Blizzard vs Winkler - Preview

The OCN Blizzard (23-8-3) go from playing the top team in the Addison division to the worst team in the Winkler Flyers (6-17-6) tonight.

The Flyers will try and put an end to a seven game losing skid tonight at the GLMC. They've had a tough season with only six victories on the year.

Winkler lost 5-2 to the Swan Valley Stampeders who leap frogged over Dauphin for second in the division with last night's victory.

I think most Blizzard fans are expecting the Flyers to roll over, but after 7 straight losses Winkler will be fed up and after an emotional game last night for OCN tonight could be a chance for them to pick up the win.

Any team can beat any team on any given night in this league.

Here are Winkler's top five scorers:

9 - Jory Mullin (92) - 13G/ 16A - 29PTS

15 - Tristan Keck (95) - 12G/ 15A - 27PTS

21 - Justin Faux (92) - 10G / 17A - 27PTS

16 - Jordan Neduzak (92) - 8G / 19 A -27PTS

18 - Tyler Swerdyliak (92) - 10G / 11A - 21PTS

Special Teams Matchup:

Winkler:

PP - 21.85% (5)

PK - 76.12% (11)

OCN:

PP - 16.92 % (9)

PK - 84.53% (1)

Will have lineups closer to game time.

Stampeders Sanctioned for Playing With 26 Carded Players

The Swan Valley Stampeders have received a "severe sanction" in the words of MJHL Commissioner Kim Davis for what could be called an illegal roster.

The Stampeders played 10 games between the dates of October 25th to November 13th with 26 carded players which by some could be considered a severe roster violation. MJHL teams can only carry 25 carded players at this point of the season.

The Stampeders went 6-4 during that span beating the OCN Blizzard twice along with the Virden Oil Capitals, Winkler Flyers, Portage Terriers, and the Neepawa Natives.

In some Jr.A leagues that infraction of league rules would result in an automatic loss of points along with possible supplemental sanctions such as a $500 fine.

According to Davis, in the MJHL there is no set punishment for carrying more players than allowed by the league, so in essence the sanction is up to Davis' discretion.

Davis confirmed there would be no loss of points or changes to the standings as a result of the infraction.

Davis said the Stampeders have been sanctioned monetarily along with a sanction affecting their roster abilities for the rest of the season.

An anonymous source says the Stampeders have been fined $1,000 and lost 2 of their 45 player cards for the season (each team can only have 25 players carded at a time until December 1st when the number drops to 23, but can burn through 45 in a season.)

It seems that the Stampeders are lucky they don't play in the "other" leagues that would have taken away points for that infraction as they would move from 30 points on the season to 18.

The OCN Blizzard would have seen their numbers improve to 20-5-1 good for 41 points. The Stamps would then be second last in the Sher-Wood division with a record of 8-14-2 , only four points up on Neepawa who would gain two points.

Other teams that would gain two points are Winkler, Virden and Portage. Putting them at 20, 27, and 23 points on the season respectively.

Davis was willing to answer questions over the phone but did not want to record a statement.

** Note: I did have to readjust some numbers that were typo's. To be clear the Stampeders had 26 carded players, only allowed 25. Clearly this error justifies my crappy radio salary!**

Blizzard go 2-1 Down South

2-1 is good, but the Blizzard are still sour after spoiling at the very least a point against Winkler on Saturday.

The Blizzard beat the Selkirk Steelers 3-1 on Friday, followed by a 6-5 loss to Winkler on Saturday which saw Winkler take the lead with just 0:02 left on the clock in the third, the Blizzard beat the Winnipeg Blues 4-3 yesterday.

Thanks to CBC's and OCN's own Tiar Wilson for the photo of OCN Celebrating last night's victory. Stolen from her twitter account @tiarwilsonCBC

The Blizzard now sit at 18-7-1 on the season with 37 points. I had erroneously tweeted after the win last night that the Blizzard had the highest winning percentage in the league... that was true for about a half an hour until Dauphins win was in the books. Instead they are .02% behind Dauphin at 0.712%

Doing that made me go like this...




The Blizzard have a few players who are streaking right now.

Jack Petrino has 3 goals in his last 4 games.

Wilson Dumais has 10 points in his last 7 games.

Tyler Grove has 9 points in his last 4 games.


Here are Head Coach Jim Mollard's thoughts on the weekend.

Mollard Thoughts on Nov 16-18 Road Trip by Bradley Karp on Mixcloud

McDonald named MGEU Goaltender Of The Month

Turtleford Saskatchewan's Justin McDonald received high praise from the MJHL this week being named the MGEU goaltender of the month for October.

The 20-year old posted a 6-2 record with a 2.63 GAA and .922 sv% along with two shutouts.

McDonald spent two tough years with the Kindersley Klippers of the SJHL and moved over to OCN due to his connection with Clay DeBray who coached him in midget AAA.

The Blizzard are happy to have him and he's certainly happy to be here.

McDonald leads all starters in the MJHL in GAA with 2.31 and a .935 sv% and he picked up his fourth shutout of the season last night as well. His 10 wins also are tops in the league.

Dauphins Guillaume Naud was named the RBC player of the month, Wayway's David Haaf named the Sher-wood defensemen of the month and Winkler's Tristan Keck named rookie of the month.

Six from MJHL Make Team West WJAC Camp

Five players out of the forty who attended the MJHL Team West evaluation camp will be heading to Calgary for the main selection camp.

OCN Blizzard players Wilson Dumais, TJ Constant and Garick Gray all got snubbed.

The five players selected are:

Parker Thomas (F) - Selkirk: 11G, 6A - 12GP
Kurt Keats (F) - Winnipeg: 7G, 8A - 12GP
Denis Bosc (F) - Steinbach: 7G, 5A - 11GP
Tanner Jago (D) - Winkler: 6G, 6A - 13GP
Paul Stoykewych (D) - Winnipeg: 1G, 7A - 12GP
Hudson Friesen (F) - Selkirk: 3G, 6A - 10GP

I don't know how someone like Brenden Hurley from Dauphin gets snubbed over Friesen (no disrespect to Friesen), or how a guy with a complete game like Wilson Dumais is bumped as well.

 Interesting to note all five players are from teams within an hour of Winnipeg.

McDonald Runner up POW

Justin McDonald was named as a runner up for the MJHL player of the week award.

The winner is the suddenly hot Winkler Flyers 17-year old Tristan Keck. Keck scored three goals and picked up four assists in the past week.

After going 0-4 to start the season the Flyers haven't lost in regulation in their last six improving their record to 4-4-2.

McDonald meanwhile went 2-1 in the past week picking up wins over the Dauphin Kings and Portage Terriers along with a loss to the Winnipeg Blues.

McDonald stopped 93 of 100 shots in that stretch for a save percentage of .930. The Blizzard goaltender leads all goaltenders in the MJHL with at least 3 starts this season with a 1.70GAA and a .958 sv%

The Dauphin Kings Brendan Hurley was the other nominee for player of the week. Hurley scored four goals and added three assists over four games since last Tuesday.

Blizzard 3 Flyers 2 - OT... About Last Night

Well, a long road trip and overtime left this broadcaster beat like a rented mule. Sorry I didn't upload anything last night, passed out as soon as I walked into the hotel room.

It was a character road win by OCN last night. A long day on the bus and the Blizzard battled through it, in large part thanks to Justin McDonald who made 17 saves in the first period. Unfortunately Tim Kavanaugh put the puck in his own net and gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

Kolton Baptiste scored in his second straight game this time the Blizzards first powerplay goal of the season to tie things up at one.

Elmes scored to put the Blizzard up by one then it was the parade to the penalty box in the third period and when Bradley Swamp took the teams fifth penalty of the game Tanner Jago tied things up for the Flyers on his off wing on a great one timer.

In overtime TJ Constant got a breakaway feed from Bruyere and makes a beautiful deke and slides the puck in between the legs of Oswald for the OT winner.

After the first half of the game it was the most exciting game I've seen all season.

Justin McDonald was lights out, he made 98 saves before allowing his first goal of the season.

I thought that the Chief, Baptiste, Cardinal line played very well and Dusik and Kavanaugh were excellent tonight for the Blizzard.

Here is how the scoring broke down...


1st Period

WKR 7:51 - Jago (2) - Assist: Patchett, Collins (Kavanaugh Own Goal)

2nd Period

OCN 1:23 PP - Baptiste (3) - Assist: Cochrane, McDonald

3rd Period

OCN 3:04 - Elmes (1) - Assist: Ward-Cardinal, Cardinal
WKR 17:11 - Jago (3) - Assist: Butler, Pachett

Shots

OCN 1st: 10 / 2nd 15 / 3rd 16 / OT 1 / Tot 42
WKR 1st: 17 / 2nd 14 / 3rd 26/ OT 1 / Tot 58

Powerplays

OCN -  1/3
WKR - 1/6

Pitre Tire 3 Stars

1. Justin McDonald
2. TJ Constant
3. Tanner Jago

Northen Building Supply Hardest Working Player

Justin McDonald

Another game tonight as the Blizzard are in Steinbach to take on the Pistons. Will be broadcast. Pre-Game at 7:15.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Lineup vs Winkler

First game of a three game road trip tonight, kicking things off with the Winkler Flyers who are (0-3) on the season and sit last in the Addison Division.

Here are the lines for OCN tonight:

BLIZZARD

Goaltenders

30 - McDonald (Starter)
33- Henry

Defensemen

4 Elmes/ 5 Ward-Cardinal
7 Bruyere/ 17 Cochrane
3 Dusik/ 20 Kavanaugh

Forwards

15 Dumais/ 19 TJ Constant/ 12 Brady Constant
16 Grove/ 11 Valiquette/ 25 Gray
24 Chief / 21 Baptiste / 10 Cardinal
28 Swampy / 23 Santorelli / 6 Bayer

Scratches

Fontaine
Lathlin
MacInnis
Cameron
Gamblin

Here is the lineup for Winkler in numerical order.

1- Peters (G)
4 - Toneff
9 - Mullin
10 - Stoddart
12 - Jago
13- Reinbolt
14- Crist
15- Keck
16- Neduzak
17- Collins
18- Swerdyliak
19- Patchett
20- Butler
21- Faux
22- Klassen
23- Micflikier
24- Jorgensen
26- Leonzio
27- Stoesz
30- Oswald (G)

Not sure who will start for Winkler but I imagine it will be Peters.

Justin McDonald gets his second career start in a Blizzard uniform, his first went very well making 41 saves for a shutout in a 3-0 Blizzard win over the Stampeders last Saturday.

The Flyers are off to a terrible start this year, I would expect them to come out very hard looking for their first win at home tonight.

How They Matchup:

Overall Record: OCN (3-0) / Winkler (0-3)
Goals For: OCN (13) / Winkler (7)
Goals Against: OCN (4) / Winkler (15)
Powerplay: OCN (0/9 - 0%) / Winkler (1/9 - 11.11%)
Penalty Kill: OCN (15/15 - 100%) / Winkler (3/16 - 81.25%)
Shorthanded Goals For: OCN (2) / Winkler (0)
Shorthanded Goals Against: OCN (0) / Winkler (0)

Statistically OCN should win against any team with those numbers only three games into the season, but it's only the fourth game tonight and VERY early. Should be an exciting game.

Pre-Game is at 7:15 puckdrop at 7:30.

Listen here - thepasonline.com