Bantam Draft Results

Some of the prospects stats were from Alan Caldwell's blog

1st Round
14th Hunter Shinkaryk October 13, 1994 C Calgary, AB

Last Year Stats
Calgary Royals Gold (AMBHL) -- 27gp-32g-31a-63pts-10pim
Calgary Royals Gold (AMBHL - PLF) -- 10gp-11g-11a-22pts-6pim
Calgary Royals Gold (St. Albert tournament) -- 5gp-6g-8a-14pts-2pim


link to a story about the prospect Calgary Herald

Picture on this page

Scouting report From Powerplay scouting

The Medicine Hat Tigers are proud to select HUNTER SHINKARUK from Calgary, AB with their first pick of the draft, 14th overall.

Shinkaruk, 5’ 10”, 160 lbs played the 2008-09 season with the Calgary Royals AAA bantams picking up 32 goals and 31 assists for 63 point with 10 penalty minutes.

“We are very happy to select forward Hunter Shinkaruk with our first pick of 2009 WHL Bantam Draft,” said Tigers’ head scout Brad McEwen.

“Hunter is a real skilled player whom has a real good competitive level and fits into the Tigers mould,” stated McEwen.

2nd Round
36nd Dawson Macauley June 14, 1994 G Prince Albert, SK
6'4 188 lbs

-Tigers take the drafts First Goalie
Small article about him
A Recent article from the P.A Newspaper

08-09: Prince Albert Pirates (CFHL AA bantam) -- 11gp
08-09: Prince Albert Pirates (Saskatoon bantam tournament) -- 3gp


3rd Round
58th Jayden Hart December 14, 1994 C Spruce Grove, AB
5'7 145 lbs

08/09 (Ambhl - Spruce Grove)- 33GP 22G 55A 77Pts

5th Round

#97, Medicine Hat, using Prince Albert's pick they acquired for Pat Kozyra:
Luke Johnson - Center, no ht/wt
Luke Johnsons stats

7th Round

#146, Medicine Hat:
Kyle Becker - Defence, 6'0" 151lbs
08-09: Langley Eagles (BCAHA AAA bantam) -- 24gp-4g-8a-12pts-4pim
08-09: Langley Eagles (St. Albert AAA bantam tournament) -- 5gp-4g-4a-8pts-8pim
08-09: Langley Eagles (Victoria AAA bantam tournament) -- 5gp-2g-3a-5pts-0pim


8th Round
#168, Medicine Hat:
Mark Foster - Defence, 5'11" 155lbs
08-09: Tisdale Ramblers (CFHL AA bantam) -- 20gp-6g-11a-17pts-30pim
08-09: Tisdale Ramblers (Saskatoon bantam tournament) -- 3gp-1g-3a-4pts-4pim
07-08: Tisdale Bantam Ramblers (CFHL AA bantam) -- 18gp-1g-1a-2pts-8pim
06-07: Tisdale Ramblers (CFHL AA pee wee) -- 20gp-2g-13a-15pts-32pim


9th Round

#187, Medicine Hat:
Austin Ho - Defence, no ht/wt
08-09: L.A. Selects (USA AAA bantam) -- no stats
08-09: L.A. Selects (Nike/Bauer AAA bantam tournament) -- 4gp-0g-4a-4pts-0pim


#190, Medicine Hat:
Connor Garden - Center, 5'8" 140lbs
08-09: Calgary Bronks (AMBHL AAA bantam) -- 32gp-19g-24a-43pts-16pim
08-09: Calgary Bronks (AMBHL AAA bantam - PLF) -- 2gp-1g-1a-2pts-0pim
08-09: Calgary Bruins (SAML - midget 15 y.o.) -- 4gp-1g-2a-3pts
08-09: Calgary Bronks (KIBIHT) -- 6gp-1g-2a-3pts-0pim
08-09: Calgary North Stars (Alberta Cup) -- 5gp-1g-3a-4pts-2pim
07-08: Calgary Bronks (AMBHL AAA bantam) -- 32gp-2g-5a-7pts-12pim
07-08: Calgary Bronks (AMBHL AAA bantam - PLF) -- 2gp-0g-1a-1pts-0pim


10th Round
#202, Medicine Hat:
Nick Anderson - Left Wing, no ht/wt
08-09: L.A. Selects (Nike/Bauer AAA bantam tournament) -- 2gp-0g-0a-0pts-0pim
08-09: San Jose Jr. Sharks (Nike/Bauer AAA bantam tournament) -- 4gp-1g-3a-4pts-0pim


Medicine Hat Passed their 2nd pick in the 10th round and all picks after this point

A couple WHL awards

Awards

WHL Alumni Association Achievement Award
Professional Hockey recipient – Trevor Linden (Medicine Hat Tigers)

WHL Top Official - Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy
Chris Savage (Medicine Hat, AB)

WHL Marketing & Communications Award
WINNER
Mike Bortolussi, Medicine Hat Tigers Marketing


WHL Most Sportsmanlike Award - Brad Hornung Trophy
WINNER
Tyler Ennis (Edmonton, AB), Medicine Hat Tigers

Bantam Draft Today. I believe the Draft starts at 8:30 AM

Reminder Bantam Draft On April 30th

The 2009 Bantam Draft will be held on a Thursday. I believe the whl website will provide updates throughout the day. I will try to digg up any info on the players selected.

Tigers Picks
1st Round - 14th pick
2nd Round - 36th Pick
3rd Round - 58th Pick
5th Round - 97th Pick
7th Round - 146th Pick
8th Round - 168th Pick
9th Round - 187th, 190th Pick
10th Round 202, 212th Pick
11th Round 234th Pick
12th Round 256th Pick

Spring Time!!...

Does anyone Watch Jay Leno? I watch his show every now and again but one part of his show had me laughing my A$$ off.
Somebody managed to send a headline in that was in the Vancouver sun talking about the Vancouver Giants.

The headlines read "Hay not pleased with slumping PP"
link to the article here...vancouver sun

hahaha


Well its going be fairly quiet around here for a while. I will still post if there are any major announcements or trades or anything exciting happens. Sometime over the Summer I will be trying to make a custom redesign of the blog.

Its awesome to see sooo many guys who have recently played in the WHL on TV in the playoffs, Even Better if its a Tiger Player.


Darren Helm, Derek Dorsett, and Kris Russel must be having some fun, they have all been involved in the Detroit vs Columbus first round series.

Darren Helm has been playing about 5-8 minutes a game. Russel has been playing anywhere from 10-18 minutes. Dorsett was a scratch in the first game but he has played about 8 minutes a game in the other 2 playoff games. I Don't believe any of them have any points as of yet.

Cam Barker has been a Key piece to the Blackhawks Defense. He has a goal and 2 assists over the three games played. Watch for him to be a very good late-mid to late round pick next year in your fantasy hockey drafts. He gets lots of PP time(first unit) and managed 40 points in only 68 games this year for the Hawks.

I think Joffrey Lupul has an assist over three playoff games, playing about 15 minutes a game. Some fans think he will be the odd man out next year in philly, with them being pretty close to the salary cap.


Micheal Sauer is playing for the Hartford Wolfpack in the playoffs.
Steve Regier is an assistant captain for the Peoria Riverman(st louis affiliate)
Regier came off a 50 point season, and has 2 points in 4 playoff games.

Chris Stevens started the year of slow with Phoenix Roadrunners of the echl. But now he captains the Reading Royals (echl) and has put up 41 points in 47 games with them, their team missed the playoffs.

David Schlemko had 29 points in 69 games for Phoenix farm team San Antonio Rampage, their team also missed the playoffs.

Matt Keetley had an up and down year, splitting Time with Las Vegas and Quad City. He had a .892 save percentage in quad city, but a .930 save percentage in Las Vegas. HE had a very good start and finish, but a mediocre middle part of the season. Keetley is currently a black Ace for the Flames.

Gord Baldwin if I remember correctly played in 55 games for Quad City.
I haven't heard anything about Matt McCue, or Tyler Ennis.

Have A good Summer! (and hopefully we don't get snow that is forecasted for Thursday)

A couple Tigers get called up

Matt Keetley will be a black Ace for the Calgary Flames. He was called up Today.
Darren Helm was called up to Detroit on Monday.
Thomas Kundratek was called up to the rangers farm Team Hartford Wolfpack

It is expected that Matt McCue will join Anaheims farm team
and that Tyler Ennis will Join Buffalo's farm team

A couple tigers in Final Central Scouting lists

End    Mid
152   197      Konan, Matthew    Defenseman   Medicine Hat   WHL
65   108      Vey, Linden    Right Wing   Medicine Hat   WHL

Both skaters jumped quite a bit over the last half of the season. Those ranks are for North American Skaters Only. Tristan King and Cody Carlson are on the list but unranked at 999. In other words they probably wont get picked, but have a late shot at being taken in on of the later rounds.

Looks like Vey will be a 3-5th rounder, Konan could go in the late stages of the draft. I couldn't find Zdenek Okal on any of the lists, however he could go in the later rounds of the draft, as some scouts have him on their radar.

Tiger Year End awards

Some brief thoughts about the upcoming season below this post....



Brennan Bosch picked up five awards including the Gerard Moyer Memorial Team Leadership Award and was a co-winner of the playoff MVP award with Ennis.

Winners

Top Rookie: Zdenek Okal
Unsung Hero: Colton Grant / Sean Ringrose
Most Valuable Player: Tyler Ennis
Most Improved Player: Linden Vey
Top Defensive Forward: Colton Grant / Sean Ringrose
Cliff Bast Memorial Best Defenceman: Mark Isherwood
Three Stars Award: Tyler Ennis
Gerard Moyer Memorial Team Leadership Award: Brennan Bosch
Most Goals: Tyler Ennis
Leading Scorer: Tyler Ennis
Community Service Award: Brennan Bosch / Bretton Cameron / Ryan Holfeld
Hardest Working Player: Ryan Holfeld / Wacey Hamilton
Player's Choice Award: Brennan Bosch
Playoff MVP: Brennan Bosch / Tyler Ennis
Fan's Choice: Tyler Ennis
Player's Success Factors: Brennan Bosch / Mark Isherwood

The Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds presented an engraved watch to each of the three graduating 20-year-old players, Brennan Bosch, Matt McCue and Sean Ringrose.

Pretty much agree with these awards, I think Colton grant probably should of been given the hardest worker, but then i dont see what they do in practice or off-ice

Next Season Thoughts

The tigers will have a wad of 19 yr olds. Usually that means experience and good teams, however half of those 19 year olds are whl depth players.

Their will obviously be some moves in the works during the off season and beginning of next season.

There will be room for the young guys to make the team next year. How they fare in training camp could play a part on how many of those 19 yr old veterans the tigers keep.

As for the 20 year olds, I would Keep Bretton Cameron, Triston Grant, and Mark Isherwood. Travis Dunstall, and Ryan Holfeld look to be the odd men out. I believe those 2 players should easily fetch at least a 5th rounder each. With Bunz ready and another golden goalie prospect in the wings, Holfeld would have to become Keetley like over the off season for him to stay. I'm not 100% convinced though that those 3 I picked will be Desjardin's choices to stay. I think he may give Holfeld a chance to earn his spot, and he might ship a grinder like grant, or cameron off and keep dusntall.

Defense

Our defense may be in a similar state compared to this year. It depends on how the guys improved. Hopefully with an extra year under their belt they will really push the tigers transition game to be much faster. Carlson, Konan, Montomgery if they can improve to the point where they can play 20 minutes a game, the tigers defense will be very strong. However if they play like they did this year, the defense could be in trouble.

Isherwood Coyle
Konan Montgomery
Carlson Busenius

Forwards

The forward unit looks to have 2 solid lines. There is room for new players on the bottom couple of lines. Or if they don't impress the last 2 lines will be battled out for by the veteran depth players. Training camp should be really intense.

Scoring wise I expect a slight drop. Tyler Ennis was involved and created 34% of the tigers offense. However the likes of Cameron, Hamilton, King, Okal, and Vey should make up a portion of that loss.

Okal Vey King
Hamilton Cameron Grant
xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx

Edit: I changed a couple things. Bottom 2 lines are basically a free-for-all for the newcomers and depth veterans. A spot they need to earn if they want to stay a tiger.

2008 Draft
1st round Dylan Busenius
2nd Round Dylan Bredo
3rd Round Boston Leier, Todd Fiddler
4th Round Reid Petryk
5th Round Colin Mospanchuk
6th Round Victor Newell

2007 Draft
1st round Tyler Bunz
2nd Round No Pick
3rd Round Brayden Jaw, Scott McKay
4th Round No Pick
5th Round Benjamin Gallacher, Jayce Douskey
6th Round Emerson Etem, Mathew Garvey

Brandon Sweeps the Tigers 4 straight

Brandon Wins Game 1:6-3
Brandon Wins Game 2:8-6
Brandon Wins Game 3:6-1
Brandon Wins Game 4:6-2

Good Luck to Brandon in the conference Final next round.

Well Brandon's offense was just too much for the tigers to handle.
They are a team that makes you pay if your out of position. Their fast transition game and very skilled and patient forwards ripped the tigers systems apart every game they played. Scouts are just drooling over a couple of their players expected to go in the first round of the upcoming NHL draft.

The tigers had so many guys banged up, and suffering from bouts of flu like symptoms. The tigers played hard in the playoffs and thats all we could ask for as fans. Brandon was just plain and simple a much better team.


Brennan Bosch will always be remembered as the tiger that scored that game winner in Double Overtime vs Vancouver in game 7 of the whl championship finals. Watching him and Ennis through these last few years was a treat to watch.

Sean Ringrose came in last year and provided a steady work ethic, and it was fun to watch Matt McCue pound on a few guys this year. They will probably wake up tomorrow and feel like the last few years just flew by. Just wanna say thanks for giving it your all for the Medicine Hat Tigers, was a pleasure to watch, and I hope you all do well in your future endeavors.

Last Game of the Season??

Well tonight may possibly be the last game for a few of the Tiger Veterans.
Word on the street is that these Tigers are a pretty banged up hockey club, but I'm sure that they will give it their all to try and extend the series.

Wheat King Cale Jefferies who received a 5 minute boarding major last game will not be suspended for game 4. The whl head office decided no further punishment will be necessary.

Game starts at 6:30 pm mountain time

I'd probably guess that Tyler Bunz gets the start today.Good Luck Tigers.

Edit: Linden Vey was invited to the NHL scouting Combine

Nhl scouts put prospective NHL draftee's through a series of vigorous physical tests and a questioning to help determine their current strength and mindset and ultimate nhl potential.

Tigers hammered 6-1

I only listened to part of the game as I had other commitments.

Well the tigers certainly didn't get the start they wanted or control Brandon's offense.

Holfeld was pulled after 3 goals just 6 minutes in. Tyler Bunz looked like he played pretty well stopping 37 of 40 shots fired his way. I heard Ridley say something about interviewing Derek Dorsett but I didn't get a chance to listen to it.

As some would say the fat lady is already chowing down on the desert table.
Brandon has one hell of a team. I'm thinking they definitely give calgary a very tough series next round...that series should be a doozy.

Injuries

In the paper Willie Mentioned something about injuries taking a toll on their defense corps. I have also heard there is something extra going on with Ennis.

I can suspect that Montgomery has injury issues after getting crunched a couple times, and not being dressed for tonights game. Taylor Gal could be injured as he hasn't seen action. You would also think that Kundratek and Ishwerwood have had some bumps and bruises as well.

I know Kundratek looked like he was hurt in game seven vs Swift. Also after that High stick Brennan Bosch took he may have needed dental work. Also I'm amazed that Joey Frazer is in the game after taking that viscous Knee in Medicine hat in game2. I Just looked at the game sheet and Brandon got a 5 minutes major for boarding. I hope whoever was on the receiving end of that was O.K

Edit: Thomas Kundratek was on the receiving end of that hit, no word on his injury. It is likely that wheat king Cale Jefferies (4th liner) will be suspended for the next game.

I've also gotten word that Matt McCue's knee is pretty banged up.


I hope most Brandon fans aren't like the ones who have posted comments in the Medicine Hat News. Although they are probably just getting back at all the disrespectful comments a select few tiger fans have spewed onto message boards in recent years.

Its amazing how your whole city starts to "suck"(in their words) once your hockey team loses a few games. roflmao


On an unrelated note, today i received my A+ computer certification passing both exams with flying colors. (A+ basically means you have 8-9 months equal experience of on the job training or so I'm told)

Magic 8 ball says: Outlook not so good

Tigers loose 8-6

Well Brandon never quit they just kept coming. A crazy first period and a 5-2 lead weren't enough to hold them off. Its tough to see such a good start become null by the start of the third period.

Tigers will have to win 2 out of 3 games in Brandon for them to play one more game at home. We can Hope.

Tigers doubled up In Opener 6-3

Well it goes to show just how good Brandon Is. Brandon didn't show up for the first period, then got better as the game went on.

I thought the tigers outplayed Brandon through the first two periods and deserved a better fate than being behind by a goal. Ryan Holfeld had a tough Night. He probably would like to have 2 goals back, and the tigers defense as a whole would like to have a different 2 goals back where Brandon walked right through the crease and scored.

I thought Tyler Ennis didn't come to play tonight for the tigers, his effort level was pretty non-existant for a playoff game, he was a -5 on the night(Maybe he still has the flu?). I liked that play when Wheat King Jay Fehr dropped his gloves at the end of the period and Travis Dunstall just skated by to the bench, that was funny.

I would like to see Linden Vey finish a hit, any hit, at least once in the game. I thought Zdenek Okal and Thomas Kundratek played fairly well throughout the game.

it sucks that the tigers forward unit is so small. That last backchecker coming back should be able to devastate those trailers Brandon always leaves as the third man in.

Any turnovers the tigers made in their own end cost them tonight. Brandon is pretty patient with the puck on offense.Hopefully the tigers can come out, play a little harder and get some good bounces tomorrow.

I should add that Last Night was A Sell out.

Tigers Vs Brandon Predictions

Well I couldn't be more happy being wrong In predicting the Tigers fate last round. (I said Broncos in 6)

Here are a few News writers predictions on the upcoming series
Alan Caldwell - Brandon 5
John Down — Brandon in 5.
Dave Sheldon — Brandon in 5.
Dan Russell — Brandon in 5.
Regan Bartel — Brandon in 5.
Doyle Potenteau — Brandon in 4.
Gregg Drinnan — Brandon in 5.
Scott Fisher — Brandon in 5.
Cory Wolfe — Brandon in 5.
Kevin Mitchell — Brandon in 6.
Rob Vanstone — Brandon in 7.
Jeff Bromley — Brandon in 7.
Nick Patterson — Brandon in 6.
Alan Caldwell - Brandon in 5.
Steve Ewen - Brandon in 5.

I'm going to say wheaties in 6.(Originally thought 5 but i think the tigers can win 2 games) The wheat kings just have too much depth. They have 6 players over a point per game pace, and Brandon has looked good against the tigers this year. I hope I'm wrong again and I am thinking that the tigers might be be able to squeeze in another game or two if they play extremely well.

I think allot of brandon fans are taking the tigers a bit lightly. The tigers can hope that Brandon plays that way as well.



I went though all the predictions on the white board combined them with the writers predictions and tallied them up.

Total:77

BRN In 4 -  2 = 2.5%
BRN In 5 - 34 = 44.2% 
BRN In 6 - 29 = 37.7%
BRN In 7 -  6 = 7.8%
MHT In 4 -  0 = 0.0%
MHT In 5 -  1 = 1.3%
MHT In 6 -  2 = 2.6%
MHT In 7 -  3 = 3.9%

MH  TOT       = 7.8%
BRN TOT       = 92.2%

Tigers Will face Brandon in Round 2

Here is the schedule.

#1 - Brandon @ Medicine Hat; Saturday, April 4 (7:30pm MST)
#2 - Brandon @ Medicine Hat; Sunday, April 5 (6:00pm MST)
#3 - Medicine Hat @ Brandon; Wednesday, April 8 (7:00pm CST)
#4 - Medicine Hat @ Brandon; Friday, April 10 (7:30pm CST)
#5 - Medicine Hat @ Brandon; Saturday, April 11 (7:30pm CST)**
#6 - Brandon @ Medicine Hat; Monday, April 13 (7:00pm MST)**
#7 - Medicine Hat @ Brandon; Wednesday, April 15 (7:00pm CST)**
** - if necessary


It will be a 2-3-1-1 format. The tigers will host the first 2 games this weekend.
Season ticket holders have until Friday at 7:00PM to pick up their tickets. The remaining tickets will go on sale Saturday at 9:00AM