Welcome to a site where we sometimes provide food for thought, and often provide information about the Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation.
There are at least three people who stop off here on a regular basis and have asked in the past few days about the annual book list. Well, it’s here. . . . I have done this for a while now, writing thumbnails on books I have read over the previous 12 months. Perhaps this will help with your Christmas shopping or your own Christmas list. . . . And whatever you do, don’t forget to treat yourself!
As for the books on my Christmas list, you can start with Barack Obama’s A Promised Land; Finding Murph, by Rick Westhead; Broken, a collection of short stories by Don Winslow; and James McBride’s best-selling and award-winning Deacon King Kong. . . . Yes, you also can include The Sentinel, the latest in Jack Reacher’s adventures; Michael Connelly’s The Law of Innocence; and A Time for Mercy, by John Grisham. . . . I also had Al Strachan’s Hockey Hot Stove: The Untold Stories of the Original Insiders on the list, but I cheated and purchased it earlier this week. . . . And I eagerly await Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL’s First Treaty Indigenous Player. The story of Fred Sasakamoose, who died last week, it is to be published on April 6. . . . But enough of that . . . here’s the first of three parts of this year’s Bookshelf . . .
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Agent in Place — This is another Gray Man novel by Mark Greaney. I will tell you that the first chapter grabs you and before you know you’re 30 chapters in, and I will leave it at that. . . . Agent in Place is No. 7 in Greaney’s ultra-successful series.
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The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport — Rafi Kohan, a freelance writer and editor who lives in New York City, has given us a really intriguing look at the arena/stadium/sports facility game. He visited numerous facilities and saw the nooks and crannies, and he wrote about all of it. From the huge food service crew for a New York Mets game at Citi Field, to the end of the days for the Pontiac Silverdome, the Olympic facilities in Utah and a whole lot more . . . it’s all here in an engrossing and ultra-informative read.
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The Black Russian — Frederick Bruce Thomas was born in 1872 in Mississippi. He would go on to become an entertainment mogul in Moscow and later in Constantinople. Author Vladimir Alexandrov tells Thomas’s story between the covers of this book, and it’s an amazing tale. In places like Moscow and Constantinople, Thomas, a Black American, rarely had to deal with a colour line, but it was a different story when it came to politics and upheavals.
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Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth — This book, written by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, opens with the opening of a gas station in Manhattan and before you know it you’re drawn into what is a stunningly good read. It’s about the oil and gas industry and I guarantee that you will never fill up your car again without thinking about what you read here. You also will have your socks blown off by the amount of money that is in play; you may have heard or seen figures before, but not like what you will read about here. However, if there is a thread here, it is Vladimir Putin and his rise to power. Scary and amazing, all at the same time.
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Blue Moon — Jack Reacher finds himself between Albanian and Ukrainian gangs in Lee Child’s latest book — it’s No. 24 — on the vagabond former military cop who roams the United States righting wrongs as he travels. If you are a Reacher fan, or even if you aren’t familiar with him, you’ll enjoy this one as he eliminates two camps.
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The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood — It was one of the milestone films in big screen history, and author Sam Wasson’s book is just as good. Wasson shapes the book around screenwriter Robert Towne, director Roman Polanski, and actors Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson as he writes about the before, during and aftermath of Chinatown. Good stuff!
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Burke’s Law: A Life in Hockey — Hockey lifer Brian Burke tells his story, with the help of Stephen Brunt, a former newspaper columnist who, like Burke, now is at Rogers Sportsnet. This book is about what you might expect from Burke — loud, obscene and opinionated. It is interesting how he claims on more than one occasion that “white noise” from the media never bothered him, but he then spends a lot time ripping into those same media types. I would have liked a bit more inside dope on the NHL-NHLPA battles, but it wasn’t to be.
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California Fire and Life — If you haven’t yet discovered author Don Winslow through his drug wars trilogy — The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border — get thee to a book store. After that, go back and start reading Winslow’s earlier stuff. California Fire and Life is an insurance company; Jack Wade is an insurance claims investigator. There is a fire and, of course, not all is as it seems. There are good guys and bad guys, and Winslow’s writing.
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Circe — Oh my, what an interesting book! It’s a novel based on Greek mythology. Admittedly, the only time I have an interest in that subject is in the odd crossword puzzle. But author Madeline Miller can write — oh, can she! — and she really brings the subject to life. Circe, a daughter of Helios, the Titan sun god, and Perse, a sea nymph, is banished to an island where she learns all about witchcraft. Give this one a look; you won’t be disappointed.
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The Colorado Kid — Written and marketed in the style of pulp fiction that once was hugely popular — hello there, Mickey Spillane — it is easy to tell that author Stephen King, he of horror fame, had fun with this one. It’s a quick read and it’s different, as you will discover if you give it a try. The story involves two veteran small-town newspapermen relating a local murder mystery to an intern, with some terrific dialogue. King also had fun burying some pearls of wisdom along the way.
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Fair Warning — Chances are that If you are a reader of any kind you have a favourite writer or two or even six. That being the case, you trust your favourites to deliver for you. That’s exactly what Michael Connelly does time after time. In Fair Warning, he brings back journalist Jack McEvoy for a third time, and this time he’s tracking a serial killer.
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Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O’Malley, Baseball’s Most Controversial Owner, and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles — I always was of the belief that Walter O’Malley picked up his Brooklyn Dodgers and moved them to Los Angeles in 1957 because he was a greedy old you know what. It turns out I was wrong. As author Michael D’Antonio details in Forever Blue, O’Malley badly wanted to stay in Brooklyn, but with the dawning of the automobile era he needed a ball park with parking. O’Malley was prepared to build the facility with his own money, but he needed land. In Brooklyn, he was up against Robert Moses, who was unelected but immensely powerful. Ultimately, O’Malley came to realize he wasn’t going to get the help he needed. Through it all, city officials from Los Angeles were courting him, all of which finally paid off. . . . I’m a sucker for baseball books from this era, and this one didn’t disappoint.
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The Girl in Saskatoon: A Meditation on Friendship, Memory and Murder — Alexandra Wiwcharuk was 23 years of age in May of 1962 when she was murdered alongside the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon. The murder hasn’t been solved. Author Sharon Butala, who attended school with Wiwcharuk but was hardly what one would call a close friend, decided to write a book about it and, she hoped, come up with some answers. When she was done she had a book that was more about growing up in Saskatoon, at the time a little city that also was growing up, and all that came with it. Butala can write, and this is good, really good. . . . BTW, The Girl in Saskatoon is a seldom-heard Johnny Cash tune. You’ll have to read the book to find out the back story.
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The Girl Who Lived Twice — This is another in the series of books about the adventures of Lisbeth Salander. Author David Lagercrantz had done an admirable job of picking up where the late Stieg Larsson left off. This one is a bit — OK, quite a bit — different than the earlier ones, in that it involves a Sherpa and an Everest expedition as key plot elements. I would have liked to have had more Salander, but, then, that’s all part of the mystery, isn’t it?
The QMJHL, which announced Monday that its season is on hold until January, has a couple of options for when it resumes, but Gilles Courteau, the commissioner, says quitting isn’t one of them. . . .The QMJHL began its regular season on Oct. 2. By the time December is over, it will have postponed 161 of 253 scheduled games. . . . As Ken Campbell of The Hockey News wrote: “Like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who gradually has his limbs chopped off and insists they’re merely flesh wounds, the QMJHL vows to forge on.” . . . As things now sit, the QMJHL players are going home for Christmas, then will return to their teams on Jan. 3. If travel is allowed in the four provinces in which the QMJHL has franchises, the teams will resume playing on Jan. 6, but in empty arenas. The other option is to play in a bubble — or, as Courteau calls them, “protected environments.” That type of resumption would begin on Jan. 22. . . . So could the WHL or OHL end up in some kind of bubble environment? Well, the WHL, which has said it will open its regular season on Jan. 8, apparently is on the verge of shifting that date into February. The OHL is aiming for Feb. 4. . . . According to John Shannon in the above tweet, the WHL pooh-bahs were to meet on Tuesday. . . . Of course, as Campbell points out, the QMJHL is playing to a certain extent, with taxpayers’ money. “It’s much easier to stem those wounds when you have $20 million in taxpayer money propping up your business,” Campbell wrote in a piece that is right here.
Dr. Anthony Fauci may not be No. 1 on the White House’s hit parade, but he remains the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He also is the go-to person in terms of COVID-19. . . . Henry Bushnell of yahoo!sports went to him on Monday and was told that we are months — yes, months! — away from seeing sports stadiums and arenas filled to capacity. . . . That story is right here and there is lots in it to digest, including this from Dr. Fauci:
“We’re gonna be vaccinating the highest-priority people (from) the end of December through January, February, March. By the time you get to the general public, the people who’ll be going to the basketball games, who don’t have any underlying conditions, that’s gonna be starting the end of April, May, June. So it probably will be well into the end of the summer before you can really feel comfortable (with full sports stadiums) — if a lot of people get vaccinated. I don’t think we’re going to be that normal in July. I think it probably would be by the end of the summer.”
COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .
16 Manitobans have lost their lives to COVID-19, and the province recorded 283 new cases today.
Total cases: 17,107 Active cases: 9,066 Total deaths: 328 Hospital/ICU: 338/48 Provincial test positivity rate: 13.1% Winnipeg test positivity rate: 13.8%
CBC News: Fines totalling more than $180,000 were issued to COVID-19 rule breakers in the last week, the government of Manitoba says.
CBC News: Saskatchewan is reporting 181 new cases of COVID-19, 4 more deaths and 237 recoveries. The province now has 8,745 total cases, 51 deaths, 3,819 active cases and 4,875 recoveries.
Marc Smith, CTV News: For the third time in nine days, Saskatchewan has reported four COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours. More people have died in the last 25 days than did in 240 days prior.
CBC News: Alberta reports 10 more COVID-19 deaths, 1,307 new cases. November was by far the worst month of the pandemic, so far.
CBC News: Ontario is reporting 1,707 new cases of COVID-19. That sends the 7-day average to 1,666, the highest since the pandemic began. There are 727 new cases in Toronto (also a record high) with 373 in Peel and 168 in York. 7 additional deaths are also reported.
CBC News: Quebec is reporting 28 additional deaths and 1,177 new COVID-19 cases. That’s a decrease from the province’s previous 7-day average of 1,309.
CBC News: Quebec’s plan to allow people to gather over the Christmas period may be scrapped, given the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Premier François Legault said Tuesday.
KOMO News: Washington state reported over 2,100 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday. In total, the Washington State Department of Health reported 2,197 new COVID-19 cases and 31 more deaths due to the virus. The latest surge pushes the statewide total since the start of the pandemic to 167,216 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 10,920 hospitalizations and 2,774 deaths.
oregonlive.com: 1,233 cases, record 24 reported deaths as state hits ‘grim milestone.’
CBC News: U.S. reported 4.2 million COVID-19 cases in November, as hopes rest on vaccine. Number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 hit record high of nearly 93,000 on Sunday.
Seattle Times: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the ban on nonessential travel with the United States will not be lifted until COVID-19 is significantly more under control around the world.
The New York Times: California has long had one of the nation’s lowest number of hospital beds relative to its population. Now officials say that shortfall may prove catastrophic as the state faces another coronavirus surge, with an average of nearly 15,000 new cases a day.
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Curling Canada announced Tuesday that it plans on playing the 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Tim Hortons Brier, world men’s championship and Canadian mixed doubles in a bubble environment at the Mackin MacPhail Centre in Calgary. Dates for the events have yet to be announced. . . . The Brier had been scheduled for Kelowna, a city that also lost out when the 2020 Memorial Cup tournament was cancelled last spring. . . . The Scotties was to have been held in Thunder Bay, which now will play host in 2022, from Jan. 28 through Feb. 6. . . . The world men’s had been scheduled for Ottawa. . . .
It would seem that the coronavirus can’t wait for NBA teams to open their buffets, er, training camps. The Golden State Warriors have had to push back the opening of their camp by a day after two players tested positive. . . . The NBA completed its 2019-20 season in a bubble in Orlando, Fla., proving that teams can do so without positive tests. Now, however, it is planning on opening its 2020-21 season without putting teams in bubbles. And it is going to be interesting to watch developments. . . . The Warriors will hold individual player workouts today, and hope to start practices on Monday. . . . Meanwhile, the Washington Wizards have had one player test positive, while C Mo Bamba of the Orlando Magic, a 22-year-old who tested positive on June 11, isn’t yet ready to return. . . .
The Baltimore Ravens flew into Pittsburgh on Tuesday evening in advance of meeting the Steelers this afternoon. The Ravens got on the plane despite experiencing two more positive tests on Wednesday — one player, reportedly S Geno Stone, and one staff member. . . . This afternoon’s game had been scheduled to be played last Thursday. It was rescheduled for Sunday and then Tuesday after the Ravens experienced more than a dozen positives. It is to be televised by NBC. . . .
Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One driving champion, has tested positive and will miss Sunday’s Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain. Hamilton tested negative three times last week, but woke up Monday with mild symptoms and tested positive. He took a second test and it, too, was positive. Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday before becoming ill.
If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
JUST NOTES: Don Nachbaur, the third winningest head coach in WHL regular-season history, has resigned as the head coach of SC Bern of the Swiss National League due to personal reasons. He was replaced by Mario Kogler, an Austrian who is the club’s U-20 coach. . . . The ECHL has yet to receive a franchise application for Trois-Rivières, Que., but the city and Deacon Sports and Entertainment have agreed on a five-year least for a team to play in a new arena that is being built there.
The QMJHL has been trying to play regular-season games since Oct. 2. It had its Maritime Division teams playing each other until the virus got in the way there. And after some virus-related issues with its Quebec-based teams, it bundled up seven of them and headed to Quebec City for some bubble play. . . . On Monday, however, the QMJHL announced that it is shutting down until at least Jan. 3. . . . Here is Gilles Courteau, the QMJHL commissioner, from a news release: “The current situation with the pandemic in the regions in which we operate makes it extremely difficult to play games. With the holidays just around the corner, the provinces in the Maritimes have restricted access and travel, while red zone restrictions in Quebec do not permit us to play.” . . . Courteau is scheduled to hold a news conference today. . . . The other two major junior leagues — the OHL and WHL — haven’t attempted starts. The WHL has said it will open its regular season on Jan. 8, with the OHL aiming for Feb. 4.
How are things in the NFL?
Well, remember that game that was to have been played last Thursday night with the Baltimore Ravens visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers? Yeah, the one that got moved to Sunday and then to Tuesday. Well, now it has been rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon. . . . An NFL game on a weekday afternoon? Well, NBC-TV has the rights to the game but the NFL chose not to press the network to move its prime-time showing of the annual Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center for a football game. . . .
The NFL also has moved Pittsburgh’s game at Washington from Sunday to Monday night, and Baltimore’s game at Dallas, that was to have been played on Thursday, to Dec. 8 (Tuesday). . . . The Buffalo-San Francisco game from Glendale, Ariz., will follow Pittsburgh-Washington on Monday. . . . The NFL has had more than 100 players and 175 other staff test positive. But, hey, it hasn’t had to cancel a game. Yet. . . .
The San Francisco 49ers, who really don’t play in San Francisco, are going to finish their home season in Arizona. Yes, the 49ers play their home games in Santa Clara, but the county has banned contact sports for the next while. So the 49ers are moving their home games to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., the home of the Cardinals. . . . I don’t know what it means but the virus numbers are much worse in the Glendale area than in Santa Clara County. . . . The 49ers will play two home games in Glendale — Dec. 7 against the Buffalo Bills and Dec. 13 against Washington. They also have a home game, against the Seattle Seahawks, scheduled for Jan. 3; it remains to be seen where it will be played. . . .
Here’s Ann Killion, in the San Francisco Chronicle:
”Santa Clara County should get praise for treating its resident NFL team the same way it treats everyone else. The coronavirus doesn’t play favorites, but society does. The testing and supplies, manpower and dollars being devoted to playing sports in a surging pandemic continues to underscore how out of whack our priorities are.
“The NFL has not been operating in a bubble in terms of the coronavirus. But it always operates in a bubble of privilege and self-importance, so it’s a bit jolting when a team gets treated like a normal business.”
Jack Todd, in the Montreal Gazette:
“The only way the NFL could have made a bigger mess of this season is if the league was taking advice on how to handle the coronavirus directly from the Trump administration. . . .
“The NFL mess is on commissioner Roger Goodell, whose half-hearted approach pretty much guaranteed that the virus would be an issue every week. If you’re going to let Baltimore slide without forcing the Ravens to forfeit, then more teams are going to go the same route.
“And don’t even get me started on the NCAA.”
COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .
There aren’t any numbers today. They are available if you want to go looking for them. But trust me on this. . . . They are bad. Let’s just leave it at that for tonight.
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The Mount Royal Cougars men’s hockey team, which is based in Calgary, has shut things down after 18 positive tests among players and staff. The Cougars play in Canada West, which won’t have a 2020-21 season, and players have been skating together. They might get back on the ice early in the new year. . . . The Cougars were to have played exhibition games against Canada’s national junior team on Dec. 5 and 6. Those games were cancelled after two Team Canada players tested positive in Red Deer and everyone was self-isolated. . . .
Hockey Manitoba announced Monday that it has cancelled all of its 2021 provincial championships that annually involve about 250 teams and 4,000 players. . . . From a news release: “The decision to cancel the minor hockey championships has been made with the safety of all members and the community in mind. These tournaments will not be rescheduled for the 2021 season. The cancellation will provide leagues with more time to plan the current season and the ability to extend the season past February as we return to play.” . . .
Brady Laing of CKOM Saskatoon reported Monday that the city has removed the nets from all of its 52 indoor and outdoor rinks. “Since the current provincial public health order clearly states that hockey is not permitted, the recommendation from City of Saskatoon Community Development has been that nets be put away on the rinks for the next three weeks to discourage hockey being played,” city spokesperson Allison Collins told Laing. . . .
The Penticton, B.C., Curling Club has shut its doors after four members tested positive. It will remain closed until at least Dec. 7 as it awaits the outcome of contact tracing. . . .
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has issued a warning about a “large number” of COVID-19 cases linked to curling clubs in Regina. The SHA has issued a news release referring to issues at the Highland and Caledonian clubs. . . .
The U of Vermont men’s hockey team has paused all team activities after four positive tests. According to the school, the positives were among “the program’s Tier 1 personnel,” which is defined as student-athletes, coaches, managers and support staff. . . .
The Minnesota Golden Gophers have cancelled their game against visiting No. 16 Northwestern on Saturday. Minnesota, which also cancelled a game last Saturday at Wisconsin, has paused football activities because of positive tests and contact tracing. . . . Minnesota has had 47 positives since Nov. 19, including 21 players. . . .
The Stanford Cardinal football team plays in Santa Clara County, where contact sports have been prohibited. So the Cardinal will travel to Seattle today (Tuesday) to practise for Saturday’s game against the Washington Huskies. . . .
I’m not even going to attempt to try to get into what all is happening with NCAA men’s and women’s basketball teams and their schedules. Suffice to say that the virus appears to be winning there, too. . . . And it has to be licking lips with NBA teams about to open training camps without bubbling up.
If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
What a treat to tell the story of these amazing & inspiring women again. Happy Thanksgiving. Bush sisters living full lives 10 years after kidney transplant https://t.co/MCECydPrZ6
These can be demanding and tiring days, what with all that is swirling around us, and that’s without Christmas fast approaching.
So it is great to find an escape, even if only for 15 or 20 minutes.
Allow me to present you with an opportunity for one of those brief interludes. Pour yourself a cup of your favourite coffee, tea or whatever soothes you, and enjoy the two stories that are linked here. . . .
It all starts in November 2010. Dave Trimmer was a sports writer with the Spokane Spokesman-Review when he wrote about Shayla and Ivy Bush, two sisters who were going through a life-altering experience.
Trimmer began his story like this:
“The words put a lump in your throat and moisten your eyes, but the touches and glances say so much more.”
He was referring to the young women’s story, one that he proceeded to tell in wonderful fashion.
By this time, the sisters, both of whom had been terrific high school athletes in Spokane, were situated on the U.S.’s east coast, Ivy in Baltimore and Shayla in Washington, D.C.
One year earlier, Shayla, who is five years older than Ivy, had gone in for a physical and come out knowing she had chronic kidney disease and would need dialysis or a transplant.
Their mother volunteered but, as Shayla told Trimmer, younger is better.
“My doctor asked about my sisters, and of course I had a problem with that,” she added.
There aren’t many things in life as hard as asking someone for one of their kidneys. And here was Shayla, the older sister, needing help from a younger sibling. But she finally called Ivy and asked the question.
“I went right into complete sister mode,” Ivy told Trimmer. “Of course I didn’t even have to think twice. I remember going into that initial meeting with the doctor, I had a feeling that everything was going to be OK. I remember walking past the chapel at the hospital and went in there and prayed, ‘Just let me be the one that can donate to Shayla.’ I knew after that everything was going to be OK and I was going to be the donor for Shayla.”
Ivy got through all of the tests and, yes, one of her kidneys now is part of her older sister.
Trimmer’s story from 10 years ago is right here, and you really should read it. This is just a wonderful piece about the love in a family and all of the emotions someone who needs a kidney experiences while dealing with having to ask for help.
And after you read that one, I have another treat for you.
Trimmer later lost his job — in case you haven’t noticed, the newspaper industry has been a sinking ship of uncertainty the past few years. But Trimmer returned to the pages of the Spokesman-Review the other day as he followed up with the women, who now are Shayla Harris and Ivy Lawrence.
The headline tells it all: Bush sisters living full lives 10 years after kidney transplant.
“Today,” Trimmer writes, “Shayla Harris and Ivy Lawrence laugh easily and finish each other’s sentences, proof they are fulfilling that vow.
“ ‘Knock on wood,’ they say in unison, with one adding to great laughter, ‘That’s the kidney.’
“The past decade has given them much for which to be thankful.”
Trimmer’s follow-up story is right here, and it is guaranteed to make you smile. Hey, you may even shed a tear or two.
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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
my dad was an organ donor and saved 4 people’s lives because of it. even after he’s gone he’s still bringing joy to others with his generosity and overwhelming desire to help other people. you’re the best man i know dad. 🤍
Tabitha Paul’s father, Markus, was the strength-and-conditioning coach with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. He suffered a medical emergency during a practice session on Tuesday morning and died Wednesday evening.
WEBINAR REMINDER 💻 We will be “Bringing the Peritoneal Dialysis Community Together in a Time of Need” on Dec 2 at 12PM. Gain info surrounding measures to stay safe during COVID-19 and participate in a moderated Q&A featuring experts in the field. https://t.co/KlNfWBU8eWpic.twitter.com/U3hHcYr4wm
“It’s been over one year since my transplant and I am feeling amazing. My goal is to share my experiences and try to encourage people to register as organ donors.” Judy Mori was our 500th lung transplant recipient in Dec 2019. Full story: https://t.co/Qui0LKXRivpic.twitter.com/7HpsDPR3D9
The @Kidney_X Innovation Accelerator announced Phase 1 of a new competition to push development of an artificial #kidney toward human clinical trials. The goal is to focus on kidney replacements that will give patients options beyond #dialysis. https://t.co/c2S2y1KjcA
Sunrise over the South Thompson River . . . Campbell Creek, B.C. . . . Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020 . . . 7 a.m.
There was a wonderful outpouring of emotion the other day when Fred Sasakamoose was taken from us by COVID-19 at the age of 86. Mel Recchi of Kamloops felt the loss, too.
Sasakamoose, who would have turned 86 on Christmas Eve, played four seasons (1956-60) with the Kamloops Chiefs of the long gone Okanagan Senior Hockey League. This came after his 11-game stint with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks (1953-54) and time with the New Westminster Royals, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Calgary Stampeders.
During Sasakamoose’s stint with the Chiefs, Recchi sometimes would serve as a practice goaltender.
“He was a hell of a hockey player and also a pretty nice guy,” Recchi remembers. “He could shoot that puck. He really liked Kamloops . . . and they loved him here.”
Of course, goaltenders didn’t wear masks back in the day.
“I was a brash kid in those days . . . no mask and no fear,” recalls Recchi, who also got ice time with the Western league’s Vancouver Canucks when they would train in Kamloops. “I can’t believe it now.”
BTW, Sasakamoose played 94 games through three of those seasons with the Chiefs, scoring 43 goals and adding 57 assists. The stats for the 1958-59 season aren’t available.
Sasakamoose has family in Kamloops, including his younger brother, Pete, who didn’t make the Chiefs when Fred did, but ended up staying in the city and making it his home.
Solaine Sasakamoose, a great-grand niece, played for the Kamloops-based Thompson Rivers University women’s soccer team in 2019. She was born in Kamloops, but was living and playing soccer on the Lower Mainland when she was recruited by TRU coach Mark Pennington.
Patrick Johnston of Postmedia has more on Fred Sasakamoose and his Kamloops connections right here.
Earl Seitz, the sports voice at CFJC-TV in Kamloops, has been an observer of the sporting universe for more than 50 years. Here’s a relevant thought that he posted on Facebook this weekend:
“Can’t understand the NFL and college basketball keep plowing ahead with growing number of COVID-19 cases. I make my living from sports, but if we want to keep living it’s time for sports, all sports, to take a complete break until there is a reliable vaccine for everyone.”
He’s right.
Columnist Ann Killion, in the San Francisco Chronicle:
“At UCLA, registered nurses protested the fact that the athletic department conducted 1,248 tests in a single week but health-care workers at the university hospitals have been denied testing.
“National Nurses United, the nation’s largest RN union, released a survey of more than 15,000 members: two-thirds reported never having been tested. Yet the NFL administered more than 43,000 tests in a two-week period in November.
“Do you think our priorities might be just a little bit skewed?
“Sports is a nice distraction. But at what price?”
“Veteran NBA forward Trevor Ariza got traded from Portland to Houston to Detroit to Oklahoma City in three separate deals in barely two days after this year’s draft,” reports Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “The Thunder is listing Ariza as day-to-day with severe jet lag.”
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Perry also served up what he calls a “Turkey quiz.” Here it is: “The worst dish served up each Thanksgiving Day is: a) Tofu; b) Plantains; c) the Detroit Lions.”
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It would seem that Perry isn’t a Lions fan, because he also had this one: “Eastern Market Brewing Co. has stopped sales and production of ‘Same Old Lager’ after Lions legend Barry Sanders — pictured on the can in team colors without his consent — threatened to sue. Apparently it was a little too Lions: It went flat the minute you opened the can.”
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Perry’s tweet of the week came from George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on TV’s original Star Trek: “Breaking: Professional sports fall into disarray as concerns mount over whether losing teams will concede to winning ones despite what the scoreboard says.”
After Alabama football coach Nick Saban tested positive and another 19 NCAA football games were scratched, Janice Hough, who can be found at LeftCoastSportsBabe.com, wondered: “Wouldn’t it be simpler to write ‘COVID-19’ on the College Football 2020 Trophy and be done with it?”
HULK HOGAN IF WE DONT DO THIS WE ARE LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE. #TysonJones
Coming at some point over the next 10 days, the annual TakingNote Bookshelf. Yes, it’s coming back by popular demand — two loyal readers have asked about it! . . . It looks like it’ll be in three parts, but be forewarned that I strayed from sports books over the past 12 months. Still, you may find a Christmas idea or two, especially if you’re shopping for yourself.
Any young writers out there looking to get better or looking to get started, read this piece by @SteveRushin. Detail, tone, depth of reporting, etc. You don't have to be this good. You probably won't be. But use it as a guide. https://t.co/BFpNvAnYTe
The story to which Jack McCallum refers in the above tweet is a wonderful piece of work by the great Steve Rushin. Take a few minutes and give it a read. You won’t be sorry.
If a player is injured but the game is played, the player still gets paid. If the player is healthy but the game isn't played due to a health issue, the player doesn't get paid. NFL rules sometimes seem like a LSAT question. https://t.co/nUbaN5Ou6A
“Against titanic odds, the NBA and MLB managed to complete seasons with historical significance — wildly different to be sure, but nevertheless authentic in the end. That’s hardly the case with the Pac-12 football season, a terrible idea (especially after the initial plan to call it off) that has descended into farce. Retrospective views will offer nothing but disdain, dismissal and wonderment, as in, What were we doing? Now the plague of stupidity (with a special dose of greed) has infected college basketball, with alarming developments expected throughout the land. . . . That’s the key word, expected. Positive tests, outbreaks, shutdowns, fractured schedules — all of this was going to be part of the deal, and the power brokers just brushed it aside, like lint. ‘Surely,’ wrote Chuck Culpepper in the Washington Post, ‘there’s an admirable human trait tucked somewhere into the way everybody continues to act.’ ”
COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .
It happens to other families until it happens to yours. I lost my dad last night. 💔 BGen Ret'd John Litt. #COVID19pic.twitter.com/ubE4lFnW55
Catherine Litt worked in the newsroom at the Kamloops Daily News while I was the sports editor. As she writes: “It happens to other families until it happens to yours.” . . . Wear a mask, keep your distance and be safe out there.
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CBC News: Manitoba is reporting 365 new COVID-19 cases, 11 additional deaths. Officials say the current 5-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 13.3% per cent provincially, 13.5% in Winnipeg.
Marc Smith, CTV Regina: Record highs for hospitalizations (115) and ICU patients (23). . . . There were a record high 120 positive cases in Regina in the past 24 hours. The high one month ago was 21. . . . Regina’s test positivity was 10.78%.
COVID-19 Tracker Canada: Both COVID-19 hospitalizations and patients in ICU in Saskatchewan are at all-time highs, with 115 in hospital (+9) and 23 in ICU (+5). . . . Today’s increase of +5 in ICU is the highest ever daily increase for COVID-19 ICU census data in Saskatchewan.
Robson Fletcher, CBC Calgary: The latest COVID-19 data for Alberta: 1,609 cases yesterday (1,608 net w/adjustments to past days); 15,692 active cases. A record; 435 in hospital / 95 in ICU. Both records; 9 more people have died. 533 total now.
rdnewsNOW: Red Deer up to 191 active COVID-19 cases.
Mo Cranker, Medicine Hat News: Another COVID-19 death is being reported in the Hat today. Bringing the total to four. . . . There are 107 active cases and 152 recoveries. . . . 1,608 new cases were identified in the last 25 hours. Nine new deaths (including the one here) are being reported
CBC News: Ontario reported 1,708 new cases and 24 deaths today: The province’s health ministry says another 53,959 tests were completed in the last 24 hours. Labs are reporting a 3.7% positivity rate for Ontario.
CBC News: Quebec reported 1,395 new cases today: The province has added 12 deaths to its total, including 4 from the last 24 hours and 8 that happened earlier this week. 665 people are in hospital, including 92 in ICU.
CBC News: P.E.I. has no new confirmed cases of COVID-19. There are 4 active cases in the province. No one is in hospital.
CBC News: New Brunswick is reporting 14 new cases of COVID-19. 4 of the cases are in the Moncton region, 9 are in the Saint John region and 1 is in the Bathurst region. There are now 119 cases in the province, including 1 person who is in hospital.
CBC News: Nova Scotia is reporting 10 new cases of COVID-19. 9 of the new cases are in the Central Zone and 1 is in the Western Zone. There are now 125 known active cases in the province. No one is currently in hospital.
CBC News: 4 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Newfoundland and Labrador. All of the cases are in the Eastern Health region, but they are not connected to each other. There are 36 active cases in the province. No one is in hospital.
KOMO News: Washington State health officials report more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases.
Top U.S. & World News: The US has surpassed 100,000 new daily Covid cases for the 27th consecutive day as those who traveled for the holiday risk spreading the virus.
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#Corona: While the Czech Republic has lifted some restrictions, the situation for junior and amateur hockey players still remains dire: Only 9 players allowed on the ice at the same time and they even have to wear masks!
Things have gotten to a point in the NFL where it is shutting down almost all team-related activities for Monday and Tuesday. Yes, there are games scheduled for both nights, but other than that it will be mostly quiet as the league tries to get a handle on what has been happening. . . . Yeah, good luck with that. . . . WR Willie Snead of the Baltimore Ravens tested positive on Sunday. He is the seventh Baltimore starter to test positive. The Ravens, who are to visit the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, have had at least one positive test each of the past eight days and have 20 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list. They also have had 10 staff members test positive. . . .That is the game that was to have been played on Thursday, then was bumped to Sunday and, finally, to Tuesday. . . . The Steelers will be without RB James Conner, a cancer survivor who has tested positive, and a couple of assistant coaches.
If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
JUST NOTES: If you’re a regular viewer of PTI you have to know that Michael Wilbon is going to be an angry man on Monday afternoon, what with Northwestern and his beloved Chicago Bears both laying eggs on the weekend. . . . If you are interested in WHL history and if you’re on Twitter, you need to be following Kevin Shaw (@theblueliner). He posts something every day slugged “On this date in @WHLPats history” and it’s great stuff. Yes, every once in a while my name shows up, but more often it’s someone like Fran Huck or Billy Hicke or Terry Harper or Gord Berenson. You may know Berenson as Red. Anyway, check it out.
The BCHL revealed on Saturday afternoon that one player with the Penticton Vees has tested positive. . . . From a news release: “At this point, all of the Vees have been placed in a 14-day quarantine and all other billets, team personnel and staff that have been in contact with the player will be tested as soon as possible. The Provincial Health Office will dictate any further measures they may feel are necessary, based on the results of those additional tests.” . . . The Vees last played on Nov. 14 when they beat the visiting Vernon Vipers, 3-2, in an exhibition game. . . . This is believed to be the second BCHL team to deal with a positive test. The league announced on Oct. 30 that a player with the Surrey Eagles had tested positive. . . . The BCHL has been shut down since Nov. 19. It had hoped to begin its regular season on Dec. 2, but has pushed that back to Dec. 8.
The Saskatchewan government’s daily COVID-19 news statement included a couple of interesting notes. . . . 1. A recent outbreak on a teenage hockey team resulted in nine players and one coach testing positive. Multiple teams are currently self-isolating as a result. . . . 2. A recent outbreak at a curling bonspiel resulted in positive cases on teams from several cities and towns across the province.
The junior hockey season in Sweden, just like in Western Canada, is on hold thanks to COVID-19. That means that F Connor Bedard’s stint with HV71 is over. Bedard, the first player in history to be granted exceptional status to play in the WHL at 15, will be joining the Regina Pats. In Sweden, he had three goals and three assists in five games with HV71’s U-20 and U-18 teams. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has more right here on Bedard’s stint in Sweden. . . .
If you’re wondering what Bedard thought of his experience in Sweden, Harder’s got you covered on that, too. It’s all right here.
COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .
For all the “it’s just a flu” and/or “it’s only impacting the elderly” crowd out there: A boy under the age of 10 is among the latest deaths in Manitoba due to COVID-19.
Bartley Kives, CBC Manitoba: Manitoba announced 487 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 more deaths on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. . . . Active cases: 9,024* . . . Total caseload: 16,118. . . . Recovered: 6,804. . . . Deaths: 290. . . . *Inflated due to data-entry backlog.
Global News: Boy under 10 years old the youngest COVID-19 death in Manitoba.
Global News: 197 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death reported in Saskatchewan. This brings the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 45 since the pandemic began, with 20 people having died just this month. The province’s total caseload rose to 7,888.
CBC Saskatchewan: Self-isolation ordered after COVID-19 exposures at Christopher Lake, Shellbrook curling rinks: SHA.
CBC News: Alberta reports a record 1,731 new COVID-19 cases. The province also reports 5 deaths, 1,012 new recoveries.
rdnewsNOW: Red Deer with 170 active COVID-19 cases.
CTV Calgary: Several hundred people gather in Calgary in protest of the province’s COVID-19 rules.
The same afternoon Alberta reported a record-high 1,731 COVID-19 cases, approximately 1,000 gathered in front of Calgary City Hall for a protest against masks and other public-health measures.#COVID19AB#yychttps://t.co/cxnffSLYT8
Looking for numbers from B.C.? As usual, it’s crickets until Monday afternoon when numbers will be ugly because the virus doesn’t take weekends off to go skiing. . . . But the clown cars were more than full in some locations on Saturday.
castanet.net: Hundreds protested B.C. COVID-19 restrictions in Kelowna on Saturday.
Castanet Kamloops: Some 80 people gathered in Vernon to protest infringement of rights.
CBC News: Ontario reported 1,822 new cases on Saturday. The province has announced 29 new deaths linked to the illness. So far this month, 479 people with COVID-19 have died in the province.
CBC News: Quebec reported 1,480 new cases and 37 additional deaths on Saturday. New infections have topped 1,450 twice in the last 3 days. The province also passed a grim milestone: more than 7,000 Quebecers have died since the beginning of the pandemic.
CBC News: 2 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in N.L., for a total of 32 known active cases in the province. No one is in hospital due to the virus. 1 of the new cases is travel-related; the other shares a household with a previously identified case.
Taryn Grant, CBC Nova Scotia: 14 new COVID cases in Nova Scotia Saturday. 12 in Central zone, 1 in Western, 1 in Northern. That makes for 125 active cases in the province. New record-high for testing with 3,644 tests completed, plus 670 rapid tests (3 positives)
CBC News: New Brunswick is reporting 4 new cases of COVID-19, all in the Fredericton region. All of the new cases are under investigation, and all 4 people are self-isolating. There are now 111 known active cases in the province. No one is in hospital.
CBC News: Prince Edward Island reports 2 new cases of COVID-19.
CBC News: Nunavut reports 5 more COVID-19 cases in Arviat.
CBC News: Canada’s chief medical health officer says Canada is on a ‘troubling’ track with COVID-19. Dr. Theresa Tam says at the current pace, there could be up to 10,000 new cases a day by the middle of December.
CBS News: U.S. hospitalizations top 90,000 for the first time; approximately 50 Americans now are dying every hour.
CBS News: U.S. tops 13 million COVID-19 cases as experts fear holiday “surge upon surge upon surge.”
Reuters U.S. News: China reports 11 new COVID-19 cases vs six a day earlier.
Santa Clara County public health officials issued an order on Saturday that temporarily prohibits activities “that involve physical contact or close proximity to persons outside one’s household, including all contact sports.” This will come into effect on Monday and impacts professional and college sports through at least Dec. 21. . . . The NFL’s San Francisco 49ers play in Santa Clara County and have two home games scheduled before Dec. 21. Under the order, they also won’t be allowed to practice at Levi’s Stadium. . . . Teams from Stanford U and San Jose State also play in Santa Clara County. . . . According to the San Francisco Chronicle: “Santa Clara County reported 760 new cases of the coronavirus and 239 COVID-related hospitalizations on Saturday, both single-day records since the onset of the pandemic.” . . .
Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos placed their three quarterbacks on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Saturday and are expected to start WR Kendall Hinton at QB against the visiting New Orleans Saints today (Sunday). . . . This all began Thursday when QB Jeff Driskel tested positive. Three other QBs — Blake Bortles, Drew Lock and Brett Rypien — didn’t wear masks and have been deemed high-risk close contacts so can’t play against the Saints. . . . Denver LB Von Miller tweeted that he is ready to take a turn at QB: “Been waiting my whole life for this moment. ‘Von ELWAY.’ ” . . .
By now you will be aware of the problems the NFL has had getting the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers on the field for a scheduled game. They were to have played on Thursday, but the game was moved to Sunday and then to Tuesday. All of that juggling was because the Ravens had a number of positive tests, including one to QB Lamar Jackson. . . . The Ravens, who apparently have three defensive lineman and one QB available now, had 18 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list as of Saturday and there are reports that at least two more will be added on Sunday. . . . On Friday, the Steelers placed three players on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and they had more positives on Saturday, including RB James Conner, who as a cancer survivor is high-risk. . . . You can be excused for thinking Tuesday’s game may be at risk. . . .
LT Terron Armstead, a Pro-Bowler, has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the New Orleans Saints. He won’t play Sunday against the Denver Broncos. . . . The Indianapolis Colts have three starters on the reserve-COVID-19 list, including RB Jonathan Taylor. They won’t play against the visiting Tennessee Titans today. . . .
Honestly believe if the #NFL was down to 2 non-Covid players in February, they'd go ahead with the Super Bowl anyway — and it would look something like this: pic.twitter.com/r2sMCzePTZ
The U of Minnesota revealed on Saturday that it has had more than 40 positives with it’s football team since Nov. 19. That includes at least 20 players. On Wednesday, the school had said it had 25 positives. . . . The Golden Gophers’ game against Wisconsin on Saturday was cancelled; they are scheduled to Northwestern on Dec. 5. . . .
The Florida State Seminoles’ football game against Virginia didn’t happen on Saturday. It was dumped Saturday morning — yes, the morning of the game — due to “positive tests, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Florida State football team.” One week earlier, FSU wasn’t able to play Clemson after a positive test on the Tigers. . . . Also scratched Saturday was the scheduled game between San Jose State and Boise State after the latter had COVID-19 issues.
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Ken Squier Update: Ken is being moved from the hospital to a rehab facility today to continue his recovery. Continued thanks for all the prayers.
JUST NOTES: Tali Campbell now is the general manager of the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express. Campbell had been the Nanaimo Clippers’ GM before leaving in October and joining the Express as vice-president. Brian Wiebe of bchlnetwork.ca reported that Campbell “takes over the Express’s GM role from Dave McLellan. There’s no mention of Coquitlam parting ways with McLellan, but he is no longer listed under the hockey or business staff on the team’s website. Express head coach Dan Cioffi is listed as assistant general manager.”
Here is the fifth and final piece on the WHL’s first 25 years. The five stories were written in the late 1990s, while I was the sports editor at the Regina Leader-Post. I had pretty much forgotten about it until recently when I was asked if I might post it again. So I have done just that over the past couple of weeks. . . . As you read each piece, please remember that I wrote them more than 20 years ago and they cover only the league’s first 25 years. It isn’t an all-encompassing history, but hits on some of the highlights and a few lowlights. . . . The stories are pretty much as originally written. . . . Here, then, is Part 5 of 5. Thanks for reading along. I hope you have enjoyed these stories, and thank you for all of the positive feedback. . . .
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The fifth five-year segment was easily the best of the WHL’s first 25 years.
There was success in the stands, particularly in the Pacific Northwest corner of the United States, and in Saskatoon where the Blades welcomed a new facility.
There was stability, too. Recent additions, like the Tri-City Americans and Lethbridge Hurricanes, settled in for what appeared to be long stays.
But the greatest success came on the ice where the WHL won four Memorial Cup championships during the five seasons, opening with three in a row and closing with a victory by the Spokane Chiefs.
The 1986-87 season actually started on something of a strange note. The Regina Pats signed Doug Sauter, who was under contract to the Medicine Hat Tigers, to a two-year deal as general manager/head coach. The result was that the Pats agreed to compensate the Tigers.
The compensation turned into two veteran players — defenceman Kevin Ekdahl and forward Kevin Clemens. It was the first time in WHL history that a coach had, in effect, been traded.
The Pats also welcomed back another familiar face with Dennis Sobchuk, the greatest and most-popular player in franchise history, signing on as assistant coach/assistant manager.
This was a time of great change in the front offices and behind the benches. Barry Trapp left the Moose Jaw Warriors, saying, “I wasn’t fired. It was just a mutual agreement. It was a very friendly parting.”
Medicine Hat signed Bryan Maxwell to replace Sauter, while Peter Esdale was the new coach in Spokane and Wayne Naka took over the Cougars in Victoria. In New Westminster, John Olver was the GM, with Ernie McLean the coach. Harvey Roy was out as the Bruins’ director of marketing, but he would surface in Moose Jaw as the GM and would hire Greg Kvisle to coach the Warriors. In Prince Albert, GM/head coach Terry Simpson left to coach the NHL’s New York Islanders and Rick Wilson took over.
Perhaps the biggest news in the summer of 1986 came on June 2 when the WHL announced it was doing away with round-robin playoff series in the East Division. Instead, the top two teams would get first- round byes.
In the WHL office, Richard Doerksen’s title was upgraded from executive assistant/referee-in-chief to vice-president.
There was trouble in Brandon, where the Bank of Nova Scotia called in a $77,000 demand loan, asking for payment on July 31. This resulted in the Wheat Kings’ board recommending to shareholders that the franchise be sold.
BOB CORNELL (Photo: Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame)
In August, shareholders voted 1,411-404 in favour of selling the Wheat Kings. Offers were received from two groups — one in Edmonton headed by Vic Mah, the other comprising Brandon businessmen Bob Cornell and Stuart Craig, and Winnipeg businessman Dave Laing.
Cornell’s group purchased the Wheat Kings for more than $300,000 and then added a unique twist to the situation by signing a 10-year working agreement with the Keystone Centre. The Keystone took over operation of the club, and hired Bill Shinske to run the front office. Shinske hired Marc Pezzin as coach.
The WHL also welcomed the Swift Current Broncos to the fold. Behind the bench was Graham James, who had recently reached an out-of-court settlement with the Warriors over a lawsuit he had started the previous year.
“If we continue to average close to 2,000, we’ll have a real successful year and we’ll show a profit of about $80,000,” Gary Bollinger, the Broncos’ vice-president and alternate governor, said. “That doesn’t include playoff revenue. We were budgeting for an average of 1,600. If we averaged that, we’d still make a bit of a profit.”
The first coaching change of the 1986-87 season took place on Dec. 8 in Seattle when Sheldon Ferguson gave up the Thunderbirds’ coaching reins, but stayed on as GM. Dan McDonald was the new head coach, with former Portland Winter Hawks star Jim Dobson as the assistant.
When the Swift Current Broncos’ bus crashed on Dec. 30, 1986, the hockey world lost Chris Mantyka (left), Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger and Brent Ruff. (Photo: Swift Current Broncos)
Disaster struck on Dec. 30 when the Broncos, en route to Regina to play the Pats, were involved in a bus accident. Four players — Scott Kruger, Trent Kresse, Brent Ruff and Chris Mantyka — were killed.
ED CHYNOWETH
“There has never been anything more devastating that has happened to me personally,” Ed Chynoweth, the WHL president, said. “The question I keep asking myself is ‘Why?’ My heart goes out to all the parents and the people involved. I wish someone would call and say this is all a mistake.”
John Foster, the Broncos’ publicity director, said: “This team will band together and win it for those guys who died. The (survivors) were absolutely professional under stress. If the people of Swift Current could have seen them, they would have been proud.”
There was never any thought of the team not continuing. As team president John Rittinger said: “It’s up to the players and the fans now. We aren’t ready to throw in the towel.”
Defenceman Ed Brost, talking about the club’s next game, stated: “It will be difficult. To go right back out on the ice would be cheating ourselves emotionally and physically. Right now people have to remember athletes are human beings, not robots.”
Moose Jaw centre Theoren Fleury was in Czechoslovakia with Canada’s national junior team at the time of the accident.
“I just can’t believe it,” Fleury said. “I just sat on the bus all the way to practice today thinking about what’s going on with all those guys on that team right now. It just blows me away. I don’t know what to say. There’s nothing we can do about it and I think being helpless is the most frustrating thing about it.”
As if losing four players in the accident wasn’t enough, Herman Kruger, 67, suffered a fatal heart attack as he entered the church for his great-grandson’s funeral.
And later the same day, Sauter and Regina trainer Stan Szumlak came to the rescue of Keith Giles, a member of the Prince Albert executive, who was choking on some food.
Donations in memory of the players poured into the Broncos’ office and an education fund was set up in their memory. Another fund was started to raise money that would go towards the cost of replacing the bus.
On Feb. 2, a longtime veteran of the WHL’s coaching wars returned for one last fling when John Chapman replaced Wally Kozak behind the bench of the Calgary Wranglers. Chapman also was the Calgary GM.
On Feb. 15, Portland won a game in Spokane and Ken Hodge took over as the winningest coach in WHL history. His 547 victories were one more than Ernie McLean.
BRAD HORNUNG (Photo: University of Regina)
Tragedy struck the WHL again on March 1 when Regina centre Brad Hornung was checked into the end boards at the Agridome and suffered a broken neck.
Dr. Chris Ekong, a neurosurgeon, said Hornung suffered a burst fracture of the third cervical vertebrae and a crushed spinal cord. “Brad has no feelings in his arms and legs,” Dr. Ekong said. “He is completely paralysed from the neck down.”
Hornung would never regain the use of his arms and legs, but that didn’t stop him from going on with his life.
As the WHL completed its 25th season, Hornung was continuing with his education, taking courses at the University of Regina.
Despite the bus accident, Swift Current made the playoffs in its first season. But there wouldn’t be a Cinderella story as the Broncos dropped a best-of-five series to Prince Albert, 3-1.
April was highlighted by three coaching changes — Esdale’s contract wasn’t renewed by Spokane, Kvisle resigned in Moose Jaw and McLean stepped aside in New Westminster.
And Medicine Hat won the WHL championship. The Tigers faced elimination twice in each of their last two series, and dumped visiting Portland 7-2 in the seventh game of the championship final.
The Tigers would win their first of two consecutive Memorial Cup championships, the first under Maxwell, the second under Barry Melrose. Both came with Russ Farwell as general manager.
John Van Horlick took over as coach in New Westminster for 1987-88, with
Butch Goring the coach in Spokane. Jim Harrison was the new head coach in Moose Jaw, with Ed Staniowski his assistant. Harrison and Roy, the GM, were friends from their days in Estevan, while Staniowski was a former all-star goaltender with Regina.
And the WHL was returning to Lethbridge. The Tier One Junior Hockey Club of Lethbridge purchased the Wranglers for about $350,000 from Brian Ekstrom. The Lethbridge franchise would be called the Hurricanes, causing Lethbridge Herald columnist Pat Sullivan to wonder if the logo would be an overturned mobile home.
The sale also meant that there wouldn’t be a franchise in the city in which the WHL office was located. But the office wasn’t about to be moved.
“It was decided that it was certainly the most central location for our league,” Chynoweth said.
Going into the new season, the WHL passed a rule cracking down on checking from behind.
“We do use (NHL) rules and the NHL doesn’t have hitting from behind instituted in its rule book,” Chynoweth said, “but I predict that within two years the NHL will have the same rule.”
That is exactly what happened.
There was change in the WHL’s boardroom, too, as Portland’s Brian Shaw stepped down as chairman of the board and was replaced by Saskatoon’s Rick Brodsky.
On June 5, Swift Current celebrated its first birthday by revealing the franchise was no longer in debt.
Rittinger said: “We bought the franchise and we borrowed money to buy the franchise. So we took the season-ticket money to pay the bank loan off. The bank loan is paid off. We don’t owe the bank anything. And that’s incredible because we just got the franchise last year.”
Maxwell left Medicine Hat, joining the Los Angeles Kings as an assistant coach. Lethbridge named Glen Hawker as its first GM/head coach. Before the season started, Lethbridge reorganized, with Wayne Simpson taking over as GM.
On July 6, Hornung, in his first interview since being injured, told the Regina Leader-Post: “You have to accept it. Life goes on and you do the best with what you have. At first, it was a time of change, shock really, but right now, it’s actually gotten easier because you get used to the adjustments. Like everybody else, I have my good days and bad days. But I don’t have many bad days.”
Separate pregame warmups came to the WHL on Sept. 28.
With Seattle off to a 2-15-0 start, owner Earl Hale told Ferguson, the GM, to take a leave of absence. On Nov. 16, Ferguson was fired. A couple of weeks later, Hawker was fired in Lethbridge, where Blaine Galbraith took over. And on Dec. 8, Moose Jaw fired Harrison and hired Gerry James, the only person to have played in a Grey Cup game and Stanley Cup final in the same season.
On Feb. 2, Saskatoon beat Regina 7-2 before 3,308 fans in the final game at the Saskatoon Arena. Regina coach Doug Sauter, for one, was glad to see the end of the old barn: “I get screwed every time I come in here and I haven’t been kissed yet.”
One week later, on Feb. 9, Saskatoon beat Brandon 4-3 in front of 9,343 fans at Saskatchewan Place. Chynoweth announced prior to the game that the 1989 Memorial Cup would be played in Saskatoon.
On March 11, amidst rumours that the Warriors were on the verge of major financial problems, it was announced that Roy’s contract wouldn’t be renewed.
WHL attendance figures compiled by the Regina Leader-Post showed that Swift Current drew 82,080 fans to 36 home games, which was 99 per cent of capacity. Portland led in total attendance — 200,911. The league drew 1,405,874 fans, an increase of almost 80,000 over the previous season.
For the first time in league history, the scoring race ended in a dead heat.
Two centres — Fleury and Swift Current’s Joe Sakic — finished the regular season with 160 points. Sakic had 78 goals, Fleury 68. But there was nothing in the WHL bylaws to deal with the situation so the scoring race was ruled a tie.
JOE CELENTANO
The rumours were true — there were financial problems in Moose Jaw. The Warriors began sorting things out by separating the hockey side of things from the business side. With an accumulated debt of $234,000, Joe Celentano, a former referee with basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters, was hired as business manager.
On April 17, Medicine Hat beat visiting Saskatoon 3-0 to win its third straight East Division title. The only other team to win three consecutive East titles was the Flin Flon Bombers, beginning in 1968-69.
On May 3, the Tigers beat visiting Kamloops 5-2 to win their second straight WHL title, this one in six games.
The very next day, Bob Vranckaert, who was in the construction business in Alaska, said he would like to put an expansion franchise in Anchorage in time for the 1990-91 season. Born in Drumheller, Alta., and raised in Burnaby, B.C., Vranckaert spent more than 20 years in general commercial construction 800 miles north of Anchorage.
The WHL said it would play two exhibition and four regular-season games in Anchorage and use that, plus the 1989 world junior championship, which was to be held in Anchorage, as a barometer.
On May 8, the Pats announced that Sauter’s contract wouldn’t be renewed.
A week later, Sauter’s old team, the Tigers, beat the Windsor Spitfires 7-6 in Chicoutimi to become the sixth team in the 70-year history of the Memorial Cup to win back-to-back championships.
The board in Moose Jaw put H.J. (Toby) Tobias in charge and then resigned en masse. Tobias was empowered to chair a committee whose immediate responsibility was to carry on a fund-raising campaign aimed at erasing the club’s debt. The immediate goal was to raise $150,000.
Tobias said he would look into the team’s accounting procedures, recommend constitutional changes and appoint an auditor to present a year-end statement at the club’s annual meeting.
“To me it’s a four-stage project,” Tobias said. “Stage 1: Solve the immediate debt crisis and give us some breathing room. Step 2: Have a look at the front office and see if there are some things we can tighten up. Stage 3: Come up with a budget we can live with in years to come. Stage 4: Make sure fund-raising becomes a year-round effort.”
In mid-May, Pezzin resigned as coach in Brandon. He would be replaced by Sauter, who was reunited with Shinske. The two were old friends, going back to the Estevan and New Westminster Bruins. Sobchuk replaced Sauter in Regina.
Celentano resigned in Moose Jaw, saying: “By my staying I become just another liability, one of those accounts payable that they have to make every day, and they don’t have the money.”
On May 31, Tobias announced that the Warriors had reached their goal of $151,800. That figure covered debts accrued up until March 31. Tobias said: “The phoenix has risen from the ashes. The financial health of the club remains fragile . . . but it’s business as usual from here on in.”
Indications were that New Westminster owner Ron Dixon would move the franchise to the Tri-Cities area of Washington State. He just happened to be building an arena, the Tri-Cities Coliseum, there.
TIM SPELTZ
In July, Farwell and Melrose resigned in Medicine Hat. Shortly after, they signed in Seattle. Wes Phillips was named GM in Medicine Hat and hired Ron Kennedy, a former Estevan player, as coach. Before the season started, Phillips quit, citing business and family pressures, and Tim Speltz replaced him.
Peter Anholt was named head coach in Prince Albert, where Wilson quit to join the L.A. Kings as an assistant coach. Brad Tippett was the GM in Prince Albert.
The WHL arrived in Anchorage on the weekend of Sept. 24 and 25, 1988.
Kamloops and Portland played two exhibition games in Anchorage, drawing 2,100 to the first game and 1,750 the next night.
A shakeup occurred in Spokane. It started on Oct. 14 when Spokane GM Bob Strumm acquired six players while giving up four others in trades that involved three other teams. The Chiefs were 1-4-0 and had given up 33 goals in those five games.
Twelve days later, with the Chiefs 2-9-0, Strumm relieved Goring of his duties. Strumm, with a three-year contract extension that would take him through the 1991-92 season, went behind the bench, went 2-4-0 and immediately installed Gary Braun as coach.
On Nov. 11, Moose Jaw dumped Gerry James and installed Kvisle as head coach/director of hockey operations.
Three days later, Regina shook up things. Sobchuk moved from coach to GM, with Bernie Lynch moving up from assistant coach to head coach.
It was announced on Nov. 17 that Vranckaert had purchased the Victoria Cougars from Fraser McColl. Ownership actually had changed hands 10 days after the end of the season.
“Bob has been after me for a long time,” McColl said. “He wants to get into the business with a passion. And, perhaps, that’s the type of enthusiasm this team needs right now.”
On Nov. 20, the Tri-City Americans, having played their first 17 games on the road because the Coliseum wasn’t ready, opened at home with a 4-3 overtime victory over Seattle in front of a sellout crowd of 6,004.
Swift Current started the season with 12 straight victories, and went into the Christmas break at 28-5-0 and on a 10-game winning streak. Referring to the bus accident of two years previous, James said: “I think the bus accident galvanized the spirit of the community. I think that was a catalyst. Since then we’ve had to provide a product that’s been worthy of fans coming, but I think that incident certainly rallied the community.”
Added centre Tim Tisdale: “That’s all anybody in town talks about. It’s hard to believe. You go downtown and you’re eating in a restaurant and everybody at the next table is talking about the Broncos. It definitely helps your hockey.”
There was big news out of Calgary on Jan. 3, 1989, when Petr Nedved, a centre with a midget team from Litvinov, Czechoslovakia, defected after a midget tournament. His WHL rights belonged to Moose Jaw, but the Warriors would deal them to Seattle.
The season wasn’t over when Spokane owner Vic Fitzgerald said that Braun wouldn’t be returning.
On March 14, Chynoweth revealed that the WHL “had an inquiry from Terry Simpson about putting a team in Red Deer. They would have to get a new building.” A conditional franchise was sold to Simpson on Aug. 12, 1991. The Rebels would begin play in the fall of 1992.
Attendance figures compiled by The Regina Leader-Post showed that attendance was up 232,951 over 1987-88. Most of that was attributable to the first-year Americans who attracted 203,532 fans, which was 156,149 more than they drew the previous season in New Westminster.
There was a change in Seattle on April 11 when Medicine Hat businessman Bill Yuill bought the Thunderbirds from Earl Hale of Calgary.
The usual spate of front-office changes began in earnest with the news that: 1. Galbraith would not be back in Lethbridge; 2. Al Patterson, who quit in Victoria after the season ended, had signed as Tri-City’s GM; 3. Ron Byrne had signed as the GM in Victoria; 4. Sobchuk had resigned as GM in Regina; 5. Shinske had resigned in Brandon; and, 6. Tippett had quit in P.A.
Swift Current won 4-1 in Portland on April 30 to sweep the Winter Hawks in the championship final. The Broncos became the first team to sweep its way to the WHL championship — they also got past Moose Jaw and Saskatoon in four games each. The Broncos, just a season and a half after having four players killed in a bus accident, went 55-16-1, the best record in the CHL.
“This is a great accomplishment for our franchise,” James said. “But I don’t want the Memorial Cup to decide if we had a great year.”
Tisdale added: “We have the team to do it this year. If we can’t get up for four games, we don’t belong there. I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win the Memorial Cup.”
On May 14, Tisdale’s goal at 3:25 of the first sudden-death overtime period gave the Broncos a 4-3 victory over Saskatoon in the final game of the Memorial Cup. The game was played in front of 9.078 fans in Saskatchewan Place and brought to an end the most successful Memorial Cup tournament ever played.
Shortly after the Memorial Cup, the changes continued: 1. Lynch found out his contract in Regina wouldn’t be renewed; 2. Rick Kozuback signed a two-year contract as coach with Tri-City; 3. Simpson returned to Prince Albert as GM/head coach; 4. Bill Hicke was named GM in Regina; 5. Tippett signed as Regina’s head coach; 5. Maxwell returned from L.A. to sign as co-coach and director of hockey operations in Spokane; 6. Braun was Spokane’s co-coach and assistant director of hockey operations; 7. Melrose left Seattle to become head coach of the AHL’s Adirondack Red Wings; 8. Marcel Comeau signed a two-year deal in Saskatoon but shortly after resigned to become head coach of the AHL’s New Haven Nighthawks; 9. Anholt quit in P.A. to join Seattle as head coach; 10. Rob Daum signed as assistant coach/assistant manager in P.A.; and, 11. Terry Ruskowski signed to coach the Blades.
On June 14, 1989, Moose Jaw, so close to financial ruin just one year earlier, revealed at its annual meeting that there was a paper profit of $119,722 and that the Warriors had about $40,000 in the bank.
At its annual meeting, the WHL had two major announcements. It had decided for the first time to use full-time referees. “We’re hoping it leads to more consistent, professional refereeing,” Regina governor Ted Knight said. By the time all was said and done, the WHL had hired eight full-time and four part-time referees.
The WHL also said it would no longer allow teams to list 13-year-old players. From that point on, 14-year-olds would count for two spots on a list, players 15 and older for one.
Seattle set a single-game attendance record on Oct. 7 when 12,173 fans showed up to watch the Thunderbirds edge Portland, 4-3. “We could have sold 2,000 more tickets,” Seth Landau, the club’s director of marketing and public relations, said. “We were sold out the day before the game.” The previous attendance record belonged to Portland, which had attracted capacity crowds of 10,437 to Memorial Coliseum on numerous occasions.
The first coaching change came on Oct. 15 when Naka resigned in Victoria. Lyle Moffat replaced him.
On Nov. 1, Ken Hitchcock, 36 years of age and in the neighbourhood of 400 pounds, went public with the news that he was going on a serious diet.
“There comes a time in life when it becomes a case of now or never,” said the popular coach of the Kamloops Blazers. “I look down the road four or five years from now, what do I want to be doing? If that’s what I have to do to move up the ladder, that’s what I have to do.”
Victoria made another coaching change on Nov. 13 with Garry Cunningham becoming the Cougars’ third coach of the season. Moffat stayed on as marketing director.
A lawsuit launched by Hornung was settled out of court in November. Thirteen defendants, including the WHL, were named in the suit launched in July of 1987. Details of the settlement weren’t made public.
At a WHL board of governors’ meeting on Nov. 20, the chair switched bodies again. It was a case of deja vu, with Shaw taking over from Brodsky.
KELLY McCRIMMON (Photo: Brandon Wheat Kings)
On Dec. 17, Sauter was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disorder that strikes at the central nervous system. He would not return to coaching until late in the 1990-91 season when he finished the winter with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins. Brandon GM Kelly McCrimmon moved in behind Brandon’s bench.
There was a player revolt in Tri-City when Dixon named Bill LaForge director of player personnel. LaForge said he had a five-year contract.
On Dec. 31, with Portland scheduled to play in Tri-City, the Americans players refused. A statement signed by 19 players read in part: “We will definitely not participate in any further games without the termination of Mr. Bill LaForge from the Americans organization.”
The players ended their holdout the next day, winning 8-4 in Portland. Dixon had contacted players earlier in the day and said LaForge would no longer have any contact with them.
Defenceman Colin Ruck later explained the Tri-City deal: “He came into the dressing room screaming and cutting guys down. To get to us, he said we had to call him Coach. He had (coach) Rick Kozuback picking up pucks during practice. That really upset us. Bill came out and ran a really brutal practice. We felt we had to do something.”
Byrne was gone as Victoria’s GM before January ended, while Cunningham was out as coach on Feb. 5. Moffat went back behind the bench. The Cougars would set a CHL record, losing 29 in a row.
On Feb. 7, Seattle centre Glen Goodall had an assist in a 5-3 victory over visiting Tri-City to break the WHL record for most points in a career. That lifted his point total to 530, one more than Craig Endean, who had played with Seattle and Regina.
Two nights later, Seattle broke the WHL single-game attendance record as 12,253 fans watched a 5-3 victory over Spokane.
Figures compiled by the Regina Leader-Post showed that attendance totalled 1,678,651, up about 40,000 over the previous season. Tri-City, which sold out every home game, led the way with total attendance of 216,360. Saskatoon, in its first full season in Saskatchewan Place, played in front of 209,542 fans. Seattle, which finished with its best-ever record (52-17-3; the best previous was 32-28-12 in 1977-78), drew 181,211 fans, up 66,189 from a year previous.
On March 28, Chynoweth admitted that two groups had applied for an expansion franchise for Tacoma, Wash.
The Spokane franchise changed hands on April 10, with Fitzgerald selling to the Brett brothers — Bobby, George and Ken — for more than $600,000. Bob Brett wouldn’t say what they paid, other than to say it was “too much.”
The postseason changes started in April when Speltz and Kennedy learned that Medicine Hat wouldn’t renew their contracts, and Rick Hopper was named head coach/director of hockey operations in Victoria. Jack Shupe, the Tigers’ first GM/head coach in 1970-71, was the new GM in Medicine Hat. He hired Tim Bothwell as coach.
On April 29, Kamloops scored a 6-5 overtime victory in Lethbridge to win the WHL final in five games. Kamloops lost the opener and then won four straight. The Blazers struck out at the Memorial Cup, though, as the Oshawa Generals, with Eric Lindros, won it all in Hamilton.
There was much expansion talk in the WHL, resulting in this comment from Brodsky: “It’s sort of like being in love. If you have to ask yourself whether you’re in love, you’re probably not. If we’re wondering why we should expand, then maybe we’re forcing the issue a bit. If expansion is right, we’ll know it.”
DENNIS BEYAK
Farwell left Seattle to become GM of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. Anholt added the GM’s nameplate to his door, and hired assistant GM Dennis Beyak from Saskatoon. Beyak had been in Saskatoon since 1981 and was the person deemed most responsible for the success of the 1989 Memorial Cup in Saskatoon.
Simpson left Prince Albert again, this time to become an assistant coach with the Winnipeg Jets. Daum was promoted to replace him.
There were shockwaves in Kamloops when Hitchcock resigned after six seasons with the Blazers. He signed as an assistant coach with Philadelphia. Tom Renney replaced Hitchcock, who left with a 291-125-15 regular-season record over six seasons, his .693 winning percentage the highest of any coach in WHL history.
Leaving wasn’t easy for Hitchcock, who said: “I got cold feet a couple of times. I almost went into (GM) Bob Brown’s office and said, ‘Call the whole thing off, I don’t want to go.’ ”
On Sept. 30, Chynoweth chatted about expansion: “There are what I like to call tire-kickers in Boise, Idaho; Eugene, Oregon; and, Tacoma, Washington. The WHL is in good shape and we’re aggressive to expand by one, possibly two teams in the West Division sometime soon. We are coming off our second record-setting attendance season. We’re also proud of the fact that this is the third year in a row we aren’t opening a new site. Believe it or not, but we’re stable.”
Bruce Hamilton, a former player and scout with the Blades, headed a group of Saskatoon and Tacoma investors who were eventually granted a franchise for Tacoma to start with the 1991-92 season.
On Oct. 30, with the 1990-91 season one month old, one night before Halloween, James went wild in Swift Current. Upset with referee Kevin Muench after the Broncos turned a 7-3 second-period lead into a 9-8 loss to visiting Medicine Hat, James went on to the ice in pursuit of Muench, then returned to the bench and threw sticks and water bottles onto the ice. James then removed his jacket, tie, shirt and one shoe and threw them onto the ice before his players escorted him to the dressing room.
Bothwell summed it up: “All I can say is, ‘Wow.’ I don’t know what words can describe what happened out there, from a lot of different aspects.”
James was suspended for six games and fined $2,000. “At least they didn’t ask me for the shirt off my back,” he said. The incident would show up on video on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and the David Letterman Show among others.
GERRY JOHANSSON
There was some silliness in Spokane, too. On Dec. 6, with Tri-City visiting Spokane, Maxwell and Americans assistant Gerry Johannson got into it after first period.
Here’s Maxwell: “He was waiting for me. He was yapping at me. He challenged me and I accepted the challenge.” Maxwell was said to have out-punched his opponent, 4-0.
Here’s Johansson: “He throws punches like marshmallows.”
Maxwell was suspended for three games and fined $500. Johansson got hit for $1,000 and four games.
Remember that $1 parking fee in Regina? Well, on Dec. 17, Regina Exhibition Park announced it was doubling it to $2. “I don’t think our fans will take very kindly to it if it does happen,” said co-owner/GM Bill Hicke. “If that’s the case it’ll drive another nail in the coffin.”
The Pats’ lease would expire after the 1990-91 season and Hicke had already made at least one trip into the Pacific Northwest to scout buildings.
A change in Prince Albert had Dale Engel move in as GM, with Rob Daum giving up that title but staying on as coach. It was no surprise when Daum left P.A. for Swift Current at season’s end.
On Feb. 4, Saskatoon fired head coach Terry Ruskowski, replacing him with former Blades defenceman Bob Hoffmeyer.
On March 17, Seattle was awarded the 1992 Memorial Cup.
The Leader-Post’s attendance figures showed that Tri-City, with 36 sellouts, again topped the WHL with 216,360 fans. Seattle was next at 215,248, up 34,037 from the season previous. But overall attendance was down 22,861 to 1,655,790.
LORNE FREY
On April 17, Marcel Comeau was named the first head coach of the Tacoma Rockets. Hamilton would be the GM, with Lorne Frey, most recently with Swift Current, as director of player personnel.
Spokane scored a 7-2 victory over home-town Lethbridge to sweep the WHL final. The Chiefs would go on to win the Memorial Cup, with goaltender Trevor Kidd and right-winger Pat Falloon wrapping up dream seasons. Both played for the Canadian junior team that won the gold medal in Saskatoon.
One thing more than any other summed up the WHL as it headed into its second 25 years. When the 1991-92 season opened, the league not only had the same 14 teams for the fourth consecutive season, but it had welcomed the Tacoma Rockets to the fold.
Milne says he's thankful the team had a tight social bubble and he hopes to see the AJHL finish out the season- but only if it's safe to do so. He's open to extending the season or condensing it if current restrictions lift and and a strong return plan is in place.
Hockey’s worst nightmare showed up in Canmore, Alta., the picturesque Alberta community that is home to the AJHL’s Eagles and is located just over an hour west of Calgary.
On Nov. 19, the AJHL reported “a member of the Canmore Eagles has tested positive for COVID-19.”
On Friday, reports indicated that at least 16 members of the Eagles have tested positive, along with an untold number of their contacts. For example, general manager/head coach Andrew Milne tested positive, as did his wife and one of their sons.
According to Milne, a former WHL player and coach, the first indication that something might be wrong came on Nov. 14 during a game in Drumheller against the Dragons. It was then that one player began to feel ill.
That player tested positive on Nov. 19 at which time all team members were isolated, including those living with billets.
“We tested everybody,” Milne told Calgary Eyeopener, “and that’s when obviously the number started climbing. And . . . it was evident that we had massive outbreak in our club.
“I think part of the reason for the large numbers was the fact that we were just on a bus and there was very limited ability for us to move about in some recycled air.”
One of the things that seems to have caught Milne by surprise was the quickness with which the virus chewed through his roster.
“It’s amazing how fast the web can unwind and get going,” he said. “You can see how fast it moves and how quickly it gets from one guy to the next.”
The AJHL has three other teams believed to be dealing with positives. The league announced on Nov. 20 that the Calgary Canucks had a positive test, then, the next day, said the Dragons also had one positive. Then, on Nov. 22, the league revealed a positive test with the Okotoks Oilers.
The AJHL season was paused on Tuesday as a result of restrictions implemented by the Alberta government. The league’s board of governors is to meet on Dec. 19 to study its options.
Milne’s interview with Calgary Eyeopener is right here.
The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes won’t be playing their football game at Illinois today (Saturday) after the game was cancelled because of positive tests. Those positives include Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, who also will miss a game next Saturday at Michigan State. Conference protocols call for coaches who test positive to sit out for 10 days. . . . Nick Saban, the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, also is sideline this weekend after testing positive. . . . And yet you watch NCAA college football, like the Thursday game that had Nebraska at Iowa, and you see head coaches with their facemasks constantly around their chins. You really would think that the pooh-bahs at these universities would have a word with these men about being better. Of course, the other side of the coin is that there are few people in the sporting world who are more oblivious to their surroundings than football coaches.
CBC News: Manitoba is reporting 344 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 additional deaths related to the virus. 178 of the new cases are in the Winnipeg region. The 5-day test positivity rate is 14.5%. A record 322 people are in hospital, including 45 in intensive care.
CBC News: Saskatchewan is reporting 4 more deaths and 329 new COVID-19 cases, an increase from the previous 7-day average of 244. Concern is also growing about the impact on hospitals, which are up 400% in the last 30 days and forecast to continue accelerating.
CBC News: Alberta is reporting 1,227 new cases of COVID-19 and 9 new deaths. There are 14,217 active cases in the province. 405 people are in hospital, including 86 in intensive care.
CBC News: Elementary school order to close after COVID-19 outbreak leads to 16 cases in Surrey, B.C.
iNFOnews Kamloops: Anti-masker throws hot coffee on Kelowna IGA employee.
CBC News: Ontario reports over 58,000 more COVID-19 tests completed. Data shows 541 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, 151 are in ICU and 101 are on a ventilator.
CBC News: 38 additional deaths, 1,269 new COVID-19 cases reported in Quebec. That’s higher than the previous 7-day average of 1,208. Currently, 669 people are in hospital, and 90 of them are in intensive care.
CBC News: New Brunswick is reporting 12 new cases of COVID-19 and 3 new recoveries. The province has seen a total of 477 cases and 356 recoveries since the pandemic began.
CBC News: Nova Scotia is reporting 9 new cases of COVID-19, all in the central zone. The provincial state of emergency has been renewed, and will now extend to noon on Dec. 13.
CBC News: 4 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Newfoundland and Labrador, bringing province’s total case number to 331. There are currently 31 active cases.
I laugh whenever the "Visit Sioux Falls" commercial comes on TV. Nobody in their right mind would vacation in South Dakota right now. It's safer in the Middle East and inside most active volcanoes.
Ryan Struyk, CNN: Today is the 25th consecutive day that the United States has reported at least 100,000 new coronavirus cases, according to data from CNN and Johns Hopkins University.
CBC News: Los Angeles County announces a stay-home order as COVID-19 cases surge in the most populous county in the U.S. The order, which takes effect Monday, comes as the county confirms 24 new deaths and 4,544 new coronavirus cases.
The New York Times: Coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 13 million on Friday, even as many Americans ignored Thanksgiving travel warnings.
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Oh my, but the NFL is a messy place these days. . . . With the Baltimore Ravens fighting an outbreak — QB Lamar Jackson is on the reserve/COVID-19 list — their game at the Pittsburgh Steelers that was to have been played Thursday night and then was moved to Sunday afternoon now is scheduled for Tuesday night on NBC. Got that? . . . On the original schedule, Baltimore was to have played at Dallas on Thursday (Dec. 3). That game now will be played on Monday, Dec. 7 (FOX). The regular Monday Night Football game (San Francisco at Buffalo, ESPN) will follow to give us a doubleheader. . . . On top of all that, the Steelers played three players on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos had a player and two staffers test positive so shut down their facility on Friday. This was the third time this season that the Broncos have had to cancel a practice. The New Orleans are scheduled to visit Denver on Sunday. . . . The Los Angeles Rams also shut things down, saying the move was made out of an “abundance of caution.” One player and a staff member tested positive, but later twice tested negative. . . . Assistant coaches Nick Eason and Steve Jackson of the Cincinnati Bengals will miss Sunday’s game against the New York Giants for what the team says is COVID-19 related reasons. . . . The Arizona Cardinals, who allowed 1,200 fans at each of their previous two games, won’t be allowing fans at their Dec. 6 game against the Rams as numbers rise in the state. . . . The Cardinals will be without veteran WR Larry Fitzgerald when they meet the New England Patriots on Sunday. He and WR Trent Sherfield are on the reserve/COVID-19 list. . . .
UFC Fight Night on Saturday was to have been headlined by a heavyweight scrap featuring Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis. That won’t happen, however, because Blaydes has tested positive. . . .
Scratch the Pinstripe Bowl off your schedule of football bowl games. The game, which was to have featured teams from the Big Ten and ACC in Yankee Stadium, was dumped because of an increase in positive cases and travel restrictions that are in place in New York. . . . Eight bowl games now have been scratched. But you can relax because there still are 35 on the schedule. For now. . . .
The Gonzaga men’s basketball team, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA, played Friday morning in Fort Myers, Fla., despite learning that one of its players had tested positive. “We had people out for quarantine due to contact tracing, we had a positive test on an administrative staff, then we had a positive test on a player,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after a 90-67 victory over Auburn. “It’s how the preseason has went. You just wait to get the news on testing, then you have to react, have to stay agile. We followed COVID protocols with the tournament, and the Florida health board down here have all been great. Our guys have been incredibly diligent about following all the rules.” . . .
Zach Braziller of the New York Post pointed out that some schools have paused their men’s basketball teams for less than what happened with Gonzaga.
“Meanwhile, several programs have shut down for less than what is happening with Gonzaga,” he wrote. “Those schools seem to understand what experts have said, that someone can test negative and not show symptoms, yet still be able to transmit the virus to others because the incubation period can last up to 14 days, according to the CDC.
“Not everyone seems to get that. Playing college basketball during a pandemic is a risk. It’s an even greater risk not to be extra safe.”
You want more? Arizona’s men’s basketball game against visiting UTEP on Sunday won’t happen. UTEP has had a positive test. Arizona was to have opened Wednesday but there Northern Arizona had someone come up positive. . . . Middle Tennessee’s football game today against Florida Atlantic has been postponed. . . . In hockey, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) will begin its schedule in an Omaha bubble on Tuesday, but has had to move Colorado College’s first four games because of a positive test with the Tigers. . . . The Georgetown women’s basketball team experienced a positive test so their opener at Richmond on Sunday has been postponed. . . . Northern Kentucky’s men’s basketball program is on hold after a positive test. . . . The Temple Owls also have paused team activities after a positive test in their men’s basketball team. . . . The Western Collegiate Hockey Association is having to make scheduling adjustments after positive tests in the Ferris State, Minnesota State and Northern Michigan programs. . . . UMass Lowell was to have opened its men’s hockey season on Saturday but that won’t happen after a positive test was discovered in its program on Friday. The university has halted team activities while team members are tested. . . . The River Hawks game with Providence will be rescheduled.
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During Kevin Kaminski’s playing career, his nickname was ‘Killer’ and he didn’t take any prisoners. Yes, he was tough and he played hard.
These days, Kaminski is the general manager and head coach of the SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves and he hasn’t changed — he still shoots from the hip, and good for him.
With the SJHL about to shut down until after Christmas because of restrictions being implemented by the Saskatchewan government and health officials, Kaminski didn’t tiptoe around the issue.
“I don’t understand how casinos and bingos, and everything else can stay open,” Kaminski told MBC Radio’s Braden Malsbury, who does the play-by-play of Ice Wolves’ games. “If you’re going to shut it down, let’s shut it down and let’s do this right. Let’s just don’t put a Band-Aid on for two weeks and then it’s going to come back again after we get a little break from it.
“I don’t understand — it would be probably pretty easy to be a health official and just make up your own rules as you go along.”
Kaminski has hit the nail squarely on the head. By not shutting things down at the first sign of trouble a couple of months ago, we find ourselves where we are today. And the way these things have been handled since March, you can almost bet that we will get to a stage where restrictions will be loosened . . . and we will end up going through all of this again.
As Kaminski said, “If you’re going to shut it down, let’s shut it down . . .”
Kaminski has every right to be disappointed, too. His Ice Wolves are playing well, having won four straight after a season-opening setback.
“I’m very disappointed, saddened for the players,” Kaminski told Malsbury.
Doug Johnson, the general manager and head coach of the Nipawin Hawks, also is sounding frustrated.
“In March, we didn’t know . . . everything was uncertain,” Johnson told Aaron Schulze of northeastNOW, referring to the 2019-20 season’s premature end. “Right now, with all the restrictions in place and protocols we followed, we were told we did nothing wrong. There’s not one case from hockey transmission within the SJHL. We have our guys following all the protocols, basically putting their social life on hold, just to get through this and make it work, and we get shut down even when we’ve done everything right. Yet, other things are able to stay open.
“It’s a double standard, 100 per cent. It has nothing to do with us not taking COVID-19 serious. We have 27 guys for three months and there’s not been one case within our locker room. Within the league, 12 teams, there’s been one case. We’ve done things right and proven it can work, but we’re getting throttled right now.
“Government makes money off their bars and casinos, the liquor and gambling. They’re not making a ton of money off the SJHL or hockey. Yet, our communities . . . the Nipawin Hawks bring in roughly $1.5 to $1.8 million into Nipawin and that’s on hold right now. The mental health of our young people . . . the outing, just a little sense of normalcy for our fans . . . the pride that the players’ parents can have watching their kids play and do what they love. We’re not lumped in the same.”
Meanwhile, Jason Tatarnic, the general manager and head coach of the Estevan Bruins, was on The Rod Pedersen Show on Thursday, and he was pretty much echoing Johnson, wondering why junior hockey gets shut down while people are still allowed to go to casinos and stores.
“”It’s definitely disappointed and very sad for our players,” Tatarnic told Pedersen. “It’s heartbreaking for them.”
Tatarnic also touched on the financial side of things, saying that these teams have a “big economic impact on all the communities. Our operating budget for each team between is between $500,000 to $1 million, probably more so in the middle of that for each team. . . . tremendous economic impact on our communities.”
As for the Bruins, Tatarnic said the organization is “probably projected to lose anywhere betwen $300,000 and $400,000 this (season) already. That’s a huge loss for anybody . . . you look at our organization . . . that’s tremendous. We have six full-time staff. You look at 12 teams . . . that’s a big impact.”
With Canada’s national junior team dealing with three positive tests at its selection camp in Red Deer, the question has to be asked: Is the 2021 World Junior Championship at risk? . . . Ilan Schwartz, an associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alberta, has told Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press that he isn’t sure bring 10 teams into an Edmonton bubble at this point in time is such a good idea. . . . “The NHL showed that it can be done, but the stops that were pulled out in order to create and maintain a bubble for the NHL playoffs were enormous,” Schwartz said. “It’s not safe for the players to be coming into a place where there’s a surge in infections. While the players themselves are going to be young and healthy and low risk of serious complications from the virus, they are still very much able to transmit it to those people around them.” . . . The tournament is scheduled to open on Dec. 25 and run through Jan. 5. . . . Infections rates now are 10 times higher in Alberta than when the NHL was concluding its playoff run in Edmonton. . . . Spencer’s story is right here.
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What’s happening with Canada’s national junior team as the players at the selection camp in Red Deer are early in 14-day quarantine sessions? Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News takes a look at the situation right here.
The five-team B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League has cancelled its 2020-21 season. Earlier, the league had said that it hoped to begin on Jan. 15. . . . From a news release: “League organizers worked closely with BC Hockey and member schools in pursuing a shortened season, but with recent restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BCIHL made the decision to cancel official competition until the start of the 2021-22 season.” . . . Chris Munshaw, the BCIHL president, said: “It’s not a decision we took lightly. Many of our coaches, staff, and volunteers have been with the league since it began in 2005. More importantly, this has a big impact on the lives of our student-athletes.” . . . Also from the release: “The BCIHL’s decision does not prevent member teams from pursuing exhibition games or tournaments within the guidelines allowed by their institutions, facilities and the provincial government.” . . . The last paragraph of the release indicated that the BCIHL is continuing to prepare for a “full” 2021-22 season, “including the pursuit of league expansion.”
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COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .
CBC News: 383 new COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in Manitoba, virtually unchanged from the previous 7-day average of 386. The province is also reporting 10 additional deaths.
CBC News: Saskatchewan is reporting 299 new COVID-19 cases, which is significantly more than the province’s previous 7-day average of 209. 3 deaths are also being attributed to the virus. . . . Saskatchewan jail reports 72 new COVID-19 cases, including 68 offenders and 4 staff. There are now 85 active cases at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, which normally houses about 450 inmates. Authorities say any new admissions to the facility will be redirected.
650 CKOM Saskatoon: ICU capacity is at nearly 100 per cent in Saskatchewan, with just three available beds in Saskatoon as of today.
Jason Herring, Postmedia, Alberta: 1,077 new cases (total now 51,878); 10 new deaths (total now 510); 383 currently in hospital, 84 in ICU (yesterday: 355 in hospital, 71 in ICU); 14,052 active cases (up from 13,719 yesterday); 15,644 tests conducted (~6.9% positive); since yesterday, hospitalizations rose by eight per cent in Alberta, and ICU admissions rose by 18 per cent.
Troy Gillard, rdnewNOW: Red Deer now with 158 active cases of COVID-19.
Christopher Foulds, Kamloops This Week: COVID-19 claims another 13 lives as province announces 887 new cases, including 65 in Interior; outbreak at The Hamlets long-term care home in Kamloops declared over.
James Peters, CFJC-TV Kamloops: Interior Health says there are 374 active cases of COVID-19 in the region, with nine people in hospital including two in intensive care.
Castanet Kamloops: Assault at Dawson Creek Walmart over wearing face mask.
INFOnews Kamloops: Walmart employee in Dawson Creek assaulted by man who refused to wear mask.
INFOnews Kamloops: Police identify woman alleged to have spit on Penticton liquor store employee in mask-wearing dispute.
CBC News: Ontario reports 21 additional COVID-19 deaths and 1,478 new cases. That’s higher than the previous 7-day average of 1,389. Of the new cases, 572 are in Peel Region, 356 are in Toronto and 111 are in York Region.
CBC Quebec: Quebec is reporting 32 additional COVID-19 deaths and has diagnosed 1,464 new cases. That appears to be the largest daily number of new reported cases since May 3, and a significant jump from the province’s previous 7-day average of 1,171.
CBC News: 12 new COVID-19 cases in New Brunswick. That’s higher than the average of 9 for the previous 7 days.
Alexander Quon, Global Halifax: Premier Blaine Higgs say that as off midnight anyone entering New Brunswick from another province, including Atlantic Canada, must now self isolate for 14 days. The Atlantic bubble is officially over.
CNN: 263,000 people in the United States have died from coronavirus. . . . 12.8 million people in the United States have tested positive for coronavirus.
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Val-d'Or goalie Jonathan Lemieux in isolation after being in contact w/ someone who has Covid-19.
Lemieux had no contact w/ his teammates after being in contact with this person, so Foreurs will play as scheduled this weekend. https://t.co/K8HaKOiYgI
The NFL has a problem. With the Baltimore Ravens in the middle of an outbreak, the NFL moved their game with the host Pittsburgh Steelers from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. On Thursday, it seems that the Ravens had four more players, including QB Lamar Jackson, and one staffer test positive. The Ravens have shut down their facility until at least Monday, so you have to think Sunday’s game won’t happen. . . . The Ravens really are up against it, too, because they are scheduled to face the Cowboys in Dallas in next week’s Thursday game. . . . Meanwhile, WR Larry Fitzgerald of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals tested positive and won’t play Sunday against the host New England Patriots. . . . The Cleveland Browns closed their facility on Thursday after getting their fifth positive in less than two weeks.
#Ravens QB Lamar Jackson tested positive for COVID-19, per @RapSheet. He’s out for Sunday’s game vs. Pittsburgh, assuming that game even happens as scheduled.
Like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, it seems that the Swift Current Broncos and Golden West Radio learned that they couldn’t live without each other. . . . The Broncos and Golden West have announced a deal that will put the play-by-play of the “majority” of the team’s games in the approaching season on the Eagle 94.1. . . . Craig Beauchemin will handle the play-by-play. . . . The parties weren’t able to reach an agreement prior to the 2019-20 season so the Broncos took their broadcasts online. . . . The WHL is hoping to start its next season on Jan. 8.
At some point in the late 1990s, while I was the sports editor at the Regina Leader-Post, I put together a brief history of the Western Hockey League. I had pretty much forgotten about it until recently when I was asked if I might post it again. So I am doing just that. . . . As you read each piece, please remember that I wrote them more than 20 years ago and they cover only the league’s first 25 years. It isn’t an all-encompassing history, but hits on some of the highlights and a few lowlights. . . . The stories are pretty much as originally written. . . . Here is Part 4 of 5, and it’s a long one (but not as long as Part 5). I hope you enjoy it. . . .
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When the WHL headed into the 1981-82 season, which was the beginning of its fourth five-year segment, stability was not exactly a strong suit.
For example, of the 13 teams that came out of the gate in the fall of 1981, only two — the Portland Winter Hawks and Saskatoon Blades — wouldn’t undergo a change in ownership or location over the next 10 years.
But had you predicted the WHL would be as healthy and as stable as any league in existence just 10 years later, well, not many people wouldn’t have scoffed.
Hockey in the early 1980s was fighting to leave its fightin’ image behind.
The WHL was no different. The days of the Broad Street Bullies were coming to an end. Unfortunately for the WHL, it took some people longer than others to realize that.
BILL LaFORGE
For starters, the Regina Pats hired Bill LaForge as their head coach on May 20, 1981. At the time, he was under an OHL-imposed suspension that was to last until Jan. 1, 1982. LaForge, while with the Oshawa Generals, had become physically involved with Peterborough coach Dave Dryden and then with Petes player Doug Evans in a pregame brawl.
Neither the suspension nor LaForge’s reputation scared off Regina general manager Bob Strumm, who gave LaForge a two-year contract.
Of his OHL suspension, LaForge said: “I’ve never been suspended in 12 years of coaching and I have no intention of it ever happening again.”
Before the 1981-82 season ended, LaForge would be suspended three times. And he would also be in a Lethbridge courtroom, facing an assault charge.
RUSS FARWELL
At the same time, there were other changes that would mean a lot to this league as its history continued. For starters, Russ Farwell moved into
Calgary as the Wranglers assistant coach and assistant GM. He would later prove to be as astute as any hockey man who has ever sat behind a WHL desk.
An NHL team also became involved in the WHL at the ownership level. Peter Pocklington, the owner of the Edmonton Oilers, purchased the New Westminster franchise and moved it to Kamloops as the Junior Oilers.
Pocklington owned 70 per cent, with 35 shareholders holding the rest.
“They seem to be an enthusiastic group,” WHL president Ed Chynoweth said. “And a new building there in the future would be a plus for us. I know the franchise moved out of Kamloops in the past. But I think that was a case of people looking for greener pastures after seeing the success that was achieved in Portland.”
On Aug. 19, the WHL began shaping its office for the future when Richard Doerksen, the league statistician for three seasons who was named referee-in-chief midway in the 1980-81 season, was given the title of executive assistant.
There was an ugly incident in Medicine Hat on Oct. 14 when, during a bench-clearing brawl against the Lethbridge Broncos, Tigers general manager/coach Pat Ginnell got into it with linesman Gary Patzer. According to The Canadian Press, Ginnell “exchanged blows” with Patzer.
The next day, Medicine Hat RCMP laid an assault charge against Ginnell. One day later, Ginnell and Patzer were suspended indefinitely. Ginnell would later charge Patzer with assault, and both would plead not guilty. Ginnell eventually pleaded guilty and was fined $350, while the charge against Patzer was withdrawn by the Crown. Ginnell ended up serving a 36-game suspension.
There were serious problems in Spokane. And on Dec. 2, the WHL suspended the franchise. A proposed sale fell through and the 3-23-1 Flyers were done for the season.
One of the WHL’s great success stories began on Jan. 19, 1982, when, during meetings at the all-star game in Winnipeg, an expansion application from Prince Albert was accepted.
It was a sad night, March 23 was, in Regina. It was Fan Appreciation Night and by the time the ice chips cleared, the Pats and Calgary had done it up right. When the WHL office got through, the teams were hit with $1,250 in fines and 36 games in suspensions. Regina got 27 games and $1,000.
On April 8, it was revealed that Bill Zeitlin of Chicago, a minority owner with baseball’s White Sox, had bought the Billings Bighorns from Joe Sample for $300,000. Zeitlin promptly moved the team to Nanaimo.
Regina brawled its way into the WHL final, but not before LaForge landed in a Lethbridge courtroom.
LaForge became physically involved with Alfred Gurr, a fan, while players brawled on the ice during the first period of Game 1 of the East final.
LaForge was charged with assault causing bodily harm. Ultimately, LaForge was acquitted as the judge ruled it was hard to convict a person of assault for hitting “an obnoxious person trying to get into the coach’s area.”
Charges against the fan were dropped on June 22 when LaForge, the chief witness, didn’t appear in Lethbridge Provincial Court.
On April 29, Farwell was named GM of the Tigers and, just like that, the foundation was laid for back-to-back Memorial Cups.
Portland defeated visiting Regina 9-2, at home on May 2, to take the WHL final, 4-1. Regina was without Brent Pascal, Al Tuer and Dale Derkatch, who were suspended after a Game 4 brawl, the third time in the playoffs that the Pats were involved in a donnybrook.
Four days later, LaForge resigned. He later signed as GM/head coach in Kamloops.
Kelowna got into the league when Kelowna Sports Enterprises Ltd., headed up by Chris Parker, was sold an expansion franchise. Parker had operated the BCJHL’s Penticton Knights. The Wings named Marc Pezzin coach and Joe Arling GM. The Wings were bad — really bad. They were 1-26-2 at the Christmas break.
On June 22, the WHL approved the sale of the Wranglers to Wilf Richard and Jim Kerr from Pat Shimbashi and the Calgary Flames.
Regina landed defenceman Rick Herbert, 15, one of the most-wanted players in WHL history on Sept. 20, 1982, but it cost the Pats seven players. It happened during a draft that was held as teams cut their lists from 60 to 50 players. Regina traded Byron Lomow, Tim Brown and Kevin Pylypow to Kamloops for the draft’s third pick. Darryl Watts, Scott Wilson, Peter Hayden and Scott Gerla were given to Kelowna and the Wings agreed to pass on Herbert with the first pick. Due to draft rules, Prince Albert, with the second pick, couldn’t take Herbert. The Pats held pick No. 4.
Seattle picked up a 12-year-old from Thompson, Man., in that draft. His name? Glen Goodall.
On Oct. 18, the WHL admitted it had on file franchise applications from Moose Jaw, Edmonton, Red Deer and New Westminster. The Moose Jaw group included Lorne Humphreys, Bill Kelly, Jim Little, Barry Webster and Emmett Reidy. Other groups were headed by: Bill Burton and Ron Dixon, New Westminster; Vic Mah, Edmonton; and, Alf Cadman, Red Deer.
On Jan. 19, 1983, newspaper headlines everywhere read: Player swapped for bus.
Here’s what happened: The Seattle Breakers dealt the rights to left-winger Tom Martin to the Victoria Cougars for a used bus. “Actually, just the down payment,” said Breakers’ owner John Hamilton. “It might have been the best deal I ever made.”
At the time, Martin was playing at Denver University but said he wanted to play in his home town. The bus in question was purchased by the defunct Spokane Flyers from Trailways in 1981 for $60,000. The Flyers spent $15,000 on inside renovations. When that franchise folded, the Cougars bought the bus but it was sitting in the U.S., because Victoria was not prepared to pay customs, excise and sales taxes. Hamilton said he got the bus for Martin and $35,000.
Brandon owner Jack Brockest pulled the plug in March, selling the Wheat Kings to a group of local businessmen. “I simply, as an individual, could not have survived much longer,” said Brockest, who sold just four years after buying the franchise. Average attendance had fallen below the 1,500-mark.
Calgary lost out to Lethbridge in the East final, and Wranglers coach Doug Sauter resigned. He later signed with the AHL’s Springfield Indians.
Lethbridge went on to beat Portland in the WHL final. Both teams advanced to the Memorial Cup, the Winter Hawks getting in as host team. And, lo and behold, the Winter Hawks became the first host team to win the tournament.
On June 14, Bill Burton and Ron Dixon announced they had bought the Nanaimo franchise. They moved it to New Westminster. Yes, major junior hockey was back in Queen’s Park Arena.
On Aug. 28, Brandon traded centre Blaine Chrest to Portland for five players — centre Ray Ferraro, defenceman Brad Duggan, right-winger Derek Laxdal, and left-wingers Dave Thomlinson and Tony Horacek. Ferraro would set a WHL record with 108 goals and, in the process, may have saved the Brandon franchise.
As the 1983-84 season opened, it was revealed that a familiar face had returned to New Westminster. Bill Shinske was back as vice-president of operations.
Early in the season, Kamloops coach Bill LaForge, after beating Kelowna 7-5, said he was tired of facing little opposition: “It’s no fun taking two points off a team that gives you no resistance. They have no breakout, no forechecking, no system, nothing. The only adjustment you have to make is to duck.”
RAY FERRARO
Meanwhile, out east, Ferraro was having a glorious season. He scored his 50th goal in his 32nd game, the second fastest 50 goals in WHL history. Bill Derlago had 50 in 27 games with Brandon in 1977-78. “The trade was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Ferraro said. “I wasn’t going to play that much in Portland. At the start of the season, we wrote down our goals and I wanted to have 35 goals by Christmas.”
It was a Merry Christmas in Moose Jaw as it was announced that Moose Jaw Tier One Inc. had purchased the Winnipeg Warriors Hockey Club Inc., and that the franchise would move for the 1984-85 season. Winnipeg would go on to finish with a 9-63-0 record, losing its last game 14-1 to visiting Regina on March 21.
LES JACKSON
Brawls were few and far between, but there was one with a difference in Regina on March 7. Brandon GM Les Jackson was fined $1,000 and suspended indefinitely for leaving the press box and attacking Strumm, Regina’s GM/coach, at the Pats’ bench, all this while players were fighting on the ice.
“I just wanted to let him know that if the kids are going to fight, I’m going to stick up for the guys, too,” Jackson said.
On March 12, Ferraro became the first player in WHL history to score 100 goals in a season when he scored twice in an 11-9 victory over visiting Winnipeg.
Swift Current was hot on the heels of another franchise, this time offering $360,000 to the Edmonton Oilers for Kamloops. Local businessmen rode to the rescue and kept junior hockey in Kamloops.
The story in the playoffs had to do with the failure of the Pats. It’s doubtful any team has ever been so close to the Memorial Cup and then not made it. Regina was 12 seconds away from eliminating Kamloops in the sixth game of the final. But Dean Evason tied the game 3-3 at 19:48 of the third period in Kamloops and Ryan Stewart won it at 13:03 of overtime. One night later, the Oilers won 4-2 and were off to the Memorial Cup.
Brian Ekstrom, president of Oakwood Petroleum, headed a group that purchased the Wranglers from Jim Kerr for $300,000. Kerr bought the team from Shimbashi in 1982 but still owed $200,000 to the former owner. Ekstrom didn’t renew Marcel Comeau’s contract as coach (Comeau went to Saskatoon), and named Hank Bassen as GM and Sandy Hucul as coach.
Another franchise changed hands in late May when Dennis Kjeldgaard and Al Foder bought Lethbridge from Ross McKibbon of Taber.
And in mid-June, Sauter returned to the WHL, this time as head coach in Medicine Hat.
In Regina, Herb Pinder Jr. assumed controlling interest of the Pats.
Before the 1984-85 season started, LaForge left Kamloops for the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Kamloops dipped into the midget coaching ranks in Sherwood Park, Alta., and signed Ken Hitchcock.
GLEN GOODALL (Photo: Seattle Thunderbirds)
Goodall, just 14, played his first game with the Seattle Breakers on Oct. 10, 1984. It was a 12-3 loss in Regina. “My parents were here tonight,” Goodall said, “and they’ll follow us around on the rest of our eastern swing, and they might take a trip out to Seattle and I’ll see them at Christmas, so it won’t be too bad.”
As for his first game, he said: “I thought I played OK in the third period. When you’re down by a lot of goals, it’s hard to keep it up.”
He would play 399 regular season games by the time his career ended.
A rivalry was born on Nov. 13, 1984, when Moose Jaw scored its first victory over Regina, winning 6-4 in Moose Jaw. But referee Darren Loraas was forced to call the game with 26 seconds left.
“I was surprised and disappointed,” Moose Jaw head coach Graham James said. “I thought the league was past that. It’s not necessary to play like that. The whole thing was disgusting. If Bob (Strumm) really wants to do battle like that, let the generals do the fighting and let’s leave the troops on the bench. We’re trying to sell the game here and I don’t think this helps it.”
The Pats were fined $1,500 and hit with 21 games in suspension; Moose Jaw got $200 and four games.
The under-age draft was playing havoc in Portland, where the Winter Hawks were missing a few players. Here’s Portland co-owner/GM Brian Shaw: “We should have had 11 returning players this year from the team that won the Memorial Cup. We have one — John Kordic — and that’s through no fault of our own.” Ken Yaremchuk, Richard Kromm, Alfie Turcotte and Cam Neely were in the NHL, while five other players walked away from the game.
The Winter Hawks gained some publicity, too, when their policy on drug and alcohol use was revealed. Here’s Shaw, again: “Everybody says there’s drugs in sport and nobody does anything about it. We are trying to do something about it. We take urine tests approximately every two weeks, and we also take spot tests, to assure ourselves that there’s no alcohol or drug involvement.”
Shaw said parents were fully aware of all of this: “We sent them a letter saying: “For the benefit of your boy and our organization each boy takes a urine test.” If he wants to refuse to take the test, he can do it. Nobody refuses . . . why would they want to refuse?” And, according to Shaw, no parents objected.
On Dec. 3, Prince Albert, in its third season, moved into first place in the East for the first time. The Raiders got into the WHL for $100,000 and then paid $75,000 for what was left of Spokane’s player list. You see, when the dispersal draft of the Flyers was held on Dec. 3, 1981, WHL teams were allowed to select only players on the active roster. The Raiders, then, bought the list and got three future stars — centre Dan Hodgson, right-winger Dave Pasin and defenceman Manny Viveiros.
CLIFF RONNING
On Dec. 12, New Westminster’s Cliff Ronning set a WHL record with a goal in his 16th consecutive game, a 3-2 home-ice victory over Medicine Hat.
It was revealed in January that Seattle owner John Hamilton was having financial problems and — surprise, surprise — Swift Current made him an offer.
“When I got into the hockey business, I was $60,000 short of being a millionaire,” Hamilton said. “Now I’d take the $60,000.” He said he had lost $500,000 since getting involved in 1979.
Swift Current struck out, again, on Jan. 14 when the WHL board of governors, not wanting to lose a West Division team, voted against the sale of the Breakers.
Hallelujah! On Jan. 22, 1985, the WHL did away with round-robin series in the playoffs, choosing to go strictly with best-of-five/seven series in the East, and best-of-nines in the West.
Rumours involving Swift Current surfaced in late March when the Bank of Nova Scotia asked the Wheat Kings for a written financial plan. Swift Current would strike out again when three Brandon businessmen bought the team.
TERRY SIMPSON
The Raiders, 16-55-1 and last in their first season, were 41-29-2 and fifth the next season. In their third season, though, they went 58-11-3 and went on to win the WHL championship, sweeping Kamloops in the final.
“Winning the world championship was a thrill, but winning the WHL title is more satisfying,” said Terry Simpson, the Prince Albert GM/head coach who had led Canada to a world junior gold medal earlier in the year. The Raiders then won the Memorial Cup, cruising past the Shawinigan Cataractes 6-1 in the final game.
New Westminster beat Victoria 5-4 on March 22 and Ronning had four assists, giving him 197 points, one more than the WHL record set by Brandon’s Brian Propp in 1978-79.
In April, the WHL announced 12-year-olds were no longer eligible for its player lists. The league also decided to allow its teams to use three 20-year-olds, rather than two, in the 1985-86 season.
On April 2, the WHL took over the Seattle franchise, later selling it to Calgary businessman Earl Hale.
HERB PINDER JR.
The end of Pinder’s association with the Pats began on May 1 with a story in the Regina Leader-Post. The May 1 story began: “Regina Pats fans are going to have to dip into their pockets for an extra dollar to cover parking charges announced by the Pats’ landlord, the Regina Exhibition Association.”
Pinder said he was “very disappointed and very concerned” by the decision. “We’re disappointed because they made a policy and then came and told us after it was in place.”
On May 6, Strumm resigned as GM/head coach in Regina, ending a six-year association with the Pats. He later accepted an offer to join the Sudbury Wolves but changed his mind before leaving for the Ontario city.
And there was trouble brewing in Moose Jaw where James was offered a position as co-coach and assistant GM by general manager Barry Trapp. Here’s James: “The bottom line is they took away my head-coaching position and that is a breach of contract. I can’t work with Barry Trapp anymore.”
James resigned shortly thereafter, saying: “I didn’t quit as head coach. They took that away from me.” He later sued the Warriors for breach of contract, a suit that was settled before it got to court.
For the first time since the fall of 1975, the WHL was ready to open a season with the same teams that finished the previous season.
But before 1985-86 could begin Vic Fitzgerald, now the majority owner in Kelowna, moved to Spokane.
Pat Ginnell was back in the WHL, this time as head coach in New Westminster. On Sept. 11, in their first exhibition game, the Bruins brawled with Seattle in Chilliwack. Ginnell was suspended for five games and fined $500. He was also told that another bench-clearing incident would cost him 25 games and $2,500.
On Oct. 10, the WHL made half-visors mandatory for all players.
As the season began there were ominous signs in Regina. In 1984-85, there were only four (of 36) regular-season crowds under 2,000. In October of 1985, there had already been five crowds under that figure.
BILL HICKE
Regina businessman Bill Hicke, a former NHL and WHA player, admitted he almost bought the Pats in June for $450,000. But he said he wouldn’t pay that for the team in November with its apparent problems.
Hicke said the Pats were faring poorly at the gate because of poor marketing strategy and low season-ticket sales.
“I think the Pats have to get more aggressive in marketing,” he explained. “They don’t have enough people to do the marketing now. You have to go knocking on doors. I know, for a fact, that they’ve sold only 600 season tickets. I have three partners who would sell 500 season tickets apiece.”
On Nov. 21, John Chapman was fired as head coach in Lethbridge. He was in his sixth season with the Broncos. Earl Jessiman replaced him.
In New Westminster, there was a changing of the dinosaurs — Ginnell was out, replaced by Ernie McLean who said hockey has “gone too much European . . . and I don’t agree with it. I still believe in the Boston style of hockey.”
Things really started to happen in Regina in mid-December. First, GM/head coach Bill Moores confirmed that the Pats had informed their landlord, in writing, that they intended to vacate the Agridome by Jan. 6. By this stage, the team and the Regina Exhibition Association were embroiled in a messy lease negotiation, not the least of which concerned paid parking.
It was evident that Pinder intended to sell the franchise to Swift Current. Moores scheduled practice ice at various Regina arenas and made plans to move to Swift Current in mid-January.
On Dec. 30, Pinder ordered the postponement of the Pats’ first home game of 1986. Chynoweth agreed with the decision: “We thought it would be in the best interests of everyone to cancel the game until the situation is settled.”
But on Jan. 13 the WHL’s board of governors rejected Pinder’s sale of the Pats to Swift Current, choosing instead to purchase the franchise itself.
Hicke, still interested in buying the Pats, said he felt sorry for the people of Swift Current: “I believe down the line that Swift Current deserves a team, but they don’t deserve the oldest team in the league.”
By now, the Swift Current people had at one time or another tried to buy Winnipeg, Brandon, Kamloops, Kelowna, Seattle and Regina.
Ironically, on Jan. 14, about 12 hours after Pinder announced the sale of the Pats to the WHL, the exhibition association said it was dropping its controversial $1 parking fee for Pats games. Mike Kelly, REA general manager, explained: “We feel this is a positive step. While the Pats are in this transition period, we’d like to help out.”
To which Pinder responded: “I think the paid parking has ruined our business and I’ve had to relinquish our business.”
In late February, the WHL sold the Pats to four Regina businessmen — Hicke, Morley Gusway, Ted Knight and Jack Nicolle.
KEN HITCHCOCK (Photo: Kamloops Daily News)
Meanwhile, it was business as usual around the league. In Queen’s Park Arena, for example, Kamloops head coach Ken Hitchcock was seen, according to The Canadian Press, “holding a hand over his eye to mock New Westminster’s one-eyed mentor, Ernie McLean, while McLean brandished a sign depicting the heavy-set Hitchcock as a pig eating hotdogs.” They were later fined $250 each.
And still the Swift Current people weren’t done because on Feb. 23, 1986, Dennis Kjeldgaard revealed the Broncos were for sale.
Guess what! Yes, the WHL brought back the round-robin format, this time deciding that the East’s top six teams would play in a home-and-home round-robin with the top four teams moving on. This would prove to be a disaster, and last just one season.
On March 25, Chynoweth suffered a mild heart attack and was in intensive care in a Calgary hospital. He would return to work, on a part-time basis, early in May.
Finally, Swift Current was in. On April 11, the WHL returned to Swift Current when a group headed by Rittinger purchased the Broncos from Kjeldgaard and Foder.
And Strumm was back in the WHL, this time as the GM in Spokane. Chapman was back, too, as GM in Calgary.
But Lethbridge wasn’t done. By May 1, city officials had contacted Chynoweth, stating their desire for another franchise.
Swift Current moved quickly to get its organization moving. Rittinger announced on May 1 that James would be the club’s GM/head coach.
The WHL final featured Kamloops and Medicine Hat, the latter making the first of what would be three straight trips to the final. This time, Kamloops lost the opener and then won four straight, taking the last one 7-2 on May 5.
There wouldn’t be a WHL team in the Memorial Cup final — the OHL’s Guelph Platers beat the QMJHL’s Hull Olympiques, 6-2 — but Medicine Hat would solve that problem next season. And the season after that.
commissioner, says quitting isn’t one of them. . . .The QMJHL began its regular season on Oct. 2. By the time December is over, it will have postponed 161 of 253 scheduled games. . . . As Ken Campbell of The Hockey News wrote: “Like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who gradually has his limbs chopped off and insists they’re merely flesh wounds, the QMJHL vows to forge on.” . . . As things now sit, the QMJHL players are going home for Christmas, then will return to their teams on Jan. 3. If travel is allowed in the four provinces in which the QMJHL has franchises, the teams will resume playing on Jan. 6, but in empty arenas. The other option is to play in a bubble — or, as Courteau calls them, “protected environments.” That type of resumption would begin on Jan. 22. . . . So could the WHL or OHL end up in some kind of bubble environment? Well, the WHL, which has said it will open its regular season on Jan. 8, apparently is on the verge of shifting that date into February. The OHL is aiming for Feb. 4. . . . According to John Shannon in the above tweet, the WHL pooh-bahs were to meet on Tuesday. . . . Of course, as Campbell points out, the QMJHL is playing to a certain extent, with taxpayers’ money. “It’s much easier to stem those wounds when you have $20 million in taxpayer money propping up your business,” Campbell wrote in a piece that is 
Sasakamoose, who would have turned 86 on Christmas Eve, played four seasons (1956-60) with the Kamloops Chiefs of the long gone Okanagan Senior Hockey League. This came after his 11-game stint with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks (1953-54) and time with the New Westminster Royals, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Calgary Stampeders.
hour west of Calgary.
Ronge Ice Wolves and he hasn’t changed — he still shoots from the hip, and good for him.
Schulze of northeastNOW, referring to the 2019-20 season’s premature end. “Right now, with all the restrictions in place and protocols we followed, we were told we did nothing wrong. There’s not one case from hockey transmission within the SJHL. We have our guys following all the protocols, basically putting their social life on hold, just to get through this and make it work, and we get shut down even when we’ve done everything right. Yet, other things are able to stay open.
Meanwhile, Jason Tatarnic, the general manager and head coach of the Estevan Bruins, was on The Rod Pedersen Show on Thursday, and he was pretty much echoing Johnson, wondering why junior hockey gets shut down while people are still allowed to go to casinos and stores.
season. Earlier, the league had said that it hoped to begin on Jan. 15. . . . From a news release: “League organizers worked closely with BC Hockey and member schools in pursuing a shortened season, but with recent restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BCIHL made the decision to cancel official competition until the start of the 2021-22 season.” . . . Chris Munshaw, the BCIHL president, said: “It’s not a decision we took lightly. Many of our coaches, staff, and volunteers have been with the league since it began in 2005. More importantly, this has a big impact on the lives of our student-athletes.” . . . Also from the release: “The BCIHL’s decision does not prevent member teams from pursuing exhibition games or tournaments within the guidelines allowed by their institutions, facilities and the provincial government.” . . . The last paragraph of the release indicated that the BCIHL is continuing to prepare for a “full” 2021-22 season, “including the pursuit of league expansion.”
Broncos and Golden West Radio learned that they couldn’t live without each other. . . . The Broncos and Golden West have announced a deal that will put the play-by-play of the “majority” of the team’s games in the approaching season on the Eagle 94.1. . . . Craig Beauchemin will handle the play-by-play. . . . The parties weren’t able to reach an agreement prior to the 2019-20 season so the Broncos took their broadcasts online. . . . The WHL is hoping to start its next season on Jan. 8.
TAKING NOTE 