CCHL: Farm Report...(10/28/19)

The first-ever CCHL "Minor league" season is about a dozen games into the regular season and two teams are still perfect on the young season. The North Haverbrook Monorails (SPR) are 11-0-1 and Minnesota's farm team, the Duluth Liefs are 10-0-2. Outstanding starts with these two teams.

Also off to strong, but imperfect starts are Flin Flon Bombers (GIL), Cole Harbour Wolfpack (CAP) and the Troy Bruins (DAY) squads.

Leading the minors in goal scoring is Michael Del Colle (ISL) with Manchester (ISL) with 15 goals in 12 games so far.  Viktor Olofsson of the Amherst Otters (FOR) with 17 assists in 13 games.

Del Colle leads the league with 25 points. Second is Conor Garland with 23 points.

The Monorails Spencer Martin leads all goalies with 11 wins and zero losses on the season. Troy's Alex Nedeljkovic leagues all netminders with a .935 save percentage as well as a sparkling 1.79 GAA. Neds has a 5-1-1 record so far.

Interest in the farm league has been strong so far as CCHL teams get to see how their young but pro prospects play together and how well they fare against quality opposition. Troy's head coach Dave Burrows said, "Dayton pays me to evaluate the talent down here and just last week, Corfield called me and said they needed someone to cover Taylor Hall's arm injury. We talked about who deserved the shot in the big league and Drake Batherson was our unanimous choice. Batherson will be a regular in Dayton before too long and the experience he's getting right now will only make him better..."

Calgary: A Week in Review (October 19th to 25th, 2019)

Record this week: 3–1-0
Game 10:
Niagara Falls Thunder 1 Calgary Chinook 4
Chinook Cruise to 4-1 win over Thunder
CALGARY - Matthew Tkachuk scored his 5th and 6th goal of the season to help the
Calgary Chinook to a 4-1 win against the Niagara Falls Thunder at Scotiabank
Saddledome on Sunday.
"I think the last two games he's been really, really good," Chinook coach Eugene Yip
said. "He's worn the rust off. He's stomping on pucks, the stuff that he's been working
on. “
David Pastrnak scored a goal and had an assist, and John Carlson had two assists for
the Chinook. Carey Price made 29 saves.
"I think I'm just getting to scoring areas and using my shot a little bit more than I usually
do," Tkachuk said. "Sometimes they go in in stretches so just stick with it. You're not
going to score every game so just play the same way and make sure I'm shooting the
puck when I get a chance."
Thunder’ Dylan Larkin had the lone goal. Petr Mrazek made 37 saves despite the loss.
"We want to be a real good defensive team and work from there," Thunder forward
Dylan Larkin said. "We're confident in our ability to put pucks in the net, but if you're
constantly chasing the game from two or three back you just can't do it every night."
“[Pastrnak] went in there in the middle for us and he had a great night," Yip said. "I
thought we snapped it around the last couple days in practice. A lot of good things on
the power play."
Game 11:
Calgary Chinook 5 Fort Erie Falcons 2
Price stops 38 shots in Chinook’ 5-2 win over Falcons
FORT ERIE - The Calgary Chinook liked the way they were playing at the start of the
season, even if pucks weren't going into the net. They were playing solid defense,
creating good chances, and figured the goals would come.
Now that they're scoring in bunches and, for the most part, playing lockdown defense,
the wins are piling up.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, Carey Price stopped 38 shots and the surging
Chinook outlasted the Fort Erie Falcons 5-2 on Saturday night.
''We've been playing the way we wanted to play really since the start of the season,''
Pastrnak said.
The Chinook have the best goal differentials in the Corfield division so far this season
and have revved up their offense game after game.
Calvin de Haan opened the scoring with his first of the season and Nino Niederreiter
also scored his first in the first period. Mark Giordano added a goal in the first period for
a 3-0 lead.
The Chinook had some defensive lapses in the third period, but Price stopped all 18
shots in the third.
''They outplayed in the first period, didn't give us anything, we made some major
mistakes that end up in the net, and then you're playing catch-up hockey the rest of the
way, which is tough,'' Fort Erie forward Nathan MacKinnon said.
Aleksander Barkov was out until the end of the week for personal reasons.
Game 12:
Dayton Musicmen 0 Calgary Chinook 4
Price backstops Chinook to 4-0 shutout over Musicmen
CALGARY - Carey Price made 26 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the
Calgary Chinook defeated division rival Dayton Musician 4-0 at Scotiabank Saddledome
on Wednesday.
Mark Giordano and Ryan O’Reilly each have a goal and an assist in the game to give
the Chinook a three games winning steak.
"That was important," Price said. "We knew that we can't let off the throttle in this league
because you see the scores around the League, it doesn't take much lose the lead, so I
thought we did a good job of staying on the gas pedal."
Despite the loss for the Musicmen, Pekka Rinne made 35 saves for Dayton. “ Our
execution right now is nowhere near where it needs to be," Dayton coach Bill Corfield
said.
"We all knew that we could play better defensively, and I thought tonight we were
reloading and getting in the shot lanes and doing all the right things." Chinook goalie
Carey Price said.

Game 13
Fort Erie Falcons 4 Calgary Chinook 1
Falcons snap Chinook’ winning streak with a 4-1 victory
CALGARY - Darcy Kuemper made 20 saves, Alex Debrincat had a goal and an assist,
and the Falcons beat the red-hot Chinook 4-1 on Friday night.
"Tonight was our best performance by everybody in a long time,” Falcons forward
Marchand said. "There wasn't anything that was missing for us. And when we score four
goals, I like our odds."
"Our whole group looked tired tonight without a doubt," Chinook coach Eugene said.
“Falcons is a good team, you know they're going to come hard at you."
"They got some momentum and they're a good offensive team," Calgary captain Mark
Giordano said. "Once they get a little jump, they start bringing it.
"We'll take the positives and move on."

Icecats pushing for playoffs

The Siberia Icecats entered the season with visions of hoisting the Kehler Cup in the near future. Last season was difficult, missing the playoffs and almost finishing last, but the silver lining was getting lucky with the lottery balls which allowed them to draft Bowen Byram. "Last year really sucked. You could see it in everyone's eyes. Every player knew that they did not play their best" said captain McDavid. "We wanted to rebound this year and we had confidence in GM Saouaf to get the pieces we need to take a step forward".

GM Silvio Saouaf was certainly busy this offseason trying to improve his team. Players were traded to bring in others, and sometimes those players were traded. There was probably no bigger move than bringing in perennial Norris defenseman, Victor Hedman. Hedman comes from the defending champion Minnesota Norsemen and will be called upon to assume a large role in helping lead this team deep into the playoffs. "Yeah, it was a heck of a year last year with Minnesota, and once you get a taste of the cup, you want it again. I am definitely looking to win another cup", said Hedman.

Along with Hedman, Siberia brought in steady and dependable Erik Johnson and veteran Dan Girardi, who announced his retirement at the end of the year. "I definitely want to go out with a bang, so yeah, I want to finally lift that cup, so I am going to give it my all", said Girardi.

At forward, Siberia brought in tough guy and scorer Evander Kane and another member of the Norsemen's championship team, Alexander Radulov. Siberia then parted ways with youngster Nikolaj Ehlers, who was an original Icecats draft pick, to bring in scorer Viktor Arvidsson. Siberia then brought in veterans Michael Grabner and Robert Bortuzzo to provide veteran depth.

The Icecats have a long hill to climb to reach their goals, but they are off to a good start.

A Weekly Look at the 2019-20 Sudbury Miners: Volume 3

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Miners Weekly Record: 1 wins, 3 losses, 1 OT loss.
Miners League Standing: 6 wins, 6 losses, 1 OT Loss = 13 points total. Currently sit in 5th place in the
Canosa Conference, 11th overall in the CCHL.
Miners Special Teams: Power Play – 20.0% (9th); Penalty Kill – 80.1% (11th)
Miners Scoring Leader: Center Tyler Seguin (7G – 5A = 12 pts; 37th Overall in the CCHL)

Simply put, this was not a good week in the Nickel City.

After a week that saw them win 3 of 4 games, they Miners suffered a set-back week. Going into
the weekend, they are now winless in 4 games; outright losers of 3 games in a row.
While still early in the season, the inconsistent play of the Miners has to be an alarming trend to
management – one that can not continue if the Miners hope to make the playoffs this year.
“Guys need to show up on time and ready to work”, quipped Miners Coach Derek Sutton. “We
have too many guys reading their own press and thinking it will come easy. This league is too hard to
just have guys who want to mail it in”. “I’m not sure what the problem is, but we need to fix it quickly”, stated veteran Miners forward Niklas Backstrom. “I’ve seen it too many times in my career, where it can go off the rails quickly and it takes much more time to get it back – in some cases, you never get going! There is too much talent in this room to be playing like this”.

MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Jake Muzzin
Muzzin is seen around the CCHL as a solid and surprisingly mobile rearguard with excellent size
with a pair of above-average skilled hands. His agility helps stabilize his skating stride, but he appears heavy-footed moving backward and looks awkward transitioning from forwards to backwards. He is a physical defenseman, but the veteran defenceman is starting to slow down a bit, however, he makes up for it with sound positioning and solid defensive hockey sense. He is a regular fixture on the Miners penalty-killing unit. Muzzin is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019-20 season.

MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW: Rasmus Sandin

Sandin is a versatile defenseman capable of leading rushes and quarterbacking them as well. He
is a skilled player with a good shot and great hockey sense. He sees the plays before they happen and
stays one step ahead and remains focused while doing so. His only downfall, which he will hopefully
grow out of, is not knowing when to let go of the puck as he tends to hold onto it for too long. With more maturity and experience he will become smarter with how and when he carries the puck to avoid giving up too many turnovers. Sandin has the potential to lead as a top-pairing blueliner with the Miners at his peak. Expected CCHL arrival: 2021-22.

State of the Loons; Prospect Review 1-5

I'm sure there have been a lot of sleepless nights while waiting for the second half of the Loons top 10 prospect list - so here it is...


#5

Veini Vehvilainen G

Veini was a Loons draft pick in 2018, was traded to Siberia and then traded back to Capeside. Vieni posted unbelievable numbers (1.58 gaa .933 s% & 6 shutouts) in the Finnish Liiga last year as he led Karpat to the Finals. This year Veini makes the jump to the AHL where he has been up and down in the first three games of the year. Veini has been labeled as an undersized goalie but as an organization, we care more about results, and Veini has proven he can stop the puck. With the departure of Bobrovsky, there is an open path to the NHL for Veini. We hope that by the 2021-22 season we will have an all Finnish goalie tandem in Rask and Vehvilainen.

#4

Jakub Lauko LW

Jakub announced himself as the steal of the 2018 draft and he has done everything to prove himself right. Last year in the QMJHL Jakub was a point per game player and thrived for the Czech Republic in international play. This year Jakub has made the transition to the AHL and like Senyshyn, Jakub is spending time in the bottom six learning to be a more complete player in order to be ready for a call-up at any time. Jakub's offensive and skating game is ready for the CCHL now, the AHL will be the final test to see if his physical strength is ready. Jakub's ceiling is that of a first-line player with 30 goal potential.

#3

Trevor Zegras C

Last year we were without a pick in the first round of the draft, but our scouts came to us every day begging us to find a way to draft Trevor. They raved about his competitiveness along with his playmaking abilities. After a series of trades, we were able to snag Trevor with the 8th overall pick in the 2019 draft. Trevor will attend BU this year where his main focus will be to add muscle in order to be ready to make the jump to the Loons. So far Trevor is off to a great start for the Terriers - 1g 3 a in 3 games. There is a good chance at Trevor being a 1 and done for BU. We are hoping Trevor can be our 2nd line center along with time on the PK.

#2

Ian Mitchell D

Ian is back for a second stint with our organization. The trade of Quinn Hughes last year created a gigantic hole in our depth chart for defensemen. Ian fills that hole for us. Ian is known as an offensive D-man but steady growth in his own end for the University of Denver. Many thought Ian would have left Denver after last year but chose to return for his junior year with hopes of winning a title. Ian projects as a top 4 D-man for the Loons along with top pair power playtime. This will hopefully be Ian's last year with Denver so that he can be with the Loons for the 2020-21 season.

#1

Oliver Wahlstrom RW

Our number 1 spot goes to the Loons first-ever draft pick - Oliver Wahlstrom. Expectations were through the roof when we took him #4 overall in 2018 and while we watched him at BC we started to get a little nervous. Oliver really struggled for the Eagles but showed enough to earn a call up to the AHL after the Eagles finished their season. With Bridgeport, Oliver played well. He not only has 2 goals in 5 games but was a strong, physical presence as well. Oliver continued his strong play with Bridgeport this year and has been called up to the NHL. Like me mentioned about Zegras, Oliver is ultra-competitive to go along with his amazing shot. A line containing Zegras' playmaking skills along with Wahlstom's shot sounds like a lethal combination.

Dayton Musicmen - Things I Think I Think...

Some things I think I think...

*Dayton went 2-2-0 on the week, beating Niagara Falls and Wisborg and falling to Parry Sound and Fort Erie.

*Next week, despite setting the Simon Scheduler to avoid 3 games in 3 days, our schedule looks like this:

MON - off
TUE - at POR
WED - off
THU - CGY
FRI - POR
SAT - at NIA
SUN - GIL

That's four games in four days. We're not the only team this is happening to and we'll really have to watch our player's fatigue ratings. I suspect Pekka Rinne will play Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with backup Corey Crawford playing on Friday and Sunday. Laurent Brossoit is a possibility for one of the Crawford starts.

Then again, don't be surprised if Rinne is in the nets against the still unbeaten Gillam Sharks next Sunday. The best team in the league should be challenged by the "Men's #1 goalie...

*Dayton sits tied for 3rd in the Corfield Conference and tied for 6th overall after nine games.  Our hope this season was that we'd be slightly better than average through the first twenty games and we're on pace to exceed that.

*Evgeny Malkin has fit in nicely with the team, playing with Evgenii Dadonov and Jake Guentzel. Four points in four games (2+2) and a +1 with just 4 pims in four games is a solid start for him with us. Playing less physically than how he was playing in Sudbury seems to agree with him.

*Evgeny Kuznetsov, with 1 goal and 9 assists for ten total points after nine games and a +3 leads the team with points.

*Taylor Hall leads with six goals on the year.

*Blake Comeau leads the team with a +8 on the season.

*Jake Guentzel leads the team with 21 hits, well ahead of everyone else...

*Roman Polak leads the team in PIMS with 24 in just four games, which explains his benching last week. His replacement in the lineup, Adam McQuaid, has just 8 pims in 5 games.

*Matt Niskanen leads all dmen with 6 points in 9 games.

*Surprisingly, Erik Gustafsson has zero points in his first nine games this season. He's getting 8 minutes a game and plays on both Power play units, yet so far, he's got nothing to show for his work,

*Gustafsson joins Polak, McCann and Bellemare with zero points on the season on the squad.

*TRADE TALKS: GM Corfield is thought to be looking for an upgrade to his blueline and ideally he'd bring a solid 2-way blueliner into the fold.

CCHL Around the CCHL blog post for Victoria

Victoria British Columbia

From downtown Victoria at the corner of Michigan & Montreal streets the owner and GM of the Ronin held a press conference today where he answered some questions and talked about the plan for the team for this as well as upcoming seasons.

“Its a lovely overcast day here on the Pacific coast of North America and the team feels blessed to call this place our home,” he began. “While we haven't had much post season experience the team is in pretty good financial shape so we don't forecast any money issues for some time to come. We like our team depth and feel some of our younger players are showing some of their upside in the minor leagues. After the announcement to begin the rebuild the team has had a number of offers from CCHL teams that might have made our team stronger over the short term but did not fit into our plan to develop something special here in the Pacific Northwest. While we did acquire a very expensive player in PK Subban we felt his talent was well worth the price we paid. Fortunately we can afford his contract this season and will wait to see how well his new season will be before we make a decision to retain him or any of our other UFA.”

“With the team currently in an early playoff spot we felt it was the right time to have this little team discussion with the fans. We recognize that it will be tough slogging to make the playoffs this season but we remain hopeful that the team will remain competitive for the rest of this season. The future looks promising and we ask for patience to help us finish up the long term strategy. The kids are coming so look for more younger players in the lineup as we move forward together.”

“I'm available for some questions, if you have any”.

A fan raises his hand “I'm the guy who told you that you made my kid cry by trading off some of the better players last season. I just wanted you to know that she is still a fan of the team.” Pausing he continues “but I do have a question. Do you really believe the teams top 6 can lead this team to the playoffs ?”

Yes we have full confidence in our guys to score plenty of goals and in fact the blueline should be able to improve team scoring as well. The powerplay looks very strong to start the season. Please tell your daughter that its often darkest before the dawn, we never intended to make her cry but things are looking better now.

The mayor steps forward and says “while I love the city and the team, just how many goalies does this team think it needs ?”

Well Ms Helps when it comes to guarding the net our belief is you can never have enough. The team actually has 2 very promising kids who are working their way towards joining the team in the next season or three. While we wait on them we also have some established NHL goalies who can maintain a level of play in front of a team that is clearly in transition. We have time for one more question, yes you over there in the Yakuza jersey.

“When will we see Svechnikov in a Ronin jersey ?”

Not too long now. With the right move or two he could be here sooner rather than later.

A Week in Review (October 12th to 18th, 2019)

Record this week: 1-3-0
Game 6:
Calgary Chinook 2 Capeside Loons 4
Chinook Can’t Stop Laine in 4-2 Loss to Loons

CAPESIDE - The Chinook managed to win four of their first five games this season, but their lack of finish with the man advantage came back to bite them today in a 4-2 loss to the Capeside Loons. After cutting a two-goal deficit in half with an early goal in the third period from Ryan O’Reilly, Loons’s forward Travis Zajac spoiled the comeback by scoring a power play goal in the middle of the third period. The Chinook failed to convert, and the Loons - more specifically Patrik Laine - provided three assists for the Loons today.

"You can tell they've been playing together for a long time now," said Chinook defenseman John Carlson. "They're gelling really well. They complement each other. Patrik Laine is one of the best players at both sides of the ice. They're deadly with the power play. They move the puck well and know where the other person is. They made some nice plays. Laine made us pay today."

It was a good test for the Chinook, perhaps their toughest all season, as the Capeside Loons (like the Chinook) came in with a 4-1-0 mark. Despite the loss, the Chinook showed good fight throughout the game and stayed true to their game plan despite falling behind by two goals.

Game 7:
Calgary Chinook 3 Dartmouth Lakers 5
Chinook losing skid continues in Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH - After Monday’s 5-3 thumping from the Dartmouth Lakers, the Chinook
are now winless in 2 games. "We just could not hold on to the lead.” said Ryan O’Reilly.
Chinook limp home from road trip after loss in Dartmouth. “We didn’t play hard
enough,” seethed Chinook head coach Eugene Yip after Monday’s shellacking. “Until
we start to play hard, and play hard for 60 minutes, it’s going to be up in the air all night
long or you’re going to get blown out. We’ve got to develop a little bit of a work ethic
here. “We’re disappointed the way we’ve played. We haven’t played hard enough. We’re well
aware we haven’t played hard enough and we haven’t played hard enough on a
consistent basis.” The Calgary Chinook was leading 3-2 after the first period. It was all Dartmouth Lakers from then on. Andreas Athanasiou scored his 2nd of the season to tie the game at 3.

In the third period, it was Nurse who scored the game winning goal and Athanasiou scored his second goal of the night to seal the deal for the Lakers.  Lakers’ goaltender Jack Campbell was great making 37 saves. “If you make mistakes against a team like that, they’re going to punish you. And that’s
what they did,” Letang said. “We have moments where we’re really good, but we haven’t really found our game for 60 minutes yet.”

Game 8:
Dartmouth Lakers 0 Calgary Chinook 7
Panarin’s 4 goals powers Chinook in win against Lakers

CALGARY - - Aretemi Panarin scored three goals in 5:55 in the first period for his first
hat trick of the season, and Carey Price made 24 saves for the Calgary Chinook in a 7-0
win against the Dartmouth Lakers in front of a sellout crowd of 19,289 at Scotiabank
Saddledome on Wednesday.

"Of course, I didn't expect this before the game," Panarin said."Obviously, nice to
score. After (the third goal) the feeling kind of felt unreal. It's kind of hard to explain. I
was really happy after the first goal, and then the second goal, and all of a sudden the
third goal, I was like, "What's going on?"

Cam Talbot was replaced by Jack Campbell after allowing four goals on twelve shots for
Dartsmouth, Campbell made 30 saves. "I can't worry about what's going on in front of me," Talbot said. "I've got to find a way to make a save and I couldn't do that. The game before, we set the bar, for sure, with a big win at home (5-3 against the same team) and needed it. The roles were reversed today, and I didn't give our team the goaltending we needed."

Panarin scored his fourth goal of the night in the third period to make it 7-0.
"It's great. Panarin and Price led the way today," Gaudreau said. "He got off to a [heck]
of a start, and you could see the jump he had early. Just the touch around the net he
had was tremendous; all three went five-hole. It was great to see his contributions
today."
Game 9:
Calgary Chinook 2 Seattle Reign 3
Chinook missed opportunity in humbling 3-2 loss to the Reign
SEATTLE - The Chinooks' could not build on the 7-0 win from last game, marred by
missed opportunities and lack of production in power play.

Kyle Conner’s two quick goals gave Seattle the victory, Johnny Hockey scored a minute
after, but it was too late for the Chinook to make a comeback.
"Missed opportunity," Chinook coach Eugene Yip said. "They seemed to play with a lot
of urgency tonight. They didn't allow us to get the space. As a result, we didn't seem to
win as many races as we did last game. Some of that is on us."
"Yeah, we need to do better. We can't play like that," Giordano said. "We can control the
mistakes that are made."
Despite being handed six power-play opportunities, Calgary's lone power-play goal
came 14:30 into the second period when Letang capitalized on an interference penalty
called on Reign’ Jakob Chychrun.
Price was far busier this game. He managed to stop 33 shots but didn't get much help
from a defense that allowed the Reign to pile up a 36-27 advantage in shots.
"They were the better team," Price said. "You got to play like you have a chance to win.
You've got to simplify things and they were just hard on us so we couldn't get any room
and were off our game."

State of the Loons : '19 Prospects (part 1 #6-10)

Over the summer we in the front office took a look at our first year in the CCHL and the one area we are committed to improving is our farm system. Once we relocated from Ottawa, we made a flurry of moves that lowered our payroll and improved our prospect pool. But then things went a little crazy and we started winning and all of our plans went out the window. We started to believe that we had a chance at a championship and before we knew it we were back to a high payroll with a weak farm system.

Since the Falcons brought us back down to earth we have made some moves in order to balance ourselves back out. We were able to acquire a top ten pick in the past draft and landed another player with a high upside that can hopefully help us out in the near future. So let's take a look at the top 10 Loon's prospects.

#10

Zach Senyshyn RW

Around the league there is still a lot of doubters about Zach, but not here in our offices. We have see Zach make steady improvements to his game over the past two seasons and really believe that he will be a solid contributor to the Loons. When we drafted Zach we were thrilled by his skating and his offensive game. Over the past few seasons, he has been put in the bottom 6 with the Chicks in order for him to work more on his defense and his physical play. We hope that this will allow Zach to be a more complete player when he competes for a spot on next year's team. We expect to see Zach on our 3rd line.


#9

Egor Afanasyev RW

Egor was drafted in the 3rd round of the '19 CCHL draft. As a rule we tend to try and avoid Russian players due to many players deciding to return to the KHL. However, Egor established himself by thriving in the USHL and had too much talent to pass on in the 3rd round. Egor possesses an incredible shot and great hands. His skating was a question mark at one time but he has made steady improvement according to our scouts and put on some highlight-esque moves during rookie camp. We hope to see Egor in Capeside for the 2022-23 season. He projects to be a power forward on our second line while seeing time on the power play unit. 25-30 goals is what we hope for out of him when he gets here.


#8

John Beecher C

John was a player that was heavily over shadowed on the US national team by Hughes and Turcotte. But our scouting staff loves him and snagged him in the 2nd round of the '19 draft. John is a fantastic 2 way center with great wheels. John is heading to play for the Wolverines in the NCAA where we want him to step out of the shadow of Jack Hughes and play on a top line. We project John to be our future 3rd line center and penalty killing specialist. Unfortunately, John will be behind Captain Dubois and our # 3 prospect - but nothing is set in stone and a lot can change during the next few years. We hope to see John in Capeside by the 2023-24 season.


#7

Bode Wilde D

All Bode has done since being drafted is prove his haters wrong. He destroyed the OHL last year by averaging more then a point per game as a defenseman, and just a couple days ago he was promoted to the AHL. Bode's offensive skills were never in doubt but now we will see if he has improved the play in his own zone. The increase in competition should definitely shine some light on that. We expect Bode to be a full time contributor by the 2021-22 season.


#6

Rasmus Kupari C

Rasmus makes the jump from Finland to the AHL this year, and in a limited sample size has a goal and an assist in 4 games. Rasmus has shown the ability to be a excellent play maker with great hockey instincts. Last year we saw Rasmus really shine for team Finland. With the promotion of Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Rasmus was asked to taken on a much larger role as the first line center and thrived. Rasmus showed that he is already focused on being a solid three zone center. If all goes well for Rasmus in the AHL we expect for him to see some time in Capeside next year. Our hopes for him are to be battle with Beecher for the 3rd line center spot.

Up next our top 5....

A Weekly Look at the 2019-20 Sudbury Miners: Volume 2

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Miners Weekly Record: 3 wins, 1 loss, 0 OT loss.
Miners League Standing: 5 wins, 3 losses, 0 OT Loss = 8 points total. Currently, sitting in 4th place in the
Canosa Conference, 8th overall in the CCHL.
Miners Special Teams: Power Play – 23.1% (8th); Penalty Kill – 80.4% (12th)
Miners Scoring Leader: Center Nicklas Backstrom (4G – 4A = 8 pts; 45th Overall in the CCHL)

After a slow start to the first week of the CCHL season, the Sudbury Miners responded with a
week that saw them collect 6 out of a possible 8 points, and vault them into 4th place in the Canosa
Conference. “We got back to playing the way we know we can. We have a lot of new guys this year but we just needed a few games to adjust. We hope this is just the start of something special. We like our team and we think we can make some noise this year”, stated Miner's defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
But, that was not the biggest news to hit the Nickel City this past week.

The Miners pulled off a couple of big trades this week, to acquire help now and for the future.
The two deals brought them a top player in Tyler Seguin, along with young defenseman Brandon Carlo and a 1st round pick in 2021. The cost was not cheap to acquire this talent, as the Miners would surrender aging forward Evgeni Malkin, along with top prospects Owen Tippett and K’Andre Miller among others in the two deals. “Both Seguin and Carlo will help us now and in the future. I know some of our fans will not be happy with having to part with a prospect like Tippett but we have drafted the depth to make these types of moves, and you have to give something to get something”, stated General Manager Terry James.

Once Sean Monahan returns from injury, the Miners will boast Seguin, Monahan, Backstrom and
Tierney at the centre ice position. That kind of depth is needed for a long playoff run, which the  Miners are hopeful for.

MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Timo Meier
Meier is one player that the Miners have always had high expectations for since acquiring him in
a trade a couple of years ago. They see him as an important piece this year and beyond. He has CCHL
size and enough skill to play a top-six winger role at the highest level. He is a speedy winger with a very
strong lower base, with good hands who is also adept at passing the puck. If there is a knock on Meier, it
is the fact that he should shoot the puck more and look to pass less.
All-in-all, the hope is that Meier can develop into the kind of versatile player who you can put on a
skill line, and trust to create dangerous chances, or on a shutdown line, and trust to help stop pucks from
going into your net.

MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW: Spencer Knight

Scouts will argue that using a high draft pick on a goaltender is sketchy at best. The bust rate is
simply too high and the development timeline is simply too long. However, in judging the strength of
Knight as a prospect, he has been an elite goalie for his age group.
He is a phenomenal athlete, plays a mature, refined technical game, and is above average in
playing the puck up the boards. His play seems to step up when the action is toughest, but it is worth
noting that he has never carried a full starter’s workload. Simply put, he has the tools to be a high end
NHL starter, but only time will tell if he can reach it. With Andersen in tow, the Miners will give him plenty of time. Expected CCHL arrival: 2023-24.

Dayton Season Underway!

The Dayton Musicmen opened up their 2019-20 season with four consecutive overtime games. After beating Fort Erie 4-3 to start the year, Dayton then lost to Wisborg 5-4, lost to Gillam 4-3 and then beat Dartmouth 4-3 to finish the streak of overtime contests.

It took five games into the season for the Musicmen to play a game decided in regulation, which came last night with a 2-0 shutout victory over the Niagara Falls Thunder.

Dayton stands as just one of two teams who have yet to be defeated in regulation, Gillam being the other.

The Musicmen sit in a four-way tie for 2nd [place in the Corfield Conference.

Yesterday, the team traded forward Tyler Seguin to the Sudbury Miners for aging Evgeni Malkin and four prospects.

Malkin, 33 and coming off a poor season by his standards will center the second line for the rest of the season where the team hopes to insulate his defensive weaknesses. A pending UFA after this season, Malkin's play on the ice for the Musicmen and in Pittsburgh - his NHL home - will go along way in helping the team decide whether or not to resign him at a hefty price of over $11 million dollars.

"We have a lot of young talent heading to Dayton in the next few years and the progress of those kids, plus who's already under contract in Dayton and our overall financial situation will play a part in the decision process," said GM Bill Corfield.

Also coming to Dayton in the deal is the 10th overall player drafted in the 2017 draft, Owen Tippett, who some feel was the best pure goal scorer to come from that draft class. Also heading to Dayton will be Alex Newhook and Samuel Poulin, both first rounders as well as Filip Hallander, a talented winger who will play in Sweden for at least another year or two.

Calgary Chinook: A Week in Review (October 5th to 11th, 2019)

Record this week: 3-1-0

Game 2: Calgary Chinook 3 Parry Sound Orrsmen 2

Chinook spoil Orrsmen’ home opener

(PARRY SOUND, ON)- Gaudreau put the finishing touches and spoiled the Orrsmen homecoming party. At 11:11 of the second period, Right after the shot by David Pastrnak hit the post, Gaudreau picked up the rebound, went wide, and instead of passing over to Aleksander Barkov, who was parked on the opposite side of Jacob Markstrom’s net, he picked a corner.

“You just have to make sure you know when to shoot the puck and when to not shoot the puck,” said Gaudreau who finished the night with the game-winning goal “I thought the (Parry Sound) D played that two-on-one pretty well there and gave me the lane. “Thankfully I got the shot off. ”

“Every time I see he wants the puck on his stick, we have a chance to win,” said Chinook head coach Eugene Yip. “That’s who he is and that’s how he plays.”

However, the outcome didn’t always look like a sure bet.

And, at one point in the second period when the Orrsmen stormed back to tie the game at 2 a piece, it looked like the Chinook were going to lose momentum and lose the lead. “We got into turnover problems (in the second) and we were reeling back,” Yip said. “The guys were sharp in the third periods, manage to hold on to the lead.”

Game 3:

Calgary Chinook 5 Portland Owls 2

Calgary Use Strong First Period to Defeat Owls 5-2

(PORTLAND, OR) - The Calgary Chinook scored three first period goals and defeated
the Portland Owls on Monday night, 5-2.

The Calgary Chinook carried a two-game winning streak into tonight and you had the
feeling the Portland Owls could be walking into a buzzsaw. Sure enough, that is exactly how it played out.

They started filling the net early when Jakob Silfverberg, put a rebound by Portland goaltender Jaroslav Halak to give the visitor an early 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, Markus Granlund scored his first goal of the season. A nice move on the Portland goaltender after a great saucer pass by James Neal to make it 2-0.

Nope, they weren’t done yet. Matthew Tkachuk scored his second of the season with almost a minute left in the first period. A wrist shot pass Halak give the Chinook a commanding 3-0 lead.

The back-breaker was delivered by red hot Jakob Silfverberg, who scored his 4th goal in 3 games. Silfverberg came flying down the wing a ripped a shot over the shoulder of Halak to make it 4-0.

The Chinook are winners of three straight with the Seattle Reign coming into town on Wednesday.

Game 4:

Seattle Reign 4 Calgary Chinook 3

Chinook comeback attempt falls short, lose to Seattle Reign 4-3

(CALGARY, AB) - The Calgary Chinook took the loss in their first game of the season
Wednesday night, losing in regulation to the Seattle Reign, 4-3. Calgary trailed 4-2 in
the third period before David Pastrnak scored his second of the season – one short
unfortunately of tying the game.

Seattle went on to score three unanswered goals in the second period from Calle
Jarnkrok, Jordan Oesterle and Jordan Staal – It set the tone for the rest of the game.
Calgary captain Mark Giordano assisted on all three Chinook goals.
Seattle goaltender Jimmy Howard made 41 saves to hold off the Chinook from coming
back.

“The second period isn’t how we’re going to be successful this year, to say it nicely,”
said Pastrnak. “We got completely out-played in the second. And then Chucky steps up
with a big fight, and we start to turn the tide a bit.” The Chinook have the day off Thursday but they will be back in action Friday night to take on the Portland Owls.

Game 5:

Portland Owls 1 Calgary Chinook 4

Two early goals propel Chinook past Owls

(CALGARY, AB) - The Calgary Chinook scored two goals in the first 2 minutes of the game, and as it turned out, that's all they needed in order to defeat the Portland Owls, 4-1.

Artemi Panarin and Johnny Gaudreau scored a minute and eight seconds apart to give the Chinook an early lead that they held onto for the balance of the game, and Carey Price made 21 saves on 22 shots.

Just 25 seconds into the game, Letang curled a pass at the blue line to Panarin, who split the defense and beat Jaroslav Halak five-hole on the first shot of the game to give the Chinook a 1-0 lead.

On the very next minutes, John Carlson fed Johnny for the one-timer, and Gaudreau buried his 2nd goal of the season.

"That's the game," head coach Eugene Yip said. "They had their two worst shifts of the game to start the game, and it benefitted us."

Those two tallies were the fastest two goals to open a game in franchise history. Two away games during Canada Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday vs. the red-hot Capeside Loons and Monday vs. Dartmouth Lakers.

A Weekly Look at the 2019-20 Sudbury Miners: Volume 1

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Miners Weekly Record: 2 wins, 2 losses, 0 OT loss.
Miners League Standing: 2 wins, 2 losses, 0 OT Loss = 4 points total. Currently sitting in 6th place in the Canosa Conference, 13th overall in the CCHL.
Miners Special Teams: Power Play – 22.6% (6th); Penalty Kill – 73.9% (18th)
Miners Scoring Leader: Center Nicklas Backstrom (3G – 2A = 5 pts; 33rd Overall in the CCHL)

The weather is quickly becoming a little more like true hockey weather as the calendar turns to
mid-October. And with it, the CCHL season is now in full swing. And for the Sudbury Miners, they are looking to build on last season’s surprise playoff berth.

The opening week of the CCHL season saw them split their 4 games, with consecutive wins to start the season versus Georgetown and Victoria, before a pair of losses dropped their record back to .500.
“We are still trying to shake off some of that summer rust and figure some things out”, stated
Miners defenseman Aaron Ekblad. “We just need to continue to work our asses off, and the wins will
follow”. 

But the news was not good this week for the Miners, as they learned they will be without top-6
forward Sean Monahan for the next 3 months due to a left leg injury. A loss of a top player like this will challenge the Miners depth and will make things just a lit bit harder in the tough Canosa Conference.

MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Nicklas Backstrom

A cerebral, creative playmaker, Backstrom has had a long career due to his elite imagination
distribution skills. He is very poised in-tight control and has the ability to make long passes or subtle touch passes in traffic. Simply put, he had top-notch vision. If there is one complaint about Backstrom is his underutilized shooting array. He often looks to pass rather than take the shot, but that is only a small complaint, as he has scored over 20 goals in fourth straight seasons. He will be a good, veteran presence to this young Miners club.

MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW: Kirby Dach

The Miner's first pick of the 2019 draft, Dach is projected to be a true game-breaker down the
middle of the ice. Few centers bring the combination of size, speed, and skill that he provides. He has the ability to make plays in open ice, beat guys one on one or make a pass that can open up defenses. He carries the puck through the neutral zone well and always plays with his head up. He can protect the puck down low and can make passes from anywhere on the ice. He is a very good shooter, too, but make no mistake his game revolves around his passing ability and ability to hold onto the puck. His defensive game is good for a player of his age, as he uses his long reach to strip pucks and on the backcheck can quickly turn the play around with his physical dominance. Expected CCHL arrival: 2020-21.

Dayton Musicmen Season Preview

 AFTER an undeserved playoff appearance last Spring (due to another team's goalie over-usage penalty,) with a second-round exit, Dayton made some changes over the off-season and will enter the 2019-20 CCHL regular season with the goal of earning a playoff berth this season.

 DEPARTURES: Crosby, Carter, Dubnyk, Girardi & Oduya...

ARRIVALS: Seguin, Taylor Hall, Rinne, Hainsey & Polak...

The goal this off-season was to get younger and less expensive. We've dropped $10.3M from our payroll since the end of last season and we've clearly gotten younger upfront while staying about the same on defense and in nets.

CENTERS: Seguin, Kuznetsov, Beagle, McCann, Bellemare, Grimaldi

WINGERS: Hall, Hoffman, Dadonov, Guentzel, Comeau & Sprong

DEFENSEMEN: Niskanen, Hainsey, Polak, Montour, Lovejoy, Gustafsson, McQuaid, Dillon, Benning and Ryan

GOALIES: Rinne, Crawford, Brossoit and Subban

ROOKIES: Batherson, Kahun, Chartier, Lammikko, CJ Smith, Kuhlman, Roy, Lyabushkin, Riikola, Hicketts and Delia

Projected lines: 

1st: Seguin, Hall & Dadonov
2nd: Kuznetsov, Hoffman & Guentzel
3rd: Beagle, Comeau & McCann
4th: McCann/Bellemare, Grimaldi/Sprong

Defensive pairings:

Niskanen/Hainsey
Gustafsson/Polak
Montour/Lovejoy

Goalies:

Rinne/Brossoit

A word from the General Manager-

"We think we have a very competitive team heading into this season and lots of good talent on the way in the next few years. Lots of flexibility in our line combination up front and on the blueline and we have plenty of veteran leadership in nets. If we play our game - we should make the playoffs and do some damage."

Rumour Mill: Corfield put Tyler Seguin on the block a few weeks ago and is taking his time on pulling the trigger on a trade for the stud forward. It's been reported he's narrowed his search for a partner down to about four teams in all. We can expect some talented youth and/or picks to be on their way to Dayton in the next week or so. The question some ask is by moving Seguin, does Dayton move into sell mode and move other big fish off the roster or do they find a replacement 2nd line center, move Kuznetsov up to the top line and see how that works before doing anything drastic?

New comer Matthew Tkachuk scores on his debut, Chinook dominate in home opener win against Orrsmen

CALGARY – For the 2019-20 season, Matthew Tkachuk will be an assistant captain for the Chinook. We’d expect the 21-year-old superstar to try to fill the net every night. And as we saw on Friday night at Scotiabank Bank Saddledome, Tkachuk remains rather capable scoring against the Parry Sound Orrsmen in the season opener, propelling the Calgary to a 5-2 victory.

“Chunky is scoring and hitting everything in sight,” Captain Mark Giordano said. “He is always ready. As teammates, you become a bit used to it, but when you take a step back and look at it, it’s pretty impressive.”

Jakob Silfverberg, flying all night, scores a pair in the first period. Orrsemen Kevin
Labanc scores a quick goal just 3 seconds left in the first period pass Carey Price to get
the Orrsmen back by 1. Pelech would then scores for the Orrsmen to tie the game at 2
in the second period. Then, on a Calgary power play beginning of the third, it was
Aleksander Barkov beating Orrsmen goalie Jacob Markstrom on a one-timer and
eventually the game winning goal.

“They were unbelievable passes,” Barkov said. “When Pasta have the puck, you have
to be ready. You never know when it can come to you, but he made an unbelievable
pass and then Carlson had eyes in the back of his head on the power play there. It was
an amazing pass and I tried to get it off as quick as possible.”

The Chinook, before a sellout crowd of 19,289, were in control for much of the evening.
Tkachuk and Barkov will wear the ‘A’ on an alternating basis, while Giordano is a
permanent captain.

“He is the kind of man and kind of leader and kind of person that our guys look up to,”
GM/Coach Eugene said. “He does everything right every day. He is about winning. He
is a great example for all of us.”

UP NEXT:

Chinook will travel to Parry Sound for the second half of the back to back series against
the Orrsmen on Saturday.

twitter.com/chinookhockey

Millers season preview for 2019-2010

Goalies:

Jordan Bennington, the rookie who has been in the system since 2013, is expected to get the
majority of the time in the net - he can play in a maximum of 48 games. Curtis McElhinney will pick
up the remaining starts, and if Bennington struggles or gets injured can appear in a max of 50
games. Antii Niemi is the 3rd goalie and would only see the ice in an emergency situation.

Defensemen:

Roman Josi returns as team captain and as the #1 Dman. He saw time with several partners in
the pre-season but is expected to open the campaign with Ben Chiarot on his flank. Chiarot has
toiled as the Millers 7th Dman the last couple of years but comes into this season with his best
shot at a regular lineup spot.

Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce seem locked-in as the 2nd pairing, with Pesce seen as the
perfect compliment to Hamilton’s offensive aggressiveness. Pesce is no zero with the puck and
could see 2nd unit Power-Play time.

Dmitri Orlov will pair with Troy Stecher on the 3rd pairing. Orlov was on the top unit with Josi
last season but the duo was split up to get Chiarot’s muscle alongside Josi and to spread the
offense across the D pairings. Stecher is not in Pesce’s class as a 2 way defenseman but he’s
solid and would likely move to the top pair if Chiarot struggles.

Mike Green is the 7th Dman and will most often be utilized as a PP specialist in a 7 man D set-
up. None of the blueliners have major injury concerns so Green will only see the ice if the PP
struggles or multiple forwards are hurt. Brett Kulak and Dean Kukan are also around but don’t figure to see much action until next season.

Forwards:

For a team with championship aspirations, the Millers have controversially decided to eschew
using a true #1 Center, instead of using Brayden Schenn and Michael Backlund as their top 6
pivots. Schenn and Backlund’s numbers are not what one expects from a “top-line” Center but
the Millers prefer to attack in waves and still be defensively responsible. Teuvo Teravainen and
Justin Williams will line up as wings on one line with Jakub Voracek and Brett Boeser on the
other but expect a lot of fluidity with this top 6.

The 3rd line features a newcomer, a returnee and a player looking to rebound from a rough
previous season. Paul Byron is the newcomer and he will trade off with returnee Patric Hornqvist
on both wings. Byron will be counted on as a key penalty-killer and also provide around 30 to 40
points. Hornqvist should see some PP time and would be the probable pick to move up if an
injury strikes a top 6 wing. The rebound is hopefully coming from Cody Eakin, who had chances
last season with the Millers but could not keep a lineup spot. Eakin will also be used as a
penalty-killer. Both Byron and Hornqvist have some injury concerns.

Jeff Carter returns to Georgetown after a brief move to Dayton. He has embraced his new role
as bottom 6 forward and PP contributor. Expect Carter to see most of his time at RW, although
he is slated to play C on the 2nd PP unit. He would also move up to the 3rd line if an injury
opened up a spot. Radek Faksa has spent the last couple of years as Georgetown’s 3rd line
Center and chief penalty-killer but seems likely to see his role reduced this year. He’s still
expected to contribute on the PK but it appears Eakin and possibly Backlund have moved
ahead of him in the pecking order. Jordan Martinook rounds out the 4th line - his crash and
bang style and penalty-killing prowess endeared him to Millers fans after his early season
signing last year. He’s counted on to do more of the same this year.

Forward depth will be supplied by Jason Dickinson and Tobias Rieder, with rookies Jesperi
Kotkaniemi and Warren Foegele biding their time in the minors. Dickinson would be most likely
to step into an opening due to injury, and if there were multiple lineup spots open due to health
it’s likely the club would utilize Green as a 7th Dman before letting Rieder see the ice.