Lazar, Oil Kings off to final; Dobber back in coaching game

G Chris Mason (Victoria/Prince George, 1993-97) has signed a one-year contract with the Augsburger Panther (Germany, DEL). This season with Ritten/Renon (Italy, Serie A), he was 2.18 and .927 in 36 games. He had the best GAA in Serie A as he led his club to the league championship. . . .
F Max Brandl (Prince Albert, Portland, 2007-09) signed a one-year contract with the Ravensburg Towerstars (Germany, DEL2). This season, with Landshut (Germany, DEL2), he had 22 points, including 10 goals, in 42 games.
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1. Four on-ice officials missed what should have been a major penalty in the first period on Thursday night when Montreal Canadiens F Brendan Prust drilled New York Rangers F Derek Stepan. . . . On Friday, Prust was given a two-game suspension. Also on Friday, the Rangers revealed that Stepan, who missed a couple of shifts before returning to finish the game, has a broken jaw and is out indefinitely. . . . Shortly after that hit, with emotions raw, New York F Daniel Carcillo was ejected after he got physical with a linesman during a scrum. On Friday, Carcillo was suspended for 10 games. . . . Thinking out loud: 1. How is it that four on-ice officials miss what should have been an easy call on Prust? 2. If that call is made, does the Carcillo incident happen? 3. Is bumping a linesman really five times as bad as breaking an opponent’s jaw?

2. What does Larry Brooks of the New York Post think of the NHL’s response to Prust’s hit on Stepan? Well, let’s say that he wasn’t impressed. Brooks’ piece is right here.

3. Can anyone explain why there were referees on the ice during the overtime periods in the Memorial Cup game on Friday night? Hey, if they aren’t going to call the obvious penalties, let’s get them off the ice so they aren’t getting in the way.

4. While the two referees didn’t see any penalties, OHL commissioner David Branch saw at least three suspendable offences.

5. The Brandon Wheat Kings aren’t likely to have any problems recruiting F Stelio Mattheos, the first overall selection in the 2014 WHL bantam draft. “My family and I, we’ve done our homework on the WHL,” Mattheos, a Winnipegger, told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun. “We think it’s a great league for development and that’s where I want to play. I want to play for the Wheat Kings one day.” . . . According to Henderson, Mattheos, who is attending Brandon’s prospects camp this weekend, is expected to play next season for the midget AAA Winnipeg Wild.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Jim Dobson (New Westminster, Portland, 1977-80) is going to help coach the Fort Vancouver Vipers of the Northern Pacific Hockey League. Dobson worked as an assistant coach with the Seattle Thunderbirds and also spent one season (1987-88) as their head coach. . . . Paul Danzer of the Vancouver Columbian reports that Dobson, known forever as Dobber, and Mike Dickerman will work together as the Vipers’ co-coaches. Dickerman is coming off his first season as a head coach; the Vipers didn’t win a game. In fact, they have won two of 80 games over the last two seasons. . . . Danzer writes that the eight-team NPHL is “a third-tier USA Hockey-sanctioned junior league for players ages 16-20.”
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MEMORIAL CUP
(at London, Ont., all times Eastern)
(all games televised by Sportsnet)
Friday: Val-d’Or 1, London 0 (8,863)
Saturday: Guelph 5, Edmonton 2 (8,842)
Sunday: Edmonton 5, London 2 (8,863)
Monday: Guelph 6, Val-d’Or 3 (8,796)
Tuesday: Val-d’Or 4, Edmonton 3 (2OT) (8,745)
Wednesday: Guelph 7, London 2 (8,863)
Thursday: No game scheduled.
Friday’s semifinal: Edmonton 4, Val-d’Or 3 (3OT) (8,776)
Saturday: No game scheduled.
Sunday: Guelph vs. Edmonton, 4 p.m.
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FRIDAY’S GAME:
F Curtis Lazar ended the longest game in Memorial Cup tournament history as the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Val-d’Or Foreurs 4-3 in the semifinal game. . . . Lazar scored at 2:42 of the third OT period, redirecting a point shot by D Cody Corbett that followed a turnover in the Foreurs’ zone. . . . It was the first time in tournament history that a semifinal game went to double OT. . . . In the end, it was the longest game in Memorial Cup tournament erasing one from 2005. In that one, the Ottawa 67’s beat the Kelowna Rockets 3-2 in 95:31. The 2005 tournament also was played in London. . . . In the round-robin portion, Val-d’Or got past Edmonton, 4-3, in double OT, as well. . . . Between that game and the semifinal, the two teams played 183:57, or more than nine periods. . . . Val-d’Or D Guillaume Gelinas, returning from a knee injury suffered on Monday, forced OT when he drifted a point shot through traffic and past G Tristan Jarry with 36 seconds left in the third period. . . . The QMJHL’s defenceman of the year, Gelinas went out with a knee injury during a 6-3 loss to Guelph on Monday. Obviously not 100 per cent, Gelinas wasn’t his usual explosive self, although he did make some plays in the third period before scoring his first goal of the event. . . . The Foreurs opened the scoring, with D Phil Pietroniro getting his first of the tournament at 1:49 of the first period, but then watched as the Oil Kings scored three in a row. . . . Pietroniro later left with a left shoulder/collarbone injury and didn’t return. . . . F Mads Eller got his first, at 9:00 of the opening period, with Edmonton getting the lead at 6:34 of the second when F Mitch Moroz struck on the PP. That was Moroz’s first goal of the week. . . . Edmonton F Edgars Kulda scored his third goal of the tournament at 9:45 of the second. . . . The Oil Kings seemed in control until Foreurs D Randy Gazzola got his second goal at 17::52 of the second period. . . . Jarry finished with 46 saves, five fewer than Antoine Bibeau of the Foreurs. . . . Edmonton was 1-for-3 on the PP; Val-d’Or was 0-for-4. . . . After handing out six minor penalties in the second period, referees Brett Iverson and Scott Oakman called just two in the game’s final 72:29. . . . The QMJHL had won the previous three tournaments. The WHL hasn’t won since 2008 in Spokane.
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From Neate Sager of Yahoo! Canada Sports: “First time since 1990 the same two #mcmemorialcup teams have played double overtime twice. Other time was the Oshawa-Kitchener classics.” That was in Hamilton, where Oshawa won them both -- 5-4 in the final round-robin game and 4-3 in the championship game.
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From Not Ron Robison (@NotRonRobison: “SportsNet guys said Val d'Or went mini golfing and Edmonton went bowling on their days off. Portland would've been figuring out how to win.”

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The Vancouver Canucks have gone from Roberto Luongo and Corey Schneider as their goaltending tandem to Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom, and you may want to think about how that happened. . . . You also may want to ponder what sank quicker, the Canucks or the Titanic. . . . Is it just me, or have the Sedin twins all but lost their games in less than a year? Did they grow old in hockey years before we knew it? Does head coach John Tortorella’s shot-blocking, grinding style disagree with them that much? . . . BTW, the Canucks owe each of the Sedin boys four more seasons at $7 million per. . . .

“Kazakhstan finished last in the medal count with one bronze at Sochi,” writes Richmond blogger TC Chong. “Richard Petty said they would have won it all if no one else showed up.” . . . Shades of O.J.: In South Africa, a 24-hour TV channel dedicated to Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial went on the air last Sunday. . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “My feeling on LeBron’s mask: Hey, aren’t Marvel superheroes supposed to LOOK like Marvel superheroes?” . . .

Steve Simmons, in the Toronto Sun: “Word around the Olympics was that Rogers is targeting CBC star George Stroumboulopoulos to host its NHL broadcasts next season after it couldn’t secure James Duthie. And it’s all but been confirmed that Paul Romanuk will be Rogers’ second play-by-play man, after Jim Hughson in the No. 1 chair.” . . . Romanuk, a former TSN hockey play-by-play voice, has been in London, England, for the past few years. . . . I haven’t got my hands on a copy yet, but you can bet that I’ll read His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir, from the legendary Dan Jenkins. The book hit the shelves on Tuesday. . . .

“Don't really understand the mass appeal of outdoor hockey games,” tweeted Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the Penguins and Blackhawks played in a Chicago snowstorm last weekend, “but assume it has nothing to do with the exceptional quality of play.” . . . Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register chimed in with: “Good job, Bettman. Let's don't have Olympic hockey. Let's have fiasco hockey in a snowstorm instead.” . . . I really need someone to explain to me just how it is that Toronto’s mayor is still in office. . . . And while they’re at it, they can explain to me how Russia rattles sabres in Ukraine and the price of gas in Kamloops jumps from $1.20.9 to $1.33.9. . . .

Here’s Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post, writing about Tiger Woods before the final round of last week’s Honda Classic: “Now, however, the familiar refrain for Woods is one of a player grasping at straws, one of a player who is reluctant to accept his new reality. Woods, in bad times and in good, now sounds a lot more like the masses of weekend amateurs who are in constant search of their elusive game, never knowing what’s coming with the next swing.” . . . Former San Francisco outfielder Barry Bonds is working with the Giants as a hitting coach during spring training. “Let’s just hope all of that attention and power doesn’t give Barry a big head,” offered comedy writer Alex Kaseberg. . . .

During the recent NFL Combine, Auburn defensive end Dee Ford, speaking on Sirius XM radio, took a shot at South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. “People are just looking at the fact that he is a physical specimen,” Ford said. “Honestly, if you watch the film, he plays like a blind dog in a meat market, basically.” . . . How did Clowney react to that? “I just feel like he’s trying to build his stock up or something,” Clowney told the NFL Network. “It doesn’t bother me, but I told him, ‘I’m still better than you.’ ” . . . Hey, Capital One, it’s time to retire that commercial with Martin Short in it. Please! . . .

So . . . Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote about 10 days ago that the Rangers had attempted to get forward Martin St. Louis from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for their captain, Ryan Callahan. . . . That prompted this response from Phil Esposito, a Lightning broadcaster, who was appearing on The Next Sports Star: "Some (bleep) in New York that writes for the New York Post, and we all know who he is, decided, 'Let me put something out there so maybe we can start some controversy.' It's a bunch of (bleep). It's been going on for as long as I've been in the game of hockey . . . Don't give me this (crap) you're going to trade Marty St. Louis, who has a no-movement clause, he doesn't want to leave, for Callahan, who's a kid, I like him, he's a heart-and-souler, but he couldn't score more than 25 or 30 goals in his (bleeping) lifetime, and he doesn't play all the time because he gets hurt, because he plays like he's 6-foot-5." . . . Of course, Brooks fired back: “If Phil Esposito feels obligated to talk about me on the radio, perhaps he would like to tell the story about the time he spent an elevator ride in the Garden kicking me in the back of the legs because he was upset with something I had written the previous day. At least that would be accurate.” . . . And then, come Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline, guess what happened? Yes, St. Louis ended up with the Rangers, with Callahan going the other way. . . . Atta boy, Espo! . . .

“Men’s curling in Saskatchewan is at an all-time low. Again,” writes Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express. “Pat Simmons, our best curler, plays in Alberta. And two Albertans have twice come to our province to cherry pick a pass to the Brier. It worked once. A handful of provinces are sending pros and we are sending the equivalent of good club teams. We’ve won seven Briers in 75 years. Not good enough. Maybe the Richardsons will consider a comeback.” . . . The Los Angeles Dodgers will have Larry King (yes, that Larry King) playing host to a show on their 24/7 TV network. The show will be called Larry King At Bat. “Presumably,” notes Janice Hough (aka the Left Coast Sports Babe), “Larry hopes to get as a regular guest that nice young man Vin Scully.” . . .

When the Canucks dealt goaltender Roberto Luongo to Florida on Wednesday, it looked for a while as though Luongo and protagonist Tim Thomas would be the Panthers’ goaltenders. Asked how the two of them would get along, Luongo responded: “I always get along with my backups.” . . . Thomas was later dealt to the Dallas Stars. . . . “Just woke up in a cold sweat from the ultimate Sochi nightmare,” writes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “As in, tennis scream queen Maria Sharapova decided to take up curling.”

(Gregg Drinnan is a former sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post and the late Kamloops Daily News. He is at gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears here on weekends, except when it doesn’t.)

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Hockey enforcers paying horrible price

By now it is rather apparent that Derek Boogaard, the New York Rangers’ enforcer, was a troubled young man.
Boogaard was 28 years of age when his body was discovered in his Minneapolis apartment on May 13 at 6:30 pm. One season into a four-year, US$6.5-million contract with the New York Rangers, Boogaard hadn’t played since suffering a concussion in a fight during a game on Dec. 9.
It was the 66th and final bout of his NHL career.
According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiners’ Office, which issued its report on Friday, “Cause of death is mixed alcohol and oxycodone toxicity.”
Oxycodone is used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is a narcotic pain reliever and is highly addictive. It has, in fact, been compared to heroin; in some corners, it is referred to as Hillbilly Heroin. It is evil.
What was especially chilling, however, was one sentence in an ensuing statement from Boogaard’s family.
“After repeated courageous attempts at rehabilitation and with the full support of the New York Rangers, the NHLPA, and the NHL,” the statement read, “Derek had been showing tremendous improvement but was ultimately unable to beat this opponent.”
Boogaard, the 6-foot-7, 270-pounder who had laid out many an opposing player, lost his last fight.
On the heels of that statement came a story by Allan Maki in The Globe and Mail in which Kurt Walker, another former NHL enforcer, talked of gobbling pain killers — especially Xanax and Valium — like Christmas candy. It took an intervention and rehab to save Walker.
Boogaard wasn’t so fortunate.
When the Rangers sent Boogaard home in March, it was reported that they wanted him to begin working on his conditioning for next season. However, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported Sunday that “management essentially staged an intervention with Boogaard at the club's practice rink in late March that resulted in (his) re-entry into the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program.”
And we now know how that turned out.
What we don’t know is how many concussions Boogaard suffered during a hockey career that, according to hockeyfights.com, included 184 bouts since the fall of 1999, or how much those fights impacted Boogaard’s abbreviated life.
But the fact that he was using Oxycodone is frightening, as is the story that Walker told Maki.
It turns out that a lot of this will be familiar to medical professionals working with patients who are trying to deal with chronic pain.
One such professional, who has been working in the acute side of a B.C. hospital while following the concussions-in-hockey debate, wrote via email:
“I am seeing patients whose lives have been ruined by chronic pain treated with narcotics and then having to deal with the impact of addictions. Many of them having emotional or cognitive issues going into it. Lots of post-traumatic stress and abuse and psychiatric diagnoses.”
In other words, people like Derek Boogaard and Kurt Walker are hardly alone out there. The question, however, is how many former and present-day hockey players are fighting this same battle?
The evidence proving concussions are a horrible hockey problem now is so one-sided as to be laughable. (See the latest issue of Macleans or visit macleans.ca for even more evidence, including the case of Eric Lindros, who had what should have been a hall-of-fame career short-circuited by concussions. In this same story, former WHLer Kevin Kaminski explains how he believes post-concussion syndrome cost him his marriage.)
Boogaard, meanwhile, was working on a book — Meet the Boogey Man: Fighting My Way to the Top — with author Ross Bernstein. Appearing on Puck Daddy Radio last week, Bernstein told of being on a golf course one day last summer when Boogaard called him.
“I need you to come get me,” Boogaard told Bernstein, who promptly asked: “Well, where are you?”
Boogaard’s response was: “I don’t know.”
Devin Wilson, a former teammate of Boogaard’s with the Prince George Cougars, was in the process of purchasing a New York condo with his buddy. Thus, Wilson was able to watch Boogaard as he attempted to deal with his latest concussion.
"It was frustrating because we couldn't go out without his head spinning again,” Wilson told Jason Peters of the Prince George Citizen. “One thing that nobody knows is that riding in cabs through New York, he would just start spinning. He'd have his hands on his head and he'd say, 'I need to get out right now' and we'd end up walking like 60 blocks home. I knew (the concussion) was bad.”
Boogaard’s family has turned his brain over to Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. If, as anticipated, Boogaard’s brain shows signs of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) it will mean that the veritable flood of evidence has moved closer to the WHL’s doorstep.
At the time of his death, Boogaard was only eight years removed from having played in the WHL, where he was involved in 70 fights in 172 regular-season games.
All of this should be enough to make any parent wonder about sending a child off to play in a league that outlaws neither fighting nor headshots.
Stu Grimson, a former WHL/NHL enforcer who practises law in Nashville and also works as an analyst on Predators’ broadcasts, admitted to Maki that recent developments have him feeling conflicted.
“Part of me says, ‘How does a sport so bent on cutting down blows to the head still allow two players to throw bare-fisted punches at one another's head?’ How do you reconcile that?” Grimson said. “But part of me also says the way the sport is played, if you have someone like me on the bench, the other team knows it could be held accountable. It's a tough issue.”
There is no denying that it is a tough issue.
But is it any tougher than what Boogaard went through? Or what Kurt Walker and who knows how many others are going through?

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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