The QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, perhaps not wanting to be outdone by the 
NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, had at least 24 people in their organization test positive. . . . The results are from the latest round of testing on April 8. . . . On April 3, the QMJHL announced that Gatineau had one positive test, so team activities were being placed on hold. . . . It would seem that one positive has transmitted into a whole lot more. . . .
Jean-Francois Plante of leDroit wrote: “Head coach Louis Robitaille has not escaped the spread of the virus. Since the first case was reported on April 3, almost the entire team has been afflicted by the variant, which is believed to be of South African origin. Other club staff were also inconvenienced.” . . . Plante wrote that some players had “minor symptoms, but others would struggle with much more serious side effects. Usually, we talk about fever, headache, vomiting, shortness of breath, chest pain and a marked drop in energy.” . . . The Olympiques are carrying 25 players, some of whom have escaped unscathed to this point. . . .
The Olympiques entire organization now is in quarantine, but there could be some players back on the ice later this week. The QMJHL maintains that it will begin its playoffs on April 23. . . .
The Olympiques aren’t the only QMJHL team with COVID-19 issues at the moment. The Quebec Remparts have three new positives, giving them a total of seven, while the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada have at least two. . . . The QMJHL has has a number of teams hit with positive tests this season. In the early days, the Armada was hit with 20 positives, while the Sherbrooke Phoenix had eight. The Drummondville Voltigeurs and Victoriaville Tigers also have experienced outbreaks.
The WHL has three teams on hold at the moment, two of them — the Kelowna Rockets and Calgary Hitmen — because of positive tests, and the Medicine Hat Tigers, who were deemed close contacts after playing the Hitmen on April 5. . . . As a result, three games originally scheduled for Monday were postponed, but there still were three played. . . .
F Connor McClennon scored twice as the Winnipeg Ice skated to a 3-1 victory 
over the Regina Pats in the Regina hub. . . . The Ice (12-4-0) have won six in a row. . . . Regina now is 6-7-3. . . . McClennon, who has 10 goals, broke a 1-1 tie at 17:27 of the first period, then added his second goal at 6:09 of the second. . . . F Conor Geekie (6) gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 5:09 of the first period. . . . Regina F Logan Nijhoff (7) tied it at 16:08. . . . Ice F Peyton Krebs drew the primary assist on McClennon’s second goal, running his point streak to 15 games. Since being blanked in his first game, he has put up nine goals and 20 assists. He leads the Regina hub in assists and points (29). . . . G Carl Stankowski earned the victory with 22 saves, eight more than Regina’s Roddy Ross. . . .
F Justin Hall scored twice and added three assists to lead the host Lethbridge 
Hurricanes to an 8-5 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. . . . Yes, it was the first five-point game of Hall’s career. He has eight points over his last two games. . . . Hall broke a 4-4 tie with his second goal of the game and 11th of this season at 3:43 of the third period. . . . F Jett Jones (4) gave Lethbridge a two-goal lead at 9:29, before F Ben King (5) got the Rebels to within one at 14:46. King finished with two goals and two assists. . . . D Trevor Thurston (3), at 16:34, and F Ty Nash (1), with the empty-netter, put away the victory. Thurston had two goals. . . . Hall has 21 points, including 10 assists, in 14 games. He went into this season with 16 goals in 102 career regular-season games. . . . The Hurricanes got three assists from each of F Liam Kindree and F Alex Thacker. . . . The Rebels got a goal, his fifth, and three assists from F Arshdeep Bains. . . . The Hurricanes (6-6-2) have points in four straight (3-0-1). . . . The Rebels (2-12-2) have lost nine in a row. . . . The Hurricanes swept the three-game weekend set, having won 6-3 in Red Deer on Friday and 5-2 at home on Saturday. . . . Lethbridge is (5-1-0) against Red Deer this season; they will meet three more times this weekend. . . .
F Craig Armstrong, who had two goals in his first 72 WHL regular-season games, scored four times in No. 73 as the Prince George Cougars dumped the Vancouver Giants in Kamloops. . . . Armstrong scored the game’s first three goals — at 13:00 of the first period, and 5:26 and 9:48 of the second. . . . F Tristen Nielsen (7) got Vancouver’s goal at 3:24 of the third. . . . Armstrong finished it off with an empty-netter. . . . Armstrong, a 17-year-old from Airdrie, Alta., has five goals and two assists in seven games. . . . Last season, he finished with one goal and seven assists in 62 games. . . . The Cougars got 37 saves from G Taylor Gauthier. . . . The Cougars (3-2-2) have points in four straight (2-0-2). . . . The Giants are 5-3-0.
With D Carson Lambos of the Winnipeg Ice unable to play for Canada’s U18 
team because of an undisclosed injury, Hockey Canada has added D Denton Mateychuk of the Moose Jaw Warriors to the roster. . . . The team’s players now are in isolation as they prepare for the IIHF World championship in Frisco and Plano, Texas, from April 26 through May 6. . . . Mateychuk, 16, was the 11th overall selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. He has two goals and seven assists in 16 games in the Regina hub this season.
The Chicago Cubs have had two coaches test positive — bullpen coach Chris Young and first-base coach Craig Driver. . . . Because Young is positive, three relievers were deemed to be close contacts so are in isolation. Jason Adam, Dan Winkler and Brandon Workman, all right-handers, are on the COVID-19 protocol list. . . . The Cubs were the only MLB team not have even one positive test last season. . . . The Cubs opened a three-game series with a 6-3 loss to the host Milwaukee Brewers on Monday.
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My wife, Dorothy, who had a kidney transplant more than seven years ago, is preparing to take part in her eighth straight Kamloops Kidney Walk. Unfortunately, it will be a virtual walk for a second straight year, but that won’t keep her from fund-raising on behalf of the Kidney Foundation. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here.
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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.
TAKING NOTE 