Tuesday . . .

The WHL exhibition schedule opens Wednesday night with the Swift Current Broncos meeting the host Moose Jaw Warriors in the Civic Centre (aka the Crushed Can). . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that the Moose Jaw G Brandon Glover, 18, will be the oldest player in the Warriors’ lineup. F Joey Kornelsen is the only other veteran expected to be dressed for the home side.
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The OHL’s Kitchener Rangers have announced a healthy profit from last season’s operations. Jeff Hicks of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record has the story right here. Of particular interest is how much a three-round playoff run was worth to the bottom line. Check it out.
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Myles Stoesz, hockey enforcer, is leading the good life and Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress has the story right here. It’s a good one.
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City council in Lethbridge has given the OK to spending $1.2 million on a new video score clock. It should be in place when the renovations are completed in the Enmax Centre for next season. The vote, by the way, was 8-0 in favour of the new gizmo. . . . The cost of the clock is over and above the $33.7-million budget for renovations. . . . Having a new first-rate video scoreboard won’t hurt the Hurricanes’ chances of landing the 2013 Memorial Cup. . . . The Lethbridge Herald reports: “The $1.2-million price tag includes $525,000 for the scoreboard itself, $516,000 for video production facilities and about $175,000 for installation, design and consultation costs.”
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Single-game tickets for the Jan. 15 outdoor game in Spokane — the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic — go on sale Wednesday morning (Sept. 1) at 9 o’clock. Tickets are available at the Chiefs’ office or through all TicketsWest Outlets. More than 2,000 tickets were bought by season-ticket holders in the two weeks after the game was announced. . . . The Chiefs will play the Kootenay Ice in Avista Stadium on Jan. 15.
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Michael Zucker, who did a stint as a volunteer video coach with the Everett Silvertips, has signed on as an assistant with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. Zucker spent the last two seasons on staff with the U of Denver Pioneers. He helped the Silvertips for three seasons before going to Denver. In Omaha, he will work alongside head coach Bliss Littler.
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The Vancouver Giants have signed D Dalton Reum, 18, who played last sason with the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder. The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder had eight points and 108 penalty minutes in 51 games. He is from Camrose, Alta.

Blazers, Giants headed to Whitehorse

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers are poised to announce this morning that they will play a February home game in an arena that is a 2,164-kilometre drive from the Interior Savings Centre.
The Daily News learned Tuesday afternoon that the WHL and the Blazers will announce today that Kamloops and the Vancouver Giants will play in Whitehorse on Feb. 12. The game will be televised on CBC as part of the 11th annual edition of Hockey Day In Canada.
The Blazers and Giants had been scheduled to play that night in the Interior Savings Centre. That was to have been the Giants’ fourth and final visit of the season to Kamloops.
The Feb. 12 game will be featured on CBC. The day’s schedule also is to include three NHL games — the Ottawa Senators at the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Montreal Canadiens, and the Calgary Flames at the Vancouver Canucks.
Ron MacLean and Don Cherry, regulars on Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday NHL telecasts, will co-host the more than 13 hours of TV coverage that is planned from Whitehorse.
The last time Hockey Day In Canada was held in the north was 2003 when Iqaluit, Nunavut, was the host community.
Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory, has a population of 26,418 and has played host to a number of prominent events, including the 2007 Canada Summer Games and the 2008 junior men’s world fastball championship.
The WHL has never played games in Whitehorse, but the Kootenay Ice and Lethbridge Hurricanes played two exhibition games in Yellowknife, NWT, on Sept. 16 and 17, 2005.
The Creston ThunderCats and Fernie Ghostriders of the junior B Kootenay International junior league played two games in Whitehorse last season on Jan. 19 and 20.
While the Blazers were making plans for that announcement, their 2010 training camp was wrapping up with the annual Blue-White game at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.
This marked the end of head coach Guy Charron’s first training camp with the Blazers and he hasn’t been at all disappointed with what he has seen.
“I think it’s very encouraging,” Charron said. “I’m not disappointed at this point. From the first day, when the kids showed up for testing, there was some enthusiasm. The testing shows that the majority of them were committed to some fitness over the summer.
“The on-ice sessions have gone as well as I expected. I see some leadership developing within the team.”
Charron, who took over as the Blazers’ head coach on Nov. 23, is a practice coach and has especially enjoyed working with the younger players who were in camp.
“I believe we have great, young prospects,” he said. “People in Kamloops are going to get an opportunity to see some really good hockey players now and in the future.”
With training camp over, the Blazers will settle into a routine of practices, broken up by six exhibition games, as they prepare for the regular season.
“That is something I put a lot of emphasis on,” Charron said of practices. “This is where the kids get to learn. This is my time.
“I want them to focus. I want them to work hard. I’m a big believer that you play like you practise. If we practise hard, there’s a good chance we’re going to perform the same way. If we don’t, we can expect good and bad performances.”
The Blazers are to play their first exhibition game on Friday against the Chilliwack Bruins in Chase. Charron said there are a few things he and his staff are working towards.
“There are certain things that we’re trying to do a little bit different than last season,” he explained. “With the defence we have, I believe we can be a bit more involved on the attack. In saying that, I don’t want our team to totally concentrate on offence and not be a good defensive team.”
The Blazers went into last night’s game with 41 players on their roster, and were down to 29 shortly afterwards as they reassigned a number of prospects, including seven 1995-born players. Charron said that it’s too early to be judging whether any veteran players are on the bubble.
“There are players I haven’t been totally pleased with in training camp and, all of a sudden, tonight they’re putting points on the board,” he said. “To me, playing exhibition games will give an indication of which players are willing to pay the price to play for the Kamloops Blazers.”
Team Blue erased a 7-5 third-period deficit and beat Team White 10-8 in the intrasquad game.
Forward Rhyse Dieno, who was scoreless in 16 games last season, scored four times, including twice in the third period. Forward Mike Needham, the Blazers’ first pick in the 2010 bantam draft, also had two third-period goals, and he set up another.
Defencemen Austin Madaisky, Brady Gaudet and Josh Caron, along with forward Dylan Willick, also scored for the winners.
Defenceman Corey Fienhage and forward Brendan Ranford each had two goals and an assist for Team White, which also got goals from forwards Chase Souto, Jordan DePape, Cole Ully and Jake Trask.
JUST NOTES: After playing in Chase on Friday — game time is 7 p.m. — the Blazers and Bruins are to do it all over again Saturday in Mission. . . . Major Dave Andersen, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) arrived in town last night. He works with Boot Camp Hockey and spent a few days working with the Blazers a year ago. He’ll be here through Saturday, then the Blazers will spend Sunday doing some team-building work near Revelstoke.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
TRAINING CAMP ROSTER
(as of Wednesday, Sept. 1)
(Year of birth in parentheses)
(x — denotes veteran)
GOAL (3)
x-Jon Groenheyde (91), South Surrey; Taran Kozun (94), Nipawin, Sask.; Troy Trombley (94), Sherwood Park, Alta.
DEFENCE (10)
x-Josh Caron (91), Campbell River; Landon Cross (94), Brandon; Corey Fienhage (90), Apple Valley, Minn.; Brady Gaudet (94), Redvers, Sask.; x-Tyler Hansen (93), Magrath, Alta.; x-Austin Madaisky (92), Surrey; x-Bronson Maschmeyer (91), Bruderheim, Alta.; Max Mowat (93), Coldstream; x-Linden Saip (91), Delta; x-Brandon Underwood (92), Carlsbad, Calif.
FORWARDS (16)
x-JT Barnett (92), Scottsdale, Ariz.; x-Dalibor Bortnak (91), Presov, Slovakia; x-Jordan DePape (92), Winnipeg; x-Rhyse Dieno (93), Saskatoon; x-Ryan Hanes (92), Kamloops; Bernhard Keil (92), Amberg, Germany; x-JC Lipon (93), Regina; Lyndon Martell (93), Prince George; Logan McVeigh (94), Kenaston, Sask.; x-Brendan Ranford (92), Edmonton; x-Chase Schaber (91), Red Deer; x-Colin Smith (93), Edmonton; Chase Souto (94), Yorba Linda, Calif.; Aspen Sterzer (94), Canal Flats; x-Jake Trask (91), Saskatoon; x-Dylan Willick, (92), Prince George.

Monday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
Firstly, a note in response to a comment on yesterday’s posting . . .
Oops! Your poster is correct. Geleen is named after the Trail Smoke Eaters and the name is Smoke Eaters Geleen. They did go by Meat Eaters for a brief period in the early ’90s (a sponsorship tie-in with Meet Point Entertainment as their main sponsor) and I guess I still have that stuck in my head. They are currently known officially as Ruijters Eaters Geleen — their main sponsor is Ruijters, a Dutch real estate and financial services firm — but they use Smoke Eaters everywhere. . . .
As for Monday’s moves . . .
Medvescak Zagreb officially announced the Wacey Rabbit signing Monday morning. Rabbit (Saskatoon, Vancouver, 2001-07) signed a one-year contract with Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had eight goals and 10 assists in 76 games for Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) last season. . . .
D Perry Johnson (Regina, Spokane, 1993-98) signed a one-year contract With Milano Rossoblu (Italy Serie A2). He had four goals and six assists in 33 games for Mörrum (Sweden Division 1) last season. . . .
D Paul Albers (Calgary, Regina, Vancouver, 2001-06) signed a one-year contract with the Krefeld Pinguine (Germany DEL) after a successful try-out. He had three goals and 10 assists in 49 games for Nuremberg Ice Tigers (Germany DEL) last season.
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Steve Oursov is back in camp with the Red Deer Rebels. In February 2009, Oursov came out of a fight with F Charles Inglis of the Saskatoon Blades with a bad concussion. Eleven months later, he joined the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters but now admits he wasn’t “feeling great.” . . . Now, he tells Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate, “I started feeling better later in the spring and started training hard. I took it step by step and got better and better every single day. I feel good now. I’m cleared up and I’m feeling great out there. I’m just working my hardest and hopefully it will pay off.” . . . Oursov also said: “I’m here now and I consider myself fortunate. A year ago I weighed 165 pounds and I couldn’t lift a dumb-bell. Now I’m feeling great. Thank God. There’s nothing more important than your health.” . . . The complete story is right here.
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The Tri-City Americans have added former WHL F Chad Kletzel to their scouting staff. Kletzel (Edmonton Ice, Lethbridge, 1996-99) will handle southern Alberta, mostly in the Lethbridge area. After playing in the WHL, Kletzel, who is from Indus, Alta., played four seasons for the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed a pair of 17-year-old forwards — Matt Grant of Ladysmith, B.C., and Sam Fioretti of Calgary. . . . Grant had 45 points with the Comox, B.C., Glacier Kings of the junior B Vancouver Island league last season. Fioretti had 21 points in 24 games with the midget Calgary Buffaloes. . . . The Warriors also announced that goaltending coach Dave Marcoux is returning for a second season. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moosse Jaw Times-Herald has more right here.
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Bruce Luebke, the play-by-play voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings on radio station CKLQ, takes a look at the club’s prospects right here. The Wheat Kings open training camp with registration Tuesday.
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The Regina Pats think they’ve got a blue-chip prospect in Alec McCrea, a 15-year-old California. Now all they have to do is get him to commit to playing in the WHL. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has that story right here.
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After more than 20 years on the NHL beat, Elliott Pap now is writing about the Vancouver Giants for the Vancouver Sun. Today, he has a look at veteran F Craig Cunningham, who will be the Giants’ captain . . . unless he earns a contract with the Boston Bruins, who took him in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL draft. That story is right here. (By the way, Giants fans are the real winners here because Papp knows the way around the rink and his fingers know their way around a keyboard. Enjoy!)
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The Kelowna Rockets have both their import players in camp. Warren Henderson of the Capital News takes a look at Norwegian F Andreas Stene and Slovenian F Gal Koren, and how the Rockets plan to be patient with them, right here.
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Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix does a regular feature in which he interviews someone of note. Last week, he chatted up Saskatoon Blades F Curt Gogol and the results are right here.
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It turns out that F Tristan King, 20, isn’t in camp with the Medicine Hat Tigers, who have lost F Taylor Gal to the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns. . . . The 20-year-olds in Medicine Hat’s camp are D Thomas Carr, D Jace Coyle, F Joey Frazer and F Wacey Hamilton. . . . Coyle has signed with the NHL’s Dallas Stars, while Hamilton has a free-agent tryout deal with the Colorado Avalanche.
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G Brant Hilton (Prince Albert, Swift Current, 2003-06) has signed with the Central league’s Mississippi RiverKings. Hilton, from Winnipeg,, played the last three seasons with the U of Regina Cougars.
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Yes-s-s-s-s! It’s time for the latest episode of . . . BLOG WARS!!!!
If you are familiar with the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption (PTI), you are aware that co-hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon frequently play games such as Toss Up and Odds Makers.
And at the end of such games, the one-sided conversation invariably goes like this:
KORNHEISER: That’s it. The game’s over. And I win. Again.
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Well, folks, BLOG WARS is over . . . and I win!
Hope you enjoyed it. And thanks for the 4,000,001 emails of support.

Cuglietta makes impact with hometown club

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
No one in all of Kamloops is wearing a bigger smile these days than Diego Cuglietta.
That’s because the Kamloops Blazers’ training camp is into its fifth day and Cuglietta, a Kamloops native, is still around.
In fact, he will suit up for Team Blue tonight in the Blazers’ annual Blue-White intrasquad game at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre. He will be one of seven 15-year-olds in the game, but the only one who is a WHL free agent.
“He came in here and never took a shift off,” Matt Recchi, the Blazers’ director of player personnel, said Monday night as he watched Team Blue drop Cuglietta’s Team Orange, 11-4, in a scrimmage. “He’s got a good skill set and work ethic. He’s strong on the puck below the goal line and relentless on the forecheck.”
That kind of performance was enough to force the Blazers to keep Cuglietta around.
“I try to play every shift like it’s my last,” the 5-foot-9, 156-pound Cuglietta said. “I want to work hard out there all the time.”
When Cuglietta took to the ice Friday with all the other rookies, he had no idea that he would still be around come Tuesday night. But that’s how it has worked out.
“My goal was just to make main camp,” he said with a grin. “I have exceeded that goal and I’m pretty proud of that.”
Not that it has been easy. With 90 points in 46 games, he was the leading scorer with the bantam AAA Jardine’s Blazers last season. He admitted that these last few days have been “challenging.”
“It’s beey very good . . . a very good camp,” said Cuglietta, who will play this season for the Chase-based major midget Thompson Valley Blazers. “We’re playing hard out there. But it’s a very high tempo. It’s challenging, but once you get used to it, it’s OK.”
Asked about the difference between rookie and main camps, he replied: “I have to say the speed is a lot higher . . . passes are much crisper. It’s high-tempo hockey when you’re playing with the Blazers.”
The look on his face and the glint in his eyes told you how much playing for his hometown team, even if it’s still training camp, means to this kid.
“It’s exciting just to be here,” he said. “Making main camp and then being on the Blue team . . . I can’t ask for anything better.”
His game plan for tonight, he said, is to “just work hard every second of every shift . . . play my hardest out there and see what happens.”
The other 1995-born players who will be in action tonight are five 2010 bantam draft picks — forwards Matt Needham of Penticton and Cole Ully of Calgary, defencemen Tyson Harvey of Nanaimo and Josh Connolly of Prince George, and goaltender Braden Krogfoss of Cloverdale.
Devin Oakes of Prince Rupert, a 15-year-old forward who goes 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds and is on the Blazers’ list, also will play.
From a blended family, Cuglietta will have some supporters in the crowd tonight.
“It’s great!” he said of playing before family. “When they’re watching you play, you try to play even better.”
If you’re at the game tonight, watch for No. 11 on Team Blue. He’ll be easy to spot. He’ll be the guy who plays each shift as though it’s his last one.
His name is Cuglietta and he’s a local boy.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers reassigned 17 players after last night’s scrimmage and now are down to 41 players. . . . Former Blazers captain Ajay Baines will join assistant coach Scott Ferguson on the bench with Team White for tonight's Blue and White game. Assistant coach Geoff Smith and goaltending coach Dan De Palma will run Team Blue's bench. Tickets are $5. Game time, at McArthur Island, is 7 p.m. . . . Tyler Forsythe, the head coach of the major midget Blazers, has been helping head coach Guy Charron and his staff during camp. . . . In yesterday’s scrimmages, F Brendan Ranford had two goals and two assists to lead Team Orange to a 5-4 victory over Team White in the morning. In the evening game, F Chase Souto enjoyed his second three-goal game in two nights to help Team Blue beat Team Orange, 11-4. . . . Scores, scorers and goaltenders from yesterday’s two scrimmages are in Scoreboard. . . . Kamloops plays its first preseason game Friday, 7 p.m., in Chase. The Chilliwack Bruins will provide the opposition. . . . F Shane Danyluk of Kamloops, a 16-year-old in camp with the Prince Albert Raiders, is out indefinitely after spraining his left ankle in a Saturday scrimmage. It is a high-ankle sprain and GM/head coach Bruno Campese told John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Herald that “it could take a while.” . . . Campese said he doesn’t expect Danyluk, who is on crutches, to play in any exhibition games. He was a second-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
TRAINING CAMP ROSTER
(Year of birth in parentheses)
(x — denotes veteran)
GOAL (4)
x-Jon Groenheyde (91), South Surrey; Taran Kozun (94), Nipawin, Sask.; Braden Krogfuss (95), Cloverdale; Troy Trombley (94), Sherwood Park, Alta.
DEFENCE (13)
Tyler Bell (94), Regina; x-Josh Caron (91), Campbell River; Josh Connolly (95), Prince George; Landon Cross (94), Brandon; Corey Fienhage (90), Apple Valley, Minn.; Brady Gaudet (94), Redvers, Sask.; x-Tyler Hansen (93), Magrath, Alta.; Tyson Harvey (95), Nanaimo; x-Austin Madaisky (92), Surrey; x-Bronson Maschmeyer (91), Bruderheim, Alta.; Max Mowat (93), Coldstream; x-Linden Saip (91), Delta; x-Brandon Underwood (92), Carlsbad, Calif.
FORWARDS (24)
x-JT Barnett (92), Scottsdale, Ariz.; x-Dalibor Bortnak (91), Presov, Slovakia; Diego Cuglietta (95), Kamloops; x-Jordan DePape (92), Winnipeg; x-Rhyse Dieno (93), Saskatoon; x-Ryan Hanes (92), Kamloops; Bernhard Keil (92), Amberg, Germany; x-JC Lipon (93), Regina; Lyndon Martell (93), Prince George; Logan McVeigh (94), Kenaston, Sask.; Matt Needham (95), Penticton; Devin Oakes (95), Prince Rupert; Andre Parker (93), Melville, Sask.; Brad Parker (93), Chilliwack; x-Brendan Ranford (92), Edmonton; x-Chase Schaber (91), Red Deer; Mitchell Schwark (94), Saskatoon; x-Colin Smith (93), Edmonton; Chase Souto (94), Yorba Linda, Calif.; Aspen Sterzer (94), Canal Flats; x-Jake Trask (91), Saskatoon; Cole Ully (95), Calgary; Curtis Veitch (92), Yorkton, Sask.; x-Dylan Willick, (92), Prince George.

MONDAY’S SCRIMMAGES
Team Orange 6, Team White 4 — Orange: Brendan Ranford 2, Andre Parker, Colin Smith, Dylan Willick, Dylan Frey; White: Linden Saip, Maclean Hewitt, JC Lipon, Shawn Mueller. Goal (shots-saves) — Orange: Jon Groenheyde, 13-13; Braden Krogfoss, 20-16; White: Scott Lapp, 17-14; Blake Alexander, 18-15.
Team Blue 11, Team Orange 4 — Chase Souto 3, Brad Parker 2, Corey Fienhage, Shawn McBride, Dalibor Bortnak, Travis McEvoy, Logan McVeigh, Jake Trask. Goal — Blue: Taran Kozun, 17-14; Troy Trombley, 13-12; Orange: Braden Krogfoss, 21-14; Jon Groenheyde, 19-15.
today’s schedule
8:45-10 a.m. — Team White practice.
10:15-11:30 a.m. — Team Blue practice.
7-9 p.m. — Blue-White intrasquad game.

Mondays with Murray

Mondays With Murray

AUGUST 31, 1995, SPORTS
Copyright 1995/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

The Art of Deal Not Lost

The trade is an integral part of the mystique of baseball. It has fueled the long, dark winter discussions of the hot stove league, provoked many a barroom squabble, occupied the leisure hours of the brainy experts.
   It has been upstaged, of late, not to say rendered nearly obsolete by the emergence of free agentry. A player trades himself nowadays, so to speak.
   But it made a ringing comeback, of sorts, recently with the rash of pre-deadline trades between teams and between leagues. Bret Saberhagen, a Cy Young Award pitcher, went from the Mets to Colorado. Bobby Bonilla left the Mets for Baltimore. Jim Abbott came back to California. David Cone went to the Yankees from Toronto. And so on.
   The lure of the trade was sometimes a desire to better your team. At other times it was a desire to better your bank account. The modern version of that is not to get money but to save it. The trades are made to get rid of multimillion-dollar salaries.
   The lore of the trade is something else again. It is an art form all its own. Here are some of its historical components:
   Question: What do we mean by a trade "that will help both teams?"
   Answer: This is baseball talk for when two teams get together to swap disappointments.
   Q: What was the worst trade in baseball history?
   A: hat has to be the trade of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. Harry Frazee, owner of the Red Sox, traded Ruth for money. The Yankees paid $100,000 for the Babe and loaned Frazee an additional $300,000, which he needed to finance a Broadway show, "No, No, Nanette." Frazee ruined the Red Sox. Ruth made the Yankees. And baseball. On the other hand, "No, No, Nanette" was a great success, too.
   Q: What was the next-worst trade?
   A: Had to be the 1965 swap of Frank Robinson from the Cincinnati Reds to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Milt Pappas and a couple of friends. Robinson turned the Orioles into a mini-dynasty with pennants in 1966-69-70-71. He was MVP in both leagues. Pappas was never much better than a .500 pitcher after the deal.
   Q: What was the worst trade in the National League?
   A: Hard to say, there've been so many. But well in the hunt is the 1964 swap of Lou Brock, a fleet-footed outfielder, by the Chicago Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Ernie Broglio. Brock helped the Cardinals to three World Series and went on to steal 118 bases in one season and 938 lifetime and make the Hall of Fame. Broglio's records after the trade were 4-7, 7-12, 1-6, and 2-6 and he was out of baseball.
   Q: Any other trades register as "Oops!" on the charts?
   A: On Dec. 10, 1971, believe it or not, the New York Mets traded Nolan Ryan to the Angels for Jim Fregosi, a .233-hitting infielder. Not only that, the Mets threw in three other players! Nolan Ryan went on to throw seven (count 'em!) no-hitters, win 324 games and strike out 5,714 batters, tops in history.
   Q: What about the traders' caveat, "When in doubt, get a pitcher?"
   A: Well, you have the contradictory examples above of getting a pitcher for Robinson and a pitcher for Brock, but you have the additional example of the San Francisco Giants trading Orlando Cepeda to the Cardinals in 1966 to get pitcher Ray Sadecki. Cepeda, who belongs in the Hall of Fame, helped the Cardinals to two World Series. Sadecki was a sub-.500 pitcher.
   Q: What was the "dream" trade?
   A: Well, for a very long time, that was the trade of Ted Williams for Joe DiMaggio. It never took place, but it was a dream of the players' fans. Each was playing in a park ill-suited for his batting skills. Williams in Fenway Park had a 380-foot right-field fence. DiMaggio in Yankee Stadium had a similar thing in left and left-center. The idea was to put the right-handed DiMag at the plate in Fenway with its 315-foot left-field wall and put the left-handed Williams in Yankee Stadium with its 296-foot right-field fence. The trade actually reached the discussion stage, but neither Yankee General Manager George Weiss nor Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey quite had the stomach for it.
   Q: What's the policy on malcontents?
   A: There isn't any. The Yankees just traded Danny Tartabull, who was unhappy in New York, for Ruben Sierra, who was unhappy in Oakland. It's interesting to note that in 1908, after Ty Cobb had only four years in organized ball, his manager at Detroit, Hughey Jennings, tried to trade him for a Cleveland ballplayer named Elmer Flick. Jennings' complaint? Cobb was not a team player, given to fighting with teammates, and had come to blows with two of them that spring, Jennings said. Cleveland owner Charley Somers passed on the deal. Flick was out of baseball in three years; Cobb went on to bat better than .400 three times and lead the whole world in average. It would have been the worst trade in history. Or would it? Cobb's Tigers never won a pennant after his third year.
   Q:  Has there ever been a "trade that helps both clubs?"
   A:  Probably not.

Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times.

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

Sunday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Dan Lapointe (Seattle, Portland, Prince George, Spokane, 2001-05) signed a one-year contract with Meat Eaters Geleen (Netherlands Eredivisie). He had 20 goals and 24 assists in 70 games split between the Dayton Gems and Flint Generals (both IHL) last season.
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The Prince Albert Raiders appear to have settled on their goaltending tandem for the approaching season. John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Herald reports that the Raiders have released G Jacob Edwards, a sixth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. That means that Eric Williams, a fourth-round pick in 2008, is likely to be backing up Jamie Tucker when the season opens. “We went into training camp with an open mind, and at the end of the day, we just thought Eric Williams had a better camp than Jacob Edwards, and (Williams is) a year younger,” Raiders GM/head coach Bruno Campese told MacNeil “We just decided to make a decision sooner rather than later, just to get everything somewhat settled in that position and just move forward.” . . . G Brenden Fiebelkorn, 16, remains in camp but is seen as a stopper of the future. . . . The Raiders already are down to 32 players, including two 15-year-olds. . . . F Shane Danyluk, a second-round pick in 2009, is on crutches after suffering a sprained ankle in Saturday’s final scrimmage. It’s a high-ankle sprain, which is the worst, and he is out indefinitely.
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The U of Lethbridge Pronghorns have three former WHLers in their recruiting class for the 2010-11 season. . . . F Taylor Gal (Medicine Hat, 2007-10) has chosen to pass up his 20-year-old season and return to his hometown in order to attend classes. He had 57 points last season with the Tigers. . . . F Ryan Letts, a native of Newport Beach, Calif., played five seasons in the WHL, splitting his time between the Calgary Hitmen and Spokane Chiefs. He had eight points in 52 games as a 20-year-old with Spokane last season. . . . Nick Hotson (Portland, Lethbridge, 2004-08) enrolled at the U of Manitoba after leaving the WHL. He played for the Bisons in 2009-09 but sat out last season, so is eligible to play for the Pronghorns this season. . . . The head coach of the Pronghorns is Greg Gatto (Brandon, Spokane, Prince Albert, Regina, Portland, 1990-92).
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Gal’s decision leaves the Tigers with five 20-year-olds on their roster — D Thomas Carr, D Jace Coyle, F Wacey Hamilton, F Tristan King and F Joey Frazer. . . . Medicine Hat has both its import players in camp. D Sebastian Owuya, 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, is from Sweden, while 5-foot-9, 160-pound F Patrik Parkkonen is from Finland. Owuya was selected by the Atlanta Thrashers in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2010 draft.
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F Corey Tyrell, a veteran WHL forward, ended up not reporting to camp with the Regina Pats, as was expected. Tyrell, who turns 20 in December, played last season with the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers after two seasons with the Prince George Cougars. . . . His decision leaves the Pats with one 20-year-old in camp, that being F Cass Mappin, who scored twice in a veterans’ scrimmage Sunday.
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Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports: “RW Walker Wintoneak, who graduated from the Blades last season, is close to signing with the Boston Bruins’ ECHL affiliate in Reading, Penn.”
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And now for your reading enjoyment . . . and if you ain’t chuckling, you ain’t breathing . . . we bring you the latest installment of . . .

BLOG WARS:
If you’re a fisherman, you know the feeling. You bait the hook and you get it in the water and . . . nothing. So you change spots and . . . nothing. . . . Sometimes you go home empty-handed.
But then there are those days when you get the hook in the water and — BANG! — you get the big one.
Well, Sunday started out like the former and ended like the latter. It ended when this showed up:
“Hey Gregg,
The (bleep) Pedersen continues to show his classless and immature ways. Here is an excerpt from his "Monday Morning Goalie" (already posted on his blog Sunday night):
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“And finally .... he bit.
“Gregg Drinnan of the Kamloops Daily News got snippy on his blog Saturday regarding the comments I made about his website in Friday's column. At one point, he referred to me as a ‘fatheaded blogger’. I love it!! Here's a delicious excerpt from his Saturday post:
"But why, oh why, would the god of gods, the icon of icons, the cheerleader of cheerleaders fire the first shot? Geez, he hasn’t spoken to me since that night more than 10 years ago when I asked him on the record to explain how he felt about lying to his listeners. (In two preseason games, the Pats had played a player under an assumed name and he, knowing full well what was going on, didn’t let on to his listeners that Connor McRae actually was Konrad McKay. The later-to-be king of bloggers turned his back and walked away without answering. The Pats later were disciplined by the WHL.)"
“In truth, if you read closely, I never actually spoke to Drinnan in the above exchange either so I guess I haven't spoken to him and (sic) much more than 10 years. And it will go on much longer. And it feels grrrrrrrrrreat!
“The fact is he's a bully, and I don't care much for bullies. He doesn't scare me anymore although I know he still scares quite a few in the Dub. So, it's going to be a very fun season of blogging and following the WHL!”
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Now I will admit to having been called a few things during my career in newspapering, but a bully wasn’t one of them. Until now, that is. All I ask is that you keep in mind that that comment comes from a guy who, I’m told, once had a picture of me in his cubicle at work and used it as a dartboard.
A bully?
Sheesh, I started the Christmas Cheer Fund at the Regina Leader-Post, and the Christmas Cheer Fund at the Kamloops Daily News. Between those two funds, more than $1.8 million has been passed along to charities.
And, by the way, I have never, ever made a fool of myself by verbally attacking an on-ice official.
A bully? You decide: Who is the bully?
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Hey, Sheila, hold all my calls. Yeah, and get Lucas back on the line, will you please. Yeah, that Lucas . . . George Lucas.
Yeah, the guy who did Star Wars. Yeah, that’s the same guy who called a few minutes ago when I was on another line.
Who knows? Maybe he’s interested in doing something on BLOG WARS!!!!!!

Souto scores three as he chases roster spot

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Chase Souto says he isn’t much of a goal scorer.
That being the case, who was that visored guy wearing No. 21 for Team Blue on Sunday night?
Yes, it was Souto and, yes, he scored three times and set up another to spark Team Blue to a 5-4 victory over Team White as things began to get serious in the Kamloops Blazers training camp at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.
The Blazers are starting to get down in numbers after opening with 101 players on Friday. They cut to 61 players following Saturday’s action, and trimmed three more Sunday .
“It was pretty fun,” Souto said of his first go-round in a scrimmage that included 10 players off last season’s WHL team. “There was a really fast pace. The passes were a lot harder.”
Souto, who doesn’t turn 16 until Oct. 8, and his side trailed 3-1and 4-2 before the native of Yorba Linda, Calif., scored twice to tie it. He also was on the ice when veteran centre Dalibor Bortnak scored the winner. Bortnak also had two helpers.
“I like to work hard, finish my hits,” said the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Souto, who was a fifth-round pick by the Blazers in the 2010 bantam draft. “Every once in a while I might show an offensive touch.”
Any more performances like last night’s and he may have to change his resumé.
He opened the scoring by banging home a rebound in the crease, cut Blue’s deficit to 4-3 from in tight again, and tied the score off the ensuing faceoff by skating down the right side and firing the puck past goaltender Scott Lapp.
Souto would have had four goals had Lapp not made a solid pad stop shortly after the hat-trick goal.
Still, Souto denied being a sniper.
“No,” he said, with a grin, “I’m more of, like, a . . . not a playmaker . . . a grinder.”
Craig Bonner, the Blazers’ general manager, said that Matt Recchi, the club’s director of player personnel, and Warren Renden, one of its scouts, first identified Souto as a prospect.
Continued from A10
“He plays hard; he’s an in-your-face guy,” said Bonner, who got a good look at Souto during the WHL’s April prospects camp in Anaheim.
Bonner wasn’t reluctant to compare Souto to Kelowna Rockets forward Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan, a native of Whittier, Calif., who has 74 points and 353 penalty minutes in 142 regular-season games. Oh, the 19-year-old Callahan also has signed with the Detroit Red Wings, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL draft.
As a matter of fact, Souto knows Callahan “pretty well,” so doesn’t mind the comparison. “That’s a good one,” Souto said, adding that “I was trying to get into a scrap tonight but I couldn’t get one going.”
Souto got an extra kick out of last night’s scrimmage because his younger brother, Cole, was on his team. Cole won’t turn 15 until Dec. 27.
“We don’t play together a lot,” Chase said. “We skate together in pickup games and stuff like that.”
Chase started skating at the age of two. He said his father, Craig, was a surfer until an ear infection brought those days to a screeching halt. A friend of Craig’s from work got him interested in hockey, Chase got a taste for it and, as he said, “I just grew a real love for the game.”
Being from California, he knows a lot of the ex-Blazers who hail from there, guys like C.J. Stretch and Ray Macias, and defenceman Brandon Underwood, who is preparing for a third season here.
Souto knows there is a long way to go in this camp, but he would like nothing better than to follow in their strides.
“I don’t know (if I’ll make it), but I’m hoping I can,” he said. “If they ask me to stay, I’ll stay.”
JUST NOTES: Veteran C Chase Schaber, who almost certainly will be the team captain this season, may have been the best player on the ice Sunday evening. D Corey Fienhage was no slouch, either. . . . F Matt Needham, the Blazers’ first-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft, had a goal and three assists in Team Blue’s 8-4 victory over Team Black on Saturday morning. F Cole Ully, a second-round pick in 2010, had three goals for Blue, giving him five in two games. . . . Later, F Diego Cuglietta, who is from Kamloops, scored twice and set up another as Team Orange beat Team White, 5-4. . . . Scores, scorers and goaltenders from the weekend scrimmages all are in Scoreboard. . . . F Matt McLeod of Saskatoon, a fifth-round pick in 2010, and F Mackenzie Ferner of Vernon, an eighth-round pick in 2010, had their camps end with shoulder strains. . . . F Clayton Chingee of Prince George, F Connor Bebb of Dallas, Texas, and Ferner were reassigned Sunday. . . . F Brandon Morley of Burnaby, a third-round pick in 2009, didn’t skate Sunday because of an abdomen injury, but he is expected back on the ice today.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Sunday’s Scrimmage
Team Blue 5, Team White 4 — Blue: F Chase Souto 3, D Brady Gaudet, F Dalibor Bortnak; White: F Lyndon Martell, F Matthew Needham, D Brandon Underwood, F Shawn Mueller. Goal (shots-saves) — Blue: Troy Trombley (13-10), Taran Kozun (12-11); White: Blake Alexander (10-9), Scott Lapp (15-12).
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Saturday’s Scrimmages
Team Blue 8, Team Black 4 — Blue: Cole Ully (Calgary) 3, D Jeffrey Ness (Humboldt, Sask.), F Matt Needham (Penticton), D Kyle Bird (Regina), F Brandon Volpe (Port Coquitlam), D Tyson Harvey (Nanaimo); Goal: Brandon Painter (Port Coquitlam), 13-12; Scott Lapp (Surrey), 18-15. Black: F Brandon Morley (Burnaby), F Andrew Klukas (South Delta), F Connor Bebb (Dallas, Texas), F Evan Ingram (Olds, Alta.). Goal: Brok Terrill (Moosomin, Sask.), 19-14; Devon Pearson (Vernon), 16-13.
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Team Orange 5, Team White 4 — Orange: F Diego Cuglietta (Kamloops) 2, F Chase Souto (Yorba Linda, Calif.), F Aspen Sterzer (Canal Flats), F Dylan Grant (Victoria); Goal: Nathan Warren (Prince George), 15-12; Blake Alexander (Lethbridge), 13-12. White: F Dylan Frey (Weyburn, Sask.), F Logan McVeigh (Kenaston, Sask.), F Jake Latin (Kamloops), F Riley Hunt (Revelstoke). Goal: Braden Krogfoss (Cloverdale), 15-15; Ty Hamer-Jackson (Kamloops), 20-15.
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Team Orange 10, Team Blue 2 — Orange: F Conner Richards (Armstrong) 2, F Devin Oakes (Prince Rupert) 2, F Connor Kidd (Calgary), F Chase Souto (Yorba Linda, Calif.), F Kale Lapointe (Red Deer), F James Veitch (Creston), F Jonathan Zdan (Lethbridge), F Aspen Sterzer (Canal Flats); Goal: Blake Alexander (Lethbridge), 15-14; Nathan Warren (Prince George), 17-16. Blue: F Brandon Volpe (Port Coquitlam), F Jody Sick (Red Deer); Goal: Scott Lapp (Surrey), 19-15; Brandon Painter (Port Coquitlam), 22-16.
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Team White 4, Team Black 3 — White: F Logan McVeigh (Kenaston, Sask.) 2, F Mitchell Schwark (Saskatoon), F Riley Hunt (Revelstoke); Goal: Ty Hamer-Jackson (Kamloops), 18-15; Braden Krogfoss (Cloverdale), 14-14. Black: F Connor Bebb (Dallas, Texas), F Tre Potskin (Prince George), F Evan Ingram (Olds, Alta.); Goal: Devon Pearson (Vernon), 17-15; Brok Terrill (Moosomin, Sask.), 14-12.

Saturday . . .

Kelly McCrimmon, the owner, general manager and head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings, was a panellist at last week’s World Hockey Summit in Toronto.
He handled himself awfully well, too, which wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows him.
McCrimmon was especially sharp during a session where fingers were being pointed at the Canadian Hockey League. Registration numbers are down, way down, in the Czech Republic and Slavomir Lener, the country’s director of national teams, was pointing out that some of that was caused by players ending up in North America.
“I’m far from blaming the CHL for bringing (juniors) over here,” said Lener, who has worked on the coaching staffs of the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers.
“Obviously we have to pick it up. We have to work harder.”
At one point, Lener said: “We’ve lost a lot of players. Ten years ago, we had 80,000 players, now we’ve got only 30,000.”
Some people interpreted him as meaning the number of junior players had dropped from 80,000 to 30,000, but I’m not sure of that. Boy, that’s a lot of junior hockey players. I’m thinking he was referring to minor hockey registrations.
Anyway, Lener admitted that over the last few years a lot of children have gone to golf, soccer and tennis, all of which are less expensive to play than hockey.
Other European executives offered up support for Lener, commenting that losing too many players to CHL teams would have a huge impact back home.
To which McCrimmon responded: “I’ve always looked at (competition with) U.S. college hockey and appreciated the fact that they made us better. We had to address things to make our program better so that we were the right alternative for every player, where we could be the best of both worlds.”
In other words, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, if you approach it the right way.
Upon returning from the Summit, McCrimmon has suggested that perhaps having CHL teams cut back to one import per team (rather than two) wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
But, at the same time, teams should be allowed to add another 20-year-old player to their rosters, lifting that maximum to four from three.
“Personally,” he told James Shewaga, the Brandon Sun’s sports editor, “I would go to one import and four 20-year-olds. I would find that a lot more attractive scenario year-in, year-out, than having two imports. I don’t think we want to eliminate import players from the CHL.
“Our mandate obviously is to provide opportunities for Canadian players . . . so that’s never going to change. But I think it’s a good experience for our own players to have the opportunity to play with players from different countries.
“You look at last year’s (Wheat Kings) team when we had two very good import players, I think that adds something to all of our players as well, the fact that they got to see the different style of play, different culture that those players bring to our league.”
The Wheat Kings used D Alexander Urbom and F Toni Rajala -- a Swede and a Finn, respectively -- as their imports last season.
As Shewaga writes: “Landing two impact imports is more the exception than the rule in the CHL, with no guarantee you will actually be successful in bringing the player overseas. For every hit like Toni Rajala, Alexander Urbom and Juraj Simek in the last five years, the Wheat Kings — like most CHL teams — have also had plenty of misses in Maxim Mayorov, Kirill Gotovets, Nikolai Lukyanchikov, Igor Musatov and John Wikner.”
I have long been a proponent of the WHL going to five 20-year-old players and, for the life of me, have never been able to understand why the league doesn’t push harder for this.
Teams invest far too much time, money and effort in these players to be casting some of them aside at the 20-year-old deadline every season. A lot of the 20-year-old players who end up leaving are more than good enough to play in the league; they just get caught up in the numbers game.
So why not making it easier on everyone -- drop an import and add a 20-year-old or two?
Last year, McCrimmon ended up having to make a decision between Aaron Lewadniuk and Del Cowan. McCrimmon chose to move Cowan, who went on to the Prince George Cougars and then the Calgary Hitmen. In the end, both players were with Memorial Cup-bound teams, so you know they both were good enough.
This season, McCrimmon is going to have to trim three 20-year-olds from his roster. He goes into training camp with D Darren Bestland, G Jacob DeSerres, G Andrew Hayes, D Mark Schneider, F David Toews and F Shayne Wiebe each wanting one of the three available spots.
You can bet that other WHL general managers are watching . . . and waiting.
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Eric Duhatschek, The Globe and Mail’s always thoughtful columnist, sums up the World Hockey Summit right here. And he does it by taking a look at some things that might need to happen at hockey’s grassroots level in order to grow the game. . . . The one thing he doesn’t touch on is the cost of playing minor hockey. There isn’t any doubt that has a huge impact on registration numbers and, moving forward, that is something with which Hockey Canada and the branches are going to have to deal.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers have signed D Spenser Jensen, their first-round pick (14th overall) in the 2010 bantam draft. From Airdrie, Alta., the 6-foot-4, 175-pound Jensen is in Medicine Hat’s rookie camp this weekend. He played last season for the Airdrie Xtreme of the Alberta major bantam league, putting up 23 points and 90 penalty minutes in 32 games.
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Congratulations to former WHL player and coach Drew Schoneck and his wife, Lindsay, on the birth of Ali Rose, a sister for Connor. Ali Rose checked in at nine pounds three ounces on Friday morning in Pasco, Wash. Drew reports on Facebook that “Mom and baby are good.” He is the GM and head coach of the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, which plays out of Kearney, Nebraska.
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The two-time defending Memorial Cup-champion Windsor Spitfires made a trade Friday, after which Bob Duff of the Windsor Star wrote: “Unless there's something here that can't be seen, for all intents and purposes, Friday's deal was a sign that Windsor was giving up any hope that it could reach the tournament and try to win an unprecedented third successive Memorial Cup.”
Read the entire column right here.
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There’s more on the NCAA-CHL saga, this time from Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey Inc. . . . Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe has it right here.

Friday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Robert Schnabel (Red Deer, 1997-99) signed a one-year contract with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia Extraliga). He had no goals and four assists in 41 games with HK 36 Skalica (Slovakia Extraliga) last season. . . .
F Cam Paddock (Kelowna, 1999-2004) signed a one-year contract with the Iserlohn Roosters (Germany DEL). He had 15 goals and 12 assists in 80 games for the Peoria Riverman (AHL) last season. . . .
 F Randall Gelech (Kelowna, 2000-04) signed a one-year contract with Vipiteno (Italy Serie A2). He had 21 goals and 25 assists in 63 games for the Victoria Salmon Kings (ECHL) last season.
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D Jeff Regier, 19, is back with the Everett Silvertips after playing last season for the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles. Regier, a second-round pick by Everett in the 2006 bantam draft, was dealt to the Prince George Cougars early in 2008-09. He left the Cougars a year ago, was dropped from their list, and now is in camp with the Silvertips. . . . With the Silvertips having lost two 20-year-old defencemen — Curtis Kulchar and Chris de la Lande, both of whom chose not to return for their final season — they definitely have room for some experience on the back end.
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A couple of notes from A Bird Brain, one of the blogs over there on the left:
“The (Seattle Thunderbirds’) No. 1 bantam draft pick from this past spring, Jared Hauf, was not playing because of an ankle injury that he suffered at conditioning camp. I understand he will probably be around this weekend but will not be able to participate. . . .
“In my preview of this year's team I mentioned that 18-year-old-Austin Baecker hadn't played yet in the WHL and that wasn't a good sign. I learned today that he badly injured his back last July while training and wasn't able to walk until late October and didn't get on the ice until late November. By that time Lethbridge had made trades for other D-men and Austin asked to be traded. From what I understand he fully intends to make the Birds this year. He is now 6 foot 7 and 239 pounds!”
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F Wacey Rabbit (Saskatoon, Vancouver, 2001-07) appears to be on his way across the pond. He posted on Facebook that he has signed with KHL Medvescak Zagreb and is “leaving saturday . . . smell ya later north america HELLOOOOOOOOO europe.” . . . Last season, he had 18 points in 76 games with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. . . . Garth MacBeth checked it out and it seems that Medvescak Zabreg has yet to make the announcement. There was nothing on its website, the Croatian hockey website, or the Erste Bank Liga web site. “Medvescak just signed Don MacLean to a try-out — that is their most recent signing,” MacBeth reported late Friday night, adding that “the KHL is part of the team name — KHL Medvescak Zagreb — and they play in Austria's Erste Bank Liga. The KHL stands for Klub Hokeja na Ledu, which means Club ice hockey.”
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The Regina Pats have a handful of WHL veteran forwards in their camp who played elsewhere last season. Jesse Hall (Brandon), Dane Muench (Swift Current), Corey Tyrell (Prince George) and Devin Balness (Edmonton Oil Kings) reported to Regina, which opens camp Saturday morning. . . . G Cory Nygaard, 17, had offseason knee surgery so isn’t yet participating in the Pats’ camp. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has a good look at the Pats in his Slap Shots blog over there on the left.
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LW Jesse Paradis, 19, didn’t even get on the ice with the Moose Jaw Warriors before he was sent home. “He is not meeting our team standards,” Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. Hunchak refused to elaborate, but did add: “As a result he’s been sent home to get himself in a position where he can meet team standards.” Paradis, who came over from the Kelowna Rockets in a trade last season, had 20 points in 65 games in 2009-10.
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The Vancouver Giants will have a guest coach at training camp early next week. Former Kamloops Blazers head coach Ken Hitchcock, who now is a consultant with Columbus after the Blue Jackets fired him last season, will be on hand Sunday and Monday. Hitchcock and Giants head coach Don Hay are long-time friends.
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D Carter Berg, a second-round pick, 26th overall, by the Chilliwack Bruins in the 2007 bantam draft, is back in the WHL. Berg, 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, was dealt to the Calgary Hitmen last season, for a fourth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft, but played just one game for them. Instead, he played with the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs. Berg, who turns 18 on Sept. 4, will be in camp with the Hitmen.
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First came a note from a friend that carried with it the subject line: He still doesn’t like you.
Sheesh, I wondered, who doesn’t like me?
In the body of the note was this: “WHL blog god Gregg Drinnan was crowing on his website the other day that his page has attracted 2,000,000 all-time hits. I guess since we're talking about it, this website hit 4,000,000 all-time hits on the weekend. Thank you for you continued patronage."
Shortly after that, an anonymous posting showed up on this blog:
“Hey Gregg,
“Just to let you know, you are apparently known to Rod Pedersen as Greggy (on his blog in the comments section).....he was pointing out how many hits his blog has on his ‘Friday Rodservations.’ ”
And then this one popped up:
“I love reading Roddy's blog, hilarious each time I go there. What a shocker, he wouldnt have taken the PBP job if offered just wanted the experience, exactly what I said when Burger King didnt hire me at 14.
“I also wonder how an american getting the Oiler job is political? Racking my brain to see how this is political.
By the way, did you realize you were crowing here Gregg?”
Uhh, no, I didn’t realize I was crowing. Unlike some fatheaded bloggers out there, some of whom are nothing but cheerleaders for the teams they yap about, I was trying to make a point with the WHL and its 22 teams.
But why, oh why, would the god of gods, the icon of icons, the cheerleader of cheerleaders fire the first shot? Geez, he hasn’t spoken to me since that night more than 10 years ago when I asked him on the record to explain how he felt about lying to his listeners. (In two preseason games, the Pats had played a player under an assumed name and he, knowing full well what was going on, didn’t let on to his listeners that Connor McRae actually was Konrad McKay. The later-to-be king of bloggers turned his back and walked away without answering. The Pats later were disciplined by the WHL.)
But I digress . . .
Please allow me to state quite clearly that, being the only computer-literate person in the free world who doesn't visit THE blog, until that second note arrived, I had no idea what Rodservations was. In fact, it strikes me as a direct ripoff of Robservations, a column that has long been written by Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post.
Also, please allow me to point out that some people aren’t as well-known as they think they are.
Here’s a snippet from the Edmonton Journal that I noticed earlier this week and at the time chose to ignore:
“The Oilers were bowled over by the applications. They considered the Kelowna Rockets' Regan Bartel and Toronto Marlies' John Bartlett closely, along with Steve Kouleas of The SCORE. Dennis Beyak, who used to work here and now does the Toronto Maple Leafs radio games; Ron Pedersen, the Regina Pats and Riders CFL play-by-play voice; and TSN's Ryan Rishaug were also considered.”

Now playing third base, Brooks . . .

The helicopters, boss. It was the helicopters. That’s how tight end Visanthe Shiancoe figured out that quarterback Brett Favre was on his way back to the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp facility in Eden Prairie. “I figured that out when I left the facility and saw the helicopters,” Shiancoe told Sirius NFL Radio. “Either they were chasing O.J. again, or Brett’s back.” . . . Former NFL head coach Jimmy Johnson, in conversation with the ESPN radio outlet in Orlando, Fla., on the Vikings’ pursuit of Favre: “You sacrifice so much of the team concept when you make so many concessions for one player. It’s almost like he’s the savior and if he doesn’t carry us to the promised land, then the rest of them aren’t going to be able to do it. Some of the other players have to be saying, ‘What about me?’ ” . . .

After Roger (Misremember) Clemens was indicted on perjury charges, the Left Coast Sports Babe wondered: “When will they ever learn? You just cannot get away with lying in Washington unless you’ve been elected.” . . . Just how excited do you think NHL owners are to have Donald Fehr taking over the NHL Players Association? Yes, this is going to be fun to watch, if Fehr and the NHLPA can ever get a deal done. . . . Forward Malcolm Gwilliam of Kamloops has signed to play this season with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads, who play out of Boise. Gwilliam, 25, played five games with the ECHL’s Reading Royals last season after finishing his four-year career at Michigan Tech as the Huskies’ captain. . . . Meanwhile, forward Troy Ofukany, who also is from Kamloops, has re-signed with the Central league’s Odessa Jackalopes. They picked him up last season from the Wichita Thunder. . . . Tyson Gillies, the outfielder from Kamloops who was charged with possession of cocaine last week in Clearwater, Fla., remains in Clearwater where he continues to work on rehabbing the hamstring injury to his left leg that has cost him most of this season. As he says, he is “focusing on getting my leg back strong and healthy.” He also has chatted with former major league pitcher Dickie Noles, who works with the Philadelphia Phillies as a consultant who counsels players on the dangers of booze and drugs. . . .

Rooney Mara has been selected to play the role of Lisbeth Salander in Hollywood’s version of the Stieg Larsson best-seller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. She is the granddaughter of the late Wellington Mara, who owned the NFL’s New York Giants, and the niece of John Mara, presently a Giants co-owner. . . . I don’t know what Hollywood will come up with, but the Swedish version, which was directed by Niels Arden Opley, was terrific. . . . Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “South Korea has blocked North Korea’s new Twitter account from being accessed in the South. North Korea is expected to retaliate by tying South Korea’s shoelaces to a desk when it is not looking.” . . . One more from Judd: “China has surpassed Japan to claim the world’s second-largest economy. They now trail only the Tulalip Tribes.” . . .
Was there anything sadder this baseball season than watching the once-fiery Lou Piniella playing out the string on the Chicago Cubs’ bench? . . . At the same time, there may not be a better story in the bigs this season than that being penned by Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds. A year ago, he was grounded by depression; today, he may be the NL’s MVP. . . . Oh, and he’s Canadian. . . . If you check out the Hamilton, Ohio, team at the Little League World Series, you’ll note that Brooks Robinson is wearing No. 5 and playing third base. “They told me if I ever had a kid, you have to name him Brooks Robinson,” Brooks’ father, Tim, told The Associated Press. . . .

Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Bobby Hull were together again at a function in Winnipeg the other day. They, of course, wrote some hockey history as a line with the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets. How good were Hedberg and Nilsson? “You can go to the bank with this,” Hull said. “They’re the best I ever played with.” . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Much debate over whether U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin will select a struggling (Tiger) Woods for the team. Cannot confirm LeBron will announce Pavin’s decision in a one-hour special on ESPN.” . . . One more from Cote: “Marlins had won four in a row before Saturday, but overshadowing that was the MLB suspension of Ronny Paulino for using a banned performance-enhancing substance. Paulino blamed a diet pill, and that diet pill sure worked. The Marlins lost 250 pounds of catcher overnight.” . . . Cote had a good week: “ESPN curmudgeon Jay Mariotti was arrested over the weekend on a felony charge related to an apparent domestic dispute. Must have been somewhat serious because the bail he made was a fairly steep $50,000. Is it official now? Has every ESPN announcer been arrested? I think that’s the only network where each on-air personality gets his own wardrobe consultant, makeup artist and defense lawyer.” . . .

Thanks to Keith Tordoff who is the first person to donate to this year’s Daily News Christmas Cheer Fund. We won’t officially open for business until mid-November, but the two boxes of pennies are on a shelf in the counting room. The head elf was away Friday — I eagerly await her return. . . . Jerry Greene, at ESPN.com: “In Boston, denial is the prevalent mood among the Sox. Said David Ortiz: ‘For what we’ve been going through this year, we’re not doing that bad.’ Curiously, that was the same thing Gen. Custer said in his final press conference before his engagement at Little Bighorn.” . . . As the Omaha World-Herald celebrated its 125th birthday, Brad Dickson noted: “The first issue was published Aug. 24, 1884. The headlines: ‘Paterno takes job with Nittany Lions’ and ‘All potholes to be repaired by June.’ ” . . . If you were wondering, Paul Kelly, the chief executive officer of College Hockey Inc., wasn’t invited to the World Hockey Summit that wrapped up Thursday in Toronto. So much for it being a ‘World’ Hockey Summit. . . . It was blustery Brian Burke, the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who said during that gathering of chest-thumpers: “Parents are the worst judges of talent that have ever walked the planet.”

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.

Groenheyde gets chance to start for Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was the noted left-winger Thomas Alva Edison who is credited with saying that “opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Jon Groenheyde may not have spent the summer in overalls and work boots, but he definitely put in a lot of work in preparation for his third WHL season with the Kamloops Blazers.
Work? He worked with a goaltending coach, a mental coach and a strength coach.
“I’ve been working really hard,” the 19-year-old from Surrey said Friday before hitting the ice for a training camp session at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre. “I feel good. I worked hard over the summer.”
Groenheyde is well aware of the opportunity facing him. He is the only veteran goaltender on the Blazers’ roster and it looks like he will be the starter when the season arrives.
“It’s a great opportunity for him,” head coach Guy Charron said. “We’re certainly not from the get-go going to believe that he can’t do it. He’ll be given the opportunity.
“I think he has the ability to do it.”
The fact that Groenheyde has been working with goaltending and strength coaches comes as no surprise; after all, most goaltenders do just that. But it says something that he realized the need to adjust his mental approach.
“I have to calm myself down on the ice and become more consistent,” offered the 6-foot-4, 201-pound Groenheyde.
At the same time, however, he doesn’t want to completely douse the fire in his belly.
“We worked a lot on that,” he said. “It was more on not losing the competitiveness and aggressiveness in my game. . . . More calming myself down and working on not engaging in things that aren’t necessary.”
In the not-so-distant past, opposing teams have been able to get the excitable Groenheyde off his game just by treating the crease like Notre Dame and Columbia at 5:30 p.m.
“Little pokes after the whistle . . . . it’s not necessary (that I get involved),” he continued. “I realized that over the summer and we worked a lot on that.”
The plan, then, is for Groenheyde to take that energy and redirect it toward stopping the puck.
Last season, while playing behind Justin Leclerc and then Kurtis Mucha, both 20-year-olds, Groenheyde went 10-14-1-1 with a 3.79 GAA and a .896 save percentage. He got into 31 games, starting 26 and finishing 22 of those.
In 2008-09, while backing up Leclerc, Groenheyde was 4-11-0-1 with a 4.66 GAA and a .873 save percentage. Three of the victories came during a stretch from Dec. 29 to Jan. 7 when he started four of five games and went 3-1-0-0. However, he made only six more appearances after Jan. 7.
“I honestly don’t know,” Groenheyde said when asked why then-head coach Barry Smith all but ignored him for the season’s last 10 weeks. “I guess it’s just the way it goes sometimes.
“Justin was an older guy at the time. Maybe they wanted to give him a chance to get in a groove. Maybe he wasn’t playing the way he should be and they wanted to get him back in a groove for playoffs.
“Now that I’m older I hope I get the same respect if things aren’t going my way . . . to get more of a chance to get back in a groove.”
The way Charron has it figured, Groenheyde is going to get that chance.
“This is an opportunity for him to be an important part of the goaltending,” Charron said. “Whether we want to use the expression No. 1 or not . . . but the guy we can lean on. He has that chance.
“We can’t take that away from him until he takes it away from himself.”
CAMP NOTES: The Blazers got through Day 1 of camp without any injuries to report. . . . In the first rookie scrimmage last night, Team Blue got two goals from F Cole Ully of Calgary in beating Team White, 5-2. In the second game, F Chase Souto of Yorba Linda, Calif., scored twice to help Team Orange beat Team Black, 5-4. F Evan Ingram of Olds, Alta., had two goals for the losers. All the scorers and goaltenders are in Scoreboard. . . . Tim O’Donovan, the Blazers’ media man, reports that rookie camp features 72 players, 45 of them from B.C. Also represented are Saskatchewan (11), Alberta (10), U.S. (4) and Manitoba (2). . . . There are 29 players in the main camp bunch, represented by B.C. (11), Alberta (6), Saskatchewan (6), U.S. (3), Germany (1), Manitoba (1) and Slovakia (1). . . . G Troy Trombley, 16, checked into camp at 6-foot-6 and 187 pounds. Trombley, who has signed, and Taran Kozun, 16, of Nipawin, Sask., are vying for the backup spot behind Groenheyde. . . . Trombley is the tallest player in camp. D Haden Hoover, a 15-year-old from Kamloops, is 6-foot-4. Groenheyde, F Dalibor Bortnak and D Corey Fienhage measured out at 6-foot-4. . . . The heaviest player? That honour goes to Fienhage, at 220 pounds. . . . Former Blazers head coach Ken Hitchcock, now in a consulting role with Columbus after being fired by the Blue Jackets last season, is expected to spend Sunday and Monday in camp with the Vancouver Giants. Of course, he and Giants head coach Don Hay are long-time friends. . . . Former NHL D Murray Baron was one of the guest coaches helping out the Blazers on Friday.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Friday’s Scrimmages
Team Blue, 5, Team White 2 — Blue: F Cole Ully (Calgary) 2, F Kody Disher (Prince George), F Shawn McBride (Victoria), F Jordan Levesque (Nanaimo). Goal: Scott Lapp (Surrey), 16-16, Brandon Painter (Port Coquitlam), 10-8. White: F Logan McVeigh (Kenaston, Sask.), F Johnny Franklin (Hollyburn). Goal: Ty Hamer-Jackson (Kamloops), 9-7, Braden Krogfoss (Cloverdale), 18-15.
Team Orange 5, Team Black 4 — Orange: F Chase Souto (Yorba Linda, Calif.) 2, F Diego Cuglietta (Kamloops), F Jonathan Zdan (Lethbridge), F Landon Cross (Brandon). Goal: Blake Alexander (Lethbridge), 13-12, Nathan Warren (Prince George, 18-15). Black: F Evan Ingram (Olds, Alta.) 2, F Connor Bebb (Dallas, Texas), F Colton Dow (Humboldt, Sask.). Goal: Brok Terrill (Moosomin, Sask.), 13-10, Devon Pearson (Vernon), 17-14.
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TODAY
Rookie games, 9 a.m., noon, 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. Rookie goalies, 11 a.m. Main camp practices, 2:15 p.m., 3:45 p.m. All at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.
SUNDAY
Practices 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., noon, 5 p.m. Scrimmage at 7 p.m. All at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.

Thursday . . .

Dwayne Gylywoychuk is living life one day at a time, and happy to be able to do that.
Gylywoychuk, who was preparing for his ninth season as an assistant coach with the Brandon Wheat Kings, suffered a broken back on Aug. 3.
Returning from lunch hour, as he said Thursday night “like I’ve done a hundred times during the summer,” he walked into the Keystone Centre carrying a Rubbermaid container full of golf shirts that were for use in a Wheat Kings alumni golf tournament.
“I slipped on some wet stairs,” he said. “The rest is kind of history.”
Gylywoychuk, 36, was diagnosed with a stable fracture in his back. He spent a few days in hospital and now is at home, wearing a back brace and limited in what he can do. He is doing some walking, but can’t lift anything, can’t twist his torso or do anything that might put stress on the back.
A hard-nosed defenceman for five seasons with the Wheat Kings, Gylywoychuk admits that it was “very scary.”
“When the doctors told me I had a fracture in my back, I went ‘Ohhh . . .’
“Your mind starts to wander like crazy. And then waiting to hear if there was going to be surgery . . .”
Because the fracture was stable, surgery wasn’t needed. He now wears the back brace all day long, but is allowed to take it off when he goes to bed.
“It feels like a stiff back right now,” he explained. “Just below the shoulder blades feels stiff, but I’ll take that.”
Yes, it could have been so much worse.
Gylywoychuk now is well into the rehabilitation process and looking at a Sept. 1 appointment with his doctors. That is an important date as he will be given the first indication of how the healing process is going.
With him on the shelf, the Wheat Kings have hired another former defenceman, Mike Vandenberghe, as an interim assistant coach. Gylywoychuk and Vandenberghe actually played together with the Wheat Kings.
“My first year was his second year,” Gylywoychuk said. “We played some defence together. We spent three years together before he got traded.”
In fact, Gylywoychuk said, the two of them were chuckling just the other day because “he used to pick me up to go to high school in my first year here.”
Gylywoychuk has no idea when, or even if, he’ll be able to return to the Wheat Kings’ bench. He hasn’t even come close to thinking that far ahead. For now, he’s thinking about Sept. 1.
“Hopefully, I can make a complete recovery, which the doctors told me I’m going to,” he said. “But (Sept. 1) is big . . . we’ll see how we’re doing. There’ll be X-rays and that.”
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Steven Hodges sounds like an interesting 16-year-old. For starters, he’s from Whitehorse. And he was the ninth overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft, going to the Chilliwack Bruins. He tells the Chilliwack Progress that he would love to give skydiving a try because “bungee jumping just isn’t doing it for me anymore.” . . . And here’s Hodges’ take on ptarmigan hunting near home: “You cook ’em up and they’re absolutely delicious. But they’re not very smart. What we did before dad would let us shoot guns is we’d sneak up behind them, grab ’em by the neck and give ’em a couple twirls.” . . . For hockey purposes, Hodges has lived in Delta, B.C., and to say he’s looking forward to this WHL season would be something of an understatement. As he told the Progress: “I’ve never been more ready for something. You always want to be the best, and my goal is to be the best. Through hard work, I believe I can be the WHL rookie of the year, and that’s what I’m shooting for this year.”
The Progress story is right here.
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The Vancouver Giants have signed perhaps their two key components through the 2014-15 season. Scott Bonner, the executive vice-president and general manager, and head coach Don Hay have signed new five-year contracts. . . . Hay, the fourth-winningest coach in WHL history, is about to begin his sixth season with the Giants. He is the only coach in CHL history to have won three Memorial Cups; he won two (1994 and ’95) with the Kamloops Blazers and one (2007) with the Giants. . . . Bonner, meanwhile, is the only GM the Giants have had. They are entering their 10th WHL season. This will be Bonner’s 25th season in the WHL. Before joining the Giants, he worked for the New Westminster Bruins/Tri-City Americans as a scout. . . . Under Bonner and Hay, the Giants have won five straight B.C. Division titles. They also won the WHL championship in 2006 and the Memorial Cup in 2007.
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The Kootenay Ice has hired Marty Palechuk as its new athletic trainer. Palechuk, 30, is from Smoky Lake, Alta., and replaces Brad Shaw, who left last week to join the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. . . . Palechuk spent last season as the head trainer/equipment manager with the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons.
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An observer who is quite familiar with goings-on concerning the NHL’s New York franchises, suggests the Portland Winterhawks should hold their breath waiting for F Nino Niederreiter to be returned by the New York Islanders.
“The kid is already the most popular player they’ve got,” he notes. “The Islanders drew more than 5,000 to see Nino and the other prospects, which was a first for them.
“Only way Nino does not play in the NHL is if he gets hurt in training camp and misses a lot of time.”
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F Cody Eakin has been named captain of the Swift Current Broncos. Eakin, 19, takes over from D Derek Claffey, who was the team captain for the last two seasons. Claffey completed his eligibility last season. Eakin is going into his fourth season with the Broncos. He had 91 points, including 47 goals, last season.
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The Tri-City Americans have three import players on their main training camp roster, but none of them will be there when camp opens at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash., on Sunday. . . . Russian G Alex Pechurskiy, 20, and Belarusian D Nikita Kardashev, who turns 18 on Sept. 25, are due to arrive around Sept. 5 once visa issues are cleared up. Russian D Nikita Nesterov is also tangled up in the visa process and doesn’t yet have a reporting date. . . . Kardashev and Nesterov were selected in the CHL’s 2010 import draft. . . . Meanwhile, F Neal Prokop, who suffered a badly broken leg during last spring’s playoffs, continues to rehab at his Winnipeg home. . . . By the way, there are only 11 Winnipeggers listed on Tri-City’s main camp roster.
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The Americans will have three sets of brothers at their main camp — Adam and Matt Hughesman of Winnipeg, Jordan and Marcus Messier of Canmore, Alta., and Drew and Mitch Owsley, from Lethbridge. . . . F Adam Hughesman, F Jordan Messier and G Drew Owsley are Tri-City veterans.
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Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey Inc., wasn’t invited to the World Hockey Summit in Toronto. But he did chat with Damien Cox of the Toronto Star. That piece is right here.
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The Seattle Thunderbirds (of Kent) will split their radio broadcasts between two stations this season. Fans will be able to hear 20 regular-season games on 710 ESPN, with the other 52 games on 1150 KKNW AM. . . . Last season, the games were on KFNK, an FM station. . . . As well, all games will be streamed live over the Internet at MyNorthwest.com. That is the web portal for the Bonneville Broadcast Group, which owns 710 ESPN.
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F Erik Felde (Tri-City, Swift Current, 2006-08) has signed with the Central league’s Rapid City Rush. Last season, he put up 27 points in 39 games for that league’s Amarillo Gorillas. Two seasons ago, in his first pro season, he played for the ECHL’s Alaska Aces and Reading Royals.
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Dwayne Lowdermilk (Kamloops Chiefs, Seattle Breakers, 1975-78) has taken on the job as head coach of the Trinity Western University Titans, who play out of Langley, B.C., in the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League. For more on Lowdermilk, check this out right here.
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If you’re wondering what the NHL is in for if/when Donald Fehr takes over the NHLPA, give this column right here a read. It’s by Richard Griffin, the Toronto Star’s talented baseball writer.

Charron eager to get on the ice

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
So far, so good.
But now the real work begins.
Guy Charron, the head coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, liked what he saw Thursday as players gathered at TRU and Hillside Stadium for fitness testing.
“My first observation from (Thursday) is that there is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement with the players. It’s nice to see,” said Charron, who is into his first training camp as the team’s head coach.
Enthusiasm and excitement are not strangers to Charron, who admitted he’s “excited” and “looking forward” to the on-ice sessions that begin today at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.
Charron took over as the Blazers’ head coach on Nov. 23. He has since signed a two-year extension through 2011-12. And he’s eager to put his own stamp on this team.
“This is,” he said, “a better time to establish something in terms of preparation than coming in halfway through a season and trying to get things the way you would like it to be. Now we have time to prepare.”
And, while some training camps have become dominated by scrimmages, Charron said he is more interested in the practice sessions.
“For me, as a coach, the practices are more important than the games,” he stated. “But for our scouts, they would rather see the games. As long as we were able to combine practices with the scrimmages . . .”
Today, for example, there will be four practices for rookie participants and two for those taking part in the main camp, followed by two rookie scrimmages.
Charron plans on being on the ice as much as he can for the practice sessions.
“I’m hands-on, especially this particular camp,” Charron said.
Still, he isn’t Superman, so he won’t be on the ice for every session. Instead, he and assistants Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, along with goaltending coach Dan De Palma, will mix it up “so we all stay energized.”
On the ice or off, Charron will be paying particularly close attention to the practices.
“For me, it’s practice and this is where I get most of my knowledge about the players,” he explained. “I’m focused on how the drills have to be executed and those kinds of things. I will create situations that are competitive in practice . . . I look for execution.
“I’m a big believer in practices . . . this is where you get better and you play like you practise.”
———
Two of the players attending the Blazers’ main camp might come in for closer scrutiny, at least in the early going, than some others.
Forward Bernhard Keil, an 18-year-old from Germany, was selected by the Blazers in the CHL’s 2010 import draft. Defenceman Corey Fienhage, 20, joined the Blazers after spending two seasons with the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.
“He’s a big kid,” Charron said of Keil, who was shown as 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds when the Blazers drafted him. “He’s thick. He shoots the puck a ton. He’ll be able to fit in.”
Based on what Charron has seen in informal workouts, he said Keil’s skating “may not be at the level of other players but he has other dimensions that can be used in a very favourable way.”
Charron was especially impressed with Keil’s shot.
“His size and his ability to shoot the puck the way he does . . . that was one of the things at practice I noticed,” Charron said. “A couple of times he let that shot go and I thought, ‘Wow! That’s a big-time shot right there.’ ”
As for the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Fienhage, Charron has recognized that the American defenceman knows how to play the game the right way.
“He comes from a good program,” Charron said, “so he has the knowledge of how to play the game. He’s definitely a good addition.
“He’s outgoing, very fit, very big.”
And, like Keil, Fienhage can shoot the puck.
“You see this guy take a slapshot and he’s liable to break the glass,” Charron said, before adding, with a chuckle: “All we have to do is get him to hit the net.”
“He hits it a ton. He’ll scare people,” Charron continued. “I don’t know who will want to go to the front of the net when he shoots the puck.”
While watching Fienhage shoot the puck, Charron remembered his time as a player with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.
“Claude Ruel in Montreal was adamant about (hitting the net),” Charron said, referring to the Habs’ former head coach. “I think I picked up some of those things. I like the sound of the glass but I like it more when I don’t hear anything.”

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Some things to watch for as Blazers start camp . . .

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
During his playing days with the Kamloops Blazers, Craig Bonner was a rugged defenceman who was part of one Memorial Cup championship.
By the end of his playing days here, he stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 215 pounds, and he would just as soon have chopped down an opposing forward as said “Hello!” It was then that he first learned the value of solid defence.
In six seasons on the Vancouver Giants’ coaching staff, he watched as the club established itself by putting together a dominant defensive corps. That paid off with a WHL championship and a Memorial Cup title.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Bonner, now the Blazers’ general manager, is working from the same blueprint.
"Yeah, it's big," says a chuckling Bonner. "I think it's important to have some size back there. We have a good mix now — guys who can move the puck and some size."
As the Blazers prepare to open training camp today — there is fitness testing at TRU and registration at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre — it is obvious that the team’s strength is on the blue line.
That is something that you can bet Guy Charron recognizes as he begins his first full season as head coach. As a result, those young defencemen will get ample help from assistants Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, both of whom are former NHL defencemen.
Led by Austin Madaisky, who had quite a coming-out party in a first-round loss to the Vancouver Giants last spring, the Blazers will have five veteran defenders in camp who stand at least 6-foot-2.
They are even bigger when you add 6-foot-3, 215-pound Corey Fienhage, a third-round selection by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2009 NHL draft who has left the U of North Dakota and joined the Blazers.
Still, this is a franchise that hasn’t seen the second round of a playoff series since 1999 and has turned into something of a graveyard for coaches — Charron is the fourth head coach since the present ownership group took control during the summer of 2007.
In other words, there are questions . . . yes, there are.
So, as the franchise begins its 29th training camp, here are 10 things for which to watch:
1. What about the discipline? This will be Charron’s first training camp as the team’s head coach. It will be interesting to watch him work with this bunch on its discipline, something that has been a bug-a-boo here for a number of seasons now. A lack of discipline leads not only to the penalty box, but it also results in systems breakdowns and the helter-skelter play that has plagued this team.
2. What about the goaltending? Jon Groenheyde, 19, goes into camp as the starting goaltender, but there’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He has mostly been in a backup role for the last two seasons and there is concern among management because he really hasn’t taken the bull by the horns when given the opportunity to be the go-to guy. Barring the arrival of a veteran in a trade, the backup, at least to start the season, will be one of two 16-year-olds — Troy Trombley, a 2008 draft pick from Sherwood Park, Alta., who has signed, or Taran Kozun, a list player from Nipawin, Sask. Kozun actually turns 16 on Sunday.
3. Fienhage, at this point the only 20-year-old on the roster, spent two seasons at North Dakota after playing in the USHL for a winter. But in the last three seasons he has played only 53 games, including playoffs. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to a game-heavy schedule. Fienhage put up only six points in those games, so don’t be looking for offence from him.
4. How much stronger did Bronson Maschmeyer, at 5-foot-10 the smallest of the returning defencemen, get over the offseason? He may have the most offensive ability of the defencemen but strength was an issue. He played in all 72 regular-season games in 2009-10 but wore down in the second half. He had 38 points on the season but just 10 in his last 33 games.
5. As big and strong as the defence appears, someone may have to go if Bonner and Charron feel a need to make room for 17-year-old Max Mowat, a 5-foot-10 prospect from Coldstream, or Brady Gaudet, 16, the 2009 first-round bantam pick out of Redvers, Sask.
6. If the defencemen are to play big in their zone, the penalty killing, which was abysmal last season, has to be a whole lot better. Last season it was 20th in the 22-team league at 75.3 per cent, while giving up 96 goals, the second-worst total in the WHL. If the Blazers are to be successful, the success rate has to get above 80 per cent and they have to surrender at least 40 fewer goals in those situations.
7. From where will the goals come? The Blazers return one 20-goal scorer — Brendan Ranford had 29 — but have added J.T. Barnett, who scored 21 times for the Vancouver Giants. Still, forwards like Colin Smith (5), Dalibor Bortnak (9) and Dylan Willick (12) are going to have to pick up the pace.
8. Will third-year forward Jake Trask find some scoring consistency? He scored 10 goals in 65 games as a freshman, but seven of those goals came in his first 20 games. Last season, he finished with 13 goals in 68 games — with nine of the goals coming in the first 17 games. He can’t afford to do that again this season.
9. Will third-year defenceman Josh Caron continue to improve? He may have been the most improved player in the league last season; in fact, he improved to the point where he was asked to curtail his pugilistic activities because the team needed him on the ice. He will go to camp with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild so his confidence will only improve.
10. Will the Blazers be able to improve their relationship with the WHL referees in less than one season? The Blazers were shorthanded a WHL-leading 388 times last season, which tells you about all you need to know about this team’s discipline and its relationship with the referees, both of which have been allowed to fester. You have to think, though, that the personable Charron will have a lot to say about both of those items.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers can’t use Interior Savings Centre for training camp because the arena is being readied for a five-day (Sept. 1-5) stand by Cirque de Soleil. . . . F Brett Roulston, a list player from Whitehorse, isn’t expected in camp thanks to a re-occurring back problem. . . . F Kiefer McNaughton, a fourth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, is out with a broken leg suffered while playing soccer with some friends. McNaughton, from North Vancouver, was to have attended main camp. . . . The Blazers will do fitness testing at TRU this morning (8 to 10 o’clock), with registration later (5-6 p.m.) at McArthur Island. The first players hit the ice Friday at 9 a.m. There will be rookie practices at 9, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m., and 12:45 p.m. Main camp practices are scheduled for 2:15 and 3:45 p.m., with rookie games at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com

Wednesday . . .

I may have missed it, or perhaps it’s on the agenda for today, but I haven’t seen anyone talking about the state of officiating during the World Hockey Summit in Toronto.
From where I sit, the shortage of quality officials may well be hockey’s biggest problem, at least when it comes to the on-ice product at the junior level.
It isn’t that there aren’t good officials out there. It’s just that there aren’t nearly enough of them.
And there hasn’t been ever since the NHL went to the two-man system a few seasons ago.
The WHL, for example, has been struggling to develop on-ice officials since then, and the struggle continues today.
It would be nice if there was some meaningful discussion on how to work towards a solution.
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If you missed it, the WHL posted a training camp list on its website on Wednesday. It includes the starting dates and location for each team’s rookie and main camps.
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The Prince Albert Raiders are without F Igor Revenko, who is from Belarus, as they open training camp. Revenko, 20, has had visa-related complications and should be there by Sept. 3. “It’s certainly not Igor’s fault,” Raiders GM/head coach Bruno Campese told John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Daily Herald. “It’s a little bit unfortunate, but we don’t have to make any (final) decisions on our 20-year-olds until the first part of October.” . . . As a 20-year-old import, Revenko is a two-spotter.
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D Jesse Dudas (Lethbridge, Prince George, Swift Current, Regina, 2003-09) has signed with the AHL’s Adirondack Phantoms. Dudas, 22, split 24 games last season between the IHL’s Bloomington Prairie Thunder and the Central league’s Corpus Christi IceRays. . . . The Phantoms also signed D Logan Stephenson (Tri-City, 2002-06). Stephenson, 24, is entering his second season with the Phantoms. He had eight points and 140 penalty minutes in 62 games last season.
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The Spokane Chiefs have welcomed a former player back into the fold. Curtis Kelner, who played on the team that won the 2008 Memorial Cup, has signed on with the Chiefs as a scout. "We were looking for a guy who could be in Arizona on a part time basis," Chris Moulton, the Chiefs’ director of player personnel, said in a news release. "He's a full-time student and when talking with him we thought it was going to be a good fit. He's a great choice and a perfect example of a kid who played in the league, had success and used his WHL education package to further his life after hockey." . . . Kelner is in his third year at Arizona State, studying towards a degree in construction management. . . . Kelner will be in Spokane during the Chiefs’ camp. Veterans reported Tuesday, with rookies checking in Wednesday. On-ice sessions begin Thursday.
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F Garet Hunt (Vancouver, 2004-08) has re-signed with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder. Hunt, 22, is preparing for his third season with the Thunder. He has won the team’s Fan Favorite award each of the last two seasons. He has 28 points and 463 penalty minutes in 115 career games. . . . The Thunder also signed Hunt’s brother, D Trevor Hunt, who is entering his first full seasons as a professional after playing at the U of Alaska/Anchorage.
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I stumbled on a blog entry that details the Rich Sutter-Lethbridge Hurricanes situation. I’m not sure who wrote this but it’s from Global Lethbridge and it’s right here.
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G Mark Guggenberger (Swift Current, Portland, Kelowna, 2007-09) will attend the U of Prince Edward Island and play for the Panthers this season. Guggenberger, who completed his junior eligibility in Kelowna last season, was the Rockets’ starting goaltender when they won the WHL title in 2008-09. He is from Richfield, Minn. He had surgery for a sports hernia a year ago and missed part of the season.
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Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports at the Dub Hub over there on the left that the Giants have some injury problems. . . . GM Scott Bonner has told Ewen that D Zach Hodder (shoulder) won’t play until after the Christmas break, F Nathan Burns (knee) is out until at least November and F Connor Redmond (shoulder) is soon to have surgery and may not play until January. . . . Bonner also told Ewen that D Dillon Scholten, 20, won’t be back for another go-round. . . . Oh, and F Brandon Scholten, Dillon’s younger brother, has asked to be traded. . . . Hmm, could he be headed for Kamloops? Hey, I’m kidding. . . . I’m kidding! . . . There’s more on the Giants, including the status of F Craig Cunningham, at The Dub Hub over there on the left.
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I have heard the name Robb Hunter mentioned in conjunction with the vacant play-by-play job in Swift Current. Hunter has been the radio voice of the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs since 2006-07. He also has worked at 900 CKBI in Prince Albert. . . . That is going to be an interesting hire because, assuming that the person hired in Swift Current presently has a play-by-play gig, it’s going to leave another radio station/hockey team in a tight spot. . . . Yes, these are interesting times when the end of one hockey season now seems to run into the start of the next.

Mondays with Murray . . . on Wednesday

Mondays With Murray

AUGUST 9, 1998, SPORTS
Copyright 1998/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

How Can NFL Not Miss Us?

I can't for the life of me understand the NFL.
   You know, the population of California is about 33 million. It's bigger than some countries. Correction: It's bigger than most countries.
   And more than 50 percent of the state's population lives south of the Tehacapi Mountains.
   And, Los Angeles doesn't have a pro football franchise.
   Green Bay, Wis., does. Figure that one out. Population? Oh, say, 100,000.
   Buffalo has one. Population, 400,000. Jacksonville has one. Population 700,000.
   What does the NFL have against crowds? I thought that was the whole idea. Put franchises where there are lots of customers.
   Oh, pro football is a sport where you only have to fill your stadium about nine times a year. So, you can get away with a Green Bay. You couldn't put a major league baseball franchise there. You have half a 162-game season to try to sell out.
   You can put the odd heavyweight championship fight in Goldfield, Nev. Or Shelby, Mont. But you can't run a weekly fight card in either and hope to draw.
   And what of television? You want to sell your beer in a 15-million market or a 50,000 one? Let me guess.
   You know, 50-odd years ago, when pro football first came to Los Angeles, it had to take its hat off, wipe its feet and beg for admittance. The colleges were outraged. Let a pro team into L.A.? In the Coliseum? I should say not! Let them play in the 12,000-seat Gilmore Stadium. Nobody was going to go to the games anyway.
   Even when the Dodgers came here, they had to survive an ugly referendum election to get to stay.
   But a case could be made that L.A. helped elevate pro football to the sports staple it has become. Before 1946, it was kind of a cultivated taste, like caviar or liver pate. People went to Army-Navy, Yale-Harvard, Notre Dame-USC for their football, not to the Pottstown Maroons versus the Decatur Staleys.
   The blackest day in the pro game's history was the day Carroll Rosenbloom jerked the Rams out of the Coliseum and took them south. He skewed the picture permanently. It was the main step in a series of steps that left L.A. abandoned on the doorstep with a note pinned on it.
   The symbiotic relationship between the Rams and the town was perfect. The Raiders never approached it.
   A part of the problem was that the Coliseum was run by a joint commission. You know the old story: A camel is a horse put together by a commission.
   The commission had a no-hitter going. Subconsciously, it achieved what USC wanted back in 1946 — it ran the pros out. The commission ran the Rams, Raiders and Bruins out of the Coliseum. It ran the Lakers and Kings out of the Sports Arena. Of course, Walter O'Malley took the Dodgers out of the Coliseum as soon as he could. O'Malley thought the Coliseum commissioners were really the Marx Brothers.
   So, the NFL guys won't go near the Coliseum. They want the community to build them a new Taj Mahal to play in at no cost. And why not? About 20 other municipalities have done so.
   The league has always been an amalgamation of musical chair franchises anyway. They used to fight you when you wanted to move. Now, they got a better idea: They charge you. About $1 million per 100 miles, I believe.
   That's what Ed Roski and his colleagues want to do.
   Roski is the co-owner of the Kings and co-owner of the new $370-million Staples Center under construction downtown, new home of the NHL and NBA in L.A.
   Roski holds that the Coliseum is a part of L.A. worth preserving as a historic artifact. That's all very well, but we're not into history in this town. Stop 10 people in L.A., ask them who Mary Pickford was and you'll get blank stares from all 10.
   But Roski contends that the Coliseum is the only viable alternative. Zero acquisition costs, three-quarters of a billion in federal investments in the area, no environmental impact study. Get a team, lock the commission politicians' follies in a mountain cabin someplace and kick off.
   And, do we get an expansion team or the — yeeech! — Arizona Cardinals? Or do we get the Minnesota Vikings to thaw them out?
   The mystery is, where are the TV networks in this picture? They have as much at stake as the league, the community.
   Studies have shown the town greets the loss of the NFL with a shrug, even that some Southern Californians prefer no home team because they get more league telecasts, sans blackouts.
   I doubt it. Gamblers and pro football junkies will watch any football game ever played, but you can't tell me a hometown honk will stay home from the beach or the golf course to watch the Jacksonville What's-Their-Names play the Carolina Whozits. Not in my house, they won't. And we're supposed to care about the San Diego Chargers? Get a life.
   Anyway, you gonna sell more Toyotas in northeastern Wisconsin than in Southern California? If you think so, you haven't been on the Ventura Freeway lately.
   L.A. doesn't need football so much as football needs L.A. You NFL guys need L.A. I would recommend you listen carefully to all proposals, including the Coliseum card. If you continue to worry more about Cleveland than L.A., well, I hate to sound threatening, but there's always soccer.

Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times

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