Logan Stankoven had quite a surprise awaiting shortly after he arrived home in Kamloops from a vacation in Italy.
On Tuesday night, before close to 100 people, he was saluted by Hockey Gives Blood, which presented him with the Dayna Brons Honorary Award âfor his selfless contributions in support of patients who rely on Canadian Blood Services.â
Brons was the athletic therapist for the SJHLâs Humboldt Broncos. She was on the team bus when it was involved in that horrific accident on April ??, 2018, and she died five days later. She had been a committed blood donor.
Stankoven, the captain of the WHLâs Kamloops Blazers, is a Hockey Gives Blood player ambassador. He is the fifth player ambassador to receive this award. He has been a player ambassador since the age of 17 and is a blood donor. He also has joined Canadian Blood Servicesâ stem cell registry and has played host to community blood drives.
He also played host to the largest fundraising initiative since the inception of Hockey Gives Blood. The Logan Stankoven Charity Night helped raise
more than $41,000, with all proceeds helping fund the vital efforts of Canadaâs Life line â from recruitment of more blood, plasma, stem cell and organ and tissue donors to world-class research.
As the winner of this award, Stankoven also is eligible to receive a $5,000 educational bursary.
Previous recipients of this award are Jacob Ingham (Kitchener Rangers), Matthew Welsh (Charlottetown Islanders, Braden Hache (Kingston Frontenacs) and Logan Nijhoff (Regina Pats).
There are 18 teams in the QMJHL. As of Tuesday evening, eight of them were 
without a head coach. . . . The latest to fall into that category are the Halifax Mooseheads and Sherbrooke Phoenix. . . . Sylvain Favreau, the Mooseheadsâ head coach, resigned Monday, citing personal reasons. He had been with Halifax through six seasons, the past two as head coach. Halifax lost the QMJHL final to the Quebec Remparts last month. . . . The Phoenix lost StĂŠphane Julien, their general manager and head coach, to an as yet unnamed AHL team. He had been with the Phoenix for the past 12 seasons, the last three as GM/head coach. . . . The Mooseheads and Phoenix join the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, Cape Breton Eagles, Drummondville Voltigeurs, Gatineau Olympiques, Quebec Remparts and Rimouski Oceanic as teams now on the hunt for a head coach.
If youâve been watching MLB games of late, you will have seen or heard references to a new pitch that seems to have taken hold. Actually, itâs an old pitch. As Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle notes:
Nice to see the so-called âsweeperâ pitch absorb more ridicule from ex-players who realize itâs an analytics-created fallacy. âItâs not a âsweeper,â thatâs a slider,â Dave Stewart said on the Aâs postgame show Thursday. âI sweep my floors with that thing, I donât bring it into a baseball game. I canât see any pitcher, in his bullpen between starts, working on throwing a flat breaking ball. When that pitch doesnât have some depth to it, it gets hit pretty good. Itâs a mistake thatâs made, and that thing just stays up in the strike zone.â
More from Jenkins on the, uhh, âsweeperâ:
Mike Krukow was onto the ruse early, calling it a âhighschool Harry curve,â and Giants broadcast partner Duane Kuiper is equally unimpressed. Contacted via text, Kuiper responded, âIâve never said âsweeperâ in my life.â
Krukow and Kuiper, both former major leaguers, work together on the San Francisco Giantsâ TV crew, and they are terrific.
Victor Wembanyama was the No. 1 selection in Thursdayâs NBA draft, taken by the San Antonio Spurs who will sign him to a four-year contract that will be worth somewhere around US$54.4 million. . . . QB Bryce Young, who was taken by the Carolina Panthers with the first pick of the NFLâs 2023 draft, will end up with a $38-million deal. . . . Allan Walsh, a prominent player agent, tweeted this on Friday: âThe NHLâs No. 1 overall pick will have his three-year entry-level contract capped at a signing bonus of $95,000 per year, salary capped at $855,000 per year and difficult to attain performance bonuses capped at $1,000,000 per year (all minus 6 per cent escrow).â . . . Hey, folks, now you know why the NHL owners are so in love with Gary Bettman, their commissioner.
THE COACHING GAME:
Ryan Craig is the new head coach of the Henderson Silver Knights, the AHL affiliate of the NHLâs Vegas Golden Knights. Craig 42, was an assistant coach with the Golden Knights since the teamâs first season (2017-18). . . . He played five seasons (1998-2003) with the WHLâs Brandon Wheat Kings while Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon was the owner and GM. . . . Craig replaces Manny Viveiros, whose contract wasnât renewed after three seasons. . . .
Ryan Huska and Dan Lambert are back together, this time on the coaching staff of the NHLâs Calgary Flames. Huska is the Flamesâ new head coach. Lambert was named an assistant coach on Friday, after having been dropped by the Nashville Predators. He had been with the Predators for four seasons. . . . Lambert worked as an assistant under Huska for three seasons (2011-14) with the Kelowna Rockets. Lambert took over as head coach after Huska joined the Flames organization as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, then the Adirondack Flames.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
The Victoria Royals have acquired F Grady Lane, 20, from the Spokane Chiefs, in return for an eighth-round selection in the WHLâs 2025 draft. Lane had six goals and six assists in 66 games with the Chiefs last season. In four seasons there, he totalled eight goals and 15 assists in 129 games. . . . At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, Lane adds some grit to the Royalsâ lineup. Earlier, the Royals acquired Justin Lies, another gritty 20-year-old, from the Saskatoon Blades. . . .
Two skaters who played out their 20-year-old seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings are off to Italy. F Calder Anderson and F Nolan Ritchie, both of whom are from Brandon, have signed with HC Merano of the Alps Hockey League. . . . Anderson played 98 games over three seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors before putting up 50 points, 16 of them goals, in 65 games with the Wheat Kings last season. . . . Ritchie had 70 points, 27 of them goals, in 67 games in 2022-23, after putting up 76 points, including 33 goals, in 66 games in 2021-22. After the Wheat Kingsâ 2022-23 season ended, Ritchie got into five regular-season and six playoff games with the ECHLâs Utah Grizzlies, totalling two goals and three assists. . . . HC Meranoâs head coach is Tom Coolen, who is prepping for his first season there. He is a veteran of the Canadian university game, having coached at Acadia U and the U of New Brunswick. He also spent two seasons with the QMJHLâs Moncton Wildcats before heading to Europe in 2001. . . .
The Vancouver Giants are looking for an equipment manager after Brodie St. Jacques left to join the NHLâs Vancouver Canucks. . . . He had been with the Giants for two seasons. . . .
Vukie Mpofu, who played one full season (2013-14) with the Red Deer Rebels, has been hired by the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins as director of hockey operations and legal affairs. Among his responsibilities will be contract negotiations and salary cap issues. . . . He had been with the Los Angeles Kings for the past two seasons. . . .
Serge Beausoleil is the new general manager of the QMJHLâs Gatineau Olympiques. Beausoleil, 56, signed a five-year contract. He had been with the Rimouski Oceanic for 12 seasons (2011-23) â three as head coach and the past nine as GM/head coach.
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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paulâs 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
ââ
Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – KidneyÂ
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
the second period was eight minutes old en route to an 8-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . That allowed the Ice, who finished atop the WHLâs regular-season standings, to win the Eastern Conference semifinal, 4-2. They will open at home against the winner of tonightâs Game 7 between the Red Deer Rebels and host Saskatoon Blades. . . . Last night, the Ice scored two first-period goals 51 seconds apart and took it from there. F Zack Ostapchuk (7) scored at 10:49 and F Vladislav Shilo (3) counted at 11:40. . . . Winnipeg really took control on four straight second-period goals â from F Connor McClennon (7, 8), D Graham Sward (2) and F Conor Geekie (5). . . . Geekie (6) and F Evan Friesen (3) had the Iceâs other goals. . . . D Denton Mateychuk (3) and F Jagger Firkus (10) had PP goals for the Warriors. . . . Firkus is tied for the playoff lead in goals and points (21). . . . Shilo and Sward each had two assists and Geekie had one for three-point nights. . . . Moose Jaw was 2-for-2 on the PP; Winnipeg was 0-for-1. . . . G Daniel Hauser stopped 25 shots in earning the victory.
TAKING NOTE 