Canadas largest private-sector union, which is trying to organize major junior hockey players across the country, is scheduled to meet on Monday with Ontarios minister of labour to discuss the working conditions faced in the Canadian Hockey League by its 1,700 mostly teenaged players. Jerry Dias, Unifors president, said he plans to ask Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn to establish a task force charged with scrutinizing the business of junior hockey. Dias told TSN that when he met with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne three weeks ago at Queens Park, Wynne brought up the issue of working conditions in junior hockey with him. Dias said Wynne told him she is interested in learning more about whether players get a fair share of the games profits. Flynns spokesman Craig MacBride declined to comment. Wynnes spokeswoman Zita Astravas said both the premier and Flynn have already met with Dias. Discussions covered a wide range of topics, she said. Unifor is an important partner and our government looks forward to a positive relationship with labour. Two years after a similar attempt to organize CHL players fizzled out, Unifor is trying again. The union, which represents about 300,000 workers in various industries, says major junior players are underpaid and exploited by the owners of junior teams that have become hugely profitable in recent years. The CHL says thats not true. Players dont receive more compensation because the leagues consider them student athletes, said CHL commissioner David Branch. Many players are also eligible for valuable scholarship programs when they finish playing junior hockey, he said in an interview. Dias said Unifor staff have spent the past few weeks trying to determine how governments in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Michigan and Pennsylvania -- states where eight of the CHLs 60 teams play -- view major junior players. Canadian students who attend U.S. schools, such as the University of Michigan, obtain student visas to travel across the border. But NHL player agent Anton Thun said that since OHL players have P1 work visas, its unclear how Branch and other league officials can consider those players as student athletes. I dont profess to know the immigration laws, Branch said. I dont know what you need to facilitate a player playing in the U.S. Thun said the three major junior leagues in Canada are desperate to keep their player costs down at the same time as the leagues collective profits have surged. These leagues have gone from being mom and pop businesses in the 1980s to hugely profitable money-making private businesses that sell millions of dollars in tickets, hundreds of thousands of dollars in jerseys and sponsorships and TV rights. The truth is junior teams are no longer what they say they are. Most CHL teams are private companies and dont disclose their finances, though Branch said roughly one-third of teams lose money. He declined to provide any estimates on how much money cash-rich or cash-poor teams generate. The Kitchener Rangers, who are publicly owned, play in a city with a population of 219,000. In August 2013, the team reported total revenue of $6.2 million for the previous season, up from $5.6 million. The Rangers sold $470,000 worth of team merchandise alone. One of the lures of playing major junior hockey is the chance to earn a scholarship that can later go to pay for a players post-secondary education. The packages can add up to more than $40,000, depending on how long a player plays in the CHL. Thun said a union might help spur a discussion about simply paying players that money in cash. Why not just give it to them, and let them and their families decide whether to invest it, or spend it on a car, or something else that they want or need, Thun said. Branch, however, said the parents of players have been supportive of the scholarship packages, even though it expires if a player doesnt go to school within 18 months of their junior career. In a focus group of about 16 families of OHL players that was conducted five years ago, most parents said they supported the time limit, Branch said. What if the kids indiscriminately spend the money, what are they left with? Branch said. Parents have suggested there is a value to putting a framework in place to encourage players to go on to a post-secondary education. Branch said hes unsure what it might mean for teams if they were forced to begin paying a minimum wage to players. Unifors Dias said an average 40-hour work week adds up to about 2,000 hours a year. If players in Ontario were paid the minimum wage of $11 per hour for half the year, it would work out to about $11,000 per player, or at least $220,000 a year for each team. Its unclear how much teams now pay for players, but in recent years, the OHL paid players $55 a week. The league recently introduced new guidelines where teams re-imburse players for expenses instead of paying them a set weekly amount. Not everyone would embrace the concept of a union. Bob Stellick, a sports marketing executive whose son Robert played two years in the OHL, said many parents would shrug off the idea of a union. I dont think $50 a week really makes any difference for most families, said Stellick, whose Toronto company has produced public service announcements for the CHL. The key for parents is the type of experience their son gets. If the player doesnt play to family expectations, isnt drafted, gets traded once or twice, and doesnt complete high school, then yes the family would be sour. Award-winning journalist Rick Westhead is TSNs Senior Correspondent for TSNs platforms - TSN, TSN Radio, TSN.ca and TSN GO. He has covered a wide variety of sports issues for a slate of leading publications, among them the Toronto Star, Bloomberg News, Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, New York Times, and Saturday Night Magazine. Earlier this year, Westhead was part of a team that won the prestigious Project of the Year at the National Newspaper Awards. He was also honoured with the Toronto Stars Reporter of the Year Award in 2007. Share your comments with Rick Westhead on Twitter at @rwesthead. Discount China Jerseys . Hoefl-Rieschs exit — from the downhill course into safety nets, then airlifted from the slope by helicopter — left Anna Fenninger of Austria favourite to win her first giant crystal trophy one month after becoming an Olympic champion. 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Durants 30-point run ended at 12 games when he scored 26 in just 30 minutes, but the Oklahoma City Thunder won their 10th in a row with a 120-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. "Thats the most important streak," Durant said. Serge Ibaka made all 12 shots and added 25 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder, who were so good that Durant sat the entire fourth quarter, the only way to slow him down right now. Durant came out for good with 1:15 left in the third. Coach Scott Brooks didnt bother asking the NBAs leading scorer if he wanted to keep playing to extend the streak, saying he knew what the answer would be. "If he cared about the streak, he shouldve never missed the two shots. Thats on him. Cant blame it on me," Brooks said. Durant finished 10 of 12 from the field, though his scoring average during his sensational January dropped from 36.6 to 35.9. He had been streaking toward Tracy McGrady, who had the last longer streak when he scored 30 in 14 in a row in 2003. "The streak was good while it lasted, but thats the least of my concerns," Durant said. "Its easy for me to try to force it to keep the streak alive, but we needed this win because they beat us last time." Reggie Jackson and Thabo Sefolosha scored 14 for the Thunder, on their longest winning streak since a 12-game run early in the 2012-13 season. They dominated the final three quarters in their 112-95 victory at Miami and picked up right where they left off in this one before a sellout crowd of 17,732 that included former President Bill Clinton. They call this a landslide in his field. Oklahoma City shot 63.6 per cent (49 of 77), highest in the league this season, and outrebounded Brooklyn 41-17. The Nets rebound total was the lowest in NBA history. Shaun Livingston scored 16 points while drawing the impossible assignment of defending Durant for the Nets, who dropped their final two games to finish 10-3 in January. "I mean, man, hes shooting tthe ball, its tough," Livingston said.dddddddddddd "Its one of those where youve got to tip your hat to him." Oklahoma City closed the first quarter with the final 13 points, eight from Ibaka and the rest from Durant, for a 30-16 lead. An 11-0 spurt in the second -- with just two points from Durant and Ibaka -- extended it to 45-24, and one more surge late in the period put it away. The Nets started the month by holding Durant to 24 points while rallying from 16 down in a 95-93 victory at Oklahoma City, but Brooklyn was never in this game. "I said it before the game. Everybody is talking about Durant scoring 30 points, but its the rest of the guys that are playing at a high level," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "If you look at Ibaka, hes 12 for 12. So again, it goes back to what I said before the game, its just not all Durant. He has guys on his team that have stepped up and been playing at a high level." Durant had a jumper and 3-pointer around Jacksons three-point play to extend it to 28, and Durant made a turnaround jumper and another 3-pointer on consecutive possessions late in the half for a 61-30 cushion. Ibaka capped his perfect half with a follow dunk and Oklahoma City led 63-35 at the break. But Durant got only three shots in the second half, making two on alley-oops, before taking a seat for good to get a little extra rest before returning to his hometown Saturday to face Washington. The Nets played without versatile forward Andrei Kirilenko, who wouldve been one of their best hopes of defending Durant, because of strained right calf. Backup centre Andray Blatche left in the second half with a bruised left hip. Deron Williams had 14 points off the bench for the Nets and rookie Mason Plumlee scored 13. Kevin Garnett missed all four shots and was scoreless with one rebound in 12 minutes. NOTES: The Thunder have won six straight road games. ... The Nets visit Indiana on Saturday, facing both conference leaders in a 24-hour span. ... Marquis Teague, acquired from Chicago on Jan. 21, made his Nets debut in the fourth quarter and scored seven points. ' ' '