Tag: Bob Bartlett

Two coaches in isolation after COVID-19 finds Team Canada . . . QMJHL’s Mooseheads hit pause button . . . Hockey Alberta honours Bartlett

Michael Dyck and Jason Labarbera, two of Team Canada’s assistant coaches, Canadahave been put into isolation for 14 days at the national junior team’s selection camp in Red Deer after being in close contact with someone who is infected with COVID-19. . . . Dyck is the head coach of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, while Labarbera is the goaltending coach for the Calgary Hitmen. . . . According to a statement from Hockey Canada, a “non-core member” of the team’s staff tested positive on Saturday morning. “The staff member who tested positive, as well as a number of colleagues who have been in close contact with that person, were placed in quarantine at the team hotel in Red Deer,” the statement read. . . . The scheduled Red vs. White game went ahead as scheduled, with Team White putting up a 4-2 victory. . . . The camp opened in Red Deer on Monday and will run through Dec. 13 when the team will move into a bubble in Edmonton.

The QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads revealed Saturday that they had “recorded a qmjhlnewpositive COVID-19 test among the staff and are suspending in-person activities.” . . . According to the team, “the infected person didn’t have any contact with players or hockey staff.” However, players and staff have been “preventively isolated” and anyone in the organization who may have had contact with the infected person will be tested. . . . The Mooseheads were to have played host to the Charlottetown Islanders on Saturday night, but the game was postponed. . . . The Mooseheads’ Wednesday game against the visiting Cape Breton Eagles also has been postponed.

The SJHL posted a one-sentence news release on its website Saturday morning. This is it: “The La Ronge Ice Wolves at Melfort Mustangs game scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21 has been postponed.” . . . The teams played Friday night in La Ronge with the Ice Wolves winning, 3-1. . . . If the Mustangs have been hit with a positive test, or tests, it will mark the second time in two months. They had a player test positive late in September.

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COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

Ken Squier, 85, is best known for his work as an announcer on NASCAR coverage with CBS (1979-97) and TBS (1983-99). If you watched NASCAR in those days, you appreciated Squier.

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CBC News: 387 new COVID-19 cases, 10 more deaths announced in Manitoba Saturday.

CBC News: Saskatchewan is reporting 439 new cases of COVID-19 for a new daily case record. The province says today’s numbers reflect the single-day high of 4,580 tests that were processed Friday. The province has 2,537 active cases, including 93 people in hospital.

CBC News: (Saturday) marks the 4th time Alberta has reported more than 1,000 cases in a single day. 320 people are currently in hospital and 56 are in intensive care. A woman in her 20s was among the 9 deaths reported today. . . . Alberta is reporting a record 1,336 new cases of COVID-19, as well as 9 new deaths related to the virus. This is the 3rd day in a row that the province has seen a record number of new cases.

CTV News Edmonton: Arrest at Edmonton Costco after man refuses to wear mask.

In B.C., government and health officials, unlike in other jurisdictions in Canada, don’t supply updates on Saturdays or Sunday. Unfortunately, the virus doesn’t take the weekend off, so we’ll get some huge and ugly numbers on Monday afternoon.

CBC News: Ontario reports 1,588 COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths, breaking previous record for daily case count. . . . Ontario’s daily case counts on Saturday are the highest seen in the pandemic so far.

CBC News: Quebec is reporting 1,189 new cases of COVID-19. The province has added 32 deaths to its total, 5 of which occurred in the past 24 hours. . . . 646 people are in hospital, including 99 in intensive care. The latest major outbreak in the province is at a Quebec City convent, where 39 nuns and 43 workers have tested positive.

CBC News: 23 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in New Brunswick. It’s the province’s largest single-day case count since the start of the pandemic. 16 of the new cases are in the Saint John region. There are now 71 active cases in the province, including 1 person in hospital.

CBC News: Nova Scotia is reporting 8 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 33 known active cases. All 8 new cases are in the Central Zone. 2 are linked to previously reported cases; the other 6 cases are being investigated. No one is currently in hospital.

CBC News: 5 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Newfoundland and Labrador. All 5 are linked to previously reported cases. There are now 18 known active cases in the province, including 1 person in hospital. 58,601 people have been tested in N.L. to date.

CBC News: 25 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Nunavut. 22 of the cases are in Arviat and 3 are in Whale Cove. There are now 107 known active cases in the territory.

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So in this year of pandemic, it has come to this. . . . Florida State and visiting Clemson were to have played a football game on Saturday but, according to the ACC, it was postponed because the teams’ medical personnel couldn’t mutually agree on moving forward. . . . Andrea Adelson of ESPN reported: “Multiple sources told ESPN that a Clemson player tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday after practising with the Tigers during the week. That player was symptomatic but had tested negative twice during the week, according to sources. That led Florida State to say it was not comfortable playing Saturday’s game, the source said.” . . . The postponement came after the Tigers had flown into Tallahassee on Friday.

The season-opening series between the men’s hockey teams from Boston College and New Hampshire was postponed. The teams were to have played Friday and Saturday at BC. The decision was reached after a UNH player tested positive. . . . 

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that “more than 200 people” who live or work at Golden Gate Fields, a horse racing facility in the Bay Area, have become infected with COVID-19. The track was closed on Nov. 13 after 24 positive tests on track workers.

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.

JUST NOTES: The junior B Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League is on hold until further notice. The nine-team league had shut down its North Division on Nov. 10 after a positive test at Dover Bay Secondary School in Nanaimo, which is attended by some players. Then B.C. health officials implemented further restrictions on Nov. 19 that are to last until at least Dec. 7. . . . Bob Bartlett, a former WHL executive, has been honoured with a life membership from Hockey Alberta. Bartlett, now 79, was the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ general manager for five seasons (1990-95). He later spent five seasons working with the Moose Jaw Warriors before returning to the Hurricanes with whom he now is senior scout.

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Scattershooting on a Sunday: Boxberger tops . . . Will you pay for Phil vs. Tiger? . . . Regina has had quite a year

Scattershooting

“When I heard the Leafs had signed Hayley Wickenheiser,” writes Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express, “my first thought was, ‘She doesn’t play defence, does she?’ ”

No, I’m not a fan of MLB’s players’ weekend in which players are outfitted in (in some cases) horrid-looking uniforms and allowed to put nicknames on the namebars. But Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Brad Boxberger gets full marks for having fun with it.

“Semi-retired Chris Berman could return to ESPN in a reduced role on ‘SportsCenter’ and NFL-related programming, the New York Post reported,” writes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “In other words, Berman might be . . . nah, too easy.”

RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com had this take: “Chris Berman reportedly may return to ESPN, but only in a reduced role. So he . . . won’t . . . go . . . all . . . the . . . way!”

Perry, again: “Corey Bellemore, winner of this year’s Beer Mile World Classic in Vancouver, B.C., was disqualified when race officials ruled he didn’t consume enough beer during the race’s four mandatory brew stops. It’s believed to be the first time in sports history in which a runner was stripped of his title for failing to fail a drug test.”

One more from Currie: “A golfer reportedly had a finger bitten off at the knuckle in a fight at a Massachusetts club. You can read about it in Golf Digits — er — Digest.”

I can agree with Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun on these items from his Sunday column: “Is there anything more ridiculous than the French Open banning Serena Williams’ tennis outfit? . . . Might be in the minority on this, but I wouldn’t pay 10 cents to watch Tiger Woods play Phil Mickelson head-to-head on pay-per-view.”

I have a feeling Simmons would agree with me when I say that there is something wrong about junior hockey teams playing games in August.

After Puerto Rico beat Canada, 9-4, eliminating the team from Whalley, B.C., at the Little League World Series, Vancouver comedian Torben Rolfsen noted: “Donald Trump said, ‘See, I told you Puerto Rico had power.’ ”

After Carmelo Anthony signed a one-year contract with the Houston Rockets, Janice Hough (aka The Left Coast Sports Babe) wrote: “This is great news for the Warriors, Lakers and Spurs.”

One more from Hough, who is at LeftCoastSportsBabe.com: “Due to rule technicalities, Robinson Cano, returning from a 90-game PED suspension, is ineligible for any playoff games, while  Roberto Osuna, returning from a  75-game domestic violence suspension, is eligible. If Cano had only beaten his girlfriend instead of taking PEDs he could play in the postseason. Is this really how MLB wants to compete with the NFL?”

After Caesar’s Palace Sports Book in Vegas revealed that it had taken more bets on the Cleveland Browns to win the AFC North than the other three division teams combined, Hough commented: “Beam me up, Scotty.”

Over the past four-plus years, former NBA star Kobe Bryant has invested US$6 million in BodyArmor, the producer of a sports drink. Sources have told ESPN that Bryant’s investment now is worth about US$200 million. . . . And how are your investments doing these days?

Receiver Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns has missed 56 of 96 NFL games, mainly due to drug-related suspensions. As old friend Jack Finarelli, who can be found at SportsCurmudgeon.com, noted: “To say that Gordon has had an ‘unorthodox career’ to date would be akin to saying that Frank Sinatra ‘could sing a little.’ ”

I will assume that you are familiar with the look on the face of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick prior to the postgame interview. Here’s Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle describing it: “The dude at your gym waiting impatiently for you to get your wimpy ass off the bench-press machine.”

ThisThat

It seems I got my minor midget and major midget Thompson Blazers hockey teams mixed up in this space on Saturday night. . . . The minor midget Blazers are a first-year team and will have Neil Pilon and Darryl Sydor on board as assistant coaches, alongside head coach Chris Murray, who is a former WHL/NHL skater. . . . Meanwhile, Carter Cochrane is the first-year head coach of the major midget Blazers. Mitchell Barker has returned as an assistant coach and is joined by James Friedel and Devin Gannon. . . . Apologies to all involved for the confusion.

The Moose Jaw Warriors played their annual Black-White game on Sunday at Mosaic Place to bring an end to their training camp. A tip of the fedora to the Warriors for keeping alive the memory of Ethan Brown.

If you aren’t aware of Ethan Williams, you should click right here.

Dorothy, my wife of 46 years, will celebrate the fifth anniversary of her kidney transplant by taking part in the 2018 Kamloops Kidney Walk. If you would like to support her with a donation, you are able to do so right here.

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