Haas' Hub
Week 3 of the BCHL season saw two huge comebacks take place. First, the Westside Warriors trailed 5-1 after the first period against the Merritt Centennials but rallied in the second and third periods to win 7-5 and outshoot the Cents 30-11 in the final two frames. Topping that effort were the Langley Chiefs, who trailed 5-0 late in the second period to the Cowichan Valley Capitals. For the Chiefs it was their third game in as many days but they still tallied six goals in the final period for a 7-5 victory as well.
Langley has now won six straight games after an opening night 3-1 loss to the Surrey Eagles. After being held pointless in that first game both Trevor Elias and Derek Grant are currently on six game point streaks with the league leading scorer Grant also on a five game goal scoring stretch. It hasn't been all offense though as goaltender Andrew Walsh is in the top six of the league in both GAA and Save Percentage. Walsh played two seasons ago for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and last year netminded for the Princeton Posse of the KIJHL.
The Westside Warriors have a league high 3-1-0-0 record in one goal games this year and are also the only team to have a defenseman leading their team in scoring. Justin Schultz currently has nine points alongside teammate Trevor Bailey although Schultz missed his last game due to injury.
Along with the two big comebacks the week also featured quite a few teams trying to set a very physical tone. Westside head coach Mark Howell was pleased with the Warriors rugged play in their last game and told Kevin Parnell of the Kelowna Capital News: “We were physical, we had a good forecheck. In the first period we had something like 30 hits and when you do that you get them off of their game. As a result we got the lead and carried it throughout.” The rest of the story can be read here.
Also dishing out plenty of hits were the Quesnel Millionaires. Head coach Tom Bohmer, after the Mills game with the Penticton Vees, told the Quesnel Observer “Our goal was 90 body checks and by our count we made 111.” The full article is here. Danny McSween has made quite the impact so far with Quesnel, registering seven points in his first three games.
The Burnaby Express got their first two wins of the season and head coach Dave McLellan attributed the good play to collecting lots of hits, saying to Alfie Lau of Burnaby Now that “…we simplified things and told them that if they got 20 hits or more in a period, good things would happen.” The full article can be read here.
Garrick Perry from Apple Valley, Minnesota was great for the Express in their two wins over the Surrey Eagles as he collected seven points after having zero points in his first four games. Burnaby hopes to have 52-goal man, Brodie Reid back playing this weekend after sitting out the past three games with an injury.
The Trail Smoke Eaters have been outshot in all six of their games so far this season and on average are being outshot by 10 per game. Nick Sandor has had an impressive debut with the Smokies though as in his first three games he has picked up four points.
The Powell River Kings are on the opposite end of the spectrum as they have outshot their opponent in all eight games and on average have 14 more shots per game than the team they are playing. Two Kings will be making an emotional return on Friday night as Brooks Robinson and Ryne Bodger go back to Cowichan Valley for the first time. Paulyne Robinson told Glen Gibbs of the Powell River Peak “It's nice for him to be playing for a team where he can play as much as he wants and the people in the stands aren't counting his ice time or counting his shifts,” she explained of the situation in Duncan where, “they were all over him. He could never have a bad shift or a bad game, and it was hard for him to earn what he deserved.” The rest of the story can be read here.
Speaking of the Capitals Brett Corcoran is enjoying his new team as he is currently on a five game goal scoring streak. The Caps have played five games this season and scored first in two of those games only to lose both. Whereas they have not scored first in the other three games but won two of those contests.
Right now the Prince George Spruce Kings Sean Ambrosie from Moorhead, Minnesota leads the league with his seven game point streak.
The Alberni Valley Bulldogs are hoping to get veteran defenseman Eliot Raibl back into the lineup soon after he suffered a preseason injury. The Bulldogs are the only team winless so far whereas the Penticton Vees are the lone team without a regulation loss and they will move into the new South Okanagan Events Centre on Saturday after playing one final game in the historic Memorial Arena on Friday.
Finally the quote of the week goes to Surrey head coach Shane Kuss as in discussing his team's latest trade he told Michael Booth of Surrey Now, “It was a bit of a gong show but I guess it's done — finally. It's becoming hard to make deals now. Nobody wants to give anything up and everyone thinks their players are worth a million bucks. We finally got it done though and now we're happy to move on.” The full article is here.
Patrick Haas, the voice of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, takes a weekly look at the top news from around the BC Hockey League. Each week, Patrick will review the headlines that have fans of the league's 16 teams buzzing.
