Saturday Thoughts

KIBIHT heats up today with the final day of round-robin play and the semi-finals tonight. Still a ton of scouts from across the WHL here in Kamloops. A lot of them were out and about town last night. The local Tier 1 team - the Jardine Blazers I think have what it takes to win this barring a stinker on their behalf in the playoffs. They have a lot of good talent and a couple projected 1st rounders at the WHL bantam draft. I've been impressed with their depth, skill, skating and goaltending. They are trying to become the first Kamloops team to win KIBIHT in 17 years. They will play Hollyburn this afternoon before crossing over to play the 2nd place team in the other pool in the semi-finals tonight at the Sports Center.

- I had a scouting package emailed to me from Western Elite Prospects. It's provided an interesting look at some of these players at KIHBIT. I'll take the newsletter and rankings to the bantam draft next month in Calgary and see how it all shakes down.

- Speaking of the bantam draft, there's plans by the WHL to webcast the opening round of the draft on whl.ca. Watch for more details in the coming weeks. Shaw is on board for the production.

- It's time to start "tweeting". Soon I'll be tweeting under the Radio NL news account. I'd suggest following www.twitter.com/radionlnews if you're not already. I'll start tweeting from the bantam draft and carry on from there into the new seasons. Look for my own twitter account at some point. I think it can be a great resource and a lot of people are relying more on twitter and less on conventional media sources to get the latest info.

- The Moose Jaw Warriors shook things up this week by letting go of four-year Head Coach Dave Hunchak. I'll tread lightly on this subject and say I think this is a move that isn't shocking but still one that gives you a bad feeling when you think about the stress and turmoil a move like this causes.

I worked with Dave for three seasons in Swift Current before he ventured out on his own to take over the Warriors bench. For those three seasons we had a good relationship. We spent a lot of time on the golf course along with Athletic Therapist Paul Ayotte for a couple of summers. We had some epic Elmwood battles no doubt.

Before joining the Warriors, Dave was also heavily considered for the expansion Edmonton Oil Kings coaching job and in Prince Albert with the Raiders. The interest he was getting makes me believe he will be back in this league in some capacity next season.

For the most part, I think the writing was on the wall that Hunchak had to make a long playoff run in order to get a deal moving forward from 1st year Director of Hockey Operations Alan Miller who came in from the OHL.

There's some good interviews with audio from Warriors voice James Gallo posted here. Have a listen. Hunchak and Millar both share their thoughts. Millar refutes the claim that he will be "parachuting a buddy from the OHL". Have a listen.

Have a good weekend, I'll try to post more KIBIHT thoughts with the playoffs beginning tonight.

Jon