So . . . it was late on the Friday afternoon of a long weekend and I really was expecting one of those late news dumps from Hockey Canada. I know! I know! I should have known better.
Those people aren’t leaving of their own volition, are they?
Instead, as CBC News reported, “The next election for members of (Hockey 
Canada’s) board of directors is being delayed by a month.” That election had been scheduled for next month, but now is to be held on Dec. 17.
CBC News also got a look at minutes from an August board meeting, and reported this gem: “Hockey Canada is frustrated with the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the facts occurring in the public. Efforts need to be focused on our members and key stakeholders to provide them with accurate information.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that the people at the top of Hockey Canada are “deluded.”
“If these individuals continue to be deluded enough to think there is a pathway forward for them to continue to run Hockey Canada,” he said on Friday, “then Canadians will have no choice but look for another structure to run our national winter sport.”
That came one day after he offered this:
“There needs to be wholesale change. They need to do it. They need to realize that if we have to create an organization, get rid of Hockey Canada, and create an organization called ‘Canada Hockey’ instead, people will look at doing that. There is a lack of understanding that they’ve lost the confidence of Canadians. And the sooner they get to that, the better it will be for everyone.”
On top of all that, Alexander Pratt of the Montreal-based newspaper La Presse reported on Friday: “Hockey Canada has gone to court to stop the federal government from releasing sensitive financial information to the organization. The publication of this data ‘would cause serious difficulties,’ argued Hockey Canada, in documents filed in the Federal Court that La Presse consulted.
Anthony Housefather, Liberal MP for Mount Royal on the island of Montreal, tweeted on Friday that “Hockey Canada is taking the Government of Canada to court now to stop disclosure of financial information. Perhaps Hockey Canada prefers our Heritage Committee to summon the documents and have us ask them questions at a public hearing.”
Uhh, Mr. Housefather, yes, please. And on live TV, too.
While all of this has been going on, sponsors have been scurrying to distance themselves from Hockey Canada, either terminating agreements completely or limiting sponsorship to women’s program and/or minor hockey. Those include Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, Nike, Telus, Sobeys, which is the parent company of Safeway and Thriftys, Skip the Dishes, Scotiabank, Esso, Chevrolet Canada, BDO, BFL Canada, and Recipe Unlimited, the parent company of The Keg and Swiss Chalet.
Also cutting ties — CBC reported that it was done “quietly” in June — was Predator Ridge, a golf resort near Vernon. B.C., that has advertised itself as “The Official Summer Home of Hockey Canada.”
Brad Pelletier, senior vice-president of Wesbild Okanagan, told castanet.net that Predator Ridge did “suspend all activities back in June” and now has “taken the next step this week to terminate our relationship.”
Castanet’s Jon Manchester wrote: “Predator Ridge became an ‘exclusive partner’ with Hockey Canada in 2012, naming itself Hockey Canada’s ‘summer home.” Several hockey events were held at the resort, including visits from the national men’s and women’s teams. Those events included player and sponsor meetings and charitable events.”
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Let’s be honest. There is something rotten — really, really rotten — in the state of Canadian sports.
Here’s a chunk of what Myles Dichter wrote in The Buzzer for CBC on Wednesday:
“Hockey Canada isn’t alone. More than 90 current and former sliding athletes have called for the resignation of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton CEO Sarah Storey and high-performance director Chris Le Bihan over an alleged toxic culture. Over the weekend, Storey abruptly adjourned the organizations annual general meeting in Calgary at which a leadership vote had been set to occur. BCS later said the meeting was halted over irregularities in voter verification. An independent report released (Tuesday) detailed similar athlete mistreatment at Rowing Canada. Gymnastics Canada is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Boxing Canada’s leadership was also called on to resign over allegations of widespread abuse.”
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Headline at The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) — Experts debate who is faster: Connor McDavid or The Sponsors fleeing Hockey Canada.
You are Tom Gaglardi. You own the NHL’s Dallas Stars and you are the majority 
owner of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers. F Logan Stankoven of the Blazers was the CHL player of the year last season. He was a second-round selection by the Stars in the NHL’s 2021 draft and has signed with them. These days, Stankoven, 19, is in camp with the Stars. . . . If Stankoven continues to show well, does Gaglardi keep him with the Stars or does he return him to the Blazers, who will play host to the 2023 Memorial Cup?
Here’s Matthew DeFranks, who covers the Stars for the Dallas Morning News: “If the Stars carry 13 forwards, and they are choosing from the 14 forwards remaining in camp . . . one of the teenagers have made the NHL roster. Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven remain entering the final preseason game Saturday in Minnesota.”
This ad appeared in the Regina Leader-Post just as the 1973-74 season was about to start. The Pats, under head coach Bob Turner and with Ed Staniowski starring in goal, would go on to win the Memorial Cup that season.
An adult season-ticket was $60. I have a feeling that it might cost about that much for an adult to attend one game this season, including parking and a trip or two to a concession stand.
Hartley Miller’s weekly Cat Scan podcast features Bob Simmonds who, besides being a fan of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, is the Prince George Cougars’ director of scouting. It’s an entertaining listen and it’s right here.
Czech F Pavel Novak, 20, played two seasons (2019-20, 2021-22) with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. He was a fifth-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in the NHL’s 2020 draft. On Wednesday, he posted a rather poignant message on Twitter on Wednesday:
On Friday, the Rockets posted the following video:
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
Shaun Clouston of the Kamloops Blazers recorded his 500th regular-season victory as a WHL head coach on Friday night as his guys dumped the visiting Victoria Royals, 5-2. Clouston, who also is Kamloops’ general manager, is the 10th member of the WHL’s 500 Club, which is led by Don Hay (750), who now is the associate coach with the Blazers. . . . Pat Ginnell is No. 9 on the list, at 518. . . .
Willie Desjardins, the general manager and head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, grabbed his 401st regular-season victory in a 6-3 defeat of the host Everett Silvertips on Friday night. . . . Desjardins has 391 victories with the Tigers and 10 from a stint as head coach of the Saskatoon Blades in 1997-98. . . .
Andrew Peard, the radio voice of the Edmonton Oil Kings, called the team’s game against the host Spokane Chiefs on Friday. That game, Peard noted on Twitter (@AndrewPeard), was the Oil Kings’ first visit to Spokane since Oct. 4, 2018, or 1,462 days ago. . . . The Oil Kings posted a 3-1 victory on Friday, giving Luke Pierce his first victory as their head coach. He had 26 victories to his credit from a two-season stint as head coach of the Kootenay Ice (remember them?). . . .
Curling Canada has announced that the 2023 Canadian mixed championship will be held in Swift Current, from Nov. 5-11. That means the Broncos will spend at least the first two weeks of November 2023 on the road. . . .
Steve Staios has left the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs to join the Edmonton Oilers as special advisor to hockey operations. He had been the Bulldogs’ president and general manager. Matt Turek, the Bulldogs’ assistant GM, has taken over as interim GM. . . . Staios had been president since 2015 and had held both titles since prior to the 2016-17 season. With Staios in charge, the Bulldogs won OHL titles in 2018 and 2022. . . . He played 573 games over eight seasons with the Oilers.
THINKING OUT LOUD — First, they gave us the Indy Colts and Denver Broncos on Thursday night. Then it was the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats stumbling around on Friday night. The football gods will start smiling on us today. Won’t they? . . . Is it just me or are a number of NHL teams playing a whole lot of exhibition games this time around? . . . The most amazing part of Friday was watching the St. Louis Cardinals fall apart in the ninth inning as they saw a 2-1 lead turn into a 6-3 loss to the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
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Raiders, 4-3, in the Regina hub. . . . Winnipeg (17-5-1) has points in six straight (5-0-1). . . . The Raiders are 8-11-4. . . . Prince Albert scored three PP goals to take a 3-1 lead into the third period. . . . F Ozzy Wiesblatt (6) got it started at 11:16 of the first period. . . . F Jackson Leppard (2) pulled the Ice into a tie at 6:36 of the second. . . . The Raiders went up 3-1 on goals from F Spencer Moe (2), at 10:29, and F Justin Nachbaur (6), at 17:07. . . . F Conor Geekie (8) started the Winnipeg comeback at 9:28 of the third and F Zachary Benson (9) tied it, on a PP, at 10:48. . . . D Karter Prosofsky got the winner, his first WHL goal, at 15:20. . . . A second-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft, Prosofsky was playing in his 57th game. . . . Ice F Peyton Krebs drew an assist on the game’s final goal to run his point streak to 22 games. That is a Kootenay/WInnipeg Ice franchise record, breaking the previous record that was set by F Mike Comrie with Kootenay in 2000-01. . . . Winnipeg got 24 saves from G Daniel Hauser, who is 7-0-1, 3.10, .898. He was a sixth-round selection in the 2019 bantam draft. . . . 
Moose Jaw Warriors in the Regina hub. . . . The Blades (15-5-3) had lost their previous four games (0-3-1). . . . The Warriors (8-13-3) finished their 24-game schedule by dropping four straight (0-2-2). . . . F Kyle Crnkovic had two goals and two assists for the Blades, with F Colton Dach, who assisted on the winner, scoring once and adding three helpers. . . . Crnkovic, who has 10 goals, gave Saskatoon a 1-0 lead at 3:49 of the first period, with Moose Jaw F Logan Doust (2) equalizing at 7:27. . . . Crnkovic scored a shorthanded goal at 11:24 of the second period for a 2-1 lead, only to have the Warriors tie it on a goal by F Jagger Firkus (6) at 12:02. . . . The Blades broke the tie on goals from Dach (9) and D Chase Wouters (9) at 0:08 and 5:29 of the third. . . . D Daemon Hunt (8), on a PP, and F Calder Anderson (3) scored for the Warriors at 7:02 and 15:43 to get proceedings into OT. . . . Rhinehart won it at 1:27. . . . Despite nine goals, 12 minor penalties and OT, the game took only two hours 12 minutes to complete. . . .
victory over the Victoria Royals. . . . The Cougars (5-7-2) had lost its previous four games. . . . The Royals (1-12-1) have dropped nine in a row. . . . F Kyren Gronick (5) and F Ethan Browne (4), on a PP, scored first-period goals for the Cougars, with F Jonny Hooker (6) making it 3-0 at 11:11 of the second. . . . F Trentyn Crane (2) got the Royals on the board at 5:44 of the third period but F Craig Armstrong (6) got that one back for Prince George at 7:30. . . . G Taylor Gauthier stopped 25 shots for the Cougars. . . . Ryan Spizawka made his WHL debut with the Royals, joining his twin brother, Jason, in the lineup. The brothers, from Victoria, are defencemen. Jason, the 19th overall pick in the 2019 bantam draft, has three assists in 12 games. Ryan was a seventh-round selection in that draft. . . . According to Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist, they are the “fourth set of identical twins” to play on the same WHL team. Dheensaw writes: “Jeremy and Josh Schappert skated with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 2005 to 2007, future NHLers Ron and Rich Sutter with the Lethbridge Broncos from 1980 to 1983, and Ted and Brent McAneeley with the Edmonton Oil Kings from 1968 to 1970.”
TAKING NOTE 