Is Quentin Shore leaving DU for Portland of the WHL?

According to @thnryankennedy, Quentin Shore might be leaving the Denver Pioneers for the Portland Winterhawks.
— Cody Nickolet (@WHLFromAbove) December 5, 2012

My twitter feed has an interesting tweet pop up in the last few minutes. Apparently, there is a rumor out there that Denver Pioneers forward/defenseman Quentin Shore might be leaving the Pioneers mid-season to play with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.

This would be a big story if true. Of course, the minute this news comes out many fans are skeptical because of Portland's recent troubles with the WHL.

Quentin Shore is a freshman from Denver, Colorado and has played in 14 games and has scored (3g-4a-7pts) so far this season. Quetin's brother Nick Shore also plays for the Pioneers and the junior forward is the Pioneers leading scorer (6g-12a-18pts).

It this is true, it has not been a good day for NCAA hockey.

This news comes on the heals of Boston University sophomore forward Yasin Cisse leaving the Terriers for what appears to be the QMJHL.

Potential big news out of Denver: Quentin Shore may be leaving NCAA Pioneers for #WHL Portland
— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) December 5, 2012

WHL throws the book at Portland

Western Hockey League (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today the Western Hockey League dropped the boom on The Portland Winterhawks and they will suffer some harsh sanctions.

The Winterhawks were fined $200,000.00 and will also lose the first five rounds of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft but the league was done there, the Winterhawks will also lose their first round draft choices in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Today's announcement, also vindicates Dean Millard who first broke this story back in November and then took some heat for his story from fans of the Portland Winterhawks.

To all the folks who slammed Dean and I after he broke the Portland story 3 weeks ago, what say you now? HUGE penalties from the WHL today
— Guy Flaming (@TPS_Guy) November 28, 2012

Here is a list of the offenses that the Winterhawks committed, and there weren't any violations related to the league’s educational packages.

Portland Winterhawks --- What follows is a summary of the league’s findings, and a statement from Johnston:

The Winterhawks were found to have committed the following violations:

• A player contract signed in 2009, involving flights for the player’s family and a summer training program
• Over the last five years, seven families were provided flights 2-4 times per season based on financial need and their distance from Portland
• Twice in the last five years the team paid for two players to each have a one-week summer training regimen
• The Winterhawks provided a cell phone for its team captain for a period of three seasons

The WHL’s audit found no violations involving monetary payments made to players, their families or agents, or any violations related to the league’s educational packages.

When the story first emerged, some had thought that the Winterhawks defenseman Seth Jones was part of the violations and it turned out that he wasn't. Apparently, Jones' family adviser/agent is not pleased with these allegations.

Seth Jones' agent Pat Brisson angry at any implication his client is involved: "This has nothing to do with Seth. Absolutely nothing."
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) November 28, 2012

Here's Andrew Eide's; editor for the Hockey Writers - Combine and his take on the matter.

Related articles

• What do WHL Sanctions Mean for Portland Winterhawks (thehockeywriters.com)
• WHL hammers Portland Winterhawks for league violations (theglobeandmail.com)

Are the Portland Wnterhawks the next to be punished?

This past summer the OHL’s Windsor Spit Fires were fined $250,000.00 for breaking the OHL’s recruitment/benefit rules and policies. Now according to Dean Milard of the Pipeline Show, the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League could be the next CHL team to face some stiff punishment for a violations of the recruitment rules. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Dean Milard; Coming Down the Pipe --- The In the case of Portland, here is their latest big recruit and a few situations that some might be suspicious of, and reasons why there might not be anything wrong with it at all. Seth Jones joined the Hawks this year after a trade with Everett during the 2012 post season.

- Did the team speak to Jones before the trade?
- Did he simply realize that the Winterhawks have developed some pretty good blueliners lately?
- Did they offer him more money to play in Portland after the trade?

Depending on who you talk to, Jones is a stud no matter where he plays. Some wonder why Everett wasn't his choice as it didn't seem to hurt Ryan Murray who went second overall. But a case can be made for the likes of Joe Morrow and Derrick Pouliot in Portland. As for his NCAA options, he had narrowed his choices down to the University of North Dakota. Formerly the Fighting Sioux. UND is an unreal program and playing there is never a wrong choice, but Portland isn't exactly second banana. They've been to the final, two straight years and some (like me) have them getting back there again this year. Maybe Jones just saw the writing on the wall that they were going to be good, especially with him and jumped on board.

After this revelation; one does have to wonder how many more CHL teams could be in violation of the recruitment/benefits rules? I am sure that Dean Millard and Guy Flaming will keep us updated on this developing situation.

Seth Jones to the Winterhawks?

In perusing the Internet today it would appear that Seth Jones might be going to the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. I don't really think it's that a big shocker to anyone and his chances of playing at UND are probably between slim and none. It had been announced that the highly sought after Jones was going to pick between the WHL and going the NCAA route at UND. Jones actually made a recruiting visit this past season. Here is the press release from the Portland Winterhawks.