Thursday Notes

[Scout]

Courtesy Alan Caldwell

Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thursday notes
Couple teams pared their rosters by a player each yesterday....Kootenay has sent 16 year old goaltender Nathan Lieuwen to Jr A with the Westside Warriors of the BCHL. Lieuwen made the team out of training camp but suffered a concussion in a single-car accident after his first game of the season and had not been cleared to play again until recently. In the meantime, Thomas Heemskerk had solidified himself (2.16 GAA, .919 sv%) as the team's backup, which means Lieuwen is out of a job. He was the Ice's 2006 1st round bantam pick and should be back to stay next year.

Meanwhile, Vancouver has sent 17 year old defenceman Dillon Scholten to an unspecified team the BCHL. The Giants tidbit is from Steve Ewen's blog, where he also reports that Giants teammates Jon Blum and Spencer Machacek got into a fight at practice yesterday. It was quickly broken up and nobody was hurt; hopefully it was just due to some temporary frustrations and not a sign that the captain (Machacek) and alternate (Blum) don't like each other. It can't be good for a team to have two leaders being at each others throats all the time.

Couple random notes.....anyone who might have questioned the Blazers' firing of Dean Clark and/or the trading of Keaton Ellerby for Brady Calla is probably quiet now. Since the firing/trade, the Blazers are 6-1 (.857); they were 6-9-1-1 (.412) before. They are averaging 3.57 goals for per game and 2.25 goals against per game since the changes; they were at 2.18 goals for and 2.88 goals against before the changes. Meanwhile, Moose Jaw is 1-4-1 (.250) since the trade and were 9-5-3-1 (.611) before it. That means Keaton Ellerby's record this year is 7-13-2 (.386), if you're keeping track of all that.

Second note, the blog might not be updated again after today until next Tuesday. I'm going away for the weekend and may not be able to update it tomorrow or Monday. I'll be in Lethbridge on Saturday and am going to try to take in the Hurricanes-Oil Kings game that night....it has been a while since I saw a game in another rink between two teams I have no stake in, so it should be fun. Funny how the quality of the league's reffing always improves 100% when you're not cheering for either team.....

[Scout]

with Gregg Drinnan

Thursday, November 22, 2007
More from Thursday . . .
Kamloops D Mike Gauthier has been suspended for two games by the WHL and will miss the Blazers’ weekend home games against the Prince George Cougars and Kootenay Ice. Gauthier wasn’t penalized for the open-ice hit on D Dane Crowley of the Everett Silvertips. The hit happened in the second period when Crowley skated up ice, dumped the puck into the Kamloops zone and then cut into the centre of the ice, perhaps to head for his bench on a change. Gauthier came across and lowered the boom. Crowley left the game with a concussion and didn’t return. . . . None of the on-ice officials — referees Trevor Hanson and Andy Thiessen, linesmen Kris Hartley and Nathan Van Oosten — saw fit to call for a penalty, never mind a major penalty. . . . The Silvertips sent in video of the hit and asked for supplemental discipline, which they got. . . . Sorry, but sooner or later hockey is going to have to come to grips with players who put themselves in harm’s way. That is precisely what this incident. Crowley dumped the puck in and cut into the middle of the ice. Boom! . . . And because Crowley was injured, the WHL, which apparently decided that it was a late hit, chose to suspend the hammer. . . . There is little enough hitting left in the game without suspending the deliverer of a good, hard check. . . .

The WHL office was busy Thursday. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Blades each got touched for $250 for “warm-up violation” on Wednesday in Moose Jaw. . . . D Cody Hobbs of the Chilliwack Bruins will sit for one game for a cross-checking major and game misconduct he incurred in Spokane on Wednesday. . . . Saskatoon C Colton Gillies was hit with a one-game sentence for a boarding major and game misconduct from Wednesday’s game in Moose Jaw. . . .

Is it at all ironic that two players drew one-game suspensions for penalties incurred during a game and a player who wasn’t penalized drew a two-game sentence? . . .

Saskatoon Blades RW Kevin Philp will be out indefinitely as he recovers form a broken jaw suffered in an early first-period fight with Ryley Grantham of the Warriors in Moose Jaw on Wednesday night. Philp had surgery Thursday in Saskatoon.