Good Friday . . .

ADAM TAYLOR

In Victoria, F Adam Taylor scored his third goal of the playoffs 48 seconds into the second overtime period Friday night to give the Salmon Kings a 2-1 victory over the Utah Grizzlies. . . . The Salmon Kings, who are dead things walking, swept the second-round ECHL series and now will meet the Alaska Aces in the Western Conference final. . . . F Simon Ferguson gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 2:44 of the first period on a PP. . . . F Keil McLeod pulled Victoria into a tie at 18:55 of the second period. . . . Victoria G David Shantz stopped 40 shots, 10 fewer than Utah’s Jean-Philippe Lamoureux. . . . Attendance was 6,095. . . . The Salmon Kings went into these playoffs as the Western Conference’s seventh seed. The top-seeded Aces beat the host Idaho Steelheads 4-0 on Friday to sweep that series. . . . The Salmon Kings, of course, are in their final season, at least in Victoria, after the WHL made it official this week that the Chilliwack Bruins are on their way to the B.C. capital.
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Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist started his game story:
“It took seven years, news of their demise and even comparisons to the movie Slap Shot, for the Victoria Salmon Kings to finally capture the imagination of the city.
“A season-high crowd of 6,295, attracted by cheap tickets, a Marty the Marmot mascot bobblehead giveaway, and the playoff success of the Salmon Kings, was electric with excitement during Friday night's tension-laden ECHL playoff game at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The Salmon Kings won 2-1 in overtime.”
Dheensaw’s story is right here.
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The Nashville Predators beat the host Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in an NHL playoff game Friday night. And you can bet that the winning goal brought a smile to the face of Prince George Cougars head coach Dean Clark. . . . The winner came off the stick of F Jerred Smithson after a nifty pass from F Jordin Tootoo. . . . Smithson was a member of the 1998-99 WHL-champion Calgary Hitmen, with Clark as the head coach. Tootoo played four seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Clark was the head coach for two of those (2001-03).
Clark just happened to be in Anaheim on Friday, too. The WHL is holding its annual California camp and Clark is there as one of the coaches. He did see the winning goal, but it wasn’t live. Rather, he was at the ESPN Zone. . . . The other coaches at the Anaheim camp are Bruno Campese (Prince Albert Raiders), Don Hay (Vancouver Giants) and Derek Laxdal (Edmonton Oil Kings).
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Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey Inc., brought a few NCAA Division I coaches to Spruce Grove, Alta., recently. While there, there were presentations to players and their families. Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal has the story right here.
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THE COACHING GAME: Paul Baxter has joined the NAHL’s Wichita Falls Wildcats as head coach, general manager of hockey operations and partner. The deal is effective May 1. Baxter had been with the NAHL’s Wenatchee Wild from 2008 until he was released midway through this season. That position later was filled by former WHL coach John Becanic, who left his spot as assistant coach with the Vancouver Giants to join the Wild. With the Wildcats, Baxter replaces Mark LeRose whose contract wasn’t renewed. LeRose was an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips in 2009-10. . . . Rick Brodsky, who owns the Prince George Cougars, is the president/owner of the Wildcats. . . . Nate Leaman is the new head coach of the Providence College Friars. Leaman, who was the head coach at Union College, was named the NCAA Division 1 coach of the year by the American Hockey Coaches Association last week. He replaces Tim Army, who resigned after six seasons with the Friars. Rick Bennett, associate head coach under Leaman, has been named the head coach at Union. . . .
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Capgeek.com reports that Kelowna Rockets F Brett Bulmer, who has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, will get US$67,500 as an AHL salary, with NHL salaries of $740,000, $790,000 and $900,000. His signing bonus is $270,000 over three years. . . . Bulmer has joined the AHL’s Houston Aeros for the duration of the season. . . . The Aeros, meanwhile, signed Kelowna D Colton Jobke to an amateur tryout. . . . Houston swept the Peoria Rivermen from the first round of playoffs and is waiting for the winner of a series between the Milwaukee Admirals and Texas Stars. Milwaukee won 2-1 in overtime on the road Friday and takes a 3-2 series lead back home for Game 6 on Monday.
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An interesting email hit the inbox today, and here it is, in its entirety:
Conspiracy theory — Were the owners of the Calgary Hitmen "encouraged" by the WHL executive to place their AHL farm team within a 30-minute drive of Chilliwack, so that there would be "plausible cause" to move the Bruins to Victoria? I have always wondered why one of the league's members would do such a thing. Remember that the WHL said in February 2009 that it was looking to move an established team into Victoria. Sixteen months later, there is a building in Abbotsford and an AHL team playing in it. . . .”
Hmmm . . .
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FRIDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:





In Medicine Hat, F Cody Eakin scored in OT to give the Kootenay Ice a 6-5 victory over the Tigers. . . . It was the first game of the Eastern Conference final, with Game 2 set for tonight in Medicine Hat. . . . Eakin scored his fourth goal of these playoffs at 5:59. . . . This was a wild one, with the Ice leading 2-0 at 11:01 of the first period and 3-1 after one. . . . The Tigers then scored the next three goals, two of them by F Emerson Etem. . . . Ice F Matt Fraser tied it at 7:13 of the third. . . . Medicine Hat F Wacey Hamilton gave his side a 5-4 lead on the PP at 10:03. . . . Fraser forced OT with a PP goal at 18:05. . . . Fraser now has 12 goals. He had two goals and two assists on this night. . . . Ice F Max Reinhart had a goal, his eighth, and two helpers. . . . The Tigers got two goals and an assist from F Linden Vey. . . . Vey has a WHL-leading 24 points. He and Fraser lead in goals, each with 12. . . . Ice D Brayden McNabb had one assist. He leads the WHL with 13. . . . The Ice now is 8-0 in these playoffs when it scores the game’s first goal. . . . It’s worth noting, too, that Ice F Drew Czerwonka and F Erik Benoit each scored his first goal of these playoffs. . . . Injuries have limited Czerwonka, who had 14 regular-season goals among his 43 points, to six playoff games. Benoit had four goals in 52 regular-season games. . . . Ice G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 30 shots, one fewer than Medicine Hat’s Tyler Bunz. . . . The Tigers were 2-for-6 on the PP; the Ice was 1-for-5. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . You can bet that this was one to remember for Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth. It was the third anniversary of the death of his father, former WHL commissioner Ed Chynoweth.
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In Portland, F Levko Koper’s second-period goal stood up as the winner as the Spokane Chiefs opened the Western Conference final with a 2-1 victory over the Winterhawks. . . . The second game will be played Sunday in Portland. . . . Spokane F Brady Brassart, who had eight goals in 65 regular-season games, scored his first of the playoffs at 2:11 of the first period. . . . Brassart scored off a rebound of a shot by F Marek Kalus. Brassart hadn’t played since the first game of the Chiefs’ series against the Tri-City Americans; Kalus last played in Game 5 of a first-round series against the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . Koper made it 2-0 at 4:25 of the second on the PP. . . . Portland F Ryan Johansen got his side to wthin one at 19:36 of the third period. . . . Spokane G James Reid stopped 27 shots, 14 fewer than Portland’s Mac Carruth. . . . Spokane was 1-for-4 on the PP; Portland was 0-for-3. . . . Attendance was 7,642. . . . The Chiefs played without F Tyler Johnson, the WHL’s second-leading regular-season scorer. He sat out a one-game suspension for a kneeing major in Game 6 of their series with the Americans. . . . With Johnston out, Spokane head coach Don Nachbaur also scratched F Mitch Holmberg, and went with Brassart and Kalus.
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FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
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Fear of unknown not a problem for Salmon Kings

ADAM TAYLOR

There aren’t any bench-clearing brawls and none of the Hanson brothers or Reggie Dunlop is anywhere in sight.
But it’s hard not to think about the Charlestown Chiefs of the Federal League when you examine the plight of the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings.
On Wednesday morning, the WHL held a news conference in Victoria’s 7,000-seat Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre to announce that the Chilliwack Bruins are leaving the Fraser Valley and moving to the B.C. capital.
It was kind of like watching folks tap-dancing on a grave as CHEK-TV showed the news conference live from Victoria. Two teams were being killed off in order for the WHL to stake its claim on the capital.
While everyone was smiling in Victoria, moving vans were inside Prospera Centre in Chilliwack, taking gear and supplies from dressing rooms and storage rooms, removing video screens from the scoreclock, taking equipment out of the media box. . . .
The SOFMC has been home to the Salmon Kings for five seasons now. No details were made public yesterday, but it’s assumed that relationship will end when the Salmon Kings play their final game this season.
The Bruins have been purchased by Vancouver-based RG Properties, a real estate development company that just happens to own the Salmon Kings. The $5.5-million deal closed Tuesday. RG Properties holds the management contract for the SOFMC and for Prospera Place in Kelowna.
Ironically, the Salmon Kings played last night, taking to the ice for a playoff game against the visiting Utah Grizzlies about seven hours after the WHL made official what had been known unofficially for a few weeks. The Salmon Kings, who are bound and determined not to go gently, beat Utah 3-2 in overtime — before 3,691 fans — and now lead the best-of-seven second-round series 3-0. Taylor set up Josh Aspenlind, another former WHLer, for the winner 11 seconds into extra time.
The Salmon Kings would appear to be an unlikely contender. They began the playoffs as the seventh seed in a conference in which seven teams made the playoffs.
“We’re doing pretty well. It’s been fun so far,” offers veteran centre Adam Taylor, 26, who has played for the Salmon Kings in each of the last five seasons. He also has had stints with the Pensacola Ice Pilots, China Sharks, Florida Everblades, Rochester Americans and Edinburgh Capitals, which is where he began this season before the team’s financial problems got in the way.
Yes, Taylor has put on some miles since graduating from the Kootenay Ice after the 2004-05 season.
Yes, Edinburgh is in Scotland and the Sharks played near Shanghai.
No, Taylor, who is from Courtenay, never played for Charlestown.
The Chiefs, of course, are the (mostly) fictional team from the movie Slap Shot. The Chiefs, under playing coach Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman), start slowly, then start winning and drawing crowds, all the while with the team in danger of being sold or folding.
The Salmon Kings, then, may very well be a case of real life imitating Hollywood.
“We’ve heard stuff. We’ve heard about it,” Taylor says of the sad saga of the Bruins. “We had a meeting about it. Does it affect us? No, because this is our job. Am I sad to see the Salmon Kings leave? Yeah, I’ve played five years here. And it’s pretty neat to have your family and friends able to come see you.”
You have to understand, or try to, the mindset of the minor league hockey player in order to get at least a feel for how they are dealing with this. The NHL dream is over for virtually every one of the Salmon Kings — and the team has used 43 players this season.
“It’s out of our control,” Taylor says. “It’s our job right now. Our contracts are week to week. Our job right now is to win the Kelly Cup. That would be such an amazing story if we did.”
These guys really do play for the love of the game.
“I keep telling myself every year that I’m not going to play another year. But you know what?” Taylor says. “One month into summer and I’m already thinking what I want to do.”
Right now, though, Taylor and his teammates hope that their summer doesn’t arrive for a few weeks. They’ve got a Kelly Cup to chase.
The players, Taylor says, are single-minded in their goal. It was with that in mind that they put themselves in the story on Monday when they held a news conference right in the middle of their dressing room.
“It was just to say to the fans, ‘Come out and support us here. Tickets are really cheap and we’d really like you to come out and support us for the rest of the run here,’ ” Taylor says.
Like any hockey team at this time of year, the Salmon Kings are looking for any edge they can find. Having an arena full of supporters would qualify.
“Huge fan support in the playoffs can be that seventh man and give you energy,” he states, before continuing the message to the fans: “And this might be the last time you’re going to see some players play in Victoria so why not come out and support us?’ ”
Tickets for these home playoff games are priced as low as $5, and that‘s something you won’t see in too many other leagues.
“When I heard that, I was, ‘Wow . . . $5 tickets!’ ” Taylor says, before chuckling and adding: “When my friends call me for tickets, maybe they can go buy their own.”
“But,” he says, “it’s a great deal. What a great way to come out and see us play. It’s pretty sweet.”
This playoff run is extra special to Taylor, simply because he’s been with the Salmon Kings from the start.
“It was pretty neat to be part of the team right from the first year of the SOFMC,” he explains, “and it’s going to be pretty neat finishing here and hopefully finishing with the Kelly Cup, that’s for sure.
“It would be a great story.”
Yes, it would, like Slap Shot is a great movie.

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

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Kyle Calder (Regina, Kamloops, 1995-99) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Barys Astana (Kazakhstan KHL). He had three goals and four assists in five games for Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) earlier this season. . . .
F Adam Taylor (Kootenay, 2000-05) asked for and received his release from the Edinburgh Capitals (UK Elite). He had 19 goals and 29 assists in 32 games as an alternate captain with the Capitals this season. Edinburgh has been experiencing financial difficulties this season.
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On the WHL trade front, the Seattle Thunderbirds dealt D Scott Ramsay, 19, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a conditional 2011 fourth-round bantam draft pick. . . . Ramsay was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos for F Robbie Newton on Oct. 8, 2009. . . . This season, Ramsay had one assist and 57 penalty minutes in 26 games.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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