A look back at 2014, from The Spectator . . . Chartier signs NHL deal . . . Chiefs romp to sixth straight W

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I took a break from writing Keeping Score, my mostly weekly column of odds and ends, last weekend and may do so again this weekend. . . . In its place, check out The Spectator’s farewell to 2014, written by Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post, who is one of Canadian sports journalism’s best-kept secrets. . . . It’s right here and it’s good.
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THE LATEST ON LEON . . .

No, F Leon Draisaitl wasn’t traded by the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday. But it’s only a matter of time. . . . Draisaitl, who played the last two seasons with the Raiders, has been with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers all season and is widely believed to be headed to the Kelowna Rockets. . . . “We’re in the process of moving Leon’s rights,” Raiders general manager Bruno Campese told the Prince Albert Daily Herald. “We’re looking at some different options.” . . . That story is right here.
Meanwhile, Draisaitl played an excellent game Wednesday, drawing two assists as the Oilers dropped a 4-3 OT decision to the Flames in Calgary.
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F Rourke Chartier of the Kelowna Rockets, the WHL’s leading goal scorer, has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. Chartier, 18, was a fifth-round pick by the Sharks in the NHL’s 2014 draft. He has 35 goals in 32 games this season. Chartier, from Saskatoon, went into this season with 37 goals in 130 regular-season games. He has 54 points this season, four shy of his 72-game total last season.
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For something completely different, you may want to check out The Sports Curmudgeon’s website to see who was selected as his Meathead of the Year for 2014. It’s right here, and some of this stuff will have you slapping your forehead.
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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:

In Edmonton, the defending Memorial Cup-champion Oil Kings unleashed a 58-shot barrage as they defeated the Swift Current Broncos, 4-1. . . . Broncos G Landon Bow stopped 55 shots, 38 more than Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry. . . . Oil Kings F Brandon Baddock broke a 1-1 tie at 1:07 of the second period. He’s got 11 goals. . . . Edmonton D Austin Sautner added insurance with his 10th goal at 6:00 of the third, and F Brett Pollock got his 15th into an empty net at 17:38. . . . D Dysin Mayo had two assists for Edmonton. . . . F Glenn Gawdin scored for Swift Current, giving him 10. . . . Edmonton’s first goal came from F Tyson Gruninger, an AP from Drayton Valley, Alta. His first goal came in his sixth game. . . . “It’s a great end to the calendar year. It’s been a wonderful calendar year for the Edmonton Oil Kings, and it’s certainly a fitting end to that,” Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton said on the team’s website. “That was as complete an effort as we’ve had in a long, long time. “I thought every guy understood the game plan tonight and every guy was really committed to executing it.” . . . The Oil Kings (17-16-5) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Broncos slipped to 19-16-4. . . .

In Moose Jaw, F Morgan Klimchuk scored at 1:06 of OT to give the Regina Pats a 2-1 victory over the Warriors. . . . Klimchuk, who spent part of December in the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp, has 14 goals. He redirected a shot by Regina F Dryden Hunt. . . . D Dallas Valentine gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead with his first goal at 3:48 of the first period. . . . Regina F Adam Brooks pulled his side even with his 16th goal at 9:21 of the second. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple stopped 26 shots, three more than Moose Jaw’s Zach Sawchenko. . . . Each team was a 0-for-5 on the PP. . . . They’ll play again Friday, this time in Regina. . . . The Pats (23-12-2) have won three straight. . . . The Warriors (15-19-4) have lost six in a row. . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., the host Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs exchanged New Year’s greetings and shared 162 penalty minutes. Oh, the Chiefs won the game, 10-2. . . . F Jackson Playfair, who did a tour of duty with the Americans, broke a 2-2 tie at 9:54 of the second period with his eighth goal and the Chiefs were rolling. . . . Spokane F Adam Helewka finished with a goal, his 18th, and four assists, while F Kailer Yamamoto scored twice, giving him 15, and added an assist, and D Jason Fram picked up his seventh goal and two assists. . . . Chiefs F Calder Brooks also scored twice, giving him 16, and added an assist. . . . D Nick Charif, in his first game with the Chiefs since coming over from Red Deer, had two assists. . . . F Brian Williams scored twice for the Americans. He’s got 11 goals. . . . The Chiefs were 5-for-7 on the PP; the Americans were 2-for-6. . . . The Americans took 92 of the 162 penalty minutes. . . . Ch-ch-ching! There was a line brawl at 12:09 of the third period. . . . This was the 25th time these teams have met on New Year’s Eve, with the Americans now holding a 15-8-1 and edge (with one tie). . . . The Americans are without F Vladislav Lukin (shoulder). He was injured in Saturday’s 5-1 loss in Spokane. . . . The Chiefs (21-12-3) now have won seven in a row and are within one point of the U.S. Division-leading Everett Silvertips, who are headed into the East Division for a six-game swing. . . . The Americans are 18-17-1. . . .

In Portland, the Seattle Thunderbirds took a 2-0 lead into the third period and skated to a 2-1 victory over the Winterhawks. . . . The Thunderbirds scored the game’s first goal, the fifth straight game in which they have done that. They are 5-0 in those games. . . . Seattle D Evan Wardley scored his fourth goal at 3:46 of the first period. He went into this season with three goals in 151 regular-season games; this season, he has four in 22 games. . . . Seattle F Florian Baltram got his first goal, on a PP, at 10:25 of the second. . . . Portland F Dominic Turgeon made it interesting with his 13th, on a PP, at 16:45 of the third. . . . Seattle G Taran Kozun stopped 23 shots, three fewer than Portland’s Adan Hill. . . . Among Seattle’s scratches were F Mathew Barzal (knee) and F Ryan Gropp (undisclosed), the latter apparently injured in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips. . . . The Thunderbirds (18-15-4) have won five in a row. . . . Portland (19-17-3) has lost three straight.

At start of game, large swaths of seats in lower bowl are empty. Any way Hockey Canada spins it, this leg of the WJC has been a disaster.
— Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell) December 31, 2014

Being unable to sell out WJC on NY Eve against USA akin to failing to peddle cold bottle of water to a dehydrated wanderer in Gobi Desert.
— Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell) December 31, 2014

@titocurtis @StuCowan1 @BWildeCTV talked to scalpers on the way in, single seat in section 117 was $245
— Kelly Greig (@KellyGreig) December 31, 2014

Think Canadians like hockey?! Lineup in Maui for The Moose pub to watch the #WJC2015 CAN-USA game. @tsnjamesduthie pic.twitter.com/DoaxohXKV8
— Kevin MacIsaac (@BigKevyM) December 31, 2014

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Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon, and his good wife, Peg, recently went coast-to-coast-to-coast via Amtrak. One of his observations from the observation car: “There was so much coal being transported from Colorado/Wyoming to the east in trains that were 100-cars long, I began to worry that the Rocky Mountains were not going to be there when we got to Colorado.” . . . One more note from Jack The Tourist: “Many folks consider California as a source of trends within U.S. society and culture. I have never been one to be at the forefront of a trend and, very specifically, I make no claim to any ‘fashion sense.’ However, on this trip, I got the feeling that I had missed a memo somewhere because I saw a fashion trend that had totally escaped my notice: More than a few men were wearing black socks and white sneakers with their shorts. This is not a good look.” . . .

Headline at Fark.com: “Randy Johnson is selling his 25,000-square-foot home. That’s one big unit.” . . . One more from the gang at Fark: “Cyclists hospitalized after confusing laundry detergent for sports drink / Doctors confirm all urine tests came back clean.” . . . Atlantic City is losing three casinos in the next while as the Revel, Showboat and Trump Plaza all will close their doors. Which got Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times to wonder: “So when did Charles Barkley and John Daly decide to quit gambling?” . . . “The San Francisco 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium hosted a wedding over the weekend,” notes Perry. “In keeping with the local football theme, well-wishers threw Jerry Rice.” . . .

If you weren’t aware, the last New York Yankees player before Derek Jeter to wear No. 2 was Mike Gallego, who wore pinstripes from 1992-94. . . . After Roger Federer came back from two sets down to erase Gael Monfils on Thursday night at the U.S. Open, Ray Ratto of Comcast Sports Net tweeted the facts: “The thing about Federer is, he can stab you, kill you, gut you, skin you, bread you, fry you, eat you and then extol your athletic virtues.” . . . “According to ESPN,” notes blogger TC Chong, “the highest price for a family of four to attend an NFL game is the new Santa Clara stadium of the SF 49ers at US$641. The cheapest NFL tickets can be found at Buffalo, where the team might pay you $641 to tell your friends that you were at the game.” . . .

Ron Judd of the Seattle Times writes that he is “so proud of the brain trust at the U-Dub for solving two of the most-pressing problems at Montlake — the heart-rending dearth of cash in athletic department coffers, and the notable scarcity of drunken, staggering fans inside Husky Stadium — with a single bold stroke: a new plan to sell booze at football games.” . . . That would be the U of Washington, of course. . . . Here’s Judd, again: “Millions of Fraser River-bound sockeye turned off by a ‘warm blob’ of ocean water off the coast of Washington are believed to be returning to their natal stream to the north, through British Columbia’s Johnstone Strait, rather than through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Juan Islands. Perhaps they prefer not to swim past the natural toilet that is Victoria, B.C.” . . . Yes, things are getting nasty as thumbs twiddle in the Victoria area while raw sewage continues to pour into the Stait of Juan de Fuca. . . .

“Canada loves Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole,” notes Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express. “Not so much in the U.S., where their Fox Sports Live show averages 64,000 viewers a night.” . . . After Tiger Woods canned Sean Foley, his third swing coach, comedy writer Alex Kaseberg summed it up with: “In golf terms that is known as firing the dance instructor on the Titanic.” . . . If Tiger really wants to learn how to swing, might I suggest he hire Justin Bieber as No. 4. . . . “Reuters reports a Chinese farmer has invented a zip line so his pigs literally fly from one truck to another,” writes RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “In a related item, the Maple Leafs might win this year’s Stanley Cup.” . . . One more from Currie: “A church converted to a house is up for sale near Portage la Prairie, Man. It features a room with a pew.” . . .

Is this a great country, or what? I now have 10 Canadian-based sports TV channels pouring into my home. . . . One week ago, four were showing the same baseball game and four were showing the same CFL game. . . . I can’t understand why so many young people are turning to streaming and Netflix? . . . There were some nifty occurrences on Monday as four Philadelphia Phillies pitchers no-hit the Atlanta Braves, 7-0. For starters, Jason Heyward of the Braves stole three bases, which isn’t bad for a guy on a team that didn’t get a hit. Also, Ben Revere of the Phils had five RBI, becoming the fifth player in MLB history to do that in a no-hitter. Prior to Monday, Revere had one month this season in which had had five RBI. He had two RBI in all of August. . . .

In an NCAA Division II game on Thursday, the Tusculum College Pioneers beat the College of Faith Saints, 71-0. The Saints rushed for, uhh, minus-124 yards and their total offence was, uhh, minus-100 yards. . . . “One piece of good news came out of the game for the Saints,” notes Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “They have been granted admission into the CFL’s East Division, where they’ll fit right in.” . . . Here’s Hamilton with a soccer story from Bulgaria: “Soccer fan Zdravkov Levidzhov has won a 15-year court battle to change his name -- to Manchester Zdravkov Levidzhov-United. Mr. Manchester United, as the 50-year-old construction worker likes to be called, celebrated by having the crest of his favourite team tattooed on his forehead. Memo to Zdravkov: Man U are an idiot.”

(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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The Sports Curmudgeon celebrates (?) the end of 2012 with his Meathead of the Year posting. You won’t want to miss it and it’s right here.
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If you are at all concerned about concussions in sport, including the WHL, you should be paying attention to this website right here.
It is the sports page for the PBS-TV investigative program FRONTLINE. And there is some remarkable information available there.
For example, the site has been tracking concussions in the NFL this season. In the Week 16 Roundup, Jason M. Breslow begins:
“Through the first 15 weeks of the NFL season, roughly 10 players per week suffered a concussion. This past weekend, teams appeared to outdo that pace as at least 12 players — including three who have already had a concussion this year — left games due to possible head injuries.”
If you are paying attention, the number of head injuries being suffered by athletes, including WHL players, is absolutely mind-boggling.
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Right here is another Frontline piece, this one written by Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, who are writing a book on football and brain injuries that will be published in 2013.
This story details how “the NFL’s retirement board awarded disability payments to at least three former players after concluding that football caused their crippling brain injuries — even as the league’s top medical experts for years consistently denied any link between the sport and long-term brain damage.”
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Fainaru and Fainaru-Wade have another piece right here in which they write:
“Three years after Congress pressured the NFL to overhaul its concussion program, the league effort remains marked by inconsistencies in how it tracks, manages and even describes serious head injuries, making it difficult to assess the league’s progress on the issue, an analysis by ESPN’s Outside the Lines and PBS FRONTLINE shows.
“The analysis found that NFL officials this season have released conflicting data about head injuries, and medical personnel have sent some injured players back into games — possibly in violation of new league guidelines.”
Check out that piece right here.
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The gang at CBC Regina’s The Morning Edition set up a chat with Shelley Lipon, the mother of Team Canada forward JC Lipon, who also plays for the Kamloops Blazers, on Monday morning. Shelley and her husband, Jason, are in Ufa, Russia, taking in all the excitement of the World Junior Championship. That interview is right here.
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F Adam Lowry of the Swift Current Broncos was credited with an assist in a postgame scoring decision following a 4-1 loss to the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Saturday night. That extended Lowry’s point streak to 14 games. . . . The Broncos are at home to the Lethbridge Hurricanes today at 2 p.m.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed F Logan Aasman, 17, who made his WHL debut in Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Rockets in Kelowna. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Aasman, from Medicine Hat, had 18 points, including 12 goals, with the midget Southeast Tigers. He is the younger brother of D Ryan Aasman, who played with five different WHL teams from 2008-12.
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The OHL’s London Knights ran their win streak to 24 games on Monday, and that’s one shy of the league record that is held by the 1984-85 Kitchener Rangers. . . . On Monday, the Knights erased a 2-0 deficity and beat the host Sarnia Sting, 3-2. . . . The teams play today in London. . . . Should the Knights win today, they could set the record Friday when they play host to the Saginaw Spirit. . . . Kitchener and the QMJHL’s 1973-74 Sorel Eperviers share the CHL record. . . . On Monday, the Sting felt London should have been called for a check from behind just prior to the visitors scoring the tieing goal. . . . “It wasn’t hard to figure out who was bad and who wasn’t,” Sting head coach Jacques Beaulieu told Morris Dalla Costa of the London Free Press. “It wasn’t the London Knights or the Sarnia Sting tonight.” . . . The WHL record for longest winning streak in one season is 22 (Estevan Bruins, 1967-68).
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If you read here the other day about Dwight McMillan’s decision to step down as head coach of the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings, you may be have been left wondering what really happened.
Well, McMillan has written a letter thanking a whole lot of people for their support over the last 37 years.
He also writes a bit more than that.
“Unfortunately,” McMillan writes, “my term as Head Coach is over.  Scott Sabados - Team President, and the Board of Directors terminated my employment as Head Coach I then offered to allow them to have me resign and they chose to communicate my dismissal as a resignation.”
McMillan’s complete letter is right here
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MONDAY’S GAMES:
In Portland, G Mac Carruth stopped 31 shots to lead the Winterhawks to a 5-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . It was the 18th straight New Year’s Eve that these teams have played in Portland and the 22nd renewal of the battle overall. . . . The Winterhawks hold a 13-8-1 edge. . . . Carruth, now 18-2-0, won his 105th regular-season game to tie the franchise record held by Darrell May Sr. (1978-82). . . . Carruth has three shutouts this season and seven in his career. . . . On Dec. 31, 2011, Carruth stopped 18 shots as Portland beat visiting Seattle, 2-0. . . . The Winterhawks, who are playing as though on a mission or something, have won nine in a row and are 28-2 over their last 30 outings. . . . They lead the overall standings by nine points over the idle Kamloops Blazers and hold a 16-point edge over the Spokane Chiefs in the U.S. Division. . . . Portland has the WHL’s top offence (172 goals for) and defence (82 goals against). . . . F Paul Bittner’s fifth goal of the season, at 12:41 of the first, stood up as the winner. . . . Portland F Brendan Leipsic got his 24th, shorhanded, and had two assists, while F Nic Petan scored No. 26. . . . The Thunderbirds have lost eight in a row. . . . F Keegan Kolesar, the 20th overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft, made his debut with Seattle. From Winnipeg, Kolesar has 26 points, including 15 goals, in 25 games with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. . . .

In Cranbrook, F Levi Cable broke a 2-2 tie at 10:20 of the third period as the Kootenay Ice got past the Calgary Hitmen, 3-2. . . . F Brock Montgomery scored the Ice’s other two goals, giving him 14. . . . Cable has five goals. . . . Calgary is 13-2-1 on the road . . . Ice G Mackenzie Skapski stopped 30 shots. . . .

In Edmonton, F Henrik Samuelsson scored three times to lead the Oil Kings to a 6-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Samuelsson, who also had an assist, has 45 points, including 22 goals, in 38 games. He joined the Oil Kings a year ago and put up 23 points, seven of them goals, in 28 games. . . . This was Samuelsson’s first WHL hat trick. . . . Edmonton D Keegan Lowe scored twice, giving him eight goals this season — in this first three season, he scored two, two and three goals. It was his first two-goal game and came in his 243rd regular-season game. . . . The Oil Kings now lead the Eastern Conference by three points over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Bruce Luebke, the radio voice of the Wheat Kings, tweeted this during the game: “Michael Ferland goes akwardly into the boards on an attempted hit in 2nd period & then immediately limped to the #BWK dressing room.” . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans scored the game’s last four goals and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 6-3. . . . The Americans hold a 15-6-1 edge, with one tie, in the New Year’s Eve series. . . . Spokane took a 3-2 lead into the third period, only to have F Parker Bowles tie it at 2:06 and D Drydn Dow put the Americans out front for good at 7:41. . . . Bowles, who has 10 goals, finished with two scores and an assist. . . . Tri-City F Marcus Messier played for the first time since Nov. 30 and scored the game’s first goal, his ninth. He had missed nine games with an undisclosed injury. . . . Spokane D Brenden Kichton had a goal and an assist; he’s got 44 points in 37 games. . . . The Chiefs hold a 4-2-1 edge in the season series but have lost the last two.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None
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Kelowna Rockets F Ryan Olsen (@rolsen94): “45 minutes to find a kiss . . . . Or its 3 years in a row #newyears #imgayiguess”



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