If you have access to a computer, Saturday would be a good day to go on line. Get on the, “Kraft Hockey Goes on” site and vote for local Ken Koshey, a very long time supporter of hockey at all levels in this area.
It may take several minutes, and may be fruitless given our small population base, but showing up matters, and will matter to Ken.
Not for the notoriety - if you know Ken, you know that - but in support of the sport and area he loves and just a bit in recognition of his efforts, the voting will matter. If nothing else it will validate the efforts of the people, like Ken, who continue to support the ambitions - whether they be just play and fun or becoming a pro - of local minor hockey players by spending time, and often money, on those efforts.
Trail is the home of many hockey champions at all levels of the sport and it would be nice if the prize (a substantial amount of cash) came this way.
That will take a substantial amount of effort, probably including getting all your Facebook and E-Mail friends to join in (so, maybe a bit longer than several minutes) but it is worthwhile effort and you should put it in.
• Penticton Vees, the team from whom the Smoke Eaters took three of four games to close their season, swept the Salmon Arm Silverbacks four straight in the first round of the BCHL Interior Division playoffs. That puts Trail’s inability to put the Silverbacks behind them in January into stark perspective.
What might have been, indeed.
• Not to get into specifics, because I wasn’t at that Castlegar/Beaver Valley game, but I get pretty tired of people who think officials should never influence the outcome of games they officiate.
A non-call that impacts the outcome of play is just as bad as a bad call which does the same thing.
An official’s job is to facilitate fair play. Allowing illegal activity by one or both teams involved goes against that basic reason for having officials in the first place.
I can think of some Stanley Cup incidents; the clutching, grabbing, tackling, high sticking 67 Leafs, the bully boys of Philly and the Big Bad Bruins of recent memory were all advantaged by lax (unfair) officiating and were successful as a direct result..
The Leafs could not have won without that assistance, the Flyers and Bruins might have anyway.
That doesn’t mean the officials did their job of facilitating fair, within the rules, play, properly. We should demand that they do that basic job and stop saying they should just, “Get out of the way and let them play.”