in 2012/13 and before being decimated by injuries the balanced team looked like it was in the discussion to contend in the playoffs with a 32-20-4 record. Beyond Fraser, who former PG Cougars Tayler Thompson and John Odgers will be familiar with as former teammates, the Terriers will need to focus on NCAA commits Kyle Kramer and Reid Sturos who both finished with 57 points on the year to supplement Fraser to give the team three 55 plus point scorers. Head Coach and General Manager Mike Vanderkamp says that his team is much different than the one most might have seen from their early playoff exit explaining at times "close to six guys that were important to our team were missing" and have whittled down their injuries to just one questionable player heading into Saturday's clash with the Terriers.
"Losing out early is obviously not something we wanted, but it has helped us get healthy and recharge going into hosting the Western Canada Cup," says Vanderkamp. Not playing in over a month might leave the Clippers a bit rusty when it comes to facing teams that are on the high of winning their league championships, but Vanderkamp has said the break away from hockey has helped his club refocus and develop a further hunger that has really aided his club. "We sent the guys home for a bit before preparing for the tournament after losing to Alberni Valley" explains Vanderkamp. "With a lot of guys missing home it was nice for them to be away from hockey for a couple of weeks and they all came back missing the game and eager to do whatever it takes to get ready for the tournament" says Vanderkamp.
As the hosts the Clippers will still be considered as slight underdogs in the tournament with a lack of a true star talent in what is a balanced team the Clippers also do not have a clear number one goaltender with Jayson Argue and Derek Dun splitting the workload for Nanaimo in goal. Dun came in a deadline deal from a losing club in the league to the Clippers and was 9-5 for the Clippers, but was only given one of the five starts in the playoffs by Vanderkamp. His running mate, Jayson Argue of Swan River was 20-17 with a 2.98 GAA in the regular season for the Clippers and Vanderkamp plans on using both goalies during the tournament, creating the possibility for a potential distracting for the Clippers that could be a tournament storyline. Should one of them get hot, assume the job to be taken over, but as Vanderkamp showed he isn't afraid to use both goalies as he did in round one of the playoffs.
With the tournament being far off in BC, expect the Clippers to have the home crowd advantage on Saturday night, something that could be a potential X Factor for the Clippers who have the second worst regular season record in the tournament and are the only non champions. A balanced team that is getting healthy is tough to analyze, but the Clippers will be underdogs that the Terriers will have to beat if they are going to get as generous of a seeding in the knockout stages as possible.
On Sunday afternoon the Terriers will shift their focus to the Steinbach Pistons who beat the Dauphin Kings in the MJHL Final to earn the Turnbull Trophy and represent Manitoba in the first ever Western Canada Cup. The Pistons recently moved to Steinbach after the franchise jumped around the province looking for a stable home and have seemed to have found one bringing home the franchise's first ever title to the city of Steinbach in dramatic fashion. After loading up at the trade deadline the Pistons took out the Portage Terriers with an 8-2 Game Seven win to advance to the Division Finals before defeating the heavy favorite Winnipeg Blues in six games in the Addison Division Finals. In the finals the Pistons completed the miracle run, bouncing back from a 2-1 series deficit with OT wins in Games Four/Five before finishing off the Dauphin Kings at home in Game Six to earn the title, beating two teams with nearly 30 more points than the Pistons in the regular season in the process.
Much of the Pistons run has been the work of adding veteran players at the deadline. Seven of the Pistons ten leading scorers are 92 or 93 born players giving Steinbach veteran leadership all over the ice. In goal Corey Koop was added from Neepawa at the deadline and went from being on one of the worst teams in the MJHL to backstopping the Pistons to their Cinderella run. His 12-7 playoff record and 2.46 GAA in the postseason further indicates the difference between the beginning of the season and their run now. On the blueline the Pistons best player may be Kyle Rous who scored 47 points as a defensemen this year, supplementing the Pistons three headed attack of Richard Olson, Myles Nykoluk and Justin Augert who all posted 60 plus point seasons for Steinbach this year.
Beyond Koop and their three regular season leaders, Justin Dalebozik is a player to watch for the Pistons after a red hot playoffs where he finished with 10 goals and 16 assists in just 19 games to give him 26 points during their title run.
With so many red hot players who are nearing the end of their Junior careers the Pistons will be an extremely tough team to face on Sunday afternoon, especially with the Terriers playing on Saturday night against the Clippers, something that the Terriers might have to gameplan for roster wise to ensure they have the freshest legs possible to deal with a team that is now used to being favorite killers throughout the spring. Steinbach won't be the favorite in this tournament, but a team that loaded up at the deadline is trying to go as far as possible with their gamble to win now after years of trying. For now, it seems like it is paying off for the Pistons who may just benefit from peaking at the right time in a tournament where anything can happen and whoever gets hot may just have the best advantage.
If you are looking for a favorite to win what is an unpredictable tournament look no further than the Brooks Bandits, who have to have the best claim for the favorite tag in this tournament, compiling one of the best records in Junior A hockey and come into the tournament with a #1 CJHL ranking that they have held for most of the season. The Bandits went 53-4-3 this season and boast an 83 point scorer in Cam Maclise that give the Alberta champions some serious credentials heading to Nanaimo this weekend.
Mark Reners adds to the Bandits scoring punch. The forward scored 34 goals for Brooks this season and compiled 73 points.
The Terriers have dealt with high powered teams in the SJHL season, beating the Melville Millionaires who had the SJHL's two top scorers in Ian McNulty and Russell Trudeau, but these Bandits are the class of the CJHL's western clubs and will have the pressure on them to win after losing just five games all season.
However, despite his team's obvious successes head coach Ryan Papaioannou knows all of that means nothing if his club can't advance to the Royal Bank Cup. "Regular season success really doesn't matter" says Papaioannou. "It was nice to have the run that we had and at the time it was great and was our job to get things done in the regular season and then again in the league playoffs, but if we lose out of the Western Canada Cup we would have failed on accomplishing our goal which is to advance as far as possible in the season and win the RBC Cup" further explains Papaioannou who is extremely focused on getting his team to the RBC Cup.
In goal the Bandits have Michael Fredrick and undersized goaltender who fits the Junior A model of being a quick goaltender who uses his reaction time to compensate for a lack of size. "He usually makes the first save, but if he needs to make a second or third save he has proved the ability to do that for us time and time again and has kept us in hockey games all year long and his record is reflective of that" says Papaionnou on his goaltender.
Fredrick posted a 42-2-2 record with a 1.61 GAA which speaks to how good his Bandits team has been this season.
Brooks will have the gaudy numbers and record, but with that now will come a pressure to win from within as well as from the outside as followers of the tournament will look at them as a team that should expect to be at the Royal Bank Cup in Summerside as one of the top two teams in the tournament.
Rounding out the pool are the Surrey Eagles, who won their first BCHL title since 2005 on Sunday night, beating the Penticton Vees in double overtime to become the final team to punch their ticket into the tournament.
A team loaded with NCAA commits, the Surrey Eagles finished 35-13-3-5 on their way to being the regular season champions in the Coastal Conference of the BCHL before beating the defending champion Penticton Vees in a tight six game series where the final two games went to overtime.
With a short six day turnaround between the end of the BCHL Playoffs and their opening round game with the Brooks Bandits on Saturday the Eagles head coach Matt Erhart is already aware of the different variables the round robin format will bring. "Playing teams we haven't seen all season in a one game round robin and knockout format, we know that there are a lot of unknowns and things that are impossible to plan for in this tournament so the key thing we are focusing on is playing the way we play" says Erhart.
Losing in the conference finals the past two years, the Eagles had a lot of roster turnover heading into the 2012-13 season, but despite not knowing how things were going to work developed into a hard working team for coach Erhart and assistant coach Peter Schaefer a former NHL forward with the Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils.
"We work hard and are a fairly balanced team" explains Erhart. "We play very defensively sound and just have seemed to have watch that pay dividends throughout the season" says Erhart.
On the blueline the Eagles have two BCHL All-Stars in Devon Toews and Craig Wyszmirski who Erhart keyed on as major contributors of the Eagles success this season as he mentioned that they are a defense first hockey team. On the front end getting the goals Brady Shaw and Adam Tambellini have been the main suspects with Tambellini getting the double overtime winner to cap off a ten goal postseason. In goal the Eagles rely on rookie and former US prep school prospect Michael Santaguida who won 29 games in the regular season with a 2.28 GAA.
Surrey will be in tough with their first game against the Bandits, but in one of the best Junior A hockey leagues in the country the Eagles will be looking to defend home soil in BC along with the Clippers.
Saturday will drop the puck on what will be some of the best junior hockey of the year, in an anything can happen format things will change in an instant, but for now the only certainty in the Western Canada Cup is that as for right now there is no certainty.
With four champions and a Nanaimo Clippers team that will have home ice advantage and rested legs, every fan base can make an argument that their team has a chance to take this tournament, which is bound to make for a great tournament of hockey.
Two spots to the RBC Cup are up for grabs, when the dust settles all five teams hope to be the ones left standing.
