By Ryan Laverty /
Brooks Bandits
The aromatic scents of new were short-lived at the Centennial Regional Arena in Brooks on Jan. 15.
The Bandits’ brand-spanking new barn was sullied with the stench of loss thanks to the play of Adam Stuart and the rest of the Calgary Royals.
Of course, that awful scent is one Brooks has grown more accustomed to in the past few weeks.
The Bandits lost four in a row and eight out of 11 dating back to the middle of December, before putting the brakes on the skid Jan. 22 to 23. The Bandits knocked off Sherwood Park and Olds to gain a bit of traction in the South standings.
At press time, the Bandits sat in fifth place in the division, one point back of the third-place Canucks and Grizzlys.
Calgary Canucks
While anything is still possible, the Calgary Canucks are most likely working on what is plausible heading into the final dozen games of the season.
Locked in a tie with the Grizzlys with 52 points, Don Phelps’ team will likely finish the regular season somewhere between third and fifth in the South Division. That said, with only three wins in their last 10, the Canucks are going to need more secondary scoring and better effort in their own zone if they expect to remedy their recent playoff incompetence.
Rookie netminder Dusty Nickel has carried the bulk of the load for the Canucks, but has a save percentage below .900 and a goals against average of 3.75 and both of those stats will need to improve down the stretch. Even with the likes of John Dunbar and Krishan Kaushal filling the net at the other end, that’s a lot of goals against to combat.
Calgary Royals
It’s an unfortunate reality, but it’s one that the Calgary Royals are learning this season sometimes you have to step on your opponents’ throat to preserve your own fate.
In years gone by, the Royals have lacked the killer instinct necessary to pull themselves out of the South Division cellar, but after drubbing the Drumheller Dragons 9-4 on Jan. 18, it seems Calgary’s other team will step on whatever throats necessary to never go back.
In fact, at press time, there was a real possibility of the Royals stepping over the flailing Canmore Eagles and into sixth place in the division. With a 5-4-1 record in their last 10, the Royals were only three points back of the Eagles.
Camrose Kodiaks
As Camrose centreman Erik Slemp will surely tell you, there are few certainties in life.
When the veteran was dealt from Drumheller to the British Columbia Hockey League midway through last season, there were no guarantees he’d be back in an AJHL uniform before his eligibility was up or that he’d have a chance to lace ‘em up with a legitimate RBC Cup contender such as the Kodiaks.
It happened and Slemp has made the most of it, scoring 49 points in 49 games and earning the honour of wearing the ‘C’ at this year’s AJHL All-Star Game in Fort McMurray.
Still, all the personal success won’t mean much to the Red Deer-native if the Kodiaks can’t sustain their play through the rest of the year. Camrose has been as good as they’ve been bad in the last 10 games and with 67 points is barely hanging on to first place in the South Division.
That said, if there is one certainty in the AJHL it’s that the Kodiaks will never go quietly and that when it matters, they’ll be ready to compete.
Canmore Eagles
Secondary scoring is improving in Canmore, but it seems there may be an inverse relationship in that department with the primary crew.
While the likes of Topher Flanagan, Logan Sceviour and Chris Stachiw have worked their way onto the Eagles’ scoresheet with a bit more consistency of late, Canmore’s top marksmen have been streakier than a nudist colony.
Lee Reimer, Bryden McGhee and Brian Doust all have the ability to change the game in the Eagles’ direction, but on nights when they’ve been absent in body or spirit wins have been hard to come by. Canmore has won only three of their last 10 games and the team’s big three have mustered less than a point per game between them in that time.
At press time, the Eagles sat three points up on the seventh place Royals with 44 points.
Drumheller Dragons
While the fat lady prepares her vocal chords, the Drumheller Dragons will make one last push towards a playoff spot.
With 49 games under their belt and only 35 points to show for it, the boys from the Badlands are six points back of a post-season spot with 11 games to go. Mathematically, that leaves no shortage of permutations and combinations that could see rookie head coach Dan Price lead his crew into the real season, but the team has given little reason for optimism throughout the year.
Long on rookies, the Dragons will need players such as Mike Marianchuk, who picked up seven points in his last seven games, to finish strong if they expect to catch the Royals.
Okotoks Oilers
It has taken longer than expected, but the Okotoks Oilers are finally where most people expected them to be before the 2009/10 campaign began.
With a coaching change now a distant memory, the Oilers have gained confidence with each passing day and now are gaining on the first-place Kodiaks.
“Any time you have a coaching change, the players’ confidence is going to be shattered,” explained head coach and general manager Garry VanHereweghe. “But it’s a credit to our players that they looked in the mirror and decided to move forward. Consistency is still a word that gets tossed around a lot in the coaches’ room, but it’s something that we’re getting better at.”
The definition of consistency evidently means different things to different people because at press time the Oilers owned one of the best records in the league over the last 10 games, going 8-1-0-1 in that time and climbing within three points of the Kodiaks.
Olds Grizzlys
There is more than a little disdain building between the Olds Grizzlys and the Brooks Bandits.
With three points separating the two in the South Division standings, the teams tangled in Brooks on Jan. 23 in what could politely be termed, a spirited affair. More than 170 minutes in penalties were handed out in the 60 minute contest won by the Bandits. But the most costly damage could still be to come for the Grizzlys who lost their all-star netminder Marc Boulanger for the next two games for his part in a line brawl in the third period.
Boulanger will miss games against Canmore and the Canucks, the team they’re tied with for third in the division, before returning against Okotoks on Feb. 2. |