Sunday . . .

In light of what happened in Spokane on Saturday night, with the Chiefs and Tri-City Americans sharing 342 penalty minutes, people are wondering about the WHL’s single-game record.
There is no such entry in the WHL Guide, but I would suggest it might come from a game in Brandon on Nov. 20, 1980. The Wheat Kings beat the Billings Bighorns 7-4 in a game in which referee Murray Harding of Winnipeg handed out 667 penalty minutes.
Of that total, 615 minutes – yes, 615 – came from a game-ending bench-clearing brawl.
Brandon ended up with 335 penalty minutes on the night, with 310 of those coming from the brawl.
Harding issued a total of 106 penalties, with each team picking up 53. Billings took 11 minors, 22 majors and 20 game misconducts; Brandon took 10 minors, 23 majors and 20 game misconducts. Every player dressed received at least one major and one game misconduct.
The head coaches were Les Calder (Billings) and Les Jackson (Brandon).
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The WHL department of discipline has been busy.
The Spokane Chiefs were fined $500 for being involved in their third line brawl of the season Saturday against the Tri-City Americans. The Chiefs also were fined $750 for being involved in a fourth line brawl and, yes, that one came in the same game as the third one.
That fourth line brawl also carried with it a one-game suspension for Spokane head coach Hardy Sauter.
Spokane F Ryan Letts is under indefinite suspension as the WHL office investigates all that happened in that game. Letts got tossed with a charging major for running over Tri-City G Chet Pickard.
Spokane D Cory Baldwin drew a one-game suspension for accumulation of game misconducts.
The Americans, meanwhile, were fined $250 (second line brawl) and $500 (third line brawl), and assistant coach Terry Virtue was hit with a $500 fine for picking up a game misconduct at some point in the proceedings.
Tri-City D Mitch McColm will sit while the league investigates his role in the party.
It would seem that old-time hockey is back in town; well, it was for at least one night! And the fans are abuzz!
By the way, the Chiefs and Americans go home-and-home March 13 and March 14. They open in Spokane and finish up the next night in Kennewick, Wash. Got your tickets yet?
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Bruce Luebke, the long-time radio voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings on CKLQ, has had his second annual Best of the East poll published in the Brandon Sun.
This is a sister poll to the Best of the West that is done annually by the Tri-City Herald.
It is strange, however, that both pollsters – Luebke and the Herald’s Annie Fowler – ran into at least some problems with teams not returning ballots.
In the Western Conference, one team originally refused to take part, although for whatever reason it later changed its mind.
Luebke ended up with 33 ballots in play and got 30 back. (The three unreturned ballots involved players from Central Division teams.) Someone is going to have to explain to me how it is that WHL teams can afford not to take part in something like this, something that really is only free advertising, something that provides fans with fodder for conversation, because I just don’t understand it.
Anyway . . . you can find the Best of the East poll over there on the left. Just click on Luber’s Lounge.
At the end of his ballot, Luebke asked five questions, and therein may be the most interesting part of his poll.
The first question was really open-ended: Would you be in favour of making changes to rules regarding fighting in the WHL? . . . WHLers, it seems, like things just the way they are as the vote was 23-6 against change.
The second question was: Would you like to see the limit of 20-year-old players raised from the current three? . . . The vote was 24-6 in favour. . . . This is something I have thought for years should be adjusted. But I would push for the maximum to be raised to five. There are a lot of players out there who, given one more season in the WHL, just might mature into terrific players. The WHL will tell you there are two main reasons why this won’t happen: 1. The pro-junior agreement calls for three 20-year-olds and the NHL doesn’t want the number to change; 2. There isn’t room on the rosters for more than three 20s. . . . Of course, chances are two additional 20s would knock two 16-year-olds off the roster and the WHL is afraid of losing those players to junior A and then to the NCAA. I say if your product is strong enough, you still will get the best 16-year-olds. (By the way, please don’t refer to 20-year-old players as being overage players. If they were overage, they would be too old to play. They are 20-year-old players and each team is allowed to use three of them.)
The third question was: Would you like to see the number of import players reduced from the current two? . . . This one drew a close response, with the No side winning 17-13. . . . There has been a lot of talk from the CHL level about cutting the allowable number of imports in half, but shouldn’t this be about having the best teams possible? If that takes two imports – sorry, Grapes – so be it.
The fourth question was: Would you be in favour of further expansion of the WHL above the current 22 teams? . . . The No vote won 21-9. . . . Thankfully.
And the fifth question was: Do you like the current Canada/Russia Challenge format? . . . The No vote won this one, too, 22-7. . . . It seems hockey fans aren’t the only ones who feel the present format has run its course.
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JUST NOTES: LW Daniel Bartek (broken hand), originally thought lost for perhaps the rest of the season, was back in action Sunday as the Everett Silvertips beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-1 in a shootout in Kent, Wash. . . . G Chet Pickard wasn’t in uniform as the Tri-City Americans beat the visiting Portland Winter Hawks 5-3 on Sunday. Pickard was run over during Saturday’s game with the Chiefs in Spokane. With the playoffs three weeks away, the Americans aren’t saying publicly just what is wrong with Pickard. . . . So you are free to speculate. I’m voting on concussion, but some folks are wondering about a shoulder. There hasn’t been any mention of knee or ankle. Which means it must be upper body. Maybe. . . . The Vancouver Giants dumped the host Chilliwack Bruins 6-2 and closed to within two points of the idle Calgary Hitmen, who sit atop the WHL’s overall standings. Vancouver has two games in hand on Calgary. The Giants (54-7-1-3) and Hitmen (55-8-3-1) are scheduled to meet Friday at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. . . . Chilliwack F Blair Wentworth, a freshman from Calgary, scored his first goal in Sunday’s first period – it was his 51st game – but the 16-year-old left with an apparent left knee injury a few minutes later.
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The WHL’s unofficial team fine standings, showing number of incidents and amount fined:
Spokane 3/$1,500
Lethbridge 3/$1,250
Chilliwack 2/$750
Tri-City 2/$750
Prince George 2/$500
Regina 1/$500
Vancouver 1/$250
Prince Albert 1/$250
Saskatoon 1/$250
Edmonton 1/$250
Kamloops 1/$250
Red Deer 1/$250
Seattle 1/$250
Portland 1$250
TOTALS 21/$7,250
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The WHL’s unofficial individual fine standings, showing number of fines and total amount fined:
Steve Pleau, Edmonton 2/$1,500
Michael Dyck, Lethbridge 1/$500
Brent Parker, Regina 1/$500
Roy Stasiuk, Lethbridge 1/$500
Rob Sumner, Seattle 1/$500
Terry Virtue, Tri-City 1/$500
TOTALS 7/$4,000