It is the St. Louis Cardinals’ turn to visit the Toronto Blue Jays; they’ll play a two-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday without three players, including 
two future Hall-of-Famers. . . . 1B Paul Goldschmidt and 3B Nolan Arenado aren’t vaccinated so can’t cross into Canada due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions. Of course, the rules are the same going the other way — all of the Blue Jays are vaccinated — but there are Americans who blame all of this on Canadian rules whenever it’s revealed that players can’t get into the country. . . . You may recall that the Kansas City Royals showed up without 10 of the players on their 26-man roster when they played in Toronto prior to the All-Star break. . . . The Cardinals also will be without C Austin Romine. Yes, he is unvaccinated, too. . . . All three will be placed on MLB’s restricted list so won’t be paid. According to ESPN, Arenado will lose $384,416, Goldschmidt $241,758 and Romine $10,989. . . .
Jeff Jones, who covers the Cardinals for the Belleville, Ill., News-Democrat, tweeted that St. Louis GM John Mozeliak said “he had a conversation with Arenado in which Arenado expressed a desire to start a family soon, which informed some of his hesitance.” . . . Jones added that “COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility.” . . .
Goldschmidt explained his decision this way: “It was not an easy decision, but over this year-plus that this has happened, I’ve tried to talk to as many doctors and professionals as I could, figured out as much as I could, and I decided the potential risks outweighed the potential benefits of doing it. It stinks that I can’t play in Toronto and can’t play these next couple of games — I hate that part of it, but that’s unfortunately the consequence.” . . .
The Cardinals are in the National League wild-card race and are in danger of missing the playoffs — despite Goldschmidt being the favourite at this point to be named the NL’s MVP — so these two games, especially if they were to lose both of them, could turn out to be rather important.
Of course, both players said on Sunday that they would reconsider their decisions if the Cardinals make the playoffs, especially if they got in and made a run to the World Series.
Arenado: “I would probably consider (it), especially if it’s a chance to play in the World Series. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
BTW, after the Cardinals leave Toronto, the Detroit Tigers are to come in for a four-game set. Yes, it’ll be deja vu all over again.
Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Lucky for MLB that the All-Star Game wasn’t scheduled for Toronto, where un-vaccinated players would have been shut out. Recently, 10 Royals missed a four-game series in Toronto because they were un-vaxxed. As they say in baseball, We’ll shoot any random stuff into our bodies, as long as it’s not something that will help stop a worldwide killer pandemic.”
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Ostler again: “SI.com writer Stephanie Apstein called athletes’ vax resistance ‘a uniquely American breed of stupidity.’ To which Novak Djokovic said, ‘Hey, what about me?’ ”
Casey Close, a player agent, is suing American national sports-radio host Doug Gottlieb over a tweet claiming he and Excel Sports Management didn’t show the Atlanta Braves’ final offer to Freddie Freeman, who eventually signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. . . . As Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wrote: “Hey, if we start suing hosts for being inaccurate, then the entire talk-radio industry will crumble like sand castles at high tide.”
It turns out that QB Cody Fajardo was one of the 13 players with the Saskatchewan Roughriders who tested positive for COVID-19 last week. As a result, he wasn’t able to even dress for Sunday’s 31-21 over the visiting Toronto Argos. . . . BTW, Mason Fine, Saskatchewan’s backup QB, also was in COVID-19 protocol, but he was well enough to backup on Sunday. That left freshman QB Jake Dolegala, normally third on the depth chart, to start the game.
THINKING OUT LOUD: In the 1982-83 season, F Pat LaFontaine of the QMJHL’s Verdun Juniors put up 274 points, including 118 goals, in 89 games, including playoffs and the Memorial Cup. Think about that for a moment or two. . . . Kurleigh Gittens Jr. is a wide receiver with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, who had 152 yards and a touchdown in a 31-21 victory over the host Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday. If his nickname isn’t Jake, they’re doing it wrong. . . . Yes, I know that the Jack Nicholson character in Chinatown was Jake Gittes, but, hey, it’s close enough. . . . With 4:23 left in Sunday’s game, TSN analyst Glen Suitor made reference to the game being played before a “packed house.” Suitor must have had an obstructed-view seat because attendance in the 33,350-seat Mosaic Stadium was announced at 27,134 and TSN cameras showed that there were fewer than that in the house.
One more sign that the apocalypse is upon us . . .
Back in the day, Marie-Antoinette, the queen of France, upon being told that the peasants didn’t have any bread, may or may not have said: “Let them eat cake.” . . . Rob Manfred, the MLB commissioner, proved that he is a student of French history when, after being asked about the salaries (?) being paid to minor-league players, he responded: “I reject the premise that (minor-leaguers) are not paid even a living wage.”
Headline from the Los Angeles Times: The University of California Irvine on Monday will require all students and staff to wear masks while inside campus buildings, following the lead of other colleges that have chosen to strengthen safety measures as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
You may be aware that Dan Russell, the well-known former host of the Vancouver-based radio show Sportstalk, has written a book — Pleasant Good Evening: My 30 Wild and Turbulent Years of Sportstalk. . . . If you are thinking about writing your own book, you may want to check out this interview right here because Russell does a good job of explaining all that he went through in order to get his book from start to finish. . . . And if you haven’t read the book, you should. It’s a solid no-holds-barred look at the man, his life and his career. (Disclaimer: Yes, I helped him in the editing process.)
Former Sportstalk Radio host Dan Russell is making headlines with his new memoir
A track-and-field quiz from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times:
Noah Lyles won the 200 meters in 19.31 seconds at the world championships in Eugene, Ore., breaking the U.S. record held by:
- Michael Johnson
- Forrest Gump
- Josh Hawley
Ken Brown, a goaltender who played with the Moose Jaw Canucks in the first two seasons (1966-68) of what now is the WHL, has died in Austin, Texas, at the age of 73. . . . He was the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League’s goaltender of the year for 1966-67 when he put up a 3.22 GAA in 54 games. . . . In 1967-68, he was a second-team all-star in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League with a 5.07 GAA in 58 games. . . . A native of Port Arthur, Ont., Brown spent four seasons (1968-72) with the Dallas Black Hawks, the Central Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. He got into one game with Chicago in 1970-71, giving up one goal on 14 shots in 18 minutes. Of course, Chicago had Tony Esposito and Gerry Desjardins ahead of him. . . . He later spent two seasons (1972-73, 1974-75) with the WHA’s Alberta/Edmonton Oilers.
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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
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
practise on Wednesday. Their scheduled game against the visiting Toronto Argonauts on Saturday is likely to be postponed.
Hockey League, the umbrella under which junior A leagues operate in Canada, more than a year ago. That means that BCHL teams can’t compete for the Centennial Cup that was won this season by the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits at a 10-team tournament in Estevan, Sask. . . . With the BCHL on the outside of the CJHL and looking in, it is at least a bit interesting that the Wenatchee Wild will play four road exhibition games against USHL teams in September, while the Cranbook Bucks will go on the road to play games against the AJHL’s Bandits and the Okotoks Oilers. . . . If you’re wondering, the Wild will play two games against the Fargo Force and singles versus the Sioux Falls Stampede and Sioux City Musketeers.
Junior Hockey League on Monday when it released its regular-season schedule, one that includes the Spokane Braves. . . . Because of the pandemic, the Braves have sat out the past two seasons. . . . From the KIJHL news release: “The Spokane Braves are scheduled to play their first KIJHL regular-season game since February 2020 when they host Osoyoos Coyotes on Sept. 23 to begin their long-awaited 50th season. The league is continuing to monitor circumstances around the Canada-U.S. border and will provide updates.” . . . Taking Note has been told that the Braves have been given until Aug. 1 to declare their intentions for 2022-23. So you have to think that the KIJHL has another schedule ready to be released, one that doesn’t include Spokane. . . . With the U.S. and Canadian governments not allowing anti-vaxxers to cross their borders, the Braves don’t have enough vaccinated players to ice a team. In fact, owner Bob Tobiason and head coach Darin Schumacher aren’t vaccinated, either. That fact prevented Tobiason from attending the KIJHL’s annual general meeting at Fairmont Hot Springs in late June.
Belarus and begin his pro career with Shakhtyor Soligorsk of the Belarusian Extraliga. . . . Lethbridge GM Peter Anholt, from a news release: “We are really disappointed about the news of Klavdiev not returning. It’s disappointing to lose a good player who was going to be a key 19-year-old for us this coming season and someone that we were going to count on. The timing isn’t great for us, but his decision was made, and we respect that and wish him the best in his next step.” . . . Klavdiev had 21 goals and 26 assists in 61 games last season; he was one of three 20-goal scorers on the roster. . . . F Justin Hall led Lethbridge with 34 goals last season, but that was as a 20-year-old. F Jett Jones, who is to turn 20 on Aug. 27, was the other 20-goal man last season, with 20. . . . In the CHL’s 2022 import draft, the Hurricanes selected Slovakian F Alex Ciernik, who turns 18 on Oct. 8, in the first round and then passed on their second pick. The Hurricanes also hold the rights to Swiss F Liekit Reichie, 19, who had two goals and nine assists in 34 games after being claimed off waivers from the Prince George Cougars last season.
Pioneers Vorarlberg of the ICE Hockey League. The Pioneers play out of Feldkirch, Austria.
Moller with a five-goal game?
Jays have to be vaccinated to get into the U.S. — and it seems that most teams have three or four who have consulted with Dr. Google and decided not to bother.
to be played next month. This is the tournament that got underway in Red Deer and Edmonton in December before being cancelled following a number of positive COVID-19 tests. . . . Neighbours, 20, told Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: “I’ve made the decision I’m not going to go. With how long my season went and how my body is feeling right now, I’ve made Hockey Canada aware of that. We had a good discussion about it.” . . . The Oil Kings won the WHL championship and went on to play in the Memorial Cup in Saint John, N.B. . . . The St. Louis Blues selected Neighbours in the first round, 26th overall, of the NHL’s 2020 draft. He opened the 2021-22 season with them, scoring one goal and adding two assists in nine games. Back with the Oil Kings, he totalled 17 goals and 28 assists in 30 games. . . . Neighbours has turned 20 but is eligible to play in the WJC because the IIHF has chosen to allow those who were on rosters in December to play in Edmonton next month. . . . The tournament is scheduled to run Aug. 9-20.
overall selection in the inaugural two-round draft of U.S. players that was held in 2020. Sawchyn, who had never made a commitment but was believed to be NCAA-bound, actually was selected by the Red Deer Rebels. They dealt his rights to Seattle for a conditional second-round bantam draft selection on May 14, 2021. It’s likely safe to assume that the pick was conditional on Seattle signing Sawchyn. . . . Thom Beuning, the long-time radio voice of the Thunderbirds, explained the trade on Twitter on Wednesday: “The 2nd Red Deer gets could be Van’s (acquired last summer by Seattle). Seattle already owes a 2023 2nd to Med Hat from the (Lukas) Svejkovsky deal. Of course, the deal really ends up being Seattle trading Kai Uchacz for Sawchyn, as a 2nd round pick went both ways in those separate deals.” . . . Sawchyn, 17, is from Edmonton but spent the past five years in Minnesota. In 2021-22, he had 10 goals and 23 assists with the U.S. national U-17 team, and had eight goals and 14 assists in 35 games with a U.S. National Team Development Program team in the USHL. . . . The Thunderbirds selected Lukas Sawchyn, Gracyn’s younger brother, with the sixth-overall pick in the 2022 U.S. draft in May. Lukas put up 35 goals and 50 assists in 52 games with a 14U AAA team at Shattuck St. Mary’s in 2021-22. 
TAKING NOTE 