Bean back with Hitmen . . . Three WHLers still in NHL camps . . . Flodell, Blades dump Raiders

Things are about to get ugly. Bare knuckle brew haw haw. pic.twitter.com/eCeDyH6ter

— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) October 6, 2016

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Would like to thank the @NHLCanes organization and fans for an awesome experience, excited to get things started again with the @WHLHitmen !

— Jake Bean (@JakeBean_2) October 7, 2016

The Calgary Hitmen are expected to have D Jake Bean in their lineup tonight (Friday) as they play host to the Kamloops Blazers. Bean, one of the WHL’s top defencemen, was returned Thursday by the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. Bean, 18, is a Calgary native going into his third season with the Hitmen. Carolina selected him with the 13th overall pick of the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . Last season, Bean had 64 points, 24 of them goals, in 68 games. He had 12 goals and 21 assists while on the PP last season, so his presence almost certainly will help a Calgary power-play unit that is 1-18 through three games. . . . The Hitmen (2-1-0) also have scored only five goals in their first three games. . . . The Blazers (2-4-0) are coming off a 5-4 loss to the host Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday. Kamloops led that one 3-0 in the first period.

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The return of D Jake Bean to the Calgary Hitmen leaves three 19-year-old WHLers still with NHL teams.

D Ivan Provorov of the Brandon Wheat Kings is with the Philadelphia Flyers, D Brendan Guhle of the Prince Albert Raiders remains with the Buffalo Sabres, and F Mathew Barzal of the Seattle Thunderbirds is with the New York Islanders.

Provorov, the seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft, has signed with the Flyers and is likely to open the regular season with them. He has been playing more than 20 minutes per gam in the exhibition season; last night, he played 21:51 and was plus-2 in a 4-2 victory over the host New York Rangers. Provorov, the CHL’s top defenceman last season, has played the last two seasons with the Wheat Kings.

The Sabres selected Guhle in the second round of the 2015 draft. He had a strong training camp a year ago and, as of Thursday night, was one of 10 defencemen remaining on Buffalo’s roster.

Barzal was the 16th overall selection in the 2015 draft. He, too, is likely to open the regular season in the NHL as the Islanders take a long look at him.

Provorov and Guhle have signed NHL deals.

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The Kelowna Rockets have acquired the major junior rights to F Leif Mattson, 17, from the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Rockets gave up a conditional ninth-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft. Should Mattson play for the Rockets this season, it will become an eighth-round pick. . . . Last season, he had 25 points, including 12 goals, in 30 games with the midget AAA St. Albert Raiders. This season, he has two goals and an assist in five games with the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. . . . As a 15-year-old, he was teammates with Kamloops Blazers F Jermaine Loewen on the bantam AAA Interlake Lightning in Manitoba. . . . A native of Thompson, Man., the Wheat Kings selected him in the eighth round of the 2014 bantam draft.

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Colton Stephenson was 19 when he announced his retirement from hockey just as the 2011-12 WHL season was getting started.

Stephenson, from Saskatoon, had been selected by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the third round of the 2007 bantam draft. He played one game with the Oil Kings in 2007-08. Over the next three seasons, he played in 18, 1 and 50 games. He didn’t play any regular-season games in 2011-12.

His last appearance in the WHL, in an exhibition game, came on Sept. 16, 2011.

“We were playing Red Deer in Lacombe and I went to finish my check and he went to counter hit me and caught me right on the chin, knocking me unconscious for a second,” Stephenson told me on Oct. 17, 2011. “I skated off and could not remember the shift.”

Stephenson also told me: “My health is most important to me and I felt it was time to retire. I have had five concussions since I was 16, and I took a year and a half off from them.

“Walking away from the game I love has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. It's gonna be extremely hard for a long time but I know in the long run my decision is for the best.”

More than a month ago, the U of Saskatchewan Huskies announced that Stephenson was part of their recruiting class for 2016-17.

The Huskies will open the season tonight (Friday) and Saturday against the visiting UBC Thunderbirds.

Stephenson, however, isn’t on the Huskies’ roster.

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Jordan Hart was sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service in the Federal District Court for the Southern District in New York on Thursday. Hart, 33, had pleaded guilty to possession of oxycodone, which is a misdemeanor. He had been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone, which is a felony. The son of former NHLer Gerry Hart, who played junior with the Flin Flon Bombers, Jordan sold illegally obtained prescription painkillers to the late Derek Boogaard. . . . John Branch of The New York Times has more on the Hart case right here.

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JUST NOTES:

The Prince George Cougars have dropped D Peter Kope, 17, from their roster. The Edmonton native is expected to play for the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks. The Cougars selected him in the fifth round of the 2014 bantam draft. Kope didn’t get into any of the Cougars’ first six games. . . . The Cougars’ roster now is at 26, including two goaltenders and eight defencemen. . . . 

There is an interesting piece right here on F Gage Quinney, who is in camp with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after a good stint with the parent Pittsburgh Penguins. Quinney, who finished up his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers last season, doesn’t have a contract but it sounds as though he may be close. He was pointless last night as the AHL Penguins dropped a 4-1 decision to the visiting Albany Devils. . . . 

The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks have acquired the junior A rights to F Haydn Hopkins, 19, from the Victoria Grizzlies for future considerations. Hopkins, from Victoria, was a 12th-round pick by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2012 WHL bantam draft. He has 10 points, three of them goals, in 53 regular-season WHL games split between the Blades, Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants. He finished last season with the OHL’s Erie Otters and played two games there this season before leaving the team, saying he wanted to play in Western Canada.

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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.

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The junior B Sicamous Eagles of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League opened the season with eight straight losses and head coach Ty Davidson paid the price. The Eagles fired him earlier this week, replacing him with Matt Stang of Salmon Arm.

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Glad to see my colleague Rob Brown honoured by the President today. #neverforget89Penstheonethatgotaway. pic.twitter.com/CSUTmAwibY

— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) October 6, 2016

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@gdrinnan @TheWHL legends and current @HuskieAthletics @WyattJohnson19 @connorgay & #BullsClub 🐂 @BladesHockey pic.twitter.com/Y212UUGa05

— George (@Big_G_09) October 7, 2016

THURSDAY’S GAME:

At Saskatoon, G Logan Flodell stopped 31 shots to lead the Blades to a 2-0 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Flodell, who was acquired last month from the Seattle Thunderbirds, earned his first shutout with Saskatoon and the fourth of his career. The Regina native had three with Seattle last season. . . . F Jesse Shynkaruk opened the scoring, with his third goal, at 15:04 of the second period. . . . F Josh Patterson added insurance at 9:09 of the third period. . . . Saskatoon (3-2-0) was 2-4 on the PP; Prince Albert was 0-3. . . . G Ian Scott stopped 24 shots for the Raiders (2-4-0). . . . Les Lazaruk, the longtime radio voice of the Blades, notes that the Blades have won eight straight home games against the Raiders. Prince Albert last won in Saskatoon on Sept. 20, 2014. The score that night was 3-1. . . . F Kolten Olynek, acquired by the Blades on waivers from the Raiders on Wednesday, was in Saskatoon’s lineup but went pointless. . . . Announced attendance: 2,732. . . . Some nasty road conditions will have played into what was the smallest crowd at a game in Saskatoon since Jan. 29, 2008, when 2,437 watched the Blades lose 7-3 to the Swift Current Broncos.

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FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Swift Current at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.

Kamloops at Calgary, 7 p.m.

Kelowna at Edmonton, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Everett, 7:35 p.m.

Portland at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.

Vancouver at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Kootenay at Regina, 7 p.m.

Victoria vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.

Lethbridge at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Lynn Loyns (Spokane, 1997-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Ravensburg Towerstars (Germany, 2. Bundesliga) after a successful tryout. He had one goal and one assist in four games during the tryout. The club said in its press release that Loyns "impressed the management and head coach Petri Kujala with his skill and vision, despite the lack of an acclimatization period and game experience."
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On Dec. 30, 1986, the Swift Current Broncos boarded their bus and headed to Regina for a game with the Pats.
They never arrived as the bus crashed just outside the city and four players died.
As the Broncos’ website points out right here, “We will never forget.”
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A story at nflconcussionlitigation.com begins:
“The number of former players suing the NFL continues to grow by the week. In the month of December alone, more than 70 players joined the NFL Concussion Litigation Club.
“The number of former players suing the NFL has eclipsed 4,000. There are approximately 12,000 living, former players. More than 1/3 of all players to ever sign an NFL contract are now taking on the shield, seeking a piece of that $9.5 billion pie the former players helped create.”
That complete story is right here.
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Mark Morris of the Kansas City Star reports that Neil Smith, 46, a former Kansas City Chiefs defensive end, has joined in by filing a lawsuit against the NFL, “alleging it has not done enough to prevent the brain injuries from which he now suffers.”
According to Morris, Smith contends in his lawsuit that “because of repeated and misdiagnosed concussions he suffers from ‘permanent and debilitating injuries,’ including loss of memory, ‘cognitive impairment’ and early-onset dementia.”
The lawsuit contends that Smith once suffered three concussions, “all of which were improperly and treated,” in one game in 1988.
That story is right here.
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Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin, the author of Red Mittens and Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics, is not missing the NHL. Why not? He provides 10 reasons right here.
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And now for your reading enjoyment here is Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with his 29th annual awarding of the Trite Trophy. If you are a sports fan who reads, listens and watches, you won’t want to miss this look at the mis-language of sports. It’s right here.
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The Regina Pats are back down to the maximum three 20-year-olds following the retirement Sunday of D Alex Theriau. . . . Theriau, from Duncan, B.C., missed the early part of the season after undergoing offseason hip surgery. He was with the Medicine Hat Tigers at the time, but was released as they got down to three 20s. He was picked up by the Pats and played in 16 games. . . . A news release from the Pats states that playing those games “aggravated Theriau’s hip and will force Alex to end his junior career in order to heal and pursue professional and CIS opportunities next season.” . . . Theriau had four points with the Pats and finishes his WHL career with 66 points, 11 of them goals, and 206 penalty minutes in 267 games. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes selected Theriau sixth overall in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . The Pats would have been forced into a move because the return of D Colton Jobke left them with four 20s, the other two being G Matt Hewitt and F Lane Scheidl.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Kelowna, F Myles Bell scored two first-period goals and the Rockets went on to a 5-1 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Kelowna has won 14 straight games at home and now is just two points behind the idle Kamloops Blazers, who lead the B.C. Division. . . . Overall, the Rockets have won 14 of 16. . . . The Rockets had F Colton Sissons, their captain, back in the lineup after he missed a month — 10 games — with a concussion. He scored once. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke returned from a foot injury to stop 18 shots. . . . Everett F Ryan Harrison played in his 300th regular-season game and got to do it in his hometown. . . .

In Regina, F Chandler Stephenson had two goals and four assists as the Pats whipped the Saskatoon Blades, 6-2. . . . Regina built up a 6-0 lead in the second period. . . . Stephenson has eight points in three games since returning from a skate cut. He missed 26 games with that injury. . . . Regina F Morgan Klimchuk added a goal and four assists. . . . The Pats had only five players with at least a point. . . . Regina was 4-for-7 on the PP. . . . The Pats were without F Marc McCoy (knee), who had two goals in Saturday’s 5-1 victory in Moose Jaw. . . . The Blades had beaten the Pats four straight times this season, including 9-0 and 7-0 in the last two meetings. . . . It was something of a lost weekend for the Blades, who lost both ends of a Friday-Saturday home-and-home series with the Prince Albert Raiders. . . .

In Red Deer, F Michael Ferland scored at 13:08 of the third period to give the Brandon Wheat Kings a 6-5 victory over the Rebels. . . . Ferland, 20, was playing in his second game with Brandon after being reassigned by the NHL’s Calgary Flames. . . . The Wheat Kings, with four 20-year-olds on their roster, sat F Nick Buonassisi. . . .

In Vancouver, F Trevor Cheek scored three times to help the Giants to an 8-4 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Vancouver had lost its last four games. . . . The Giants got three assists from each of F Dalton Sward and F Anthony Ast. . . . Cheek, who scored twice in the second half of the second period and again in the third, has 16 goals. . . . The Giants broke a 3-3 tie by scoring five of the game’s last six goals. . . . F Troy Bourke had two goals and an assist for the Cougars. . . . Vancouver F Taylor Vickerman was ejected at 3:00 of the third period with a major for kneeing.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Brenden Walker, Saskatoon
D Luke Fenske, Regina
D Ryley Miller, Brandon
F Quintin Lisoway, Brandon

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None
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From Singh Sports News (@SinghSportsNews): “Did you know: Justin Morneau played 1 preseason game as a goaltender for the Portland Winter Hawks of the WHL”



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Another player leaves the game

Max Adolph retired on Tuesday.
You can bet the news didn’t cause even a ripple in Shawinigan, Que., where major junior hockey is playing out its season at the Memorial Cup tournament.
Max Adolph?
He was a fourth-round selection by the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL’s 2007 bantam draft. Adolph’s WHL career ended after just 97 regular-season games, 36 of them in 2010-11, none of them this season. He leaves with 16 points and 52 penalty minutes to his credit.
In the summer of 2009, his parents sent him to Kelowna as a 17-year-old centre with big dreams. He returned to the family home in Saskatoon three years later, having experienced six concussions.
“After assessment from our doctors, we’re doing what is in the best interest of Max,” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, said at the time. “Our medical team has advised Max to avoid body contact and shut his season down for now.”
Adolph, the son of U of Saskatchewan Huskies head coach Dave Adolph, never played again.
Concussion-related problems limited Max to 36 games in 2010-11. He suffered a concussion on Oct. 30, 2010, in Portland, returned in January and was knocked out of the lineup again with another head injury. He tried to return in February but was gone again after just two weeks.
Adolph attended training camp prior to this season but suffered yet another concussion in an exhibition game and was sent home.
“At the time,” Adolph, who turned 20 on April 1, told Regan Bartel, the veteran radio voice of the Rockets, “(going home) didn’t seem like the best decision. But now, (after) going to school and looking back at it, I think it was the better decision rather than risk more injuries and turning into a vegetable.”
It is inconceivable that a WHL player, a young man who has so much to live for, is even thinking about “turning into a vegetable.”
Yes, the time has come for the WHL to take its head out of the sand and get serious about head injuries.
You may recall almost a year ago that the WHL, with great fanfare, announced a seven-step plan aimed at addressing the issues of headshots and concussions.
“The WHL is fully committed to addressing head blows and concussions in a comprehensive manner,” WHL commissioner Ron Robison said in a news release.
The WHL, whose teams had experienced more than 100 concussions during the 2010-11 season, immediately stopped reporting specific injuries on its weekly injury report. Instead, every injury was either of the lower- or upper-body variety. You can bet, however, that concussions didn’t decrease this season in the WHL.
It is time, then, for the WHL to stop with the lip service and do something about the concussions. It is time to start walking the walk.
Any contact with an opponent’s head, no matter how incidental, should be greeted with at least a minor penalty. Referees need to stop erring on the side of caution — more major penalties and game misconducts need to be assessed for headshots.
Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, handles discipline. He needs to stop with the one- and two-game suspensions; he needs to start with five and work up from there.
It also is time for the WHL to outlaw fighting. Granted, a small number of concussions are the result of fights, but even one is too many. A fighting major should be accompanied by a game misconduct. There also should be a sliding suspension scale for those inclined to fight on a regular or semi-regular basis.
And please don’t try feeding me the nonsense about how getting rid of fighting will lead to an increase in stickwork. There are referees on the ice who should be calling the penalties.
Remember, too, that as the Edmonton Oil Kings play through the aforementioned Memorial Cup, their roster is missing two players.
Veteran forward Colton Stephenson retired without playing even one game this season. Five concussions meant his career line ended with 17 points in 70 games. Stephenson will turn 20 on July 16.
Jesse Pearson, a defenceman who turned 21 on March 13, got into 18 games last season. He never played again after suffering a concussion in a fight on Dec. 17, 2010. Pearson now is an assistant coach with the Oil Kings.
The list of players who have retired due to concussion-related issues grows longer and longer. It includes Jesse Wallin, the Red Deer Rebels’ general manager and head coach, Kelowna assistant coach Ryan Cuthbert, former Tri-City Americans forward Taylor Procyshen and on and on.
That list now includes Max Adolph. It soon may include Joey Hishon.
Joey Hishon?
You may remember him from the 2011 Memorial Cup. It was May 21, 2011, when Hishon, a forward in his fourth season with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, was on the receiving end of an ugly elbow to the head from Kootenay Ice defenceman Brayden McNabb.
McNabb was suspended for one game. This season, he played 25 games with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, and another 45 with their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.
Joey Hishon?
A first-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2010 NHL draft, Hishon hasn’t played since May 21, 2011.

Stephenson, 19, retires from hockey

COLTON STEPHENSON

Colton Stephenson’s WHL career is over.
In fact, his hockey career is over.
It shouldn’t have ended like this, but no one ever said life is fair.
“Retired from the game that I love the most,” Stephenson wrote Monday on his Facebook page. “Concussions are a scary thing. Thank you to everyone who was involved in my career. Met a lot of great people, and made the greatest friends. Appreciate what you love to do, cause it’s not your right to be doing it. Gonna miss everyone in Edmonton! Lots of love.”
It’s safe to say that it was a sad day in the camp of the Edmonton Oil Kings.
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Stephenson, a 19-year-old centre from Saskatoon, was selected by the Oil Kings in the third-round, 57th overall, of the 2007 bantam draft.
He would go on to play 70 regular-season games — one as a 15-year-old, followed by seasons of 18, one, and 50 games. He didn’t play any games this season.
He wanted to. Oh, did he! But, in the end, he just couldn’t do it.
“My health is most important to me and I felt it was time to retire,” Stephenson told me in a Facebook exchange Monday night. “I have had five concussions since I was 16, and I took a year and a half off from them.
“Walking away from the game I love has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. It's gonna be extremely hard for a long time but I know in the long run my decision is for the best.”
While you and I were gnawing on Thanksgiving turkey, Stephenson was back home in Saskatoon.
“I went home for a week over Thanksgiving to talk with my family and on Friday I told the organization my decision,” he wrote.
Prior to going home, he skated for three days — he also said he has been working out — and has been symptom-free. “So,” he noted, “I'm happy I made the decision while I am ahead and have no symptoms (rather) than having them for a significant amount of time,”
During his abbreviated WHL career, Stephenson suffered five concussions. He graciously went over each one for me . . .
1. My first one was my 16-year-old year on Dec. 3. I avoided a check from a Lethbridge d-man and he stuck his elbow out to stop me and caught me on the temple. I finished the shift and didn't even fall down from it.
2. Took a couple weeks off (from the first one) and started skating and went back too early and re-injured it and had to take the (season) off.
3. Then, my 17-year-old year, in exhibition I hit (Medicine Hat forward) Kale Kessy and I knocked him over. Finished my shift and could not recall what had just happened during the last shift. So I took that entire (season) off.
4. Then last (season), playing Kelowna, I finished my check in the corner and my head hit the glass. Knocked my visor out of my helmet. Symptoms only took a week to subside so I was back playing very soon.
5. And my last one we were playing Red Deer in Lacombe (on Sept. 16) and I went to finish my check and he went to counter hit me and caught me right on the chin, knocking me unconscious for a second. I skated off and could not remember the shift.
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For now, Stephenson said he doesn’t have any plans.
“I’ll just keep working out to occupy myself,” he told me. “Working out will be my escape.”
Eventually, he said, he “definitely” will be going to school.
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Many of his Oil Kings teammates said farewell to Stephenson via Twitter on Monday. Among the messages . . .
Michael St. Croix: All the best @C_Stephenson14 Gonna miss you. Thanks for the memories.
Laurent Brossoit: Going to miss you @C_Stephenson14 best of luck #truebeauty.
Ashton Sautner: Best of luck @C_Stephenson14, you will be missed.
Rhett Rachinski: Sad day. gona miss you @C_Stephenson14 the boys are losing a great guy and teammate. Good luck back in stoon I'll be seeing you on #zombs.
T.J. Foster: Love you @C_Stephenson14. Gonna miss ya buddy.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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