I’ve been at this a long time. In fact, I can’t remember the last day when I didn’t post something here.
So I’m taking the weekend off.
Back early next week.
While I’m away, if you haven’t already, pay a visit to two blogs, both of which you will find over there on the right.
Ladies first . . .
We can . . . with love! is the work of Shelley Lowes, who has been fighting cancer and, not unlike the late Howard Cosell, has given us the blow-by-blow. Down goes cancer! Down goes cancer!
It’s A Mental Game is penned by Glen Erickson, a golfer and hockey writer who also is taking on the Big C. He, too, is allowing us to tag along.
Both blogs are more than worth your time.
Not to be overly dramatic, but you should read the latest offerings from Shelley and Glen, and then see if you feel the same way about the NHL lockout.
Seriously. Who cares? They’re negotiating. It’ll be over when it’s over. Wake me then.
In the meantime, I’m with Shelley and Glen. Hopefully, the bandwagon continues to fill up.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Bernhard Keil (Kamloops, 2010-11) signed a two-year contract extension with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). The extension runs through the end of the 2014-2015 season. Keil has no points in five games with the Tigers this season and has one assist in one game on loan to Regensburg (Germany, Oberliga) this season.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers have assigned G Dawson MacAuley, 18, to the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers. . . . MacAuley is the odd-man out after the Tigers acquired G Cam Lanigan, 20, from the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday. . . . MacAuley was 1-3 with a 3.84 GAA and a .881 save percentage. . . . The Tigers, who are in Edmonton Saturday, now have Lanigan and Czech freshman Marek Langhamer has their goaltenders.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings have added David Anning, 27, to their coaching staff. Anning, who had been working as assistant GM/assistant head coach with the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons, will join the Wheat Kings on Sunday as they continue a seven-game road trip. He will work alongside head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk, fellow assistant coach Darren Ritchie and goaltender coach Brent Zelenewich. . . . Anning was the GM/head coach of the MJHL’s Winnipeg Saints before moving to Steinbach. He also spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings and has worked with various Hockey Canada programs.
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The Regina Pats have acquired F Colten Mayor, 19, and D Stephen Hak, 18, from the Red Deer Rebels for two 2015 bantam draft picks -- a fourth-rounder and a conditional sixth-rounder. . . . Mayor has three goals in 11 games this season with the Rebels after putting up 38 points in 52 games last season. He has played 168 WHL games so adds some experience to the Regina lineup. . . . Hak had six points in 55 games last season, but had been assigned to the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons this season. . . . Mayor and Hak were expected to arrive in Regina Thursday night. The Pats are at home to the Tri-City Americans tonight.
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The Swift Current Broncos and Saskatoon Blades have swapped a pair of 19-year-old skaters. F Brent Benson, who is from Weyburn, Sask., is joining the Broncos in exchange for D Graeme Craig, who is from Red Deer. . . . Benson sat out Saskatoon’s 2-1 OT victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans on Wednesday night with what the team said was the flu. He had three assists in 11 games with the Blades this season. Last season, he had 37 points in 72 games. He was the sixth overall selection in the 2008 bantam draft. . . . Craig had one assist in 11 games with the Broncos this season, after putting up 10 points in 56 games last season. The 64th overall selection in the 2008 bantam draft brings some size to Saskatoon’s back end, at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds. . . . Interestingly, the Blades play in Swift Current tonight and both players are expected to play for their new clubs. . . . Having added a defenceman, the Blades assigned D Nelson Nogier, 16, to the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts. Nogier, the son of former WHL G Pat Nogier, was a fourth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft.
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The Calgary Hitmen promoted assistant coach Brent Kisio to associate coach. . . . Kisio is in his sixth season with the Hitmen. He joined them in August 2007 as video/assistant coach after spending four seasons at the U of Nebraska-Omaha and graduating with a degree in criminology.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed G Nik Amundrud, who was a third-round selection in the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. Amundrud, who turns 15 on Saturday, is from Melfort, Sask. He practised with the Silvertips on Thursday in Saskatoon. He is 2-1, 3.33, .872 in three appearances with the midget AAA Tisdale Trojans this season.
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Former NHLer Mike Busniuk is the interim head coach of the CIS Lakehead Thunderwolves (3-1-0) after Joel Scherban was dismissed on Thursday. Scherban was in his fourth season as the university team’s head coach. The 60-year-old Busniuk, who is from Thunder Bay, which is home to Lakehead U, spent two seasons as an assistant coach on Scherban’s staff. . . . Leith Dunick of tbnewswatch.com reported that “Scherban was let go for what team officials deemed internal issues, problems neither management nor the players would speak when pressed after the news broke.”
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If you like the loser point, this one’s for you.
Robert Tychowski of the Edmonton Sun points out that the Oil Kings “managed just one win in their last five games, but still salvaged five of 10 points in that span thanks (?) to three of those losses coming in overtime or the shootout.”
So if you’re Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal perhaps you are telling your players that things aren’t going so well because you’ve lost four of five.
But if you play for the Oil Kings you reply that you’re still point points in your jeans.
By the way, after Thursday’s game, 15 of the WHL’s 22 teams have a winning percentage of .500 or better.
The Oil Kings, who have lost six of 10 games (5-3-3), are at .591.
Go figure!
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THURSDAY’S STUFF:
G Jordon Cooke, making his 10th start in 11 games, posted the shutout as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Prince George Cougars, 3-0. . . . Cooke stopped 32 shots for his second shutout this season and the second of his career. . . . Kelowna F Colton Sissons scored the game’s first goal, on a penalty shot, at 12:37 of the first period. . . . The Rockets were shorthanded at the time. . . . Prince George G Mac Engel, in his first start since being acquired from the Spokane Chiefs, stopped 23 shots. . . . Attendance was 4,781. . . . One of the big stories early in this WHL season may be the attendance in Kelowna, considering that franchise automatically drew at least 6,000 fans per game for the longest time. . . . The Cougars now head for Spokane and a Friday date with the Chiefs, who are in Prince George on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Victoria, F Alex Gogolev scored twice against his former team as the Royals dumped the Calgary Hitmen, 3-1. . . . Gogolev, who has five goals, scored his second goal into an empty net. . . . Victoria F Steven Hodges scored his club’s other goal as he returned from an eight-game absence due to injury. He hadn’t played since Sept. 28. . . . F Zack Jones, whom the Hitmen acquired for Gogolev, scored for Calgary. . . . Victoria was 0-for-5 on the PP, while Calgary didn’t receive even one opportunity with the man advantage.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
D Marc McNulty, Prince George
F Colton Heffley, Kelowna
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“The Minnesota Department of Health has begun tracking concussions at 42 high schools in an attempt to gauge how the injuries affect students,” writes Alejandra Matos of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Within the first seven weeks, 373 students were diagnosed as having had a concussion. Leslie Seymour, an epidemiologist with the Health Department, said tracking the injuries in fall sports, such as football and volleyball, is only the beginning.”
The complete story is right here.
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The best story I saw yesterday is right here. It has nothing to do with hockey; in fact, it has nothing to do with sports. It's a love story involving a big bull elk and a cow. Seriously! Give it a read; it just might make your day.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From TC sports desk (@tc_vicsports): “60 minutes & not a single PP for @WHLHitmen who suffered a similar fate just 8 months ago in Victoria in a 5-3 win #WHL #strangebuttrue”

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Graeme Craig of the Swift Current Broncos shows off
his new look after a puck took out three teeth on
Friday night in Regina. What a way to bring in a new year!
(Photo courtesy Graeme Craig via Twitter — @craigstand6)

Graeme Craig is in his third season as a defenceman with the Swift Current Broncos.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder from Red Deer is one of those steady performers who will sacrifice his body for the team.
On Friday night, he took one for the team and it cost him three teeth.
With Regina leading 1-0 late in the second period, Pats F Jordan Weal took a one-timer that went high.
“As I turned to face the play, it hit me square in the mouth,” Craig wrote to me on New Year’s Eve.
It was a bad luck play all around as the puck went off Craig’s face into the crease and F Jack Rodewald tucked it in for his third goal of the season and one that stood up as the game-winner.
I’ll let Craig explain the dental aspect of it all:
“It turns out it was only three teeth — two were laying on the ice and we tried to put them back in but the bone that holds them in place got smashed. Got the third one pulled later in the dentist office.
“Seven stitches to close the holes. For now it'll be a week or so til I get X-rays and then will get a denture made for the rest of the season. I'm really hoping I can get some permanent ones or I'll be devastated haha.”
Of course, when Craig returns to the lineup he plans on wearing a cage.
And when will he makes his return?
He says he hopes to play today — New Year’s Day — against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.
Hey, he’s a hockey player!
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As you may have guessed, Craig’s mother, Helen, “was pretty upset and concerned.”
“I had pretty nice teeth, didn’t have braces or anything and she was probably mourning their loss more than I was,” Craig noted.
Craig has 20 points, three of them goals, and 182 penalty minutes in 163 regular-season games over three seasons. This season, he has a career-high two goals, to go with four helpers, in 30 games.
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JUST NOTES:
D David Musil of the Vancouver Giants didn’t play for the Czech Republic on Saturday in a 4-0 loss to Finland at the World Junior Championship. He took a blindside hit on Friday in a game against the U.S., and is experiencing concussion-like symptoms. . . . F Sven Bartschi of the Portland Winterhawks has missed Switzerland’s last two games and is believed to have a concussion. . . .
F Shayne Wiebe (Kamloops, Brandon, 2007-11) has been released by the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps and will join the University of New Brunswick Reds, who are the defending Canadian university champions. The 21-year-old Wiebe, who is from Brandon, had four assists in 12 games with the IceCaps, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. . . .
When Team Canada beat the U.S., 3-2, at the World Junior Championship on Saturday, the opposing goaltenders were Scott Wedgewood and Jack Campbell. Interestingly, they have something in common, aside from the fact both play in the OHL, Wedgewood with the Plymouth Whalers and Campbell with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. . . . They both are coached by former WHL G Stan Matwijiw, who played with the Prince Albert Raiders (1991-94) and Lethbridge Hurricanes (1993-94). . . . These days, Matwijiw operates Bandits Goalie School, with Campbell and Wedgewood included among his students. Matwijiw also is Plymouth’s goaltender coach. . . . And a stick tap to former Raiders play-by-play voice Kevin Smook for that one.
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WHL TRADE TRACKER (trades made since Dec. 27):
Trades made: 4
Players: 11
Draft picks: 4
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The race to the Jan. 10 trade deadline continued on Saturday as the Prince Albert Raiders dealt F Brandon Herrod, 20, to the Kamloops Blazers for F Logan McVeigh, 17, and a 2012 second-round bantam draft pick.
Herrod, who is expected to be in the Blazers’ lineup tonight against the visiting Prince George Cougars, has 36 points, including 18 goals, in 40 games this season. He has played 314 career regular-season games, never playing fewer than 64 games in a season, and has put up 241 points, 106 of them goals. Herrod is from Meadow Lake, Sask., and was a third-round pick by the Raiders in the 2006 bantam draft.
The Blazers have had room for a 20-year-old since trading D Josh Caron to the Everett Silvertips on Nov. 29. Kamloops has been looking for a winger to play alongside LW Brendan Ranford and C Chase Schaber. That spot had belonged to RW Jordan DePape, but he is out until at least March after having shoulder surgery on Nov. 4.
McVeigh, from Kenaston, Sask., was a second-round selection in the 2009 bantam draft. A sophomore, he has 16 points, including five goals, in 34 games. Last season, he finished with 13 points, four of them goals, in 59 games. He is a superb penalty killer and strong defensively.
The Raiders next play Wednesday when they meet the Pats in Regina.
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Late Saturday night, McVeigh tweeted:
“This 14 hour drive back to sask is getting old #butworthit , new years on the highway #lonely”
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In Saturday’s Everett Herald, Silvertips GM Doug Soetaert reiterated that he won’t trade D Ryan Murray, who almost certainly will be a top five selection in the NHL’s 2012 draft.
Here’s what Soetaert told the Herald’s Nick Patterson:
“Ryan Murray is what we want in a hockey player. Ryan is a young man who plays hard every day. He cares and competes. He's played hard in every game he's been with us since he was a 16-year-old. That's the type of player we want in our organization, and I won't trade Ryan Murray.”
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Everett, the Moose Jaw Warriors got out to a 3-0 lead and went on to beat the Silvertips, 5-2. . . . F Sam Fioretti, who was in Everett’s training camp in 2008, scored twice and set up another for the Warriors, who are 1-1 on their U.S. Division swing. Fioretti has 14 goals. . . . Moose Jaw has won five of its last six games. . . . F Justin Kirsch had three assists. . . . F Ryan Harrison had two assists for Everett, giving him five points over his last two games. . . . Everett went in having picked up at least a point in each of its last four games. . . . The two heavyweights — Moose Jaw D Dylan McIlrath and Everett D Josh Caron — got it on 9:13 into the first period. . . . Warriors G Luke Siemens stopped 22 shots in winning his 20th game. Siemens, who was acquired from Everett early in the season, is 20-7-5. . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans tied a 20-year-old franchise record as they beat the Spokane Chiefs, 4-1. . . . The Americans have won 10 straight games, equalling the franchise record set in 1991. . . . The Americans went 10-0 in December, the first time in franchise history a team had gone undefeated in a month in which it played five or more games. . . . This was the 21st renewal of the New Year’s Eve series between the visiting Chiefs and the Americans. Tri-City now is 14-5-1 with one other game ending in a tie (remember them?). . . . F Patrick Holland and F Justin Feser each had a goal and two assists. Holland, who scored while shorthanded, has 15 goals; Feser has 18. . . . Attendance was announced at 6,064, the third-largest crowd in franchise history. . . . Spokane G Eric Williams stopped 16 shots in his first start since being acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders earlier in the week. . . .

In Portland, the Winterhawks held a 48-18 edge in shots as they beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 2-0. . . . G Mac Carruth stopped 18 shots for the shutout, his first of the season and third of his career. . . . Portland F Ty Rattie, who leads the WHL with 37 goals, scored the game’s first goal, with 9.3 seconds left in the second period. . . . Portland held a 23-3 edge in shots in the second period. . . . F Brendan Leipsic added a PP goal at 1:51 of the third. . . . These two teams have played in Portland each New Year’s Eve since 1995. Portland holds a 9-8-0 edge or, if you prefer, Seattle is 8-8-1. . . . The game drew 10,356 fans, Portland’s fourth straight game over 8,000. . . . The Winterhawks were without F Oliver Gabriel (undisclosed). F Pearce Eviston, 19, played his first game this season with the Winterhawks. He had one goal in two games last season. He also played in 12 playoff games, getting one assist. . . .
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SATURDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Sam Grist, Tri-City (double minor)
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Team Pacific ran its record to 3-0 with a 4-3 victory over Russia on Saturday at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in LaSalle, Ont. . . . F Nic Petan (Portland) scored twice for Team Pacific, with F Macoy Erkamps (Lethbridge) and F Tyson Baillie (Kelowna) adding one each. . . . Petan’s second goal, at 19:14 of the second period, gave Team Pacific a 4-1 lead. . . . G Eric Comrie (Tri-City) stopped 27 shots. . . . F Sam Reinhart (Kootenay) had two assists. . . . After the game, Team Pacific headed across the river to the Joe Louis Arena and watched the Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-0. Following the NHL game, the players spent about an hour in the Red Wings’ dressing room as guests of Detroit assistant coach Bill Peters, a former Spokane Chiefs coach. “It was a tremendous experience for the players,” one team official reported. “Bill had lots of motivational words and even passed around his Stanley Cup ring for the boys to try on for size.” . . .
On Saturday, in Tecumseh, Ont., Team West dropped a 5-2 decision to the Czech Republic. F Craig Leverton (Lethbridge) and F Jonathan Martin (Kootenay) scored for Team West, which got 30 saves from G Austin Lotz (Everett).
Team Pacific (3-0) is off until Monday when it plays the U.S. Today, Team West (0-2) meets the U.S. (1-1).
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Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at the NHL and its problem with head injuries right here. She ends her piece with some chilling words from player agent Allan Walsh, who has been quite vocal about what he feels is a lack of action by the NHL.
Dillman writes that Walsh feels “the greatest push (for change) will come from a venue outside the sporting arena, taking note of the many lawsuits filed in the last few months by former NFL players against their league over concussions.”
She quotes Walsh: "Mark my words, lawsuits are coming. And there will be no greater change agent for the NHL and teams than lawsuits."
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And right here is today’s good read, from Bruce Arthur of the National Post. It’s a compilation of 2011’s best sports-related quotes. It's long, so make sure the coffee pot has three cups in it. Enjoy! . . . And a Happy New Year to all.
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