From Ferland to flooded fairways

Some news, notes and quotes while mastering the new sport of pothole dodging on Wheat City streets ...

* In the heat of the summer, Brandon Wheat King Michael Ferland, 19, is getting plenty of ice this week.

The hard-hitting left-winger wraps up a week of skating at Calgary Flames prospects camp today and plans to return home and immediately step onto the ice tomorrow in the Source for Sports AAA Hockey Challenge.

Meanwhile, ex-Brandon goaltender Jacob DeSerres, 20, who led the Saint John Sea Dogs to the Memorial Cup title in May one year after leading the Wheat Kings into the Memorial Cup final, is at the Phoenix Coyotes' development camp trying to earn a free-agent contract. Graduating Wheat Kings centre Scott Glennie, 20, has been at the Dallas Stars' prospects camp all this week and former Brandon centre Brayden Schenn, 20, is now at Philadelphia's camp. Wheat Kings forward Mark Stone, 19, and defenceman Jordan Fransoo, 18, skated in the Ottawa Senators development camp last week.

* You've got to think that netminders Liam Liston and Corbin Boes will both be coming to training camp determined to take the Wheat Kings' No.1 job this fall after being passed over in the NHL draft, despite cracking the final pre-draft rankings.

As goalies, they still have a legitimate chance to get drafted in 2012 with standout 18-year-old seasons, the way Portage Terriers netminder Jason Kasdorf was by the Winnipeg Jets last month. But I can't imagine Liston and Boes will be thrilled with splitting the duties again in 2011-12. Don't be surprised if one of them asks to be traded at some point.

* Wheat King forward Tyrel Seaman, 17, and Killarney native Reid Gow, 17, of the Spokane Chiefs are two of 26 WHL players named in the Central Scouting Bureau's preliminary list of 2012 NHL draft prospects. Due to his late Oct. 6 birthdate, Brandon's dynamite young defenceman Ryan Pulock, who is still 16, won't be eligible for the NHL draft until 2013.

* After hoisting the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins, it looks like Neepawa native Shane Hnidy, 35, won't get a chance to do it again with the Bruins, who announced last week that the NHL club will not be re-signing him. Hnidy, who played three playoff games for the Bruins in their Cup run, officially became an unrestricted free agent on Canada Day.

"Winnipeg is home for me now, so that is obviously the first place I would look, but they are pretty full back there (on defence)," Hnidy said. "But a lot can happen yet and it's a long time until camp."

* Brandon-born blue-liner Brett Skinner, 28, remains unsigned after playing last season in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League.

"Now that I have been over in Europe for one year, it kind of opens the door for not only different teams, but different leagues over there," he said.

Skinner, who played 11 NHL games with the New York Islanders in 2008-09, had two goals and six points in 34 KHL games for Khabarovsk Amur last season and is now weighing offers in Europe and North America.

* With the Assiniboine River flood slowly receding, the Wheat City Golf Course is now pumping water off the flooded lower holes and hopes to have a couple more in play before the end of the month.

While the city-owned course is taking a huge hit financially due to lost green fees, the course may not have to rebuild its greens -- at $60,000 a pop -- according to course manager Bryce Wilson.

"There is minimal damage to the greens surface themselves. ... We just need to water them and fertilize them. The ones that we've seen, we won't lose the greens or the tees, in fact. They look good. ... There is about a quarter inch of silt on the fairways, but no silt on the greens, which is pretty amazing."

However, with the full Wheat City course still not available, this month's Senior Men's Western Open has now been cancelled for this year.

* In other flooding news, the Neepawa Golf Course is back to a full 18-hole course after flooding kept the front nine out of play until this week. Meanwhile, the Brandon Barbarians plan to return to their Reilly Field rugby pitches next week for the first time since the flood. However, Optimist Park soccer complex remains under water, forcing the cancellation of Brandon Youth Soccer's annual Summer Classic tournament slated for August.

* Owner Noel Harding's Brandon Boxing Club will hold an unsanctioned sparring competition with Regina's New Line Boxing Academy at the Keystone Centre on July 23. Meanwhile, Harding's pro fight that was slated for July 7 in Calgary has now been scrapped, with the 30-year-old pro having to wait until perhaps this fall before getting the chance to improve his 1-0 record.

* Three Brandonites will suit up for Manitoba's under-18 team -- coached by Brandon's Robert Cullen -- at the Football Canada Cup beginning Saturday in Lethbridge, Alta. Offensive lineman Sean Simpson, receiver Michael Bright and linebacker Adam McClelland of Brandon and Dauphin linebacker Logan Thacker will face B.C. tomorrow in their first game.

* Neepawa's Halli Krzyzaniak, 16, is one of 18 players representing Canada at the 2011 IIHF Women's Hockey Camp in Bratislava, Slovakia this week.

* Thumbs-up to Brandon's Tanner Price, 16, who has been named to Manitoba's swim team for the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, B.C., Aug. 10-14.

* Finally, a fond farewell to Brandon Sun sports reporter David Larkins -- winner of the 2011 Fred 'Gus' Collins Award for excellence in university sports reporting. After eight years of exemplary coverage of the high school and university scene in Brandon, Larkins is returning home to the provincial capital to join the Winnipeg Sun.

(Shew's Views returns Aug. 5)

Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition July 8, 2011 B1