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At the end of the second period last night, I sat in the press box during a
commercial break and thought that the Portland Winterhawks deserved a little
be...
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Game postponed
The game between the Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers scheduled to be played in Lethbridge on Saturday (Dec. 5) has been postponed due to the ugly weather they are experiencing which has made driving conditions awfully tough. . . . The game has been rescheduled for Monday (Dec. 7) at 7 p.m.
Keeping Score
The last time the Saskatchewan Roughriders experienced a loss as painful as Sunday’s — it was 1976; hello there, Tony Gabriel — they promptly missed the playoffs for 11 consecutive seasons. . . . Which means we may not see ’Rider Nation again until 2021. . . . When Saskatchewan fans remember their team with a 16-point lead and 10:32 left in Sunday’s fourth quarter, well, it only makes things worse. . . . You’re right, Audry, Santa Claus won’t be wearing green and white this year. . . . South Carolina declared a tax holiday on firearms purchases for Black Friday, which resulted in NBC-TV’s Jimmy Fallon pointing out: “No taxes on guns — because one thing you want right after people have been drinking and arguing with their families is gun purchases made easier.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun thinks that Wayne Gretzky or Bobby Orr should light the Olympic torch in Vancouver in February. Uhh, no. I’m thinking it should be Tiger Woods, whose reputation has been going up in flames for a week now. . . . This was the week in which a new phrase entered the sporting life, as in: “What we have here is a Tiger situation.” . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “By Saturday morning, nothing much had changed in the Tiger Woods story, which means that we were still supposed to believe that his wife, Elin Nordegren, somehow turned one of Tiger’s Nike SQ drivers into the Jaws of Life.” . . . Headline at Fark.com: It was Mrs. Woods, in the driveway, with the golf club. . . . Headline in the Sunday Express: Was he fleeing the ire of the Tigress? . . . Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Who will get a bigger contract this winter. Matt Holliday or Elin Nordegren?” . . .
Dan Wetzel, over at Yahoo! Sports: “This isn’t John Daly smashing a car as he pulled out of an Arkansas Hooters. This is Tiger Woods. Nothing ever happens with Tiger Woods.” . . . Headline at sportspickle.com: Phil Mickelson Cockily Celebrates Successful Trip Out of His Driveway. . . . B.D. Gallof, at huffingtonpost.com: “The big loser in all this is Buick, who for all their redesigns and reworks, still can’t get their spokesman to actually use the damn thing. Instead he peels off, probably using half a tank of gas to dent a fire hydrant?” . . . Jerry Crowe, in the Los Angeles Times: “Tiger Woods has accomplished the heretofore virtually unthinkable: He has made himself even more famous. . . . Who knew a fender bender could inflict such damage? . . . Based on what we’ve seen and heard this week regarding the world’s best golfer, Tiger doesn’t date cougars.” . . .
Prior to Tiger’s weak-kneed apology, I thought a transgression was when you threw a club and it bounced into the crowd. . . . Gary Loewen, in the Toronto Sun: “Was it quick-thinking on wife Elin Nordegren’s part to grab a golf club and smash a couple of windows of the Escalade to help her husband, or should she have tried the door handle first?” . . . Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star: “Well, it probably won’t be long now until Tiger and Elin show up on 60 Minutes, holding hands and setting the record straight. Just like, you know, Roger Clemens did.” . . . Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “An anonymous buyer plunked down a record $10.8 million for a rare, 5-carat pink diamond at an auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Insiders vehemently deny it was Kobe Bryant. No word from Tiger Woods.” . . . Has anyone ever fallen so far so fast? Sheesh, Tiger, the entire world is laughing at you. Jay Leno should be so lucky.
The 2009 World Baseball Challenge was such a hit in Prince George that it will be back in 2011, and the Toronto Blue Jays will be on board as a major sponsor. Paul Beeston, the Blue Jays’ president and CEO, wrote a letter to the WBC folks, congratulating them on the success of the 2009 event and adding: “The Blue Jays are proud to join the growing list of sponsors committed to the 2011 World Baseball Challenge. . . . Given the profile of this tournament, we trust that many other sponsors will want to be a part of this event going forward.” . . . Despite the view of life in the TRU athletic department that was presented in these pages Thursday — through the rose-coloured glasses of athletic director Ken Olynyk — all is not peaches and cream in the TCC-based offices. The buzz is that WolfPack basketball coaches Thom Gillespie and Scott Reeves aren’t talking to Larry Read, the school’s sports information officer, which is why weekend press releases were barren of quotes. With the records those two coaches have — this season, their teams are a combined 2-14 — they should be thrilled that anyone over there still wants to talk to them.
When Devan Dubnyk made his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers a week ago, he became the fourth former Kamloops Blazers goaltender to make the big time, after Corey Hirsch, Steve Passmore and Daryl Reaugh. . . . You will recall that Dany Heatley, like a few players before him, rejected overtures from the Edmonton Oilers over the summer and ended up with the high-flying San Jose Sharks. Here’s Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun, before the Sharks visited Edmonton last week: “This is like running into an ex-girlfriend a month after she dumps you. She’s holding hands with a Tom Cruise-looking fighter pilot, and you’re asking if they’d like fries with that.”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun thinks that Wayne Gretzky or Bobby Orr should light the Olympic torch in Vancouver in February. Uhh, no. I’m thinking it should be Tiger Woods, whose reputation has been going up in flames for a week now. . . . This was the week in which a new phrase entered the sporting life, as in: “What we have here is a Tiger situation.” . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “By Saturday morning, nothing much had changed in the Tiger Woods story, which means that we were still supposed to believe that his wife, Elin Nordegren, somehow turned one of Tiger’s Nike SQ drivers into the Jaws of Life.” . . . Headline at Fark.com: It was Mrs. Woods, in the driveway, with the golf club. . . . Headline in the Sunday Express: Was he fleeing the ire of the Tigress? . . . Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Who will get a bigger contract this winter. Matt Holliday or Elin Nordegren?” . . .
Dan Wetzel, over at Yahoo! Sports: “This isn’t John Daly smashing a car as he pulled out of an Arkansas Hooters. This is Tiger Woods. Nothing ever happens with Tiger Woods.” . . . Headline at sportspickle.com: Phil Mickelson Cockily Celebrates Successful Trip Out of His Driveway. . . . B.D. Gallof, at huffingtonpost.com: “The big loser in all this is Buick, who for all their redesigns and reworks, still can’t get their spokesman to actually use the damn thing. Instead he peels off, probably using half a tank of gas to dent a fire hydrant?” . . . Jerry Crowe, in the Los Angeles Times: “Tiger Woods has accomplished the heretofore virtually unthinkable: He has made himself even more famous. . . . Who knew a fender bender could inflict such damage? . . . Based on what we’ve seen and heard this week regarding the world’s best golfer, Tiger doesn’t date cougars.” . . .
Prior to Tiger’s weak-kneed apology, I thought a transgression was when you threw a club and it bounced into the crowd. . . . Gary Loewen, in the Toronto Sun: “Was it quick-thinking on wife Elin Nordegren’s part to grab a golf club and smash a couple of windows of the Escalade to help her husband, or should she have tried the door handle first?” . . . Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star: “Well, it probably won’t be long now until Tiger and Elin show up on 60 Minutes, holding hands and setting the record straight. Just like, you know, Roger Clemens did.” . . . Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “An anonymous buyer plunked down a record $10.8 million for a rare, 5-carat pink diamond at an auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Insiders vehemently deny it was Kobe Bryant. No word from Tiger Woods.” . . . Has anyone ever fallen so far so fast? Sheesh, Tiger, the entire world is laughing at you. Jay Leno should be so lucky.
The 2009 World Baseball Challenge was such a hit in Prince George that it will be back in 2011, and the Toronto Blue Jays will be on board as a major sponsor. Paul Beeston, the Blue Jays’ president and CEO, wrote a letter to the WBC folks, congratulating them on the success of the 2009 event and adding: “The Blue Jays are proud to join the growing list of sponsors committed to the 2011 World Baseball Challenge. . . . Given the profile of this tournament, we trust that many other sponsors will want to be a part of this event going forward.” . . . Despite the view of life in the TRU athletic department that was presented in these pages Thursday — through the rose-coloured glasses of athletic director Ken Olynyk — all is not peaches and cream in the TCC-based offices. The buzz is that WolfPack basketball coaches Thom Gillespie and Scott Reeves aren’t talking to Larry Read, the school’s sports information officer, which is why weekend press releases were barren of quotes. With the records those two coaches have — this season, their teams are a combined 2-14 — they should be thrilled that anyone over there still wants to talk to them.
When Devan Dubnyk made his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers a week ago, he became the fourth former Kamloops Blazers goaltender to make the big time, after Corey Hirsch, Steve Passmore and Daryl Reaugh. . . . You will recall that Dany Heatley, like a few players before him, rejected overtures from the Edmonton Oilers over the summer and ended up with the high-flying San Jose Sharks. Here’s Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun, before the Sharks visited Edmonton last week: “This is like running into an ex-girlfriend a month after she dumps you. She’s holding hands with a Tom Cruise-looking fighter pilot, and you’re asking if they’d like fries with that.”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Friday . . .
The Brandon Wheat Kings have assigned F Wheaton King, 17, to the midget AAA Wheat Kings. A sixth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, King has a goal in 10 WHL games this season. . . . The Wheat Kings now are carrying 24 players, including seven defencemen and 15 forwards.
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D Stefan Ulmer of the Spokane Chiefs is on the Austrian national junior team’s preliminary roster for the World Junior Championship. Ulmer, 19, will join the Austrian team after the Chiefs’ final pre-Christmas game on Dec. 18. A year ago, Ulmer was selected as the best defenceman in the IIHF Group B World Junior Championship as Austria finished first and won promotion to Group A for the first time since 2004.
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F Cam Brown (Brandon, 1987-90) has been selected as an inductee for the ECHL Hall of Fame. Brown is the first inductee from the Gwinnett Gladiators organization. He played three seasons there (2003-06) before retiring. He was the ECHL’s all-time leader in penalty minutes (2,425) and games played (789). . . . He did get to the NHL for one game, near the end of 1990-91, recording seven penalty minutes with the Vancouver Canucks. . . .. He also played six seasons with the ECHL’s Baton Rouge Kingfish, where he was a real fan favourite. . . . The Gladiators have retired his number (44). . . . He will be inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on Jan. 20 in Ontario, Calif., during the ECHL All-Star Game celebrations.
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Also going into the ECHL Hall of Fame will be G Olaf Kolzig, who played with the New Westminster Bruins/Tri-City Americans (1987-90) and now is one of the Americans’ owners. Kolzig will be the first inductee in the Developmental Player category. He played 21 regular-season and three playoff games with the Hampton Road Admirals in 1990-91 and 14 regular-season games in 1991-92 before going on to a stellar NHL career.
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If you’re in the Regina area on Saturday, Dec. 12, you may want to consider taking in a concussion awareness seminar that is scheduled for the Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza.
It’s not often that I will post an entire press release here, but this one, from Hockey Canada, is about a rather worthwhile seminar:
CALGARY – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Dr. Tom Pashby Sports Safety Fund and Think First Canada, is hosting a concussion awareness seminar at the Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza in Regina, Sask. on Saturday, Dec. 12.
Physicians, coaches, managers, trainers, parents, players over 16 years of age, nurses, therapists, chiropractors and dentists are invited to attend the seminar free of charge to discuss issues relating to concussions, such as diagnosis, treatment and management of concussions, return to play guidelines and protective equipment.
A number of speakers will be a part of the seminar, including:
· Dr. Pat Bishop – kinesiologist, Canadian Standards Association
· Karen Decker – Hockey Canada Safety Program
· Paul Dennis – advanced sport psychology instructor, University of Toronto and York University
· Dr. Chris Ekong – clinical professor of surgery (neurosurgery), University of Saskatchewan, and head of division of neurosurgery, Regina Health Region, Think First Canada
· Gary Fisch – registered practicing nurse, Penetang Mental Health Centre, and master course conductor, Hockey Canada trainer’s program
· Dr. Michael Nicholls – Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine
· Dr. Paul Piccininni – dentist, International Ice Hockey Federation
· Dr. Jason Smith – orthopedic surgeon, Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays
· Dr. Charles Tator – neurosurgeon, Think First Canada
· Dr. Howard Winston – Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine
In addition, former NHLer Jamie Heward will speak at the seminar. A Regina native, Heward suffered six concussions during his pro career and knows all too well the repercussions concussions can cause if not properly diagnosed and treated.
There is no charge to attend the seminar.
———
Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian Pilot has his take on the Tiger situation right here, and it's well worth your time.
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FRIDAY:
In Vancouver, the Calgary Hitmen scored three second-period goals and went on to a 5-4 victory over the Giants. . . . The Hitmen are 2-0 in Vancouver, having won 2-0 there on Oct. 30. . . . After F Garry Nunn got Vancouver (18-10-1-2) on the board early in the first period, the Hitmen struck for four straight goals. F Kris Foucault scored on the PP at 13:59 of the first and F Del Cowan, F Misha Fisenko, who also had two assists, and F Ian Schultz added second-period goals for Calgary. Fisenko had 28 points in 60 games with the Giants last season. He was traded to Calgary for a 2011 seventh-round draft pick. . . . F James Henry scored twice to get Vancouver to within one, at 4-3, but F Brandon Kozun got his 16th goal at 15:41 and that was the winner. Kozun leads the WHL with 56 points. . . . Vancouver D Kevin Connauton added a PP goal at 19:54. . . . Attendance was 7,549. . . . Nunn has three goals in four games since returning from a broken leg. . . . The Giants have lost four of their last five home games. . . . Calgary (22-8-1-0) has won three in a row and is 13-5-1-0 on the road. The victory kept the Hitmen tied with the Saskatoon Blades for first place overall. . . . The loss, combined with Tri-City’s 7-0 victory over the host Kamloops Blazers, allowed the Americans to move into first in the Western Conference, a point ahead of the Giants.
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In Kamloops, G Drew Owsley stopped 19 shots for the shutout and LW Johnny Lazo had three goals as the Tri-City Americans dropped the Blazers, 7-0. . . . It was Lazo’s second WHL hat trick. The first? It came on Nov. 1, 2008, when he scored two PP goals and a shorthanded effort in a 5-4 victory over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Americans (20-8-0-0) moved into first place in the Western Conference with the victory. They had lost three of four and were 5-5-0-0 in their last 10. . . . C Brendan Shinnimin set up all three of Lazo’s goals, while RW Adam Hughesman was in on two of them. . . . Lazo has 14 goals this season. . . . The Blazers (12-15-2-2) had beaten the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on Wednesday. . . . Attendance was 4,017. . . . The Americans have won each of their last four games in Kamloops.
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In Kelowna, F Geordie Wudrick’s two goals helped the Rockets to a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Wudrick has 13 goals this season, including five in seven games with Kelowna, which acquired him from the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Rockets (15-14-1-0) have won four of their last five games. . . . F Tomas Vincour had both Edmonton goals. . . . The Oil Kings (8-15-4-4) have lost seven in a row. . . . Attendance was 6,155.
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In Lethbridge, F Adam Kambeitz had two goals and an assist to lead the Red Deer Rebels to a 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Kambeitz has four goals this season. . . . Lethbridge F Mitch Maxwell tied the score 3-3 at 9:26 of the third period. . . . Red Deer (14-14-0-0) got the winner from F Brett Ferguson, his eighth, at 11:19. . . . Attendance was 3,958. . . . The Hurricanes slipped to 9-16-3-1. . . . Ugly weather meant it took the Rebels 5 1/2 hours to get to Red Deer. The Rebels also spent the night in Lethbridge and were to return home Saturday morning to face the Saskatoon Blades at night.
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In Prince Albert, the Brandon Wheat Kings erased an early 2-0 deficit and went on to beat the Raiders, 5-2. . . . Brandon (19-11-0-2) got two goals and an assist from F Aaron Lewadniuk as it won for the sixth time in seven outings. . . . The Raiders, who won the first two games with Brandon, had won four straight. . . . Brandon D Colby Robak had three assists. . . . Brandon G Jacob De Serres stopped 35 shots, two fewer than P.A.’s Garrett Zemlak. . . . The Raiders are 11-5-1-2 since Oct. 20. . . . Attendance was 2,217. . . . Brandon F Toni Rajala, who had a goal and was plus-4, found out earlier in the day that he will play for Finland at the World Junior Championship. He will join the Finnish team Dec. 20 in Calgary. He had three points in six games for Finland at last winter’s tournament.
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In Portland, F Ryan Johansen scored one goal and set up three others as the Winterhawks dropped the Everett Silvertips, 5-3. . . . Everett (16-10-1-0) led this one 3-2 when D Chris de la Lande scored his first goal of the season at 5:15 of the third period. . . . F Brad Ross pulled Portland even at 6:04 and D Eric Doyle put the Winterhawks in front on the PP at 14:42. . . . Johansen added an empty-net goal, his ninth score this season. . . . The Winterhawks, who won 19 games all of last season, are 19-12-0-0. . . . Highly touted D Ryan Murray scored his first WHL goal for Everett to open the scoring. Murray, 16, has 13 points and is plus-20 in 13 games. . . . Ross and F Nino Niederreiter had a goal and two assists each for Portland. . . . G Mac Carruth stopped 19 shots for Portland, while Everett’s Kent Simpson turned aside 35. . . . Attendance in the Rose Garden was 4,672.
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In Prince George, the Cougars scored four goals in the game’s last 14 minutes and beat the Kootenay Ice, 4-1. . . . Ice F Joe Antilla scored the game’s first goal, shorthanded, at 5:31 of the third period. . . . F James Dobrowolski had a goal and two assists for the Cougars (5-21-1-1), scoring at 6:10 and drawing assists on goals at 10:58 and 14:07. . . . Czech F Jaroslav Vlach’s first WHL goal, at 10:58, stood up as the winner. . . . Prince George G Hudson Stremmel stopped 31 shots to earn his first WHL victory. He is 1-8-0-0. . . . The Ice (15-14-1-1) ended up going 4-1-0-0 in their five-game swing through the B.C. Division. . . . Attendance was 2,082.
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In Spokane, D Jared Spurgeon and F Dominik Uher scored their first goals of the season to help the Chiefs to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . F Kyle Beach added two goals for the Chiefs (17-8-2-0) and now has 20 on the season. . . . Spokane has won three in a row. . . . F Prab Rai got his 17th for Seattle (10-17-1-3). That tied the score 2-2 at 5:51 of the third period. . . . Uher, a Czech freshman, got the winner, his first WHL goal, at 16:27 after Seattle G Calvin Pickard mishandled the puck behind his net. . . . Attendance was 5,936.
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In Swift Current, F Matt Tassone scored his first two goals this season to help the Broncos to a 3-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . This was Tassone’s third game back after he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. . . . F Cody Eakin scored his WHL-leading 26th goal for the Broncos (16-13-0-2), who are 11-3-0-0 at home. . . . Tassone’s first goal, at 9:15 of the second period on the PP, stood up as the winner. He later added an empty-netter. . . . The Warriors got their goal from Czech F Jakub Herman, his first WHL goal. . . . G Mark Friesen, making his first start since the Broncos acquired him from the Chilliwack Bruins, stopped 27 shots. . . . Moose Jaw G Jeff Bosch made 43 saves. . . . The Warriors (16-12-1-1), who have lost six of seven, and Broncos now are tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference. . . . Attendance was 2,093.
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In Medicine Hat, F Derek Hulak’s shootout goal gave the Saskatoon Blades a 2-1 victory over the Tigers. . . . The Tigers had taken a 1-0 lead on F Bretton Cameron’s 23rd goal, on the PP, at 13:47 of the third period. That also was the Teddy Bear goal. . . . The Blades tied it when F Burke Gallimore got his 10th goal at 19:36. . . . .The Tigers shot first in the circus and Hulak, the eighth shooter, was the only one to have success. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . The Tigers announced that their Dusters for Dollars promotion raised $12,520.25 for the Canadian Cancer Society. As part of that promotion, GM/head coach Willie Desjardins shaved off his moustache. The Medicine Hat News reports that Desjardins is “doing his best to grow it back.”
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D Stefan Ulmer of the Spokane Chiefs is on the Austrian national junior team’s preliminary roster for the World Junior Championship. Ulmer, 19, will join the Austrian team after the Chiefs’ final pre-Christmas game on Dec. 18. A year ago, Ulmer was selected as the best defenceman in the IIHF Group B World Junior Championship as Austria finished first and won promotion to Group A for the first time since 2004.
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F Cam Brown (Brandon, 1987-90) has been selected as an inductee for the ECHL Hall of Fame. Brown is the first inductee from the Gwinnett Gladiators organization. He played three seasons there (2003-06) before retiring. He was the ECHL’s all-time leader in penalty minutes (2,425) and games played (789). . . . He did get to the NHL for one game, near the end of 1990-91, recording seven penalty minutes with the Vancouver Canucks. . . .. He also played six seasons with the ECHL’s Baton Rouge Kingfish, where he was a real fan favourite. . . . The Gladiators have retired his number (44). . . . He will be inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on Jan. 20 in Ontario, Calif., during the ECHL All-Star Game celebrations.
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Also going into the ECHL Hall of Fame will be G Olaf Kolzig, who played with the New Westminster Bruins/Tri-City Americans (1987-90) and now is one of the Americans’ owners. Kolzig will be the first inductee in the Developmental Player category. He played 21 regular-season and three playoff games with the Hampton Road Admirals in 1990-91 and 14 regular-season games in 1991-92 before going on to a stellar NHL career.
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If you’re in the Regina area on Saturday, Dec. 12, you may want to consider taking in a concussion awareness seminar that is scheduled for the Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza.
It’s not often that I will post an entire press release here, but this one, from Hockey Canada, is about a rather worthwhile seminar:
CALGARY – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Dr. Tom Pashby Sports Safety Fund and Think First Canada, is hosting a concussion awareness seminar at the Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza in Regina, Sask. on Saturday, Dec. 12.
Physicians, coaches, managers, trainers, parents, players over 16 years of age, nurses, therapists, chiropractors and dentists are invited to attend the seminar free of charge to discuss issues relating to concussions, such as diagnosis, treatment and management of concussions, return to play guidelines and protective equipment.
A number of speakers will be a part of the seminar, including:
· Dr. Pat Bishop – kinesiologist, Canadian Standards Association
· Karen Decker – Hockey Canada Safety Program
· Paul Dennis – advanced sport psychology instructor, University of Toronto and York University
· Dr. Chris Ekong – clinical professor of surgery (neurosurgery), University of Saskatchewan, and head of division of neurosurgery, Regina Health Region, Think First Canada
· Gary Fisch – registered practicing nurse, Penetang Mental Health Centre, and master course conductor, Hockey Canada trainer’s program
· Dr. Michael Nicholls – Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine
· Dr. Paul Piccininni – dentist, International Ice Hockey Federation
· Dr. Jason Smith – orthopedic surgeon, Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays
· Dr. Charles Tator – neurosurgeon, Think First Canada
· Dr. Howard Winston – Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine
In addition, former NHLer Jamie Heward will speak at the seminar. A Regina native, Heward suffered six concussions during his pro career and knows all too well the repercussions concussions can cause if not properly diagnosed and treated.
There is no charge to attend the seminar.
———
Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian Pilot has his take on the Tiger situation right here, and it's well worth your time.
———
FRIDAY:
In Vancouver, the Calgary Hitmen scored three second-period goals and went on to a 5-4 victory over the Giants. . . . The Hitmen are 2-0 in Vancouver, having won 2-0 there on Oct. 30. . . . After F Garry Nunn got Vancouver (18-10-1-2) on the board early in the first period, the Hitmen struck for four straight goals. F Kris Foucault scored on the PP at 13:59 of the first and F Del Cowan, F Misha Fisenko, who also had two assists, and F Ian Schultz added second-period goals for Calgary. Fisenko had 28 points in 60 games with the Giants last season. He was traded to Calgary for a 2011 seventh-round draft pick. . . . F James Henry scored twice to get Vancouver to within one, at 4-3, but F Brandon Kozun got his 16th goal at 15:41 and that was the winner. Kozun leads the WHL with 56 points. . . . Vancouver D Kevin Connauton added a PP goal at 19:54. . . . Attendance was 7,549. . . . Nunn has three goals in four games since returning from a broken leg. . . . The Giants have lost four of their last five home games. . . . Calgary (22-8-1-0) has won three in a row and is 13-5-1-0 on the road. The victory kept the Hitmen tied with the Saskatoon Blades for first place overall. . . . The loss, combined with Tri-City’s 7-0 victory over the host Kamloops Blazers, allowed the Americans to move into first in the Western Conference, a point ahead of the Giants.
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In Kamloops, G Drew Owsley stopped 19 shots for the shutout and LW Johnny Lazo had three goals as the Tri-City Americans dropped the Blazers, 7-0. . . . It was Lazo’s second WHL hat trick. The first? It came on Nov. 1, 2008, when he scored two PP goals and a shorthanded effort in a 5-4 victory over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Americans (20-8-0-0) moved into first place in the Western Conference with the victory. They had lost three of four and were 5-5-0-0 in their last 10. . . . C Brendan Shinnimin set up all three of Lazo’s goals, while RW Adam Hughesman was in on two of them. . . . Lazo has 14 goals this season. . . . The Blazers (12-15-2-2) had beaten the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on Wednesday. . . . Attendance was 4,017. . . . The Americans have won each of their last four games in Kamloops.
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In Kelowna, F Geordie Wudrick’s two goals helped the Rockets to a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Wudrick has 13 goals this season, including five in seven games with Kelowna, which acquired him from the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Rockets (15-14-1-0) have won four of their last five games. . . . F Tomas Vincour had both Edmonton goals. . . . The Oil Kings (8-15-4-4) have lost seven in a row. . . . Attendance was 6,155.
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In Lethbridge, F Adam Kambeitz had two goals and an assist to lead the Red Deer Rebels to a 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Kambeitz has four goals this season. . . . Lethbridge F Mitch Maxwell tied the score 3-3 at 9:26 of the third period. . . . Red Deer (14-14-0-0) got the winner from F Brett Ferguson, his eighth, at 11:19. . . . Attendance was 3,958. . . . The Hurricanes slipped to 9-16-3-1. . . . Ugly weather meant it took the Rebels 5 1/2 hours to get to Red Deer. The Rebels also spent the night in Lethbridge and were to return home Saturday morning to face the Saskatoon Blades at night.
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In Prince Albert, the Brandon Wheat Kings erased an early 2-0 deficit and went on to beat the Raiders, 5-2. . . . Brandon (19-11-0-2) got two goals and an assist from F Aaron Lewadniuk as it won for the sixth time in seven outings. . . . The Raiders, who won the first two games with Brandon, had won four straight. . . . Brandon D Colby Robak had three assists. . . . Brandon G Jacob De Serres stopped 35 shots, two fewer than P.A.’s Garrett Zemlak. . . . The Raiders are 11-5-1-2 since Oct. 20. . . . Attendance was 2,217. . . . Brandon F Toni Rajala, who had a goal and was plus-4, found out earlier in the day that he will play for Finland at the World Junior Championship. He will join the Finnish team Dec. 20 in Calgary. He had three points in six games for Finland at last winter’s tournament.
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In Portland, F Ryan Johansen scored one goal and set up three others as the Winterhawks dropped the Everett Silvertips, 5-3. . . . Everett (16-10-1-0) led this one 3-2 when D Chris de la Lande scored his first goal of the season at 5:15 of the third period. . . . F Brad Ross pulled Portland even at 6:04 and D Eric Doyle put the Winterhawks in front on the PP at 14:42. . . . Johansen added an empty-net goal, his ninth score this season. . . . The Winterhawks, who won 19 games all of last season, are 19-12-0-0. . . . Highly touted D Ryan Murray scored his first WHL goal for Everett to open the scoring. Murray, 16, has 13 points and is plus-20 in 13 games. . . . Ross and F Nino Niederreiter had a goal and two assists each for Portland. . . . G Mac Carruth stopped 19 shots for Portland, while Everett’s Kent Simpson turned aside 35. . . . Attendance in the Rose Garden was 4,672.
———
In Prince George, the Cougars scored four goals in the game’s last 14 minutes and beat the Kootenay Ice, 4-1. . . . Ice F Joe Antilla scored the game’s first goal, shorthanded, at 5:31 of the third period. . . . F James Dobrowolski had a goal and two assists for the Cougars (5-21-1-1), scoring at 6:10 and drawing assists on goals at 10:58 and 14:07. . . . Czech F Jaroslav Vlach’s first WHL goal, at 10:58, stood up as the winner. . . . Prince George G Hudson Stremmel stopped 31 shots to earn his first WHL victory. He is 1-8-0-0. . . . The Ice (15-14-1-1) ended up going 4-1-0-0 in their five-game swing through the B.C. Division. . . . Attendance was 2,082.
———
In Spokane, D Jared Spurgeon and F Dominik Uher scored their first goals of the season to help the Chiefs to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . F Kyle Beach added two goals for the Chiefs (17-8-2-0) and now has 20 on the season. . . . Spokane has won three in a row. . . . F Prab Rai got his 17th for Seattle (10-17-1-3). That tied the score 2-2 at 5:51 of the third period. . . . Uher, a Czech freshman, got the winner, his first WHL goal, at 16:27 after Seattle G Calvin Pickard mishandled the puck behind his net. . . . Attendance was 5,936.
———
In Swift Current, F Matt Tassone scored his first two goals this season to help the Broncos to a 3-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . This was Tassone’s third game back after he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. . . . F Cody Eakin scored his WHL-leading 26th goal for the Broncos (16-13-0-2), who are 11-3-0-0 at home. . . . Tassone’s first goal, at 9:15 of the second period on the PP, stood up as the winner. He later added an empty-netter. . . . The Warriors got their goal from Czech F Jakub Herman, his first WHL goal. . . . G Mark Friesen, making his first start since the Broncos acquired him from the Chilliwack Bruins, stopped 27 shots. . . . Moose Jaw G Jeff Bosch made 43 saves. . . . The Warriors (16-12-1-1), who have lost six of seven, and Broncos now are tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference. . . . Attendance was 2,093.
———
In Medicine Hat, F Derek Hulak’s shootout goal gave the Saskatoon Blades a 2-1 victory over the Tigers. . . . The Tigers had taken a 1-0 lead on F Bretton Cameron’s 23rd goal, on the PP, at 13:47 of the third period. That also was the Teddy Bear goal. . . . The Blades tied it when F Burke Gallimore got his 10th goal at 19:36. . . . .The Tigers shot first in the circus and Hulak, the eighth shooter, was the only one to have success. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . The Tigers announced that their Dusters for Dollars promotion raised $12,520.25 for the Canadian Cancer Society. As part of that promotion, GM/head coach Willie Desjardins shaved off his moustache. The Medicine Hat News reports that Desjardins is “doing his best to grow it back.”
Americans pummel Blazers
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Tri-City Americans felt they hadn’t been playing very well of late.
And then they came to Kamloops.
The Americans, 19-8-0-0 overall but just 5-5-0-0 in their last 10 outings when they arrived, treated the Kamloops Blazers like their kid brother in a game of road hockey on Friday, hammering the locals 7-0 before 4,017 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
This was the second time this WHL season that the Blazers were beaten by seven goals at home — they lost 12-5 to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Oct. 12.
It was the third time this season that the Blazers have been shut out.
It was the fourth 7-0 loss in franchise history but the first time it has happened on home ice.
The Blazers’ honeymoon, it turned out, lasted less than 48 hours.
The home boys, who were cheered enthusiastically while blanking the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on Wednesday night, got the Bronx cheer just 14 minutes into last night’s game.
It took the Blazers that long to get their first shot on goal — a harmless Ryan Hanes shot from the left wing — and by that time the writing was on the wall in big, big letters because the Americans already had two goals on eight shots.
The Americans (20-8-0-0) are atop the Western Conference; the Blazers (12-15-2-2) are eighth. The difference was very much in evidence.
A lot of this game was played in the Kamloops zone with the Americans rolling in like the incoming tide or stampeding cattle — take your pick.
And whenever the Blazers did get a scoring chance, which wasn’t often, Tri-City goaltender Drew Owsley was there. He finished with 19 saves as he earned his second shutout of the season and his 19th victory.
“Any time you limit a team to 19 shots, you’re obviously doing something right,” said Owsley, an 18-year-old from Lethbridge. “I thought we played great tonight.
“We haven’t been playing too well and we needed that one.”
Last season, Owsley, as the primary backup to veteran Chet Pickard, went 7-5-0-0 in 17 games. Already this season, Owsley has played twice as many minutes as he did last season and he is 19-7-0-0.
“I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me I’d have 19 wins right now,” he said. “It’s pretty surreal and I’m really enjoying it.”
Left-winger Johnny Lazo, 20, also is enjoying things. And why shouldn’t he be? He’s playing alongside centre Brendan Shinnimin and right-winger Adam Hughesman on one of the WHL’s premier lines.
“We had all four lines going,” Owsley said, “but one line . . . really stepped up. We count on them a lot and they really stepped up.”
Lazo torched the Blazers for three goals — he had two before the game was 14 minutes old — and has 14 on the season and 51 in his career. Shinnimin set up all three, with Hughesman in on two.
“We were throwing the body around early,” said Lazo, one of 10 Winnipeggers in the Tri-City lineup. “We’re not a big team but we can play physical and that helped us set the tone early.”
As for playing with Shinnimin and Hughesman, both of whom are 18 and also are from the ’Peg, Lazo said: “Those guys . . . you saw the goals. They weren’t pretty. They got me the puck. I get to the hole and those guys will find me.”
Justin Feser, Brooks Macek, Kruise Reddick and Mason Wilgosh also scored for Tri-City, which led 2-0 and 5-0 at the breaks.
The Americans’ power play, which came in having scored just four times in 34 chances over its last four games, was 2-for-7 as the Blazers took some undisciplined penalties, proving once again that old habits die hard.
Kamloops goaltender Kurtis Mucha, who shut out Edmonton, didn’t see the end of the second period. Mucha, who stopped 10 of 15 shots and had no chance on four of the goals he surrendered, has lost five straight starts to the Americans, four of them with the Portland Winterhawks.
Jon Groenheyde replaced Mucha at 12:20 of the second period and stopped 14 of 16 shots.
JUST NOTES: Referees Ryan Bonnett and Seth Ferguson gave the Blazers eight of 13 minors and the lone misconduct. . . . Ferguson is an OHL referee. . . . The Blazers were 0-for-4 on the PP, with two of those coming in the game’s last five minutes. . . . The Americans, who are 11-0-0-0 when scoring three or more goals, meet the Rockets in Kelowna tonight, while the Blazers play host to the Prince George Cougars. Last night, the host Cougars won their fifth game of the season, beating the Kootenay Ice, 4-1. . . . Kamloops C C.J. Stretch played in his 300th regular-season game, while LW Brendan Ranford was in No. 100.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Daily News Sports Editor
The Tri-City Americans felt they hadn’t been playing very well of late.
And then they came to Kamloops.
The Americans, 19-8-0-0 overall but just 5-5-0-0 in their last 10 outings when they arrived, treated the Kamloops Blazers like their kid brother in a game of road hockey on Friday, hammering the locals 7-0 before 4,017 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
This was the second time this WHL season that the Blazers were beaten by seven goals at home — they lost 12-5 to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Oct. 12.
It was the third time this season that the Blazers have been shut out.
It was the fourth 7-0 loss in franchise history but the first time it has happened on home ice.
The Blazers’ honeymoon, it turned out, lasted less than 48 hours.
The home boys, who were cheered enthusiastically while blanking the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on Wednesday night, got the Bronx cheer just 14 minutes into last night’s game.
It took the Blazers that long to get their first shot on goal — a harmless Ryan Hanes shot from the left wing — and by that time the writing was on the wall in big, big letters because the Americans already had two goals on eight shots.
The Americans (20-8-0-0) are atop the Western Conference; the Blazers (12-15-2-2) are eighth. The difference was very much in evidence.
A lot of this game was played in the Kamloops zone with the Americans rolling in like the incoming tide or stampeding cattle — take your pick.
And whenever the Blazers did get a scoring chance, which wasn’t often, Tri-City goaltender Drew Owsley was there. He finished with 19 saves as he earned his second shutout of the season and his 19th victory.
“Any time you limit a team to 19 shots, you’re obviously doing something right,” said Owsley, an 18-year-old from Lethbridge. “I thought we played great tonight.
“We haven’t been playing too well and we needed that one.”
Last season, Owsley, as the primary backup to veteran Chet Pickard, went 7-5-0-0 in 17 games. Already this season, Owsley has played twice as many minutes as he did last season and he is 19-7-0-0.
“I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me I’d have 19 wins right now,” he said. “It’s pretty surreal and I’m really enjoying it.”
Left-winger Johnny Lazo, 20, also is enjoying things. And why shouldn’t he be? He’s playing alongside centre Brendan Shinnimin and right-winger Adam Hughesman on one of the WHL’s premier lines.
“We had all four lines going,” Owsley said, “but one line . . . really stepped up. We count on them a lot and they really stepped up.”
Lazo torched the Blazers for three goals — he had two before the game was 14 minutes old — and has 14 on the season and 51 in his career. Shinnimin set up all three, with Hughesman in on two.
“We were throwing the body around early,” said Lazo, one of 10 Winnipeggers in the Tri-City lineup. “We’re not a big team but we can play physical and that helped us set the tone early.”
As for playing with Shinnimin and Hughesman, both of whom are 18 and also are from the ’Peg, Lazo said: “Those guys . . . you saw the goals. They weren’t pretty. They got me the puck. I get to the hole and those guys will find me.”
Justin Feser, Brooks Macek, Kruise Reddick and Mason Wilgosh also scored for Tri-City, which led 2-0 and 5-0 at the breaks.
The Americans’ power play, which came in having scored just four times in 34 chances over its last four games, was 2-for-7 as the Blazers took some undisciplined penalties, proving once again that old habits die hard.
Kamloops goaltender Kurtis Mucha, who shut out Edmonton, didn’t see the end of the second period. Mucha, who stopped 10 of 15 shots and had no chance on four of the goals he surrendered, has lost five straight starts to the Americans, four of them with the Portland Winterhawks.
Jon Groenheyde replaced Mucha at 12:20 of the second period and stopped 14 of 16 shots.
JUST NOTES: Referees Ryan Bonnett and Seth Ferguson gave the Blazers eight of 13 minors and the lone misconduct. . . . Ferguson is an OHL referee. . . . The Blazers were 0-for-4 on the PP, with two of those coming in the game’s last five minutes. . . . The Americans, who are 11-0-0-0 when scoring three or more goals, meet the Rockets in Kelowna tonight, while the Blazers play host to the Prince George Cougars. Last night, the host Cougars won their fifth game of the season, beating the Kootenay Ice, 4-1. . . . Kamloops C C.J. Stretch played in his 300th regular-season game, while LW Brendan Ranford was in No. 100.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thursday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Patrik Valcak (Lethbridge, Kelowna, 2003-04) has been released by Dukla Trencin (Slovakia Extraliga). He had four goals and 17 assists in 24 games with Dukla this season.
F Sami Sandell (Brandon, 2004-06) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Troja-Ljungby (Sweden Allsvenskan). Sandell started the season with LeKi Lempäälä (Finland Mestis), where he had 10 goals and seven assists in 17 games. He also appeared in one game with Ilves Tampere (Finland SM-Liiga), where he had one goal. Sandell's contract with LeKi had an out clause to move to another country if the opportunity arose.
F Michal Lukac (Prince George, 2001-02) has been loaned to Örebro (Sweden Allsvenskan) by Asplöven Haparanda (Sweden Division 1). The loan is through Dec. 18, which covers four games and takes Örebro to the Christmas break. Lukac had 10 goals and 10 assists in 12 games for Asplöven prior to his promotion loan.
---
The Central league’s Louisiana IceGators have relieved general manager/director of hockey operations Brent Sapergia (Saskatoon, Medicine Hat, 1979-81) of his duties. Owner Danny Smith has hired John Gibson as the new head coach. Ron Handy began the season as head coach, but stepped aside after three games and Sapergia also served as interim head coach until Gibson took over.
---
The Red Deer Rebels are again without F Landon Ferraro (knee). He missed 13 games earlier in the season before returning to action. But the knee continues to bother him and he was to see a specialist in Vancouver this week. . . . The Rebels, though, expect to get D Colin Archer (concussion), F Josh Cowen (shoulder), F Daulton Siwak (concussion) and D Justin Weller (ribs) back for a game Friday in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes.
---
Congratulations to former WHL referee Kyle Rehman and his wife, Jill. According to Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate, Jill gave birth to the couple’s first child this week, a daughter whom they have named Reese. Rehman is on an AHL contract these days and told Meachem that he so far has worked 16 NHL games. Rehman, 29, last worked in the WHL during 2005-06.
---
Lorne Molleken, the GM/head coach of the Saskatoon Blades, was most unhappy with his club’s play in a 7-2 loss to the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Wednesday. And when the Blades arrived in Medicine Hat on Thursday, they were treated to a hard workout. “It’s going to be a fun one today,” Molleken told Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. “The goalies will probably not get a shot.” . . . Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News later reported that the Blades were on the ice for 45 minutes “without a puck touching the ice.” Furthermore, Steinke wrote, “The crew at The Arena had to do some work to repair the ice surface before the Tigers had their practice session.” . . . The Blades and Tigers play in Medicine Hat on Friday night. In their last two games, the Blades have lost to Brandon and the Calgary Hitmen (5-4), the two teams they are likely to battle with all season long for top spot in the Eastern Conference.
---
According to Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province, the Giants likely will be without F Milan Kytnar (shoulder) and D Kevin Connauton (abdominal strain) when they play the visiting Calgary Hitmen on Friday night. Neither practised on Thursday. Connauton, a 19-year-old draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, has had an MRI and it didn’t show a tear. So the Giants, while they don’t know how long he’ll be out, are at least breathing a bit easier. . . . The Giants will play three games this weekend and are hopeful that both players will put in an appearance at some point.
---
An observation: In touring around the Internet over the last couple of days, I have been amazed at the number of trades made in the junior A ranks as the Dec. 1 carding deadline arrived. Too bad there isn't a way of tallying up the number of players on the move across Western Canada because the total would be interesting.
F Sami Sandell (Brandon, 2004-06) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Troja-Ljungby (Sweden Allsvenskan). Sandell started the season with LeKi Lempäälä (Finland Mestis), where he had 10 goals and seven assists in 17 games. He also appeared in one game with Ilves Tampere (Finland SM-Liiga), where he had one goal. Sandell's contract with LeKi had an out clause to move to another country if the opportunity arose.
F Michal Lukac (Prince George, 2001-02) has been loaned to Örebro (Sweden Allsvenskan) by Asplöven Haparanda (Sweden Division 1). The loan is through Dec. 18, which covers four games and takes Örebro to the Christmas break. Lukac had 10 goals and 10 assists in 12 games for Asplöven prior to his promotion loan.
---
The Central league’s Louisiana IceGators have relieved general manager/director of hockey operations Brent Sapergia (Saskatoon, Medicine Hat, 1979-81) of his duties. Owner Danny Smith has hired John Gibson as the new head coach. Ron Handy began the season as head coach, but stepped aside after three games and Sapergia also served as interim head coach until Gibson took over.
---
The Red Deer Rebels are again without F Landon Ferraro (knee). He missed 13 games earlier in the season before returning to action. But the knee continues to bother him and he was to see a specialist in Vancouver this week. . . . The Rebels, though, expect to get D Colin Archer (concussion), F Josh Cowen (shoulder), F Daulton Siwak (concussion) and D Justin Weller (ribs) back for a game Friday in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes.
---
Congratulations to former WHL referee Kyle Rehman and his wife, Jill. According to Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate, Jill gave birth to the couple’s first child this week, a daughter whom they have named Reese. Rehman is on an AHL contract these days and told Meachem that he so far has worked 16 NHL games. Rehman, 29, last worked in the WHL during 2005-06.
---
Lorne Molleken, the GM/head coach of the Saskatoon Blades, was most unhappy with his club’s play in a 7-2 loss to the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Wednesday. And when the Blades arrived in Medicine Hat on Thursday, they were treated to a hard workout. “It’s going to be a fun one today,” Molleken told Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. “The goalies will probably not get a shot.” . . . Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News later reported that the Blades were on the ice for 45 minutes “without a puck touching the ice.” Furthermore, Steinke wrote, “The crew at The Arena had to do some work to repair the ice surface before the Tigers had their practice session.” . . . The Blades and Tigers play in Medicine Hat on Friday night. In their last two games, the Blades have lost to Brandon and the Calgary Hitmen (5-4), the two teams they are likely to battle with all season long for top spot in the Eastern Conference.
---
According to Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province, the Giants likely will be without F Milan Kytnar (shoulder) and D Kevin Connauton (abdominal strain) when they play the visiting Calgary Hitmen on Friday night. Neither practised on Thursday. Connauton, a 19-year-old draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, has had an MRI and it didn’t show a tear. So the Giants, while they don’t know how long he’ll be out, are at least breathing a bit easier. . . . The Giants will play three games this weekend and are hopeful that both players will put in an appearance at some point.
---
An observation: In touring around the Internet over the last couple of days, I have been amazed at the number of trades made in the junior A ranks as the Dec. 1 carding deadline arrived. Too bad there isn't a way of tallying up the number of players on the move across Western Canada because the total would be interesting.
Funk enjoying life in Kamloops
By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
Ryan Funk is wearing a pretty big smile these days.
Funk, a 20-year-old defenceman, has two goals in three games since the
Kamloops Blazers acquired him from the Vancouver Giants for left-winger
Brett Lyon, 18, on Nov. 23.
And for a guy who came to his third WHL team with eight goals in 242 career
games - and none in his previous 35 games, including 27 with the Giants this
season - Funk is as surprised as anyone with his newly found offensive
prowess.
“It's a big surprise,” said Funk, who is from Morden, Man. “I haven't been
doing anything too spectacular, the pucks are just going in.”
Funk and the Blazers are scheduled to take on the Tri-City Americans
tonight, 7 o'clock, at Interior Savings Centre. Kamloops is to play host to
the Prince George Cougars on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Funk played four seasons with the Saskatoon Blades before being traded to
the Giants in the offseason. When Funk arrived in Kamloops, he wasn't the
only new face in the Blazers dressing room.
In the days surrounding the Funk-Lyon trade, the Blazers signed a new head
coach (Guy Charron), traded for a goaltender (Kurtis Mucha), released a
goaltender (Justin Leclerc) and traded away two players (defenceman Giffen
Nyren and Lyon).
While coming to a team in such a state of flux may have been scary for Funk,
he looked at it as a great opportunity.
“It was easier for me, with the team in transition,” said Funk, who had five
assists with the Giants. “With the new coach coming in, everyone was turning
over a new leaf. The guys have been great - it doesn't feel like I've come
to a new team.”
Funk is well-versed in turnarounds - in 2008-09, he had 21 points, including
four goals, and was plus-34 in 72 games with the Blades, who ended up with
49 victories and in first in the East Division. That season came on the
heels of 2007-08, in which he had two goals and 12 assists and was minus-29
with the Blades, who were 29-34-3-6.
And while his improved numbers in Kamloops don't mean he's an offensive
force - both of his goals have come on point shots - it does show that he's
getting more of an opportunity with the Blazers.
“The team's been giving me a good opportunity, and I've been fortunate to
capitalize,” Funk said. “I'm playing with some good players, so it's not the
hardest thing in the world to put up some numbers.”
Funk is the elder statesman on a defence corps that includes two
19-year-olds, three 18-year-olds, two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old.
He and his friends on the blue line will have their hands full with the
Americans, who kill their opponents with speedy forwards, something the
Blazers found out Nov. 3, when Tri-City beat them, 8-3.
“It's a big challenge, and hopefully we rise to it,” Funk said. “I think a
lot of us will take it as a personal challenge - we're going to have to play
big and be strong. (The Americans) thrive on transition and they have a lot
of speed.”
The Blazers are flying high after playing well in a 5-0 thumping of the
visiting Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday.
When asked if the Blazers had finally turned a corner, Funk said the team
has improved vastly in the two weeks he's been here.
“From the very first day I was here, I saw a difference,” he said. “From the
first day to the second day to the third and the fourth, we've been getting
stronger.
“We've realized our weaknesses and why they weren't winning games before.
Guy's doing a great job going over everything and making sure everyone
understands all aspects of the game.”
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca
SCOUTING REPORT
TRI-CITY (19-8-0-0) -- The Americans are the top team in the U.S. Division
and are one point back of the Vancouver Giants, who lead the Western
Conference. . . . Tri-City has lost its previous two, both at home, 4-1 to
the Spokane Chiefs on Nov. 27, and 6-1 to the Everett Silvertips on
Saturday. The Americans hadn¹t lost two straight at home since March, 2008.
. . . Tri-City has only lost three times at home this season, but all in the
last two weeks -- it also lost 7-1 to the visiting Regina Pats on Nov. 21. .
. . Tri-City, 5-5-0-0 in its last 10 games, is ranked No. 9 in the CHL, down
from No. 7 the week before. . . . C Brendan Shinnimin has 39 points in 26
games, but just two goals and three assists in eight games. . . . LW Adam
Hughesman, with 32 points in 26 games, suffered a serious skate cut to an
ankle during a 7-1 loss to the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook on Nov. 14. He took
10 stitches and tried to play through it but finally was a scratch for the
Everett game a week ago. . . . The last time the Americans came to Kamloops,
they scored four power-play goals and won, 8-3. . . . Drydn Dow scored twice
in the game, the only two goals of his WHL career. Dow, who also had an
assist in the game, has four points this season. . . . G Drew Owsley has
played in 26 games, going 18-7-0-0 with a 2.85 GAA and a .906 save
percentage. Backup Brett Martyniuk has played just 145 minutes over six
games. . . . The Americans are the WHL¹s least-penalized team, averaging
14.9 minutes per game. . . . Injuries: F Adam Hughesman (leg, probable).
--------
KAMLOOPS (12-14-2-2) -- The Blazers beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on
Wednesday in the first game of a three-game homestand. . . . The shutout was
the first by the Blazers since March 8, 2008, when G James Priestner helped
Kamloops beat the Cougars 1-0 in Prince George. . . . G Kurtis Mucha, who
made 25 saves Wednesday for his first victory since a trade from the
Portland Winterhawks, is expected to get the start tonight. . . . G Jon
Groenheyde will start Saturday, when the Cougars come to town. . . . The
Blazers are the WHL’s most-penalized team, at 22.7 minutes per game. . . .
Kamloops is eighth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Kelowna
Rockets and Chilliwack Bruins and four points ahead of the Seattle
Thunderbirds. . . . LW Brendan Ranford has three goals in his last three
games after going six games without a goal. Ranford has 10 goals this
season. . . . RW Tyler Shattock’s 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists) leave him
tied for 16th in the league. . . . C Colin Smith had an assist Wednesday,
giving the rookie nine points in 11 games since coming back from a broken
arm that kept him out of the lineup for the first 19 games. . . . After
Saturday, the Blazers only have four games remaining before taking an
eight-day break around Christmas -- Kamloops will play in Vancouver on Dec.
11, before welcoming the Giants on Dec. 12 and then heading to Prince George
for games on Dec. 18 and 19. . . . INJURIES: None.
Daily News Sports Reporter
Ryan Funk is wearing a pretty big smile these days.
Funk, a 20-year-old defenceman, has two goals in three games since the
Kamloops Blazers acquired him from the Vancouver Giants for left-winger
Brett Lyon, 18, on Nov. 23.
And for a guy who came to his third WHL team with eight goals in 242 career
games - and none in his previous 35 games, including 27 with the Giants this
season - Funk is as surprised as anyone with his newly found offensive
prowess.
“It's a big surprise,” said Funk, who is from Morden, Man. “I haven't been
doing anything too spectacular, the pucks are just going in.”
Funk and the Blazers are scheduled to take on the Tri-City Americans
tonight, 7 o'clock, at Interior Savings Centre. Kamloops is to play host to
the Prince George Cougars on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Funk played four seasons with the Saskatoon Blades before being traded to
the Giants in the offseason. When Funk arrived in Kamloops, he wasn't the
only new face in the Blazers dressing room.
In the days surrounding the Funk-Lyon trade, the Blazers signed a new head
coach (Guy Charron), traded for a goaltender (Kurtis Mucha), released a
goaltender (Justin Leclerc) and traded away two players (defenceman Giffen
Nyren and Lyon).
While coming to a team in such a state of flux may have been scary for Funk,
he looked at it as a great opportunity.
“It was easier for me, with the team in transition,” said Funk, who had five
assists with the Giants. “With the new coach coming in, everyone was turning
over a new leaf. The guys have been great - it doesn't feel like I've come
to a new team.”
Funk is well-versed in turnarounds - in 2008-09, he had 21 points, including
four goals, and was plus-34 in 72 games with the Blades, who ended up with
49 victories and in first in the East Division. That season came on the
heels of 2007-08, in which he had two goals and 12 assists and was minus-29
with the Blades, who were 29-34-3-6.
And while his improved numbers in Kamloops don't mean he's an offensive
force - both of his goals have come on point shots - it does show that he's
getting more of an opportunity with the Blazers.
“The team's been giving me a good opportunity, and I've been fortunate to
capitalize,” Funk said. “I'm playing with some good players, so it's not the
hardest thing in the world to put up some numbers.”
Funk is the elder statesman on a defence corps that includes two
19-year-olds, three 18-year-olds, two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old.
He and his friends on the blue line will have their hands full with the
Americans, who kill their opponents with speedy forwards, something the
Blazers found out Nov. 3, when Tri-City beat them, 8-3.
“It's a big challenge, and hopefully we rise to it,” Funk said. “I think a
lot of us will take it as a personal challenge - we're going to have to play
big and be strong. (The Americans) thrive on transition and they have a lot
of speed.”
The Blazers are flying high after playing well in a 5-0 thumping of the
visiting Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday.
When asked if the Blazers had finally turned a corner, Funk said the team
has improved vastly in the two weeks he's been here.
“From the very first day I was here, I saw a difference,” he said. “From the
first day to the second day to the third and the fourth, we've been getting
stronger.
“We've realized our weaknesses and why they weren't winning games before.
Guy's doing a great job going over everything and making sure everyone
understands all aspects of the game.”
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca
SCOUTING REPORT
TRI-CITY (19-8-0-0) -- The Americans are the top team in the U.S. Division
and are one point back of the Vancouver Giants, who lead the Western
Conference. . . . Tri-City has lost its previous two, both at home, 4-1 to
the Spokane Chiefs on Nov. 27, and 6-1 to the Everett Silvertips on
Saturday. The Americans hadn¹t lost two straight at home since March, 2008.
. . . Tri-City has only lost three times at home this season, but all in the
last two weeks -- it also lost 7-1 to the visiting Regina Pats on Nov. 21. .
. . Tri-City, 5-5-0-0 in its last 10 games, is ranked No. 9 in the CHL, down
from No. 7 the week before. . . . C Brendan Shinnimin has 39 points in 26
games, but just two goals and three assists in eight games. . . . LW Adam
Hughesman, with 32 points in 26 games, suffered a serious skate cut to an
ankle during a 7-1 loss to the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook on Nov. 14. He took
10 stitches and tried to play through it but finally was a scratch for the
Everett game a week ago. . . . The last time the Americans came to Kamloops,
they scored four power-play goals and won, 8-3. . . . Drydn Dow scored twice
in the game, the only two goals of his WHL career. Dow, who also had an
assist in the game, has four points this season. . . . G Drew Owsley has
played in 26 games, going 18-7-0-0 with a 2.85 GAA and a .906 save
percentage. Backup Brett Martyniuk has played just 145 minutes over six
games. . . . The Americans are the WHL¹s least-penalized team, averaging
14.9 minutes per game. . . . Injuries: F Adam Hughesman (leg, probable).
--------
KAMLOOPS (12-14-2-2) -- The Blazers beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on
Wednesday in the first game of a three-game homestand. . . . The shutout was
the first by the Blazers since March 8, 2008, when G James Priestner helped
Kamloops beat the Cougars 1-0 in Prince George. . . . G Kurtis Mucha, who
made 25 saves Wednesday for his first victory since a trade from the
Portland Winterhawks, is expected to get the start tonight. . . . G Jon
Groenheyde will start Saturday, when the Cougars come to town. . . . The
Blazers are the WHL’s most-penalized team, at 22.7 minutes per game. . . .
Kamloops is eighth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Kelowna
Rockets and Chilliwack Bruins and four points ahead of the Seattle
Thunderbirds. . . . LW Brendan Ranford has three goals in his last three
games after going six games without a goal. Ranford has 10 goals this
season. . . . RW Tyler Shattock’s 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists) leave him
tied for 16th in the league. . . . C Colin Smith had an assist Wednesday,
giving the rookie nine points in 11 games since coming back from a broken
arm that kept him out of the lineup for the first 19 games. . . . After
Saturday, the Blazers only have four games remaining before taking an
eight-day break around Christmas -- Kamloops will play in Vancouver on Dec.
11, before welcoming the Giants on Dec. 12 and then heading to Prince George
for games on Dec. 18 and 19. . . . INJURIES: None.
Blazers too Mucha for Oil Kings
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Kurtis Mucha and the Kamloops Blazers gave their fans a rare treat — a shutout — on Wednesday night.
With Mucha stopping 25 shots, the Blazers blanked the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 in front of 3,893 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
It was the first time the Blazers had put up a shutout since March 8, 2008, when James Priestner stopped 35 shots in a 1-0 WHL victory over the Cougars in Prince George.
The last time the Blazers pitched a shutout at home? It was Sept. 30, 2007, when Priestner, making his second career start, stopped 13 shots in beating the Portland Winterhawks, 4-0.
The Portland goaltender that night? Yes, it was Mucha.
Last night’s shutout was Mucha’s second this season — he was making his second start since being acquired from Portland for a 2010 fourth-round bantam draft pick — and the ninth of his career.
And it may have been one of the easier ones, because his teammates were solid in front of him.
“It wasn’t that hard,” said a smiling Mucha, a 20-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., who was never forced into making a desperation save. In fact, his toughest time may have been early in the first period when the Blazers gave up two odd-man breaks.
But the Oil Kings, 8-13-4-4 and with just one victory in 13 games, were stymied on both of them. The Blazers made a forechecking adjustment, getting their third forward more involved, and the Edmonton offence was awfully quiet afterwards.
Rather than focus on the job he did, Mucha preferred to talk about what his teammates did — or didn’t do.
“Look what happens when you don’t take penalties,” he said.
The Blazers, the WHL’s most-penalized team and with the second-poorest penalty killing in the league, killed off the five power plays they faced.
Of course, Edmonton has the WHL’s worst PP and two of the kills were only 16 seconds in duration.
Still . . . the discipline, this time, was a positive.
“We gave ourselves a goal of less than six (penalties) and they bought in,” said Kamloops head coach Guy Charron, after earning his first WHL coaching victory.
Considering that the Blazers had laid an egg in their previous game, a 3-0 loss to the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday, Charron admitted to feeling “encouraged” with what he saw.
“We had some good practices (this week) and, as coaches, you have to hope it leads to good things,” he said. “They bought in. I thought the second period was probably our weakest period . . . we gave up too many chances.
“But we came back with a very strong third period.”
All in all, it was a good night for the home boys. They limited Edmonton’s chances, helped in part by staying out of the penalty box. That also allowed them to roll four lines and they got some solid shifts from the fourth line of Mark Hall between Ryan Hanes and JC Lipon.
They also got three goals out of their power play, with C.J. Stretch scoring two of them and Brendan Ranford the other. Defencemen Ryan Funk and Zak Stebner had the even-strength goals.
Stebner’s goal at 2:11 of the third period gave the Blazers a 4-0 lead and drove Edmonton goaltender Torrie Jung, who was making his eighth straight start, to the bench in favor of Cam Lanigan. The two combined for 22 stops.
This was the start of a crucial stretch of games for the Blazers, who are at home to the Tri-City Americans on Friday and the Cougars on Saturday.
The Blazers (12-14-2-2) have won only five times in their last 20 games and are eighth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Bruins and Kelowna Rockets and four points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Kamloops will play Prince George, which has four victories in 26 games, six times in its next 11 games.
“We’ve got seven games left before Christmas and we need to get the points,” Mucha said.
Charron added: “It’s a step in the right direction. We’re not taking out the champagne yet . . . hopefully, we can continue to climb the ladder.”
JUST NOTES: Referee Trevor Hanson gave the Oil Kings eight of 13 minors. . . . Charron wouldn’t commit to starting Mucha on Friday, saying only that the goaltender would play one of the two weekend games. Jon Groenheyde may get the start against Tri-City on Friday. . . . The attendance was the 16th-smallest regular-season crowd to watch the Blazers at Interior Savings Centre. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Mucha — gives his mates confidence; 2. C Dalibor Bortnak, Kamloops — big body in the middle is always nice; 3. LW Shayne Wiebe, Kamloops — effective on special teams. . . . RW Tyler Shattock was saluted as the Blazers’ player of the month for November. He had 14 points in 11 games and played in Subway Super Series game in Kelowna. . . . As expected, however, Shattock wasn’t one of the 10 WHLers to receive an invitation to the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. . . . C Mark Hall was named the Blazers’ unsung hero for November. He had three points in 11 games. . . . Blazers general manager Craig Bonner is scouting a showcase tournament in Denver. . . . Edmonton has been shut out three times this season.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Daily News Sports Editor
Kurtis Mucha and the Kamloops Blazers gave their fans a rare treat — a shutout — on Wednesday night.
With Mucha stopping 25 shots, the Blazers blanked the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 in front of 3,893 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
It was the first time the Blazers had put up a shutout since March 8, 2008, when James Priestner stopped 35 shots in a 1-0 WHL victory over the Cougars in Prince George.
The last time the Blazers pitched a shutout at home? It was Sept. 30, 2007, when Priestner, making his second career start, stopped 13 shots in beating the Portland Winterhawks, 4-0.
The Portland goaltender that night? Yes, it was Mucha.
Last night’s shutout was Mucha’s second this season — he was making his second start since being acquired from Portland for a 2010 fourth-round bantam draft pick — and the ninth of his career.
And it may have been one of the easier ones, because his teammates were solid in front of him.
“It wasn’t that hard,” said a smiling Mucha, a 20-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., who was never forced into making a desperation save. In fact, his toughest time may have been early in the first period when the Blazers gave up two odd-man breaks.
But the Oil Kings, 8-13-4-4 and with just one victory in 13 games, were stymied on both of them. The Blazers made a forechecking adjustment, getting their third forward more involved, and the Edmonton offence was awfully quiet afterwards.
Rather than focus on the job he did, Mucha preferred to talk about what his teammates did — or didn’t do.
“Look what happens when you don’t take penalties,” he said.
The Blazers, the WHL’s most-penalized team and with the second-poorest penalty killing in the league, killed off the five power plays they faced.
Of course, Edmonton has the WHL’s worst PP and two of the kills were only 16 seconds in duration.
Still . . . the discipline, this time, was a positive.
“We gave ourselves a goal of less than six (penalties) and they bought in,” said Kamloops head coach Guy Charron, after earning his first WHL coaching victory.
Considering that the Blazers had laid an egg in their previous game, a 3-0 loss to the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday, Charron admitted to feeling “encouraged” with what he saw.
“We had some good practices (this week) and, as coaches, you have to hope it leads to good things,” he said. “They bought in. I thought the second period was probably our weakest period . . . we gave up too many chances.
“But we came back with a very strong third period.”
All in all, it was a good night for the home boys. They limited Edmonton’s chances, helped in part by staying out of the penalty box. That also allowed them to roll four lines and they got some solid shifts from the fourth line of Mark Hall between Ryan Hanes and JC Lipon.
They also got three goals out of their power play, with C.J. Stretch scoring two of them and Brendan Ranford the other. Defencemen Ryan Funk and Zak Stebner had the even-strength goals.
Stebner’s goal at 2:11 of the third period gave the Blazers a 4-0 lead and drove Edmonton goaltender Torrie Jung, who was making his eighth straight start, to the bench in favor of Cam Lanigan. The two combined for 22 stops.
This was the start of a crucial stretch of games for the Blazers, who are at home to the Tri-City Americans on Friday and the Cougars on Saturday.
The Blazers (12-14-2-2) have won only five times in their last 20 games and are eighth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Bruins and Kelowna Rockets and four points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Kamloops will play Prince George, which has four victories in 26 games, six times in its next 11 games.
“We’ve got seven games left before Christmas and we need to get the points,” Mucha said.
Charron added: “It’s a step in the right direction. We’re not taking out the champagne yet . . . hopefully, we can continue to climb the ladder.”
JUST NOTES: Referee Trevor Hanson gave the Oil Kings eight of 13 minors. . . . Charron wouldn’t commit to starting Mucha on Friday, saying only that the goaltender would play one of the two weekend games. Jon Groenheyde may get the start against Tri-City on Friday. . . . The attendance was the 16th-smallest regular-season crowd to watch the Blazers at Interior Savings Centre. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Mucha — gives his mates confidence; 2. C Dalibor Bortnak, Kamloops — big body in the middle is always nice; 3. LW Shayne Wiebe, Kamloops — effective on special teams. . . . RW Tyler Shattock was saluted as the Blazers’ player of the month for November. He had 14 points in 11 games and played in Subway Super Series game in Kelowna. . . . As expected, however, Shattock wasn’t one of the 10 WHLers to receive an invitation to the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. . . . C Mark Hall was named the Blazers’ unsung hero for November. He had three points in 11 games. . . . Blazers general manager Craig Bonner is scouting a showcase tournament in Denver. . . . Edmonton has been shut out three times this season.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Wednesday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Cam Severson (Kamloops, Swift Current, Lethbridge, Prince Albert, Spokane, 1993-99) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Steaua Bucharest (Romania). He started this season with the Mississippi Riverkings (Central Hockey League), where he had eight goals and five assists in 18 games. Last season, Severson had 24 goals and 17 assists in 29 games for Steaua.
———
A note from the Seattle Thunderbirds, who are offering four free tickets to all police officers for Saturday’s game against the visiting Everett Silvertips:
The Seattle Thunderbirds organization appreciates all that the law enforcement community does to keep citizens safe and secure. The entire Thunderbirds organization was shocked and saddened by the tragic events that unfolded in Lakewood on Sunday.
The Lakewood Police Independent Guild will be in attendance at the game against the Everett Silvertips on Saturday at ShoWare Center accepting monetary donations for the Guild. All donations and proceeds that the Guild obtains go to the children of fallen officers in a trust.
———
It is about now where one begins to wonder if the Kelowna Rockets cut a deal with the devil in exchange for last season’s WHL championship. How else to explain the run of injuries this season? . . . The latest to go down is F Lucas Bloodoff, the team captain, who will miss up to six weeks after spraining an MCL in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Saturday. . . . The Rockets also are without F Evan Bloodoff (knee), F Brett Bulmer (shoulder), G Mark Guggenberger (sports hernia surgery) and F Kyle St. Denis (head). . . . As well, there are at least eight other players who have missed playing time with injuries, and that includes F Max Adolph, D Tyson Barrie and D Mitchell Chapman, all of whom were injured within minutes of each other during the first period of an early-season game in Kamloops. Perhaps that was only an omen.
———
The Seattle Thunderbirds have acquired D Erik Bonsor, 18, from the Calgary Hitmen for a 2010 sixth-round bantam draft pick. Bonsor was selected by Calgary with a fourth-round pick in the 2006 draft. A sophomore, he has three assists and 20 penalty minutes in 26 games this season. Last season, he had 11 points in 51 games.
———
F Drew George, 18, is skating with the Regina Pats while he ponders his future. George was traded by the front-running Vernon Vipers to the cellar-dwelling Cowichan Valley Capitals in a Tuesday BCHL trade. George has so far chosen not to join the Capitals. He had 17 points in 24 games with Vernon. George was heavily recruited prior to this season when he chose to go to Vernon. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has the story on his blog, Slap Shots, over there on the left.
———
F Jason Reese (Vancouver, Moose Jaw, Tri-City, 2003-09) was part of a Central league trade on Wednesday. He was dealt from the Texas Brahmas to the Arizona Sundogs as part of a two-for-two deal. Reese had nine points in 16 games with Texas.
———
The Kootenay Ice as added D Jagger Dirk, 16, to its roster for the remainder of the season. Dirk, the son of former WHL D Robert Dirk (1983-86), had been with the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks for whom he had 17 points in 29 games. The Ice selected him in the 11th round of the 2008 bantam draft. . . . The Ice now is carrying 24 players, including nine defencemen.
———
Dave Waddell of the Windsor Star has more on the impending recruiting war between the NCAA and the major junior teams. That piece is right here.
———
There is an interesting read right here on the Tiger situation. It’s by Charles Piece, who a few years ago wrote a profile for Esquire that caused something of a stir at the time. Of course, that wasn’t the kind of stir that we’re now witnessing.
———
And for another good read on the Tiger situation, check out this right here. The New York Post report about Tiger's handlers cutting a deal a couple of years ago with the National Enquirer to keep this kind of news out of its pages is especially interesting.
———
WEDNESDAY:
In Brandon, the Wheat Kings unleashed a 50-shot attack and beat the Saskatoon Blades, 7-2. . . . The Wheat Kings (18-11-0-2) got two goals from F Matt Calvert, who now has 20 scores, as they closed to within five points of the Blades (20-5-0-3). . . . The Blades are tied with the Calgary Hitmen (21-8-1-0) for first place overall, but Saskatoon holds two games in hand. . . . F Aaron Lewadniuk had a goal and two assists for Brandon. . . . G Jacob De Serres stopped 30 shots for Brandon. . . . Saskatoon G Adam Morrison stopped 45 shots. He left for the last 2:23 of the second period because of problems with a contact lens. Steven Stanford stopped five shots in his absence. . . . Brandon F Brayden Schenn picked up two assists to run his point streak to 11 games. He has 22 points, including 17 assists, in that stretch. . . . Saskatoon got both its goal on the PP, scoring eight seconds apart late in the second period, to get to within a goal at 3-2. . . . Brandon F Toni Rajala gave Brandon a 4-2 lead with a PP goal at 6:19 of the third and the Wheat Kings took it from there. . . . Brandon was 2-for-7 on the PP; Saskatoon was 2-for-4. . . . Attendance was a soldout 5,321. . . . Brandon now leads the season series 2-1, with all three games having been played in the Wheat City.
———
In Kamloops, G Kurtis Mucha stopped 25 shots as the Blazers beat the Edmonton Oil Kings, 5-0. . . . Mucha was making his second start since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Nov. 22. . . . Kamloops (12-14-2-2) got two goals and an assist from C C.J. Stretch. . . . The Blazers had lost seven of their last eight games. . . . The Oil Kings (8-14-4-4) have lost six in a row. . . . Attendance was 3,893.
———
In Prince Albert, F Dustin Cameron and F Brandon Herrod each scored three goals to lead the Raiders to a 7-4 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Herrod also set up one goal, while F Craig McCallum had four assists. . . . Cameron has 15 goals, while Herrod has 17. . . . It was the second time this season that teammates have had three-goal games in the same game. On Oct. 31, three Medicine Hat Tigers — Emerson Etem, Bretton Cameron and Matt MacKay — had three each in an 11-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Broncos (15-13-0-2) got two goals from F Adam Lowry and three helpers from D Joel Rogers as their two-game win streak came to an end. . . . P.A. G Garrett Zemlak stopped 36 shots. . . . The Broncos started G Morgan Clark, but replaced him with the recently acquired Mark Friesen after two periods. Clark stopped 14 of 18 shots, while Friesen was 10-for-12. . . . The Raiders (16-12-1-2) have won four in a row and five of six. They are 10-1-0-1 in their last 12 home games. . . . Attendance was 1,759. . . . The Broncos, with Clark and Friesen, both 19, to compete for playing time, have assigned G Alexandre Sirard, 18, to the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks.
———
In Prince George, F Brandon Kozun and F Joel Broda each scored twice and set up two others as the Calgary Hitmen edged the Cougars, 6-5. . . . Broda’s second goal, on the PP at 7:14 of the third period, gave Calgary (21-8-1-0) a 5-3 lead. . . . The Cougars (4-21-1-1) tied it on goals by D Bruin McDonald, his first in 72 WHL games, at 10:58 on the PP, and F Alex Rodgers, at 12:15. . . . Kozun, who leads the WHL with 55 points, won it on the PP at 16:57. . . . Calgary was 3-for-6 on the PP; Prince George was 3-for-7. . . . Attendance was 1,879. . . . F Ian Schultz had a goal and two assists for Calgary. . . . Prince George F Brett Connolly had a goal and two assists. He has seven points in three games since returning from a hip problem and strep throat.
———
In Vancouver, the Kootenay Ice won their fourth game in a row, all on the road, by beating the Giants, 6-2. . . . The Ice (15-13-1-1), which also won in Kamloops, Kelowna and Chilliwack on this swing, wraps it up Friday in Prince George. . . . F Dustin Sylvester and F Brock Montgomery had two goals each for the Ice. . . . Sylvester, who also had an assist, has nine points in the four victories. . . . Vancouver (18-9-1-2) had a three-game winning streak end. . . . Attendance was 5,568. . . . The Giants are 12-7-0-0 at home. Last season, the finished 30-4-0-2 on home ice. . . . Kootenay is 10-2-1-1 since Oct. 30. . . . The Giants were without F Milan Kytnar (shoulder) and D Kevin Connauton (abdominal strain).
———
In Everett, F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan scored two goals and assisted on two others as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Silvertips, 6-2. . . . It was Kelowna’s first victory over a U.S. Division opponent in 10 tries. . . . Callahan figured in four straight goals, starting with his eighth goal of the season that broke a 1-1 tie at 7:10 of the first period. . . . Everett (16-9-1-0) had won three of its last four games. . . . Kelowna improved to 14-14-1-0. . . . Attendance was 3,825. . . . F Shane Harper scored No. 20 for Everett. . . . Later, Everett head coach Craig Hartsburg told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald that he isn’t impressed with his team. “They have a real arrogance about them, this group right now,” Hartsburg told Patterson. “I think they think they're a lot better than they are, and that's a big problem here. When you're arrogant in this game it's going to catch you, and it's catching us right now. We have some players who don't understand that the work and compete level has to be high every game, and this is the result of that."
———
A note from the Seattle Thunderbirds, who are offering four free tickets to all police officers for Saturday’s game against the visiting Everett Silvertips:
The Seattle Thunderbirds organization appreciates all that the law enforcement community does to keep citizens safe and secure. The entire Thunderbirds organization was shocked and saddened by the tragic events that unfolded in Lakewood on Sunday.
The Lakewood Police Independent Guild will be in attendance at the game against the Everett Silvertips on Saturday at ShoWare Center accepting monetary donations for the Guild. All donations and proceeds that the Guild obtains go to the children of fallen officers in a trust.
———
It is about now where one begins to wonder if the Kelowna Rockets cut a deal with the devil in exchange for last season’s WHL championship. How else to explain the run of injuries this season? . . . The latest to go down is F Lucas Bloodoff, the team captain, who will miss up to six weeks after spraining an MCL in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Saturday. . . . The Rockets also are without F Evan Bloodoff (knee), F Brett Bulmer (shoulder), G Mark Guggenberger (sports hernia surgery) and F Kyle St. Denis (head). . . . As well, there are at least eight other players who have missed playing time with injuries, and that includes F Max Adolph, D Tyson Barrie and D Mitchell Chapman, all of whom were injured within minutes of each other during the first period of an early-season game in Kamloops. Perhaps that was only an omen.
———
The Seattle Thunderbirds have acquired D Erik Bonsor, 18, from the Calgary Hitmen for a 2010 sixth-round bantam draft pick. Bonsor was selected by Calgary with a fourth-round pick in the 2006 draft. A sophomore, he has three assists and 20 penalty minutes in 26 games this season. Last season, he had 11 points in 51 games.
———
F Drew George, 18, is skating with the Regina Pats while he ponders his future. George was traded by the front-running Vernon Vipers to the cellar-dwelling Cowichan Valley Capitals in a Tuesday BCHL trade. George has so far chosen not to join the Capitals. He had 17 points in 24 games with Vernon. George was heavily recruited prior to this season when he chose to go to Vernon. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has the story on his blog, Slap Shots, over there on the left.
———
F Jason Reese (Vancouver, Moose Jaw, Tri-City, 2003-09) was part of a Central league trade on Wednesday. He was dealt from the Texas Brahmas to the Arizona Sundogs as part of a two-for-two deal. Reese had nine points in 16 games with Texas.
———
The Kootenay Ice as added D Jagger Dirk, 16, to its roster for the remainder of the season. Dirk, the son of former WHL D Robert Dirk (1983-86), had been with the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks for whom he had 17 points in 29 games. The Ice selected him in the 11th round of the 2008 bantam draft. . . . The Ice now is carrying 24 players, including nine defencemen.
———
Dave Waddell of the Windsor Star has more on the impending recruiting war between the NCAA and the major junior teams. That piece is right here.
———
There is an interesting read right here on the Tiger situation. It’s by Charles Piece, who a few years ago wrote a profile for Esquire that caused something of a stir at the time. Of course, that wasn’t the kind of stir that we’re now witnessing.
———
And for another good read on the Tiger situation, check out this right here. The New York Post report about Tiger's handlers cutting a deal a couple of years ago with the National Enquirer to keep this kind of news out of its pages is especially interesting.
———
WEDNESDAY:
In Brandon, the Wheat Kings unleashed a 50-shot attack and beat the Saskatoon Blades, 7-2. . . . The Wheat Kings (18-11-0-2) got two goals from F Matt Calvert, who now has 20 scores, as they closed to within five points of the Blades (20-5-0-3). . . . The Blades are tied with the Calgary Hitmen (21-8-1-0) for first place overall, but Saskatoon holds two games in hand. . . . F Aaron Lewadniuk had a goal and two assists for Brandon. . . . G Jacob De Serres stopped 30 shots for Brandon. . . . Saskatoon G Adam Morrison stopped 45 shots. He left for the last 2:23 of the second period because of problems with a contact lens. Steven Stanford stopped five shots in his absence. . . . Brandon F Brayden Schenn picked up two assists to run his point streak to 11 games. He has 22 points, including 17 assists, in that stretch. . . . Saskatoon got both its goal on the PP, scoring eight seconds apart late in the second period, to get to within a goal at 3-2. . . . Brandon F Toni Rajala gave Brandon a 4-2 lead with a PP goal at 6:19 of the third and the Wheat Kings took it from there. . . . Brandon was 2-for-7 on the PP; Saskatoon was 2-for-4. . . . Attendance was a soldout 5,321. . . . Brandon now leads the season series 2-1, with all three games having been played in the Wheat City.
———
In Kamloops, G Kurtis Mucha stopped 25 shots as the Blazers beat the Edmonton Oil Kings, 5-0. . . . Mucha was making his second start since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Nov. 22. . . . Kamloops (12-14-2-2) got two goals and an assist from C C.J. Stretch. . . . The Blazers had lost seven of their last eight games. . . . The Oil Kings (8-14-4-4) have lost six in a row. . . . Attendance was 3,893.
———
In Prince Albert, F Dustin Cameron and F Brandon Herrod each scored three goals to lead the Raiders to a 7-4 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Herrod also set up one goal, while F Craig McCallum had four assists. . . . Cameron has 15 goals, while Herrod has 17. . . . It was the second time this season that teammates have had three-goal games in the same game. On Oct. 31, three Medicine Hat Tigers — Emerson Etem, Bretton Cameron and Matt MacKay — had three each in an 11-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Broncos (15-13-0-2) got two goals from F Adam Lowry and three helpers from D Joel Rogers as their two-game win streak came to an end. . . . P.A. G Garrett Zemlak stopped 36 shots. . . . The Broncos started G Morgan Clark, but replaced him with the recently acquired Mark Friesen after two periods. Clark stopped 14 of 18 shots, while Friesen was 10-for-12. . . . The Raiders (16-12-1-2) have won four in a row and five of six. They are 10-1-0-1 in their last 12 home games. . . . Attendance was 1,759. . . . The Broncos, with Clark and Friesen, both 19, to compete for playing time, have assigned G Alexandre Sirard, 18, to the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks.
———
In Prince George, F Brandon Kozun and F Joel Broda each scored twice and set up two others as the Calgary Hitmen edged the Cougars, 6-5. . . . Broda’s second goal, on the PP at 7:14 of the third period, gave Calgary (21-8-1-0) a 5-3 lead. . . . The Cougars (4-21-1-1) tied it on goals by D Bruin McDonald, his first in 72 WHL games, at 10:58 on the PP, and F Alex Rodgers, at 12:15. . . . Kozun, who leads the WHL with 55 points, won it on the PP at 16:57. . . . Calgary was 3-for-6 on the PP; Prince George was 3-for-7. . . . Attendance was 1,879. . . . F Ian Schultz had a goal and two assists for Calgary. . . . Prince George F Brett Connolly had a goal and two assists. He has seven points in three games since returning from a hip problem and strep throat.
———
In Vancouver, the Kootenay Ice won their fourth game in a row, all on the road, by beating the Giants, 6-2. . . . The Ice (15-13-1-1), which also won in Kamloops, Kelowna and Chilliwack on this swing, wraps it up Friday in Prince George. . . . F Dustin Sylvester and F Brock Montgomery had two goals each for the Ice. . . . Sylvester, who also had an assist, has nine points in the four victories. . . . Vancouver (18-9-1-2) had a three-game winning streak end. . . . Attendance was 5,568. . . . The Giants are 12-7-0-0 at home. Last season, the finished 30-4-0-2 on home ice. . . . Kootenay is 10-2-1-1 since Oct. 30. . . . The Giants were without F Milan Kytnar (shoulder) and D Kevin Connauton (abdominal strain).
———
In Everett, F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan scored two goals and assisted on two others as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Silvertips, 6-2. . . . It was Kelowna’s first victory over a U.S. Division opponent in 10 tries. . . . Callahan figured in four straight goals, starting with his eighth goal of the season that broke a 1-1 tie at 7:10 of the first period. . . . Everett (16-9-1-0) had won three of its last four games. . . . Kelowna improved to 14-14-1-0. . . . Attendance was 3,825. . . . F Shane Harper scored No. 20 for Everett. . . . Later, Everett head coach Craig Hartsburg told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald that he isn’t impressed with his team. “They have a real arrogance about them, this group right now,” Hartsburg told Patterson. “I think they think they're a lot better than they are, and that's a big problem here. When you're arrogant in this game it's going to catch you, and it's catching us right now. We have some players who don't understand that the work and compete level has to be high every game, and this is the result of that."
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday . . .
With the Chilliwack Bruins having dealt G Mark Friesen, 19, to the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday, it will be interesting to see how the dominoes fall, or if they fall at all.
Friesen was traded for a third-round selection in the 2010 bantam draft.
That move leaves the Bruins with Lucas Gore, 19, as their starting goaltender, and they have brought in Braden Gamble, 18, from the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons.
The Broncos, meanwhile, have two other goaltenders on their roster — veteran Morgan Clark, 19, and sophomore Alexandre Sirard, 18.
You would doubt that the Broncos are going to keep two 19-year-old goaltenders, which is the situation the Bruins were in prior to this trade. Clark stopped 26 shots in beating the Warriors 6-4 in Moose Jaw on Tuesday night.
There are other teams out there who are goaltending shopping and would love nothing better than to find one with some experience under their Christmas tree.
This was the third trade this season between Mark Lamb, the GM/head coach of the Broncos, and his Chilliwack counterpart, Marc Habscheid.
Meanwhile, fans of the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers are asking themselves: Are Lamb and Habscheid brothers?
———
F Gasper Kopitar of the Portland Winterhawks will play for his native Slovenia in the IIHF World Under-20 Division I championship in Megève & Saint-Gervais, France, Dec. 14-20. Slovenia is in Group A, along with Germany, Denmark, France, Ukraine and Japan. Group B features Kazakhstan, Belarus, Norway, Italy, Poland and Croatia. The winner of the tournament will be promoted to the top division of the World Under-20 championship for 2011. . . . Kopitar leaves Portland on Wednedsay and will return following the Christmas break. . . . F Sergei Drozd of the Tri-City Americans will play for Belarus in the same tournament.
———
The junior A rights to G Justin Leclerc, 20, who is a free agent after clearing WHL waivers, were dealt Tuesday. They went from the Melville Millionaires to the La Ronge Ice Wolves for the SJHL list rights to F Taylor Fauchaus, 17, of Prince Albert.
———
There is a big game scheduled for Brandon on Wednesday night with the Blades there to meet the Wheat Kings. . . . Saskatoon D Jyri Niemi (shoulder) is listed as day-to-day. . . . Brandon expects to have sophomore D Mark Stone in the lineup for the first time since he suffered a broken thumb on Sept. 25. He has missed 27 games. . . . The Wheat Kings, the host team for the Memorial Cup, go into the game with a 17-11-0-2 record. They are seven points behind the Blades (20-4-0-3), who sit atop the WHL’s overall standings. The Blades hold three games in hand. . . . Brandon will be without D Dallas Ehrhardt, who will be out up to eight weeks with a knee injury suffered Saturday in a 4-3 loss in Swift Current.
———
The Central league’s Laredo Bucks have signed F Curtis Billsten (Red Deer, Everett, Lethbridge, Kootenay, 2002-06). Last season, his first as a pro, Billsten earned 39 points in 62 ECHL games — two with the Idaho Steelheads and 60 with the Victoria Salmon Kings.
———
F Cole Penner, the fourth overall pick in the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft, has had his junior A rights traded one more time. This time those rights have gone from the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials to the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks, in exchange for future considerations. . . . After Merritt acquired Penner’s rights from the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm for D Matt Cumming in September, he never did play for the Cents. He apparently showed up in Merritt, decided it wasn’t for him, and went home. . . . The Prince Albert Raiders drafted Penner but traded his rights to the Chilliwack Bruins last month for a 12th-round pick in t he 2010 bantam draft.
———
It would seem that the WHL is about to find lots more competition when it comes to recruiting American-born players. That story is right here.
———
The BCHL’s Burnaby Express has hopes of returning to Coquitlam. That story is right here.
———
TUESDAY:
In Chilliwack, F Matt Fraser had two goals and two assists and F Elgin Pearce scored his first two WHL goals as the Kootenay Ice dropped the Bruins, 7-2. . . . The Ice (14-13-1-1) is 3-0-0-0 in its swing through the B.C. Division. It plays the Giants in Vancouver on Wednesday. . . . F Matt Fraser also scored twice for the Bruins, giving him 12. . . . The Bruins (12-14-1-4) put the game’s first two goals into their own net, with D Tyler Stahl batting a high puck past G Lucas Gore for the first one and the second one going off D Zach Habscheid. . . . Habscheid was playing for the first time since Oct. 24 when he suffered a thumb injury. . . . Kootenay D Hayden Rintoul went down in a first-period collision with teammate Kevin King. Rintoul needed some attention, but later returned. Ironically, Ice D Ryan Molle left a Friday game in Kamloops after being felled by Rintoul. Molle sat out a Saturday game in Kelowna but returned in Chilliwack and was plus-3 with an assist. . . . Attendance was 2,811. . . . The Bruins have added F Brett Miller, the 14th overall selection in the 2006 bantam draft. Miller was drafted by the Regina Pats, and also has had stints with the Everett Silvertips and Red Deer Rebels. He has managed just two points in 39 games over four seasons. Miller had 31 points in 26 games with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars when he joined the Bruins.
———
In Moose Jaw, the Swift Current Broncos struck for five third-period goals on 11 shots as they beat the Warriors, 6-4. . . . Moose Jaw took a 2-1 lead into that third period. . . . F Dillon Wagner scored two goals — he has five — and set up another for the Broncos (15-12-2-0). . . . D Joel Rogers, with his first of the season, and F Andrew Sullivan, with his first WHL goal, also scored for the Broncos. . . . F Justin Dowling added his 19th for Swift Current, while F Stepan Novotny got his 16th. . . . Swift Current F Matt Tassone was pointless in his first game since February. His previous season was ended by shoulder problems. . . . F Brandon Rowinski scored twice for Moose Jaw (16-11-1-1), giving him 19. . . . D Travis Hamonic set up three goals for Moose Jaw, which played without four forwards — Jason Bast (facial injuries), Joey Kornelsen (groin), Nathan MacMaster (concussion) and Jesse Paradis (ill) — and had defencemen Clinton Atkinson and Kevin Smith on a forward line. . . . Attendance was 1,965. . . . The Warriors are in Swift Current on Friday.
———
In Medicine Hat, the Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a six-game losing streak by beating the Tigers, 3-1. . . . The Tigers had gone seven games without a regulation loss. . . . The Hurricanes (9-15-3-1) scored two first-period goals and took if from there. . . . G Brandon Anderson stopped 28 shots for Lethbridge, losing his shutout bid on F Matt MacKay’s PP goal at 9:44 of the second period. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz stopped 16 shots. . . . The Tigers are 16-10-2-3. . . . Attendance was 4,006.
Friesen was traded for a third-round selection in the 2010 bantam draft.
That move leaves the Bruins with Lucas Gore, 19, as their starting goaltender, and they have brought in Braden Gamble, 18, from the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons.
The Broncos, meanwhile, have two other goaltenders on their roster — veteran Morgan Clark, 19, and sophomore Alexandre Sirard, 18.
You would doubt that the Broncos are going to keep two 19-year-old goaltenders, which is the situation the Bruins were in prior to this trade. Clark stopped 26 shots in beating the Warriors 6-4 in Moose Jaw on Tuesday night.
There are other teams out there who are goaltending shopping and would love nothing better than to find one with some experience under their Christmas tree.
This was the third trade this season between Mark Lamb, the GM/head coach of the Broncos, and his Chilliwack counterpart, Marc Habscheid.
Meanwhile, fans of the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers are asking themselves: Are Lamb and Habscheid brothers?
———
F Gasper Kopitar of the Portland Winterhawks will play for his native Slovenia in the IIHF World Under-20 Division I championship in Megève & Saint-Gervais, France, Dec. 14-20. Slovenia is in Group A, along with Germany, Denmark, France, Ukraine and Japan. Group B features Kazakhstan, Belarus, Norway, Italy, Poland and Croatia. The winner of the tournament will be promoted to the top division of the World Under-20 championship for 2011. . . . Kopitar leaves Portland on Wednedsay and will return following the Christmas break. . . . F Sergei Drozd of the Tri-City Americans will play for Belarus in the same tournament.
———
The junior A rights to G Justin Leclerc, 20, who is a free agent after clearing WHL waivers, were dealt Tuesday. They went from the Melville Millionaires to the La Ronge Ice Wolves for the SJHL list rights to F Taylor Fauchaus, 17, of Prince Albert.
———
There is a big game scheduled for Brandon on Wednesday night with the Blades there to meet the Wheat Kings. . . . Saskatoon D Jyri Niemi (shoulder) is listed as day-to-day. . . . Brandon expects to have sophomore D Mark Stone in the lineup for the first time since he suffered a broken thumb on Sept. 25. He has missed 27 games. . . . The Wheat Kings, the host team for the Memorial Cup, go into the game with a 17-11-0-2 record. They are seven points behind the Blades (20-4-0-3), who sit atop the WHL’s overall standings. The Blades hold three games in hand. . . . Brandon will be without D Dallas Ehrhardt, who will be out up to eight weeks with a knee injury suffered Saturday in a 4-3 loss in Swift Current.
———
The Central league’s Laredo Bucks have signed F Curtis Billsten (Red Deer, Everett, Lethbridge, Kootenay, 2002-06). Last season, his first as a pro, Billsten earned 39 points in 62 ECHL games — two with the Idaho Steelheads and 60 with the Victoria Salmon Kings.
———
F Cole Penner, the fourth overall pick in the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft, has had his junior A rights traded one more time. This time those rights have gone from the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials to the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks, in exchange for future considerations. . . . After Merritt acquired Penner’s rights from the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm for D Matt Cumming in September, he never did play for the Cents. He apparently showed up in Merritt, decided it wasn’t for him, and went home. . . . The Prince Albert Raiders drafted Penner but traded his rights to the Chilliwack Bruins last month for a 12th-round pick in t he 2010 bantam draft.
———
It would seem that the WHL is about to find lots more competition when it comes to recruiting American-born players. That story is right here.
———
The BCHL’s Burnaby Express has hopes of returning to Coquitlam. That story is right here.
———
TUESDAY:
In Chilliwack, F Matt Fraser had two goals and two assists and F Elgin Pearce scored his first two WHL goals as the Kootenay Ice dropped the Bruins, 7-2. . . . The Ice (14-13-1-1) is 3-0-0-0 in its swing through the B.C. Division. It plays the Giants in Vancouver on Wednesday. . . . F Matt Fraser also scored twice for the Bruins, giving him 12. . . . The Bruins (12-14-1-4) put the game’s first two goals into their own net, with D Tyler Stahl batting a high puck past G Lucas Gore for the first one and the second one going off D Zach Habscheid. . . . Habscheid was playing for the first time since Oct. 24 when he suffered a thumb injury. . . . Kootenay D Hayden Rintoul went down in a first-period collision with teammate Kevin King. Rintoul needed some attention, but later returned. Ironically, Ice D Ryan Molle left a Friday game in Kamloops after being felled by Rintoul. Molle sat out a Saturday game in Kelowna but returned in Chilliwack and was plus-3 with an assist. . . . Attendance was 2,811. . . . The Bruins have added F Brett Miller, the 14th overall selection in the 2006 bantam draft. Miller was drafted by the Regina Pats, and also has had stints with the Everett Silvertips and Red Deer Rebels. He has managed just two points in 39 games over four seasons. Miller had 31 points in 26 games with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars when he joined the Bruins.
———
In Moose Jaw, the Swift Current Broncos struck for five third-period goals on 11 shots as they beat the Warriors, 6-4. . . . Moose Jaw took a 2-1 lead into that third period. . . . F Dillon Wagner scored two goals — he has five — and set up another for the Broncos (15-12-2-0). . . . D Joel Rogers, with his first of the season, and F Andrew Sullivan, with his first WHL goal, also scored for the Broncos. . . . F Justin Dowling added his 19th for Swift Current, while F Stepan Novotny got his 16th. . . . Swift Current F Matt Tassone was pointless in his first game since February. His previous season was ended by shoulder problems. . . . F Brandon Rowinski scored twice for Moose Jaw (16-11-1-1), giving him 19. . . . D Travis Hamonic set up three goals for Moose Jaw, which played without four forwards — Jason Bast (facial injuries), Joey Kornelsen (groin), Nathan MacMaster (concussion) and Jesse Paradis (ill) — and had defencemen Clinton Atkinson and Kevin Smith on a forward line. . . . Attendance was 1,965. . . . The Warriors are in Swift Current on Friday.
———
In Medicine Hat, the Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a six-game losing streak by beating the Tigers, 3-1. . . . The Tigers had gone seven games without a regulation loss. . . . The Hurricanes (9-15-3-1) scored two first-period goals and took if from there. . . . G Brandon Anderson stopped 28 shots for Lethbridge, losing his shutout bid on F Matt MacKay’s PP goal at 9:44 of the second period. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz stopped 16 shots. . . . The Tigers are 16-10-2-3. . . . Attendance was 4,006.
Blazers searching for special feeling
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
A lot of stuff has gone under the bridge since Tyler Shattock joined the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers as a fresh-faced 16-year-old winger from Salmon Arm.
Despite everything he has been through, however, Shattock, now 19, hasn’t lost his sense of humour.
Told after Tuesday’s practice that the Blazers are to resume what once was a tradition by taking on the local Special Olympics team in a floor hockey game, Shattock wouldn’t agree that his side would be underdog.
But a grinning Shattock did make the point that the Blazers likely will be outshot.
After all, the Blazers go into tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oil Kings at Interior Savings Centre having been outshot 24 times in 29 games and having given up at least 35 shots on 23 occasions.
There are times when the Blazers give out shots like Dr. Phil doling out advice.
In two games under head coach Guy Charron, who signed on Nov. 23, the Blazers are 0-1-0-1. They were outshot 47-28 in a 6-5 overtime loss to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Friday and then were outshot 36-15 — and outchanced 23-6 — in a 3-0 loss to the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday.
Shattock and his teammates know they have to improve their discipline, which, of course, is something about which this team has talked and talked and talked for the last two years.
“At some point,” Shattock said, “it has to just end. At some point, you just have to suck it up.
“If we do take a penalty, we just have to go straight to the box. I’m probably one of the worst for arguing with the referees . . . but maybe if we just go straight to the box, hopefully, we’ll get a break here and there.”
The Blazers are the WHL’s most-penalized team and their penalty killers are ranked 21st in what is a 22-team league. Obviously, that is not a good combination.
“We get a lot of penalties from those scrums and pushing around in front of the net. It seems that we get more than anyone else,” Shattock said. “It’s one thing if they run our goalie . . . we’ll take a good penalty if some guy takes liberties on our goalie and we’ll kill that.
“But it’s all the sticking, holding, punching and stuff . . . we have to eliminate that.”
The Blazers can start working on it tonight and this weekend as they play three games in four nights. The Tri-City Americans are here Friday, with the Prince George Cougars in the house Saturday.
The Blazers (11-14-2-2), who have won just four of their last 19 games, are clinging to the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. They know that this already is a crucial part of their schedule.
“We have to turn the corner . . . we have three home games here and they’re all winnable,” said Shattock, noting that they have beaten Edmonton this season, that the Americans have stumbled a bit of late and that the Cougars have but four victories in 26 games.
“It’s a big time for us in the season,” Shattock said. “We’ve got seven games left until the Christmas break. We have to pick up some points, get some wins going into Chrsitmas to put is in a good spot for after Christmas.
“And you don’t want everyone going home on a bad note, that’s for sure.”
After this weekend, the Blazers will have only a home-and-home series with the Vancouver Giants and two games in Prince George before breaking for Christmas.
———
Meanwhile, Shattock said he is “hoping (for) but not expecting” good news this morning when Hockey Canada reveals the list of invitees to the national junior team’s selection camp in Regina, Dec. 12-16.
“I’m not really expecting anything,” said Shattock, who played for Team WHL in a 4-2 victory over a touring Russian team Thursday in Kelowna. “You can never understand what they are going to do so I’m not going to worry about it all night.”
———
JUST NOTES: The Blazers and Special Olympians will mee in that floor hockey game Monday, 6:30 p.m., at Brocklehurst Secondary. Fans are invited to attend and donations to Special Olympics would be appreciated. . . . Then-interim head coach Scott Ferguson earned his first WHL victory Nov. 6 when the Blazers scored a 6-5 overtime victory over the visiting Oil Kings. Should the Blazers win tonight, it would be Charron’s first victory, meaning two coaches for the same team will have gotten their first coaching victories against the same team in the same season within a month of each other.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
SCOUTINGREPORT
EDMONTON OIL KINGS at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
Today, 7 p.m., Interior Savings Centre (Radio NL 610)
EDMONTON (8-13-4-4): The Oil Kings last played Saturday when they blew a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 in OT to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Edmonton, which is 4-6-2-3 on the road, is 11th in the Eastern Conference, seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Oil Kings, who are 1-5-4-2 in their last 12 games, lead the WHL in one category — they have picked up eight loser points. . . . After Saturday’s game, head coach Steve Pleau challenged his older players, saying: “Our older guys have to be able to control those situations and I think it’s about time we challenged them. (Brett) Breitkreuz wasn’t good enough tonight, (Adrian) Van de Mosselaer wasn’t good enough, and if we’re going to have any chance at making a run at this thing, the 19s and 20s have to step and man up.” . . . The Oil Kings arrived here Tuesday at 4 p.m., so they’ll be rested. . . . Look for veteran Torrie Jung to start in goal. He didn’t play Nov. 6 when the Blazers won 6-5 in OT. The Oil Kings’ roster was ravaged by the flu when they last visited. . . . With the Canadian Olympic curling trials headed for Edmonton, this is the start of six-game road trip for the Oil Kings. It includes stops in Kelowna, Vancouver, Cranbrook, Moose Jaw and Brandon. . . . Injuries: None.
————————
KAMLOOPS (11-14-2-2): The Blazers were beaten 3-0 by the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday, the second time this season they have been blanked. . . . Kamloops is 0-1-0-1 under Guy Charron, who signed on as head coach on Nov. 23. . . . The Blazers were outshot 36-15 and outchanced 23-6 by the Bruins. . . . Kamloops is eighth in the Western Conference, just two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Veteran D Zak Stebner and freshman F Dylan Willick were healthy scratches Saturday, the first time either had missed a game this season. . . . G Kurtis Mucha, acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Nov. 22, makes his second start with the Blazers tonight. . . . F Tyler Shattock has 34 points in 27 games and is plus-1. He and C Dalibor Bortnak, who has played two games since recovering from a spleen injury, are the only plus players on the roster. Bortnak is plus-2. . . . D Ryan Funk is plus-2 in two games since being acquired from the Vancouver Giants. He was minus-2 with the Giants. . . . The Blazers are 8-5-1-1 on home ice. . . . The Tri-City Americans play here Friday night, with Dean Clark and the Prince George Cougars here Saturday. . . . Injuries: None.
— GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
A lot of stuff has gone under the bridge since Tyler Shattock joined the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers as a fresh-faced 16-year-old winger from Salmon Arm.
Despite everything he has been through, however, Shattock, now 19, hasn’t lost his sense of humour.
Told after Tuesday’s practice that the Blazers are to resume what once was a tradition by taking on the local Special Olympics team in a floor hockey game, Shattock wouldn’t agree that his side would be underdog.
But a grinning Shattock did make the point that the Blazers likely will be outshot.
After all, the Blazers go into tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oil Kings at Interior Savings Centre having been outshot 24 times in 29 games and having given up at least 35 shots on 23 occasions.
There are times when the Blazers give out shots like Dr. Phil doling out advice.
In two games under head coach Guy Charron, who signed on Nov. 23, the Blazers are 0-1-0-1. They were outshot 47-28 in a 6-5 overtime loss to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Friday and then were outshot 36-15 — and outchanced 23-6 — in a 3-0 loss to the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday.
Shattock and his teammates know they have to improve their discipline, which, of course, is something about which this team has talked and talked and talked for the last two years.
“At some point,” Shattock said, “it has to just end. At some point, you just have to suck it up.
“If we do take a penalty, we just have to go straight to the box. I’m probably one of the worst for arguing with the referees . . . but maybe if we just go straight to the box, hopefully, we’ll get a break here and there.”
The Blazers are the WHL’s most-penalized team and their penalty killers are ranked 21st in what is a 22-team league. Obviously, that is not a good combination.
“We get a lot of penalties from those scrums and pushing around in front of the net. It seems that we get more than anyone else,” Shattock said. “It’s one thing if they run our goalie . . . we’ll take a good penalty if some guy takes liberties on our goalie and we’ll kill that.
“But it’s all the sticking, holding, punching and stuff . . . we have to eliminate that.”
The Blazers can start working on it tonight and this weekend as they play three games in four nights. The Tri-City Americans are here Friday, with the Prince George Cougars in the house Saturday.
The Blazers (11-14-2-2), who have won just four of their last 19 games, are clinging to the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. They know that this already is a crucial part of their schedule.
“We have to turn the corner . . . we have three home games here and they’re all winnable,” said Shattock, noting that they have beaten Edmonton this season, that the Americans have stumbled a bit of late and that the Cougars have but four victories in 26 games.
“It’s a big time for us in the season,” Shattock said. “We’ve got seven games left until the Christmas break. We have to pick up some points, get some wins going into Chrsitmas to put is in a good spot for after Christmas.
“And you don’t want everyone going home on a bad note, that’s for sure.”
After this weekend, the Blazers will have only a home-and-home series with the Vancouver Giants and two games in Prince George before breaking for Christmas.
———
Meanwhile, Shattock said he is “hoping (for) but not expecting” good news this morning when Hockey Canada reveals the list of invitees to the national junior team’s selection camp in Regina, Dec. 12-16.
“I’m not really expecting anything,” said Shattock, who played for Team WHL in a 4-2 victory over a touring Russian team Thursday in Kelowna. “You can never understand what they are going to do so I’m not going to worry about it all night.”
———
JUST NOTES: The Blazers and Special Olympians will mee in that floor hockey game Monday, 6:30 p.m., at Brocklehurst Secondary. Fans are invited to attend and donations to Special Olympics would be appreciated. . . . Then-interim head coach Scott Ferguson earned his first WHL victory Nov. 6 when the Blazers scored a 6-5 overtime victory over the visiting Oil Kings. Should the Blazers win tonight, it would be Charron’s first victory, meaning two coaches for the same team will have gotten their first coaching victories against the same team in the same season within a month of each other.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
SCOUTINGREPORT
EDMONTON OIL KINGS at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
Today, 7 p.m., Interior Savings Centre (Radio NL 610)
EDMONTON (8-13-4-4): The Oil Kings last played Saturday when they blew a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 in OT to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Edmonton, which is 4-6-2-3 on the road, is 11th in the Eastern Conference, seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Oil Kings, who are 1-5-4-2 in their last 12 games, lead the WHL in one category — they have picked up eight loser points. . . . After Saturday’s game, head coach Steve Pleau challenged his older players, saying: “Our older guys have to be able to control those situations and I think it’s about time we challenged them. (Brett) Breitkreuz wasn’t good enough tonight, (Adrian) Van de Mosselaer wasn’t good enough, and if we’re going to have any chance at making a run at this thing, the 19s and 20s have to step and man up.” . . . The Oil Kings arrived here Tuesday at 4 p.m., so they’ll be rested. . . . Look for veteran Torrie Jung to start in goal. He didn’t play Nov. 6 when the Blazers won 6-5 in OT. The Oil Kings’ roster was ravaged by the flu when they last visited. . . . With the Canadian Olympic curling trials headed for Edmonton, this is the start of six-game road trip for the Oil Kings. It includes stops in Kelowna, Vancouver, Cranbrook, Moose Jaw and Brandon. . . . Injuries: None.
————————
KAMLOOPS (11-14-2-2): The Blazers were beaten 3-0 by the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday, the second time this season they have been blanked. . . . Kamloops is 0-1-0-1 under Guy Charron, who signed on as head coach on Nov. 23. . . . The Blazers were outshot 36-15 and outchanced 23-6 by the Bruins. . . . Kamloops is eighth in the Western Conference, just two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Veteran D Zak Stebner and freshman F Dylan Willick were healthy scratches Saturday, the first time either had missed a game this season. . . . G Kurtis Mucha, acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Nov. 22, makes his second start with the Blazers tonight. . . . F Tyler Shattock has 34 points in 27 games and is plus-1. He and C Dalibor Bortnak, who has played two games since recovering from a spleen injury, are the only plus players on the roster. Bortnak is plus-2. . . . D Ryan Funk is plus-2 in two games since being acquired from the Vancouver Giants. He was minus-2 with the Giants. . . . The Blazers are 8-5-1-1 on home ice. . . . The Tri-City Americans play here Friday night, with Dean Clark and the Prince George Cougars here Saturday. . . . Injuries: None.
— GREGG DRINNAN
Friesen on the move
From the Chilliwack Bruins:
The Chilliwack Bruins announced today that they have traded goaltender Mark Friesen to the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2010 Western Hockey League bantam draft. The Bruins also announced that goaltender Braden Gamble, 18, has joined the team from the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Gamble, who is from North Star, Alta., has appeared in 26 games this season for Drumheller, recording seven wins with a GAA of 4.01 and a save percentage of 89.8. Gamble will join the Bruins in time for tonight’s game vs the Kootenay Ice.
The Chilliwack Bruins announced today that they have traded goaltender Mark Friesen to the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2010 Western Hockey League bantam draft. The Bruins also announced that goaltender Braden Gamble, 18, has joined the team from the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Gamble, who is from North Star, Alta., has appeared in 26 games this season for Drumheller, recording seven wins with a GAA of 4.01 and a save percentage of 89.8. Gamble will join the Bruins in time for tonight’s game vs the Kootenay Ice.
Mondays with Murray . . . on Tuesday
DECEMBER 12, 1996, SPORTS
Copyright 1996/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY
JIM MURRAY
No College, but Bryant Is Still a Student
Pro football and pro basketball have it made. Let me ask you: How'd you like to run a business in which your product is delivered to you fully milled and refined at no cost to you, fully promoted with a market for it already created, again at no cost to you?
That's what those sports businesses have. They have an assembly line fully functional, stamping out their finished product after going out and finding and shipping the raw material themselves.
The nation's colleges provide this service to them free of charge. The pros are in debt to every college coach who ever scouted out a prospect, every alumnus who ever bought a car or wrote a secret check for the halfback who could run the 40 in 4.3, every sportswriter who ever dreamed up "Galloping Ghost" or "Four Horsemen" or "Dream Team" or "Fab Five" to describe his property and give it further marketability.
General Motors should be so lucky. The pros (and the agents) cash in on all this largess. The colleges do too, to some extent. But they use the revenues to fund programs that foster gender equity, not yachts or offshore bank accounts.
Baseball never got in on this good thing. Baseball founded a network of training sites at its own expense called the "minor leagues" or the "bushes," where they found the talent themselves and set it off for burnishing and education paid for not by colleges and universities but by the teams themselves. They refined their own product. Baseball hated to see its prospects go to college because it felt the youngster would be wasting four years. He would not grow in art and skill. College ball was not considered quality-enough competition.
Once in a while a pitcher from Harvard (Charlie Devens) or Yale (Johnny Broaca) would show up in a big league uniform, but they were a long way from Cooperstown. (Devens' lifetime record was 5-3 -- and he pitched for the Ruth Yankees!)
The colleges were the minor leagues for the other sports. (Some say not so because only a fraction of the collegians made it to the pros -- but only a fraction of baseball minor leaguers made it to the big leagues too).
What brings this to hand is the fact the Lakers currently have a young player who is, in effect, jumping the queue. Kobe Bryant is bypassing four years in college and going directly to the NBA.
It is an audacious experiment, but one that has been tried. Darryl Dawkins, who called himself "Chocolate Thunder," went directly from high school to the NBA. Shawn Kemp, the current NBA's Mr. Everything, didn't play college basketball. Moses Malone made the transition from high school successfully (27,409 total points, 16,212 rebounds).
It is do-able -- but difficult. Only 26 players have tried it in the long history of the league. Kevin Garnett did it for Minnesota last season -- and racked up an impressive 2,293 minutes.
Kobe Bryant is an extraordinarily skilled young player who might be frittering away his talent playing for dear old Siwash. Jerry West, who should know, says he is one of the best rookies he ever saw anywhere -- and Jerry has seen a few.
The problem with the young (at 18 years 2 months, Kobe is the second-youngest to play in the NBA) is not only giving them basketball, it's giving them the money. The last time an 18-year-old got millions like that, his father was the king of France.
As someone said, you go to college to learn how to make millions. If you get them anyway, what's the point? You figure your whole life is going to be spent at the free-throw line.
The next problem is a familiar one -- ego. The id. How do you take an 18-year-old who broke all of Wilt Chamberlain's scoring records in Philadelphia high schools, who was USA Today's national player of the year, and keep him on the bench in important games or just let him pick up what Chick Hearn calls "garbage" points? After all, 18 is a time when you know it all, isn't it?
The Lakers are betting Kobe Bryant is more than just a good role player. They see his name in lights, his uniform in the rafters.
Kobe probably does, too. But he is the son of an NBA basketball player, Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Clippers and Houston Rockets as well as in the European leagues. He even speaks fluent Italian.
He was also a sports columnist in high school, so he has a feel for historic pace. Still, all his life till now, he has been given the ball. How will he react to not having it? Can he move without it?
I went down to the locker room the other night, after a game in which he had not played, to see how his non-role was sitting with the once-and-future star. Would a future generation be able to understand a game in which a healthy Kobe Bryant was kept on the bench all night? Would he, himself? When would he begin throwing the furniture, bad-mouthing the coach, demanding to be traded?
Kobe Bryant smiled, turned off the tough questions with polite disclaimers and was gracious and unscowling. No, he didn't object to sitting out the game; no, he didn't think he had made a mistake skipping college. "The NBA was a challenge," he said. "I like a challenge. I was ready for a challenge."
He has racked up 170 minutes on the floor to date (Shaquille O'Neal and Eddie Jones have more than 800). He still plays a bit of the helter-skelter playground game. But when he becomes a star, he may change the whole complexion of the game. Maybe some day there will be a note in the brochure that only 26 players in the league ever went to college.
Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times
Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 995 | La Quinta | CA | 92247
Copyright 1996/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY
JIM MURRAY
No College, but Bryant Is Still a Student
Pro football and pro basketball have it made. Let me ask you: How'd you like to run a business in which your product is delivered to you fully milled and refined at no cost to you, fully promoted with a market for it already created, again at no cost to you?
That's what those sports businesses have. They have an assembly line fully functional, stamping out their finished product after going out and finding and shipping the raw material themselves.
The nation's colleges provide this service to them free of charge. The pros are in debt to every college coach who ever scouted out a prospect, every alumnus who ever bought a car or wrote a secret check for the halfback who could run the 40 in 4.3, every sportswriter who ever dreamed up "Galloping Ghost" or "Four Horsemen" or "Dream Team" or "Fab Five" to describe his property and give it further marketability.
General Motors should be so lucky. The pros (and the agents) cash in on all this largess. The colleges do too, to some extent. But they use the revenues to fund programs that foster gender equity, not yachts or offshore bank accounts.
Baseball never got in on this good thing. Baseball founded a network of training sites at its own expense called the "minor leagues" or the "bushes," where they found the talent themselves and set it off for burnishing and education paid for not by colleges and universities but by the teams themselves. They refined their own product. Baseball hated to see its prospects go to college because it felt the youngster would be wasting four years. He would not grow in art and skill. College ball was not considered quality-enough competition.
Once in a while a pitcher from Harvard (Charlie Devens) or Yale (Johnny Broaca) would show up in a big league uniform, but they were a long way from Cooperstown. (Devens' lifetime record was 5-3 -- and he pitched for the Ruth Yankees!)
The colleges were the minor leagues for the other sports. (Some say not so because only a fraction of the collegians made it to the pros -- but only a fraction of baseball minor leaguers made it to the big leagues too).
What brings this to hand is the fact the Lakers currently have a young player who is, in effect, jumping the queue. Kobe Bryant is bypassing four years in college and going directly to the NBA.
It is an audacious experiment, but one that has been tried. Darryl Dawkins, who called himself "Chocolate Thunder," went directly from high school to the NBA. Shawn Kemp, the current NBA's Mr. Everything, didn't play college basketball. Moses Malone made the transition from high school successfully (27,409 total points, 16,212 rebounds).
It is do-able -- but difficult. Only 26 players have tried it in the long history of the league. Kevin Garnett did it for Minnesota last season -- and racked up an impressive 2,293 minutes.
Kobe Bryant is an extraordinarily skilled young player who might be frittering away his talent playing for dear old Siwash. Jerry West, who should know, says he is one of the best rookies he ever saw anywhere -- and Jerry has seen a few.
The problem with the young (at 18 years 2 months, Kobe is the second-youngest to play in the NBA) is not only giving them basketball, it's giving them the money. The last time an 18-year-old got millions like that, his father was the king of France.
As someone said, you go to college to learn how to make millions. If you get them anyway, what's the point? You figure your whole life is going to be spent at the free-throw line.
The next problem is a familiar one -- ego. The id. How do you take an 18-year-old who broke all of Wilt Chamberlain's scoring records in Philadelphia high schools, who was USA Today's national player of the year, and keep him on the bench in important games or just let him pick up what Chick Hearn calls "garbage" points? After all, 18 is a time when you know it all, isn't it?
The Lakers are betting Kobe Bryant is more than just a good role player. They see his name in lights, his uniform in the rafters.
Kobe probably does, too. But he is the son of an NBA basketball player, Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Clippers and Houston Rockets as well as in the European leagues. He even speaks fluent Italian.
He was also a sports columnist in high school, so he has a feel for historic pace. Still, all his life till now, he has been given the ball. How will he react to not having it? Can he move without it?
I went down to the locker room the other night, after a game in which he had not played, to see how his non-role was sitting with the once-and-future star. Would a future generation be able to understand a game in which a healthy Kobe Bryant was kept on the bench all night? Would he, himself? When would he begin throwing the furniture, bad-mouthing the coach, demanding to be traded?
Kobe Bryant smiled, turned off the tough questions with polite disclaimers and was gracious and unscowling. No, he didn't object to sitting out the game; no, he didn't think he had made a mistake skipping college. "The NBA was a challenge," he said. "I like a challenge. I was ready for a challenge."
He has racked up 170 minutes on the floor to date (Shaquille O'Neal and Eddie Jones have more than 800). He still plays a bit of the helter-skelter playground game. But when he becomes a star, he may change the whole complexion of the game. Maybe some day there will be a note in the brochure that only 26 players in the league ever went to college.
Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times
Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 995 | La Quinta | CA | 92247
Monday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Domenic Pittis (Lethbridge, 1991-94) signed a two-year contract extension with ZSC Lions Zurich (Swiss NL A). The contract now goes through the 2011-12 season. Pittis has five goals and 18 assists in 22 games with the Lions this season.
---
F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks has been invited to the selection camp that will be held by the U.S. national junior team at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., Dec. 17-19. Walker, who grew up in Castlegar, B.C., and played midget there, was born in New Haven, Conn., where his father, Gord, was playing with AHL’s Nighthawks. . . . Luke, 19, was never selected in the WHL bantam draft and is an NHL free agent, although he was in the New York Rangers’ camp prior to this season. His father played in the WHL (Portland, Kamloops, 1982-85). . . . When the U.S. camp roster is announced, it is expected to include around 28 players. Of those, 22 will be on the final roster that will be announced Dec. 23. . . . The camp will include an exhibition game against the U of North Dakota on Dec. 19. The U.S. team then will head for Moose Jaw where it will play an exhibition game against the Czech Republic on Dec. 22. . . . Dean Blais, the head coach of the U of Nebraska-Omaha, is the U.S. team’s head coach.
---
When Vancouver beat the Cougars 6-2 in Prince George on Saturday, it was head coach Don Hay’s 250th victory with the Giants. It also was No. 463 in his career as a WHL head coach. He is fifth on the all-time list, but now is just three victories behind Jack Shupe. . . . Already this season, Hay has passed Peter Anholt and Bob Lowe.
---
F Milan Kytnar of the Vancouver Giants is day-to-day with a shoulder injury, so may not play Wednesday against the visiting Kootenay Ice. Kytnar was injured on the weekend in Prince George. He should return during the Giants’ upcoming three-in-three weekend. They are at home to the Calgary Hitmen and Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and Saturday before heading east to play the Chilliwack Bruins on Sunday.
---
F Shane Harper set an Everett Silvertips franchise record Saturday when he played in his 288th regular-season game. The previous record of 287 had been held by D Taylor Ellington, who now is with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Harper, 20, had two goals in a 6-1 victory over the host Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash., on Saturday. He has 35 points and is plus-21 this season. He has 77 career goals, 10 shy of Zach Hamill’s franchise record. Hamill also holds the career points record, at 262. Harper has 169 career points. . . . The Silvertips are at home to the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday.
---
The Kamloops Blazers have signed F Rhyse Dieno, 16, to a WHL contract. Dieno, who is from Saskatoon, was listed by the Blazers in June 2008. He has 33 points in 20 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers.
---
If you’re into the Teddy Bear Toss -- and, yes, it’s that time of year, again -- check out this right here from Jeff Marek of Hockey Night in Canada. There is WHL content and lots of video, including a clip from Budapest.
---
Jeff Bromley reports on his blog that Kootenay Ice D James Martin (concussion) is out indefinitely. He took a hit from F Curt Gogol of the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night. . . . Gogol drew a five-game suspension for that hit. . . . Ice D Ryan Molle, who sat out Saturday’s game with a suspected concussion, may play Tuesday against the Bruins in Chilliwack.
---
D Travis Erhardt (Moose Jaw, Portland, 2004-09) has been recalled by the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins after three games with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. He had a goal and an assist with the Walleye. He had been sent there after being a healthy scratch in seven straight games with the Griffins.
---
F Jason Bast of the Moose Jaw Warriors doesn’t yet know when he’ll return to game action, but at least he is back skating. Bast skated Monday for the second time since suffering a facial injury -- he took a stick to the face -- during practice that required surgery. Bast, 20, had 31 points in 23 games when he was injured so you know that his presence is missed. He will see doctors on Tuesday and will get a better idea then of his immediate plans. Bast told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald that doctors inserted four plates and 20 screws.
---
If you’re wondering whatever happened to Brian Propp, perhaps the best left winger the WHL has seen during his days with the Brandon Wheat Kings, you can check it out right here.
---
D Alexander Urbom of the Brandon Wheat Kings has been told that he didn’t make the Swedish national junior team. He had gone to Montreal early in November and played a series of exhibition games with the Swedish team. “I was surprised,” Urbom told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun. “None of the players who came over (to Canada) to play junior made it. There’s some pretty good players.” . . . F Toni Rajala of the Wheat Kings is expected to be chosen for Finland’s national junior team.
---
F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks has been invited to the selection camp that will be held by the U.S. national junior team at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., Dec. 17-19. Walker, who grew up in Castlegar, B.C., and played midget there, was born in New Haven, Conn., where his father, Gord, was playing with AHL’s Nighthawks. . . . Luke, 19, was never selected in the WHL bantam draft and is an NHL free agent, although he was in the New York Rangers’ camp prior to this season. His father played in the WHL (Portland, Kamloops, 1982-85). . . . When the U.S. camp roster is announced, it is expected to include around 28 players. Of those, 22 will be on the final roster that will be announced Dec. 23. . . . The camp will include an exhibition game against the U of North Dakota on Dec. 19. The U.S. team then will head for Moose Jaw where it will play an exhibition game against the Czech Republic on Dec. 22. . . . Dean Blais, the head coach of the U of Nebraska-Omaha, is the U.S. team’s head coach.
---
When Vancouver beat the Cougars 6-2 in Prince George on Saturday, it was head coach Don Hay’s 250th victory with the Giants. It also was No. 463 in his career as a WHL head coach. He is fifth on the all-time list, but now is just three victories behind Jack Shupe. . . . Already this season, Hay has passed Peter Anholt and Bob Lowe.
---
F Milan Kytnar of the Vancouver Giants is day-to-day with a shoulder injury, so may not play Wednesday against the visiting Kootenay Ice. Kytnar was injured on the weekend in Prince George. He should return during the Giants’ upcoming three-in-three weekend. They are at home to the Calgary Hitmen and Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and Saturday before heading east to play the Chilliwack Bruins on Sunday.
---
F Shane Harper set an Everett Silvertips franchise record Saturday when he played in his 288th regular-season game. The previous record of 287 had been held by D Taylor Ellington, who now is with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Harper, 20, had two goals in a 6-1 victory over the host Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash., on Saturday. He has 35 points and is plus-21 this season. He has 77 career goals, 10 shy of Zach Hamill’s franchise record. Hamill also holds the career points record, at 262. Harper has 169 career points. . . . The Silvertips are at home to the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday.
---
The Kamloops Blazers have signed F Rhyse Dieno, 16, to a WHL contract. Dieno, who is from Saskatoon, was listed by the Blazers in June 2008. He has 33 points in 20 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers.
---
If you’re into the Teddy Bear Toss -- and, yes, it’s that time of year, again -- check out this right here from Jeff Marek of Hockey Night in Canada. There is WHL content and lots of video, including a clip from Budapest.
---
Jeff Bromley reports on his blog that Kootenay Ice D James Martin (concussion) is out indefinitely. He took a hit from F Curt Gogol of the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night. . . . Gogol drew a five-game suspension for that hit. . . . Ice D Ryan Molle, who sat out Saturday’s game with a suspected concussion, may play Tuesday against the Bruins in Chilliwack.
---
D Travis Erhardt (Moose Jaw, Portland, 2004-09) has been recalled by the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins after three games with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. He had a goal and an assist with the Walleye. He had been sent there after being a healthy scratch in seven straight games with the Griffins.
---
F Jason Bast of the Moose Jaw Warriors doesn’t yet know when he’ll return to game action, but at least he is back skating. Bast skated Monday for the second time since suffering a facial injury -- he took a stick to the face -- during practice that required surgery. Bast, 20, had 31 points in 23 games when he was injured so you know that his presence is missed. He will see doctors on Tuesday and will get a better idea then of his immediate plans. Bast told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald that doctors inserted four plates and 20 screws.
---
If you’re wondering whatever happened to Brian Propp, perhaps the best left winger the WHL has seen during his days with the Brandon Wheat Kings, you can check it out right here.
---
D Alexander Urbom of the Brandon Wheat Kings has been told that he didn’t make the Swedish national junior team. He had gone to Montreal early in November and played a series of exhibition games with the Swedish team. “I was surprised,” Urbom told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun. “None of the players who came over (to Canada) to play junior made it. There’s some pretty good players.” . . . F Toni Rajala of the Wheat Kings is expected to be chosen for Finland’s national junior team.
Monday, November 30, 2009
JMMF live chat . . .
A note from the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation . . .
Join us for the LIVE ONLINE BROADCAST from ESPN SportsCenter Studios @ LA LIVE (http://livestream.com/grunzy) for the Inaugural JMMF Sports & Media Symposium on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Pacific time. ESPN SportsCenter host Neil Everett will moderate panelists J.A. Adande (ESPN.com), Helene Elliott (Los Angeles Times) and Mark Kriegel (FoxSports.com) in a LIVE discussion of this year's JMMF Essay Question: "How has the media landscape, and the manner in which sports journalists cover events, changed over the past 20 years?" LIVE CHAT will allow you to send in questions for the panelists.
---
The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation (JMMF), an organization dedicated to furthering the educations of aspiring journalists, will welcome this year's class of "Murray Scholars" to Los Angeles for a check presentation ceremony on Dec. 1 at Staples Center during the Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets halftime at center court.
"I am so grateful to the Lakers organization for its ongoing support of the JMMF,
and for spotlighting our Murray Scholars during this Lakers' 50th season in LA.
Jim Murray traveled with the Lakers in those early years, and wrote hundreds of columns on the Lakers, from Jerry West and Elgin Baylor to Shaq and Kobe," said Linda McCoy-Murray, widow of the late, great Los Angeles Times sports columnist. "Our hope is that these bright young minds will carry on the spirit of Jim Murray in their writings for generations to come."
Join us for the LIVE ONLINE BROADCAST from ESPN SportsCenter Studios @ LA LIVE (http://livestream.com/grunzy) for the Inaugural JMMF Sports & Media Symposium on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Pacific time. ESPN SportsCenter host Neil Everett will moderate panelists J.A. Adande (ESPN.com), Helene Elliott (Los Angeles Times) and Mark Kriegel (FoxSports.com) in a LIVE discussion of this year's JMMF Essay Question: "How has the media landscape, and the manner in which sports journalists cover events, changed over the past 20 years?" LIVE CHAT will allow you to send in questions for the panelists.
---
The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation (JMMF), an organization dedicated to furthering the educations of aspiring journalists, will welcome this year's class of "Murray Scholars" to Los Angeles for a check presentation ceremony on Dec. 1 at Staples Center during the Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets halftime at center court.
"I am so grateful to the Lakers organization for its ongoing support of the JMMF,
and for spotlighting our Murray Scholars during this Lakers' 50th season in LA.
Jim Murray traveled with the Lakers in those early years, and wrote hundreds of columns on the Lakers, from Jerry West and Elgin Baylor to Shaq and Kobe," said Linda McCoy-Murray, widow of the late, great Los Angeles Times sports columnist. "Our hope is that these bright young minds will carry on the spirit of Jim Murray in their writings for generations to come."
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Charron delivering message to Blazers
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
After two games — and two losses — head coach Guy Charron’s message to the Kamloops Blazers was pretty simple.
“My message to them was, ‘We made little steps but we’re not where we want to be,’ ” the WHL team’s head coach said Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours after a 3-0 loss to the Bruins in the Chilliwack.
That defeat came one night after the Blazers blew a 4-0 third-period lead to the visiting Kootenay Ice and fell 6-5 in a shootout.
The result was that the Blazers, who often have been given a day off after playing back-to-back games, skated Sunday morning.
“The days off . . . they’re going to have to earn them,” Charron said.
So, he said, the club “had a pretty intense workout as far as skating.”
Part of that was because Charron admitted to being concerned about the level of the players’ conditioning.
“We had a good go at it,” he said. “The players responded very well to it. I was encouraged.”
The skate came the morning after the Blazers were outshot 36-15 and shut out for the second time this season, this time by Lucas Gore, a 19-year-old Kamloopsian who earned his second shutout of the season and the second of his career.
“I thought our team battled hard to some extent,” Charron said. “The shots . . . we didn’t generate what we should have offensively but we were doing some good things. We were only down by one goal. Our goalie was playing well.
“The penalties took the wind right out of our sails.”
Ahh, yes, the penalties . . .
The Blazers, outshot 30-7 through two periods, got a solid effort out of goaltender Jon Groenheyde. But things came apart in the third period when they were hit with four straight minor penalties and gave up two power-play goals.
By game’s end, the Bruins were 2-for-10 on the power play, while the Blazers, who took 10 of 14 minors, were 0-for-4. The Blazers actually were the beneficiaries of the game’s first two power plays and then surrendered 10 in a row.
And, after just two games, Charron admitted to being bothered by what he sees as a lack of consistency by the referees.
“I brought it at one point to the referees’ attention,” said Charron, who watched veterans Matt Kirk and Colby Smith work in Chilliwack. “I don’t have a problem with what they call, but I would like to see some consistency on both teams.”
Charron felt his side’s penalty killers “did well for two periods . . . then they get a 5-on-3 . . . and we get two power plays at the end of the game when the game is out of reach.”
Still, he has been around long enough to know that this is something with which his club is going to have to deal.
“I talked to the players (Sunday),” he said. “I said, ‘We’re the most penalized team . . . we have to try to improve. If we have a call go against us, we have to go to the box.' ”
The Blazers continue to be the WHL’s most-penalized team and their penalty killers have faced more opposition power plays (177) than any team in the league. Kamloops also has given up more power-play goals (47) than anyone else. It also has given up at least one power-play goal in 14 straight games and has surrendered at least one in 23 of 29 games this season.
The Bruins got a first-period goal from winger Alexander Wiklund and third-period power-play scores from defenceman Jesse Craige and forward Chris Collins.
The victory lifted the Bruins (12-13-1-4) past the Kelowna Rockets, who lost 4-2 to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Saturday, and into sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Blazers, who start a stretch of three home games in four nights when they play the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday, are eighth, two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Kamloops (11-14-2-2) goes into that game having lost seven of its last eight games.
p p p
The Blazers had three healthy scratches Saturday, with defencemen Zak Stebner and Josh Caron joining forward Dylan Willick in the stands. While Caron was a healthy scratch for the 11th time this season, it was a first for Stebner and Willick.
Charron said he is a firm believer in rewarding good performances and that the opposite also holds true.
“We discussed it,” Charron said. “The performances (Friday) were not up to par. They reacted professionally.”
JUST NOTES: The Saturday game also signalled Charron’s first WHL road trip. As he put it, with a chuckle: “I had my first bus trip and it wasn’t too bad.” . . . Kamloops has been outshot in 24 of 29 games this season and has surrendered 35 or more shots in 23 of those games. . . . Kamloops and Chilliwack have already met six times. The Blazers are 4-2-0-0 in the series, while the Bruins are 2-2-0-2.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Daily News Sports Editor
After two games — and two losses — head coach Guy Charron’s message to the Kamloops Blazers was pretty simple.
“My message to them was, ‘We made little steps but we’re not where we want to be,’ ” the WHL team’s head coach said Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours after a 3-0 loss to the Bruins in the Chilliwack.
That defeat came one night after the Blazers blew a 4-0 third-period lead to the visiting Kootenay Ice and fell 6-5 in a shootout.
The result was that the Blazers, who often have been given a day off after playing back-to-back games, skated Sunday morning.
“The days off . . . they’re going to have to earn them,” Charron said.
So, he said, the club “had a pretty intense workout as far as skating.”
Part of that was because Charron admitted to being concerned about the level of the players’ conditioning.
“We had a good go at it,” he said. “The players responded very well to it. I was encouraged.”
The skate came the morning after the Blazers were outshot 36-15 and shut out for the second time this season, this time by Lucas Gore, a 19-year-old Kamloopsian who earned his second shutout of the season and the second of his career.
“I thought our team battled hard to some extent,” Charron said. “The shots . . . we didn’t generate what we should have offensively but we were doing some good things. We were only down by one goal. Our goalie was playing well.
“The penalties took the wind right out of our sails.”
Ahh, yes, the penalties . . .
The Blazers, outshot 30-7 through two periods, got a solid effort out of goaltender Jon Groenheyde. But things came apart in the third period when they were hit with four straight minor penalties and gave up two power-play goals.
By game’s end, the Bruins were 2-for-10 on the power play, while the Blazers, who took 10 of 14 minors, were 0-for-4. The Blazers actually were the beneficiaries of the game’s first two power plays and then surrendered 10 in a row.
And, after just two games, Charron admitted to being bothered by what he sees as a lack of consistency by the referees.
“I brought it at one point to the referees’ attention,” said Charron, who watched veterans Matt Kirk and Colby Smith work in Chilliwack. “I don’t have a problem with what they call, but I would like to see some consistency on both teams.”
Charron felt his side’s penalty killers “did well for two periods . . . then they get a 5-on-3 . . . and we get two power plays at the end of the game when the game is out of reach.”
Still, he has been around long enough to know that this is something with which his club is going to have to deal.
“I talked to the players (Sunday),” he said. “I said, ‘We’re the most penalized team . . . we have to try to improve. If we have a call go against us, we have to go to the box.' ”
The Blazers continue to be the WHL’s most-penalized team and their penalty killers have faced more opposition power plays (177) than any team in the league. Kamloops also has given up more power-play goals (47) than anyone else. It also has given up at least one power-play goal in 14 straight games and has surrendered at least one in 23 of 29 games this season.
The Bruins got a first-period goal from winger Alexander Wiklund and third-period power-play scores from defenceman Jesse Craige and forward Chris Collins.
The victory lifted the Bruins (12-13-1-4) past the Kelowna Rockets, who lost 4-2 to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Saturday, and into sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Blazers, who start a stretch of three home games in four nights when they play the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday, are eighth, two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Kamloops (11-14-2-2) goes into that game having lost seven of its last eight games.
p p p
The Blazers had three healthy scratches Saturday, with defencemen Zak Stebner and Josh Caron joining forward Dylan Willick in the stands. While Caron was a healthy scratch for the 11th time this season, it was a first for Stebner and Willick.
Charron said he is a firm believer in rewarding good performances and that the opposite also holds true.
“We discussed it,” Charron said. “The performances (Friday) were not up to par. They reacted professionally.”
JUST NOTES: The Saturday game also signalled Charron’s first WHL road trip. As he put it, with a chuckle: “I had my first bus trip and it wasn’t too bad.” . . . Kamloops has been outshot in 24 of 29 games this season and has surrendered 35 or more shots in 23 of those games. . . . Kamloops and Chilliwack have already met six times. The Blazers are 4-2-0-0 in the series, while the Bruins are 2-2-0-2.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Saturday . . .
A reminder: There won’t be any WHL games on Sunday. Why not? Because it’s Grey Cup Sunday in Canada. For our American friends, it’s the Saskatchewan Roughriders, backed by the watermelon heads, against the Montreal Alouettes in Calgary. . . . I believe Montreal is a 9.5-point favourite. . . . The best story from Grey Cup Week involved Safeway trucking in lots and lots and lots of watermelons so Roughriders fans would be certain to be able to find appropriate headwear. I’m sorry, but you just don’t find stories like that during Super Bowl Week. . . . If you don't believe it, check out the watermelon story right here.
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A Saturday note from the QMJHL:
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Disciplinary Prefect announced today that players Ashton Bernard (Cape Breton) and Marshall Worden (Acadie-Bathurst) have been both suspended 10 games. It’s an automatic suspension following their fight during the warm-up, before (Friday’s) game between the Screaming Eagles and the Titan, played at Centre 200 in Sydney.
Other suspensions and/or fines could be announced by the disciplinary prefect, after reviewing the videotape of the incident and after consulting all concerned parties.
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Sheesh, a fight in the pregame warmup. Now that brings back memories of the good old days, eh?
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Former WHL G Ryan Holfeld, 20, has left the USHL’s Fargo, N.D., Force and joined the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. Holfeld played 122 regular-season WHL games over the last three seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
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SATURDAY:
In Saskatoon, the Calgary Hitmen opened up a 5-1 lead early in the third period and hung on for a 5-4 victory over the Blades. . . . This game featured the Eastern Conference’s top two teams. . . . The Hitmen (20-8-1-0) had lost three in a row. They now are two points behind the Blades, who hold two games in hand. . . . The Blades (20-4-0-3) had won five straight. They now are 11-2-0-0 at home, where they went into the night having won 10 in a row. . . . The Hitmen got two goals and two assists from F Brandon Kozun, who moved at least temporarily into the lead in the WHL scoring derby, one point ahead of Regina Pats F Jordan Eberle. Eberle would play later in the evening against the Chiefs in Spokane. . . . Kozun’s 13th goal of the season, 15 seconds into the third period, gave Calgary a 5-1 lead. . . . The Blades scored three times in the second half of the third period. . . . F Joel Broda also had two goals for Calgary. He has 14 on the season. . . . F Derek Hulak had a goal, his 13th, and two assists for the Blades. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 18 shots, while Saskatoon’s Steven Stanford turned aside 25. . . . Stanford has made back-to-back starts after Adam Morrison, the Blades’ other goaltender, hasn’t felt well after getting an H1N1 shot. . . . Attendance was 4,332.
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In Prince Albert, F Igor Revenko had two goals to help the Riaders to a 6-1 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Revenko also set up a goal, while teammate Dustin Cameron drew three assists. . . . Lethbridge got its goal from D Luca Sbisa, his first in 11 games since returning from the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. He cut the Raiders’ lead to 2-1 early in the second period. . . . Prince Albert had a 48-30 edge in shots. . . . The Raiders (15-12-1-2) have won three in a row and four of five. . . . The Hurricanes, who are 3-10-0-1 on the road, are 8-15-3-1 overall and are 0-4-1-1 in their last six outings. . . . Attendance was 1,898.
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In Swift Current, F Justin Dowling scored three times to lead the Broncos to a 5-4 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . One night earlier, the Wheat Kings had beaten the Broncos 4-2 in Brandon. . . . Dowling, a third-year player from Cochrane, Alta., has 18 goals this season. He finished last season with 22 in 71 games. . . . The Broncos (14-12-0-2) held 2-1 and 4-3 period leads, with Dowling giving them a 5-3 lead at 4:30 of the third period. . . . F Jay Fehr pulled Brandon (17-11-0-2) to within one at 18:35. . . . The Wheat Kings had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . F Aaron Lewadniuk, who had three points Friday, scored twice, giving him 10 this season. . . . Fehr also set up two goals. . . . Swift Current F Cody Eakin scored his WHL-leading 25th goal. He had 24 goals in 54 games last season, his second in the WHL. . . . Attendance was 2,103. . . . The Wheat Kings lost F Scott Glennie (ill) in the first period and D Dallas Ehrhardt (knee) in the second.
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In Edmonton, the Moose Jaw Warriors erased a 2-0 deficit and beat the Oil Kings 3-2 in overtime on Dylan Hood’s ninth goal of the season. . . . Hood scored at 3:14 of extra time. . . . The Oil Kings (8-13-4-4) had taken a 2-0 lead with first-period goals 39 seconds apart by F Michael Burns and F Brent Raedeke, his 14th. . . . The Warriors (16-10-1-1) got third-period goals from F Spencer Edwards, his ninth, at 13:04, and F Quinton Howden, his 13th, at 14:27. . . . Edmonton has lost five in a row, including two straight in OT. The Oil Kings have won win in their last 12 outings, but because they are 1-5-4-2 over that stretch they actually have earned up eight points. . . . Attendance was announced at 4,467 but the Edmonton Journal reported that fewer than 1,000 fans were in the stands.
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In Red Deer, freshman F Emerson Etem scored his 20th goal as the Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Rebels, 4-1. . . . The Tigers (16-9-2-3) have won five in a row and are 6-0-0-1 in their last seven. . . . The Rebels (13-14-0-0) had won three of four. . . . Red Deer freshman F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 16th goal. He has five goals in his last five games. . . . Attendance was 4,619. . . . Medicine Hat F Bretton Cameron scored his 23rd goal of the season, an empty-netter. He went into this season with 22 goals in 111 career regular-season games.
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In Prince George, F Brendan Gallagher scored four times to lead the Vancouver Giants to a 6-2 victory over the Cougars. . . . The Giants (18-8-1-2) broke a 2-2 tie with four third-period goals. . . . Gallagher, who has 19 goals, scored three straight goals. He forged a 2-2 tie at 14:46 of the second period, then scored again at 2:46 and 5:12 of the third. . . . He got his fourth at 18:37. . . . Last season, Gallagher scored 10 goals in 52 games. . . . Vancouver D Kevin Connauton, a 19-year-old Vancouver Canucks draft pick and NCAA refugee, scored his 12th goal of the season. . . . Attendance was 1,930. . . . The Cougars slipped to 4-20-1-1 with their second loss of the weekend. The Giants, who have won three in a row, won 5-4 on Friday.
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In Chilliwack, G Lucas Gore stopped 15 Shots to lead the Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Gore, who is from Kamloops, posted his second shutout of the season and second of his career. . . . The Bruins (12-13-1-4) had lost two in a row at home. The victory lifted them past the Kelowna Rockets and into sixth place in the Western Conference. . . . F Alexander Wiklund got the game’s first goal, his second of the season, at 13:35 of the second period, with D Jesse Craige and F Chris Collins adding third-period PP goals. . . . The Blazers, the WHL’s most-penalized team, faced 10 Chilliwack PP opportunities. . . . The Blazers (11-14-2-2) had beaten the Bruins 4-3 in a shootout one week earlier. . . . Kamloops has lost seven of its last eight games. . . . Kamloops has been blanked twice this season. . . . The Blazers are 4-2-0-0 in six games with the Bruins, who are 2-2-0-2 against the Blazers. . . . Attendance was 3,168.
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In Kelowna, the Kootenay Ice scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Rockets, 4-2. . . . The Ice (13-13-1-1) is 2-0 on its swing into the B.C. Division, having beaten the Blazers 6-5 in a shootout in Kamloops on Friday. . . . Kootenay D Brayden McNabb, in his second game after an eight-game absence, scored two PP goals -- at 11:29 of the second and 2:26 of the third -- to erase a 2-1 deficit. . . . McNabb had a goal and an assist on Friday in Kamloops. . . . Attendance was 6,146. . . . The teams divided 109 penalty minutes. . . . Each team was 2-for-8 on the PP. . . . The Rockets are 13-14-1-0. . . . Ice D Ryan Molle (concussion) didn’t play. . . . Kelowna F Shane McColgan, who had two goals in a 2-1 victory over the Bruins in Chilliwack on Friday, got his ninth goal of the season on a second-period PP.
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In Spokane, G James Reid stopped 22 shots to help the Chiefs beat the Regina Pats, 4-0. . . . It was Reid’s third shutout this season and the seventh of his career. . . . Attendance was 7,217. . . . F Tyler Johnson’s 15th goal, at 11:05 the first period, stood up as the winner for the Chiefs (16-8-2-0). That was his sixth goal in five games. . . . Regina (15-13-3-0) won four games on a six-game road swing that ended in Spokane. . . . The Chiefs are 8-2-1-0 in their last 11 outings. . . . Regina has been blanked four times this season. . . . The Chiefs went 10-2-1-0 in November.
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In Kennewick, Wash., the Everett Silvertips scored the game’s first three goals and went on to a 6-1 victory over the host Tri-City Americans. . . . F Shane Harper and F D. Jay McGrath each scored twice for the Silvertips (16-8-1-0). Harper has 19 on the season, while McGrath got his first two WHL goals in his 11th game this season and the 14th of his career. . . . McGrath scored the game’s first two goals, at 9:53 and 17:12 of the first period. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 36 shots. . . . Everett was 0-for-3 on the PP; the Ams were 0-for-8. . . . The Americans (19-8-0-0), who opened the season with nine straight home-ice victories, have lost three of their last four at home. . . . The Americans, who lost 4-1 to the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Friday, last lost two in a row at home late in 2007-08. . . . Attendance was 3,956.
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In Portland, F Spencer Bennett scored twice, including the Teddy Bear goal, as the Winterhawks got past the Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent, 5-3. . . . Bennett’s first goal, at 2:52 of the first period, allowed the crowd of 10,197 in the Rose Garden to unleash a storm of stuffed toys. The latest count had 16,321 toys on the ice. . . . Nine seconds after the ice was cleaned off, Seattle F Lindsay Nielsen tied the score. . . . But the Winterhawks (18-12-0-0) got the game’s next two goals and were never caught. . . . Bennett, whose second goal was an empty-netter, has 12 goals this season. . . . Portland freshman F Nino Niederreiter scored his 16th goal. He has six goals and an assist over his last four games. . . . F Prab Rai got his 16th for Seattle (10-16-1-3) to get his side to within a goal early in the third. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 41 shots, while Portland’s Ian Curtis turned aside 23. . . . Portland, which won 6-4 in Kent on Friday, is 5-0-0-0 against Seattle this season. . . . The loss cost Seattle a chance to pull into a tie with the Kamloops Blazers for the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. . . . Seattle D Jeremy Schappert had his 10-game point streak snapped. He had 16 points, including seven goals, over that stretch.
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A Saturday note from the QMJHL:
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Disciplinary Prefect announced today that players Ashton Bernard (Cape Breton) and Marshall Worden (Acadie-Bathurst) have been both suspended 10 games. It’s an automatic suspension following their fight during the warm-up, before (Friday’s) game between the Screaming Eagles and the Titan, played at Centre 200 in Sydney.
Other suspensions and/or fines could be announced by the disciplinary prefect, after reviewing the videotape of the incident and after consulting all concerned parties.
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Sheesh, a fight in the pregame warmup. Now that brings back memories of the good old days, eh?
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Former WHL G Ryan Holfeld, 20, has left the USHL’s Fargo, N.D., Force and joined the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. Holfeld played 122 regular-season WHL games over the last three seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
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SATURDAY:
In Saskatoon, the Calgary Hitmen opened up a 5-1 lead early in the third period and hung on for a 5-4 victory over the Blades. . . . This game featured the Eastern Conference’s top two teams. . . . The Hitmen (20-8-1-0) had lost three in a row. They now are two points behind the Blades, who hold two games in hand. . . . The Blades (20-4-0-3) had won five straight. They now are 11-2-0-0 at home, where they went into the night having won 10 in a row. . . . The Hitmen got two goals and two assists from F Brandon Kozun, who moved at least temporarily into the lead in the WHL scoring derby, one point ahead of Regina Pats F Jordan Eberle. Eberle would play later in the evening against the Chiefs in Spokane. . . . Kozun’s 13th goal of the season, 15 seconds into the third period, gave Calgary a 5-1 lead. . . . The Blades scored three times in the second half of the third period. . . . F Joel Broda also had two goals for Calgary. He has 14 on the season. . . . F Derek Hulak had a goal, his 13th, and two assists for the Blades. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 18 shots, while Saskatoon’s Steven Stanford turned aside 25. . . . Stanford has made back-to-back starts after Adam Morrison, the Blades’ other goaltender, hasn’t felt well after getting an H1N1 shot. . . . Attendance was 4,332.
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In Prince Albert, F Igor Revenko had two goals to help the Riaders to a 6-1 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Revenko also set up a goal, while teammate Dustin Cameron drew three assists. . . . Lethbridge got its goal from D Luca Sbisa, his first in 11 games since returning from the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. He cut the Raiders’ lead to 2-1 early in the second period. . . . Prince Albert had a 48-30 edge in shots. . . . The Raiders (15-12-1-2) have won three in a row and four of five. . . . The Hurricanes, who are 3-10-0-1 on the road, are 8-15-3-1 overall and are 0-4-1-1 in their last six outings. . . . Attendance was 1,898.
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In Swift Current, F Justin Dowling scored three times to lead the Broncos to a 5-4 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . One night earlier, the Wheat Kings had beaten the Broncos 4-2 in Brandon. . . . Dowling, a third-year player from Cochrane, Alta., has 18 goals this season. He finished last season with 22 in 71 games. . . . The Broncos (14-12-0-2) held 2-1 and 4-3 period leads, with Dowling giving them a 5-3 lead at 4:30 of the third period. . . . F Jay Fehr pulled Brandon (17-11-0-2) to within one at 18:35. . . . The Wheat Kings had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . F Aaron Lewadniuk, who had three points Friday, scored twice, giving him 10 this season. . . . Fehr also set up two goals. . . . Swift Current F Cody Eakin scored his WHL-leading 25th goal. He had 24 goals in 54 games last season, his second in the WHL. . . . Attendance was 2,103. . . . The Wheat Kings lost F Scott Glennie (ill) in the first period and D Dallas Ehrhardt (knee) in the second.
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In Edmonton, the Moose Jaw Warriors erased a 2-0 deficit and beat the Oil Kings 3-2 in overtime on Dylan Hood’s ninth goal of the season. . . . Hood scored at 3:14 of extra time. . . . The Oil Kings (8-13-4-4) had taken a 2-0 lead with first-period goals 39 seconds apart by F Michael Burns and F Brent Raedeke, his 14th. . . . The Warriors (16-10-1-1) got third-period goals from F Spencer Edwards, his ninth, at 13:04, and F Quinton Howden, his 13th, at 14:27. . . . Edmonton has lost five in a row, including two straight in OT. The Oil Kings have won win in their last 12 outings, but because they are 1-5-4-2 over that stretch they actually have earned up eight points. . . . Attendance was announced at 4,467 but the Edmonton Journal reported that fewer than 1,000 fans were in the stands.
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In Red Deer, freshman F Emerson Etem scored his 20th goal as the Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Rebels, 4-1. . . . The Tigers (16-9-2-3) have won five in a row and are 6-0-0-1 in their last seven. . . . The Rebels (13-14-0-0) had won three of four. . . . Red Deer freshman F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 16th goal. He has five goals in his last five games. . . . Attendance was 4,619. . . . Medicine Hat F Bretton Cameron scored his 23rd goal of the season, an empty-netter. He went into this season with 22 goals in 111 career regular-season games.
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In Prince George, F Brendan Gallagher scored four times to lead the Vancouver Giants to a 6-2 victory over the Cougars. . . . The Giants (18-8-1-2) broke a 2-2 tie with four third-period goals. . . . Gallagher, who has 19 goals, scored three straight goals. He forged a 2-2 tie at 14:46 of the second period, then scored again at 2:46 and 5:12 of the third. . . . He got his fourth at 18:37. . . . Last season, Gallagher scored 10 goals in 52 games. . . . Vancouver D Kevin Connauton, a 19-year-old Vancouver Canucks draft pick and NCAA refugee, scored his 12th goal of the season. . . . Attendance was 1,930. . . . The Cougars slipped to 4-20-1-1 with their second loss of the weekend. The Giants, who have won three in a row, won 5-4 on Friday.
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In Chilliwack, G Lucas Gore stopped 15 Shots to lead the Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Gore, who is from Kamloops, posted his second shutout of the season and second of his career. . . . The Bruins (12-13-1-4) had lost two in a row at home. The victory lifted them past the Kelowna Rockets and into sixth place in the Western Conference. . . . F Alexander Wiklund got the game’s first goal, his second of the season, at 13:35 of the second period, with D Jesse Craige and F Chris Collins adding third-period PP goals. . . . The Blazers, the WHL’s most-penalized team, faced 10 Chilliwack PP opportunities. . . . The Blazers (11-14-2-2) had beaten the Bruins 4-3 in a shootout one week earlier. . . . Kamloops has lost seven of its last eight games. . . . Kamloops has been blanked twice this season. . . . The Blazers are 4-2-0-0 in six games with the Bruins, who are 2-2-0-2 against the Blazers. . . . Attendance was 3,168.
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In Kelowna, the Kootenay Ice scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Rockets, 4-2. . . . The Ice (13-13-1-1) is 2-0 on its swing into the B.C. Division, having beaten the Blazers 6-5 in a shootout in Kamloops on Friday. . . . Kootenay D Brayden McNabb, in his second game after an eight-game absence, scored two PP goals -- at 11:29 of the second and 2:26 of the third -- to erase a 2-1 deficit. . . . McNabb had a goal and an assist on Friday in Kamloops. . . . Attendance was 6,146. . . . The teams divided 109 penalty minutes. . . . Each team was 2-for-8 on the PP. . . . The Rockets are 13-14-1-0. . . . Ice D Ryan Molle (concussion) didn’t play. . . . Kelowna F Shane McColgan, who had two goals in a 2-1 victory over the Bruins in Chilliwack on Friday, got his ninth goal of the season on a second-period PP.
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In Spokane, G James Reid stopped 22 shots to help the Chiefs beat the Regina Pats, 4-0. . . . It was Reid’s third shutout this season and the seventh of his career. . . . Attendance was 7,217. . . . F Tyler Johnson’s 15th goal, at 11:05 the first period, stood up as the winner for the Chiefs (16-8-2-0). That was his sixth goal in five games. . . . Regina (15-13-3-0) won four games on a six-game road swing that ended in Spokane. . . . The Chiefs are 8-2-1-0 in their last 11 outings. . . . Regina has been blanked four times this season. . . . The Chiefs went 10-2-1-0 in November.
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In Kennewick, Wash., the Everett Silvertips scored the game’s first three goals and went on to a 6-1 victory over the host Tri-City Americans. . . . F Shane Harper and F D. Jay McGrath each scored twice for the Silvertips (16-8-1-0). Harper has 19 on the season, while McGrath got his first two WHL goals in his 11th game this season and the 14th of his career. . . . McGrath scored the game’s first two goals, at 9:53 and 17:12 of the first period. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 36 shots. . . . Everett was 0-for-3 on the PP; the Ams were 0-for-8. . . . The Americans (19-8-0-0), who opened the season with nine straight home-ice victories, have lost three of their last four at home. . . . The Americans, who lost 4-1 to the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Friday, last lost two in a row at home late in 2007-08. . . . Attendance was 3,956.
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In Portland, F Spencer Bennett scored twice, including the Teddy Bear goal, as the Winterhawks got past the Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent, 5-3. . . . Bennett’s first goal, at 2:52 of the first period, allowed the crowd of 10,197 in the Rose Garden to unleash a storm of stuffed toys. The latest count had 16,321 toys on the ice. . . . Nine seconds after the ice was cleaned off, Seattle F Lindsay Nielsen tied the score. . . . But the Winterhawks (18-12-0-0) got the game’s next two goals and were never caught. . . . Bennett, whose second goal was an empty-netter, has 12 goals this season. . . . Portland freshman F Nino Niederreiter scored his 16th goal. He has six goals and an assist over his last four games. . . . F Prab Rai got his 16th for Seattle (10-16-1-3) to get his side to within a goal early in the third. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 41 shots, while Portland’s Ian Curtis turned aside 23. . . . Portland, which won 6-4 in Kent on Friday, is 5-0-0-0 against Seattle this season. . . . The loss cost Seattle a chance to pull into a tie with the Kamloops Blazers for the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. . . . Seattle D Jeremy Schappert had his 10-game point streak snapped. He had 16 points, including seven goals, over that stretch.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Questions, questions . . .
Questions, questions . . . we’ve got questions . . .
1. Has any head coach ever had a rougher initiation to the WHL than Guy Charron, who watched his Kamloops Blazers take a 4-0 lead into the third period before losing 6-5 in a shootout to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Friday?
2. How is it that those same Blazers, who are hardly tough to play against, are leading the WHL in penalty minutes again?
3. When Team WHL played the Russians in Kelowna on Thursday night, why wouldn’t the coaching staff simply roll four lines all game long and play whichever line was up on the power play?
4. Or had the decisions already been made as to whose names will be on the list of invitees when Hockey Canada announces Wednesday just who it is who will attend the selection camp in December?
5. What really happened with Tiger Woods and his wife, and how long are we going to have to read and hear about this mess? Will Tiger show up Tuesday for a scheduled news conference that originally was to have kicked off the Chevron World Challenge, a tournament to which he is playing host? Will all of the world’s media put in an appearance?
6. When Lorne Molleken appears on the Saskatoon Blades’ bench at Credit Union Central, does the music man salute the club’s GM/head coach by playing Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top?
7. The Regina Pats won again in the U.S. Division on Friday night and now are three games over .500 and up to fifth in the Eastern Conference. Regina is 4-1 on a six-game swing that ends tonight against the Chiefs in Spokane. Is this the road trip on which the Pats discover their mojo?
8. The Brandon Wheat Kings go into Swift Current tonight having won four in a row. Is this the Wheat Kings team everyone has been waiting to see?
9. Thanks to loser points, 15 of the WHL’s 22 teams are shown with winning percentages of .500 or better, when there really are 12 teams with as many or more victories than losses. So far, 56 loser points have been handed out, which is 8.5 per cent of all points. When is someone in hockey going to realize just how badly these loser points distort everything?
10. Is Landon Ferraro back? The Red Deer sniper, who scored 37 goals last season, was bothered by a wonky knee early on. He got his fourth goal of this season on Friday. It looks like about eight teams will battle for the Eastern Conference’s last five playoff spots and he could be a difference-maker.
11. How badly do the Lethbridge Hurricanes miss goaltender Linden Rowat? The 20-year-old has ligament damage in an ankle and won’t play again until after the Christmas break.
12. The Calgary Hitmen lost their third game in a row Friday night, and who saw that coming?
13. And, finally . . . with a name like Steele Boomer, the Kootenay Ice forward has to be tougher than Chuck Norris, doesn’t he?
1. Has any head coach ever had a rougher initiation to the WHL than Guy Charron, who watched his Kamloops Blazers take a 4-0 lead into the third period before losing 6-5 in a shootout to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Friday?
2. How is it that those same Blazers, who are hardly tough to play against, are leading the WHL in penalty minutes again?
3. When Team WHL played the Russians in Kelowna on Thursday night, why wouldn’t the coaching staff simply roll four lines all game long and play whichever line was up on the power play?
4. Or had the decisions already been made as to whose names will be on the list of invitees when Hockey Canada announces Wednesday just who it is who will attend the selection camp in December?
5. What really happened with Tiger Woods and his wife, and how long are we going to have to read and hear about this mess? Will Tiger show up Tuesday for a scheduled news conference that originally was to have kicked off the Chevron World Challenge, a tournament to which he is playing host? Will all of the world’s media put in an appearance?
6. When Lorne Molleken appears on the Saskatoon Blades’ bench at Credit Union Central, does the music man salute the club’s GM/head coach by playing Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top?
7. The Regina Pats won again in the U.S. Division on Friday night and now are three games over .500 and up to fifth in the Eastern Conference. Regina is 4-1 on a six-game swing that ends tonight against the Chiefs in Spokane. Is this the road trip on which the Pats discover their mojo?
8. The Brandon Wheat Kings go into Swift Current tonight having won four in a row. Is this the Wheat Kings team everyone has been waiting to see?
9. Thanks to loser points, 15 of the WHL’s 22 teams are shown with winning percentages of .500 or better, when there really are 12 teams with as many or more victories than losses. So far, 56 loser points have been handed out, which is 8.5 per cent of all points. When is someone in hockey going to realize just how badly these loser points distort everything?
10. Is Landon Ferraro back? The Red Deer sniper, who scored 37 goals last season, was bothered by a wonky knee early on. He got his fourth goal of this season on Friday. It looks like about eight teams will battle for the Eastern Conference’s last five playoff spots and he could be a difference-maker.
11. How badly do the Lethbridge Hurricanes miss goaltender Linden Rowat? The 20-year-old has ligament damage in an ankle and won’t play again until after the Christmas break.
12. The Calgary Hitmen lost their third game in a row Friday night, and who saw that coming?
13. And, finally . . . with a name like Steele Boomer, the Kootenay Ice forward has to be tougher than Chuck Norris, doesn’t he?
Keeping Score
Frank McCourt, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is in a messy situation with his soon-to-be ex-wife Jamie. She wants money and he says he doesn’t have any. He told a court the other day that he is low on cash. Sheesh, he admitted that his personal chequing account had all but bottomed out at, yes, $167,000. The last time my chequing account was in that neighbourhood, my wife went shopping. . . . In case you were wondering, a TSN press release points out that the “combined weight in pounds of the CFL on TSN panel” is 1,050. . . . By the way, TSN will have a total of 150 people working Sunday’s Grey Cup telecast from Calgary. . . . Have we yet begun to contemplate the world of afternoon TV without Oprah? Or do we even want to go there? . . . Thankfully, her smiling mug will continue to shine down on us from the cover of her magazine.
“Bud Selig said that next year Major League Baseball will try to have less off-days between playoff games,” notes the Left Coast Sports Babe. “Translation: Fox has decided the World Series going into November hurts their fall schedule.” . . . Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Word out of Vancouver says the Canucks are the latest NHL team to jump the queue to get their H1N1 shots. Once again, a group of men suffers the embarrassment of premature inoculation.” . . . The Frick and Frack Tap House was the sight of an interesting gathering on Monday evening. Al Trotter, a decorated veteran and an author, was in some Fast Company as he broke bread with four young Kamloops athletes — speed skating sisters Josie and Tori Spence, race car driver Brendan Langlois and mountain biker Chayse Marshall — as part of a local mentoring program. And wouldn’t it have been great to hear some of those yarns?
Mark Mangino, the, uhh, overweight head football coach at Kansas, had a brain cramp the other day and blasted some parents. Now he is in the eye of a hurricane. . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “While Kansas football tyrant Mark Mangino is threatening to send his players back to the ghetto, maybe he should consider sending himself back to the salad bar.” . . . David Whitley, over at FanHouse: “In case you missed it, Kansas launched an investigation into Mangino’s alleged tyrannical abuse of football players. We say ‘alleged’ because Mangino apparently ate three of the players set to testify against him.”
So . . . the Kamloops Blazers didn’t hire you as their latest head coach? Perhaps you’re next in line. . . . Let’s be honest. Even if the B.C. Lions could have tackled they wouldn’t have come close to beating the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday. Besides, would there not have been something wrong about a team from Vancouver representing the East in a Grey Cup game played in Calgary? . . . The Lions still came out ahead this season if only because they now have an undisputed No. 1 quarterback in Casey Printers. You are able to win in the NFL without a star at quarterback, but you can’t do it in the CFL. . . . As for Sunday’s big game, take the Alouettes and give whatever points are required. . . . From R.J. Currie, over at sportsdeke.com: “The women ski jumpers hoping to get into the 2010 Olympics lost their case before the B.C. Court of Appeal. They now suggest IOC president Jacques Rogge be the one to take a flying leap.”
Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Giants’ Tim Lincecum, recently busted for marijuana possession, won the NL High Young award again. Wait. Sorry. I meant Cy Young. A couple of days later, reformed pot-smoker Ricky Williams scored three touchdowns to lead the Dolphins’ big Thursday night victory. Parents, you might want to wait awhile on that talk with your kids about how weed will destroy their bodies and ruin their lives.” . . . One more from Cote: “Remember when Allen Iverson wrote on his Twitter site: ‘God chose Memphis?’ Didn’t quite work out. ‘Even I make mistakes,’ Tweeted God.” . . . Jeff Blair of theglobeandmail.com, after Montreal Canadiens heavy Georges Laraque took out Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall with a knee-on-knee hit: “No group of professional athletes have less respect for their peers than hockey players. None.”
The only way NASCAR could have added excitement to its last few weeks would have been to have Jimmy Johnson, the old football coach, driving Jimmie Johnson’s car. . . . Eric Francis reports in the Calgary Sun: “Dion Phaneuf’s 15-year-old brother Dane caused a bit of a stir in Edmonton last week when he rubbed out Hayley Wickenheiser in a non-contact exhibition game against the women’s national team. Wickenheiser, 31, took exception to the jarring and let him know by applying a rather violent choke-hold from behind in an effort to try wrestling him to the ice. Dion thought it was funny . . .” The younger Phaneuf’s WHL rights belong to the Prince George Cougars. . . . Social note: Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn and U.S. gymnast Alicia Sacramone are an item. She has been to Browns games; he has yet to attend a gymnastics meet.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
“Bud Selig said that next year Major League Baseball will try to have less off-days between playoff games,” notes the Left Coast Sports Babe. “Translation: Fox has decided the World Series going into November hurts their fall schedule.” . . . Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Word out of Vancouver says the Canucks are the latest NHL team to jump the queue to get their H1N1 shots. Once again, a group of men suffers the embarrassment of premature inoculation.” . . . The Frick and Frack Tap House was the sight of an interesting gathering on Monday evening. Al Trotter, a decorated veteran and an author, was in some Fast Company as he broke bread with four young Kamloops athletes — speed skating sisters Josie and Tori Spence, race car driver Brendan Langlois and mountain biker Chayse Marshall — as part of a local mentoring program. And wouldn’t it have been great to hear some of those yarns?
Mark Mangino, the, uhh, overweight head football coach at Kansas, had a brain cramp the other day and blasted some parents. Now he is in the eye of a hurricane. . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “While Kansas football tyrant Mark Mangino is threatening to send his players back to the ghetto, maybe he should consider sending himself back to the salad bar.” . . . David Whitley, over at FanHouse: “In case you missed it, Kansas launched an investigation into Mangino’s alleged tyrannical abuse of football players. We say ‘alleged’ because Mangino apparently ate three of the players set to testify against him.”
So . . . the Kamloops Blazers didn’t hire you as their latest head coach? Perhaps you’re next in line. . . . Let’s be honest. Even if the B.C. Lions could have tackled they wouldn’t have come close to beating the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday. Besides, would there not have been something wrong about a team from Vancouver representing the East in a Grey Cup game played in Calgary? . . . The Lions still came out ahead this season if only because they now have an undisputed No. 1 quarterback in Casey Printers. You are able to win in the NFL without a star at quarterback, but you can’t do it in the CFL. . . . As for Sunday’s big game, take the Alouettes and give whatever points are required. . . . From R.J. Currie, over at sportsdeke.com: “The women ski jumpers hoping to get into the 2010 Olympics lost their case before the B.C. Court of Appeal. They now suggest IOC president Jacques Rogge be the one to take a flying leap.”
Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Giants’ Tim Lincecum, recently busted for marijuana possession, won the NL High Young award again. Wait. Sorry. I meant Cy Young. A couple of days later, reformed pot-smoker Ricky Williams scored three touchdowns to lead the Dolphins’ big Thursday night victory. Parents, you might want to wait awhile on that talk with your kids about how weed will destroy their bodies and ruin their lives.” . . . One more from Cote: “Remember when Allen Iverson wrote on his Twitter site: ‘God chose Memphis?’ Didn’t quite work out. ‘Even I make mistakes,’ Tweeted God.” . . . Jeff Blair of theglobeandmail.com, after Montreal Canadiens heavy Georges Laraque took out Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall with a knee-on-knee hit: “No group of professional athletes have less respect for their peers than hockey players. None.”
The only way NASCAR could have added excitement to its last few weeks would have been to have Jimmy Johnson, the old football coach, driving Jimmie Johnson’s car. . . . Eric Francis reports in the Calgary Sun: “Dion Phaneuf’s 15-year-old brother Dane caused a bit of a stir in Edmonton last week when he rubbed out Hayley Wickenheiser in a non-contact exhibition game against the women’s national team. Wickenheiser, 31, took exception to the jarring and let him know by applying a rather violent choke-hold from behind in an effort to try wrestling him to the ice. Dion thought it was funny . . .” The younger Phaneuf’s WHL rights belong to the Prince George Cougars. . . . Social note: Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn and U.S. gymnast Alicia Sacramone are an item. She has been to Browns games; he has yet to attend a gymnastics meet.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Friday . . .
FRIDAY:
In Kamloops, the Kootenay Ice erased a 4-0 third-period deficit and beat the Blazers 6-4 in a shootout. . . . The game was the first for Guy Charron since he signed on as the Blazers’ head coach on Monday. . . . Kootenay (12-13-1-1) tied the game 4-4 with four power-play goals and then took a 5-4 lead on F Joe Antilla’s goal at 16:18. . . . Kamloops F Tyler Shattock then tied it with 11.8 seconds left on the clock. . . . F Jesse Ismond won it in the shootout. . . . The Ice is 12-13-1-1. . . . Kamloops G Kurtis Mucha, in his first start since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, stopped 42 shots. . . . Kootenay was 4-for-8 on the PP; the Blazers were 3-for-7. . . . Attendance was 4,610. . . . The Ice lost D Ryan Molle with a suspected concussion after he was hit by teammate Hayden Rintoul, who was trying to check F JC Lipon, who danced between the two. Molle won’t play Saturday when the Ice meets the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . This was the only meeting of the season between the Ice and Blazers.
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In Brandon, the Wheat Kings fell behind 2-0 in the first behind then came back to beat the Swift Current Broncos, 4-2. . . . The Broncos got first-period goals from F Michael Stickland and F Brad Hoban, before Brandon F Jay Fehr scored at 18:37 of the first period. . . . The Wheat Kings then got second-period goals from D Brodie Melynchuk, F Michael Ferland and F Brayden Schenn. . . . F Scott Glennie and F Aaron Lewadniuk each drew three assists for Brandon (17-10-0-2), which has won four in a row. . . . The Broncos are 13-12-0-2. . . . Attendance was 4,456. . . . Brandon visits Swift Current on Saturday.
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In Chilliwack, F Shane McColgan scored twice to give the Kelowna Rockets a 2-1 victory over the Bruins. . . . F Brandon McMillan assisted on both Kelowna goals. . . . F Dylen McKinlay gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the second period. McColgan tied it later in the period and broke a 1-1 tie in the third. . . . G Adam Brown stopped 32 shots for the Rockets (13-13-1-0), who pulled into a sixth-place tie with the Bruins (11-13-1-4) in the Western Conference. . . . Chilliwack G Mark Friesen stopped 27 shots. . . . Attendance was 3,168.
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In Everett, F Jordan Eberle’s three goals sparked the Regina Pats to a 4-2 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Regina (15-12-3-0) was 3-for-5 on the PP, while Everett (15-8-1-0) was 0-for-8. . . . Eberle, who scored the game’s last three goals, moved into the WHL scoring lead, with 50 points, three ahead of Calgary Hitmen F Brandon Kozun. . . . Eberle has 23 goals, one fewer than Cody Eakin of the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Regina G Damien Ketlo stopped 34 shots, including 20 in the third period. . . . Everett G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 36 shots. . . . Attendance was 5,810.
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In Prince Albert, F Ryan Harrison’s eighth goal of the season, just 50 seconds into overtime, gave the Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Calgary F Joel Broda forced OT with his 12th goal at 19:53 of the third period. . . . The Raiders (14-12-1-2) are 10-3-0-1 at home. . . . The Hitmen (19-8-1-0) have lost three in a row. . . . Attendance was 2,204.
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In Kent, Wash., F Nino Niederreiter scored two goals and set up two others as the Portland Winter Hawks scored a 6-4 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Portland is 4-0 against Seattle this season with one of the victories coming in a shootout. . . . Seattle led this one 4-1 midway in the second period. . . . Portland D Taylor Aronson broke a 4-4 tie with his second goal of the game and his second of the season at 13:20 of the third period on the PP. . . . . F Prab Rai had a goal and an assist for Seattle. He has 20 points in 11 November games. . . . Seattle D Jeremy Schappert scored his eighth goal of the season on a second-period penalty shot. . . . The Winterhawks (17-12-0-0) had lost four in a row. . . . Seattle (10-15-1-3) went in having won six of eight. . . . Attendance was 4,213.
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In Prince George, F Craig Cunningham’s goal at 19:28 of the third period broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Vancouver Giants a 5-4 victory over the Cougars. . . . Cunningham also had two assists. . . . The Cougars (4-19-1-1) took a 3-2 lead into the third period but Vancouver tied it on D Kevin Connauton’s PP goal six seconds into the frame. . . . F Brett Connolly, who had missed all but seven games this season because of a hip injury and then strep throat, gave the Cougars the lead, only to have Connauton tie it with another PP goalat 9:25. . . . F Garry Nunn, playing his first game of the season for Vancouver (17-8-1-2) after recovering from a broken leg and ligament damage in an ankle, had one goal. . . . F Spencer Asuchak, acquired by the Cougars from the Tri-City Americans earlier in the week, had a goal in his first game for P.G. . . . Vancouver was 3-for-6 on the PP; Prince George was 0-for-7. . . . Attendance was 2,074. . . . Vancouver is 5-2-1-2 on the road. It is playing a lot of home games in the first half of the schedule because it will have to vacate its building in January for the Olympic Winter Games.
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In Red Deer, F Andrej Kudrna had a goal and two assists to lead the Rebels to a 4-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Kudrna’s 13th goal of the season, at 9:22 of the second period, broke a 1-1 tie. . . . Attendance was 4,355. . . . The Rebels improved to 13-13-0-0, while the Warriors now are 15-10-1-1 and have lost four in a row. . . . Moose Jaw F Jason Bast, who had surgery this week to repair a broken bone in his face, is back skating but didn’t play. He isn’t expected to play Saturday in Edmonton.
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In Saskatoon, F Derek Hulak, the first shooter in the fifth round of the shootout, scored to give the Blades a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge led 2-0 on a PP goal from F Carter Ashton, at 8:40 of the first, and a shorthanded goal by F Craig Orfino, at 6:17 of the second. . . . Saskatoon got PP goals from F Jeremy Boyer, at 7:24 of the second, and F Walker Wintoneak, at 7:31 of the third. . . . Saskatoon (20-3-0-3) became the first team to 20 victories, with the Calgary Hitmen and Tri-City Americans both losing to remain at 19. . . . Saskatoon has won five in a row and is 11-1-0-0 at home. . . . The Hurricanes (8-14-3-1) have lost five straight. . . . Attendance was 4,170.
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In Kennewick, Wash., G James Reid stopped 41 shots to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 victory over the host Tri-City Americans. . . . The Chiefs (15-8-2-0) have won nine of their last 12. . . . The Chiefs (15-8-2-0) and Americans (19-7-0-0) have evenly split four games this season. They’ll meet eight more times. . . . The Chiefs got off to a great start when F Tyler Johnson scored shorthanded at 3:09 of the first period. . . . Tri-City G Drew Owsley stopped a career-high 43 shots. . . . Tri-City had a 20-5 edge in third-period shots. . . . Reid lost his shutout bid when F Brendan Shinnimin scored on the PP at 13:57 of the third period. . . . Reid has not allowed more than one goal in eight of his last 10 starts. . . . Spokane was 1-for-7 on the PP; Tri-City was 1-for-9. . . . Attendance was 5,265, the largest crowd of the season in the Toyota Centre.
In Kamloops, the Kootenay Ice erased a 4-0 third-period deficit and beat the Blazers 6-4 in a shootout. . . . The game was the first for Guy Charron since he signed on as the Blazers’ head coach on Monday. . . . Kootenay (12-13-1-1) tied the game 4-4 with four power-play goals and then took a 5-4 lead on F Joe Antilla’s goal at 16:18. . . . Kamloops F Tyler Shattock then tied it with 11.8 seconds left on the clock. . . . F Jesse Ismond won it in the shootout. . . . The Ice is 12-13-1-1. . . . Kamloops G Kurtis Mucha, in his first start since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, stopped 42 shots. . . . Kootenay was 4-for-8 on the PP; the Blazers were 3-for-7. . . . Attendance was 4,610. . . . The Ice lost D Ryan Molle with a suspected concussion after he was hit by teammate Hayden Rintoul, who was trying to check F JC Lipon, who danced between the two. Molle won’t play Saturday when the Ice meets the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . This was the only meeting of the season between the Ice and Blazers.
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In Brandon, the Wheat Kings fell behind 2-0 in the first behind then came back to beat the Swift Current Broncos, 4-2. . . . The Broncos got first-period goals from F Michael Stickland and F Brad Hoban, before Brandon F Jay Fehr scored at 18:37 of the first period. . . . The Wheat Kings then got second-period goals from D Brodie Melynchuk, F Michael Ferland and F Brayden Schenn. . . . F Scott Glennie and F Aaron Lewadniuk each drew three assists for Brandon (17-10-0-2), which has won four in a row. . . . The Broncos are 13-12-0-2. . . . Attendance was 4,456. . . . Brandon visits Swift Current on Saturday.
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In Chilliwack, F Shane McColgan scored twice to give the Kelowna Rockets a 2-1 victory over the Bruins. . . . F Brandon McMillan assisted on both Kelowna goals. . . . F Dylen McKinlay gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the second period. McColgan tied it later in the period and broke a 1-1 tie in the third. . . . G Adam Brown stopped 32 shots for the Rockets (13-13-1-0), who pulled into a sixth-place tie with the Bruins (11-13-1-4) in the Western Conference. . . . Chilliwack G Mark Friesen stopped 27 shots. . . . Attendance was 3,168.
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In Everett, F Jordan Eberle’s three goals sparked the Regina Pats to a 4-2 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Regina (15-12-3-0) was 3-for-5 on the PP, while Everett (15-8-1-0) was 0-for-8. . . . Eberle, who scored the game’s last three goals, moved into the WHL scoring lead, with 50 points, three ahead of Calgary Hitmen F Brandon Kozun. . . . Eberle has 23 goals, one fewer than Cody Eakin of the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Regina G Damien Ketlo stopped 34 shots, including 20 in the third period. . . . Everett G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 36 shots. . . . Attendance was 5,810.
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In Prince Albert, F Ryan Harrison’s eighth goal of the season, just 50 seconds into overtime, gave the Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Calgary F Joel Broda forced OT with his 12th goal at 19:53 of the third period. . . . The Raiders (14-12-1-2) are 10-3-0-1 at home. . . . The Hitmen (19-8-1-0) have lost three in a row. . . . Attendance was 2,204.
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In Kent, Wash., F Nino Niederreiter scored two goals and set up two others as the Portland Winter Hawks scored a 6-4 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Portland is 4-0 against Seattle this season with one of the victories coming in a shootout. . . . Seattle led this one 4-1 midway in the second period. . . . Portland D Taylor Aronson broke a 4-4 tie with his second goal of the game and his second of the season at 13:20 of the third period on the PP. . . . . F Prab Rai had a goal and an assist for Seattle. He has 20 points in 11 November games. . . . Seattle D Jeremy Schappert scored his eighth goal of the season on a second-period penalty shot. . . . The Winterhawks (17-12-0-0) had lost four in a row. . . . Seattle (10-15-1-3) went in having won six of eight. . . . Attendance was 4,213.
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In Prince George, F Craig Cunningham’s goal at 19:28 of the third period broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Vancouver Giants a 5-4 victory over the Cougars. . . . Cunningham also had two assists. . . . The Cougars (4-19-1-1) took a 3-2 lead into the third period but Vancouver tied it on D Kevin Connauton’s PP goal six seconds into the frame. . . . F Brett Connolly, who had missed all but seven games this season because of a hip injury and then strep throat, gave the Cougars the lead, only to have Connauton tie it with another PP goalat 9:25. . . . F Garry Nunn, playing his first game of the season for Vancouver (17-8-1-2) after recovering from a broken leg and ligament damage in an ankle, had one goal. . . . F Spencer Asuchak, acquired by the Cougars from the Tri-City Americans earlier in the week, had a goal in his first game for P.G. . . . Vancouver was 3-for-6 on the PP; Prince George was 0-for-7. . . . Attendance was 2,074. . . . Vancouver is 5-2-1-2 on the road. It is playing a lot of home games in the first half of the schedule because it will have to vacate its building in January for the Olympic Winter Games.
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In Red Deer, F Andrej Kudrna had a goal and two assists to lead the Rebels to a 4-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Kudrna’s 13th goal of the season, at 9:22 of the second period, broke a 1-1 tie. . . . Attendance was 4,355. . . . The Rebels improved to 13-13-0-0, while the Warriors now are 15-10-1-1 and have lost four in a row. . . . Moose Jaw F Jason Bast, who had surgery this week to repair a broken bone in his face, is back skating but didn’t play. He isn’t expected to play Saturday in Edmonton.
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In Saskatoon, F Derek Hulak, the first shooter in the fifth round of the shootout, scored to give the Blades a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge led 2-0 on a PP goal from F Carter Ashton, at 8:40 of the first, and a shorthanded goal by F Craig Orfino, at 6:17 of the second. . . . Saskatoon got PP goals from F Jeremy Boyer, at 7:24 of the second, and F Walker Wintoneak, at 7:31 of the third. . . . Saskatoon (20-3-0-3) became the first team to 20 victories, with the Calgary Hitmen and Tri-City Americans both losing to remain at 19. . . . Saskatoon has won five in a row and is 11-1-0-0 at home. . . . The Hurricanes (8-14-3-1) have lost five straight. . . . Attendance was 4,170.
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In Kennewick, Wash., G James Reid stopped 41 shots to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 victory over the host Tri-City Americans. . . . The Chiefs (15-8-2-0) have won nine of their last 12. . . . The Chiefs (15-8-2-0) and Americans (19-7-0-0) have evenly split four games this season. They’ll meet eight more times. . . . The Chiefs got off to a great start when F Tyler Johnson scored shorthanded at 3:09 of the first period. . . . Tri-City G Drew Owsley stopped a career-high 43 shots. . . . Tri-City had a 20-5 edge in third-period shots. . . . Reid lost his shutout bid when F Brendan Shinnimin scored on the PP at 13:57 of the third period. . . . Reid has not allowed more than one goal in eight of his last 10 starts. . . . Spokane was 1-for-7 on the PP; Tri-City was 1-for-9. . . . Attendance was 5,265, the largest crowd of the season in the Toyota Centre.
Blazers cough one up to Ice
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Kamloops Blazers reach into their bag of tricks and — PRESTO! — they show you something new.
Like Friday night, when they coughed up a hair ball bigger than a puddy tat and dropped a 6-5 shootout decision to the Kootenay Ice in a WHL game played before 4,610 mostly disbelieving fans at Interior Savings Centre.
The loser point left the Blazers (11-13-2-2) with 26 points and in sole possession of the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. They are two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds and one behind the Kelowna Rockets and Chilliwack Bruins. The Blazers are in Chilliwack tonight.
Last night, the Blazers took a 4-0 lead into the third period and looked as calm, cool and collected as George Clooney on a red carpet.
But the Ice (12-13-1-1), which had given up three power-play goals in falling behind 4-0 by 3:55 of the second period, wouldn’t go away.
“All I said was, ‘If we get one early, who knows?’ ” offered Ice head coach Mark Holick. “You get one and then all of a sudden you get another one.”
And another one and another one and another one . . .
And when left-winger Jesse Ismond, with three goals this season, scores in the shootout, you get the victory.
Guy Charron, who signed on Monday as the Blazers’ fifth head coach in 106 weeks, got a bird’s-eye view of what has ailed his club.
The Blazers are easily the WHL’s most-penalized team and their overworked penalty killers are ranked 21st of 22 teams.
“We have to avoid putting ourselves in that kind of predicament,” Charron said. “We scored on our power play, they scored on their power play. Unfortunately, they scored to give them momentum.”
The Ice finished up 4-for-8 with the man advantage, while the Blazers were 3-for-7.
Brendan Ranford, with two, C.J. Stretch and Ryan Funk, who was acquired Monday from the Vancouver Giants, scored to give the Blazers a fat 4-0 lead before the game was 24 minutes old.
However, Ice captain Dustin Sylvester, who is not related to the puddy tat, scored on a power play just 31 seconds into the third period and the visitors were rolling.
Steele Boomer, Brayden McNabb and Sylvester, again, scored three more PP goals and the Ice had the score tied at 11:42.
When right-winger Joe Antilla scored at 16:17, it looked as though the Ice was going to steal away with this one.
However, Kamloops captain Tyler Shattock took a nifty pass from centre Dalibor Bortnak and beat goaltender Todd Mathews with 11.8 seconds left on the clock to force overtime.
In the shootout, the Blazers got a goal from Shayne Wiebe, but the Ice got goals from Sylvester and Isfeld and took the two points.
“I thought we lost a lot of battles,” Charron said after his squad was outshot 47-28. “They basically just threw the puck at the net. We know the area we have to be better . . . defensively . . . but it comes down to winning the battles one-on-one.”
The new head coach also took time to let his players know that there isn’t a whole lot of time for this learning process to take hold.
“I don’t know about patience,” he said. “We’re at the stage of the season . . . you can’t go into the third period and give up four goals. Certainly, there were four power-play goals, but there has to be better discipline.
“These guys are going to have to catch on a little bit quicker.”
“We were really good for two periods,” Shattock said, “but obviously two periods isn’t enough in this league. Discipline was an issue again.”
Goaltender Kurtis Mucha, who was acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, was fine in his Blazers debut. He stopped 42 shots but then, as Shattock said, “We kind of left him high and dry in the third period.”
Mathews, who had started the Ice’s previous 12 games, turned aside 19 of 21 shots after coming in for Nathan Lieuwen following the Blazers’ third goal.
Lieuwen, who has been trying to come back from a neck strain that was causing headaches, stopped four of seven shots in his first start since Oct. 23.
JUST NOTES: Referees Jeff Ingram and Graham Skilliter gave the Blazers 15 of 28 minors and two of four majors. The Ice took the lone misconduct. . . . The Ice lost D Ryan Molle to a suspected concussion midway through the first period when he was drilled by teammate Hayden Rintoul, who was trying to hit a darting JC Lipon. Molle will sit out the Ice’s game tonight in Kelowna against the Rockets. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Sylvester — wouldn’t let his guys quit; 2. Shattock — good night capped by big goal to force OT; 3. McNabb — leads the Ice from the back end. . . . Kamloops D Bronson Maschmeyer drew four assists, three of them on the PP.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Daily News Sports Editor
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Kamloops Blazers reach into their bag of tricks and — PRESTO! — they show you something new.
Like Friday night, when they coughed up a hair ball bigger than a puddy tat and dropped a 6-5 shootout decision to the Kootenay Ice in a WHL game played before 4,610 mostly disbelieving fans at Interior Savings Centre.
The loser point left the Blazers (11-13-2-2) with 26 points and in sole possession of the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. They are two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds and one behind the Kelowna Rockets and Chilliwack Bruins. The Blazers are in Chilliwack tonight.
Last night, the Blazers took a 4-0 lead into the third period and looked as calm, cool and collected as George Clooney on a red carpet.
But the Ice (12-13-1-1), which had given up three power-play goals in falling behind 4-0 by 3:55 of the second period, wouldn’t go away.
“All I said was, ‘If we get one early, who knows?’ ” offered Ice head coach Mark Holick. “You get one and then all of a sudden you get another one.”
And another one and another one and another one . . .
And when left-winger Jesse Ismond, with three goals this season, scores in the shootout, you get the victory.
Guy Charron, who signed on Monday as the Blazers’ fifth head coach in 106 weeks, got a bird’s-eye view of what has ailed his club.
The Blazers are easily the WHL’s most-penalized team and their overworked penalty killers are ranked 21st of 22 teams.
“We have to avoid putting ourselves in that kind of predicament,” Charron said. “We scored on our power play, they scored on their power play. Unfortunately, they scored to give them momentum.”
The Ice finished up 4-for-8 with the man advantage, while the Blazers were 3-for-7.
Brendan Ranford, with two, C.J. Stretch and Ryan Funk, who was acquired Monday from the Vancouver Giants, scored to give the Blazers a fat 4-0 lead before the game was 24 minutes old.
However, Ice captain Dustin Sylvester, who is not related to the puddy tat, scored on a power play just 31 seconds into the third period and the visitors were rolling.
Steele Boomer, Brayden McNabb and Sylvester, again, scored three more PP goals and the Ice had the score tied at 11:42.
When right-winger Joe Antilla scored at 16:17, it looked as though the Ice was going to steal away with this one.
However, Kamloops captain Tyler Shattock took a nifty pass from centre Dalibor Bortnak and beat goaltender Todd Mathews with 11.8 seconds left on the clock to force overtime.
In the shootout, the Blazers got a goal from Shayne Wiebe, but the Ice got goals from Sylvester and Isfeld and took the two points.
“I thought we lost a lot of battles,” Charron said after his squad was outshot 47-28. “They basically just threw the puck at the net. We know the area we have to be better . . . defensively . . . but it comes down to winning the battles one-on-one.”
The new head coach also took time to let his players know that there isn’t a whole lot of time for this learning process to take hold.
“I don’t know about patience,” he said. “We’re at the stage of the season . . . you can’t go into the third period and give up four goals. Certainly, there were four power-play goals, but there has to be better discipline.
“These guys are going to have to catch on a little bit quicker.”
“We were really good for two periods,” Shattock said, “but obviously two periods isn’t enough in this league. Discipline was an issue again.”
Goaltender Kurtis Mucha, who was acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, was fine in his Blazers debut. He stopped 42 shots but then, as Shattock said, “We kind of left him high and dry in the third period.”
Mathews, who had started the Ice’s previous 12 games, turned aside 19 of 21 shots after coming in for Nathan Lieuwen following the Blazers’ third goal.
Lieuwen, who has been trying to come back from a neck strain that was causing headaches, stopped four of seven shots in his first start since Oct. 23.
JUST NOTES: Referees Jeff Ingram and Graham Skilliter gave the Blazers 15 of 28 minors and two of four majors. The Ice took the lone misconduct. . . . The Ice lost D Ryan Molle to a suspected concussion midway through the first period when he was drilled by teammate Hayden Rintoul, who was trying to hit a darting JC Lipon. Molle will sit out the Ice’s game tonight in Kelowna against the Rockets. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Sylvester — wouldn’t let his guys quit; 2. Shattock — good night capped by big goal to force OT; 3. McNabb — leads the Ice from the back end. . . . Kamloops D Bronson Maschmeyer drew four assists, three of them on the PP.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Friday, November 27, 2009
Schenn update
C Brayden Schenn has made it from Vancouver to Brandon and will play for the Wheat Kings tonight against the visiting Swift Current Broncos. The Los Angeles Kings, who selected Schenn with the fifth pick in the 2009 NHL draft, signed him to an amateur tryout contract and he made his NHL debut in a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Schenn, who wore No. 55, played 12 minutes 31 seconds and finished minus-1.
Hamilton update
F Curtis Hamilton of the Saskatoon Blades will be out for up to six weeks after suffering what I'm told is a cracked collarbone during Team WHL's 4-2 victory over that touring Russian team in Kelowna. Hamilton, who is in his draft year, was injured about six minutes into the second period when he appeared to lose an edge and slid hard into the boards to his left of the Russian net.
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