TNSE refers to True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd., which owns the NHL's Winnipeg Jets. There have

That speculation heated up a few months ago with rumours that TNSE had been kicking the tires that belong to the Kootenay Ice.
Toth, on The Upperdeck Sports Show, threw more stuff into the rumour mill last night.
Toth, who said he had been working on the story since the weekend, told his audience that he had heard a deal had been struck to bring a WHL franchise to the Manitoba capital. He was told yesterday by TNSE, he said, that the rumour was "1,000 per cent false."
"I can confirm there is no deal in place," Toth said.
He added that "another meeting did take place" between TNSE and a WHL franchise at some point over the "last two to three weeks," and that this meeting was precipitated by the franchise.
Toth said that this franchise is "different from the first one."
TNSE, he stated, is not actively seeking a team right now, but "continues to do due diligence with all opportunities that come forward."
"That," Toth said, "is where it sits right now. There is no deal and nothing currently going on."
Toth said he had asked TNSE if chairman Mark Chipman would comment and was told he wouldn't "because there's nothing going on."
Toth did reference the recent sale of the Saskatoon Blades, which he said was for $9 million, and also mentioned having heard a rumour that the Regina Pats are "to be sold by December for $7 million." Of course, rumours involving the sale of the Pats have been around for more than a few years.
So . . . here we go again. Let the speculation begin. Which WHL team may have inititiated contact with the owners of the Winnipeg Jets?
For starters, eliminate the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders and Swift Current Broncos, the four community-owned teams. As stated numerous times previously, each of those communities understands the value of its franchise and knows full well that if it leaves it won't be coming back.
I asked Ice owner Jeff Chynoweth on Wednesday afternoon if he had been in touch with TNSE recently and he responded: "Nope . . . don't know where all that is coming from."
So that leaves . . .
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2. Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjedal "chose the wrong path." Yawn! Surely there isn't any surprise here. Ho hum! Let's move on.

The Royals, however, will have F Steven Hodges in their lineup for the first time this weekend. A third-round pick by the Florida Panthers in the 2012 NHL draft, Hodges is coming off offseason leg surgery.
You are free to wonder how it is that we know that Hodges had leg surgery, while all we know about Hicketts is that he had upper-body surgery.
According to the Victoria Times Colonist:: "Hicketts, touted as a first- or second-round pick for the 2014 NHL draft, was injured last weekend in a game against the Kelowna Rockets. In 15 games this season, Hicketts has four goals and five assists and is a team-best plus-5."
The Royals are at home to the Red Deer Rebels on Friday and Saturday nights.
4. The QMJHL's Saint John Sea Dogs have named Ross Yates as their new head coach. Yates and head scout Christian Vermette will serve as co-general managers. They replace Mike Kelly, who was fired on Tuesday. . . . Yates has been an assistant coach with the Sea Dogs for two seasons. Before that, he was the head coach of the AHL's Syracuse Crunch for four seasons. . . . Vermette is in his fourth season as Saint John's head scout.
5. The NFL's public relations machine was hard at work in the Chicago area on Tuesday. Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, was there. So was Associated Press sports columnist Jim Litke. The result is right here.
6. The OHL handed out a couple of stiff sentences on Wednesday. both resulting from incidents in Oct. 25 games. . . . F Damian Bourne of the Mississauga IceDogs has drawn a 10-game suspension for a damaging headshot against the Oshawa Generals. If you haven't seen the video, it's right here. . . . F Cameron Brace of the Owen Sound Attack, meanwhile, drew eight games for a headshot in a game with the Plymouth Whalers.
7. To pay donors for organs, or not to pay? That is a question making the rounds these days, thanks to a study done by U of Calgary researchers. . . . Margaret Somerville, founding director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University in Montreal, ponders the subject right here.
As I sit here and watch, and help as much as I can, my wife, Dorothy, recover from a Sept. 23 kidney transplant, I ponder that question. And I keep coming back to a conversation we had with the transplant surgeon just three days before surgery.
In the months leading up to this, I had come across a story on the Internet that was from an American newspaper and included the names of donors and recipients who had been involved in a kidney exchange that included, if I recall correctly, six or eight people.
I asked the surgeon why, in Canada, the names of donors and recipients, especially the donors, are so closely guarded. His response: "We want people to do this for the right reason."
The more Dorothy and I have discussed the option of paying donors for organs, the more we come back to "the right reason."
And the more we talk about it the more we believe "the right reason" is the best option.
8. When the St. Louis Cardinals look back and wonder what went wrong in Game 6 of the World Series, they need only look at the second inning. Runners on first and second with no one out in a scoreless game and the next two hitters aren't able to advance the runners. Talk about wasted at-bats. The runners later moved over on a wild pitch but it was all for naught when Boston starter John Lackey notched another strikeout. . . . This is the Big Show. You simply can't waste your at-bats; you have to get the runners over. . . . In hindsight, the Cardinals lost any chance they had of taking control right there. . . . Thankfully, the World Series is over, which means no more beard jokes.
9. The Detroit Red Wings went into Vancouver and beat the Canucks 2-1 last night. Here's a tweet from Blake Price (@blakeprice1040): "Bottom 6 forwards of the Canucks all played under 10 minutes... I don't think you could find that another time in the NHL all season."
WEDNESDAY NIGHT:







From Boston Police Dept. (@boston police), at 10 p.m. ET: "Anyone who is not in a bar and does not have a ticket to the game must leave the permitter (sic) area around #Fenway."
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