WEDNESDAY -- A couple things I was asked to pass along.

I was asked by a good friend in Brooks to post this again.

The Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) are looking to fill the position of Trainer / Athletic Therapist. The successful applicant should have experience in working with a hockey team, equipment management and repair, and extensive experience in skate sharpening. Added experience or background in Athletic Therapy would be considered an asset.

All interested applicants may forward a cover letter and resume to the Brooks Bandits Hockey Club, attention Brian Curran, by email to bbhockey@telusplanet.net or by fax to 403-501-0162.

For more information, contact:
Brian Curran, GM / Head Coach
Brooks Bandits Junior “A” Hockey Club
403-501-0122 (W)
403-501-1065 (C)

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I've got a pair of tickets to the Cinco De Mayo Bash with BUCKCHERRY & GUESTS at the Shaw Conference Centre. They were donated but if sold the money will go to the Alberta Beef Producers and maybe the Barley Farmers. Get a hold of me if you are interested.

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Cold Lake Minor Ball is holding registration at Nelson Heights School this evening from 7 til 8..
After today late registration fees apply

They are also looking for executives to join the team

for more info you can call Clint Cook 639-2522

TUESDAY -- worst drivers ever

After driving to Edmonton yesterday to take in The Killers concert and then driving back after the show I have to vent about the worst drivers in the world. The people pushing/"driving" their shopping carts around Costco. What is wrong with you people??? Yes there are pallets that go all the way to the roof, it doesn't mean you have to drive around looking up there running into people. Crazy stuff.

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Speaking of the concert I don't claim to know much of anything about music. I know the stuff I like but I don't understand how difficult it is to play or how hard it is to be good. I imagine this is the same for some people when they watch hockey without an understanding of the intricacies of the game. I was thinking that I was just glad that hockey games don't have an opening act. You don't have to sit though some midget B before you get to watch your Junior A game but then I suppose those opening acts are kind of like the Tim Bits that play during intermissions. They try hard but aren't that good yet.

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My Picks:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Steven Seigo (gave this pick away yesterday. Oops)

PLAYOFF MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Craig Cuthbert (an argument could be made for Greg Hennessey)

LLP PRESIDENTS AWARD – Craig Cuthbert

ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR – Tyler Henry

TOP DEFENCEMAN – Steven Seigo

DEFENSIVE FORWARD – Rick Cey

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER – Michael Westfall

MOST GENTLEMANLY PLAYER – Denis Cadrin (stop winning this award Caddy)

MATT COOK UNSUNG HERO – Ross Herzog (could a letter be in his future?)

Dennis Fontaine's picks:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Craig Cuthbert

PLAYOFF MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Craig Cuthbert

LLP PRESIDENTS AWARD – Ashton Hewson (I almost changed my pick after seeing Dennis' but that would be copying.)

ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR – Tyler Henry

TOP DEFENCEMAN - Steven Seigo

TOP DEFENSIVE FORWARD – Rick Cey

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER – Michael Westfall

MOST GENTLEMANLY PLAYER – Denis Cadrin

MATT COOK UNSUNG HERO – Matthew Register

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Former Canmore Eagle Kris Foucault is having quite the playoff run with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen. I caught up with Hitmen play by play voice (and one of the best in the business) Brad Curle to talk about the play of Foucault.

Foucault had 18 goals, 23 assists, 41 points in 32 games with the Eagles before moving up to the Hitmen at the 2009 trade deadline. One of those goals came in his only game against the Bonnyville Pontiacs in a 4-2 Eagles loss on October 25th at the RJ.

MONDAY -- road trip

I drove down to Lethbridge on Thursday to visit some friends from high school for the weekend. I took kind of an out of the way route because I had some other stops and ended up going through Strathmore. That place sure has grown. All sorts of industry and possible corporate support. What's the word on a rink there? Do they have one that would hold an AJHL team?

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With the Bonnyville Pontiacs awards banquet coming up on Saturday here's a look back at last years winners:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Jamie Easton
Sponsored by Smith & Associates General Insurance Adjusters Ltd.

PLAYOFF MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – Lucas Isley
Sponsored by Ross, Topylki & Sylvestre

LLP PRESIDENTS AWARD – Craig Cuthbert
Sponsored by Dennis Germain

ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR – Shawn Bates
Sponsored by Northern Truck & Industrial Supplies

TOP DEFENCEMAN – Steven Seigo
Sponsored by Sign Solutions TOP

DEFENSIVE FORWARD – Kyle Kvisle
Sponsored by Telephone Connections

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER – Matthew Register
Sponsored by A&W

MOST GENTLEMANLY PLAYER – Denis Cadrin
Sponsored by Norglass Ltd.

MATT COOK UNSUNG HERO – Tyler Ferbey
Sponsored by Kal Tire

TOP SCORER – Jamie Easton
Sponsored by Big George Appliances

NEIL CRAWLEY TOP PLUS/MINUS – Jamie Easton
Sponsored by Vic Rocque

THREE STAR AWARD – Jamie Easton
Sponsored by Brand International

Ma HEBERT VOLUNTEER AWARD – Twila Campeau
Sponsored by Canartic

I will have my picks for this years awards tomorrow.

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The Bonnyville Pontiacs organization was founded in 1952 as the host organization for the Bonnyville Senior Hockey Club. The club had previously been known as the Bonnyville Bruins, but in return for a new set of jerseys purchased by the local Pontiac car dealership, the team was renamed the Pontiacs. The team played its' first game on December 16, 1952.

Thought I would post that after reading the news this morning:

General Motor's announcement of more jobs cuts and elimination of its Pontiac brand is also hitting North American markets.

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While in Lethbridge on the weekend I ran into an old friend of mine who I had not seen since highschool and had not kept in touch with. Odd considering I was down in Lethbridge to see friends I had stayed in contact with. Regardless, it felt strange running into him at the bar we used to sneek into when we were underage. It was even more strange that he is now a bouncer at that bar. It would have been the trifecta of strange if he had to kick me out of that bar for causing a ruckus. Good thing that didn't happen.

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Borrowed a car that had XM radio in it on Saturday. I spent so much time changing the channels I almost killed somebody. I hear the satalite radio "reception" isn't that good around Bonnyville and the signal always comes and goes. Can anyone speak to this?

WEDNESDAY -- eastern conference finals with ajhlers

I spoke this morning with the play by play voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings Bruce Luebke with regards to the play of former Pontiacs goaltender Andrew Hayes. I also asked about former Canmore Eagle Kris Foucault

After losing in OT last night the Wheaties trail the best of seven eastern conference finals 3-0.

Only the 1996 Spokane Cheifs have ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series in the WHL when they accomplished the feat beating Portland.

TUESDAY

It's on the BCHL board so I may as well put it up here. An "altercation" at the end of game 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n4YZL7nOuU

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I talked to Chad Mercier about his thoughts now that Spring Camp is over.

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The wife is at a conference in Vancouver this week. If G.P. wasn't close to seven hours away I'd be on the road right now.

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They might just be kids and sometimes effort is nice but if you are playing for Team Canada's Under 18 hockey team in Fargo, North Dakota and you lose the bronze medal game to Finland and I'm your customs agent you will probably be delayed at the border. You might miss your connecting flights.

SUNDAY -- at the rink

A beautiful day in Bonnyville and it's always a great day to be at the rink. It has been a good couple days running into and talking with most of the veterans who have come back to town for this spring camp and to a man they are impressed with the young talent they see on the ice.

Soemtimes when you do these types of interviews and you ask about the guys they are playing with at camp you get the canned answer of "yeah, they are great and have a lot of talent" but the look in their eyes when they are talking about who they are teaming up with they are truely excited about the upcoming Pontiacs season.

It's the look in their eyes ... and what they tell you when the microphone isn't on.

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Interviews

Tyler Henry

Lucas Isley

Blake Leask

more spring camp

ahhhh. spring camp. Where no one ever passes on a 2-on-1.

The intensity picked up this afternoon as the skating legs started to return for the guys who hadn't be on the ice for a while.

If you haven't been hit by Kevin Carthy then it's only because you haven't played Team White yet.

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More audio

Assistant coach Ryan Pollock

Shawn Bates

Matthew Register

SATURDAY -- first day of camp.

A little bit of a sluggish start to spring camp but it was very early on a Saturday to be strapping on the skates and you could see the action starting to pick up as the morning rolled along and things should start moving this afternoon and into tomorrow.

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Interviews

Krank

Kirk Belyk

Chad Mercier

Dru Cotterill Part One

Dru Part Two.

FRIDAY -- oh Roger

Gotta feel bad for Roger Millions of Sportsnet this morning. If you don't know what I'm talking about then youtube it. Tough part is that he messed up on the recording and would have done a better take but the editor played the wrong clip.

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While you are on youtube killing some time at work on this friday do a search for "Hey there Iginla"... I'm not a Flames fan but it's still a great tune.

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Registration for camp goes tonight at the RJ. I've spoken with a number of vets that are coming back to skate and they are looking forward to it so those youngsters out there better bring their 'A' games. It'll be good to get back to the rink. I'll be blogging from the press box most of the weekend.

THURSDAY -- audio day

A pair of conversations with the coach.

Merc on camp.

Merc on Tetz hiring.

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Coach of the Vernon Vipers Mark Ferner on what he expects in the Doyle Cup.

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Here's the final list for NHL central scouting.

Olsen to 27, Knight to 64 (From 0-64 in half a year of hockey ... not bad).

WEDNESDAY -- Pontiacs add to front office

Press Release:

The Bonnyville Pontiacs are pleased to announce that they have added Edmonton, Alberta native Jeff Tetz to their Hockey Operations staff as Director of Player Personnel. Jeff’s immediate focus will be on the identification, evaluation, and recruitment of players for the Bonnyville Pontiacs organization. Adding Jeff to the staff furthers the organizations commitment to providing the best product possible to the fans of Bonnyville.

Jeff brings a wealth of experience with him, having spent time in the AJHL as an assistant coach with the Okotoks Oilers and Fort Saskatchewan Traders, as well as numerous years coaching in the Alberta Midget Hockey League and at the Junior B level. Less than a year after completing a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta, Jeff began working with Edmonton Oilers business department. Over his three years there, he had the opportunity to witness the coaching environment at the National Hockey League level.

MONDAY -- Flipping my pencil in the air

I had my very own Dave Hodge moment yesterday while driving home from spending Easter with the in-laws in North Battleford Saskatchewan.

After much aggression directed towards my car stereo and a good couple of minutes of road rage I had to explain to my wife why Dave Hodge was fired by CBC.

On March 14, 1987, Hodge was the in-studio host as the CBC carried a game between the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs, which ended early. The network then switched over to a regional game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens for the end of the third period. It ended in a tie just before 11:00 PM Eastern Time, meaning it would require overtime. CBC executives, however, decided that only viewers in Quebec, who had seen the game from the start, would get to continue watching after 11:00, while the rest of the network would cut away. "That's the way things go these days in sports and at this network," Hodge said in disgust, flipping his pencil in the air. "We'll leave you in suspense. Good night from Hockey Night in Canada." Hodge was replaced the following week by western correspondent Ron MacLean and eventually fired from the network.

So why am I relating this story to you and what does it have to do with road rage?

Well it's about a three hour drive from the Battlefords to Bonnyville and we didn't want to get home too late so we ended up starting to drive just as Tiger and Phil were on 13. It took us half an hour to get far enough west to be able to pick up The Fan 960 out of Calgary. It was slightly overcast, for Easter Sunday there was relatively little traffic on the road and with Fox sports radio basically doing play by play of the Masters off there television monitors it was shaping up to be a very pleasant ride home.

A quick stop in Lloydminster for car and human fuel and we were back on the road with the kilometres falling behind and my only thoughts were that ESPN radio probably would have been doing a little better job than Fox radio but I've already complained about The Fan switching so I wasn't going to worry about it too much at least I knew it was going to a three way playoff.

After in-depth analysis of the three tee shots the Fox sports guys had to fit in a commercial break before 5:00, alright no big deal, they gotta pay the bills. After the break though do you think we went back to the Masters coverage? Nope. We had to go to "Blue Jays this Week" or whatever it was called. While I might normally be interested into what Travis Snider is expecting in his first full year with the team this was not something I was interested in hearing at that particular moment.

Now I don't know if Blue Jays this Week is only a 15 minute long program or what but at 5:15 on comes the Sunday Night Baseball pre game show.

I was home before I found out what happened.

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Quick before there is a copyright claim made here's the final three minutes of regulation of the NCAA championship.

And the rest.

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It's Vernon vs. Grande Prairie for the Doyle Cup. The Vipers were 2-1 winners last night on home ice clinching the BCHL crown.

FRIDAY -- Pair heading to Combine.

Two AJHL stars have been invited to the 2009 NHL Combine. The list is here.

Here's hoping the NHL network provides the same kind of coverage of the combine the NFL network gives their combine. I don't even have a favorite NFL team but I'll sit and watch four hours worth of combine coverage and marvel at how the commentators come up with stuff to talk about. Great prep.

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I hate weighing in on the major junior vs. junior A debate because I truly believe the best choice is different for every single junior aged player but it's nice to see some guys who might develop a little later getting a shot out of the NCAA.

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Good luck tomorrow night to former Spruce Grove Saints goaltender Kieran Millan as his BU Terriers take on Miami of Ohio in the NCAA frozen four championship game.

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I imagine that most non Canadian visitors to Yahoo Sports today who wanted to check what was going on in the Masters or maybe some afternoon baseball were a little surprised to see the headline: Satan clears waivers, called up by Penguins.

THRUSDAY -- more audio

My brief conversation with Craig Cripps the President of the AJHL about his thoughts on the playoffs.

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Coach of the Grande Prairie Storm Mike Vandekamp on his team's preparations going forward.

EDIT: Link corrected.

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I guess if Vernon can close out the BCHL final, which they currently lead 3 games to 1, they will have to play the Doyle cup in their old rink because they booked a trade show into their regular arena. Didn't think your team would make it that far?

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Gotta give some props to another old Minto buddy of mine Carsen Chubak who faced 70 shots last night in net for Powell River during that triple overtime game. Too bad it wasn't enough as Vernon won 3-2.

TUESDAY -- some pub for the blog

It's link and audio day.

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Jeff Hensen the Voice of the Storm and his thoughts on the Enerflex Cup final.

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Nice story out of HS Basketball about missing free throws on purpose.

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Some pub for the blog. Obama, Microsoft and Me. Sounds like a great title for a book.

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Randy Moller Goal Calls.

MONDAY -- G.P. Takes it in 4

Well I owe one Pontiacs fan a lunch for my shameful pick of Spruce Grove before the final round started. Although I would like to remind those that watched the All Star game broadcast from Calgary that during the second intermission I picked Grande Prairie to win the whole thing. That's what I get for flip flopping.

My pick of Michigan State for the Final Four is still going strong and while I don't really see how they are going to beat a powerhouse North Carolina team tonight I'm not going to switch. Go Green.

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Vernon is up 2-0 in their series over Power River and like G.P. they won the first two games on the road. They have outscored the Kings 7-0 so far in the final with Andrew Hammond not allowing a goal in his last 135:51 of action.

Looks like it might be a very low scoring Doyle Cup this year.

THURSDAY -- G.P. up 1-0

One team came ready to play last night and it was the Grande Prairie Storm.

Coach Hamilton of the Spruce Grove Saints told Jeff Henson of Free FM in GP before the game that his team needed a good start to game one after their long layoff between rounds 3 and 4 especially since they didn't get off to great starts in either game one player earlier in the playoffs. This didn't happen with captain Connor Hardawa taking a penalty less than a minute into the game after he had to get up and get back into the play recovering from blowing a tire in the neutral zone when he hit a bad patch of ice where the red carpet had been for the pre game ceremonies. Not the home ice advantage you were looking for. The Storm didn't score on the powerplay but they had the early momentum and looked like the team that had just won two straight against Brooks to book their ticket to the final while the Saints looked like they hadn't been on the ice for a week.

You have to expect Spruce Grove to put in a better effort tonight for game 2 but if they can't figure out how to crack a smothering G.P. defensive system this series could be over earlier than a lot of people thought.

Chad Carder was not spectacular in picking up the shutout but did enough to get the job done while Travis Rolheiser would like to have at least 2 of the 3 goals back.

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A deadline deal working a year later than planned. The Spruce Grove Saints picked up Curt Morrison, Chad Blanliel and Future Considerations from Quesnel at last years deadline in exchange for Bonnyville product and former Northeast Panther Josh Fersovitch. Morrison and Blanliel, both 20, are now important cogs in the Saints lineup. While the BCHL webpage has Fersovitch's hometown as Bonneyville and not Bonnyville he does still have another year of junior in front of him after his Millionaires failed to qualify for the playoffs this seas.

WEDNESDAY -- No Fool in Camrose

Got an interview with the coach of the Pontiacs Chad Mercier in this week where we talked Spring Camps and NE Panthers. Here's the transcript:

TRH: Hey Chad, haven't talked to you in a little while so it's nice to hear from you. Pontiacs Spring Camp ... I was getting all pumped up for this weekend but I hear there have been some changes.

CM: Yeah we made a decision last week, Robb, to combine the Calmar and the Bonnyville camps. I think we were working towards that over the years but this year we gave everyone the choice of which camp they wanted to come to and a high number, especially of the Edmonton area kids that are coming to our camp registered for the Bonnyville camp so it just left the numbers of the Calmar camp with kind of two and a half teams so from all end, the arena side of it, from our side of it we didn't feel it was worth doing it and it was nice to bring everyone into Bonnyville and it's nice to see the interest in people coming to Bonnyville.

TRH: Overall a pretty good response with people wanting to come to Pontiacs camp?

CM: Yeah. We are happy with the response. We like to keep our numbers to that 75-90 to keep it manageable so we get proper evaluation. Like I said, it's a bit of a pain for people in regards to us coming to Calmar and then for us to juggle it but at the end of the day to see the response to the kids that wanted to come to Bonnyville and we are looking forward to the camp.

TRH: Have you added some extra ice times or evaluators to the Bonnyville Camp?

CM: No, we are going to keep it at that 75-90 number and we were prepared for that kinda schedule and we prepare our evaluators accordingly . What's happened in the past, Robb, is that the Calmar camp and been the better attended camp and then the Bonnyville camp has been the lower attended camp just because of numbers coming out of this area so from an expense standpoint that's worked out very well. This year with the numbers being higher in Bonnyville than in Calmar there's a lot more expense in regards to holding a camp in Calmar and so it only made sense to combine the two from that side of it, plus we are going to make sure we are going to get any potential Bonnyville Pontiacs in to see our facility, to see our town and at the end of the day our decision moving forward is that if they don't want to come to Bonnyville to camp there's probably not a real good chance they are going to want to come and play here.

TRH: Let's talk about hockey that happened this past weekend. The NE Panthers went on quite the run and captured the RAMHL championship. I know there have been a number of Panthers that have graduated to play for your team over the years. What does it mean for this group of guys to be able to put this line on their resume that they have won something.

CM: That's really something that those guys will have for the rest of their lives and the rest of their hockey career that nobody's going to be able to take away from them. It's really a credit to the people, the coaching staff and the kids themselves to be able to come back after getting down 2-1 and to find a way to win the last 2 games in front of the home crowd. I think there are a lot of people behind the scenes with the board that's been created over the last year and like I said the guys in the trenches, the coaching but a a real credit goes to the kids and it's good to see and I'm sure they are proud of it and they should be proud of it and it's nice to see them have that success.

TRH: Having that success and learning how to win at this age help in the future?

CM: Yeah I think those are all great parts of the experience and especially the way they did it. I think they fought adversity and persevered and did it in fine fashion and really grabbed control of it. Those are great things and the town I'm sure is very proud and they should be proud of their efforts.

TRH: Thanks Chad

CM: Great, thanks Robb.
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What a great decision by Jeremy Biernes of the Camrose Kodiaks. From AJHL.ca:

The Camrose Kodiaks organization would like to congratulate Jeremy Beirnes for agreeing to terms to move to Australia and play professional hockey there. Jeremy leaves Canada on April 15th and he is excited about the opportunity ahead of him.

I think this is a great move. Different people have different priorities in life and Jeremy now gets to travel the world and play hockey. Good for him.

To Jeremy: I'm loving where I'm living right now but if you happen to hear of any play by play gigs along the Gold Coast be sure to let me know.

As for Hockey in Australia you will have to at some point play against New Zealand so watch out for this. Great video.

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I'm hitting the highway this afternoon to get to Game 1 tonight. I still have to work tomorrow morning but it's worth the lack of sleep.