The Rangers were perplexed by a suspension that came their way earlier this week. By the way, what are your thoughts on this unique jersey matchup? (Photo: Hailey Tripodi, Kitchener Rangers)

The OHL’s disciplinary office had a busy weekend. 

In just three days, a whopping eight suspensions were levied across the league.

The list ran the gamut of possible infractions, from slew-footing to fighting to checking from behind.

Notably, one of the bans fell upon Kitchener Rangers assistant coach Brad Flynn. The two-game suspension stemmed from a late-game exchange with referee Darcy Burchell on Friday against the Windsor Spitfires, for which he took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The only problem is, according to beat reporter Josh Brown, the Rangers don’t seem to know why.

“We got his (Flynn’s) account of it and the account of everyone else on the bench,” said Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie. “Honestly, it didn’t sound like much.”

McKenzie pointed out there is a history between Burchell and the Kitchener coaching staff. Two years ago, associate coach Jeff Kyrzakos was ejected during a game Burchell was officiating, for alleged abuse of an official.

“There is a history here obviously,” McKenzie said.

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Borden Hildenbrand mans the timekeeper’s booth at the then-new WFCU Centre in 2008. (Photo: Nick Brancaccio/Windsor Star)

For parts of five decades, Borden Hildenbrand sat in the penalty box.

Of course, it wasn’t him serving the time; he was keeping it. From Windsor Arena to the WFCU Centre, he was a constant behind the glass, witnessing generations of Spitfires hockey unfold shift by shift. 

Hildenbrand, a constant presence across the Windsor sports scene, passed away earlier this month at the age of 90 after a brief illness.

“He’s going to be missed by a lot of people,” Windsor Stars’ baseball manager Ron Smith tells our Jim Parker. “He was always involved with one sport or another.” 

In his role as timekeeper, Hildenbrand was privy to the quirks and character of the old Windsor Arena — and, in 1991, may have made a bit of hockey history himself when he was ejected from a game after a timing mix-up with referee David Cassidy.

“I started playing hockey when I was 12 and I’m 48 now and I’ve never seen, in my 36 years in the game, the timekeeper tossed,” then Spitfires’ head coach and general manager Wayne Maxner told The Windsor Star at the time. 

You can read the full story right here.

As if a looming third-straight post-season miss wasn’t enough, the Sarnia Sting have been snakebitten by injuries in the home stretch of a forgettable regular season.

As our Mark Malone writes in the Sarnia Observer, snakebite might be one of the few ailments that hasn’t gotten to the Western Conference’s ninth-place team.

They aren’t your run-of-the-mill maladies, either. Defencemen Kalib Capecci and recently signed Olivier Romain both came down with appendicitis, one after the other.

“The odds of that?” said head coach Mathieu Turcotte, who replaced former bench boss Alan Letang mid-season. “I was a little rattled, so I actually asked ChatGPT and it was one in 676 million that two players get appendicitis within two weeks.”

As of Sunday, Sarnia’s injured list also included defenceman Mitch Young and forwards Beckham Edwards and Jordan Bax. It all comes as the Sting sit six points back of the Owen Sound Attack for the conference’s final playoff berth.

“That’s the kind of luck we’re getting these days, but we’re fighting through it,” Turcotte said.

You can read the whole story right here.

Some people in hockey make their mark loudly. Others do it quietly, with a steady presence and a genuine care for the people around them.

According to the Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch, Vince Malette — a longtime assistant with the Ottawa 67’s and later head coach of the Peterborough Petes — was firmly in the latter group.

Malette, 64, passed away earlier this month, surrounded by his family, after an 11-year battle with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

“What made Vince a good coach was the way he treated people,” said Peter Lee, a legendary former 67’s player who is now a consultant with the Berlin Eisbaren of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. “Everybody was important to him.”

The popular bench boss helped the 67’s capture the 1999 Memorial Cup and an OHL championship in 2001.

“Nobody will ever forget Malette leaping off the 67’s bench after Matt Zultek scored the overtime winner against the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen in the 1999 Memorial Cup,” writes Garrioch.

In the years after his diagnosis, his family shared his journey publicly, and his story resonated across the hockey world that had known him for decades.

“Alzheimer’s took so much, but it cannot take your love,” his family posted on the social media site X. “You are free now and finally at peace. We love you.”

You can read the full story right here.

Ottawa 67’s forward Nic Sima catching some air after a visit from the North Bay Battalion’s Aaron Enright. (Photo: Sean Ryan)