Day 3 . . .

DAY 3 AT THE MASTERCARD MEMORIAL CUP . . .

Unfortunately, circumstances beyond my control resulted in my missing most of Sunday afternoon’s game between the host Brandon Wheat Kings and the QMJHL champions, the Moncton Wildcats.
Therefore, I was unable to do a whole lot of game-related writing.
Both teams went into the game 0-1, meaning the loser would run the horrible risk of being the first team eliminated from the competition.
The Windsor Spitfires meet the Calgary Hitmen, with both teams at 1-0, on Monday night. Moncton will play the Spitfires (1-0) on Tuesday, with the Wheat Kings and Hitmen meeting on Wednesday.
The Wheat Kings, backstopped by G Jacob DeSerres, beat the Wildcats 4-0 on Sunday. What that means is that should Moncton lose to Windsor, the Wildcats would go 0-3 and a Thursday tiebreaker wouldn’t be needed.
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I didn’t see much of the Brandon-Moncton game, and what I did see, I watched on TV in the media centre.
So I’m not prepared to comment on the game.
I will say, however, that I continue to be impressed with Moncton head coach Danny Flynn.
It isn’t being gracious in defeat, but he manages this like few people I have encountered.
After losing to Brandon, a decision that almost guarantees lights out for his side, Flynn refused to say that his club was playing poorly. Rather, he said, there are some really good teams here that are well-coached and playing really well.
Far too often, in this me-me world ruled by instant gratification, it’s all about how poorly we played, rather than giving the other guys some credit.
Mr. Flynn, for what it’s worth, I salute you.
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Please allow me the time for a short correction.
I had mentioned here that Matt Kirk, one of the two WHL referees assigned to this tournament, is from Hamiota, Man. Actually, he was born and raised in Brandon. So you can imagine the thrill when he worked the tournament opener on Friday with his folks in the stands.
In his other life, Kirk is a corporate lawyer who works out of Vancouver.
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The CHL, the host committee and Rogers Sportsnet announced Sunday that the game time for the tournament’s championship final has been changed.
The game, scheduled for Sunday, May 23, was to have started at 2 p.m. It now will begin at 6 p.m. here, which is 7 p.m. in the east, 5 p.m. in the Calgary area and 4 p.m. Pacific.
“The change,” according to a news release, “allows CHL fans the opportunity to enjoy the . . . final in prime time while also having the opportunity to watch the Stanley Cup playoffs and the IIHF world championship gold medal game throughout (that) afternoon.”
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Found an interesting piece on Sportsnet’s Memorial Cup page about how a few officials spent part of Sunday morning checking out the Westman Place ice surface, specifically the area in which the Calgary Hitmen were the beneficiaries of the fortuitous bounce that provided them with a 5-4 victory over Moncton on Saturday afternoon.
On the play in question, Moncton D David Savard, under pressure from Calgary F Jimmy Bubnick, tried to rim the puck around the boards behind Nicola Riopel. The puck hit something along the boards, ended up in the crease area and Calgary F Tyler Shattock was able to go five-hole with the eventual game winner at 18:42 of the third period.
According to the Sportsnet piece, Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, Chad Lang, who is the CHL’s director of hockey operations at this event, and QMJHL vice-president Marcel Patenaude “could not find anything irregular with the corner Zamboni entrance.”
Doerksen told sportsnet.ca: “We just felt it was important to look at the strange bounce that caused such impact and take a look this morning to see if there was anything irregular. In viewing the boards, we found nothing irregular and it appears it was just those fluky bounces that happen on occasion."
If you are wondering what a director of hockey operations does, well, Lang apparently fired about 24 pucks along the boards but wasn’t able to replicate Saturday’s bounce.
Truth be told, teams have long talked of the bounces in the facility that was known, for the longest time, as the Keystone Centre.
The Hitmen, who won twice here during the WHL’s championship final, were talking about them prior to the start of the tournament.
I will take you back even further than that.
I can remember the late Dunc McCallum, who coached here for five seasons starting with 1975-76, regularly talking about the crazy bounces, especially on low rimming attempts, that seemed to occur with maddening frequency in this facility.
I covered the Wheat Kings from the fall of 1978 through the spring of 1983, and the home side was never able to figure out those bounces. You also know that thousands of pucks have been shot at those boards from every conceivable angle by home and visiting teams without finding any evidence of predictability.
Somehow, then, I wouldn’t have expected Doerksen, Lang and Patenaude to have solved the mystery with about two dozen pucks. Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Robert Downey could do it with 1,000 pucks.
Still, if you have watched enough games in this arena, you just know that those boards will strike again before this tournament ends.
You just wonder if the bounce, when it happens, will have anywhere near the impact of the one Shattock took advantage of on Saturday.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Steve Regier (Medicine Hat, 2000-04) signed a one-year contract extension with Red Bull Salzburg (Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 10 goals and 21 assists in 38 games for Red Bull this season. . . .
G Billy Thompson (Prince George, 1999-2003) signed a one-year contract with Amiens (France Ligue Magnus). He had a 3.39 GAA and a .909 save percentage in 39 games with Cortina (Italy Serie A) this season. . . .
F Jay Henderson (Red Deer, Edmonton Ice, 1994-98) signed a one-year contract extension with the Nottingham Panthers (UK Elite). Henderson started the season with the Victoria Salmon Kings (ECHL), then moved to the Central league’s Wichita Thunder, before signing with Nottingham in mid-January. He had three goals and seven assists in 14 games for the Panthers. . . .
F Carson Germyn (Kelowna, Red Deer, 1998-2003) signed a one-year contract with Olten (Switzerland NL B). He had five goals and 10 assists in 21 games with Abbotsford (AHL) this season.
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The hottest thing these days — yes, hotter even than the iPad (well, maybe not quite) — is a thing called 50/50 Central.
And the latest hockey team to get in on the action is the Swift Current Broncos.
This is the gizmo that allows teams or organizations to put the running 50/50 pool total on the scoreboard so that fans might, uhh, catch the fever.
It is first believed to have been used during hockey at the 2009 Junior A Challenge that was held in Summerside, P.E.I., from Nov. 1-8.
The 50/50 Central moved front and centre during the 2010 world junior tournament when it was used at Credit Union Central in Saskatoon and registered pools as high as $250,000.
It also is being used here in Brandon at the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
In Swift Current, the Broncos and the Swift Current Curling Club have partnered in the purchase of the system, which was used in Swift Current in March during the women’s world curling championship.
On top of all that, the Broncos already are selling 50/50 tickets now for their home-opener, for pack the plex night and for the final game of the regular season.
Hey, just when you thought you’d heard everything along comes the ability to purchase 50/50 tickets in advance.
Is this a great country, or what?