Seattle dive-bar doesn’t want to be hockey bar . . . You get a shutout, and you get a shutout, and you get a shutout . . . Coach gone in Halifax

The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks have been hooked up with the AHL’s Utica AHLComets since 2013-14. Now there is ample speculation that the Canucks will be moving their AHL franchise, with the New Jersey Devils taking their AHL affiliate from Binghamton, N.Y., to Utica.

Granted, this is all speculation, but you know what they say about smoke. . . .

So, of course, people are wondering where the Canucks would place their AHL team should they decide to move it. One of the places high on anyone’s list is Abbotsford, where the Calgary Flames’ AHL team played for five seasons once upon a time.

So . . . I got to thinking about this and I actually had a thought: Why couldn’t the Canucks operate an AHL team out of Kamloops or Kelowna? Is either city large enough to be home to two teams — one in the AHL and the other in the WHL? . . . Likely not, mainly because there wouldn’t be enough sponsorship and fan dollars to keep both franchises happy. So forget it.

Besides, teams owned by Francesco Aquilini (Vancouver) and Tom Gaglardi (Kamloops Blazers) could never operate out of the same building, which would be the case in Kamloops. In case you have forgotten, they once were going to partner in buying the Canucks. How did that go? It ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

As for Kelowna, well, why not? Before COVID-19 became the decision-maker that it now is, there was all kinds of speculation in the hockey community that Rockets owner Bruce Hamilton was planning to sell the WHL franchise after playing host to the 2020 Memorial Cup. Of course, that didn’t happen. Now what’s to stop him from selling the franchise to someone who would want to move it, and then partnering with the Canucks to bring the AHL to Kelowna?

Hey, I’m only thinking out loud . . . maybe it’s the isolation from the pandemic. Know what I mean?


So . . . you may be aware that Seattle as an NHL team — the Kraken. But did you Krakenknow that Seattle also is home to the Kraken Bar & Lounge and has been since 2011? . . . Now, Kraken, the bar, has served up a high, hard one to Kraken, the team. . . . As Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times writes: “A University District punk-rock bar is suing the Kraken for $3.5 million, alleging the NHL expansion team’s name choice and plans to open a Northgate Mall practice facility restaurant risks irreparably harming its brand.” . . . The lawsuit was filed on Thursday. . . . Baker added: ”The lawsuit claims the punk bar’s owners didn’t know what to do last summer when the better-resourced NHL team announced its name and new patrons began showing up wanting to turn their establishment into a hockey bar.” . . . From the lawsuit: “That The Kraken Bar would or should become a ‘hockey bar’ or a sports bar of any kind was anathema to The Kraken Bar and its regular patrons. The Kraken Bar’s regular patrons frequented the bar precisely because it was a dive-bar . . .” . . . Baker’s complete story is right here.


Phoenix


There were five games in the WHL on Thursday night and three of them ended in shutouts. One of the goaltenders with a clean sheet was Dustin Wolf of the Everett Silvertips. It was the 24th of his career, two off the WHL record. With time winding down on this developmental season, will Wolf be able to post two more? . . . Stay tuned. . . .

G Max Paddock stopped 20 shots to lead the Prince Albert Raiders to a 4-0 Raidersvictory over the Saskatoon Blades in the Regina hub. . . . Paddock has two shutouts this season and nine in his career. . . . This season, Paddock, 20, is 7-6-0, 2.65, .909. . . . The Raiders got first-period goals from F Ozzy Wiesblatt (5) and D Terrell Goldsmith (1), a second-period score from F Landon Kosior (3) and a third-period goal from F Justin Nachbaur (7). . . . Goldsmith, the 15th overall selection in the 2020 bantam draft, got his first goal — and first point — in his 11th game. The native of Fort St. James, B.C., turns 16 on May 13. . . . The Raiders (8-10-3) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Blades (14-4-3) have lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . .

F Caleb Wyrostok broke a 2-2 tie in the third period as the Swift Current ScurrentBroncos skated to a 4-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Wyrostok’s winner, at 8:04, was his fifth goal of the season. . . . F Aiden Bulych (6) got the empty-netter, with his brother, Kaleb, getting the lone assist. . . . F Michael Farren gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead at 18:41 of the first period. . . . The Pats took a 2-1 lead on second-period goals from F Logan Nijhoff (10) and F Carson Denomie (14), both via the PP. . . . Farren’s second goal of the game and ninth of the season, also on the PP, tied it at 18:18. . . . The Broncos got 31 saves from G Reid Dyck. . . . D Ryker Evans had one assist for the Pats as he ran his point streak to 11 games. . . . Swift Current (5-16-1) had lost its previous two games. . . . Regina (8-10-3) had won its previous two games. . . .

G Sebastian Cossa earned the shutout, F Jake Neighbours scored twice and F EdmontonJosh Williams had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-0. . . . Cossa turned aside 30 shots in recording his third shutout in 14 appearances this season and the seventh of his career. He is 13-0-1, 1.49, .944 and almost certainly will be a first-round selection in the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . The Oil Kings (15-1-1) have points in seven straight (6-0-1). . . . The Tigers (12-4-1) had points in each of their previous nine games (8-0-1). . . . Edmonton held a 52-30 edge in shots. . . . The Tigers got 49 saves from G Garin Bjorklund. . . . Neighbours, who has eight goals, opened the scoring at 5:18 of the first period and Williams (10) made it 2-0 at 13:21. . . . Neighbours got his second goal at 1:46 of the third. . . . Williams, who turned 20 on March 8, has 21 points in 16 games. . . . Neighbours, who turned 19 on March 29, has 28 points in 16 games. . . .

G Dustin Wolf earned his fourth shutout of the season as the Everett Silvertips Everettdumped the host Spokane Chiefs, 5-0. . . . Wolf, who stopped 32 shots, has 24 shutouts in his career, two off the WHL record that is shared by Tyson Sexsmith (Vancouver, 2005-09) and Carter Hart (Everett, 2013-18). . . . If nothing disrupts Everett’s schedule, it has eight games remaining. . . . In 14 games this season, Wolf is 11-2-0, 1.69, .944. . . . F Hunter Campbell, who has seven goals, gave Everett a 1-0 lead at 2:27 of the first period and made it 3-0, on a PP, at 14:11 of the second. . . . In between F Ryan Hofer scored his fourth goal. . . . F Jacob Wright (6) and F Ethan Regnier (7) also scored. . . . Spokane F Adam Beckman had his goal-scoring streak end at six games. He came close by hitting a post with Everett leading 2-0 in the second period. . . . The Silvertips (12-3-0) have won three straight. . . . The Chiefs (4-6-3) had won their previous two games. . . . Spokane hadn’t played in eight days after losing two games due to a positive test in the Tri-City Americans’ camp. . . . The same two teams will do it all over again tonight in Spokane. . . .

The Kamloops Blazers rode three third-period goals to a 4-1 victory over the KamloopsPrince George Cougars. . . . The Blazers (9-2-0) were the visiting team despite the game being played in Kamloops. . . . The Cougars (4-6-2) have lost three straight. . . . F Connor Bowie (5) gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead at 19:30 of the first period. . . . D Inaki Baragano (4) got the Blazers into a tie at 19:19 of the second. . . . The Blazers got third-period goals from F Matthew Seminoff (5), F Reese Belton (2) and F Connor Zary (4). . . . G Dylan Garand stopped 43 shots for Kamloops, 16 more than Prince George’s Taylor Gauthier. . . . The two goaltenders were teammates on Team Canada at the 2021 World Junior Championship. . . . BTW, Kamloops F Connor Levis had his four-goal game on Tuesday night become a three-goal effort on Thursday. The goal that originally was Levis’s third of the game has been changed to F Caedan Bankier, with Levis getting the primary assist. According to Jon Keen, the radio voice of the Blazers, the puck “went off (Bankier’s) backside.” . . . It gave the Blazers a 5-1 lead over the Kelowna Rockets in what became a 6-2 victory. Bankier also had two assists.


The QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads dumped head coach J.J. Daigneault on HalifaxThursday just days after he had completed his second season in the position. The Mooseheads were 15-19-9 this season, leaving Daigneault with a two-season record of 35-67-14. . . . In a news release, majority owner Bobby Smith said: “The past two years have been rebuilding seasons for our club after playing in the 2019 Memorial Cup final and this past season we had the youngest team in the QMJHL. Over the course of a trying 2020-21 season our young players developed tremendously and for this Coach Daigneault deserves much credit.” . . . That may be so, but it obviously wasn’t enough to save the man’s job. . . . Daigneault, 55, a longtime NHL defenceman in his playing days, spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens and one with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage before taking over as head coach in Halifax. . . . While searching for a new head coach, the Mooseheads also announced that assistant coaches Jon Greenwood and Sylvain Favreau, and goaltender coach Joey Perricone have been retained. Perricone is a former WHL goaltender (Moose Jaw Warriors, 2003-08).


Science


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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Taxes

Nova Scotia, with virus numbers rising, pulls plug on Women’s Worlds . . . WHL adjusts schedule; some teams won’t get in 24 games . . . CFL provides an update

It sure looked as though the IIHF Women’s World Championship was going to start in Halifax and Truro on May 6. But that’s before COVID-19 reared its ugly head and said: “Not so fast.”

On Wednesday, with Team Canada already training in Halifax and one day WomenHockeybefore nine other teams were to begin arriving for their quarantine sessions, the Nova Scotian government chose to inform the IIHF and Hockey Canada that the tournament was off.

In a statement, Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney and Scott Smith, the president and COO, said: “While we are disappointed with the cancellation, we understand the decision was made with the health and safety of all participants and the community at large as the top priority.”

René Fasel, the IIHF president, said: “This is very disappointing news to receive with just a few weeks until the tournament was to begin. We strongly believe that we had the adequate safety measures in place to protect players, officials, spectators and all residents in Halifax and Truro, based on the IIHF and Hockey Canada’s experiences from hosting the IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton. In the end, we must accept the decision of the government.”

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia reported 25 new COVID-19 cases, which, according to CBC News, is “the highest daily total since November 24 when 37 cases were diagnosed. It pushes the province’s seven-day average to 10, which is the first time it has been in double digits since early December.”

On April 15, Nova Scotia had 42 active cases; on Wednesday, it announced that it now had 79.

In a news release, Premier Iain Rankin admitted to being “very concerned” about the rising number.

“We are seeing early signs of community spread and we must strictly follow all public health protocols to get back on track, especially in the greater Halifax region,” Rankin said.

CBC News reported that “19 of the new cases are in the central health zone, which includes the Halifax area. Four cases are related to travel outside the region.”

Canada’s Atlantic provinces have done better than the rest of the country — the far north excluded — at keeping COVID-19 at bay and one of the major weapons has been travel restrictions. So with the numbers threatening to keep going up, the province chose the health of its citizens over playing host to an international tournament.

Really, it’s hard to argue with the decision.

The IIHF and Hockey Canada are still hopeful of holding the tournament at some point during the summer. There also were reports later Wednesday that the Dallas Stars and USA Hockey are exploring the possibility of playing it in Texas, perhaps in Frisco and Plano, where the U18 IIHF World championship is to open on Monday.

But, at least for now, the Women’s world championship has been scrubbed for a second straight year. The tournament also was to have been held in Halifax and Truro a year ago.


Hotel


The WHL announced a number of schedule changes on Wednesday, all of them WHL2necessitated by teams having missed games because of positive tests. . . . The end result is that without any more postponements a number of teams won’t play 24 games in this developmental season as was originally hoped. . . . Two of the teams that have experienced positive tests, the Calgary Hitmen and Kelowna Rockets, will play 21 and 16 games respectively. . . . The Hitmen, by the way, have completed their 14-day isolation period and have been cleared to resume team activities. They now are scheduled to return to game action on Friday afternoon against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The WHL’s news release on the schedule changes is right here. . . .

——

Meanwhile, there were three WHL games played on Wednesday and PP goals were the hot item. All told, the six teams involved struck for 26 goals, with 13 of them coming with the man advantage. . . .

F Nolan Ritchie scored twice to help the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 6-2 victory Brandonover the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Wheat Kings (16-3-2), who have won five straight, now hold a three-point lead over the idle Saskatoon Blades (14-3-3) and the Winnipeg Ice (15-5-1), which beat the Moose Jaw Warriors last night, atop the Regina hub standings. . . . The Broncos (4-16-1) have lost two in a row. . . . F Lynden McCallum (13) gave Brandon a 1-0 first-period lead, with Ritchie, who has 10 goals, making it 2-0 at 14:49 of the second. . . . D Mat Ward (5) scored for the Broncos, on a PP, at 16:39. . . . Ritchie got that one back at 17:33 and D Rylan Thiessen (1) added another at 19:04. . . . F Brett Hyland (3) and D Vince Iorio (5) added PP goals for Brandon in the third period. . . . The Wheat Kings were 3-for-6 on the PP; the Broncos were 1-for-6. . . . Brandon held a 33-18 edge in shots. . . .

F Jakin Smallwood opened and closed the scoring as the Winnipeg Ice got past Winnipegthe Moose Jaw Warriors, 6-5 in OT, in the Regina hub. . . . The Ice (15-5-1) has points in four straight (3-0-1). . . . The Warriors are 8-11-2. . . . F Cade Hayes (4) gave the Warriors a 5-4 lead with a PP goal at 14:38 of the third period. . . . F Peyton Krebs (13), who now has points in 20 straight games, tied the game at 18:48 with G Carl Stankowski on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . Smallwood, who had opened the scoring at 1:08 of the first period, won it with his 13th goal at 1:46 of OT. . . . The Ice erased deficits of 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 to win this one. . . . Winnipeg was 2-for-4 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 2-for-3. . . . Krebs finished with two goals. After being blanked in his first game, he’s got 13 goals and 26 assists in his 20-game streak. Last season, he scored 12 times in 38 games. . . . The Ice also got two goals from F Skyler Bruce. He has three on the season. . . . Hayes finished with two goals and an assist. . . .

F Justin Sourdif and D Alex Kannok Leipert each scored once and added two Vancouverassists to help the Vancouver Giants to a 5-3 lead over the Victoria Royals in Kelowna. . . . The Giants (9-3-0) have won four in a row. . . . The Royals (1-10-1) have lost seven straight. . . . The game’s first five goals came via the PP. . . . F Brayden Tracey (8) gave the Royals a 1-0 lead at 3:25 of the first period. . . . Kannok Leipert (4) tied it at 15:32. . . . Victoria went back out front on a goal by F Tarun Fizer (3) at 2:58 of the second period. . . . The Giants took control with the next three goals — from F Eric Florchuk (4), at 14:58, Sourdif (5), at 16:21, and F Zack Ostapchuk (4), at 3:18 of the third. . . . F Ty Yoder (3) got Victoria to within a goal at 4:57, but F Justin Lies (2) restored Vancouver’s two-goal lead at 13:47. . . . The Giants finished 3-for-9 on the PP; the Royals were 2-for-5. . . . Vancouver had a 38-20 edge in shots, including 11-5 in the first period and 12-5 in the second.


Masks


The CFL said Wednesday that it hopes to open its 2021 season on Aug. 5, which CFLwould be almost two months later than the June 10 opening date at which it once was aiming. . . . The plan is to open training camps in late June, have each team play 14 games, down from the normal 18, and hold the Grey Cup game in Hamilton on Dec. 12 instead of Nov. 21. . . . Here’s Randy Ambrosie, the CFL commissioner: “We will play CFL football in 2021.” . . . He then admitted that it all hinges on getting approval from public health officials in various jurisdictions and getting the OK from government and health officials to have “a significant number of fans in the stands, in a significant number of venues at the start of the season, and in the rest of our venues soon after that, so a 2021 season is financially tenable for our clubs.” . . . In the end, like so many other things, the CFL will go ahead if the virus allows it. . . . In the meantime, get vaccinated so that we can get all sports back and with fans in the stands. . . .

In Regina, Jeremy O’Day, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ general manager, informed players that the reporting date is July 2, followed by a seven-day quarantine period. Training camp is set to open on July 10. . . . O’Day also had this message for players: “We know these have been challenging times. One major way to help us with our return to play and getting fans in the stands is by getting vaccinated. Our medical professionals are strongly encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. The vaccines are safe, effective and are critical to getting our team back on the field. If you would like to speak to one of the Roughrider doctors about the vaccine, please let me know and we will arrange that.” . . . Justin Dunk of 3Down Nation has more right here.


The seven-team Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) was to have opened its 2021 season on June 5. It announced on Wednesday that it has moved opening day of its 14-game season to June 24. Under normal circumstances, teams each would play 20 games. . . . The CEBL spent its 2020 season in a bubble in St. Catharines, Ont., but says it won’t be playing in that environment this season.


——

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


JUST NOTES: The Regina Pats unveiled their player card sets on Wednesday morning and sold out the first printing — 500 sets — in fewer than three hours. It wasn’t long before there was a Connor Bedard card available on eBay for $100, and a complete set — including “Connor Bedard Official WHL Rookie Card” — for $149.95 or best offer. . . . The AJHL’s Blackfalds Bulldogs, who are to being their first season in the fall, have added Brady Bakke to their coaching staff. He spent two seasons (2017-18) as an assistant coach with the U18 AAA St. Albert Raiders, and then two seasons as an assistant coach with the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. Bakke, 27, is from Red Deer.


Earth

Morin takes to road in hopes of finding kidney . . . Silent auction to support Backmeyers ready to go

Vic1
Vic Morin of Kamloops has added a decal to his car as he searches for a living kidney donor. (Photo: Colleen Bruce)

Vic Morin of Kamloops has been waiting for a kidney for a while now.

Diagnosed with chronic kidney disease brought on by high blood pressure that caused damage before it was treated, he knows the travails of hemodialysis — been there, done that.

These days, Vic does peritoneal dialysis, hooking up to a cycler every single night as he goes to bed. While he sleeps, the cycler does a fluid exchange through a catheter that has been surgically implanted into his peritoneal cavity, taking out the toxins and putting in clean fluid.

By now, it has become a routine, one that he would love to see come to an end. That, of course, will take a kidney transplant.

More than two years ago, Morin’s medical team suggested he and his wife, Colleen Bruce, try to find a living donor. For various reasons, family members, including Colleen and a brother of Vic’s, were found to be unsuitable.

Vic2A while ago, Colleen created a poster featuring Vic and their dog, Amigo. The poster was headlined “Amigo’s Urgent Plea: ‘My Best Friend Needs a Kidney — Can You Help?’ ”

Now Colleen and Vic have taken the hunt for a kidney donor another step further, having widened their approach by having a decal installed in the rear window of their car.

If you see a vehicle in the Kamloops area that has a decal in its rear window — I Need A Kidney . . . Blood Type B+ — please know that it’s either Colleen or Vic behind the wheel and that they are deadly serious.

They decided to go this route after a friend sent them a link to a story by David Zura of Vancouver radio station News1130 about Ronald Mamaril, a Vancouver man who is advertising his need for a kidney in the rear window of his vehicle.

Having made the decision, Colleen sent out five emails to Kamloops businesses on Saturday morning. The first one to respond was Picket Fence Graphics, and Jason Foreman, the CEO and founder, said they would prepare and install the decal at no cost.

“Yes, they offered to do it for free!” an excited Colleen said. “The owner, Jason, was so wonderful to deal with. They put it on our car (Wednesday) morning.”

Now all Vic needs is for someone to see the decal and make the phone call.

Or perhaps someone will choose to contact the Living Kidney Donor Program at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and mention Louis Victor Morin. The contact information is further down here, and I post it here every time that I write something for this website.

My wife, Dorothy, underwent a kidney transplant on Sept. 23, 2013, at St. Paul’s Hospital. That kidney arrived via the Living Kidney Donor Program.

We are hoping that Vic is able to drive his way to finding a ‘new’ kidney.


Meanwhile, an online silent auction in support of Ferris Backmeyer and her family is scheduled to run from Friday through Sunday. Ferris, 4, has been in kidney failure and on dialysis for most of her young life. She underwent a kidney transplant at B.C. Children’s Hospital last month, but it didn’t take and the kidney had to be removed just hours after transplant. The Backmeyers now are back home in Kamloops as they wait to see what the next chapter of their lives has in store. . . . The silent auction is to being on Friday at 8:30 p.m., and to run until Sunday at 8:30 p.m. . . . Michael Potestio of Kamloops This Week has more on Ferris, the Backmeyers and the auction right here.


Here’s a kidney-related story that likely should begin with “Once upon a time there was a young girl . . .”

Seriously!

Stephanie Jolink was 10 when she was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure and ended up doing hemodialysis.

Meaghan Kay and her family were neighbours to the Jolinks. In fact, Meaghan ended up being the Jolink’s babysitter.

Well, you likely have figured out the rest.

And you are able to read all about it right here.




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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Time is everything. This is why we promise registering as an organ donor should only #TakeTwoMinutes. That’s faster than microwave popcorn! #Register2Give

OHL season over before it begins . . . Tri-City has two more games postponed . . . Four! Blazers’ Levis burns Rockets

Unable to play even one game, the OHL cancelled its 2020-21 season on Tuesday morning.

According to the OHL, it actually had reached an agreement with the Ontario OHLgovernment on a return-to-play protocol early in April. But with COVID-19 numbers running wild in Ontario, the government implemented a stay-at-home order along with various other restrictions. So the OHL decided that its season just wasn’t going to happen in any way, shape or form.

“We owe it to our players and their families to be definitive,” David Branch, the OHL’s long-time commissioner, said. “We were committed to return and play this season, but our hopes and desires have been dashed by the cruel realities of COVID-19.”

Later, in a virtual session with media, Branch said: “Let me clearly state that if the opportunity had presented itself weeks or months ago, we would’ve taken it. I have no misgivings about how it was handled.”

A tip of the cap to Dale DeGray, the general manager of the Owen Sound Attack for addressing the elephant in the room.

“I think one thing the league looked at is the repercussions of someone being sick,” DeGray told Greg Cowan of the Owen Sound Sun Times. “Nobody knows what that’s going to be like in a year, two years, or five years from now. If we move the clock five years ahead maybe we can look back and say this was the best thing, but right now it does sting.”

Cowan’s complete story is right here.


The AHL’s Toronto Marlies continue to be on hold due to issues with COVID-19 protocol. On Tuesday, the AHL postponed the club’s games through April 28. The Marlies had three games scheduled for that time period.


Airbag


With the Tri-City Americans having had a player test positive last week, their Americansteam activities remain on hold. That’s why the WHL announced Tuesday that it has postponed two more of their games — Saturday against the host Everett Silvertips and Sunday against the visiting Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Americans now have had five games postponed. They have seven remaining on their schedule, starting with an April 28 game in Spokane.

Meanwhile, there were two WHL games played Tuesday night . . .

F Carson Denomie broke a 2-2 tie at 17:24 of the second period and the Regina PatsPats went on to a 4-2 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in the Regina hub. . . . The game’s first five goals all were scored in the second period. . . . F Caiden Daley (7) put the Blades out front just 38 seconds into the period. . . . Regina took a 2-1 lead on goals from F Carter Chorney (4), shorthanded, at 4:11, and D Layton Feist (4), at 8:30. . . . F Brandon Lisowsky (7) got Saskatoon into a tie at 13:51. . . . Denomie’s 13th goal stood up as the winner. . . . F Kyle Walker (1) got the empty-netter. . . . The Pats (8-9-3) have won two in a row. . . . The Blades (14-3-3) had points in each of their previous seven games (5-0-2). . . . Regina D Ryker Evans ran his point streak to 10 games with two assists. He had two goals and 12 assists over that stretch. . . .

F Connor Levis scored four times, all via the PP, to lead the host Kamloops KamloopsBlazers to a 6-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The 20th overall selection in the 2019 bantam draft, Levis was playing in his 10th WHL game. He went into the game with two goals and an assist in his first nine outings. . . . Kamloops (8-2-0) was 5-for-7 on the PP; Kelowna (3-2-0) was 0-for-5. . . . D Montana Onyebuchi (2) got Kamloops started at 1:45 of the first period. . . . The Blazers made it 4-0 before period’s end on two goals from Levis and a PP score by D Inaki Baragano (3). . . . F David Kope (2) got Kelowna’s first goal, at 3:42 of the second period. . . . Levis scored  again at 13:55 of the third period. . . . F Mark Liwiski (4) scored while shorthanded for the Rockets at 14:45, before Levis wrapped up the scoring at 15:42. . . . The Blazers are without two of their top scorers with F Logan Stankoven with Canada’s U18 team and F Orrin Centazzo shelved with an undisclosed injury.


Lose


Jared Dumba, a former WHLer, now is vice-president of VIGR Life Cannabis VLCInc., and Tuesday was a big day for him and his partners. As Gillian Francis of the Regina Leader-Post reported: “The company, which is the first micro-grower in Regina, will be introducing a line of buds and pre-rolls that will be available at local dispensaries starting (Tuesday).” . . . Dumba told Francis: “Our plan is to bring things that maybe the market hasn’t seen yet.” . . . Dumba, now 41, played 61 games for the Saskatoon Blades in 1996-97. He went on to play eight plus seasons in the now-defunct Central and International leagues. . . . That story is right here.


Alec Dillon is the new head coach of the U of Victoria Vikes men’s hockey team. Dillon, 24, takes over from Harry Schamhart, who has stepped aside after 16 seasons but remains on staff as the team’s acting general manager. . . . Dillon has been an assistant coach there for the past two seasons. . . . The Vikes won four B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League titles under Schamhart. . . . Dillon, a goaltender, played with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings in 2015-16. He also played two seasons with the Vikes. . . . A fifth-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL’s 2014 draft, Dillon battled hip issues during his playing career. He underwent surgery at one point and sat out the 2016-17 season.


The San Francisco Giants are going to be opening up vaccination-only sections at home games at Oracle Park on Friday. . . . Here’s Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Vaccination-only sections will not be the only option for those fully vaccinated, but they will be an option for additional seating because social distancing will not be required in those areas. Children 16 and under would need negative test results for the vaccine-only sections and those age 2 and under do not have any requirements. . . . The team will continue to require fans to be prepared to show proof of full vaccination or negative coronavirus test results received within 72 hours of the event, and fans must continue to wear face coverings and, in non-vaccinated areas, social distancing still must be observed.”


——

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Voices

No WHL playoffs for second straight year . . . Desjardins No. 1 in Tigerland . . . Krebs runs point streak to 19 games

For a second straight year, COVID-19’s presence has kiboshed the WHL playoffs.

The league announced Monday afternoon that its season will end when its 22 WHL2teams conclude the developmental schedule that they now are playing.

From a news release: “Due to current public health conditions and the ongoing challenges with COVID-19, including restrictions on travel across both provincial and international borders, the WHL is not in a position to conduct the 2021 WHL playoffs.”

If the WHL chooses not to extend its schedule in order to get all teams to 24 games, the season will end after games of May 12.

The Kelowna Rockets, who returned to play Saturday after having been shut down due to positive tests, have a schedule right now that has them finishing with 15 games.

According to the online schedule, the Calgary Hitmen, who last played on April 5 and are on hold because of a positive test, have four games remaining, with the first of those to be played on April 30 and the last on May 5. That would leave them with 18 games.

The Tri-City Americans managed to play 12 games before a positive test sidelined them late last week. So far, they have had three games postponed through Wednesday. The schedule has them with nine games remaining, but their team activities are on hold pending further test results.

You have to wonder just how much hunger there has been within the WHL to extend its season with any form of playoff setup. With Kelowna, Calgary and Tri-City having been impacted by positive tests, and with the Medicine Hat Tigers having missed games after being deemed close contacts of the Hitmen, it might be that the WHL has decided it’s simply time for everyone to go home. After all, some of the players and others closely associated with teams have been hunkered down for well over a month.

The CHL, the umbrella organization that oversees the WHL, OHL and QMJHL, announced last week that the Memorial Cup tournament won’t be played for a second straight year. The QMJHL is going ahead with a playoff schedule that is to begin tonight (Tuesday), whole the OHL hasn’t been able to play so much as one game in 2020-21 and, in fact, is likely to announce one of these days that it has cancelled its season.

——

The Medicine Hat Tigers beat visiting Red Deer, 3-2, to sweep a three-game Tigersweekend series. . . . The Tigers (12-3-1) had won 4-2 at home on Friday and 5-2 in Red Deer on Saturday. . . . The Rebels (2-15-2) have lost 12 in a row. . . . F Ryan Chyzowski (8) gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 12:58 of the first period, only to have F Dallon Melin (2) tie it at 15:02. . . . The Tigers took control on goals from D Rhett Parsons, his first in the WHL, at 12:36 of the second period and F Oren Shtrom (4), at 9:28 of the third. . . . Parson was a fifth-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft. . . . F Chris Douglas (5) got the Rebels to within a goal at 19:37. . . . F Corson Hopwo of the Tigers had one assist, but had his eight-game goal streak snapped. . . . The Tigers were 1-for-1 on the PP. In 16 games, they are 28-for-61 (45.9), by far the best in the WHL. The Winnipeg Ice is second at 33 per cent (30-for-91). . . . The victory was No. 376 for GM/head coach Willie Desjardins behind the Tigers’ bench. That is one more than Shaun Clouston put up during his run with the Tigers. Clouston and the Tigers parted company in May 2019 — he now is the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers — and Desjardins replaced him. Desjardins had left the Tigers after the 2009-10 season and Clouston, who had been on the coaching staff for seven seasons, took over from him. . . . All told, Desjardins has 386 regular-season WHL coaching victories. He took over as head coach of the Saskatoon Blades during the 1997-98 season and picked up 10 victories there. . . .

F Peyton Krebs ran his point streak to 19 games as the Winnipeg Ice dumped the WinnipegSwift Current Broncos, 5-2, in Regina. . . . Krebs had a goal, his 11th, and an assist for the Ice, which erased a 1-0 first-period deficit with three second-period goals. . . . Krebs, the first pick in the 2016 bantam draft, leads the Regina hub in assists (26) and points (37). He was shut out in his first game of this season and has at least a point in every game since then. . . . F Zach Benson added two goals for the Ice. The 14th overall selection in the 2020 bantam draft has eight goals and nine assists in 20 games. . . . Winnipeg also got a goal and two assists from F Michael Milne (4). . . . Broncos G Isaac Poulter stopped 40 shots, 34 more than the Ice’s Gage Alexander. . . . Winnipeg (14-5-1) has points in three straight (2-0-1). . . . The Broncos are 4-15-1. . . .

The Moose Jaw Warriors erased a 1-0 deficit with five straight goals en route to MooseJawa 5-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders in Regina. . . . The Warriors (8-11-1) snapped a four-game losing skid. . . . The Raiders are 7-10-3. . . . F Evan Herman (7) put the Raiders out front at 1:20 of the first period. . . . The Warriors tied it on goals from F Riley Krane (3), at 12:55 of the first, and F Jagger Firkus (5), on a PP, at 6:52 of the second. . . . F Josh Hoekstra (2), F Eric Alarie (10) and F Brayden Yager (7) stretched the lead to 5-2 before F Reece Fitelli (5) scored for Prince Albert, on a PP, at 19:17 of the third. . . . Yager, the third overall selection in the 2020 bantam draft, has 14 points in 20 games. . . . Moose Jaw got 29 saves from G Brett Mirwald. . . .

F Adam Hall’s third-period goal and 33 saves from G Trent Miner gave the VancouverVancouver Giants a 2-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars in Kamloops. . . . Vancouver (8-3-0) has won three straight and now leads the B.C. Division by two points ahead of the idle Kamloops Blazers (7-2-0). . . . The Cougars (4-5-2) have lost two in a row. . . . F Eric Florchuk (3) gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 17:44 of the first period. . . . F Riley Heidt (2) tied the game at 1:56 of the third. . . . The Cougars got 27 saves from G Taylor Gauthier. . . . Miner, the game’s first star, is 8-2-0, 1.18, .952 this season. . . .

In Kelowna, the Rockets dumped the Victoria Royals, 7-2. . . . The Rockets (3-1-Rockets0) were the visiting team for this one. . . . The Royals (1-9-1) have lost six in a row. . . . Kelowna has played two games since being off for 18 days due to positive tests and has scored seven goals in each one. The Rockets are scheduled to play their third game in four nights tonight against the Blazers in Kamloops. . . . Last night, the Rockets took control by snapping a 1-1 first-period tie with four straight goals. . . . F Trevor Wong (5), who had four goals in a 7-5 victory over the Prince George Cougars on Saturday in Kamloops, gave Kelowna a 2-1 lead at 12:25 of the first period. . . . F Mark Liwiski (2), F Dylan Wightman and F Andrew Cristall (2) stretched the lead to 4-1 before the second period was 12 minutes old. . . . Liwiski and Wightman, who also had an assist, each scored twice. F David Kope, 20, an eighth-round pick by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2015 bantam draft, had a goal and two assists in his fourth game with Kelowna.


Sharks


The Minnesota Twins, who had three games postponed due to COVID-19 testing Twinsand contact tracing, are scheduled to play the host Oakland A’s in a doubleheader today (Tuesday). . . . The Twins haven’t played since losing 10-3 to the host Los Angeles Angels on Friday night. They were to have played in Oakland on Monday, but that game was postponed, thus today’s doubleheader. . . . SS Andrelton Simmons tested positive last week and didn’t accompany the Twins when they headed west. OF Kyle Garlick also has tested positive, as has one other unidentified player and a staff member.


Eyelash


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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Rubberband

$catter$hooting on a $unday night while wondering why the NHL didn’t $crub the re$t of the Canuck$’ $ea$on . . .

Scattershooting2

It’s hard to restrain the enthusiasm for the Vancouver Canucks after watching Canuckstheir 3-2 OT victory over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night. . . . But based on that one game Travis Green should be the favourite for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year. . . . Oh, and maybe the Canucks’ ownership might see fit to sign him to a contact before he chooses free agency after this season. . . . If you aren’t aware, Green was one of the 20-plus folks in the Canucks organization who tested positive for COVID-19 — and that doesn’t include numerous family members. Green also was quite ill. . . . If you are wondering what he went through, Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet has that story right here.

Full marks to Canucks G Braden Holtby for his performance on Sunday. He was solid all night, but it was his early play that allowed the Canucks to get their legs underneath them and gave them time to come to the realization that, yes, they could still play this game at a high level. . . . Kudos, too, to D Tyler Myers. His season to date has been so-so, but he was a minute-eater in this one, especially after D Alex Edler was tossed with a kneeing major. Myers also made a terrific play to get F Bo Horvat started towards the play that resulted in the game-winner. . . . It’s the Canucks and Maple Leafs from Vancouver again on Tuesday night. It should be just as interesting as was Sunday’s game. . . . Vancouver assistant coach Newell Brown was missing on Sunday because of COVID-19.


Dorothy . . . Kamloops Kidney Walk . . . June 6, virtually . . . Join her team with a donation right here. You’ll be glad you did!



Old friend Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times dug up this nugget — “Stumpycricket blogger Jack Mendel, to News.com.au, on cricket officials wanting to change the term ‘wickets’ to ‘outs’ to attract new fans: ‘Utterly, utterly nonsensical semantic bollocks . . . It almost feels like they are trying to de-cricket cricket.’ ”

It could be said that’s what MLB is trying to do by allowing each team to start extra innings with a runner on second base — trying to de-baseball baseball.


A statue of the late Fred Sasakamoose, the first hockey player with treaty status to play in the NHL, is being commissioned and is likely to be placed near the entrance to Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre. . . . COVID-19 claimed Sasakamoose in hospital on Nov. 24. . . . His story — Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL’s First Treaty Indigenous Player — is to be released to book stores on May 18.


Fraser Downs, a harness racing track in Cloverdale, B.C., closed its door after Friday night’s races. According to Harness Racing BC, it simply couldn’t make ends meet without receiving money from the casino that it isn’t allowed to operate in these pandemic times. The closure put 135 people out of work.


——

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle attended an Oakland A’s home game the other night. Afterwards, he wrote: At the A’s ballpark, I interviewed one of those cardboard fans, the only one that was not smiling. Said the fan, “I wasn’t cut out for this.”


Apple


The Minnesota Twins had Saturday and Sunday games against the host Los Angeles Angels postponed because of positive tests, and now their Monday series-opener in Oakland against the A’s also has been postponed. The reason? MLB says it’s “to allow for continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Twins organization.” The Twins have had at least three players and one staffer test positive.

——

A quick note from Janice Hough, aka the Left Coast Sports Babe: “Minnesota Twins’ shortstop Andrelton Simmons declined a COVID-19 vaccine last week, and Wednesday tested positive. Another reminder there is no correlation between athletic ability and intelligence.”



Seattle University informed students this week that it now has a requirement that “all SU students —undergraduate, graduate and professional — be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and report it to the university prior to arriving on campus in the fall. Additional details will be provided in the coming weeks, but students will be required to register their vaccination status once completed.”


The pitching mound in the six-team independent Atlantic League will be moved back one foot, to 61 feet, six inches, for the second half of the season. It’s an experiment being conducted at the behest of MLB, which badly wants to see fewer strikeouts and more balls in play.

Here’s former starting pitcher Mike Krukow, now a broadcaster with the San Francisco Giants in conversation with Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle:

“I’m really not sure what to think about it. Nobody does — you can’t know until you try it. This could have a big effect on breaking pitches, which are the hardest to command. Just in general, though, the players’ union could prevent all this with a widespread emphasis on situational hitting — using the whole field, a style that worked so well for years and really keeps the fans interested. Now we have to change the rules because players can’t make the adjustment? To me, that’s insulting.”

He’s right.

The complete column is right here.


If MLB really wanted fewer strikeouts and more balls in play, it could start by putting the New York Yankees’ season on hold. If you haven’t noticed, the Yankees can’t hit and can’t catch the ball. Manager Aaron Boone is lucky that George Steinbrenner no longer is with us, because he would have brought back Billy Martin by now. Yes, I know that Martin no longer is with us. The Boss still would have made the change.


D Bill Mikkelson of the 1974-75 Washington Capitals finished at minus-82, the worst plus-minus in NHL history, on a team that wound up 8-67-5. As he told TSN: “We had a good team. We were just in the wrong league.”


The QMJHL’s regular season is over, with playoffs of some sort set to begin on qmjhlnewTuesday. . . . The 18 teams in the league played between 27 and 43 games. . . . The Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Moncton Wildcats and Saint John Sea Dogs, the league’s three New Brunswick-based teams, open a nine-game round-robin tournament on Tuesday. There aren’t any playoffs for the other Maritimes teams because of travel restrictions. . . . The round-robin is scheduled to end on May 2, with the winner meeting the Charlottetown Islanders in the Maritimes Division final. The Islanders finished with the QMJHL’s best record (35-5-0). . . . The Maritimes winner and three Quebec-based teams that emerge from their series will meet in a bubble event to decide the championship.


Wolves


In the WHL on Sunday . . .

D Braden Schneider came out of the penalty box to score the winner in OT as the BrandonBrandon Wheat Kings got past the Winnipeg Ice, 5-4, in Regina. . . . F Peyton Krebs (10) had given the Ice a 4-3 lead, on a PP, at 15:23 of the third period. . . . F Ridly Greig, who was in the penalty box when Krebs scored, tied it at 18:34. . . . Schneider took a headshot minor at 19:49 of the third period, then scored the winner, his fourth goal this season, at 1:56 of OT. . . . F Nolan Ritchie (8) and F Marcus Sekundiak (2) scored first-period goals for Brandon, with F Jakin Smallwood (11) counting for Winnipeg at 19:35. . . . F Owen Pederson (11) got the Ice into a tie at 4:08 of the second. . . . D Neithan Salame (3) put the Wheat Kings back out front at 13:31. . . . Ice F Connor McClennon tied it at 8:16 of third period with his 13th goal. He also had two assists as he ran his point streak to 12 games. He has nine goals and 11 assists over that stretch. . . . Brandon (15-3-2) has won four in a row; it went 4-0-0 against Winnipeg in this shortened season. . . . The Ice now is 13-5-1. . . . Winnipeg was 3-for-8 on the PP; Brandon was 1-for-4. . . . F Ben McCartney drew four assists for the Wheaties. . . . Krebs added three assists to his goal and now is on an 18-game point streak. He was blanked in the season’s first game and now leads the Regina hub with 35 points, 25 of them assists. . . .

F Drew Englot’s first goal of the season broke a 3-3 tie as the Regina Pats beat Patsthe Prince Albert Raiders, 4-3. The game was played in the Regina hub, but the Pats were the visiting team. . . . Englot scored his first goal, on the PP, in 19 games at 17:59 of the second period. . . . The Pats (7-9-3) had lost three in a row. . . . The Raiders (7-9-3) had been 3-0-1 in their past four outings. . . . F Cole Dubinsky and F Carter Chorney (3) gave Regina a 2-0 lead before F Tyson Laventure got the Raiders on the board at 9:03 of the second period. . . . Dubinsky (4) upped Regina’s lead to 3-1 just 48 seconds later. . . . Laventure scored his fourth goal of the season at 14:28 and D Tre Fouquette (1) tied it at 15:50. . . . Laventure has four goals and three assists this season, all against the Pats. . . . Fouquette, a fourth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft, also added an assist in just his second WHL game. . . . The Raiders lost F Justin Nachbaur in the first period with a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on F Braxton Whitehead. . . .

The host Everett Silvertips scored three third-period goals as they skated to a Everett6-2 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . F Ethan Regnier completed his first WHL three-goal game at 15:33 of the third period. He’s got six goals. . . . Regnier and F Jalen Price (1) gave Everett a 2-0 lead with second-period goals. . . . Everett F Brendan Hunchak, who turned 18 on April 10, earned the primary assist on Price’s goal for his first career point in his eighth game. He is the son of former WHL coach Dave Hunchak. . . . F Seth Jarvis (7) got Portland on the board at 11:42 of the second, but Regnier got that one back at 16:23. . . . D Ryan McCleary (2) pulled the Winterhawks to within one at 19:36. . . . The Silvertips put it away with third-period scores from F Hunter Campbell (5), F Ryan Hofer (3) and Regnier. . . . G Dustin Wolf earned the victory with 37 stops. . . . Everett is 11-3-0 after its second straight win. . . . Portland (6-5-3) had points in each of its previous three games (2-0-1). . . .

G Trent Miner stopped 27 shots and F Tristen Nielsen scored three times as the VancouverVancouver Giants beat the host Kamloops Blazers, 4-0. . . . Miner leads the WHL with four shutouts. He blocked 30 shots in a 4-0 victory over the Blazers on April 5. . . . The Giants (7-3-0) have put up five shutouts in their 10 games. . . . Nielsen enjoyed his second natural hat-trick of the season as he gave the Giants a 4-0 lead with the game’s last three goals. . . . F Zack Ostapchuk (3) got the game’s first goal at 3:34 of the first period. . . . Nielsen, who has 11 goals in 10 games, scored at 11:01 of the first period and 9:20 and 18:07 of the second. . . . The Blazers (7-2-0) had won their previous three games. . . .

F Carter Souch scored twice and added an assist to help the Edmonton Oil Kings Edmontonto a 5-3 victory over the Hurricanes in Lethbridge. . . . Souch, who has four goals, opened the scoring at 9:23 of the first period. . . . F Josh Williams (9) made it 2-0 at 17:24. . . . F Dino Kambeitz, who had sat out the Hurricanes’ last two games, scored his fourth goal 40 seconds into the second period. . . . The Oil Kings came back with goals from F Caleb Reimer (2) and Souch at 1:44 and 2:15 for a 4-1 lead. . . . F Carson Latimer (5), who also had two assists, had Edmonton’s other goal, while F Logan Barlage (5) and F Noah Boyko (9) finished Lethbridge’s scoring. . . . Edmonton F Jake Neighbours ran his point streak to 15 games with one assist. He’s got 26 points, 20 of them assists, during his tear. . . . The Oil Kings now are 14-1-1. . . . The Hurricanes are 7-8-2. . . . On Saturday, Lethbridge went into Edmonton and won 6-5 in a shootout after losing 4-0 to the visiting Oil Kings on Thursday.


Manitoba


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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Editor

WHL loses Americans to positive test . . . Broncos end losing skid . . . Rockets return with offensive bang


Dorothy . . . Kamloops Kidney Walk . . . June 6, virtually . . . Join her team with a donation right here. Thank you!


While the Kelowna Rockets returned to WHL game action on Saturday after Americansbeing sidelined by positive tests, the Tri-City Americans have been shut down.

The WHL announced Saturday that the Americans have had a positive test to a player in their cohort.

While the Rockets and Calgary Hitmen had team activities suspended for 14 days because of positive tests, they are Canadian teams. Perhaps things are different in  Washington state because the WHL news release doesn’t mention a two-week shutdown.

From that news release: “The WHL is working in consultation with the Washington State Department of Health regarding the matter concerning the Tri-City Americans. Pending determination of close contacts and further test results, the WHL will provide further information.”

In the meantime, the WHL postponed a Saturday night game in which the Spokane Chiefs were to have visited the Americans. Also postponed were two Tri-City road games — today at Spokane and Wednesday in Kent, Wash., against the Seattle Thunderbirds.

At this point, only the seven teams playing in the Regina hub haven’t been impacted by COVID-19 positive tests. The Brandon Wheat Kings, Winnipeg Ice, Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos, Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders have been staying in dormitories at the U of Regina and Luther College.

In the B.C. Division, the Rockets, who are with billets, and the Victoria Royals, who are sequestered in a hotel, are headquartered in Kelowna, with the Kamloops Blazers (billets) and Prince George Cougars and Victoria Giants (hotel) in Kamloops. The division schedule underwent some revisions because the Rockets were shut down on March 28 and ended up missing nine games.

In Alberta, the Hitmen got hit with a positive test on April 9 and have yet to get back on the ice. The Medicine Hat Tigers, who had played the Hitmen on April 5, were identified as close contacts so they, too, had team activities suspended. The Tigers returned to play on Friday night.

The Americans last played on Tuesday when they dropped a 4-2 decision to the host Thunderbirds. According to the WHL, “The Thunderbirds are not considered close contacts based on the time of the receipt of the positive test result for the Americans.”


The Vancouver Canucks, who haven’t played a game since March 24 because of a COVID-19 outbreak, will return to action against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, and you have to think that this one will draw some big TV numbers. After all, it’s going to be just like one of those train wrecks that you can’t take your eyes off.


Notes


Minnesota’s scheduled Saturday and Sunday games in Anaheim against the Los TwinsAngeles Dodgers have been postponed by MLB because the Twins are having issues with COVID-19. . . . The Twins reportedly have had at least four positive tests in the past few days. . . . OF Kyle Garlick, who played in the Twins’ 10-3 loss to the Angels on Friday, is one of the players who tested positive. . . . One other unidentified player and a staff member also have tested positive, as did SS Andrelton Simmons. . . . The Twins remain in Anaheim and are undergoing more testing and contact tracing. . . . Minnesota next is scheduled to play Monday against the A’s in Oakland. . . .

Simmons, who signed with the Twins in January after five seasons with the Angels, didn’t make the trip west after testing positive early in the week. He has been away from the team since Tuesday. . . . He had turned to Twitter last month and posted this: “I’ve received some questions and some requests regarding the vaccine. And for personal reasons and experience, I will not be taking it or advocating for it. I hope I don’t have to explain myself. And hope you all make the best decision for you and your family’s health.”

——

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic also reported that sources have told him “one major-league umpire as tested positive for COVID-19.”


With the IIHF Women’s world championship to open in Halifax on May 6, the U.S. national women’s team has moved assistant coach Joel Johnston into the head coach’s spot following the sudden resignation of Bob Corkum. . . . In a text to The Associated Press, Corkum explained: “I was not comfortable with the protocols. It was a difficult decision to make, but one that I am at peace with.” . . . John Wawrow of AP wrote: “Corkum has questioned the value of wearing masks and Canada’s coronavirus pandemic support plans in posts made on his LinkedIn account. In response to a post by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing a program to boost funding for vaccines, health care and for municipalities, Corkum wrote: ‘Propaganda . . . Think! What is there agenda? Your safety? I think not!’ ”


The NHL’s New Jersey Devils have told the owners of their AHL affiliate, the Binghamton, N.Y., Devils that the franchise is to be moved. . . . Interestingly, Robert Esche, the president of the AHL’s Utica Comets, who are hooked up with the Vancouver Canucks, has filed for a Utica Devils trademark. . . . There has been speculation for a few years that the Canucks are interested in moving their AHL affiliate closer to Vancouver. The Utica Observer-Dispatch has reported that the Comets’ contract with the Canucks has an opt-out after this seaosn. . . . There’s more right here. . . . Due to the pandemic, Binghamton actually is playing this AHL season in Newark.


Riot


The Kelowna Rockets didn’t show a whole lot of offensive rust on Saturday night as they opened their first game since March 28 with a goal just 23 seconds after the first puck was dropped. By game’s end, they had scored seven times. . . . All told, there were six games in the WHL last night. . . .

The Brandon Wheat Kings scored four second-period goals en route to a 4-1 Brandonvictory over the Moose Jaw Warriors in Regina. . . . F Brad Ginnell (2) gave Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead at 19:15 of the first period. . . . Brandon took control in the second with goals from F Jake Chiasson (9), F Ben McCartney (12), who was playing in his 200th game, and F Lynden McCallum (12). . . . McCartney, who also had two assists, has 27 points, 15 of them helpers, in 19 games. . . . F Ridly Greig (8) added a shorthanded goal at 17:50 of the second. Greig has three shorthanded goals and the Wheat Kings have six, which is tied with the Portland Winterhawks for the league lead. . . . Brandon (14-3-2) has won three in a row. . . . Moose Jaw (7-11-1) has lost four straight. . . . The Wheat Kings are 3-0-1 against the Warriors this season, having won 8-2 and 8-3 after losing 4-3 in OT the first time the teams met. . . .

D Mat Ward missed on a second-period penalty shot but scored in the shootout Scurrentto give the Swift Current Broncos a 3-2 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Regina. . . . The Broncos (4-14-1) snapped a seven-game losing streak. . . . The Blades (14-2-3) have points in seven straight (5-0-2). . . . Ward was the sixth and final shooter in the circus. . . . Blades D Charlie Wright, a fourth-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft, scored his first WHL goal in his 59th game, 19 of them this season, just 43 seconds into the game. . . . D Owen Pickering (2) got the Broncos even at 4:59 of the second period. . . . Saskatoon D Chase Wouters (8) gave the Blades the lead again at 19:48. . . . F Braeden Lewis (2) forced OT with a goal at 2:03 of the third period. . . . Saskatoon G Nolan Maier stopped 35 shots, two more than the Broncos’ Reid Dyck. . . . Maier stopped Ward on a penalty shot at 11:48 of the second period. . . .

In Portland, the Winterhawks scored the game’s last three goals and beat the PortlandAlternateSeattle Thunderbirds, 3-1. . . . F Keltie Jeri-Leon (10) put Seattle out front at 13:23 of the second period. . . . F Reece Newkirk (7) tied it at 15:41 and D Nick Cicek (3) put the Winterhawks in front 12 seconds into the third period. . . . D Brody Tallman’s first WHL goal, at 5:59, provided the insurance. Tallman, an eighth-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft, was playing in his sixth WHL game. . . . The Winterhawks (6-4-3) have points in three straight (2-0-1). . . . Seattle now is 7-7-0. . . . Seattle F Payton Mount missed a second straight game. He was injured Tuesday night when a puck glanced off the wall behind the team bench and struck him on the head. He was taken to hospital and was released on Wednesday morning. . . .

F Logan Barlage scored the lone goal of a four-round shootout to give the LethLethbridge Hurricanes a 6-5 victory over the host Edmonton Oiler Kings. . . . Lethbridge now is 7-7-2. . . . Edmonton, which had won its previous four games, is 13-1-1. . . . The Hurricanes took a 5-4 lead into the third period. Edmonton D Ethan Cap, playing on his 21st birthday, tied it with his second goal of the season, on a PP, at 10:46. . . . Lethbridge had led 3-1 after one period, on two goals from F Noah Boyko and a singleton from F Justin Hall (12), but F Kaid Oliver and F Jake Neighbours (6), on a penalty shot, tied it early in the second. . . . Oliver, who has nine goals, scored while wearing No. 16 — he usually wears No. 34 — in honour of his late grandfather Garnet (Ace) Bailey. If you aren’t familiar with Ace, let Google be your friend. . . . Boyko put Lethbridge back out front with his third goal of the game and eighth of the season at 7:12 of the second. That was his first WHL hat trick. . . . F Caleb Reimer, the 18th overall selection in the 2019 bantam draft, got Edmonton back into a tie with his first WHL goal at 13:44, only to have F Zack Stringer (5) tie it at 17:34. . . . Lethbridge D Trevor Thurston left in the second period after sliding awkwardly into the boards. Edmonton F Tyler Horstmann received a major and game misconduct for slewfooting on the play. . . .

The visiting Medicine Hat Tigers erased a 2-0 deficit with five goals and beat Tigersthe Red Deer Rebels, 5-2. . . . The Tigers had posted a 5-2 victory over the Rebels in Medicine Hat on Friday. . . . The Tigers improved to 11-3-1 and have points in eight straight (7-0-1). . . . The Rebels (2-14-2) have lost 11 in a row. . . . The Rebels led 2-0 after one period, thanks to goals from F Arshdeep Bains (6) and F Ben King (8), who has scored in three straight. . . . F Ryan Chyzowski (7), who also had two assists, got Medicine Hat started at 6:23 of the second period and D Reid Andresen (1) tied it at 18:20. Andresen, the 11th overall pick in the 2020 bantam draft, got his first goal in his fifth game. . . . F Corson Hopwo (13) broke the tie at 4:28 of the third. He’s got goals in eight straight. . . . D Cole Clayton (7) and F Brett Kemp (10) added insurance, both scoring on the PP. . . . F Lukas Svejkovsky helped out with three assists. . . . Medicine Hat held a 34-17 edge in shots. . . . According to the Tigers, the victory was No. 375 behind their bench for Willie Desjardins, their general manager and head coach. That ties him with Shaun Clouston for No. 1 on the franchise’s all-time list. Clouston now is the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Desjardins gets his first opportunity to move atop the list on Monday when the Rebels are back in Medicine Hat. . . .

F Trevor Wong scored four times to lead the Kelowna Rockets to a 7-5 victory Rocketsover the Prince George Cougars in Kamloops. . . . The Rockets hadn’t played since March 28 because of positive tests. . . . They improved to 2-1-0, while the Cougars now are 4-4-2. . . . Wong’s fourth goal, shorthanded, came 23 seconds into the third period and gave the Rockets a 6-2 lead. . . . Wong had completed his first WHL hat trick at 14:06 of the second. . . . The Cougars got to within one on a goal from D Keaton Dowhaniuk (2) at 1:06 of the third and two from F Karen Gronick (4) at 14:09 and 17:32, the first on a PP and the second while shorthanded. . . . Kelowna F Mark Liwiski (1) got the empty-netter at 18:35. . . . F Andrew Cristall scored his first career goal for the Rockets. He was the eighth overall pick in the 2020 bantam draft.


VanGogh


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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Nike

Canucks to return on Sunday vs. Leafs . . . Wheat Kings get new GM . . . BCIHL may add some Heat

OK. We think that the Vancouver Canucks’ schedule has been settled on . . . at least for now.

The Canucks, who last played on March 24 and have been in the midst of a CanucksCOVID-19 outbreak since March 30, are to play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday and Tuesday nights. Earlier in the week, the schedule called for the Edmonton Oilers to visit Vancouver on Friday with the Maple Leafs there on Saturday.

The schedule, as it now sits, has the Canucks concluding their 56-game season by playing 19 games in 32 nights. They actually began the season by playing 19 times in 34 nights.

F Bo Horvat, the Canucks’ captain, addressed the media on Friday and provided some insight into what the club has been through.

“I’ve had the flu before,” he said, “and this doesn’t hit you like a normal flu. It’s not something you want to get, it’s not something you want your family go through either. I can’t stress enough to follow the protocols.”

Horvat also said that he had passed the virus on to his wife, Holly, and that “it hit her a little harder than it hit me.”

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” he said. “My symptoms were fairly mild . . . I’m not going to lie. It was tough to know my family got it from me.”

At the same time, Jim Benning, the Canucks’ general manager, confirmed that the team had been hit by the P.1 variant that originated in Brazil. It is more aggressive than the original virus, which explains why the Canucks, as a group, had so much more illness than any of the other teams that have been hit this season.

Benning also said that the Canucks have three or four players who may not be ready to return on Sunday, while head coach Travis Green, who also tested positive, has yet to return to the practice ice. The team is hopeful that he will be on the ice today.

Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet has more right here.

And there’s a story right here from Karen Larsen of CBC News.


Before Kelly McCrimmon left to join the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, he had been the Brandon Wheat Kings’ general manager since 1989, or for 27 seasons.

With Friday’s announcement that Darren Ritchie is leaving, the club promoted BrandonDoug Gasper, making him its third general manager since McCrimmon’s departure.

Grant Armstrong, who had been the Victoria Royals’ assistant GM, player personnel, succeeded McCrimmon as Brandon’s GM on Aug. 23, 2016.

The Wheat Kings announced on May 7, 2019, that they wouldn’t be renewing Armstrong’s contract.

On July 12, 2019, Ritchie was promoted to general manager. He will be leaving after the completion of this season to join the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs as an amateur scout. He spent 14 seasons with Brandon, moving up from assistant coach (2007-16) to director of scouting (2016-19) and then into the GM’s office.

Gasper, a familiar face in WHL circles, joined the Wheat Kings as assistant GM on Aug. 15, 2019. From Rosetown, Sask., he had been scouting for the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks before joining the Wheat Kings. He also spent six seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors, including a stint as their director of scouting (2015-17). Gasper also has scouted for the Prince Albert Raiders.

Ritchie will work for Toronto out of Brandon; Gasper will be relocating to Brandon from Saskatoon at some point in May.

The Wheat Kings’ news release is right here.

McCrimmon sold the franchise in September to the Brandon-based J&G Group of Companies, headed up by Jared Jacobson, the president and CEO.


The BCHL announced Friday that the Nanaimo Clippers “have been cleared to Nanaimoresume team activities.” The organization had been shut down Thursday to allow for further analysis of a COVID-19 test. It was found to be a negative, so the shackles have been removed. . . . The Clippers are scheduled to play the Victoria Grizzlies this afternoon in Port Alberni. Nanaimo’s Thursday night game against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs had been postponed because of the COVID-19 scare. . . . In that cohort on Friday night, Victoria beat the Cowichan Valley Capitals, 10-0.


The B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League is exploring adding an expansion franchise in Kelowna — the UBCO Heat, which would call UBC’s Okanagan campus home. . . . The Heat has put together a committee that, according to its Facebook page, “now is recruiting marketing staff and potential student-athletes to help build a new team for the BCIHL in Kelowna.” . . . The BCIHL is down to three active teams, with the Trinity Western Spartans moving to USport’s Canada West conference and Selkirk College having cancelled its hockey program. . . . You know that expansion will be on the agenda when the BCIHL holds is annual general meeting virtually on May 18 and 19.


Donuts


It would appear that Mark Rassell, a former WHLer, is thinking about a new career! A native of Calgary, he played four seasons (2014-18) with the Medicine Hat Tigers, then spent two seasons at the U of New Brunswick. . . . He doesn’t mention here whether he knows how to drive a bus, though.


The Kelowna Rockets are scheduled to return to game action tonight in Kamloops against the Prince George Cougars. The Rockets have played only two games in this developmental season, having been sidelined since March 28 because of a COVID-19 outbreak. While the original schedule had the Rockets playing 24 games, the one now on the WHL website has them with 13 games remaining. . . .

Meanwhile, there were four games played on Friday night . . .

F Owen Pederson broke a 3-3 tie at 10:27 of the third period and F Michael Milne Winnipegadded another at 12:30 as the Winnipeg Ice beat the Swift Current Broncos, 5-4, in Regina. . . . Pederson, who has 10 goals, and Milne, who has three, each scored twice in this one. . . . D Owen Williams (4) got the Broncos’ last goal at 15:57 of the third. . . . While the Ice improved to 13-5-0, the Broncos (3-14-1) have lost seven in a row. . . . Winnipeg F Peyton Krebs had his point streak snapped at 16 games. Krebs put up nine goals and 21 assists over that stretch. . . . Winnipeg F Connor McClennon, who had his 12th goal and an assist, ran his streak to 11 games. He has 12 goals and 15 assists in 18 games and has only been blanked twice. . . . G Daniel Hauser stopped 40 shots for Winnipeg. . . . Swift Current was presented with the only PP opportunities of the game, and went 1-for-5. . . . The Ice went into the game with a PP that was running at a 34.6 efficiency rate (27-for-78), behind only to the Medicine Hat Tigers (41.8). . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers scored the game’s last four goals and beat the visiting TigersRed Deer Rebels, 4-2. . . . F Ben King scored both Red Deer goals, at 10:14 of the first period and 4:36 of the second. He has seven goals, and has put up four goals and five assists over his past five games. All told, he’s got seven goals and 10 assists in 15 games for a Red Deer team that now is 2-13-2 and has lost 10 in a row. . . . F Corson Hopwo (12) scored twice for the Tigers, getting them started at 13:34 of the second period and adding the insurance goal at 13:08 of the third. . . . Hopwo has goals in seven straight games. . . . F Brett Kemp (9) tied the game, at 3:29 of the third, and D Eric Van Impe (3) snapped the tie just 33 seconds later. . . . The Tigers, with points in seven straight (6-0-1), now are 10-3-1. . . . Medicine Hat was 3-for-5 with the man advantage. . . .

The Everett Silvertips scored three goals in the second half of the third period to Everettbeat the host Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-3. . . . Everett, which had lost two in a row, improved to 10-3-0. . . . Seattle, which had won its previous two games, now is 7-6-0. . . . F Gage Goncalves gave Everett a 1-0 lead at 17:20 of the third period and F Cole Fonstad made it 2-0 just 50 seconds later. . . . Seattle F Henry Rybinski (4) scored in his third straight game, getting his guys on the board at 10:03 of the second period. . . . F Jared Davidson (5) put Seattle out front with goals at 13:48 of the second and 9:25 of the third. Davidson also assisted on Rybinski’s goal. . . . The Silvertips tied it on F Jacob Wright’s fifth goal, at 10:15. . . . Goncalves, who has 10 goals, broke the tie at 11:17 and Fonstad, now with 10 goals, got the empty-netter. He also had an assist. . . . Goncalves also had two assists. He has 19 points in 13 games. . . . Everett G Dustin Wolf stopped 34 shots. He’s 9-2-0, 1.81, .938. . . . Seattle dressed 17 skaters, one under the maximum, with F Payton Mount sitting out this one. He was taken to hospital following a game on Tuesday after being struck on the head by a puck that glanced off the wall behind the Seattle bench. He was checked over and released on Wednesday morning. . . .

In Kelowna, F Jonny Hooker broke a 2-2 tie at 18:08 of the second period and PGthe Prince George Cougars went on to a 5-2 victory over the Victoria Royals. . . . Victoria (1-8-1), which has lost five straight, led 1-0 after one period on a PP goal by F Brayden Tracey (6). . . . D Majid Kaddoura (1) pulled the Cougars even at 2:09 of the second period and D Keaton Dowhaniuk (1) gave them the lead just 1:14 later. . . . Dowhaniuk, the third overall pick in the 2019 bantam draft, scored his first WHL goal. . . . F Trentyn Crane, a fifth-round pick in 2018, got the Royals into a tie at 11:40 with his first WHL score. . . . Hooker broke the tie, and F Kuren Gronick (2) and F Tyson Upper (1) added insurance in the last minute of the period. . . . Prince George (4-3-2) outshot Victoria, 41-21, and had a 39-16 edge in the face-off circle.


Carpenter


My wife, Dorothy, who had a kidney transplant more than seven years ago, will take part in her eighth straight Kamloops Kidney Walk on June 6. 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 help her out, you are able to make a donation right here.

——

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


JUST NOTES: Gaelan Patterson is leaving the SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves to take over as director of hockey operations for the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association. Patterson, 30, who played four seasons (2006-10) with the Saskatoon Blades, joined the Ice Wolves prior to the 2018-19 season. From La Ronge, he had been the Ice Wolves’ associate GM/associate head coach. . . . Blaine Gusdal won’t be returning for a 14th season as the head coach of the U of Alberta-Augustana Vikings. The school made the announcement on March 31. Gusdal, 53, is from Erickson, Man. He played two WHL seasons (1984-86), splitting time between the Prince Albert Raiders (one game), Moose Jaw Warriors (59) and Saskatoon Blades (34).


Brunch

Canucks’ sked remains unsettled . . . BCHL’s Clippers put on hold . . . Shutouts gone wild in WHL


One day after F J.T. Miller said he and his Vancouver Canucks teammates needed more time to recover from a COVID-19 outbreak before returning to game Canucksaction, the NHL scrubbed at least one of their upcoming games.

The Canucks, who haven’t played since March 24, have been in the middle of the outbreak since March 30.

They were scheduled to play host to the Edmonton Oilers tonight (Friday) and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The NHL acted Thursday to postpone the game against Edmonton, and more changes could be announced today.

Including tonight’s game, the Canucks have had nine games postponed.

The Canucks had at least 21 players test positive, along with four members of the coaching staff, including head coach Travis Green. After once having 19 players on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list, only three players were there on Thursday — F Nils Hoglander, D Nate Schmidt and F Jake Virtanen.

On Wednesday evening, the Canucks had indicated that their Thursday morning practice — the first since March 31 — would be open to the media. However, Canucks PR (@CanucksPR) tweeted on Thursday at 9:08 a.m., saying that “today’s practice, originally scheduled open to media, is now a closed practice.”

Miller, who was able to escape the virus, had said on Wednesday that “it’s kind of frustrating if I’m being 100 per cent honest with you. We try to talk about the No. 1 priority is the players’ health and the families’ safety, and it’s almost impossible to achieve that with what they’ve asked us to do here on our return.”


The BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers stopped all team activities on Thursday “to allow Nanaimofor further analysis of a potential positive COVID-19 test result,” the league announced. . . . All team members, who have been tested once a week since the BCHL returned with a pod-type season, went into isolation until results are confirmed one way or the other. . . . The league said it would “provide an update once further analysis has been completed.” There wasn’t an update as of Thursday at 10 p.m. PT. . . . The Clippers were to have played the Alberni Valley Bulldogs last night, but that game was postponed. . . . The Clippers, Bulldogs, Victoria Grizzlies and Cowichan Valley Capitals have been playing in Alberni Valley under the cohort format. . . . Victoria and Cowichan Valley are scheduled to play tonight, with Nanaimo and Victoria on tap for a Saturday afternoon game, followed by the Capitals and Bulldogs that night.


Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries, held a news conference on Thursday morning.

Among other things, she indicated that the OHL won’t be starting up anytime soon.

With COVID-19 and variant numbers on the rise in many jurisdictions, including Ontario, she said: “The ground has shifted significantly. . . . We will not be putting young athletes at risk.”

There is a whole lot more right here from Queen’s Park Briefing.


Radio-Canada reported Thursday morning that the 2021 Canadian Grand Prix has been cancelled. It had been scheduled for June 13 in Montreal. According to Radio-Canada, “Montreal public health authorities concluded that even behind closed doors without spectators, the risk of spreading COVID-19 during the Formula One event is too high.”


Boxes


Shutouts were the order of the night in the WHL on Thursday, with three goaltenders in the spotlight . . .

D Rhett Rhinehart scored three times to lead the Saskatoon Blades to a 4-1 Bladesvictory over the Pats in the Regina hub. . . . Rhinehart, who went into the game with one goal, came out of it with his first career hat-trick. Interestingly, Regina’s lone goal went in off one of Rhinehart’s skates. It was credited to F Logan Nijhoff. . . . The last Saskatoon defenceman with three goals in one regular-season game? Ryan Flaherty (@RFlahertyGlobal) tweeted that Darren Dietz had four goals in a 7-3 victory over Swift Current on Feb. 17, 2012. . . . Rhinehart scored his first two goals at 8:07 and 11:41 of the first period. . . . Nijhoff counted his ninth goal at 3:08 of the second, but Rhinehart got that one back at 18:23. . . . Saskatoon F Kyle Crnkovic (8) got the empty-netter. . . . Saskatoon had a 35-21 edge in shots, including 16-3 in the third period. . . . The Blades (14-2-2) have points in six straight (5-0-1). . . . The Pats, who are 0-3 since F Connor Bedard left to join Canada’s U18 team, are 6-9-3. . . . The Pats were without F Zack Smith, who absorbed a headshot from D Landon Kosior of the Prince Albert Raiders on Tuesday. Kosior has been suspended for three games. . . .

G Max Paddock turned aside 45 shots to earn the shutout as the Prince Albert RaidersRaiders beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 2-0. . . . The Warriors (7-10-1), who have lost three in a row, outshot the Raiders, 45-25, including 21-8 in the second period. . . . The Raiders now are 7-8-3, with points in four straight (3-0-1). . . . This was Paddock’s first shutout of the season and the eighth of his career. . . . Prince Albert’s goals came from F Michael Horon (4), at 17:41 of the first period, and F Eric Pearce (7), at 16:37 of the second. . . .

G Sebastian Cossa stopped 30 shots to help the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 4-0 Edmontonvictory over the host Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The 6-foot-6 Cossa now has won 12 straight games. He has two shutouts this season and six for his career. This season, he is 12-0-0, 1.33, .948. Yes, he is eligible for the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . F Carson Latimer (4) scored the only goal Cossa would need, at 16:55 of the first period. . . . F Jayden Henderson (1), F Jalen Luypen (11) and D Matthew Robertson (3) added third-period goals. . . . The Oil Kings (13-1-0) have won four in a row. . . . Lethbridge (6-7-2) had points in each of its previous four games (3-0-1). . . . Edmonton was 3-for-9 on the PP. . . .

G Drew Sim earned his first career shutout as the Vancouver Giants dumped the VancouverVictoria Royals, 4-0, in Kamloops. . . . Sim, who is 2-1-0, was making his fourth appearance of the season. . . . Vancouver had a 40-16 edge in shots, including 14-5 in the second period and 17-5 in the third. . . . The Giants are 6-3-0 and have posted shutouts in four of those victories. . . . The Royals (1-7-1) have lost four in a row. . . . Vancouver was 2-for-2 on the PP. . . . F Justin Sourdif (4), D Alex Kannok Leipert (3) and D Mazden Leslie (5) had second-period goals, with F Tristen Nielsen (8) scoring in the third. . . . Leslie, who turned 16 on Thursday, scored his fifth goal in eight games for the Giants. He was the 10th overall selection in the 2020 bantam draft.


Mower


F Payton Mount of the Seattle Thunderbirds, who was taken to hospital on a Seattlestretcher after a Tuesday night game against the visiting Tri-City Americans, was back with his billets on Wednesday morning. . . . According to the Thunderbirds, “All of Mount’s diagnostic tests at the hospital showed positive results and he was diagnosed with a contusion from the impact of the puck.” . . . Mount was seated on the Seattle bench near game’s end when he was struck on the neck by a puck that glanced off the back wall. . . . The Thunderbirds are next scheduled to play tonight against the visiting Everett Silvertips.


G Braden Holt of the Everett Silvertips will play for Team USA at the U18 IIHF EverettWorld championship that opens April 26 in Frisco and Plano, Texas. Holt is the only player on Team USA’s roster who isn’t out of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. . . . Holt, 17, is from Bozeman, Mont. The Silvertips selected him in the 12th round of the 2018 bantam draft. . . . This season, Holt is 1-1-0, 2.75, .862. Last season, in eight games backing up Dustin Wolf, Holt was 4-2-0, 1.82, .926. . . . With Holt gone, the Silvertips are left with Wolf and Evan May, a 16-year-old from Nanaimo, as their goaltenders. An 11th-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft, May has yet to appear in a WHL game.


My wife, Dorothy, who had a kidney transplant more than seven years ago, will take part in her eighth straight Kamloops Kidney Walk on June 6. 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 help her out, you are able to make a donation right here.


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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


West

John Casey has life in focus while he waits for a kidney transplant . . .

MotherOwl
A mother owl surveys her territory. (Photo: John Casey/Facebook)

There are hundreds of people — yes, hundreds! — waiting and hoping for kidney transplants.

But what do you do while you’re waiting? When you’re not hooked up to a dialysis machine, that is.

John Casey, a friend from the Kamloops Kidney Support Group, is one of those who is waiting . . . and waiting . . . and hoping.

Owlets
At this point, these fuzzy owlets are never far from their mother. (Photo: John Casey/Facebook)

While he waits, he does peritoneal dialysis (PD), meaning he hooks up to a machine called a cycler every night. He has had a catheter surgically inserted and, through it, the cycler does a fluid exchange — toxins out, clean fluids in — while he sleeps.

He and a whole lot of others do this every night. Yes, every single night.

And when he’s not doing PD, John is an avid photographer and loves nothing better than to get out into nature and take a look around. John and his good wife, Marlene, who often doubles as lens carrier, are avid walkers and both have good eyes that allow them to see more than the leaves on the trees.

YellowRumpedWarbler
A sure sign of spring: A yellow rumped warbler chirping from a tree. (Photo: John Casey/Facebook)

For example, they see the mother owl and her owlets where you and I might see some dryer lint stuck in a tree.

At the same time, though, the need for a kidney always is with them.

With that in mind, John recently shared some thoughts on Facebook about life while waiting for a transplant.

“I thought I would put in a little about our latest stage in life.

“We now wait for a kidney transplant.

“It’s been two years now and we are getting used to these things that ‘build character’ — like living on dialysis. Marlene helps so much and is even getting used to the hum of ‘that machine’ every night.

“We are overwhelmed with the care we get from the kidney clinic here in Kamloops. We were meeting each month with a kidney support group for breakfast each month but that is all off now with COVID. We got a great amount of help with them as some have been through a transplant and some, like us, are waiting.

“We see among the ones who have had a transplant some of the happiest people we have ever met. One day at the hospital we met a couple who were coming back home to Kamloops just after they received their transplant. The joy in their spirit was remarkable.

“We are told that it should not be too long for us as we are waiting for a deceased donor. We just wait for the call to head to Vancouver.”

Lynx
This lynx spent part of the early spring terrorizing the mallard population near a Kamloops park. Could he be resting here because of a full stomach? (Photo: John Casey/Facebook)







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.


Want an easy win to feel great? Register to be an organ donor today. It will only #TakeTwoMinutes and you could save a life. Great deed and fuzzy feels without any hassle. #Register2Give taketwominutes.ca