Two Draft Day stories.... By Matt

Matt at the Daily Townsman has a couple of stories on the Ice Draft Day. Also, a mistake by myself earlier when I mentioned that no locals were taken in the draft. Ryan Chynoweth, son of Jeff and grandson to Ed, was taken by the Everett Silvertips 24th overall. Ryan played all of his hockey in Cranbrook save for this past season when he relocated to Lethbridge to play for the AAA Bantam Hawks. That indeed makes him a local product. Matt has a story here.

Oh and for those who were wondering I asked if our villa had Versus here in Kissimee, Florida. The front desk guy looked at me funny, "What's Versus?" he asked. "A sports channel, to watch NHL Playoffs," I responded. He looked at me like I had two heads. Jeeesh, and you wonder why hockey hasn't taken in the deep south... Thank gawd for the Net. Found this great feed that pirates the CBC feed.

Full Ice Draft list

Here's the final list for Kootenay's 11 picks in the WHL Draft. Head Scout Garnett Kazuik hit his target of 6 forwards, four defensemen and a goaltender. The 7th rounder, Jackson Elynuik is the son of former NHL'er Pat. Another disapointing draft for the locals as no players from the East Kootenays were selected.

Round One – 15th Overall – SAM REINHART
Birthdate: November 6, 1995
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Position: Center
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 140 lbs.
09-10 Team: Hollyburn A1-T1

Round Two – 33rd Overall – TANNER FAITH
Birthdate: October 5, 1995
Hometown: Wilcox, SK
Position: Defense
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 170 lbs.
09-10 Team: Notre Dame Bantam AA

Round Two – 37th Overall – WYATT HOFLIN
Birthdate: January 31, 1995
Hometown: Stony Plain, AB
Position: Goaltender
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 165 lbs.
09-10 Team: Spruce Grove Saints AAA

Round Three – 59th Overall – LUKE PHILIP
Birthdate: November 6, 1995
Hometown: Canmore, AB
Position: Center
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 145 lbs.
09-10 Team: Airdrie Xtreme AAA

Round Three – 62nd Overall – JAEDON DESCHENEAU
Birthdate: February 22, 1995
Hometown: Edmonton, AB
Position: Right Wing
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 145 lbs.
09-10 Team: Leduc Oil Kings AAA

Round Four – 75th Overall – SPENCER WAND
Birthdate: April 8, 1995
Hometown: Shaunavon, SK
Position: Defense
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 140 lbs.
09-10 Team: Swift Current Raiders

Round Four – 77th Overall – COLE DEPAPE
Birthdate: July 20, 1995
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Position: Defense
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 165 lbs.
09-10 Team: Winnipeg Warriors

Round Five– 97th Overall – JESSE WOOD-SCHATZ
Birthdate: August 22, 1995
Hometown: Sherwood Park, AB
Position: Left Wing
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 160 lbs.
09-10 Team: Sherwood Park Flyers

Round Six – 125th Overall – KYLE KRABBEN
Birthdate: March 25, 1995
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Position: Defense
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 140 lbs.
09-10 Team: Calgary Bisons

Round Seven– 135th Overall – JONATHON MARTIN
Birthdate: August 23, 1995
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Position: Forward
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 156 lbs.
09-10 Team: Winnipeg Monarchs

Round Seven – 147th Overall – JACKSON ELYNUIK
Birthdate: February 28, 1995
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Position: Right Wing
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 130 lbs.
09-10 Team: Calgary Bronks

Kootenay's second round....

D Tanner Faith from the Notre Dame Hounds and the second goaltender taken in this year's draft, Wyatt Hoflin out of St. Albert, Alberta with the 33rd and 37th picks.

In the third round Kootenay got a bit of steal if you follow the various lists of first round projected picks. Forward Luke Philp was widely expected to go in the first round. He played in Aidrie this season.

Luke Philp - F, 5'9", 145 lb GP G A Pts PIM
08-09: Bow Valley Timberwolves (SCAHL AA bantam) 32 29 36 65 38
08-09: Bow Valley Timberwolves (SCAHL AA bantam - PLF) 5 9 2 11 14
09-10: Airdrie Xtreme (AMBHL AAA bantam) 27 30 29 59 36
09-10: Airdrie Xtreme (St. Albert tournament) 5 2 4 6 8
09-10: South Senators (Alberta Cup) 5 5 1 6 3


That'll be it until tonight for me...

Younger Chynoweth to Everett...

Cranbrook product Ryan Chynoweth, son of Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth, goes early in the second round to the Everett Silvertips, 24th overall.

Stats courtesy Alan Caldwell at Small Thoughts:

#24: Everett (from Edmonton in today's first round pick deal):
Ryan Chynoweth - C, 5'11", 170 lb GP G A Pts PIM
08-09: Cranbrook Ice (SCAHL AA bantam) 30 22 39 61 70
08-09: Cranbrook Ice (SCAHL AA bantam - PLF) 8 5 9 14 12
09-10: Lethbridge Golden Hawks (AMBHL AAA bantam) 32 21 39 60 78
09-10: South Senators (Alberta Cup) 5 1 1 2 2


If you're looking for superb Draft Day Coverage don't forget to check out both Alan's Small Thoughts blog and Gregg Drinnan's coverage - who is at the draft - at Taking Note. Links are over there, on the left.

Ice nab another Reinhart....

With the WHL Draft going on today in Edmonton the Kootenay Ice made their first round pick, 15th overall, on another Reinhart. Sam Reinhart, the youngest of the three Reinhart sons of former NHL'er Paul - Max, 18, current Ice forward; Griffin, a big impact d-man who will turn 16 this year and play with the Edmonton Oil Kings and now Sam, a forward out of Hollyburn in West Vancouver. The youngest Reinhart was thought to be the best of the bunch a few years back by some scouts.

A bit off the charts with this pick. The youngest Reinhart was highly touted up to about last season and then quieted down somewhat. At the U-16 Tournament in PG he notched a goal and two assists in four games.

Ice win hardware

Ice head coach Mark Holick was named the WHL's Coach of the Year this afternoon, beating out Craig Hartsburg of the Everett Silvertips. Holick coached the Ice to a 43-24-3-2 record and 91 points, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference. It is the third such time an Ice coach has won the award - Cory Clouston won it twice in 2005 and 2007, the latter he won the CHL version - and the fourth time an Ice coach has been nominated. In 2002 Ryan McGill was the Western Conference Nominee but lost out to Bob Lowes of the Regina Pats. Holick will vy for the CHL version at the Memorial Cup in Brandon later this month.

Ice forward Matt Fraser has won the WHL's Humanitarian of the Year award, the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy, edging out Everett's Zach Dailey. Fraser was stellar on the ice this season but was even better off of it, raising over $14,000 for the East Kootenay Foundation for Health.

Here are the rest of the WHL Award Winners:

WHL Player of the Year - Four Broncos Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Jordan Eberle (Regina, SK), Regina Pats

RUNNER UP
Craig Cunningham (Trail, BC), Vancouver Giants

WHL Rookie of the Year - Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Burnaby, BC), Red Deer Rebels

RUNNER UP
Shane McColgan (Manhattan Beach, CA), Kelowna Rockets

WHL Goaltender of the Year - Del Wilson Trophy
WINNER
Martin Jones (North Vancouver, BC), Calgary Hitmen

RUNNER UP
Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg, MB), Seattle Thunderbirds

WHL Defenceman of the Year - Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Tyson Barrie (Victoria, BC), Kelowna Rockets

RUNNER UP
Michael Stone (Winnipeg, MB), Calgary Hitmen

WHL Scholastic Player Award - Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Adam Lowry (Calgary, AB) Swift Current Broncos

RUNNER UP
Spencer Main (North Vancouver, BC) Kelowna Rockets

WHL Most Sportsmanlike Award - Brad Hornung Trophy
WINNER
Jason Bast (Moose Jaw, SK) Moose Jaw Warriors

RUNNER UP
Jared Spurgeon (Edmonton, AB), Spokane Chiefs

WHL Humanitarian of the Year - Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Matt Fraser (Red Deer, AB) Kootenay Ice

RUNNER UP
Zack Dailey (Healy, AK) Everett Silvertips

WHL Coach of the Year - Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Mark Holick, Kootenay Ice

RUNNER UP
Craig Hartsburg, Everett Silvertips

WHL Executive of the Year - Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy
WINNER
Kelly McCrimmon, Brandon Wheat Kings

RUNNER UP
Bob Tory, Tri-City Americans

WHL Marketing/Public Relations Award
WINNER
Everett Silvertips, Zoran Rajcic

RUNNER UP
Brandon Wheat Kings, Rick Dillabough

WHL Top Scorer - Bob Clarke Trophy
Brandon Kozun – (Calgary, AB) Calgary Hitmen
GP – 65 G – 32 A – 75 Pts – 107 PIM - 50

WHL Top Official - Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy
Chris Savage (Medicine Hat, AB)

WHL Regular Season Champions - Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy
Calgary Hitmen

WHL Scholastic Team Award
Tri-City Americans

WHL Alumni Association Achievement Award
Professional Hockey recipient – Joe Sakic (Swift Current Broncos)
Academic recipient – Gavin McLeod (Kelowna Rockets)

Back before the Draft.

Okay, okay, my apologies for my procrastination, indifference and all out laziness since the Ice were eliminated almost a month ago. Been a great spring for hockey on the tube but just lackadaisical when it comes to bloggin' of late.

So here goes;

Yes, Hossa's hit from behind on Dan Hamhuis was not a board, it was a check-from-behind and that's the call that should've been made. Out and out just the wrong call and it cost the Preds in OT. Though, the inability to a) keep a one-goal lead while on the power play and then to score with a four-minute man-advantage is equally to blame. Hossa also deserved at least a game but the NHL, in its wisdom - or lack of it - thought not. Bush... No, there's no conspiracy against the Canucks, or Canadian teams, by Mr. Bettman but the least you could do is when you change the puck in the goal off a skate rule is inform the people that pay the freight. Bush... You'd have been hard pressed to find anyone that had the Hitmen in five over the Wheat Kings. Soooo, what happened????... And here's to Bob Tory, GM and part owner of the Tri-City Americans who has been at helm of a miraculous turnaround of a franchise on the brink some five or six years ago. Tory's Ams - coach by Cranbrook's Jim Hiller - have made the WHL final against the Hitmen for the first time in their 22 seasons. It'll be Tory's first appearance in the final since 2000 when he was GM of the Ice... Back to the NHL Playoffs - I'll be about 45 mins out of a NHL centre on Friday (Tampa, Fla, if you're wondering) and just how hard do you think it'll be for me to find the Canucks-Hawks game on the sports cable network that nobody can watch, Versus? I'll keep you posted... The Fort St. John Flyers won the Allan Cup this past week featuring two Cranbrook natives - D Don Lloyd and goaltender Clayton Pool - along with former Ice d-man Gerard Dicaire in the line-up. They beat the Bentley Generals 4-1 in the tournament final. The Generals were coached by Brian Sutter and featured forward Diarmuid Kelly, a former Red Deer Rebel who was on the losing side to Dicaire's Ice in the 02 WHL Final... The Flyers win was on the 30-year anniversary of the WIHL's Spokane Flyers last Allan Cup win. Kelowna Rocket GM Bruce Hamilton was the third-leading scorer on that club... The WHL's Bantam Draft goes Thursday in Edmonton. The first overall pick will undoubtedly be forward Alex Forsberg, who played with Kootenay Ice draft pick Jared Iron this year as a bantam-aged midget with the Beardy's Blackhawks of the Saskatchewan Midget league. Forsberg finished fourth in league scoring with 72 points playing against players some who were three-four years older. Iron finished 9th with 61. Prince George, who owns the first overall pick, is also the home of Alex's brother Jesse who is a d-man with the Cougars. The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix has a couple of great articles here and here on the draft.... So where do the Ice fit in? With the 15th overall pick and six picks in the next three rounds (two through four) this draft could ultimately define this hockey club for the next four-five seasons. The club is deep on the blueline - even with D Michael King's defection to the BCHL's Westside Warriors in search of an NCAA Scholarship - and should look heavy for some forwards with a couple of those picks. One thing does intrigue me though is the trade possibility. With so many picks and the club looking to replace some of Dustin Sylvester's scoring next season, could a deal be in the works? There's some heavy speculation here that Red Deer Rebel forward Landon Ferraro, a healthy scratch in the Rebels playoff ouster against the Blades a few weeks back, wants out of Red Deer and is being shopped. Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province has the Giants as a prime candidate.

And finally for those who were asking, the comments section is once again turned on. I'd actually forgot I turned it off after a few anonymous posters got out of hand. I don't have a problem with an opinion - even if it's a wild one - but leaving a name, even a nickname, behind the statement gives it a whole lot more credibility.

As mentioned before, I'll be in FLA catching some rays and some single 'A' ball for a couple of weeks so the posts will be few and far between, again. The TB Rays are in town when we're there but I don't know if I can bring myself to go inside for baseball in the sunshine state at Tropicana Field. There's some killer outdoor parks of the Blue Jays affiliate (Dunedin) and Yankees (Tampa)affiliate I plan on getting to.

Central Scouting Final Rankings

The NHL/Central Scouting Bureau released their final rankings for the NHL Draft in June this week and three members of the Ice find themselves on the list.

C Max Reinhart - 79th, up from 157th in January in the mid-term rankings. Reinhart is currently with the U-18 national squad in Belarus.

D Joey Leach - Makes his season debut on the list at 120. It was only a matter of a time for the 6-foot-3, 190-pound D-man playing top four minutes to get noticed.

RW Brock Montgomery - Proving that size still matters the 6-foot-1 190-pound forward moves up 48 spots from the mid-terms to 128.

The full list is here. A good recap from nhl.com including a player comparison to the first 30 prospects is here.

Keep in mind that the list is just that, and is more a guide than gospel. NHL Central Scouting releases seperate lists for Europeans and together the two would look much different. ISS, the international scouting service, provides a comprehensive list of about 250 eligible prospects though their final rankings won't be out until late May, early June. Their mid-terms rankings of their top 30 is here. It's interesting to compare and contrast the two, top 30's.

Switching to the WHL Playoffs... It's interesting to note the Portland-Vancouver series resumes Friday night in Vancouver with the Giants holding a 2-1 lead. Portland is an amazing 5-0 on the road in these playoffs while they're also 0-6 at home. I would wager a bet that's never happened before... Still with Portland there's a chunk of prospects on the above lists as the Winterhawks have six players among the CSB rankings. Not included on that list is 19-year-old Luke Walker, a winger from Castlegar, BC. Walker was a walk-on (no pun) for the Winterhawks a two years ago after attending a couple of WHL camps with no takers. Walker, who has dual Canadian-American citizenship because he was born in New Haven, CT while his dad Gordie, a former NHL journeyman, was playing there in 1990. Walker also made the gold-medal winning U.S. squad at the World Juniors in Saskatoon in January... Of all the years the Winterhawks were terrible it'd been nice to see the club more than once this season. Same goes with the Giants and Americans for that matter, the former of which we didn't see at all this season. WHL schedule-makers, there has to be a better way... Lorne Molleken returned to run the bench of his Saskatoon Blades Wednesday night to salvage their season by beating the Wheat Kings in Brandon 5-4. Molleken was serving a four-game suspension after the orchrastred melee in the Red Deer series... The Tri-City Americans can close out their second round series Friday after edging the Kelowna Rockets in the Okanagan last night 3-2 while the Calgary Hitmen dumped the Tigers in Medicine Hat last night 4-1 to take a 3-1 lead in their series. The Hitties can close out that series Friday on home-ice.

The WHL is holding their now-annual U.S. Prospects camp in Anaheim, California this weekend. Ice coach Mark Holick is again part of the group of coaches to run the on-ice sessions designed to let U.S. prospects demonstrate their ability to play in the WHL as much as it is to sell the league on those same prospects.

The WHL Bantam Draft goes April 29 in Edmonton with the Prince George Cougars holding the first overall pick. Forward Alex Forsberg, younger brother to current Cougar D-man Jesse, is expected to selected first overall.

ISS has their top five prospects for the draft out:
Top WHL Prospects

1.Alex Forsberg - Beardy's Blackhawks MAAA
2.Brian Williams - Los Angeles Selects
3.Mathew Needham - Penticton
4.Madison Bowey - Winnipeg Monarchs
5.Cory Millette - Notre Dame

Their draft guide will be released April 15 and will have the top 100 WHL Bantam Prospects. Williams, a U.S. prospect, is questionable on whether or not he'll come to the WHL.... On that list will include Forward Ryan Chynoweth, son of Ice GM Jeff and a former Cranbrook Minor Hockey product who played this season in Lethbridge for the Val Matteoti Golden Hawks program in Alberta's AAA Major Bantam League. He's projected anywhere from a 2nd to 4th round pick in the draft with some scouts saying he could go in the first round. Could he be in an Ice uniform someday? More on that later. Alberta Bantam Champion Calgary Bison forwards Morgan Klimchuk and Jay Merkley are also expected to go high in the draft.... Local prospects F Ben Smith and G Brad Rebagliatti of the Bantam Ice could generate some interest come draft day.

Reinhart to U-18 team/Hockeyville...

As a consolation for his club's first round exit against the Tigers last week Ice forward Max Reinhart, 18, was named to the national U-18 team that will compete in the IIHF U-18 World Championships in Minsk, Belarus from April 13-23. The full roster, which includes seven WHL'ers and one assistant coach in Rob Sumner of the Seattle T-Birds, is here.

And for those who didn't hear, Dundas Ontario - a suburb of Hamilton - won the 2010 Kraft Hockeyville contest last night with over a million votes. Bishop Falls, Nfld finished second. That story is here. And for the record though it was great to see the community spirit generated by the event here in Cranbrook, looking down the list of top five for the $100,000 in arena improvements if we didn't win it then Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia (pop. 690) would surely get my sympathetic vote. Unfortunately the tiny hamlet finished fifth but for a look at some pics of their barn - a 160x60 former pole barn that makes the Marysville arena look like a palace - have a look here.