After Thursday's games . . .

FIRST ROUND
SASKATOON vs. PRINCE ALBERT
(Series A)
March 26 — Prince Albert 1 at Saskatoon 8 (8,144)
March 27 — Prince Albert 2 at Saskatoon 5 (5,743)
March 30 — Saskatoon 3 at Prince Albert 6 (2,868)
March 31 — Saskatoon 2 at Prince Albert 5 (3,111)
April 2 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
April 3 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 5 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
———
RED DEER VS. EDMONTON
(Series B)
March 25 — Edmonton 3 at Red Deer 5 (5,568)
March 26 — Edmonton 1 at Red Deer 5 (6,207)
March 28 — Red Deer 3 at Edmonton 1 (4,964)
March 31 — Red Deer 5 at Edmonton 1 (5,938)
———
MEDICINE HAT VS. BRANDON
(Series C)
March 25 — Brandon 7 at Medicine Hat 2 (3,866)
March 26 — Brandon 2 at Medicine Hat 5 (3,952)
March 28 — Medicine Hat 3 at Brandon 6 (5,063, Winnipeg)
March 31 — Medicine Hat 5 at Brandon 4 (6,003, Winnipeg)
April 2 — Brandon at Medicine Hat
April 4 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
x-April 6 — Brandon @ Medicine Hat
———
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 at Kootenay
April 3 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 5 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
———
PORTLAND VS. EVERETT
(Series E)
March 26 — Everett 0 at Portland 4 (8,363) (Carruth 32)
March 27 — Everett 2 at Portland 7 (6,119)
March 30 — Portland 5 at Everett 4 (2,331)
March 31 — Portland 6 at Everett 2 (2,420)
———
KELOWNA VS. PRINCE GEORGE
(Series F)
March 25 — Prince George 1 at Kelowna 4 (6,059)
March 26 — Prince George 4 at Kelowna 7 (6,085)
March 29 — Kelowna 7 at Prince George 6 (2,475)
March 30 — Kelowna 4 at Prince George 2 (2,346)
———
SPOKANE VS. CHILLIWACK
(Series G)
March 25 — Spokane 3 at Chilliwack 2 (OT) (2,962) (Kramer, 10:00)
March 26 — Spokane 5 at Chilliwack 0 (3,217) (Reid 26)
March 30 — Chilliwack 4 at Spokane 3 (OT) (4,737) (Sundher, 3:20)
March 31 — Chilliwack 2 at Spokane 4 (5,016)
April 2 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 3 — Spokane at Chilliwack
x-April 5 — Chilliwack at Spokane
———
TRI-CITY VS. VANCOUVER
(Series H)
March 25 — Vancouver 1 at Tri-City 2 (OT) (3,406) (Ashton 19:57)
March 26 — Vancouver 4 at Tri-City 5 (3,927)
March 29 — Tri-City 4 at Vancouver 0 (7,157) (Owsley 22)
March 30 — Tri-City 5 at Vancouver 1 (7,064)

x — if necessary.

Wednesday . . .

One of the great traditions in sports — the Tri-City Americans and
Vancouver Giants shake hands after going hard at each other for four games.
The Americans completed a series sweep on Wednesday night.
(Photo by CJ Relke)

If you believe in the theory that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, well, you’ve got to think the Chilliwack Bruins will be in Victoria when another season gets here.
Tyler Olsen of the Chilliwack Times has the latest right here. It’s interesting that there aren’t any denials and that some people seem to be ducking and running from the media.
Take that for whatever you want.
Of course, the Bruins could extend the suspense, and perhaps even delay a press conference or two, by continuing their playoff run, couldn't they?
———JUST NOTES: F Hunter Shinkaruk won’t play tonight for the Medicine Hat Tigers as they try to even their series with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Shinkaruk has been suspended for one game by the WHL for a hit on Brandon F Brenden Walker in Game 3. Tonight’s game will be played at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. . . . The Wheat Kings are out of their home arena because of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair. . . . The Tigers remain without G Tyler Bunz (concussion) and F Tyler Pitlick (ankle). . . . Former Wheat Kings F Mark Derlago set a franchise record Wednesday by scoring three times to lead the Idaho Steelheads to a 7-2 ECHL victory over the Utah Grizzlies in Boise, Idaho. Derlago finished the regular season with 43 goals, one more than the record he established last season.
———
WEDNESDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:
In Prince Albert, the Raiders got two goals from each of F Igor Revenko and F Brandon Herrod in beating the Saskatoon Blades, 6-3. . . . The Blades lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 in Prince Albert tonight. . . . The Raiders, who lost the first two games in Saskatoon, went back to G Jamie Tucker for this one and he came up with 37 saves. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 44 shots. . . . Attendance was 2,868. . . . The 50/50 was worth $7872.50. . . .
In Moose Jaw, G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 25 shots to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 5-0 victory over the Warriors. . . . That series is 2-2 with Game 5 in Cranbrook on Friday. . . . Three of the first four games have ended in shutouts, with the Warriors twice winning by 4-0 scores. . . . A gem from Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald: “The Civic Centre crowd and the Warriors bench were howling for offside before the opening goal went in. The crowd sarcastically cheered every offside call against the Ice the rest of the evening.” . . . Attendance was 2,744. . . . And here is Gourlie’s injury report: “The Warriors gave defenceman Travis Brown his WHL playoff debut. Matt Franczyk sat in his place. Dallas Ehrhardt (upper body), Cody Beach (knee), Brayden Cuthbert (concussion) along with Matt Grant, Torrin White and Tanner Eberle were all scratched. The Ice only dressed 19 skaters. Drew Czerwonka had his left arm in a sling after taking a big hit in Game 3. Fellow forward Jesse Ismond (upper body) was also out for the second game in a row, along with defenceman Luke Paulsen (shoulder).” . . . The Warriors took 59 of 94 penalty minutes. Gee, do you think this one is starting to heat up? . . .
In Prince George, F Shane McColgan had two goals as the Kelowna Rockets doubled the Cougars 4-2 to sweep that series. . . . The Rockets got off to a 2-0 lead at 3:27 of the second period and were never headed. . . . Kelowna F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan had two assists. . . . The Cougars were again without F Brett Connolly (separated shoulder). . . . Attendance was 2,346. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 33 shots, four more than Prince George’s Ty Rimmer. . . .
In Everett, the Portland Winterhawks erased a 3-2 deficit with two goals 13 seconds apart and went on to beat the Silvertips, 5-4. . . . The Winterhawks lead the series 30 with Game 4 in Everett tonight. . . . Everett D Rasmus Rissanen gave his side a 3-2 lead at 9:40 of the second period, via the PP. . . . But F Nino Niederreiter (17:14) and F Ty Rattie (17:27) erased that lead and sent the Winterhawks on their way. . . . Rissanen had two goals for Everett, while F Landon Ferraro had three assists. . . . Attendance was 2,331 and that is not a typo. . . . Everett G Luke Siemens, playing in place of the injuried Kent Simpson (ankle), stopped 45 shots, including a third-period penalty shot attempt by F Sven Bartschi. . . .
In Spokane, the Chilliwack Bruins scored the game’s last four goals and beat the Chiefs 4-3 in OT. . . . F Kevin Sundher got the winner at 3:20 of extra time after G Lucas Gore had made 54 saves. . . . The Chiefs take a 2-1 series lead into tonight’s fourth game in Spokane. . . . The Bruins, down 3-0, tied it with three third-period goals, from F Ryan Howse (3:04), F Robin Soudek (9:22, PP) and Sundher (11:44). . . . Sundher also had an assist. . . . Spokane G James Reid made 21 saves. . . . Attendance was 4,737. . . . Chilliwack D Tyler Stahl may be looking at a suspension after taking an elbowing major and game misconduct at 15:19 of the second period. . . .
In Vancouver, F Mason Wilgosh had two goals and an assist as the Tri-City Americans beat the Giants 5-1 to sweep the first-round series. . . . Last year, the Americans took out the Giants in the Western Conference final. . . . Vancouver head coach Don Hay hadn’t been swept from a playoff series since 1999-2000 when he was coaching the Americans. . . . Hay and former Portland head coach Ken Hodge remain tied for the most playoff victories (101) in WHL history. . . . Tri-City outshot the home side, 28-18. . . . Attendance was 7,064. . . .
———
WEDNESDAY’S CFB COUNT:
Three minors:
Portland F Brad Ross
Spokane F Brady Brassart (double minor)

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

After Wednesday's games . . .

FIRST ROUND
SASKATOON vs. PRINCE ALBERT
(Series A)
March 26 — Prince Albert 1 at Saskatoon 8 (8,144)
March 27 — Prince Albert 2 at Saskatoon 5 (5,743)
March 30 — Saskatoon 3 at Prince Albert 6 (2,868)
March 31 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
April 2 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
x-April 3 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 5 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
———
RED DEER VS. EDMONTON
(Series B)
March 25 — Edmonton 3 at Red Deer 5 (5,568)
March 26 — Edmonton 1 at Red Deer 5 (6,207)
March 28 — Red Deer 3 at Edmonton 1 (4,964)
March 31 — Red Deer at Edmonton
x-April 2 — Edmonton at Red Deer
x-April 4 — Red Dee at Edmonton
x-April 6 — Edmonton at Red Deer
———
MEDICINE HAT VS. BRANDON
(Series C)
March 25 — Brandon 7 at Medicine Hat 2 (3,866)
March 26 — Brandon 2 at Medicine Hat 5 (3,952)
March 28 — Medicine Hat 3 at Brandon 6 (5,063, Winnipeg)
March 31 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
April 2 — Brandon at Medicine Hat
x-April 4 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
x-April 6 — Brandon @ Medicine Hat
———
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 at Kootenay
April 3 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 5 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
———
PORTLAND VS. EVERETT
(Series E)
March 26 — Everett 0 at Portland 4 (8,363) (Carruth 32)
March 27 — Everett 2 at Portland 7 (6,119)
March 30 — Portland 5 at Everett 4 (2,331)
March 31 — Portland at Everett
x-April 2 — Everett at Portland
x-April 4 — Portland at Everett
x-April 6 — Everett at Portland
———
KELOWNA VS. PRINCE GEORGE
(Series F)
March 25 — Prince George 1 at Kelowna 4 (6,059)
March 26 — Prince George 4 at Kelowna 7 (6,085)
March 29 — Kelowna 7 at Prince George 6 (2,475)
March 30 — Kelowna 4 at Prince George 2 (2,346)
———
SPOKANE VS. CHILLIWACK
(Series G)
March 25 — Spokane 3 at Chilliwack 2 (OT) (2,962) (Kramer, 10:00)
March 26 — Spokane 5 at Chilliwack 0 (3,217) (Reid 26)
March 30 — Chilliwack 4 at Spokane 3 (OT) (4,737) (Sundher, 3:20)
March 31 — Chilliwack at Spokane
April 2 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 3 — Spokane at Chilliwack
x-April 5 — Chilliwack at Spokane
———
TRI-CITY VS. VANCOUVER
(Series H)
March 25 — Vancouver 1 at Tri-City 2 (OT) (3,406) (Ashton 19:57)
March 26 — Vancouver 4 at Tri-City 5 (3,927)
March 29 — Tri-City 4 at Vancouver 0 (7,157) (Owsley 22)
March 30 — Tri-City 5 at Vancouver 1 (7,064)

x — if necessary.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Tuesday . . .

Tri-City goaltender Drew Owsley kicks out a shot while Vancouver
forward Spencer Bennett looks for rebound on Tuesday night.
(Photo by CJ Relke)

THE MacBETH REPORT:
G Juha Metsola (Lethbridge, 2007-08) signed a three-year contract with Tappara Tampere (Finland SM-Liiga). Metsola had a 1.80 GAA and a .941 save percentage in six games with HPK Hämenlinna (Finland SM-Liiga); a 1.48 GAA and a .930 save percentage in two games on loan to Ilves Tampere (Finland SM-Liiga); and, a 3.05 GAA and a .907 save percentage in two games on loan to LeKi Lempäälä (Finland Mestis) this season.
———
The debate on headshots and concussions in hockey isn’t going to go away. If anything, in fact, it is heating up.
Dr. Charles Tator, a prominent Canadian neurosurgeon, told a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday that the IIHF rules on hits to the head should be adapted by North American leagues.
“I’m optimistic that the big attention to this issue will pay big dividends,” Tator said. “We will save the game.”
James Christie of The Globe and Mail was at the news conference. His story is right here.
———
Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette takes a hard look at the QMJHL and concussions, and wonders if the league is doing enough to curtail headshots. Guess what conclusion Hickey reached? That column is right here.
———
The first head-coaching change of the WHL offseason has taken place in Kent, Wash., where the Seattle Thunderbirds dropped Rob Sumner on Tuesday.
Sumner had been part of the Thunderbirds organization for 15 years, the last seven as head coach. He took over from Dean Chynoweth for the 2004-05 season.
The Thunderbirds missed the playoffs in 2009-10, thanks to a 19-41-12 record. And they went 27-35-10 this season, missing the postseason again.
“It was a very difficult decision,” Russ Farwell, Seattle’s general manager and majority owner, told freelance writer Jim Riley, who covers the Thunderbirds for the Seattle Times. “I don’t think we got the most from our team. There were a lot of factors,  but unlike last (season) when we were young and not good enough, this (season) we were in the hunt and I thought we should still be playing at this point.”
If you’re wondering about candidates to replace Sumner, it’s really too early for that.
You can expect Seattle assistant coach Turner Stevenson to be in the pool of candidates.
Mike Caccioppoli of mynorthwest.com has a chat with Farwell right here.
———
The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed a lease with the City for the use of the Multiplex that will replace the Civic Centre as the team’s home in the fall.
According to Carter Haydu of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald: “Under the five-year agreement, the Warriors will pay a base rent of $110,600 per season, or 10 per cent of gate revenues (whichever is greater). This is an increase from the current Civic Centre rental rate of approximately $47,000.”
———
There were 5,063 fans in the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Monday as the host Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3 to take a 2-1 lead in that first-round series. According to the Wheat Kings, that “was the largest turnout for a Wheat Kings game at the MTS Centre.” The Wheat Kings have played 12 games there. . . . The Wheat Kings also report that “it also was the biggest crowd in Winnipeg since 7,042 turned out for Game 6 of the 2004 Eastern Conference quarterfinal against Prince Albert at the Winnipeg Arena.” . . . After seven seasons, the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs have decided not to renew the contract of head coach Darrell Mann. The Mustangs were 32-18-8 this season. Their season ended in a conference final when they were beaten by the La Ronge Ice Wolves. . . . The Everett Silverips will be without concussed forwards Clayton Cumiskey and Parker Stanfield tonight when they play host to Game 3 of their first-round series with the Portland Winterhawks. The Silvertips also are expected to continue to be without G Kent Simpson (ankle). . . . The WHL has hit Chilliwack Bruins F T.C. Cratsenberg with a two-game suspension for a charging major and game misconduct he incurred in Game 2 of a series with the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday. . . . Medicine Hat Tigers F Hunter Shinkaruk won’t play Thursday in Game 4 against the Brandon Wheat Kings in Winnipeg. He is on one of those tbd suspensions. This one was issued under supplemental discipline for a hit on Brandon F Brenden Walker in Game 3 on Monday night.
———
TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Moose Jaw, G  Thomas Heemskerk put up his second shutout in three games as the Warriors beat the Kootenay Ice, 4-0. . . . Heemskerk stopped 28 shots. He had stopped 30 on Friday in a 4-0 Game 1 victory in Cranbrook. . . . The Warriors lead the series 2-1 with a fourth game in Moose Jaw tonight. . . . The Warriors took control on first-period goals by F Spencer Edwards, at 12:15 on a PP, and F Joey Kornelsen at 19:29. . . .  The Warriors were 2-for-5 on the PP; the Ice was 0-for-4. . . . Attendance was 2,714. . . . The Ice lost F Drew Czerwonka in the first period after he was hit by Moose Jaw D Joel Edmundson. Czerwonka didn’t return and his status for tonight isn’t known. . . .
In Prince George, the Kelowna Rockets erased a 5-3 deficit with four straight goals and hung on to beat the Cougars 7-6 . . . . The Rockets lead the series 3-0 and can wrap it up tonight in Prince George. . . . F Mitchell Callahan got the Cougars to within one at 18:45 of the second period and F Brett Bulmer, who is from Prince George, tied it just 13 seconds into the third. . . . F Shane McColgan, at 12:07, and Callahan, at 14:16 on a PP, gave the visitors a two-goal lead. . . . Prince George D Martin Marincin got his guys to within one at 19:23. . . . Attendance was 2,475. . . . The Cougars were without F Brett Connolly (separated shoulder). . . .
In Vancouver, F Adam Hughesman returned from a knee injury to score two goals and lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-0 victory over the Giants. . . . The Americans get their first chance to wrap up the series tonight in Vancouver. . . . G Drew Owsley stopped 22 shots to earn the shutout. . . . Hughesman had 39 regular-season goals. He missed the last 12 games of the regular season and first two games of this series. . . . This is just the second time in their 10-year history that the Giants have trailed 3-0 in a playoff series. They were swept by the Kelowna Rockets in the first round in 2003. That ended Vancouver's second WHL season. . . . The Americans were 3-for-6 on the PP, which both of Hughesman’s goals coming with the man advantage. . . . The Giants were 0-for-4. . . . The Giants had F James Henry, their captain, back in the lineup. He also had been missing with a knee injury.
———
TUESDAY’S CFB COUNT:
None.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

After Tuesday's games . . .

FIRST ROUND
SASKATOON vs. PRINCE ALBERT
(Series A)
March 26 — Prince Albert 1 at Saskatoon 8 (8,144)
March 27 — Prince Albert 2 at Saskatoon 5 (5,743)
March 30 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
March 31 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 2 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
x-April 3 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 5 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
———
RED DEER VS. EDMONTON
(Series B)
March 25 — Edmonton 3 at Red Deer 5 (5,568)
March 26 — Edmonton 1 at Red Deer 5 (6,207)
March 28 — Red Deer 3 at Edmonton 1 (4,964)
March 31 — Red Deer at Edmonton
x-April 2 — Edmonton at Red Deer
x-April 4 — Red Dee at Edmonton
x-April 6 — Edmonton at Red Deer
———
MEDICINE HAT VS. BRANDON
(Series C)
March 25 — Brandon 7 at Medicine Hat 2 (3,866)
March 26 — Brandon 2 at Medicine Hat 5 (3,952)
March 28 — Medicine Hat 3 at Brandon 6 (5,063, Winnipeg)
March 31 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
April 2 — Brandon at Medicine Hat
x-April 4 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
x-April 6 — Brandon @ Medicine Hat
———
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 at Moose Jaw
April 1 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
x-April 3 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 5 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
———
PORTLAND VS. EVERETT
(Series E)
March 26 — Everett 0 at Portland 4 (8,363) (Carruth 32)
March 27 — Everett 2 at Portland 7 (6,119)
March 30 — Portland at Everett
March 31 — Portland at Everett
x-April 2 — Everett at Portland
x-April 4 — Portland at Everett
x-April 6 — Everett at Portland
———
KELOWNA VS. PRINCE GEORGE
(Series F)
March 25 — Prince George 1 at Kelowna 4 (6,059)
March 26 — Prince George 4 at Kelowna 7 (6,085)
March 29 — Kelowna 7 at Prince George 6 (2,475)
March 30 — Kelowna at Prince George
x-April 1 — Prince George at Kelowna
x-April 3 — Kelowna at Prince George
x-April 5 — Prince George at Kelowna
———
SPOKANE VS. CHILLIWACK
(Series G)
March 25 — Spokane 3 at Chilliwack 2 (OT) (2,962) (Kramer, 10:00)
March 26 — Spokane 5 at Chilliwack 0 (3,217) (Reid 26)
March 30 — Chilliwack at Spokane
March 31 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 2 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 3 — Spokane at Chilliwack
x-April 5 — Chilliwack at Spokane
———
TRI-CITY VS. VANCOUVER
(Series H)
March 25 — Vancouver 1 at Tri-City 2 (OT) (3,406) (Ashton 19:57)
March 26 — Vancouver 4 at Tri-City 5 (3,927)
March 29 — Tri-City 4 at Vancouver 0 (7,157) (Owsley 22)
March 30 — Tri-City at Vancouver
x-April 1 — Vancouver at Tri-City
x-April 2 — Tri-City at Vancouver
x-April 5 — Vancouver at Tri-City

x — if necessary.

Sports broadcasting and cable pioneer Chester R. (Chet) Simmons, who served as president of ESPN when it launched in 1979, died of natural causes Thursday, March 25, 2010, in Atlanta. He was 81.
As a founding father of sports television, Simmons started in 1957 with Sports Programs, Inc., which soon evolved into ABC Sports, where he was instrumental in the development of Wide World of Sports. He became president of NBC Sports and later of ESPN and was founding commissioner of the USFL.
— ESPN.com news services, March 26, 2010

THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1981, SPORTS
Copyright 1981/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

The Dawning of the Age of Cable TV

     In the early 1920s, a new medium, radio, and a new monopoly, network broadcasting, burst on an unprepared public and the satraps of the industry were quickly locked in bitter ideological conflict.
   On one side were forces headed by Gen. David Sarnoff, ruler of a conglomerate, Radio Corporation of America. He held that the greatest good the new medium could perform was to move goods. In other words, it should be a giant advertising agency whose entertainment specialties, like the old medicine shows, should be used primarily to sell snake oil, to unclog the pipelines of American's manufactured goods.
   On the other side were the forces of free enterprise, which thought the entertainment should be sold directly to the public at the marketplace, just as stage, screen, sports and penny arcades were. Put your nickel in the slot and see the show. Pay-radio, not advertising — subsidized radio.
******
   Gen. Sarnoff prevailed. He usually did. Pay-radio never came into being. Instead, toothpaste companies controlled the medium. They hired the comics, paid the orchestras, leased the wires. Razor blade companies brought you the World Series. Beer bottlers put on the Wednesday night fights. Pro football broadcasts carried sales pitches for shaving lather.
   When television came in, the old argument reopened. Executives such as Gene McDonald, president of Zenith Radio and Television, argued for selling products direct to home owners. His reasoning: Why should a World Series, which could gross $40 million a day if everybody who watched paid a dollar, sell radio rights for $175,000 and TV rights for $65,000 (as it did then in 1949)?
   McDonald and pay-TV advocates were blocked at every turn, largely by an aggressive mob of 12,000 movie exhibitors whose business was doomed anyway. They collected signatures and stopped pay-TV in its tracks. It was like the buggy-whip manufacturers collecting signatures to prevent the manufacturer of carburetors, but for a while the illusion of "free" TV prevailed. There is no such thing as free TV, actually. You paid for Jack Benny and the World Series, anyway.
******
   But all this is ancient history, Pay-TV is alive and well and proliferating. Only this week the industry, which once held its convention "in a clothes closet in Las Vegas," drew 12,000 conventioneers and 350 exhibitors to its three-day annual gathering in Los Angeles, attesting to its growth and vitality. The business' enemies thought two decades ago they had patted it in the face with a shovel.
   It's called Cable TV today, but it's the same business. Gen. Sarnoff would be aghast. It managed to escape the political buzz-saws of "fee" TV in the nick of time because it happened to be needed. When there proved to be massive pockets of population unreachable by an ordinary TV signal because they were behind mountains or other interrupters, entrepreneurs built community antennas and charged the subscribers for piping the pictures into their living rooms. Not even Gen. Sarnoff could say, "You can't do that!" Nobody could collect signatures to take away television altogether from your home screen. So, pay TV had its foot in the door.
   I had breakfast the other day with a TV executive who has a foot in both doors. Chet Simmons, when I first knew him, was in charge of sports programming for NBC in the days when competition for network sports preeminence made the Dodgers-Giants look like two sisters dancing.
   It's well to remember that the American Football League succeeded where earlier expansion leagues had failed, simply because NBC needed it. No other single factor contributed so much to its success. NBC could not tolerate putting on Sunday afternoon zoo shows while CBS was showing the real Lions and Rams and keeping score.
   Chet Simmons runs an operation called The Total Sports Network, ESPN (for "Entertainment Network") with headquarters in Bristol, Conn., of all places. It's an audacious enterprise bankrolled by Getty Oil. It welcomes advertising, but it distributes its product by cable system, a bit of Roman riding that Gen. Sarnoff never thought of.
   "We are advertising-supported, we generate revenue the same way the three networks do," Simmons said. "We are in affiliate agreements with cable systems. But we are in one business and one business only, we are a program source for the cable industry, that's all we do."
   Where does a 24-hour all-sports network find product? Would you believe televising the NFL draft? Twenty guys sitting around a room for 8-1/2 hours sorting out photographs of kids with 20-inch necks whose classes had graduated from A&M (usually without them). That's entertainment?!
   "Believe it," says Simmons, convincingly. "To our viewers, it's news, it's entertainment, it's suspense." Lyrics by Irving Berlin.
   What do you show at 4 o'clock in the morning. Chet, barroom fights? Reruns of the Cincinnati Bengals picking a linebacker? No. Chet said reruns of an event first programmed live the evening before are as avidly watched by sports fans as Saturday afternoon cowboy movies are by kids. They will watch the same film over and over. Especially if the good guys win.
   Where otherwise do you get product? Well, Simmons notes, the major networks leave an astonishing amount of prime sports footage just lying around. Not Notre Dame-Michigan, the World Series or the Super Bowl, perhaps. But they do leave the college World Series of Baseball and the NCAA golf tournaments.
   Even the famous Notre Dame-Brigham Young basketball playoff of last year was up for grabs. ESPN grabbed it. ESPN has the advantage, too, that it is all sports. It does not have to go pettifogging off after comparative trivialities such as elections, assassinations, wars, revolutions, drownings, floods, and other dilemmatic happenings of the non-world out there. If it doesn't happen between the foul lines, so far as ESPN is concerned it's a non-story.
   Network-station sportscasts usually have a breathless announcer trying to cram in 24 scores, a shouted interview with a third baseman on the way to a shower, and a look at a three-horse spill at Aqueduct, all sounding like Donald Duck interviewing Mel Tellis — film at 11. Rush-hour train-calling at Grand Central is more entertaining — and informative.
   How fair is the box office?
   "In May of 1979, we had a million and a half subscribers," reports Simmons. "In May of 1981, we have 10 million."
   How close is cable TV to bidding competitively against the networks for a World Series, a Super Bowl, the Olympic Games?
   "We are a long way from making money," Simmons said "But, when it was estimated that it would take $400 million to wire the Borough of Queens for pay-TV, 20 applicants bid for the privilege of spending $400 million. So you know what the return is they were looking at. The networks are now looking into cable TV themselves. What does that tell you?"
   It tells me it's a good thing Gen. Sarnoff isn't around to hear it.

Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times.

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

Monday . . .

MONDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:
In Winnipeg, F Shayne Wiebe and F Matt MacKay had a goal and two assists each as the host Brandon Wheat Kings doubled the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3. . . . The Wheat Kings lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled for Winnipeg on Thursday. . . . With the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Westman Place in Brandon, the Wheat Kings were forced to move first-round games to the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. It is the home of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. . . . The Tigers got a goal and two helpers from F Cole Grbavac. . . . Attendance was 5,063. . . . Medicine Hat F Kale Kessy sat out this one. He was suspended for one game after taking a double minor for checking from behind in Saturday’s Game 2. . . . The Tigers also were without G Tyler Bunz (concussion), F Tyler Pitlick (ankle) and D Dylan Busenius (foot). . . . Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun has a story on the game right here. Included is a bit on a third-period hit by Medicine Hat F Hunter Shinkaruk on Brandon F Brenden Walker. The hit went unpenalized, but Walker left the game. . . . Interesting. Penton’s father, Bruce, covered the Wheat Kings for the Brandon Sun in the early 1970s. . . .
In Edmonton, the Red Deer Rebels erased a 1-0 deficit with three third-period goals and beat the Oil Kings, 3-1. . . . F Byron Froese, with two, and F Daulton Siwak scored for Red Deer. Siwak broke a 1-1 tie at 18:08 and Froese provided insurance 20 seconds later. . . . F T.J. Foster had given Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 1:45 of the third. . . . The Rebels lead the series 3-0 with Game 4 scheduled for Thursday in Edmonton. . . . Red Deer F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two assists, giving him a WHL-high seven points in the series. . . . There were something like 23 NHL scouts on hand for the game.
———
MONDAY’S CFB COUNT:
None.
———
JUST NOTES: The 50/50 draw in Saskatoon on Sunday night was won by former WHL players Dan Hulak (Swift Current, Portland, 1997-2001) and Scott McQueen (Red Deer, Saskatoon, 1997-99). They ended up splitting around $44,000. Hulak is the brother of former Blades captain Derek Hulak. . . . F Brett Ferguson of the Red Deer Rebels is the WHL’s player of the week. He had a goal and four assists in the first two games of the Rebels’ series with the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Mac Carruth of the Portland Winterhawks is the WHL’s goaltender of the week after going 2-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .972 save percentage in the first two games of a series with the Everett Silvertips. . . . The NAHL is adding a franchise in Minot, N.D., and there are some former WHLers involved. The Minot Daily News has more right here.
———
Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun speculates on whether the Vancouver Giants will have F James Henry (knee) back for Game 3 of their series with the Tri-City Americans. That game goes tonight in Vancouver; the Americans hold a 2-0 lead. . . . The Giants haven’t allowed Henry to chat with the media. . . . Pap’s story is right here.
———
The best play-by-play man in the history of sports is about to start another season. To get you prepped, here’s a column on Vin Scully by T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times. Don’t miss the good read of the day.

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

What about Bob Brown for president?

The Kamloops Blazers began their WHL offseason by scuttling assistant coaches Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith on Saturday.
Hey, stuff happens when you finish up the creek. Ferguson and Smith both understood the risks when they signed on three years ago, and neither is the least bit interested in slinging mud.
Of course, only time will tell whether those moves are to be followed by more personnel changes.
Obviously, when you miss the playoffs and lose your last eight games changes happen, and when a franchise hasn’t been out of the first round of playoffs since the spring of 1999 — American Beauty won the Academy Award as best picture — there is much work to be done.
Here then is a six-pack of suggestions for those who call the shots for a franchise that is struggling to get up off the canvas . . .
1. Hire a team president.
That someone will live here and oversee every aspect of the operation, thus becoming a face of this franchise.
That was the original plan when the present owners purchased the club in the late summer of 2007.
In October 2007, majority owner Tom Gaglardi said: “I sat down with the league and discussed how the club should be run and that is the advice they have given us — get someone to run the business on a day-to-day basis. We’ll be looking at someone to run the business.”
That, however, never happened.
The new owners separated the hockey and business sides, as they should have, hiring Craig Bonner as general manager over the summer of 2008 and naming Angie Mercuri the executive director of business operations.
Gaglardi is the franchise’s governor and president, but doesn’t live here, rarely attends home games and has more than enough on his plate with his other business interests.
While Bonner runs the hockey operation and Mercuri the business side, there is no one in the office on a daily basis who is at the top of the organizational pyramid. The franchise needs someone there to ask questions — “Why are we doing this? Why aren’t we doing that?” — and make suggestions and to be a sounding board.
Hello, Bob Brown.
The former Blazers general manager, who was fired when the organization chose to go in a different direction after winning three Memorial Cups in four years, scouts for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers and lives in the Lower Mainland. Find out what he wants and give it to him. He may resist at first, but you know he would be intrigued by the opportunity to help restore the franchise to some semblance of past glories.
2. Hire some help for the marketing and communications departments.
The personable Dave Chyzowski, whose title is director of sales and marketing, and Tim O’Donovan, the media and communications co-ordinator who also is the video coach, hardly have time to come up for air.
Chyzowski, who came into the position without any experience, is busier than the legendary one-armed paper hanger.
With so much competition for the entertainment dollar and for leisure time, the marketing department should be treated like fine China. A lot of the time, the marketing people are the face of your product in the community, but they need help in numbers in order to fill that role.
3. Ditch the five-year plan.
I don’t know where it came from — perhaps its genesis was in the five-year contract Bonner signed — but this is not a good idea.
Hey, it’s good to have objectives within an organization. But going public with the fact that you have a five-year plan simply isn’t a good idea. After all, what happens if the franchise still is treading water — or worse, wallowing in the mud — when the five years is up?
Do you clean house and start over? With another five-year plan?
Better to have a series of one-year plans and work to improve at the end of each one-year segment.
4. Change the organization’s approach to 20-year-old players.
Each WHL team is allowed to use a maximum of three 20-year-olds. The rule doesn’t say you have to use three. And a wise man once said that good 20-year-olds are harder to find than hen’s teeth. That’s because many players that age have had their NHL dream die and now are starting to think about life after the WHL.
When your team is battling to restore its competitive credibility, when you know you’re not going to finish in the upper echelon, why trade for 20-year-olds who are going to take playing time away from younger players who need to play in all situations?
The Blazers finished ninth with three 20-year-olds. How much worse could it have been with younger players filling one or more of those spots and getting that experience?
5. Stop trying to trade for leadership.
A team needs to draft character and, as those players mature, the leadership will manifest itself. Those players will grow into the Blazers of the future and, by the time they get here, will know the Blazers way.
For too many years now, this franchise has tried to acquire leadership through trades, something that is virtually impossible to do in the WHL. If a player is strong of character and a leader, why would his original team trade him away?
Finding leaders is kind of like getting potatoes — if you want the best, grow your own.
6. Hire a sports psychologist.
Integrate this individual into the program and make regular use of him/her. Make the sports psychologist available to the players on a 24/7 basis. Hey, if it’s good enough for teams like the Everett Silvertips and Kelowna Rockets, it should be good enough for the Blazers.
Oh . . . one other thing.
Y’er welcome.

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

After Monday games . . .

2011 WHL PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND
SASKATOON vs. PRINCE ALBERT
(Series A)
March 26 — Prince Albert 1 at Saskatoon 8 (8,144)
March 27 — Prince Albert 2 at Saskatoon 5 (5,743)
March 30 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
March 31 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 2 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
x-April 3 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 5 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
———
RED DEER VS. EDMONTON
(Series B)
March 25 — Edmonton 3 at Red Deer 5 (5,568)
March 26 — Edmonton 1 at Red Deer 5 (6,207)
March 28 — Red Deer 3 at Edmonton 1 (4,964)
March 31 — Red Deer at Edmonton
x-April 2 — Edmonton at Red Deer
x-April 4 — Red Dee at Edmonton
x-April 6 — Edmonton at Red Deer
———
MEDICINE HAT VS. BRANDON
(Series C)
March 25 — Brandon 7 at Medicine Hat 2 (3,866)
March 26 — Brandon 2 at Medicine Hat 5 (3,952)
March 28 — Medicine Hat 3 at Brandon 6 (5,063, Winnipeg)
March 31 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
April 2 — Brandon at Medicine Hat
x-April 4 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
x-April 6 — Brandon @ Medicine Hat
———
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 at Moose Jaw
March 30 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
April 1 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
x-April 3 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 5 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
———
PORTLAND VS. EVERETT
(Series E)
March 26 — Everett 0 at Portland 4 (8,363) (Carruth 32)
March 27 — Everett 2 at Portland 7 (6,119)
March 30 — Portland at Everett
March 31 — Portland at Everett
x-April 2 — Everett at Portland
x-April 4 — Portland at Everett
x-April 6 — Everett at Portland
———
KELOWNA VS. PRINCE GEORGE
(Series F)
March 25 — Prince George 1 at Kelowna 4 (6,059)
March 26 — Prince George 4 at Kelowna 7 (6,085)
March 29 — Kelowna at Prince George
March 30 — Kelowna at Prince George
x-April 1 — Prince George at Kelowna
x-April 3 — Kelowna at Prince George
x-April 5 — Prince George at Kelowna
———
SPOKANE VS. CHILLIWACK
(Series G)
March 25 — Spokane 3 at Chilliwack 2 (OT) (2,962) (Kramer, 10:00)
March 26 — Spokane 5 at Chilliwack 0 (3,217) (Reid 26)
March 30 — Chilliwack at Spokane
March 31 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 2 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 3 — Spokane at Chilliwack
x-April 5 — Chilliwack at Spokane
———
TRI-CITY VS. VANCOUVER
(Series H)
March 25 — Vancouver 1 at Tri-City 2 (OT) (3,406) (Ashton 19:57)
March 26 — Vancouver 4 at Tri-City 5 (3,927)
March 29 — Tri-City at Vancouver
March 30 — Tri-City at Vancouver
x-April 1 — Vancouver at Tri-City
x-April 2 — Tri-City at Vancouver
x-April 5 — Vancouver at Tri-City

x — if necessary.

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

The playoff schedule

FIRST ROUND
SASKATOON vs. PRINCE ALBERT
(Series A)
March 26 — Prince Albert 1 at Saskatoon 8 (8,144)
March 27 — Prince Albert 2 at Saskatoon 5 (5,743)
March 30 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
March 31 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 2 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
x-April 3 — Saskatoon at Prince Albert
x-April 5 — Prince Albert at Saskatoon
———
RED DEER VS. EDMONTON
(Series B)
March 25 — Edmonton 3 at Red Deer 5 (5,568)
March 26 — Edmonton 1 at Red Deer 5 (6,207)
March 28 — Red Deer at Edmonton
March 31 — Red Deer at Edmonton
x-April 2 — Edmonton at Red Deer
x-April 4 — Red Dee at Edmonton
x-April 6 — Edmonton at Red Deer
———
MEDICINE HAT VS. BRANDON
(Series C)
March 25 — Brandon 7 at Medicine Hat 2 (3,866)
March 26 — Brandon 2 at Medicine Hat 5 (3,952)
March 28 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
March 31 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
x-April 2 — Brandon at Medicine Hat
x-April 4 — Medicine Hat at Brandon (Winnipeg)
x-April 6 — Brandon @ Medicine Hat
———
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 at Moose Jaw
March 30 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 1 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
x-April 3 — Kootenay at Moose Jaw
x-April 5 — Moose Jaw at Kootenay
———





PORTLAND VS. EVERETT
(Series E)
March 26 — Everett 0 at Portland 4 (8,363) (Carruth 32)
March 27 — Everett 2 at Portland 7 (6,119)
March 30 — Portland at Everett
March 31 — Portland at Everett
x-April 2 — Everett at Portland
x-April 4 — Portland at Everett
x-April 6 — Everett at Portland
———
KELOWNA VS. PRINCE GEORGE
(Series F)
March 25 — Prince George 1 at Kelowna 4 (6,059)
March 26 — Prince George 4 at Kelowna 7 (6,085)
March 29 — Kelowna at Prince George
March 30 — Kelowna at Prince George
x-April 1 — Prince George at Kelowna
x-April 3 — Kelowna at Prince George
x-April 5 — Prince George at Kelowna
———
SPOKANE VS. CHILLIWACK
(Series G)
March 25 — Spokane 3 at Chilliwack 2 (OT) (2,962) (Kramer, 10:00)
March 26 — Spokane 5 at Chilliwack 0 (3,217) (Reid 26)
March 30 — Chilliwack at Spokane
March 31 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 2 — Chilliwack at Spokane
x-April 3 — Spokane at Chilliwack
x-April 5 — Chilliwack at Spokane
———
TRI-CITY VS. VANCOUVER
(Series H)
March 25 — Vancouver 1 at Tri-City 2 (OT) (3,406) (Ashton 19:57)
March 26 — Vancouver 4 at Tri-City 5 (3,927)
March 29 — Tri-City at Vancouver
March 30 — Tri-City at Vancouver
x-April 1 — Vancouver at Tri-City
x-April 2 — Tri-City at Vancouver
x-April 5 — Vancouver at Tri-City

x — if necessary.

Some Sunday stuff . . .

Regular visitors to this site will notice the Twitter feed is missing from the top right corner.
Repeated efforts to get that feed to show the origination of retweets has led me to have it deleted.
When something is retweeted, there should be an avatar appear on the left side, showing where the tweet originated. Unable to get it to work properly, I have chosen to simply delete it.
You are still able to follow me on twitter (twitter.com/gdrinnan) and get tweets and retweets there.
---
THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Max Brandl (Prince Albert, Portland, 2007-09) signed a one-year contract extension with the Landshut Cannibals (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had eight goals and 13 assists in 46 games for the Cannibals this season. . . .
F Ty Morris (Swift Current, Vancouver, Red Deer, 2003-05) signed a one-year contract with the Bietigheim Steelers (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had 17 goals and 29 assists in 42 games with the Landshut Cannibals (Germany 2.Bundesliga) this season.
———
Might F Jaden Schwartz of the Colorado College Tigers end up with the Tri-City Americans? The speculation has started and some of it is right here. The Americans selected him in the eighth round of the 2007 bantam draft.
———
It’s doubtful that many people had a week like the one Dale Saip experienced.
Saip, the Vancouver Giants’ vice-president of business development, was nominated Monday as the federal Conservative candidate for the Lower Mainland riding of Delta Richmond.
But then came a story by Jeff Lee of the Vancouver Sun that detailed Saip’s personal and financial history.
It didn’t take long after that for the Conservative Party to change its mind and move Saip to the sideline.
In Saturday’s Vancouver Sun, columnist Craig McInnes looked at the situation involving Saip and wondered why anyone would want to get involved in Canadian politics.
Having read all of this, and more, on this situation, I’m thinking Saip might well be a great fit as a politician. If nothing else, because of everything he has been through and all that he has dealt with to get here from there, he might be closer to understanding the problems faced almost daily by the average citizen than many of the politicians we see in action these days.
———
SUNDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:
In Saskatoon, the Blades went home with a 5-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders and one fan — or maybe two — took home $44,000. . . . F Brayden Schenn scored twice to lead the Blades, who take a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 in Prince Albert on Wednesday. . . . The 50/50 draw was worth somewhere near $44,000. The total pool during Friday’s first game reached $40,000, with $20,000 of that ticketed for the winner. But no one claimed the pot, so it rolled over to Sunday night and someone went home within around $44,000. . . . Word after the game was that a couple of former WHL players had won the draw. . . . Prince Albert started G Eric Williams, who had come in for starter Jamie Tucker during the opener. . . .
In Portland, F Nino Niederreiter and F Craig Cunningham each scored twice as the Winterhawks dumped the Everett Silvertips, 7-2. . . . Portland won the opener 7-1 on Saturday. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 37 shots. . . . The Silvertips, with starter Kent Simpson unable to dress because of an ankle problem, again went with Luke Siemens in goal. He finished with 39 saves. . . . Attendance was 6,119. . . . The series now shifts to Everett for games on Wednesday and Thursday. . . .
———
SUNDAY’S CFB COUNT:
One minor:
Portland F Riley Boychuk
———
JUST NOTES: John MacNeil of the Brandon Sun is reporting today that Medicine Hat Tigers G Tyler Bunz will sit out at least two more games due to a concussion. Bunz sat out the last two weeks of the regular season with a concussion. He told MacNeil that he got bumped during Brandon’s 7-2 victory in Game 1 and some symptoms returned. . . . Late last night, Bunz tweeted: “Roomin with the other injured Tyler in winnipeg, biggest band aids in the league.” . . . Bunz rooms with F Tyler Pitlick, who is out with a broken ankle. . . . The Tigers and Wheat Kings resume their series — they’re tied 1-1 — tonight in Winnipeg. The Wheat Kings had to move their first-round games to the Manitoba capital because their home arena is occupied by the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair. . . . One other series resumes tonight with the Red Deer Rebels taking a 2-0 lead into Edmonton to play the Oil Kings.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Ferguson: It's just one of those things . . .

The Kamloops Blazers' bench will have a new look next season,
now that the WHL team has decided not to bring back assistant
coaches Geoff Smith (left) and Scott Ferguson (right) to work
alongside head coach Guy Charron.
(Photo courtesy Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was one day in January when the writing on the wall started to become larger and more legible.
That was the day when Scott Ferguson, the Kamloops Blazers’ fulltime assistant coach, went home and talked with his wife, Val, with whom he has three children.
“You know what?” Ferguson told her. “We better start preparing just in case. Because if the team doesn’t make the playoffs . . . potentially there could be changes.”
Well, the Blazers didn’t make the WHL playoffs and Ferguson now is out of work after the Blazers announced Saturday that neither he nor part-time assistant Geoff Smith would be back for a fourth season. Both men are former Blazers defencemen.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me. . . . I could see the writing on the wall,” Ferguson said late Sunday morning. “Now I’m just letting it all sink in.
“It’s just one of those things. You don’t make the playoffs and everybody’s accountable and I’m no different.”
Ferguson, a 38-year-old native of Camrose, Alta., played three seasons with the Blazers (1991-94) and was part of two Memorial Cup winners. During a lengthy professional career, he split 218 NHL games between the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Minnesota Wild. Ferguson played in Germany in 2007-08, and joined the Blazers’ coaching staff the following season.
Ferguson said his three seasons here could best be described by one word.
“It was really disappointing,” he said. “Not just this season, but when I came here I had high hopes. To lose eight straight (playoff games over) the first two years and then not make the playoffs this year, I was really frustrated.
“I think we had a really good team and we just underachieved.”
Asked if that represented failure by the coaching staff under head coach Guy Charron, Ferguson replied: “From my point, I always think I could have done more. We couldn’t get the players to understand or buy in with what we were trying to get them to do.
“Dealing with young players, it’s our responsibility to get them to buy in. We’re telling them, we’re showing them, but obviously something wasn’t working. So it’s a matter of finding a way for them to understand . . . so they can have success.”
When Ferguson and Smith were hired, they worked under head coach Barry Smith. When Smith was fired on Oct. 26, 2009, Ferguson was installed as interim head coach.
At that point, general manager Craig Bonner said the plan was to finish that season with Ferguson and Geoff Smith at the controls. However, majority owner Tom Gaglardi and Bonner travelled to Calgary where they met with Charron, who shortly thereafter was signed as head coach for the remainder of the season. Charron later signed a two-year deal that runs through 2011-12.
The Blazers went 3-6-1 under Ferguson, who feels he and Smith did a good job of getting
“I learned a lot in that month,” Ferguson said. “It was quite a different team. When they let Barry go, there was a lot of uncertainty. It was a matter of getting the guys back believing they were a team. I thought Smitty and I did a pretty good job for the 10 games we had. I would have liked to have gone a little bit further but it wasn’t meant to be.”
One thing Ferguson and Smith did was get defenceman Josh Caron turned around. Caron was ready to walk away from the team, when Ferguson sat down with him and told him, among other things, to relax and have fun with the game.
“It was really nice to see where he went to from that point on,” Ferguson said. “He was a force and he earned his chance with Minnesota.”
Caron went to camp with the Minnesota Wild as a free agent and signed an NHL contract.
This season, Ferguson and Smith got to work with defenceman Brady Gaudet, the 10th pick in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft.
“Gaudet improved by leaps and bounds. He’s a great talent . . . it was fun working with those young guys,” Ferguson said. “I’m definitely going to miss working with the Blazers. There’s a lot of good people in the organization. I had fun going to the rink every day.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have been able to produce more on the ice. It’s too bad it didn’t work out.”
His stint as an interim head coach gave Ferguson enough of a taste that he would love an opportunity to run his own show at some level. And if that level is the WHL, that would be great.
“I would like to try coaching in this league,” he said. “That’s why I came here, to hopefully get a chance to be a head coach. It didn’t work out. It’s something that definitely interests me but it’s something as a family we’ll have to sit down and discuss.
“With a wife and three young kids, it’s only fair to sit back as a family and try and figure out where we want to go. If that means coaching minor hockey, then so be it. I’d love to help kids that way.
“There’s always an avenue to try and help people out through hockey. Now it’s just a matter of seeing what’s in my heart and what my family wants to do and kind of go on from there.”

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

Smith hoping to keep on coaching

When they joined the Kamloops Blazers' coaching staff, Geoff Smith (left)
and Scott Ferguson were hoping for better results than they got.
(Photo courtesy Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Geoff Smith spent Sunday afternoon playing soccer in the backyard.
The day after the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers announced that Smith wouldn’t be back for a fourth season as a part-time assistant coach was for family.
He and girlfriend Kari have four children, ages five to eight, in their blended family, and they will play a part in whatever is in his future.
“I don’t think so,” Smith said when asked if he is done with coaching. “I like to coach. I’d like to keep coaching. Whether something else pops up out of town or not, I’ll have to make some decisions because it’s important to be around my family.”
Smith said he “would have come back” to the Blazers, but “when you miss the playoffs, there need to be some changes made.”
The Blazers, of course, finished tied for ninth and out of the Western Conference playoffs.
“Coaching-wise, it could have been better. It had to be,” Smith said in looking back at the season. “I think we had a very good team on paper. For us to miss the playoffs, we’ve got to take the brunt of the blame.
“The players have responsibility, too . . . making sure they put their best foot forward every night with effort and concentration on the systems and stuff like that. We’re all in it together.
“We’re all responsible . . . sometimes some of us pay the price, or whatever. But we’re all responsible so I totally accept them changing it up.
“I’ve seen it lots in pro hockey and all sorts of different levels of hockey.”
Smith, who turned 42 on March 7, is from Edmonton. A third-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1987 NHL draft, he left the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and played 32 games with the Blazers in 1988-89. He went on to a professional career that included 462 NHL games split among the Oilers, who won the Stanley Cup in his first season, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers.
Smith has been involved at the ownership and management level in various restaurant and nightclub ventures in Kamloops, although he no longer is part of that scene. He has lived in Kamloops for more than 10 years now and was coaching a local bantam team when he joined the Blazers’ coaching staff.
“I really liked it. I liked coaching the young kids.” he said. “I liked being a head coach, too. You have to make all the decisions and planning and all that kind of stuff. It was fun.”
Still, knowing he isn’t tied down by businesses here, he is going to explore his options.
“I’d love to see what’s out there, for sure,” he said. “The higher levels you go, the more competitive it is andI like that challenge.”
And, no matter what happens, he will take the high road.
“I enjoyed my time with the Blazers and I’ll really miss it,” Smith said. “I loved working with the players and I love the game of hockey. I’ll miss it a lot.
“In the end, I have no hard feelings towards the Blazers organization. They treated me fair. And, as I say, we have to take the blame.”
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Taking Note on Twitter

Saturday . . .

Boom! Boom! Out go the lights!!!
If you haven’t seen/heard this, check it out right here.
———
The Kamloops Blazers announced Saturday afternoon that their two assistant coaches won’t be back.
Here is the Blazers’ press release, in its entirety:
“The Kamloops Blazers have announced that Assistant Coaches Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith will not be returning behind the bench this upcoming season.
“Ferguson has decided to pursue Head Coaching opportunities. While part-time Assistant Coach Geoff Smith has decided not to return due to other time considerations.
“Smith and Ferguson were both hired by the hockey club in July 2008 and spent the past three seasons with the Blazers.
“The Kamloops Blazers organization would like to thank Scott and Geoff for their efforts and wish them nothing but success in their future endeavours.”
———
SATURDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:
In Chilliwack, G James Reid stopped 26 shots for the shutout as the Spokane Chiefs dropped the Bruins, 5-0. . . . The Chiefs lead the series 2-0 with Game 3 in Spokane on Wednesday night. . . . The arena in Spokane was booked for an NCAA women’s basketball region this weekend, thus the series opened in Chilliwack even though the Chiefs hold home-ice advantage. . . . The series is following a 2-3-1-1 format. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore stopped 42 shots. . . . Spokane F Darren Kramer, who scored twice including the winner in Friday’s 3-2 OT victory, added another goal. . . . Chilliwack F T.C. Cratsenberg drew a charging major and game misconduct at 19:33 of the third period. . . . Attendance was 3,217. . . .
In Portland, G Mac Carruth stopped 32 shots as the Winterhawks opened a first-round series with a 4-0 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Game 2 will be played in Portland today. . . . Everett remains without G Kent Simpson (ankle), so Luke Siemens started and made 41 stops. . . . Portland had a 19-3 edge in shots in the first period. . . . Attendance was 8,363. . . . F Ryan Johansen had a shorthanded goal and two assists. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., D Tyler Schmidt drew three assists as the Tri-City Americans scored a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . The Americans lead the series 2-0 with Games 3 and 4 in Vancouver on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. . . . F Justin Feser had a goal and two assists for the Americans. . . . Vancouver was 2-for-9 on the PP; the Americans were 1-for-5. . . . Attendance was 3,927. . . .
In Kelowna, the Rockets scored the game’s last four goals, all in the third period, and beat the Prince George Cougars, 7-4. . . . The Rockets take a 2-0 lead into Prince George for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . The Cougars led 4-2 when Kelowna D Tyson Barrie scored at 16:20 of the second. . . . F Cody Chikie made it 4-4 at 7:04 of the third on the PP and F Jessey Astles got the eventual winner at 9:55. . . . Chikie also had two assists, while F Shane McColgan set up three goals. . . . Attendance was 6,085. . . . The Cougars were without F Brett Connolly, their leading scorer and a 2010 first-round draft pick of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. He was injured early in the first period of Game 1 on Friday. Dean Clark, the Cougars’ head coach, said before the second game that Connolly will be evaluated on a daily basis. There is speculation that Connolly has a separated shoulder. . . .
In Red Deer, F Adam Kambeitz had two goals and an assist to lead the Rebels to a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Rebels take a 2-0 lead into Game 3 in Edmonton on Monday. . . . F Brett Ferguson had three assists for Red Deer. . . . Attendance was 6,207. . . .
In Cranbrook, the Kootenay Ice took a 3-0 lead into the third period and went on to beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-2 to tie their series 1-1. . . . They’ll play Game 3 in Moose Jaw on Tuesday. . . . F Max Reinhart’s second-period shorthanded goal stood up as the winner. . . . Moose Jaw cut the deficit to 3-2 on goals from F Spencer Edwards and F Quinton Howden. . . . The Ice put it away when F Joe Antilla and F Brock Montgomery scored empty-netters. . . . Moose Jaw D Dylan McIlrath picked up a charging major and game misconduct at 5:52 of the third period. Warriors assistant coach Trevor Weisgerber also was ejected at that time. . . . Attendance was 2,467. . . .
In Saskatoon, the regular season-champion Blades opened the playoffs with a resounding 8-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . They’ll play in Saskatoon again today. . . . The Blades got two goals from D Dalton Thrower and singles from six others. . . . F Matej Stransky had a goal and three assists, while linemate Chris Collins drew three assists. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford, who once played for the Raiders, stopped 33 shots. He is 7-0 against his former club. . . . Attendance was 8,144. . . . Saskatoon F Brayden Schenn scored once amid speculation that he might be one injury away from joining the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, who selected him fourth overall in the 2009 draft. . . . The Kings have lost F Justin Williams (shoulder) and F Anzi Kopitar (broken ankle) to serious injuries. Were the Kings to experience one more serious injury, they would be able, under emergency recall rules, to recall Schenn. . . . The Raiders will have D Antoine Corbin back for Game 2. He sat out Game 1 as he completed a two-game WHL suspension. . . . The Blades scratched F Ryan Olsen (upper body). . . .
In Medicine Hat, G Deven Dubyk started in place of the injury Tyler Bunz and backstopped the Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The series is 1-1 and heads to Winnipeg for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Thursday. . . . Brandon’s Westman Place, the home of the Wheat Kings, is occupied by the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair. . . . Dubyk made 38 saves as his side was outshot 40-23. . . . Bunz, who didn’t finish Brandon’s 7-2 victory on Friday, sat this one out with an upper body injury. . . . Medicine Hat D Sebastian Owuya, who didn’t have a goal in 66 regular-season games, scored the game’s first goal at 4:59 of the first period. . . . Attendance was 3,952.
———
SATURDAY’S CFB COUNT:
Four minors:
Medicine Hat F Kale Kessy (double minor)
Vancouver F Brendan Gallagher (double minor)

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Taking Note on Twitter

A new edition of DubNation is available. The link is over there on the left.
Enjoy!

Friday . . .

It's over! Kruise Reddick (11) and the Tri-City Americans' fans start celebrating after scoring in OT to beat the visiting Vancouver Giants 2-1 in overtime on Friday night.
(Photo by Doug Love / Tri-City Americans)

Dave Trimmer, who covers the Spokane Chiefs for the Spokane Spokesman-Review, blogged about fighting in hockey after reading the column I posted here yesterday.
Here’s part of what he wrote:
“But in the end, it's all fighting and I wouldn't miss it. The health of all hockey players is more important than short, entertaining mid- ice fisticuffs, no matter what the reason.
“I'm willing to bet that almost every team would take a hit in attendance if there was no fighting, which means it isn't going to be stamped out. The only thing that could hurt worse is if they quit selling beer, although that could lead to smarter fans who understand there is no need for fighting in hockey.”
Trimmer’s blog is right here.
———

FROM FRIDAY’S GAMES (all were openers, with Game 2 in same place tonight):
In Cranbrook, G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 30 shots to help the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 4-0 victory over the host Kootenay Ice. . . . The Warriors led 3-0 after one; in fact, they led 3-0 at 8:01 of the first period. F Quinton Howden scored twice, including once while shorthanded. . . . Attendance was 2,486. . . . Moose Jaw was 0-for-9 on the PP; the Ice was 0-for-4. . . . Moose Jaw scratched F Cody Beach (knee), F Jordan Wyton (undisclosed), F Tanner Eberle (upper body) and F Brayden Cuthbert (concussion). . . . Moose Jaw D Dylan McIlrath, who sat out a day or two of practice during the week, played and was the game’s first star. . . . Moose Jaw F Brett Lyon sat out the third game of a four-game WHL suspension. . . . With the scratches, the Warriors dressed F Torrin White, their first pick in the 2010 draft, and D Brandon Potomak, a second-pick in the same draft. . . . The Ice was without D Luke Paulsen (shoulder). . . .
In Medicine Hat, D Ryan Pulock had two goals and two assists to lead the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 7-2 victory over the Tigers. . . . Pulock is a late 1994-born player; he doesn’t turn 17 until Oct. 6. From Grandview, Man., he put up 42 points in 63 games during the regular season. . . . Attendance was 3,866. The Tigers had sold out all 36 regular-season home games, at 4,006. . . . Brandon was 3-for-8 on the PP; the Tigers were 2-for-6. . . .
In Red Deer, F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and two assists to lead the Rebels to a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Nugent-Hopkins broke a 3-3 tie with two third-period goals, at 14:25 and 15:31. . . . Kevin Lowe, the president of the NHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, who will have an early pick in June’s draft, was in the house. . . . F Josh Cowen (broken hand) returned to the Rebels’ lineup. He had been out since Feb. 19 when he was injured in a game against the visiting Kamloops Blazers. D Josh Caron, who was penalized for checking from behind on the play, served a three-game suspension. . . . Attendance was 5,568. . . .
In Kelowna, F Geordie Wudrick broke a 1-1 tie at 7:24 of the third period and the Rockets went on to a 4-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan had two goals for the Rockets, the last one into an empty net. . . . The Rockets were 2-for-7 on the PP; the Cougars were 0-for-2. . . . Prince George F Brett Connolly left early in the first period with an apparent arm injury and didn’t return. . . . The Cougars were penalized for delay of game on three occasions, each time for shooting the puck out of play from the defensive zone. . . . Attendance was 6,059. . . .
In Chilliwack, F Darren Kramer scored twice, including the winner at 10:00 of OT, as the Spokane Chiefs beat the Bruins, 3-2. . . . Kramer, who had seven goals and 306 penalty minutes in 68 regular-seaosn games, is a 19-year-old from Peace River, Alta. . . . He also drew an assist on F Tyler Johnson’s goal that tied the game 2-2 at 3:45 of the third. . . . . This was Kramer’s first multi-point WHL game. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore stopped 60 shots, while James Reid of the Chiefs turned aside 22. . . . Attendance was 2,962. . . . The start of the overtime period was delayed almost 15 minutes due to technical problems in the video review booth. . . . The Chiefs go in as the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed and with home-ice advantage in the first round. But they had to open on the road because there is an NCAA women’s basketball regional tournament being played in their home arena this weekend. . . . The series will follow a 2-3-1-1 format. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., F Carter Ashton scored with 2.2 seconds left in the first OT period to give the Tri-City Americans a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Ashton, on the power play, directed the puck toward the Vancouver net out of a corner and it had glance off G Mark Segal and into the net. . . . Vancouver F Andrej Stastny was off for tripping at the time. . . . F Brendan Rowinski gave the Giants a 1-0 lead with a PP goal at 17:39 of the first period. . . . F David Conrad tied it at 7:55 of the third. . . . Attendance was 3,406. . . . Segal stopped 44 shots, 19 more than Tri-City’s Drew Owsley. . . . The Giants were without F James Henry (knee) and he isn’t expected to play in Game 2. F Michael Burns (concussion) and D Tyler Hart (shoulder) were back in Vancouver’s lineup. . . . The Americans remain without F Adam Hughesman (knee), who had 39 goals.
———
D Tyson Barrie of the Kelowna Rockets has signed a three-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche, which selected him in the third round of the 2009 NHL draft. According to capgeek.com, Barrie’s AHL salary would be US$67,500 for each of three seasons, with NHL salaries of $615,000, $690,000 and $840,000. He got a $270,000 signing bonus, payable over three years.
———
JUST NOTES: The Kamloops Blazers have extended the contracts of Matt Recchi, their director of player personnel, and head scout Ken Fox. Lengths of the extensions weren’t announced. Both men have been with the Blazers since July 2008. Recchi works out of Kamloops, while Fox lives in Holdfast, Sask. . . Former WHL G Jacob DeSerres (Seattle, Brandon, 2005-10) stopped 19 shots as his Saint John Sea Dogs opened the QMJHL playoffs with a 10-0 victory over the visiting Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday night. . . . Laury Ryan has announced his resignation after eight seasons as president of the Saskatchewan junior league. The league now is accepting applications as it searches for a replacement. . . .
———
Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun went to an OHL playoff game in Mississauga on Thursday night. He wasn’t impressed, which makes one wonder what is in store for the Memorial Cup that is to be played there in May. In fact, after reading this one wonders if Buffery’s ex-wife will get the Memorial Cup tickets. Buffery’s piece is right here.

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Taking Note on Twitter

It turns out that the stick figure that is San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum works hard at trying to get his weight up. He told Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY that he dines regularly at In-N-Out burger outlets. He orders up two double-doubles, two fries and a milkshake. Which adds up to more than 3,000 calories. “I’ve gone away from eating more cheeseburgers,” Lincecum said, “and just adding patties.” . . . It worked, too, because he gained 11 pounds, to 168. . . . And his cholesterol level is over the moon. . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Former boxing champ Christy Martin suffered knife and bullet wounds in a fight started by her husband, who was upset because Christy told him she was leaving him for a woman. Now there’s a country song that will pretty much write itself.” . . .
Is there a pro athlete with a bigger heart than Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki? So far, he has donated US$1.2 million to earthquake/tsunami relief in Japan. . . . And a tip of the hat to Vernon’s Chris Baryla for pledging US$1,000 and half his Nationwide Tour earnings from this week to Red Cross Canada and its Japanese relief effort. . . . Larry Brooks, in the New York Post: “This just in: Gary Bettman says the citizens of Glendale, Ariz., will be required to absorb the cost of bonds so that the Blues can remain in St. Louis. The mayor of Glendale endorses the commissioner’s position.” . . .
The Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Academy will be in Vancouver, June 27-29, and Prince George, July 4-6. For more information, visit bluejays.com. Click on community and then amateur baseball. . . . Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, running back Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings called the business of the NFL ‘modern-day slavery.’ So that explains Paul Allen’s odd decision to replace the Seahawks’ modern charter jetliner with a creaky old ship with long wooden oars.” . . . A tweet from Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register: “Matt Cooke has made more heads hurt than Jack Daniels.” . . . WYFF4.com supplies breaking news to the Greenville, S.C., area. And it is there that the frontrunner as headline of the year appeared last weekend — Deputy: Strip Search Finds Crack Between Buttocks. . . .
The WHL playoffs have arrived. We know that because forward Matt Fraser of the Kootenay Ice explained it to Matt Coxford of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. “We’ve all been frantically trying to dye our hair (black) the past couple of days to get everything in place,” Fraser said, “and we’ve told all our girlfriends that we’re not going to be talking to them for a while because we’ve got business to take care of.” . . . You will note that Fraser specified “talking” and didn’t say anything about Facebooking or texting. . .
So what will it mean should Chad Ochocinco earn a spot with the MLS’s Sporting Kansas City? Well, here’s Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald: “If he makes it, this means vuvuzelas will be only the second-most annoying thing at a soccer match.” . . . The World Baseball Challenge is back in Prince George for a second run this summer (July 8-19) and the Beijing Tigers confirmed this week that they will be among the teams competing. The Tigers formed the nucleus of the host team for the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing. . . . The Tigers were to have played in the inaugural WBC, in 2009, but cancelled when the H1N1 virus reared its ugly head. . . . I’m hearing that Kevin Tillie, the TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball team’s superb outside hitter, may not be back for a third season. A couple of NCAA schools, USC and BYU, are said to be interested in him. Tillie, who is from Cagnes Sur Mer, France, was a second-team all-Canadian this season. . . .
Craig Slater, a sports writer with the Regina Leader-Post, chatted during a media scrum with Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly the other day. Mattingly’s brother, Randy, was the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ backup QB in 1974 and ’75. Here’s Don: “I was up in Saskatchewan once to see (Randy) play. That Ronnie Lancaster, wow, what a player. For all of you (media) who don’t know who Ronnie Lancaster is, he’s a football legend in Canada. Randy didn’t play much, and that’s all because of Ronnie Lancaster. Man, that guy was a heck of a player.” . . . Outfielder Tyson Gillies of Kamloops has more hamstring problems. He’s in the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league camp but that left hamstring injury that cut short last season, has knocked him out to the sideline again. “Yep,” he told The Daily News in an email this week. “Never healed properly apparently. Very frustrated.” . . . According to the Phillies, he is day-to-day, and it isn’t know if he’ll be ready to open the season with the Class AA Reading Phillies. . . .
With third Jeanna Schraeder stepping aside to have a baby, Kelowna skip Kelly Scott has added Dailene Sivertson to her women’s curling team. Sivertson, from Victoria, is a three-time B.C. junior champion, winning her most-recent title on Dec. 30 by beating Corryn Brown of Kamloops. . . . Stan Van Gundy, the head coach of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, isn’t about to shed any tears for the oft-complaining members of the Miami Heat. As he told the Orlando Sentinel: “My suggestion would be if you don’t want the scrutiny, you don’t hold a championship celebration before you’ve even practised together.”

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

Thursday . . .

The WHL playoffs are here.
They officially arrived courtesy of a quote from Kootenay Ice F Matt Fraser, 20, who told Matt Coxford of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman:
"We've all been frantically trying to dye our hair (black) the past couple of days to get everything in place, and we've told all our girlfriends that we're not going to be talking to them for a while because we've got business to take care of.”
When hockey players tell their girlfriends to take a timeout, you know things are serious!
It will be interesting to watch goings-on with the Ice in these playoffs, too.
General manager Jeff Chynoweth made the big deal on Jan. 9 to land F Cody Eakin. It will be interesting to see now how the Ice and its fan respond with the playoffs here.
———
Some numbers, courtesy of capgeek.com:
F Garrett Mitchell of the Regina Pats signed a three-year deal with the Washington Capitals, who selected him in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2009 draft. He gets a US$67,500 salary in the AHL, an NHL salary of $575,000 each season, and a $150,000 signing bonus, payable over three years.
G Calvin Pickard of the Seattle Thunderbirds has signed a three-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche, which grabbed him in the second round of the 2010 draft. His AHL salary each season is locked in at $67,500, with NHL salaries of $790,000, $840,000 and $900,000. His signing bonus totals $270,000 over three season.
D Dylan McIlrath of the Moose Jaw Warriors, the 10th overall pick in the NHL’s 2010 draft, signed a three-year deal with the New York Rangers. His AHL salary would be $67,500 each season, with NHL salaries of $650,000, $650,000 and $900,000. Like Pickard, he got a $270,000 signing bonus, payable over three years.
———
With Portland having finished atop the Western Conference and about to open a first-round series with the Everett Silvertips, Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune take a look at how far the Winterhawks have come since ‘those’days. . . . And it is quite interesting to read about the plans the Winterhawks have for Memorial Coliseum.
That piece is right here.
———
D Mike Reddington of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has joined the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. Reddington, 20, signed a tryout agreement after putting up 23 points and 99 penalty minutes in 68 games with the Hurricanes this season. . . . D Antoine Corbin of the Prince Albert Raiders will sit out Saturday’s opener of their series with the Saskatoon Blades. That’s the second game of a two-game suspension he incurred for a kneeing major last weekend. He plans on being back for Game 2 in Saskatoon on Sunday. . . . F Justin Dowling of the Swift Current Broncos has signed an amateur tryout contract with the Abbotsford Heat, the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames. Dowling, 20, had 67 points in 63 games with the Broncos this season. . . .
Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that the Warriors may not have F Cody Beach (knee) or F Jordan Wyton (undisclosed) for tonight’s opener in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice. Also missing will be F Brayden Cuthbert (concussion) and F Brett Lyon (WHL suspension). . . . The Ice is without D Luke Paulsen (shoulder), but F Brock Montgomery (hip) is back after missing 11 games. Montgomery will be anxious for this serious because he is from Moose Jaw. . . . Dale Saip, the Vancouver Giants’ vice-president of business development, won’t be running for the federal Conservatives in Delta-Richmond, after all. After a story broke on the Lower Mainland detailing past financial difficulties, the Conservatives revoked Saip’s nomination. Martin van den Hemel of the Richmond Review has that story right here.
———
Today’s good read comes from Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who has noticed that some game officials are so empowered that they can even create time.
Check it out right here.

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Taking Note on Twitter

Concussions, CTE mean it's time for fighting to go

The time has come to rid major junior hockey of fighting.
There. I said it.
And you know what?
It doesn’t feel half bad. In fact, it feels pretty good.
Having been around the WHL for more than 30 years, I have long been a drinker of the Kool-Aid. When hockey people would say that fighting is an integral part of the game, that a fight could swing a game’s momentum one way or the other, that players rarely got injured in a fight, I would nod my head in agreement.
Fighting, the hockey lifers will tell you, has always been part of the game.
And it has been. Just like the centre-ice red line. And goaltenders handling the puck without restrictions. And obstruction. And one referee.
But now it’s time for fighting to go.
Why?
Because the time has come for the WHL to rid its game of headshots. It has to do this because it is imperative that it do more to protect its young players from concussions.
And it would be hypocritical to invoke a ban on headshots and not take fighting out of the game.
How can you ban headshots while saying it’s OK for two players to stand there and punch each other in the face?
My thinking started to change about the time that researchers at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Boston University School of Medicine revealed that an examination of the brain of former NHLer Reggie Fleming, a disturber in the 1960s who died in 2009, showed indications of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Then, in the last while, the same researchers found CTE in the brain of former NHL enforcer Bob Probert.
That, along with some on-ice happenings, has made headshots and concussions the hot-button topic in and around hockey at all levels.
Also influencing my thinking were incidents involving Sidney Crosby and Killian Hutt, Zdeno Chara on Max Pacioretty, Matt Cooke on Marc Savard and on and on.
And then came an email from the mother of a WHL player. She expressed concern over the number of concussions and head injuries in the WHL this season, a figure that now has reached at least 100. This wasn’t your ordinary email, because it came from a professional who provided documentation, some of it frightening, to every statement she made.
It is most obvious that, while the study of concussions and their long-term effects is in its infancy, head injuries no longer can be looked at in the short term. Studies that have been done contain too many words and phrases like “ongoing impairment” and “recurrent or cumulative damage” and “chronic neurocognitive impairment” and “early onset of dementia.”
During the 2009-10 season, a group of medical professionals, including Dr. Charles Tator, who is considered Canada’s pre-eminent expert on sport concussions, put together the Hockey Concussion Education Project, a study involving “67 male fourth-tier ice hockey players from two teams.”
Physicians involved attended 52 regular-season games involving junior-aged players and observed 21 concussions to 17 players. “A concussion was diagnosed in 19 (36.5 per cent) of 52 observed games,” the resulting report reads.
It is interesting, too, that “no concussions that occurred in practices were reported by either team during the study. Previous sport concussion studies demonstrated that concussion predominantly occurs in game situations.”
The professionals involved in this study, however, ran into some problems.
As they reported: “Complaints by coaches, players and parents concerning the inconvenience of multiple physician visits for serial testing and evaluation were common. The reluctance to report concussion symptoms and to follow such protocols likely results from certain cultural factors such as athletes asserting their masculinity by playing through the discomfort of an injury, and the belief that winning is more important than the athlete’s long-term health.”
The report summarized that “the incidence of concussion in fourth-tier junior ice hockey players was significantly greater than has previously been reported in the literature for this age group.”
Another report — this one by Drs. Jeffrey S. Kutcher, Christopher C. Giza and Anthony G. Alessi, titled simply Sports Concussion — concludes with this:
“Increasing animal and human data suggest that the developing brain’s reaction to concussive injury is distinct from the mature brain, and that age-specific clinical guidelines for concussion management be developed, with perhaps a more conservative approach to assessment and recovery.”
You don’t have to look very hard to find warning signs and lots of them.
According to one study involving U.S. college football players, those who suffered one concussion “were 3.4 times more likely than uninjured teammates to sustain a subsequent concussion during the same season.”
And then there is this from a study titled Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A Potential Late Effect of Sport-Related Concussive and Subconcussive Head Trauma:
“A minority of cases with neuropathologically documented CTE developed dementia before death; the relative infrequency of dementia in individuals with CTE may be due in part to many individuals with CTE having committed suicide or died from accidents or drug overdoses at an early age.”
Unfortunately, the only way to diagnose CTE is through the examination of a brain, although efforts are being made, according to this report, “to identify biomarkers to detect the disease and monitor its progression and to develop therapies to slow or reverse its course.”
In the meantime, the WHL, indeed all of hockey, owes it to the athletes to do more to protect them from themselves.
“It is widely accepted that the symptomatic effects of up to 90 per cent of concussions are short-lived, lasting only seven to 10 days,” reads the report titled Sports Concussion. “This viewpoint puts sports concussion in the light of being a transient phenomenon with little or no long-lasting effects. There is increasing concern, however, that this may not be the case.”
It is imperative, then, that the WHL and other junior hockey leagues err on the side of caution and work harder to get headshots — and fighting — out of the game. According to hockeyfights.com, there were more than 800 fights in the WHL’s  792 regular-season games in 2010-11.
The adults charged with the care of these players must do all they can to protect their charges.
It is becoming more and more evident that the cost of not doing so is far too high.

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