Aware early on that they weren’t going to have enough billets for a new season, 
the junior B Sicamous Eagles of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League put the wheels in motion. Last weekend, they moved into The Eagles’ Nest — a dormitory that was built on the grounds of the Sicamous and District Rec Centre. . . . Wayne March, the Eagles’ general manager, told Jim Elliot of the Eagle Valley News that he looks at this as a pilot project that other teams may be interested in checking out. . . . Elliot reported that the District of Sicamous paid for the construction and the team pays rent, which “is covered by fees paid by the players who would usually fund a stipend given to billet families.” . . . This is an interesting story, and you wonder if this is soon to become part of our new normal. . . . Elliot’s complete story is right here.
The BCHL postponed a pair of Saturday exhibition games after a player with the 
Surrey Eagles tested positive. . . . According to the league, as of Saturday afternoon, “The athlete has been placed in a 14-day quarantine and all other players and team personnel have been tested and we are awaiting results.” . . . The BCHL postponed an afternoon game between the Eagles and Langley Rivermen. Also postponed was a game scheduled for last night between the Coquitlam Express and Chilliwack Chiefs. . . . On Friday night, Surrey and Chilliwack played the sixth of six straight exhibition games against each other. . . . The BCHL said it is awaiting “further direction from Fraser Health.” . . . Earlier in the week, the Eagles had said they were desperately in need of billet families. “We’re in desperate need for one but I could really use four,” Jim Turton, the team’s billet co-ordinator, told the Peace Arch News.
Meanwhile, in the QMJHL, Jonathan Habashi, the sports editor of the 
Drummondville Journal Express, tweeted Saturday that he was told the Voltigeurs now have five positives. The Voltigeurs had suspended all in-person activities on Thursday after one player tested positive. At that point, other players and staff members were isolated and were being tested. . . . The QMJHL had shut down its 12 Quebec-based teams on Oct. 14 with the number of positives rising in the province. The league said things would be on hold until at least Oct. 28.
I don’t know how your week was, but let’s take a moment to think about Andrew Burke of Calmar, Alta. If you haven’t heard his story, well, he accidentally purchased two Lotto 6-49 tickets with the same numbers for the same draw. Later, he was getting the tickets checked at the gas station in which he had bought them when the clerk told him: “You’ve won $2.5 million.” Burke told The Canadian Press: “I said she better check the other ticket because it’s the same number.” . . . Poor guy. Had to share the $5-million jackpot. With himself! LOL!!
With the WHL now allowing players to transfer to junior A teams, at least until Dec. 20, the Chicago Steel of the USHL has let it be know that it isn’t interested in adding any CHL players. . . . Ryan Hardy, the Steel’s general manager, tweeted: “We are empathetic to any player without a place to play but we will not be adding players on loan from the CHL. We are committed to the development of our current players and will not sacrifice their growth for a perceive short-term gain.”
Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “COVID-19 was listed among those ‘also receiving votes’ in the latest AP football poll. Or did we just wake up from a bad dream?”
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“The Japan Swimming Federation has stripped Daiya Seto, the reigning world champion in two individual-medley events, of his team captaincy for the Tokyo Olympics after he was caught cheating on his wife,” Perry reports. “In other words, he got DQ’d for not staying in his own lane.”
Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe: “If you were watching Monday Night Football and were unaware, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is one of Donald Trump’s biggest NFL supporters. Who knew karma might be a football fan? Carry on.”
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Hough also pointed out this headline from si.com: Nick Saban Adds to His Legacy With Victories Over No. 3 Georgia, and COVID-19 in Same Week.
COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .
In spending a chilly Saturday afternoon watching U.S. college football, it dawned on me that the mostly leaderless United States of America has decided that if it has to sacrifice a few hundred thousand people before a vaccine arrives, so be it. . . . The number of college football coaches who should have their facemasks stapled to their faces is off the charts. For example, every time Fox-TV’s cameras showed Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, his facemask was serving as a chin diaper. . . . Hey, Mike, why even bother? . . . Oklahoma State was playing Iowa State and the Cyclones’ head coach, Mike Campbell, wasn’t much better. . . . No, neither announcer, Tim Brando nor Spencer Tillman, uttered a discouraging word. . . . However, Tillman did use the occasion to introduce a new term into the football lexicon — intentionality. As in, when a linebacker is closing on a running back, he needs to arrive with some “intentionality.”
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Here’s Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Something to consider: The pandemic dead in America would fill the Bay Area’s six professional sports venues (Chase Center, Oracle Park, Oakland Coliseum, Levi’s Stadium, SAP Center, Avaya Stadium) with only about 2,700 seats to spare.
“We’re days away from full capacity.”
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Ostler also related a story involving former San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Fred Dean, who died the other day of coronavirus-related causes. Ostler said he heard the story years ago “from a former 49ers’ exec. Dean sat down with the 49ers to hammer out a contract, in the days before agents. The two sides were close to an agreement, so the 49ers threw in a sweetener. ‘We’ll give you $500 for every sack.’ Dean said, ‘OK, but does my wife have to know?’ ”
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: Every autumn, tundra and Arctic swans arrive on the South Thompson River and spend the winter here. We have come to recognize their arrival as the start of winter. Uhh, the advance scouts showed up on Wednesday afternoon. The first snow in the river valley, which is where we live, fell overnight Thursday. While the swans will hang around, the snow won’t. I hope. . . . Dorothy was chatting with a longtime married friend from Regina the other day. When she asked the friend how things were going in these pandemic times, the response was: “Well, there’s nobody buried in the back yard yet.” . . . Ron St. Clair, a former radio voice of the Prince George Cougars, will be one of 15 inductees into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame this year. In an earlier life, St. Clair was the official announcer at the Delaware Speedway in Delaware, Ont. He also was the voice of CASCAR. Catherine Garrett of MYPGNOW has more right here.
TAKING NOTE 