Christmas break update

Here’s a few notes, news and tidbits about the Swan Valley Stampeders, who are currently enjoying their Christmas break.
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Quick, who leads the Swan Valley Stampeders in penalty minutes this year?
If you said Jesse Enns, bravo. The first-year Stampeder has 93 minutes heading into the break, slightly ahead of Brent Wilson, who has 85.
Wilson, who hails from Norway House, doesn’t have to carry the load from the back end as much as he has in the past. Last year he provided plenty of offence from the back end. This year Wilson is still producing (sitting sixth in points with 16), but with Clark Byczynski (31 points) and rookie Landon Peel (15 points) also contributing, Swan Valley has some serious blue line depth.
In fact, the Stampeders have three defeneman in their top seven scorers.
Regardless of who’s scoring, Wilson said this year the team is more focused on team-oriented goals.
“Right now we’re just trying to focus on playing a full 60,” said Wilson. “We want to grind out other team’s defence and come ready to play.”
Wilson, who has five goals and 11 assists this year, said he’s looking forward to a safe break this year, and wants to come back ready for a run at first place.
“I want to come back healthy and ready to go,” he said.
Observing Wilson during the past two seasons, the veteran appears to be tweaking his game. He still plays with an edge, and has the ability to get under the skin of his opponents. But he also knows officials seem to be looking at him most games, ready to blow the whistle and send him to the penalty box. But as he noted after Swan Valley’s win over Neepawa, he’s picking his spots better this year.
Despite perhaps fewer trips to the box of late, Wilson is still averaging 2.5 penalty minutes per game, right about his average from last year of 2.4.
But he and his team know he’s more valuable on the ice, and it seems as if the mobile defenceman is doing all he can to stay out of the sin bin this year.
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Swan Valley has proven to be a pretty impressive bounce-back team. They have only lost four games by four or more goals this year, and after those games, they are 3-1.
They know how to put a bad loss behind them, as they did on their final game before the Christmas break.
“You know I think we have real character in the room, and those kind of games happen – it’s just unfortunate it’s happened to Dauphin twice this year,” said Jeff Peel. “We bounced back and had a pretty good offensive game.
Jeff Peel’s in his final year of junior hockey, and it hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. He’s dealt with numerous injuries this year, and has only played 17 of 40 games. But he’s strung together a few games now, and is inching closer to a point a game pace.
“It feels pretty good to get back in – it’s been pretty frustrating,” said the Virden product. “I’m just striving to play good defence and shut guys down, and getting my game back in shape as I’ve basically been off for two months.”
Getting healthy also means Jeff has the chance to play on the same team as his brother Landon for the first time ever – shinny games at the rink not included.
“It’s pretty different (to play with him),” said Jeff of his 16-year-old brother.
“You get pretty protective of him at times, but I haven’t been out there when he’s been hit too hard, so I haven’t have the chance to ‘snap’,” he added with a smile. “I think I finally tied him in points, so I can go home and not have him say too much.”
Jeff also said he plans to check out his brother in Winnipeg during the World U17 Hockey Challenge, before returning to Swan River on Dec. 30.
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Swan Valley’s Shelby Gray entered the break in second place in MJHL goal scoring with 25 goals in 37 games. That’s five back of Colan Jackson from Selkirk, who had 30 in 37 games.
Gray’s 25 goals also makes up 22 per cent of Swan Valley’s (small) goal total this year. Factor in his assists, and he has figured in on 36 per cent of the team’s offence this year. No wonder head coach Dwayne Kirkup wants some more goal scoring added at the deadline.
Clark Byczynski leads all defenceman in scoring heading into the break. His 31 points put him second in Swan Valley scoring.
Netminder Jayson Argue is among the league leaders in GAA (fifth) and save percentage (third) heading in the break.
Other stats of note: Swan Valley has scored 42 goals in the middle frame – their most productive period. They have also allowed 47 goals against in that same period, the most in that category. Swan Valley has also scored 37 in the first period, 31 in the third period, and one in overtime. They have allowed 28 in the first period (meaning they like to build early leads), 36 against in the third period, and two goals in overtime.
Swan Valley is 17-6-2 when scoring first, and 6-9-0 when scored on first. They are 17-4-1 at home, 6-11-1 on the road, and a stellar 10-2 on Saturday nights.