Go, go, go!

3 games in 3 nights.
6 points on the line.
Can your team grab them all?

Well in the case of the Everett Silvertips, they did. Just a little while ago the Tips were sitting in the bottom of the US Division, but with their third win of the weekend a 4-2 win over the Tri-City Americans they've catapulted themselves into a tie for 3rd place of the Western Conference. The Tips had previously beat the Kamloops Blazer 4-2 on Friday and then the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2 on Saturday.

Their record sits at 11-8-1-3 for 26 points in 23 games after their 3 wins in 3 nights. The Tips are in 4th place in the US Division & 5th place in the Western Conference.

Blackhawks prospect Kent Simpson started the games against the Thunderbirds & the Americans and turned in two solid efforts. He stopped 29 of 31 in Seattle and 37 of 39 in Tri-City.



The Spokane Chiefs had 3 games of their own this weekend but didn't fare as well as the Tips did dropping 2 of their 3 games. The Chiefs lost Friday's game against the Thunderbirds 2-1 in Seattle, took an 8-3 pounding at the hand of the Americans but ended the weekend on a good note by beating the powerhouse Portland Winterhawks 3-1.

Their record sits at 11-9-1-1 for 24 points in 22 games. They are in last place in the US Division & 7th in the Western Conference.



After the Portland Winterhawks and their 20-4-1 record and 41 points the Western Conference is wide open. Only 6 points separates the second place (the BC Division leader) and tenth place teams.
Amazingly in the US Division every team has a winning percentage of over .500. Just 2 points separate 2nd place in the division from 5th.

It's clear that the Portland Winterhawks are the cream of the WHL crop with their record. They've won 14 of their last 16 games and that includes a road trip to the East Division. But after the Winterhawks, the US Division is a crap shoot until someone else pulls away from the pack. As of right now the T-Birds, Ams & Tips all have the same amount of points each with 26. Though the T-Birds have 2 games in hand over both the Ams & Tips. The last place Chiefs also are only 2 points behind the middle three.

As always the US Division is one of the toughest & tightest in all of the WHL.

On the other end of the spectrum last year's WHL Champion Calgary Hitmen are sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 5-16-1-0 record for 11 points in 22 games which makes for a winning percentage of just .250. They have the worst record in the WHL. Ouch.
What a difference a year makes!

In comparison 10th & last place in the Western Conference are the Kamloops Blazers who have a record of 11-11-0-1 for 23 points in 23 games, sit at .500.



Hopefully this Wednesday(if I don't get snowed in) I'll get to take in my first Winterhawks home game as they take on the Silvertips in the Great Airplane Toss game. I'll get to see the best team in the WHL in action again & hopefully the Tips can slay the giant. So look for a blog about that if the snow doesn't stop me.

Have a great start to your week everybody!

Reunited and it feels SO good!

Well, after the horrors in the Saddledome by getting it handed to them 7-2 by Calgary & single handedly doubling Jerome Iginla's season total of goals, the Blackhawks bounced back a major way.

In their first return to the now renamed Rogers Arena (meh, I'm still calling it GM Place that's what I grew up with) since knocking out the Canucks from the playoffs, the Blackhawks made sure the Canucks remembered what a good time it is when they play each other.

The Blackhawks put up 7 goals after giving up 7 just the night before. Jonathan Toews, Troy Brouwer (with his parents in attendance), Brent Seabrook (with a blast), Patrick Sharp, Fernando(oooooo)Pisani twice & Patrick Kane all scored. Niklas Hjalmarsson also recorded his first point of the year.

After giving up 4 goals, Roberto Luongo was pulled in favor of Cory Schneider. Seems like Luongo has a bit of an issue with playing the Hawks.

While down at the other end Corey Crawford played solid only giving up one goal after the game was well in hand in the 3rd. Goaltending has been the most solid aspect of the Hawks so far.

Did the Hawks run up the score? Who knows. But it's not like that I expect if the Canucks (or any other team for that matter) are up big on the Hawks to just stop going for it. Plus, the Hawks don't have another game until Wednesday in San Jose.

From Vancouver, the Hawks are headed to Vegas. I'm fine with it as long there are no incidents along the lines of what Brett Sutter did and there's a solid game played in San Jose.

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Rivalry weekend: Keeping up with the rivalry theme there were two rival match ups in the US Division.

The Chiefs traveled to play the Americans and lost 8-3. Revenge is sweet for the Ams as the last time the Chiefs and Ams played, the Chiefs pitched a 5-0 shut out. Tyler Johnson tallied for the Chiefs and was a -3. Brenden Kichton & Jared Cowen joined Johnson with a -3 rating. As expected Darren Kramer fought an Am, this time taking on David Conrad and there were numerous roughing penalties.

James Reid gave up 5 goals on 18 shots before being pulled in favor of Mac Engel who gave up 3 goals of his own on 9 shots.

The Tips traveled down to play Seattle in the I-5 rivalry and pulled out a 3-1 win. Tyler Maxwell scored twice and added an assist, while Josh Winquist had a goal and assist of his own. Maxwell, Winquist & Kellan Tochkin, who had two assists, all had +3 ratings.

Hawks prospect Kent Simpson stopped 29 of 31 for the win.

Meanwhile the Portland Winterhawks are just chugging along as arguably the best team in the WHL & CHL winning 14 of their last 15 by beating the Kamloops Blazers 6-4. The Winterhawks did have a 10 game win streak going before losing to the Saskatoon Blades but now have a new win streak going on at 4.

Oh you, got what I need.

It's been over 3 weeks since I've been to a live hockey game. That may not seem a long time to some. I, however made the mistake this season of starting myself out on 4 games and going to games 3 straight weeks.

However like all WHL teams the Chiefs left town for about 2 weeks on a trip to the opposite conference, in this case to western central Canada. This in turn left me with 3 live hockey-less weeks for me.

It's funny that a former friend once said to me that college would make me go to less hockey games than I did in high school.. but that definitely hasn't been the case.

I'm even on pace this year to blow by last year's mark of 10 games over the regular season & playoffs here (with at least 3 while at home) since tonight's game will make 5 in the first 2 months of the WHL season. It doesn't hurt that I've hooked one of my closest friends on hockey & she wants to go to games as much as I do.

As I'm getting older I've been realizing that my passion for hockey keeps growing as well.

I dislike rival teams more.
I've pretty well settled in with my NHL fandom.
I've learned to love and appreciate the WHL hockey I get to see a lot more.
I've realized how much I love a freezing cold rink & the not so subtle hockey stank after the offseason.
And most of all I've found how awesome the people are that love hockey are, thank you Twitter.
I am just so glad that my 12 year old self decided to pick up hockey.

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Today the Blackhawks will take on Central division foe, the Nashville Predators.

The Blackhawks problems have been well voiced by not only the media but Hawks fans on Twitter as well.

Dave Bolland returns to the Hawks line up which once again plays with scrambled lines. With Bolland's return the Hawks have a fully healthy line up.

If this will change the trend of Hawks losses though, remains to be seen.


What the Dub:
The Silvertips broke their losing streak by taking down the Americans 5-2. Former Minnesota Golden Gopher, Josh Birkholz had a hat trick (with an empty net goal). The win pulled the Tips record to .500. Goalie Kent Simpson, a Blackhawks prospect did not play. The Tips have Chilliwack Bruins at home tonight as the middle game of 3 games in 3 nights before heading to play the Blazers on Sunday.

The Chiefs however kept the Tips in the basement of the US Division by winning 4-3 over the Oil Kings. Local boy Tyler Johnson potted 2 goals, including an unassisted shorty. They take on their rivals the Americans tonight.

The Wheat Kings beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime. Scott Glennie (1G, 1A), Shane Wiebe (2G) & David Toews (2A) all had 2 points.

The WHL powerhouse Portland Winterhawks, 10 game win streak came to a close last night with a 4-3 loss to Saskatoon. A game at which Shannon Tweed & Gene Simmonds were in attendance for & Simmons even donned some goalie pads! (scroll down for photos)

If your curious as to why they were in Saskatoon here's an article to explain.

Shannon Tweed drops the puck at the Winterhawks/Blades game.

Gene Simmons suited up in goal again PBR Bull Rider, Aaron Roy.

Close up of Gene Simmons & his mask.

All photos via @TheWHL's twitter.

Well, that's all folks! I won't be able to watch the Blackhawks/Predators game so feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment or just to say hi because I'm starting to feel like I'm just talking to myself here..

Said hey, what's going on?

So there's a Blackhawks game tonight, the infamous Paul BizNasty & the Coyotes are in town. The Coyotes currently sit at 14th in the Western Conference while the Blackhawks sit in 6th. (Does that surprise anyone else..?)
However the Blackhawks have played 17 games which is at least 2 more games than any other NHL team.

According to multiple sources on Twitter, Seabrook and Keith are going to be split up (but we'll see how long that lasts..) and Patrick Kane will be trying out the left wing on a line with Kopecky and Hossa.
I'm not really digging any of these changes since Seabrook and Keith playing with anyone but each other seems odd to me and to a lesser extent Kane and Toews.
I was a big fan of the Stalberg-Toews-Kane line but we all know as much as lines are juggled pregame, it can happens as much in game.

Really, I don't want to think about the game much until it happens. Personally I just want to see a full 60 minute effort.


I've been feeling like I've been neglecting talking about my junior hockey loves but I guess that's what happens when the team in town goes on their Eastern Conference road trip and I haven't gone to a live hockey game in 3 weeks. (Yes, I'm in SEVERE hockey withdrawal)

The Silvertips are currently on a 3 game losing streak and just 2-6-0-2 in their last 10 games. The two most recent losses both have been shutouts at the hands of Vancouver and Red Deer, where former Tip & Blackhawks Byron Froese was traded in exchange for Landon Ferraro.
They're currently below .500 with a 6-7-1-3 sitting in the basement of the U.S. Division.

The Chiefs though after their 6 game eastern road trip in which they went 3-2-1-0 have gotten their record back to .500 and are in 4th place in the U.S. Division just above the Tips.
The Chiefs have a 2 game home stand this weekend taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings and their hated rival Tri-City Americans. (a game at which I'll be at!)

While both teams are struggling, one team that is far away the best in the U.S. Division and in my mind the WHL, the Portland Winterhawks are on a 9 game win streak as they travel through the Eastern Division. The Winterhawks boast a 15-2-0-1 record through 18 games played.
They are just behind the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (who have an identical record) of the OHL for the top spot in the CHL rankings.
An already stellar lineup filled with NHL prospects was also recently boosted by the Islanders return of Nino Niederreiter, they're loaded.

Just going to come out and say it now. The Portland Winterhawks are my pick for Memorial Cup champions and at very least WHL champions.

We'll be seeing you again soon?: Based on comments by the LA Kings head coach Terry Murray, Brayden Schenn could be reunited with Scott Glennie and the Wheat Kings soon. (source)
My Schenn, Wheaties shirsey might be a lot more relevant..

Hogs Wild!: The Rockford IceHogs had quite the game last night beating the Peoria Rivermen 4-1 in a game that had 8 fights and 4 ejections.
Kyle Beach had a goal, 2 assists & 2 fights to easily round out a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
Jeremy Morin had a goal but was kicked out from the game after his fight at the end of the 1st period.
Nick Leddy, Shawn Lalonde(2), Igor Makarov and Brandon Pirri all had assists.
Ben Smith had a goal of his own, as did Ryan Potulny who also had 2 assists.

I wouldn't mind watching one of those games with the way the big club has been doing..


And that was your whirlwind tour of all my hockey interests.
Here's to a better Blackhawks game tonight than we've recently seen!