Legassic Interview, Ingram on DeKeyser

(Legassic)

I had the chance to chat with former Smokies forward CJ Legassic about his decision to leave Trail so he can start school. Legassic wanted to make sure the fans understood that he loved his time with the Smoke Eaters but simply could not risk missing out on the opportunity to follow his career ambitions. CJ's a class act and we'll miss him next year on the ice and off.

CJ Legassic on leaving Trail

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I also had the chance to talk to Smokies Coach and GM Jim Ingram on losing Danny DeKeyser to Sioux City of the USHL. Ingram was full of praise for DeKeyser's character and work ethic, but it's obvious how disappointed he was with the decision.

Ingram on DeKeyser

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You can't blame Ingram for being choked that he's losing last year's Smokies defenceman of the year award winner for absolutely nothing. This isn't the first time or the last the USHL will poach top talent from the BCHL. Last season Ryan Hill decided to stay home and play there. Two seasons ago the Smokies lost a top defenceman who had come over from Merritt. The USHL is obviously an attractive destination for Junior A players as there's more money in the league and they play closer to the NCAA schools.

I've heard some comments from fans who hope this will mean that BCHL teams stay away from American kids. If Carsen Chubak leaves Powell River for the USHL does that mean BCHL teams should stay away from prairie kids too?

It does seem like this is happening more this year than in previous season, but what can the BCHL do about it? There is a serious risk that if this pattern continues to grow people could try and label the BCHL and other Canadian Junior A leagues as developmental leagues for the USHL. Just wait for the best young talent to emerge and pluck them away after Canadian teams take them through the growing pains. Does the league have an answer for it? Is there anything they can do?

Nothing that happens in the future can help Trail. For now they'll have to hope that Ingram can land another top end defenceman in a deal, that the returning core (Koshey/Strukoff/Raley) can pick up the slack and that the new recruits are ready for prime time.

NOTES

...I was sitting up late one night in April unable to sleep and thinking about the changes the BCHL should make to their schedule. I felt they should move to a playoff system with seven teams making it from each conference (the top team gets a bye) and a best of seven in each round. In the regular season I felt they had to go back to visiting and hosting every team at least once. I also thought the northern teams should play each other ten times and the rest of the Interior four times. Great minds think alike! The BCHL governors came up with the same solution I was thinking of so obviously I approve of their decision. If only I could take credit for it! I should've blogged about it then I could claim that they stole the idea from me. Instead I think the playoff format is actually similar to what they do in the AJHL.

...All the junior leagues are following the NHL's lead when it comes to the first face off of a power play being moved to the defending team's zone. It makes sense to follow the NHL's lead when you're a developmental league. Of course that makes me wonder why the BCHL doesn't use a shoot out and why the KIJHL has now followed the BCHL's lead. 4 on 4 and 3 on 3 is great. Why not just follow that with the shoot out? If the NHL and other junior leagues are doing it the BCHL should be.

...How good was game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals? Glad to see a different result this year. I was cheering for the Wings last spring because Rossland's Dallas Drake was on the team and looking for his first cup. This time around I wanted to see someone else get to lift the history mug. It couldn't have been more dramatic. I will always dream about getting to call a game like that someday.

...I had even more fun today with game 5 of the NBA finals. As an unapologetic Lakers fan I've got a pretty damn big smile on my face tonight.

...Tune in tomorrow night on Mountain FM's Overtime (104.1 in Trail) to hear the latest player announcement from the Smokies. This 1992 born forward has something in common with the first forward we told you about this off season. Tune in to Mountain FM from 6pm to 10pm tomorrow for that news, local baseball results, rugby results and all the reaction from the NHL and NBA finals.

DeKeyser and Legassic Leave Trail

(DeKeyser in a Plymouth Whalers jersey during an OHL try out)

The Trail Smoke Eaters got some bad news today. Last year's winner of the Smokies top defenceman award, Danny DeKeyser is leaving Trail to join Sioux City of the USHL. They picked DeKeyser in the 12th round of their draft. He decided to go to their camp to check things out, and after camp made the call to play there next season.

This is obviously a huge blow to the Smokies as DeKeyser was expected to be one of their top players for the 2009-10 season. We all know Danny is a good enough player to earn an NCAA scholarship no matter where he plays, so I would suspect this will be his last year of junior hockey regardless. I will have Smokies Coach and GM Jim Ingram on Overtime tonight to discuss Danny's decision and what that means to Trail. Tune in to Mountain FM between 6pm and 10pm tonight. That's 104.1 FM in Trail.

Needless to say I'll be cheering for the Penguins on Friday!

DeKeyser's departure isn't the only bad news the Smokies got today. Forward CJ Legassic has decided to start school in the fall and is (from what I understand) giving up his BCHL career. It's unfortunate that we won't get to see CJ continue to evolve into a real go to guy with the Smokies. We only really got a hint of what CJ could due because his season was derailed by injuries. I know if he had come back Legassic would've been one of the most annoying guys to play against in the league. He also had the potential to put up some serious points. From my perspective the bus is losing two fun, character guys.

Sometimes we have to remember that these young men are trying to do what's best for their future. As a fan or broadcaster we're focused on the team, but guys like CJ and Danny obviously are thinking about what these decisions mean their personal lives, their future and their education. Agree or disagree we certainly can't put ourselves in their shoes, so I defer to them and hope things turn out exactly as they hope they will.

Again we'll have more about this with Jim Ingram on Overtime tonight and I'll have more to say on the USHL subject in the future. For now I just want to say thanks to Danny and CJ for what they contributed to the team and to my show/broadcasts last year. They're both classy young men and deserve all the success in the world. I know we'll all miss them.

Raimondo and Legassic's Seasons Over *UPDATED*

(Marco Raimondo and CJ Legassic - Photo from the BCHL website)

Scroll down the blog to vote in our latest poll on the new Trail third jersey...

Some awful news today for the Trail Smoke Eaters. Marco Raimondo and CJ Legassic are both out for the remainder of the season. Raimondo sustained his second concussion of the season in practice this week while Legassic re-injured his knee. The full extent and long term implications of both injuries are still unclear. However, this does unfortunately end the BCHL career of the twenty year old Raimondo. Hopefully he is able to resume his career in college next season.

Raimondo finishes his BCHL career with 21 wins in 49 games, a 3.31 goals against average and a 90.02 save percentage. His 90.64 save percentage last season with Cowichan Valley was good enough to place him top five in the league. However, Raimondo had an inconsistent season with the Smoke Eaters that was interrupted by a broken jaw and concussion he sustained in the fall. The initial injury derailed what had been a very effective tandem of Barclay and Raimondo early in the season. Unfortunately, they both never got healthy together again for an extended period of time. I truly believe the very athletic Raimondo had the potential to be among the best if not the best goaltender in the league.

The job now falls again to Paul Barclay whose own season has been somewhat derailed by nagging injuries. He thrived when taking over the starting role on his own after Raimondo went down earlier in the season. Barclay will now get the opportunity to be "the man" in Trail. It's a role he's been after since he first attended Smokies camp in 06-07. It's time for him to show that he can lead a team as a #1 goaltender. He has all the skills and the mental make up necessary to do it. Barclay has made some big steps forward this season. His save percentage is basically a full point higher than it was last year. He has also been the starter for an extended period of success and stole some games against great teams. Now lets see if he's healthy enough and consistent enough to get that job done.

The Smokies will now have to rotate between their available affiliate goaltenders as back-ups for Barclay. Word is that Barclay is feeling as good as he has in ages after his start on Saturday and some hard work during practice. The Smokies can't afford to lose him again.

The APs Trail has available between the pipes are local major midget Alex Ross, Peter Alexander from Nelson in the KIJHL, Jason Greenwell from Fernie in the KIJHL and Riley Wall from Chase in the KIJHL. Greenwell is the only netminder of the four who has started a game in the BCHL this season. He allowed four goals in a 5-4 Trail overtime victory in Quesnel. Greenwell also had an extended stay with the Smokies in the fall when Raimondo went down with a broken jaw. Alexander played a little over a period in relief of Raimondo a few weeks ago in Penticton. Ross has backed up one Trail goaltender or another several times, but he's yet to see any action this season.

Both Wall and Greenwell have save percentages over 91% in Junior B this season. However, they are both starters for teams in the playoff hunt. Alexander has had a solid season in a tandem with Westside AP Garrett Beckwith for the league leading Leafs, but Beckwith has outperformed him statistically since being cut by the Warriors so Peter might be more available than the other two.

Ross will be with the Smokies tomorrow night in Westside and Alexander will likely fill that role on Friday night at home against Vernon.

What would happen if Paul Barclay were injured again? That's a subject Jim Ingram didn't even want to discuss or think about when I talked to him today. I'm sure there must be some kind of flexibility in the league's usual carding rules in the case of goaltender injuries. Unlike with skaters you can't just role with a shorthanded roster and hope for the best. I just don't know what that flexibility might be and frankly I hope for Trail's sake that we don't have to find out.

As for Legassic, he had been playing better and better as the season progressed. I thought his initial injury might have slowed all the progress he was making at the time, but he came back right on top of his game. This is a player who is very skilled at getting under the other team's skin. He's also a young man with speed and great hands. As he ages and matures physically he should be able to add more of scoring dimension with the team next season. As it is, he wraps up his rookie season with 3 goals, 6 assists and 51 penalty minutes in 36 games. I look forward to watching him take another leap forward next season. It's a shame he won't be able to help the Smokies come playoff time, because he's exactly the kind of guy you want on your roster in the post-season. He's also a pretty good colour commentator so I'm hoping I might be able to lure him back to the booth for a game or two.

I just want to take this opportunity to wish both Marco and CJ a speedy recovery. They are two of the biggest characters on the team and both quality individuals that the Smokies are really going to miss on the ice. Hopefully they'll stick around at least until the banquet later this month.

Just when it seemed like the roster was getting healthy...

On a positive note, Brandon Clark and Ryan Bulach will be back in the line-up for this week. Clark returns after about a month on the sidelines. He is the emotional leader of the young defensemen and is sorely missed in special teams situations. Bulach's ridiculous suspension is finally over and not a moment too soon. I've talked at length before about how important both Bulach and Clark are to the team on and off the ice. We're talking about the leading scorer up front and the PP QB who both have knacks for game winning goals. A forward who wins something like 75% of his face offs and a defensive rock with a physical edge. Their additions should be a big boost to a Trail team that uncharacteristically lacked energy on the weekend.

I'll have more on this turn of events later tonight. You can hear an interview with Coach Jim Ingram on Mountain FM's Overtime after 6pm.

NOTES: There's a poll on the BCHL website on top rookies. You can show your support for Trail's JF Boisvert who right now is polling second behind Matt Bodie of the Powell River Kings.

Speaking of polls, you all voted overwhelmingly for Prince George as your favourite first round opponent for the Smokies. There isn't much chance of that happening. Those who voted didn't leave much room between Westside or Penticton. I think that's reasonable as both have their advantages and disadvantages as opponents for the Smokies. One thing is clear, Trail can beat both teams at Cominco Arena. However, if they can't figure out how to win on the road a 2-0 deficit is very hard to overcome in a five game series! Lets see how the Smokies do in Westside tomorrow. Tune in to AM Ford Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey on Mountain FM!