Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Odd's and Ends

Fans like to argue until they are blue in the face on which conference is better, the East or the West.

Statistically speaking the East scores more goals, while the West is a touch more defensive.

The Eastern Conference has scored 2198 goals this season, while the West has 1816 goals. The means the East has scored 382 more goals this season.
The Central division scores the most goals (1108), while the BC division scores the fewest (903).

11 of the league's top 20 scorers reside in the East.

Defensively it's a different story.

The West has allowed 320 fewer goals this season than it's Eastern cousins. The West has allowed a total of 1847 goals as compared to the East's 2167.

If you are looking for less than stellar defense, check out the Eastern division which has allowed a league high 1244 goals.
Surprisingly the U.S division has allowed the least with 899.

Game preparations is always a part of what a broadcaster does. Here are some of my findings;

The Kelowna Rockets are the only team in the W.H.L without a european born players.

Everett Silvertips forward Kyle Beach is the second cousin to Oakland A's pitcher Rich Harden. Harden was born in Victoria, BC while Beach was born in Kelowna, BC.

Chilliwack Bruins forward Mark Santorelli was originally drafted by the Tri City Americans in the 6th round in 2003. The Am's took Jonathon Toews with the first pick that year, but elected to go the NCAA route.

Up until Kamloops forward Reid Jorgenson went for surgery on his elbow, he had scored 28 of his 39 goals at home. Man could they use him in the 1st round of the playoffs with that type of home ice success.

Speaking of injured players, Garet Hunt had 16 fighting majors this season until be broke his leg in a game against Kamloops. Hunt fought 12 times at home, and just 4 times on the road.

Conversely Blazers tough guy Matt Kassian has fought 18 times this season, with 9 of his tilts on opposition ice. Kassian had 19 fighting majors all of last season.

James McEwan of the Rockets leads the league in fighting majors with 24. McEwan has 12 of those fights on the road.

6 out of the last 9 seasons has had the W.H.L champion come out of the Western Conference.

Rockets rookie Evan Bloodoff is the 2nd youngest player in the W.H.L this season.
Seattle's Sena Acolatse is the youngest, just 7 days younger than Bloodoff.

One other note:

Two former Rockets were traded at the NHL deadline today.

Scott Parker is back with the Colorado Avalanche again after spending the past couple of seasons with San Jose.
Parker was orginally drafted by the Av's in the first round (20th overall) in 1998.
Joe Kwiatkowski is on the move.
The Florida Panthers dealt him to Pittsburgh for a 4th round pick.
And what Rocket from the 2005 Memorial Cup team in London was traded today in the N.H.L?
Mike Wall was shipped from Anahiem to Colorado.
Wall was a backup to Kristofer Westblom at the 2005 M.C.

1 comment:

Regan Bartel said...

hocus lopez, I talked with Bruce Hamilton about making euro scouting a top priority and he is going to the under 18 World Championships overseas in April to see what he can find.
Last time he was there he selected Tomas Slovak, who was a great junior player.
Slovak had 18 goals and 53 assists for 71 pts in 61 games in 2002-2003.
Here's hoping he can find another one!