Back at the hockey blogging train. Let's catch up, shall we?
So in the NAHL, the DC Rage went 1-2 against the Wenatchee Wild last week. They're on the road in Chicago this weekend starting with what is now tonight's game as this post is coming after midnight. It was a huge, gutsy win over Wenatchee, similar to that of their 2-1 friendly over the Malmo Redhawks, Magnus Paajarvi's old team. They banged, they crashed, they played a hard physical game. That was the middle session of their three-game set. Then they proceeded to get trounced in game three. Hopefully tonight's game against Chicago goes back to the physical style that typically seems them have success. As the only Canadian team in an American-dominated league, I think that's the style they have to play in order to get wins consistently in the NAHL.
As far as the Jr. Canucks go, dropping just below .500 with a 9-1 drubbing at the hands of the Grande Prairie Wheelers, I'm not sure what came unraveled. They entered the contest not terribly far behind GP, but with Fort St. John holding two games in hand and only 3 points behind the Canucks for fourth place in the NWJHL, it was basically a must-win. GP was missing numerous players from their lineup, including Cory Littman, their captain and leading scorer (4th in the league), Riley Halwa and a couple other key players. Sure, Dawson Creek was without Colter Maclean and Jason Higson, their big two up front, but Dawson has shown depth scoring when it matters.
It didn't make a difference.
Lewis Lindon put together a hat-trick performance to get 10 goals on the year, Cody Atkinson was a crossbar away from matching Lindon's feat, Jack Surgenor let in a couple easy ones that he'd want to have back, and rookie AP netminder Zach Leslie coming in relief, his first goal against was as stinky as they come to Atkinson, a shot relatively unscreened that he just outright didn't catch in his glove.
This is a team that is on the verge of pushing up the NWJHL. But they seem to lose one, win one, lose one, win one. They remind me a lot of the Oilers in the sense that you can sense they're not far away from pushing up to third in the league. Whitecourt and Peace River almost deserve to be Junior A, they're that far ahead of the rest of the pack, but after that it can be anyone's league on any given night.
Tonight they host Beaverlodge, who history has shown will rarely ice a full line-up on the road. This is a huge opportunity to regain that separation on FSJ and secure home ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. Must-win? No. Close to it? Yes. The NWJHL schedule isn't that demanding compared to Jr. A hockey or other leagues (roughly 20 games less than most), and every win counts in a league where playoffs are mandatory for all teams.
