EHM-I: Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) - Year 1

[TurnerONU22]

Offseason 2009

After being depressed about how the season ended, I pondered about keeping my head coach, Rob Sumner, around, but in the end, I decided that I would give him one last shot.

We have the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft coming up, with 2 picks in the first and second rounds. Our first pick is Harvey Sanderson, a solid two-way defenseman who has the potential to replace Frank Justice in a couple of years. Our second pick is Sandy West, a goal-scoring centerman who has been compared to Mike Fisher, a solid centerman for the Panthers. In the second round, we select Leo Dubuc and Laine Onarati, two wingers who can play solid two-way games. In the third round, we select Kay Foote, a huge winger who's not afraid to go in front of the net.

In the 2009 CHL Import Draft, we have another late pick, so we look to make some interesting selections. In the first round, we select Fabricio Serna, a goal scoring winger out of Mexico. Yes, this is a stretch, but Serna has plenty of talent and I think he could make the NHL. Our second pick goes to someone who probably won't come over, but we select Shane Lamb, from the EIHL and who was drafted by the NHL. We hope he wants to come over, but we don't expect it.

We have about 12 guys who are overagers, so we find deals for those who we don't plan to keep around, and we get draft picks back, with a couple of 2nd rounders being the best. We decide to keep Dave Richard and Colton Gillies, two excellent forwards and Ales Cech, who will keep playing w/Justice. We also keep Kyle Severson incase any of these guys get hurt or are signed into the NHL.

Our two biggest signings are Kealin Russell, our first round draft pick from last year, and Fabricio Serna, our first round import pick. Russell will compete w/Lenny Rooney for time in the net, and Serna has a shot at the top three lines.

We go into training camp with hope for another good season, and we think we have another shot at winning the President's Cup

[TurnerONU22]

FOFC Transaction Wire

The Mississiauga IceDogs send LW John Williams to the Guelph Storm for a 3rd and 4th round picks in the 2010 OHL Draft.

[TurnerONU22]

2009-10 FOFC Season Overview

USA:

LW: AJ Tucker - St. Louis Jr. Blues

On his own for this year, AJ Tucker is getting geared up for the NHL Draft this year. While not having the luxury of showing off his talents against the college or junior ranks, AJ will still be selected pretty high.

C: Colton Mayes - Michigan

Along with Jeff Riddle, Mayes joins the Wolvereines and will center their top line as a freshman. We'll see how long Mayes is there for, as Buffalo has him on their radar.

RW: Owen Hunter Jr. - Wisconsin

On the top line as a freshman, Hunter hopes to bring his scoring punch to the college game. The Badgers hope that he can round out his game while he's here, getting him ready for the NHL

LD: Jeff Riddle - Michigan

Joining Mayes is Riddle, another draftee who might only play one season in Michigan. He'll let his presence known on the top defensive pairing, logging quality minutes as a freshman.

RD: Frank Justice - Seattle Thunderhawks (WHL)

Justice is a top 20 prospect in the NHL season, and he becomes the captain of this Seattle team, trying to get them over the hump. He'll do this with the help of Ales Cech, his linemate again this season.

G: Danny Wilson - Boston College

After another subpar season in the USHL, Wilson will get better defensive support at BC, where he hopes to show off his excellent goaltending skills. Wilson is excited to see where he is going in the NHL.

Canada:

LW: Travis Elkin - Seattle Thunderhawks (WHL)

Elkin underachieved again in his second season, but the NHL scouts still see the talent that Elkin has. Elkin will see even more minutes this year and hopefully will have his breakout season.

C: Andrew Baerg - Seattle Thunderhawks (WHL)

I'm not sure whats wrong with Baerg's game, but it seems to not be fitting in well with our team. Baerg continues to work hard, and with his future in the NHL a little more cemented, we hope Baerg has a breakout season as well.

RW: John Williams - Guelph Storm (OHL)

Finally, a team that is sold on Williams, which has boosted his confidence. He'll be put on the top line and allowed to develop into the player that everyone knows that he can become. We all hope he takes full advantage of it.

LD: Trevor Johnson - Erie Otters (OHL)

Johnson really evolved in his second season and his defensive game is starting to come into form. He'll be in the top pairing for 5 on 5 and the PP, and he'll even see some PK time this season. Johnson hopes that he can be a first round pick this season.

RD: Mike Tokunaga - Kootenay Ice (WHL)

Tokunaga will see many minutes this coming season as he hopes to get his team back into the playoffs. If his team would put some talent around him, then they would have that chance.

G: Nicolas Fillion - Acadie-Bathurst Titans (QMJHL)

Fillion found his way to the WJC's last season, and while he didn't play, expect him to get some games in this time around. He led his Titans to the Q championship and finished 2nd in the Memorial Cup.

World:

LW: Shane Lamb (SCO) - Belfast Giants (EIHL)

Finally, Lamb gets a shot with the top English league and we hope after this season, he'll come over and play for Seattle. For now, he'll get his game ready for the NHL.

C: K.N. Smith (FRE) - HC Morzine-Avoriaz

The prospects don't look good for the French to make it to the Olympics, but he'll keep playing internationally. The scouts really love that experience, and they think he'll be a top round pick this year.

RW: Dean Hoo (AUS) - Sydney Bears

Hoo still won't make his way over to the US yet, even though he has been drafted. For now, this Aussie continues to round out his game and has easily become the best player in his league.

LD: Radovan Dusek (SLV) - Slovan

Dusek is ready for a full season in the top Slovakian league, and we'll see how soon the Blue Jackets are ready to bring him over for some full time action in the NHL.

RD: Robert Hillier (ENG) - Sheffield Steelers(EIHL)

Finally, Robert makes it back to the EIHL, but with the Steelers this time. He can't wait to hit some people he hasn't seen in a while, and show them how he has grown into a man.

G: Daniel Gothe (SWE) - Djurgardens IF

The Blue Jackets are excited about this goalie, who has plenty of international experience, along with his games in the top Swedish league. Gothe hopes to wrestle the WJC title away from Canada this year.

[st.cronin]

woot

[Ajaxab]

Hopefully Baerg can get some more ice time this year and step up his game a bit. I gotta start getting more points if I'm ever going to succeed in the Twin Cities for the Wild.

[Johnny93g]

Guelph...meh, im not exactly fond of the town, but it's short term, im sure...playing is the most important thing...i guess....

[duff88]

This is awesome!

Let's hope I (Fillion) can finally win the Memorial Cup this year! Are we still contenders?

[TurnerONU22]

2010 NHL Draft Rankings - Preseason

4. D Frank Justice
7. G Nicolas Fillion
12. C K.N. Smith
13. D Mike Tokunaga
17. LW AJ Tucker
24. G Danny Wilson
34. D Trevor Johnson
106. LW Shane Lamb

[TurnerONU22]

My plan for the future of this dynasty is to stay with Seattle until everyone moves out of juniors and into the NHL. Then, I'll try to apply for the first NHL job, but if I can't, then I'll go for an AHL job and go from there.

Coming up......the most exciting WJC i've seen.

[TurnerONU22]

2009-10 Midseason Report

We had a slow start to our first 10 games, going 5-5, but we really turned it on after that and put some streaks together and sit atop the US Division with a record of 28-13.

C Sanfred King is having an amazing season, with 32 goals and 37 assists in just 41 games, 3rd in goals, 6th in assists and 4th in points in the league. Our other biggest surprise is RW Fabricio Serna, our Mexican winger who has 21 goals, easily on pace to shatter the Seattle rookie record. We're seeing good contributions from the pairing of Justice and Cech, along with Travis Elkin establishing himself as a playmaker, averaging almost a point a game.

In October, we made a couple moves to improve the roster. LW Armand Pinard is an excellent two way player from Lethbridge, but it cost us a top-4 defender in Spenser Lockhart and a 5th round pick. Our other pickup came from Prince Albert as we picked up Jordan McCauley, an excellent two-way defenseman, but it cost us three mid round picks, along with a couple of decent prospects.

After the WJC was over, we made some moves right before the trading deadline, picking up some quality players. First, Moose Jaw expresses interest in RW Preston MacInnis, who has been stuck in Washington for us. We get three depth players for him, Aaron Manderville, Wade Roy, and Jarrid St. Laurent. These three guys are mostly along incase we have any injuries, and maybe one of these guys will flourish on our team.

To improve our defensive corps, we pick up Proulx Desormeaux, a stay-at-home d-man from Saskatoon, and we only had to give up Curtis Barbour, a Washington stalwart and a 5th round pick. Patrick Wiercoich is our other defensive pickup, costing us a 3rd round pick going to Medicine Hat.

Another pickup is RW Stacey Schwabe, a punshing forward who will help us get a little tougher. We got him, along with a 3rd round pick for D Rob Fleming, who is a good prospect, and a 5th round pick.

However, what I believe was our biggest pickup was RW Kory Palmateer, a former #2 pick from Regina, yet another high pick that fell out of favor there (Lenny Rooney was the other). We shipped them three solid prospects, that hadn't cracked our roster in Felice Nixon, Eric Clancy and Michael Bowler, a centerman and two defensemen. Palmateer will immediately find himself into the top six and he is only 17!

U.S. Division

Pos     Team                     GP     W      L      O-SL   Pct     GF   GA   Pts  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st     Seattle                  41     28     13     0      0.683   157  117  56   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd     Spokane                  41     23     15     3      0.598   145  135  49   
3rd     Portland                 39     18     17     4      0.513   134  132  40   
4th     Everett                  40     15     21     4      0.425   123  145  34   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5th     Tri-City                 37     13     18     6      0.432   126  150  32   

================================================================================================
 2009-10 Season Total Stats
================================================================================================

No   Name                     GP  G   A   P   +--  PIM  SOG  ShAv R 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
26   Baerg, Andrew            41  5   7   12  1    26   52   9.6  6.54 
14   Boyer, Jeremy            41  2   7   9   -1   4    31   6.5  6.51 
4    Desormeaux, Proulx       0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
20   Elkin, Travis            36  8   25  33  22   17   35   22.9 7.19 
6    Justice, Frank           41  6   26  32  15   61   57   10.5 7.61 
9    King, Sanfred            41  32  37  69  37   10   175  18.3 8.10 
18   Lalonde, Alan            34  4   5   9   -3   6    43   9.3  6.65 
57   Mandeville, Aaron        0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
57   Martinelli, Barry        39  4   17  21  17   89   58   6.9  7.10 
4    McCauley, Jordan         24  1   10  11  20   29   38   2.6  7.00 
29   Palmateer, Kory          0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
29   Pinard, Armand           33  9   16  25  14   55   89   10.1 7.24 
15   Prokopetz, Jared         23  3   5   8   1    2    17   17.6 6.57 
11   Richard, Dave            37  18  19  37  20   75   125  14.4 7.49 
46   Rondeau, Pierre-Luc      0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
33   Rooney, Lenny            25  0   3   3   0    0    0    -    7.44 
6    Roy, Wade                0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
35   Russell, Kealin          16  0   0   0   0    0    0    -    7.13 
19   Schwabe, Stacey          0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
88   Serna, Fabricio          41  21  15  36  11   10   165  12.7 7.41 
24   Severson, Kyle           36  7   5   12  -3   37   51   13.7 6.78 
18   St. Laurent, Jarrid      0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
25   Wiercoich, Patrick       0   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    ---- 
2    cech, Ales               38  7   28  35  13   22   131  5.3  7.61 

[TurnerONU22]

For the World Junior Championships, here are the FOFC'ers:

Sweden: G Daniel Gothe (3rd selection)
Slovakia: D Radovan Dusek (3rd)
Canada: G Nicolas Fillion (2nd) and RW John Williams (1st)
United States: LD Jeff Riddle (1st), C Colton Mayes (1st) and RW Owen Hunter Jr. (1st)

Gothe will be the starting goalie
Dusek will be the top D-man and captain
Fillion is the backup and Williams will play on the 4th line
Riddle is the top D-man and captain and Mayes and Hunter Jr. will play together on the first line

[TurnerONU22]

World Junior Championships 2009-10

Group A: Denmark, Slovenia, Sweden, U.S.A., Ukraine
Group B: Canada, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland

Day 1:

Group A: Swedes beat US 2-1 and Ukraine beats Slovenia 3-1

Gothe stops 26 of 27 shots and the Swedes get a goal with 5 minutes left in the 3rd period to win the game. Gothe gets an 8 rating and all 3 US guys end up with sevens, but no points.

Group B: Canada defeats Russia 5-3 and Hungary beats Slovakia 3-2

Williams has a 5 rating and only plays 8 minutes. Dusek has an 8 rating, puts in 25 minutes and ends up +1

Day 2:

Group A: Denmark beats Slovenia 3-1 and Ukraine upsets US 5-0

The US team was only down 1-0 with 15 minutes left, but gave up 4 goals in 8 minutes. Riddle put in 25 minutes and a -1. Mayes was alright with 22 minutes and a 0. Hunter Jr. had a disappointing effort, a 5 rating in 20 minutes with a 0.

Group B: Canada beats Slovakia 5-3 and the Swiss win 3-2 over Hungary

Canada gets up 3-0 early and controls the rest of the game. Williams only plays 9 minutes again, but Dusek plays very will for the Slovaks in the loss. He puts in 23 minutes and gets an assist, and is only a -1.

Day 3:

Group A: US beats Denmark 4-1 and Sweden beats Ukraine 2-1

A breakout day for the FOFC'ers. Hunter gets the US on the board first, and then five minutes later sets up Riddle, who sets up a teammate on the PP. Riddle scores the last goal, which is assisted by Hunter on the PP as well. Both end up w/3 points and +3 for Riddle and +2 for Hunter who is the first star and Riddle is the 2nd star. Mayes doesn't get any points, but is a +2.

Gothe's play allows the Swedes to get another third period goal for the win. He stops 27 of 28 shots to get Sweden its 2nd win.

Group B: Canada slips by the Swiss 4-3 and Russia beats Slovakia 4-2

Fillion gets a start in net, and after letting up an early goal, plays very well. He stops 36 of 39 shots in the game, making key saves in a 1 goal game. Williams plays 12 minutes and is a +1.

Dusek has a poor game as he ends up a -3. All 6 goals were scored in the third with the two Slovakian goals sandwiched around pairs of goals by the Russians.

Day 4:

Group A: Sweden beats Denmark 4-1 and US ties Slovenia 3-3

Gothe lets in a softie 2 mins in, but thats it for the rest of the game, stopping 21 of 22 shots.

Mayes gets on the board finally, scoring only 4 minutes in with an assist from Hunter. Slovenia scores a goal in the first, second and midway through the third to go up 3-1. With 5 minutes left, Jordan McCarthy (Brampton) scores a PP goal assisted by Mayes and Riddle to make it a one goal game. With 3 minutes left, on another power play, Mayes scores his 2nd of the night to tie the game up and salvage a point for the Americans.

Group B: Canada crushes Hungary 5-1 and Russia beats Switzerland 3-2

Williams puts in 4 minutes of time for the Canadians and that's it.

Day 5:

Group A: Ukraine ties Denmark 3-3 and Sweden crushes Slovenia 6-1

Gothe lets up another early goal and then gets down to business, stopping 16 of 17 shots.

Group B: Russia beats Hungary 2-1 and Switzerland defeats Slovakia 5-4

Dusek has another subpar game, logging 25 mins and ending up with a -2 as the Slovakian team blows a 2 goal lead in the third to lose.

[TurnerONU22]

************************************************************************************************
 World Junior Championships U-20
************************************************************************************************


================================================================================================
 2009-10 Tables
================================================================================================

Group A

Pos     Team                     GP     W      L      T      Pct     GF   GA   Pts  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st   PlSweden                   4      4      0      0      1.000   14   4    8    
2nd   PlUkraine                  4      2      1      1      0.500   12   6    5    
3rd   PlU.S.A.                   4      1      2      1      0.250   8    11   3    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4th   PlDenmark                  4      1      2      1      0.250   8    12   3    
5th   PlSlovenia                 4      0      3      1      0.000   6    15   1    


Group B

Pos     Team                     GP     W      L      T      Pct     GF   GA   Pts  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st   PlCanada                   4      4      0      0      1.000   17   10   8    
2nd   PlRussia                   4      3      1      0      0.750   12   9    6    
3rd   PlSwitzerland              4      2      2      0      0.500   13   13   4    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4th   PlHungary                  4      1      3      0      0.250   6    10   2    
5th   PlSlovakia                 4      0      4      0      0.000   11   17   0    

Two big things that I notice:

1. The US comeback against Slovenia and tie 3-3 is what got them into the playoffs, as that point tied them with Denmark, who they had defeated.

2. Switzerland's comeback against Slovakia was huge, as there would have been a three way tie for third, with each team going 1-1 against the other two. I don't know who would have came out the winner in that mess.

Playoffs:

Russia vs. US
Ukraine vs. Switzerland

Canada and Sweden have byes

[TurnerONU22]

Preliminary Round

Russia defeats US 4-2

The US gets on the board early, with the goal assisted by Hunter, 2 minutes in. The Russians fire right back, scoring 2 more in the first, and one in the second. The US keeps fighting in the 3rd, and with 5 minutes left, Hunter scores on the PP, assisted by Mayes and Riddle. However, this is where the road ends for the US as the Russians pot an empty netter to win 4-2.

Switzerland defeats Ukraine 3-1

[TurnerONU22]

Semifinal Round

Canada defeats Russia 4-3 in a shootout

Williams gets 10 minutes in this exciting game, where the Canadians had to score with 5 minutes left to send the game into overtime, where they scored 3 SO goals to 2 for Russia.

Sweden defeats Switzerland 4-1

Gothe and the Swedes continue their great play, as they crushed the Swiss, and Gothe played good as well, stopping 13 of 14 shots.

[TurnerONU22]

BREAKING NEWS

The starting Canadian goalie, Cory Kingston, has came down with a case of the flu, and will not be able to play in the final. The starter for the Canadian team is Nicolas Fillion, who has started one game in the WJC's. He will be going up against the best player of the tournament in the Swedish goalie Daniel Gothe, whose GAA for the tournament is 1.00.

In other news, Switzerland defeats Russia 4-0 for the bronze medal.

[TurnerONU22]

Final

Sweden vs. Canada

What a great matchup we have here, with the highest scoring team (17) in the round robin, Canada, going against the team allowing the least amount of goals (4).

The first period was a period of feeling out each other. Neither team did anything special and there was a lot of dumping and chasing. Each team had a PP, and did nothing with it. However, Canada went on the PP with 40 seconds left in the period, so they have a carryover. Both goalies look good so far, making key saves. Shots are 11-10 in favor of Canada

The second period saw Canada on the PP and they went to work fast. They set two men up in front of the goal to screen Daniel Gothe and it worked, as Chad Suer scored from a shot from the point that Gothe never saw. With the 1-0, they kept the pressure on for most of the second, putting 15 shots on the board. However, Gothe stopped them all. Shots are 26-18 in favor of Canada.

Going into the third, Canada started to play a conservative game, clogging up the neutral zone and forcing Sweden to have to make some plays. Sweden was able to break this during the middle of the period, and even managed a breakaway, but Nicolas Fillion was up to the task. The Swedes started firing everything at Fillion, but it did not work. With two minutes left, the Swedes went on the PP and twenty seconds in, they got a 5-3. They pulled their goalie to make it 6-3, and had 10 shots in the next 1:40, but Fillion made spectacular save one after another, having to pull out some awesome glovework to lead the Canadians to a WJC Championship!

Canada 1-0 Sweden

1st Star: G Nicolas Fillion - 38 saves on 38 shots
2nd Star: D Chad Suer - GWG
3rd Star: G Daniel Gothe - 32 saves on 33 shots

What an amazing game, and truly one of the best goaltending battles I've seen. Lets hope that both Fillion and Gothe will stick around for one more year and have a rematch.

[duff88]

Originally Posted by TurnerONU22

Final

Sweden vs. Canada

What a great matchup we have here, with the highest scoring team (17) in the round robin, Canada, going against the team allowing the least amount of goals (4).

The first period was a period of feeling out each other. Neither team did anything special and there was a lot of dumping and chasing. Each team had a PP, and did nothing with it. However, Canada went on the PP with 40 seconds left in the period, so they have a carryover. Both goalies look good so far, making key saves. Shots are 11-10 in favor of Canada

The second period saw Canada on the PP and they went to work fast. They set two men up in front of the goal to screen Daniel Gothe and it worked, as Chad Suer scored from a shot from the point that Gothe never saw. With the 1-0, they kept the pressure on for most of the second, putting 15 shots on the board. However, Gothe stopped them all. Shots are 26-18 in favor of Canada.

Going into the third, Canada started to play a conservative game, clogging up the neutral zone and forcing Sweden to have to make some plays. Sweden was able to break this during the middle of the period, and even managed a breakaway, but Nicolas Fillion was up to the task. The Swedes started firing everything at Fillion, but it did not work. With two minutes left, the Swedes went on the PP and twenty seconds in, they got a 5-3. They pulled their goalie to make it 6-3, and had 10 shots in the next 1:40, but Fillion made spectacular save one after another, having to pull out some awesome glovework to lead the Canadians to a WJC Championship!

Canada 1-0 Sweden

1st Star: G Nicolas Fillion - 38 saves on 38 shots
2nd Star: D Chad Suer - GWG
3rd Star: G Daniel Gothe - 32 saves on 33 shots

What an amazing game, and truly one of the best goaltending battles I've seen. Lets hope that both Fillion and Gothe will stick around for one more year and have a rematch.

Yesss!