Saturday, April 2, 2011

Friday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Matt Pettinger (Calgary 1999-2000) signed a one-year contract extension with the Cologne Sharks (Germany DEL). He had 14 goals and 31 assists in 44 games for the Sharks this season.
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THE CHILLIWACK/VICTORIA BRUINS:
Jim Mullin of Vancouver radio station CKNW reported Friday that Chilliwack Bruins minority owner Moray Keith “has been told to keep his comments to himself.”
Keith, who had confirmed to Mullin on Thursday that the Bruins have been sold, presumably to RG Properties, and will be relocated to Victoria, was to have appeared live on the air with Mullin on Friday morning.
However, Keith opted out 15 minutes before show time, sending a text stating that “I was made aware last night of a confidentiality agreement that I am bound by. So I will not be able to make any live comment.”
Mullin’s story on the Keith situation is right here.
But isn’t that typical of this whole Bruins-to-Victoria saga? The cat would seem to be out of the bag, the horse is out of the barn, the birds have flown . . . and now there’s a gag order?
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Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress reported that Darryl Porter, a Bruins’ owner and the franchise’s governor, “sent a text message to Bruins radio play-by-play man Randy Merkley stating that a deal was not done.”
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A rumour in Victoria has the ECHL’s Salmon Kings moving to Fresno, Calif., once a WHL team is finalized for the B.C. capital. . . . The Salmon Kings were selling season-tickets during a home game on Wednesday night. . . . Broadcasters doing the WHL playoff game between the Red Deer Rebels and the host Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday night apparently were told not to comment on the Chilliwack-to-Victoria story. . . .
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MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE . . .
When the Medicine Hat Tigers and Brandon Wheat Kings met in Game 4 of their series in Winnipeg on Thursday night, the attendance was 6,033. . . . Gotta think someone is watching and thinking about trying to put a WHL franchise into the Manitoba capital.
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If you missed it, Mr. Hockey turned 83 on Thursday. Here’s Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times, writing about Gordie Howe.
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Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press has a good read right here on Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman Ryan Pulock, who will always stop to remember his brother on March 29. You won’t want to miss  this piece.
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Garrett Robinson was back in Moose Jaw this week and Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald caught up with him. You may recall that Robinson, while playing for the Warriors, was involved in a horrific car accident on Oct. 22, 2006. Gourlie’s story is right here.
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The Spokane Chiefs will have F Anthony Bardaro back in the lineup tonight when they play host to Game 5 of their series with the Chilliwack/Victoria Bruins. He served a one-game suspension under supplemental discipline for a hit in overtime in Game 3. . . . The Bruins will be without D Tyler Stahl, who ended up with a two-game suspension for an elbowing major he picked up in Game 3. That hit was on Spokane F Tyler Johnson, the WHL’s second-leading scorer in the regular season. Johnson didn’t play in Game 4. . . . The Chiefs take a 3-1 lead into Game 5 tonight. . . .
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Two of the four goaltenders the Medicine Hat Tigers and Brandon Wheat Kings were counting on when the playoffs began are concussed. Medicine Hat starter Tyler Bunz tried to play in Game 1, didn’t finish and hasn’t played since. He was back on the practice ice Friday but isn’t expected to play in Game 6 tonight in The Hat. The Wheat Kings have been going with Corbin Boes and Liam Liston. However, Liston now is out with a concussion. . . . Liston wasn’t on Brandon’s bench for Game 4 in Winnipeg on Friday, with the Brandon Sun’s Rob Henderson reporting: “Brandon did not reveal the name of the emergency backup goalie and did not list him on the game sheet.” . . .
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FRIDAY’S PLAYOFF GAME:
In Cranbrook, F Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist as the host Kootenay Ice scored a 3-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Ice has won two in a row and now leads the series 3-2. Game 6 is in Moose Jaw on Sunday. Might that be the last WHL game to be played in the Crushed Can? . . . F Max Reinhart scored for the Ice at 18:31 of the second on a PP and Eakin made it 2-0 at 14:04 of the third. . . . F Quinton Howden got Moose Jaw’s goal, his fourth of the series, at 15:48 of the third. That ended the Warriors’ goal drought at 116 minutes four seconds. . . . Moose Jaw had a late PP when Eakin was called for tripping at 17:25 of the third. . . . Ice F Joe Antilla finished the scoring, with his fourth of the series, into an empty net. . . . Ice F Kevin King had two assists. . . . Ice G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 27 shots as he came close to posting the fourth shutout of the series. . . . Moose Jaw G Thomas Heemskerk, who has two shutouts, stopped 46 shots. . . . Lieuwen’s night included facing a first-period penalty shot by F Dylan Hood, who hit a goal post. . . . Attendance was 2,958. . . . The Ice is without F Drew Czerwonka (shoulder) and F Brock Montgomery (mononucleosis). Ice F Jesse Ismond was back after not playing since he took a hit by D Dylan McIlrath in Game 2. . . . The Warriors remain without the injured D Dallas Erhardt, F Cody Beach and D Brayden Cuthbert.
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KOOTENAY VS. MOOSE JAW
(Series D)
March 25 — Moose Jaw 4 at Kootenay 0 (2,486) (Heemskerk 30)
March 26 — Moose Jaw 2 at Kootenay 5 (2,467)
March 29 — Kootenay 0 at Moose Jaw 4 (2,714) (Heemskerk 28)
March 30 — Kootenay 5 at Moose Jaw 0 (2,744) (Lieuwen 25)
April 1 — Moose Jaw 1 at Kootenay 3 (2,958)
April 3 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 5 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
     
     

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