The World U-17 Challenge wraps up tonight in Winnipeg. Unfortunately for WHL fans, neither of the western Canadian teams is going to be in the gold medal final, which will be between Ontario and team USA. Team USA is basically the USNTDP U-17 team, so perhaps we'll see some of those guys in the WHL eventually. Hardly a sure thing there though.
But, some good news - Team Pacific - representing B.C. and Alberta - played Quebec for the bronze medal this afternoon, winning 5-4 in overtime on a goal from Chilliwack Bruins' Brandon Magee. The game featured an absolutely wild third period - the period started with Quebec leading 3-1, but Pacific tied it 3-3 before the midway point. Quebec retook the lead, then Pacific promptly tied it again at 4-4 with three and a half minutes remaining in the period, bringing on the overtime.
Team West - representing Saskatchewan and Manitoba - failed to make the semifinals and finished 6th, losing the 5th place game to the Atlantic Canada team. Lots of WHLers in the top scorers for the tournament too, from both Pacific and Western. You can see the top scorers here.
Second note today - a showdown is looming in Kamloops between the Blazers and the Kamloops Daily News. Seems the Blazers are unhappy with what they perceive to be a negative slant in the newspaper's coverage of the team, and as a result have banned Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan from speaking with team personnel until he takes his happy pills and realizes everything in Blazerland is actually wonderful. Hey Gregg, haven't you heard? Seventh place is the new first!
All sarcasm aside, apart from this being an obvious violation of the WHL's media access policy (for which I'd think the Blazers likely will be fined when the league finally sorts this mess out), it's baffling that the team appears not to understand the role of the press and thinks it can dictate what is said about the team. Whether the team likes what is said about it or not doesn't matter; Gregg is entitled to his opinion on the team just like everyone else.
And, the simple fact is that things in Kamloops aren't sunshine and roses and haven't been for a long time - they used to be the toast of the league in the 90's but now haven't won a playoff series in twelve years. Actually, forget winning a SERIES - they haven't won a playoff GAME since 2005. Pretty hard to ask anyone to write positively about a record like that. Perhaps they should focus their energies on improving the team on the ice rather than on trying to improve the spin.
UPDATE: Just wanted to update this to point out that I have read probably close to everything Gregg has written in the last 4 years or so since he started his blog, and I don't see where the "negative" slant is that the team is complaining about at all.
Oh, and I can't help but wonder what the NHL will think of Blazers owner Tom Gagliardi backing this bush league move if Gagliardi ever again tries to buy an NHL team. The bad publicity that the team has already started to get from this is only going to get worse by the day.
And when is Ron Robison and the WHL going to sack up and step in here? A real professional organization would have put the hammer down on the Blazers immediately.
26 comments:
It took me a year to even realize that Gregg Drinnan was reporting on the Blazers. His updates are so often, thorough and on a wide variety of players and teams. I don't believe that most of the dated WHL brass even realize what an asset he is in promoting the WHL.
I would agree. I have not seen a negative slant in his writing and I have been reading his blog for about 2 years now.
When I was a t-bird fan one of the first places I went when I got dial up internet was to the Kamloops daily news to read anything he had written. The WHL doesn't understand most fans want more info and opinions, not just the fluff pieces they put on their website, Also the website is terrible. It always seems to have one problem or another. Kamloops deserves better owners and management and this latest fiasco just proves it.
Gary Welch
Alan, the WHL is supporting the Blazers. They released a statement earlier this evening. There will be no fines issued. The WHL feels the same way as the Blazers.
Alan, The Blazers aren't "restricting access" to the media. They don't want Drinnan around the team. It's not uncommon for a move like this to happen. Some teams have bad working relationships with people in the media.
Greg Drinnan = the media. They are restricting access to Greg Drinnan. therefore, they are restricting access to the media.
I don't live in Kamloops, so I don't read the Daily News, but I have read Greg's blog and really don't see the negative in it. What do the Blazers want him to say? "They lost....but they tried real hard"????? I don't think it's the media's job to put the positive spin on the negative and vice versa.
Anonymous, that's not true and you know it. The WHL did NOT release a statement supporting the Blazers. Their statement says "the WHL has scheduled an in-person meeting for Tuesday, January 11th in Kamloops for the purpose of reaching a resolution on this matter". That's all. That's not taking sides at all.
And yes, they ARE restricting access to the media. Gregg is media and they are refusing to grant him access to the players. This is pretty cut and dried here and if the WHL isn't going to enforce its own media policy then it might as well tear the thing up.
And yes, it is actually very uncommon for this to happen. Name another time that a team banned a newspaper reporter and got away with it.
Lastly, if you're going to post this kind of stuff, please have the guts to use your name. I'm pretty sure I know who you are anyway but comments on a matter like this deserve your name. My name is out there on all my comments on the matter and so should yours.
There was an issue with John McNeill of the Prince Albert Herald in terms of reporting. I believe he lost his job as a result of it, after the Raiders complained. I can't remember all the details on the matter but I'm pretty sure his banning cost him his job.
spelling should read "Macneil".
Without knowing the details of the Prince Albert incident, it's hard to say if it's related.
Reporters have rules and ethics they need to abide by as well, and if those are breached then punishment is justified. If that's what happened in Macneil's case then it's not the same as what the Blazers are saying about Gregg Drinnan.
The Blazers' issue is "negative reporting", which is an absolutely B.S. reason to ban somebody, just because you don't like being criticized. Gregg is allowed his opinion on the team just like everyone else.
Hello Alan, love the blog...very informative and interesting.
As someone who has followed the WHL for a couple decades, and read plenty of Drinnan articles, I know the value of Greg Drinnan not only to the Blazers but to the whole WHL. He is the most thorough and knowledgeable in his coverage of the League, and has been for many years.
That said, I do see a difference between the style and tone that Drinnan employs and that of, say, Doyle Potenteau of Kelowna or Greg Harder in Regina - two other longtime WHL reporters. Greg treats the Blazers as though they were an NHL organization. He sometimes forgets that he is dealing with teenagers, not adult professional NHLers.
If Greg wants to write like an NHL reporter, he really should try and break into an NHL market.
However, what the Blazers have done is highly irresponsible and sets a bad precedent for journalistic freedom.
regards,
David Cesar
Calgary, AB
Yeah, I'm not sure what led to the dismissal of John Macneil. I know it did involve something about not going through the Raiders hierarchy before doing an interview with Mark Mackenzie, who was traded. If you remember, it was Mackenzie who was involved in a situation where his billets house was broken in to and he fended off the intruder. It was after that, that Macneil approached Mackenzie without first asking the Raiders - team policy I guess.
Alan,
As a member of the Kamloops Media and a die hard Blazers' fan, I don't see the issue with the Blazers banning Gregg. If you're not in the local market please don't comment and go off for a whole entry about it being BS. Fact is its not just this season its been on going for a long time, and finally the Blazers' got fed up. Ive always enjoyed nothing but a very professional and enjoyable working relationship with the Blazers. I stand 100 percent behind the league and Blazers on this deal.
Well that's probably because you got your hand down the pants of Bonner is why you get along so easily with them. How anyone can defend this garbage is beyond me, this team already has so much bad press over the years this is just one more thing that makes this team and city look absolutley retarded. People defending the decision claim to be such big fans of the team yet have no problems with their so called beloved team looking like an embarassment after this stunt.
Maybe if the owners want Gregg to stop being so negative, maybe then they should start doing their damn jobs and give Gregg something positive to write about. Because at this point this team is still a major failure and the this ownership group just made themselves look like the arrogant, self serving pricks that we all knew they were to begin with.
I was 100 percent behind this ownership group buying the team from those other fools, but they have driven this team into the ground far worse than the previous regime now.
Dear Anonymous Kamloops media member:
If you don't see an issue with the team having the ability to remove your access to the team because they don't like something you write (or say, in your case), then perhaps that's because your lips are so firmly attached to the team's ass that would never say anything negative in the first place.
The fact that you describe yourself as a die-hard Blazers fan disqualifies you in my books from calling yourself a member of the "media".
Oh, and when you steal stuff from my blog in the future, please give me proper attribution.
Alan,
I don't have my lips attached to the team's ass; However just because I'm standing behind the Blazers on this matter doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see it get resolved sooner then later.
Its no doubt a black mark, that said people have to make choices that aren't popular. I don't believe its just Gregg's reporting they have an issue with, it has to run much much deeper.
You have your thoughts I have mine, its easy to bash a team but to be a fair balanced and professional reporter is something you and Gregg both are lacking.
Cheers
I'm not a reporter. I have never claimed to be. I'm just a fan.
I find it surprising that you say you suspect there is more to the story than what the team has reported, but yet you are taking sides without finding out the full story first. As a "professional reporter", doesn't it behoove you to get the full story?
Alan, congrats on your blog becoming a great source for WHL material. You've worked hard to earn your cred.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Drinnan can still go to games (for free, or expensed), sit in his press box and write and tweet about the Blazers. He can still blog about what he sees on the ice. The Blazers have merely restricted his access to players and coaches. They didn't cut off his hands and trash his laptop.
How much access do you have to players and coaches Alan? You can somehow write credibly about the WHL and you don't even get a press pass, a press box or player and coach interviews.
The Blazers have a right to decide who goes in their locker room and who gets access to their staff. They aren't banning the Kamloops Daily News from the Interior Savings Center, they just want one of their writers to stay at arm's length. Time for the junior sports reporter to step up and ask the tough questions...
Oh Switzer you should take your fellow small town buddy Jon Keen back to Swift Current. Jon especially acts like a knowitall jerkoff and thinks that everyone in Kamloops should be "positive" even though there isn't much to be positive about.
It's up to the owners to create a positive atmosphere not a bloody sports writer. Get it in your heads, anyone who defends Bonehead and company is a moron. It's just another black eye on what has become a laughing stock of an organization.
Stick to what you know Switzer, -60 weather and blizzards for 8 months of the year.
Switzer - I can write about this stuff thanks to the hard work done by the real reporters of the world. I read their work and thus am kept informed of what is going on in the league. I'm under no illusions about my position in the food chain here.
And the Blazers actually don't have the right to pick and choose who gets access, contrary to what you think. The WHL media policy requires them to grant access to all holders of a WHL media credential. Gregg has one, they are denying him access to the team, they are in violation of the policy. It's that simple.
If they have a problem with Gregg, perhaps they could ask the league to revoke his credentials (good luck with that!) and then they could properly do what they are doing. But they don't get to pick and choose which accredited media talk to the players and who doesn't. This is part and parcel of belonging to the league, member teams are expected to adhere to certain league-wide rules.
Today it's Gregg. If this is allowed to stand, maybe tomorrow somebody in Saskatoon or Edmonton or wherever, will say something that offends the local GM and they get banned too. And the next place, and the next place. Where does it end?
The fans are the ones who will suffer when reporters are forced to merely regurgitate the team PR quotes for fear of not being allowed to talk to players or staff. Reporters need to have the right to say what they think, within the bounds of libel or slander of course. There is no other way for the fans to get all sides of the story if we only ever hear what the team wants us to hear.
Anyone who's content to rewrite team press releases as "news" and never offer a dissenting opinion about the team, might as well ask the team PR department for a paycheque, as far as I'm concerned.
Do we know anyone out there in the "media" like that? Yes, yes we do.
Hey Shawn, Switzer does have a point. It's not like the entire Kamloops Daily News staff is banned from the building. Leave the personal attacks out of it, pal.
Also, you're from Kamloops (I assume), and you have the gonads to call Switzer and Keener 'Small Towners'?? That's really funny! Thanks for the chuckle!!
David from Calgary (a REAL city, compared to your interior BC backwater hamlet)
All I know is I am in Edmonton and there are two WHL blogs I follow: this one and Drinnan's. The local noon hour radio sports host refers to Drinnan's column as the "definative WHL blog". Blazer's management, rather than whining about alleged negative comments . . . get better. That is all.
If and when Greg gets access again I would love to hear those first interviews with players and coaches. Now those would be awkward and I'm guessing pretty short one word answers. Too funny.
I'm also a member of the media and though I respect Drinnan's position of authority on the WHL, agree that he's a very negative individual. He embodies the definition of a curmudgeon quite well.
At first I wanted to agree that the Blazers had every right to take action if they were upset with his tone.
Then I realized that was a petty stance, and overlooks the entire idea of press freedom.
By not punishing the Blazers to this point the WHL has, in effect, told everyone involved in their league that it's open season on journalists you don't agree with. They've also said that dissenting opinion is something they're against.
It's a fundamental stance, and it's the opposite of what modern democracy is founded upon. I know this isn't a life or death matter, but that is what it comes down to.
Everyone involved in the league should be greatly concerned by this. Anyone who wants to watch the situation through rose-coloured glasses is part of the problem. Perhaps you radio types ought to take an objective step back from your respective stances and look at the big picture.
Is there a media policy, or isn't there? There is. It's that simple.
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