Some Tuesday stuff . . .

Well, well, well . . .
History will show that the rivalry between the Kamloops Blazers and Prince George Cougars took its place, again, among the best in the WHL on April 28, 2009.
Geez, both teams have been off the ice for over a month now but already the gears – and the teeth – are grinding.
In case you missed it, the Cougars have signed Dean Clark to a five-year contract as head coach.
Clark has been out of the coaching racket since Nov. 7, 2007. It was on that afternoon when he was fired as the Blazers’ general manager and head coach. A couple of weeks earlier, the sale of the franchise, from a community group to one headed up by majority owner Tom Gaglardi, had become official.
Now you can bet that no one is going to say anything on the record. But these people don’t like each other. Period. If it comes to it, don’t believe it when either party tries telling the world “that’s all in the past” or “we’ve turned the page” or anything else of that ilk.
The Blazers and Cougars usually play a home-and-home series during the exhibition season. Should they do that again in the fall, well, those will be two exhibition games that just may be worth attending.
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From Coming Down the Pipe, at thepipelineshow.blogspot.com:
“I've been hearing for a while now that the Western Hockey League is planning an outdoor game, possibly next season. The site I've heard is Taylor Field in Regina. Makes sense to me. Can fit a lot of fans into stands, would bring whole province in for it and keeps it in the prairies which is the heart of the WHL.”
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JUST NOTES: The MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders have signed Dwayne Kirkup to a two-year contract as head coach. Kirkup has spent the last three seasons as head coach of the midget AAA Southwest Cougars in Manitoba. Kirkup, 52, is a native of Souris, Man., which also is the hometown of St. Louis Blues head coach Andy Murray and Garry Davidson, the Portland Winter Hawks’ director of player personnel. . . . D Jon Blum of the Vancouver Giants is off to join the Nashville Predators’ AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. He was Nashville’s first-round pick, 23rd overall, in the 2007 NHL draft.
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The WHL’s championship final is scheduled to begin with the Kelowna Rockets meeting the Hitmen in Calgary on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s an interesting schedule in that Games 3, 4 and 5, if it goes that far, will be played out over four nights, with no time off between Games 4 and 5. And Game 4 is to be played in Kelowna, with the next one in Calgary. . . . (Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome plays host to Smuckers Stars on Ice on Friday, May 8, and Fleetwood Mac on Tuesday, May 12, so that had to be taken into consideration with the scheduling. . . . Should the series go seven games, it will be played out over 11 nights.
Observers are waiting to see whether Kelowna D Tyler Myers, the Western Conference final’s MVP, will be suspended after taking a boarding major and game misconduct at 7:51 of the third period of Game 7 of the Western Conference final. The hit by Myers left Vancouver Giants D Craig Schira with a 10-stitch cut, a hand injury (he is waiting for results of X-rays on a finger) and what he told the Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen is a minor concussion. . . . “The rumour,” one team official told me, “is that Myers isn’t getting suspended. Schira is badly hurt. I think it’s wrong . . . very poor message, I think, by our league.”
The Myers situation puts the WHL in one of those uncomfortable positions of having to consider suspending a star player. In this case, Myers plays for the Rockets, whose president and general manager, Bruce Hamilton, is the chairman of the board of directors and is seen by most people as the most powerful individual in the league today. . . . It will be interesting to see how this plays out. . . . Myers has been the best of the Rockets since these playoffs began. His confidence level since he returned from a stint with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship has been at an incredibly high level and his play has reflected that.
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WHL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL (all times local):
Friday, May 1: Kelowna at Calgary, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 2: Kelowna at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Monday, May 4: Calgary at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 6: Calgary at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
x-Thursday, May 7: Kelowna at Calgary, 7 p.m.
x-Saturday, May 9: Calgary at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
x-Monday, May 11: Kelowna at Calgary, 7 p.m.

x -- if necessary.