THE COACHING GAME: The Calgary Hitmen made a coaching change Tuesday, as assistant coach Dave Lowry was promoted from assistant to head coach. Kelly Kisio, who spent the last four seasons as general manager and head coach, now will focus strictly on being the GM. He is preparing for his 11th season as Calgary’s GM, while Lowry, who played 1,084 NHL games over 19 seasons, has been a Hitmen assistant coach for two seasons. He becomes the sixth head coach in Hitmen history. . . . Colin Patterson, a part-time assistant with the Kootenay Ice for eight of the last 10 seasons, won’t be back with the Cranbrook-based team. Jeff Bromley of the Kootenay NewsAdvertiser writes that Scott Beattie, the former GM/head coach of the Kootenay International junior league’s Kimberley Dynamiters, is a possible replacement. . . .
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JUNIOR JOTTINGS: The Brandon Wheat Kings’ season-ticket deadline passed Friday with 1,644 tickets having been sold. Last season, the Wheat Kings set a franchise record by selling 2,752 season tickets, a figure they hope to push to 3,000 for the upcoming season. . . . The Wheat Kings have hired Matt McNish as a sales and marketing account executive and Cam McGhee as athletic therapist. McNish joins the Wheaties from Sysco Foods in Winnipeg. He was an assistant coach with the bantam AA Wheat Kings for the last two seasons. McGhee, presently in his third season with baseball’s Winnipeg Goldeyes, is a native of Hamiota, the hometown of former Boston Bruins defenceman Dallas Smith. Last hockey season, he was with the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines. . . . The Chilliwack Bruins have dealt F Cody Smuk, 19, and a 2009 third-round bantam draft pick to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for D Jesse Craige, 19, and an eighth-round selection. Smuk, from Saskatoon, had 14 points and 71 penalty minutes last season, his second in the WHL. Craige, from Edmonton, had 31 points in 52 games. . . . The UBC Thunderbirds have added six WHL grads to their roster – D Theran Yeo, D John Flatters, F Brandon Campos, F Clayton Bauer, F Brennan Sonne and F Keith Voytechek all are veterans of the WHL wars. . . . The Tri-City Americans have signed RW Jordan Messier, 16, to a WHL contract. Messier, 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds, is not from Winnipeg, which is big news when it comes to the Americans. Actually, he is from Canmore, Alta., and was the American’s first pick in the 2007 bantam draft. Last season, he had 71 points for the midget AAA Notre Dame Hounds. . . . The Americans also dealt G Kyle Jahraus, 18, to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a conditional 10th round pick in the 2009 draft. Jahraus, from Saskatoon, went 8-17-3 with a 3.71 GAA and a .891 save percentage with the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts last season. . . . The U of Manitoba Bisons have added LW Terrance Delaronde and D Pierre-Paul Lamoureux, both WHL veteranss, to their roster.
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The WHL has lost two members of its extended family. . . .
Bill Vince, who played with the Calgary Wranglers, Medicine Hat Tigers, Kamloops Junior Oilers and Brandon Wheat Kings, died Saturday in West Vancouver. He was 44 when he lost a battle with cancer. . . . Vince died at his home in West Vancouver. . . . I enjoyed many conversations with Vince when he played for the Wheat Kings, but even at that young age he didn’t suffer fools lightly. If you asked what he thought was a foolish question, he let you know. He also wasn't the least bit leery about asking questions himself. He was highly intelligent and curious and, although it may not have been known at the time, he was dyslexic. . . . Vince became a well-known movie producer and was a producer of Capote, which drew five Oscar nominations. Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Oscar for best actor. . . . Yvonne Zacharias has written a wonderful tribute to Vince. You may read it here. . . .
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Longtime WHL scout Doug Mosher died Monday after a long fight with cancer. He was 71. Mosher scouted for the Tri-City Americans and then joined Swift Current, working for the Broncos from 1991-96. A retired RCMP officer, he was the Broncos’ director of player personnel and assistant general manager for two seasons and was the GM from 1994-96. He was the Eastern Conference’s executive of the year for 1995-96. He later worked for the Medicine Hat Tigers and had a turn as their GM. Later, he scouted for the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. . . . A funeral service is scheduled for Thursday, 11 a.m., at the Maple Creek, Sask., Armoury.
