1. This is the 4th year in a row that the ICE have played in the Tri City tournament. Their record is now 1-11-0. The U.S. Division teams start their camps 7-10 days earlier than the ICE and that is a huge difference at this time of the year.
2. In 3 of the last 4 years the ICE have played games in the Crowsnest Pass and their record is 3-3-0.
3. The ICE use the preseason to help make the final decisions to their roster and I’m sure Jeff Chynoweth, Garnet Kazuik, Ryan McGill and Jay Henderson have a better grasp on the prospects after playing 3 games in 3 days.
4. In my 14 years covering the ICE they have never gone an entire year with two 16-year-old defenseman but that could be changed this year with 1st round pick Troy Murray and 2nd round pick Dylan Overdyk making strong bids to make the cut.
5. The ICE could have anywhere from 2-4 16-year-olds make the team this year, remember 2 years ago they had five (Wand, Descheneau, Reinhart, Philp, Martin) and 3 years ago they had none.
6. Speaking of Spencer Wand, if he decides to return to hockey, he could be an asset for the ICE in a possible trade.
7. In games involving the ICE we didn’t get to see Cranbrook’s Ryan Chynoweth (Tri City) or Everett’s Ben Betker (NHL camp) while Mackenzie Skapski’s brother Mitch (Everett) was not in the line-up either.
8. The ICE did not play against Seattle so we didn’t see 2012 1st overall pick Mathew Barzal.
9. The Hockey News has the ICE rated 4th in the Central, 5th in the East Conference and 10th in the WHL. They have Edmonton, Prince Albert, Kelowna and Portland as the division winners and the Rockets rated 1st overall.
10. The newly sold Saskatoon Blades are ranked last overall.