New Brunswick Awarded 2017 Allan Cup

New Brunswick has been awarded the 2017 Allan Cup tournament.

Hockey Canada Senior Council will now take their recommendation to the Board of Directors meeting later this month for a final vote.

Alberta, Ontario and Newfoundland were also hoping to be named as the host province. 

Locally, the Bentley Generals, Innisfail Eagles and Stony Plain Eagles had each announced their intentions to bid had Alberta been selected.

The 2017 tournament became available after the original host team, the Kenora Thistles, folded last month. 

New Brunswick will now choose a host team from the North East Senior Hockey League.

Generals, Eagles Seek To Host 2017 Allan Cup

The Bentley Generals hosted the Allan Cup in 2013
and hope to do so again in 2017

The 2017 Allan Cup championship tournament finds itself without a host.

Both the Bentley (soon to be Lacombe) Generals and Innisfail Eagles hope to fix that. 

The Kenora Thistles, who hosted the Allan Cup in 2011, were to do so again next year. That changed when the Thistles suddenly folded this month. Team President Gary Forsyth confirmed the news through a post to the Allan Cup message board.

In light of the news, Hockey Canada has issued a nation-wide call to find a replacement host for the 2017 tournament. Both the Generals and Eagles, along with Stony Plain, will be bidding to take over from Kenora.

The Hard Hitting Topic of Body Checking

Hey gang.

I am fortunate enough to have been invited by Hockey Alberta to serve as moderator for an interesting, and quite possibly emotional, forum discussion taking place tomorrow night as part of their Annual General Meeting.

The topic of discussion… body checking. There has been no shortage of opinions voiced both for and against Hockey Alberta’s, followed by Hockey Canada’s, decision to eliminate body checking from pee wee hockey.

The bottom line is there’s no turning back. The decision has been made and the focus of tomorrow night’s forum will be on “what’s next.” Now that this change is being made, how do we (coaches, managers, officials, players, parents, etc.) move forward while also improving the game of hockey?

Optimist Rebels Make Contact But Settle For Tie

For whatever reason, the Red Deer Optimist Rebels simply weren't themselves to start the game.

But in the end they showed enough of their regular selves to pull out a 2-2 tie versus the Saskatoon Contacts in the opening game at the 2012 Telus Cup in Leduc.

Red Deer Head Coach Doug Quinn said his team did do well to overcome their shaky start.

"I thought we were a little bit nervous in the first period.  We settled in in the second period and created some pressure and had a good third [period]."

Scott Feser, who scored the game-tying goal in the third period, wasn't exactly sure why his team started the game so poorly (the Optimist Rebels trailed 2-0 after the first period).

"It's obviously been a couple weeks since we played a game and it's a pretty big tournament.  So I don't know if a few guys were nervous.  It could be nerves but it's good to get that first one over and I think we should be able to push forward now."

Slow start aside, Monday's game was like many others we've seen throughout the baby Rebels postseason.  It was a game in which they badly outshot (40-18) and outplayed their opponents yet ended up in a tight game.  Playing against a fairly high scoring Contacts team, Quinn was pleased with his squad's defensive play.

"We knew that they had a lot of skill.  We certainly wanted to make sure that we played a pressure game and didn't give them opportunities and space to handle the puck.  I thought for the most part, once we adjusted to their quickness, we did that in the second and third periods."

Josh Uhrich opened the scoring for Saskatoon 6:27 into the game with a well-placed shot that seemingly fooled Red Deer goalie Dasan Sydora (he hardly flinched as the shot went off his shoulder and beat him top shelf).  Rourke Chartier made it 2-0 with a powerplay goal at 15:44.

The Optimist Rebels finally broke through late in the second period on their 26th shot of the game.  Brady Bakke fired on net, Contacts goalie Mack Shields made the save, but Nick Glackin was there to put home the rebound for a shorthanded goal at 15:50.  The goal set the stage for complete Red Deer dominance the rest of the way.

Shields was outstanding between the pipes for Saskatoon.  He did everything he could to try and steal the win for his club.  And it started to look like he would do just that until Feser tipped Cole Berreth's point shot out of mid-air and past Shields 6:16 into the final frame.  Neither team was able to find the go-ahead goal from there and settled for a single point in the standings.

The Optimist Rebels are back in action today at 4pm vs. Moncton.

In other Telus Cup action on Monday... Phénix du Collège Esther-Blondin beat the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves 6-2 and the host Leduc Oil Kings knocked off the Moncton Flyers 5-4.

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Sticking with our theme from my previous blog... here are my thoughts on how the four Red Deer Rebels prospects fared in yesterday's game (as they auditioned for Rebels assistant coaches Chris Neiszner and Bryce Thoma who were both in attendance)...

Scott Feser, Red Deer (F) - Game-tying goal aside, Feser did a fairly good job of creating scoring chances throughout the game.  He certainly seemed more comfortable versus Saskatoon than he did in either game of the pacific regional final versus Vancouver.  Scott, like the rest of the Optimist Rebels, should look even more comfortable starting today now that the opening game jitters are out of the way.

Scott Ferguson, Red Deer (F) - Personally, I thought Ferguson played the best game out of any forward on the ice.  Every time he was on the ice, Ferguson either had the puck on his stick or was getting it to his line mates for scoring chances.  Scott also used his size (6'0 182lbs) to create havoc in the corners for Saskatoon defenders.  The Optimist Rebels will definitely benefit if Ferguson can maintain a high level of play throughout the rest of the week.

Vukie Mpofu, Saskatoon (D) - While Joel Topping was clearly the best defenceman on the ice for either team, Mpofu definitely led the charge for the Contacts group of bluelines.  I have no official stats, but I'd be willing to bet that Vukie played in excess of 25 minutes in the game.  His small small stature works against him, but Mpofu stood in tough against Optimist Rebels forecheckers.  He also was effective at moving the puck ahead to his forwards.  Speaking with him after the game, Mpofu is happy with how his game has progressed throughout the season, "I think not only myself but a lot of our [Contacts] young players grew a lot.  I think it [qualifying for Telus Cup] has got us really ready to maybe make the jump to the WHL next year."

Rod Southam, Saskatoon (F) - Yesterday's game was not an overly physical affair, which didn't play well into Southam's power forward style.  But he didn't look horribly out of place and didn't hurt himself at all in the way of turnovers and such.  A harder hitting game will help Southam better show off what he has to offer.  Southam told me he is happy with his development this season, having gotten bigger and stronger and quicker on his feet.  He says there is no secret to what his game is all about, "I like to hit and bring the body and be a physical presence out there."

Optimist Rebels Set To Battle Starting Monday

(Courtesy of Hockey Canada)

2012 TELUS CUP BEGINS MONDAY IN LEDUC, ALBERTA

LEDUC, Alta. – For the 39th time, Canada’s top Midget teams have gathered, this year in Leduc, to do battle for the National Midget Championship, beginning Monday, April 23. This year marks just the fourth time Alberta has hosted the TELUS Cup, joining Calgary in 1976 and 1991, and Red Deer in 2007.

The host Leduc Oil Kings are joined by five regional champions: the Phénix du Collège Esther-Blondin (Quebec), Moncton Flyers (Atlantic), Red Deer Rebels (Pacific), Saskatoon Contacts (West) and Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves (Central). The six competing teams will take to the ice at the Leduc Recreation Centre hoping to earn one of the two berths in Sunday’s nationally-televised gold medal game.

This year’s field includes two teams that have won the National Midget Championship in the last decade – Saskatoon (2005) and Sudbury (2008) – and another, Red Deer, that has played in three gold medal games without winning the national title; the Rebels lost the final in double overtime in both 1994 and 2007, and also took home silver in 1995. While Collège Esther-Blondin and the host Oil Kings are making their first TELUS Cup appearances, the other four teams all have plenty of experience – Red Deer is making its ninth trip to the national championship, Moncton is in for the seventh time, Sudbury’s appearance is its fifth and Saskatoon is making visit No. 4.

CLICK HERE FOR THE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Czeching In with Jesse Wallin

We will find out sometime today what Canada's team will look like for the World U-18 Hockey Championship.

Two things are certain... Mathew Dumba will be on the roster (and is a good bet to wear the "C"). Jesse Wallin will have this team working its collective arses off during each and every shift.

Wallin (along with the voice of the Rebels Cam Moon, who gets the sweet gig of doing media relations for the team) is currently in Toronto. That's where the squad will assemble before heading to the Czech Republic later this week.

Assembling a team for the U-18's is much like it is for the World Championship, you don't necessarily get to choose from the 'cream of the crop' when it comes to players. Nevertheless, Wallin is confident his assembled crew will be a competitive one.

"Our goaltending sounds like it's gonna be solid" Wallin told me when I stopped by his office on Monday. "Our defence, we should have four real solid guys and some good depth. And up front, we're gonna have a good mix of size and skill on our top couple of lines."

"A lot of players are still playing with their club teams so you're basically taking the best of what's available. But at the same time, I think we've got some depth in our country and it may not be the best team we could put together [if we had the whole crop to choose from] but yet I think we'll still put a pretty competitive team together."

As most of you know, this is Wallin's second go-round with the U-18's. He served as an Assistant Coach under Pat Quinn when Canada won gold in 2008. Wallin doesn't foresee any big differences in his role until the tournament gets underway.

"Pat was quite a presence and, of course, very experienced. We just kinda worked around him and supported him. So this time certainly having to be the guy taking that lead will be a great challenge for me, but it's definitely one I'm excited about.

Given the nature of the U-18 tournament, Wallin says having previous experience will definitely come in handy.

"I don't know of any other situation where it happens quite like this. There's no training camp whatsoever. It's just get the team together, get on the plane and go overseas. You really have to get your team to bond in a hurry."

We'll get our first look at how things are coming together when Canada takes on Denmark for its first game of the tournament next Thursday (12th) versus Denmark.

HERE'S THE FULL AUDIO FROM MY CHAT WITH WALLIN THIS PAST MONDAY.

NOTES... Wallin is also looking forward to visiting with some familiar faces while in the Czech Republic (his first time in the country in what will be his fifth trip to Europe overall). Rebels goalie Patrik Bartosak has promised to drop by for at least one day to visit with his junior coach (and his teammate Dumba for that matter). Also, former Rebels sniper Andrej Kudrna, who is playing pro hockey in his native Czech Republic, is hoping to connect with Wallin and Dumba at some point during the tournament.