Hartley Miller's Slap Shots - May 4th Edition

By Hartley Miller

The Prince George Cougars did the unexpected by reaching the WHL final four. However, the run came to a crashing halt against the Vancouver Giants.

Now,  the hockey spotlight in this city is on the PG Spruce Kings, who will try to do the unexpected at the Royal Bank Cup which begins this weekend.

The Spruce Kings are underdogs because they are the only one of five teams in the tournament that were given a spot (host berth). The other four participants qualified by winning their league and regional playoffs.

Although the Spruce Kings were eliminated in the first round of the BCHL playoffs, past history indicates that winning the RBC after a lengthy layoff would not be a first. The Weyburn Red Wings, just two years ago, captured the Royal Bank Cup on home ice, even though they were bounced from the opening round of the SJHL playoffs. Weyburn won the 2005 title, edging the Camrose Kodiaks, 3-2 in the final.

Camrose is one of the four out of town participants in this year’s tournament (along with the Pembroke Lumber Kings, Aurora Tigers and Selkirk Steelers).  The Kodiaks defeated a very strong Nanaimo Clippers team 4 games to 1, and therefore, they have to be considered one of the early favorites.

Could history possibly repeat itself (Kodiaks-host final)? Likely not, but I think it’s a safe bet both teams will be in the semi-finals and from there it’s certainly not a marathon, just a sprint to the finish.

-----   

Whenever a major event comes to a city, it’s quite common for organizers to proclaim its going to be the best ever. With the amount of dedicated volunteers for this year’s RBC, there’s no doubt that Prince George will put on the best show this high profile tournament has ever seen.

This is what Hockey Canada is counting on and when PG ‘steps to the plate” with flying colors, look for other elite hockey events to come to the city.

“Were going in to try to make this the best Royal Bank Cup this country has ever seen. Anytime that we go in we’re always looking at what other events we can bring. When you look at the world under-17, you look at the under-18 that we’ve never hosted but are looking at; Prince George certainly comes on the radar. Even to the Olympics to put some teams up to Prince George prior to the Olympics in 2010. All of those things are on the drawing board. The better support that comes from the community, it certainly goes up on our radar” said Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson, prior to leaving for Moscow and the IIHF World Championship.

International hockey has been rare in PG. Nice to know that this may change in the near future.

-----

It’s always pleasant to see good local boys excel. Following an outstanding playoff with the PG Cougars Nick Drazenovic came to terms on a 3-year entry level deal with the St. Louis Blues: "I can’t put it into words. I mean it’s something I’ve always wanted and I’ve been working towards since I was a little kid. So it’s a very exciting time for me and my family.”

Drazenovic, who likely will play with the Blues top farm club in Peoria next season, had his status elevated after racking up 19 points in 15 games in the post-season. “Anytime you can play well it definitely helps things out, and in this case it will help with money and digits but I think St Louis really liked me. I had a really good camp last fall and I was fortunate enough to sign here.”

Drazenovic now has a case of the Blues and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

-----l   

The WHL final that begins this weekend in Medicine Hat between the Tigers and Vancouver Giants doesn’t have the same luster as previous years. This is because both teams are guaranteed a berth in the Memorial Cup. Ideally, a team would like to win both a WHL title and a Memorial Cup in the same year, but if they had to make a choice, I bet most teams would rather take the latter, even though a league title is based on a season and not a 10-day tournament.

I am not sure if there is an answer to avoid a similar situation in the future, but something doesn’t seem right when a league championship series clearly takes a back seat.
 

From the quote rack:

“This explains why Lance Armstrong never let her sit on his bicycle seat."   Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, on musician Sheryl Crow suggesting people use one square of toilet paper when going to the washroom in an effort to wipe out global warming.

“If the New Jersey Devils timekeepers were at the controls, the Doomsday Clock would go from five minutes to Midnight to Five minutes 0.7 seconds to Midnight."
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

“Quarterback JaMarcus Russell, the Raiders’ No. 1 draft pick, reportedly can throw a football 60 yards from one knee. Which should come in handy considering he’ll be playing for a team so bad that it often doesn’t leave its quarterback a leg to stand on.”     Bill Lankhof of the Toronto Sun

“The Cubs called up reliever Rocky Cherry, apparently from Double-A Baskin-Robbins. To make room for Cherry, the Cubs placed beleaguered fifth starter Wade Miller on the disabled list because of spasms in his ERA."         Steve Rosenbloom of ChicagoSports.com

“You can’t buy love. But with 12 home runs and 31 runs batted in the Yankees’ first 16 games, you can certainly rent it."                                                                  
Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times, on Alex Rodriguez. (NOTE: Penner has announced that he is transsexual and will now be known as Christine Daniels)

And in case you missed it:

A recent controlled scrimmage at the Alabama Crimson Tide’s spring football camp attracted a crowd in excess of 92,000.

And how was your week?

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us