Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
The KHL announced Saturday that Budivelnyk Kiev (Ukraine) has withdrawn from the league. Budivelnyk, a new club in the KHL, had to decline the invitation to join the KHL for this season because the club did not have an arena to play in that met the required league standards.
It was originally planned that the existing Palace of Sports would be renovated to meet KHL standards but the arena booked concert events though July, which did not leave any time for any
renovations to be complete for the coming KHL season. Instead, the renovations are planned to be completed in March, in time for the Division 1 World Hockey Championship in April.
The other arena option in Kiev, known as the Terminal, seats only 1,500 and the KHL would not allow Budivelnyk to play the entire season there.
As a result, all the players who had signed with Budivelnyk for this season now are free agents, including D Sergei Klimentiev (Medicine Hat, 1993-95), D Tomas Kudelka (Lethbridge, 2005-07), D Dmitri Yakushin (Edmonton Ice, Regina, 1996-98), D Andrei Sryubko (Kamloops, 1994-95), D Gennady Razin (Kamloops, 1996-98), and F Sergei Varlamov (Swift Current, 1995-97).
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Tim Wharnsby of CBC had this on his blog from the NHL draft:
“The Florida Panthers selected in the fourth round (93rd overall) Ben Gallacher, a defenceman with the Camrose Kodiaks. His father Bill is considered to be the next owner of the Dallas Stars.”
It is interesting that Wharnsby makes no mention of Tom Gaglardi in relation to the Stars.
Recent speculation had Gallacher, who owns the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, and Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, as the last two men standing in the race to buy the Stars from Tom Hicks.
Could it be that it’s down to Gallacher?
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A note from a fan who happened to be in the same city as the NHL awards last week and encountered Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who owns a chunk of the Kamloops Blazers:
While on our Las Vegas vacation, went to the Palms while the NHL folks were walking thru on the red carpet. Saw Doan and asked: “Please help the Blazers.” He looked right at me and said, “We're working on it. Believe me.”
Told him I was a Kamloops fan and he shook my hand. Nice guy.
That moment was even better than my son telling the Geico Caveman that he switched to Geico.
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Following the NHL draft, WHL commissioner Ron Robison spoke with Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports. That story is right here. The puck, it seems, now is in the half of the ice defended by Paul Kelly of College Hockey Inc.

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