well hello there

Saskatoon has been an interesting city of late when it comes to the league. Brayden Schenn made his debut on Saturday after the two player four draft pick trade for him and another player at the trade deadline on January 11 with an assist. At the same game a 34 year old man was arrested trying to steal the banner which honours Blades great Bernie Ferderko. He has been charged with theft under $5000, as a matter of fact he should have been charged with public endangerment as well as the catwalk those banners reside upon are 52' above the ice. Had he slipped and fell or anything in his pockets slipped and fell it would have fell on a spectator with risk of serious injury at best and possibly worse. Regardless I think his lawyer might have some grounds to get him an absolute discharge on being a drunken ass clown...

Also out of Saskatoon is the fact Lorne Molleken one of the straightest shooters in the league is approaching a career milestone of 500 victories as a head coach. Mooner as he is commonly known is someone who will look you in the eye tell you how it is whether he is pleased with you or not and if he was not pleased it will not bother him the next day. Coach Molleken is something that is sorrowfully lacking in the game of hockey in junior and the pros, a real straight shooter. I am not sure if people do not have thick enough skins to hear it how it is but he will tell you how it is.

I think a testament to his coaching is the Hamilton Bulldogs team he coached in the 90's that produced such character players as Ryan Smyth and George Laraques. Early last year staff from Copps Coliseum were in Saskatoon on other business and ran into Mr. Molleken and for them the highlight of the trip was not the fact finding they undertook but getting to catch up with an all around great guy as they called him...

Cory Wolfe has a great article on this accomplishment right here. As it stands as of this writing Lorne might be at 500 by the time the final whistle sounds in Edmonton tomorrow.

Over the weekend much was made about the Vancouver Giants training staff having a brain fart and forgetting to put one thing on the bus... THEIR JERSEYS... In defense of the training staff the players load the bus and is usually part of the rookie, second year player duties to load the bus. I would hate to see what the players were fined for this grievous mistake especially since Coach Hay has now come out and admitted how they were publicly embarrassed by the Giants having to do this. I did not see any thanks in any way shape or form to the Kamloops Blazers for helping them out. Knowing the code amongst trainers it really was nothing and the Blazers will be treated like kings next time they visit Van-City...

TONIGHT

Saskatoon @ Calgary

Brandon @ Lethbridge

Medicine Hat 4 Regina 3 FINAL

Moose Jaw 4 Swift Current 3 FINAL

TOMORROW

Saskatoon @ Edmonton

Brandon @ Kootenay

Chilliwack @ Portland

Medicine Hat @ Prince Albert

Kamloops @ Prince George

Lethbridge @ Red Deer

Everett @ Spokane

Janaury 13-More Kamloops fallout and last night's action

LAST NIGHT's ACTION
Prince George 5 Chilliwack 2
In B.C. Division action Chilliwack start goalie James Priestner was relieved midway through the third period after allowing all five Prince George goals.

Kootenay 5 Edmonton 2
The Oil Kings titled this game as "Hockey Hooky" and played the game at 11:30am so that local students could attend. Despite being outshot Kootenay prevailed with Max Reinhart leading the way with 2 goals and 2 assists.

Calgary 4 Lethbridge 3 (final in a shootout)
The standout in this game was the difference in shots in that Calgary peppered Lethbridge goalie Brandon Anderson with 38 shots while Lethbridge returmed 23.

Red Deer 3 Moose Jaw 0
Saskatoon native Darcy Kuemper registered his seventh shut out of the season for Red Deer as they blanked the Warriors in Moose Jaw.

Spokane 4 Portland 3
Portland made things interesting by scoring two goals less than a minute apart in the third period to nearly tie the game. Portland also pulled goallie Mac Carruth for the extra attacker with at 18:41 mark of the third period to try and tie the game only to fall short.

Prince Albert 8 Brandon 4
Solana Beach, California native Jonathan Parker had five points for the Raiders as he scored three goals and two assists. Brandon lost on back to back nights having falling to Eastern Conference leading Blades the night before in Saskatoon.

Regina 4 Saskatoon 3 (final in a shootout)
The story in this game was the fact the Saskatoon Blades threw everything at Pats rookie netminder Matt Hewitt except for the team bus. Hewitt faced 62 shots throughout the game to take it to overtime and eventually the shoot out.

Medicine Hat 4 Kamloops 1
The story in this game was the top two scorers in the league were meeting in head to head action. Medicine Hat's Linden Vey was trailing Kamloop's Brenden Ranford by one point heading into the game. By the time action had concluded in Kamloops Vey had taken over the scoring lead by one point. Ranford was held pointless and Linden Vey had two points.

TONIGHT'S ACTION
no games scheduled

Alan Caldwell has a comprehensive breakdown of the roster situation in the WHL on his blog Small Thoughts at Large as well as a breakdown of what the goalies on each team has been facing shots wise.

Gregg Drinnan also has some postings on the resolution to the Kamloops situation on his blog Taking Note as well as a more comprehensive review of last night's action.

Cory Wolfe from the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix takes a critical look and factual look at the Kamloops situation which is linked on Gregg Drinnan's blog but deserves special note for the thorough nature of it.

I do find it a little reprehensible that radio personalities like Rod Pedersen and Jon Keen used the Kamloops situation as an opportunity to tee off on Gregg Drinnan. I could start a vitrolic dialogue about both radio personalities but find it is not necessary. People are often fooled that these two and others like them are journalists which I can assure you they are not. Rod Pedersen was one who used his personal blog to convince readers that he was not asked back as the Regina Pats voice when in reality he quit at the 11th hour leaving the organization in a bind. Thankfully Dan Plaster has been a capable replacement for the team.

If Pedersen or Keen can produce a degree from an accredited journalism school proving they have been acknowledged as such I will retract my comments. Until then and I am not a radio personality or journalist to be throwing stones but not the principles of good journalism which is more than I can say about either of the former. In this world of new media anyone can have a blog and call it journalism but when you do not protect the principles of good journalism you are looking for attention.

If you compare the people who were supportive of Gregg Drinnan and the people who piled on because they can not separate personal and professional ethics it would be a decided 95-5% split. As stated yesterday thankfully this matter has now been put to bed and will be a footnote in the history of the WHL, now let their black eye start to heal if it can.

January 12-Kamloops Resolved

LAST NIGHT'S ACTION

Saskatoon 5 Brandon 4 (in the shootout)

Tri-City 7 Seattle 1

Vancouver 5 Prince George 2

TODAY'S ACTION

Prince George @ Chilliwack

Kootenay @ Edmonton-This was played during the day so students could attend the game and started at 11:30am

Calgary @ Lethbridge

Red Deer @ Moose Jaw

Spokane @ Portland

Brandon @ Prince Albert-Short travel and impressive game in Saskatoon last night might mean trouble for P.A.

Saskatoon @ Regina-Still Brayden Schenn for the Blades

Medicine Hat @ Kamloops- This game features the two leading scorers in the WHL currently

KAMLOOPS SITUATION

Well the WHL, Kamloops Blazers and Kamloops Daily News met and came to a conclusion of Sport Editors Gregg Drinnan's ban. The meeting took two hours and Drinnan was reinstated without conditions. Cam Fortems of the Kamloops Daily News recaps what occurred right here.

Kamloops Daily News video on YouTube in which WHL commissioner Ron Robison is interviewed by reporter Cam Fortems following the meeting that took place in the Kamloops Daily News’ boardroom on Tuesday. At the end you can see Blazers owner Tom Gagliardi try to avoid comment on the matter.

The reinstatement came after the story was featured in USA Today by Tim Shoults and that can be read here.

Twitter was also active with many people thankful that this situation has come to an end. Whether that end is peaceful or not is still up for debate.

One disturbing quote that keeps appearing is the Blazers are pointing to this being a WHL initiative and the Blazers were simply complying with the leagues wishes. Ron Robison seems to have been the only person aware of the ban about to be placed and the league approving it. As seen by this trail in Kamloops This Week

Hopefully this is the end to what has amounted to a petty grudge towards Drinnan which has resulted in the WHL and the Blazers getting a big black eye that will not go away soon.

January 11-D-Day and the season continues

Trade Deadline
Well the world did not end yesterday with the WHL trade deadline. Gregg Drinnan has a comprehensive review of the 10 deals that happened before the deadline with 8 deals occurring the day of. You can find Gregg's analysis at Taking Note.

A scout from the SJHL once said that one of the smartest men in juniour hockey is Saskatchewan native and Brandon GM/Coach/owner Kelly McCrimmon, citing being at a select camp where Kelly was the only Brandon person present while the Regina Pats had over five scouts present. Compare their records over the past five years and you can see why he is given such high praise. Not to be outdone in the Brandon/Saskatoon swap Lorne Molleken, Jarrod Brodsky and Dough Molleken have found some diamonds in the rough like Sam Klassen in the short time Lorne has been back in Saskatoon. They have also not had overwhelming success with some bantam picks like Mitch Berg. Berg is also from the same Saskatoon born draft class as Jared Cowen, Jimmy Bubnick, Brayden Schenn and Carter Ashton so you can measure the disappointment of that.

What is the point of all of this? I would call the trade for Brayden Schenn a push and that each team is going to win. Saskatoon does well in listing undrafted players and won't miss the picks and Brandon has stocked the cupboard for the future. The Blades also increase ticket sales for the remainder of the 2010/2011 season and have a valuable asset for a lengthy playoff push with a hometown product.

I am sure Spokane and Kootenay both hope that Cody Eakin is also available to play in four days for the first outdoor game in WHL history. You can see the preparations at Avista Stadium live on the internet here. Of course the second game in WHL history will occur in February in Calgary when the Hitmen play the Regina Pats the day after the second outdoor game of the NHL season when the Flames face the Montreal Canadiens.

It does seems teams did pay a high price for some players and it not being a case of teams seeing the other one coming. There is still much speculation of what might have happened if the Regina Pats moved Colten Tuebert and Jordan Eberle last season at the deadline after Brent Parker kept the assets. Chad Lang made a minor deal yesterday but would he had made the deal if he was the GM last season instead of Parker?

Beyond the trade anarchy many teams made roster moves either releasing players or assigning them to the junior A loop which also had its trade deadline yesterday as well. In fact the only trade deadline left is for the NHL which will have much more fanfare and hoopla then what was seen yesterday.

Kamloops
Alan Caldwell has a comprehensive review of the situation in Kamloops on his blog Small Thoughts at Large. That situation should be resolved today when the WHL, Kamloops Blazers and Kamloops Daily News meet. Also of note on Alan's blog is a review of who has what left for picks in the bantam draft this year.

Many think the 1995 draft of bantam players will be one of the deepest in years.

LAST NIGHT'S ACTION

no games scheduled

TONIGHT's ACTION

Brandon @ Saskatoon (Schenn will not be in the lineup and said on CBC Radio this morning he will not resume skating until at least next week)

Seattle @ Tri-City

Prince George @ Vancouver

January 10-Trade Deadline Deal

LAST NIGHT's ACTION

Medicine Hat 7 Swift Current 1

This game was to have been played Saturday but was cancelled because of road conditions and weather. Linden Vey had a goal and four assists and is now a point behind Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers for the league scoring lead.

Chilliwack 5 Seattle 4 (final in overtime)

Portland 5 Everett 4 (final in the shootout)

NO GAMES TONIGHT DUE TO THE TRADE DEADLINE

TOMORROW NIGHT

Brandon @ Saskatoon

Seattle @ Tri-City

Prince George @ Vancouver

Trade Deadline

A lot of ink has been spilled and thumbs working overtime on what is going to occur by 3pm Calgary time today with the WHL trade deadline.

Kootenay pulled a blockbuster trade with Swift Current to acquire Cody Eakin sending a total of 8 players and picks to Swift Current for the former Team Canada star and third round pick. Gregg Drinnan has a great breakdown of the deal as well as several others that occurred over the weekend on his blog Taking Note click here.

Brandon and Saskatoon have been back and forth about the Brayden Schenn sweepstakes. There has been much speculation and conjecture about if Schenn would be staying home in Saskatoon to finish what should be his final season in the WHL. The twitterverse was alive and well on Sunday night with some speculation including jokes that the Blades had sent team mascot Poke Check until a staff member pointed out the mascot had a no trade clause.

This tweet just landed from Cory Wolfe of the Star Phoenix "#SaskatoonBlades press conference in 13 minutes. Brayden Schenn is in the building. #WHL" Everyone was speculating if this deal will occur until the Blades called a 2pm press conference today. Which knowing the frequency that they call pressers it seems a lock that they have landed the hometown Team Canada star.

Regardless of the Eakin and if Schenn has been dealt to Saskatoon neither player will have an immediate effect on their future teams as they cam back from the World Juniors injured. The timetable for each is a minimum of two weeks possibly longer with Schenn's shoulder injury.

Two hours until the deadline and we will tweet and keep things updated as much as possible. As well a breakdown of the NHL Central Scouting Rankings which really do not mean a lot until you get to compare them on draft day in the NHL...

KAMLOOPS

Tomorrow the WHL, Kamloops Blazers and Kamloops Daily News meet to resolve or continue the situation where the Blazers have banned access Blazers personnel & players to Sports Editor Gregg Drinnan. This should have been resolved long before this but for some reason it has continued to this date.

January 9

Sometimes life and mother nature get in the way of updating a blog...

KAMLOOPS

This siege has not ended and Gregg Drinnan is still banned from speaking with anyone associated with the Kamloops Blazers and this story has now appeared on Spike TV's website and Fark.Com The WHL continues to allow this to happen and continues to be dragged through the mud...

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Medicine Hat and Swift Current will face each other tonight instead of last night because of weather conditions and road concerns. The weather has really affected southern Alberta with a below seasonal temperature and sever snowfall warnings in many areas. Having driven through many an Alberta blizzard it is best they did put the game of until 6pm Medicine Hat time.

The action last night in the WHL seemed like a goalies night off as five teams scored more than five goals in their contests.

TRADE DEADLINE

Action is already heating up and we will see what this year's trade deadline holds. Many are speculating that Brayden Schenn could end up in his hometown of Saskatoon to finish his career as a Blade and much more. We will try and follow the trade circus as it occurs and post what we find out and have some in depth analysis after the conclusion of silly season.

TONIGHT

Swift Current @ Medicine Hat

Seattle @ Chilliwack

Everett @ Portland

LAST NIGHT

Edmonton 7 Regina 1

Kelowna 8 Kamloops 1

Red Deer 6 Kootenay 1

Portland 2 Seattle 1

Prince Albert 3 Brandon 2 Final SO

Prince George 7 Vancouver 5

Spokane 4 Everett 2

Tri-City 9 Lethbridge 4

January 7

Last Night's Action

Moose Jaw 4 Kelowna 2

Swift Current 3 Calgary 2

Tonight's Action

Calgary @ Brandon

Tri-City @ Everett

Chilliwack @ Kamloops

Moose Jaw @ Kootenay

Saskatoon @ Prince Albert

Vancouver @ Prince George

Regina @ Red Deer

Kelowna @ Seattle

Lethbridge @ Spokane

Medicine Hat @ Swift Current

Kamloops
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe & Mail has weighed in on the situation. Given that Mr. Dowbiggin appears on numerous national radio and television programs it would not surprise me if he weighed in there as well.

Globe & Mail Article

CBC Radio's As It Happens interviewed Kamloops Daily News editor Mel Rothensburger. (it takes awhile to load)

This snowball is rolling down hill and sadly the league is getting the wrong kind of coverage. Kamloops This Week had an interesting take on this story as well.

It is grievous the league would support this according to this story. With four more days until the various parties meet this can only build and build which is regrettable.