I'm back to bloggerville.............after spending the summer basking in the glory of Swaggerville!
Love it. As a Winnipeg Blue Bomber fan, its great to finally see your team succeed after years of "rebuilding" and being "not quite good enough." Or setting CFL records, like last year, for losing 9 games by 4 points or less.
Yikes.
There is only 1 record I care about, and that would be erasing the "1990" memory of the last Grey Cup. But, this entry won't be about CFL. I will save that for another day. This one, is to put truth to, and elaborate on what has already leaked out everywhere.
I am no longer the voice of the Whitecourt Wolverines, and have taken my radio face into the television industry. I have accepted a job offer to move to Medicine Hat to be a Sports Producer/Reporter for Shaw TV, covering the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League. To say that I am excited, is a definite under statement.
The truth is, as soon as the NWJHL season was over, I was already looking elsewhere. I had been applying for jobs, had a few EXCELLENT offers that I had to turn down. The second I saw this one posted, I took a stab at it.
I will be moving to "the gas city" this Saturday, September 3rd and then begin my week of "detox" as I am calling it before beginning my new venture. Ha ha detox is a little extreme, but I will need some personal time to unplug and prepare for the next step. This opportunity in Whitecourt was absolutely excellent. Being mentored by Neil Shewchuk at XM Country was largely why I was able to grow as much as I did. His experience in the industry and knowledge of the ins and outs of this business set me up well for what lied ahead.
As I mentioned in my last entry awhile back, Gino De Paoli will be taking over the reigns of play by play. He called a few games last year in the SJHL for Melfort, Nipawin and Humboldt and will fill in well. His knowledge of not only hockey, but sports in general will make him entertaining to listen to. Here is a brief video I made of what you can expect from him:
I told him that he could change whatever he wanted, but under one condition. That he kept the "Lets Get Rowdy" song for post games. I have been using that for 3 seasons, and it has developed a relationship with the team. I'm excited to tune in and hear what kind of magic he has to put on display.
So, with that being said, Wolverines training camp is next weekend.
Who can you expect back? I have been asked that many, many times lately. Well, surprisingly Zach Mills. That is the biggest shock, and likely just as much to him. He had a couple of tryouts this off season with Westside in the BCHL, Drayton and most recently with the Grande Prairie storm this weekend. He will be coming back to Whitecourt, from what it sounds like after unfortunately getting the early exit. Tyler Kunz and Brandon Dea also got cut from GP this weekend, too. We may see them in Wolverine colors. Goaltender and Whitecourt's Mitchell Martell looks to still be in the running for a gig with the Storm..............I ran into Riley Hellekson in Sangudo on Saturday, he said he will be back. However, he will be missing his linemates. Will Cloutier sounds like he is exploring other options, which is no surprise. And of course, Wayne Quaife is now over age. Captain Dylan Towns has moved on to play college hockey, and that will leave the "C" wide open for grabs.....
Which could be interesting, but not as interesting as another battle. Which 2 veterans will be cut. Alberta Junior B allows you to carry 4 twenty one year olds on your roster. This weekend, one of these 6 men will not be back with the Wolverines:
Ryan Whelen - Drayton Valley
Mitch Rose - High Prairie
Mason Lyle - Athabasca
Dion Leblue - Hinton
Jesse Scrimbit - Sicamous, BC
Dustin Urdea - North Vancouver, BC
That will be a hard decision for Head Coach Richard Kazda. You have to think he may lean heavily towards the longer term vets, considering Elias Lachance died in the off season, and this year will be his tribute. But Scrimbit and Urdea both had strong showings last year, with Urdea a bit of limited ice time down the stretch drive.
The AJHL will be hosting a pre season game on the Sunday at the Scott Safety Centre. Tickets are 8 bucks for adults, students and seniors 5 bucks. Spruce Grove vs the St Albert Steel. Spruce will be in Barrhead this Wednesday against Drayton. The Thunder absolutely destroyed them tonight 8-1. Ya, it IS only pre-season. But it would be great to see that franchise turn things around this season......
I have lots of packing to do this week, but I will try to blog a little more regularly now that I know I'm leaving. I try to get to it in the summer, but I honestly detest baseball so I don't have anything nice to say! And Twitter gets used predominantly, which is my immediate source of connecting to the outside world.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions before I head out. It will be shutting down after Friday.
dave@xm105.com
