New logo for Hurricanes? . . . Concussions in the news

D Robby Sandrock (Spokane, Swift Current, Medicine Hat, Kelowna, 1994-99) has signed a one-year extension with the Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland, UK Elite). Last season, Sandrock had 51 points, including 13 goals, in 59 games. He led the league’s defencemen in assists and was named to the first all-star team.

F Ben Maxwell (Kootenay, 2003-08) has signed a one-year contract with Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia, KHL). Last season, with Kärpät Oulu (Finland, Liiga), he had 42 points, 16 of them goals, in 49 games, finishing ninth in the league’s scoring race. Maxwell got the primary assists on the Game 6 game-winning goal (a 3-2 victory) and winner and on the Game 7 OT goal (1-0) in the league final. Kärpät had been down 3-1 in the series.
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1. A Thursday afternoon tweet from Lethbridge lawyer David van Moorsel, who specializes in the fields of business and trademarks: “Lethbridge Hurricanes are seeking trademark protection for a new logo. Looks like it's original this time.” The details are right here. . . . The Hurricanes moved from Calgary over the summer of 1987, and when their nickname was announced, Pat Sullivan of the Lethbridge Herald wrote that with a nickname like that the logo should be an overturned mobile home.

2. F Troy Bourke, the captain of the Prince George Cougars, has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. Bourke was a third-round selection by the Avalanche in the NHL’s 2012 draft. . . . According to capgeek.com, Bourke’s deal calls for NHL salaries of US$610,000, $640,000 and $645,000, with an AHL salary of $60,000 each season. He got a signing bonus of $195,000, payable in three installments -- $60,000, $65,000 and $70,000. . . . Bourke, 20, is the Prince George franchise’s all-time leading scorer. He put up 85 points, including 29 goals, in 69 games last season. In 276 career regular-season games, he has 236 points, including 84 goals . . . Bourke finished last season with the Lake Erie Monsters, Colorado’s AHL affiliate, picking up seven points, three of them goals, in 15 games.

3. If you watched Tuesday’s Stanley Cup game between the New York Rangers and host Montreal, you saw Canadiens F Dale Weise take a hit to the hit and need help getting off the ice. You also saw him return to the game a bit later. . . . If you are at all aware of the concussion problem in hockey, you were wondering how it was that Weise was allowed back on the ice. . . . David Shoalts of The Globe and Mail has written an interesting piece on the NHL and concussions, and it’s right here. . . . Feel free to take out NHL and insert WHL, because things are pretty much the same in the major junior league.

4. Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star also was writing about Montreal F Dale Weise and it’s obvious that Arthur is wondering just how it is that Weise was allowed to re-enter a game he had left in such wobbly condition. . . . Arthur’s column is right here.

5. You know concussions are a serious issue when the White House gets involved, which is what happened Thursday as President Obama convened a gathering of top sports executives and researchers to discuss the situation. Michael D. Shear and Ken Belson of The New York Times have more right here.

6. If you’re wondering what’s going on between the CFL and the CFLPA, check this out right here. Andrew Bucholtz of Yahoo! Sports Canada has broken it down and his report includes charts that make things easy to understand.

7. Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post hits another home run right here as he tries to figure out just what is going on with the Washington Nationals.

8. The Vancouver Giants have signed F Brendan Semchuk, the 10th overall selection in the 2014 WHL bantam draft. Semchuk, from Kamloops, had 77 points, 45 of them goals, with the bantam Tier 1 A1 Blazers.

9. The headline reads: Crocodile injured by falling accountant during circus bus accident in Russia. . . . You are able to read about it right here. Seriously.

10. You may be aware of the Internet scam in which NBAer Chris Andersen, the Birdman, found himself caught up in not that long ago. It’s an amazing story and makes for a great read. Flinder Boyd of Newsweek has it all right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday night that the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers will name Don Elland as their head coach today. Elland has been an assistant coach with the Whalers for four seasons. . . . Elland, 50, will replace Mike Vellucci as head coach. Vellucci, who had been with the Whalers for 14 seasons, left to become assistant GM and director of hockey operations with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. . . . The Whalers and Hurricanes both are owned by Peter Karmanos Jr.
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Dave Allison is the new head coach of the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers. Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reports that the announcement is to made this morning. . . . Allison has coach in Des Moines before, as he was the head coach of the AHL’s Iowa Stars for three seasons. He also was hired to coach the Buccaneers once before but, as Birch wrote: “(Allison) never took the ice for a game due to work-permit visa issues. He instead took a job as a scout with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.” . . . Last season, Allison was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. . . . With Des Moines, Allison replaces Jon Rogger, who spent two seasons as head coach. . . . The Buccaneers have missed the playoffs in each of the last seven seasons.
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From Bob Irving (@BobIrvingCJOB), the long-time voice of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on CJOB: “Shame on the cfl and the players association. Wake up folks, you are on the verge of damaging a grand Cdn institution, perhaps permanently.”

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Alan Maki and David Shoalts of The Globe and Mail have taken a look at major junior hockey and the issue of fighting, and that piece is right here.
Interestingly, David Branch, who doubles as president of the Canadian Hockey League and commissioner of the OHL, seems intent on if not eliminating fighting at least getting rid of players who do most of the scrapping.
Branch points out, again, that major junior hockey’s top showcase events are the World Junior Championship and the MasterCard Memorial Cup and “there’s no fighting at these events.”
Maki and Shoalts add that Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, “is not part of the anti-fighting movement” because he says “WHL statistics show fighting is the cause of less than 10 per cent of the concussions sustained by players in the 2011-12 regular season.”
I’m sorry, but that just isn’t good enough.
The objective should be to get concussions out of the game. (Keep in mind that the WHL is less transparent about concussions and head injuries than the Chinese government is about dissidents.)
Granted, that will never happen in a contact sport. But if the WHL has identified that 9.9 per cent of the concussions suffered by its players are from fighting, then fighting should be eliminated. In fact, if the WHL has determined that 0.1 per cent of concussions eminate from fighting, then it should be working to eliminate fighting.
Or perhaps the WHL is going to wait for the lawyers to get involved.
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Peter Ruicci of the Sault Star reports right here that there may be more than booze to the suspensions of the Soo Thunderbirds’ head coach and an assistant coach. “The commissioner of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League confirmed Sunday that his league has been looking into alleged marijuana usage on the Soo Thunderbirds bus, during the club's return trip from Thunder Bay after winning the April 21 Dudley Hewitt Cup,” Ruicci writes.
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JUST NOTES: The Tri-City Americans announced Monday that F Justin Feser, 20, will be the club’s captain next season. Feser will be the 24th captain in franchise history. A native of Red Deer, he is preparing for his fifth season with Tri-City. He takes over from F Mason Wilgosh, who completed his junior eligibility this season. . . . D Dylan McIlrath of the Moose Jaw Warriors has joined the Connecticut Whale, the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers. McIlrath was selected with the 10th overall selection of the NHL’s 2010 draft. . . . Yes, the entire WHL final will be televised by Shaw. That means you get Dan Russell calling the play, with analysis by Bill Wilms. Peter Loubardias and Andy Neal also will be involved in the telecasts.
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The first round of the WHL’s Eastern Conference playoffs wrapped up on March 30. The second round began SEVEN days later, on April 6. . . . The second round concluded on April 11. The conference final began NINE days later, on April 20, and ended April 27.
In the Western Conference, the first round ended on April 1; the second round opened FIVE days later, on April 6. . . . The second round was over on April 18 and the third round began TWO days later, on April 20. It was over on April 26.
The WHL final is to open on Thursday, which is May 3. The Portland Winterhawks will have been off for SIX days, the Edmonton Oil Kings for FIVE.
The point of this exercise is to point out how much time off there has been between rounds since the WHL playoffs opened on March 23.
Why, then, is the WHL final, should it go seven games, scheduled to be played in such a compressed time period? It opens with three games in four nights -- which actually is three games in just over 72 hours. Should it go seven games, it will close in the same hurried fashion.
Would it not be far better to do away with some of the days off earlier in the playoffs, even if that means the conferences end up on a schedule that is a bit staggered?
Shouldn’t the objective be to provide the best hockey and the best entertainment to the paying customer, and isn’t that best accomplished with two teams that are reasonably fresh?
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Here are the dates for the WHL’s championship final (all times local):
Thursday, May 3: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 4: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 6: at Portland (Rose Garden), 6 p.m.
Tuesday, May 8: at Portland (Rose Garden), 7 p.m.
x-Thursday, May 10: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
x-Saturday, May 12: at Portland (Rose Garden), 6 p.m.
x-Sunday, May 13: at Edmonton, 6 p.m.

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