A Tuesday night tweet from Tyler King, the radio voice of the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons:
“Mayor Melissa Blake says they could have qualified bidders and shovels in the ground for a downtown arena as early as this year.”
All of which is rather interesting because there are hockey people who aren’t anywhere near the Alberta city who would love to put a WHL franchise there.
However, the WHL office has said it’s not interested.
You have to wonder how long the WHL can ignore Fort McMurray.
Consider a couple of paragraphs from a piece by Fabrice Taylor, a financial journalist and analyst, that I spotted on the Winnipeg Free Press’ website:
“The average household income in Fort Mac is about $180,000. The average house price is almost $750,000. The majority of the population is under 40. The unemployment rate is about four per cent. The population in the region is 104,000, has doubled in the past decade and will grow by double-digits for years.”
Fort McMurray is located 452 kilometres north of Edmonton.
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The MJHL and a group that is calling itself Virden Hockey Ventures Inc. will hold a news conference in the south-western Manitoba community this morning. The group is expected to announce the purchase and relocation of the Winnipeg Saints.
According to the Winnipeg Sun, it is expected that Troy Leslie, who was the head coach of the midget AAA Southwest Cougars, who play out of Souris, Man., will be named the Virden team’s head coach. He is expected to bring some of his coaching staff with him. Assistants with the Cougars were Brett Braybrook, Chad Leslie, Brad Vandenberghe and Bob Caldwell. The Cougars announced Monday that the coaching staff wouldn’t be returning.
The departure of the Saints will leave the Winnipeg Blues as the only junior A franchise left in the Manitoba capital.
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The NAHL’s Alexandria, Minn., Blizzard is moving to Brookings, S.D., where it will continue to be know as the Blizzard and play in a 2,000-seat facility. . . . Roman Augustoviz, over at the The Roman Empire blog, reports that the 28-team NAHL set an attendance record this season, drawing 1,128,098 fans, an average of 1,342 fans per game. . . . The Wenatchee Wild was third in attendance, averaging 3,028 for each of its 30 home games.
There’s more right here.
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Yesterday, you will recall, a list appeared here showing the five goaltenders who have scored goals in the WHL.
It turns out that one of those goaltenders didn’t even start the game in which he scored.
It turns out that Jeff Calvert was on the bench when the Tacoma Rockets began play against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors on Dec. 29, 1992.
Considering that his family lived in Moose Jaw and that there wasn’t an Internet back in the day, well, he apparently wasn’t very happy because his folks would be listening to Rob Carnie’s call of the game on CHAB but he wouldn’t be in the game.
Todd MacDonald was in goal for the Rockets when the game began, but it wasn’t long before Tacoma was down 3-0.
So, at 9:30 of the first period, out went MacDonald and in came Calvert and away went the Rockets.
“We ended up getting even and then getting the go-ahead goal,” recalls former Tacoma defenceman Dallas Thompson, now the GM of the Prince George Cougars. “The Moose Jaw goalie was pulled and history was made.”
Thompson remembers Carnie providing Calvert’s father, Bob, with a tape of the broadcast.
As Thompson puts it: “Pretty sure it was not emailed to his iPod.”
It could be, too, that as Thompson notes: “I would bet he was the only goalie in history to score in a game he never started.”
The Rockets, who trailed 4-0 at one point, won the game 6-4. It was their 17th straight victory on home ice, a streak that would reach 23.
By the way, Calvert also had an assist in that game.
Think about this for a second . . . he was a scrap away from a Gordie Howe hat trick, and how many goaltenders have one of those to their credit?
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Thanks to the reader who passed along a link to a Prime Sports Northwest video that shows G Olaf Kolzig of the Tri-City Americans scoring a goal against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Kolzig, it turns out, also had an assist in that game. So he, too, was a fight away from a Gordie Howe hat trick.
It was Nov. 29, 1989, and Kolzig was the first WHL goaltender to score a goal.
That link is right here and it's a good one. Enjoy!
———
The Vancouver Giants have signed F Taylor Vickerman, 16, who was a sixth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. Vickerman, who is from Kennewick, Wash., played minor midget with the Cleveland Barons this season. He had 41 points in 61 games.
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The Western Conference final resumes tonight in Portland with the Winterhawks holding a 2-0 series lead over the Tri-City Americans. The first two games both went to OT. . . .

TUESDAY’S GAME:
In Moose Jaw, the Edmonton Oil Kings ran their winning streak to 22 straight as they beat the Warriors, 3-2. . . . Edmonton leads the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, 3-0, with Game 4 in Moose Jaw tonight. . . . The Oil Kings have won 11 consecutive playoff games as they attempt to sweep their third straight series tonight. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit, the CHL’s goaltender of the week for each of the previous two weeks, stopped 30 shots in running his winning streak to 20 games. . . . In the playoffs, Brossoit is 11-0, 1.45, .949. . . . The game was 1-1 going into the second period when Edmonton F Curtis Lazar scored his seventh goal of the these playoffs, on the PP, at 1:44. . . . F Michael St. Croix added insurance at 5:48 of the third. . . . F James Henry got Moose Jaw to withing one at 15:33 of the third. . . . Moose Jaw G Luke Siemens stopped 20 shots. . . . Among the faces in the crowd — Brian Burke and Steve Yzerman.
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Ray Easterling, 62, committed suicide last week. The former Atlanta Falcons safety was among more than 1,000 players involved in lawsuits against the NFL over the way the league has handled concussion-related injuries.
“He had been feeling more and more pain. He felt like his brain was falling off. He was losing control,” his wife, Mary Ann, told foxsports.com. “He couldn’t remember things from five minutes ago. It was frightening, especially somebody who had all the plays memorized as a player when he stepped on the field.”
There is more right here.
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As well, there was another lawsuit filed against the NFL on Tuesday, this one including a number of former Dallas Cowboys. The NFL now is facing more than 50 such lawsuits that include more than 1,200 former players.
There is more right here on the latest lawsuit.


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Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Chris Schmidt (Seattle, 1992-96) signed a one-year contract with the Schwenninger Wild Wings (Germany, 2.Bundesliga). He had one goal and one assist in 33 games this season for Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (Germany, DEL). . . .
F Nigel Dawes (Kootenay, 2001-05) and F Dustin Boyd (Moose Jaw, 2002-06) signed one-year contracts with Barys Astana (Kazakhstan, KHL). Dawes had one assist in 13 games with the Atlanta Thrashers and Montreal Canadiens and 41 goals and 31 assists in 66 games with Chicago Wolves and Hamilton Bulldogs (both AHL) this season. Boyd had one goal in 10 games with Montreal and 20 goals and nine assists in 47 games with Hamilton this season. . . .
F Frantisek Mrazek (Red Deer, 1997-99) signed a one-year contract extension with the Landshut Cannibals (Germany, 2.Bundesliga). He had 10 goals and eight assists in 29 games for tthe Cannibals this season.
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The hockey fans of Winnipeg have gotten back their NHL franchise. Granted, it’s not the same franchise that was taken away from them — that one is in Phoenix now — but the Manitoba capital is back in the club.
Now all that needs be done is for those same fans to cough up for 13,000 season tickets.
That, according to NHL comissioner Gary Bettman, would be a great show of support in advance of the board of governors’ June 21 meeting at which the sale of the franchise is expected to be voted on.
Season tickets are priced from $1,755 to $5,805, and the NHL wants at least a three-year commitment. So, for you and your partner to get in on the cheap, this reignited love affair with the NHL is going to cost you close to $12,000 before you even know the team’s nickname.
As for that nickname, hockey fans everywhere seem to be clamouring for Jets. But if that was going to happen, you would think the announcement would have been made Tuesday. No?
Perhaps the new owners are looking for a commercial tie-in. Does Manitoba Pilseners have a certain ring to it, or what?
———
Now that the NHL has moved the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, where does it go next?
The next time an existing NHL franchise is looking for a soft landing place, what city will be used as leverage? In other words, a year from now, when city council in Glendale, Ariz., is under the gun again, what city will be rumoured as the next home of the Coyotes?
Quebec City would love to get back in, but doesn’t have a building.
There is an NHL-calibre building in Portland but only in the last while has there been any sort of movement to attract a franchise. Things are in the preliminary, preliminary stages, though, and there are miles and miles to go. The NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers are owned by Paul Allen, who hasn’t shown any serious interest in the NHL. Bill Gallacher, who owns the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and a piece of the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, at one point was attempting to purchase the Dallas Stars.
There is an empty arena in Kansas City but, again, there doesn’t seem to have been much interest shown there. Until now, at least.
Bill Daly, the NHL’s second-in-command, admitted last week that there have been preliminary talks with someone in Seattle, but that city doesn’t have a building that meets NHL standards.
Of course, Atlanta is home to a facility that does.
This is what ESPN refers to as a developing situation.
———
My satellite TV provider gives me five Rogers Sportsnet channels.
Five!
On Tuesday afternoon, four of those channels were showing poker. Two of them were carrying Poker After Dark, although it was 1:30 pm., which, I suppose, is after dark. The other two were carrying a program simply referred to on the channel guide as Poker.
No, I didn’t watch. But it has me wondering: Do enough people watch poker on TV that it warrants coverage on four channels at the same time? Or is it such cheap programming that it’s worth it considering the number of viewers of afternoon TV?
———
The Rexall Spots Corporation has hired Darryl Porter, a former part-owner of the Tri-City Americans and Chilliwack Bruins, as vice-president of family brands.
According to a news release, he will be “responsible for both the Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League and the Edmonton Capitals of the North American Baseball League. Both teams are part of the Rexall Sports Corporation, which also owns and operates the NHL's Edmonton Oilers . . .
“Porter's passion and knowledge in operating minor league teams, including his extensive experience in sponsorship sales, ticket sales and brand building, makes him the ideal leader for the Oil Kings and Capitals.”
Porter is an Edmonton native.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors will induct former players Blair Atcheynum and Derek Kletzel, along with ex-radio voice Rob Carnie, into the Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame. The banquet is Aug. 19 with a golf tournament on Aug. 20, all of it presented by Conexus. . . . Atcheynum (1986-89) had 189 points, including 105 goals, in 143 games with the Warriors. He holds the club record for goals (70) in a season (1988-89). Kletzel (1988-92) is a former Warriors captain who played 190 games with Moose Jaw. He finished with 183 points, including 100 assists. Kletzel is part-owner of Julien's Fitness and Rehab in Moose Jaw and is the analyst on Warriors’ radio broadcasts. . . . Carnie spent 15 years as the voice of the Warriors on CHAB.
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The case of headshots in the Memorial Cup reached the floor of the Ontario Legislature on Tuesday when Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch called for the resignation of David Branch, who is the president of the OHL and the commissioner of the CHL.
Bill Walker of the Owen Sound Sun Times had that story right here.
———

STU MacGREGOR

JUST NOTES: The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers have agreed with head scout Stu MacGregor on a three-year contract extension. MacGregor is a former Kamloops Blazers general manager who scouted for the Dallas Stars before joining the Oilers’ scouting staff in 2000. He was named the Oilers’ head scout before the 2007-08 season. . . . The Colorago Eagles are leaving the Central league and moving into the ECHL. The Eagles, who lost the Central league final in seven games to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on Friday, will begin play in the ECHL in the fall. The Eagles, who spent eight seasons in the Central league, play out of Loveland, Colo. Chris Stewart, a former head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders (1995-98), is the president, GM and head coach of the Eagles. . . . The QMJHL lost a franchise on Tuesday but will get it back in a year. The QMJHL has purchased the Lewiston Maineiacs and is to hold a dispersal draft. The Maineiacs had been in Lewiston since 2003, after having operated as the Sherbrooke Castors. At the same time, the QMJHL announced that a Sherbrooke group that includes former NHL G Jocelyn Thibault has been sold an expansion franchise starting with the 2012-13 season. Lewiston was the QMJHL’s only American franchise and won the league championship in 2007. . . . F Alex Kerfoot will play for the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express in the fall. Kerfoot, 16, had 108 points, including 36 goals, in 38 games as he won the B.C. major midget league’s scoring title with the Vancouver-North West Giants last season. He was selected by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 12th round of the 2009 bantam draft.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Carns and the Crushed Can

THE MUCH BELOVED CRUSHED CAN

Some of my best WHL memories are from the Crushed Can.
And some of them involve Rob Carnie, a friend from days of yore who once was the radio voice of the Moose Jaw Warriors on CHAB. He now is a 'Featured Personality' on CHAB and  is the host of the 800 CHAB Morning Show and The Heartland at Noon.

This being today’s hockey world, his nickname was, uhh, Carns. Unless you were the late Bill Hicke, then a co-owner, GM and sometimes coach of the Regina Pats. To Hicke, Carnie was Brother Love. Might have had something to do with the white suits.

ROB CARNIE

Anyway . . . I got a message from Carns on Wednesday that included something he had written on his Crushed Can memories.

This, hockey fans, is what the Crushed Can and memories are all about . . .
“I started attending hockey games and playing hockey at the MJCC in the fall of '74 when the Carnie family moved to Moose Jaw from Regina. I played in ‘Learn to Play’ for a season and among the other boys was my childhood friend Greg Thatcher. I remember his father Colin ‘coaching’ us while smoking a cigar and telling me I would never be able to take a backhander with a ‘damn curve on the blade of your stick." Why the hell do I remember that?
“I CLEARLY remember my next season . . . in the Church Minor Hockey Association with the St. Joseph Seals, my first ‘real’ team! We practised every Monday morning at 7 in one COLD Civic Centre. We won the championship that season.
“I remember everything was painted orange and blue, including the ice cleaning machine which was an old Willy's Jeep with the ice cleaning apparatus welded on. It even had a name . . . The Connor's Pup. I have no idea why it had a name.
“I remember an old gentleman named Sid who took tickets. He was always smiling and always well-dressed.
“I remember the Regina Silver Foxes coming into Moose Jaw to play the Canucks and my sister's boyfriend, Dave Desautels, who wore No. 10 for the Foxes, blowing out a knee in front of my eyes. He taught me to skate.
“I remember the Japanese national team playing at the Civic Centre and a young man named Doug Smail dominating for the home side in a 4-2 victory. The place was packed.
“I remember what a wonderful player Chris Chelios was as a boy . . . he played two seasons in Moose Jaw.
“I remember hundreds of people smoking while watching the games . . . cigarettes, cigars and pipes . . . and the blue haze that hung over the ice after each Canucks game.
“I saw every home game in a five-year stretch where the Moose Jaw Canucks went to the SJHL championship final versus the Prince Albert Raiders every season. We lost every time. I remember a full-scale brawl in the pregame warmup of one of those games. There were sticks and gloves and helmets, blood and hair all over the ice. There were no penalties.
“I remember the Warriors moving here from Winnipeg. I thought we should have called them the Canucks.
“I remember Graham James. Shame.
“I remember stepping into the broadcast booth as a cocky 21-year-old to assist Bryn Griffiths, then the voice of the Warriors, and thinking I was ‘The Goods!’
“I remember some wonderful young men wearing Warriors jerseys and some wonderful young hockey players. No one was more dynamic and entertaining than Theoren Fleury. No one.
“I remember the adrenaline flowing through my body minutes before ‘Showtime’ on 800 CHAB. I loved that. I used to live for it.
“I remember my old Dad walking up the steep stairs before Warriors games and looking up at me in the broadcast booth and grinning. He was proud of me. He never told me that. I just knew it. I loved him more than I can describe. I miss him.
“And . . . I'll miss the Civic Centre!”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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