Stefan Matteau after scoring his first NHL goal in February (The Associated Press)

Well, what is father to say in these situations? Two weeks ago, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada ignited a firestorm by washing their hands of New Jersey Devils first-round choice Stefan Matteau midway through their QMJHL semifinal series vs. the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. (The teams would soon change the channel in rather unconventional fashion.) Matteau and his former-NHLer father, Armada assistant coach Stéphane Matteau, made no public comment at that time, allowing a narrative that portrayed B-B coach Jean-François Houle and GM Joël Bouchard as disciplinarians to form.

Wednesday, the elder Matteau broke the family's silence by speaking to Tom Gulitti (@TGfireandice). Matteau's contention is his 19-year-old son was singled out by the team due to his status as a returnee from the NHL and was released "for just a shouting match."

Pat Conacher was Regina's bench boss for 2 seasons (Postmedia)The timing would lead one think a bigger and brighter stage awaits Pat Conacher.

After just two seasons at the helm of the Regina Pats, the former NHL assistant coach and AHL head coach is on the move again after resigning. Time will tell how this affects the chances Regina, which always seems to be in the midst of rebuilding, has of getting back into the playoff field next season. The Pats seem to have taken it in stride by promoting from within, moving two-year assistant Malcolm Cameron into the top job.

From Jamie Nye (@jamienye)

Conacher says after deliberation with his family he decided he will not return to Regina, despite having one year left on his contract.

The Pats have promoted assistant coach Malcolm Cameron to Head Coach.

"As Pat had another year on his contract his resignation certainly caught us off guard," said Pats General Manager Chad Lang in release from the team. "We would like to thank Pat for his commitment to the Regina Pats organization for the past two years and wish him and his family all the best in the future."

Lang says they did not believe a coaching search was necessary, believing Cameron was the right man for the job. (CJME 980 Regina)

minor_hockeyIt is impossible to keep the emotion out of a discussion about banning body checking in minor hockey. That might be a tip-off that various administrative bodies which, in the face of mounting medical evidence, are raising the age at which players are introducing to checking might be on the right track.

Without the emotion that is the sport's ethos, for good or ill, it would be a no-brainer. Hockey's hardliners will maintain that delaying the introduction of one of the game's rougher skills is counterproductive since it means young players will be clueless when bodychecking is introduced, but that would seem to pale in comparison to the aftereffects, which include "fundamentally changing who we are when we smack our heads that hard."

[Related: Hockey Alberta eliminates body checking in peewee division]

On Wednesday, Hockey Alberta became the latest to heed the call of parents and researchers by saying body checking will be proscribed for 11- and 12-year-old players. The Greater Toronto Hockey League is also has also proposed similar measures. Each are respectively the biggest feeder systems for the Western and Ontario major junior leagues.

There is so much unknown about the effects of brain injuries, so you can understand the better-safe-than-sorry thinking.

From Meghan Pontis:

The amateur hockey body announced Wednesday that in the face of "overwhelming evidence" that body checking is a significant risk factor for injuries and concussions in youth hockey, they have decided to eliminate checking for players under 13 years of age.

“Our players’ safety is the foundation in making this decision,” said Hockey Alberta’s chair, Rob Virgil.

Starting in the 2013-14 season, the rules of play for the Atom level will apply to the Peewee group. Checking will be banned and there will be a penalty assessed for players who bodycheck.

Hockey Alberta’s board came to the decision following a recent review of scientific research, member feedback and surveys. (Calgary Herald)

Where one stands is inextricably linked to her/his involvement and personal history with the game, let's not kid ourselves. This taps the endless debate over what is the purpose of minor hockey and youth sports.

Is it a kind of sweaty social Darwinism where only the strong survive and the rest are gradually find their own level? Or is it about using sport as

Drouin far right) is averaging 2 points per game in the playoffs (The Canadian Press)

Jo is good to go, but how good that will be will not be known until he takes the ice. On Tuesday, the Halifax Mooseheads were doubly dinged when Jonathan Drouin went out of the game following a knee-on-knee collision with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar's Alexandre Ranger that was not penalized. During his absence, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar took the lead and went on to a 3-1 win to shave the Mooseheads' President's Cup final lead to 2-1.

(The play starts 0:54 into Halifax broadcaster John Moore's recap.)

The word is Drouin will play on Wednesday. Ranger has been suspended.

Alexandre Ranger suspendu un match pour sa mise en echec sur Jonathan Drouin hier soir #SeriesLHJMQ

— Stephane Leroux (@StephRDSJunior) May 8, 2013

The way the Mooseheads' potency dipped while he was out of the game might seem like a bad harbinger for the Haligonians.

Philippe Cadorette made 27 saves on Tuesday (Rémi Senechal, The Canadian Press)

No. 1 star: Philippe Cadorette, Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)

Cadorette's 27-save night in the Drakkar's 3-1 Game 3 win roused the Halifax Mooseheads from their undefeated post-season dream, while turning the President's Cup final from a coronation to a competition. The 18-year-old sophomore goalie came back refreshed and refocused after getting a mercy pull in Game 2, making 27 saves in a who-blinks-first netminding matchup with likely NHL first-rounder Zach Fucale.

Cadorette helped keep the Mooseheads at bay with a big second-period save on veteran Stephan MacAulay to keep the game knotted at naught-naught until Russian rookie Valentin Zykov broke through for game's first goal with 4:10 left in the second. Another 1995-born Drakkar, Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau, scored 2:49 into the third for the eventual winning goal. Overage Carl Gélinas, an ex-Moosehead, assisted on that tally and also got the empty-netter.

Mooseheads star Nathan MacKinnon, who was originally drafted by the Drakkar in 2011, received a standing ovation from the packed house at Centre Henry-Leonard ... for getting a hooking penalty in the first period.

You can watch baseball every night and never think about how fearless pitchers are to face the risk of being struck by line drive — until something like what happened to the Toronto Blue Jays' J.A. Happ occurs.

In the second inning on Tuesday, Happ collapsed, bleeding, after being struck by a line drive by the Tampa Bay Rays' Desmond Jennings. It was a heart-in-mouth situation, with the entire ballpark silenced while paramedics and the medical staffs of each team attended to the stricken left-hander.

Keep JA Happ in your prayers... Hardest thing I've ever had to see back there...

— jp arencibia (@jparencibia9) May 8, 2013

Nathan MacKinnon and the Mooseheads are 14-0 in the post-season (Getty Images)

Think of a league championship as the sumptuous meal and the Memorial Cup as dessert. The latter is nice but not essential to feeling full.

With the MasterCard Memorial Cup 10 days away — and with the Saskatoon Blades occupied with their refresher course on post-season hockey — it's not a bad time to harp on how a season isn't defined by winning the Memorial Cup. Or maybe one should hold in her/his air and abide that the majority perception that the team who wins that 10-day tournament in May gets to fashion a lasting legacy.

Reality, of course, is more scrambled. Franchises shouldn't downplay winning four best-of-7 series to claim the league, or ruling over all the competition in their region of Canada (and a few U.S. border states). It seems germane to point this out during the lead-up to this tournament. The WHL finalists in Edmonton and Portland each won 50-plus games in the regular season. Down east the Halifax Mooseheads had a QMJHL-record-tying 58 victories and are 14-0 in the playoffs. The London Knights, who are having enough trouble with the Barrie Colts in the OHL final, also hit the big five-oh. Chances are, someone from that group is not going to hoist a trophy on May 27, just like some other stacked squads from throughout the tournament era:

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Today's should-read: nearly six months later, league commissioner Ron Robison is still taking heat over the handling of BennyGate in Portland. From Dwight Jaynes: "One NHL scout told me last week he'd been asking major-junior team operators all over Canada whether they pay for parents to fly in and watch their boys play. He said, 'EVERY SINGLE ONE of them told me they commonly did it. It's something all teams have done.' " (Comcast Sportsnet)

How is Edmonton going to slow down Portland's transition game in the critical Game 3 of the Ed Chynoweth Cup final? (Edmonton Journal)

Crash Cameron examines how far Portland scoring aces Brendan Leipsic and Nic Petan have come since 12 months ago, when they were complementary players during the first Winterhawks-Oil Kings championship series. (Edmonton Sun)

A mixture of former players have been serving as the practice team for the Saskatoon Blades, who open the MasterCard Memorial Cup in 10 days. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Sam Steel, the Regina Pats' No. 2 overall pick, was apparently destined for the Queen City: the Pats once practised on the backyard rink at his home. (Sherwood Park News)

Seattle Thunderbirds left wing Mitch Elliot is spending the early part of his off-season coaching track and field in his hometown. Way to pay it forward. (Prince George Citizen)

OHL

The league's reasoning for why Barrie's Anthony Camara was not suspended for a charging major/game misconduct in Game 2: "He got there within a steamboat of Max [Domi] chipping the puck out of the zone. He didn’t skate a long distance to make the hit and what we saw was his right skate was still on the ice on contact and the impact was what caused both of his skates to leave the ice." (London Free Press)