AltaSioux

Update on Saturday night games Okotoks beats Olds 6-2 to stave off elimination. Down 3-2 with Game 6 tomorrow night. Knight has 2G, Rodwell no pts or PIM Camrose loses 3-1 to Brooks to be down 3-2 with Game 6 tomorrow in Camrose. MacWilliam no pts or PIM

AJHL PLAYOFF UPDATE Camrose Kodiaks win Game 3 at home beating Brooks 5-3 but trail series 2 to 1. MacWilliam 2PIM Olds Grizzlies take 2-1 lead over Okotoks with 6-5 win. Knight 2G and 2PIM; Rodwell plays but no pts or PIM Grande Prairie series with Sherwood Park tied at 2 each as SP wins 4-2. Rowney wth 1G in a losign cause

AJHL Playoffs Update Sunday Games Olds beats Okotoks 5-2 in Game 1 - Knight has 1G and 2 PIM in losing cause; Rowney plays but no pts or penalties Brooks beats Camrose 7-2 in Game 1 - MacWilliam with 4PIM for Kodiaks Sherwood Park beats Grande Prairie 5-4 in Game 2 to tie series at 1 game each - Rowney with 1A for GP

Grande Prairie opens second round play-off series with Sherwood Park with a 4-2 victory on home ice Saturday night. UND recruit Carter Rowney pots a goal.

FOUR OF FIVE SIOUX RECRUITS FROM AJHL STILL IN THE PLAYOFFS Only Aaron Dell's team is no longer in the hunt for the AJHL Championship. Carter Rowney and the Grande Prairie Storm kick-off their best of seven North Division Semi-Final tonight at home against the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Storm also have 3 more NCAA commits (Fritz - Ohio State; Raubenheimer - Nebraska Omaha; Robinson -Quinnipiac) in the line-up while Crusaders have 5 (Kunyk and Yaremchuk - Alaska Fairbanks; Kleebaum - Princeton; Rollheiser - Quinnipiac; Way - Alabama Huntsville). Corban Knight and Derek Rodwell lead the Okotoks Oilers against Olds Grizzlies in South Division semi-final starting tomorrow in Okotoks. Oilers have 6 more NCAA commits (Hudkins - Yale; Daigle and Cahill - Alaska Fairbanks; Craig -Cornell; Matthews - Niagara; Sproule - Alaska Anchorage). Olds has Wade Bergman (UMD recruit), Matt Tinordi (RPI) and Brance Orban (Bemidji). Captain Andrew MacWilliam and his Camrose Kodiaks start the other South Division semi-final against league leaders Brooks Bandits in Brooks on Sunday. Kodiaks also have Dylan Olsen (UMD recruit) and Shawn Ostrow (Denver recruit) on their roster. Brooks has leading scorer and league Co-MVP Jarret Granberg (Alaska Fairbanks). Photos of the ND recruits in action can be found on the Grande Prairie and Camrose websites (links below). Rowney wears #17 for GP while MacWilliam wears #2 and the "C" for Camrose. Oilers website link is below too but no photos could be found. Shortcut to: http://www.camrosekodiaks.com/ Shortcut to: http://www.camrosekodiaks.com/2008season/w...yoff-03-Canucks Shortcut to: http://www.gpstorm.com/association.aspx?p=...yview&id=39 Shortcut to: http://www.okotoksoilers.com/index.cfm?page=currentnews

Aaron's Dell's Calgary Canucks lost to Andrew MacWilliam's Camrose Kodiaks 3-2 last night and lost the play-off series 3 games to 1. Canucks were down 2-0 at start of third period when MacWilliam got a 5 minute major and game misconduct for interference. Open-ice shoulder check on Canucks forward who had the puck between his feet. Border line interference but ref seemed to have been more influenced by the force of the hit as the Canuck lost a couple of teeth and some blood. Canucks scored one on the PP and one more with 90 seconds left in the 3rd to tie it. Kodiaks win the game and the series with a tip in of a cross-ice pass with 27 seconds left. Dell had no chance on the winning goal and stopped 26 of 29 shots. Dell kept Canucks in each of the 4 games, facing an average of 40 shots per game, while his teammates could only muster just over 20 per game against Kodiaks goalie. MacWilliam must have averaged well over 30 minutes of ice time per game (other than last night) and was a defensive force but chipped in with a few assists and a number of timely rushes. Kodiaks start their second round playoff series on the weekend against either Brooks Bandits or Okotoks Oilers (Knight and Rodwell).

Spoke to some AJHL observers last weekend (not Camrose Kodiak fans) who said they thought MacWilliam was "robbed" when it came to league MVP and best D-man award as "he has carried the Kodiaks on his back all season". Co-MVPs (one of whom also won D-man award) played on teams that won North and South regular season titles while MacWilliam's team finished 5th out of 8. Age old question of whether MVP is truly the player who is most valuable to his team. Kodiaks dominated AJHL last year with Colborne (now at DU) and Connolly (UMD) leading the way - neither of whom received MVP or other individual awards at end of season. Hard to believe though that MacWilliam left off All-League team at end of season when he was only D-man voted unanimously by AJHL coaches to South All Star team several weeks ago, captained Team Canada West at World Junior A Tournament and named to Tournament All Star Team (with Cichy). ________________________ All 5 ND recruits in action last night. Dell and Calgary Canucks get first win in series over MacWilliam and Camrose. Canucks outshot 47-20 but Dell stands tall in net. Game 4 of best of 5 tonight. Knight and Rodwell and Okotoks mates beat Canmore 6-5 to sweep series. Knight with 1G and 1A and Rodwell with 1A. Rowney and Grande Prairie beat Lloydminster 4-3 to win series 3 to 1. Rowney has 1G and 1A.

Link to photos from Camrose Kodiaks website of last nights playoff game in Calgary. MacWilliam wearing #2 and the "C" on the red team and Dell in goal for the white team. Kodiaks all sporting their traditional playoff blonde dye-jobs. http://www.camrosekodiaks.com/2008season/w...off-01-Canucks#

AJHL Playoffs Monday Night Rowney only ND recruit in action tonight. He scores 2 goals as Grande Prairie beats Lloydminster 4-1 to lead series 2 games to 1

More AJHL Playoff Results from Sunday Camrose beats Canucks 4-3 in OT and now leads best of 5 series 2-0. MacWilliam with 3 assists for Kodiaks. Dell stops 34 of 38 Kodiak shots. Okotoks beats Canmore 5-0 and leads their series 2-0. Knight with 2 goals and Rodwell with 1 assist Next games on Tuesday

Way to go boys!!!!!! Great win, particularly with the ref trying to hand it to CC in the 3rd period.

AJHL Playoffs begin this weekend - all first round series are best of 5 Okotoks beats Canmore 3-1 in Game 1 - Rodwell SHG and 2 PIM; Knight plays but not on score sheet Camrose beats Calgary Canucks 3-2 in OT in Game 1 - MacWilliam 4 PIM; Dell stops 31 of 34 and gets Home Team Star Grande Prairie loses 3-1 ot Lloydminster so series tied 1 game each - Rowney plays but not on score sheet

Whats with the KFGO broadcast? They run two minutes of play by play then have 4 minutes of ads and a couple of minutes of silence!! If I wanted to buy a mattress, get flood insurance or quietly contemplate my navel I wouldn't be sitting at my computer trying to listen to the hockey game!!

Thanks for the tip. Its working. GO SIOUX!!! Just in time to hear CC get a powerplay. Hold em off boys!

Same problem here in Canada too. Very frustrating.

Kodiaks left 5 regulars, including MacWilliam and Olsen, at home and played rookies and affiliates in a meaningless game in Brooks. Resting for playoffs which start next Friday. Listening to Kodiaks - Canucks on internet now (possible prelude to Round 1 playoff match-up) and both MacWilliam and Olsen are playing with Dell in net for Canucks (3-2 Camrose at end of 2). Okotoks (Knight and Rodwell) idle tonight and Grande Prairie (Rowney) playing Drayton Valley.

You're definitely right when you say its hard to judge. You will hear very broad generalizations made about both the BCHL and the AJHL (just as you hear them about the WCHA and Hockey East). Some say that the skill level is higher in the BCHL and that the AJHL is a more physical league. Try telling that to Joe Colborne and Brett Hextall. Its like saying that the WCHA players aren't as skilled as Hockey East and that HE players aren't as tough as WCHA. You're correct when you say that the top end kids (the ones that get scholarships) are interchangeable. You're not correct when you say that the kids are forced to play in their hometown leagues. There are players from across Canada (and the U.S) in both leagues. For what its worth, the AJHL champion has prevailed over the BCHL champion in the Doyle Cup over the last few years. Again, for what its worth, I thought the AJ players on Team Canada West generally performed better than the BC players at the last World Junior A Challenge in November. As for comparisons to the USHL are concerned, I have only seen players from that league at the last two World Junior A Challenge tournaments. I wasn't that impressed in 2007 but sure was last year (in particular with Kristo, Cichy and Mike Lee). Regardless of the league these recruits come from, what truly counts is how well they will do when they put the Fighting Sioux uniform on. Judging from what I've seen at the rink and what I've read on this site, I'm very impressed with the crop of recruits that UND has assembled.

In my earlier post I messed up on the SOG in the Canucks-Kodiaks game on Monday. Dell turned aside 34 of 38 shots. His teammates only mustered 17 against Flette the Kodiaks goalie. Late night posting is prone to errors I see.

Saw the Canucks-Kodiaks game this afternoon. Impressive display by Kodiaks after losing 6-5 to Canucks on Friday. Dell played better giving up 5 on Friday in 46 shots than he did giving up 4 today on only 17 shots. Kodiaks played a controlled game and kept out of the penalty box. Olsen played a solid game for Kodiaks as did MacWilliam who showed no signs of the effects of a nasty hit from behind (according to Kodiaks broadcasters) the night before that caused him to miss a few shifts. There had to have been 30 scouts at the game today - presumably scouting Olsen. Good article on him and MacWilliam just posted on AJHL website. See link below. Canucks and Kodiaks do battle again next Saturday and could very likely meet in first round of playoffs starting Feb 24. Okotoks (Knight) will probably play Canmore Eagles in first round if they can't catch Brooks for first place in South Division. Grande Prairie (Rowney) will finish second in North and will play Lloydminster in first round. More opportunities for the 4 (or maybe 5) future Fighting Sioux to show their stuff. All games are broadcast (audio only) on internet and you can find broadcasts by going to "Schedule" and "Internet Broadcast Links" on AJHL website. Alberta time is one hour behind North Dakota. http://ajhl.ca/news/2009/02/14/defensive-a...eading-kodiaks/

Should also comment on Dell's last win. Yes, he allowed 5 goals but he also made 41 saves and was key to the Canucks victory. I saw him play in the AJHL All-Star game in which he was the only goalie with a shut-out period in a 14-13 offensive shinny game. He's the real deal...I mean Dell.

As a new poster I have noticed that monitoring junior league play of recruits seems to consist primarily of posting statistics. This is understandable I suppose given that few posters appear to be able to actually see these recruits in action. I enjoy reading the rare reports from posters who have seen the boys in action. I have been fortunate to see quite a few AJHL games this season in which Dell, MacWilliam and Knight have played. MacWilliam doesn't put up the scoring numbers or have GAA and save % that Dell has to act as indicators of how well he is doing. His type of game doesn't come across easily by looking at box scores but I have been able to find some info that paints a more complete picture for those who haven't seen him play. He's got good numbers for a D-man with 7 goals and 18 assists. More importantly he leads his team with +31 (next closest is +15) and has been named the Kodiaks Player of the Game 10 times this season (most recently on Feb 13). He's had a number of fighting majors but the box scores show that he has not had one instigating penalty. His most recent fight last week was against a Brooks Bandit player who had speared one of the Kodiaks the period before and had later thrown an elbow into the face of another Kodiak re-breaking his jaw (the victim was playing his first game after missing 30 games with a broken jaw and was wearing a full cage). What shows in the box score is a fighting major but what doesn't show is MacWilliam delivering a message to the other team on behalf of his fallen teammate. The box scores also don't show numbers of hits. I'd be willing to bet that MacWilliam leads the league in that category. I'm attaching link to Kodiaks stats that shows more than on the AJHL website. http://www.camrosekodiaks.com/2008season/kodiakstats.pdf