Spokane GM issues apology . . . Seattle D-man gets seven games

F Anders Lövdahl (Calgary, Moose Jaw, Lethbridge, 1999-2001) was granted his release by Narvik (Norway, Division 1) for personal reasons. This season, he had two assists in two games. Last season, with Falu IF Falun (Sweden, Division 1), he had 63 points, including 50 assists, in 38 games. He was second in Division 1 in assists.
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THE APOLOGY:

Players with the Spokane Chiefs are going to be getting up close and personal with members of the U.S. military over the next while.
Tim Speltz, the Chiefs' general manager, appeared on CBS Sports 1510 KGA, which carries the WHL team's games, on Tuesday night to apologize to fans for the actions of some players during the anthem prior to Friday's game against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds.
Players who were scratched from Spokane's lineup apparently made inappropriate comments during the national anthem. According to Chris Derrick of the Spokane Spokesman-Review: "The players reportedly yelled comments about the female singer during the anthem."
"We as an organization sure feel it's necessary for us to comment and address the inappropriate actions of our players," Speltz said. "We're working with young guys all the time. When we make mistakes, we have to be responsible and . . . accountable. We talk about that with our guys all the time.
"Our players who weren't dressed on Friday took a time that is a real special time . . . we were very inappropriate with comments."
Speltz described the comments as "immature and childish." He said the incident was "disrespectful" and "offended people who heard it."
"Our staff and organization were very disappointed, but we have to move forward," he continued.
Speltz apologized "on behalf of management, ownership and staff," adding that "we were wrong . . . no way we can justify it."
Before he was done, Speltz had apologized to "our fans and to current men and women in the armed forces, veterans . . . and the anthem singer."
Speltz has had a former member of the military meet with the Chiefs "to reinforce the magnitude of the situation . . . how offensive the actions were during the anthem."
Speltz said the former military member "talked with three players" and that the situation was addressed with the rest of the team. Speltz said the anthem and flag must be honoured and respected, no matter what country they represent.
The Chiefs, Speltz said, will perform "some service in the military community," adding that it will become "an ongoing practice with us."
Speltz pointed out that junior hockey players are young and there are times when "they just flat out don't think. That's probably the best way we can explain it, but that doesn't make it right.
"From our standpoint, we are truly sorry it happened. . . . We were a little misguided in our enthusiasm."
Tonight, the Chiefs will play at home, with Seattle again providing the opposition.
Before the game, Speltz said, the Chiefs "will send a message to our fans . . . it's a chance to apologize and take a step forward."
"We owned it," he said. "We're going to take the necessary steps to make sure everyone understands the consequences and magnitude of it and, at the same time, make sure that it never happens again."
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The Seattle Thunderbirds will be without D Evan Wardley for seven games after he was suspended by the WHL on Tuesday. Wardley was disciplined for a headshot major and game misconduct he took for a hit on F Nic Petan of the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night. . . . According to the WHL's reasoning, "The hit resulted in an injury to opponent. . . . The player is a repeat offender." . . . Wardley will be eligible to return on Nov. 1 against the visiting Vancouver Giants. He sat out his first game last night against the visiting Spokane Chiefs and won't play tonight in Spokane. He also will miss a three-game homestand (Prince George, Kamloops, Spokane), a game in Everett and a visit by the Edmonton Oil Kings). . . . Interestingly, Wardley won't miss any games against Portland. . . . Petan was on Portland's bus on Tuesday when it left the Oregon city and headed for Moose Jaw where the Winterhawks open an East Division tour against the Warriors on Friday.
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The Swift Current Broncos have claimed F Kristian Ferletak, 18, off waivers from the Victoria Royals. Ferletak, a freshman from Slovakia, was dropped by the Royals after they claimed D Marsel Ibragimov, a 17-year-old Russian freshman who had been placed on waivers by the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Edmonton released Ibragimov in order to keep veteran forwards Mads Eller and Edgars Kulda. . . . The Broncos were carrying just one import player, that being Swedish F Andreas Schumacher, 18. . . . Swift Current had been hoping to get D Julius Honka, 18, back from the NHL's Dallas Stars. However, Honka, who was selected by the Stars in the first round of the NHL's 2014 draft, was assigned to the AHL's Texas Stars. Honka was eligible for the AHL because his rights had been loaned to the Broncos by his Finnish club team; most import players are released to junior teams. . . . Ferletak may get into action with the Broncos as soon as tonight. They are at home to the Saskatoon Blades and have two forwards on the shelf -- Jay Merkley (ill) and Cole Johnson (undisclosed injury).
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The Swift Current Broncos, while adding Slovakian F Kristian Ferletak to their roster on Tuesday, will be making more moves today. As of Tuesday night, they still had five 20-year-olds on their roster and that's two over the limit. The 20-year-old deadline arrives this afternoon. . . . The Broncos acquired F Carter Rigby from the Kelowna Rockets on the weekend and also have been carrying F Colby Cave, F Coda Gordon, F Andrew Johnson and D Stephen Shmoorkoff.
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The Regina Pats got down to three 20-year-olds on Tuesday by waiving F Logan McVeigh. That leaves Regina with F Braden Christoffer, F Patrick D'Amico and F Pavel Padakin as its three 1994-born players. . . . McVeigh was pointless in two games with the Pats, although a knee injury kept him from playing since the season's second game. . . . The Pats had acquired McVeigh,who is from Kenaston, Sask., last season from the Medicine Hat Tigers. He had four goals and five assists in 26 games with the Pats. In 267 career regular-season games, McVeigh has 116 points, including 45 goals. McVeigh was a second-round pick by the Kamloops Blazes in the 2009 bantam draft. He also played with the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Regina now is carrying 24 players, including three goaltenders and 15 forwards.
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F Brandon Vuic of the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads is facing an impaired driving charge from an incident that occurred on Oct. 7. As well, the Halifax Chronicle Herald is reporting that Vuic, 19, is beig "investigated for alleged drug possession in connection with the same incident." That story is right here.
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The Vancouver Giants hope to have D Arvin Atwal back in their lineup on Friday when they play host to the Kamloops Blazers. Atwal missed two weekend losses to the Cougars in Prince George with a shoulder injury. . . . Friday's game marks the regular-season return to Vancouver of former Giants head coach Don Hay. He spent 10 seasons as the Giants' head coach before leaving to return to Kamloops over the summer. Hay had one season left on his contract with the Giants, who didn't ask for compensation when he returned to the Blazers. . . .

F Jaedon Descheneau of the Kootenay Ice goes into Friday's game against the visiting Regina Pats with 199 career regular-season points. He also has played 199 regular-season games. . . . F Tim Bozon is expected to play his first game for the Ice on Friday since being stricken with Neisseria meningitis late last season. Bozon, 20, was returned to the Ice by the Montreal Canadiens this week. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman chatted with Bozon on Tuesday, and filed this story right here. . . .

The Kelowna Rockets put their 8-0-0 record on the line tonight when they meet the Blazers (6-3-1) in Kamloops. The Rockets are expected to get back F Dillon Dube and D Joe Gatenby, both of whom have undisclosed injuries, this week. However, D Mitchell Wheaton and F James Wishnowski will remain out, also with undisclosed injuries. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix tweeted Tuesday night that "Gage Ramsay has left the Sask. Blazers. Unconfirmed, but appears the '98-born F will join Vancouver (WHL). He was picked 50th in 2013 draft." The Blazers play in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League. Ramsay had two goals and an assist in three games with the Blazers. . . .

In Red Deer, F Tyler Soy scored at 1:09 of OT to give the Victoria Royals a 6-5 vicory over the Rebels on Tuesday night. The Royals trailed 4-0 in the first period and forced OT on F Axel Blomqvist's goal with 56.6 seconds left in the third period. . . . F Austin Carroll scored his seventh goal of the season for Victoria. He has one goal in each of his club's last seven games. . . .

In Kent, Wash., F Adam Helewka, playing his first game since Sept. 27, scored the only goal of the shootout as the Spokane Chiefs beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 3-2. . . . It was the third straight OT game for Seattle, with the Chiefs needing OT for the third time in four games. . . . This was the second of three straight games between these teams. The Thunderbirds won 2-1 in OT in Spokane on Friday. They'll meet again tonight in Spokane. . . . The Chiefs had F Devon McAndrews in their lineup after acquiring him from the Tri-City Americans on Monday. As well, Helewka and F Jacob Cardiff returned after being out with undisclosed injuries. . . . Seattle, already without D Shea Theodore (injured) and D Evan Wardley (suspended), was down to three defencemen late in the first period after losing Ethan Bear and Turner Ottenbreit to first-period injuries and Jared Hauf to a headshot major and game misconduct. . . . Bear left after being cut up in a scrap with F Riley Whittingham. . . . Ottenbreit was looking woozy when he left after taking a check from Cardiff. . . . Hauf was tossed for a hit on F Liam Stewart. . . . D Scott Allan, acquired Monday from the Medicine Hat Tigers, was in Seattle's lineup. . . . The Thunderbirds moved F Justin Hickman back to defence, with Keegan Kolesar moving up alongside Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp. . . . Barzal scored his fourth goal of the season, this one shorthanded, giving him a four-game goal streak. . . . There were 20 NHL scouts on hand for this one.
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Find it humorous that people who got there start from me continue to take pathetic runs at me. Oh well im sure they will "Flame" out in time
— Brent Parker (@Patguy65) October 15, 2014

Analytics creeping into WHL . . . Cougars hire assistant coach

While a lot of hockey people are jumping on the analytics bandwagon these days, the Saskatoon Blades appear to have gotten something of a head start.
The Blades went through an ownership change a year ago, one that had Edmonton-based Mike Priestner and his son, Colin, purchase the franchise from Jack Brodsky and family members.
Almost immediately, Colin Priestner, who is the franchise’s managing partner, brought in Bruce Peter, who volunteered to provide the Blades with something more than the usual in the way of numbers.
“I believe we were the only team in the league using one last season,” Priestner told Taking Note via email. “I hear a few others are now, too.”
Peter, a long-time Blades fan from Outlook, Sask., is back with the Blades and, according to Priestner, will have an even bigger role this season.
“I found it to be an excellent resource last season,” Priestner explained, “and this season we hope to have regular meetings with Bruce and his new apprentice -- a grad student in economics wants to help him -- and our hockey ops to review trends and outliers.”
Just what do the Blades get from Peter?
“His work is awesome and the amount of data he provides us is amazing,” Priestner said. “He does every home game for us.
“He uses his own sheets to track stats. We get everything from everyone's head-to-head faceoff wins to Corsi to Fenwick to offensive-zone entries, defensive-zone entries and scoring chances and drawn penalties.”
To have even one team doing this is a huge step forward for the WHL. After all, this is a league that, as Cam Charron, then of Yahoo! Sports Canada, wrote a year ago, “is a league that publishes very little information via its box scores.” Charron, as of earlier in August, now works for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL’s team’s three-man analytics department.
To give you some idea of the kind of information Priestner is looking for and what he and Peter are up against, here’s more from Charron a year ago:
“Analytics are tricky in the WHL. The NHL in 2007 began publishing play-by-play sheets that didn't just record when shots, hits and giveaways occurred, but also which players were on the ice for each event. That sort of information has been transformed into several different categories, the chief of which is the Corsi number, a plus-minus number that factors in every shot attempt for and against when a player was on the ice.
“Since Corsi is a team statistic, work has been done to attempt to separate a player's individual contribution to his team's Corsi number. Because of the number of games in the WHL and the limited availability of information, coming up with a Corsi number and putting it in the appropriate context is impossible.”
A lot of Peter’s analysis features zone entries and exits, and, as Charron pointed out, that is something that can be done “by a single person sitting high up in the arena,” or by someone watching video with a remote control in hand.
It should be pointed out that the Kelowna Rockets also are beginning to delve into the area of analytics. Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier has a story on that right here.
One interesting thing about all of this is that there have long been conversations about the validity of various statistics that are kept by the home team-provided stats crews in WHL arenas. In Kelowna and Vancouver, for example, the shots on goal are often questioned by visiting teams. In Kamloops, then-head coach Guy Charron of the Blazers once had a loud one-sided conversation on that very subject with his own statistical crew.
Last week, one WHL insider told Taking Note that there is a “big question mark at our level regarding the accuracy of information. Without that, you don’t have good data.”
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The WHL is using the exhibition season to experiment with a dry scrape of the entire ice surface between the third period and overtime of those games requiring extra time.
It seems that this has been met with mixed reaction. For one thing, the break during a game in Moose Jaw last week was 12 minutes in duration. The ensuing OT period lasted 34 seconds.
As one individual with knowledge of the ice-making and -maintaining process told me Saturday: “Why an entire dry scrape? Forget the scrape and flood then.”
Prior to now, teams went straight from the third period to OT with just a brief intermission. Then, if a game needed a shootout, a dry scrape that took in the middle of the ice was done. This can be done in three or four minutes. That time now has been at least doubled. So why not do a complete flood?
“The timing of a two-Zamboni flood without on-ice promotions to avoid should be 10 minutes tops -- five minutes for the flood and five minutes drying time,” this person stated. “I guess you could shave the dry time to to 2.5 minutes, depending on conditions.”
He also pointed out that “shaving that layer also could lead to ice issues down the road depending on teams’ flood schedules.”
Interestingly, a game in Everett between the Seattle Thunderbirds and Victoria Royals went to OT on Saturday night. Andy Eide, who covers the Thunderbirds for ESPN 710, tweeted that he asked Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk “how he enjoyed the pre-OT ice scrape?”
Konowalchuk’s response: “No comment.”
I don't know how long the dry scrape took, but Seattle won the game, 5-4, on an Ethan Bear goal at 2:20 of OT.
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Roman Vopat, who was a guest coach in camp with the Prince George Cougars, has been added to the team’s coaching staff on a full-time basis. Vopat (Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, 1994-96) was a seventh-round pick by the St. Louis Blues in the 1994 NHL draft and went on to a 16-year pro career. . . . The 38-year-old native of Litvinov, Czech Republic, has coaching experience with the junior B Kimberley Dynamiters of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. . . . With the Cougars, he will work alongside head coach Mark Holick and assistant coach Mike Hengen. . . . “Roman and I go way back to our playing days, and he also played with my brother Brett for many years,” Todd Harkins, the Cougars’ general manager, said in a news release. “He was a great teammate, cared about everyone in the room and played the game with passion.” . . . Harkins added: “Roman joined us at training camp as a guest coach and impressed all of us with his excitement and professionalism, and his past experience will be beneficial to all of our players who have a dream to play in the NHL. He’s well connected with teams and scouts in Europe, and that will serve us well down the road with the CHL import draft.”
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Carl Cirullo, a familiar face in Spokane hockey circles, has died. He was 87 when he lost his fight with lung cancer on Thursday. . . . Chris Derrick of the Spokane Spokesman-Review has more right here.
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Sorry, Las Vegas. Oh, and you, too, Seattle. But you just don’t have enough NHL fans to make a franchise viable. Cities like Kingston, Halifax and Sudbury might be able to support a team, though. At least, that’s the way Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight has it figured in a piece that is right here.
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If you’re a regular here, you will know that organ donation is kind of near and dear to me, especially when it involves a kidney. Gregg Doyel, a national columnist for cesspits.com, has the story right here of a college basketball coach who now has three kidneys inside his body. . . . If you read anything today, make it this one.

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