Guelph Storm

We'll give them full credit there, but unfortunately dropped a 7-4 decision in London.

And then they were back home on Saturday night, facing off against the Guelph Storm.

Guelph all of a sudden now has...

All the reinforcements back, they look much, much closer to the Guelph Storm full roster that is expected to compete not only for the Western Conference crown, but also for the Memorial Cup as hosts.

And Guelph looked like Guelph on Wednesday.

on Saturday and unfortunately a 5-1 win over the Owen Sound Attack who are still looking for that first win on home ice but with two games at home coming up this weekend you gotta think that is coming up soon it's still early in the season and this week we get to talk to a few players And the brand new associate coach on the bench.

So we're four into it now.

This is game four.

And then, yeah, Kitchener Rangers, shout out my hometown, my first ever favorite team.

go on a miraculous run after not getting the 2027 Memorial Cup that instead gets hosted by the Guelph Storm they decide we're going to go all in and they they do they go to Kelowna and they win the Memorial Cup and then the Leafs draft one of their their best young defensemen yeah like you said Alexander Bilecki and uh he's looked pretty good at camp he's gone back to OHL now but yeah very very excited for him I was really hoping the Leafs would draft him and Going from picking first overall to picking 60th as their next pick, getting Gavin McKenna and Alexander Bilecki is pretty good.

I'm excited for him and they seem like they sort of get along pretty well too after the draft and all that.

And then the Leafs did pretty well throughout the rest of the draft based on what the prospect guys and people like yourself seem to think about everything that happened there.

But yeah, seemingly as long as Willie's in Medicine Hat, they're going to be in the conversation for the top team in the league.

Definitely, as a Storm fan, a team that scares me come May.

But we'll get to that.

Long wait until we get there.

They're close to my heart.

And I think with some organizational stability in place behind Travis Crickard, that's an organization that's ready to turn a bit of a corner and find its way back into the playoffs this year.

It's, you know, of course, I'm always thinking about this from a Guelph Storm angle since we already have our ticket to the Mem Cup punched.

And it's like, man, it seems like a lot of teams that are going for it this year are teams we've already seen at the Memorial Cup before.

And, uh, here's what I'm curious about.

I'm gonna be curious to see if teams like the University of Michigan, let's just use them as an example, Michigan State, uh, Denver even, like, these, these juggernauts, if they're gonna start to, um, in ter- territorially, if they're recruiting a lot on the east or in, in the Ontario region, let's just say, and are they gonna want to do more business, say, with the London Knights or the Guelph Storm compared to another team in the league? That kind of thing.

I just think that it's always, is it a snowball rolling down a mountain? [laughs] Is what I'm concerned about, and I, I, I don't want it to become pigeonholed for, for everybody.

It sounds a lot like the Original Six when they had, like, before the draft where they had their territories and, you know, somehow the Toronto Maple Leafs let that- Number four guy out of their grasp.

We're having a Memorial Cup final preview on Friday.

They're taking on the Guelph Storm.

At

home?

even if we have to take it to Matt.

Hopefully he can be a part of it next Saturday night when the Guelph Storm are in town.

But like I said, we should probably get into it.

We have three interviews for you this week.

Episode two of season three of the Bear Tracker Weekly Podcast will be out then.

Until then, have a great week.

We'll see you at the rink Saturday night when the Guelph Storm are in town.

Get your tickets at attackhockey.com.

I'm really looking for him to take a substantial step here.

Drafted in the third round in 2025 with the Kingston Frontenacs, he was traded to the Guelph Storm partway through the season.

He's been a consistent scorer.

I got to see him in person in the first minute of game against the Oshawa Generals.