Thursday thoughts

I don't comment often on the CHL Top Ten, but this week's rankings make me scratch my head. Why is Calgary the top-ranked WHL team when they are 2-5 in their last 7 games and are now only the 7th-best team in the WHL when ranked by winning percentage? It's good to see the .800 Spokane Chiefs crack the list, but where are the .735 Vancouver Giants? Calgary lost to Edmonton at home last week, for cryin' out loud.....the Hitmen need to be moving down on this list while teams like the Giants and Chiefs and Tigers should be higher.

The Edmonton Oil Kings will change their name for one game tonight, becoming the Edmonton Rodeo Kings (complete with special uniforms) as they entertain the Everett Silvertips. The change is part of the festivities surrounding the Canadian Finals Rodeo which is held in Edmonton every year. WHL observers who saw the Silvertips play in their early years will note the appropriateness of holding "Rodeo Night" to coincide with a visit from Everett.

Speaking of Everett's road trip, it looks like their p-b-p guy, Jon Rosen, will be taking a page out of Saskatoon beat writer Cory Wolfe's notebook and will be keeping a trip log on the Silvertips website. The first installment, dealing with the drive from Everett to Edmonton, is up there now. After American readers got to read Wolfe's Canadian perspective on their cities, now us northerners get to see Rosen's American take on ours. Also sounds like they'll have pictures posted as well, although technical problems have prevented any photos from accompanying the first installment.

Everett is actually looking forward to getting out on the road, according to what they told Nick Patterson for this article.

A couple WHL teams got into the Halloween thing yesterday, with Moose Jaw and Calgary having pictures on their sites. Then there's Portland, where they have 25 guys who have been dressing up like a WHL team a couple times a week since late September.

Was that a bit low? I'll make up for it with this link to the blog of Winter Hawks p-b-p voice (and really good guy) Andy Kemper, who is blogging today about the Hawks journey north to Medicine Hat for half of their Central division obligations. Yes, half....the Hawks play on Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, and Kootenay on this trip and need to return to Alberta again in January to play Edmonton, Red Deer, and Calgary.

To the NHL.....I hate to use this blog to debate politics, but at least in this case it's hockey related. Some separatist lawyer in Quebec has his panties in a bunch because Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu made remarks only in English during the team's home opener on October 13. He insists that he has a "right to be served in his language". Not by a private citizen of a private business, he doesn't. He no more has a "right" to demand Koivu speak to Canadiens fans in French than Koivu does to go to this guy's law practice and demand service in English. Is it good business to be able to speak the customer's preferred language? Yes. A "right"? Not a chance. If you don't like it, take your business elsewhere. Official bilingualism guarantees Canadians access to federal government services in their choice of either language, but beyond that there is nothing requiring anyone to be able to speak a particular language - even in Quebec. The fact that some separatists seem to think they should be able to dictate this makes you wonder what their vision for individual rights in an independant Quebec is.....

To get this back to hockey, is it any wonder that many players - including many francophone players who probably grew up cheering on the bleu, blanc et rouge - no longer want to play in Montreal? Who wants to put up with this kind of crap seemingly every day, having to deal with people who think what language you speak is equally or even more important than whether you're a good player? Where you have politicians trying to dictate what language should be spoken on the ice, on the bench, in the dressing room, in public? There is a (small) segment of the population that seems unwilling to accept anyone in their midst who is not pur laine Quebecois. And all this on top of what is already one of the most hockey-mad environments in the world, with some of the most demanding fans? It's a headache many players just don't want or need.