Sunday, March 20, 2011

WHL Playoffs: Local Connections

The Western Hockey League's regular season wrapped up on Sunday, and the 8 playoff series are all set, and ready to kick off this coming weekend. Plenty of local flavour on playoff-bound WHL teams, and I'll do my best to profile them with this post. And local can of course mean, FROM this area, or PLAYED FOR a local Junior 'A' team before making the jump. If I miss anyone, let me know!
First off, the matchups: (Teams in Bold have a local connection, scroll to read more at the bottom).

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1) Saskatoon Blades vs 8) Prince Albert Raiders

2) Red Deer Rebels vs 7) Edmonton Oil Kings

3) Medicine Hat Tigers vs 6) Brandon Wheat Kings

4) Kootenay Ice vs 5) Moose Jaw Warriors

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1) Portland Winterhawks
vs 8) Everett Silvertips

2) Kelowna Rockets vs 7) Prince George Cougars

3) Spokane Chiefs vs 6) Chilliwack Bruins

4) Tri-City Americans @ 5) Vancouver Giants

Austin Bourhis (D), Prince Albert Raiders
Bourhis spent the 2009-2010 season with the Sherwood Conference Champion Yorkton Terriers, and played a key part in it on the Terrier blueline, on a pairing with current Terrier captain Blaine Tendler. He made the jump to the Raiders as an 18-year-old, and the Kipling product registered 7 assists and was among the league-leaders with 145 penalty minutes. Bourhis and the Raiders will have to deal with Brayden Schenn and the Saskatoon Blades in round one. The Blades were the best team in the entire WHL in the regular season, with a 56-13-3 record, 115 pts, and a staggering winning percentage of .799%.

Deven Dubyk (G), Medicine Hat Tigers
Primarily a backup for 18-year-old Tyler Bunz, Dubyk, a 19-year-old from Minitonas, MB was solid when called up, going 11-and-5, with a pair of shutouts for the Tigers. Dubyk played his AAA Midget with the Parkland Rangers, was Swan Valley Stampeder property, but spent most of his junior days in the Western League between Moose Jaw and Med Hat, aside from a short stint with the Notre Dame Hounds in the SJHL.

Jens Meilleur (F), Brandon Wheat Kings
Meilleur spent his 16 year old season (last year) with the Wayway Wolverines, and had double-digits in goals, no small feat for someone of his age. Meilleur played for Team West at the Under-17s last season while with Wayway, and had a tough start to his first full WHL season, suffering a broken arm early in the season. He went on to play in 40 games, with 5g-4a-9p.

Ryan Pulock (D), Brandon Wheat Kings
42 points in 63 games for the 16-year-old defenseman from nearby Grandview, MB. Pulock had a rookie-of-the-year type season on the Wheat Kings backend, which included a trip to the Under-17s with Team West in December and January. Pulock is a former Parkland Ranger, as is fellow Brandon blueliner Rene Hunter, from Ebb & Flow, MB. Hunter played for the Portage Terriers a year ago.

John Niebrandt (D), Kootenay Ice
Niebrandt hails from Rhein, SK, just outside of Yorkton, and played for the Terriers last season, and for the Yorkton AAA Harvest before that. Niebrandt was a +9 for the Ice this season and also scored a goal and added 4 assists and 42 PIMs. Kootenay is a team, although in 4th place, that could be a darkhorse to come out of the East. They added Cody Eakin at the deadline, and have a tonne of scoring around him too.

Joey Leach (D), Kootenay Ice
Another local Saskatoon product patrolling the blueline in Cranbrook, Leach is from Wadena, SK. He was drafted in the 3rd round by the Calgary Flames last June, and followed that up with 5-goals and 30 points from the backend. Ive never seen Joey play in person, but he appears to be the whole package. 6-foot-4, adds some offense, was a +16, and had 78 PIMs. In just over 2 full seasons in Kootenay, Leach is a career +51!

Tayler Jordan (F), Portland Winterhawks
Jordan, 20, played part of the 2008-09 season in Melville, before jumping back to the Dub with Portland. In Melville, he played defense with Curtis Beech, making for a pairing totalling 13 feet tall! At 6-foot-6, 203 lbs, Jordan is one of the WHL heavy-weights, racking up 121 PIMs this season, and 572 in his career!

Evan Morden (D), Everett Silvertips
Morden is right from Swan River, MB, and played for the Stampeders as a 16-year-old. At 17, he scored a goal and 4 assists, and had 30 penalty minutes with the Silvertips, who get the first place Portland Winterhawks in the first round. The Hawks are led by Ryan Johansen and Nino Niedereitter. Other local connections with the Silvertips include defenseman Ryan Murray, whose brother Nathan plays for the Yorkton Terriers, and Tyler Giebel, who APd a few games with the Terriers last season. Murray put up 46 points, and was the Captain in Everett as a 17-year-old. Not even eligible for the NHL draft until 2012, a recent Hockey News article projects him to go in the first 2 or 3 picks that year. We will be watching him on TV next Christmas at the World Juniors, no question.

Damon Severson (D), Kelowna Rockets
Cracking the WHL at age 16, the Melville product put up 17 points, was a +11, and had 53 PIMs as a rookie. Severson played for the Yorkton Harvest last season, and had a chance to AP with his hometown Millionaires as a 15-year-old. Despite having three teams with more points than them in the Western Conference, the Rockets get the #2 seed, for winning the B.C. Division.

Tayler Thompson (F), Prince George Cougars
Thompson would have been eligible to stay with the Yorkton Harvest this season, where he tore it up a year ago. He also would have been a sure bet to make the Terriers if he chose to go that route, but the Bredenbury product jumped to the Western League, scored three goals and had 7 points with the Cougars, as a 17-year-old.

Davis Vandane (D), Spokane Chiefs
Vandane was sent from the Saskatoon Blades to the Yorkton Terriers early in this season, and while with the Terriers, he put up a point-per-game as a defenseman. The Spokane Chiefs came calling, and Vandane ended up with his name on the NHL Central Scouting list. The Yorkton product had 17-assists in 42 games in Spokane, while keeping a tidy +7 rating.

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