THE COACHING GAME: Look for Trent Yawney to be named to the coaching staff of the San Jose Sharks. Yawney, who once was believed to be in the running for the head-coaching position with the Kamloops Blazers, will work under Todd McLellan, the Sharks’ new head coach. That just might be the old Saskatchewan connection at work, what with McLellan from Melville and Yawney from Hudson Bay. . . . And on the subject of Saskatchewan, Barry Melrose, a native of Kelvington, will be named head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Melrose, a former WHL head coach, is expected to have former WHLer Wes Walz and Rick Tocchet on his coaching staff. . . . Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson is bringing two assistants coaches along with him from San Jose. The Leafs are expected to announce that Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler will join holdover Keith Acton on Wilson’s staff. . . .
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F Daine Todd, who played five seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers, has decided to attend the U of New Brunswick in Fredericton and play for the Varsity Reds. Todd captained the Tigers last season, when he had 65 points in 70 games. . . . The Tri-City Americans have signed F Brooks Macek, a 16-year-old from Winnipeg. Macek, 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, played for the midget AAA Notre Dame Hounds of Wilcox, Sask., totaling 62 points. He was a second-round selection by the Americans in the 2007 bantam draft.
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The junior hockey picture — below major junior — is changing in Ontario. Lois Kalchman describes what’s going on in a story in the Toronto Star. Read it right here.
