Spring Camp Preview, Trail Times

Tomorrow morning the Trail Smoke Eaters will open the 2010 spring camp at the Cominco Arena. It's a return to Trail for the camp after heading to Princeton in 2008 and 2009. That means a bit of a boost for the local economy and a larger turn out of local players gunning for a shot at the Smokies roster. This year's camp will be hovering around the 80 player mark with four full teams doing everything they can to impress the coaching staff.

In addition to scouts, coaches and fans the new recruits will get a chance to play and interact with several of the returning Smoke Eaters. It seems like every guy I talk to is getting set to come back or is already here. If these guys want to spend April in Trail I know of a pretty good way for them to do that next year! It's encouraging to see so many guys come back. It shows how dedicated to the team they are and how excited they are about getting going again for next season.

Camp starts with registration tomorrow morning at 9am. After that they'll practice during the day and scrimmage tomorrow evening. There will be more action on Saturday and Sunday morning as well. I'm sure we'll see some hardcore fans in attendance. I'll have more on camp after taking some of it in tomorrow. For now here is the latest from Coach Jim Ingram as heard tonight on Mountain FM's Overtime...

Smokies Coach and GM Jim Ingram on spring camp

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Interesting comments from Coach Ingram at the end of the interview. He's hinting that there are some pretty well known candidates sniffing around the Smokies Assistant Coach job. I'm intrigued. As for the BCHL championship series, stay tuned to the Smokies blog tomorrow for a preview with the local products taking part.

TRAIL TIMES

I enjoyed my conversation with Trail Times Sports Editor Guy Bertrand on Overtime this week. I'm hoping to chat more regularly with Guy as it's hugely valuable to get the perspective of a guy who knows sports in Trail over the last two decades as well as anyone. We talked not only about the Smokies but also discussed the possibility of splitting the KIJHL into a Kootenay and an Okanagan league. Check out the paper and their website.

Guy Bertrand Wednesday on Mountain FM's Overtime

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Now I do have a bit of a bone to pick with another Trail Times writer. I usually very much enjoy Dave Thompson's opinion pieces on local sports. I'm not sure if there's a more passionate supporter of the Smokies in print. I agree with his call of action every year to get more people into the rink. I hope we do next season. I agree with much of what Dave says except for a little comment this week (I'm paraphrasing) about how the spring camp in Trail is a step in the right direction in terms of bringing in local talent, because it seemed like previously the coach may have been favouring recruits from his old home region.

I'm not picking on Dave alone by responding to this here. This is a common line I'll hear from some Smokies fans.

"We need more local boys on the team..."

"Why didn't local player so and so make the roster..."

First of all the location of the Princeton camps was chosen for a couple of reasons including availability of the Cominco Arena. It's also a central location making it easier for kids from all around the province to get there. It certainly didn't favour Vancouver Island where Coach Ingram is from. They've moved the camp up a bit this year to get ice in Trail while it was still available. We'll see how it goes!

I also did want to note that I'm not sure there is a small market team in the BCHL that has devoted more spots to local players than Trail has during my time here. It's one thing for the Eagles to have a lot of players from all around Vancouver... it's another thing when you're dealing with a much smaller pool in the West Kootenay. Yet the Smokies went from 3 locals in 07-08 (Ingram joined the team in August) to 5 in 08-09 (6 if you count Jacklin from the East Kootenay) and 6 in 09-10 (9 if you count the 3 Kimberley boys).

How many guys did Coach Ingram bring in from Vancouver Island? 1 in 07-08 (Corcoran... who was here already), 2 in 08-09 (Nugent and Corcoran) and 2 this year (Nugent and Smiley).

I know we all want to see local players do well and ideally all the best local talent would play for Trail. That's not always going to happen though. Some guys are going to want to leave home. Some guys are just not going to fit in at a particular time. Some guys are going to feel like a different program is right for them. That being said, 9 players on the 23 man roster last year were from the Kootenays and every one of them is eligible to return next season.

How many guys from Powell River are on the Kings this year? As far as I can tell none although they do have 6 from Vancouver Island. The Vipers have 3 players from Vernon (4 if you count Sawyer Mick who left the team) and 4 total from the Okanagan. The Victoria Grizzlies had 5 players from their city of 80,000 people... compared to the Smokies who had 5 players from Trail where the population is 8000.

I'm not making a value judgement for or against local players. It's great to give local guys a chance because fans want to see them and it's always nice to have a guy playing at home. However, the coaching staff here has always stressed that if a local player makes the team he absolutely has to earn his spot over all the other options available. I would say given the record over the past couple of years this team has done more than enough to give local players opportunities when compared to what we see elsewhere in the BCHL. I certainly see no preferential treatment to guys from the Island.

Just my two cents. I look forward to the next Dave Thompson article as they're always a good read. We were bound to disagree one of these times!

Smokies "Boost" Halloween Spirits

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Those of you who live in Trail may have already seen this editorial from Trail Times Sports Editor Guy Bertrand. He wrote about an e-mail the Smokies received from the owner of Booster Juice in Quesnel. This is the kind of story that is all too often forgotten or ignored when we talk about the ins and outs of this great game. Guy has sent me the article and given me permission to run it on the blog and on the Smokies website. It also appears he has pretty good taste in radio stations...

Players prove good things happen to good people

By Guy Bertrand (Trail Times November 4th)

The news of the Trail Smoke Eaters’ success during its weekend northern road trip found its way back to Trail pretty quickly thanks to Shawn Mullin’s radio play-by-play and the information highway.

But the news of how the Smokies conducted themselves off the ice traveled even faster.

It’s not the first time I’ve received feedback from outside our little hockey world on how the team conducts itself when it’s on the road.

The most memorable for me was a few years ago when the team collected its leftovers from a big feast in Victoria and doled them out to the homeless people sheltered in the alleys of B.C.’s capital.

While such a grand and selfless gesture was certainly worthy of mentioning, perhaps the team’s comportment on the weekend in Quesnel says more about the entire organization – top to bottom.

Needless to say it hasn’t been that great of a start to the season for the Orange and Black. And every bleacher coach and general manager has an idea on what the team should’ve done, could’ve done and can do to make it better.

But according to Quesnel’s Nicole England, the team is definitely on the right track when it comes to representing Trail and conducting itself in the type of fashion we all want to see from local teams.

England owns a store called Booster Juice, a health-oriented drink store. It’s a store frequented by just about every athlete passing through town, most notably BCHL teams.

Yet England couldn’t help but gush over each and every Smoke Eater who was in her store on the weekend.

In Quesnel, there’s a Halloween tradition where young kids go to various businesses in town and collect their treats. It happened again on Saturday just when the entire Smoke Eaters lineup was in the Booster Juice to get a helping of fruit drinks.

“The little kids started coming in for trick or treating and they (the players) all basically told each other to move out of the way so the kids could get their candy,” said England.

“They all stepped aside, which you rarely actually see. We have regular customers that would never actually do that.”

Seldom does she witness the type of manners and respect displayed by the Smokies, who happened to be in her store three times over the weekend.

“We get a lot of hockey teams that come through here and they are not usually like that. Even with our own hockey team there are a few that we get that are quite rude or not very appreciative.

“So it’s nice to see a whole group that all say thank you and very polite in the store.

“It’s a good reflection on the coaching staff as well. They must put into the boys that when you’re on the road to be respectful wherever you go.”

When England relayed the story to her mom, she quickly e-mailed Smoke Eaters president Tom Gawryletz to share her daughter’s positive experience.

Fans, and sports writers for that matter, focus too often on wins and losses. So when a morale victory like this is achieved it certainly deserves recognition.

Perhaps the next time the Smokies are struggling and the record doesn’t reflect what fans want, it might be an opportunity to rethink why we support the team.

Only one great team gets a championship at the end of the season but a group great people can look like champions off the ice all season long.

Just something to ponder when deciding if you should go to a game or not.

Trail Times Letter, Guy Bertrand

I had a letter on the Smoke Eaters printed in the Trail Daily Times today. Before we get to that, I had a chance to talk to their BCHL award winning sports editor Guy Bertrand on Mountain FM's Overtime this week. We broke down this season for the Smokies and what to expect for next year. Here's Guy:

Trail Daily Times Sports Editor Guy Bertrand

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As for the letter, it was in response to a letter calling for the Smokies to drop back down to the Junior B KIJHL. I don't want to seem like I'm denigrating that hockey as I think it's an excellent league with great local teams. However, this was my response (the paragraphs are theirs not mine):

After reading the letter from Ben Postmus on moving the Smokies back to the KIJHL I felt the need to respond. I know Ben has had a history of volunteering his time to hockey at different levels so I certainly appreciate his dedication and take on the issue, but I think he's way off the mark.

Ben asked if the Smoke Eaters' time in the BCHL has been a success. I suppose that would depend on your definition of success, but the Trail franchise has one of the most consistent and loyal fan bases in the league.

Over the past six seasons they've never averaged less than 881 fans a game or more than 988. Their average attendance over that span amounts to 13% of the City of Trail's population.

If you ranked teams in the Interior Conference by that mark, Salmon Arm comes in second spot by drawing in only 7.6% of their population. Other small market teams like Quesnel and Merritt draw only 6.7% and 6.4% of possible fans. Those same fans buy merchandise, food and tickets to all the fundraising events every year.

The people here support their BCHL hockey at a higher rate than anywhere else in the Interior. The team also probably has the hardest working staff of volunteers in the league and great corporate support.

How about success on the ice? While it's true that the Smokies have yet to win a championship or reach the league finals, they have hardly been a punching bag. Recently they've finished no lower than sixth and no higher than third in their division. Their overall franchise record is right around .500, they've been in the playoffs eight straight times and they've produced a number of young athletes who have gone on to success in college and pro hockey. Just this season a former Smoke Eater (Brett Skinner) made his debut in the NHL while another (Grant Rollheiser) was drafted by Toronto.

This year's team may have had a long losing skid to close out the season, but no one who regularly attended this season's games could argue they didn't put on an entertaining product. Who could forget the thumping of top ranked Victoria? How about four dramatic overtime wins against Penticton?

This team only returned five players from last season, and while completely rebuilding with 12 rookies they still flirted with first place and were ranked nationally in the fall. There is also lots of reason for optimism with the return of up to 15 players for 2009-10.

Ben mentioning the revolving door behind Trail's bench is unfair given the recent trend. Tim Kehler spent three successful seasons with the Smokies before climbing the ladder to the WHL. Jim Ingram has just completed his second season and signed a three year contract extension that should provide for coaching stability with longtime assistants Barry Zanier (six years) and Brian Youngson (three years). Things have changed.

He also asked what has being part of the BCHL done for Trail. I couldn't properly answer that question in just one newspaper.

First of all, the BCHL franchise provides Trail with the best on ice product in the West Kootenay. KIJHL hockey is very entertaining, but all you have to do is talk to a player who has made the leap to find out how much more speed, skill and physicality you'll see in Junior A. It's simply a higher level of hockey and that's why KIJHL teams take pride in moving players to the BCHL.

Junior A hockey in the region also gives us an opportunity to watch future NHL stars like Kyle Turris as they develop into elite talents.

It gives us a home for local players who are skilled enough to play at this level and earn college scholarships. If we didn't have the Smokies great local talents like Paul Mailey, Travis St. Denis, Justin Brown, Steve Koshey, Patrik Martin and Kevin Limbert (to name just a few) would have had to play their BCHL hockey elsewhere. Would we rather they were playing on the coast or in the Okanagan?

Ben speaks about more opportunities for local kids to play with an additional KIJHL team, but Beaver Valley and Castlegar seem to do the job just fine. If there was such a need for additional KIJHL spots for locals why do the Nitehawks and Rebels have to fill out their rosters with players from other parts of the country?

Any additional team would just dilute the regional Junior B talent pool and make our teams less competitive.

If anything the loss of a BCHL team would probably have a negative influence on minor hockey as they wouldn't have a Tier II team to strive for.

It would also hurt the ability of local KIJHL teams to recruit the high end talent that wants to be close to and on the radar of a BCHL team in Trail.

Local rivalries are great and there's nothing stopping any fans from enjoying games just down the road in Fruitvale, Castlegar, Grand Forks and Nelson. The Smokies also have some very intense rivalries with the likes of Vernon and Penticton.

A couple of early playoff exits in a row and it's time to quit? That doesn't make any sense to me. Why can't we just enjoy having two thriving levels of junior hockey in our region? Ideally we'd be able to follow all the terrific local talent as they move up the ranks from minor hockey to the KIJHL and eventually the BCHL Smokies. If you want to do just that pick up your season tickets for 2009-10 when I'm expecting a whole lot more magic out of St. Denis, Mailey, Brown, Koshey and the rest of the gang.

Shawn Mullin
Castlegar