Sunday . . . or early Monday

Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune has written a story on the impending sale of the Winter Hawks. He spoke with Jack Donovan, one of the Winter Hawks' three owners, and got something of a non-denial denial that has more holes in it than cheesecloth. That story is right here. . . .
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It is going to be most interesting to see how quickly the WHL is able to perform its ‘due diligence’ on Bill Gallacher and the people who are wanting to purchase the Winter Hawks. With the Winter Hawks opening training camp Friday, time, as Danny Gallivan used to say, is of the essence.
But I am told that the Gallacher group has an entire team of hockey people ready to go -- from general manager to equipment manager. All it needs is the go-ahead from the WHL board of governors.
Having been around the WHL for more than 30 years, I have seen a lot of owners come and go and I have watched as a lot of different things have happened to a lot of different franchises.
But never have I experienced anything close to the passionate reaction there has been since the headline ‘Winter Hawks sold . . . almost!’ appeared on this blog late Friday night.
I have heard from numerous Winter Hawks fans, all of them hoping that Gallacher’s group is riding a white horse. Since at least the middle of last season, Winter Hawks fans have been afraid that they were going to lose their franchise. So terrified were they that some were absolutely convinced the team might end up in Salem, Ore., never mind that there isn’t anything there that even resembles a hockey arena.
Should the Gallacher bunch get speedy approval from the WHL, it will be interesting what kind of business is done at the ticket window in the immediate aftermath.
One has to think that Portland fans would be far more patient with new ownership than they would be with the status quo.
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These are tortured fans and they want off the rack.
One e-mailer wrote: “The entire organization deserves so much better, and I think that this new group could really run the team like a professional franchise, and not so mom and pop.”
Another obviously tortured soul had all of this to say:
“We have lived through at least a dozen rumors of Paul Allen bringing NHL hockey to town since the Rose Garden was built in the mid-90's - and I'm pretty sure he is worth as much as all the WHL and NHL owners combined. Yet, I have yet to see the ‘Portland Buckaroos’ suit up against the Red Wings. In addition, several times we have been ‘on the verge’ of a Major League Baseball franchise, only to have no stadium
built to house them. The most recent occurring when the governor vetoed a deal that would have had a free $300 million stadium built in exchange for the rights to build a casino near the airport (I guess casinos are only okay when the community is not allowed to benefit from them).
“Finally, less than two years ago, Paul Allen was ‘definitely’ going to sell the Portland Trail Blazers, having defaulted on the loans (that’s funny, a guy worth $50 billion defaulting on a $50 million loan) for the Rose Garden. Then, the Blazers get the No. 1 pick (Greg Oden) and, magically, Paul Allen is not selling the team and once again owns the Rose Garden.
”So what I am saying here is this . . . when it comes to sports franchise rumors in Portland, don't believe it until the keys are in the new owners' hands.”
And here’s my favourite, just a quick one-liner from a Winter Hawks’ fan upon hearing of the impending sale: “I’m as happy as a little girl . . .”
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Take a few moments and surf on over to Great Hockey Legends and enjoy some of the photos that are being posted there. Gotta love the one of Bobby Clarke, but the one of Mr. Hockey and 99 is absolutely priceless.
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The WHL is expected to announce today that the 2008 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge series will be stopping in Prince Albert and Swift Current late in November. This is a six-game series with two games played host to by each major junior league. One of the OHL games will be played in St. Catharines, Ont.; one of the QMJHL games is scheduled for Saint John, N.B.
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Moises Mendoza of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer takes a look at billet families who are being left behind as the Seattle Thunderbirds make the move to Kent, Wash. That story is right here.