From the Saturday column in the Vancouver Sun by Dr. Sport (Greg Douglas), who is tight with Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo: “Mike Johnston, former Canucks' assistant coach under Marc Crawford, followed 'The Crow' to Los Angeles and was dismissed this summer as part of the Kings' coaching housecleaning. Within the next week or so, Johnston will be named GM and head coach of the WHL Portland Winter Hawks once the league approves purchase of the franchise by Calgary oilman Bill Gallacher.” . . . A spy reports that Johnston and Travis Green, who will be Johnston's assistant coach, took in some of the Everett tournament over the weekend.
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Cody Beach, the 16-year-old brother of Everett Silvertips agitator Kyle Beach, is in camp with the Calgary Hitmen. So what was it like growing up in the Beach household? "There's always fighting in the family, and he's usually the winner," Cody tells Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun. "Hopefully, that'll change one day." Cody, a third-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, goes 6-foot-4 and 173 pounds. . . . Kyle showed that he’s in midseason form on Saturday when he put up a Gordie Howe hat trick as the Silvertips dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds, 7-4. He scored late in the first period, drew an assist on earlier goal, and got an automatic game misconduct for a second-period bout with Seattle D Sena Acolatse.
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It’s doubtful that any WHL prospect got the positive reviews to match the ones earned by F Shane McColgan, the Kelowna Rockets’ first pick, 13th overall, in the 2008 bantam draft. The 15-year-old from Manhattan Beach, Calif., left little doubt that were it not for being too young, he could step into the Rockets’ lineup right now. “I felt fine out there; the speed was good and I didn’t feel out of place,” McColgan told the Kelowna Daily Courier’s Doyle Potenteau after the club’s Saturday intrasquad game. “But it was hard to play with some of the guys, simply for the fact that we’ve only had a few practices together, not a full season. The game was a little sloppy, but it was all right. I just tried putting my head down and started making passes, trying to respect some of the veterans by passing to them. We had some chances, but it didn’t go our way.” . . . McColgan is likely to get some time with the Rockets in December when they have players away at national junior team camps. . . . By the way, Team Black won that intrasquad game, 4-2. The prize? Team Black was given Sunday off, while Team White was on the ice at 9:15 a.m.
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And how about Kelowna D Kyle Verdino, a sophomore from Phoenix? A defenceman last season, the Rockets are moving him into the forward ranks. He says that last season he weighed 242 pounds and that he now is down to 205. “Compared to last season, I feel really, really good,” Verdino told Potenteau. “I was 242 pounds last season and now I’m down to 205. So it’s been a big change for me, losing that weight in that short period of time. But, hey, I’m loving it.” . . . Verdino turns 17 on Oct. 27.
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F Tyler Maxwell, a Californian who signed with Everett earlier in the week, had three goals Saturday as the Silvertips beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 7-4. He had a hat trick by the midpoint of the game, by which time the hosts held a 7-1 lead.
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With Michael Maniago, 20, choosing to return to school rather than continue with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who is fighting for the backup goaltender’s job behind Finnish starter Juha Metsola? The Lethbridge Herald reports that there are four other goaltenders in camp -- Michael Tadjdeh, 17, from Calgary; Brandon Anderson, a 16-year-old from Langley, B.C.; Zach Weissbach, 16, of Sherwood Park, Alta.; and, Alex Wakaluk, 15, of Bellevue, Alta. Wakaluk is the son of former NHL goaltender Darcy Wakaluk, a veteran WHL goaltending coach who now works with the Calgary Hitmen.
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D Alex Plante, 19, who was the 15th pick in the first round of the NHL’s 2007 draft has asked the Calgary Hitmen to move him, according to John Down of the Calgary Herald. "He wants to play hockey but not for the Hitmen," Calgary GM Kelly Kisio told Down. Plante, 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, is coming off an injury-filled season and didn’t report to Calgary’s camp when it opened on Saturday. "I guess after last season, he just wants a change of scenery," Kisio said. Plante had 38 points in 2006-07, after which he was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers. Last season, limited to just 36 regular-season games, he had two points. "You sit back and scratch your head and wonder what you have to do to make kids happy," Kisio told Down. "We played him with Karl Alzner so he could have a big draft year, then he gets hurt and has trouble getting back into game shape and we're getting blamed for it." . . . Plante is the son of former Brandon Wheat Kings D Cam Plante and the brother of former Wheat Kings G Tyler Plante.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Keeping Score
Are we lucky, or what? Swimming star Michael Phelps is writing a book — Built to Succeed — and it will be in the stores just in time for Christmas. . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “I keep hearing that it's the country's duty to spend more money on the Olympics, so the U.S. can hold its place in the medal count. If somebody has to fund Olympic athletes, let the people at NBC do it, they've got more riding on the Olympics than anybody.” . . . Are you listening, CTV/TSN/CBC? . . . Bob Molinaro, in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: "Katie Hoff, with her three swimming medals, and Michael Phelps, with his eight golds, call the same Baltimore suburb home. If Towson, Md., were a country, it would rank among the top 20 medal winners."
Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “Fans are extremely grateful the (Saskatchewan Roughriders) have lifted television blackouts this season, but many of them are now calling for a Rod Black out.” . . . One more from Hutchinson: “My initial reaction after reading of sadness in St. Louis after the international bowling museum and hall of fame announced it was leaving for Arlington, Texas: Oh, spare me.” . . . You have to know that Larry Popein is thrilled for old friends Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell these days, what with the New York Rangers having announced that they will raise their numbers (9 and 3, respectively) into the Madison Square Garden rafters on Feb. 2. Popein, who lives in our fair city, was teammates with both gents with the Rangers. . . .
This week’s big e-mail lottery win? According to a note in my inbox, it was “Three Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds and a brand new Peugeot 407 Car.” . . . And this just in: “This email is to notify you that you have won an Award Sum of 1,000,000.00 (One Million euro) in an E-mail program held in Den Haag, The Netherlands.” Thanks to Dr. Mark Harris for that one, but is it email or E-mail?
Former major league pitcher Hideki Irabu is in trouble with the law in Japan after he told police he put away 20 mugs of beer before getting into it with a restaurant manager. “Apparently,” noted Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times, “he went berserk when they wouldn’t let him bring in another relief pitcher.” . . . One more from Perry: “Jericho Scott, 9, has been banned from pitching in the Youth Baseball League of New Haven, Conn., AP reported, because he can throw a 40-mph fastball. In other Jericho Scott news, he’s reportedly dating a Chinese gymnast.” . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: "(Usain Bolt) is the fastest thing out of Jamaica since bales of marijuana in speedboats." . . . Smooth move by Steve Passmore in chasing down that would-be purse thief on Victoria Street, tackling and holding him until police arrived. Let’s be honest, though. The perp should be embarrassed to have lost a foot race to an old goaltender. And a tip of the cap to the RCMP for not charging Passmore with holding.
The Chicago Bears have named Kyle Orton their starting quarterback over Rex Grossman, bringing this response from Steve Rosenbloom of ChicagoSports.com: "Truth is, everybody will play quarterback this year, because the Bears' offensive line is expected to be brought up on manslaughter charges." . . . Charles Barkley doesn’t think any NBA superstars will be signing to play in Europe anytime soon. "First of all,” says Sir Charles, “I think Kobe (Bryant) and LeBron (James) have too much time on their hands. These guys want to be the best players in the world. I've been on TNT for years, and no one's ever asked me, ‘Who won the championship in Greece last year?' " . . . Mike Bianchi, in the Orlando Sentinel: “I love girls in bikinis as much as the next guy, but enough with NBC’s beach volleyball coverage already. You’d think this was a real sport or something. And, by the way, why is beach volleyball in the Olympics? What next — skimboarding, body-surfing, sand-castle building?”
Big news in Prince George this week as the 2009 World Baseball Challenge, which is scheduled for July 17-25 at Prince George Citizen Field, revealed that it will have a squad from the Cuban Baseball Federation taking part in the six-team event. Baseball fans in Prince George are hoping for a matchup of veteran pitchers Fidel Castro and Jim Swanson. . . . . When the NFL season gets rolling, J.T. O’Sullivan will be the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback, with Alex Smith in reserve. O’Sullivan will earn US$645,000 this season; Smith will make $10.3 million. . . . Chris Ferrell of the San Antonio Express-News has a quickie quiz for you: "Conspiracy theorists will have an easier time discovering: (a) Official Chinese government documents proving that some members of its women's gymnastics team were too young to compete in the Olympics; (b) Exactly what happened in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963."
The New York Mets and Yankees are working on dueling concerts. The Mets want to have Billy Joel bring down the final curtain at Shea Stadium, while the Yankees are working to have Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney do the same at Yankee Stadium. One can be excused for having assumed that the Steinbrenners would bring back Frank Sinatra for the last show. . . . Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Citing irreconcilable differences, former tennis star Pam Shriver has filed for divorce from one-time James Bond George Lazenby. In court documents, she calls him The Spy Who Doesn’t Love Me.” . . . And another social note from Hamilton: “Laura Andrassy got a $107-million US divorce settlement from golfer Greg Norman last month. Now she reportedly wants some of the money Norman earned when he and his new wife, Chris Evert, sold the rights to the photos of their June wedding. Andrassy’s demand officially qualifies her as a golf bag.”
Bobby Ackles was one of my favourite all-time sporting people and I finally got around to reading his book — The Water Boy. Not surprisingly, it’s an excellent read. Ackles names names, meaning you will come to understand, for example, why the Arizona Cardinals are, well, the Arizona Cardinals. This book also should be required reading for anyone involved with any sports franchise that charges admission to its game because Ackles spells out what’s important and what isn’t when it comes to selling your team to the ticket-buying public. . . . Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times wonders: “Have the Olympics ended yet for West Coast viewers?” . . . Crowe also points out that Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, who received an honourary doctorate at the U of North Dakota on Monday, now is Dr. Phil. . . . “Speaking of nicknames,” Crowe adds, “he is LeBronze James no more.” . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Michael Phelps returns to his tank at Sea World.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “Fans are extremely grateful the (Saskatchewan Roughriders) have lifted television blackouts this season, but many of them are now calling for a Rod Black out.” . . . One more from Hutchinson: “My initial reaction after reading of sadness in St. Louis after the international bowling museum and hall of fame announced it was leaving for Arlington, Texas: Oh, spare me.” . . . You have to know that Larry Popein is thrilled for old friends Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell these days, what with the New York Rangers having announced that they will raise their numbers (9 and 3, respectively) into the Madison Square Garden rafters on Feb. 2. Popein, who lives in our fair city, was teammates with both gents with the Rangers. . . .
This week’s big e-mail lottery win? According to a note in my inbox, it was “Three Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds and a brand new Peugeot 407 Car.” . . . And this just in: “This email is to notify you that you have won an Award Sum of 1,000,000.00 (One Million euro) in an E-mail program held in Den Haag, The Netherlands.” Thanks to Dr. Mark Harris for that one, but is it email or E-mail?
Former major league pitcher Hideki Irabu is in trouble with the law in Japan after he told police he put away 20 mugs of beer before getting into it with a restaurant manager. “Apparently,” noted Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times, “he went berserk when they wouldn’t let him bring in another relief pitcher.” . . . One more from Perry: “Jericho Scott, 9, has been banned from pitching in the Youth Baseball League of New Haven, Conn., AP reported, because he can throw a 40-mph fastball. In other Jericho Scott news, he’s reportedly dating a Chinese gymnast.” . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: "(Usain Bolt) is the fastest thing out of Jamaica since bales of marijuana in speedboats." . . . Smooth move by Steve Passmore in chasing down that would-be purse thief on Victoria Street, tackling and holding him until police arrived. Let’s be honest, though. The perp should be embarrassed to have lost a foot race to an old goaltender. And a tip of the cap to the RCMP for not charging Passmore with holding.
The Chicago Bears have named Kyle Orton their starting quarterback over Rex Grossman, bringing this response from Steve Rosenbloom of ChicagoSports.com: "Truth is, everybody will play quarterback this year, because the Bears' offensive line is expected to be brought up on manslaughter charges." . . . Charles Barkley doesn’t think any NBA superstars will be signing to play in Europe anytime soon. "First of all,” says Sir Charles, “I think Kobe (Bryant) and LeBron (James) have too much time on their hands. These guys want to be the best players in the world. I've been on TNT for years, and no one's ever asked me, ‘Who won the championship in Greece last year?' " . . . Mike Bianchi, in the Orlando Sentinel: “I love girls in bikinis as much as the next guy, but enough with NBC’s beach volleyball coverage already. You’d think this was a real sport or something. And, by the way, why is beach volleyball in the Olympics? What next — skimboarding, body-surfing, sand-castle building?”
Big news in Prince George this week as the 2009 World Baseball Challenge, which is scheduled for July 17-25 at Prince George Citizen Field, revealed that it will have a squad from the Cuban Baseball Federation taking part in the six-team event. Baseball fans in Prince George are hoping for a matchup of veteran pitchers Fidel Castro and Jim Swanson. . . . . When the NFL season gets rolling, J.T. O’Sullivan will be the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback, with Alex Smith in reserve. O’Sullivan will earn US$645,000 this season; Smith will make $10.3 million. . . . Chris Ferrell of the San Antonio Express-News has a quickie quiz for you: "Conspiracy theorists will have an easier time discovering: (a) Official Chinese government documents proving that some members of its women's gymnastics team were too young to compete in the Olympics; (b) Exactly what happened in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963."
The New York Mets and Yankees are working on dueling concerts. The Mets want to have Billy Joel bring down the final curtain at Shea Stadium, while the Yankees are working to have Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney do the same at Yankee Stadium. One can be excused for having assumed that the Steinbrenners would bring back Frank Sinatra for the last show. . . . Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Citing irreconcilable differences, former tennis star Pam Shriver has filed for divorce from one-time James Bond George Lazenby. In court documents, she calls him The Spy Who Doesn’t Love Me.” . . . And another social note from Hamilton: “Laura Andrassy got a $107-million US divorce settlement from golfer Greg Norman last month. Now she reportedly wants some of the money Norman earned when he and his new wife, Chris Evert, sold the rights to the photos of their June wedding. Andrassy’s demand officially qualifies her as a golf bag.”
Bobby Ackles was one of my favourite all-time sporting people and I finally got around to reading his book — The Water Boy. Not surprisingly, it’s an excellent read. Ackles names names, meaning you will come to understand, for example, why the Arizona Cardinals are, well, the Arizona Cardinals. This book also should be required reading for anyone involved with any sports franchise that charges admission to its game because Ackles spells out what’s important and what isn’t when it comes to selling your team to the ticket-buying public. . . . Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times wonders: “Have the Olympics ended yet for West Coast viewers?” . . . Crowe also points out that Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, who received an honourary doctorate at the U of North Dakota on Monday, now is Dr. Phil. . . . “Speaking of nicknames,” Crowe adds, “he is LeBronze James no more.” . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Michael Phelps returns to his tank at Sea World.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Saturday summary
If you're interested, here is Saturday's Vancouver at Kamloops summary:
GIANTS 2 at BLAZERS 4
First Period
1. Vancouver, Pierro-Zabotel 1 (Kudrna, S.Schneider) 15:41
2. Kamloops, Stretch 1 (Machuga, Shattock) 17:02
3. Kamloops, Shattock 1 (Rowley, M.Schneider) 19:57 (pp)
Penalties -- Smith Kam (double high-sticking) 1:58, Stretch Kam (goaltender
interference) 9:43, Hanes Kam (high-sticking) 11:16, S.Schneider Vcr
(tripping) 12:07, Kudrna Vcr (hooking) 17:44.
Second Period
4. Vancouver, Czibere 1 (Parker, Cloud) 7:22
Penalties -- Ross Kam (checking from behind) 0:48, Machuga Kam (hooking)
4:28, Pierro-Zabotel Vcr, Saip Kam (roughing) 5:43, Gallagher Vcr (kneeing)
12:07, Vanniewenhuizen Vcr, Shattock Kam (roughing) 13:23, Rowley Kam
(slashing) 19:04.
Third Period
5. Kamloops, Stretch 2, 0:07 (sh)
6. Kamloops, Ranford 1 (Shattock, Stretch) 16:10
Penalties -- Underwood Kam (hooking) 9:37, Bouma Vcr (tripping) 12:03, Berube
Vcr (cross-checking) 12:29, Henry Vcr, Berube Vcr, Wray Kam (majors, game
misconducts), Hanes Kam (elbowing, fighting, game misconduct) 17:01.
Shots on goal by
Vancouver 20 8 14 -- 42
Kamloops 13 5 4 -- 22
Goal (shots-saves) -- Vancouver: Jamie Tucker (15-13), Kraymer Barnstable
(10:56 of 2nd); Kamloops: Jon Groenheyde.
Power plays (goals-chances) -- Vancouver: 1-9; Kamloops: 0-5.
Referee -- Steve Papp. Linesmen -- Six were used, two each period.
Attendance -- 900.
GIANTS 2 at BLAZERS 4
First Period
1. Vancouver, Pierro-Zabotel 1 (Kudrna, S.Schneider) 15:41
2. Kamloops, Stretch 1 (Machuga, Shattock) 17:02
3. Kamloops, Shattock 1 (Rowley, M.Schneider) 19:57 (pp)
Penalties -- Smith Kam (double high-sticking) 1:58, Stretch Kam (goaltender
interference) 9:43, Hanes Kam (high-sticking) 11:16, S.Schneider Vcr
(tripping) 12:07, Kudrna Vcr (hooking) 17:44.
Second Period
4. Vancouver, Czibere 1 (Parker, Cloud) 7:22
Penalties -- Ross Kam (checking from behind) 0:48, Machuga Kam (hooking)
4:28, Pierro-Zabotel Vcr, Saip Kam (roughing) 5:43, Gallagher Vcr (kneeing)
12:07, Vanniewenhuizen Vcr, Shattock Kam (roughing) 13:23, Rowley Kam
(slashing) 19:04.
Third Period
5. Kamloops, Stretch 2, 0:07 (sh)
6. Kamloops, Ranford 1 (Shattock, Stretch) 16:10
Penalties -- Underwood Kam (hooking) 9:37, Bouma Vcr (tripping) 12:03, Berube
Vcr (cross-checking) 12:29, Henry Vcr, Berube Vcr, Wray Kam (majors, game
misconducts), Hanes Kam (elbowing, fighting, game misconduct) 17:01.
Shots on goal by
Vancouver 20 8 14 -- 42
Kamloops 13 5 4 -- 22
Goal (shots-saves) -- Vancouver: Jamie Tucker (15-13), Kraymer Barnstable
(10:56 of 2nd); Kamloops: Jon Groenheyde.
Power plays (goals-chances) -- Vancouver: 1-9; Kamloops: 0-5.
Referee -- Steve Papp. Linesmen -- Six were used, two each period.
Attendance -- 900.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Saturday . . .
At some point Friday night, someone in the WHL office got together a roundup of exhibition games. That is a definite improvement over what has happened in the past.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors inducted Kent Hayes and Mike Keane into the Warriors & Legends Hall of Fame on Friday night. Both were original Warriors in 1984. The first two inductees, a year ago, were Troy Edwards and Mark MacKay. . . . Keane, of course, went on to win three Stanley Cups and now, at the age of 41, plays for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose in his hometown of Winnipeg. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Keane offered this: “To the future Moose Jaw Warriors: you don¹t know it yet, but you’re playing in the best city in Canada. You’re surrounded by great people who will take care of you.”
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A note from Joe Pelletier, over at GreatestHockeyLegends (www.greatesthockeylegends.com):
“GreatestHockeyLegends.com 's countdown of the 20 greatest photos in hockey history has reached the final five.
“Photo No. 5 shows Gordie Howe answering fan mail in the hospital. He is there with a fractured skull, courtesy of the famous and controversial collision with Toronto's Teeder Kennedy. Howe's career was almost over before it began.
“But Howe came back, and became the greatest player not only of his day, but perhaps of all time. I think that is why I like the photo so much. Hockey players put their bodies through the most amazing
physicality and abuse, but they always come back. No other photo captures that quite like this one.
“Tune into the final of GreatestHockeylegends.com 's greatest photos of all time.”
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Take a moment today and remember Killer Kowalski, who died today in Boston at the age of 81. Now there was wrestler . . . You likely knew that his given name was Edward Walter Spulnik and that he grew up in Windsor.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors inducted Kent Hayes and Mike Keane into the Warriors & Legends Hall of Fame on Friday night. Both were original Warriors in 1984. The first two inductees, a year ago, were Troy Edwards and Mark MacKay. . . . Keane, of course, went on to win three Stanley Cups and now, at the age of 41, plays for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose in his hometown of Winnipeg. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Keane offered this: “To the future Moose Jaw Warriors: you don¹t know it yet, but you’re playing in the best city in Canada. You’re surrounded by great people who will take care of you.”
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A note from Joe Pelletier, over at GreatestHockeyLegends (www.greatesthockeylegends.com):
“GreatestHockeyLegends.com 's countdown of the 20 greatest photos in hockey history has reached the final five.
“Photo No. 5 shows Gordie Howe answering fan mail in the hospital. He is there with a fractured skull, courtesy of the famous and controversial collision with Toronto's Teeder Kennedy. Howe's career was almost over before it began.
“But Howe came back, and became the greatest player not only of his day, but perhaps of all time. I think that is why I like the photo so much. Hockey players put their bodies through the most amazing
physicality and abuse, but they always come back. No other photo captures that quite like this one.
“Tune into the final of GreatestHockeylegends.com 's greatest photos of all time.”
---
Take a moment today and remember Killer Kowalski, who died today in Boston at the age of 81. Now there was wrestler . . . You likely knew that his given name was Edward Walter Spulnik and that he grew up in Windsor.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Friday's stuff . . .
A couple of former WHLers — D Tyson Marsh and D Patrick Wellar — have signed with the ECHL’s Reading Royals, who are affiliated with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Marsh played last season with the ECHL’s Columbia Inferno and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, while Wellar was with the Inferno and the Marlies. Wellar, who played with the Portland Winter Hawks and Calgary Hitmen, is starting his first season as a pro, while Marsh also is a fifth-year pro. He played for the Vancouver Giants.
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It’s business as usual in Portland while the WHL continues to do whatever it is it has to do regarding the sale of the Winter Hawks franchise. The Winter Hawks, who announced the signing of 2008 first-round bantam pick F Ty Rattie early in the week, also have signed D Tyler Wotherspoon. He was the first selection in the 2008 draft’s second round. Wotherspoon, 6-foot-0 and 180 pounds, is from Surrey, B.C., where he played for the bantam AAA Cloverdale Colts, who are coached by Darryl Erickson, a Portland scout.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings have opened camp with one import — veteran F Daniel Bartek, 20 — on hand. Bartek, a two-spotter as an import and a 20-year-old, is one of five 20-year-olds in Brandon’s camp, the others being forwards Andrew Clark and , and defencemen Chad Erb and Matt McCue. . . . Belarus D Kirill Gotovets, 17, was taken by Brandon in the 2008 CHL import draft but is expected to attend Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn. Russian LW Maksim Mayorov, 19, will go to camp with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets so Brandon will wait to see to where he is assigned. Mayorov signed a three-year deal with Columbus on Friday.
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Heard from long-time friend Gord Hahn on Friday. What a great chat we had! Honda worked as a trainer/equipment manager with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Swift Current Broncos for a lot of years before leaving the game — well, as much as a guy can leave the game — and working for the City of Swift Current. But he now is a little bit retired — he works at a golf course and has a lawn-maintenance business — and talking about being a season-ticket holder and just going to the rink and enjoying some hockey. . . . Sounds like a plan to me. . . . But something tells me if someone should need a pair of skates sharpened. . . .
———
Everett signed three 1991-born players Friday, just in time for them to take part in the Silvertips’ preseason tournament. F Ryan White of Parker, Colo., played for the midget AA Colorado Thunderbirds last season, while D Drew McDermott of Saskatoon was with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. C Tyler Maxwell, a 17-year-old from Manhattan Beach, Calif., played for the midget AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings last season.
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OK. . . . It’s rant time. . . . And this is an annual event. . . . Considering the technology available, the WHL should be absolutely embarrassed that it can’t get exhibition game results and goal scorers — in fact, complete summaries — up on its website shortly after games end. . . . It’s 10:45 p.m. PT and the WHL website shows three final results, all from the Everett tournament, on its exhibition schedule and results page. That’s it. . . . And, no, I won't rant on this again. Not until next August.
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What follows, is what I was able to put together by visiting various team websites and, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be doing that every night through the exhibition season. . . . And a plug to Dave Sheldon of the Vancouver Giants for putting period-by-period updates of the Kamloops at Vancouver game. Thanks, big guy!
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FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: F Kruise Reddick scored three times and set up two others as the Tri-City Americans dumped the Portland Winter Hawks 6-2 at the Everett tournament. . . . F Kevin Sundher, 16, scored three times to lead the Chilliwack Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Everett. Sundher was the seventh overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . Seattle actually led 2-0 before Sundher scored three times in a span of seven minutes 13 seconds early in the second period. . . .
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Vancouver 4, Kamloops 1, at Ladner — Kam: Alex Rodgers; Vcr: Chris Cloud, James Wright, Lane Scheidl, Craig Schira.
Everett Tournament
Chilliwack 4, Seattle 2 — Cwk: Kevin Sundher 3, Dylen McKinlay; Sea: David Richard, Jeremy Boyer.
Tri-City 6, Portland 2 — TC: Kruise Reddick 3, Justin Feser, Joel Ridgeway, Brooks Macek. Port: Ty Rattie, Colin Reddin.
Spokane 4, Everett 2 — Spok: Mitch Holmberg, Levko Koper, Dustin Donaghy, Seth Compton; Evt: Tyler Kieffer 2.
———
It’s business as usual in Portland while the WHL continues to do whatever it is it has to do regarding the sale of the Winter Hawks franchise. The Winter Hawks, who announced the signing of 2008 first-round bantam pick F Ty Rattie early in the week, also have signed D Tyler Wotherspoon. He was the first selection in the 2008 draft’s second round. Wotherspoon, 6-foot-0 and 180 pounds, is from Surrey, B.C., where he played for the bantam AAA Cloverdale Colts, who are coached by Darryl Erickson, a Portland scout.
———
The Brandon Wheat Kings have opened camp with one import — veteran F Daniel Bartek, 20 — on hand. Bartek, a two-spotter as an import and a 20-year-old, is one of five 20-year-olds in Brandon’s camp, the others being forwards Andrew Clark and , and defencemen Chad Erb and Matt McCue. . . . Belarus D Kirill Gotovets, 17, was taken by Brandon in the 2008 CHL import draft but is expected to attend Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn. Russian LW Maksim Mayorov, 19, will go to camp with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets so Brandon will wait to see to where he is assigned. Mayorov signed a three-year deal with Columbus on Friday.
———
Heard from long-time friend Gord Hahn on Friday. What a great chat we had! Honda worked as a trainer/equipment manager with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Swift Current Broncos for a lot of years before leaving the game — well, as much as a guy can leave the game — and working for the City of Swift Current. But he now is a little bit retired — he works at a golf course and has a lawn-maintenance business — and talking about being a season-ticket holder and just going to the rink and enjoying some hockey. . . . Sounds like a plan to me. . . . But something tells me if someone should need a pair of skates sharpened. . . .
———
Everett signed three 1991-born players Friday, just in time for them to take part in the Silvertips’ preseason tournament. F Ryan White of Parker, Colo., played for the midget AA Colorado Thunderbirds last season, while D Drew McDermott of Saskatoon was with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. C Tyler Maxwell, a 17-year-old from Manhattan Beach, Calif., played for the midget AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings last season.
———
OK. . . . It’s rant time. . . . And this is an annual event. . . . Considering the technology available, the WHL should be absolutely embarrassed that it can’t get exhibition game results and goal scorers — in fact, complete summaries — up on its website shortly after games end. . . . It’s 10:45 p.m. PT and the WHL website shows three final results, all from the Everett tournament, on its exhibition schedule and results page. That’s it. . . . And, no, I won't rant on this again. Not until next August.
———
What follows, is what I was able to put together by visiting various team websites and, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be doing that every night through the exhibition season. . . . And a plug to Dave Sheldon of the Vancouver Giants for putting period-by-period updates of the Kamloops at Vancouver game. Thanks, big guy!
———
FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS: F Kruise Reddick scored three times and set up two others as the Tri-City Americans dumped the Portland Winter Hawks 6-2 at the Everett tournament. . . . F Kevin Sundher, 16, scored three times to lead the Chilliwack Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Everett. Sundher was the seventh overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . Seattle actually led 2-0 before Sundher scored three times in a span of seven minutes 13 seconds early in the second period. . . .
———
Vancouver 4, Kamloops 1, at Ladner — Kam: Alex Rodgers; Vcr: Chris Cloud, James Wright, Lane Scheidl, Craig Schira.
Everett Tournament
Chilliwack 4, Seattle 2 — Cwk: Kevin Sundher 3, Dylen McKinlay; Sea: David Richard, Jeremy Boyer.
Tri-City 6, Portland 2 — TC: Kruise Reddick 3, Justin Feser, Joel Ridgeway, Brooks Macek. Port: Ty Rattie, Colin Reddin.
Spokane 4, Everett 2 — Spok: Mitch Holmberg, Levko Koper, Dustin Donaghy, Seth Compton; Evt: Tyler Kieffer 2.
Friday's games
FRIDAY
Vancouver 4, Kamloops 1, at Ladner — Kam: Alex Rodgers; Vcr: Chris Cloud, James Wright, Lane Scheidl, Craig Schira.
Everett Tournament
Chilliwack 4, Seattle 2 — Cwk: Kevin Sundher 3, Dylen McKinlay; Sea: David Richard, Jeremy Boyer.
Tri-City 6, Portland 2 — TC: Kruise Reddick 3, Justin Feser, Joel Ridgeway, Brooks Macek. Port: Ty Rattie, Colin Reddin.
Spokane 4, Everett 2 — Spok: Mitch Holmberg, Levko Koper, Dustin Donaghy, Seth Compton; Evt: Tyler Kieffer 2.
Vancouver 4, Kamloops 1, at Ladner — Kam: Alex Rodgers; Vcr: Chris Cloud, James Wright, Lane Scheidl, Craig Schira.
Everett Tournament
Chilliwack 4, Seattle 2 — Cwk: Kevin Sundher 3, Dylen McKinlay; Sea: David Richard, Jeremy Boyer.
Tri-City 6, Portland 2 — TC: Kruise Reddick 3, Justin Feser, Joel Ridgeway, Brooks Macek. Port: Ty Rattie, Colin Reddin.
Spokane 4, Everett 2 — Spok: Mitch Holmberg, Levko Koper, Dustin Donaghy, Seth Compton; Evt: Tyler Kieffer 2.
Blazers lose game; Hall gone for 5-6 months
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Barry Smith got his introduction to life on the road in the WHL on Friday night.
“I’ll tell you one thing, don’t go by shots on goal,” Smith, the first-year head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, said by phone after a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Vancouver Giants in Ladner. “In the third period they said it was 19-3 for them, and they never came out of their end.
“Oh my gawd, it was a joke. They didn’t even come out of their end.”
Yes, Smith liked what he saw of his club over the last 20 minutes.
“We played well in the third period,” he said. “Guys were forechecking hard. I didn’t think we threw enough pucks to the net or went to the hard areas to get some scoring opportunities. We pressured, we pressured, we pressured . . . but we didn’t get enough pucks to the net.
“Still, that’s how we have to go for three periods (tonight).”
The Blazers play host to the Giants tonight, 7 o’clock, at Interior Savings Centre in the second of six exhibition games.
Last night, the Giants got out to a 1-0 lead when veteran Chris Cloud skated out from behind the Blazers’ net and beat goaltender James Priestner at 1:42 of the first period.
Forward Alex Rodgers pulled the Blazers even at 1:02 of the second, tipping in a shot by defenceman Nick Ross.
However, centre James Wright restored Vancouver’s lead on a power play at 3:10. And the Giants took a 3-1 lead at 19:07 when Wright corraled a Priestner clearance attempt and found Lane Scheidl in front for an easy tip in.
Scheidl, a third-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, is one of eight 16-year-olds still with the Giants. Head coach Don Hay has said he may keep as many as five of them.
Vancouver defenceman Craig Schira closed out the scoring with 4:21 to play.
“In the first period,” Smith said, “I thought we were watching a bit. . . . We came out strong but then we got running around a bit and they scored a goal and kind of took it to us at the end.
“In the second, we settled down and got into more of a rhythm. We got the goal by going to the net, getting traffic, doing the hard things.
“In the third period I thought we were excellent. I was happy with our play. That’s where we needed to be. When I heard him announce (the shots as) 19-3, I was, like, WHAT?!”
Smith, who spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, said he saw improvement as the game went on and that was important to him.
“I did see improvement and that’s what you’re looking for in these games,” he said. “We made three mistakes — three unforced errors — and they ended up in the back of our net.”
According to the shot clock, the Giants held a 43-12 edge and Smith said Priestner, a sophomore, was “just OK . . . just OK.”
Veteran Tyson Sexsmith went the distance in goal for Vancouver. He made two superb saves — coming across to stone Shayne Wiebe and hugging a post on Kenton Dulle — with Vancouver up 3-1 late in the third period.
Like Smith, the Blazers’ two Slovakians — defenceman Michal Siska and centre Dalibor Bortnak — made their WHL debuts.
“Siska was good,” Smith said. “I liked him. He made a couple of mistakes but stepped up and made some big hits.
“Bortnak hung on to the puck and didn’t create much. I think for him it’s a little tougher trying to figure out where eveyone’s going and where they’re moving.”
p p p
The Blazers learned Friday that veteran centre Mark Hall, 18, has a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. Hall, who is from Kamloops, will have surgery — likely next week — and will miss most of the season.
“It’s not good,” Kamloops general manager Craig Bonner said. “He’s out five to six months. I had that twice and that’s what it took me.”
JUST NOTES: There was one fight in the game with Blazers LW Matt Wray taking on Cloud. . . . G Jon Groenheyde is scheduled to start for the Blazers tonight. . . . Without Hall, the Blazers’ roster stands at 31, including D Nick Beveridge and C Colin Smith, both of whom are 15 years of age and too young to stay. . . . Vancouver went into last night’s game with 36 players in camp. . . . G Lucas Gore of Kamloops went the distance for Chilliwack as the Bruins dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2 at the Everett tournament. Gore stopped 27 shots. The Bruins got three goals from F Kevin Sundher, the seventh overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Daily News Sports Editor
Barry Smith got his introduction to life on the road in the WHL on Friday night.
“I’ll tell you one thing, don’t go by shots on goal,” Smith, the first-year head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, said by phone after a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Vancouver Giants in Ladner. “In the third period they said it was 19-3 for them, and they never came out of their end.
“Oh my gawd, it was a joke. They didn’t even come out of their end.”
Yes, Smith liked what he saw of his club over the last 20 minutes.
“We played well in the third period,” he said. “Guys were forechecking hard. I didn’t think we threw enough pucks to the net or went to the hard areas to get some scoring opportunities. We pressured, we pressured, we pressured . . . but we didn’t get enough pucks to the net.
“Still, that’s how we have to go for three periods (tonight).”
The Blazers play host to the Giants tonight, 7 o’clock, at Interior Savings Centre in the second of six exhibition games.
Last night, the Giants got out to a 1-0 lead when veteran Chris Cloud skated out from behind the Blazers’ net and beat goaltender James Priestner at 1:42 of the first period.
Forward Alex Rodgers pulled the Blazers even at 1:02 of the second, tipping in a shot by defenceman Nick Ross.
However, centre James Wright restored Vancouver’s lead on a power play at 3:10. And the Giants took a 3-1 lead at 19:07 when Wright corraled a Priestner clearance attempt and found Lane Scheidl in front for an easy tip in.
Scheidl, a third-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, is one of eight 16-year-olds still with the Giants. Head coach Don Hay has said he may keep as many as five of them.
Vancouver defenceman Craig Schira closed out the scoring with 4:21 to play.
“In the first period,” Smith said, “I thought we were watching a bit. . . . We came out strong but then we got running around a bit and they scored a goal and kind of took it to us at the end.
“In the second, we settled down and got into more of a rhythm. We got the goal by going to the net, getting traffic, doing the hard things.
“In the third period I thought we were excellent. I was happy with our play. That’s where we needed to be. When I heard him announce (the shots as) 19-3, I was, like, WHAT?!”
Smith, who spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, said he saw improvement as the game went on and that was important to him.
“I did see improvement and that’s what you’re looking for in these games,” he said. “We made three mistakes — three unforced errors — and they ended up in the back of our net.”
According to the shot clock, the Giants held a 43-12 edge and Smith said Priestner, a sophomore, was “just OK . . . just OK.”
Veteran Tyson Sexsmith went the distance in goal for Vancouver. He made two superb saves — coming across to stone Shayne Wiebe and hugging a post on Kenton Dulle — with Vancouver up 3-1 late in the third period.
Like Smith, the Blazers’ two Slovakians — defenceman Michal Siska and centre Dalibor Bortnak — made their WHL debuts.
“Siska was good,” Smith said. “I liked him. He made a couple of mistakes but stepped up and made some big hits.
“Bortnak hung on to the puck and didn’t create much. I think for him it’s a little tougher trying to figure out where eveyone’s going and where they’re moving.”
p p p
The Blazers learned Friday that veteran centre Mark Hall, 18, has a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. Hall, who is from Kamloops, will have surgery — likely next week — and will miss most of the season.
“It’s not good,” Kamloops general manager Craig Bonner said. “He’s out five to six months. I had that twice and that’s what it took me.”
JUST NOTES: There was one fight in the game with Blazers LW Matt Wray taking on Cloud. . . . G Jon Groenheyde is scheduled to start for the Blazers tonight. . . . Without Hall, the Blazers’ roster stands at 31, including D Nick Beveridge and C Colin Smith, both of whom are 15 years of age and too young to stay. . . . Vancouver went into last night’s game with 36 players in camp. . . . G Lucas Gore of Kamloops went the distance for Chilliwack as the Bruins dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2 at the Everett tournament. Gore stopped 27 shots. The Bruins got three goals from F Kevin Sundher, the seventh overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Friday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: Garth MacBeth, who keeps an eye on the European scene on our behalf, never rests. The first part of today’s report arrived at 1:37 a.m. . . . D Steve Makway (Kootenay/Tri-City) has been released by KooKoo Kouvola (Finland Mestis). The club said that Makway "did not meet expectations." He had three assists and six penalty minutes in four exhibition games. . . . F K.C. Timmons (Tri-City) signed with Smoke Eaters Geleen (Netherlands). He had eight goals and 12 assists in 70 games with Manchester and Coventry (UK Elite Hockey League) last season. As a side note, Geleen named its team after the Trail Smoke Eaters.
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Two of my favourite nicknames in all of sports belong to the Trail Smoke Eaters and the Kimberley Dynamiters. Those are awesome nicknames.
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Like most, if not all, WHL teams, the Edmonton Oil Kings have more than three players scrapping for the three available 20-year-old spots. The battle in Edmonton has lost one combatant as F J.P. Szaszkiewicz has chosen to attend the U of Alberta and play for the Alberta Golden Bears. . . . The 20-year-olds remaining with the Oil Kings are D Cameron Cepek, F Brenden Dowd, F Brandon Lockerby and F Jeff Lee.
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The Prince George Cougars have signed D Shane Pilling, the 69th selection in the 2008 WHL bantam draft. Pilling, from Lethbridge, had 20 points in 33 games with the bantam AAA Lethbridge Val Matteotti Golden Hawks last season. The 5-foot-8, 145-pound Pilling added six points in five playoff games. He will return home from the Cougars’ camp to play in the midget AAA ranks.
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Can't mention Shane Pilling without wondering if he is related to former Regina Pats head coach Gregg Pilling. But we won't get into Gregg Pilling stories today. Not enough time.
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Drew Wilson, the radio voice of the Prince Albert Raides, drops us a line so that we can let you know that 900 CKBI – “The station that Morley Jaeger built,” Wilson writes – is carrying all Raiders preseason games, starting Sunday night at 6:30 when the despised Saskatoon Blades are at the Art Hauser Centre. . . . You have to love radio stations that make the commitment to follow their teams right from the first puck drop of the exhibition season. . . . Wilson also notes that “We are also launching a weekly Raider-WHL talk show Monday nights at 6 p.m. . . . The Insider's Report.” The new show begins Sept. 15.
---
Two of my favourite nicknames in all of sports belong to the Trail Smoke Eaters and the Kimberley Dynamiters. Those are awesome nicknames.
---
Like most, if not all, WHL teams, the Edmonton Oil Kings have more than three players scrapping for the three available 20-year-old spots. The battle in Edmonton has lost one combatant as F J.P. Szaszkiewicz has chosen to attend the U of Alberta and play for the Alberta Golden Bears. . . . The 20-year-olds remaining with the Oil Kings are D Cameron Cepek, F Brenden Dowd, F Brandon Lockerby and F Jeff Lee.
---
The Prince George Cougars have signed D Shane Pilling, the 69th selection in the 2008 WHL bantam draft. Pilling, from Lethbridge, had 20 points in 33 games with the bantam AAA Lethbridge Val Matteotti Golden Hawks last season. The 5-foot-8, 145-pound Pilling added six points in five playoff games. He will return home from the Cougars’ camp to play in the midget AAA ranks.
---
Can't mention Shane Pilling without wondering if he is related to former Regina Pats head coach Gregg Pilling. But we won't get into Gregg Pilling stories today. Not enough time.
---
Drew Wilson, the radio voice of the Prince Albert Raides, drops us a line so that we can let you know that 900 CKBI – “The station that Morley Jaeger built,” Wilson writes – is carrying all Raiders preseason games, starting Sunday night at 6:30 when the despised Saskatoon Blades are at the Art Hauser Centre. . . . You have to love radio stations that make the commitment to follow their teams right from the first puck drop of the exhibition season. . . . Wilson also notes that “We are also launching a weekly Raider-WHL talk show Monday nights at 6 p.m. . . . The Insider's Report.” The new show begins Sept. 15.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
A bit more from Thursday . . .
The Lethbridge Hurricanes are hoping to have C Zach Boychuk back early in October. Boychuk, who was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the 14th pick of the NHL’s 2008 draft, had wrist surgery in July. “It’s coming along a lot quicker than I expected,” Boychuk told Tony Clarke of the Lethbridge Herald. “The doctor told me on July 15 I would be out for at least three months, but I’m expecting to be back a little earlier than that, hopefully by the beginning of October. I don’t want rush it, Carolina doesn’t want me to rush it and neither does Lethbridge, so I’m just going to take it within stride and keep my cardio up and my strength.”
———
A couple of other notes from the Lethbridge Herald: G Michael Maniago, 20, has ended his WHL career. Maniago, who began with the Kamloops Blazers and finished with Lethbridge, didn’t report to the start of the Hurricanes’ training camp. He has decided to attend school in Calgary. . . . Veteran trainer Tyler (Slim) Broderson was at camp saying his goodbyes on Thursday. Carolyn Glover has been hired to replace the retiring Broderson. . . . And, no, I didn't know that Broderson's first name was Tyler.
———
Check the Herald’s website right here for lots of camp coverage.
———
The Spokane Chiefs are down to 32 players, including four 15-year-olds, all of whom are, of course, ineligible for regular play this season. And the Chiefs will be without LW Drayson Bowman and LW Ondrej Roman when they play in the Everett tournament this weekend. The Spokane Spokesman-Review reports that Bowman is at home (Littleton, Colo.), preparing to attend the Carolina Hurricanes’ camp, while Roman, a Czech, is awaiting an IIHF release. . . . The Spokesman-Review’s Jessica Brown is reporting that the Chiefs will name Leigh Mendelson as their assistant coach, likely sometime next week. Mendelson was an assistant coach with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers last season. He will fill the vacancy created when Hardy Sauter was promoted to head coach, replacing Bill Peters, who signed on as head coach of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.
———
A couple of other notes from the Lethbridge Herald: G Michael Maniago, 20, has ended his WHL career. Maniago, who began with the Kamloops Blazers and finished with Lethbridge, didn’t report to the start of the Hurricanes’ training camp. He has decided to attend school in Calgary. . . . Veteran trainer Tyler (Slim) Broderson was at camp saying his goodbyes on Thursday. Carolyn Glover has been hired to replace the retiring Broderson. . . . And, no, I didn't know that Broderson's first name was Tyler.
———
Check the Herald’s website right here for lots of camp coverage.
———
The Spokane Chiefs are down to 32 players, including four 15-year-olds, all of whom are, of course, ineligible for regular play this season. And the Chiefs will be without LW Drayson Bowman and LW Ondrej Roman when they play in the Everett tournament this weekend. The Spokane Spokesman-Review reports that Bowman is at home (Littleton, Colo.), preparing to attend the Carolina Hurricanes’ camp, while Roman, a Czech, is awaiting an IIHF release. . . . The Spokesman-Review’s Jessica Brown is reporting that the Chiefs will name Leigh Mendelson as their assistant coach, likely sometime next week. Mendelson was an assistant coach with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers last season. He will fill the vacancy created when Hardy Sauter was promoted to head coach, replacing Bill Peters, who signed on as head coach of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.
Smith ready for WHL debut with Blazers
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Barry Smith, the new head coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, is wound up on the best of days.
Today, however, is super-hyper Friday.
Smith will make his WHL coaching debut tonight as the Blazers and Vancouver Giants open the exhibition season in Ladner. The teams complete the two-game series at Interior Savings Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Smith is even more excited than usual for two reasons: 1. He is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to run his own bench; and, 2. He will be able to look over to the Giants’ bench and see Don Hay, the Kamloops native and former Blazers coach who is entering his fifth season in Vancouver.
“We’re friends,” Smith said Thursday. “I’ve known Don and we talked about his job. I know he put in a word for me about getting here as well. We always communicated when we were in Vancouver on different ideas and philosophies.
“He’s a great coach. You measure yourself against guys who are successful in this league so that’s a measuring stick. Even though it’s exhibition season, I’m competitive. I want to win and it would be nice to beat Don.”
Smith will be joined behind the Blazers’ bench by assistants Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, a pair of former Blazers players and ex-NHL defencemen, both of whom also will be making their WHL debuts.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I’m excited,” said Barry Smith, who spent the last five years as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. “I have run some benches in the National League but it’s not the same as when you’re the guy.
“By the time the exhibition season is over I’ll feel comfortable, knowing guys and not having to look at the card to see what that guy’s name is.”
The Blazers have been in camp since Friday, although most, if not all, of the players have been skating here since well before that. It is time, then, to play some games. And, as Smith said, “You always think you look good until you play another team, too, so that’s exciting for me . . . to see how we stack up.”
Smith said he is quite pleased with the way training camp went, with the exception of conditioning. It isn’t that players showed up out of shape, it’s just that “their idea of good shape” and Smith’s idea are slightly different.
“The guys are working hard and doing the things that I ask,” Smith said. “The guys all worked hard this summer but they just have to get there a little bit more. That is the only thing I would like to see really improved.”
Like most coaches taking over a team, he also talks about changing the culture, something he knows won’t happen overnight.
“I told them that five days in camp, skating hard and working hard, doesn’t change the culture,” he said.
He knows, too, that culture change takes place more between the ears than on the ice.
“Exactly,” Smith said. “That’s exactly it.”
Not including the injured Mark Hall, Smith has 31 players on his roster; he will take 20 of them to Ladner.
“There is no rhyme nor reason to that,” Smith said, “but I will be playing some of the young guys early.”
Smith plans to have sophomore James Priestner go the distance in goal tonight, with freshman Jon Groenheyde on the bench. On Saturday, Groenheyde will start with veteran Justin Leclerc backing up. Before the exhbition season ends, each goaltender is scheduled to play two games.
“They’re going to play full games,” Smith said. “This half game . . . it’s not always fair . . . I like whole games. I want to see how guys handle adversity, how they handle the pressure of a tough game.”
Smith also will get a look at Slovakians Dalibor Bortnak and Michal Siska. If Bortnak, a centre/left winger, shows good conditioning tonight — he played for Slovakia at the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament earlier this month — he’ll play again Saturday.
“I would like to play him back-to-back and get him going as soon as possible,” said Smith, who referred to the freshman imports as “two outstanding players.”
Siska, a defenceman, is “a smart player, not overly flashy, with good hands,” Smith said. “He’s real light on his feet . . . a good skater, good lateral movement, good agility. He steps up and plays the body. He’s not afraid to play and compete.”
As for Bortnak, Smith said, he’s a “wide-track skater, big and strong. He gets the puck and likes to hang on to it down low. He’s going to create a lot for his linemates.”
JUST NOTES: RW Jimmy Bubnick (shoulder) won’t play this weekend. . . . Hall, who was thought to have sprained his right knee in a precamp workout, had an MRI on Thursday. General manager Craig Bonner said the results should be in today but that the injury “looks worse than we originally thought.” . . . Bonner will watch tonight’s game in Ladner then spend Saturday at the Everett Silvertips’ tournament before heading to Edmonton to watch the Oil Kings’ tournament Sunday. . . . C Grayson Downing, the Blazers’ fourth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, ended up going home to Abbotsford with a broken wrist. He was injured in a Saturday morning scrimmage. Downing, 16, is expected to play for the BCHL’s Westside Warriors. . . . The Blazers have released RW Matt Riley, 17. He was a fourth-round selection in the 2006 bantam draft. A native of Coquitlam, Riley is expected to join the BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Daily News Sports Editor
Barry Smith, the new head coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, is wound up on the best of days.
Today, however, is super-hyper Friday.
Smith will make his WHL coaching debut tonight as the Blazers and Vancouver Giants open the exhibition season in Ladner. The teams complete the two-game series at Interior Savings Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Smith is even more excited than usual for two reasons: 1. He is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to run his own bench; and, 2. He will be able to look over to the Giants’ bench and see Don Hay, the Kamloops native and former Blazers coach who is entering his fifth season in Vancouver.
“We’re friends,” Smith said Thursday. “I’ve known Don and we talked about his job. I know he put in a word for me about getting here as well. We always communicated when we were in Vancouver on different ideas and philosophies.
“He’s a great coach. You measure yourself against guys who are successful in this league so that’s a measuring stick. Even though it’s exhibition season, I’m competitive. I want to win and it would be nice to beat Don.”
Smith will be joined behind the Blazers’ bench by assistants Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, a pair of former Blazers players and ex-NHL defencemen, both of whom also will be making their WHL debuts.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I’m excited,” said Barry Smith, who spent the last five years as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. “I have run some benches in the National League but it’s not the same as when you’re the guy.
“By the time the exhibition season is over I’ll feel comfortable, knowing guys and not having to look at the card to see what that guy’s name is.”
The Blazers have been in camp since Friday, although most, if not all, of the players have been skating here since well before that. It is time, then, to play some games. And, as Smith said, “You always think you look good until you play another team, too, so that’s exciting for me . . . to see how we stack up.”
Smith said he is quite pleased with the way training camp went, with the exception of conditioning. It isn’t that players showed up out of shape, it’s just that “their idea of good shape” and Smith’s idea are slightly different.
“The guys are working hard and doing the things that I ask,” Smith said. “The guys all worked hard this summer but they just have to get there a little bit more. That is the only thing I would like to see really improved.”
Like most coaches taking over a team, he also talks about changing the culture, something he knows won’t happen overnight.
“I told them that five days in camp, skating hard and working hard, doesn’t change the culture,” he said.
He knows, too, that culture change takes place more between the ears than on the ice.
“Exactly,” Smith said. “That’s exactly it.”
Not including the injured Mark Hall, Smith has 31 players on his roster; he will take 20 of them to Ladner.
“There is no rhyme nor reason to that,” Smith said, “but I will be playing some of the young guys early.”
Smith plans to have sophomore James Priestner go the distance in goal tonight, with freshman Jon Groenheyde on the bench. On Saturday, Groenheyde will start with veteran Justin Leclerc backing up. Before the exhbition season ends, each goaltender is scheduled to play two games.
“They’re going to play full games,” Smith said. “This half game . . . it’s not always fair . . . I like whole games. I want to see how guys handle adversity, how they handle the pressure of a tough game.”
Smith also will get a look at Slovakians Dalibor Bortnak and Michal Siska. If Bortnak, a centre/left winger, shows good conditioning tonight — he played for Slovakia at the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament earlier this month — he’ll play again Saturday.
“I would like to play him back-to-back and get him going as soon as possible,” said Smith, who referred to the freshman imports as “two outstanding players.”
Siska, a defenceman, is “a smart player, not overly flashy, with good hands,” Smith said. “He’s real light on his feet . . . a good skater, good lateral movement, good agility. He steps up and plays the body. He’s not afraid to play and compete.”
As for Bortnak, Smith said, he’s a “wide-track skater, big and strong. He gets the puck and likes to hang on to it down low. He’s going to create a lot for his linemates.”
JUST NOTES: RW Jimmy Bubnick (shoulder) won’t play this weekend. . . . Hall, who was thought to have sprained his right knee in a precamp workout, had an MRI on Thursday. General manager Craig Bonner said the results should be in today but that the injury “looks worse than we originally thought.” . . . Bonner will watch tonight’s game in Ladner then spend Saturday at the Everett Silvertips’ tournament before heading to Edmonton to watch the Oil Kings’ tournament Sunday. . . . C Grayson Downing, the Blazers’ fourth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, ended up going home to Abbotsford with a broken wrist. He was injured in a Saturday morning scrimmage. Downing, 16, is expected to play for the BCHL’s Westside Warriors. . . . The Blazers have released RW Matt Riley, 17. He was a fourth-round selection in the 2006 bantam draft. A native of Coquitlam, Riley is expected to join the BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
More from Thursday . . .
Former WHL G Todd Ford has signed with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Ford, 24, played one game with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies last season, but he spent most of the winter with the ECHL’s Columbia Inferno, going 21-14-5 with a 3.01 GAA and a .906 save percentage. He was a third-round selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL’s 2002 draft. He played in the WHL with the Swift Current Broncos, Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants.
———
Got a note today from old friend Brian Munz, the former radio voice of the Prince Albert Raiders. (Can’t mention the Raiders’ play-by-play job without remembering Morley Jaeger, who did that job more than a couple of years ago, back when Terry Simpson and the Raiders ruled the junior A world.) . . . Munz is preparing for his third season of calling Manitoba Moose games on Winnipeg radio station CJOB.
———
The Tri-City Americans have signed three players to WHL contracts — F Justin Feser, F Tanner Olstad and F Spencer Asuchak. . . . Feser, a 16-year-old from Red Deer, had 30 points in 30 games with the midget AAA team in Red Deer last season. He was a ninth-round pick in the 2007 WHL bantam draft. . . . Olstad, a 16-year-old from Calgary, had 53 points in 28 games with a midget AA team in his hometown last season. The Americans got Olstad in the eighth round of the 2007 draft. . . . Asuchak, 17, is from Kamloops where he spent last season with the major midget Thompson Blazers. He had 25 points in 35 games. The Americans put him on their list last season. . . . All three were in the Americans‚ rookie camp and played well enough to get invited to main camp. They are on the roster for this weekend‚s tournament in Everett and next weekend’s Red Lion Hotels tournament in Kennewick.
———
Ozzie Guillen, the volatile manager of the Chicago White Sox, was one of Jay Mariotti’s favourite targets while he was a columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times. Here’s what Guillen had to say to the Sun-Times once he learned that Mariotti was leaving:
“When people wish the worst on people, you have to be careful because the baseball gods are going to get you. He was not asking just for my job, he was asking for thousands and thousands of people’s jobs over the years. I’m not going to say I will get the last laugh because I will get fired from this job. But the day I get fired is the day I lose interest in this game.
“Am I enjoying this? Yes, because he tried to make my life miserable. He did everything in his power to make my life go the wrong way, but he didn’t make me miserable because I don’t believe him. Maybe if somebody else wrote that stuff about me, then I would put attention on it. And that’s what he wanted. He wanted attention. He has to thank me because I gave him a lot of (stuff) to work with. I know I helped him the last four years to make his money, and, obviously, he did not help me at all to make my money.”
———
The OHL’s Ottawa 67’s opened camp on Thursday morning and GM/head coach Brian Kilrea was front and centre. It’s his 32nd season with the 67’s and, yes, he is the winningest coach in Canadian major junior history. He also is 74 years young and won’t even hint as to whether this might be his last season.
———
The Swift Current Broncos have signed D Reece Scarlett, 15, the 12th overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft. From Sherwood Park, Alta., he had 30 points in 33 games for the bantam AAA team there last season.
———
The Prince George Cougars have dealt G Alex Wright, 18, to the Spokane Chiefs for a conditional pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Wright was with the major midget Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars last season. . . . Earlier this summer, the Cougars acquired G Kevin Armstrong, 20, from the Chiefs. He will open the season as the Cougars’ starter. . . . The Chiefs now have three goaltenders on their roster, the others being starter Dustin Tokarski, 19, and James Reid, 18, who spent some time with Spokane early last season.
———
The Regina Pats were unable to sign F Spencer Braaten, 18, who has left the Saskatchewan capital and will keep his NCAA options open. According to the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder: “Braaten had been with Regina since the start of training camp, but the sides reached an impasse regarding his status for this weekend’s preseason tournament in Edmonton. If Braaten had dressed for an exhibition game, he would have lost a year of NCAA eligibility. Therefore, he was seeking some guarantees that the Pats weren’t prepared to offer before they could evaluate him in a live WHL environment.” . . . Brent Parker, the Pats’ general manager, told Harder: “The NCAA rules don’t allow a kid to explore his options. It’s a shame because it’s really punishing the kid by not giving him an opportunity to see if he can play at the top level (of junior hockey). Instead they have to settle for playing at a secondary level.” . . . Braaten had 79 points in 43 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers last season.
———
Barry Smith, the new head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, played his minor hockey in Wenatchee, Wash. Corey Voegele of the Wenatchee World caught up with Smith the other day and that story is right here.
———
The Los Angeles Kings have signed Regina D Colten Teubert to a three-year entry-level NHL contract. Teubert, 18, was the 13th overall selection in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Teubert had 23 points and 135 penalty minutes in 66 games with the Pats last season. Regina took him with the first overall pick in the 2005 WHL bantam draft. If he doesn’t earn a berth with the Kings in training camp, he will be returned to Regina. If that’s the case, watch for him with Team Canada at the 2009 world junior tournament.
———
Got a note today from old friend Brian Munz, the former radio voice of the Prince Albert Raiders. (Can’t mention the Raiders’ play-by-play job without remembering Morley Jaeger, who did that job more than a couple of years ago, back when Terry Simpson and the Raiders ruled the junior A world.) . . . Munz is preparing for his third season of calling Manitoba Moose games on Winnipeg radio station CJOB.
———
The Tri-City Americans have signed three players to WHL contracts — F Justin Feser, F Tanner Olstad and F Spencer Asuchak. . . . Feser, a 16-year-old from Red Deer, had 30 points in 30 games with the midget AAA team in Red Deer last season. He was a ninth-round pick in the 2007 WHL bantam draft. . . . Olstad, a 16-year-old from Calgary, had 53 points in 28 games with a midget AA team in his hometown last season. The Americans got Olstad in the eighth round of the 2007 draft. . . . Asuchak, 17, is from Kamloops where he spent last season with the major midget Thompson Blazers. He had 25 points in 35 games. The Americans put him on their list last season. . . . All three were in the Americans‚ rookie camp and played well enough to get invited to main camp. They are on the roster for this weekend‚s tournament in Everett and next weekend’s Red Lion Hotels tournament in Kennewick.
———
Ozzie Guillen, the volatile manager of the Chicago White Sox, was one of Jay Mariotti’s favourite targets while he was a columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times. Here’s what Guillen had to say to the Sun-Times once he learned that Mariotti was leaving:
“When people wish the worst on people, you have to be careful because the baseball gods are going to get you. He was not asking just for my job, he was asking for thousands and thousands of people’s jobs over the years. I’m not going to say I will get the last laugh because I will get fired from this job. But the day I get fired is the day I lose interest in this game.
“Am I enjoying this? Yes, because he tried to make my life miserable. He did everything in his power to make my life go the wrong way, but he didn’t make me miserable because I don’t believe him. Maybe if somebody else wrote that stuff about me, then I would put attention on it. And that’s what he wanted. He wanted attention. He has to thank me because I gave him a lot of (stuff) to work with. I know I helped him the last four years to make his money, and, obviously, he did not help me at all to make my money.”
———
The OHL’s Ottawa 67’s opened camp on Thursday morning and GM/head coach Brian Kilrea was front and centre. It’s his 32nd season with the 67’s and, yes, he is the winningest coach in Canadian major junior history. He also is 74 years young and won’t even hint as to whether this might be his last season.
———
The Swift Current Broncos have signed D Reece Scarlett, 15, the 12th overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft. From Sherwood Park, Alta., he had 30 points in 33 games for the bantam AAA team there last season.
———
The Prince George Cougars have dealt G Alex Wright, 18, to the Spokane Chiefs for a conditional pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Wright was with the major midget Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars last season. . . . Earlier this summer, the Cougars acquired G Kevin Armstrong, 20, from the Chiefs. He will open the season as the Cougars’ starter. . . . The Chiefs now have three goaltenders on their roster, the others being starter Dustin Tokarski, 19, and James Reid, 18, who spent some time with Spokane early last season.
———
The Regina Pats were unable to sign F Spencer Braaten, 18, who has left the Saskatchewan capital and will keep his NCAA options open. According to the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder: “Braaten had been with Regina since the start of training camp, but the sides reached an impasse regarding his status for this weekend’s preseason tournament in Edmonton. If Braaten had dressed for an exhibition game, he would have lost a year of NCAA eligibility. Therefore, he was seeking some guarantees that the Pats weren’t prepared to offer before they could evaluate him in a live WHL environment.” . . . Brent Parker, the Pats’ general manager, told Harder: “The NCAA rules don’t allow a kid to explore his options. It’s a shame because it’s really punishing the kid by not giving him an opportunity to see if he can play at the top level (of junior hockey). Instead they have to settle for playing at a secondary level.” . . . Braaten had 79 points in 43 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers last season.
———
Barry Smith, the new head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, played his minor hockey in Wenatchee, Wash. Corey Voegele of the Wenatchee World caught up with Smith the other day and that story is right here.
———
The Los Angeles Kings have signed Regina D Colten Teubert to a three-year entry-level NHL contract. Teubert, 18, was the 13th overall selection in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Teubert had 23 points and 135 penalty minutes in 66 games with the Pats last season. Regina took him with the first overall pick in the 2005 WHL bantam draft. If he doesn’t earn a berth with the Kings in training camp, he will be returned to Regina. If that’s the case, watch for him with Team Canada at the 2009 world junior tournament.
KIBIHT: R.I.P.
By TRACY WATSON
Daily News Sports Reporter
For months now, Fred Cavanagh has left the door open, perhaps just a crack, to the possibility there still may be a way to save the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament.
Well, that door now has closed — slammed shut by members of the KIBIHT society who voted unanimously Wednesday night to end the city’s longest tournament after 40 years.
The end of the tournament is a “done deal,” said KIBIHT president Fred Cavanagh.
“The members decided that this has been drug out long enough,” he said Thursday. “Anybody that’s going to run it, whether it be us or somebody else, is going to have to have time to put this together. And right now, you’re running out of time. So the motion was made to squash it, and that’s it.”
Cavanagh said he kept hoping that suitable ice time could be found to hold the event for a 41st time in 2009. However, even if the City of Kamloops comes up with a miracle, he said it’s too late to reconsider the society’s decision.
“Quite frankly, it’s probably already past (the point of no return),” Cavanagh said. “I have to now get hold of these two organizations (Langley and Victoria) that expressed interest in taking it there and see if they’re still interested. Because the timeframe for them is probably gone by now as well. And if it doesn’t happen there, we’ll just shut it down period.”
Because KIBIHT is a non-profit society, members now are able to vote on whether to sell their assets. Cavanagh has said in the past that groups in Langley and Victoria had been interested in perhaps purchasing them.
KIBIHT has had trouble in recent years attracting enough quality club teams to ensure the tournament is a high-calibre draw. With the growing propensity toward all-star teams, and with the conflicts that have arisen with bantam playoffs and all-star selection camps, that task just keeps getting tougher.
So KIBIHT organizers decided after the 40th edition, which ran April 8-13, that they would reformat the event into a spring, or all-star, tournament. The only problem was that it would have to be pushed back in 2009, ideally from April 28 to May 2.
Those dates, however, didn’t work for the City of Kamloops — the ice already will have been pulled out of the McArthur Island Sports and Events Centre, the most desired arena for the tournament, because of other user groups, such as lacrosse and trade shows. And, ideally, four ice surfaces are required to hold a tournament of KIBIHT’s magnitude.
There were discussions between KIBIHT and the City to find a compromise, but Cavanagh said months lapsed between the initial talks and the most recent meetings. He said talks ranged from using the Sports Centre after all, to using Memorial Arena, Valleyview and ISC, to the City’s final proposal.
On Aug. 12, City administrator Randy Diehl told Council that a viable alternative was to use two city arenas, Interior Savings Centre and Valleyview Arena, as well as the privately owned Ice Box Arena.
That’s why it was so surprising to Diehl on Thursday that the KIBIHT society had called off the tourney altogether.
“It’s disappointing, because KIBIHT is an important tournament,” Diehl said. “It’s a valuable tournament to the City.”
Now that the society has voted to end it, will the City go back to the drawing board in a last-ditch effort to save it?
“I think we’ve provided them with a solution,” Diehl said. “Basically we’ve got two (City) rinks. That’s it. There are other users using the (other) rinks. There are conflicts all over the place. We can move some times around and we can move a couple of rinks around within reason, but we can’t give them four and we can’t give them three City rinks.
“They were very clear: ‘We’d be happy if we got three.’ So we went back to them with those three, knowing full well that it wasn’t ideal, and knowing full well they had used the Ice Box two years before,” Diehl said. “We thought, OK, maybe this will work and let’s try to get a meeting together. Since Aug. 12 we’ve called him and said, 'We’d like to meet with you to discuss this,’ and the response back was, ‘We don’t think that’s necessary.’
“We didn’t hear back until we’ve heard through the media that they have decided for whatever reason to cancel the program.”
Cavanagh tells a different story.
“The only time I ever agreed to work it with three arenas would have been with McArthur Island and ISC — that was the original proposal,” he said. “And it got changed twice after that.”
Cavanagh said one of his concerns with the three-rink scenario was the WHL playoffs — what happens if the Kamloops Blazers require the ISC during the tourney dates? With only three ice surfaces, there isn’t any wiggle room for schedule alterations.
“There’s no more ice in town, so it would not work. You can’t run a tournament of this size on ifs and maybes. If it happens — and it has happened before — every time the Blazers have one playoff game we have to reschedule three of ours. I said, ‘What would I do with these teams? Ask them to stay another day over in a hotel?’ You can’t do that. So that’s where it ended.”
Even if a better solution still could be found, Cavanagh said he wouldn’t entertain it.
“At some point in time the frustration sets in and enough is enough,” he said. “Let’s get on with it. That’s where we’re at now.”
twatson@kamloopsnews.ca
Daily News Sports Reporter
For months now, Fred Cavanagh has left the door open, perhaps just a crack, to the possibility there still may be a way to save the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament.
Well, that door now has closed — slammed shut by members of the KIBIHT society who voted unanimously Wednesday night to end the city’s longest tournament after 40 years.
The end of the tournament is a “done deal,” said KIBIHT president Fred Cavanagh.
“The members decided that this has been drug out long enough,” he said Thursday. “Anybody that’s going to run it, whether it be us or somebody else, is going to have to have time to put this together. And right now, you’re running out of time. So the motion was made to squash it, and that’s it.”
Cavanagh said he kept hoping that suitable ice time could be found to hold the event for a 41st time in 2009. However, even if the City of Kamloops comes up with a miracle, he said it’s too late to reconsider the society’s decision.
“Quite frankly, it’s probably already past (the point of no return),” Cavanagh said. “I have to now get hold of these two organizations (Langley and Victoria) that expressed interest in taking it there and see if they’re still interested. Because the timeframe for them is probably gone by now as well. And if it doesn’t happen there, we’ll just shut it down period.”
Because KIBIHT is a non-profit society, members now are able to vote on whether to sell their assets. Cavanagh has said in the past that groups in Langley and Victoria had been interested in perhaps purchasing them.
KIBIHT has had trouble in recent years attracting enough quality club teams to ensure the tournament is a high-calibre draw. With the growing propensity toward all-star teams, and with the conflicts that have arisen with bantam playoffs and all-star selection camps, that task just keeps getting tougher.
So KIBIHT organizers decided after the 40th edition, which ran April 8-13, that they would reformat the event into a spring, or all-star, tournament. The only problem was that it would have to be pushed back in 2009, ideally from April 28 to May 2.
Those dates, however, didn’t work for the City of Kamloops — the ice already will have been pulled out of the McArthur Island Sports and Events Centre, the most desired arena for the tournament, because of other user groups, such as lacrosse and trade shows. And, ideally, four ice surfaces are required to hold a tournament of KIBIHT’s magnitude.
There were discussions between KIBIHT and the City to find a compromise, but Cavanagh said months lapsed between the initial talks and the most recent meetings. He said talks ranged from using the Sports Centre after all, to using Memorial Arena, Valleyview and ISC, to the City’s final proposal.
On Aug. 12, City administrator Randy Diehl told Council that a viable alternative was to use two city arenas, Interior Savings Centre and Valleyview Arena, as well as the privately owned Ice Box Arena.
That’s why it was so surprising to Diehl on Thursday that the KIBIHT society had called off the tourney altogether.
“It’s disappointing, because KIBIHT is an important tournament,” Diehl said. “It’s a valuable tournament to the City.”
Now that the society has voted to end it, will the City go back to the drawing board in a last-ditch effort to save it?
“I think we’ve provided them with a solution,” Diehl said. “Basically we’ve got two (City) rinks. That’s it. There are other users using the (other) rinks. There are conflicts all over the place. We can move some times around and we can move a couple of rinks around within reason, but we can’t give them four and we can’t give them three City rinks.
“They were very clear: ‘We’d be happy if we got three.’ So we went back to them with those three, knowing full well that it wasn’t ideal, and knowing full well they had used the Ice Box two years before,” Diehl said. “We thought, OK, maybe this will work and let’s try to get a meeting together. Since Aug. 12 we’ve called him and said, 'We’d like to meet with you to discuss this,’ and the response back was, ‘We don’t think that’s necessary.’
“We didn’t hear back until we’ve heard through the media that they have decided for whatever reason to cancel the program.”
Cavanagh tells a different story.
“The only time I ever agreed to work it with three arenas would have been with McArthur Island and ISC — that was the original proposal,” he said. “And it got changed twice after that.”
Cavanagh said one of his concerns with the three-rink scenario was the WHL playoffs — what happens if the Kamloops Blazers require the ISC during the tourney dates? With only three ice surfaces, there isn’t any wiggle room for schedule alterations.
“There’s no more ice in town, so it would not work. You can’t run a tournament of this size on ifs and maybes. If it happens — and it has happened before — every time the Blazers have one playoff game we have to reschedule three of ours. I said, ‘What would I do with these teams? Ask them to stay another day over in a hotel?’ You can’t do that. So that’s where it ended.”
Even if a better solution still could be found, Cavanagh said he wouldn’t entertain it.
“At some point in time the frustration sets in and enough is enough,” he said. “Let’s get on with it. That’s where we’re at now.”
twatson@kamloopsnews.ca
Thursday . . .
The 2012 world junior championship will be held in Calgary and Edmonton. The press release is right here. This means the tournament will be held in Canada three times in four years, with two of those in the west.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed D Ryan Murray, their first selection, ninth overall, in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft. Murray, 5-foot-10 and 162 pounds, is from the bantam AA Balgonie, Sask., Prairie Storm. He had 42 points with that squad and late in the season picked up seven points in a 10-game stint with Balgonie’s midget team. The Silvertips project that Murray will be quarterbacking their power play in a couple of seasons.
---
Stu Barnes, a member of the Tri-City Americans’ ownership group, has retired as an NHL player to become an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars. A centre, he played 16 seasons in the NHL, most of the last five with the Stars. Barnes, 37, played in the WHL (1987-90) with the New Westminster Bruins and Tri-City Americans. . . . Barnes was the fourth overall selection in the NHL’s 1989 draft, going to the Winnipeg Jets. . . . G Olaf Kolzig, who also owns a chunk of the Americans, left the Washington Capitals over the summer and signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning. . . . Barnes signed a two-year contract as an assistant coach with the Stars. At the same time, the Stars signed associate coach Rick Wilson and assistant coach Mark Lamb to two-year extensions. Wilson is a former head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders, while Lamb is a former WHL player. Lamb played for three teams – the Billings Bighorns, Nanaimo Islanders and Medicine Hat Tigers (1980-84).
---
Here’s Kerry Eggers, a columnist with the Portland Tribune:
“If you’re expecting quick resolution to the bid by Calgary oil tycoon Bill Gallacher to buy the Winter Hawks, think again. WHL executives are examining Gallacher's credentials, exploring the sale agreement, interviewing prospective parties, yada, yada, yada, trying to ensure another Jim Goldsmith situation doesn’t occur.
“In the meantime, general manager Ken Hodge and coach Rich Kromm are proceeding with business as usual. Training camp started last week, exhibition games are on the horizon, and Hodge and Kromm aren’t even sure if they’ll have a job once the regular season begins.
“A decision on the pending sale isn’t expected for 30 and 60 days. It would be nice if the WHL could expedite the process to allow the Hawks the chance for a sliver of stability during the upcoming season.”
Eggers is right. Unfortunately, the WHL never has expedited anything, not even freight. The WHL will tell you it has to do its due diligence, to which Portlanders can ask . . . ahhh, never mind.
---
Jason Vondersmith of the Tribune has an all-encompassing look at the Winter Hawks on the ice and that story is right here.
---
The Medicine Hat Tigers had Czech LW Zdenek Okal on the ice with them when they opened their main camp Wednesday. But the status of Czech D Tomas Kundratek remains up in the air. He’s in Medicine Hat but is caught up in one those paperwork situations. Kundratek was a third-round pick by the New York Rangers in the 2008 NHL draft and will attend the Rangers’ camp. “It will be a lot better if he can skate when we are playing in the playoffs or playing in the regular season,” Medicine Hat GM/head coach Willie Desjardins tells Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News. “Right now, it is not a big deal.” Kundratek played in the 2008 world junior championship.
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LW Jeff Friesen, who played with the Regina Pats, has been invited to join the San Jose Sharks for a free-agent tryout. Friesen, who was taken 11th overall by the Sharks in the NHL’s 1994 draft, played a bit in the AHL last season after being with the Calgary Flames in 2006-07.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed D Ryan Murray, their first selection, ninth overall, in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft. Murray, 5-foot-10 and 162 pounds, is from the bantam AA Balgonie, Sask., Prairie Storm. He had 42 points with that squad and late in the season picked up seven points in a 10-game stint with Balgonie’s midget team. The Silvertips project that Murray will be quarterbacking their power play in a couple of seasons.
---
Stu Barnes, a member of the Tri-City Americans’ ownership group, has retired as an NHL player to become an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars. A centre, he played 16 seasons in the NHL, most of the last five with the Stars. Barnes, 37, played in the WHL (1987-90) with the New Westminster Bruins and Tri-City Americans. . . . Barnes was the fourth overall selection in the NHL’s 1989 draft, going to the Winnipeg Jets. . . . G Olaf Kolzig, who also owns a chunk of the Americans, left the Washington Capitals over the summer and signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning. . . . Barnes signed a two-year contract as an assistant coach with the Stars. At the same time, the Stars signed associate coach Rick Wilson and assistant coach Mark Lamb to two-year extensions. Wilson is a former head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders, while Lamb is a former WHL player. Lamb played for three teams – the Billings Bighorns, Nanaimo Islanders and Medicine Hat Tigers (1980-84).
---
Here’s Kerry Eggers, a columnist with the Portland Tribune:
“If you’re expecting quick resolution to the bid by Calgary oil tycoon Bill Gallacher to buy the Winter Hawks, think again. WHL executives are examining Gallacher's credentials, exploring the sale agreement, interviewing prospective parties, yada, yada, yada, trying to ensure another Jim Goldsmith situation doesn’t occur.
“In the meantime, general manager Ken Hodge and coach Rich Kromm are proceeding with business as usual. Training camp started last week, exhibition games are on the horizon, and Hodge and Kromm aren’t even sure if they’ll have a job once the regular season begins.
“A decision on the pending sale isn’t expected for 30 and 60 days. It would be nice if the WHL could expedite the process to allow the Hawks the chance for a sliver of stability during the upcoming season.”
Eggers is right. Unfortunately, the WHL never has expedited anything, not even freight. The WHL will tell you it has to do its due diligence, to which Portlanders can ask . . . ahhh, never mind.
---
Jason Vondersmith of the Tribune has an all-encompassing look at the Winter Hawks on the ice and that story is right here.
---
The Medicine Hat Tigers had Czech LW Zdenek Okal on the ice with them when they opened their main camp Wednesday. But the status of Czech D Tomas Kundratek remains up in the air. He’s in Medicine Hat but is caught up in one those paperwork situations. Kundratek was a third-round pick by the New York Rangers in the 2008 NHL draft and will attend the Rangers’ camp. “It will be a lot better if he can skate when we are playing in the playoffs or playing in the regular season,” Medicine Hat GM/head coach Willie Desjardins tells Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News. “Right now, it is not a big deal.” Kundratek played in the 2008 world junior championship.
---
LW Jeff Friesen, who played with the Regina Pats, has been invited to join the San Jose Sharks for a free-agent tryout. Friesen, who was taken 11th overall by the Sharks in the NHL’s 1994 draft, played a bit in the AHL last season after being with the Calgary Flames in 2006-07.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday's over . . .
It's going to be a big night in Chilliwack on Sept. 19 as the Bruins kick off what they're calling Big League Weekend. They're bringing in Tom Cochrane -- the pride of Lynn Lake, Man. -- for a concert on Sept. 19, one night before they open the season against the visiting Kamloops Blazers. Visit the Bruins' website for ticket info. . . . Tom Cochrane. . . . Big League Weekend. . . . Get it? . . . Of course you do.
———
The Portland Winter Hawks have signed F Ty Rattie, the second overall selection in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft. Rattie, from Airdrie, Alta., played bantam in his hometown last season and led the Alberta Major Bantam League in goals (75) and points (131). He was second in assists (56). Rattie is in camp with the Winter Hawks, but is a year too young to be able to make their roster. He is expected to play this weekend in the Everett Silvertips’ preseason tournament.
———
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that C Kirt Hill’s future with the Regina Pats is “in limbo.” Hill, 20, had surgery Wednesday to repair a fractured thumb. He was injured in a bout with C Scott Doucet, 20, in the Pats’ intrasquad game on Tuesday night. Hill is likely to miss at least two months. . . . The Pats still don’t have LW Rudolf Cerveny in camp. He’s at a Czech national junior team camp. . . . Harder also reports that the Pats “are close” to signing D Tyler Borstmayer, their second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft.
———
D Lyon Messier, who bounced around the WHL a bit early last season, will play for the New York Rangers’ prospects team in a tournament at Traverse City, Mich. Messier, 21, is the son of former NHL star Mark Messier. . . . D Tysen Dowzak, 20, of the Kelowna Rockets also is on the Rangers’ roster, as is LW Matt Meropoulis, 19, of the Chilliwack Bruins. Rangers president/GM Glen Sather is one of the Bruins’ owners. RW Dale Weise, 20, of the Swift Current Broncos also will play for the Rangers.
———
Jay Mariotti, the venom-spewing columnist of the Chicago Sun-Times, has left the newspaper. It’s a big, big story in Chitown. It isn’t often a columnist, or a writer for that matter, leaves a paper and gets skewered on his way out the door. You may have seen Mariotti on the ESPN show Around The Horn. Anyway, take a look right here to get a feel for what’s happening with this story.
———
The Portland Winter Hawks have signed F Ty Rattie, the second overall selection in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft. Rattie, from Airdrie, Alta., played bantam in his hometown last season and led the Alberta Major Bantam League in goals (75) and points (131). He was second in assists (56). Rattie is in camp with the Winter Hawks, but is a year too young to be able to make their roster. He is expected to play this weekend in the Everett Silvertips’ preseason tournament.
———
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that C Kirt Hill’s future with the Regina Pats is “in limbo.” Hill, 20, had surgery Wednesday to repair a fractured thumb. He was injured in a bout with C Scott Doucet, 20, in the Pats’ intrasquad game on Tuesday night. Hill is likely to miss at least two months. . . . The Pats still don’t have LW Rudolf Cerveny in camp. He’s at a Czech national junior team camp. . . . Harder also reports that the Pats “are close” to signing D Tyler Borstmayer, their second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft.
———
D Lyon Messier, who bounced around the WHL a bit early last season, will play for the New York Rangers’ prospects team in a tournament at Traverse City, Mich. Messier, 21, is the son of former NHL star Mark Messier. . . . D Tysen Dowzak, 20, of the Kelowna Rockets also is on the Rangers’ roster, as is LW Matt Meropoulis, 19, of the Chilliwack Bruins. Rangers president/GM Glen Sather is one of the Bruins’ owners. RW Dale Weise, 20, of the Swift Current Broncos also will play for the Rangers.
———
Jay Mariotti, the venom-spewing columnist of the Chicago Sun-Times, has left the newspaper. It’s a big, big story in Chitown. It isn’t often a columnist, or a writer for that matter, leaves a paper and gets skewered on his way out the door. You may have seen Mariotti on the ESPN show Around The Horn. Anyway, take a look right here to get a feel for what’s happening with this story.
Grbavac closer to realizing goal
By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
Cole Grbavac came into Kamloops Blazers training camp in hopes of “playing
my game” and maybe cracking the WHL team’s roster.
Fighting, it would seem, wasn’t one of the skills highlighted on his resume
heading into camp.
The Blazers brass surely took notice on Tuesday night when, early in the
third period of the Blue-White intrasquad game, Grbavac twice went
toe-to-toe with reigning tough guy Matt Wray — and held his own both times.
When he talks about “my game,” Grbavac, 17, usually doesn’t include dropping
the mitts.
“I’m a power forward, more of a grinder,” said Grbavac, a left winger from
Calgary. “I’m not as much of a finesse player but I like playing around the
net and in the corners.”
Despite the pugilistic prowess he showed Tuesday, Grbavac, at 6-foot-0 and
175 pounds, is a soft-spoken, confident fellow.
The Blazers listed Grbavac (pronounced Gurr-BA-vick) while he was playing
for the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes last season. The Buffaloes did well,
making it all the way to the Telus Cup Canadian midget championship, where
they finished fourth.
Grbavac dislocated his right shoulder during the tournament, and was feeling
some pain Wednesday as the Blazers did fitness testing at Hillside Stadium
and TRU.
He originally was drafted in the third round, 56th overall, in the 2006
bantam draft by the Portland Winter Hawks. Then, after training camp last
season, the Winter Hawks unceremoniously dropped everyone from that draft
with the exception of their first two picks — Riley Boychuk and Brett
Ponich.
When that door closed, another one opened. Now, Grbavac wants to make the
most of this opportunity.
“I kind of got the short end of the stick (in Portland) but Kamloops picked
me up,” said Grbavac, whose father’s parents emigrated to Lethbridge from
Croatia. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make this team.”
His performance Tuesday — he played well, on top of the scraps with Wray —
should help his cause. The first fight, which Grbavac won, ended when the
linesmen intervened.
The second, which Wray took, lasted a good minute and would have earned a
thumbs-up from Don Cherry.
“My tie-down in the back came undone (in the first fight) and Wray wasn’t
happy about that,” Grbavac said. “He wanted to go again, and I couldn’t turn
him down.”
The Blazers open the WHL exhibition schedule this weekend, with a game
Friday against the Vancouver Giants in Ladner. On Saturday, Kamloops will
play host to the Giants at Interior Savings Centre at 7 p.m.
Grbavac should get a chance to pull on the Blazers’ sweater for the first
time in those games. His plan includes using his hands — but not necessarily
to scrap.
“I’m hoping to play a little more offence,” he said. “I haven’t really put
up any points yet. I’ll try to keep my game simple and do the same as all
the other games.”
The Blazers didn’t know what to expect of Grbavac coming in — actually, they
knew nothing about the guy.
His size and game have made him stand out so far.
“He is a player who has what we feel is a strong two-way game,” said
director of player personnel Matt Recchi. “He adds some size to the wing and
plays a really physical, honest game. He has some skill around the net.
“He can contribute offensively, in a physical way and play responsible
defence.”
The Blazers do have plans for Grbavac — they signed him to a standard player
contract on Tuesday.
While that might answer a few of the questions he has right now, it doesn’t
give him any opportunity to relax.
“I’m trying to forget about that,” he said. “It really doesn’t guarantee me
a spot on the team — I’m trying to put it in the back of the my mind.”
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Spencer Asuchak of Kamloops is one of 20 remaining forwards
with the Tri-City Americans. Asuchak, who will turn 17 on Nov. 22, is a
6-foot-4, 200-pound left-winger. He played for the major midget Thompson
Blazers last season. . . . G Deven Dubyk — not to be confused with
former Blazers G Devan Dubnyk — is in camp with the Moose Jaw Warriors. . .
. Edmonton Oil Kings LW Craig McCallum might be the only married player in
the WHL. The 19-year-old tied the knot with his fiancee, Randi, in Saskatoon
on July 12.
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca
Daily News Sports Reporter
Cole Grbavac came into Kamloops Blazers training camp in hopes of “playing
my game” and maybe cracking the WHL team’s roster.
Fighting, it would seem, wasn’t one of the skills highlighted on his resume
heading into camp.
The Blazers brass surely took notice on Tuesday night when, early in the
third period of the Blue-White intrasquad game, Grbavac twice went
toe-to-toe with reigning tough guy Matt Wray — and held his own both times.
When he talks about “my game,” Grbavac, 17, usually doesn’t include dropping
the mitts.
“I’m a power forward, more of a grinder,” said Grbavac, a left winger from
Calgary. “I’m not as much of a finesse player but I like playing around the
net and in the corners.”
Despite the pugilistic prowess he showed Tuesday, Grbavac, at 6-foot-0 and
175 pounds, is a soft-spoken, confident fellow.
The Blazers listed Grbavac (pronounced Gurr-BA-vick) while he was playing
for the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes last season. The Buffaloes did well,
making it all the way to the Telus Cup Canadian midget championship, where
they finished fourth.
Grbavac dislocated his right shoulder during the tournament, and was feeling
some pain Wednesday as the Blazers did fitness testing at Hillside Stadium
and TRU.
He originally was drafted in the third round, 56th overall, in the 2006
bantam draft by the Portland Winter Hawks. Then, after training camp last
season, the Winter Hawks unceremoniously dropped everyone from that draft
with the exception of their first two picks — Riley Boychuk and Brett
Ponich.
When that door closed, another one opened. Now, Grbavac wants to make the
most of this opportunity.
“I kind of got the short end of the stick (in Portland) but Kamloops picked
me up,” said Grbavac, whose father’s parents emigrated to Lethbridge from
Croatia. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make this team.”
His performance Tuesday — he played well, on top of the scraps with Wray —
should help his cause. The first fight, which Grbavac won, ended when the
linesmen intervened.
The second, which Wray took, lasted a good minute and would have earned a
thumbs-up from Don Cherry.
“My tie-down in the back came undone (in the first fight) and Wray wasn’t
happy about that,” Grbavac said. “He wanted to go again, and I couldn’t turn
him down.”
The Blazers open the WHL exhibition schedule this weekend, with a game
Friday against the Vancouver Giants in Ladner. On Saturday, Kamloops will
play host to the Giants at Interior Savings Centre at 7 p.m.
Grbavac should get a chance to pull on the Blazers’ sweater for the first
time in those games. His plan includes using his hands — but not necessarily
to scrap.
“I’m hoping to play a little more offence,” he said. “I haven’t really put
up any points yet. I’ll try to keep my game simple and do the same as all
the other games.”
The Blazers didn’t know what to expect of Grbavac coming in — actually, they
knew nothing about the guy.
His size and game have made him stand out so far.
“He is a player who has what we feel is a strong two-way game,” said
director of player personnel Matt Recchi. “He adds some size to the wing and
plays a really physical, honest game. He has some skill around the net.
“He can contribute offensively, in a physical way and play responsible
defence.”
The Blazers do have plans for Grbavac — they signed him to a standard player
contract on Tuesday.
While that might answer a few of the questions he has right now, it doesn’t
give him any opportunity to relax.
“I’m trying to forget about that,” he said. “It really doesn’t guarantee me
a spot on the team — I’m trying to put it in the back of the my mind.”
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Spencer Asuchak of Kamloops is one of 20 remaining forwards
with the Tri-City Americans. Asuchak, who will turn 17 on Nov. 22, is a
6-foot-4, 200-pound left-winger. He played for the major midget Thompson
Blazers last season. . . . G Deven Dubyk — not to be confused with
former Blazers G Devan Dubnyk — is in camp with the Moose Jaw Warriors. . .
. Edmonton Oil Kings LW Craig McCallum might be the only married player in
the WHL. The 19-year-old tied the knot with his fiancee, Randi, in Saskatoon
on July 12.
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca
Baines signs with Chops
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
In late June, Ajay Baines went to London to watch Wimbledon, the first time
in his life he has played the role of a tourist.
“I had the backpack, a map in my hand, asking people for directions,” Baines
said Wednesday. “It was great.”
Pretty soon, he’ll be asking for directions to get around Des Moines, Iowa.
Baines, a former captain of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, has signed with the
Iowa Chops, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
“I’m an older guy,” said Baines, who turned 30 on March 25. “My role as an
older guy is helping out the young guys in Iowa. My job will be strictly in
Iowa. I get to go to the Ducks’ camp, which will be awesome, but I signed
with Iowa; I didn’t sign a two-way deal.”
The move comes after two seasons with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, who are
hooked up with the Montreal Canadiens. The Bulldogs won the AHL
championship, the Calder Cup, in Baines’ first season there as he scored the
winning goal in the deciding game of the championship final. Last season,
with Baines as team captain, they didn’t make the playoffs.
“They signed a bunch of veterans and it didn’t look as though I’d be going
back there,” Baines said. “They ended up offering pretty late in the summer
and we were fully engaged with Iowa. They had told my agent earlier in the
summer to start talking to other teams so I don’t think they were expecting
me back.”
The Bulldogs have a new general manager, in 30-year-old Julien Brisebois,
and Baines wonders if change isn’t in the wind because of that.
“He’s come in and is getting his new guys,” Baines said. “A lot of guys who
had been there the last couple of years, our contracts are up and I think
it’s a changing of the guard.”
Baines also knows that the last season of his two-year contract there wasn’t
anything great. He banged up a knee while in camp with the Canadiens and
upon his return to Hamilton he suffered a back injury. By season’s end, he
had nine points in 58 games.
“It was a tough season,” he said. “I tore up my knee and tore a muscle in my
back and pretty much missed the first three months. I think that was an
issue with Hamilton in terms of their interest in having me back.”
Now, however, he feels that he’s in tip-top shape and ready to go.
“I’ve been training for four months. My knee hasn’t bothered me and my
back’s been fine and we’ve been skating for over a month,” he said.
While Baines doesn’t feel that he is near the end of hockey’s road just yet,
he knows it’s out there and he definitely has thought about it. He may want
to coach at some point in time but said he won’t even think about that while
he’s still playing.
In the meantime, he has done a lot of thinking about playing in Europe or
perhaps Japan. In fact, he goes so far as to say this may be his last season
in North America.
“I’m definitely coming to the tail-end here,” he said, adding that he had
talks with European clubs this summer.
“I was pretty close to signing in Europe this year,” he said. “I didn’t have
much on the go in North America. At the end, Anaheim came in with an offer.
But I was pretty darn close to going over to England. I had an offer from
Italy, one from Germany and one from Newcastle.”
The offer to play in the DEL, Germany’s top league, carried with it the most
money, the offer from Newcastle the least. But Baines is a tennis and soccer
fan and feels the life experience gained by playing in England would be more
than worth it.
“My take would be to go to Europe and get the experience for a year,
wherever it would be,” he explained. “For me, England would be the least
amount of money but as far as quality of life, language wouldn’t be an issue
. . . just living on your own over there and doing some traveling.
“I think England or Japan would be the two places to go. The hockey would be
awesome but the life experience would be worth it. I like sushi, too.”
His interest in Japan is sparked by two things — he said he is fascinated by
the Japanese culture and former Blazers teammate Aaron Keller plays there.
“I’ve had contact with Aaron the last couple of weeks,” Baines said. “We’ll
keep in touch.”
Baines also is excited because his Calder Cup championship ring is back in
his family’s possession. Stolen during a break-in at his parents’ home in
Kamloops earlier this summer, Baines said it was recovered about a week ago.
“A guy called Dad and said this guy he knew found a bag in Riverside Park,”
Baines said. “Mom’s wallet was in it and the ring was in it. The day it was
found was the day I signed with Iowa.
“I was thrilled when I heard they recovered it.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Daily News Sports Editor
In late June, Ajay Baines went to London to watch Wimbledon, the first time
in his life he has played the role of a tourist.
“I had the backpack, a map in my hand, asking people for directions,” Baines
said Wednesday. “It was great.”
Pretty soon, he’ll be asking for directions to get around Des Moines, Iowa.
Baines, a former captain of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, has signed with the
Iowa Chops, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
“I’m an older guy,” said Baines, who turned 30 on March 25. “My role as an
older guy is helping out the young guys in Iowa. My job will be strictly in
Iowa. I get to go to the Ducks’ camp, which will be awesome, but I signed
with Iowa; I didn’t sign a two-way deal.”
The move comes after two seasons with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, who are
hooked up with the Montreal Canadiens. The Bulldogs won the AHL
championship, the Calder Cup, in Baines’ first season there as he scored the
winning goal in the deciding game of the championship final. Last season,
with Baines as team captain, they didn’t make the playoffs.
“They signed a bunch of veterans and it didn’t look as though I’d be going
back there,” Baines said. “They ended up offering pretty late in the summer
and we were fully engaged with Iowa. They had told my agent earlier in the
summer to start talking to other teams so I don’t think they were expecting
me back.”
The Bulldogs have a new general manager, in 30-year-old Julien Brisebois,
and Baines wonders if change isn’t in the wind because of that.
“He’s come in and is getting his new guys,” Baines said. “A lot of guys who
had been there the last couple of years, our contracts are up and I think
it’s a changing of the guard.”
Baines also knows that the last season of his two-year contract there wasn’t
anything great. He banged up a knee while in camp with the Canadiens and
upon his return to Hamilton he suffered a back injury. By season’s end, he
had nine points in 58 games.
“It was a tough season,” he said. “I tore up my knee and tore a muscle in my
back and pretty much missed the first three months. I think that was an
issue with Hamilton in terms of their interest in having me back.”
Now, however, he feels that he’s in tip-top shape and ready to go.
“I’ve been training for four months. My knee hasn’t bothered me and my
back’s been fine and we’ve been skating for over a month,” he said.
While Baines doesn’t feel that he is near the end of hockey’s road just yet,
he knows it’s out there and he definitely has thought about it. He may want
to coach at some point in time but said he won’t even think about that while
he’s still playing.
In the meantime, he has done a lot of thinking about playing in Europe or
perhaps Japan. In fact, he goes so far as to say this may be his last season
in North America.
“I’m definitely coming to the tail-end here,” he said, adding that he had
talks with European clubs this summer.
“I was pretty close to signing in Europe this year,” he said. “I didn’t have
much on the go in North America. At the end, Anaheim came in with an offer.
But I was pretty darn close to going over to England. I had an offer from
Italy, one from Germany and one from Newcastle.”
The offer to play in the DEL, Germany’s top league, carried with it the most
money, the offer from Newcastle the least. But Baines is a tennis and soccer
fan and feels the life experience gained by playing in England would be more
than worth it.
“My take would be to go to Europe and get the experience for a year,
wherever it would be,” he explained. “For me, England would be the least
amount of money but as far as quality of life, language wouldn’t be an issue
. . . just living on your own over there and doing some traveling.
“I think England or Japan would be the two places to go. The hockey would be
awesome but the life experience would be worth it. I like sushi, too.”
His interest in Japan is sparked by two things — he said he is fascinated by
the Japanese culture and former Blazers teammate Aaron Keller plays there.
“I’ve had contact with Aaron the last couple of weeks,” Baines said. “We’ll
keep in touch.”
Baines also is excited because his Calder Cup championship ring is back in
his family’s possession. Stolen during a break-in at his parents’ home in
Kamloops earlier this summer, Baines said it was recovered about a week ago.
“A guy called Dad and said this guy he knew found a bag in Riverside Park,”
Baines said. “Mom’s wallet was in it and the ring was in it. The day it was
found was the day I signed with Iowa.
“I was thrilled when I heard they recovered it.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Wednesday . . .
A tip of the cap to Steve Passmore, who doubles as the Kamloops Blazers’ goaltending coach and the assistant coach of the junior B Kamloops Storm. The former NHL goaltender also owns a piece of a downtown Kamloops restaurant, the Players Chophouse and Lounge, and that’s where he was Monday afternoon when Marijane Moses, who has moved to Kamloops from the Yukon in order to attend university, began screaming that someone had taken her purse. According to the Kamloops Daily News: Passmore “leapt over the patio railing and ran after the man, who turned into the parking lot of the Kamloops Inn with two women in pursuit. Moses said she ran west along Victoria Street, hoping to cut the robber off. Passmore said the culprit discarded the purse as he ran down an alley toward the CIBC. Moses said one of the women brought the purse back to her with all its contents accounted for. But the man wasn’t giving up — and neither was Passmore. The two men ran into the CIBC parking lot when Passmore closed the gap enough to tackle the culprit.” . . . “We hit the pavement,” Passmore told the newspaper. Passmore kept the guy in place until police showed up and arrested him. . . . By the way, the perp -- Stephen Keith Walsh, 35 -- was sentenced to four months in jail on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to theft. . . . The RCMP decided not to charge Passmore with holding; after all, this just may have been the best save of Passmore’s career.
---
F Evan Pighin hasn’t reported to Chilliwack and now is on the Bruins’ suspended list. “As of this moment, he’s on our suspended list and he will remain there until he reports to the Chilliwack Bruins,” Bruins GM Darrell May told Eric J. Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress. “I’ve sent him e-mails and left him phone messages but I haven’t gotten any responses lately.” The two last spoke July 15. . . . Pighin, 20, has said he wants to play for the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies, the host team for the 2009 Royal Bank Cup. . . . However, the Bruins maintain that it isn’t that simple. As May told Welsh: “Evan signed a contract and he should be obligated to fulfill that contract. I think any contract you sign in any walk of life, you should fulfill it.” . . . Welsh reported that Grizzlies GM Jackson Penney said in late July that no team would prevent a player from playing hockey. To which May replied: “We’re not making Evan not play hockey. We have a place for him to play, and it’s at the highest level of junior in Canada.” . . . Gotta think WHL commissioner Ron Robison will be all over this one before too long, perhaps once he’s through navigating the sale of the Portland Winter Hawks through choppy waters.
---
F Evan Pighin hasn’t reported to Chilliwack and now is on the Bruins’ suspended list. “As of this moment, he’s on our suspended list and he will remain there until he reports to the Chilliwack Bruins,” Bruins GM Darrell May told Eric J. Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress. “I’ve sent him e-mails and left him phone messages but I haven’t gotten any responses lately.” The two last spoke July 15. . . . Pighin, 20, has said he wants to play for the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies, the host team for the 2009 Royal Bank Cup. . . . However, the Bruins maintain that it isn’t that simple. As May told Welsh: “Evan signed a contract and he should be obligated to fulfill that contract. I think any contract you sign in any walk of life, you should fulfill it.” . . . Welsh reported that Grizzlies GM Jackson Penney said in late July that no team would prevent a player from playing hockey. To which May replied: “We’re not making Evan not play hockey. We have a place for him to play, and it’s at the highest level of junior in Canada.” . . . Gotta think WHL commissioner Ron Robison will be all over this one before too long, perhaps once he’s through navigating the sale of the Portland Winter Hawks through choppy waters.
Tuesday . . . late
Today’s big news involves Moose Jaw and, yes, it looks as though the road has been cleared for the building of a new arena. But, this being Moose Jaw, you get the feeling that there is more to this story that has yet to be written. Perhaps another petition or something like that. . . . Interesting that it took a Regina judge to remove the latest road block. . . . The Moose Jaw Times-Herald has the latest right here . . . and, as usual, make sure you scroll down and read the comments. I mean, there has to be a book or a TV or something in there somewhere.
---
Among the cuts from the Prince Albert Raiders camp was LW Cole Penner, 17. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2006 bantam draft. The Raiders have assigned him to the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. . . . It seems that GM/head coach Bruno Campese visited all players during the offseason and stressed the importance of conditioning. When Penner showed up lacking in that area, he was gone. "We set certain expectations of our players," Campese told Adam Hawboldt of the Prince Albert Daily Herald, "but, quite simply, (in Cole's case) they were not met. We clearly set out our expectations and at this point he hasn't met those conditions, so he's been reassigned." . . . Penner told Collin Gallant of the Medicine Hat News: “There’s nothing a guy can do but work hard and try to get back up.” Penner also told Gallant that he isn’t sure what he will do.
---
Among the 11 players reassigned by the Kamloops Blazers on Tuesday was D Jordan Principalli, 19, who headed for the BCHL’s Quesnel Millionaires. His BCHL rights were swapped in a four-team weekend deal. . . . Kamloops is down to 32 players, including three goalies, as it prepares to open its exhibition season Friday in Ladner, B.C., against the Vancouver Giants. . . . Slovakian C Dalibor Bortnak has been cleared to play for the Blazers. His club team in Slovakia has granted him his release and he is expected to practise with the team on Wednesday. . . . Kamloops C Mark Hall (knee) remains sidelined and could be our for another two weeks. . . . Kamloops also signed four players to WHL contracts on Tuesday. D Brandon Underwood, a 16-year-old from San Diego, has had a fine camp and has a chance to stick. He’s a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder who played for the midget AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings. Also signing were forwards Cole Grbavac, Neil Landry and Uriah Machuga. Machuga, from Norco, Calif., is out of the California Wave program. Grbavac, 17, is from Calgary and played last season for the midget AAA Buffaloes. Landry was a fifth-round pick by the Blazers in the 2007 bantam draft. He played last season with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers.
---
Veterans Scott Doucet and Kirt Hill duked it out during the Regina Pats’ intrasquad game on Tuesday and Hill came out of it with a broken thumb. Both players are 20 years of age and the injury could take Hill out of the lineup for a while. . . . Did you know: Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald reports that Silvertips veteran Kyle Beach and Chicago Cubs starter Rich Harden are second cousins. Beach, of course, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2008 NHL draft. The two haven’t yet met but they have spoken and are planning to meet sometime after Beach arrives for camp next month. . . . By the way, Beach had sports hernia season over the summer and took two completes away from training. Gotta think he’ll be refreshed and reinvigorated, which can only mean bad news for opponents. . . . Among Everett’s Tuesday cuts was G Trevor Gutierrez, younger brother of former Kamloops/Everett RW Moises Gutierrez. . . . Everett F Ryan White, a 17-year-old from Parker, Colo., remains in camp. Too bad he didn’t play last season when D Ryan White, 20, played for the Kamloops and Prince Albert and F Ryan White, 19, was in Calgary.
---
Note that I have added two new blog links to the list at the left. . . . Evan Hammond is the radio voice of the BCHL’s Port Alberni Bulldogs and often has some interesting things to say. Besides, he’s the son of former Flin Flon Bombers goaltender Cal Hammond and that’s good enough for me. . . . Also linked over there is The Red Deer Scene, which belongs to Andrew Walker. His blog includes regular updates on the Red Deer Rebels.
---
Found an interesting note on Hammond’s blog that involved something I have long thought more coaches should try:
“The Bulldogs camp over the weekend was the smallest I have witnessed in all my years of covering a junior hockey team,” Hammond wrote. “Only 30 or so players were out there so competition was fierce. From what I can see, it seems that Bulldogs head coach Bryant Perrier has made this less of a training camp, and more of a practice and tuneup. I like the thinking. . . . Recruit the kids you want, and then start as soon as possible making the team you want and working on hitting the ground RUNNING. The camp over the weekend even had power play practice. These guys aren't messing around!”
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There also has been some neat stuff on Hammond’s blog involving the relationship between his community and wrestler Travis Cross. Just another wonderful story about the love between a smaller community and an amateur athlete. Great stuff!
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Among the cuts from the Prince Albert Raiders camp was LW Cole Penner, 17. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2006 bantam draft. The Raiders have assigned him to the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. . . . It seems that GM/head coach Bruno Campese visited all players during the offseason and stressed the importance of conditioning. When Penner showed up lacking in that area, he was gone. "We set certain expectations of our players," Campese told Adam Hawboldt of the Prince Albert Daily Herald, "but, quite simply, (in Cole's case) they were not met. We clearly set out our expectations and at this point he hasn't met those conditions, so he's been reassigned." . . . Penner told Collin Gallant of the Medicine Hat News: “There’s nothing a guy can do but work hard and try to get back up.” Penner also told Gallant that he isn’t sure what he will do.
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Among the 11 players reassigned by the Kamloops Blazers on Tuesday was D Jordan Principalli, 19, who headed for the BCHL’s Quesnel Millionaires. His BCHL rights were swapped in a four-team weekend deal. . . . Kamloops is down to 32 players, including three goalies, as it prepares to open its exhibition season Friday in Ladner, B.C., against the Vancouver Giants. . . . Slovakian C Dalibor Bortnak has been cleared to play for the Blazers. His club team in Slovakia has granted him his release and he is expected to practise with the team on Wednesday. . . . Kamloops C Mark Hall (knee) remains sidelined and could be our for another two weeks. . . . Kamloops also signed four players to WHL contracts on Tuesday. D Brandon Underwood, a 16-year-old from San Diego, has had a fine camp and has a chance to stick. He’s a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder who played for the midget AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings. Also signing were forwards Cole Grbavac, Neil Landry and Uriah Machuga. Machuga, from Norco, Calif., is out of the California Wave program. Grbavac, 17, is from Calgary and played last season for the midget AAA Buffaloes. Landry was a fifth-round pick by the Blazers in the 2007 bantam draft. He played last season with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers.
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Veterans Scott Doucet and Kirt Hill duked it out during the Regina Pats’ intrasquad game on Tuesday and Hill came out of it with a broken thumb. Both players are 20 years of age and the injury could take Hill out of the lineup for a while. . . . Did you know: Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald reports that Silvertips veteran Kyle Beach and Chicago Cubs starter Rich Harden are second cousins. Beach, of course, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2008 NHL draft. The two haven’t yet met but they have spoken and are planning to meet sometime after Beach arrives for camp next month. . . . By the way, Beach had sports hernia season over the summer and took two completes away from training. Gotta think he’ll be refreshed and reinvigorated, which can only mean bad news for opponents. . . . Among Everett’s Tuesday cuts was G Trevor Gutierrez, younger brother of former Kamloops/Everett RW Moises Gutierrez. . . . Everett F Ryan White, a 17-year-old from Parker, Colo., remains in camp. Too bad he didn’t play last season when D Ryan White, 20, played for the Kamloops and Prince Albert and F Ryan White, 19, was in Calgary.
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Note that I have added two new blog links to the list at the left. . . . Evan Hammond is the radio voice of the BCHL’s Port Alberni Bulldogs and often has some interesting things to say. Besides, he’s the son of former Flin Flon Bombers goaltender Cal Hammond and that’s good enough for me. . . . Also linked over there is The Red Deer Scene, which belongs to Andrew Walker. His blog includes regular updates on the Red Deer Rebels.
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Found an interesting note on Hammond’s blog that involved something I have long thought more coaches should try:
“The Bulldogs camp over the weekend was the smallest I have witnessed in all my years of covering a junior hockey team,” Hammond wrote. “Only 30 or so players were out there so competition was fierce. From what I can see, it seems that Bulldogs head coach Bryant Perrier has made this less of a training camp, and more of a practice and tuneup. I like the thinking. . . . Recruit the kids you want, and then start as soon as possible making the team you want and working on hitting the ground RUNNING. The camp over the weekend even had power play practice. These guys aren't messing around!”
---
There also has been some neat stuff on Hammond’s blog involving the relationship between his community and wrestler Travis Cross. Just another wonderful story about the love between a smaller community and an amateur athlete. Great stuff!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Colton Yellow Horn (Lethbridge/Tri-City) was successful in his tryout with Red Bulls Salzburg (Austria Erste Bank Liga) and has been signed to a contract for the season. Salzburg is coached by former NHL head coach Pierre Page. . . . F Roman Vopat (Moose Jaw) signed a one-year contract with Aalborg (Denmark Elitserien) after his release by Leksand (Sweden Allsvenskan) earlier in the day. He had six goals and 15 assists in 36 games with Leksand last season, along with a league-leading 171 penalty minutes.
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The Chilliwack Bruins have added former NHLer Dave Archibald to their coaching staff. Archibald, a Chilliwack native, played in the WHL with the Portland Winter Hawks and was selected sixth overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the NHL’s 1987 draft. Bruins head coach Jim Hiller now has associate coach Dan Price, Archibald, assistant coach Bob Rouse and goaltending coach Brad Robinson on his staff. . . . The Spokane Chiefs are expected to add an assistant coach to their staff this week. That will fill the void created when Hardy Sauter was promoted to head coach, replacing Bill Peters, who left for the AHL's Rockford IceHogs.
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The Tri-City Americans have signed F Nils Moser, 15, to a WHL contract. He was the 44th pick in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft. Moser, 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, spent last season with the bantam AAA team in Airdrie, Alta., totaling 74 points and 156 penalty minutes in 43 games. He will play this season with the midget AAA Notre Dame Hounds at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. The Americans signed Moser after a strong showing in rookie camp.
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Three players didn’t show up for the Portland Winter Hawks’ training camp – F Tyler Swystun, 20; F Tayler Jordan, 18; and, D Bo Montgomery, 18. According to Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune, Swystun is thinking about going to school, Montgomery will attend the U of Regina and Jordan “sent a Winter Hawks coach a text message saying he wasn't planning to rejoin the team; he had sounded excited about returning to the team, (head coach Rich) Kromm said last week.”
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The Chilliwack Bruins could be without F Scott McDonald for up to six weeks after he suffered a broken hand. McDonald, who the Bruins were hoping would be a top-six forward, had 48 points in 48 games with the junior B Nelson Leafs last season. No, McDonald wasn’t injured in a fight; he got hurt while being checked into the boards.
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The Regina Pats have signed D Myles Bell, their first pick in the 2008 bantam draft and plan to use him in a tournament in Edmonton this weekend. Bell, 15, was the 17th pick in the draft. The 6-foot-0, 185-pounder had 32 points in 31 games with a Calgary bantam team last season.
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The Chilliwack Bruins have added former NHLer Dave Archibald to their coaching staff. Archibald, a Chilliwack native, played in the WHL with the Portland Winter Hawks and was selected sixth overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the NHL’s 1987 draft. Bruins head coach Jim Hiller now has associate coach Dan Price, Archibald, assistant coach Bob Rouse and goaltending coach Brad Robinson on his staff. . . . The Spokane Chiefs are expected to add an assistant coach to their staff this week. That will fill the void created when Hardy Sauter was promoted to head coach, replacing Bill Peters, who left for the AHL's Rockford IceHogs.
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The Tri-City Americans have signed F Nils Moser, 15, to a WHL contract. He was the 44th pick in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft. Moser, 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, spent last season with the bantam AAA team in Airdrie, Alta., totaling 74 points and 156 penalty minutes in 43 games. He will play this season with the midget AAA Notre Dame Hounds at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. The Americans signed Moser after a strong showing in rookie camp.
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Three players didn’t show up for the Portland Winter Hawks’ training camp – F Tyler Swystun, 20; F Tayler Jordan, 18; and, D Bo Montgomery, 18. According to Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune, Swystun is thinking about going to school, Montgomery will attend the U of Regina and Jordan “sent a Winter Hawks coach a text message saying he wasn't planning to rejoin the team; he had sounded excited about returning to the team, (head coach Rich) Kromm said last week.”
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The Chilliwack Bruins could be without F Scott McDonald for up to six weeks after he suffered a broken hand. McDonald, who the Bruins were hoping would be a top-six forward, had 48 points in 48 games with the junior B Nelson Leafs last season. No, McDonald wasn’t injured in a fight; he got hurt while being checked into the boards.
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The Regina Pats have signed D Myles Bell, their first pick in the 2008 bantam draft and plan to use him in a tournament in Edmonton this weekend. Bell, 15, was the 17th pick in the draft. The 6-foot-0, 185-pounder had 32 points in 31 games with a Calgary bantam team last season.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
California dreams: Underwood wants to stay with Blazers
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
In a sea of black helmets, Brandon Underwood’s gold lid stands out like Michael Phelps at a pool party.
Underwood, though, would like nothing better than to trade it in on a black model in the not-too-distant future.
A 6-foot-3, 205-pound defenceman from the hockey hotbed of San Diego, Underwood’s plan is to land a roster spot with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, whose training camp continues at Interior Savings Centre.
And if the early returns mean anything, he just may be here when the Blazers open the regular season against the visiting Everett Silvertips on Sept. 19.
“He’s done well,” Kamloops general manager Craig Bonner said Sunday evening. “I really like him.”
The pace picked up Sunday after the team cut its camp roster to 58 players — enough to fill three teams for scrimmage purposes.
“Rookie camp was younger guys, so it wasn’t as fast-paced,” Underwood said. “You got a lot of veterans out here now and guys want to get a job. Guys are working hard and it’s really physical.”
Which is right up Underwood’s alley.
“I think I’ve been pretty good.” he said. “I’m just trying to play my game . . . be physical and not try to do too much. I’m trying to earn a spot.
“I plan to play here this season.”
Last season, Underwood played for the midget AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings, who are coached by Jack Bowkus and managed by Helen Alex, whose son, Ray Macias, was a Blazers defenceman of recent vintage.
In fact, Underwood said it was a phone call from Alex to Gord Loiselle, then the Blazers’ director of player personnel, that resulted in him ending up here.
Underwood said Loiselle “talked to me and I got listed.” As well, Blazers scout Warren Renden watched Underwood in state playoffs and at a state selection camp.
Underwood’s interest in hockey comes through his father, Tom, a realtor who was born in Vancouver and moved to Toronto at the age of 10.
In fact, Underwood admits to being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
“I used to have Maple Leafs blankets,” he said with a chuckle, “but they’re in the closet right now.”
His mother, Jacquie, is a manager with Sears, and he has two sisters — Cindy, 22, who attended the U of Western Ontario, and Megan, 18, who is in college in San Diego.
Living in San Diego, Underwood was almost two hours from Los Angeles, which meant a lot of time spent in the family car.
“There aren’t too many teams (in San Diego), so I’ve been driving up there since I was 10,” he said. “We’d leave right after school, go to practice, get home about 11:30 at night and then do it all over again . . . five days a week.”
Asked to describe himself as a player, Underwood said he’s a defenceman who can play “both ways.”
“I like to rush the puck and join the rush but at the same time . . . I like to play physical,” he said.
He showed all of that in Sunday evening’s first scrimmage. He made a nifty play along the defensive right boards and sent a terrific pass to a busting forward that led to Team White’s first goal. Later, after centre Brendan Ranford almost beat him, Underwood answered by stapling the Blazers’ first pick in the 2007 bantam draft to the end boards.
“Matt Recchi told me if I want to make the team I have to play physical every shift,” Underwood said, referring to the Blazers’ director of player personnel. “Putting guys into the glass . . . that’s how I usually play so I’m not going to change that.”
As for an overview of training camp, Underwood said he has been impressed with Barry Smith, the Blazers’ new head coach.
“He is a pretty intense guy. He’s pushing us . . . he’s an attention-to-detail guy,” Underwood said. “One bad pass and you have to restart the whole drill. He’ll keep going until you get it right.”
JUST NOTES: There is at least one other player from San Diego in a WHL camp this week. RW Jon Parker, a 1991-born player, is with the Vancouver Giants. . . . The Blazers had 58 players listed on scrimmage rosters last night — 14 of them are 1993-born players. . . . RW Tyler Shattock leaves Sept. 11 for Las Vegas, where he will play for the San Jose Sharks in a rookie tournament. Shattock, who missed a chunk of last season with a broken ankle, said his leg was tired when camp started but is feeling better after getting some good on-ice time. . . . D Jordan Principalli, 19, who is in the Blazers’ camp, was involved in a trade Friday. His BCHL rights ended up moving as part of a transaction that involved at least seven players, future considerations and four teams. Principalli began the day with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs and ended it with the Quesnel Regency Millionaires. . . . Regency Millionaires? Yes, the junior A team has signed a sponsorship deal with Regency Chrysler, a local dealership. . . . Principalli, from Calgary, had 13 points and 59 penalty minutes in 55 games with the Bulldogs last season. . . . . There are practice sessions set for this morning at 9, 10:15 and 11:30, with scrimmages this evening at 5, 6:15 and 7:30. The annual Blue-White game goes Tuesday, 7 p.m.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Daily News Sports Editor
In a sea of black helmets, Brandon Underwood’s gold lid stands out like Michael Phelps at a pool party.
Underwood, though, would like nothing better than to trade it in on a black model in the not-too-distant future.
A 6-foot-3, 205-pound defenceman from the hockey hotbed of San Diego, Underwood’s plan is to land a roster spot with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, whose training camp continues at Interior Savings Centre.
And if the early returns mean anything, he just may be here when the Blazers open the regular season against the visiting Everett Silvertips on Sept. 19.
“He’s done well,” Kamloops general manager Craig Bonner said Sunday evening. “I really like him.”
The pace picked up Sunday after the team cut its camp roster to 58 players — enough to fill three teams for scrimmage purposes.
“Rookie camp was younger guys, so it wasn’t as fast-paced,” Underwood said. “You got a lot of veterans out here now and guys want to get a job. Guys are working hard and it’s really physical.”
Which is right up Underwood’s alley.
“I think I’ve been pretty good.” he said. “I’m just trying to play my game . . . be physical and not try to do too much. I’m trying to earn a spot.
“I plan to play here this season.”
Last season, Underwood played for the midget AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings, who are coached by Jack Bowkus and managed by Helen Alex, whose son, Ray Macias, was a Blazers defenceman of recent vintage.
In fact, Underwood said it was a phone call from Alex to Gord Loiselle, then the Blazers’ director of player personnel, that resulted in him ending up here.
Underwood said Loiselle “talked to me and I got listed.” As well, Blazers scout Warren Renden watched Underwood in state playoffs and at a state selection camp.
Underwood’s interest in hockey comes through his father, Tom, a realtor who was born in Vancouver and moved to Toronto at the age of 10.
In fact, Underwood admits to being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
“I used to have Maple Leafs blankets,” he said with a chuckle, “but they’re in the closet right now.”
His mother, Jacquie, is a manager with Sears, and he has two sisters — Cindy, 22, who attended the U of Western Ontario, and Megan, 18, who is in college in San Diego.
Living in San Diego, Underwood was almost two hours from Los Angeles, which meant a lot of time spent in the family car.
“There aren’t too many teams (in San Diego), so I’ve been driving up there since I was 10,” he said. “We’d leave right after school, go to practice, get home about 11:30 at night and then do it all over again . . . five days a week.”
Asked to describe himself as a player, Underwood said he’s a defenceman who can play “both ways.”
“I like to rush the puck and join the rush but at the same time . . . I like to play physical,” he said.
He showed all of that in Sunday evening’s first scrimmage. He made a nifty play along the defensive right boards and sent a terrific pass to a busting forward that led to Team White’s first goal. Later, after centre Brendan Ranford almost beat him, Underwood answered by stapling the Blazers’ first pick in the 2007 bantam draft to the end boards.
“Matt Recchi told me if I want to make the team I have to play physical every shift,” Underwood said, referring to the Blazers’ director of player personnel. “Putting guys into the glass . . . that’s how I usually play so I’m not going to change that.”
As for an overview of training camp, Underwood said he has been impressed with Barry Smith, the Blazers’ new head coach.
“He is a pretty intense guy. He’s pushing us . . . he’s an attention-to-detail guy,” Underwood said. “One bad pass and you have to restart the whole drill. He’ll keep going until you get it right.”
JUST NOTES: There is at least one other player from San Diego in a WHL camp this week. RW Jon Parker, a 1991-born player, is with the Vancouver Giants. . . . The Blazers had 58 players listed on scrimmage rosters last night — 14 of them are 1993-born players. . . . RW Tyler Shattock leaves Sept. 11 for Las Vegas, where he will play for the San Jose Sharks in a rookie tournament. Shattock, who missed a chunk of last season with a broken ankle, said his leg was tired when camp started but is feeling better after getting some good on-ice time. . . . D Jordan Principalli, 19, who is in the Blazers’ camp, was involved in a trade Friday. His BCHL rights ended up moving as part of a transaction that involved at least seven players, future considerations and four teams. Principalli began the day with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs and ended it with the Quesnel Regency Millionaires. . . . Regency Millionaires? Yes, the junior A team has signed a sponsorship deal with Regency Chrysler, a local dealership. . . . Principalli, from Calgary, had 13 points and 59 penalty minutes in 55 games with the Bulldogs last season. . . . . There are practice sessions set for this morning at 9, 10:15 and 11:30, with scrimmages this evening at 5, 6:15 and 7:30. The annual Blue-White game goes Tuesday, 7 p.m.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
Sunday . . .
The big story in the WHL today is that the Everett Silvertips have lost not one but both of their import players. C Vitaly Karamnov, a Russian, and LW Lukas Vartovnik, a Slovakian, are 19 and are veteran players. However, both have chosen to stay at home and play. . . . This really, really stiffs the Silvertips. Because neither player indicated before the CHL import draft that he wouldn’t return, the Silvertips chose not to make any selections; in fact, Everett traded its first pick to the Regina Pats for a first-rounder in 2009. "We're very disappointed with both those boys and their decision," Everett general manager Doug Soetaert tells Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald. Soetaert also told Patterson that he found out three weeks ago. "The biggest disappointment is they never told us before the European draft. They put is in quite a hole with regards to that." . . . . Vartovnik had 19 points in 58 games as a rookie and then last season had 22 points in 72 games. Karamnov had 25 points in 61 games last season, his first in the league. Everett had planned on having both among its top six forwards this season.
———
You may recall the playoff brawl in the QMJHL that featured goaltender Jonathan Roy, the son of former NHL star Patrick Roy, who just happened to be his son’s coach with the Quebec Remparts. Well, one thing led to another after that game and the politicians got involved. Now a committee that had been struck has returned its recommendations. There’s a story right here that deals with those recommendations. It’s interesting to note that many of those recommendations have been in place in the WHL for some time.
———
In one scrimmage at the Kamloops Blazers’ camp on Sunday, veterans Shayne Wiebe, C.J. Stretch and Jimmy Bubnick were on a line together. They accounted for all three of their team’s goals, each scoring once. Perhaps new head coach Barry Smith will throw the three of them together a time or two this season.
———
The Red Deer Rebels released G Travis Rohlheiser, 19, his release after he requested it. He plans on playing for the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints this season.
———
Interesting news out of Prince George where LW Brad Riege, 19, didn’t show up for the Cougars’ training camp. The Cougars had been planning on Riege, who was acquired last season from the Moose Jaw Warriors, being one of their top six forwards. What makes this story even more intriguing is that no one from the Cougars has been able to reach Riege. “We’re not really surprised — we had indications, fitness reports in late and we hadn’t heard from him in three weeks,” said Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson. “No phone calls, no email . . . that’s life. You have to be at training camp to be on the hockey team. I don’t know — I’m pretty busy this week and I’m not going to chase Brad Riege down, pretty simple.”
———
You may recall the playoff brawl in the QMJHL that featured goaltender Jonathan Roy, the son of former NHL star Patrick Roy, who just happened to be his son’s coach with the Quebec Remparts. Well, one thing led to another after that game and the politicians got involved. Now a committee that had been struck has returned its recommendations. There’s a story right here that deals with those recommendations. It’s interesting to note that many of those recommendations have been in place in the WHL for some time.
———
In one scrimmage at the Kamloops Blazers’ camp on Sunday, veterans Shayne Wiebe, C.J. Stretch and Jimmy Bubnick were on a line together. They accounted for all three of their team’s goals, each scoring once. Perhaps new head coach Barry Smith will throw the three of them together a time or two this season.
———
The Red Deer Rebels released G Travis Rohlheiser, 19, his release after he requested it. He plans on playing for the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints this season.
———
Interesting news out of Prince George where LW Brad Riege, 19, didn’t show up for the Cougars’ training camp. The Cougars had been planning on Riege, who was acquired last season from the Moose Jaw Warriors, being one of their top six forwards. What makes this story even more intriguing is that no one from the Cougars has been able to reach Riege. “We’re not really surprised — we had indications, fitness reports in late and we hadn’t heard from him in three weeks,” said Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson. “No phone calls, no email . . . that’s life. You have to be at training camp to be on the hockey team. I don’t know — I’m pretty busy this week and I’m not going to chase Brad Riege down, pretty simple.”
Keeping Score
Our Olympic roundup begins with a note from Kamloops mountain biker Catharine Pendrel’s blog (cpendrel.blogspot.com): “The cafeteria is open 24hrs/day. We can always get cereal, salad, Asian, Halal, Mediterranean and international cuisine. Oh yeah, and McDonald’s! It’s actually pretty popular . . . particularly when people have finished.” . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Between events, in his spare time, (U.S. swimmer Michael) Phelps has freed Tibet, solved the crisis in Darfur, brokered a human-rights policy with the Chinese government and refurbished the Great Wall.” . . . More from Cote: “It has been a fabulous Olympics for the entire American swimming program, whose men’s and women’s teams in Beijing include not only Phelps, but also several other people whose names I can’t recall.”
Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “There was a pregnant pause — four days — between Canada’s second gold medal of the Olympics and its third. It seems only fitting, then, that No. 3 was delivered by a guy named Lamaze. . . . One more from Hamilton: “Chinese acupuncturist Wei Shengchu spent the Games walking around Beijing with more than 100 needles bearing miniature national flags stuck in his scalp. He obviously misunderstood somebody, because he told everyone he was representing the host country in the modern pintathlon.” . . . Mary Carillo, most familiar in her role as a TV tennis analyst, was in Beijing doing off-the-beaten-track reports for NBC. She notes: “My children . . . got dozens of text messages that said, ‘Your mom just ate a scorpion on television.’ That one seemed to get a lot of attention.” . . . Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “This has been the one Olympic Games when I never know what time it is. So, where is Brian Williams when I need him?”
Before Michael Phelps there was Mark Spitz. Asked by ESPNews about the many world records set in the pool at Beijing, Spitz replied: “Did anybody measure the pool?” . . . Bret Lewis of KFWB radio in Los Angeles: “I don’t want to complain about NBC tape-delaying the events, but (the other) night I watched a swimming race. And the winner was Mark Spitz.” . . . Nancy Franklin, in The New Yorker: “The network offered more hours than had been shown in all previous Summer Olympics combined, and yet, during the first week, only three people were ever seen in prime time: Michael Phelps and the beach-volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.” . . . Old friend The Sports Curmudgeon makes a point: “Let me put two items in juxtaposition here. First, women’s beach volleyball is on NBC a whole lot. Second, softball will not be included in future Olympic Games. Now, just suppose that Jenny Finch pitched in the same uniform that the women’s beach volleyball players wear. Do you think NBC might exert some influence on the IOC to keep softball in the Olympic Games?”
Reader Mike Giachino, in a letter to the Los Angeles Times: “NBC’s Olympic coverage is so delayed on the West Coast that by the time it is seen the Chinese gymnasts are actually 16 years old.” . . . My Olympic memories are topped by the smile on Kamloops shot putter Dylan Armstrong’s smile as he was interviewed by CBC-TV’s Elliotte Friedman, and Hazelton wrestler Carol Huynh, her hand over her mouth, as she listened to O Canada, having won the country’s first gold medal of these Games. . . . Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times, in a memo to the U.S. Olympic Committee: “Where exactly are the women in women’s gymnastics? I’ve got more meat on my thumb than most of these poor kids. Here’s a tip: The No. 19 at Langer’s Deli — the warm pastrami, with a layer of coleslaw across the roof. Juicy as a steak, this pastrami. In fact, I’m sending these scrawny Tinker Bells some Langer’s right now, in honor of all their good work this week. Please tell Bela Karolyi to keep his fat paws off.”
The New York Post ran a story on Phelps eating 12,000 calories a day. The headline: Phelps’ Pig Secret: He’s Boy Gorge. . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Green-clad Olympic archer steals gold medals from rich, gives them to poor. . . . Gotta think that Braden James of our town and Jill Henselwood will have lots to talk about the next time they get together. James is an up-and-coming rider who trains under the tutelage of Henselwood, who was on Canada’s medal-winning equestrian team in Hong Kong this week.
Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times dug up some Williams-related information. He pointed out a week ago that “NFL rosters this summer are dotted with 36 players named Williams, according to researchers at STATS LLC, but no one with that surname has ever been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. By contrast, former Angels manager Dick Williams last month became the fourth Williams inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (joining Ted, Billy and Smokey Joe), yet no one named Williams is currently active in the majors.” . . . Another summer is almost over and not only does this city not have a quality slo-pitch facility, but a shovel has yet to hit the ground. And that’s a real shame. . . . In case you missed it, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon ordered up an intentional walk to Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton on Sunday. With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth. The Rays were up 7-3 at the time; they won 7-4. The Society for American Baseball Research reports that it was believed to be the fifth time that has happened since 1990.
In Philadelphia, the city where Santa Claus once got booed during an NFL game, the Phillies recently lost four straight to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Daily News ran a picture of shortstop Jimmy Rollins hanging his head and this headline: CAN’T HOLD YOUR BOOS? . . . Headline at Fark.com: Umpires, MLB agree to instant replay. Umpires, MLB agree to instant replay. . . . The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is scheduled to unveil a statue of former head coach Lou Holtz on Sept. 13. “They needed some place for the pigeons to land,” Holtz told the Orlando Sentinel. “I just hope people don’t look at it and think it’s Robert Redford. That happens to me all the time in airports.”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor
of The Daily News. He is at
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.
Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “There was a pregnant pause — four days — between Canada’s second gold medal of the Olympics and its third. It seems only fitting, then, that No. 3 was delivered by a guy named Lamaze. . . . One more from Hamilton: “Chinese acupuncturist Wei Shengchu spent the Games walking around Beijing with more than 100 needles bearing miniature national flags stuck in his scalp. He obviously misunderstood somebody, because he told everyone he was representing the host country in the modern pintathlon.” . . . Mary Carillo, most familiar in her role as a TV tennis analyst, was in Beijing doing off-the-beaten-track reports for NBC. She notes: “My children . . . got dozens of text messages that said, ‘Your mom just ate a scorpion on television.’ That one seemed to get a lot of attention.” . . . Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “This has been the one Olympic Games when I never know what time it is. So, where is Brian Williams when I need him?”
Before Michael Phelps there was Mark Spitz. Asked by ESPNews about the many world records set in the pool at Beijing, Spitz replied: “Did anybody measure the pool?” . . . Bret Lewis of KFWB radio in Los Angeles: “I don’t want to complain about NBC tape-delaying the events, but (the other) night I watched a swimming race. And the winner was Mark Spitz.” . . . Nancy Franklin, in The New Yorker: “The network offered more hours than had been shown in all previous Summer Olympics combined, and yet, during the first week, only three people were ever seen in prime time: Michael Phelps and the beach-volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.” . . . Old friend The Sports Curmudgeon makes a point: “Let me put two items in juxtaposition here. First, women’s beach volleyball is on NBC a whole lot. Second, softball will not be included in future Olympic Games. Now, just suppose that Jenny Finch pitched in the same uniform that the women’s beach volleyball players wear. Do you think NBC might exert some influence on the IOC to keep softball in the Olympic Games?”
Reader Mike Giachino, in a letter to the Los Angeles Times: “NBC’s Olympic coverage is so delayed on the West Coast that by the time it is seen the Chinese gymnasts are actually 16 years old.” . . . My Olympic memories are topped by the smile on Kamloops shot putter Dylan Armstrong’s smile as he was interviewed by CBC-TV’s Elliotte Friedman, and Hazelton wrestler Carol Huynh, her hand over her mouth, as she listened to O Canada, having won the country’s first gold medal of these Games. . . . Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times, in a memo to the U.S. Olympic Committee: “Where exactly are the women in women’s gymnastics? I’ve got more meat on my thumb than most of these poor kids. Here’s a tip: The No. 19 at Langer’s Deli — the warm pastrami, with a layer of coleslaw across the roof. Juicy as a steak, this pastrami. In fact, I’m sending these scrawny Tinker Bells some Langer’s right now, in honor of all their good work this week. Please tell Bela Karolyi to keep his fat paws off.”
The New York Post ran a story on Phelps eating 12,000 calories a day. The headline: Phelps’ Pig Secret: He’s Boy Gorge. . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Green-clad Olympic archer steals gold medals from rich, gives them to poor. . . . Gotta think that Braden James of our town and Jill Henselwood will have lots to talk about the next time they get together. James is an up-and-coming rider who trains under the tutelage of Henselwood, who was on Canada’s medal-winning equestrian team in Hong Kong this week.
Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times dug up some Williams-related information. He pointed out a week ago that “NFL rosters this summer are dotted with 36 players named Williams, according to researchers at STATS LLC, but no one with that surname has ever been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. By contrast, former Angels manager Dick Williams last month became the fourth Williams inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (joining Ted, Billy and Smokey Joe), yet no one named Williams is currently active in the majors.” . . . Another summer is almost over and not only does this city not have a quality slo-pitch facility, but a shovel has yet to hit the ground. And that’s a real shame. . . . In case you missed it, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon ordered up an intentional walk to Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton on Sunday. With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth. The Rays were up 7-3 at the time; they won 7-4. The Society for American Baseball Research reports that it was believed to be the fifth time that has happened since 1990.
In Philadelphia, the city where Santa Claus once got booed during an NFL game, the Phillies recently lost four straight to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Daily News ran a picture of shortstop Jimmy Rollins hanging his head and this headline: CAN’T HOLD YOUR BOOS? . . . Headline at Fark.com: Umpires, MLB agree to instant replay. Umpires, MLB agree to instant replay. . . . The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is scheduled to unveil a statue of former head coach Lou Holtz on Sept. 13. “They needed some place for the pigeons to land,” Holtz told the Orlando Sentinel. “I just hope people don’t look at it and think it’s Robert Redford. That happens to me all the time in airports.”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor
of The Daily News. He is at
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.
Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Saturday . . .
G Trevor Gutierrez, 15, is in camp with the Everett Silvertips. Gutierrez, from Anchorage, Alaska, is the younger brother of RW Moises Guiterrez, who played in the WHL with Everett and the Kamloops Blazers. The younger Gutierrez, it seems, was used for target practice early in his career. "He always made me put on the gear and face some shots," Trevor tells Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald. “I had no choice at all, but I fell in love with it." . . . The Silvertips have added Jeremy Creuer and Bill LaForge to their scouting staff. Creuer is the first former Silvertips player to join the team’s front office. He played 20 games with them in 2004-05 but had his career cut short by a concussion. He will scout in southern Saskatchewan. LaForge, the son of the late Bill LaForge, who was a WHL head coach in Kamloops and Regina, will work in the Edmonton area and in northern Alberta.
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Former Kamloops Blazers F Tyson Nash is going to give the NHL one more shot. According to Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic, Nash, who hasn’t played in the NHL since he was with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2006, will go to camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nash, 33, played in Japan with the Nipon Paper Cranes last season. Nash was one of the players to win three Memorial Cups in four season with the Blazers in 1992, ’94 and ’95.
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Paul Danzer of The Columbian has a piece on the state of the Portland Winter Hawks, as they prepare to opening training camp. That story is right here.
---
Interesting story by Steve Ewen in Sunday’s Province. It seems the Giants had triplets – Gerry, Leo and Myles Fitzgerald – in their rookie camp over the weekend. The brothers, who are from Port Alberni, stand 5-foot-1 and weigh 110 pounds apiece, and will celebrate their 15th birthdays on Monday. Oh, and they’ve also been in a movie with Kathleen Turner. . . . Read Ewen’s on his Dub Hub blog that is linked over there on the left.
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Former Kamloops Blazers F Tyson Nash is going to give the NHL one more shot. According to Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic, Nash, who hasn’t played in the NHL since he was with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2006, will go to camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nash, 33, played in Japan with the Nipon Paper Cranes last season. Nash was one of the players to win three Memorial Cups in four season with the Blazers in 1992, ’94 and ’95.
---
Paul Danzer of The Columbian has a piece on the state of the Portland Winter Hawks, as they prepare to opening training camp. That story is right here.
---
Interesting story by Steve Ewen in Sunday’s Province. It seems the Giants had triplets – Gerry, Leo and Myles Fitzgerald – in their rookie camp over the weekend. The brothers, who are from Port Alberni, stand 5-foot-1 and weigh 110 pounds apiece, and will celebrate their 15th birthdays on Monday. Oh, and they’ve also been in a movie with Kathleen Turner. . . . Read Ewen’s on his Dub Hub blog that is linked over there on the left.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday's over . . .
The Saskatoon Blades, obviously hoping to add more grit to their roster, have two Sutters in camp. Brody Sutter, 17, is Duane’s son; Lukas, 15, is Rich’s son. Brody is a list player; Lukas was the 42nd selection in the 2008 bantam draft and will play with a midget AAA team in Lethbridge. Brody, a 6-foot-3, 165-pounder who play with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes, has a chance to make the Blades’ roster.
———
The WHL made it official Friday — the Brandon Wheat Kings, Everett Silvertips and Kelowna Rockets have submitted applications to play host to the 2010 Memorial Cup. Bid presentations will take place Oct. 15 at a board of governors meeting in Calgary and a decision will be announced after that meeting. This will be a two-horse race between Brandon and Everett. It's the old guard against the new, old money against new. . . . The 2009 Memorial Cup will be played in Rimouski, Que., home of the QMJHL’s Oceanic.
———
———
The WHL made it official Friday — the Brandon Wheat Kings, Everett Silvertips and Kelowna Rockets have submitted applications to play host to the 2010 Memorial Cup. Bid presentations will take place Oct. 15 at a board of governors meeting in Calgary and a decision will be announced after that meeting. This will be a two-horse race between Brandon and Everett. It's the old guard against the new, old money against new. . . . The 2009 Memorial Cup will be played in Rimouski, Que., home of the QMJHL’s Oceanic.
———
Saip working to crack Blazers' roster
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Defenceman Linden Saip was looking for a change. The Kamloops Blazers are
looking to change up their defence.
This just might be a marriage made in WHL heaven.
The Blazers opened training camp Friday morning at Interior Saving Centre
and Saip, a 17-year-old from Delta, is in one of the veteran groups.
An eighth-round selection by Vancouver in the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft, Saip
got into six games with the Giants last season, recording one assist and
finishing plus-3.
“He had a really good camp with us,” offered Kamloops general manager Craig
Bonner, who was on the Giants’ coaching staff last season. “He was one of
the big surprises. We kept him through the exhibition season and
contemplated keeping him for the season.
“But we decided to send him to midget for his development.”
Saip went to the major midget Vancouver Canadians, where he had 24 points —
tops among their defencemen — and 110 penalty minutes. Of his nine goals,
seven came via the power play.
“I’m physical,” the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Saip said Friday following a late
afternoon on-ice session. “I can do a bit of everything. Offensively, I’m
pretty good . . . they can rely on me defensively to stay at home.”
While Saip’s season went well last winter, all was not smooth sailing. And
that resulted him looking for somewhere else to play.
“It was kind of a hard time for me,” Saip said. “I was going through some
stuff . . . family and personal . . . there were some problems. I thought
it would be best if I got out of Vancouver and went somewhere else to play
hockey . . . get past all the problems so I can focus on just hockey.
“I talked to Craig and ended up here. It turned out for the best.”
The Blazers gave up a conditional 2009 bantam draft pick in return for Saip,
who was named after former Vancouver Canucks centre Trevor Linden.
And while Saip no longer is with the Giants, there still is a connection.
His uncle, Dale, is the Giants’ director of business development. Dale and
Linden’s father, Grant, are the youngster’s biggest boosters.
“We’re really close,” Linden said of his relationship with his uncle, who at
one time after the ownership change was close to joining the Blazers in a
front-office position. “He calls me about once a week to see how things are
doing.
“He was up here playing golf and said it’s a great town.”
Saip also goes back a long ways with the Blazers’ GM.
“I’ve known him a long time and I think he can play,” Bonner said. “I think
he’s got a real good shot at making our roster.”
The Blazers’ roster includes four veteran defencemen — Nick Ross, Jordan
Rowley, Mark Schneider and Kurt Tobohm. Ross, a first-round selection by the
Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL’s 2007 draft, was acquired from the Regina Pats
in January. Rowley, 18, has been through two WHL seasons but, like many of
his teammates, didn’t enjoy a stellar 2007-08. Schneider and Torbohm
combined to play in 69 games last season.
What this means is that there are more vacancies on the Blazers’ defence
than in the Bates Motel.
Saip said he is especially looking forward to learning under head coach
Barry Smith — Saip referred to him as a “pro head coach” — and assistants
Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, both of whom are former WHL defencemen with
ample NHL playing experience.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Saip said. “It’s non-stop advice. I’m
going to learn many things . . . it’s going to be a real learning season.”
Saip and all the other players got their first real taste of Barry Smith
yesterday. And the new coach let it be known that he means business.
“It’s been a week or or two since I’ve been on ice,” Saip said. “That was a
hard practice, one of the toughest I’ve had.”
He agreed that Smith has a message and that he is going to get it across
early in camp. “This is a hard-working team,” Saip said of that message,
“and it’s going to be for the entire season.”
Saip did enough that Smith at least noticed him.
“He was all right,” Smith said. “But they’re all here trying to figure out
what my work ethic is. Guys are nervous. And I tend to bark a little bit.
“Things will get more relaxed after every day.”
JUST NOTES: One thing Smith is particular about is punctuality — 4 o’clock
means 4 o’clock. When Team Black was on the ice a few minutes early, he sent
the players to the benches, then stood at centre ice and watched the clock
tick down. The session started right at 4 p.m. . . . Slovakian C Dalibor
Bortnak isn’t skating with the Blazers, who are awaiting his release from
his club team. “It’s nothing that is preceived to be an issue,” Bonner said,
adding that he spoke to Bortnak’s agents in Slovakia and “there aren’t any
issues as far as they’re concerned.” . . . The Blazers will have four
players off their roster going to pro camps — Ross (Phoenix), RW Brady Calla
(Florida Panthers), C Scott Wasden (Minnesota Wild) and RW Tyler Shattock
(San Jose). Ross and Calla are signed draft picks; Wasden and Shattock will
attend pro camps on a tryout basis.
Daily News Sports Editor
Defenceman Linden Saip was looking for a change. The Kamloops Blazers are
looking to change up their defence.
This just might be a marriage made in WHL heaven.
The Blazers opened training camp Friday morning at Interior Saving Centre
and Saip, a 17-year-old from Delta, is in one of the veteran groups.
An eighth-round selection by Vancouver in the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft, Saip
got into six games with the Giants last season, recording one assist and
finishing plus-3.
“He had a really good camp with us,” offered Kamloops general manager Craig
Bonner, who was on the Giants’ coaching staff last season. “He was one of
the big surprises. We kept him through the exhibition season and
contemplated keeping him for the season.
“But we decided to send him to midget for his development.”
Saip went to the major midget Vancouver Canadians, where he had 24 points —
tops among their defencemen — and 110 penalty minutes. Of his nine goals,
seven came via the power play.
“I’m physical,” the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Saip said Friday following a late
afternoon on-ice session. “I can do a bit of everything. Offensively, I’m
pretty good . . . they can rely on me defensively to stay at home.”
While Saip’s season went well last winter, all was not smooth sailing. And
that resulted him looking for somewhere else to play.
“It was kind of a hard time for me,” Saip said. “I was going through some
stuff . . . family and personal . . . there were some problems. I thought
it would be best if I got out of Vancouver and went somewhere else to play
hockey . . . get past all the problems so I can focus on just hockey.
“I talked to Craig and ended up here. It turned out for the best.”
The Blazers gave up a conditional 2009 bantam draft pick in return for Saip,
who was named after former Vancouver Canucks centre Trevor Linden.
And while Saip no longer is with the Giants, there still is a connection.
His uncle, Dale, is the Giants’ director of business development. Dale and
Linden’s father, Grant, are the youngster’s biggest boosters.
“We’re really close,” Linden said of his relationship with his uncle, who at
one time after the ownership change was close to joining the Blazers in a
front-office position. “He calls me about once a week to see how things are
doing.
“He was up here playing golf and said it’s a great town.”
Saip also goes back a long ways with the Blazers’ GM.
“I’ve known him a long time and I think he can play,” Bonner said. “I think
he’s got a real good shot at making our roster.”
The Blazers’ roster includes four veteran defencemen — Nick Ross, Jordan
Rowley, Mark Schneider and Kurt Tobohm. Ross, a first-round selection by the
Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL’s 2007 draft, was acquired from the Regina Pats
in January. Rowley, 18, has been through two WHL seasons but, like many of
his teammates, didn’t enjoy a stellar 2007-08. Schneider and Torbohm
combined to play in 69 games last season.
What this means is that there are more vacancies on the Blazers’ defence
than in the Bates Motel.
Saip said he is especially looking forward to learning under head coach
Barry Smith — Saip referred to him as a “pro head coach” — and assistants
Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, both of whom are former WHL defencemen with
ample NHL playing experience.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Saip said. “It’s non-stop advice. I’m
going to learn many things . . . it’s going to be a real learning season.”
Saip and all the other players got their first real taste of Barry Smith
yesterday. And the new coach let it be known that he means business.
“It’s been a week or or two since I’ve been on ice,” Saip said. “That was a
hard practice, one of the toughest I’ve had.”
He agreed that Smith has a message and that he is going to get it across
early in camp. “This is a hard-working team,” Saip said of that message,
“and it’s going to be for the entire season.”
Saip did enough that Smith at least noticed him.
“He was all right,” Smith said. “But they’re all here trying to figure out
what my work ethic is. Guys are nervous. And I tend to bark a little bit.
“Things will get more relaxed after every day.”
JUST NOTES: One thing Smith is particular about is punctuality — 4 o’clock
means 4 o’clock. When Team Black was on the ice a few minutes early, he sent
the players to the benches, then stood at centre ice and watched the clock
tick down. The session started right at 4 p.m. . . . Slovakian C Dalibor
Bortnak isn’t skating with the Blazers, who are awaiting his release from
his club team. “It’s nothing that is preceived to be an issue,” Bonner said,
adding that he spoke to Bortnak’s agents in Slovakia and “there aren’t any
issues as far as they’re concerned.” . . . The Blazers will have four
players off their roster going to pro camps — Ross (Phoenix), RW Brady Calla
(Florida Panthers), C Scott Wasden (Minnesota Wild) and RW Tyler Shattock
(San Jose). Ross and Calla are signed draft picks; Wasden and Shattock will
attend pro camps on a tryout basis.
Mystery solved
Now we know the identity of the third franchise interested in playing host to the 2010 Memorial Cup. . . . Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald reports that the Silvertips will be bidding on the championship tournament. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings said last week that they also will be bidding on the event. . . . The Kelowna Rockets expressed some interest but governor/general manager Bruce Hamilton sounded an awful lot like he was more interested in protecting the integrity of the bidding process than he was in bringing the tournament back to the Little Apple where it was such a big hit in May of 2004.
---
THE COACHING GAME: The QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques have promoted assistant coach Mario Richer to head coach. He replaces Benoit Groulx, who has signed with the AHL’s Rochester Americans as head coach. . . . The AHL’s Providence Bruins did the same thing, promoting assistant coach Rob Murray. He takes over from Scott Gordon, now head coach of the NHL’s New York Islanders. . . . The Spokane Chiefs have yet to hire an assistant coach, while Hockey Canada hasn’t replaced Groulx as head coach of the national junior team. . . . Perhaps Pat Quinn could fill both spots, couldn’t he?
---
THE COACHING GAME: The QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques have promoted assistant coach Mario Richer to head coach. He replaces Benoit Groulx, who has signed with the AHL’s Rochester Americans as head coach. . . . The AHL’s Providence Bruins did the same thing, promoting assistant coach Rob Murray. He takes over from Scott Gordon, now head coach of the NHL’s New York Islanders. . . . The Spokane Chiefs have yet to hire an assistant coach, while Hockey Canada hasn’t replaced Groulx as head coach of the national junior team. . . . Perhaps Pat Quinn could fill both spots, couldn’t he?
An unCloudy Day
A good news story in the Winnipeg Sun where veteran sports writer Jim Bender has a note on Chris Cloud, a veteran of the WHL wars. Cloud turns 20 on Oct. 22 so is eligible for one more season.
“Chris Cloud came up with a win-win concept,” writes Bender. “Needing some extra cash to support himself while playing for the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants, the former Manitoba Junior Hockey League player opened up a summer hockey school in Waywayseecappo. And the school attracted about 70 kids aged three and up this summer.
" ‘He's fought his way up through hockey and now, we want to set him up as a role model,’ Tim Cloud, his father and Waywayseecappo councilman said. ‘We have bad drug and alcohol problem up here due to the unemployment and we're trying to instill that there is more to life than drugs and alcohol.’ “
Hey, a tip of the cap and a whole lot of props to Chris Cloud. Well done!
---
Eric Welsh in the Chilliwack Progress reports that G Matt Esposito has left the Chillwack Bruins. Esposito, who was the No. 1 guy for a while last season, is at home in Edmonton. “He has expressed that he would like to play closer to home and I think he’s upset that he lost his starter’s job,” GM Darrell May told Welsh. “If he wants to be a starter, he’s going to have to earn it here, and obviously he doesn’t want to compete for it. He wants to play elsewhere.”. . . Mark Friesen, now 18, was the starter when last season ended, having taken the job from Esposito, who now is 19. . . . Esposito’s departure leaves Friesen atop the depth chart, with Lucas Gore, who turns 18 on Oct. 22, at No. 2. Gore spent last season with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Also in camp is Joey Rewucki, who never lost a game last season with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. . . . Welsh’s story is right here.
---
Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune as a good preseason look at the Winter Hawks right here.
“Chris Cloud came up with a win-win concept,” writes Bender. “Needing some extra cash to support himself while playing for the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants, the former Manitoba Junior Hockey League player opened up a summer hockey school in Waywayseecappo. And the school attracted about 70 kids aged three and up this summer.
" ‘He's fought his way up through hockey and now, we want to set him up as a role model,’ Tim Cloud, his father and Waywayseecappo councilman said. ‘We have bad drug and alcohol problem up here due to the unemployment and we're trying to instill that there is more to life than drugs and alcohol.’ “
Hey, a tip of the cap and a whole lot of props to Chris Cloud. Well done!
---
Eric Welsh in the Chilliwack Progress reports that G Matt Esposito has left the Chillwack Bruins. Esposito, who was the No. 1 guy for a while last season, is at home in Edmonton. “He has expressed that he would like to play closer to home and I think he’s upset that he lost his starter’s job,” GM Darrell May told Welsh. “If he wants to be a starter, he’s going to have to earn it here, and obviously he doesn’t want to compete for it. He wants to play elsewhere.”. . . Mark Friesen, now 18, was the starter when last season ended, having taken the job from Esposito, who now is 19. . . . Esposito’s departure leaves Friesen atop the depth chart, with Lucas Gore, who turns 18 on Oct. 22, at No. 2. Gore spent last season with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Also in camp is Joey Rewucki, who never lost a game last season with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. . . . Welsh’s story is right here.
---
Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune as a good preseason look at the Winter Hawks right here.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
More from Thursday . . .
There is speculation that Hockey Canada may bring in Pat Quinn as the head coach of the national junior team. For one thing, Quinn, a former NHL general manager/head coach/defenceman who once crunched Bobby Orr, is available as he isn’t employed as a coach at the moment. For another, he’s tight with Hockey Canada boss Bob Nicholson. . . . And let’s not forget that Quinn was the head coach of Canada’s under-18 team that won the world championship in the spring. He also has international experience with the Olympic team and at the Spengler Cup. . . . So bring him on. . . . If you missed it, Hockey Canada needs a head coach for the national junior team because Benoit Groulx, who had been the head coach of the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, has left for the AHL’s Rochester Americans. . . . Team Canada’s assistant coaches are Willie Desjardins, the GM/head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, and Dave Cameron, the GM/head coach of the OHL’s Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. The other option for Team Canada would seem to be to move Desjardins up to head coach and bring in another assistant. . . . Hockey Canada isn’t expected to rush into making an announcement. . . . The world junior tournament opens Dec. 26 in Ottawa.
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F James McEwan, who captained the Kelowna Rockets last season as a 20-year-old, has signed with the ECHL’s Phoenix RoadRunners, who are affiliated with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. He had six points and 93 penalty minutes in 37 games last season. He missed a good chunk of the season with a wrist injury that was incurred in a scrap with F Garet Hunt of the Vancouver Giants.
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If you’ve got a copy of the WHL schedule, here’s a change for you. The Edmonton Oil Kings at Kelowna Rockets game scheduled for Saturday Nov. 8, has been moved to Sunday, Nov. 2, at 5:00 p.m. The change was necessary due to a scheduling conflict with Prospera Place.
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Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that D Victor Bartley, 20, who was thinking about playing professionally, has reported to the Pats and plans on staying there. “I’m 100 per cent in Regina,” Bartley told Harder. “That’s the reason for me coming down. I’ve made my decision.” . . . And here are some interesting family ties as reported by Harder: “The Pats have several rookie prospects in camp with interesting bloodlines: RW Drew George (nephew of former Pats head coach and current radio colour commentator Al Dumba), RW Kyle Wells (son of ex-Pat Brad Wells, a former Brandon Wheat Kings assistant coach), D Max Faulkner (son of Dave Faulkner, who won a Memorial Cup with the Pats in 1974), RW Jordan Daniels (nephew of former Pat and NHL tough guy Scott Daniels), D Kyle Herom (son of former Moose Jaw Warrior Kevin Herom), C Dustin Eberle (brother of Pats sniper Jordan Eberle), C Ryan Ostertag (grandson of Pats legend Bill Hicke), C Dayton Reinboldt (cousin to former Medicine Hat Tigers star Stefan Meyer, now a prospect with the Florida Panthers), Reid Simmonds (nephew of former NHLer and current Colorado Avalanche assistant coach Dave Barr) and C Tyson Stoesz (cousin to former Pats enforcer Myles Stoesz). . . . Don’t forget to check out Harder’s blog, Slap Shots, for Pats news. There’s a link over there to the left.
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If you were wondering, F Luke Moffatt, the Kelowna Rockets’ first-round pick, second overall, in the 2007 bantam draft, won’t be reporting to camp. He is joining the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Also missing from Kelowna’s camp will be RW Danny Kristo, a list player. Kristo, from Eden Prairie, Minn., was taken in the second round, 56th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens, in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Kristo will spend this season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers and has committed to the U of North Dakota for 2009-10.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: D Mikael Ahle’n (Medicine Hat) signed with Djurgården Stockholm J20 (Sweden J20 SuperElit). Djurgården was his club before he went to Medicine Hat for last season.
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When the Spokane Chiefs opened camp Thursday, veteran forward Ondrej Roman wasn’t there. Jessica Brown of the Spokesman-Review reports that “the Czech Republic native and Dallas Stars prospect is still overseas waiting to be released by the International Ice Hockey Federation. For now, the Chiefs aren’t certain when they will get their veteran forward back.” Chiefs GM Tim Speltz tells Brown: “It's a scenario that we think is going to be resolved, so for us, right now the best thing is to just wait and let it run its course. Right now there is no transfer agreement (between the IIHF and the NHL). In a normal situation they don't mind releasing those players but they still have what they consider their right to development money from the NHL. They are afraid if he comes over at 19, they might not get that money. Roman wants to be back, his agent wants him to be back, but right now we don't have that release."
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Former Spokane C Chris Langkow, who was dealt to Saskatoon in January, is nursing an ankle injury so didn’t skate with the Blades on Thursday. Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that Langkow, 19, was injured while working off-ice with his cousin, C Daymond Langkow of the Calgary Flames.
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Apparently, the WHL won’t reveal the names of the teams interested in bidding for the hosting rights to the 2010 Memorial Cup until Aug. 28. We know that the Brandon Wheat Kings are preparing a bid. We know that the Kelowna Rockets are interested, but only if things fall apart on the Wheat Kings, which isn’t likely to happen. The Red Deer Advocate reports that the Rebels aren’t interested, at least not at this time. “The Memorial Cup is really a 19-year-old tournament nowadays,” Rebels owner Brent Sutter told the Advocate’s Greg Meachem, “so we would have had to change our thought process if we submitted a bid. We would have had to move some of our young players to get older for 10 days, and then we’d be starting all over again.” . . . You are free to speculate on which is the third franchise interested in playing host to the tournament.
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F James McEwan, who captained the Kelowna Rockets last season as a 20-year-old, has signed with the ECHL’s Phoenix RoadRunners, who are affiliated with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. He had six points and 93 penalty minutes in 37 games last season. He missed a good chunk of the season with a wrist injury that was incurred in a scrap with F Garet Hunt of the Vancouver Giants.
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If you’ve got a copy of the WHL schedule, here’s a change for you. The Edmonton Oil Kings at Kelowna Rockets game scheduled for Saturday Nov. 8, has been moved to Sunday, Nov. 2, at 5:00 p.m. The change was necessary due to a scheduling conflict with Prospera Place.
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Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that D Victor Bartley, 20, who was thinking about playing professionally, has reported to the Pats and plans on staying there. “I’m 100 per cent in Regina,” Bartley told Harder. “That’s the reason for me coming down. I’ve made my decision.” . . . And here are some interesting family ties as reported by Harder: “The Pats have several rookie prospects in camp with interesting bloodlines: RW Drew George (nephew of former Pats head coach and current radio colour commentator Al Dumba), RW Kyle Wells (son of ex-Pat Brad Wells, a former Brandon Wheat Kings assistant coach), D Max Faulkner (son of Dave Faulkner, who won a Memorial Cup with the Pats in 1974), RW Jordan Daniels (nephew of former Pat and NHL tough guy Scott Daniels), D Kyle Herom (son of former Moose Jaw Warrior Kevin Herom), C Dustin Eberle (brother of Pats sniper Jordan Eberle), C Ryan Ostertag (grandson of Pats legend Bill Hicke), C Dayton Reinboldt (cousin to former Medicine Hat Tigers star Stefan Meyer, now a prospect with the Florida Panthers), Reid Simmonds (nephew of former NHLer and current Colorado Avalanche assistant coach Dave Barr) and C Tyson Stoesz (cousin to former Pats enforcer Myles Stoesz). . . . Don’t forget to check out Harder’s blog, Slap Shots, for Pats news. There’s a link over there to the left.
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If you were wondering, F Luke Moffatt, the Kelowna Rockets’ first-round pick, second overall, in the 2007 bantam draft, won’t be reporting to camp. He is joining the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Also missing from Kelowna’s camp will be RW Danny Kristo, a list player. Kristo, from Eden Prairie, Minn., was taken in the second round, 56th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens, in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Kristo will spend this season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers and has committed to the U of North Dakota for 2009-10.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: D Mikael Ahle’n (Medicine Hat) signed with Djurgården Stockholm J20 (Sweden J20 SuperElit). Djurgården was his club before he went to Medicine Hat for last season.
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When the Spokane Chiefs opened camp Thursday, veteran forward Ondrej Roman wasn’t there. Jessica Brown of the Spokesman-Review reports that “the Czech Republic native and Dallas Stars prospect is still overseas waiting to be released by the International Ice Hockey Federation. For now, the Chiefs aren’t certain when they will get their veteran forward back.” Chiefs GM Tim Speltz tells Brown: “It's a scenario that we think is going to be resolved, so for us, right now the best thing is to just wait and let it run its course. Right now there is no transfer agreement (between the IIHF and the NHL). In a normal situation they don't mind releasing those players but they still have what they consider their right to development money from the NHL. They are afraid if he comes over at 19, they might not get that money. Roman wants to be back, his agent wants him to be back, but right now we don't have that release."
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Former Spokane C Chris Langkow, who was dealt to Saskatoon in January, is nursing an ankle injury so didn’t skate with the Blades on Thursday. Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that Langkow, 19, was injured while working off-ice with his cousin, C Daymond Langkow of the Calgary Flames.
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Apparently, the WHL won’t reveal the names of the teams interested in bidding for the hosting rights to the 2010 Memorial Cup until Aug. 28. We know that the Brandon Wheat Kings are preparing a bid. We know that the Kelowna Rockets are interested, but only if things fall apart on the Wheat Kings, which isn’t likely to happen. The Red Deer Advocate reports that the Rebels aren’t interested, at least not at this time. “The Memorial Cup is really a 19-year-old tournament nowadays,” Rebels owner Brent Sutter told the Advocate’s Greg Meachem, “so we would have had to change our thought process if we submitted a bid. We would have had to move some of our young players to get older for 10 days, and then we’d be starting all over again.” . . . You are free to speculate on which is the third franchise interested in playing host to the tournament.
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