Some odds and loose ends, and some thoughts, on Friday’s news that the Winnipeg Ice have been sold and are on the move to Wenatchee, Wash., where the team will be known as the Wild. . . .
It seems that the decision by Lisa and Dick White to purchase the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice wasn’t in the works for a long time.
The WHL announced Friday that the Whites have bought the Ice and are moving 
the franchise to Wenatchee, Wash., where it will operate as the Wild. (Just wondering, but might the moving vans go through Cranbrook on their way from Winnipeg to Wenatchee?)
Bliss Littler, the Wild’s general manager, told Gabe Neumann, who covers the Wild for Area 51 Sports Network that the timeline was “not very long at all.”
“It’s always been thrown out there that Wentachee would be a great fit in the Western League, just by where we’re located,” Littler said. “It came together very fast.”
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The Whites had operated the Wild in the BCHL since 2015. The BCHL left the umbrella of Hockey Canada on June 1, and you have to believe operating costs will increase, what with teams now scouting and recruiting in Europe and having indicated that there will be pay raises for on-ice officials, among other things. The BCHL also has promised that its teams will discontinue its pay-to-play format by 2025.
You also have to wonder if travel expenses might even be lower for the Wild in the WHL than they were in the BCHL. After all, the Wild will be playing the bulk of its games in the U.S. Division where, according to the Brandon Sun’s Perry Bergson, the distances between Wenatchee and the other teams look like this: Everett, 123 miles (198 km); Kennewick — 131 miles (211 km); Seattle 148 miles (238 km); Spokane — 170 miles (273 km); and Portland — 291 miles (469 km).
Put it all together and it has me wondering if the Whites, who in the past had indicated that they were quite comfortable in the BCHL, took a look down the road and decided if the cost of staying put was going to increase they might as well move into the WHL if the opportunity presented itself.
It did, and the Ice/Wild now is making the 2,071 km (1,287 miles) trek to Wenatchee.
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Meanwhile, the Brandon Wheat Kings, whose shortest trip for the past four seasons has been to Winnipeg (217 km, 135 miles) now are looking at the Regina Pats as their closest opponent. That trip is 362 km (225 miles).
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It doesn’t seem that many, if any, of Winnipeg’s off-ice people will be part of the Wild’s front office. The Wild already is advertising for an athletic therapist and an equipment manager. And it sounds as though Wenatchee will be adding a few scouts.
As Littler told Neumann: “The Western Hockey League is based on a couple of drafts. You live and die with the draft, so that’ll be something I haven’t dealt with in a while. I was with the USHL for 12 years and in that time, we ran with two drafts. We’ll have to put a scouting staff in place, (to have) people covering British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba . . . in the past, it’s been almost all Americans.”
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Thanks to Lucas Punkari of the Brandon Sun, here is a look at the players whose WHL playing rights moved from the Winnipeg Ice to the Wenatchee Wild with the sale of the franchise:
Former WHL F Garrett Pilon scored at 10:01 of OT to give the host Hershey Bears 
a 1-0 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 5 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears, who lost the first two games of this series on the road, now hold a 3-2 edge after winning three in a row on home ice. . . . The series resumes Monday in Thousand Palms, Calif., with Game 7, if needed, there on Wednesday. . . . Pilon’s fourth playoff goal came off a shot through traffic from about 15 feet in front of the blue line. . . . Hershey got 21 saves from G Hunter Shepard, while Joey Daccord stopped 30 for the Firebirds. . . . Pilon, 25, is in his fifth season in Hershey. He has 10 points in 18 playoff games. He played three seasons (2015-18) in the WHL, two-plus with the Kamloops Blazers and the last 30 games with the Everett Silvertips.
Headline at The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton): Canada hits 40 million people, 40 available houses.
THE COACHING GAME:
The CCHL’s Wellington Dukes have hired Kent Lewis as their director of hockey operations and head coach. Lewis, who is from Powell River, B.C., has coached in the BCHL for more than 20 years, spending time with the Powell River Kings, Nanaimo Clippers and Victoria Salsa. Lewis’s signing came a week after the Dukes hired Todd Diminie as their general manager. . . . Diminie and Lewis take over from Derek Smith, the general manager/head coach who left the organization earlier this month.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
There is junior A hockey in Kenora, Ont., again, with the news that the Islanders have joined the Superior International Junior Hockey League. The Islanders are preparing to begin play in 2023-24. This will mark the return of junior A hockey to Kenora for the first time since the Thistles ceased operations in 1982. The Thistles operated in the MJHL for seven seasons. . . . Jack Dawson, the Islanders’ owner, is expected to announce a head coach in the near future. . . . The SIJHL now features eight teams — Dryden GM Ice Dogs, Fort Frances Lakers, Kam River Fighting Walleye, the Islanders, Red Lake Miners, Sioux Lookout Bombers, Thunder Bay North Stars and Wisconsin Lumberjacks.
THINKING OUT LOUD: The CFL’s B.C. Lions are 2-0 after beating the visiting Edmonton Elks, 22-0, on Saturday. The Lions have been part of the CFL since 1954; this was their third shutout, the first since 1977. Yes, 1977. . . . The Elks hadn’t been blanked since Aug. 15, 1976, when they dropped a 40-0 decision to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina. . . . The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who whupped the Roughriders, 45-27, in Regina on Friday night have to be considered the CFL’s early favourites. If you haven’t seen the 92-yard punt-return TD scored by Winnipeg’s Janarion Grant in that one you should hunt it up and give it a look. It really was one for the ages.
SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE: On Friday afternoon, one day before the Special Olympics World Games opened in Berlin, BetOnline.ag tweeted: “We are proud to be the first Sportsbook to offer betting odds on the Special Olympics!”
A note from ESPN Stats & Info after the San Francisco Giants romped to a 15-0 victory over the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Saturday night: “At 15-0, the Dodgers suffered their largest home shutout loss in 125 years. On Sept. 20, 1898, the Pirates won 15-0 at New Washington Park against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Those two games make up the largest home shutout losses in Dodgers franchise history.” . . . Maybe that will make the Edmonton Elks feel better.
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Zach Tremblay, a young man from Robson, B.C. continues to wait for a kidney transplant. While he has been waiting, his mother, Jana, has worked tirelessly in spreading the news about kidney disease.
And now Jana is dealing with bladder cancer and issues with her kidneys. As a result, her friend Paula Chaves has started a GoFundMe page.
“After feeling unwell in May,” Paula writes, “Jana visited the hospital where it was discovered that she had bladder cancer. On June 15, Jana’s kidneys were failing and she was air-lifted to Kelowna for emergency surgery. She is awake from surgery and waiting on what’s next. . . .
“With this sudden illness, Jana will be unable work for an unknown period of time and she and her family could really benefit from the financial support as they navigate through this incredibly difficult time.”
The GoFundMe page is right here. Please help if you are able.
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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
major junior, 17 junior A and 43 junior B. As of this moment, those teams all play under Hockey Canada’s umbrella. However, the BCHL — with 17 teams in B.C. and one in Washington state — has said it plans on leaving Hockey Canada when this month is up. . . . What will that mean for junior hockey in B.C.? Well, Cam Hope, the former Victoria Royals’ general manager who now is the CEO of BC Hockey, has told Steve Ewen of Postmedia that it may result in a new junior A league starting up. In fact, Hope told Ewen that such a move was “probable,” adding that no one is in a rush to get it done because “I’d much rather make sure we do it right than do it fast.” . . . Presumably, a new junior A league could include a number of junior B teams moving on up, along with any organizations that might decide to leave the BCHL. Ewen reported that “several sources” had told him the vote to leave Hockey Canada was 14-2 with two abstentions.
goals, three of them in the first 11 minutes, en route to a 5-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Ice now holds a 3-0 lead in the conference final and gets its first chance to wrap it up tonight in Saskatoon. . . . F Matt Savoie (11), on a PP at 2:46, F Zach Benson (4), at 9:48, and F Evan Friesen (4), at 10:33, had those first-period goals. . . . F Connor McClennon (11) made it 4-0, on another PP, at 1:13 of the second period. . . . F Justin Lies (3) got the Blades on the scoreboard at 5:40. . . . That was as close as the Blades were to get. . . . Ice F Owen Pederson (4) closed out the scoring with a PP goal at 19:26 of the third period. . . . Winnipeg was 3-for-6 on the PP; Saskatoon was 0-for-2. . . . The Ice held a 34-18 edge in shots, including 10-4 in the third period. . . . Winnipeg got three assists from D Ben Zloty, and Savoie added two helpers to his goal. . . . Zloty has a WHL-leading 19 assists. . . . G Daniel Hauser earned the victory with 17 saves. His career record, including regular season games, now is 97-10-3. . . . The Blades continue to be without injured defencemen Blake Gustafson and Ben Saunderson, and they also scratched F Egor Sidorov from this one with an undisclosed injury. . . . Winnipeg remains without D Wyatt Wilson, who was injured in Game 5 of the first round.
lead the Kamloops Blazers to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Blazers, who held a 39-23 edge in shots, trail the series, 2-1, with Game 3 scheduled for Kamloops on Thursday night. Then the teams will head back to Kent, Wash., for Game 5 on Saturday. . . . Zellweger, who was acquired from the Everett Silvertips at the trade deadline in January, figured in Kamloops’ first three goals. . . . He gave the Blazers a 1-0 lead, on a PP, with his 10th goal at 8:29 of the first period. . . . After Seattle D Nolan Allan (2) tied it at 10:00, Zellweger and F Ryan Hofer, who also came over from Everett in that deal, drew the assists on F Jakub Demek’s fourth goal, at 17:43. . . . Hofer (6) added some insurance with an empty-netter at 18:53 of the third period, and Zellweger drew an assist on that one, too. . . . F Matthew Seminoff (6) added the Blazers’ last goal, at 19:18. . . . Zellweger has 27 points, including 17 assists, in 11 playoff games. In 43 games since the trade, he has 32 goals and 47 assists. . . . 
period goals in a span of 4:17 — F Ben King was in on all of them — en route to a 5-2 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Rebels, who won 3-1 in Saskatoon on Friday, lead the series, 2-0. . . . The series now heads to Red Deer for games on Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . King (4) opened the scoring, on a PP, at 7:53 of the second period, with D Christoffer Sedoff (4) and F Jhett Larson (3) adding goals at 9:42 and 12:10. . . . King assisted on both of those goals and added another helper on a third-period goal from F Jayden Grubbe (2). . . . F Carson Birnie (1) also scored for Red Deer. . . . F Brandon Lisowsky (2) and D Charlie Wright (2) had third-period PP goals for Saskatoon. . . . Grubbe and Larson had a pair of assists each. . . . Red Deer had a 20-16 edge in shots, including 11-4 in the second period. . . . Saskatoon F Tyler Parr played in his second straight game after missing 48 with an undisclosed injury. . . . Blades F Josh Pillar, who turned 21 on Feb. 14, was back after missing Game 1, but D Blake Gustafson, another 2002-born player, was scratched again. . . . Red Deer’s scratches included D Marek Schneider, who turned 20 on Feb. 5, for a second straight game.
Prince George Cougars beat the visiting Tri-City Americans, 5-4, to advance to the second round. . . . The Cougars won the series, 4-2, by winning the last three games, the first two of which were played in Kennewick, Wash. . . . This will be the Cougars’ first time in the second round since 2007. . . . Wheatcroft’s third goal of the series came from the right side off a 2-on-1 break at 2:31 of OT. This was Wheatcroft’s 50th goal this season; he had 47 in the regular season. . . . The Cougars’ victory means the Western Conference’s top four seeds all have advanced. The No. 1 Seattle Thunderbirds will meet the No. 4 Cougars in the second round and will follow a 2-2-1-1-1 format, while the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers face the No. 3 Portland Winterhawks. . . . Those series will open Friday in Kent, Wash., and Kamloops. . . . The Cougars took a quick 2-0 first-period lead on goals from F Riley Heidt (2), at 4:51, and F Cole Dubinsky (3), at 7:57. . . . Heidt also had two assists. . . . F Reese Belton (2), who was celebrating his 21st birthday, got the Americans to within a goal at 12:23, but F Fischer O’Brien (1) got that one back for the Cougars at 17:05. . . . Tri-City tied it on second-period goals by F Ethan Ernst (1), at 0:17, and F Tyson Greenway (5), at 17:18. . . . Prince George F Zac Funk (4) broke the 3-3 tie at 2:02 of the third period. . . . The Americans pulled even again at 13:34 on a goal by F Jake Sloan (3). . . . Each team was 0-for-1 on the PP. For the series, the Cougars were 1-for-15; the Americans were 1-for-17. . . . G Ty Young recorded the victory with 34 saves, two more than Tri-City’s Tomas Suchanek. . . . The announced attendance was 5,383, the third-largest crowd in Prince George this season. A visit by F Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats on Dec. 2 drew 6,027, 5,880 showed up for the Cougars’ last home game of the regular season against the Kamloops Blazers on March 25.
an eighth-round selection in the WHL’s 2023 draft, the Ice gave up G Dawson Cowan, 17, and three draft picks — a fourth-rounder in 2025 and third- and sixth-rounders in 2026. . . . In 71 regular-season games with the Chiefs, Beaupit was 24-35-7, 3.83, .888. . . . He was a fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2018 draft. . . . Following last season, he was named the Chiefs’ player of the year, after going 20-22-4, 3.63, .893. . . . This season, with the Chiefs’ clearly in a major rebuild, he was 0-8-0, 5.58, .833 
in nine games. . . . From Surrey, B.C., Beaupit’s NHL rights belong to the San Jose Sharks, who took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. . . . Beaupit will team with Daniel Hauser as Winnipeg’s goaltenders. Hauser, 18, went into Friday games at 13-0-0, 2.37, .915. . . . Cowan, from Warren, Man., was 3-1-0, 2.52, .901 in five appearances with the Ice this season. . . . The Chiefs now have two 17-year-old freshman goaltenders on their roster — Cowan and Cooper Michaluk, who is 3-2-1, 4.97, .853. Michaluk started against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night, with Cowan backing up.
game losing streak (0-5-1). . . . The Rebels (15-2-1), who opened the season with 15 straight victories, now have lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . . The Wheat Kings got shootout goals from F Brett Hyland, F Nolan Ritchie and F Jake Chiasson. F Kai Uchacz scored in the shootout for the Rebels, He also scored once in regulation time, taking over the WHL goal-scoring lead (16). A few hours later, F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats scored twice to pull into a tie with Uchacz. . . . Red Deer F Craig Armstrong tied the score, 2-2, at 15:48 of the third period. . . . Red Deer remains without veteran F Ben King, who led the league in goals (52) last season. . . . Brandon was able to dress only 16 skaters, including four defencemen. . . . Lucas Punkari of the Brandon Sun reported that D Mason Ward is injured, while Eastyn Mannix and Zach Turner both were “unable to dress due to illness.” The Wheat Kings then lost Owen Harris to injury in the first period, so F Calder Anderson slipped into the rotation. . . .
and never looked back en route to a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Raiders improved to 6-12-2; the Oil Kings, who have lost three in a row, are 2-15-1. . . . F Harrison Lodewyk’s second goal of the season gave the Raiders the early lead and away they went. . . . F Carson Latimer had a goal and two assists for the winners, who were 2-2 on the PP. . . . 
lead before scoring in OT to beat the visiting Regina Pats, 5-4. . . . The Broncos (8-8-0) have won two in a row. . . . The Pats are 8-8-2. . . . D Owen Pickering won it 58 seconds into extra time. . . . The Broncos got a goal and two assists from F Connor Hvidston. . . . F Alexander Suzdalev had a goal and three assists for Regina, which got two scores and a helper from F Connor Bedard. . . . The tweet posted above features some Bedard numbers going into Friday’s games. Last night, Bedard ran his point streak to 17 games. He has 17 points over his past five games. . . . 
over the Tigers in Medicine Hat. . . . The Warriors (11-6-0) have won two straight. . . . The Tigers (4-9-4) have lost seven in a row (0-4-3). . . . D Bogdans Hodass pulled the Tigers into a 4-4 tie at 12:56 of the third period. . . . The Warriors had scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the opening period but weren’t able to hold the lead. . . . F Jagger Firkus gave them a 4-3 lead at 11:07 of the third, only to have Hodass tie it 1:49 later. . . . F Noah Degenstein, a second-round pick in the WHL’s 2022 draft, made his debut with the Warriors. From Airdrie, Alta., he plays for his hometown U18AAA CFR Bisons. . . . These same two teams will play tonight in Moose Jaw. . . . 
route to a 7-2 victory over the Chiefs. . . . F Gracyn Sawchyn, F Nico Myatovic and D Kevin Korchinski all scored unassisted goals for Seattle before the first period was five minutes old. . . . The Thunderbirds (12-3-0) have won two in a row. . . . The Chiefs (3-11-1) have lost nine straight (0-8-1). . . .
second period and hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Everett (12-5-0) has won four straight. . . . Tri-City (7-10–0) has lost two in a row. . . . F Ryan Hofer scored twice — he’s got 12 — as Everett grabbed a 4-0 lead at 1:30 of the second period. . . . F Tyson Greenway pulled the Americans to within one at 3:50 of the third period, but they weren’t able to equalize. . . . D Lukas Dragicevic had two assists in running his point streak to 11 games. He has two points in each of his last two games, and has 23 points, including five goals, in 17 games. . . . 
will be going into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Monday. Unfortunately, he wasn’t available to attend Friday’s news conference and ring presentation as he is recovering from COVID-19. By taking an extra day to recover, he is hopeful of attending Monday night’s ceremony and perhaps other events over the weekend. . . . Mask up!
in the existence of what now is the WHL.
was on his way to the Manitoba capital from the Spokane Chiefs.
visiting Vancouver Giants on Friday. . . . G Rhett Stoesser, a 17-year-old freshman from Carstairs, Alta., stopped 18 shots as he recorded his first WHL shutout in his fourth start. He is 4-0-0, 1.25, .938. . . . The Rebels have tied the WHL record for most victories to open a season. The 1988-89 Swift Current Broncos opened 12-0-0 before dropping a 2-1 decision to the Blades in Saskatoon on Oct. 30, 1988. . . . The Rebels are scheduled to visit the Edmonton Oil Kings (1-11-1) on Sunday. . . .
with a 5-4 victory over the Cougars. They’ll play there again tonight and resume the triple-dip in Kent, Wash., on Tuesday. . . . Last night, Seattle got two goals from each of Jared Davidson and Jordan Gustafson as they got out to a 5-2 lead. The Cougars scored twice in the game’s last two minutes.
on Friday with the Winnipeg Ice in town. According to the Wheat Kings, it also was equipment manager Scott Hlady’s 500th game with the organization. . . . According to Lucas Punkari of the Brandon Sun, it was the first crowd of more than 5,000 “since 5,621 fans were in the building for a 5-4 shootout win over Moose Jaw on March 17, 2018.” . . . The Ice skated home with a 4-1 victory, ending its season-opening road schedule with a 12-1 record. The same two teams will meet in Winnipeg tonight as the Ice stages its home-opener.
outings — as they come out of a bye week and prepare to meet the visiting Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. . . . The fun began on Tuesday when Cody Fajardo, the starting quarterback, didn’t take an active role in practice. Head coach Craig Dickenson, whose job would seem to be on the line, said that Fajardo was taking a “vet” day and that he would start on Saturday. Headline at leaderpost-com — Cody Fajardo given ‘vet day’; will start Saturday against Calgary. . . . On Wednesday, however, Dickenson said that backup Mason Fine will start. On top of which, Fajardo told the newshounds that he had been told five days previous that he wouldn’t be starting. . . . “Cody Fajardo has absorbed more than his fair share of hits during the 2022 CFL season,” writes Murray McCormick of The Leader-Post, “but even he was blindsided by his demotion from starting quarterback to second string with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.” . . . As for Fajardo, he told those same newshound: “I hope there’s somebody out there that might still want me. I don’t think this is the end of the Cody Fajardo book. But it might be the end of this chapter.” . . . With two games remaining — they finish up next weekend in Calgary — the Roughriders haven’t yet been eliminated from the playoff picture, but time is of the essence. . . . “We need a spark,” Dickenson said in giving his reason for the QB switch. . . . Well, take a trip around social media and check out the Saskatchewan fans. I think Dickenson’s spark has started a fire. Yes, they do take their football seriously on the flatlands.
beaten, 3-0, by the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Rockets find themselves with three goaltenders on their roster after the NHL’s New York Rangers returned Boyko on Monday. Boyko, selected in the fourth round of the NHL draft, has signed with the Rangers, who had assigned him to the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen. . . . The Rockets acquired the 6-foot-8 Boyko from the Tri-City Americans early last season. With Kelowna, he was 28-12-4, 2.79, .913 in 46 games. In 102 career WHL regular-season games, he is 43-43-8, 3.56, .899. . . . The other two goaltenders on the Rockets’ roster are both 18-year-old freshmen — Nicholas Cristiano of Langley, B.C., and Jari Kykkanen of Lloydminster, Alta. Kykkanen, a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 draft, is 3-3-1, 3.71, .883 in seven appearances; Cristiano, who has been in three games, is 0-1-0, 2.61, .879. . . . The Rockets now are carrying two 20-year-olds — Boyko and F Adam Kydd. . . . 
Saint John, N.B., site of the 2022 Memorial Cup tournament. Thanks to COVID-19, this will be the first time the four-team championship has been held since 2019.
Game 7 of the Western Conference final.
Bauer of the Seattle Thunderbirds signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. He was selected by Winnipeg in the sixth round of the 2020 draft. . . . Bauer turned 20 on March 23. If he doesn’t earn a spot with the Jets, he is eligible to return for one more WHL season, or he could end up with the Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg’s AHL affiliate.
Kelowna. According to the Kelowna Rockets, those deficiencies prevented them from putting in a bid to host the 2023 Memorial Cup.
TAKING NOTE 