Tuesday . . .

John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Herald reports that G Garrett Zemlak, who played out his eligibility with the Prince Albert Raiders last season, is attending the Los Angeles Kings’ development camp as an NHL free agent.
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F Matt Wray (Kamloops, 2007-08) will attend the U of British Columbia and play for the Thunderbirds in the fall. He spent last season with the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks. He was the team captain and helped it reach the league final. Wray had 41 points, including 19 goals, for the Kodiaks. He also is an accomplished lacrosse player. . . . A native of Qualicum Beach, B .C., Wray also played in the BCHL with the Salmon Arm SilverBacks and Powell River Kings.
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The Kootenay Ice chose not to take part in Tuesday’s CHL import draft, despite not having any imports on its roster.
"Although we have been fortunate in the past with the CHL import draft we feel that in this day and age it is becoming very hard to attract the top European players,” Jeff Chynoweth, the Ice’s president and GM, said in a press release. “Our team is eligible to return 19 players and there is no guarantee if we selected a player today that he would be able to play in our top six forwards or top four defencemen."
The Ice’s first pick was to have been No. 43, but that selection was dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings for a 2011 sixth-round bantam draft pick. Brandon then took F Mark Mieritz of Denmark. Mieritz played junior in Sweden last season.
Czech F Dominic Pacovsky played the last two seasons with the Ice, totalling 48 points in 114 games, but now is 20 and won’t be back.
Not taking part in the import draft is an interesting move by Chynoweth and is certain to raise some eyebrows, especially among season-ticket holders.
Granted, a team may not land a top six forward or a top four defenceman every time, but . . . isn’t there always the chance a team might end up with the next Nino Niederreiter? Or the next Marek Svatos?
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The Wheat Kings traded up to get that 43rd pick from the Ice after the Medicine Hat Tigers excercised an option on Brandon’s first-round pick (No. 59). . . . The Tigers had the option to use that selection or take a sixth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The Tigers used Brandon’s pick to select D Patrik Parkkonen of Finland.
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TIME OUT FOR A RANT: The selection that Medicine Hat used to take Finnish D Patrik Parkkonen actually was the draft’s 57th pick. Brandon held the 59th selection, but two teams chose to pass before it came time for that pick. . . . The CHL, however, continues to assign numbered slots to the teams that pass. As a result, the Calgary Hitmen, who held the draft’s last pick, will forever be shown as having taken Slovakian G Juraj Holly with the 120th pick. . . . Actually, Holly was the 71st player taken.
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The Red Deer Rebels dealt their first pick in the import draft (No. 34) to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a fourth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Seattle used the selection on D Dave Sutter, a 6-foot-4, 195-pounder from Switzerland. According to Small Thoughts At Large, over there on the left, "He is from the tiny Swiss village of Vikingen and is one of seven hockey-playing brothers."
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The Prince Albert Raiders traded their first-round pick in the import draft (No. 16) to the Tri-City Americans for a fourth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The Americans then took D Nikita Nesterov, from Chelyabinsk, Russia. . . . With the 55th pick, the Americans took D Nikita Kardashev from Minsk, Belarus. . . . Americans GM Bob Tory is hoping these two can help fill the void left by the graduation of D Jarrett Toll and D Brett Plouffe.
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The Prince George Cougars held the first overall selection and took Slovakian D Martin Marincin, who goes 6-foot-4 and 187 pounds. Marincin, 18, was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the 2010 NHL draft.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes dealt their first-round pick in the import draft (No. 46) to the Regina Pats for a 2012 sixth-round bantam draft pick. That selection originally belonged to the Portland Winterhawks, but changed hands in the deal that involved D Luca Sbisa in January. . . . Regina, which had dealt its first-round pick to the Vancouver Giants, used the 46th pick to take Swedish D Ricard Blidstrand. He was a seventh-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL’s 2010 draft. . . . The Pats now have two Swedes — F Hampus Gustafsson is their other import — on their roster for the first time in franchise history.
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The Portland Winterhawks, who had acquired the seventh overall pick from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Luca Sbisa deal in January, used it to take F Sven Bartschi, who is from, yes, Switzerland. He played on the Swiss U-18 team in 2009 and 2010 and Portland star Nino Niederreiter was a teammate both times.
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The Spokane Chiefs, with the 49th selection, took F Marek Kalus from Czech Republic, who won’t turn 17 until July 22. He is the younger brother of F Petr Kalus, who had 58 points, including 36 goals, with the Regina Pats in 2005-06. After being selected 39th overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2005 NHL draft, Petr now is in the Minnesota Wild’s organization. . . . Marek Kalus joins sophomore F Dominik Uher, who also is from Czech Republic, on the Chiefs’ roster. Uher had 15 points in 53 games last season.
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The Kelowna Rockets used their second selection (No. 61) on F Gal Koren of Slovenia. He had 41 points in 32 games with Jungadler Mannheim, a junior team in Germany. He was teammates there with Bernhard Keil, whom the Kamloops Blazers took with the 22nd selection.
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The Calgary Hitmen took Czech F Dmitrij Jaskin with the 58th selection — the last pick in the first round. It will be interesting to see if Jaskin makes it to Calgary because he was the first overall pick in the Kontinental Hockey League’s 2010 draft that was held on June 4. Jaskin — his name appears as Dmitry Yashkin in the KHL draft information — was taken by Sibir. He had 23 points in 38 games with the Slava Praha juniors last season in his native Czech Republic.
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The CHL’s 60 teams combined to select 71 players in the import draft. It lasted 10 hours 50 minutes. . . . By country, it was: Russia, 17; Czech Republic, 12; Slovakia, 11; Sweden, 6; Germany and Switzerland, each 5; Finland and Latvia, each 3; Belarus and Denmark, each 2; and, Austria, England, Hungary, Norway and Slovenia, each 1. . . . There were six goaltenders taken.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The Southern Professional Hockey League’s Knoxville Ice Bears are looking for a head coach. Marc Rodgers no longer is with the team after one season as head coach. . . . Nick Gates of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that “it’s not certain of the former Detroit Red Wings forward resigned or was fired by the . . . team Monday after meeting with the team’s owners and (president and GM Mike) Murray.” . . . Rodgers was an assistant coach before taking over from Scott Hillman, who moved on to become head coach of the Central league’s Missouri Mavericks. . . . The Ice Bears went 30-23-3 under Rodgers.
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Tim Kehler is the new GM/head coach of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm SilverBacks. Kehler, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Swift Current Broncos, signed a three-year contract. Before joining the Broncos, Kehler, 39, was the GM/head coach of the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters.

Blazers go to Germany for forward

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
There was a run on German players early in the 2010 CHL import draft on Tuesday and the Kamloops Blazers were right in the middle of it.
The Blazers held the 22nd selection and used it to take left-winger Bernhard Keil, an 18-year-old from Amberg, who put up 76 points, including 26 goals, in 34 games with Jungadler Mannheim, a junior team, last season. Keil also had 119 penalty minutes.
He was one of four players off the German U-18 team to be among the first 22 selections.
“We thought the size and the position fit what we were looking for,” explained Craig Bonner, the Blazers’ general manager.
Keil also played for Germany at the 2010 IIHF Division I, Group B U-18 world championship in Krynica, Poland. He had 11 points, including four goals, in five games, to finish tied for third in the points derby. Germany won the tournament, going 5-0 and outscoring its opposition 51-2.
The 6-foot-0, 200-pound Keil was eligible for last weekend’s NHL draft but wasn’t selected, despite being NHL Central Scouting’s 62nd ranked European skater.
“I’m not sure what happened (with the draft),” Bonner said. “He’s a big forward who has always put up good numbers. I really felt we needed some size up front. From what I understand, he speaks very good English, which is a plus.”
Bonner’s connection to Keil came through agent Rollie Thompson, whose group also represents German forward Tom Kuhnhackl, who was selected by Windsor in 2009 and will join the Memorial Cup-champion Spitfires in the fall.
Bonner also was able to speak with Ron Chyzowski, the older brother of former Blazers star Dave Chyzowski, who is the WHL team’s director of sales and marketing. Ron Chyzowski has coached in Germany for a number of years.
“He coached (Keil),” Bonner said, “so we were able to get a coach’s point of view, which was nice. You don’t get that very often . . . from a Canadian, too.”
The OHL’s Belleville Bulls took right-winger Tobias Rieder of Landshut with the fifth overall pick, and the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigers, with the next selection, grabbed centre Mirko Hoefflin of the Mannheim juniors. Then, with the 16th pick, which had been acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders, the Seattle Thunderbirds grabbed Marcel Noebels from the Krefeld Penguins.
Keil, Rieder, Hoefflin and Noebels were teammates on the German U-18 team. Noebels put up 19 points, while Hoefflin had 11 and Rieder six. Kuhnackl, the son of former German great Erich Kuhnackl, also was on that team, and had six points.
Centre Dalibor Bortnak of Slovakia will be the Blazers’ second import player. He will be returning for a third season here.
The Prince George Cougars had the first selection in the import draft and took Slovakian D Martin Marincin, who goes 6-foot-4 and 187 pounds. Marincin, 18, was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round, 46th overall, of the 2010 NHL draft.
JUST NOTES: The complete import draft is available at www.chl.ca. . . . Keil is the second German to be selected by the Blazers in the import draft. In 1996, they took F Nils Antons with the 68th pick. He played 82 games over two seasons and had 16 points, including seven goals. . . . Bonner said he took a serious look at available goaltenders but didn’t see a good fit. “To justify bringing in a goalie, he had to be pretty high end and there just wasn’t a guy,” Bonner said. The first goaltender taken was David Honzik of Czech Republic. He went to the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar at No. 33. In total, six goaltenders were selected. . . . The CHL’s 60 teams combined to take 71 players. The drafted last 10 hours 50 minutes. . . . Bonner, Matt Recchi, the Blazers’ director of player personnel, and head coach Guy Charron will be in Penticton this weekend at Hockey B.C.’s U-16 camp. The Blazers have three prospects — F Matt Needham of Penticton, D Tyson Harvey of Nanaimo and D Josh Connolly of Prince George — taking part. All three were taken in the first three rounds of the 2010 bantam draft. . . . The Spokane Chiefs will introduce Don Nachbaur as their new head coach at a news conference this afternoon.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Chiefs to introduce their man . . .

The Spokane Chiefs will introduce their new head coach at a news conference on Wednesday (June 30). That news conference will begin at 1 p.m.
Yes, Don Nachbaur is the Chiefs’ new head coach.
Nachbaur resigned last week as head coach of the Binghamton Senators, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. He spent the previous six seasons as head coach of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. He also has coach the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds.
While Nachbaur was coaching in Binghamton, his family remained in Richland, Wash., and his son, Daniel, played bantam hockey in Spokane.
During Nachbaur’s five seasons with the Americans, they developed a fierce rivarly with the Chiefs. So his signing with Spokane could take that rivalry to a whole new level.
Nachbaur takes over from Hardy Sauter, whose two-year regular-season record as head coach was 91-45-3-5. After Spokane lost a first-round series to the Portland Winterhawks in seven games, the Chiefs chose not to pick up the option season on Sauter’s contract.

Monday . . .

The Windsor Spitfires traded G Philip Grubauer to the Kingston Frontenacs in an OHL deal on Monday. Grubauer, who is from Germany, helped the Spitfires to their second straight Memorial Cup title in Brandon last month. He had a terrific tournament, without so much as one poor period but somehow wasn’t selected to the all-star name or named the top goaltender. . . . Grubauer, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in the fourth round of last weekend’s NHL draft, was dealt to Kingston along with Windsor’s first round pick in the 2010 import draft (56th overall). In exchange, the Spitfires got Kingston’s two import picks, including No. 26, and the rights to two players — F Nick Czinder, a 6-foot-5, 215-pounder who played for the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, and F A.J. Jarosz, who is from Crystal Lake, Ill.
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The OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds are moving to the WHL, at least for a weekend. The Greyhounds will play in the annual preseason tournament that is played host to by the Everett Silvertips. Also playing in the Holiday Inn Preseason Classic, Sept. 3-5, will be the Portland Winterhawks, Tri-City Americans, Thunderbirds and Spokane Chiefs. The Greyhounds will meet Everett on Sept. 3, Portland on Sept. 4 and Tri-City on Sept. 5. . . . Everett head coach Craig Hartsburg was the Soo’s head coach in 2001-02 and again from 2004-08. He also played for the Greyhounds (1975-78).
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The Portland Winterhawks, who had eight players selected in last weekend’s NHL draft, have had three players accept invitations to train with NHL teams. . . . F Oliver Gabriel (Columbus Blue Jackets), F Tayler Jordan (Vancouver Canucks) and F Taylor Peters (Pittsburgh Penguins) all will get a look from NHL camps. . . . Gabriel, who missed part of last season with a ruptured spleen, had 24 points in 41 games, while Jordan, who attended a Columbus prospects’ camp a year ago, had six points and 131 penalty minutes in 62 games, and Peters, a midseason addition from the BCHL’s Penticton Vees, had seven points in 32 games.
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The Prince Albert Raiders have traded F Jordan Hickmott, 20, to the Edmonton Oil Kings for F Sebastian Svendsen, 19, and a third-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . Svendsen, from Denmark, was acquired by Edmonton from the Vancouver Giants last season. He totalled 20 points in 64 games last season. . . . Hickmott played two seasons with the Raiders, compiling 71 points in 144 games. . . . The Oil Kings now don’t have any imports on their roster and hold selections Nos. 4 and 19 in Tuesday’s CHL import draft. . . . The Raiders, it would appear, will go with Svendsen and F Igor Revenko as their imports. Revenko, from Belarus, is a 20-year-old so would count as a two-spotter. He had 55 points, including 27 goals, in 62 games last season. . . . Because he’s 20, Revenko doesn’t count against the Raiders’ quota at this point, so they may use their pick (No. 16) in the import draft. . . . As for 20-year-olds, the Raiders have Revenko, F Colin Reddin, D Nathan Deck, D Jordan Rowley, D Brendon Wall and G Dalyn Flette on their roster.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings are expected to select one player in Tuesday’s CHL import draft. They went with Swedish D Alexander Urbom and Finnish F Toni Rajala last season. Urbom is expected to play in the New Jersey Devils organization, while the Wheat Kings expect Rajala, whose NHL rights belong to the Edmonton Oilers, to return for a second season. . . . The Wheat Kings’ first pick in the import draft is at No. 59.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors will select 28th in the CHL import draft. Having dropped Czech F Jakub Herman during the 2010 bantam draft, the Warriors expect to make one pick. They will keep Czech F Antonin Honejsek, who had 40 points in 67 games last season but really came on in the season’s second half.
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The U of Manitoba Bisons, who play out of Winnipeg, have landed two former WHLers. G Joe Caligiuri, who played with Brandon and Prince George before playing out his eligibility with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings, and F Del Cowan (Brandon, Prince George, Calgary) have committed to the Bisons.
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A year ago, F Joel Broda was coming off a season in which he had led the WHL with 53 regular-season goals. Then 19, he split that season between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Calgary and had reached the WHL final with the Hitmen. His NHL rights were held by the Washington Capitals, who had selected him in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. . . . Now, a year later, Broda has used up his eligibility and he is pondering his future. He is coming off a season in which he had 73 points, including 39 goals, in 66 games and played in the Memorial Cup. But the Capitals didn’t sign him and he went back into the draft. And, no, he wasn’t drafted. . . . So what now? . . . “I thought I had a pretty good chance of going, but I guess not,” he told John MacNeill of the Prince Albert Herald. “You never know if you should have gone or not, or if it would have been better or worse, but I am where I’m at and we’ll have to see what happens in the next few weeks.” . . . “I’ll have to see what options we have, and then kind of make the tough decisions from there,” he added. “I definitely came to terms with (the possibility) that I could be going to school this (coming) year. It would be a real smart decision to take advantage of the great scholarship program that the WHL has to offer. I’d love to play pro hockey, and try to make it to the NHL, but at the end of the day, I’m not going to throw away five years of school. There’s a lot of good players playing in the CIS and it’s definitely a good league.”
———
The two newest Boston Bruins — Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin — will get an official welcome to Beantown on Tuesday night when they combine to throw out the first pitch before the Red Sox meet the Tampa Bay Rays.

Import draft — Game of bluffing or crap shoot?

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The CHL import draft, one of the most bizarre events associated with major junior hockey, is on tap today.
Each of the CHL’s 60 teams is permitted to have two European players on its roster. Those teams will fill out their quotas today, with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars getting things started at 6 a.m.
Most, if not all, CHL general managers will have spent at least part of last weekend in Los Angeles at the NHL draft. While there, they will have chatted up NHL team officials and various player agents in the hopes of landing a blue-chip player in today’s draft.
And make no mistake — this is a draft that is pretty much controlled by agents who oftentimes dictate which players will play where.
“It really has become a game of bluffing,” Steve Spott, the GM and head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, told Jeff Hicks of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. “Trying to figure out who’s going to do what and who’s going to be left.”
Craig Bonner, the general manager of the Kamloops Blazers, was in and around the Staples Center on the weekend and, as he says, has done “quite a bit” of homework in preparation for today’s proceedings.
Bonner, with Slovakian centre Dalibor Bortnak returning to his roster, will make one selection today. He holds the 22nd pick.
When Bonner returned from Los Angeles, he said he had a list with “60 to 65” names on it. He and Matt Recchi, the Blazers’ director of player personnel, spent some of Monday talking with more NHL people, chasing agents and paring that list.
“It’s a matter,” Bonner said, “of talking to NHL people and trying to figure out different things. It’s an interesting process.”
What has made it more interesting this time around, Bonner said, has been the arrival on the scene of more agents.
“I don’t know if it’s a different year but there sure seem to be a lot of different agents coming forward these days,” he said.
Bonner expects those agents to be interested in getting more European players into the CHL because the weekend draft “was in a lot of ways dominated by the CHL . . . not a lot of Europeans went.”
Therefore, Bonner reasoned, “some of these agents will start encouraging their clients to come to the CHL because it seems to be, as far as the draft goes, opportunity-wise . . . a lot of guys feel it’s the way to go.”
Of the 210 players selected by NHL teams on the weekend, 107 (51 per cent) were from CHL teams.
A report released by the IIHF earlier this month showed that the number of European players in the NHL has decreased steadily since the lockout (2004-05).
Still, the import draft is, as Bonner put it, “a crap shoot.”
Hicks has reported that a year ago the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers, with the third overall selection, had their eye on Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter. At the same time, Spott’s Rangers, in the six spot, planned on taking Swedish winger Gabriel Landeskog.
However, the Portland Winterhawks, picking second, threw a wrench into everything by taking Niederreiter.
The Whalers followed by grabbing Landeskog and the Rangers ended up coughing up two second-round draft picks in order to acquire him.
The Blazers, meanwhile, took Slovakian winger Matej Bene with the 29th pick. He put up 14 points, including five goals, in 45 games but was a healthy scratch far too often and was released following the season.
Dalibor Bortnak, Kamloops’ other Slovakian forward, will return for a third WHL season.
JUST NOTES: The Edmonton Oil Kings have traded Danish F Sebastian Svendsen, 19, and a 2011 third-round bantam draft pick to the Prince Albert Raiders for F Jordan Hickmott, 20. This will allow the Oil Kings to make two picks in the import draft, at Nos. 4 and 19. . . . The Raiders also have F Igor Revenko, 20, on their roster. Revenko, form Belarus, had 55 points, including 27 goals, in 62 games last season. But, as a 20-year-old import, he would be a two-spotter. . . . While the WHL’s Western Conference teams won’t hold their scheduling meeting until next month, the teams have scheduled their home-openers. The Blazers’ will occur Sept. 24 when the Prince George Cougars are at the Interior Savings Centre.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Madaisky goes from Mayan Riviera to Columbus

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Before last weekend’s NHL draft, Austin Madaisky was more concerned with the where than the when.
Oh, the Kamloops Blazers defenceman would have loved to have been a first-round selection, but he knew that wasn’t likely to happen. Which is why he was enjoying the tail-end of a week on the Mayan Riviera with his family when the Columbus Blue Jackets selected him with the fourth pick of the fifth round on Saturday.
And that suited Madaisky just fine.
The Blue Jackets, it seems, are in need of defencemen — Madaisky was one of three taken by Columbus on the weekend.
“It seems like a great opportunity in Columbus,” said Madaisky, who admitted to not knowing anyone on the Blue Jackets’ roster, although he and Portland Winterhawks forward Ryan Johansen, taken fourth overall by Columbus, are good friends.
While in Mexico, Madaisky tried to follow the draft at nhl.com where a ticker was running across the top of the home page. But the website stalled during the fourth round. And it wasn’t until “texts started flying in” that he learned he had been drafted by Columbus.
Madaisky was pretty much in a communications blackout, so he didn’t even speak with anyone from the Blue Jackets until Monday when Don Boyd, the club’s director of hockey operations and player personnel, finally tracked him down.
Prior to their conversation, Madaisky was anticipating leaving for their prospects’ camp in a week or 10 days.
Those plans changed when Boyd told him he was booked on a flight out of Vancouver this morning. The Blue Jackets are bringing in prospects from the last three years for something of a meet-and-greet, giving everyone a chance to get involved with the organization.
Madaisky had planned on getting back in the gym, starting yesterday, but those plans changed with the news that he would be heading for Columbus today.
Still, he plans on training “my (butt) off.”
“I have been since Day 1 of summer but it’s a whole other level now,” he added.
Madaisky, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, said he needs to focus on “strength, skating and overall skills . . . I guess a little bit of everything.”
At the same time, he said, being drafted doesn’t change his mindset at all.
“No. Not really,” he stated. “It’s part of the process. It’s just one step at a time.”
And while he is working out he will be thinking ahead to the upcoming season. He is especially looking forward to his third WHL season because for the first time he won’t start out as a fringe player.
Acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in January, Madaisky blossomed with added ice time and responsibility and was the Blazers’ best player in the playoffs.
“I feel that I should play a pretty big role on the team but I’m also excited because I think the team in general is going to be a lot better,” he said. “We’re going to have a lot more experience. We’ve got (Corey Fienhage) coming in . . . everything is looking pretty good right now.”
Fienhage, a third-round selection by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL’s 2008 draft, is leaving the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux to join the Blazers.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Monday's with Murray

SUNDAY, JULY 4, 1976, SPORTS
Copyright 1976/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY
 
JIM MURRAY
 
A History Lesson

Today is our country's birthday. We celebrate 200 years of great men and great events. Accordingly, we thought it apropos to salute our nation's great past with a quiz designed to recall the truly significant moments in our history. As that commercial says, "And that was the way it was." American history as it might be viewed from rereading back issues of the Sporting News. Winner gets a three-cornered hat with a feather in it for riding a pony.
   Q. What was "the shot heard round the world"?
   A. It was either the double eagle Gene Sarazen made on the 13th hole at the Masters in 1935 or the home run Bobby Thomson hit off Ralph Branca in the Polo Grounds in 1951.
   Q.Who was "the Minute Man"?
   A. Floyd Patterson.
   Q. Who said, "We have met the enemy and they are ours"?
   A. The owners of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox.
   Q. Who said, "There is Jackson, standing like a stonewall"?
   A. This is wrongly attributed to a soldier at the battle of Bull Run. It was actually said by an Oakland pitcher in the 1973 World Series when a Mets batter hit a triple over right-fielder Reggie Jackson's head.
   Q. Who said, "I have not yet begun to fight"?
   A. Antonio Inoki, the Japanese crawler.
   Q. Who freed the slaves?
   A. A baseball arbitrator named Reitz.
   Q. Name the three greatest inventions of the past 150 years?
   A. Instant replay, the zone defense and the Rozelle Rule.
   Q. Who said, "Go west, young man, go west"?
   A. I don't know. But Horace Stoneham is looking for him.
   Q. Who said, "I only regret I have but one life to lose for my country"?
   A. A whole bunch of guys in the NFL. That's why they joined the National Guard.
   Q. "Find out what he drinks and give it to the rest of my generals" was said by whom?
   A. Popularly supposed to have been said by Lincoln of Grant, it was actually said by an NFL coach after Joe Namath won the 1969 Super Bowl.
   Q. Who said,"Retreat, hell! I'm advancing in another direction!"?
   A. Roy Riegels.
   Q. Who is "The Man Without a Country"?
   A. Vida Blue.
   Q. Who warned this country against "entangling foreign alliances"?
   A. The USTA.
   Q. Who said, "My paramount object is to save the union. If I could do that without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that"?
   A. Popularly believed to have been said by Lincoln to Horace Greeley, it was really what Bowie Kuhn said to Marvin Miller and Charley Finley.
   Q. Who said, "A man ought to have a right to cudgel his own jackass"?
   A. The editor "Marse" Henry Watterson is widely believed to have said that when rebuked for criticizing the governor of Kentucky, but it is an actual transcript of what Charlie Finley said to a newspaper reporter when he tried to sell the Oakland A's one by one.
   Q. Who said, "I do not choose to run"?
   A. Usually, Alex Johnson. But Fred Merkle made the most famous non-run in history, costing the New York Giants the 1908 pennant.
   Q. Who said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself?"
   A. A batter who had to go up there on a day Sandy Koufax was wild and a guy playing the Steelers who wanted to know exactly why they called him Mean Joe Greene.
   Q. What were Custer's famous last words"?
   A. "On paper, the Indians figured to finish last."
   Q. What was the Louisiana Purchase?
   A. Originally, the 885,000 square miles purchased from France for $15 million, most of which was mortgaged to pay for the $180 million, 13-acre Superdome for the New Orleans Saints to play in.
   And George Halas was The Father Of His Country and Vince Lombardi was born in a log cabin and learned the T-formation by firelight and Howard Cosell would rather be right than be President and we won World War II for the old Gipper and Bear Bryant said in the Gettysburg Address, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," a speech every schoolboy knows by heart, and that's what made our country what it is today, by God!

Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times.
 
Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 995 | La Quinta | CA | 92247

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.

Bonner changes focus to import draft

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
With the NHL draft in his rearview mirror, Craig Bonner's focus now is on Tuesday's CHL import draft.
Bonner, the general manager of the Kamloops Blazers, will exercise one selection in the draft that is to begin at 6 a.m. Bonner, with the 22nd pick, will make his pick at 10 a.m.
The Blazers came out of last season with two Slovakian forwards - freshman Matej Bene and sophomore Dalibor Bortnak - on their roster. Bene was released after producing just 14 points in 59 games, but Bortnak will return for a third season.
Bortnak, 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, came up with 27 points in 45 games and showed marked improvement after missing the regular season's first 27 games with a spleen injury suffered during the club's intrasquad game.
The Prince George Cougars hold the import draft's first selection, followed by the OHL's Sarnia Sting and the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads.
Bonner said Sunday that while he is keeping all options open, the club is leaning towards taking a goaltender or a forward. With the acquisition of defenceman Corey Fienhage, who is leaving the U of North Dakota to join the Blazers, Bonner feels they are deep enough on the back end.
While he isn't about to spill the beans, it would seem that a goaltender would be at the top of Bonner's want list. That's because in recent days they have lost two prospects, at least for 2010-11.
Last month, Josh Thorimbert, the SJHL's rookie of the year with the Kindersley Klippers, committed to the Colorado College Tigers. The Blazers had hoped that Thorimbert, 18, would come to camp and challenge veteran Jon Groenheyde, 19, for the starting job.
Now the Blazers have had prospect John Keeney, who is from Twin Peaks, Calif., commit to a second season with the USHL's Omaha Lancers. Keeney, 17, and his parents, Sharon and Mike, met with the Blazers during the NHL draft on the weekend. The meeting was held at the request of the Blazers, not the family, as was reported last week.
The Blazers have two other goaltenders on their protected list - Troy Trombley, a 16-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., who has signed a WHL contract, and Taran Kozun, 16, from Nipawin, Sask.
“We would consider a goalie. We're pretty open,” Bonner said. “We've got some names in the (import) draft . . . I've got some different ideas.”
As for the NHL draft, which wrapped on Saturday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Bonner had said he expected two Blazers to be selected. And he was correct, although it went right down to the wire.
Defenceman Austin Madaisky, who went in as NHL Central Scouting's 57th-ranked North American skater, was taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the fourth pick of the fifth round (No. 124).
Left-winger Brendan Ranford, ranked No. 111, went to the Philadelphia Flyers in the seventh round. The Flyers used the draft's second-last pick, No. 209, to take Ranford, a nephew of former NHL goaltender Bill Ranford.
“It was interesting,” Bonner said of the way things went. “It wasn't a total surprise.”
Bonner had been “pretty confident the two guys would get drafted” and was “hopeful that one or two other guys would slide in.”
The latter didn't happen as the NHL's 30 teams combined to take a record 22 U.S. high school players among the 210 selections. All told, 107 CHL players were taken, with 43 of those from the WHL. That latter figure included eight players from the Portland Winterhawks.
Undrafted Blazers like defencemen Josh Caron and Brandon Underwood, centre Chase Schaber, Bortnak and right-winger Jordan DePape are likely to end up with free-agent tryout deals.
Caron already has an offer on the table from the Boston Bruins, but Bonner said the 19-year-old from Campbell River will have more options than that.
“At the end of the day, it's the opportunity you want,” Bonner said.
“It's a little frustrating when you see those Minnesota high school players being drafted.”
Madaisky was one of three major junior defencemen selected by the Blue Jackets. They also took Brandon Archibald, a 6-foot-4, 200-pounder, from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds with the 94th selection and, at No. 154, grabbed Dalton Prout, 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, from the Barrie Colts.
While a lot of draft-eligible players spent Saturday hitting the refresh button on their computers, Ranford wasn't one of them. He spent most of the day in bed, having had four wisdom teeth removed Friday.
“I've been sleeping all day,” he said moments after being drafted. “I've been sore . . . sitting in bed. I didn't even watch the draft . . . only a little bit of it.”
Ranford was thrilled to be taken by the Flyers.
“They're a great organization,” he said, noting that the Flyers' style is “kind of the hockey I play . . . don't give a crap about what other people think of you, just work your butt off.”
JUST NOTES: F Riley Nash of Kamloops, who has played three seasons at Cornell, was traded by the Edmonton Oilers to the Carolina Hurricanes for the draft's 46th selection. Edmonton, which hadn't been able to sign Nash, selected Slovakian D Martin Marincin. . . . The Oilers had selected Nash with a first-round pick, 21st overall, in the 2007 draft after he had played a season with the BCHL's Salmon Arm SilverBacks. Last season, Nash had 35 points, including 12 goals, in 30 games with the Big Red. . . . F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks, the son of former Blazers F Gord Walker, was taken by the Colorado Avalanche in the fifth round. Walker, 20, was in the draft for the third time but this was the first time he had been selected.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Saturday . . .

Sports columnist Greg Douglas (aka Dr. Sport), in Saturday’s Vancouver Sun:
The Edmonton Oilers apparently are not taking no for an answer in their pursuit of Giants GM Scott Bonner to run the Oilers' farm club in Oklahoma City. They sweetened their offer as recently as Friday morning over breakfast in Vegas. If Bonner goes, it would be with the blessing of Toigo, who has said all along he would never stand in the way of Bonner's advancement.
Which all leads to the ripe rumour making the hockey rounds that Pat Quinn, stripped of his coaching stripes in Edmonton this week, would consider replacing Bonner.
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If people weren’t aware before the weekend’s NHL draft that the Portland Winterhawks are back, well, they are now.
The two-day affair in Los Angeles didn’t belong to Alyssa Milano. No, it belonged to the Winterhawks, who had eight players selected -- two in Friday‘s first round and six on Saturday:
4. F Ryan Johansen, Columbus Blue Jackets
5. F Nino Niederreiter, New York Islanders
43. F Brad Ross, Toronto Maple Leafs
78. D Taylor Aronson, Nashville Predators
137. D Troy Rutkowski, Colorado Avalanche
139. F Luke Walker, Colorado Avalanche
191. G Mac Carruth, Chicago Blackhawks
208. F Riley Boychuk, Buffalo Sabres
Graham Kendrick of the Winterhawks reports that tied the highest total in franchise history. The Winterhawks also had eight players selected in 1978, 1980 and 1982. (As an aside, from 1978 through 1984, the Winterhawks had 49 players drafted, and think about that for a moment. Portland now has had a total of 115 players drafted by NHL teams.)
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A couple of other Portland-related notes, as supplied by Kendrick. . . .
D Ben Gallacher, the son of Winterhawks owner Bill Gallacher, was taken 93rd overall by the Florida Panthers. Ben will play one more season for the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks and then is to head for Ohio State. . . .
F Jason Clark, a Portland list player, was selected 82nd overall by the New York Islanders. He played last season at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn.
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A few NHL draft odds and ends:
F Luke Moffatt was taken by the Colorado Avalanche with the 197th pick. Moffatt, who is from Paradise Valley, Ariz., was selected second overall by the Kelowna Rockets in the 2007 bantam draft. He has been in the U.S. NTDP and will attend Michigan in the fall. . . .
The Edmonton Oilers used the first pick of the second round on F Tyler Pitlick, a nephew of former NHL D Lance Pitlick. . . . Tyler, who played last season at Minnesota State-Mankato, has chosen to play next season with the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . .
F Dalton Smith of the Ottawa 67’s, who was taken in the second round by the Columbus Blue Jackets, is the son of former NHL F Derrick Smith. Dalton also is a nephew to the Primeau boys, Keith and Wayne. . . .
F Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers, who went to the Philadelphia Flyers with the draft’s second-last pick (209), is a nephew to former NHL G Bill Ranford. . . .
The New York Rangers took Oshawa Generals F Christian Thomas in the second round. His father is former NHL F Steve Thomas. . . . “On my draft day,” Steve told the Ottawa Sun’s Chris Stevenson, “I went downstairs in my pyjamas and looked in the paper to see if my name had been called. It wasn’t.” . . .
The Montreal Canadiens used the 22nd pick on D Jarred Tinordi. He is the son of former WHL and NHL D Mark Tinordi. . . .
The Toronto Maple Leafs used their first pick, 43rd overall, on Portland Winterhawks F Brad Ross. He is the younger brother of D Nick Ross, who was taken by the Phoenix Coyotes with the 30th pick of the 2007 draft. . . .
The Tampa Bay Lightning took D Brock Beukeboom of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the third round. His father, Jeff, is a former NHL defenceman. . . .
The Edmonton Oilers used the 48th pick on F Curtis Hamilton of the Saskatoon Blades. His father, Bruce, is the president and GM of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors. . . .
The Colorado Avalanche followed Edmonton by taking G Calvin Pickard of the Seattle Thunderbirds with the 49th pick. His brother, Chet, was taken 18th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2008 draft. Chet played for the Tri-City Americans. . . .
The Calgary Flames didn’t hold a pick until No. 64. They used it on Kootenay Ice F Max Reinhart, the son of former NHL D Paul Reinhart. . . . Later, in the fourth round, the Flames took D John Ramage of the U of Wisconsin. His father is former NHL D Rob Ramage. . . . Paul Reinhart and Rob Ramage both played for the Flames during their NHL careers. . . .
F Cody Beach of the Calgary Hitmen was selected 134th overall by the St. Louis Blues. He is the younger brother of F Kyle Beach, who was taken 11th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2008. Kyle played for the Everett Silvertips, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Spokane Chiefs during his WHL career. . . .
The Carolina Hurricanes dealt the 46th overall selection to the Edmonton Oilers for F Riley Nash of Kamloops, who has spent the last three seasons at Cornell. The Oilers selected Nash in the first round of the 2007 NHL draft. He had been taken by the Swift Current Broncos in the fourth round of the 2004 bantam draft, but played for the BCHL’s Salmon Arm SilverBacks for a season before moving on to Cornell. . . .
F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks was in the draft for the third time. This time he was taken. The Colorado Avalanche grabbed him with the 139th selection. His father, Gord, played in the WHL with Portland and Kamloops. . . .
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Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports has more draft notes right here.
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Some numbers supplied by the CHL:
There were 107 players from the CHL selected during the draft’s seven rounds. That equates to 51 per cent of all selected players. . . . That is the second time since 1998 that more than half of all players selected came from the CHL (2008, 52 per cent). . . .
The WHL had 43 players selected, the OHL 42 and the QMJHL 22. . . . In 2009, the CHL had 99 players taken, with 45 of those from the OHL, 31 from the WHL and 23 from the QMJHL. . . .
The Portland Winterhawks had eight players selected. . . . The Memorial Cup-champion Windsor Spitfires, Ottawa 67’s and Owen Sound Attack led the OHL, each with four. . . . The QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques and Halifax Mooseheads each had three players taken. . . .
All 40 players who competed in the 2010 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game were selected. . . .
The NHL comprises 30 teams and each team selected at least one player from the CHL. . . . Eight of the Buffalo Sabres’ nine picks came from the CHL. . . .
Of the 210 players selected, 99 were from Canada, with 59 from the U.S.
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And some numbers supplied by USA Hockey:
The 59 Americans selected included a record 11 in the first round and a record-tying 21 through two rounds. That tied the record from 2007. . . .
Two players off the gold medal-winning U.S. team from the World Junior Championship were selected -- G Jack Campbell (Dallas Stars, 11th overall) and D Cam Fowler (Anaheim Ducks, 12th) -- in the first round. Campbell is ticketed for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, where he will be teammates with Fowler. . . . (USA Hockey's release didn't mention F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks, who played in the world junior tournament despite severe facial injuries incurred when he took a slapshot to the mug during a WHL game. So let's make it three players off the golden team. . . . You can add F Jason Zucker to the list, too. He was taken in the second round by the Minnesota Wild and is the first NHL draft pick out of Las Vegas.)
The 2009-10 U.S. U-18 team had five defencemen selected in the opening two rounds -- Derek Forbort (Los Angeles Kings, 15th), Jarred Tinordi (Montreal Canadiens, 22nd), overall/Montreal Canadiens), Justin Faulk (Carolina Hurricanes, 37th), Jon Merrill (New Jersey Devils, 38th) and Stephen Johns (Chicago Blackhawks, 60th). . . .
All told, U.S. junior leagues had 22 players selected, with 20 of those coming from the USHL. . . .
There were 15 players drafted who have ties to the U.S. National Team Development Program. . . .
There were 20 American players taken who played for high schools or prep schools in 2009-10. . . .
There were four American players selected who played NCAA Division 1 hockey last season. . . .
Players drafted represented 16 states -- Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and North Dakota.

Friday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
G Brett Jaeger (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Saskatoon, 2001-04) signed a one-year contract with the Coventry Blaze (UK Elite). He had a 2.72 GAA and a .912 save percentage in 38 games for Texas Brahmas (Central Hockey League) last season. . . .
D Deron Quint (Seattle, 1993-96) signed a one-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk (Russia KHL). He had five goals and 11 assists in 42 games for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia KHL) last season. . . .
F Jordan Krestanovich (Calgary, 1997-2001) signed a one-year contract with BK Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic Extraliga). He had 15 goals and 22 assists in 40 games for Cortina (Italy Serie A) last season.
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D Eddie Friesen (Everett, Seattle, 2007-08) isn’t planning a return to the WHL for his 20-year-old season. Friesen had talks with the Regina Pats but has decided to return to the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives, a team he captained last season.
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I hope you weren’t expecting a whole lot of NHL draft stuff here. There is enough of that everywhere else and I simply don’t want to duplicate what is available at other places.
I recorded Friday’s first round and got through it in record time with ample use of the FF button. Thankfully.
Surprises? Yes.
I thought F Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers would have gone at least 15 picks earlier than he did. He’s dynamic. But, apparently, not dynamic enough for some teams.
I thought G Calvin Pickard of the Seattle Thunderbirds would have gone in the top 20. Two goaltenders went in the first round and wasn’t one of them.
The best part of the draft is that the Taylor-or-Tyler debate is over. Finally.
It was good to see Charlie Hodge on the stage with Steve Yzerman, Jim Hammond and the Tampa Bay Lightning group.
And after all the hype about all the potential trades . . . where were they?
By the way, we have gone from Taylor or Tyler to: Where will Kaberle end up? . . . Please, Mr. Burke, move him today and put an end to all this craziness!

Keeping Score

Taylor Teagarden was fourth among catchers in American League All-Star voting last week. Which resulted in Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot writing: “Never heard of him? That's because when the Texas Rangers sent him down to Double-A, he was batting .037, with one hit. But before his demotion, Rangers fans flooded the ballot box. One more example of why fans don't deserve the vote. Stupidity shouldn't be encouraged.” . . . The Kamloops Blazers’ braintrust, including two of the owners and GM Craig Bonner, is in Los Angeles for the NHL draft. While there, they will meet with goaltender John Keeney, 17, and his family. Keeney, who finished last season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, is likely to go the NCAA route, but his family has expressed a desire to chat with the Blazers. . . .

You may be aware that Wimbledon has banned the vuvuzela, which flies in the face of the fact that the players — hello, Ms. Sharapova — still are allowed to grunt like elk in rutting season. . . . If you’re hooked up to Sirius Satellite Radio, you should know that every CFL game through the Grey Cup will be heard on Channel 97 or 98. It all begins with a Canada Day doubleheader. . . . Be forewarned if you are journeying into the big smoke to watch the B.C. Lions. Parking at Empire Field will set up back as much as $30. . . . Yes, that is called gouging. . . . Along those same lines, you may have noticed that the price of gas went up four cents this week. Let’s blame it on Tony Hayward. . . .

Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “Former USC star Reggie Bush denied any wrongdoing but said he'll do whatever he can after the Trojans got tossed into the NCAA hoosegow. O.J. Simpson, profoundly touched, immediately applied for work-release just so he can help Reggie find the real program-killers.” . . . One more from Perry: “Coincidence? NFL suddenly realizes it needs two fewer preseason games at exactly the same time it realizes it needs two more in the regular season.” . . . With the Pac-10 now at 12 teams, comedy writer Jerry Perisho notes: "Apparently it's the USC Compliance Department keeping track of the details here." . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Dust hasn’t settled yet, but as of now, the Big Ten is now the Big 12, the Big 12 is the Big Ten, the Pac-10 is the Pac-11, and 7-Elevens are now 5-13s.” . . .

Pablo Martin was the extra golfer a week ago at the U.S. Open. The Spaniard played his round with a non-competing partner and did the 18 holes in two hours 39 minutes. "It was a nice walk, checking the course. Pretty cool,” he said after shooting a 79. “It's so nice here, I'm happy we can get to play it for free.” . . . Green fees for the common man run to US$495. Yes, for 18 holes. . . . When TRU announced some of its teams’ schedules earlier this week, the WolfPack hockey team’s wasn’t among them. But when it does come out, it will feature Friday and Saturday night home games — with 8:15 start times — and beer will be available in the stands at Memorial Arena. . . .

Tim (Fuzzy) Hall, who is a legend in BMX circles, is working on building a new course on a lot in Chicago that once was home to a factory. His biggest concern? As he told the Chicago Sun-Times: "Digging up a gangster that got buried back in the 1930s." . . . Some of us are (un)fortunate enough to be able to pull in four Rogers Sportsnet channels via the dish. After Thursday afternoon, I would suggest that the CRTC immediately force a name change to Rogers Pokernet. Four channels. Four poker games. All at the same time. . . . Only in Canada! . . . The Spirit Warriors, a local dragon beat team, were in Peterborough, Ont., earlier this month for the 2010 International Breast Cancer Survivors Festival. They don’t keep track of wins and losses, but they wound up 17th of 74 boats, covering 500 metres in an average time of two minutes 36 seconds. If you are a breast cancer survivor and interested in joining, the Spirit Warriors practise Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:45 p.m., at Pioneer Park. Call Midge (250-374-2566) for more info. . . .

Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “If somebody told me they had a vuvuzela, I’d tell them to get that checked at the community health clinic.” . . . Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “Those vuvuzelas are making some of us sports fans rethink 30 years' worth of assuredness that nothing could possibly be worse than listening to three solid hours of the droning of Brent Musberger.” . . . Judd, once more: “The Mariners say they are ready and willing to trade starting pitcher Cliff Lee for any combination of players who can maintain the franchise's rich history of failing to live up to even marginal expectations.” . . .

Just a reminder that the World Cup will pause its round of 16 for a few moments today to allow Tom McManus, who doubles as the head coach of the TRU WolfPack women’s soccer team and KYSA, to walk down an aisle with Pat Harrison. They will be wed during halftime of one of the games that opens the Round of 16 in South Africa. . . . Surely there will be at least one guest there with a vuvuzela. . . . Phil Mushnick, in the New York Post: “Vince Young is just the latest to learn — perhaps — that unless you’re the milkman, there’s no good reason to be out and about between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.” . . .

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. Email him at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, or visit his blog at gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.

Thursday . . .

I have become a huge tennis fan.
No, I don’t play. I don’t even watch a huge amount of tennis, although I can get hooked if John McEnroe is supplying the analysis.
I am a huge tennis fan because of what happened at Wimbledon over three days earlier this week.
In case you missed it, American John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.
They played 183 games over three days. The match lasted 11 hours five minutes. The fifth set alone went on for eight hours 11 minutes.
The point here is that there isn’t any 4-on-4 overtime at Wimbledon. There isn’t a shootout. They don’t settle things by deciding who has the fastest serve.
No, they don’t change the rules. They start the game . . . and they finish the same way. There is no circus time.
They play it out.
Just like the WHL should.
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The Prince Albert Raiders have signed F Luke Mahura to a WHL contract. He was a second-round pick in the 2010 WHL draft. Mahura, from St. Albert, Alta., played last season with the Alberta major bantam league’s Gregg Distributors Sabres. He had 68 points, including 39 goals, in 33 games.
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The Anaheim Ducks have added Mike Foligno to their staff as an assistant coach. Foligno was the GM/head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves last season. He resigned following the season, ending a seven-year run. . . . He also played for the Wolves and, in fact, is perhaps the best foward ever to have played there. . . . Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle was an all-star defenceman with the Wolves. . . . With the Ducks, Foligno replaces Newell Brown, whose contract wasn’t renewed. Brown is the father of Kelowna Rockets G Adam Brown.

Wednesday . . .

After I reported here yesterday that Don Nachbaur will be the next head coach of the Spokane Chiefs, Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review filed a story that carried the headline — Chiefs GM: Report on new coach incorrect.
Trimmer’s story is right here.
You will note that Spokane general manager Tim Speltz doesn’t state that Nachbaur won’t be the Chiefs’ next head coach.
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Former Chiefs head coach Bill Peters may end up in the NHL before another season gets here.
Peters left the Chiefs prior to the 2008-09 season to join the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.
Numerous reports on Wednesday had the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers about to name Craig Ramsay as their new head coach and that John Torchetti would be joining him as an assistant coach.
Torchetti has been on Chicago's coaching staff for the last two seasons.
His departure would open a slot that perhaps could be filled by Peters.
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The Prince George Cougars have signed 2010 bantam draft selections Jordan Tkatch and Jarrett Fontaine. . . . The two are first cousins and both played for the bantam Humboldt, Sask., Broncos last season. . . . Tkach, a second-round pick, had 100 points, including 57 goals, in 24 games. He is ticketed for the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos in the fall. . . . Fontaine, a third-round selection, had 102 points, 61 of them goals, in 24 games. He is likely to play for the midget AAA Tisdale Trojans. . . . Fontaine won the Centre Four league’s scoring title; his cousin was second.
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Greg Poss is the new head coach of the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. He was an assistant coach with the ECHL’s Ontario Reign last season. Prior to that, Poss, 45, spent eight seasons as a head coach with three different teams in the German DEL. He played NCAA hockey at Wisconsin. . . . Poss replaces Malcolm Cameron, who resigned after last season and later signed on as GM and head coach of the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals.
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Matt Bardsley doesn’t get a whole lot of credit from the ticket-buying public, but he is a big reason why the Portland Winterhawks are on the way back from near-ruin. Scott Sepich, a freelancer who covers the Winterhawks for The Oregonian, has a good look at Bardsley right here.
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The AHL’s Charlotte Checkers will have Jeff Daniels as their GM and head coach as they enter into their first season in the AHL and their first season as the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. . . . Daniels is entering his third season as head coach of Carolina’s AHL team; he was with the Albany River Rats for the last two seasons. The Albany franchise moved to Charlotte following the conclusion of the 2009-10 season. . . . Former pro defenceman Gord Kinnear was named as a Charlotte assistant coach. He has been an AHL assistant for seven seasons, the last three in Carolina’s organization. . . . Derek Wilkinson, the Checkers’ head coach last season, has been named senior vice-president of business operations.
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Matthew Wuest of metronews.ca in Halifax reports that Czech F Martin Frk is the top-ranked player for the CHL import draft that is scheduled for June 29. . . . Wuest’s story is right here.
The Prince George Cougars hold the first overall pick, followed by the Sarnia Sting and the Halifax Mooseheads.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed F Brandon Potomak, a second-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. Potomak, from Aldergrove, B.C., played last season with the Kelowna-Pursuit of Excellence program.

Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Juraj Simek (Brandon, 2006-07) signed a try-out contract with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL). He had 21 goals and 15 assists in 75 games for the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) last season.
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The AHL’s Manitoba Moose has shuffled its deck a bit over the last couple of days. . . . Claude Noel, formerly the interim head coach with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, is the Moose’s new head coach. He replaces Scott Arniel, who signed on as head coach in Columbus. . . . The Moose also has lost equipment manager Jay McMaster, who now is the assistant equipment manager with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. McMaster, who spent a season working with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and two with the Vancouver Giants, is from Plenty, Sask., the hometown of Brad and Kelly McCrimmon. . . . Mark Grehan will fill McMaster’s position with the Moose, effective Aug. 1. Grehan spent last season as equipment manager with the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings.
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The Tri-City Americans have added Ken McKay to their scouting staff. He will focus on the southwestern U.S., primarily Texas. . . . McKay played five seasons in the WHL, splitting them between the Red Deer Rebels and the Americans, whom he joined during 1996-97. He went on to play four seasons with the U of Calgary Dinos and one with the Central league’s Corpus Christi Rayz.
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The BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs have signed Kevin Hasselbert as assistant GM and assistant coach. Hasselberg, 34, will work alongside GM/head coach Paul Esdale. Hasselberg spent the last five seasons as the head coach of the AJHL’s Olds Grizzlys.
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During the winter months, Gord McGarva spends many evenings serving as the analyst on Kelowna Rockets’ radio broadcasts. In his other job, he is a school teacher. He also is a huge golf fan and, yes, he loves to play the game. His blog — Write Down the Fairway — is over there on the left. . . . Anyway, I don’t know how you’re spending your summer, but I got this note from Gord: “I will be at St. Andrews for The Open. I leave July 1 and head to Kingsbarns for my summer job as a caddy. I will be living in St. Andrews until Aug. 25.” . . . On his blog this summer, then, McGarva promises “some tales of caddying at Kingsbarns, some that can every be printed.”
From the Kingsbarns Golf Links’ website:
The Kingsbarns Golf Links site has long been known for its intimate connection with the sea. The fact that its golf origins date back to 1793 is testimony to the attributes of the site which foster ideal conditions for links turf to flourish amid interesting natural terrain. This unique part of East Fife has sandy soils, undulating ridges and hollows, Cambo burn running into the sea, all set immediately against the rugged coastline of the North Sea.

Chiefs have their coach

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Don Nachbaur, who resigned Tuesday after one season as head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, is expected to be named the next head coach of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs.
Two sources told The Daily News on Tuesday that Nachbaur left Binghamton, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, in order to become the Chiefs’ head coach.
"It is a difficult day for me as I step down as the head coach of the Binghamton Senators,” Nachbaur said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision for me, but it is based on personal reasons and I think it is the right choice for both myself and my family."
Nachbaur resigned last summer after five seasons as head coach of the Tri-City Americans and signed with Ottawa. Binghamton went 36-35-6-3 with Nachbaur at the helm, but didn’t make the playoffs.
Nachbaur was a fan-favourite in Tri-City as the Americans had unprecedented success with him as head coach. His run finished with back-to-back U.S. Division pennants.
The Chiefs and Americans have a tremendous rivalry that is about to get even hotter.
While Nachbaur moved to Binghamton, his family stayed in Richland, Wash. In fact, his son, Daniel, played for the bantam Spokane Jr. Chiefs, one of the teams that played in the 42nd annual KIBIHT.
With Spokane, Nachbaur will replace Hardy Sauter, who lost his job after last season when the club chose not to exercise an option.
The Chiefs were 45-22-3-2, good for fourth place in the Western Conference, but just two points out of first. They lost a first-round series in seven games to the Portland Winterhawks.
With the Edmonton Oil Kings having signed Derek Laxdal as head coach last week and the Chiefs about to introduce Nachbaur, it leaves the Kootenay Ice as the only one of the WHL’s 22 teams without a head coach.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Madaisky hoping for right place at right time

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
There is a chance that Austin Madaisky could hear his name called during the first round of the NHL draft on Friday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
But the Kamloops Blazers defenceman needed better odds than that to get him to attend the draft.
Which is why he is planning to go on vacation and may well be in Mexico on the weekend.
“I remember Don Cherry saying . . . if you're not a guaranteed first-rounder, don't go to the draft,” Madaisky says.
The first round will be held Friday evening, with the remaining six rounds scheduled for Saturday in the home of the Los Angeles Kings.
Madaisky, who is from Surrey, is represented by Newport Sports Management and has been in close contact with agents Craig Oster and Jason Taylor.
“There's a totally different atmosphere the first day,” Madaisky reasons. “There's tons of media; the place is sold out and there's a great feeling about the place. The second day you come back and there's nobody there. In talking with Jason and Craig, they just said try to keep it as positive an experience as possible.”
So that is what Madaisky will do . . . by going on vacation.
There is little doubt but that Madaisky, who was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in January, will be the first of several draft-eligible Blazers to be selected. As far as he's concerned, though, he's more concerned with the where than the when.
“It's not really when I go; that's not really what I'm concerned about,” he explains. “I'm more concerned about going to a team that wants me and knows what I'm about. I don't want a team drafting me that thinks I'm something that I'm not.”
It also is important, he says, “to be drafted into a situation where I'm going to have an opportunity to play as soon as possible.”
In other words, he wants this draft to lead him to the right place at the right time.
“Exactly,” he says.
For an example of that, he looks no further than Paul Postma, a defenceman with whom he was teammates on the 2008-09 Calgary Hitmen.
“He was one of the last picks in his draft year and he has a legitimate chance to make the Thrashers next season,” Madaisky says of Postma, who was the 205th player taken of the 211 selected in the 2007 NHL draft and played last season with the AHL's Chicago Wolves.
p p p
The Blazers acquired Madaisky and centre Chase Schaber from the Hitmen on Jan. 10, in exchange for forwards Jimmy Bubnick and Tyler Shattock, along with defenceman Zak Stebner.
The Hitmen reached the WHL final in 2008-09, losing to the Kelowna Rockets in six games. Madaisky was on the Calgary roster but dressed for only two playoff games.
Madaisky improved in leaps and bounds after arriving here from Calgary. And he was as dominating as any player on either team in the Vancouver Giants' first-round sweep of the Blazers. After totaling 27 points, including seven goals, in 65 regular-season games, Madaisky put up six points, with a team-high three goals, in the four playoff games.
“I can't really put my finger on one thing,” he says, when asked how he was able to take his game to a higher level in the playoffs. “I guess it was just really looking to myself to bring my intensity to another level.”
One thing that he says made a big difference was knowing his role and that he was going to be given ample ice time by head coach Guy Charron.
“I was expecting to play big minutes, and I knew that, so I kind of got in that mental state, knowing I was going to have to play against (Vancouver captain Lance) Bouma and stuff,” Madaisky says. “I loved it. It was the most fun I have ever had playing hockey.
“I also felt it was the best I have played ever since I can remember. The points just seemed to be coming. I was playing more physical. I just tried to really focus on bringing a new level of intensity to the game.”
Despite Madaisky's superb play, the Blazers were swept by the Giants. But you can bet that Madaisky really wanted to keep on playing.
“Oh yeah,” he says. “No kidding.”
p p p
Madaisky was ranked 57th among draft-eligible North American skaters when NHL Central Scouting released its final ratings. It is safe to assume his late-season and playoff performance moved him up at least a bit higher than that.
B.J. MacDonald, a Central Scouting employee who spends a lot of time watching western prospects, told NHL.com: "He's not overly physical but he uses his body well in positioning in his own zone. He plays the power play regularly and has an offensive creative side. His skating and mobility is good. Not flashy, but gets the job done. I like the way he thinks and he shows underrated potential.”
As it turned out, being traded to Kamloops was the best thing that could have happened to Madaisky.
“In talking to scouts, they say the same thing,” he says. “My season was divided into two halves. My first half in Calgary, they say I was on the radar, but . . .
“When I came to Kamloops, I legitimately became a top prospect. They said it was a great move for myself. I had way more fun in Kamloops.”
Madaisky talked with a lot of NHL people during the scouting combine in Toronto in late May. It was, he says, “a great experience.”
“It was excellent,” he adds. “I think I did really well on the physical test and for the most part my interviews went really well. Some interviews felt like they went a little better than others, but on the whole it was pretty positive.”
While at the combine, Madaisky was interviewed by officials from 11 NHL teams. The Vancouver Canucks, his favourite team, weren't one of them.
However, he says, “that doesn't really matter.”
What matters is getting an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time as his hockey career progresses.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Bonner looks ahead to draft

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Craig Bonner, the general manager of the Kamloops Blazers, anticipates having two of the WHL team's players selected in this weekend's NHL draft.
After that, well, as he says, it's the NHL draft and anything can happen.
“The draft gets going and sometimes the European thing goes crazy,” Bonner says, “or (there's a run) on Minnesota high schoolers. Every year seems to be different.”
This year's draft runs Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles, and Bonner is certain - or as certain as he can be - that defenceman Austin Madaisky and left-winger Brendan Ranford will be selected.
“I'm pretty confident Madaisky and Ranford are going to go,” he says, before catching himself and softening it a bit. “I think Madaisky and Ranford are going for sure. . . . I'd be shocked if Ranford doesn't go.”
Madaisky and Ranford are eligible for the draft for the first time.
Ranford, the 15th overall selection in the 2007 WHL bantam draft, came into his own after last season's Christmas break. He finished with 65 points, including 29 goals, in 72 games. He picked up 38 of the points, including 18 goals, after the break.
He also played hard virtually every night and proved to be a fearless competitor. He was one of only two Kamloops players, the other being defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer, to play in all 72 regular-season games.
Bonner also has had a lot of conversations with various NHL team scouts and officials and has a feeling that centre Dalibor Bortnak also may be drafted.
Bortnak, a 19-year-old Slovakian, missed the start of his sophomore season after suffering a spleen injury in training camp. But, at 6-foot-4, he has good size and NHL teams covet big centres.
Bortnak wasn't drafted in 2009 but was to have gone to camp with the Edmonton Oilers on a free-agent tryout deal. The spleen injury ruined those plans.
“I've been told by two different teams that he is going to get drafted,” Bonner says of Bortnak. “But that could change.
“But I look at a guy like that. . . . Why wouldn't you draft him?”
There also is speculation that defencemen Josh Caron, 19, and Brandon Underwood, 18, centre Chase Schaber, 19, and right-winger Jordan DePape, 18, could be drafted.
“NHL teams have contacted (head coach Guy Charron) or me about those guys,” Bonner says. “We have a lot of those guys who are in that (later-round) category.”

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Monday . . .

The Chilliwack Bruins continued to build their front-office staff Monday with a couple of additions. . . . Dallas Gaume, who left Red Deer after nine seasons on the Rebels’ coaching staff, is the Bruins’ new director of WHL scouting for the Central Division. . . . Marc Habscheid, the Bruins’ GM and head coach, also announced the hiring of assistant coach Enio Sacilotto. According to a press release: “Sacilotto, who specializes in video analysis, practice planning, drill design and practice execution, has spent the last several years coaching in Europe including stints in Denmark, Norway and Switzerland.”
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The Saskatoon Blades have signed D Ayrton Nikkel, a second-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. Nikkel, who will turn 15 on Aug. 30, played last season with the bantam AAA Kelowna Rockets, putting up 16 points and 64 penalty minutes in 25 games.
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A regular reader from Leduc, Alta., the home of the 2012 Telus Cup, writes with the name of another player who went from the WHL to an NCAA school. . . . Tim Hack played two seasons (1978-80) with the Saskatoon Blades and then went on to play four seasons at Bowling Green University.
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Dennis McNish, a Brandon resident who scouts for the Wheat Kings, is the new head coach of the Central Plains Capitals, who play in the Manitoba midget AAA league. McNish has coached at various levels of Brandon minor hockey and also as an assistant coach with the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives. The Capitals play out of Portage la Prairie.
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Looking for an interesting read? Check this out right here. It’s by well-known writer Robert Lipsyte and was written for Father’s Day. Just don’t be looking for something that is too sentimental.

Mondays with Murray

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1988, SPORTS
Copyright 1988/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY
For Celtics, Time Has Also Marched On

It happened to Dempsey in the rain at Philadelphia. It happened to the old Yankees when Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio all went. It happened to Joe Louis, Ali, the Green Bay Packers. It happened to empires, corporations, even civilizations, if it comes to that.
   It happens to any elite force if it waits long enough.
   It may have finally happened to the Boston Celtics.
   The Celtics, like the New York Yankees, Notre Dame, Lombardi's Packers or Custer's cavalry, seemed as indestructible a force as the land provided. It was not a team, it was a dynasty. It seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of gifted players who came out of a clogged pipeline. Cousy and Russell went — and Havlicek and Cowens came. Havlicek and Cowens went — and Larry Bird and Dennis Johnson came.
   Red Auerbach, the general manager, it seemed, just had to rub the lamp and another genie popped out — and another banner went up in the rafters of Boston Garden. There are already so many there — 16 — you can't see the ceiling.
   But, is the dance over for the Celtics? Has the music stopped, the balloons come down? Are they yesterday's champions? Are faded banners all they have left?
   They can't beat the Lakers any more. It's become a mismatch. Dempsey fighting his chauffeur, Louis against a bum-of-the-month.
   The question has been asked and answered, who's best? And the answer is, the Lakers.
   Consider Sunday's match between the once-torrid rivals. The Lakers, almost contemptuously, opened a 20-point lead at the half. Then, the Celtics, calling on Lord knows what reserves of remembered pride and effort, turned the third quarter into an old-time Celtic rout and outscored the Lakers, 36-12, to retake the lead.
   But, we're not talking about 12-minute basketball, or half-court basketball or slow-break basketball. We're talking the full-time, full-blown, full-court game. If the game goes 48 minutes, the Lakers win. They had a fourth quarter in which they outscored Celtics, 31-11, at one time before the coach called off the first team.
   The Celtics, in the locker-room later, were a pretty chastened bunch. They seemed to have accepted the inevitable. "They're better," conceded Larry Bird. "They're better," admitted the coach, K.C. Jones. "They're better," echoed the point guard, Danny Ainge, who broke the single-season three-point record in the game but finished 22 points behind the man he was guarding, Byron Scott.
   It's no longer one of the great match-ups of sport. It's a rerun. It's a movie you've seen before. The guys in yellow-and-purple win.
   What has happened? It wasn't always this way. It was not so many years ago the ball was in the other court. The Lakers had some pretty good players. But the Celtics had the pivotal ones. The Lakers never had the big-man-in-the-pivot. All the Elgin Baylors, Jerry Wests and Gail Goodriches in the world couldn't save them. Bill Russell managed to stuff the ball in their faces.
   You need two things to win consistently in this league: the big man in the pivot and you need a guy whose nickname is "Magic" (or Mr. Clutch, or Big O) to bring the ball up court for him.
   You have to think Sunday's game was a watershed game for Boston. They were like a retreating army which marshals itself for one last, all-out, magnificent charge to change the conduct of the war.
   They were a light brigade, all right. For 12 brilliant minutes, the Celtic flame flared. Then, the Lakers methodically doused it with cold water. Their message was clear: this game is ours. We own it.
   The Celtics can probably beat the Houston Rockets, if it comes to that. They can handle Detroit, Chicago. But they don't beat the Lakers.
   The Celtics came to the Forum Sunday on a roll. They had just marched through Texas like men on horseback. Larry Bird was playing the best basketball of his career, flipping in 122 points in 125 minutes, averaging 40.7 points a game, burying 56 straight free throws. He was in the best shape of his life. He even had a hair cut and the word out of Boston was, the Bird was sick and tired of losing to Los Angeles.
   The Celtics gave it their best shots. They got off the floor to carry the fight to their opponents which is the mark of a great fighter.
   It wasn't enough. They even caught the Lakers in the bemused, self-congratulatory mood of a guy who thinks this is going to be easier than he thought. They even managed to get in a few sucker punches until the Lakers seemed to wake up and say "Oh? You want to fight, do you? Try this!"
   So, a great rivalry has been turned into a Punch-and-Judy show. A melodrama turns into a sitcom. The Celtics are the straight men. Their role, in effect, is to say "No, how hot was it?" Five Ed McMahons.
   The bench is the difference, the coaches agree. The Celtics have five good men, the Lakers have eight.  Lakers coach Pat Riley says he has more than that: "I can use (Michael) Cooper to play three positions - point guard, off guard, small forward. I can use Mychal Thompson to play two - center and power forward. So, I have five options with two players." O.K . . . so, it's 12-5.
   Celtics coach K.C. Jones dances with the guys that brung him. His options stop when any one of his front five has to leave the floor. For Boston, the bench doesn't work.
   The differences may be subtler. Does Magic Johnson's legerdemain prop up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar so he can play effectively long after his allotted time? Or does Kareem's dominating presence free up Magic to do all the other-worldly things he manages to do on a basketball court? Would Bird, on a court with Kareem, be all-world and NBA champion again? Would Magic on the Celtics prove that five men were enough provided he was one of the five?
   Since we'll never find out, we're stuck with the present reality that the Celtics are yesterday's roses and the one-time battle of the century is becoming just an exhibition as foregone as a Hulk Hogan wrestling match or a crap game in a hat.
 
Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times.

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 995 | La Quinta | CA | 92247

Saturday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Dale Mahovsky (Kootenay, 2000-06) signed a one-year contract with Newcastle Vipers (UK Elite). He had nine goals and nine assists in 28 games for the University of Alberta (CIS) last season.
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Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports has more on the CHL-NCAA war of words right here. . . .
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Sager also provided a link to a good piece about the OHL and education that was written by Jeff Hicks of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in December 2009. Give it a look right here.
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The CHL-NCAA thing -- or NCAA-CHL thing, if you prefer -- isn’t going to go away any time soon.
But let’s be honest . . . there are enough flaws in both systems to go around. But they are what they are and both parties need to learn to work better together with what’s there.
Hicks’ piece from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record gets down to the nitty-gritty with the CHL’s education program.
Yes, the CHL blows its own horn a little too hard when it comes to its pronouncements on how many of its former players are on ‘scholarship’ and how many present players are furthering their education.
Yes, there are players who end up with little or even nothing out of the program, either because they don’t pursue an education or they go on to pro hockey.
And, yes, there are players who end up using the program as a stepping stone to medical school (hello, there, Blair St. Martin) or law school (hey, Larry Korchinski).
And there are a whole lot of players in the middle.
I would suggest the same holds true for those players choosing to attend NCAA schools. Some finish. Some don’t. It’s right for some players; it isn’t for others.
The bottom line, as Todd Bertuzzi might put it: It is what it is.
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The NCAA, however, appears to have one problem that the CHL seems to have eliminated. That involves one team taking a committed player away from another team.
Surf on over to westerncollegehockeyblog.com for a piece on a player who had said he was going to attend Dartmouth, an Ivy League school, but somehow ended up changing his mind and committing to Wisconsin.
That piece is right here.
I’m thinking that the NCAA should allow trades. That way Dartmouth at least could have gotten a dozen composite sticks and some pucks from Wisconsin. Or maybe even a bus. (You may recall that a WHL player named Tom Martin once was traded by the Seattle Breakers to the Victoria Cougars for a bus. You may even recall that Martin once played at the U of Denver.)

Keeping Score

While the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup was being played out in Brandon, with its population of around 45,000, no one was paying closer attention than the owners of the Kamloops Blazers. That’s because the ownership group, headed up by Tom Gaglardi, hopes to be in the running as potential hosts of the 2016 event. . . . Kamloops last played host to the tournament in 1995, when the Blazers won it all for the third time in four years. . . . It was shortly after that when the organization was taken in a different direction and, well, we all know how that went, don’t we? . . . If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck. Right? So, yes, Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Blazers, is in the hunt to buy the NHL’s Dallas Stars. . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: “Report: Pac-10 has 11, Big Ten 12, Big 12 10” . . .

Tommy Lasorda, the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, is a spokesman for Strike Out Prostate Cancer. When asked why his role doesn’t include rectal exams, he replied: “I’ve got too many rings.” . . . Yes, that was Jamie-Lynn Sigler on the arm of New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez at the Tony Awards earlier in the week. Yes, she has grown up a lot since she played Tony Soprano’s daughter. . . . How bitter is the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and L.A. Lakers? “There was a time,” former Celtics forward Cedric (Cornbread) Maxwell told the L.A. Times, “if I saw a Laker on fire and I was holding a glass of water, I’d drink the water.” . . . The just-completed NBA final was about an ugly seven-game series as you will witness. . . . Gotta wonder how fans at Kamloops Blazers games are going to react the first time someone in the crowd starts blowing on a vuvuzela. . . .

Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “(Florida) Panthers games are set to return to WQAM. You thought the puck was hard to see in person? Try hockey on the radio!” . . . John Suomi, a catcher who played for the University College of the Cariboo Sun Demons, is one step closer to the major leagues. Suomi, who was a 22nd-round selection by the Oakland A’s in the 2000 amateur draft, now is with the Philadelphia Phillies and, earlier this week, they moved him up from Double-A Reading to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. . . . Meanwhile, outfielder Tyson Gillies returned from the disabled list in Reading this week and hopes his hamstring problems are behind him. . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “It now comes out that despite all the penalties from the NCAA, USC still gets to keep its 2004 national championship, and I’m sure you’re as relieved about that as I am. Pete Carroll, who escaped from L.A. one step ahead of the law, now wants us to believe he knew none of this was going on. So sometimes he was a legendary USC coach and sometimes he was Inspector Clouseau.” . . .

It was only an exhibition game, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who coughed up the 2009 Grey Cup game, had two touchdowns called back by penalties in that 19-17 loss to the B.C. Lions on Sunday in Regina. And you know what the critics were saying, don’t you? Such will be life with the green guys this season. . . . The Roughriders are going to pay tribute to their past (1912-47) by wearing red and black jerseys for a July 17 game. Can you say cash grab? . . . Yes, the jerseys — a limited number, of course — are available at $199.99 each. . . .

If you weren’t aware, you are now: Stan Bowman, the GM of the Chicago Blackhawks, was named after the Stanley Cup, which his club won last week for the first time in 49 years. While that was his first Stanley Cup victory, it was his father’s 12th. Scotty has nine titles as a head coach, one as a player personnel director (Pittsburgh Penguins), one as a special consultant (Detroit Red Wings) and this one as a senior adviser for hockey operations. . . . If you zip over to Grandstand Sports and Memorabilia Inc., at grandstandsports.com, you may purchase a Stephen Strasburg-autographed baseball for US$359. . . . At that price, you would think that the kid already is in baseball’s Hall of Fame. . . . If you haven’t been watching Treme, the latest treat from HBO, you’re cheating yourself. . . .

I don’t know how much Ray Chadwick is getting paid as the head coach of the TRU WolfPack baseball team, but John Anderson, who has coached the U of Minnesota Gophers baseball team for 29 years, just took a 1.15-percent pay cut on his US$139,000 salary. . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: “Anderson Varejao reportedly not calling the shots in Cavaliers coaching search.” . . . You see that guy over there swatting at bugs? Actually, there aren’t any bugs. He’s been watching too much World Cup soccer. . . . Winger Mark Recchi, the pride of Kamloops, almost certainly will celebrate his 43rd birthday on Feb. 1 while playing one more NHL season. His agent, Ritch Winter, has had some talks with the Boston Bruins. . . .

Rick Reilly, at ESPN.com: “No wonder the English goalkeeper allowed that easy shot to give America a 1-1 tie in the Group C opener. You couldn’t stop a beach ball with those big goofy things. What, is Hamburger Helper a sponsor? Why must they be so huge? Doesn’t Roger Rabbit need them back? And where do the batteries go? How are goalkeepers expected to hang on to the ball with them on? And is it difficult to play goalie while also taking things out of the oven?” . . . ESPN’s Bill Simmons, live blogging during Game 7 of the NBA final: “Just talked to someone who paid 30K per ticket for courtsides. The NBA . . . it’s fantastic!”

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. Email him at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, or visit his blog at gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.

More from Friday . . .

Former G Corey Hirsch (Kamloops, 1988-92) is the new goaltending coach with the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. Hirsch will join the Blues effective July 1 and will work with the goaltenders in St. Louis and with the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen, as well as the Blues’ prospects. Hirsh, 37, has been working with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He also was with Hockey Canada as a goaltending consultant when the national junior team won the 2007 and 2008 world junior championships.
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The Vancouver Giants have acquired F Matt MacKay from the Medicine Hat Tigers for a 2011 fourth-round bantam draft pick. MacKay, who turns 20 on Nov. 27, had 52 points last season. The Tigers acquired him from the Moose Jaw Warriors early in the season. . . . He is the son of Mark MacKay, who is the only player ever to be named the WHL’s rookie of the year as a 20-year-old. He was the WHL’s top rookie for the 1984-85 season.
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There is an interesting story on the IIHF website dealing with the number of European players in the NHL. It seems that many of the numbers are down and that Sweden has supplanted Czech Republic as the No. 1 supplier of European talent to the NHL. It will be interesting to see if more Swedish players make their way to CHL teams. . . . That IIHF story is right here.

Friday . . . early

As he did at the MasterCard Memorial Cup in Brandon, WHL commissioner Ron Robison again has fired back at Paul Kelly and College Hockey Inc. This time, Robison has done it in an interview with Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. That story is right here. . . . It was Robison who sat in front of the assembled media in Brandon and blasted away at Kelly, who runs College Hockey Inc., and, as such, has taken numerous shots at the CHL over its recruiting of young players. And now it’s Robison who again is blasting away. It is interesting that he seems to have become the CHL’s front man on what has become a rather large issue.
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Derek Laxdal is the new head coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings. Laxdal, 44, was named to the post on Friday. He has spent the last five years with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads. Laxdal is a former WHL player (Portland, Brandon, New Westminster, 1982-86) whose pro career included 67 NHL games split between the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders. . . . He replaces Steve Pleau, who was fired following last season. . . . The Edmonton hiring leaves the Kootenay Ice and Spokane Chiefs as WHL teams without head coaches.
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Del Wilson, one of legends from the WHL’s past, will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday. Yes, you are free to ask why took so long! . . . If you want to gain a little insight into Wilson, check out this story right here.
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The AJHL’s Calgary Royals are no more. Now they are the Calgary Mustangs. The team’s board of directors apparently had it down to Cowboys, Mustangs and Spurs before making a final decision. Oh yes, there also is a three-year sponsorship in place with Maclin Ford in Calgary.

Thursday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Dwayne Newman (Brandon, Victoria, 1987-92) signed a one-year contract extension with the Peterborough Phantoms (England Premier). He had no goals and 11 assists in 54 games last season. Next season will be Newman's 15th season in England. . . .
F Alex Leavitt (Swift Current, Everett, 2003-05) signed a one-year contract with the Ravensburg Towerstars (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had 10 goals and 29 assists in 54 games for the Kassel Huskies (Germany DEL) last season. . . .
F Adam Hobson (Spokane, 2002-07) signed a one-year contract with Rögle Ängelholm (Sweden Allsvenskan). He had two goals and four assists in 31 games for the Rockford IceHogs (AHL) and 18 goals and 26 assists in 39 games for the Toledo Walleye (ECHL) last season. Hobson holds dual Swedish and Canadian citizenship.
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The list of players who performed in the WHL before moving on to the NCAA continues to grow . . .
F Jim Hiller, now the head coach of the Tri-City Americans, played three games with the Prince Albert Raiders in 1986-87 and later played three seasons (1989-1992) at Northern Michigan. . . .
G Sean Matile played seven games with the Tri-City Americans in 1992-93 and three with the Kamloops Blazers in 1993-94. He later spent three seasons (1996-98) at the U of New Hampshire. . . .
F Mike Blaisdell played six games with the Regina Pats in 1977-78 before journeying on to the U of Wisconsin for the next season (1978-79). He played 20 games with the Badgers, but was back with the Pats for 1979-80. . . .
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Steve Nash — yes, that Steve Nash — is going to be one of the stars before this World Cup is over.
He is reporting for CBSSports.com. You should hunt up the video of him in the cardboard box on the way to South Africa. It is absolutely hilarious.
His best line: “If I were a college basketball player, there’s no way they’d treat me like this.”
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F Chris Francis, who played out his eligibility with the Portland Winterhawks last season, has signed with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons, who are affiliated with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. A native of Las Vegas — and how many natives of Sin City go on to pro hockey? — Francis had 82 points in 72 games with Portland last season.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed Trevor Weisgerber as their new assistant coach. He replaces Kevin Higo, whose contract wasn’t renewed. . . . Weisgerber spent last season as an assistant coach with the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers.
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F Ian Schultz of the Calgary Hitmen found himself included in an NHL deal on Thursday as the Montreal Canadiens dealt G Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues. Schultz’s reaction is right here.
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Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review reports that the Spokane Chiefs, who are in need of a head coach, have interviewed Steve Pleau. Pleau, a former Chiefs assistant coach, was fired as head coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings after last season. Trimmer’s story is right here.
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Greg Puhalski is the new head coach of the Waterloo, Ont.,-based Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks men’s hockey team. He also will be the manager of hockey operations. Puhalski, who attended Wilfrid Laurier, is the Golden Hawks’ career scoring leader. Of late, he has been coaching the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers. All told, he has 16 years of coaching experience. . . . Puhalski replaces Kelly Nobes who left the Golden Hawks after last season. He now is the head coach at his alma mater, McGill University in Montreal.
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Former WHLer Greg Stamler is the new head coach of the midget AAA Schwab GM Oil Kings in Leduc, Alta. Stamler took last season off after coaching the Oil Kings for four seasons. He split 24 WHL games between the Calgary Centennials, Billings Bighorns and Calgary Wranglers from 1976-80.

Wednesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Petr Stoklasa (Tri-City, 2007-09) signed a one-year contract with Kiekko-Laser Oulu (Finland Mestis). He had 11 goals and 13 assists in 25 games for HC 46 Bardejov (Slovakia 1.Liga) last season. . . .
F Johannes Salmonsson (Spokane, 2005-06) signed a one-year contract with AIK Stockholm (Sweden Elitserien). He had seven goals and nine assists in 29 games split between Davos (Switzerland NL A) and Biel (Switzerland NL A).
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The WHL’s annual meeting wrapped up Wednesday in Calgary.
We can only assume that not much of any importance to fans was discussed.
How do we know that?
Because the WHL issued a three-paragraph press release Wednesday to signal the end of the meeting. The first two paragraphs dealt with an Alumni Association golf tournament.
The third and final paragraph read:
“The WHL Annual General Meeting was held on June 15th and 16th at the Calgary Marriott Hotel. The WHL Board of Governors consists of the owner/representative of the 22 WHL Member franchises. Governor and General Manager of the Kelowna Rockets Bruce Hamilton was re-elected as the WHL Chairman of the Board for another two year period.”
That’s it folks.
No update on a 2010-11 schedule (the OHL and QMJHL have both released their schedules). Nothing on possible rule changes. Nothing on officiating. Nothing on the summer summit. Nada.
Unfortunately, the WHL missed another glorious opportunity to create some news, but it just doesn’t seem to understand the number of fans who are out there and are thirsting for information.
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Thankfully, Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post takes a look at what happened at the meeting in Calgary and he does so right here.
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I can tell you that the Eastern Conference will hold its scheduling meeting in Saskatoon on Monday (June 21). . . . The Western Conference teams will gather in Kelowna sometime during the last week in July.
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Mike Yeo is the new head coach of the Houston Aeros, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. Yeo spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. He is no stranger to Houston, having played five seasons with the Aeros (1994-99); he captained the Aeros when they won the IHL’s Turner Cup in 1999. Yeo replaces Kevin Constantine, who was fired following the season. Constantine was the Aeros’ head coach for three seasons after leaving the WHL’s Everett Silvertips.
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The Syracuse Crunch has re-signed Jon (Nasty) Mirasty, 28, who will be starting his fourth season with the AHL team, an affiliate of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. In three seasons, he has played 166 games, scoring a goal and adding six assists, and totalling 677 penalty minutes. He is third, behind Jeremy Reich and Brandon Sugden, on the Crunch’s list of all-time penalty-minute leaders. Mirasty played in the WHL with the Tri-City Americans and Moose Jaw Warriors (2000-02). . . . From 2003-07, he played with Bakersfield (ECHL), Greenville (ECHL), Sorel-Tracy (LNAH) and Danbury (UHL). In 184 games with those teams, he had nine goals, 23 assists and 1,406 penalty minutes.
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And now here are the names of three more players who skated in the WHL and then moved onto NCAA schools.
Ken Berry and Glenn Anderson both played with the New Westminster Bruins in 1977-78. Anderson appeared in one game, with Berry appearing in five, plus six more in the playoffs. They both played at the University of Denver the following season.
That information arrived from Bill O’Donovan, the news anchor at CFJC-TV in Kamloops and the public address voice of the Blazers.
Moments later he sent another email . . .
“Just after sending you Glenn Anderson and Ken Berry's names — Glenn Merkosky's name popped into my head. I checked it out and according to hockeydb, the Kamloops native played five games with the Chiefs in their last season here (1976-77) and then six games the next season with the transplanted Chiefs in Seattle (Breakers). The next season, he played at Michigan Tech.”
After one season at Michigan Tech, Merkosky returned to the WHL, this time with the Calgary Wranglers. . . . He now is a pro scout with the Detroit Red Wings.