WHL campaign to conclude at end of regular
season
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| The Wheat Kings do their traditional head bump goal celebration. |
On Monday, the major junior circuit announced its 2020-21 campaign will officially come to an end at the conclusion of its abbreviated regular season. The decision was made due to ongoing challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which include navigating public health orders and restrictions on travel across international and provincial borders.
In the 2020-21 campaign, each team is playing a shortened 24-game regular season which is being held for developmental purposes. Due to some teams experiencing positive COVID-19 tests, nine out of 10 clubs in the B.C. and Central Division will play campaigns that are shorter than 24 games.
The Kelowna Rockets will play an even shorter season due to the fact they had nine games postponed after team activities were suspended due to a coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, the WHL announced only one of those contest will be made up meaning the Rockets will play a 16 game regular season.
The B.C. Division’s other four teams in the Kamloops Blazers, Prince George Cougars, Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals will all play 22-games each.
On Wednesday, the Calgary Hitmen were cleared to return to play after undergoing a 14-day isolation period and a halt of team activities due to a positive COVID-19 test. All members of the Hitmen cohort have tested negative for COVID-19 in the latest round of testing.
The Hitmen had six games postponed. After the WHL announced rescheduled games on Wednesday, the Hitmen learned they will be able to make up three of their lost games meaning they will play 21 regular season contests.
The Hitmen return to play Friday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Hurricanes will still get all 24 of their regular season games in.
The Edmonton Oil Kings, Medicine Hat Tigers and Red Deer Rebels will play 23 regular season games each.
The Tri-City Americans have been sidelined due to a positive COVID-19, and they have had five games postponed. No word has been mentioned on dates to make those games up, which means teams in the B.C. Division might not play a 24-game slate as well.
The WHL will still crown champions in each division.
For the East Division, that means the Brandon Wheat Kings, Saskatoon Blades and Winnipeg Ice are engaging in a final sprint for first place and the right to win the Subway Cup. Subway is sponsoring the East Division bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina and championship trophy that will be given to the first place team.
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| The Blades have enjoyed a number of wins in the Regina bubble. |
Currently, the Brandon Wheat Kings have the inside track to first place extending their current winning streak to five games with their 6-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday.
Nolan Ritchie scored twice for the Wheat Kings, while Lynden McCallum, Rylan Thiessen, Brett Hyland and Vincent Iorio all had singles. Matthew Ward replied with a single for the Broncos.
Ethan Kruger made 17 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings. Isaac Poulter turned away 27 shots to take the loss in goal for the Broncos (4-16-1).
The Wheat Kings top the East Division with a 16-3-2 record. Brandon will lock up first place if it wins its final three straight games.
The idle Saskatoon Blades, who have a 14-3-2-1 record, sit three points behind the Wheat Kings for top spot with one game in hand.
The Winnipeg Ice also sit three points behind the Wheat Kings after posting a 6-5 overtime victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday.
Jakin Smallwood netted the winner for the Ice at the 1:46 mark of the extra session. It was his second tally of the contest.
Peyton Krebs and Skyler Bruce each scored twice for the Ice.
Cade Hayes led the Warriors with a pair of goals and an assist. Riley Krane, Jagger Firkus and Daemon Hunt all had singles for Moose Jaw.
Brayden Yager picked up a pair of assists for the Warriors, while Krane had a helper to go with his goal.
Carl Stankowski made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Boston Bilous turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors (8-11-2).
The Ice improved to 15-5-1 with the win. They are playing their second campaign as the Winnipeg Ice after moving out of Cranbrook, B.C., following the 2018-19 campaign. The franchise was known as the Kootenay Ice, when it was located in Cranbrook.
The Blades have a game in hand on the Ice.
Saskatoon will face Winnipeg on Friday and go at it with Brandon on April 28.
The Regina Pats (8-9-2-1) Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders (7-10-2-1) will jockey for fourth, fifth and sixth place in the Division. The Broncos are locked into finish in the basement of the East Division.
Teams in the B.C. Division will play for the RE/MAX Cup sponsored championship trophy. Due to the fact teams in the B.C. and Central Divisions won’t play an equal amount of games, the WHL hasn’t announced how it plans to crown champions in those divisions.
The WHL also announced on Monday the season end WHL awards will recognize individual award winners from each division as opposed to the traditional celebration of conference-based award winners.
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| Peyton Krebs in action for the Ice franchise in November of 2018. |
While the WHL did valiant work to ensure its member teams got on the ice, the major circuit, which plays under the CHL umbrella, has to be thankful luck fell its way too.
On Tuesday, the OHL cancelled its entire 2020-21 campaign without being able to play a single game. The COVID-19 pandemic never subsided enough in Ontario to create a situation for the OHL to get back on the ice.
Desjardins recaptures Tigers career wins
record
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| Willie Desjardins works the Tigers bench in December of 2019. |
On Monday, the Tigers slipped past the visiting Red Deer Rebels 3-2 at Co-op Place. That victory marked the 376th career regular season win for Desjardins as the Tigers head coach. The Climax, Sask., product is also the team’s general manager.
Desjardins collected his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2002-10 and since returning to the team in 2019.
Desjardins surpassed the 375 wins put up by Shaun Clouston, who served as an assistant and then associate coach with Desjardins from 2003 to 2010. Desjardins previously held the Tigers career record for regular season coaching win before Clouston became the team’s head coach.
Clouston picked up his initial head coaching wins with the Tigers from 2008 to 2010, when Desjardins was away involved with coaching duties with Canada’s world junior team. Clouston picked up the bulk of his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2010 to 2019 along with becoming the team’s general manager from 2012 to 2019.
Clouston was released from the Tigers following the 2018-19 season to allow Desjardins to return to the roles of head coach and general manager. Clouston has served as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers since the split with the Tigers.
Desjardins’ career record with the Tigers sits at 376-198-64 with the third column accounting for ties, overtime losses and shootout losses. Clouston’s career record behind the Tigers bench is 375-241-46.
In the Tigers win on Monday over the Rebels, Medicine Hat never trailed in the contest getting singles from Ryan Chyzowski, Rhett Parsons and Oren Shtrom.
The Rebels replied with singles coming off the sticks of Dallon Melin and Chris Douglas.
Beckett Langkow made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers (12-3-0-1). Chase Coward turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Rebels (2-15-2).
“It’s been an honour to be part of such a great organization,” said Desjardins to Adam Jones of TigersHockey.com. “I’d like to thank (Tigers owners) Darrell and Brent Maser for their support.
“I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some great people over the years, and because of that, we’ve had some success. The players win the games. Without their hard work and determination, we wouldn’t be here.”
The Tigers return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings.
Marleau tops NHL career regular season games
list
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| A Patrick Marleau card. |
Taking the opening faceoff on right wing for the San Jose Sharks on Monday against the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas, Nevada, Marleau became the NHL’s all-time leader in career regular season games played at 1,768 when the puck dropped.
The Aneroid, Sask., product, who is playing in his 23rd NHL season, broke a record that was viewed at one time to be untouchable.
The previous mark of 1,767 career regular season games was held by the iconic “Mr. Hockey” in Gordie Howe, who was born in Floral, Sask., and raised in Saskatoon. The late Howe played 25 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971.
He helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.
Howe skated in one final NHL campaign in 1979-80 for the Hartford Whalers playing in all of the Whalers 80 regular season games turning 52-years-old near the end of that season. In his 1767 career NHL regular season games, Howe piled up 801 goals and 1,049 assists for 1,850 points.
On top of his time in the NHL, Howe played six campaigns in the now defunct World Hockey Association with the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers from 1973 to 1979. During those six seasons, Howe appeared in 419 regular season games posting 174 goals and 334 assists for 508 points.
He helped the Aeros win the Avco Cup as WHA champions in 1974 and 1975.
During the Sharks game on Monday, Marleau wasn’t able to pick any points as the Golden Knights posted a 3-2 victory after a tiebreaking shootout. Marleau was given a chance to try and score in the tiebreaking shootout, but he was unsuccessful.
He received a salute from both team following the game.
The 41-year-old Marleau has always carried himself with dignity and class. When Howe’s NHL record for career regular season games played fell, it was fitting that Marleau was the one to do it.
Before breaking into the NHL, Marleau played two seasons in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 1995 to 1997 appearing in 143 regular season games collecting 83 goals and 116 assists for 199 points.
After the Sharks 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Wednesday where Marleau picked up an assist, he has appeared in 1769 regular season games posting 566 goals and 631 assists for 1,197 points.
CFL delays start of season to August 5
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| Andrew Harris rumbles up field for the Bombers in 2017. |
On Wednesday, the CFL announced it will be delaying the start of its 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Training camps were expected to open in the middle of May and the first exhibition game was set for May 23.
Originally, the league planned to kick off the regular season on June 10, where each club would play a standard 18-game regular season campaign.
Now the CFL is targeting Aug. 5 for the start of the circuit’s regular season, where each club will play 14 regular season games each. The Grey Cup is being rescheduled for Dec. 12 as opposed to Nov. 21.
The CFL was unable to get a season off the ground in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last CFL game was played on November 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta., and saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stomp the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to win the Grey Cup.
In a released statement, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the Aug. 5 date is a target date, because the league’s plans are subject to change due to the state of COVID-19 across the country.
In order to play on Aug. 5, Ambrosie said the CFL would need approval from public health officials across Canada of the circuit’s plans for protecting players, coaches and fans. The commissioner added the CFL would need permission from governments to host a significant number of fans in the stands in a significant number of venues at the start of the season and the rest of the venues soon after that.
Ambrosie said the CFL has contingency plans in place in case factors beyond the league’s control delay the start of the season beyond Aug. 5.
“The bottom line is we are optimistic we will have a season in 2021, culminating in a great Grey Cup,” said Ambrosie in a statement. “Everyone who loves the CFL can help us and their communities.
“Please, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. And please follow your local public health guidelines on measures including wearing a mask and social distancing.”
There was no work on where the CFL’s talks on working in partnership with the XFL were at. There was no mention about the CFL’s efforts to secure federal government funding in order to play in 2021.
The CFL failed to get government grants that would allow the circuit to hit the field in 2020.
Once again, CFL fans have to continue to hurry up wait to see if the league they love will be back in 2021.
Government of Nova Scotia nixes women’s
hockey worlds
On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin withdrew permission for the 11-day tournament citing concerns over increasing COVID-19 numbers and the circulation of COVID-19 variants.
Nova Scotia imposed new travel restrictions this week barring people from outside the province from entering unless travel is essential or the travels are permanent residents of Nova Scotia. People from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are exempted from the ban, which goes into effect at 8 a.m. Thursday Nova Scotia time.
The International Ice Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada were informed early Wednesday morning that the event was called off. Women’s worlds were scheduled to be held May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truno, N.S.
Hockey Canada was holding its selection camp for the women’s worlds in Halifax, and Wednesday was supposed to be the final day of that camp. An intrasquad game that was supposed to close the camp on Wednesday afternoon ultimately wasn’t held.
Saskatoon products Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley were taking part in the selection camp.
The 2021 women’s worlds were first slated to be held in April but were pushed back to the May 6 to 16 dates before being cancelled. They were also supposed to be held in Halifax and Truno in March of 2020 before being called off due to COVID-19 concerns.
The IIHF will work with Hockey Canada told a women’s worlds later in 2021 but no commitment was made Wednesday to hold it in Nova Scotia.
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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