Another departure from Brandon as Klippenstein joins Colorado

These are the pipes that came out of our rink.  I think it was a little overdue #BetterIce#AmsHockey pic.twitter.com/kQtLu8zn5M

— Robert (Bob) Tory (@BTORY) August 5, 2016

F Tomáš Vincour (Edmonton, Vancouver, 2007-10) has signed a one-year contract with Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia, KHL), he had 10 goals and 17 assists in 45 games.

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Things got even more interesting with the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday with the news that Wade Klippenstein, the team’s director of scouting, is off to the NHL.

Dean Millard (@DuckMillard) of The Pipeline Show tweeted: “Brandon Wheat Kings will also lose Head Scout Wade Klippenstein as he's taken an NHL job with a western conference team. #Vegas???”

It turns out that the Colorado Avalanche has hired Klippenstein, a veteran WHL scout, as a western scout. Klippenstein had been with Brandon for three years.

Prior to that, he spent six years with the Prince George Cougars. He also has worked with the Prince Albert Raiders, Saskatoon Blades and Moose Jaw Warriors.

The Wheat Kings, of course, lost general manager and head coach Kelly McCrimmon to the NHL

when he signed on as the assistant general manager with the Las Vegas franchise that is to begin play in 2017-18. McCrimmon will continue to own the Wheat Kings, though.

Brandon also is in need of an athletic therapist after Josh Guenther, who had been there for three years, left to join the Red Deer Rebels.

As well, Bruce Luebke, the radio voice of the Wheat Kings for the past 23 seasons, and radio station CKLQ decided to go their separate ways last month.

McCrimmon has a number of veteran scouts on staff, including senior scout Gary Michalik and head scout Mark Johnston. Garth Mitchell has been on the scouting staff since 1998, while Mike Fraser has been there for four years, after spending seven seasons working for the Swift Current Broncos. Derrick Kemp has scouted for Brandon for eight seasons.

Obviously, McCrimmon has options, as he does in the front office where Rick Dillabough and Lyn Shannon are long-time employees who are most capable of running the business side of things.

But he needs a head coach — have to wonder if he has spoken with Dean Chynoweth? — and someone to oversee the hockey side of things.

And time is of the essence. McCrimmon is expected to scout the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup that opens Monday in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Bratislava, Slovkia. The Wheat Kings, who are the WHL’s reigning champions, are scheduled to open training camp in Brandon on Aug. 30.

For now, all eyes are on Brandon.

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The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks have acquired former WHL D Carter Cochrane from the Trail Smoke Eaters in exchange for F Josh Laframbroise. . . . Cochrane, who will turn 20 on Oct. 18, is from Kamloops, 

Last season, Cochrane played one game with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, five with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs and 14 with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. . . . He also has played in the WHL with the Everett Silvertips and Tri-City Americans. In 2013-14, he had 47 points, including 16 goals, in 55 games with Chilliwack and it is that form that the Silverbacks are wanting to see. . . . Laframboise, who also is heading into his 20-year-old season, is from Thunder Bay, Ont. The Silverbacks acquired him from the Penticton Vees in 2014-15. In 93 games with Salmon Arm over the past two seasons, he had 62 points, including 20 goals.

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If you’re in the mood for a good read, Bryan Curtis of The Ringer takes a look right here at Dan Shaughnessy, the long-time sports columnist from the Boston Globe. . . . Shaughnessy always has done things his way and that hasn’t changed although the times have.

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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.

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Mark Chase has joined the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires as an assistant coach. Chase, from Kamloops, has coached for more than 10 years in the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association, including at the bantam AAA and major midget levels. He also has been involved in the U-16 high performance program. . . . In Melville, he will work alongside head coach Devin Windle.

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These summer world junior games are completely unnecessary. Inter-squad ok sure, but coaches screaming "compete" in August no thanks.

— Patrick O'Sullivan (@realPOSULLIVAN) August 5, 2016

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Warriors' Jackson retires, cites post-concussion syndrome

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Bernhard Keil (Kamloops, 2010-11) has been assigned on loan by the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL) to Kaufbeuren (Germany, DEL2). He had two assists in 40 games with Straubing and one goal and three assists in nine games on loan to Regensburg (Germany, Oberliga) last season. . . .
F Trent Whitfield (Spokane, 1993-98) signed a one-year contract with Bolzano (Italy, Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had six goals and six assists in 48 games for the Providence Bruins (AHL). Whitfield was captain of the Bruins last season. . . .
F Tomas Polak (Red Deer, 2007-09) had his tryout contract with Landshut (Germany, DEL2) terminated due to injury. Polak suffered a broken wrist in his second exhibition game with Landshut on Monday. The injury will force him out of action for two to three months. Last season, Polak had one goal in one game with Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, Extraliga), three assists in 11 games on loan to Most (Czech Republic, 1. Liga), and two assists in 27 games on loan to Berounsti Medvedi (Czech Republic, 1. Liga).
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After 168 regular-season games over four WHL seasons, D Reid Jackson has retired.
“With the number of concussions I've had over my WHL career, my family and I decided it was time to stop,” he told me Thursday night in a lengthy conversation via Facebook.
“I haven't been able to work out at full capacity since last October and my memory isn't as good as it used to be.”

REID JACKSON

Under normal circumstances, Jackson, who is from Weyburn, Sask., and whose father, Les, is the assistant GM of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, would be preparing for his 20-year-old season.
However, Reid is suffering from post-concussion syndrome.
Asked how many concussions he incurred during his WHL career, Jackson replied: “I would say anywhere between five and eight in my four seasons.”
Jackson began his WHL career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, playing 50 games in 2009-10. Early in the 2011-12 season, he was dealt to the Prince George Cougars. On May 3, 2012, the Cougars traded him to the Moose Jaw Warriors.
He played only 12 games with Moose Jaw, shutting it down after an Oct. 24 game against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Jackson said he has tried working in construction but had some “episodes” and now has decided to go to school.
“I did have episodes where I would have to stop and take a break from being light-headed or dizzy,” he said, adding that he “just recently took a few weeks off to recover and decided to get out of a physical labour career and go to school.”
Jackson also had issues with depression, something “my doctor and I believe has stemmed from the injuries.”
While he fights this latest battle, Jackson said he keeps in contact with his agent, Jason Taylor, and that he regularly hears from the Warriors.
The Warriors, he said, call to “see how things are going” and suggesting that if he ever needs anything to let them know.
Interestingly, Jackson and Brent Benson, another WHLer who has had to quit hockey due to post-concussion syndrome, are the best of friends.
“We have been since childhood,” Jackson noted.
As Jackson attempts to resume something of a ‘normal’ lifestyle, he said that he is able to watch TV and to read without experiencing any issues.
“Living an every day lifestyle is pretty normal,” he said, “but there isn't any chance of any more contact sports.”
Jackson was a defenceman who played a gritty game. Now having been forced into retirement, he said one of the keys to dealing with brain injuries rests with players who have been injured.
“I don't think they can be avoided,” he said. “I think the players with concussions need to be more honest with their symptoms so the chances of them getting another are less and they won't suffer the long-term effects.
“I think hockey should stay as a rough sport. I think they just need to teach kids to protect themselves at a young age, rather than punish kids for playing the game the way it is meant to be played.”
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Wade Klippenstein has signed on as the Brandon Wheat Kings’ new director of scouting. He takes over from Al Macpherson, who stepped down as director of player personnel earlier this summer after being with the club since 1986. . . . Klippenstein, 43, was born in Boissevain, which is about six slapshots south of Brandon, and raised in Dauphin, which is that far north of Brandon. He spent the last six seasons with the Prince George Cougars. For the last four seasons, he was assistant general manager and director of player personnel. Klippenstein left the Cougars just before the 2013 bantam draft; neither he nor the Cougars have explained the obvious falling out. . . . Klippenstein also is the head scout for Team Pacific, which will play in the U-17 World Hockey Challenge.
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F Tanner Eberle of the Moose Jaw Warriors will go to camp with the Montreal Canadiens’ prospects, Sept. 5-9. “I was pretty excited,” the undrafted Eberle, 19, told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. I’ve kind of stuck in the shadows until I got my chance and hopefully I can break out. Getting to go to a camp is a big deal for me and that’s something I’ve wanted to do since I got to the WHL.” . . . Eberle had 36 points in 65 games last season.
Gourlie reports that two other Warriors — D Morgan Rielly (Toronto) and D Travis Brown (Chicago) — also will go to NHL camps.
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Greg Meachem, the sports editor at the Red Deer Advocate, reports that the Red Deer Rebels will have players going to NHL camps — D Mathew Dumba, Minnesota; G Patrik Bartosak, Los Angeles; F Rhyse Dieno, Minnesota; D Kayle Doetzel, Nashville, and F Lukas Sutter, Winnipeg. . . . Dumba, Bartosak and Sutter are NHL draft picks, while Dieno and Doetzel are free-agent invitees.
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F Logan Nelson, 20, of the Victoria Royals will play for the Buffalo Sabres’ prospects in the annual tournament at Traverse City, Mich., Sept. 5-9. Nelson was a fifth-round selection by the Sabres in the 2012 NHL draft. . . . Royals F Ben Walker, 20, also will play in that tournament. He is a free-agent invitee to the Minnesota Wild’s camp. . . . Victoria D Keegan Kanzig, a third-round pick by Calgary in the 2013 draft, will play for the Flames at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B.C., Sept. 5-9. . . . Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Time Colonist also reports that F Steven Hodges was to attend the Florida Panthers’ prospects camp but that he may have to sit this one out because “of an injury that might require minor surgery.” He was a third-round selection by Florida in 2012.
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F Eetu Selanne, 15, will be in camp with the Calgary Hitmen rookies today. Yes, he is Teemu’s son. Eetu was born in Coto de Caza, Calif. . . . F Brayden Cuthbert, 19, who last played in the WHL in 2010-11, is in camp with the Saskatoon Blades. Cuthbert played 39 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2010-11 before his season was ended by a brain injury. He last played on Jan. 22, 2011. Cuthbert didn’t play in 2011-12, and spent last season with the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives. . . . G Spencer Tremblay, 19, who got into one game with the Red Deer Rebels last season after playing 20 for the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2011-12, is in camp with the Saskatoon Blades, as is F Daniel Wray, 18, who had one assist in 31 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season. . . .
F Daniel Nachbaur, the son of Spokane Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur, is in camp with the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials. Daniel will turn 18 on Sept. 30. . . . The Centennials opened the BCHL preseason last night with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Salmon Arm SilverBacks. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that F Taylor Vickerman, 17, hasn’t reported to the Vancouver Giants “and scuttlebutt around the league is that the sophomore left winger would prefer a trade closer to his Kennewick, Wash., home.”
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Richard Sandomir of The New York Times has an interesting piece right here.
He writes: “ESPN on Thursday ended its official association with ‘Frontline,’ the public television public affairs series, on a two-part documentary about concussions in the N.F.L. that is scheduled to be televised in October. After 15 months on the venture, ESPN chose to strip its name, logo and credit from the films, ‘League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.’ ”
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And now for some really good news. . . .
The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to announce today that the legendary Vin Scully will be back calling the play in 2014. Scully, 85, will be calling baseball for a 65th season in 2014.
The Los Angeles Times has more right here.


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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Petr Vala (Seattle, 1997-98) signed a one-year contract extension with Zell am See (Austria, Inter-National-League). He had 22 goals and 26 assists in 23 games to finish third in league scoring this season. Vala also was captain of Zell am See this season. . . .

F Robin Soudek (Edmonton, Chilliwack/Victoria, 2008-12) requested and was granted his release by Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had one goal and one assist in 11 games this season before suffering a knee injury that caused him to miss the rest of the season. Soudek signed a two-year contract with the club last summer but asked for his release so he can return to Canada and go to school.
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F Justin Feser of the Tri-City Americans is the Western Conference’s player of the year. . . . . Feser, from Red Deer, completed his WHL eligibility this season and now is with the AHL’s Portland Pirates. . . . He finished his final season with 106 points, including 44 goals, in 72 games. He had 40 more points than Tri-City’s second-leading scorer. . . . He also set a WHL record by playing in 321 consecutive regular-season games. . . . Feser is the third Tri-City player to be so honoured in the last five years – F Brendan Shinnimin was saluted last season, while F Colton Yellowhorn was the pick in 2008. . . . F Adam Lowry of the Swift Current Broncos was named the Eastern Conference’s player of the year on Wednesday.
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On Wednesday, Wade Klippenstein, the Prince George Cougars’ assistant GM and director of player personnel, tweeted this from @CoachKlipp: “One more day, then off to see the best 1998 born players BC has to offer. #WHLBantamDraft13 #Bcbestever @BCHockey_Source”
On Thursday morning, Klippenstein tweeted: “Thanks to everyone involved with the PG Cougars Its been a wonderful 6 years. Best of luck to all down the road. #Thanks”
Later in the day, the Cougars issued a press release that began: “Prince George Cougars General Manager Dallas Thompson has accepted the resignation of Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel Wade Klippenstein effective immediately.”
Thompson found out about the resignation via an email from Klippenstein.
Klippenstein had spent the last four seasons as the assistant GM and director of player personnel.
Julie Stewart-Binks of CTV in Regina (@JSB_CTV) tweeted: “Klippenstein says he resigned over ‘philosophical differences’, but has no ill will toward anyone.”
All of this comes with the WHL’s bantam draft looming on the horizon. It is scheduled for May 2 in Calgary.
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G Luke Siemens, who played out his eligibility with the Prince Albert Raiders, has committed to the U of Alberta Golden Bears. Seimens, from Delta, B.C., had a 2.89 GAA and a .912 save percentage this season and was named the Raiders’ MVP in the regular season and playoffs. . . . He also played with the Prince George Cougars, Everett Silvertips and Moose Jaw Warriors. . . .
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The Allan Cup semifinals in Red Deer will feature the Kenora, Ont., Thistles against the host Bentley Generals, while the Rosetown Redwings will meet the Clarenville, Nfld., Caribous. . . . Kenora advanced with an 8-2 victory over the Fort St. John Flyers on Thursday, while Rosetown dumped the Stony Plain Eagles, 4-1. . . . Former WHLers J.J. Hunter and Casey Lee each scored twice for Rosetown. . . . And how about Kenora D Mike Garrow, who is vice-principal at H.J. Cody High School in Sylvan Lake, Alta.? Danny Rode of the Red Deer Advocate reports that Garrow “flies to Kenora throughout the season to play weekend games with the Thistles,” whose roster comprises “players he grew up with and played with at the junior level.”
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They’re playing musical franchises in the AHL and the season isn’t even over. . . .
On Thursday, the AHL’s board of governors approved the relocation of the Houston Aeros to Des Moines, Iowa. The franchise is affiliated with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and will be known as the Iowa Wild.
The board also OK’d the sale of the Peoria Rivermen from the St. Louis Blues to the owners of the Vancouver Canucks. According to an AHL news release: “No determination has been made relative to the operation of the franchise for the 2013-14 season.”
However, there is ample speculation that the franchise will be relocated to Abbotsford, B.C. The Calgary Flames, who own the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat, are said to be moving that franchise to Utica, N.Y.
Meanwhile, the Canucks also have an affiliation with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, with their two-year agreement ending after this season.
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The WHL’s playoff situation:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
THIRD ROUND
Edmonton (1) vs. Calgary (3)
(Calgary leads 1-0; Game 2 tonight in Edmonton; all games on Shaw TV, with Dan Russell calling the play.)
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
THIRD ROUND
Portland (1) vs. Kamloops (3)
Series opens tonight in Portland.
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THURSDAY’S GAME:
In Edmonton, F Brady Brassart scored at 1:44 of OT to give the Calgary Hitmen a 3-2 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Brassart has seven playoff goals, having scored three times in each of Calgary’s previous series-opening games. . . . Calgary G Chris Driedger stopped 33 shots, while Edmonton’s Laurent Brossoit turned aside 16. . . . Edmonton F Henrik Samuelsson forced OT with his seventh goal of the playoffs, on the PP, at 13:05 of the third period. His father, former NHLer Ulf Samuelsson, was in the stands. . . . Edmonton F Curtis Lazar hit the crossbar just 13 seconds into OT. . . . The Oil Kings didn’t give up even one PP goal over their first two series. The Hitmen, however, scored on their first PP opportunity, taking a 2-0 lead on a goal by F Zach Jones at 3:32 of the second period. . . . The Hitmen were outshot 10-3 in the first period but scored on their first shot, by F Victor Rask, just 85 seconds in. . . . Rask has at least one point in each of Calgary’s 11 playoff games. . . . Calgary F Jake Virtanen, the first overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, had two assists. . . . F Trevor Cheek, who began his WHL career with Calgary in 2010-11, got Edmonton on the board at 13:42 of the second. . . . F Dylan Wruck had two assists for Calgary. . . . The Hitmen have played five road games in these playoffs and each one has gone to OT. They are 3-2 in those games. . . . It also was Calgary’s franchise-record sixth OT game of these playoffs. . . . Amazingly, the teams hadn’t played each other since concluding their regular-season series on Dec. 18.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT (16):
None

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT (5):
None
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From Edmonton Sun columnist Terry Jones (@sunterryjones): “Not huge crowd for Oil Kings-Hitmen. Thursday night a killer for family crowd? Backlash on Kevin Lowe comments? Series being shown on SHAW?”
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From the Edmonton Journal’s Evan Daum (@evandaum): “6,337 in attendance tonight. Smallest Edmonton playoff crowd since Game 4 of 2011 conf. quarters. 5,938 watched Red Deer win 5-1 that night”

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Alexander Boikov (Victoria/Prince George, Tri-City, 1993-96) signed a one-year contract extension with Dynamo Moscow (Russia, KHL). He had one goal and six assists in 41 games with Dynamo this season. . . .
By my count, Boikov, Winnipeg Jets G Chris Mason and D Dwayne Newman (Chelmsford, England National League) are the only players still playing pro hockey who played for the Victoria Cougars. Victoria relocated to Prince George for the 1994-95 season.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Twenty years to the day after he celebrated a Memorial Cup victory, Tom Renney was dumped as head coach of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. On May 17, 1992, Renney’s Kamloops Blazers beat the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 5-4 in the Memorial Cup final in Seattle. On Thursday, Edmonton GM Steve Tambellini travelled to Castlegar, B.C., and informed Renney that his contract wouldn’t be renewed. . . .
Chris Johnston, who played in the WHL with Brandon, Red Der and Regina (1990-95), is the new head coach of the midget AAA Southwest Cougars, who play out of Souris, Man. This season, he was the head coach of the bantam AA Brandon Wheat Kings. Johnston, who is from Brandon, replaces Troy Leslie, who now is the head coach of the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals. . . . Johnston is the son of former WHL player and coach Mark Johnston. . . .
Mark DeSantis, an assistant coach with the Central league’s Rapid City Rush, has signed on as head coach of the Southern Professional league’s Fayetteville FireAntz. . . . DeSantis is a former Rush captain who has been an assistant coach for three seasons. . . . The FireAntz began the season with Sean Gillam as head coach; he was fired Feb. 16 and Todd Bidner was named interim head coach.
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Jason Becker, the lead assistant coach with the Prince George Cougars, has been named head coach of Team Pacific that will compete in the 2013 U-17 World Hockey Challenge. That tournament runs Dec. 28 through Jan. 4 in Victoriaville and Drummondville, Que. . . . Wade Klippenstein, the Cougars’ assistant GM and director of player personnel, has been named Team Pacific’s head scout, while Steve Hamilton, an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oil Kings, will work with Becker as an assistant coach. . . . Also on the staff will be athletic therapist Brian Cheeseman, also of the Oil Kings. . . . Brent Polischuk of Victoria is the director of operations, while Brandon West of Kelowna is the other assistant coach and Troy Clifford of Kamloops is the equipment manager. . . . Team Pacific will comprise the top 22 players from the Pacific Region (Alberta and B.C.), with 34 players from each region taking part in a camp in Kamloops, July 25-29. The final 22-player roster will be announced in November.
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Shane Malloy at The Art of Scouting has posted his top 40 eligibles for the NHL’s 2012 draft. That list is right here.
Malloy has D Griffin Reinhart of the Edmonton Oil Kings listed fourth overall, proving once again that a draft-eligible player can only do himself a whole lot of good with a deep playoff run.
Interestingly, Malloy is swimming a bit against the stream as he has Red Deer Rebels D Matt Dumba ranked No. 25.
The list is right here.
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Jesse Wallin, the general manager and head coach of the Red Deer Rebels, along with his wife Jenn, will be taking part in an awareness session on concussions. Concussion: A Game Changer is scheduled for June 9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Frontier Room at Westerner Park in Red Deer. The Wallins know of what they speak as Jesse’s career ended because of concussion problems.
Jim Claggett of the Red Deer Express has more right here.
“As a traditionalist I’d love to see hockey maintain a physicality in the game," Wallin tells Claggett. "I think that’s a big part of hockey but I think if we’re going to be able to do that there’s going to have to be a level of respect in the game.
“It’s the old adage, do unto others as you would have done to you.”
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JUST NOTES:
G Drew Owsley, who played out his eligibility last season with the Prince George Cougars, has committed to attend St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., and play for the X-Men. . . . Owley announced the move via Twitter last night: “Excited to announce I committed to StFX university of be an X-men!” . . . D Bronson Maschmeyer, who finished up his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers this season, announced Wednesday that he, too, will attend St. FX and play for the X-Men. . . .
F Joe Antilla, who played five seasons with the Kootenay Ice, will attend UBC and play for the Thunderbirds next season. He has been accepted into the UBC School of Kinesiology. . . . In 340 regular-season games with the Ice, he put up 140 points, including 56 goals.
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Rob Facca is an assistant coach with the Western Michigan  Broncos whose four-year-old son, Louie, 4, has been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disorder.
Rob’s father, Bob, was devastated by the news and has decided to go for a long, long walk.
Their story is right here.

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The Vancouver Giants played their intrasquad game on Wedneseay night in Ladner, B.C. There were six former players acting as coaches and there were times when they had to help restore order — there were seven scraps and a near brawl. The Giants, it seems, are bound and determined to be tougher than they were last season. Steve Ewen of The Province was there and his report is right here.
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JUST NOTES: The Victoria Royals have signed D Joe Hicketts, the 12th overall selection in the 2011 WHL bantam draft. Hicketts, from Kamloops, was in the Royals’ main camp and now is in main camp. He is expected to play in the Royals’ first exhibition game tonight in Kamloops. Hicketts captained the bantam AAA Jardine’s Blazers last season, putting up 57 points in 50 regular-season games. He has been short listed by Hockey BC for the team that will play at the U-16 Western Branch Challenge in Moose Jaw, Oct. 27-30. . . . The Prince George Cougars have signed Wade Klippenstein, their assistant general manager and director of player personnel, to a two-year extension. Presumably, that takes him through 2013-14. . . .
Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Swift Current Broncos, tweeted this on Thursday morning: “The @SCBroncos have only sold 1,232 season tickets so far. That’s over 200 less than at this point last year. Scary numbers I’d say.” . . . Scary? He’s not kidding. . . . The Saskatoon Blades have signed F Landyn Hickmott, the 66th pick in the 2011 bantam draft. From Mission, B.C., Hickmott was Saskatoon’s first pick in the draft. He had 163 points in 65 games with Mission’s bantam AA team last season. . . . Saskatoon also signed F Ryan Graham, who was taken in the fifth round of the 2011 bantam draft. He had 24 points in 33 games with the bantam AAA Calgary Royals last season. . . . Thanks to the Medicine Hat Tigers for posting their roster on their website. The Tigers, you should know, are down to 39 players. . . .
G Chris Driedger of the Calgary Hitmen is out for up to four weeks with a high ankle sprain. Driedger, 17, was acquired from the Tri-City Americans in July and is expected to scrap for playing time with Brandon Glover, 19, and 20-year-old Michael Snider. . . . The Everett Silvertips have signed F Ty Mappin and F Dawson Leedahl, a pair of 2011 bantam draft picks. Mappin was the seventh overall selection after picking up 71 points, including 37 goals, in 33 games with the bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels. Leedahl, the 40th overall pick, had 127 points, 56 of them goals, in 54 games with the bantam AA Saskatoon Maniacs. The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder also piled up 196 penalty minutes.
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The Kelowna Rockets and the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints are having quite a dance over F Zemgus Girgensons. . . . Ryan Clark has the latest on his blog, Slightly Chilled, over there on the right.
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Kelly Friesen of Yahoo! Sports takes a look a 10 new faces in the WHL this season, all of them worth keeping an eye on. That piece is right here.
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that F David Greyeyes, now 20, will attempt to resume his hockey career this season.
“Constant headaches and hardly being able to exert any physical energy without vomiting were all side effects from a serious concussion he sustained in training camp with the Prince George Cougars in 2009,” Nugent-Bowman writes. “The hit from behind, administered by a teammate, quelled what was a budding career.”
The complete story is right here.
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Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post is of the opinion that fighting in hockey has outlived its usefullness.
His column is right here.
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Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail offers up his thoughts on the  crisis that has wrapped its tentacles around the game of hockey. That piece is right here.
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We go back to March 24, 1997, for today’s good read. Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated takes a look at hockey’s enforcers in a story headlined: The World Job In Sports. . . . Pour a cup of coffee and give this a read. It’s right here.

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

A fond farewell . . .

A look at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre from a scout's vantage point. This photo
was taken by Wade Klippenstein, the assistant GM and director of player
personnel for the Prince George Cougars, while attending a recent playoff game
between the Warriors and Kootenay Ice.
(Photo courtesy Wade Klippenstein)

(The Moose Jaw Civic Centre — aka Crushed Can — was home to its final hockey game Sunday night. The Moose Jaw Warriors will move into a new downtown multiplex in time for next season. Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald wrote a feature on the old girl and has graciously allowed it to be used here. We thank him for that.)

By MATTHEW GOURLIE
Moose Jaw Times-Herald

MOOSE JAW — Architect Joseph Pettick was trying to find a cost-efficient modern solution to the problem of heating a hockey arena — he felt a low, concave roof would keep the ice cool and the fans warm by funneling the heat upwards.
The design was meant to channel heat, but it ended up creating it, too — even on nights when you could see your breath inside the building. With its quirky bounces, small ice surface, steep stands and a ceiling that trapped noise and energy, Pettick had unwittingly designed a powder keg of a hockey rink.
“The fans are so close to the action,” offers Peter Loubardias of Rogers Sportsnet, who once was the radio voice of the Regina Pats so is quite familiar with the building. “When they’re involved in Moose Jaw, it’s loud. You’re right on top of the kids and I think the kids really, really feed off it. They can feel it. Almost everybody in that whole building is so close to the ice surface no matter where you are. With the roof the way it is — being so close to the ice — the noise just stays in there.”
The Moose Jaw Civic Centre played host to its final hockey game on Sunday night. But when it is talked about — and surely the old Crushed Can will be talked about by nostalgic hockey fans for years to come — the concave roof and the noise level in the building won’t ever be forgotten.
“When people walk into the place, they say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ But that’s part of its charm. That’s why the legend will never die. It is so outrageously different,” says Kelly Remple, who was the Moose Jaw Warriors’ marketing director for two seasons and was the chair of the Trans-Canada Clash alumni games.
Different. Often derided. More often beloved. The Crushed Can is a Picasso in a hockey arena landscape being taken over by paint-by-numbers.
Brian Costello, the senior special editions editor at the The Hockey News, has never been in a coffin, but he imagines the experience might be similar to being in the Civic Centre.
“You feel like you can reach up and touch the ceiling wherever you were sitting. It’s a weird feeling,” says Costello, who covered the Swift Current Broncos for the Swift Current Sun in the late ’80s.
It’s a building that makes a strong first impression.
Current Warriors captain Spencer Edwards recalls being a 16-year-old rookie with the Red Deer Rebels when he first set foot in the rink. After a long bus ride, the Rebels unloaded their gear through a darkened concourse and down the side stairs.
“I hadn’t really seen the rink yet,” Edwards remembers. “We went straight to the dressing room. A lot of people don’t know it, but the visiting dressing room is pretty nice here. It’s a lot nicer than some of the newer buildings in the league.
“We put away all of our gear and walked out to the rink and I was shocked. I had never seen anything like it in my life.”
There may, in fact, be nothing like it.
Pettick was inspired by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright to become an architect.
With the angles and curves of the Civic Centre and the SaskPower building in Regina, Wright’s inspiration is evident in some of Pettick’s most iconic work. When it opened, the arena looked modern and space-aged — like a tail fin on a ’59 Cadillac.
The sloped roof is the rink’s most notorious feature, but it’s far from its only quirk. The ice surface is officially listed as 194 feet long — only six feet short of regulation — but it’s hard to find anyone who really believes the listed 85x194 dimensions.
Along with the cozy confines came the lively boards and erratic bounces. Rare is the rink that has a personality, but there were nights when it felt like the Crushed Can was trying to help the home side.
In last season’s playoffs, a Chad Suer dump-in took a hard left turn off a stanchion without losing speed. The shot had a CGI quality to it as it made a beeline for Calgary goalie Martin Jones, hit him and ended up in the net.
In the Warriors’ first home game after the 2006 car accident in which forward Garrett Robinson was so badly injured, Warriors defenceman Jesse Zetariuk watched one of his dump-ins take a friendly hop into a vacated net.
Once the playoffs started and the days grew longer, the setting sun would even peek into the building, bathing the lower seats on the east side in sunlight.
Of all of the mythical qualities of the rink, none was as pronounced as the way momentum would rapidly build.
Earlier this season, the Pats had quited the local crowd with three early goals. The Warriors promptly scored four goals in less than five minutes to grab the lead before the end of the first period.
“It’s the momentum. With the atmosphere and the fans behind you, that momentum is easy to keep building upon,” explains Mark MacKay, the original Warriors captain. “On the other end, it’s hard for the opposing team. It pushes them down.”
Loubardias says in his five seasons calling games with the Pats, he frequently saw a superior Pats team fall victim to a seven- or eight-minute run of Warriors momentum and lose in the Civic Centre.
“When that team gets going in that building and they get on a roll, they are no fun to deal with — and they’ve never been any fun to deal with,” says Loubardias.
“I always loved the passion there. When the games were good and the people were really involved, it really was a special, special place to go to a game.
“What makes Moose Jaw special and what makes that building special is that that team is so important to that community. The people liked hard, physical, tough hockey and thrived on it. It will always be a real special place to me and I will be sad to see it go.”
The passion spills over from time to time as well. And that, too, is part of the building’s lore.
There was the night Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman Theran Yeo was jumped by a group of fans in the tunnel as he exited the ice. And the night Pats fans knocked Puckhead, the Warriors’ mascot, to the ground. Puckhead got some quick medical attention but returned to action. One night later, the Pats’ mascot, K9, was a healthy scratch for fear of retribution.
It was a bench-clearing brawl in 1984 that kick-started the Pats-Warriors rivalry. Remple recalls being a wide-eyed 12-year-old standing at the glass, taking in all of the mayhem.
“I wish all of the new generation of fans in southern Saskatchewan could have been to a Pats-Warriors game in the ’80s,” Remple says. “It’s hard to explain to people, but the level of excitement and enthusiasm — and just the decibel level — was in a different universe than it is now.”
There are those who argue that there’s a good reason why there aren’t any other rinks like the Civic Centre. Its steep stairs are treacherous. The lineups to use its washrooms can be endless. There’s little room to move on the concourse that runs under the stands. The rink is showing its age. It can be tropical or freezing inside — sometimes in the span of the same week.
It’s not the most pleasant spectating experience for the fans, but those who played there have always loved it.
“Since I’ve been involved with the alumni, every single player I’ve ever talked to says they absolutely loved the games in there,” says Remple. “The amenities may not be quite up to par. But the 2 1/2 hours of actual hockey? They loved it.”
Of course, the Civic Centre is merely a building — concrete and steel, for the most part. MacKay believes the building is special because of the people who have spent more time in it than any player — the fans who have dutifully backed the Warriors through good times and bad.
“Any hockey player loves the fact that the people are involved. The fans are right on top of the ice. They’re loud,” says MacKay, who was a 20-year-old in the Warriors’ first season in Moose Jaw.
“We didn’t win a ton of games that year, but the ones we did win, they made it special for us. They made us feel special. Their support through hard times was so important.”
They knew how to make visiting players feel special, too, though not in quite the same way. After Regina forward Frank Kovacs declined to fight Warriors tough guy Kent Staniforth, then-Warriors head coach Lorne Molleken called out the Pats’ captain and called him “yellow” in the media.
“Molleken was no dummy,’’ Kovacs says. “He clicked into that and it was a good trade for him to have me sitting in the penalty box with Kent Staniforth.
“So I was in a tough spot. Do I fight Kent Staniforth and sit in the box or do I turn away from a fight offer? Well, I can’t win, right?”
Instead he was serenaded by the Warriors fans. Constantly. For more than a season.
“The way the rink is built, the fans are right on top of you. Everywhere you went, there were fans on top of you,” Kovacs says. “So when someone says something against you like ‘yellow! yellow!’, well, you hear it. It’s not like it’s up in Section 500 in the nosebleeds. It’s all right there. And one person says it and the whole crowd gets into it because you can hear it so easily.”
If anything, Kovacs says, he enjoyed the heckling and the odd profanity from the crowd. He says the rink was a good test for a hockey team because you had to show up every night when you played in Moose Jaw.
“You had to be ready for a good game coming in there or else you were going to get crushed,” says Kovacs. “I loved playing in Moose Jaw. It’s a great character hockey rink. That’s a great place to play.”
As hard as it was for most visiting teams to play in the Civic Centre, it could be a welcoming place, but only on the most significant of occasions.
After the Dec. 30, 1986 bus crash in which Swift Current players Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff died, the Broncos returned to the ice for the first time in Moose Jaw.
“On the way to that game it was such a sullen feeling on that bus,” recalls Costello. “When the team and the players walked in that arena, it was pretty special — especially when they came in for the pre-game warm-up and the anthem. It was quite an amazing ovation for them. You don’t see that for the visiting team — at all — anywhere.”
The Civic Centre opened in the fall of 1959 with a gala performance by legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, an event that was attended by then-Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas. It later played host to the 1983 world women’s curling championship.
With the Moose Jaw Canucks (WCHL and SJHL) and then the Warriors its primary tenants, the building became synonymous with hockey. A lot of great players passed through its doors and its rich history is in evidence on every wall with framed photos of Moose Jaw’s hockey past.
“There’s so much history,” Edwards says. “Even just walking through, you can tell that not only has it been around for a long time, but a lot of important people have walked in and played in this building.
“There’s no atmosphere like it. The noise level in the building on a playoff night or a Regina night is second to none in the league, for sure.”