Posts
10098
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Dallas, TX
US
Edited Date/Time
5/20/2018 11:25am
Any of our northern brethren follow junior hockey? I don’t think an American team has ever won the overall championship, but it appears that our local team has a decent chance to break through and do just that this year!
It’s now a 5 team tourney in Chiiliwack starting on Saturday. Lots of local businesses are playing all the games from the streaming site and hosting hockey nights. It’s amazing how hockey has become a passion in our little town after getting this team a decade ago!
It’s now a 5 team tourney in Chiiliwack starting on Saturday. Lots of local businesses are playing all the games from the streaming site and hosting hockey nights. It’s amazing how hockey has become a passion in our little town after getting this team a decade ago!
So far things are looking pretty decent for our Wenatchee Wild squad. The 5 teams all play each other once in pool play, then the top 4 play a single elimination bracket. After the first 3 games, our squad is unbeaten with their final pool play game on Thursday.
No American team has ever won the Canadian Junior A title before, could be a historic year!
The Shop
I'm not Canadian, and certainly don't spend a ton of time in the smaller towns in the northern parts of the provinces, but what we're told is that these junior teams are usually the "big entertainment draw" during the winters in those areas. That sounds about right, as it's certainly the case here. On weekend series, you can often actually find a fair number of fans that travel 5+ hours down here to root on their teams.
It's pretty decent hockey, even if it isn't NHL level.
And hopefully Sunday, they crown their first American champ!
One thing that's crazy is how close these teams are. All of them except for the host team, Chilliwack, had to win several series to get there, so they should obviously be top notch for that level. But so far, 5 of the 7 games played have went to either an overtime period or a shootout. No real routs have occurred yet, unless winning by a goal in regulation qualifies.
Wenatchee was the only team to go 4-0 in pool play, and won their 4th game 7-1 against Wellington. They then played Wellington in the semifinal game and lost 2-1. In talking to a couple of people who traveled up to watch for the last week, it was a bizarre game. Wellington had averaged over 30 penalty minutes a game for the tourney, but in the semifinal the officials put their whistles in their pockets and let just about anything go. Wellington ended the game with 6 penalty minutes, and from the folks who were there (admittedly homers) the physical beating that the officials allowed on the Wenatchee goalie was the difference. The difference in officiating definitely didn't help the "cleaner" team, but I doubt that the Canadian federation really wanted an American team to finally win a Canadian title.......!
Hopefully this just makes the kids who return next year that much hungrier.
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