Keeping Score: Head elf arrested . . . How many chances for Gregory? . . . Oh, those TV promos!

A tweet from Thursday night, during the first intermission of an NHL game . . .

Los Angeles now leads St. Louis 2-0.

...both in this game and in professional football teams.

— #LAKings (@LAKings) January 13, 2017

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The Los Angeles Chargers are going to spend a couple of seasons in the 27,000-seat StubHub Center after making the move from San Diego. Why don’t they move to Regina and play out of the new 30,048-seat stadium there? . . . The worst part of the NFL playoffs if you happen to live in Canada? That’s easy. Those interminable CTV promos that hit you in the forehead over and over and over and . . . Headline at TheKicker.com: Chairs voted into WWE Hall of Fame. . . . Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has provided us, again, with his annual skewering of cliches. You should check it out right here because it’s good. Really good. . . . 

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Starbucks barista won over $900,000 in Westgate Las Vegas football handicapping SuperContest. Now he can at least afford his own coffee.

— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) January 3, 2017

There are a lot of Saskatchewan Roughriders fans who are spitting watermelon seeds with quarterback Darian Durant having been traded to the Montreal Alouettes for a sack of deflated footballs. It’s interesting that so many fans didn’t see this coming. From out here near the left coast, it seemed apparent that Chris Jones, who runs the CFL franchise, didn’t want Durant back at any price. . . . “North Pole police have finally cleared Santa’s head elf of charges of careless use of a firearm,” reports RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “Authorities admit mistakes were made after finding a cartridge in a pear tree.” . . . Currie, again: “The B.C. government will increase the minimum wage by 40 cents before October 2017. In related CFL news, the Lions announced a major increase in playoff bonuses.” . . . One more from Currie: “A Florida octogenarian pleaded no contest to battery and assault with a weapon in a shuffleboard fight after charges were reduced to misdemeanours. His gums weren’t loaded.”

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Seahawks average ticket price for playoff game: $497. You've got to be joking.

— Ron Judd (@roncjudd) January 6, 2017

Following the announcement that owner Dean Spanos was moving his San Diego Chargers to Los Angeles, Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post noted: “The Chargers once brought us Air Coryell. Now the Err Spanos label is most appropriate.” . . . Jack Todd, in the Montreal Gazette: “I’ve become a real fan of a special series of NHL games available on either Sportsnet or TSN almost every night of the week. They’re called ‘Game Not Available In Your Region’ and some of them have been truly unforgettable. Seriously. This is what we get in exchange for the $5.2 billion Rogers is shovelling into the NHL. The league gets richer while the most passionate hockey fans in the world get stiffed, night after night. Thanks, Gary.”

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Thank you @SnoopDogg for the Christmas Sweater pic.twitter.com/jzaw7pkQEe

— Willie Nelson (@willienelson) January 4, 2017

Bill Littlejohn, our South Lake Tahoe, Calif.-based correspondent, reports: “New York Giants defensive backs call their unit ‘NYPD’ — that's New York Pass Defense. So in a case of blown coverage on someone's part, do we call them 'NYPD Blew’?” . . . I guess we witnessed NYPD Blew when Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed that Hail Mary pass against the Giants just before halftime last weekend. . . . Littlejohn, again: “Jim Harbaugh, Michigan’s head football coach, recently welcomed their seventh child. Nike is busy designing a shoe for his wife and children to move into.” . . . Going into this weekend, the WHL’s Regina Pats were 27-4-7. The midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians were 26-2-1. The junior B Regina Capitals were 26-3-1. Does that mean Regina is Hockeytown?

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Earlier today Russia Today suddenly replaced the regular C-SPAN programming. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) January 13, 2017

The New York Jets finished 5-11 this season. So, Brandon Marshall, what kind of a season was it? “The best way I can describe it,” the receiver told Showtime’s Inside the NFL, “is having a diaper on and never changing it. And just sitting in that diaper the whole year.” . . . “Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory has been suspended a year for another violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, his third suspension of the season,” notes Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe. “He will be eligible for the 2017 postseason. It’s all part of the league’s ’12 strikes and you’re out’ policy.” . . . 

(Gregg Drinnan is a former sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post and the late Kamloops Daily News. He is at greggdrinnan@gmail.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears here on weekends, except when it doesn’t.)

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F Jakub Langhammer (Spokane, 2002-04) has been loaned to Sparta Prague by Hradec Kralove (both Czech Republic, Extraliga) for the rest of this season. In 33 games, he had six points, including four goals. . . .
D Deron Quint (Seattle, 1993-96) has been traded to CSKA Moscow by Spartak Moscow (both Russia, KHL) for monetary compensation. In 43 games, he had 23 points, 11 of them goals. . . . Quint was the fourth-highest scoring defenceman at the time of the move. He played in Saturday’s KHL All-Star Game and won the shooting accuracy in the skills competition. The West won the game, 18-16. Quint had one assist.
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Thanks to Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix for his kind words as he wrapped up a WHL notebook that is right here.
I agree with him on D Aaron Ekblad of the OHL’s Erie Otters. Were I a rating service, Ekblad would be No. 1 on my list of players eligible for the 2014 NHL draft. Yes, I also would have had Seth Jones atop my 2013 rankings. There isn’t anything like a big, skilled defenceman.
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Former WHLer Travis Young (Brandon, Prince Albert, 1998-04) is the new head coach of the Bridgewater Lumberjacks of the junior A Maritime Hockey League. Young is from Souris, Man., the hometown of the likes of Andy Murray, the head coach at Western Michigan, and Garry Davidson, the GM of the Everett Silvertips. . . . Young is the Lumberjacks’ third head coach this season. Their record (2-29-5) may have something to do with that. . . . Young, 31, replaces Matt Church, who resigned. Church had taken over from Ron Watkins, who was fired early in the season. . . . Young played three seasons at Acadia U in Wolfville, N.S., and was an assistant coach with the Axemen for six seasons before doing some coaching in Europe.
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Mike Johnston, the GM and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, and his wife, Myrna, became naturalized U.S. citizens on Wednesday. Danny Moran of The Oregonian has more right here.
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G Cole Kehler has joined the Kamloops Blazers and will be on the bench for weekend home games against the Vancouver Giants on Friday and the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday. He will back up Bolton Pouliot. . . . G Justin Myles, acquired last week from Seattle, is out with an undisclosed injury. . . . Kehler, a sixth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft, has appeared in four games with Kamloops this season. From Altona, Man., he plays with the midget prep team at the Okanagan Hockey Academy. He is 17-4-0.
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The headline in Kamloops This Week reads — Lawyer: Tom Gaglardi, Northland are guilty. . . . The lawyer in question here is Rob Bruneau, a Kamloops defence lawyer, who is representing Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, his father, Bob, and Northand Properties Corp. They have been charged with two counts of harmful altertation of a fish habitat. . . . Tim Petruk of KTW has more right here.
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Keith Olbermann took a swipe at Vancouver Canucks F Tom Sestito the other night on ESPN2, after the latter picked up 27 penalty minutes in one second of playing time. Sestito’s 13-year-old sister later came to her brother’s defence on Twitter. If you missed all of this, Brent Axe of syracuse.com has the story right here.
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Every year, columnist Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers up the Trite Trophy, and he does it in a column that is well worth reading. The 2013 version is right here.


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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Lynn Loyns (Spokane, 1997-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Ravensburg Towerstars (Germany, 2. Bundesliga) after a successful tryout. He had one goal and one assist in four games during the tryout. The club said in its press release that Loyns "impressed the management and head coach Petri Kujala with his skill and vision, despite the lack of an acclimatization period and game experience."
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On Dec. 30, 1986, the Swift Current Broncos boarded their bus and headed to Regina for a game with the Pats.
They never arrived as the bus crashed just outside the city and four players died.
As the Broncos’ website points out right here, “We will never forget.”
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A story at nflconcussionlitigation.com begins:
“The number of former players suing the NFL continues to grow by the week. In the month of December alone, more than 70 players joined the NFL Concussion Litigation Club.
“The number of former players suing the NFL has eclipsed 4,000. There are approximately 12,000 living, former players. More than 1/3 of all players to ever sign an NFL contract are now taking on the shield, seeking a piece of that $9.5 billion pie the former players helped create.”
That complete story is right here.
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Mark Morris of the Kansas City Star reports that Neil Smith, 46, a former Kansas City Chiefs defensive end, has joined in by filing a lawsuit against the NFL, “alleging it has not done enough to prevent the brain injuries from which he now suffers.”
According to Morris, Smith contends in his lawsuit that “because of repeated and misdiagnosed concussions he suffers from ‘permanent and debilitating injuries,’ including loss of memory, ‘cognitive impairment’ and early-onset dementia.”
The lawsuit contends that Smith once suffered three concussions, “all of which were improperly and treated,” in one game in 1988.
That story is right here.
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Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin, the author of Red Mittens and Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics, is not missing the NHL. Why not? He provides 10 reasons right here.
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And now for your reading enjoyment here is Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with his 29th annual awarding of the Trite Trophy. If you are a sports fan who reads, listens and watches, you won’t want to miss this look at the mis-language of sports. It’s right here.
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The Regina Pats are back down to the maximum three 20-year-olds following the retirement Sunday of D Alex Theriau. . . . Theriau, from Duncan, B.C., missed the early part of the season after undergoing offseason hip surgery. He was with the Medicine Hat Tigers at the time, but was released as they got down to three 20s. He was picked up by the Pats and played in 16 games. . . . A news release from the Pats states that playing those games “aggravated Theriau’s hip and will force Alex to end his junior career in order to heal and pursue professional and CIS opportunities next season.” . . . Theriau had four points with the Pats and finishes his WHL career with 66 points, 11 of them goals, and 206 penalty minutes in 267 games. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes selected Theriau sixth overall in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . The Pats would have been forced into a move because the return of D Colton Jobke left them with four 20s, the other two being G Matt Hewitt and F Lane Scheidl.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Kelowna, F Myles Bell scored two first-period goals and the Rockets went on to a 5-1 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Kelowna has won 14 straight games at home and now is just two points behind the idle Kamloops Blazers, who lead the B.C. Division. . . . Overall, the Rockets have won 14 of 16. . . . The Rockets had F Colton Sissons, their captain, back in the lineup after he missed a month — 10 games — with a concussion. He scored once. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke returned from a foot injury to stop 18 shots. . . . Everett F Ryan Harrison played in his 300th regular-season game and got to do it in his hometown. . . .

In Regina, F Chandler Stephenson had two goals and four assists as the Pats whipped the Saskatoon Blades, 6-2. . . . Regina built up a 6-0 lead in the second period. . . . Stephenson has eight points in three games since returning from a skate cut. He missed 26 games with that injury. . . . Regina F Morgan Klimchuk added a goal and four assists. . . . The Pats had only five players with at least a point. . . . Regina was 4-for-7 on the PP. . . . The Pats were without F Marc McCoy (knee), who had two goals in Saturday’s 5-1 victory in Moose Jaw. . . . The Blades had beaten the Pats four straight times this season, including 9-0 and 7-0 in the last two meetings. . . . It was something of a lost weekend for the Blades, who lost both ends of a Friday-Saturday home-and-home series with the Prince Albert Raiders. . . .

In Red Deer, F Michael Ferland scored at 13:08 of the third period to give the Brandon Wheat Kings a 6-5 victory over the Rebels. . . . Ferland, 20, was playing in his second game with Brandon after being reassigned by the NHL’s Calgary Flames. . . . The Wheat Kings, with four 20-year-olds on their roster, sat F Nick Buonassisi. . . .

In Vancouver, F Trevor Cheek scored three times to help the Giants to an 8-4 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Vancouver had lost its last four games. . . . The Giants got three assists from each of F Dalton Sward and F Anthony Ast. . . . Cheek, who scored twice in the second half of the second period and again in the third, has 16 goals. . . . The Giants broke a 3-3 tie by scoring five of the game’s last six goals. . . . F Troy Bourke had two goals and an assist for the Cougars. . . . Vancouver F Taylor Vickerman was ejected at 3:00 of the third period with a major for kneeing.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Brenden Walker, Saskatoon
D Luke Fenske, Regina
D Ryley Miller, Brandon
F Quintin Lisoway, Brandon

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None
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From Singh Sports News (@SinghSportsNews): “Did you know: Justin Morneau played 1 preseason game as a goaltender for the Portland Winter Hawks of the WHL”



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There was some excitement around the WHL on Sunday when Rocco Grimaldi tweeted: "Many different choices, but I'm going with the Dub. The Dub is the best fit for me #TheDub"
Of course, the WHL, in hockey circles, is known as the Dub.
Grimaldi, from Rossmoor, Calif., was selected by the Florida Panthers with the 33rd pick of the 2011 NHL draft. Undersized at 5-foot-6, he is extremely talented and has played two seasons in the U.S. National Team Development Program.
The Portland Winterhawks hold his WHL rights, having obtained them from the Vancouver Giants.
Unfortunately for Portland fans, however, it seems that Grimaldi was referring to an automobile when he wrote that he is “going with the Dub.”
According to urbandictionary.com, V-dub is “a term used for all Volkswagen cars including any and all air-cooled beetles, buses or things.”
Grimaldi has committed to the U of North Dakota.
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JUST NOTES: The Central league’s Allen Americans have signed G James Reid (Spokane, 2008-11). He put up 85 victories with the Spokane Chiefs over the last three seasons.
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Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has today’s good read. It’s about U.S. college football, the way it is supposed to be run and the way it is supposed to be played. Don’t miss it. It’s right here. And thanks  to the Sports Curmudgeon for pointing it out.

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

Thursday . . .

The WHL playoffs are here.
They officially arrived courtesy of a quote from Kootenay Ice F Matt Fraser, 20, who told Matt Coxford of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman:
"We've all been frantically trying to dye our hair (black) the past couple of days to get everything in place, and we've told all our girlfriends that we're not going to be talking to them for a while because we've got business to take care of.”
When hockey players tell their girlfriends to take a timeout, you know things are serious!
It will be interesting to watch goings-on with the Ice in these playoffs, too.
General manager Jeff Chynoweth made the big deal on Jan. 9 to land F Cody Eakin. It will be interesting to see now how the Ice and its fan respond with the playoffs here.
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Some numbers, courtesy of capgeek.com:
F Garrett Mitchell of the Regina Pats signed a three-year deal with the Washington Capitals, who selected him in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2009 draft. He gets a US$67,500 salary in the AHL, an NHL salary of $575,000 each season, and a $150,000 signing bonus, payable over three years.
G Calvin Pickard of the Seattle Thunderbirds has signed a three-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche, which grabbed him in the second round of the 2010 draft. His AHL salary each season is locked in at $67,500, with NHL salaries of $790,000, $840,000 and $900,000. His signing bonus totals $270,000 over three season.
D Dylan McIlrath of the Moose Jaw Warriors, the 10th overall pick in the NHL’s 2010 draft, signed a three-year deal with the New York Rangers. His AHL salary would be $67,500 each season, with NHL salaries of $650,000, $650,000 and $900,000. Like Pickard, he got a $270,000 signing bonus, payable over three years.
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With Portland having finished atop the Western Conference and about to open a first-round series with the Everett Silvertips, Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune take a look at how far the Winterhawks have come since ‘those’days. . . . And it is quite interesting to read about the plans the Winterhawks have for Memorial Coliseum.
That piece is right here.
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D Mike Reddington of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has joined the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. Reddington, 20, signed a tryout agreement after putting up 23 points and 99 penalty minutes in 68 games with the Hurricanes this season. . . . D Antoine Corbin of the Prince Albert Raiders will sit out Saturday’s opener of their series with the Saskatoon Blades. That’s the second game of a two-game suspension he incurred for a kneeing major last weekend. He plans on being back for Game 2 in Saskatoon on Sunday. . . . F Justin Dowling of the Swift Current Broncos has signed an amateur tryout contract with the Abbotsford Heat, the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames. Dowling, 20, had 67 points in 63 games with the Broncos this season. . . .
Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that the Warriors may not have F Cody Beach (knee) or F Jordan Wyton (undisclosed) for tonight’s opener in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice. Also missing will be F Brayden Cuthbert (concussion) and F Brett Lyon (WHL suspension). . . . The Ice is without D Luke Paulsen (shoulder), but F Brock Montgomery (hip) is back after missing 11 games. Montgomery will be anxious for this serious because he is from Moose Jaw. . . . Dale Saip, the Vancouver Giants’ vice-president of business development, won’t be running for the federal Conservatives in Delta-Richmond, after all. After a story broke on the Lower Mainland detailing past financial difficulties, the Conservatives revoked Saip’s nomination. Martin van den Hemel of the Richmond Review has that story right here.
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Today’s good read comes from Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who has noticed that some game officials are so empowered that they can even create time.
Check it out right here.

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