Author: greggdrinnan

COVID-19 playing havoc with Mariners . . . Cheeseman will be leaving Oil Kings . . . Former Royals coach on move

Science

It seems that COVID-19 has made its way into the clubhouse of the Seattle Mariners. They revealed a positive test on Friday, then placed four relievers on CovidMLB’s COVID-19 protocol list. . . . The Mariners didn’t ID the positive tester, but placed right-handers Robert Dugger, Drew Steckenrider and Will Vest, along with southpaw Anthony Misiewicz, on the IL. . . . The Mariners, who are in San Diego for the weekend, have had a number of players choose not to get vaccinated. . . . Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reported that “there is concern within the organization that the relatively low level of vaccination within the clubhouse could be problematic.” He also reported that the Mariners “are among the least-vaccinated teams in” the American League. . . . The Associated Press reported that manager Scott Servais said: “The No. 1 priority obviously is the health and safety of our players and everybody understanding the importance of getting vaccinated. But it is an individual choice and unfortunately not all of our guys are vaccinated, so it’s something we have to deal with like other teams have had to deal with throughout Major League Baseball. It’s real, it’s out there, it is affecting our roster and we’ll try to deal with it as best we can.” . . . Servais also said that he doesn’t know if this will prompt more players to get vaccinated: “I don’t know. I know a few of our players have just bought themselves a ticket to spend the next 10 days at the Omni Hotel in San Diego, as they’ll be quarantined here. They will not travel with us going forward until that 7-to-10 day period expires and they can rejoin the team or try to get back in shape again after being out for 7-to-10 days. I would hope that a few more might jump on board and get the vaccine but you can only hope. I can’t force anybody to do it.” . . . All of the Mariners were retested on Friday, with the results expected Saturday. . . . Meanwhile, the Padres whipped the Mariners, 16-1, last night.

Welcome

Brian Cheeseman, the Edmonton Oil Kings’ head athletic therapist for the past Edmonton11 seasons, is leaving the WHL team. He is set to join the CFL’s Edmonton Football Team (nickname to come at some point down the road) as its director of sports medicine and rehabilitation. . . . Cheeseman, 40, started with the Oil Kings during the 2010-11 season. A native of Mount Pearl, Newfound and Labrador, he helped the Oil Kings to WHL titles in 2012 and 2014, and to the Memorial Cup championship in 2014. He also had been a regular with Hockey Canada assignments. . . . The Oil Kings’ news release is right here.

Ben Cooper, a former WHL assistant coach, has joined EC Red Bull Salzburg of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga as Salzburgan assistant coach. He’ll work there with head coach Matt McIlvane and assistant coach Daniel Petersson. . . . Cooper has extensive experience, especially as a video coach. He filled that role with Canada’s gold medal-winning team at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. He also won gold with Canada at the 2008 World junior championship and silver medals in 2009 and 2010. He also has worked with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers. . . . Cooper, 44, has spent the past two seasons with the Herning Blue Fox of the Danish Metal Ligaen. . . . A native of Vancouver, he spent two seasons (2011-13) as an assistant coach with the Victoria Royals.

Troy Bodie, a former WHL player, has signed on with the NHL’s expansion KrakenSeattle Kraken as their director of hockey and business operations for their AHL affiliate that is to begin play in Palm Springs, Calif., in 2022-23. . . . Bodie, 36, who is from Portage la Prairie, Man., had been with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He spent three seasons as a pro scout with Toronto, and then three seasons as their director of pro scouting. . . . Bodie played four seasons (2002-06) with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, helping them win the 2004 Memorial Cup title as the host team.

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation 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.

Spider

Susan Duncan: A story about kidney donation as she walks off into retirement . . .

It’s Friday, May 21, and tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of Susan Duncan’s life.

Susan, who used to be my boss at the Kamloops Daily News, is working her final day as a communications officer with the Interior Health Authority in Kamloops.

Yes, she will be riding off into what I hope is a glorious retirement.

It was after she had changed jobs, moving from The Daily News to IHA, that she donated a kidney, something she later wrote about exclusively for this website.

Here then, in honour of her retirement, is the essay she wrote about having donated a kidney. I may be biased, but I doubt that she has ever written anything better . . .

——

I donated a kidney in July 2016. I generally avoid talking about it because people then tell me how brave I was and so on. It’s embarrassing and also a huge exaggeration of my decision.

Susan
On Sept. 22, 2017, Susan Duncan found herself on the front page of Kamloops This Week, along with Lloyd Garner.

As well, I worry about encouraging someone else to donate. I don’t want the burden of guilt I will feel if someone does decide to donate a kidney and then has an unhappy experience.

But as I read the appeals by my former colleague Gregg Drinnan on behalf of desperate people searching for live kidney donors, I feel a sense of responsibility to share what it means to be an organ donor.

I realize that the time has come for me to be brave. The chances of having a bad experience are slim and there are so many sick people who need others to step up.

So here is my story. I hope one or some of you will make it yours.

I donated my left kidney and I haven’t missed it since. There was no side effect from the surgery, my blood pressure has remained low and my kidney function is normal. One healthy kidney is all this old body ever needed and, various factors aside, it’s probably all yours needs, too.

It was a bit of a fluke that I ended up being a donor. I knew the man’s wife vaguely through work and that she and her husband had three young children. I met her one day in the elevator at work and she told me she was at the hospital because her husband was there for dialysis.

He got sick suddenly in February and a few months later he was spending four hours a day, three days a week in the renal unit at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. They also lived two hours out of town so you can imagine what that was doing to their family life.

She introduced me to him and I warmed immediately to his big friendly smile. We chatted briefly about his illness, then we said goodbye. As I walked away, he called out, “Hey, if you know anyone with A positive blood type . . .”

I looked back and said, “I’m A positive . . . maybe I should get tested.” That night I researched live kidney donation and discovered that a person only needs one healthy kidney to live a full life.

The paperwork began, followed by a myriad of tests, including psychological. It turns out it doesn’t take much to be a match for a kidney donation.

At age 59, tests showed that I, an atheist mother of three grown children and two stepchildren, was a match for a 50-year-old man of deep Christian faith and father of three small children.

I went into hospital on a Monday morning and was out of surgery by noon. My husband was barely on the ninth tee when he got the call that all went well.

My former kidney got a good flushing out and was put in her new home later that afternoon. I’m told — and I’m proud of this — that she started pumping out urine before the surgeons even finished sewing her in place.

I stayed two nights in a little room at St. Paul’s Hospital, just down the hall from my match. I left the hospital at noon on Wednesday, walking slowly and feeling very tired.

Spare no tears for me though. The heroes are the patients who get the kidneys — they endure far more. But in the end, they not only stay alive, they live joyously, unencumbered by dialysis machines either at home or in the hospital.

I spent two more days in Vancouver at relatives. I took a few Tramadol (pain killers). Friday morning, my husband and I drove home to Kamloops. On Saturday afternoon, we went to a beautiful outdoor wedding and reception.

I felt really poorly once about a week after my surgery. But by the next day, I felt great and never looked back. The second Monday after surgery, I returned to work. Granted, it’s a desk job, no physical labour required aside from typing into a keyboard. If I had any other kind of a job, I likely would have been off for a month.

I also was back running long distance by September with no change in my energy.

As for scars, if you look really closely, there are two tiny scars on my left side and about a three-inch line well below my navel. If I had my shape from the 1980s, I could easily wear a bikini and no one would be the wiser.

I would like to say it’s because I’m tough, but I’ve read stories by other people who have donated kidneys and my recovery does not appear unique.

So should you donate a kidney? You should at least consider it. If you are a person who spends a lot of time worrying about your health, even though you are healthy, you probably shouldn’t. You will fixate on potential problems and experience stress you don’t need.

But if you are a healthy person who has always had normal blood pressure and you want improve a fellow human being’s life — maybe even save it — the information about live donation is right at your fingertips.

When I do think about my left kidney, I get a warm feeling that I was able to help a family. It makes me smile at times when I am feeling low.

My match regularly sends me a text to thank me. He calls me his angel. His kids wrote letters of thanks. Those are lovely gestures and I am always happy to hear he is doing well.

However, If I had never heard from him again, if he never once said thank you, if he ended up being a person who abused his body because of the disease of addiction, it would not have made me regret my decision.

I gave him a kidney and that’s that. The kidney was his. The decision to donate was mine and I had no expectation or desire for gratitude.

Some people are not able to say thank you for reasons of their own. They don’t make contact and that leaves some donors angry or hurt and second-guessing their decision.

Don’t donate if you expect thanks. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. You have a vital organ that you don’t need and someone else does.

It’s common sense.

Silvertips say restructuring cost Davidson his job . . . Is this tip of WHL iceberg? . . . Foreurs into QMJHL final

Garry Davidson is out after nine years as the general manager of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips. The team made the announcement early on Thursday evening.

Davidson
GARRY DAVIDSON

“Davidson is departing the organization, effective immediately,” read the news release.

The announcement makes it sound as though the Silvertips are restructuring in an attempt to cut costs.

“The past two seasons have necessitated the restructuring of Silvertips hockey operations, and this process is ongoing,” it read. “The Silvertips remain focused on the long-term on-ice and business success for our players, fans, partners, sponsors and our ownership. Further information on this process will be provided in the coming weeks.”

Davidson, who turned 70 on May 15, took over as GM in February 2012, after four seasons as the Portland Winterhawks’ director of player personnel.

In the past seven regular seasons, Everett has finished atop the U.S. Division on five occasions and has been second twice. The Silvertips lost out in the WHL’s championship final in 2018.

In 2019-20, Everett was second in the U.S. Division, one point behind the Winterhawks, when the season was halted after 63 games.

This season, in which teams played entirely within their division, the Silvertips ran away with the U.S. Division, going 19-4-0 and finished nine points ahead of Portland.

In Davidson’s first full season with Everett, the Silvertips were 25-40-7. From that point, they won 39, 43, 38, 44, 47, 47, 46 and 19 (of 23) games.

The Silvertips are owned by CSH International, Inc., which is controlled by Bill Yuill, the chairman and CEO, who is from Medicine Hat. In 1989, the company purchased the Seattle Thunderbirds before selling and buying the expansion Silvertips in 2002.

If you’re wondering, Dennis Williams, the Silvertips’ head coach, is signed through the 2022-23 season. The team signed him to a two-year extension on Feb. 12, 2020. Williams has been the head coach since May 15, 2017.

If Davidson’s departure is a sign of how tough things have been financially since the pandemic brought a premature end to the 2019-20 season, it might be that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The WHL now has gone through two springs without any revenue-producing playoff games, and it’s not a secret just how much those games mean to junior hockey teams and their bank accounts.

On top of that, someone is going to have to pay for all that went into the developmental season that the WHL’s 22 teams recently completed. Could it be that a paring of payrolls will be undertaken in an attempt to bring down expenses?

It would seem that there is a huge change coming to the Brandon Wheat Kings organization. . . . At the moment, Rick Dillabough is the Wheat Kings’ director of sponsorship and business development. Over his 30-plus years with the Wheat Kings, Dillabough has worn a lot of hats. He also put together the definitive book on the organization — Brandon Wheat Kings: The First 40 Years in the WHL.

The Val-d’Or Foreurs advanced to the QMJHL’s championship series on qmjhlnewThursday night, sweeping the Chicoutimi Sagueneens from the best-of-five semifinal series with a 6-3 road victory. . . . Earlier, the Foreurs had won 5-2 and 4-2 at home. . . . The other semifinal features the Victoriaville Tigres and the Charlottetown Islanders. That series is tied, 1-1, after the Islanders won, 5-4 in OT, at home on Tuesday and then dropped a 9-2 — yes, 9-2 — decision on Wednesday, also at home. They’ll play again tonight and Sunday afternoon in Victoriaville, with a fifth game, if needed, in Charlottetown on Tuesday.

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

Vaccines

Hey, Kelowna, have you heard? Blazers want 2023 Memorial Cup . . . Thunderbirds’ home getting new scoreboard . . . QMJHL to retire Lafleur’s number

You will recall that the Kelowna Rockets were to have played host to the 2020 Memorial Cup. However, the virus had other ideas and the four-team tournament was cancelled. Later, the 2021 event, which was to have been played in an OHL centre, also was cancelled. The 2022 tournament belongs to the QMJHL with a host city yet to be declared.

That brings us to the 2023 Memorial Cup, with the rights belonging to the WHL. KamloopsOne would think that it might be a fait accompli to return hosting rights to Kelowna. In fact, Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ owner and general manager, has agreed to another two-year stint as the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors. So you might think things are in place for the Rockets to get another chance to be the host team.

Not so fast, my friends.

Tom Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, has let it be known that his franchise is interested . . . very interested.

“If that’s the right thing to do, then that could be the right thing to do,” Gaglardi, who also owns the NHL’s Dallas Stars, told Marty Hastings of Kamloops This Week. “I haven’t been involved in any formal conversation around that, but if that happens, we’ll deal with it as it comes. Just because you have the market size and ability financially to host a Memorial Cup, I don’t think is enough, so if Kelowna is going to want the Cup again in 2023, they’re going to need to have a competitive team, and so we’ll see if they do.”

Don’t forget that Gaglardi wasn’t happy with the decision to award the 2020 Memorial Cup to Kelowna. No, not at all!

Here’s what he told Hastings in February 2020: “Yeah, it was our turn. It should have been ours. It was the wrong thing. The league did the wrong thing. It’s the 25th anniversary (of the Blazers’ 1995 Memorial Cup victory, right in Kamloops), we were judged to have probably the best team of the host bids and it was our turn. We put together a heck of an offer and we didn’t win. Yeah, I’m sour, for sure. I’m disappointed.”

The bidding for the 2020 tournament also included the community-owned Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Hastings’ latest story on Gaglardi and the Memorial Cup is right here.

Toeprints

The accesso ShoWare Center, the Kent, Wash., home of the WHL’s Seattle SeattleThunderbirds, lost US$1.14 million in 2020, a year in which it was only open for the first two months. . . . Steve Hunter of the Kent Reporter writes that “the 6,200-seat arena had expenses of $2.45 million and revenue of $1.3 million, according to the ShoWare Center income statement released last week by SMG, which operates the $84.5 million facility.” . . . All told, the facility had 58 events cancelled. It also has lost $162,635 in the first quarter of 2021. . . . Still, Hunter reports, the arena will have a new $500,000 scoreboard in place when the Thunderbirds open the 2021-22 season in October. . . . Hunter’s story is right here.

The UBC Thunderbirds revealed the names of four members of their newest recruiting class on Tuesday, and each of them is a former WHL player. . . . F Scott Atkinson played the past four seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings and is coming off two seasons as the team’s captain. . . . F Liam Kindree split four-plus WHL seasons between the Kelowna Rockets and Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . F Chris Douglas spent his entire WHL career, all four-plus seasons of it, with the Red Deer Rebels. . . . G Ethan Anders played the past four seasons with the Rebels. . . . The Thunderbirds’ head coach is Sven Butenschon, a former WHLer (Brandon Wheat Kings, 1993-96). He has been UBC’s head coach since 2016-17. . . . UBC’s news release is right here.

Hockey Canada has announced the sites for three 2022 championship Canadatournaments, each of which was cancelled for 2020 and 2021. . . . The Esso Cup, the women’s U18 club championship, is scheduled for the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, April 17-23. . . . The Telus Cup, the U18 men’s club championship, is to be played in Cape Breton, N.S., at Sydney’s Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre, April 18-24. . . . The Centennial Cup, the national junior A men’s championship, is scheduled for Estevan’s Affinity Place, May 20-29. . . . Previously announced sites and dates for 2021 championships: National women’s U18, Dawson Creek, B.C., Oct. 31 through Nov. 6; Para Hockey Cup, Bridgewater, N.S., Dec. 5-11; and World Junior A Challenge, Cornwall, Ont., Dec. 12-18.

It wasn’t a good day for the lacrosse world as the Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) in Ontario and B.C.’s Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) cancelled their 2021 seasons, including the Mann Cup senior men’s box lacrosse championship. . . . Both organizations had been forced by the pandemic to cancel their 2020 regular seasons and the national championship, too. The Peterborough Lakers are the last team to win the Mann Cup, in 2019. . . . A news release is right here.

OT

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

Lafleur

JUST NOTES: The QMJHL announced Tuesday that it is taking No. 4 out of use across the league in honour of Guy Lafleur. He played two seasons (1969-71) with the Quebec Remparts, putting up 233 goals and 146 assists in 118 regular-season games. He helped the Remparts to the 1971 Memorial Cup championship, the first won by a QMJHL team. This will be the second number to have been taken out of circulation by the QMJHL, which retired Sidney Crosby’s No. 87 in September 2019. . . . Tim Green is the new head coach of the Augustana Vikings men’s hockey team that plays in the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference. Green, the 14th-overall selection in the WHL’s 1996 bantam draft by Tri-City, split four seasons (1998-2002) between the Americans and Lethbridge Hurricanes. He also spent two seasons as a player with the Vikings. He grew up in Camrose, which is home to Augustana, and played minor hockey there. He also played with the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks. He has coached minor hockey in Camrose and with Hockey Alberta. Green takes over from Blaine Gusdal, the Vikings’ head coach for the previous 13 seasons.

Stupid

Wickenheiser, Goyette teammates again . . . Another Hextall headed to The Show . . . Rebels’ Sutter wheeling, dealing

Hopefully the day is right around the corner when the promoting and hiring of women in hockey’s workplace won’t be headline news. But we’re not there yet, although Monday’s happenings certainly have us going in the right direction. . . .

ICYMI, the Toronto Maple Leafs promoted Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser to senior director of player development, and also hired Danielle Goyette as director of player development, a position that also will cover the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. . . . Goyette and Wickenheiser, both Hockey Hall of Famers, were long-time teammates on Canada’s national women’s team; they won two Olympic golds and six world championships together. . . . Goyette has been the head coach of the U of Calgary Dinos women’s team for 14 years, or since she retired from the national team in 2007. . . . Dr. Wickenheiser got her MD’s licence last week and is starting a residency at a hospital in Toronto. . . .

Meanwhile, ESPN, which is putting together broadcast crews after signing a deal with the NHL that starts next season, has hired Leah Hextall. As Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported: “While the exact number of games she will broadcast is not yet know, she will be the first woman play-by-player to be a regular part of a national NHL TV package.” . . . She did one NHL game this season on Sportsnet, but gained more fame for calling an NCAA playoff game between Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota that went into a fifth OT period. . . . If you were to let Google be your friend, you would learn that Hextall has more than paid her dues for a lot of years, so she has earned this opportunity. . . . She is a cousin to former WHL/NHL G Ron Hextall, who now is the Pittsburgh Penguins’ general manager. Two uncles, Bryan Jr. and Dennis, are former NHLers. Her grandfather, the late Bryan Sr., is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bryan Sr. led the NHL in goals in 1939-40 with the New York Rangers and scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in OT of Game 6 to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. . . . Leah’s father, Randy, was in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ training camp in the late 1960s — and I may have spent a shift or two on a line with him — and later played for the MJHL’s Portage Terriers, a team that once was coached by Bryan Sr. Randy, who won a Canadian junior A title (Centennial Cup) with the 1972-73 Terriers, passed away on July 12, 2019.

Bears

The Red Deer Rebels don’t have a head coach at the moment, but that didn’t RedDeerstop the previous one from making a couple of trades on Monday. Of course, Brent Sutter, that former coach, also is the franchise’s owner and general manager so if he’s going to make a trade, well, he can do just that. . . . On Monday, he started by doing a deal with the Brandon Wheat Kings that involved a pair of 19-year-olds. . . . The Rebels get G Connor Ungar in exchange for D Mason Ward. . . . Ward, 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, has 19 points in 83 games with the Rebels over the past two seasons. He is the son of former Rebels BrandonD Lance Ward. Obviously, the Wheat Kings are looking for someone to bring some size and a physical game to their back end. . . . Ungar was 5-2-1, 2.87, .904 for the Wheat Kings in the Regina hub this season. In 15 career regular-season appearances, he is 6-4-1, 2.92, .905. . . . The Wheat Kings are left with Ethan Kruger, 20, and Nick Jones, 16, as the goaltenders on their roster now. Jones, from Calgary, was a fifth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft and has signed a WHL contract. . . . At this moment, the Rebels will be looking at keeping two of Ungar, Byron Fancy, 20, and Chase Coward, 18, on their roster. . . . “We just felt we had lots of depth, that we were working from (a position of) strength,” Sutter told Troy Gillard of rdnewsNOW. “They wanted Mason and we wanted the goaltender, so it made sense to do a one-for-one deal.” . . . (Gillard’s story is right here.) . . . Later in the day, Sutter Edmontondealt F Jaxsen Wiebe, 19, to the Edmonton Oil Kings for F Liam Keeler, 20. Keeler, who is from Edmonton, was the 22nd overall pick in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft. In 214 regular-season games with the Oil Kings, he had 26 goals and 48 assists. Wiebe, a seventh-round selection in 2017, had nine goals and 11 assists in 73 games with Red Deer. . . . As of now, the Rebels have four 20-year-olds to choose from — Fancy, Keeler, F Arshdeep Bains and F Zak Smith. . . . The Oil Kings have three 20-year-olds on their roster — D Matthew Robertson, F Carter Souch and F Josh Williams. That number would grow to four should D Simon Kubicek report to training camp. Kubicek was acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds on Jan. 25. After playing two seasons (2018-20) with Seattle, he spent 2020-21 in Czech Republic where he played 21 games with Motor Deske Budejovice in the Czech ELH. He also got into games with HC Stadion Litomerice in Czech2 and his country’s U20 side. Of course, should he earn a spot with the Oil Kings out of camp, he would be a two-spotter — a 20-year-old and an import.

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

Longhairs

Scattershooting on a Sunday night after not watching Canucks and Flames . . .

Scattershooting2

If you think MLB has a problem with pace of play, how about a high school girls softball game in Montgomery, Alta., in which Park Crossing defeated Sidney Lanier, 46-45?  The winners struck for 11 runs in the first inning but had to come from behind in the final inning for the victory. . . . The teams combined for 20 hits and 14 errors. But there were 65 walks — that’s right! 65!!! Oh, there also were 29 HBPs. One player got to plate eight times and was 0-for-0 with seven runs. She had five BBs and three HBPs. . . . It took almost five hours to play the game.

Stud

Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “Park Crossing High School’s 46-45 win over Lanier in the Alabama Class 6A girls softball regionals featured 29 batters hit by pitches and 65 walks. Somewhere, Bob ‘Just A Bit Outside’ Uecker was smiling.”

——

Perry, again: “Albert Pujols, just released by the Angels and signed by the Dodgers, has grounded into an MLB-record 403 double plays in his career. Instead of having a street renamed in his honor, maybe he should be awarded his own 643 area code.”

You easily can make the argument that no one athlete in Saskatchewan’s history has had a larger impact on the province than George Reed, one of the two biggest names to have worn the green and white of the Saskatchewan Roughriders — the other being Ron Lancaster, of course. . . . There isn’t anything shocking about that statement. . . . What might be a surprise to you is what Reed faced in Regina, especially in his early days with the Roughriders. . . . Jason Warick of cbc.ca has that story right here and it’s a great read.

Did Joey Meyer of the Denver Zephyrs, a Triple-A baseball team, really hit a 582-foot home run at Mile High Stadium on June 2, 1987? . . . Benjamin Hochman tried to find out and ended up with a great story that is right here.

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot has a question and the answer: “Is anyone’s enjoyment of a baseball game enhanced after being told the exit velocity of a batted ball? Of course not.”

I would suggest that we may never find out exactly how many NHL players were hit by COVID-19 this season. Consider this from Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun, following a post-game Zoom session after the Jets beat the visiting Vancouver Canucks, 5-0, on Tuesday night:

“Jets forward Dominic Toninato, an unheralded free-agent signing in October who has languished on the taxi squad most of the season, revealed he’d come down with COVID in November and had some concerning complications from it, delaying his return.”

Makes a guy wonder just how many similar cases there have been in the NHL. Also has a guy wondering if that’s an upper- or lower-body injury in the NHL?

“Standard Magazine reports heavy-metal fans are among the most anxious and depressed in the world,” notes RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com. “In fact, they rank a close second to followers of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

Coyote

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

JUST NOTES: The junior B Fernie Ghostriders of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League are in the market for a new general manager/head coach with the news that Jeff Wagner has left to join the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express as associate coach and director of scouting. Wagner spent three seasons with the Ghostriders. . . . The BCHL’s Surrey Eagles and head coach Cam Keith have signed a contract extension through the 2023-24 season. He has been the Eagles’ head coach since March 2019.

Grandpa

Grand Forks doctor buys junior B team . . . Dyck, Schneider with Team Canada to Worlds . . . Whistle, Holoien get head-coaching spots

Here’s a tremendous hockey story from small-town Canada for you . . .

When Dr. Mark Szynkaruk moved to Grand Forks, B.C., in 2017, the thought of owning a hockey team had to have been the furthest thing from his mind. . . . But, hey, here he is, the new owner of the junior B Grand Forks Border Bruins of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. . . . Dr. Szynkaruk, a family practitioner and a married man with two young sons, purchased the franchise from the Grand Forks Border Bruins Association, the community group that owned the team. The Border Bruins have played in the KIJHL since 1969. . . .  “The first thing,” he said in explaining what owning the Border Bruins means to him, “is that the Border Bruins is a legacy team. It comes with an immense amount of pride to be involved with something that has been run successfully for that long. The team means a great deal for the community, so as somebody who’s immersed in the well-being of folks in town I think this investment to make the on-ice product the best possible in Junior B is wonderful to be part of.” . . . There is more on this terrific story right here.

Some things to think about if you are hoping for a WHL season to open in October with bums in the seats . . .

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said Friday that the country needs 75 per cent of all adults to have at least one shot and 20 per cent to be fully vaccinated before public health restrictions should start to be lifted. Statistics released Friday showed 50 per cent of Canadian adults with one shot.

From CBC News: “The U.S. is much further along in fully vaccinating its adult population; about 45 per cent of American adults have had two doses, compared to fewer than 4 per cent of all Canadians. Canada has delayed second doses by up to 16 weeks to give more people at least some level of antibody protection against COVID-19.”

Patty Hajdu, Canada’s health minister, said on Friday that restrictions on indoor sports can start to be lifted in the fall if 75 per cent of the country’s adults have had two shots.

She said: ”We should be able to do more activities indoors with people outside our household. More people need to be vaccinated so we can ease restrictions.”

Tam also said on Friday that Canadians should plan on social distancing and wearing masks for the foreseeable future.

Tam said: “I think masks might be the last layer of that multi-layer protection that we will advise people to remove.”

Meanwhile, the closure of the U.S.-Canada border to non-essential travel is expected to be extended on May 21 when it is next scheduled to expire. But preliminary talks aimed at re-opening it have begun but there apparently is a lot of work left to do, so that won’t be happening soon.

And, in Washington state, the goal is to reopen by June 30. Gov. Jay Inslee said that may happen earlier if 70 per cent of people over 16 have received at least one shot.

He said: ”Trends suggest it won’t be until late June when we reach our desired vaccination rate, which is why we’ve set June 30 for reopening, but I hope people will see this as an opportunity to reopen even sooner if we can stay motivated, stay informed and get more people vaccinated faster.”

According to the state’s Department of Health, 57 per cent of those 16 and over have received at least one shot, with 43.7 per cent fully vaccinated.

Washington State reported 2,375 new positives on Friday. . . . B.C. announced 494 new cases, with Alberta at 1,433, Saskatchewan 227 and Manitoba 491.

As you may be aware, eight members of the New York Yankees — one player, three coaches and four support staff — have tested positive for COVID-19. All eight had been vaccinated, each one receiving the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccination. . . . But what does this mean? How can someone who is fully vaccinated test positive? . . . The best piece I’ve read about the situation involving the Yankees is right here. It includes a lot of questions and answers, and is well worth a read.

Soccer’s Canadian Professional League said Thursday that it continues “to move forward with our plans for a full 2021 season” and that “our target date to start the season is mid-June to early July.” . . . The plan is to bring all eight teams into one city and begin the season without fans. By season’s end, it is hoped that each team will have played 28 games.

Jobs

The WNBA began its 25th season on Friday, but it did it without guard Asia Durr of the New York Liberty, who has been ill for more than a year now. . . . “I haven’t been able to (practice),” she told HBO’s Real Sports. “It’s really challenging for me. But I’ve talked to doctors and they’ve told me I’m not cleared yet. I’m not cleared to be able to do anything physically, which could cause flare-ups . . . and that’s what’s really hard for me because in life whenever something was hard I would go and play. I can’t even do that now. I can’t even shoot a free throw.” . . . Durr was the No. 2 pick in the league’s 2019 draft, but opted out of last season because of complications from COVID-19. She apparently has lost 30 pounds and remains symptomatic. . . . Asia Durr is 24 years of age.

Michael Dyck, the head coach of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, has been added Canadato the coaching staff of the team that will represent Canada at the IIHF World Championship that opens in Riga, Latvia, on May 21. . . . Dyck will work alongside head coach Gerard Gallant and assistants Mike Kelly and Andre Tourigny. . . . Earlier this year, Dyck was an assistant coach with the Canadian team at the World Junior Championship. . . . Team Canada’s roster for Riga also includes D Braden Schneider, who played this season with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The Canada Cup International, a women’s softball championship tournament, has been cancelled for a second straight year. It was to have run July 2-11 with most of the games at Softball City in Surrey, B.C. Greg Timm, the tournament’s chair, told Nick Greenizan of the Surrey Now-Leader: “The decision to cancel this year’s event is terribly disappointing, but there are simply too many health-related concerns and logistical issues to allow the event to take place. “The health and safety of players, their families, our volunteer base and the fans needs to come first and foremost.” . . . The NTT Indycar Series has pulled the Honda Indy Toronto out of the Ontario city because of ongoing restrictions in that province. It was to have held July 9-11.

Chicago

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

JUST NOTES: Dave Whistle is the new general manager and head coach of the Leeds franchise in Great Britain’s NIHL. He is no stranger to hockey in that part of the world, having previously coached the Belfast Giants, Bracknell Bees, Cardiff Devils and Sheffield Steelers. Whistle, 55, has been coaching at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C. . . . Rob Holoien is the new head coach of the junior B Carrot River Outback Thunder of the Prairie Junior Hockey League. Holoien, who is from Melfort, Sask., had been an assistant coach with the team for two seasons (2016-18). Most recently, he was an assistant coach with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars. Holoien, 34, played four games with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans in 2004-05.

Mental

OHL sets opening date, while WHL has some legitimate questions . . . Yankees, Phillies have COVID-19 issues . . . Hulak running back to Saskatoon

Parachute

When you’re trying to figure out who are the powerbrokers in the WHL, you have to know that Ron Toigo, the majority owner of the Vancouver Giants, is among the select few.

He was been a WHL owner since 1991 when he purchased the Tri-City WHL2Americans. He sold that franchise in 2000 and has been the Giants’ majority owner since he paid $2 million for an expansion team and got it on the ice for the 2001-02 season.

The point being that if you’re a WHL fan, you should be paying attention when Toigo speaks, as he did last week in an interview with Postmedia’s Steve Ewen.

This particular Ewen story dealt primarily with Toigo’s reaction to having the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks move their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, into the Abbotsford Centre, which is 34 km east of the Langley Events Centre, the facility the Giants call home.

However, it sounded like Toigo had a lot more on his mind concerning the 2021-22 season than having an AHL team nearby.

“Are people going to be allowed to come to games?” Toigo said as he looked ahead a few months. “If they are, how many will you be allowed to have in the rink? And, if they are allowed to come, how many are going to want to? There are still a lot of question marks.”

If this is what’s on Toigo’s mind, you can bet that this is the kind of conversation that has been happening whenever the WHL’s board of governors — or even the executive committee that includes Toigo — have hooked up for a meeting.

In other words, WHL teams are well aware that they may not be able to open the doors and invite everyone in come October.

The best quote I have seen recently on what’s ahead for all of us came from Gerrit Cole, the New York Yankees’ ace right-hander.

“I don’t think this is going to be over for a few years,” he said one day last week. “I think we’re going to be dealing with this kind of thing for a while. Every time these things come up, we’re gonna have to adapt and learn as a species. So, well, we’re gonna take it one step at a time and do the best we can with it.”

I would suggest that is exactly what the WHL and its teams will be doing — one step at a time and doing the best they can under the circumstances.

BettyWhite

The OHL, which wasn’t able to get in any games in a 2020-21 season that it ohlultimately cancelled on April 20, announced on Thursday that its 2021-22 regular season will open on Oct. 7. . . . Training camps are to open on Sept. 4. The schedule, which hasn’t yet been revealed, will call for each team to play 68 games, with playoffs to begin on April 7 and run through May 30. . . . The OHL release has the Memorial Cup, which is to be held in a QMJHL city yet to be named, running from June 2-12.

Here’s hoping that the OHL is able to meet these dates, which would mean that the WHL would be able to start up about the same time. However, that fly on the wall in the OHL office actually was the virus in disguise. “Hmm,” it buzzed. “We’ll see . . .”

The New York Yankees have reported eight positive tests among players, coaches and support staff. That includes one player — SS Gleyber Torres, who went on the COVID-19 protocol list on Thursday. Torres, who had tested positive during the offseason, has been fully vaccinated, as have each of the other seven people who tested positive. They all were given the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. . . . All eight of them are asymptomatic. That includes pitching coach Matt Blake, third-base coach Phil Nevin, who had symptoms early on, first-base coach Reggie Willits and four members of the travelling staff. All are quarantining  in Tampa. . . . Yankees GM Brian Cashman said: “The one thing I take from this is that the vaccines are working. . . . It will save you and protect you from a lot more than what you think.” . . .

The Philadelphia Phillies have placed C J.T. Realmuto on the COVID-19 protocol list after her reported a stomach ache and fever on Wednesday night. He was tested for COVID-19 and was found to be negative. But he didn’t travel with the team to Florida on Thursday. . . .

Meanwhile, Bill Maher, the host of Real Time With Bill Maher, has tested positive, forcing cancellation of this week’s taping. Maher, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive during weekly staff testing. He was reported Thursday to be asymptomatic.

——

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

JUST NOTES: Derek Hulak has returned to the U of Saskatchewan, where he spent four seasons (2010-14) as a player, to work as an assistant coach with the Huskies under head coach Mike Babcock. Hulak also spent four seasons (2006-10) in the WHL, the first 19 games with the Regina Pats and the remainder with the Saskatoon Blades. Hulak, a 31-year-old native of Saskatoon, announced his retirement after playing eight games this season with HC Thurgau of the Swiss League.

Octopi

Junior hockey coaching carousel starts spinning . . . Blazers, Rockets close WHL season with wins . . . Recchi commits to Thommies

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tweeted on Wednesday: “Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline.” . . . Is this a great time to be alive, or what?

The MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons have signed Paul Dyck, their general manager Steinbachand head coach, to a contract extension running through the 2025-26 season. Yes, that’s a five-year extension. He started with the Pistons as assistant coach/director of sales and marketing in prior to 2010-11. He has been head coach since taking over on an interim basis during the 2011-12 season, and added the GM’s duties over the summer of 2012. From a news release: “Since 2012-13, the Steinbach native has guided his team to three regular season titles, one Addison Division title, four league finals appearances, two Turnbull Cups in 2013 and 2018, the ANAVET Cup championship in 2018, and an appearance at the Centennial Cup in 2018.” . . . Dyck, now 50, played two WHL seasons (1989-91) with the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Pistons’ news release is right here. . . .

In the BCHL, the Coquitlam Express has signed Brandon Shaw to a two-year Coquitlamdeal as head coach and assistant general manager. Shaw, 26, was the Alberni Valley Bulldogs’ associate coach and director of player development for two seasons. He was with the Merritt Centennials for three seasons before that, working as an assistant coach/scout and then assistant coach/director of scouting. . . . Shaw takes over from interim head coach Adam Nugent-Hopkins, who stepped in in March after Dan Cioffi, who was head coach/assistant GM, left the organization. . . . Brian Wiebe has more on the Express right here.

——

Meanwhile, two junior hockey coaches who were employed on Tuesday are free agents today. . . .

The QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes have fired head coach Ron Choules, who just completed his second season with them. The Cataractes had the third-best record (21-10-3) in the QMJHL’s regular season, then lost a best-of-five first-round playoff series, 3-2, to a Rimouski Oceanic team that went 13-22-4 in the regular season. Shawinigan held a 2-1 series lead before dropping the last two games — 4-3 and 2-0 — on home ice. . . .

The BCHL’s Merritt Centennials have decided not to renew head coach Derek Sweet-Coulter’s contract when it runs out on May 31. He took over the team early last season after Barry Wolff was fired and went 12-31-4. Merritt was 3-17-0 while playing in a just-completed pod in Chilliwack.

The San Diego Padres, who put three players on the injured list on Tuesday due to health and safety protocols, added two more on Wednesday. . . . INF Eric Hosmer and OF Wil Myers will sit for a while after SS Fernando Tatis Jr., INF Jurickson Profar and SS Jorge Mateo on the list. . . . Hosmer was identified as a close contact and was removed during a Tuesday game with the Colorado Rockies in Denver. Myers started that game in right field but was removed in the third inning after he was found to have tested positive. Tatis Jr. also tested positive, with Profar and Mateo later identified as close contacts.

Tent

The curtain came down on the WHL’s 2020-21 season on Wednesday night with games in Kamloops and Kelowna. . . . The WHL hopes there is some sense of normalcy back in our society by October when it wants to begin a 68-game regular season. . . .

In Kamloops, G Dylan Garand stopped 28 shots to lead the Blazers to a 4-0 Kamloopsvictory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . The Blazers completed an 18-4-0 season with six straight victories. . . . The Cougars (9-10-3) lost their last three. . . . Garand recorded his third shutout of the season and the eighth of his career. He finished this season 15-3-0, 2.15, .921. . . . F Josh Pillar (11) opened the scoring at 3:59 of the first period. . . . D Logan Bairos (1), D Ethan Brandwood (1) and F Orrin Centazzo (7) also scored. . . . Bairos, a second-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft, got his first WHL goal in his 19th game, 17 of them this season. . . . G Taylor Gauthier stopped 34 shots for the Cougars. . . . The game was played in 2 hours 4 minutes, which I believe ties it for the fastest game in the WHL this season. The Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Swift Current Broncos, 4-1, in an April 7 game that also was clocked in 2:04. . . . The Blazers completed their season without F Connor Zary, who missed the last seven games after taking a high hit on April 28. F Jonny Hooker of the Cougars served a four-game suspension for the hit. . . .

In Kelowna, the Rockets scored the game’s first two goals en route to a 3-2 Rocketsvictory over the Victoria Royals. . . . Kelowna, which played only 16 games because of COVID-19 issues, finished 10-5-1. . . . Victoria wound up at 3-17-2. . . . F Alex Swetlikoff (6) gave the Rockets a 1-0 lead at 6:45 of the first period, with D Noah Dorey (1) making it 2-0 at 16:12. . . . Dorey, a fourth-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft, scored his first WHL goal in his ninth game. . . . F Ty Yoder (4) pulled Victoria to within a goal at 16:42. . . . D Jake Lee (3) restored Kelowna’s two-goal lead at 9:02 of the second period with what stood up as the game-winner. . . . F Brayden Tracey (9) scored the Royals’ second goal at 19:14 of the third period. . . . The Rockets got 28 saves from G Roman Basran, while Adam Evanoff stopped 35 at the other end.

Push

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

JUST NOTES: F Cameron Recchi of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks said Wednesday that he has committed to play NCAA hockey for the U of St. Thomas Thommies of the CCHA. The school is based in St. Paul, Minn., with the hockey team to make its Division 1 debut in 2021-22. Recchi, 19, is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Recchi, who owns a piece of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers. . . . Jeff Harris has left the WHL’s Victoria Royals to join BC Hockey as executive vice president, communications. He spent the past 10 years with the Royals as assistant general manager, hockey operations and communications. While with Victoria he worked under Cameron Hope, who now is BC Hockey’s chief executive officer.

Bags

WHL heads into season’s final night . . . Winterhawks, Giants finish with victories . . . Happy birthday to the guy traded for a bus — Tom Martin!

On May 1, Medina Spirit, trained by Bob Baffert, won the Kentucky Derby.

On Sunday, it was revealed that Medina Spirit had failed a drug test and that Baffert had been suspended indefinitely from Churchill Downs in Kentucky, the site of the Derby.

The horse tested positive for betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory.

Baffert, who has had five horses test positive in the past year, called the situation “disturbing” and added that it was “the biggest gut punch in racing for something I didn’t do.”

We now await the outcome of a second round of testing on Medina Spirit.

In the meantime . . .

On Monday, Baffert told ESPN: “I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I know everybody is not out to get me, but there’s definitely something wrong. . . . There’s problems in racing. But it’s not Bob Baffert.”

Also on Monday, Baffert was blaming “cancel culture” and saying that Medina Spirit “has never been treated with” betamethasone.

Sheesh, he even talked about the possibility of a groom taking cough medicine, urinating in the horse’s stall and the horse eating some of the tainted hay.

By Tuesday, Baffert was admitting that the horse had been treated with an anti-fungal ointment that contains betamethasone.

Talk about a new take on “the dog ate my homework . . . or did he?”

Anyway . . . the Preakness Stakes is scheduled for Saturday. Medina Spirit will come out of the three-hole in the field of 10.

Better

Fernando Tatis Jr., the San Diego Padres’ most watchable shortstop, and at least two coaches with the New York Yankees have tested positive. . . . The Padres put Tatis Jr., who was asymptomatic, and teammates Jorge Mateo and Jurickson Profar, who were close contacts, on the injured list. . . . The Padres are in Denver where they beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-1, on Tuesday night. . . . Phil Nevin, the Yankees’ third-base coach, and first-base coach Reggie Willits tested positive despite having been fully vaccinated. An unidentified member of the team’s support staff also tested positive after having been fully vaccinated. . . . As of last night, the team was awaiting test results for other coaches and support staff. . . . The Yankees are in Tampa Bay where they beat the Rays, 3-1, on Tuesday. They are planning to play again today as scheduled. . . . Lindsey Adler of The Athletic reported that a source had said the game was allowed to proceed because contact tracing and the high rate of vaccinations among Yankees personnel indicated there was no significant additional risk.

Lives

Three more WHL teams concluded their seasons on Tuesday, with the last four set to do the same tonight (Wednesday) with the Prince George Cougars meeting the Blazers in Kamloops and the Victoria Royals facing the Rockets in Kelowna. . . .

F Kishaun Gervais broke a 2-2 tie at 4:10 of the third period and the Portland PortlandAlternateWinterhawks went on to a 5-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . This was the final game of the season for both teams. . . . Portland finished 13-8-3 by winning its last four games. . . . Tri-City (7-12-0) lost four in a row. . . . Portland got out to a 2-0 lead on goals from D Nick Cicek (5), at 12:06 of the first period, and D Clay Hanus (1), on a PP, at 2:47 of the second. . . . The Americans, who were beaten, 9-1, by the visiting Winterhawks on Sunday night, tied it on second-period goals by F Jake Sloan (4), at 3:13, and F Booker Daniel (4), at 16:57. . . . Gervais broke the tie with his first goal of the season, and F Gabe Klassen (8) made it 4-2, on a PP, at 10:03. . . . F Nick Bowman (5) pulled the Americans to within a goal, on a PP, at 15:23, but F Jaydon Dureau (10) put it away with the empty-netter. . . . Cicek also had two assists as he closed out his major junior career with a three-point outing. . . . Portland was 2-for-2 on the PP; Tri-City was 1-for-3. . . . The Winterhawks held a 43-20 edge in shots, including 16-1 in the first period. . . . From the WHL: “After 60 days and 55 games, the 2020-21 WHL U.S. Division schedule came to a successful conclusion on Tuesday.” The five U.S. teams went through 4,103 tests for COVID-19 with only two of those turning up positive. . . .

F Tristen Nielsen, playing the final junior game of his career, drew four primary Vancouverassists to lead the Vancouver Giants to a 6-1 victory over the Victoria Royals in Kamloops. . . . The Giants finished their season at 12-10-0. . . . The Royals, with one game remaining, are 3-16-2. . . . Nielsen, who turned 21 on Feb. 23, finished the season with 32 points, 15 of them goals, in 22 games. . . . F Zack Ostapchuk (7) scored shorthanded at 11:03 of the first period and D Marko Stacha (1) scored at 12:13 to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead. . . . Stacha, a freshman from Ilava, Slovakia, scored his first WHL goal in his 22nd game. He also has five assists. . . . F Keanu Derungs (5) scored for the Cougars, on a PP, at 19:29. . . . But the Giants closed it out with one second-period goal — from F Justin Sourdif (11) — and three in the third. . . . D Alex Kannok Leipert (7), on a PP, F Justin Lies (3) and F Bryce Bader (5), on a PP, finished the scoring. . . . D Tanner Brown had three assists, with Sourdif adding two helpers to his goal. . . . Last season, Brown had one goal and one assist in 57 games. This season, he finished with two goals and eight assist in 22 games. . . . The Giants outshot the Royals, 37-13, including 20-2 in the second period. . . .

Meanwhile, on Monday night, a pair of 16-year-olds — F Connor Levis and F KamloopsFraser Minten — had five-point outings as the Kamloops Blazers whipped the host Kelowna Rockets, 10-2. . . . That lifted the Blazers’ record to 17-4-0, with the Rockets slipping to 9-5-1. . . . Levis scored three times — his second hat trick of the season — and drew two assists, with Minten scoring once and adding four assists. . . . F Caedan Bankier (11) and F Josh Pillar (10) each chipped in a goal and three assists. . . . Levis, the 20th selection in the 2019 bantam draft, has nine goals and five assists in 21 games, while Minten, a fourth-round pick in that same draft, has three goals and 15 assists in 19 games. . . . The Blazers also got two goals from F Matthew Seminoff (12) and singles from D Inaki Baragano (5) and F Orrin Centazzo (6). . . . F Alex Swetlikoff (5) and F Dillon Hamaliuk (6) replied for the Rockets, their goals coming early in the third period to cut the deficit to 6-2. . . . The Blazers got 24 saves from G Dylan Ernst. . . . Kamloops, which held a 44-26 edge in shots, scored four times in each of the second and third periods as it went 5-for-7 on the PP. Kelowna was 0-for-2. . . .

——

The WHL’s department of justice came down on the Seattle Thunderbirds and Spokane Chiefs after their starting goaltenders got into a scrap late in the third period of Sunday’s game. Each team was fined $500.

Prince Albert is another step closer to a new arena, one that would be home to the WHL’s Raiders, as city council has voted to award design-related contracts for an estimate $3.2 million to firms from Saskatoon and Toronto. . . . Interestingly, the vote was 6-3 with one councillor, Tony Head, upset that local companies didn’t receive more consideration from the city’s administration. . . . Jason Kerr has that story right here.

Truck

ICYMI, the Priestner Sports Corporation, which owns the Saskatoon Blades, has purchased the National Lacrosse League’s Saskatchewan Rush from Bruce Urban. Urban moved the franchise from Edmonton to Saskatoon in 2016. . . . Both teams play out of Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre. . . . The PSC is headed up by Mike Priestner, who also owns Go Auto, which controls 47 Canadian dealerships. . . . Colin Priestner will be the Rush’s governor and president while continuing on as the Blades’ president and general manager. . . . Derek Keenan will stay on as the Rush’s GM.

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

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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

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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.

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