Questions to be Answered - Part 2

At the beginning of the season, I made a post entitled "Questions To Be Answered." Now that the regular season is pretty much wound down I thought it would be fun to look back at that post and see what the actual answers should be to the questions.

Weyburn Red Wings - Is Kyle McConnell capable of handling a bulk of the work between the pipes this season?

As it turned out, McConnell would not be the answer. The play of rookie AJ Whiffen, who is now a nominee for SJHL goaltender of the year and the emergence of Tanner Erickson as a reliable backup, made McConnell expendable. McConnell was shipped to the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL and is now no longer playing junior hockey as he left Merritt back in January.

Estevan Bruins - Rumors from Estevan are that Guillaume Perusse will not be back in the black and gold this year. If that is the truth, will newly acquired Karsten Felske be able to handle the work?

It turned out that Perusse did start the season in Estevan, however he would later be moved to the OCN Blizzard of the MJHL. Perusse was not happy playing in a situation where he had to split his time with Felske and with Felske having the better numbers, Perusse was dealt. The Bruins ended up going the season with Felske and 20 year old David Ritz as the backup.

Notre Dame Hounds - Will the youth movement in Notre Dame allow them to qualify for the postseason in 2007-08?

It is now clear that the Hounds would not quite have enough to qualify for the postseason. That being said, the team should tremendous improvement as the season went on and have a good nucleus to start with in the 2008-09 season.

Melville Millionaires - Will the Mils be able to overcome the loss of MVP goaltender Anthony Heuer and last year's leading scorer Daniel Moriarty?

With the Mils starting the season 11-0, it looked like they would be fine. New goaltender Kyle Cantlon was playing great and the Millionaires were getting a lot of scoring from a variety of players such as Dion Campbell and Brad Johnston. The team did however show some adversity throughout the season with Cantlon having numerous injuries. Going into the playoffs, the Millionaires appear to be moving ahead without Cantlon as they now have Travis Bosch and Joe Rodwell as the goaltenders.

Yorkton Terriers - Will Carter Smith return to the Terriers?

Well, Smith did eventually return from Everett where he started the season and things looked promising in Yorkton as the Terriers acquired Bryan Hull from the Notre Dame Hounds to play with Smith. However, Smith got a call from the Red Deer Rebels back in November and decided to give the WHL another shot. Smith will be finishing the season with the Rebels.

Kindersley Klippers - Will goaltender Ryan Nieszner take his game to the next level?

Quite frankly, Nieszner seems to have had his game tail off as he gets older. Although he did make the Sherwood conference all star team, his numbers at the time did not really warrant an all star appearance and they have continued to fall since that time. He has lost a lot of playing time to rookie Matt Weninger. However, Nieszer will likely get a chance by coach Larry Wintoneak to make some starts in the playoffs and if he can play to his potential, the Klippers could have a good playoff run.

Battlefords Stars - Is this a rebuilding season in Battlefords?

All one has to do is look at the Stars final record and realize that yes, it was a rebuilding year. Gary Clark was fired as head coach late in the season and Blair Atcheynum took over on an interim basis. The Stars do have some decent young prospects in the system but they may be at least two seasons away from being a serious contender again.

La Ronge Ice Wolves - Will this team be able to take the next step in the postseason?

Although this question cannot really be answered yet, I would think it has to be somewhat disappointing in La Ronge that this team only finished fourth in the Itech. I really thought they would be in the top three and not have to play in the elimination series. If the Ice Wolves can get by the Hawks I still think they are capable of making some noise this season. They have a great goaltender in Jonathan Jobin and clearly one of the league's most exciting players in Jordie Johnston.

Nipawin Hawks - How will the Hawks fare under new head coach Dave Hrysky?

It has been up and down of sorts for coach Hyrsky in Nipawin this year. They went through a stretch where they could not seem to catch any breaks and made some roster moves (ie. the trade of Adam Schwark). However, as of late they have been playing some of their better hockey of the season and Derek Kleinsteuber has been on fire in the Nipawin goal. If the Hawks could manage an upset over the La Ronge Ice Wolves in the elimination series, I think the season for Hyrsky could be considered a success.

Melfort Mustangs - Will the Stangs overcome the loss of high scoring forwards Kurtis Astle and Andrew Wasmuth, and the departure of defenseman Dillin Stonehouse?

The Mustangs most certainly did overcome these losses. The biggest reason would be the goaltending acquisition by the name of Ilia Ejov. Ejov is far and away the MVP of the Mustangs and may be the difference between them finishing second versus fourth of even fifth. Taylor Watt also had a tremendous season and the acquisition of Riley Clark from the Notre Dame Hounds and the emergence of rookie Tommy Brown more than made up for the loss of Stonehouse.

Humboldt Broncos - Can the Broncos repeat as SJHL champions?

Although we cannot answer this question yet, being ranked as the number one team in the country going into the playoffs is a good start to making this goal reality.

Flin Flon Bombers - How will the Bombers respond to young coach Mike Reagan?

There were a few bumps on the road, but how about a third place finish for the rookie head coach. The team has played well for Reagan, particularly on home ice and are capable of putting up some good offensive numbers. Reagan also made a couple of good moves along the way to improve his club. Some would argue that he maybe should have even been a candidate for coach of the year. I have a feeling that Reagan will win one of two of them before his coaching career is over.

Well there you have it, an answer to some of my own questions that I posed in the very first week we started this blog. Boy how the season has flown by so far. Now is time for the real fun to begin. Hope to see everyone at the rink during the playoffs.

- Brad M.