Tuesday continues . . .

It turns out that the new name of the Swift Current Centennial Civic Centre is iplex. . . . Yup. That’s it. . . . iplex. . . . No capital letter(s). All lowercase letters. . . . iplex. . . . Actually, the proper name, I think, is Credit Union iplex. . . . That is Credit Union iplex, as opposed, one supposes, to credit union iplex. . . . All of which is rather strange. . . . . Seeing as the title-buying sponsor is the Innovation Credit Union, it would seem that someone has sentenced it to having its facility known as The ICU. . . .
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With thanks to GossipGirls.com (no, don’t ask what I was doing over there):
“What do you get for the girl who has everything? No, really, when you’re buying for Hilary Duff, that question must ring especially true. And her boyfriend decided to take a trip to the Mercedes dealer to celebrate her birthday.
“And oh what a present he got her! Duff’s boyfriend, Mike Comrie, called her up to say that he’d purchased an early 20th birthday present. “I hope you like them,” he told her, faking her out totally. The singer/actress told press she was thinking, “Okay, it’s shoes or something.” But when she went to her sisters house to get the gift, she was awestruck.
“Rather than shoes or earrings, or matching hockey pucks with their names on them (Comrie is an NHL player) she found a $100,000+ Mercedes Benz G-class SUV with a big red bow on top.”

All this after 20 days of dating . . . Geez, what does he get her for Christmas?
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More on the impending move of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . It seems that sponsors are quickly climbing on board with the Thunderbirds preparing to move to Kent, Wash., early next season. . . . The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that the Thunderbirds have signed on nine new sponsors — the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Shuttle Express, the U.S. Army, Greg's Japanese Auto of Kent, the Washington Lottery, ReMax Real Estate, Evergreen Massage Therapy of Kent, Evans Glass of Seattle and United Association Local 32 Seattle, a plumbing workers union. . . . That brings its sponsorship total to 45. . . . Colin Campbell, the team’s vice-president and assistant GM, told the Business Journal that sponsorship revenue is up 17 per cent over one year ago. . . . Campbell added that team sponsors for this season will have dibs on advertising and promotional opportunities in the new arena. . . . Campbell also said that the Thunderbirds have sold 1,200 season-tickets, unchanged from last season, but they also have 100 deposits for tickets for next season in Kent. . . .
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There is an interesting story unfolding in the Chinese Ice Hockey Association, as the NHL’s San Jose Sharks have become involved in a team and have, in fact, supplied five players to the China Sharks, who play out of Beijing. Three of those players — Jason Beeman, Kevin Korol and Keegan McAvoy — are former WHLers. . . . There are a few other ex-WHLers in the league, among them Aaron Keller and Shane Endicott, with Oji Paper; Jand, oel Dyck with the Nippon Paper Cranes. . . .
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The Seattle Thunderbirds are getting back D Scott Jackson, 20, from the camp of the Detroit Red Wings. He was there on a free-agent tryout basis. . . . Jackson will be going into his fifth season with the Thunderbirds. . . . His return leaves the Thunderbirds with four 20-year-olds, meaning one will have to go by the Oct. 11 deadline. . . . The other 20-year-olds are LW Andrew Herman, RW Ian McKenzie and D Benn Olson. . . .
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have released G Kurt Jory, 20, to get down to t he 20-year-old roster deadline of three. . . . The Warriors will go with LW Terrence Delaronde, G Joey Perricone and LW Keith Voytechek as their 20-year-olds. . . .
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Gotta love those Prince George Cougars press releases . . . “The Prince George Cougars have re-assigned F Matthew Belich to the Olds Grizzlies of the AJHL.” . . . That’s it, folks. There ain’t no more. Short and to the point. . . . Actually, Belich is a 17-year-old right-winger who hails from Red Deer. The Cougars took him with the 24th pick of the 2005 bantam draft. . . . F Taylor Stefishen, taken by the Cougars with the 112th selection in that 2005 draft, has committed to attend Ohio State and play for the Buckeyes starting next season. He now is with the BCHL’s Langley Chiefs.