MIKE SILLINGER
(REGINA PATS PHOTO)

The Regina Pats will celebrate the career of Mike Sillinger by retiring his No. 16 on Jan. 14 prior to a game with the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“It's truly an honor to have my jersey hanging up in a place where I have had some of my greatest memories,” Sillinger said in a news release. “I was lucky to play my entire junior career here with the Pats and was always so proud to represent a great organization. As a hometown boy, wearing that Pats jersey was a dream come true and I will cherish those days forever.”
Sillinger, who is from Regina, played with the Pats from 1987-91. He is third on the franchise list in goals (178), third in assists (241) and second in points (419).
The 1990-91 season was a fantastic cap to his WHL career as that winter, he put on the Red and White of Team Canada and helped the squad to a gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, later that season, he was named a WHL Eastern Conference all-star.
Sillinger was selected by the Detroit Red Wings with the 11th pick of the NHL’s 1989 draft and went to a 16-year professional career during which he played for 12 teams.
Sillinger will become the eighth Pats player to have had his number retired, following Ed Staniowski (1), Brad Hornung (8), Clark Gillies (9), Doug Wickenheiser (12) and Dennis Sobchuk (14), Dale Derkatch (16) and Bill Hicke (17). Builders to have been honoured by the Pats are Lorne Davis, Al Ritchie, Gord Staseson, Graham Tuer, Bob Turner and Del Wilson.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) has been assigned on loan from Lugano (Switzerland NLA) to Thurgau (Switzerland NL B). Burki has not played in a game yet with Lugano but played one game on loan to Sierre (Switzerland NLB) earlier this season. He was pointless in that game. . . .
D Tomas Slovak (Kelowna, 2001-03) was released by Avtomobilist Ekaterinberg (Russia KHL). He had three assists and was -6 in 21 games this season for Avtomobilist.
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D Bruin McDonald, 18, who started this season with the Spokane Chiefs, has been released by the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques. In five games with the Olympiques, McDonald didn’t have a point, but was plus-1 with nine penalty minutes.
The Olympiques had signed McDonald to a contract that covered this season and next, but, of course, those contracts don’t guarantee roster spots.
As someone familiar with the situation put it, “Obviously, what (the family) was told and promised was not worth the air they were spoken with. But that is the business . . .”
So, at least for now, McDonald has decided to get on with his life and is sounding as though he won’t play hockey again this season.
The Chiefs had acquired McDonald’s rights from the Prince George Cougars. However, Spokane released him upon having D Jared Cowen reassigned by the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. McDonald then joined the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies, who dealt him to the Vernon Vipers. It was right after that trade occurred that the Olympiques came calling.
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For the record, the WHL’s trade moratorium runs through Dec. 27. The WHL office will begin accepting trades on Tuesday, Dec. 28, at 12:01 a.m. MT. . . . That moratorium began Dec. 15. . . . WHL goaltenders are on schedule to put up 76 shutouts this season, which would be 12 fewer than last season. That also would be the lowest total since some time before 2003-04. (I don’t have season breakdowns prior to 2003-04.) The single-season record (141) was set in 2004-05. . . .
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Bruce Eakin (Saskatoon, 1980-82) and his family are heading from Florida to the Buffalo area to watch nephew Cody play for Team Canada in the World Junior Championship. Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun has that story right here. Cody, of course, is the captain of the Swift Current Broncos.
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After giving it a whole lot of thought, I have shut off the comments area of this blog.
I don’t mind a little give and take, but when a gutless stalker, obviously made bigger and braver by the mask of anonymity afforded by the Internet, continually makes unfounded accusations it’s time to say enough is enough and pull the plug.
So . . . as much as I enjoy the readers’ participation, I have had to cut it off. For that I apologize.
Still, those of you wishing to make an intelligent comment, point out errors or take part in reasonable discourse may continue to reach me at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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Eakin excited about second chance

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Cody Eakin was one of the final cuts from Canada’s national junior team a year ago.
He doesn’t want history to repeat itself.
Eakin, the captain of the Swift Current Broncos, was to fly out of Vancouver this morning, bound for Toronto and the national team selection camp that opens with on-ice sessions Sunday.
“It’ll be nice to get out there and see all the guys,” Eakin, a 19-year-old centre, said Friday evening before facing the Kamloops Blazers in a WHL game at Interior Savings Centre.
“It’s exciting for me to get another opportunity to play for Canada.”
He knows, however, that while this is his second chance, there won’t be another one. The IIHF World Junior Championship is a U-20 tournament; most observers refer to it as a 19-year-old tournament.
But if Eakin’s recent performances mean anything, the native of Winnipeg is ready. In fact, it’s like he has been using this road trip as a tuneup.
The Broncos, who are on an 11-game road swing, opened a B.C. Division tour in Chilliwack on Tuesday, with Eakin scoring three times, including the winner, and setting up another in a 5-4 victory over the Bruins. On Wednesday, he had the winner and two assists in a 4-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockets.
That left him with 37 points, including 15 goals, in 29 games. Last season, he finished with 91 points, including 47 goals, as he blossomed into one of the WHL’s top performers.
The strange thing is that Eakin, a third-round selection by the Washington Capitals in the NHL’s 2009 draft, felt he wasn’t playing all that well prior to this road trip.
“You have to battle through it,” he said. “If you want to play in this league . . . it’s nothing new to me. It’s just one of those things.”
Some of the difficulties he experienced may have been due to injuries, although he wouldn’t offer that up as an excuse.
But he played at least eight games with a hip strain — “a tear in a hip muscle,” he said — and also had a “really painful” infection in an elbow. He did allow that, yes, “I was kind of iffy on one leg.”
“But,” he added, “I wasn’t going to hurt it by playing on it, so I played.”
As he put it: “If you want to be a hockey player, you have to battle it.”
Eakin thinks his game got a boost simply by going on the road.
“You come out here . . . it’s a great atmosphere, a great environment,” he explained. “You’re on the bus with the guys for hours and hours. Some things change. You get new linemates and stuff like that.”
His new linemates are Jordan Peddle and Dillon Wagner, a pair of fellow 19-year-olds, and the early returns have been impressive. Wagner, who had offseason knee surgery, was playing in only his eighth game last night.
Eakin, whose father Grant played with the Winnipeg Clubs and Lethbridge Broncos (1973-78) and lives in Winnipeg, said he also went back to basics and that resulted in a change of fortune. (Cody is a nephew to Bruce Eakin, who played two seasons with the Saskatoon Blades, 1980-82, and now lives in Florida.)
“The thing is,” he explained, “I’m getting some good bounces. Once you get one good bounce they continue to go in. You work for another bounce and then you get another and then you get a lucky bounce . . .”
And then your eyes start to shine and the game is fun again.
“You know,” he said, “it’s tough when you get in a slump and I think a lot of players do it right before Christmas. It’s a tough time of year.”
It can be especially hard for elite players who don’t get to spend time with friends and family over the holidays.
“You have to sacrifice some other things,” Eakin said. “For some, it’s time to go home and see your friends and family. Obviously, It’s an exciting time of the year but you have to sacrifice some things if you want to be a hockey player.”
And Eakin wants to be a hockey player . . . for Canada.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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