DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Thoughts on a crazy end to the MJHL season

While attention this week went to game seven of the Winnipeg Jets and St Louis Blues, there was another overtime game seven that was required viewing for fans of junior hockey in the province.

The NorMan Blizzard are back on top of Manitoba hockey, beating the Dauphin Kings to claim the Turnbull Cup, awarded to the champions of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

While my predictions on the MJHL this season in the post-season were pretty bad, my pre-season prediction of NorMan being the team to watch out of the West Division did come true, in the most spectacular way.

Congrats to the new ownership and Eric Labrosse for working to revive the Blizzard back to premier status in the league.

Results on the ice will be key for NorMan in the coming years, as the MJHL eliminated the draft, and players no longer will choose junior A to chase an NCAA scholarship. Teams in the more far-flung parts of the province have always had challenges, but winning cures all, and for NorMan, this win could be massive for the team going forward.

The NorMan win helps to shake up the traditional power structure of the MJHL, which has seen Portage, Dauphin and Steinbach dominate the past couple decades. Those three teams have appeared or won the league championship every year since 2006.

Game seven was tough to watch, as Blizzard forward Louis-Jacob Beauregard took a massive head-first fall into the boards in the first overtime.

Ice quality no doubt played a factor, as game seven and overtime of a championship series has players pushing their strides to the absolute limit, cutting the ice up. It appeared Beauregard caught a rut in the ice as he tried to circle the net, which caused the fall.

The ice should have been cleaned prior to any extra time being played.

Even with a stricter time pressure, with other games scheduled for later in the day, the Ste Anne Aces/Springfield Winterhawks game seven in Ste Anne saw the ice re-surfaced in between regulation and overtime.

Hockey players aren’t known for their self-preservation at the best of times, let alone in a game seven of a championship game, and a clean ice surface could really help everyone stay safe on the ice, even if it means I take massive tumbles trying to capture the celebration on film on the freshly cleaned ice as I did during the Aces celebration.

Changes in the MJHL are coming for the better, with the two Winnipeg teams looking to improve their fortunes with off-ice changes to attract players. As we see the ripple effects of the NCAA rule change in regards to major junior, we could see some all-time greats start their careers in the MJHL instead of the WHL.

The future could be bright, if teams and the league are able to seize the moment and contribute to that brightening.