Of Paul Kelly, expansion and all the rest . . .

Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, and QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau addressed the media Friday before the semifinal game at the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
David Branch, the CHL president and OHL commissioner, wasn’t able to attend, after having to return to Toronto to deal with a personal matter.
Robison used the occasion, following a question from the floor, to fire a volley at Paul Kelly, the former NHLPA executive director who has taken to sniping at the CHL from his post as the boss of College Hockey Inc.
“Our view is that I don’t believe any . . . hockey association or authority . . . should restrict the movement of a player and his desire to play in the best development league in the world,” Robison said. “Whether you’re American, Canadian or otherwise, I think the players have recognized . . . that this is the best league in the world to develop as a junior-aged player.
“As leagues, we’re responsible to promote our programs. Our scholarship program in our view is second to none in North American, and it has been recognized by families who are committing to our league.
“Our position is simply that we will continue to promote our programs and not attack others.
“We are disappointed in Mr. Kelly’s approach to the Canadian Hockey League. We are more concerned about the information being provided to families that, quite frankly, is not accurate whatsoever.”
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Robison, as WHL commissioner, has been wearing a smile for most of this week, simply because the league’s decision to give the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup to Brandon has paid off.
In fact, Brandon has done such a terrific job this week that it may well open the door for smaller markets to get in on the bidding to play host to this event.
Brandon, “a traditional smaller-size junior hockey market, with a 5,000-capacity (arena) has demonstrated . . . centres of this size are more than capable of hosting an event of this nature,” Robison said. “We’re looking forward to that interest being expressed in future bids.”
Robison said he already has heard expressions of interest from “many franchises that we never envisioned would come forward to indicate they have an interest in hosting a MasterCard Memorial Cup in the future.”
While there is nothing official, I’ve been told that the Kelowna Rockets, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Saskatoon Blades all are interested in playing host to the 2013 tournament.
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For 2010-11 season, all 60 CHL team websites will be converted to a standard templated, along with all three league websites and the CHL website.
“This redesign and integration will mark the largest ever Canadian sports online network launch,” Robison said, promising more exciting content, more video and “streamlined design that will help fans, media and other interest parties in following the Canadian Hockey League and its members clubs throughout the course of the regular season.”
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Robison was asked whether the WHL, now at 22 teams, continues to look at expanding to Vancouver Island.
“My position is the same as it has been,” he said. “We never envisioned getting beyond 20 teams . . . let alone 22. We are at a more significant number than we would ideally like to be. But there is great demand for our product.
“We have a great supply of talent that we rely on, but I think we’ve pushed that to a level . . . we’re really monitoring the quality of the play of the game in our league.
“As far as future expansion, we’re not ruling it out at this point in time, but we don’t see it in the foreseeable future.”
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And it sounds very much as though there will be an outdoor game in the WHL's immediate future.
"We continue to look at the feasibility," Robison said. "We’ve had four or five markets in contact ith us. We took a very close look at in partnership with Hockey Canada as part of the World Junior Championship in Saskatchewan. That didn’t come together for a variety of reasons.
"We are continuing to pursue it in a number of markets. We hope to have an announcement . . . we’re even looking at it as early as next season . . .”