Cup run would cost season ticket holders $17,000 for two reds

By Greg Douglas, Vancouver Sun

April 2, 2011

SCENE & HEARD: Another reminder that everything is a-OK in Canuck Nation comes with the reaction from season ticket holders who received their playoff packages in the mail earlier this week. Two red seats -not club seats -will cost $17,000 should the Canucks go the distance. And the consensus among those prepared to pay the price seems to be: "Hey, we've waited 40 years for this. Bring it on!" The mission that can no longer be considered impossible in Vancouver begins April 13 with the last possible date for a seventh and deciding Stanley Cup final game logged in for Monday, June 13 . An annual signal that NHL playoffs are on the horizon comes with the conclusion of the Canucks Alumni season with their wrapup practice at 8 Rinks. Two of the best forwards on the ice Wednesday were former NHL goaltenders Kirk McLean and Bill Ranford.

HERE 'N' THERE: Vancouver Giants principal owner Ron Toigo didn't have a lot of time to contemplate his hockey club's quick exit from WHL playoffs Wednesday. Toigo and Michael Bublé's manager Bruce Allen were at the mega-star's wedding in Buenos Aires Thursday. Buble is part of the Giants ownership group and is also involved with Toigo and Allen in the Tsawwassen Springs golf and housing development . Paul Dal Monte's impressive term with the Canucks as director of brand management has been recognized by the Ottawa Senators. Dal Monte played a key leadership role in helping develop the Canucks' 40th anniversary initiatives and will lend his advisory talents to the Senators' 20th anniversary plans for the 2011-'12 season.

SHORT HOPS: The British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton will be a showcase of stars during the July 22 induction ceremonies. Executive director Bruce Judd has been enjoying the task of inviting previous inductees with news they will all be receiving NHL-style championship rings as commemorative souvenirs. "The idea struck me when I was at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto last November," Judd says. "Fortunately we have great sponsorship support from the likes of Jim Treliving and George Melville [Boston Pizza]. Their response to the idea of ring presentations in July was: 'go for it.' " END ZONE: TSN Radio 1050 launches April 13 in Toronto and a former Team 1040 host in Vancouver is a big part of the initial splash. James Cybulski will host a three-hour afternoon drive show. Has anyone noticed News 1130 is referencing "Sportsnet Radio" as the leadin to their twice-hourly sports reports? Canada's all-sports television networks -TSN and Rogers Sportsnet -are engaged as willing warriors in the radio industry as well.

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© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

10 shining moments

From Stanley Cup runs to the Miracle Mile and the Olympics, we count down the top 10 moments in Vancouver sports history

By Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun

April 1, 2011

Delicate of build (125 pounds) and hardly known outside of Canada, Vancouver’s Percy Williams improbably held the title of “world’s fastest human” after winning the 100-metre dash at the Amsterdam Summer Olympics.

Photograph by: Handout, Vancouver Sun files

It's a given that the top-10 list of Vancouver's most memorable sports moments will draw critics, as much for the omissions as the fact that the 1915 Vancouver Millionaires — the city's only Stanley Cup-winning team (so far) — barely made the final cut.

"That's incredible," exclaimed Jason Beck, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame curator who reviewed The Vancouver Sun's top-10 picks. "It must be a strong list when you've got a Stanley Cup winning team at No. 10. The top three — you won't get much argument there."

The Millionaires were a legendary team and a welcomed antidote to the madness going on in the trenches of Europe, as the Great War entered its second year. Still, their entire season was but 20 games, more of a sprint than the marathon odyssey modern NHL teams have to contend with and overcome today.

Speaking of odysseys, how could we have left out Rick Hansen, the wheelchair athlete who concluded a 40,000-km journey in the final stretch of his Man In Motion world tour at Oakridge shopping mall, on July 1, 1987? As it happens, I was there, with my wife, two toddlers and thousands of others, to applaud Hansen's remarkable passage and hear him pay tribute to his inspiration and predecessor, Terry Fox.

"I grew up in Abbotsford and I remember all the farm kids being packed in our cars and being trucked down to Highway 1 to watch him," Beck remembers. "He was a strong guy, with incredible arms — and he was in a wheelchair. His impact extended well beyond Vancouver. If there's an omission that's the most regrettable, that's the one."

Honourable mentions might include figure skater Karen Magnussen, swimmer Elaine Tanner, named Canada's top athlete of 1966, weightlifter Doug Hepburn, the 2007 Memorial Cup champion Vancouver Giants, the Vancouver 86ers' record 46-game unbeaten streak, Jim Peters' collapse at the conclusion of the 1954 British Empire Games and the 1946 Vancouver Canucks.

"The '46 Canucks were the only Vancouver team ever win two championships in the same year — the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the US Amateur," Beck says. "In the latter, they beat the Boston Olympics, with a couple of Hall of Famers, Allan Stanley and Fern Flaman, in the lineup. They put in a challenge to Calgary for the Allan Cup and were turned down, for fear that they'd win that one, too."

Although she was from North Vancouver, Magnussen was given a giant civic birthday party at Pacific Coliseum after winning the world figure skating championship in 1973. "Internationally, she was known as Karen Magnussen from Vancouver, not North Vancouver," Beck says.

Hepburn, considered the world's strongest man after winning the 1953 world weightlifting title in the heavyweight division, was "a legend in his sport," Beck says. But he sank into anonymity, even in his hometown, since the obscure nature of weightlifting in Canada did not lend itself to creating immortals.

Peters, an Englishman and the best marathoner in the world, staggered into Empire Stadium in 1954, moments after the Bannister-Landy Miracle Mile on the final day of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and collapsed 200 yards short of the finish line. He had refused hydration on a scorching afternoon while trying to blow his own world record out of the water.

"For all the hype of Bannister-Landy, Peters' collapse is remembered as vividly," Beck says. "When the London Daily Telegram did a poll on the top Commonwealth Games moments in history, the top two happened in an hour of each other in Vancouver."

Future top 10 lists are likely to include more unforgettable vignettes from the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics: Paralympic skier Lauren Woolstencroft destroying the competition and winning five gold medals; Ashleigh McIvor winning the first Olympic ski cross gold for women; snowboardcross competitor Maëlle Ricker, the first female Canadian to win a gold medal at home; and moguls skier Alex Bilodeau's medal, the first Olympic gold for Canada after the country was shut out at Montreal in '76 and Calgary in '88.

Whether they happened in West Vancouver or Whistler, these were still the Vancouver Games, after all. And the delirious mood of national pride and brash patriotism that swirled through the downtown was something unlike city streets had ever seen before.

But for now, here's our top 10:


10) March 26, 1915

The Pile — a.k.a. Denman Arena, the largest artificial rink in the world at this time with 10,500 seats — is a rollicking scene of flying boaters and homburgs after the Vancouver Millionaires, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, crushed the National Hockey Association's Ottawa Senators 12-3 to sweep the best-of-five final.

It's the farthest west the Stanley Cup has travelled, and the first and only time the Cup has been won by a Vancouver team. Playing coach Frank Patrick, star rover Cyclone Taylor and goalie Hugh Lehman eventually gained election to the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with four others from the maroon-clad Millionaires — Barney Stanley, Frank Nighbor, Mickey MacKay and Si Griffis.


9) Nov. 27, 1994

After two unlikely playoff wins in Alberta, including a last-play touchdown toss from Danny McManus to Darren Flutie to defeat the 15-3 Calgary Stampeders, the Lions found themselves in the first Canada-U.S. Grey Cup game. Even B.C.'s American-born players felt it was to their duty to keep the Cup in the True North. Lui Passaglia's field goal with no time left made it happen, and sent BC Place into delirium. The 26-23 triumph over the Baltimore Stallions marked the last time the CFL championship game has been won by the host team.


8) July 30, 1928

Delicate of build (125 pounds) and hardly known outside of Canada, Vancouver's Percy Williams improbably held the title of "world's fastest human" after winning the 100-metre dash at the Amsterdam Summer Olympics. Two days later, he repeated in the 200 to take his second Olympic gold, something American star Charlie Paddock declared "seemed impossible for that skinny little kid to do."

Later, Williams rode in an open touring car with the B.C. premier down Granville Street in a homecoming parade witnessed by thousands. But Williams injured his leg at the 1930 British Empire Games and was never right again. He retired before reaching his 25th birthday.


7) Sept. 7, 1979

Vancouver was once a soccer town, an era when the Vancouver Whitecaps regularly eclipsed the Lions and Canucks, filled Empire Stadium and saw forward Carl Valentine voted the city's most popular athlete in a Sun poll. After defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1 before 51,000 at Giants Stadium, the NASL Soccer Bowl champions returned home to be greeted by more than 100,000 celebrants at Robson Square — the biggest reception ever accorded a Vancouver sports team.


6) May 8, 1982

After 30 years of dreaming, frustrating negotiations to build Pacific Coliseum and the search for somebody willing to come up with a $6-million entry fee (American interests stepped in when nobody in Vancouver would), the Canucks played their first game in the Stanley Cup finals, nearly 12 years after making their NHL debut in 1970. Towel Power could only carry coach Roger Neilson's plucky but underpowered crew so far, though. They were swept by the New York Islanders, and Vancouver had to wait another 12 years before making it this far again.


5) Nov. 28, 1964

After starting 1-15 in their inaugural year (1954) and achieving just one winning record in their first nine seasons, the B.C. Lions won the Grey Cup for the first time, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 34-24 at CNE Stadium behind the quarterbacking of Joe Kapp. Twenty thousand fans stood in the rain at Vancouver airport to greet them upon their return from Toronto. The Lions missed the playoffs in seven of their next eight seasons, however, and would go another 21 years before winning their second Cup. That's why the first was so special.


4) June 14, 1994

There was a we-can't-believe-this-is-happening feeling among Canucks fans 12 years earlier, when the team made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup finals, only to be swept. Pat Quinn's '94 team, led by Trevor Linden, Kirk McLean and Pavel Bure, was immensely more talented and took the New York Rangers to the limit before losing, 3-2, in the seventh game of the final. It was a spring of abundant excitement for Vancouver hockey fans — too much so, apparently, after the crushing loss to the Rangers touched off the infamous Robson Street riot.


3) Aug. 7, 1954

The first issue of Sports Illustrated featured a foot race in Canada — a duel between England's Roger Bannister and John Landy of Australia, the first and second milers ever to break the once-unthinkable four-minute barrier. Even with 46 years to go, it was billed the Mile of the Century. Bannister won the highlight of the British Empire Games after passing Landy, who looked the wrong way on the final turn. One of the galvanizing world events of its time, the moment is frozen in time on a statue outside the PNE Grounds.


2) July 2, 2003

Flag-waving British Columbians packed GM Place to cheer the news that Vancouver-Whistler had been awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics in a tight win over Pyeongchang, South Korea. But there were doubters, right from the beginning until the Games opened seven years later, who believed they would leave behind a litany of debt, higher taxes and transportation nightmares. Yet the Games proved to be a triumph of organization and execution, a magical interlude in which normally reticent Canadians expressed their patriotism in full flower. The hoped-for replay of Expo 86 proved to be even better than that.


1) Feb. 28, 2010

The only other event that might have left Canadians with a similar enduring trail of memory was Paul Henderson's climactic goal in the '72 Canada-Russia hockey series. Sidney Crosby's golden goal, which defeated the U.S. 3-2 in overtime on the final day of the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, left millions of our citizens remembering exactly where they were when the country won its record 14th gold medal. The sight of Crosby flinging his gloves into the air in jubilation before being dog-piled by his teammates is a cherished mental snapshot, never to be forgotten by the millions of Canadians who witnessed it.


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© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Bruins co-owner silenced by confidentiality agreement

Postmedia News

April 2, 2011

Moray Keith, a minority owner of the Chilliwack Bruins WHL hockey club, has been told to stop talking about the team moving to Victoria.

CKNW radio, quoting Keith, reported Thursday that the team has been sold to RG Properties and will likely play next season at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, which RG operates.

On Friday morning, Keith was scheduled to talk about the Bruins on CKNW, but sent a last-minute text to cancel, the Vancouver radio station said on its website.

"Jim, I was made aware last night of a confidentiality agreement that I am bound by. So I will not be able to make any live comment," Keith said in a message to CKNW sports director Jim Mullin.

Keith later sent a text to the Chilliwack Times newspaper, saying: "I am caught by a confidentiality agreement. But the [CK]NW comments seem pretty accurate."

RG Properties officials have refused to confirm or deny whether they have bought the Bruins.

The company owns the ECHL Salmon Kings, which currently play at Memorial Centre.

Keith and Jim Bond own a company that operates the Prospera Centre arena in Chilliwack, where the Bruins play.

They have said they would like to keep the team there, but will not try to block a sale by majority owners Brian Burke, Glen Sather and Darryl Porter.

In statement to the citizens of Chiliwack, Keith wrote that he and Bond "are working very hard to ensure there will be hockey in Chilliwack. I am sure there are a lot of fans who are very frustrated. We are working to correct that."

Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames is trying to keep the team in the city.

Hames told the Chilliwack Times that of multiple offers to buy the team, the only bid ever seriously considered was the one that would see the team move to Victoria.

He said Sather, Burke and Porter have ignored a competing bid by Keith and Bond to keep the franchise at Prospera Centre.

"I was told by [Bruins co-owner] Brian Burke that [Keith and Bond's] offer would not be considered and that the only offer they are considering is an offer from Victoria," Hames told the Times via Facebook.

That contradicted what Porter, Bruins president and co-owner, told the Times when he said that the owners were carefully wading through multiple offers to buy the club.

Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, has said that moving a team is the last resort and the preference is to keep the Bruins in Chilliwack. He refused to comment further.

The league's board of governors votes on the sale of every club. In 2005 it rejected a proposal by Porter, Sather and Burke to move the Tri-City Americans to Chilliwack. Instead, the league gave the trio an expansion franchise.

Now, Hames and other fans are hoping that the board of governors will take a similar stand on moving the Bruins to Victoria, especially in light of the bid by Keith to keep the team.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times

Hockey World

By Jim Matheson, edmontonjournal.com

April 2, 2011 9:40 PM

Anaheim Ducks fans have been pleading for months for Teemu Selanne to commit to at least one more NHL season in southern California. On Monday, the Finnish Flash became the first 40-year-old NHL player to record a three-goal, five-point game.

Photograph by: ROSE PALMISANO, MCTEASTERN CONFERENCE

Hindsight is 20-20

If you pumped Edmonton Oilers president Kevin Lowe full of truth serum, he would say he should have traded current Pittsburgh Penguins forward Mike Comrie to the Ducks in 2003 for the Anaheim first-round pick Corey Perry and a first-round choice the next year, rather than trying to get Anaheim GM Bryan Murray to also sweeten the deal by reportedly giving the Oilers over $2 million (what the Oilers had paid as part of Comrie’s signing bonus). Murray dug in his heels, so Lowe sent Comrie to Philadelphia for Jeff Woywitka, a first-round pick (they took Rob Schremp) and a third-rounder (they took Danny Syvret). Hindsight is always 20-20, but Perry, who could win the Rocket Richard Trophy this year, would obviously look awfully good with Taylor Hall and Co. now.


Celebrating 50 years in Jasper

DJ Bowen in Jasper has been working overtime to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Jasper Arena and he has the Oil Kings playing Prince George in an exhibition game there on Sept. 9. In 1961, the Oil Kings played the Edmonton Flyers to open the building. Glen Sather played for the Oil Kings that game and Doug Messier for the Flyers, and they’ll be hanging their jerseys in the arena to salute that long-ago game. Sather and Messier might not be there, but hopefully they can send video messages. They’re bringing in some of the players from those teams — Greg Pilling and Vince Downey have committed as ex Oil Kings and they might get Roger Dejordy who played for the Flyers that day. They’re having a banquet on Sept. 8 with the NHL’s icemaker Dan Craig as guest speaker.


This ’n that

- Referee Bill McCreary, 55, who did 15 Stanley Cup finals and three Olympic final games, worked his last NHL game Saturday in Washington, completing the circle. His first one was a Capitals game in 1984. McCreary, who spent the lockout building kitchen cabinets and might fall back on his carpentry skills now, was old school. Players could talk to him, unlike some of the new zebras who shoo players away. McCreary was talked into working one last year after shelving retirement plans, and the rule of thumb is they don’t work playoffs in their final season, so this is it, three games short of 300. There’s a huge hole at the top of the referee chain now with Kerry Fraser, Dan Marouelli, Don Koharski, Mick McGeough and Rob Shick also packing it in.

- Best bang for the buck in the NHL: New York Islanders Danish forward Frans Neilsen. Only $525,000 and seven short-handed goals. “He’s our best all-around player even though his stats (44 points) don’t necessarily show it,” said Islanders captain Doug Weight, who was behind the bench against the Rangers Thursday night, after shutting down his season.

- The New York Rangers are discovering what the Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes already knew. Wojtek Wolski, a healthy scratch in two of the last eight games as the Rangers scuffle to make the post-season, is talented but doesn’t have a motor that’s always revving. He’s gone 14 straight games without a goal, and would rather not play in tough areas to score.

- Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller is out, but it might not be a concussion from a Brian Rolston shot that smacked off his mask. It might be a bruised collarbone from a Dion Phaneuf ripper. They say it’s not serious, but can they get to the playoffs without him?

- Oil Kings defenceman Griffin Reinhart won’t be added for Canada’s world under-18 championship team in Germany because he’s still got a cast on his broken wrist and his game isn’t where it should be to play in the worlds, but forward Travis Ewanyk has a shot. He went against Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the Red Deer series. He’s a heart-and-soul kid and could be a second or third-round NHL draft in June. Some scouts say he might get more interest than teammate Michael St. Croix.

- The Toronto Maple Leafs are winning without Tomas Kaberle, but their power play has been awful in his absence, with only an 11.7-per-cent success rate.

- Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman figures he’s being unfairly painted the bad guy for his hard hit on Sidney Crosby into the end glass in early January. “It’s easy to point fingers, but I don’t think it was my hit that caused the problems. I’m not an overly physical player. I would make the same play again,” said Hedman, who believes Dave Steckel’s blindside wallop on Sidney on Jan. 1 was the blow that gave Crosby the concussion.

- Unless he bombs in the playoffs, goalie Dwayne Roloson can expect a contract offer from the Lightning before July 1. Maybe only a one-year deal for $2 million, but Roli and Anaheim Ducks’ Teemu Selanne are showing no signs of aging. Roli turns 41 in October. Tampa Bay may use hotshot farmhand Cedrick Desjardins as Roli’s backup next season. The only problem with Desjardins is that he reinjured his shoulder the other night on the farm and they may be worried about his durability.

- In case you’re wondering, Anson Carter is living in Atlanta now after founding the hip-hop record label Big Up Entertainment, but he hasn’t divorced himself from hockey. His name has come up as part of a group sniffing around to buy the Thrashers.

- We should give a plug to Leduc’s Mike Williamson, who’ll be coaching Canada’s world under-18 squad this month. “Hockey Canada opens their doors to give guys a chance. He’s a young guy and a good coach (with the Calgary Hitmen),” said Hockey Canada’s chief scout Kevin Prendergast, when scouting the Red Deer-Oil Kings playoff this week.


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WESTERN CONFERENCE

Renney on the Teemu bandwagon

Count Edmonton Oilers coach Tom Renney as being on Anaheim Ducks forward Teemu Selanne’s bandwagon, but when it came time to helping his sister-in-law with her playoff hockey pool a short time ago, he waffled. “She wanted to take Teemu and I told her, ‘You know playoffs are a little different (with tighter checking) and I’m not sure,’ so she went somewhere else. Surprised I haven’t heard from her yet. I’m sure she’s thinking, ‘You’re a hockey guy, right?,” laughed Renney, stunned at Selanne’s five-point night against Colorado this week. Renney says Selanne’s greatest attribute is his emotion.

“He still loves to play. That should be what it’s like for every great player winding down. He’ll go out on his terms. Some guys try to hang on, but Teemu can still skate and he’s got such great offensive instincts. He knows where to go.” Will he keep playing? “Getzy (Ryan Getzlaf) and I are working on him every day. We’re three-quarters of the way to getting him to come back. I think he can play another couple of years,” said Corey Perry. “This is a guy who comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face. I’ve learned a lot of things from Teemu.”


This ’n that

- Adam Larsson’s Skelleftea team is in the Swedish Elite League finals against Farjestads (Karlstad). Larsson, who only turned 18 in November, was playing 23 minutes a game on the back end for Skelleftea against Lulea in the semifinals. Farjestads has been carried by goalie Alexander Salak, who could be the backup in Chicago next year. The Blackhawks got Salak from the Florida Panthers in the Jack Skille-Michael Frolik trade this season.

- Jarret Stoll’s only miss in nine shootout attempts this year came against Boston goalie Tim Thomas. “Hit the crossbar,” said the Los Angeles Kings centre, who can’t fathom why he’s so deadly this year. He was only four for 13 before this remarkable stretch. He always shoots. No clever dekes. “They keep telling me to keep doing what I’m doing until they (goalies) stop it.” There was an interesting scenario on the first Los Angeles power play against the Oilers on Tuesday. Stoll took the right-side draw, then hustled back to play the right point with his big shot.

- The Oilers are apparently in the hunt for Swedish free-agent goalie Victor Fasth, 28, who starred for AIK this season. If so, where does that put Nikolai Khabibulin? He has two years left on his deal at $3.75 million per and they can’t buy him out because they signed him after he was 35. Fasth had a .945 save percentage in the playoffs after winning the goalie-of-the-year award in the Swedish Elite League. “Rose from nobody to superstar this season. Extremely fast, mentally strong, only weakness high shots on the stick side,” said one long-term Swedish league reporter. Only question I have: The Monster Jonas Gustavsson was supposed to be all-world coming out of Sweden, and he has struggled for the Toronto Maple Leafs the last two years. I’d feel better if Fasth was a Finnish goalie. Are there any bad ones? You can bet the Colorado Avalanche are sniffing around Fasth, too.

- T.J. Oshie, suspended with pay for two games this week for sleeping in and missing a St. Louis Blues practice, gave his paycheque (about $20,000 on his $850,000 salary) to two charities in St. Louis.

- Los Angeles play-by-play man Bob Miller and Oilers caller Rod Phillips have something in common: they’re the only guys who got to describe Wayne Gretzky in his prime. “That trade of Gretzky. No. 1 sports trade of all-time. People have said, ‘What about Babe Ruth?’ I say, ‘He was a pitcher (in Boston), not a home run hitter,” said Miller, who was in town for Phillips’ last game.

- Everybody is trumpeting Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in Red Deer, but scouts are also salivating over defenceman Mathew Dumba, who’ll be in the draft next June. “He could be the next Drew Doughty,” said a scout, who has watched prospects for the last 20 years. Dumba has great skating ability, wonderful lateral movement across the blue-line on the power play, and he has no fear with the puck. “Sometimes we have to rein him in a little bit,” said Rebels coach Jesse Wallin.

- They say you never know how valuable a guy is until he’s not there, and the Chicago Blackhawks miss centre Dave Bolland’s feisty demeanour and solid defensive work. Will he be back for the playoffs as he tries to clear the fog from his concussion? It doesn’t look good right now.

- Since the San Jose Sharks were whipped by the Oilers at The Tank on Jan. 13, they have lost four games in regulation in their last 32. Guess that was the wake-up call coach Todd McLellan was looking for.

- Oilers team president Kevin Lowe was in Kitchener on Friday, presumably to scout hard-skating Swedish winger Gabriel Landeskog. Yes, they could use a big winger, too. They have needs everywhere.

- Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk will be back today after missing seven games with a charley horse but now Niklas Kronwall is out with a sore shoulder. Will the injury parade ever end for the Red Wings?

- David Musil’s stock has dropped with the draft upcoming, but part of that is the Vancouver Giants don’t have much offence so the puck stays in their end a lot longer. He’s a little worn out. But Frank Musil’s son has a man’s body already and he doesn’t turn 18 until next month. Most feel he’ll go in the second half of Round 1. Maybe the Canucks will take him, since he’s in their backyard, or maybe he’d be a perfect defenceman for Detroit, who can afford to wait on him.

- Prince Albert Raiders centre Mark McNeill, who is definitely on the Oilers’ first-round radar with the Los Angeles Kings pick from the Dustin Penner trade, will be the focal point of Canada’s under-18 world team if the Raiders lose to the Saskatoon Blades. Most scouts feel he has more skill than Oilers draft pick Tyler Pitlick (Medicine Hat Tigers), but isn’t quite the heavy body Pitlick is. If the Blades fall, Hockey Canada wants defenceman Duncan Siemens, who could be a top 10-12 pick in June but he hurt his knee this week when he tried to check McNeill.


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SHORT SHIFTS

- Should the Colorado Avalanche put the top-three draft choice in play for either Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Bernier or Vancouver Canucks goalie Cory Schneider? Absolutely. I see the Kings being a better bet because they need top six forwards, especially wingers, and they could use Kitchener Rangers’ captain Gabriel Landeskog in the draft more than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Sean Couturier, although general manager Dean Lombardi is always reticent to give up his drafted players. The Kings could easily sweeten the pot to get the fast forward T.J. Galiardi from Colorado too. The Kings think Jonathan Quick is better than Bernier, and they could pick up a veteran backup over the summer such as Alex Auld, Ty Conklin, Mike Smith or Martin Gerber. Gerber is about to come back from whiplash on the Oklahoma City Barons roster.

- I know the defending Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks are missing Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland right now, but they were rested and had to score late and win in a shootout against a Columbus Blue Jackets team Friday that was missing their captain Rick Nash, the night after the Jackets lost in Washington. Joel Quenneville is a heck of a coach and Jonathan Toews is a great captain, but I don’t have a lot of confidence in Chicago going far in the playoffs — if they make it. This year’s Hawks struggle far too often to win games.

- The three New York area chapters (New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils) of the NHL Hockey Writers Association have decided to pass on voting for the NHL player awards as a show of support for the sharp, hard-working Chris Botta having his credentials taken away by the Islanders earlier this season. The Islanders sent out a statement saying this was hurting the possibility of their Michael Grabner being rookie-of-the-year or Frans Nielsen getting Selke consideration. Maybe so, but the Islanders did a stupid thing with Botta, one of the most respected bloggers in the business, because they didn’t like something he wrote. The NHL will have something to say on the matter, probably on Monday.

- If you’re a renegade team, do you make an offer sheet on the Kings’ Group 2 free agent defenceman Drew Doughty, who starred for Canada in the 2010 Olympics? Offer him $8 million a year for 10 years, and who cares if the compensation is two first-round draft picks, a second and a third? Or do you figure you’re wasting your time because the Kings will match it, no matter the price or term? The Kings have $48 million committed next year for 16 contracts and have to re-sign forwards Wayne Simmonds and Trevor Lewis, too. They likely will let Michal Handzus and Alexei Ponikarovsky walk as unrestricted free agents.

- Hockey Canada might be looking at London Knights bench-boss Dale Hunter to coach their world junior team for the tournament in Edmonton and Calgary this upcoming Christmas. Ryan Huska in Kelowna, who was Dave Cameron’s assistant last year in Buffalo, is also a possibility. Cameron, who’s coaching in Mississauga, the junior team that Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk owns, may yet find his way to Ottawa in some capacity.

- Oilers goalie prospect Olivier Roy, who just got signed to a three-year contract, had a nightmarish playoff for Acadie Bathhurt against Victoriaville. He was pulled from the first three games, giving up 12 goals against 46 shots. They went with backup Robert Steeves in the last game, and were eliminated in overtime. In today’s big-goalie game, Roy is fighting an uphill battle size-wise, at six feet and 170 pounds. As Chris Osgood said a few months back, “I don’t know if I’d have made the NHL today with all these six-foot-four, six-foot-five goalies.”

- Many people figure Washington Capitals defenceman John Carlson has had the dirty end of the stick in Calder Trophy talk, even though he’s on their first pair with Karl Alzner. Carlson has 32 points and is plus-18. Only sure thing: forwards Logan Couture and Jeff Skinner will be two of the three finalists for rookie of the year. “I’m shocked Couture is scoring so much at the NHL level after watching him in junior (in his best year he had 39 goals). Didn’t think he had it in him,” said one longtime amateur scout who didn’t have the San Jose Sharks centre rated in his top 20 in Couture’s draft year (ninth overall in 2007).

- Ryan Smyth, whose heart never left here, gave retired play-by-play man Rod Phillips a bottle of scotch as a thank-you before leaving town with the Kings Tuesday. Former Oilers video coach Brian Ross, now working in player development with Billy Moores, also stopped by the broadcast booth to bequeath a bottle of Phillips’ favourite stuff on his final night. Classy by both guys.

- Nobody is watching the Saskatoon-Prince Albert junior playoff more closely than the Los Angeles Kings, who would love an upset so they can bring in centre Brayden Schenn, the MVP of the world junior tournament. If Jarret Stoll hadn’t had such a good training camp, Schenn might have been kept this year in Los Angeles. The only question with bringing Schenn in now if the Blades lost would be his defensive play, but they need an offensive centre. Michal Handzus can’t be a No. 1 with Anze Kopitar out. He’s big enough, but too slow. He’s fine on the cycle but he doesn’t back anybody off on the rush. Defencemen just get up in his face.

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© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Blades ready for Raiders

P.A.'s scrappy play no surprise for Saskatoon

By Taylor Lambert, The StarPhoenix

April 2, 2011

This isn't the way it was supposed to be. When the Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders tangle tonight in Game 5 of their Western Hockey League playoff series, they will play knowing that regardless of the outcome, there will be at least one more game to play.

With the clubs tied at two games apiece in the best-of-seven series, some fans are wondering what's going on.

Wasn't this supposed to be a four-game sweep of David by Goliath?

"There might be some people (surprised), but we're not," said Blades coach-GM Lorne Molleken. "We know the playoffs present different challenges. Come (game time), we'll be ready for a new challenge."

Coming into the series as one of the top teams in the entire country, the Blades stuck to the supposed storyline for the start, winning the first two games at Credit Union Centre with gusto.

But when the teams travelled north to Prince Albert, things went astray, and now the Blades return home for Game 5 unexpectedly tied after losing 6-3 and 5-2 this week.

"It's been a series of momentum swings," said Molleken. "Certainly the two games in Prince Albert I thought their team played extremely well.

"We know we have to be better in all situations. We knew it was going to be a tough series, because they're a team that has played us tough in their rink all year long."

That's the one note that players and coaches all hit before Friday's practice: We knew this would be tough, even if you didn't.

"We knew P.A. was going to play us hard," said captain Teigan Zahn. "They've played well in their rink and we've played well in our rink."

So it's not unexpected?

"People may think of it that way, but P.A.'s been hot for almost two months now trying to make the playoffs," pointed out Zahn.

"We've got an opportunity here Saturday to get ahead of them."

That last comment might be most telling. Series between top-and eighth-seed teams are rarely close, and it's even more rare to have such an exceptionally deep and talented team as the Blades have assembled this year.

In other words, this wasn't supposed to be a series where they had to get ahead of the Raiders in Game 5.

But, since this is the situation the Bridge City Boys find themselves in, they have no choice but to look forward and ask themselves what needs to change.

"Everyone's gripping the sticks, everyone's feeling the pressure," said Jake Trask. "We just have to play our game and get back to the things that made us successful."

Molleken acknowledged that the big offensive guns haven't been firing quite like they once did.

"We feel our game plan is good. We just need to execute better," he said.

"The biggest thing right now is that we have to make sure our attitude and approach is (positive)."

Zahn agreed that the struggles were mostly mental, and keeping things simple and optimistic would help the team find its winning ways once more.

"We just have to be positive. We have to have the mindset that we can do this. We just have to play our game and not dwell on things that have happened in the past," he said.

"It's over and done with. Today's a new day."

BLADES BITS: Duncan Siemens went down during Game 4 after missing a hit on a Raiders player. He left the game and did not return. Molleken described him as having an "injury" and is considered a game-time decision.

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Rebels an example to Oil Kings

By CRASH CAMERON, Edmonton Sun

Last Updated: April 1, 2011 6:49pm

The Red Deer Rebels celebrate their victory and series win over the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rexall Place on Thursday. (Codie McLachlan, Edmonton Sun) This is exactly where the Red Deer Rebels were last year.

That doesn’t make it any easier to be an Edmonton Oil King at the moment. But it offers some hope.

Last season, the Rebels were swept in the first round of the WHL playoffs by the Saskatoon Blades. And became one of the top-5 teams in the WHL this season.

That’s not to say the Oil Kings will make that kind of leap. But there is a core here with promise.

This sweep was a case of two similar teams, one proving much better than the other, one proving that they learned from last season and were determined not to let it happen again. Of course, the Rebels were helped by the junior superstar talents of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

That tends to help a little.

As did his nine points in the four games. His four points in the first game topped the combined totals of the Oil Kings’ two top scorers on the season, Michael St. Croix and Dylan Wruck. It wasn’t from lack of effort. The Rebels got game offensively and defensively from their entire lineup and all-star goalie Darcy Kuemper played like he did all year.

By the way, Nugent-Hopkins had two points in his first playoff go-round.

“Red Deer deserved to win the series, obviously,” said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal.

“You know what they say: you have to lose before you win. It wasn’t like we were pushed around for four games.

“And with the group of guys we have coming back next year, I think they’re going to have a bitter taste in their mouths. They’re going to understand what playoffs are all about ... (but) it’s going to hurt for a few days.”

In fact, they may have been just right for the Rebels, just what they needed in the first round: a tough test, but over quickly.

“It’s easy to look at the scores — two 5-to-1 games and a four-game sweep — but it was a tighter series than it looked,” said Rebels’ bench boss Jesse Wallin.

“It was a series that I think makes your team better. It was hard fought and they didn’t give us anything.”

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