Nelson hires Chris Shaw

The KIJHL's Nelson Leafs have hired a new Coach and GM. I received the following press release from the club today:

"The Nelson Leafs Hockey Society is pleased to announce that Chris Shaw of Penticton BC has accepted the position of Head Coach and General Manager of the Nelson Leafs Hockey Club.

Chris brings experience as a player, coach and a scout within the KIJHL, BCHL and other junior leagues across North America. His strengths include player recruitment, player development and community liaison.

Within the next few weeks Chris will begin transition from his current duties with the Okanagan Hockey School and the Penticton Lakers Hockey Club to his new assignment with the Nelson Leafs.

Congratulations Chris and welcome to Nelson."

Shaw is a former Assistant Coach with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the BCHL and the Penticton Lakers of the KIJHL. Both those teams are owned and operated by the Okanagan Hockey Academy.

You can read some more on Chris by clicking here for the announcement of his hiring with the Lakers last year. I have yet to talk with anyone from Nelson about the hiring or to Shaw himself, but I'll have more on this hire tonight on Mountain FM's Overtime.

EDIT: I found out from talking to Chris that he's a former Smoke Eater. He had a brief stint in Trail as a 15 year old back in 1996. I'll have that interview on Overtime tomorrow. You can also check out the Nelson Daily News article on the hiring by clicking here and an article on Shaw when he was with the Bulldogs here.

Jones and Wheeldon Audio

Connor Jones on winning the Doyle Cup

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Simon Wheeldon on stepping down as Coach and GM in Nelson

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Nelson Leafs VP Mary Plomondon on Wheeldon stepping down

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Wheeldon Steps Down

I got this press release from the KIJHL's Nelson Leafs today on the future of Coach Simon Wheeldon:

“The Nelson Leafs Hockey Society has announced today that after five successful years Simon Wheeldon is stepping back as Coach and General Manager of the Nelson Leafs Hockey Club.

Simon was the first coach of the local KIJHL team to operate in the new Nelson & District Community Complex starting with the 2005/2006 hockey season. Since then, his positive coaching techniques and hockey concepts elevated the Nelson Leafs to the top of the league and raised the bar for professionalism throughout the junior hockey community. His achievements include four divisional championships, one league championship and three awards as coach of the year.

His decision to leave the bench was made to spend more time with his family. He will continue to reside in Nelson and act as an advisor to the team as and when necessary.

The Directors of the Nelson Leafs Hockey Society fully respect the tough decision Simon faced over the past few weeks and wish him and his family the very best. The Directors are now proceeding with the task of hiring a new Coach and General Manager for the oncoming 2010/2011 hockey season.”

Simon started a full time job in the financial sector last year. I'm sure that played a big part in this decision as trying to do both is obviously quite challenging. Congrats to Simon though on a terrific run with the Leafs. The KIJHL is richer from having had him as a part of the league. More later...

Fred Page Cup: Labreche and Jones Interviews, Spring Camp Schedule

Mitch Labreche and the Jones twins might be getting sick of each other. The rivals have gone head to head in the playoffs for five consecutive seasons. That dates all the way back to when they both played as 15 year olds in the KIJHL for Nelson and Beaver Valley respectively. The Nitehawks beat the Leafs in 2006 on the way to a loss in the league finals before Nelson returned the favour and also lost in the finals the following season.

The West Kootenay products then took their rivalry to the BCHL. Labreche with Penticton and the Jones Twins went to Vernon. The Vees took down the Vipers in 2008 on the way to their BCHL Championship. Vernon then returned the favour on the way to their Fred Page Cup win last year. It's like their careers have been mirror images. They've each made a KIJHL final and lost... they've each won a Fred Page Cup... so who will win the rubber match with another BCHL crown on the line?

Kellen scored once and had an assist as Vernon took game 1 of the series 2-1. Connor also added a goal. Advantage Jones twins. We'll see if Labreche and the Kings (who played a very even game with Vernon from what I saw) can grab that desired split tomorrow night. I had a chance to talk to Mitch and Kellen before the series on Mountain FM's Overtime.

Vernon Vipers forward Kellen Jones

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Powell River Kings forward Mitch Labreche

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Good luck to both the Kings and Vipers in their quest for the league title. It looks like the series is off to a heck of a start.

SPRING CAMP

I caught the last game of the first day of Trail's spring camp today. From chatting with a few people it's my impression there is a lot of interesting young talent. How many of those guys will be ready for next season? Maybe not many. However, we may say a great number of them playing for local KIJHL teams to get set for that jump to the BCHL. We may also see a few of them force their way on to the Trail roster.

I was also quite impressed with Steve Koshey's transition to forward today. He scored 4 times in the game I saw. Maybe he should consider a full time jump... well somehow I doubt he'll do that. Still was very nice to see so many of the current guys involved. Also nice to see former Smoke Eater Paul Barclay on hand helping out with the evaluation of their goaltenders. He's a guy with a lot of passion and understanding for what it takes to play the game. Nice to see him involved again after his junior career ended this spring.

Here's tomorrow's schedule:

Practices

8:00-9:00am - White
9:15-10:15am - Blue
10:30-11:30am - Yellow
11:45am-12:45pm - Red

1:00-1:45pm - Goalies

4:00-5:30pm - White vs. Red
6:00-7:30pm - Yellow vs. Blue

KIJHL Championship Audio

Congratulations are due to the Revelstoke Grizzlies for winning the KIJHL championship. They beat Nelson 4 games to 1 to complete a giant turn around after quite a poor season in 2008-09. Troy Mick and the rest of the ownership group deserve a lot of praise for showing how quickly a team can go from the bottom to the top with the right people in charge.

I also think Nelson deserves a big congrats for making it to the KIJHL finals for the third time in the past four season. I got a chance to call their roads games in the semi-finals and finals. They're a very talented and classy group of young men. They're also a very young group who perhaps fell victim to the veteran defensive core on the Grizzlies when they made it to the finals. I still would have to say the Leafs organization should be very proud of their record over the past four years.

The KIJHL does have to fix their playoff system though. It seems ridiculous to me that the top two teams in the Okanagan would get a bye while the top two teams in the Kootenays had to play in the first round. I'm not saying that Revelstoke's victory is tainted by this unbalanced format, but it's just not very professional in my view. Can you imagine the NHL's Eastern Conference giving a bye to their top teams but the West being forced to play? Of course not. It has to be fair and consistent throughout the entire league.

Both organizations had deep teams who played smart and skilled hockey. They are both examples of what the KIJHL strives to achieve. It was a pleasure being able to extend my own broadcast season by taking part.

Audio Highlights of Games 3 and 4

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Nelson Coach and GM Simon Wheeldon

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Nelson Forward Gavin Currie

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Revelstoke Coach and GM Troy Mick

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That ends another season of play by play for me here in the West Kootenay. I know my girlfriend will be happy to have me around more (at least I hope she will!) but I know I'll miss the headset after a while. A few months off is nice, but sometimes these off seasons seem to go on way too long. How about an August 1rst start?

Coming up I'll be doing an update on Smokies alumni (a BCIHL champion and a historic NCAA win) as well as a preview of the BCHL Championship with the local participants. Nelson's Mitch Labreche and the Powell River Kings will take on Montrose's Jones Twins and the Vernon Vipers. This is the fifth consecutive year Labreche and the Jones' will go head to head in the playoffs dating back to their days with Nelson and Beaver Valley in the KIJHL. I also want to do some more analysis of this year's Smokies club when I have some time.

Tappe to Trail (with audio)

The Trail Smoke Eaters have made their first addition of the off season. 1992 born forward Dylan Tappe committed to the Smokies earlier this week.

The Spokane native played the past two seasons with his home town Braves in the KIJHL. He scored 46 goals and 103 points over 96 games playing against men as a 16 and 17 year old. For comparison his 16 year old numbers are actually 10 points ahead of what Smokies rookie of the year Sam Mellor was able to score in that same season when playing for Kimberley. It's impossible to know if he can thrive when jumping to Junior A hockey the way that Mellor did, but it's a nice place to start. Tappe's performance last season would have been enough in my view to get him into the BCHL if he were not restricted (as a US born player) from making the leap until his 18 year old season.

Dylan also took his goal scoring up a notch in his 17 year old season. He went from scoring 0.38 goals per game to 0.59 -- a very solid leap. Tappe was named to the Neil Murdoch roster at the KIJHL All-Star game and was second on the Braves in point production. Dylan was also a significant part of Spokane's strong playoff performance this season. They knocked favoured Castlegar out in 6 games and took the heavily favoured Nelson Leafs to a 7th game. Tappe scored a cold blooded hat trick in game 5 of the Rebels series in Castlegar that set his team up for a series win on home ice.

However, for a player that is known for his offensive attributes he also talks a lot about his willingness to play gritty and go to the dirty areas. Tappe told me he loves to back check, block shots and feels he can play a complete game in the BCHL.

So why Trail? Jim Ingram drove down to Spokane earlier this week to get to know Tappe and his family. Trail's coach was very impressed with the character of the whole Tappe crew and made his pitch. In addition to the opportunity the Smokies provide, I do think it helps that Trail is the closest BCHL team to Dylan's home in Spokane. It also helps that Tappe grew up playing with and against the likes of Sam Mellor, Travis St. Denis and Mike Betz. As any coach will tell you, the players can often be your best recruiters.

I had a chance to catch up with both Tappe and Ingram on Mountain FM's Overtime this week.

New Smoke Eater Dylan Tappe

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Smokies Coach Jim Ingram on Tappe

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I'm looking forward to seeing what Dylan has to offer the Smokies. In my time watching and covering the KIJHL I thought he was one of the best prospects out of that league. It's a nice catch for the Smokies. We can also get a look at some more future Smokies with the Spring Camp coming up on the first weekend of April in Trail.

KIJHL TONIGHT

Wild game in the KIJHL finals tonight as Revelstoke beat Nelson 4-3 to earn that big road split. The Leafs got up 2-0 on power play goals by Patenaude and Currie, but let that lead slip away. Revelstoke's 2 goals in 25 seconds at the end of the first totally changed the momentum of the game in their favour.

The Grizz ended up picking up a 2 goal lead in the second and then tightening up with a wall around their goal in the third. Nelson fired 11 shots on the Revelstoke net in the final frame (not including the many pucks chipped wide) and couldn't beat goaltender Andrew Parent until the final second of the game. Too little too late.

Revelstoke Coach Troy Mick told me after the game that his team played a "dirtier" game. By that he meant going to the tough areas to score in far greater numbers. They were rewarded. The Leafs certainly had moments in the game where they out played Revelstoke (shots were 38-21 Nelson) but key mental errors at the wrong time hurt them. The message from Coach Simon Wheeldon after the game was that they need to simplify things again when the teams hook up again for game 3 in Revelstoke.

Tune in to Mountain FM's Overtime tomorrow night for audio reaction to game 2 and stay tuned to us for play by play of games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday. Thanks to Nelson Ford (sponsors of the Trail broadcasts this year) for backing us for our continued coverage of the Leafs run for a second straight KIJHL crown.

Cunningham, Wilkins and Mellor interviews, KIJHL playoff results

Trail's Craig Cunningham had a weekend to remember in the WHL playoffs. The former Beaver Valley Nitehawk scored 4 goals and had 3 helpers in 2 games as Vancouver took a 2-0 series lead over the Kamloops Blazers. That's impressive stuff. Cunningham won the Giants MVP award this season and was named to the Western Conference first all star team. He has really found that extra gear this season.

Other local products didn't have quite as much success this weekend. Former Smoke Eater Lucas Bloodoff (and his brother Evan) found himself on the losing end as Kelowna dropped a couple of games in Everett. Lucas did have a goal and 2 assists in a losing cause. Castlegar's Luke Walker (Eric's cousin) and the Portland Winterhawks are going to have a big hill to climb as well after Spokane beat them twice in Portland this weekend.

As for Cunningham, it'll be hard for NHL scouts to ignore what he's done this season. Stuck behind a ton of talent on a deep Giants club over his WHL career, he nearly doubled his point total from 50 last year to 97 this year. He got a look in the NHL rookies tournament this past summer. I suspect he'll be a hard free agent to pass up this summer.

I had a chance to catch up with Cunningham on Overtime before the start of the first round...

Vancouver Giants MVP Craig Cunningham


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WILKINS AND MELLOR

After chatting with Scott Jacklin during game 2 of the KIJHL semi-finals in Fernie I then caught up with the other two members of Trail's Kimberley Konnection during game 5. Matt Wilkins and Sam Mellor joined me during the overtime intermission. I have a pretty good feeling the trio will re-unite as a line next season. Certainly it's something Coach Ingram has to be considering. Wilkins really showed what he can do during the playoffs. If he has a good summer I could see him hitting the same point levels Mellor and Jacklin have been hovering at.

Smokies forwards Sam Mellor and Matt Wilkins


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KIJHL FINALS

Chris Cucullu scored 3:53 into the second overtime to give Nelson a 3-2 win in game 1 of the KIJHL finals against Revelstoke. It was as even a game as you're likely to see. Both teams hit posts, both teams had strong goaltending, both teams struggled on the man advantage, both teams played solid D... and in the end it took a second extra fame to find a winner.

It's a very unique situation in the KIJHL finals because the only time they two clubs met was in the third game of the regular season. There was really no telling what to expect out there. What we saw was a couple of deep and talented teams that are going to challenge each other in a big way. If you're in the Kootenays do yourself a favour and catch game 2 on Monday night in Nelson.

I had a chat tonight with Billy Faust (who returned from injury to get the win), Cucullu and Simon Wheeldon.

Leafs goaltender Billy Faust


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Leafs fowrard Chris Cucullu


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Leafs Coach Simon Wheeldon


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DYLAN TAPPE

I told you yesterday there was a new Smoke Eater to talk about. Dylan Tappe is his name and his name is listed over at trailsmokeeaters.com -- but I haven't done the usual profile here yet. I'm still waiting to talk to Dylan before I do too much of a write up. I may do one tomorrow (with a Jim Ingram interview) even if I don't talk to him quite yet. I think this is a player Smokies fans should be excited about. I've had several people say positive things to me about the addition over the last couple of days.

More to come!

KIJHL Audio

Tomorrow night marks the first game of the KIJHL finals between Nelson and Revelstoke. Game time is 6pm in Nelson and I hope a big crowd from the West Kootenay area will come and check it out. The two teams don't know each other very well as they only met once during the regular season. It was a 3-3 tie in Nelson's third game... both clubs have come a long way since then.

The obvious advantage for Revelstoke is that the ever evolving KIJHL playoff system rewarded them with a first round bye for winning the Okanagan. However, none of the Kootenay teams got he same honour. Nelson has played 19 playoff games compared to only 10 for the Grizzlies. That's no one's fault but the league governors who approved the system, but it certainly could make a difference if it ends up being a long series.

Nelson is in their third KIJHL final in the past four seasons while Revelstoke is making a trip to the big dance in the first season of their new ownership and management regime. We don't know much about them so I had chance to catch up with their coach (and former BCHL and WHL coach) Troy Mick. I also have highlights from game 5 against Fernie (we'll again call the Leaf road games during the finals on Mountain FM) and a chat with assistant coach Frank Maida after the series win by Nelson.

Game 5 of the KIJHL Semi-Final: Nelson 3 Fernie 2 (OT)

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Nelson Leafs Assistant Coach Frank Maida

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Revelstoke Coach and GM Troy Mick

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Check out trailsmokeeaters.com for an announcement about Trail's first off season addition. I'll have something about that and an interview with Vancouver Giants star Craig Cunningham on the blog coming up shortly. Again I hope you'll join us for KIJHL championship action tomorrow night in Nelson.

Catching up with Jacklin, KIJHL Playoffs

While broadcasting the second game of the KIJHL semi-finals in Fernie I ran into Smoke Eaters MVP Scott Jacklin. Scott lives in Kimberley during the off season and made the drive with his dad to take in the action. I had the chance to chat with him during the first intermission.

Scott Jacklin in Fernie

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I can't imagine Scott is a player who will have any difficulty finding a place to play college hockey if he has another season like 2009-10. Especially with the built in chemistry he seems to have with Sam Mellor. I know losing Nick Sandor will hurt that top line, but there are a number of options to fill that void. They had Matt Wilkins there to start the season and it's not a huge stretch to think he could jump back in.

I'm looking forward to seeing the next level of Scott's game next season.

KIJHL PLAYOFFS

The KIJHL semi-finals hit game 4 tonight in Nelson with the Leafs leading 2-1. Puck drop is 7pm. Nelson could take command of the series with a victory tonight. I'm sure with their injuries they're hoping it won't be a long one, but it's hard to imagine this battle ending in just five games. We'll have the broadcast of game 5 in Fernie on Wednesday. For now here are the highlights of the first two games at the historic Fernie Memorial Arena.

Games 1 and 2 of the Nelson/Fernie series on Mountain FM

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Any fans near Nelson or Fernie should check out the series. It's great hockey and these teams are the last ones playing in our area outside of the WHL clubs a couple of hours away. Again you can join us for game 5 in Fernie on Mountain FM. Also keep your eyes on the BCHL schedule tonight to see if Quesnel can keep playing Cinderella. Great to see their fans have something to cheer about. I'm also really interested in the Westside/Penticton series. How cool would it be to have a game 7 back at the old Memorial in Penticton? I really enjoyed calling games in that barn.

Mountain FM to broadcast KIJHL semi-finals

For the second straight season the Nelson Leafs and Fernie Ghostriders will meet in the KIJHL semi-finals. With the end of the Smoke Eaters season we at Mountain FM will continue our commitment to local hockey by picking up the broadcasts of Nelson's road games in this series and any other future series should they advance past Fernie. That won't be an easy task.

Nelson and Fernie have been the two most dominant teams in recent KIJHL history. As I said they met in last year's KIJHL semi-finals and the 2007 KIJHL finals. The Leafs knocked the Ghorstriders out of the playoffs last season ending their run of two consecutive KIJHL championships. The Leafs went on to win the league title themselves. It was revenge for Nelson after Fernie came from down 2-0 to win the 2007 series between the two clubs. Between them they have won the last 3 league crowns.

It's also an interesting match up for Smokies fans for a number of reasons. For one, former Smoke Eater Scott Jago is one of Nelson's key veterans. Trail had APs on both teams as well. The Leafs supplied Gavin Currie, Michael Spring, Phil Patenaude, Bennett Hambrook and Taylor O'Neil to the Smokies at various times. Fernie sent Jesse Niemi and Keanan Patershuk to Trail during the year. All of those APs made solid contributions to Trail's line-up including a 5 point weekend for Niemi. Finally, there are alumni from both teams on the Trail roster. Garrett Beckwith and Tommy Rizzardo are former Leafs while Josh McEwan and assistant coach Brian Youngson are former Ghostriders.

How do the two teams match up? It's hard to say. However, Fernie has breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs while Nelson has had very difficult seven game wars with Beaver Valley and Spokane. You would have to think with only one day off between game 7 against Spokane and game 1 against Fernie that the Ghostriders will have a physical edge to start the series. Of course sometimes the team that is just coming off a series win could have a momentum edge over a team that has been resting for close to a week. We'll see how it goes! Should be very interesting tomorrow night on Mountain FM. If you're feeling adventurous you could even jump in your car and head up to Fernie for the game. I hear the atmosphere there is terrific and I know I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks again to the Leafs for letting me tag along and to the Ghostriders for accommodating me at the rink so that we can bring this coverage to Kootenay Boundary airwaves. Game time tomorrow night is 6:30 with the pre-game show getting started at 6:15.

Awards Audio, KIJHL Playoffs

Scott Jacklin and Eric Walker

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Paul Mailey

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Again it was a great night and you can watch out for a segment on the awards night and the playoffs coming up on Shaw TV this weekend.

KIJHL PLAYOFFS

I took in the Nelson/Beaver Valley game tonight. Unfortunately there was very little even strength play in the third period, but it was a very gutsy effort from the Nitehawks. I was really impressed by how Scott Morrisseau battled when I've heard he's really hurting out there... yet there he was throwing his body in front of shots late in the game. The Nitehawks didn't create much offensively once they got their lead, but they paid the physical price to keep it. They also had terrific goaltending from former Smoke Eater Paul Barclay.

As for Nelson, their skill level is again incredible for a KIJHL team. However, in this game some of their guys didn't seem willing enough to go to the dirty areas. The Leafs had a chance to move on to the second round tonight but instead allowed the Nitehawks to grab new life. Beaver Valley was just the more desperate team out there. That means a dramatic Game 6 in Fruitvale on Friday night. I know both coaches have been to the dance before and will have their guys ready. There are a ton of big playoff wins between Terry Jones and Simon Wheeldon. It's been a terrific series so far from what I've seen online and in person. Game 6 will be a battle.

Meanwhile, the Castlegar/Spokane series has completely turned. The Rebels were up 2-0 after the first two games at home, but Spokane has now rattled off three straight wins to take command. Now the Rebels are going to have to head back down to Spokane and steal a game there to stay alive. Again check out Chris' blog for more details.

If you're a local hockey fan my advice is to go check out the KIJHL game with your radio so you can listen to the Trail game and get Olympic updates at the same time.

Bennett beats Mellor for rookie award

Not a huge surprise today as Beau Bennett won the BCHL Interior Conference Rookie of the Year Award. Smokies forward Sam Mellor had a fantastic season and earned his nomination for the award. However, Bennett won the league scoring crown with 120 points. It's pretty hard for any other rookie to compete with that!

I am intrigued that the official award winner list has Bennett listed in a tie with Salmon Arm forward Mark Zengerle for the league's top scorer. While they both finished with 120 points, traditionally the player with the most goals is given the edge. Older hockey fans will remember that's what happened when Marcel Dionne beat Wayne Gretzky for the Art Ross Trophy back in 1979-80. Both players had terrific seasons so I don't really have an issue with them calling it a tie. I just wonder if that's the usual protocol.

I actually found the amount of ties in the awards this year quite annoying. What is this t-ball? We don't have to make everyone happy! Voters were too wishy washy this time around. Honestly though, what a regular season it was. We saw some incredible point totals including 3 guys with over 100 points and a 60 goal scorer. Every nominee and winner deserves the recognition they got... even if Todd Miller CLEARLY paid someone off to get the broadcaster of the year award. I'm on to you, Todd! We all know how Vernon likes to grease the wheel. That's what the internet tells me anyway... Congrats to Todd who is super talented and a class act. Plus somebody had to take that award from Hammer this year because we all saw how big his ego got last time!

Of note for the upcoming Westside/Trail playoff series, Warriors defenceman Brendan Ellis was named the top defenceman in the Interior. What is it with the Warriors and top d-men? That's three straight years the winner of that award has played for Westside. He'll be a key guy for the Warriors against Trail starting on Friday night on Mountain FM.

Don't forget Trail's home games next Monday and Tuesday will start at 7pm rather than the usual 7:30. That should make it a little more family friendly. As for awards, tonight is the Smoke Eaters Awards Banquet at the Riverbell. It'll be interesting and hopefully as usual a good time... even if we're starting during the Canada/Russia game!

Again click here for the official list of award winners.

KIJHL PLAYOFFS

Just a couple of notes from the KIJHL playoffs. Beaver Valley had a 4-2 lead after the second but fell 6-4 last night to Nelson. The Leafs now lead that first round series 3 games to 1. Castlegar lost 4-3 in Spokane last night and the Braves have now drawn even. Game 5 is tomorrow in Castlegar and Nelson.

KIJHL Playoffs Tonight

Local hockey fans looking for a fix tonight can check out game 4 of the Nelson vs. Beaver Valley KIJHL first round playoff series. The Leafs lead the Hawks 2 games to 1 after a 3-1 victory last night in Fruitvale. Former Smoke Eater Paul Barclay is the Nitehawks goaltender while another former Smoke Eater Scott Jago plays for the Leafs. I had a chance to chat with staff from both clubs leading into tonight's game at 7pm in Fruitvale.

Beaver Valley General Manager Jamie Friess

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Nelson Coach and GM Simon Wheeldon

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As for the other local series, Castlegar is up 2 games to 1 on Spokane after the Braves shut the Rebels out 2-0 last night. For more on the Rebels check out my Mountain FM colleague Chris Wahl's blog as he has game recaps, previews, audio and more. Chris has also started doing webcasts for the Rebels. Nice to see them get into that game as the other local clubs have been doing a fine job of it already. Also this evening don't forget Canada against Germany in Olympic hockey action starting with the pre-game show at 4pm on Mountain FM.

Sam Mellor gets rookie nod, Monday Audio, KIJHL Playoffs

Congratulations to Smoke Eaters forward Sam Mellor. He was nominated today for the Interior Conference rookie of the year award. It's a well deserved honour after Mellor put up 28 goals and 35 points for 63 points as a 17 year old.

Mellor's totals were good enough for 27th in the BCHL and third among 1992 born players. The former Dynamiter in the KIJHL made a very quick transition to the Junior A level. While playing the whole season with Scott Jacklin and most of it with Nick Sandor he was able to actually improve on his Junior B scoring pace. I think it also helped that Jacklin and Matt Wilkins grew up with Mellor. The Kimberley Konnection all thrived this season while playing on the same team. I'm sure it's fun to get to play with your friends.

He faces some stiff competition for the rookie of the year nod. The other nominees are league scoring champion Beau Bennett and top scoring defenceman Joey Laleggia. All three players are certainly very deserving of the recognition.

Speaking of awards, the Trail Smoke Eaters will be handing out their year end awards this Wednesday night. Who will be this year's MVP? Should be a fun night and a good way to celebrate before the team sets out for West Kelowna and the playoffs on Friday.

MONDAY AUDIO

Was there a game last night? The team is looking to put the stinker in Penticton behind them as they prepare for the Warriors. The Smokies looked like a team that didn't have anything to play for in a 7-3 loss to the Vees. That being said, they didn't have anything to play for. The game didn't have any impact on the standings. Congrats to the Vees who were able to achieve a franchise record 100 points and to Beau Bennett for scoring the 4 points he needed to secure a BCHL scoring crown. They're an impressive team. It'd be nice to see them again as the only way that could happen is by meeting them in the conference finals...

Smokies Assistant Coach Barry Zanier on the Penticton game

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Nelson Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey: Trail 6 Merritt 3

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KIJHL PLAYOFFS

An interesting start to local KIJHL playoff action this week. Former Smoke Eaters are doing battle as Paul Barclay and the Beaver Valley Nitehawks take on Scott Jago and the Nelson Leafs. Barclay has had a starring role so far as the Hawks earned a split in Nelson. The Leafs won Game 1 by a 4-3 score in overtime while BV took Game 2 thanks to Colton Donselaar's winner late in the third period. Game 3 of the series is tonight in Beaver Valley and you should do yourself a favour and check it out.

The other local series has Castlegar up 2-0 on Spokane with hopes of taking total control of that series tonight across the line. The Rebels have been very impressive thus far, but Spokane is a tough place to play.

Nelson Leafs Coach Simon Wheeldon

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Beaver Valley Nitehawks forward Colton Donselaar

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Fan Appreciation Night on Friday

The Trail Smoke Eaters are holding a fan appreciation night tomorrow against the Surrey Eagles. It's the final regular season home game for this year's Smokies and an opportunity to give as many fans as possible a good luck at the surging club. Tickets are only $5 each and any season ticket holders with extra tickets can give them to friends. There will be deals at the Sud Shack and all sorts of prizes to be won. It's also time for another early bird draw in the Smokies Truck Raffle so make sure you get your tickets.

The Smoke Eaters have points in their last 6 games and have an 8-6-0-3 record in 2010. If you gave up on the team in the fall now is a good time to give them a second chance. Some additional support tomorrow night could go a long way towards helping Trail push past Quesnel and Merritt for 5th place in the Interior.

Trail will also be forced to watch the out of town scoreboard over the final weekend as they try to secure 5th place. They're right now tied with Merritt and Quesnel. The Cents only have one game left (Saturday against the Smokies) while the Millionaires play twice more (Williams Lake and Burnaby) against some weaker clubs. The Smokies would lose a tie breaker against either team due to winning percentage.

All of that being said it's still in Trail's hands. If they can get at least 5 points in their 3 games they guarantee themselves 5th place. They didn't wait for anyone else to get them into the playoffs and they won't be able to wait around for someone else to hand them a higher seed. It's theirs for the taking.

NOTES

...Tomorrow is also the opening of the KIJHL playoffs. Check out Chris Wahl's blog for a look at the two local series. There are a bunch of Smokies APs involved in the Nelson/Beaver Valley series. Philip Patenaude, Gavin Currie, Bennett Hambrook, Taylor O'Neil and Michael Spring play for the Leafs. Colton Semenok and Layne Stopanski play for the Nitehawks. Beaver Valley was also a temporary home for Steve Oursov this season when he started off as an AP for Trail and played a couple of games for the Hawks.

Both clubs have graduated a number of players to the Smokies that will I'm sure be picking sides. Garrett Beckwith and Tommy Rizzardo are former Leafs while Justin Brown, Steve Koshey and Thomas Abenante are former Nitehawks.

The other local series sees the Castlegar Rebels matching up with the Spokane Braves. The Rebels feature former Williams Lake Timberwolves Keagan Little and Darren Tarasoff. Their MVP this season was former Merritt Centennial Ryan Aynsley. He finished second in KIJHL scoring behind Scott Morisseau of the Nitehawks.

Josh McEwan and Brian Youngson's old club the Fernie Ghostriders started their playoffs already with a win in Golden. Matt Wilkins and Sam Mellor's old team the Kimberley Dynamiters will start the first round tomorrow in Creston. Michael Betz's old team from Sicamous hosts the Penticton Lakers.

...A lot of people write off the underdogs as we head towards the first round of the playoffs. Tonight's game between Canada and the Swiss is a great example of why you can never count any team out. Some hot goaltending and tremendous work ethic took a highly over matched Swiss club to within a shoot out of getting a win against Canada. Watching the game you could see that the Swiss club did it by outworking their opponents and sticking to a very simple game. I think some Canadian fans are getting a little too worried though. It's just one game! A little adversity early can be good in a small tournament like this.

...Don't forget the Smokies will be handing out their year end awards next Wednesday. There are a couple awards with obvious choices. However, most of them should be pretty tough decisions for the coaching staff. There are still a few tickets left. Contact Tom at Re/Max or see him at the souvenir stand tomorrow night if you're interested.

Post Penticton Audio

Smokies Assistant Coach Brian Youngson

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Smokies Forward Scott Jacklin

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Smokies Forward Justin Brown

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Chris Wahl interviews Penticton Defenceman Isaac MacLeod

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Fernie to host 2011 Cyclone Taylor Cup

Congratulations are in order for the Fernie Ghostriders as they've been named the host of next year's Cyclone Taylor Cup. The bidding came down to Fernie, Nelson and Penticton. Fernie will be a proud and successful home of the 2011 BC Junior B provincials. It's unfortunately another let down for Nelson as the Leafs were finalists for this tournament just as they were for this year's Keystone Cup. Kamloops is hosting the Keystone. I felt all along that Nelson and Fernie were the two cities who would do the best job hosting the tournaments and it's too bad that one of the cities had to go without.

I'd certainly rather have seen the Leafs get one event while Fernie got the other. Instead all the local KIJHL teams will have to get to both tournaments the old fashioned way... by winning. Nelson made it to the Cyclone Taylor Cup last year and was a game away from the Keystone. Beaver Valley has a fairly recent Cyclone Taylor Cup on their resume. Given the strength of the Neil Murdoch Division this season I would certainly say that any team coming out of it would be a favourite for the KIJHL championship. I guess we'll see.

GAME TONIGHT

Don't forget tonight in the BCHL your Smoke Eaters are back in action against the Victoria Grizzlies. Trail beat Victoria 4-0 back in December but the Grizzlies were at the end of their long road trip and will be tougher to beat tonight. We'll have the broadcast for you from Victoria on Mountain FM brought to you by Nelson Ford. It's 104.1 FM in Trail and available at www.mountainfm.net

KIJHL All-Star Game Tonight

The KIJHL is holding their All-Star game tonight at the Beaver Valley Arena in Fruitvale. I know tickets have gone fast but you should still have a chance to get in and see the game if you come out before the 7pm puck drop. It should be a great show.

There was a lot of talk at the banquet yesterday about how much this game could mean to the players involved. Often All-Star games are low on competitiveness and high on goofing around. The message at the banquet was that scouts are watching. One coach told me that one of their players got an opportunity to go to school partially because of the impression he made while participating in one of these games. Hopefully the message sunk in and we'll see a lot of fire from the players tonight.

There will be several local products on the Neil Murdoch squad. Familiar names to Smokies fans would be the likes of former Smoke Eater Scott Jago, AP Gavin Currie and Scott Morrisseau who just scored 2 goals against Trail as an AP for Merritt. One of the coaches for the Eddie Mountain team is also a familiar face as former Vernon Coach and GM Troy Mick will be behind the bench along with Princeton's Dale Hladune. Simon Wheeldon of the Nelson Leafs coaches the Neil Murdoch squad. Mountain FM will have live coverage of the game starting with our pre-game show at 6pm and play by play at 7pm. If you can't make us listen in. If you can make it you'd be doing yourself a big favour by coming down to the Beaver Valley Arena to watch the best of the best that the KIJHL has to offer and the future of the BCHL, WHL and college ranks.

All Star Game Intro

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Eddie Mountain Coach Troy Mick

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KIJHL President Bill Ohlhausen

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Beaver Valley Nitehawks Coach Terry Jones

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24

As stated earlier this week in Jim Ingram's interview on Mountain FM's Overtime, the Trail Smoke Eaters roster is now down to 24 players. That's one more than they'll be allowed to have when the puck drops on the regular season next Friday in Merritt. The Smokies also still have the rights of Adam Gummer and Chris Stew to deal with at some point as well. Nothing is set in stone in junior hockey, but I figured we'd take brief look at who is left standing after what was a taxing training camp. I'll also take a look at the pre-season scoring leaders.

FORWARDS

(Riley Loyst had a strong camp - Photo Randy Emery)

• Paul Mailey (90) - fourth year as a Smoke Eater, Smokies Captain, Trail native
• Sean Nugent (89) - second year as a Smoke Eater, Alternate Captain, former Cowichan Valley Capital, played for Jim Ingram in the VIJHL
• Justin Brown (91) - second year as a Smoke Eater, Alternate Captain, former Beaver Valley Nitehawk in the KIJHL, played for the Major Midget Kootenay Ice, Trail native
• Nick Sandor (89) - second year as a Smoke Eater, former Alberni Valley Bulldog
• Riley Loyst (89) - second year as a Smoke Eater, former Merritt Centennial, former Nelson Leaf in the KIJHL
• Scott Jacklin (90) - second year as a Smoke Eater, former Cowichan Valley Capital, former Columbia Valley Rockie in the KIJHL
  
• Travis St. Denis (92) - second year as a Smoke Eater, played for the Major Midget Kootenay Ice, Trail native, nominated for BCHL Rookie of the Year in 2008-09, committed to Quinnipiac in the NCAA
  
• Colin Lidster (89) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Salmon Arm Silverback, son of former NHLer Doug Lidster
• Darnell Dyck (91) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Surrey Eagle, played for Fraser Valley Major Midget
• Tye Lewis (89) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Omaha Lancer in the USHL, also played in the NAHL
  
• Thomas Abenante (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Beaver Valley Nitehawk in the KIJHL, played for the Major Midget Kootenay Ice, Trail native
• Sam Olson (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Grand Forks Border Bruin in the KIJHL
• Matthew Malenstyn (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, played for Aldergrove, Delta and Squamish in the PIJHL
• Matt Wilkins (91) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Kimberley Dynamiter in the KIJHL
• Sam Mellor (92) - first year as a Smoke Eeater, former Kimberley Dynamiter in the KIJHL, played for the Major Midget Kootenay Ice, committed to Alaska-Anchorage in the NCAA
  

DEFENCEMEN


(Steve Koshey against the Vees - Photo Randy Emery)

• Steve Koshey (91) - second year as a Smoke Eater, former Beaver Valley Nitehawk in the KIJHL, played for the Major Midget Kootenay Ice, Trail native
• Graeme Strukoff (91) - second year as a Smoke Eater, played for the Major Midget Fraser Valley Bruins
• David Piccard (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Nelson Leaf in the KIJHL
  
• Wade Bennett (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, played with the Midget LA Junior Kings
• Kodi Sawka (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, played with the AJHL's St. Albert Steel, played with the NEAJBHL and Alberta Junior B champion Lloydminster Bandits
  
• Ben Matthews (91) - first year as a Smoke Eater, played with the Alaska All Stars
• Eric Walker (93) - first year as a Smoke Eater, played with the Major Midget Okanagan Hockey Academy team, nephew of former NHLer Gord Walker, Castlegar native
  

GOALTENDERS


(Devon Murtagh against Powell River - Photo Randy Emery)

• Devon Murtagh (89) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Westside Warrior, former Nelson Leaf in the KIJHL
• Garrett Beckwith (90) - first year as a Smoke Eater, former Westside Warrior, former Nelson Leaf in the KIJHL

PRE SEASON SCORING

• Loyst (3G, 1A)
• Lidster (2G, 2A)
• Dyck (0G, 4A)
• Jacklin (0G, 3A)
• Lewis (0G, 3A)
• Sandor (2G, 0A)
• Malenstyn (1G, 1A)
• Mellor (1G, 1A)
• Piccard (0G, 2A)
• Abenante (1G, 0A)
• Koshey (0G, 1A)
• Walker (0G, 1A)
• Mailey (0G, 1A)
• Strukoff (0G, 1A)
• Nugent (0G, 1A)
• Matthews (0G, 1A)

Remember not everyone played all three games. This just gives you an idea of who was hot during the exhibition tournament. All these numbers get erased next Friday in Merritt. Tune in to Mountain FM for every road broadcast all season long.