Saturday . . .

Well, was that an interesting experiment, or what? And thanks to all who took part.
A fisherman puts a line in the water and sometimes he catches a fish. Some days, in fact, he catches more fish than on other days.
A guy puts a photo of his granddaughter on his blog and there is something of a feeding frenzy. People . . . some of you need to take a deep breath and learn to relax. Life is too short and if you are going to be this wound up, well, it’s going to be even shorter.
Understand that this blog is strictly a hobby. I have yet to see even one penny of revenue from it, not that I originally fired it up to make money. Yes, there are a handful of ads over there somewhere, but I have yet to see any revenue from them and I’m not holding my breath.
There are times when I am seated in front of a keyboard pounding in information that I wonder: Why do I bother? But I keep doing it, perhaps because I know that there are at least a few people out there who get some enjoyment out of visiting me here. And I especially enjoy the exchange of information that arises from intelligent comment and communication.
But I have to admit that the reaction Saturday was kind of amazing, although, yes, it provided me with more than one chuckle. Because I have been a sports journalist for more than 35 years, I am well aware of two things: 1. There are a lot of strange people out there; and, 2. Those people really get strange when granted the cloak of anonymity that comes with the Internet.
Oh, and I also have developed pretty thick skin.
Still, I will admit that the first reaction to the photo – “no offense but beauty contests are a thing of the past . . . Pretty girl but does she have a brain?” – did catch me off guard.
How many brains do you have to have (a) to run her name through Google and see for yourself whether she has any brains, or (b) to post a message like that?
Oh, geez, I forgot for a second there. It was posted by Anonymous.
And then there was another Anonymous – are these folks all from the same family; the Internet is full of these people and I’m wondering how much inbreeding has gone on – who, while he/she did offer “congrats to your granddaughter” – obviously still was burning after watching the Kamloops Blazers lose 6-3 to the visiting Tri-City Americans on Friday.
“How about reporting the way the game acutally (sic) went, rather than wasting print talking about some player from the Ams?” he/she wrote. “Not one word in your article today about the incompetant (sic) reffing and them allowing 5 seconds for TC to dig the puck out from under a d-man? WHL should hang their (sic) heads in shame on that display of officiating last night.”
As I wrote earlier, some people need to lighten up. It’s a game. It’s entertainment. The WHL is a developmental league, and the officiating is what it is. I can’t do anything about that. You can’t do anything about that. So take a deep, deep breath and enjoy the entertainment value of WHL games.
In a later comment, he/she referred to the officials in that particular game as being incompetent but did so without providing any examples of said incompetency.
Geez, there’s that cloak of anonymity again. Say whatever the hell you want without ever having to be accountable for any of it.
Still, there was one absolutely hilarious comment.
It came from Collin, who took a look at the photo and noted: “Frankly she should be applauded for overcoming some very fairly steep genetic odds.”
Now humour like that I can appreciate. It takes brains to come up with a crack like that.
Come to think of it, there are openings for male candidates in many of the Ambassador Programs that are so popular across the province of B.C.
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Meanwhile, back in the real world on Saturday . . .
In Moose Jaw, you can bet the Crushed Can was hopping as the Warriors fell 5-4 to the Regina Pats. . . . Regina swept the weekend series, having won 4-1 at home on Friday. . . . The Crushed Can’s seating capacity is listed at 2,705. Attendance on this night was 2,820. . . . F Martin Filo gave the Warriors a 4-3 lead with a PP goal at 16:20 of the second period. . . . Regina pulled it out of the fire when F Brett Leffler scored his 25th and 26th goals of the season, at 18:51 and 19:56 of the third period. . . . Leffler also drew an assist on Regina’s third goal. . . . Moose Jaw G Brandon Glover, a sixth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, stopped 29 shots in his second WHL start. His first start was Friday night.
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In Lethbridge, Saskatoon captain Derek Hulak scored at 3:23 of OT to give the Blades a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . It was Hulak’s second goal of the game and his 20th of the season. . . . The victory was the 400th in the WHL for Saskatoon GM/head coach Lorne Molleken. . . . Saskatoon G Braden Holtby won for the 26th time this season. . . . Lethbridge F Dwight King forced OT with a shorthanded goal 37 seconds into the third period.
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In Prince George, Cougars starry rookie Brett Connolly scored his 20th goal of the season in the first period and later had the only goal of the shootout in a 3-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Cougars had beaten the visiting Rockets 5-2 on Friday. . . . C Colin Long counted his 20th goal of the season for the Rockets. . . . Prince George F Brian Matte forced OT with a PP goal at 16:45 of the third period. . . . Prince George G Kevin Armstrong stopped 41 shots through OT. . . . The Cougars were without F Alex Poulter (concussion), who was injured Friday. . . . The Rockets sat out D Tysen Dowzak (healthy) and scratched LW Evan Bloodoff. He served a one-game suspension from Friday’s game.
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In Kent, Wash., Seattle F Chris Cloud broke a 1-1 tie just 18 seconds into the third period and the Thunderbirds went on to dump the Everett Silvertips, 3-1. . . . The Silvertips had beaten the Thunderbirds 7-5 in Everett on Friday. . . . This was the sixth of 10 games between the two rivals – they are 3-3 – and it opened with a fight between Everett’s Graham Potuer and Cloud just seven seconds in. . . . Cloud drew an assist on F Jeremy Boyer’s insurance goal at 17:17 of the third, giving him the Gordie Howe hat trick. . . . Attendance was 5,552. . . . Kent, uhh, Seattle G Jacob DeSerres stopped 34 shots. DeSerres, who was 4-12-0-0 when Seattle made the move to Kent, is 4-0-0-1 in the new digs.
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In Red Deer, the Vancouver Giants took out their frustrations on the Rebels in a 9-3 victory. . . . The Giants (37-4-0-3) had been beaten 6-3 by the Hitmen in Calgary on Friday. . . . Vancouver F Casey Pierro-Zabotel, the league scoring leader, had two goals and three assists. . . . The Giants counted five first-period goals, three of them on the PP. . . . The third period was scoreless. . . . F Garry Nunn had two goals and two assists for Vancouver. . . . Vancouver was 4-for-7 on the PP; the Rebels were 0-for-5. . . . Pierro-Zabotel leads the WHL in assists (54) and points (78). He is eight points ahead of F Justin Bernhardt of the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Rebels F Landon Ferraro, who scored once, tweaked a groin and sat out the third period. He is doubtful for Sunday when the Rebels are to meet the Tigers in Medicine Hat.
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In Kennewick, Wash., LW Drayson Bowman scored the only goal of the shootout as the Spokane Chiefs beat the host Tri-City Americans, 2-1. . . . The goaltenders, Tri-City’s Chet Pickard and Spokane’s Dustin Tokarski, had been teammates on Canada’s national junior team. Tokarski, who is 19-9-0-2, came up with 40 saves, while Pickard (20-9-0-2) made 34 stops. . . . Spokane F Ondrej Roman forged a 1-1 tie at 17:58 of the second period. . . . The Americans lead the U.S. Division by eight points over the Chiefs. . . . Spokane lost D Jared Spurgeon two minutes into the game after a hit by Tri-City C Taylor Procyshen, who received a double minor for checking from behind. Spurgeon didn’t return. . . . The Americans, who were playing their fourth game in five nights, meet the host Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent on Sunday. . . . The Americans were without D Brett Plouffe (charleyhorse), who was injured in a 6-3 victory Friday in Kamloops.
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In Portland, C C.J. Stretch scored twice as the Kamloops Blazers dumped the Winter Hawks, 5-1. . . . Kamloops G Justin Leclerc stopped 34 shots, including 16 in the second period. . . . Stretch, 19, leads the Blazers in assists (38) and points (57). Those are career highs. He also has a career-high 19 goals. . . . Kamloops had seven shots on goal and two goals before Portland managed even one shot on goal. . . . Portland went with Ian Curtis in goal, while Kurtis Mucha took a night off in an attempt to shake a cold. . . . The Winter Hawks’ bench was run by assistant GM/assistant coach Travis Green. GM/head coach Mike Johnston was on a recruiting trip. . . . The Blazers lost F Kenton Dulle in the third period after a hit from behind by F Brad Ross, who was given a major for checking from behind. Dulle looked dazed as he left the ice and he didn’t return to the game. . . . The Blazers are to play the Silvertips in Everett on Sunday. . . . C Seth Compton and D Curtis Kulchar, both acquired prior to the WHL trade deadline last week, scored their first goals for the Blazers. . . . Kamloops was 3-for-7 on the PP; Portland was 0-for-7. . . . F Max Brandl, the 20-year-old German acquired by Portland from the Prince Albert Raiders last week, made his debut. He played with the Raiders last season but had been playing in Germany before last week’s trade.
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In Prince Albert, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored three third-period goals and beat the Raiders, 7-4. . . . The Wheat Kings had posted a 7-2 victory over the Raiders on Friday in Brandon. The Wheat Kings struck four times in the third period in that one. . . . F Brayden Schenn had a goal and two assists for Brandon, with F Andrew Clark setting up three goals. . . . Prince Albert actually led 4-3 before giving up the game’s last three goals. . . . Brandon G Andrew Hayes stopped 11 shots before giving way to James Priestner, who was 7-for-7. . . . The Wheat Kings lost F Sanfred King in the third period when he fell into the boards. He was taken to hospital with an apparent leg injury. . . . The flu bug kept Brandon D Chad Erb and F Matt Calvert on the shelf, while Prince Albert F Ryan McDonald played after sitting out Friday with the flu.
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In Edmonton, F Brenden Down scored three times and set up another as the Oil Kings blasted the Chilliwack Bruins 8-1 in front of a franchise-record 10,156 fans. . . . F Jeff Lee had a goal and two assists and F Craig McCallum had three assists. . . . Dowd, who tied a franchise record with four points, Lee and McCallum each was plus-4. . . . It was Military Appreciation Night as the Oil Kings wore camouflage-type jerseys and saluted Edmonton’s military, with a special focus on 1 Combat Engineering Regiment from CFB Edmonton. . . . After the game, the jerseys were auction off and more than $14,500 was raised for the Edmonton Garrison’s Military Family Resource Centre.
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In Cranbrook, F Matt Tassone’s three goals led the Swift Current Broncos to an 8-5 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . This was the first meeting between these teams since the Broncos acquired D John Negrin and F Michael Stickland, two 19-year-olds, from the Ice for F Christian Magnus, 16, and D James Martin, 17, and a couple of draft picks at the trade deadline. . . . Negrin had one assist and was plus-1; Stickland had an assist and was plus-2.