The Farm & Unincorporated Oil Country - November 12

Let’s check in with some of the less covered teams that may be of interest to Oilers fans, or fans of local hockey in Edmonton:

Bakersfield

The Condors played a couple of home games last weekend. They lost the first one, 5-3 to the San Diego Gulls, and won the second, 6-3 over the San Jose Barracuda. Interestingly enough, Saturday’s win over San Jose was actually only the first time this season that the Condors had both outshot their opponent and won the game, per Condors radio man Ryan Holt.

Also,

That’s some impressive stuff from Condors fan-favourite Josh Currie. Although, I should note, if you’re doing some quick math at home and coming up with different numbers, the reason is that this includes Currie’s time with the Condors as an ECHL club as well. And the top 5 that Holt is referring to also includes the Condors’ entire history in Bakersfield, not just those spent in the AHL or affiliated with the Oilers.

Most of the focus on Bakersfield usually comes through the lens of prospect watching, but, Josh Currie is well on his way to being one of that city’s greatest professional hockey figures ever. Nice to see from someone who plays a tenacious brand of hockey every night.

On the subject of Currie, I mentioned last week how he was leading the shot in shots by a wide margin, and on pace to have way more than any pacific division player did last season. Well, after registering four shots in two games this past weekend, that’s still true, despite a slight drop in pace. His 68-game pace for shots on goal is 241, far more than the 178 shots that lead the division last year (although he actually lost the division lead for this season, over the weekend).

There is another Condor who is putting up pretty impressive shot totals so far, this young season. Rookie defenceman, Evan Bouchard. Bouchard fired five shots over the weekend, and has 36 this year in 13 games, which is a 68-game pace of 188. That pretty impressive shot generation from a first year pro, especially as a defenceman. Keep an eye on him, he’s going to be a special player.

Wichita

The Thunder had a busy week, playing four games since our last check in. They won four of those game, and sit at 7-3-3 though 13 games. A great sign of organizational depth.

Alberta Golden Bears

The Bears played the (at the time) second place Calgary Dinos twice this past weekend, and won both. They won 4-3 in Calgary on Friday, and dominated the Dinos in a 6-1 victory on Saturday night, at Clare Drake Arena.

Calgary’s pair of losses drops them to third in the CWUAA standings, and brings MRU into the two-spot, making the Bears’ lone loss of the season seem less shocking in retrospect.

The Bears host the Regina Rams for a pair of games this weekend. My CWUAA predictive model gives the Golden Bears a 97% chance of winning each game. It also predicts a 10.5 goal supremacy and 15 goal total for the entirety of this weekend’s two-game set. Meaning the Bears should be in for about 12.75 goals this weekend, while the rams are expected to be in for about 2.25. A 6-1 and a 7-1 win for the Bears is my prediction, in the form of an actual hockey score.

NAIT

The Ooks obliterated Augustana in a pair of games last weekend. They outscored the Vikings 11-3 over two wins. The Ooks remain one point ahead of Red Deer College in the conference standings, and have now regained the conference’s top goal differential, over Grant Mac.

Grant MacEwan

The Griffins didn’t play this past weekend, but will have a home-and-home against SAIT on November 15th and 16th.