STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with the SJHL since 2001-2002 and in light of the recent simulation that took place, I got to thinking what it would be like if we pitted recent championship teams against one another and that led me to think about the best of the best over the last 18 years. 

Here, in my opinion, are the top 10 SJHL teams over the last 18 years:

1—2008 HUMBOLDT
This team had it all.  They rolled through the regular season at 48-9-and-1.  What I remember most about all three Humboldt teams in this era was how fast they skated and this particular team not only had the speed, but they also had tenacity.  They almost didn’t win the league title, trailing 3-1 in games to Kindersley in the championship series.  But, the turning point came in the third period of game five when Jordan Schindel met wandering netminder Ryan Nieszner, who was playing a puck out near the face-off circle and that sparked a line brawl and seemed to rattle the Klippers who lost that game, then lost game six at home, and finally bowed out to the Broncos in game seven making the comeback complete.  The epic moment, however, was when Taylor Nelson made an amazing glove save in the final second of the RBC Cup final against Camrose, preserving a 1-0 win.  

2—2006 YORKTON
They didn’t win the national title, thanks to Kyle Turris and the Burnaby Express; but this Terrier team dominated from start to finish.  My biggest recollection from here was the team’s record when Dustin Nehring played and what was their record when he didn’t.  They were 37-11-4-and-3 overall, but Nehring was limited to 39 of the 55 games and I want to say they only lost about 4 times when he played.  To this day, I still regard Nehring as the best SJHL defensemen I’ve ever seen when I take into account the total package.  He blocked shots like nobody I can recall.  He was tough.  He put up offensive numbers.  He was a gamer.  A leader.  And a winner.  Sure, you can find tougher, more skilled, better skaters, all sorts of things.  But when I look at the complete package, Nehring was the best I’ve seen.  I haven’t even mentioned Chris Korchinski.  This team was stacked.

3—2009 HUMBOLDT
This was the follow-up club to the RBC champs of 2008 and they could still skate like the wind (Matthew Kirzinger, Tory Allan, Steve and Scott Schroeder, Dane Lindskog), but it was the MVP performance of Brady Wacker that led the way.  Having said that, this was a true dominant team that did things by committee and they played lockdown defense in front of their netminder (Andrew Bodnarchuk).  This may be the deepest team I’ve seen.  They could throw four lines at you that could do offensive damage, but they also had Wacker and Tanner Vandesype at over a point per game on defense.  They were impossible to play against.

4—2003 HUMBOLDT
These guys won the national title and, perhaps, I should rank them higher but back in 2003 you were allowed to cherry pick a third goalie from any other team in the league and the Broncos went with Sean Connors (Kindersley) and I’m not sure they win it all without him and that’s with all due respect to BJ Sklapsky (who was also a very good goalie, we just never got to see it in the ANAVET and RBC).  This team was chippy and played with an edge.  Three of their top five scorers had over 277 penalty minutes (Keith Reade, Craig Olynick, and Jeremy Wray).  Matt Brown was as good a two-way forward and leader as you will find and Kris Kasper was brought in at mid season and was a power forward that could score and fight with the best of them.  

5—2014 YORKTON
The Terriers won the SJHL title in 2013 as well but their downfall of not being able to score cost them in the Western Canada Cup.  That would not be their problem in 2014 as the acquisition of Brett Boehm changed the face of the team and made them an unstoppable bunch after January.  However, you could also consider them the luckiest team in the 2000s when you factor in they lost two of their first three at the Western Canada Cup and then lost their first two games at the RBC Cup.  In the RBC final, they were down 3-1 late in the third period but Tanner Lischynsky scored at 17:12 and then Dylan Johnson scored at 17:20 to tie it before the overtime heroics of Derek Falloon at 15:01 to clinch the national crown.  Both the 2013 and 2014 teams were anchored by twin brothers Chase and Brady Norrish on the blueline and along with Devon McMullen, they formed a top three on defense that nobody else could ever come close to matching during this two year run.

6—2007 HUMBOLDT
The Broncos lost the ANAVET Cup that year to Selkirk, but they battled illness that ran rampant through the dressing room and, I hate to say this, they got hosed in game seven against Selkirk as they fell 4-3 in a game that went four extra periods of overtime.  Would you believe the hometown Steelers didn’t take a single solitary penalty the entire night through seven periods of hockey?  The Broncos lost two of three home games in the series but really battled back and showed their heart despite losing.  This was the team that got the most dominant three year run I’ve witnessed all started.  Schindel, Wacker, Nelson, the Schroeder twins, Allan, and Kirzinger were all rookies.  Brayden Klimosko, Laurent Benjamin, Russell Nielsen, and Matt Rintoul were vets but still had a year remaining after this.

7—2004 KINDERSLEY
Because of their geographical location, this is the one team I probably saw the least out of all championship clubs in the last 18 years.  However, I talked to head coach Dave Hunchak about once a week and my fondest memory comes from the fact he was very open about sharing his philosophies and styles with me and I learned a tremendous amount about the game from Hunchak in this year and how he approached things has shaped a lot of how I still view the make-up of a dressing room and the concept of running a successful organization, not just for one year but setting it up to be successful for multiple years over.  Local product Troy Schwab was their top player and this was the last year teams were allowed to add a third goalie for their post-league title playoff runs.  Kindersley picked Kevin Dziaduck (Yorkton) and he was a major reason why they went all the way to the RBC Cup final, losing to an Ontario team that was stocked full of 20-year-olds.  I want to say the Klippers only had five 20-year-olds that year as they were one of the best ‘young’ teams ever.  Schwab was 18, Chris O’Connor was 18, Brady Larock was 17, Jesse Fischer was 17, Josh Sim was 18.

8—2010 LA RONGE
This team didn’t have an eye popping regular season record (29-20-7) as head coach Bob Beatty used the full season to construct a roster that was feared by the time playoffs rolled around.  He acquired Joel Danyluk from Yorkton to be his number one puckstopper, but Adam Bartko stole the show for most of the playoffs.  Before it was all said and done, both netminders were used for big games and contributed to the title.  They lost in the ANAVET Cup to the Dauphin Kings but the Kings were a loaded team that almost won a national crown that year.  The Ice Wolves were built around a killer top four defense of Dustin Stevenson, Mike Alexander, Colton MacPherson, and Dayton Fossum.  In their own rink, they were intimidating and as I look back at this roster I see so many quality people (Dan Conacher, Ben Findlay, Nolan Souchotte to name a few).  Marc-Andre Carre was a rookie while Doug Lindensmith and Travis Eggum still had another dominating year left in them as well.  Liam Brennan had a knack for big plays.  The Ice Wolves won the title the following season too, but I give the nod to this group as being a bit better simply because of the depth on D.

9—2017 BATTLEFORDS
Potentially, the most dominant team in the SJHL over the last twenty years; however their flat performance in the Western Canada Cup where they finished 1-and-3 puts a damper on things to some degree when comparing them to the greatest teams of all-time.  They steamrolled everybody in the playoffs by going a combined 12-and-0 (Weyburn, Nipawin, Flin Flon) after a 48-9-and-1 regular season.  The duo of Taryn Kotchorek and Joel Grzybowski had a GAA of 1.61 and 1.66 respectively and they combined for 11 shutouts.  All four defensemen of Connor Sych, Kendall Fransoo, Cody Spagrud, and Levi Kleiboer were bonafide number one guys on any given night.  This was Layne Young’s 19-year-old year and Young should go down as one of the top handful of players in the SJHL over the last 20-years.  Still this team deserves a lot of credit for doing something that other very good North Star teams couldn’t do — succeed in the playoffs.

10—2015 MELFORT
Similar to the 2017 North Stars, Melfort dominated the SJHL but disappointed at the Western Canada Cup, although they came within a game of qualifying for the RBC tournament.  The top line of Travis Mayan, Justin Boyer, and Tristan Frei was dominant.  Goalie Richard Palmer posted a 1.78-GAA and the Mustangs were so good that future SJHL Defenseman Of The Year, Eric Sinclair, struggled to get into the line-up.  For as good as that top line was, it was Adam Fauchoux that emerged as an x-factor of sorts in the playoffs as he reeled off 14 goals in 14 games and led the Mustangs in playoff scoring as they were just a difficult team to defend and then, on the off chance you could catch them in a mistake, you had to deal with Palmer.

Here are the best runner-ups:

2008 Kindersley Klippers (Leedahl, Sawka, Redlick, Sawa, Linnell, Nieszner)
2009 Melville Millionaires (Hope, Lind, Dolinski, Metz, Herauf, Beech, Bosch)
2005 Battlefords North Stars (George, J.Keller, D.Keller, Jullion, Lang, Miszczak)
2011 Yorkton Terriers (Breitkreuz, Ciolfi, Buzzeo, Boyer, Tendler, McMullen, Peters)
2016 Flin Flon Bombers (Smith, Switzer, Kocur, Empey, Roach, Robidoux, Newton)

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance reporter/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)