Raiders looking for GM . . . Hurricanes, Thunderbirds swap veterans . . . Unhappiness in The Hat

KHL news . . . some old . . . some new . . .
The Associated Press reported April 9 that Sochi hadn’t paid its players since January, but promised that they would be paid in full by the end of April. That didn't happened so the players have filed suit in Russian court to get their money. League rules require teams to resolve all debts to players by May 31 if they wish to continue in the league in the following season.
This AP report also noted there were Russian media reports that put at least five teams at risk of withdrawing from the KHL for financial reasons. The AP named Slovan Bratislava, Atlant Mytischi and Admiral Vladivostok as three of the five.
While Slovan Bratislava hasn’t officially left the KHL, it has applied to rejoin Slovakia's Extraliga.
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From the April 30 edition of the online Russian website Sport-Express (it has been all World Championship since then):
1) Valery Kamensky, president of Atlant Mytischi, said that from May 1 all members of the team would be dismissed. According to him, the future of the club is unknown. "Today is the last day for all staff of Atlant. From 1 May, they will be fired,” Kamensky said."With regard to the future of the club, for the moment I have nothing to say. There is no news. We are planning that the youth team will continue to serve in the region and the Youth Academy also continues." On April 28, Atlant GM Alexi Zhamnov confirmed that Atlant has transferred the rights to 10 players to SKA St. Petersburg as compensation for money SKA gave to Atlant earlier in the season so that Atlant could finish the season.
2) Alexander Pavlinov, vice-president of Amur Khabarovsk, admitted that the club had sent a request for deferral of the KHL deadline to provide financial guarantees for the coming season. It was reported earlier that difficulties arose with the co-operation necessary for confirmation in the documents. "We have appealed to the leadership of the league for an extension of the deadlines for submission of documents,” Pavlinov said. "A technical hitch, so we still need time. Asked to extend until the end of May and we are waiting for a response.”
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Slava Malamud, who is a Washington, D.C., area correspondent for the Russian media outlet Sport-Express, tweeted last month that SKA St. Petersburg players were each paid a US$800,000 bonus for reaching the KHL final. SKA won the league championship so one can only imagine what kind of bonus the players got for that. How this falls under the KHL salary cap is unknown.
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The 2015-16 KHL regular season is scheduled to open on Aug. 24. The league had announced during this season that it plans to align the schedule more closely to the needs of the Russian national team. As such, Russian Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretiak has said that the KHL won’t adjust its schedule to fit in with the proposed NHL/NHLPA World Cup in 2016. If this holds, there won’t be any KHL players available to play in the World Cup.
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It wasn’t a surprise when the Prince Albert Raiders announced Friday that general manager Bruno Campese won’t be returning.
It had been rumoured for a while now that Campese wasn’t likely to be back, that he was wanting to return to West Kelowna, B.C., for family reasons.
The Raiders and Campese, 51, said that the decision to part company was mutual, and that the Raiders

BRUNO CAMPESE

wouldn’t be exercising their option on his contract.
“There’s no doubt that I would’ve loved to come back,” Campese told Brett Smith of the Prince Albert Daily Herald.“I love my job and I love the people I work with but, at the end of the day, it’s been a family decision to move back home. I’m good with it, my family’s good with it and I think when I look at it perspectively from the Raiders’ point of view, and I had mentioned this to our executive board, that the right time to do this is now.”
If there had been any doubt that this would happen, it likely was erased on April 21 when the Raiders announced that head coach Marc Habscheid had been signed to a four-year contract. At that time, nothing was said about Campese’s future.
As well, nothing definitive was said earlier this week when the Raiders announced they had re-signed associate coach Dave Manson to a four-year deal and assistant coach Kelly Guard to a one-year contract.
Raiders president Dale McFee plans on having a new GM in place in short order. The way McFee sounds, Habscheid, who was GM/head coach with the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals, isn’t a candidate.
“Marc is a qualified candidate, but I think we’ve been through that experience once already,” McFee told Smith. “We had a coach/GM and it didn’t work.
“We feel the ultimate model for Prince Albert is one where we have a coach and a general manager that are separate and that we actually can focus in and make sure that obviously our business product, being a community-owned team, is aligned with our on-ice product and that’s not something we feel we want to give up on.”
Of course, if it isn’t Habscheid, the next GM will be brought in knowing full well that he won’t have any of his hires on the coaching staff. And how often does that work out?
Campese, who will work with the Raiders until a replacement is named, spent eight seasons with the Raiders. He was hired as the head coach prior to 2007-08 and was also the GM before that season ended. In 2011, he stepped aside as head coach and has been strictly the GM since that time.
The Raiders had their struggles on the ice, making the playoffs in three of Campese’s eight seasons in Prince Albert. However, they did make the playoffs in the two seasons prior to this one, and it’s fair to say that things looked pretty good a year ago.
In fact, I think it’s fair to say that he and the Raiders deserved a better fate than not making the playoffs this season.
After going 35-32-5 in 2013-14 and suffering a second-straight first-round exit, the Raiders and their fans looked forward to this season, knowing they would have two of the WHL’s premier players — D Josh Morrissey and F Leon Draisaitl — on their roster. However, Draisaitl, the third-overall pick in the NHL’s 2014 draft, opened the season with the Edmonton Oilers, who later refused to return him to the Raiders. The Oilers told the Raiders that if Draisaitl was to return to the WHL he would only play with the Kelowna Rockets. (Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and GM, is tight with a number of people in the Oilers’ organization, which made the optics even worse.)
Faced with that news, Campese was forced to try and cut his losses, so Morrissey and Draisaitl both ended up with the Rockets.
Kelowna won the WHL championship on Wednesday night; two days later, Campese announced that he was done.
Now that he’s available, perhaps the Oilers need an assistant GM.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have traded F Jamal Watson, their captain, to the Seattle Thunderbirds for F Cory Millette and a 2016 fifth-round bantam draft pick.
Both players are preparing for their 20-year-old seasons.
Watson, from Calgary, is coming off a career season. He had 56 points, including 26 goals, as he set career highs in all three major offensive categories. He was named team captain prior to what was his fourth season in Lethbridge. In those four seasons, he had 148 points, 69 of them goals, in 270 games. Only six players in franchise history played more games.
Millette, from Storthoaks, Sask., split last season between the Thunderbirds, Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades. In 71 games, he had 47 points, including 24 goals. He also has played with the Red Deer Rebels. In 238 career games, he has 121 points, 60 of them goals.
Millette is the lone 20-year-old on the Hurricanes’ roster.
The Thunderbirds’ roster also includes two 20-year-old defencemen — Jared Hauf and Jerret Smith.
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Things are turning nasty in Medicine Hat where the Tigers don’t yet have a lease to play in the Regional Event Centre, a $75-million facility that is to open in time for next season. . . . Collin Gallant of the Medicine Hat News has more right here.
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If you have ever wondered what it costs to operate a facility like the Medicine Hat Arena, Alex McCuaig of the Medicine Hat News has a chart right here that shows how that facility lost $1,866,827, not including administration costs, over the past six years.
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The Thrill Is Gone, bluesman B.B. King having died on Thursday evening. He was one of a kind and there will never be another. . . . Right here, Rolling Stone takes a look at his 10 greatest songs. Enjoy!
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Tim Weiner has The New York Times’ obituary on B.B. King right here. Just in case you don’t know what B.B. means . . .
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THE COACHING GAME:

While the Prince Albert Raiders may be reluctant to have one person as the general manager and head coach, that isn’t the case with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. On Friday, they announced that head coach Jeff Brown, 49, a former NHL defenceman, also will be the GM. He is coming off his first season as head coach, one in which he guided the 67’s into the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. They were 38-25-5 in the regular season. . . . Brown takes over from Pat Higgins, who resigned after the season and now is Ottawa’s head scout.
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McDavid and his dad once the media scrum ended. pic.twitter.com/OoD9Aupu7j

— Steve Dangle Glynn (@Steve_Dangle) May 16, 2015

In the OHL, the Oshawa Generals beat the visiting Erie Otters 6-2 to win the championship final, 4-1, before 6,125 fans. . . . Oshawa F Cole Cassels had four assists as the Generals won their first OHL championship since 1997. . . . Erie F Connor McDavid was selected as the playoff MVP. It was only the second time that a player from a non-championship team won the award, the other being D Marc Staal with the Sudbury Wolves in 2007. . . . McDavid was held pointless in what likely was the final game of his junior career. He led the OHL playoffs in goals (21), assists (28) and points (49), all in 20 games. He finished 18 points ahead of Cassels and Oshawa F Michael Dal Colle. . . .

In the QMJHL, the visiting Quebec Remparts beat the Rimouski Oceanic 3-2 in OT to take a 3-2 lead in the championship final. . . . F Massimo Carozza’s fourth goal of the playoffs won the game 10 seconds into the first OT period. . . . Attendance was 4,732. . . . Game 6 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Quebec City. . . . With the Remparts the host team for the Memorial Cup, both teams will play in the tournament.
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I get that Babcock is a good coach... But who really cares where he coaches, I don't pay to watch him behind the bench!#makeadecisionslready

— Drew Schoneck (@TCCoachShoe) May 16, 2015

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

Rimmer undergoes cancer surgery . . . Donaldson family remembers Ryan . . . Hitmen streak hits nine

F Štěpán Novotný (Kelowna, Swift Current, 2008-11) has signed for the rest of this season with Žilina (Slovakia, Extraliga). Novotný started this season with Žilina but moved to Nitra (Slovakia, Extraliga) in December. In 33 games with Žilina, he has 10 goals and seven assists. He had three goals in 13 games with Nitra.
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Further down, under Tweet of the Day, you will find four tweets from G Ty Rimmer (Brandon, Prince George, Tri-City, Lethbridge, 2009-13). Rimmer, 22, is the latest young hockey player to have been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Among the former WHL players who have been faced with this disease are Cody Smuk, Brandon Davidson and Dylan Tait.
Rimmer has had surgery and all signs point to his making a complete recovery.
In his tweets, he encourages young men to get checked out and to be quick to see a doctor if anything irregular is noticed.
Let’s not forget that Cole Hamblin, a former WHLer, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer, mucoepidermoid carcinoma, early in November.
Please allow me to point out the importance of early diagnosis. I have twice been treated for basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. The first time, the dermatologist told me that if you were to get skin cancer, this was the one to get. That diagnosis involved a spot on one forearm.
The second time we dealt with spots on both hands that I had written off as nothing more than dry skin.
I now am more careful than ever before in terms of exposure to the elements, meaning I put on sun screen even on the cloudy days.
I also had a colon cancer test come back “mildly positive,” as my family doctor explained to me, late last fall. That led to a colonoscopy early in January. Thankfully, it didn’t find anything.
With the prevalence of cancers today, I would ask anyone with any suspicions to see a doctor. Early diagnosis is of the utmost importance.
Just ask Ty Rimmer.
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Want to get a look at the new arena in Medicine Hat — the Medicine Hat Regional Event Centre (aka The House that Bob Built)? It looks to be shaping up quite nicely. . . . Click right here and take a look at a video from CHAT-TV. (Tip of the hat to Kim Johnston for providing the link.)
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The Portland Winterhawks have signed D Jackson Caller, 15, who was a seventh-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft. Caller, from Kamloops, plays for the midget prep team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. He has 13 points, including three goals, in 29 games. The academy shows him at 6-foot-1 and 167 pounds. . . .
Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald reported Wednesday that F Logan Aasman, 19, is back skating with the Everett Silvertips. Aasman, who has been out since Nov. 30 because of a concussion, had been at home in Medicine Hat recovering. He returned to Everett last week and is practising in a no-contact jersey. If all goes well, Aasman might return to the Silvertips’ lineup around month’s end. . . . Aasman had eight points, two of them goals, in 25 games when he was injured. In 108 career games, he has 26 points, including seven goals. . . .
The Brandon Wheat Kings, who are one point out of first-place overall, are showing D Kale Clague as being out week-to-week. Clague returned from a wrist injury last week but was injured Sunday, in his third game back. . . . Brandon F John Quenneville (suspected concussion) practised Wednesday, while F Jayce Hawryluk (undisclosed injury) remains out, as is D Ivan Provorov (undisclosed injury) and G Alex Moodie (suspected concussion). . . .
F Quinn Benjafield of the Kamloops Blazers ended up with a four-game suspension for a headshot major and game misconduct he took Saturday against the visiting Kelowna Rockets. He hit F Tyson Baillie, who is listed by the Rockets as being out week-to-week. Benjafield has sat out one game so far. . . . The Blazers and Tri-City Americans each were fined $250 for warmup violations prior to Monday afternoon’s game in Kamloops. Tri-City D Riley Hillis came out of that with a one-game suspension for a game misconduct he incurred. Interestingly, there isn’t anything on the online game sheet that indicates that Hillis was ejected. He served the suspension last night as the Americans played in Everett. . . .
D Alec Capstick of Langley, B.C., has committed to the U of Notre Dame where he will play hockey for the Irish. . . . Capstick, who will turn 16 on Feb, 18, was selected by the Saskatoon Blades in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. . . . He is playing at Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. . . .
The Vancouver Giants are another WHL team to have gotten Hockey Hooky fever. They’ll play host to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday with the game starting at noon. The Warriors also will play a Hockey Hooky game in Victoria on Tuesday. That game is to start at 12:05 p.m.
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The Donaldson family — mother Dana, father Doug and sister Kirsten — are determined that the life of their son and brother, Ryan, won’t have been for naught.
They are convinced that concussions suffered while playing hockey led to his suicide last February at the age of 17.
Gary Ahuja of the Langley Times has an extensive piece right here on the Donaldson family.
“Concussions and even simple brain shaking cause changes in the brain that cause the sufferer to lose control over their impulses,” Dana told Ahuja. “Basically, they make impulsive decisions. That is what Ryan did, he made an impulsive life-ending decision.
“That was not him and all his many friends need to know it was the brain injury that caused his death.
“Anyone who knew him knows he was full of life and positive.”
The family’s goal is to make sure no one else goes through what they have experienced in the past year.
“One of the biggest things for us is that we have come to realize with concussions, if we could go back, we would change exactly how we dealt with Ryan,” Doug said.
“Once a player has had one concussion, they know what the questions are and how they are going to answer them so they can get back in the game,” he said.
“With the baseline test, you can take that away from a player.”
The Donaldsons are organizing the inaugural Ryan Donaldson Memorial Tournament. Individual players will register for the tournament, teams will be selected via a draft and fun will be had by all.
Proceeds will be used to provide access to baseline testing to any players who want it. There also are plans to set up a trust fund that will be used to aid families who are dealing with concussions.
It is worth noting, too, that the Donaldsons donated their son’s organs as they took him off life support.
“We figured he was such a giving kid, this is what he would have wanted to do,” Dana told Ahuja.
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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:

In Prince Albert, G Nick McBride stopped 24 shots to lead the Raiders to a 3-0 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . It was McBride’s second shutout of the season and second of his career. It was his first victory in 12 decisions, too. . . . Raiders F Tim Vanstone scored his eighth goal at 2:56 of the second period and it stood up as the winner. . . . The Raiders struck for three goals in 4:07, with F Colton Heffley getting his fifth at 6:41 and F Matteo Gennaro getting No. 9 at 7:03. . . . Chiefs G Garret Hughson stopped 27 shots. . . . F Craig Leverton had two assists. . . . Eleven of the 16 minor penalties called in the game were for roughing. . . . Each team was 0-for-4 on the PP. . . . Vanstone left in the second period with an undisclosed injury and didn’t return. . . . The Raiders (23-31-2) have won two in a row. They have 16 games remaining and are seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . Spokane (26-24-4), which has been shutout in five of its last 11 games, is 2-2-0 on its six-game East Division trip. The Chiefs, who are in Brandon on Friday, hold down the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . Jeff D’Andrea of panow.com has a game story right here. . . .

In Cranbrook, the Kootenay Ice scored five second-period goals and went on to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 6-3. . . . Ice F Levi Cable, who was playing his 250th game, got the game’s first goal, his 24th, just 59 seconds into the first period. . . . Ice F Jaedon Descheneau picked up his 150th career assist on Cable’s goal. . . . Tigers F Cole Sanford scored his WHL-leading 44th goal on a PP at 2:54 of the second. He’s riding a 12-game point streak. . . . Ice D Rinat Valiev broke the tie with his eighth goal at 11:07 and the Ice added four more before the period ended. . . . Cable and Valiev each had two assists, as did F Luke Philp. . . . Ice F Tim Bozon scored his 22nd goal and added his 150th career assist. . . . Descheneau added his 25th goal, while F Sam Reinhart got No. 13. . . . With head coach Ryan McGill ill and unavailable, assistant coach Jay Henderson ran the Kootenay bench. . . . The Ice had D Tanner Faith back on their bench, but he was in the role of an assistant coach. He is recovering from season-ending shoulder surgery. . . . The Tigers were without D Ty Stanton (ill), but had D Tyler Lewington, their captain, back from a one-game suspension. . . . The Ice (28-26-1) had lost its previous three games. It owns the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, one point up on Edmonton. . . . The Tigers (36-16-3) lead the Central Division by six points over Calgary. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has a game story right here. . . .

In Lethbridge, F Jamal Watson scored twice and set up another to lead the Hurricanes to a 6-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Watson has 20 goals. . . . The Hurricanes erased a 2-1 deficit with three straight goals. . . . F Jack Rodewald gave Moose Jaw a 2-1 lead with a shorthanded goal at 2:08 of the second. He’s got 25 goals. . . . Lethbridge F Mike Winther tied it with his ninth goal, on a PP, at 14:53. . . . F Johnny Wesley got his third goal at 18:30, on another PP, and Watson upped the lead to 4-2 at 2:48 of the third. . . . Moose Jaw F Jiri Smejkal, who had two assists, cut the deficit to one with his ninth goal at 12:57. . . . The Hurricanes iced it with a pair of shorthanded empty-netters, from Watson and D Andrew Nielsen, his seventh. Nielsen also had two assists. . . . Smejkal has 23 points in 54 games, with six of the points coming in two games against the Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge G Stuart Skinner turned aside 38 shots, 16 more than Moose Jaw’s Zach Sawchenko. . . . D Reid Zalitach played his first game for the Warriors since Nov. 1. He had left the club for personal reasons. . . . The Hurricanes now are 16-32-6. . . . The Warriors (21-29-4), who are nine points out of a playoff spot with 18 games to play, have lost two in a row. This was the first of seven straight road games as the Canadian women’s curling championship has taken over their home arena. . . .

In Calgary, the Hitmen ran their winning streak to nine games with a 4-3 five-round shootout victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . F Brad Morrison scored for the Cougars in the first round of the shootout, with F Adam Tambellini countering for the Hitmen in the second round. . . . F Connor Rankin won it in the fifth round. . . . Cougars G Ty Edmonds stopped 49 shots through OT. . . . Morrison forced OT with his 20th goal at 12:00 of the third period. . . . The Hitmen led 2-0 in the second period, only to have the Cougars tie it on D Tate Olson’s fifth goal, on a PP, at 1:20 of the third. . . . F Jake Virtanen shot Calgary back into the lead with his 15th goal at 11:13. . . . Tambellini had two assists, while D Travis Sanheim scored his 11th goal and added an assist. . . . Calgary F Kenton Helgesen, the team captain, scored his 18th goal of the season in what was his 250th career game. . . . Morrison also had an assist, while F Zach Pochiro got his 10th goal and added an assist. . . . Calgary G Brendan Burke stopped 19 shots. . . . The Hitmen (32-17-5) are second in the Central Division, six points behind Medicine Hat. . . . The Cougars (21-32-4) are 0-1-2 in their last three games. They are fifth in the B.C. Division, but just three points behind third-place Vancouver. . . .

In Vancouver, F Carter Popoff scored twice to help the Giants to a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Edmonton F Lane Bauer scored his 18th goal at 9:42 of the first period. . . . The Giants scored the game’s last three goals. . . . Popoff tied it at 7:33 of the second period and F Vladimir Bobylev got his third just 44 seconds later. . . . Popoff, who has 22 goals, iced it with an empty-netter at 19:34 of the third. . . . Vancouver G Cody Porter stopped 31 shots. . . . Giants G Payton Lee, who has been out with a hand injury, was on the bench backing up Porter. . . . Edmonton G Tristan Jarry blocked 21 shots. He played in his 148th career game to set a franchise record. He had shared the mark with Laurent Brossoit. . . . Vancouver F Tyler Benson had two assists. . . . Vancouver D Arvin Atwal was eligible to return from a WHL suspension, but he was a healthy scratch. . . . Vancouver (23-29-3) has won two in a row and has moved into third place in the B.C. Division, one point ahead of idle Kamloops. The Giants have a game in hand. . . . Edmonton (25-26-6) has lost two straight; it went 1-3-0 on a trip into the B.C. Division, scoring only six goals in the process. The Oil Kings hold down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province has a game story right here. . . .

In Everett, the Tri-City Americans erased 2-0 and 3-2 deficits as they beat the Silvertips 4-3 in a shootout. . . . F Vladislav Lukin scored the lone goal of the three-round shootout. Lukin, a freshman from Ufa, Russia, isn’t believed to be related to former Kamloops Blazers captain Jaret Lukin. . . . This really was a wild one. . . . Everett led 2-0 after one period — on goals from F Patrick Bajkov, his 20th, and Remi Laurencelle, his 15th — and took that lead into the third. . . . The Americans tied it on D Brendan O’Reilly’s first goal, at 7:23 of the third, and F Lucas Nickles’ 20th just 12 seconds later. . . . F Nikita Scherbak put Everett back out front with his 23rd goal at 12:05. . . . Tri-City pulled even on F Beau McCue’s 21st goal at 14:28. . . . D Brandon Carlo had two assists for the Americans. . . . Everett G Austin Lotz stopped 26 shots through OT, three more than Tri-City’s Eric Comrie. . . . F Parker Bowles was among the Americans’ scratches. Bowles, who leads the Americans in assists and points, left a 3-0 loss in Kamloops on Sunday with an apparent injury to his left arm or shoulder. . . . The Americans also scratched D Riley Hillis (suspended), D Tyler Morrison (undisclosed injury) and D Dylan Coghlan (undisclosed injury). Tri-City F Braden Purtill moved back to defence for this one. . . . The Americans (26-26-3) are fifth in the U.S. Division, but are in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Everett (34-16-5) leads the U.S. Division by seven points over idle Portland. . . . Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald has a game story right here.
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THURSDAY’S GAMES

No Games Scheduled.

FRIDAY’S GAMES

(all times local)
Swift Current at Regina, 7 p.m.
Spokane at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.
Saskatoon at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Lethbridge at Red Deer, 7 p.m.
Moose Jaw vs. Kootenay, at Cranbrook, 7 p.m.
Prince George at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.
Tri-City at Portland, 7 p.m.
Seattle at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
Victoria at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
Vancouver at Everett, 7:35 p.m.
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(1/4) Two weeks ago I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The tumor was surgically removed and I am on my way to a full recovery!
— Ty Rimmer (@Rimms35) February 12, 2015

(2/4) The more awareness we can raise about this the better! So I would like to encourage all young men to get themselves checked out.
— Ty Rimmer (@Rimms35) February 12, 2015

(3/4) This disease can manifest very quickly, and may advance rapidly. So please dont hesitate to talk to your doctor if you notice anything
— Ty Rimmer (@Rimms35) February 12, 2015

(4/4) Thankyou to my family, friends, doctors, and the entire @EdmontonOilers organization for being so supportive during this time!
— Ty Rimmer (@Rimms35) February 12, 2015

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

Shayne Putzlocher of Trilight Entertainment is off to Berlin and the Berlin Film Festival today as he begins to spread the word about plans to turn the book Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos into a movie. . . . Oh yes, he’s also looking for financing. . . . Before leaving, he appeared on Saskatoon radio station CKOM and, among other things, touched on the chances that the movie might be filmed in Swift Current. That interview is right here.



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F Tyler Benson of the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club Southgate Lions is in the process of rewriting the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League record book. There also is speculation that he may apply for ‘exceptional status’ in order to allow him to play in the WHL next season on a full-time basis, even though he will be only 15 years of age. Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald examines that issue right here.
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If you have always wanted to own a piece of a hockey team, here’s your opportunity.
For $2,000, you now may purchase a share in the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos, who are calling this membership campaign ‘Saddle Up For Success’.
According to a news release from the Broncos: “All members hold a vote at the Annual General Meeting, provide influence on the organization through the Board of Directors and receive a charitable tax receipt issued by the City of Swift Current.”
Liam Choo-Foo, the chairman of the Broncos’ board of directors, adds: “I certainly acknowledge those people that stepped forward over 25 years ago as the original members, but as time has gone on we have lost a majority of that membership and it’s now down to less than 100 people. We would like to see it renewed and bring in new energy and enthusiasm as we go through this whole renewal of the Bronco organization.”
If you’re interested in this program, visit www.scbroncos.com.
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While the Broncos were announcing this initiative in an attempt to raise money and help guarantee their future in Swift Current and in the WHL, the league’s pooh-bahs were meeting in Las Vegas.
Yes, that Las Vegas.
You are free to wonder why the pooh-bahs wouldn’t gather in, say, Swift Current, if for no other reason than to spread some goodwill in a community that certainly does a lot to support its franchise.
You have to think the WHL folks left a fair chunk of change in Nevada, but not one penny of it will have done the league any good in terms of marketing or public relations in any of the communities in which it plays.
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The WHL has suspended D Tyler Yaworski of the Brandon Wheat Kings for six games. That’s the result of a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on Pats D Luke Fenske in Regina on Saturday. Yaworski is a repeat offender, having served a three-game suspension for the same infraction during a game in Vancouver on Oct. 24. . . . Fenske, who is concussed, didn’t play in Regina’s 5-2 loss to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes last night.
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The way Ryan Lambert of Yahoo! Sports sees it, the NHL is doing less to prevent and deal with concussions than is the NFL. And we all know how much concussion-related heat the NFL is receiving these days.
Lambert explains the way he sees things right here.
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Bill Simmons of ESPN and Grantland is a prolific writer who also happens to be a fan of all teams Boston. That, however, is something that hampers his thinking only on occasion. The vast majority of the time he writes with clarity and this piece right here is no exception. The title on it is Daring to Ask the PED Question.
Pour yourself a cup of coffee and dig in.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Regina, F Jamal Watson scored twice to help the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Pats. . . . Hurricanes G Ty Rimmer stopped 48 shots. . . . Lethbridge jumped out front 2-0 by 6:03 of the first period and never looked back. . . . Regina G Matt Hewitt left at that point, having been beaten twice on four shots. . . . Watson has 14 goals this season. . . . F Sam Mckechnie got his 24th goal for Lethbridge. . . . The Pats scratched D Luke Fenske (concussed) and Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that they lost D Tye Hand with concussion-like symptoms during the game. . . .

In Prince Albert, the Edmonton Oil Kings erased a 3-1 third-period deficit and beat the Raiders 4-3 in OT. . . . The winner came from D David Musil at 3:31 of extra time. It was his seventh goal of the season. . . . The Oil Kings have won nine in a row and now hold a 13-point lead over the Calgary Hitmen atop the Eastern Conference. . . . D Davis Vandane gave the Raiders a 3-1 lead at 7:56 of the third on the PP. . . . F Michael St. Croix got his 27th goal at 12:10, on the PP, to get Edmonton to within one, and F Stephane Legault, with his 11th, tied it at 13:29. . . . Raiders G Luke Siemens stopped 48 shots. . . . The Raiders had won three in a row from Edmonton. . . .

In Saskatoon, the Blades twice erased deficits en route to a 5-4 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Blades have won five in a row. . . . F Tanner Eberle’s shorthanded goal gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead at 16:17 of the first period. . . . F Brett Stovin scored goals 33 seconds apart, pulling Saskatoon into a tie at 3:50 of the second. Stovin, who now has seven goals, had scored just once in his previous 23 games. . . . F Brayden Point, who had two goals, gave Moose Jaw a 3-2 lead at 11:11, only to have the Blades come back with three straight goals, the last two from F Brenden Walker, who now has 18 goals. . . . Saskatoon D Duncan Siemens had one assist and was plus-4, while D Darren Dietz was pointless and plus-4. . . . Moose Jaw G Justin Paulic stopped 50 shots. . . . The Blades now trail the East Division-leading Prince Albert Raiders by six points. The teams meet tonight in Saskatoon. . . .

In Victoria, F Alex Gogolev scored his 20th goal but later left the game with a skate cut as the Royals beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-1. . . . Gogolev left early in the third period with an apparent skate cut that required immediate medical attention. . . . Cleve Dheensaw in the Victoria Times Colonist reported: “In what may be bad news for the Royals, leading-scorer Gogolev was helped off the ice in the third period with his left skate off and leaving a trail of blood from his foot. The club did not have information about the extent of the cut immediately following the game.” . . . D Joe Hicketts scored his second goal and added an assist for the Royals. . . . Victoria moved into a fifth-place tie with the idle Spokane Chiefs in the Western Conference.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
D Darren Dietz, Saskatoon
D Ryan Gagnon, Victoria
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From the Edmonton Oil Kings (@EdmOilKings): “ 'I had Manson and Baumgartner both on me at the same time' — Coach Laxdal reminiscing about his playing days at the Art Hauser #OldTimeWHL”
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From Regan Bartel (@Reganrant), the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets: “USHL reduces schedule by 4 games going from 64 to 60. When does WHL reduce schedule to eliminate exorbitant amount of 3 games in 3 nights?”

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