Things That Make Me Go Hmm...

• Look for a place to live kid! That's what I anticipate will come, or has come out of the mouth of Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher in speaking with defenseman Luke Schenn. Schenn plays his 9th NHL game Tuesday night where the Leafs will then decide if he should stay with the team or be sent back to junior. Schenn has done everything and more to prove that he is NHL ready. Will he have some stumbles along the way? Sure he will? But Schenn has demonstrated in the first 8 regular season games that he isn't intimidated playing against much older competition. (Update: Leafs announce Schenn will stay with Leafs)
• While the Leafs will be questioned on their decision to keep or send Schenn back to junior, I can't see them making the mistake of not sending him to the World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa. That may be the only junior hockey Schenn plays this season.
• I plan on speaking with Luke this afternoon, and will post the interview if all the pieces fall into place.
• Speaking of odd e-mails, I received one from a lady in Toronto inquiring about Luke Schenn. The question had nothing to do about Luke Schenn's on ice preformance, but more about his personal life. She wants to know if Luke has a girl friend. Let's just say Schenn appears to be popular with the ladies as the Leafs poster boy. Did I answer here e-mail with the information she requested? No! Furthermore, I'm the Rockets radio broadcaster, not a matchmaker on an on-line dating service.
• Was it just the officiating Saturday night, or does the WHL have to look at the way it handles altercations following a clean hit? Rockets forward Evan Bloodoff engaged in two big hits against the Wheat Kings, only to get involved in a fight for his actions. My problem isn't with the Wheat Kings player who comes after Bloodoff for running over a teammate, but the fact that both Bloodoff and that player are penalized equally when it is all said and done. In my opinion, if that Wheat Kings player wants to go after Bloodoff he needs to be accessed the extra two minutes for instigating. Is this not the normal call? It wasn't Saturday night.
• Torrie Jung had a successful weekend. Jung played in two games for the Edmonton Oil Kings on the weekend, allowed five goals while sporting a record of 1-0-0-1. Can you imagine if Jung gets the start when the Oil Kings are in Kelowna in early November? Do the Rockets start Kris Lazaruk in goal? It was Lazaruk who was acquired the night before the regular season started from the Kootenay Ice, essentially ended Jung's time in a Rockets uniform.
• Speaking of the Oil Kings, what's up with Brett Breitkreuz? The former Rocket is on fire. His 21 points in 17 games is impressive. Five of his 9 goals this season are on the power play. Rockets director of player personnel Lorne Frey picked Breitkruez in the 2nd round of the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft behind some kid named Schenn?
• An interesting conversation with Wheat Kings GM Kelly McCrimmon Saturday night led us to the issue of cell phone use. Unless you've had your head in the sand, every player now has a cell phone and text messaging to friends continuously can be a major problem. On game days these players should be busy preparing for the game, not texting back and forth to a buddy or girl friend who is miles away. Let's just say the distractions on the road are much different then they were 15 years ago.
• Speaking of which, how much has the dynamics on the team bus changed over the years? Modern technology has us with our own i-pods, laptops and cell phones. If we are really bored we can watch a movie on the big screen on the team bus. Who needs to communicate with one another? In the good old days players passed the time by playing cards with one another or simply talking to each other. I'm not saying all communication has been lost, but does today's junior hockey player know as much about his teammates as he used too?