Royal Bank Cup 09 Team Comparison

The 2009 Royal Bank Cup in Victoria, British Columbia is fast approaching and the 5 teams who will be competing for the Championship have earned their spots in the tournament.

The teams who have qualified are the host Victoria Grizzlies, the BCHL and Doyle Cup champion Vernon Vipers, the OJHL and Dudley Hewitt Cup champion Kingston Voyageurs, the MJAHL and Fred Page Cup winning Summerside Western Capitals and last but not least the defending Royal Bank Cup Champion and current SJHL and ANAVET Cup winners, the Humboldt Broncos.

Victoria Grizzlies: The Grizzlies are the host team for the 2009 Royal Bank Cup but be warned: These Grizzlies have bite. They finished 16 points ahead of the Cowichan Valley Capitals for first place in the Coastal Conference - Island with a record of 43-13-1-3. They also ended the regular season on a 9-1 run in their last 10 games. They earned a first round bye in the playoffs before edging the Capitals 4 games to 3 in the 2nd round to advance to the league semi finals against the Powell River Kings. The Kings eliminated Victoria in 7 games giving the RBC Hosts a nice long rest to get all their boys healthy. The Grizzlies offence is lead by forward Trevor Hertz, who had 36 goals and 36 assists in 64 regular season games and forward Justin Courtnall who had 22 goals and 41 assists. The main set up man on the team is forward Derek Lee, who only had 12 goals, but did register a team leading 47 assists in the regular season. Another key player offensively is Jonathan Milhouse, who had a shortened season due to injury, but did average a point per game in the regular season collecting 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points in 42 games. Milhouse also led the team in scoring during the post season with 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points in 14 games. Defensively its Lee Baldwin and Shawn Stuart who anchor the blueline for the Grizz. Both Baldwin and Stuart have some offensive upside to go with their defensive prowess. In net, the veteran Anthony Grieco will likely get all the starts in the tournament although rookie netminder Alex Peck is no slouch either, winning 16 games while losing only 6. Grieco had a 2.53 GAA in the regular season to Peck's 2.69. Their save percentages were nearly identical however, with Grieco's being .947 while Pecks was .935.

Vernon Vipers: The Vernon Vipers finished the regular season with a record of 42-14-1-3, good enough for first place in the BCHL's Interior Conference (2nd overall to the RBC Host Victoria Grizzlies). The Vipers then battled their way to the BCHL finals where they defeated the Powell River Kings 4 games to 2 to earn a berth in the Doyle Cup against the AJHL champion Grande Prairie Storm. The Vipers easily disposed of the Storm, sweeping them in 4 straight to give themselves some time to heal some battle wounds for the Royal Bank Cup. Offensively the Vipers are led by the Jones brothers, Connor and Kellen. The twins led the team in playoff scoring and would have been one/two in regular season scoring had Kellen not missed 9 games. Regular season wise Connor had 19 goals and 41 assists while Kellen had a respectable 15 goals and 37 assists. Two other players to watch are Braden Pimm (24 Goals, 30 Assists) and the only member of the 25/25 club, the rookie Mike Collins (25 Goals, 25 Assists). Defensively the Vipers are led by Kyle Bigos and Cameron Brodie. Both are capable of playing very solid defence as well as occasionally chipping in offensively (Bigos had 8 goals while Brodie had 6). One knock for both players is, they tend to take penalties as both hit triple digits in PIMs with Bigos picking up a team leading 126 and Brodie registering 109. 1988 born Andrew Hammond is expected to start the games in the RBC in net as he had a nice 27-12-1 record in the regular season before playing every game in the playoffs. Hammond had respectible regular season stats with a 2.30 GAA and a .912 save percentage before blowing those number out of the water in the playoffs where he had a 1.50 GAA and an outstanding .946 save percentage.

Kingston Voyageurs: At the end of the regular season the Voyageurs had a 36-9-1-3 record, good enough for tops in Ruddock Division and 5th overall in the 37 team OJHL. Kingston then breezed through the playoffs, losing only 3 games in 3 series before meeting up with the defending OPHL champion Oakville Blades, who the Voyageurs disposed of in 6 games. The Voyageurs then played in a mini tournament for the Dudley Hewitt Cup. Kingston's only defeat in the round robin portion of the tournament was a 1-0 shutout at the hands of the Fort Williams Northstars, but due to their 12 goals for and 1 goal against, the Voyageurs still won the round robin and earned an automatic berth into the finals where they would meet the Northstars. Kingston gained a measure of revenge as they defeated Fort William 4-1 to earn a spot in the Royal Bank Cup. The Voyageurs are offense by platoon. In the regular season Kingston had 10 players with 20 or more goals (one just missed with 19). Players to watch for the Voyageurs would be top scorer Dustin Walsh who came over from the Trenton Hurricanes when the team folded and tallied 10 goals and 11 assists in 12 games with Kingston (22 Goals, 20 Assists for Trenton), Brock Higgs (28 G, 30 Assists), Ben Power (22 Goals, 36 Assists) and "The Wildman" Mike Farrell (19 Goals, 38 Assists and 149 PIM). Defensively the Voyageurs are led by Stephane Chabot who had 2 goals and 31 assists in the regular season before upping his offensive skills in the post season where he had 3 goals and 19 assists for 22 points in just 25 games. In net Shawn Sirman got all the starts in the post season where he compiled a 19-6 record with 3 shutouts and a 2.41 GAA to go along with his .932 Save Percentage. Sirman also seen the brunt of the work in the regular season where he collected a 21-5-0-3 record with a 2.36 GAA and .926 save percentage.

Summerside Western Capitals: The Capitals finished atop the MJAHL standings in the regular season with a 39-13-0-2 record. Summerside coasted through the playoffs, sweeping their first two opponents before dumping the Truro Bearcats in the finals in 5 games thereby giving them a spot in the Fred Page Cup. The team they swept in semi final round of the MJAHL playoffs and host of the Fred Page Cup, Dieppe Commandos went 3-0 leaving a 3 way tie for 2nd place at 1-2 between Summerside and the rest of the competition. Due to goals for and against Summerside finished the round robin in 2nd place giving them a semi final game against the Pembroke Lumber Kings who Summerside defeated 4-3 in OT in their round robin game. The Capitals beat Pembroke 4-1 before handing Dieppe a 3-2 loss in OT in the finals to win the Fred Page Cup and qualify for the Royal Bank Cup. Offensively the Cap's are led by Brad Smith (38 Goals, 46 Assists), Chad Locke (34 Goals, 42 Assists), Brett Gallant (24 Goals, 49 Assists), Mike MacIsaac (36 Goals, 31 Assists in just 36 games) and the set up man Spencer Corcoran (9 Goals, 58 Assists). In the post season they all kept their scoring going with Lock and MacIsaac each averaging over 2 points per game. Defensively the Capitals are led by Corcoran. When it comes to offense from the back end all they have is Corcoran, then the offensive numbers drop off the table as the second highest scoring d-man was Parker Deighan who had 9 goals and 14 assists for 23 points (Corcoran had 67 points). Alex Dupuis is the man between the pipes for Summerside. In the regular season Dupuis had a record of 20-10-5, with 4 shutouts, a GAA of 2.61 and a save percentage of .912. Dupuis picked his play up in the second season however, as his record was a stellar 12-1 with a GAA of 2.31 and a save percentage of .921.

Humboldt Broncos: The Broncos ran rampant over the SJHL for the 3rd straight season compiling an outstanding record of 45-8-1-2, good enough for first place by a wide margin in both the Itech Conference and the SJHL. The Broncos had one scare in the SJHL playoffs when the lowly Battlefords Stars took them to 6 games, but then it was coasting as they ousted the Flin Flon Bombers in 4 before disposing of the Sherwood Conference champion Melville Millionaires in 5. The win meant Humboldt would meet up with the MJHL powerhouse Portage Terriers in the ANAVET Cup for the second consectutive season (last season Humboldt handed the Terriers a 4 games to none setback). Humboldt lost the first game then won the 2nd before dropping back to back games at home to put them in their biggest hole in their playoff run, down 3-1. The Broncos stormed out of the gates in game 5, scoring 6 goals in the first period enroute to a 12-2 shellacking, a game that would proove to be the turning point in the series. The Broncos went on to win games 6 and 7 in Portage in overtime to advance to the Royal Bank Cup and give them a shot at defending their title. Regular season wise the Broncos offense began on the back end, with "The Little General" Brady Wacker tallying 17 goals and 65 assists to lead the Broncos in scoring. Another defenseman, Tanner Vandesype had 22 goals and 42 assists while offensive production from the forwards came from a few players, these including the Schroeder twins Scott (27 Goals, 39 Assists) and Steve (27 Goals, 30 Assists) and Matthew Kirzinger, who missed nearly half the season due to injury (Kirzinger had 29 Goals and 23 Assists in 39 games). Other players to watch are Tory Allan (28 Goals, 25 Assists), Nick Kalnicki (18 Goals, 27 Assists) and Spencer Braaten (21 Goals, 18 assists). Defensively the Broncos are a powerhouse, with the likes of Wacker and Vandesype being able to both score at will and defend their own end easily. Kyle Cowan, Garrett Leedahl and Russian born Dimitri Levin are also solid on the blue line. In net Andrew Bodnarchuk was the man the Broncos went with in the regular season as he compiled a 25-5-0-2 record with 6 shutouts a 2.23 GAA and a .922 save percentage. Mathieu LaRochelle was acquired at the trade deadline to add some experience for the goaltending situation which payed off dearly as Bodnarchuk went down with an injury in the SJHL semi finals against Flin Flon. LaRochelle stepped up and won the Credit Union Cup before standing tall in all 7 games in the ANAVET Cup to lead the Broncos to a Royal Bank Cup berth. In the SJHL playoffs Bodnarchuk had a 7-0 record with a 1.30 GAA and a .950 save percentage while LaRochelle had a respectible 5-3 record with a 1.96 GAA and .934 save percentage.


Teams Goals For and Against Regular Season

Humboldt Broncos (West): 249 GF, 130 GA
Victoria Grizzlies (Host): 237 GF, 159 GA
Vernon Vipers (Pacific): 223GF, 145 GA
Summerside Western Capitals (East): 249 GF, 149 GA
Kingston Voyageurs (Central): 256 GF, 136 GA