Over the Edge + November 3, 2010

sports 11

Hockey Super Series
Junior Hockey All-Star Game Coming to Prince George

BROCK CAMPBELL
SPORTS EDITOR

Western Hockey League (WHL) elite and Russian were eligible to play. However, one notable player is the team are Maxim Kitsyn, an L.A. Kings draft pick,
Alexei Marchenko, the top-defenceman in Russia’s
Minor Hockey League (MHL), and Mikhail Grigorenko,
a sixteen year old center with a ton of skill. Kitsyn has
experience playing in the series, as a member of last

year’s team he netted four goals.

World Junior Team prospects will hit the ice November Alexander Radulov, who abruptly left the NHL after
two consistent seasons with Nashville to return home
and play in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL),
was a member of the Russian Selects in 2004 and
2005. Radulov, scored ninety-five points in one-hun-
dred forty-five games as a Predator.

18, 2010 at Prince George’s CN Centre in the final
leg of a six-game series played across Canada. The
Subway® Super Series is a set of six games played
over the span of ten days between Canadian Hockey
League (CHL) All-Stars (selected from the three affili-
ated leagues) and Russian selects. On Nov-
ember 8 in New Brunswick and November 10
in Drummondville, QC, the Russian team will
play the Quebec Major Junior (QMJHL) All-
Stars before heading west to play the best of
the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in London
and Sudbury. After playing in Kamloops Nov-
ember 17, their trip will end here in Prince
George. The series, previously known as

the Canada Russia Challenge, is part of the
evaluating process for the upcoming World
Junior Hockey Tournament, played this year
in Buffalo, New York.

Team WHL has announced their roster and it
appears loaded with future NHL talent. Some
of the players include Vancouver Giants Right-
#« Wing Brendan Ghallagher, a Montreal Cana-
diens draft pick who has twenty-eight points in
sixteen games so far this season, and Ty Rat-
tie of the Portland Winterhawks who is third in
league scoring behind Ghallagher with twenty-
three points. Prince George Cougars forward
Brett Connolly, a recent Tampa Bay Lightning
draft pick and the Cougars leading scorer with
22 points, will represent the home team, and
Ryan Howse, a PG product currently playing
for the Chilliwack Bruins gets to play in front
of friends and family as an all-star. The WHL
lineup also includes Ryan Murray, the Everett
Silvertips blue-liner and top prospect for the
2012 NHL Entry Draft.

In the past, the series has showcased some
of the premiere talents and future all-stars
now playing in the NHL. Sydney Crosby,
Ryan Getzlaf, John Tavares, Dion Phaneuf,
Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are just a few
of the all-stars who have competed for the
CHL. For the Russian Teams, which usually
consist of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL-
Russia’s pro league) players, there are not
as many noticeable names. For example, Alexander

Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin were not members of the _ As for those who will be playing in Prince George,
Russian squad, likely because their spots on the junior Russia had not released a full roster at the time of
national team would have been guaranteed when they _ writing this article, but some players expected to be on

NBA Preview

With so much evident talent and players
competing for possible World Junior positions
it should be an exciting game to watch and
ONLINE SOURCE anyone interested in seeing the NHL’s future
stars should definitely attend. Tickets, priced at
$24.65, are still available online through Ticketmaster
or at CN Centre’s ticket counter.

As the new sports editor | want to hear from my readers (if there are any out there), | want to know their opinions, | want to know who I’m talking too. This has prompted me to challenge
you, the reader, to respond to my voice. And | like to think | know hoops, which has led me to give an extensive preview of the 2010-2011 Season. Of course the big question this year

is will the Heat take it all? My answer is no. If you disagree, or have a beef with any of my picks then send me a response with who you think will come out as NBA champs, with a brief
explanation why. E-mail me at over-the-edge@unbc.ca, Subject: NBA Preview, we may even publish your response, if you don’t crush my ego too badly. Here is how the league will play
out this season:

Western Conference

Eastern Conference Finals: Miami over Orlando

Western Conference Finals: L.A. Lakers over Oklahoma City

Champions: L.A. Lakers over Miami

Pacific Northwest Southwest
1. L.A. Lakers (1) 1. Oklahoma City (3) 1. Dallas (2)
2. Phoenix (7) 2. Portland (5) 2. Houston (4)
3. Golden State (8) 3. Denver 3. San Antonio (6)
4. L.A Clippers 4. Utah 4. Memphis
5. Sacramento 5. Minnesota 5. New Orleans
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Central Southeast
1. Boston (3) 1. Chicago (4) 1. Miami (1)
2. New York (7) 2. Milwaukee (6) 2. Orlando (2)
3. Philadelphia 3. Indiana (8) 3. Atlanta (5)
4. Toronto 4. Detroit 4. Charlotte
2.New Jersey 2.—Cleveland (Numbers Reese ae ers) ONLINE SOURCE