The Sept. 9 Tait Debate: Steve Hogle once again has the look of being a rookie

Steve Hogle

On a warm evening in June of 1973 a dark curly-haired 13-year-old sat on the end of the baseball bench along the third baseline of Jubilee Park in west Edmonton. He was a rookie. Didn’t play much. But he was eager, ready to learn and had a confident — although not cocky — attitude, which clearly showed he was ready for anything. That’s was my introduction to Steve Hogle. And that same image, four decades old this summer, replayed itself last Thursday: Steve was wearing a suit and tie, replacing the red and white baseball uniform, sitting on the end of a table, looking poised and ready. Once again, he’s a rookie — this time as president of the Western Hockey League Saskatoon Blades.

I spoke to Steve about 10 days back. He had taken a leave from the Edmonton Oilers as vice-president of communications. Not looking for a change, he said a wonderful opportunity surfaced. He needed time away to think about it. The reporter in me was begging to ask the question of what that might be; the friendship in me whispered “Nah, leave it alone. He won’t tell you anyway.” So I did. Steve did, however, grant me this: “It’s hockey related.” Edmonton Journal sportswriter Jim Matheson wrote a story Wednesday about the Saskatoon Blade sale from Jack Brodisky to Edmonton car dealership owner Mike Preistner. The president of the team, Matty wrote, would be my old friend Steve, a long-time friend of Preistner’s. The day after the story ran in The Journal, the Blades new ownership was introduced. Sure enough. Steve was there in his new role as president.

(Please click here for Steve's interview Friday on CTV Morning Live.)

Over the years, Steve and I have bumped into each other countless times. He father Bruce was a tremendous television news reporter and then manager. Steve followed his dad’s legacy, working his way up to director of news and public affairs with CTV Edmonton. He left television to become vice-president of communications for the Alberta

Bruce Hogle

Research Council in 2007. Then he joined long-time friend and Oiler owner Daryl Katz in a communications role during negotiations between the team and the city on a new downtown arena. After the arena deal was secure, Steve turned his talents to the Oilers, overseeing broadcast operations and website content.

Whenever we talked hockey always entered the conversation. He often fed me stories of up and coming minor hockey players in Edmonton to write about when I was an Edmonton Journal sportswriter. Steve loves to see people succeed. He’s also been a great friend to me. When I took a buy-out from The Journal in 2012 he was the first person to call and see how I was. He told me the best my part of my life, while unknown, was just around the corner.

Now, it’s my turn to return the favor as Steve enters his new chapter in life. Given his eagerness in his eyes and how he relates to people I have no doubt Steve Hogle will have super Saskatoon success.

Cam and Eggs, Order No. 1: (CORRECTED) Will Edmonton Oil King head coach Derek Laxdal walk down the long hallway again?

(This post ran Monday with incorrect information about the contracts of Edmonton Oil King coaches. Read Journal sportswriter Evan Daum's story from Tuesday's paper!)

There’s a hallway in the bowels of Rexall Place, just up a slight ramp from the Edmonton Oil King dressing room, that leads to a dimly lit room on your right hand side. Sportswriters gather for post-game interviews from head coaches.

After a win, coaches strut in the room with an extra stride in their step. After a loss, the long hallway can be almost endless for a coach, each footstep echoing off the wall at almost a deafening volume.

Oil King coach Derek Laxdal knows the feeling.  After every game in Edmonton of the Western Hockey League championship series, he has walked down that hallway to answer questions from reporters.

DEREK LAXDAL

The coach will probably walk down the hallway very soon  — perhaps this week, even — just past the interview room for a meeting in the office of Bob Green, Oil Kings general manager.

There will be a lot for Laxdal and Green to discuss following  a 5-1 loss to the Portland Winterhawks in Game 6 of the WHL championship series. The Winterhawks won the best-of-seven series 4-2, ending the Oil King’s rein of defending champions.

 Green will have questions:

•what went wrong with the Oil King’s powerplay which could not be ignited, and didn’t score a single goal in 31 chances over the series — and, perhaps most importantly, surrendered two short-handed goals on a four-minute powerplay in Sunday’s first period;

•where was the intensity Sunday, after that terrific Game 5 Friday in Portland — a hockey fan’s dream to watch — that saw the Oil Kings give it all they had, and pull a 3-2 overtime win out of the fire to force Game 6? Sure, the Oil Kings outshot Portland 27-24 Sunday, but the Edmonton just didn’t seem to have it. Was the tank empty … and, why?

•Henrik Samuelsson took an undisciplined slashing penalty in the last 90 seconds of Game 4, which didn’t allow Edmonton a chance to pull their goalie for an extra attacker in a 2-1 hockey game. Was Samuelsson’s penalty or an isolated instance? Or was that exchange Laxdal and Samuelsson had after the game a sign of a bigger issue?

•captain Griffin Reinhart and veteran Trevor Cheek were injured. What did that take away from the team?

BOB GREEN

And others will probably be asked, including why the Oil Kings are not making a repeat performance in the MasterCard Memorial Cup later this week in Saskatoon.
Laxdal will have to answer to the GM and also address questions about the future, namely his. (Here's the information I had wrong) My sources say Laxdal is at the end of his three-year deal so his answers to The Boss will no doubt hinge on whether or not he wants to return to the Oil Kings.

He has had success in Edmonton: two appearances to the WHL championship final in three seasons and one championship.

But could there be a pro job calling Laxdal’s name, perhaps even with the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant?

And let’s not forget Laxdal’s assistant Steve Hamilton, also at the end of a three-year deal. Hamilton is head coach material, absolutely.

Derek Laxdal has walked down that long, narrow — sometimes haunting — countless times. Only time if he will continue to do so.

Game 6 on Mother's Day: Let's hope Edmonton Oil King fans celebrate both

If you watched Game 5 of the Western Hockey League championship series Friday night, chances are you just might be unwinding right now.

Wow: what a hockey game, packed with skill, excitement, action … and, if you are an Edmonton Oil King fan, great celebration. Forward Michael St. Croix scored in the first overtime period to give Edmonton a 3-2 win over the Portland Winterhawks, giving the Oil Kings another day. Portland still leads the best-of-seven series 3-2, but St. Croix helped force Game 6 which faces off Sunday at Rexall Place when the clock reaches 4 p.m.

And, if you wattched Friday’s game from Portland on SHAW TV or on whl.ca, you may have heard a comment from broadcaster Peter Loubardias.

I sure did. He made sense, absolutely, when he challenged Edmonton hockey fans to get out and enjoy Game 6.

Because it seems Edmonton fans have not embraced the Oil Kings defending their WHL championship series this spring. Let’s have a look:

•10,947 fans in Portland at the Rose Garden for Game 5 Friday

• 8,400 fans were at Rexall Place for Game 4 Wednesday in Edmonton

•8,513 were at Game 3 Tuesday at Rexall Place

(Source: whl.ca)

Questioning why Edmonton hasn’t fully supported the Oil Kings defending their WHL crown is, certainly, worth debate.

They are providing entertaining hockey. And, one would think, putting an entertaining product on the ice does more than billboards, bus ads, radio and television spots.

Yet, it hasn’t.

Although the Edmonton Oilers did not make the playoffs, there was a lot of hockey played since January. Funny how that happens when a labor dispute holds a season hostage.

Are we hockeyed out in Edmonton? Are we disappointed the Oilers, who had so much promise going into the season, fell by the wayside?

Or, sadly, are we starting to take the new success of major junior hockey in Edmonton for granted?

Surely, we’re not.

Friday’s game was a fabulous example of young men putting it all on the line: skill, determination, blood, sweat, tears — whatever it takes — to be champions.

Game 6 will have all of that and more.

We all should embrace and celebrate the journey the Edmonton Oil Kings are on — especially on such a meaningful Sunday as Mother’s Day.