2102 RBC Final happening now!!!

The BCHL powerhouse Penticton Vees take on the surprise package on the tournament, the Woodstock Slammers from the Maritime Junior Hockey League in the 2012 RBC final.

This game is happening now on TSN.

Good luck to ex-Grizzlies Wade Murphy and Nick Buchanan.

Penticton Vees Blog

For the RBC Cup enthusiast, I can highly recommend Vees play by play and blogger, Fraser Rodgers blog, The Three Vees. Fraser, has put together a fantastic Vees blog, full of up to date information, game reports, interviews and his experiences from the RBC cup.

Here is a link to the Three Vees: http://pentictonvees.wordpress.com/

Penticton through to RBC semi's

It wasn't pretty,but, the Vees RBC cup title hopes are still alive, thanks to a dynamite 3rd period last night against the MJHL champs the Portage Terriers. After a Tanner Waldvogel goal gave the Terriers the lead going into the 2nd period, the Vees would finally get there offence going as Loik, Johnston and Mike Reilly would score three in the last frame and Michael Garteig would hold firm saving 25 of 26 shots for a 3-1 Penticton victory.
With the round robin finishing today, the Portage Terriers are the team eliminated, while the semi finals take place on Saturday which will feature the four remaining teams:

The Semi Finals are as follows - Humboldt Broncos v's Woodstock Slammers
                                                     Penticton Vees v's Soo Thunderbirds

                                                                                                                       W     L     PTS
The standing at the end of the road robin are- 1st Humboldt Broncos       4       0       8
                                                                         2nd Soo Thunderbirds       2       2       4
                                                                         3rd  Penticton Vees            2       2       4
                                                                         4th Woodstock Slammers  1       3       2
                                                                         5th Portage Terriers            1        3       2
                                                                        
                                                             
This sets up a potentially mouth-watering match up in Sunday's final with Humboldt possibly taking on Penticton. But, I don't believe the Vees are counting their chickens just yet, as they will be looking to avenge their first game of tourney defeat by Soo, to advance to the RBC final.

The final is broadcast live on TSN at 4:30pm on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Braxton Bilious (May 2) and Stefan Gonzales (May 7)

Two members of the backbone of the Grizzlies defence are celebrating birthdays this week.

Braxton Bilious turned 18 on May 2 (anyone remember Brax, coming in as a Grizzlie as a fresh faced 16 year old:). Bilious, now a BCHL veteren,will be starting his third season with the Grizzlies and will be a key component to Victoria's success for the upcoming 2012/13 season.
Happy Birthday Braxton and sorry for the late announcement on the blog and hope you and your family had a great day.

Happy Birthday to Stefan Gonzales who turns 20 today(man that's old :), who had a stellar 2011/12 campaign with the Grizzlies; after his trade from the Chiefs and was well deserving in his fan favourite's award. Stefan's much needed experience and prowess helped solidify the Grizzlies defence last season. Happy Birthday Stefan, have a great day to you and your family.

RBC Cup Day 2

So tear up the script, the Vees are 0-2 going into Monday after suffering a 3-2 defeat to the host team Humboldt Broncos. The host team would score in the first minute of the first period, until Wade Murphy would tie it up in the last minute of the period for the Vees. John Lawrence would score the only marker in the second for the Humboldt, until that man Murphy would send it into OT, five minutes before the end of the third making it 2-2. Vees hearts would be broken as Humboldt sniper, Andrew Johnston, would score for the Broncos in OT giving them a 3-2 victory. Humboldt are 2-0 and lead the table at this time.

The Vees next games is against the Woodstock Slammers on Tuesday. There is no margin of error left now for the Vees as they need to beat both Portage and Woodstock, to advance past the round robin stage.

In other action Portage would defeat the Soo Thunderbirds 4-3 on Sunday.



Grizzlies fans are no stranger to one goal defeats from the Broncos in RBC cups. The Grizzlies suffered two defeats by one goal margins in the 2009 RBC cup. This blog isn't designed to be biased,but, those two victories by Humboldt would see Victoria dominate both games and at times outplay Humboldt, but, would be the victim of steller goaltedning from then Broncos goalie Larochelle.

Day 1 from the RBC Cup

Penticton Vees 1 - 2 Soo Thunderbirds

                              

 So, the shock of the 2012 RBC cup tournament has come early and were only one game into the tourney. The Central champions from Ontario, the Soo Thunderbirds have upset the RBC Cup favorite, Penticton Vees 2-1 in the first game of the round robin match up.

A 44 save ratio by T'birds John Klienhans stunningly kept out the offensive juggernaut that is the Vees.Michael Garteig would make 13 saves on the night and was powerless to stop the go ahead goal by Delayer with 8 minutes to go to send shockwaves through the host city of Humboldt. Soo forward, Wright would score for the NOJHL champs to take the lead into the first before the Vees, Joey Benik got the lone marker for Penticton.

The Vees are by no means out of the tournament, but, this will be a wake cup call, in case they went into Humboldt with a little too much South Okanagan swagger.

In theory the BCHL is regarded as a much better Junior A league, than the NOJHL which the T'birds play in and maybe goaltending saved them tonight, but regardless of the T'birds goalie Klienhans, the Vees will have to be a little more clinical against the host team and Anavent cup champs the Humboldt Broncos.

The Soo Thunderbirds take on the West representatives in the Portage Terriers

The Broncos are in action tonight against the East representatives the Woodstock Slammers

Here are your 2012 RBC Cup Challengers

So from over 80 Junior A teams that started out in September, we are down to just five. The RBC cup is Junior A's version of the Stanley cup and starts tonight in Humboldt.

The five teams who will compete for the 2012 RBC cup in Humboldt are:

Humboldt Broncos(Host Team) - Credit to the host team, for going into the tournament through the front door. After winning the SJHL and defeating the Portage Terriers(who qualify for the RBC due to making the Anavent Cup although losing to the host Broncos)  in the Anavent Cup and will draw on the hometown crowd to win the tourney in there own back yard. The Broncos led by the scoring talents of Andrew Johnson who scored 81 points on the season and slick attacker Robbie Ciolfi and led by a supporting cast that won 42 games and the SJHL title, they could be a good bet to win it all.

Penticton Vees(Pacific Representatives) - After a record breaking BCHL season, where they amassed 110 points and won 54 games during the campaign,would put a number of Major Junior squads to shame with the talent they have on their team. With Wade Murphy, Mario Lucia, the Reilly brothers x 3, Fogerty, Gervias, Johnson, StDenis and Loik should be the hot favorites to come out of the Praries with a championship.
Fred Harbinson's teams mission since the summer of 2011 was.........win the RBC cup.

Portage Terriers (Western Representatives) - The MJHL champions out of Manitoba are usually there or there abouts when it comes to qualifcation for the RBC cup on a yearly basis. With a veteren team and an experianced coaching staff, the Terriers could be the dark horse coming into this tourney. The Terriers won the MJHL with 49 wins and 89 points.
Led by snipers Brent Wold and Mike Gemmill, Portage should not be taken lightly.

Woodstock Slammers(Eastern Representatives) - The Champions of the MJAHL(Maritime League), will be looking to buck the trend of Maritime teams struggling to make an impact at RBC tournaments in recent years. The MJAHL has started to attract more U.S talent to its ranks in the last few seasons and is making more of a name for itself at the Junior A level.
The Slammers who had an impressive 45 wins and 91 points on the season are well worth there place here and will be lookin to star strikes Tim Campbell and Bradley Green as well as former QMJHL forward Nick Huard will be looking to make there mark in Humboldt.
The 2013 RBC will be at the MJAHL's Summerside Capitals(Grizzlies fans and Bear mtn Resort staff, should remember the Summerside team well).

The Soo Thunderbirds(Central Representatives) -  will be looking to superstar forward Micky Sorteretto to make an impact as the T'birds carry the Ontario banner into the RBC this year.
After navigating the Ontario Junior A championship, the Dudley Hewitt Cup(which is more complicated and long winded than a Pierre McGuire analysis) they should be battle ready for Humboldt.
The NOJHL champ T'birds, who defeated former Grizzlie Brad Gehl's team the North Bay Trappers; go into the tourney as underdogs, but, a team nobody should look past.


You can catch the RBC games live and free on canada.fasthockey.com