If you ever wondered about the arrogance of Hockey Canada, well, wonder no longer. You only had to see the end of the IIHF World Women’s Championship 
in Herning, Denmark, on Sunday to understand. . . . Yes, that was Scott Smith, the president and CEO of Hockey Canada, handing out the gold medals to the Canadian team after its 2-1 victory over the U.S., in the process allowing controversy to creep into what should have been a time that belonged strictly to the winners. . . . The arrogance, the tone deafness . . . call it whatever you want . . . it was off the charts. . . . What it wasn’t was surprising. . . . If you haven’t realized it before, you should be aware by now that the Hockey Canada pooh-bahs seem to be planning to wait this out while the whole mess gets swept (shovelled?) under the carpet and disappears from the public mind. . . . At the end of the day, it’s all about the power and the accompanying perks. Once your nose is in the trough, it’s awfully hard to walk away on a voluntary basis. Obviously, the time has come for someone — politicians? sponsors? — to push harder.
Old friend Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times is nearing a well-earned retirement. For a long time now, he has allowed me to lift items from his weekly Sideline Chatter column. Yes, he has taken the odd thing from me, but the exchange is heavily weighted the other way. . . . His column is wonderful. If you aren’t familiar with it, here’s how he opened this week’s effort:
Warning: Dogleg ahead … and maybe a giraffe leg.
Play at the Skukuza Golf Club in the wilds of South Africa had to be held up until the carcass of a giraffe — killed by a couple of lions, who were then replaced by 20 hungry hyenas — could be hauled away from the fairway of the third hole.
“It is what makes Skukuza so special,” greenskeeper Jean Rossouw told the London Daily Mail, “not knowing what is going to happen every time you play.”
DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME, SAYS COVID-19 — Craig Dickenson, the head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was back on the sideline for Sunday’s Labour Day Classic — that isn’t played on Labour Day — in Regina. Dickenson had tested positive for you know what and missed practices starting on Tuesday. He also missed Saturday’s walk through because he needed a negative test before he would be allowed to return. . . . The Roughriders know they have to be careful with this because it was only in July when they had 13 players and five staff members test positive. . . . ICYMI, the Blue Bombers (11-1) escaped with a 20-18 victory over the Roughriders (6-6). And now it’s on to Winnipeg for Saturday’s Banjo Bowl. If you’re a Roughriders’ fan you are pleading with your guys to play with more discipline — even a player who wasn’t dressed took a penalty yesterday and took them out of FG range — but you know you’re likely yelling into a void.
Headline at The Beaverton: Man who is “done with COVID” sure doing everything he can to keep it going.
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One more from The Beaverton: No one is ever productive working from home declare CEOs working from Barbados.
The Florida State football team had 140 staff members and 116 players on hand for its team photo. As Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wondered: “Do the grad assistants really need grad assistants?”
Mark your calendar. Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for Oct. 28. As Bob Molinaro asks in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: “Who will be the next Mr. November?”
ICYMI, Nick Saban, the head coach of the Alabama football team, signed a contract extension the other day that will pay him US$93.6 million through the 2030 season. . . . As sports business analyst Darren Rovell noted on Twitter — $26,326: In-state student tuition, room & board at Alabama for the 2022-23 school year. . . . $29,315: What Alabama football coach Nick Saban gets paid PER DAY this season.”
Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Jon Gruden, man, there’s a man who can apologize. Not. On eight years of his email hate, Gruden said, ‘I’ll make no excuses for it, it’s shameful. BUT. I am a good person. . . . I made some mistakes but I don’t think anyone here hasn’t.’ Gruden should be given another chance to work. The job should involve a mop and broom.”
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Ostler, again: “Cameron Smith, world No. 2 golfer, calls LIV golfers not receiving world ranking points ‘perhaps a little bit unfair.’ Pal, if you’re looking for a shoulder to cry on, try your Saudi sugar daddies. They seem like sympathetic folks.”
THINKING OUT LOUD — A tip of the fedora to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Admission to their Black-White game on Sunday was by donation, and proceeds went to the Saskatchewan Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association in memory of Ethan Williams. Well done, Warriors! Never forget. . . . The American League’s third wild-card spot could come down to the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, and they’ll meet 10 times between now and season’s end. Seven of those games will be in Baltimore. They start with a doubleheader in Baltimore today (Monday). . . . Oh, did I mention that Baltimore has won six of nine meetings with Toronto to this point? . . . Of course, both teams still are within range of the AL East-leading Yankees, who are folding like a cardboard suitcase in a rain storm. . . . Is it time to blow up Hockey Canada entirely, including rules and regulations and everything else, and start over?
Steve Simmons, in the Toronto Sun: “Kudos to the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation, which doesn’t want its players working in the KHL because of its disapproval of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If you play in the KHL this season, you can’t play hockey for a Swedish national team.”
You may have watched Northwestern and Nebraska in a college football game from Dublin, Ireland, a couple of Saturday’s ago. At one point in the telecast, St. Andrew’s Cathedral could be seen. “In Omaha,” wrote comedy writer Brad Dickson, formerly of the Omaha World-Herald, “it would be razed to make room for a strip mall.”
Scott Frost, Nebraska’s head coach, is on the hot seat this season. After losing, 31-28, to Northwestern in Dublin, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Nick Canepa wrote: “Scott Frost . . . unemployment nipping at his nose.” . . . The Wildcats bounced back with a 38-17 victory over the North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Saturday.
THE COACHING GAME:
The WHL’s Vancouver Giants have added former NHL D Brent Seabrook to their staff as a player development coach. Seabrook, from Delta, B.C., isn’t a stranger to the Giants. He joined the coaching staff in December when head coach Michael Dyck was with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship tournament that was postponed shortly after it got started. . . . Seabrook won three Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks during an NHL career that included 1,114 regular games and 123 more in the playoffs. . . . He spent four seasons (2001-05) with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. He played 15 seasons in Chicago before retiring after the 2019-20 season. . . .
The BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers have added Tyler Gow to their staff as an assistant coach. Gow, 39, is from Nanaimo. He finished his junior A career by playing 40 games with the Clippers in 2000-01, then spent for years at St. Norbert College, an NCAA Division III school. In Nanaimo, Gow will be working alongside Colin Birkas, the general manager and head coach, associate coaches Bob Beatty and Bob Foglietta, assistant coach Dave Liffiton, skills coach Ben Walter and goaltender coach Sean Murray.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
The Wisconsin Lumberjacks of the Superior International Junior Hockey League played an exhibition game against the host Brooks Bandits of the AJHL on Thursday night. The Bandits won. 23-0. Shots were 56-12. . . . A couple of nights earlier, the Lumberjacks had dropped a 7-1 decision to the host Okotoks Oilers. . . . The Lumberjacks ventured into the SJHL on Sunday, where they were outshot, 49-19, and beaten, 3-2, by the Kindersley Klippers.
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who are in contact with players,” according to Karissa Donkin of CBC News. . . . The policy also will include members of billet families who are eligible to be vaccinated. . . . Karl Jahnke, the QMJHL’s chief marketing officer, told Donkin that players had been notified of the policy a few weeks ago, adding that should a player choose not to be vaccinated “obviously, it’s a personal decision but they won’t be able to play.” . . . Trevor Georgie, the president and general manager of the Saint John Sea Dogs, said his organization has had “one player (who) won’t be able to meet those guidelines. We have one billet family that won’t be able to meet the guidelines, and we have one staff member (who) may not be able to meet those guidelines.” . . . Donkin’s story is 
22? Or will he go back home to play? Or does he end up in the AHL? . . . Jim Matheson, the veteran hockey writer with Postmedia in Edmonton, tweeted Monday afternoon that he is “hearing” that Wallstedt “might be playing for Portland . . . rather than back with Lulea.” . . . Wallstedt and Sebastian Cossa of the Edmonton Oil Kings were the two best goaltenders available in last weekend’s NHL draft. Cossa was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round; the Minnesota Wild took Wallstedt five picks later. . . . Of course, because Wallstedt, who is to turn 19 on Nov. 14, was drafted from a European team, the Wild could sign him and place him with its AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. . . . The Winterhawks acquired Wallstedt’s WHL rights from the Moose Jaw Warriors on July 6 for a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2023 draft. The Warriors had selected him in the 2019 CHL import draft.
department to contract extensions — general manager Jeff Chynoweth, head coach Steve Hamilton and assistant coaches Trent Cassan and Joel Otto. The length of the extensions wasn’t revealed. Chynoweth is preparing for his fifth season with the Hitmen, while Hamilton has been head coach through three seasons. Otto is going into his 15th season, with Cassan entering his sixth.
contract. He was the fifth overall selection in the CHL’s 2021 import draft. . . . Bettahar, 17, played just three games in 2020-21, putting up one assist for the Jungadler Mannheim U-20 side. In 2019-20, he had two goals and 25 assists in 35 games for the program’s U-17. . . . He is the first German player to have been selected by the Broncos in the import draft. . . . Swift Current also selected Russian F Alexei Shanaurin in the June 30 draft. He signed a WHL contract on July 21. . . . The Broncos didn’t have any imports on the roster with which they finished the 2021 development season.
are implementing a mandatory vaccination policy to prevent against the transmission of COVID-19. Under this policy, we will require that players, along with all members of the OHL community, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide a proof of vaccination to the OHL at least two weeks prior to the start of training camps.”
news conference today (Tuesday) at 10 a.m. PT. . . . They have needed a GM since Matt Bardsley announced on May 25 that he was leaving the organization after three years. He left with three years remaining on his contract, saying that because of travel restrictions he wanted to get his family back to the U.S. They have since relocated to Portland and Bardsley has signed on with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers as an amateur scout. . . . Bardsley had worked in Portland with the Winterhawks since 1999 before joining the Blazers. . . . There has been speculation that Blades head coach Shaun Clouston will add the GM’s role to his duties. He has been the Blazers’ head coach for two seasons. Prior to signing in Kamloops, he spent 16 seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers, the last seven as GM/head coach. . . . Earlier this month, the Everett Silvertips gave the GM’s title to head coach Dennis Williams and signed him to a contract extension. The Silvertips dumped general manager Garry Davidson after nine seasons, saying it was a cost-cutting move.
20, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a pair of draft picks — a second-rounder in 2023 and a fifth-rounder in 2024. . . . Mount, a 5-foot-8, 180-pounder from Victoria, was the 19th overall selection in the WHL’s 2017 draft. In 140 regular-season games, he has 23 goals and 45 assists. His best season was 2019-20, when he put up 14 goals and 24 assists in 62 games. . . . The 6-foot-3, 205-pound McNelly, from Westlock, Alta., has six goals and 11 assists in 121 regular-season games. . . . The Giants finished the 2020-21 season with five other 2001-born players on their roster — F Bryce Bader, F Adam Hall, D Connor Horning, G Trent Miner and F Dallon Wilton. . . . At the same time, Seattle has two 2001-born players remaining on its roster from the end of the season — D Ryan Gottfriend and F Henrik Rybinski.
2021-22 WHL season. On Monday, they announced the signing of Slovakian F Jakub Demek, who was picked in the CHL’s 2021 import draft. . . . Last season, Demek, 18, had two assists in 10 games with HC Kosice in the Slovak Extraliga, and had six goals and 15 assists in 31 games with the country’s U-18 side. . . . Earlier, the Oil Kings announced that Czech D Simon Kubicek, who turns 20 on Dec. 19, had committed to playing for them. He was acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds.
were selected in the CHL’s 2021 import draft. . . . From the Blades’ news release: “Born and raised in Vitebsk, Belarus, Sidorov spent last year playing and training under his home country’s national U17 and U18 development programs. The majority of his workload came as an underage forward in the U18 ranks, dressing in 24 games and racking up 14 points (7G-7A) along with 10 penalty minutes.” . . . Saskatoon also drafted German F Moritz Elias, 17, last month but has yet to announce his signing.
overall selection in the CHL’s 2021 import draft. . . . Huuhtanen, 18, is ranked 49th overall among European skaters eligible for the NHL draft that is to be held Friday and Saturday. . . . In 2020-21, he had 20 goals and 14 assists in 37 games with Tappara’s U-20 side. He also had two goals and three assists for Finland at the IIHF U-18 World championship in Texas. . . . He had signed a two-year contract with the Finnish pro team Tappara on May 19. . . . The Silvertips also hold the CHL rights to Czech F Michal Gut, 19, and Finnish D Kasper Puutio, 19, both of whom finished last season on their roster although choosing to play in Europe.
after revealing that she has tested positive for COVID-19. . . . “I am so disappointed to share the news that I have tested positive for COVID and won’t be able to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” she tweeted. ”It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future.’’ . . . 
picked in the CHL’s 2001 import draft. . . . Chayka, who turns 18 on Aug. 26, got into three games with Belarus at the IIHF U18 World championship in Texas, going 2-1-0, 2.67, .911. . . . In 29 appearances with Team Belarus in a junior league there, he was 3.60, .870. . . . The Raiders didn’t have any imports on their roster in the Regina hub earlier this year. They finished the 2019-20 season with three on their roster — F Daniil Stepanov, now 20, of Belarus; F Aliaksei Protas, now 20, also of Belarus; and F Ivan Kechkin, now 19, of Russia.
hour west of Calgary.
be declared a red zone by the Quebec government at some point this week. . . . The Phoenix, which had eight positive tests last month, was to have the Blainville-Boisbriand Aramada this week. However, the Armada has been idled because it, too, is in a red zone. . . . The Armada is one of the teams to be included in the QMJHL bubble in Quebec City starting on Nov. 17. If it isn’t too late to adjust the schedule, maybe the Phoenix will be added to the bubble. . . .
play games “effective immediately.” Teams will be permitted to have a maximum of 150 fans at games, all of whom must wear masks. The league released a 24-game exhibition schedule Saturday night, with the first game scheduled for Thursday when the La Ronge Ice Wolves are to visit the Flin Flon Bombers. The two teams will meet four times in 10 days. Exhibition games will be played through Nov. 1.
as they prepare to open the regular season on Dec. 1. The exception is the Wenatchee, Wash., Wild, which isn’t involved because of U.S.-Canada border restrictions. . . . Instead, the Wild has scheduled a series of six scrimmages in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho about a three-hour drive from Wenatchee. . . . According to the Wild, the scrimmages will include “10-16 Western Hockey League players joining the Wild camp on a limited basis to participate in the scrimmages.” . . . Those scrimmages are scheduled for Oct. 22, 12:15 p.m.; Oct. 23, 7:15 p.m.; Nov. 6 and 7, and Nov. 13 and 14. Times for the latter four are TBA.
leaving the immediate future of the Olympiques’ schedule in doubt. . . . The Olympiques held their home-opener without fans on Friday night, beating the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, 3-2, and then won again, 5-4, on Saturday. . . . The Olympiques and Drummondville Voltigeurs, also in a red zone, are expected to be restricted as of Oct. 14. . . .
Kamloops This Week reported: “Robison said a minimum of 50 per cent capacity in all arenas will be required for play to begin. No scenario is expected to be considered in which a team begins the campaign with a maximum capacity of less than 50 per cent.”
release on Thursday that explained “a COVID-19 alternative plan to fulfill the 2020-21 season,” as approved by its board of governors. . . . The release included this paragraph: “In the case that the original request for 25 per cent capacity in arenas by the scheduled Dec. 1 start date is not approved by the PHO (Provincial Health Office), the league will move forward with a model of reduced games without fans and will rely on player fees along with sponsorship and government support to fund the season.” . . . When you want to know what’s happening in the BCHL, you turn to Brian Wiebe. He interviewed Chris Hebb, the BCHL commissioner, and got a whole lot of answers, including how the amount of individual player fees will be set. That’s all 
out of Manitoba? General manager and head coach Mike Reagan and the Flin Flon Bombers have their hands full as they work to navigate the pandemic while dealing with health officials from two provinces. . . . Eric Westhaver of the Flin Flon Reminder has more 
League posted this on Twitter on Sunday:
hazing brought against it by F Eric Guest, 20, who played three seasons (2016-19) with the Kitchener Rangers. . . . You may recall that earlier this summer Guest posted a video on social media in which he detailed some alleged hazing incidents, one of which included the use of cocaine. . . . Having twice tried to contact Guest and not having received a response, David Branch, the OHL commissioner, said in a statement that “we have assumed that Mr. Guest is not prepared to meet and provide the assistance required for the OHL to conduct an investigation into his allegations.” . . . In June, the Rangers asked Waterloo Regional Police to conduct an investigation, but, according to Mark Pare of 
TAKING NOTE 