Gaglardi, Northland Properties guilty on environmental charges

Tom Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops
Blazers, arrives at the Kamloops Law Courts on
Jan. 15, 2014, during his trial on environmental charges.
(Photo: Dave Eagles, Kamloops This Week)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . .”
That is how Charles Dickens began the novel A Tale of Two Cities. He might as well have been describing Tom Gaglardi’s Friday.
Early in the day, Northland Properties Corporation, the company of which Gaglardi is president, issued three news releases dealing with the impending purchase of an AHL franchise and three Texas arenas.
Northland Properties owns the NHL’s Dallas Stars; Gaglardi is majority owner of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers.
Later, in Kamloops, Provincial Court, Judge Stephen Harrison found Gaglardi and Northland Properties each guilty of two counts of harmful alteration of a fish habitat. Gaglardi’s father, Bob, was found not guilty.
The charges were filed after landscaping changes were made in 2010 to a property near Savona, B.C., which is just west of Kamloops on Kamloops Lake.
“There was an element of wilfulness and a desire to get the job done and if necessary, seek forgiveness later,” Judge Harrison said in his decision.
Neither Bob nor Tom Gaglardi appeared in court yesterday.
Tim Petruk of Kamloops This Week reports: “The maximum penalties for harmful alteration of a fish habitat are fines of up to $1 million and/or six months in jail. Gaglardi is due back in court on Aug. 21 to set a date for sentencing.”
Petruk’s story is right here.
Glynn Brothen of infotel.ca also filed a story, and that one is right here.
Meanwhile, Northland Properties announced that it is in the process of purchasing the Cedar Park Center, which is home to the AHL-champion Texas Stars, who would be part of this deal.
Northland Properties also is buying the Dr Pepper StarCenter Plano that is located in Frisco and is home to, among other things, Severyn Sports, a training center owned by former NHL/WHL player Brent Severyn (Brandon, Saskatoon, Seattle, 1983-87).
As well, Northland Properties is purchasing the Ice Training Center in Richardson.
News releases on the impending purchases are right here.
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A move to raise the Kamloops-based Thompson Rivers University (TRU) WolfPack hockey team from the ashes may be gaining steam.
The team, which had operated as club team as opposed to a university varsity team, was about $50,000 in debut when TRU athletic director Ken Olynyk pulled the plug last week.
On Thursday, a Twitter account belonging to TRU Men’s Ice Hockey sent these three tweets:
“Ex players, family, friends and fans, or anyone with good reasoning as to why this program needs to continue are encouraged to contact . . .
. . . TRU head of Sports Finances, Matthew Milovick, via e-mail (mmilovick@tru.ca) and explain how the dissolving of the team has affected . . .
. . . them personally, the players, the university, or the community itself. Thank-you in advance, everyone. Let's see what we can do!”
Trevor Bast of Victoria, whose son Des was the last recruit signed by the WolfPack before the end came, followed that up with: “I am happy to start the rally but we need a lot of boots on the ground to see this through. Let’s leave it all out there.”
Later, Bast told Taking Note that “there is some social media momentum growing to save the program.”
In the early going, Bast said he is trying to get out the message that, yes, the TRU hockey program was of the pay-to-play variety, but that “when you compare it to going to the U.S. and playing NCAA Division III it is still a bargain and the hockey is better.
“TRU has to be up front about the fact players have to pay. I don't believe it puts the program at a disadvantage recruiting-wise. They still can approach a top end junior B player or a depth junior A player and tell them they can play collegiate hockey close to home in front of friends and family in a lot of cases all for $10,000 to $12,000 inclusive of tuition, lodging and hockey.
“Compare that to what families are paying to play NCAA Division III and it's a bargain, plus the hockey is better . . . as well, the education is better and more applicable.”
That is Bast’s message. Time will tell how it is received.
(If you would like to contact Bast, you are able to email him at trevorbast@gmail.com.)
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Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that F Alex Overhardt has decided to join the Portland Winterhawks. Overhardt, 17, is from Denver and is the son of player agent Kurt Overhardt, who founded KO Sports. . . . Alex was the captain of the midget AAA U16 Colorado Thunderbirds last season. They lost a national championship game 2-1 in quadruple OT. In league play, Overhardt had 30 points, 15 of them goals, in 37 games. . . . Chambers reported the move right here on his blog. . . . Later in the day, the Winterhawks issued a news release announcing the signing of Alex Overhardt, crediting him with 83 points, including 41 goals, in 75 games.
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A 19-year-old missing person case came to an end on July 31 when hikers discovered human remains on Athabasca Glacier near Jasper, Alta. . . . That got me to thinking, again, about the late Duncan MacPherson and the book -- Cold A Long Time: An Alpine Mystery. . . . If you haven’t yet read this book, written by John Leake, you really should. It details the trials and tribulations faced by MacPherson’s parents, Lynda and Bob, following the disappearance of their son, a former Saskatoon Blades defenceman, while on a European vacation before he was to take a coaching job in Scotland. . . . Cold A Long Time’s website is right here. . . . You are able to order the book right here.
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F Matt Bellerive’s WHL career hasn’t unfolded quite the way he had hoped it would. But now he’s back with the Vancouver Giants and preparing for his 20-year-old season. He tells Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province: “I’m hoping to have my best season by far this year. We’ll see what happens.” . . . That story is right here.
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LRT: that makes, by my count, 8 U.S. players on the Portland roster and 5 more signed. Maybe they should swap team names with Tri-City.
— Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge) August 7, 2014

The Anaheim Ducks High School League is up to 41 teams for next season. Huge growth in just a few years.
— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) August 7, 2014

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If you aren’t aware, John Leake is the author of Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.
The book is the story of parents searching for the truth about what happened to their son.
Duncan MacPherson was a former Saskatoon Blades’ defenceman who was embarking on what he hoped would be a coaching career in Scotland when he chose to tour Europe for a bit.
He never made it to Scotland. His body later was found on an Austrian glacier.
In between MacPherson’s departure from Canada in the summer of 1989 and the discovery of his body there were 14 years and a whole lot of intrigue and incompetence.
Leake appeared on a live Twitter chat on Friday. Here are some of his comments . . .
This is the key question – were his injuries caused by a fall and ice movement or by something else connected with a human. . . .
The parents suspected some form of culpability, though they weren't sure if it was intentional. The crime is concealment. . . .
Duncan's body had sustained sharp force trauma to three of his limbs, and the amputated limbs were found with his body. . . .
It is important to understand that NO information was offered to the parents. They had to repeatedly ask for everything they got. . . .
Hinterhoelzl maintains he assumed that Duncan forgot his clothing in the ski school office. . . .
Dr. Rabl told the parents that – according to the radiologist – the CT scan indicated no signs of violence to the body. . . .
When the parents heard this from Rabl, they decided to have the body cremated. Later they became aware of the chopped up limbs. . . .
In 1989, Canadian External Affairs withheld information from the MacPhersons indicating that Duncan had died on the ski slope. . . .
The MacPhersons asked me to investigate and write a book about this case because it is so incredibly convoluted and confusing. . . .
The Canadian government has been ineffectual at best. . . .
It is impossible to explain what happened in any form of conversation. Only a comprehensive narrative can make it understandable. . . .
It would have been very easy to determine the cause and manner of Duncan's death if the authorities had WANTED to do so. . . .
Our only hope for getting some kind of justice for the MacPherson family is through public awareness of the story. . . .
So far, the MacPherson's efforts to obtain clarity and redress have been successfully blocked by Austrian authorities. . . .
The Innsbruck public officials who participated in this cover-up should be severely punished.
———
If you haven’t already read Cold A Long Time, you should. If you can’t find it in a book store, check out this website.
But be forewarned . . . as you read this book, you will get angrier and angrier because as much as it is a book about a search for truth, it is a book about injustice.
There are some people out there who need to look in a mirror and then speak up about whatever it was that happened to Duncan MacPherson.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Taggart Desmet (seven games with Calgary, 2000-01) signed a one-year contract with Meran (Italy, Serie A2). He had 10 goals and 23 assists in 43 games with Valpellice (Italy, Serie A) last season.
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The Vancouver Giants had four goaltenders on their roster as they prepared to play an exhibition game against the Kamloops Blazers in Ladner, B.C., on Friday night. That list got whittled to three early in the day when Jackson Whistle, 17, was dealt to the Kelowna Rockets for a 2013 third-round bantam draft pick.
Whistle, who is from Kelowna, played the last half of the Giants’ 7-4 loss to the Blazers, giving up four goals on 16 shots.
Whistle got into 21 games with the Giants last season. He was 1-7-3 as a starter. Overall, he was 3.61, .873. In Kelowna, he will work as the backup to Jordon Cooke, 19, who takes over from the graduated Adam Brown.
Whistle was a fourth-round selection in the 2010 bantam draft. There was time when he and Payton Lee, a second-round pick in 2011, were seen as the future of the Giants’ goaltending.
That obviously won’t happen, but Lee, 16, remains in camp, along with Liam Liston, 19, and Tyler Fuhr, 17.
Liston was acquired over the summer from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, while Fuhr, from Sherwood Park, Alta., perhaps has been the biggest surprise in camp. He’s a walk-on who has been terrific. He started Wednesday’s 7-4 loss to the Blazers in Kamloops and stopped 15 of 17 shots over the first half. The Giants gave up quite a few odd-man breaks and Fuhr kept them close. Whistle played the second half, giving up four goals on 16 shots.
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The Saskatoon Blades are down to three 20-year-olds after having released veteran F Chris Collins.
That move leaves the Blades with D Connor Dox, F Josh Nicholls and F Brendan Walker as the 20s.
Collins, from Calgary, was acquired from the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?) during 2010-11. With the Blades, he had 67 points, including 25 goals, in 112 games. Last season, Collins put up 26 points in 56 games with the Blades. In his career, he has 108 points in 200 regular-season games.
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JUST NOTES: F Burke Gallimore (Spokane, Saskatoon, Seattle, 2006-12) has decided to attend the U of Alberta and play for the Golden Bears. Gallimore, who is from Edmonton, put up 198 points in 289 regular-season games. In four full seasons, he missed only four games. . . . The MJHL’s Dauphin Kings have traded F Neil Tarnasky, 20, to the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder for future considerations. He had seven points in 112 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes (2009-11). . . . F Jesse Mychan, 20, in his first game since severing an Achilles tendon in the first round of last spring’s playoffs, scored twice but his Tri-City Americans lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Seattle Thunderbirds in a Friday game at the Americans’ annual Red Lions Hotels tournament. . . . Among Brandon’s scratches for Friday’s home game against the Regina Pats were F Dominick Favreau (back), F Jayce Hawryluk (concussion), F Jens Meilleur (back) and D Ryley Miller (ill). The Wheat Kings beat the Pat, 5-3. . . . Regina was without F Dryden Hunt, who suffered a concussion in Regina’s 3-1 victory over visiting Brandon on Thursday night.
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The first paragraph of a Friday press release from the QMJHL:
“The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League today announced that Michel Bergeron and Marc Lachapelle are the honorary co-presidents of the Ambassadors Club Golf Tournament. They will lead the honorary foursome at the Boucherville Golf Club this September 19th with Gilles Courteau, QMJHL Commissioner and Guy Darveau, President of the Ambassadors Club.”
That brought a real smile to my face. Bergeron, of course, is a veteran of hockey’s coaching wars, while Lachapelle, a legendary hockey writer, first covered the QMJHL in 1971.
The three of us came into the same orbit at the 1979 Memorial Cup that was held in Montreal and environs. Bergeron was the head coach of the QMJHL-champion Trois-Rivieres Draveurs. Lachapelle was covering the tournament for Le Journal de Montreal. I was there covering the WHL-champion Brandon Wheat Kings for the Brandon Sun.
And when I asked Bergeron a question in English, he chose to reply in French. In fact, I don’t recall him speaking English at all in post-game situations.
Thankfully, Lachapelle bailed me out by showing up at my hotel and offering his translation of the proceedings.
Which is just another reason why Lachapelle always will be remembered as one of the good ones.
Merci, mon ami!
———
The tweet of the day comes from F Chase Witala (@chasewitala) of the Prince George Cougars: “Picking up a locker with @alexforsberg27 hopefully we don't have any flies living in there this year”
———
The Vancouver Giants will have three — count ’em: one, two, three — radio play-by-play voices this season. They have signed on with Team 1040/1410 and will have their games called by Jeff Paterson, Blake Price and Alex Grebenyuk. . . . The Giants announced Friday that Paterson and Price will alternate in calling home games. It has been known for a while that Grebenyuk would do all the road games. Grebenyuk is the Giants’ new director of media relations and broadcasting. . . . Paterson called Kamloops Blazers came from 1994-99. He was the Blazers’ voice in 1994-95 when they won the Memorial Cup under head coach Don Hay, who now is the head coach of the Giants. . . . According to a Giants’ news release, “Bill Wilms will continue to serve as the primary colour commentator for both home and away broadcasts.” . . . Also according to that news release: “At this point, of the 72 regular-season Giants games, 33 will be broadcast on TEAM 1040, 37 will be broadcast on TEAM 1410, and two will be available online only (due to scheduling conflicts) at www.teamradio.ca The Giants' final broadcast schedule is subject to change.” . . . Dan Elliott, who handled play-by-play and media relations for the last two seasons for the Giants, and the club parted company after last season. He now is UBC Athletics’ manager, media relations.
———
Congratulations to old friend Graham Tuer, who has a whole lot of friends in the hockey fraternity. He will be inducted into the Regina Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 4.
Here’s how the Regina Leader-Post summed up Tuer’s accomplishments:
“Involved in hockey for 50-plus years . . . coached and/or managed hockey teams at every level of minor and junior hockey in Saskatchewan . . . member of Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League board since 1982 . . . helped create provincial hockey's development model in 2007 . . . involved in Western Prospects development camp – served as assistant general manager/director of player personnel with WHL's Regina Pats . . . manager of Regina Pat Canadians for national championship in 1987-88 . . . scouted for numerous WHL teams and NHL Central Scouting . . . Regina Pats ‘builder recognition’ in 2008 . . . WHL Distinguished Service Award in 2009-10 - SaskSport volunteer of the year in 2008 . . . Hockey Regina bantam AA tournament named in his honour in 2007.”
At the same time, the Pat Canadians also will be inducted.
Here’s the Leader-Post on the Pat Canadians:
“Finished atop SMAAAHL regular-season standings with 26-2-0 record . . . Tim Iannone, Len Nielsen, Brett Burlock, Brent Fedyk, Troy Volhoffer and Selmar Odelein placed first to sixth in league scoring . . . coached by Bill Liskowich and Barry Trapp . . . support staff of Stew MacDonald (manager), Ron Blerot (trainer), Todd Liskowich and Trevor Dillabough (assistant trainers) – other team members: Kelly Murphy, Darren Hector, Brad Obrigewitsch, Mike Brannen, Curtis Fayant, Frank Joo, Kevin Herom, Dean Shaw, Jim Ruhland, Brian Wilkie and Kenton Rein . . . beat Notre Dame in league final . . . advanced to 12-team Air Canada Cup in Ste. Foye, Que., where 3-2 record put them into playoffs . . . defeated Toronto Don Mills 4-3 in quarterfinal, Thunder Bay 6-2 in semifinal and Ste. Foye 5-4 in final, with Nielsen scoring at 18: 21 and 19: 22 of third period in come-from-behind victory.”
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F Juraj Bezuch, who played last season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, now is with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. He had been in camp with the Kitchener Rangers, but was swapped on Friday, along with a conditional 2013 sixth-round draft pick, for F Nick Czinder, 20, D Jeff Braithwaite, 20, and a 2014 seventh-round draft pick. . . . Braithwaite may not report as he has said he is going to focus on school. . . . Bezuch, from Slovakia, turns 19 on Dec. 20. He had 21 points in 67 games with Lethbridge last season but was released at season’s end. Kitchener selected him in the second round of the CHL‘s 2012 import draft. . . . Windsor immediately waived F Vlad Ionin, a Russian, who was the 15th pick in the 2012 import draft.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Clinton Atkinson (Moose Jaw, Tri-City, 2008-11) signed a one-year contract with Miskolci Jegesmedve (Hungary, MOL Liga). He had nine goals and 50 assists in 60 games with Coquitlam Express (BCHL) last season. The new head coach in Miskolc is Tim Kehler, who was GM and head coach of Salmon Arm (BCHL) the past two seasons and was an assistant coach in Swift Current for three seasons prior to moving to Salmon Arm.
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Something is rotten in Innsbruck.
So writes John Leake in what is, in fact, an additional chapter to the already published book Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.
If you are a regular here, you will recall that a short time ago I highly recommended Leake’s book, which deals with the disappearance of former Saskatoon Blades D Duncan MacPherson and the subsequent trials and tribulations with which his parents, Lynda and Bob, had to deal as they sought the truth about what had happened to their son.
With this piece — Something is rotten in Innsbruck — Leake revisits three other cases, each of which involved a body and each of which also involved Dr. Walter Rabl, the president of the Austrian Society of Forensic Medicine.
Lynda and Bob MacPherson dealt quite a lot with Dr. Rabl who, as Leake found out once he began looking into the situation, wasn’t nearly everything he had pretended to be.
Read this right here and you will agree that, yes, something is rotten in Innsbruck. Really, really rotten. And if you haven’t yet read the book, do so. You won’t be disappointed.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Rob Miller is the new head coach of the Augusta RiverHawks of the Southern Professional Hockey League. He takes over from Brad Ralph, who now is head coach of the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads. . . . Miller, 33, spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Federeal league’s Brooklyn Aviators. . . .
Marc Crawford is leaving the TSN studio to go back behind the bench. He has signed on as head coach of the ZSC Lions, who play out of Zurich in the Swiss National League A. He most recently coached in the NHL with the Dallas Stars, who dropped him after the 2010-11 season. . . . Crawford replaces Bob Hartley, who left the Lions to take over as head coach of the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
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Now here is a giant can of worms. . . .
Jacob  Trouba was the ninth overall selection in last month’s NHL draft. He was taken by the Winnipeg Jets.
Trouba was a third-round selection by the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL’s 2010 draft.
Trouba, meanwhile, has said he will attend the U of Michigan and play for the Wolverines.
Recently, however, there have been reports that Trouba is wavering and that he may join the Rangers.
On Monday, Matt Slovin of The Michigan Daily reported that a source has told him that “Kitchener has presented the Trouba family with a ‘huge offer’ that remains on the table. The source added that he ‘believes it will happen.’ ”
According to Slovin, “In place of an education package, the source said Trouba could be compensated to about $200,000.”
Slovin’s piece is right here.
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F Marek Tvrdon of the Vancouver Giants has signed with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. He was a fourth-round selection in the NHL’s 2011 draft. A natural scorer, Tvrdon, 19, had 74 points, including 31 goals, with the Giants last season. In 2010-11, he had 11 points in 12 games when a shoulder injury brought his season to an end. Tvrdon is from Nitra, Slovakia.
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Brent Sutter has been an NHL head coach for the last five seasons. Right now, however, he is unemployed. Should that continue into the 2012-13 season, Sutter says he will help out with the management side of the Red Deer Rebels, the WHL franchise that he and his family own.
“We’ve always had good people in place here and I’m going to help Jesse (Wallin, the Rebels’ GM and head coach) out with the management part,” Sutter told Greg Meachem, the sports editor of the Red Deer Advocate.
Sutter also told Meachem that the time has come for the Rebels “to get back on board as far as making the playoffs” and “back to being a elite team in the league.”
Meachem’s story is right here.
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He’s 47 years old and estimates that he was knocked unconscious about 100 times during his football career.
John Glennon of The Tennessean has more right here.
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Howie Meeker was in Vernon, B.C., the other day and had some interesting things to say to Kevin Mitchell of the Vernon Morning Star.
On the L.A. Kings winning the Stanley Cup: “I was kind of delighted they won. I was disappointed that the Canadian clubs weren’t in there until the end. I think what they’ve done is really changed the whole history of the game. Defence now comes way, way ahead of offence.”
On skill versus size: “Here in Canada and the rest of the world, we’re not developing enough skilled hockey players to sell the game on speed, skill and finesse. So, if I draft anywhere after 10, I don’t get anything but big, tough, hard-working, honest guys. They’ve taken over.”
On shot-blocking coming to dominate the game: “An ant couldn’t crawl through (the scrums in front). Guys are making millions of dollars a year by being a target in a shootin’ gallery. God bless ’em. They’re crazy but it’s spoiled the game.”
On Don Cherry: “Nobody can give him advice so as long as he wants to stay there, let him stay there. I don’t watch him. I admire him for what he does. He’s got a circus act going, him and his buddy (Ron MacLean) and he’s got a great following but I wanna know what’s going on out on the ice, I don’t wanna know about his buddies and all this other baloney. I don’t think he’s done anything for the game of hockey, but he’s done well for himself.”
Mitchell’s complete story is right here.


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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Igor Bacek (Tri-City, 2005-06) signed a one-year contract with Dortmund (Germany, Oberliga). He had 17 goals and 31 assists in 37 games with Passau Black Hawks (Germany, Oberliga) last season.
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John Leake, the author of Cold A Long Time: An Alpine Mystery, appeared on Dan Russell’s SportsTalk on Thursday night.
SportsTalk is a three-hour nightly show that originates with CKNW, an AM radio station in Vancouver.
Cole A Long Time details the death of former Saskatoon Blades D Duncan MacPherson and all that follows as his parents, Lynda and Bob, work to find out what happened.
SportsTalk is on the CKNW website in podcast form. The Leake interview covers most of two hours and it’s available right here. Just click on Thursday, June 14, Hour 1 and Hour 2.
The book, which is a must read, is available via the Internet right here.
And it soon is to become available at Chapters Indigo book stores.
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Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has a piece right here on Rob Laird, one of the longest-serving members of the Los Angeles Kings organization. A pro scout, Laird has been part of the Kings for 18 years. What is nice about this piece is that Laird passes along some Stanley Cup credit to Al Murray, who once was the Kings’ director of amateur scouting. In fact, it was with Murray heading up the scouting department that the Kings drafted three key players — goaltender Jonathan Quick and forwards Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar. Murray now is the Tampa Bay Lightning’s director of amateur scouting.
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JUST NOTES:
The Prince Albert Raiders have signed their first three selections from the 2012 bantam draft. . . . D Brendan Guhle, the third overall selection, had 24 points with the Sherwood Park Flyers of the Alberta Major Bantam League. . . . G Nick McBride, a second-round pick from Maple Ridge, B.C., also signed. He helped the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins win the Western Canadian bantam AAA championship last season. . . . F Matteo Gennaro, who played for the bantam AAA St. Albert Sabres, also was a second-round selection. He had 44 points, including 23 goals, in 31 games. . . .
The Prince George Cougars have signed F Jansen Harkins of North Vancouver. He was the second overall pick in the 2012 bantam draft. Harkins, the son of former pro Todd Harkins, had 122 points, including 68 goals, with the bantam AAA North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks and was named a co-winner of the 2012 Hockey Now Minor Hockey Player of the Year Award. . . .
The Kamloops Blazers have signed F Jayden Halbgewachs, the 19th overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft. Halbgewachs, from Emerald Park, Sask., had 89 points, 55 of them goals, in 24 games with the bantam AA Prairie Storm. He will play next season with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. . . .
Daniel Fink has joined the Regina Pats as their media and communications manager. He joins the Pats from the SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves. He was the radio voice of the Ice Wolves. With the Pats, he will be, according to a news release, “responsible for all aspects of media relations and communications as it relates to the Pats.” . . . Fink starts work on Aug. 18. . . .
Congrats to Bill Whitehead, the newly elected president of Hockey Manitoba. Whitehead, who is from Roland, Man., was a minute-eating defenceman with the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers when they won the 1974 Centennial Cup as national junior A champions.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The St. Louis Blues have promoted Brad Shaw to associate coach while adding Gary Agnew as an assistant coach. Agnew replaces Scott Mellanby, who left the Blues late last month and has since signed as the Montreal Canadiens’ director of player personnel. . . . Agnew had been head coach of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals since Nov. 7. He spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets where he worked alongside Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock. . . . The Blues other assistant coach, Ray Bennett, is going into his sixth full season with the Blues. Prior to that, Bennett, who worked in the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs and Moose Jaw Warriors, spent seven seasons with the Los Angeles Kings. . . . Shaw is going into his seventh season with the Blues. . . .
The QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs have named Mike Kelly as their new head coach. Kelly, who was the Sea Dogs’ director of hockey operations and associate coach, actually has been named general manager and head coach. . . . He replaces Gerard Gallant as head coach. Gallant has signed on as an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens. . . . Kelly did a stint as head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings (2003-04). . . . The Sea Dogs, the 2011 Memorial Cup champions, have won the last two QMJHL titles, going 161-34-9 in the process. . . .
One year after signing on with the junior B Revelstoke Grizzlies as an assistant coach, Kevin Kraus is the team’s general manager and head coach. Kraus (Kamloops, Tri-City, 2006-07) replaces Randy Quakenbush, who had his contract terminated but remains in the organization and plans on working to keep the Kootenay International league franchise in Revelstoke after it came perilously close to being sold and relocated to 100 Mile House. . . . Brian Wiebe, who follows all things BCHL the way a mother goose follows her young ones, first tweeted the Kraus signing on June 8. Wiebe tweets at @Brian_Wiebe.
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Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has the latest right here on the story of Jim Duquette, the longtime baseball executive, and his daughter, Lindsey. Jim gave a kidney to Lindsey last week and should have his 10-year-old daughter home for Father’s Day. It doesn’t get any better than that.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter), one of ESPN’s NFL reporters: “After one NFL exec heard CB Adam Jones was ordered to pay $11.7 million for his role in a shooting, he texted, ‘When it rains, it pours.’ ”

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Whatever happened to Duncan MacPherson?

When author John Leake set out to tell the story of the disappearance of Duncan MacPherson, it is doubtful that his intention was to write a love story.
But that is exactly what he penned with Cold A Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.
Oh, this isn’t a love story of the Erich Segal or Harlequin Romance variety.
Rather, it is the story of the love between a mother and her son, and it is unlike any such story you will have read before now.
MacPherson, a native of Saskatoon, was a terrific defenceman through three seasons (1983-86) with his hometown Blades. In his third season, he had 64 points and 147 penalty minutes in 70 games. Yes, he could play on the power play; yes, he had his teammates’ backs.
The New York Islanders liked this good, honest hockey player enough that they took him with the 20th overall selection in the NHL’s 1984 draft.
MacPherson never got to the NHL, however, and after four mostly injury-plagued seasons in the minors, his contract wasn’t renewed and he looked overseas.
In the early summer of 1989, MacPherson agreed to coach the Dundee Tigers, a team in Scotland owned by Ron Dixon, a big talker who also had ties to the WHL (he had been involved in the ownership of the New Westminster Bruins and Tri-City Americans).
However, before reporting to the Tigers, MacPherson chose to do some travelling in Europe.
On Aug. 4, 1989, MacPherson visited George Pesut, a former Blades star, who was in Nuremberg, Germany. MacPherson called home and said he would phone again in 10 days.
That phone call never came.
On Aug. 8, 1989, MacPherson left the home of Roger Kortko, another former Blades star, in Fuessen, Germany, and headed south into Austria.
None of his friends or family heard from him again.
In Saskatoon, Lynda MacPherson, Duncan’s mother, felt something was wrong as early as Aug. 11, 1989. That was the night she awoke from a deep sleep and found herself screaming.
She and her husband, Bob, driven by Lynda’s undying love for her son, would spend the next 14 years working to find out what had happened.
Duncan’s corpse was discovered on July 18, 2003.
Even after that, the MacPhersons, spearheaded by Lynda’s bulldogedness and her driving need to learn what had happened, spent another seven-plus years pushing, pulling and grinding away as they attempted to get to the truth.
All told, the MacPhersons would spend more than 20 years on the trail of what had happened. They used up a lot of their retirement savings, most of their energy and about a third of their lives as they fought to find out what had happened to their son, who was 23 years of age that summer of 1989.
Duncan, as it turned out, had stopped at the Stubai Glacier, a major recreation area outside Innsbruck, Austria, for a snowboarding experience. It was there that he was last seen and where the car he had been driving was found on Sept. 20, 1989. The car, a red Opel, had been sitting in a parking lot at the glacier for about six weeks without anyone noticing it or, at least, without anyone reporting it to the authorities.
Strange?
That was only the beginning of the story, one that would be filled with untruths and obfuscation and a whole lot of people talking in circles for a long, long time.
At one point, before even the red Opel had been discovered, the MacPhersons visited the Canadian Consulate in Munich in the hopes of getting some help. An official there told a receptionist: “I don’t care how you do it, just get rid of those people.”
And then there was the official at the Canadian Embassy in Vienna who told them: “I think you and your family should get on with your lives. Life is for the living.”
That was just as the MacPherson’s odyssey was beginning, about 14 years before their son's body was even found.
Little did authorities in Austria and in various Canadian government agencies understand that you simply could not get between this mother and her need to find out what had happened to her son.
Leake is an American writer who lived in Austria for 10 years. It was that connection that attracted the MacPhersons to him when they were looking for someone they hoped would investigate their story and then turn it into a book.
Through Leake, the MacPhersons came to understand the importance of the Stubai Glacier to the economic viability of that area of Austria and how there would seem to have been a coverup involving the death of their son.
To provide more details, would be to spoil what is a solid and heart-breaking read. But here is a hint of what went on — authorities indicated to the MacPhersons that Duncan’s body had been found in a crevasse in an area that was out of bounds to area skiers and snowboarders; in truth, the body was found in the middle of a ski slope, about 25 metres from a tow lift.
Near the end of this book, Lynda tells Leake: “You may think I’m boasting, John. But I’m not afraid of anyone.”
It turns out that Duncan once suggested to Lynda, a smallish woman, that because of her size, or lack of it, she should perhaps work at being a little less confrontational.
“And I told him that size doesn’t make the man,” Lynda said.
Or, in this case, the woman.
Because as much as this book details the quest to learn what happened to Duncan MacPherson, it is just as much the story of Lynda’s love for her son, and how that love kept driving her on a search for the truth.
“To cease looking for him seemed like abandoning him, which was unspeakable,” Leake notes, adding “ ‘Don’t give up mom,’ she imagined him saying, and she knew that if it had been the other way around, he would never have given up trying to find her.”
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Leake has said that 25 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Lynda and Bob MacPherson. The book is available right here.
It’s worth noting that Cold A Long Time won a bronze medal in the True Crime category of the 16th annual Independent Publisher Book Awards.
And right here is a trailer for Cold A Long Time, as narrated by Bill Paxton.
As well, there is a website right here that is dedicated to Cold A Long Time.
I guarantee that two things will happen as you read this book — you will shake your head in disbelief on more than one occasion, and you will wipe more than one tear off your cheeks.
This is a memorable book.

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THE MATCHUPS
Eastern Conference
Edmonton (1) vs. Kootenay (8) — Overall leaders face defending champs.
Moose Jaw (2) vs. Regina (7) — The Trans-Canada Rivalry heats up.
Calgary (3) vs. Brandon (6) — Brandon draws first blood.
Medicine Hat (4) vs. Saskatoon (5) — Will the Tigers Etem up? Or are Blades equal to the Trask?
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Western Conference
Tri-City (1) vs. Everett (8) — Can Silvertips handle Ams’ all-star line?
Kamloops (2) vs. Victoria (7) — This one’s on Shaw TV.
Portland (3) vs. Kelowna (6) — To tell the Carruth, Portland’s favoured.
Vancouver (4) vs. Spokane (5) — The battle of the two Dons.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Chad Bassen (Regina, Vancouver, Medicine Hat, Everett, 2000-04) signed a one-year contract extension with the Augsburger Panther (Germany, DEL). He had nine goals and 16 assists in 52 games for Augsburg this season.
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There was more than one full page of copy and photos dedicated to the Western Hockey League in Thursday’s edition of the Kamloops Daily News.
In fact, about half the editorial space that was provided to the sports department was filled with WHL-related copy.
In one story, the Victoria Royals were referenced on one occasion as the Victoria

Grizzlies. The Royals, of course, are the team that the WHL allowed RG Properties to purchase and move to Victoria after five seasons as the Chilliwack Bruins; the Grizzlies are the BCHL’s Victoria franchise.
And so it came to pass that Dave Dakers, the president and alternate governor of the Bruins, er, Royals, chose to get up on his hind legs during a Thursday news conference in Kamloops — he was the guy who someone suggested looked as though he’d slept on a Greyhound bus and arrived just before the talking started — and whined about the lack of respect his club was getting.
Yes, the Bruins, er, Grizz . . . ahh, Royals are in full ‘woe is me’ mode. Rodney Dangerfield never had it this bad.
Victoria, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, got into the playoffs with 24 victories — the Bruins, er, Royals also lost 48 games, although they earned loser points for seven of those setbacks.
Were they in the Eastern Conference, they would have missed the playoffs by 27 points. (By the way, WHL commissioner Ron Robison spent part of his address yesterday talking about his league’s competitive balance. Ahh, we won’t go there, not when the final standings show 14 of 22 teams at better than .500, not when three Eastern Conference teams are out, despite having far superior records to three Western Conference teams that are in.)
But we digress . . .
So far the Royals have played the experts-are-picking-Kamloops-in-three card, the we-beat-Portland-twice-last-week-and-didn’t-get-any-respect card, the we-don’t-know-why-we’re-playing-this-series card, the nobody-knows-our-name card. . . .
All of which means the playoffs have arrived.
Here’s Marc Habscheid, the Bruins’, er, Royals’ GM/head coach, to the Victoria Times Colonist earlier in the week:
“Some people are picking them in three games, not just four. We shouldn't even go to Kamloops, the way it sounds. All I know is, we’ll show up Friday when the puck is dropped.”
Here’s Habscheid, to Travis Paterson of the Victoria News:
“We beat Portland and we’ve heard, ‘Well, they didn’t have (Sven) Baertschi.”
Here’s Dakers, at Thursday’s news conference:
“We’re not sure why we’re playing this series.”
One of the reasons the WHL held the news conference, as it put it in a news release, was to launch the 2012 playoffs.
The news conference was held in the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops, but only one team — the Blazers — had a coach and players in attendance.
Here’s hoping the Bruins, er, Grizzlies or whoever they are — the Salsa? — show up tonight and for five or six games after this one.
Hey, at least we didn’t call them the Cougars! Or did we?
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If you're looking for the Western Conference individual award winners and all-star teams that were announced yesterday, you will find them at www.whl.ca.
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THURSDAY’S GAME:
In Calgary, F Mark Stone broke at 2-2 tie late in the second period and the Brandon Wheat Kings went on to a 6-2 victory over the Hitmen. . . . This was the first game of a first round series, with Game 2 scheduled for tonight in Calgary. . . . The teams then head to Winnipeg for as many as three games, if necessary. With the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon, the Wheat Kings have again had to take their first-round show on the road. . . . Stone, who is playing with a thumb injury, got his first playoff goal at 16:13 of the second period. . . . F Darian Dziurzynski scored twice for Brandon, which got two assists from F Paul Ciarelli. . . . After Brandon took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by F Jason Swyripa and Dziurzynski, Calgary tied it when F Brooks Macek scored at 19:01 of the first and F Alex Gogolev scored at 1:16 of the second, on a PP. . . . Brandon G Corbin Boes stopped 34 shots. . . . Calgary was without F Cody Sylvester (undisclosed) and F Victor Rask (leg), two of its top three regular-season scorers.
Scott Fisher of the Calgary Sun was at the game and filed this story.
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On the eve of opening a playoff series in Edmonton, Jeff Chynoweth, the president and general manager of the Kootenay Ice, talked with Chris O’Leary of the Edmonton Journal about what might have been. The Ice, you’ll recall, began life as the Edmonton Ice and spent two seasons there before relocating to Cranbrook.
That story is right here.
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Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province has all but guaranteed the series between Don Hay’s Giants and Don Nachbaur’s Spokane Chiefs — it opens tonight in Vancouver — will be a goaltender’s nightmare.
Here’s some of what Ewen wrote:
“Hay is an old school guy. Don Nachbaur is  an old school guy. They are defence first guys and this is going to a series of 2-1 and 3-2 games. The regular season match-ups this year, which saw Vancouver win 2-1 in Spokane on Feb. 15 and 3-2 at home in a shoot-out on Oct. 5 certainly suggest that. The team that sticks with its plan the best should win. Another point to ponder? Vancouver is 11-1 in playoff series under Hay when it has home-ice advantage like it does in this one, and 1-5 when it does not.”
Ewen also has a piece today on Vancouver G Adam Morrison who, it turns out, has a relative on the Chiefs’ roster. Morrison and Spokane F Steven Kuhn are cousins.
For more from Ewen, scoot on over to The Province’s website.
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It has been almost 23 years since Duncan MacPherson, a former Saskatoon Blades defenceman, disappeared while traveling in Austria. You will recall that his body was found 14 years after his disappearance. His parents, Lynda and Bob, were convinced that there was more to this story than authorities were letting on. Now there’s a book about the case — Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery — and author John Leake has spoken about it with Kevin Mitchell, the sports editor of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
That story is right here.
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F Turner Elson of the Red Deer Rebels has signed an ATO with the Abbotsford Heat, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Elson, a free-agent signee of the Flames after their last training camp, had 46 points and 59 penalty minutes in 56 games with the Rebels. Elson turned 20 on Wednesday.
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Dave (Crash) Cameron of the Edmonton Sun writes that the bandwagon is filling up. Of course, that would be the Edmonton Oil Kings’ bandwagon. That piece is right here.
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If there is a model franchise in the CHL today, it very well may be the Tri-City Americans. The franchise is operated by general manager Bob Tory, who is profiled right here by Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald.
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Pat Conacher, the first-year head coach of the Regina Pats, is the Eastern Conference nominee as the WHL’s coach of the year. When he heard the news, he was surprised, honoured and uncomfortable.
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has that story right here.
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And finally . . . I’m sorry but this just slays me. Mac Engel, a writer with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has a blog — The Big Mac Blog. . . . No, he isn’t related to Mac Engel, the Spokane Chiefs goaltender. . . . But Mac the Blogger is keeping tabs on Mac the Goaltender, “the greatest goalie in the history of hockey” as it says here. . . . The latest entry is right here.


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