Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Broncos Need to Win Out to Take East Division

It's been the quite the interesting last couple weeks of Eastern Conference scoreboard watching. With virtually the top 8 teams winning every night or involved in "three-point" games, the Broncos find themselves stuck between 7th and 8th with six games to go in the regular season.

Here's a quick look at the Conference:

1. Calgary 93 - five games left
2. Regina 86 - five games left
3. Leth 87 - seven games left
4. Koot 84 - six games left
5. Med Hat 83 - six games left
6. Brandon 82 - seven games left
T-7. Swift 81 - six games left
T-7. MJ 81 - seven games left

Calgary - 1st seed is their's to lose. Calgary has one more obstacle. They host Lethbridge March 9th.

Regina - playing better hockey in the midst of a five game homestand. Brandon is the team they will have to worry about the most now. The teams end of the regular season in a home and home set.

Lethbridge - has cooled off a little during an east division road swing. If they can win their games in hand on Calgary don't rule them out of the #1 seed

Kootenay - Battling for home ice advantage in the 1st round. Have a tough final weekend with a home and home set with the Hitmen

Medicine Hat - will finish anywhere from 4th to 7th. A couple lay-ups against Edmonton in their next couple games will keep them in the hunt for home ice into the final weekend.

Brandon - has the best shot of catching Regina for the east division title and the #2 seed. Brandon has a tough road ahead with tonight's game in Moose Jaw, tomorrow night in Swift and then a home and home with Regina to close off the regular season. Has two games in hand on Regina. Brandon controls their own destiny.

Swift Current - needs to win their last six games if they want a crack at the division title. With two games left at home and four on the road the Broncos will need all 12 points including a win over Brandon tomorrow night to get it rolling.

Moose Jaw - healthy and with a favorable schedule, the Warriors can still grab the east division title. Their biggest game will come March 12th when they host Regina.

------------------------------------------

Best of the East

Bruce Luebke, voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings has released his findings in the Best of the East survey. The results can be found on most WHL blogs so I won't copy and paste.

I didn't have a vote but here's my picks (keeping in mind I can't vote for the Broncos).

Just my opinion from what I've seen from Bronco games...

Most Valuable to Team
1) Tyler Ennis
2) Karl Alzner
3) Andrew Clark

Best Goaltender
1) Dustin Butler
2) Alex Archibald
3) Michael Maniago

Top Rookie
1) Brayden Schenn
2) Scott Glennie
3) T.J. Galiardi

Top 16 Year Old
1) Brayden Schenn
2) Scott Glennie
3) Stefan Elliot

Best Stay-At-Home Defenseman
1) Karl Alzner
2) Chad Greenan
3) Keith Aulie

Best Offensive Defenseman
1) Logan Pyett
2) Daryl Boyle
3) Ty Wishart

Best Overage Player
1) Steve Dasilva
2) Daine Todd
3)Tyler Dittmer

Best Pro Prospect
1) Brayden Schenn
2) Karl Alzner
3) Zach Boychuck

Best Coach
1) Willie Desjardins
2) Kelly Macrimmon
3) Bruno Campese

Best Executive
1) Kelly Kisio
2) Kelly Macrimoon
3) Roy Stasiuk

Top Defensive Forward
1) Brandon Sutter
2) Ryan White
3) Jerrid Sauer

Top Face-off Men
1) Ryan White
2) Brandon Sutter
3) Zack Boychuk

Best Skater
1) Tyler Ennis
2) Colton Gillies
3) Mitch Fadden

Hardest Shot
1) Jyri Niemi
2) Logan Pyett
3) Paul Postma

Most Accurate Shot
1) Jordan Eberle
2) Riley Holzapfel
3) Matt Robertson

Most Under-rated Player
1) Jason Bast
2) Matt Lowry
3) Daniel Bartek

Toughest Player
1) Garret Klotz
2) Ryley Grantham
3) Jordan Bendfeld

Most Irritating Player
1) JD Watt
2) Terrance Dellorande
3) Yashar Farmanara

Best Referee
1) Nathan Wieler
2) Andy Thiessen
3) Graham Skilliter

Best Fans
1) Kootenay Ice
2) Calgary Hitmen
3) Medicine Hat

-------------------------

2 comments:

bryan said...

you think Grantham is tougher than McLaren? And yes, you hit it right, Brandon is on a tear right now.

Jon Keen said...

From what I've seen...yes. Mclaren has only played one game vs the Broncos this season. He's been suspended for the other two and played a total of 55 seconds in the other before taking a bad boarding major/game misconduct.