(Paul Mailey and Connor Jones - Photo Randy Emery)
As I said on twitter earlier today, a true test of a team after a blow out loss is how they respond. The Vernon Vipers will without question be among the elite of the BCHL this season. That being said, this Trail Smoke Eaters club is way too talented to lose 7-1. Time for some of these guys to step up. You can hear our broadcast on Mountain FM at 104.1FM in Trial, 99.3FM in Castlegar, 193.5FM in Nelson and 96.7FM in Grand Forks. It's also available on our website.
Home openers are always magical games. No matter the result there's that feeling in the air that hockey season is finally here. You'll see some familiar faces that you may not have seen all summer. You'll feel that brisk shot of cold air when you walk through the doors into the Cominco Arena. The line starts to form around the Sud Shack... the fries are in mid-season form over at the Spud Shack... Tiger's legendary voice fills the air reminded everyone that season ticket holders have reserved seating... and of course the most educated fans in the BCHL gather around the railings to talk strategy. "How is the roster looking?" "Are we big enough this year?" "We need to put a big body in front of the net on the PP." "Nice to see all those local boys in the line-up." "Who is this Chaput kid?" This is a fan base that knows their stuff. They may not be the loudest crowd in hockey (unless there's a bad call...) but they sure are a dedicated and smart bunch. I'm looking forward to the first of many good talks.
Who better to open the home schedule against than the defending national champion Vernon Vipers? Two seasons ago they opened against Vernon and lost a very dramatic overtime game. Vernon also knocked Trail out of the playoffs two years in a row in 2007 and 2008. They're a team that feature two of the best BCHL players from the Kootenays (Jones twins) and a team the fans in Trail love to hate. A great challenge? Absolutely, but also a great way to test this team. A win tonight would sure have the city buzzing.
Last year's season series against Vernon didn't go Trail's way. You can get details over at the blog of vipersdiehardfan. The Vipers won it 6-2. However, Trail did get two early wins against Vernon when the Smokies actually had a healthy line-up. They did it with energy, hard work, physical play and strong goaltending. That's a recipe for success against the skilled Vipers if everything clicks. We'll see if Trail can execute that tonight. Expect Devon Murtagh to get his first start with the Smokies tonight. I imagine there will be a rotation early until one guy really stands out. I had the chance to chat with both coaches to preview the game on Mountain FM's Overtime. Here's what they had to say...
Game time is 7:30pm tonight. Don't miss it. The home opener is a really good way to set the tone for the way this season could go. I'm hoping this can really be a banner year for fan support in Trail.
CHAPUT TRADE
As I mentioned earlier, the Smoke Eaters acquired defencemanMarc-Antoine Chaput from Surrey for future considerations today. He's a 1991 born defenceman who from what I hear plays with a lot of speed and skill. The Quebeec native is listed at 5'10 and 170lbs. He's only 17 yet as he has a December birthday. Chaput was also on the radar of the QMJHL as you can find his profile page on their website. Looks like it was Chicoutimi who was having a look at him. Chaput played last year for the Harrington College Icebergs, but I have had a ton of trouble navigating their website to try and find any statistics for him. Usually my digging turns something up! Looks like he'll have to remain a mystery until we see him in the line-up. That may happen tonight if he makes it in time. Chaput also played one game for the Eagles and was a third star for them in one of their pre-season games. I spoke to both Coach Ingram and Surrey Coach Shane Kuss about what we can expect from Chaput...
Kuss speaks very highly of Chaput's skills. I guess we'll have to see for ourselves either tonight at home or tomorrow in Vernon. I'm just psyched we have another player from Quebec so I can bust out the "ET LE BUT" call! I thought it was dead after JFBoisvert went to McGill. See you at the rink tonight!
EDIT: You know why I can't find information on Chaput's stats? The Harrington College Icebergs played in the United Junior Hockey League for most of last season until they actually left the league in February. Sounds like that was quite a gong show. In fact the four Canadian teams that left the league together had their own playoff and it didn't even go down as planned. Harrington lost in the semi-final, but the team that beat them (Saint-Lawrence) refused to play against their opponent (Team Ulysse) in the championship series due to an earlier incident between the two teams. Harrington took up the spot in the finals and actually won the "league championship" for the UJHL's spare parts. Such a strange story. No wonder I can't find any statistics.
Just a quick note... as we reported on Mountain FM earlier this afternoon, the Trail Smoke Eaters have picked up 1991 D Marc-AntoinedChaput from the Surrey Eagles for future considerations. He's a rookie from Quebec and may be in the line-up tonight against Vernon if he can get to town in time. I'll have more details shortly.
Click here to check out the new Smoke Eaters website. How can I not love a website that designed a logo for my blog? Just in time for the home opener tonight. It is quite similar to the websites of several other BCHL clubs. I like the sharp and simple look of the site. It's easy to navigate, looks good and will hopefully be easy to maintain. There are several sections that still require content. For example, I think the history section of the last website was one of it's nicer features. From what I understand that will be added to the new look site over the next few months. Be patient while they work out the bugs... but it looks good! What do you think?
The Trail Smoke Eaters got some bad financial news from the province yesterday. Their annual BC gaming grant was slashed from $25,000 last season to only $7,500 this season. They at one time got as much as $40,000 from the province. Only community owned teams can apply for the funding, but Smokies President Tom Gawryletz couldn't tell me if the cuts had impacted the other three community owned clubs in the BCHL. As for Trail, after two straight seasons with losses over $20,000 (including $34,000 last season) there is now some urgency to find more revenue. They certainly can't afford to mirror last season's numbers but with an additional $17,500 added to their losses. Gawryletz says they could surely break even if they put 100 to 150 more fans every game into the Cominco Arena. What is it going to take to do that? Surely some marketing could play a part in it (anyone have any brilliant ideas?) but the key is probably winning.
No pressure!
It's up to the community. The BCHL financial landscape is what it is. Trail has the toughest travel schedule of any team in the league, and they don't have a wealthy private owner to absorb any losses. This is what it's going to cost to run a BCHL club. If 950 fans a game isn't going to cut it, the people of Trail are going to either have to get their butts into the rink or accept a ticket back to the KIJHL. Some clubs could thrive on Trail's hardcore 900+ fan base. I think Merritt would probably kill for those kinds of numbers on a regular basis. However, Trail's bills are higher and that's just the way it is. I'm not saying the executive is on the cusp of puling the plug. I get no sense of that at all. I'm just saying you can't take blood from a stone. If losses pile up in that range every season eventually the money is going to run out.
I'm not going to get into the political side of this. It's unfortunate the Campbell government waited until what seems like the very last minute to let some of these organizations know the hole they're going to be in. However, times are tough. If it comes down to cutting a nurse or cutting a grant to a hockey team... well make your own call. I just don't like the way that these cuts have really caught so many organizations off guard. Whether it's a charity or sports or anything else there are people who rely on those organizations for the services they provide or just to make a living as an employee. If you'd like to see them supported you now have to vote with your wallet.
A tip of the hat to Brian's Making Cents blog for breaking the news that former Trail Smoke Eater Cam Brodie is headed to the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch. Brodie was at the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL training camp and is turning pro. He was scheduled to start his NCAA Division 1 scholarship at Colgate this year, but it looks like another opportunity has convinced him to take a different road. I talked to Cam really briefly this afternoon and from what I gather he's very enthusiastic about the opportunity with the Blue Jackets. I'll try to get an interview for Mountain FM's Overtime shortly.
It's no surprise there would be professional interest in Brodie. He's big, ridiculously strong and yet quite mobile. Cam thinks the game well and has some underrated offensive instincts. He was also a part of Vernon's dominating run to the Royal Bank Cup last season. Brodie really came into his own during his two seasons in Trail. That's when he proved he could be one of the most dominant blue liners in the league. It also means there's another Smokies alumni in the pro ranks who will be a class act and great ambassador for the BCHL.
I had a chance to talk to both Smokies Coach Jim Ingram and Vernon Coach Mark Ferner today in preparation for tomorrow night's Trail home opener. Both of them gave me a couple of words on Brodie's new opportunity.
The first game of the season didn't go as planned for the Trail Smoke Eaters. Both the Centennials and the Smokies played the sloppiest regular season opener I've seen in my brief BCHL broadcasting career. The rust and perhaps the nerves were obvious in a game that more than one person told me didn't seem like regular season level hockey. The Smoke Eaters hadn't been in game action for two weeks and featured 8 rookies in their line-up. That combination and a Merritt team that didn't give up any space in front of their net equalled a frustrated Trail squad with very few clean chances to their name. Here is the boxscore from Friday's 4-2 loss. Click here for the Making Cents recap.
RyneBodger'sknuckleball from the red line that took a ridiculous hop and fooled Garrett Beckwith was perhaps a sign of things to come. While Trail rebounded to take a 2-1 lead after the first, the bounces didn't go their way all game. One puck went in off the post and off the back of Beckwith. Another went in off an apparent high stick (I can't see past the heater in Merritt to tell) with a player bowling down on the Smokies netminder. However, Coach Ingram wasn't making excuses because he wasn't happy with the effort level. Plain and simple the Smokies didn't make their own breaks or play with nearly enough passion and desperation for 60 minutes. Those weren't the 2007-08 Merritt Centennials. You can't take a night off and expect a win. There's no shame in losing to Merritt, but the frustration comes from a game in which the team didn't live up to their ability.
Those lessons better be learned quickly as Trail's schedule is a murderers row over the next two weeks. Home and home with Vernon before two more on the road in Penticton and Westside. Everybody is going to have to bring their lunch pale if they want to pick up Ws over the next couple of weeks. A great place to start would be the home opener against the hated (and defending national champion) Vernon Vipers.
Here's some audio from Friday's season opener care of Mountain FM's Overtime and our play by play broadcast...
Some positives from Friday? Tye Lewis had 2 points in his first BCHL period. The Vancouver, Washington product has a shot that is every bit as good as advertised. He'll be a big piece of the offensive puzzle. The two veteran defencemen (Steve Koshey and Graeme Strukoff) both already appear to have taken their game to another level. Koshey is certainly in better shape, but beyond that he's far more comfortable and composed with the puck. It's only been one game but he doesn't even look like the same player. Strukoff is still a bull in a china shop (just ask Steve Tresierra after Strukoff crushed him with a Scott Stevens like hit), but he is more controlled and aware of his surroundings. These two need to be great for Trail when they are breaking in five other rookies on the blue line. So far so good.
Some fans have already suggested to me that it's time to hit the panic button when it comes to the inexperienced defencemen. Frankly I don't feel like they were keys to the loss. Certainly they all had their shaky moments, but the blue line didn't make any major blunders on Friday. You certainly couldn't single them out as difference makers in any direction. To me that's a good start for new players. It's basically what you should expect in their first game. It's the rest of the team that didn't step their game up as much as I expected. Of course it's only the first game of the season and an ugly loss could have easily been an ugly win. Would Penticton fans be having this same conversation if their only game of the weekend was Friday's against Williams Lake and they hadn't been able to come from behind to sneak that one out?
That doesn't mean there won't still be talk about persuing a veteran or two on the back end. I'm seeing it online and hearing it around town. Be aware that of course management is keeping their eyes and ears open to possibilities, but there is no reason to make any rush judgements on the four talented guys who have only played one game so far... and the one who has yet to suit up.
There are lots of reasons for optimism. Each player showed flashes of why they are on the team during Friday's games. You can see why all of them could make good to great BCHL players. It's now up to those players to put it together in a consistent fashion. I'm sure that's something that all the clubs are going to go through to some extent as they start a brand new season. It's really too bad the Smokies didn't have another game on the weekend so they could have worked out some of the bugs from Friday right away. Instead we have lots of time to sit on one 60 minute period and analyze it to death.
It'll be a distant memory soon. One way or another. I'll see you at the rink on Friday! Tell your friends, bring your family... make the home opener the kind of event it ought to be every year.
NOTES
...I received word today that forward Sam Olson is off to Estevan of the SJHL. Sam was easily the top scorer for Grand Forks in the KIJHL last season. He's a character player with a lot of class and integrity who I'm sure will have lots of success in Estavan. From everything I know it's a great hockey market with a lot of history. Sounds familiar. Olson was one of the final 24 players left in camp. He leaves now to the SJHL hopefully for a bigger opportunity and the playing time he deserves. His departure also ensured local boy Thomas Abenante's place on the Trail roster. Abenante was one of Beaver Valley's top guns last season (also in the KIJHL) and worked his butt off to prove he could be the kind of complete player that would find a place on any of Trail's lines. He has yet to make his regular season debut for Trail, but it's great to see another hard working local player with a lot of skill find their way onto the team. The Smokies now have Paul Mailey, Justin Brown, Steve Koshey, Eric Walker, Travis St. Denis and Abenante representing the West Kootenay while Sam Mellor, Matt Wilkins and Scott Jacklin are East Kootenay boys. That's as strong a local connection as they've had in years.
...Speaking of the KIJHL, Nelson started league play out right where they left off. The Leafs won their two weekend games by a combined score of 15-1. Beaver Valley and Castlegar played a dramatic 3-3 tie to open the season on Friday. Both teams followed that game up with losses on Saturday. The Rebels fell 5-0 to Nelson while BV dropped a 6-2 game in Grand Forks. The Border Bruins went 1-2 on the weekend with a hard fought 1-0 loss to Fernie on Friday, their Saturday win and a tough 8-0 defeat in Spokane on Sunday.
...Denver Manderson and Beau Bennett scored a combined 19 points in 3 games for Penticton over the weekend. As Rick Jeanneret once said, "these guys are good... scary good!"
The Smokies will have to turn to Beau's older brother Wade in order to get the book on how to stop the sharp shooting Californian. The first battle of the brothers will be next week in Penticton.
...The defending national champion Vernon Vipers won both their games on the weekend in a home and home with the always tough Salmon Arm Silverbacks. It looks like any holes the Vipers had after they lost some key players in the summer have been filled admirably. We'll get a first hand look on Friday in Trail and Saturday in Vernon. As tough as the Vipers can be don't forget Trail took the first two games of the season series against them last fall. A hard working Jim Ingram club can be exactly what the doctor ordered against that type of skill.
...We "experts" all think we know what to expect from teams before they play. How many of us wrote off Williams Lake before they even hit the ice? They were up 4-3 on the Vees before letting it slip away in the third period and they beat Westside. A nice case of "nobody believes in us" combined with good coaching and work ethic can make for a long lasting surprise.
...Just another friendly reminder that you can follow me on Twitter. I'll try to make it useful in situations that don't warrent a full blog post. You can also tune in to my sports show Overtime every night from 6pm to 10pm on Mountain FM. It's available at 104.1FM in Trail, 99.3FM in Castlegar, 96.7FM in Grand Forks, 103.5FM in Nelson and with live streaming at our website. While I like to keep blog readers in the loop you'll get all your breaking local sports news on Mountain FM first.
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