Day 4 . . . is over

DAY 4 AT THE MASTERCARD MEMORIAL CUP . . .
F Nicolas Deschamps of the Moncton Wildcats hasn’t played since suffering a high ankle sprain — a high lower-body injury? — on April 23. However, Deschamps, 20, returned to the ice Monday in full equipment. A decision on whether he will play against the Windsor Spitfires on Tuesday is to be made sometime during the day. Deschamps tied for the QMJHL scoring championship. He was a second-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL’s 2008 draft.
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JUST NOTES: If you were wondering, the WHL has had 18 winners at this tournament since 1972, when the round-robin tournament came into play. The OHL has had 13 winners, while QMJHL teams have won seven times. . . . The host committee announced Monday that the 2010 tournament is nearing a sellout. As of Monday morning, less than 400 tickets, most of them standing room, were available for the remaining games. If you are looking for tickets, call 204-726-3555, go to www.ticketmaster.ca or visit the Keystone Centre box office. . . . Through four games, ex-Wheat Kings stars Chris Dingman, Wade Redden, Jordin Tootoo and Marty Murray, in that order, have handled the ceremonial faceoffs. The rousing receptions, including standing ovations, these players have received from the fans here has been something to behold. You can bet some tough, tough hockey players have been touched. . . . I’m hearing that Ryan Craig and Brad McCrimmon are two of the players likely to be involved before the tournament ends.
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The beauty of holding the Memorial Cup in a community the size of Brandon is the way seemingly everyone is involved.
For example, I was driving down 1st Street near Richmond Avenue on Sunday afternoon and passed a small eatery with this plug, involving one of the Wheat Kings forwards, on its outdoor sign:
Scott Glennie eats here
You should too
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It really is true that everyone is involved, to one degree or another, when the tournament comes to a city this size.
If you didn’t hear, there was what the Brandon Sun called a “disturbance” at the Brandon Correction Centre on Saturday night.
A source told the newspaper that “a group of inmates was flipping tables, cutting mattresses and kicking doors.”
Another report had it that the inmates had decided this would be a good time to make some noise, what with so many police involved in security in and around the Memorial Cup.
I’m wondering if they weren’t still upset about the Wheat Kings having gotten crushed in the opener.
In the end, 11 inmates ended up in solitary and there were minor injuries, mostly cuts and bruises. Sounds like a good hockey game with decent officiating and 11 minor penalties.
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If there was any doubt about the level of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s popularity in Winnipeg, it was pretty much done in by the front page of the Winnipeg Sun on Sunday.
The main headline, in about three-inch red letters, read: JERK.
Underneath, the subhead read: First NHL commissioner Gary Bettman used us . . . then he abused us.
On Page 6, Sunday Brunch columnist Kevin Engstrom didn’t pull any punches:
“Folks in these parts will always view the NHL commissioner, with some legitimacy, as the guy who ripped our beloved hockey franchise away from the city and placed it in the Arizona desert. The guy could come up with the cure for cancer tomorrow and he’d still most assuredly remain near the top of the list of the most hated men in this city’s history for his grievous offence 14 years ago.”
Engstrom ended his column with this:
“A guy on the radio the other day referred to you (Bettman) as a smarmy little toad. Pretty sure most Winnipeggers would agree the guy went easy on you.”
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One more line from Engstrom:
“Manitoba turned 140 the other day. To put that into perspective, when the province entered into Confederation, Bob Cole had only been calling games on Hockey Night in Canada for three years.”
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If you ever lived on the Prairies you know all about socials. Well, socials are sprouting up like prairie crocuses out here as the province celebrates its 140th birthday with a giant homecoming.
The Snowbirds landed in Brandon on Wednesday, along with the three chartered flights carrying the Memorial Cup teams, and later performed over Neepawa.
And what was billed as the ‘World’s Largest Social’ was held in Winnipeg on Saturday night. The crowd in Winnipeg was estimated at 2,100, while there were 1,700 at Molson Hockey House in Brandon.
All told, it’s believed that more than 35,000 people attended 63 socials throught the province.
Wasn’t that a party?
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Bill Gallacher, the Calgarian who owns the Portland Winterhawks, has been reported to be the frontrunner among those interested in purchasing the NHL’s Dallas Stars from Tom Hicks.
However, The Hockey News has reported that as many as 10 of the NHL’s 30 franchises either are for sale or might soon be available.
So . . . if the reports are accurate and Gallacher is, indeed, among the leading candidates to purchase the Stars, why wouldn’t he pull back a bit and see what a franchise is worth if the market gets flooded?
About the time he was wrapping up the purchase of the Winterhawks, some two years ago, I heard that he had been approached about getting involved with the St. Louis Blues at the ownership level.
And now the largest investor in the Blues wants out.
Just some food for thought. . . .
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Flipping through the Winnipeg papers and there’s an ad showing the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba’s executive members. And there’s a headshot of David Schioler, who is the IBAM’s chief executive officer. Avid WHL fans might remember him as a defenceman for a handful of games with the WHL’s Winnipeg Monarchs in 1976-77. He had a stellar career with the MJHL’s St. James Canadians.
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There is a Hockey Hall of Fame display in one of the show rooms here. When I walked through the doors on Monday, one of the first giant photos I saw was enough to chill the soul of any Lethbridge Broncos’ fan.
Because there, live and large and in colour, was G Mike Vernon, wearing No. 26 with the Portland Winter Hawks, shaking the hand of WHL/CHL head guy Ed Chynoweth at the end of the 1983 Memorial Cup.
Some fans might remember the controversy that season when Vernon, who played for the Calgary Wranglers, seemed headed for the Broncos for the Memorial Cup but somehow wound up with the Winter Hawks.
If memory serves, the howls out of southern Alberta overwhelmed the coyotes.
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The Regina Pats will have a new radio voice next season as Rod Pedersen is done. He will be the host of a new talking head show, The Sports Cage, and will continue as the play-by-play voice of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“I feel the reasons behind this announcement are best left between the Pats and me,” Pedersen wrote on his blog, according to someone who passed the info along this way. “However suffice it to say that I was informed by the club some months ago that our current arrangement (of me calling both Roughriders and Pats games) ‘isn't working.’ ”
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The Western States Hockey League’s Valencia Flyers have signed Trevor Sack as their head coach. He replaces Bill Buckalt who now is head coach of the NAHL’s New Mexico Mustangs.
Sack had been an assistant coach with the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers.
The Flyers play out of the Ice Station in Valencia, Calif.
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There is a new website out there that should interest WHL fans in particular and hockey fans in general.
Doyle Potenteau, a veteran sports writer at the Kelowna Daily Courier, has fired up dubnation.ca.
The site is in its infancy, so be patient. But this one will be worth keeping an eye on . . . mark my words.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed D Spencer Morse, the 43rd selection in the 2010 bantam draft. A 6-foot-3, 185-pounder, Morse played for the bantam AAA Calgary Bisons. . . . The Warriors also signed D Braiden Doucette, the 76th pick in the draft. He played for the bantam AAA team in Leduc, Alta.
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So . . . you read this from the New York Post and you think, sheesh, Aaron Voros has come a long way from the BCHL’s Victoria Salsa. . . .
Here it is, from the New York Post’s infamous Page 6:
Lindsay Lohan started another fight in a club -- this time with New York Ranger skaters Aaron Voros and Sean Avery at 1Oak. The troubled starlet threw a drink over Voros' model girlfriend, Jessica Stam, and then tried to get all three thrown out of the Wildfox fall-collection party the other night. A spy relates, "Lindsay threw a fit because she wanted to be at their table near the DJ. But she claimed she didn't want to sit with Aaron and said, 'He's my ex-boyfriend. I don't want him anywhere near me.' Voros denied knowing her. A drink then flew in Jessica's face, and Lindsay demanded their table be moved out. Club bosses refused and tried to calm her down. Stam, Voros and Avery were shocked but didn't retaliate, and Lindsay left shortly afterward." We await Lohan's inevitable denial, but we have multiple witnesses. A different source said "Lindsay threw a fit. There was total drama for absolutely no reason."