Most Dedicated Player – Don McNabb Memorial Trophy

Michael Perry of the Fort McMurray Oil Barons has been nominated as the Most Dedicated Player in the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the 2008-2009 Season.  The Don McNabb Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the player judged the most dedicated to his team.

20 year old forward Michael Perry recorded 40 points for the Oil Barons this season, 5th in team scoring.  Perry is in his fourth season with the Oil Barons, appearing in 195 regular season games and 43 playoff games during his career to date.  Perry has recorded 100 points in an Oil Barons jersey during his time in the AJHL.  Perry also played two games as an affiliate player with the Oil Barons in the 2004-2005 season.

Perry is the 5th player in the history of the Oil Barons to receive the Don McNabb Memorial Trophy.  Ron Meyers of the Lloydminster Bobcats was awarded the Don McNabb Memorial Trophy as the League’s Most Dedicated Player for the 2007-08 AJHL Season.

The Oil Barons are now coming from behind after dropping Game 1 5-3 in Bonnyville.

The MOB came out and dominated the first period but were unable to put a puck past a scrambling Tyler Pugh. The Pontiacs were able to strike about mid-way through the first period on a questionable 5 on 3. The Barons were going to get the original penalty on a hook to Dave Carr. Then Trevor Smyth hammered his man at the blueline with a clean check…they Bonnyville player (Belyk or Isley) got back up then gave Smyth a shot, Smyth fired one back and ended up getting the only penalty in the scrum…..which put the MOB down two men and Bonnyville buried one. Trailing 1-0 after one the Barons probably deserved a little better as the Pontiacs had 6 of their 10 shots on the power-play….even strength the Barons forecheck was too much.

The second period proved to be what the Oil Barons have had to deal with all season….a couple of mental mistakes and all of sudden it’s 4-0 for the Pontiacs.

The MOB once again turned it on the 3rd period and outscored the Pontiacs 3-1 but it wasn’t enough and Bonny went on to grab the 5-3 victory in Game 1.

BRAD STEBNER:

Oil Barons defenseman Brad Stebner had to be helped off the ice and immediately taken to the hospital after being the recipient of a slew foot from Pontiacs forward Greg Hennessey. After getting a look at the tape…it looks as though their may have been a butt-end from Hennessey as well.

The tape has been submitted to the league and Hennessey will most likely be suspended.

This sad thing about this….the officials didn’t see the play and there was no penalty as none of the three stripes on the ice were paying attention….pretty sad to see a play…as vicious as it was go uncalled. Those are the worst missed calls….how embarrassing for the ref to likely have a suspension handed out on a play that you didn’t even call a penalty on.

Stebner will not play in game 2…..joining Jordan Berk on the sidelines. Essentially the Barons will head into Game 2 without 2 of their top 3 defenseman which puts a lot of pressure and the majority of the workload on Kyle Johnson.

This is essentially the equivalent of the Pontiacs playing with Seigo and Register on the backend.

Steedsman Scores:

After going over 40 games without a goal in the regular season Kris Steedsman buried the 3rd goal of the game for the Barons. In fact he caught me so off guard that I can’t even remember what I said….yes I blacked out when Steedsman fired that puck home.

Legatto Looks Good:

He was beaten five times but Steven Legatto played pretty solid in net for the MOB. A a huge save in the first 3 minutes….the only goal Lego might like to have back would be a backhander by Isley which made it 3-0 for the Pontiacs.

NOTES:

The MOB impressed the hell out of me in the first and third periods of the game. Especially the first…they showed that if they can stay out of the penalty box and play the majority of this series even strength they certainly have what it takes to upset the Pontiacs….I thought Pugh looked a little shaky. Barons kept hitting him in the chest in the first two periods…once they made him move in the 3rd they scored 3 times.

Missing Brad Stebner for at least Game 2 and likely more could hurt big time.

Here’s a break down of the opening round series between the MOB and the Pontiacs

Forwards:

The Oil Barons Jordan Mirwaldt will come into the post-season as the leading scorer among the two clubs. Mac Caron is red-hot with points in 13 straight heading into the playoffs. Dakota Dubetz was dangerous against the Pontiacs this year with 9 points in 6 games…however he doesn’t have a goal in ten games.

The Pontiacs depth up front is pretty impressive. Bonny has 11 forwards with 10 or more goals on the season. Kirk Belyk is a former Western Leaguer who has 40 points in 31 games while Lucas Isley who returned to the Pontaics from college has 13 points in 13 games.

EDGE: Bonnyville

Defenseman:

The Pontiacs Steven Seigo will be the elite blueliner to watch in the series while big Matthew Register had a great season. In fact I believe that Register had his coming out party in the playoffs last season against the Oil Barons. Beyond Seigo and Register the Pontiacs blueline doesn’t impress me to watch.

The Oil Barons will be missing Jordan Berk who had taken charge on the back end since joining the team from Cornell University. Berk has a broken ankle and will not be able to play. Brad Stebner and Kyle Johnson will both need to step up in the absence of Berk. Stebner has played better since returning from the all-star game. Mason Conway looked good in his return to the lineup against Spruce Grove. James Isaccs, Kris Steedsman, Brendan Wright and Matt Spzak will round out the MOB blueline. In an emergency forward Ben Lake could drop back.

If the Berk was healthy the edge would go to the Barons….but he’s not so I’m calling it even.

EDGE: Even

Goaltenders

Steven Legatto has been brilliant at times this season but that’s the problem…it’s only been at times. Fran Gow was working with Steven all week leading up to the series. Last year in the post season Legatto was automatic and almost knocked off the Camrose Kodiaks. Kirby Halcrow actually has better numbers against the Pontiacs this year but Gord has said numerous times that Legatto is their man and that only makes sense.

As far as numbers go Tyler Pugh is about on par with Legatto. Pugh has a goals against average on the plus side of 3.00 but does have save percentage on the plus side of .900.

Should be interesting to see the two 20-year old keepers battle it out. I think which ever goaltender is able to step up will lead their team to a series win.

EDGE: Even

Special Teams:

In head to head action this year the Pontiacs and Oil Barons special team numbers are almost identical. During the regular season overall the Pontiacs had a slightly more efficient power-play while the Oil Barons was more than a percentage point better than Bonny’s.

If you look at the head to head match ups this season there is really no clear advantage with the special teams.

EDGE: Even

Intangibles:

This match up is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in the AJHL. The Oil Barons have knocked the Pontiacs out of the playoffs in 2 of the last 3 seasons.

The Oil Barons will likely carry a physical edge in the series with the line of Lauder, Rolling and Toews to set the tone early. On multiple occasions this week Oil Barons players referred to the upcoming series as a WAR that they are looking forward to.

Chad Mercier is a pretty solid coach but he is in tough against Gord Thibodeau, who was honoured on Saturday night for picking up his 500th career victory earlier in the season.

EDGE: Oil Barons

Oil Barons 20-year old forward MacKenzie Caron enters the post-season as the hottest player in the AJHL.

Caron has scored in 6 of his last 7 games and has points in 13 consecutive games.

Caron will likely line up with Jordan Mirwaldt and Michael Perry…atleast to start the first round against Bonnyville.

Against the Pontiacs this year Caron scored twice and added an assist.

The most dangerous member of the MOB against Bonny was Dakota Dubetz. Dubetz had 3 goals and 6 assists in 6 games against the Yaks this year. Brad Stebner had five helpers.

A harmless play has lead to devastating news for the Oil Barons.

MOB d-man Jordan Berk will be out four to six weeks with a broken ankle. Berk suffered the injury late in the 3rd period of Sunday afternoon’s game when Nate Fleming slipped in the neutral zone and took out Berk’s legs.

Pretty big blow for the Barons as Berk had quickly become their leader on the back end.

Matt Szpak and Justin Remillard are practicing with the Barons….Spzak will most likely draw into the lineup sometime in the opening round of the playoffs…especially with the injury to Berk

It will the Barons and the Pontiacs in Round 1…….

Looks like Game 1 is 7:30 on Friday night in Bonnyville

More to come

Jack Maclellan lead the Oil Barons in scoring last season…this season though he is learning the ropes of being an NCAA freshman. In 20 games with a struggling Brown squad Jack has 1 goal and 1 assist.

He started the season just fighting to get into the line up but now he is earning time on the power-play.

I had a chance to catch up with Jack late last week. This is the interview we ran during an intermission of our Barons broadcast this past weekend.

Dustin Nielson catches up with former Oil Baron Jack Maclellan

The Oil Barons picked up 8-4 and 6-0 wins over the Drayton Valley Thunder over the weekend.

However the coaching staff wasn’t to impressed with the four points.

On Friday night Head Coach Thibodeau felt the team let up and began to make mental mistakes after jumping out to a 6-0 lead. On Saturday the team played a little to individual for the coach’s liking.

Regardless they still came away with the four points however a better, more complete effort will be needed on Wednesday night against the Steel.

As long as referee Corey Moser is no where to be seen the Steel and Barons should be able to put together a pretty up tempo, high paced, hard hitting contest.

Beat Up Blueline:
Jordan Berk is listed as probable for Wednesday and if doesn’t suit up against the Steel then he will certainly be back this weekend against the Blazers.

Mason Conway will not return to the lineup until the first round of the playoffs.

In their absence rookie forward Ben Lake teamed up with Kyle Johnson over the weekend. Lake looked pretty good and made a few nice defensive plays.

Long Time Coming
Congrats to Lego who picked up his first career AJHL regular season shutout…..but seriously…what’s up with that hot pink tie he was wearing….almost blinded me during the post-game interview.

Hot Streaks:
Mackenzie Caron has 9 points during a 7 game point streak

Dylan Seymour has 7 points in his last 6 games after having just 7 points in his first 30 games.

Jordan Mirwaldt is turning things around with 11 points in his last 7 games.

Other Notes:

I thought Mirwaldt, Seymour and Hallick looked pretty good together on Saturday…be interesting to see if Gord leaves them together on Wednesday.

The Oil Barons have three days of practice prior to hosting the Drayton Valley Thunder.

The Oil Barons dropped a pair of games over the weekend…falling 4-1 in both Olds and Brooks.

Jordan Mirwaldt picked up 3 assists in the AJHL All-Star game, which the North won 14-13 in overtime.

The Oil Barons, like every other team in the league, have dominated the Thunder so far this season….in four games so far this season the MOB have outscored the Thunder 29-6.

The Barons are just 2 points behind the Pontiacs for 4th in the North….but are just 3 points up on the sixth place Steel.