Tuesday

Three bits of news from the WHL yesterday.....

First, Seattle beat Kelowna in overtime last night to avoid falling into the 3-0 hole from which nobody ever recovers. With the win, the Birds ensure there will be another home game in Seattle for game #5, but they really do need to win game #4 in Kelowna as well and reclaim their home ice advantage. Being down 3-1 is better than 3-0 but not by a lot.

Secondly, and a bit of a surprise move, but Red Deer owner Brent Sutter has "fired" his older brother Brian as head coach. The two brothers talked this past week after the Rebels season ended, and came to the agreement that because of the time required by Brian's other job as a farmer, Brian's level of commitment to the team was not what it needed to be. So, Brian quit.....if you can call it quitting when you leave after the boss tells you he doesn't think you're committed enough to the job.

I do not think we will ever see Brian Sutter coaching at any meaningful level of hockey again. I think he has made his decision about what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and it does not involve devoting significant amounts of time to hockey. Farming is in that family's blood and it's not going away. Just the way I see it anyway.

The new coach of the Rebels is former Rebels defenceman Jesse Wallin, who has been the assistant coach there for the last couple years. At only 30 years old, Wallin becomes (I think) the youngest coach in the WHL by a fair bit. Wallin played for the Rebels from 94-95 through 97-98 and was a 1996 first-round NHL pick of the Detroit Red Wings. His pro career was derailed by injuries though and he retired after 02-03.

And thirdly, the WHL has finalized the suspensions for the two Regina Pats who were under review. Brett Leffler has been given three games for his hit on the Broncos' Michael Wilson, while Jordan Eberle has been given one game for his hit on the Broncos' Jesse Dudas. Leffler has already served one game of his suspension, so he'll miss games 3 & 4 of the series tonight and tomorrow night. Eberle will miss tonight's game 3 only.

Predictably, Pats G.M. Brent Parker was unhappy about the suspensions and voiced his displeasure about them in a manner which will probably see him contributing some funds to the WHL office's Friday bar tab. Nice spin job by Parker though....it might cost him $500 or $1000 but if he succeeds in setting up the us-vs-the-world mentality amongst his players, it could give them a boost and help them get through these next couple games.

UPDATE: The QMJHL has ruled on the Patrick/Jonathan Roy brawl situation, and they have come down very hard on the duo: Jonathan gets seven games and Patrick gets five. Two other Quebec players were suspended for three and two games, while three Chicoutimi players were also suspended, for six, two, and one game(s). Chicoutimi's coach also got a two game suspension but it was an automatic one since one of his players (Sebastien Rioux, who got the six-game suspension) left the penalty box to fight Jonathan Roy.

The suspensions will keep both Roys plus Rioux out of the rest of this series for sure (since it's 1-1 in a best-of-seven), and unless the series goes seven games, Patrick Roy will also miss some of the next series if Quebec wins this one, or else have the suspensions carry over to next season if Chicoutimi wins the series. Jonathan Roy is definitely looking at next series or next season already....or maybe preparing for life after hockey by getting a job he is more suited for, like pumping gas.