Some odds and loose ends, and some thoughts, on Friday’s news that the Winnipeg Ice have been sold and are on the move to Wenatchee, Wash., where the team will be known as the Wild. . . .
It seems that the decision by Lisa and Dick White to purchase the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice wasn’t in the works for a long time.
The WHL announced Friday that the Whites have bought the Ice and are moving 
the franchise to Wenatchee, Wash., where it will operate as the Wild. (Just wondering, but might the moving vans go through Cranbrook on their way from Winnipeg to Wenatchee?)
Bliss Littler, the Wild’s general manager, told Gabe Neumann, who covers the Wild for Area 51 Sports Network that the timeline was “not very long at all.”
“It’s always been thrown out there that Wentachee would be a great fit in the Western League, just by where we’re located,” Littler said. “It came together very fast.”
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The Whites had operated the Wild in the BCHL since 2015. The BCHL left the umbrella of Hockey Canada on June 1, and you have to believe operating costs will increase, what with teams now scouting and recruiting in Europe and having indicated that there will be pay raises for on-ice officials, among other things. The BCHL also has promised that its teams will discontinue its pay-to-play format by 2025.
You also have to wonder if travel expenses might even be lower for the Wild in the WHL than they were in the BCHL. After all, the Wild will be playing the bulk of its games in the U.S. Division where, according to the Brandon Sun’s Perry Bergson, the distances between Wenatchee and the other teams look like this: Everett, 123 miles (198 km); Kennewick — 131 miles (211 km); Seattle 148 miles (238 km); Spokane — 170 miles (273 km); and Portland — 291 miles (469 km).
Put it all together and it has me wondering if the Whites, who in the past had indicated that they were quite comfortable in the BCHL, took a look down the road and decided if the cost of staying put was going to increase they might as well move into the WHL if the opportunity presented itself.
It did, and the Ice/Wild now is making the 2,071 km (1,287 miles) trek to Wenatchee.
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Meanwhile, the Brandon Wheat Kings, whose shortest trip for the past four seasons has been to Winnipeg (217 km, 135 miles) now are looking at the Regina Pats as their closest opponent. That trip is 362 km (225 miles).
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It doesn’t seem that many, if any, of Winnipeg’s off-ice people will be part of the Wild’s front office. The Wild already is advertising for an athletic therapist and an equipment manager. And it sounds as though Wenatchee will be adding a few scouts.
As Littler told Neumann: “The Western Hockey League is based on a couple of drafts. You live and die with the draft, so that’ll be something I haven’t dealt with in a while. I was with the USHL for 12 years and in that time, we ran with two drafts. We’ll have to put a scouting staff in place, (to have) people covering British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba . . . in the past, it’s been almost all Americans.”
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Thanks to Lucas Punkari of the Brandon Sun, here is a look at the players whose WHL playing rights moved from the Winnipeg Ice to the Wenatchee Wild with the sale of the franchise:
Former WHL F Garrett Pilon scored at 10:01 of OT to give the host Hershey Bears 
a 1-0 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 5 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears, who lost the first two games of this series on the road, now hold a 3-2 edge after winning three in a row on home ice. . . . The series resumes Monday in Thousand Palms, Calif., with Game 7, if needed, there on Wednesday. . . . Pilon’s fourth playoff goal came off a shot through traffic from about 15 feet in front of the blue line. . . . Hershey got 21 saves from G Hunter Shepard, while Joey Daccord stopped 30 for the Firebirds. . . . Pilon, 25, is in his fifth season in Hershey. He has 10 points in 18 playoff games. He played three seasons (2015-18) in the WHL, two-plus with the Kamloops Blazers and the last 30 games with the Everett Silvertips.
Headline at The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton): Canada hits 40 million people, 40 available houses.
THE COACHING GAME:
The CCHL’s Wellington Dukes have hired Kent Lewis as their director of hockey operations and head coach. Lewis, who is from Powell River, B.C., has coached in the BCHL for more than 20 years, spending time with the Powell River Kings, Nanaimo Clippers and Victoria Salsa. Lewis’s signing came a week after the Dukes hired Todd Diminie as their general manager. . . . Diminie and Lewis take over from Derek Smith, the general manager/head coach who left the organization earlier this month.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
There is junior A hockey in Kenora, Ont., again, with the news that the Islanders have joined the Superior International Junior Hockey League. The Islanders are preparing to begin play in 2023-24. This will mark the return of junior A hockey to Kenora for the first time since the Thistles ceased operations in 1982. The Thistles operated in the MJHL for seven seasons. . . . Jack Dawson, the Islanders’ owner, is expected to announce a head coach in the near future. . . . The SIJHL now features eight teams — Dryden GM Ice Dogs, Fort Frances Lakers, Kam River Fighting Walleye, the Islanders, Red Lake Miners, Sioux Lookout Bombers, Thunder Bay North Stars and Wisconsin Lumberjacks.
THINKING OUT LOUD: The CFL’s B.C. Lions are 2-0 after beating the visiting Edmonton Elks, 22-0, on Saturday. The Lions have been part of the CFL since 1954; this was their third shutout, the first since 1977. Yes, 1977. . . . The Elks hadn’t been blanked since Aug. 15, 1976, when they dropped a 40-0 decision to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina. . . . The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who whupped the Roughriders, 45-27, in Regina on Friday night have to be considered the CFL’s early favourites. If you haven’t seen the 92-yard punt-return TD scored by Winnipeg’s Janarion Grant in that one you should hunt it up and give it a look. It really was one for the ages.
SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE: On Friday afternoon, one day before the Special Olympics World Games opened in Berlin, BetOnline.ag tweeted: “We are proud to be the first Sportsbook to offer betting odds on the Special Olympics!”
A note from ESPN Stats & Info after the San Francisco Giants romped to a 15-0 victory over the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Saturday night: “At 15-0, the Dodgers suffered their largest home shutout loss in 125 years. On Sept. 20, 1898, the Pirates won 15-0 at New Washington Park against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Those two games make up the largest home shutout losses in Dodgers franchise history.” . . . Maybe that will make the Edmonton Elks feel better.
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Zach Tremblay, a young man from Robson, B.C. continues to wait for a kidney transplant. While he has been waiting, his mother, Jana, has worked tirelessly in spreading the news about kidney disease.
And now Jana is dealing with bladder cancer and issues with her kidneys. As a result, her friend Paula Chaves has started a GoFundMe page.
“After feeling unwell in May,” Paula writes, “Jana visited the hospital where it was discovered that she had bladder cancer. On June 15, Jana’s kidneys were failing and she was air-lifted to Kelowna for emergency surgery. She is awake from surgery and waiting on what’s next. . . .
“With this sudden illness, Jana will be unable work for an unknown period of time and she and her family could really benefit from the financial support as they navigate through this incredibly difficult time.”
The GoFundMe page is right here. Please help if you are able.
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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.
35,000. Wenatchee is located in Chelan County, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau had a population of 79,646 in 2021. Neighbouring Douglas County’s population was 43,696.
ment, “we were unable to confirm our ability to build a new facility in Winnipeg that met the WHL standards on a timeline that was acceptable to the WHL. Unfortunately, we were never able to get the project on solid footing due to the changing landscape (during and post-pandemic). Simply put, we ran out of time.”
Tuesday, F Zac Rinaldo’s name was nowhere to be found even though they had signed him as a free agent to a two-way contract last month — US$750,000 in the NHL, $275,000 in the AHL. . . . John Davidson, the Blue Jackets’ president of hockey operations, explained that Rinaldo “is not vaccinated and because of that — and that’s his decision — the plan is to start him in the American Hockey League and he will not be coming to our training camp.” . . . And wouldn’t you love to know what the other players in the Cleveland Monsters’ camp think about that? . . . Rinaldo, 31, was pointless in five games with the Calgary Flames last season. . . . Davidson also said: “When you read the amount of players, the percentage that have been vaccinated, it’s a big, big number. There’s very few who aren’t, and that’s their own personal choice. I’m not going to sit here and tell them what to do, even though I’d like to see the whole world get vaccinated. My daughter’s a doctor. She believes in this, and I believe in her because she’s a whole lot smarter than I am. I’d like to see the whole world get vaccinated. We have a responsibility as the leaders of the organization. We want our people vaccinated. We want them wearing masks as much as possible.” . . . Earlier this month, the Blue Jackets dumped assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre after he chose not to get vaccinated. . . . It’s interesting, too, that the Blue Jackets’ training camp is presented by Ohio Health, which bills itself as “a family of not-for-profit, faith-based hospitals & healthcare organizations.” . . . 
per cent of the Seattle Kraken’s players are fully vaccinated “even though general manager Ron Francis said he wasn’t authorized to comment.” . . . In an interesting piece, Baker writes: “Given our city’s dark history with pandemics and hockey, it’s a relief to see Kraken players aren’t testing the resolve of both the team and most of the local community. With the 1919 Stanley Cup final in Seattle still the lone major sports championship ever canceled by a pandemic that also killed some players and maybe coaches as well, it’s good to see the league and Players’ Association getting tough about vaccine compliance.” . . . Baker’s piece, which is well worth a read, is 
play in Niverville in 2022-23. The MJHL’s governors voted unanimously to award the franchise during a meeting on Thursday night. Niverville is located 42 km south of Winnipeg. . . . Mike Sawatzky of the Winnipeg Free Press reports that the Niverville group, headed by local realtor Clarence Braun, paid $150,000 for the franchise that will operate as a not-for-profit organization. . . . According to Sawatzky, Braun told him that the group comprises “almost 30 shareholders, all of whom have put down deposits on their $10,000 investments. He expects the ownership group (to) reach a total of 45 investors.” . . . The as-yet unnamed team will be the MJHL’s 13th franchise and will play out of the brand new Niverville Community Resource and Recreation Centre, which is scheduled to open in July and will seat 1,167 for hockey. The $19.5-million facility also includes a field house, meeting rooms and a daycare.
contract as general manager and head coach. The contract contains an option on a third year. Chyzowski, 49, played two full seasons (1987-89) with the Kamloops Blazers and was selected second overall by the New York Islanders in the NHL’s 1989 draft. After wrapping up his playing career in Europe, Chyzowski spent 14 seasons with the Blazers, mostly as their director of sales and marketing. He left them to join the Delta Hockey Academy as head coach of the female prep team and director of sales. While with DHA (2019-20), he also helped out as an assistant coach with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. . . . In Merritt, Chyzowski replaces Derek Sweet-Coulter, whose contract wasn’t renewed. . . . Most recently, Chyzowski was working as a product advisor with Kamloops Ford. . . . Two of his sons played in the WHL — Nick with the Blazers and Ryan with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
million 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. . . .
while the Victoria Royals have begun life after Griffen Outhouse. . . . The Winterhawks dealt G Shane Farkas, who is to turn 20 on Dec. 1, and a 2019 fifth-round bantam draft pick to the Royals for a fourth-round pick in 2019 and a conditional selection that could end up being in the fourth round in 2020. . . . The 2019 fourth-rounder that the Winterhawks acquired actually originated with them; it went to Victoria in a deal for D Jared Freadrich last summer. . . . The deal leaves Portland with five 20-year-olds on its roster, with F Lane Gilliss, F Jake Gricius, F Josh Paterson and D Matthew Quigley the others. . . .
This season, he finished 30-12-6, 2.71, .906 in 50 regular-season appearances. . . . His departure leaves the Winterhawks’ depth chart with Joel Hofer, who will be 19 on July 30, and Dante Giannuzzi, who is to turn 17 on Sept. 3, at the top of the goaltending section. . . .
Hurricanes for F Alex Thacker. . . . Wilson, from Swift Current, will turn 16 on Oct. 11. He was a sixth-round pick by Lethbridge in the 2018 bantam draft. This season, he had six goals and 17 assists in 36 games with the elite 15s at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. . . . Thacker, 17, is from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. This season, he had 10 goals and 27 assists in 34 games as he captained the midget AAA Fort Saskatchewan Rangers. He also had one assist in four games with the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines, and was pointless in two games with Swift Current. The Broncos had selected him in the sixth round of the 2017 bantam draft.
exchange for F Fischer O’Brien. . . . Phare, 17, was the 18th-overall selection in the 2017 bantam draft. From Maple Ridge, B.C., he was pointless in 14 games with the Cougars this season. He also had a goal and nine assists in eight games with the prep team at the Delta Hockey Academy, and was pointless in two games with the junior B Ridge Meadow Flames. . . . O’Brien, 16, is from Prince George. Lethbridge picked him in the fifth round of the 2018 bantam draft. Fischer had two goals and five assists in 40 games with the Cariboo Cougars, who won the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League title. His brother, Brogan, played three seasons (2015-18) with the WHL’s Cougars and now is at Carleton U in Ottawa.
TAKING NOTE 