Post Westside Audio

Nelson Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey on Mountain FM: Westside 7 Trail 3

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Smokies Assistant Coach Brian Youngson

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Smokies Forward Mike Betz

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NOTES

...Don't forget to check out the Smokies retro jersey auction. The lastest bids are just down the blog from this post. Bids are due January 30th.

...Some very frustrating news to report. Justin Brown has sustained an upper body injury and won't make the road trip this week. Boy has he had hard luck in his BCHL career. I remember last season just about this time Justin was just starting to play his best hockey and put up some points when he was out with an injury. Now he has 6 points in his last 3 games and he goes down. With all the karma he's earning he'll be an iron man for the rest of his career. I'm sure the Smokies are wishing one of their best two-way guys a speedy recovery.

...Injuries were also a factor in Trail's poor performance on the PK against Westside. It's tough when you're down 3 veteran defenceman. With Strukoff, Swaffield and Kaufmann all out with injuries the Smokies didn't get the performance they needed from their 5 regulars. AP Bennett Hambrook actually had a very solid debut for the Smokies and plays with a nice edge. He had one rough outing against Trevor Bailey that was kind of a "welcome to the BCHL" moment, but overall Hambrook (of the Nelson Leafs in the KIJHL) is a player to watch. Swaffield should be back on Wednesday against Powell River and Kaufmann should also be back shortly. Strukoff's return date is still no known although he told me he wanted to play on the trip.

...Another two-way guy who has really been performing of late is Captain Paul Mailey. After the 7-3 loss in Westside he has 10 points in his last 10 games. Mailey had 40 points last season and can put up a lot more points than he did in a frustrating first half. He was always valuable on the ice even without the points, but now we're again seeing the kind of player he can be at both ends.

...While there was a lot for the coaching staff to be frustrated about on Sunday they can look to a few positives. One of them was the "pack mentality" Trail continues to display. It's something that was perhaps lacking a bit earlier in the season. The team is standing up for each other no matter which line is on the ice. They're playing as a unit or as a "pack" and that can only lead to good things. There will be no pushing the Smokies around and everyone is buying in. There will be off games like the one on Sunday, but I still get a sense that the team has a much better attitude than back in the early fall. They had points in 7 straight games before the one in West Kelowna so there's no reason to get down on themselves. Wednesday is an important rebound game.

...Despite losing 7-3 I liked how Trail kept pace with the Warriors at even strength. The special teams battle went Westside's way and was the difference in the game. However, you can tell a lot about a team's ability by the way they match up with top teams 5 on 5. If Trail could have stayed out of the box (or gotten some calls) and executed better 5 on 4 or 4 on 5 that would've been a close game. That's a lot of "ifs" but to me its more a comment on how the team's play is still solid in even strength situations. The PK had also been so much better recently until the Westside game. They need to make sure it's only a one time thing as the PK has been a killer for them on the road.

...The playoff race is still very tight. Quesnel and Merritt sit a single point ahead of Trail for 5th place, but the Smokies have games in hand. They have to take advantage of those games during this week's road trip against some tough teams. Prince George is 5 points out and the playoffs are certainly not out of reach for them yet. Trail was 6 points behind Merritt only a few weeks ago and we saw how quickly that gap can get erased.

...One of those opponents for the Smokies this week is Alberni Valley. Congrats goes out to Mitch MacMillan for scoring 50 goals in 49 games. That's quit an accomplishment. Especially when you realize that the next best total so far is Trevor Bailey's 38 goals and Colton Beck is in third spot with 32. Nobody can touch MacMillan's sniping so far this season. It should be interesting to get a look at MacMillan, former Smoke Eater Tye Lewis and the red hot Bulldogs for the first time this week. I always enjoy a visit to what is maybe the loudest crowd in the league. I do have to say though I still think Trail has the smartest fans out there... except for the ones who give me hell... or maybe especially those ones! Don't forget all four games on the trip will be live on Mountain FM.

BCHL scoring leaders by age group

1989

1. Mark Zengerle 74
2. Denver Manderson 69
3. Trevor Bailey 53
4. Brooks Robinson 49
5. Mitch MacMillan 46
6. Trevor Hertz 41
7. Braden Pimm 40
8. Nick Sandor 39
9. Taylor Holst 35
10. Brendan Ellis 35
11. David Dziurzynski 35
12. Tyler Gubb 34
13. Tye Lewis 34
14. Luc Olivier Blain 34
15. Grant Toulim 34
16. Corey Chakeen 33
17. Andrew Wallace 33
18. Jordan Heywood 33
19. Alex Allan 32
20. Jonathan Milhouse 32



1990

1. Mike Collins 49
2. Colton Beck 42
3. Sam Muchalla 42
4. Mitch Krgovich 40
5. Scott Jacklin 39
6. Chad Niddery 37
7. Andrew Pettitt 36
8. Connor Jones 36
9. Kellen Jones 36
10. Alex Szczechura 34
11. Cody Bremner 33
12. Greg Noyes 33
13. Jordan Grant 32
14. Travis Statchuk 32
15. Kevin Ross 32
16. Cole Wilson 31
17. Dustin Johnson 30
18. Cory Kane
19. Brandon Fagerheim 29
20. Colton Sobchak 29



1991

1. Beau Bennett 53
2. David Killip 50
3. Cam Reid 45
4. Garrett Milan 31
5. Dustin Mowrey 30
6. Richard Vanderhoek 28
7. Trent Murdoch 27
8. Joel Lowry 27
9. Steve Koshey 27
10. Jeff Jones 25
11. Andrew Gladiuk 25
12. Tyler Krause 24
13. Jackson Garrett 23
14. Darnell Dyck 21
15. Dennis Robertson 20



1992

1. Dylan Walchuk 38
2. Sam Mellor 33
3. Travis St. Denis 33
4. Mark MacMillan 33
5. Teal Burns 30
6. Joey Laleggia 28
7. Grayson Downing 25
8. Tim Daly 17
9. Wesley Myron 16
10. Michael Betz 15



1993

1. Victor Newell 23
2. Lyndon Martel 16
3. Manraj Hayer 14
4. Colton Sissons 13
5. Spencer Graboski 11
6. Luke Fenske 11
7. Eric Walker 6
8. Sam Grist 5
9. Stefan Nicholishen 4
10. Max Fielder 4



DEFENCEMEN

1. Brendan Ellis 35
2. Greg Noyes 33
3. Jordan Heywood 33
4. Kevin Ross 32
5. Wes McLeod 29
6. Derek Hills 28
7. Joey Laleggia 28
8. Steve Koshey 27
9. Brad Pawlowski 26
10. Elliot Raible 26
11. Darcy Huisman 26
12. Victor Nowell 23
13. Josh Pineiro 23
14. Dan Nycholat 23
15. Justin Fillion 22

Thoughts? Nice to see the Smokies with at least one player among the top scorers in each age group. When you realize that only one top scorer (Sandor) on the Trail roster is a 20 year old there is a lot of hope for the core of this team. I'm not just talking about for future years either. Any good team at this level will have guys contributing in all age groups. That balance allows you to build a solid foundation year in and year out.

Post Northern Trip Audio

Smokies Forward Nick Sandor

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Smokies Forward Michael Betz

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Nelson Ford Smokies play by play: Trail 7 Prince George 2

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Nelson Ford Smokies play by play: Quesnel 4 Trail 2

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Nelson Ford Smokies play by play: Trail 9 Williams Lake 6

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Betz and Sandor honourable mentions

Trail Smoke Eaters forwards Mike Betz and Nick Sandor received honourable mentions when the BCHL announced their Player of the Week award today. It was won by Wetside's Trevor Bailey. Betz and Sandor actually out scored Bailey. The Warriors forward had 6 points in 3 games while Betz collected 8 points and Sandor had 7. They also both had hat tricks in Trail's 9-6 win over Williams Lake.

Scott Jacklin was also a big scorer for Trail on the trip as he had 2 goals and 8 points over the 3 games. You can vote for Jacklin in a poll on the BCHL website asking fans which BCHL player has had the most impressive offensive breakout as the season's midway point nears. Jacklin has 33 points in 29 games -- 10 more than he had all of last season. Congrats to all of them for their big weeks.

I'll have audio highlights from the weekend as well as interviews with Sandor and Betz on Overtime tonight and later on the blog.

Betz and Ingram Interviews

Smokies Forward Mike Betz

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Smokies Coach Jim Ingram

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Betz to Trail

The Trail Smoke Eaters have added 1992 born forward Mike Betz to their line-up. Betz played parts of this and last season with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. Last year in 30 games as a 16 year old he had 2 points and was a +3 player. The Chiefs then sent him down to Sicamous in the KIJHL where he made a huge impression with 17 points in 13 games. This is a player that has a very imrpessive skill set. So much so that he was Spokane's 1rst round draft pick in the 2007 WHL Bantam draft. Betz went 12th overall. He'll join the Smokies with an eye to getting more playing time and developing his game as the Chiefs still believe he will become a full time fixture on their roster in seasons to come. It certainly doesn't hurt for Trail to develop a relationship with Spokane for similar situations in the future. In the meantime though he will bring his bag of tricks to Trail's line-up which includes some terrific puck skills, an excellent reach and a very good shot. He gives the Smokies another valuable right handed shot (EDIT: while the WHL website lists him as a right handed shot pictures I've since found show him shooting left so my apologies for the mistake), and with a 6'2, 215 pound frame he might be ideal to stick in front of the net on the power play. Betz is in practice this week and will likely make his Smokies debut this weekend on the road in Vernon on Friday and Saturday nights. As always yuo can hear those games on Mountain FM with Nelson Ford Trail Smoke Eaters play by play at 104.1 FM in Trail.

Unfortunately this addition also meant that someone had to go. Trail released defencemen David Piccard and Marc-Antoine Chaput to make room for Betz and to clear space heading into the December 1rst cut down date. By then the number of players on your roster and cards you have left to use can't exceed 25. Now the Smokies will have 22 players on the roster with 3 cards left to use. Depending on whether they make any moves before December 1rst that could leave them in a pretty strong position to make some moves before the January trade deadline. Of course there is always a lot of activity heading into that December 1rst cut down day so you never know what could come before then.

I do want to say a quick word about each player. I think both Piccard and Chaput absolutely have the ability to be impact players in Junior A. Piccard thinks the game well and rarely makes one of those big mistakes out there. He's solid, smart and effective. David wasn't going to make a huge offensive contribution at this level, but given time to continue developing he really is a guy you could count on in your own end. He showed what he could do in helping Nelson to a KIJHL championship last season and again really upped his game over the last month here in Trail. He is also a very classy and respectful young man who I'm sure will find success at whatever it is he chooses to do now.

Chaput took a couple of weeks to adjust to the move to Trail after coming all the way out from Quebec to play for Surrey. He has very good puck skills and the instinct of an offensive defenceman. That showed in his ability to make a transition to playing forward when called upon. In fact he even put up 3 points in a single game when he was playing up front against Quesnel. He's not a big player but he's willing to battle hard in the corners. He also thinks the game well and works hard. I suspect this is absolutely not the last we've seen of him at this level whether it's here or somewhere else in Canada.

Both players can make a contribution to this or another Junior A club. Unfortunately it was a numbers game. After the addition of Tommy Rizzardo (who had been injured in training camp) and Mitch Kaufmann the Smokies had 9 defencemen. That was never going to last. Injures to Graeme Strukoff and Justin Brown delayed the decision and gave some guys a chance to show what they could do. I'm sad to see both Piccard and Chaput go, but it's not a reflection of their inability to get the job done in my view as much as it is just the reality of having so many inexperienced guys on one team. They could have easily fit with anyone as a 5th or 6th guy this year but Trail had too many of those guys as rookies and needed to make a couple of moves to change that.

I wish them both well and am looking forward to seeing Betz in action. Every scouting report I've heard so far has been extremely positive. The first step for him in the orange and black again will likely be on Friday night in Vernon against the defending national champions. Talking about walking right into the fire! Should be a heck of an introduction to the BCHL for him.

If Betz turns out to be a forward with say "top 6" skills the Smokies are putting themselves in an excellent position when it comes to forward depth. With the emergence of Darnell Dyck, the return of Justin Brown from injury and the forthcoming return of Matt Wilkins from his injury the forward depth is looking very good. We could easily see 3 very good scoring lines here in Trail as things shape up over the next couple of weeks.

I'll have an interview with Smokies Coach Jim Ingram about the move tomorrow night on Mountain FM's Overtime between 6pm and 10pom again at 104.1 FM in Trail or on our website. The interview will be on the blog later on. I'll also try to track down the coaches in Spokane to get their view on Betz and what we can expect from him here in Trail.

NOTES

...The Smoke Eaters also moved the rights of F Adam Gummer (89) to Spruce Grove of the AJHL for the rights of D Ryan Stanton (89). Stanton is in his fourth year with the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors. He's got 18 points in 18 games and is very likely going to finish his junior career in the WHL. This is just a matter of making a deal that will allow Gummer to continue his hockey career after not reporting to Trail's camp in August. This should make it clear to those who were calling for his rights to be used to acquire a 20 year old veteran defenceman that no such deal was even close to being out there. Hopefully Gummer gets his game back with Spruce Grove. He was Drayton Valley's leading scorer at the time that Trail picked him up for Skyler Smutek last year.

...Ryan Pinder's Vees blog reported today that Penticton made a move sending F Adam Zamec (89) to the Welington Dukes of the CCHL for future considerations. That leaves the Vees with one extra 20 year old slot for any additions between now and the January trade deadline.