Goaltender Cole Cheveldave of the Kamloops Blazers reaches for the puck
while under pressure from Vancouver Giants forwards Dalton Sward (9)
and Teal Burns on Friday night. The Blazers unveiled their vintage uniforms
in this game and will wear them for special occasions this season.
(Photo by Murray Mitchell/Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

If this keeps up, Chase Souto is going to have to change the licence plates on his ride.
Souto, who scored four goals last season as a WHL freshman, sniped twice on Friday to help the Kamloops Blazers to a rather convincing 6-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants before 4,209 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers (1-1-0) are home again Sunday, this time against the Victoria Royals. Game time is 6 p.m.
The Giants (2-2-0), a team that long has prided itself on team defence, have given up 16 goals over their last three games as they go into Kelowna to play the Rockets tonight.
Last night, the Blazers got solid contributions from players who oftentimes are in supporting roles. Left-winger Tim Bozon drew three assists, while linemate J.C. Lipon had two helpers. Goaltender Cole Cheveldave, left-winger Ryan Hanes, defenceman Tyler Hansen, left-winger Logan McVeigh . . . the list goes on.
Souto, who is from California and has 54FTNG on his plates, contributed eight fights and five points in 46 games last season. He also incurred two concussions and picked up another one in the exhibition season. One of those energy players, he now tries to play hard without endangering himself. He did that last night as he enjoyed the first two-point game of his WHL career.
“Crash the net . . . that’s what our line is supposed to do,” said Souto, who plays alongside Hanes and freshman Aspen Sterzer. “Chip pucks deep, create energy for the boys, go to the net and good things happen.”
Souto gave the Blazers a 2-0 lead at 14:43 of the first period, going to the net and beating goaltender Jackson Whistle off his own rebound. Then, at 6:50 of the third, Souto closed out the scoring by, again, going to the net and this time depositing a Chase Schaber rebound.
The Blazers had a tough time getting pucks to the net a week ago when they dropped a 1-0 decision to the visiting Prince George Cougars. It wasn’t a problem last night against a Vancouver team that struggled to contain the home boys’ speed.
“We worked on it all week in practice,” Souto said. “Chipping pucks deep, making the d-men work. . . . It worked out pretty well for us.”
Defenceman Austin Madaisky also had two goals, both of them on wrist shots through traffic on the power play, a unit that was 0-for-7 against the Cougars but 2-for-6 last night.
Colin Smith, who centres Bozon and Lipon, and McVeigh, with a shorthanded beauty, also scored for Kamloops.
Logan Harland and Nathan Burns counted for the Giants, who were overmatched through most of this one.
Lipon said the Blazers spent a lot of time this week talking about “getting pucks in behind the d-men, rather than turning them over at the blue line. I think that was big.”
“(We wanted to) catch the dmen flatfooted . . . we had speed and got in there and did our thing.”
Lipon, 18, is in his third season with the Blazers. He has bided his team, playing in an energy role while waiting for the opportunity to contribute on offence. That time appears to have come.
“I’ve been waiting a little while,” the Regina native said. “When guys got hurt last season, I got the opportunity. It’s nice to be up there right off the bat.”
He feels he and Bozon, the 17-year-old Swiss freshman, have something going.
“I love playing with him,” Lipon said. “We developed some chemistry over the week practising together and I thought our line did really well, getting pucks deep and getting the cycle going.”
The Blazers had a lot of success deep in the Vancouver zone, which meant that’s where a lot of the play was. That, of course, meant Cheveldave had a relatively easy 23-save night, including four in the third period.
“We were very strong on defence tonight,” said Cheveldave, who was the AJHL’s rookie of the year last season with the Drumheller Dragons. “We were all over them.”
Cheveldave said he didn’t approach his first start any differently than any other start, saying he was pretty “cool” and just wanted to “keep it loose.”
But, he added, he had waited a long time for this night.
“I was pretty pumped,” he said, his smile bigger than all outdoors. “First WHL start. First WHL win. I couldn’t be happier.”
JUST NOTES: The Blazers were a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, including a five-minute kill after D Josh Caron was fingered in the second period as the lone fighter when Vancouver F Nathan Burns refused to co-operate with him. . . . Kamloops D Brady Gaudet, in his second season, was a healthy scratch. Head coach Guy Charron said there was a message in that move. “Just because you played last year and you played well, it doesn’t guarantee you a spot,” he said. The Blazers are carrying eight defencemen. . . . The NHL’s Montreal Canadiens returned F Brendan Gallagher to the Giants on Friday. He is expected to be in their lineup tonight when they meet the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . The Blazers wore vintage uniforms, going back to the franchise’s early days as the Jr. Oilers. The uniforms will be used on occasion through the season. . . . Former NHLer Mark Recchi, who owns a piece of the Blazers, handled the ceremonial faceoff. . . . There was a moment of silence held before the game to honour the memories of Doris Rubel, the Blazers’ billet co-ordinator who died Thursday, and Fred Nicolson, who died in April. Nicolson, a long-time volunteer in the community, headed up the Blazers’ off-ice crew. . . . The Blazers are at home again Sunday, 6 p.m., against the Victoria Royals. . . . The Daily News’ Three Stars: 1. Lipon: Strong defensively and contributing on offence; 2. Souto: Best game of career; 3. Hansen: Dependable.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

The Swift Current Broncos have sold fewer than 1,500 season tickets, after reaching more than 1,700 last season. 

And you wonder just how long the Broncos can survive, what with expenses continuing to rise across the WHL.

“I’m not sure that there’s a team out there that’s been able to cut costs,” Al Stewart, the chairman of the organization’s board of directors, told Matthew Liebenberg of the Prairie Post. “So as the budgets continue to rise we need to continue to generate higher and higher levels of income and our single biggest lever to income is season tickets and walk-up tickets. . . .

“We have fantastic fans here. On an average night more than 10 per cent of the people of Swift Current come to a hockey game. No other team could brag about that number. The problem that we have is that we have great fans, we just don’t have enough of them.”

The Broncos will hold their annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Liebenberg’s complete story is right here.

———

The Spokane Chiefs didn’t take long to get down to three 20-year-olds following the return of F Darren Kramer from the camp of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. On Thursday, the Chiefs dealt F Matt Marantz to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a fourth-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Marantz, who is from Calgary, had 42 points, incouding 20 goals, in 68 games with the Chiefs last season. . . . The Chiefs now have Kramer, F Steven Kuhn and D Corbin Baldwin as their three 20-year-olds. . . . Spokane is carrying 24 players, including three goaltenders and 12 forwards.

Meanwhile, Marantz becomes the fifth 20-year-old on the Hurricanes’ roster, although F Austin Fyten (knee) will be out indefinitely and could end up on the long-term injury list. Apparently, more will be known next week.

But the Hurricanes also have F Cam Braes, the recently named team captain, F Brody Sutter and G Damien Ketlo, who was acquired from the Regina Pats a couple of weeks ago.

WHL teams have until Oct. 13 to get down to a maximum of three 20-year-olds.

———

The Seattle Thunderbirds have acquired D Braeden (Bunny) Laroque, 19, from the Edmonton Oil Kings in exchange for a 2012 bantam draft pick. Neither team disclosed specifics involving the draft pick. Laroque, from Saskatoon, is into his third WHL season. He had six points and 32 penalty minutes in 54 games with Edmonton last season. Edmonton selected him in the fifth round of the 2007 bantam draft. . . . It was interesting that Edmonton players were tweeting their farewells to Laroque about five hours before either team announced the trade.

———

Esther Madziya is the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ new communications and public relations manager. She takes over from Ryan Ohashi effective Oct. 1, with Ohashi moving north to join the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Madziya has been working at CJOC 94.1 as half of a morning show — Mark and Esther in the Mornings. . . . She also has worked in the electronic media in Saskatoon where she covered tthe Blades.

———

JUST NOTES: F Casey Pierro-Zabotel, who won the WHL’s 2008-09 scoring title, was traded Thursday by the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers to the Bakersfield Condors for future considerations. He is under contract to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who selected him in the third round of the NHL’s 2007 draft. Last season, he had 34 points, 14 of them goals, in 42 games with Wheeling. He also had 20 points in 25 games with the Cincinnati Cyclones after being loaned to them by the Nailers. . . . The Condors also have signed F Thomas Frazee, who concluded his WHL career last season with the Kamloops Blazers. Frazee had committed to the U of Calgary Dinos but obviously has decided to forego that at least for now. . . .

There are a couple of important NHL deadlines approaching. NHL teams have until Saturday, 5 p.m. ET, to sign junior-aged players who were drafted in the fourth round or later, otherwise those players can’t play in the NHL. The deadline for those players selected in Rounds 1, 2 and 3 is Tuesday, 5 p.m. ET. . . .
It appears more and more likely that the Portland Winterhawks won’t get D Joe Morrow back, at least not for a while. Morrow, 19, has signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins and reportedly has had a fine training camp. The Penguins also are missing veteran D Brooks Orpik, who is recovering from offseason abdominal surgery and Morrow could help fill that hole, at least in the short term. . . . Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Swift Current Broncos, reports that “F Dillon Wagner isn't with the team as he sustained a knee injury on Wednesday. No word of severity yet.” The Broncos are in Brandon tonight and Moose Jaw on Saturday. . . . The Medicine Hat Tigers have returned F Gavin Broadhead, 16, to the midget AAA Tigers. He was a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. His father, Curt, also played for the Tigers (1977-81).

———

If you have been following the attempt by Tom Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, to purchase the NHL’s Dallas Stars, you may be wondering how a team from Texas ends up in a bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Steven Church and Dawn McCarty of Bloomberg Businessweek explain it all right here.

———

F Travis Ewanyk of the Edmonton Oil Kings underwent shoulder surgery on Thursday morning. Shortly thereafter, he tweeted: “Surgery went well. Now the work begins to get back on the ice and be at 100% as soon as possible.”

———

It is looking more and more as though F Brett Connolly of the Prince George Cougars will open the NHL season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After all, he has been playing on a line with Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. On top of which, Connolly scored twice on Thursday night as the Lightning beat the host Montreal Canadiens, 4-0.

First, however, Connolly is going to have to visit his favourite tailor.

Why?

Well, here’s a tweet from him right after Thursday’s game:

 “Great game at the bell center. Even better prank the boys pulled. Cut the legs right off my dress pants. Nothing you can do but laugh.”

———

Today’s good read comes from Brett Popplewell, who tells the Derek Boogaard story for Sportsnet Magazine, which hit shelves this week.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, click right here and be prepared for an engrossing and sad, sad story.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Blazers mourn loss of den mother

Doris Rubel (left), Dean Clark, Bob Brown, Tom Renney, Ken Hitchcock,
Don Hay and Mark Ferner, who was representing his late father Ed,
watch as the Blazer Legends banner is raised to the rafters on Feb. 19, 2005.
(Photo by Matt Silver/Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

The Kamloops Blazers will play with heavy hearts this weekend.
Doris Rubel, the organization’s den mother seemingly forever, died early Thursday with daughter Kerry at her side. Doris was 75.
Rubel was the WHL team’s long-time billet co-ordinator. She had been involved in the billeting of hockey players here since the 1960s and had worked with the Craft Kings, Braves, Rockets, Chiefs, Jr. Oilers and Blazers.
A funeral service will be held Wednesday, 1 p.m., at the Calvary Temple.
The Blazers will honour Rubel’s memory with a moment of silence prior to tonight’s game at Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers are at home to the Vancouver Giants tonight and the Victoria Royals on Sunday. Coincidentally, both coaches, Don Hay of the Giants and Marc Habscheid of the Blazers, have ties to Kamloops and the Blazers and were well-acquainted with Rubel.
Wheelchair-bound for the last few years and in failing health recently, Rubel wasn’t able to attend the Blazers’ regular season-opening game on Saturday. But she simply refused to abdicate what she felt were her responsibilities to the hockey club.
“She has been (working), right until early (Thursday) morning,” said Dave Chyzowski, the Blazers’ director of sales and marketing. “Kerry has been helping. Doris refused to give up . . . she still wanted to do stuff.”
Chyzowski, an Edmonton native, played three seasons (1987-90) with the Blazers and lived with Rubel during part of that time.
“I remember living at her house like it was yesterday. If you know her from the outside,” he said, “you see how much she cares. If you live with her, you see how much she loves these kids. Now that I’m a parent, I would love to have my kid be in her hands.
“She instilled discipline. She didn’t take any (crap). She used to charge us 25 cents if we said a bad word. She had a jar in her house and if you said a bad word, you owed her money. She would say, ‘You don’t talk like that around here.’
“Nowadays, with the kids we have, she’d be a multi-millionaire.”
Forwards Brendan Ranford and Ryan Hanes are the longest-serving Blazers presently on the team’s roster.
“She welcomed me to the city when I was 16-years-old . . . she was a great person,” said Ranford, 19, who is from Edmonton. “She was always humble and very nice to every player. This is a tough loss for the organization.
“You could go to her for anything. She was really open for whoever needed help with billets. She was a great person.”
Hanes, who is from Kamloops so lives at home, never had to deal with Rubel in terms of billeting.
“I didn’t see her very often,” he said, “but the guys appreciated the help because she was always there for them. If there was anything they needed billet-wise, she was always there. She was one of the nicest ladies . . .”
Rubel often took in players when situations arose with other billets or if a change was requested.
“She would say, ‘He can come and live with me and I’ll take care of him,’ ” Chyzowski said. “She cared more about kids who came and played for this team. She fed everybody. I don’t think she made under a million sandwiches for this hockey team.
“She was unbelievable and she never wanted anything in return. People don’t realize how special she and Kerry have been. They gave and gave everything.
“Both their lives have been dedicated to all our alumni, the coaches and the hockey team.”
Rubel was honoured as a Blazers Legend in 2005 and was inducted in the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2004, she was named the first recipient of the WHL’s Distinguished Service Award.
“I haven’t called my mom,” Chyzowski said. “She is going to be in tears. She will be devastated.
“It’s a shitty day but it’s a day to celebrate what she has done for us.”
Chyzowski then dug a quarter out of a pocket and went looking for the jar.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
twitter.com/gdrinnan

Former Blazers react, via Twitter, to the death of Doris Rubel:
Jeff Bosch:
“RIP Dorris Rubel, you did so much for the blazers organization. you will be missed. Thank you for everything last year.”
———
Corey Hirsch:
“Doris could always make me smile or laugh when I needed it. The Lord got a kind soul today. I will miss you Doris.”
———
Brad Lukowich:
“Prayers for the Rubel and Kamloops Blazers family. Doris thank you for keeping us all in line and being the mom who was there when ours couldn’t.”
———
Brandon Underwood:
“Very saddened to hear of the passing of Doris Rubel, treated me so well all 3 years I was in Kamloops. May she rest in peace.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Familiar faces returning to Kamloops

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The parade of former Kamloops Blazers coaches at Interior Savings Centre continues this weekend.
Don Hay brings his Vancouver Giants (2-1-0) to town today for a date with the Blazers, while Marc Habscheid and the Victoria Royals (1-1-0) are to visit on Sunday.
On Saturday, Dean Clark and his Prince George Cougars ruined the Blazers’ home-opener with a 1-0 victory.
That was the 428th victory of Clark’s WHL head-coaching career, leaving him 10th on the all-time list.
Habscheid, with 318 victories, has his Royals in Prince George for games tonight and Saturday, so their game here Sunday will be their third in three nights.
Hay is third on the WHL’s list of all-time coaching victories with 523, two of them having come this season.
Hay, a coach who prides himself on his team’s work ethic and defensive play, may be scratching his head a bit these days as his guys have given up 10 goals in their last two games, including a 6-5 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips on Wednesday.
 See CHEVELDAVE / A8
Vancouver centre James Henry tied a franchise record with five assists in the victory.
The Giants, however, are without two key veteran players. Defenceman Neil Manning, who quarterbacks their power play, isn’t expected to play until sometime next week thanks to a back injury, while centre Brendan Gallagher remains with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.
The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Gallagher, who has scored 85 goals over the last two seasons, has been the story of the Habs’ camp. The Canadiens have until Saturday, 2 p.m., to sign Gallagher, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2010 NHL draft. If he isn’t signed by the deadline, he has to be returned to the Giants.
As well, sophomore defenceman Luke Fenske (hand) is on the shelf, while Zach Hodder, a defenceman who was a first-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, is at home awaiting a trade.
Defenceman Kiefer McNaughton, who was acquired by the Giants from the Blazers in May, has one assist and two fights in Vancouver’s two games. A 6-foot-3, 212-pounder from North Vancouver, he was a fourth-round pick by the Blazers in the 2008 bantam draft.
Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said after Thursday’s practice that he will start Cole Cheveldave, 18, in goal tonight, with Taran Kozun, 17, backing him up. That will leave Cam Lanigan, who gave up just one goal against the Cougars, in the press box.
Cheveldave, who is from Calgary, will be making his first regular-season WHL appearance. He was the AJHL’s rookie of the year last season with the Drumheller Dragons.
Kozun, from Nipawin, Sask., played last season for the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos.
The Royals, meanwhile, are making their trip here since relocating from Chilliwack, where they spent their first five seasons as the Bruins.
The most noticeable thing about Habscheid’s club is the size on the back end. The Royals’ roster shows eight defencemen, seven of them over 6-foot-0 and three at least 6-foot-4. That includes 6-foot-5, 230-pound freshman Keegan Kanzig, 16, who was the seventh overall pick in the 2010 bantam draft, and Kade Bilton, a 6-foot-5, 186-pounder from Parksville.
JUST NOTES: Game time tonight is 7 o’clock, with Sunday’s game to begin at 6 p.m. . . . The Blazers will be without RW J.T. Barnett (knee) for both games. He skated lightly yesterday. . . . Also missing from both games will be Kamloops LW Brendan Ranford, who is eligible to return from a six-game WHL suspension on Oct. 7 against the visiting Spokane Chiefs. . . . .The Royals are without F Curt Gogol, 20, who is in camp with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, and F Brenden Persley, 18, who is shown as being out for three weeks with an illness.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Could it be that the WHL has found a way to eliminate concussions? Simply by not reporting them? If you haven’t yet seen this week’s WHL injury list, you should check it out. (To find it, go to the WHL website, click on NEWS, then WHL WEEKLY REPORT.)
Every injured player — every single one of them — is listed as having either an upper body or lower body inury. 

For instance, D Brodie Melnychuk of the Brandon Wheat Kings, who has a broken wrist, is shown to have an upper body injury. Brandon F Brenden Walker, who is recovering from a concussion suffered last season, also has an upper body injury.

Seattle Thunderbirds F Branden Troock, who is struggling with migraines, is shown as having an upper body injury.F Max Adolph of the Kelowna Rockets, who returned home to Saskatoon this week with another in a series of concussions, isn’t even listed on the injury report.

While everyone is pleading for transparency when it comes to head injuries, the WHL, a league in which players incurred more than 100 concussions last season, has taken a horrible step backwards.Here’s hoping someone in the Calgary office comes to their senses and returns the injury list to what it used to be.

———

Normally, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the Canadian Hockey League’s BMO CHL MasterCard top 10 rankings and it isn’t because of the ridiculously long title.

No, it’s because the rankings often are badly lacking in the credibility department.

However, when I noticed that the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, who are the defending Memorial Cup champions, are at No. 1 in the latest rankings, despite their ho-hum record (3-3-0), I chose to take a look.The Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, who appeared in the 2011 Memorial Cup as the host team, are No. 10, with a 2-0-0 record.

And what of the Kootenay Ice, the WHL’s defending champion?

Well, the Ice, despite being 2-0-1, despite having gotten G Nathan Lieuwen back from the Buffalo Sabres, despite having gotten F Max Reinhart back from the Calgary Flames, is nowhere to be found.

The WHL’s Red Deer Rebels (2-0-0) moved from ninth to third. The Portland Winterhawks (2-1-0) fell from third to fifth. The Kelowna Rockets (1-0-0) dropped from seventh to ninth despite winning their lone game, beating the Silvertips in Everett.

The Regina Pats (2-0-0) earned an honourable mention, never mind that they haven’t made the playoffs since the spring of 2008 and never mind that their two early victories both were over the Swift Current Broncos, a team that also has struggled in recent seasons.

The Kootenay Ice? If nothing else, the lack of respect gives head coach Kris Knoblauch more bulletin board material.

———

JUST NOTES: D Kyle Verdino, 20, has left the Seattle Thunderbirds after signing an ATO with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, who are affiliated with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Verdino, who was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos over the summer, had one assist in Seattle’s lone game to this point in the season. . . . F James Henry of the Vancouver Giants tied a franchise record Wednesday night as he drew five assists in a 6-5 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips. Henry now shares the record with F Craig Cunningham, who set it on Oct. 20 in a 7-5 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Giants were without C Brendan Gallagher, who remains with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, and D Neil Manning (back). . . . The Regina Pats improved to 3-0 with a 5-3 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat. The Pats had lost their last six appearances in Medicine Hat by a combined score of 32-12. . . . F Darren Kramer, who led the WHL in fighting majors (46) and penalty minutes (306) last season, has been returned to the Spokane Chiefs by the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. Kramer’s arrival will leave the Chiefs with four 20-year-olds on their roster, the others being F Steven Kuhn, F Matt Marantz and D Corbin Baldwin.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Goaltender Cam Lanigan of the Kamloops Blazers worked hard
over the summer on the mental part of his game.
(Photo by Murray Mitchell/Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

Cam Lanigan is a goaltender, which means he has had to develop the ability to forget a bad goal, and forget it in a hurry.
Over the summer, he had to learn how to forget an entire season.
“It was frustrating,” Lanigan, 19, said Wednesday after the Kamloops Blazers finished another practice at Interior Savings Centre. “That was probably the worst season I've had in hockey.”
How bad was it?
Well, considering that Lanigan began last season in the camp of the NHL's Calgary Flames, it was kind of ugly.
“That was probably the highlight of my career,” said Lanigan, who is from Calgary. “I was going to my hometown team's camp. Basically, I was almost starstruck just realizing I was there.”
Unfortunately, it was all downhill after he left Calgary.
After his stint with the Flames, Lanigan headed for Edmonton and what would be his third season with the Oil Kings. He had been a sixth-round selection by the Oil Kings in the 2007 bantam draft and, by 2008-09, he was backing up veteran Torrie Jung.
In 2009-10, Lanigan got into 38 games with the Oil Kings, who went through a coaching change following the season, with Derek Laxdal taking over from the departed Steve Pleau.
And when Lanigan, his taste of the NHL not yet faded, began last season 4-8-0, with a 3.73 GAA and a .866 save percentage, he found himself en route to Kamloops, swapped for fellow goaltender Jon Groenheyde, who had fallen out of favour with the Blazers' braintrust.
“Once I came back to Edmonton, I didn't have the start I wanted to and I kind of let things build up there,” Lanigan recalled. “After the trade, I looked at it as a new opportunity. I had a few good games but, then when it started not going well, I didn't know how to deal with it and I let that again build up on me.”
The Blazers had hoped Lanigan would push Jeff Bosch, 20, who had been acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors six weeks earlier, for the starter's job. However, that didn't happen.
Lanigan, it seemed, had lost his game. He may have left it in Edmonton, or perhaps it was in a ditch somewhere around Jasper. Whatever. It definitely didn't make it to Kamloops. He got into 16 games with the Blazers, going 3-9-0, 5.59, .843 - all numbers he would like to forget.
“It's tough,” he said of sitting behind a goaltender who at one point started 23 straight games. “They did tell me 'It's yours if you want it and you have to work hard.' I obviously didn't.
“I feel I let Bosch take advantage of that role. I didn't push him . . . not like I would have wanted to. Not like when I backed up Jung when I was 17.”
Now, having had a long, long offseason to analyze what transpired, Lanigan said he simply “fell into a funk.”
“It isn't even something I can really explain,” he said. “I just let things build up in me and it got to a point where it was overwhelming. I kind of almost gave up.”
With the Blazers not making the playoffs, it meant their offseason would be a lot longer than most other teams. Lanigan, instead of moping around, chose to use the extra time to his benefit.
“I went home and realized the grave I had put myself in just by not working . . . by almost not even wanting to play,” he said, adding that rather than take a holiday over his extended summer, he chose “to use it as time the other guys wouldn't have to develop and get better. And to work on the head game, as well.”
Ahh, yes, the mental side of the game of hockey. Lanigan, at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, has good size for his position. And he obviously has shown some skill or he wouldn't have progressed this far. But what of the thinking part?
He realizes now, he said, that he never really came back to earth after being in the Flames' camp and that perhaps he went back to Edmonton with “too big of an ego.”
So over the summer he realized that he had to change. Now, he said, he takes things one at a time . . . each day . . . each practice . . . each game.
“I came in with a whole new mindset,” he said, explaining that he arrived at training camp in late August having decided to “come in and keep my head down and keep working no matter what kind of adversity I get faced with.”
Lanigan's first test of his new attitude came Saturday, on opening night, when he fanned on a short-side shot by Prince George centre Charles Inglis in the last second of the second period. That turned out to be the game's only goal as the Cougars won, 1-0.
“That was frustrating,” said Lanigan, who played quite well other than that one miscue. “One mistake costs us the game. It would have been nice to at least get the boys a point.”
But he is adamant that he won't let it drag him down.
“You put it behind you,” he stated. “Luckily, I've had a good week of practice and good sessions with (goaltending coach Dan De Palma). I'm excited to get at it again this weekend.”
As of late yesterday afternoon, head coach Guy Charron had yet to decide on his starting goaltender for Friday night's visit by the Vancouver Giants. But, with the Victoria Royals to play here Sunday, chances are good that Lanigan will get the start in at least one of those games. The Blazers continue to carry three netminders, with Cole Cheveldave, 18, and Taran Kozun, 17, also on the roster.
JUST NOTES: Immediately after Saturday's loss, Charron referred to the Cougars having blocked 33 shots during the game, one more than their goaltender, Drew Owsley, stopped. When Cougars assistant coach Jason Becker watched the video, he also came up with 33 blocks. Becker added that D Cody Carlson had 12 blocks during the game. . . . Kamloops C Logan McVeigh, out since Sept. 3 with a concussion, is back practising and could play Friday. . . . Blazers RW J.T. Barnett, who returned from the New Jersey Devils' camp with a knee injury, skated briefly by himself yesterday but isn't likely to play for a couple of weeks. . . . Kamloops LW Brendan Ranford has two games left in his six-game suspension that was left over from last season. He will be eligible to return Oct. 7 when the Spokane Chiefs are in town.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jan Fadrny (Brandon, Kelowna, 1998-2001) signed a one-year contract with Königsbrunn (Germany, Bayernliga). He had four goals and one assist in nine games with Dresdner Eislöwen (Germany, 2.Bundesliga) and four goals and 13 assists in 23 games with Pisek (Czech Republic, 1.Liga) last season.
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And now for something completely different. . . . Mark Ferner, the head coach of the Everett Silvertips, and Steve Konowalchuk, the head coach of the Seattle Thunderbirds, will be doing a live chat today at SeattleTimes.com. The two coaches, each of them in his first season, will run from noon to 1 p.m.
If you are so inclined, you may join the chat right here.
———
For the second time in two seasons, the Kelowna Rockets sent a player home in the hopes that time away from the arena will allow him to recover from post-concussion syndrome.
Last year, the Rockets sent F Kyle St. Denis home to Trail. He never did return to the Rockets, although he later completed his 20-year-old season with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies.
On Tuesday, the Rockets revealed that F Max Adolph, 19, has gone home to Saskatoon and has been placed on the indefinite injured list.
Concussions limited Adolph to 36 games last season, during which he totalled six points. He was injured on Oct. 30, returned in late November and was hurt again in January. He tried to come back in February but was sidelined again just two weeks later.
He returned for training camp and played in the Rockets’ first exhibition game but suffered another concussion.
“After assessment from our doctors, we’re doing what is in in the best interest of Max,” Rockets president and general manager Bruce Hamilton said in a news release. “Our medical team has advised Max to avoid body contact and shut his season down for now.
“The best place for Max to recover is at home with his family. We’re going to stay in touch with Max and he will be re-assessed after Christmas.”
Adolph is the son of Dave Adolph, the head coach of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.
———
The WHL’s 20-year-old deadline — at which time each team may declare a maximum of three such players — arrives on Oct. 13.
The Tri-City Americans are going to have a tough decision to make before it gets here.
F Brendan Shinnimin is back with the Americans after skating in the camps of the NHL’s PHoenix Coyotes and the AHL’s Portland, Me., Pirates.
The Americans’ roster also includes three other 20-year-olds — D Brock Sutherland, who was plus-5 in two weekend games, F Adam Hughesman, the WHL’s player of the week, and F Mason Wilgosh.
As well, there still is a chance that D Matt MacKenzie could be returned. He went to camp with the Buffalo Sabres and now is with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
———
JUST NOTES: The Regina Pats got down to 25 players on Tuesday by assigning F Mikael Jung, 19, to the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. Jung had 16 points, eight of them goals, in 69 games with the Pats last season. That move left the Pats carrying two goaltenders, nine defencemen and 14 forwards. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings are at 24 players after assigning three 16-year-old skaters. D Colton Waltz is off to the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs, while F Tim McGauley and F Taylor Cooper are bound for midget AAA teams in Sherwood Park, Alta., and Notre Dame, respectively. The Wheat Kings now are carrying two goalies, nine defencemen and 13 forwards. They are missing F Brenden Walker, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion last spring, and D Brodie Melnychuk (broken wrist). . . .
F Quinton Howden, 19, has been returned to the Moose Jaw Warriors by the NHL’s Florida Panthers. But he came back with a concussion and there isn’t a timetable for his return. Howden was injured two weeks ago in a rookie game against the Nashville Predators. Howden is a key part of the Warriors, having had 79 points, including 40 goals, in 60 games last season. . . . On Tuesday, the Warriors released veteran F Markus McCrea, 19. He played 175 games with the Everett Silvertips before being released and picked up by the Warriors. He played in the Warriors’ 4-3 victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Friday but was minus-2. . . .
G Andrew Hayes, who played three seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings before spending his 20-year-old season with the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, has signed with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces. Hayes, 21, is in camp with the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen, who have an affiliation with the Aces. . . . The Swift Current Broncos have returned F Zac MacKay to the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. MacKay, 17, was pointless in nine games with the Broncos last season. . . . Tyler King, the radio voice of the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons, reports that the team has added F Cole Penner, 20, to its roster. The Prince Albert Raiders selected Penner with the fourth overall pick in the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft. Penner has played only 17 WHL games.
———
The OHL issued three lengthy suspensions on Tuesday, sitting one player for 12 games, another for 10 and one for six.
The really interesting thing, however, is that the OHL also issued this news release:
“The Ontario Hockey League today announced the results of three separate disciplinary reviews. The league has taken the position, that for education purposes, any announcement regarding supplementary discipline will be supported by video footage and additional rationale for all incidents involving checking to the head, checking from behind, and others at the discretion of the league.”
If you visit the OHL website and click on one of the video links, you won’t get commissioner David Branch in front of a camera, a la Brendan Shanahan, but you will get a written explanation along with video of the infraction.
Well done, OHL!
And over to you, QMJHL and WHL.
———
Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s disciplinarian, handed out two suspensions, on Tuesday. . . . F Dominik Uher of the Spokane Chiefs will sit for three games for a checking from behind major he incurred in a Saturday game against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. Tri-City F Jordan Messier got two games under supplemental discipline from a game against the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Sunday.
———
You may recall that just last week the BCHL suspended F Logan Johnston of the Penticton Vees for 20 games after a cross-check broke an opponent’s jaw. Well, it seems the Vees appealed the suspension. Not only did the Vees lose the suspension, but the BCHL’s appeals committee — an independent body that comprises three former police officers — added five games to the suspension, turning it into a 25-game sentence.
———
THE COACHING GAME:
There has been a coaching change in the MJHL where former WHL goaltender Jomar Cruz (Brandon, Tri-City, Portland, 1998-2001) has taken over as head coach of the OCN Blizzard. Cruz, who was an assistant coach with the Blizzard, was named interim head coach after Scott McMillan, who was both GM and head coach, chose to step away from coaching. McMillan was quoted in a press release as saying he “just doesn’t have the energy to keep a group of teenagers on the right track at this time.” The Blizzard opened this season 0-2-1.
———
Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post was able to chat with Gerry James the other day. Gerry James? He is one of the great stories in all of Canada’s sporting history. He also took a turn as head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors. It turns out that a book — Kid Dynamite: The Gerry James Story — now is available. I will be hunting up a copy. Vanstone’s piece is right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Taking Note on Twitter

Could Soberlak have been a contender?

Peter Soberlak watched hockey’s horrible summer from afar, all the time with a queasy feeling in his stomach.
He heard about and read about the deaths of Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Barry Potomski. And, like everyone else, Soberlak wondered about a connection between their premature deaths and their roles as hockey fighters.
Soberlak wondered, too, because there was a time when hockey people tried to push him down that road.
There was a time when Soberlak was the complete package.
As a teenager, he was 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds. He had soft hands. He had passion. He could skate. He could shoot. He could do it all.
Yes, he could fight. He had long arms, great balance on his skates and he could throw a punch. Oh, how he could fight!
There was, however, one teensy-weensy, itsy-bitsy little problem.
Soberlak hated fighting. Still does, in fact. It’s interesting, because he loves hockey. He loves its flow and speed and skill and emotion and passion. He loves it when it is played properly. But he absolutely hates the fighting and he does so with every ounce of his being.
In fact, you could make the case that he is what he is today because of that hatred.
As a 16-year-old with his hometown Kamloops Blazers, Soberlak fought five times, taking out Regina Pats defenceman Selmar Odelein with one punch in the third of those bouts.
Even then, Soberlak says, he was telling himself: “I hate this; I can’t do this every night.”
In his last fight with the Blazers, on Oct. 24, 1986, Soberlak laid out Spokane Chiefs forward Rocky Dundas with two punches.
In his only other scrap that season, after being dealt to the Swift Current Broncos, Soberlak took care of Saskatoon Blades toughie Kelly Chase, who would go on to acclaim as an NHL pugilistic specialist. The two met up again the following season. This time, Soberlak says, it took him two punches.
According to dropyourgloves.com, Soberlak only had two fights that season — he admits to having lost the other one when Gary Dickie  of the Pats somehow got inside on him and dropped him with an uppercut.
One night in December 1988, Soberlak fought Curtis Folkett of the Brandon Wheat Kings. To this day, Soberlak is convinced that Folkett was “told to go out and fight me.”
“I literally crushed the side of his face,” Soberlak says. “That bothered me for a long time.”
All the while, Soberlak was getting eaten up inside. His coaches, here and in Swift Current, wanted more of the fisticuffs. He just wanted to play the game. He skated alongside Joe Sakic one season and ended up with 99 points, including 43 goals. Soberlak just didn’t equate fighting with toughness — still doesn’t, in fact — but by now, as he says, “It kept following me.”
One day he woke up to find that a poll in the Regina Leader-Post had him rated among the WHL’s top five fighters.
“All of a sudden, I’m a fighter?” Soberlak recalls. He remembers thinking: “What’s going on here?”
He was a first-round selection by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1987 NHL draft. And there came a day when the Oilers’ brass sent him down to the AHL’s Cape Breton Oilers to work on that part of his game. Soberlak says he told Glen Sather, John Muckler and Ted Green: “ ‘I am not doing this.’ . . . I went home.”
Later, no less an authority than Bob Clarke, then in the front office of the Philadelphia Flyers and a man who had an on-ice seat as the Broad Street Bullies wreaked havoc across the NHL, told Soberlak he was “soft.”
Soberlak thought about it and realized that Clarke meant he wasn’t fighting enough.
In the end, an ankle injury suffered in junior would finish Soberlak’s career. But, had he chosen to, he could have played with the wonky ankle and fought his way to a career.
“As a person, I couldn’t do that,” says Soberlak. “You are physically assaulting someone . . . it is a violent physical assault.
“Because of my upbringing, my values, my personality . . .”
As he tells his sociology class at TRU, he didn’t have three older brothers to beat the tar out of him as he was growing up. Instead, he was blessed with three older sisters who made him play with an Easy-Bake Oven and watch Little House on the Prairie.
Soberlak left hockey and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology at UBC. He then completed a master’s degree in sport and exercise psychology at Queen’s U in Kingston. He now is the chair of the physical education department at TRU. He works in sports psychology with TRU’s athletic teams and with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
During one stop in his career, Soberlak’s roomie was the team’s enforcer. That relationship gave Soberlak a front row seat to what these men go through.
“I watched him struggle with his job,” Soberlak says. “That role is the hardest thing in sports to deal with.”
Soberlak then goes one step further and likens it to the toughest jobs on Earth, like, say, the crab fishermen on the TV show Deadliest Catch.
“Except,” as Soberlak says, “nobody is trying to punch their faces in.”

(Gregg Drinnan is the sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Lance Monych (Brandon, 1999-2005) signed a one-year contract with the Ratinger Ice Aliens (Germany, Oberliga). He had 18 goals and 21 assists in 40 games with Pontebba (Italy, Serie A) last season.
———
By now you’re aware that Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s chief disciplinarian, is changing the way suspensions are handed out in that league.
So far, he is using a big hammer with the promise of more to come, perhaps a sledge hammer.
In the WHL, meanwhile, Richard Doerksen, who handles the discipline, has taken a somewhat more cautious approach.
He handed out three four-game suspensions during the exhibition season, perhaps signalling that the stakes were going to be higher this season. Then, after an opening night indiscretion, Doerksen hit Moose Jaw Warriors F Cody Beach with a seven-game sentence.
“Seven games is a large amount to sit out in a season,” Beach told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “I’m going to sit it out and I don’t expect to be suspended again.”
It is perhaps interesting that a number of WHL insiders actually expected Beach to get 10, 11 or 12 games. It could be, however, that Doerksen would rather move up the bar in gradual increments, rather than find the top end right off the bat.
Still, if what is happening in the NHL is any indication, Doerksen is going to be heard from again and again and again . . .
Beach, who had 47 points and 236 penalty minutes last season, also told Gourlie:
“It’s really hard to change the way you play. My game is hard-nosed. I play hard and go hard all of the time. This suspension kind of opens my eyes to maybe look to take the puck off of the guy instead of making a statement to the other team and putting the guy on the ice instead.
“I’m going to look more at creating opportunities to score instead of just being a physical presence.”
Ahh, yes, the puck. If more players can focus on angling the opponent off the puck, rather than trying to put him into the third row of the stands, Doerksen may sleep a lot better this season.
———
Following his freshman WHL season, D Alex Roach of the Calgary Hitmen wasn’t selected in the NHL draft. He later agreed to a free-agent tryout with the Los Angeles Kings and showed well enough in camp that he has signed a three-year NHL contract. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Roach, an 18-year-old from Quesnel, B.C., is represented by Carlos Sosa and Darcy Tucker of Turning Point Sports Management. Roach was an 11th-round selection by the Hitmen in the 2008 bantam draft. Last season, his first in the WHL, he had 16 points and 77 penalty minutes in 61 games.
———
The Prince George Cougars got a big boost Monday when the Edmonton Oilers returned D Martin Marincin, 19. From Slovakia, Marincin was drafted by the Oilers out of Europe so could play anywhere in their organization. He arrived in Prince George prior to last season as a somewhat unheralded defenceman. But he quickly proved he is the real deal. The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder finished with 56 points and 65 penalty minutes in 67 games.
———
It is doubtful that there has been a more surprising story — other than the suspensions — this NHL preseason than F Brendan Gallagher and his stint with the Montreal Canadiens.
Gallagher, a veteran with the Vancouver Giants, was a fifth-round selection by the Canadiens in the 2010 NHL draft. He has yet to sign an NHL contract.
However, he has played in four exhibition games, the most recent last night’s 2-1 loss to the visiting Boston Bruins. Gallagher, who has one assist in the four games, played 14:14 last night.
The Habs made some cuts yesterday and now are down to 40 players, including the 19-year-old Gallagher.
In fact, Montreal head coach Jacques Martin said last night that the 5-foot-8 Gallagher “deserves to continue.”
Sean Gordon of The Globe and Mail has more on Gallagher right here.
Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazettes has even more right here.
———
Also heading back to the WHL on Monday was F Max Reinhart, who was returned to the defending champion Kootenay Ice by the Calgary Flames.
By my count, that leaves eight WHLers with NHL teams who are 18 or 19 years of age, meaning they must play in the NHL or be returned to their WHL team.
The eight are:
F Brett Bulmer (Kelowna/Minnesota), D Dylan McIlrath (Moose Jaw/N.Y. Rangers), F Ryan Johansen (Portland/Columbus), D Joe Morrow (Portland/Pittsburgh), F Nino Niederreiter (Portland/N.Y. Islanders), F Brett Connolly (Prince George/Tampa Bay), F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Red Deer/Edmonton), and F Brendan Gallagher (Vancouver/Montreal).
Of those eight, only Nugent-Hopkins is 18; the rest are 19.
Only Gallagher hasn’t signed an NHL contract.
———
JUST NOTES: The Edmonton Oilers have assigned F Curtis Hamilton and F Tyler Pitlick to the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons. Both players are 20 and still could be returned to the Saskatoon Blades or Medicine Hat Tigers, respectively. . . . The Buffalo Sabres assigned F Jonathan Parker (Prince Albert) and D Brayden McNabb (Kootenay) to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Both are 20 years of age. . . . The Tampa Bay Lightning has assigned F Carter Ashton, 20, to the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals. . . . The Lightning is carrying 27 players, including F Brett Connolly, 19, of the Prince George Cougars. Connolly was the sixth overall selection in the 2010 NHL draft. The Lightning has two preseason games left, both against the Montreal Canadiens. They’ll play Thursday in Montreal and Saturday in Quebec City. . . . One of the other forwards battling for a spot in Tampa Bay is Dana Tyrell. He and Connolly once were linemates in Prince George. . . . .
F Adam Hughesman of the Tri-City Americans is the WHL’s player of the week. He had seven points in two games. . . . Drew Owsley of the Prince George Cougars is the WHL’s nominee as CHL goaltender of the week. He stopped 32 shots in a 1-0 victory over the host Kamloops Blazers on Saturday night. . . . The Victoria Royals have released D Emerson Hrynyk, 19, who has seven points in 86 WHL regular-season games. A native of Okanagan Falls, B.C., he started with the Prince Albert Raiders in 2009-10. Early last season, the Raiders dealt him to the Chillwack Bruins. . . . The Royals now are carrying 25 players, including three goaltenders and eight defencemen. . . . The Royals will travel to Prince George this week for Friday and Saturday engagements with the Cougars who, of course, once were located in Victoria.
———
You will recall that the Portland Winterhawks had 15 players in NHL camps when they began. They remain without seven of those players after the Calgary Flames returned F Sven Bartschi on Monday. . . . Three of them remain in the NHL — F Ryan Johansen (Columbus), D Joe Morrow (Pittsburgh) and F Nino Niederreiter (New York Islanders). Four others are 20 years of age and have been assigned to AHL teams — D Taylor Aronson (Nashville to Milwaukee), F Riley Boychuk (Buffalo to Rochester), F Oliver Gabriel (Columbus to Springfield) and D Brett Ponich (St. Louis to Peoria).
———
How about the schedule kept by Portland F Taylor Peters late last week? In camp with the Minnesota Wild as a free-agent invitee, he played an NHL exhibition game against the Blues in St. Louis on Thursday then hustled to Portland in time to play there on Friday. On Saturday night, he was in the Winterhawks’ lineup in Seattle and he finished things off Sunday by playing against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. . . . Four nights, four games, four cities. . . . Presumably, Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston gave him at least Monday as a day off!
———
Judging by a late Monday night tweet from F John Odgers, the Prince George Cougars did some roster pruning:
“Gonna miss all the boys here in the George. A special shout out to my roomies @gordmister & @tmakes22 couple of great guys. Gonna miss you boys.”
———
A reader of this blog had some time on his hands Monday so he did some surfing and some counting.
He found that the BCHL’s 16 teams, with 21-man rosters, were carrying 61 American players, which works out to 3.75 per team. Or, as he put it, “18 per cent of the BCHL is American kids.”
Penticton (9), Langley (8), Coquitlam (6) and Chilliwack (5) lead the way, with Trail (2) and Merritt (1) at the bottom end.
Meanwhile, the USHL’s 16 teams are carrying only 25 Canadian players. That works out to 1.5 per team, or five per cent.
I don’t know what any of that means, so discuss among yourselves.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Are you ready for some football in Los Angeles?
Summer has gone out with style. Autumn means cooler nights, leaves changing colours and football. Everywhere except maybe Los Angeles. But that could be changing. The wheels are in motion to to build a stadium in downtown Los Angeles.  But L.A. still doesn't have a team. Debates are rampant as to whether it'll be the San Diego Chargers or the Minnesota Vikings. Who do you think it will be?
Let's take a look back at Jim Murray's column from Oct. 1, 1981 about the state of football in Los Angeles.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1981, SPORTS
Copyright 1981/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY
Tom Bradley's Switch Is Only the Latest Strange Twist

   In the winter of 1965-66, the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission, the governing body that runs the two principal municipal sports facilities in L.A., made a serious mistake.
   It bet its wad on a dear, old customer, Dan Reeves, to get the National Hockey League franchise in this city. In the process, it made an enemy of another of its tenants, Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the basketball franchise here.
   The commissioners didn't even hedge the bet. They lost it all. Jack Kent Cooke had been a Canadian, and the NHL is as Canadian as saying "oot" for "out." Cooke got the franchise and, feeling harassed by the Coliseum Commission, he packed up both his franchises, basketball and hockey, and built his own arena in Inglewood.
   This left the Sports Arena dark and indebted, and placed the burden of supporting its bond payments on the neighboring Coliseum.
   The Coliseum Commission vowed not to make that mistake again. It didn't. It made other ones.
   Dan Reeves died and Carroll Rosenbloom bought the Coliseum-tenant Rams. Like all carpetbaggers, Rosenbloom came in with his hat in his hand and wiping his feet and tugging his forelock. But, like all carpetbaggers, it wasn't long before he was complaining about the silverware and the noise his hosts made eating.
   This time, when their tenant threatened to move to the suburbs, the commissioners didn't laugh. But, neither could they come up with what he wanted — multimillion-dollar improvements, including luxury boxes around the rim of the stadium. Rosenbloom moved to the suburbs and, like Cooke, he continued to identify his team as "Los Angeles" to attract his audience from that city. This was a bit of audacity for a man who was, like Cooke, effectively withdrawing money from the treasury of L.A. taxpayers.
   Like any landlord with an abandoned building, the Coliseum Commission set out to find a tenant. It found one. The Oakland Raiders.
   At that time, Tom Bradley was mayor of Los Angeles, He was a symbolic, if not titular, head of the Coliseum Commission, some of whom were his appointees. Naturally, having the Oakland Raiders would mean a financial bonanza for the City of the Angels. Cabs would roll, hotel rooms would be full, rents would accrue, hot-dogs would be sold. And Tom Bradley would give the savior, Al Davis, managing general partner of the Raiders, the keys to the city, right? I mean, he's given them to people who have done a lot less for L.A., hasn't he?
   The league wouldn't let the Raiders come to L.A. Outraged, the Coliseum Commission and the Raiders sued. I mean, who ever heard of a landlord being restrained from renting his vacant building by a conspiracy of owners of rival businesses?
   The antitrust trial ended with a hung jury. The American jurisprudence system is weighted like that, like a handicap horse race so everything will always come out a tie or its equivalent. But, Mayor Tom Bradley came out enthusiastically on the side of the plaintiffs, his commission and the Raiders.
   But that was "Mayor" Tom Bradley. On the eve of the retrial, Tom Bradley the candidate for governor emerged. A different persona. All of a sudden, he needed votes north of the Tehachapis. All of a sudden, hizzoner was telling an audience in the shadow of the Oakland Coliseum, "We want to leave your Raiders alone." He was climbing into bed with a lieutenant-governor candidate, Leo McCarthy, whose constituency is Northern California.
   The guy you saw flying out of the sled was Al Davis. The crowd you saw going into the L.A. Coliseum was seagulls.
   Tom Bradley has approached the NFL and Commissioner Pete Rozelle about getting "an expansion team for L.A." But Rozelle has had since 1978, when Rosenbloom announced he would move the Rams to L.A., to provide an expansion team or a promise of one. Rozelle wants to put an expansion team in Birmingham or Indianapolis, someplace they'll say "Thanks, Pete" and name a park after him or give him a ticker-tape parade, not a town that will growl, "What took you so long?"
   As recently as the last Super Bowl the commissioner was asked, "If Oakland is barred from moving to Los Angeles will L.A. get an expansion franchise?" And the commissioner answered, "No." He was also heard to say that the owners would regard a move like that as tantamount to "a reward for defying the league."
   L.A. sports fans, abandoned by the Kings, the Lakers and the Rams, all of whom came here as foundlings on the doorstep and were nourished to thriving health and affluence by their adopted city, now find their mayor running out on them, too. The mayor has said he will recommend that a condition of a new franchise be that the commissioner must agree that Al Davis will be a part of it. Now, that's really funny. At least, the mayor hasn't lost his sense of humor.
   Deserted by its home teams, are L.A. residents now asked to subsidize Tom Bradley's gubernatorial campaign by giving up the Raiders? And, tell me, Dear Abby, if hizzoner goes on to run for President, will they ask us to give the Dodgers and Giants back, too?

Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times.

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 995 | La Quinta | CA | 92247
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Mark Santorelli (Chilliwack, 2006-08) signed a one-year contract with Tingsryd (Sweden, Allsvenskan). He had eight goals and 13 assists in 64 games with Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) last season. . . . Santorelli won the WHL scoring title with 101 points in 2007-08.
———
The Los Angeles Kings have assigned F Linden Vey, 20, the WHL’s defending scoring champion, to the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs. . . . Vey could still be returned to the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Meanwhile, the Tigers got F Emerson Etem, 19, back from the Anaheim Ducks. . . . The St. Louis Blues have sent D Brett Ponich, 20, to the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen. He is signed but could still be returned to the Portland Winterhawks.
———
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
The host Tri-City Americans built up a 5-0 lead and hung on to beat the Portland Winterhawks, 6-5. . . . Tri-City F Connor Rankin turned a 2-0 lead into 5-0 when he scored three times in the space of 1:53 in the first three minutes of the second period. . . . Rankin also had an assist, while Tri-City F Adam Hughesman had four helpers. . . . Portland F Ty Rattie had two goals and an assist and now has six points in two games. . . . G Eric Comrie went the distance for the Americans. He stopped 32 shots, including 12 of 13 in the third period. . . . The Winterhawks, playing their third game in as many nights, opened with Brendan Burke in goal. Mac Carruth came on at 2:16 of the second period with his side trailing 4-0. . . .
In Red Deer, F Adam Kambeitz, the team captain, scored the game’s last two goals as the Rebels erased a 3-1 second-period deficit and beat the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-3 in OT. . . . Kambeitz scored his third goal of the season at 1:24 of extra time. . . . The Oil Kings held a 3-1 lead early in the second period when they were handed six straight minor penalties — they faced three 5-on-3s. The Rebels scored two PP goals, 1:01 apart, to tie the game. . . . Red Deer D Alex Petrovic, just back from the camp of the Florida Panthers, had three assists. . . . Red Deer F Turner Elson (upper body) didn’t play. . . . Yes, it’s the first week of the regular season and we’re into upper- and lower-body injuries. . . . By the way, Wayne Gretzky spent some time in Edmonton last week and left a note for the Oil Kings before he left. That’s it in the above photo.
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Last week, the BCHL suspended a player for 20 games for a hit that resulted in another player suffering a broken jaw.
So it will be interesting to see how it handles a line brawl that broke out Friday in a game between the Cowichan Valley Capitals and Victoria Grizzlies.
Now normally I wouldn’t write a word on something like this, but it happened to involve battling goaltenders -- Jamie Tucker, a former WHLer who is with the Grizzlies, and Derek Dun of the Capitals.
Dun’s post-fight comments to Don Bodger of the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial are just too good to ignore.
“That’s my first one,” Dun told Bodger. “It was on my bucket list.
“I’ve always wanted to do it. I never thought it was going to happen.”
If Dun spelled his surname Dunn, you might think he was related to Dickie Dunn.
“I heard (Tucker) broke his hand,” Dun continued. “He was hitting the ice most of the time. He got a couple of good shots, nothing too drastic.”
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Conversation from a recent night:
Reporter to WHL team owner: What’s it cost to take a bus over to Vancouver Island?
Owner: It used to be $150, so it might be about $300 now.
Reporter to WHL team general manager: How much does it cost to take you bus over to Vancouver Island?
GM: Oh, likely about $1,200 or $1,300.
Owner: WHAT!
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Mario Annicchiarico of the Victoria Times Colonist has some observations right here on the Victoria Royals’ home-opener in which they beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-3, on Saturday.
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For today’s good read, we bring you Jack Todd in the Montreal Gazette. You won’t agree with everything he writes, but his Monday column always is an interesting read. It’s right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca     
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Taking Note on Twitter

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
By their count, the Kamloops Blazers directed 65 shots in the direction of Prince George Cougars goaltender Drew Owsley on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Blazers, not one of them tickled the twine as Owsley stopped 32, his teammates blocked the other 33, and the Cougars stole away with a 1-0 WHL victory.
This was the 20th home-opener for the Blazers in what now is the Interior Savings Centre. This one was played before 4,069 fans, easily the smallest opening night crowd since the building opened.
The Blazers’ offence simply came up as empty as about 1,500 seats.
“It’s frustrating to allow one goal and not get a point,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron allowed.
The Blazers lost this one in the most frustrating of ways, going 0-for-7 on the power play and giving up a goal with eight-tenths of a second left in the second period.
Centre Charles Inglis, a 32-goal man last season, took advantage of a turnover as time was running out in the second period. He moved down the left wing and scored on a desperation-type shot that beat goaltender Cam Lanigan to the short side.
“It came through a defenceman’s legs,” said Lanigan, who stopped 24 shots. “Obviously, it was a goal I’d want to have back . . . a short-side play. It was a mistake that cost us the game.”
Charron wasn’t about to disagree with his goaltender.
“It was a goal that hurt us,” Charron said. “I’m sure he would want to have it back. Overall, early on in the first period, he made the saves he has to make. It was just unfortunate that he had that one slip away from him and it was the outcome of the game.”
The Cougars have struggled in goal the last few seasons, which is why they got Owsley, a 20-year-old from Lethbridge who was 36-17-2 for the Tri-City Americans last season, with a 2.77 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
Asked about his thought process as the game wore on, Owsley stated: “I just want to keep making saves and doing what I’m doing.”
It was Owsley’s 10th career shutout and the second by a 1-0 count, the other coming almost one year ago when he and the Americans beat the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Oct. 1.
The Cougars acquired Owsley on Aug. 4, giving up goaltender Ty Rimmer, along with third- and seventh-round picks in the 2013 bantam draft.
Owsley made a sensational save with his right toe on a Colin Smith re-direct late in the first period, then started the second with a dynamite right pad stop on Cole Ully. Thirty seconds later, Owsley flashed big-league leather on Tim Bozon. Five minutes after that, Matt Needham had Owsley dead to rights and drilled him in the mask. Later, there was a glove save on Smith, a pad save on another Smith re-direct, and a brilliant come-across stop on Chase Schaber,
By now, you get the idea.
“Owsley stood on his head . . . he outplayed me,” Lanigan said. “And they fronted 33 (shots) on us . . . that’s more than Owsley stopped.”
Prince George head coach Dean Clark said: “Owsley gave us a chance.”
He did, so did defenders like Cody Carlson and Daniel Gibb, who clogged the middle and simply refused to let shots get through.
“Props to (Carlson),” Owsley said, referring to the 20-year-old Victoria native who finished off the Blazers with two more blocks as time ran out. “That was amazing. He probably stopped at least 15 or 20. He’s a warrior and we needed him out there. He came up huge for us.”
Charron was quick to tip his hat to the Cougars’ defenders.
“They were willing to pay the price and get in the way to block shots,” he said. “They did the little things to win the hockey game.”
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The Blazers got winger J.T. Barnett back from the NHL’s New Jersey Devils on Saturday, but he came back with a knee injury and won’t play for up to a month.
Barnett scored the game’s first goal Friday in what turned into a 5-4 OT victory over the Rangers. However, he tweaked a knee later in the period and didn’t return.
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JUST NOTES: In what may have been a WHL first, four of the on-ice officials — referee Nick Swaine and linesmen Ryan Dawson and Kris Hartley — were from Kamloops. . . . The Cougars were 0-for-4 on the PP. . . . This was the seventh time in franchise history that the Blazers have been blanked 1-0. The last time was on March 12 when they lost in a shootout to the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . Kamloops was shut out three times last season. . . . Prince George was 7-1-0 against the Blazers last season. . . . The Blazers had won their last three home-openers. They now are 13-5 with two ties in 20 openers in the ISC. . . . The Cougars have two players with NHL bloodlines but both were scratched. F John Odgers, 18, is the son of former NHLer Jeff Odgers, while D Dane Phaneuf, 17, is the brother of Toronto Maple Leafs D Dion Phaneuf. . . . The Daily News’ Three Stars: 1. Owsley: The difference; 2. Carlson: Sacrificed his body on numerous occasions; 3. Smith: Had some chances. . . . The Blazers are at home to the Vancouver Giants on Friday, 7 p.m.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Taking Note on Twitter

Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry handles the ceremonial faceoff at the Seattle
Thunderbirds’ home-opener, dropping the puck between Troy Rutkowski
of the Portland Winterhawks and Luke Lockhart. Petry’s daughter and son,
Megan and Austin, look on at left.(Photo by Kyle Scholzen/Seattle Thunderbirds)

The Seattle Thunderbirds had Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry do the honours for the ceremonial faceoff as they opened at home against the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night.
Sergeant First Class Petry is a Medal of Honor recipient and it’s more than worth your while to click on right here and read about how he earned such an honour.
Petry, who received the Medal of Honour on July 12, now is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
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Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president of hockey who handles discipline, dropped the hammer on Saturday.
Now we will have to see how clearly the message was received.
Doerksen has suspended F Cody Beach of the Moose Jaw Warriors for seven games after he incurred a checking to the head major and game misconduct.
The penalty was assessed Thursday night in the WHL’s regular-season opener after Beach hit Brandon Wheat Kings F Bruno Mraz, who wasn’t injured on the play.
Beach was playing his first game with the Warriors after having returned from the camp of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. He was a repeat offender, having been suspended twice earlier in his WHL career.
Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reported:
“Beach had previously been suspended twice for two games with the Calgary Hitmen in 2009 — once for instigating fight on line change and the other came after he picked up an elbowing major.”
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The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned F Oliver Gabriel, 20, to the AHL’s Springfield Falcons. Gabriel has signed an NHL contract and is a 20-year-old, so is eligible to play anywhere in the Columbus organization or, at some point, he could be returned to the Portland Winterhawks. . . .
F J.T. Barnett of the Kamloops Blazers has been returned by the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Barnett played for Devils — he scored the game’s first goal at 1:26 of the first period — in a 5-4 OT victory over te New York Rangers on Friday afternoon. Later in the first period, Barnett tweaked a knee and now is expected to miss between two and four weeks. . . .
The Devils also returned D Reece Scarlett to the Swift Current Broncos. . . . He got back in time to play for the Broncos in their home-opener against the Regina Pats on Saturday night. . . .
The St. Louis Blues have returned F Ty Rattie to the Portland Winterhawks. . . . He was in the Winterhawks’ lineup on Saturday, scoring twice in a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash.
———
Gerry Bell, who worked as the CEO of the Kamloops Blazers in 2005-06, has died. Bell, 68, passed away Thursday after a five-year battle with cancer.
Bell was a long-time labour negotiator who worked to help the Blazers get back on track after the franchise was torn apart by financial scandal in the early 2000s.
After the Blazers, then owned by community shareholders, were hit by a scandal that included the office manager having taken more than $900,000 over a number of years, the team’s board of directors hired Bell in late 2003 to take a long, hard look inside the organization. Shortly thereafter, the team began restructuring. Bell later was hired as the team’s CEO.
A celebration of Bell’s life will be held Wednesday in Kamloops.
There is more right here.
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JUST NOTES: When Saskatoon beat the visiting Prince Albert Raiders 4-3 on Friday night, it marked the 1,500th regular-season victory in the Blades’ WHL history. . . . The Blades made it 1,501 by beating the Raiders 5-3 in Prince Albert on Saturday night. . . . Seen huddling before the Prince George Cougars met the Blazers in Kamloops last night: Rick Brodsky, who owns the Cougars, and Stu MacGregor, the head scout for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. You don’t suppose they were chatting about Martin Marincin, the Slovakian defenceman who played with the Cougars last season and now is in the Oilers’ camp, do you? . . . The Oilers selected Marincin out of Europe in the 2010 draft, so he is eligible to play in their organization even though he is only 19.
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SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
The Prince George Cougars beat the Blazers 1-0 as F Charles Inglis scored with eight-10ths of a second left in the second period. Prince George goaltender Drew Owsley was terrific, stopping 32 shots for his 10th career shutout and the second by a 1-0 count. While with the Tri-City Americans, he beat the visiting Kelowna Rockets 1-0 on Oct. 1. . . . The Blazers’ home-opener drew 4,069 fans, the smallest opening night crowd in the 20 openers that have been played in what now is the Interior Savings Centre. The previous smallest opening-night crowd (4,583) showed up last season as the Blazers beat the Cougars, 5-2. . . . F Brock Montgomery, who had played 114 regular-seasons without drawing more than one assist, set up four goals as the Kootenay Ice opened defence of its championship with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Calgary Hitmen. Attendance was 3,253. . . .
Slovakian F Filip Vasko, the 14th shooter, notched the winner as the visiting Kelowna Rockets beat the Everett Silvertips 5-4 in a shootout. . . . In Medicine Hat, F Cam Braes, Lethbridge’s new captain, had two goals as the Hurricanes stunned the Tigers, 4-2. Yes, attendance was 4,006. The game included 19 power plays, with Lethbridge going 2-for-10 and the Tigers 0-for-9. . . . Russian G Andrey Makarov stopped 33 shots in his first WHL start as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Raiders 5-3 in Prince Albert. Makarov, 18, was selected in the 2010 import draft. . . .
In Kent, Wash., D Derrick Pouliot enjoyed his first career four-point game — he drew four assists — in leading the Portland Winterhawks to a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Pouliot, a highly touted 17-year-old from Weyburn, Sask., had three two-point games last season. Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 40 shots. . . . In Swift Current, D Brandon Underwood scored his third career goal — it was his 151st regular-season game, to help the Regina Pats to a 4-2 victory over the Broncos. The Pats acquired Underwood, 19, from Kamloops over the summer. He didn’t score in 58 games last season, after counting once in 56 games in 2009-10 and once in 35 games in 2008-09. . . . Attendance was 2,023. . . . The Pats had beaten the visiting Broncos 5-1 on Friday night. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans went 3-for-6 on the PP and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 4-1. F Adam Hughesman had a goal and two assists. . . . The Americans have won their last 11 home-openers. . . . Spokane G Mac Engel stopped F Patrick Holland on a second-period penalty shot. . . . Attendance was 5,599. . . . Spokane F Dominik Uher took a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct in the second period. . . . The WHL returned to Victoria and there were 7,006 fans on hand as the Royals beat the Vancouver Giants 5-3. F Kevin Sundher had a goal and two assists for the Royals but the star was G Keith Hamilton, who stopped 48 shots. . . . It was the first WHL regular-season game in Victoria since the end of the 1993-94 season, after which the Cougars moved to Prince George.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Taking Note on Twitter

Fans of the Regina Pats put a pregame beating on a Bronco,
then watched their team beat the Swift Current Broncos.
(Terry Massey photo)

F Brett Lyon of the Moose Jaw Warriors rode into this regular season with eight goals in 158 regular-season games. On Friday, he scored three times, drew one assist and got into a scrap as the Warriors beat the Wheat Kings 4-3 in Brandon. Last season, Lyon, 20, had nine points, five of them goals, in 31 games with the Warriors. He had three assists in 25 games with the Vancouver Giants before he was dealt to Moose Jaw. . . . The Warriors got three assists from F Sean Aschim, who now has four helpers in two games. He went into the season with two goals and two assists in 47 career games. . . . Swiss F Eric Arnold, playing on the line with Lyon and Aschim, had a goal and an assist. . . . Brandon F Alessio Bertaggia, who had three goals in a 4-1 victory in Moose Jaw on Thursday, had another goal. . . . The Warriors were without F Cody Beach, who served Game 1 of a suspension for a hit to the head of Brandon F Bruno Mraz. The length of Beach’s suspension has yet to be determined. . . . Mraz played last night. . . .
The Victoria Royals began their WHL existence with a 5-2 loss to the Giants in Vancouver. G Brendan Jensen stopped 26 shots for the victory. . . . The teams play again tonight as the Royals stage their home-opener at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. A crowd of around 7,000 will attend. . . . The Saskatoon Blades picked up F Jesse Paradis, 20, on waivers from Moose Jaw earlier in the week. He scored twice as the Blades beat the visiting Prince Albert Raiders, 4-3. . . . In six games, there were two checking-from-behind minor penalties but no penalties for checking to the head. . . .
The Regina Pats got two goals and two assists from F Chandler Stephenson and a goal and three helpers from F Lane Scheidl as they beat the visiting Swift Current Broncos, 5-1. . . . F Jack Rodewald, the third player on that line, had a goal and an assist. . . . The Pas played without F Jordan Weal, who was in the building after being returned by the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. He hadn’t missed a game since his freshman season (2008-09). “Jordan missed a meeting,” Regina head coach Pat Conacher told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. “It’s part of our team rules. Everybody has to be accountable. I’m not mad at him or anything. It’s just a simple rule. It goes for everybody.”
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JUST NOTES: The Vancouver Canucks have returned F Kellan Tochkin, 20, to the Medicine Hat Tigers, while they also got D Alex Theriau back from the Dallas Stars. Now the Tigers are missing only F Emerson Etem, who is with the Anaheim Ducks. He may well open the season there. . . . The Phoenix Coyotes assigned F Darius Dziurzynski, 20, to the AHL’s Portland Pirates. He is eligible to return to the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Boston Bruins assigned D Ryan Button and  F Craig Cunningham to the AHL’s Providence Bruins. Button, 20, is eligible to return to the Seattle Thunderbirds, while Cunningham played out his eligibility last season with the Portland Winterhawks. . . . D Duncan Siemens was named the third star as his Colorado Avalanche dropped a 3-2 decision to the St. Louis Blues last night. After the game, Colorado returned Siemens to Saskatoon. . . . The Buffalo Sabres have assigned F Riley Boychuk (Portland Winterhawks) and D Matt Mackenzie (Tri-City Americans) to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Both are 20 years of age so are eligible to return to the WHL for another season. . . . The Minnesota Wild returned F Taylor Peters to the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Spokane Chiefs got F Dominik Uher back from the Pittsburgh Penguins. . . .
———
The Oregon Ducks, under head coach Chip Kelly, have quite a successful football operation. So why wouldn’t Mike Johnston, the general manager and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, spend a practice with them? Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune has that story right here.
———
The Everett Silvertips’ 2011-12 Media Guide is available online. You will find it right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Taking Note on Twitter

The NFL Network has been showing a two-part documentary — Bill Belichick: A Football Life — over the last couple of weeks. Yes, the producers somehow got the New England Patriots’ head coach to wear a microphone last season. “Should be riveting,” wrote Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote. “I hear that in episode one, Belichick debates whether to go with the blue hoodie or the grey one.” . . . Actually, it is riveting. Don’t miss it if you get an opportunity to watch. . . . “From a room away,” writes Phil Mushnick in the New York Post, “all that grunting heard during U.S. Open women’s matches sounds like there are terrible beatings going on.” . . .
According to BCFC statistics from last Saturday, the Kamloops Broncos recorded only five first downs in their 77-4 loss to the visiting Vancouver Raiders, who totalled 11 touchdowns. . . . In the game of football, you know you’re in trouble when the other team has more touchdowns than you have first downs. . . . The Raiders, it seems, were concerned enough about the Broncos that they needed some motivation. Head coach Snoop Blokker told the Nanaimo Free Press that his club was angered by pre-game comments made by Broncos officials. Those comments allegedly had to do with the Raiders’ propensity for running up the score on weaker opponents. “We used those idiotic comments as motivation and they gave us something to keep us focused,” said Blokker. . . . Just a suggestion for Mr. Snoop, but I’m thinking you should be more concerned with the on-field discipline. In case you missed it, Mr. Snoop, your guys took 21 penalties for 200 yards, including two plays on which they took double roughing penalties worth 60 yards. . . . By the way, Mr. Snoop of the Raiders is not believed to be related to Mr. Snoop Dogg, who is a Raiders’ fan, albeit the Oakland Raiders. . . .
Here’s Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London organizaing committee for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, reflecting to The New York Times on the two weeks of rioting in that city this summer: “I’m not convinced in any way that was a political demonstration or this was a manifestation of distracted or disaffected urban youth. People sitting on pavements trying on different-sized Nike trainers and being photographed in front of plasma television sets, it doesn’t immediately strike me that this was the Martin Luther King movement. This was some fairly unstructured late-night shopping.” . . . So that’s what those Vancouver rioters were doing! Late-night shopping! . . .
HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant is 80 years of age and has been around the sweet science for a long time. But you can bet that he never made as much noise as he did a week ago when, after taking some verbal abuse from Floyd Mayweather during a post-fight interview, he told the boxer: “I wish I was 50 years younger and I’d kick your ass.” . . . Gotta wonder what that bout would be worth on pay-per-view? . . . After seeing the Mayweather sucker punch that ended his fight with Ortiz, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “The equivalent in baseball would be a hitter walking to the mound and slamming the pitcher in the head with the bat, then walking away and getting drilled in the back of the head with a fastball.” . . . Ostler also noted one of the fight’s “classic elements” was “a zombie ref, apparently seeing the bout on five-second delay. The man couldn’t ref a bingo game. When Mayweather went berserk, the ref was walking away, scanning the crowd for a hot-dog vendor.” . . .
A tweet from @irbmikemiller, who is in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup: “On the road from Invercargill to Dunedin. A sign which said: Slow down. No doctor. No hospital. One cemetery.” . . . The Calgary Stampeders left Wednesday for Moncton where they will play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a Sunday CFL game. “A lot of guys don’t even know what New Brunswick is,” Calgary QB Henry Burris told Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press. “They think it’s a company that makes bowling balls.” . . . Daryl Reaugh, who is a Kamloops Blazers Legend, has been added to the Hockey Night in Canada crew. He will work on the crew that covers the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. He also works as an analyst on the Dallas Stars’ broadcast crew and he’s excellent at it. . . .
On Sunday, the Asahi, a team of Japanese-Canadian baseballers who thrilled fans in Vancouver from 1914 to 1941, was honoured. The Asahi’s run ended with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and an ugly chapter in our history as these people ended up in internment camps. Sunday was the 70th anniversary of the Asahi’s final game at Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside — a plaque was unveiled and a tribute game was played. The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Kaye Kaminishi of Kamloops. You can bet the 89-year-old Kaminishi threw a strike. . . . It’s early, but reports indicate that Devan Dubnyk, who was so popular during his days with the Blazers, has been the best goaltender in the Edmonton Oilers’ camp. . . .
If you’re looking for something to do this afternoon, head on over to the throws pit at the Tournament Capital Centre and watch some of the world’s best hammer throwers in competition. . . . Is it safe to say that Florida Marlins closer Leo Nunez — actually, his name is Juan Carlos Oviedo — is the greatest player to be named later in baseball history?

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