Doug Soetaert was fired Thursday as the Everett Silvertips' general manager.
(Photo from the Silvertips' website)

The Everett Silvertips played their first WHL season in 2003-04.
They finished atop the U.S. Division, going 35-27-8-2 (the 8 being ties) and, incredibly enough, getting all the way to the WHL’s championship final where they lost to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Silvertips were in their first season in the WHL; the Tigers were in their 34th. In the previous 10 seasons, the Tigers had, in order, been bounced in the first round four times, missed the playoffs five times and lost in the second round once.
I bring this up because the Silvertips fired general manager Doug Soetaert on Thursday.
Soetaert, 55, was named the Silvertips’ vice-president and GM on April 16, 2002, a position he filled until May 16, 2005, when he left to work as the GM of an AHL franchise in Omaha that was hooked up with the NHL’s Calgary Flames. He stayed there one season, then returned to Everett.
Soetaert, a former WHL goaltender, built a franchise that won three U.S. Division titles and a Western Conference championship in its formative years. The Silvertips also finished atop the WHL’s overall standings in 2006-07, when they went 54-15-3.
Two seasons ago, Everett went 46-21-5 and finished in a tie with the Tri-City Americans for top spot in the U.S. Division and the Western Conference. The Americans, however, won one more game (47-46) than did Everett, so was awarded the pennant.
The last two seasons, however, haven’t been as kind to Everett. It was 28-33-11 last season, after which head coach Craig Hartsburg left to join the Flames’ coaching staff. You may recall, too, that the season was disrupted somewhat when Hartsburg left the team to undergo a heart procedure.
This season, under head coach Mark Ferner, the Silvertips are 12-30-9 and may well miss the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s history.
Prior to this season, Soetaert admitted that he was beginning a full-scale rebuild. This wasn’t a reload. This would be a complete rebuild.
Soetaert now won’t be around to see his plan to fruition.
“Doug's contract was expiring this year, and we've been spending months evaluating our direction," Silvertips president Gary Gelinas told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald. "We made the decision not to renew his contract. We decided to make the decision sooner rather than later so we could find the right individual to bring in and lead the organization.”
Gelinas also told Patterson that no other changes are expected for the time being.
The Silvertips are owned by Bill Yuill, who sold the Seattle Thunderbirds in order to purchase the expansion franchise for Everett. Gelinas is the franchise’s president and governor.
Firing Soetaert at this particular point in time is a risky proposition and, on the face of it, doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.
Soetaert has more than proven himself in this league and, one might have thought, had earned a chance to right the ship.
You also have to wonder how secure Ferner is feeling this morning. He left a situation with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers in which he could have stayed indefinitely. Under Ferner, the Vipers had made three straight trips to the RBC Cup, the national junior A championship tournament, winning two of them.
With Soetaert gone, assistant GM Zoran Rajcic and Ferner will handle those duties.
Now, with a new GM to come in sometime in the next few months, you have to wonder just how safe the coaching staff will be once this season ends.
As one WHL team official told me last night: “It’s a (crappy) game sometimes.”
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There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.
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ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
Why only allow players to have until Dec. 31 of the completion of their 21-year-old season to play professional and then force them to make a decision about pro vs. school? Why not give them a full season or two . . . or five? Also, how much is currently in the WHL education fund and how much gets used?
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JUST NOTES: D Corbin Baldwin of the Spokane Chiefs has drawn a two-game suspension after taking a major and game misconduct for a check to the head in a 4-1 loss to the Blazers in Kamloops on Wednesday night. With the score tied 1-1 in the third period, Baldwin laid out Kamloops F Dylan Willick with an elbow to the head. . . . I would love to show that video to OHL commissioner David Branch and ask him what a check like that would be worth in the OHL. . . . Baldwin won’t play against the visiting Victoria Royals tonight or against the host Kootenay Ice on Saturday. . . .
Rose Mary Hartney and Greg (Spike) Wallace are the recipients of the WHL Distinguished Service Award for this season. Hartney, who has worked at Vanier Collegiate in Moose Jaw for 38 years, has been a long-time education advisor to the Warriors. Wallace has been around the WHL for a long while, first in Victoria and now Kamloops. He joined the Blazers as their trainer/equipment manager in 1984 and now is their community and sponsorship co-ordinator. . . .
The Vancouver Giants will wear special sweaters tonight for a game against the visiting Kamloops Blazers. Zip on over to the Giants’ website for a look at the sweaters that will honour Gordie Howe.
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Patrick Roy, the GM and head coach of the Quebec Remparts, has been fined again. This time he’ll pay $5,000 for comments he made concerning Gilles Courteau, the league’s commissioner. That story is right here.
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Writers from The Associated Press have spent the last two months interviewing ex-NFL players about concussions.
Here is how the story, written by Howard Fendrich, Martha Irvine, and Nancy Armour begins:
The helmet-to-helmet shot knocked Tony Dorsett out cold in the second quarter of a 1984 Cowboys-Eagles game, the hardest hit he ever took during his Hall of Fame NFL career.
“It was like a freight train hitting a Volkswagen,” Dorsett says now.
“Did they know it was a concussion?” he asks rhetorically during an interview with The Associated Press. “They thought I was half-dead.”
This is a lengthy and frightening story. It is right here.
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The Globe and Mail has decried fighting in junior hockey. In a crisp, four-paragraph editorial headlined ‘The game’s dark side,’ the newspaper notes that “there is no earthly reason to put teenagers’ brains through a meat grinder to keep purists happy.”
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Barry Peterson, a former player and coach with the Portland Winterhawks, will be inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame tonight prior to a game against the visiting Everett Silvertips. Jim Beseda of the Oregonian checked in with Peterson, who has been battling Parkinson’s disease. And the picture with the story tells it all — a smile on his face and a golf club in his left hand. That story is right here.


 

RIP Angelo Dundee
Aug. 30, 1921 — Feb. 1, 2012

The sports world has lost a man who shaped the career of some of the boxing’s greatest fighters. Angelo Dundee, trainer and corner man for Muhammad Ali when he was still Cassius Clay, died Wednesday in Clearwater, Fla. According to his son Jim, Dundee had been admitted to a Clearwater-area hospital after suffering a blood clot following a trip to Louisville to celebrate Ali's 70th birthday two weeks ago. After spending a few days in the hospital, Dundee was transferred to a rehabilitation centre, where he died.
Best known for his work with Muhammad Ali (1960-1981), he also worked with 15 other world boxing champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, José Nápoles, George Foreman, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio, Luis Rodriguez and Willie Pastrano.
Jim Murray wrote about Dundee exactly 45 years ago, on Feb 5, 1967. 

FEBRUARY 5, 1967, SPORTS
Copyright 1967/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

 Angelo Dundee: The Man Cassius Can't Do Without

    HOUSTON — This is the way a fighter is supposed to be. He's supposed to like whiskey and women and a cabaret with a lot of leggy dames and loud horns. His manager is the one with the cigars and the white tie and the diamonds gleaming on his fat fingers like mirrors in a honky-tonk carnival, and he gets his picture in the paper coming out of the house in Appalachia with his coat over his head.
    But this is the heavyweight champion of the world, a disturbed and disturbing young man who comes at you with a theology that's right out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His manager is the son of the pontiff of this new religion, a fat little fellow who looks as harmless as Hermann Goering. And this kid spends his Sundays in a Mosque, but in the ring now, he's more like a kid on a playground. He's taunting the Canadian bully-boy George Chuvalo, and you have to hit yourself on the side of the head because what you're hearing is dialogue right out of a schoolyard rumble or even, "My father can lick your father."
    He goes through like the eye of a hurricane. Society doesn't know whether to get a net over him or elect him President. He licks Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson and the U.S. Army with equal skill and enthusiasm, the unlikeliest-looking villain since Lizzie Borden.
    But fighting is, after all, a science — a sordid science, if you will — and the admixture of witchcraft, demonology, and camel caravans would not be feasible without first learning the left jab.
    This is why the champ's first words on awakening at 5 a.m. every day in an alien city are invariably, "Where's Ange?" And the eyes dart around the room in some panic, looking for the one Caucasian face in the omelet of reverends, photographers, rubdown men, sparring partners, and the shaven-head goons who call themselves "The fruit of Islam."
    Angelo Dundee, nee Mirena, is an island of sanity in a sea of lunacy. This is the man who patched five cuts in one round for Carmen Basillio once. This is the man who taught Luis Rodriguez to slip the jab, to counter with the right.
    The name is a legacy from an older brother who tried the prize ring as a middleweight in the days when Italian pugs were borrowing their names from Dundee, Scotland — an easier age when it was possible to call somebody in the ring "The Scotch Wop."
    Angie Dundee is a pleasant little man with eyes like large, brown poached eggs, which give him the perpetual clownish expression of a guy who has just been hit over the head with a high heel.
    There were nine brothers and sisters in the large family that began in Calabria, Italy, and moved to South Philly, where papa was a track walker for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and ran his home with love but patriarchal tyranny. In the Mirena home, Father Knew Best, and he never read Dr. Spock.
    That would be Angelo Sr. Angelo Jr. went off to war, signing, in 1942. Along with the rest of the Dundee boys. He dropped parachutists in Holland, and repaired the gliders in England later.
    Brother Joe lost a promising career in the club arenas when he came home with a shiner one night, and papa gave him a matched set. Fighting was for lowlifes, it was explained.
    But there wasn't much money in track-walking either, and Brother Chris had a stable of fighters in 1946 when Angelo came out of service. When I tell you the best one was a nobody named "Norment Quarles," you have a pretty good line on the rest.
    But Brother Angie learned to wrap fists, and why you wrap tape around water bottles (so they won't turn to shards in the ring by dropping them in hectic seconds between rounds) and how to slit a cut-eye mouse with a razor so the fighter can see to fight.
    It was in 1961 that a superb young physical specimen from Louisville first hand-picked Angie for a trainer. That was before Cassius Marcellus Clay considered white skin a criminal offense, and he knew every fighter whose hands Angie had ever wrapped. And he knew he wanted him. In fact, needed him.
    There were those who since have thought it would be like a Jew in the Nazis' cabinet, but Angie has been as slick in dodging outside the ring as Cassius has been in it.
    Angie learned his business in the days when you had to bribe the matchmakers to get bouts. He became adept at instilling confidence in his waning fighter at the precise psychological instant. It was Angie Dundee who knew what to say when Cassius Clay, dismayed, disheartened, came to his corner in the Liston fight and said, "Cut the gloves off, I've had it!" It was Angie Dundee, then on the payroll at a piddling $125-a-week, who said, "Not in the heavyweight championship of the world. We don't cut the gloves off as long as you are conscious enough to know it." And he pushed him out to the championship.
    Angie has never had to fix a cut for Cassius Clay. But he will know how when the time comes. He is worth at least as much to Clay as his left hook. Angie had been his manager, and then was demoted again when Clay kicked his Louisville sponsoring group out, and substituted his own private Vatican.
    "It's the greatest honor in the world to be the trainer of the heavyweight champion of the world," Angie says soberly. "It is a great thrill to have a great fighter. It is a small price just to have to call him 'Muhammad'." Angie is the only man in the world who can tell jokes to the champion with six-letter words in them to describe Americans of African descent, because Clay knows Angie Dundee is as without prejudice as the statue of Lincoln.
    On matters of faith and morals, Clay listens to the guys with the pearl fezzes. On matters pugilistic, he would shush Elijah himself to hear what Angie was saying. Of course, there are a great many people who fervently hope that Angie will just do as he is told if he ever hears the command from Clay again to "Cut the gloves off."

*Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 995 | La Quinta | CA | 92247

Gordie Howe's latest battle taken public

Gordie Howe and his son, Marty, spent about 20 minutes with a few members of the Kamloops media on Wednesday afternoon.
The Howes were in Kamloops for a promotion involving the Blazers, who were playing the Spokane Chiefs that evening.
The Howes then had to be in Vancouver for a Thursday promotion and another WHL game on Friday, with the Blazers meeting the Vancouver Giants.
It was obvious from the outset that Gordie, who will turn 84 on March 31, has grown old. However, none of us who were in attendance were aware that Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press had been in conversation with the Howe family and had prepared a story on Gordie and the onset of dementia. That story hit the Internet Thursday morning.
It describes the Gordie Howe we visited with in Kamloops.
Were this 20 years ago, it would be a simple case of Gordie having grown old, just like your favourite uncle, the one who always smells so good and who always has that hug for you but has grown forgetful. These days, however, that isn’t enough. We have to find a particular label to slap on someone who is forgetful, whose mind wanders, who has problems maintaining a thought.
Hey, Gordie still told some entertaining stories; it’s just that they may not have had a whole lot to do with the question he was asked. There also were times when he started to answer a question only to have his mind wander off in a different direction.
But he had that familiar glint in his eyes when he talked about the reputation he earned during his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings.
“If somebody spears you, you know you’ll get a heavier stick,” he said, and you wondered if the look in his eyes was the one he carried around on the ice with him.
The Howe family obviously has a full understanding of what is happening (Murray, the youngest son, is a doctor who helped care for his mother, Colleen, after she was afflicted with Pick’s disease), which is why Marty, one of his four children, accompanies Gordie everywhere. Oftentimes, Marty will complete an answer that is started by Gordie.
I can tell you, though, that Gordie hasn’t lost his sense of humour.
He walked into the boardroom in the Blazers’ office wearing a Blazers sweater with No. 1 on the back. Obviously made for an equipment-wearing goaltender, it was rather large on him.
“You work like hell to lose some weight and look at this,” a smiling and chuckling Howe said as he pulled the sweater out at the waist to show just how large it was.
Later, when asked about a handsome ring he was wearing, he responded: “It’s mine.”
It was hard not to watch Howe for those 20 minutes and think about how Mr. Hockey has gotten old, just like so many people before us. He is at a point on the road to where we all are headed.
Some of us will get there; some of us won’t. Those of us who do can only hope to have lived a life as full and as honourable as has Gordie Howe.
In the meantime, should you be fortunate enough to come in contact with Gordie, enjoy him. He is a national – nay, international – treasure.
Donna Spencer’s story is right here.

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Ondrej Fiala (Everett, Saskatoon, 2005-08) was recalled from loan to Kadan (Czech Republic, 1.Liga) by Pirati Chomutov (Czech Republic, 1.Liga). He has two goals and two assists in 15 games for Chomutov this season. While on loan to Kadan, Fiala had 13 goals and 10 assists in 23 games. . . .
F Martin Stepan (Calgary, 2007-08) was recalled from loan by Skalica (Slovakia, Extraliga) from Povazska Bystrica (Slovakia, 1.Liga) and loaned to Hodonin (Czech Republic, 2.Liga). He had no points in nine games with Skalica and five goals and 10 assists in 16 games with Povazska Bystrica. . . .
F Adrian Foster (Saskatoon, Brandon, 1999-2002) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (Germany, DEL). Foster had three goals and one assist in eight games with the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL) this season.
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ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
A couple of questions from readers of this blog . . .
1. Why does the league allow for the one-man reffing crew on nights when it is divisional rivals? Shouldn't those games be the closest watched by the officials?
2. Why don't the backup goaltenders wear helmets on the benches? Aren't we in a hockey world obsessed with head injuries? Didn't Tyler Bunz's injury at the Subway Super Series push this along?
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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:
In Prince Albert, the Raiders opened up a 3-0 lead early in the second period and went on to a 4-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . F Anthony Bardaro scored twice and added an assist for the Raiders. He’s got 24 goals. . . . Regina F Jordan Weal was held pointless as he was stopped on two breakaways. He had his point streak snapped at 13 games. . . . Prince Albert G Cole Holowenko turned aside 40 shots. . . . The Raiders have won three in a row gut are 14 points out of a playoff spot. . . . Regina has lost three straight and six of its last seven outings. The Pats are seventh in the Eastern Conference, four points behind the Kootenay Ice and five ahead of the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . .

In Swift Current, D Richard Nedomlel scored twice and added an assist to help the Broncos to a 6-4 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Nedomlel has six goals. He also has 30 points in 52 games; last season he finished with 10 points, all assists, in 66 games. . . . He broke a 3-3 tie at 7:31 of the third period with an unassisted PP goal. He then broke a 4-4 tie at 9:34 with another unassited goal. . . . Lethbridge F Juraj Bezuch had pulled his side into a 4-4 tie at 7:51 with his fifth of the season. . . . Swift Current G Jon Groenheyde, who stopped 34 shots, apparently attempted a shot at an empty Lethbridge net late in the third period but had it blocked. . . . The Hurricanes had D Ryan Pilon, a first-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft, in their lineup last night. . . . They also have G Jonny Hogue with them on this trip. Hogue, an eighth-round pick in the 2011 draft, is playing midget AAA in Lethbridge. He backed up Liam Liston last night. . . . The Broncos are eight points out of a playoff spot. . . .

In Victoria, F Ben Walker scored two goals and set up another as the Royals dumped the Prince George Cougars, 5-1. . . . The Cougars had beaten the Royals 4-2 on Tuesday. . . . F Chase Witala gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead at 3:45 of the first period last night. . . . Walker scored twice to give his side a 2-1 lead. . . . Witala has three goals; Walker has six. . . . F Brandon Magee drew an assist on each of Victoria’s first three goals. . . . The Royals moved into seventh in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Cougars are four points behind Seattle, with the Everett Silvertips a point behind Prince George. . . .

In Kamloops, the Blazers scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 4-1. . . . Referees Steve Papp and Matt Thurston called the game at 19:53 of the third period after having dealt with three fights in the last minute of play. . . . The first started after Spokane F Darren Kramer skated through the Kamloops crease and made contact with G Cole Cheveldave. Kamloops D Tyler Hansen scrapped with Kramer for the second time this season. . . . Then, with seven seconds left, Spokane’s Dylan Walchuk and Dominik Uher fought with Kamloops’ Aspen Sterzer and Chase Schaber. . . . The Chiefs ended up with 59 of 109 penalty minutes. . . . Kamoops was 1-for-7 on the PP; the Chiefs were 0-for-1. . . . This game was 1-1 when Spokane D Corbin Baldwin was given a major and game misconduct for a headshot on Kamloops F Dylan Willick. Kamloops F Matt Needham picked up an instigator penalty for the ensuing scrap, so the teams played 4-on-4. The Blazers promptly scored twice, with F Brandon Herrod and F Brendan Ranford getting the goals. D Austin Madaisky then scored on a 5-on-3. . . . The victory allowed the Blazers to take a four-point lead atop the overall standings, over the idle Tri-City Americans and Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Herrod’s goal was his 250th career point.
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WEDNESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Troy Bourke, Prince George.
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TWEET OF THE NIGHT:
Ed Willes, a sports columnist with the Vancouver Province, tweeted this from the Top Prospects Game in Kelowna: “Love the music here. Let's see. They've played Black Betty, My Sharona, Raise a Little Hell. It's a time portal and this is 1983.”
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Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports was in Kelowna and filed a piece on F Branden Troock of the Seattle Thunderbirds, who has had more than his share of medical problems but still was able to score the winning goal in the Top Prospects Game. That story is right here.

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Mr. Hockey remains larger than life

Gordie Howe chats with the media in Kamloops on Wednesday.
(Photo by Keith Anderson / Kamloops Daily News)

More than 30 years have passed since Gordie Howe played his last competitive hockey game.
It was a playoff game with the NHL’s Hartford Whalers in the spring of 1980.
All these years later, Mr. Hockey remains larger than life.
To a certain segment of our population, having Gordie Howe walk among them is like rubbing shoulders with Captain America or Sgt. Rock. There was a time when Howe was as mythical as any of those comic book characters.
Believe it or not, hockey didn’t use to be on TV every night. Back in the day, Hockey Night in Canada meant one game on a Saturday night. For a while, there also was a Wednesday night game on CTV but that didn’t have near the cachet of Foster Hewitt and Saturday night.
If you wanted hockey news, you subscribed to The Hockey News, and who cared that it always was a week or two after the fact.
Gordie Howe, who will turn 84 on March 31, was a true icon.
You knew Mr. Hockey was an icon because your elbow and shoulder pads came out of the Eaton’s catalogue. Why? Because those were the ones Gordie Howe wore in the pictures in that same catalogue.
Mr. Hockey, sans elbow pads, was at Interior Savings Centre on Wednesday. He met with the media for a bit of a gabfest in the afternoon and later, with the Kamloops Blazers playing the Spokane Chiefs, rubbed shoulders with folks, signed some things and threw the odd elbow. Hey, old habits and all that.
Howe always will be remembered as the greatest of all the Detroit Red Wings. Never mind that he later played for the World Hockey Association’s Houston Aeros and New England Whalers, before finishing up with the NHL’s Whalers at the age of 52.
With the Red Wings, Howe played on the Production Line, alongside Sid Abel, ol’ Bootnose, and Ted Lindsay, who was Scarface long before Al Pacino. Later, Alex Delvecchio, who was affectionately known as Fats, replaced Abel. In time, Frank Mahovlich, the Big M, took over from Lindsay.
And then, on Jan. 13, 1971, the Red Wings traded Mahovlich to the Montreal Canadiens for forwards Mickey Redmond, Bill Collins and Guy Charron.
Charron, today the Blazers’ head coach, had split the season between the Canadiens and their AHL affiliate, the Montreal Voyageurs.
When Detroit head coach Doug Barkley called, Charron expected he would be told to report to the Red Wings’ Central league affiliate, the Fort Worth Wings.
“He said, ‘No, you’re going to play with Howe and Delvecchio tomorrow night,’ ” Charron recalls. “I think I might have choked on the phone.”
Charron made his Detroit debut in a 2-2 tie with the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I travelled on game day and played with Howe and Delvecchio that night,” Charron says. “I’ll never forget it.
“Alex set me up with a breakaway . . . and I hit the goal post.”
Charron remembers sitting in Detroit’s locker-room before the game.
“I’m basically a rookie and I’m minding my own business, a French-Canadian boy,” Charron recalls. “Gordie came up and both him and Alex said, ‘You know, don’t worry about it. You’re going to play with us. Just do your thing and we’ll adapt to you.’ ”
Charron, who was 10 days from his 21st birthday, was dumbstruck. Jean, his older brother by 18 years, was thrilled. Howe always had been his favourite player. Guy, a 5-foot-10 left winger, preferred Dick Duff, who was about his size and played the same position for the beloved Canadiens in the late-1960s.
Later, the Red Wings were playing the Bruins in Boston.
“I’m a gung-ho 21-year-old kid,” Charron says with a chuckle. “We’re in Boston and Gordie’s in a corner. I had heard of his reputation but you’re going to try to go in and help out.
“We came back to the bench and he said, ‘Guy, when I’m in the corner, don’t worry about coming in. Just be in position to get the puck.’ ”
Charron pauses. Then he laughs.
“I always tell people that’s why I never went in the corners,” he says. “Gordie Howe told me not to.”
Even today, there is reverence in Charron’s voice when he talks of Howe.
“He was always an awesome man,” Charron says. “He’s a very special man.”
In retirement, Howe has proved to be everything we hope our heroes will be. He also turned out to be mortal, just like the rest of us, although most of us can only hope to carry ourselves with such grace in our golden years.
For so many years, his wife, Colleen, had stood by her man and dictated the terms by which others could share him. Then, when Colleen was struck by Pick’s disease, a horrible affliction with similarities to Alzheimer’s, Howe stood by her, all but refusing to leave her side as he cared for her.
Colleen was 76 when she died on March 6, 2009, leading to what surely has been the three toughest years of Howe’s life.
Now he spends time with his four children — daughter Cathy and sons Murray, Mark and Marty — and their families. He tried going it alone but the home he and Colleen had shared for so long is too empty without her.
The last while, he has been with Marty in Hartford. Marty now looks after his father’s bookings and travel arrangements. Marty is always at his father’s side, too. Gordie’s voice now is as quiet as a skate blade cutting through butter. These days, it’s hard to picture Gordie as an NHLer who, according to Marty, lived by the Golden Rule: “Do unto others before they do unto you.”
“If I was hit, I was going to hit back,” Gordie says and, just for a moment, that steely-eyed look flashes across his visage. Then he chuckles.
Gordie is at an age where thoughts oftentimes are fleeting, so Marty is there to help. When Gordie’s mind wanders, Marty, who’ll be 58 on Feb. 18, often finishes the thought.
They’ll be in Vancouver today — the Red Wings play the Canucks there tonight and there is some promotional work to do with Baycrest, a firm that deals with “innovations in aging and brain health.” On Friday, Gordie will be honoured at a game between the Blazers and Vancouver Giants. He and Giants majority owner Ron Toigo are friends.
While his four children share him, he continues to share himself with his game and his fans, as he was doing last night at Interior Savings Centre.
As you watch him, you realize that in the twilight of his life, the arena is his home, hockey people are his friends. You realize that this is where he is most comfortable, that he needs the people now the way the people once needed him.
We only hope that we can give back to him what he once gave to us.

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)

Blazers take out Chiefs

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Somehow it was only fitting that with Gordie Howe in the building, an elbow would play a prominent role in Wednesday night’s WHL game at Interior Savings Centre.
This game changed when an elbow belonging to Spokane Chiefs defenceman Corbin Baldwin came into contact with the head on the shoulders of Kamloops Blazers forward Dylan Willick at 13:17 of the third period.
Less than four minutes later, the Blazers held a 4-1 lead — that would be the final score — and Spokane had eaten its first regulation-time loss in eight games (6-1-1).
The victory allowed the Blazers (36-11-4) to stretch their lead atop the overall standings to four points over the idle Tri-City Americans (35-12-2) and Edmonton Oil Kings (33-12-6).
Kamloops will play the Giants in Vancouver on Friday night, then travel to Kent, Wash., for a Saturday night date with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
After Baldwin’s elbow levelled Willick, the 6-foot-5 defender was set upon by Kamloops centre Matt Needham, the 5-foot-10 freshman who had scored the home side’s first goal going at his opponent like a bantam rooster.
Just 32 seconds after Baldwin exited — he had been Spokane’s best player — Kamloops centre Brandon Herrod, back after six games on the shelf with a knee injury, beat goaltender Mac Engel through the legs from the left side and the home boys were on their way.
Winger Brendan Ranford, who had been stoned by Engel on at least four clear-cut scoring chances to that point, added insurance just 53 seconds later. Both those goals came with the teams playing 4-on-4, and defenceman Austin Madaisky added a power-play score at 17:05, Spokane’s discipline having disappeared somewhere in the middle of the Blazers’ offensive outburst.
The Chiefs got their goal in the second period from centre Dominik Uher, who was coming off a four-goal night Tuesday in a 5-3 victory over the host Thunderbirds.
Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave finished up with 20 saves, but wasn’t nearly as busy as Engel, who faced 30 shots and saw a lot of traffic as the Blazers skated hard all game.
Obviously, Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, who deals with disciplinary matters, will be talking with Baldwin, who almost certainly will be suspended for a game or three.
It also will be interesting to see how the WHL office deals with the fact that the game wasn’t played to a conclusion.
With there having been three fights in the last minute, and a near line brawl with seven seconds remaining, referees Steve Papp and Matt Thurston chose to let the clock run out without dropping the puck.
The fun began with one minute left in the third period when Spokane forward Darren Kramer, who led the WHL with 46 fights last season and has a WHL-high 20 this season, skated through the Kamloops crease and bumped goaltender Cole Cheveldave.
Blazers defenceman Tyler Hansen promptly danced with Kramer. Hansen has had four bouts this season, two with Kramer. Last season, Hansen had three fights, one of them with Kramer.
With that cleaned up, play resumed and, with seven seconds left, things got ugly in the corner to the right of Engel.
There only were two fights — involving Uher and teammate Dylan Walchuk and the Blazers’ Chase Schaber and Aspen Sterzer — but the officials, obviously concerned with what might follow, chose to bring a premature end to the game.
And that’s not something that happens every day. It used to be a sometime occurrence, but hasn’t been since the days of bench-clearing brawls were brought to an end.
JUST NOTES: Attendance was 4,253. . . . Ranford missed the early portion of the third period as he was getting his left ankle taped behind the Blazers’ bench. . . . Kamloops F J.C. Lipon left after two periods with an upper-body injury. . . . Blazers F Ryan Hanes returned after a 15-game absence with a concussion. He skated in F Tim Bozon’s place, alongside Lipon and Colin Smith for two periods. Lipon’s departure meant some scrambled lines in the third period. . . . Bozon was in Kelowna at the Top Prospects Game. . . . Kamloops had won the first two games of the season series, 6-4 here on Oct. 7 and 2-1 there on Nov. 18. They will play again in Spokane on March 14. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Needham: Played big against a tough team; 2. D Marek Hrbas, Kamloops: Outstanding; 3. Baldwin: A horse back there until his departure.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
The international transfer deadline passed as the month changed from January to February, thus the flurry of activity over the last couple of days. There was one other move that apparently was made right before the deadline . . .
F Brad Schell (Spokane, 1999-2004), released earlier Tuesday by Dornbirn (Austria, Nationalliga), signed a contract for the rest of this season with Graz 99ers (Austria, Erste Bank Liga).
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ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
What are the actual payable education amounts? Along with the 'fine print' — could the WHL publish a standard education contract online for transparency? And could the WHL provide online a FAQ for parents/players?
———
Fans of the Swift Current Broncos are going to have an opportunity to hear about the direction the organization has charted and also to say their piece at the inaugural Community Interaction meeting set for Thursday, 7 p.m., in the auditorium at the Credit Union iPlex. Liam Choo-Foo, the chairman of the Broncos’ board of directors, will present the organization’s “strategic framework.” He then will be joined by GM/head coach Mark Lamb and others for a question-and-answer session.
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The Tri-City Americans have extended the contract of Barclay Parneta, the prospect development coach and head scout. The Americans didn’t announce any details, not even length. . . . Parneta joined the Americans in August 2010 after spending seven seasons as an NHL scout.
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The Regina Pats are in need of a radio play-by-play voice, and they need one in a hurry. The Pats announced Tuesday that Dan Plaster, their co-ordinator of broadcasting and communications, will be leaving in a couple of weeks to join the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders’ front office. Plaster will work in community relations with the football team. . . . Pats president Brent Parker isn’t happy with the CFL team, and Greg Harder’s story should be on the Regina Leader-Post’s website at some point today.
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After the 1993-94 season, Rick Brodsky picked up the Victoria Cougars and moved the franchise to Prince George. The Cougars are back in Victoria this week for the first time since the move, as they play a Tuesday-Wednesday doubleheader with the Royals, who, let us not forget, used to be the Chlliwack Bruins. . . . Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist spoke with Brodsky about then and now. . . . That piece is right here.
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F Brett Connolly of Tampa Bay played six shifts as the host Lightning scored a 5-4 OT victory over the Washington Capitals last night. . . . Connolly, whose WHL rights belong to the Tri-City Americans, played three shifts in the first period (he also served a too-many-men penalty), two in the second and one in the third. . . . He ended up playing a career-low 5:08. . . . Hello, Steve, this is Bob Tory calling. . . .
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F Nino Niederreiter played 9:00 over 14 shifts as his New York Islanders beat the host Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2. Niederreiter played five shifts in each of the first two periods and four in the third. . . . That included 2:05 in PP time. . . . His WHL rights belong to the Portland Winterhawks. . . .
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THE COACHING GAME:
There would appear to be something of a mess in Thunder Bay, Ont., where Lonny Bohonos (Moose Jaw, Seattle, Portland, 1991-94) has replaced Todd Howarth has head coach of the junior A Superior International league’s Thunder Bay North Stars. According to a news release issued by the team, Bohonos was named interim head coach after Howarth stepped down for personal reasons. Uhh, not so fast. Reuben Villagracia of the Thunder Bay Chronicle quotes Howarth as saying he has been fired. “My teams never quit,” Howarth told Villagracia. “Ever. And I didn’t either. Let’s be honest here.” . . . That complete story is right here.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Saskatoon, F Matej Stransky scored two goals to help the Blades to a 3-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Stransky has 28 goals; last season, he finished with 26 points. . . . Yes, points!. . . Late in the third period, Stransky missed the empty Swift Current net and the Broncos broke back on a 3-on-1 break but weren’t able to score. . . . Saskatoon F Josh Nicholls then ended it with an empty-netter. . . . Nicholls had assisted on the Blades’ first two goals. . . .  The Blades are 8-2-0 in their last 10 and have moved into fifth in the Eastern Conference, a point ahead of the idle Kootenay Ice. . . . The Broncos have lost two in a row. . . . This was Saskatoon GM/head coach Lorne Molleken’s 550th WHL coaching victory. He had moved into second place on the WHL’s all-time list on Saturday with an 8-1 victory over the visiting Regina Pats. Molleken had been tied with Ernie (Punch) McLean (548). Molleken now trails only Ken Hodge (742). . . .

In Medicine Hat, F Charles Inglis broke a 2-2 tie with two second-period goals as the Red Deer Rebels doubled the Tigers, 6-3. . . . Inglis scored at 12:46 and 18:52 of the second. He’s got 13 goals. . . . The victory lifted the Rebels to within two points of the idle Brandon Wheat Kings for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. . . . F Tyson Ness also scored twice for Red Deer. He’s got 14. . . . F Emerson Etem scored all three Medicine Hat goals, including his WHL-leading 10th shorthanded score. . . . Etem has a WHL-leading 47 goals in 45 games. He has 81 points and is third in the scoring race, behind Portland F Ty Rattie (86) and Regina F Jordan Weal (83). . . . Etem actually leads the entire CHL in goals and shorthanded goals. . . . Red Deer G Deven Dubyk stopped 24 shots. . . .

In Victoria, F Daulton Siwak broke a 2-2 tie at 15:16 of the second period and the Prince George Cougars went on to a 4-2 victory over the Royals. . . . Cougars F Greg Fraser had tied the game at 7:24 of the second with his 13th goal. . . . Siwak got the winner, his ninth goal of the season. . . . F Troy Bourke, who somehow wasn’t selected for the Top Prospects Game, had three assists for the Cougars. . . . The victory was the 500th for the Cougars since the franchise left Victoria for Prince George after the 1993-94 season. . . . The Cougars are three points behind the Royals, who hold down the Western Conference’s last playoff spot. . . . They meet again tonight in Victoria. . . .

In Kent, Wash., F Dominik Uher scored four goals to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 5-3 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . This was Uher’s first four-goal game in the WHL. . . . Uher’s third goal, at 18:48 of the third period, broke a 3-3 tie. He added an empty-netter, for his 20th of the season, at 19:51. . . . Uher, from the Czech Republic, has 45 points in 40 games. He put up 23 points in 14 games in January, after returning from the World Junior Championship. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 35 shots. . . . Mitch Elliott, normally a forward, played on the back end for Seattle. He had been a healthy scratch for the last two games. It was his first time on defence since playing there once in the exhibition season.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Cory Millette, Red Deer.
F Brendan Hurley, Medicine Hat.
D Corbin Baldwin, Spokane.
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Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star reports that insurance companies may be getting antsy when it comes to covering the contracts of NHL players in these days when concussions are so prevalent. That story is right here.
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Dave Hakstol, the head coach of the University of North Dakota hockey team, is not a happy man these days. He feels that NCAA hockey coaches are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to recruiting against CHL teams. And he is thinking that the time have arrived for NCAA coaches to campaign for a rule change or two.
Roman Augustoviz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has more right here.
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Congrats to old friend Jim Hughson of Hockey Night in Canada and the other four gents who will be inducted into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame in Penticton this summer. Hughson will be joined by Scott Niedermayer, Rod Brind’Amour, Bob Hindmarch and Scott Harper when the hall doors swing open on July 27. . . . Ever since Hughson covered the Brandon Wheat Kings for radio station CKLQ in 1978-79, my wife has him as the best play-by-play man in the history of sports. Period. And he didn’t even call the play that season, because CKX was the rights holder.
Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun has more right here.
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Reading the latest stories about Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby and the newest diagnosis of his injury/problem, I couldn’t help but think back to a story that freelancer Jim Riley wrote for the Seattle Times earlier this season. It dealt with F Branden Troock of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
“Troock went to the Seattle Sports Concussion Program at Harborview Medical Center and then was evaluated by a headache specialist at the University of Washington,” Riley wrote. “He was eventually diagnosed with a neck injury. Although the concussion had healed, a nerve that travels from his neck to his eyes was causing his migraines.”
Seattle trainer Phil Varney told Riley that “the neck injury was mimicking concussion symptoms, and that made it very difficult. He'd get dizzy when he did activity."
Troock ended up being treated by an acupuncturist.
Riley’s story is right here.
———
Robert MacLeod of The Globe and Mail wonders if it’s time for Sidney Crosby to consider retirement and sliding into a role as an ambassador for the game. That piece, which was written a couple of hours before the news conference in Pittsburgh, is right here.


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Ranford searching for consistency

Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers loves nothing better than to
have the puck on his stick in front of the opposing goaltender.
(Photo by Murray Mitchell / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

It’s doubtful that any player on the Kamloops Blazers’ roster is enjoying this season more than winger Brendan Ranford.
The 19-year-old from Edmonton is in his fourth WHL season here and is the only player remaining from the 2008-09 team. Yes, he has experienced more ups and downs than a roller-coaster.
“It’s been a long time . . . I kind of joke around with the guys about me being the only guy from my 16-year-old season still here,” Ranford said Tuesday after practice at Interior Savings Centre. “You don’t really see that. . . . Usually you have at least one or two more guys, even another 19-year-old or a 20-year-old.”
That’s not the case, however, as the Blazers ran an inordinate number of players through their dressing room before arriving where they are now.
That, of course, is on top of the WHL’s overall standings. They take a 35-11-4 record — and a two-point lead over the Tri-City Americans (35-12-2) and Edmonton Oil Kings (33-12-6) — into tonight’s game against the visiting Spokane Chiefs, who beat the host Seattle Thunderbirds 5-3 on the strength of four goals from Dominik Uher last night.
“It’s good to see,” Ranford said. “I’ve been waitiing patiently to have a good season and we are.”
It isn’t that the Blazers put up such horrible numbers over the previous three seasons; it’s just that, like Ranford, they were s-o-o-o inconsistent.
“This season, I just wanted to be more consistent,” he explained. “Last season, I had such a hot start and I was on such a roll. And then I plateaued and then it went downhill and I ended up the season with not good things.”
There is no need to revisit the end to Ranford’s 2010-11 season; suffice to say he cross-checked a linesman and drew a six-game suspension. He would prefer to remember the first half of last season when he scored 28 goals in 32 games. However, he scored just five times over his last 36 games.
“This season, I wanted to slowly get better and better,” he said, “and work on my defensive game.”
For the most part, he has been successful.
“I’ve seen more consistency,” he said. “That was my biggest thing coming into this season, to not have those bad nights when you’re minus-3 or minus-4 and then have a plus-4 game the next night.”
A seventh-round selection by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL’s 2010 draft, Ranford leads the Blazers in points (60) and is tied with winger Tim Bozon for the lead in goals (26). In January, Ranford put up 16 points, including seven goals, in 12 games. He also was a plus-9. Since Nov. 12, he has recorded 42 points in 32 games.
Consistent? In that 32-game stretch, he has been held pointless only seven times.
Going into tonight’s game, Ranford would like to see more production from the power play. It isn’t that the power play has been terrible — it is ranked eighth in the 22-team league, at 22.6 per cent. It just hasn’t been consistent, going 7-for-48 (14.6) over its last nine games.
“We aren’t keeping it simple, that’s probably the biggest thing,” Ranford stated. “We have so much skill on the power play that we feel it’s just going to come. We haven’t been terrible . . . we’re still running at around 20 per cent. It’s going to come.
“We have enough skill there that we will make the simple plays and the simple plays will work.”
During a weekend split with the Royals in Victoria, the Blazers were 2-for-10 on the power play, scoring two goals late in Saturday’s 5-1 victory. That left head coach Guy Charron wondering if it might be time to start flooding the front of the oppostion net and then getting pucks to follow.
Ranford suggested the same thing.
“We need to get pucks through with traffic and get in the goalie’s kitchen,” he said. “Keep battling in front and jamming in rebounds. It’s not going to come on the first opportunity; it’s going to come on the second and third chances that you get. That’s how a good power play works.”
The return of veteran forward Brandon Herrod, who has missed six games with a knee injury, would help, too. Herrod, 20, played six games alongside Ranford and Chase Schaber before he was injured in practice on Jan. 16.
“We’re still trying to figure out how each other plays,” Ranford said. “Having him back, we’re going to get that chemistry and we should be a good line.”
Herrod is likely to take the pregame warmup tonight, after which a decision will be made as to whether he plays.
Meanwhile, forward Ryan Hanes is scheduled to return after a 15-game absence. Hanes, 19, was injured during an altercation at Cactus Jack’s Saloon on Dec. 23.
JUST NOTES: The Chiefs are 28-14-7. They are 7-0-1 in their last seven games. . . . Gordie Howe is scheduled to be at tonight’s game. . . . After tonight, the Blazers are to play the Giants in Vancouver on Friday — Howe will be there, too — and the Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., on Saturday. Kamloops returns home to face the Americans on Feb. 8. . . . G Cole Cheveldave will start for Kamloops. He is 25-6-5. . . . Blazers D Tyler Hansen is tied with Tr-City D Zach Yuen for the league lead in plus-minus, at plus-33. . . . The Kamloops line of Colin Smith between Bozon and J.C. Lipon is a combined plus-80. Smith is plus-28; Bozon and Lipon each is plus-26.


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The Red Deer Rebels will be wearing special jerseys on Saturday
when they meet the visiting Calgary Hitmen.

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jakub Sindel (Brandon, 2004-05) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Ässät Pori (Finland, SM-Liiga). He had two assists in five games with Kloten (Switzerland, NL A), one goal in 21 games with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL), and three assists in 11 games with Kärpät Oulu (Finland, SM-Liiga) this season. . . .
F Jan Fadrny (Brandon, Kelowna, 1998-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Martin (Slovakia, Extraliga). He had 13 goals and 25 assists in 26 games for Königsbrunn (Germany, Regionalliga) this season. . . .
F Brad Schell (Spokane, 1999-2004) was released by Dornbirn (Austria, Nationalliga). He had 18 goals and 32 assists in 27 games for Dornbirn this season. Schell was released to open a import roster slot for former NHL and AHL F Scott Barney. . . .
D Ross Lupaschuk (Lethbridge, Prince Albert, Red Deer, 1996-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Jokerit Helsinki (Finland, SM-Liiga). He had 10 goals and 17 assists in 38 games with the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) this season. . . .
F Kyle Bruce (Kamloops, Prince Albert, Vancouver, 1999-2004) signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Dundee Stars (Scotland, UK Elite). He had two goals and 11 assists in 26 games with the Braehead Clan (Scotland, UK Elite) this season. . . .
F Kirill Starkov (Red Deer, 2006-07) signed a contract for the rest of this season with SønderjyskE Vojens (Denmark, AL-Bank Liga). He had three goals and 12 assists in 39 games with Rögle (Sweden, Allsvenskan) this season. . . .
D Jason Beckett (Seattle, 1997-2000) was released Monday by Kallinge/Rommeby (Sweden, Division 1). He had two goals and three assists in 32 games with Kallinge/Ronneby this season. . . . On Tuesday, Beckett signed a contract for the rest of this season with Västervik (Sweden, Division 2). . . .
F Jaroslav Kristek (Tri-City, 1998-2000) was assigned on loan by Lev Poprad (Slovakia, KHL) to Kosice (Slovakia, Extraliga) for the rest of this season. He had eight goals and six assists in 36 games for Lev this season. . . .
G Tyler Plante (Brandon, 2003-07) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Djurgården Stockholm (Sweden, Elitserien). He started the season with the San Antonio Rampage (AHL), playing two games with a 3.14 GAA and a .899 save percentage. Plante also appeared in four games with the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL), registering a 2.65 GAA and a .896 save percentage. After being released by Florida Panthers, he signed on with Mora (Sweden, Allsvenskan). There, he had a 3.00 GAA and a .899 save percentage in six games. . . .
F Milan Kytnar (Kelowna, Saskatoon, Vancouver, 2007-10) was assigned on loan by the Edmonton Oilers to HPK Hämeenlinna (Finland, SM-Liiga) for the rest of this season. He had one goal and two assists in 13 games with the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL), five goals and three assists in 14 games with the Stockton Thunder (ECHL) and was pointless in one game with the Oilers this season.
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ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
Why does the WHL not shut down for the CHL Top Prospects Game? Your ticket buyers are denied watching a number of your best players over the Christmas/New Year season because of the various international assignments. So why not shut down for three days while the TPG and its skills competition are being held and give the ticket-buying public a break?
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THE COACHING GAME:
Lonny Bohonos (Moose Jaw, Seattle, Portland, 1991-94) is the new head coach of the Thunder Bay North Stars of the junior A Superior International league. Bohonos was named interim head coach following the firing of Todd Howarth. . . . Howarth stepped down, citing personal reasons. He had been the head coach since 2002-03. . . . Bohonos, who is from Winnipeg, has lived in Thunder Bay since 2006, where he has coached in the Thunder Bay Kings organization. . . . The North Stars are 22-15-5 and in third place.
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JUST NOTES:
The Red Deer Rebels have hooked up with Finning Canada for a Saturday promotion to benefit KidSport in Central Alberta. The Rebels will wear special sweaters for Saturday’s game against the visiting Calgary Hitmen. The sweaters will be part of a silent auction to be held during the game. . . . According to a Rebels’ news release: “The silent auction will begin when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. It will conclude, at the latest, by the end of the first period intermission. There will be a limit of one jersey per fan, and each jersey will have a ‘buy now’ price. After the game, each player will sign his jersey before presenting it to the person who made the successful bid.” . . .
The Saskatoon Blades have added D Nelson Nogier, 15, to their lineup for tonight’s game against the visiting Swift Current Broncos. Nogier, the son of former WHL G Pat Nogier, is from Saskatoon and plays for the midget AAA Contacts. Nelson was a fourth-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The Blades are without F Lukas Sutter and D Dalton Thrower, both of whom are at the Top Prospects Game in Kelowna, D Matt Pufahl (ankle) and F Travis McEvoy (concussion). . . . McEvoy and Pufahl both were injured in fights during a game on Saturday. Pufahl broke an ankle and has had surgery. He is expected to be out up to eight weeks. . . .
The Blades also have added former D Curtis Leschyshyn to their coaching staff. He will help out for the next couple of weeks with Jerome Engele away until the middle of February. . . .
The Portland Winterhawks will induct Brent Peterson, a former player and coach, into their Hall of Fame on Friday, prior to a game against the visiting Everett Silvertips. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. . . . The Winterhawks will be looking to extend their franchise-record home-ice winning streak to 19 games. The Silvertips are coming off a doubleheader sweep in Prince George.
Doug Harrison of CBC Sports has done up an interesting feature on Sherry Bassin, the general manager of the OHL’s Erie Otters. You may check it out right here. If you do, pay particular attention to the sidebar in which Bassin talks about the importance of delegating wisely.
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I really don’t know why it took until now for me to stumble upon a blog that is titled The Agents of Change. But I did happen upon it and it’s definitely worth your checking out. Written by long-time agent Ritch Winter, there is lots of food for thought here.
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The Detroit Red Wings will play the Flames in Calgary tonight. Prior to the game, the Flames will honour the memory of Brad McCrimmon, who played for both teams. McCrimmon, who played for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and coached the Saskatoon Blades, was killed when a plane carrying the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl club crashed on Sept. 7.
There’s more right here.
And if you haven't yet made a donation and got your Love for Lokomotiv bracelet, skip on over to right here and get it done.


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Information, please!

We have a mystery on our hands.
We are trying to figure out the origin of the hat/cap that is pictured above.
The photo appeared in the Kamloops Daily News earlier this month, and one reader tells us these hats or caps were worn by waitresses at a restaurant in Penticton that was owned by the Warwick brothers, Billy and Grant.
Is anyone able to confirm this? If so, what was the name of the restaurant?
Please email any information you may have to gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.
Thank you.

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Vladimir Mihalik (Red Deer, Prince George, 2005-07) was loaned for the rest of the season by Lev Poprad (Slovakia, KHL) to Timrå (Sweden, Elitserien). He had one goal and three assists in 34 games for Lev Poprad this season.
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ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
Late last week, the WHL launched an Ask The Commissioner feature. . . . I have had a couple of readers forward questions to this blog, so here they are:
1. I wonder if Mr. Robison will address any questions regarding the Chilliwack situation from last year, and will admit the league handled it poorly? (From a fan who hopes the WHL returns to Chilliwack.)
2. Why so much travel? Aren’t you able to schedule fewer games or more doubleheaders in one location, maybe even hold some round-robin events (4-6 teams) in one location across three days (tournaments within your division or conference)?
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Calgary, the Hitmen erased a 1-0 deficit with two goals 29 seconds apart and they went on to a 4-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . F Brian Williams gave the Americans a 1-0 lead at 4:21 of the second period. . . . F Brady Brassart tied it at 16:21, via the PP, and F Danny Gayle gave Calgary the lead at 16:50. . . . Calgary G Chris Driedger stopped 16 shots, 15 fewer than Tri-City’s Ty Rimmer. . . . Driedger and teammates D Brock Sutherland, D Spencer Humphries and F Brooks Macek all are former Americans. Macek sat this one out with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Hitmen have won six in a row and 14 of their last 15. . . . “The boys are hot right now,” Driedger told Scott Fisher of the Calgary Sun, adding that veterans Jimmy Bubnick and Cody Sylvester “have said the team we had two years ago showed the same kind of energy, work ethic and skill that we’re showing right now. I would say we’re definitely a threat. When all four of our lines are going, there’s no competing with us. We have so much depth. I would hate to play against us right now.” . . . This was the Americans’ first visit to Calgary since Game 5 of the 2009-10 championship final, which the Hitmen own in five games. . . . Calgary lost F Victor Rask to a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct at 2:35 of the third period. . . . The Americans have lost three of their last four outings and are two points behind the Kamloops Blazers, who lead the WHL’s overall standings. . . . The Hitmen now are third in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . .

In Kent, Wash., the Kelowna Rockets scored four second-period goals and beat the host Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-3. . . . Seattle D Cason Machacek gave his side a 2-1 lead at 5:59 of the second, only to have Kelowna come back with three straight goals. . . . F Cody Chikie scored his 12th at 10:50, F Colton Sissons got his 26th on the PP at 11:59 and F Brett Lyon added his 13th at 19:56. . . . Seattle has lost six straight home games. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 25 shots, while Seattle’s Calvin Pickard turned aside 40. . . . The Rockets appear headed to a sixth-place finish in the Western Conference as they are 11 points behind the Vancouver Giants and 12 ahead of Seattle. . . . The Thunderbirds are one point up on the Victoria Royals.
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Check out this right here and see what F Taylor Vause of the Swift Current Broncos does in his spare time. I guarantee you will be impressed.
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If you happened to catch the TV show on Joe Namath that was shown on HBO on Saturday night, you will enjoy this piece right here. It’s written by David Gonzalez at The New York Times blog titled Lens and deals with Barton Silverman, a legendary photographer, and his wonderful career. Silverman will shoot his 41st Super Bowl on Sunday.
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For today’s good read, we take you to the Columbia Journalism Review. It is the story of Ivan G. Goldman, who writes about the demise of The Ring, the legendary boxing magazine. . . . It seems the once venerable boxing bible isn’t of that stature these days. That story is right here.

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Blazers remain alone atop overall standings

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers, their nine-game winning streak having ended the previous night, were in the pink Saturday night.
The Blazers, who lost 4-2 to the host Victoria Royals on Friday night, got a split of their doubleheader in the B.C. capital with a 5-1 victory on Saturday night.
When the weekend was over, the Blazers remained atop the WHL’s overall standings, two points ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings and Tri-City Americans, who lost 4-1 to the Hitmen in Calgary on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Royals wore pink uniforms as part of a Pink in the Rink promotion on behalf of cancer research. And it was the home team that struck first, Victoria forward Tim Traber getting his second of the season at 11:01 of the first period.
However, the visitors pretty much took over from there.
“They have it figured out as a team and don't let up,” Traber told Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist. “We kind of broke down halfway through the second period.”
Tim Bozon, who scored twice in the first 15 seconds of Friday’s game, got the visitors on the board at 13:46 of the second period. Brendan Ranford added the team’s WHL-leading 15th shorthanded score a minute later and the Blazers were in control.
Colin Smith, J.C. Lipon and Brock Balson, the latter two on the power play, rounded out the Kamloops scoring.
The Blazers’ power play hadn’t struck twice in one game since a 6-1 victory in Prince George on Jan. 7. Since then, it had gone 5-for-43 over eight games, including 0-for-5 on Friday.
While it was hardly the Blazers’ first PP unit that scored in Victoria, Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said he isn’t concerned.
“We have the tools, it’s just that sometimes we’re not scoring,” he explained. “We don’t depend on a lot of traffic in front of the net; it’s puck movemnt, shooting, converging. But that may be an element that we may have to add on some nights, using people who are willing to go there and park themselves there.
“This team has enough talent to make it work. How many guys do we have with 20 goals?”
The answer is a WHL-high six, and Lipon is knocking on the door with 16 goals.
Meanwhile, Kamloops goaltender Cam Lanigan, making just his third start in the club’s last 23 games, stopped 26 shots. In his previous start, he came up with 30 saves in a 5-3 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds on Jan. 20.
“If he can give us the kind of hockey he gave us in Seattle and (Saturday) night, I’m going to be very happy,” Charron said. “I thought his performance (Saturday) night was even better than Seattle. It’s not like he was bombarded, but he looked like he was in control. He didn’t look shaky.”
Charron said the Blazers surrendered 19 chances on Friday and just nine on Saturday.
The Blazers next play Wednesday against the visiting Spokane Chiefs (27-14-7), who are 5-0-1 in their last six games and 7-1-2 in their last 10. The hot streak has moved them into a tie with the Vancouver Giants for fourth in the 10-team Western Conference. The Chiefs will play the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., on Tuesday before heading for Kamloops.
The Royals (16-29-5) are in possession of the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. They will play host to the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday and Wednesday. That will be the Cougars’ first trip back to the capital since the franchise left Victoria for Prince George after the 1993-94 season. The Cougars (15-31-2) have lost five in a row and are five points behind the Royals.
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The Royals (16-29-5) are in possession of the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. They will play host to the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday and Wednesday.
That will be the Cougars’ first trip back to the capital since the franchise left Victoria for Prince George after the 1993-94 season. The Cougars (15-31-2) have lost five in a row and are five points behind the Royals.
JUST NOTES: The game on Saturday drew 7,006 fans, which is a sellout at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. . . . Last season, the Blazers scored four shorthanded goals. . . . Ranford’s goal stood up as his seventh game-winner of the season, one behind F Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers, who leads the WHL. . . . Kamloops F Aspen Sterzer had one assist, his first point in 15 games. . . . Freshman D Landon Cross had two assists, his first two-point outing in 30 games with the Blazers. . . . The Blazers scratched F Jordan DePape (shoulder), F Ryan Hanes (concussion) and F Brandon Herrod (knee). . . . Hanes, who has missed 15 games, and Herrod, who has sat out six, may be back Wednesday. . . . Bozon won’t play Wednesday as he will be in Kelowna at the CHL Top Prospects Game. . . . Bozon and Ranford share the team lead, each with 26 goals. . . . After playing the Chiefs at Interior Savings Centre, the Blazers will meet the Giants in Vancouver on Friday and the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., on Saturday. . . . The Americans are to visit Kamloops on Feb. 8.


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SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Moose Jaw, F Justin Kirsch had a goal and three assists as the Warriors scored a 5-2 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Moose Jaw F Cam Braes broke a 1-1 tie with his 29th goal 41 seconds into the second period. . . . Kirsch then drew assists on three straight goals and scored a fourth before the period ended. . . . Freshman F Coda Gordon got his 20th goal of the season for the Broncos. . . . The Warriors were 3-6 on the PP; the Broncos were 2-4. . . . Moose Jaw has points in seven straight games (6-0-1). . . .

In Saskatoon, the Blades scored the game’s last seven goals and beat the Regina Pats, 8-1. . . . F Josh Nicholls had two goals and an assist for the Blades, who also got two goals from each of F Brett Stovin and D Darren Dietz. . . . Regina F Jordan Weal picked up an assist to run his point streak to 13 games. . . . Saskatoon GM/head coach Lorne Molleken won his 549th game, moving him past Ernie (Punch) McLean and into second place on the WHL’s all-time list. Only Ken Hodge (742) has more WHL coaching victories than Molleken. . . . Molleken also has coached in 972 games. He is one shy of tying Peter Anholt for third spot on the WHL’s all-time list. . . .

In Edmonton, G Adam Morrison turned back 28 shots as the Vancouver Giants scored a 3-2 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . The Giants opened up a 3-0 lead early in the third period and hung on after the Oil Kings closed the gap. . . . Vancouver F Brendan Gallagher scored his first goal for the Giants since missing almost two weeks with a shoulder injury. He’s got 29. . . . Vancouver F Cain Franson scored his 20th goal. . . . F Thomas Foster, the Giants’ first pick in the 2011 bantam draft, made his WHL debut. He played against his brother T.J., who plays for the Oil Kings. . . . Oil Kings D Griffin Reinhart, in his third game since missing a couple of weeks with an undisclosed injury, left in the second period and didn’t return. . . .

In Lethbridge, D Josh Morrissey scored twice to help the Prince Albert Raiders to a 6-3 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Morrissey, 1 16-year-old from Calgary, has 29 points, including seven goals, in 46 games. He also is plus-11 on a team that has struggled defensively. . . . F Anthony Bardaro had four assists for the Raiders, while F Mike Winther and F Shane Danyluk each had a goal and two assists. . . . Raiders G Cole Holowenko stopped 34 shots. . . .

In Medicine Hat, the Calgary Hitmen scored the game’s last three goals, all in the third period, and beat the Tigers, 5-2. . . . F Alex Gogolev broke a 2-2 tie at 1:28 of the third on a PP. It was his 20th goal of the season. . . . The Hitmen led 2-0 after one period; the teams were tied 2-2 after two. . . . Medicine Hat F Emerson Etem had two assists, but had his goal-scoring streak end at 11 games. . . . The Hitmen have won five in a row and 13 of 14. They are at home to the Tri-City Americans today. . . . The Tigers had won six in a row. . . . Calgary G Brandon Glover stopped 28 shots. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz missed in his first opportunity to set the franchise record for career victories. He has tied Matt Keetley’s record of 105. . . . The Hitmen were 3-3 on the PP; the Tigers went 2-5. . . . The games’ first five goals were scored on the PP. . . . Calgary D Alex Roach was back after serving a three-game suspension. He had a first-period PP goal. . . .

In Red Deer, G Corbin Boes stopped 39 shots to lead the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 3-2 victory over the Rebels. . . . F Turner Elson scored twice for Red Deer, including the game’s first goal at 9:01 of the first period. . . . D Ryan Pulock pulled Brandon even at 11:31 of the first and F Mark Stone put the visitors out front at 19:58. Stone has 32 goals. . . . Referees Matt Kirk and Matt Thurston handed out three minor penalties, all to Brandon. . . . Red Deer F Adam Kambeitz, who left Friday’s game with an ankle injury, will be out at least six weeks. The Rebels captain joins D Justin Weller and G Patrik Bartosak on the long-term injury list. . . .

In Prince George, F Josh Winquist scored twice to help the Everett Silvertips to a 4-3 victory over the Cougars. . . . The Silvertips swept the doubleheader, having won 5-2 on Friday night. . . . This is Everett’s first winning streak of the season. . . . The victory lifted Everett past the Cougars and into ninth place in the 10-team Western Conference. . . . Everett now is four points out of a playoff spot. . . . Winquist, who has 12 goals, scored twice in the second period to stretch Everett’s lead to 4-1. . . . F Spencer Asuchak scored for the Cougars in his 200th WHL game. . . . Prince George D Daniel Gibb, who left Friday night’s game, didn’t play last night. . . . The Cougars, who have lost five straight, will play in Victoria on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the first time the team has played in the B.C. capital since it left for Prince George after the 1993-94 season. . . .

In Victoria, linemates Tim Bozon, Colin Smith and J.C. Lipon each scored once as the Kamloops Blazers dumped the Royals, 5-1. . . . The Royals had beaten the Blazers 4-2 on Friday. . . . The Blazers, who haven’t lost three straight all season, had lost their previous two games. . . . F Brendan Ranford’s shorthanded goal broke a 1-1 tie at 14:38 of the second. He’s got 26 goals. . . . The Blazers lead the WHL with 15 shorthanded goals. . . . D Landon Cross had two assists for Kamloops. . . . F Tim Traber scored his second goal of the season for the Royals, opening the scoring at 11:01 of the first period. . . . Kamloops G Cam Lanigan stopped 26 shots. . . . It was Pink in the Rink Night and the Royals wore pink uniforms to support cancer research. The promotion-filled evening drew 7,006 fans. . . . The victory lifted the Blazers back into first place overall. They went into the night tied with the Tri-City Americans and Edmonton Oil Kings. The Americans were idle; the Oil Kings lost at home. . . . The Americans are in Calgary today. . . .

In Kent, Wash., F Marcel Noebels earned three assists as the Portland Winterhawks beat the host Seattle Thunderbirds, 8-3. . . . The Winterhawks acquired Noebels from Seattle on Jan. 10. . . . He now has seven points in nine games with Portland. . . . F Sven Baertschi and F Brendan Leipsic each had two goals and an assist for Portland. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 51 shots in earning his 30th victory of the season. . . . The Winterhawks have won three in a row. . . . The Thunderbirds held their Teddy Bear and collected 4,832 stuffed toys. . . .

In Spokane, the Chiefs came back from a three-goal deficit to beat the Kootenay Ice 5-4 in OT on D Brenden Kichton’s goal at 3:10. . . . Chiefs F Darren Kramer forced OT with his 18th goal at 17:16 of the third. . . . D Corbin Baldwin had gotten the Chiefs to within one with his fourth goal at 14:31 of the third, via the PP. . . . The Ice scored three first-period goals on six shots. . . . The Chiefs then outshot the Ice 18-4 in the second and cut the deficit to 3-2. . . . Spokane G Eric Williams came on to start the second period and stopped 18 of 19 shots. . . . F Joe Antilla had two goals for the Ice. . . . The Chiefs are 5-0-1 in their last six and are in a fourth-place tie with Vancouver in the Western Conference. Spokane holds three games in hand. . . .
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SATURDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Ryan Olsen, Saskatoon.
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in the BCHL, the Penticton Vees ran their winning streak to 28 games with an 8-1 victory over the SilverBacks in Salmon Arm. . . . That is one shy of the BCHL record that is held by the 1989-90 New Westminster Royals. . . . The Vees are next scheduled to play Friday against the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs. As Fraser Rodgers, the radio voice of the Vees, mentioned on his blog, Harvey Smyl, the Chiefs' head coach, was an assistant with the Royals in 1989-90.
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Today’s good read comes from Jim Matheson at the Edmonton Journal. Matty’s Hockey World is right here and, as usual, it’s full of all kinds of good stuff, including an update on former WHLer Brantt Myhres, who seems to have found some peace.
 
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