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Naosu · 08-02-2019, 07:14 PM

*Draft media 701 words*

This is Dan Gleeballs with your up to date, post draft news. With the draft over and all the dust settled, I bring you our hottest story entering a new era of junior hockey. As I'm sure you know by now, Kelowna dropped a bomb on everybody's mock draft predictions by drafting Ryan Shepard first overall. Everyone, including the man himself thought Bobby Lane had secured the first spot. Kelowna has put a lot of faith for their future in Shepard, passing over Lane and many other 'for sure' talents.

This article however, is about the potential new and reformed rivalries between Kelowna, St.Louis, and Vancouver. With the three big names of first generational talent going into the draft, these teams scooped them up all within the first round. Also, an honorary mention to Joseph Weston and Ivan Maximus who were pegged to be late second to early third round picks but went in line with James Ronlain and Marcus Ohlsson. We wish the best to those two to prove to the teams that picked them they were worth the risk. We're not sure if anything will actually develop among these teams, but in the sports journalism world anything is possible.

Coming off a horrendous season of being last place and having more than double the amount of losses than wins, Kelowna hopes to rebound this season with the fair amount of picks they had in the S49 SMJHL draft. They are still reeling from losing the Four Star Cup to St.Louis a couple seasons ago. Along with bringing in a franchise center in Shepard, Kelowna had given him some great qualty wingers to work with. This includes Gylfi Eriksson, Partario Scarangella, Kalevolaripaavo Kaspertommevisnappu, and Andre Barbashev II. Piotr Horvat will be returning for another season, and leaned on heavily with the current captain moving on to the SHL.

St.Louis finished in first for the regular season last season and is looking strong again, especially after picking up Ronlain to bolster their offense. St.Louis also picked up some heavy center depth with Colton Strudwick, Nikitnory McCrosbov, and Blake Phoenix. Kelowna will need to prove themselves a worthy adversary for St.Louis to take them seriously. There's not much of a spark between them and Vancouver, but we think that's possible to change over the coming seasons. We think they'll be a front runner again, and a favorite heading into the playoffs.

Then there is our new Four Star Cup champions for S48, the Vancouver Whalers. They must have been pleased when they saw Marcus Ohlsson fall all the way down to the number 10 spot. They're losing a lot of depth this season but this player could definitely get them back on track. Some big names being called up this season are Aaron Wilson, Dale Miller, Theo Morgan, and Jax Duggan. We expect Vancouver to be in the middle of the pack this season so I hope you are all excited for the possibility of an exciting Battle of BC all season long. The Whalers drafted Marcus Weiser late in the 2nd to help fill the hole at center. The Austrian center will make sure the other team's future stars keep their heads up and look both ways while on the ice.

I'm sure all three of these teams expect big things from the players picked in the first round and hope they become a cornerstone of the franchise for the next three seasons. The big three will become minute munchers fairly soon, so that means a lot of ice team played against each other. Ronlain will be looking to take matters into his own hands as the biggest offensive threat, while Shepard will be looking to shutdown both of the wingers with his defensive play. Ohlsson is shaping up to be a good balance of the other two. All three will be hoping to lead their teams to Four Star Cup over their time in the SMJHL.

Feel free to send us an email with your comments on how you think the new S50 generation will play out, and your current favorite SMJHL rivalries.

@CleverPin @Rankle @ACapitalChicago @thiefofcheese @pazuzu15 @PartarioScarangella @AlwaysGettingHaxed @RaiN @Slowpoke @SeeJay @Paintball6786 @Blazewing @omenolson

Jiggly_333 · 08-02-2019, 07:28 PM

Trying to get over everyone forgetting about me, including my own teammates.

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Jamie T Wrote:But I wish I'd been a little more exceptional
And I wish I'd been a little unconventional
But I was not enough, no, I'm not enough

omenolson · 08-02-2019, 07:37 PM

Vancouver's Marcus/60 stat is what puts us ahead.

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