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Post by wade on Sept 18, 2015 16:23:26 GMT -5
Bentley Generals & Innisfail Eagles will be in action tonight as part of SAIT Trojans eye-opener tournament.
The Army will play in Red Deer against RDC Kings while Inny will take on SAIT in Calgary.
I'll try & remember the entire Gens' roster for my post game post.
Maybe an Inny fan can do the same for there roster. We're all eager to see the Eagles........
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Post by wade on Sept 19, 2015 12:29:41 GMT -5
The Army out muscled RDC Kings last night. 4-1.
Still very early...obviously...but even without Drew Bagnall (family commitments) the Generals defence core appears to be very big & strong this season.
Colin Dueck, Giffen Nyren & (so far) Scott Kalinchuk are all gone...but...the new recruits...Graeme Craig, Colten Hayes...are both formidable.
Jesse Todd is the lone Okotoks Driller to commit to Bentley. He played lots of TOI.
The latest rumour around the rink has a few other former Okotoks players pulling into Rosetown this season. Billsten & Kneeland...the notables.
As for Inny...they beat SAIT 6-4 last night. Scrapping a few tweets together...the Southern Birds appear to have some new scorers signed: Chris Durno, Robbie Smith and Jordan Braid all on the scoresheet last night.
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Post by wade on Sept 20, 2015 11:22:30 GMT -5
Bentley & Innisfail both finished the weekend at 2-0 in the SAIT tournament.
The Gens' played with short benches but allowed only 1 GA/Game winning the tournament on goal differential.
I believe the next game action for CHL teams will be Innys' pre-season tournament at the first weekend of October. Interesting that for the first time in that tournaments young history, Inny has chosen to schedule a game against Bentley.
The pieces of information I've heard on Inny so far...have up to 40 skaters in the mix & quite an infusion of scoring.
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Post by 3bar on Sept 21, 2015 10:32:18 GMT -5
Wade how do you see Billsten & Kneeland making the Rosetown home games? Will they be hitching a ride with teams headed east for the trip out and back. Or will they be paid by Rosetown to commute every other weekend (assuming that Rosetown will be playing home games every other weekend). Also how does the Chinook league plan to play make up games that Rosetown is involved in. Im no meteorologist but i can guarantee there will be some canceled weekends involving Rosetown given what can be a very harsh winter season in Saskatchewan? your thoughts.
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Post by wade on Sept 21, 2015 12:34:06 GMT -5
Interesting things to think about 3bar...
First of all...I don't know how much truth is actually applied to this rumour.
But...if Billsten & Kneeland DO sign with Rosetown...I think it's likely they aren't the only Calgary area players commuting from YYC and even if they are...let's acknowledge there is nothing illegal or wrong with paying Gas $$$. It's about 5 hours from Calgary to Rosetown. This will end up being a 10 HR round trip to play 2 games in Rosetown, as the CHL schedule will (mostly) feature double home dates when Alberta teams travel to Rosetown. Rather do-able, IMO.
As for road conditions...The Gens bussed to Rosetown last winter on a day when it was -45 with a very Canadian cross wind. Busses tend to be very reliable against most winter travel conditions. I'd suggest the most dangerous commute our league ever makes is heading out on the QE2 under travel advisories. Unlike secondary highways on the Prairies...The QE2 is full of mostly bad drivers regardless of conditions. And that's the one road I don't advise teams take chances on. Honestly...not worried about the route out to Rosetown at all.
The 2 key concerns I DO have with Billsten/Kneeland landing in Rosetown:
1) They both become Import Players this year and should Okotoks come back next year that IP status flip flops for the Drillers to sign them (as imports again).
2) Rosetowns' SK SR AAA Provincial Schedule will likely NOT be nearly as travel friendly for Calgary area players as the CHL skeddy will be. If I had to predict games these guys might miss? It would be Provincial Playoff games (on a weeknight). And that would be a huge problem.
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Post by IceMan_M on Sept 26, 2015 11:06:01 GMT -5
Game tonight between the Devon Barons of the NCHL and the Stony Plain Eagles of the CHL in Stony. Puck drops at 7:30pm.
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Post by IceMan_M on Sept 28, 2015 13:04:12 GMT -5
Stony handled Devon easily, winning 13-4. Stony had pretty much their starting roster, short of a few guys and the Barons dressed 8 returning vets and the rest was a tryout squad. It clearly showed.
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Post by jimc on Oct 5, 2015 12:13:21 GMT -5
what is SAIT?
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Post by wade on Oct 5, 2015 16:38:45 GMT -5
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Calgary post secondary school which provides a large amount of engineers to the oil & gas sector.
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Post by jimc on Oct 6, 2015 15:45:58 GMT -5
so...better to beat up on them than lose to U of A?
LOL
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Post by wade on Oct 6, 2015 16:48:50 GMT -5
so...better to beat up on them than lose to U of A? LOL I can't speak for Inny...but...I know Bentley would love to get a shot against UofA and they've tried to get it booked a few times in the past but the Bears' schedule is busy and often booked over a year in advance. There have been times when I think The Army could give them a game. And I am sure they're not afraid of losing to superior competition. In fact...they go looking for it because they understand that's a great way to get better as a team. To be honest...from what I watched of Bentley last weekend...they're going to need a few weeks of simply getting re-focused/re-invested in going hard against the other CHL teams because the Gens' performance last weekend in Inny is nowhere near good enough to play a top CIS tean.
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Post by jimc on Oct 7, 2015 15:08:56 GMT -5
who did they play last pre-season?
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Post by wade on Oct 7, 2015 16:11:04 GMT -5
who did they play last pre-season? Same pre-season schedule last year: Played in (and dominated) SAIT Tournament. Also played in (and dominated) Inny/CHL Tournament. This year...Bentley did repeat win the SAIT Tourney...but...at no point in either game did they look as over-powering as they did a year ago. And in the Inny Tournament...Bentley lost in a S/O to Stony before beating Inny in a S/O the following day. Two very close games but Stony was...actually...the best team in Innisfail last weekend. Stonyburgh is bolstered by the surprising additions of Tanner House & Curtis Billsten...both former Okotoks players who'll be trekking for Calgary. They've also added Rory Rawlyk who looks like an important add as well. The Inny Tournament was actually the closest it's ever been since it was initiated 3 years ago.
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