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PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Wayne Gretzky applauded the use of centralized concussion spotters as part of the NHLs effort to better protect players.When I played -- one of my kids asked me if I ever got a concussion -- I can honestly tell you I dont even know, said Gretzky, who was representing the Edmonton Oilers as a partner and vice-chairman. Because in those days theyd say, `Take two aspirin tonight, tomorrow youre going to skate for an hour and were going to sweat it out of you. Thats what we did.Gretzky spoke Friday as league owners and its Board of Governors wrapped up two days of meetings. It was his first board meeting since leaving the Arizona Coyotes in 2009.The NHL this season began using concussion spotters located at a central location, watching on television, to help decide if a player should be pulled out of a game for a potential head injury. The league has not released details or results from the first two months of the season, though players have generally supported the move even as a class-action lawsuit is pending against the league over its handling of injured players.We have so much more knowledge now from the doctor side of thing, from the trainers, from the players themselves and yet theres so much more to learn about it, Gretzky said. Is everybody perfectly happy when the best player gets pulled off? No. But its protocol, thats what the rules are and youve got to live with it.Oilers star Connor McDavid recently took issue with being pulled off the ice after he tripped over Minnesota Wild forward Jared Spurgeons stick and hit his chin on the ice. He reached up and grabbed his chin and that reaction was enough for the NHLs concussion spotter to call for him to be taken off.NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the spotter protocol has been discussed by the board and will be again in the next couple of months.The reason you have the spotter program is exactly for the instances that people are talking about, because players typically, and you go back through the history of this, dont want to come out of a game, Bettman said. We think being cautious, having protocols and enforcing them is the best way to ensure it. Does that mean some players are going to get pulled who didnt have concussions? Sure. But it also means were going to make sure the players who need to be off the ice are off the ice.Bettman also said there was nothing new to report on whether NHL players will participate in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, one day after saying owners are negative about going because of concerns about expenses.I think after doing five of these, I dont know, fatigue might be a word (to describe it), Bettman said of the owners reaction.For his part, Gretzky said he hoped the league ultimately chose to attend.Im a big believer in the Olympic Games, said Gretzky, who played in the 1998 Games and built the team that won gold. I happen to love everything about the Olympic Games.Game notesMark Chipman of the Winnipeg Jets and Geoff Molson of the Montreal Canadiens were voted to the NHLs executive committee, replacing the late Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers and Peter Karmanos of the Carolina Hurricanes.Matt Milano Jersey . 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"Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost.VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Canadian novelist W.P. Kinsella, who blended magical realism and baseball in the book that became the smash hit film Field of Dreams, has died. He was 81.His literary agent Carolyn Swayze said in a statement that Kinsellas death on Friday in Hope, British Columbia was doctor-assisted. Details about his health were not disclosed. Assisted deaths became legal in Canada in June.In the 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, a farmer hears a voice telling him to build a baseball diamond in his corn fields. When he does, Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball players of yesteryear come to play. It became the blueprint for the 1989 Oscar-nominated movie, which starred Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and Ray Liotta.Key turns of phrases in Kinsellas book -- If you build it, they will come and Go the distance -- have taken their place in literatures lexicon and among Hollywoods most memorable movie lines.Kinsella, a bona fide baseball junkie, loved the movie and said he had tears in his eyes when he first saw it.In 2011 the Canadian baseball Hall of Fame awarded him the Jack Graney Award for a significant contribution to the game of baseball in Canada.I wrote it 30 years ago, and the fact that people are still discovering it makes me proud. It looks like it will stand the test of time, Kinsella said at the time.Scott Crawford, director of operations at the Canadian hall, said he was saddened to learn of the authors death.His work has touched the lives of thousands of baseball fans across Canada and around the world, Crawford said in a statement. His most famous book was the classic `Shoeless Joe, which inspired one of my favorite movies, `Field of Dreams.Kinsella brought back to life Moonlight Graham, who played one major league baseball game but never got to bat. The author noticed Grahams name while thumbing through the Baaseball Encyclopedia he had received as a Christmas gift from his father-in-law.ddddddddddddI found this entry for Moonlight Graham. How could anyone come up with that nickname? He played one game but did not get to bat. I was intrigued, and I made a note that I intended to write something about him, Kinsella told The Associated Press in 2005 on the 100th anniversary of the only game Graham played in the majors.Much of Kinsellas work touched on baseball. He published almost 30 books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry and won the Order of Canada, one of the countrys highest honors.William Patrick Kinsella was born in Edmonton, Alberta. His father John had played minor league baseball, and the young Kinsella fell for the game playing with friends on sandlots in Edmonton.He began writing as a child, winning a YMCA contest at age 14.Kinsella took writing courses at the University of Victoria in 1970, receiving his bachelor of arts in creative writing in 1974. In 1978 he earned a master of fine arts in English through the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa.He had been an English professor at the University of Calgary.Vancouver Writers Festival founder Alma Lee said Kinsella was a private man with a passion for baseball.He was a dedicated story-teller, performer, curmudgeon, an irascible and difficult man, Swayze said in a statement. His fiction has made people laugh, cry, and think for decades and will do so for decades to come.Kinsella was married three times. He is survived by two daughters, who the literary agency says cared for him in his final years, and several grandchildren.Kinsella has asked there be no memorial service.----Gillies reported from Toronto. Ben Walker in New York contributed. ' ' '