Norm, this one’s for you . . .
Norm Weseen, a dear, dear friend who was a huge fan of the Vancouver Giants, died Saturday night on the Lower Mainland.
Norm, who was in his 80s, lived a lot and saw a lot. He was a sportscaster on the Prairies in an earlier life, then moved to B.C., where he worked in various communities and covered enough curling that the B.C. Interior Curling Association honoured him as a life member in 1989. He also was a big, big hockey guy and, before his health began to catch up to him, he was a Giants’ season-ticket holder; in fact, I believe he held two of them. He loved nothing more than to attend a Giants’ practice and bump into the late Pat Quinn.
I came to know Norm about 20 years ago when he phoned out of the clear blue just wanting to talk hockey. It wasn’t long before we were having regular conversations during which we would solve a whole lot of problems. He knew his way around arenas in Estevan and Weyburn. He had worked in Smithers, B.C., and loved the Watson brothers.
With the Giants, he especially liked the lunch-bucket guys like Milan Lucic and Garet Hunt. And, of course, there was no one better in Norm’s mind than Brendan Gallagher.
Norm also introduced me to Dickson Liong, a courageous young man with cerebral palsy who has written for the Giants, as well as the Vancouver Canucks and their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. (There’s more on Dickson right here.)
One other thing . . . my wife, Dorothy, fell in love with Norm. She underwent a kidney transplant more than nine years ago, and whenever we talked he always started the conversation with: “How is Wonder Woman doing?” Of course, whenever he called and she answered the phone, I would have to wait 10 or 15 minutes for my turn. And it never was too early in a new year for him to start asking when he would be able to make a donation in support of Dorothy and her annual Kidney Walk fund-raiser.
Yes, Norm was a dear, dear friend. It is true, however, that time waits for no one and it caught up with Norm on Saturday.
RIP, old friend. Dorothy and I’ll be missing you.
After the excruciating way in which the Victoria Royals lost at home on Saturday night, one has to think they will be excited about hitting the road for their next six games.
The Royals dropped a 6-5 OT decision to the visiting Vancouver Giants on 
Saturday in a game that, if you’re a Victoria fan, ended in bizarre fashion. If you are a Giants’ supporter, well, you must have loved it.
Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist called it a “near-epic collapse.”
The Royals, who got three goals from F Jake Poole, held a 5-3 lead with 107 seconds left to play in the third period.
F Ty Thorpe got Vancouver to within a goal at 18:12.
Vancouver F Samuel Honzek tied it with 1.4 seconds remaining in the period.
F Zack Ostapchuk, the Giants’ captain, won it at 1:09 of extra time. (The Royals, in their recap, gave the game-winner to F Ty Halaburda, which, if a change is made, would really rub in some salt because he is from Victoria.)
Meanwhile, I am left to wonder what would constitute an epic collapse.
It all allowed the Giants to improve to 2-5-3 with the Royals falling to 2-8-2.
The Royals, who open a swing through the six-team Central Division on Wednesday against the Red Deer Rebels, will be hoping a change of scenery proves to be the cure for what ails them.
“It was a really tough loss and (the road swing) will be a good way to turn the page,” Dan Price, the Royals’ general manager and head coach, told Dheensaw. “Our players are disappointed but are very mature, confident and resilient.”
Of course, it should be mentioned that the Rebels have opened the season with a franchise-record 10-game winning streak.
The Vancouver Giants returned home — they play out of the Langley Events 
Centre — on Sunday and won their second game in a row for the first time this season, beating the Kamloops Blazers, 6-3. . . . Each team was playing for the third time in fewer than 48 hours; the Giants were playing their fourth game in fewer than 96 hours. . . . Vancouver (3-5-3) also is taking its show on the road. The Giants will play six games in the Central Division, starting Thursday night against the Edmonton Oil Kings — and two against the Prince George Cougars before next playing at home against Kamloops on Nov. 18.
My upcoming reading list includes three new releases, including the book referred to in the above tweet — Rising from the Deep: The Seattle Kraken, a Tenacious Push for Expansion, and the Emerald City’s Sports Revival. It is the work of Geoff Baker, a former Toronto Star and Montreal Gazette sports writer who now is on the Kraken beat at the Seattle Times. . . . Also on my list are The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, written by the prolific Jeff Pearlman. His books always are great reads, but he asks that you not buy the one about Brett Favre. Seriously! . . . And, finally, I am looking forward to getting my hands on The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life, by former MLB manager Joe Maddon and Tom Verducci, a sports writer of note.
The Prince Albert Raiders, playing their third game in fewer than 48 hours, weren’t any kind of match for F Riley Fiddler-Schultz and the host Calgary 
Hitmen on Sunday. Fiddler-Schultz, the team captain, struck for five goals, four of them in the first period, in leading the Hitmen to a 6-1 victory. . . . Fiddler-Schultz tied F Pavel Brendl’s franchise record for most goals in one game. Brendl scored five in an 8-2 victory over the visiting Raiders on Nov. 11, 2000. . . . Fiddler-Schultz’s four first-period goals tied Brendl and F Owen Fussey for most goals in a period. Brendl scored four third-period goals in a 5-2 victory over the Warriors in Moose Jaw on Oct. 18, 2000; Fussey had four in the third period of a 7-3 victory over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes on Feb. 6, 2002. . . . Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow) also tweeted that Fiddler-Schultz, who had gone six games without a goal, now has had one three-goal game, a four-game and this five-goal effort during his career. Brandow also noted that Fiddler-Schultz set a franchise record for fastest three goals (2:43) — F Michael Bubnick held the previous record (6:48) from a 5-3 less to the visiting Red Deer Rebels on Jan. 13, 2002. . . .
According to the WHL, “The last five goal performance in the WHL was recorded by former Lethbridge F Justin Hall on Feb. 26, 2022. The last six goal performance was recorded on Feb. 27, 2009 by Tyler Ennis of the Medicine Hat Tigers.”
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Don’t sleep on the Saskatoon Blades. They are 9-2-0 after winning their sixth straight game, 5-1 over the Oil Kings in Edmonton on Sunday. The Blades got two goals and an assist from F Trevor Wong in that one. . . . Freshman F Samuel Honzek put up six points — three goals, three assists — in the Vancouver Giants’ back-to-back victories. Honzek, who is to turn 18 on Nov. 12, is from Trencin, Slovakia. He has six goals and seven assists in his first 11 games. . . . It was a rather nice late autumn Sunday in Kamloops; it was anything but on the flatlands. In fact, things were so nasty that the WHL had to postpone a game that was to have had the Moose Jaw Warriors facing the Pats in Regina. That game now will be played on Wednesday night.
THINKING OUT LOUD — To the boss at the Vancouver Province: If you notice that your Sunday newsstand sales have shrunk by one, it’ll be because I bailed. You’ve gone from five crossword puzzles to one on Sundays? Thanks for the entertainment value over the past few years, but I’m out. . . . NFL observer Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) points out that the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos all are 5-2. The Saints’ first-round draft pick, he adds, belongs to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Browns’ first pick belongs to the Houston Texans. The Broncos’ first pick belongs to the Seattle Seahawks. . . . How would the Seahawks’ brass respond if the Broncos were to offer QB Russell Wilson to them for QB Geno Smith? Yeah, that’s what I thought? . . . There are 15 teams in baseball’s National League. The Philadelphia Phillies went 87-75 (.537) in the regular season. That was the NL’s sixth-best record, something that wouldn’t have got them into the playoffs in any other season but this one. Now they’re going to the World Series. Make of that what you will.
The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks played their home-opener on Saturday night and lost their sixth straight game, this one 5-1 to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Canucks’ fans aren’t taking it well.
After Saturday’s debacle, Thomas Drance of The Athletic wrote that the Canucks “fin
ally . . . returned to the supposedly friendly confines of Rogers Arena. And this one had it all. It had the road team opening the scoring with a fluky power-play goal. A gentleman wearing a retro Canucks jersey and a paper bag on his head, posing for photos with other fans in his section. The fans booed during play as the game twisted away from Vancouver. They booed as the Sabres top line cycled the puck endlessly in the Vancouver end. They booed the Canucks on the power play. They even booed ‘Sweet Caroline.’ ”
If you subscribe to The Athletic, Drance’s piece is right here. If you don’t subscribe, you should give it some thought.
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St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
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Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
——
Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League was dealing with a hazing incident.
sports journalism career that began at the Brandon Sun.
games on Sept 4. On Friday, however, the Thunderbirds reversed field, tweeting that “training camp begins Aug. 31 and starting Thursday (Sept. 1) it is open to the public.” . . . Meanwhile, Sarah Brusig of 
have F Justin Robidas, 19, the captain of the Val-d’Or Foreurs, move to the Quebec Remparts for a package that will include G Mathys Fernandez, 17, and a number of draft picks. The intriguing part is that, as Mikael Lalancette of Le Soleil reported, the transaction will “be announced during the holiday season.” That would be “holiday” as in Christmas. . . . Yes, because it’s the Q. . . . BTW, Robidas’ father, Stéphane, is a former NHLer who now is an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens.
practise on Wednesday. Their scheduled game against the visiting Toronto Argonauts on Saturday is likely to be postponed.
Thunderbirds, who will be facing elimination for the seventh time in these playoffs, won Game 5, 3-2, on Saturday night. Because the Thunderbirds’ home arena in Kent, Wash., has been unavailable due to graduation ceremonies, this series is following a 2-2-3 format. As a result, the Thunderbirds will be designated as the home team tonight and, as such, will have the last change.
leagues? . . . Well, the host Edmonton Oil Kings got past the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-4, on Sunday to even that the WHL final for the Ed Chynoweth Cup at 1-1. . . . The series will resume with Games 3 and 4 in Kent, Wash., on Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . The games will be televised by TSN. Victor Findlay will be calling the play with former Spokane Chiefs F Kevin Sawyer (1992-95) providing the analysis. He also spent one season (2013-14) as a Spokane assistant coach. . . . During the NHL season, Sawyer provides analysis on TSN’s telecasts of Winnipeg Jets games. . . . Remember that as many of Games 5, 6 and 7 are needed will be played in Edmonton, beginning with Game 5 on Saturday night. . . .
Thunderbirds, 5-4. . . . The Oil Kings also got four points, two of them goals, from D Luke Prokop, who has been in on five of the six goals his side has scored in the first two games. . . . The series now is 1-1 with Game 3 scheduled for Kent, Wash., on Tuesday. . . . This was the sixth straight one-goal game in which Seattle has been involved; it had won the first five of those. . . . Prokop (3) got the scoring started, giving the Oil Kings a 1-0 lead when he got a shot through traffic and into the net at 1:35 of the second period. . . . Seattle tied it at 3:29 when F Matt Rempe (7) backhanded home the rebound off a shot by D Jeremy Hanzel. Rempe had scored a similar goal in Seattle’s 2-1 victory in Game 1 on Friday night. . . . Last night, Edmonton went ahead 2-1 at 4:19 when Prokop (4) joined the rush and scored off a pass from F Jake Neighbours. . . . F Carter Souch (11) capitalized on a turnover and upped Edmonton’s lead to 3-1 at 13:11, only to have Seattle F Lukas Svejkovsky (10) strike, on a PP, at 15:12. . . . F Justin Sourdif (5) restored Edmonton’s two-goal lead, on a PP, at 17:28 to close out a six-goal second period — four by the Oil Kings. . . . The Thunderbirds tied it 4-4 with two early third-period scores — F Jared Davidson (12) notched a PP goal from the right face-off dot at 0:26 and Svejkovsky (11) banged in the rebound of a shot by F Reid Schaefer at 2:50. . . . The Oil Kings went back in front at 8:46 when Kuny (1) tipped in a Prokop point shot. . . . Seattle was 2-for-6 on the PP; Edmonton was 1-for-3. . . . G Sebastian Cossa blocked 26 shots for Edmonton, 10 fewer than Seattle’s Thomas Milic.
shouldn’t be surprising. The lack of merchandise — and the lack of variety — available immediately after the men’s team qualified for the World Cup was shocking, while someone goofed in a big, big way by scheduling a ‘friendly’ with Iran that ultimately was cancelled. And now there’s an ugly dispute with the players that resulted in the cancellation of Sunday’s game with Panama that was to have replaced that game with Iran. Such a golden opportunity kicked right out the door. Stephen Brunt of Sportsnet has more on this mess 
Seattle Thunderbirds in Edmonton against the Oil Kings. . . . In the OHL, the Windsor Spitfires opened in Hamilton against the Bulldogs on Friday night. Windsor won, 4-3 in OT, getting the winner from former Bulldogs D Michael Renwick at 9:30 after Hamilton had been assessed a checking-from-behind major at 6:56. Hamilton went into the game with a 12-0 record in these playoffs and, including the regular season, had won 24 in a row at home. They’ll play Game 2 on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton. . . . In the QMJHL, the Shawinigan Cataractes will face the host Charlottetown Islanders in Game 1 tonight (Saturday). . . . The QMJHL’s opening playoff rounds all were best-of-five because the league got off to a later start than its two counterparts. But it now is caught up, so the final is best-of-seven. . . .
Edmonton went into the game with a 7-0 record at Rogers Place in these playoffs. . . . They are scheduled to play Game 2 in Edmonton on Sunday, before shifting to Kent, Wash., for games on Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . Remember that because of issues with building availability in Kent, Games 5, 6 and 7, as needed, would be played in Edmonton. . . . Last night, F Matt Rempe (6) got the scoring started for Seattle, backhanding home the rebound off a shot by F Reid Schaefer at 1:59 of the second period. . . . F Conner Roulette (4), who had an assist on Rempe’s goal, upped Seattle’s lead to 2-0 at 8:55 of the third period, tipping in a shot by D Tyrel Bauer. . . . Edmonton got on the board at 11:40, on a PP, as F Carter Souch (10) found the range with a redirect of a shot by D Luke Prokop. . . . The Oil Kings were 1-for-2 on the PP; Seattle was 0-for-1. Referees Chris Crich and Fraser Lawrence handed out only three minor penalties. . . . Seattle G Thomas Milic, who was named the game’s first star, continued his strong playoff run with 43 saves. . . . Edmonton got 20 stops from G Sebastian Cossa.
$7.7 million worth of upgrades. The report, acquired by the Kelowna Daily Courier through a Freedom of Information request, was prepared by Toronto-based Stadium Consultants International. . . . The arena, which opened on March 28, 1999, is owned by GSL Group, which also owns, among other things, the WHL’s Victoria Royals and that city’s Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. In Kelowna, an agreement between GSL Group and the city calls for ownership to be turned over to the city in 2029. . . . According to the SCI report, 6,500-seat Prospera Place should have its roof and outer walls replaced within seven years. There also should be improvements made to ventilation, vinyl and carpeted floors, among other things. . . . Ron Seymour of The Daily Courier wrote: “Issues are said to include some water leakage on the roof, outdated and undersized food and beverage facilities, small dressing rooms, and a cramped concourse. But other aspects of the building are said to be in surprisingly good condition given their age.” . . . The consultants suggest replacing the roof would have an estimated cost of $2.4 million, while upgraded lighting would come in at $1.5 million. . . .
thanks to the pandemic) on Sunday. . . . What this means is that you’re running out of time if you would like to sponsor my wife, Dorothy, who received a kidney on Sept. 23, 2013, and is fund-raising for a ninth straight year. . . . Thanks to so many of you who stop by here, she has set a new personal-best as she closes in on $4,000. . . . If you would like to join an NHL head coach, a former WHL franchise owner, a former WHL general manager who once won three Memorial Cups in four years, three former WHL play-by-play voices, the wife of a WHL general manager and head coach, the head coach of a team that will play in the Memorial Cup later this month, someone who once worked in the WHL office and a whole lot of other friends and acquaintances by donating, you are able to do so 
Edmonton went into these playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed. The Oil Kings swept the No. 7 Lethbridge Hurricanes and No. 3 Red Deer Rebels, then dismantled the No. 1 Winnipeg Ice, 4-1. So the Oil Kings go into this final with a 12-1 record. . . . Seattle, the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, has travelled a much more difficult road. It started by eliminating the No. 5 Kelowna Rockets, 4-1, then went seven games to sideline the No. 3 Portland Winterhawks and seven more to oust the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers. That all adds up to the Thunderbirds taking a 12-7 record into Game 1. . . . In the process, the Thunderbirds went 5-0 in elimination games, became the 16th team in WHL history to win a series after trailing 3-1, and became the first team in WHL history to win two Game 7s on the road in one playoff year. No, playing at Rogers Place in Edmonton isn’t going to bother these guys. . . . The Oil Kings were 29-4-1 at home in the regular season; they are 7-0 in the playoffs. On the road, they were 21-10-3 in the regular season and are 5-1 in the playoffs. . . . The Thunderbirds were 23-10-1 on the road in the regular season and are 6-4 in the playoffs; at home, they were 21-8-5 in the regular season and now are 6-3 in the playoffs. . . .
Thunderbirds, will open in the Alberta capital with games on Friday and Sunday.
Game 7 of the conference final. . . . It was the fifth time the Thunderbirds faced elimination in these playoffs and they now are 5-0 in such games. . . . The Blazers opened the scoring for the sixth time in the series when F Fraser Minten (6) struck at 8:34 of the opening period. . . . Seattle F Lucas Ciona drilled the left post behind G Dylan Garand a few minutes later. . . . The Thunderbirds pulled even at 15:47 when Davidson (10) snapped one home from the right face-off dot just seven seconds into the game’s first PP opportunity. That would be the only PP by either team on this night. . . . Davidson (11) shot Seattle into the lead at 2:27 of the second period following another face-off win in the Kamloops zone. . . . The Thunderbirds went ahead 3-1 at 14:56 as F Henrik Rybinski (4) beat Garand by tipping in a shot by D Jeremy Hanzel. . . . Seattle G Thomas Milic preserved the two-goal lead with a big stop off Kamloops F Logan Stankoven through traffic to start the third period. . . . The Blazers finally got
but shortstop Carlos Correa, a two-time all-star with the Houston Astros, won’t be with them. He was placed on the COVID-19 restricted list on Tuesday after exhibiting symptoms on Sunday and getting worse on Monday. Also on that list are Joe Ryan, a right-handed started, and backup OF Gilberto Celestino. . . . According to Sportsnet, the Twins, who began the week in Detroit against the Tigers, “have already said they’ll have ‘a few’ players on the restricted list not travelling to Toronto. This generally means players unvaccinated against COVID-19.”
TAKING NOTE 