Alumni Update: Johnny Lazo

The WHL Radio show catches up with Johnny Lazo as one of the 275 former players to accept the WHL scholarship (for each year a player has in the WHL, they get a full year scholarship to a university of their choice) Johnny is attending the University of Alberta and playing for the Golden Bears. He talks about his decision to go to school, why he picked UA and what he hopes the future holds for him: click here (Lazo's interview follows Nino's interview a few minutes in)

One more Day

One more day until live hockey is back. Red Deer travels in to Portland tonight, hopefully (for our sake) Red Deer can get the win. Its friday, and my day off, AND there's not much news. (Which happens when your team doesnt play for a week)

-Chase

Good Day

...Then again it always is when Spokane loses!

RAIDERS 5, CHIEFS 2

Mark McNeill scored twice and added an assist to lead the Prince Albert Raiders to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday.

Todd Fiddler and Justin Maylan each contributed a goal and an assist and Mike Winther notched his fourth goal of the season for the Raiders (6-8-2-2), who put an end to a seven-game losing skid.  Eric Williams turned aside 34 of 36 shots he faced to claim the victory.

Levko Koper and Brady Brassart scored for the Chiefs (7-8-0-0), who were blanked on four power play chances in the contest.  Mac Engel made 23 saves in a losing cause.

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The Chiefs are now7-8 after 15 games in the basement of the US Division. Definitely not somewhere they wanted or expected to be this early in the season, (look on the bright side, you could be a Calgary fan). All of these loses are a really good thing for us, this team will not keep losing. This is still a dangerous team (A team that put up 11 goals against Regina) backstopped by a strong goalue in James Reid. The Chiefs have proved over the last couple of years that they will play until the end of the season so be sure to celebrate their losses when we can! 

Alumni Update

From Taking Note: F Jason Reese (Vancouver, Moose Jaw, Tri-City, 2003-09) signed a tryout contract with Dortmund (Germany Oberliga). He had seven goals and 18 assists in 57 games split between the Texas Brahmas, Arizona Sundogs and Wichita Thunder (all Central Hockey League) season.

Pickard saves (a lot) in T-Birds Win

From the WHL– Calvin Pickard turned in an outstanding 46-save performance to help the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-1 win over the visiting Red Deer Rebels in Western Hockey League action on Tuesday night.

Burke Gallimore scored twice while Charles Wells and Colin Jacobs – with a goal and an assist – also scored for the Thunderbirds (6-3-2-2), who snap a five-game losing skid despite being outshot 47-17 by the visiting Rebels.  The win was the 45th of Pickard’s WHL career.

Rookie defenseman Matt Dumba scored the only goal for the Rebels (11-6-0-0), who held a 33-10 advantage in shots on goal at the end of two periods, but trailed 2-0.  Bolton Pouliot made 13 saves in a losing effort for the Rebels.
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 So whaddya know? The T-Birds lean heavily on Pickard to get the win (as usual). I was able to listen to the last half of the 3rd, starting when Seattle was up 2-1. Can you believe Seattle only had 17 shots and scored 4 times (one empty). Sounds like the Rebels couldn't get the bounce they needed to get the win, or anything for that matter. Not to mention they were up against one of the best goalies in the league in Pickard (Its alright Red Deer, it runs in the family) Seattle's strategy definitely leaned towards shutting down Andrej Kudrna and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Again RD took a lot of penalties (9 for 21 min) yikes...out of all of that Seattle only made them pay once for their first of the game.
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DS has an interview up with Americans winger David Conrad. check it out

2 Cents Tuesday

 There has been a lot of talk in sports recently about concussions and the effect it has on the brain and body of athletes. For the most part, Ive tried to stay away from it, keeping my opinions to myself.

Concussions no doubt, are a scary thing. I myself have had a concussion, and I know that I don't want another. The difference between myself and a pro athlete though is that I don't have to worry about the millions of dollars I wont make if I don't play. And therein lies the problem:

Athletes play the game to make money (and lots of it), to make a living. Of course they know the dangers of concussions going into it, but they know that's a part of the risk. Hell, if I could make millions of dollars and maybe have the chance of a concussion or two...I'd take it. These players know what they are up against when they sign contracts.

I've related it to smoking. Back in the day when people started, there wasn't that much info on the dangers of smoking and what it can (and will) do to your body. As we as society got smarter, research showed that smoking is actually pretty bad for you, could even kill you. Yet, knowing this information, how many people do you know that smoke everyday? Friends, family members, you name it. All these people now know the risk of smoking yet they decide to do it any way knowing there's a damn good chance they'll wind up dead.

Sound familiar?

Obviously concussions are a bad thing. But so are sprained ankles, broken legs, and dislocated shoulders. I dont think that going in and overhauling a sport is the answer. Sure, take away helmet to helmet hits, that makes sense. but dont soften the games becuase guys are making a choice to play a game they know will hurt them.  It may be an insensitive approach to the subject but honestly, If you cant stop someone from smoking even though they know it will kill them, how are you supposed to tell a kid they should stop playing hockey (football, baseball, basketball, etc) and to give up their chance at millions and fame... I know that by working in front of a computer all day I'm increasing my risk of carpal tunnel, which hurts like an SOB...but you gotta do what ya gotta do right?

Just my 2 cents.

-Chase

Tuesday-

ANDREJ KUDRNA WHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The WHL Player of the Week is forward Andrej Kudrna of the Red Deer Rebels.

Kudrna picked up seven points, scoring four goals and three assists in two games over the past week, helping the Rebels to a 2-0-0-0 record.
On Friday, October 29th, the Rebels hosted the Vancouver Giants at the Red Deer Enmax Centrium.  Kudrna, a former Vancouver Giant, scored one goal, added two assists and was named the games 2nd Star as the Rebels downed the Giants 5-2.  On Saturday, October 30th, the Saskatoon Blades were in Red Deer to face the Rebels.  Kudrna scored his fourth career hat-trick, finding the net three times and adding one assist.  The Rebels went on to defeat the Blades 7-1 with Kudrna earning 1st Star honours.

Kudrna’s seven points this past week has him ranked 4th among all WHL scorers with 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 16 games played.  The Red Deer Rebels have won three straight and seven of their last 10 games, placing them second in the WHL Central Division with an 11-5-0-0 record for 22 points, just one back of the Kootenay Ice.

Kudrna, a 19 year old from Nove Zamsky, Slovakia, is playing his third season in the Western Hockey League.  Originally selected 58th overall in the 2008 CHL Import Draft by the Vancouver Giants, Kudrna joined the Rebels early in the 2009-10 season.  He has appeared in 152 career WHL regular season games collecting 60 goals, 56 assists for 116 points.


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So there's your player to watch this weekend. Like I said before, probably not going to be a lot of news this week, I will update if anything comes down.