Ice ready to defend title

As we slowly swing back into things for the start of hockey season I spoke to Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth this morning on the club starting it's WHL title defence in nine days with camp opening on the 31st. That story, for BC Hockey Now, is below.

I spoke to both GM's - Chynoweth today and Tory a couple of weeks back - on the trade of D Matt Benning. It's a bit of a tale of two philosophies as Chynoweth said, as quoted below, that the Ice aren't in the business of begging players to come to the program. “That’s the choices that are out there for the players,” said Chynoweth on players headed to the NCAA or keeping their options open, as was thought with Benning. “They should all make informed decisions on which route that they want to go and there’s nothing wrong with either one. Obviously we’re pro-WHL but we’re not going to beg anyone to play for the Kootenay Ice. You either want to be here or you don’t. We have a good program and our record speaks for itself on and off the ice and we want players who want to be here.”

With Tory, he said in an email that he hopes to be able to sit down with both Matt and his dad Brian over the next few weeks and sell them on the benefits of coming to the Ams.
"I think that I will have to meet with Brian and Matt and sell them on our program. I know Brian well as I am from Edmonton as well and watched his career. I know the family well but these things are never a slam dunk and take a lot of work. I am hoping that he comes to camp and then makes his decision at that time.

Tory said that the picks are conditional on him signing a WHL contract and playing.

On the possibility of heading to college, "He has NCAA options as most quality players playing Jr. A do. However these opportunities usually are when they are 19 or 20. This is Matt’s NHL draft year which I hope helps us."

On where he might fit with the Ams: "Matt could step in and play a good number of minutes based on his ability and our need. Our blueline has some openings as we graduated some quality players and probably only have room for one over-age defenseman."

The one thing that got my attention was a quote by Brian Benning to Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald after the trade:

"The good part of getting traded is that somebody wants you," said Brian Benning, who now owns an Interstate Battery franchise. "Kootenay was an opportunity we stayed patient with. We kept him home to make sure the schooling was there. I believe you have top be in the top third of your team, not the bottom third. We're not in a rush to get there."
Because he has never played a WHL game, Tory will need to sign Benning to a standard player's education contract for the deal to be complete.
"I had a good conversation with Bob (on Wednesday)," Brian Benning said. "We are keeping our options open."

The elder Benning alludes that the Ice didn't want Matt, which in my discussion's with Chynoweth both this year and last year about Benning, didn't seem to be the case.

You can read the full story here.

For the rest of the Ice list/draft players not reporting, the most intriguing is Riley Simpson, a forward who finished third in AJHL scoring last season as a 17-year-old and notched 35 goals for the Brooks Bandits. He is committed to Ohio State and was a 12th round pick (257th overall) in 2008.

Just for kicks put Simpson, F Brendan O'Donnell (Tampa Bay Draft pick in 2010) and D Micheal King in the Ice line-up and those holes Chynoweth talked about in the story fill up pretty fast.

WHL camps are opening with rookies reporting. Locals that are at camps: G Peyton Lee is with the Giants; F Sebastien Barrette is with the Blades; F Jake McLachlan is with
the Red Deer Rebels, all drafted by their respective clubs last May. Others off of the SCAHL Bantam AA Championship squad from Cranbrook: D Brandon Becker garnered a camp invite with the Kamloops Blazers and will likely play in Nelson with the Major Midget Kootenay Ice and F Jason Richter is at the Swift Current Broncos camp looking for a list spot. F Colby Livingston from that team is in camp with the Vancouver Giants.

And lastly for today, anybody who knows me is aware I'm almost as big a political junkie as a hockey one. Today the Canadian political landscape lost an icon in Opposition leader Jack Layton, who succumbed to cancer this morning. I had a chance to meet Jack on two occasions and found him to be as real a person as any politician
I've met and in my business (the lumber one), I've talked to many. One really felt the passion he held for this country when I talked to him in 06 in Ottawa.

He is one of the good ones that will be missed. RIP Mr. Layton.

For BC HockeyNow....

Ice ready to defend WHL title

by Jeff Bromley

Unlike the kids who don’t want summer to end and return to the halls of learning, returning members of the Kootenay Ice don’t mind at all and are a week away from opening training camp on the 2011-12 WHL season.

Coming off of the club’s shortest summer in a decade as WHL champions– a good thing in the junior hockey business – Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth said the club is eager to jump back into the fray. “If you could play until the end of May every year, you’d certainly take that short summer,” said Chynoweth as his club prepared to open its 14th season in Cranbrook. “There’s been a lot of things happen in the last couple of months and there were a lot of positives and now we’re getting ready for the start of the upcoming season and see how we can handle everything as defending WHL champions.”

On the ice the club will lose a good portion of the horses that pushed the club past the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL finals in five games before losing to Mississauga in the Memorial Cup semi-final last May. Graduated are forwards Matt Fraser, Kevin King and Steele Boomer while Cody Eakin is signed by the Washington Capitals and will play either with the big club or their AHL affiliate. The same applies to D Brayden McNabb who signed with the Buffalo Sabres in the spring and likely won’t be back. His blueline partner Hayden Rintoul was traded to the Victoria Royals in exchange for RW Dylen McKinlay in July. That coupled with the fact that the club has four, 20-year-old candidates for three spots – G Nathan Lieuwen, D James Martin, LW Jesse Ismond and LW Joe Antilla – and will lose another veteran by the October deadline doesn’t mean you’ll hear the rebuilding moniker in the Kootenays this season. “Absolutely not,” stressed Chynoweth. “There is no such word as rebuilding in Kootenay. We expect to compete for the two trophies they give out every year. We return 15 players from last season and a lot of those players are going to have an opportunity to step up and have an increased role with our hockey club. That’s a good thing. That’s Major Junior hockey and that’s what it’s all about.”

“Do we have some holes to fill? Absolutely, just like we do every year but we’re looking forward to camp and the start of the exhibition season and how things progress as we go along.”

Chynoweth expects over 60 attendees to the club’s training camp that opens with weigh-ins August 31. There will be some notable NCAA no-shows to the camp in D Micheal King, 18, (Westside BCHL – committed to Colorado College), F Brendan O’Donnell, 19, (Penticton BCHL – committed to North Dakota), F Stefan Nicholishen, 18, (Westside BCHL – committed to Nebraska-Omaha), F Riley Simpson, 18, (Brooks AJHL – committed to Ohio State), F Colten St. Clair (Fargo USHL – committed to North Dakota) but no real surprises as the aforementioned players long ago decided to go the NCAA route. It’s an unfortunate fact of life for the WHL club but not one Chynoweth is willing to dwell on. “That’s the choices that are out there for the players,” said Chynoweth. “They should all make informed decisions on which route that they want to go and there’s nothing wrong with either one. Obviously we’re pro-WHL but we’re not going to beg anyone to play for the Kootenay Ice. You either want to be here or you don’t. We have a good program and our record speaks for itself on and off the ice and we want players who want to be here.”

Quick Hits – Off the ice and in the stands the club is reaping the benefits of a championship run in the season ticket tally with over 2100 so far. “We sold 328 new season tickets, by far the most in the last number of years,” said Chynoweth. “It’s a great base and it’s going to help get the average attendance up.”… F Brock Montgomery underwent surgery for a sports hernia in August and is expected to miss all of training camp and return to the ice in October. It’s the same injury that G Nathan Lieuwen suffered in the WHL playoffs last spring and underwent surgery for in the off-season. Lieuwen started skating this week and will attend the Ice camp and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres camp in September… F Kevin King signed an AHL deal with the Syracuse Crunch over the summer, reuniting him with his former coach Mark Holick, the current head coach of the Crunch. Joining King will be former Ice assistant Brad Lauer who was hired on as an assistant with the Crunch…. Former Ice head coach and Ottawa Senators bench boss Cory Clouston is now the head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings…. Ice forward and Calgary Flames draft pick Max Reinhart was signed to a 3-year entry level contract over the summer. Reinhart should return to the Ice this season and play along side his 16-year-old brother Sam, who played four regular season and seven playoff games with the club as a 15-year-old last season… Also among the list of camp no-shows was D Matt Benning, son of former NHL’er Brian Benning. Benning was a second round draft pick from the 2009 Bantam Draft who didn’t report to the club. Thought to have NCAA aspirations, Benning’s rights were traded to the Tri-City Americans for a 3rd and 6th round Bantam Pick in 2012 where former Ice GM Bob Tory will attempt to convince the 17-year-old to join the club… For the second straight year the Kootenay Ice traded away their CHL Import Draft pick and will likely not employ any Europeans on their roster this season…. Kootenay opens the 2011 exhibition season against the Americans in the Tri-City preseason tournament September 8.