“Defenceman Chris Pronger, who knows a thing or two about dirty play, has been hired by the NHL to work in its Department of Player Safety,” writes Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “There, he’ll help mete out justice to players who have crossed the line. Man, talk about the pot giving the kettle a black eye.” . . . Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen adds: “Joining (Pronger) as player rep on the Fair Play Committee will be Brad Marchand.” . . .

Here’s Hamilton with a couple of notes on Derek Jeter, the New York Yankees’ recently retired shortstop. . . . “Jeter is still cashing in on his final season in the majors,” Hamilton writes. “One of the newest items to hit the market to commemorate Jeter’s final season is a game-used sock, which can be purchased for only $409.99. That gives new meaning to the term ‘getting hosed.’ ” . . . Hamilton adds: “Anyone who buys one (or more) of Jeter’s stockings proves the adage that there’s a sock-er born every minute.” . . .

At some point in most every young boy’s life, he dreams of being a race car driver. I would like to thank the B.C. government for helping my dream come true, albeit at an advanced age. I realized last weekend, while on the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Kamloops, that on that highway we are all NASCAR drivers. . . . When the Kamloops Blazers gave goaltender Bolton Pouliot to the Portland Winterhawks the other day -- call it an early Christmas present -- it brought back memories of Jan. 19, 1983. That was the day the WHL’s Seattle Breakers traded forward Tom Martin to the Victoria Cougars for a used bus. . . .

Is it looking like the Kansas City Royals are a team of destiny, or what? . . . Outfielder Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels had the game-winning RBI in MLB’s all-star game, so the Royals have home-field advantage in the World Series. The Royals, of course, swept the Angels from the best-of-five ALDS. . . . Only in Bud Selig’s MLB. . . . Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer summed up the NFL perfectly the other day and it only took him 10 words. “You cannot lose games in the NFL,” the ESPN analyst said, “and still win.” . . . Hey, think about it for a moment. He’s right. . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Report: More NFL stadiums cutting off fights after third quarter. . . .

“HelpAge International’s global rating of 96 countries has listed the best places in the world for seniors to live,” reports RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “The top three are Norway, Sweden and the San Antonio Spurs.” . . .  Currie, again: “A British chef has invented the Glamburger, the world’s most expensive burger at $2,000 Canadian. The most expensive hot dog continues to be Alex Ovechkin.” . . . A sign of the impending apocalypse: The cover story in the Vancouver Province newspaper on Thursday dealt with what the headline referred to as ‘Man Bun’ Hazard. . . . According to the subhead: “Hairstyle being sported by cutting-edge, trendsetting men may be causing Vancouver’s hipsters to go bald.” . . . Seriously! . . .

There is a move afoot in the NBA to reduce the playing time of its games. As Currie notes: “The NBA is considering reducing games from 48 minutes to 44 minutes. And that’s just the last three minutes.” . . . Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong added: ““I’d go with 46. It’s the last two minutes that take forever.” . . . Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., is hoping to get his golf season started next weekend. On Saturday, he tweeted: “Looks like my first start of the season will be @McGladreyClssc next week! Slightly relieved; extremely excited!!” The McGladrey Classic is a PGA Tour event held on the Seaside course at Sea Island, Ga. . . .

“Lakers point guard Steve Nash missed practice for three straight days after he injured his back carrying his bags,” writes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “A cynic might say it’s the first time an NBA player ever got penalized for traveling.” . . . One more from Perry: “Romanian basketball prospect Robert Bobroczky stands 7 feet 4 — at age 13. Kentucky coach John Calipari, vacationing in Bucharest, declined to comment.” . . .

Over at ThePlayersTribune.com, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers explained the difference between the team’s new owner, Steve Ballmer, and the previous owner, the disgraced Donald Sterling: “Steve is a good dude. He’s like a cool dad who gives you candy. Donald was like a weird uncle.” . . . ThePlayersTribune.com? That would be Derek Jeter’s first post-retirement project.

(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.)

Source: Winterhawks lose assisant coach to Texas . . . Sloan wins big in N.S.

G Brett Jaeger (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Saskatoon, 2000-04) has signed a one-year extension with Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven (Germany, DEL2). Last season, he put up a 2.66 GAA in 24 games with the Fischtown Pinguins.
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1. The Portland Winterhawks, who apparently are close to naming a new GM/head coach, also are looking for an assistant coach. A source familiar with the situation told me Sunday that Karl Taylor has left the Winterhawks to join the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, as an assistant coach under new head coach Derek Laxdal. . . . Taylor spent one season with the Winterhawks. He was hired after Travis Green, their assistant GM/assistant coach, signed on as head coach of the AHL’s Utica Comets. . . . Taylor has lots of coaching experience, having spent six seasons in the ECHL as a head coach.

2. The coaching world really is bizarre at times. . . . Consider that the Portland Winterhawks, under GM/head coach Mike Johnston, lose the WHL final to the Edmonton Oil Kings of head coach Derek Laxdal. . . . Johnston ends up signing on as head coach of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Laxdal joins the AHL’s Texas Stars. . . . The Oil Kings and Winterhawks have met in three straight WHL championship finals and supposedly are mortal enemies. . . . So, naturally, Texas hires Portland assistant coach Kris Taylor to work with Laxdal.

3. Freelance journalist Patrick Blennerhassett has written an in-depth story on The Concussion Conundrum. That’s the headline the Winnipeg Free Press put on the story that is quite interesting, simply because Blennerhassett writes about his own recent concussion problems. . . . He also talks with a handful of doctors, each of whom provides valuable insight. . . . This important story is right here.

4. Roger Sloan, who is from Merritt, B.C., won the Nova Scotia Open, a Web.com Tour stop in Halifax, on Sunday. It took Sloan, 27, an extra hole to defeat Derek Fathauer of Stuart, Fla. . . . Sloan pocketed $117,000 and moved into 12th spot on the tour’s money list. He needs a top-25 finish to get his PGA Tour card. . . . As Sloan made a 5-foot putt for the victory, fans spontaneously broke into O Canada. . . . "I love being a Canadian," Sloan said. "They just broke out in song. This means so much to win this here. I don't know which feels better — to win or to be done today. It was a long day." . . . Tropical Storm Arthur had wiped out Saturday’s third round, so golfers played two rounds Sunday. . . . If you were watching on Golf Channel, that was Sloan’s mother, Cathy, with a victory hug for her son after the final putt. She surprised him by showing up on Friday, the first time she has attended a Web.com event. . . . There’s more on Sloan’s victory right here.

5. It’s hard to believe that more than three years have passed since Roger Sloan won the Western Championship, the Canadian Tour’s only stop in Kamloops. That was quite a weekend for the Sloan family. Right here is what I wrote once it was all over.

6. Another Wimbledon fortnight came to an end on the weekend, and things went pretty well for Canada. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated puts a big bow on things right here, with 50 Parting Thoughts.

7. The Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league baseball team, celebrated “25 years of nothing” on Saturday and the park was sold out as they honoured the debut of Seinfeld. . . . They even found a real-life George Costanza to take part. . . . Hunter Atkins of the The New York Times was there and his story is right here.
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NS Open champ Roger Sloan with mother Cathy who watched her son play on http://t.co/t4FG5WdSMX Tour for 1st time. pic.twitter.com/rLqJKmwigP
— Glenn MacDonald (@CH_GMacHerald) July 6, 2014

No sponsorship, no tournament for Kamloops

 Roger Sloan, with the Western Championship trophy.
(Kamloops Daily News file photo)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It appears that the inaugural Western Championship golf tournament also was the last one.
The inability to procure sponsorship has resulted in the tournament being dropped from the Canadian Tour’s schedule.
Terry Grimm, who chaired the 2011 Western Championship, said Tuesday that he informed Rick Janes, the Tour’s commissioner and CEO, in December, “offering our regrets.”
“We were unable to (raise) sufficient sponsorship dollars to carry on with the Western here,” Grimm said.
The Western Championship was held June 9-12 at Rivershore Estates and Golf Links. It provided a great story line as Roger Sloan of Merritt won the tournament, firing a four-round total of 23-under 265 at Rivershore Estates and Golf Links. Sloan took home $20,000 for the first victory of his professional career.
“I heard the unfortunate news,” Sloan said Wednesday from Houston, where is preparing for a new season. “It’s disappointing.
“The Canadian Tour is struggling and the more tournaments the better. Having a tournament so close to home on a course that I really enjoy playing and found so much local suport on . . . it’s a total bummer not to be going back.”
Hoping to gain a foothold in B.C.’s Interior, the Tour sponsored the 2011 Western Championship, including the $125,000 purse. In order to stay on the schedule, sponsorship would have had to cover a $300,000 budget.
“They’re recommending from the tour office,” Grimm said, “and I don’t disagree with them, I think they’re pretty close . . . they recommend a $300,000 budget to run the event.”
That $300,000 sponsorship would cover a $150,000 purse and all expenses associated with playing host to the event.
Grimm said local organizers were never close to finding a title sponsor.
“We had a nibble,” he said, “but only for a portion of it. We were never in the ballpark for ($300,000).”
When he informed Janes that Kamloops wouldn’t be able to play host to a second Western Championship, Grimm did ask that the door be left open.
“We really enjoyed it,” Grimm said of the 2011 event. “We’ve asked them to keep us in mind and if the economy turns out here and we (find) somebody who’s interested (in sponsoring it) we’ll look at it down the road.”
The Canadian leg of the 2012 Tour will begin with the Times Colonist Islands Savings Open in Victoria, June 7-10, but now there is a one-week gap before it resumes with with the ATB Financial Classic in Edmonton, June 21-24.
“The Canadian Tour is struggling to fill a lot of gaps and they’re doing the best job they can,” Sloan said. “But it’s the economy and all the whirlwind things that come together.
“It’s unfortunate.”

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., after winning the Canadian Tour's Western
Championship at Rivershore Golf Links near Kamloops.
(Keith Anderson /  Kamloops Daily News)

Roger Sloan, the pride of Merritt and the king of the Canadian Tour’s Western Championship, doesn’t eat “anything my mom cooks” and wishes he had invented Post-it Notes.
He also has “never eaten a salad” and “I close my right eye when I laugh.”
He doesn’t sing in the shower, preferring to “save my beautiful voice for the Christmas season.”
And his dream foursome would include God “to see if he can hit a high draw 1-iron” . . . and “Jack Nicklaus, in case God needs a lesson on how to hit a high draw 1-iron.”
Uhh, not even the Golden Bear could hit a high draw with a 1-iron.
All of the aforementioned is part of an interview with Sloan that appears on the Canadian Tour’s website, right there for public viewing. And if, while you’re reading it, you can feel someone pulling your leg, well, you wouldn’t be imagining it.
Yes, the 24-year-old Sloan is loving life as a second-year golf pro.
“Absolutely,” he replies when asked if he had fun playing golf at Rivershore Golf Links last week.
“But,” the interrogator interjects, “it’s easy to have fun when you’re playing well. What about when you’re not playing well?”
“It’s still fun,” he says with a wide smile and a glint in his eyes, both of which are wide open, “whether it’s a good day or a bad day.”
You don’t have to watch Sloan for long to realize that this is a young man who loves life and is well aware that a bad day on a golf course beats a good day at work.
No one had more fun than Sloan during the Canadian Tour’s first-ever Kamloops stop, though.
He fired a third-round 65 on Saturday, putting him at 17-under and sending him into Sunday’s final round with a one-stroke lead. He brought it home, too, firing a 66 to finish at 23-under, good for a three-stroke victory.
Pressure? It isn’t pressure when you’re having this much fun.
Pressure? Not when your dad, Curtis, is on your bag and your mom, Cathy, and sisters Valerie, 22, and Karlie, 14, are in the gallery.
Just think about how special this was for Sloan and his family. He wins his first tournament as a professional with Dad on the bag and Mom, Valerie and Karlie there, too. It doesn’t get any better than that.
For all intents and purposes, this tournament ended on the 16th hole on Sunday. Sloan, with a two-stroke lead, put his tee shot right of the fairway and into the long rough, well in front of the water that protects the green.
Sloan, with the impetuousness of youth, had an urge to go for it; the caddy, proving that Father Knows Best, wanted to lay up.
In the end, Sloan laid up, scrambled to a nifty par and that was that. If it wasn’t then, it certainly was when he birdied the par-3 17th.
But the game of golf at that level is a grind. It really is. So there wasn’t a whole lot of time to celebrate. Sloan and his caddy had to get to Vancouver because they’re on the 10th tee at Point Grey this morning at 8, one of 144 entries in a regional qualifier for the RBC Canadian Open that’s scheduled for July 18-24 at Shaughnessy.
The winner of the qualifier gets into the Open; the next 21 finishers move on to a July 18 qualifier at Morgan Creek in Surrey.
After today, Sloan might be able to kick back in Merritt and think about how it was that he torched Rivershore and the Western Championship field. And then it’s off to Fort McMurray for the Syncrude Boreal Open, June 23-26. After that it’s Calgary . . . Saskatoon . . . Winnipeg.
It’s important that Sloan play well through Winnipeg as the Tour holds six exemptions into the Canadian Open. After the Western Championship, Sloan is second on the money list, with $31,532 in winnings.
For Sloan, things were somewhat better at this stop than the previous one. That was in Victoria, where he missed the cut at the Times Colonist Open. Golf is tough enough when you’re healthy; Sloan took ill the day before the tournament started, tried to play through it and shot back-to-back 72s, which may be good enough for you and you but it wasn’t good enough for him.
When you first see the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Sloan you realize right away that this is a golfer. He just has that look. He is long and lean and athletic-looking, and there is a purpose to his loose-jointed stride as he leaves the teebox and heads down the fairway, wanting to smack that white ball one more time.
The bill on his white Titleist cap is perfectly curved; this is a golfer, not a hip-hop guy. The white belt appears to be back in vogue — perhaps thanks to curling’s Glenn Howard and his rink — and Sloan’s matches his shoes.
His thick dirty blond hair flows out from under the cap and there is some fuzz on his chin. He sometimes stands in the fairway or just off the green, one elbow resting in the palm of his other hand, fingers stroking his chin.
That gesture, according to his mother, is his trademark. Kind of like Ken Dryden, the great Montreal Canadiens goaltender, arms folded and leaning on his goal stick.
Sloan was a dominant junior in these parts, but it wasn’t until he went to the U of Texas-El Paso — he was a four-timer on the Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll as he got a finance degree — that he started to think about trying to make a career out of this game.
“Until you find out that you’re able to compete at the college level,” says Sloan, who winters in Texas and cheers for the NBA-champion Dallas Mavericks, “you don’t know you can compete at the next level.”
He’s competing at that next level now, with the hopes of moving even higher.
And who knows? Maybe a few days of mom’s cooking will help.
Sloan spent last week commuting to Rivershore from the family home in Merritt.
Did Cathy, who admits to being the matriarch of a family of pranksters, do the cooking?
“Absolutely,” she says and she is laughing.
Yes, this was a fun week for the Sloans of Merritt.

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of the The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)