Questions . . . we've got questions

1. When did the Portland Winter Hawks become the Once-Proud Winter Hawks? Was it about the time that Jann Boss, who knew every nook and cranny of the organization, disappeared from the front office? And why haven’t the new owners signed head coach Mike Williamson to a new contract, seeing as the old one has expired?

2. The Brandon Wheat Kings posted a help wanted ad on Tuesday. No, they’re not looking for a head coach; rather, they need a public address announcer. But will Kelly McCrimmon, the owner, general manager, head coach and chief bottle washers, be back behind the bench? Or will he hire a head coach, which would mean his fellow WHL owners no longer would be able to make the claim that McCrimmon coaches because he is too tight to hire one? If that really is true, will McCrimmon add the title of public address announcer to his job description?

3. Have the Medicine Hat Tigers really boosted the price of one adult season-ticket from $399 to $499? Does this mean that Tigers‘ fans now know the cost of winning a WHL championship?

4. Will Gord Loiselle, the new director of player personnel in Kamloops, be able to put the Winter Hawks behind him and help the Blazers make the next giant step?

5. Brent Sutter, the owner, general manager, head coach and chief cook of the Red Deer Rebels, is talking, again, about how young his team will be in 2007-08. How much more of that kind of talk before the Rebels’ faithful begins getting restless? Or are the fans restless now?

6. Did Chad Lang, the general manager of the Moose Jaw Warriors, change his phone number and not give the new one to Sutter? How else to explain that forwards Evan Pighin and Alex Poulter, both of whom asked out of Red Deer, ended up with the Prince George Cougars and not in Moose Jaw? Or did Greyhound not run from Red Deer to Moose Jaw that day?

7. If assistant coach Ryan Huska was going to be the next head coach in Kelowna, wouldn’t Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton have done the deed by now? If not Huska, who then?

8. How much input does Peter Anholt, whose contract as head coach in Prince Albert wasn’t renewed, have into the operation of the Raiders’ alumni association?

9. At their annual meeting last week, the Swift Current Broncos reported a surplus of more than $160,000. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they received $328,000 from such things as expansion, Memorial Cup and World Junior Championship revenues. So what happens to the WHL’s small-market teams when that kind of cash doesn’t flow? Or is the WHL headed for 30 teams?

10. The expansion Edmonton Oil Kings will open the season by playing six of their first eight games at home. At the other end, they will play 19 of their last 23 games on the road. Does that kind of schedule kill any playoff chances they may have had?

Hey . . . just asking.