Author: greggdrinnan

Hornung: A lot of things came together at the wrong time . . . I don’t think I would describe it as a dirty hit

It happened as two players who were similar in size and style came together beside one team’s goal. There was a collision and one of them tumbled helplessly into the end boards.

“A lot of things came together at the wrong time,” Brad Hornung, who was left a quadriplegic after the play in question, told Austin Davis of the Regina Leader-Post in the spring of 2014. “Probably 100 things had to happen the wrong way, and they all did. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen that often.

“I don’t think i would describe it as a dirty hit.”

Hornung’s Regina Pats were playing the Moose Jaw Warriors on March 1, 1987 — it was a Sunday night — and the home side was on the power play. In fact, it was a 5-on-3 advantage about seven minutes into the second period of game the Pats would win, 6-3.

Hornung was a point-a-game player who saw power-play time, killed penalties and took a regular shift.

Troy Edwards was the same kind of player for the Warriors, and he was out on the penalty kill.

In fact, he was trying to change but his guys weren’t able to clear their zone.

“I was going to make the change,” he told me in March 1994. “And I didn’t.”

Four days after Hornung was injured, Doug Sauter, the Pats’ general manager and head coach, took Edwards to the hospital where he visited with Brad and the Hornung family.

“I had to see him myself,” Edwards said. “Brad said he didn’t blame me . . . that gave me peace of mind. It took a huge weight off my shoulders.”

Of the Hornung family, Edwards said: “They were really good to me. They don’t bear any animosity against me. They said they want me to keep on going, to keep on playing and Brad said that, too. So that really made me feel good. They were really good to me . . . I can’t explain it . . . they’re great.”

Still, Edwards said his immediate impulse was to quit.

“I just felt like packing it in,” he said. “You see that and it just kept on going through my head . . . seeing that picture all the time. I just wanted to quit. I didn’t feel it was worth it to see that happen.

“The picture of him going into the boards . . . you visualize it when you’re home alone or something, just by yourself. It comes back. I just felt like quitting right there.”

Why didn’t he quit? He talked with Sauter. He got tremendous support from the Hornung family. And his teammates were there for him.

“Kevin Herom came off the ice and said to me, ‘I’m not going out there if you’re not going out there.’ He’s really good,” Edwards said. “Guys like that. (Dave) Thomlinson, (Mike) Keane, they’re really supportive. (Coach Greg) Kvisle was really good. (Pat) Beauchesne, I live with him and he phoned me. They were all great.”

His family was there for him, too, especially when he went home for a couple of days in the immediate aftermath.

“It was one of those times in life when you need your family and they were there supporting me,” he said.

Edwards also drew some comfort from knowing that “I would never do anything like that. I think people who know hockey, and know me, know I would never try anything like that. So I’ve just got to bear with it and try to put it out of my mind.”

He also recognized something else.

“It’s kind of ironic,” he said. “We’re both kind of the same type of players. We noth did our job and stuff. His favourite team is the New York Islanders. Mine is, too. He likes (Bryan) Trottier. I like Trottier.

“It could have been me. It could have been the other way around.”

Edwards and Hornung would see each other on occasion as the years went on. In the spring of 1993, Edwards’ mother was in the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre after having suffered a stroke. “I saw Brad then. We had a real good talk,” a smiling Edwards told me in 1994.

Edwards would go on to finish his junior career with the Warriors. He had a 16-game stint as a professional, then spent a couple of seasons with the U of Regina Cougars before finishing up in senior hockey in his hometown with the Highway Hockey League’s Raymore Rockets.

By then, he was playing for the fun of it. But it wasn’t easy.

“People point fingers at me. And I still get it . . . every rink I go into,” Edwards told me after some prodding. “Women who are older than my mother” would yell at him. “Paralyzer” they would scream at him from the stands.

After chatting with Edwards in March 1994, I wrote:

“Edwards plays now because he loves the game and being with the guys; it’s the camaraderie; it’s watching Rod Houk hold centre stage in the Raymore Hotel. The good times.

“But he’s never alone. Brad Hornung is always with him. The reminders are constant. Every time Edwards sees a handicapped parking sign, for example, he thinks of Hornung.

“What happened is part of Edwards. He knows that. He doesn’t understand it but he’s come to accept it. He had to. It’s a cliche but life does go on.

“Troy Edwards is living proof of that.”

A few days before Edwards and I had that conversation, there had been a check in another hockey game and another player was left a quadriplegic. Edwards spent two hours with the player who had delivered the check.

His message?

“You can’t spend your time asking why . . . wondering why. If you do, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

Hornung lived life of courage and grace . . . Wouldn’t allow his circumstances to shorten his horizons

Brad Hornung was a remarkable person. He really was.

Hornung, who died on Tuesday at the age of 52, spent almost 35 years in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down after he was injured in a hockey game on March 1, 1987. Circumstances didn’t prevent him from living a life of courage and grace.

He was 18 and in his second season with the WHL’s Regina Pats when he was injured. A solid player with strong defensive skills, he was producing a point a game and was certain to have been selected in that summer’s NHL draft when it all came crashing down in the blink of an eye.

We got an idea of what kind of person Hornung was shortly after he was injured. At the time, doctors were of the opinion that he wouldn’t ever again be able to breathe on his own. He quickly proved them wrong.

“That was my goal,” he would say later, “not to be dependent on a ventilator to breathe. Back then, they were big huge machines.”

Eventually, he was able to get around in a specialized wheelchair. It had electrodes in pads on the headrest and he was able to manoeuvre it by applying pressure with the back of his head. Yes, it took him a while to master it. “I took out a salad bar one day,” he told author Roy MacGregor, who included a chapter on Hornung in his book The Home Team: Fathers, Sons & Hockey.

Even after what happened, Hornung was goal-oriented. He graduated from high school. He earned a degree from the U of Regina. He worked for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and then for NHL Central Scouting.

In an interview with Austin Davis of the Regina Leader-Post in the spring of 2014, Hornung said:

“The game of hockey has been good to me. It’s been good to my family. My Dad made a living in it. He loved it. I love it.

“I didn’t feel any bitterness or any anger towards it. I don’t think most people would be (angry), because I don’t consider myself to be any different than anybody else.”

Hornung spent most of the last 35 years of his life at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina, where he had his own room. He didn’t spend a lot of time feeling sorry for himself.

As he told Davis, “I’ve had a full life here. I haven’t had any limitations. I’ve been able to travel and do a lot of things.”

On June 8, 2018, the U of Regina saluted Hornung by presenting him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. In addressing the gathering at the Conexus Arts Centre during the spring convocation, Hornung said:

“I am not a special or isolated case, because I see this happen every day. And we are seeing it in the recovery of those who were affected by the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy. If there is a moral to my story, it is that people tend to underestimate themselves and how well they would react to different circumstances.”

Shortly after, Hornung closed with this:

“The bad news is that unpleasant things are going to happen to all of you at one time or another in your lives. Sadly, that is a fact.

“The good news, however, is that you have the strength within you to face these challenges in ways you cannot even imagine right now. Happily, that is also a fact. And it is the most important one to remember.

“Congratulations on your graduation, and please don’t ever forget — even in what may seem like your darkest hour, there is always a place in your life for hope.”

So don’t be sad over the fact that Brad Hornung no longer is with us. Rather, be happy that we had him with us for as long as we did and admire him for what he was able to do with his life.

Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post has more right here and right here.

Brad Hornung dies of cancer at 52 . . . Pats forward was left quadriplegic after being injured in 1987

Brad Hornung, who was left a quadriplegic following a check in a WHL game on March 1, 1987, died in Regina on Tuesday. The former Regina Pats forward would have turned 53 on Sunday.

Hornung had been diagnosed with bone and colon cancer about four weeks ago. At the time, he felt that something wasn’t right and that perhaps he might have pneumonia. Instead, doctors discovered he had terminal cancer.

Hornung died at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina, which had been his home since shortly after he was injured.

Hornung played one game with the Pats in 1984-85, then had 17 goals and 18 assists in 64 games with them in 1985-86. At the time of his injury, he had 32 goals and 34 assists in 61 games.

He was injured early in the second period of a 6-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Regina Agridome. He went head-first into the boards behind the Moose Jaw net and it was immediately apparent that he was in trouble. Hornung was on the ice for about 40 minutes during which time he was given a heart massage and, because he had swallowed his tongue and needed help breathing, a tracheotomy was performed.

Hornung was found to have suffered a burst fracture of the third cervical vertebrae and a crushed spinal cord. He was, Dr. Chris Ekong, a neurologist, said two days after the incident, “completely paralyzed from the neck down.”

At the time, there was speculation in the medical community that Hornung would need breathing help for the rest of his life. But he was breathing on his own inside of three months.

In 2014, Hornung admitted “that was my goal — not to be dependent on a ventilator to breathe.”

He definitely didn’t allow his wheelchair and paralysis to hold him back. He worked as an amateur scout with the Chicago Blackhawks and later worked with NHL Central Scouting.

He also graduated from Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Catholic High School, then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Regina’s Campion College in 1996. He also took business administration classes at the U of Regina.

He is survived by his mother Terry, who lives in Regina, and sister Leanne Wright of Las Vegas, both of whom were with him when he died. His father, Larry, a former pro defenceman, died in Regina on May 8, 2001, at the age of 55.

Alberta, Saskatchewan change things up, B.C. stays course . . . Giants, Rockets postponed . . . Mick goes Wild

With the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments having all but capitulated on the pandemic, WHL teams in those provinces are going to be able to return to operating without some restrictions.

For Alberta teams that means 50 per cent capacity in their facilities, open concession stands and no more checking for vaccination status. Fans will be required to wear face masks in some facilities, though, so will need to check before they go. The restriction on attendance and the mask mandate likely will disappear on March 1.

“It is clear that we passed the peak of our current infections about three weeks ago and are now seeing the result as COVID-related hospital admissions are declining,” Jason Kenney, Alberta’s premier, told reporters.

After that statement, Scott Schmidt of the Medicine Hat News tweeted: “In case anyone is stuck on the math regarding (Kenney’s) claim that hospital numbers are on the decline . . . Hospitalizations are at 1,623 (an increase of 81 in 24 hours) and ICU is at 129 (an increase of 11 in 24 hours). And that’s with 13 people dying.”

Meanwhile, Scott Moe, Saskatchewan’s premier, said his province, which no longer provides daily COVID-19 updates, is dumping its vaccine passport mandate on Monday. As well, the province’s mask mandate will be over at month’s end. Saskatchewan is the only province not to have implemented capacity restrictions on indoor events since the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variants, so that hasn’t been a concern for WHL teams there.

In B.C., teams will have to continue living with various restrictions and mandates regarding capacity, face masks and vaccine passports. Premier John Horgan said on Tuesday that his province doesn’t determine public health policy based on the demands of a “handful of protesters.”

“We’re going to follow the same path that we have been on since the pandemic began, and that is to take advice and council from public health officials,” Horgan said at a news conference in Victoria.

He also told reporters that masks are “effective in protecting people” and said that “the vast majority” of people in B.C. support vaccine passports.

There has been speculation that there could be changes to B.C. restrictions  around Feb. 21, which is Family Day.

——

I have a couple of friends who live in Edmonton, both of them having been impacted by kidney disease that has left them with compromised immune systems. And I can tell you from experience that it takes a whole lot of energy to navigate the outside world in a pandemic when you have a compromised immune system. I also can tell you how it feels to have anti-vaxxers or anti-maskers suggest that when you are in that situation you should just “stay home.” (We won’t even get into how some people who walk among us don’t seem to have any value for the elderly, either.)

“It is so so frustrating to feel abandoned by our government,” one of my Edmonton friends, who has undergone a kidney transplant, told me. “I had to get off Twitter and Facebook . . . it was depressing me too much.”

The other friend is dealing with polycystic kidney disease and is doing hemodialysis three times a week. A surgical procedure has been scheduled for May during which the right kidney is to be removed. Full of cysts, doctors estimate that the kidney weighs about 15 pounds. This friend is hoping and praying that the lifting of restrictions in Alberta doesn’t result in another wave and even more pressures on the healthcare system.

That right kidney is causing a lot of pain and this friend really, really doesn’t want the surgery delayed.

These are the kinds of things that get lost in the moaning and groaning over lost “freedoms” and the whining and whimpering about having to wear face masks or show proof of vaccination.

Anyway . . . here’s hoping that the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan know something that the medical and scientific communities haven’t yet figured out.

The Vancouver Giants have had a second game postponed because of their latest Vancouverrun-in with COVID-19. The Giants were scheduled to play the Rockets in Kelowna tonight (Wednesday), but that won’t happen after the WHL announced a postponement on Tuesday. . . . The Giants also had a scheduled home game postponed that was to have been played against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Feb. 6. . . . From Steve Ewen of Postmedia: “Two Vancouver players tested positive Saturday night in Kent, Wash., where the Giants were playing the Seattle Thunderbirds. That led to the Giants’ Sunday afternoon game against the Thunderbirds at the Langley Events Centre being postponed Sunday morning. The Giants’ weekly roster update that was published on the WHL website Tuesday listed defenceman Tom Cadieux and winger Jacob Boucher in COVID-19 protocol. They were among 23 players from across the 22-team league who were either added to protocol or were returning to action from protocol this week.” . . . According to WHL regulations, a team has to “ice a roster with a minimum of 14 healthy skaters in order to compete.” The Giants’ roster report shows the two players in COVID protocol, five others out day-to-day with injuries, and one other out indefinitely. . . . The Giants are scheduled to travel to Prince George for Friday and Saturday games against the Cougars. Obviously, the WHL is going to have to make a decision on those games before the Giants climb on their bus and head north. . . . Ewen’s story is right here.

Fine

It’s almost the middle of February. We should be starting to get excited about pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. But that isn’t going to happen.

With owners scheduled to meet in Orlando, Fla., this week, Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon, offered up a couple of thoughts . . .

“One of the major problems I have had with baseball’s CBA negotiations over the years is that the fundamental issues never seem to change very much. The two sides fulminate at each other and eventually come to a sort of agreement that merely puts a Band-Aid on the wound and leaves in place all the fundamental disagreements. Then, five years later, they go into the memory banks and drag out the old issues and begin fulminating again. This time around, the two sides — and I mean BOTH sides — seem to have chosen to play the game of chicken very close to some real calendar imperatives. . . .

“Let me return to a fundamental theme I have offered here in the past. MLB and the MLBPA should be much less antagonistic to each other than they are now — and have been for the last 40 years. The two sides are, in reality, partners — not opponents — in producing and distributing a ‘television series.’ The reason top players are routinely making $30M a year or more is TV network money; it is not the marketing genius of the owners, and it is not the athletic genius of the players — it is both working in concert. That sort of camaraderie never seems to surface.”

Nail, meet hammer!

——

The curmudgeonly one’s complete piece is available right here, as are all of his daily musings.

Organizers have rescheduled the annual Mac’s Midget hockey tournament for Aug. 6-10. The Calgary tournament is usually held in the days after Christmas but was scrubbed because of the pandemic. . . . It’ll be a 24-team event with teams to be announced on March 1.

Troy Mick, a former BCHL and WHL player, coach and executive, is on his way back to the BCHL, this time with the Wenatchee Wild organization. Effective April 1, Mick will be the hockey director and head coach — with Jordan McGaggart staying on as co-head coach — of the 18UAAA Wenatchee, Wash., Wolves and 16UAAA Wenatchee Wilderness. . . . As hockey director, Mick also will oversee the 14UAAA Wenatchee Wolverines and a 12U Showcase team. . . . Mick, who is from Vernon, B.C., spent the past two seasons as the general manager of the Philadelphia Hockey Club and the head coach of its 18UAAA team. . . . The Wild’s news release is right here.

Found

If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Bike

Scattershooting on a Monday morning while listening to the snow melt . . .

Scattershooting2

ChinaClock
The scoreclock tells the tale after the Chinese women’s hockey team beat Japan at the Olympic Winter Games. (Photo: Dan Courneyea)
ChinaWin
The Chinese women’s hockey team celebrates its 2-1 shootout victory over Japan at the Olympic Winter Games. (Photo: Dan Courneyea)

There was some excitement at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing on Sunday with the Chinese women’s hockey team earning a 2-1 victory over Japan. The game went to a shootout and the Chinese scored the lone goal, that coming in the fourth round. . . . “China is not as good as Japan,” reports Dan Courneyea, our man at the hockey competition. “They just brought a better game. . . . China’s goalie kept them in the game.” . . . Interestingly, the winning goal came from Hannah Miller, who is from North Vancouver. On the Chinese roster, she is Le Mi. . . . According to Reuters, Miller joined a Chinese team — KRS Vanke Rays — in 2018 in order to be eligible for these Games. She played NCAA hockey at St. Lawrence U, and also was member of Canada’s U-18 women’s team. . . .

On Monday, Canada ran its record to 3-0 by beating the ROC — shhh! don’t say Russia — 6-1 in a game that was delayed when, according to reports, the latter’s COVID-19 test results weren’t made available. The game eventually started with both teams wearing N95 masks. . . . But, wait, there’s more. The ROC players left their masks in the dressing room for the third period, while the Canadians continued to wear theirs. It turns out, too, that F Emily Clark of Canada was removed during the pregame warmup because of what reports say was an inconclusive test. . . . Canada, with Emerance Maschmeyer making her Olympic debut in goal, had a 49-12 edge in shots. She is the sister of former WHL D Bronson Maschmeyer (Vancouver, Kamloops, 2008-12). . . . Canada has outscored its opposition 29-3 in six games, with the U.S. up next. They are scheduled to be on your TV tonight (Monday) at 8:10 p.m. PT.

Yes, it’s true. COVID-19 bit the WHL again on Sunday, with an undisclosed Vancouvernumber of Vancouver Giants players apparently having tested positive and forcing the postponement of at least one game. . . . The Seattle Thunderbirds were scheduled to play the Giants in Langley, B.C., on Sunday, but that game will be rescheduled. . . . This was the WHL’s first postponement since a Jan. 29 game that was to have had the Brandon Wheat Kings in Prince Albert was scuttled because the Raiders weren’t able to dress 14 healthy players. . . . The Giants had dropped a 3-2 decision to the visiting Kamloops Blazers on Friday and then were beaten 7-2 by the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., on Saturday. . . . Vancouver is scheduled to visit the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday and then meet the Cougars in Prince George on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Regina Pats lost a hockey game on Sunday, falling 5-4 in OT to the host Calgary Hitmen, but the hockey world was left abuzz over a goal by F Connor Bedard, who won’t turn 17 until July 17. . . . Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post writes about the goal right there.

Cash

Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “Bucs QB Tom Brady, to no one’s surprise, announced his retirement last week. That takes the undecided list down to Brett Favre (yes/no/yes/no/maybe) and Aaron Rodgers (still doing his own research).”

After Brady made it official, comedy writer Alex Kaseberg (@AlexKaseberg) tweeted: “But wait, don’t you have to rip off your shirt and dance in the end zone in front of the crowd to retire from the Bucs?”

And then there was this from Football Hall of Fame Dick Butkus, who recently joined Twitter (@thedickbutkus): “I think it’s great Giselle let Tom Brady retire. Hopefully she’ll let him keep Rob Gronkowski in the yard.”

With the Olympic Winter Games ongoing and the pandemic raging, the KHL has chosen to end its regular season with its playoffs scheduled to begin on March 1. . . . According to the KHL, there are 120 players from 22 of its teams on national teams in Beijing. By ending the regular season and starting playoffs on March 1, all players will have the opportunity to quarantine before play begins.

Dinner

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Giants, after the NFL’s Washington Football Team revealed that its new nickname will be Commanders: “A Commander? To some old-timers, reader Kevin Love reminds us, a Commander is a Philip Morris cigarette back in the 1960s. The TV commercial jingle was, ‘Have a Commander, welcome aboard!’ Selling point: A special vacuum ‘gently cleans every bit of tobacco.’ You still got lung cancer, but it was a tidy lung cancer. And when you checked into the hospital, they welcomed you aboard.”

——

Ostler, again: “Speaking of the military, credit is due to the sports-star anti-vaxxers like Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie Irving and Novak Djokovic for keeping our military busy. My mom was in a hospital in Eugene, Ore., for a heart procedure. Her meals were served by National Guard soldiers, helping fill manpower shortages caused by sick non-vaxxers clogging hospitals. Hey, Aaron and friends: Have a Commander, welcome aboard.”

Some people are raising a fuss over the Arizona Coyotes’ plan to play three NHL seasons in a new arena at Arizona State U, one that will have somewhere around 5,000 seats. The critics seem to think it’s beneath the NHL to have a team playing in such a small facility. Hey, the Winnipeg Ice is in its third season in a 1,600-seat barn, doesn’t seem to have put a shovel in the ground on a new facility yet, and the WHL is still alive and kicking.

If you are on Twitter, you will want to take a few minutes and read the threat that resulted from the question — New Yorkers: What’s the most New York thing that’s ever happened to you? . . . I mean, there’s an eel on the subway, bad manners from Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, and a whole lot more. Enjoy!

Poop

If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Escape

Courneyea gives Opening Ceremony a WOW! . . . Raiders show small profit for 2020-21 thanks to gov’t money . . . Chiefs retire Johnson’s No. 9

Dan Courneyea, our man at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, is there to work as an off-ice official at the hockey venues. But he took time to attend the Opening Ceremony on Friday, writing that “all I can say is WOW! It was AWESOME!” . . . Courneyea, who heads up the Kamloops Blazers’ crew of off-ice officials, is part of the Olympic hockey crew for the third time, having also been at Vancouver in 2010 and PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018. . . . He got his Beijing Games started by working Canada’s 11-1 victory over Switzerland on Thursday, and was back at the NIS today as Canada skated past Finland, 11-1. . . . Before going to the hockey game, Dan sent along some photos from the Opening Ceremony. I am partial to the third one, which provides a proud moment for Canadians. . . . Enjoy!

Ceremony1

Ceremony2

Ceremony3

Despite not playing any home games in what would have been the 2020-21 WHL season, the community-owned Prince Albert Raiders announced a profit Raidersof $25,891 during their annual general meeting on Thursday night.

The pandemic resulted in the WHL’s Manitoba- and Saskatchewan-based teams playing a 24-game schedule a bubble in Regina in the spring of 2021.

At their previous AGM, the Raiders announced a loss of $331,895 for the 2019-20 season. That was when they had $1,074,857 in ticket sales. In 2020-21, the Raiders didn’t have any ticket sales, but did receive a $600,000 grant from the provincial government, as did each of the other four Saskatchewan-based WHL teams.

“That lost revenue was made up for by generosity,” reported Jeff D’Andrea of paNOW. “The Raiders received $1,081,179 in grants, including the $600,000 WHL Support Grant from the Government of Saskatchewan, and $416,111 from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) along with others.”

His story is right here.

Kyle Kosowan of the Prince Albert Daily Herald reported that the Raiders’ revenue for 2020-21 totalled $515,917, down $1,776,412 from 2019-20.

“The expense total,” Kosowan wrote, ”was nearly $1 million less in 2020-21. Advertising was the largest factor of expenses. Spending just $39,690, that’s a difference of $204,770 from 2019-20. The difference in expenses was $917,347. While revenue generated wasn’t nearly as high, being able to cut down on expenses was a huge game-changer.”

Kosowan’s story is right here.

The WHL has four community-owned teams; all four now have held their AGMs.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes, who received $668,000 in government funding, showed a profit of $72,250.

The Swift Current Broncos declared a loss of $129,968 after factoring in the $600,000 in provincial government money.

The Moose Jaw Warriors didn’t post a news release on their website, but president Chad Taylor said at the time: “If it wasn’t for the provincial government our balance sheet . . . would look a lot different than it is today. We are still showing a loss. You can’t just recover . . . With no revenues it’s impossible to try and pull a profit out of an organization like this.”

The Warriors lost $391,299 for 2019-20, after losses of $165,145 for 2018-19 and $463,566 for 2016-17. In 2017-18, the Warriors declared a profit of $704,182.

These days, Rick Brodsky mostly hangs his hat in Kelowna, although in non-pandemic times he also spends time in Arizona. Of course, there are times, like now, when you might find him in northern Manitoba, helping nephews get heavy equipment over winter roads and into position to do a big-time construction job. . . . There was a time, though, when he was a prominent WHL owner, first with the Saskatoon Blades, and then the Victoria Cougars, a franchise he would move to Prince George. . . . Hartley Miller, the news supervisor and sports editor for VISTA Radio in Prince George, does a weekly podcast that most often is wrapped around the Cougars. On Thursday, he released Part 1 of a two-part interview with Brodsky, who also is a former chairman of the WHL’s board of governors. . . . It is right here.

Carey

JUNIOR JOTTINGS: The Spokane Chiefs retired No. 9 on Friday night in honour of  F Tyler Johnson, who put up 128 goals and 154 assists in 266 regular-season games over four seasons (2007-11). Johnson, who is from Spokane, helped the Chiefs win the 2008 Memorial Cup title. He is in his ninth NHL season, the first eight with the Tampa Bay Lightning and this one with the Chicago Blackhawks. However, injuries have limited him to eight games this season.  . . . F Bear Hughes, who had been wearing No. 9, gave his sweater to Johnson and now wears No. 8. . . . Among those in attendance in Spokane was former Chiefs GM Tim Speltz and former head coach Bill Peters, whose final season there was 2007-08. . . . F Ray Whitney is the only other Spokane player to have had his number (14) retired. . . .

The AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder and Eric Thurston, the general manager and head coach, have agreed on a contract extension that runs through 2024-25. According to a news release, the contract makes “Eric one of the highest-paid coaches in the AJHL.” No figures were release. He has been with the Thunder since March 13, 2018.

Passwords

If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

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Or, for more information, visit right here.

Rodent

Kidney Mom: Your supposed loss of freedom is NOT worth more than my son’s life . . . or anyone’s for that matter!!! It’s just NOT.

Jana Tremblay, a Kidney Mom from Robson B.C., posted this on Facebook recently:

JanaZach
Jana Tremblay and her son, Zach. (Photo: Jana Tremblay/Facebook)

“My heart is heavy these days . . . watching people cry ‘freedom’ over stopping the spread of this virus, and protecting our vulnerable is getting really tough to take. It’s a small kick to my heart every time I read it. PTSD flashbacks of watching him on life support flash in my brain. It’s hurtful and selfish.
“Your supposed loss of freedom is NOT worth more than my son’s life . . . or anyone’s for that matter!!! It’s just NOT.”

Four sentences and you can feel Jana’s frustration bursting from each of them.

Her teenage son, Zach, is in need of a kidney transplant, and has been for a while now. These days, he travels three times a week from Robson to Trail in order to undergo hemodialysis.

You have no idea how many people just like Zach are walking among us. You have no idea how many recipients of organ transplants are walking among us. You have no idea how many other people with medical issues are walking among us.

Most of them also will have compromised immune systems, meaning they are at high risk of contracting COVID-19, be it Delta, Omicron or some other incoming variant.

And, if you are vaccine-hesitant or an anti-vaxxer, let me tell you something else — while you haven’t yet showed up for your first vaccination, some people are getting No. 4.

A kidney transplant friend in Edmonton got No. 4 on Feb. 2. My wife, Dorothy, is waiting and hoping that she soon will get No. 4.

So, please, do the right thing and get vaccinated.

BTW, if you are vaccine-hesitant or an out-and-out anti-vaxxer, you should know that, as Amanda Connolly of Global News reported, “there appears to be growing consensus among Canadian organ transplant specialists about requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for patients looking to be placed on the wait-list for an organ donation.”

In fact, the Canadian Society of Transplantation has updated its guidance and now is prompting “any provincial and regional programs to be transparent if they choose to implement the rule.”

That complete story is right here.

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Meanwhile, Chad Carswell of Hickory, N.C., won’t be getting the kidney transplant that he needs because he refuses to get vaccinated. “I was born free; I’ll die free,” he told The Washington Post. . . . Carswell, 38, has been doing hemo-dialysis since July 2020. . . . Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital has a policy that recipients and donors must be fully vaccinated. Transplant patients are at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19. They take anti-rejection medications that result in compromised immune systems. . . . The hospital told The Post in a statement that its policy“follows the current standard of care in the United States, which is to vaccinate all patients on waiting lists or being evaluated for transplant. We understand that some patients may not wish to be vaccinated. In this case, patients can opt to be evaluated at another transplant center.” . . . Carswell, who has had both of his legs amputated due to complications from diabetes, said he has had COVID on two occasions. . . . Why won’t he get vaccinated? The Post reported right here that Carswell “does not believe in conspiracy theories about the vaccines, but remains skeptical about how they were developed.” . . .

Carswell told The Post: “There is not a situation in this world that I’ll get a vaccine. If I’m laying on my deathbed, and they tell me, ‘You have a kidney waiting on you if you get this shot,’ I’ll tell them ‘I’ll see you on the other side.’ ” . . . The Associated Press reported in January that according to the family of D.J. Ferguson, a Massachusetts hospital had denied him a heart transplant because he refused to get vaccinated. And there have been reports that the same thing happened to a woman in Colorado who needs a kidney.

Wilbert Mora, a 27-year-old New York City Police officer, died after a shootout in Harlem on Jan. 21. His family, upon hearing of his death, immediately gave  permission for organ transplantation. His heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas went to five different people. There is more on that story right here.

If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Want an easy win to feel great? Register to be an organ donor today. It will only #TakeTwoMinutes and you could save a life. Great deed and fuzzy feels without any hassle. #Register2Give taketwominutes.ca

Does Minten have WHL’s best hands? . . . Wheat Kings, Ice preparing for return to home ice . . . Hey, KIJHL, it’s about those coaches

F Fraser Minten, 17, is in his second season with the Kamloops Blazers. After scoring four goals and adding 14 assists in the developmental season of 2021, he has 27 points, including 16 assists, in 39 games this season. From Vancouver, he was a fourth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 draft. . . . Whenever the pandemic loosens enough that the WHL will able to hold an awards luncheon, Minten will tickle the ivories in providing the pre-game entertainment. Hey, talk about good hands . . . 

The Brandon Wheat Kings will play a home game on Tuesday night for the first Brandontime since Dec. 30 when they dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Manitoba government has had restrictions in place that limit teams in that province to 250 fans. That restriction will change to 50 per cent of capacity as of Tuesday. The Red Deer Rebels were to have played in Brandon on Jan. 1, but that was postponed to Feb. 7. That game now will be played on Tuesday. . . . The Winnipeg Ice last played a home game on Dec. 18 when it was beaten 4-2 by Brandon. The Ice is scheduled to entertain the Wheat Kings on Feb. 10.

Parachute

Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon, had some interesting numbers in his Wednesday musings . . .

“For the 2021 MLB season, teams paid out $$871,443,647 to 852 players who missed a total of 48,029 games due to placement on the Injured List. I believe my observation at the time was something like ‘that’s a lot of cheese. . . .’

“For the NBA season to date, there are similar staggering numbers. Spotrac.com makes a distinction in the case of the NBA that was not present in its MLB compilation — there are three lists: one is for players who are injured, another is for players who don’t play so they can ‘rest,’ and the third is for players who have missed games for ‘personal reasons’.

“For games missed due to injury, 464 players have missed 4,631 games and have received $568,370,291 in salary. The NBA regular season is about 65% over so that salary number projects to be about $874M.

“For games missed due to ‘resting,’ 25 players have missed a total of 50 games and earned $4,010,706 while ‘resting.’ If that keeps on the same pace, that money projection is another $6.2M.

“For the ‘personal’ list, 27 players have missed 274 games while earning $81,809,966. That figure projects to be $126M at season’s end.

“So, the total amount of money paid to NBA players while not playing so far this year is $654,190,963. Using a crude linear extrapolation, the end of the regular season will see that total rise to $1.0B. Indeed, it looks as if the NBA teams will pay out more than the MLB teams did last year to non-performing players.”

The Sports Curmudgeon’s complete piece is right here.

“The NFL fined Kansas City Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill for using a cheerleader’s pom-poms to celebrate a touchdown,” reports Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “League bean-counter, penciling out the unsportsmanlike-conduct tally: “Two bits, four bits, six bits . . . $12,875.”

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Perry, again: “The Beijing Winter Olympics have cut down on ticket sales because of the pandemic, NBC and ESPN are calling the action remotely from Connecticut and organizers have to import man-made snow because the real stuff is a no-show. Other than that, let the Games begin!”

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And thanks to Perry for this one, which I had forgotten: “New York Islanders Hall of Famer Clark Gillies, who died at 67 on Jan. 21, when once asked where his native Moose Jaw was located: ‘Six feet from the moose’s ass.’ ”

Ignorance

If you’ve watched the NHL’s Minnesota Wild over the last while, you may have wondered about head coach Dean Evason’s complexion. Well, Wild GM Bill Guerin answered the question. Here’s what Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote in his latest 32 Thoughts: “Guerin did answer one mystery: how does Evason have a tan wintering in Minnesota? ‘He plays 250 rounds of golf a year. It’s permanent.’ ” . . . Friedman’s latest good read is right here.

JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Dale Woodard, who among other things has covered the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes for the Lethbridge Herald, tweeted on Thursday: “An upcoming change at the Lethbridge Herald. After 13.5 great years, I will be stepping down. My last day is March 4. To my co-workers, colleagues/friends and all you amazing people I’ve been able to talk to: thank you all so much. You guys are the reason I love this city so much.” . . .

The Everett Silvertips have signed assistant coach Dean DeSilva to a two-year contract extension. He is in his first season working alongside head coach Dennis Williams and associate coach Louis Mass. From a news release: “DeSilva is primarily tasked with working with the Silvertips’ forward group, focusing on skill development, face-offs, individual video breakdown and pre-scout of opponents.” . . .

Congrats of some kind must be in order for the junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Is there another junior league that can boast of having had seven head coaches suspended since Jan. 1? . . . Travers Rebman of the Kelowna Chiefs sat out two games for “harrassment of officials,” Chuck Wight of the Golden Rockets, Ty Valin of the Fernie Ghostriders and Derek Stuart of the Kimberley Dynamiters drew two games each for “failing to control the bench at the end of a period,” and Terry Jones of the Beaver Valley Nighthawks, Geoff Grimwood of the Kamloops Storm and Dave Hnatiuk of the Grand Forks Border Bruins drew three apiece for harassment of officials. . . . And that doesn’t even include Mason Spear, an assistant coach with Beaver Valley, who got five games for harassment of officials. He got game and gross misconducts at the time. . . . Might be time for the 19-team league to start giving its on-ice officials danger pay.

Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun listed his all-time favourite Penguins the other day: “Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Burgess Meredith, Jaromir Jagr, Bob Johnson and Danny DeVito.”

Elevator

If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Kids

Brad Hornung diagnosed with cancer . . . Was left quadriplegic after incident in 1987 WHL game

Brad Hornung, who was left a quadriplegic following a check in a WHL game almost 35 years ago, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Hornung, who is to turn 53 on Feb. 13, went into hospital in Regina about three weeks ago, telling doctors that something wasn’t right. At the time, he thought he might have a touch of pneumonia. Instead, he was found to have cancer.

“Three weeks ago, he was fine,” Leanne Wright, Brad’s sister, told me Tuesday night. She said doctors found “small” cancer in the colon, adding that the bone cancer may well have been found a lot earlier if Brad hadn’t lost feeling below his neck when he was injured.

Leanne, who lives in Las Vegas, has joined Brad and their mother, Terry, in Regina. Leanne said that Brad has been reaching out to close friends in recent days.

On March 1, 1987, with his Regina Pats en route to a 6-3 victory over visiting Moose Jaw before 4,578 fans, Hornung crashed into the boards behind the Warriors’ net early in the second period. Hornung was prone on the ice being treated for about 40 minutes. He was given heart massage, and a tracheotomy because he had swallowed his tongue and needed help breathing.

The 18-year-old Hornung, then 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds, was in his second season with the Pats.

On March 3, 1987, Dr. Chris Ekong, a neurosurgeon at Regina General Hospital, told a news conference that Hornung had suffered a burst fracture of the third cervical vertebrae and a crushed spinal cord.

“Brad has no feelings in his arms and legs,” Dr. Ekong said. “He is completely paralyzed from the neck down. Every function below the spinal cord is intercepted.”

At the time, there was talk that Hornung might be bed-ridden for the remainder of his life. Instead, he has been wheelchair-bound, something that didn’t limit his involvement in hockey.

Eventually, Hornung was moved to the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina, where he has had his own room for more than 30 years. While he now is in the ICU at Pasqua Hospital in Regina, he soon will be going back to his room at Wascana Rehab for palliative care.

He frequently has attended Pats’ games, and also spent three seasons as an amateur scout with the Chicago Blackhawks. He later worked with NHL Central Scouting.

He also tended to his education, graduating from O’Neill High School, then earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Regina’s Campion College in 1996. He also took classes through the Faculty of Business Adminstration.

On June 8, 2018, the university presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Hornung completed his acceptance speech with this:

“The bad news is that unpleasant things are going to happen to all of you at one time or another in your lives. Sadly, that is a fact.

“The good news, however, is that you have the strength within you to face these challenges in ways you cannot even imagine right now. Happily, that is also a fact. And it is the most important one to remember.

“Congratulations on your graduation, and please don’t ever forget — even in what may seem like your darkest hour, there is always a place in your life for hope.”

His father, Larry, was a defenceman who played one season in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues (1971-72) and then spent seven season in the WHA, playing with the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and San Diego Mariners. Larry died in Regina on May 8, 2001, after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 55.

Hockey venues almost ready in Beijing . . . Chow to leave SJHL after season . . . Milestone night ahead for Lazaruk

BeijingNIS
The NIS (National Indoor Stadium) is sparkling in preparation for the start of the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey competitions. (Photo: Dan Courneyea)

Dan Courneyea, Taking Note’s man in Beijing, reports that folks are hard at work as they put the final touches on venues with the Olympic Winter Games about to get rolling. While organizers refer to Feb. 4 as the opening date, some competitions actually start today (Wednesday).

“Lots of final preparation still being done before the first puck drop,” Courneyea told Taking Note late Monday night Pacific Time. “Everything is coming together.” That missive, with the National Indoor Stadium photo, arrived Monday at 11:15 p.m. PT, which was 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday in Beijing.

The women’s hockey begins with Pool A games today. It’s Switzerland and Canada in the NIS and China against Czechia in the Wukesong. Both games start at 8:10 p.m. PT.

BeijingWukesong
Only some final touches are left before Wukesong Arena is ready for the Olympic hockey competitions in Beijing. (Photo: Dan Courneyea)

Bill Chow announced on Monday that he will be leaving his post as commissioner of the SJHL on May 31. Chow, who has been commissioner for sjhl10-plus years, said that he won’t complete his contract that is set to expire on May 31, 2023. . . . Chow didn’t give a specific reason for his decision, saying in a news release that “there have been many factors that have gone into my final decision.” . . . Chow was named commissioner in the spring of 2011 after having retired at the age of 52 after almost 30 years with the Prince Albert Police Service and leaving as a staff sergeant. . . . In his last few years with the SJHL, he dealt with, among other things, the bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos that took 16 lives and then the first two years of the pandemic. . . . He also spent 25 years as a WHL scout, 10 of them with the Spokane Chiefs.

Chad Leslie was named general manager of the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos on ScurrentMonday, more than two months after he stepped in as the interim GM. Leslie, from Elkhorn, Man., had been the club’s assistant GM since the start of the 2020-21 season. He was named interim GM on Oct. 14 when Dean Brockman, who had been GM and head coach, resigned. . . . Before becoming the assistant GM, Leslie spent two seasons as the Broncos’ director of scouting. . . . The complete news release is right here.

JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Les Lazaruk, the play-by-play voice of the Saskatoon Blades, will call his 2,000th WHL game tonight (Wednesday) from Regina.“To put 2,000 games under your belt is just an astonishing achievement at any level, in any capacity, in any industry,” Tyler Wawryk, the Blades’ director of business operations, told Pat McKay of CTV News. “When you think of Blades hockey, especially when you think of the sound of Blades hockey, it’s Les Lazaruk.” . . . Of course, 2,000 games means a whole lot of bus miles. Here’s Wawryk, again: “He has a knack for sleeping on the bus. It doesn’t matter what the weather’s like and how loud it is and what position he’s in, he can always find a way to grab a couple of Zs on the bus. I have a few videos of him sleeping upright, and he snores like a chainsaw.” . . . The Blades will salute Lazaruk on Friday as they play host to the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . McKay’s complete story is right here. . . .

The Thief River Falls, Minn., Norskies of the Superior International Junior Hockey League have shut down for the remainder of this season. A news release from the league stated that “an issue that the Norskies struggled with since the outset of the campaign — a shortage of players — is ultimately what led to the decision.” . . . The departure of the Norskies, who are expected back next season, leaves the SIJHL with six teams as it prepares to resume play on Feb. 4. The league has been shut down since Jan. 5 because of Ontario government restrictions due to COVID-19. . . . A complete news release is right here.

It would seem that you don’t have to be a hockey fighter in order to end up with CTE. Ralph Backstrom, who died on Feb. 7 at the age of 83, played 15 seasons in the NHL and four more in the WHA, totalling 490 penalty minutes in 1,336 games. He was hardly a fighter, but he still was found to have CTE.

The Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team was to have met Switzerland in an exhibition game on Tuesday. However, that game, which was to have been played in Zug, was postponed after Swiss D Christian Marti tested positive. Canada is to open preliminary play in Beijing against Germany on Feb. 10 at 5:10 a.m. PT.

One of the more bizarre happenings of this pandemic occurred in San Francisco on Saturday night as the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets visited the Golden State Warriors. . . . Kyrie Irving of the Nets is unvaccinated and not allowed to play home games because of a New York City regulation that allows only those who are vaccinated in city facilites. The San Francisco Department of Public Health also has such a mandate, however it made an exception for visiting NBAers. That meant that on Saturday night every person in the Chase Center was vaccinated . . . except for one.

Here’s Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle: “If anyone can find a plausible explanation for this exemption, please come forward. It’s reckless and irresponsible, although not terribly surprising in light of so many people, companies, counties and government agencies mistakenly letting their guard down as the pandemic rages on. The local health order states that visiting players ‘are, by definition, present in the venue only occasionally,’ but how does that make sense? You might ‘only occasionally’ stray from your personal safe zone in these difficult times, but that’s when you put yourself most at risk.”

Facebook

If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Dads