Big news today is that the WHL has a press conference at Victoria's Save-On Foods Centre at 11:30am local time. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that this isn't an announcement about the league playing one of the Subway Super Series games against the Russians in Victoria next year, or anything like that. We all know what this announcement is going to be about.
I just hope the media at the press conference will ask the tough questions, while they've got Rob Robison on the spot: What does the future hold for the WHL in Chilliwack? Who is the other WHL team supposedly negotiating a move to Chilliwack, as per Brian Burke's comments? Why was there NO serious attempt made to keep the Bruins in Chilliwack with new owners? Is the WHL fast-tracking this move to Victoria in a pre-emptive effort to keep the AHL out of Victoria if the Manitoba Moose have to move? If so, why? Are there plans for a 2nd team on the Island in the near future? Where? What is the league and/or the Victoria team going to do about the big increase in travel costs that teams will now incur in travelling to the Island?
And how about: "Is Darryl Porter still one of the owners of the Victoria franchise or has he sold all of his interest to Graham Lee's group? If he still owns part of the team, should fans in Victoria be careful of getting too attached to the team?"
Moving on here.....the WHL semifinals are set after the last 2nd round series ended last night with Spokane's 5-4 OT win over Tri-City. Spokane will now visit Portland in the Western conference final, while in the Eastern conference the Kootenay Ice will visit the Medicine Hat Tigers. I'll make my predictions later this week. I did OK in the 2nd round, picking Portland in six correctly and being only 1 game off in my picks of Spokane in 7 and Medicine Hat in 6. I was just a teeny-tiny bit off in my pick of Saskatoon over Kootenay in 5 games, however.....
At the World U-18 championships in Germany, Canada (with its 6 WHLers) opened with wins over the Czechs, Finns, and Norwegians before losing their last round-robin game to Sweden yesterday. Canada finished 2nd in their pool and will play Germany tomorrow in a quarterfinal, with the winner facing USA in a semifinal.
Think that's it for today.....still accepting any bantam/midget stats (see below) if you have 'em....
3 comments:
Porter, Burke and Sather on 89.5 The Hawk on Wednesday at 5pm. Email them your questions! playbyplay@895thehawk.com
It seems that the owners of Chilliwack must of received outside influence to sell to a Victoria owner... otherwise they would have sold to a local owner in Chilliwack... As a former employee of a frachise in the WHL... I think the fans of Chilliwack should be congratulated for supporting a team for the past four years... they didn't have much to cheer about on most occassions... but I think they showed great support to the team. Those owners (especially Porter) should never be allowed to own a team again! Take note of model franchises like MH, KEL, and SASK... hopefully Regina gets their act together... and will someone else (Chilliwack) buy the PG Cougars please (Their owners are just as bad as Porter!)...
Alan,
Just for the record, I hadn't looked at your blog today until just now. That I used a sentence in my email to the WHL list that was similar to one in your posting here was pure coincidence. Just so you know.
Post a Comment