Episodes
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We are now less than a week away from the inaugural CHL USA Prospects Challenge presented by Kubota. Last week I sat down with TSN’s Director of scouting, Craig Button to talk about the new event.
In my conversation with Craig we discuss the upcoming CHL USA Prospects Challenge, emphasizing the importance of international competition for player evaluation and development. Craig tells us how players can showcase their skills in different roles, we talk about Team CHL captain Porter Martone and the significance of leadership within teams, the expectations for both Team CHL and Team USA. Craig explains how the experience can impact player growth, and the overall excitement surrounding the event.
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In our first CHL USA Prospects Challenge edition of the CHL Top 10 Show I recently had the opportunity to talk with one of the captains of the USNTDP U18’s, defenceman Asher Barnett as well as captain of Team CHL, Brampton Steelheads’ star Porter Martone.
Martone is off to a hot start for the relocated Steelheads sitting near the top of the O scoring race in goals and points. We chat about the excitement around the new event, reuniting with his former Team Canada teammates, how he plans to bring Team CHL together fast, what challenges Team USA presents them and how things are going in Brampton this year.
Asher came through the Chicago Mission program and is in his second season with the USNTDP. He tells me how excited the Americans are to come up and play against the CHL, how their team is constructed and the style of game they play. How much they know about the CHL players and what they’ll have to do to come away victorious.
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Welcome to another Road to Memorial Cup edition of the CHL Top 10 Show, this week I chat with a player from each of the leagues that earned sweeps last round. Cam Squires from the Cape Breton Eagles, Trevor Wong from the Saskatoon Blades and Justin Ertel from the North Bay Battalion.
Cape Breton’s Cam Squires has four or more points in three games already this post season. He leads the entire CHL playoffs with a +18 in 9 games helping lead the Eagles back to the Q semi finals for the first time since 2007.
Trevor Wong and the Saskatoon Blades are back in the WHL’s conference final for a second straight season. Last year the Blades needed 14 games to make it to the third round, eventually running out of gas against Winnipeg. This year they make it there in just 9 games.
The North Bay Battalion have lost in the conference finals to the eventual OHL champions the past two seasons. The last time they faced Oshawa in the conference final was in 2015 when the Gens went on to win the Memorial Cup. Justin Ertel tells us why this year will be different.
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Welcome to a Road to Memorial Cup edition of the CHL Top 10. This week I chat with players from three different leagues that earned first round sweeps. Riley Heidt from the Prince George Cougars, Jorian Donovan from the Saginaw Spirit and Colby Huggan from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
Riley tells us how expectations have changed for the Cougars this playoffs, what it’s like playing against friends in the post-season, what the team has been up to with their time off, signing his ELC with Minnesota, breaking franchise records and what they have to do in round two against Kelowna.
Jorian tells me what it was like joining the Spirit at the deadline, what makes their defence corps so special, how he can use his past experience to help the team during this run, how this team compares to his 2022 Bulldogs team that lost in the Memorial Cup final and what they have to do in round two against the Soo.
Colby Huggan tells us why the Titan always believed they could win the series, dodging a bullet in game two, how they were able to shut down the Moose’s snipers while capitalizing while shorthanded and what they’re going to have to do in round two against a Drakkar team that finished with 23 more wins and 42 more points.
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It’s our final regular season episode of the CHL Top10 Show, and today we have an all OHL episode with assistant coach of the OHL leading London Knights, Dylan Hunter and the leading scorer for the OHL’s Eastern Conference leading Oshawa Generals, Cal Ritchie.
Call me superstitious but I wasn’t about to talk to Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan in the midst of a 34 game point streak, so we did the next best thing and spoke with Dylan Hunter. Hunter spent five seasons as a player with the Knights in the early 2000’s winning a Memorial Cup in ’05, after retiring in 2011 he re-joined the Knights as a coach and hasn’t looked back.
The Oshawa Generals spent the first 17 games of the regular season without their offensive catalyst Cal Ritchie as he recovered from offseason should surgery. Since rejoining the team in mid-november the Avalanche prospect has been a force, helping turn the Gens into serious contenders in the O.
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Today I check in with two teams that have been in the Top10 for 19 of 22 weeks. From the top-ranked Baie-Comeau Drakkar it’s Justin Gill and from the 7th ranked Portland Winterhawks it’s Tyson Jugnauth.
Now in his fifth season in the QMJHL, first with the Drakkar, Justin Gill is helping pace the CHL’s top team to a franchise record breaking season. The New York Islanders prospect also sits second in Q scoring.
After the Portland Winterhawks acquired his rights from Kamloops it didn’t take long for Tyson Jugnauth to leave Wisconsin and join one of the top teams in the WHL. The Seattle Kraken prospect has had no trouble adjusting to the CHL.
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This week we sit down with the QMJHL’s leading point producer and the CHL’s leading goal scorer. It’s Antonin Verreault from the 10th ranked Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Zac Funk from the fourth ranked Prince George Cougars.
Now in his fourth season in the Q and first with the Huskies. We’re getting an opportunity to see what a healthy Antonin Verreault can do for the first time since his rookie campaign. The former 2nd overall pick in the Q has a 34 point lead over his closest teammate.
Zac Funk had never scored a WHL hat-trick before the first game of the season this year. The Cougars’ overager now has 8 hat-tricks on the season to got along with single season franchise records in goals and power play goals.
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Today we check in with a player that keeps break franchise records and one that’s just getting settled with his new franchise. It’s Saginaw’s Zayne Parekh and Swift Current’s Conor Geekie.
It’s hard to believe that Zayne Parekh just turned 18 last week. The right shot defender already holds the Spirit’s single season franchise record for goals and points by a defenceman and is on pace to hit the 100 point mark this season.
Conor Geekie was off to an incredible start to the season with the Wenatchee Wild. A post World Juniors trade reunited Geekie with his former assistant coach in Winnipeg, now in Swift Current where he continues to have a career season offensively.
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Welcome to another episode of the CHL TOP10 Show this week we talk to a pair of WHL stars that have their sights set on extended playoff runs. From the 9th ranked Moose Jaw Warriors Matt Savoie and from the 8th ranked Everett Silvertips Ben Hemmerling.
Matt Savoie, after spending three years with the ICE, starting this year in the AHL and NHL followed by a dozen games with the Wild, is settling in with a Warriors team that has Memorial Cup aspirations.
After an injury cut Ben Hemmerling’s season short last year the Vegas prospect has taken a step forward this year as co-captain of the Everett Silvertips, already surpassing last year’s numbers in fewer games.
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On this week’s episode of the CHL Top 10 Show a pair of forwards from two of the hottest teams in the CHL stop by for a chat. We’ll hear from Drummondville’s Ethan Gauthier and Saskatoon’s Fraser Minten.
Gauthier is in the midst of a career year. His first with the Voltigeurs after an offseason trade brought the Tampa Bay prospect from the Sherbrooke Phoenix to his hometown Drummondville Voltigeurs.
Fraser Minten has been a bit of a nomad this season playing on four different teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect is happy to be settled in Saskatoon for the final few months of his junior career and his numbers are showing that.
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Today's episode of the CHL Top 10 show features a pair of high end prospects for the upcoming NHL Draft that will lead the way at the 2024 Kubota Top Prospects game. It’s London Knights’ Sam Dickinson and Spokane Chiefs’ Berkley Catton.
Sam Dickinson, the top ranked OHL skater for the NHL Draft, was recently name captain of team red at the Kubota Top Prospects game. The Knights’s blue liner is currently at a point-per-game pace putting him top-10 in the entire CHL.
Former first overall pick in the WHL draft, Berkly Catton is having a monster season for the Chiefs currently leading the team in goals and points sitting him 7th in the WHL. The centre will captain team white next week in Moncton.
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Back with another edition of the CHL Top 10 Show and today I was lucky enough to talk to two players eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft in the Soo Greyhounds Owen Allard and Baie-Comeau Drakkar’s Justin Poirier.
The Soo’s Owen Allard was a surprise invite to Canada’s camp we talk about what type of player he is, the grind of a 6-month post-surgery recovery; how the Greyhounds have improved this season after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012 last year and growing up in a hockey playing family.
Baie-Comeau's Justin Poirier talks to us about some sneaky additions to the Drakkar this year, the keys to their success, going the ranks of elite teams in the CHL, the growth in his game as a sophomore, leading the Q in goals, and following in his brother’s footsteps.
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This week I chat with Montreal Canadiens prospect Owen Beck from the surprising Peterborough Petes and newly signed LA Kings prospect Kohen Ziemmer from the high octane Prince George Cougars.
Owen Beck tells us about their impressive start, why they’re so comfortable playing in extra time, what it’s like playing in the Petes/Gens rivalry and what it’s like playing with and against minor hockey teammates and what he started doing this season to help stay loose.
Kings’ prospect, Koehn Ziemmer talks to us about this being the best team he’s played on in the WHL, the scoring depth the Cougars have this season, what it’s like playing alongside running mate Riley Heidt, signing his ELC last week and what he likes to do on his days off in PG.
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This week I welcome our first coach to the show and another player that’s making the Seattle Kraken look like draft wizards. It’s Rouyn-Noranda’s Martin Dagenais and Kitchener’s Carson Rehkopf.
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As promised today I chat with Editor in chief of The Hockey News, Ryan Kennedy.
We discuss some of the top teams in the CHL right now, some surprise players, which 2024 draft eligibles have been impressing, who to keep an eye on in the 2025 draft and what new and really exciting feature is now available at The Hockey News.
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It’s the scorers edition of the show where I chat with two guys that seem to be scoring at will right now, that’s Porter Martone of the Mississauga Steelheads and Jagger Firkus of the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Mississauga’s Porter Martone has been filling up the highlight reels for both the Steelheads and Team Canada. The recently turned 17-year-old sits third in the OHL with 11 goals, 8 of which have been scored in his last 4 games.
After going 3-1 last week the Moose Jaw Warriors climb to second in the CHL Top 10 this week thanks in large part to the play of sniper Jagger Firkus. The Seattle Kraken prospect currently sits second in the WHL in goals and points.
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This week I chat with the captain of the CHL’s top ranked Portland Winterhawks as well as last season's QMJHL leading scorer.
After making his return to the Q last weekend Jordan Dumais becomes the first returning player as a guest on the show. The Blue Jackets prospect is on the cusp of setting numerous Moosehead franchise records sitting just 18 points, 13 goals and 6 assists back of Brandon Benedict.
The top ranked Portland Winterhawks are a model of consistency with 6 consecutive 40+ win seasons, not including the bubble year. For the past five seasons Gabe Klassen has been taught about the winning culture in Portland and now teaches it.
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TSN’s Director of scouting Craig Button talks to us about what makes a good junior hockey team, which teams could potentially join the Saginaw Spirit at the 104th Memorial Cup presented by Kia, Connor Bedard’s impressive start and who might be the next superstar in the CHL.
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In our first episode of the season you’ll hear from the GM and captain of Saginaw Spirit who just so happen to be hosts of the 2024 Memorial Cup presented by Dow.
Drinkill tells us about his relationship with coach Chris Lazary, how bidding on the Memorial Cup changed the course of a team that features young stars like Michael Misa and Zayne Parekh; how he plans to use all of those draft picks and the importance of taking time throughout the season to enjoy the ride.
Haché talks about the opportunity to join the Spirit; the confidence shown by the coaching staff; how his experience can help with his new teammates Misa and Parekh; the culture in Saginaw and keeping an eye on what’s happening in the WHL and QMJHL.
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We talk to the two teams that swept their third round series. The 12-0 Quebec Remparts and the 12-2 Winnipeg ICE.
ICE captain and Minnesota Wild prospect Carson Lambos has seen this team rise from a 13-win team in 2019 to the Eastern Conference champions. He tells us just how close this group is, how past experiences have shaped this team and what the ICE will have to do to earn a spot at the Memorial Cup presented by Kia in Kamloops.
With sweeps of Charlottetown and Rimouski in the rearview mirror Remparts captain Théo Rochette tells us how they were able to shut down the high flying Olympiques, the mentality in the room after just 12 games in 5-weeks and what the Remparts will have to do against the Mooseheads to earn a spot at the Memorial Cup presented by Kia.
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