Scattershooting on a Sunday night while wondering if J.B. Books was John Wayne’s best role . . .

Scattershooting

Darcy Haugan was the head coach of the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos when he was killed in the accident involving their bus. Before coaching the Broncos, he was with the junior B North Peace Navigators. . . . On Oct. 10, the people of Peace River will gather at the Baytex Centre for the unveiling of the Darcy Haugan Memorial Statue. . . . It all starts at 2 p.m. . . . Albert Cooper, the Navigators’ president, told Gordon Anderson of Peace River Record Gazette that Darcy “was a man who was motivated be three things: his faith, his family and his friends. Included in those friends were all the kids that he coached. He wasn’t an extraordinary man, he was an ordinary man who did exceptional things and that’s what we want to honour. He touched the lives of so many kids in a very positive way, and not just in terms of hockey, but in life and how to live life. We think that’s worth honouring.” . . . Anderson complete story is right here.

Zeuss

You should know that there’s another Manning in football’s pipeline. Arch Manning threw five TD passes and ran for another in his sophomore season debut with Isidore Newman, a New Orleans high school, on Thursday. He would have had six TD passes but for a couple of end zone drops. Arch is Cooper Manning’s son, so is a nephew to Peyton and Eli, and Archie’s grandson. In his playing days, Cooper was an outstanding wide receiver at Newman but had his career ended by a spinal condition. . . . There’s more on this story right here.

By now, you likely have seen footage of whatever that was the Tampa Bay Lightning were doing to celebrate upon their return to Florida the other day. Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun saw it, too, and, as he points out right here, that party was “a perfect example of how not to mark the moment during a pandemic.”

Headline at TheOnion.com: Coronavirus Assumed White House Would Be Bigger in Person

Would you pay $25 to watch a junior A exhibition hockey game? The AJHL’s Olds Grizzlys will be at home on Oct. 10. Attendance will be limited to 100 spectators, each of whom will be charged $25. Parents and billets get first crack at tickets, then sponsors, and then the general public. . . . Doors will open 15 minutes before game time. No concession stands will be open. Facemasks must be worn at all times and social distancing will be enforced. . . . Welcome to the new normal.

The QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders, who are scheduled to play their first home game on Oct, 23, averaged 2,700 fans per game last season. They have the OK to allow fans in games this season, but don’t yet know how many the social-distancing configuration will allow. Team president Craig Foster told CBC that “the number’s going to less than half of” last season’s average. Foster also said that the financial cost is going to be large. . . . Kevin Yarr of CBC has more right here.

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

Positive tests on both teams meant the NFL had to postpone Sunday’s game that was to have featured the host Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. QB Cam Newton of the Patriots is reported to have tested positive, as did QB Jordan Ta’amu of the Chiefs. Ta’amu spent the week’s practices playing Newton against the Chiefs’ defence. . . . The game has been rescheduled for tonight (Monday). . . .

The Tennessee Titans had two more positives tests on Saturday and two more on Sunday, meaning they have had 10 players and 10 staff members come up positive. Their scheduled Sunday game with the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed and now there are reports that their Week 5 game against the visiting Buffalo Bills may need to be moved, too. . . .

The Greater Toronto Hockey League announced Saturday “that all sanctioned activities within its jurisdiction are postponed until at least Jan. 2, 2021, pending further advice from health authorities.” . . . The GTHL is the largest minor hockey league in the world, with more than 40,000 players in Makham, Mississauga, Toronto and Vaughan. . . .

The German DEL announced on Friday that it has postponed the start of its 2020-21 season. It had hoped to open the regular season on Nov. 13, but now is aiming for the second week in December. . . . At the moment, teams would be allowed to operate with attendance at 20 per cent of capacity, and the league says that’s not financially viable. . . .

Jay Johnstone, a former major league outfielder who won two World Series titles, died on Sept. 26 in Los Angeles. He was 74. Johnstone, who won titles with the New York Yankees (1978) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1981), died of complications from COVID-19. . . . Having lived with dementia for the past few years, he had been in a nursing home. . . . For more on one of MLB’s great pranksters, click right here.

Bank

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Let us take a moment and wish Steve Nash well as he prepares for his first NBA head-coaching gig with the Brooklyn Nets. If you missed it, here is Kyrie Irving of the Nets during an appearance on teammate Kevin Durant’s podcast: “I don’t really see us having a head coach. KD could be a head coach, I could be a head coach. . . . Steve is great, and I have a relationship with him that’s going to build over time, (but) Steve don’t know me from anything he heard. . . . We don’t need someone to come in with their coaching philosophy and change everything we’re doing.”

Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “One word of advice for Steve Nash: Rent. Three-word evaluation of the situation: Tick. Tick. Tick.”

JUST NOTES: If you aren’t aware, Kelly Olynyk, the pride of Kamloops, has become a factor in the NBA final. In Games 2 and 3, he totalled 41 points and 16 rebounds in 68 minutes 20 seconds of playing time. His Miami Heat trail the Los Angeles Lakers, 2-1, in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 on Tuesday. . . . ESPN has two baseball analysts — Jessica Mendosa and Rick Sutcliffe — who talk and talk and talk and talk as they repeatedly tell the viewer what he/she just saw and constantly restate the obvious. So, yes, why not put both of them on the same playoff crew covering the first-round series between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres? . . . What does it say about where the U.S. is as a nation when the President tweets that he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19 and people don’t know whether to believe him or any of his spokespeople?

FireDept

The big coverup: Wear a mask! . . . White Sox’ fan comes to the rescue . . . Robot removes two kidneys, inserts one

Zach16

Bridgett Kolls is a fan of the Chicago Cubs. Kolls, 23, also needed a new kidney.

Thomas Alessio, 32, is a fan of the Chicago White Sox, so you wouldn’t think that this would be a match made in transplant heaven. Right.

Well, you would be wrong.

In May 2019, Kolls went to a Cubs game and took along a poster on which was printed “This li’l Cubs fan needs a kidney” and a phone number.

The Cubs’ social media team took her photo and put it on Twitter, which is where Alessio saw it.

The rest, as they say, is transplant history.

Genevieve Bookwalter of the Chicago Tribune has the complete story right here. It’s a great read, especially if you are in need of a transplant or are thinking of being a live donor.

Vic2

There have been a couple of really interesting developments of late in the world of kidney transplants. . . . Surgeons at the University of Illinois Hospital-Chicago have performed what a news release describes as “the world’s first robotic-assisted double-kidney removal followed immediately by a living-donor kidney transplant in a patient with severe polycystic kidney disease.” The surgery was performed on Christopher Adamsick, 50, of Yorkville, Ill., who had both of his diseased kidneys removed and a donor kidney transplanted. . . . Dr. Pier Giulianotti, the lead surgeon, called it “a first-of-its-kind procedure that normally requires open, invasive surgery and a very large incision.” . . . That story is right here.

Meanwhile, in the Nevada desert, two September drone flights successfully delivered human organs for transplant. . . . Yahoo News reports that “one of the flights was the longest organ delivery flight on an unmanned aircraft ever.” . . . One drone flight delivered corneas, with the other moving a kidney. . . . If you are interested in how this all was put together and how the flights went, there are photos and more right here.

juliescreengrab

Mike

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Will OHL ban fighting and body-checking? . . . Some Toronto-area minor hockey groups shut down for season . . . Warriors reviewing the future of primary logo

Rick Westhead of TSN spoke with Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s sport minister, on Thursday. That conversation led to these tweets from Westhead . . .

1. The Ontario Hockey League may have to ban fighting and even body-checking ohlas a condition of resuming games, provincial sport minister Lisa MacLeod told me in an interview. (The OHL has said it hopes to open training camps in mid-Nov and begin its regular season Dec. 1.)

2. MacLeod: “The fact is that you can’t have physical contact right now. . . . We certainly will not be allowing people to be body-checking at the moment. We are trying to contain a healthcare crisis.”

3. MacLeod said the OHL has said that U.S.-based OHL teams will either relocate to Ontario for the season to avoid cross-border travel or they will remain in the U.S. and only play other American-based teams.

4. I asked whether spectators would be allowed at OHL games. MacLeod: “I don’t see that happening at the moment. . . . The last thing we want is to open and then have unintended consequences that put the safety and well-being of the athletes, spectators . . . and others at risk.”

5. MacLeod said the OHL & government are talking about a pandemic aid package but the OHL has not made a specific ask.

MacLeod also said the government still hasn’t heard a proposal from the OHL about how often the league would like to test players for Covid-19.

Batteries

TSN’s Rick Westhead also spoke with a couple of doctors, both of whom are wondering about the wisdom of playing hockey in these pandemic times.

After speaking with Dr. Andrew Morris, an infectious disease specialist, Westhead tweeted: “Dr. Andrew Morris (@ASPphysician) says it’s a bad idea to even contemplate major junior hockey right now. Ontario has an 85K test backlog. Some sick people, he says, aren’t being tested b/c they won’t line up for 5-6 hours.”

Dr. Morris told Westhead: “The numbers are going in the wrong direction fast.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Isaac Bogoch (@BogochIsaac), an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, told Westhead that he spoke with Toronto-area minor hockey leagues on a Sept. 24 conference call and recommended a shutdown for the 2020-21 season. “I’d be very hesitant to play,” Dr. Bogoch told Westhead. “Who do these players go home to and what’s the ripple effect this could have?”

The East York Hockey Association, with more than 800 minor hockey players, announced Monday that it was shutting down for the season.

“How would I feel, Lord forbid, if someone came into our organization, contracted this virus, took it home and their grandparent . . . gets it and dies?” Connie Mitchell, the association’s president, told Sean Fitz-Gerald of The Athletic. “How would I live with myself?”

Fitz-Gerald added: “East York announced it was cancelling its season on Monday, just a week after it opened registration to returning players. It became the second GTHL-sanctioned association to close because of COVID-19, following Amesbury/Bert Robinson Minor Hockey League. (Swansea Hockey Association, which is not part of the GTHL, has also ceased operations for the season.)”

Fitz-Gerald’s story is right here.

So . . . you think you’ve got a gambling problem! Well, consider the bettor who picked the New York Giants to cover what was a four-point spread on Sunday. He put down $500,000. The visiting San Francisco 49ers won, 36-9. . . . Meanwhile, with the 49ers missing nine injured starters, someone bet that Giants QB Daniel Jones would throw for more than 244.5 yards. Uhh, no. He finished with 179, and there went another $500,000. . . . Both bets were placed with the DraftKings Sportsbook; a spokesperson wouldn’t tell the Action Network whether both bets were placed by the same person. . . . Now you can go back to that $2 scratch-and-win crossword.

Lastcall

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

With the Tennessee Titans having reported 11 positive tests, including five players, the NFL has postponed their scheduled Sunday game against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers until sometime later in the season. Prior to two more positive tests revealed Thursday, including one player, the league had hoped to play the game Monday or Tuesday. . . . The Minnesota Vikings, who lost to the visiting Titans on Sunday, hadn’t had any positives through Wednesday tests and reopened their facilities on Thursday. . . .

Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported that the bus driver who “drove the Titans last weekend in Minnesota also drove MLB’s Houston Astros on their trip for a playoff series this week against the Twins, per sources. After the Titans’ COVID-19 outbreak surfaced, the Astros removed the driver.” . . .

The MLS has postponed a game between the visiting Colorado Rapids and Portland Timbermen that was scheduled for Saturday. The move comes after the Rapids had two players and one staff member test positive. . . . The game now is scheduled to be played on Nov. 4. . . . The Rapids haven’t trained since Sept. 24 when the organization first experienced positive tests. . . .

The U of Hawaii has suspended training activities for its teams in football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball. The decision was made after four football players tested positive. The football team had started its fifth practice when it was halted because of the positive tests.

——

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Geoff Grimwood has resigned as general manager and head coach of the BCHL’s CowichanCowichan Capitals. . . . A news release from the team included this quote from Grimwood: “Effective today I have resigned my position of GM/head coach over ethical and philosophical differences with ownership. I have certain values that guide how I coach. I no longer felt comfortable continuing in this situation.” . . . Brian Passmore, the Capitals’ coach in 2017-18, has been named interim GM/head coach. . . . Grimwood didn’t get to coach even one regular-season with the Capitals. He was signed to what the team said was a “multi-year contract” on May 4. . . . In recent seasons, Grimwood has been on staff with the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers, the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors and the MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders and Winkler Flyers. . . . He was hired by the Capitals to replace Mike Vandekamp, who now is with the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm.

JUST NOTES: Darryl Plandowski is the new director of amateur scouting for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. He is coming off 12 seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, most recently as assistant director of amateur scouting. He has some WHL history, having spent six seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds, four as a scout and two as an assistant coach. . . . Judging by Thursday’s loss to the visiting Denver Broncos, the NFL’s New York Jets are most fortunate that fans aren’t allowed into their home games.

Dwarfs

Lots of food for thought in losses by Broncos and Warriors . . . QMJHL increases penalties for fighting at government request . . . Mustangs cleared for return to ice

Four of the WHL’s 22 teams are publicly owned and, as such, are obligated to hold annual general meetings and to release their financial statements.

Two of those teams — the Moose Jaw Warriors and Swift Current Broncos — whlannounced combined losses of more than $1 million on Tuesday night, something that should have set off alarm bells among fans hoping for some kind of 2020-21 season.

Moose Jaw finished the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season in last place in the East Division, while Swift Current was in the cellar of the Central Division. So neither team was in line to reap the rewards that come with qualifying for the playoffs.

The Broncos, whose average attendance dropped 444 from the previous season, lost $791,000, ending a run of six straight seasons in which they had shown a profit. Season-ticket sales were down 345, which is a big number for a team that plays in a 2,879-seat facility.

The Warriors, with their attendance down 366 per game, lost $391,299, running their two-season deficit to $556,444.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Randy Palmer of moosejawtoday.com reported that the team attributed $282,286 of its deficit  to “pandemic-related lost revenues.”

The Warriors also had to pay $180,846 as its share of the settlement of a $30-MooseJawWarriorsmillion class-action lawsuit, although that settlement has yet to be approved by the court. Still, assuming that it is, each of the WHL’s Canadian teams will be on the hook for that amount.

The Warriors, Palmer reported right here, still have $610,653 in the bank, but they did defer their annual $200,000 payment that is part of their commitment to the Multiplex. They have two payments left in a 10-year pledge.

It’s worth mentioning, too, that the Warriors Booster Club raised $238,771 in 2019-20.

The Warriors, like all WHL teams, are going to have a different organizational look whenever it is that play resumes. As club president Chad Taylor told Palmer: “We’ll need the help of the community when we get going again and hockey will look different — our staff will look different, we’ll be leaner — but that is the times and we’ll make it work.”

The Broncos, meanwhile, also will be leaner. These days, Dean Brockman, the SCBroncosdirector of hockey operations and head coach, is the only employee working on the hockey side of things, with Nathan MacDonald and Ryan Stricker on the business side. Their retail store — The Stable — is open and management has authorized 10 paid hours per week for communications.

Trent McLeary, a former Broncos player who now is chairman of the team’s board of directors, said after the AGM that “it’s a fight to survive,” stating that it will take the franchise years to recover from the loss.

“It’s like how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” McLeary told Steven Mah of the Southwest Booster. “We don’t think we have to make this up in one year . . . so there’s lots of challenges, lots of things that are going to challenge us as an organization, as a community. But we’re not the only ones, you look at baseball, you look at soccer, you look at everything.”

(Mah’s story is right here.)

The WHL’s two other publicly owned teams — the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Prince Albert Raiders — have yet to hold their annual general meetings.

The Raiders’ meeting is scheduled for Oct. 7. Following the 2018-19 season, one Raiders50in which they won the WHL championship, they announced a profit of $633,314. In the previous five seasons, they had shown losses totalling $806,571 in four of them; the exception being a profit of $3,892 in 2015-16.

When the 2019-20 season was halted, the Raiders were 36-18-10 and had clinched first place in the East Division. They had two home games remaining and may well have had a deep playoff run in their future. Their average attendance also was up 27 over the previous season, meaning the championship love affair in that city still was in full bloom.

The Hurricanes have said they will hold their AGM on a November date that Lethbridgehasn’t yet been announced.

They are coming off four straight profit-making seasons. Last season’s profit of $282,168 allowed the four-season total to grow to $1,639,321. (Don’t forget, though, that they had losses totalling more than $1.25 million in the previous five seasons.)

When the 2019-20 season ended, Lethbridge was 37-19-7 and third in the Central Division. Its attendance was down one fan per game, to 3,970, over 2018-19. Still, it lost three home dates to the cancellation, and who knows how many playoff games were in its future?

The Hurricanes pay the City of Lethbridge an annual maintenance fee of $166,667 for their home arena, the Enmax Centre. Last month, the Hurricanes and the City agreed to a one-year deferment of that payment, in the process adding a year to the arena lease that now runs through 2029-30. The Hurricanes asked for the deferment, citing revenues lost to the pandemic.

We will find out in November just how much they lost.

I would suggest that the four publicly owned franchises are far from being the WHL’s biggest spenders. Of course, the privately owned teams don’t have to share their numbers with the public. But judging by what the Broncos and Warriors reported, and what is surely to come from the Hurricanes and Raiders, you have to think there is some major pain being felt.

And that’s why the WHL can’t afford to start a season without being able to operate at less than 50 per cent capacity in its arenas. The losses from a season played without restrictions, albeit a shortened one, were large. Losses from a season played without fans in the stands would be mind-numbing.

Pic

Here, in summation, is what I believe has happened with the QMJHL and qmjhlnewfighting. . . . The league approached the government and asked for $20 million in subsidies to help its 12 Quebec-based team get through the pandemic. . . . Isabelle Charest, a former Olympic speed skater who is the junior education minister, suggested the league needed to do more to eliminate fighting. . . . On Wednesday, the QMJHL’s board of governors voted to slap a fighter with a major and a misconduct, meaning that player would have to sit out 15 minutes. A player also would face a one-game suspension after accumulating three fights, with more time off for each fight after that. . . . Here is the QMJHL’s Rule 47: “All players involved in a fight will now be assessed a misconduct penalty (duration of 10 minutes) which will be added to the major penalty (five minutes), except if a player involved is considered an instigator or an aggressor. An automatic one-game suspension will be assessed after the third fight, and for any additional fight.” . . . There is a chart right here that explains all possible situations. . . . I guess we can assume the QMJHL now is awaiting an etransfer from the government.

Flushot

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

The SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs said Wednesday that they have been “approved to resume our training hockey-related activities.” Things had been on hold since Sept. 25 when one of their players tested positive. . . . According to the Mustangs, all tests “administered . . . this week have come back negative and there is no risk of the spread of the virus.: . . .

The Tennessee Titans have a reported nine positive tests in their organization, and the NFL has said their game against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers that had been scheduled for Sunday will be played Monday or Tuesday. . . . The Titans have halted football-related activities until at least Saturday. . . . The Minnesota Vikings, who played the visiting Titans on Sunday, haven’t had any positives. They should return to their practice facility today (Thursday). . . .

The CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are forecasting a $10-million loss, revealed Wednesday that they have terminated some employees and laid off others in both business and football operations. . . . In a statement, the team said it “had to make significant adjustments to our workforce including temporary and permanent layoffs in both the Business Operations and Football Operations.” . . . Matt Lowry, a content provider with the team for four years, tweeted that he had been laid off, and added: “There’s too many awesome co-workers to thank, but you know who you are, and you’ll hear from me. And please WEAR A MASK so we can all enjoy the 2021 CFL season from wherever you may be.” . . .

The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group is in the process of terminating 40 per cent of its staff at TD Place. The arena and stadium are home to the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks, both of which are owned by OSEG. However, staff from those teams weren’t included in the terminations. . . .

MLB announced Wednesday that it will allow about 11,500 fans into NLCS and World Series games at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Fans haven’t been allowed into MLB games since spring training. . . . Face masks will be mandatory and, according to MLB, “No seats will be sold within 20 feet of where a player can be located on the field, in the dugouts or in the bullpen.” . . . Some numbers from Deadspin’s Jesse Spector: “In September, there were 6,913 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tarrant County, Texas, including 447 reported on Wednesday, the final day of the month. That brings the cumulative tally for the county to 46,527 people stricken by coronavirus, with 721 dead from the pandemic.”

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

JUST NOTES: Steve Hogle, who spent six seasons as president of the Saskatoon Blades, has been hired as the general manager of Hockey Edmonton. Hogle is from Edmonton and played minor hockey there. Before joining the Blades, he was with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers as vice-president of communications and broadcasting. He replaces the retiring Dean Hengel with Hockey Edmonton. . . . The Minnesota Twins, who were eliminated from the American League playoffs yesterday, have lost 18 straight post-season games, going back to 2004. Since then, the Houston Astros, who finished off the Twins, have won 43 playoff games. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has a good look at Al Murray, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s assistant GM and director of amateur scouting, right here. It’s well worth your time.

Books

WHL: Broncos drop $791,000, while Warriors’ losses hit $391,299 . . . Virus finds an NFL team . . . Smith leaves Tigers for Chiefs

The Swift Current Broncos had a tough go of it on the ice last season, putting up a record of 10-48-5.

Things were just as bad in the accounting ledger as the WHL team announced a loss SCBroncosof $791,000 at its annual general meeting on Tuesday night. One year earlier, after a 2018-19 season in which it was 11-51-6, the team announced a profit of $38,196.

After last night’s AGM, the team explained in a statement: “The financial results for (the) season were severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the settlement of a CHL-wide class-action lawsuit, an accounting revaluation of the education scholarship liability, and several unexpected reductions in key supplementary revenue streams, amounting to over $470,000 of additional losses for the season.”

The Broncos’ news release is right here.

——

Meanwhile, the Moose Jaw Warriors announced a 2019-20 loss of $391,299 at MooseJawWarriorstheir AGM, which also was held on Tuesday night. One year earlier, the team announced a loss of $165,145 for 2018-19.

“In total,” wrote Corey Atkinson of discovermoosejaw.com, “the Warriors lost $391,299 on the season, handing over $282,286 in lost revenues due to COVID and their share of a lawsuit assessment — $180,846 — against the Canadian Hockey League in May.”

Atkinson also reported: “The Warriors have trimmed staff and have been able to get some pay decreases to try to minimize the impact. They’re also taken a deferral of the commitment they made annually to the multiplex — a $200,000 commitment for this season. They pledged $2.5 million in 2011-12 for the building, and have been able to come through on $2.1 million of that over the last 10 years.”

The Warriors finished last in the six-team East Division, at 14-44-4. They lost three home dates to the pandemic, and averaged 2,981 fans for 31 games. That was down from 2018-19 when the average for 34 games was 3,347.

Atkinson also reported that “regular-season receipts were down from $1,661,649 last (season) to $1,356,766.”

Atkinson’s story is right here.

AlMurray
Al Murray and his wife, Lori, celebrated the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup victory with a Tuesday morning walk in Regina. (Photo: Murray McCormick/Facebook)

So . . . you’re Al Murray and you have been with the Tampa Bay Lightning for 10 NHL seasons. You are the assistant general manager/director of amateur scouting, so you have had a lot to do with the construction of the team’s roster. . . . You’re Al Murray and your team won the Stanley Cup on Monday night in Edmonton, while you watched from your home in Regina. So what did you do on Tuesday morning? . . . You went for a walk, that’s what. . . . Murray McCormick of the Regina Leader-Post was out for a morning stroll when he encountered Murray and his wife, Lori. Yes, they both were smiling. . . .

You should know that Al Murray isn’t a stranger to winning. In three years as Hockey Canada’s head scout, his teams won two World Junior titles, one at the IIHF U-18 championship, and three Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament titles. . . . I first met him when he was the head coach of the U of Regina Cougars men’s team, a position he held from 1985-88. Sheesh, Al, that was a long time ago!

A note from the Monday posting by Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon:

“Dr. Harry Edwards is a noted sociologist who has spent a long time as an observer and a critic of sports as they impact Black athletes’ lives. Over the weekend, I ran across a Tweet from him related to the decision by the PAC-12 schools to reverse course and play football this fall:

“ ‘For PAC12 programs to use ‘our student-athletes want to play’ as a PRINCIPAL reason for restarting football/fall sports programs while soft-peddling COVID risks to athletes, denying MONEY considerations significantly driving this decision is disingenuous, delusional,& dangerous.’ ”

Two

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

The NHL announced on Monday that it had completed a ninth week of bubble play without any positive tests. There were 773 tests done from Sept. 20-26. All told, there were 33,174 tests to players and club personnel while the playoffs were conducted in the Edmonton bubble. . . . Of course, the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup last night in Edmonton, securing a six-game victory over the Dallas Stars with a 2-0 victory in Game 6. . . . The NHL deserves straight As for getting through these playoffs in two bubble cities — Toronto being the other one — without any positive tests. . . .

The Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings played an NFL game in Minneapolis on Sunday. On Tuesday, the Titans announced eight positive tests — three players and five other employees — and shut things down until at least Saturday. The Vikings have closed their practice facility pending further test results. . . . The NFL also is doing daily testing and monitoring of on-field officials from Sunday’s game. That crew won’t work in Week 4. . . . This all started on Saturday when Titans LB Shane Bowen tested positive and didn’t make the trip to Minneapolis. All other Tennessee players, coaches and staff were negative on Saturday. . . . The Titans are scheduled to meet the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, while the Vikings at to travel to Houston to meet the Texans. . . .

The 2020 Spengler Cup has been cancelled. The tournament, held annually in Davos, Switzerland, had been scheduled to run from Dec. 26-31. . . .

The five-school Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference has cancelled its 2020 soccer season. The decision was made as Winnipeg shifted to a Code Orange response to the pandemic. . . .

After cancelling Saturday’s football game against host Wake Forest because of seven positive tests, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish revealed that they now have 18 positives. . . . All told, there are 25 players in isolation and another 14 in quarantine. . . . Notre Dame’s next scheduled game is Oct. 10 against visiting Florida State. . . .

The KHL has cancelled its all-star game and the week long festivities that accompany it. The party was to have been held in Riga, Latvia, in January.

Blake Anderson, the head football coach at Arkansas State, has admitted to testing positive after the Red Wolves beat host Kansas State on Sept. 12. That likely is no surprise because the Red Wolves have had to postpone their last two games because of positive tests and contact tracing. . . .

Central Arkansas is to play North Dakota State in Fargo on Saturday. NDSU was going to allow more than 8,000 fans into the game, this despite numbers rising in the area and the state having suggested a cap of 250 fans at indoor events. The Fargodome seats 18,700 for football. . . . On Tuesday, however, the school changed plans and will allow only the families of players to watch from the stands.

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Phone

Ryan Smith has left the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, where he was an assistant coach, to join the Spokane Chiefs as associate coach. . . . In Spokane, Smith will work alongside Adam Maglio, who was promoted to head coach to replace Manny Viveiros, who has joined the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights as head coach their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. . . . Smith is coming off two seasons with the Tigers after spending three on the Swift Current Broncos’ coaching staff.

I haven’t seen an announcement from either team — although perhaps I missed it — but Gary Aubin appears to have moved on from the Swift Current Broncos and landed with the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Aubin, from St. Albert, Alta., had been the Broncos’ director of player personnel since July 18, 2018; in fact, he guided them through the 2020 WHL bantam draft. Before joining the Broncos, he spent 11 seasons on the Spokane Chiefs’ scouting staff and before that he worked with the Kamloops Blazers for 15 years. . . . Now he is listed on the Rockets’ website as a member of their scouting staff.

JUST NOTES: Hey, NFL, it’s time to do away with kickoffs. Just spot the ball at the 25 and carry on. . . . I don’t know about you, but I really, really miss the CFL. . . . QB Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs looks like a man playing in a city’s minor football program. . . . Two WHLers — F Lukas Svejkovsky of the Medicine Hat Tigers and G Dustin Wolf of the Everett Silvertips — are among the 39 players invited to USA Hockey’s national junior team evaluation camp. That camp, which will be closed to fans, media and scouts, is scheduled for Oct. 8-13 in Plymouth, Mich. . . . The USHL has released its 2020-21 regular-season schedule. It calls for each of its 14 teams to play 54 games in what the league called a “regionally based schedule.” The regular season is to end on April 24. The USHL also said that its teams “are working with health and government officials regarding spectator policies. Each team will develop its own plan for spectators based on local and state guidelines.” . . . I don’t know about you, but rather than watch last night’s debate, I spent the evening with Statler and Waldorf.

Keys

Mondays With Murray: Does the Man Bleed?

On Sept. 28, 1976, Muhammad Ali met Norton in the ring at Yankee Stadium for their third fight.

Ali had taken the heavyweight title from George Foreman two years earlier in Zaire at the Rumble in the Jungle. Norton, the one major contender left, had beaten Ali in San Diego in 1973, but Ali had beaten him in the rematch later that year. The fight in Yankee Stadium was to settle it all and this time the heavyweight belt was on the table.

Jim Murray was in New York for the bout and what follows was his preview of the fight that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on the same day as the fight, which Ali won in a 15-round decision.

Enjoy!

——

September 28, 1976, SPORTS

Copyright 1976/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

Does the Man Bleed?

  NEW YORK — Anyone who has ever been to Stillman’s Gym, a Warner Bros. movie or the old St. Nick’s Arena on a Saturday night knows what a fighter looks like who has had more than 200 fights, amateur and professional, has been floored, won and lost his title, had his jaw broke and had to turn to wrestling to hustle a buck.

  First of all, there’s all that scar tissue, right? The nose looks like a pancake. mondaysmurray2There’s that nervous twitch. He walks on the balls of his feet as if the earth were a pitching ship on a storm-tossed sea.

  When he speaks, which he does in a laryngitic whisper, the voice sounds like someone being strangled or trying to talk with an arrow through his Adam’s apple.

   If someone starts to count to 10, he’ll get out of bed in a sound sleep and begin punching the air. If someone rings a bell, he’ll attack a lamp pole. Red Skelton can do him to a T. His brains are scrambled eggs, his eyes are slits, his lips permanently swollen. He tries to pay no attention to the flock of birds constantly flying over his head. He talks through his nose because that’s the only thing left with an opening.

  You often find him outside the Garden wearing dark glasses and selling a cup of pencils. He’s Mountain Rivera in “Requiem For a Heavyweight.” He’s Marlon Brando in “On The Waterfront” telling Rod Steiger, “I cudda been a contender,” only it come out “cuttehah” because he has a permanent cold in the hose from right hooks and hasn’t been able to pronounce an “n” in years.

  He may be shining somebody else’s shoes in a golf club in Georgia or at an airport in Texas. He’s broke. Some dame in high-heeled shoes some place has got his money. She only got what some mob guy in a gray hat and cigar didn’t take first.

  He is the victim of countless industrial accidents but the state unemployment doesn’t take care of him. Nobody takes care of him. A hundred guys were around lighting his cigars when the champagne was flowing and the parties went on till dawn. They cross the street now when they see him coming. When he dies, a stranger will find him. His last companion will be a bottle of muscatel.

  Let me now present to you a real-life pug who has been trading left hooks with the world for more than 18 years, 16 of them as a professional.

  For Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Marcellus Clay, the cruel world of fistiana, the shatterer of dreams, the maker of human flotsam has been Camelot.

  Look at the eyes. Not a mark on them. The nose. It’s downright pretty. No one knows if he bleeds. He never has.

  Listen to him talk. It’s hard not to. Nothing wrong with that Adam’s apple. It’s a melodious sing-song, half street patter, half Sugar Hill.

  He hasn’t got a pimple on him. His ears don’t look like uncooked biscuits. You could hang earrings on them.

  He’s made $38 million in the ring and he owns property in as many locations as the Santa Fe Railroad. He is the chief support of an entire religion. He is the highest-paid performer in the world. He gets up to a million dollars a minute, certainly a round. He doesn’t need an oil well. His left jab is his oil well.

  Eisenhower was president when Ali first laced on a pair of boxing gloves but when he goes to the White House now, he checks it over to see if he’ll like it. He barely finished high school but even the Supreme Court took cover when he came before it.

  He is the only man in the world who can mock integration and not evoke a chorus of indignation. They cheer whatever he says. No one wants to mess with him in open debate. Better to knock Motherhood than Muhammad Ali.

  So, why isn’t he in a rooming house in Pittsburgh and it’s raining outside and the blinking neon outside the window keeps him awake? Why isn’t he shuffling along Harlem looking for handouts?

  For more than 16 years, he’s fought the toughest guys on this planet, guys right out of the slammer for armed robbery, guys who busted cops with their own nightsticks, guys who came into the fight game on the bottom of freight trains or who learned to fight with their fists on rooftops so they wouldn’t get thrown off. Why aren’t his ears stopped up? Why isn’t his nose broken, his speech stammering, his gait shuffling?

  Why doesn’t he owe the government $20 million or so? How come his wives haven’t taken him to the cleaners? How come he doesn’t need a white cane like Sam Langford or a nose job or an ear transplant?

  Has the fight game gone soft? Isn’t there a Fritzie Zivic to detach your retina with a thumb gouge any more? Did the Marquis of Queensberry really take over? Why, the guy Ali is fighting for the title tonight is so pretty he’s a movie star between fights. Not Mike Mazurki guarding the gang’s hideout but right up there in gorgeous Technicolor kissing the leading lady. And that’s not all.

  No, Ali has bucked the system, the establishment, the odds, tradition and the law of the fight game by observing one principle: hard hitters get hard hitten. Ali can hit as hard as he wants but, more importantly, as often as he wants. Ali doesn’t get in fights, he gives a recital, a showing. It’s like paintings at an exhibition, Rembrandt showing his oils. Heifetz doing Bruch.

  There has never been a 220-pound athlete who can move around a ring with the swiftness and grace of Ali. Most of his fights are things of beauty like a Moiseyev ballet. He doesn’t beat his opponents, he capes them.

  There has never been another like him. Two hundred fights, 20 of them for the highest stakes in sports, the heavyweight title, and he could go on “What’s My Line?” tomorrow and be mistaken for a guy who spent the last 10 years in a monastery.

  Someday, somewhere there may be a guy who can set bells ringing in Muhammad Ali’s ears, who can put a haze over those eyes, who can thicken that tongue, still that banter, slow those legs, scar those lips or tear those eyelids.

  Ken Norton? From here, Ken Norton looks like just another fiddle to the artist. Ken Norton, like so many of the others, may find himself playing straight man to the star by Round 3. Or Round 1.

  The crowd does not go to see Ali win or lose. They go to see The Performance. Art. One of these nights it will be the artist’s last landscape. Too bad they can’t hang it in the Louvre.

Reprinted with the permission of the Los Angeles Times

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation P.O. Box 661532, Arcadia, CA 91066

——

info@jimmurrayfoundation.org|

www.jimmurrayfoundation.org

Scattershooting on a Sunday night while wondering if Randy Moth had a fly pattern in his arsenal . . .

Scattershooting

Is there anything more entertaining than a four-year-old child? Seriously!

Their eyes as they wonder and learn. Their laughter . . . oh yes, their laughter. Their rushing everywhere . . .

KaraPet
Kara introduces her new pet – Randy Moth? – to her family.

We spent a couple of hours in Burnaby on Sept. 20, visiting with our son, his wife and their two daughters — Averi, who was born Aug. 8, and Kara, who is four.

Yes, Averi slept through the entire two hours.

Yes, we brought the obligatory presents, including a game for Kara for which we paid $20 or $25, although the price never matters when a grandchild is involved, does it?

Of course, the game didn’t captivate her interest on this afternoon. Oh no. Like a kitten playing with wrapping paper on Christmas morning, Kara was more interested in a moth.

We met in a park that included lots of green space, along with a play area that was on a knoll about 20 feet from a picnic table at which we were lunching. At one point, Kara approached the picnic table with something in her left hand. It was, she said, her “pet moth.” I wanted to call it Randy Moth, but she wouldn’t go for it. (If you’re a football fan, you’ll understand.)

As she held up her left hand, we thought the moth was, uhh, deceased. But then she let go of it and it flew away . . . well, away being a few feet.

Kara scurried after her new pet, recaptured it, held it up, let it go . . . and repeated that three or four times until the moth apparently got tired of the game and disappeared.

Shortly after and accompanied by Grandma, Kara returned to the play area. She was climbing on one of the play structures when she noticed a young boy a few feet away with something in one of his hands.

“That’s my pet moth!” Kara exclaimed.

I have no idea how she knew that was the only moth in that particular park on that particular day, but she did. Thankfully, the boy let go of the moth and it disappeared into the wild blue yonder before there was a confrontation.

Kids . . .

Meat

Headline at fark.com: The PAC-12 de¢ide$ to re$ume football for $ome rea$on.

If you are planning a move to Moose Jaw, you should know that there is a criminal element in the community. . . . For proof, consider this Facebook post from Rob Carnie, an old friend who has been at CHAB in Moose Jaw since 1986 and has the city covered like a blanket: “From the daily Moose Jaw Police Service blotter: ‘2:33 pm — Mischief — There was a report of cheese slices being left on a homeowner’s door handle. The parents of the suspects were spoken to and were going to speak to their kids about the incident.’ ”

“Because of coronavirus restrictions, only 1,000 fans per day will be allowed into this year’s French Open at 35,000-seat Roland Garros Stadium,” reports Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “In other words, plenty of good seats not available.”

Cafe 3.440 is a restaurant located 3,400 metres above sea level at a ski resort in the Austrian Alps. As RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com notes: “Great food but not much atmosphere.”

——

One more from Currie: “A Scrabble player was once kicked out of the U.S. national championship for hiding wild-card tiles. When asked to explain himself, he drew a blank.”

Serling

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

CB A.J. Terrell of the Atlanta Falcons didn’t play on Sunday against the visiting Chicago Bears after a test he took Friday morning came up positive. Terrell was the Falcons’ first-round selection in the NFL’s 2020 draft. He was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list on Saturday, becoming the first NFL player to go on that list during the season. . . .

The MLS postponed a Sunday game between visiting Sporting Kansas City and Colorado after the Rapids had a player and three staff members test positive. This is the first MLS game to be postponed because of positive tests since the teams returned from their bubble tournament in Florida. . . . As well, defender Nick Hagglund of FC Cincinnati has said he tested positive and is self-isolating. . . . Cincinnati went ahead with its Saturday game, which it lost 4-0 to host New York City FC. . . .

Things would appear to be on the precipice in parts of North Dakota where school sports look to be under siege from COVID-19. There’s more right here from the always thorough and reliable Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. . . .

DB Jevon Holland of the Oregon Ducks, a likely first-round NFL draft pick, announced Saturday that is opting out of the Pac-12’s 2020 season. . . . Oregon lost cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Thomas Graham Jr., both of them making the decision to opt out when it appeared that there wouldn’t be a season. . . . Oregon LT Penei Sewell, perhaps the NCAA’s top offensive lineman, also has chosen not to play this season. . . .

Georgia State was to have played a football game at the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday. But the game was postponed on Friday after the Panthers reported positives tests. On Sunday, Georgia State said it all was a mistake. . . . From a school news release: “The positive COVID tests that caused Georgia State to postpone Saturday’s scheduled game at Charlotte turned out to be the result of errors in reading the test results.”

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Adrian Sakundiak, a former SJHL sniper, died at his home in Calgary on Sept. 20. Sakundiak, who had battled brain cancer, was 54. . . . A native of Springside, Sask., he had one assist in five games with the Saskatoon Blades in 1983-84. . . . In 1985-86, with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins, Sakundiak put up a remarkable 155 points, including 81 goals, in 60 games. In 121 games with the Bruins, he totalled 120 goals and 121 assists. . . . He also had 22 goals and 33 assists in 58 games with the Yorkton Terriers in 1983-84. . . . Sakundiak went on to the U of Saskatchewan after his junior A career was over, playing for the Huskies while earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, a Bachelor of Commerce in Health Care Management, and an MBA in Business Strategy. . . . There is an obituary right here.

Carter Brooks of gameonhockey.ca reported Saturday that the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals have signed a pair of WHL prospects, including F Connor Geekie, who was the second overall selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. Geekie, from Strathclair, Man., had 18 goals and 35 assists in 26 games with the U-18 Yellowhead Chiefs last season. . . . Virden also signed F Braeden Lewis, a sixth-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. Lewis was the captain of the U-18 Southwest Cougars last season, while he scored 20 goals and added 44 assists in 46 games. . . . The MJHL is planning on opening its regular season on Oct. 9. Both players are expected to leave the Oil Capitals in mid-November as the WHL teams prepare for what they hope will be a Dec. 4 opening.

Frank

SJHL-Melfort player tests positive . . . PJHL looking to mid-October start . . . Winterhawks eliminate position

The coronavirus has found the SJHL. On Friday, a tweet from the league revealed that a player with the Melfort Mustangs “has tested positive for COVID-19.” . . . Rick Lang, Melfort’s mayor, told the Melfort Journal that to his knowledge “this is the first confirmed case in Melfort.” . . . According to the SJHL, “The player and the close contacts have been identified and contacted by the local public health office and have been advised to self-isolate. . . . There has been limited contact in the community.” . . . The last sentence in the statement read: “This is an advisory and there will be no further comments by any of the organizations at this time.” . . . The city shut down the Northern Lights Palace, the home of the Mustangs, for deep cleaning. It is to be reopened on Monday.

The 13-team junior B Pacific Junior Hockey League, which had said it hoped to begin regular-season play on Sept. 29, now says it is aiming for Oct. 15, although that could end up being moved to Nov. 1. . . . The PJHL’s teams, all of which are based on B.C.’s Lower Mainland, have completed training camps and named their rosters. However, Trevor Alto, the league’s commissioner, noted in a release that “not all of our facilities are prepared to host game play by . . . Sept. 29. We had identified this as a possibility and our schedule was prepared to make the adjustment.” . . . The league is planning on a 36-game regular season, with teams playing in four cohorts of three or four teams. After the first 18 games, the league will take a break in December “to quarantine for the second half where the cohorts will be adjusted for the remainder of the season and playoffs.” . . . Teams are permitted to begin exhibition games immediately. If facilities and cohorts are ready, regular-season play would begin Oct. 15. Failing that, the season will begin by Nov. 1.

Sting

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

Brady McCollough, writing in the Los Angeles Times about college football being back on TV:“It sends a message that times have returned to normal. Fans in Big Ten country are going to gather in groups to watch, let their guards down by putting away their masks, scream and hug in indoor spaces when something good happens, and the virus will receive new life all over the region. All so Ohio State can get its crack at the College Football Playoff.” . . .

Bruce Jenkins, the San Francisco Chronicle: “That’s quite a season they’re having at the University of Houston, by the way. The team’s entire September schedule — Washington State, Rice, Memphis, Baylor and North Texas — has been wiped out by postponements or cancellations.” . . .

The Kamloops Curling Club has cancelled its 2020-21 season, citing the pandemic and an inability to play host to large bonspiels or banquets. The Kamloops Crown of Curling, held annually since 1974, won’t be held this year. . . . The B.C. men’s and women’s curling championships are scheduled to be decided in Kamloops, from Jan. 26 through Feb. 1. A decision on whether those events, which are to be played at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre, has yet to be made.

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Adam Purner was the manager of group events and video co-ordinator for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. He tweeted Friday afternoon that his position has been eliminated. . . . The Winterhawks have been in receivership since May 7, but have yet to be sold. Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, had said in June that he was optimistic there would be a new owner before the end of July. . . . “The receiver is now looking through and assessing the various inquiries that have been made. I can tell you that there has been very strong interest,” Robison said at the time. “The receivership is not a reflection of the state of the franchise. The franchise is in very, very good position. It’s one of our premier franchises in the Western Hockey League.”

The MJHL’s Winnipeg Freeze has added Will Kinsman and Tyler Brown to its coaching staff. . . . Kinsman, who spent the previous six seasons as the head coach of the Vincent Massey Trojans of the Winnipeg High School League, will work as general manager/head coach Josh Green’s assistant. . . . Brown, who played four seasons in the WHL (Regina, Saskatoon, 2014-18), will be the expansion team’s goaltending coach.

Politics

Boulet Effect changed her life . . . Will QMJHL ban fighting for $20 million? . . . Will WHL be impacted by B.C. election?

As you may have read, the QMJHL has asked the Quebec government for a $20-qmjhlnewmillion subsidy to help the 12 teams that are based in the province through the pandemic. Ken Campbell of The Hockey News wonders whether the government may be able to convince the league to further reduce fighting in exchange for the dough. . . .  Campbell writes: “Like all its other provincial counterparts, the Government of Quebec is more than willing to help junior hockey operators line their pockets. Early in 2020, it was persuaded by the QMJHL to change its own employment standards laws to classify players as ‘student athletes’ rather than employees. That alone represents savings in the millions of dollars. You’d think in the middle of a global pandemic, a government would have better things to do with $20 million than help prop up for-profit enterprises — granted, some teams are community owned — that exploit teenagers, but hey, it ain’t my money.” . . . Campbell’s complete column is right here.

Yahtzee

The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, a nine-team junior B circuit, is planning to open its regular season on Oct. 1. According to a release from the league it will happen “subject to gaining final approvals.” . . . Earlier in the summer, the league had said it planned to begin on Sept. 21 or 28. . . . The teams, all of them based in Vancouver Island communities, will be split into three cohorts. They will play in those cohorts “to reduce the need for travel and to mitigate the extra risk of infection.” . . . According to the league, “Players leaving or entering a cohort are mandate to self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days as per Public Health guidelines.” . . . As for fans, the league said there will be “a limited number, and possibly NO spectators, allowed in some of the VIJHL’s arenas . . .” . . . A complete news release is right here.

F Connor Bedard, who is expected to play for the WHL’s Regina Pats in 2020-21 as a 15-year-old, will spend the next while practising in Sweden with HV71’s U-18 side. . . . But what if Bedard didn’t belong to the Pats? What if he was part of the HV71 program? Szymon Szemberg of eurohockeyclubs.com takes a look right here at the development process in that country.

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the world’s most recognizable soccer players, has tested positive. Ibrahimovic, who plays for AC Milan, said via Twitter that he had tested negative one day and positive the next. . . . Ibrahimovic, 38, is in quarantine at home, so he didn’t play in host Milan’s 3-2 Europa League qualifier victory over Norway’s Bodo/Glimt on Thursday. . . .

The issues continue in the KHL where championat.com, a Russian sports site, reported that more than half the players and the entire coaching staff of SKA St. Petersburg tested positive. . . . In Wednesday’s game against visiting Sibir Novosibirsk, the bench was run by Roman Rotenberg, the team’s part-owner, vice-president and general manager, along with Daniel Bochner of Canada, the player development coach who last worked a bench in 2016 with the U-16 Don Mills, Ont., Flyers. . . . BTW, SKA dropped that game, 4-1. Of the 22 players it dressed, six were from its farm club and 10 from its junior team. . . .

Football’s Pac-12 Conference has reversed an earlier decision and its football teams will play this fall. Last month, the conference had announced that there wouldn’t be football in 2021. On Thursday, it said that it hopes to start up on Nov. 6, with teams playing seven-game schedules culminating with a championship game on Dec. 18. . . . This means that all five Power 5 conferences will be playing football this fall. . . As Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle writes right here: “The Power 5 conferences like to use the phrase ‘student-athlete.’ Maybe ‘lab rat’ is more appropriate.” . . .

The Mountain West Conference also has decided that it will have a football season this fall. Its board of directors voted to start an eight-game schedule on Oct. 24, “subject to approval from state, county and local officials,” according to the Fresno Bee. . . .

The Welland Jr. Canadians of the junior A Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League have taken a leave of absence for 2020-21. “Public health officials continue to advise that social distancing is the most effective strategy to prevent the spread of the virus,” the team said in a news release. “Ensuring the health and safety of our community, players, employees and volunteers is always our first priority. As a result, to do our part and help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Jr. Canadians have made the difficult decision” not to play in 2020-21. . . .

There won’t be any high school football games between opposing schools in Regina this fall. There also won’t be any cross-country, soccer or volleyball. . . . In making the announcement, the Regina High Schools Athletic Association said that “schools will have the option within their school only to co-ordinate and organize extra-curricular athletics, practices or intramurals.” . . .

The Twin City Thunder of the U.S. Premier Hockey League’s National Collegiate Development Conference have had to put their season on hold after some players tested positive. The Thunder, which plays out of Auburn, Maine, was to have played Thursday and Friday nights. . . . Mark Divver, a New England-based hockey writer, tweeted on Wednesday that he had heard “of players on a couple of NCDC teams testing positive.” . . . Nathan Fournier of the Lewiston Sun Journal has more right here.

——

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

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

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

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Wifi

The province of B.C. is embroiled in an election campaign that will end with voting on Oct. 24. Bruce Hamilton, the president and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors, wonders if it will have an impact on his league. He told Travis Lowe of Global News that “we’ve got a return-to-play protocol that has been worked on all summer. That’s in the hands of all the governments in the west now.” But he wonders how much attention it will get in B.C. because of the election campaign. “This election . . . we are certainly not an item that would be on one of the burners right now.” . . . That story is right here.

Chris Clark has been named head coach of the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild. He stepped in as interim head coach in December, taking over from Bliss Littler, who stepped aside citing health concerns. Littler remains the team’s general manager. . . . Clark, also the assistant GM, has been on the Wild’s coaching staff since the franchise’s inceptions in 2008. . . . The full news release is right here.

Friends

Jets captain wants mandatory masks . . . No releases, so Swedish team drops two WHLers . . . QMJHL: Fighting or $20 million?

Blake Wheeler, the captain of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, tweeted in the direction of Brian Pallister, Manitoba’s premier, on Sunday, saying it’s “time for universal mask mandate. Why not? Let’s take care of each other.” . . . Of course, the mouth-breathers were out in full force, one of them referring to Wheeler as a “moron.” . . . Wheeler responded: “I live here all the time my friend. Not left or right, not liberal or conservative. I do care about people, especially here in Winnipeg. I may be a moron, but I’m still going to wear a mask to make sure I keep people like you safe.” . . . Suddenly, I now am a big Blake Wheeler fan. . . . Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun has more on the Wheeler story right here.

In the early days of September much was made of an announcement by Karlskrona KH, which plays in Sweden’s HockeyEttan Södra, that it had signed a pair of WHL players to one-year contracts. Erik Belin, Karlskrona’s general manager, said the signings of F Connor McClennon of the Winnipeg Ice and F Ridly Greig of the Brandon Wheat Kings was “the coolest news” that his team “has ever launched!” . . . Well, it turns out that neither Brandon nor Winnipeg was eager to issue releases to the players, something that was needed in order for them to play games with Karlskrona. Were the players just to practise with Karlskrona, releases wouldn’t have been needed.

Alexandre Pratt of lapresse.ca reports that the 12-team QMJHL has asked the qmjhlnewNational Assembly of Quebec for about $20 million in subsidies to help it through the pandemic. Isabelle Charest, the minister responsible, turned around and asked the QMJHL to work harder to get rid of fighting. According to Pratt, there now is one fight every four games in the QMJHL; Charest is of the opinion that is one too many. . . . Gilles Courteau, the QMJHL’s long-time commissioner, suggested to owners that they give a fighter major and misconduct penalties, meaning he would sit out 15 minutes rather than five, and that a player be suspended after five fights, rather than 10 as it now is. That didn’t get enough votes to pass so nothing changed, except that Pratt reports that Charest and Courteau both are unhappy. . . . Pratt’s complete column is right here.

Error

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

The NHL now is through eight weeks of its Phase 4 Return to Play and hasn’t had even one positive test. In the most recent week (Sept. 13-19), 1,127 tests were performed without any positives. . . . The NFL announced that it administered 36,664 tests to 7,845 players and team personnel last week — 14,074 to 2,438 players and 22,590 to 5,407 personnel. There weren’t any positives for players, but there were five for other personnel. . . .

The football game between the host Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish that was to have been played on Saturday has been postponed. The reason? The Fighting Irish had seven of 94 tests conducted Monday come back positive. The school has paused all football-related activities as it awaits more testing. . . . According to Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports, the NCAA now has had 16 games postponed by COVID-19 concerns. . . .

Andrelton Simmons, the Los Angeles Angels’ starting shortstop, has opted out of the remainder of the MLB season. Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times reported that Simmons opted out “because of COVID-19 concerns, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.” . . . Simmons, 31, was hitting .297 in 30 games. He missed 22 games with an ankle injury. . . .

Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, said on Tuesday that he expects the next season to begin at some point in January. Silver told Bob Costas in an interview aired on CNN: “I continue to believe that we’re going to be better off getting into January. The goal for us next season is to play a standard season . . . 82-game season and playoffs. The goal would be to play games in home arenas, in front of fans, but there’s still a lot that we need to learn.” . . .

The 2021 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships have been cancelled. They were to have been held in Winnipeg’s Seven Oaks Arena, May 1-9. . . .

The 2020-21 Mac’s Tournament, one of Canada’s top minor hockey tournaments, has been cancelled. The tournament, for midget-aged players, is held in Calgary on an annual basis, running from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. . . .

Meanwhile, in the KHL, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl forfeited its Tuesday game when it failed to show up for a road game against Kunlun Red Star in Mytishchi. The game already had been moved from Monday to Tuesday so that, according to a KHL release, the clubs had “time to resolve their organizational duties.” The release also stated that “there are discrepancies between the COVID-19 test results carried out independently by Lokomotiv and carried out in the KHL’s laboratories.” . . . RIA Novosti reported that “about 30 hockey players” from Lokomotiv had tested positive. A source told RIA Novosti that “the number of positive results based on the results of testing conducted by the league is significantly less.”

adobe

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St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

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Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

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Or, for more information, visit right here.

Bill Rotheisler has signed on as the general manager and head coach of the Creston Valley Thunder Cats of the junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. . . . He is hardly a stranger to the KIJHL, having stints as GM and head coach the Castlegar Rebels and Princeton Posse on his resume. . . . Rotheisler, a cancer survivor, takes over from Nick Redding, who is from Spokane and had to step down because of the U.S.-Canadian border being closed to non-essential travel. . . . In early December 2019, Rotheisler was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in his esophagus. At the time, he was an associate coach with the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder.

The NAHL’s Jamestown Rebels won’t operate in 2020-21. The team has said that it will return for the 2021-22 season. . . . From an NAHL news release: “Currently, the State of New York does not allow for scrimmages or games to played in the sport of ice hockey, which has been placed in the ‘high risk’ category by the Governor.” . . . The NAHL now has had four teams opt out of a 2020-21 season, the others being the Springfield Jr. Blues, Kansas City Scouts and Corpus Christi IceRays. . . . Meanwhile, the NAHL’s Fairbanks Ice Dogs have announced that they will play the first two months of the 2020-21 season out of Marshall, Minn.

JUST NOTES: Former WHL D Micki DuPont is the new head coach of the U15 team at the Edge School for Athletes in Calgary. DuPont, 40, is from Calgary. He played four seasons (1996-2000) with the Kamloops Blazers and was the CHL’s top defenceman for 1999-2000. He went on to a lengthy pro career, most of it in Europe, and retired after 2018-19. . . . The junior B Saanich franchise that plays in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League announced Tuesday that its new nickname is Predators. The team had announced in July that it no longer would be going by Braves.

Dickens