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| Max Gerlach (#16) centres a pass for the Tigers. |
The WHL got a gem of a game on Wednesday night at the Art
Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.
Before 1,750 spectators, the host Raiders fell 5-4 after a
tiebreaking shootout to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers in a thrilling contest
where both sides jetted up and down the ice.
In the immediate aftermath, you
miss the fact WHL games are no longer shown on Shaw across Western Canada,
because Wednesday’s contest between the Raiders and Tigers was a prime example
of how great and entertaining that major junior circuit can be.
The 2017-18 campaign was supposed to be the final season
Shaw showed WHL games under a contract the two bodies had, but the television
network bought itself out of showing games in what is now the current campaign.
 |
| Goalie Jordan Hollett had a stellar game for the Tigers. |
That contest had so many turning points you could point to
almost anything in being the difference in the game.
Besides the teams getting up and down the ice, the biggest
talking point would have been the goalies, who were both outstanding. Ian
Scott, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 168 pounds, had a solid night making 34
saves over 65 minutes before the game went to a shootout, where he was beaten
twice. The quality of saves Scott made were high, and the Calgary product
showed he is one of the circuit’s elite goalies.
 |
| Ian Scott of the Raiders showed he is one of the WHL’s elite goalies. |
If video of Hollett’s performance made it down to Regina,
you would likely have some Pats fans gripping the 18-year-old puck stopper
should have been the goalie the Pats kept in a season where that team hosts the
Memorial Cup this coming May.
The star players came out to play on both sides. Overage
centre Jordy Stallard, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 179 pounds, potted a pair
of goals to continue to lead the Raiders in scoring with 21 goals and 20
assists in 29 games. Stallard’s play was complimented by Raiders head coach
Marc Habscheid post-game.
 |
| Jordy Stallard tops the Raiders in scoring. |
“He has scored some big goals for us, and he has been a good
player for us.”
Tigers overage captain Mark Rassell, who stands 6-foot-1 and
weighs 186 pounds, scored twice, picked up an assist and potted his team’s
first goal in the tiebreaking shootout. He leads the Tigers in scoring with 27
goals and 12 assists in 29 games. Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun
Clouston said Rassell has been another one of those skilled and speedy players
the team seems to constantly find that overlooked.
“He is such a great story for so many young players, and we’ve
had a few of them,” said Clouston, whose team is 17-11-1. “He is the next guy
who didn’t play at (age) 16.
“He wasn’t drafted. He was a list player and undersized. He
just happened to grow, and now he is one of our bigger guys.
“He just stayed the course, stayed positive. He was in and
out of the lineup at 17 and became a full-time player at 18 and then at 19 tore
it up. He has picked up where he left off last year and even taking it up a
notch.”
There were key performances by others. Eric Pearce, who is a
16-year-old rookie centre, tipped home the Raiders fourth goal of the game.
The
Raiders showed they have a couple of players that can move the puck well from
the defence in Vojtech Budik and Max Martin.
 |
| Captain Mark Rassell has been lighting it up offensively for the Tigers. |
Tigers rearguard David Quenneville might be the best
offensive-defenceman in the WHL. The 19-year-old veteran picked up his 10th
goal of the season on Wednesday to go with his 24 assists in another
outstanding campaign.
Right-winger Max Gerlach showed he still has one of the best
shots in the league, when he wired home the shootout winner.
No matter who you cheered for on Wednesday night, the clash
between the Raiders and the Tigers was a showstopper, and it is always worthy
of discussion.
Goalies rule Canada West women’s hockey
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| Huskies goalie Jessica Vance has a .955 save percentage so far this season. |
With a little over half of the regular season now in the
books, goal scoring has been a challenge for the eight teams in the Canada West
Conference. Only star forward Venla Hovi of the University of Manitoba Bisons
is averaging a point a game with four goals and eight assists in 16
appearances.
On the other end, five of the conference’s goalies have a
save percentage that is .950 or better. Kelsey Roberts of the University of
Calgary Dinos has the best save percentage in the conference at .959 to go with
her 6-7-1 record, 1.46 goals against average and five shutouts.
The goalies are straight out just getting it done.
The Dinos are tied with the University of Saskatchewan
Huskies for giving up the fewest goals in the conference at 23.
The Huskies have three second-year goalies who have combined
for six shutouts. Jessica Vance has three shutouts, Chloe Marshall has two
shutouts and Jasey Book has one shutout.
Vance has the third best save percentage in Canada West at .955
to go with her 4-2 record and 1.18 goals against average.
To further show just how tough it has been to score in
Canada West, Kaitlin Willoughby, who is the third all-time leading scorer in
the history of the Huskies, has five goals and five assists in 14 appearances,
but sits only four points back of Bisons forward Jordyn Zacharias for the
conference’s scoring lead.
There are a tonne of good goalies in the Canada West
Conference in women’s hockey and right now they are a step ahead of the
conference’s point producers.
Kish makes a step up with Cougars
 |
| Jane Kish has brought her game up another level playing for the Cougars. |
The third-year goalie with the University of Regina Cougars
women’s team has brought her game up another level from the previous season.
While she had a great campaign in her sophomore season, Kish, who stands
5-foot-4, had a tendency to go down a little early playing the butterfly style
and due to her short height, the top part of the net was exposed.
The book to beat Kish was to shoot the puck high and put it
over her shoulders.
This season, Kish is still playing the butterfly style but
is staying upright to take away the top part of the net. Now, the Weyburn,
Sask., product has become that much more of a difficult goalie to beat.
During the Cougars last two games against the University of
Saskatchewan Huskies, Kish was beaten only once by a gritty net scramble
power-play goal. She turned back 54-of-55 shots in those two contests.
On the season, Kish has posted a 6-4-1 record, a 1.26 goals
against average, a .951 save percentage and two shutouts. Her goals against
average is the third lowest in the conference and her save percentage is the
fourth highest.
Back in 2014, Kish backstopped her hometown Weyburn Gold Wings
to an Esso Cup title for female midget AAA hockey national supremacy. She has
the mental toughness to take a team all the way. It wouldn’t be a surprise if
she repeated what she did in midget AAA at the university level.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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