Rebels owner and president Brent Sutter was one of those in attendance at the WHL's Annual General Meeting this week in Vancouver. Yesterday, a pair of substantial rulings were released.
First off, it looks like full-time video replay will be coming to the regular season for the first time starting in the fall. To this point, the league has only used replay in the playoffs. My thoughts have always been, if it helps to get the call right, so be it. Delays seem to be a necessary evil.
Secondly, the board announced that the current one thru eight Conference Playoff format will remain in place for the next five years.
----------------
Greg Drinnan http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/ reported on his blog today that 17 year old F Joel Lowry, one of the Rebels top prospects, has agrred to play with the BCJHL's Victoria Grizzlies next season.
After some additional research, it indeed looks like this is the case. I'll hopefully have comment later on today from Red Deer. Lowry, the son of Hitmen head coach Dave, played AAA Midget with the Alberta Champion CGY Buffaloes last season, and was expected to get a long, long look in camp this fall. If Lowry does go through with the Junior A route instead, it will mean the second substantial prospect loss in the last two years for Red Deer. Curtis McKenzie, who is expedted to go somewhere in the middle rounds of next weeks NHL entry draft, has spurned Red Deer in each of the last two seasons to play Junior in B.C.
-------------
This is a bit delayed, but congrats to Former Rebel netminder James Reimer, who helped the ECH:'s South Carolina Stingrays to the Kelly Cup Championship earlier this month with a game seven victory over the Alaska Aces. Reimer was named playoff MVP
--------------
I had a good chat with Shaun Sutter last night, the new assistant coach with the Regina Pats. I'll play that interview on the show this weekend.
---------------
AW
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I don't know if you could classify that as a 'substantial' loss. I can't really say I blame him, 18 year old rookies historically don't fare well on the Rebels (at least if they aren't NHL drafted), and they really already have a handful of "Joel Lowry's" on their roster--they should be looking to add more speed and secondary scoring rather than more grinders anyways. I do hold out some slim hope that Curtis McKenzie gets drafted by an NHL team this summer, and that team recommends that he play a year or two of Major Junior.
I disagree. Not hailing Lowry as the second coming, but he's big, has good hockey IQ, is WHL ready, and has more offensive upsaide than many of the players in the system.
He's no McKenzie, but i'm sure Red Deer would have been happier had he commited to play here.
I don't fault a player for choosing Junior A over Major Junior. If he is academically inclined and is seeking a scholarship that is a good route. What I find odd is that I think there is a rule that prohibits someone under 18 from playing in another province. That rule was put in for this very reason, to protect the AJHL from players leaving this province to play in BC. It is my understanding that if he is under 18 he has to play in Alberta. Once he is over 18 he can go to BC but he would have to get released by the Junior A team he played for. They usually get some compensation.
I agree with Andrew that losing him will hurt the Rebels. I saw him play last year and think he has the ability to be a top 2 line player by next year.
I thought that Lowry looked like a clone of Josh Cowen in training camp last season, though maybe a slightly less motivated version of him. Losing him is certainly not a good thing, but it isn't like the Rebels don't have 4 or 5 other older prospects like him that can step right in and fill his shoes.
This will be Lowry's 18 year old season.
one year ago, I also compared Lowry to Cowen, but just looking at the role Cowen played here, and the role Lowry played on one of the best midget teams in Canada, I would say Lowry is going to be more offensive.
As for the "other" older prospects coming in.....I don't see many on a Lowry level.
there could be a dark horse I suppose, another Willie Coetzee perhaps (Jordan Neduzak?) but noone has been as hyped by the Rebels as Lowry.
I never really put a lot of stock in how much or little offensive numbers a player puts up in midget, as the travel schedule is exponentially easier at that level, and the level of talent on teams at that level varies a great deal more. I think what this does is maybe puts a guy like Ferguson a little more at ease.
Do you think this maybe slants the Import draft pick a little more towards a big winger?
Post a Comment