Gordie Bombay helps Terriers win . . . Remembering the 1974 Steelers . . . Lowry to chat with Sharks?

F Dávid Šoltés (Prince George, 2013-15) signed a one-year contract with Košice (Slovakia, Extraliga). This season, as a 19-year-old with the Cougars, he had 28 points, 13 of them goals, in 44 games.
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The host Portage Terriers, who also are the MJHL champions, won the RBC Cup on Sunday, beating the
CCHL-champion Carleton Place Canadians 5-2 in the championship game.
The title goes from one team of Terriers, the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers, who won it last season, to another.
I can’t tell you how shocked I was to read that Portage’s victory in the national championship game was the first for a Manitoba team since 1974.
Yikes! That was a long time ago. I should know, because I was there.
I was in my first year at the Winnipeg Tribune, after two at the Brandon Sun, and one of my beats was the MJHL.
The Selkirk Steelers, under head coach George Dorman, won the MJHL title in 1973-74 and headed out on the playoff trail.
The Steelers won the MJHL, beating arch-rival Portage in seven games — the Terriers had won the national title the previous season — and taking out the West Kildonan North Stars in five.
The Steelers took the best-of-seven ANAVET Cup final from the Terry Simpson-coached Prince Albert Raiders, 4-2, and then beat the B.C.-champion Kelowna Buckaroos, 4-3, despite playing the last four games in the Little Apple.
There weren’t any three-, four- or five-team tournaments back in the day, and the victory over Kelowna put the Steelers into a best-of-seven national final with the Central Junior A League-champion Smiths Falls Bears.
The Steelers camped out in Ottawa — the first thing Dorman did was get the team out of the small motel in which the CAHA (Canadian Amateur Hockey Association) had the team staying and into a Ramada Inn.
The series went seven games, with all games played in the Nepean Sportsplex because there wasn’t any ice in the Smiths Falls Memorial Centre. The Steelers won the first two games, 5-4 and 7-4, with the Bears taking Game 3, 3-0. After Selkirk won the fourth game, 2-1 behind a 48-save effort by G Andy Stoesz, I seem to recall writing that the series was all over, that the Bears were done like dinner.
You guessed it! Smiths Falls came back with 6-3 and 5-4 victories, the latter in OT, to set up a Game 7 with the winner taking home the Centennial Cup, this being the days before corporate sponsorship put business names on so many things.
In Game 7, the teams played through three scoreless periods — Smith Falls F Terry Fournier ripped a shot off the cross-bar late in the third — and appeared headed to a second OT when Gord Kaluzniak scored. In those days, under CAHA rules, teams played 10 minutes of overtime, no matter how many goals were scored, but if they were still tied they went to 20-minute sudden-death periods. Kaluzniak, a Selkirk kid, scored with two minutes left in the 10-minute period, and the Steelers were able to defend their lead until period’s end.
Considering that the victory gave the MJHL its second straight Centennial Cup, it is hard to imagine that the league wouldn’t be home to the trophy again until last night.
What makes it that much more interesting is that the Centennial Cup was presented to the CAHA by the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association to commemorate the province’s centennial year of 1970.
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The Portage Terriers are the first host team to win the RBC Cup as national junior A champions since the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings in 2005.
Somehow it was only fitting that in this era of social media, at least one media outlet reported that “Terriers forward Gordie Bombay” scored a PP goal. Portage F Jordyn Boyd uses the Twitter handle @GordieBombay14. Boyd, who has played in the WHL with the Everett Silvertips and Kootenay Ice, gave the Terriers a 3-1 lead early in the third period.
The Bowles brothers, Brad and Shawn, stretched the lead to 5-1 later in the period. Shawn also had two assists. Their sister, Candace, works for Brandon radio station CKLQ and is the in-game host for the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Canadians had beaten the Terriers, 3-0, in the round-robin.
Last year, the Yorkton Terriers beat those same Carleton Place Canadians, 4-3 in overtime, in the final game in Vernon, B.C.
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The Memorial Cup tournament opens Friday in Quebec City with the WHL-champion Kelowna Rockets meeting the host Quebec Remparts. Also competing will be the OHL-champion Oshawa Generals and the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic. . . . Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News provides an early preview right here.
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Here is the Memorial Cup schedule (all games on Sportsnet; all times Eastern):
Friday, May 22: Kelowna vs. Quebec, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 23: Rimouski vs. Oshawa, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 24: Quebec vs. Oshawa, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, May 25: Rimouski vs. Kelowna, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 26: Oshawa vs. Kelowna, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 27: Quebec vs. Rimouski, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 28: Tiebreaker, if necessary, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 29: Semifina, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 31: Championship game, TBA
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The hockey season is over for many Canadians, it having ended when the last two Canadian teams, the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames, were eliminated from the NHL playoffs. In his latest piece, Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail writes: “It is impossible to count the number of Canadians who will now largely tune out. After the hardest winter in memory for so many, warm spring evenings or weekend afternoons are for spending anywhere but in front of the television watching, say, a team from Florida play a team from California.” . . . That column is right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:

Various sources, including Darren Dreger of TSN, have reported that Dave Lowry, the head coach of the WHL’s Victoria Royals, is in the mix for the head-coaching position with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. . . . Lowry, who has completed three seasons as the Royals’ head coach, also is the head coach of Canada’s national junior team. . . . Also believed to be contenders for the position are former NHL coaches Peter DeBoer, Dan Bylsma and Randy Carlyle. . . . Of course, the Sharks also want to have a chat with Mike Babcock. . . . Even if Lowry doesn’t get the Sharks’ job, his name now is in the NHL loop and you can bet that more interviews with different teams will follow, maybe not this offseason but in the future. . . . The Sharks have been looking for a head coach since they announced that Todd McLellan wouldn’t return for an eighth season. That was said to be by mutual agreement. . . . McLellan, a former WHL coach (Swift Current, 1994-2000), spent the past few weeks as the head coach of the Canadian team that won the IIHF World championship in Prague on Sunday. Canada, under McLellan, ran the table, completing its tournament with a 6-1 victory over Russia.
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At the moment, there are three WHL teams — the Kootenay Ice, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Vancouver Giants — without head coaches.
Last offseason, there were 10 teams changing coaches; this season, it doesn’t seem the number of changes will approach anywhere near that total.
In Kootenay, the Ice is looking for a replacement for Ryan McGill, while Lethbridge GM Peter Anholt is said to be down to a shortlist of three as he searches for a replacement for himself. The Giants, at some point, will hire a replacement for Claude Noel.
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Perhaps you heard about Russian president Vladimir Putin’s big game on the weekend. He scored eight times in an exhibition game that featured a lot of former NHLers and was played in Moscow. Putin’s team won, 18-6. . . . Putin spent most of the game on a line with Pavel Bure and Valeri Kamensky. . . .
The QMJHL championship will be decided tonight in Quebec City as the Remparts and Rimouski Oceanic play Game 7. The host Oceanic won Game 6 on Sunday, beating the Remparts 5-4 in OT on a goal by D Jan Kostalek. . . .
You may have seen the mini-documentary on Dickson Liong that got a whole lot of exposure earlier this month. On the weekend, Liong wrote a piece for The Fourth Period, explaining how he came to be the star of that piece. His story is right here.
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World champs 🇨🇦 @Burnzie88 pic.twitter.com/CjlNmZWo1h

— Tyson McLellan (@TysonMcLellan88) May 17, 2015

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Ex-coach: Depression, anxiety among factors in players leaving

It happens every August as WHL teams get their training camps rolling.
Some veteran players don’t show up. For one reason or another, they decide to move on to other things.
A lot of these players would be going into their 20-year-old seasons. Are they tired of the grind? Are they concerned about getting caught up in the 20-year-old game and its uncertainties, with each team being allowed to keep only three of them?
Some of the departing players are younger, perhaps feeling the impact of injuries or not wanting to be away from home anymore.
One former WHL coach wonders if this is just a sign of the times.
“Kids in general today do not have the same character required by people who have been in the game for 20-plus years,” he said. “Players have changed; managers, owners, coaches have not.
“The idea of ‘earning’ something seems to have gone by the wayside. Once a player gets drafted, it’s expected by the player, parents and agent for the ‘team’ to make him a player. (That is) unfortunate, but very true.”
This former coach also pointed a finger at the rigours of being a major junior hockey player.
These days, hockey at this level offers little in the way of down time. As a result, he said, “Players are getting worn out by pushing themselves in the off-season. Whatever happened to playing another sport?”
He suggests that hockey’s push to being a year-round sport has taken a lot of the “fun” out of the game.
“It’s a game,” he said. “But we do not treat it like a game. It’s all or nothing. TSN thrives on the business and compete part of the game. Rogers will do the same. It’s big business in the CHL.”
The former coach also touched on a couple of things that don’t get a whole lot of play in the hockey world.
“Depression and anxiety play a huge part in all of this,” he said. “The stress and pressure for a player to reach his ‘potential’ is a lot of times insurmountable. When you have been the best from 10-15 (years of age) in a small pool, expectations become unrealistic. Jump in the big pool, and the sharks eat you.”
It all adds up to a lot of burnout and pressure, he said, adding that “I would easily say that 75 per cent of players in the entire pool of players fall because of unrealistic expectations.”
Another former WHL coach wonders if some players who leave before their 20-year-old seasons would stay if they had no-trade clauses.
“The 20-year-olds don’t want to be suitcases and would like to play but not get traded,” he suggested. “As you have seen over the years, there is that the glut of 20-year-olds at the start of the season and players get moved or dropped to junior A. The kids are smarter now and don't like it.
“If the WHL wants to change this, then they need to open up the 20-year-olds to five or maybe even seven, and then they won’t quit.”
The ex-coach also is of the opinion that such a move would only help the WHL’s product.
“It would give better value to the $20,” he reasoned. “I also think that this would help the NHL coaches coming to the WHL as they won’t have to do skills and progression drills . . . just systems.”
From time-to-time, there has been talk among WHL officials about increasing the 20-year-old roster limit. However, it won’t happen without support from the OHL and QMJHL and, to date, that support hasn’t been there.
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G Brett Zarowny didn’t report to training camp with the Prince George Cougars. Zarowny, 19, was a third-round bantam draft pick in 2010. From Edson, Alta., Zarowny played two seasons with the Cougars. He was 9-19-0/3.74/.886 in 2012-13; last season, he went 3-10-2/4.23/.885. . . . A groin injury suffered in late November limited Zarowny to 17 games last season. . . . Cougars head coach Mark Holick told Taking Note that Zarowny “has decided to go to school.”
With Zarowny gone, it would appear that the top two goaltenders on the Cougars’ depth chart would be Ty Edmonds, 18, and Adam Beukeboom, 20, with Matt Kustra, 17, perhaps third. Edmonds got into 55 games last season, going 19-19-6/3.85/.887. With Zarowny hurt, Beukeboom came on to play in 14 games, going 5-8-0/4.25/.887. Kustra was an eight-round bantam draft pick in 2012.
The Cougars’ roster shows four 1994-born players, the others being F Chance Braid, F Jari Erricson and D Wil Tomchuk.
Holick told Taking Note that Erricson is in camp and has been cleared to participate. Erricson had one assist in four games last season before suffering a season-ending brain injury during a fight with F Jessey Astles of the Tri-City Americans on Sept. 22.
In 192 career games, the first 129 with the Everett Silvertips, Erricson, who is from Prince George, has 62 points, including 26 goals.
There is more good news in Prince George as F David Soltes, a 19-year-old Slovakian, is on the training camp roster. He had his freshman season ended by a knee injury after just 15 games. He had four goals and one assist in those 15 games.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed Russian F Pavel Skumatov, 17, who was their second-round selection in the CHL’s 2014 import draft. He is from Mescherskoye. The 6-foot-0, 165-pounder played for Vityazi Chekhov in the U20 MHL last season. He was one of the youngest players on his team and had two assists in 26 games.
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Stay home, or hand over big bucks and go to the game. Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle has that argument with himself right here.
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More rosters added/updated with cuts. http://t.co/mRUqirz94K Still nothing available from Edmonton, Kelowna, Medicine Hat.
— Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge) August 23, 2014

It's nothing new, same teams every year. Slightly disappointing that some teams make it so difficult for their fans to follow their camps.
— Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge) August 23, 2014

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1. It was entirely predictable that, with the Lethbridge Hurricanes off to a horrid start, someone would express interest in purchasing the community-owned WHL team.
That has happened with former WHLer Kris Versteeg, who began his career with the Hurricanes, having written a letter to the Lethbridge Herald stating his interest in getting involved.
That letter, which is right here, begins: "I would like to stress the purpose of this message is not to kick this organization while it is down, but simply to express my strong interest in wanting to be a part of it."
Judging by the contents of the letter, Versteeg is aligned with a number of partners, none of whom is named, and is prepared to move forward.
Of course, this isn't the first time someone has expressed interest in purchasing a franchise that has stumbled through a lot of the most recent seasons. Twin brothers Rich and Ron Sutter have long stated that they are interested in the franchise.
It seems, however, that the Lethbridge franchise isn't for sale.
“Well, the board’s position is that the team is not for sale,” team president Brian McNaughton told Dylan Purcell of the Lethbridge Herald in reacting to Versteeg's letter. “And that’s been our position for a long, long time. We believe that the board is committed to running the hockey team and keeping the hockey team in Lethbridge and we believe that’s the most viable option.”
Purcell's story is right here.

2. Tweet from Sunaya Sapurji (@sunayas) of Yahoo! Sports: "Kris Versteeg's letter mentions 2 goals: Win Stanley Cup with Panthers & take Hurricanes to next level... I bet goal 3 is broker world peace."

3. A few words from Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post:
"How long will it be before fan support, or lack thereof, becomes a major issue surrounding the Regina Pats? The Pats drew only 3,254 spectators for Wednesday’s WHL East Division first-place showdown with the Prince Albert Raiders, who won 3-1.
"The poor attendance is partially attributable to the fact that the Pats have missed the playoffs for four of the past five seasons. However, they carried a six-game winning streak into Wednesday’s game, and they are playing an entertaining brand of hockey. What will it take to entice more people to buy in?
"Once upon a time, disenchanted fans were heard to declare that they would not set foot inside the Brandt Centre as long as Brent Parker was involved with the Pats organization. Well, guess what? Parker, a one-time lightning rod for criticism, is no longer part of the team (which is owned by his father, Russ). So where is everyone?"
The Pats drew a season-high 5,432 fans to their Friday night game with the Edmonton Oil Kings, who got off to a 7-0 lead en route to a 7-2 victory.

4. In light of the headshot delivered by John Scott of the Buffalo Sabres the other night, John Shannon of Sportsnet weighs in right here with his thoughts on the situation. Yes, more food for thought. . . .

5. F Matt Anholt, the son of long-time WHL coach Peter Anholt, has committed to attend the U of Alaska-Anchorage and play for the Seawolves. From Prince Albert, Matt is in his second season with the BCHL's West Kelowna Warriors. This season, he is the Warriors' captain. . . . Peter, who now scouts for the Seattle Thunderbirds, has 450 coaching victories to his credit. He coached Prince Albert, Seattle, Red Deer and Kelowna.



Brent Sutter of the Red Deer Rebels will be the head coach of Team WHL when it plays a Russian side in the Subway Series next month. Ryan McGill of the Kootenay Ice will serve as Sutter's assistant coach. Games are scheduled for Nov. 27 in Red Deer and Nov. 28 in Lethbridge. . . . The WHL has suspended Prince Albert Raiders F Mike Winther for four games after he took a headshot major during a 3-1 victory over the Pats in Regina on Wednesday night. . . . After Friday's games, the WHL, thanks to loser points, has 15 of its 22 teams playing at .500 or better. That includes seven of 10 teams in the Western Conference. . . . The OHL's Erie Otters are riding a nine-game winning streak. At 11-2-1, their .821 winning percentage is second only to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (10-1-2, .846). The Otters’ head coach is Kris Knoblauch, a former WHL player and coach.

FRIDAY NIGHT:
D Ashton Sautner, with two goals in each of the last two seasons, scored twice and added an assist as the Edmonton Oil Kings scored a 7-2 victory over the Pats in Regina. . . . Sautner went into the game with four goals in 121 career regular-season games. From Wolseley, Sask., which is a few slapshots east of Regina on No. 1 Highway, he has three goals this season. . . . Sautner's father, Blaine, is a former head coach of the U of Regina Cougars. . . . The Oil Kings have won three in a row. . . . The Pats have followed a six-game winning streak with two losses. . . .

F Oliver Bjorkstrand drew three assists and G Jarrod Schamerhorn earned his first WHL victory in his second start as the visiting Portland Winterhawks got past the Kootenay Ice, 6-3. . . . Portland F Chase De Leo added two goals on his 18th birthday. . . . The Winterhawks, who wrap up a five-game road trip in Spokane tonight, have won seven in a row. . . .

In Red Deer, F Nikita Scherbak had a goal and two assists as the Saskatoon Blades edged the Rebels, 4-3. . . . Scherbak broke a 3-3 tie with a PP goal at 17:56 of the third period. . . . There was a bizarre play in this one, at 2:49 of the third period, as Saskatoon F Collin Valcourt drove to the Red Deer net, scored a goal and was given a major and game misconduct for goaltending interference after colliding with G Patrik Bartosak. The puck was ruled to have crossed the goal line before Valcourt made contact with Bartosak. That goal gave Saskatoon a 3-2 lead and knocked Bartosak out of the game. He was replaced by Taz Burman. . . . After opening the season with five losses, the Blades are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. . . . The Rebels have lost four in a row, all at home. . . .

D Reid Gow picked up four assists as the Spokane Chiefs dropped the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings, 7-1. . . . Gow is from Killarney, Man., which is located about an hour's drive south of Brandon. . . . The Wheat Kings were playing the first of a six-game road swing that includes five stops in the U.S. Division. . . . Spokane Mitch Holmberg had a goal and two assists. He leads the WHL in goals (17) and points (35). . . . Spokane F Liam Stewart, who missed two weeks with an undisclosed injury, scored once in his return, as did F Adam Helewka, who hadn't played since suffering a back injury in the season's third game. . . . The Chiefs (11-3-0) lead the U.S. division by a point  over the Portland Winterhawks (10-3-1). Portland visits Spokane tonight. . . .

F Jessey Astles, who has eight goals in 192 regular-season games, scored the only goal of the shootout as the host Tri-City Americans beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 3-2. . . . Astles, 20, is in his fifth season. Playing with the Kelowna Rockets, Saskatoon Blades and Tri-City, he has had seasons of 1, 3, 2 and 1 goal. He has one goal in 13 games this season. . . . F Ryan Gropp, who left the BCHL's Penticton Vees earlier this month to join Seattle, scored on his first WHL shift. Gropp, from Kamloops, was the sixth overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The Thunderbirds didn't have F Jaimen Yakubowski and F Sam Mckechnie in their lineup. They were acquired Thursday from the Lethbrige Hurricanes. . . .

In Prince George, Slovakian F David Soltes scored in the shootout to give the Cougars a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . With the loser point, the Hitmen have at least a point in each of their last nine games. . . .

F Manraj Hayer scored three times as the visiting Everett Silvertips got past the Vancouver Giants, 6-5. . . . Hayer, who is from Vancouver, broke a 5-5 tie at 18:01 of the third period to complete his first WHL hat trick. . . .

In Victoria, G Jordon Cooke stopped 28 shots, including two penalty shots, as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Royals, 4-1. . . . Cooke stopped F Logan Nelson on a penalty shot at 11:36 of the second period to preserve a 2-0 lead, and then beat F Luke Harrison at 10:22 of the third. . . . Cooke is 7-0-0 this season. . . . The Royals had won five straight home games. . . . D Riley Stadel was scratched by Kelowna. Head coach Ryan Huska told Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier that Stadel underwent a "minor procedure" in Vancouver and should be back with the team next weekend.

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