Photo credit: RocketFAN
Tales from the road, and missing my ride
Things that make me go hmm…
Nov 15, 2023 | 11:36 AM
- The photo above is the visiting dressing room in Victoria. The wall is scattered with names of players who have left their mark over the years playing in the WHL. You see this across the league, with players ‘tagging’ a wall before moving on to pro or university hockey. I hear the best wall is located in the Red Deer Rebels visiting dressing room, where names from the 90s appear.
- Victoria Royals Head Coach James Patrick was extremely accommodating when we spoke to him prior to Tuesday’s game between his team and the Kelowna Rockets. RocketFAN’s conversation led to the relationship Patrick has with former Kelowna Rockets head coach Marc Habschied. “I got to know ‘Habby’ at Notre Dame [Wilcox Saskatchewan] and I would say we have been lifelong friends since,” Patrick said. “I was friends with Gord Kluzak, and he and Marc were close. They were two of the best players from Saskatchewan in that era. I developed a connection with both of them. He was an elite hockey player. He was an elite junior player. I believe had he been drafted by any team other than the Edmonton Oilers; he would have spent 15 years in the NHL. He happened to play center for an organization that had Gretzky, Messier, Linseman, and Tikkanen, which made it so hard for young players to get that opportunity.”
- Patrick was teammates with Habscheid when the two helped Canada win gold at the 1982 World Junior Hockey Championships. “’Habby’ was our best forward in that tournament, and our number one center,” Patrick added. “Because I know how good he was, I wish more people knew that.” Habscheid would score 6 goals and collected six assists for 12 points in that tournament.
- Special thanks to Dara Festinger for setting up the interview with James Patrick. Don’t sleep on Festinger, if you are looking at a woman who NHL teams should be watching closely in adding to their front office in the not-so-distant future. The Victoria Royals Manager of Hockey Operations and Hockey Analysis, the 24-year-old Festinger is a rising star.
- Andrew Cristall is as skilled as they come. Becoming the quickest Kelowna Rockets player to recorded 200 career points in 145 regular season games, RocketFAN asked the 18-year-old about his mindset each and every shift. “The word dominate comes in my head when I go out on the ice,” Cristall said. “Just a year older, I think every shift I can go out their and dominate and have the puck on my stick and find my teammates and make them better as well.”
- I can with authority tell you a taxi ride from the ferry terminal in Victoria to the downtown core will cost you $85.00. How do I know this? Well, I missed the Kelowna Rockets bus Saturday afternoon as it docked. I was busy, with my noise-canceling headset on, writing a story for RocketFAN, paying no attention to those around me in my computer cubical. It was only a phone call from equipment manager Tim Webster, sitting inside the bus with the coaches and players, wondering where I was that alerted me to the fact I was late. With the bus leaving and no chance to catch it, I had to revert to a taxi service that drove me to the hotel where the team was staying. Is this the first time this has happened? Over close to 30 years of travel across the WHL, you would think not. It also happened in Regina. More on that story when we make our road trip out to the Eastern Division in December.
- Often a bond between player and billet family is a strong one. A great example is Kristopher Westblom’s connection to his billet family during his four seasons in Kelowna. Most recently, Westblom’s billet mom, Carleen Hamilton (Charlie), passed away after battling ALS. Westblom made it a priority over the years to visit ‘Charlie’ during her fight with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and made it out to the Okanagan for her funeral in late October. Westblom has always been one of my favourites, and he joined me in a colour analyst capacity in 2005 when the Rockets visited the Brandon Wheat Kings for games one and two of the WHL final.
- Bruce Hamilton is not a fan of facial hair. In fact, he insists his players have their hair a certain length, and clean-shaven is preferred over the shaggy, scruffy look. But when it comes to Movember, the cancer initiative that brings to light the importance of men’s health, Hamilton is willing to allow his players to grow mustaches to raise money to fight prostate, and testicular cancer while aiding in increasing support for men’s suicide. “I lost my older brother a few years ago to colon cancer, so I felt we should do something,” Hamilton told RocketFAN. “It is such a worthy cause, and I am all about them investing in research and development, so that’s why I got [growing a mustache] in. Hamilton is no stranger to sporting a mustache, something he wore with pride as a young WHL general manager in Tacoma and in the late 90s when the team relocated to Kelowna. “I probably had a mustache since I was 18,” Hamilton recalled. “Once we were here in Kelowna for a little while, I took it off and never brought it back. When I was a fireman [in Saskatoon], traditionally we all had mustaches then.”
- If indeed the Victoria Royals are a rising power in the WHL, does it not seem fitting that by the time 2026 rolls around, they indeed bid to host the Memorial Cup? The city is nothing short of fantastic. The TV producers of the event would be in heaven with the spectacular views of the harbour.
- Pattison Media has taken the stranglehold when it comes to broadcasting games in the Western Hockey League. Owning 51 radio stations in Western Canada, the home of the Kelowna Rockets – 104.7 The Lizard – is one of six across the WHL. The home of the Victoria Royals is The Zone 91.3. Red Deer Rebels games can be heard on 106.7 Rewind Radio. The Medicine Hat Tigers call Wild 94.5 as their home. Prince Albert Raiders games are heard on Pattison-owned CKBI while the Brandon Wheat Kings play-by-play radio voice is Q-Country. Yes, all six are operated by Pattison Media.
- Visiting Everett, Washington last Friday brought back several memories. My most memorable interview came during a pre-game skate in 2007 when Mark Messier showed up unexpectedly. Who? What? Ya, Mark Messier! What was the NHL Hall of Famer doing at what was known then as the Everett Events Center? Messier’s son, Lyon, had joined the team trying to earn a 20-year-old spot, playing in just four games before being released and joining the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. Originally, I wanted to leave Messier alone as I saw him from a distance. My journalistic integrity forced me to throw caution to the wind and I asked ‘The Moose’ for an interview. I was so glad I did. Messier was accommodating and I’ve saved the archived audio to this very day. I asked Messier on how familiar he was with Kelowna, and specifically the Okanagan. “In my first couple of years pro, I was lucky enough to order a nice new ski boat,” Messier said. “I would pull a trailer down to the Okanagan quite regularly in the off-season and spend some time in the valley.” Lyon Messier, now 36, owns Lyon Messier Hockey, a skills and development camp in Virgina.
- Wearing my Kelowna Rockets jacket on the ferry, a gentleman approached me and asked, “Hanging in their coach”. I smiled and said, “It isn’t easy.”
- The other memory from Everett was an outstanding individual display by Kelowna Rockets forward Geordie Wudrick in an opening-round playoff series in 2010. Wudrick scored a whopping 8 goals in the seven-game set with the Tips, won by the Rockets with a 2-1 victory in the decisive seventh game. Wudrick scored two goals in games two, three, and four and added single goals in games one and seven. Wudrick still holds the Kelowna Rockets franchise record for goals in one playoff series. Reid Gardiner came close in 2017 when he had seven goals in a second-round playoff series against Portland. In game five alone, the then 20-year-old had 4 goals and collected two assists, for a six-point night in a 6-2 victory.
- The music selection at Everett Silvertips home games is excellent. I’d suggest its above average. The sound system, which is loud, crisp and clear, has a lot to do with it, by pumping high energy tunes as the two team’s warm-up prior to face-off. That said, the tempo changes with a sprinkling of country music during stoppages in the action is a pleasant surprise. It is a small detail, but even with my headset on and concentrating on the game action and what I am saying, you can’t but notice that the detail in the music selection and pace makes the fan experience so much better. It keeps the energy in the building, rather than sucking it dry with too many off-ice distractions. While a host in the stands appears to be ‘the thing’, it is often overused. Sometimes less is more. I’d suggest the Tips have it right.
- If indeed the rumours are true involving Swift Current Broncos Head Coach Devan Praught, its best coaches wear body camera’s moving forward. Praught was suspended for an on-ice incident during a practice on Monday. Don’t get me wrong, if it is sexual in nature, or if racial comments are said, it is clearly unacceptable. This so called ‘incident’ makes me feel extremely sorry for head coaches of any sport.
- D-man Ismail Abougouche is playing with a broken nose. It was suffered in Everett Friday night when he received an elbow to his snout. Royals d-man Matthew Keller challenged the 17-year-old to a fight Tuesday night. ‘Izzy’ didn’t back down despite the injury, pummeled his combatant in the lopsided tilt.
- It was nice running into Dallas Gaume, a long-time assistant coach with the Red Deer Rebels. Gaume has recently joined the NHL’s Florida Panthers as a scout. I got to know Gaume years ago when I was calling games for the Swift Current Broncos. My aim as the broadcaster back then was to interview Rebels head coach Brent Sutter before the game. I would often make the request for Sutter, only to have Daume come as his replacement. After a while, and yes, I am a slow learner, I concluded that Sutter didn’t do pre-game interviews with the media. That said, I did talk to Brent Sutter during a pre-game interview in the WHL final in 2003 after complaining to the league. Looking back, I can’t believe I had the nerve of creating a stink over the issue.
- The Victoria Royals may have won Tuesday’s hockey game, but as I was leaving the arena with Royals broadcaster Marlon Martens, I heard a loud bang. Looking up, a Royals player driving a Dodge Ram made significant contact with another vehicle in the Save On Foods Memorial Arena parking lot. I can sympathize with the player. My first crash was when I was in grade 10 at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School parking lot when I t-boned another vehicle at a low rate of speed. My brown, 1982 Honda Civic never looked the same, and my pride took a huge blow that day.
- At 1940 words, it is time to close the barn doors shut for this week. My advice for you is to change your summer tires to winters. If it doesn’t have the snowflake symbol, they aren’t winters. Oh, if you drive year-round with studded tires, its friends off moving forward.
Comments