Blazers get their man

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers are expected to introduce their new director of player personnel to the city this afternoon.
While no one in the Blazers organization was talking Tuesday, WHL sources have told The Daily News that the WHL team has hired veteran scout Gord Loiselle to fill the position.
Loiselle, who is from St. Albert, Alta., fills the void created when Randy Hansch resigned to join the expansion Edmonton Oil Kings as assistant general manager and director of player personnel.
Hansch left the Blazers on May 31. The next day, Loiselle resigned as the Portland Winter Hawks’ director of player personnel, a position he had filled since 1997-98.
Loiselle told the Portland Tribune that he wasn’t comfortable with the Winter Hawks’ new owners — the team changed hands last summer — and changes that were being made.
“Gord is a very, very good guy,” Winter Hawks head coach Mike Williamson said last night. “He’s hard working. He’ll do very well there.
“I have a lot of respect for him. He knows the players in the league, and he works very, very hard.”
Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, and Loiselle worked together with the Calgary Hitmen in the mid-1990s. Clark was the head coach; Loiselle was second in command on the scouting side of things.
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The Blazers have dealt LW Terrance Delaronde to the Moose Jaw Warriors for a fourth-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Delaronde, whose family lives in Winnipeg, had 45 points and 359 penalty minutes in 169 games with the Blazers.
The move leaves the Blazers with five 20-year-olds — centres Brady Mason and Brock Nixon, defencemen Ryan Bender and Ryan White, and goaltender Dustin Butler.
The deal also leaves the Warriors with five 20-year-olds — Delaronde, defenceman Martin Grundling, goaltenders Joey Perricone and Kurt Jory, and LW Keith Voytechek. Grundling, however, is expected to play professionally in the Czech Republic.
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The Prince George Cougars have dealt C Chris Durand, 20, to the Saskatoon Blades for a third-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. Durand is from Saskatoon so the deal allows him to finish his WHL career in his hometown.
Durand, who was acquired last season from the Seattle Thunderbirds, totaled 27 points and 97 penalty minutes in 71 games. He followed up that with 14 points in 15 playoff games.
The fourth overall pick in the 2004 bantam draft, Durand was taken 52nd overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL’s 2005 draft. However, the Avs didn’t sign him and he now is a free agent.
The Cougars also have acquired C Alex Poulter, 18, and LW Evan Pighin, 19, from the Red Deer Rebels for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. (According to the Red Deer Advocate, the Rebels get a fourth-round pick if both players are in the league Oct. 10, a fifth-rounder if one still is around and a sixth-rounder if they’re both gone.)
Poulter, 6-foot-0 and 185 pounds, had 12 points and 24 penalty minutes in 67 games with Red Deer last season. From Broomfield, Colo., he won’t turn 18 until Nov. 7. Pighin, a 5-foot-10, 190-pounder from Vancouver, had 11 points in 62 games with Red Deer last season.
When last season ended, the Cougars had three 20-year-olds, nine 19-year-olds and four 18-year-olds on their roster. Acquiring Poulter and Pighin adds some depth.
Both players asked out of Red Deer, feeling they might not be among the Rebels’ top 12 forwards.
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JUST NOTES: Former Blazers captain Ajay Baines of Kamloops will be celebrating with friends and family this weekend. Baines and the Hamilton Bulldogs won the AHL championship earlier this month, and he will be bringing home the Calder Cup on Saturday. . . . Former Blazers RW Paul Brown was chosen by the Flint Generals in the fifth round of the IHL’s dispersal draft yesterday. Brown, 22, had 16 points and 114 penalty minutes in 26 games with the Rockford IceHogs last season. The IHL, which changed its name from the United Hockey League last week, dispersed players from the Chicago Hounds, Elmira Jackals, Quad City Mallards and Rockford.
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JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Veteran WHL coach Peter Anholt, whose contract as head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders wasn’t renewed after last season, is the new general manager of Candle Lake Golf Resort. The resort is about 90 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert. Mike Jenkins, who resigned as the Saskatoon Blades’ director of business operations during last season, is the resort’s director of marketing. . . . Former Hull Olympiques owner Charlie Henry was one of five scouts fired this week by the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. Also dumped were Gus Badali, Willy Lindstrom, Blair Reid and Evzen Slansky. . . . Former WHL coach John Chapman, who has spent the last number of seasons as an NHL scout, most recently with the Philadelphia Flyers, has retired.