Shots from the Point--Wednesday edition

Looks like the team will be without Connor Rankin and Neal Prokop again this weekend:

"Connor has been out there doing conditioning skating, but we still don't know" if he'll play, said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "Neal is still a ways away. He's continuing with the rehab process, but he's not even in the conversation right now."

"We need that element in our lineup, but in the meantime, it creates opportunities for other players," Hiller said. "We've seen Max Moline step up his physical game in their absence."

"He's somebody who really paid his dues the first half of the season," Hiller said. "He didn't get to play more than three games in a row the first half of the season, but he's playing more after Christmas and is carving out a nice niche for himself." (Examiner)

I can only imagine how tough it is for Neal to be sitting out (again). After working so hard to come back so fast from the broken femur, only to be sidelined by what is being listed on the WHL weekly update as a Charlie Horse.  Poor kid.  I'd give him healing waffles, but I removed that page element because I got tired of forgetting to update it.  I know, LAZY BLOGGER.

Losing Rankin is tough too.  It's hard to remember he's only 16 with the way he plays.  But yes, Max has really stepped up and good for him for rising to the challenge.

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Rene Ferran's latest installment of "Meet the Ams" takes a closer look at defenseman Sam Grist (ass-pat to Rene for linking to my interview as well):

"I started off slow, but definitely I've gradually gotten better," Grist said. "I don't know if I was surprised (to be in the rankings). Maybe a little bit. But I was excited, too. It felt pretty cool to be on the list."

"We've seen steady signs of improvement with him," Hiller said. "We expect a lot of him during the stretch run, and he's delivering."

"Being a defenseman and a big guy like he is, adjusting the speed of this level can be tricky," Hiller said. "His physical presence has grown, as has his confidence in that area. But you have to be able to do that night after night, shift after shift. You have to condition your body to that physical play, and that's an area where we've seen the biggest improvement in him."

Still, Grist missed several games recently with a concussion after taking a hit from Portland's Brendan Leipsic. Since Grist returned to the lineup, he's played against Portland twice, and in both games he has satisfied his urge for revenge against the Winterhawks rookie.

"Obviously, that first game, I wanted to get him," he ssaid. "But I'm not trying to get him back anymore. It's an on-ice rivalry, for sure, but whatever happens, happens." (Examiner)

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Don't forget Friday, February 25th is the annual Breast Cancer Awareness night.  Looks like Annie Fowler has a thing going to honor cancer survivors on her blog at the Herald:

The Tri-City Herald would like to honor the women and men who have courageously battled breast cancer. We are asking breast cancer survivors (or their families) to submit a photo, with name and hometown. We will run a gallery of all of the photos on Feb. 25 on the Red Light District blog.

I know there are readers from the Tri-Cities to British Columbia to Calgary. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Please send photo, name and hometown by Feb. 23 to: afowler@tricityherald.com. Please label as: Survivor (Herald)

I think that's a pretty cool thing for her to be doing.

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Speaking of Breast Cancer Awareness night, don't forget you can get BCA designs through my Zazzle shop as well (and order early, Zazzle is slow--even the 2-day shipping takes 4 sometimes so don't pay extra for that).  As usual, proceeds from these will be donated to the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation.

They can be found here.

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Best of the West poll results will be coming up in the Herald this Sunday, should be interesting.  I will say, I don't like that they've removed the "most overrated" player.  Meh, perhaps it's mean to label a teenager/young adult "overrated", but c'mon, it's fun to see who players think is overrated in their own league.  At least I think it is.  I wouldn't know where/how to cast my votes, I think (and I could be wrong) but I think players/coaches/whoever else votes on the thing isn't allowed to vote for anyone from your own team.  How do I think it might shake out?

• Best Fans-Everett.  They always win, I don't know why.
• Top Coach- Don Nachbaur.  Look what he's done with a team that, on paper at least, wasn't supposed to be very good this season.
• Top Executive-Bob Tory
• Top Rookie-Sven Bartschi
• Most Valuable to Team-Calvin Pickard
• Best Stay-At-Home D-Man-hrm, no clue.
• Hardest Shot-Matt MacKenzie haha I have no idea.  I don't pay close enough to other teams' players, to be honest, for these types of questions
• Top Faceoff Man-not an American, that's for sure
• Most Accurate Shot-Nino?
• Toughest Player-Sena Acolatse.  Hasn't he been in this league for like 8 years?
• Most Improved Player-Adam Hughesman
• Best Overage Player-hate to say it, but Tyler Johnson
• Top Defensive Forward-personally, I'd say Mason Wilgosh LOL
• Best 16-Year-Old-Connor Rankin
• Best Goaltender-Calvin Pickard.  Or Reid maybe.
• Best Skater-Tyler Johnson
• Most Underrated Player-no clue.
• Most Irritating Player-to me?  Tyler Johnson.  But in the Western Conference, I'm sure Brendan Shinnimin will take the votes.  I'd likely vote Brendan Leipsic too, but he has a couple years to really become a pest.  Jerk.
• Best Pro Prospect-Ryan Johansen, I'd also say Tyler Johnson even though he hasn't been drafted.
• Top Referee-none?

I don't know.  And I really don't pay enough attention to other teams enough to be able to effectively cast votes.  Maybe later in the season I'll do this same sort of thing, but for the Americans only.  Maybe I'll do my own year-end awards or something.

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If you missed my interview with Paul Sohor, scroll down, I posted it last evening.