Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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

Thursday, January 13, 2011

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.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

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

Monday, January 10, 2011

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.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

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...

---

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

Friday, January 7, 2011

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.


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.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Juniors & Kamloops

Well the World Juniors have come to a close so the players from the WHL who were part of Team USA and Team Canada as well as the Ryan Huska, head coach of Kelowna will be returning to their teams. I am sure if any of the players were asked they would admit they did not achieve the results they wanted. The predicted Gold Medal game was actually played for bronze and Canada met a big Russian bear in the final.

Now that the Juniors are done thoughts in the WHL will be on the trade deadline and one of the biggest carrots at the end of the stick is tournament MVP Brayden Schenn of the Brandon Wheat Kings. He has barely been with the Wheaties all season with the selection camp, this tournament and the game of chess the Los Angeles Kings played with him and his pro status to start the season. Regardless this tournament has raised his value to head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon for a trade to a degree that can not be explained. Whether McCrimmon decides to pull the trigger is another matter all together he may decide to stay the course like Brent Parker did last year with Jordan Eberle. If Brandon who is having what could be called a hangover season after hosting the Memorial Cup decides to make this move Schenn will gather them quite a few current and future assets. The tandem of Scott Glennie and Brayden Schenn has been a memorable one for the past few seasons so Kelly may stay the course and hope they turn it around.

One thing that I think was missing from the World Junior commentary was the fact that Brayden Schenn, Carter Ashton and Jared Cowen were all teammates before with the Saskatoon Contacts. In fact the Hockey News predicted that five players from the team that year would end up being first round draft picks in the NHL. As I can not recall those other two players, I believe one was Jimmy Bubnick with the Calgary Hitmen but can not say with accuracy. Regardless the Hockey News is hitting .600 with the players they profiled so many years ago. This also points to the quality program that the Contacts have in place and at last look they are in third place in the Saskatchewan Midget Triple A Hockey League and are only 3 points out of first. This makes you wonder if the Contacts would have received a special thank you from Hockey Canada if Canada’s results would have been different.

THE KAMLOOPS INCIDENT
Not to be lost in the World Junior hoopla is the fact this stand by the Kamloops Blazers is still continuing. Some of the developments yesterday include Shane Doan appearing on the Fan 590 in Toronto as part of Greg Brady’s show as well as the Editor of the Kamloops Daily News Mel Rothenburger to discuss this matter. Greg also hosted Shane Doan on Hockey Central prior to Mel’s appearance and both clips are provided… Shane Doan is considered one of the nice guys in Canadian Hockey like Jarome Iginla but after hearing the clip it sounds like he was drinking the Kool-Aid… Most of his claims are not based in fact and might lead to some asking what kind of information he, Iginla, Sydor and Recchi are being given?








Shane Doan (Editted to get to the subject, courtesy Fan 590) (it takes awhile to load)







Mel Rothensburger (Editted to get to the subject, courtesy Fan 590) (it takes awhile to load)

As well rival publisher Kamloops This Week Editor Christopher Foulds has posted his thoughts on the Kamloops Situation you can see them here.

In terms of good journalistic practices Kamloops has made a local story into a regional one and now a national/international story as even Chris Botta from New York is following this…

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

January 5, 2011

Last night
Prince Albert 6 Brandon 5
Moose Jaw 4 Kamloops 2
Medicine Hat 5 Edmonton 2
Saskatoon 5 Calgary 0
Tri-City 8 Seattle 2

Last night Gregg Drinnan was trending on Twitter, why you may ask? Right before the Christmas break the Kamloops Blazers organization delivered a letter to the Kamloops Daily News informing them that Mr. Drinnan would no longer have access to anyone from their organization. This is a violation of the media policy established by the WHL. The Kamloops Daily News posted an editorial in response to this ban that was linked here yesterday.

The WHL released this statement:
WHL Statement In Regards to Gregg Drinnan and the Kamloops Daily News

KAMLOOPS -- In regards to the matter between the Kamloops Daily News, Kamloops Blazers and Western Hockey League regarding their reporter access to Blazer personnel; the WHL has scheduled an in-person meeting for Tuesday, January 11th in Kamloops for the purpose of reaching a resolution on this matter. The Kamloops Daily News’ CHL media credentials continue to provide access to the Interior Savings Centre, Kamloops Blazers practices and any Kamloops Blazers or WHL game.

- Kamloops Blazers Hockey Club

**The Blazers have not spoken with Kamloops Daily News sports reporter Gregg Drinnan for the past two games due to what the team calls "ongoing negative reporting". The newspaper has defended Drinnan. It will be interesting to see what the resolution is.

Dub this Week can not find the original statement and has taken this from Rod Pederson's blog and can not speak to the editting that he may have done to the statement.

Since this as well there has been a huge backlash on Twitter as reported here yesterday. Since Dub This Week posted the first two media people speaking up which were Terry Jones (Edmonton Sun) and Kevin Jesus (Global Saskatoon the following have tweeted and likely many more: Rod Pedersen (CKRM Regina), Sara Orlesky (TSN), Ryan Rishaug (TSN & Blazer alumni), Steve Simmons (Toronto Sun and TSN Reporters), Jeff Marek (CBC Sports), Esther Madziya (CJOC Lethbridge), Cory Wolfe (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix) and John MacKinnon (Edmonton Journal) to name a few.

Some of those comments have included:
"You want good press #kamloopsblazers. How's your decision to ban Gregg Drinnan workin' for ya? He's one of the best in the biz #epicfail"

"One of my fav junior hockey writers @gdrinnan (Gregg Drinnan) got Botta'd by @blazerhockey. Ridiculous move."

"#kamloopsblazers should be embarrassed by their decision to ban Greg Drinnan. It is not the job of the media to serve as cheerleaders."

"WHL's Kamloops Blazers' banning beat writer Greg Drinnan is desperate and outrageous. Sadly, the tactic is tempting in new media world."

"The owners of Kamloops Blazers include:Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi & Darryl Sydor. They should be embarrassed by banning a scribe"

The people who have tweeted this can be found on Twitter can be found online but will not be named in fear they maybe banned as well...

Many blogs have been lit up with comments on this topic as well including Rod Pedersen's where Mr. Drinnan was the sports editor in Regina as well as Mitchell Blair (Regina, his post), Jon Keen (Blazers commentator), and Greg Harder (Leader-Post)

Apparently the WHL is sitting on their hands about this and will not render a decision until January 11, 2011. Is this because Mr. Gagliardi the principle owner in the Blazers is also a title sponsor of the league with his Sandman Hotel Chain or because they have no idea on how to handle the media.

In a gate driven hockey league why would they waste time like this in not rendering a decision that their policy already ascribes a decision to? If the local media is providing coverage of the product whether positive or negative isn't just having that coverage better than nothing?

From reports this blog has received the league wasn't even subscribing to the whole new media concept of Facebook and Twitter less than a year ago...

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Random tweets on the Kamloops item

Some samplings of the editorial link outrage on Twitter posted earlier today.

This third tweet from Terry Jones from the Edmonton Sun @sunterryjones

"Hope Drinnan has a pro as his publisher. Hope rest of Kamloops media has guts to know what they must do next." January 4, 15:28

This second tweet from Terry Jones from the Edmonton Sun @sunterryjones

"Drinnan, you should know, is one of most respected of a junior hockey writers. He's a pro." January 4, 15:20

This tweet from Kevin Jesus from Global Sports in Saskatoon @GlobalJesus

"Disappointing to see the Kamloops Blazers ban Gregg Drinnan from covering the team until he writes more "positive" stories. Brutal. #WHL" January 4, 15:18

This tweet from Terry Jones from the Edmonton Sun @sunterryjones

"Gregg Drinnan banned from covering the Kamloops Blazers until he becomes more positive. I'm positive idiot at Blazers will regret that." January 4, 15:12

Happy New Year

Things are starting to settle down now in the league now that we are out of the holiday season, the hockey tournaments in Winnipeg for the Under 17s and Buffalo for the World Juniors are drawing to a close.

The results in Winnipeg mean that some Dub teams will get some more players back immediately with more to follow from Buffalo after the final two games tomorrow. All of the relegation games will be completed today which means the following players could be rejoining their teams as early as tomorrow:

Antonin HONEJSEK, Moose Jaw Warriors
Roman HORAK, Chilliwack Bruins
Marek HRBAS, Edmonton Oil Kings
David MUSIL, Vancouver Giants
Robin SOUDEK, Chilliwack Bruins
Rasmus RISSANEN, Everett Silvertips
Marcel NOEBELS, Seattle Thunderbirds
Bernhard KEIL, Kamloops Blazers
Andreas STENE, Kelowna Rockets
Sven BARTSCHI, Portland Winterhawks
Nino NIEDERREITER, Portland Winterhawks
Juraj HOLLY, Calgary Hitmen
Dalibor BORTNAK, Kamloops Blazers
Martin MARINCIN, Prince George Cougars
Andrej KUDRNA, Red Deer Rebels

That is unless their WHL team would like to give them some time off to rest or if they were injured during the tournament and played through the injuries and some rehab/rest.

The only other players missing from their teams for longer will be the Team Canada and USA Hockey players and should be available after January 5.

Interesting editorial on Taking Note that can be found here. This should be resolved as soon as possible Mr. Drinnan is an authority on the league and it's history. Dub This Week's take on this is that it is funny they banned the print media when their radio commentator has been saying more negative things in his blog. Violating league policy because someone used free speech?!?

GAMES TONIGHT:
Prince Albert @ Brandon
Moose Jaw @ Kamloops
Edmonton @ Medicine Hat
Calgary @ Saskatoon
Seattle @ Tri-City

NO GAMES SCHEDULED JANUARY 5, 2010