Wednesday . . .

THE COACHING GAME: Former NHL defenceman Jeff Brown has signed on as the GM and head coach of the NAHL’s St. Louis Bandits. Brown has been involved in the development of elite minor hockey players in St. Louis for a few years, most recently as vice-president/director of coaching for the St. Louis AAA Amateur Blues organization. Former Saskatoon Blades winger Kelly Chase is the Bandits’ vice-president of hockey operations. Chase and Brown were teammates with the St. Louis Blues and Harford Whalers.
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The AHL’s Norfolk Admirals have signed F Brady Leavold. The Admirals are affiliated with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. Leavold, who played in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets and Swift Current Broncos, attended a Lightning prospects‚ camp last week in Victoria. After completing his junior eligibility with the Rockets last season, Leavold played three regular-season and two playoff games with the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings. . . . The Spokane Chiefs have dealt D Jace Coyle, 18, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for two bantam draft picks — a fifth-rounder in 2009 and a third-rounder in 2010. Coyle had nine points in 52 games with the Chiefs last season. "It is real tough moving a player of Jace's calibre but at the same time we have the potential to return all eight defencemen as well as (add) young list players who are ready to compete for a defensive spot," Spokane GM Tim Speltz said in a statement. . . . F David Rutherford, who completed his WHL elibility with the Chiefs last season, has signed with the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers. . . . The Sandman Hotel Group, under CEO Tom Gaglardi, has announced it will build a Sandman Signature Hotel kitty-corner from the Interior Savings Centre in downtown Kamloops. Construction on the $25-million, 150-room hotel should begin in the spring. The four-storey hotel will include a sports bar. . . . Gaglardi is majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers and also announced that the club has signed a 10-year lease with the city for Interior Savings Centre. Under the terms of the lease, the Blazers will pay about $5 million over 10 years. This gives the city guaranteed revenue; in the recent past, it has gotten 14 per cent of ticket sales. At the same time, the Blazers reclaimed the right to sell all advertising in the arena once a contract with a private firm has expired. The city will continue to get a cut of advertising sales.
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Some NHL owners have to be wondering what in the world got into them to allow Len Barrie and Oren Koules into their select club. The new owners of the Tampa Bay Lightning have partnered with the radio station that holds the team’s broadcast rights and are offering some season-tickets at a price that works out to $6.20 per game. Yes, the seats are in the highest rows in the house, but still . . . $6.20 a game is sick!!!