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As the old horse racing saying goes, the Winkler Flyers and the rest of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League are without a doubt coming down the home stretch. At least for me, this season has gone by really fast. Fifty four games are in the books with only eight to go. However, what separates this season from others in recent memory is that the Winkler Flyers....yes, you heard that right...the Winkler Flyers are fighting for first place in the Addison Division.
If you look back at the last few seasons anyway we would be talking about the Flyers sitting comfortably in third or fourth place at this time of year and which away arena they would be starting the playoffs in. But now we are talking about our Orange and Black having a real shot at top spot and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
Now to get to their first place goal, the Flyers need to fight off their arch enemies from Selkirk. For the past four seasons they have met in round one of the playoffs. This time they will be battling for first place overall. It’s a little different situation with a bit less intensity and not so much on the line. Both teams are guaranteed to make the playoffs but they are still fighting for the right to go through a 62 game regular season schedule and end up with the best record.
Well let us go a little deeper into who has the best shot at finishing the 2010-11 regular season on top.
First let us look at the Selkirk Steelers.
They have nine games remaining in the regular season (7-Home, 2-Road). They will play the MJHL leading Portage Terriers three times, the Winnipeg Saints twice, and Winkler, Wayway, Steinbach and Neepawa all once. Two of their nine remaining games are against teams that are not playoff bound (Steinbach and Neepawa). The combined record of the Steelers opponents is (160-140-25) for a combined winning percentage of .530. The Steelers only have a winning record against three of those six teams (Saints, Flyers, Natives). They will also be in tough against the Terriers and Wolverines who are hot right now and have a combined record of 17-2-1 in their last 10 games. The Steelers are also stumbling towards the finish line. Heading into the Christmas break, the first place Steelers led the third place Flyers by 12 points for top spot at the time. Winkler has since caught fire and has shrunk that lead to zero. The Steelers are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and 6-7-2 since Christmas. They are also missing some key people from their line-up. Joel Ridgeway and Kyle Mulder are big loses for them.
Now let’s look at Winkler......
The Winkler Flyers have eight games left in their regular season (5-Home, 3-Road). They play the Winnipeg Saints three times, the Winnipeg Blues twice, Steinbach twice and the Steelers once. Four of their eight remaining games are against teams that are not playoff bound (Blues and Pistons). The combined record of their opponents is (90-105-23) which is a combined winning percentage of .465. The Flyers are 7-0 against the Blues, 4-1-2 against Steinbach, 3-3 against the Saints and 2-4-2 against Selkirk. The Flyers are playing red hot hockey and will only play Addison Division opponents the rest of the way. The confidence is sky high right now which what you want heading into the play-offs. The Orange and Black are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and are 11-3-2 since coming back from the Christmas break. The Flyers are also healthy (knock on wood) which helps a tonne. Of the Flyers remaining opponents, only the Blues have a winning record in their last 10 games. Winkler seems to me to be the much for focused group right now and it looks like John Marks has his fella's pointed in the right direction.
So to sum up....who do you think has the better chance of winning the Addison Division regular season title? If you ask me, the Flyers have the easier schedule and let’s face it, they are just playing better hockey right now.
It sure makes it a lot more exciting and hopefully will put a lot more butts in the seats now that the good old Winkler Flyers will more than likely be playing meaningful games right to the end.
Let me know what you think (even if you are a Selkirk fan, my feelings won’t be hurt).
But let me leave you with these words of advice. "Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."
If you look back at the last few seasons anyway we would be talking about the Flyers sitting comfortably in third or fourth place at this time of year and which away arena they would be starting the playoffs in. But now we are talking about our Orange and Black having a real shot at top spot and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
Now to get to their first place goal, the Flyers need to fight off their arch enemies from Selkirk. For the past four seasons they have met in round one of the playoffs. This time they will be battling for first place overall. It’s a little different situation with a bit less intensity and not so much on the line. Both teams are guaranteed to make the playoffs but they are still fighting for the right to go through a 62 game regular season schedule and end up with the best record.
Well let us go a little deeper into who has the best shot at finishing the 2010-11 regular season on top.
First let us look at the Selkirk Steelers.
They have nine games remaining in the regular season (7-Home, 2-Road). They will play the MJHL leading Portage Terriers three times, the Winnipeg Saints twice, and Winkler, Wayway, Steinbach and Neepawa all once. Two of their nine remaining games are against teams that are not playoff bound (Steinbach and Neepawa). The combined record of the Steelers opponents is (160-140-25) for a combined winning percentage of .530. The Steelers only have a winning record against three of those six teams (Saints, Flyers, Natives). They will also be in tough against the Terriers and Wolverines who are hot right now and have a combined record of 17-2-1 in their last 10 games. The Steelers are also stumbling towards the finish line. Heading into the Christmas break, the first place Steelers led the third place Flyers by 12 points for top spot at the time. Winkler has since caught fire and has shrunk that lead to zero. The Steelers are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and 6-7-2 since Christmas. They are also missing some key people from their line-up. Joel Ridgeway and Kyle Mulder are big loses for them.
Now let’s look at Winkler......
The Winkler Flyers have eight games left in their regular season (5-Home, 3-Road). They play the Winnipeg Saints three times, the Winnipeg Blues twice, Steinbach twice and the Steelers once. Four of their eight remaining games are against teams that are not playoff bound (Blues and Pistons). The combined record of their opponents is (90-105-23) which is a combined winning percentage of .465. The Flyers are 7-0 against the Blues, 4-1-2 against Steinbach, 3-3 against the Saints and 2-4-2 against Selkirk. The Flyers are playing red hot hockey and will only play Addison Division opponents the rest of the way. The confidence is sky high right now which what you want heading into the play-offs. The Orange and Black are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and are 11-3-2 since coming back from the Christmas break. The Flyers are also healthy (knock on wood) which helps a tonne. Of the Flyers remaining opponents, only the Blues have a winning record in their last 10 games. Winkler seems to me to be the much for focused group right now and it looks like John Marks has his fella's pointed in the right direction.
So to sum up....who do you think has the better chance of winning the Addison Division regular season title? If you ask me, the Flyers have the easier schedule and let’s face it, they are just playing better hockey right now.
It sure makes it a lot more exciting and hopefully will put a lot more butts in the seats now that the good old Winkler Flyers will more than likely be playing meaningful games right to the end.
Let me know what you think (even if you are a Selkirk fan, my feelings won’t be hurt).
But let me leave you with these words of advice. "Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."
Selkirk has the "easy" part of the schedule behind them and will be in tough for the balance of February. The Flyers are playing a good team game, they beat Selkirk to the puck almost everytime on Tuesday. It would be exciting for the Flyers to finish in first. GO FLYERS
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