A-Rod vs. Yanks: The rich eating the super-rich

D Ryley Miller, who played most of five seasons with t he Barndon Wheat Kings, has signed with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers. Miller, who completed his junior eligibility last season, wrapped up last season with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings. In 241 WHL games, he had 37 points and 537 penalty minutes. . . .

The Brandon Wheat Kings are down to three 20-year-olds with the decision by F Jason Swyripa not to return for a fourth season. Instead, Swyripa, a Calgary native who played 200 games with the Wheat Kings, will activate his WHL scholarship and plans on attending Brandon University. He had 61 career points, including 23 last season. . . . Swyripa’s decision leaves Brandon with F Jens Meilleur and Chad Robinson and D Rene Hunter as its 20-year-olds, at least for now. . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers have signed D David Quenneville, the 10th overall selection in the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft, to a contract. Quenneville, whose brother John plays for the Brandon Wheat Kings, has spent the last two seasons with the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club Lions in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League. Last season, he had 72 points, including 34 goals, in 32 games. . . .

F Taylor Makin, who played three seasons in the WHL (Prince George, Vancouver, 2009-12), has decided to continue his hockey career with the Acadia Axemen of Wolfville, N.S. . . . Makin, now 21, played one game with the Vancouver Giants last season before joining the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits and helping them to the national junior A championship. . . .


The Kelowna Rockets are anticipating that 180 prospects will attend their rookie camp that begins Wednesday at Prospera Place. Of the 12 players selected by the Rockets in the 2013 WHL bantam draft, it’s beieved that only D Cal Foote, a late 1998, won’t be in attendance. He was the 43rd overall pick in the 2013 bantam draft. Foote, the son of former NHL D Adam Foote, is sidelined by injury.
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The Everett Silvertips, who open camp on Thursday, have three European skaters in town already. D Mirco Mueller of Switzerland, who was a freshman last season, and F Waltteri Hopponen and F Ivan Nikolishin of Russia all are in Everett and ready to go. . . . Mueller was first-round selection by the San Jose Sharks. Because he was a first-round pick, the Silvertips were allowed to make two selections in the 2013 CHL import draft. They now will have to wait until the Sharks decide on Mueller’s future before making a decision on which two will play in Everett this season. . . . Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald has more right here.
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The OHL’s Guelph Storm has hired former NHLer Todd Harvey as an assistant coach, while moving assistant coach Chris Hajt into the post of assistant general manager. . . . Harvey will work with head coach Scott Walker, while Hajt will assist general manager Mike Kelly.
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SOME GOOD READING:
Sarah Lyall's stint as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times is up after 18 years in London. She has written a crackling good piece reflecting on it all and that is right here.
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Nathaniel Penn has written a terrific piece for GQ, titled: The Violent Life and Sudden Death of Junior Seau. It is terrific and it is right here.
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Even if you are tired of the A-Rod saga and all that goes with it, you should give Bruce Arthur of the National Post a read.
“Some people say they’re bored of the A-Rod saga, which is understandable but misguided,” Arthur writes. “This is delicious. This is the rich eating the super-rich. This is the Yankees, who have missed the playoffs once since 1995, bumbling along with a lineup so strange that Lyle Overbay is third on the team in total bases and playing a series of vagrants and character actors at third base, and also A-Rod.”
Arthur’s piece is right here.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Petr Sachl (Tri-City, 1996-97) signed a try-out contract with Pontebba (Italy, Serie A). He had eight goals and 15 assists in 44 games with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Erste Bank Liga) last season. The contract with Pontebba is for seven games, running through Nov. 3.
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The Portland Winterhawks have dealt G Cam Lanigan, 20, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a seventh-round selection in the 2013 WHL bantam draft.
Lanigan was 3-0 with a 1.00 GAA in three starts with the Winterhawks before the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks returned G Mac Carruth, who was Portland’s starter each of the last two seasons.
The Winterhawks had claimed Lanigan off waivers from the Kamloops Blazers over the summer.
The Winterhawks are left with three 20s — Carruth, D Troy Rutkowski and F Taylor Peters.
The Tigers, meanwhile, now have four 20s, although D Alex Theriau is on the injury list as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. The others are Lanigan, F Elgin Pearce and D Derek Ryckman. When Theriau returns, the Tigers will have 14 days to get down to three.
The Tigers have been using Czech freshman Marek Langhamer and sophomore Dawson MacAuley, a pair of 18-year-olds, as their goaltenders.
However, they are 4-7-1 and dropped a 7-6 decision to the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday night. MacAuley stopped 35 of 42 shots in that game.
The Tigers next play Saturday when they meet the Oil Kings in Edmonton.
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JUST NOTES:
F David Stephens (Edmonton, 2010-12) now is with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. Stephens, 19, has two assists and four penalty minutes in eight games. . . . He had three points in 30 games with the Oil Kings in 2010-11, then played only two games last season before moving on to the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior League. . . . Stephens, who is from Whitehorse, played with the major midget Cariboo Cougars in Prince George before joining the Oil Kings.
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The National Lacrosse League is introducing standardized concussion-testing protocol for all players and all games, and also has stiffened its high-sticking rule. No longer will the NLL rules include a minor penalty for high-sticking.
According to an NLL news release:
“Penalties for high-sticking will now be assessed by the game officials as either a major penalty (five-minute penalty) or a match penalty. A match penalty ejects the offending player from the game AND (provides) a one-game suspension for the team's next game. The offending player's team is also assessed a major penalty. The penalty assessed will be based on the severity of the incident as judged by the game officials. High-sticking infractions may no longer be assessed by officials as a major and game misconduct.”
According to Brian Lemon, the NLL’s vice-president operations, “The Competition Committee felt that by removing the middle classification of major and game misconduct penalty for high-sticking, we will create a greater deterrent for players from making contact on opponents with a high stick. Player safety is of the utmost concern to us, and the NLL will remain at the forefront of protecting its players."
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WEDNESDAY’S STUFF:
F Brendan Ranford and F Colin Smith, both of whom are from Edmonton, scored in the shootout as the Kamloops Blazers scored a 5-4 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton. . . . The Oil Kings were 3-for-9 on the PP, with  the third goal, by F Henrik Samuelsson at 18:01 of the third, giving them a 4-3 lead. . . . Kamloops F JC Lipon scored a shorthanded goal at 35 seconds later to force OT. . . . Lipon, the WHL’s leading scorer, had two goals and an assist. He has seven straight multi-point games. . . . Lipon also missed 15 minutes after taking a fighting major and misconduct — his tiedown either broke or wasn’t done up. . . . After the game, Kamloops LW Tim Bozon, who plays on a line with Smith and Lipon, tweeted: “It’s not whl it’s #lipsleague.” . . . Smith had two assists in running his point streak to 11 games. . . . The Blazers, who were 0-for-3 on the PP, moved up from No. 3 to No. 1 in the CHL rankings that were released earlier in the day. At 10-0-1, they are the only one of the CHL’s 60 teams not to have lost in regulation time. . . . Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave ran his record to 7-0 with a 34-save effort. . . . Kamloops has won eight in a row. . . . The Blazers conclude their five-game trip by visiting the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday and the Kootenay Ice on Saturday. . . .

F Kohl Bauml’s two goals helped the Everett Silvertips to a 3-1 victory over the Broncos in Swift Current. . . . Everett G Daniel Cotton stopped 28 shots. . . . Everett D Ryan Murray had three assists. He passed F Peter Mueller and moved into fifth on the Silvertips’ all-time assists list, with 90. . . . Everett scored the game’s first two goals and Bauml sealed it with an empty-netter. . . . Everett plays Friday in Prince Albert and Saturday in Saskatoon before heading home. . . .

D Daniel Johnston had a goal and an assist on his 20th birthday to help the host Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 6-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Wheat Kings are 1-1 on a seven-game road trip, but have given up 12 goals in the two games. . . . F Macoy Erkamps and F Brady Ramsay each had a goal and two assists for Lethbridge. . . . Ramsay was playing his first game after serving a five-game WHL suspension. . . . Brandon F Jayce Hawryluk, whose freshman season was slowed by a concussion, scored his first WHL goal. . . . Lethbridge F Jamal Watson came up short on a second-period penalty shot against Brandon G Curtis Honey. . . . The Wheat Kings will be without F Jason Swyripa indefinitely after he suffered an injury to his left wrist during a 7-6 victory in Medicine Hat on Tuesday. His left wrist was in a cast on Wednesday. He is to undergo further tests today in Calgary. . . .

F Matej Stransky’s OT goal gave the Saskatoon Blades a 3-2 victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . Stransky scored at 1:16 of OT. . . . F Josh Nicholls scored both of Saskatoon’s regulation-time goals, the second one tying the score at 17:37 of the second. He has 10 goals this season, eight of them coming over his last four games. . . . Nicholls’ first goal last night was the 100th of his WHL career. . . . The Americans, who play Friday in Regina and Saturday in Swift Current, had their four-game winning streak snapped, but have points in eight straight. . . . Tri-City G Eric Comrie stopped 31 shots in his 12th consecutive start. . . . Saskatoon D Duncan Siemens played in his 20th regular season game. . . . Saskatoon was without F Brent Benson (flu). . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix notes that Tri-City F Jesse Mychan and Blazers associate coach David Struch are cousins. . . . Mychan actually was a 10th-round selection by the Blades in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . The Blades, whose bandwagon was emptying a week ago, now have won three in a row to get to 5-7-0. . . . F Rodney Southam, who signed with the Americans earlier in the week, made his WHL debut and earned an assist. He is from Saskatoon and plays for the midget AAA Contacts.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Tyler Bell, Kamloops

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From the Okanagan Sun (@Okanagan_Sun) of the B.C. Football Conference: “Older Sun director mentions Eagle Keys at practice. Someone responds: 'the ski jumper?' Lol, time flies when you are a CFL legend.”
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TWEET OF THE DAY II:
F Brendan Shinnimin (@shinboslice), who is with the AHL’s Portland Pirates, actually tweeted this on Tuesday evening: “Just as I go to sit down and eat my home cooked meal....earthquake!..literally. #scary #aftershock #hitthedeck @Martyman17 @vizzer29”
(Tip of the cap to Bruce for this one.)
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TWEET OF THE DAY III:
From Andy Eide (@Andy Eide), who follows the Seattle Thunderbirds for 710 ESPN Seattle: “My new mission is to get mentioned by @gdrinnan in his tweet of the day. #pandering #Ihavebigego #needtoseemynameinprint”
(Andy, keep trying!)
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Sponsors were abandoning Lance Armstrong like bees running from a smoking hive on Wednesday, all of them, including Nike, wanting to distance themselves from the scandal-riddled cyclist. Jason Gay of the The Wall Street Journal has his take on the Armstrong debacle right here.

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Blazers struggle at home — again

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The face on the video screen at Interior Savings Centre belonged to a youngster who appeared to be only a month or two old. The look on his face told you he wasn’t happy.
Just another Kamloops Blazers fan trying to figure out his favourite WHL team.
The Blazers, coming off three straight road victories, gave up four first-period goals Wednesday night and went on to drop a 6-4 decision to the Brandon Wheat Kings before 3,808 fans.
It was after Brandon’s fourth goal, a power-play effort with one second left in the first period, that the young fan’s howling countenance appeared on the video screen.
At that point, the Wheat Kings were 2-for-3 on the power play and had four goals on 10 shots. They finished with three PP goals in 10 opportunities and six goals on 31 shots.
The Blazers (7-7-1) were 17-for-17 on the penalty kill in winning those three road games while surrendering four goals on 100 shots.
“It was disappointing,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said of last night’s effort. “If you were to tell me that our team would have reacted the way they did tonight, I would have said, ‘No . . . that it was almost impossible.’
“I guess there’s lots to learn.”
The Blazers now have lost four straight home games. In fact, they are only 2-6-0 at home.
“We have to establish a style of play that is going to make it difficult for teams to come in and play,” Charron said. “Obviously, the game plan wasn’t really followed and we allowed the other team to build momentum. When that happens you put yourself behind the 8-ball.”
Last night, the Blazers found themselves behind the 16-ball. Once again, it wasn’t that they lost — it was how they lost.
Beaten 8-6 by the Portland Winterhawks and 8-1 by the Prince George Cougars in their last two home appearances, this time they fell behind 5-0 before the second period was five minutes old.
The Wheat Kings (6-9-0) were playing the sixth game in an eight-game road swing. They had snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on Tuesday night.
“Once you get on a roll with something it kind of keeps going like that,” said Brandon captain Shayne Wiebe, who played the first 171 games of his WHL career with the Blazers. “Eventually, you’re going to get out of it . . . you just have to keep working.”
Which is what the Wheat Kings did, even as the Blazers tried to mount a comeback.
Wiebe, who scored the winner in Kelowna, got his club started, scoring on the power play before the game was two minutes old.
“It was a nice feeling,” he said of scoring in what once was his home arena.
Forward Jason Swyripa and defencemen Ryan Pulock, who also had two assists, and Brodie Melnychuk added Brandon goals before the period ended, the latter one coming with one second showing on the clock.
Charron sent goaltender Jon Groenheyde in to replace Jeff Bosch for the start of the second period, and the hole got even deeper when forward Mark Stone scored on a power play at 4:44.
“Our penalty killing was outstanding on the road,” Charron said. “Tonight, it was nowhere near what it was on the road. Why? It’s the same people.”
As for changing goaltenders, Charron said his side didn’t play well in front of Bosch.
“We exposed him more than we should,” Charron reasoned. “Our success on the road was based on good defensive hockey. Tonight, we didn’t do any of that. Why? That’s a good question.”
Forwards Jordan DePape, who was acquired from Brandon in exchange for Wiebe, Brendan Ranford and Dalibor Bortnak provided some hope with second-period goals in a span of 4:47.
Centre Chase Schaber got the Blazers to within one at 15:42 of the third, but that was it.
Brandon’s Mark Mieritz, a freshman from Denmark, scored his first WHL goal into an empty net at 19:36.
And just like that a team that two nights ago was on a nine-game losing streak now has won two in a row.
“That’s the biggest thing . . . making sure you don’t get too frustrated,” Wiebe said of losing nine in a row. “But when you keep working hard, if you keep pushing and working, things will start to work your way. Bounces will start coming your way, like they weren’t when you were in the losing streak.”
The Wheat Kings are off to Cranbrook for a Friday night engagement with the Kootenay Ice.
Kelly McCrimmon, Brandon’s owner, general manager and head coach, said he used last season’s Ice team as an example for his club during its losing streak. When last season’s Wheat Kings went into Cranbrook on Oct. 30, the Ice was 5-11-0; it beat the Wheat Kings 2-1 to start a 38-13-5 run to season’s end.
The Wheat Kings, the host team and a finalist in last spring’s Memorial Cup, are hoping to duplicate that.
The Blazers, meanwhile, will start preparations today for a Saturday night visit by the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Charron said he tried to impress upon his guys that this three-game homestand — the Rockets are here Wednesday — is as important as last week’s three road games.
“We had a focus . . . we had a game plan on the road,” he explained. “I thought we had a very similar focus and game plan at home but obviously we didn’t execute it.
“On the road, I thought we were focused right from the get-go.”
It is that focus the Blazers will try to rediscover before Saturday.
JUST NOTES: Referees Steve Papp and Andy Thiessen somehow found a way to hand out 19 minors, 11 of them to the Blazers. Each team took a fighting major. . . . The Blazers were 1-for-7 on the power play. . . . Brandon last played here on Oct. 26, 2008, when it lost 3-1. . . . The Wheat Kings flew in F Mark Ferland, who had missed the last 11 games with a knee injury. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Pulock: First WHL goal, two assists, blocked shots, made plays; 2. Stone: A goal, two assists, lots of ice time; 3. F Scott Glennie, Brandon: Three assists.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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