Thursday . . . a former WHL coach is gone

THE MacBETH REPORT: F Marcin Kolusz (Vancouver) has signed with Nowy Targ (Poland) after his requested release from Poprad (Slovakia Extraliga). He had one goal and 13 assists in 53 games with Poprad this season. Nowy Targ, who who finished in first place in the Polish league, begins their best-of-seven semifinal series against fourth-place Tychy on Tuesday night.
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A press release from the Edmonton Oil Kings . . .
Edmonton, AB - It is with deepest sympathy the Edmonton Oil Kings would like to extend our condolences to the family of Wayne Tennant. Wayne was a long time friend, ambassador, coach and contributor to the hockey community in Edmonton which included a long stint with the Oil Kings organization.
Tennant was a scout for the organization for a decade until the franchise was moved to Portland to become the Winter Hawks. Eventually, Wayne was a part of the group led by Vic Mah to bring the Oil Kings back to Edmonton in 1978-79. He was instrumental in moving the Flin Flon Bombers franchise to the City of Champions and even got behind the bench as the Oil Kings head coach that season.
Wayne was a fixture in minor hockey on Edmonton's south side including his association with the Cessco midget hockey team, a perennial supplier of players to the Western Hockey League. The Cessco midget team won five city championships and a provincial title in the span of 10 years with Wayne as the coach.
Wayne touched the lives of countless local pro hockey players who came in contact with him through his summer pro conditioning camps during a span of over 38 years. Wayne also will be remembered for his role in setting up the hockey programs at the Enoch and Hobbema Indian Reserves from 1975-77.
We extend our condolences to the Tennant family and the Edmonton hockey family as we mourn the passing of a mentor to many and a true hockey friend.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday February 21, 2009 at 1 p.m. at the Grace United Church located at 6215 - 104th Avenue.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Grey Nuns Hospital Infectious Disease unit under the direction of Dr. Curtis Boyington who became a close friend to Wayne and his family in such a short time: C/O Caritas Hospital Foundation, 11111 - Jasper Ave., Edm., AB, T5K 0L4
Or you may make a donation to the Brick Sports Central, an organization that assists underprivileged children with equipment so that they can participate in sports. (11847 - Wayne Gretzky Drive North, T5B 1Y2)
The Edmonton Oil Kings will remember Wayne Tennant with a moment of silence tribute at their next home game Wednesday February 25th against the Red Deer Rebels.
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Wayne Tennant coached the Oil Kings in 1978-79. I was in Brandon, covering the Wheat Kings for the Brandon Sun. The Oil Kings went 17-43-12 (they were 5-7-6 under Tennant); the Wheat Kings were 58-5-9. . . . Yes, there were some lopsided games. . . . But to this day I remember him for his smile and his chatter. No one loved to talk hockey more than Wayne Tennant.
He also was Mr. Positive.
After one game, a 6-0 Brandon victory, in which he lifted starting goaltender Craig Elliott with the score 5-0, Tennant said: “The score could have been a lot different if I had started (Gord) Garbutt.”
After that same game, he said: “I’ll guarantee you one thing. We play these guys 16 times this season and there’s no way they’re going to get 32 points off us.”
Shortly after that game, the Oil Kings replaced Tennant as head coach with former NHLer Norm Ferguson, who was a true gentleman. Unfortunately for Ferguson, in his first look at the Wheat Kings Brandon unleashed a 72-shot barrage scored a franchise-record 14 goals in beating the Oil Kings 14-2.
But, in the end, it turned out that Tennant was right.
On Dec. 13, 1978, in Edmonton, the Oil Kings scored nine power-play goals and beat Brandon, 9-4, handing the Wheat Kings their first loss of the season.
Brandon ended up going 13-1-2 against Edmonton, outscoring the Oil Kings 107-49.
But those were the days . . .
Can you imagine a general manager or head coach today getting beat by the Calgary Hitmen or Vancouver Giants and saying: “I guarantee you one thing. We play these guys ‘x’ amount of times this season and there’s no way they’re going to sweep us.”
Oh, what we in the media would give for one Wayne Tennant today.
Of course, after that 1978-79 season, the Oil Kings ended up in Great Falls as the Americans. And just 28 games into the 1979-80 season, the franchise was done.
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Tired of being a healthy scratch, Czech F Tomas Polak, 19, has left the Red Deer Rebels and returned to his homeland. “I guess he’d had enough,” Rebels head coach Jesse Wallin told the Red Deer Advocate. “He was trying to earn his way back into the lineup and he felt that he was working hard to do that. But I guess he and I had different expectations regarding his work ethic.” He had 10 points in 45 games last season and 12 points in 33 games this season. . . . The Rebels, already without F Cass Mappin (fractured ankle), have lost F Steve Oursov to a concussion suffered in a Tuesday night bout with F Charles Inglis of the Saskatoon Blades. Red Deer goes home-and-home with the Calgary Hitmen this weekend, playing Friday in Cowtown and Saturday in Red Deer.
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It seems that Regina D Colten Teubert, a first-round pick of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, has become the focal point for disgruntled fans as the Pats’ season has gone south.
Teubert told the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder that he’s trying to focus on playing hard, rather than listening hard.
“When a fat guy eating popcorn wants to boo me, it really doesn’t matter,” he said. “To be honest, they can do whatever they want and be negative. Our attitude is, we win and lose as a team. We also keep each other accountable but in a respectful way and a way that a team and a family should.”
The Pats are preparing to play host to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night.
The last time these teams met, Feb. 13 in Moose Jaw, the Warriors won 4-2 and Pats GM Brent Parker paid a visit to the officials’ room during the second intermission. The only problem was that he didn’t have the proper invitation. For that indiscretion, he has been fined $500.
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The Vancouver Giants entertain the Kelowna Rockets on Friday night and it should be a humdinger. The Giants lost 3-2 in OT the last time these teams met, in Kelowna on Feb. 13. Since then, Vancouver has played once, beating the visiting Chilliwack Bruins 3-2, while the Rockets have lost twice – 4-3 to the Winter Hawks in Portland and 4-3 in a shootout to the visiting Bruins.
The Giants, by the way, will play eight games over the next 10 days. With schedules such as this, it’s no wonder Vancouver majority owner Ron Toigo has said it might not hurt for the WHL to shorten its schedule by two games.
Kelowna, meanwhile, will play six games in nine nights.
The Rockets should have LW Jamie Benn (strep throat) back after a one-game absence. However, F Kyle St. Denis, who was just back after missing more than 30 games with a broken scaphoid, is out with a concussion.
On Thursday, Kelowna president and general manager Bruce Hamilton threw down the gauntlet to a couple of his players.
“We just can’t have Colin Long and Jamie Benn,” Hamilton told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “We need Cody Almond and Mikael Backlund going as well. Cody was going good for awhile, and now he’s faded off and Mikael . . . those two guys in particular should dominate in a game like that.”
Hamilton was referring to the loss to Chilliwack in which the Rockets got up 3-0 before watching the Bruins storm back.
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JUST NOTES: LW Daniel Bartek of the Everett Silvertips has a broken hand after blocking a shot during a 7-3 victory over the visiting Portland Winter Hawks on Wednesday. Bartek, a 20-year-old who had just returned from a fractured foot, might be able to return should the Silvertips reach the second round of playoffs. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers go home-and-home this weekend. They’ll play Friday in Lethbridge and Saturday in Medicine Hat. They last met Jan. 21 in Lethbridge. The Hurricanes won that game, 7-5, but there was a late line brawl that resulted in fines and suspensions, including a five-gamer to Lethbridge head coach Michael Dyck.