THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jamie Lundmark (Moose Jaw, Seattle, 1998-2001) signed a one-year contract with Klagenfurt (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). He had eight goals and eight assists in 47 games with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL) this season.
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MAX ADOLPH

In a column that appeared in The Daily News today and also is on this blog, I write about the retirement of Kelowna Rockets F Max Adolph.
Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix spoke with Adolph on Tuesday and his story is right here.
“Although the Saskatoon native hasn't taken to the ice since suffering his latest concussion in a pre-season contest last September,” Nugent-Bowman writes, “he still can't jump around or move his head suddenly without suffering a headache.
“He won't be permitted to wakeboard at the lake this summer either.”
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Former NFL star running back Eric Dickerson, who is a Hall of Famer, has joined in a lawsuit against the NFL.
Dickerson, according to The Associated Press, is “the lead plaintiff among 15 men named in the suit filed Monday in federal court in Houston. Other plaintiffs include former Minnesota Vikings player John Randle and the estate of Ernie Stautner, a long-time Dallas assistant coach and former player in Pittsburgh.”
This is another lawsuit in a number that have been filed against the NFL over head injuries. Those lawsuits involved more than 1,000 former players.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The Philadelphia Flyers fired Joe Paterson, the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms, on Tuesday. The Phantoms were 37-35-4 this season and didn’t make the playoffs. . . . Patterson took over from interim head coach John Paddock in the middle of last season and was 62-55-8 overall. Paddock had replaced the fired Greg Gilbert early in 2010-11. . . .
Todd Gill, the head coach of the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs, has been named head coach of Canada's under-18 team that will play in the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament that is , scheduled from Aug. 13-18, 2012 in Piestany, Slovakia, and Breclav, Czech Republic. The assistant coaches will be Yanick Jean of the QMJHL's Victoriaville Tigres and Scott Walker of the OHL's Guelph Storm. Canada has won the Hlinka event each of the last four seasons.
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JUST NOTES:
D Benjamin Gallacher was the fifth overall selection, going to the Green Bay Gamblers, in the USHL‘s entry draft on Tuesday. Gallacher, who turns 20 on Sept. 11, is the son of Portland Winterhawks owner Bill Gallacher. The younger Gallacher has committed to attend Ohio State and play for the Buckeyes. . . .
F Peter Quenneville, a fourth-round selection by the Prince George Cougars in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft, was taken 13th overall by the Dubuque Fighting Saints. . . .Quenneville, 18, played this season with the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders and was the league’s MVP. He has committed to Quinnipiac. . . .
In the sixth round, the Fighting Saints took D Matt Benning, who played for the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. You may recall that Bob Tory, the GM of the Tri-City Americans, acquired Benning’s WHL rights from the Kootenay Ice for a couple of conditional bantam draft picks. That deal was made on Aug. 10. Benning, the son of former NHL/WHL D Brian Benning, never agreed to join the Americans. . . .
D Griffin Foulk, who finished this season with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, has signed with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips. Foulk, 17, was an eighth-round selection by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2010 bantam draft. The Oil Kings dealt Foulk and a 2012 third-round bantam pick to Everett for F Tyler Maxwell, 20, on Nov. 24. . . . Foulk, who is from Broomfield, Colo., began the season with the major midget Colorado Thunderbirds (23-1-2—3) before joining the Storm in January. He had three assists and 26 penalty minutes in 29 games with the Storm. . . . He is represented by Turning Point Sports Management. . . .
The U of Alberta is down to a shortlist of four candidates in its search for a hockey coach. The new head coach of the Golden Bears is likely to be announced early next week. . . . A source told me Tuesday that Kootenay Ice head coach Kris Knoblauch, who attended the U of A and played there, isn't on that short list. . . .
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The Ottawa Senators have signed F Darren Kramer, who played the last two seasons with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. Kramer was the Chiefs’ captain last season as he played out his eligibility. Ottawa selected him in the sixth round of the 2011 NHL draft. In 139 regular-season games, he had 54 points and 506 penalty minutes. . . . He led the WHL in fighting majors in each of the last two seasons. Kramer was involved in 26 fights this season, which was 20 fewer than the previous season. . . . He also went from eight to 22 goals, and from 14 to 40 points. . . .
Two former Chiefs stars helped the Norfolk Admirals reach the AHL final on Tuesday night. G Dustin Tokarski stopped 29 shots and F Tyler Johnson scored the game’s second goal as the Admirals blanked the host St. John’s, Nfld., IceCaps, 4-0. The Admirals swept the best-of-seven series and now will play the winner of a series between the Toronto Marlies and Oklahoma City Barons. The Marlies lead that series, 2-1. . . . The Admirals are affiliated with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, while the Marlies are with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Barons with the Edmonton Oilers. . . .
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Mendel Dubuisson “represents the first American of Haitian heritage to be drafted by the WHL and could be the first Haitian-American to reach the NHL,” writes Rich Bolas of the West Valley News in Sun City, Ariz. . . . Dubuisson was selected by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the sixth round of the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft.
Bolas’s complete story is right here.
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Chad Jassman used to be Rroary, the Medicine Hat Tigers’ child-loving mascot. That was before he was left a paraplegic after a 2004 car accident. Now he’s an international-calibre wheelchair basketball player. Vicki Hall of the Calgary Herald has his story right here.

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Another player leaves the game

Max Adolph retired on Tuesday.
You can bet the news didn’t cause even a ripple in Shawinigan, Que., where major junior hockey is playing out its season at the Memorial Cup tournament.
Max Adolph?
He was a fourth-round selection by the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL’s 2007 bantam draft. Adolph’s WHL career ended after just 97 regular-season games, 36 of them in 2010-11, none of them this season. He leaves with 16 points and 52 penalty minutes to his credit.
In the summer of 2009, his parents sent him to Kelowna as a 17-year-old centre with big dreams. He returned to the family home in Saskatoon three years later, having experienced six concussions.
“After assessment from our doctors, we’re doing what is in the best interest of Max,” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, said at the time. “Our medical team has advised Max to avoid body contact and shut his season down for now.”
Adolph, the son of U of Saskatchewan Huskies head coach Dave Adolph, never played again.
Concussion-related problems limited Max to 36 games in 2010-11. He suffered a concussion on Oct. 30, 2010, in Portland, returned in January and was knocked out of the lineup again with another head injury. He tried to return in February but was gone again after just two weeks.
Adolph attended training camp prior to this season but suffered yet another concussion in an exhibition game and was sent home.
“At the time,” Adolph, who turned 20 on April 1, told Regan Bartel, the veteran radio voice of the Rockets, “(going home) didn’t seem like the best decision. But now, (after) going to school and looking back at it, I think it was the better decision rather than risk more injuries and turning into a vegetable.”
It is inconceivable that a WHL player, a young man who has so much to live for, is even thinking about “turning into a vegetable.”
Yes, the time has come for the WHL to take its head out of the sand and get serious about head injuries.
You may recall almost a year ago that the WHL, with great fanfare, announced a seven-step plan aimed at addressing the issues of headshots and concussions.
“The WHL is fully committed to addressing head blows and concussions in a comprehensive manner,” WHL commissioner Ron Robison said in a news release.
The WHL, whose teams had experienced more than 100 concussions during the 2010-11 season, immediately stopped reporting specific injuries on its weekly injury report. Instead, every injury was either of the lower- or upper-body variety. You can bet, however, that concussions didn’t decrease this season in the WHL.
It is time, then, for the WHL to stop with the lip service and do something about the concussions. It is time to start walking the walk.
Any contact with an opponent’s head, no matter how incidental, should be greeted with at least a minor penalty. Referees need to stop erring on the side of caution — more major penalties and game misconducts need to be assessed for headshots.
Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, handles discipline. He needs to stop with the one- and two-game suspensions; he needs to start with five and work up from there.
It also is time for the WHL to outlaw fighting. Granted, a small number of concussions are the result of fights, but even one is too many. A fighting major should be accompanied by a game misconduct. There also should be a sliding suspension scale for those inclined to fight on a regular or semi-regular basis.
And please don’t try feeding me the nonsense about how getting rid of fighting will lead to an increase in stickwork. There are referees on the ice who should be calling the penalties.
Remember, too, that as the Edmonton Oil Kings play through the aforementioned Memorial Cup, their roster is missing two players.
Veteran forward Colton Stephenson retired without playing even one game this season. Five concussions meant his career line ended with 17 points in 70 games. Stephenson will turn 20 on July 16.
Jesse Pearson, a defenceman who turned 21 on March 13, got into 18 games last season. He never played again after suffering a concussion in a fight on Dec. 17, 2010. Pearson now is an assistant coach with the Oil Kings.
The list of players who have retired due to concussion-related issues grows longer and longer. It includes Jesse Wallin, the Red Deer Rebels’ general manager and head coach, Kelowna assistant coach Ryan Cuthbert, former Tri-City Americans forward Taylor Procyshen and on and on.
That list now includes Max Adolph. It soon may include Joey Hishon.
Joey Hishon?
You may remember him from the 2011 Memorial Cup. It was May 21, 2011, when Hishon, a forward in his fourth season with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, was on the receiving end of an ugly elbow to the head from Kootenay Ice defenceman Brayden McNabb.
McNabb was suspended for one game. This season, he played 25 games with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, and another 45 with their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.
Joey Hishon?
A first-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2010 NHL draft, Hishon hasn’t played since May 21, 2011.

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jan Fadrny (Brandon, Kelowna, 1998-2001) signed a one-year contract with Königsbrunn (Germany, Bayernliga). He had four goals and one assist in nine games with Dresdner Eislöwen (Germany, 2.Bundesliga) and four goals and 13 assists in 23 games with Pisek (Czech Republic, 1.Liga) last season.
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And now for something completely different. . . . Mark Ferner, the head coach of the Everett Silvertips, and Steve Konowalchuk, the head coach of the Seattle Thunderbirds, will be doing a live chat today at SeattleTimes.com. The two coaches, each of them in his first season, will run from noon to 1 p.m.
If you are so inclined, you may join the chat right here.
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For the second time in two seasons, the Kelowna Rockets sent a player home in the hopes that time away from the arena will allow him to recover from post-concussion syndrome.
Last year, the Rockets sent F Kyle St. Denis home to Trail. He never did return to the Rockets, although he later completed his 20-year-old season with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies.
On Tuesday, the Rockets revealed that F Max Adolph, 19, has gone home to Saskatoon and has been placed on the indefinite injured list.
Concussions limited Adolph to 36 games last season, during which he totalled six points. He was injured on Oct. 30, returned in late November and was hurt again in January. He tried to come back in February but was sidelined again just two weeks later.
He returned for training camp and played in the Rockets’ first exhibition game but suffered another concussion.
“After assessment from our doctors, we’re doing what is in in the best interest of Max,” Rockets president and general manager Bruce Hamilton said in a news release. “Our medical team has advised Max to avoid body contact and shut his season down for now.
“The best place for Max to recover is at home with his family. We’re going to stay in touch with Max and he will be re-assessed after Christmas.”
Adolph is the son of Dave Adolph, the head coach of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.
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The WHL’s 20-year-old deadline — at which time each team may declare a maximum of three such players — arrives on Oct. 13.
The Tri-City Americans are going to have a tough decision to make before it gets here.
F Brendan Shinnimin is back with the Americans after skating in the camps of the NHL’s PHoenix Coyotes and the AHL’s Portland, Me., Pirates.
The Americans’ roster also includes three other 20-year-olds — D Brock Sutherland, who was plus-5 in two weekend games, F Adam Hughesman, the WHL’s player of the week, and F Mason Wilgosh.
As well, there still is a chance that D Matt MacKenzie could be returned. He went to camp with the Buffalo Sabres and now is with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
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JUST NOTES: The Regina Pats got down to 25 players on Tuesday by assigning F Mikael Jung, 19, to the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. Jung had 16 points, eight of them goals, in 69 games with the Pats last season. That move left the Pats carrying two goaltenders, nine defencemen and 14 forwards. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings are at 24 players after assigning three 16-year-old skaters. D Colton Waltz is off to the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs, while F Tim McGauley and F Taylor Cooper are bound for midget AAA teams in Sherwood Park, Alta., and Notre Dame, respectively. The Wheat Kings now are carrying two goalies, nine defencemen and 13 forwards. They are missing F Brenden Walker, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion last spring, and D Brodie Melnychuk (broken wrist). . . .
F Quinton Howden, 19, has been returned to the Moose Jaw Warriors by the NHL’s Florida Panthers. But he came back with a concussion and there isn’t a timetable for his return. Howden was injured two weeks ago in a rookie game against the Nashville Predators. Howden is a key part of the Warriors, having had 79 points, including 40 goals, in 60 games last season. . . . On Tuesday, the Warriors released veteran F Markus McCrea, 19. He played 175 games with the Everett Silvertips before being released and picked up by the Warriors. He played in the Warriors’ 4-3 victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Friday but was minus-2. . . .
G Andrew Hayes, who played three seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings before spending his 20-year-old season with the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, has signed with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces. Hayes, 21, is in camp with the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen, who have an affiliation with the Aces. . . . The Swift Current Broncos have returned F Zac MacKay to the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. MacKay, 17, was pointless in nine games with the Broncos last season. . . . Tyler King, the radio voice of the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons, reports that the team has added F Cole Penner, 20, to its roster. The Prince Albert Raiders selected Penner with the fourth overall pick in the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft. Penner has played only 17 WHL games.
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The OHL issued three lengthy suspensions on Tuesday, sitting one player for 12 games, another for 10 and one for six.
The really interesting thing, however, is that the OHL also issued this news release:
“The Ontario Hockey League today announced the results of three separate disciplinary reviews. The league has taken the position, that for education purposes, any announcement regarding supplementary discipline will be supported by video footage and additional rationale for all incidents involving checking to the head, checking from behind, and others at the discretion of the league.”
If you visit the OHL website and click on one of the video links, you won’t get commissioner David Branch in front of a camera, a la Brendan Shanahan, but you will get a written explanation along with video of the infraction.
Well done, OHL!
And over to you, QMJHL and WHL.
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Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s disciplinarian, handed out two suspensions, on Tuesday. . . . F Dominik Uher of the Spokane Chiefs will sit for three games for a checking from behind major he incurred in a Saturday game against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. Tri-City F Jordan Messier got two games under supplemental discipline from a game against the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Sunday.
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You may recall that just last week the BCHL suspended F Logan Johnston of the Penticton Vees for 20 games after a cross-check broke an opponent’s jaw. Well, it seems the Vees appealed the suspension. Not only did the Vees lose the suspension, but the BCHL’s appeals committee — an independent body that comprises three former police officers — added five games to the suspension, turning it into a 25-game sentence.
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THE COACHING GAME:
There has been a coaching change in the MJHL where former WHL goaltender Jomar Cruz (Brandon, Tri-City, Portland, 1998-2001) has taken over as head coach of the OCN Blizzard. Cruz, who was an assistant coach with the Blizzard, was named interim head coach after Scott McMillan, who was both GM and head coach, chose to step away from coaching. McMillan was quoted in a press release as saying he “just doesn’t have the energy to keep a group of teenagers on the right track at this time.” The Blizzard opened this season 0-2-1.
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Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post was able to chat with Gerry James the other day. Gerry James? He is one of the great stories in all of Canada’s sporting history. He also took a turn as head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors. It turns out that a book — Kid Dynamite: The Gerry James Story — now is available. I will be hunting up a copy. Vanstone’s piece is right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Concussions, young people not a good mix

This week, Frontline, the award-winning news magazine TV show that is a staple on PBS, shone a light on seriously competitive high school football in Arkansas.
Watching it was a hypnotic and frightening experience.
The mind was numbed by adults, all of them safely out of harm’s way, sending young men onto the playing field with instructions to maim the opposition.
It was frightening to listen to teenagers talk of how this is now and it is now that is important, that there will be time in the future to deal with the pain.
While Football High dealt with various types of coaching methods and injuries — two players ended up in hospital due to heatstroke (one died; the other came out of a medically induced coma and returned to the playing field) — it managed to shed even more light on the problem of concussions in sports involving young people.
This, to be sure, is an inexact science.
CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — has been found in the brains of a number of former professional football and hockey players. Very little research has been doing involving the brains of young athletes, primarily because one needs to die before the brain can be examined — sliced and diced, basically — by a neuropathologist.
However, Football High referenced Owen Thomas, a player with the University of Pennsylvania football team. A team captain, Thomas was 21 when he committed suicide in April 2010.
When his brain was examined, researchers were stunned to discover it was in the early stages of CTE.
Why were they so surprised?
Because Thomas had never been diagnosed with a concussion. Not even once.
This discovery was just one more step towards what appears to be an inevitable conclusion.
“Because a young athlete’s brain is still developing,” explains part of the discussion at pbs.org, “the effects of a concussion, or even many smaller hits over a season, can be far more detrimental, compared to head injury in an older player.”
There also was reference to a study conducted by Purdue University researchers who looked at the “cognitive impairment of high school football players.”
Professor Tom Talavage told Frontline: “By the end of the season we found that in 50 percent of the players (who) were brought in not concussed, we were detecting changes, either in their computer-based testing and/or in their functional MRI data, showing that something had changed in the way their brain was performing a particular set of simple tasks.”
Yes, the warning signs are everywhere.
And, if they aren’t already, the adults who make the rules under which children and teenagers play hockey need to sit up straight and pay attention.
Of everything I have read involving concussions and hockey, two paragraphs stand out above the rest. They were from a story written by The Globe and Mail’s Allan Maki following a chat with Dave Adolph, the head coach of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies hockey team.
“(Adolph) wonders, too,” wrote Maki, “why every hit now has to be so punishing, as if the intent is to hurt the opponent, especially if he’s in a vulnerable position.”
Maki then quoted Adolph: “There’s no more angling (off a puck carrier), especially in junior hockey. They’re trying to put someone out of the game. Before, kids would get their sticks up (as protection) and you’d see more high-sticking penalties. Now you see them get crushed and their heads ricochet off the glass.”
Adolph’s words should carry added weight in today’s game, and not only because he is a highly respected coach.
He also is the father of Max Adolph, a forward with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
Max’s hockey career may be in jeopardy.
You guessed it.
He is struggling with post-concussion syndrome and played in only 36 games this season.
Adolph, who turned 18 on April 1, first was injured during a game in Portland on Oct. 30. He took a high, hard hit while he was on the cycle in the Winterhawks’ zone. He was back in the lineup Nov. 24, but left in January with a head injury. He came back early in February but didn’t feel right and left again two weeks later.
Adolph went home to Saskatoon last month for some family time. In one conversation with his father, the coach, a life message was delivered.
“I wanted to reassure him there’s more to life and that he’ll find something he enjoys doing (beyond hockey),” Dave Adolph told Maki. “We wanted to make sure he knows that.”
Max Adolph watched the Rockets’ playoff game from the stands in Kelowna on Wednesday night.
All young athletes should know that there is life after hockey, or whatever their chosen sport is, and that as you mature you shouldn’t have to wonder if you’ll be able to remember the date of your partner’s birthday as you grow old.
In a recent edition of the Vancouver Province, sports columnist Ed Willes wrote about Steven Rice, whose NHL career was cut short at the age of 27 after he had been through at least eight concussions.
These days, Rice told Willes, “I have very limited memories of my career.”
Steven Rice is 39 years of age.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Garrett Festerling (Portland, Regina, 2003-07) signed a one-year contract extension with the Hamburg Freezers (Germany DEL). He had four goals and 15 assists in 50 games for the Freezers this season.
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The WHL has suspended F Evan Bloodoff of the Kelowna Rockets, but the name of Brandon Wheat Kings F Shayne Wiebe doesn’t appear on the list of disciplined players.
Wiebe took a major penalty for boarding during an 8-4 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday night. But he won’t be suspended. His penalty was reviewed by the WHL office and it was decided that a suspension wasn’t warranted.
Bloodoff, meanwhile, was hit with a major penalty for a hit on Vancouver Giants D Joel Rogers on Saturday night in Kelowna. Rogers, who recently returned from a concussion, left the ice on a stretcher and was taken to hospital. Rogers is a 20-year-old and it seems doubtful that he’ll return this season.
Bloodoff is shown on the WHL website as having been suspended “tbd” -- to be determined.
Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier described Bloodoff’s hit as a “leaping, high hit.”
On Sunday, Bloodoff told Potenteau: “Whatever the league decides, I’ll be fine with. It’s out of my hands. It was a spur of the moment thing and I’m glad he’s alright.”
Bloodoff told Potenteau that he recognizes that “it’s still all on the player.”
He continued: “You have that last second to decide to hit the brakes . . . I dunno . . . it seems like there’s nothing I could have done there.”
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Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun reports that the Vancouver Giants have some serious injury problems as they prepare to open a first-round series against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash., on Friday. That story is right here.
According to Pap, the Giants have picked up three more concussions over the last few days, to D Joel Rogers, F Michael Burns and F Anthony Ast, who had been recalled from the major midget Greater Vancouver Canadians.
Three more concussions means the WHL has seen at least 100 concussion/head injuries this season.
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Allan Maki of The Globe and Mail spoke with Dave Adolph, the head coach of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies hockey team, about the concussion problem. Adolph is the father of Kelowna Rockets F Max Adolph, who has been plagued by concussion woes this season. That piece is right here.
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The Saskatoon Blades are hopeful that they’ll have their top offensive unit back together for Game 1 of their first-round series with the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday.
F Jake Trask, who sat out the Blades’ last two games after being hit from the blindside by Moose Jaw Warriors F Brett Lyon on March 16, just might be ready to go Saturday.
Trask, who was acquired from the Kamloops Blazers early in the season for a sixth-round bantam draft, pick, scored a career-high 30 goals. He has 20 goals in his last 25 games.
Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that Trask will go back onto a line with Brayden Schenn and Curtis Hamilton. That allows Josh Nicholls to rejoin Marek Viedensky and Darian Dziurzynski, with Matej Stransky, Brent Benson and Chris Collins reuniting.
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D Brenden Dillon of the Seattle Thunderbirds will finish the season with the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars. Dillon, 20, signed a three-year NHL deal with Dallas on March 1. Dillon, Seattle’s captain, spent four season with the Thunderbirds.
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The Regina Pats have had five players leave for the pro ranks. F Garrett Mitchell, who signed with the NHL’s Washington Capitals on the weekend, joined the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Four other players signed amateur tryout deals. D Brandon Davidson will finish up with the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons, while F Jordan Weal is with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs, and F Shayne Neigum and D Art Bidlevskii have joined the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Davidson was selected by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2010 draft, while Weal went to the Los Angeles Kings in the third round of that same draft.
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Groups in Kamloops, Ottawa and St. John’s, Nfld., have submitted official bids in hopes of playing host to the 2013 IIHF world women’s championship.
The City of City of Kamloops, Ottawa Senators Sports and Entertainment, and Destination St. John’s/Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador submitted bids to Hockey Canada by the deadline and will make formal presentations in Calgary on April 6.
Originally, the Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association and the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association also expressed interest. The VIAHA has since withdrawn, while the OWHA joined forces with Ottawa Senators Sports and Entertainment.
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Ken Campbell, a senior writer with The Hockey News, has an interesting take on the situation involving Max Domi and the apparent decision by he and his family to skip the OHL and move to the USHL in time for next season. Campbell’s piece is right here.
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If you haven’t seen the Rimouski Oceanic’s answer to the defensive trap being played by the Montreal Juniors in a QMJHL game last week, check it out right here.
This comes courtesy of Neate Sager over at Yahoo! Sports and, as he mentions, this serves as some kind of a reminder that, above all else, major junior hockey teams are in the entertainment business.
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JUST NOTES: F Mark McNeill of the Prince Albert Raiders is the WHL’s player of the week. He had seven points, including five assists, in three games last week. . . . Deven Dubyk of the Medicine Hat Tigers is the WHL’s nominee as goaltender of the week. He recorded his first two career shutouts as he blanked the Calgary Hitmen in back-to-back games. . . . D Stefan Elliott of the Saskatoon Blades has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. Elliott, who had 81 points, including 31 goals, in 71 games, led the WHL in plus-minus, at plus-62. He was the 49th overall selection in the 2009 NHL draft. Elliott turned 20 on Jan. 30. . . . According to capgeek.com, Elliott gets an AHL salary of US$67,500, with NHL salaries of $790,000, $840,000, and $900,000. His signing bonus is $270,000, payable over three years. . . .
Mike Vandekamp, a former head coach with the Prince George Cougars, has left the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm after four seasons and signed on as director of hockey operations and head coach with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. The Clippers have offered long-time head coach Bill Bestwick a position in their front office. Bestwick had a year left on his contract when he was removed by the Clippers’ new ownership group. . . . Blaine Bablitz, an assistant under Vandekamp, has taken over as GM and head coach of the Storm. . . . The BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters also have undergone a coaching change. Jim Ingram stepped down as GM and head coach on Friday, and the Smokies immediately signed assistant Bill Birks to a two-year deal as GM/head coach. . . .
The WHL holds its bantam draft lottery on Wednesday (11 a.m., Calgary time), with the six non-playoff teams taking part. This will establish the order of selection for the first six picks of the first round only. (Rounds 2 through 7 will be done by inverse order of the regular-season standings.) The most a team is allowed to advance is two spots, while the Hitmen are guaranteed at least the second pick. The Lethbridge Hurricanes are guaranteed two of the draft’s top five selections. They own Regina’s first pick, thanks to a deal that had F Carter Ashton go to the Pats last season.
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A couple of interesting notes from Graham Kendrick, the Portland Winterhawks’ director of media and public relations. . . .
1.
2. Winterhawks fans have been coming out on droves in recent weeks, including two sellouts of 10,947 over the teamCraig Cunningham has achieved an incredibly rare feat: he’s won a division title in all five of his seasons in the WHL. He won four straight B.C. Division titles as a member of the Vancouver Giants from 2007-10, and now owns a U.S. Division title with the Winterhawks. One of his former Giants teammates, Lance Bouma, was part of five straight division winners with the Giants from 2006-10, but as a 15-year-old call-up in 2005-06 he played just five games. It’s believed that Cunningham is the first player in modern WHL history to win five straight division titles while playing the majority of his team’s games.’s final four games. The Winterhawks averaged 9,597 fans per game in March, and have averaged 8,382 fans since the start of February. Overall the Winterhawks averaged 5,594 fans per game this season, a 26 per cent increase over last season.