WHL final resumes tonight . . . 10 things you didn't know about Blazing Saddles!

G Rastislav Staňa (Moose Jaw, Calgary, 1998-2000) has signed a one-year contract with Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Staňa started this season with CSKA Moscow (Russia, KHL), going 2.31 and .912 in 24 games. He signed with Košice (Slovakia, Extraliga) on Jan. 28 and was 1.25, .952 in eight games. . . .

F Matt Ellison (Red Deer, 2002-03) has signed a two-year contract with Dinamo Minsk (Belarus, KHL). Ellison started this season with Biel (Switzerland, NL A), picking up one assist in seven games. He signed with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, KHL) on Oct. 2 and finished with 15 points, eight of them goals, in 38 games. . . .

F Konstantin Pushkarev (Calgary, 2004-05) signed a one-year extension with Barys Astana (Kazakhstan, KHL). This season with Barys, he had four points, including one goal, in 21 games. In five games with Nomad Astana (Kazakhstan, Vysshaya), he had six points, including three goals. . . .


D Gennadi Razin (Kamloops, 1996-98) has signed a one-year extension with Donbass Donetsk (Ukraine, KHL). This season, he had three points, two of them goals, in 49 games.
---



1. All three major junior finals resume tonight. The Portland Winterhawks take a 2-0 lead on the Oil Kings into Edmonton for a game that is available on Shaw TV. . . . In the OHL, the Guelph Storm and North Bay Battalion are tied 1-1, with both games having been decided in OT. They are in North Bay tonight. . . . In the QMJHL, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Val-d’Or Foreurs also are 1-1. They are in Val-d‘Or tonight.

2. If you were wondering, Sportsnet will televise Game 5 of the OHL series on Friday night.

3. The Oil Kings, who trail 2-0 in the WHL’s best-of-seven final, spent far too much time chasing the game in Portland. So far, the Winterhawks have played with the lead for 114 minutes 58 seconds.

4. Columnist Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun was in attendance for the first two games of the WHL’s championship final for the Ed Chynoweth Cup in Portland on the weekend. He writes that the Edmonton Oil Kings, who lost both games to the Winterhawks, have gone from underdogs to longshots. . . . That column is right here.

5. Columnist John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal previews Game 3 of the WHL final right here, starting with the role Portland G Corbin Boes has played since taking over as the Winterhawks’ starter.

6. A couple of things from WHL Facts (@WHLFacts). . . . “2000 - The last time a team trailed 2-0 in a WHL Final series & came back to win was the @WHLKootenayICE in 2000, who defeated Spokane in 6.” . . . “75 - With 2 points (Sunday night), @pdxwinterhawks Brendan Leipsic now has 75 for his playoff career, moving him into a tie for 7th place all-time.” . . . Leipsic is tied with F Ray Allison (Brandon, 1976-79), and is two points behind F Brian Propp (Brandon, 1977-79).

7. The AHL has approved the transfer of the Abbotsford Heat, the top affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames, to Glens Falls, N.Y., where it will replace the Phantoms. The NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers are moving the Phantoms to Allentown, Pa. . . . New York State now is home to six of the AHL’s 30 franchises. . . . There continues to be speculation that some of the NHL’s western-most franchises are going to relocate their AHL affiliates to the western side of the U.S. A report at MayorsManor.com in April indicated that eight NHL teams once were involved in discussions but that the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes and San Jose Sharks are the teams most serious about this project. . . . The report from MayorsManor.com is right here.

8. If you were wondering how much Floyd Mayweather will make from last weekend’s bout, you should start at about US$70 million. On Monday, he tweeted: “$32,000,000.00 for 36 minutes. I’m waiting for the PPV numbers to come in so I can make another $38,000,000.00 on the back-end . . . making it a grand total of $70,000,000.00.” . . . Now you should pick any 36 minutes out of your life and figure out how close you have come to duplicating that.

9. Chances are you have seen the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles. If not, you should. And if you click right here you will find 10 things you never knew about Blazing Saddles.
---





The Portland Winterhawks have added D Blake Heinrich, who turned 19 on Feb. 17, to their roster. A native of Cambridge, Minn., Heinrich had 16 points, including seven goals, and 117 penalty minutes in 42 games with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers. The 5-11, 195-pounder was the Musketeers’ captain. . . . Heinrich was a fifth-round selection by the Washington Capitals in the 2013 NHL draft. The Winterhawks selected him in the 12th round of the 2012 bantam draft, at which time he already was 17 years of age.
“We have had discussions with Blake since drafting him about becoming a Winterhawk and are excited to announce that he will join us at the end of the (season),” Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston said in January when the club announced it had signed Heinrich. “He is a dynamic defenceman who is a perfect fit for our style of play. I expect he will be a big part of our future over the next two seasons as we rebuild our defence.”
---
The USHL held Phase 1 of its annual draft on Monday. There is a list right here of players who were selected and have ties to the WHL.
---
The OHL’s Oshawa Generals announced Monday that Jeff Twohey has resigned after two seasons as their general manager. . . . The Generals were swept by the North Bay Battalion in the Eastern Conference final. . . . The Generals were first in the Eastern Conference this season, after finishing third last season. . . . Roger Hunt, the Generals’ assistant GM, has taken over as acting GM.
---
THE COACHING GAME:
Chris Hartsburg, a former assistant coach of the Everett Silvertips, has signed on as head coach of the USHL’s Lincoln Stars. Hartsburg spent this season as an assistant coach with the OHL’s Erie Otters. . . . Hartsburg spent four seasons (2009-12) as an assistant coach with the Silvertips. He is the son of former NHL player and head coach Craig Hartsburg, who did a stint as the Silvertips’ head coach. . . . With the Stars, he replaces Jimmy McGroarty, who was fired on March 21. Mick Berge, an assistant coach, served as interim head coach. . .  . The Stars missed the playoffs this season for the third time in their 18 seasons of existence.
---
The OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs have fired head coach Todd Gill and assistant coach Jeff Reid. The moves come after an 84-point regular season and a first-round playoff loss to the Peterborough Petes. The Frontenacs won the first three games of that series, then lost four straight. . . . At the same time, the Frontenacs re-signed general manager Doug Gilmour and Darren Keily, the assistant GM and director of hockey operations. Gilmour has been with the team since 2008 and has been GM since 2011. Keily signed on as an assistant coach in 2008, was named AGM in 2011 and director of hockey ops in 2012.
Doug Graham of the Kingston Whig-Standard has more right here.
---

THE FOURTH ROUND (best-of-seven; all times local):
WHL final, for the Ed Chynoweth Cup
(x - if necessary)
(All games televised live by Shaw)
(All games televised on delayed basis by Root Sports)
PORTLAND (2, West) vs. Edmonton (1, East)
(Portland leads, 2-0)
Season series: Portland, 0-0-1; Edmonton, 1-0-0.
Saturday: Edmonton 2 at Portland 5 (10,947)
Sunday: Edmonton 1 at Portland 3 (10,645)
Tuesday: Portland at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Portland at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
x-Friday: Edmonton at Portland, 7 p.m. (Moda Center)
x-Sunday: Portland at Edmonton, 4 p.m.
x-Monday: Edmonton at Portland, 7 p.m. (Moda Center)
INJURIES
Portland: None.
Edmonton: None.
---
MONDAY’S GAME:
No game scheduled.
---







From David Larkins (@LarkinsWSun) of the Winnipeg Sun: “I'm taking out a restraining order on the Trivago guy. For all of us.”
---
From Julius Sharpe (@juliussharpe): “My Dad lived through WWII, rock and roll, the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam and 9/11. I've updated the Adobe Flash player 900 times.”


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.

The always eloquent Ken Dryden has written another piece for The Globe and Mail, this one headlined: The anatomy of three hits. . . . It begins with an enthralling anecdote involving Johnny Bower, who is behind his goal line with Gordie Howe bearing down on him. . . . Check it out right here.
———
THE COACHING GAME:
John Becanic, who has WHL coaching experience with Everett, Seattle and Vancouver, won’t be back as head coach of the NAHL’s Wenatchee, Wash., Wild. He announced his resignation Friday, although he told Brent Stecker of the Wenatchee World that he made the decision and informed management in February. “As a coach, you have a set of standards and beliefs that you coach within,” Becanic told Stecker. “Not necessarily does everyone involved understand those standards and beliefs, and having done this as long as I’ve done, I knew it was the right thing to step back and pursue other hockey opportunities.” . . . Becanic took over the Wild in the middle of the 2010-11 season, replacing Paul Baxter. This season, the Wild went 36-17-7, finishing second in the West Division. The Fairbanks Ice Dogs completed a division final sweep of the Wild on Thursday night. . . . The Wild, under president Bill Stewart, has been pushing for a couple of seasons to get into the BCHL. . . .
The Northern Ontario junior A league’s Soo Thunderbirds will be without their head coach and assistant coach when they begin play in the Royal Bank Cup in Humboldt, Sask., next weekend. Preston Mizzi and Jamie Henderson have been suspended indefinitely by the league as a result, according to the Sault Star’s Peter Ruicci, “of seven incidents in which alcohol was allowed and consumed by players on staff” on the team bus. . . . Zoltan (Toots) Kovacs, a former Soo head coach, has been named interim head coach. . . . Ruicci’s story is right here.
———
JUST NOTES:
The OHL’s Oshawa Generals have hired Jeff Twohey as their general manager. Twohey, who spent 17 years as the Peterborough Petes’ GM, worked the last two seasons as a scout for the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. All told, Twohey spent 30 years in the Petes’ organization, a relationship that ended after the 2009-10 season. To those unfamiliar with the OHL, the General and Petes go together like oil and water. Twohey replaces Chris DePiero, who was fired earlier this month along with head coach Gary Agnew and assistant coach Joe Cirella. . . .

Tyler Olsen, a writer with the Chilliwack Times, spent a lot of time a year ago covering the mess that was the sale and relocation of the Chilliwack Bruins. It all resulted in his winning a Canadian Community Newspaper Association award for best business writing, circulation 10,000 and over. When someone sent congratulations via Twitter, Olsen replied with: “It wouldn't have happened w/out Darryl Porter & Ron Robison.”
———

Here are the dates for the WHL’s championship final (all times local):
Thursday, May 3: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 4: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 6: at Portland (Rose Garden), 6 p.m.
Tuesday, May 8: at Portland (Rose Garden), 7 p.m.
x-Thursday, May 10: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
x-Saturday, May 12: at Portland (Rose Garden), TBD
x-Sunday, May 13: at Edmonton, TBD
You can bet both teams are hoping this thing doesn’t go seven games, what with the schedule calling for the last three games to be played over four nights, which really works out to playing three times in little more than 72 hours.
———
FRIDAY’S GAME:
In Edmonton, D Martin Gernat scored two goals as the Oil Kings scored a 4-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors to advance to the WHL’s championship final. . . . The Oil Kings, who won the series in five games, are in their fifth season, having been an expansion team in the 2007-08 season. . . . They will meet the Portland Winterhawks in the final. The Winterhawks used to be the Oil Kings; they moved to Portland after the 1975-76 season. . . . Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal was a 16-year-old winger on the Portland team that won the 1983 Memorial Cup as the host team. Laxdal later was dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Last night, F Michael St. Croix opened the scoring for Edmonton at 2:46 of the first period, with Gernat getting a PP goal at 17:44. . . . F Sam Fioretti got the Warriors on the board at 7:09 of the second, but Edmonton F Curtis Lazar restored the two-goal lead with his eighth goal of the playoffs 10 minutes alter. . . . Gernat completed the scoring at 9:06 of the third with another PP goal. He has five goals in the playoffs. . . . F Tyler Maxwell and D Griffin Reinhart assisted on both Gernat goals. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit, who was named the series MVP, stopped 37 shots in running his record to 12-1. . . . Moose Jaw gave Justin Paulic, 16, his third WHL start and second straight in these playoffs. He turned aside 20 shots. . . . The Warriors were 0-7 on the PP; Edmonton was 2-3. . . . There were seven series in the Eastern Conference and not one went past five games. . . . As if the Warriors didn’t have a bad enough night, they ran into bus problems in Lloydminster as they made their way home. A tweet from James Gallo, the club's radio voice on CHAB: "Bus died in Lloyd, can this night get any longer"

———
After Laxdal picked up 13 points in 39 games with Portland in 1982-83, he found himself part of one of the biggest swaps in WHL history. On Aug. 28, 1983, the Brandon Wheat Kings dealt F Blaine Chrest to Portland for Laxdal, D Brad Duggan, F Dave Thomlinson, F Tony Horacek and F Ray Ferraro.
———
A Friday night tweet from Ferraro (@rayferrarotsn): “Congrats and good luck to a couple of old teammates, Travis Green(portland) and Derek Laxdal(edm) in the WHL final.”


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.