You likely are aware of the terrific work that has been done by Bernadine and Toby Boulet to promote organ donation after their son, Logan, an organ donor, was killed in the crash involving the Humboldt Broncos’ bus. What you may not be aware of is work being done by the likes of Carol Brons to promote safe driving by those who drive the big rigs on our nation’s highways. Brons’ daughter, Dayna, was the Broncos’ athletic therapist; she died as a result of the crash. . . . Carol and her husband, Lyle, are members of Safer Roads Canada and were involved in the production of a couple of videos aimed at truck safety. . . .
Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix writes: “Safer Roads Canada formed as a non-profit in the aftermath of the Broncos’ bus crash, with the involvement of some Broncos families and other people who had lost loved ones on the highways.
“Carol says it’s been ‘frustrating’ to try to effect change; transportation is federally regulated but a provincial responsibility, and governments move slowly.
“ ‘This is a way of making a difference a little faster,’ she says of the videos.”
This really is an important subject. Mitchell’s story is right here.
WHL PLAYOFF NOTES:
The No. 1 Winnipeg Ice and No. 2 Saskatoon Blades will enjoy a couple of days off before resuming their Eastern Conference final in the Bridge City on Tuesday. The Ice takes a 2-0 series lead into Game 3, with Game 4 scheduled for Saskatoon on Wednesday. . . . The Ice won the first two games at home — 3-0 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday. . . . The Blades now have played 16 games in these playoffs, while the Ice has been in 11. So you can guess who needs the time off the most. . . .
Meanwhile, the Western Conference final opened last night in Kent, Wash., with the No. 1 Seattle Thunderbirds skating to a 5-1 victory over the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers. . . . Seattle now is 9-0 in the playoffs; Kamloops is 8-1. . . . They will play Game 2 in Kent tonight, then head for Kamloops and games on Tuesday and Thursday. . . .
Note that the starting time for today’s game has changed. With the NHL’s Seattle Kraken to meet the host Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of a first-round series tonight, Game 2 between the Blazers and Thunderbirds now will begin at 4:05 p.m. PT — it had been scheduled to start at 5:05. . . .
When Saturday’s games were over, F Logan Stankoven of Kamloops, F Matt Savoie of Winnipeg and Blazers D Olen Zellweger were leading the playoff scoring race, each with 22 points. . . . Seattle’s Dylan Guenther has a WHL-leading 11 goals and Winnipeg D Ben Zloty leads in assists (16). . . . Winnipeg’s Daniel Hauser has the lead in goaltending victories (10), with Seattle’s Thomas Milic leading in GAA (1.11) and save percentage (.953).
The 2023 Kamloops Kidney Walk is scheduled for June 4, and Dorothy is taking part once again. She will celebrate 10 years as a kidney-transplant recipient in September, so the annual Kidney Walk is a big deal for her. In fact, she is participating for a 10th straight year. Yes, that means she is fund-raising, with all donations going to the Kidney Foundation. . . . With the help of a former WHL franchise owner she shot past $3,600 on Saturday. . . . If you are interested in helping, you are able to do so on her home page, which is right here.
SATURDAY IN THE WHL PLAYOFFS:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Saskatoon (2) at Winnipeg (1) — F Connor McClennon scored three times and 
added an assist as the Winnipeg Ice beat the Saskatoon Blades, 6-2. . . . The Ice, having won Friday’s opener, 3-0, leads the series, 2-0, with Games 3 and 4 in Saskatoon on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. . . . McClennon, who has 10 goals, completed his hat trick at 1:08 of the third period, giving the Ice a 5-0 lead. . . . He had scored the game’s first two goals, at 6:09 and 17:31, the latter via the PP, of the first period. . . . F Zach Benson (3) and F Owen Pederson (3) added second-period goals. . . . F Justin Lies (2) and F Jayden Wiens (8), on a PP, scored for the Blades in the third period. . . . Ice F Matt Savoie (10) closed the scoring with an empty-netter at 16:27. . . . Benson and Savoie added two assists each. . . . McClennon recorded his first hat trick of these playoffs; he had two in the regular season. . . . Winnipeg was 1-for-3 on the PP; Saskatoon was 1-for-5. . . . G Daniel Hauser stopped 27 shots for the Ice. . . . G Austin Elliott turned aside 27 shots for the Blades. . . . Saskatoon continues to play without injured defencemen Blake Gustafson and Ben Saunderson. The Blades also scratched F Jordan Keller and inserted F Misha Volotovski.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
Kamloops (2) at Seattle (1) — The Seattle Thunderbirds drew first blood with a 
5-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers in Kent, Wash. . . . They’ll play Game 2 today in Kent, then head for Kamloops and games on Tuesday and Thursday. . . . Seattle held period leads of 1-0 and 2-1, then put it away with three goals in the second half of the third period. . . . F Jared Davidson (6) scored at 17:00 of the first period and F Nico Myatovic (2) got the 2-0 goal at 13:44 of the second. . . . D Olen Zellweger (8) got the Blazers’ goal at 16:11. . . . Seattle’s third-period goals came from F Dylan Guenther (11), Davidson (7) and F Gracyn Sawchyn (2), on a PP. . . . Davidson also had an assist, for a three-point night. . . . Seattle was 1-for-3 on the PP; Kamloops was 0-for-2. . . . G Thomas Milic stopped 24 shots for the Thunderbirds, while G Dylan Ernst, at the other end, blocked 30. . . . Milic is 9-0, 1.11, .953 in the playoffs. In 34 appearances over the past two seasons, he is 23-11, 1.98, .931. . . . Kamloops lost D Logan Bairos to an undisclosed injury and he isn’t likely to play in Game 2, which means Ryan Michael will play. . . . The Thunderbirds are 9-0 in the playoffs. They also opened the 2017 playoffs with nine victories before dropping a 4-3 OT decision to the visiting Kelowna Rockets.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
F Dante Hannoun, who played five seasons in the WHL, is playing for Italy in the six-team IIHF World Men’s Hockey Championship (Division 1 Group A) that opened Friday and is to run through Ma 5 in Great Britain (Nottingham). . . . He was pointless as Italy opened with a 6-2 victory over Romania on Saturday. . . . Hannoun, 24, is from Delta, B.C. He played four-plus seasons with the Victoria Royals before finishing his WHL career by playing 28 games with the Prince Albert Raiders in 2018-19. On May 13, 2019, Hannoun scored at 18:25 of OT to give the Raiders a 3-2 victory over the visiting Vancouver Giants in Game 7 of the WHL’s championship final. He has played the past two seasons with the Val Pusteria Wolves of Bruneck, Italy, who play in the Austrian-based ICE Hockey League. . . .
In the MJHL, the Steinbach Pistons won their third Turnbull Cup, beating the visiting Virden Oil Capitals, 3-0. The Pistons won the series, 4-1. . . . G Dominik Wasik recorded a 24-save shutout. . . . Paul Dyck, the Pistons’ general manager and head, is from Steinbach. Dyck, 52, played two seasons (1989-91) with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, and now is completing his 11th season with the Pistons. . . . Steinbach will be in the Centennial Cup for the first time since 2018. The tournament is to be played in Portage la Prairie, Man., from May 11-21. . . .
In the BCHL, the Penticton Vees won their 26th consecutive playoff game on Saturday, beating the visiting Salmon Arm Silverbacks, 6-2, in Game 2 of their conference final. . . . In the other conference final, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs got past the Chilliwack Chiefs, 2-1, to assume a 2-0 series lead. . . . Both series will resume on Tuesday night in Chilliwack and Salmon Arm.
THE COACHING GAME:
Tyler Stanton is the new general manager and head coach of the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. Stanton, who will turn 27 on Thursday, is a former VIJHL player, having skated with the Westshore Wolves and Saanich Braves. From a Panthers news release: Stanton “has been coaching at the U18 level for the past seven years with JDF Minor Hockey, winning two Island championships and a silver medal at BC provincials this past season. The Club also won the Richmond International Tournament this past season.” . . . Pete Zubersky, who had been the general manager, stepped in as head coach after Chris Driebergen was fired in January. He had been in his first season with the Panthers. Zubersky is the organization’s governor.
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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
goals 1:26 apart en route to a 3-0 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. . . . They’ll play Game 2 today in Winnipeg, starting at 4 p.m. . . . D Ben Zloty (1) opened the scoring at 14:39 of the first period. He went into the game with no goals and a WHL-leading 15 assists. . . . The Ice went ahead 2-0 at 16:05 when F Zach Ostapchuk (8) scored a shorthanded penalty-shot goal, putting the puck off a post and in. He has goals in eight of the 10 games in which he has played in these playoffs. . . . D Carson Lambos (1) upped the lead to 3-0 at 7:45 of the second period. . . . Saskatoon was 0-for-4 on the PP; Winnipeg was 0-for-1. . . . G Daniel Hauser recorded the shutout with 16 saves. He is 9-1, 2.56, .907 in the playoffs, after going 37-4-1, 2.28, .917 in the regular season. . . . The Blades got 25 stops from G Ethan Chadwick. . . . Were the Blades, coming off two seven-game series, showing signs of fatigue in the latter part of the game? The Ice outshot them 8-4 in the second period and 10-4 in the third. . . . Saskatoon F Justin Lies was back in action after having served a three-game suspension. . . . The Blades continue to be without D Blake Gustafson, who was injured in the previous series. . . . With D Ben Saunderson also injured, Saskatoon had D Morgan Tastad make his playoff debut. The 6-foot-4 Tastad, a 17-year-old from Loreburn, Sask., played in one regular-season game. He was a ninth-round pick by the Blades in the WHL’s 2021 draft.
the end of their seasons tonight. . . .
the game was six minutes old and went on to drop the Medicine Hat Tigers, 7-2. . . . The Ice, which finished atop the overall standings, leads the series, 3-0, with Game 4 in Medicine Hat tonight. . . . D Ben Zloty had three assists for Winnipeg, which got goals from seven different players, including F Matt Savoie, who scored his fifth of the series. . . . Zloty has seven helpers in the three games. . . . 
gave the Saskatoon Blades a 4-3 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . The Pats still lead the series, 2-1, with Game 4 in Regina tonight. . . . They’ll be back in Saskatoon for Game 5 on Friday. You can bet there’ll be more than 10,000 fans in the SaskTel Centre on Good Friday, so how much do you think Sidorov’s goal was worth? . . . This was the second straight OT game in the series; Regina had won, 6-5, in Saskatoon on Sunday. . . . Sidorov’s second goal of the series — he drove to the net off the right boards and beat G Drew Sim — came at 5:19 of OT. . . . F Brandon Lisowsky (1) had forced extra time when he scored on a PP with 27.2 seconds left in the third period. . . . Leading 2-1 in the first period, the Pats thought they had made it 3-1 on a goal by F Connor Bedard, only to have the goal disallowed because one goal post was off its mooring before the puck crossed the goal line. . . . The sold-out crowd of 6,499 didn’t take the decision well. . . . Bedard’s sixth goal had given the Pats a 3-1 lead at 9:39 of the third period. . . . Sidorov got the Blades to within one, on a PP, at 10:32. . . . Saskatoon was 3-for-4 on the PP after going 0-for-6 over the first two games. . . . F Trevor Wong had three assists, all on the PP, for Saskatoon. . . .
straight goals to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 6-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Warriors lead the series, 3-0, and can end it tonight in Lethbridge. . . . Firkus got his first goal at 18:52 of the first period, for a 2-1 lead. He scored again at 8:16 and 11:28 of the second period. . . . Firkus also added an assist for a four-point outing. He has four goals and four assists in the three games. . . . G Connor Ungar stopped 24 shots for the Warriors. He is 3-0, 1.09, .960 in this series.
as they beat the Kelowna Rockets, 4-1. . . . Seattle now holds a 3-0 lead in the series and gets its first opportunity to end it tonight in Kelowna. . . . F Jordan Gustafson (1), playing in his first game of the series, snapped a 1-1 tie at 11:07 of the third period and F Lucas Ciona (2) added insurance at 13:05. . . . F Dylan Guenther scored his fourth goal of the series for Seattle. . . .
assist as the Kamloops Blazers beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-0, to take a 3-0 lead in the series. . . . They’ll play Game 4 on Thursday in Langley, B.C. . . . G Dylan Ernst stopped 17 shots in earning his second shutout of the series. . . . Ernst had two shutouts in each of the past two regular seasons, in 53 appearances this season and 24 last season. In these playoffs, he is 3-0, 0.33, .983. . . . 
third period as the Tri-City Americans beat the Prince George Cougars, 4-2, in Kennewick, Wash. . . . The Americans hold a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 in Kennewick tonight. This series is going 2-3-2, so they’ll play Game 5 there on Friday. . . . The Americans took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from D Marc Lajoie (1) and F Tyson Greenway (3). . . . The Cougars tied it on goals from F Chase Wheatcroft (1), at 3:59 of the second period, and D Hudson Thornton (2), at 1:22 of the third. . . . Bell’s second goal of the series came via the PP. . . . F Jalen Luypen (2), who had the primary assist on Bell’s goal, added insurance with the empty-netter at 19:09. . . . G Tomas Suchanek earned the victory with 28 saves. . . . Cougars G Tyler Brennan left with an undisclosed injury at 16:59 of the second period after stopping 16 of 18 shots. Ty Young finished up with eight saves on nine shots.
whether the Ice ownership will be building an arena in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald.
was a second team on Vancouver Island. After all, it was turning out to be rather costly to ride a ferry there and back from the mainland to, in most instances, play one game. The logical place for another team would be Nanaimo, which had a population of about 90,500 in 2016. (That population grew to around 103,500 by 2022.)
.500 or better. That, of course, would seem to indicate that there are 15 teams that have won more games than they have lost.
are playing in the U-15 Little Caesars midget program. Their Tier I team is ranked second in the U.S. . . . O’Brien, a 15-year-old from Denver, has six goals and 14 assists in 20 games. . . . In 25 games, Stefan, who is from Laguna, Calif., has 15 goals and 13 assists. Stefan, 15 is the son of Patrik Stefan, whose playing career included 455 NHL games — 414 with the Atlanta Thrashers and 41 with the Dallas Stars. Patrik now is the head coach of the Little Caesars midget team. . . . The then-Edmonton Ice selected Patrik in the 1997 CHL import draft but he never played in the WHL.
McMaster, 16, is pointless in three games with the Ice this season. He was a second-round pick by the Ice in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. . . . D Ben Zloty, 16, has gone back to the midget AAA Calgary Royals, while F Owen Pederson, 16, was returned to the prep team at OHA Edmonton. Pederson, a fifth-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft, is pointless in six games; Zloty, a sixth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft, is pointless in three. . . . The Ice already has had 32 players dress for at least one game. . . . At 6-12-3, the Ice is three points out of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, but has played five more games than the Moose Jaw Warriors (7-5-4), who are in possession of that berth, at least for now.
host Windsor Spitfires on Saturday night. . . . Windsor won the game, 2-1, in a shootout and when it was over three goaltenders — two from the Storm — were introduced as the three stars. . . . Windsor’s Michael DiPietro was the first star, after stopping 31 shots. . . . Guelph starter Anthony Popovich blocked 28 shots and was selected as second star. . . . Nico Daws, Guelph’s backup on this night, was named the third star, despite not being credited with any playing time. . . . Daws came off the bench at 2:58 of OT and stopped Windsor F Cody Morgan on a penalty shot. On the play that led to the penalty shot, Morgan was hauled down from behind and fell into Popovich, who ended up with a broken skate blade. When the skate couldn’t be repaired quickly, referee Joe Celestin called for Daws to enter the game. . . . Daws stopped Morgan, and Popovich, a new blade in place, re-entered the game. . . . While Daws was announced as third star after the game, it appears to have been changed later because the OHL website now shows the third star as Windsor F Daniel D’Amico. He scored the winner in the eighth round of the shootout. . . . Tony Saxon of 
victory over the Hurricanes in Lethbridge. . . . Edmonton (13-7-2) has points in nine straight games (8-0-1). The Oil Kings lead the Central Division by one point over the Red Deer Rebels (13-5-1), who hold three games in hand. . . . Lethbridge (8-6-4) was 1-0-1 in its previous two outings. . . . The same teams will be back at it Friday, again in Lethbridge. . . . Fix-Wolansky now leads the WHL in assists (32) and points (45). He has points in 10 straight games, with seven goals and 20 assists in that run. . . . Fix-Wolansky (13) broke a 2-2 tie at 7:19 of the second period, while shorthanded, and D Conner McDonald (6) made it 4-2, on a PP, at 19:42. . . . The Hurricanes got to within a goal just 53 seconds into the third period when F Zachary Cox scored, but F Vince Loschiavo (10) got that one back for Edmonton at 9:39. . . . Cox (6) made it a one-goal game again, at 11:16, but the Oil Kings got insurance from F Jalen Luypen (2) at 18:30. . . . F Brett Kemp scored his 15th goal and added two assists for the winners, with F Quinn Benjafield earning three assists. . . . Lethbridge F Jadon Joseph had his point streak snapped at 11 games. He had nine goals and six assists in that time.
Sandman Centre on Sunday, 5 p.m.
chief of police. He will begin his new duties early in the new year. . . . McFee, 53, is from St. Albert, Alta. He spent four seasons (1982-86) with the Raiders, totalling 270 points, including 118 goals, and 535 penalty minutes in 269 games. . . . McFee also did a stint as the police chief in Prince Albert and has been the president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. He has been Saskatchewan’s deputy minister of justice for six years. . . . McFee was an assistant coach with the Raiders in 1993-94, and served as team president for nine years (2008-17). He remains a member of their board of directors.
TAKING NOTE 