Trail vs. Westside Playoff Preview

For an extensive audio preview of the other three BCHL first round series check out my earlier post. Now to get you pumped up for Friday night's first game between Trail and Westside here's the audio montage I'll play to open tonight's broadcast:

AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey Playoff Intro 2009

Click here to download

I've got a Smokies highlights video built and ready to upload, but that will get on the site later in the weekend.



The Smoke Eaters had a great first half of the season. They were in first place for a time, they were ranked nationally (as high as 11th) and they were winning in exciting, entertaining fashion. They played a hard working, physical, never give up style that caught some teams off guard and impressed fans and foes alike.

That was then, this is now.

The Smokies only have three wins since new year's eve. They lost ten straight games to close out the regular season. Scoring has dried up, the young defensemen are making mistakes now they didn't make in October, and the swagger that helped defined this awesome group of kids took a pretty big hit. Losing breeds losing. The longer you go on a bad streak the harder it is to break out of it. You see that a team loses ten straight games and you'd think they were getting worked over. That's not the case. Trail has been in most if not all of the games they've lost over this streak. They're just finding ways to lose instead of finding ways to win.

But the regular season is over. The slate is clean. It doesn't matter if you have 50 wins or 10 as long as you're in the dance. How many people expected the Edmonton Oilers to beat the Detroit Red Wings in 2006? Who thought the Carolina Hurricanes would win the Stanley Cup that season? How many times were the Ottawa Senators poised for glory after a great regular season only to fall flat on their faces? The playoffs are a whole new ball game. It's a cliche, but it's the truth.

If the Trail Smoke Eaters can use this new season as a new beginning we could be in for something special. There isn't a single team in the Interior Conference Trail doesn't have a convincing win over. There's nobody in this conference they can't beat. I know it, the coaches know it, the fans know it... do the players believe it? If they do and they can get their swagger back, watch out! This team could surprise you.

However, one coach who wouldn't be surprised is apparently Mark Howell. I had a chance to chat with the Warriors bench boss on Overtime and he knows they are in for a fight. I also talked with Jim Ingram of the Smokies and Westside's broadcaster Kevin Parnell. Here's the audio from Mountain FM's Overtime:

Trail Smoke Eaters Coach Jim Ingram

Click here to download

Westside Warriors Coach Mark Howell

Click here to download

Westside Warriors Broadcaster Kevin Parnell

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Here's how the season series breaks down...

Sept 13: Westside 4 at Trail 2
Oct 25: Trail 3 at Westside 5
Nov 22: Westside 4 at Trail 6
Nov 23: Westside 3 at Trail 2
Dec 14: Trail 4 at Westside 5
Feb 5: Trail 3 at Westside 4
Feb 14: Westside 4 at Trail 2
Feb 17: Trail 1 at Westside 4

The Warriors have a 7-1 record against Trail and have outscored the Smokies 33-23 in those games. However, only one of the games was decided by more than 2 goals. In my view the Smokies actually outplayed Westside on the 5th and 17th. Westside certainly earned their victory in the season series, but it was closer than it looks. Every game was a battle. They were all very entertaining and hard fought. Don't expect this to be a walk. Even if one team earns a sweep it won't be an easy one.

TOP SCORERS

TRAIL

Ryan Bulach (2-7-9)
Danny DeKeyser (3-4-7)
JF Boisvert (3-2-5)
Travis St. Denis (3-1-4)
Paul Mailey (2-2-4)
Brandon Clark (2-2-4)
Patirck Raley (0-4-4)
Brett Corcoran (0-3-3)
Justin Brown (2-0-2)
Sean Nugent (1-1-2)
Nick Sandor (1-1-2)
Patrik Martin (0-2-2)
Adam Gummer (0-2-2)
Riley Loyst (1-0-1)
Scott Jacklin (0-1-1)
Jadon Porterfield (0-1-1)
Graeme Strukoff (0-1-1)
Jayson Reardon (0-1-1)

WESTSIDE

Ron Kelly (4-8-12)
Ron Bailey (6-5-11)
Corey Pritz (3-6-9)
Jordan Gange (5-2-7)
Vince Mihalek (3-4-7)
Chad Gehon (2-5-7)
Kyle Singleton (3-3-6)
Garrett Watson (2-4-6)
Justin Schultz (2-3-5)
Brad Plumton (1-4-5)
Alex Grieve (2-2-4)
Joel Woznikozki (0-4-4)
Brendan Ellis (0-3-3)
Craig Eisenhut (0-3-3)
Grayson Downing (1-1-2)
Cam Reid (0-2-2)
Tyler Krause (1-0-1)

GOALTENDERS

Paul Barclay (TRA) 0-5, 3.80GAA, 0.886%
Marco Raimondo (TRA) 1-2, 3.82GAA, 0.882%
Kevin Jebson (WES) 4-1, 3.22GAA, 0.887%
Devon Murtagh (WES) 2-0, 2.50GAA, 0.898%

LINE UP

TRAIL

Brown-St. Denis-Boisvert
Sandor-Bulach-Mailey
Nugent-Loyst-Porterfield
Martin-Jacklin-Corcoran

Koshey-Strukoff
DeKeyser-Clark
Zmurchyk-Raley

Barclay
Ross (AP)

Scratches: Olson (AP), Reardon, Gummer, Legassic, Raimondo (all injured)

Affiliate Players: Sam Olson from the Grand Forks Border Bruins, Alex Ross from Kootenay Major Midget

WESTSIDE

Downing-Bailey-Mihalek
Watson-Kelly-Grieve
Gould-Gidaro-Eisenhut
Singleton-Reid-Gehon

Woznikoski-Quinn
Pritz-Ellis
Schultz-Plumton

Jebson
Murtagh

Scratches: Gagne, Miller, Krause

BROADCAST

You can hear the broadcast on Mountain FM with AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey at 6:45pm. We're available on FM at 104.1 in Trail, 99.3 in Castlegar, 103.5 in Nelson and 96.7 in Grand Forks. The game is also available on BCHL PPV with the Westside broadcast and in the BCHL Fanzone with both home and road feeds.

Chris Santiago

From the Westside Warriors on You Tube, that's a video of Chris Santiago scoring a nice goal on his backhand as called by Kevin Parnell and Brett Mix. A quick thanks to Kevin for appearing on Overtime last night to discus the Westside/Trail trade. It's always fun for me to talk hockey with another one of the BCHL's broadcasters. Given that most of them have been in this game longer than I have, I usually learn something in the process. Kevin and Brett do a really good job in Westside.

I don't know if this one video displays a tremendous amount of Chris Santiago's skill set. From what I understand, he is one of the best skaters in the league. I have to tell you that I don't remember much from his play in the two games the Smoke Eaters had in Westside. Randy Emery told me he thought Santiago was one of their better players in the 4-3 Trail win a few weeks ago. Kevin tells me he's a very talented young man with a huge upside. The Smoke Eaters are obviously quite high on him as well.

However, Santiago has 11 points so far this season. Looking at Points Per Game (a more accurate stat in my opinion) his 0.5 ranks him in a tie for 8th place among Smoke Eaters. He's tied with Warner, Westover and Paulsen. It's also a drop from the 0.7 PPG (21 goals, 17 assists in 58 games) Santiago put up last year with the Warriors. That tells you he has underachieved this season, but it also tells you he has the potential to do much more than he has. You almost never see an 18 year old's production decline from his 17 year old season. Without really knowing what changed for him in Westside this year, we can't really speculate as to why things have gone the way they have.

I do know that in my conversations with Brian Youngson, Mark Howell, Kevin Parnell, some players and executives... they've all said positive things about Santiago. They all seem to believe he has the ability to break out of his slight decline this year and produce significantly at this level.

I had a chance to interview Chris on Overtime last night. Part 1 and 2 (and they're a bit rougher than my usual interviews, yesterday was a real rush for me) are posted at Mountain FM's website. Here are the links:

http://mountainfm.net/?q=node/3495 (Santiago Part 1)

http://mountainfm.net/?q=node/3496 (Santiago Part 2)

From this interview we discover that Santiago had asked to be traded. There can be a ton of reasons for something like that to happen. His indication in the interview was simply that things weren't working the way he expected this season and a change of scenery might help. Westside Coach Mark Howell indicated the same thing in an interview we'll air tonight on Overtime. If there was something more to it, neither side is saying.

Howell did also note that Santiago turned down a scholarship offer earlier this year and perhaps that made some difference in his mindset.

Sometimes a change of scenery can be all it takes to take a player to the next level. Trail will now have room on top units and on the PP for Santiago. If he earns ice time in those situations, he can prove that his game has another gear. Perhaps this will be similar to what happened to David Arduin after being moved to Trail from Vernon.

It certainly helps hearing that he has connections to so many of the current Smokies. It sounds like Santiago is going to fit right in with the boys, and chemistry after a trade is always a key factor.

There are two sides to every trade. In the wake of the recent trade most of the attention has been focused on David Arduin. It's not surprising given as he is one of the top scorers in the BCHL. In the first month and a half of this season Arduin was on a wonderful pace. His scoring had slowed this past month, but he is clearly a star in this league. When you trade a star most of the talk is going to focus on him. Especially when that star scores two goals in his first game as a Warrior.

A tip of the hat to Arduin who had to ride the bus to Kelowna on Saturday, get up early on Sunday, fly to Vancouver, wait in the airport for several hours, fly to Prince George, and get into the dressing room in just enough time to play. Howell told me that Arduin that close to game time and still played in every situation, fitting in right away. I think most Smokie fans are hoping that the trade does spark Arduin to get his production and game back on track... just as long as it's not against Trail.

Trades are made for a reason. The Smoke Eaters needed a shot in the arm. They were also at risk of falling out of contention with Arduin, and losing him for nothing in the off season. If you're not among the top 4 teams in the conference with him in your line-up, is it good asset management to keep him? Of course if they don't go on a good run, they may have to ask that same question about other 20 year olds and that's always the trick of managing a junior hockey roster. If management doesn't feel like this team is making strides by the trade deadline, will we see other similar moves?

When talking about the deal I do again want to stress that we can't just focus on Arduin for Santiago. The player Trail could have lost in the Aiken trade is very significant. I don't off hand know the list of players they couldn't chose, but there are a lot of guys that the Smokies absolutely wouldn't want to lose from next year's roster. Taking that choice away from Westside is important. For the Warriors it's a move that Howell told me he'd make every time. They needed a go to sniper. He says it just means that this summer he'll have to work harder to recruit that extra good young player, but it's easily worth it to him to add a guy of Arduin's talent.

In any event, the trade essentially amounts to Aiken and Santiago for Arduin. Or you can look at it as Santiago and Future Smoke Eater for Arduin. Whether that player was going to be Rollheiser, Bulach, Proulx, whomever else Westside may have taken. While that may be a good way to look at it from a Smokies perspective, it doesn't change the fact that this year's team all ready had both Aiken and Arduin. Now they don't. So how much of that slack can Chris Santiago fill?

We'll get our first look at Santiago this weekend against Quesnel (who for whatever reason has had great success against Trail this year) and Prince George. Tomorrow morning is the long bus ride up north. I should have lots of time to write when we get there! I want to take a look at goaltending for the Smokies compared to what other BCHL teams have been getting. I've heard some complaints about goaltending (as there always will be no matter who you have in net) and I want to set the record straight... or at least what from my perspective.

Looking forward to seeing how Santiago fits in. One thing is for sure, the line-up for next year is getting fuller by the day. I know no one in the room is looking that far ahead yet, but it is interesting from a broadcaster's perspective to take a glimpse to the future. At the very least, this trade has given the 2007-2008 Smoke Eaters an obvious boost.

Just for fun, here's an episode of Warriors TV with Santiago. He liked The Holiday? Come on, Chris!

(Anyone who wants to talk Smokies hockey on Mountain FM can feel free to give me a call tonight or any night Overtime is on the air at 1-877-560-1010)