The WHL and Portland, Day 3 . . .

T-shirts bearing this graphic were available at the Portland
Winterhawks' home game on Friday night.

Someone contacted me on Friday, asking if I could “ever recall a WHL team getting into a PR battle with the league like this before?”
My immediate reaction was, uhh, NO!
But then I got to thinking . . . and there was this time in January 1975.
Ed Chynoweth was the president of the WHL at the time. Pat Ginnell was the owner and head coach of the Victoria Cougars.
The Cougars had been involved in back-to-back road games with the Winnipeg Clubs and Brandon Wheat Kings and – get this! – there had been a bench-clearing brawl in each game. Yes. They dumped the benches in each game. Imagine that! (Were that to happen today, there might be year-long suspensions and it would take the on-ice officials two days to figure it all out.)
When the dust had settled, Chynoweth hit Ginnell with a three-game suspension and a $1,000 fine.
Ginnell said he wouldn’t pay the fine.
Chynoweth set a deadline and said if the fine wasn’t paid a scheduled game that was to have the Kamloops Chiefs play in Victoria the next night would be cancelled.
Just hours before the deadline, Ginnell was still saying he wouldn’t pay the fine “but I suspect there will be a game Tuesday.”
And then Ginnell told Dale Eisler of the Regina Leader-Post:
“Chynoweth has no business threatening me that way. Nobody closes down a business because one employee has done something wrong. That, in effect, is what Chynoweth wants to do. It becomes a matter of principle. I’m not going to pay the fine until I can appeal to the board of governors.”
The Cougars also were hit with a six-game suspension for defenceman Kim Clackson, while forward Eric Sanderson was suspended indefinitely and defenceman Larry Gloeckner got a one-game suspension.
“What did Winnipeg and Brandon get? Nothing,” Ginnell continued. “I gues sour team must have been fighting with itself.
“This is not a National League and a $1,000 fine is utterly ridiculous. If this is the way it’s going to continue, I might as well hire a coach. I’ve got enough to do as owner and manager of the club.”
Ginnell had been fined and suspended for what Chynoweth said was a lack of control over his team.
“I’ve coached teams for nine years and I’ve got about 50 guys playing in the National League,” Ginnell said. “I must be able to control something.”
Ginnell then added that he was thinking of hitting Chynoweth with “the quickest injunction in legal history if he tries to cancel the game.”
And so what was the outcome?
Well, for one thing, Chynoweth was mostly silent through all of this.
Not long after talking with Eisler, Ginnell informed Del Wilson of Regina, who was then the chairman of the board of governors, that he intended to pay the fine but that he would appeal it.
The game between the Cougars and Chiefs went ahead as scheduled.
The outcome of the appeal has been lost in the annals of history. But how do you think it turned out?
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Kerry Eggers, who has been writing in the Portland area for a long, long time, wasn’t able to get anyone from the WHL office to return his phone calls. (Did he really end up speaking with an intern? Seriously?)
So the Portland Tribune columnist scorched the WHL’s earth with an open letter to the commissioner and it’s right here.
Read this and it makes one wish the WHL would re-start that Ask The Commissioner feature on Facebook. Wouldn’t that be fun?
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If you haven’t heard it, Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, came out of the cone of silence Friday and went on the Damage Control Tour. He started with Darren Millard, Doug McLean and Scott Morrison on Sportsnet’s Hockey Central at Noon.
That piece of audio is right here.
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On my way home last night, I was listening to WHL commissioner Ron Robison on Vancouver-CKNW’s Sportstalk with Dan Russell.
And the whole time I was thinking, “If Mr. Commissioner had only done this on Wednesday a lot of what has happened over the latter half of the week could have been avoided.”
Because after listening to a couple of Robison’s interviews, you don’t have to agree with the discipline handed the Winterhawks, but at least there now is an explanation.
That interview is on a podcast (Hour 3) right here.
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Jordan Shifman of CBC Sports takes a look at the whole situation right here.
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Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province talked to some “sources” and filed a column in which Bob Strumm’s name surfaces. That piece is right here.
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The Oregonian’s Paul Buker went to Friday’s game in which the host Winterhawks dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-2. Buker’s report is right here.
www.oregonlive.com/hawks/index.ssf/2012/11/winterhawks_beat_seattle_5-2_i.html
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And a Free Mike Johnston page is up and running on Facebook. It is right here.
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If you have read most of what has been posted here over the last few days, you should have be able to put together the pieces and figure out why the Winterhawks’ paid such a steep price for what might seem like minor transgressions. (You may also be surprised at the number of anonymous sources in a lot of this, but that's what happens when the WHL commissioner places a gag order on everyone but himself.)
All that’s missing, it seems, is for us to hear from Winterhawks owner Bill Gallacher, who has been silent, at least publicly, through all of this.
If you are wondering why that is, it may be because he never really has played an active role in the day-to-day operation of this franchise. He rarely, if ever, attends WHL meetings, so apparently hardly even knows the other owners and governors.

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Sunday's stuff . . .

 One of the blasts of being on Twitter is watching the various people who make their livings covering the National Hockey League race to be first whenever a player move is made.
You had better believe that it is ultra-competitive.
If you don’t believe it, check out this piece from The Globe and Mail that involves some Nick Kypreos vitriol that was fired in the direction of the gang from TSN.
And then get ready for today’s circus as the NHL trade deadline gets here. Finally.
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The Vancouver Giants beat the visiting Tri-City Americans 5-0 on Sunday. The Giants, who got four points from F Brendan Gallagher, had lost six in a row to the Americans. . . . Vancouver G Mark Segal stopped 23 shots. He has five shutouts this season. . . . The victory was No. 519 as a WHL head coach for Vancouver’s Don Hay, moving him into third on the all-time list, one ahead of the late Pat Ginnell. . . . Ernie (Punch) McLean is next, at 548, with Ken Hodge on the top rung, with 742. . . . The Americans were playing their fifth game in seven days. They have lost five of six. . . . Vancouver was without F Brendan Rowinski (flu). . . .
F Robin Soudek scored twice in regulation time and again in the shootout as the host Chilliwack Bruins beat the Prince George Cougars, 4-3. . . . The loser point lifted the Cougars into a tie for seventh with the idle Kamloops Blazers in the Western Conference. The Bruins are five points off the pace. . . . Prince George and Kamloops are one point behind the Everett Silvertips, who journeyed to Kent, Wash., and were beaten 5-1 by the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . F Marcel Noebels, a freshman from Germany, scored the game’s last four goals, giving him 25 on the season.

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

Lorne Molleken is the fifth head coach in WHL history to reach 500 victories. He got there Wednesday night when his Saskatoon Blades got past the Oil Kings 4-3 in Edmonton.
The other four are Ken Hodge, Ernie McLean, Pat Ginnell and Don Hay. Only Hay, the head coach of the Vancouver Giants, is still active.
(Interestingly, Molleken’s first coaching job (1985-86) was with the SJHL’s Swift Current Indians. He replaced Ginnell, who had moved on to the WHL’s New Westminster Bruins. The assistant GM with the Indians was Lorne Frey, now the assistant GM, head scout and director of player personnel with the Kelowna Rockets.)
The fact that Molleken is on that list is testament to the manner in which he now lives his life.
To say that Molleken was a free spirit is something of an understatement.
My favourite Molleken story goes back to the mid-1970s when he was a hard-living goaltender with the Winnipeg Clubs, who were coached by the gravelly voiced Muzz MacPherson.
Legend has it that Molleken was doing the scarecrow routine in goal during a practice session one day in the Winnipeg Arena.
MacPherson was at centre ice running drills and looking on with more and more smoke coming out of his ears.
Finally, MacPherson yelled at Molleken: “Hey, Mooner, you going to try to stop some pucks today?”
Molleken replied: “Muzz, see that thing up above you?”
MacPherson, in telling the story, would say, “Like a fool I looked up.”
And he saw the score clock.
Seeing MacPherson look up, Molleken said: “When it starts, I start.”
Over the years, Molleken hasn’t lost his sense of humour. He did, however, manage to lose a few bad habits. He has grown into one of those coaches whose players will go to the wall for him.
You just know that Molleken, 54, will be spending a lot of time today on the phone and the computer, returning congratulatory messages.
It couldn’t happen to a better man.
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Dave Shoalts of The Globe and Mail reports: “Len Barrie’s misadventures in leading the Bear Mountain golf resort and real-estate development into bankruptcy left more than 100 angry investors and creditors in his wake, including 18 current and former National Hockey League players who lost a total of more than $13-million.” . . . That story is right here.
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Tony Gallagher, a sports columnist with the Vancouver Province, checks in with former Portland Winterhawks player and coach Brent Peterson. Now an assistant coach with the NHL’s Nashville Predators, Peterson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago. That piece is right here. If you read one thing today, make this your choice.
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JUST NOTES: With G James Reid (ankle) on the shelf, the Spokane Chiefs have brought in Adam Iwan, 17, to back up Mac Engel. Iwan was a 10^th-round selection of the Saskatoon Blades in the 2008 bantam draft. He has been playing with the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives. . . . Did you know: The WHL weekly update of roster moves that is dated Jan. 25 includes 11 players listed as being out with concussions and seven others with head injuries. . . . One of those players with a concussion is F Steve Oursov of the Chilliwack Bruins. He is attempting something of a comeback after battling post-concussion syndrome. . . .
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SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:
In Prince Albert, F Linden Vey, the WHL’s scoring leader, broke a 2-2 tie at 9:46 of the second period as the Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Raiders, 3-2. . . . Vey has 33 goals. With 82 points, he holds a two-point lead over Spokane Chiefs F Tyler Johnson. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz stopped 35 shots, one more than Prince Albert's Jamie Tucker. . . . The Tigers led this one 2-0 on first-period PP goals by F Kellan Tochkin, his 19^th, and F Kale Kessy, his eighth. . . . The Raiders scored twice early in the second, with F Brandon Herrod getting his 20^th at 3:37 and F Jonathan Parker his 29^th just 29 seconds later. . . . Attendance was 2,066. . . . Medicine Hat F Tyler Pitlick didn’t play. . . .
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In Edmonton, F Marek Viedensky broke a 3-3 tie at 7:28 of the third period as the Saskatoon Blades skated to a 4-3 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . The victory was No. 500 as a WHL head coach for Saskatoon’s Lorne Molleken. He is the fifth coach in WHL history to reach that milestone. . . . The Blades held 2-0 and 3-2 leads, only to have Edmonton tie it 2-2 and 3-3. . . . Viedensky and F Brayden Schenn each had a goal and an assist for Saskatoon, with F Chris Collins getting two assists. . . . Edmonton F Jordan Hickmott was ejected with a boarding major, so could be looking at a WHL suspension. . . . Attendance was 4,711. . . .
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In Cranbrook, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored three times in the third period and skated away with a 5-4 victory over the host Kootenay Ice. . . . The victory lifted Brandon to within one point of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. . . . F Brenden Walker scored three goals for Brandon, giving him 19. He tied the score 2-2 at 18:03 of the second and gave Brandon a 3-2 lead at 2:33 of the third. . . . Brandon F Scott Glennie upped that to 4-2 with a shorthanded score at 8:45. . . . Ice F Elgin Pearce made it 4-3 on the PP at 9:29. . . . Brandon F Matt MacKay provided some breathing room at 11:07. . . . Ice F Cody Eakin got his 21^st at 13:53 to make things interesting. He also had two assists. . . Brandon G Corbin Boes stopped 34 shots. . . . The Ice has lost three in a rwo for the first time this season. . . . Attendance was 2,220. . . .
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In Red Deer, the Rebels went 4-for-9 on the PP as they romped to a 10-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Red Deer, which has won nine in a row, led 9-0 early in the third period before F Cam Braes scored two PP goals for the visitors. . . . F Turner Elson scored three times and added an assist for Red Deer. He’s got 15 goals this season. He scored twice on the PP and once while shorthanded. . . . F Daulton Siwak added a goal and three assists for the Rebels, while F Byron Froese scored twice, giving him 24. F Brett Ferguson had a goal and two assists. . . . Attendance was 3,859. . . .
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In Portland, four Winterhawks forwards had four-point games in a 9-2 thrashing of the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . Brendan Leipsic had two goals and two assists, while Craig Cunningham, Riley Boychuk and Sven Bartschi each had a goal and three helpers. . . . F Ty Rattie also scored twice for Portland. . . . Roman Horak, Ryan Howse and Robin Soudek, who are Chilliwack linemates, were a combined minus-17. . . . Portland D Taylor Aronson and D William Wrenn didn’t have a point between them but each was plus-5. . . . Portland has won six in a row. . . . The Winterhawks’ nine goals was a season-high; they have twice scored eight times. . . . Portland’s 51 shots also was a season-high. . . . Attendance was 2,346. . . .
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In Prince George, F Brett Connolly returned to the Cougars’ lineup and enjoyed a four-point outing in a 9-5 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . That was a single-game high for the Cougars’ offence this season. . . . A knee injury had kept Connolly sidelined since Jan. 12. . . . Connolly scored twice, giving him 27, and added two assists. . . . F Nick Buonassisi and F Charles Inglis each had a goal and three assists. . . . F Greg Fraser had two goals for the Cougars, with D Cody Carlson scoring once and adding two assists. . . . Prince George D Daniel Gibb got his first goal of the season. He has a goal and three assists in 46 games. Last season, he had a goal and three assists in 69 games. . . . Kamloops F Brendan Ranford scored twice, giving him 32. He hadn’t scored in his previous 10 games. . . . Prince George was 4-for-7 on the PP; the Blazers were 3-for-5. . . . Kamloops has lost four in a row and eight of nine. . . . The Cougars are 5-1 against the Blazers, with a 32-20 edge in scoring. . . . Attendance was 1,789. . . .
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In Spokane, G Mac Engel earned his first WHL victory as the Chiefs blanked the Everett Silvertips, 3-0. . . . Engel is playing in place of injured starter James Reid. . . . Engel went into the game with a 0-4-3 record in 13 appearances. . . . A 17-year-old from Red Deer, he stopped 18 shots in earning his first shutout. . . . It was Spokane’s fifth shutout of the season; the other four belong to Reid. . . . Everett has been blanked a WHL-leading seven times. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 45 shots. . . . Spokane F Matt Marantz opened the scoring with his 14^th of the season at 4:56 of the second period. . . . Spokane F Tyler Johnson ran his point streak to 15 games with an assist on F Levko Koper’s empty-netter. . . . Attendance was 3,758.
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WEDNESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Three minors:
Red Deer F Josh Cowen
Kamloops F Thomas Frazee
Spokane F Mike Aviani

No ordinary number for Hay

DON HAY

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

The hockey gods have been known to work in mysterious ways.
How else to explain that the Vancouver Giants, who have had one five-game losing streak in more than six seasons under head coach Don Hay, should lose four straight times before beating the visiting Chilliwack Bruins 2-1 on Saturday night?
That meant Hay was able to be credited with his 500th WHL coaching victory on a night when his good friend Ken Hitchcock was at Pacific Coliseum.
“It’s not just a number,” Hay said Monday afternoon. “It means I’ve been really lucky to work with good people, good organizations in Kamloops and Tri-City and here.”
Hay, who also has coached the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans, is the fourth coach in WHL history to reach that milestone. He is in his 12th season as a WHL head coach; this is his seventh with the Giants.
On the all-time list, he trails Ken Hodge (742), Ernie (Punch) McLean (548) and the late Pat Ginnell (518).
“When you have success it’s got a lot to do with the people around you,” Hay said. “You look at the players I’ve had the opportunity to coach and you feel pretty lucky.”
Hitchcock was the Blazers’ head coach in Kamloops when Hay, then a local firefighter, joined the coaching staff as an assistant coach. Hay, of course, eventually took over as head coach and guided the Blazers to Memorial Cup titles in 1994 and 1995.
Hitchcock was fired last season as head coach of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, despite having a contract that pays US$1.3 million annually and runs through next season. Hitchcock was in Vancouver for the first Hyundai Hockey national coaching symposium and minor hockey clinic.
“Yeah,” Hay said. “Hitch was at the game . . . that was good.”
Of course, Hay was well aware that he was close to them milestone but he said he really began to realize Sunday just what it was that he had accomplished.
“It really sank in on Sunday when I got a lot of texts and emails and congratulatory messags from ex-players and coaches around the league and form other coaches,” he said. “It starts to sink in and you say, ‘Wow, it is quite a milestone.’ ”
However, Hay added, he is glad that it’s over because “your focus as always as a coach is to win the next game.”
That next game happens to be tonight and, with Hay to be honoured in a pregame ceremony, it is somehow only fitting that it will be against the visiting Blazers.
“That organization means a lot to me, obviously,” Hay said. “It’s where I started and have a home.
“It’s always special when we play against the Blazers but the games right now are so important. You can have a bad week and go from first to right out of the hunt.”
The Giants (14-11-4), who have won five B.C. Division pennants in a row, are tied for second in the division, a point back of the Prince George Cougars. Vancouver is tied for fifth in the10-team Western Conference, where nine teams are within six points of each other.
The Blazers (14-13-2) are eighth, two points behind the Giants.
“We’ve been telling our guys that it’s like Ferburary, when normally you’re scratching and fighting,” Hay said. “Usually in Febrary, there’s one or two teams out of it, but there’s nobody out of the hunt right now.”
Hay, 56, has been in the business long enough to know that injuries are part of the game. But, he admitted, injuries have taken a toll on the Giants.
“I don’t think we can gauge our team right now,” Hay said. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to get everybody back at the same time. We’ll have some decisions to make when we get everybody healthy. Hopefully, by the trade deadline we’ll be healthier.”
The Giants have five players with long-term injuries, including Slovakian winger Marek Tvrdon, who had 11 points, including six goals, in 12 games when he went down with a season-ending shoulder injury.
They also are missing forwards Randy McNaught (ankle) and Connor Redmond (shoulder), while defencemen Luke Fenske and Zach Hodder are out with shoulder injuries. On top of that, forward Greg Lamoureux left Saturday’s game with an upper body injury and was to see a doctor yesterday.
“To lose a guy like Tvrdon, a young guy who scored six goals in 12 games . . . we’re not blessed with a lot of scoring right now anyway,” Hay said. “To lose him was a big blow.”
Things have gotten so desperate on offence that late last week Hay split up forwards Craig Cunningham and Brendan Gallagher, who not that long ago were running one-two in the WHL points derby. Cunningham has 43 points, but only seven since Nov. 1.
Hay said it’s a matter of the puck “just not going in” for Cunningham. “Teams are playing him hard,” the coach said. “He’s still working as hard as ever but (goals) are becoming tougher and tougher to come by.”
JUST NOTES: The game features the WHL’s top two goal scorers in LW Brendan Ranford of the Blazers, who has 25, and Gallagher, with 24. . . . The Giants get D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen back from a seven-game suspension tonight. He hasn’t played since Nov. 11. . . . The Giants will be without F Brett Lyon, who has drawn a one-game suspension for fighting off the opening faceoff on Saturday. . . . The Blazers have followed a six-game road winning streak by losing four in a row away from home. And five of the six games left on their pre-Christmas schedule are on the road.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.comTaking Note on Twitter

That's a lot of victories!

According to the WHL, there was some history made in the WHL on Saturday night when the Vancouver Giants got past the visiting Chilliwack Bruins, 2-1. The league announced that the victory was No. 500 in the WHL coaching career of Vancouver head coach Don Hay.
Hay, who also has coached the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans, is the fourth coach in WHL history to reach that milestone. He is in his 12^th season as a WHL head coach; this is his seventh with the Giants.
On the all-time list, he trails Ken Hodge (742), Ernie (Punch) McLean (548) and the late Pat Grinnell (518).
Interestingly, if you add up the franchise victories for Kamloops, Tri-City and Vancouver while Hay has been head coach, you get 498. (The Blazers won 144 with Hay as head coach, Tri-City won 67 and the Giants have won 287, including 14 this season.)
My records indicate that Hay did a 10-game stint as head coach in Kamloops during 1991-92, with the Blazers going 6-4-0 while head coach Tom Renney was with the Canadian team at the World Junior Championship.
That would make last night’s victory No. 504 for Hay.
No matter . . . 500 or 504, that’s a lot of victories.
And it is absolutely amazing how consistent Hay’s teams have been. Only twice in 12 seasons has he failed to win 40 games in a WHL season.
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Highlights from Saturday’s WHL games, the results of which left nine of the Western Conference’s 10 teams within six points of each other . . .
In Moose Jaw, G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 25 shots as the Warriors blanked the Everett Silvertips, 4-0. . . . The Warriors acquired Heemskerk from Moose Jaw for D Chad Suer on Sept. 17. . . . It was Heemskerk’s first shutout this season and the eighth of his career, six of which came with Everett. . . . The Silvertips have been blanked four times this season. . . . F Quinton Howden scored twice for Moose Jaw, giving him 17 goals. He also had an assist. . . . Moose Jaw F Dylan Hood had an assist to run his point streak to 11 games. . . . The Warriors have won four in a row. . . . Attendance was 2,711. . . . The Silvertips were blanked one night after they put up a 6-0 shutout in beating the Broncos in Swift Current. . . . G Luke Siemens, who recorded that shutout, stopped 35 shots in this one.
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In Regina, F Jordan Weal scored twice to help the Pats to a 4-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Broncos were playing the first of 11 straight road games. They don’t play at home again until Jan. 2. . . . The Pats had been beaten 9-6 by the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors one night earlier. . . . Weal has 12 goals. . . . F Thomas Frazee had a goal and an assist for Regina. . . . F Lane Scheidl had two assists for the Pats, who got 30 saves out of G Damien Ketlo. . . . F Dillon Wagner, in his fifth game since returning from offseason surgery, scored his first goal for Swift Current. . . . Attendance was 3,521.
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In Lethbridge, the Prince Albert Raiders scored three first-period goals and went on to a 5-1 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . D Nathan Deck, with his first of the season, on the PP, and F Mark MacNeill, with two, scored first-period goals. . . . MacNeill finished with three goals. His first WHL hat trick leaves him with 13 goals this season. . . . D Ryan Button, F Igor Revenko and F Brandon Herrod each had two assists for the Raiders. . . . Attendance was 3,474. . . .
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In Cranbrook, F Wacey Hamilton scored at 1:37 of OT to give the Medicine Hat Tigers a 3-2 victory over the host Kootenay Ice. . . . D Brayden McNabb had tied the game for Kootenay with his fourth goal at 12:09 of the third. That goal came 1:49 after F Linden Vey had given the Tigers a 2-1 lead with his 19th of the season. . . . McNabb had both Ice goals and now has four. . . . Vey, the WHL’s leading point man, has 19 goals. . . . Attendance was 2,417. . . .
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In Kelowna, F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan had a goal, an assist and an early bout to lead the Rockets to a 6-3 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Callahan, who has 14 goals, got both his points on the PP. He got into a fight with F Darian Dziurzynski just 1:18 into the game. . . . Dziurzynski’s 15^th goal, at 12:37 of the second period, gave the visitors a 2-1 lead. . . . The Rockets responded with the next five goals. . . . Kelowna D Tyson Barrie had two assists. . . . Kelowna, which has won 12 of 14, got a goal from F Colton Sissons, his fifth, to open the scoring. The Blades once owned Sissons’ rights, but traded him to Kelowna as part of a deal in which D Curt Gogol moved to Saskatoon. The Blades, of course, have since dealt Gogol to the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . The Blades, who had won four in a row, got a goal and an assist from each of D Stefan Elliott and F Chris Collins. . . . Elliott has a goal and four assists and is plus-4 in three games since not being invited to the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. . . . Saskatoon is 3-1-0 on its swing through the B.C. Division, which wraps up Tuesday in Prince George against the Cougars. . . . Attendance was 6,141. . . .
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In Spokane, F Steve Kuhn’s two goals helped the Chiefs to a 4-3 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . It was Teddy Bear Night and fans tossed 4,668 stuffed toys onto the ice surface. However, they were guilty of premature celebration as they exploded at 5:38 of the first period when the puck ended up in the Portland net after the whistle had gone on a delayed penalty against the Winterhawks. . . . Kuhn then scored on the resulting PP. . . . He has six goals this season. . . . Portland had won 10 straight games in Spokane. . . . The teams meet again Wednedsay in Spokane. . . . F Ryan Johansen had two assists for Portland, while F Nino Niederreiter had a goal and an assist. . . . D Brenden Kichton had two helpers for the Chiefs. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 45 shots, 19 more than Spokane G James Reid. . . . Attendance was 7,638. . . .
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In Red Deer, the Rebels dropped Brandon 5-2, handing the Wheat Kings their ninth straight loss. . . . It is the second time this season that Brandon has lost nine in a row. . . . The Wheat Kings next play Wednesday against the visiting Everett Silvertips. . . . The Rebels moved into a first-place tie with the Saskatoon Blades atop the Eastern Conference. They are two points ahead of the Kootenay Ice. . . . F Brayden Schenn was in Brandon’s lineup after being assigned by the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings late last week. . . . Schenn scored and set up a goal by F Scott Glennie. . . . F Andrej Kudrna scored twice for Red Deer, both on the PP. . . . Red Deer D Matt Dumba, 16, scored his ninth goal of the season in his 30^th game. . . . Brandon G Liam Liston left early for a second straight night. He made it through two periods in an 8-4 loss to the Oil Kings in Edmonton on Friday. This time, he gave up four goals on eight shots and left early in the second period. . . . G Corbin Boes relieved him and stopped 16 of 17 shots. . . . Red Deer G Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves. . . . Attendance was 4,667. . . .
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In Kamloops, F Brendan Ranford scored his WHL-leading 25^th goal of the season just 16 seconds into OT as the Blazers beat the Calgary Hitmen, 3-2. . . . Kamloops held a 33-19 edge in shots, including 19-5 in the third period. . . . Calgary D Jaynen Rissling had a goal and an assist. . . . Ranford and F Jordan DePape did the same for Kamloops. . . . Ranford has one more goal than F Brendan Gallagher of the Vancouver Giants. Ranford also is second in the points derby, two behind Medicine Hat Tigers F Linden Vey. . . . Kamloops F Chase Schaber was plus-2 but had his 12-game point streak snapped. . . . Ranford is on his second 11-game point streak of the season. He has 25 points in those 11 games. . . . Attendance was 3,890. . . . Each team scored a goal from the neutral zone. . . . Kamloops D Bronson Maschmeyer got his third goal when his shot from the neutral zone glanced off Rissling’s stick blade and beat G Brandon Glover through the legs. . . . Rissling got that one back when his shot from just over the centre red line got through G Jeff Bosch to tie the game 2-2. . . . Rissling’s second goal of the season came just 28 seconds after DePape gave Kamloops a 2-1 lead. . . . Attendance was 3,890. . . . Injured F Tyler Fiddler (ankle) of the Hitmen joined head coach Mike Williamson and assistant coach Brent Kisio behind the Calgary bench. . . . The Hitmen have released F Riley Reinboldt, who had four points in 21 games. Reinbolt, 19, had been acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Sept. 18 for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. A sixth-round pick by Moose Jaw in the 2006 bantam draft, the Calgary native spent two seasons with the Warriors. . . .
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In Prince George, the Seattle Thunderbirds got two shootout goals and beat the Prince George Cougars, 5-4. . . . F Connor Sanvido and F Colin Jacobs both scored for Seattle as the shootout went five rounds. F Nick Buonassisi was the only one of the Cougars to beat Seattle G Calvin Pickard, who stopped 39 shots through OT. . . . Prince George G Ty Rimmer turned aside 28 shots. . . . The Cougars led this one 3-0 at 13:07 of the first period, only to give up two goals late in the period. F Charles Wells scored on the PP at 18:22 and D Brenden Dillon added one at 19:19. . . . Seattle trailed 4-2 when F Marcel Noebels got his 10^th at 19:07 of the second. . . . F Charles Wells got his second of the game at 13:25 of the third to force OT. He’s got seven goals. . . . Seattle F Luke Lockhart drew three assists. . . . Seattle has played 28 games and 13 of them have gone to overtime. . . . Attendance was 1,941.
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In Vancouver, F Brendan Gallagher broke a 1-1 tie at 10:27 of the second period and the Giants went on to beat the Chilliwack Bruins, 2-1. . . . Gallagher has 24 goals, one between WHL leader Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers. . . . F Robin Soudek scored on the PP for Chilliwack at 2:01 of the first period. . . . Vancouver D Neil Manning tied it on the PP at 2:55 of the second. . . . Gallagher also had an assist, as did Manning. . . . Vancouver G Mark Segal stopped 31 shots, seven more than Chilliwack’s Lucas Gore. . . . Chilliwack’s Curt Gogol and Brett Lyon of the Giants duked it out eight seconds into the game. That was the game’s only scrap. . . . The Giants had lost four straight games. . . . Attendance was 6,156.
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SATURDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Two minors:
Spokane D Corbin Baldwin
Vancouver D Neil Manning
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca  gdrinnan.blogspot.com  Taking Note on Twitter

The tall and the short of it

An interesting story is developing with the midget AAA team in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. (I have always wondered if there is a Fort Alberta in Saskatchewan?)
Anyway . . .
I am told that the midget AAA Fort Saskatchewan Rangers have two goaltenders — one is 6-foot-6, the other is 5-foot-6. One has signed a WHL contract with the Kamloops Blazers; the other has a brother who is a veteran defenceman with the Blazers.
The tall one is Troy Trombley, a third-round pick by the Blazers in the 2009 bantam draft. The short one is Emerance Maschmeyer, the first female to play in the midget AAA league since Shannon Szabados was with the Maple Leaf Athletic Club in 2002-03. Szabados, of course, later attended camp with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, played in the AJHL and won gold with Canada’s Olympic women’s team in Vancouver in February.
Emerance is the younger sister of Bronson Maschmeyer, who plays with the Blazers.
The two goaltenders both are 16 years of age and I am told that they have, to this point in the season, split the playing time with a team that goes into the weekend at 2-6-5.
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I was musing yesterday on the time when Pat Ginnell, then the GM and head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, borrowed goaltender Ron Popplestone from the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Well, I was able to find a clipping in my files from the Brandon Sun of Jan. 4, 1980. Here’s what I wrote:
“Regina Pats general manager Bob Strumm was most upset on Dec. 21, when his Western Hockey League club came out on the short end of a 5-4 count with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“Medicine Hat . . . was using goaltender Ron Popplestone, who belongs to the Brandon Wheat Kings, and all the rookie net minder did was kick out 64 shots as the Tigers won in overtime. Both Medicine Hat goaltenders -- Kelly Hrudey and Randy Jaycock -- apparently had the flu.
“So Tigers general manager and head cocah Pat Ginnell apparently got permission from WHL president Dave Descent and Brandon general manager Jack Brockest to use Popplestone.
“Strumm immediately protested the game, because the Pats never did give permission for the move. But Descent threw the protest out the door.
“The Pats, though, have appealed and that will be heard by the WHL’s grievance committee, likely in February at the league’s next meeting.”
Popplestone as backing up Brandon starter Scott Olson during the 1979-80 season.
I don’t know that Strumm’s appeal was ever heard. But I have this feeling that if it was he lost.
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As was mentioned here earlier in the week, the owners of the independent Golden Baseball League’s Victoria Seals pulled the plug on the franchise. Those owners happen to be Russ Parker, who also owns the Regina Pats, and his son, Darren. . . . I meant to follow up on the earlier post with a mention of the news conference that Darren held in Victoria to make it all official. The Victoria Times Colonist’s story is right here. . . . Cleve Dheensaw of the Times Colonist provides some opinion on the situation right here.
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F Colin Jacobs of the Seattle Thunderbirds is from Coppell, Texas. So why is he in the WHL and not playing football somewhere in the U.S.? Adam Kimelman of nhl.com answers that question and more right here. . . . The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Jacobs is in his draft season and, yes, the scouts are taking notice of him.
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The Calgary Herald has been all over the story involving Flames F Brett Sutter and the charges he is facing in Scottsdale, Alta. There’s a story right here on what all is in the police report. And there’s a story right here on how the team is standing by Sutter, who is the son of Flames’ GM Darryl Sutter.
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Glenda Luymes of the Vancouver Province has taken a look at what the City of Abbotsford, B.C., came up with in order to land the Abbotsford Heat, the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate, and how the hockey fans in the area have responded. Or not. . . . That story is right here.
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The Kootenay Ice (13-4-0-2) meet the Oil Kings in Edmonton tonight before turning to Calgary to face the Hitmen on Sunday. Kootenay, which won 4-2 in Calgary on Thursday, already has beaten the Hitmen four times this season. . . . The Ice has added F Ryan Bloom, a second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, and F Jarrett Zentner, a fourth-rounder in the same draft. Bloom was brought in from the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons; Zentner plays for the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. Both will stay with the Ice through the weekend. . . . The Ice lost F Brock Montgomery with a head injury during Wednesday’s practice. . . . He joined D James Martin (facial injury), F Drew Czerwonka (shoulder) and F Brendan Hurley (hand) on the shelf. . . . G Alex Pechurskiy, who lost out in the 20-year-old game with the Tri-City Americans, has signed with the Central league’s Mississippi RiverKings. Pechurskiy, who is from Magnitogorsk, Russia, went 13-10-1, 2.61, .912 with the Americans last season. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round of the NHL’s 2208 draft. . . . F Brendan Shinnimin of the Americans is eligible to return to their lineup Saturday when they meet the Chiefs in Spokane. He sat out the 12th game of his 12-game suspension on Friday night as the Americans played the visiting Everett Silvertips. Shinnimin was suspended for a hit from behind on Saskatoon Blades F Josh Nicholls on Oct. 6. . . . In practice this week, Shinnimin, who had 13 points in seven games when he was suspended, was working on a line with Adam Hughesman and Kruise Reddick. . . . The WHL may rule Monday on the length of suspension to Vancouver Giants D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen, who picked up a major penalty and a game misconduct for a Thursday hit on Chilliwack Bruins F Robin Soudek. . . . Soudek left the ice surface on a backboard but the Bruins didn’t update his condition on Friday. . . . F Brendan Rowinski, acquired by the Giants from the Moose Jaw Warriors, practised with Vancouver on Friday and should play tonight against the visiting Prince George Cougars.
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The last fan had barely left Friday night’s final game when the email chimed. And here’s what had arrived:
“As Forrest Gump once said, I may not be a smart man, but can you help explain how an entire conference can be at or above .500 at 20 games into the regular season?
“Your insight is much appreciated Professor.”
It’s true. Each of the Western Conference’s 10 teams is at .500 or better.
Seriously.
Congratulations are in order to whomever is responsible for the format that allows this to happen.
All told, 17 of the WHL’s 22 teams went to bed safe in the knowledge that they were at .500 or better.
That, folks, is no mean feat.
Of course, what it all means is that the old axiom “For every winner there is a loser” no longer holds water or anything else.
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In Friday’s most-anticipated game, the host Saskatoon Blades scored a 4-3 victory over Portland, snapping the Winterhawks’ 10-game winning streak. The Blades (14-5-0-1) scored the game’s last two goals, with F Josh Nicholls scoring on the Pp at 11:09 of the third period and F Curtis Hamilton getting the winner at 18:01. . . . The Blades got a goal and three assists from F Marek Viedensky, while Hamilton and Nicholls each had a goal and two assists. . . . The Winterhawks, at 16-3-0-1, still boast the WHL’s best record. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 33 shots, including 18 of 20 in the first period. . . . Saskatoon opened with Adam Morrison in goal. He stopped 12 of 14 shots, but left after F Riley Boychuk broke a 2-2 tie on the PP just 59 seconds into the third. . . . Steven Stanford came on to stop 13 of 14. Stanford had been out since Oct. 26 when he suffered a concussion in practice. . . . Portland F Sven Bartschi had one assist to run his point streak to 14 games. . . . The much-ballyhooed game — the Blades debuted the denim look, Shannon Tweed and Gene Simmons were in the crowd — drew 8,812 fans. . . .

In Moose Jaw, Warriors D Collin Bowman scored two first-period goals but Medicine Hat F Ryan Harrison struck three times — including twice on the same shift — in the second period and the Tigers went on to a 6-3 victory. . . . Harrison has nine goals this season. . . . Medicine Hat F Tyler Pitlick broke a 3-3 tie with his fifth at 12:27 of the third. . . .


In Brandon, F Scott Glennie’s goal 53 seconds into OT gave the Wheat Kings a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. F Shayne Wiebe, the team captain, scored twice for Brandon. He has 10 goals this season. . . .

In Regina, the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the game’s last four goals, three of them in a span of 7:07 in the third period, and beat the Pats, 5-4. F Charles Wells broke a 4-4 tie at 14:20 of the third period. . . . The first three goals of Seattle’s comeback all came via the PP. . . . F Colin Jacobs had two goals and an assist for Seattle, while D Brendan Dillon had three assists. . . . F Carter Ashton scored his ninth and 10th goals for the Pats. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 38 shots. . . . Seattle was 3-for-4 on the PP. . . . The Thunderbirds are 3-1-1 on their East Division trip and have won the last three. . . . Seattle wraps up its trip tonight in Swift Current against the Broncos. . . .

In Swift Current, the Broncos blew a 2-0 lead and then got a PP goal from F Brad Hoban at 10:29 of the third period for a 3-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Hoban had two goals, giving him 10. . . . G Mark Friesen stopped 45 shots for the Broncos. . . . The Raiders, who have lost three in a row, were without F Igor Revenko, who was out with an undisclosed injury. Apparently, he will be going to Edmonton for tests next week. . . .

In Spokane, F Tyler Johnson scored twice and G James Reid had 37 saves as the Chiefs beat the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-3. . . . The Chiefs are 4-0-0 all-time against the Oil Kings. . . .


In Kelowna, the Rockets won their sixth straight game, beating the Prince George Cougars, 4-1. . . . F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan had a goal and an assist for Kelowna, which has gone from 4-10-0 to 10-10-0 with the winning skein. . . . D Tyson Barrie had two assists for the Rockets, who play the Blazers in Kamloops tonight. . . . Callahan’s 11th goal was into an empty net. He has 15 points in the six-game streak, which includes five victories over B.C. Division opponents. . . .

In Chilliwack, the Red Deer Deer Rebels’ scored the game’s first three goals and went on to beat the Bruins, 4-3. . . . The Bruins scored those three goals on eight shots in the game’s first 8:30. . . . F Ryan Howse scored his 17th goal of the season for the Bruins, tying him for the WHL lead with F Brendan Gallagher of the Vancouver Giants and F Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers. . . . F Turner Elson had a goal and an assist for the Rebels. The goal, his seventh, gave the Rebels a 4-2 lead and stood up as the winner. . . . Red Deer went 3-1-2 on its swing through B.C. and into the U.S. . . .

In Everett, F Josh Birkholz scored three times and added two assists as the Silvertips scored a 5-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Birkholz has nine points, six of them goals, in 18 games. In other words, he more than doubled his points output in one game. . . . Birkholz was on a line with Scott MacDonald, who had two goals and an assist, and Clayton Cumiskey, who had an assist. . . . Cumiskey appeared to dislocate a finger at one point in the game. He left for repairs and then returned to action. . . . Everett G Luke Siemens, in a rare start, stopped 45 shots. . . . The Silvertips meet the visiting Chilliwack Bruins tonight and then travel to Kamloops for a Sunday encounter with the Blazers.
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FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
One double minor:
Brandon F Mark Mieritz
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Six minors:
Seattle F Jacob Doty
Spokane F Blake Gal
Spokane F Tyler Johnson
Everett D Brennan Yadlowski
Red Deer D Alex Petrovic
Tri-City F Kruise Reddick

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