– It’s a historic day for the Brandon Wheat Kings today. The club is picking first overall in the WHL Bantam Draft for the first time in the 25-year history of the draft. Brandon will make its pick around 9:30 a.m. (CDT) Thursday, and the smart money is on Winnipeg product Stelio Mattheos, a 6-foot-1, 176 pound forward. In addition to the #1 pick, the Wheat Kings also hold their own picks in the second, third and fourth rounds and two picks in the fifth round. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke has more on his blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– The Western Hockey League dished out its hardware Wednesday, with Sam Reinhart of the Kootenay Ice being named the Player of the Year. Portland’s Derrick Pouliot of Top Defenceman, Kelowna’s Jordon Cooke the Top Goaltender and Victoria’s Dave Lowry the Coach of the Year. No members of the Wheat Kings were finalists for awards. The league no longer selects WHL All-Stars, so Wheat Kings’ captain Ryan Pulock will have to be satisfied with being just an Eastern Conference First-Team All-Star.
– The sale of the Regina Pats and Prince George Cougars was rubber-stamped by the WHL’s Board of Governors Wednesday. The Pats have been purchased by a group of Regina business people that includes former Wheat King and Brandonite Todd Lumbard, who will become President of the team. The price tag for the Pats was reportedly 7.5 million dollars, while the Cougars’ sale price is said to be closed to seven million dollars. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke spoke with Lumbard after the sale was approved. That story is here.
– The SJHL champion Yorkton Terriers clinched a playoff spot at the Western Canada Cup in Dauphin Wednesday night, picking up a 4-1 victory over the B-C champion Coquitlam Express. Brett Boehm and Chase Norrish had a goal and an assist each for the Terriers, who finish the round-robin with 2-and-2 record. The final round-robin games take place Thursday, with the MJHL champion Winnipeg Blues and AJHL champion Spruce Grove Saints meeting in the afternoon and the host Dauphin Kings battling Coquitlam battling in the evening.
– The Los Angeles Kings made history with a 5-1 Game Seven win over San Jose Wednesday, becoming just the fourth NHL team to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. Two other Game 7’s were played last night. Nino Niederreiter scored five minutes into overtime as the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 while the New York Rangers edged Philadelphia 2-1 to move to the second round. The second round begins Thursday night with Montreal visiting Boston to open their Eastern Conference semifinal.
– It looks like the green flag will be droping at the Souris Motor Speedway this summer. The Souris Airport Committee is leasing the track to a group that includes Matt Bootsman, with the track expected to host three races and three test-and-tune events this year. The Souris Motor Speedway has been dormat for nearly 15 years and Bootsman says they’re initially working on getting the track up to standard. They’ll also hoping to do repairs to the grandstand and other structures over the next couple of years.
– Canadian Football League Vice President of Officiating Glen Johnson was in Winnipeg Wednesday to meet with the Blue Bomber coaching staff about rule changes and general officiating matters pertaining to the 2014 season. Johnson said the league is putting an emphasis on sportsmanship and respect. Taunting and objectionable conduct will not be allowed, nor will cheap shots, and verbal abuse of officials will be more closely monitored and penalized. Some of the other rules changes for the 2014 season are player safety relating, including hits away from the play, low blocks from the front and so-called peel-back blocks. There will be expanded use of the replay with automatic reviews of all turnovers and the ability to review pass interference both when a call is made and when one isn’t.
– The NBA owners’ advisory and finance committee will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the next steps in the removal of Donald Sterling as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. The 10-member committee will have a conference call two days after Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life from the league and fined him $2.5 million for making racist comments. Silver also said he would urge owners to use their power to force Sterling to sell the team. That would require the support of three-fourths of the league’s owners in a vote.
