Tag: Richard Zussman

WJC exhibition games start today . . . WHL moves draft to December . . . Former Pats owner has died

After having eight German players and two Swedish team managers test 2021WJCpositive last week at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton, the IIHF announced Monday that it has had only one positive test since then. One German staff member has tested positive and will remain in quarantine until Dec. 30. . . . The two Swedes who tested positive will remain quarantined until Sunday, with all players now having been cleared to return to the ice. . . . The WJC’s exhibition schedule begins today (Tuesday) with two games — Switzerland-Austria, 3 p.m. PT, and Finland-U.S., 6:30 p.m. PT . . . The exhibition schedule wraps up Wednesday with two more games — Canada-Russia, 3 p.m. PT, and Slovakia-Czech Republic, 6:30 p.m. PT. . . .  The tournament opens with three games on Friday — Slovakia-Switzerland, 11 a.m. PT; Finland-Germany, 3 p.m. PT; and U.S.-Russia, 6:30 p.m. PT. Canada plays its first game on Saturday when it meets Germany at 3 p.m. PT.

Fir

There had been a school of thought that the WHL might change the age of players eligible for its annual bantam draft, taking it from a player’s 15-year-old season to 16. But that isn’t going to happen. . . . While the WHL has changed the event’s name — the WHL bantam draft now is the WHL draft — it has only moved it from its normal date in May to an undisclosed date in December 2021. . . . “Moving the 2021 WHL draft from May to December allows additional time for players in the 2006 age group to be evaluated following a challenging season due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, said in a news release. “We anticipate minor hockey leagues and tournaments will be fully operational in the fall, which will allow players to compete at a high level once again.”

The QMJHL’s 12 Quebec-based team are planning to resume play on Jan. 22 in Chicoutimi, Drummondville, Rimouski and Shawinigan. They won’t be in bubbles; rather, the QMJHL is referring to them as protected environment events. Each host team will be joined by two other teams Jan. 22-24. . . . Chicoutimi, Drummondville and Rimouski also will play host to similar events, from Jan. 29-Feb. 6, with four teams in each venue.

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

Headline from The Onion — Arizona: Tumbleweeds must quarantine for 14 days after rolling in from out of state.

CBC News: As of 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday, there were 515,314 cases of COVID-19 recorded in Canada, with 423,621 of those considered recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 14,332.

Brittany Greenslade, Global News: It’s been weeks but Manitoba’s numbers are way down Monday. 167 new COVID cases today and 4 deaths. 5,736 active cases. 16,717 recovered. 572 total deaths. 310 hospitalized, 42 in ICU. Test positivity rate 11.5%. Test positivity rate 10.5% in Winnipeg.

Bob Holliday, Winnipeg: “WOW!!! For those who refuse to believe that social distancing and masks don’t prevent the spread of COVID-19, check out the latests stats from Manitoba Health. On Dec. 6, 380 new cases were reported n the province, with 272 in Winnipeg. Well, folks, on Dec. 21 the provincial new cases dropped to 166, while Winnipeg’s dropped to 83. Both are the lowest since Nov. 25 when there were 349 new cases provincially and 213 in the city. Keep wearing the masks and stay two metres apart in crowds, and we’ll all have a Happy New Year.

CBC News: Saskatchewan is reporting 206 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the province’s 7-day average down to 217. The province is also reporting 4 additional deaths.

CBC News: Alberta is reporting 1,240 new COVID-19 cases, 9 more deaths. The province has a test positivity rate of 6.8%.

Mo Cranker, Medicine Hat News: Medicine Hat sits at 78 active COVID-19 cases. There are six new cases and seven new recoveries. . . . Other numbers: Cypress County, 10 active; Forty Mile, one; Lethbridge, 155; Taber, 19; Brooks, 42; Calgary, 5,836; Edmonton, 7,367.

rednewsNOW: Red Deer with 415 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday.

Richard Zussman, Global BC: There are 1667 new cases of COVID-19 in BC. There were 652 cases from Fri to Sat, 486 cases from Sat to Sun and 529 cases from Sun to Mon. There have been 47,067 total cases. . . . There are 341 people in hospital, this is down 15. There are 80 in ICU, down 12. So far 35,455 people have recovered. There are 9,718 active cases of the virus. . . . There have been 41 COVID deaths over the last  3 days in BC.

CBC News: 2,123 new COVID-19 cases in Ontario, 7th straight day above 2,000. There are 17 additional deaths. 915 people are in hospital, with 265 in ICU and 152 on ventilators. 54,505 people tested; positivity rate 4.7%. Comes ahead of lockdown announcement.

CBC News: All of Ontario will move into a lockdown on Boxing Day in a bid to curb climbing COVID-19 case numbers and spare hospitals and their intensive care units from being inundated in January, Premier Doug Ford announced on Monday. The lockdown will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 26 and remain in place until at least Jan. 23, 2021, in the 27 public health units that comprise southern Ontario. In the seven public health units in Ontario’s north, where daily case numbers have been significantly lower, the lockdown is set to expire on Jan. 9.

CBC News: Quebec reports 2,108 new COVID-19 cases. The province’s 7-day average now tops 1,935 cases. There are 30 additional deaths attributed to the virus. Quebec has 1,852 new recoveries and 1,048 COVID-19 patients in hospital.

——

The 2021 Saskatchewan Summer Games that were to have been held in Lloydminster have been cancelled. Originally, the 2020 Games were to have been held July 26 through Aug. 1, but they were postponed to 2021. A decision also was made to return the Summer Games to a quadrennial cycle, meaning the next ones will be held in 2024. Lloydminster has been given the first right of refusal to act as host city. . . .

If you’re into football bowl games, you should know that the Independence Bowl was cancelled on Sunday. It was to have featured Army (9-2) but an opponent couldn’t be found. Seriously. . . . Later Monday, Army accepted an invitation to the Liberty Bowl where it will face West Virginia (5-4). That game is set for Dec. 31 in Philadelphia. . . . Army got in only because Tennessee (3-6) pulled out because of COVID-19 issues. ESPN reports that head coach Jeremy Pruitt, some assistants and a bunch of players all tested positive. . . . So far, 16 bowl games have been cancelled and at least 22 teams have opted out. . . . The Independence Bowl was to have been played Saturday at Shreveport, La. . . . Also cancelled on the weekend: The Guaranteed Rate Bowl that was to have been played Saturday in Phoenix and the Birmingham Bowl that would have gone on New Year’s Day. . . . Also on Sunday, Boise State joined the list of teams opting out of playing in bowl games.

The Baltimore Ravens once had 23 — yes, 23! — players on their reserve/COVID-19 list. On Monday, they activated DB Geno Stone on the list, leaving that list empty. Finally. . . .

Manitoba and Ontario curling officials announced Monday that they have cancelled their women’s, men’s and mixed doubles curling championships for 2021. . . . The Northern Ontario Curling Association made the same decision earlier this month. . . . B.C. officials have said they will announce a decision on Jan. 8.

Dogs

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.

Canada down to three goalies as seven players go home . . . Portland WHL fan offers some perspective

In case you haven’t yet seen/heard this Christmas tune . . .

Hockey Canada trimmed seven players from its national junior team selection camp in Red Deer on Thursday, and two of them were goaltenders.

That means Team Canada will go into the World Junior Championship in the 2021WJCEdmonton bubble with Dylan Garand (Kamloops Blazers), Taylor Gauthier (Prince George Cougars) and Devon Levi (Northeastern U) as its goaltenders when the tournament opens on Dec. 25.

The players cut on Thursday were G Brett Brochu (London Knights), G Tristan Lennox (Saginaw Spirit) and forwards Adam Beckman (Spokane Chiefs), Tyson Foerster (Barrie Colts), Hendrix Lapierre (Chicoutimi Sagueneens), Cole Schwindt (Mississauga Steelheads) and Shane Wright (Kingston Frontenacs). . . . Beckman, 19, led the WHL in goals (48) and points (107) in 63 games last season. . . . Wright, who will turn 17 on Jan. 5, already is seen as the probably No. 1 pick in the NHL’s 2022 draft. . . .

Levi, a freshman at Northeastern, stopped 36 shots on Thursday night to help Red to a 4-0 victory White in an intrasquad game. The goals came from D Justin Barron (Halifax Mooseheads), F Peyton Krebs (Winnipeg Ice), F Connor McMichael (London) and F Dylan Holloway (U of Wisconsin Badgers). In White’s goal, Garand allowed three goals on 21 shots in his half, with Gauthier giving up one goal on 15 shots. . . . White had posted a 6-4 victory on Wednesday night. . . .

All 10 teams are to get into the Edmonton bubble on Sunday. Teams will quarantine for five days and all participants will be tested daily. . . . There weren’t any reported positive tests on Thursday. . . . At this point, Sweden has lost four players and four coaches off its roster, while Germany has had four players test positive. . . . Canada had two unidentified players test positive, then cut five players, saying they were, according to Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmod “unfit to continue to play based on return-to-play protocols.” . . . Switzerland has had three players come up positive, while the U.S. lost three players who attend Boston U where the program was paused due to COVID-19. . . . Austria has had one positive test. . . . That leaves Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Slovakia as the only competing teams not to have reported a positive test.

After reports on Wednesday that the United States had experienced what was whlthen a single-day record of 3,055 deaths to COVID-19, a WHL fan from Portland emailed me what follows:

“I would urge everyone to give the following scenario/exercise some thought and perspective . . .

“It’s a Wednesday night and the Hawks are hosting an Eastern Division team (let’s say Moose Jaw) in the Memorial Coliseum.

“You are at the game — and because you are at the game and you have been to many weekday MC games before . . . you have a real good ‘feel’ for the size of the crowd.

“The ‘true’ attendance at the MC is 3,055 — a routine attendance figure for a Wednesday night home game at the Memorial Coliseum for an Eastern squad.

“Now . . . take a deep breath/close your eyes/and imagine what the size and feel of that crowd is — 3,055 spectators — try and take a good picture of just how many people that is.

“Thanks for reading and hopefully you got a picture in your mind of what 3,055 people looks like to you.”

Then he added . . .

“Damn . . . I was gonna try and equate it to Canada . . . but I see on the same day Canada had 116 deaths. . . . 3,000 people — that’s a half-full rink in many of the WHL rinks.

“That’s a standing room only crowd in Swift Current . . .”

Opportunist

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

CBC News: Manitoba is reporting 293 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths related to the virus. There are 298 COVID-19 patients in hospital in the province, including 43 in intensive care. Manitoba’s 5-day test positivity rate is 13.3%.

CBC News: COVID-19 in Sask.: 4 more deaths, 324 new cases, 345 recoveries reported Thursday. . . . The seven-day average of daily new cases in Saskatchewan is now 283, a record high.

CBC News: Alberta is reporting 1,566 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 new deaths related to the illness.

CBC News: As of Wednesday, there were 202 COVID patients in Calgary hospitals, including 36 in intensive care, pushing the facilities beyond 100 per cent capacity.

Mo Cranker, Medicine Hat News: Medicine Hat is up to 93 active cases of COVID-19. There are 10 new active cases and eight recoveries in the city. . . . Cypress County is at 12 active cases, Forty Mile is at six. . . . Lethbridge is at 229 active cases. Brooks is at 25 active cases.

Richard Zussman, Global BC: COVID-19 cases up in BC. There are 723 new cases in the province of the virus. There have been 40,060 total cases. . . . Tragic day in BC. Most deaths in 24-hour period in the province. There have been 28 deaths due to the virus. There have been 587 deaths due to the virus in BC. . . . There are 346 people in hospital, up 8. There are 83 people in ICU, a new record high. This is also up 8. There are 9,524 active cases and 11,947 people in self-isolation.

CBC News: B.C. has sent a rapid-response team of paramedics to Fort St. James, where at least 60 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the community of around 1,500.

CBC News: Ontario reports 1,983 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, a new single-day high for the province. The new cases come with a record-high 61,809 tests completed. 515 new cases in Peel, 496 in Toronto and 208 in York Region. . . . Ontario records 35 more deaths linked to COVID-19, and there are 829 people hospitalized with the virus; 228 in ICU and 132 are on ventilators.

CBC News: Quebec reports 1,842 new cases of COVID-19 and 33 additional deaths linked to the virus. Province also has 1,218 new recoveries. 848 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in QC, 113 in ICU.

CBC News: 1 new case of COVID-19 has been reported in N.L. The new case involves a man in his 60s in the central region.

CBC News: 4 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Nova Scotia, for a total of 64 known active cases in the province. 1 case is in the Eastern Zone and the other 3 are in the Central Zone. There are currently no COVID-19 patients in hospital in the province.

CBC News: 4 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in New Brunswick.

CBC News: Zero new COVID-19 cases reported in Nunavut on Thursday.

CNN: 292,000 people in the United States have died from coronavirus.

Ryan Struyk, CNN: World War II US battle deaths: 291,557 . . . US coronavirus deaths (so far): 292,091.

NBC News: The U.S. recorded 3,110 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, a new single-day record.

Governor Jay Inslee: Yesterday was the deadliest day of the pandemic so far in Washington. 49 people died — pushing us over 3,000 total deaths from COVID-19. Our hearts are with the families who have lost loved ones to this virus.

CBC News: Ellen DeGeneres says she has COVID-19. Production on comedian’s talk show halted until January.

——

The Oklahoma Sooners were to have played football against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday on ABC-TV, but it won’t happen. The game has been cancelled because the Mountaineers have an outbreak. The game had been scheduled for Nov. 28 but didn’t happen then, either. . . . The Washington at Oregon game won’t happen, either. Washington doesn’t have the minimum number of scholarship student-athletes available for the game. . . .

The Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to visit New Orleans on Dec. 20 and the Saints were planning on having 15,000 fans in attendance. That changed on Thursday when the Saints and the city said that capacity now will be 3,000. . . .

The Chicago Bears closed their facility on Thursday after a positive test. The same thing happened on Nov. 5, and the Bears were back in business the next day. . . . The Houston Texans are scheduled to visit Chicago on Sunday. . . . The Bears put three practice-roster players on the reserve/COVID-19 list this week, and added DeAndre Carter, a punt returner/receiver, on Thursday.

Mike

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.

Fitbit

Claim allegations detail horrific abuse in CHL . . . WHL start date in serious jeopardy . . . WJC teams plagued by COVID-19

If you are the least bit squeamish, you may  not want to click on the link in the tweet below. There are some horrific revelations in the story by Rick Westhead of TSN. . . . Please pay attention to the WARNING that accompanies it. . . .

The WHL’s plan to open its next regular season on Jan. 8 took another hit on Tuesday when the Alberta government announced mandatory restrictions that whlinclude the shuttering of all indoor rinks and arenas. The closures take effect on Sunday at midnight and are to run for at least four weeks. . . . Also on Tuesday, Manitoba announced that its restrictions, which have shut down junior hockey in the province, were being extended into January. . . . In Saskatchewan, public health orders are in place through Dec. 17. . . . The WHL has yet to have players report to their teams. It had hoped to have players travel on Dec. 26, then open mini-training camps on Dec. 27, all with the aim of opening a regular season of up to 50 games on Jan. 8. Teams would play strictly within their own divisions during the regular season. . . . In Washington state, which is home to four WHL teams, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday that restrictions that now are in place will run at least through Jan. 4. . . . In Oregon, home to the Portland Winterhawks, indoor recreation spaces will remain closed at least through Dec. 17. . . . The OHL, which also has yet to bring in its players, has said it wants to open a regular season on Feb. 4. Perhaps the WHL will announce in a day or two that it is aiming for early February, too.

With the rosters of the American, Canadian and Swedish national junior hockey teams having already been impacted by COVID-19, Hockey Canada officials now are being asked about minimums involving the 10-team World Junior Championship that is to open in an Edmonton bubble on Dec. 25.

As in: What is the minimum number of teams needed for the tournament to be played? The answer seems to be eight.

As in: What is the minimum number of players needed for a team to be eligible to play a game? The answer seems to be 17 — 15 skaters and two goaltenders.

Team Canada is out of its two-week quarantine, forced on it when two players tested positive. But before returning to the ice on Tuesday, five players were Canadasent home, all of them for health reasons — F Ridly Greig of the Brandon Wheat Kings, D Daemon Hunt (Moose Jaw Warriors), D Mason Millman (Saginaw Spirit), D Matthew Robertson (Edmonton Oil Kings) and F Xavier Simoneau (Drummondville Voltigeurs).

Those decisions left the camp roster at 41; it will be down to 25 in a few days.

Meanwhile, the Swedish team, which went into Tuesday having had four players already test positive, found out that three coaches have tested positive, including head coach Tomas Montén. Assistant coach Anders Lundberg and video coach Adam Almqvist also have tested positive. . . . F Albin Grewe, a third-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL’s 2019 draft, is the fourth player to have tested positive, after F William Eklund, D William Wallinder and F Karl Henriksson.

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association now is working with the IIHF to determine the alternatives. . . . What is known for sure, is that the four players and three coaches won’t be taking part in the WJC. . . . Johan Stark, the Swedish federation’s secretary general, said: “If we see that the trend is going in the wrong direction, we must consider whether participation is possible or not.” . . .

Germany also has had issues with COVID-19 and has lost three players to positive tests — G Tobias Ancicki, F Nino Kinder and F Lukas Reichel. The Chicago Blackhawks selected Reichel with the 17th overall pick of the NHL’s 2020 draft.

The Austrians haven’t escaped unscathed, either, with D Thimo Nickl, a fourth-round pick by the Anaheim Ducks in 2020, having tested positive.

And don’t forget that Team USA also lost three players to COVID-19 protocol. G Drew Commesso, F Robert Mastrosimone and D Alex Vlasic  all are from Boston University, which had to pause it’s men’s hockey program.

Rene Fasel, the longtime president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, has tested positive, as has general secretary Horst Lichtner, the IIHF’s second most-powerful man. The two had to postpone a trip to Belarus where they were to have met with Alexander Lukashenko, the country’s embattled president. . . . The 2021 men’s world championship is to be split between Latvia and Belarus, but the IIHF is under pressure to drop Belarus. The International Olympic Committee has suspended Lukashenko and wants the IIHF to honour that suspension.

Rain

The BCHL’s Langley Rivermen announced on Tuesday that they “have decided to pause the season effective immediately.” With things on hold until at least Jan. 8, the Rivermen statement read: “We feel it is in the best interest of the Langley community, the players, the staff and billets to pause until January, pending further news” from the B.C. government. . . . Under the restrictions implemented by the B.C. government and health officials, players 19 and older are prohibited from practising, while those 18 and younger are able to skate with restrictions. . . . Steve Ewen of Postmedia takes a further look right here at the situation in which the BCHL finds itself.

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

CBC News: Global cases of COVID-19 top 68M: Johns Hopkins University.

CBC News: Manitoba is reporting 13 more COVID-19 deaths and 245 new cases. That’s the lowest daily case total in 17 days and drops the 7-day average to 324.

CBC News: Saskatchewan is reporting 6 more COVID-19 deaths and 183 new cases. That brings the 7-day average down to 264, but the number of hospitalizations hits a record high of 144, with 27 people in intensive care – also a record high.

CBC News: Alberta reports 1,727 new COVID-19 infections, setting another record with 20,388 active cases. Across the province, 654 people are being treated in hospitals for COVID-19, including 112 in ICU. Another nine deaths were added to the toll, bringing the total to 640 since March.

rdnewsNOW: Red Deer with 373 active COVID-19 cases.

Don Martin, CTV: Sad but necessary. A desperate Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has waved the white flag and imposed Canada’s most restrictive regime of shutdowns to fight a horrific COVID surge hitting its hospitals.

Richard Zussman, Global BC: There are 566 news cases of COVID-19 in the province. There have been 38,718 cases of the virus in BC. . . . There have been an additional 16 deaths due to COVID-19. There have been a total of 543 deaths in BC due to the virus. . . . There have been 265 deaths in the province from COVID in the last month. That is nearly half of all of the deaths due to the virus. . . . There are 352 people in hospital with COVID-19 in BC. There are 74 in ICU.

CBC News: Ontario has 1,676 new COVID-19 cases, lowest daily total since November 26. It sends the province’s 7-day average down slightly, from 1,820 to 1,816. Toronto has 588 cases, while Peel Region has 349 and York Region has 141. There are 10 additional deaths. . . . There are 794 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario; 219 in ICU and 132 on a ventilator. 39,200 more tests were completed in the province with a 5% positivity rate.

CBC News: 36 additional deaths and 1,564 new COVID-19 cases reported in Quebec. That sends the 7-day case average to 1,598 from 1,544.

KGW: 36 COVID-19 deaths in Oregon, most reported in a single day. . . The Oregon Health Authority also announced 1,341 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

KOMO News: The Washington State Department of Health reported 2,923 new COVID-19 cases, 145 additional hospitalizations and 26 more deaths in the past 24 hours.

The New York Times: North Carolina’s governor imposed a 10 p.m. curfew on Tuesday in the hope of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the state has nearly doubled in the past month.

CNN: America surpasses 15 million confirmed Covid-19 cases. At least 284,887 in US have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

——

The NFL revealed on Tuesday that it had 18 players and 27 other personnel test positive during the week of Nov. 29 to Dec. 5. Since Aug. 1, it has had 173 players and 297 other personnel confirmed positive. . . .

WR Dez Bryant, now with the Baltimore Ravens, tested positive while taking warmups shortly before Tuesday’s game against his own club, the Dallas Cowboys. Prior to the game, Bryant was seen on the field hugging some of the Cowboys. . . . The game went on as scheduled, but without Bryant. . . .

The Green Bay Packers said Tuesday that only employees and players’ household families will be allowed to attend games at Lambeau Field for the remainder of this NFL season. . . .

The football game scheduled for Saturday between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines won’t happen for the first time since 1917. The Wolverines have had an outbreak of COVID-19. . . . The Cincinnati Bearcats won’t be visiting the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday. The Bearcats have been hit by the virus. The two teams will meet Dec. 19 in the AAC championship game, but only if the virus allows it, of course. . . . No. 8 Indiana and Purdue are supposed to meet on Saturday. However, Indiana cancelled practice on Tuesday and has paused all football-related activities because of positive tests. Purdue also cancelled Tuesday’s practice to “evaluate the results of recent COVID-19 testing.” . . .

The ECHL will open its 33rd regular season with five games on Friday and five more on Saturday. Eleven of the league’s 26 teams have opted out, at least for this season. . . . The Fort Wayne Komets and Toledo Walleye had said they would start in mid-January, but now say it will be in mid-February. . . .

Jairo Castillo, a scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has died of complications from COVID-19. He died Sunday in the Dominican Republic at the age of 31. . . . Castillo once scouted for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Husband

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.

MiddleAges

B.C. restrictions in place through Jan. 8 . . . Vancouver Winterhawks? It’s possible . . . Inside the BCHL’s Penticton bubble proposal

If the WHL is to open its next regular season on Jan. 8, as it has announced that it plans on doing, its five B.C. Division teams will be on the sidelines unless provincial health officials loosen some restrictions.

Under those restrictions, which on Monday were extended through Jan. 8, junior hockey teams are prohibited from playing games. At the same time, players aged 19 awhlnd older aren’t allowed to practice, while those 18 and under are able to practice with restrictions.

If it is to open a regular season on Jan. 8, the WHL would want players to travel from their homes on Dec. 26 to join teams for training camps that would open on Dec. 27.

——

If you subscribe to The Athletic, you are able to follow the link in the tweet below to a story by Ryan S. Clark on what’s going on with the five teams in the WHL’s U.S. Division. . . . Spoiler alert: How does Vancouver Winterhawks sound? That would be Vancouver, Wash., of course. Hmmm . . .

In light of those restrictions being extended until Jan. 8 by the Provincial Health Office (PHO), the BCHL announced Monday evening that it has “decided to BCHLdelay the start of its 2020-21 regular season to the new year.” It had hoped to begin its regular season tonight (Tuesday).

The last sentence of the BCHL’s news release: “If current restrictions are extended beyond midnight on Jan. 8, the league will come together and make a decision on when play can resume.”

In the meantime, you can bet that the BCHL will be putting even more work into a plan aimed at getting 17 teams into a bubble in Penticton, home of the Vees. If you’re a regular here, you read about it right here on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

In one scenario, all BCHL players would spend Jan. 15-29 in quarantine, then spend Jan. 29-31 moving into the Penticton bubble. The 17 teams would play a 20- or 24-game regular season from Feb. 1 through March 22, with a playoff tournament running March 23 to April 2.

Of course, there would be a lot more to this bubble than games.

For starters, the BCHL would have to find ways to keep more than 350 mostly teenagers entertained. They will have to be fed, have their laundry done, remote learning will have to be arranged and on and on.

The BCHL has chatted with the City of Penticton’s powers-that-be and reports that they are eager to help. Penticton also is home to a first-class arena — the South Okanagan Events Centre — and a roomy convention centre. I also am hearing that at least one Penticton hotel has offered to get involved.

In the convention centre, each of the 17 teams would be allotted about 2,000 square feet, which would provide room for about 30 beds and a team lounge of some kind. Beds/cots would be separated by curtains.

There also would be room for a study area, something that is most important because players would have to move to online learning. There also would be a quiet study area with ample power outlets and Internet access. Tutors would be made available, too.

As for feeding the ravenous teenagers, the facilities feature “multiple kitchens and concessions,” according to the draft of the BCHL proposal that Taking Note has seen, and the primary kitchen would be located in the SOEC. There also would be designated eating areas in which three squares would be served every day.

Players would be allowed to order in food “on occasion. Snacks and food orders to be delivered under strict protocols and paid for by the individual.”

There also would be game rooms that would include TV sets and various gaming units, theatre rooms with access to Netflix and laptops, and a recreation room that would include table tennis, bubble hockey, a pool table, air hockey and sports simulators.

In terms of outdoor activities, players would have access to a baseball diamond, basketball nets and a place to play road hockey. None of these facilities would be open to the public.

If approval for the plan is granted, the BCHL would arrange for players to have access to Zoom conferencing that would feature NCAA coaches, as well as former and current NHL players who might, for example, deal with life after hockey.

Of course, the teams would be in Penticton to train, practise and play hockey. Each team would have daily practice ice and likely three games per week with which to deal. There also would be a gym and training area with weights, bikes and other gear, with teams having assigned time slots for use.

What about scouts? If the project comes off, the BCHL is expecting NHL and NCAA scouts to flock to the games. There would be a safe area in the suite level, with access through a back entrance, that would allow them to come and go without having to bubble up. As well, teams would be designated suites with “absolutely zero tolerance for going down to the team or a lower level.”

And, of course, masks would be mandatory “at all times” for scouts, team governors, league officials, medical staff, etc.

Yes, there still is a long way to go before all of this would end up on the desk of provincial health officials. For example, a testing plan has to be structured, one that the BCHL said “will be determined by the PHO.”

Approval would have to come from government and health officials, as well as BC Hockey and Hockey Canada.

BTW, the BCHL now is pay-to-play, at least for this season, and players would pay $1,500 per month for February and March, which is what they already have paid for October and November.

Run

Bob McKenzie, the semi-retired TSN Hockey Insider, rattled off a few texts on CanadaMonday, all of them with regards to the World Junior Championship. Here are a few of them, but in text form:

1. The 2021 IIHF World Jr. Championship is set to begin 2 weeks from this Friday (Dec. 25) in EDM in a restricted-access “bubble” format. All 10 teams are scheduled to “check in” Sunday, for a 4-day quarantine/daily-test period before being released into bubble Dec. 18.

2. Key for teams, obviously, is to try to get to the “start” line, which is this Sunday Dec. 13, when they are scheduled to report to EDM. All teams, starting today, are now in a seven-day closed preparation window. Only players currently in team camps today will be WJC eligible.

3. In order to “qualify” for Sunday’s admission to four-day quarantine/testing phase, all players must be tested three times in the current seven-day window and, obviously, test negative each time for Covid. Only then do they enter quarantine phase in their EDM hotel room.

4. If any player tests positive now, he’s out of the tournament and cannot be replaced from outside the current roster of players now in camp.

As of Monday night, McKenzie reported, “Hockey Canada is awaiting word any hour now from Alberta Health on how the remainder of this week will play out. Team Canada has been off ice/quarantined for two weeks after two players tested positive during training camp. Team Canada hopes to be back on the practice sometime today (Tuesday) in Red Deer.

McKenzie also tweeted: As I’ve said on multiple occasions, first major hurdle is to get all 10 teams — CAN, FIN, GER, SUI, SVK in one group; USA, SWE, RUS, CZE, AUS in the other group — plus the on-ice officials (all Canadian locals) to what amounts to a starting line, which is Sunday’s check-in day in EDM.

——

Another day means another positive test for a player who was expected to contribute to the Swedish team at the World Junior Championship. D William Wallinder is the third Swedish player to be knocked out of the tournament by a positive test. Wallinder, who was selected by the Detroit Red Wings with the first pick of the second round in the NHL’s 2020 draft, plays for Modo in the HockeyAllsvenskan and the team experienced a positive test last week.

Pekka Jalonen, a writer with the Helsinki newspaper Iltalehti, reports that the KHL continues to have issues with COVID-19.

Former NHLer Alexei Morozov, who is the KHL president, said that going into this week there were 21 people within the KHL with the virus, while 486 had recovered.

Jalonen wrote: “There are 23 teams in KHL, so on average there have already been 22 infected people in each club. There are still more than two and a half months left in the regular season, so it is likely that almost everyone on the KHL teams will get a coronavirus infection this season.”

The Finnish team Jokerit, which is in a stretch of playing eight of nine games on the road, “is currently on a long tour of Russia and have had just 22 infections this season. Not everyone infected has been a player. All of Jokerit’s infections have been detected after the team returned from a road trip to Russia.”

As expected, the ECHL had three more teams choose to opt out of the 2020-21 season on Monday. Players who had been on the rosters of the Cincinnati Cyclones, Idaho Steelheads and Kalamazoo K-Wings now are free agents for this season. All three organizations plan on returning to the ECHL next season. . . . Jeff Marek of Sportsnet tweeted on Sunday that the Toledo Walleye and Fort Wayne Komets “are still undecided.” . . . The ECHL now has had 11 of its 26 teams choose not to play this season. Some of the remaining teams are expected to begin playing games on Friday.

TV

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

From a family doctor based in Alberta . . .

CBC News: Manitoba has passed 400 deaths due to COVID-19 as 12 more people have died and there are 325 new cases, health officials say. The five-day test positivity rate is at 13.7 per cent province-wide and 14.6 for Winnipeg. There are 310 people in hospital due to the illness, down 38 from yesterday, with 39 people in intensive care, down from 43 on Sunday.

CBC News: 274 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Saskatchewan, dropping the province’s 7-day average to 308. There is also one additional death being attributed to the virus.

CBC News: Alberta reports 1,735 new COVID-19 cases and 16 additional deaths. 6 of these deaths are linked to outbreak at Edmonton Chinatown Care Centre.

Shelby Thom, Global Okanagan: B.C. recorded 2,020 new cases of COVID-19 over past 3 days with 35 deaths. . . . 647 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths from Friday to Saturday. . . . 726 cases and 10 deaths from Saturday to Sunday. . . . 647 cases from Sunday to Monday along with seven deaths.

CBC News: Ontario reported a single-day high of 1,925 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, following two consecutive days of record numbers over the weekend. . . . Ontario’s 7-day average for new cases ticks up to 1,820, the highest it has been at any point during the pandemic. 725 people in Ontario are hospitalized with COVID-19, 213 are in ICU and 121 are on a ventilator.

CBC News: Quebec adds 1,577 new COVID-19 cases, which moves the province’s 7-day average up slightly to 1,543. Health authorities also report 22 additional deaths.

Medford Mail Tribune: The Oregon Health Authority reported 12 more deaths from COVID-19 Monday and 1,331 new cases, pushing statewide totals to 1,045 deaths and 85,788 cases.

euronews.com: Italy bans Christmas travel and midnight mass after nearly 1,000 people die in one day.

——

The Toronto Raptors revealed Monday morning that three members of their organization have tested positive as they open training camp in Tampa, Fla. . . . The team didn’t disclose whether they were players or staff, but they have been put into isolation away from other personnel. . . . On Sunday, the Portland Trail Blazers shut things down after getting three positive tests, one involving a player. The Trail Blazers’ camp is in Portland; the Raptors moved to Tampa because the U.S.-Canada border remains closed to non-essential travel. . . . The San Francisco Chronicle reported that F Draymond Green and C James Wiseman of the Golden State Warriors tested positive last week, so missed the team’s first practice of training camp on Monday. Wiseman was the second overall selection in last month’s NBA draft. . . .

The NFL’s Carolina Panthers placed eight players on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday. That included DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel, two of their top wideouts. As a result, the Panthers shut down their facility for Monday and Tuesday. . . . The Panthers are scheduled to play the Denver Broncos on Sunday. . . .

Texas A&M won’t be playing Ole Miss in an SEC football game on Saturday, as the latter is having COVID-19 issues. The game had been rescheduled from Nov. 21 when it was postponed because A&M was having issues. . . .

The U of Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team has had to postponed games against the Michigan State Spartans that were to have been played today and Wednesday. The Badgers have a positive test. . . . Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s women’s team has postponed its next two series, scheduled for Dec. 11-12 and Dec. 18-19, because of COVID-19 protocols. By Dec. 19, Wisconsin will have played two if its eight scheduled games. . . .

Here is Pittsburgh men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday: “These kids are away (from their families) and they’re out and they’re laying it on the line to entertain people. Something just doesn’t feel right about it right now. The numbers were what they were back in March. I look at it every day, man. It seems like every day it’s getting worse. I don’t know why you cancel it in March, but you say it’s OK to do it right now. But what do I know?”

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.

Friend

COVID-19 steals Sasakamoose as family, hockey world mourn . . . Canada’s national junior team has positive players . . . BCHL’s Wild shuts down for now

Dorothy and I were in Penticton, B.C., on the evening of July 24, 2015, for the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame induction dinner.

Here is part of what I wrote afterwards:

The legendary Fred Sasakamoose was on hand to receive the Okanagan Hockey School’s Pioneer Award.

What a wonderful moment it was as a tremendously touching video chronicling Sasakamoose’s life was played and an emotional Sasakamoose made his way to the stage.

If you aren’t aware of Sasakamoose and all that he has done, get thee to Google and prepare to spend an hour or two.

At one point, Sasakamoose spoke to what was a thoroughly captivated audience about how lonely it was being an aboriginal — he is from the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation — on the way to the NHL.

On this night, Sasakamoose was anything but lonely. He was on the receiving end of two emotionally charged standing ovations as he made a roomful of new friends and admirers.

That is the kind of night it was, and I will long remember being a small part of it.

Hockey Canada, we’ve got a problem!

Hockey Canada announced Tuesday morning that two players who are part of Canadaits national junior team selection camp in Red Deer have tested positive for COVID-19. Both players are in quarantine at the team hotel.

As a result, Tuesday afternoon’s Red-White game was postponed and all other activities were cancelled for the day. Ryan Rishaug of TSN reported later Tuesday that “as of now nothing is scheduled for training camp activity (Wednesday).”

Head coach Andre Tourigny had said the coaching staff wanted to trim the roster by a dozen or more players after Tuesday’s game. That obviously didn’t happen. Chances are that some players will be sent home before a scheduled exhibition game against the U of Alberta Golden Bears on Saturday.

This is Team Canada’s second brush with the virus. On Saturday, a person described as a “non-core” member of the support staff tested positive. That resulted in an undisclosed number of people going into a 14-day quarantine, including assistant coaches Michael Dyck and Jason Labarbera.

On Tuesday, after news of the two players having tested positive, Rishaug tweeted:

“A key question is, how many players will be identified as close contacts? We don’t know if the infected players were playing in the games Saturday and Sunday. All close contacts must isolate for 14 days.

“Covid has wreaked havoc on Canada’s camp to this point. 14 players were late arriving for various Covid testing related issues, including Ridly Greig testing positive before camp. He has since joined the team after his quarantine ended.

“All of this happening with the back drop of rapidly rising cases in Alberta, and news coming later today from the Premier that could involve further restrictive measures being put in place. The next few days will determine a lot on what Canada’s camp looks like moving forward.

“Players and staff were tested before arrival in Red Deer, then tested again upon arrival. A 2x per week protocol then kicked in once camp was up and running. The first positive test of a staff member came as a result of the 3rd test they had taken.”

Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News has his take on Team Canada’s situation right here.

The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets said Tuesday they have “had several players NHLrecently test positive for the COVID-19 virus.” . . . Frank Seravalli of TSN reported that a “significant” number of Blue Jackets “have tested positive . . . over the last 7-to-10 days.” . . . The players went into quarantine and the organization’s off-ice facilities at Nationwide Arena were closed “beginning the week of Nov. 16.” . . . The NHL apparently continues to have its sights set on a Jan. 1 opening. But now there are outbreaks with the Blue Jackets and Vegas Golden Knights. . . . Seravalli also reported that “sources say multiple family members of VGK players have also tested positive.” . . . Robin Brownlee of oilersnation.com wonders right here just how realistic a Jan. 1 starting date might be.

Blaming restrictions implemented by the state of Washington and the closure Wenatcheeof the U.S.-Canada border, the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild announced Tuesday that it is “taking a hiatus for the 2020-21 season.” . . . All Wild players now are free agents. . . . “The latest setback is not being able to train our players here in the state of Washington,” a Wild news release reads. “We are not opting out of the season we are being forced out because the United States and Canadian border are closed and (because of) the restrictions on gyms and ice arenas in the state of Washington.” . . . Kudos to Wild owner David White as Taking Note has been told that he is keeping the staff on the payroll. . . . There is a news release right here.

LightUp

In the QMJHL, the Charlottetown Islanders have had to pause their schedule for qmjhlnewat least two weeks. That’s because the Prince Edward Island government has withdrawn from the Maritime travel bubble. . . . With COVID-19 numbers rising in the Maritime provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island announced Monday that they were withdrawing from the bubble for at least two weeks. That bubble had been in place since July 3. It allowed people to travel rather freely across the Maritimes provinces without quarantining. . . . P.E.I. implemented new travel restrictions on Monday at midnight; N.L. puts its restrictions in place on Wednesday. . . . On Tuesday, the Nova Scotia government also announced travel restrictions, so the QMJHL postponed seven games scheduled for this week in the Maritime Division.

“A shortened season, no playoffs and a $265,000 payment for litigation fees involved in a minimum-wage lawsuit against the Canadian Hockey League pushed the Kitchener Rangers into the red for the 2020 fiscal year,” writes Josh Brown of the Waterloo Region Record. “The Rangers announced a net deficit of $83,736 at Monday night’s virtual annual general meeting, making it the first time in the past 25 years the Ontario Hockey League club failed to record a profit.

“Last year, the team made $335,233.”

It is interesting that the Rangers apparently have written off $265,000 for the settlement of that lawsuit. In the WHL, the Moose Jaw Warriors told shareholders that they are on the hook for $180,846 as their part of the settlement, while the Prince Albert Raiders said their share was to be $166,667.

The Swift Current Broncos don’t seem to have stated a figure, while the Lethbridge Hurricanes have yet to hold their annual general meeting.

Lethbridge, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and Swift Current are the 22-team WHL’s four community-owned teams. As such, they are obligated to hold annual general meetings open to shareholders.

BTW, the afore-mentioned lawsuit was thought to have been settled for $30 million, but courts in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have rejected that settlement. So negotiations no doubt are continuing.

Bar

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

——

CBC News: Manitoba announces 476 new cases of COVID-19, its 4th-highest daily total since the pandemic began. It follows yesterday’s record high of 543. The province is also attributing 12 more deaths to the virus.

CTV News: Manitoba issued $126,082 in tickets last week for those not following health orders.

CBC News: Saskatchewan adds 175 new coronavirus cases — 70 of them in Regina and 28 in Saskatoon zones. That’s the province’s lowest new daily case total in 4 days and is below the province’s previous 7-day average of 218.

Regina Leader-Post: After reporting 175 new cases and 112 recoveries Tuesday, Sask. government cancels afternoon press conference.

CBC News: Alberta reports 1,115 new COVID-19 cases, 16 more deaths, for a provincial case load of 13,349 active infections.

CBC News: Premier Jason Kenney declares a state of public emergency in Alberta. Imposing new restrictions on social gatherings, religious services. No indoor social gatherings permitted in any settings for a minimum of 3 weeks. Will be evaluated in mid-Dec.

Mo Cranker, Medicine Hat News: Medicine Hat is up to 103 active cases of COVID-19. There are 123 recoveries listed in MH. . . . There are 39 active cases in Cypress County. There are 40 active cases of Forty Mile. . . . There are 171 active cases in Lethbridge. Brooks is at 46 active cases of the virus.

Richard Zussman, Global BC: British Columbia has shattered the one day COVID-19 record with 941 new cases over the past 24 hours. There have been 28,348 total cases of the virus in BC. . . . There are 284 people in BC in hospital with COVID. With 61 people in ICU. The hospital number is a record. . . . Another double digit day for COVID deaths. There have been 10 deaths due to the virus over the last 24 hours. There have been 358 deaths in the province from COVID. . . . The latest positivity rate on the BC CDC website is 6.6%. On October 6th it was 1.2%.

Keith Baldrey, Global BC: BC Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth on Global BC tonight with a message for anti-maskers: “Grow up, shut up and mask up.” I’d say that’s fairly clear.

CBC News: B.C. health-care workers plead for public to follow COVID-19 orders.

Global News: B.C. grocery story (in Nelson) hires security guard as anti-mask hostility grows.

CBC News: Ontario’s reporting error means (Tuesday’s) total case count is artificially low. Additional data: 14 more deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Ontario, 534 ppl are hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, 159 of them in ICU, 91 on ventilators.

CBC News: Quebec reports 45 additional deaths due to the coronavirus, also diagnoses 1,124 new cases. That’s virtually unchanged from the province’s previous 7-day average of 1,162.

CBC News: Nova Scotia reports 37 new COVID-19 cases, highest since April 23. Province announces wave of restrictions for greater Halifax area, including gathering size limits, 25% capacity cap on the number of shoppers in a store, while restaurants and bars are restricted to takeout only.

CBC News: Nunavut has 10 new cases of COVID-19. Nine are in Arviat, on the west coast of Hudson’s Bay, where there’s now a total of 107 cases. There have been 375 negative tests in Arviat, which has a population of about 2,600. The other new case is in Rankin Inlet.

——

Keith Baldrey, Global BC: Brutal Washington state COVID-19 numbers today: 3,482 new cases, a record. 35 deaths. In the past week alone 119 people have died there and almost 600 people have entered hospital.

Oregon ArtsWatch: COVID-19 has claimed a record 21 more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 847. The total number of Oregonians hospitalized and in intensive care with COVID-19 also increased. There were 1,011 new confirmed and presumptive cases, down from recent days.

FacesOfCOVID: 2,028 people died of COVID today in the United States, the first time since May that the daily death count has exceeded 2,000.

The New York Times: California reported 17,694 new cases on Monday, well more than it or any other state had ever done before, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, it has averaged 12,712 new cases a day — more than Maine’s total for the whole pandemic.

——

——

The NFL’s Baltimore Ravens have had at least 10 positive tests among players and staff since Sunday night. They are scheduled to play the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Thursday. . . . Baltimore RBs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins won’t play, nor will DT Brandon Williams. . . .

To say that NCAA men’s basketball is a mess would be something of an understatement. . . . No. 1 Baylor has pulled out of a tournament in Connecticut that is to start today. Head coach Scott Drew tested positive. . . . Florida has pulled out of two games. . . . East Carolina, Indiana State and Akron pulled out of a tournament in Florida. . . . The start of Wichita State’s season has been delayed. The Shockers actually flew into Sioux Falls, S.D., for a tournament only to have seven team members test positive. . . . Rick Barnes, the head coach at Tennessee, has tested positive and team activities are on hold. The school reported multiple positives among “Tier 1 personnel, which consists of coaches, student-athletes, team managers and support staff.” . . . Gardner-Webb experienced at least one positive so pulled out of what was to have been Duke’s season-opener. . . . Ole Miss had some positives, including head coach Kermit Davis, so cancelled a three-game tournament it was to hold and team activities are on hold until Dec. 7. . . . The Florida A&M women’s team has opted out of the 2020-21 season. . . .

The 24-team Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, which had been hoping to open its season on Dec. 2, now is aiming for Jan. 15. The league’s return-to-play protocol includes games being played without deliberate bodychecking/intentional physical contact and no post-whistle scrums. . . .

Northeastern has shut down winter sports until Dec. 18 because of what the schools says is a “small cluster of recent COVID-19 cases that led to quarantining athletes on five varsity teams.” The men’s hockey team has cancelled or postponed six games. . . . The women’s basketball and women’s hockey team both experienced positive tests, as did the men’s women’s track and field teams. . . .

The U of Maine in Orono has shut down winter athletics through at least Dec. 8 “due to positive test results on campus, including individuals involved with the varsity athletic programs.” . . . All games for the men’s and women’s basketball teams and men’s and women’s hockey teams between Nov. 25 and Dec. 8 have been cancelled. . . .

The Minnesota at No. 18 Wisconsin football game scheduled for Saturday won’t happen. Minnesota has paused team-related activities due to positives tests within its program. . . .

Martin Pakula, the sports minister for the Australian state of Victoria, says the start of the 2021 Australian Open tennis tournament “most likely” will be delayed. The tournament, which is held in Melbourne, is scheduled to begin on Jan. 18. However, Pakula said it is likely to be delayed a week or two. At the same time, he didn’t rule out a longer delay.

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.

The Brandon Wheat Kings announced Tuesday that they have promoted Don BrandonWKregularMacGillivray to head coach, replacing Dave Lowry who joined the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets as an assistant coach on Monday. . . . Lowry spent one season in Brandon. . . . MacGillivray has been on the Wheat Kings’ coaching staff for four seasons. . . . He has extensive coaching experience in junior hockey, including most of two seasons (1996-98) as head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders. He also is a four-time winner of the MJHL’s coach-of-the-year award. . . . The Wheat Kings’ coaching staff also includes assistant Mark Derlago and goaltending coach Tyler Plante. . . . The team apparently is in the process of hiring another assistant coach.

Decision

The Bookshelf . . . Part 2 of 3

Bookshelf

For the past few years, I have compiled lists of books that I have read over the previous 12 months, and posted them here. With any luck, you may find an idea or two to help you get through your Christmas shopping.

Part 1 appeared here yesterday and may be found by scrolling down a wee bit.

And here is Part 2 of 3 of the books that I have read so far in 2018.

——

Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL — If you aren’t old enough to remember the USFL, it was a spring league that actually made the NFL nervous. Until, that is, a guy named Donald Trump took over the New Jersey Generals and, like a pied piper, led the league over a cliff and into obscurity. This is a great read, full of all kinds of anecdotes and head-shaking moments. When you’re done with it, you are left to wonder what might have happened had the USFL been able to avoid Trump and had it stayed a spring league. Author Jeff Pearlman obviously had fun writing this one and it shows.

——

The Force — In the world of gritty novels about those who live on both sides of the law, and even on the edge, there was Mickey Spillane. Then came Joseph Wambaugh. Now it’s Don Winslow. Winslow’s latest work, The Force, tells the story of Denny Malone of the NYPD and his partners as they transform into exactly what it is they are trying to get off their streets. Warning: There are times during The Force when you may feel as though you need a shower.

——

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye — This is the fifth book in the series that features the unique Lisbeth Salander and Swedish journalist Mikael Blomkvist. The series began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that was written by the late Stieg Larsson. He wrote two more — The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Next. With Larsson’s death, David Lagercrantz produced The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The latest book in the series opens with Salander in prison and goes from there, as she exposes corruption the system and Blomkvist gets another scoop for his magazine.

——

Heart of the Game: Life, Death and Mercy in Minor League America — All signs pointed to Mike Coolbaugh having what it takes to play Major League Baseball. But he never was able to get into the right place at the right time. When he turned to coaching in the minor leagues, he ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and died after being struck on the head by a foul ball. In this book, S.L. Price, a terrific writer with Sports Illustrated, weaves a story that ties so many things together, especially how fate brought Tino Sanchez, who hit the fatal foul ball, and Coolbaugh together that night in North Little Rock, Ark. This book is hard to read at times, but it also is hard to put down.

——

Hockey Fight in Canada: The Big Media Faceoff over the NHL — David Shoalts, who covers the sports media for The Globe in Mail, has written a book that explains all of the intricacies involved with Rogers landing the contract as the NHL’s national broadcaster in Canada. He also explains how CBC-TV stayed involved and, in fact, ended up giving — GIVING! — Sportsnet space in its office building and on its airwaves. Shoalts also covers the crowning of George Stroumboulopoulos as Hockey Night in Canada’s host, and his departure to make room for the return of Ron MacLean, who just may be the most powerful hockey TV personality in Canada. One other thing — if you are one of those hockey fans who wonders why the national sports networks force feed you so much Toronto Maple Leafs stuff, well, Shoalts explains that, too.

——

A Legacy of Spies — Author John le Carré has spun another gem that includes old favourite George Smiley and a cast of characters from the British Secret Service, all of whom know their way around the Cold War. The focus of this book is Peter Guillam, who had worked closely with Smiley but now is retired . . . until a letter arrives.

——

Lightning Men — Author Thomas Mullen follows the early careers of Lucius Boggs, Denny Rakestraw and other black officers as they begin to integrate the Atlanta police force in the 1950s. Lightning Men is the sequel to Darktown and they really do tell the stories of what was a completely different era. Or was it?

——

A Matter of Confidence: The Inside Story of the Political Battle for BC — This is the book that is likely to make aspiring journalists want to be involved in covering the political arena, at least in British Columbia. Authors Rob Shaw and Richard Zussman both have been involved in doing just that, and here they chronicle all that happened prior to, during and after the province’s 2017 election. You may remember that the Liberals won that election — both in the number of seats and the popular vote — but their minority government lost a non-confidence vote to the Green and NDP parties. This is a must-read for political junkies and, for that matter, anyone who votes.

——

The Midnight Line — This is another (No. 22) in the long line of books by Lee Child that detail the wanderings of Jack Reacher. This one is Reacher — and Child — at his best. It all starts with a West Point Military Academy ring in a pawn shop in Wisconsin, and it’s a great, albeit dusty, ride from there. (Please, though, let’s not have any more Reacher movies starring Tom Cruise.) . . . If you’re a real Reacher fan, you also will want to get your hands on No Middle Name, a collection of Reacher-related short stories from Lee Child.

——

Only Time Will Tell — This is the first book in The Clifton Chronicles, author Jeffrey Archer’s seven-book series that follows the lives and loves of Harry Clifton, along with family and friends. I am a sucker for books of this nature — see Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth and its sequels — and really enjoyed Only Time Will Tell. Yes, I will be reading the remaining six books in Archer’s Clifton Chronicles. (I have since read the second book in the series, The Sins of the Fathers; the third, Best Kept Secret; and the fourth, Be Careful What You Wish For. This is good escapism, and isn’t that what fiction is supposed to be?)

——

Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada — The South Thompson River flows quietly past our home. I will never look at it the same way, nor will I take it for granted, after reading this tremendous book by Roy MacGregor, one of the great Canadian writers of this generation, who also has a lifelong love affair with the canoe. The South Thompson isn’t one that gets profiled in this book, but the Fraser is there, along with a number of other great Canadian waterways. It is stunning to read about the amount of abuse that has been foisted upon these rivers and their tributaries. But, at the same time, it is uplifting to learn there are a whole lot of people out there who care and who are working so hard to help these rivers regain their health. If you are one who cares about water and has an interest in history — and even if you don’t — this is a wonderful read. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that our schools couldn’t go wrong by making it part of their curriculum. (There are lots of rivers out there; here’s hoping there is a sequel, or even two, in MacGregor’s future.)

——

TOMORROW: Part 3 of 3.