Kings due North to face Blizzard tonight

The OCN Blizzard (14-17-1) get set to host the Dauphin Kings (17-12-1) tonight in a rematch of last Friday's 4-0 Kings victory at the Credit Union Centre in Dauphin.

OCN will have to do without 20-year old Wilson Dumais for this weekends games as he has been suspended for two games for a charging penalty that injured a Neepawa Natives player on December 4th. The suspension wasn't handed out after the incident, but only after a review from the league office was ordered by the Natives.

The Kings will could have their newest acquisition Justin Valentino in the lineup tonight. Valentino was acquired from the Swan Valley Stampeders earlier this week as Dauphin continues to build towards hosting the Western Canada Cup this spring.

Game time is 7:00PM, tonight's game will be carried live on 102.9 CJAR if you can't make it down to the GLMC.

TJ Constant dealt to Melville (SJHL)

One of the longest serving players to ever pull on an OCN Blizzard jersey has been dealt to the Melville Millionaires of the SJHL.

TJ Constant will join his cousin Brady on one of the top clubs in the SJHL.

The Blizzard received future considerations in return for the 1993 born forward.

Constant has played 226 games in a Blizzard uniform which has him tied for second all time with forward Lem Randall who played with the Blizzard from 2002-03 to 2006-07. Constant sits just 28 games behind Michael Young for first place, Young played 254 games in a Blizzard uniform from 1999-00 to 2003-04.

Constant is the longest serving local player to ever lace up in OCN as he surpassed Don Melnyk who held that title last season at 190 games, Melnyk is 6th in games played in the franchise.

Game #32 - Blizzard clash in Dauphin

It's a big rival clash at the Credit Union Centre in Dauphin tonight as the Kings and Blizzard begin their jockeying for position in the Sher-Wood division.

OCN sits in third place, just two points back of the Kings and Stampeders for second. It's a big four point night.

Both teams are coming off Wednesday night victories as OCN beat Neepawa by a 3-2 score, the Kings defeated the defending champion Steinbach Pistons in OT on the road by the same score.

The Kings have made a flurry of moves since the last time these two teams met on October 19th, 2013 the Kings won that contest 9-6. Since then Michael Sofillas, Colton Magwood, Francis Alarie, Jeremy Pominville and others have left the fold in Dauphin, coming in the likes of goaltender Michael Stiliadis, Brent Wold, Brett Hope, Brayden Cuthbert, Jared Morris and Dylan Butler.

Expect tonight's game to be a real treat the Kings, Stampeders and Blizzard are all 6-4 in their last ten.

Game time is 7:30PM, the game will be carried live on 102.9 CJAR FM.

Game #31 - Blizzard in Neepawa

The OCN Blizzard (13-16-1) play their 31st game of the season tonight on the road against the Neepawa Natives (7-17-4).

Newly acquired defenseman Chris Kravchuck will be in the lineup, the hulking blue liner arrived in OCN last night after travelling from Drayton Valley.

Kravchuck already has one familiar face on the team in Nakehkoh Lamothe, who is now OCN's second newest player, Lamothe was a member of the Drayton Valley Thunder before being released and coming to the Blizzard.

These two teams met just last Friday but the Natives will be icing a changed team tonight after making a big splash with Dauphin over the weekend.

Neepawa sent '94 F Brayden Cuthbert to the Kings for 93 F Michael Sofillas and 93 D Colton Magwood. Neepawa then flipped Sofillas to Winkler for Luke Karakas.

We'll see how the changes improve the makeup of the Natives tonight.

As for OCN their big splash is the newly acquired Kravchuck as 6'3", 215 pound behemoth who comes to the Blizzard with a reputation for being a nasty, tough, grinding stay at home defenseman.

With a victory tonight the Blizzard would draw even with the Dauphin Kings for third in the division who they face on Friday night.

Game time is 7:30, you can catch it live on 102.9FM CJAR.

Blizzard Acquire 20-year old Defenseman

Kravchuck (black) pushes opposing player off the puck.

The OCN Blizzard have acquired 20-year old defeseman Chris Kravchuck from the Drayton Valley Thunder of the AJHL.

The Kravchuck name may be familiar to many hockey fans as Chris' father Igor played 699 NHL games and represented Russia at numerous World Championships and Olympic Games.

Kravchuck is a big tall punishing defenseman who stands at 6'3" and weighs 215 pounds. He has experience at elite level junior in Russia where he won an MHL title in 2010-2011 alongside the likes of Mikhail Grigorenko of the Buffalo Sabres. The MHL is the top junior league in Russia.

Kravchuck has played nine games this season picking up three points and 33 PIMs over that span. He split last season between three teams the Kahnawake Condors (QJAAAHL), Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL) and the Granby Inouk (QJAAAHL).

The Blizzard sent future considerations in return to Drayton Valley.

Blizzard 6 - Stampeders 4

Another early lead and solid goaltending to back it up led to a 6-4 victory for the OCN Blizzard.

Brandon Beaulieu turned aside 35 of 39 shots fired hos way and once again was cool as a cucumber in the Blizzard goal.

Beaulieu has been a revelation of sorts over his last three starts, he's a big body (6'3) who sets himself up big in the goal and does a good job in conserving his energy. His rebound control has been phenomenal and his calmness in goal seems to be rubbing off on his defenders.

Wilson Dumais scored the games first goal after tipping in an Evan Zdunich point shot, Dumais would add another before the game was out.

Tyler Grove potted two including the second of the game just over six minutes into the first frame.

Brendan Barron and Edward Bayer added the other markers, both players led the NorMan Northstars of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League in scoring in their final seasons of midget.

The Blizzard are in Swan River tonight for the second half of the home and home series.

Puck drop is at 7:30 and will be carried live on CJ1240.

Game Preview: #25 of 60 - vs Swan Valley Stampeders

After picking up four of a possible six points in their last three games the OCN Blizzard (10-13-1)head into what could be a season defining home and home series with the Swan Valley Stampeders (12-13-1).

The Stampeders have a four point lead on the Blizzard for second place in the division but OCN holds two games in hand, if the Blizzard can sweep the series OCN will be tied with the Stamps in points while holding their two game advantage, if OCN loses both they'll drop eight points back.

Swan Valley is without Cole Holowenko for the foreseeable future as the former WHL netminder is out with a leg injury, Nathan Armstrong has taken the starters role while Head Coach Erik Pedersen's son Lasse Pedersen is the back up.

Alex Henry will finish serving his three game suspension over the series and will be eligible to return on Friday night against Waywayseecappo.

Here is how the two teams match up:

LAST 10 GAMES:

Swan Valley: 5-4-1
OCN: 3-7-0

TOP SCORER:

Swan Valley: (94) Max Flanagan - 21 G, 14 A, 35 PTS, 26 GP
OCN: (93) Tyler Grove - 15 G, 14 A, 29 PTS, 19GP

TOP GOALTENDER:

Swan Valley: (94) Nathan Armstrong (8-5), 3.05GAA, .912Sv%
OCN: (95) Brandon Beaulieu (3-1), 3.99GAA, .900Sv%

POWER PLAY:

Swan Valley: 16/111 (14.41%) 8th - 5SHGA
OCN: 13/80 (16.25%) 6th - 2SHGA

PENALTY KILL:

Swan Valley: 91/112 (81.25%) 6th - 1SHGF
OCN: 105/134 (78.36%) 11th - 2SHGF

Puck drops at 7:00PM at the GLMC.

About last night...Blizzard 4 - Blues 2

After a loss to the Portage Terriers in which the Blizzard felt they fought not just the opposing team but the refereeing as well OCN played a strong team game on Saturday night to pick up two points in a 4-2 win.

With Alex Henry serving the first game of a three game suspension, Brandon Beaulieu got the start in goal for OCN and played a superb game.

Beaulieu turned aside 49 of 51 shots his way, the Blizzard did a good job of keeping most of those shots to the outside, scoring opportunities were even in the game. Beaulieu was impressive, his rebound control was excellent, few times did he give the Terriers a second crack at the puck and his calmness in goal seemed to rub off on his defense who seemed less agitated than they did the night before against Portage.

If Beaulieu continues to play like that over the next two games the Blizzard coaching staff will have a tough decision as to who will start once Henry is eligible to return.

The Blizzard celebrate their 4-2 victory.

The game started slowly and slightly sloppily but a Wilson Dumais fight with Mitch Hansen of the Blues pulled some energy into the building and gave the Blizzard enough jump for Edward Bayer to score what could be the goal of the year with 2:59 left in the first. Bayer picked up a head of steam heading down the right wall, danced around the defender and fired a shot past the blocker of Scott Parsons for his fifth goal of the season. The deke and shot brought back memories of Bayer's play with the NorMan Northstars of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League when he was the team's leading scorer and one of the most gifted players in the league in his 17-year old season.

Early in the second OCN's top line made it's mark on the game as Damien Kulynych made a pretty backhand pass to Tyler Grove who slid the puck under the left pad of Parsons just 1:13 into the period giving OCN the 2-0 lead.

The Blues' offensive fire power came to life just six minutes later on a power play goal by a knuckle puck from Ben Sveinson. That goal was followed up by a Mitch Hansen marker at 16:50 of the second period.

In the third the Blizzard would retake the lead as Rhett Law tipped in a shot from Edward Bayer, the goal was Law's second of the season and the 18-year old looked great on the third line with Bayer and veteran Kirk Chief.

Camacho Lathlin doubled the Blizzard lead with just 4:20 left in the third period after knocking home a Tyler Grove rebound. Lathlin looked good on the back end tonight and used his offensive talents to create some good opportunities earlier on in the game.

The shots were 51-20 in favour of Winnipeg.

Winnipeg went 1/4 on the power play while OCN was 0/1.

The Pire Tire  3 Stars:

1. Brandon Beaulieu (49/51 saves)
2. Edward Bayer (1 goal, 1 assist)
3. Kirk Chief (2 assists)

Return of the blog - Blizzard host Blues (GM #24/60)

I've had a number of fans and MJHL followers ask me to bring the blog back, so I have.

Some stuff here will be posted on the blizzard site, some won't. One reason I brought it back is for extra content, its much easier to post pictures and videos here than it is on the Blizzard website just for formatting.

The blog may switch names, and colour schematics over the next few weeks, but either way it has returned.

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The OCN Blizzard (9-13-1) host the Winnipeg Blues (11-8-3) tonight at the GLMC. The two teams have met just once so far this season, it was a 10-0 Winnipeg win on November 1st at the MTS IcePlex.

NEWS:

Alex Henry has been suspended for 3 games for his fight with Taylor Joseph last night

Assistant Coach Jason Smith has been suspended for 2 games for a gross misconduct received in the third period last night.

TOP SCORER:

Winnipeg: Jordan McCallum - 4G, 16A - 20PTS
OCN: Damien Kulynych - 7G, 21A -28PTS

POWER PLAY RANKINGS:

Winnipeg: 19/117 (16.24%) 5th - 2 SHGA
OCN: 13/79 (16.46) 4th - 2 SHGA

PENALTY KILL RANKINGS:

Winnipeg: 81/101 (80.20%) 8th  - 4 SHGF
OCN: 102/130 (78.46%) 11th - 2 SHGF

RECORD OVER LAST 10 GAMES:

Winnipeg: 6-3-1
OCN: 2-8-0

Tonight's game will be broadcast on CJ1240, and for those wondering it is the same ref crew as last night.

LINEUPS

BLUES

G: #30 - B.Spriggs / #35 S.Parsons

D:

#6 - C.Bresciani / #4 B.Sveinson
# 25 - M. Rafter / #3 C.Danylchuck
#21 - G.Browning / #7 M. Heisinger

F:

#8 K.Nault / #9 J.McCallum / #15 T.Lewis
#10 S.Rowswell / #19 L.Bilton / #20 M.Ramin
#18 G.Keane / #27 M.Hansen / #24 L.Kroeker
#17 W.Kallis / #23 J.Schreyer / #2 C.Comeau

BLIZZARD

G: #35 B.Beaulieu / #25 B.Claeys

D:

#13 C.Robak / #12 E.Zdunich
#4 R.Gratz / #6 N.Speiss
#2 Z.Fontaine / #9 C.Lathlin

F:

#15 W.Dumais / #19 TJ. Constant / #10 D.Cardinal
#16 T.Grove / #21 G.Valiquette / #37 D.Kulycnych
#17 R.Law / #20 E.Bayer / #14 K.Chief
#26 B.MacInnis / #28 B.Barron / #11 T.Potskin

tune in at www.thepasonline.com

About Last Night...Blizzard 6 - Kings 3 - Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays

Redemption?

Maybe so in Dauphin, but the last time the two teams met at the GLMC the Kings stole a 3-2 victory, OCN has another chance to redeem themselves tonight.

Justin McDonald picked up his 18th win of the season

The game didn't start off great for OCN, an early elbowing penalty by TJ Constant on Emerson Hrynyk would give the Kings deadly PP their first of two goals on the evening. Jesse Sinatynski would score both roughly 8 minutes apart giving the kings a 2-0 lead into the second period in front of over 1800 fans at CUP.

One of the much talked about keys to victory for the Blizzard was staying out of the box, something they were unable to do in the first period.

The second period started off, well oddly. A broken play at the OCN blue line on the PK saw Nathan Bruyere beating the Kings defender to the puck and then beat Pominville with a short handed marker. That goal would be the first of three on the night for the OCN dman who played his best game of the season. Bruyere would later score on a howitzer from the point on the PP and add the empty netter (hitting for some weird version of the hockey cycle).

Three fights, essentially all in one play would see OCN get a 4 minute man advantage, they scored twice and had all the momentum after the scraps. Interesting scraps they were, Kirk Chief vs Alarie, Naud vs Dumais and Grove vs Kirkham (Grove gave Kirkham an extra pop after being separated by the refs, one punch KO).

OCN would end up scoring 5 goals in that wacky period and take a 5-3 lead as Dayton Reinboldt scored the third and final PP goal for the Kings.

It was a hockey game that had it all.

Lots of physical play, great skill, fights, goaltending and defense.

Great treat to all those in attendance on Teddy Bear Toss night at the CUP.

It was a great game to wrap up the 2012 portion of our broadcast schedule.

Pitre Tire 3 Stars:

1. Nathan Bruyere - 3G, 1A
2. Justin Waskewitch - 1G, 1A
3. Ralph Cochrane

Northern Building Suppply Hardest Working Player:

- Whole team, came out and worked their butts off after the 1st period. Great team effort on the comeback.

With the win OCN moves to 3-0 under DeBray

We will not be on the air tomorrow night, and I won't be in attendance either as I catch an early flight home to spend some time with family and friends in Montreal.

The blog probably won't be updated tomorrow, or at all through the break, unless something substantial comes up.

I want to thank all of the readers and listeners for your support so far through the first half of the season! It's been a lot of fun so far, and I look forward to picking it back up on January 4th when OCN hosts Winnipeg.

Enjoy the holidays, be merry, joyous and cheerful.

I hope Santa brings you what you asked for ;)

I wish you an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

-Brad-

Lineup @ Dauphin

Goaltenders:

McDonald - Starter
Henry - Backup

Defense:

Bruyere / Cochrane
Elmes / Fontaine
Robak / Kavanaugh

Offense:

Dumais / TJ / Waskewitch
Grove / Valiquette / Gray
Cardinal / Chief / Tagoona
Swampy / Petrino / B.Constant

Scth:

Bayer
Lathlin
MacInnis
Ward-Cardinal
Santorelli - inj
Baptiste - inj

Blizzard @ Kings - Preview - On CJ1240

Familiar foes with similar records.

Justin McDonald gets a shot at redemption tonight at Credit Union Place 

Dauphin and OCN meet up for the first half of a home and home series. This is the last road game of 2012 for the Blizzard.

After tomorrow night's game the Blizzard and Kings will have met up for four matches since the 30th of November, all of them have been important games and tonight/ tomorrow will be no different.

Two big four point games this weekend that could determine who ends up being first and second in the division come the end of the season. If OCN wants to keep Dauphin at bay they at the very least need a split. It goes without saying that their goal will be a sweep. A 3 point margin between OCN and Dauphin after the break with the Kings holding 4 games in hand would not be a good position for the Blizzard should they drop both of these games.

The last match up between these two clubs was an ugly one for OCN, a 7-2 loss where only a handful of players showed up to play. Justin McDonald was fighting the puck, as was the rest of the team.

McDonald will get the start tonight after a strong performance in Waywayseecappo on Tuesday as per Head Coach Clay DeBray on Tuesday's Murray GM post-game show.

OCN will need to get off to a fast start and quiet down what should be a raucous crowd at Credit Union Place tonight, Dauphin will be having their own teddy bear toss as well as several other big draws so I'm expecting a packed house.

If the Blizzard can weather the first five minutes unscathed they'll look good once the game settles into a regular pace.

OCN will have to shutdown Gaudet, Sinatynski and Naud if they want to have some success tonight, Murray likes to cut down on his lines as the game moves on. By the third period he really only rolls his top two lines.

Dauphin has had solid goaltending all season as well, whether it be Pominville or Archibald OCN will have to create traffic and get some Garick Gray style goals.

Speaking of Gray, he needs to get his game on track tonight, he's looked better each game since his return but the Blizzard will need him in a big way tonight and tomorrow. Gray, a converted defender, is one of the Blizz's best 2 way forwards and brings a physical edge. He'll be leaned on heavily to try and shut down three of the top five scorers in the league.

The game will be on CJ1240 tonight, or thepasonline.com . Pre-Game at 7:15 - Puck drop at 7:30.

Here are the head to head results between these two clubs:

HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS DATE AWAY HOME SCORE TYPE 09-Oct-12 OCN Blizzard @ Dauphin Kings 3 - 2 RS 30-Nov-12 Dauphin Kings @ OCN Blizzard 3 - 2 RS 11-Dec-12 OCN Blizzard @ Dauphin Kings 2 - 7 RS

and the team comparisons:

TEAM COMPARISON (Regular Season)
	OCN Blizzard	Dauphin Kings
Games Played	38	34
Wins	24	22
Losses	9	9
Ties	0	0
Overtime Losses	2	0
Win/Loss Points	50	44
Goals For	145	124
Goals Against	108	92

Sport Report - December 17th 2012

Here is the sport report from this past Monday.

Sport Report - December 17th by Bradley Karp on Mixcloud

About Last Night... OCN 3 - Wayway 2

The game started out with a bang, and ended in one with the lights going out in the Waywayseecappo Community Complex.

Wilson Dumais scored a short handed marker just under 2 minutes into the game, out waiting Cory Simons and going high blocker on the Wolverines goaltender on a breakaway.

Lots of scoring in the first five minutes, then things calmed down and slowed to a crawl. The Wolverines seemed hesitant to try and run and gun with OCN and kept things moving slowly.

Justin McDonald had a very solid game making 22 of 24 saves.

Wilson Dumais was a workhorse as usual as well. TJ Constant had a very strong game as well.

Colton Robak did a great job shutting things down defensively.

Here is Clay DeBray on the Murray GM post game show last night.

DeBray Post Game - December 18th 3-2 W @ Wayway by Bradley Karp on Mixcloud

Here is how the scoring broke down last night.

SCORING SUMMARY
PERIOD 1
OCN Blizzard at 1:49 (SH) - Wilson Dumais from Josh Elmes and TJ Constant
Waywayseecappo Wolverines at 2:16 (PP) - Zane Morin from Alex Mills and Brett Pinkerton
OCN Blizzard at 3:20 - TJ Constant from Wilson Dumais and Justin Waskewitch
PERIOD 2
OCN Blizzard at 8:50 - Tyler Grove from Garick Gray
Waywayseecappo Wolverines at 15:17 - Russell Turner from Brett Lafond and Curtis Veitch
PERIOD 3
No Scoring

Lineup vs Wayway / Preview

It's another battle between the only two reservation teams in the league.

Both teams are desperate for points, Waywayseecappo looks to get back to .500 before the break and OCN needs to continue creating space between them and Dauphin.

Waywayseecappo was supposed to host the Stampeders last night but a blown transfer forced Manitoba Hydro to shutdown the game during warm ups.

The Wolverines will be fresh instead for tonight's matchup against the Blizzard.

The Blizzard are 4-1 against the Wolverines this season and here is the head to head breakdown:

HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS
DATE	AWAY		HOME	SCORE	TYPE
26-Sep-12	Waywayseecappo Wolverines	@	OCN Blizzard	2 - 5	RS
19-Oct-12	Waywayseecappo Wolverines	@	OCN Blizzard	4 - 5 SO	RS
24-Oct-12	Waywayseecappo Wolverines	@	OCN Blizzard	0 - 3	RS
23-Nov-12	OCN Blizzard	@	Waywayseecappo Wolverines	5 - 6 SO	RS
04-Dec-12	OCN Blizzard	@	Waywayseecappo Wolverines	4 - 3	RS

After tonight's match up these two teams will only face each other twice, one home game per side.

Here is a team comparison:

TEAM COMPARISON (Regular Season)
	OCN Blizzard	Waywayseecappo Wolverines
Games Played	37	31
Wins	25	13
Losses	9	15
Ties	0	0
Overtime Losses	3	3
Win/Loss Points	53	29
Goals For	142	103
Goals Against	106	118

Here is how the teams match up on special teams:

OCN

PP: 16.79% (10)
PK: 84.54% (1)

WAY:

PP: 18.75% (8)
PK: 77.16% (7)

Here is tonight's lineup for the OCN Blizzard:

Goal:

McDonald - Starter
Henry - Backup

Defense:

Bruyere / Cochrane
Elmes / Fontaine
Robak / Kavanaugh

Forwards:

Dumais / TJ Constant / Waskewitch
Grove / Valiquette / Gray
Cardinal / Chief / Swampy
Petrino / Bayer / B. Constant

INJ:

Santorelli
Baptiste

Scrth:

MacInnis
Tagoona
Ward-Cardinal
Lathlin

Puck drop is at 7:30 - your Murray GM Pre-Game show at 7:15!

Blizzard Lineup vs Neepawa

Blizzard Jerseys for Tonight - Photo: Clay DeBray

Here is tonight's lineup vs Neepawa:



Goal:

Henry - Starter
McDonald - Backup

Defense:

Bruyere / Cochrane
Elmes / Fontaine
Robak / Kavanaugh

Forwards:

Grove / TJ / Waskewitch
Dumais / Valiquette / Gray
Tagoona / Chief / Cardinal
MacInnis / Bayer / B. Constant

Scratches: 

Swampy
Lathlin
Petrino
Baptiste - INJ
Thomas Ward-Cardinal
Santorelli - INJ

Preview: Blizzard vs Neepawa

It's the best versus the worst in the Sher-Wood division tonight, but the way the Blizzard have played over the last two games things may be a little more even. It's also pink in the rink tonight.

The Blizzard will play in pink jerseys tonight which will be auctioned off after the game via silent auction. Great Christmas gift for the Blizz fan in your life. All proceeds will go to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Clay DeBray makes his head coaching debut in the interim role. Spending countless hours around the team and coaching staff I can assure you the Blizzard (24-9-3) are in good hands with Clay.

He's taken the time to go out and get his high performance certification (he's able to coach up to minor pro in Canada, including major junior) from Hockey Canada, knows the game tremendously well not just on the board, but the mental aspect of high performance with young athletes as well. (This is no shot across the bow to Jim Mollard). The players have a tremendous amount of respect for Clay and many of them have known him for years (McDonald, Baptiste, Dumais, Waskewitch, TJ Constant... to name a few)

I expect the Blizzard to come out hungry after their performances over the last two games, and win one for Clay.

The Blizzard got some help in the standings courtesy of the Selkirk Steelers who took down the Dauphin Kings 4-3, the Kings will play two more games this weekend and make up some ground in terms of games in hand.

Coming up North tonight are the Neepawa Natives (8-18-4), who have won two in a row on the back of their goaltender Corey Koop. Koop in my mind is a top 3 goaltender in this league in talent. He would be the best goalie in the league statistically on even an average team in this league.

The Blizzard are the better team, but will want to put on another dominating performance against Neepawa before three more big divisional games ahead of the Christmas break (Waywayseecappo, Dauphin x2) in an effort to get back on track.

Thomas Ward-Cardinal has returned home for personal reasons, will be back with the club after the Christmas break.

The special teams tonight break down as follows:

Neepawa:

PP: 16.67% (11)
PK: 78.95% (5)

OCN:

PP: 16.91% (10)
PK: 84.29% (1)

Blizz Streaks:

Tyler Grove - has 5 points in his last 3 games.
TJ Contsant - has 7 points in his last 3 games.
Justin Waskewitch - has 9 points in his last 5 games.
Kolton Baptiste - has 2 points in his last 2 games.

I'll get the lineup posted for you all before the game, but will not be in attendance as it is the CJ1240 Christmas party tonight.

Hope you all enjoy tonight's game.

Will try and get something of substance posted for tomorrow.

-Brad-

Blizzard Relieve Mollard of his Duties

Here is the release from the OCN Blizzard:

"Coach James Mollard has been relieved of his duties as Head Coach of the OCN Blizzard. The OCN Blizzard wish James Mollard all the best in his future endeavors. Clay Debray will take over as Interim Coach until the conclusion of the 2012-2013 season"

Here is Derek Fontaine on Mollard's firing.

Fontaine on Mollard Firing by Bradley Karp on Mixcloud

Pink in the Rink Game Tomorrow Night

The OCN Blizzard will don some pink tomorrow night as part of their pink in the rink game.

The jerseys will be auctioned off via silent auction during the game. All funds raised during tomorrow night's game will go directly to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Puck drop is at 7PM tomorrow night as they host the Neepawa Natives.


Speaking of the Natives.... found this throwback clip in the bowels of youtube.

Jamie Vossen in a scrap with a Natives player back in the day, Huddy Hudson on the air waiting to get back from commercial drops a few swear words.

Caution this link does include some profanity...

Blues Sveinson 2 Game Supension

Winnipeg Blues D-man Ben Sveinson has received a two game suspension from the MJHL for his hit to the head of Blizzard forward Wilson Dumais on Saturday.

Dumais left the ice for a short period of time bloodied but did continue to play.

Garick Gray jumped on Sveinson immediately after the hit just on the Blues blue line.

Gray of course was on the receiving end of a hit to the head from Virden's Chase Wichellman which saw Wichellman receive a 2 game suspension. Gray suffered a concussion on the play and his first game back was Saturday against Winnipeg.