Hitchcock to Edmonton? . . . Wenatchee to BCHL? . . . We Not The North?

With apologies to Blackie Sherrod, we are scattershooting late on a Sunday night:
1. It has been a while since the Kelowna Rockets have faced a challenge. It will be interesting to see how they react now that they’re 1-1 with the Portland Winterhawks and headed to the Rose City for a doubleheader.
2. Perhaps when TSN has six or seven channels, they’ll be able to show all of Sunday Night Baseball, rather than joining it in progress.
3. Whenever I watch G Devan Dubnyk and consider his numbers with the Minnesota Wild, I wonder if goaltending really was an issue with the Edmonton Oilers. Maybe it’s all about defensive structure and commitment.
4. Gawd, I love that Molson commercial that opens with old friend Don Dietrich heading to the hockey game on the glacier. If you haven’t read his book — No Guarantees — give it a go. You won’t be disappointed.
5. The headshot by Calgary Hitmen F Jake Virtanen on F Tanner Kaspick of the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday is every disciplinarian’s worst nightmare. Virtanen is a star player whose team is down 2-0 in a conference final and that team plays in the city where the WHL office is located. Richard Doerksen, the next move belongs to you.
6. The final buzzer was still echoing Sunday and there was speculation that Ken Hitchcock had coached his last game with the St. Louis Blues. Well, his coaching career began in Edmonton, so why not?
7. Whenever talk to turns to potential homes for WHL franchises, someone invariably mentions Wenatchee, Wash., home of the 4,300-seat Town Toyota Centre. But you can end that talk because it now seems likely that the Wild, which has played in the NAHL, will be in the BCHL for 2015-16.
8. If you’re an NFL fan, you know the draft starts on Thursday. Which means you won’t want to miss Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback, which is right here. (Question: If the NFL is moving the draft around — this year's is in Chicago, not New York — so why couldn't the WHL move its bantam draft around?)
9. Why does my TV remote always find the Jason Statham movies?
10. Does what happened to the Toronto Raptors mean We Not The North?
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:

No Games Scheduled.

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A look at the WHL’s 10 winningest head coaches in terms of playoff victories:
Don Hay (Kamloops, Tri-City, Vancouver) 103
Ken Hodge (Edmonton, Portland) 101
Ernie McLean (Estevan, New Westminster) 87
Pat Ginnell (Flin Flon, Victoria, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat) 80
Willie Desjardins (Saskatoon, Medicine Hat) 67
Ken Hitchcock (Kamloops) 66
x-Brent Sutter (Red Deer) 66
x-Don Nachbaur (Seattle, Tri-City, Spokane) 65
x-Kelly McCrimmon (Brandon) 62
Dean Clark (Calgary, Brandon, Kamloops, Prince George) 61
(x — active.)
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The U.S. won the IIHF U-18 men’s world championship, beating Finland 2-1 in OT in Zug, Switzerland, on Sunday. F Colin White score the winner at 12:44 of extra time. . . . G Evan Sarthou of the Tri-City Americans made 19 stops for the victory. . . . It was the sixth time in seven years that the U.S. won the title. . . . Canada won the bronze medal, with a 5-2 victory over Switzerland. F Glenn Gawdin of the Swift Current Broncos scored twice for Canada.
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In the OHL, F Connor McDavid scored two goals as the Erie Otters post a 4-2 victory over the visiting Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds last night. The Otters lead the Western Conference final, 2-1. . . . McDavid has 32 points, 18 of them goals, in 12 playoff games. . . . They’ll play in the Soo again on Tuesday. . . . Also last night, the host Oshawa Generals beat the North Bay Battalion 1-0 in OT. D Dakota Mermis got the winner at 1:00 of the first OT period. . . . That series is 1-1 as it shifts to North Bay for games Tuesday and Wednesday.
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In the QMJHL, the Quebec Remparts have a 2-0 lead over the Moncton Wildcats with Games 3 and 4 scheduled for Quebec City tonight and Tuesday. . . . The Rimouski Oceanic leads the Val-d’Or Foreurs 2-0 in the other semifinal, with the series in Val-d’Or for games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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From a story by Dan Barry of The New York Times: “Examinations of the brain of Patrick Risha, 32, at the University of Pittsburgh and Boston University revealed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative disease caused by repeated blows to the head that has been found in the brains of dozens of former football players. C.T.E. has been linked to depression, impulsive actions and short-term memory loss, among other symptoms.” . . . You won’t be sorry for giving this right here a read.
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When asked about the officiating tonight, Mavs HC Rick Carlisle put a piece of tape over his mouth. pic.twitter.com/UItDkr3Lmm
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 27, 2015

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Dubnyk for the Hart? Why did Affleck cry?

“Reports that the Colorado Rockies had added marijuana brownies to their concessions menu this season turned out to be a website spoof,” Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times informs us. “There went the ‘Cheech & Chong and pray for rain’ marketing blitz.” . . . “Talk about watching an overmatched 16-seed taking on a 1-seed on national TV this week,” writes Perry. “But enough about Dick Vitale kissing Ashley Judd.” . . . The Harvard Crimson nearly advanced to the second round of March Madness on Thursday when it dropped a 67-65 decision to North Carolina. That resulted in this tweet from SB Nation: “A crushing defeat for Harvard fans, who will have to console themselves with running the world and being successful and stuff.” . . .

Is there a better story in the NHL this season than former Kamloops Blazers goaltender Devan Dubnyk? It isn’t that long ago when Dubnyk was being blamed for everything that is wrong with the Edmonton Oilers. Today, he has made 31 straight starts for the Minnesota Wild, a team about which people are starting to talk. Dubnyk is 22-6-1 with a 1.76 GAA and a .935 save percentage, and he should be in the Hart Trophy conversation. . . . CBS-TV’s David Letterman knows why New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter retired. “He wanted to spend more time with his money,” Letterman reports. . . .

“In the Notre Dame/Northeastern game,” Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon, writes of an early round NCAA tournament game, “Brian Anderson did the play-by-play and color analyst Steve Smith kept calling him ‘B.A.’ It got to the point that I thought I was watching a rerun of The A-Team.” . . . “Graff Diamonds reportedly has designed a 150-carat diamond watch that sells for $40 million,” writes Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “That’s a lot of dough, but Kobe Bryant’s wife loves hers.” . . . “If Kentucky goes 40-0,” reports Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen, “there will likely be some changes to college basketball. They may install a salary cap.” . . .

“The Canadian team finished with five medals at the FINA Diving World Series in Dubai,” reports Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong. “Montreal Canadiens defenceman PK Subban, who has been fined by the NHL for his third diving infraction, was not part of the team in Dubai.” . . . One more from Chong: “The CRTC has decreed that cable companies must provide basic service for $25 a month. If you want sound and a clear picture that will, of course, be bundled with channels you’ll never watch.” . . .

“In the wake of the Chris Borland retirement,” writes contributor Bill Littlejohn, “Pittsburgh Steelers neurosurgeon and NFL medical consultant Joseph Maroon says that playing football is safer than riding a bike and that CTE's are 'greatly exaggerated’. I don't think he'll be Bill O'Reilly's next guest in the No Spin Zone.” . . . Here’s Littlejohn again: “Jennifer Garner said that after the Super Bowl, husband and die-hard Patriots fan Ben Affleck cried. She said it was the first time he'd done so since reading the reviews of Gigli.” . . .

A Tuesday note from Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald: “A quick tip to my co-workers: The green bread and milk in The World-Herald cafeteria have nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day.” . . . Dickson, again: “Russian President Vladimir Putin has re-emerged after disappearing for 11 days. Turns out he was waiting in line for toilet paper and food. You know what we call a politician who goes 11 days without being seen in the U.S.? ‘Vice president.’ ” . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: NFL launches new campaign warning players about long-term risks of retirement. . . .

Here’s Larry Brooks, in the New Yort Post: “You know what? It was better to the ear when Phil Kessel was saying nothing rather than the inane stuff he is saying now about this Maple Leafs team that is an insult to the sweater and a stain on the franchise’s heritage. . . . You would kind of have to say Randy Carlyle isn’t going to have much trouble getting a job next year, wouldn’t you?” . . .

“Artist Yuriy Alekseev is gaining fame for paintings done at the bottom of a Siberian lake,” claims RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “He specializes in waterscapes and portraits of Russian Olympians who didn’t medal in Sochi.” . . . “Michael Phelps is getting married,” Currie notes. “Keeping a wife happy is a lot like swimming — you take the plunge, try not to make waves, and once in a while you may have to crawl.” . . . NBC-TV’s Seth Myers has March Madness figured out. As he puts it, “That’s the big tournament where you start out with 64 teams, and in only three weeks you’re down to no girlfriend.” . . .

Texas had five teams in March Madness — Baylor, SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Texas and Texas Southern — and they all were one-and-done on Thursday. As Janice Hough, aka the Left Coast Sports Babe, put it: “Last time the state of Texas had a day this bad, the Alamo was involved.” . . . Donald Trump, saying he is the only person who can make America great again, apparently is putting together a Presidential Exploratory Committee for 2016. That news caused Hough to write: “Make America ‘truly great?’ Trump can’t even do a great job with that furry thing that lives on his head.”

(Gregg Drinnan is a former sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post and the late Kamloops Daily News. He is at gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears here on weekends, except when it doesn’t.)

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The Flint Flonbombers? . . . Warriors make a Point . . . Blazers whip Winterhawks

It’s official. The OHL’s Plymouth Whalers are being sold and will relocate to Flint, Mich., in time for the 2015-16 season. There now is speculation about what the team’s nickname might be once it is in its new home. . . . A tip of the hat to the WHL executive who emailed me and suggested the Flint Flonbombers would be most suitable. . . . It is impossible to disagree with that.
Ken Campbell of The Hockey News has more on the Flint situation right here.
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ICYMI, former Kamloops Blazers G Devan Dubnyk was acquired by the NHL’s Minnesota Wild from the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday. The Wild is Dubnyk’s fifth NHL organization  in a year -- he went from the Edmonton Oilers to the Nashville Predators to the Montreal Canadiens to Arizona and now to Minnesota.
Which brings me to G Don Blishen.
You may recall that I mentioned Blishen here on Wednesday in a piece on players who had been with six or seven WHL teams during their careers.
Blishen was on the list of those who had played for six teams. The Calgary native, who now is 43, played for the Calgary Wranglers, Lethbridge Hurricanes, Swift Current Broncos, Portland Winterhawks, Tri-City Americans and Brandon Wheat Kings (1986-90).
It seems that he came awfully close to playing for the Spokane Chiefs, too.
Craig West, a former radio voice of the Chiefs who now calls the play for the Tri-City Americans, recalls Spokane GM Tim Speltz having dealt G Shawn Dietrich to Tri-City for Blishen.
As West recalls, Blishen might have been Chiefs' property “for an hour or so” before he was dealt to Brandon, along with F Bobby House and F Marty Murray, for G Trevor Kidd on Jan. 21, 1991. With Kidd backstopping them, the Chiefs ended up winning the Memorial Cup.
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Whenever I watch a Vancouver Canucks game on Sportsnet, I chuckle in the early going when a Safeway promotion appears and the voiceover provides the name of someone who will win $1 million if a Vancouver player scores five goals during the game.
Yeah, when is the last time one of the Canucks scored five goals in a game?
Well, the same promotion runs in Manitoba. And, on Tuesday night, Gail McDonald of Brandon would have won $1 million had one of the Winnipeg Jets scored five goals against the visiting Florida Panthers.
It was close, too, as Matthieu Perreault of the Jets scored four times over the first two periods.
There’s more right here.
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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:

In Moose Jaw, F Brayden Point scored three times to lead the Warriors to a 4-3 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The victory moved the Warriors to within three points of the Ice, which holds down the Eastern Conference’s second of two wild-card playoff spots. . . . Two goals from Point, who has 20 goals, and one from F Torrin White, his ninth, gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead midway through the second period. . . . Point has two hat tricks this season. . . . The Ice got to within 3-2 before the period ended, as F Austin Vetterl got his fourth and D Rinat Valiev scored his sixth. . . . Valiev returned after a seven-game absence. He played for Russia at the WJC and then was ill. . . . Point gave his side a 4-2 lead with his 20th goal at 11:08 of the third, on a PP. . . . Ice F Sam Reinhart made it 4-3 at 12:09, with his ninth goal. . . . Reinhart has 15 goals in 13 career games against Moose Jaw. . . . Warriors D Dallas Valentine and F Axel Blomqvist each had two assists. . . . Moose Jaw lost F Jaimen Yakubowski to a headshot major and game misconduct at 4:08 of the third period. The hit was on Reinhart. . . . Kootenay lost D Troy Murray in the first period when he didn’t return after taking a hit from Yakubowski. . . . The Ice held a 33-18 edge in shots, including 12-3 in the third. . . . The Warriors (18-23-4) who play in Swift Current on Friday, have won two in a row. . . . The Ice (21-21-1), which is in Prince Albert on Friday, has lost four straight. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has more on the game right here. . . .

In Medicine Hat, F Pavel Padakin scored Regina’s first two goals and the Pats went on to a 6-1 victory over the Tigers. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple, in his first start since returning from a groin injury, stopped 37 shots. . . . WHL Facts (@WHLFacts) tweeted that Wapple is 16-0-2 since Nov. 7. . . . F Dryden Hunt, whom the Tigers acquired from the Pats prior to the trade deadline, got the game’s first goal, his 16th, at 6:54 of the first period. He is on a 14-game point streak, the longest in the WHL today. . . . Padakin, who has 13 goals, tied the score at 8:41 and then gave the Pats the lead at 1:11 of the second. . . . The Pats added three third-period goals, including a shorthanded score by F Austin Wagner at 4:57 for a 3-1 lead. He’s got 11 goals. . . . F Braden Christoffer and F Sam Steel each had two assists for Regina. . . . Regina F Colton Kroeker scored his second goal of the season on a third-period penalty shot. . . . D Chase Harrison (concussion) was back in Regina’s lineup. . . . Regina (26-14-3), which is in Edmonton on Friday, had lost its previous two games. . . . The Tigers are 29-11-2. They are in Saskatoon on Friday. . . .

In Calgary, F Brooks Maxwell’s shootout goal stood up as the winner as the Red Deer Rebels beat the Hitmen, 5-4. . . . The Hitmen had taken a 4-2 lead into the back half of the third period. . . . Maxwell scored his 13th goal, on a PP, at 10:34 and F Conner Bleackley forced OT with his second goal of the game, and 22nd of the season, at 18:51. . . . Red Deer outscored the home team 3-2 in the skills competition. . . . F Connor Rankin scored twice for Calgary, giving him 23. . . . Calgary D Travis Sanheim had three assists. . . . F Jake Virtanen was among Calgary’s scratches. . . . The Rebels (25-14-5) have won five straight and stretch their lead over the third-place Hitmen to four points in the Central Division. . . . Calgary (23-16-5) has lost two in a row. . . . The Rebels are at home to Victoria on Friday. . . . Calgary next plays on Saturday against visiting Victoria. . . .

In Kamloops, the Blazers struck four times in the first period and went on to beat the Portland Winterhawks, 6-2. . . . The Blazers line of Matt Needham between Cole Ully and Deven Sideroff combined for 10 points. Needham had two goals, giving him 14, and two assists; Ully notched his 20th goal and had two assists; and Sideroff scored his 15th goal and added two assists. . . . The Winterhawks scored twice in the second period to briefly make a game of it. . . . Portland F Alex Schoenborn scored his 13th goal and also had an assist. . . . D Michael Fora had two assists for the Blazers. A freshman from Switzerland, he has 23 points in 38 games. After putting up eight points in his first 19 games, he has 15 in his last 19. . . . Kamloops G Connor Ingram stopped 24 shots, none bigger than a left pad save off F Miles Koules with eight seconds left in the second period that kept the Kamloops lead at 4-2. . . . Portland G Evan Johnson stopped 17 of 19 shots over the last two periods as he made his first appearance since being acquired from the Calgary Hitmen. He relieved Adin Hill, who surrendered four goals on 16 shots in the first period. . . . Portland F Chase De Leo had a 17-game point streak come to an end. . . . F Nic Petan returned to the Portland lineup after an 11-game absence. He was with Team Canada at the WJC, where he tied for the tournament scoring lead, and then was said to be ill. If you were thinking mumps, forget it. A Portland insider told Taking Note that Petan was quite run down when he got back from the WJC. . . . F Mitch Walter wasn’t on the Portland bench in the third period. He was playing his first game since being acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings at the trade deadline. He was involved in an early second-period fight with Kamloops F Nick Chyzowski and took an overhand right square in the face. Walter looked wobbly going to the penalty box. . . . The Blazers (15-24-6) now have won one more game than they did all of last season when they finished 14-53-5. They next play Saturday when they entertain the Vancouver Giants. . . . Portland (23-19-3) had won its last two games. . . . The Winterhawks will meet the Cougars in Prince George on Friday and Saturday. . . .

In Kelowna, F Rourke Chartier and F Dillon Dube each scored twice to help the Rockets to a 7-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Chartier leads the WHL with 38 goals. . . . Dube has 10 goals even though injuries have limited him to 19 games. . . . Chartier also had an assist. . . . F Leon Draisaitl and D Madison Bowey each had two assists for Kelowna. . . . Rockets G Jackson Whistle, in his 100th regular-season WHL appearance, stopped 19 shots. . . . Tri-City G Evan Sarthou turned aside 28 shots. . . .The Americans list G Eric Comrie as being out two to three weeks with an undisclosed injury. He hasn’t played since returning from the WJC. . . . The Rockets are 34-7-3; the Americans are 20-21-2. . . . Kelowna is atop the Western Conference and the Americans hold down the conference’s second wild-card spot, so this may well be a first-round playoff matchup. . . . The Rockets are at home to Seattle on Friday, while the Americans visit Vancouver.
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From Dylan Bumbarger, a community blogger at The Oregonian . . .

in case anyone wants it pic.twitter.com/14G2GBhjCg
— Dylan Bumbarger (@dylandb) January 15, 2015

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Oilers in Mucha's future?

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
The illness to one former Kamloops Blazers goaltender may turn into an opportunity for another former Kamloops Blazers goaltender.
Kurtis Mucha, who finished his WHL career Wednesday when the Blazers lost to the visiting Vancouver Giants, says he is looking at a number of different professional options right now.
One of them, he says, is with the Edmonton Oilers organization, which is in need of a healthy goaltender due to a recent illness to Devan Dubnyk, who played for the Blazers from 2001-05.
“I talked to Edmonton, and they said they’re going to look through their system,” said Mucha, whom the Blazers acquired from the Portland Winterhawks in November. “With (Dubnyk) being sick, they’re going to have to shuffle some goalies around.”
When Dubnyk got sick before the Oilers’ home game against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, Edmonton was forced to call up Nathan Deobald, a third-string goaltender for the U of Calgary Dinos, to back up Jeff Deslauriers. Dubnyk told reporters Thursday that he is starting to feel better, but isn’t yet ready to play.
Mucha said if he does go to the Oilers’ organization, it likely wouldn’t be with the big club, but rather the AHL’s Springfield Falcons or the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder.
“I might be able to slide on to one of their three teams,” said Mucha, who went to camp with the Oilers in September. “It won’t be the NHL team, but that would be nice.”
Mucha, a Sherwood Park, Alta., native, finished his junior career having appeared in more games (245) and played more minutes (13,708) than any other goaltender in CHL history.
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca