Captain Kastelic leads Hitmen to win . . . Warm maintains perfect shootout mark . . . Dewar’s six points spark Silvertips

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SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

F Brett Leason broke a 3-3 tie late in the third period as the host Prince Albert Raiders PrinceAlbertbeat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 4-3. . . . Prince Albert (42-7-2) leads the East Division by 18 points over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Moose Jaw (28-12-8) had points in each of its previous eight games (7-0-1). It is third in the East Division, four points behind Saskatoon but with three games in hand. . . . F Cole Fonstad (21) gave the home side a 1-0 lead at 4:34 of the first period, with Moose Jaw D Josh Brook (10) tying it, on a PP, at 19:40. . . . Prince Albert went back in front at 4:50 of the second period as F Sean Montgomery (21) scored. . . . The Warriors tied it again, this time on a goal from F Brayden Tracey (23), on a PP, at 15:31. . . . The Raiders took the lead at 16:04 on a goal by D Kaiden Guhle (2). . . . Again, Moose Jaw tied it, this time on F Justin Almeida’s 20th goal of the season, on a PP, at 15:45 of the third period. . . . Leason won it at 17:35, with his 32nd goal of the season. He has nine game-winners this season. . . . In 43 games, he now has 75 points. He went into this season with 51 points, including 24 goals, in 135 games. . . . D Jett Woo drew three assists for the Warriors. . . . The Warriors were 3-5 on the PP; the Raiders were 0-6. . . . G Ian Scott stopped 28 shots for the Raiders, bouncing back after not finishing a 6-3 loss to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday. . . . The Warriors got 31 saves from G Brodan Salmond. . . . Looking at the online scoresheet, Moose Jaw F Tristin Langan appears to have been given a minor penalty for leaving the penalty box and entering into a fight at the game’s final buzzer. If so, he likely will be hearing from Kevin Acheson, the WHL’s sheriff.


F Trey Fix-Wolansky scored in OT to give the Edmonton Oil Kings a 4-3 victory over the EdmontonOilKingsBlades in Saskatoon. . . . Edmonton (29-15-8) has won four in a row. It beat the Raiders in Prince Albert, 6-3, on Friday night. The Oil Kings lead the Central Division by four points over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Saskatoon (30-13-8) has points in six straight (4-0-2) and is second in the East Division four points ahead of the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . F Gary Haden gave Saskatoon a 1-0 lead at 3:46 of the first period. . . . Edmonton took a 2-1 lead before the period ended, on goals from F Conner McDonald, at 15:29, and F Vladimir Alistrov (8), at 17:42. . . . Haden got the Blades into a tie, with his 25th goal, at 15:42 of the second period. A 19-year-old from Airdrie, Alta., Haden has goals in four straight games. In fact, he has nine goals over that stretch. This season, he has 48 points in 47 games. He also has scored eight times against the Oil Kings this season. . . . F Max Gerlach (29) gave the Blades a 3-2 lead, on a PP, at 11:54 of the third period. . . . McDonald’s 16th goal, on a PP, got Edmonton back into a tie at 16:51. . . . McDonald, 19, has 35 points in 52 games this season. He has back-to-back two-goal games, and has scored twice in three of his past four games. In a six-game point streak, he has put up 10 points, seven of them goals. . . . Fix-Wolansky, who scored twice in Prince Albert on Friday, won this one 30 seconds into OT. It was his 28th goal of the season. He now has 81 points in 50 games. . . . The Oil Kings again were without D Matthew Robertson, but they did get F Jake Neighbours back after a 12-game absence. However, he left at 8:33 of the third period with a boarding major and game misconduct. . . . Edmonton F Quinn Benjafield celebrated his 21st birthday by playing in his 300th game. He picked up the primary assist on McDonald’s game-tying goal in the third period. Benjafield has 165 points, including 62 goals, in those 300 games. He played the first 261 of those with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Oil Kings got 38 saves from G Dylan Myskiw, while Nolan Maier stopped 31 shots for the Blades.


F Mark Kastelic had two goals and an assist as the Calgary Hitmen got past the Rebels, 5-Calgary1, in Red Deer. . . . Calgary (26-19-5) has points in six straight (5-0-1) and holds down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Hitmen also are fifth in the Central Division, but only three points out of third. . . . Red Deer (28-18-3) has lost three in a row. It is fourth in the Central Division, two points ahead of Calgary and one behind the third-place Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Red Deer won the season series, 6-2-0; the Hitmen were 2-5-1. . . . The Hitmen erased a 1-0 deficit with four second-period goals. . . . D Dawson Barteaux (6) gave Red Deer a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 12:12 of the first period. . . . Calgary took control in the second period on goals by Kastelic, on a PP, at 3:07; F Carson Focht (15), at 8:09; F Kaden Elder (20), at 9:27; and Kastelic, on another PP, at 15:19. . . . Kastelic, Calgary’s captain, now has 36 goals. . . . F James Malm (21) got Calgary’s last goal at 8:24 of the third period. . . . Kastelic, a 19-year-old from Phoenix, has 10 points, including six goals, over his past four games. He has career highs in goals and points (58), in 50 games. He also has equalled a career-high in assists (22). . . . Elder also had two assists for a three-point outing. . . . Calgary held a 38-24 edge in shots, including 15-6 in the first period and 14-4 in the third. . . . The Hitmen got 23 saves from G Jack McNaughton, 10 fewer than Red Deer’s Byron Fancy. . . . The Hitmen lost D Dakota Krebs at 5:36 of the first period when, according to Greg Meachem of reddeerrebels.com, he was “knocked out by (Jeff) de Wit in a first-period scrap.” Krebs didn’t return to the game.


F Jordy Bellerive had a goal and two assists to lead the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 4-2 Lethbridgevictory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos. . . . Lethbridge (27-15-8) has won two straight. It is second in the Central Division, four points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings and two ahead of the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Swift Current (10-37-3) has lost three in a row. The franchise record for fewest victories in a season is 14, from 1968-69 when teams played a 60-game regular season. That season, the Broncos finished 14-44 with two ties. . . . D Danila Palivko (2) scored shorthanded, at 7:03 of the first period, as the home team took a 1-0 lead. . . . The Broncos tied it at 13:48 when F Ethan Regnier (8) scored on a penalty shot. . . . Lethbridge took control with the next three goals. Bellerive (24) got it started at 15:53, and F Noah Book (5) made it 3-1, on a PP, at 19:27. . . . D Calen Addison (8) gave the Hurricanes a 4-1 lead at 14:15 of the second period. . . . D Connor Horning (5) got the Broncos’ second goal, at 16:31 of the second. . . . G Riley Lamb gave the Broncos a chance to win, with 41 saves. . . . At the other end, Carl Tetachuk stopped 15 shots. . . . Bellerive, coming off severe burns suffered in an off-season incident, now has 62 points, including 38 assists, in 50 games.


G Mads Søgaard stopped 16 shots to help the host Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-0 victory Tigers Logo Officialover the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Medicine Hat (28-18-4) had lost its previous two games. It is third in the Central Division, two points behind the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Brandon (22-20-7) had points in each of its past four games (3-0-1). It now is six points out of a wild-card playoff spot. . . . The Tigers took control with three first-period goals. . . . F James Hamblin (25) made it 1-0 at 3:46. . . . F Logan Christensen (6) upped it to 2-0 at 6:52. . . . F Brett Kemp (26), on a PP, made it 3-0 at 11:54. . . . The Tigers’ fourth goal, from F Ryan Jevne (22) at 5:10 of the second period, had assists from Hamblin and F Ryan Chyzowski. That was Hamblin’s 100th career assist, with Chyzowski picking up his 100th career point. . . . F Elijah Brown (10) accounted for the game’s final goal, at 5;58 of the third period. . . . The 6-foot-7 Søgaard, an 18-year-old freshman from Denmark, has two shutouts this season. He is 12-4-4, 2.31, .931.


D Lassi Thomson’s OT goal gave the Kelowna Rockets a 2-1 victory over the visiting KelownaRocketsKamloops Blazers. . . . Kelowna (21-25-5) had lost its previous two games (0-1-1). It is third in the B.C. Division, six points behind the Victoria Royals and two ahead of the Blazer. . . . Kamloops (20-25-5) has points in three straight (1-0-2). It is in possession of the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot, one point ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . With four games left in the season series, the Blazes are 4-1-1; the Rockets are 2-3-1. . . . Each team had one of its top prospects in the lineup, the Blazers dressing F Logan Stankoven, the fifth overall pick in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft, for a fifth game, while the Rockets used F Trevor Wong, the 18th pick in that draft, in his fourth game. . . . Wong scored his first career goal, on a PP, at 3:25 of the third period to give Kelowna a 1-0 lead. . . . F Jermaine Loewen (19) got Kamloops into a 1-1 tie at 7:29. . . . Thomson (12) won it, on a PP, at 4:14 of OT. . . . The Rockets had the only three shots of extra time. . . . Kelowna was 2-5 on the PP; Kamloops was 0-1. . . . Wong’s goal came after Kamloops D Montana Onyebuchi was hit with a major and game misconduct for being involved in a one-man fight. . . . Kamloops got 22 saves from G Dylan Ferguson, who is 5-0-2 in his last seven starts. . . . G Roman Basran stopped 17 shots for the Rockets. . . . Kelowna F Mark Liwiski sat this one out for what the WHL calls “an accumulation of kneeing penalties” this season. . . . Kamloops D Jeff Faith missed this one as he completed a two-game suspension.


F Jake Gricius scored in the third round of a shootout to give the Portland Winterhawks a Portland6-5 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs. . . . Portland (32-14-5) has won two in a row. It is second in the U.S. Division, seven points behind the Everett Silvertips. . . . Spokane (26-17-6) had won its previous two games. It is third in the U.S. Division, 11 points behind Portland and three ahead of the Tri-City Americans. . . . On Wednesday night in Spokane, the Chiefs beat the Winterhawks, 7-2. . . . Last night, the Chiefs overcame 3-1 and 5-3 deficits to earn a point. . . . D Nolan Reid gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 3:18 of the first period. . . . Portland got the next three goals, from F Lane Gilliss (12), at 4:32; D Jared Freadrich (8), at 19:15; and D John Ludvig (3), at 0:20 of the second period. . . . Spokane tied it on goals from D Egor Arbuzov (3), at 12:54, and Reid (11), at 14:55. . . . The Winterhawks took their second two-goal lead as F Cross Hanas (7) scored, on a PP, at 16:32, and D Matthew Quigley (1) counted at 5:58 of the third period. . . . F Adam Beckman (22), at 9:11, and D Filip Kral (6), at 11:28, got the Chiefs into a 5-5 tie. . . . Spokane F Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Portland F Reece Newkirk exchanged shootout goals before Gricius, the second shooter in the third round, won it. . . . Hanas added two assists to his goal, for his first three-point night, while Beckman and Kral added two assists each for the Chiefs. . . . The Winterhawks lost F Joachim Blichfeld, who leads the WHL in goals and points, to an interference major and game misconduct for a hit on Spokane D Ty Smith at 9:59 of the first period. Smith left and didn’t return to the game.


D Dylan Plouffe had a goal and two assists, and F Milos Roman scored twice, leading the VancouverVancouver Giants to a 4-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars in Langley, B.C. . . . Vancouver (33-13-3) leads the B.C. Division by 16 points over the Victoria Royals. . . . Prince George (16-29-5) has lost nine in a row (0-7-2) and is eight points out of a playoff spot. . . . Roman scored on a PP at 3:15 to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. . . . D Cole Moberg (10) got the Cougars even at 11:13. . . . Plouffe (5) put the Giants back out front at 11:35 of the second period. . . . F Josh Maser (19) pulled the visitors back into a tie, on a PP, at 19:57. . . . F Justin Sourdif (13) broke the tie at 14:51 of the third period, and Roman (20) added insurance with the empty-netter at 19:13. . . . D Nic Draffin made his debut with the Giants. A 17-year-old from Lethbridge, he had a goal and four assists in 35 games with the AJHL’s Calgary Mustangs before joining the Giants. A third-round pick by Red Deer in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft, the Giants acquired him from the Rebels on Jan. 10 for a seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft. . . . This was the first of four games in eight days, including three in a row, between these teams. The Giants will be in Prince George for games on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Cougars heading to Langley for a game on Feb. 10. . . . On their way home from Prince George, the Giants will stop for a Wednesday night game with the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants, who play four times in Kamloops this season, made their first visit there the previous Wednesday.


G Beck Warm recorded his seventh shootout victory of the season — in as many tri-cityopportunities — as the Tri-City Americans got past the host Victoria Royals, 2-1. . . . Tri-City (26-19-3) is safely ensconced in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot, and is fourth in the U.S. Division, three points behind the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Victoria (25-20-3) has points in four straight (2-0-2). It is second in the B.C. Division, six points ahead of the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Americans took a 1-0 lead at 10:23 of the first period as F Parker AuCoin (26) scored on a PP. . . . The Royals tied it at 13:22 when F Phillip Schultz (8) scored. . . . F Nolan Yaremko and F Kyle Olson had shootout goals for Tri-City, with D-Jay Jerome getting the Royals’ only score. . . . Warm finished with 33 saves, 10 more than Victoria’s Griffen Outhouse. . . . On Friday night, Victoria beat the visiting Americans, 5-2.


F Connor Dewar scored four goals and added two assists as the Everett Silvertips beat the Everettvisiting Seattle Thunderbirds, 7-2. . . . Everett (37-12-2) has won three in a row. It leads the U.S. Division by seven points over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Seattle (19-24-6) has lost two straight, both of them to the Silvertips. The Thunderbirds now are one point out of the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Dewar, who has two career hat tricks, enjoyed his first four-goal and six-point outing. . . . Dewar now has a career-high 70 points in 47 games. He finished last season with 68 points in 68 games. . . . Dewar fell one point shy of the Everett franchise record for points in a game. It is shared by F Zach Hamill and F Dan Gendur from a 9-0 victory over the Winterhawks in Portland on Jan. 26, 2007. They each had three goals and four assists. . . . Everett has had players score hat tricks in three straight games. F Zack Andrusiak did it on Jan. 26, in a 9-1 victory over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes, and F Bryce Kindopp, who billets with Dewar, had three goals in a 5-2 victory over host Seattle on Friday night. . . . The Silvertips scored the game’s first four goals, three of them from Dewar, who broke open a scoreless game at 19:30 of the first period. . . . D Jake Christiansen (9) had Everett’s other goal in that outburst. He finished with a goal and three assists for his first career four-point game. . . . F Andrew Kukuca (14) got Seattle on the scoreboard at 17:42 of the second period, but Everett opened the third period with three goals, two of them on the PP. . . . Dewar, who has 35 goals, got his fourth, with F Bryce Kindopp (29) and D Wyatte Wylie (8) adding one each. . . . F Keltie Jeri-Leon (7) had Seattle’s other goal. . . . Everett got three assists from F Gage Goncalves in his first multi-point game. . . . Everett was 3-9 on the PP; Seattle was 0-2. . . . Seattle took 74 of the game’s 106 penalty minutes.


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Super Bowl Special — Mondays with Murray on Saturday: A Ram of Yesteryear

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1980, SPORTS

Copyright 1980/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

A Ram of Yesteryear

   COSTA MESA – So the Rams are in the Super Bowl? That’s Page 1 stuff. No way to keep it secret.

   Still, it would be nice if you could keep it private and not noise it about in certain sections of the community. I mean, I wonder if you could keep it from Merlin Olsen if at mondaysmurray2all possible? By all means, don’t talk about it in front of Deacon Jones. Lamar Lundy. Rosey Grier. Don’t even tell Charlie Cowan.

   I think Roman Gabriel, John Hadl, Ron Jaworski, even, would just as soon not know anything about it.

   Try not to let George Allen in on it, either. I think Tom Mack and Joe Scibelli would be better off in the dark. Apologize to Chuck Knox while you’re at it, Jack Pardee, Maxie Baughan. See if you can make it up to Ken Iman for all those nosebleeds he took without making it to a Super Bowl.

   All those years when the Rams were a great football team and were 12-2, 10-3-1, 11-3, 12-2, and they never made it to the Super Bowl! I mean, those were the years of the “Fearsome Foursome,” the “Secretary of Defense.” Those were days when we used to beat the Lombardi Packers on a blocked punt and still couldn’t get to the Super Bowl. Those were the days when 13 of 22 starters on the team went directly to the Pro Bowl. But they couldn’t go to the Super Bowl.

   A blocked field goal on the 30-inch line, a movement in the line when the Rams had third and a yard to go for victory, a rainstorm which turned the Coliseum into a tar pit. The Fates invented ways to keep the Rams out of the Super Bowl.

   Now, they’re going there with a bunch of kids who don’t know how tough it is. The 9-7 Rams are going to the summit of all football where 12-2 teams couldn’t tread. Guys who have been on the Rams only three years talk of the “frustration” of not going to the Super Bowl. Sure, it took Jack Youngblood eight years. But he did make it. George Allen won 49 games. Chuck Knox won 54. They always ended up in mud, snow, sleet, or zero-degree games, a touchdown or a field goal short. Ray Malavasi got there on his 21st victory. In the sunshine at Tampa Bay. Deacon Jones didn’t even know Tampa Bay was in the league. 

   It has always been considered a crime that Sam Snead never won an Open, and Ernie Banks never played in the World Series. But that’s practically a carriage of justice compared to Merlin Olsen’s never playing in a Super Bowl.

   There’ll be no No. 74 at all for the Rams in the Super Bowl. That number has been retired. But there’ll be a man in his old spot at defensive tackle.

This will be no beardless youth who thinks Super Bowls come down the chimney on Christmas night, or are hung on the fireplace, or hidden under a bush by the Easter Bunny.

   Michael LaVern Fanning knows all about Super Bowl frustrations. He hasn’t played in 208 games (108 of them consecutively) for the Rams as has Merlin Olsen. But, when Mike Fanning joined the club in 1975, a fine broth of a boy out of Notre Dame, 6-6, 248 pounds, he had a Super Bowl of his own going. All he had to beat out for a job was Merlin Olsen, or Larry Brooks, or Cody Jones, or Jack Youngblood, or Fred Dryer if he wanted to play end — which he didn’t.

   He broke his leg in preseason. And he had just as much chance of cracking that lineup after he broke it as before. 

   Although he had been all-everything at Notre Dame, including collegiate wrestling champion, Fanning was just another rookie candidate for the suicide squads. That line was harder to get into than the Kremlin. The Rams No.1 draft choice spent his afternoons blocking for field-goal kickers, breaking the wedge on kickoffs, the football equivalent of a penalty killer in hockey, or the guy with the dynamite in a bank heist.

   “I got to rush the passer some,” he recalls. But if there was to be any ambiguity in the play, any chance of other than a straight drop-back pass forming, Fanning was not to be trusted. 

   Mike felt like a 23rd vice-president who must wait for the other 22 to die or retire. His only chance of cracking the lineup was a calamity. He started no games in 1975 or ’76 or ’77 and only two in ’78.

   Mike Fanning played in every game this year (after Cody Jones ripped an Achilles tendon in a preseason game). Mike totalled 38 tackles with 13 assists, eight sacks (downing the quarterback in the act of passing) and recovered a fumble.

   Mike had always been an outstanding pass rusher. But the run in the pro game had him struggling. “I got trapped, suckered, influenced, fooled and doubled,” he admits.

   Of course, a pass rush is a good thing to have if you only have one thing. It has always been a Ram hallmark. “Ain’t nobody gonna beat us with the run,” Deacon Jones used to boast. “They got to beat our pass rush to win and they know it.” Fanning is thus in the great tradition of wily, swift Rams quarterback pass-rushers. “Anybody can throw the ball if he can sit back there all day and not worry about going down under the rush,” Fanning agrees.

   Fanning is less worried anyway by the Pittsburgh Steelers trappers than he is by their tailors. “You see, the biggest move the pass rusher has is, grab the offensive linemen. Now, what they do, is they take their jerseys and tailor ‘em down so they’re skintight. Then they take some two-carpet tape and tape them down. So there’s nothing to grab. It’s like trying to grab somebody by the tattoo.”

   If the Steelers could be persuaded to play in floppy overcoats, or the kind of oversize sweaters worn by pipe-smoking college professors, the defensive linemen could toss the blockers around like dock stevedores with cargo. “Either that or just give us hooks,” Fanning suggests.

   Football teams come out today in the kind of figure-hugging costumes Olympics swimmers or Vegas chorines favor. It’s not to show off their physiques, it’s to get the claws of 260-pound linemen to slip and slide. Soon they’ll come out greased like channel swimmers. 

   Fanning will be one of the new breed of Rams who succeeded where all the old pictures on the wall failed for 14 years, the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed youngsters who think making the Super Bowl is a snap. I mean, all you have to do is beat Tampa Bay, right? Not Minnesota in the snow and ice, not Dallas in Texas with the shotguns and the flexes. Tampa is younger and greener than you are — and the temperature is the same as Pasadena.

   If Mike Fanning can’t get through the skin-tight uniforms to get at Terry Bradshaw, he has a safer way. He can always go back to polo. Mike keeps a string of polo ponies near his Oklahoma home and it’s the kind of sport you can play until you’re 50. The horse does all the work, including the blocking. There’s free substitution, and horses don’t resort to sucker plays or influence traps. Horses are straightforward characters, unlike Pittsburgh Steelers who are like corner pitchmen by comparison.

   The Rams will be quarterbacked Sunday by a guy starting his sixth pro game. One running back will be starting his 13th pro game ever. A rookie will start at guard. In his 10th game. 

   So, No.79, Mike Fanning is almost the only one out there who knows what Merlin Olsen looked like. But Merlin, Deacon, Cowan, Scibelli, Mack and all the old crowd must see they went about it the wrong way. It never occurred to them the way to the Super Bowl was to lose seven games. They thought you fired the coach when that happened. That’s what happened the only time they did it.

Reprinted with the permission of the Los Angeles Times

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation, P.O. Box 60753, Pasadena, CA 91116

———

What is the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation? 

  The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, established in 1999 to perpetuate the Jim Murray legacy, and his love for and dedication to his extraordinary career in journalism. Since 1999, JMMF has granted 104 $5,000 scholarships to outstanding journalism students. Success of the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation’s efforts depends heavily on the contributions from generous individuals, organizations, corporations, and volunteers who align themselves with the mission and values of the JMMF.

Like us on Facebook, and visit the JMMF website, www.jimmurrayfoundation.org.

Colina cites personal reasons in leaving P.G. . . . Tracey, Warriors rolling . . . Oil Kings win in P.A. . . . Farkas, Klassen record shutouts

Ice4
On Friday night, the Kootenay Ice played its first home game since the WHL and the team’s owners announced on Tuesday that the franchise will be relocating to Winnipeg at the end of this season. Scroll down for more photos from the game in Cranbrook, which the Ice won, 3-2, over the Swift Current Broncos.

MacBeth

F Roberts Lipsbergs (Seattle, 2012-15) has been recalled by Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL) from Liepaja (Latvia, Optibet Liga). With Dinamo, he was pointless in 15 games. He had four goals and seven assists in 14 games with Liepaja. . . .

F Juraj Bezúch (Lethbridge, 2011-12) has been traded by Hradec Králove (Czech Republic, Extraliga) to Dukla Jihlava (Czech Republic, 1. Liga) for Petr Štindl. With Hradec Králove, Bezúch had three goals and four assists in 30 games. On loan to Slavia Prague (Czech Republic, 1. Liga), he had two goals and two assists in three games. . . .

F Roman Pšurný (Medicine Hat, 2004-06) has been assigned on loan to Brno (Czech Republic Extraliga) by Přerov (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). In 45 games, he had 11 goals and 25 assists with Přerov. He is eligible to play the rest of this season with both clubs. . . .

D Jordan Rowley (Kamloops, Prince Albert, 2005-11) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Pelicans Lahti (Finland, Liiga) after requesting and receiving his release from Bolzano (Italy, Erste Bank Liga) on Thursday. In 24 games, he had one goal and four assists. He played last season for Pelicans, recording two goals and seven assists in 45 games.


ThisThat

F Ilijah Colina has left the Prince George Cougars for what the teams says is “personal PrinceGeorgereasons.” . . . In a news release, the team says Colina’s decision is “fully supported by the Cougars organization.” . . . This season, Colina, who turns 19 on Feb. 18, has six goals and six assists in 39 games. From North Delta, B.C., he has 55 points, including 18 goals, in 151 career regular-season games. He played 83 games with the Portland Winterhawks, before being acquired by the Cougars. Colina was part of a Jan. 10, 2018 deal in which Portland got D Dennis Cholowski and the rights to G Ty Taylor. The Cougars landed Colina and F Connor Bowie, along with a 2020 first-round bantam draft pick, second-rounders in 2018 and 2019, a third-rounder in 2020, and a conditional sixth-rounder in 2019. . . .

With Colina gone, the Cougars have added F Craig Armstrong to their roster. Armstrong, from Airdrie, Alta., was the ninth overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft.. He plays at the Edge school in Calgary, where he has 12 goals and 13 assists in 24 games with the prep team. . . . Armstrong was with the Cougars on Friday night in Kamloops, but didn’t play against the Blazers.


FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

F Brayden Tracey scored the game’s first three goals and later added an assist to lead the MooseJawWarriorsMoose Jaw Warriors to a 6-1 victory over the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Moose Jaw (28-11-8) has points in eight straight (7-0-1). The Warriors are third in the East Division, three points behind the Saskatoon Blades with three games in hand. . . . This was Moose Jaw’s first home game after a seven-game road swing (6-0-1), and the Warriors now will play their next five games away from home. . . . Medicine Hat (27-18-4) has lost two in a row. The Tigers are fourth in the Central Division, one point behind the Red Deer Rebels. Medicine Hat also holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, three points ahead of the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Tracey, a 17-year-old freshman from Calgary, was the 21st-overall selection in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft. This season, he has 51 points, including 22 goals, in 47 games. This was his second hat trick of the season. . . . Tracey opened the scoring at 8:52 of the first period, then completed his hat trick in the second period with goals at 4:57 and 8:40. . . . F Keenan Taphorn (12), F Kjell Kjemhus (1) and F Justin Almeida (19) also scored for Moose Jaw. . . . F Ryan Chyzowski (16) scored the Tigers’ goal, at 10:36 of the third period. . . . Kjemhus got his first goal in 22 games with the Warriors after coming over in a deal with the Prince George Cougars. . . . G Adam Evanoff stopped 33 shots for the Warriors. . . . The Tigers had F Cole Sillinger in their lineup for the third time this season. Sillinger, 15, is from Regina. He was the 11th-overall pick in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft.


F Trey Fix-Wolansky and D Conner McDonald each scored twice to help the Edmonton EdmontonOilKingsOil Kings to a 6-3 victory over the Raiders in Prince Albert. . . . Edmonton (28-15-8) has won three in a row and now leads the Central Division by four points over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Prince Albert (41-7-2) now is 20-4-0 at home. The lead the East Division by 17 points over the Saskatoon Blades. This was the Raiders’ first home game since Jan. 12. They were 4-1-1 on a road swing in the interim. . . . F Cole Fonstad gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead at 12:41 of the first period. . . . Edmonton took a 2-1 lead on second-period goals from F Jalen Luypen (7), at 7:59, and McDonald, at 9:13. . . . Fonstad tied it with his 20th goal, at 16:28, and D Brayden Pachal (13) gave the Raiders a 3-2 lead at 17:49. . . . Edmonton took control with the next four goals, two of them late in the second, and both from Fix-Wolansky, at 18:25, on a PP, and 19:21. He’s got 27 goals. . . . McDonald added his 14th goal at 5:09 of the third and F Vince Loschiavo, who was playing in his 301st regular-season game, got his 22nd goal into an empty net at 16:36. . . . Edmonton got 39 saved from G Todd Scott. . . . The Oil Kings sent Prince Albert starter Ian Scott to the bench after scoring five times on 27 shots in 45:09. . . . D Matthew Robertson was among Edmonton’s scratches.


F Gary Haden scored twice as the Saskatoon Blades skated to a 3-1 victory over the Pats Saskatoonin Regina. . . . Saskatoon (30-13-8) has points in five straight (4-0-1). it is second in the East Division, three points ahead of the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Regina (13-35-3) has lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . . Saskatoon had a 17-3 edge in shots in the first period but only F Max Gerlach (28) was able to beat Regina G Max Paddock. . . . Haden made it 2-0 at 7:35 of the second period. . . . The Pats outshot the visitors 22-14 in the second period and got one goal, that from F Sergei Alkhimov (11), at 15:31. . . . Haden iced it with an empty-netter at 19:59 of the third. He’s got 23 goals. . . . G Nolan Maier stopped 34 shots for the Blades, five fewer than Paddock. . . . D Ryker Evans was back in Regina’s lineup after missing 23 games, but the Pats were without G Dean McNabb and F Duncan Pierce. . . . With McNabb, out, Regina had Carter Woodside backing up Paddock. Woodside, who plays with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos, was a sixth-round pick by the Kootenay Ice in the 2016 WHL bantam draft. Regina acquired him from Kootenay on Aug. 20, giving up a conditional eighth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft. . . . F Cole Dubinsky of the Pats began serving a four-game suspension for a kneeing major and game misconduct he incurred on Tuesday in Calgary. F Hunter Campbell of the Hitmen, who was on the receiving end, was scratched from last night’s game in Calgary.


F Luka Burzan scored in OT to give the Brandon Wheat Kings a 6-5 victory over the centsCalgary Centennials (aka the Calgary Hitmen) in a game played at the Calgary Corral. . . . Brandon (22-19-7) has points in four straight (3-0-1). It is four points behind Calgary, which holds down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Calgary (25-19-5) has lost three in a row (0-1-2). . . . Calgary took a 1-0 lead as F Tye Carriere (5) scored at 1:53 of the first period. . . . Brandon F Caiden Daley (4) tied it 15 seconds later. . . . F Stelio Mattheos (31) gave Brandon a 2-1 lead, on a PP, at 5:58 of the second period. . . . Calgary followed with goals from F Luke Coleman, on a PP, at 6:37, and F Mark Kastelic, at 15:15. . . . The Wheat Kings tied it when F Connor Gutenberg (12) scored, on a PP, at 17:17. . . . Kastelic (34), who also had an assist, put the Centennials ahead, on a PP, at 1:08 of the third period. . . . Brandon then took the lead on two goals from F Ben McCartney, who has 15, at 2:21 and 14:15. . . . Coleman forced OT when he scored his 17th goal at 18:18. . . . Burzan won it with his 29th goal just 16 seconds into OT. . . . Mattheos added two assists to his goal, including the only helper on the winner. . . . Brandon got three assists from D Zach Wytinck, with McCartney adding one to his brace of goals. . . . Both teams are without their starting goaltenders, Brandon’s Jiri Patera with a leg injury and Calgary’s Carl Stankowski with an ankle problem. . . . The Wheat Kings got 27 saves from Ethan Kruger, with Jack McNaughton stopping 32 shots for Calgary. . . . The Wheat Kings were without D Braydyn Chizen, who is two games into a four-game suspension for a headshot major he took Tuesday in Edmonton.


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There were messages for the players as the Kootenay Ice played its first home game since a move to to Winnipeg was made official on Tuesday . . .
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. . . and there was a message to the many billet families who have taken in players over the 21 seasons in which the Ice has called Cranbrook home . . .
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. . . and, yes, there was a message for the owners of the Ice, too.

F Jaeger White broke a 2-2 tie late in the third period to give the Winnipeg Ice (aka KootenaynewKootenay Ice) a 3-2 victory in Cranbrook, B.C. . . . The Ice (11-32-8) has lost its previous four games (0-3-1). . . . The Broncos (10-36-3) have lost two in a row. . . . The Ice took a 1-0 lead when F Connor McClennon scored at 9:12 of the first period. . . . F Owen Blocker (4) pulled the Broncos even at 15:10, and D Christian Riemer (1) gave the visitors a 2-1 lead at 12:10 of the second. . . . Riemer, an 18-year-old freshman from Regina, got his first goal in his 38th game of the season. . . . McLennon (8) tied it at 8:18 of the third period, and White got the winner at 19:08. He’s got 21 goals this season. . . . G Jesse Makaj stopped 24 shots for the Ice, four fewer than the Broncos’ Isaac Poulter. . . . F Tanner Nagel, the team captain, was among the Broncos’ scratches. . . . The was the Ice’s first home game since the WHL announced on Tuesday that the franchise will relocate to Winnipeg when this season ends.


F Jake Leschyshyn, F Nick Henry and D Igor Merezhko each scored twice to lead the LethbridgeLethbridge Hurricanes to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels. . . . Lethbridge (26-15-8) had lost its previous two games. It is second in the Central Division, four points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings and one ahead of the Rebels. . . . Red Deer (28-17-3) has lost two straight. . . . Leschyshyn and Henry, mid-season acquisitions from the Regina Pats, made it 2-0 with goals at 5:39 and 16:49 of the first period. . . . F Josh Tarzwell (7) scored for Red Deer at 2:03 of the second. . . . Leschyshyn (29) scored again at 5:20, with Henry (20) counting at 9:46. . . . F Oleg Zaytsev (9) got Red Deer closer at 14:57. . . . Merezhko, who now has three goals, iced it with third-period goals at 3:12 and 14:40, the latter a shorthanded empty-netter. . . . Henry also had an assist for a three-point outing. . . . Lethbridge was 2-4 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-6. . . . Rebels F Brandon Hagel went to the dressing favouring a hand after a scrap with Lethbridge F Jordy Bellerive at 6:43 of the second period, but he later returned. . . . G Carl Tetachuk stopped 26 shots to earn the victory.


F Kyrell Sopotyk scored twice, the second one into an empty net, to help the host Kamloops1Kamloops Blazers to a 4-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Kamloops (20-25-4) had lost its previous two games (0-1-1). The Blazers are tied with the Seattle Thunderbirds for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. Kamloops also is fourth in the B.C. Division, one point behind the Kelowna Rockets. The Blazers and Rockets are to meet in Kelowna tonight. . . . Prince George (16-28-5) has lost eight straight (0-6-2) and now trails Kamloops by seven points. . . . Sopotyk gave Kamloops a 1-0 lead at 9:35 of the first period, with F Orrin Centazzo (13) upping it to 2-0 at 19:35. . . . F Vladislav Mikhalchuk (18) scored for the Cougars, on a PP, at 3:09 of the second period. . . . F Brodi Stuart (14) got that one back for Kamloops at 10:31 of the third period. . . . Sopotyk, who has nine goals, got the empty-netter at 18:34. . . . The Cougars were 1-5 on the PP; Kamloops was 0-4. . . . Both goaltenders were sharp, with Dylan Ferguson making 26 saves for Kamloops and Taylor Gauthier stopping 40 for the Cougars. . . . The Blazers had D Quinn Schmiemann back after a four-game absence. He was injured on Jan. 20 on a hit by Prince George F Josh Maser, who was given a three-game suspension under supplemental discipline. . . . Kamloops was without D Jeff Faith, who drew a two-game suspension for a kneeing major and game misconduct against the visiting Vancouver Giants on Wednesday night. . . . F Logan Stankoven, the fifth-overall pick in the 2018 bantam draft, played his fourth game of the season with Kamloops. He didn’t pick up any points, but the Cougars took two minor penalties on him.


G Shane Farkas stopped 24 shots and F Reece Newkirk had two goals as the Portland PortlandWinterhawks dumped the visiting Vancouver Giants, 3-0. . . . Portland (31-14-5) is second in the U.S. Division, seven points behind the Everett Silvertips. . . . Vancouver (32-13-3) had points in each of its previous 10 games (9-0-1). It leads the B.C. Division by 15 points over the Victoria Royals. . . . Portland is 3-0-0 against Vancouver this season. . . . F Joachim Blichfeld scored the game’s first goal, his WHL-leading 43rd, at 8:48 of the second period. . . . Newkirk made it 2-0 at 4:42 of the third, and added an empty-netter, his 20th goal of the season, at 19:16. . . . Blichfeld also had an assist. He leads the WHL in points, with 90, nine more than F Tristin Langan of the Moose Jaw Warriors. Blichfeld’s 43 goals are five more than Langan.


F Zack Andrusiak scored a goal and added three assists as the visiting Everett Silvertips Everettbeat his old team, the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-2, in Kent, Wash. . . . Everett (36-12-2) has won three in a row. It leads the U.S. Division by seven points over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Seattle (19-23-6) had points in each of its previous three games (2-0-1). The Thunderbirds are tied with the Kamloops Blazers for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . The Silvertips and Thunderbirds will meet again tonight, this time in Everett. . . . The Silvertips are 5-0-0 in the season series. . . . Everett acquired Andrusiak from Seattle in a Jan. 1 deal that included F Sean Richards going the other way. . . . F Andrej Kukuca (13) gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 14:51 of the second period. . . . Everett took a 3-1 lead on three PP goals from F Bryce Kindopp — at 16:37 of the second period and 0:26 and 6:42 of the third. . . . Kindopp, who has 28 goals, enjoyed his first career hat trick. . . . F Matthew Wedman (23) got Seattle to within a goal, on a PP, at 8:11. . . . F Dawson Butt (7), at 14:11, and Andrusiak (35), at 15:23, put it away. . . . Everett was 3-5 on the PP; Seattle was 1-5. . . . G Dustin Wolf earned the victory with 29 saves. . . . Seattle remains without F Nolan Volcan, the team captain. . . . The Thunderbirds had F Kai Uchacz in their lineup for the first time. A 15-year-old from De Winton, Alta., Uchacz was the 10th-overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. He has 15 goals and 15 assists in 26 games with the midget AAA Okotoks Oilers. Uchacz will return to Okotoks after weekend games.


G Reece Klassen stopped 25 shots and F Adam Beckman had two goals as the host SpokaneChiefsSpokane Chiefs beat the Kelowna Rockets, 4-0. . . . Spokane (26-17-5) has won two in a row. It is third in the U.S. Division, 10 points behind the Portland Winterhawks and and four ahead of the Tri-City Americans. . . . Kelowna (20-25-5) had points in each of its previous two games (1-0-1). It is third in the B.C. Division, seven points behind the Victoria Royals and one ahead of the Kamloops Blazers, who are to visit Kelowna tonight. . . . The Rockets have been blanked five times this season. . . . Klassen, who was acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan. 2, posted his first career shutout. It came in his fourth appearance with the Chiefs. . . . F Jake McGrew (21) scored the game’s first goal, at 8:02 of the first period, with Beckman making it 2-0 at 15:55 of the second. . . . D Nolan Reid (9) upped it to 3-0 at 1:54 of the third period. . . . Beckman, a 17-year-old freshman from Saskatoon, rounded out the scoring with his 21st goal at 3:50. A fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft, he’s got 39 points in 48 games. . . . Kelowna G James Porter stopped 13 of 15 shots, but left with an apparent injury after giving up the second goal. Roman Basran finished up, stopping 15 of 17 shots in 23:11.


The Victoria Royals grabbed a 3-1 first-period lead and went on to a 5-2 victory over the VictoriaRoyalsvisiting Tri-City Americans. . . . Victoria (25-20-2) is second in the B.C. Division, seven points ahead of the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Tri-City (25-19-3) holds down the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. It also is fourth in the U.S. Division, four points behind the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Victoria went ahead 1-0 at 2:58 of the first period on a goal by F Igor Martynov (8), only to have the Americans tie it at 10:50 when F Krystof Hrabik (11) scored. . . . D Ralph Jarratt gave (5) Victoria a 2-1 lead, on a PP, at 15:07, and F Logan Doust (3) made it 3-1 at 17:55. . . . Tri-City got to within a goal at 7:32 of the third period as F Kyle Olson (16) scored on a PP. . . . The Royals locked it up on goals from F D-Jay Jerome (19), at 8:35, and F Tarun Fizer (11), into an empty net, at 15:51. . . . Victoria had D Jake Kustra back in the lineup after he had been out since Jan. 10. . . . These teams meet again tonight in Victoria.


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Rasmussen, Jokiharju sent to AHL . . . Hitmen open Corral series tonight . . . Hay busy learning more in Portland

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Two players who could be playing monster minutes in the WHL this season have found themselves playing in the AHL this week.

F Michael Rasmussen, 19, played the past three seasons with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. The Detroit Red Wings selected him with the ninth pick of the NHL’s 2017 draft.

Rasmussen opened this season with the Red Wings and had six goals and seven assists in 41 games when he was assigned to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins this week on one of those conditioning assignments. The Red Wings also have him on long-term injured reserve with a hamstring issue that has kept him out since Jan. 4.

Because he’s 19, Rasmussen isn’t eligible to stay in the AHL. The NHL-NHLPA CBA calls for him to play in the NHL or be returned to the Americans.

He scored twice in his AHL debut on Thursday, as the Griffins beat the host Texas Stars, 5-3.

Meanwhile, D Henri Jokiharju has been assigned by the Chicago Blackhawks to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. He spent the previous two seasons with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.

Jokiharju, who was the 29th overall selection in the NHL’s 2017 draft, had 12 assists in 37 games with the Blackhawks.

In December, Chicago freed him up to play for Finland in the World Junior Championship, where he had two goals and three assists in seven games as his team won the gold medal.

In his first 32 games with Chicago, Jokiharju was playing 20 minutes per game. Of late, however, he been playing fewer than 15 minutes and had been a healthy scratch three times in eight games.

I haven’t seen any mention of Jokiharju being on a conditioning assignment, so I have a feeling that he is there until further notice. Remember late in the summer of 2018 when there was discussion about whether he would have to play for Chicago or be returned to Portland? There was some chatter then that he had been on loan to the Winterhawks from his club team in Finland, so might not be covered by the same CBA clause as someone like Rasmussen.

Perhaps that’s what’s going on here.


The Calgary Hitmen and visiting Brandon Wheat Kings will open the three-game Corral CalgarySeries tonight. Before it’s over, the Hitmen will have played three games in the Calgary Corral and honoured three teams that used to call it home — the Centennials and Wranglers (WHL) and Cowboys (WHA). . . . The Centennials will be in the spotlight tonight, with the Cowboys to be saluted on Feb. 6 with the Regina Pats in town. The Wranglers will be feted on Feb. 8 when the Hitmen meet the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Todd Saelhof of the Calgary Sun has more right here, including lots of memories.


Don Hay, the winningest coach in WHL history, says he didn’t like the way things ended Portlandin Kamloops, but now he is really enjoying life as an assistant coach with the Portland Winterhawks. . . . “I didn’t like the way it ended in Kamloops,” Hay told Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune. “You want to go out under your own terms. This was a good way to stay active, to stay in the league, to continue educating myself in the game.” . . . Hay, whose 65th birthday is fast approaching, never tires of learning, and that’s what he’s doing as he works alongside Mike Johnston, Portland GM and head coach. Yes, Johnston is learning, too. . . . Eggers’ complete story is right here.


Earlier this week, I posted a link to the impact statement that Scott Thomas read during the sentencing hearing for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the truck driver who was involved in the accident involving the Humboldt Broncos’ bus on April 6. . . . On Wednesday, Thomas, who lost his son, Eric, in the accident, spent 15 minutes meeting privately with Sidhu. . . . There’s more on that meeting right here.


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Scattershooting . . . with questions, thoughts about chill in Cranbrook and Ice in Winnipeg

Scattershooting

Scattershooting in the aftermath of the WHL board of governors’ decision to allow the Kootenay Ice to leave Cranbrook for Winnipeg. . . .

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When the Green Bay Committee surfaced in Cranbrook in November and expressed its intentions of selling tickets and sponsorships in an attempt to keep the WHL franchise in wpgiceits community, why did the Ice ownership choose not to help out, especially if the intention was to stay put? . . . When the committee quickly raised what it says was more than $50,000 and the ownership still wouldn’t get involved, why didn’t the WHL and the Ice owners fess up then?

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Taking Note has been told that the Ice “squeezed” season-ticket holders out of the north end of the arena and closed it off as this season started. Apparently, some folks didn’t want to move and chose not to renew their season-tickets.

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One fan told Taking Note that 10-game Flex Packs weren’t offered this season until the schedule was into November, more than a month later than the previous season. Prices for adult tickets also increased from $180 to $210, with child-student ducats going from $75 to $90.

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The season-ticket campaign — Drive to 25 — had a goal of 2,500 season tickets, which would have represented more than 12 per cent of Cranbrook’s population. Just wondering, but was that realistic? Or would it even have mattered had the goal been surpassed?

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A statement issued Wednesday by the City of Cranbrook:

“The City of Cranbrook is disappointed to hear that the Kootenay ICE Hockey Club has decided to leave the community, as indicated in the announcement by the team ownership group Tuesday.

“The City is proud of its residents and the business community for getting behind and supporting the Kootenay ICE during the franchise’s 20-year history in Cranbrook. The Kootenay ICE provided many memorable moments for its fans here in Cranbrook. However, Cranbrook will continue to be a strong hockey town and will find other ways to continue to provide hockey excitement in our community.

“There will be various business and financial details that the City will work through during the remainder of the season. The City is looking at opening discussions with the Kootenay ICE management on behalf of taxpayers. “The City will take the opportunity to reflect and look forward in order to plan for the future, taking time to fully explore opportunities that will work best for the community.”

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In January 2009, the Kootenay Ice and the City of Cranbrook signed a new lease that, according to a news release from the team’s website, didn’t include an exit clause. Jeff Chynoweth, then the Ice’s president and general manager, was quoted in the news release: “It has always been our number one goal to remain in Cranbrook and this new lease will ensure that stability for the next 15 years.” . . . Ten years later, the Ice has nine home games remaining before it moves to Winnipeg. . . . Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall when the Ice’s owners sit down with representatives of the City of Cranbrook to negotiate an exit.

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The Ice will miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season, including two in a row under the this ownership. Last season, the Ice finished 27-38-7 and was fourth in the Central Division, six points out of fourth. This season, at 10-32-8, the Ice is fifth in the five-team division, 24 points out of fourth. It also is 24 points away from the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . In other words, this season’s team isn’t anywhere near as proficient as was last season’s club. . . . In fact, this season’s team could set the franchise record for fewest victories. In 2015-16, the Ice won 12 games; in 1996-97, as an expansion team in Edmonton, and in 2016-17, the Ice won 14 games.

Prior to the WHL’s Jan. 10 trade deadline, one WHL team insider told Taking Note: “They’re doing a horrible job there in every respect and losing a ton of respect around the league for tanking so boldly and not announcing Winnipeg.”

There are those who feel that the Ice is trying to improve its odds of landing F Matthew Savoie, who turned 15 on Jan. 1. From St. Albert, Alta., he has 57 points, including 25 goals, in 25 games with the Northern Alberta X-Treme prep team. Savoie and his family have applied to Hockey Canada requesting exceptional status, something that would allow him to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old. At present, rules limit 15-year-olds to five WHL games while their club teams’ seasons are in progress.

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Before acquiring D Chase Hartje, 19, and G Curtis Meger, 20, earlier this month, the Ice was carrying two 20-year-olds and one 19-year-old. Today, the roster features three 1998s, two 1999s, seven 2000s, nine 2001s and three 2002s. The Ice has had 43 players suit up for at least one game this season.

The Ice has been carrying three goaltenders, including Duncan McGovern, a Winnipegger whose name doesn’t appear on the WHL’s weekly roster report as being injured, but who hasn’t played since Jan. 6.

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A statement issued Wednesday by Tom Shypitka, the Kootenay East MLA (Liberal):

“Like many of you, I have had the pleasure of attending and being an Ice fan for the past 20 years. We can be disappointed or angry as our team packs its bags, or we can say Thank You for 20 years of great hockey.

“I personally look at the Western Hockey League in how they package and protect their brand. The WHL gave the green light for the Ice to relocate and I wonder if they provide enough security to those communities that take on the risk to invest in the infrastructure that goes with a WHL franchise.

“To the players, thank you for all the entertainment you provided and your professionalism that went with it. You were great ambassadors and role models for our Kootenay region. You will be missed.

“I am hoping my calendar permits me to be there to cheer you on when the puck drops for the last time.”

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Look, I get it. I understand why someone from Winnipeg would want to buy a WHL team and move it from Cranbrook to the Manitoba capital. Greg Fettes is a businessman, a wealthy businessman, who doesn’t get involved in anything with the intention of losing money. He would much rather drop a WHL team into Winnipeg, with a metropolitan population of 778,489 — from the 2016 census — than keep it in Cranbrook (19,259).

But there was Fettes telling Global News Winnipeg in a Sept. 9 email: “The entire Kootenay Ice organization is focused on providing a premier experience for our players, corporate partners, and patrons in Cranbrook.

“We look forward to another amazing season and continuing to build our relationship with the community of Cranbrook and the surrounding area.”

If you are wondering why hockey fans in Cranbrook and area are feeling used and abused these days, just think about that quote.

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The WHL is never going back to Cranbrook. Never. Period. Just like it will never go back to Chilliwack. If both markets aren’t finished with the WHL, well, the WHL is finished with them. Yes, the bridges have been burned and then blown up.

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The Winnipeg Ice started off by asking fans for $50 non-refundable deposits just to get on a list for seats in the U of Manitoba’s Wayne Fleming Arena. The Ice will spend the next two seasons there and, at the moment, that facility seats about 1,400. That figure should be closer to 2,000 after something like $400,000 is spent on improvements. . . . So for $50 you can get on a list but won’t know what the season tickets might cost.

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One fan in Cranbrook tells me that he now understands why “most merchandise with the Ice’s new logo on it didn’t have the Kootenay name on it.”

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One of those domain names — winnipegice.ca — that Fettes and his eight-year-old son had so much fun with in April 2017? It was up and running on Tuesday, the day the WHL announced it had OK’d the move.

You also are able to order Ice merchandise there. The link from winnipegice.ca takes you to the Kootenay Ice’s merchandise shop that is located in Western Financial Place in Cranbrook.

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The Winnipeg Ice will play its first game tonight (Friday) when it entertains the Swift Current Broncos in Cranbrook.

Three more organ donation games on tap . . . Ungar, Peters have nights to remember . . . Byram lifts Giants past Blazers . . . Rybinski wins it for Thunderbirds

 

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D Dustin Friesen (Swift Current, 2000-04) has signed a one-year contract extension with Ingolstadt (Germany, DEL). He has five assists in 43 games. The team captain, this is his fifth season with Ingolstadt.

F David Stieler (Swift Current, 2006-08) has signed a one-year contract extension with Augsburg (Germany, DEL). Stieler, who holds dual German-Czech citizenship, had five goals and 16 assists in 42 games.

F Chad Bassen (Regina, Vancouver, Medicine Hat, Everett, 2000-04) has  signed a one-year contract extension with the Nuremberg Ice Tigers (Germany, DEL). He has six goals and 14 assists in 41 games. Bassen holds dual German-Canadian citizenship. This is his 15th season in the DEL.

F Peter Mueller (Everett, 2005-07) has signed a three-year contract extension with Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He has 21 goals and 20 assists in 38 games. He leads his team in goals, and is second in points. He is fourth in the league’s scoring race, and is tied for the league lead in goals.


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There are three more WHL games in support of organ donation scheduled for this weekend — in Kamloops and Moose Jaw on Friday, and in Prince Albert on Saturday.

The actual promotion carries this title — RE/MAX Presents: WHL Suits Up with Don Cherry to Promote Organ Donation. Each of the WHL’s 17 Canadian teams plays host to one of these games. The home team wears Don Cherry-inspired uniforms with the sweaters available via silent auction.

Most importantly, this is a fund-raiser for the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

If you happen to be at the game in Kamloops on Friday night, look for the gang from the Kamloops chapter of the B.C. and Yukon branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada. Stop by and say hello!

Here are the remaining special nights:

Fri. Feb. 1 – Kamloops Blazers, Moose Jaw Warriors

Sat., Feb. 2 – Prince Albert Raiders

Fri., Feb. 15 – Regina Pats, Vancouver Giants

Sat., Feb. 16 – Brandon Wheat Kings

Fri., Feb. 22 – Lethbridge Hurricanes, Swift Current Broncos

Fri., March 1 – Kootenay Ice

Sat., March 2 – Victoria Royals

Sun., March 3 – Calgary Hitmen

Fri., March 8 – Prince George Cougars

Sat., March 9 – Kelowna Rockets, Medicine Hat Tigers, Saskatoon Blades.


The WHL issued a pair of TBD suspensions on Wednesday, one to D Braydyn Chizen of whlthe Brandon Wheat Kings and the other to F Cole Dubinsky of the Regina Pats.

Chizen was given a headshot major and a game misconduct during Brandon’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Oil Kings in Edmonton on Tuesday night.

Chizen wasn’t in Brandon’s lineup last night as they beat the Rebels, 4-0, in Red Deer.

Also on Tuesday, Dubinsky was hit with a kneeing major and game misconduct for a hit on Calgary F Hunter Campbell during the Pats’ 5-2 loss to the Hitmen.

The Pats next are scheduled to play on Friday when they entertain the Saskatoon Blades.


WEDNESDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

F James Malm scored two goals and added an assist to help the Calgary Hitmen to a 6-2 Calgaryvictory over the Broncos in Swift Current. . . . Calgary (25-19-4) has won four in a row. The Hitmen are fourth in the Central Division, four points out of third. They also hold down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Swift Current (10-35-3) holds the 22-team league’s poorest record, five points behind the Kootenay Ice (10-32-8). The Broncos hold two games in hand. . . . The Hitmen had an 18-7 edge in first-period shots as they skated to a 4-1 lead. . . . F Cael Zimmerman gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 3:29. . . . The Broncos tied it at 11:22 on a goal from F Ethan O’Rourke (9), who now is on a five-game goal-scoring streak. . . . The Hitmen went up 4-1 on goals from D Layne Toder (2), at 13:38; Malm, at 13:56; and F Luke Coleman (15), on a PP, at 19:25. . . . F Ian Briscoe (2) got the Broncos to within two at 17:39 of the second period. . . . The Hitmen put it away in the third as Malm scored his 20th goal, at 5:18, and former Broncos F Kaden Elder got his 19th, on a PP, at 10:11. . . . Calgary G Jack McNaughton was on the bench for this one after he had started the club’s previous 23 games. He watched as Brayden Peters made his first WHL appearance a winning one with 30 saves. . . . That included stopping Briscoe on a second-period penalty shot. . . . From Taber, Alta., Peters, 16, was a fifth-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft. . . . Peters plays for the midget AAA Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Hitmen are missing G Carl Stankowski (ankle).


G Connor Ungar stopped 34 shots to earn his first WHL victory and record his first BrandonWKregularshutout as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Rebels, 4-0, in Red Deer. . . . Brandon (21-19-7) has points in three straight (2-0-1). It is five points out of a playoff spot. . . . Red Deer (28-16-3) is second in the Central Division, three points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings and one ahead of the Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Ungar was making his second WHL start for the Wheat Kings. He is on their roster because starter Jiri Patera is out with a leg injury. . . . Ungar, who turned 17 on Jan. 12, was with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers before joining the Wheat Kings. . . . Ungar’s night included 20 saves in the third period with friends and family members in the audience. . . . Brandon F Ty Thorpe got the scoring started at 11:06 of the first period. Thorpe, who is from Brandon, scored his first WHL goal in his 37th game. . . . D Braden Schneider (7) made it 2-0 at 10:35 of the second period. . . . The Wheat Kings put it away with two late third-period goals, from F Luka Burzan (28), on a PP, at 17:00, and F Caiden Daley (3), a shorthanded empty-netter, at 19:38. . . . The Rebels remain without D Alex Alexeyev.


D Bowen Byram scored 33 seconds into OT to give the Vancouver Giants a 3-2 victory Vancouverover the Blazers in Kamloops. . . . Vancouver (32-12-3) has points in 10 straight (9-0-1). It leads the B.C. Division by 17 points over the Victoria Royals. The Giants also are five points behind the Everett Silvertips, who lead the Western Conference. Vancouver has two games in hand. . . . Kamloops (19-25-4) has lost two in a row (0-1-1). It is fourth in the B.C. Division, three points behind the Kelowna Rockets. The Blazers also are two points behind the Seattle Thunderbirds, who hold down the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . The Giants are 4-0-0 in the season series; Kamloops is 0-2-2. . . . This was Game 47 for the Giants but it was their first trip to Kamloops. These teams will play four more times, with three of them in Kamloops, before season’s end. . . . Last night’s game was scoreless going to the third period. . . . Vancouver grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals from F Lukas Svejkovsky (5), on a PP, at 1:59, and F Davis Koch (20), at 8:32. . . . Koch was playing in his 300th regular-season game — 75 with Vancouver after 225 with the Edmonton Oil Kings. He has 228 points, including 83 goals. . . . F Zane Franklin (24) got the Blazers to within a goal, at 13:37, and F Orrin Centazzo (12) tied it, on a PP, at 15:00. . . . In the OT, Byram shook off Kamloops F Connor Zary and was able to get the puck past G Dylan Ferguson and an inch or two over the goal line for his 19th goal of the season and his second OT score. Ten of Byram’s goals came in the month of January. . . . In a chippy game with some dislike in it, Vancouver was 1-5 on the PP and Kamloops was 1-4. . . .    The Giants got 29 stops from G Trent Miner, while Ferguson finished with 18 saves. . . . Kamloops lost D Jeff Faith to a kneeing major and a game misconduct for a hit on Vancouver F Tristen Nielsen at 1:52 of the first period. Faith served a five-game suspension earlier this month for an infraction against the host Victoria Royals on Jan. 9. . . . The Blazers had D Luke Zazula back after a seven-game absence, but D Quinn Schmiemann remains out. . . . F Logan Stankoven, who is burning up the B.C. Major Midget League with the Thompson Blazers, played in his third game with Kamloops. He was the fifth-overall selection in the 2018 WHL bantam draft. No, he doesn’t look out of place at this level.


F Henry Rybinski scored in OT to give the Seattle Thunderbirds a 3-2 victory over the SeattleRockets in Kelowna. . . . Seattle (19-22-6) has points in three straight (2-0-1). It holds down the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Kelowna (20-24-5) has points in two straight (1-0-1). The Rockets are third in the B.C. Division, five points behind the Victoria Royals, who hold three games in hand, and three points ahead of Kamloops. . . . F Mark Liwiski (5) put Kelowna out front at 8:03 of the first period, with Seattle F Matthew Wedman (22) tying it at 19:06. . . . The Rockets went back in front at 15:02 of the second period when F Kyle Crosbie (6) scored while shorthanded. . . . The Thunderbirds tied it at 19:15 on D Tyrel Bauer’s second goal of the season at 19:15. . . . Bauer, a 16-year-old freshman from Cochrane, Alta., went 43 games without a goal and now has scored in two straight outings. . . . Rybinski won it at 2:38 of OT with his second goal of the season. He had a goal and four assists in 14 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers when he asked for a trade. Since arriving in Seattle, he has a goal and 12 assists in 12 games. . . . With F Liam Kindree and F Ted Brennan injured, F Trevor Wong, 15, was in Kelowna’s lineup. Wong, from Vancouver, was the 18th-overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. He plays for the Greater Vancouver Canadians of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League, and got into one game with the Rockets earlier in the season. . . . Kelowna G Roman Basran stopped 35 shots, nine more than Seattle’s Roddy Ross.


F Riley Woods scored once and added four assists to lead the host Spokane Chiefs to a 7-2 SpokaneChiefsvictory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Spokane (25-17-5) had lost its previous five games (0-4-1). It is third in the U.S. Division, two points ahead of the Tri-City Americans. . . . Portland (30-14-5) had won its past three games. It is second in the U.S. Division, seven points behind the Everett Silvertips. . . . Spokane and Portland each have won twice in the season series. . . . Woods, who enjoyed his first career five-point game, gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead with his 25th goal at 5:03 of the first period. . . . F Josh Paterson (18) pulled Portland even at 17:50. . . . The Chiefs blew it open with the game’s next six goals. . . . F Luc Smith scored twice, giving him 22 goals, with singles coming from F Jaret Anderson-Dolan (5), F Jake McGrew (20), F Ethan McIndoe (10) and F Jack Finley (6). . . . F Lane Gilliss (11) scored Portland’s other goal. . . . Anderson-Dolan also had two assists, while Smith had one. . . . The Chiefs, who held a 47-21 edge in shots, were 3-7 on the PP; the Winterhawks were 0-3. . . . The Winterhawks had D John Ludvig back in their lineup after a three-game absence, but they are without F Cody Glass, who suffered a knee injury on Saturday and now has missed two games. He travelled with the team to Spokane, but won’t play for a while.


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Winnipeg Ice owner expects 4,500-seat arena to be full . . . Grrr! Chiefs sign a Bear . . . Battle of Kings goes to Edmonton

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For those who are wanting more on the Winnipeg Ice. . . .

“There’s no doubt we’re going to be in a competitive landscape for hockey dollars in Winnipeg,” Greg Fettes, one of the Ice’s owners, told a news conference in Winnipeg on wpgiceTuesday. “We’re building a 4,500-seat arena. We’re expecting it to be full.” . . .

The company that owns the Ice started out as 497840 Manitoba Ltd. It now has been renamed 50 Below Sports and Entertainment. . . . Mike Keane, a Winnipegger who played three seasons (1984-87) with the Moose Jaw Warriors, owns a piece, too. . . .

Ticket prices haven’t been set yet for whenever it is that the Ice will move into a new 4,500-seat arena, but Matt Cockell, the president and general manager, told the news conference that ducats will cost from $15 to $35 apiece. . . .

The NHL’s Winnipeg Jets have yet to offer any kind of comment on the Ice’s move to the Manitoba capital. However, they have shown no inclination to move their AHL franchise, the Manitoba Moose, to another locale. It’s worth noting that the Moose isn’t drawing nearly as many fans today as it did when it first arrived on the scene. . . .

Cockell also told the gathering that the plan is to bid on the Memorial Cup at some point down the road.

There’s all that and more right here in a column by Paul Friesen and a story, all from the Winnipeg Sun.


The Spokane Chiefs have signed F Bear Hughes to a WHL contract. Hughes, who will turn SpokaneChiefs18 on May 30, is from Post Falls, Idaho, and plays for the junior B Spokane Braves of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. In fact, he leads all KIJHL freshmen with 59 points, including 39 goals, in 38 games. A list player, he actually is fourth in the KIJHL’s scoring race.


F Logan Stankoven, the fifth-overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft, will be in the Kamloops Blazers’ lineup tonight against the visiting Vancouver Giants. Stankoven, Kamloops1who is from Kamloops, played two earlier games with the Blazers, earning one assist.

Stankoven will fill a spot in the lineup vacated by F Riley Appelt, who suffered a finger injury during a fight in a 3-2 shootout victory over the visiting Victoria Royals on Saturday night.

The Blazers may have D Luke Zazula (shoulder) back in their lineup tonight . Zazula, 18 and in his third season, has missed the past seven games.

However, D Quinn Schmiemann, a 16-year-old freshman, has been in concussion protocol since being injured on Jan. 20, and isn’t yet ready to return.

D Ethan Brandwood, 16, who played two games with the Blazers last weekend, has returned to the South Island Royals, the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League team that he captains. He was a seventh-round pick by the Blazers in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft.


As you likely are aware, a sentencing hearing began on Monday for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, HumboldtBroncosthe driver of the truck that was involved in the crash of the Humboldt Broncos’ bus on April 6. . . . Laurie and Scott Thomas,  whose son, Evan, was killed in the accident, wrote a letter to their son as their victim impact statement. Scott, a former WHL player, read it in court.

You will find it right here.


TUESDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

F Mark Kastelic and F Carson Focht each scored twice to help the Calgary Hitmen to a 5-2 Calgaryvictory over the Pats in Regina. . . . Calgary (24-19-4) has won three in a row. . . . Regina (13-34-3) had points in each of its previous two games (1-0-1). . . . The Hitmen held a 17-3 edge in shots in the first period but could only get two pucks behind Regina G Max Paddock, who had missed the previous six games due to illness. . . . Kastelic opened the scoring at 5:03, with Regina F Austin Pratt (19) scoring, on a PP, at 9:22. . . . Kastelic, who has 32 goals, put Calgary back in front at 17:11. . . . F Sergei Akhimov (10) pulled Regina back into a tie, on a PP, at 7:28 of the second period. . . . Focht broke the tie at 15:37, then gave the Hitmen some insurance with his 14th goal, on a PP, at 19:33. . . . Calgary F James Malm (18) added another PP goal, at 13:04 of the third period. . . . Regina was 2-3 on the PP; Calgary was 2-6. . . . Kastelic also had an assist, giving him a three-point outing. . . . The Hitmen got three assists from F Kaden Elder. . . . Paddock finished with 33 saves, 12 more than Calgary’s Jack McNaughton, who made his 22nd consecutive start. . . . Regina lost F Cole Dubinsky to a kneeing major and game misconduct at 15:11 of the second period.


The Edmonton Oil Kings erased a 3-0 deficit and went on to beat the visiting Brandon EdmontonOilKingsWheat Kings, 4-3 in a shootout. . . . Edmonton (27-15-8) has won two in a row. . . . Brandon (20-19-7) has points in two straight (1-0-1). . . . The Wheat Kings took a 3-0 lead on a first-period goal from F Ridly Greig (10), at 1:01, and second-period goals from F Ben McCartney (13), at 1:05, and F Luka Burzan (27), at 6:44. . . . F Vladimir Alistrov (7) started Edmonton’s comeback at 9:51 of the second. . . . F Josh Williams (12) got the Oil Kings to within at goal at 12:53 of the third period, and F Andrew Fyten (12) tied it, on a PP, at 17:38. . . . Brandon D Braydyn Chizen was hit with a headshot major and game misconduct at 14:39 of the third period. Fyten scored on the ensuing PP. . . . Edmonton was 1-4 on the PP; Brandon was 0-1. . . . The Oil Kings won it on a shootout goal by F Trey Fix-Wolansky, who was the first shooter of the third round. . . . Brandon G Ethan Kruger stopped 46 shots through OT, 25 more than Edmonton’s Todd Scott. . . . F Jake Chiasson made his WHL debut with the Wheat Kings. Chiasson, 15, was the 15th-overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. He plays for the Yale Hockey Academy prep team in his hometown of Abbotsford, B.C.


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WHL: Kootenay Ice, R.I.P; Long Live the Winnipeg Ice . . . Ice has nine games left in Cranbrook . . . Off to Manitoba capital after this season

Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, was in Cranbrook on Tuesday morning to provide the last rites to the Kootenay Ice.

The WHL’s Cranbrook-based franchise is dead after 21 seasons. It will be reborn in wpgiceWinnipeg after it plays nine more home games in Cranbrook’s Western Financial Place.

In Winnipeg, the franchise will continue to be known as the Ice and will play out of the WHL’s East Division, something that will result in the Swift Current Broncos moving to the Central Division. That allows each division to remain at six teams.

The Winnipeg Ice began taking $50 non-refundable deposits this morning, noting that the team will spend a couple of seasons in the U of Manitoba’s Wayne Fleming Arena and that seating will be limited. That deposit will get you on “a priority list for season-seat membership,” according to a news release at winnipegice.ca.

As for ticket prices, the news release stated: “Season-seat pricing will be communicated

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Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, arrives at Western Financial Place in Cranbrook on Tuesday morning to announce the relocation of the Kootenay Ice to Winnipeg.

prior to the seat-selection period. At this time, no decision has been made on whether fans can choose a multi-year season-seat commitment option.”

Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell, who purchased the Ice from the Chynoweth family prior to the 2017-18 season, joined Robison at the news conference that was held in WFP and lasted about 30 minutes.

They had met with members of the business community earlier in the morning in an event that one observer told Taking Note appeared to be by “invite only to friendly business people.”

That observer said the message was that “we are apologetic that it didn’t work . . . and we had to make a business decision,” and that the situation was looked at from a league point of view “for several years and we came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to work.”

When the scene shifted to the arena for the news conference, there were a few fans present who had hoped to be allowed in. However, they were told that it was for media only. Someone did stream it on Facebook, so there were people elsewhere in the building who were able to watch.

According to two Taking Note correspondents who were in attendance, Robison began by acknowledging that losing the franchise is difficult for Cranbrook fans. He also thanked the fans for their support over the team’s 21 seasons in their city.

roccawrapup 2
Taylor Rocca (left), the WHL’s senior manager, communications, wraps up the news conference at which the Kootenay Ice’s move to Winnipeg was made official. Seated, from left, are WHL commissioner Ron Robison, and Ice owners Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell.

Robison pointed out that the previous owners — the Chynoweth family — attempted to increase fan support but that it has continued to slide over the past number of years.

In Robison’s estimation, the Chynoweths, as well as Fettes and Cockell, did everything they could to get things turned around.

Robison tried to take some of the heat off the franchise’s owners by claiming that “this was a Western Hockey League decision ultimately — not the ownership decision — to transfer this franchise. It was a decision made over an eight- or nine-year period of assessment of this market and the ability of this franchise to be sustainable over a long period of time.”

It turns out that the WHL’s board of governors voted on the move in December; Robinson refused to say whether the vote was unanimous.

Asked what this announcement means for other small-market WHL teams, Robison responded that those teams, some of which are community-owned, have to work hard to maintain a balance. He added that moving the Ice isn’t a reflection on the Cranbrook community.

flemingarena
The Winnipeg Ice will spend two seasons playing in the U of Manitoba’s Wayne Fleming Arena, which, at the moment, has a capacity of 1,400. (U of Manitoba photo)

Asked what went wrong in Cranbrook, Robison referred to the WHL playoffs in the spring of 2011, pointing to poor attendance at Ice games, and adding that the attendance has been declining since then.

The Ice won the WHL championship that season, but the announced average attendance for nine home playoff games was only 3,049. Kootenay beat the Portland Winterhawks in the final, winning in five games, but the arena wasn’t sold out. Of course, it didn’t help attendance that a lot of WHL games, including all games in the final, were televised.

Robison also admitted that attendance league-wide has been declining, saying that it has changed overall for most teams, and stating again that the Ice’s owners, past and present, did all they could to boost attendance.

When Fettes was asked how long he has been looking at the Winnipeg market, he said he had been wanting to buy into the WHL long before purchasing the Ice. He added that the Ice’s owners have been studying the attendance situation and began working on moving plans last summer.

As for the chances of another team moving to Cranbrook, Robison told the news conference that there aren’t any teams interested in moving at this time.

The Ice is the first WHL team to change locations since the Chilliwack Bruins were sold and moved to Victoria after the 2010-11 season.

Prior to the start of this season, the Ice launched a season-ticket campaign — Drive to 25 — with a goal of selling 2,500 season tickets, which would have marked an increase of about 600 from the previous season. Instead of an increase, however, the drive resulted in about 1,700 season tickets.

In 2017-18, the first season under new ownership, the team had an announced average attendance of 2,442, up from 1,754 the previous season.

This season, attendance has slipped to an average of 2,218.

In November, a group comprised mainly of local businessmen — the Green Bay Committee — began work to sell tickets and sponsorships on behalf of the Ice. After raising what members said was more than $50,000, the committee ceased operations due to an “absence of active engagement” from the Ice owners, who chose not to attend GBC meetings or provide anything in the way of support.

At the time, John Hudak, the GBC’s marketing director, told the Cranbrook Townsman that “it’s extremely disappointing that we have had to terminate our campaign at this particular time, but it is what it is.”

On Tuesday, Hudak told Taking Note: “I have never ever heard of successful business people turning down business.”

Asked if 2,500 season tickets would have kept the franchise in Cranbrook, Cockell admitted the community had reacted well in Year 1, but ticket sales didn’t show well prior to this season and reflected a reduction in management’s benchmark goal.

But, Cockell added, management had to acknowledge that people in the community have worked hard in support of the team.

Robison, Fettes and Cockell also spent time with Mayor Lee Pratt and some city councillors, but the franchise’s exit from its lease has yet to be negotiated.

It’s believed that the Ice players were given the spiel earlier in the morning. They then were taken to Kimberley for a team outing, so there weren’t any players around the arena to speak with the media following the news conference.

Robison, Fettes and Cockell departed via a side door, so didn’t have any interaction with fans who were waiting in the arena’s foyer.

“Leaving town and throwing the fans under the bus” is how Hudak put it.

With 18 games left, the Ice is 10-32-8. It is ninth in the 10-team Eastern Conference and won’t make the playoffs for a fourth straight season, the second in a row under the ownership of Fettes and Cockell.

Last season, the Ice went 27-38-7, missing a playoff spot by 16 points. This season, it is 22 points from a wild-card spot.

The franchise began as the Edmonton Ice, an expansion franchise that was owned by longtime WHL president Ed Chynoweth. Unable to gain any traction in two seasons (1996-98) in that marketplace, he moved the franchise to Cranbrook where it now is in its 21st season.

The Ice has won three WHL championships (2000, 2002 and 2011) and the 2002 Memorial Cup.

The Ice will play its final game in Cranbrook on March 17 against the Red Deer Rebels.

The Winnipeg Ice’s next game is scheduled for Friday against the Swift Current Broncos in Cranbrook.

JUST NOTES: Taylor Rocca, the WHL’s senior manager, communications, was on hand to do the introductions at the news conference in Cranbrook. Before going to work for the WHL, he was a sports writer at the Cranbrook Daily Townsman and, yes, he covered the Ice. . . . Fettes confirmed at the afternoon news conference in Winnipeg that he has reached agreement to purchase the MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues. The Blues are the only Winnipeg-based franchise left in the MJHL, which once also included the West Kildonan North Stars, St. Boniface Saints and St. James Canadians. . . . If you have been following this story, you will recall that Fettes purchased two domain names — WinnipegIce.com and WinnipegIce.ca — in April 2017. Asked about that, Fettes said that through his business (24-7 Intouch, a global call centre), he has hundreds of domain names. On this occasion, he claimed he and his eight-year-old son were playing around and just made up some more. . . . The website winnipegice.ca was up and running on Tuesday. . . . Robison has long wanted to have a WHL franchise in the capital city of each of the four Western Canadian provinces. Under his watch, the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers were awarded an expansion franchise that began play in 2007-08 in Edmonton, Alberta’s capital; the Chilliwack franchise relocated to Victoria, the capital of B.C.; and now Winnipeg, Manitoba’s capital, has a franchise. Regina, Saskatchewan’s capital, has long been home to the Pats.

Ice situation should be addressed today; news conference scheduled for Cranbrook . . . Brandon adds goalie, forward


MacBeth

F Dominic Zwerger (Spokane, Everett, 2013-17) signed a contract extension with Ambrì-Piotta (Switzerland, NL A) through the 2021-22 season. The contract extension has an NHL exit clause after the 2020-21 season. This season, an alternate captain, he has 16 goals and 20 assists in 38 games.


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Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, and the owners of the Kootenay Ice are to address the media in Cranbrook this morning at 10:30.

The news conference, which will include Ice owners Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell, is to be held at the team’s office in Western Financial Place.

At the same time, the Winnipeg Free Press has reported that the Ice’s owners “have Kootenaynewscheduled a Tuesday afternoon news conference to announce they are moving their franchise to Winnipeg after the 2018-19 season . . .”

The Free Press didn’t indicate a time or a site for that news conference, but Tuesday is expected to be the coldest day of this winter in Winnipeg, with a high of -29 C.

The news conferences are being held on Day 41 of the Kootenay Kountdown — it has been 41 days since Robison appeared with Dean Millard on Edmonton radio station TSN 1260 and said there would be an announcement regarding the Ice “very soon.”

The Ice, at 10-32-8, has the WHL’s second-poorest record and won’t be in the playoffs for a second straight season under the ownership of Fettes and Cockell, who purchased the franchise from the Chynoweth family prior to the 2017-18 season. This will be the fifth straight season out of the playoffs for the Ice.

Last season, the Ice finished 27-38-7, missing a playoff spot by 16 points.

The Ice began life in 1996 as the Edmonton Ice, but left the Alberta capital for Cranbrook after two seasons. In its 21 seasons in Cranbrook, the Ice won three WHL championships (2011, 2002, 2000) and one Memorial Cup, that in 2002.

The Ice will be first franchise to have won a Memorial Cup to relocate since the QMJHL’s Granby Predateurs. They won the 1996 Memorial Cup and moved to Sydney, N.S., in 1997 where they now are the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

The last WHL relocation occurred following the 2010-11 season when the Chilliwack Bruins moved to Victoria where they now operate as the Royals.

This season, the Ice has the lowest announced average attendance in the 22-team WHL, at 2,218. The Ice has nine home games remaining, starting Friday against the Swift Current Broncos, the only team in the WHL with a poorer record.

Last season, the average for 36 home games was 2,442, up from 1,754 in 2016-17, the final season under the ownership of the Chynoweth family.

The Ice has been playing in 4,264-seat Western Financial Place, which opened in 2001. In its first two seasons in Cranbrook, the Ice played in that city’s Memorial Arena.

In its first season in the new arena, the Ice’s announced average attendance was 3,635, which remains the single-season high.

That was one of seven seasons in which that figure was north of 3,000, somewhere it hasn’t been since 2008-09 (3,071).

The relocated Ice is expected to spend a couple of seasons playing in the 1,400-seat Wayne Fleming Arena at the U of Manitoba while it waits for its permanent home to be built. It is expected that some work will be done to freshen up that facility and that some seats will be added.

If you click right here and scroll down to the last two photos, you will see a couple of pictures from the interior of the Wayne Fleming Arena as it now stands.

The expected relocation announcement comes just days before WHL governors and general managers travel to Las Vegas, as they do every year on Super Bowl weekend, for meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

It’s too bad that they couldn’t have moved those meetings to Cranbrook this time . . . you know, just to thank the businesses and fans of the area for 21 seasons of support.


With G Jiri Patera (leg) on the shelf, the Brandon Wheat Kings have added G Connor BrandonWKregularUngar, who turned 17 on Jan. 12, to their roster. He had been with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. . . . Ungar will back up freshman Ethan Kruger, who is 5-6-2, 3.45, .893. . . . Ungar, who began the season with the Northern Alberta X-Treme prep team, made two earlier appearances with the Wheat Kings, going 0-1-0, 3.09, .892 in 78 minutes. . . . The Wheat Kings open a four-game trip into the Central Division tonight in Edmonton against the Oil Kings. . . .

The Wheat Kings also have added F Jake Chiasson, 15, to their roster. He has been playing at the Yale Hockey Academy in his hometown of Abbotsford, B.C. Chiasson was the 15th overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. This season, with Yale’s prep team, he has 22 goals and 36 assists in 29 games.


The OHL’s Owen Sound Attack fired head coach Todd Gill on Monday. Dale DeGray, the Attack’s general manager, announced that assistant coach Alan Letang has taken over as interim head coach, with Jordan Hill now the lone assistant coach. . . . The Attack was 61-42-12 under Gill, who was in his second season as head coach. . . . This season, the Attack is 23-20-4, and in fifth place in the 10-team Western Conference.


The BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors fired head coach Geoff Grimwood on Monday and WestKelownanamed Brandon West as their general manager and head coach. . . . You may recall that this is the second time this season that Warriors owner Kim Dobranski has fired Grimwood. . . . Grimwood was named interim head coach iafter Rylan Ferster, the veteran GM and head coach, suddenly resigned on Aug. 21. . . . Three weeks later, Dobranski fired Grimwood, but reinstated him after the players rebelled, leaving the ice during one practice and going for a hike, rather than practise, the next day. . . . Grimwood had been hired on July 3 as associate coach and assistant GM. . . . West, who is from Kelowna, is a veteran BCHL coach. He was in his third season as head coach of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks when he was fired on Nov. 9, 2016. He spent last season as the head coach of the Surrey Eagles, but that ended in August through one of those mutual parting of the ways. This season, he had been with the Penticton Vees, as an assistant coach, since Oct. 15. . . . The Warriors are 25-21-1 and in fourth place in the Interior Division. They have clinched a playoff spot.


The SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks have fired assistant coach Gavin Brandl and replaced him with Devin Windle, a former general manager and head coach of the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires. . . . Windle was in his third season as the Millionaires’ GM and head coach when he was fired on Nov. 29. He spent two seasons (2014-16) as an assistant coach in Nipawin, working with Doug Johnson, the Hawks’ general manager and head coach. . . . Brandl was in his first season with Nipawin.


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Scattershooting as Ethan Hunt saves the world . . . Oil Kings back on top . . . Goodness Gricius! It’s the J and J show in Portland

Scattershooting

If you are at all familiar with Sheldon Kennedy, all-Canadian hero, and his work you may have wondered: Just how broad are his shoulders? Because the load he was carrying was huge. . . . Kennedy, you may be aware, has made the decision to step back a bit and lighten his load. . . . Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star chatted with Kennedy and filed this piece right here.


“The NBA-champion Golden State Warriors paid a visit to former President Barack Obama in D.C. during their trip to play the Washington Wizards,” reports Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “Apparently it was such a last-minute deal that there wasn’t even time to have hamburgers and pizza delivered.”



Steve Simmons, in the Toronto Sun: “Henrik Lundqvist tied Terry Sawchuk on the all-time wins list the other night, which is true but not contextually accurate. Sawchuk played in an era with tie games. He had 171 ties in his career. If every one of those games had a win/loss result, his win total would be significantly higher than what Lundqvist has accomplished here.” . . . It’s true. Thanks to the introduction of the loser point, hockey’s numbers from one era to another no longer can be compared.

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A question from Simmons: “Why do so many Canadian media members become giddy cheerleaders when Denis Shapovalov plays tennis?” . . . That brought this response from Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express: “Why do Toronto media cheerleaders get giddy when Auston Matthews farts?”



The Baseball Hall of Fame? I’ll pay attention when the doors swing open for Larry Walker. As Keith Olbermann so eloquently put it on Twitter: “And none of this Coors (Field) crap — 70 per cent of his PA weren’t at Coors.”


RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com is ready for a movie on women’s curling, and he even suggests three titles: 1. Kiss of the Slider Woman; 2. Erin Rockovich; 3. Brush, Brush Sweet Charlotte.

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“New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera is the first player to be unanimously voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame,” writes Currie. “Makes you wonder what gripe voters once had with Babe Ruth?”


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On Dec. 15, Postmedia columnist Terry Jones of Edmonton wrote: “For the entire calendar year, Peter Chiarelli has been a combination of the village wart carrier and village idiot. Friday night at Rogers Place, almost everywhere you looked, the Edmonton Oilers general manager appeared to be the resident genius.” That was after the Oilers won a sixth straight game. . . . How quickly things change in hockey. Chiarelli was fired during the second intermission of a 3-2 loss to the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.


Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong points out that POTUS “called his buddy Robert Kraft and congratulated him and his New England Patriots for making it to the Super Bowl. He didn’t do the same for the Los Angeles Rams. So make that two non-calls involving the Rams last Sunday.”


Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle always provides an entertaining read. He has another one right here, as he writes about the jerks who are in his personal hall of fame for, if nothing else, making his job that much more fun.


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Old friend Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon, signed up for an exercise class and then discovered that a requirement was that he wear loose-fitting clothing. As he noted: “If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing I wouldn’t need the bleepin’ class!”


I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again . . . If you want an entertaining read on a regular basis, check out Patti Dawn Swansson, aka The River City Renegade.

Among her latest observations . . .

“John Shannon, the sometimes smug gab guy on Sportsnet, delivered what was labeled his Power 25 — the top movers and shakers in the NHL — and he listed wet-eared Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks the sixth most-powerful person.

What Shannon failed to do was explain exactly what makes Pettersson more of a power broker than, say, Puck Pontiff Mark Chipman, co-bankroll and governor of les Jets and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Perhaps Shannon will also tell us that a parish priest in Moose Jaw holds more sway with Catholics than the Pope. Or that Adam Sandler makes better movies than Steven Spielberg.

“That’s really, really dumb.”

The River City Renegade’s latest posting is right here.


If you’re wondering, and I know you were, the Kootenay Kountdown is into Day 40. . . . The other Kootenay Kountdown is at 48 days. Yes, the Ice will play its final home game in Cranbrook in 48 days.


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SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

The Calgary Hitmen scored the game’s first four goals en route to a 4-1 victory over the Calgaryvisiting Kootenay Ice. . . . Calgary (23-19-4) has won two in a row and is eight points from a playoff spot. . . . Kootenay (10-32-8) has lost four straight (0-3-1). . . . The home side went ahead 2-0 on first-period goals from F Kaden Elder (18), at 3:34, and F Riley Fiddler-Schultz (3), at 6:51. . . . The Hitmen went ahead 4-0 on second-period scores from F Tye Carriere (4), at 8:20, and F Hunter Campbell (3), at 12:23. . . . F Austin Schellenberg (5) scored for Kootenay at 15:25. . . . G Jack McNaughton, making his 21st straight start for Calgary, stopped 20 shots, four fewer than the Ice’s Curtis Meger.


D Conner McDonald scored twice as the host Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Prince George EdmontonOilKingsCougars, 2-1. . . . Edmonton (26-15-8) now leads the Central Division, one point ahead of the Red Deer Rebels and two up on the Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Prince George (16-27-5) has lost seven straight (0-5-2) and is five points from a playoff spot. . . . The Cougars were playing their third game in fewer than 48 hours; they went 0-3-0 and were outscored 11-3 in the process. . . . On Sunday, F Vladislav Mikhalchuk (17) gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 9:51 of the first period. . . . McDonald tied it at 6:48 of the second period, then snapped the tie, on a PP, at 8:55. . . . McDonald, who has 12 goals this season, enjoyed the first two-goal game of his career. He has 31 goals in 237 career games. . . . This season, the 19-year-old McDonald, with three goals and two assists over his past three games, has 30 points in 49 games. . . . G Todd Scott stopped 27 shots for the Oil Kings, with Taylor Gauthier blocking 30 for the Cougars. . . . F Josh Maser of the Cougars completed his three-game suspension.


F Leif Mattson drew three assists in regulation time then scored the shootout winner as KelownaRocketsthe Kelowna Rockets beat the Vancouver Giants, 4-3, in Langley, B.C. . . . Kelowna (20-24-4) had lost its previous two games, including a 2-1 loss to the visiting Giants on Saturday night. The Rockets are third in the B.C. Division, six points behind the Victoria Royals and three ahead of the Kamloops Blazers. . . Vancouver (31-12-3) had one its past eight games and now has points in nine straight (8-0-1). The Giants lead the B.C. Division by 15 points over Victoria. . . . Kelowna went 1-2-0 in playing three games in fewer than 48 hours. . . . Last night, Kelowna grabbed a 3-0 lead on first-period goals from F Mark Liwiski (4), at 11:31, and F Kyle Topping, at 14:23, and a second goal from Topping, at 7:15 of the second period. Topping, who also had an assist, now has 19 goals. . . . F Justin Sourdif (12) started the Giants’ comeback at 8:20, with F Davis Koch (19) making it 3-2 at 12:19. . . . D Bowen Byram (18) pulled the Giants even at 13:11 of the third period. . . . Byram, who will be early first-round selection in the NHL’s June draft in Vancouver, now has 46 points in 46 games. . . . Mattson was the second shooter of the third round and scored the lone goal to give the Rockets the victory. . . . D Noah Dorey, who turned 16 on Jan. 21, made his WHL debut with the Rockets. From Surrey, B.C., he was a fourth-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft. He plays for the West Van Academy prep team. . . . F Liam Kindree was among Kelowna’s scratches. He didn’t finish Saturday’s game after being involved in a collision with teammate Cayde Augustine.


G Joel Hofer stopped 37 shots, 19 of them in the second period, to lead the host Portland PortlandWinterhawks to a 3-0 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Portland (30-13-5) has won three in a row. It is second in the U.S. Division, seven points behind the Everett Silvertips. . . . Lethbridge (25-15-8) has lost two straight and now is fourth in the Central Division, one point out of second and two back of first. . . . The Hurricanes were playing their third game in fewer than 48 hours. They went 1-2-0. . . . Since being acquired from the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for six bantam draft picks, Hofer is 4-1-0, 1.59, .946. . . . Lethbridge F Dylan Cozens wasn’t able to beat Hofer on a second-period penalty shot. . . . F Jake Gricius scored Portland’s first two goals, at 4:32 and 10:01 of the second period. Gricius, who has 22 goals, scored the second one while shorthanded. . . . F Seth Jarvis (14) scored the other goal, at 16:36. . . . The Winterhawks were without F Cody Glass, who was helped from the ice in the third period of Saturday’s games with an apparent injury to his left knee. . . . Glass was in attendance last night, according to a Twitter post (@kerstineLarsen) “with only one crutch, and even looks like he may be putting a little weight on that leg.”


F Matthew Wedman scored twice and added an assist to help the Seattle Thunderbirds to Seattlea 5-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers in Kent, Wash. . . . Seattle (18-22-6) had lost its previous two games (0-1-1). The Thunderbirds moved back into the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot, one point ahead of Kamloops. . . . Kamloops (19-25-3) had a four-game winning streak come to an end. The Blazers are fourth in the B.C. Division, three points behind the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Seattle took a 2-0 lead on goals from F Noah Philp (19), at 6:05 of the first period, and Wedman, on a PP, just 1:21 later. . . . The Blazers got their first goal from F Zane Franklin (23), on a PP, at 10:24. . . . The Thunderbirds restored their two-goal lead in the second period on goals from D Tyrel Bauer (1), at 2:53, and Wedman, at 8:07. Wedman now has 21 goals. . . . F Connor Zary (12) got a PP goal for Kamloops at 18:13. . . . F Sean Richards (15) scored Seattle’s fifth goal at 14:33 of the third period. . . . F Henri Rybinski had three assists for Seattle. . . . Bauer, a 16-year-old freshman from Cochrane, Alta., got his first WHL goal in his 44th game. . . . Both teams were playing for the third time in fewer than 48 hours. The Blazers, who played at home on Saturday, went (2-1-0); the Thunderbirds, who were in Portland on Saturday, were (1-1-1). . . . F Nolan Volcan, Seattle’s captain, was scratched after appearing to injure an arm in Saturday’s 3-2 OT loss in Portland.


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