Kootenay's icy patch

As you'll likely have noticed it's been quiet around here lately while the Ice spin out of control and out of first place. All this post-deadline and the acquisition of Cody Eakin and post-euphoric championship thoughts.

Oh, they're still around, those long playoff run hopes. But things are going to get tough down the stretch around Iceland.

First off, I won't bore you as to why my writing, blogging and whatever else has been scarce around here. Suffice to say life gets in the way sometimes.

And no, it wasn't post-outdoor-game-pardum, thought a quiet thanks was put forth when Shaw couldn't get the satelite uplink to work so that the game was shown on TV. Trouble was, they replayed it again later that night, and again Monday. Ouch...

So what's the problem? Is it goaltending, ah, that's always a good place to look. Is it secondary scoring? Sure, Eakin's here but with Boomer and Fraser out, it's a 3 steps forward, two back kind of thing.

Injuries are an easy reason but Eakin is filling in nicely for Boomer at the pivot between King and Ismond but I'm curious as to where you slot Boomer or Eakin once the former returns from the high-ankle sprain. Nonetheless, that's about four weeks off.

Reinforcements are on the way in the form of Levi Cable, who is 9th in Sask Midget league scoring, and MacKenzie Skapski. Cable I get, due to the injuries the 16-year-old forward is expected to push for a spot next season and will get some game experience here and now but Skapski? The 16-year-old goaltender had a great U-17 tournament over the holidays and Knoblauch did say that he didn't know if the young goaltender would get into action this week. Likely more to get Skapski used to the idea of being here. Next season the club will have some tough decisions to make in the nets.

Speaking of the nets, Nathan Lieuwen was on the radio yesterday talking about a meet and greet following Saturday's game at home against Lethbridge where the 19-year-old will meet fans and talk about his faith and it's importance in his life. I don't have a lot of details as of yet but the event has intrigued me in that hockey players generally aren't as open about the topic of faith compared to their football, baseball etc brethren, especially in the U.S. where everything from a championship to their next contract the Big Guy is openly thanked. In hockey it's not nearly prevalent. It's good to see.

Mr. Drinnan (over there, on the right) has blogged about a couple of Kootenay issues of late. One, the attendance. I wondered aloud if the acquisition of Eakin would boost things but so far, not really. Kootenay is down another 5.69% (Source: mib.org) to 2463 a game this season and are currently 19th in the 22-team WHL. All Drinnan commented was that Sunday's game was a big rivalry between two of the league's top teams and drew only 2373.

Secondly, Mr. Drinnan has heard rumblings that the seven-team BC Intercollegiate league could expand by two more teams next season. One from Eastern Washington University in Cheney and another from the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook. Could COTR be the next tennant in the refurbished Memorial Arena?

At least the schedule-maker helped Kootenay out in the slump department. Up next is the Wheat Kings and Hurricanes, with a home and home with Lethbridge Friday, Saturday. Both teams are scrapping for the final playoff spot and as such will be motivated.

Thoughts?

Again, the posting will be spotty due to work and the Peewee team so bear with me.