When you're right 52% of the time, you're wrong 48% of the time.

The funny thing is, I didn't predict a score... I didn't predict a winner... I just predicted exciting hockey. And by god I couldn't even get that right!

The Summerside Western Capitals basically came into the AJL last night, seemed like the only team out there at times, and left the rink with two points, beating the Commandos 5-1 and running their win streak to eight in a row. Thank you, come again! For their part, the Commandos did what they could to make a game of it in the second but just seemed out of sync. No team in the league hits the opposing blueline with the speed of Caps. They don't dump and chase much (except for a soft dump from the blueline)... they just come rushing in, get the two man forecheck going and, if it can be attained, throw a third body towards the fringe as well. At times, especially in the first, the Caps were skating headlong into Dieppe territory with such reckless abandon, I had to look closely to make sure there wasn't a Black Friday sale taking place around Connor Wilkinson's net. For Wilkinson's part, he made a few tough saves and couldn't be faulted on any of the goals, in my opinion... Jacob Riley was sharp all game as well for the Western Capitals.

The problem with facing a top team is that when they're locked in, only another top team can really handle that sort of pressure for prolonged stretches. Unfortunately for the Commandos, that puts them at a disadvantage this year... but it will most likely be rattling around the backs of their heads the next time these two teams meet up on January 24th at the AJL.

In the meantime, Dieppe travels to the all new Pictou County Wellness Center today for a 7PM tilt with the Weeks Crushers. The Crushers inaugurated their new home on Thursday night, losing 6-2 to the high flying Truro Bearcats. This is the fourth and final meeting between the Crushers and Commandos and as the latter stages of their last matchup in Dieppe showed, there's certainly no love lost as scrums began breaking out and thing got particularly heated at times. That's all I will say about this game. Don't ask me who wins or if it will be a good game. All I will tell you is I'm 100% sure it will be played in the New Glasgow area (which means I will not be in the least surprised if this game somehow gets moved to Antigonish).

I might have been onto something when I asked the question "how with STU fare on the road against an Aigles Bleus team they nearly beat at home? Because they answered that question with a 4-1 win over U de M at the Levesque, their first win of the year against 12 losses. By all accounts, U de M carried the play for much of this game as the 47-21 shots advantage would indicate but Tommies goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde was a wall, and their received timely scoring, led by a three point effort from Jonathan Bonneau, the guy PEI Rocket fans probably still refer to as "Jimmy's little brother". So the Tommies are now 1-12... but taking even a cursory look at their roster, I don't see how. There is some talent there... guys who were great major junior players (or in the case of former Commando Nick Brown and Slammer Robert Zandbeek, great Jr.A players). They aren't exactly the most prestigious collection of players in the AUS (that team plays a few minutes away from STU), but they aren't "1-12" bad, either. One of those strange but true things, I suppose.

U de M has essentially zero time to think about last night as they play host to #2 ranked UNB tonight at 7PM... which begs me to ask the question... despite the disparity in shots and based on what little info I know of the game, did U de M really dominate and run into a hot goaltender? Or did they merely control the play territoraly and made life easier for Jonathan Groenheyde with many less than quality scoring attempts? Keep in mind, I'm not saying this is the case as I was not there... but based on the fact that les Aigles were facing an 0-12 team one night, immediately followed by the top team in the league, I think it's a completely legitimate question. If anybody who reads this was at that game last night, leave a comment telling me how you saw things play out. I welcome your analysis.

Cats and Drakk face off today at 3PM at the Coliseum... the Cats are looking to build off their 4-2 come from behind (aka ugly) win in Cape Breton on Wednesday, while the Drakkar are looking to feed off their 3-2 OT win in Charlottetown last night. Of course, the Drakkar are in the land of the living in the QMJHL standings for the first time since 2007-2008, the year they and Moncton pulled off The! Best! Trade! Ever! in the history of the Wildcats... a trade that must be broken down into two parts.

First, Moncton sent star forward Matt Marquardt to Baie-Comeau that Christmas for the Drakkar's first round pick in 2009 (not 2008, when it would've been bottom five...) and a then-somewhat unknown defensive defensemen whom Danny Flynn was quite high on named David Savard. Of course, everybody who follows the Q now knows who David Savard is... particularly after he lead all dmen in scoring in the 2009-2010 season and followed that up with a CHL Defenseman of the Year award and a stint on the Columbus Blue Jackets blueline. That first rounder in 2009 (which wound up being the fifth overall pick) was used by the Cats - with the draft held at the Coliseum, no less - to select winger Raphael Bussieres. Bussieres cracked the Cats lineup at 16 before being sent back to Midget AAA sometime in November. He was back in the league within a month... when he was traded to Baie-Comeau straight up for a guy who was already well known to junior fans at the time. That guy was named Gabriel Bourque, who was gearing up for a stint with Team Canada at the WJC at the time of that trade, experience that probably served him well in the Cats 2010 President's Cup championship, in which Bourque and his 19 goals were named QMJHL playoff MVP. So from that initial deal five seasons ago, the Cats hauled in the top dman in the CHL and a playoff MVP. I'll take it.

For Bussieres' part, after a couple decent seasons with a mediocre Drakkar team, he ended up playing a key role in their huge upset of Victoriaville in the first round of the playoffs last year, followed that up by being drafted - rather surprisingly in the opinions of some - in the second round of the NHL draft by Minnesota and in many a game report this year has been tagged "best player on the ice"... for either team. Good for Bussieres, who has had to shake more than a couple of bad reports on his game and attitude. Just goes to show that people can grow up and not everything may always been as it appears... and for the Drakkar, it just goes to show that patience really does pay off.

So, here we go again. It should (key word should) be a great day for exciting hockey in Greater Moncton... and if it's not, don't blame me. I'm just some random guy behind a keyboard.