Alberta Golden Bears 2015-16

[Bob Stauffer]

The two-time defending CIS Champion Alberta Golden Bears wrapped up their pre-season schedule with a close 3-2 victory over Minnesota State-Mankato in Minnesota tonight.
For the second consecutive night Alberta outshot an NCAA opponent (31-25) after out-shooting St. Cloud 34-25 last night in a disappointing 6-2 loss that saw the Golden Bears third string goalie yield five goals on 12 shots.
Alberta finishes the pre-season 5-2, with the Bears loss against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse and the Edmonton Oilers Rookies, not counting.
The Bears beat ACAC school Augustana, swept UBC, handled Saskatchewan in a convincing 5-0 win last Saturday at Clare Drake Arena and got the win tonight vs Mankato.
First-year Head Coach Serge Lajoie who came back to the program after spending the last five seasons as Head Coach at NAIT; saw the Bears blow a 3-0 lead at home vs NAIT and ultimately lose 4-3 in OT, to go along with the loss vs. St. Cloud.
Alberta suffered five significant off-season losses.
Canada West scoring leader TJ Foster signed an AHL deal with Toronto, his high-end offence has not been replaced as of yet.
The Golden Bears #1 goalie Kurtis Mucha, top-4 puck-moving defenceman Jesse Craige and second-line winger Johnny Lazo all graduated as two-time National Champs.
The Bears have yet to find a suitable replacement for the former CIS First-Team All-Canadian Mucha in between the pipes.
Freshman defenceman Sawyer Lange can capably fill the void for Craige, as he was PP QB in the WHL.
Power-forward Jayden Hart could be a big-time player in the Canada West, he scored four goals in 11 games in the AHL at the end of last season and had a very impressive camp with the New York Rangers this fall-but chose to play at the U of A instead of sign an AHL-ECHL deal with the Rangers. Hart ultimately should be an upgrade on Lazo, but my guess is he will get a pro opportunity in a couple of seasons.
The biggest off-season departure though for the Bears was losing Head Coach Ian Herbers to the Edmonton Oilers.
Herbers, in concert with GM Stan Marple restored Alberta to a lofty truly elite status amongst CIS teams going 119-19 over the last three seasons.
In the prior seven seasons Alberta was just another pretty good team; instead of the best team.
From 2000-05 the Bears under Rob Daum had roughly a .900 winning percentage, winning National Tittle in '99, '00 and '05. Daum left in '05 to go to the AHL.
And though the Bears won National titles in 2006 and 2008, in my opinion they were no longer dominant.
Herbers and Marple got them back there in a hurry.
Alberta could've easily won the 2012-13 CIS Title in Herber's first year with a little bit of luck-they won the last two, with last March's victory out in the Atlantic coming in a convincing fashion.
Herbers got his talented team to play a hard, committed game with exceptional work ethic. The results came quickly, as illustrated by a dominating performance on the road over Yale and Dartnouth last fall.
So far based on what I have seen from the Bears this season I would assert a degree of sloppiness has crept into Alberta's game. Maybe it's just a University Cup hang-over?
Whatever the case I think the Bears will be fine out West but they are going to need to significantly improve as the season goes on to beat some improved Atlantic teams down the road!

Alberta starts their Canada West regular season, this week-end in Lethbridge

Click to read more...

 

[Bob Stauffer]

The #3 ranked Alberta Golden Bears start the season 5-2-1 in Canada West play after splitting in Saskatoon against the #2 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies.
The Bears put up 100 shots in two games on the road but only scored six goals as Jordan Cooke was stellar in goal.
Taking a look at Saskatchewan's line-up, littered with Junior "A" players, and the shot count I think it is safe to say the Huskies will be hard -pressed to maintain an .875 winning percentage (7-1 record).
Alberta has played 7-of-8 on the road to start the season
The Bears #1 netminder Luke Siemens has been ok, but critical puck-handling errors have cost Alberta against Lethbridge and Mount Royal.
Bears need someone on the back-end to step up and grab the 5-6 spots and Alberta has to get greasier around the goal.
As of right now UNB is the clear #1 in the CIS IMO...and Serge Lajoie has some work to do to get the Bears back to the level that Ian Herbers had them at last March when the school claimed their third back-to-back CIS Championship in the last 16 years.

 

[Bearpaw]

Bears struggling

Another weekend in the books and another with only 2 points. Tonight was the same book as the other outings - lots of shots but little to show for it.

There was a glimmer of the Bears of the Herbers era for a 7 minute stretch in the third period where they forechecked, puck protected and forced the play in order to tie the score. It was the dominant Bears of the past two seasons. However, as soon as that goal was scored, the Bisons controlled the last two minutes and were deserving of the winning goal.

While the Bears are taking lots of shots, there appears to be no urgency to their game right now. That being said, I saw Kruise Reddick lose his cool on the bench after the Bisons goal. While it was something that is very rare on the Bears bench, maybe it is that passion that will help the Bears turn the corner.

The Bears get the Dinos next weekend for a home and home. I think this series will go a long way in determining what type of team the Bears are going to be for the rest of the season.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

2'nd half

Have the Bears added anyone for the second half?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Bears

Bears lose 7-4 on the road to Manitoba. The Bisons have taken 2 of 3 games from Alberta, with the loss coming in overtime, at Claire Drake Arena.They outshot the Bisons 13-5 in the third period, but gave up 3 goals on 5 shots, with no empty net goals. With the loss of Curtis Mucha to graduation, are the Bears more vulnerable in nets? I would think that Luke Siemens will be the go to guy down the stretch (playoff and U-Cup).
The two time defending champs have the core of last years team intact, with only one major loss up front in, that being TJ Foster. But, Foster was dominant last year in Halifax and looked like the best player on the ice for the entire tournament cast.
On the backend, skilled QB Jesse Craige logged a ton of ice in Halifax. I know they brought in a couple recruits to fill in the backend, but how is the backend compared to last year??

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Bears struggling with 5 games left in the season

Several factors have played into what has been an underwhelming season so far from the Golden Bears:

#1. Goaltending

Kurtis Mucha graduated leaving the #1 job to Luke Siemens. The Bears had tried to recruit Taran Kozun but he elected to try his at pro. Siemen's reputation in the WHL was that he could be very good when he faces shots...but struggles at times when he doesn't see action.
The Bears have been out-shooting teams roughly 43-25 on the season; the .900 svp says a lot!
Siemens needs to improve for the Bears to have a shot at a three-peat

#2. Coaching
From the moment that Ian Herbers came aboard it was clear the Bears were a different program. Thanks to an excellent recruiting year in Stan Marple's lone season as Coach, Herbers inherited a lot of talent.
But the how many CIS programs can boast a coach who played and won a National title at his alma mater, won a Calder Cup the next season, went on to play in the NHL...and had already been a Head Coach in the AHL before coming back to the CIS to Coach?
Herbers got the Bears to play a committed game with structure and process, with un-matched work ethic...and the results showed it.
His only loss at in 3 years at the University Cup came in a game when his team gave up 13 SOG (2 EVS). The Bears clinically dominated St. FX, UQTR and UNB for large stretches at last year's University Cup.
So Herbers departure was going to be a loss!
Serge Lajoie as Head Coach gave Alberta the best bet for a seamless transition, but no question their have been growing pains.


#3. Alberta has not replaced TJ Foster, Johnny Lazo or Jesse Craige. Foster was a top-line CIS FWD who signed an AHL 1-way with the Leafs (played in ECHL) all season. Lazo was a legit top 6 forward, and Craige was a puck-moving top 4 right shot D.
New recruit Jayden Hart could be a big-time CIS player, but has had an inconsistent season. Alberta has had little impact from some other forwards who have come aboard. Defensively Dylan Bredo and Mitch Topping have taken a step forward, but they are not Craige.


Can Alberta still win?

The final 5 Conference games will reveal alot: @Calgary, home to #1 Saskatchewan for a pair (don't forget Alberta badly outshot the Huskies in back-to-back road games earlier this season), and then a home-and-home with Mount Royal.

If Siemens elevates his play, the Bears develop a more diversified scoring attack (which may mean breaking up their top line of Levko Koper-Kruise Reddick-Jordan Hickmott) the Golden Bears still could have a very good spring and give 7 5th years a chance to do something that no school in the CIS has done in 35 years...a three-peat...Alberta '78-'80

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Bears

This Bear team won't have the luxury of home ice advantage in the CanadaWest final, unless Sask Huskies fail make it to the conference final. Finishing behind Mount Royal would also force them to play a first round series. When was the last time that has happened??

The 2 game home series at Claire Drake will be a big test for both teams, Saskatchewan's biggest test of the year for sure.

 

[Bearpaw]

Two big wins for the Bears this weekend. This was the first weekend I have seen the Bears put in two complete games - and win in different fashion. Game 1 was a grind it out game with lots of after the whistle play. A test the Bears did not back down from. Game 2 was the Bears of the past two years - quick pace with flow and real good special teams.

While not a star in game one, Jayden Hart was a dominant player. It is the type of performance the Bears expected from him when he got to the program. The Huskies also targeted Ferguson in game 1 with their physical play but he battled through and was a force in both games. It was also good to see Legault play with some edge and get under the skin of the Huskie players (and especially Cooke) in the Friday night tilt. Bob Stauffer mentioned getting secondary scoring and the Ferguson line took care of that in game two - along with he defense.

The defense pairings were solid all weekend led by Carr and Rowley - nice to see them back together. And Siemens was good (save for the first goal in game 2) all weekend. He made big saves early in each game and that got him going.

This was vintage Bear hockey and the first time this year where you saw that dominant play. If the Calgary sweep was the wake-up call, it was definitely good timing. Next week's home and home against MRU is for the second seed - going to be interesting if the same Bears team shows up.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta-Saskatchewan

Watched both games online. Was appalled by Saskatchewan's lack of discipline at times, and the Bears were only marginally better in that regard.
Yes the Huskies had already clinched 1st place, but their performance was not worthy of being a legitimate threat to win the CIS Title.
Siemens made some good saves early in Game 2, but the two goals he gaveup were awful and he allowed Saskatchewan to get back in the game.
The Bears easily could have swept the series 3-0 and 5-0.
For the Bears better. But still lots of work to to do.
Need to take care of business against a well-coached and disciplined Mount Royal team.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

CanadaWest Playoffs

Bears looking more like the team that we would expect to see, sweeping Sask Huskies and now Mount Royal Cougars.
Alberta gets the second first round bye and will have home ice advantage. A win a best of 3 series will be enough to advance to the U-Cup in Halifax.
There is a strong chance, that the best of 3, may be come down to another battle between the Bears and Mount Royal in a CanadaWest semi-final. It looks like Mount Royal had some goaltending issues on Friday, as shots were even, in a 8-4 Alberta win. Saturday's game seemed to be close on the box score?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Who's gone

Forward:
Reddick
Koper
Hickmott
Ferguson
Dobrowolski

Defense:
Carr
Rowley

Goal:
Siemens

8 players have played out their 5'th year, so it will no doubt be a recruiting year for the U of A.
Those players are all impact players as well. It will be interesting to see who they bring in.
Saskatchewan only lose Stebner (D) and maybe Spafford?
The Huskies are in good position to challenge for the CanadaWest again next year.

 

[mikeandI]

Forward:
Reddick
Koper
Hickmott
Ferguson
Dobrowolski

Defense:
Carr
Rowley

Goal:
Siemens

8 players have played out their 5'th year, so it will no doubt be a recruiting year for the U of A.
Those players are all impact players as well. It will be interesting to see who they bring in.
Saskatchewan only lose Stebner (D) and maybe Spafford?
The Huskies are in good position to challenge for the CanadaWest again next year.

where is Siemens going ? did they cut him?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

my mistake, he has 2 years left.

 

[Rob]

I'm sure they will be looking for another goaltender though. They had a goaltender recruited during the last offseason but he decided to turn pro.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Taran Kozun, who opted to turn pro. He ranked second in goaltending stats, last year in the WHL.

 

[Bearpaw]

Reddick signs with Idaho and Hickmott with the Marlies to an ATO.

 

[STUTOMMIES]

Derek Ryan

Great story. Funny because he didn't play for UNB. That can't be right, he must have.

http://www.si.com/nhl/2017/02/02/de...okie-hockey-journey?xid=socialflow_twitter_si

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Yeah great story! Great program!
All CIS followers would be proud of him, for sure!!!

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Hometown Hockey was in Alberta today...the Bears and Ryan got some nice coverage.

 

[Bob Stauffer]

Alberta-February 11th, 2017

Alberta has seen a massive transition take place after a dissapointing conclusion to the 2015-16 season as a veteran-laden team never really found it's rhythm after winning back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

Bears have been playing 12 Freshmen most nights in the 2nd half.

Brendan Burke has a higher ceiling than any Bears goaltender in the last decade. He is big and can flat-out steal a game. He will be giving Alberta a "punchers-chance" every night.

The Bears added a future All-Canadian calibre D in Jason Fram at Christmas, to a pair of big shut-down freshman in Graeme Craig and Ryan Rehill.

Up front Alberta brought in an abundance of high-end skill.
However in my viewings the Bears forwards appear small and have yet to show at an elite-level work ethic.

The days of Rob Daum or Ian Herbers coached Bears teams that out-shot teams 42-23 on average are a distant memory, at least for now.

That said, the team has a stopper in between the pipes and numerous WHL snipers that could heat up.

I don't think Alberta is top-3 team this season, but they have enough talent to still be a factor come crunch time.

 

[Bearpaw]

In addition to the above good summary by Bob, the Bears are lacking the pace of the teams under Herbers. Those teams just got at the opposition from puck drop to horn, and in all situations. Regardless if even strength or short-handed, you expected offensive opportunities to come at all times. This edition of the Bears lacks the pace and aggressiveness of those coached teams. They have lots of individual Freshman talent, but is it the right mix of players? I think the work-ethic comment is a good one. The other issue, with so many talented players, it is hard to please everyone with playing time.

I believe Herbers is on a two year leave of absence from the Bears program while coaching with the Oilers - will be interesting to see what happens there and if there is a chance he comes back to the program. He has not been on the bench for some time now with the Oilers.

Bears have a chance to come out of Canada West to claim one of the two spots at Nationals this year, but this is not the same feared team coming out of the West that was there in the past. It is also no guarantee that the semi's being played at the Drake will result in a Bears walk - it will be a battle to make the conference final this year.