Monday Puckpourri: WHL season underway; CCPT Hockey expands to 2 HOURS LIVE; new hope for UAH and one more thing!

The WHL season started over the weekend, which means I am in hockey heaven right now! Having two teams within (relatively quick) driving distance isn't bad, either. The Everett Silvertips are starting things off with an 8-GAME HOME STAND. You can't get any better than that! Two games ar already in the books for the 'Tips - both wins (They beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-3 Friday night and the Vancouver Giants 5-2 Saturday night. This Friday, they welcome the Kamloops Blazers to Comcast Arena, followed by the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday. For game times and tickets, click here.

The Seattle Thunderbirds rebounded from their last-second loss to the 'Tips by handily thrashing the Portland Winterhawks Saturday night at ShoWare Center. Before dropping the puck on their home opener, the team and fans paid tribute to Glen Goodall, the most prolific scorer in T-Birds history. To take a look at his numbers, check out his profile at HockeyDB.com. I couldn't believe some of the numbers I saw! For example: during his final year in Seattle (89-90), Goodall had 76 goals and 87 assists for 163 points. Does that look like a typo or what?? Anyway, the crowd welcomed him back in high style and his 16 year old daughter thrilled everyone with her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Then, the T-Birds showed what they learned over the summer, beating the Winterhawks 4-1. After the game, I conducted my very first post-game interviews, with Head Coach Rob Sumner and T-Birds d-man Brenden Dillon. You can read my entire wrap up, plus interviews on the KING 5 Sports site. Or just click here.

My friend Tyler Hunnex is one of the finest T-Birds hockey minds I know - and is busy adding to his popular blog, "Let's Go Birds." You can check out his wrap-up of opening weekend, plus a player-by-player overview for the season. Just click here.

I guess this is also a good place to remind you to read my WHL stuff over at "From the Rink."

My friend Cassie McClellan and I are having a blast co-hosting the CCPT Hockey show over on BlogTalkRadio.com.  We've garnered a faithful following who tunes in at 3pm Pacific/6pm Eastern/11pm UK every Sunday to listen to us banter with each other and a myriad of guests for an hour live and even longer on the archive podcast. This past Sunday, the show expanded to TWO HOURS live, plus longer in the archive podcast. We had a lively conversation with 5 guests: Eric Naughton, a Pens fan and cancer survivor, who's chronicling his post-cancer quest to learn how to play hockey with a documentary called "Life, Cancer and the Pursuit of Hockey," Matt Wagner, Columbus Blue Jackets blogger, Anthony Curatolo, co-founder of The Hockey Guys, writers for The Fourth Period, Hockey Independent and a bunch of other sites, as well as co-host of his own BTR show called The Hockey Guys. He's also a diehard Flyers fan; Marilyn aka "Macksayev" - a good friend of ours from our NHL Connect days and very knowledgeable about the Buffalo Sabres and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; and "Super" Dave Block, a Leafs fan who works the NHL Rookie Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan every year (and knows about the Red Wings by osmosis, as he lives in Michigan). Not only did we fill the entire LIVE two-hour block, our podcast portion ran almost an extra hour! You can check out that show and all our other shows by clicking here. We also have a show blog: http://ccpthockey.blogspot.com.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am extremely passionate about my would-be alma mater, the University of Alabama in Huntsville and its hockey program. The Chargers have withstood so much adversity, only to thrive and produce some top-notch human beings who also happen to play hockey. So far, only one Charger has cracked an NHL lineup (Jared Ross, first with the Philadelphia Flyers last year; now, with the Atlanta Thrashers), but that doesn't change the fact that the guys are first-rate. Last year, when the CHA dissolved, all of the teams found new homes within the WCHA and CCHA. EXCEPT the Chargers. UAH is playing as an independent program this year (they're no stranger to that!) but after that, the future is a little cloudy for the Chargers. I firmly believe that recent news that Penn State wants to start a Division I hockey program (men's and women's) may breathe a little life and hope into the Chargers. My friend Derek Zona (from "Copper and Blue" and "From the Rink") wrote up a very nice outline of just how the NCAA hockey landscape could change once Penn State hits the ice. As of right now, I'm saying, "Come on, Big 10 - get going so UAH can join the CCHA or WCHA and stay alive!"  To read Derek's story and comment on it, just click here.

Now, for that ONE MORE THING.

I want to make the ULTIMATE hockey playlist, but I need your help! Share your favorite songs heard at hockey games. Once I get enough submissions, I'll create a playlist to share. It can be as obvious as Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll, Part 2" - to the opening strains of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."  But try to be obvious and give me something that might not have been played to death already (hint: think Europe. Yep, I know that keyboard intro is playing in your head right now!)

That's it for tonight. If I forgot something, I'll post another blog.
Happy Hockey, everyone!!

'Tips out of playoffs, Ams & Winterhawks advance; Shane Harper leaps to AHL

                                               Shane Harper (Photo Courtesy: Frank Dienes III/Everett Silvertips)

We begin this week with a big CONGRATULATIONS to Everett Silvertips forward SHANE HARPER, who just joined the Adirondack Phantoms, after signing an entry-level contract with the Phantoms' NHL team, the Philadelphia Flyers. Shane flew to Adirondack after the Silvertips lost Game 7 in the first round of the WHL playoffs to the Kelowna Rockets.  The Phantoms are excited to have Harps in their lineup, as they well should be! He finished the regular season with a whopping 42 goals and 38 assists for 80 points, then continued to light a fire under the 'Tips in the playoffs with 6 goals and 4 assists. You can read the Phantoms' news release about acquiring Harper & D-man Erik Gustafsson from Northern Michigan University. Just click here.

Speaking of WHL playoffs, round 2 is set and two US Division teams are still in the fight. The Tri City Americans take on Kelowna in Games 1 and 2 tonight and tomorrow night in Kennewick. The puck drops at 7:05pm both nights. Tickets are available and I've made it easy for you to get them. Just click here to be linked to the Ams homepage!

 
The Portland Winterhawks will host the Vancouver Giants tomorrow and Sunday at Memorial Coliseum in the Rose City. Game 1 starts at 7pm. Game 2 starts at 5pm. To get tickets, just click here to be linked to the Winterhawks' website.

You can watch these and ALL WHL playoff games online at the WHL's website. Just click here to check it out.

Mixed Opening Weekend for T-Birds

Faceoff: Lindsay Nielsen & Zack Dailey (Photo: Su Ring)

The Seattle Thunderbirds seem to be a team that will keep fans guessing this season, after going 1 an 3 their opening weekend. The T-Birds came out strong Friday night against one of their two I-5 rivals, the Everett Silvertips. Seattle and Everett both showed lots of spirit during the game, with plenty of hard hits and several shoving matches that landed players in the box on roughing penalties.

Seattle came out strong in the first two periods, scoring just two minutes into the game on a power play goal by Brenden Silvester (assist: Luke Lockhart and Colin Jacobs). The T-Birds scored 3 in a row in the second, to quickly go up 4-0 (2nd goal at 6:34 on a PP by Luke Lockhart, assist: Charles Wells and Colin Jacobs. 3rd goal at 7:10 by Prab Rai, assist: Stefan Warg. 4th goal at 8:29 by Colin Jacobs, assist: Lindsay Nielsen and Charles Wells).


Following the T-Birds' fourth goal, the Silvertips pulled Kent Simpson out of net and replaced him with Thomas Heemskerk, who just returned to the team following an outstanding training camp with the San Jose Sharks. Heemskerk shut down the T-Birds offense for the rest of the game, as the Silvertips staged a comeback of their own. They peppered Seattle netminder Calvin Pickard with shot after shot and finally found a way through, late in the second period. Markus McCrea notched his first goal, with help from Travis Dunstall and Cameron Abney. The Silvertips scored twice more in the third. Byron Froese fired a shot past Pickard at 11:36. Tyler Maxwell and Ryan Murray assisted. Two minutes later, Maxwell scored, with help from Froese and Kellan Tochkin.

The third period saw the Silvertips gaining momentum, while the T-Birds seemed to lose some steam. Seattle held on for the win, though at great expense, in my opinion. They played hard- but let Everett fire 49 shots at Pickard, who showed at age 17 and in just his second year in the WHL, that he's one talented netminder.
Final score: Seattle 4, Everett 3.

Seattle v. Portland (Photo: Su Ring)

Saturday night, the T-Birds faced their other I-5 rival, a strong Portland Winterhawks team, and from the opening face off, the Winterhawks dominated the ice at ShoWare Center. They broke up play after play, while pushing the action down to Seattle's end and keeping it there. Portland scored about 17 minutes into the first period, on a shot by Troy Rutkowski. Nino Niederreiter got the assist. Chris Francis scored a shorthanded goal with about 30 seconds left in the first to put Portland up 2-0. Luke Walker and Brett Ponich got the assists. The Winterhawks also outshot the T-Birds, 11-3 in the first period alone.

Portland scored 3 more times in the game. In the second period, Niederreiter found the net in the final minutes of the period, with help from Ryan Johansen and Rutkowski. Rutkowski scored at the beginning of the third. Brad Ross and Niederreiter got credit for the assists. A short time later, Spencer Bennett scored, with help from Walker.

During the third period, some fan sitting right behind us heaved a fish onto the ice. I have to say that was a pretty classless thing to do. I understand that fans are frustrated, but we must remember that the majority of players on any team that plays at the WHL level are younger than 20 years old. I know a lot of players on the T-Birds this year are 16 and 17, and trying very hard to find their footing while adjusting to living far away from their families. Try to remember that before you start shouting insults and swearing at them, please. You wouldn't want people to scream at your kid playing high school football, baseball or whatever sport they play.

Anyway, Portland ended up shutting out Seattle, 5-0.
The Winterhawks outshot the T-Birds 34-22.

But the T-Birds didn't have the luxury of going home and thinking about how they played. Nope, they hopped on a bus to drive up to Vancouver, BC, for a 5:05pm puck drop against the Giants tonight (Sunday). I didn't see or hear the game, but I did get a recap from the WHL website. Colin Jacobs scored in the first for the T-Birds, with help from Charles Wells. Jonathan Parker put Seattle up 2-0 in the opening minutes of the second period. Newcomer Tyler Alos got the assist.

Then, the Giants went to work. Sebastian Svendsen put Vancouver on the board at the 5:50 mark, with help from Brendan Gallagher and James Henry. The Giants scored again just moments later, on a shot by Lance Bouma, to tie things up at 2 apiece. Neil Manning and Kevin Connauton got the assists. Manning scored an unassisted goal on a power play at the start of the third period. JT Barnett put the Giants up 4-2 about halfway through the third, with help from Bouma and Connauton. The T-Birds did not get another scoring chance. Calvin Pickard stopped 34 of 39 shots in the T-Birds losing effort. Giants' goalie Brendan Jensen saved 22 of 24 shots.

The T-Birds face a long bus ride home tonight and no doubt will go over the weekend's games at practice tomorrow, as they begin preparing for another busy weekend. They'll host the Chilliwack Bruins Friday, September 25 at 7:35pm, then drive down I-5 to face the Winterhawks again in Portland on Saturday, September 26 at 7:00pm.