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-

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

About Last Night... Blizzard 2 - Kings 7

Not too much to say about last night's game. There wasn't much effort to start when the Kings scored 1:17 in.

Gray would tie things up 40 seconds later but after that the little effort there was disappeared.

The Blizzard took the night off and it showed a 7-2 pounding by the Dauphin Kings.

Give the Kings credit, they took advantage of a sleepy Blizzard team early and often and put things in cruise control once the score was 4-1 just six minutes into the game.

Justin McDonald was fighting the puck hard and got the yank after allowing 4 goals on 10 shots.

Tyler Grove would score the other marker for the Blizzard.

Alex Henry filled in between the pipes and put on a good effort making 25 of 28 saves in relief.

Guillaume Naud put on a clinic in the offensive zone for the Kings and the Blizzard didn't help themselves by giving the Kings big guns numerous opportunities on the power play. Dauphin went 2 for 8 with the man advantage.

Here is Jim Mollard on the Murray GM post game show last night.

Mollard Post Game Dauphin by Bradley Karp on Mixcloud

SCORING SUMMARY

PERIOD 1

Dauphin Kings at 1:17 - Dayton Reinboldt from Dominick Favreau and Jon Gaudet

OCN Blizzard at 1:57 - Garick Gray from Colton Robak and Wilson Dumais

Dauphin Kings at 4:23 (PP) - Shamus Graham (unassisted)

Dauphin Kings at 5:35 - Dominick Favreau from Emerson Hrynyk and Jon Gaudet

Dauphin Kings at 8:08 - Jesse Sinatynski from Mitch Van Teeling

Dauphin Kings at 15:24 - Francis Alarie (unassisted)

PERIOD 2

Dauphin Kings at 18:09 - Guillaume Naud from Mitch Van Teeling and Jesse Sinatynski

PERIOD 3

OCN Blizzard at 6:52 - Tyler Grove from TJ Constant

Dauphin Kings at 16:36 (PP) - Jesse Sinatynski from Shamus Graham and Jon Gaudet

Blizzard @ Kings - Preview

Tomorrow night is another "biggest game of the season" for the OCN Blizzard, until Dauphin either surpasses the Blizzard or tails off every match up between these two teams will have a huge impact in the Sher-Wood division.

Both teams seem to run through the rest of the league with relative ease while the season series sits at 1-1. The two clubs will play two more times after tomorrow before the Christmas break, so expect to get comfortable with the Kings before the holidays.

Both games have been decided by a 3-2 score and have been won by the road team.

In early October the Blizzard marched down to Dauphin and had Justin McDonald steal the show in a 50+ save performance, that would held solidify McDonald in the starters role.

Last Friday November 30th two power play markers by the Kings, and two turnovers one by Tim Kavanaugh the other by Justin McDonald as he shot the puck right into Jesse Sinatyinski who would score the eventual game winner off the bounce.

The Blizzard held a two nothing lead from the midway mark of the first period all the way to the beginning of the third period when a Jon Gaudet marker would mark the beginning of the Blizzard collapse.

OCN didn't stay out of the penalty box against the leagues top power play, the Kings scored on two of seven PP opportunities and it in part cost them the game.

The Blizzard will have to stay out of the box tomorrow night in Dauphin if they want to win. The Kings are a very good team with a deadly power play.

With full reinforcements OCN will be a tougher team for the Kings to play than last Friday.

If you can make it down to Dauphin I suggest you do, should be a playoff atmosphere.

Puck drop is at seven, game will be broadcast with pre-game at 6:45.

Blizzard Move up 1 in National Rankings

CJHL Weekly Rankings are out, and the Blizzard are back in the top 5.

Here is the release:

The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) in conjunction with NHL Central Scouting announced today its Weekly Top 20 rankings for the week of December 10th. Last week's rankings and the leagues in which the teams belong to are in parenthesis.
The CJHL Weekly Top 20 as of Monday, December 10th:

1. (1) Brooks Bandits (AJHL)
2. (3) Minnesota Wilderness (SIJHL)
3. (2) Truro Bearcats (MHL)
4. (4) Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL)
5. (6) OCN Blizzard (MJHL)
6. (12) Yorkton Terriers (SJHL)
7. (5) Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL)
8. (10) Buffalo Jr. Sabres (OJHL)
9. (14) Penticton Vees (BCHL)
10. (9) Summerside Western Capitals (MHL)
11. (15) Victoria Grizzlies (BCHL)
12. (7) Soo Thunderbirds (NOJHL)
13. (11) Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL)
14. (13) Yarmouth Jr. 'A' Mariners (MHL)
15. (16) Dauphin Kings (MJHL)
16. (HM) Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)
17. (8) Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL)
18. (NR) Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)
19. (18) Smiths Falls Bears (CCHL)
20. (20) Saint Jerome Pantheres (LHJAAAQ)

Honourable Mention goes to the Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL), Winnipeg Blues (MJHL), North Bay Trappers (NOJHL), St. Michael's Buzzers (OJHL), Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)

The weekly rankings are based upon a variety of factors, including the league in which the teams play, winning percentage, win-loss record, total points accumulated, goals-for versus goals-against ratio, etc.

Blizzard 2 - Kings 3

A panorama shot I took of tonight's second period action.

Hockey is a 60 minute game, a 5 minute span cost the OCN Blizzard a win tonight.

OCN dominated the play in the first period, leading in the shots on goal 6-0 for the first five minutes. It felt like Dauphin barely made it past the red line in the first period.

I wrote before the game that staying out of the box would be crucial to a win tonight, 8 penalties for OCN, Dauphin scored on one of them just 20 seconds into the third period. An awkward angle shot that snuck through the leg of McDonald and the post off the stick of Guillaume Naud.

Waskewitch and Baptiste
in warm ups.

A brutal cough up by Tim Kavanaugh in the slot to Gaudet let the Kings tie things up and an awkward bounce on a puck play by McDonald would give Sinatynski the game winner.

It was probably the most exciting game I've seen all year, great hockey, pace and speed and the competitiveness between the two teams was intense. Two fights and plenty of chippy play and after the whistle physicality gave the game a playoff like feel.

Justin Waskewitch made his debut tonight, his hands were there, on the power play he made some pretty slick moves, but you can tell it had been awhile since he played. It'll come, the kids got some supreme talent.

The Blizzard's parade to the penalty box is what ultimately cost them the game.

It's not an excuse but the Blizzard will be much improved when healthy with the likes of TJ Constant, Garick Gray and Tagoona back from his suspension.

Here is Clay DeBray and his thoughts on tonight's game.

DeBray Dauphin Post Game by Bradley Karp on Mixcloud

Blizzard Host Kings in Sher-Wood Battle of the Titans

The two best teams in the MJHL take to the ice tonight at the GLMC (yes I know Winnipeg has more points than Dauphin but the Kings winning percentage is greater).

Tonight is a match up I think both teams have had in the back of their mind over the last two weeks as these two clubs have continued to win.

Both teams have made numerous moves over the last few weeks to strengthen their clubs. Dauphin (17-6-1) brought in Gaudet and sent Ryan Luiten to the AJHL for Dayton Reinboldt who has 10 points in 7 games since coming to the MJHL.

Meanwhile the Blizzard (20-7-2) picked up Roger Tagoona and Justin Waskewitch on Monday. Waskewitch will make his debut tonight.

It's a statement game tonight for both teams, I think the Kings may feel slighted after being left off the CJHL top 20 rankings week after week even though they've had the highest winning percentage in the MJHL for a number of weeks now.

I think for OCN people are finally starting to believe that this club can do something special this season, and both teams I'm sure want to prove to the other that they are the Titans of the Sher-Wood division.

The key for OCN tonight will be to stay out of the box. The Kings are a chippy team and will try to goad the Blizzard into take retaliatory penalties. Dauphin has a deadly power play led by Jesse Sinatynski and Jon Gaudet. The Kings are first overall in the MJHL on the PP clicking at a blistering 28.97%.

Although OCN does have the top penalty kill in the MJHL at 85.42% its a game the Blizzard would be wise to stay away from.

Waskewitch will make his Blizzard debut tonight, while Tagoona will have to wait until Tuesday in Waywayseecappo as a mix up with Hockey Saskatchewan means that Wednesdays game doesn't count towards his two game suspension.

Some people may have been looking forward to seeing Tim Perks tonight, he's just been traded to the Winkler Flyers for future considerations.

Puck drop is at 7:00PM. Tonight's game will not be on the radio but Christian Laughland from 730 CKDM in Dauphin will be broadcasting tonight, you can listen here http://730ckdm.ca/.

Will post lineups once I get to the rink.

-Brad-

Perks Listed by Dauphin

A few of you have been commenting about it on other entries.

Yes Tim Perks was listed by Dauphin on Thursday. Derek Fontaine didn't find out until Saturday.

Perks was going to join the club on a try out and if the Blizzard liked him would have added him to their 50 man list.

Perks will be the Kings 9th import player.

Fontaine tells me there will be others like him as NHL'ers continue to go overseas to play young players trickle down.

Any more moves I will let you know here.

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.

Pistons Rous MJHL POW

This from the MJHL site...


Kyle Rous of the Steinbach Pistons has been named the MJHL Player of the Week, ending October 21.

 The 20-year-old defenceman showed he’s not only a steady man along the blueline, but also demonstrated his offensive skills with five points (1-4) and an impressive  +7 rating over a three-game span for the Pistons who sit third in the Addison Division with five wins and 11 points ─ five back of division leading Winnipeg Blues.

The runners up are 20 year old goaltender Landon Noel of the Swan Valley Stampeders and 20 year old goaltender Jeremy Pominville of the Dauphin Kings.

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.

About Last Night.... OCN 3 - Dauphin 2

All hail Justin McDonald.

What a fantastic performance by the Sask kid. 57 of 59 saves plus one unbelievable post to post pad save on Jesse Sinatyinski who scored 59 goals last year with 1:42 left in the third period.

The Blizzard had no legs in the first and were heavily outplayed by a strong Dauphin team. Their 3-3 record is not indicative of the strength on the team at all, they are tremedously deep offensively and have a few defenders who can really move the puck.

In reality this win was all about Justin McDonald stealing the show and the Blizzard rallying around him to win the game for him.

The penalty kill was perfect again but the Kings were able to pass the puck through the Blizzard's big box for one timer opportunities on the off wings, but those are just in game adjustments that need to be made in tightening up things in the slot and putting more pressure on the boards.

The Blizzard showed great grit and never gave up, which has been a strong quality in this team since day one and will allow them to stay in any game they play this season.

It's another character win on the road, there have been plenty of those early this season which bodes well for when the Blizzard are at home throughout most of the winter.

Here is how yesterday's scoring broke down:

1st Period

OCN 5:11 -  Darien Cardinal (2) - Assists: Wilson Dumais, TJ Constant
DAU 6:49 - Guillaume Naud (1) - Assists: Brendan Hurley, Ryan Luiten

2nd Period

OCN 6:50 PP - Grant Valiquette (3) - Assists: Thomas Ward-Cardinal  
DAU 8:32 - Blake Kirkham (1) - Assists: Jeff Archibald
OCN 10:18 - Matthew Cameron (1) - Assists: Brady Constant, Tim Kavanaugh

3rd Period

NONE

Powerplay

OCN - 1/2 (50.00%)
DAU - 0/6 (0.00%)

Shots

OCN - 20
DAU - 59

Pitre Tire 3 Stars

1. Justin McDonald (57/59 saves)
2. Darien Cardinal (1G)
3. Matthew Cameron (1G)

Northern Building Supply Hardest Working Player

Justin McDonald

Lineup vs Dauphin

First start with news concerning the roster.

Kolton Baptiste and Kirk Chief have decided to leave the team for personal reasons.

Here is tonight's lineup.

Forwards

15 Dumais / 19 TJ Constant / 10 Cardinal
16 Grove / 11 Valiquette / 25 Gray
9 Lathlin / 23 Santorelli / 28 Swampy
26 MacInnis / 8 Cameron / 12 B.Constant

Defensemen

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

Goaltenders

30 McDonald
33 Henry

McDonald gets his second start in a row, it looks like this way he plays Winnipeg on Saturday.

With his numbers he'll probably get the tougher starts, although Henry is certainly no slouch. OCN is lucky to have the two best goalies in the league early on.

Blizzard in Dauphin - Preview

The OCN Blizzard hit the road for Dauphin in just a few hours time.

Last season the Kings went 41-16-5 to finish first in the Sherwood division and second overall in the league two points behind Portage.

This is the first meeting between these two teams this season.

Last year the Blizzard went 3-5-0-1 against the Kings with a 2-1-0-1 record at home and 1-4 in Dauphin.

OCN won the first three games of the series and then lost the remaining six scoring a total of 29 goals and allowing 35 against in the season series.

This is a new year, and a new series and the Blizzard have to be favourites heading into tonight's tilt in Dauphin.

Here is how the two teams matchup:

RECORD

OCN -- 7-1 / 14PTS
DAU -- 3-2 / 6PTS

GOAL DIFF 

OCN -- +15
DAU -- -2

POWERPLAY

OCN-- 3/27 (11.1%) 10th Overall
DAU-- 8/21 (38.1%) 1st Overall

PENALTY KILL

OCN-- 40/44 (90.91%) 1st Overall
DAU-- 5/26 (80.77%) 6th Overall

TOP SCORERS

OCN - Thomas Ward-Cardinal (4G, 5A, 9PTS)
DAU - Brendan Hurley (6G, 1A, 7PTS)

The Kings are coming off a 9-3 loss to Steinbach to close out the showcase, they'll be hungry. Should be a great game. I would also expect Favreau to get going for them soon as well.

Pre-Game at 6:45.

Talk to you later!

-Brad-

Few Trades Today in MJHL

A number of trades today in the MJHL with two of them including teams in the Sher-wood division.

Virden Oil Capitals Trade: 19-year old Forward Brendan Persley.




To

Vernon Vipers (BCHL) For: Futures

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL) Trade: 18-year old defensemen Matt Alexander.



To

Portage Terriers For: Futures

Portage shores up defensively bringing in a big bodied defender with some experience.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daupin Kings Trade: 20-year old goaltender Matt Larose.




To

Wellington Dukes (OJHL) For: Futures

Kings move Larose as they go with Archibald and Pominville for now.


Really the only trade that impacts anything for the Blizzard is Persley going to Virden, should make the Oil Capitals tougher to play against due to his size and experience.

-Brad-