Chinook picking first in upcoming CCHL Draft. Future is optimistic for the franchise.

CALGARY - The Calgary Chinook has the No. 1 pick in the 2020 CCHL Draft after Hilo Wildcat won the CCHL Draft Lottery last week.

The Fort Erie Falcons won the No. 2 pick, and the Wisborg Donuts won the No. 3 selection.

The Calgary Chinook, acquired Hilo’s 1st round pick this midseason along with Sweden’s wunderkind Nils Hoglander and Dayton's 1st round pick in the 2021 draft from Minnesota Norsemen in exchange for John Carlson.

This trade now looks like a key trade to speed up the rebuild process for the Chinook.

The Chinook could use the pick to select center Alexis Lafreniere, a winger that consider a generational talent. Lafreniere has the best resume of any prospect planning to enter the CCHL draft pool.

He won Most Valuable Player at the World Junior Championship and took home MVP honors in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season.

"He's incredibly skilled and smart, showing the ability to make defenders look foolish and to pick apart defenses with his vision," Chinook Scout Todd Button said. "He's not only very skilled but also very competitive. Lafreniere attacks the net, has some physicality in his game and gets a lot of goals in the dirty areas."

There is always the chance a team prefers Byfield because of the specific skills he brings to the ice, but in terms of pure talent, Lafreniere appears to be the top prospect on the board.

“My and staff and I will have a serious meeting on whom we pick in the upcoming draft.” Eugene said.

WIS receives the third pick!

WIS receives the third pick!

The Donuts have endured a tough year after a surprise appearance in the finals last year. This year has been different...

The team has been close to making the playoffs all season but never really close. But landing a third pick is, of course, a feather and is not a bad year to do it either.

Wisborg always does it best and seldom finds itself in the bottom run (and never been in last place, which for example DAY has for instance), but seize the opportunity when it comes around. Last time WIS had a high pick was in a year with loaded talent, namely 2014:

1. HAM- Ekblad, Aaron D
2. BOS- Reinhart, Sam C
3. SIB- Bennett, Sam C
4. WIS- Draisaitl, Leon C

Great names all around but questions are if not WIS walked away with the prize that year. WIS has entertained deals involving Draisaitl during this season and everything was including free pucks, unlimited access to sister and so on. But Leon is a fan favorite of the island fan base and it takes more than cheap shots to bring him home. Visby with is the present name of the town that was part of the German Hansa in the 1100-1200's, so not so strange to embrace the German giant.

Most scouting services have the same names on top, namely Lefrenierie and Byfield as top picks. No brainers, so who is next in line? Do you even know?

How about saying Tim Stutzle?! Do you see where I am going? Another player from the far and remote hockey country of Germany. So is he a new Leon? Who knows but the stars are aligned that WIS will land this trophy. I bet he works well with Leon! But WIS can trade up to get a center or down to get those fine players with three crowns on their chest. But keep your offers serious and don't offer pucks or sister, I already turned those offers down and I do get annoyed fast.

CCHL Front Office – Bonus Program – Lineup Bonus Awards

It’s that time of year again where the CCHL awards annual bonus’ to their teams for
ensuring that valid lineups were sent throughout the year.
Before we get into how much each team will receive, it was encouraging to see that
the bonus for lineups was indeed on the upswing this season after falling 12 million
dollars the season before that.

CCHL teams will collectively see an increase of $5.5 million dollars in lineup bonus
money more than that of a season ago. The negative here is that it appears several
franchises are leaving significant cash on the table still.

The CCHL makes $104.5 million dollars available to teams through bonus’ money
each season.  After the bonus money was allotted, it was determined that the franchises
throughout the league only acquired 47.8% of that money; approximately $50 million
dollars.

This means that $54.5 million dollars were left in the coffers of the CCHL Head Office;
a number that we hope declines next season.

If you are sitting at home cursing yourself for not submitting a lineup or five, there is still
time to make bonus cash.  The blogs are open for the 2019-20 season for another month;
until April 15^th. 

It just takes 10 blogs to hit that coveted 10 blog mark which nets your team $1.5 million dollars.

That money could assist a team in need given the shortages being left on the table previously mentioned.

Aside from that, there is absolutely no better time to do it than now.  Seriously, think about it.  You
aren’t able to watch live sports or have any ‘normal’ fun activity given the outbreak changes that
the Coronavirus has caused.  Now is the time to make your team some CCHL bonus cash, folks!

Now for what you came here for, the actual bonus payouts:

$4.75M (zero lineup violations)– FOR, GEO, SUD, SEA, DAY
3.5M (1 lineup violation) – SIB, HAM, REK, CAP, VIC
$2.75M (2 lineup violations) – SPR
$1.5M (3-5 lineup violations) – MIN, PAR, WIS
$0.75M (6-8 lineup violations) – DRT, POR,

Unfortunately, if you do not see your team listed above, it means that you had over nine lineup
violations this season and are not eligible for the bonus.

Again, don’t forget if you are short you can simply make up the money with blogs over the
next month still so do not despair!

Fort Erie has time with prospects

The Fort Erie Falcons spent a lot of time this season acquiring top ten drafted players that perhaps other CCHL organizations have given up on. 

Fort Erie acquired both Jesse Puljujarvi and Casey Mittelstadt this season, with the long game in mind for their development. 

The Falcons also acquired Juho Lammikko off of waivers from Dayton. 

Mittelstadt was rated the top prospect in all of hockey just two years ago by the Hockey News.  The Minnesota native oozes talent but needs time to properly develop in the minor leagues for a year or two.  Let’s not forget this is a player that could not do a chin-up at the draft combine in 2017; a sign that he needs to seriously spend the time improving his strength to reach his full potential in the CCHL. 

Jesse Puljujarvi is expected to spend next season in Europe rather than trying to crack an obviously stacked Falcons’ roster once again.  The big winger can play significant minutes in his native Finland and will be better for it when he returns to the CCHL.  It is expected that he can dominate his home league for a season before coming back to North America ready to make an impact. 

While Puljujarvi is going to spend time in Europe, he’s expected to do so with Lammikko, as the two are expected to be teammates and potentially linemates next season. Similarly, to Puljujarivi, Lammikko won’t crack the Falcons roster next year and has requested, through his agent, that he be able to play and develop back in Finland. 

“We believe all three of these players have the potential to be impact players in the CCHL if we develop them right.  We are in a position of luxury in that we have a full, young roster at this time and we can let them develop at their own pace as a result.  I am very excited to see what the future holds for all three players as members of our organization,” said GM Matt Young on the team’s development plans. 

With the second overall pick in the 2020 CCHL Entry Draft and a good young roster, the Falcons appear ready for an extended run for several CCHL championships should they fall short this year. 

It’s an exciting time to be a fan of the Fort Erie Falcons, both for now and into the future. 

Fort Erie to Pick Second in CCHL Draft

Fort Erie to Pick Second in CCHL Draft

Fort Erie, ON

Fort Erie entered the annual CCHL Draft Lottery with the second-best odds of winning the lottery. 

Fort Erie acquired Minnesota's first-round pick in the Darcy Keumper deal earlier in the year which now looks to be a franchise trading deal. 

While any pick in the top ten of this year's draft should be considered outstanding, picking second will allow Fort Erie to pick either Alexis Lafreniere or hulking center Quinton Byfield. 

Lafreniere is likely a better fit given his primary position is left-wing but Byfield is an excellent franchise-changing center who is one of the youngest players available in this draft.  Byfield's late August birthday sees him qualify for this draft by just a few weeks before the mid-September cutoff. 

Of course, Fort Erie could also look to trade the pick as the team is already loaded at center for the foreseeable future with MacKinnon, Point, Strome, and Couturier. 

Falcons GM Matt Young was coy about the prospect of trading the pick. 

"Listen, we like both players at the top of this draft a lot.    We are happy to take either guy but we will listen to potentially slide back a few picks as well.  If somebody wants a franchise center at worst, and want to discuss us moving back, we're open to it depending on the return."

While the draft is several months away it shall be interesting to see what Fort Erie does with the second overall pick. 

A Weekly Look at the 2019-20 Sudbury Miners: Volume 19 (Games 80-82)

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Miners Weekly Record: 1 wins, 1 losses, 1 OT loss.
Miners League Standing: 41 wins, 30 losses, 11 OT Loss = 93 points total. Currently sit in 6th place in the Canosa Conference, 10th overall in the CCHL.
Miners Special Teams: Power Play – 20.2% (9th); Penalty Kill – 82.2% (4th)
Miners Scoring Leader: Center Tyler Seguin (39G – 463A = 103 pts; 5th Overall in the CCHL)

X – Clinched a playoff spot.

That sound you hear is a sigh of relief from management, as this years’ edition of the Sudbury Miners
waited until Game #80, before finally securing a playoff spot. They finished the season with a 41-30-11 record for 93 points and good for 6th place in the Canosa Conference.

“It wasn’t easy this year…..a lot of ups and downs but at the end of the day, we have that little mark beside our name that says ‘clinched playoff spot’. We now have the opportunity to put all the inconsistency behind us and move forward. We are excited to get the post-season going”, said Miners goaltender Fredrik Andersen.

Now that the season is done, the Miners will turn their attention to their first-round match-up versus the Springfield Isotopes. The season series between the two teams stood at 3-3-0, but the Miners have lost the last two verses the Isotopes. The Miners know this first round match-up will be no easy task and they will need to start playing their best hockey of the season or else they will have lots of time on their hands to catch some spring training baseball.

“We have been saying all year that we just wanted to get into the playoffs and make some noise, and now here we are. It’s ‘put up or shut up’ time and any excuses are for losers. XXXXXX has some talented players but we have a few guys that can cause some panic in their room as well. It’s shaping up to be a dandy series, and we are raring to get at it”, stated Miners defenseman Ryan Suter.

The Miners will start the quest on the road, with their first playoff game on Sunday night.

MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Aaron Ekblad

Ekblad is a hulking defender who combines size and decent skating either as a defender or a
contributor on offense. His best asset is his rocket shot. Defensively, he has worked hard on his
backward mobility to improve his gap control. While he is a decent skater, he does still have stretches of clunky footwork and sometimes has a knock-kneed skating style. He does have good hockey sense and often makes good decisions out on the ice. He is a veteran player but is still just approaching his mid-20’s. There may be another level that Ekblad can get to, but his floor is that of a top-4, point producing defenceman.

MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW: Conor Timmins

Last season was a year to forget for Timmins as he missed the entire season recovering from
post-concussion syndrome. He is now back playing and hoping to shake the rust off and continue on his upward trend. At his best, Timmins is a potential minute munching defender who can play in any
situation. He is particularly effective at winning board battles in his own end and can swing play the other way for his team. Of course, it remains to be seen what repercussions remain from his concussion as he starts to play meaningful hockey, and if he will be the same player he was prior. The potential is worth the gamble.

Expected CCHL arrival: 2023-24.

A Weekly Look at the 2019-20 Sudbury Miners: Volume 18 (Games 76-79)

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Miners Weekly Record: 1 win, 3 losses, 0 OT loss.
Miners League Standing: 40 wins, 29 losses, 10 OT Loss = 90 points total. Currently, sitting in 6th place in the Canosa Conference, 9th overall in the CCHL.
Miners Special Teams: Power Play – 20.2% (10th); Penalty Kill – 82.0% (8th)
Miners Scoring Leader: Center Tyler Seguin (37G – 62A = 99 pts; 4th Overall in the CCHL)

If we have learned anything from this season’s edition of the Sudbury Miners, is that they don’t
like to make things easy for themselves.  An opportunity presented itself this past week with games versus Reykjavik and Victoria, two teams that the Miners are battling within the Canosa Conference. But losses to both this week have now put the Miners in a battle for the last playoffs spot with the red-hot Georgetown Millers. The Miners now only sit three points up on the final playoffs spot in the conference, with 3 games remaining.

The good news is that the Miners essentially control their own fate. If they can win 2 of their last
3, a spot would be secured, along with a sigh of relief. However, it won’t be easy. With games against
Springfield and rival Victoria this week, it goes without saying that the Miners need to take some points in one or both of those contests.

“Given how inconsistent our season has been, we really couldn’t ask to be in a better position than
to have control of our own fate”, stated Coach Derek Sutton. “I know our games lately haven’t exactly been ‘coaches porn’, but we have three games, and hopefully a few more to change that. Anything less than a playoff spot will be a lost year in our eyes.”

MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Mikhail Sergachev

Sergachev is a strong defenceman with good size and excellent mobility and individual skills. He
is a calm and poised puck handler with soft hands and he has the ability to find outlets and follows the play. He supports the rush with his strong skating ability and has decent offensive instincts. He's a very aggressive defenseman who is always involved in the action and is developing into an all-around type who can produce offense, while also playing a shutdown role. Sometimes that aggressiveness can get him into penalty trouble, but there is no doubt that once he learns to play within his limitations, he can be a top-4, point-producing defenceman in the CCHL.

MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW: Peyton Krebs

A player with Krebs’ combination of skating ability and puck skills should not have fallen like he
did in last year’s CCHL draft, but that’s exactly what he did and the Miners were more than happy that he was available at pick #13. His numbers during his draft year suffered due to playing for one of the worst teams in the CHL and suffering from an Achilles injury which required surgery after his season ended. In addition to his offensive tools, Krebs can play a responsible two-way game and plays strong along the boards. He is also an experienced leader, having worn the “C” as a 17 year-old with Kootenay and again at the WU18 for Team Canada. He is a clear top-six forward for the Miners in the near future.

Expected CCHL arrival: 2022-23.