Tag: Mike Priestner

Scattershooting on a Sunday night before taking a Christmas break . . .

Scattershooting2

Merry Christmas . . .

OK, this is it from here for a while folks. I’m taking some time away — Less time here, less time on social media . . . you know, just away . . . more time between some book covers . . . more time doing crosswords . . . 

I have watched for almost two years as we have spun our wheels, like a gerbil on a running wheel, and gotten absolutely nowhere. This pandemic is almost two years old and where are we compared to March or April of 2020?

Restaurants open. Restaurants closed. Restaurants . . . uhh, not sure. . . . Capacity at the local arena is 50 per cent. Capacity is 100 per cent. Capacity is 50 per cent. . . . It just goes on and on and on . . .

Rinse . . . repeat . . . rinse . . . repeat . . . rinse . . . repeat. Over and over and over, again. And here we are, with 2021’s clock ticking down, starting to think about whether this will ever end. And all the while people are dying and healthcare workers are burning out and still we spin our wheels.

Rinse and repeat . . . rinse and repeat . . .

Hey, has there been anything more bizarre than watching the NBA and NHL trying to keep from pausing their seasons?

The answer to that is: Yes, the decision by the NFL to cut back on the testing of asymptomatic players and staff members. That move is right out of the orange guy’s playbook from May 2020. You might remember that proclamation: “If we don’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”

While you think about that, take a minute to think about this from a thread tweeted by Dr. Katharine Smart (@KatharineSmart), a pediatrician from Whitehorse who is president of the Canadian Medical Association: “We need to get serious about vaccination, the consequences of choosing to be unvaccinated, third doses, proper masks, rapid tests and limiting contacts. I can’t state this strongly enough — our system is breaking and so are the people in it.”

The good doctor is absolutely correct. We are almost two years into this mess and we have people among us who still aren’t taking this serious.

Is it any wonder we’re still treading water?

I also will spend the next while searching for an NHL team for which to cheer. My lifelong love affair with the Detroit Red Wings — it started with Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Roger Crozier, Bill Gadsby et al — is over, broken beyond repair because their roster is home to the only unvaccinated player in the entire NHL. . . . For now, while I may no longer have a favourite team, I do have a favourite player. That would be Mason Geertsen, a product of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings.

Jack Todd, in the Montreal Gazette:

“We are nearly two years into this miserable plague, caught in an ellipse of hope and despair that has left everyone drained and weary and cranky. Just when you thought you were free, it comes back again, like a drunken party guest who missed his cab and decided to spend the night snoring on your couch.

“Once respected people in the world of sports are making public fools of themselves, in such a way you wonder if the pandemic hasn’t affected their judgment.

“Our old friend Richard Pound, once a maverick who didn’t kowtow to anyone, now falls in with the IOC party line despite China’s abysmal record on human rights, calling China’s critics ‘silly.’

“Steve Yzerman, one of the brighter fellows in the NHL, betrays an understanding of this plague on par with an evangelical pastor in the Florida panhandle.”

Here’s Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle, making a point about the NBA schedule, a point that could easily be transferred to the WHL:

“The NBA often promises a more relaxed schedule but never really delivers. Back-to-back games remain far too prevalent in the league, and playing three road games in four nights — the workload the Warriors are facing right now — is simply inexcusable.

“Old-school players scoff at the complaints, recalling the days when the schedule and travel demands were far more taxing than today’s, but the scientists have made themselves known. Fatigue is a serious problem for overworked players, presenting health concerns and a less-than-energetic performances on the court. Owners’ greed will prevail, preventing something sensible — like a 58-game schedule, teams facing each opponent twice. So instead, we sometimes get lacklustre play and some grave disappointments, leaving fans a bit short of what they were expecting.”

Laddie

Old friend Jack Finarelli, aka The Sports Curmudgeon, is a huge football fan, CFLand he watched last Sunday’s Grey Cup game while comfortably ensconced in his home in the Washington, D.C., area. He actually spent Sunday watching NFL games, of course, while recording the Grey Cup game for Monday viewing. . . . He then took to the keyboard and provided some thoughts on what he had seen. All of that is right here. . . . There is a message for the CFL in his writing, too. He likes a whole lot of what he sees in the Canadian game, so leave it alone. . . . And if you aren’t already checking out his stuff, you should. He normally provides food for thought five days a week.

Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, on Urban Meyer, one day before he was fired by the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars: “He’s as close to a legitimate head coach as a grackle is to an attack helicopter.”

Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “In a dive bar somewhere, Jon Gruden and Urban Meyer are having a beer and drawing up plays on cocktail napkins, plotting their next gigs.”

Here’s the lede on Kurt Streeter’s Friday Sports of The Times column in The New York Times:

“In the midst of a new wave of coronavirus infections sweeping the globe, sports officials are scrambling to figure out how to keep their seasons going with schedules intact, to maintain the normal churn of competition and revenue.

“They shouldn’t dither with such foolishness.

“It’s time to press pause on games, matches and meets. If we’re genuinely interested in public health, genuinely invested in slowing the virus and saving lives, we need to look at the storm that has gathered and take shelter from it.

Come back in February, or later. By then, if we play this right and we’ve collectively worked to slow the spread and proliferation of variants, we can get back to the games. Only this time with a renewed sense of diligence and tighter restrictions.”

He’s not wrong, but, you know as well as I do that it’s the money. It always is.

Flatearth

Hockey Canada is expected to announce today (Monday) that it has pulled its entry from the Spengler Cup because of the pandemic situation. The Spengler Cup, which is held in Davos, Switzerland, runs from Dec. 26 through Dec. 31. Canada has won the tournament four of the last five times it has been held. . . . Michael Farber (@MichaelFarber3) tweeted Sunday afternoon that Canadian head coach Claude Julien had already returned home. Julien’s staff was to have included Nolan Baumgartner, Jeremy Colliton and Ben Cooper, all of them former WHL players and/or coaches. . . .

If you’re wondering about the World Junior Championship that is to open in Red Deer and Edmonton on Boxing Day, the teams all are in Alberta and there have been only negative tests to date.

The plan is to play all games with capacity crowds in both cities . . . although, as we have seen in so many instances, COVID-19 may have something to say about that.

The junior A Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League revealed Friday that five organizations have had to forfeit 30 games because of “utilizing ineligible players/staff who did not meet the requirements of the GOJHL Vaccination Policy. . . . From a news release: “The sanctions are issued in accordance with the GOJHL’s regulations for ineligible players along with Ontario Hockey Federation regulations.  All games will revert to a 5-0 loss.  In the cases where both teams had ineligible participants, no points will be awarded.” . . . The complete news release is right here.

Meanwhile, minor hockey associations in Brandon and Portage la Prairie say they will be cracking down on unvaccinated parents who manage to sneak into arenas to watch their children play. The associations have said that if an unvaccinated parent is found to be inside an arena, the child will be dropped from that team’s roster and there won’t be a refund issued. . . . I know. I know. You’re shocked to hear that minor hockey parents would act in such a fashion.

Dave Lowry, a former WHL player and coach, will be the head coach of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets at least through the end of this season. He took over on Friday after Paul Maurice stepped down, saying the Jets needed to hear from a new voice. Maurice was in his ninth season as the club’s head coach. Lowry, 56, has been a WHL head coach with the Calgary Hitmen (2008-09), Victoria Royals (2012-17) and Brandon Wheat Kings (2019-20). He is in his third season on the Jets’ staff. . . . The Jets dropped a 5-2 decision to the Washington Capitals in Lowry’s debut as head coach later Friday, but he got his first victory on Sunday, 4-2 over the visiting St. Louis Blues.

The Saskatoon Entertainment Group, owners of the Saskatoon Blades and lacrosse’s Saskatchewan Rush, is taking on managing rights for events in the SaskTel Centre via a five-year deal that is effective Jan. 1. SEG, under owners Mike Priestner and his son, Colin, will pay the Saskatchewan Place Association “the greater of either $1.35 million, or a combination of 15 per cent of gross food and beverage profits, $2 from every ticket sold and half of all revenues from sponsorship, naming rights, parking and eligible gaming,” according to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. According to the newspaper, “SEG will also put a maximum of $1 million into upgrades at the stadium, with SPA to match whatever money they invest.”

CatWins

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.

www.transplant.bc.ca/health-info/organ-donation/living-donation

Merry Christmas . . .

WHL heads into season’s final night . . . Winterhawks, Giants finish with victories . . . Happy birthday to the guy traded for a bus — Tom Martin!

On May 1, Medina Spirit, trained by Bob Baffert, won the Kentucky Derby.

On Sunday, it was revealed that Medina Spirit had failed a drug test and that Baffert had been suspended indefinitely from Churchill Downs in Kentucky, the site of the Derby.

The horse tested positive for betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory.

Baffert, who has had five horses test positive in the past year, called the situation “disturbing” and added that it was “the biggest gut punch in racing for something I didn’t do.”

We now await the outcome of a second round of testing on Medina Spirit.

In the meantime . . .

On Monday, Baffert told ESPN: “I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I know everybody is not out to get me, but there’s definitely something wrong. . . . There’s problems in racing. But it’s not Bob Baffert.”

Also on Monday, Baffert was blaming “cancel culture” and saying that Medina Spirit “has never been treated with” betamethasone.

Sheesh, he even talked about the possibility of a groom taking cough medicine, urinating in the horse’s stall and the horse eating some of the tainted hay.

By Tuesday, Baffert was admitting that the horse had been treated with an anti-fungal ointment that contains betamethasone.

Talk about a new take on “the dog ate my homework . . . or did he?”

Anyway . . . the Preakness Stakes is scheduled for Saturday. Medina Spirit will come out of the three-hole in the field of 10.

Better

Fernando Tatis Jr., the San Diego Padres’ most watchable shortstop, and at least two coaches with the New York Yankees have tested positive. . . . The Padres put Tatis Jr., who was asymptomatic, and teammates Jorge Mateo and Jurickson Profar, who were close contacts, on the injured list. . . . The Padres are in Denver where they beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-1, on Tuesday night. . . . Phil Nevin, the Yankees’ third-base coach, and first-base coach Reggie Willits tested positive despite having been fully vaccinated. An unidentified member of the team’s support staff also tested positive after having been fully vaccinated. . . . As of last night, the team was awaiting test results for other coaches and support staff. . . . The Yankees are in Tampa Bay where they beat the Rays, 3-1, on Tuesday. They are planning to play again today as scheduled. . . . Lindsey Adler of The Athletic reported that a source had said the game was allowed to proceed because contact tracing and the high rate of vaccinations among Yankees personnel indicated there was no significant additional risk.

Lives

Three more WHL teams concluded their seasons on Tuesday, with the last four set to do the same tonight (Wednesday) with the Prince George Cougars meeting the Blazers in Kamloops and the Victoria Royals facing the Rockets in Kelowna. . . .

F Kishaun Gervais broke a 2-2 tie at 4:10 of the third period and the Portland PortlandAlternateWinterhawks went on to a 5-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . This was the final game of the season for both teams. . . . Portland finished 13-8-3 by winning its last four games. . . . Tri-City (7-12-0) lost four in a row. . . . Portland got out to a 2-0 lead on goals from D Nick Cicek (5), at 12:06 of the first period, and D Clay Hanus (1), on a PP, at 2:47 of the second. . . . The Americans, who were beaten, 9-1, by the visiting Winterhawks on Sunday night, tied it on second-period goals by F Jake Sloan (4), at 3:13, and F Booker Daniel (4), at 16:57. . . . Gervais broke the tie with his first goal of the season, and F Gabe Klassen (8) made it 4-2, on a PP, at 10:03. . . . F Nick Bowman (5) pulled the Americans to within a goal, on a PP, at 15:23, but F Jaydon Dureau (10) put it away with the empty-netter. . . . Cicek also had two assists as he closed out his major junior career with a three-point outing. . . . Portland was 2-for-2 on the PP; Tri-City was 1-for-3. . . . The Winterhawks held a 43-20 edge in shots, including 16-1 in the first period. . . . From the WHL: “After 60 days and 55 games, the 2020-21 WHL U.S. Division schedule came to a successful conclusion on Tuesday.” The five U.S. teams went through 4,103 tests for COVID-19 with only two of those turning up positive. . . .

F Tristen Nielsen, playing the final junior game of his career, drew four primary Vancouverassists to lead the Vancouver Giants to a 6-1 victory over the Victoria Royals in Kamloops. . . . The Giants finished their season at 12-10-0. . . . The Royals, with one game remaining, are 3-16-2. . . . Nielsen, who turned 21 on Feb. 23, finished the season with 32 points, 15 of them goals, in 22 games. . . . F Zack Ostapchuk (7) scored shorthanded at 11:03 of the first period and D Marko Stacha (1) scored at 12:13 to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead. . . . Stacha, a freshman from Ilava, Slovakia, scored his first WHL goal in his 22nd game. He also has five assists. . . . F Keanu Derungs (5) scored for the Cougars, on a PP, at 19:29. . . . But the Giants closed it out with one second-period goal — from F Justin Sourdif (11) — and three in the third. . . . D Alex Kannok Leipert (7), on a PP, F Justin Lies (3) and F Bryce Bader (5), on a PP, finished the scoring. . . . D Tanner Brown had three assists, with Sourdif adding two helpers to his goal. . . . Last season, Brown had one goal and one assist in 57 games. This season, he finished with two goals and eight assist in 22 games. . . . The Giants outshot the Royals, 37-13, including 20-2 in the second period. . . .

Meanwhile, on Monday night, a pair of 16-year-olds — F Connor Levis and F KamloopsFraser Minten — had five-point outings as the Kamloops Blazers whipped the host Kelowna Rockets, 10-2. . . . That lifted the Blazers’ record to 17-4-0, with the Rockets slipping to 9-5-1. . . . Levis scored three times — his second hat trick of the season — and drew two assists, with Minten scoring once and adding four assists. . . . F Caedan Bankier (11) and F Josh Pillar (10) each chipped in a goal and three assists. . . . Levis, the 20th selection in the 2019 bantam draft, has nine goals and five assists in 21 games, while Minten, a fourth-round pick in that same draft, has three goals and 15 assists in 19 games. . . . The Blazers also got two goals from F Matthew Seminoff (12) and singles from D Inaki Baragano (5) and F Orrin Centazzo (6). . . . F Alex Swetlikoff (5) and F Dillon Hamaliuk (6) replied for the Rockets, their goals coming early in the third period to cut the deficit to 6-2. . . . The Blazers got 24 saves from G Dylan Ernst. . . . Kamloops, which held a 44-26 edge in shots, scored four times in each of the second and third periods as it went 5-for-7 on the PP. Kelowna was 0-for-2. . . .

——

The WHL’s department of justice came down on the Seattle Thunderbirds and Spokane Chiefs after their starting goaltenders got into a scrap late in the third period of Sunday’s game. Each team was fined $500.

Prince Albert is another step closer to a new arena, one that would be home to the WHL’s Raiders, as city council has voted to award design-related contracts for an estimate $3.2 million to firms from Saskatoon and Toronto. . . . Interestingly, the vote was 6-3 with one councillor, Tony Head, upset that local companies didn’t receive more consideration from the city’s administration. . . . Jason Kerr has that story right here.

Truck

ICYMI, the Priestner Sports Corporation, which owns the Saskatoon Blades, has purchased the National Lacrosse League’s Saskatchewan Rush from Bruce Urban. Urban moved the franchise from Edmonton to Saskatoon in 2016. . . . Both teams play out of Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre. . . . The PSC is headed up by Mike Priestner, who also owns Go Auto, which controls 47 Canadian dealerships. . . . Colin Priestner will be the Rush’s governor and president while continuing on as the Blades’ president and general manager. . . . Derek Keenan will stay on as the Rush’s GM.

Dorothy will be taking part in her eighth Kamloops Kidney Walk, albeit virtually, on June 6. If you would like to be part of her team, you are able to make a donation right here. . . . Thanks in advance for your generosity.

——

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.

Reading

Will McCrimmon stay, or will he go? . . . Another hall beckons Ridley. . . . Broncos explain broadcast plans

ThisThat

It seems most likely that Bob Nicholson, the Edmonton Oilers’ CEO who is searching for a general manager, will chat with Kelly McCrimmon one of these days.

McCrimmon, who owns the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, is in his third season as the Oilersassistant general manager of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.

Here’s Robin Brownlee of oilersnation.com: “The bottom line in job interviews has the prospective employer asking candidates — either directly or by nibbling around the edges — ‘Tell me why we should hire you?’ If I was in McCrimmon’s shoes and staring across the table at Nicholson, I’d be asking, ‘So, tell me why I should work for you?’ If it goes like that, and I suspect that it will, Nicholson had better have his fastball ready.” (Brownlee’s latest is right here.)

So, if this scenario plays out, will McCrimmon end up in Edmonton? Or will he move on to the expansion franchise in Seattle? Or will he stay put?

Time, of course, will tell, but history tells me that McCrimmon may just stay in Vegas and continue to work alongside general manager George McPhee.

Why do I lean that way?

Because McCrimmon, now 58, has a history of wanting to see things through. And after the way the Golden Knights’ season ended on Tuesday night, he may just want to stay there and play it out, something he has done a time or two.

As the 1980s turned into the ’90s, McCrimmon was the Wheat Kings’ general manager and head coach, having taken over as the latter when Doug Sauter took ill during the 1989-90 season.

He later gave up — temporarily, as it turned out — coaching duties to focus on reshaping the organization’s way of doing business. Back then, the Wheat Kings often scrambled just to get into the playoffs, only to be bounced early. By 1992-93, McCrimmon, the GM, owned one-third of the franchise and the reshaping was in high gear. A team that had won only 11 games in 1991-92 put up 43 victories in 1993-94. That was the start of seven straight seasons with at least 39 victories and included three trips to the WHL final and one championship. McCrimmon had surrounded himself with good people and they had turned a once-faltering franchise into one of the best in all of the CHL.

Fast forward to the summer of 2015. The Wheat Kings, with McCrimmon now owner, GM and head coach, were coming off a season in which they went 53-11-8, only to lose out in the WHL final. Then, in May, the Toronto Maple Leafs came calling as they searched for an assistant GM.

By early June there were reports that the Leafs had made an offer to McCrimmon, who had become the Wheat Kings’ sole owner in 2000. As tempted as McCrimmon was to join the Leafs, he chose to stay in Brandon. Why? Because he had overseen the building of the Wheat Kings into a championship contender and he felt he owed it to the players he had drafted and recruited to see it through.

In 2015-16, the Wheat Kings were 48-18-6, and then went on a 16-5 run as they won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champs.

On Aug. 2, 2016, the Golden Knights announced that they had hired McCrimmon as assistant GM. His fingerprints are all over the organization, including the hirings of Vaughn Karpan as director of player personnel, Bob Lowes as assistant director of player personnel and scouts like Kelly Kisio, Bruno Campese and Erin Ginnell.

You can bet that McCrimmon had a lot to do with the February acquisition and subsequent signing of forward Mark Stone, too. He had played four seasons in Brandon after being a fifth-round pick in the WHL’s 2007 bantam draft.

For all of those reasons, then, McCrimmon just may choose to stay with the Golden Knights, who were in the Stanley Cup final as an expansion team just one year ago.

He has had a hand in all of it and just may want to be an active part of wherever it goes.

Or . . . maybe not!

The semifinals are set at the IIHF U-18 World Championship that is being played in CanadaOrnskoldsvik and Umea, Sweden. . . . Team Canada got past Latvia, 3-1, in Umea on Thursday, and now will travel to Ornskoldsvik to play the host Swedes on Saturday. . . . D Braden Schneider (Brandon Wheat Kings) gave Canada a 1-0 first-period lead, with F Peyton Krebs (Winnipeg Ice) being credited with the 2-0 goal after a Latvian defender scored an own goal on an attempted clearance. . . . Krebs later added an empty-netter. . . . Schneider added an assist to his goal, with F Connor Zary (Kamloops Blazers) and F Brayden Tracey (Moose Jaw Warriors) each earning one assist. . . . G Taylor Gauthier (Prince George Cougars) recorded the victory. . . . Sweden advanced with a 4-2 victory over Czech Republic. . . .

On the other side of the draw, Russia blanked Belarus, 6-0, and Team USA, behind three goals from F Jack Hughes and one from F Cole Caufield, dumped Finland, 6-0. Hughes now has eight goals and eight assists, while Caufield has scored 12 times. . . . Team USA and Russia will meet in a semifinal game on Saturday, also in Ornskoldsvik.

In Game 1 of the best-of-three relegation round, Switzerland dumped Slovakia, 4-1.

The tournament is scheduled to end on Sunday.

Just call him Bob (Hall of Fame) Ridley. . . . Ridley, the only play-by-play voice the Medicine Hat Tigers have had, will be inducted into the Western Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Banff on June 6. The WAB made that announcement on Thursday. . . . Earlier, it was announced that Ridley will be going into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony in Canmore on July 21. . . . He already is a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. . . . Ridley has been with CHAT in Medicine Hat since 1968 and has been the voice of the Tigers since they entered the WHL for the 1970-71 season. . . . In all that time, he has missed only one game; legend has it that he was assigned to cover a women’s curling event in which the boss’s wife was playing. . . . Including regular-season and playoffs, he has called the play of 3,931 games involving the Tigers. . . . Ridley also drove the team’s bus until a couple of seasons ago. For some reason, he hasn’t yet been inducted into a bus drivers’ hall of fame. . . . There is more right here on the WAB honour, including ticket information.

If you have ever wanted to own a hockey team, well, this just might be your lucky day. . . . A tip of the Taking Note fedora to a regular reader for sending this along and, yes, it’s legit. . . . And, no, this isn’t a paid advertisement. . . .

 

ForSale

Games involving the Tri-City Americans will be heard on NewsTalk 870 KFLD for two more seasons after the WHL team and Townsquare Media announced a new two-year deal on Thursday. . . . Tri-City’s home-and-away games have been on the station since the 2000-01 season. . . . Craig West, the American’s vice-president of sponsorship sales/broadcasting, is the team’s radio voice.

The Swift Current Broncos revealed earlier this month that they are abandoning the SCBroncostraditional role of having their games on conventional radio, and moving to a model that includes streaming broadcasts. . . . On Thursday, they issued a lengthy news release explaining their new approach. . . . When the news broke earlier in the month, someone familiar with the situation told Taking Note that a “major hang up is broadcast rights/revenue sharing.” In other words, the Broncos were wanting Golden West Radio, the rights holder, to cough up some money, something that apparently wasn’t going to happen. . . . The Broncos’ news release that was issued on Thursday includes this: “The previous model of broadcasting did not provide the Broncos organization with the positive economic impact that sports broadcast rights at our level is expected to provide. By managing our own broadcasting and establishing a business model that leverages our full-time employees’ skill sets and abilities, we will be able to generate a positive financial benefit that will contribute to the long-term financial strength of our organization.” . . . That pretty much explains it all. . . . The complete news release is right here.

The Saskatoon Blades have made some moves on the business side of their organization. Saskatoon. . . Colin Priestner, who just completed his third season as the team’s general manager, now is the president and GM. He will, according to a news release, “oversee all operations . . . in both the hockey and business departments.” . . . Steve Hogle, who had been the president, now is senior advisor. He remains as the Blades’ alternate governor. (Mike Priestner, the team’s owner, is the governor.) . . . Hogle, according to the news release, also “is taking on additional duties with the Blades’ parent company, Go Auto.” . . . Tyler Wawryk, the team’s communications manager for three seasons, has been promoted to director of business operations. . . . Cliff Mapes, who had been vice-president of business, no longer is with the Blades. . . . The complete news release is right here.

George Cochrane has been named the combines manager for the Okanagan Hockey Group, where he will work with Jason Wild, the manager of combines operations. . . . Cochrane had been the head coach of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association from 2006-17. He left that position to join BC Hockey as manager of programs at their Okanagan Regional Centre. This season, he also was the general manager for the Kamloops-based Thompson Blazers of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. . . . There is a complete news release right here.

EdChynowethCup

NOTES: The Vancouver Giants get their first chance at advancing to the WHL championship final tonight when they entertain the Spokane Chiefs in Langley, B.C. The Giants hold a 3-1 edge in the Western Conference final, after F Dawson Holt scored at 7:07 of OT to give them a 4-3 victory in Spokane on Wednesday night. . . . Holt has three goals and two assists in the four games with the Chiefs. He has five goals and seven assists in 14 playoff games after totalling six goals and 13 assists in 53 regular-season games. . . . Steve Ewen of Postmedia has more on Holt and this series right here. . . . The Giants haven’t been in the WHL final since the spring of 2007 when they lost a seven-game series to the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Giants were the host team for the Memorial Cup that year and went on to win it all. . . .

The Eastern Conference final also resumes tonight as the Edmonton Oil Kings meet the Raiders in Prince Albert. . . . The series is tied, 2-2, after the Raiders skated to a 2-1 victory in Edmonton on Wednesday night. These teams will return to Edmonton for Game 6 on Sunday afternoon.

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