It was May 23, 2010 and the Chicago Blackhawks were ahead 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference final with the San Jose Sharks. At some point prior to 
Game 4, seven men held a meeting to discuss an alleged sexual assault that had occurred one of the two previous days. The incident involved video coach Brad Aldrich and Kyle Beach, one of the Black Aces.
Beach had gone to one of the men to tell him what had happened. According to a report filed by the Chicago law firm of Jenner & Block following its investigation, these seven men met to decide where to go from here. As we now know, they chose to do nothing, to let nothing get in the way of the train that was head for a Stanley Cup championship.
The Blackhawks completed the sweep of the Sharks that night, then went on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the Stanley Cup final.
Beach, a power forward who had been the 11th overall selection in the NHL’s 2008 draft, never played a game in the NHL. While his name isn’t on the Stanley Cup, Aldrich’s is — although likely not for long.
Six of the seven men who were in attendance at that meeting now are out of the NHL. John McDonough, the team president; James Gary, the mental health coach; general manager Stan Bowman; Al MacIsaac, senior vice-president of hockey operations; Jay Blunk, an executive vice-president; and head coach Joel Quenneville.
Quenneville resigned Thursday as head coach of the Florida Panthers after meeting with Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner. Cheveldayoff, who was an assistant GM with Chicago, now is the Winnipeg Jets’ general manager. He met with Bettman on Friday and wasn’t disciplined, apparently because he is seen as having been only a minion in the Chicago scheme of things more than 11 years ago.
Still, Cheveldayoff was in attendance at that meeting.
Former NHL coach John Tortorella, now an analyst with ESPN, put it best when he said on ESPN’s The Point: “That’s what’s crazy to me, it’s multiple people. This wasn’t a one-man decision, it was multiple people. I don’t know why one guy couldn’t stand up and go, ‘You know what, no, this is wrong.’ ”
Tortorella hit the nail squarely on its head. But therein lays the rub. Until the people in suits quit trying to protect the shield at all costs and as long as they put winning before humanity this kind of stuff will continue to happen. No matter how many hotlines are set up . . . no matter how many committees are struck . . . no matter how many investigations are held . . .
Former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy, who knows a thing or two about sexual abuse, told Gregory Strong of The Canadian Press: “Posters and buttons and policies and procedures don’t change culture. Until sport makes this a priority as they do winning, they’ll never have the change that I think people expect from them.”
And then there was this from veteran forward Taylor Hall, now with the Boston Bruins.
“Every culture needs to keep getting better, and hockey’s no different,” he said. This is a game that’s a little bit of a . . . I guess what you’d call an old boys’ club. There’s definitely some secrecy and things that need to change and hopefully they can.”
Bingo!
Manny Viveiros, the head coach of the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, is back 
with the team after being away following a diagnosis of prostate cancer. He will be taking another leave in December as he undergoes surgery.
“Unfortunately,” he tweeted, “I’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had to take a leave of absence at the first part of the season. We’ve been trying at the very early stages a game plan of what we want to do going forward. Now that we have one in place through the doctors, we have an opportunity now to go after this and treat this. I’ve been able to get back to work, which is, for me, a really important part of my life.”
Viveiros is a former WHL player who was the general manager and head coach of the Swift Current Broncos when they won the 2018 championship.
He said his diagnosis was the result of a blood test in training camp: “It started with a simple blood test. The staff and players at the Golden Knights training camp went through physicals and everybody got a blood test. My PSA levels came back really high, and we did a follow up of another blood test and they came back very high again. Right away the VGK medical staff set me up with a urologist here in Las Vegas. I went in and saw him and obviously he was very concerned right away. He checked me out and we ended up doing a biopsy and unfortunately it came back that I do have prostate cancer.”
He also believes that the blood test “probably saved my life. Just having a simple blood test. I’m at the age where I’m over 50 and in perfect health. You just never know. I figured if I feel good, there’s probably nothing wrong. Getting a simple blood test can make the difference in catching something very early or saving a person’s life. I can’t help but encourage people, especially if there’s a history in their family, to go get a simple blood test. That can make a world of difference in the future.”
There were nine WHL games on Friday night. Some highlights . . .
In Edmonton, the Oil Kings’ derailed the Winnipeg Ice’s run at a record by 
scoring three third-period goals in a 3-1 victory. . . . F Connor McClennon (10) gave the Ice a 1-0 first-period lead. . . . F Dylan Guenther (4) tied it at 3:28 of the third, and F Carson Latimer (5) broke the tie at 11:42. F Jaxsen Wiebe (2) added the empty-netter. . . . The Oil Kings (7-2-1) have won three in a row. They also have posted 10 straight victories against the Ice. . . . The Ice (11-1-0) had won its first 11 games. The 1988-89 Swift Current Broncos hold the WHL record for longest winning streak to open a season (12). . . . The Ice and Oil Kings were ranked second and third, respectively, in the CHL’s weekly release. The No. 1-ranked Quebec Remparts (9-2-0) lost, 2-1, to the visiting Shawinigan Cataractes on Thursday. . . .
In Everett, the Portland Winterhawks erased a 3-0 deficit and beat the 
Silvertips, 4-3, in a shootout. . . . G Dante Gianuzzi stopped 36 shots for Portland (4-5-1), which had lost three straight. . . . Everett (6-0-1) had a 7-0 edge in OT shots. Silvertips Color Guy (@TipsATG) tweeted that Everett hit three crossbars in OT. . . . The Silvertips scored three first-period goals, two via the PP. . . . D Clay Hanus (3) pulled Portland into a tie at 18:37 of the third period. . . . Portland’s first two goals also came via the PP. . . . F Cross Hanas, the first shooter, scored the lone goal of the shootout. . . .
In Kamloops, the Blazers outshot the Victoria Royals, 58-16, in skating to a 7-1 victory. . . . Kamloops held a 20-5 edge in shots in each of the first and third periods. . . . F Matthew Seminoff (3) scored the game’s first two goals. . . . The Blazers (7-1-0) have won three in a row. . . . Victoria (1-10-0) has lost nine straight. . . .
In Spokane, F Mekai Sanders scored twice to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-1 victory over the Chiefs. . . . Sanders has four goals this season. He went into this season with three goals in 47 career games over two seasons. . . . F Jared Davidson (1) added a goal and two assists. . . . Seattle (6-2-1) has won four in a row. . . . The Chiefs are 3-5-1. . . .
In Langley, B.C., the Vancouver Giants went 4-for-5 on the PP and scored twice while shorthanded in beating the Kelowna Rockets, 7-2. . . . The Giants’ PP was 1-for-17 when the game began. . . . F Justin Sourdif (4) scored twice and added two assists, and F Fabian Lysell (2) had a goal and three assists as the Giants improved to 4-2-0. . . . The Rockets are 2-3-0. . . . The Giants were without D Cade McNelly, 20, due to what the team said was personal reasons. Steve Ewen of Postmedia tweeted that GM Barclay Parneta “had no timeline for a return.” . . .
In Lethbridge, the Hurricanes scored the game’s last three goals to beat the Saskatoon Blades, 4-3. . . . F Ty Nash scored his first two goals of the season to tie the game in the second period. . . . F Justin Hall (9) snapped the tie at 1:11 of the third period. . . . F Jayden Wiens (2) scored twice for the Blades, giving them a 2-0 lead by 7:08 of the first period. . . . Saskatoon (7-2-1) had picked up points in each of its previous eight games (7-0-1). . . . The Hurricanes now are 5-3-0. . . .
In Moose Jaw, F Brayden Yager’s seventh goal, on a PP at 4:52 of OT, gave the Warriors a 4-3 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . F Ryder Korczak (5) had a goal and two assists for the Warriors (4-6-0), who halted a four-game skid. . . . F Noah Danielson (4) had pulled the Tigers (4-4-2) into a 3-3 tie at 18:30 of the third period. . . . Medicine Hat got three assists from F Lukas Svejkovsky. . . .
In Prince Albert, F Brett Hyland had a goal and two assists in regulation and 
added a shootout goal as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Raiders, 5-4. . . . G Ethan Kruger, who had been out of Brandon’s lineup since being injured on Oct. 9, stopped 33 shots. . . . Hyland’s first career three-point game came in his 33rd outing over three seasons. He has a goal and four assists in seven games this season. . . . The Wheat Kings (5-6-0) had lost their previous three games. . . . The Raiders (2-7-1), who have lost three in a row, got three assists from D Kaiden Guhle. . . . D Remy Aquilon scored his first two goals of the season for Prince Albert. . . . Hyland and F Tyson Zimmer scored shootout goals for Brandon, with Guhle doing the same for the Raiders. . . . Darren Steinke, the travelling blogger, was on hand and posted this story right here. . . .
In Swift Current, the Regina Pats halted a seven-game losing run with a 4-1 victory over the Broncos. . . . While the Pats improved to 3-7-0, the Broncos slid to 2-6-2 with their eighth straight loss (0-6-2). . . . F Zack Stringer (4) and F Cole Dubinsky (6) each scored twice.
JUST NOTES: With the Winnipeg Ice (11-1-0) and Everett Silvertips (6-0-1) both losing on Friday night, the OHL’s London Knights (8-0-0) are the only team in the CHL not to have lost yet this season. . . . Steve Hunter of the Kent Reporter has written a story right here about the Seattle Thunderbirds and attendance for their games at the accesso ShoWare Center. . . . Elizabeth Mantha worked her first game as an AHL referee on Friday night. Her brother, Anthony, plays for the NHL’s Washington Capitals. Elizabeth and former WHLer Cody Beach — yes, he’s Kyle’s brother — were the referees as the Rochester Americans scored a 4-3 victory over the Rocket in Laval.
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.
Wednesday night. It was his first game back following the death of his father, Tim, at 52, from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Frisco, Texas, on Thursday, beating Russia, 5-3, in the final. . . . Canada last won this tournament in 2013 in Sochi, Russia. . . . Sweden won the bronze medal, whipping Finland, 8-0, earlier in the day. . . . Canada got two goals F Shane Wright, its captain, F Brennan Othmann, F Logan Stankoven and F Connor Berard. . . . Stankoven, who plays for the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, gave Canada a 4-2 lead at 16:39 of the second period and that goal stood as the winner. . . . Stankoven finished with four goals and four assists in seven games. . . . Russian F Matvei Michkov was named the tournament MVP. He scored his tournament-leading 12th goal in the final. He also led the tournament with 16 points. . . . F Shane Wright, Team Canada’s captain, and Bedard tied for second, with 14 points. Wright, who played five of his team’s seven games, had a team-high nine goals. . . . Bedard had a goal and an assist, to finish the tournament with seven goals and seven assists in seven games. He tied the tournament record for most points (14) by a 15-year-old and now shares it with F Connor McDavid, who did it in Sochi in 2013.
action at home tonight against the Seattle Thunderbirds, and they will have five sections open to fans who have been vaccinated. . . . Fans will have to show proof of vaccination. . . . From a news release: “There will not be refunds or exchanges if you cannot show proof of vaccination. A face-covering must be worn at all times except while actively eating or drinking. Children ages 2-15 may sit in the vaccinated section, but only with proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72-hours of the game.” . . . Meanwhile, there were two WHL games last night . . . 
Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-0. . . . Edmonton finished its season at 20-2-1 with its second straight win, while the Tigers wound up at 14-8-1. . . . This was the final game of the schedule involving the five Alberta teams. . . . Cossa, who is eligible for the NHL’s 2021 draft, put up four shutouts in 19 appearances. Last season, as a freshman, he had four shutouts in 33 games. This season, he finished 17-1-1, 1.57, .941. . . . F Scott Atkinson, the Oil Kings’ captain who was playing his final WHL game, opened the scoring with his sixth goal at 10:26 of the first period. . . . F Logan Dowhaniuk (5) made it 2-0, on a PP, at 16:32 of the second. . . . F Kaid Oliver (11) got the empty-netter. . . . F Ethan Cap, also playing his final WHL game, drew two assists. . . . The Tigers got 25 stops from G Garin Bjorklund. . . . 
and F Matthew Seminoff as they beat the Victoria Royals, 5-1. . . . The Blazers, who have won three in a row, now are 15-4-0. They went 6-0-0 against Victoria in this developmental season. . . . The Royals (2-15-2) have lost three straight (0-2-1). . . . Centazzo, who has five goals, opened the scoring at 4:00 of the first period and made it 2-0, on a PP, at 1:26 of the second. . . . Seminoff made it 3-0 at 6:01 and F Caedan Bankier (9) upped the lead to 4-0 at 7:22. . . . F Tarun Fizer (6) got Victoria’s goal 12 seconds into the third period. . . . Seminoff finished the scoring with his 10th goal at 12:12. . . . F Josh Pillar helped out with three assists. . . . G Dylan Garand stopped 28 shots for Kamloops. He is 13-3-0, 2.36, .915.
going to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights; rather, he bypassed the AHL and went straight to the NHL where he made his debut with the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night against the host Minnesota Wild. . . . Krebs recorded his first NHL point — an assist — in 9 minutes 5 seconds of ice time in a 6-5 loss to the Wild. He got the primary assist on a first-period goal by F Alex Tuch that gave Vegas a 3-2 lead. . . . Vegas selected him with the 17th pick of the NHL’s 2019 draft. Krebs just finished his 19-year-old season with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice by leading the Regina hub with 43 points in 24 games. . . . He has AHL experience, having put up a goal and four assists in five games with the Silver Knights before the WHL season began. . . . 
Czech Republic, 10-3, in one of four quarterfinal games at the IIHF U18 World Championship in Frisco and Plano, Texas. . . . Also on Monday, Sweden dumped Team USA, 5-2; Finland blanked Switzerland, 2-0; and Russia beat Belarus, 5-2. . . . The semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday with Canada playing Sweden at 2 p.m. PT, and Finland meeting Russia at 6 p.m. PT. . . . Bedard, 15, has three goals and six assists in five games. . . . Russian F Matvei Michkov, who turned 16 on Dec. 9, leads the tournament in goals (10) and points (12).
Kuopio of Finland’s top professional league. It was announced Monday that Puutio has signed a two-year contract with the Liiga team. . . . Puutio, who will turn 19 on June 3, played with the Swift Current Broncos, who had selected him first overall in the 2019 CHL import draft, and the Silvertips in 2019-20, but pandemic-related travel restrictions meant he stayed in Finland this season. . . . Playing in Liiga with Kärpät, Puutio had a goal and two assists in 29 games. He also had two assists with Finland’s national junior team as it finished third at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton. . . . The Silvertips acquired him from the Broncos on Jan. 10, 2020. He had one goal and 15 assists in 35 games with the Broncos, then added four goals and eight assists in 21 games with the Silvertips. . . . The Florida Panthers selected him in the fifth round of the NHL’s 2020 draft.
Minten picked up four assists as the Blazers beat the Victoria Royals, 5-2. . . . Kamloops (14-4-0) has won two in a row. . . . Victoria (2-14-2) had points in each of its previous two games (1-0-1). . . . The Blazers points percentage now is .778, putting them back atop the B.C. Division, just ahead of the idle Kelowna Rockets (8-2-1, .773). . . . Seminoff, who has eight goals, gave the Blazers a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 4:19 of the first period. . . . The Royals tied it at 10:46 when F Brandon Cutler (8) scored on a PP. . . . Kamloops went back in front at 1:23 of the second period on a goal by F Daylan Kuefler (4). But the Royals got it right back when F Tarun Fizer (5) scored 25 seconds later. . . . However, Kamloops scored the game’s next three goals. . . . F Tye Spencer (2) broke the tie 16 seconds after Fizer’s goal. . . . F Connor Levis (6) struck on a PP at 18:24, and Seminoff wrapped up the scoring at 14:40 of the third period. . . . G Dylan Garand stopped 24 shots for Kamloops, four fewer than the Royals’ Adam Evanoff. . . . Minten, 16, was a fourth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft. He went into this game with a goal and seven assists in 15 games. . . . D Austin Zemlak made his WHL debut with the Royals. From Fort McMurray, he was the ninth overall selection in the 2020 bantam draft. . . . The Blazers were without F Connor Zary for a third straight game after he was injured on a high hit in a 5-1 loss to the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday night. The Blazers have four games remaining before wrapping up their season on May 12 and you have to wonder if Zary will return at all. . . . F Jonny Hooker of the Cougars had his suspension set at four games on Monday. He has sat out two, so won’t play tonight or Wednesday — the Cougars are scheduled to play Kelowna and Vancouver — before being eligible to return Saturday against Victoria.
four divisions cleared to play on Friday night. . . . The longest of the night’s eight games took 2 hours 31 minutes to play (Everett beat Portland 2-1 in OT). Victoria and Kelowna finished in 2:10. The other game times were 2:15, 2:16, 2:17, 2:18 (twice) and 2:25. . . . Three of the games ended in shutouts, while G Dustin Wolf and the Everett Silvertips surrendered their first goal in four games. . . . If you’re on Twitter and interested in WHL numbers, you should be following Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow). . . . Some highlights and tidbits from Friday. . . .
7-3 victory over the Regina Pats on Friday. . . . F Chase Wouters had two goals and an assist for the Blades. The assist was the 100th of his career. He has 169 points in 267 regular-season games. . . . F Colton Dach also scored twice for Saskatoon. . . . The Blades (7-0-1) scored the game’s first three goals and never looked back. . . . Despite playing in their home arena, the Pats (2-4-2) are 0-2-2 in games when they have been designated the home team. . . . Spencer Welke, one of three goaltenders on the Pats’ roster, made his WHL debut with 40 saves. . . . Regina F Connor Bedard, 15, scored once, giving him at least a point in each of his first eight career games. . . . 
Hitmen, 4-3. . . . F Jalen Luypen had two goals and an assist for the Oil Kings (8-0-0), who got 26 saves from G Sebastian Cossa. . . . Goals by Luypen and F Josh Williams, each of whom has six, gave the Oil Kings a 4-1 lead by the middle of the second period. . . . Luypen has 10 points in eight games. . . . Edmonton has outscored its opponents, 38-12, in eight games. . . . The Hitmen slipped to 4-4-1. . . . Bob Stauffer, the host of Oilers Now on 630 CHED and the analyst on Oilers’ broadcasts, tweeted that there were 27 NHL scouts, including four assistant GM/head scouts, at the game. . . . 
victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Silvertips (4-0-0) got 35 saves from G Dustin Wolf, who had his shutout streak end at 16:32 of the second period. He had posted a shutout in each of his first three starts this season, and finished with a club-record shutout streak of 216:27. The previous record (195:12) belong to Carter Hart, who now is with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. . . . F Gage Concalves gave Everett a 1-0 lead at 3:42 of the second period. . . . F Simon Knak pulled Portland even at 13:16 of the second. That was the third shorthanded goal — two of them from Knak — in two games for Portland (2-0-2). . . . Going back to last season, the Silvertips are 24-2-1 in their past 27 games. . . . Joe Mahon, who played in the WHL with the Winterhawks (2012-13) and Calgary Hitmen (2013-14), was one of the linesmen. It was his first WHL game as an on-ice official. . . . Jackson Kozari was one of the referees. His father, Steve, is a former WHL referee who now works in the NHL. . . .
whose contract wasn’t renewed after last season. Harkins had been the GM for four seasons. . . . Lamb, a native of Ponteix, Sask., spent seven seasons (2009-16) as the general manager and head coach of the Swift Current Broncos. . . . He left to join the NHL-Arizona Coyotes organization and spent 2016-17 as the head coach of the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. However, he was dismissed after one season. . . . Lamb got into coaching as an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers in 2001-02, then spent six seasons as an assistant with the Dallas Stars. . . . Eric Brewer, one of the Cougars’ owners, was a defenceman with the Oilers when Lamb coached there. Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk was a defenceman with Dallas when Lamb was on its coaching staff. . . . According to the Prince George Citizen, Matvichuk is starting the last season of a three-year contract as the Cougars’ head coach, while associate coach Steve O’Rourke has two seasons left on a deal. Assistant coach Shawn Chambers’ contract expired on May 31 and there has been no word as to whether he has been extended. Last week, the Cougars hired Taylor Dakers as the organization’s first full-time goaltending coach.
although he has been taken off dialysis. F Jordy Bellerive and F Matt Alfaro also are in Calgary’s Foothills Health Centre.
Spokane Chiefs. Deadmarsh, 43, joined the Chiefs prior to last season and worked under head coach Dan Lambert. . . . Deadmarsh played 567 NHL games, split among the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings. Deadmarsh won a Stanley Cup with the 1995-96 Avalanche. . . . He also worked as an assistant coach with Colorado (2009-12). . . . Before going on to a pro career, Deadmarsh played four seasons (1991-95) with the WHL’s Portland Winter Hawks.
TAKING NOTE 