Thunder Talk: February 25th

Every week Kenny Trenton from CK750/CJVR checks in with us to give us the insed track on the NorthEast Hockey scene.

Hey hockey fans:

Let me apologize for missing last week’s entry. As many of you can imagine, this is the busiest (and BEST) time of the year. I obviously want to talk about the Nipawin Hawks. First off, as some of you may have heard on the air, the series winning goal was scored by Battlefords North Stars captain Mitch Wall on a penalty shot. Torrie Dyck dove into Wall to try and prevent the breakaway. I was going on about how bad a call it was, but replays later showed in fact referee Curtis Howe made the correct call. Coaches, players, fans, and broadcasters are always hard on officials. Curtis Howe has always been one of the most consistent officials, so I apologize to him on a mistake I made.

As you know, the Hawks were swept in three, and although the penalty shot call was no doubt a big factor, we can’t ignore the first two games either. I didn’t make the trip to North Battleford for game 2, but in game one, the Hawks were outworked badly in a 7-4 loss. Goaltending was also a big factor. Kyle Birch made huge saves when he needed to, whereas Currie and Waselenchuk struggled. No matter how good your team is, you have to overcome adversity to be successful. However, the North Stars played better, and earned the right to move onto the semi finals and face the Humboldt Broncos. I expect the Broncos to win the series in 5 games. They’re a well rested bunch, and they play Friday in Humboldt.

Also starting on Friday is the Melfort-Flin Flon series. It’s the fourth time these teams are meeting in the post-season. Each time, the Mustangs had a better regular season record, but Flin Flon advanced, including last season. This year, the Mustangs are the underdogs, so could this represent a change? I’ll be covering this series, and am really excited. I haven’t seen the electricity in a Junior A rink as high as it is at the Whitney Forum. I cannot wait to be calling games in that environment again. As far as my predictions go in this series, I expect Melfort to win if they can earn a split this weekend in the Flon (or get both), but if they come home down 2-0, it’ll be very difficult.

Some other notes, I want to congradulate the Tisdale Trojans on finishing in fourth place. Well done for a team that was in a rebuilding mode. They’ll either face Prince Albert or Moose Jaw in round one (I expect it’ll be PA). They finish the regular season tonight in Delisle against the Saskatoon Blazers. I also want to give some love to Coach Kingwell’s Tri-Town Thunder. It came right down to the wire, but they got home ice advantage, which everyone knows is HUGE this time of the year. Good luck to them Friday night against the Royals.

Until next time, keep you head up.

Kenny