A tourist (above) photographs statues commemorating Les Martyrs Canadiens at a church in St-Fabien, about 30 kilometres southeast of Rimouski. The church was built in 1584. . . . The tourist in the picture actually is Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets. (He wasn't there when the church was opened.) The photo was taken by Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. . . . If you are a Canadian, the names of the martyrs may ring a few bells and bring back memories of a history class or two -- Jean de Brébeuf (1649), Noël Chabanel (1649), Antoine Daniel (1649), Charles Garnier (1649), René Goupil (1642), Isaac Jogues (1646), Jean de La Lande and Lalemant Gabriel (1649) .
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I watched half of Saturday’s Memorial Cup game in which the Drummondville Voltigeurs beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-2 in OT. . . . It certainly looks to me as though the Kelowna Rockets are the best team there. The Rockets, 4-1 winners over the Rimouski Oceanic on Friday, play Drummondville on Monday. . . . It is somewhat surprising the way Rimouski, Drummondville and Windsor collapse around the net in the defensive zone. If that happens against the Rockets, defencemen Tyson Barrie and Tyler Myers will get sore arms from shooting the puck. . . . Still, the most surprising aspect of this Memorial Cup is that the CHL would allow it to be played in an arena with glass as short as is in the Colisee in Rimouski. It just isn’t fair that a team should play more than 90 games in arenas with tall glass – in the WHL, the requirements are six feet and eight feet -- and then get to the national championship tournament and be forced to make such a major adjustment to its game. In Rimouski, the glass is four feet and five feet.
Here’s what Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president hockey, told the Kelowna Daily Courier’s Doyle Potenteau about how officials dealt with the glass issue in Rimouski:
"There won't be any rule changes. If the puck is shot over the glass, coming from the defending zone, there will be a penalty. And if it comes out (in that six-foot portion), we're giving the referees the judgment on those if the puck is clearly going up into the stands. If the puck is going into the players' bench, there'll be no penalty.
"We have been, particularly, working with Windsor and Kelowna so that all players, coaches and goaltenders know it could come into play. Hopefully it won't be an issue."
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Sean McAslan (Calgary) signed a one-year contract with the Nottingham Panthers (UK Elite). He had 19 goals and 16 assists in 43 games with Rødovre (Denmark AL-Bank Liga) this season. . . . D Darrell Hay (Tri-City) signed a one-year contract with Lillehammer (Norway Get Ligaen). He had seven goals and 31 assists in 56 games for Idaho (ECHL) this season. Hay is the son of Vancouver Giants head coach Don Hay.
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Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star has an excellent column on how “the anonymity of the blogosphere is turning us into a culture of weenies.” It’s well worth a read and it is right here.
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