When it comes to the Western Hockey League season, the word “grind” can be used to describe the winter long race to the Memorial Cup.
From the hours on the ice training to the time in the gym and the dozens of hours spent on a bus, it’s truly exactly what it is.
It takes a special person to have success in this league and it takes a ton of special people in order for the team in general to have success.
For the Winnipeg ICE, things couldn’t be much harder as far as travel. When you look at their proximity to different rinks, their closest opponent is the Brandon Wheat Kings and that’s a short two-hour jaunt down the Trans-Canada Highway.
After that, Winnipeg has to travel six hours to find their next closest opponent, the Regina Pats. From there, it only gets farther and farther. They’ll even have a nine-hour drive later this season for one single game against Saskatoon, which is kind of crazy if you think about it. Let’s not forget about the trips down to British Columbia and south of the border as well.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself now. That’s then and we’re talking about the now. When it comes to tough trips, it didn’t take Winnipeg long to get the feel for one. Over the weekend, they played Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and Regina. Without having to step on the ice which is exhausting enough, Winnipeg spent more than 13 hours on the bus traveling to each game combined and that included 1286 kilometres. Once they hit the ice, Winnipeg had to play three extremely tough teams. Well, they earned five-of-six points in that trip.
Winnipeg can’t use their exhausting travel schedule as an excuse, but it’s realistic to say it’s one of the toughest in the Western Hockey League. Through one weekend, however, using it as an excuse is the last thing on their minds after the success they had.
“I really liked our compete level from start to finish,” said James Patrick, head coach after the team’s 3-2 overtime loss against Prince Albert on Sunday night. Quotes courtesy of winnipegice.ca. “Prince Albert is a good heavy team and a lot of their players experienced the championship last season. I like the way we competed and responded.”
The team, no doubt had a great weekend and they’re off to a great start this season with a 3-1-1 record. But, they can’t afford to stay in what is now the past, as they continue their regular season coming up this weekend.
Just like last weekend, the ICE are in for another doozy of a weekend. Not for the fact that they’ll be on the road at all, but their opponents that they will face. On Friday, Winnipeg welcomes Edmonton to the Wayne Fleming Arena. That’s followed by a date with Bowen Byram and the Vancouver Giants one night later on Saturday, also at the Wayne Fleming Arena, the home of the ICE for the next two seasons.
Edmonton is 2-1-1 this season while Vancouver is 3-2. Both teams are projected to be near the top of the league standings. Just like Saskatoon and Prince Albert were over the weekend and Winnipeg earned three-of-four points in those two games.
So that begs the question, what does Winnipeg need to do to win this weekend?
Foreign Domination:
We’ve already talked about them, but only in-game recaps and I haven’t really had the chance to go in length about Winnipeg’s 2019 CHL Import Draft selections. Michal Teply and Nino Kinder have been nothing short of exceptional this season.
Let’s start with Nino. It’s rare to get a hat-trick in a game these days. It’s even more rare to get a hat-trick in a period and that’s exactly what Kinder did. In the 7-6 win against Saskatoon, Kinder scored three goals in the second period. He now has five points.
Teply doesn’t just lead Winnipeg with seven points,, he’s also fifth in WHL scoring this season. We must mention that Justin Sourdif from Vancouver has eight points and he’s heading to Winnipeg this weekend.
But, let’s go back to Winnipeg’s Imports. Heading into the season, Jake Heisinger with the ICE had high expectations for both Nino and Michal. It’s safe to say that with four regular-season games under their belt, they’ve done nothing but prove that Jake was correct with his predictions.
“We got two players that we’re pretty excited about. For the Import Draft, a lot of time is spent gathering as much information as you can, watching video, and talking to people you know and trust around different levels of hockey,” added Heisinger. “Overall, we got two guys that we expect to be good players for the ICE going forward.”
Special teams:
On their 21 opportunities, Winnipeg has scored five times. That isn’t a great number but it’s still 23.8% which is 10th in the league, so not bad overall. On the penalty kill, things plain and simple haven’t been top-notch so far. The team is 21st in the league at 61.1%. At the end of the day, though, they’re winning hockey games and that’s what matters. In their two losses, the team went just 4-for-7 on the penalty kill.
With a Vancouver team that is fourth in the league on the power play with a 31.6%, if the ICE do take penalties against them, things certainly won’t be easy. Edmonton is only 11.1% on the power play so far, so there isn’t much to talk about when it comes to that.
Matthew Savoie watch:
Is he one of the biggest things in junior hockey? I don’t know if I’d go that far, but everyone does seem to talk about him. He’s played in two games with the big club so far. Of course, he will also see plenty of ice time with the Rink Hockey Academy Prep team this season. He did over the weekend and his stats were nothing short of what we expect. In three games he had four goals and 12 points overall. That’s an average of four points-per-game. I’ll leave it at that while you answer the question of is he the biggest thing around the young hockey world right now?
ICE chips:
At the end of the day, Winnipeg is off to a great start (3-1-1). 63 more games are on the regular-season docket and that begins this Friday against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Can they continue to win games early in the season?
- If Teply and Kinder continue their stellar play.
- If Connor McClennon continues to grow and produce. He’s got four points in five games so far.
- If Carson Lambos continues with his solid rookie campaign. Two goals against Regina over the weekend.
Many other players have done a great job so far, but above are a few that have caught my eye so far. Can a new group catch my eye this weekend? Tune in next Tuesday to find out!
