[Professional Blog] West coast checkup

The season is but a few weeks old, but already one has to ask whats going on out West? The Deer Lake Red Wings and Clarenville Caribous have been the dominant teams over the last two seasons of West Coast senior hockey, but early on its the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts and Corner Brook Royals who are making headlines. After a third place, 12-11 finish in 2008-09, the Cats have opened the 2009-10 campaign on 7-1-0 tear, their only loss coming at the hands of the Royals in the opening weekend. Of course, for an organization which loaded up on talent in the offseason former CeeBees Sean Wadden, Ryan Delaney, Keith Delaney and former European pro Andre Gill its what they expected. On the flipside, the Royals didnt go mad signing bodies during the offseason but find themselves in second place with a 4-2-1 start to the year, both their losses at the hands of the Cats. Word from out west has it that Terry Ryan is healthy and leading a roster that has found some stability under new head coach Juan Strickland. The defending Herder champs Bous are in third with a 2-4-2 record while the once mighty Red Wings are in the basement at 2-5-0. Its nice to see change as a result of improved parity. Now if we could only get the same shakeup in the Avalon East. * * * * * Apparently, we were wrong. Berrick Loughlin will not be playing for the Clarenville Caribous this season. It was rumoured, but not confirmed as Loughlin himself was out of province, the speedy sniper would be joining the defending Herder champs on his return from Alberta. However, Southern Shore Ocean general manager Kenny Williams confirmed today that Loughlin will be a Breaker for the remainder of the season. With Dalton finding his stride in the East and Dale Sullivan already flourishing with a new linemate, the Breakers top line should rival the CeeBees in terms of scoring punch.