Struch on way to Pats? . . . Warriors lose d-man to U of A

This is the front page of Wednesday's edition
of the Winnipeg Free Press, as tweeted by
reporter Mike McIntyre (@mikeoncrime). He
spent part of Tuesday with the family of Ethan
Williams, a young hockey player who committed
suicide late last month.

One day after actor/comedian Robin Williams committed suicide, Mike McIntyre, a reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press, spent a few hours with the family of Ethan Williams.
Williams, from Winnipeg, committed suicide on July 29. He would have turned 17 on Aug. 22.
McIntyre’s story gets big play on the front page of today’s Free Press.
The Williams family wanted their son's story to be heard, so McIntyre was there on Tuesday. As McIntyre learned, Ethan Williams had suffered eight concussions that were diagnosed. Williams’ father also is terminally ill with cancer.
Williams is one of at least four teenaged hockey players to commit suicide in Western Canada in the past few months.
The Moose Jaw Warriors had selected Williams in the fifth round of the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. He played one game with the Warriors in 2012-13 and spent last season with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. He was to have attended the Warriors’ training camp later this month.
At some point today (Wednesday), McIntyre’s story should be available right here.
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It appears that Dave Struch, who spent the past eight seasons on the coaching staff of the Saskatoon Blades, is on the verge of joining the Regina Pats, after all. A source familiar with the situation has told Taking Note that he is “99.9 per cent sure” that Struch will be named associate coach with the Pats. . . . Another source has told Taking Note that Struch will get a four-year deal. . . . A native of Flin Flon, Man., Struch, 43, was an assistant with the Blades for seven seasons before taking over as head coach prior to last season. Of course, the Blades’ ownership changed hands just as last season got started and the new owners dropped Struch after last season. In a rebuilding season after loading up as the host team for the 2013 Memorial Cup, the Blades went 16-51-5. Struch also played four seasons (1988-92) with the Blades.
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The Thompson Rivers University (TRU) WolfPack may play again, but it won’t be in 2014-15. Trevor Bast of Victoria, who has been trying to save the program that was dropped by the school on July 29, has informed players that it won’t happen in time for the approaching season.
“I have just spoken to the league commissioner and they can no longer wait to release the schedule,” Bast informed players in an email on Tuesday afternoon. “I'm sorry our rescue effort fell short and I appreciate everyone being on board.
“Don't feel like you didn't make a difference because you did. There was not much of a chance of it coming back next season the way things ended. Now we are having active and continuing conversations with TRU, the BCIHL and sponsors about icing a team next year.
“I can't express how much I regret you guys not playing next season. I know what the game and the camaraderie mean to you. For those of you who aren't going to school because of this I feel even worse.
“I will keep people notified of our progress moving forward.”
In a news release, Ken Olynyk, TRU’s athletic and recreation director, said: “I am not saying that the hockey program won’t come back in some form in the future. But as it stands right now, any efforts to put a team on the ice for the 2014-15 B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League season have ceased.”
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D Cole Wedman has decided to attend the U of Alberta, rather than play out his WHL eligibility with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Wedman, 20, is from Edmonton and will play for the Golden Bears. . . . In three seasons with the Spokane Chiefs, Wedman had 29 points, including eight goals, in 181 regular-season games. . . . On May 6, the Warriors acquired Wedman for a conditional fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. That pick now goes back to the Chiefs. . . . Wedman’s departure leaves the Warriors with three 20-year-olds -- F Scott Cooke, F Tanner Eberle and F Jack Rodewald. . . . "Between now and the beginning of the season we're evaluating where some of our young guys are and who will have the ability to step up. We may look at other options on 20-year-olds," Warriors general manager Alan Millar told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. "There's no rush and no panic to replace that 20-year-old that we lost with Wedman." . . . Millar’s acquisition of D Austin Adam, 19, from the Everett Silvertips on June 13 now is looking rather prescient. Adam, 6-foot-6 and 200 pounds, is a stay-at-home defender with 11 points in 127 regular-season games with the Silvertips. . . . Gourlie’s complete story is right here.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed D Ethan King, a second-round selection in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound King, from Vernon, B.C., had 36 points, six of them goals, in 55 games with a team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna last season.
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The Saskatoon Blades have signed D Jake Kustra, a second-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft, to a contract. Kustra, from Yorkton, Sask., is the son of former Blades G Damon Kustra (1989-90). Jake played last season with the bantam AAA Notre Dame Hounds, putting up 16 points, five of them goals, in 28 games. . . . Jake’s brother, Matt, is a 17-year-old goaltending prospect with the Prince George Cougars.
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The Edmonton Oilers have signed F Leon Draisaitl, the third overall selection in the NHL’s 2014 draft, to a three-year entry-level contract. Draisaitl, from Germany, put up 105 points, including 38 goals, in 64 games with the Prince Albert Raiders last season. In two seasons with the Raiders, the native of Cologne totalled 163 points, including 59 goals, in 128 games. . . . A lot of observers expect Draisaitl to play with the Oilers, perhaps even as their No. 2 centre, in the upcoming season.
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When the NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs hired a new assistant coach the other day, it didn’t make much of a splash. Had it been the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers hiring Becky Hammon as the NBA’s first full-time female assistant coach, it would have been a huge story. But the Spurs? Hey, all they do is win. . . . Jere Longman of The New York Times looks at the Hammon signing right here.
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According to Dr. James Andrews, one of the best known surgeons in the sporting world today, “Almost half of sports injuries in adolescents stem from overuse.” . . . More from Dr. Andrews: “Professionalism is taking these kids at a young age and trying to work them as if they are pro athletes, in terms of training and year-round activity. Some can do it, like Tiger Woods. He was treated like a professional golfer when he was 4, 5, 6 years old. But you’ve got to realize that Tiger Woods is a special case. A lot of these kids don’t have the ability to withstand that type of training and that type of parental/coach pressure.” . . . If you have a child playing sports, you should read this piece right here.
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Robin Williams may be dead, but he still will be up there on the big screen. He is in four films that are scheduled to be released by early in 2015. Andrew Ryan of The Globe and Mail looks at those films right here. . . . Unfortunately, it seems that a planned sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire isn’t likely to proceed.
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Meanwhile, over at Grantland, Wesley Morris takes a look back at “The Legacy of Robin Williams: The Movies.” . . . That is right here.

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Bast working to save WolfPack . . . Blades, Wheaties deal

The 2014 Kidney Walk and Kidney Run is scheduled for Kamloops’ Riverside Park on Sunday, Aug. 24.
As regular readers here will be aware, Dorothy, my wife of 42 years, underwent a kidney transplant on Sept. 23. In past years, she wasn’t well enough to take part in the Kidney Walk. That no longer is the case.
The two of us, along with our son, Todd, and his girlfriend, Joanna, will be at Riverside Park on Aug. 24 and we will be taking part in the 2.5-km walk.
If you are so inclined, please click right here, go to ’Sponsor a Participant’ and make a donation in support of Dorothy.
“We want to give back to the Kidney Foundation any way we can,” Dorothy says, “because they have done so much for us.”
This, then, is our way of giving back at least a little bit.
Thank you so much for your support.
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F Riley Emmerson (Tri-City, 2004-06) signed a one-year contract with the Edinburgh Capitals (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, with the San Francisco Bulls (ECHL), he was pointless in 11 games. He also was pointless in 22 games with the Ontario Reign (ECHL) and had seven points, three of them goals, in 18 games with the Arizona Sundogs (CHL). . . .
F Stefan Meyer (Medicine Hat, 2000-05) signed a one-year contract with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, with the Sheffield Steelers (England, UK Elite), he had 54 points, including a team-high 28 goals, in 57 games.
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Ken Olynyk, the athletic director at Thompson Rivers University (TRU), announced on July 29 that the WolfPack hockey program was being put into cold storage.
The hockey team wasn’t a varsity program; it ran as a club team and played in the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League. In pulling the plug, Olynyk said the program was in debt and lacked a proper business plan.
However, all may not be lost.
Trevor Bast of Victoria has taken it upon himself to attempt to lead a revival. His son, Des, was the last recruit signed by the WolfPack before the end came.
Bast has spent the last week working to marshal support.
On Sunday, he told Taking Note that there are a number of things he is working toward. For starters, the society that overlooked the hockey program “has to dissolve and reform with five directors.”
That, he added, is doable.
The team was about $50,000 in debt when the end came; Bast said he has been in contact with potential sponsors.
“There are sponsors willing to contribute, but nothing in the form of a bailout or major donor,” he explained.
Bast added: “We have gear, we have willing players and I'm confident we can get more. We could easily run a bare-bones season with a budget of $70,000 to $80,000 . . . $40,000 to $50,000 of that could come from player fees.”
On Monday, Bast said he will find out if the City of Kamloops already has moved to re-allocate the WolfPack’s ice time at Memorial Arena.
The bottom line, though, involves Olynyk.
As Bast put it: “The only way this gets going for this season is if Ken Olynyk changes his mind and puts faith in a new group, or a large amount of money falls from the sky.”
With all of that in mind, Bast penned this letter to Olynyk on Saturday:
Good morning, Ken:
I have to say this last week has been very enlightening for me. I've talked to some terrific people, I've discovered I have some gumption that I didn't know I had, but most of all I know there is a passion for hockey at TRU and if it doesn't happen this season it will be back soon. I had a great 90-minute conversation with Andre Larouche yesterday and got a complete history lesson on TRU hockey. Talking to Andre confirmed what I already felt -- mistakes have been made but hockey can work at TRU and more importantly it belongs at TRU.
“From my perspective (and many others but I won't speak for them), many of the final road blocks that stalled the program where just products of a negative culture that swept through the hockey operations and created strained relationships with all of the departments involved. The biggest one I have seen is the contention that TRU Hockey is at a recruiting disadvantage because they have players fees. Of course, if that's the attitude one leads with, it will absolutely hinder recruiting. I can spin several reasons why TRU is the best place to play hockey in the BCIHL without even breaking a sweat. We could charge $1,900 and still sell the program.
- An entire year of education, housing and hockey is a fraction of what families pay to send their son to Division III schools in the U.S. We have to get that message out there.
- TRU is the most well-rounded of all the Schools in the BCIHL. From upgrading, to trades, certificates, diplomas, degrees, post graduate, culinary, science, nursing, arts and on and on. SFU and UVic can't boast this type of diversity. Selkirk has to recruit half a team each year due to having one- and two-year programs.
- Kamloops is a perfect size city and its location makes it accessible for families to visit and attend games.
I won't go on, I'm sure you get my point. Ken, these are hockey operations issues. These can and will be fixed. This program just needs a few dedicated volunteers at different points of the province shaking hands with players, parents and coaches and selling the TRU story, not unlike how you recruit for your Varsity sports. One of the big differences is that hockey families are used to spending their money, you just have to build value into it.
The last point I want to touch on is what those 25 or so students mean to the school economically. You and I touched on this and it was you who gave me the economic benefit a single student brings to the community and the school. Multiply that by 25 and I am still perplexed at how this could not be resonating further up the food chain at TRU. This is a team of 25 or so students who, with a few exceptions, are now here today gone tomorrow along with their money. I thought this was about money. Obviously it's not all about money.
I know if an olive branch is extended and this season is saved, we have time to recruit a team. The society has not been dissolved and mistakes made will not be repeated.
Ken, hockey is our national sport, B.C. and Kamloops love the game. It is a sport where underdogs are glorified. Those who persevere are honoured and rewarded. Hockey players and those who love hockey are cut from a different cloth. Character is a pre-requisite and those without it are quickly weeded out. Give these kids, families and the society another chance and they will not look back. I imagine what you need is a program that runs itself as much as possible and that hasn't been the case the last couple years. I believe this can be the case moving forward. Please help us find a way.

Regards,
Trevor Bast
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The Saskatoon Blades have acquired F Dakota Boutin from the Brandon Wheat Kings for a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2015 bantam draft. Boutin, 17, is from Moosomin, Sask. Boutin was a third-round pick by Brandon in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Last season, Boutin had 13 points, five of them goals, in 13 regular-season games with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. He added nine points, including seven assists, in eight playoff games. Later, he scored the winning goal in the third OT period as the Mintos won the TELUS Cup with a 4-3 victory over the Chateauguay Grenadiers.
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Two young hockey players died on the weekend.
Calvin Dueck of Rosenort, Man., drowned in St. Malo Provincial Park south of Steinbach on Saturday evening. Dueck, 19, was a prospect of the MJHL’s Winkler Flyers.
There is more right here from the Winnipeg Free Press.
Nick Egan, a former defenceman with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins, died Friday. Egan, 21, was a New Jersey native who grew up near Philadelphia. Josh Lewis of the Estevan Mercury reports right here that “Egan is believed to have died of a heart attack.”
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By now, you will be aware of the incident involving NASCAR driver Tony Stewart in which a fellow competitor was killed. It happened Saturday night during a sprint car race at a track in upstate New York. By Sunday morning, social media was in full swing. Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail writes about the situation right here.
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Traditionalists may not approve, but analytics are arriving in the hockey world and they’re arriving right now. Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe takes a look at the world of what seem like exotic statistics but soon will be run-of-the-mill numbers right here.
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Somebody's gonna have to explain why the best juniors in the world need to play meaningless full-contact exhibitions in August.
— Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge) August 8, 2014

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Fighting to save a hockey program

F Justin Maylan (Moose Jaw. Prince George, Prince Albert, 2007-12) signed a one-year contract with Gherdëina (Italy, Serie A). Last season, with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL), he had one assist in three games. He also was pointless in four games with the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL). He signed with Herning (Denmark, Metal Ligaen) in November and put up 21 points, six of them goals, in 22 games.
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If Trevor Bast has his way, the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) WolfPack hockey team will live a long and fruitful life.
Unfortunately, the school’s athletic director buried the team last week.
In eliminating the hockey program, Ken Olynyk, TRU’s athletics and recreation director, said: “ . . . due to economics and a lack of a sustainable model, we have no choice but to dissolve the program.”
The hockey program started life in 2008-09. It was a club team that was operated by the Kamloops Collegiate Hockey Society. A source familiar with the situation has told Taking Note that the team was $50,000 in debt.
Bast, however, isn’t about to give up.
“I am determined to start a movement to revive this team,” Bast, who lives in Victoria, told Taking Note on Sunday night.
For the last three seasons, the WolfPack’s head coach was Don Schulz. Last season, the WolfPack went 9-14, finishing fourth in the six-team B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League. TRU then lost out in the first round of the playoffs.
Bast’s son, Des, was the last recruit signed by the WolfPack. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound defenceman’s signing was announced via news release on July 17. Bast, 19, split last season between the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks and the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior league.
“It was a bitter disappointment for our entire family when (the program ended), as well as for the other players involved,” Trevor Bast said. “Just to have a chance to play four more years of competitive hockey and for us to cheer him and his team on for four more years is a thrill only a hockey family can relate to. Having that pulled out from under you suddenly leaves a huge void.”
Hockey or not, Des still plans on attending TRU, where he will study architectural and engineering technology, a program his father said “is quite unique and not offered in many places.”
But when Trevor Bast looked at what happened to the hockey program, he said, “I can't help but think this was a completely avoidable situation.”
The way he figures it, $40,000 would have saved the team.
“There is too much money in the hockey world for $40,000 to take down a university program -- club, varsity or otherwise,” he said. “The thing that jumps out at me is the hockey team ran on a $100,000 budget. With a full roster at last year’s player fee of $1,500 that covers approx 40 per cent.
“That leaves $60,000 for the team, the foundation and the university to make up via grants, sponsorship, fundraising, etc. At the end of the day, the announced shortfall was $40,000 and a plan for sustainability was not in place.
“Of those 20 or so players who suddenly lost this team, if eight of them decide to not attend school at all due to this, that is eight too many. That is life- and career-altering.”
Bast is determined to find out whether there is money available for a program such as this.
“There is a sustainable model out there,” he said. “There is money out there in the form of corporate sponsorship and a huge network of multi-millionaire pros from the B.C. Interior. There are great business minds with a passion for hockey and higher education who could lend expertise to creating a sustainable model. TRU has a business and marketing program that is the envy of other larger institutions.”
Starting right now, Bast said, the fight is on try and save the program.
“I, like everyone else, have a lot more ideas and questions than answers right now,” he said, “but the solution is out there and it is worth fighting for.
“I believe this team will be revived and I will do whatever I can to get behind the cause.”
Bast may be reached by email at  trevorbast@gmail.com
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Herb Hand is the offensive line coach with the Penn State Nittany Lions football team. The other day, a player he was recruiting posted something Hand found offensive, so the recruitment drive ended. Right there. . . . There is more right here on the impact of social media on these situations. It should have been headlined: Players beware!
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The always thoughtful William C. Rhoden of The New York Times weighs in right here with his look at the mess Stephen A. Smith of ESPN found himself in after opining on the suspension handed running back Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens by the NFL.
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I find the idea of a divorce lawyer advertising in a minor hockey rink really really funny. pic.twitter.com/VA3EPKLLmS
— Steve Ladurantaye (@sladurantaye) August 2, 2014

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.