The first day of the next chapter

Well, that was an interesting day.
I’m referring to Saturday, a day in which I experienced unemployment for the first time in my life.
I have always been employed, from my high schools days when I spent summers working for the Local Government District of Lynn Lake or Sherritt Gordon Mines. I started in the newspaper business with the Brandon Sun in the summer of 1971 and have been in one sports department or another since then.
Until the Kamloops Daily News ceased publication with Saturday’s paper.
The day began when I awoke and, as per usual, checked my email. Which is where I found a news release from the Kamloops Blazers informing me that head coach Dave Hunchak “has taken a leave of absence from the team effective immediately” and that Guy Charron, the head coach for more than three seasons (2009-13), was back.
I will admit to feeling a strange sensation skip through my system when I read the news release and then realized that it meant little to me, that I no longer was employed by a daily newspaper, so I didn’t have to start assembling a story for Monday’s edition.
The adrenaline rush that usually followed news like that just wasn’t there. It was a feeling that I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time and I’m not yet sure whether I enjoyed it. However, it’s one I realize that I am going to have to get used to.
Anyway . . .
Who knows what really happened with Hunchak and the coaching change; perhaps, in time, we will find out.
The news release ended with: “No further comment will be made at this time.”
General manager Craig Bonner later said just that in a conversation with Marty Hastings of Kamloops This Week.
On Saturday night, following a 4-3 shootout loss to the visiting Prince George Cougars, Charron, as quoted by Hastings, at least hinted that Hunchak’s disappearance was more than a leave of absence, or at least a voluntary leave of absence.
“Let’s face it — things weren’t going very well,” Hastings quotes Charron as saying. “(Bonner) doesn’t like to step in and let go of anyone unless it has to come to the point where it needs to be done and maybe it had reached that point and that’s when he asked me to come in and help the kids.”
After stepping aside as head coach after last season, Charron had been serving the Blazers as an advisor to hockey operations, a position that was created in order to keep him in the organization. One of the things that he mentioned when he left the head-coaching position was that he didn’t feel that his back could take too many more bus trips.
The Blazers, who have lost five straight and nine of 10, opened a seven-game homestand last night. Later, they have a six-game homestand that ends Feb. 15. After that, with the Tim Hortons Brier (the Canadian men’s curling championship) in the Interior Savings Centre, they will play 11 of their last 13 games on the road, including 10 in a row.
Yes, there are some bus miles left for Charron to travel.
Following last night’s loss to the Cougars, the Blazers are 10-29-5 and 19 points out of a playoff spot. This is a team that has been searching for its personality and it’s no wonder, because of the 24 players listed on its roster, 12 were acquired via trades. The Blazers also are carrying 11 players who were born in 1996 or 1997, with eight others born in 1995. Yes, this is a young team.
Hastings also reported that Hunchak actually left the Blazers on Thursday while the team was in Spokane. The head coach apparently flew home to Kamloops at that time, leaving associate coach Mark Ferner to run the bench in a 6-3 loss to the Chiefs on Friday night.
Interestingly, I don't think there was any mention of Hunchak’s absence during Friday night’s pre-game show, game broadcast or post-game show on Radio NL, the longtime radio voice of the Blazers. Ferner appeared on both the pre- and post-game shows.
I was at my then-desk through the entire game and listened from the start of the pre-game show to the end of Ferner's appearance on the post-game show. Perhaps I missed it, but I don't recall hearing anything about Hunchak's absence.
Hunchak, who worked as an assistant/associate coach alongside Charron for two seasons, was named head coach on May 15. He signed a two-year contract that includes a club option for a third season.

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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Ivan Dornic (Portland, 2003-05) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Rodovre (Denmark AL-Bank Ligaen). He started the season with Detva (Slovakia 1.Liga) and had one goal in two games. Dornic then signed with Königsborner JEC Unna (Germany Oberliga), where he had 14 goals and 11 assists in 24 games. . . .
D Tomas Slovak (Kelowna, 2001-03) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Chomutov (Czech Republic 1.Liga). He had three assists in 21 games with Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg prior to his release last month. The contract has an option for next season should Chomutov win promotion to Extraliga; Slovak can exercise an out-clause if he gets an offer from the NHL or the KHL.
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These are tough times for many players in the WHL because the trade deadline is the elephant in every team’s dressing room.
Every single player is aware that the trade deadline is on its way. (It arrives Monday at 3 p.m. Calgary time.)
This is when the really ugly side of major junior hockey rears its head. This is when teenage boys are forced to relocate at a moment’s notice.
But they and their parents know that going in; they know that it’s a business and just because you’re here today doesn’t mean you won’t be gone tomorrow.
Why do they play the games in this league? They play to win the games and, ultimately, to win the Memorial Cup.
So there are a whole bunch of general managers out there who are trying to figure out what to do. Teams don’t budget for playoff revenue, which means the money that comes in during a good run can be considered gravy.
So, for example, what do you do if you’re Kelly McCrimmon, the owner, general manager and head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings? One year ago, you were preparing to be the host team in the Memorial Cup. Today, you are 11^th in the 12-team Eastern Conference and you are five points out of a playoff spot.
But you haven’t had Team Canada star Brayden Schenn in your lineup for any length of time. So do you keep him and hope that he and veteran Scott Glennie, 20, can provide a spark to get you over the hump?
Or do you unload some assets between now and Monday afternoon?
In the Western Conference, the bottom seven teams are separated by six points.
The Chilliwack Bruins are ninth in the 10-team conference, two points out of eighth and six points out of the B.C. Division lead, a spot that carries with it the No. 2 seed in the conference when the playoffs open.
So how does Marc Habscheid, the Bruins’ general manager and head coach, approach the deadline?
He admits that it’s tough right now because his roster was missing nine players when the Bruins lost 6-2 to the visiting Vancouver Giants on Sunday.
“That’s just it,” Habscheid said Thursday. “You have to kind of measure it. With the injuries . . . when they’re coming back, if they’re coming back, how will they be when they come back? Those are moving targets so it doesn’t make it any easier, that’s for sure.”
As for being felt in in the dressing room, Habscheid says the deadline “has effect, without question.”
So when you’re watching WHL games over the weekend, keep that in the back of your mind. Don’t forget that you’re watching teenagers who may have a little more on their minds than usual.
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On the subject of Brayden Schenn, the Los Angeles Kings’ draft choice is at home in Saskatoon and is expected to rejoin the Wheat Kings next week. He told John MacNeil of the Brandon Sun that he is trying to come to grips with being on the losing side in two World Junior Championship finals and a Memorial Cup final in the past year. As TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported during the final game, Schenn finished the tournament with a partially separated right shoulder. “It’s probably a 10- to 14-day injury,” he told MacNeil. “We’ll have it re-evaluated (today) and we’ll take it from there. It’s a tough injury to have, but it’s kind of an easy injury to play through, just because you have your teammates behind you and the nation behind you. For me, obviously, it was pretty painful, but knowing that you have those people supporting you, you’ve just got to play for them.” . . . As for the approaching trade deadline, Schenn said he is taking a wait-and-see approach and “whatever happens, happens.” . . . Right now he is more concerned with healing mentally and physically. . . . The Saskatoon Blades, meanwhile, have expressed interest. GM/head coach Lorne Molleken told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “There’s a number of players out there for trade and we’re going to explore all options. If we can land a player like Brayden Schenn, it would sure benefit our team and our organization.”
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JUST NOTES: F J.D. Watt, who was cut loose by the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, has signed with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. The Rampage is affiliated with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. . . . The Vancouver Giants hope to have 6-foot-4, 205-pound Slovakian F Andrej Stastny in their lineup tonight when they open a doubleheader in Prince George against the Cougars. He joined the Giants on Thursday after the World Junior Championship but the paperwork isn’t complete so he wasn’t able to practise. Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun also reports that D David Musil (ankle) and F Greg Lamoureux (shoulder) should play tonight. . . . As well, D Tanner Sohn, 18, is at home in Medicine Hat awaiting a trade. The Giants acquired him in October from the Medicine Hat Tigers for a sixth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . If you are interested in the broadcast schedule for Saturday’s outdoor game in Spokane, check the WHL’s website. . . . Looking for something to read on L'Affaire Drinnan, as one wiseacre somewhere on the Internet billed it, you may want to check out Kamloops This Week's website right here. There are two stories there, one headlined Drinnan ban: WHL unaware?; the other headlined The WHL Was Aware Of Blazers' Decision To Place Limitations on Drinnan. . . . Take your pick.
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F Reid Jorgensen (Kamloops, 2002-06) is one of the finest young men I have had the privilege of writing about during a lengthy career of covering the WHL and some of its teams. It’s great to see that he is scoring for the U of Calgary Dinosaurs and that, judging by his quotes, he continues to be the consummate team player. Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun has more right here. . . . The Dinos also have added F Walker Wintoneak (Saskatoon, 2005-10), who had been with the Central league’s Missouri Mavericks.
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Jarrett Toll spent five seasons patrolling the back end for the Tri-City Amrericans, while dabbling in lacrosse on the side. Now that he has graduated from the WHL, he continues to play both sports while attending university. Gerry Moddejonge of the Edmonton Sun has that story right here.
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If you’re wondering what Glen Erickson, who writes for Hockey’s Future, came up with after Team Russia beat Team Canada on Wednesday in Buffalo, you may check it out right here.
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Noticed on the blog of Brandon Wheat Kings play-by-play voice Bruce Luebke that Tuesday was a sad day for that team and its fans.
“Long-time Wheat Kings' season-ticket holder Paul (Pops) Solon Sr. passed away on Tuesday,” Luebke writes. “Solon, 86, had been a season-ticket holder with the Wheat Kings since the 1948-49 season.”
Not many WHL fans can boast of that.
Yes, he was a regular when I covered the Wheat Kings from 1978-83.
Condolences to the Solon family.
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SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THURSDAY’S GAMES:
In Kelowna, the Moose Jaw Warriors made it five victories in six road games as they beat the Rockets, 4-2. . . . The Warriors opened this swing with a victory in Calgary, then went 4-1 against B.C. Division teams, the only loss a 5-2 setback in Prince George. . . . The Warriors wrap up the trip on Friday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice. . . . Last night, the Warriors erased a 1-0 deficit with four second-period goals. . . . F Joey Kornelsen, who is from Abbotsford, B.C., has nine points, including five goals, on the trip. He scored Moose Jaw’s first goal in this one. . . . Moose Jaw F Spencer Edwards got his side’s fourth goal, his 18^th, and it was shorthanded. . . . F Geordie Wudrick got his 20^th of the season to open the scoring for the Rockets. . . . Kelowna F Brett Bulmer tied it 2-2 with his 14^th at 12:36 of the second, but Moose Jaw F Matt Grant got his fourth just 31 seconds later. . . .
In Swift Current, F Adam Lowry scored three times to lead the Broncos to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Lowry, who has 13 goals, scored his first career hat trick in his 99^th regular-season game. . . . The Hitmen led the game 1-0 in the first period, but Lowry got the game’s next three goals. . . . Calgary F Justin Kirsch scored his team-leading 19^th goal. . . .
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THURSDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Two minors:
Calgary F Jimmy Bubnick
Calgary D Matt MacKenzie
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter

The tears were hardly dry Wednesday night when I got an email from Glen Erickson, who lives in Kelowna and writes for Hockey’s Future. He was pointing out that “there are 15 kids from that Russian team in the lineup in Buffalo.”
That Russian team was the one that scored a 7-6 victory over Team WHL in a Subway Super Series game in Kamloops on Nov. 17.
On that night, the WHL led 3-0 before the first period was seven minutes old, and it held a 6-3 lead with less than 10 minutes to play in the third period.
The Russians stormed back with three goals in 2:42, and went on to win in a shootout.
One night later, the Russians won 5-2 in Prince George as they wrapped up the series for the first time in its eight-year existence.
And, as we all saw last night, Russia overcame another three-goal lead and beat Canada in the final of the World Junior Championship, scoring a 5-3 victory in Buffalo.
Just like that Canada versus Russia is relevant again, and that can only be good for hockey in this country.
The Canadian Hockey League, if it hasn’t already, should send a thank you note to the Russians. The Subway Super Series suddenly means something again.
Granted, the team that won last night was loaded with 19-year-old players -- someone on TSN mentioned that only one player on the roster is eligible to play in the 2011 tournament.
But what all of this tells me is that, for whatever reason, the Russians now believe that the Super Series can be of some use as it prepares for the World Junior Championship. Hopefully that means Russia will send over another competitive team in the fall.
I have been a harsh critic of the Super Series, only because it was so uncompetitive through its first seven seasons. In 2006, for example, the CHL teams went 6-0, outscoring the Russians 32-12 in the process. That included an 8-1 victory by Team WHL in Kamloops in what was just an awful game.
If you had forgotten, the WHL won 13 of the first 14 games in the series. But it wasn’t that way in November and, hopefully, it won’t be that way again in November.
I would bet that Russia’s showing in November and its startling triumph last night mean that the CHL’s three leagues just may find teams and cities lining up to play host to the games in the next Super Series.
Suddenly, I can hardly wait for the next Super Series to get started.
(By the way, G Dmitry Shikin started and got the hook in that game in Kamloops. He started last night in Buffalo and got yanked again.)
Erickson wrote an interesting piece on Tuesday, which, of course, preceded last night’s game. Give it a look right here.
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The Vancouver Giants have made their third trade in a week.
This time, they have sent F Matt McKay, 20, and a 2012 fourth-round bantam draft pick to the Brandon Wheat Kings for D Darren Bestland, 20.
Bestland has 16 points in 40 games, while his minus-24 would seem to indicate he is struggling defensively. However, the Giants obviously are hoping that is just indicative of the play of the struggling Wheat Kings.
MacKay, whom the Giants acquired from the Medicine Hat Tigers over the summer, had 28 points, including 12 goals, in 40 games with Vancouver. He is the son of former Moose Jaw Warriors captain Mark MacKay, who is the only player in WHL history to be named the league’s rookie of the year as a 20-year-old (1984-85).
On Dec. 30, the Giants were involved in a big trade with the Portland Winterhawks in which F Craig Cunningham, 20, and sixth-round pick in the 2011 draft went south for F Spencer Bennett, 20, F Teal Burns, 18, a 2011 first-round pick and a 2012 second-round pick.
Then, on Tuesday, the Giants dealt F Brett Lyon, 19, to the Moose Jaw Warriors for F Nathan Smith, 17, who remains with the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder.
Vancouver next plays this weekend when it is in Prince George for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader with the Cougars.
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From the Portland Business Journal:
“Portland’s city commissioners have unanimously backed adding the word ‘Veterans’ to an arena built as a monument to war heroes.
“The Memorial Coliseum will now be known as Veterans Memorial Coliseum. “The move is considered a nod to veterans who have protested proposals to tear down the building as part of the Rose Quarter renovation.
“The building was dedicated Jan. 8, 1961. Among early candidates for the coliseum’s name were ‘Portland Peace Memorial’ and ‘Beaverena.’ ”
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JUST NOTES: The Regina Pats have reassigned F Dane Muench, 18, to the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars. He had seven points in 24 games with the Pats. . . . The Pats go for their fourth straight victory on Friday when they meet the Rebels in Red Deer. . . . James Priestner of the Prince George Cougars is the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He was 2-0-0, 1.00, .956 last week. . . . The NHL’s Calgary Flames have terminated the contract of F J.D. Watt (Vancouver, Red Deer, Regina, 2003-08), who had been with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat. “J.D. notified us on Monday that he was no longer interested in pursuing his career with the Calgary Flames organization,” Flames acting general manager Jay Feaster said in a press release issued by the Heat. “He informed us of his decision and as a result, he was then suspended and cleared unconditional waivers this morning. We are moving forward in the best interests of the hockey club, our players in Abbotsford and the Flames organization.” Watt had four points and 73 penalty minutes in 27 games this season. The Flames selected him in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2005 draft.
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I missed this on Tuesday, so in an attempt at catching up on something interesting, here it is, mostly from a Spokane Chiefs press release:
Willy Bietak Productions, Inc., the company in charge of installing the ice surface for the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic, has arrived in Spokane and begun the process of building the staging system that will hold the ice at Avista Stadium. The Chiefs are to play host to the Kootenay Ice on Saturday, Jan. 15 in the WHL's first outdoor game.
Fans may watch the process through a live video cam right here
Monday began the multi-step process of building the ice. A deck is being built on the field of Avista Stadium, normally the home of the Northwest League's Spokane Indians baseball club, and laser levelled to create flooring for the ice.
The ice system, consisting of 240 aluminum plates connected by over 600 feet of piping to one of the world's largest portable refrigeration units, will be moved into place today. On Saturday, boards and glass will be placed onto the decking that was built earlier in the week. After the boards have been placed, they will begin spraying ice on Sunday. On-ice logos will be painted on Monday.
The Chiefs will hold a practice on Jan. 13, 1 p.m., on the new ice surface. This will be the only time they will have an opportunity to skate on the ice prior to the game.
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And, finally, this right here is from a blog that belongs to Christopher Foulds, the editor at Kamloops This Week, a twice weekly publication. . . . I thank him for pointing out that Shane Doan is incorrect in his criticism.
.gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter