Saturday . . .

THE CHILLIWACK/VICTORIA BRUINS:
WHL officials have long said they wouldn’t go back to Vancouver Island unless there were two teams there. That, of course, means Victoria and Nanaimo.
Numerous reports have indicated that the Victoria deal is done — the Chilliwack Bruins have been sold and will be relocated. (With the Bruins having been eliminated from the playoffs Saturday night, there aren’t any tickets to be sold in Chilliwack, so perhaps news will be forthcoming.)
But what of Nanaimo?
"The biggest stumbling block that Nanaimo has is the city doesn't have an adequate facility," Ken Wagner, who owns a piece of the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, told Walter Cordery of the Nanaimo Daily News. "It's great news for hockey fans but I don't think it will affect us here in Nanaimo much at all. We haven't had any contact with the WHL but we know they have always said they would prefer to establish a second Island franchise if they were going to return to Victoria."
So what of a new facility for Nanaimo?
John Ruttan, the mayor of Nanaimo, told Cordery that he would love to have the WHL in his city but “not if they expect city taxpayers to underwrite the cost of a new arena."
Cordery’s story is right here.
———
Glen Sonmor is one of the grand guys of hockey, and you can bet he has done and seen it all. Sonmor is 81 now and they’ll gather at Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday evening to honour Sonmor and maybe tell a tale or two. Maybe Sonmor will flash back to his days with the Brandon Wheat Kings when the fans would gather at the train station and serenade the team with When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
Anyway . . . Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has today’s good read, a feature look at Sonmor, and it’s a good one. It’s right here.
———
From Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal:
DJ Bowen in Jasper has been working overtime to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Jasper Arena and he has the Oil Kings playing Prince George in an exhibition game there on Sept. 9. In 1961, the Oil Kings played the Edmonton Flyers to open the building. Glen Sather played for the Oil Kings that game and Doug Messier for the Flyers, and they’ll be hanging their jerseys in the arena to salute that long-ago game. Sather and Messier might not be there, but hopefully they can send video messages. They’re bringing in some of the players from those teams — Gregg Pilling and Vince Downey have committed as ex Oil Kings and they might get Roger Dejordy who played for the Flyers that day. They’re having a banquet on Sept. 8 with the NHL’s icemaker Dan Craig as guest speaker.
———
The Kelowna Rockets and Portland Winterhawks will meet in the second round of the playoffs. That series will open games Thursday and April 10 in Portland’s Rose Garden. . . . The Rockets will welcome back F Evan Bloodoff, who missed the four-game sweep of the Prince George Cougars as he served a four-game suspension. . . . The other Western Conference semifinal will feature the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans. It will begin with games Saturday and April 10 in Spokane. . . . F Landon Ferraro of the Everett Silvertips took a cross-checking major at the end of their last playoff game against the Portland Winterhawks. He drew a one-game suspension, so will sit out the first game of next season should he be back in the WHL as a 20-year-old. . . . F Justin Dowling, who played this season with the Swift Current Broncos, scored his first pro goal Saturday night, giving the host Abbotsford Heat a 1-0 AHL victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins. Dowling’s third-period PP goal stood up as former Everett Silvertips G Leland Irving record his sixth shutout of the season.
———
Some notes from the Chiefs on their upcoming series with the Tri-City Americans:
The Chiefs won the 12-game season series against the Americans, 7-5-0. At one point, Spokane had won five in a row in the series. Tri-City earned a victory in the last game of the season by a 6-4 score on Saturday, March 19.
The match-up will be the fifth time the two franchises have met in the post-season and the first time since a seven-game Western Conference Championship series in 2008. That series featured five overtime games, including three that went into double overtime. Spokane won Game 7 in Kennewick and advanced to win the WHL final and Memorial Cup.
The Chiefs have won the last three playoff series between the two after the Americans earned a seven-game victory in 1995. The Chiefs won in four games and in five games in the first round in 2000 and 2002, respectively.
SPOKANE AND TRI-CITY PLAYOFF HISTORY
1995: Tri-City wins second-round series 4-3
2000: Spokane wins first-round series 4-0
2002: Spokane wins first-round series 4-1
2008: Spokane wins Western Conference final 4-3
———
SATURDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:
In Saskatoon, D Duncan Siemens, who was a game-time decision, had a goal and three assists as the Blades skated to an 8-0 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . The Blades hold a 3-2 edge in the series going into Game 6 tonight in Prince Albert. . . . Siemens left Game 4 with a lower-body injury and it wasn’t know whether he would play in Game 5 until he took the pregame skate. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 30 shots. . . . Saskatoon scored six second-period goals, four of them on the PP, after a scoreless first period. . . . The Blades outshot the Raiders, 54-30. . . . The Blades’ big line piled up 10 points, with Brayden Schenn getting a goal and three assists, Curtis Hamilton going two and one, and Jake Trask getting a goal and two helpers. . . . Saskatoon was 5-for-8 on the PP; the Raiders were 0-for-7. . . . Attendance was 10,034, the largest crowd in Saskatoon this season. . . . The Raiders took 63 of 104 penalty minutes. . . .
In Medicine Hat, the Tigers got goals from eight different players as they dropped the Brandon Wheat Kings, 9-5. . . . The Tigers hold a 3-2 edge in the series with Game 6 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Monday. . . . With the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in their home arena, the Wheat Kings are playing their first-round home games in Winnipeg. . . . F Matt MacKay gave Brandon a 2-1 lead at 6:08 of the second period, but the Tigers then scored four straight goals. . . . F Emerson Etem had two goals and an assist for the Tigers, with F Linden Vey and F Wacey Hamilton each adding a goal and two assists. . . . F Mark Stone had three assists for Brandon, which went the distance with G Corbin Boes, who stopped 30 shots. . . . Brandon G Liam Liston and Medicine Hat starter Tyler Bunz both are out with concussions. . . . G Michael Tadjdeh is serving as Boes’ backup. . . . Medicine Hat G Deven Dubyk stopped 29 shots. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . .
In Spokane, F Blake Gal scored three times to lead the Chiefs to a 6-4 victory over the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . The Chiefs won the series, 4-1, and now will meet the Tri-City Americans. That series opens Saturday in Spokane. . . . Gal’s third goal, at 13:05 of the third period, broke a 4-4 tie. . . . The Bruins trailed 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3, but came back to tie the game each time. . . . F Mitch Holmberg had two goals for the Chiefs, with F Levko Koper helping out with a goal and two assists. . . . F Kevin Sundher had a goal and two assists for Chilliwack, while F Dylen McKinlay scored twice. . . . Sundher was unable to beat Spokane G James Reid on a second-period penalty shot with the Chiefs holding a 3-2 lead. . . . Reid made 21 saves, 16 fewer than Chilliwack’s Lucas Gore. . . . The Chiefs were without F Tyler Johnson for the second straight game. The WHL’s second-leading scorer in the regular season, Johnson hasn’t played since taking an elbow from Chilliwack D Tyler Stahl, who ended up with a major penalty and then was suspended for two games. . . . Attendance was 5,352.
———
SATURDAY’S CFB COUNT:
Two minors:
Medicine Hat F Kale Kessy
Chilliwack D Emerson Hrynyk

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.
———
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.
———
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.
———
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.
———
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

D Garrett Leedahl, 19, is leaving the Spokane Chiefs due to what the team says is “medical reasons.”
Leedahl, a sixth-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft, hasn’t played since Nov. 2 when he suffered a head injury in his hometown of Saskatoon.
Plagued by concussions, he has played in only 31 games over the last two seasons.
"It was hard to come up with my decision," Leedahl said in a news release. "My family, the team and I came to this point after talking to the doctors and neurologists. We realized it will be best for my future to retire from hockey.
"It is a really tough decision. It was one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make. It’s going to be tough leaving all the guys behind and everything here, but it is something that it is going to be better for my future.”
Leedahl plans on return to Saskatoon and entering the U of Saskatchewan next year.
———
Perhaps you can file this one under: If you can’t beat them, join them. . . . The NCAA doesn’t hold a draft, but that hasn’t stopped Paul Kelly, the head of College Hockey Inc., from criticizing the CHL because its three leagues do. Of course, the NCAA feels that drafting players as young as 14 years of age gives the major junior leagues a leg up on the competition when it comes to the recruiting wars. . . . So why not fight fire with fire? . . . According to Chris Heisenberg, the U of North Dakota has received a verbal commitment from D Charlie Pelnik, a 15-year-old from Cary, N.C., who plays for the midget AAA Carolina Junior Hurricanes. Despite his age, Pelnik apparently stands 6-foot-4. . . . Steve Sabo, a former U of Wisconsin defenceman, is Pelnik’s coach with the Hurricanes.
———
So . . . the Los Angeles Kings open the season with F Brayden Schenn on their roster. Schenn, at 19, must play in the NHL or be returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings, where he spent the previous three seasons. . . . Schenn played in eight games with the Kings -- he had two assists -- and was a healthy scratch from a bunch of others. . . . The Kings then assigned him to the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs on one of those conditioning stints and he put up seven points in as many games. . . . Schenn is back with the Kings now, and is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight when L.A. plays the Florida Panthers. . . . So much for the conditioning stint being anything but a stalling tactic as the Kings buy time before deciding what to do with Schenn. . . . I would bet that he stays with the Kings for a few more days and then will be assigned to Canada’s national junior team, reporting to their camp in Toronto on Dec. 11. That allows the Kings to buy even more time because, assuming Schenn makes the Canadian team, they wouldn’t have to concern themselves with his immediate future until Jan. 5. In the meantime, you have to wonder what this is doing for Schenn’s state of mind.
———
Meanwhile, there are a lot of people speculating that the Boston Bruins are going to assign F Tyler Seguin, the second pick in the NHL’s 2010 draft, to Canada’s national junior team. Why? Because if they do that, Seguin’s contract comes off the books while he’s playing for Canada. And the Bruins, with Marc Savard about to be cleared to play, are badly in need of cap space.
———
With assistant coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk having returned to the bench, interim assistant coach Mike Vandenberghe has left the Brandon Wheat Kings and returned to his home at Regina Beach, Sask. Gylywoychuk suffered a broken neck when he slipped and fell in the Keystone Centre over the summer. Vandenberghe came on board on an interim basis with the understanding that his stint would end with Gylywoychuk’s return. . . . D Erik Gudbranson of the Kingston Frontenacs has been suspended for five games by the OHL after he incurred a major penalty for a check to the head in a game on Sunday. Gudbranson is on the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp roster and is to report to camp Dec. 11, a day before his suspension is to end. . . .
———
Some highlights from Wednesday’s WHL games:
In Swift Current, F Justin Dowling scored a PP goal at 1:14 of OT to give the Broncos a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Dowling had two goals and an assist. He has 36 points, including 11 goals, on the season. . . . The Broncos were on the PP because Lethbridge F Neil Tarnasky was given a major penalty for checking from behind at 18:07 . . . Tarnasky had tied the game 2-2 at 15:50 of the third period. . . . F Adam Lowry also scored for the Broncos, running his goal-scoring streak to four games. . . . F Cody Eakin had two assists for the winners. . . . The Broncos have won four in a row; the Hurricanes have lost six of seven. . . . In a goofy bit of scheduling, this was the third straight game between the teams. The Broncos won all three, two in regulation and one in OT. . . . Attendance was 2,240. . . .
———
In Edmonton, F Mark McNeill was the only shootout scorer and that goal gave the Prince Albert Raiders a 5-4 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Prince Albert G Jamie Tucker stopped 42 shots. . . . The Oil Kings led this one 2-0 in the first period but found themselves trailing 4-2 in the third. . . . Edmonton forced OT on goals by F Josh Lazowski, his ninth, at 10:02 on the PP and F Stephane Legault, his third, at 14:55. . . . Edmonton D Mark Pysyk and F Michael St. Croix each had two assists. . . . Raiders D Ryan Button picked up two helpers. . . . Attendance was 2,794. . . .
———
In Kennewick, Wash., F Connor Rankin broked a 1-1 tie at 15:20 of the second period and the Tri-City Americans went on to a 4-1 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . The Tigers had an eight-game winning streak snapped. They had won in Everett, Portland and Seattle. . . . The Americans have won four in a row. . . . Rankin has seven goals. . . . F Marcus Messier scored his first goal for the Americans. The 16-year-old from Canmore, Alta., scored in his 14th game. . . . Attendance was 3,922. . . .
———
In Prince George, F Charles Inglis broke a 3-3 tie at 9:53 of the third period to give the Cougars a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Inglis had opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period. He has 12 goals this season. . . . After F Brett Connolly gave the home team a 3-0 lead with his 21st goal just 52 seconds into the second period, F Jimmy Bubnick scored three straight goals for the Hitmen, evening the score at 3 at 4:11 of the third. . . . F Misha Fisenko drew three assists for Calgary. . . . Attendance was 1,755. . . . The Cougars now are alone atop the B.C. Division, two points ahead of the Kelowna Rockets and Vancouver Giants. . . . The Hitmen, the WHL’s defending champions, became the first team this season to hit 20 losses. . . .
———
In Kelowna, F Zach Franko had a goal and an assist to lead the Rockets to a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Rockets, who began the season 4-10, now are 15-11-0. In other words, they have won 11 of their last 12 outings. . . . D Brenden Dillon, 20, a free agent who is drawing NHL interest, had a goal and an assist for Seattle. . . . Attendance was 6,021. . . .
———
In Chilliwack, F Josh Nicholls scored twice to help the Saskatoon Blades to a 7-3 victory over the Bruins. . . . The Blades now are 2-0 on their B.C. Division swing. They are to play the Blazers in Kamloops on Friday. . . . Saskatoon F Lukas Sutter scored his third goal in a week. He has three goals on the season. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 36 shots. . . . The Bruins were 1-for-7 on the PP, while the Blades were 0-for-1. . . . F Chris Collins, who was acquired from Chilliwack, had a goal and an assist. . . . F Curt Gogol, who went the other way in that deal, had a goal for the Bruins. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore played 28:12 minutes — he was lifted after giving up four goals, three in the second period — and moved into first place on the franchise’s list for minutes played, at 5,339. Mark Friesen had held the record, at 5,328 minutes. . . . Attendance was 2,637. . . .
———
In Portland, F Kevin King scored twice, the last one into an empty net, as the Kootenay Ice dropped the Winterhawks, 5-3. . . . King has 14 goals. . . . Ice D Brayden McNabb and F Matt Fraser each had two assists. . . . Attenance was 1,698. . . . Ice G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 24 shots, including a second-period penalty shot by F Oliver Gabriel. . . . The Winterhawks have lost four in a row. . . . The Ice has won three in a row and is one point behind the Eastern Conference-leading Saskatoon Blades.
———
WEDNESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
One major:
Lethbridge F Neil Tarnasky

http://twitter.com/gdrinnan