Seattle Brew - Issue 4

Seattle Brew
Issue #4

The digest with news and notes from and about the CCHL and Seattle’s own CCHL team the Reign


Now that we have entered the holiday season, and the pandemonium associated with all the Black Friday deals are over, people can now focus on the CCHL as it nears the halfway point of the season. Over the last handful of weeks much has changed yet little has changed it’s a Dickensesque dilemma (best of times, worst of times sort of thing).

We look at the Reign’s play over the last month and here are a few takeaways

1. Consistently inconsistent. That best describes Seattle over the last little while, win streaks have been short-lived. Losing streaks have been short. They’ve lost to teams near the bottom of the league and beaten teams ahead of them in the standings. If you bet on sports avoid Seattle on your ticket as you never know which team will show up.

2. Depth charges. The one area Seattle management addressed in the offseason was adding some depth up front and on the blueline. A few of those additions have underachieved and have yet to show the same skills they put on display last year. As injuries have hit, the coaching staff has done well juggling the lines but in doing so they have had to alter the type of system played in those games.

3. Is there a doctor in the house? Seattle has not suffered the same number of injuries that some other CCHL franchises have this year (hello, Linz, Siberia and Springfield) but they have had 2/3 of their top line miss time and they currently have a couple wingers out. Luckily the injuries on defence have been minimal and trouble could arise if Wideman or Vlasic miss any extended periods.

4. The walking dead. Coach Stevens hates to be outworked. He along with assistants Ken Daneyko and John MacLean have preached effort and hardwork throughout the season. There have been times where the team has looked lackadaisical at best and listless at worst. While things have improved on that front in the last few weeks it rears its ugly head at the worst times which makes one wonder even if this team makes the playoffs will it be a one and done?

5. Silence is golden? Little moves or rumors of possible moves have come from Seattle’s head offices which makes one wonder if they are content with the team as it stands. If any moves are made they would have to go all in or start a complete rebuild? There have been rumblings of unhappiness but those seem to have waned over the last few weeks.


Seattle year to date

Boasting a 19-14-2 record is decent when you consider they have went 16-8-1 record over the last 25 games. Their penalty killing unit continues to excel having the highest PK% in the league at 90.2 and ranking 3rd overall in efficiency.  Corey Crawford has played well and the defence is actually the 5th stingiest in the league. The offence has been paced by Evgeni Malkin whose 37 points in 30 games has him just outside the top 10 in scoring. Gustav Nyquist and Patrice Bergeron are the goal scoring leaders with 13 goals apiece. Dennis Wideman is in the top 10 in defencemen scoring having recorded 28 points year to date.


League news and notes

Minnesota is now just 3 points up on the defending champion Crusaders from Copenhagen. Will either team be able to have success against the Corfield division to build a lead before their head to head battles resume?

Winnipeg Ferrets Alex Steen has been an offensive juggernaut, not only does he sit 3rd in league scoring with 46 points but he also is 13 points ahead of the 2nd leading scorer on his team (Wheeler and Ladd have 33 pts) which is the biggest difference between a team’s top two scorers in the league.

The Musicmen made another astute move getting incredible value and a cash infusion for mostly late round picks. The cash will help their bottom line but a Championship win will net them some dollars and with only 50 goals surrendered in 35 games and the top offence in the league only an unforeseen disaster doesn’t see Dayton right there in the end.

The Falcons in Fort Erie have pulled off quite a feat this season. They have been able to rebuild and contend at the same time. A series of moves gutted last season’s finalist but their young talent has emerged already and they sit in the final playoff spot in the Corfield division.

The Aces in Montreal have been busted more often than they have cashed in this year but they have a core of young talent and have made moves to acquire extra picks as they look to become perennial contenders. The loss of the CCHL leader in goals by a defenceman Brent Burns may be hard to replace so hopefully Erik Johnson who was part of the return the Aces got can pick up where Burns left off.

Would the Linz Blackwings be higher in the standings had they not already suffered over 200 man games to injuries? We may find out soon as it appears they will have a full healthy roster early in the week. Even with the injuries unless someone other than Jiri Hudler or Ryan Johansen start scoring Linz may end up in the same precarious position, not enough talent to get them into the playoffs but too much talent to get a high draft pick.


Finally some key injuries may hurt the following teams over the next couple of weeks;

Calgary – Giordano is out for around 3 weeks however the 2nd best defensive team in the CCHL has Carey Price…nuff said.
Montreal – The aforementioned Erik Johnson is out 3-4 weeks so evaluating his production for his new team will be delayed.
Portland – Kyle Okposo will still be out for a little over 1 week and even though Portland appears to be headed for a high draft pick Okposo was one of the few bright spots. He leads the Owls with 18 points, 9 goals, 2 GWG, an even +/- rating and 86 SOG and doing it averaging only 17 minutes per game.
Siberia – Word out of the North is that both Palmieri and Brewer will both be out at least 3 weeks more. Siberia has the #1 draft pick on the horizon, pending the lottery results, but the injury bug (197 man games lost) has devastated any momentum the Icecats had hoped to build.
Springfield – Marc Methot will be sidelined for around 3 weeks. Although he may not have the name recognition like other defenceman around the league he was the Homers best defenceman. He is the only Springfield regularly starting defenceman with a positive +/- rating at +4 and with 10 points is just 1 behind the Homers more heralded offensive dmen, Ryan Ellis and Dan Boyle.