Benson, Howorko, Mort all retire

Two players off the Swift Current Broncos’ roster — forwards Shea Howorko and Brent Benson — tweeted on Tuesday, confirming that they have had to quit playing hockey due to post-concussion syndrome.
Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Broncos, spoke with Howorko. That story, along with the interview, is right here.
Here’s one paragraph:
"I don't even know what it feels like not to have a headache anymore," Howorko said. "It's just like part of my life now I guess. Just wake up with a headache and continue my day but not be active at all."
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Mullin ends his piece on Howorko with this: "The Western Hockey League Concussion Management Safety Program reports that concussions were down over 20% overall during the 2012-13 season compared to the 2011-12 season."
Unfortunately, the WHL has never released statistics involving how many concussions there were. Of course, you are aware that the WHL lists all injuries as being of the lower- or upper-body variety. Until the WHL presents the hard evidence that concussions were down 20 per cent — which would be a whopping decrease in one year — it's pretty tough, if not impossible, to believe that statement.
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D Tanner Mort, 20, won’t be returning for a fifth season with the Spokane Chiefs. Mort, who is from Post Falls, Idaho, plans on attending the U of Idaho and studying engineering. . . . According to a Chiefs’ news release, Mort “missed the majority of the 2012-13 season after sustaining a neck injury on October 12, 2012, at Kamloops. Though any head trauma subsided quickly, the neck injury symptoms persisted, which influenced Mort's decision to move on.” . . . He played 137 regular-season games with the Chiefs, recording 32 points, four of them goals.
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Jay McKee, a former NHL defenceman, has signed on as the playing coach of the Dundas, Ont., Real McCoys, the host team for the 2014 Allan Cup tournament. McKee is preparing for his second season with the McCoys, but last season he only played. . . . Ken Mann and Ron Bernacci will serve as McKee’s assistant coaches.
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The Rose Garden in Portland is no more. The NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and Moda Health announced Tuesday that, effective immediately, the arena is to be known as the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. . . . According to a news release: “The agreement was jointly announced during a press conference in the center’s South Atrium. At the request of Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, the new logo for the Moda Center, when unveiled at a later date, will incorporate a rose as a salute to the city of Portland.” . . . Financial terms of the deal for naming rights weren’t disclosed. . . . The WHL’s Portland Winterhawks play some of their games in the arena.
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Jim Matheson, the Edmonton Journal’s hall-of-fame hockey writer, says it’s time for NHL owners to pony up and pay Wayne Gretzky what is owed to him for his time in Phoenix with the Coyotes. That blog entry is right here.
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D Landon Oslanski (Spokane, Lethbridge, Everett, 2009-13) has signed with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder. Oslanski played out his junior eligibility last season with the Everett Silvertips. . . . After Everett’s season ended, he joined the Thunder and got into six playoff games, picking up one assist, on an OT goal at that. . . . He had 48 points in 72 games with Everett last season.
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The Prince Albert Raiders are less than two weeks away from the start of training camp and general manager Bruno Campese can’t wait to get rolling. Dave Leaderhouse of the Prince Albert Daily Herald has more right here.
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The Saginaw, Mich., Times Herald reported Tuesday that D Dalton John Young of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit “was arraigned Sunday on charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, first-degree home invasion, and resisting and obstructing a police officer.” . . . There is more right here.
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“On Tuesday, those who best knew Jordan Boyd held onto those memories a little tighter,” write Sean Gordon and Allan Maki of The Globe and Mail. “It was all they could do after hearing the 16-year-old Nova Scotia athlete had died Monday, during a skating drill at the Titan rookie camp.
“While the exact cause remains unknown, Boyd’s death has generated an outpouring of grief and questioning: What happened? Why Boyd? Was there any way of preventing it?”
Boyd, 16, died during a training camp session in the camp of the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Monday.
The Globe and Mail story is right here.
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Whitey Bulger, who was convicted this week of, among other things, 11 murders, has a Stanley Cup ring and he wants to keep it. Chris Nilan, who was married for 25 years to the daughter of a Bulger girlfriend, says it isn’t one of his rings. Stu Cowan, the sports editor of the Montreal Gazette, has a whole lot more right here. Did you know that Bulger may have paid for Nilan’s wedding?
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Charles P. Pierce, who can write, tackles the subject of “Tiger Woods and the weary pursuit of Jack Nicklaus.” That piece, from grantland.com, is right here. “Woods was never effervescent, even in the glorious heart of his young career,” Pierce writes, “but he didn't look the way he does now, coming up the fairway toward the green like an aging farmer coming to work in fields he knows are burnt and fallow but remembers with fondness and with pain the verdancy they once had.”
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And here’s one more good read for today. It’s from Murray Chass, one of the greatest baseball writers to ever sit before a typewriter or keyboard. I have just recently discovered his website (murraychass.com) and have been digging in. This piece right here is a devastating look at Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, and his reign during the steroid era.
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From Brent Benson (@benzySON): “Like to thank @bladeshockey and @SCBroncos for my time spent in both places, great memories with guys ill never forget #bestofluckboys”
Benson, the sixth overall selection in the 2008 bantam draft, has had to retire prior to his 20-year-old season due to post-concussion syndrome.
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From Shea Howorko (@ShaezerBeam): “Like to thank the @SCBroncos organization & fans for a tremendous experience! Unfortunately due to my injury my career is done! #GreatTeam”
Howorko, like Benson, has had to retire due to post-concussion syndrome. A second-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft, Howorko is 19.

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By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Guy Charron, the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, is into his playoff preparation mode.
Now he needs his players to follow suit.
Charron, whose club has 17 games left in this WHL regular-season, was talking about accountability on Sunday evening, one night after a 3-2 shootout victory over the Silvertips in Everett.
“Some guys think they’ve got their position all settled and done,” Charron said. “It’s not going to happen. It’s up to us to make sure they understand the message.”
And that message, he said, is this: “Unless you perform, you’re not going to play.”
The line of Matt Needham between Chase Souto and Cole Ully felt the head coach’s sting when it didn’t play in the third period of a 7-4 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Friday.
Needham didn’t make the trip to Everett due to an injury, while Charron said that “Ully was better,” but that Souto “needs to be more physically involved.”
“It’s looking like he’s turning into a finesse player,” Charron added. “It’s like he’s turning into a finesse player. H’ll lose effectiveness if he becomes that kind of player.”
Charron went into Saturday’s game wanting to roll four lines, thus getting everyone involved, and wear down an injury-riddled Everett team that only dressed 16 skaters, including 10 forwards.
“We didn’t respond very well,” Charron said, explaining that he ended up going with “our nine best forwards and I stuck with it.”
In the end, the Blazers found themselves going to extra time for the WHL-leading 17th time this season. They are 6-2 when the game ends in overtime and 6-3 when it goes to the shootout.
This time, right-winger JC Lipon was the only one of eight shooters to score in the shootout.
“Lipon’s game was very good,” Charron offered.
Kamloops centre Colin Smith opened the scoring at 3:31 of the first period, one-timing a Tim Bozon pass for his 36th goal of the season. Everett defenceman Landon Oslanski equalized three minutes later, but Lipon, with his 27th, put the visitors back out front at 19:25.
Oslanski forced extra time with his 12th goal of the season, ending a 0-for-19 power-play drought, at 11:54 of the second period.
Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave stopped 28 shots through overtime, while Everett’s Daniel Cotton turned aside 30. Everett goaltender Austin Lotz, who had stopped 65 shots in a memorable 4-3 overtime loss in Kamloops on Jan. 23, is sidelined with a foot injury.
On this night, Cotton was especially busy in the third period when the Blazers held a 17-3 edge in shots and winger Cole Ully twice hit goal posts. After two periods, however, Everett had outshot its visitors, 22-11.
“I didn’t like the start of our game,” Charron said. “In the second period, I thought they were the better team.
“Our third period was obviously our best period. But we don’t have it altogether. Not everybody. Some guys are going; some guys aren’t. We gave up too much.”
Charron is of the opinion that a good team will surrender 15 or few scoring chances per game. He said the Blazers gave up 18 in this game.
“That’s too much,” Charron said. “We weren’t bad but, against a team that was only playing with 10 forwards, I thought we should have had a bigger advantage than we did.”
The Blazers (35-15-5) now have won five of their last six games, with two victories coming in OT and one in a shootout. They are settled comfortably into third place in the Western Conference, nine points behind the Kelowna Rockets, who are on a 17-0-2 tear, and 10 ahead of the Tri-City Americans.
The Blazers and Silvertips will meet again Thursday, this time at Interior Savings Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
JUST NOTES: Needham’s status for Thursday isn’t known. Charron said he understands the injury “isn’t as bad as was projected initially.” . . . Smith is tied for the WHL goal-scoring lead, with Portland Winterhawks teammates Nic Petan and Brendan Leipsic. . . . The Blazers also scratched F Aspen Sterzer (concussion) and D Joel Edmundson, who served Game 2 of a four-game WHL suspension. . . . Among the 5,659 fans in attendance was former Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays first baseman John Olerud.


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The Vancouver Giants, with room for one 20-year-old player, have acquired F Kale Kessy from the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Giants gave up a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Kessy is serving a 12-game suspension for a headshot on Lethbridge Hurricanes D Ryan Pilon on Sept. 22. He has six games remaining and will be eligible to play for the Giants on Oct. 30 when they are in, yes, Lethbridge. . . . Kessy, a fourth-round selection by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2011 NHL draft, has been with the AHL’s Portland Pirates. However, he was told Thursday night that he would be returning to the WHL. . . . Last season, he had 16 points and 151 penalty minutes in 49 games. He had two goals in two games when he was suspended this season. . . . In 195 regular-season games, Kessy has 71 points and 422 penalty minutes.
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The Regina Pats have assigned D Cole Hamblin, 19, to an unspecified junior A team. Hamblin, 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, had two points in eight games with the Pats this season. He played last season with the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers. He also has six points in 19 games with the Spokane Chiefs over the last two seasons.
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F Zach Pochiro of the Prince George Cougars has been suspended for three games for a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct incurred on Wednesday night in a 5-4 victory over the host Kootenay Ice. . . . Pochiro sat out Friday’s 4-3 loss to the Hurricanes in Lethbridge.
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Remember Joey Hishon? He was playing for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack at the 2011 Memorial Cup when he took a headshot from Kootenay Ice D Brayden MacNabb. Hishon, a first-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2010 NHL draft, has yet to return to action. Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post has more right here.
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The Vancouver, Wash., Vipers, who play in the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NORPAC), had four hometown brothers on their roster until making a trade the other day. Now they have but one.
The Vipers dealt Joe Bordak, 19, Avik Bordak, 18, and Elijah Bordak, 17, to the Medford-based Southern Oregon Spartans of the Western States Hockey League. Daniel Bordak, at 20 the oldest of the brothers, remains with the Vipers. . . . Head coach Keith Bemis of the Vipers told the Vancouver Columbian that the Bordaks were traded because they couldn’t afford the US$5,500 per player registration fee. According to the newspaper, “Benis said Southern Oregon had sponsorship money to assist the Bordaks with the cost of playing.” . . . The Columbian also reported that “Bemis said the Vipers will receive between three and five players from Southern Oregon, with most expected to arrive next week.”
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FRIDAY’S STUFF:
G Jackson Whistle earned his second WHL victory — his first since Jan. 10 — as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Royals 4-1 in Victoria. . . . Whistle, who is from West Kelowna, was acquired from the Vancouver Giants last month. His only other victory came on Jan. 10 when the Giants beat the Prince George Cougars, 3-0. . . . Last night, Whistle stopped 20 shots. . . .

The Red Deer Rebels snapped a 12-game home-ice losing streak against Medicine Hat by beating the Tigers, 2-1. . . . According to Greg Meachem, the sports editor at the Red Deer Advocate, the Tigers hadn’t lost in Red Deer since October 2009. . . . Red Deer G Bolton Pouliot stopped 32 shots. . . . Red Deer G Patrik Bartosak was scratched for undisclosed disclipinary reasons. The Rebels had Grant Naherniak, from the Red Deer midget ranks, backing up Pouliot. . . . F Turner Elson broke a 1-1 tie at 16:16 of the second period when his centring pass during a PP bounced in off a Medicine Hat player. . . . Red Deer takes a three-game winning streak into a game tonight in Calgary. . . .

F JC Lipon scored three times in a 5:39 span in the first period and the Kamloops Blazers went on to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs. . . . Lipon also had an assist, giving him a WHL-leading 18 points. . . . Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave stopped 36 shots, including 18 in the second period. . . . The Blazers left shortly after the game for a five-game swing into the Central Division. Kamloops (7-0-1) will open the trip Sunday afternoon in Calgary against the Hitmen (5-0-2). These are the only WHL teams not to have lost in regulation time this season. . . .

The Calgary Hitmen improved to 5-0-2 with a 5-4 shootout victory over the host Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Calgary is 3-0-0 against Edmonton (5-2-2) already this season. . . . The Hitmen won at home, 6-5 in OT, on Sunday. . . . “I didn’t mind the effort,” Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal told Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal. “I thought we played hard for 60 minutes and, obviously, a shootout is what it is.” . . . Calgary F Greg Chase, who is from Sherwood Park, Alta., scored the shootout winner. . . . Edmonton’s PP, which features five forwards, was 3-for-3 and now is 9-for-14 in its last four games. . . . With the Hitmen having won all three games with the Oil Kings and with two of them going to extra time, here’s another quote from Laxdal, who told Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun: “We’ve only got two points out of a possible six, and they’ve got six.” . . . That’s what the loser point does for you. Out of a possible six points, the teams split eight of them. . . .

The Seattle Thunderbirds scored six times on 21 shots in a 6-4 victory over the Giants in Vancouver. . . . F Brendan Rouse may have scored three times for the Thunderbirds. (The online scoresheet has him with three goals; a post-game news release from the Thunderbirds has him with two goals and an assist, with that other goal going to F Luke Lockhart.) . . . The Giants have lost six of eight games. . . . F Marek Tvrdon, a 31-goal man last season, scored his first goal of the season for the Giants. . . .

F Coda Gordon scored a PP goal in OT to give the Swift Current Broncos a 3-2 victory over the Pats in Regina. . . . The goal was Gordon's second of the game. . . . The Broncos, who finished 3-for-6 on the PP, started OT on the PP and then got another PP later in OT. . . . The Broncos have played nine games this season, with five of them going into extra time. . . . Regina F Chandler Stephenson tied the score 2-2 with 6:19 left in the third period. . . . Regina F Dryden Hunt (concussion) returned after missing the season’s first nine games. . . .

The Prince Albert Raiders had their seven-game winning streak come to an end as they lost 5-2 to the visiting Portland Winterhawks. . . . Portland took control late in the second period when D Derrick Pouliot and F Taylor Leier broke a 1-1 tie with goals 1:33 apart. . . . Portland, which held a 40-28 edge in shots, has outshot its opponent in each of its games this season. . . . The Winterhawks wrap up their six-game East Division swing tonight in Swift Current. . . . F Dakota Conroy scored one of the Raiders’ goals. He has four goals in seven games since being acquired from the Victoria Royals. . . . The Raiders meet the Warriors in Moose Jaw tonight, then play nine of their next 10 at home. . . .

The Everett Silvertips, down 2-0 just 12 minutes into the first period, bounced back to beat the host Brandon Wheat Kings 3-2 in overtime. . . . D Landon Oslanski, 20, scored on a slapshot from the point at 1:17 of extra time. . . . Everett F Trent Lofthouse forced OT with his second goal of the season at 14:33 of the third. . . . Everett G Daniel Cotton recorded his first WHL victory. He spent most of two seasons backing up Calvin Pickard with the Seattle Thunderbirds before being dealt to the Silvertips on Sunday. Cotton was 0-8-0 with Seattle last season. . . . Cotton also earned an assist on the game-winner last night. . . . Everett had lost its last three games. . . . Brandon F John Quenneville scored his first WHL goal in the first period and got his first WHL stitches in the third, courtesy of a puck to the face. . . . The Silvertips play in Regina tonight, meaning Everett D Ryan Murray, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2012 NHL draft, gets to play in front of family and friends for the first time since Dec. 7, 2010. Murray is from White City, which is located on the eastern outskirts of Regina. . . .

F Sam Mckechnie’s goal late in the third period broke a 2-2 draw and gave the host Lethbridge Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Lethbridge G Ty Rimmer stopped 27 shots. . . . F Russell Maxwell had two PP goals for Lethbridge. . . . Prince George F Colin Jacobs had an assist to run his point streak to eight games. . . . Prince George lost F Caleb Belter to an interference major and game misconduct late in the first period. . . .

F Brock Montgomery had two goals and a helper to help the Kootenay Ice to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades. . . . Montgomery’s second goal, at 16:24 of the third, broke a 3-3 tie. . . . Montgomery has seven goals in as many games. . . . Saskatoon F Shane McColgan had tied the game at 15:16 with his first goal of the season. . . . F Sam Reinhart added a goal and an assist for the Ice, who had lost three in a row. . . . F Josh Nicholls had two goals and an assist for the Blades, who have lost five in a row. . . . The Blades are in Lethbridge tonight.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Josh Winquist, Everett
F Tim Bozon, Kamloops
D Tyler Stahl, Victoria
F Logan Nelson, Victoria
D Mitchell Wheaton, Kelowna

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
D Dan Gibb, Prince George
D Tyler Stahl, Victoria
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Seattle Thunderbirds G Brandon Glover (@BGlover31): “Nice win in front of my family tonight in Vancouver. #feelsgood On a side note: who was serving drinks to the shot clock guys tonight?”
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TWEET OF THE DAY II:
Rob Henderson (@HendoRob) of the Brandon Sun, getting ready to cover a game between the Wheat Kings and the visiting Everett Silvertips last night: “Either the TC Americans are here for a look before tomorrow’s game or it’s staff appreciation night at Tip Top. Pretty sure it’s the former.”
The Americans open their six-game East Division tour in Brandon tonight.

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N-H-L L-O-C-K-O-U-T!
That is just in case anyone asks if you know how to spell lockout.
Because it is coming and it’s coming in a big hurry.
The Detroit Red Wings’ annual eight-team prospects tournament that is held in Traverse City, Mich., was cancelled on Thursday. Every year, dozens of junior-aged prospects played for rookie teams in the tournament. But not this year.
The Traverse City wing-ding . . . the five-team Penticton Young Guns tournament that had become a fixture over the last few years . . . a handful of NHL exhbition games in Europe . . . have I missed anything on the list of cancellations.
For what it’s worth, I’m not expecting to see NHL teams in action at all in 2012-13. The gulf between the NHL and NHLPA right now is best described as an abyss. In the end, all you have to do is follow the money, and the biggest stumbling block is going to involve revenue sharing, something the richest franchises don’t even want mentioned.
How bizarre is all of this? Consider that Ed Snider is a big wheel in the NHL. He is the chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a company that owns, among other things, the Philadelphia Flyers and Comcast SportsNet. The first offer made by Snider and the owners to the players called for cap length of five years on player contracts. The Flyers — Snider’s Flyers — signed forward Wayne Simmonds to a new contract this week that is six years in length.
You figure it out!
One other thing . . . the NHLPA has never been led by someone like Donald Fehr. The NHL and its team owners are about to find out what baseball learned a long time ago – Fehr is the real deal.
There won’t be any capitulating by the players this time around.
Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, has never been one to capitulate.
So, hockey fans, get ready to take another one you know where.
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F Brad Hoban, who played 325 games with the Swift Current Broncos, has decided to attend the U of British Columbia (UBC) and play for the Thunderbirds. Hoban put up 176 points, including 69 goals, while with Swift Current. Last season, in 69 games, he had a 53 points, 21 of them goals.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings added some toughness on the back end and firmed up their 20-year-old situation, at least for now, by acquiring D Tyler Yaworski from the Prince Albert Raiders on Thursday. . . . Brandon sent a fifth-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft the other way. . . . Yaworski, who has three WHL seasons under his belt, had 23 points and 188 penalty minutes in 71 games last season. . . . Brandon’s other 20s are D Ryley Miller and F Dominick Favreau. . . . The Raiders, meanwhile, are down to three 20-year-olds — F Anthony Bardaro and D Antoine Corbin, along with G Luke Siemens, who was acquired earlier from the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The Wheat Kings also revealed that D Dylan Kuczek, an 18-year-old Winnipegger, “has informed the club that he will not be returning.” Kuczek, a second-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft, had two points and 27 penalty minutes in 33 games last season.
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The Everett Silvertips have added D Landon Oslanski, 20, to their roster after claiming him on waivers from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Oslanski was selected by the Spokane Chiefs in the third round of the 2007 bantam draft. He played one game with the Chiefs before being dealt to Lethbridge as part of the swap that moved F Kyle Beach to Spokane.
In 207 career games, Oslanski has 70 points, including 16 goals, and 239 penalty minutes.
The addition of Oslanski leaves Everett with five 20s on its roster, the others being G Brandon Anderson, who has signed with the NHL’s Washington Capitals and could open the season in their organization, and forwards J.T. Barnett, Cody Fowlie and Ryan Harrison. Anderson’s rights were acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings last month.
The Hurricanes’ roster still includes five 20-year-olds — D Daniel Johnston, D Tyler Kizuik, F Graham Hood, F Nick Buonassisi and G Ty Rimmer, the latter having been acquired from the Tri-City Americans in May.
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports here that G Andrey Makarov of the Saskatoon Blades “has accepted an invitation to the Buffalo Sabres’ training camp next month.” The move was confirmed by Jay Grossman, Makarov’s agent. . . . Makarov, one of Russia’s top junior-aged goaltenders, was selected in the NHL’s 2012 draft, despite being ranked seventh among draft-eligible goaltenders by NHL Central Scouting. . . . After the draft, Makarov, 19, was in the Florida Panthers’ development camp.
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F Ryan Hanes, a 20-year-old who was placed on waivers by the Kamloops Blazers, hadn't heard from any team or teams as of Thursday evening. "Hopefully, I can go somewhere and play," he wrote in a text last night. . . . With the Blazers a week from training camp, Hanes found himself fifth on the Blazers' 20-year-old depth chart. Assuming he cleared WHL waivers, Hanes now is a free agent.
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David Robinson, who played two-plus seasons with the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?), is getting into the coaching game. After spending last season at the U of Calgary, Robinson is returning to his hometown of Vernon and will work as an assistant coach with the BCHL’s Vipers. After leaving the Bruins, Robinson finished the 2009-10 season with the Vipers and captained the team the following season.
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And, finally, a tip of the cap in the direction of the Danbury Whalers of the Federal Hockey League. The Whalers have made a key signing in the person of Dan Barletta. There aren’t a whole lot of hockey teams who employ organists, but the Whalers now are one of them. There’s more right here.


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