Brayden Schenn (#2 star of the game), as mentioned above, had a big game: +2, 2 goals, 3 assists. Colten Teubert was -1 with 2PIM for the Pats. Kinda liked Schenn's quote in the Brandon Sun (this is from newspaper hard copy, so there is no link):
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Sun
“That was the ugliest win I’ve ever had,” said Schenn, whose team leaves today for a two-game road trip beginning tomorrow against the Medicine Hat Tigers (7:30 p.m, CKLQ). “Actually our guys in (the Wheat Kings dressing room) aren’t even (expletive deleted) glad to be a part of that one, that was an absolute disgrace.
“I feel bad four our goalie (Jacob De Serres). You know he had 40 shots or whatever he had and he did play well, even though he did let in seven goals. So we owe him one and we need to refocus and get ready for this two-game road trip we have coming up.”
Still leading the WHL in points (43) and assists (32) is Brandon Kozun. Schenn is closing the gap and is #3 in assists (23) and T-5 in points (34) having played in 4 less games than Kozun. Linden Vey has dropped off, although he's still at a point per game pace.
Jordan Nolan's return to the OHL is interesting. He has 3 goals and 3 assists in the 6 games he has played in, but he is also a -8. And I really hope Geordie Wudrick is improving on the "intangibles" or something. He only has 14 points in 24 games along with being a -9. But, to be fair, I recall him getting off to a pretty slow start last year, and he finally picked up the production and ended with a pretty solid season.
Brandon Kozun, RW - Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
Los Angeles Kings, 2009, 6th round, 179th overall
The Hitmen have emerged as one of the top clubs in the CHL due in large part to the WHL's leading scorer Brandon Kozun. Coming off an excellent 108-point season, the 5'9 164 lbs winger has 11 goals, 32 assists for 43 points in 24 games to start the season. The 19-year-old actually improved his point per game from 1.5 last season to 1.79 this year. His scoring frenzy was stymied a bit when his 16-game point streak recently came to an end.
the bad:
Jean-Francois Berube, G - Montreal Juniors (QMJHL)
Los Angeles Kings, 2009, 4th round, 95th overall
The 18-year-old Berube was expected to challenge one of the Quebec League's best goalies, Jake Allen (STL), for the starting spot in Montreal. Berube impressed in limited action behind Allen during his first year in the league but has yet lay claim to a bigger role during in his sophomore season. Appearing in nine games so far this year, Berube has a solid 4-3 record with a .891 save percentage but his 3.40 goals against average is significantly higher than Allen's 2.71 mark. Montreal is a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of goals for and against so a hot streak from Berube could really help the team keep pace in the Western Division
I goofed with yesterday's schedule. Game 2 between Russia and the QMJHL is today.
11-17-09 Results
WHL - Medicine Hat beat Brandon, 4-3
Linden Vey (#1 star of the game) had 1 goal, 1 assist and 2PIM for the Tigers, while Brayden Schenn (#2 star of the game) was +1 with 1 goal, 1 assist and 2PIM for the Wheaties.
Swift Current has been off since Sunday, and I hadn't checked their website or newspaper for articles. It wasn't until just now that I noticed Geordie Wudrick missing from the Broncos' roster. On Monday, Wudrick was traded to the Kelowna Rockets for two players. I'll update Wudrick's WHL team information later this morning, but for now, here's an article from the local paper for the Swift Current Broncos. Later this morning, I will also update this post with the game articles for yesterday's games and I will also look for Wudrick articles from Kelowna's perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Southwest Booster
“I found out about a half-hour before practice today around 2:00 p.m," said Wudrick shortly after the trade was announced. "I was a little bit shocked and kind of a little bit upset. I have played parts of five seasons here and I have a bunch of friends that will be some of my best friends for life so I am a little bit upset about that. But I am really excited to go to an organization that obviously really wants me and that has had a great history of winning so it is going to be really excited to go to Kelowna.”
He admitted that he sometimes felt the weight of being the team's highest ever draft pick.
“Obviously that is a lot of hype and a lot of expectations and a lot of pressure. Obviously it is tough and you are going to have ups and downs. I had ups and downs and obviously it is a little bit stressful here and there. I thought I handled it pretty well and all that I can say is that I am really happy to have been here over the past five years and it has been a good time for me.”
Previous post has been updated with articles regarding yesterday's games. Included is Kelowna's game, which was Wudrick's first as a Rocket. He scored, but the Rockets lost.
And here is an article from the Kelowna Daily Courier regarding the trade. The quote below is from Swift Current GM/coach, Mark Lamb:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelowna Daily Courier
"There‘s good and bad with every player, and Stepan‘s statistics speak for themselves. With Geordie, he came into the season with high expectations, really high, considering he‘s a high draft pick. He thought he‘d have a really good season here, and so did I."
"But here, everything he did was under a microscope. He‘s a bigger player who skates OK, and there were expectations of him to dominate every game."
"That‘s a lot of pressure on a player, and we both realized that maybe it was time for a change. We didn‘t shop him around, but in the conversations we had (with Kelowna), this deal really made sense for both players."
Hmmmm.... hope he just needed a change of scenery, because I certainly don't get a positive outlook on his career based on these comments.
Also:
Team WHL has named it's captains and assistants for their two upcoming games against Russia in the Super Series. In the first game, Colten Teubert has been named captain with Brayden Schenn being one of his assistants. Congrats to both players.
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