More from Thursday . . .

There is speculation that Hockey Canada may bring in Pat Quinn as the head coach of the national junior team. For one thing, Quinn, a former NHL general manager/head coach/defenceman who once crunched Bobby Orr, is available as he isn’t employed as a coach at the moment. For another, he’s tight with Hockey Canada boss Bob Nicholson. . . . And let’s not forget that Quinn was the head coach of Canada’s under-18 team that won the world championship in the spring. He also has international experience with the Olympic team and at the Spengler Cup. . . . So bring him on. . . . If you missed it, Hockey Canada needs a head coach for the national junior team because Benoit Groulx, who had been the head coach of the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, has left for the AHL’s Rochester Americans. . . . Team Canada’s assistant coaches are Willie Desjardins, the GM/head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, and Dave Cameron, the GM/head coach of the OHL’s Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. The other option for Team Canada would seem to be to move Desjardins up to head coach and bring in another assistant. . . . Hockey Canada isn’t expected to rush into making an announcement. . . . The world junior tournament opens Dec. 26 in Ottawa.
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F James McEwan, who captained the Kelowna Rockets last season as a 20-year-old, has signed with the ECHL’s Phoenix RoadRunners, who are affiliated with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. He had six points and 93 penalty minutes in 37 games last season. He missed a good chunk of the season with a wrist injury that was incurred in a scrap with F Garet Hunt of the Vancouver Giants.
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If you’ve got a copy of the WHL schedule, here’s a change for you. The Edmonton Oil Kings at Kelowna Rockets game scheduled for Saturday Nov. 8, has been moved to Sunday, Nov. 2, at 5:00 p.m. The change was necessary due to a scheduling conflict with Prospera Place.
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Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that D Victor Bartley, 20, who was thinking about playing professionally, has reported to the Pats and plans on staying there. “I’m 100 per cent in Regina,” Bartley told Harder. “That’s the reason for me coming down. I’ve made my decision.” . . . And here are some interesting family ties as reported by Harder: “The Pats have several rookie prospects in camp with interesting bloodlines: RW Drew George (nephew of former Pats head coach and current radio colour commentator Al Dumba), RW Kyle Wells (son of ex-Pat Brad Wells, a former Brandon Wheat Kings assistant coach), D Max Faulkner (son of Dave Faulkner, who won a Memorial Cup with the Pats in 1974), RW Jordan Daniels (nephew of former Pat and NHL tough guy Scott Daniels), D Kyle Herom (son of former Moose Jaw Warrior Kevin Herom), C Dustin Eberle (brother of Pats sniper Jordan Eberle), C Ryan Ostertag (grandson of Pats legend Bill Hicke), C Dayton Reinboldt (cousin to former Medicine Hat Tigers star Stefan Meyer, now a prospect with the Florida Panthers), Reid Simmonds (nephew of former NHLer and current Colorado Avalanche assistant coach Dave Barr) and C Tyson Stoesz (cousin to former Pats enforcer Myles Stoesz). . . . Don’t forget to check out Harder’s blog, Slap Shots, for Pats news. There’s a link over there to the left.
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If you were wondering, F Luke Moffatt, the Kelowna Rockets’ first-round pick, second overall, in the 2007 bantam draft, won’t be reporting to camp. He is joining the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Also missing from Kelowna’s camp will be RW Danny Kristo, a list player. Kristo, from Eden Prairie, Minn., was taken in the second round, 56th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens, in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Kristo will spend this season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers and has committed to the U of North Dakota for 2009-10.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: D Mikael Ahle’n (Medicine Hat) signed with Djurgården Stockholm J20 (Sweden J20 SuperElit). Djurgården was his club before he went to Medicine Hat for last season.
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When the Spokane Chiefs opened camp Thursday, veteran forward Ondrej Roman wasn’t there. Jessica Brown of the Spokesman-Review reports that “the Czech Republic native and Dallas Stars prospect is still overseas waiting to be released by the International Ice Hockey Federation. For now, the Chiefs aren’t certain when they will get their veteran forward back.” Chiefs GM Tim Speltz tells Brown: “It's a scenario that we think is going to be resolved, so for us, right now the best thing is to just wait and let it run its course. Right now there is no transfer agreement (between the IIHF and the NHL). In a normal situation they don't mind releasing those players but they still have what they consider their right to development money from the NHL. They are afraid if he comes over at 19, they might not get that money. Roman wants to be back, his agent wants him to be back, but right now we don't have that release."
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Former Spokane C Chris Langkow, who was dealt to Saskatoon in January, is nursing an ankle injury so didn’t skate with the Blades on Thursday. Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that Langkow, 19, was injured while working off-ice with his cousin, C Daymond Langkow of the Calgary Flames.
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Apparently, the WHL won’t reveal the names of the teams interested in bidding for the hosting rights to the 2010 Memorial Cup until Aug. 28. We know that the Brandon Wheat Kings are preparing a bid. We know that the Kelowna Rockets are interested, but only if things fall apart on the Wheat Kings, which isn’t likely to happen. The Red Deer Advocate reports that the Rebels aren’t interested, at least not at this time. “The Memorial Cup is really a 19-year-old tournament nowadays,” Rebels owner Brent Sutter told the Advocate’s Greg Meachem, “so we would have had to change our thought process if we submitted a bid. We would have had to move some of our young players to get older for 10 days, and then we’d be starting all over again.” . . . You are free to speculate on which is the third franchise interested in playing host to the tournament.