The Rockets' next head coach is . . .

Bruce Hamilton is in no hurry to hire a head coach for his Kelowna Rockets.
“I’ve been on the phone but . . .,” offered the WHL team’s president and general manager Wednesday, shortly after rolling into Saskatoon for a visit with family.
“As long as I have Ryan Huska, I’m in no hurry,” Hamilton said.
In other words, if Hamilton isn’t able to find someone better than Huska, the Rockets’ veteran assistant coach will become the head coach.
Huska is one of only two people to have won four Memorial Cup titles. Huska won three as a player with the Kamloops Blazers and one as an assistant coach with the Rockets. (The other is Don Hay, who won three as a member of the Blazers' coaching staff and the other in May as the head coach of the Vancouver Giants.)
Huska has worked under the Rockets’ two previous head coaches, Marc Habscheid and Jeff Truitt. Truitt resigned last month and has since signed as an assistant coach with the Springfield Falcons, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.
Habscheid, meanwhile, is unemployed, having been fired by the Boston Bruins as an associate coach, along with head coach Dave Lewis.
Hamilton said Wednesday that he has chatted with Habscheid, who left Kelowna after guiding the Rockets to the 2004 Memorial Cup title, and will speak with him again in the near future. Habscheid also spent two seasons as head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, and took them to the 1999 WHL final.
“He needed to go through the process with other NHL teams as far as other assistant coaching positions,” Hamilton said.
The Rockets are believed to be the only WHL team actively looking for a head coach, although the Portland Winter Hawks technically are without one as Mike Williamson’s contract has expired. He and the Winter Hawks’ new ownership group have held talks but a contract has yet to be done.
Hamilton said he hasn’t heard from Williamson.
As for Huska, Hamilton said: “I have no problem with him. I am totally comfortable with him.”
Hamilton just wants to go through the process of seeing just what are his options.
Huska recently told Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Rockets, that he “totally understands” the process.
“I think when you sit back and you put yourself in his shoes, as president and GM and owner of the team, he has to do what is best for his hockey club,” Huska said. “By him not going and seeing who might be interested or who might be able to apply, I think it would be a mistake on his part.
“It's his responsibility to this hockey club to search for the guy who is best for this job. If it turns out to be me that's fantastic; if it turns out not to be me it's going to be a choice that Bruce has done his homework on, and he's going to be a guy that is going to help this organization get back to where we need to be."

So what does all of this mean? I'm thinking it means that if Habscheid wants to come back, meaning he doesn't catch on with another NHL team and Boston buys him out, he's the Rockets' next head coach. If that doesn't come to pass, the position goes to Huska. . . . But could Williamson be something of a wild card? He is highly thought of and, at the age of 34, has 10 years of coaching experience (4-plus as an assistant, 5-plus as head coach).

FERGUSON STINGS: Former Carolina Hurricanes head scout Sheldon Ferguson, who coached the Seattle Thunderbirds a while ago, is the new GM of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. He is looking for a head coach and one of the names that has been mentioned is Trent Yawney, who served as a consultant to the Prince George Cougars late last season. Yawney, who was fired by the Chicago Blackhawks last season, remains under contract to the NHL team, which is why he isn’t coaching the Cougars. . . . If you can remember when Sheldon's father, Laurence, was part of the group that owned the AJHL's Red Deer Rustlers, go to the head of the class.

IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE WATER: Kevin Heise has returned to the Tri-City Americans as their trainer. He spent four seasons with the Ams before leaving a year ago and joining the Seattle Thunderbirds. He resumes his previous position Aug. 15.

TICKET TAKE: Tickets for Games 6 and 8 of the Canada-Russia junior series (sorry, I'm not going to call it Super Series) will be for sale via Ticketmaster starting on Saturday. And there is some interesting pricing. Tickets for Game 6 in Saskatoon's Credit Union Place are priced from $27.50 to $47.50. For Game 7, at the Enmax Centrium in Red Deer, the prices are $45 to $70. And for Game 8 at GM Place in Vancouver, it's $17.00 to $37.00. . . . No prices are posted for Game 5 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. . . . It's gotta be the oil money driving the prices in Red Deer, doncha think?