A Twitter post on Thursday from John Winton, who runs the account tagged @NewWestBruins, reminded us that Jan. 27 was the 37th anniversary of F Cliff Ronning’s nine-point game, one off the WHL’s single-game record.
So I went back in the time machine one more time.
Yes, on Jan. 27, 1985, Ronning finished with six goals — two in each period — and three assists as the New Westminster Bruins pounded the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors, 16-4.
After that game, Ronning had 60 goals and 63 assists in 46 games. He would finish the season with a WHL-leading 197 points, including 89 goals. Ronning’s 197 points was a single-season record, but it was broken two seasons later when F Rob Brown put up 212 for the Kamloops Blazers. Brown’s record stands to this day.
The Bruins held period leads of 4-1 and 10-2.
Ronning got the Bruins started 65 seconds into the game; F Roger Mulvenna ended the scoring with goals at 19:22 and 19:56 of the third period.
Larry Rusconi, with three, Jim Camazzola, with two, Gary Moscaluk, Ward Carlson and Craig Berube also scored for the Bruins. The Warriors goals came from Bryan Walker, Kurt Lackten, Kelly Buchberger and Kent Hayes.
This was the fifth game in a six-games-in-nine-days trek through the Western Conference for the Warriors. They had been beaten 10-5 by the visiting Regina Pats on Jan. 20, their third straight loss. Two nights later, Kamloops dumped Moose Jaw, 11-4. The next night it was over to Kelowna and a 3-2 loss to the Wings. Then it was into the U.S., and an 11-5 loss to the Seattle Breakers on Jan. 25, and the Portland Winterhawks beat them 4-3 on Jan, 26. Next up was the game in New Westminster, followed by an 8-6 loss to the Cougars in Victoria on Jan. 29.
But back to the game in New Westminster . . .
Ronning was centring a line that had Camazzola on the left side and Brian Noonan on the right wing. Noonan finished with seven assists, tying a WHL single-game record that he then shared with F John Neeld of the Seattle Breakers (Nov. 24, 1979) and F Doug Trapp of the Regina Pats (Oct. 10, 1984.) F Brian Sakic of the Tri-City Americans upped that mark to eight on Oct. 3, 1990 in a 19-3 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds.
As usually happens when I go looking for information from a game like the Bruins’ victory, I stumbled upon a few nuggets.
For example, one night earlier, the Bruins had beaten the visiting Blazers, 11-2, with Ronning scoring twice and setting up three others. Yes, he put up 14 points in two games over 24 hours.
As well, Camazzola was playing in his first two games since he had starred for the Kamloops Junior Oilers at the 1984 Memorial Cup in Kitchener that was won by the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. (The Kamloops franchise went through ownership and name changes after the Memorial Cup.)
Camazzola had been selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 10th round of 
the NHL’s 1982 draft. He attended their 1984-85 training camp but refused to report to the IHL-Milwaukee Admirals, so was placed on Chicago’s suspended list. He was still there in November 1984 when Al Patterson, the Bruins’ general manager and head coach, acquired him from Kamloops. At the time, Camazzola, then 20, was a clerk in a Lower Mainland department store. By January, he knew he wanted back on the ice.
“I decided I wanted to make a career out of hockey,” he told the Vancouver Sun’s Elliott Pap. “I came here to get my confidence back instead of playing in Milwaukee.”
Camazzola had two goals and an assist in the victory over Kamloops, then added two of each the next night against Moose Jaw. He finished the season with 48 points, 19 of them goals, in 25 games. After three seasons split between the IHL and AHL, Camazzola went on to play in Europe for 12 seasons.
Oh, yes . . . one other thing of note happened that weekend.
Pap reported it this way: “Kamloops coach Ken Hitchcock was so incensed with his team’s performance Saturday he had his players walk over the Pattullo Bridge carrying their equipment bags.”
That bridge, which links New Westminster with Surrey, is 1,227 metres — 4,025 feet — in length.
There also was a coaching change that weekend as former NHL player Bill Hogoboam took over as head coach in Kelowna on an interim basis. Marc Pezzin, who had been the head coach, stayed on as general manager. The Wings were 18-26-2 and in third place in the Western Division. They were in their third season in Kelowna and Pezzin had been the head coach from the start. However, the Wings would be gone before another season arrived — relocated to Spokane as the Chiefs.
The Bruins would play three more seasons out of New Westminster’s Queen’s Park Arena before moving to Kennewick, Wash., and becoming the Tri-City Americans.
The QMJHL announced on Friday that it plans on resuming play on Feb. 3. It 
said it hopes to complete its 68-game regular season on May 1. The league added that it will begin its playoffs on May 5 “and conclude no later than June 15.” . . . That means that the Memorial Cup schedule will have to be redone because it was scheduled to run from June 4 through June 13 in Saint John, N.B. . . . The OHL and WHL haven’t announced any changes to their closing dates for their regular seasons. Both leagues want to finish on April 3, with the playoffs to follow. . . . Interestingly, the QMJHL’s Quebec teams will play in empty facilities until Feb. 7, when they will be allowed 500 fans. Teams in New Brunswick now are at 50 per cent. Patrick McNeil (@cbepbp) adds that the Nova Scotia teams will start with games on the road. . . . And let’s not forget that the IIHF’s World U-18 championship is scheduled to run from April 21 through May 1 in Landshut and Kaufbeurn, Germany. The player pool might be a bit reduced if the three major junior leagues haven’t eliminated many teams.
Scott Carter, the general manager of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, will be stepping aside after this season “for health and family reasons,” the team announced on Thursday. . . . He will help the Chiefs through the search for a replacement and the hiring process. . . . Through Thursday, the Chiefs were 165-129-39 with Carter as the GM. . . . Carter, who joined with the Chiefs on Sept. 8, 2016, signed a two-year contract extension on Nov. 22, 2020. . . . The news release is right here.
The Prince Albert Raiders were to have visited the Regina Pats Friday night, but 
the game was postponed on Thursday. According to the WHL, the Raiders were “unable to field a complete team due to injuries and an addition six players being added to the COVID-19 protocol list.” . . . With Raiders at Pats on TSN’s schedule as a national telecast, the WHL quickly slipped another game into that slot. A Brandon at Regina game that was postponed from Jan. 21 ended up being played on Friday night and got the national exposure treatment from TSN. The Wheat Kings erased a 2-0 first-period deficit and beat the Pats, 6-4. . . . The WHL also postponed a Saturday game that was to have had Brandon visit Prince Albert. . . . From a news release: “WHL regulations require each WHL club ice a roster with a minimum of 14 healthy skaters in order to compete. At this time, the Raiders are unable to meet that minimum requirement.”
Two WHL play-by-play voices have been MIA this weekend. . . . Dan O’Connor, the voice of the Vancouver Giants, tested positive for COVID-19 so is sitting out a few games. . . . At the same time, Fraser Rodgers, the voice of the Prince George Cougars, was hit by what he tweeted is a non-COVID bug. But while he isn’t with the team, he’s handling broadcasts off a monitor from his living room in Prince George.
I became a big fan of F Jason Spezza of the Toronto Maple Leafs the other day. Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun tweeted that Spezza “says that while he likes the pressure that comes with trying to score in a shootout, he is not a huge fan of them in general. ‘It has got a little bit stale,’ Spezza said.” . . . Hey, he’s right.
Manny Viveiros, a former WHL player and coach, returned to the AHL-Henderson Silver Knights’ bench on Friday night after getting medical clearance on Thursday. . . . Viveiros revealed on Oct. 28 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He left the team early in December for treatments. . . . In his absence, assistant coach Jamie Heward, also a former WHL player and coach, was in charge. . . . The Silver Knights were at home to the Colorado Eagles for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader. Henderson won 3-2 in a shootout on Friday, then dropped a 4-0 decision on Saturday. . . . Viveiros, as general manager and head coach, and Heward, as assistant coach, guided the Swift Current Broncos to the WHL championship in 2017-18.
Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press travels a lot in order to cover the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. He also produces a weekly newsletter that often is full of interesting content. Here’s a few paragraphs from Thursday’s post, following a light from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis . . .
“We nearly had to turn back on Monday afternoon as we made our way to Minneapolis, thanks to a woman seated in the row behind me who repeatedly refused to wear her mask.
“She was travelling with a number of family members, including young children, and apparently felt she was above federal guidelines and didn’t have to play by the same set of rules.
“The extremely patient crew on Delta had three separate conversations that turned into warnings, the final one being that the plane was going to be turned around for an emergency landing if she didn’t smarten up.
“She eventually did, sort of, although she played fast and loose by nursing a package of almonds and a soft drink for the final 90 minutes of the flight, allowing her to keep her mask pulled down for long stretches of time on a technicality because she claimed to be eating and drinking.
“I figured this would happen sooner or later, and I’m surprised it took until the fourth month of travelling for this current Jets season to run into one of these ‘maskholes’ we often hear about.
“It was a vivid reminder of how selfish some folks can be, unfortunately.”
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Daniel Hauser of the Winnipeg Ice had set a record or was near a record when he went into Saturday’s game in Saskatoon with a career mark of 22-0-2.
and Kelowna Rockets on pause “as a result of multiple players and staff being added” to the protocol list “due to exhibiting symptoms or having tested positive for COVID-19.” . . . This means that the league has had 20 of its 22 teams pause all activities at one time or another since Dec. 30. . . . I had written that the only team not to have had to pause was the Seattle Thunderbirds, but Nick Marek, Portland’s media relations and broadcast manager, points out that the Winterhawks haven’t been paused, either. . . . 
Saddledome — with the NHL’s Flames and the NLL’s Roughnecks. So it’s not always easily to reschedule games. . . . That has resulted in the Hitmen moving two rescheduled games to the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex on Tsuut’ina Nation. That is the same facility in which the Hitmen played during the 2021 development season. . . . The Hitmen will play the Moose Jaw Warriors there on Feb. 16 and the Winnipeg Ice on Feb. 18.
to COVID-19 having found its way into the organization. They were headed into a stretch of schedule that called for them to play four games in five days, so those games, through Jan. 25, have been postponed. . . . Battlefords is at least the ninth of the SJHL’s 12 teams to have had to pause team activities since Jan. 4. As of Thursday night, the Notre Dame Hounds also were on pause. . . . The SJHL has a terrific chronology of pauses and postponed/rescheduled games 
league put the Winnipeg Ice on pause “out of an abundance of caution due to pending further test results for COVID-19 with players and staff.” . . . The weekly report listed 24 players in COVID-19 protocol, with 30 having come out of protocol. . . . The Ice didn’t list any players in either category. . . . So let’s no take the roster report as anything resembling gospel. OK? . . . BTW, the Seattle Thunderbirds, one of three teams not to have been shut down to this point, had 10 players in protocol as of Tuesday, with two others having been cleared to return. . . . The Kamloops Blazers and Vancouver Giants didn’t show anyone out or returning, despite officials from both organizations having said last week that the majority of players and staff had tested positive at some point. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings and Kelowna Rockets are the other two teams not to have had to pause activities. The Rockets listed two players in protocol, and the Wheat Kings one.
night, but that didn’t happen. The WHL announced on Monday that it had postponed the game pending results of those tests with the Ice. The WHL didn’t issue an update on Tuesday. . . . The Ice last played on Saturday against the Warriors in Moose Jaw. . . . This isn’t the Ice’s first run-in with COVID-19. On Dec. 27, the WHL announced that the Ice had three players and/or staff in protocol. On Jan. 8, Winnipeg was one of 15 teams that were put on pause by the WHL. The Ice was cleared to return to team activities on Jan. 10. . . . Winnipeg is scheduled to visit the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday night.
Saturday doubleheader in Kelowna. The Royals then rode their bus to Prince George, where they were beaten, 5-3, by the Cougars on Tuesday night. The teams will play there again tonight. . . . The Royals will get back on the bus after that and head for home where they are to entertain the Vancouver Giants on Friday and the Everett Silvertips on Saturday. By then, they will have played six games in nine nights. . . . Before this stretch is over, the Royals will have played 10 games in 16 nights. . . . Victoria listed 12 players on this week’s injury list — five in COVID-19 protocol, two week-to-week, two day-to-day, one two-to-four weeks and two season-ending.
the Winterhawks erased a 2-0 deficit and beat the Kamloops Blazers, 5-2. . . . Four of the coaches — two with each team — total 1,875 regular-season victories. . . . Don Hay, Portland’s associate coach, holds the WHL career record, of course, having put up 750 victories. . . . Shaun Clouston, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, is No. 10, at 472. . . . 
Mike Johnston, Portland’s vice-president, GM and head coach, has 432, good for 16th spot. . . . Mark Holick, the Blazers’ associate coach, has 221 victories to his credit. . . . Understand that those numbers all are unofficial as we await a new WHL Official Guide and Record Book, but that is a whole lot of victories signifying that those men have been behind WHL benches for a whole lot of games. . . . Oh, the stories they can tell!
major junior hockey game; Rocca is the WHL’s director of communications.
on Friday night. No, wait a minute. Not so fast. . . . That was thought to be the final score until the Mustangs protested over what they felt was an officiating error at 10:23 of the third period. The Mustangs won the protest, so the teams replayed the last 9:37 of the third period prior to Saturday night’s game in Humboldt. . . . On Friday, the Broncos scored a 5-on-3 goal at 10:23 to get to within 3-2, at which point there was confusion over whether anyone should be allowed out of the penalty box. When no one was allowed out, Humboldt scored again another PP goal, then thought it had won it in OT. . . . When play resumed Saturday night, Melfort stretched that 3-2 lead to a 5-2 victory. . . . Humboldt then won the regularly scheduled game, 6-4. . . . There is a complete explanation 
listed as being in COVID-19 protocols and another 22 having been giving clearance to return.
Jacques by inducting them into the team’s Wall of Honour on Feb. 4 with the Regina Pats at the ENMAX Centre. . . . Greig had 270 points — he twice enjoyed 100-point seasons — including 100 goals, in 201 regular-season games (1987-90). Yes, he was with the Hurricanes for their first season in Lethbridge. . . . Greig’s son, Ridly, now plays for the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Hurricanes acquired St. Jacques from the Spokane Chiefs during 1988-89. He went on to play 234 regular-season games over parts of four seasons with Lethbridge, putting up 300 points, 139 of them goals. . . . Already on the Wall of Honour as players: Jamie McLennan, Shane Peacock, Jamie Pushor, Byron Ritchie, Jason Ruff, Bryce Salvador and Wes Walz. . . . There is a news release 
the majority owner of the Vancouver Giants, said his WHL team’s losses reached seven figures for 2020-21.
Kamloops and a Friday night date with the Blazers. Halfway to Kamloops, Mike Johnston, Portland’s vice-president, general manager and head coach, found out that the game had been postponed because of COVID-19 issues with the Blazers. The Winterhawks continued on to Kamloops, practised there Friday morning, then left for Kelowna and Saturday’s assignment against the Rockets.
night game — they lost, 6-5, to the visiting Peterborough Petes — the OHL announced Saturday that COVID-19 protocols meant their next three games would be postponed. That included a game that had been scheduled for Saturday. . . . Meanwhile, the Chase Heat became the latest team in the junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League to have games postponed, while the BCHL announced Saturday that it has paused the Nanaimo Clippers for five days.
TAKING NOTE 