THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Ty Morris (Swift Current, Vancouver, Red Deer, 2003-05) signed a try-out contract through Oct. 31 with Munich (Germany, DEL), one day after he was released from a try-out with the Ravensburg Towerstars (Germany, 2.Bundesliga). He had one goal in two games during his trial with Ravensburg. Last season, Morris had five goals and 24 assists in 31 games with the Bietigheim Steelers (Germany, 2.Bundesliga).
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JUST NOTES:
NHL linesman Vaughan Rody is the Prince George Cougars’ new power-skating coach. Rody operates Pro Edge Skating, is a triathlete and also a personal training. He is a former WHL linesman who has been in the NHL since 2000-01. . . .
D Martin Gernat, 19, of the Edmonton Oil Kings had shoulder surgery in Europe on Wednesday and won’t rejoin his teammates until late next month. Gernat put up 55 points for the Oil Kings last season. Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal has more right here. . . .
D William Wrenn, who captained the Portland Winterhawks last season, has signed with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces. He is a native of Anchorage. . . . Wrenn was a second-round selection by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL’s 2009 draft and is in camp with their AHL affiliate, the Worcester Sharks. Should he not play for the AHL Sharks, he will join the Aces. . . .
The Kelowna Rockets will be without F J.T. Barnett (knee) for up to a month. He was injured on his first shift of a season-opening 6-5 OT loss to the Blazers in Kamloops. An MRI showed that has a sprain. . . . The Rockets also are without D Mitchell Chapman (ankle). He has yet to play this season and likely won’t until late next month. . . . Barnett and Chapman are two of the Rockets’ 20-year-olds. . . . The Rockets are in Portland for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader. Kelowna also will be without D Jesse Lees. The sophomore was a healthy scratch for the first two games but now is sidelined with the flu and didn’t make the trip south. . . . The Winterhawks will have D Seth Jones in the lineup tonight but not Saturday. After playing tonight, he will head for Buffalo and Saturday’s All-American Prospects game. . . .
It’s the WHL’s version of the Battle of Alberta tonight and it should be a good one. The Edmonton Oil Kings, who are 3-0-0, play host to the Calgary Hitmen, who are 2-0-0. Have fun!
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THURSDAY’S GAME:
The Tri-City Americans got their first victory after two losses, beating the visiting and winless Everett Silvertips, 3-1. . . . The Silvertips (0-2-1) are in Vancouver tonight where something has to give as the Giants also are winless (0-2-0). . . . Tri-City F Justin Feser scored an empty-net goal last night, giving him 250 career points.

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Coaching matchup is intriguing

The hockey gods work in mysterious ways. They really do.
How else to explain that two coaches who may well have been working together in the NHL are about to go head-to-head tonight in Portland? If only the roll of the dice had been different . . .
The Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks open a best-of-seven WHL second-round set-to tonight at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
And, yes, it’s true. Guy Charron, the Blazers’ head coach, and Mike Johnston, the general manager and head coach of the Winterhawks, may well have ended up on the coaching staff of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
Johnston was part of head coach Marc Crawford’s staff with the Vancouver Canucks from 1999 to 2006. When that run ended, Johnston followed Crawford to Los Angeles where they hooked up again as head coach and associate coach. That lasted for two seasons before the Kings decided to blow it up and start over.
Johnston promptly applied for the head-coaching position and there are those in the hockey business who feel he came close to getting it. The Kings, though, eventually settled on Terry Murray and we all know how that turned out.
In the meantime, Charron was working with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. First, he was an assistant coach, then the interim head coach, following the firing of Craig Hartsburg, and then as an assistant coach again, this time under Bryan Murray.
When Charron was in Anaheim and Johnston was in Vancouver, the two became familiar with each other, not on a social level, but on a coaching level.
They both had come through the Hockey Canada coaching mill and had attended coaching seminars together, so they certainly were aware of each other. But they had never worked together.
Had decisions been made differently in Los Angeles, though, who knows how things would have turned out?
Johnston says he “hadn’t looked that far ahead” in terms of putting together a coaching staff but it’s fair to say that Charron was on his radar. Johnston does admit that “I have always respected Guy as a top coach and would have explored that option.”
As for Charron, he allows that “we may have worked together.”
That same summer of 2009, Johnston signed on with the Winterhawks; in November, Charron took over as the Blazers’ head coach.
Tonight, they will be working the opposing benches in a series that continues Saturday and then comes to Kamloops for games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Charron is looking forward to the challenge, if for no other reason than he hasn’t been able to figure out Johnston.
Asked after a practice this week if he gets excited over coaching matchups, Charron replied: “I think you do. As coaches you have to. Once you’ve done your work at practice and everything else, it’s basically the management of the bench, having the right people out there.”
With all of the video that is available these days, coaches spend more time in front of TV sets than One Tree Hill aficionados. Coaches are looking for anything that might give them an edge, no matter how small.
Charron, who has been the head coach here since Nov. 23, 2009, knows that when he faces Vancouver, Giants head coach Don Hay will keep going to his best players.
“I know (Hay) double-shifts guys a lot,” Charron says, recalling that in a first-round series two years ago, Hay had “(Brendan) Gallagher on the ice every second shift.”
Charron knows that when he’s up against Ryan Huska and the Kelowna Rockets there will be a lot of line-matching involved.
But when the opposition is provided by Johnston and the Winterhawks, well, Charron has watched and watched and . . .
“Obviously, a lot of coaches are going to play their best players,” Charron says with a shrug. “He’s got a crop of good players so I expect them to be used in a lot of key situations.”
As for line-matching, Charron says, “I don’t know. He’s never had to match too much. I haven’t seen him trying to match to what we have.”
Just last week, the Winterhawks swept Huska’s Rockets from the first round. In Game 4 in Kelowna, Johnston didn’t use his fourth line a whole lot. That, however, may have been more a case of wanting to make sure the series ended right then and there.
Charron says that in a lot of instances a coach “reads the game.” This likely was a case of a coach reading a series.
The Blazers’ coaching staff eschews line-matching in favour of matching defencemen. Which is why Austin Madaisky and Tyler Hansen will see a lot of Ty Rattie, Sven Baertschi and Marcel Noebels, Portland’s high-flying troika, starting tonight.
And what does Johnston expect to see over the next few days?
“When you look at it,” he told reporters earlier this week, “it was almost an even series over the course of the (season).”
Yes, it was. The Blazers and Winterhawks each won twice, with each team scoring 14 goals.
“You look at the depth of the teams, the players, the personnel, what happened in the games, and it’s very, very close between the two teams,” Johnston continued. “There’s not much of a difference between the two teams.”
Portland defenceman William Wrenn, the team captain, pretty much summed up things when he told Kris Anderson of the Portland Tribune: “Skill level in my opinion will be about the same. It’s just going to come down to will.”
Will . . . like, will one coach manage his bench better than the other?

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Taylor Vause of the Swift Current Broncos, with the sweater that he designed.
(Photo courtesy of Swift Current Broncos)

ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
Mr. Commissioner, do you read all the comments left by fans on the WHL’s Facebook page?
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The Swift Current Broncos will wear themed sweaters on Saturday when the Regina Pats came calling.
The sweaters were designed by Broncos captain Taylor Vause, who obviously is rather talented when it comes to graphic design, and remembers the four Broncos who died when the team’s bus crashed on Dec. 30, 1986.
Leading up to Saturday night, the Broncos will auction off the game-worn jerseys with all proceeds going to the team’s education fund.
Fans will be able to bid online (www.scbroncos.com) or by phone (306-773-1509) leading up to the game, or in the lobby of the Credit Union iPlex during the game. The bidding will start at $150 for each jersey, with additional bids accepted in $10 increments.
A live auction is scheduled to be held after the game. That auction will involve sweaters worn by Vause, Andy Blanke, Coda Gordon and Graham Black.

All of which allows me to plug a book that is to be published by Dundurn Press in November.
Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos tells the story of the team that survived that horrific bus accident and went on to win the 1989 Memorial Cup championship with a 5-4 overtime victory over the Blades in Saskatoon.
Yes, I was involved in writing the book, along with Leesa Culp, who happened to witness the accident, and Bob Wilkie, a defenceman who was on that bus and who also was on the Memorial Cup-winning team.
You may pre-order the book from right here at amazon.ca or McNally Robinson.
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Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s minister of justice, delivered something of a wakeup call on Tuesday morning by handing out 25 games in suspensions to four players.
D Brennan Yadlowski of the Everett Silvertips will watch for 10 games after receiving a game misconduct on Friday in Portland. “The player’s off-ice actions following removal from game in the third period were unacceptable,” read Doerksen’s written reasons.
F Brendan Hurley of the Medicine Hat Tigers and F Brett Lyon of the Kelowna Rockets each drew a six-game sentence for hits that left opponents concussed.
Hurley hit D Duncan Siemens of the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday. The Blades have said Siemens is likely to be out 10 days. “The player checked the opponent, who was in a vulnerable position, from behind,” Doerksen wrote. “The opponent was injured on the play. The player has received several checking from behind penalties this season.”
Lyon delivered a check to the head of Cougars F Jarrett Fontaine on Friday in Prince George. “Primary contact was made to the head of a vulnerable player,” Doerksen wrote. “This is the third suspension the player has received in the past three seasons for this type of hit.”
Lyon was suspended under supplemental discipline as there wasn’t a penalty on the play. Neither Lyon nor Fontaine played in Saturday’s rematch in Prince George.
Finally, F Kristians Pelss of the Edmonton Oil Kings was suspended for three games for a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct against the visiting Red Deer Rebels on Friday.
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So . . . let us try and piece together the Yadlowski suspension.
As stated above, Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, wrote: “The player’s off-ice actions following removal from game in the third period were unacceptable.”
Yadlowski was given a major and game misconduct at 19:41 of the third period. That was after a fight with F Jason Trott, who received an instigating minor, fighting major and game misconduct.
So what happened after that? Well, it seems that Yadlowski may have gone somewhere he wasn’t welcome.
Scott Sepich, a freelancer who follows the Winterhawks, tweeted: “Yadlowski apparently tried to enter Portland's dressing room, upset with Portland's Jason Trott, with whom he had just fought.”
There may be some truth to that as Portland F Taylor Peters, again via Twitter, offered his services as tour guide.
"If the guy wants a tour of the room all he has to do is ask,” Peters tweeted.
There were other tweets, too:
From Portland D Troy Rutkowski: “@BigBadYads keep the ginger rage down a bit sir #deepbreaths #gingersdohavesouls”
Yadlowski, 20, responded with “not a fan of getting jumped #classless."
Rutkowski and Yadlowski, by the way, are pals from Edmonton.
The Silvertips played the Royals in Victoria last night and Everett head coach Mark Ferner confirmed before the game that Yadlowski, indeed, had made his way into Portland’s dressing room.
“It was silly,” Ferner told Travis Huntington, the radio voice of the Silvertips, on the pregame show. “The game was over . . . (late in the game we were) 4 on 4, they sent over a player who maybe got three or four shifts. . . . (Yadlowski) said the kid jumped him. Yads took his skates off and ended up going in their dressing room.”
In Portland’s Memorial Coliseum, the dressing rooms are on opposite sides with an expanse of concrete between them. Thus, Yadlowski had to take off his skates to make the trek. He must have been one upset dude.
Of course, as always seems to happen in these instances, Doerksen had the last word.
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JUST NOTES:
The WHL held meetings in Las Vegas on the weekend, it being Super Bowl weekend and the Las Vegas WHL franchise and that city’s hotels needing the help that might be generated from holding meetings there. . . . You are free to visit the Las Vegas Sun’s website for coverage of the meetings. . . . If you don’t find any coverage, it will be because the WHL believes in that old saying that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. . . .
The hits just keep coming for the Red Deer Rebels. They now have lost F Colten Mayor, 18, for up to four weeks with an undisclosed injury. . . . Mayor, in his third season, has 38 points, including 14 goals, in 52 games this season. . . . He is from St. Alberta, Alta. . . .
The Portland Winterhawks will be without D William Wrenn, their captain, for another couple of weeks. He suffered a broken bone in his right hand during a Jan. 28 game in Seattle. He should be back in two to three weeks. . . . Portland F Ty Rattie, who continues to lead the scoring race, took a rap on the head in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the visiting Vancouver Giants and hasn’t played since. He is listed on the WHL injury report as being out for another week with an “upper-body” injury. . . .
In the BCHL, the Penticton Vees dumped the host Chilliwack Chiefs 7-0 on Tuesday night to run their winning streak to a league-record 30 games. That broke the record of 29 they had shared with the 1989-90 New Westminster Royals. . . .
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Edmonton, F Michael St. Croix broke a 1-1 tie at 7:42 of the third period and the Oil Kings went on to beat the Kootenay Ice, 3-1. . . . F Sam Reinhart scored the game’s first goal, his 23rd, at 11:36 of the first, via the PP. . . . His brother, Griffin, got that one back for Edmonton at 17:52 of the second. . . . St. Croix got his 34th on the PP. . . . F Rhett Rachinski put it away with an empty-netter at 19:16. . . . Ice F Max Reinhart (foot) returned from a five-game absence. That meant all three Reinhart brothers were in the game, Sam and Max with the Ice and Griffin with the Oil Kings. . . . Griffin holds bragging rights as the Oil Kings have won three of four meetings this season. . . . Sam, who isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2014, has 23 goals. He is trying to become the first 16-year-old with 30 goals since F Brett Connolly scored 30 for the Prince George Cougars in 2008-09. Connolly was the first to do it since F Patrick Marleau scored 32 for the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1995-96. . . . The game was a rare midweek morning affair, with a start time of 11:30 a.m. Attendance was announced as 8,850. . . . Ice G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 32 shots, six more than Edmonton’s Laurent Brossoit. . . . The Oil Kings pulled into a tie with the Tri-City Americans for second place in the overall standings. Both teams are two points behind the Kamloops Blazers. The Americans visit Kamloops tonight. . . .

In Medicine Hat, F Cole Grbavac broke a 3-3 tie at 8:10 of the third period and the Tigers went on to a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz stopped 40 shots, including 15 in the first period and 17 in the second. . . . Grbavac, the Tigers’ captain, has nine goals. . . . Medicine Hat F Emerson Etem scored his WHL-leading 49th goal on a PP at 17:49 of the third. He has 49 goals in 48 games. . . . The Tigers are third in the Eastern Conference and now are three points ahead of the Hitmen. . . . Medicine Hat was 3-for-3 on the PP. . . .

In Victoria, the Everett Silvertips climbed out of the Western Conference basement with a 3-2 victory over the Royals. . . . The Silvertips are three points behind the Seattle Thunderbirds, who hold down the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, and five behind the seventh-place Royals. . . . The Silvertips play in Victoria again tonight. . . . F Cody Fowlie, with his ninth goal, and D Dominik Bittner, with his third, gave Everett a 2-0 lead late in the second period. . . . Victoria F Ben Walker scored his seventh at 5:24 of the third, but Everett F Ryan Harrison, with his 14th, got that one back at 11:41. . . . F Brandon Mageen got the home team to within one with his 19th goal at 19:12 of the third on the PP. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 29 shots. . . . The Silvertips had F Carson Stadnyk, an eighth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft, in their lineup for the first time. Stadnyk, who turned 17 yesterday, has 55 points in 38 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts. . . . Everett was without D Brennan Yadlowski, who was suspended for 10 games earlier in the day. In his absence, D Josh Caron had an ‘A’ on his sweater. . . . The Royals were without D Zach Habscheid (ankle), who was injured while unloading the team bus on Sunday and may be out for a while. Marc Habscheid, the Royals’ GM/head coach and Zach’s father, told the Victoria Times Colonist that “it’s not good . . . it might be the season.” . . . Habscheid said he has only had two games all season when he has had a healthy corps of defencemen. . . . Victoria did welcome back D Tyler Stahl, who hadn’t played since the fourth game of the season. He took a headshot from then-Prince George Cougars F Charles Inglis on Oct. 1 and has been out with a concussion. Inglis drew a 10-game suspension for the hit; he now is with the Red Deer Rebels. . . . Stahl didn’t finish, however, and now is looking at a suspension. He took a charging major and game misconduct for a hit on F Jordyn Boyd at 4:11 of the second period.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Trent Lofthouse, Everett.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave: “I just dropped my laptop off the boat...its a dell, rolling in the deep.”

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A touch of hockey history in a WHL game

TREVOR COX

There was a little bit of hockey history involved in a game in Swift Current on Friday night.
Trevor Cox, a 16-year-old forward from Surrey, B.C., scored his first WHL goal for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Cox, playing his seventh game of the season, scored at 12:46 of the first period, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead in a game they would lose, 3-2.
Cox, who wasn’t selected in the 2010 bantam draft, was added to the Tigers’ list and made the team in training camp prior to this season. He was the leading scorer with the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League last season. They play out of Langley, Surrey and Cloverdale on the Lower Mainland. In fact, Trevor’s twin brother, Matt, is playing with the Hawks this season.
And now for the history part of this . . .
The Cox boys are great grandsons of the late, great Fred (Cyclone) Taylor, who played for, among other teams, the Vancouver Millionaires, who won the 1915 Stanley Cup. Yes, the Millionaires are the only Vancouver team to have won the Stanley Cup. Taylor scored six of the Millionaires’ 26 goals as they swept the visiting Ottawa Senators — 6-2, 8-3 and 12-3 — in the 1915 final.
Taylor, considered one of the greatest players of hockey’s early days, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. He died on June 9, 1979.
The Cox boys also are nephews of Mark Taylor, who played three games for the Kamloops Chiefs in 1975-76 and then moved on to the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, with whom he won the NCAA’s championship in the spring of 1980.
Taylor later played 209 NHL games, split among the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. He was a sixth-round pick by the Flyers in the NHL’s 1978 draft.
For more on Cyclone Taylor and the Cox brothers, check out this story from Peter Mansbridge of CBC’s The National. It was done last spring during the Vancouver Canucks’ playoff run. (Check out Mark Taylor wearing Cooperall's with the Philadelphia Flyers!)
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JUST NOTES: F Luke Gordon, who had gotten into one game with the Calgary Hitmen, now is with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. Gordon, 17, is from Terrace, B.C. . . . The Portland Winterhawks have assigned F Ryley Bennefield to the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm. Bennefield, 17, is from Wetaskiwin, Alta. He was pointless in three games with Portland. He was a second-round selection by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2009 bantam draft. Portland acquired Bennefield from Lethbridge in January, in exchange for the rights to D Branden Scheidl, a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . The Edmonton Oil Kings announced Friday that they have signed D Cody Corbett, who won’t turn 18 until Dec. 14. He is from Lakeland, Minn. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Corbett didn’t play last night in Regina. The Oil Kings are in Brandon tonight. . . . Just in case you missed it, the Edmonto Oilers revealed Friday that they will keep F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the first pick in the NHL's 2011 draft, rather than return him to the Red Deer Rebels. This, of course, means that the first year of his contract kicks in. The Oilers could still return him to the Rebels at a later date.
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In Brandon, G Cody Beach had two goals and three assists as the Moose Jaw Warriors beat the Wheat Kings, 8-4. . . . G Brandon Anderson, acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, made his first home start for the Wheat Kings but was gone after surrendering seven goals on 34 shots. . . . F Justin Kirsch, acquired this week by Moose Jaw from Calgary, had two PP goals in his first game with his new squad. . . . Brandon F Mark Stone had a goal and an assist, running his season-opening point streak to 14 games. . . . Stone leads the WHL with 30 points. . . . The Warriors erased a 1-0 deficit by scoring five goals in a span of 12:39, the key goal being Beach’s PP goal at 19:59 of the first that gave the visitors a 4-1 lead. . . . Moose Jaw D Dylan McIlrath sat out his second game with an undisclosed injury, while D Kendall McFaull missed his fourth game. . . . This was Brandon’s first home game in three weeks, following a road swing that took it into the U.S. Division. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re NHL, junior, whatever, that first game back always seems to be very difficult,” Brandon head coach Cory Clouston told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun, “and credit to Moose Jaw, they came out, played well, they deserved the game. But we know we can be a lot better and it’s just managing the puck and being a lot more sure of the puck.” . . . The Wheat Kings play host to the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight. . . .

In Swift Current, F Taylor Vause broke a 2-2 tie just 17 seconds into the third period and the Broncos hung on to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-2. . . . It was Vause’s 11th goal of the season. . . . Medicine Hat F Emerson Etem scored his 100th regular-season goal in his 151st game. It was his WHL-leading 18th goal in 14 games this season. . . . The Broncos, who have won two in a row, and Tigers will play again tonight in Medicine Hat. . . .

In Prince George, F Jordan Martinook enjoyed his first career three-goal game as the Vancouver Giants beat the Cougars 4-2. . . . Martinook, who scored 11 goals in 72 games last season, has nine in 15 outings this season. . . . The Giants, who won for the first time in six road games, have won their last four games. . . . The Cougars have lost eight in a row. . . . Former Cougars head coach Ed Dempsey was among the 1,806 spectators. . . . Vancouver F Jackson Houck will be hearing from the WHL office after taking a major for checking to the head in the second period. . . .

In Lethbridge, Portland D William Wrenn had two assists and was plus-4 as the Winterhawks dropped the Hurricanes, 4-1. . . . Portland is 2-3-0 on its nine-game road trip. . . . The Hurricanes, who opened the season with two victories and a shootout loss, now are 2-12-1, and have lost 12 in a row. . . . Portland F Brad Ross, who is from Lethbridge, had a goal and an assist. . . . The Winterhawks will meet the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook tonight in a rematch of last season’s championship final. . . .

In Regina, F Jordan Weal set up two PP goals as the Pats got past the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-1. . . . Weal, with 21 points in 14 games, now has 290 regular-season points in 226 career games. . . .

In Red Deer, the Everett Silvertips came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Rebels 3-2 in a shootout. . . . The shootout went five rounds, Everett’s last three shooters all scoring. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 52 shots through OT. That was one save shy of the Silvertips’ single-game franchise record. He has a .912 save percentage to go along with a 3.42 GAA. . . . Leland Irving holds the Everett record for saves (53) in a game from a February 2008 game in Spokane. . . .

In Victoria, the Seattle Thunderbirds gave up the tying goal at 18:35 of the third period then beat the Royals 4-3 in a shootout. . . . Victoria F Kevin Sundher tied the game 3-3 with G Keith Hamilton on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . Seattle scored twice in the four-round shootout. . . . Sundher has 27 points and is tied with Medicine Hat F Emerson Etem for second in the points derby. . . . Victoria took a 2-0 lead in the third periods first two minutes by scoring two shorthanded goals on the same penalty.
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Has the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the Manitoba capital had any impact on the Brandon Wheat Kings? Tim Wharnsby of CBC Sports takes a look right here.
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Four players have left the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives, the team that has become embroiled in a hazing scandal. Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press has that story right here.
It is worth noting that former WHLer Sheldon Kennedy has called the 15-year-old player who was a victim in the hazing. Kennedy gave the player his cell phone numbrer and told him he was available 24 hours if need be.

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

Please take a couple of minutes out of your busy day and remember Brad McCrimmon by clicking on right here.
McCrimmon, one of the best defencemen ever to play in the WHL, was the head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and one of 44 people killed in a plane crash on Sept. 7.
A funeral mass will be held today in Farmington, Mich.
McCrimmon, the older brother of Kelly McCrimmon, the Brandon Wheat Kings’ owner and general manager, was 52.
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The Victoria Royals (nee Chilliwack Bruins) played at home for the first time on Friday night. They lost 3-2 to the Vancouver Giants.
The big news, however, was at the gate as 5,396 fans took in the game.
Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist was there and his story is right here.
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JUST NOTES: D William Wrenn, 20, was back from the San Jose Sharks’ camp and skating with the Portland Winterhawks on Friday. . . . The WHL has suspended Regina Pats F Mikael Jung for four games for a check to the head on Brandon Wheat Kings F Jason Swyripa on Wednesday night. The host Pats won that game 4-0. . . . .Neither Jung nor Swyripa played in Friday’s rematch in Brandon, won 5-0 by the Wheat Kings. . . . Regina got D Art Bidlevskii, 20, back from the camp of the New York Islanders, but he didn’t play. Regina still has five players at NHL camps — D Brandon Davidson (Edmonton), D Ricard Blidstrand and F Campbell Elynuik (Philadelphia), F Garrett Mitchell (Washington) and F Jordan Weal (Los Angeles). . . . Davidson and Mitchell both are 20, while Mitchell also has signed with Washington. . . .
F Killian Hutt scored one goal to help the host Fort McMurray Oil Barons to a 4-2 victory over the Okotoks Oilers in an AJHL game on Friday night. Hutt, 20, hadn’t played since Dec. 10 when he suffered a serious concussion during a game in Kamloops against the Blazers. He was with the Swift Current Broncos, who released him prior to training camp as they worked to get down to three 20-year-olds. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors had D Morgan Rielly back in the lineup Friday as they beat the visiting Saskatoon Blades, 4-3. Rielly had his appendix taken out a couple of weeks ago. . . .
The Vancouver Giants went into Everett and beat the Silvertips 4-2 without four players who have advanced to main camps with NHL teams. F Brendan Gallagher (Montreal), D Davi Musil and D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen (Edmonton) and F Marek Tvrdon (Detroit) all advanced. . . . F Chris Bruton, who captained the 2008 Memorial Cup-winning Spokane Chiefs, has signed with the ECHL-champion Alaska Aces. Bruton, 24, played the last three seasons at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
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The Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat blog reports that the Dallas Stars dropped more than US$91.5 million in the three years leading up to Thursday’s bankruptcy filing, and are projected to lose $31 million in the fast-approaching season.
There’s more right here.

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

Sunday . . .

WILLIAM WRENN

ON THE ICE SUNDAY:
In Portland, the Winterhawks erased a 1-0 deficit and beat the Spokane Chiefs 2-1 in Game 2 of the Western Conference final. . . . The series is tied 1-1 with Games 3 and 4 in Spokane on Wednesday and Friday nights. Game 5 will be played Saturday at the Rose Garden in Portland. . . . F Matt Marantz gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead at 17:49 of the first period, only to have D William Wrenn pull the Winterhawks even at 18:22. . . . That was Wrenn’s first playoff goal. He had two goals in 29 regular-season games after leaving Denver University and joining the Winterhawks in midseason. . . . Portland F Ryan Johansen broke the tie at 7:38 of the second period, via the PP. . . . The Winterhawks were 1-for-3 on the PP; the Chiefs were 0-for-2. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 34 shots, as did Spokane’s James Reid. . . . Attendance at the Rose Garden was 6,506. . . . Portland F Craig Cunningham, who was acquired from the Vancouver Giants during the season, played in the 70th playoff game of his career. Cunningham has played at least 10 playoff games in each of his five WHL season. Seventeen other players have played at least 70 WHL playoff games, led by F Shay Stephenson of the Red Deer Rebels (2000-04). He got into 87. In fact, six of the top 18 in that category played for the Rebels during that time. . . . This also was the first time in the last nine playoff meetings between these teams that the home team won. A year ago, they played a seven-game series in which the visitors won each game. The Chiefs opened this series with a 2-1 victory in Portland on Friday. . . .
“They had us on our heels at times,” Nachbaur said. “Whether that was their game or our game, you have to give them credit. When all is said and done it could have gone either way,” Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur told Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. . . . Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston, looking at Wrenn’s goal coming 33 seconds after Spokane scored, told Trimmer: “It was good to get that response goal, it was a key turning point in the game. They had just scored and you start to think, ‘Jeez, are we ever going to get one here?’ I liked our response and I thought we were good in the areas we had to be good.”
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SUNDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.
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Drew Edwards of the Hamilton Spectator reports that at least some minor hockey organizers in that area are taking a serious look at concussions.
“All 244 players on the 14 teams of Hamilton Reps Hockey Club will be given a computerized neuro-cognitive test before the season and, should they suffer a head injury, be tested again,” Edwards writes. “Until their post-concussion test results resemble their pre-season baseline tests, players will not be allowed to return to action.”
It seems that the Guelph Minor Hockey Association also is on board and will test all 1,100 of its players.
That story is right here.
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After mention here a couple of days ago about Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey Inc., taking some Division I coaches into Sherwood Park, Alta., for a camp, I got an email about a camp that was held in Penticton.
According to an emailer, the camp was held by the BCHL’s Penticton Vees.
“There were coaches from 11 Division 1 schools and the invitation-only camp had the top 80 bantam players from B.C. and Washington State. They put on a great presentation and Q and A session for players and parents, plus two days of games.”
Obviously, the NCAA versus CHL is going to be a big, big story. The WHL spent this weekend holding its annual camp in Anaheim, but I don’t recall the NCAA ever having this kind of a hockey presence in Western Canada.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Milan Bartovic (Brandon, Tri-City, 1999-2001) signed a contract with Liberec (Czech Republic Extraliga) after requesting and receiving his release from Atlant Moscow Oblast (Russia KHL). He had two goals and four assists in 23 games for Atlant this season. The contract with Liberec is through the 2012-2013 season. . . .
F Zdenek Blatny (Seattle, Kootenay, 1998-2001) signed a contract for the rest of the season with Kosice (Slovakia Extraliga). He had two goals and four assists in six games with the Hannover Indians (Germany 2.Bundesliga) earlier this season. . . .
F Frantisek Mrazek (Red Deer, 1997-99) signed a contract for the rest of this season after a successful tryout with the Landshut Cannibals (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He has six goals and three assists in 14 games for the Cannibals this season.
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The Portland Winterhawks say they expect D William Wrenn, 19, to sign with them now that he has left the U of Denver. Wrenn, a 19-year-old from Anchorage, was a second-round pick by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL’s 2009 draft. Portland listed him after the 2006 WHL bantam draft. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Wrenn has one assist in 18 games this season. Last season, as a freshman, he had seven assists in 23 games. . . . Before heading to Denver, Wrenn spent two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program. . . . Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston said he first saw Wrenn at the 2009 IIHF U-18 world championship and “was very impressed with his overall game.” Johnston continued in a press release: “He is a big, mobile defenseman who plays with an edge. I liked how responsible he was defensively.”
There is a bit more from the Denver Post right here.
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The Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans will meet Feb. 21 in Kennewick, Wash., in a game rescheduled from Dec. 31. The teams actually began that game and got into the second period before it was postponed due to unsafe ice conditions. The game will be played in its entirety, meaning all statistics from the period and a bit that was played have been erased. . . . The Americans are at home to the Seattle Thunderbirds tonight.
For an update on the hole that caused so many problems — yes, it resurfaced on Monday — check out this right here.
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F Austin Fyten of the Lethbridge Hurricanes is the WHL’s player of the week after he put up 10 points in four games. . . . James Priestner of the Prince George Cougars is the WHL’s nominee as the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He went 2-0-0 with a shutout during the week. . . . D Austin Bourhis of the Prince Albert Raiders drew a one-game suspension for the charging major and game misconduct he incurred Jan. 1 in a game against the Pats in Regina. That same night, F Josh Cowen of the Red Deer Rebels got tossed from a game against the Blades in Saskatoon and has been suspended indefinitely for his actions. . . . The Kamloops Blazers lost F JC Lipon with an ankle injury during a 5-1 victory over the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Sunday. They are bringing in F Aspen Sterzer, 16, to play tonight against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. Sterzer, who is pointless in seven games with the Blazers this season, will return to the Calgary-based midget AAA EDGE academy team after the game. . . . For those who have asked, the WHL trade deadline arrives Monday at 3 p.m. Calgary time. . . . The SJHL’s Estevan Bruins have fired GM/head coach Karry Biette (Regina, 1990-94). Rick Oakes, the Bruins’ director of player personnel, is the interim GM, while assistant coach Chad Leslie is the new head coach. The Bruins (18-16-4) are fourth in the Sherwood Division, just three points out of second.

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