This Season And

Disappointing Finish
Such a disappointing end to this season. I don't really know what to say. For everyone's health cancelling the playoffs was likely inevitable, I just wish it could have happened in a season the Tigers didn't have a legitimate title shot.

The unknown of what could have happened is almost worst than if they were to have lost in 4 straight. It's for the best and one-day hockey will be back, but damn is it ever disappointing.


Back In November
Back in November, the Tigers were playing such good hockey that I thought they had a legitimate chance at winning the East.

My opinions however definitely wavered through the season. They could score goals, but they were also giving up 3 goals a game.

A month after their big trade I felt they had a good team, but it wasn't quite championship material. They weren't playing championship hockey..... More on this down below......

Made Some Moves
Willie Desjardins' first season back saw him make a bundle of solid hockey moves bringing in-depth and experience. Looking not only for this season but the next couple seasons.

Tigers made a big splash in the Trade Market giving up a 1st round pick, conditional 5th, Trevor Longo and Tyler Preziuso, for Dylan Plouffe, Lukas Svejkovsky and two 3rd round picks.

If you count total playing years, the Tigers got younger by a year. They traded away a 20 and 19 and received a 20 and 18 in return.

Svejkosvky could very well put up a ppg season next year and likely will be here as a 20. If that story comes true the Tigers gain 2 years of a ppg player. Yes, they loose an almost guaranteed player with their first-round pick, but they have an opportunity to make that up with 2 3rds coming back.


The Tigers also acquired some depth in Nick Perna, and important and underrated pickup in Cyle McNabb.



My True Thoughts on the Big Trade
I never expected Longo to get dealt.  I'll admit straight up after a month I still wasn't sure if I liked the deal. The Tigers hadn't regained their form from November and it felt like to me they were giving up more goals against. There were some early defensive gaffes by the new defenceman and he took some time to fit in. He slowly won me over though especially later in the season when I started seeing his influence in other defencemen on the team.



Something Changed With the Tigers
Maybe it was an easier schedule followed by ample practice time, but over the course of 2 weeks, my opinion of them, the big trade, and their season drastically improved.

 They made Calgary looks like a non-playoff team. Edmonton gave them a good matchup but the Tigers held an edge through the majority of the game.

They showed flashes of this back in November and now that the season was coming to a close this championship flash was back. I was extremely excited for this upcoming playoffs as they were starting to peak at the right time.



Defensive players such as Cole Clayton and Parker Gavlas were turning into monsters with an added ability to join the rush and create offence. This gave them some newfound confidence on the back-end to escape from high traffic situations. It was like they both flipped a switch in their games.

The forwards went from out of sync to completely in-sync and Mads found the old form that got him drafted in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. There is probably more to it than that, but they were playing like they were ready for the playoffs.

What Could Have Happened?
We will never know for sure, but IMO when they played as a team for a full 60 minutes they were the best team in the East.  The question is if they could have sustained their aggressive attack and stayed healthy for the duration of the playoffs.

Epic Playoffs
There was a high potential for epic playoff matchups. What if they were able to beat their rival Lethbridge, the Top Contender in Edmonton, last years memorial cup representative PA, and what if they were to have found a WHL Championship matchup against Kamloops? The Team that former longtime coach Sean Clouston was hired onto and found early success with. Maybe they would have dropped 4 straight games to Lethbridge, who knows?

We will never know and this season is going to Irk me for a long time.

Shout out to the Overage players (Hamblin, Gavlas, Plouffe) who had their season unexpectedly cut short, as well as some of the 19's who may not be back due to overage restrictions.


It's Been Fun
 Having said that, it's time for this blog to largely say goodbye. It's been an amazing 12 years hosting Tiger Content. The sole reason I started this blog was that back in the day the odd Newspaper article wasn't enough for me.  Every day I checked the standings and the box-scores and I wanted more. The world and social media have sure changed things.


 For those of you who enjoyed reading this blog, I thank you for sticking around. It is kinda cool to have created something with over 1.2 million views in 12 years, in a city with a population of 60K. We've even had players and scouts comment on here directly.

I've been burned out for some time now as you can tell by only a couple posts this season.
I'm still considering making 1 post a year for pre-season predictions right before training camp but I haven't truly decided on it yet.

 If someone wishes to create a new fan forum on whatever platform feel free to do so,  I will help in getting the word out.  Thanks again for everyone who ever made positive comments in a respectful manner!  I will be shutting comments off in a couple weeks.


Stay Healthy!
-TigerTurf

WHL Classic Game 7: Tigers Vs Giants Live @ 7:30

The WHL will be broadcasting the best WHL Finals Game Every Played Live at 7:30PM on youtube.
Tigers Vs Giants





https://youtu.be/jWZsbPOPhoI

WHL Announces conclusion of WHL Season - Tigers Finish 2nd In Central

WHL Announces the conclusion of the WHL Season. The Standings will be used based on winning percentage

Standings
https://whl.ca/article/western-hockey-league-announces-conclusion-of-regular-season
So Officially the Tigers earned 2nd spot in the Division.

The planned regular-season finish would have been this Sunday
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TypicalPlayoff Matchups
I don't believe the WHL has officially announced playoff matchups. It could very well be possible that the format is changed due to the virus

But here is what the playoffs would like under normal circumstances.

Central
Medicine Hat(2) Vs Lethbridge(3)
Edmonton(1) Vs Saskatoon(8)

East
Winnipeg(2) Vs Brandon(3)
Prince Albert(1) Vs Calgary(7)

B.C
Vancouver(2) vs Victoria(3)
Kamloops(1) vs Kelowna(7)

US
Portland(1) vs Seattle(8)
Everett(2) Vs Spokane(3)


Typical Playoff Round Start Dates
Round 1 - March 28th
Round 2 April 11th
Round 3 - April 25th
Round 4 - May 9th

Memorial Cup
May 22nd

COVID-19 Reschedule
The virus obviously changes things, so who knows what will happen.
If the virus lasted 2 months that would coincide with the start of the memorial cup.

Teams being off for 2 months would need some sort of mini-training camp to get their legs under them again. I could see a very short best of 3, or even best of 1 scenario playout IF COVID-19 is able to complete before June.  A Team like Calgary or Kelowna who have significant injuries could largely benefit from a delayed playoff.

What are your thoughts?

WHL Season Paused

https://whl.ca/article/chl-statement-2019-20-season-paused-until-further-notice

Toronto, Ont. – The Canadian Hockey League and its three regional leagues the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and Western Hockey League, take the health and safety of our players, fans, volunteers, staff, and general public very seriously. CHL President Dan MacKenzie with Commissioners David Branch, Gilles Courteau, and Ron Robison have been monitoring the situation in regards to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) including what local, provincial, and federal health agencies have recommended. Following consultation with medical professionals and meetings today among the CHL Executive Council, and regional league Board of Governors, the CHL announces that the balance of the 2019-20 season and all hockey activity shall be paused immediately until further notice.