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.

Betz and Ingram Interviews

Smokies Forward Mike Betz

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Smokies Coach Jim Ingram

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What is the rule?

I am getting beyond confused about the way that imports work in BC Hockey. First of all check out the Hayden Trupp situation on Ryan Pinder's Vees Blog. It seems unfair that a Penticton born player is being considered an import. However, if he is considered an import, how can he play in the KIJHL or with the Vees as an AP if Hayden was born in 1992? Spokane Braves forward Dylan Tappe played as and AP for Westside on the weekend. He is also a 1992 born player from the US who would be designated as an import if he played in Canada. There is a special rule in the KIJHL that allows Spokane to use 16 and 17 year old American players, but the same deal does not apply to the rest of the league. So how can he play for Westside?

I'm asking this question not because I am trying to stir things up. Tappe and Trupp are not going to be the difference between either Penticton or Westside winning or losing games. Certainly no one should suggest Trupp being in the Vees line-up really had anything to do with their record so far. He's a young player getting his feet wet at this level whose impact days are ahead of him. Tappe again is just a young AP filling a hole with some key guys out of Westside's line-up. Both are going to be impact players in either Junior A or Major Junior as early as next season. The issue for me is that either I don't understand the rule or it is not being properly applied.

Here is what the Hockey Canada regulations say about imports in section K.6(a):

No player of Midget eligibility or under (refer to Hockey Canada B.1) may be transferred from Branch to Branch, or from USA Hockey to Hockey Canada, or from any other IIHF Federation to play other than Major Junior Hockey unless such player comes under Regulation H. 8 (b). There is an exception for those Midget players in their last year of Midget eligibility, when there is no Junior A hockey in their home Branch.

So what does Regulation B.1 say?

d) Midget Male and Female Open to players seventeen (17) years of age and younger in the current playing season.

So basically a Midget aged player can't be an import in Junior A or Junior B. As far as I know the Midget age is the same in the US as it is in Canada isn't it? There is Junior A hockey in the United States so there's no exception there, and there was nothing in Regulation H. 8 (b) that explained this. I looked in the section (E) that discusses affiliate players and it said nothing about special exceptions allowing import players to be APs at a younger age than they would normally be allowed to play in the league. That being said, it also doesn't say that they can't be APs. Still, I would think that if you are not allowed to be a full time member of a team... why are you allowed to be a part time member of that team?

Is this just a way around the import rule? If you AP a 17 year old American or even Albertan can you then use that player for up to 10 games and as long as you want once his lower level team is done playing? Or is this just a special exception for US teams that are playing in Canadian leagues like Spokane in the KIJHL? That would explain Tappe but not Trupp.

Again I don't think anyone is intentionally breaking rules nor do I even know for sure if rules are being broken. I'm just confused. Does anyone have a better explanation of the rules than what I can find in the maze of the Hockey Canada regulations?

Penticton didn't declare Trupp and import... BC Hockey did from what I understand. Westside didn't sneak an unapproved AP into their line-up. From what I can see Tappe was approved again by BC Hockey. I'm not calling out the Warriors, Vees, Braves or Penticton Lakers here. I think it is BC Hockey who may have made a mistake or I've misunderstood the rules.

What is your take?