Fighting to save a hockey program

F Justin Maylan (Moose Jaw. Prince George, Prince Albert, 2007-12) signed a one-year contract with Gherdëina (Italy, Serie A). Last season, with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL), he had one assist in three games. He also was pointless in four games with the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL). He signed with Herning (Denmark, Metal Ligaen) in November and put up 21 points, six of them goals, in 22 games.
---
If Trevor Bast has his way, the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) WolfPack hockey team will live a long and fruitful life.
Unfortunately, the school’s athletic director buried the team last week.
In eliminating the hockey program, Ken Olynyk, TRU’s athletics and recreation director, said: “ . . . due to economics and a lack of a sustainable model, we have no choice but to dissolve the program.”
The hockey program started life in 2008-09. It was a club team that was operated by the Kamloops Collegiate Hockey Society. A source familiar with the situation has told Taking Note that the team was $50,000 in debt.
Bast, however, isn’t about to give up.
“I am determined to start a movement to revive this team,” Bast, who lives in Victoria, told Taking Note on Sunday night.
For the last three seasons, the WolfPack’s head coach was Don Schulz. Last season, the WolfPack went 9-14, finishing fourth in the six-team B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League. TRU then lost out in the first round of the playoffs.
Bast’s son, Des, was the last recruit signed by the WolfPack. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound defenceman’s signing was announced via news release on July 17. Bast, 19, split last season between the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks and the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior league.
“It was a bitter disappointment for our entire family when (the program ended), as well as for the other players involved,” Trevor Bast said. “Just to have a chance to play four more years of competitive hockey and for us to cheer him and his team on for four more years is a thrill only a hockey family can relate to. Having that pulled out from under you suddenly leaves a huge void.”
Hockey or not, Des still plans on attending TRU, where he will study architectural and engineering technology, a program his father said “is quite unique and not offered in many places.”
But when Trevor Bast looked at what happened to the hockey program, he said, “I can't help but think this was a completely avoidable situation.”
The way he figures it, $40,000 would have saved the team.
“There is too much money in the hockey world for $40,000 to take down a university program -- club, varsity or otherwise,” he said. “The thing that jumps out at me is the hockey team ran on a $100,000 budget. With a full roster at last year’s player fee of $1,500 that covers approx 40 per cent.
“That leaves $60,000 for the team, the foundation and the university to make up via grants, sponsorship, fundraising, etc. At the end of the day, the announced shortfall was $40,000 and a plan for sustainability was not in place.
“Of those 20 or so players who suddenly lost this team, if eight of them decide to not attend school at all due to this, that is eight too many. That is life- and career-altering.”
Bast is determined to find out whether there is money available for a program such as this.
“There is a sustainable model out there,” he said. “There is money out there in the form of corporate sponsorship and a huge network of multi-millionaire pros from the B.C. Interior. There are great business minds with a passion for hockey and higher education who could lend expertise to creating a sustainable model. TRU has a business and marketing program that is the envy of other larger institutions.”
Starting right now, Bast said, the fight is on try and save the program.
“I, like everyone else, have a lot more ideas and questions than answers right now,” he said, “but the solution is out there and it is worth fighting for.
“I believe this team will be revived and I will do whatever I can to get behind the cause.”
Bast may be reached by email at  trevorbast@gmail.com
---



Herb Hand is the offensive line coach with the Penn State Nittany Lions football team. The other day, a player he was recruiting posted something Hand found offensive, so the recruitment drive ended. Right there. . . . There is more right here on the impact of social media on these situations. It should have been headlined: Players beware!
---
The always thoughtful William C. Rhoden of The New York Times weighs in right here with his look at the mess Stephen A. Smith of ESPN found himself in after opining on the suspension handed running back Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens by the NFL.
---

I find the idea of a divorce lawyer advertising in a minor hockey rink really really funny. pic.twitter.com/VA3EPKLLmS
— Steve Ladurantaye (@sladurantaye) August 2, 2014

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

USA Hockey posts solid numbers . . . Whatever happened to Eric (The Flea) Allen?

1. A report issued by USA Hockey earlier this month shows player registration at an all-time high. In 2013-14, USA Hockey reports it had 519,417 registered players. . . . In Oregon, home of the Portland Winterhawks, registration was up 60.2 per cent, to 2,148 players. . . . Chris Peters of The United States of Hockey has a great look at all the numbers right here. . . . In looking at Oregon, he writes: “I think part of Oregon’s rapid growth is aided by adult leagues coming under USA Hockey registration that were not previously, skewing the numbers. That said, youth hockey is also up across the board. I think the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and their recent stretch of excellent teams and ability to connect the greater Portland area to hockey has really made an impact here in some meaningful ways.” . . . The state of Washington, which boasts four WHL franchises, is up 5.7 per cent to 8,369 players. “I don’t have much of a theory on how this is happening, but Washington state has been trending up in hockey participation for years now,” Peters writes. “Four WHL teams and a strong NAHL club definitely have to be helping in some ways here.” . . . Peters also breaks down some numbers to show that, although it’s early, it seems the decision to remove body-checking from the lower age groups is starting to pay dividends.

2. While watching Germany and Ghana play to a 2-2 draw at the World Cup on Saturday afternoon, a thought crossed my mind. Yes, that happens once in a while. . . . It was late in the game and both teams were going hard; in other words, there was no sitting back and playing for the tie and the resulting overtime or shootout. . . . In the first round of the World Cup, a regulation-time victory is worth three points; a draw gives one point to each team. The loser doesn’t get a thing. . . . Hey, hockey, are you paying attention?

3. BTW, you don’t have to like soccer to have enjoyed that game between Germany and Ghana. Not only did both teams play hard until the end, it was ample proof that there are times when there isn’t anything wrong with a game that ends in a draw.

4. As I headed out on my daily walk early Saturday afternoon, I flipped on XM Radio and it happened to be set on ESPN. Jon Champion and Stewart Robson were calling Germany versus Ghana and doing an excellent job of it. . . . JP Dellacamera and Tommy Smyth will have today’s much-anticipated match between Portugal and the U.S. Game time is 2:30 p.m. Pacific. . . . Smyth, by the way, had one of those moments during Friday’s Costa Rica-Italy game. Awful Announcing has more on that right here.

5. A junior A hockey coach, who also owned the franchise, once told me that a perfect season meant losing Game 7 of the championship final at home. That meant, he explained, that the team would make money. A Game 7 victory and the ensuing travels would only cost money. . . . That crossed my mind as I read this piece right here from Robin Short of the St. John’s Telegram. In the column, Short explains how the St. John’s IceCaps got to Game 5 of the AHL final and ended up losing “350 large.” . . . But had the series gone to a Game 6, that figure would have been more than $500,000.

6. Amateur sport may be in its death throes and it’s happening in a courtroom in Oakland. Yes, it involves the NCAA, which maintains that it shouldn’t pay a salary to student-athletes. Charles P. Pierce of Grantland has an excellent piece right here.

7. Daniel Snyder, the owner of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, has so far ignored all the cries for him to change the team’s nickname. As the heat intensifies, how should Roger Goodell, the NFL’s commissioner, approach the situation? William C. Rhoden of The New York Times opines right here.

8. If you are a football fan, you may remember former Toronto Argonauts star Eric (The Flea) Allen. Today, he lives in South Carolina where his mother looks after him. His family is working to find a lawyer, meaning the CFL soon may be facing one of those concussion lawsuits. Terry Ott of The Concussion Blog has more right here.

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.