Well there’s not much doubt that Moose Jaw will be the place where it’s happening this morning.
Chad Lang, who was told at some point last week that he was through as the Warriors’ general manager, is to hold a news conference at his home on Goldenglow Drive at 9 a.m.
It remains to be seen whether there will be a golden glow from that one.
One hour later, the Warriors, in their dressing room in the Civic Centre (aka the Crushed Can), will introduce Jeff Truitt as their director of hockey operations.
The Warriors are a community-owned team and their board of directors has chosen to split the general manager’s duties into two positions and hire a director of hockey operations and someone else to handle the business side of things.
The strange part of all of this is that the Warriors arguably have had more on-ice and financial success under Lang, the GM since Dec. 6, 2004, than under anyone else since they relocated from Winnipeg during the summer of 1984. (Lang was 26 years of age when he took over as GM; he had been hired on May 5, 2003, as marketing and sales manager.)
Darin Chow, the Warriors governor and president, told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald that the board considered keeping Lang in one of the positions, but . . .
“It was something we considered but, at the end of the day, we just felt it just wasn’t a good fit in the long run,” Chow told Gourlie.
At the same time, Chow allowed that “Lang has left the club in good financial position and his dedication to the club is undeniable.” Chow also admitted Lang had made an “incredible contribution” to the franchise.
So let’s see here . . . the franchise is in “good financial position” . . . Lang was dedicated . . . Lang made an “incredible contribution.”
Sounds like they should think about naming the new rink in Lang’s honour. Instead, he is told not to let the door hit him on the ass on his way out. Oh, and turn out the lights, too.
Originally, Lang had scheduled his news conference for 10 a.m. Later, the Warriors scheduled the Truitt unveiling for 10 a.m.
So . . . Lang changed the time of his earbender to 9 a.m.
Yes, Monday is going to be an interesting day in the burg of Moose Jaw.
Check right here for Gourlie's coverage of the situation to date.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: D Ryan Gaucher (Saskatoon) signed a one-year contract with Duisburg (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had five goals and 10 assists with Kassel (Germany DEL) this season.
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The Brandon Sun reports that two WHL veteran forwards — Cale Jefferies and Bryce Lamb — have decided to move on rather than play in the league as 20-year-olds. . . . Jefferies spent three seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings and now has chose to attend the U of Guelph and play for the Gryphons. . . . Lamb, who played three seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders, has chosen to join the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings, the host team for the 2010 Royal Bank Cup. . . . Jefferies departure leaves Brandon’s roster with five candidates for the three 20-year-old spots — F Matt Calvert, F Del Cowan, F Jay Fehr, F Nathan Green and F Aaron Lewadniuk. . . . The Raiders, meanwhile, are left with four 20-year-olds on their roster — G Garrett Zemlak, D Patrick Kozyra, D Garrett Thiessen and F Dustin Cameron.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday . . . really early
The Pipeline Show – there’s a link over there on the left – is reporting that the Edmonton Oilers have signed Saskatoon Blades F Milan Kytnar to a three-year NHL deal. Kytnar was selected by Edmonton in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL draft. They drafted him out of his homeland – Slovakia – after which he reported to the Kelowna Rockets, who later traded him to Saskatoon. . . . The boys at The Pipeline Show also have a good piece speculating on the Oilers’ coaching staff, as in: If the Oilers choose to add another coach to the staff, who might it be? And, yes, Vancouver Giants head coach Don Hay figures in that speculation.
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Former NHL goaltender Hank Bassen, who had a stint as a WHL head coach, died Saturday at the age of 76. Bassen stepped behind the bench with the 1985-86 Calgary Wranglers and went 7-15-1. Sandy Hucul began that season as the Wranglers' head coach, and went 9-17-0. He resigned and Ken Southwick took over on Dec. 3, 1985, and went 7-15-1. He was fired and Bassen moved in on Feb. 7, 1986. He, too, went 7-15-1. . . . Bassen's son Bob later played in the WHL (Medicine Hat, 1982-85) before going on to a 14-season NHL career that ended after the 1999-2000 season. . . . According to his family, Hank died in Calgary of a heart attack. He also had been battling cancer. . . . It’s interesting that he played goal for both franchises than now are in the Stanley Cup final. . . . I can remember chatting with Bassen when he coached the Wranglers and walking away thinking: “Now that is a really nice man.”
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Former NHL goaltender Hank Bassen, who had a stint as a WHL head coach, died Saturday at the age of 76. Bassen stepped behind the bench with the 1985-86 Calgary Wranglers and went 7-15-1. Sandy Hucul began that season as the Wranglers' head coach, and went 9-17-0. He resigned and Ken Southwick took over on Dec. 3, 1985, and went 7-15-1. He was fired and Bassen moved in on Feb. 7, 1986. He, too, went 7-15-1. . . . Bassen's son Bob later played in the WHL (Medicine Hat, 1982-85) before going on to a 14-season NHL career that ended after the 1999-2000 season. . . . According to his family, Hank died in Calgary of a heart attack. He also had been battling cancer. . . . It’s interesting that he played goal for both franchises than now are in the Stanley Cup final. . . . I can remember chatting with Bassen when he coached the Wranglers and walking away thinking: “Now that is a really nice man.”
Keeping Score
A lot of minor league baseball teams do what junior hockey teams do in billeting players in their communities. Which brings us to pitcher Josh Faiola, 25, of the Lake Erie Crushers. He is billeting at the Belvedere of Westlake, an assisted living facility in Westlake, Ohio. As Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post points out, “When his ‘roommates’ show up at his games, Faiola leads the league in walkers per nine innings.” . . . The annual Coaches for Kids golf tournament, that was to have been held at The Dunes on Aug. 5-6, has been put on hold for at least a year, a victim of the economy. It was sponsored by former Kamloops Blazers head coaches Don Hay, Ken Hitchcock and Tom Renney. When it comes back, perhaps it will be part of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association’s annual coaches’ clinic. . . . “We’re still drawing pictures in Saskatchewan; there’s no video.” That was ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose claiming that while he danced the polka the last time he was home, there isn’t any visual evidence.
Bruce Dowbiggin, in The Globe and Mail: “Just wondering, but isn’t it time PETA looked into Marv Albert’s hairpiece? The legendary bingo caller for TNT and other networks seems to have trapped something against its will on his forehead.” . . . If Yani Tseng, who won last weekend’s LPGA event, married Yanni would she be Yani Yanni? . . . Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “Is it just me, or did Paul Maurice become a pretty darn good coach after being fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs?” . . . One more from Hutchinson: “Sean Avery has opened a bar and restaurant, called Warren 77, in lower Manhattan. So far the reviews have been very good, although you shouldn’t ask for seconds.” . . . The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings play their hearts out to get to the Stanley Cup final and Gary Bettman rewards them by making them open with three games in four nights. Way to go, Gary. . . . Of course, all of this is an attempt to get exposure on NBC-TV. Except that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final tonight is up against Game 6 of LeBron vs. the Orlando Magic. What do you think the Excited States will be watching? . . . As Detroit forward Marian Hossa said: “You get the Stanley Cup finals once a year. Why do you rush it? What if the first game goes to three or four overtimes? Then we have to start again the next night? I don’t think that’s smart.” . . . Obviously, the time has come for a Canadian to become commissioner of the NHL. Rick Mercer, are you available?
Darryl Sutter as the next head coach of the Calgary Flames? Sheesh, he couldn’t handle the salary cap properly this season as the GM; how would he ever manage trying to be both GM and head coach? . . . Just a thought, but why doesn’t the NHL take over the Phoenix Coyotes and turn over the franchise to the Sutter family? . . . Wondering what Kamloops Blazers head coach Barry Smith is up to these days? He’s with his family at their home in Whitefish, Mont., but will be in Windsor, Ont., June 11-14 as a clinician at Roger Neilson’s Coaches’ Conference. And he will be in Kamloops, July 24-26, for the KMHA’s third annual Professional Coaches’ Conference. . . . Smith, whose glass is always half full, was on Radio NL the other day, talking about how his club could very well end up having six or seven players selected in the NHL draft next month. That being the case, you have to ask how it was that Smith’s team got swept from the first round of the playoffs. . . . In truth, the Blazers are likely to have two players drafted — forwards Jimmy Bubnick and Tyler Shattock.
Samantha Haylock attended tryouts for the Lingerie Football League’s Tampa Breeze and later told the St. Petersburg Times that she was rather disappointed. “They aren’t very organized,” she stated. “They didn’t ask any questions. It’s all about looks.” . . . No kidding. . . . “(Brett) Favre is the supermodel who maxes out your credit cards,” writes Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He is the sports car that wipes out your bank account. He is enticing, and he is captivating, and he is trouble.” . . . When Darren Helm scored in OT for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night, it was a record-setter — he has five NHL playoff goals and none in the regular season. He had shared the record with former Montreal Canadiens forward Eddie (Spider) Mazur, who was one of the good guys on the Winnipeg sporting scene when he worked for Molson in the mid-1970s.
The recent Belgian bodybuilding championships were ready to go when a couple of drug-testers appeared on the scene, resulting in the fleeing of every competitor. “The event was promptly cancelled,” wrote SI.com’s John Rolfe, “because no one was left to compete — kind of like what the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be like in a few years.” . . . You have to love those Dos Equis beer commercials that star The Most Interesting Man in the World. Is he not The King of the World? . . . The role is played by character actor Jonathan Goldsmith, who has been in all kinds of TV shows and movies. . . . Is there any truth to the rumours that Gordo’s Liberals are soon to name ‘For Sale’ as the official sign of B.C.?
After NHL veteran Jeremy Roenick shot himself in the foot by suggesting that Detroit head coach Mike Babcock doesn’t like Americans, Red Wings defenceman Brian Rafalski, who is from Dearborn, Mich., told Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated: “Yeah, sure, (Babcock) doesn’t like me. He only lets me play with Nicklas Lidstrom, the Norris Trophy-winner.” . . . Through Thursday games, outfielder Tyson Gillies of Kamloops was hitting .307 for the Class A High Desert Mavericks. Along with six doubles, five triples and two homers, he had a .426 on-base percentage and a .869 OPS. Gillies has been batting leadoff for the Seattle Mariners’ affiliate.
If you missed Mr. T singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game at Wrigley Field on Monday, hustle on over to YouTube for a look that is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes. . . . Over at Fark.com, Drew Curtis summed up the situation after the New York Yankees won their eighth straight game earlier in the week: “Now the ‘all that money doesn’t buy teamwork’ rants can stop and the ‘they’re trying to buy a championship’ rants can begin.” . . . Larry Brooks, in the New York Post: “It would be one thing for the NHL to bend over for a television network from which it receives massive rights fees, that would be understandable, but genuflecting for NBC, whose deal nets approximately $100,000 per team, is a scandal that demands inspection.” . . . One more from Brooks: “Having Dave Jackson, Dan O’Halloran, Kevin Pollock and Bill McCreary officiate the conference finals is kind of like having the Thrashers, Islanders, Avalanche and Lightning playing the games, isn’t it?”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Bruce Dowbiggin, in The Globe and Mail: “Just wondering, but isn’t it time PETA looked into Marv Albert’s hairpiece? The legendary bingo caller for TNT and other networks seems to have trapped something against its will on his forehead.” . . . If Yani Tseng, who won last weekend’s LPGA event, married Yanni would she be Yani Yanni? . . . Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “Is it just me, or did Paul Maurice become a pretty darn good coach after being fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs?” . . . One more from Hutchinson: “Sean Avery has opened a bar and restaurant, called Warren 77, in lower Manhattan. So far the reviews have been very good, although you shouldn’t ask for seconds.” . . . The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings play their hearts out to get to the Stanley Cup final and Gary Bettman rewards them by making them open with three games in four nights. Way to go, Gary. . . . Of course, all of this is an attempt to get exposure on NBC-TV. Except that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final tonight is up against Game 6 of LeBron vs. the Orlando Magic. What do you think the Excited States will be watching? . . . As Detroit forward Marian Hossa said: “You get the Stanley Cup finals once a year. Why do you rush it? What if the first game goes to three or four overtimes? Then we have to start again the next night? I don’t think that’s smart.” . . . Obviously, the time has come for a Canadian to become commissioner of the NHL. Rick Mercer, are you available?
Darryl Sutter as the next head coach of the Calgary Flames? Sheesh, he couldn’t handle the salary cap properly this season as the GM; how would he ever manage trying to be both GM and head coach? . . . Just a thought, but why doesn’t the NHL take over the Phoenix Coyotes and turn over the franchise to the Sutter family? . . . Wondering what Kamloops Blazers head coach Barry Smith is up to these days? He’s with his family at their home in Whitefish, Mont., but will be in Windsor, Ont., June 11-14 as a clinician at Roger Neilson’s Coaches’ Conference. And he will be in Kamloops, July 24-26, for the KMHA’s third annual Professional Coaches’ Conference. . . . Smith, whose glass is always half full, was on Radio NL the other day, talking about how his club could very well end up having six or seven players selected in the NHL draft next month. That being the case, you have to ask how it was that Smith’s team got swept from the first round of the playoffs. . . . In truth, the Blazers are likely to have two players drafted — forwards Jimmy Bubnick and Tyler Shattock.
Samantha Haylock attended tryouts for the Lingerie Football League’s Tampa Breeze and later told the St. Petersburg Times that she was rather disappointed. “They aren’t very organized,” she stated. “They didn’t ask any questions. It’s all about looks.” . . . No kidding. . . . “(Brett) Favre is the supermodel who maxes out your credit cards,” writes Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He is the sports car that wipes out your bank account. He is enticing, and he is captivating, and he is trouble.” . . . When Darren Helm scored in OT for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night, it was a record-setter — he has five NHL playoff goals and none in the regular season. He had shared the record with former Montreal Canadiens forward Eddie (Spider) Mazur, who was one of the good guys on the Winnipeg sporting scene when he worked for Molson in the mid-1970s.
The recent Belgian bodybuilding championships were ready to go when a couple of drug-testers appeared on the scene, resulting in the fleeing of every competitor. “The event was promptly cancelled,” wrote SI.com’s John Rolfe, “because no one was left to compete — kind of like what the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be like in a few years.” . . . You have to love those Dos Equis beer commercials that star The Most Interesting Man in the World. Is he not The King of the World? . . . The role is played by character actor Jonathan Goldsmith, who has been in all kinds of TV shows and movies. . . . Is there any truth to the rumours that Gordo’s Liberals are soon to name ‘For Sale’ as the official sign of B.C.?
After NHL veteran Jeremy Roenick shot himself in the foot by suggesting that Detroit head coach Mike Babcock doesn’t like Americans, Red Wings defenceman Brian Rafalski, who is from Dearborn, Mich., told Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated: “Yeah, sure, (Babcock) doesn’t like me. He only lets me play with Nicklas Lidstrom, the Norris Trophy-winner.” . . . Through Thursday games, outfielder Tyson Gillies of Kamloops was hitting .307 for the Class A High Desert Mavericks. Along with six doubles, five triples and two homers, he had a .426 on-base percentage and a .869 OPS. Gillies has been batting leadoff for the Seattle Mariners’ affiliate.
If you missed Mr. T singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game at Wrigley Field on Monday, hustle on over to YouTube for a look that is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes. . . . Over at Fark.com, Drew Curtis summed up the situation after the New York Yankees won their eighth straight game earlier in the week: “Now the ‘all that money doesn’t buy teamwork’ rants can stop and the ‘they’re trying to buy a championship’ rants can begin.” . . . Larry Brooks, in the New York Post: “It would be one thing for the NHL to bend over for a television network from which it receives massive rights fees, that would be understandable, but genuflecting for NBC, whose deal nets approximately $100,000 per team, is a scandal that demands inspection.” . . . One more from Brooks: “Having Dave Jackson, Dan O’Halloran, Kevin Pollock and Bill McCreary officiate the conference finals is kind of like having the Thrashers, Islanders, Avalanche and Lightning playing the games, isn’t it?”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
More from Saturday . . .
On May 18, 2007, the Moose Jaw Warriors issued this press release:
“The Board of Directors of Moose Jaw Tier 1 Hockey Inc. is very pleased to announce that the Warriors Hockey Club has retained the services of General Manager Chad Lang through the 2010 Season.
”Board President and Governor, Darin Chow notes that the organization is very pleased to have been able to create continuity within the organization at its highest level to 2010 and looks forward to a fulfilling and prosperous relationship between the Warriors and the Community of Moose Jaw.”
Well, it turns out that isn't quite how it was. The contract didn’t take Lang through the 2010 season. It seems the contract was for two years with the club holding an option on a third season. That option had to be exercised by Sunday (May 31) at midnight.
The Warriors chose not to exercise that option and Lang was fired on Friday. (Actually, he wasn’t fired; it was a case of the club not picking up his option.)
Lang had been with the Warriors since May 5, 2003, when he joined them as marketing and sales manager. He had been GM since Dec. 6, 2004.
The Warriors signed Dave Hunchak as head coach on June 16, 2007. The club never did release any details of Hunchak’s contract. But a source tells me that Hunchak’s contract also was for two years with a club option on a third season and that the club has until midnight Sunday to exercise that option.
Of course, after word got out that Lang was done, there immediately were rumours flying that Marc Habscheid would be moving into Moose Jaw as GM and head coach, and that he will bring in an assistant GM and a head scout.
However, there now are reports that former Kelowna Rockets head coach Jeff Truitt will be introduced as the director of hockey operations on Monday. Truitt left the Rockets prior to 2007-08 to join the Edmonton Oilers’ organization. He didn’t survive a second season as head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.
No matter. It seems the community-owner Warriors are in for some interesting times. But, then, isn’t that always the way in Moose Jaw.
By the way, has construction started on the new arena yet?
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THE COACHING GAME: The AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder has hired Fran Gow as general manager and head coach, effective Monday. Gow is a long-time junior A coach who worked for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons and Grande Prairie Storm. He spent this season as the Oil Barons’ director of player personnel.
“The Board of Directors of Moose Jaw Tier 1 Hockey Inc. is very pleased to announce that the Warriors Hockey Club has retained the services of General Manager Chad Lang through the 2010 Season.
”Board President and Governor, Darin Chow notes that the organization is very pleased to have been able to create continuity within the organization at its highest level to 2010 and looks forward to a fulfilling and prosperous relationship between the Warriors and the Community of Moose Jaw.”
Well, it turns out that isn't quite how it was. The contract didn’t take Lang through the 2010 season. It seems the contract was for two years with the club holding an option on a third season. That option had to be exercised by Sunday (May 31) at midnight.
The Warriors chose not to exercise that option and Lang was fired on Friday. (Actually, he wasn’t fired; it was a case of the club not picking up his option.)
Lang had been with the Warriors since May 5, 2003, when he joined them as marketing and sales manager. He had been GM since Dec. 6, 2004.
The Warriors signed Dave Hunchak as head coach on June 16, 2007. The club never did release any details of Hunchak’s contract. But a source tells me that Hunchak’s contract also was for two years with a club option on a third season and that the club has until midnight Sunday to exercise that option.
Of course, after word got out that Lang was done, there immediately were rumours flying that Marc Habscheid would be moving into Moose Jaw as GM and head coach, and that he will bring in an assistant GM and a head scout.
However, there now are reports that former Kelowna Rockets head coach Jeff Truitt will be introduced as the director of hockey operations on Monday. Truitt left the Rockets prior to 2007-08 to join the Edmonton Oilers’ organization. He didn’t survive a second season as head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.
No matter. It seems the community-owner Warriors are in for some interesting times. But, then, isn’t that always the way in Moose Jaw.
By the way, has construction started on the new arena yet?
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THE COACHING GAME: The AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder has hired Fran Gow as general manager and head coach, effective Monday. Gow is a long-time junior A coach who worked for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons and Grande Prairie Storm. He spent this season as the Oil Barons’ director of player personnel.
Saturday . . .
The Moose Jaw Warriors have fired general manager Chad Lang. The board of directors of the community-owned team, it seems, has decided to go in a different direction. The firing, first reported by the Regina Leader-Post's Greg Harder, was confirmed when president/governor Darin Chow returned a phone message to the Moose Jaw Times-Herald early Saturday morning. . . . Lang had been with the Warriors since May 5, 2003, when he joined them as marketing and sales manager. He had been GM since Dec. 6, 2004. He wsa given a three-year contract extension on May 18, 2007. . . . The Times-Herald’s early story is right here.
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F Daniel Bartek, who was the Everett Silvertips’ sole import this season, will play next season with the Dalhousie University Tigers. Bartek, who is from Czech Republic, played as a 20-year-old last season. He had 40 points in 55 regular-season and playoff games, although his season, especially the latter half, was hurt by injuries. He also played for the Brandon Whet Kings and was a member of the Czech team that finished fifth at the 2008 world junior championship.
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The Brandon Sun reports that D Brandon Lockerby, who played with the Wheat Kings and the Edmonton Oil Kings, has decided to attend the U of Manitoba and play for the Bisons. Lockerby, now 21, played three seasons in the WHL after winning a national midget championship with the midget AAA Whet Kings in 2004. He spent the last two seasons with the Oil Kings, who took him from Brandon in the expansion draft.
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F Daniel Bartek, who was the Everett Silvertips’ sole import this season, will play next season with the Dalhousie University Tigers. Bartek, who is from Czech Republic, played as a 20-year-old last season. He had 40 points in 55 regular-season and playoff games, although his season, especially the latter half, was hurt by injuries. He also played for the Brandon Whet Kings and was a member of the Czech team that finished fifth at the 2008 world junior championship.
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The Brandon Sun reports that D Brandon Lockerby, who played with the Wheat Kings and the Edmonton Oil Kings, has decided to attend the U of Manitoba and play for the Bisons. Lockerby, now 21, played three seasons in the WHL after winning a national midget championship with the midget AAA Whet Kings in 2004. He spent the last two seasons with the Oil Kings, who took him from Brandon in the expansion draft.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Clarke Wilm (Saskatoon) signed a one-year contract extension with Hamburg (Germany DEL). He had 16 goals and 25 assists with the club this season.
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Greg Harder, over there on the left at Slap Shots, reported late Friday night that the Moose Jaw Warriors have fired GM Chad Lang.
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JUST NOTES: Veteran junior A coach Glen Watson has signed on as the GM/head coach of the BCHL’s Quesnel Millionaires. He signed a four-year deal that includes an option year. . . . The BCHL’s Williams Lake Timberwolves have signed Dave Dupas as their new head coach. He got a two-year deal. Dupas spent this season as head coach of the major midget Okanagan Rockets.
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Greg Harder, over there on the left at Slap Shots, reported late Friday night that the Moose Jaw Warriors have fired GM Chad Lang.
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JUST NOTES: Veteran junior A coach Glen Watson has signed on as the GM/head coach of the BCHL’s Quesnel Millionaires. He signed a four-year deal that includes an option year. . . . The BCHL’s Williams Lake Timberwolves have signed Dave Dupas as their new head coach. He got a two-year deal. Dupas spent this season as head coach of the major midget Okanagan Rockets.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday . . .
Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun spent some time in Red Deer with New Jersey Devils head coach Brent Sutter the other day. Originally, Jones’ mission was to see if he might get Sutter to at least hint at being interested in the then-vacant head-coaching position with the Oilers. Later that same day, the Oilers hired Pat Quinn as head coach and Tom Renney as associate coach. . . . But if you read Jones’ column you are left wondering why Sutter is in New Jersey and not in Red Deer. You can read it right here.
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According to Joe Pelletier’s Greatest Hockey Legends (there’s a link over there on the left), former Medicine Hat Tigers F Darren Helm set an NHL record when he scored in OT for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. That was Helm’s fifth NHL playoff goal; he has yet to score in 23 regular-season games. Helm had shared the record (most playoff goals before scoring in the regular season) with Eddie (Spider) Mazur, who scored two goals for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1952 playoffs and two more in 1953 before cracking their roster in 1953-54. Mazur, in fact, played 14 playoff games over three springs before getting into a regular-season game with the Habs. . . . I got to know Spider a bit in the mid-1970s while working at the Winnipeg Tribune. He was with Molson at the time — a lot of hockey players worked as brewery reps in the offseason in those days — and was one of the really good guys on the Winnipeg sporting scene.
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THE COACHING GAME: The Portland Winter Hawks have signed Tyler Love as goaltending coach. Love, who played in the WHL (Moose Jaw, Prince George and Saskatoon, 1993-97), is a co-owner and instructor with the World Pro Goaltending School in Calgary. He has worked with numerous well-know goaltenders, including Chris Mason, Carey Price and Jason LaBarbera. . . . Dean Blais, the head coach of hte USHL’s Fargo Force, will be the head coach of the U.S. entry at the 2010 world junior championship. USA Hockey made the announcement Thursday. The tournament, to be held in Regina and Saskatoon, runs from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5. Blais, who spent 10 years as head coach of the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, was saluted as the USHL’s coach of the year for 2008-09. He took the expansion Force all the way to the Clark Cup final, where it lost the best-of-five final in four games to the Indiana Ice.
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JUST NOTES: The Edmonton Oilers have signed Calgary Hitmen D Alex Plante to a three-year NHL contract. Plante was selected 15th overall in the NHL’s 2007 draft. Plante, who turned 20 on May 9, has spent four years with the Hitmen. . . . The USHL has approved the sale of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders from Mercantile Capital Partners I.L.P. to Newco Riders, LLC. Jeff Jauch, the son of former CFL head coach Ray Jauch, is the president and CEO of Newco Riders, LLC. Ray Jauch was once an assistant football coach at the U of Iowa under the legendary Forest Evashevski. Jeff Jauch and GM/head coach Mark Carlson, who signed a 10-year contract, are the group’s managing partners. Included on Newco’s advisory board are Mark Chipman, the chairman and governor of the AHL's Manitoba Moose; former pro defenceman Rory Cava, president of the Lakehead U Thunderwolves; former NHLer Doug Smail; and, Doug Ploen, the president of D/P Film and Video. I’ve got to think that Ploen is related to Ken Ploen, the former Winnipeg Blue Bombers' quarterbacking great who once played at Iowa.
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It’s no secret that the newspaper business is searching to find its way in this Internet universe in which we now live and operate. But if you’re wondering what it was like in the glory days of this business, take a look at this gem from the late Jim Murray, who was a columnist with the Los Angeles Times. They don’t come any better than this.
It’s your lucky day, because here’s another Murray column, and, yes, it’s another great one. They were all great.
While you're there, please free to make a donation to the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation.
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According to Joe Pelletier’s Greatest Hockey Legends (there’s a link over there on the left), former Medicine Hat Tigers F Darren Helm set an NHL record when he scored in OT for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. That was Helm’s fifth NHL playoff goal; he has yet to score in 23 regular-season games. Helm had shared the record (most playoff goals before scoring in the regular season) with Eddie (Spider) Mazur, who scored two goals for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1952 playoffs and two more in 1953 before cracking their roster in 1953-54. Mazur, in fact, played 14 playoff games over three springs before getting into a regular-season game with the Habs. . . . I got to know Spider a bit in the mid-1970s while working at the Winnipeg Tribune. He was with Molson at the time — a lot of hockey players worked as brewery reps in the offseason in those days — and was one of the really good guys on the Winnipeg sporting scene.
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THE COACHING GAME: The Portland Winter Hawks have signed Tyler Love as goaltending coach. Love, who played in the WHL (Moose Jaw, Prince George and Saskatoon, 1993-97), is a co-owner and instructor with the World Pro Goaltending School in Calgary. He has worked with numerous well-know goaltenders, including Chris Mason, Carey Price and Jason LaBarbera. . . . Dean Blais, the head coach of hte USHL’s Fargo Force, will be the head coach of the U.S. entry at the 2010 world junior championship. USA Hockey made the announcement Thursday. The tournament, to be held in Regina and Saskatoon, runs from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5. Blais, who spent 10 years as head coach of the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, was saluted as the USHL’s coach of the year for 2008-09. He took the expansion Force all the way to the Clark Cup final, where it lost the best-of-five final in four games to the Indiana Ice.
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JUST NOTES: The Edmonton Oilers have signed Calgary Hitmen D Alex Plante to a three-year NHL contract. Plante was selected 15th overall in the NHL’s 2007 draft. Plante, who turned 20 on May 9, has spent four years with the Hitmen. . . . The USHL has approved the sale of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders from Mercantile Capital Partners I.L.P. to Newco Riders, LLC. Jeff Jauch, the son of former CFL head coach Ray Jauch, is the president and CEO of Newco Riders, LLC. Ray Jauch was once an assistant football coach at the U of Iowa under the legendary Forest Evashevski. Jeff Jauch and GM/head coach Mark Carlson, who signed a 10-year contract, are the group’s managing partners. Included on Newco’s advisory board are Mark Chipman, the chairman and governor of the AHL's Manitoba Moose; former pro defenceman Rory Cava, president of the Lakehead U Thunderwolves; former NHLer Doug Smail; and, Doug Ploen, the president of D/P Film and Video. I’ve got to think that Ploen is related to Ken Ploen, the former Winnipeg Blue Bombers' quarterbacking great who once played at Iowa.
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It’s no secret that the newspaper business is searching to find its way in this Internet universe in which we now live and operate. But if you’re wondering what it was like in the glory days of this business, take a look at this gem from the late Jim Murray, who was a columnist with the Los Angeles Times. They don’t come any better than this.
It’s your lucky day, because here’s another Murray column, and, yes, it’s another great one. They were all great.
While you're there, please free to make a donation to the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: D Jaroslav Obsut (Swift Current/Medicine Hat) signed a two-year contract with Spartak Moscow (KHL). He had eight goals and 21 assists in 54 games with Luleå (Sweden Elitserien) this season, which was his fifth with the team. . . . D Harlan Anderson (Moose Jaw) signed a one-year contract with Lørenskog (Norway Get Ligaen). He had nine goals and 17 assists in 43 games with Heilbronn (Germany 2.Bundesliga) this season. . . . F Paul Deniset (Kamloops/Swift Current/Vancouver/Prince Albert) signed a one-year contract with Rødovre (Denmark AL-Bank Liga). He had 40 goals and 48 assists in 54 games with Belfaast Giants (UK Elite) this season.
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The WHL and Shaw Communications will be doing business together at least through 2013-14 after announcing a five-year extension to their deal. Shaw will show at least 30 regular-season games and a full series in each of four rounds of playoffs during each of the next five seasons. That will include a regular Friday night telecast. According to a press release, “Shaw provided live coverage of 56 WHL games during the 2008-09 season, televising from 16 WHL centres across Western Canada. More than three million Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers watched the WHL telecasts.”
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The WHL and Shaw Communications will be doing business together at least through 2013-14 after announcing a five-year extension to their deal. Shaw will show at least 30 regular-season games and a full series in each of four rounds of playoffs during each of the next five seasons. That will include a regular Friday night telecast. According to a press release, “Shaw provided live coverage of 56 WHL games during the 2008-09 season, televising from 16 WHL centres across Western Canada. More than three million Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers watched the WHL telecasts.”
Wednesday . . . early
THE COACHING GAME: Former Regina Pats D Jamie Heward is the leading candidate to become a part-time assistant with the Pats, not a full-time assistant as was mentioned here earlier. . . . The MJHL's Neepawa Natives have signed Bryant Perrier as GM and head coach, replacing former WHLer Curtis Bateman, who resigned last month. Perrier is a veteran of the junior hockey wars and has had stints with Penticton and Merritt of the BCHL and the junior B Kamloops Storm. He spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach and then GM/head coach with the BCHL’s Port Alberni Bulldogs.
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JUST NOTES: The Edmonton Oil Kings have signed D Griffin Reinhart, the third overall selection in the 2009 WHL bantam draft. He is the son of former NHLer Paul Reinhart and the younger brother of Kootenay Ice F Max Reinhart. A native of West Vancouver, Griffin played this season for the midget A1 Hollyburn Huskies, totaling 38 points in 22 games. He is likely to play major midget in the Vancouver area next season.
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JUST NOTES: The Edmonton Oil Kings have signed D Griffin Reinhart, the third overall selection in the 2009 WHL bantam draft. He is the son of former NHLer Paul Reinhart and the younger brother of Kootenay Ice F Max Reinhart. A native of West Vancouver, Griffin played this season for the midget A1 Hollyburn Huskies, totaling 38 points in 22 games. He is likely to play major midget in the Vancouver area next season.
Tuesday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: D Dwayne Newman (Brandon/Victoria) signed a one-year contract extension with the Peterborough Phantoms (England Premier). He had one goal and 26 assists in 54 games with the Phantoms this season. Newman will be entering his 14th season in England and his third with Peterborough.
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JUST NOTES: The Kamloops Blazers announced the signing of three draft picks Tuesday. D Brady Gaudet of Redvers, Sask., was Kamloops’ first-round selection, 10th overall, in the 2009 bantam draft. F Logan McVeigh of Kenaston, Sask., was the team’s second-round pick, 32nd overall. D Max Mowat of Winfield, B.C., played with the major midget Okanagan Rockets and, at 16, is eligible to play for the Blazers in 2009-10.
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THE COACHING GAME: Darryl Sutter, the Calgary Flames’ general manager, met with the media Tuesday, four days after firing head coach Mike Keenan. Sutter, who seemed to point to himself as the leading candidate to replace Keenan, confirmed that he also dumped the Flames’ assistant coaches. That would include former Regina Pats head coach Rich Preston. Sutter said that Jim Playfair, the former Portland Winter Hawks defenceman who moved from assistant to head coach to assistant with the Flames, will be given the opportunity to coach the Abbotsford Heat, Calgary’s AHL affiliate. The Heat is on the move after playing out of Moline, Ill., as the Quad City Flames. The fact that Playfair will be given the chance to coach the Heat would seem to indicate that former Kootenay Ice head coach Ryan McGill, who was Quad City’s head coach, won’t be returning. . . .
The Edmonton Oilers introduced Pat Quinn, who owns a piece of the Vancouver Giants, as their head coach on Tuesday. Former Kamloops Blazers head coach Tom Renney was named associate coach, while former Moose Jaw Warriors F Kelly Buchberger remains as assistant coach. . . . Bill Moores lost his spot on the Oilers’ bench in the shuffle in Edmonton. Moores, a former GM/head coach of the Regina Pats, is one of hockey’s all-time good guys. . . . The Oilers have said that they may hire another assistant coach which means, yes, the rumours have started involving the possibility of Giants head coach Don Hay moving there. Hay was an assistant coach under Renney with the Kamloops Blazers in the 1990s. . . .
The Spokane Chiefs have signed former WHL and NHL defenceman Jon Klemm as an assistant coach under sophomore head coach Hardy Sauter. The vacancy was created when the Chiefs announced May 6 that Leigh Mendelson’s contract wouldn’t be renewed. Klemm spent three seasons with the Chiefs and was the captain of the team that won the 1991 Memorial Cup. He also won two Stanley Cups, with the Colorado Avalanche (1996, 2001). He spent this season playing in Germany. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that there are three leading candidates for the Regina Pats' assistant coach's position alongside head coach Curtis Hunt, who signed with the club earlier this week. According to Harder, those getting immediate attention include Gerad Adams, a former Pats defenceman who also was team captain and now is head coach of the Carndiff Devils of the Elite League in Britain, Dean Brockman, the GM/head coach of the SJHL-champion Humboldt Broncos, and former Brandon Wheat Kings assistant coach Mark Johnston. Former Pats D Jamie Heward is the leading candidate to fill the role of part-time assistant; however, it’s believed that Heward would like to play one more season in the NHL.
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JUST NOTES: The Kamloops Blazers announced the signing of three draft picks Tuesday. D Brady Gaudet of Redvers, Sask., was Kamloops’ first-round selection, 10th overall, in the 2009 bantam draft. F Logan McVeigh of Kenaston, Sask., was the team’s second-round pick, 32nd overall. D Max Mowat of Winfield, B.C., played with the major midget Okanagan Rockets and, at 16, is eligible to play for the Blazers in 2009-10.
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THE COACHING GAME: Darryl Sutter, the Calgary Flames’ general manager, met with the media Tuesday, four days after firing head coach Mike Keenan. Sutter, who seemed to point to himself as the leading candidate to replace Keenan, confirmed that he also dumped the Flames’ assistant coaches. That would include former Regina Pats head coach Rich Preston. Sutter said that Jim Playfair, the former Portland Winter Hawks defenceman who moved from assistant to head coach to assistant with the Flames, will be given the opportunity to coach the Abbotsford Heat, Calgary’s AHL affiliate. The Heat is on the move after playing out of Moline, Ill., as the Quad City Flames. The fact that Playfair will be given the chance to coach the Heat would seem to indicate that former Kootenay Ice head coach Ryan McGill, who was Quad City’s head coach, won’t be returning. . . .
The Edmonton Oilers introduced Pat Quinn, who owns a piece of the Vancouver Giants, as their head coach on Tuesday. Former Kamloops Blazers head coach Tom Renney was named associate coach, while former Moose Jaw Warriors F Kelly Buchberger remains as assistant coach. . . . Bill Moores lost his spot on the Oilers’ bench in the shuffle in Edmonton. Moores, a former GM/head coach of the Regina Pats, is one of hockey’s all-time good guys. . . . The Oilers have said that they may hire another assistant coach which means, yes, the rumours have started involving the possibility of Giants head coach Don Hay moving there. Hay was an assistant coach under Renney with the Kamloops Blazers in the 1990s. . . .
The Spokane Chiefs have signed former WHL and NHL defenceman Jon Klemm as an assistant coach under sophomore head coach Hardy Sauter. The vacancy was created when the Chiefs announced May 6 that Leigh Mendelson’s contract wouldn’t be renewed. Klemm spent three seasons with the Chiefs and was the captain of the team that won the 1991 Memorial Cup. He also won two Stanley Cups, with the Colorado Avalanche (1996, 2001). He spent this season playing in Germany. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that there are three leading candidates for the Regina Pats' assistant coach's position alongside head coach Curtis Hunt, who signed with the club earlier this week. According to Harder, those getting immediate attention include Gerad Adams, a former Pats defenceman who also was team captain and now is head coach of the Carndiff Devils of the Elite League in Britain, Dean Brockman, the GM/head coach of the SJHL-champion Humboldt Broncos, and former Brandon Wheat Kings assistant coach Mark Johnston. Former Pats D Jamie Heward is the leading candidate to fill the role of part-time assistant; however, it’s believed that Heward would like to play one more season in the NHL.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Tyler Mosienko (Kelowna) signed with Nuremberg (Germany DEL). He had 18 goals and 30 assists in 50 games for Las Vegas (ECHL), one goal and three assists in nine games with Manchester (AHL), and three goals and four assists in 12 games with Rockford (AHL) this season.
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A further note from Garth MacBeth, this one pointing out how the road to the Memorial Cup seems to travel through Vancouver . . . Since the Vancouver Giants made the playoffs for the first time in Year 2 of their existence (2003), the WHL champions in six of the seven years have been either the Giants or the team that has eliminated the Giants from the playoffs. In the other year (2004), the team that bounced the Giants out, Everett, made it to the league final, where it lost to Medicine Hat, 4-0.
2003: Kelowna sweeps Vancouver 4-0 in the first round. Kelowna wins WHL championship over Red Deer, 4-2.
2004: Everett beats Vancouver 4-2 in a conference semifinal. Everett loses to Medicine Hat 4-0 in WHL championship final.
2005: Kelowna beats Vancouver 4-2 in the first round. Kelowna wins WHL championship over Brandon, 4-1.
2006: Vancouver wins WHL championship.
2007: Medicine Hat wins WHL championship over Vancouver, 4-3.
2008: Spokane beats Vancouver 4-2 in conference semifinal. Spokane
wins WHL championship over Lethbridge, 4-0.
2009: Kelowna beats Vancouver in conference final 4-2. Kelowna wins WHL championship over Calgary, 4-2.
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THE COACHING GAME: As expected, the Regina Pats went back to the future Monday, signing former head coach Curtis Hunt to a three-year deal as their new head coach. Hunt had left the Pats a year ago for a position as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. When the NHL club went through a midseason coaching change, Hunt ended up coaching its AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. Hunt, 42, spent four seasons as the Pats’ head coach before leaving for the NHL. He had two years left on his contract with Ottawa, but turned down an offer to return, choosing instead to go back to the WHL. . . . The Pats hired former star Dale Derkatch to replace Hunt, but fired him May 5 after the club went 27-39-1-5 and missed the playoffs. . . . Hunt and general manager Brent Parker now will hire an assistant coach to replace Terry Perkins, whose contract wasn’t renewed.
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THE COACHING GAME, Part 2: The Chilliwack Progress is reporting that assistant coach Dan Price is leaving the Chilliwack Bruins to become general manager and head coach of the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. Price survived the firing of Bruins general manager Darrell Porter in January and head coach Jim Hiller at season’s end. The Bruins now are searching for a head coach — acting GM Darryl Porter said last week that his short list is down to three — but Price was never interviewed.
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IN THE AHL: It’ll be the Manitoba Moose and the Hershey Bears playing for the Calder Cup, the championship trophy awarded by the AHL. . . . The Moose got past the visiting Houston Aeros 3-1 on Monday evening to win that series, 4-2. The Moose won the first three games, with the Aeros, under head coach Kevin Constantine, winning the next two. . . . F Michael Grabner broke a 1-1 tie with a third-period PP goal, and D Mark Fistric later added an insurance goal for the Moose. . . . Earlier in the day, the Bears beat the Bruins 5-2 in Providence to win that series in five games. . . . The AHL final opens Saturday in Winnipeg.
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A further note from Garth MacBeth, this one pointing out how the road to the Memorial Cup seems to travel through Vancouver . . . Since the Vancouver Giants made the playoffs for the first time in Year 2 of their existence (2003), the WHL champions in six of the seven years have been either the Giants or the team that has eliminated the Giants from the playoffs. In the other year (2004), the team that bounced the Giants out, Everett, made it to the league final, where it lost to Medicine Hat, 4-0.
2003: Kelowna sweeps Vancouver 4-0 in the first round. Kelowna wins WHL championship over Red Deer, 4-2.
2004: Everett beats Vancouver 4-2 in a conference semifinal. Everett loses to Medicine Hat 4-0 in WHL championship final.
2005: Kelowna beats Vancouver 4-2 in the first round. Kelowna wins WHL championship over Brandon, 4-1.
2006: Vancouver wins WHL championship.
2007: Medicine Hat wins WHL championship over Vancouver, 4-3.
2008: Spokane beats Vancouver 4-2 in conference semifinal. Spokane
wins WHL championship over Lethbridge, 4-0.
2009: Kelowna beats Vancouver in conference final 4-2. Kelowna wins WHL championship over Calgary, 4-2.
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THE COACHING GAME: As expected, the Regina Pats went back to the future Monday, signing former head coach Curtis Hunt to a three-year deal as their new head coach. Hunt had left the Pats a year ago for a position as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. When the NHL club went through a midseason coaching change, Hunt ended up coaching its AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. Hunt, 42, spent four seasons as the Pats’ head coach before leaving for the NHL. He had two years left on his contract with Ottawa, but turned down an offer to return, choosing instead to go back to the WHL. . . . The Pats hired former star Dale Derkatch to replace Hunt, but fired him May 5 after the club went 27-39-1-5 and missed the playoffs. . . . Hunt and general manager Brent Parker now will hire an assistant coach to replace Terry Perkins, whose contract wasn’t renewed.
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THE COACHING GAME, Part 2: The Chilliwack Progress is reporting that assistant coach Dan Price is leaving the Chilliwack Bruins to become general manager and head coach of the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. Price survived the firing of Bruins general manager Darrell Porter in January and head coach Jim Hiller at season’s end. The Bruins now are searching for a head coach — acting GM Darryl Porter said last week that his short list is down to three — but Price was never interviewed.
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IN THE AHL: It’ll be the Manitoba Moose and the Hershey Bears playing for the Calder Cup, the championship trophy awarded by the AHL. . . . The Moose got past the visiting Houston Aeros 3-1 on Monday evening to win that series, 4-2. The Moose won the first three games, with the Aeros, under head coach Kevin Constantine, winning the next two. . . . F Michael Grabner broke a 1-1 tie with a third-period PP goal, and D Mark Fistric later added an insurance goal for the Moose. . . . Earlier in the day, the Bears beat the Bruins 5-2 in Providence to win that series in five games. . . . The AHL final opens Saturday in Winnipeg.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sunday . . .
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reported Sunday evening that the Regina Pats have reached agreement with Curtis Hunt on a three-year deal as the WHL team’s head coach. According to Harder, a news conference will be held Monday or Tuesday at the Brandt Centre to announce the hiring. . . . Harder also writes: "Parker made a formal offer on the weekend and the deal was subsequently consummated — according to another source — after Hunt officially parted company with the Ottawa Senators, informing them that he won’t return next season as the head coach of their AHL affiliate in Binghamton." . . . Hunt left the Pats a year ago when he signed on as an assistant under head coach Craig Hartsburg with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. Hartsburg was fired in midseason and replaced by former Kootenay Ice head coach Cory Clouston, who had been with Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. When Clouston was promoted, Hunt was assigned to Binghamton as that club’s head coach. . . . The Pats hired Dale Derkatch to replace Hunt, but fired him earlier this month. Derkatch had one year left on his contract.
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That leaves the Chilliwack Bruins, Everett Silvertips and Lethbridge Hurricanes without coaches. Of course, the Bruins also are without a permanent general manager — governor Darryl Porter is the interim GM — while the Hurricanes also are without a GM.
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The Saskatoon Blades have signed C Ryan Olsen, the 20th overall selection in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft. Olsen played this season with the bantam AAA South Delta, B.C., Storm. He had 132 points in 60 games. He is likely to play next season with the major midget Greater Vancouver Canadians.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Kelowna Rockets had the opportunity to take out the Windsor Spitfires in the round-robin portion of the tournament in Rimouski, Que. Had Kelowna won that Tuesday game — the Spitfires won, 2-1 — Windsor would have been 0-3 and on its way home. . . . Instead, the Spitfires regrouped and ended up winning their last four games and the Memorial Cup. On Sunday, they scored on their first three shots and beat the Rockets, 4-1. . . . “The problem we had is we should have put them out of here earlier in the tournament when we had a chance to finish them off," Rockets president/GM told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “We didn't, and that's what happens. Any team that's a champion from their own league, and you get a chance (to knock them out) . . . they did what they had to do." . . . Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska told Potenteau: “When you let a team off the hook, you're giving them new life. And, really, that's what it ends up coming down to a lot of times. We just didn't have enough tonight, and Windsor played a very good game. They deserve a lot of credit for the style they played and for our inability to generate much offence.” . . . The bottom line is that Windsor beat each of the other three teams in elimination games. . . . The Memorial Cup all-star team comprised G Marco Cousineau (Drummondville), D Tyler Myers (Kelowna), D Ryan Ellis (Windsor), F Jamie Benn (Kelowna), F Taylor Hall (Windsor) and F Patrice Cormier (Rimouski). . . . Hall was the tournament MVP, F Yannick Riendeau (Drummondville) was the most sportsmanlike player, Benn was the leading scorer (with nine points) and Cousineau was the top goaltender.
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Interesting piece by well-known hockey writer Larry Brooks in the New York Post on Sunday. He writes that the New Jersey Devils should let head coach Brent Sutter out of the final year of his contract.
“Brent Sutter sure sounds like a man whose heart is in Red Deer, whose life is in Alberta and whose head couldn't be farther from Newark. Fair enough,” Brooks writes right here. “But now it's time for general manager Lou Lamoriello to make it easy for Sutter to follow his heart by relieving the Devils' head coach of the obligation to fulfill the third and final year of his contract.”
That, of course, would free up Sutter to join the Calgary Flames as their head coach. Darryl Sutter, Brent’s brother and the Flames’ GM, announced Friday that Calgary head coach Mike Keenan had been fired with a year left on his contract.
However, Rich Chere, who covers the Devils for the Newark Star-Ledger, wrote on his blog Friday that “Brent Sutter has told me he did not want to coach the Flames, so close to home, in the past. He also said he was not interested in working for Darryl.”
You can read Chere’s blog entry right here.
There are some observers who wonder if Brent Sutter wouldn't rather be coaching the team he owns, the WHL's Red Deer Rebels. They have missed the playoffs three of the last four season.
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That leaves the Chilliwack Bruins, Everett Silvertips and Lethbridge Hurricanes without coaches. Of course, the Bruins also are without a permanent general manager — governor Darryl Porter is the interim GM — while the Hurricanes also are without a GM.
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The Saskatoon Blades have signed C Ryan Olsen, the 20th overall selection in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft. Olsen played this season with the bantam AAA South Delta, B.C., Storm. He had 132 points in 60 games. He is likely to play next season with the major midget Greater Vancouver Canadians.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Kelowna Rockets had the opportunity to take out the Windsor Spitfires in the round-robin portion of the tournament in Rimouski, Que. Had Kelowna won that Tuesday game — the Spitfires won, 2-1 — Windsor would have been 0-3 and on its way home. . . . Instead, the Spitfires regrouped and ended up winning their last four games and the Memorial Cup. On Sunday, they scored on their first three shots and beat the Rockets, 4-1. . . . “The problem we had is we should have put them out of here earlier in the tournament when we had a chance to finish them off," Rockets president/GM told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “We didn't, and that's what happens. Any team that's a champion from their own league, and you get a chance (to knock them out) . . . they did what they had to do." . . . Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska told Potenteau: “When you let a team off the hook, you're giving them new life. And, really, that's what it ends up coming down to a lot of times. We just didn't have enough tonight, and Windsor played a very good game. They deserve a lot of credit for the style they played and for our inability to generate much offence.” . . . The bottom line is that Windsor beat each of the other three teams in elimination games. . . . The Memorial Cup all-star team comprised G Marco Cousineau (Drummondville), D Tyler Myers (Kelowna), D Ryan Ellis (Windsor), F Jamie Benn (Kelowna), F Taylor Hall (Windsor) and F Patrice Cormier (Rimouski). . . . Hall was the tournament MVP, F Yannick Riendeau (Drummondville) was the most sportsmanlike player, Benn was the leading scorer (with nine points) and Cousineau was the top goaltender.
———
Interesting piece by well-known hockey writer Larry Brooks in the New York Post on Sunday. He writes that the New Jersey Devils should let head coach Brent Sutter out of the final year of his contract.
“Brent Sutter sure sounds like a man whose heart is in Red Deer, whose life is in Alberta and whose head couldn't be farther from Newark. Fair enough,” Brooks writes right here. “But now it's time for general manager Lou Lamoriello to make it easy for Sutter to follow his heart by relieving the Devils' head coach of the obligation to fulfill the third and final year of his contract.”
That, of course, would free up Sutter to join the Calgary Flames as their head coach. Darryl Sutter, Brent’s brother and the Flames’ GM, announced Friday that Calgary head coach Mike Keenan had been fired with a year left on his contract.
However, Rich Chere, who covers the Devils for the Newark Star-Ledger, wrote on his blog Friday that “Brent Sutter has told me he did not want to coach the Flames, so close to home, in the past. He also said he was not interested in working for Darryl.”
You can read Chere’s blog entry right here.
There are some observers who wonder if Brent Sutter wouldn't rather be coaching the team he owns, the WHL's Red Deer Rebels. They have missed the playoffs three of the last four season.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Keeping Score
Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “I hope those female fertility drugs aren't going to cause any hair loss with Manny.” . . . A tip of the cap to the gang over at KYSA. It is amazing how they are able to put together the annual KYSA Slurpee Cup and operate it with such efficiency. This year’s tournament, the 31st annual, that took over our city last weekend featured more than 2,500 players, 400 coaches and managers, and 50 referees and assistant referees. All told, more than 300 games were played over the three days. . . . How much for a litre of regular gas? Sheesh, it isn’t even the so-called summer driving season and the gas gouging has started.
If you’re looking for omens, Ryan Huska, the head coach of the Kelowna Rockets, will be appearing in his fifth Memorial Cup final Sunday in Rimouski, Que. To date, Huska is 4-0 in finals, including 3-0 as a player with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Bob Molinaro, in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: “If you're turned off by the sight of copious body art, don't watch the multi-tattooed Denver Nuggets. The typical Nuggets player is more inked up than the Sunday edition of The New York Times.” . . . B.C. Hockey has revealed the names of 69 players it has invited to its under-16 development camp in Penticton this summer. Of those players, only forward Morgan Zulinick is from Kamloops and he plays for Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. Meanwhile, only two Kamloops players, Zulinick and Wade Moyls, were selected in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft, meaning our fair city trailed the great hockey-playing state of Texas by one. Shouldn’t a minor hockey association in a city this size be embarrassed by such numbers? . . . Hey, just asking.
Well, hockey fans, that’s it for TSN. For the rest of these Stanley Cup playoffs, we’re stuck with Hockey Night in Canada, which means we get the funny-jacketed ventriloquist and his dummy, along with the stale panel. You’re right. No one does hockey better than TSN. . . . Gary Loewen, in the Toronto Sun: “Inconsistent golfer Mike Weir is abandoning the ‘stack and tilt’ method. He also promises to quit playing Lego.” . . . And here I thought “stack and tilt” was a term used during afternoons on Sportsnet. You know, when about all it shows is poker. . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Rachel Alexandra . . . became the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924. Twelve desperate males chasing one favored female? Sounds about like any Saturday in any bar in America.”
Would someone remind me again just how many people were killed by Michael Vick? Or was he dealing drugs? . . . By now you’re aware that Vick got out of jail Wednesday, which was the same day that Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris described his team’s quarterback competition this way: “One bone. Five dogs. Best man wins.” . . . Or might that have been a subliminal message directed at Vick? . . . From an excellent piece by Josh Peter at yahoo.com: “At least 73 players on NFL rosters during the 2008 season have been arrested on charges of driving under the influence, according to a search of published reports by Yahoo! Sports.” . . . The B.C. Lions, who last trained in Kamloops in 2004, open camp in Abbotsford on June 7. It’s the fourth straight year the Lions will have trained in Abbotsford. No, they aren’t likely to return to Kamloops. According to one source, “The turf . . . here doesn’t have enough spring to it.”
John Calipari, the new men’s basketball coach at Kentucky, has paid US$2.3 million for a home with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms. I don’t know about you but it has always been my dream to own a home with more bathrooms than bedrooms. . . . In case it’s been keeping you awake at night, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal now have met in 16 finals. Federer beat Nadal in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday, leaving him with a 5-11 record against his chief rival. . . . Only John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl met in more finals than those two. McEnroe went 11-8 in finals with Lendl. . . . Remember when big oil would up the price of gas by a penny or two at a time? Now, with the economy in the tank, they just hit us over the head with a hammer and put it up eight cents at a time.
You know you’re having a bad season when the foil-wrapped hot dogs explode as your mascot is shooting them into the stands. You’re right. It was the Washington Nationals. . . . The unhappiest man in sports these days? That’s easy. It’s Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin. He’ll be the first pick in the NBA’s June 25 draft and that selection belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers, perhaps the worst franchise in all of sports. . . . Mike Bianchi, in the Orlando Sentinel: “Brett Favre in line in front of you at the grocery store: ‘I’ll take plastic. I mean paper. I mean plastic. I mean paper. I mean plastic.’ ” . . . It was in 2007 when Jon Gruden, then the head coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, came up with this: “I don't watch ESPN. I don't believe half the (expletive) people on the channel.” . . . ESPN announced this week that Gruden, now unemployed, has been added to the Monday Night Football crew.
Jerry Crowe, in the Los Angeles Times: “The late Wayman Tisdale won a gold medal playing alongside Michael Jordan at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In an interview last year, the former NBA player and chart-topping jazz bassist said of the experience, ‘Bobby Knight was a raging maniac. He put us through pure hell. For most of that summer, I thought my name was (----)head."
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
If you’re looking for omens, Ryan Huska, the head coach of the Kelowna Rockets, will be appearing in his fifth Memorial Cup final Sunday in Rimouski, Que. To date, Huska is 4-0 in finals, including 3-0 as a player with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Bob Molinaro, in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: “If you're turned off by the sight of copious body art, don't watch the multi-tattooed Denver Nuggets. The typical Nuggets player is more inked up than the Sunday edition of The New York Times.” . . . B.C. Hockey has revealed the names of 69 players it has invited to its under-16 development camp in Penticton this summer. Of those players, only forward Morgan Zulinick is from Kamloops and he plays for Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. Meanwhile, only two Kamloops players, Zulinick and Wade Moyls, were selected in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft, meaning our fair city trailed the great hockey-playing state of Texas by one. Shouldn’t a minor hockey association in a city this size be embarrassed by such numbers? . . . Hey, just asking.
Well, hockey fans, that’s it for TSN. For the rest of these Stanley Cup playoffs, we’re stuck with Hockey Night in Canada, which means we get the funny-jacketed ventriloquist and his dummy, along with the stale panel. You’re right. No one does hockey better than TSN. . . . Gary Loewen, in the Toronto Sun: “Inconsistent golfer Mike Weir is abandoning the ‘stack and tilt’ method. He also promises to quit playing Lego.” . . . And here I thought “stack and tilt” was a term used during afternoons on Sportsnet. You know, when about all it shows is poker. . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Rachel Alexandra . . . became the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924. Twelve desperate males chasing one favored female? Sounds about like any Saturday in any bar in America.”
Would someone remind me again just how many people were killed by Michael Vick? Or was he dealing drugs? . . . By now you’re aware that Vick got out of jail Wednesday, which was the same day that Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris described his team’s quarterback competition this way: “One bone. Five dogs. Best man wins.” . . . Or might that have been a subliminal message directed at Vick? . . . From an excellent piece by Josh Peter at yahoo.com: “At least 73 players on NFL rosters during the 2008 season have been arrested on charges of driving under the influence, according to a search of published reports by Yahoo! Sports.” . . . The B.C. Lions, who last trained in Kamloops in 2004, open camp in Abbotsford on June 7. It’s the fourth straight year the Lions will have trained in Abbotsford. No, they aren’t likely to return to Kamloops. According to one source, “The turf . . . here doesn’t have enough spring to it.”
John Calipari, the new men’s basketball coach at Kentucky, has paid US$2.3 million for a home with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms. I don’t know about you but it has always been my dream to own a home with more bathrooms than bedrooms. . . . In case it’s been keeping you awake at night, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal now have met in 16 finals. Federer beat Nadal in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday, leaving him with a 5-11 record against his chief rival. . . . Only John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl met in more finals than those two. McEnroe went 11-8 in finals with Lendl. . . . Remember when big oil would up the price of gas by a penny or two at a time? Now, with the economy in the tank, they just hit us over the head with a hammer and put it up eight cents at a time.
You know you’re having a bad season when the foil-wrapped hot dogs explode as your mascot is shooting them into the stands. You’re right. It was the Washington Nationals. . . . The unhappiest man in sports these days? That’s easy. It’s Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin. He’ll be the first pick in the NBA’s June 25 draft and that selection belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers, perhaps the worst franchise in all of sports. . . . Mike Bianchi, in the Orlando Sentinel: “Brett Favre in line in front of you at the grocery store: ‘I’ll take plastic. I mean paper. I mean plastic. I mean paper. I mean plastic.’ ” . . . It was in 2007 when Jon Gruden, then the head coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, came up with this: “I don't watch ESPN. I don't believe half the (expletive) people on the channel.” . . . ESPN announced this week that Gruden, now unemployed, has been added to the Monday Night Football crew.
Jerry Crowe, in the Los Angeles Times: “The late Wayman Tisdale won a gold medal playing alongside Michael Jordan at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In an interview last year, the former NBA player and chart-topping jazz bassist said of the experience, ‘Bobby Knight was a raging maniac. He put us through pure hell. For most of that summer, I thought my name was (----)head."
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Friday . . .
AS LETHBRIDGE TURNS: After then-Lethbridge Hurricanes general manager Roy Stasiuk announced that Michael Dyck’s contract as head coach wouldn’t be renewed, Rich Sutter carved Stasiuk like a Christmas turkey in the pages of the Lethbridge Herald. . . . Strangely enough, Sutter had been brought into the organization by Stasiuk in January as a consultant, presumably to act as a conduit between the coaching staff and management. . . . Of course, a couple of days after Dyck got the news that he wouldn’t be back, the Hurricanes’ board of directors fired Stasiuk, saying that the decision actually had been reached in the middle of the previous week. . . . Now comes word that, yes, Sutter wants the general manager’s job. In a conversation with Pat Siedlecki, the radio voice of the Hurricanes, Sutter admitted that he has applied for the job. . . . Sutter, who in the past has expressed interest in purchasing the community-owned franchise, is in the organization’s hall of fame as a player. . . . Also in the hunt for the Hurricanes’ GM job is Brad Robson, the Hurricanes’ director of scouting/player personnel. . . . You can read a transcript of Siedlecki’s chat with Sutter at Siedlecki’s blog over there on the left.
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KEENAN BURNS: Another Sutter was in the news Friday, too. Like a true politician, Darryl Sutter, the GM of the Calgary Flames, chose Friday afternoon to announce the decision to fire head coach Mike Keenan. Keenan’s regular-season coaching record in Calgary was 88-60-16, meaning he was canned because of a failure to get the Flames deep into the playoffs. . . . Of course, firing Keenan, who had one year left on his contract, gives more fuel to critics who claim that Sutter’s record of hiring coaches is no hell, either. . . . And you are free to speculate on whether Brent Sutter will leave the New Jersey Devils, to whom he is under contract, to coach the Flames.
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THE ZEBRAS: The next time you are inclined to complain about the on-ice officiating in a WHL game take a moment and think back to Friday night’s NHL playoff game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Blackhawks in Chicago. The NHL is down to its final four, which should mean it also has its best officials on the ice. In this instance, the officiating was sophomoric at best. From the horrible decision to eject Detroit D Niklas Kronwall with an interference major, to more than one screwed up icing call, to the ticky-tack calls against the Blackhawks in the second period, to putting the whistles away in the third period . . . it would seem the NHL has more problems than the Phoenix Coyotes on its hands. And you thought that referees no longer played the even-up game or put away their whistles in the third period, didn’t you? . . . If the decision to eject Kronwall for what was a good, hard hockey hit was, indeed, that of referee Dan O’Halloran, as was reported on Hockey Night in Canada, well, we should have seen the last of him in these playoffs. . . . Instead, NHL hanging judge Colin Campbell, whose credibility is shot after he chose not to suspend Carolina Hurricanes F Scott Walker for that sucker punch to the mush of Boston Bruins D Aaron Ward, likely will get out the dart board and suspend Kronwall for a game or two.
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IN PRINCE ALBERT: The Prince Albert Raiders have signed C Mike Winther, the sixth overall selection in the 2009 bantam draft. Winther played for the Airdrie Xtreme of the Alberta Major Bantam League this season. He tied for the regular-season scoring title and won the playoff scoring title. Then he led scorers at the Western Canadian championship where he was honoured as top forward and an all-star. . . . C Mark McNeill, whom the Raiders selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, has had surgery to repair a severed left Achilles tendon. He was injured last weekend in the final game of an Alberta under-17 regional camp. McNeill hopes to be ready in time for the Raiders’ training camp in late August. McNeill, now in a knee-to-toe cast and using crutches to get around, spent this season with midget AAA SSAC side in Edmonton.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Kelowna Rockets, if they are still in Rimouski, Que., will meet the Windsor Spitfires in Sunday’s championship final. . . . The Rockets haven’t played since losing 2-1 to Windsor on Tuesday. . . . The Spitfires won the semifinal game Friday, beating the Drummondville Voltigeurs 3-2 in OT. . . . That was Windsor’s third straight victory and each of them came in a win-or-go-home situation. . . . Adam Henrique scored Friday’s winner at 4:31 of OT. . . . That set up the CHL’s worst nightmare – a Memorial Cup final featuring teams from the WHL and OHL in a QMJHL city. . . . It is interesting that Windsor is 3-2 in the tournament, while the Rockets are 2-1.
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KEENAN BURNS: Another Sutter was in the news Friday, too. Like a true politician, Darryl Sutter, the GM of the Calgary Flames, chose Friday afternoon to announce the decision to fire head coach Mike Keenan. Keenan’s regular-season coaching record in Calgary was 88-60-16, meaning he was canned because of a failure to get the Flames deep into the playoffs. . . . Of course, firing Keenan, who had one year left on his contract, gives more fuel to critics who claim that Sutter’s record of hiring coaches is no hell, either. . . . And you are free to speculate on whether Brent Sutter will leave the New Jersey Devils, to whom he is under contract, to coach the Flames.
---
THE ZEBRAS: The next time you are inclined to complain about the on-ice officiating in a WHL game take a moment and think back to Friday night’s NHL playoff game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Blackhawks in Chicago. The NHL is down to its final four, which should mean it also has its best officials on the ice. In this instance, the officiating was sophomoric at best. From the horrible decision to eject Detroit D Niklas Kronwall with an interference major, to more than one screwed up icing call, to the ticky-tack calls against the Blackhawks in the second period, to putting the whistles away in the third period . . . it would seem the NHL has more problems than the Phoenix Coyotes on its hands. And you thought that referees no longer played the even-up game or put away their whistles in the third period, didn’t you? . . . If the decision to eject Kronwall for what was a good, hard hockey hit was, indeed, that of referee Dan O’Halloran, as was reported on Hockey Night in Canada, well, we should have seen the last of him in these playoffs. . . . Instead, NHL hanging judge Colin Campbell, whose credibility is shot after he chose not to suspend Carolina Hurricanes F Scott Walker for that sucker punch to the mush of Boston Bruins D Aaron Ward, likely will get out the dart board and suspend Kronwall for a game or two.
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IN PRINCE ALBERT: The Prince Albert Raiders have signed C Mike Winther, the sixth overall selection in the 2009 bantam draft. Winther played for the Airdrie Xtreme of the Alberta Major Bantam League this season. He tied for the regular-season scoring title and won the playoff scoring title. Then he led scorers at the Western Canadian championship where he was honoured as top forward and an all-star. . . . C Mark McNeill, whom the Raiders selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, has had surgery to repair a severed left Achilles tendon. He was injured last weekend in the final game of an Alberta under-17 regional camp. McNeill hopes to be ready in time for the Raiders’ training camp in late August. McNeill, now in a knee-to-toe cast and using crutches to get around, spent this season with midget AAA SSAC side in Edmonton.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Kelowna Rockets, if they are still in Rimouski, Que., will meet the Windsor Spitfires in Sunday’s championship final. . . . The Rockets haven’t played since losing 2-1 to Windsor on Tuesday. . . . The Spitfires won the semifinal game Friday, beating the Drummondville Voltigeurs 3-2 in OT. . . . That was Windsor’s third straight victory and each of them came in a win-or-go-home situation. . . . Adam Henrique scored Friday’s winner at 4:31 of OT. . . . That set up the CHL’s worst nightmare – a Memorial Cup final featuring teams from the WHL and OHL in a QMJHL city. . . . It is interesting that Windsor is 3-2 in the tournament, while the Rockets are 2-1.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Byron Ritchie (Lethbridge) signsed a one-year contract with Dinamo Minsk (KHL). He had 22 goals and 38 assists in 45 games with Genève-Servette (Swiss NL A) this season.
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An apology to Mark Holick, the head coach of the Kootenay Ice, who was named an assistant coach with Canada’s under-18 team that will play at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in August. I referred to Mark as Jeff here on Wednesday; Jeff, of course, is the radio voice of the Ice.
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THE COACHING GAME: On Wednesday, Darryl Porter, the governor and interim GM of the Chilliwack Bruins, told Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress that he had three candidates remaining on a list of potential head-coaching candidates . . . . That same day, Vancouver radio station CKNW reported that there are four names on the Bruins’ shortlist. . . . According to CKNW, the candidates are Gord Dineen, a member of one of hockey’s first families who coached the AHL’s Iowa Chops this season; former Regina Pats head coach Curtis Hunt, who is head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators; former Kelowna Rockets head coach Marc Habscheid; and, Perry Pearn, who was on head coach Tom Renney’s staff with the New York Rangers until the axe fell during this season. . . . The Chops are the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, whose GM was Brian Burke when Dineen was hired. Burke owns a chunk of the Bruins. . . . Glen Sather, the Rangers’ president and GM, also is part of the ownership group and obviously is quite familiar with Pearn. . . . It is interesting to hear Hunt’s name mentioned in regards to Chilliwack because he continues to be the leading candidate to take over as the Pats’ head coach. Hunt left last summer to be an assistant under head coach Craig Hartsburg with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. When Hartsburg was fired in midseason, former Kootenay Ice head coach Cory Clouston was promoted from Binghamton, and Hunt was assigned to Binghamton. . . . The Bruins, of course, fired GM Darrell May in January and head coach Jim Hiller after the season.
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THE COACHING GAME, Part 2: Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post is reporting that the Pats’ short list of potential head coaches is down to two — former Pats head coach Curtis Hunt and Michael Dyck, who was told earlier this month that his contract as head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes won’t be renewed. The Pats are looking to replace Dale Derkatch, who was fired May 5 after one year as head coach. . . . It is interesting that Hunt, who has a job as head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, is reported to be on the short list of two WHL teams. . . . Former Kelowna Rockets head coach Jeff Truitt, who is available after being fired as head coach of the AHL’s Springfield Falcons this season, also talked with the Pats, but no longer is a candidate there. “You hear that Curtis is coming back,” Truitt told Harder. “That’s just what I’ve heard and it’s probably a good choice. There’s familiarity there.”
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JUST NOTES: The Swift Current Broncos have promoted assistant GM Sheldon Ferguson. Now he also is the director of hockey operations. Ferguson, a veteran hockey man who spent 12 years with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, joined the Broncos in February after Elden Moberg left the organization. At the same time, the Broncos promoted Jordan Wall, the director of marketing for the last two years, to director of business operations. . . . Former WHL D Marc Hussey has signed on as an assistant coach with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs. Gerard Gallant, the team’s new head coach, also added former NHLer Yvon Vautour to his coaching staff. Hussey played with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Tri-City Americans and Medicine Hat Tigers (1990-94) before going on to a pro career that included time in Europe. He has been coaching a midget AAA team in Saint John for the past two seasons. . . . Victor Gervais, 40, is the new head coach of the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. Gervais, who played five seasons with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds (1985-90), replaces Geoff Courtnall, who walked away from the job after the Grizzlies were the host team for the Royal Bank Cup. . . . F Dwight King of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. King was the 109th selection in the NHL’s 2007 draft. King just completed his 19-year-old season with Lethbridge, rolling up 60 points in 64 games. He is the younger brother of St. Louis Blues prospect D.J. King, who played with Lethbridge and the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Portland Winter Hawks issued a press release on Thursday that deals with ticket prices. That release is right here. According to the release, they plan on playing about 18 games in the Rose Garden next season.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The host Rimouski Oceanic became the first team eliminated at the Memorial Cup when it lost a tiebreaker 6-4 to the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday. . . . Windsor, the OHL-champion, will play the QMJHL-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs in the semifinal game Friday. . . . The winner of that game will meet the Kelowna Rockets in Sunday’s final. . . . This was Windsor’s second straight victory in a win-or-go-home game. . . . The Spitfires actually trailed 4-2 going into the third period when they scored four times. The first three of those goals were scored by F Dale Mitchell. He scored three times in three minutes 33 seconds. A Memorial Cup record? No. That record belongs to Joe Contini of the Hamilton Fincups. He did it in 1:12 in an 8-4 victory over the New Westminster Bruins on May 12, 1976, in the Montreal Forum. Contini also holds the record for fastest two goals — eight seconds.
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An apology to Mark Holick, the head coach of the Kootenay Ice, who was named an assistant coach with Canada’s under-18 team that will play at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in August. I referred to Mark as Jeff here on Wednesday; Jeff, of course, is the radio voice of the Ice.
———
THE COACHING GAME: On Wednesday, Darryl Porter, the governor and interim GM of the Chilliwack Bruins, told Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress that he had three candidates remaining on a list of potential head-coaching candidates . . . . That same day, Vancouver radio station CKNW reported that there are four names on the Bruins’ shortlist. . . . According to CKNW, the candidates are Gord Dineen, a member of one of hockey’s first families who coached the AHL’s Iowa Chops this season; former Regina Pats head coach Curtis Hunt, who is head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators; former Kelowna Rockets head coach Marc Habscheid; and, Perry Pearn, who was on head coach Tom Renney’s staff with the New York Rangers until the axe fell during this season. . . . The Chops are the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, whose GM was Brian Burke when Dineen was hired. Burke owns a chunk of the Bruins. . . . Glen Sather, the Rangers’ president and GM, also is part of the ownership group and obviously is quite familiar with Pearn. . . . It is interesting to hear Hunt’s name mentioned in regards to Chilliwack because he continues to be the leading candidate to take over as the Pats’ head coach. Hunt left last summer to be an assistant under head coach Craig Hartsburg with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. When Hartsburg was fired in midseason, former Kootenay Ice head coach Cory Clouston was promoted from Binghamton, and Hunt was assigned to Binghamton. . . . The Bruins, of course, fired GM Darrell May in January and head coach Jim Hiller after the season.
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THE COACHING GAME, Part 2: Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post is reporting that the Pats’ short list of potential head coaches is down to two — former Pats head coach Curtis Hunt and Michael Dyck, who was told earlier this month that his contract as head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes won’t be renewed. The Pats are looking to replace Dale Derkatch, who was fired May 5 after one year as head coach. . . . It is interesting that Hunt, who has a job as head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, is reported to be on the short list of two WHL teams. . . . Former Kelowna Rockets head coach Jeff Truitt, who is available after being fired as head coach of the AHL’s Springfield Falcons this season, also talked with the Pats, but no longer is a candidate there. “You hear that Curtis is coming back,” Truitt told Harder. “That’s just what I’ve heard and it’s probably a good choice. There’s familiarity there.”
———
JUST NOTES: The Swift Current Broncos have promoted assistant GM Sheldon Ferguson. Now he also is the director of hockey operations. Ferguson, a veteran hockey man who spent 12 years with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, joined the Broncos in February after Elden Moberg left the organization. At the same time, the Broncos promoted Jordan Wall, the director of marketing for the last two years, to director of business operations. . . . Former WHL D Marc Hussey has signed on as an assistant coach with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs. Gerard Gallant, the team’s new head coach, also added former NHLer Yvon Vautour to his coaching staff. Hussey played with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Tri-City Americans and Medicine Hat Tigers (1990-94) before going on to a pro career that included time in Europe. He has been coaching a midget AAA team in Saint John for the past two seasons. . . . Victor Gervais, 40, is the new head coach of the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. Gervais, who played five seasons with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds (1985-90), replaces Geoff Courtnall, who walked away from the job after the Grizzlies were the host team for the Royal Bank Cup. . . . F Dwight King of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. King was the 109th selection in the NHL’s 2007 draft. King just completed his 19-year-old season with Lethbridge, rolling up 60 points in 64 games. He is the younger brother of St. Louis Blues prospect D.J. King, who played with Lethbridge and the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Portland Winter Hawks issued a press release on Thursday that deals with ticket prices. That release is right here. According to the release, they plan on playing about 18 games in the Rose Garden next season.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The host Rimouski Oceanic became the first team eliminated at the Memorial Cup when it lost a tiebreaker 6-4 to the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday. . . . Windsor, the OHL-champion, will play the QMJHL-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs in the semifinal game Friday. . . . The winner of that game will meet the Kelowna Rockets in Sunday’s final. . . . This was Windsor’s second straight victory in a win-or-go-home game. . . . The Spitfires actually trailed 4-2 going into the third period when they scored four times. The first three of those goals were scored by F Dale Mitchell. He scored three times in three minutes 33 seconds. A Memorial Cup record? No. That record belongs to Joe Contini of the Hamilton Fincups. He did it in 1:12 in an 8-4 victory over the New Westminster Bruins on May 12, 1976, in the Montreal Forum. Contini also holds the record for fastest two goals — eight seconds.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
More from Wednesday . . .
The Prince Albert Raiders have signed two of their 2008 bantam draft picks — D Harrison Ruopp of Zehner, Sask., and LW Brock Balson of Kamloops. Ruopp, the 31st pick, spent this season with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. Balson played for the major midget Thompson Blazers, who play out of Kamloops. Both players will be in Prince Albert this weekend for the Raiders’ spring camp.
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Congratulations to old friend Norm Fong on the news that he — along with quarterback Tom Burgess and slotback Dan Farthing — will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Plaza of Honor on Sept. 18. Fong spent 34 seasons as the CFL team’s equipment manager. Before joining the football team, he worked with the Regina Pats and was part of their Memorial Cup title in 1974. Oh, the stories he can tell! If you ever run into him, ask him about Bob Poley, who went on to a fine career as a CFL offensive lineman, and his WHL career.
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I got my hockey fix Wednesday night by hunting up Winnipeg radio station CJOB and tuning in to the Manitoba Moose and Houston Aeros in Game 4 of their AHL Western Conference final series. If you want to hear the names of a whole bunch of former WHLers, this is the series for you. And if you listen to CJOB you’ll hear Brian Munz calling the play. Munz, a former radio voice of the Prince Albert Raiders, is yet another terrific play caller. He doesn’t have a shtick; he just calls the play and that should be what it’s all about. . . . Houston won the game, 5-4 in OT, to stay alive in the series. Manitoba leads 3-1 with Game 5 in Houston on Friday night. . . . Manitoba got two goals from Mike Keane, while Tony Hrkac broke a 3-3 tie for Houston late in the third period. . . . Geez, didn’t Noah make Keane and Hrkac his two draft picks when he was loading up his boat? . . . Mario Bliznak, formerly of the Vancouver Giants, tied it for Manitoba on a wrap-around, beating G Anton Khudobin, a product of the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Matt Beaudoin, who had two goals and two assists, got the winner at 2:01 of OT. . . . Former WHLer John Lammers set up three Houston goals. . . . Khudobin wasn’t around for the OT. He finished the third period but may have been injured on Bliznak’s goal. Nolan Schaefer was in goal for Houston for the OT. He touched the puck once — behind his net — and didn’t have to make a save. For all that, he gets the victory.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: In Rimouski, Que., the Drummondville Voltigeurs scored a 3-2 OT victory over the host Oceanic on Wednesday. . . . The victory puts Drummondville into Saturday’s semifinal game. . . . Rimouski will meet the OHL-champion Windsor Spitfires on Thursday in a tiebreaker game. The winner moves into the semifinal. . . . The winner of the semifinal will meet the Kelowna Rockets — remember them? — in Sunday’s final. . . . Gabriel Dumont scored the winner at 13:23 of OT. . . . Kelowna and Drummondville both went 2-1 in the round-robin, but the Rockets got the edge because of their victory over the Voltigeurs. . . . The Oceanic outshot the Voltigeurs 41-20 but Drummondville G Marco Cousineau was at his best. . . . The Voltigeurs lost C Maxime Frenette to a broken ankle. He was injured while blocking a shot but played all of the third period on the injured limb.. . . . The Rockets spent Wednesday trying to get away from the Memorial Cup excitement. So they spent part of their goofing around on a zipline, and also stopped at a diner for poutine and hamburgers. No word on whether they ordered the plain ’burger or the Guggenberger. . . . In the evening, the Rockets gathered in their hotel and held a “thank you” dinner for parents who have made the trek to Rimouski. Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and GM, picked up the tab, even, an observer said, “paying for the chocolate-covered strawberries.”
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The Portland Winterhawks have formed an Alumni Association which will, according to a press release, honour the team’s past and reach out to former players and coaches “to get them involved in the team’s promotional and charitable events. Along with former Winterhawks players and coaches, former Portland Buckaroos will also play a big role in the Alumni Association. Many of the Alumni Association’s fundraising efforts will benefit the Winterhawks Amateur Hockey Association (WAHA), whose mission is to grow and develop amateur hockey for all ages in the Portland/Vancouver area.” . . . Mike Williamson, a former player and coach, and former broadcaster Dean (Scooter) Vrooman are heading up the association and anything that gets two of hockey’s good guys involved in the game is a good thing. . . . First on the association’s calendar is the inaugural Portland Winterhawks Alumni Association golf tournament on Aug. 10.
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Congratulations to old friend Norm Fong on the news that he — along with quarterback Tom Burgess and slotback Dan Farthing — will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Plaza of Honor on Sept. 18. Fong spent 34 seasons as the CFL team’s equipment manager. Before joining the football team, he worked with the Regina Pats and was part of their Memorial Cup title in 1974. Oh, the stories he can tell! If you ever run into him, ask him about Bob Poley, who went on to a fine career as a CFL offensive lineman, and his WHL career.
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I got my hockey fix Wednesday night by hunting up Winnipeg radio station CJOB and tuning in to the Manitoba Moose and Houston Aeros in Game 4 of their AHL Western Conference final series. If you want to hear the names of a whole bunch of former WHLers, this is the series for you. And if you listen to CJOB you’ll hear Brian Munz calling the play. Munz, a former radio voice of the Prince Albert Raiders, is yet another terrific play caller. He doesn’t have a shtick; he just calls the play and that should be what it’s all about. . . . Houston won the game, 5-4 in OT, to stay alive in the series. Manitoba leads 3-1 with Game 5 in Houston on Friday night. . . . Manitoba got two goals from Mike Keane, while Tony Hrkac broke a 3-3 tie for Houston late in the third period. . . . Geez, didn’t Noah make Keane and Hrkac his two draft picks when he was loading up his boat? . . . Mario Bliznak, formerly of the Vancouver Giants, tied it for Manitoba on a wrap-around, beating G Anton Khudobin, a product of the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Matt Beaudoin, who had two goals and two assists, got the winner at 2:01 of OT. . . . Former WHLer John Lammers set up three Houston goals. . . . Khudobin wasn’t around for the OT. He finished the third period but may have been injured on Bliznak’s goal. Nolan Schaefer was in goal for Houston for the OT. He touched the puck once — behind his net — and didn’t have to make a save. For all that, he gets the victory.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: In Rimouski, Que., the Drummondville Voltigeurs scored a 3-2 OT victory over the host Oceanic on Wednesday. . . . The victory puts Drummondville into Saturday’s semifinal game. . . . Rimouski will meet the OHL-champion Windsor Spitfires on Thursday in a tiebreaker game. The winner moves into the semifinal. . . . The winner of the semifinal will meet the Kelowna Rockets — remember them? — in Sunday’s final. . . . Gabriel Dumont scored the winner at 13:23 of OT. . . . Kelowna and Drummondville both went 2-1 in the round-robin, but the Rockets got the edge because of their victory over the Voltigeurs. . . . The Oceanic outshot the Voltigeurs 41-20 but Drummondville G Marco Cousineau was at his best. . . . The Voltigeurs lost C Maxime Frenette to a broken ankle. He was injured while blocking a shot but played all of the third period on the injured limb.. . . . The Rockets spent Wednesday trying to get away from the Memorial Cup excitement. So they spent part of their goofing around on a zipline, and also stopped at a diner for poutine and hamburgers. No word on whether they ordered the plain ’burger or the Guggenberger. . . . In the evening, the Rockets gathered in their hotel and held a “thank you” dinner for parents who have made the trek to Rimouski. Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and GM, picked up the tab, even, an observer said, “paying for the chocolate-covered strawberries.”
———
The Portland Winterhawks have formed an Alumni Association which will, according to a press release, honour the team’s past and reach out to former players and coaches “to get them involved in the team’s promotional and charitable events. Along with former Winterhawks players and coaches, former Portland Buckaroos will also play a big role in the Alumni Association. Many of the Alumni Association’s fundraising efforts will benefit the Winterhawks Amateur Hockey Association (WAHA), whose mission is to grow and develop amateur hockey for all ages in the Portland/Vancouver area.” . . . Mike Williamson, a former player and coach, and former broadcaster Dean (Scooter) Vrooman are heading up the association and anything that gets two of hockey’s good guys involved in the game is a good thing. . . . First on the association’s calendar is the inaugural Portland Winterhawks Alumni Association golf tournament on Aug. 10.
Wednesday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: Twins F Michal (Medicine Hat/Kootenay) and F Roman Psurny (Medicine Hat) signed one-year plus option-year contracts with Usti nad Labem (Czech 1.Liga). Michal had two goals and six assists in 36 games with Zlin (Czech Extraliga) and two goals and three assists in four games while on loan to Dukla Jihlava (Czech 1.Liga). Roman had three goals and one assist in 30 games with Mlada Boleslav (Czech Extraliga) and four goals and nine assists in 11 games with Třebíč (Czech 1.Liga). . . . D Adam Knight, who played four games with Moose Jaw in 1999-2000, signed with the Hull Stingrays (UK Elite), no terms announced. He had two goals and two assists in 58 games split between Colorado and New Mexico of the Central Hockey League this season. . . . F Justin Kelly (Prince Albert/Spokane/Saskatoon) signed a one-year contract extension with Bietigheim-Bissingen (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He was third in 2.Bundesliga scoring this season with 26 goals and 37 assists in 48 games for Bietigheim-Bissingen.
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JUST NOTES: Dave Lowry, the head coach of the Calgary Hitmen, has been named head coach of the Canadian under-18 team that will play in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in Aug. 11-15 in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Canada is the defending champion. Assistant coaches are Mark Holick, the head coach of the Kootenay Ice, and Chris DePiero, the GM/head coach of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. Former NHLer Ron Tugnutt will served as goaltending consultant. . . . The AHL announced Wednesday that Sirius XM Radio and XM Canada is carrying some Calder Cup playoff games. The AHL is down to its final four, with the Manitoba Moose holding a 3-0 lead over the Aeros going into Game 4 tonight (Wednesday) in Houston and the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins tied 1-1 going into Game 3 on Friday in Providence. . . . The Chicago Blackhawks have signed F Kyle Beach to a three-year NHL contract. Beach, who was dealt from the Everett Silvertips to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in January, was the 11th overall pick in the 2008 NHL draft. If Beach, 19, doesn’t make the Blackhawks next season, he will be returned to Lethbridge. . . . Darryl Porter, the interim GM of the Chilliwack Bruins, has told Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress that he has a three-man shortlist as he searches to replace fired head coach Jim Hiller. Porter said he would like to have things wrapped up “in the next couple of weeks.” . . . The Bruins have hired Chilliwack native Paul Nicolls as their strength and conditioning coach. Nicolls, 33, played a bit in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Swift Current Broncos (1991-93).
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Brian Burke is my favourite person in the entire sporting world. Why? Because he gets it. He understands better than anyone that it’s all a game, and that the game is the entertainment business. At the end of the day, he has something to sell and that’s what he is doing – selling. And he understands the role of the media as the messenger in all of this.
Here are some of Burke’s latest pronouncements, courtesy of Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress . . .
ON THE FUTURE OF THE BRUINS: “We have been approached about selling the team numerous times. This team is not for sale. We put this team in Chilliwack because we believe in the market, and we believe the market has embraced the team. We’re staying right where we are.”
ON THE RUMOURS: “I don’t know where the rumours are coming from. People call me and ask me if the team is for sale and I say no. They still want to buy the team, so they leak it to the media that we talked. Technically, that’s true. They just leave out the fact that it was a 12 second conversation that ended with a profanity-laced ‘don’t call me back again.’”
ON FAN SUPPORT: “We’ve got to put a better product on the ice. We’ve had great fan support and we haven’t rewarded it yet. I don’t blame any attrition that’s taken place on a lack of support. I think it’s time for us to deliver for the fans.”
ON THE CALGARY FLAMES MOVING THEIR AHL AFFILIATE TO ABBOTSFORD: “I’ve spent a big chunk of my adult life living in British Columbia. I’m pretty sure the people there don’t care about the Calgary Flames or their farm team. I can’t remember anyone ever stopping me on the street to ask me, ‘Hey, how did the Calgary Flames farm team do last night?’
“The AHL and WHL are different products and I think the AHL is a phenomenal product. But look at the beautiful building we play in and look at our ticket prices. You’re getting a look at guys who are going to be NHL stars, and their enthusiasm is great. That’s why I got involved as an owner, and that’s why I’m staying in as an owner.”
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JUST NOTES: Dave Lowry, the head coach of the Calgary Hitmen, has been named head coach of the Canadian under-18 team that will play in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in Aug. 11-15 in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Canada is the defending champion. Assistant coaches are Mark Holick, the head coach of the Kootenay Ice, and Chris DePiero, the GM/head coach of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. Former NHLer Ron Tugnutt will served as goaltending consultant. . . . The AHL announced Wednesday that Sirius XM Radio and XM Canada is carrying some Calder Cup playoff games. The AHL is down to its final four, with the Manitoba Moose holding a 3-0 lead over the Aeros going into Game 4 tonight (Wednesday) in Houston and the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins tied 1-1 going into Game 3 on Friday in Providence. . . . The Chicago Blackhawks have signed F Kyle Beach to a three-year NHL contract. Beach, who was dealt from the Everett Silvertips to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in January, was the 11th overall pick in the 2008 NHL draft. If Beach, 19, doesn’t make the Blackhawks next season, he will be returned to Lethbridge. . . . Darryl Porter, the interim GM of the Chilliwack Bruins, has told Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress that he has a three-man shortlist as he searches to replace fired head coach Jim Hiller. Porter said he would like to have things wrapped up “in the next couple of weeks.” . . . The Bruins have hired Chilliwack native Paul Nicolls as their strength and conditioning coach. Nicolls, 33, played a bit in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Swift Current Broncos (1991-93).
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Brian Burke is my favourite person in the entire sporting world. Why? Because he gets it. He understands better than anyone that it’s all a game, and that the game is the entertainment business. At the end of the day, he has something to sell and that’s what he is doing – selling. And he understands the role of the media as the messenger in all of this.
Here are some of Burke’s latest pronouncements, courtesy of Eric Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress . . .
ON THE FUTURE OF THE BRUINS: “We have been approached about selling the team numerous times. This team is not for sale. We put this team in Chilliwack because we believe in the market, and we believe the market has embraced the team. We’re staying right where we are.”
ON THE RUMOURS: “I don’t know where the rumours are coming from. People call me and ask me if the team is for sale and I say no. They still want to buy the team, so they leak it to the media that we talked. Technically, that’s true. They just leave out the fact that it was a 12 second conversation that ended with a profanity-laced ‘don’t call me back again.’”
ON FAN SUPPORT: “We’ve got to put a better product on the ice. We’ve had great fan support and we haven’t rewarded it yet. I don’t blame any attrition that’s taken place on a lack of support. I think it’s time for us to deliver for the fans.”
ON THE CALGARY FLAMES MOVING THEIR AHL AFFILIATE TO ABBOTSFORD: “I’ve spent a big chunk of my adult life living in British Columbia. I’m pretty sure the people there don’t care about the Calgary Flames or their farm team. I can’t remember anyone ever stopping me on the street to ask me, ‘Hey, how did the Calgary Flames farm team do last night?’
“The AHL and WHL are different products and I think the AHL is a phenomenal product. But look at the beautiful building we play in and look at our ticket prices. You’re getting a look at guys who are going to be NHL stars, and their enthusiasm is great. That’s why I got involved as an owner, and that’s why I’m staying in as an owner.”
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Jonas Johansson (Kamloops) signed a one-year contract with Västerås (Sweden Allsvenskan). He had two goals and four assists in 50 games with HV71 Jönköping this season. . . . G Nolan McDonald (Spokane) signed a one-year contract with Hannover (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had a 3.80 GAA and a .882 save percentage in three games with Kassel (Germany DEL) this season after signing with it at the end of January.
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The Tri-City Americans has signed Brian Cheeseman as athletic therapist for 2009-10. He spent this season as a student therapist with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and lacrosse’s Oakville, Ont., Buzz. He joins WHL veteran Innes Mackie on Tri-City’s training staff. “We made a decision to go to a two-man system, thus ensuring our player’s needs are met fully in the areas of therapy, rehabilitation, equipment and skate sharpening,” GM Bob Tory explained in a press release. Cheeseman begins work Aug. 1.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Windsor Spitfires stayed alive, assuring themselves of at least one more game, by beating the Kelowna Rockets 2-1 in Rimouski, Que., on Tuesday night. . . . The Rockets already had a berth in Sunday’s final and played like it. Still, the Spitfires were full marks for the victory. They outshot the Rockets, 34-17. . . . On Wednesday night, it’s the host Rimouski Oceanic against the QMJHL-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs. The winner moves into Friday’s semifinal game; the loser will meet Windsor in a Thursday tiebreaker. . . . The Rockets won’t play again until Sunday’s final. Head coach Ryan Huska said his squad will spend Wednesday taking in some sights and then get back down to business and begin serious preparations for the final. . . . Sunday’s final will be Kelowna’s 98th game of this season.
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The Tri-City Americans has signed Brian Cheeseman as athletic therapist for 2009-10. He spent this season as a student therapist with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and lacrosse’s Oakville, Ont., Buzz. He joins WHL veteran Innes Mackie on Tri-City’s training staff. “We made a decision to go to a two-man system, thus ensuring our player’s needs are met fully in the areas of therapy, rehabilitation, equipment and skate sharpening,” GM Bob Tory explained in a press release. Cheeseman begins work Aug. 1.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Windsor Spitfires stayed alive, assuring themselves of at least one more game, by beating the Kelowna Rockets 2-1 in Rimouski, Que., on Tuesday night. . . . The Rockets already had a berth in Sunday’s final and played like it. Still, the Spitfires were full marks for the victory. They outshot the Rockets, 34-17. . . . On Wednesday night, it’s the host Rimouski Oceanic against the QMJHL-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs. The winner moves into Friday’s semifinal game; the loser will meet Windsor in a Thursday tiebreaker. . . . The Rockets won’t play again until Sunday’s final. Head coach Ryan Huska said his squad will spend Wednesday taking in some sights and then get back down to business and begin serious preparations for the final. . . . Sunday’s final will be Kelowna’s 98th game of this season.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Recchi writes another chapter in Hall of Fame career
If, as has been suggested on occasion, kidney stones are the male version of childbirth, it is quite possible that Mark Recchi is feeling like OctoMom these days.
Recchi, 41, just happens to be Kamloops’ favourite sporting son, one who is headed for the Hockey Hall of Fame somewhere down the road.
He signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning over the summer and was dealt to the Boston Bruins at the March 4 NHL trade deadline. The Bruins came out of the regular season as the Eastern Conference’s top seed and Recchi, with two Stanley Cup titles to his credit, was hoping to be part of a deep playoff run and that a third championship might be in the cards.
Unfortunately for him, that didn’t happen as the Bruins fell 3-2 in overtime to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of a conference semifinal on Thursday night.
Even though Recchi was on the losing side, it is quite likely that the man who owns a piece of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers penned his own chapter in Stanley Cup lore for what he endured last week.
Granted, it wasn’t Bobby Baun scoring the 1964 Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime on a broken ankle, but it was close. It also was more painful.
Recchi felt fine until Saturday, May 9, the day after the Bruins were beaten 4-1 by the Hurricanes to fall behind 3-1 in the series. The next day, well, if you have had kidney stones, you know the pain. And Recchi first felt that telltale pain in his side on May 9. He didn’t skate the following day, but played in Games 5 and 6, scoring a goal in each game. In fact, in Games 3 through 6, he totaled three goals and two assists.
On Tuesday, with that kidney stone making his life pure hell, he scored one goal and set up another as the Bruins won Game 6, 4-2, in Raleigh to force Game 7.
The next morning, he was off to Massachusetts General Hospital in the hopes that he would pass the kidney stone.
No such luck.
At 5 p.m., he underwent a surgical procedure that included the implanting of a stent. He left the hospital about 8:30 p.m., and returned to the hotel room that had been his home since the Bruins had acquired him.
He returned to the hospital Thursday morning so that the procedure could be completed.
“They said if I got (the stone) out (I could play),” Recchi told reporters after Game 7. “I had to get a stent out (Thursday) morning. They didn’t know going in that they would have to put a stent in. They were hoping not to, but they had to. The stone wouldn’t pass . . . it wasn’t going to go into my bladder, so they had to have the surgery to get it.
“I don’t wish it on anybody.”
The pain, he said, was incredible.
“Sunday and (Tuesday), I never had pain like that,” he said, adding that in Game 7 “I was just trying to get the energy to play, but I felt pretty good.”
Looking back at his week from hell, Recchi said: “It was progressively getting worse and then it got stuck. That was probably the worst pain.”
Asked how it was that he had managed to play through the pain over the last three games, Recchi chuckled and answered: “Good medicine.”
Such is life in the hockey world during the playoffs. Whether it’s the NHL, any other pro league or the junior ranks . . . the desire to win a championship with your team — something that will allow that team to be together forever — is unbelievably strong.
Yes, Recchi admitted, he faced some adversity. But, as he was quick to point out, at this time of the season “there are plenty of guys who play through things.”
In the Bruins’ dressing room alone, he said, linemate Chuck Kobasew had two broken ribs, while Phil Kessel is in need of shoulder surgery and David Krejci will have hip surgery. Kessel and Krejci may even miss the start of next season.
“And the list goes on,” Recchi said.
(If you’re a Bruins’ fan, don’t blame the injuries for losing to Carolina. Rather, take a look at a power play that was 2-for-25 in the series, including 1-for-18 at home.)
In talking to reporters after Game 7, Recchi never once mentioned that he also was playing with a broken rib. It came, he told me, from a cross-check in the second period of Game 4.
It could be that in the moments after the disappointment of Game 7, he simply forgot to mention it. After all, the pain from a broken rib likely resembled that from a hangnail compared to what he had gone through with a kidney stone.
“It’s amazing what guys play through,” Recchi said. “I’m not sure if we are just stupid or if we want to win so badly. But every team has guys like that.
“Scary.”
Remember, too, that NHL players don’t get paid during the playoffs. Their contracts are structured to run from the first day of the regular season to the last.
These guys are playing for one thing — every single one of them wants his name on the Stanley Cup. That’s it. Period.
In Recchi’s case, his name already is on there twice. But the chance to get it on there one more time is enough to drive him to play — to not miss even one shift, never mind a game — with a broken rib and while fighting a battle with kidney stones.
Scary, indeed.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com.
Recchi, 41, just happens to be Kamloops’ favourite sporting son, one who is headed for the Hockey Hall of Fame somewhere down the road.
He signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning over the summer and was dealt to the Boston Bruins at the March 4 NHL trade deadline. The Bruins came out of the regular season as the Eastern Conference’s top seed and Recchi, with two Stanley Cup titles to his credit, was hoping to be part of a deep playoff run and that a third championship might be in the cards.
Unfortunately for him, that didn’t happen as the Bruins fell 3-2 in overtime to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of a conference semifinal on Thursday night.
Even though Recchi was on the losing side, it is quite likely that the man who owns a piece of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers penned his own chapter in Stanley Cup lore for what he endured last week.
Granted, it wasn’t Bobby Baun scoring the 1964 Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime on a broken ankle, but it was close. It also was more painful.
Recchi felt fine until Saturday, May 9, the day after the Bruins were beaten 4-1 by the Hurricanes to fall behind 3-1 in the series. The next day, well, if you have had kidney stones, you know the pain. And Recchi first felt that telltale pain in his side on May 9. He didn’t skate the following day, but played in Games 5 and 6, scoring a goal in each game. In fact, in Games 3 through 6, he totaled three goals and two assists.
On Tuesday, with that kidney stone making his life pure hell, he scored one goal and set up another as the Bruins won Game 6, 4-2, in Raleigh to force Game 7.
The next morning, he was off to Massachusetts General Hospital in the hopes that he would pass the kidney stone.
No such luck.
At 5 p.m., he underwent a surgical procedure that included the implanting of a stent. He left the hospital about 8:30 p.m., and returned to the hotel room that had been his home since the Bruins had acquired him.
He returned to the hospital Thursday morning so that the procedure could be completed.
“They said if I got (the stone) out (I could play),” Recchi told reporters after Game 7. “I had to get a stent out (Thursday) morning. They didn’t know going in that they would have to put a stent in. They were hoping not to, but they had to. The stone wouldn’t pass . . . it wasn’t going to go into my bladder, so they had to have the surgery to get it.
“I don’t wish it on anybody.”
The pain, he said, was incredible.
“Sunday and (Tuesday), I never had pain like that,” he said, adding that in Game 7 “I was just trying to get the energy to play, but I felt pretty good.”
Looking back at his week from hell, Recchi said: “It was progressively getting worse and then it got stuck. That was probably the worst pain.”
Asked how it was that he had managed to play through the pain over the last three games, Recchi chuckled and answered: “Good medicine.”
Such is life in the hockey world during the playoffs. Whether it’s the NHL, any other pro league or the junior ranks . . . the desire to win a championship with your team — something that will allow that team to be together forever — is unbelievably strong.
Yes, Recchi admitted, he faced some adversity. But, as he was quick to point out, at this time of the season “there are plenty of guys who play through things.”
In the Bruins’ dressing room alone, he said, linemate Chuck Kobasew had two broken ribs, while Phil Kessel is in need of shoulder surgery and David Krejci will have hip surgery. Kessel and Krejci may even miss the start of next season.
“And the list goes on,” Recchi said.
(If you’re a Bruins’ fan, don’t blame the injuries for losing to Carolina. Rather, take a look at a power play that was 2-for-25 in the series, including 1-for-18 at home.)
In talking to reporters after Game 7, Recchi never once mentioned that he also was playing with a broken rib. It came, he told me, from a cross-check in the second period of Game 4.
It could be that in the moments after the disappointment of Game 7, he simply forgot to mention it. After all, the pain from a broken rib likely resembled that from a hangnail compared to what he had gone through with a kidney stone.
“It’s amazing what guys play through,” Recchi said. “I’m not sure if we are just stupid or if we want to win so badly. But every team has guys like that.
“Scary.”
Remember, too, that NHL players don’t get paid during the playoffs. Their contracts are structured to run from the first day of the regular season to the last.
These guys are playing for one thing — every single one of them wants his name on the Stanley Cup. That’s it. Period.
In Recchi’s case, his name already is on there twice. But the chance to get it on there one more time is enough to drive him to play — to not miss even one shift, never mind a game — with a broken rib and while fighting a battle with kidney stones.
Scary, indeed.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com.
Front-office pictures . . . and Monday stuff
With only one WHL team still playing, now is as good a time as any to take a preliminary look at some of the things that may shake out during the silly season. So here’s a team-by-team look at the front-office situations:
BRANDON WHEAT KINGS: Kelly McCrimmon is the owner, general manager and head coach. Nothing is going to change there, at least through the 2010 Memorial Cup for which the Wheaties are the host team.
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CALGARY HITMEN: You can expect Kelly Kisio back as the GM, but what about head coach Dave Lowry? He spent three seasons as an assistant under Kisio and guided the Hitmen to the league’s best regular-season record in his first season as head coach. There are persistent rumblings that the parent Flames may have a spot for him. . . . If Lowry leaves, would assistant Joel Otto, another former NHLer, move up as head coach or might Kisio return to the bench? . . . Or how about Rich Sutter?
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CHILLIWACK BRUINS: Darryl Porter, the team’s governor and one of its owners, has been the acting GM since the firing of Darrell May of Jan. 27. Of course, the Bruins fired head coach Jim Hiller on March 16. . . . Might Porter hire Marc Habscheid as GM and head coach? Or will Porter hold out in hopes of getting Tom Renney?
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EDMONTON OIL KINGS: Bob Green is the GM. Steve Pleau is the head coach. That isn’t likely to change.
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EVERETT SILVERTIPS: Doug Soetaert is trying to put things back together after the ugliest season in the franchise’s six-year history. He fired head coach John Becanic on April 3. There isn’t likely to be a new coach in place until after the NHL draft.
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KAMLOOPS BLAZERS: Craig Bonner has four years left on his deal as GM; the franchise is one year into his five-year plan. Barry Smith has two years left on his contract as head coach. They aren’t going anywhere. Unless majority owner Tom Gaglardi buys the Atlanta Thrashers, that is. And if that happens, all bets are off.
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KELOWNA ROCKETS: GM Bruce Hamilton and head coach Ryan Huska have their club in the Memorial Cup. Enough said. . . . But one has to wonder if assistant coach Jeff Finley, a former NHL defenceman who gets plaudits for the job he has done with the Kelowna defence, has head-coaching aspirations?
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KOOTENAY ICE: GM Jeff Chynoweth and head coach Mark Holick aren’t going anywhere.
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LETHBRIDGE HURRICANES: To paraphrase the late Casey Stengel, “Can’t anybody here play this game?” . . . Just one year ago, the Hurricanes were coming off their first appearance in the WHL final since 1997. Today, they are in a state of disarray. GM Roy Stasiuk announced May 8 that head coach Michael Dyck’s contract wouldn’t be renewed, after which Rich Sutter, who had been brought on board in a consultant’s role by Stasiuk, sliced and diced the GM in a public forum. On May 11, the board of directors fired Stasiuk, saying it had actually reached that decision in the middle of the previous week. . . . And rather than name Brad Robson, the director of scouting and player personnel, as interim GM, the board installed Herman Elfring, the franchise’s governor, in that position. . . . Former Kelowna head coach Jeff Truitt has ties to the area and is available but . . .
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MEDICINE HAT TIGERS: Willie Desjardins is the GM/head coach and one of the most-respected men in the major junior game. He was named head coach of Canada’s national junior team last week. . . . Shaun Clouston is the associate coach and gives the Tigers a top-notch coaching tandem. . . . Clouston, once the head coach of the Tri-City Americans, deserves another shot but he and his family are well ensconced in the Medicine Hat community.
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MOOSE JAW WARRIORS: It wasn’t that long ago when a lot of WHL observers expected GM Chad Lang and head coach Dave Hunchak to be on the move, with Marc Habscheid taking over as GM/head coach. . . . Lang and Hunchak, however, remain in their offices. . . . Such is life with the Warriors, one of the WHL’s four remaining community-owned teams.
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PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS: Mike Johnston is the GM and head coach, and is looking forward to his first full season in the WHL. He took over when the Winterhawks underwent an ownership change early in 2008-09.
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PRINCE ALBERT RAIDERS: Bruno Campese is the GM/head coach and he isn’t going anywhere. He is revamping/restructuring the organization and the first major move was the decision not to bring back head scout Dave O’Brien. Campese now will hire a director of player personnel and go from there. . . . The Raiders are another of the WHL’s community-owned teams.
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PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS: Dallas Thompson is the general manager. Veteran WHL coach Dean Clark got a five-year contract as head coach and is anxious to get started after being out of the game since November 2007. He isn’t due in Prince George until August but already is working at rebuilding contacts throughout the hockey world.
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RED DEER REBELS: Jesse Wallin is preparing for his second season as head coach, while Randy Peterson is the vice-president of hockey operations. The Rebels have missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons and three of the last four. Owner Brent Sutter is head coach of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and, until he confirms that he will stay there or go elsewhere at that level (Edmonton? Calgary?), there will be speculation involving a possible return to the Rebels.
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REGINA PATS: Brent Parker is the general manager. Head coach Dale Derkatch and assistant Terry Perkins were swept out the door earlier this month. One of the latest rumours has Curtis Hunt returning as head coach with former Pats D Jamie Heward ending his playing career and signing on as assistant coach. . . . Michael Dyck, shown the door in Lethbridge, is in the picture. Dean Chynoweth, the GM/head coach in Swift Current, isn’t.
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SASKATOON BLADES: You’re in Lorne Molleken country. He’s the GM and head coach of the Blades and isn’t going anywhere, unless he decides to run for mayor.
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SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS (of Kent): Russ Farwell is the long-time GM; Rob Sumner has been the head coach since May 6, 2004.
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SPOKANE CHIEFS: Tim Speltz, the general manager, runs this franchise, which won the 2009 Memorial Cup. Hardy Sauter just completed his first season as head coach. They are in the market for an assistant coach to replace Leigh Mendelson, whose contract wasn’t renewed.
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SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOS: Dean Chynoweth is the GM/head coach and has been since June 16, 2004. The Broncos have improved their regular-season point total in each of his seasons there, but playoff success has proved elusive. The board picked up his option for 2009-10 but didn’t offer an extension. . . . Might assistant coach Tim Kehler be ready to make a move into a head-coaching position?
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TRI-CITY AMERICANS: Bob Tory is the GM and he runs the franchise for an ownership group that includes Olaf Kolzig and Stu Barnes. Don Nachbaur has been there since June 16, 2003, and has grown into one of major junior’s best head coaches. He could have left last summer when the Kamloops Blazers came calling. Now, it’s said, pro teams are starting to show interest and one has to wonder how long before he leaves. Nachbaur signed a one-year contract extension, through 2009-10, with the Americans on Nov. 26.
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VANCOUVER GIANTS: It used to be that when the Giants’ season ended, there would be rumours involving the immediate future of head coach Don Hay. Well, the Hay rumours continue to circulate (how about to the Ottawa Senators as an assistant coach to Cory Clouston?), but now there are rumblings that GM Scott Bonner also is hearing interest from NHL teams.
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JUST NOTES: The Portland Winterhawks have signed D Derrick Pouliot, the first overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Pouliot, from Weyburn, Sask., will take part in the team‚s prospect camp in Calgary in June, and will join the Winterhawks for training camp in August. He had 63 points in 26 games with Weyburn‚s bantam entry in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League last season. . . . The Vancouver Giants will have a new radio voice when another arrives. The Giants have decided not to renew the contract of Dave Sheldon, their director of broadcasting and media relations. He joined the Giants from the Chilliwack Bruins prior to the start of this season.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Kelowna Rockets, 6-4 winners over the Drummondville Voltigeurs at the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Que., on Monday, have booked their spot in Sunday’s final. . . . LW Jamie Benn, who has signed with the NHL’s Dallas Stars, scored four times for the Rockets. He came awfully close to a fifth goal, too, when he had a shot hit a post with the Drummondville net vacated late in the third period. . . . Bruce Boudreau, now the head coach of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, holds the tournament’s single-game record, having scored five goals for the Toronto Marlies in a 10-4 victory over the Sherbrooke Castors in Kitchener. . . . Benn is the first player to score four times in a game since 1997 when Christian Dube did it for the Hull Olympiques in an 8-0 victory over the Oshawa Generals in Hull. . . . Benn has a tournament-leading five goals, three shy of the event’s record. . . . Benn scored two even-strength goals, one while shorthanded and one on the power play. He also had an assist on one of Cody Almond’s two goals. . . . Kelowna D Tyson Barrie and C Colin Long each had three assists. . . . F Yannick Riendeau had a goal and three helpers for Drummondville. . . . Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska is appearing in his seventh Memorial Cup and will be in a final for the fifth time. He is 4-0, have won three championships as a player with the Kamloops Blazers (1992, 1994, 1995) and one as an assistant coach with the Rockets (2004). . . . The Rockets play their final round-robin game Tuesday against the 0-2 Windsor Spitfires. Kelowna then will sit and wait for Sunday’s final. Windsor needs a victory over Kelowna to force a tiebreaker on Thursday. . . . The Spitfires haven’t exactly had a good week thus far. They were fined $1,000 after F Richard Greenop cruised the centre ice area in Sunday’s pregame warmup prior to their meeting the Rimouski Oceanic. He initiated a few verbal exchanges, thus the fine. . . . As well, the Spitfires have lost F Justin Shugg for the remainder of the tournament. He suffered a broken collarbone in what was a 5-4 loss to the Oceanic on Sunday.
BRANDON WHEAT KINGS: Kelly McCrimmon is the owner, general manager and head coach. Nothing is going to change there, at least through the 2010 Memorial Cup for which the Wheaties are the host team.
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CALGARY HITMEN: You can expect Kelly Kisio back as the GM, but what about head coach Dave Lowry? He spent three seasons as an assistant under Kisio and guided the Hitmen to the league’s best regular-season record in his first season as head coach. There are persistent rumblings that the parent Flames may have a spot for him. . . . If Lowry leaves, would assistant Joel Otto, another former NHLer, move up as head coach or might Kisio return to the bench? . . . Or how about Rich Sutter?
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CHILLIWACK BRUINS: Darryl Porter, the team’s governor and one of its owners, has been the acting GM since the firing of Darrell May of Jan. 27. Of course, the Bruins fired head coach Jim Hiller on March 16. . . . Might Porter hire Marc Habscheid as GM and head coach? Or will Porter hold out in hopes of getting Tom Renney?
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EDMONTON OIL KINGS: Bob Green is the GM. Steve Pleau is the head coach. That isn’t likely to change.
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EVERETT SILVERTIPS: Doug Soetaert is trying to put things back together after the ugliest season in the franchise’s six-year history. He fired head coach John Becanic on April 3. There isn’t likely to be a new coach in place until after the NHL draft.
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KAMLOOPS BLAZERS: Craig Bonner has four years left on his deal as GM; the franchise is one year into his five-year plan. Barry Smith has two years left on his contract as head coach. They aren’t going anywhere. Unless majority owner Tom Gaglardi buys the Atlanta Thrashers, that is. And if that happens, all bets are off.
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KELOWNA ROCKETS: GM Bruce Hamilton and head coach Ryan Huska have their club in the Memorial Cup. Enough said. . . . But one has to wonder if assistant coach Jeff Finley, a former NHL defenceman who gets plaudits for the job he has done with the Kelowna defence, has head-coaching aspirations?
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KOOTENAY ICE: GM Jeff Chynoweth and head coach Mark Holick aren’t going anywhere.
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LETHBRIDGE HURRICANES: To paraphrase the late Casey Stengel, “Can’t anybody here play this game?” . . . Just one year ago, the Hurricanes were coming off their first appearance in the WHL final since 1997. Today, they are in a state of disarray. GM Roy Stasiuk announced May 8 that head coach Michael Dyck’s contract wouldn’t be renewed, after which Rich Sutter, who had been brought on board in a consultant’s role by Stasiuk, sliced and diced the GM in a public forum. On May 11, the board of directors fired Stasiuk, saying it had actually reached that decision in the middle of the previous week. . . . And rather than name Brad Robson, the director of scouting and player personnel, as interim GM, the board installed Herman Elfring, the franchise’s governor, in that position. . . . Former Kelowna head coach Jeff Truitt has ties to the area and is available but . . .
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MEDICINE HAT TIGERS: Willie Desjardins is the GM/head coach and one of the most-respected men in the major junior game. He was named head coach of Canada’s national junior team last week. . . . Shaun Clouston is the associate coach and gives the Tigers a top-notch coaching tandem. . . . Clouston, once the head coach of the Tri-City Americans, deserves another shot but he and his family are well ensconced in the Medicine Hat community.
———
MOOSE JAW WARRIORS: It wasn’t that long ago when a lot of WHL observers expected GM Chad Lang and head coach Dave Hunchak to be on the move, with Marc Habscheid taking over as GM/head coach. . . . Lang and Hunchak, however, remain in their offices. . . . Such is life with the Warriors, one of the WHL’s four remaining community-owned teams.
———
PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS: Mike Johnston is the GM and head coach, and is looking forward to his first full season in the WHL. He took over when the Winterhawks underwent an ownership change early in 2008-09.
———
PRINCE ALBERT RAIDERS: Bruno Campese is the GM/head coach and he isn’t going anywhere. He is revamping/restructuring the organization and the first major move was the decision not to bring back head scout Dave O’Brien. Campese now will hire a director of player personnel and go from there. . . . The Raiders are another of the WHL’s community-owned teams.
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PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS: Dallas Thompson is the general manager. Veteran WHL coach Dean Clark got a five-year contract as head coach and is anxious to get started after being out of the game since November 2007. He isn’t due in Prince George until August but already is working at rebuilding contacts throughout the hockey world.
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RED DEER REBELS: Jesse Wallin is preparing for his second season as head coach, while Randy Peterson is the vice-president of hockey operations. The Rebels have missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons and three of the last four. Owner Brent Sutter is head coach of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and, until he confirms that he will stay there or go elsewhere at that level (Edmonton? Calgary?), there will be speculation involving a possible return to the Rebels.
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REGINA PATS: Brent Parker is the general manager. Head coach Dale Derkatch and assistant Terry Perkins were swept out the door earlier this month. One of the latest rumours has Curtis Hunt returning as head coach with former Pats D Jamie Heward ending his playing career and signing on as assistant coach. . . . Michael Dyck, shown the door in Lethbridge, is in the picture. Dean Chynoweth, the GM/head coach in Swift Current, isn’t.
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SASKATOON BLADES: You’re in Lorne Molleken country. He’s the GM and head coach of the Blades and isn’t going anywhere, unless he decides to run for mayor.
———
SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS (of Kent): Russ Farwell is the long-time GM; Rob Sumner has been the head coach since May 6, 2004.
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SPOKANE CHIEFS: Tim Speltz, the general manager, runs this franchise, which won the 2009 Memorial Cup. Hardy Sauter just completed his first season as head coach. They are in the market for an assistant coach to replace Leigh Mendelson, whose contract wasn’t renewed.
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SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOS: Dean Chynoweth is the GM/head coach and has been since June 16, 2004. The Broncos have improved their regular-season point total in each of his seasons there, but playoff success has proved elusive. The board picked up his option for 2009-10 but didn’t offer an extension. . . . Might assistant coach Tim Kehler be ready to make a move into a head-coaching position?
———
TRI-CITY AMERICANS: Bob Tory is the GM and he runs the franchise for an ownership group that includes Olaf Kolzig and Stu Barnes. Don Nachbaur has been there since June 16, 2003, and has grown into one of major junior’s best head coaches. He could have left last summer when the Kamloops Blazers came calling. Now, it’s said, pro teams are starting to show interest and one has to wonder how long before he leaves. Nachbaur signed a one-year contract extension, through 2009-10, with the Americans on Nov. 26.
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VANCOUVER GIANTS: It used to be that when the Giants’ season ended, there would be rumours involving the immediate future of head coach Don Hay. Well, the Hay rumours continue to circulate (how about to the Ottawa Senators as an assistant coach to Cory Clouston?), but now there are rumblings that GM Scott Bonner also is hearing interest from NHL teams.
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JUST NOTES: The Portland Winterhawks have signed D Derrick Pouliot, the first overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Pouliot, from Weyburn, Sask., will take part in the team‚s prospect camp in Calgary in June, and will join the Winterhawks for training camp in August. He had 63 points in 26 games with Weyburn‚s bantam entry in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League last season. . . . The Vancouver Giants will have a new radio voice when another arrives. The Giants have decided not to renew the contract of Dave Sheldon, their director of broadcasting and media relations. He joined the Giants from the Chilliwack Bruins prior to the start of this season.
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THE MEMORIAL CUP: The Kelowna Rockets, 6-4 winners over the Drummondville Voltigeurs at the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Que., on Monday, have booked their spot in Sunday’s final. . . . LW Jamie Benn, who has signed with the NHL’s Dallas Stars, scored four times for the Rockets. He came awfully close to a fifth goal, too, when he had a shot hit a post with the Drummondville net vacated late in the third period. . . . Bruce Boudreau, now the head coach of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, holds the tournament’s single-game record, having scored five goals for the Toronto Marlies in a 10-4 victory over the Sherbrooke Castors in Kitchener. . . . Benn is the first player to score four times in a game since 1997 when Christian Dube did it for the Hull Olympiques in an 8-0 victory over the Oshawa Generals in Hull. . . . Benn has a tournament-leading five goals, three shy of the event’s record. . . . Benn scored two even-strength goals, one while shorthanded and one on the power play. He also had an assist on one of Cody Almond’s two goals. . . . Kelowna D Tyson Barrie and C Colin Long each had three assists. . . . F Yannick Riendeau had a goal and three helpers for Drummondville. . . . Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska is appearing in his seventh Memorial Cup and will be in a final for the fifth time. He is 4-0, have won three championships as a player with the Kamloops Blazers (1992, 1994, 1995) and one as an assistant coach with the Rockets (2004). . . . The Rockets play their final round-robin game Tuesday against the 0-2 Windsor Spitfires. Kelowna then will sit and wait for Sunday’s final. Windsor needs a victory over Kelowna to force a tiebreaker on Thursday. . . . The Spitfires haven’t exactly had a good week thus far. They were fined $1,000 after F Richard Greenop cruised the centre ice area in Sunday’s pregame warmup prior to their meeting the Rimouski Oceanic. He initiated a few verbal exchanges, thus the fine. . . . As well, the Spitfires have lost F Justin Shugg for the remainder of the tournament. He suffered a broken collarbone in what was a 5-4 loss to the Oceanic on Sunday.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A few things . . .
A tourist (above) photographs statues commemorating Les Martyrs Canadiens at a church in St-Fabien, about 30 kilometres southeast of Rimouski. The church was built in 1584. . . . The tourist in the picture actually is Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets. (He wasn't there when the church was opened.) The photo was taken by Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. . . . If you are a Canadian, the names of the martyrs may ring a few bells and bring back memories of a history class or two -- Jean de Brébeuf (1649), Noël Chabanel (1649), Antoine Daniel (1649), Charles Garnier (1649), René Goupil (1642), Isaac Jogues (1646), Jean de La Lande and Lalemant Gabriel (1649) .
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I watched half of Saturday’s Memorial Cup game in which the Drummondville Voltigeurs beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-2 in OT. . . . It certainly looks to me as though the Kelowna Rockets are the best team there. The Rockets, 4-1 winners over the Rimouski Oceanic on Friday, play Drummondville on Monday. . . . It is somewhat surprising the way Rimouski, Drummondville and Windsor collapse around the net in the defensive zone. If that happens against the Rockets, defencemen Tyson Barrie and Tyler Myers will get sore arms from shooting the puck. . . . Still, the most surprising aspect of this Memorial Cup is that the CHL would allow it to be played in an arena with glass as short as is in the Colisee in Rimouski. It just isn’t fair that a team should play more than 90 games in arenas with tall glass – in the WHL, the requirements are six feet and eight feet -- and then get to the national championship tournament and be forced to make such a major adjustment to its game. In Rimouski, the glass is four feet and five feet.
Here’s what Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president hockey, told the Kelowna Daily Courier’s Doyle Potenteau about how officials dealt with the glass issue in Rimouski:
"There won't be any rule changes. If the puck is shot over the glass, coming from the defending zone, there will be a penalty. And if it comes out (in that six-foot portion), we're giving the referees the judgment on those if the puck is clearly going up into the stands. If the puck is going into the players' bench, there'll be no penalty.
"We have been, particularly, working with Windsor and Kelowna so that all players, coaches and goaltenders know it could come into play. Hopefully it won't be an issue."
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Sean McAslan (Calgary) signed a one-year contract with the Nottingham Panthers (UK Elite). He had 19 goals and 16 assists in 43 games with Rødovre (Denmark AL-Bank Liga) this season. . . . D Darrell Hay (Tri-City) signed a one-year contract with Lillehammer (Norway Get Ligaen). He had seven goals and 31 assists in 56 games for Idaho (ECHL) this season. Hay is the son of Vancouver Giants head coach Don Hay.
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Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star has an excellent column on how “the anonymity of the blogosphere is turning us into a culture of weenies.” It’s well worth a read and it is right here.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Keeping Score
Bob Ryan, in the Boston Globe: “If Manny (Ramirez) is lying, and we discover that he's been juiced for a long time, the ramifications for Boston and the Red Sox are enormous. He was a major part of what went on in 2004 and 2007. He was, after all, the MVP of the 2004 World Series. Any implication that a juiced Manny helped end the 86 years of misery and trauma would not be good.” . . . More from Ryan: “If Manny is telling the truth, shouldn't it be easy to prove? There would be some kind of doctor's record, correct? We really should be able to get to the bottom of it, correct?” . . . And a bit more from Ryan: “Anyway, we tried to tell you folks in L.A. that you didn't just get yourself a great slugger. You got yourself a 24/7/365 reality production entitled The Manny Ramírez Show, produced, directed, written by, and starring Manny Ramírez. This is a man around whom things just seem to, well, happen.”
Gerry Callahan, in the Boston Herald: “We think Roger, Barry and Mark are guilty. We know Manny is. We're pretty sure Clemens, Bonds and McGwire are lying, cheating, drug-addled frauds who for many years bilked baseball out of records, awards and money. We know that is precisely what Manny Ramirez is.” . . . One more from Callahan: “It is tempting to call Ramirez the dumbest man in baseball, but that wouldn't account for Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, the star-struck rube who fell off the turnip truck from Boston and under the spell of Ramirez and his unctuous agent, Scott Boras. Poor Frank. He wants to pal around with Hollywood stars so badly he gave Ramirez a $5-million raise even though no one else was interested.” . . . Richard Justice, in the Houston Chronicle: “Now it's impossible to look at any major leaguer and know for sure he's clean. We go to ballparks anyway and watch on television and don't waste a lot of time worrying about how the sausage is made.” . . . The sports editor of this daily journal, who is a supporter of the Detroit Red Wings, would love to make a Stanley Cup bet with Bill O’Donovan, the news anchor at CFJC-TV, who loves those dastardly Chicago Blackhawks. But I am not one to be taking candy from babies, so will pass on making an offer.
Isn't it amazing how the NHL just continues to shoot itself in the foot? Desperate for positive coverage in the Excited States, and with Ovie meeting Sid the Kid in a playoff matchup that had at least some of the U.S. abuzz, the NHL is the subject of conversation because the Phoenix Coyotes are in bankruptcy court and, on the ice, one player sucker-punches another and doesn't get suspended. . . . If ever you wondered whether the NHL pooh-bahs condone the violent side of their game, well, now you have your answer. . . . Here’s Barry Melrose, ESPN’s hockey analyst: “That was a sucker punch. I haven’t seen a punch like that in 20 years in the NHL. The NHL blew it. I can’t believe the NHL did not suspend (Scott) Walker.” . . . Michael Wilbon, on ESPN’s PTI: “The NHL never gets it right, not when it comes to this. What does this serve, does this showcase the incredible skills of the NHL players in the Stanley Cup playoffs? They want this, they endorse this. This is garbage.” . . . To which Wilbon’s partner, Tony Kornheiser, responded: “This is what the NHL wants.” . . . Sadly, the man is correct. . . . And the fact that Walker, Carolina Puncher, scored the goal that gave the Hurricanes a Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins looks good on the NHL.
Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Indianapolis 500 is coming up in (one week). That's the race where Danica Patrick always gets more attention than whatever schmo actually wins the race.” . . . There are rumblings that former Kamloops Blazers captain Jared Aulin, 27, is hoping to resurrect his professional career next season. Aulin's pro career didn't last five seasons before a shoulder injury KO'd it. He’s had some time away so perhaps he is healthy enough to try again. . . . Troy Mick, who was prevented by health problems from completing his one season as head coach of the Blazers, is back in the coaching game, this time as part-owner, general manager and head coach of the Kootenay International junior league's Revelstoke Grizzlies.
Norman Chad, the Couch Slouch, explains “why everyone (I know) hates the (Boston) Celtics” at si.com: “Here are three largely factual Celtics facts: They never lost a Game 7 at Boston Garden on a Sunday. There was not a traveling call on a Celtic in the postseason between 1957 and 1986. In Game 5 against the Bulls last month, Ray Allen became the first Celtic to foul out of a playoff contest since Satch Sanders in 1966.” . . . Admit it. You really weren't surprised when the Vancouver Canucks' season ended without a Stanley Cup parade. . . . But, geez, who could have guessed, when they were three minutes away from taking a 3-1 series lead that a few days later they’d be done like dinner?
If you haven’t heard, Snoop Dogg has a medical marijuana card. Only in America, kids, only in America. . . . Steve Rosenbloom, at ChicagoTribune.com: “I read that the new Yankee Stadium is the most expensive place where athletes play and I'm wondering, more expensive than Madonna?” . . . Jeff Gordon, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Old school: Coffee, 'greenies' and chewing tobacco. New school: Red Bull, steroids, women's fertility drugs.” . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “I'm no chemist so I don't know exactly how HCG works, but I think it's important that we keep Manny Ramirez away from OctoMom.” . . . Jerry Sondler, a Warwick, R.I., resident, emailed the Los Angeles Times to ask: "Is this a suspension or is Manny on maternity leave?"
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Gerry Callahan, in the Boston Herald: “We think Roger, Barry and Mark are guilty. We know Manny is. We're pretty sure Clemens, Bonds and McGwire are lying, cheating, drug-addled frauds who for many years bilked baseball out of records, awards and money. We know that is precisely what Manny Ramirez is.” . . . One more from Callahan: “It is tempting to call Ramirez the dumbest man in baseball, but that wouldn't account for Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, the star-struck rube who fell off the turnip truck from Boston and under the spell of Ramirez and his unctuous agent, Scott Boras. Poor Frank. He wants to pal around with Hollywood stars so badly he gave Ramirez a $5-million raise even though no one else was interested.” . . . Richard Justice, in the Houston Chronicle: “Now it's impossible to look at any major leaguer and know for sure he's clean. We go to ballparks anyway and watch on television and don't waste a lot of time worrying about how the sausage is made.” . . . The sports editor of this daily journal, who is a supporter of the Detroit Red Wings, would love to make a Stanley Cup bet with Bill O’Donovan, the news anchor at CFJC-TV, who loves those dastardly Chicago Blackhawks. But I am not one to be taking candy from babies, so will pass on making an offer.
Isn't it amazing how the NHL just continues to shoot itself in the foot? Desperate for positive coverage in the Excited States, and with Ovie meeting Sid the Kid in a playoff matchup that had at least some of the U.S. abuzz, the NHL is the subject of conversation because the Phoenix Coyotes are in bankruptcy court and, on the ice, one player sucker-punches another and doesn't get suspended. . . . If ever you wondered whether the NHL pooh-bahs condone the violent side of their game, well, now you have your answer. . . . Here’s Barry Melrose, ESPN’s hockey analyst: “That was a sucker punch. I haven’t seen a punch like that in 20 years in the NHL. The NHL blew it. I can’t believe the NHL did not suspend (Scott) Walker.” . . . Michael Wilbon, on ESPN’s PTI: “The NHL never gets it right, not when it comes to this. What does this serve, does this showcase the incredible skills of the NHL players in the Stanley Cup playoffs? They want this, they endorse this. This is garbage.” . . . To which Wilbon’s partner, Tony Kornheiser, responded: “This is what the NHL wants.” . . . Sadly, the man is correct. . . . And the fact that Walker, Carolina Puncher, scored the goal that gave the Hurricanes a Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins looks good on the NHL.
Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Indianapolis 500 is coming up in (one week). That's the race where Danica Patrick always gets more attention than whatever schmo actually wins the race.” . . . There are rumblings that former Kamloops Blazers captain Jared Aulin, 27, is hoping to resurrect his professional career next season. Aulin's pro career didn't last five seasons before a shoulder injury KO'd it. He’s had some time away so perhaps he is healthy enough to try again. . . . Troy Mick, who was prevented by health problems from completing his one season as head coach of the Blazers, is back in the coaching game, this time as part-owner, general manager and head coach of the Kootenay International junior league's Revelstoke Grizzlies.
Norman Chad, the Couch Slouch, explains “why everyone (I know) hates the (Boston) Celtics” at si.com: “Here are three largely factual Celtics facts: They never lost a Game 7 at Boston Garden on a Sunday. There was not a traveling call on a Celtic in the postseason between 1957 and 1986. In Game 5 against the Bulls last month, Ray Allen became the first Celtic to foul out of a playoff contest since Satch Sanders in 1966.” . . . Admit it. You really weren't surprised when the Vancouver Canucks' season ended without a Stanley Cup parade. . . . But, geez, who could have guessed, when they were three minutes away from taking a 3-1 series lead that a few days later they’d be done like dinner?
If you haven’t heard, Snoop Dogg has a medical marijuana card. Only in America, kids, only in America. . . . Steve Rosenbloom, at ChicagoTribune.com: “I read that the new Yankee Stadium is the most expensive place where athletes play and I'm wondering, more expensive than Madonna?” . . . Jeff Gordon, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Old school: Coffee, 'greenies' and chewing tobacco. New school: Red Bull, steroids, women's fertility drugs.” . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “I'm no chemist so I don't know exactly how HCG works, but I think it's important that we keep Manny Ramirez away from OctoMom.” . . . Jerry Sondler, a Warwick, R.I., resident, emailed the Los Angeles Times to ask: "Is this a suspension or is Manny on maternity leave?"
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
Some Friday stuff . . .
Thanks to whomever it was who saw summer and asked it to stop in Kamloops. This was a fine, fine day . . .
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In case you missed it, the Kelowna Rockets were dominant in the Memorial Cup opener Friday as they whipped the host Rimouski Oceanic, 4-1. . . . The Rockets outshot the Oceanic 42-20 and outchanced them by more than a 2-to-1 margin. . . . As Sportsnet analyst Sam Cosentino kept reminding us, the Oceanic was coming off a long layout after it was eliminated in a QMJHL semifinal. But, still, the Oceanic didn’t seem to put up much resistance against a Kelowna team that played a great pressure game. For a team that was opening the Memorial Cup in front of its own fans, there wasn't much fire. . . I have a feeling that the Oceanic will finish fourth in this tournament and that the Rockets’ toughest games are ahead of them. . . . Still, I would grade Kelowna about a 7.5 out of 10 on their opening-game performance. The Rockets did get too cute around the Rimouski net on occasion, but that may have been a product of the ease with which they controlled play in the offensive zone. . . . Make not mistake about it -- this one could have been 10-1 or worse. . . . Rimouski also failed to score on two lengthy 5-on-3 power plays. . . . Kelowna doesn’t play again until Monday when it faces the QMJHL-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs.
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A couple of notes on the coaching front . . .
Brent Sutter, the head coach of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, is back in Alberta and, while there, he continues to go through his annual self-evaluation.
Sutter, who also owns the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, has spent two seasons as head coach of the Devils. This offseason there is speculation that he may return to the west.
"I've just got home here," Sutter told the Bergen Record earlier this week. "I haven't even been home a week, so it's going to be a while. I'm not talking about the end of the summer. I just need time. I can't put a timetable on it."
There has been speculation that Sutter could end up as the head coach of the NHL’s Calgary Flames or perhaps the Edmonton Oilers. Or perhaps he might leave the NHL altogether and return to coaching his Rebels, a team that has missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons and three of the last four seasons.
Meanwhile, the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder has the latest on the Pats’ search for a coaching staff, and it would appear that Dean Chynoweth, the GM/head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, isn’t in the picture. The Pats fired head coach Dale Derkatch and chose not to renew assistant coach Terry Perkins’ contract. . . . The favourite to replace Derkatch seems to be former Pats head coach Curtis Hunt, while Jeff Truitt, a former Kelowna Rockets head coach who lost his job with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons this season, and Michael Dyck, late of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, are in the mix, too. . . . Harder’s story is right here.
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JUST NOTES: F Steven Hodges and D Kate Pilton, the Chilliwack Bruins’ first two selections in the 2009 bantam draft, have signed WHL contracts. Hodges, taken ninth overall, player for the bantam AAA South Delta Hawks, for whom he had 142 points in 60 games. Pilton, the 25th pick, played for the bantam AAA team at Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. . . . The Bruins open training camp Aug. 20. . . . D Morgan Rielly, the second pick of the 2009 bantam draft, has signed with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Rielly, who is from West Vancouver, played this season at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask., which is not too many slapshots from Moose Jaw. He had 84 points in 43 games with the bantam AAA Hounds of Notre Dame. He is expected to play for the midget AAA team there next season. . . . The Warriors open camp Aug. 20. . . . The BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies are expected to announce a new head coach any day now. Geoff Courtnall resigned, saying he has too many things on the go to be able to give coaching the time it needs.
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In case you missed it, the Kelowna Rockets were dominant in the Memorial Cup opener Friday as they whipped the host Rimouski Oceanic, 4-1. . . . The Rockets outshot the Oceanic 42-20 and outchanced them by more than a 2-to-1 margin. . . . As Sportsnet analyst Sam Cosentino kept reminding us, the Oceanic was coming off a long layout after it was eliminated in a QMJHL semifinal. But, still, the Oceanic didn’t seem to put up much resistance against a Kelowna team that played a great pressure game. For a team that was opening the Memorial Cup in front of its own fans, there wasn't much fire. . . I have a feeling that the Oceanic will finish fourth in this tournament and that the Rockets’ toughest games are ahead of them. . . . Still, I would grade Kelowna about a 7.5 out of 10 on their opening-game performance. The Rockets did get too cute around the Rimouski net on occasion, but that may have been a product of the ease with which they controlled play in the offensive zone. . . . Make not mistake about it -- this one could have been 10-1 or worse. . . . Rimouski also failed to score on two lengthy 5-on-3 power plays. . . . Kelowna doesn’t play again until Monday when it faces the QMJHL-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs.
--------
A couple of notes on the coaching front . . .
Brent Sutter, the head coach of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, is back in Alberta and, while there, he continues to go through his annual self-evaluation.
Sutter, who also owns the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, has spent two seasons as head coach of the Devils. This offseason there is speculation that he may return to the west.
"I've just got home here," Sutter told the Bergen Record earlier this week. "I haven't even been home a week, so it's going to be a while. I'm not talking about the end of the summer. I just need time. I can't put a timetable on it."
There has been speculation that Sutter could end up as the head coach of the NHL’s Calgary Flames or perhaps the Edmonton Oilers. Or perhaps he might leave the NHL altogether and return to coaching his Rebels, a team that has missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons and three of the last four seasons.
Meanwhile, the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder has the latest on the Pats’ search for a coaching staff, and it would appear that Dean Chynoweth, the GM/head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, isn’t in the picture. The Pats fired head coach Dale Derkatch and chose not to renew assistant coach Terry Perkins’ contract. . . . The favourite to replace Derkatch seems to be former Pats head coach Curtis Hunt, while Jeff Truitt, a former Kelowna Rockets head coach who lost his job with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons this season, and Michael Dyck, late of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, are in the mix, too. . . . Harder’s story is right here.
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JUST NOTES: F Steven Hodges and D Kate Pilton, the Chilliwack Bruins’ first two selections in the 2009 bantam draft, have signed WHL contracts. Hodges, taken ninth overall, player for the bantam AAA South Delta Hawks, for whom he had 142 points in 60 games. Pilton, the 25th pick, played for the bantam AAA team at Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. . . . The Bruins open training camp Aug. 20. . . . D Morgan Rielly, the second pick of the 2009 bantam draft, has signed with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Rielly, who is from West Vancouver, played this season at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask., which is not too many slapshots from Moose Jaw. He had 84 points in 43 games with the bantam AAA Hounds of Notre Dame. He is expected to play for the midget AAA team there next season. . . . The Warriors open camp Aug. 20. . . . The BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies are expected to announce a new head coach any day now. Geoff Courtnall resigned, saying he has too many things on the go to be able to give coaching the time it needs.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Recchi down, sore after Bruins eliminated
By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Mark Recchi was sore all over — he had battled kidney stones earlier in the week and also has a broken rib — and it hurt a whole lot more because he and his Boston Bruins had just been eliminated from the NHL playoffs.
“I’m sore right now . . . definitely,” said Recchi late Thursday night, less than two hours after the Bruins had been beaten 3-2 in overtime by the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of an NHL Eastern Conference semifinal.
“I’m pretty down right now,” the 41-year-old Kamloops native, who is a co-owner of the WHL’s Blazers, added. “It’s pretty disappointing when you think you have a pretty good chance of making a good run.”
Recchi signed a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer and was traded to the Bruins at the NHL’s March 4 trade deadline. The Bruins finished atop the Eastern Conference and were favoured to beat No. 6 Carolina.
The run ended when Carolina grinder Scott Walker scored his first NHL playoff goal at 18:46 of the first overtime period. What made it hurt even worse was that most, if not all, of the Bruins felt Walker shouldn’t have been playing. They are of the opinion that Walker should have been suspended after he punched Boston defenceman Aaron Ward in the left eye with 2:47 left in the Bruins’ 4-0 victory in Game 5 in Raleigh. Instead, the NHL chose to fine Walker $2,500.
“That was tough,” Recchi said of Walker getting the winner. “Most people didn’t think he should be playing. But it is what it is now . . . unfortunately.
“It was a tough one . . . it was a tough way to lose.”
Recchi played in Game 7 despite having been hospitalized Wednesday with kidney stones.
“It got stuck on me and no matter what it wasn’t going to go through into my bladder,” said Recchi, who went to hospital early in the day and underwent a surgical procedure at around 5 p.m. He was back in his hotel room about three hours later.
He said there wasn’t much doubt that he would play in Game 7. In fact, he said, he felt a whole lot worse during Game 6 — he had a goal and an assist in Boston’s 4-2 victory.
What hurt even more is that Recchi doesn’t feel the Bruins played very well last night.
“As a team, we didn’t,” he said, “and that is really uncharacteristic. We played like we did the first three or four games . . . but we turned it around.
“We struggled the first four games . . . we just didn’t play well. In Games 5 and 6 we played really well; we played the way we’re capable of playing.
“Tonight, we were back to what we did, turning the puck over, losing battles . . . I think we got stronger as the game went on but early we just couldn’t get it going.
“And our power play wasn’t good and that really hurt us.”
Recchi, who has won two Stanley Cups in his career, with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and Carolina in 2006, will take a lot of time between now and July 1, when free agency opens, to decide whether he will play again. The Bruins will hold their exit meetings on Monday so he will stay in Boston until then.
“I’m just gonna see how it goes from there,” said Recchi, whose family is in Tampa Bay through the end of the school year.
Late last night, though, it was a matter of getting some rest. Lots of rest.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Daily News Sports Editor
Mark Recchi was sore all over — he had battled kidney stones earlier in the week and also has a broken rib — and it hurt a whole lot more because he and his Boston Bruins had just been eliminated from the NHL playoffs.
“I’m sore right now . . . definitely,” said Recchi late Thursday night, less than two hours after the Bruins had been beaten 3-2 in overtime by the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of an NHL Eastern Conference semifinal.
“I’m pretty down right now,” the 41-year-old Kamloops native, who is a co-owner of the WHL’s Blazers, added. “It’s pretty disappointing when you think you have a pretty good chance of making a good run.”
Recchi signed a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer and was traded to the Bruins at the NHL’s March 4 trade deadline. The Bruins finished atop the Eastern Conference and were favoured to beat No. 6 Carolina.
The run ended when Carolina grinder Scott Walker scored his first NHL playoff goal at 18:46 of the first overtime period. What made it hurt even worse was that most, if not all, of the Bruins felt Walker shouldn’t have been playing. They are of the opinion that Walker should have been suspended after he punched Boston defenceman Aaron Ward in the left eye with 2:47 left in the Bruins’ 4-0 victory in Game 5 in Raleigh. Instead, the NHL chose to fine Walker $2,500.
“That was tough,” Recchi said of Walker getting the winner. “Most people didn’t think he should be playing. But it is what it is now . . . unfortunately.
“It was a tough one . . . it was a tough way to lose.”
Recchi played in Game 7 despite having been hospitalized Wednesday with kidney stones.
“It got stuck on me and no matter what it wasn’t going to go through into my bladder,” said Recchi, who went to hospital early in the day and underwent a surgical procedure at around 5 p.m. He was back in his hotel room about three hours later.
He said there wasn’t much doubt that he would play in Game 7. In fact, he said, he felt a whole lot worse during Game 6 — he had a goal and an assist in Boston’s 4-2 victory.
What hurt even more is that Recchi doesn’t feel the Bruins played very well last night.
“As a team, we didn’t,” he said, “and that is really uncharacteristic. We played like we did the first three or four games . . . but we turned it around.
“We struggled the first four games . . . we just didn’t play well. In Games 5 and 6 we played really well; we played the way we’re capable of playing.
“Tonight, we were back to what we did, turning the puck over, losing battles . . . I think we got stronger as the game went on but early we just couldn’t get it going.
“And our power play wasn’t good and that really hurt us.”
Recchi, who has won two Stanley Cups in his career, with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and Carolina in 2006, will take a lot of time between now and July 1, when free agency opens, to decide whether he will play again. The Bruins will hold their exit meetings on Monday so he will stay in Boston until then.
“I’m just gonna see how it goes from there,” said Recchi, whose family is in Tampa Bay through the end of the school year.
Late last night, though, it was a matter of getting some rest. Lots of rest.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Thursday . . . early
If anyone bumps into summer, please have it report to Kamloops. Thank you!
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Milan Kraft (Prince Albert) signed with Chomutov (Czech 1.Liga). He had two goals and four assists with Slavia Prague (Czech Extraliga) this season. . . . D David Hoda (Chilliwack) was assigned on loan to Havířov (Czech 1.Liga) by Třinec (Czech Extraliga) for next season. He had two goals and seven assists in 39 games for Třinec U20 this season.
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Brad Robson, the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ director of scouting/player personnel, is on the record as being interested in becoming that club’s general manager. The post has been vacant since Roy Stasiuk was fired earlier this week. Asked by Pat Siedlecki, the radio voice of the Hurricanes on CJOC 94.1 FM, if the position of GM has any interest for him, Robson replied: “Yes, it does. I've spoken briefly with (president) Bryan McNaughton and (governor/interim GM) Herman Elfring about the position and I'll be sitting down with them in the near future, just to discuss the possibilities of the general manager's position. I envision there will some very qualified people that are going to apply for the position. Yes, I do know the 50-man (list) that we have and I do know all the players. I've been with the organization now, just completing my second year."
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JUST NOTES: Scott McMillan, a former director of player development with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, is the new GM/head coach of the MJHL’s OCN Blizzard, a team based in The Pas, Man. McMillan takes over from Doug Hedley, who was dropped in March. . . . The nickname of the new AHL franchise that is setting up shop in Abbotsford, B.C., will be the Heat. That’s right. The Abbotsford Heat. It will be the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames. . . . F Darren Gillen, 18, who captained the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers this season, has committed to the BCHL’s Westside Warriors. Gillen’s brother, Steven, played with the Spokane Chiefs and Moose Jaw Warriors (2002-06), and their father, Don, skated for the Brandon Wheat Kings (1977-80). Darren was a fifth-round selection of the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2006 bantam draft.
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News from the spaceless Portland Winterhawks:
“The Portland Winterhawks have announced the formation of the Winterhawks Amateur Hockey Association (WAHA), a comprehensive amateur hockey program designed to increase participation in the sport. In addition to the Winterhawks, WAHA includes the Junior Hawks program, Mountain View Ice Arena, Sherwood Ice Arena, Valley Ice Arena, and the Lloyd Center Ice Rink.
“This summer, WAHA will officially get underway with numerous youth hockey camps with the goals of introducing kids to the game, improving the skills of kids who already play, and keeping kids active during summer months.Through WAHA, the Winterhawks will be running a series of both ice hockey and floor hockey camps throughout the summer in a fun, supportive environment while keeping kids active in an attempt to help combat childhood obesity.
“For kids who have never had any exposure to hockey, WAHA will host free floor hockey/introduction to skating camps throughout the area all summer. They will focus on basic hockey rules and skills and are geared towards kids who are interested in learning the game for the first time. Included in the floor hockey programs will be an introduction to ice skating, which is also of no charge.”
For more info, visit winterhawks.com.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Milan Kraft (Prince Albert) signed with Chomutov (Czech 1.Liga). He had two goals and four assists with Slavia Prague (Czech Extraliga) this season. . . . D David Hoda (Chilliwack) was assigned on loan to Havířov (Czech 1.Liga) by Třinec (Czech Extraliga) for next season. He had two goals and seven assists in 39 games for Třinec U20 this season.
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Brad Robson, the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ director of scouting/player personnel, is on the record as being interested in becoming that club’s general manager. The post has been vacant since Roy Stasiuk was fired earlier this week. Asked by Pat Siedlecki, the radio voice of the Hurricanes on CJOC 94.1 FM, if the position of GM has any interest for him, Robson replied: “Yes, it does. I've spoken briefly with (president) Bryan McNaughton and (governor/interim GM) Herman Elfring about the position and I'll be sitting down with them in the near future, just to discuss the possibilities of the general manager's position. I envision there will some very qualified people that are going to apply for the position. Yes, I do know the 50-man (list) that we have and I do know all the players. I've been with the organization now, just completing my second year."
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JUST NOTES: Scott McMillan, a former director of player development with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, is the new GM/head coach of the MJHL’s OCN Blizzard, a team based in The Pas, Man. McMillan takes over from Doug Hedley, who was dropped in March. . . . The nickname of the new AHL franchise that is setting up shop in Abbotsford, B.C., will be the Heat. That’s right. The Abbotsford Heat. It will be the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames. . . . F Darren Gillen, 18, who captained the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers this season, has committed to the BCHL’s Westside Warriors. Gillen’s brother, Steven, played with the Spokane Chiefs and Moose Jaw Warriors (2002-06), and their father, Don, skated for the Brandon Wheat Kings (1977-80). Darren was a fifth-round selection of the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2006 bantam draft.
---
News from the spaceless Portland Winterhawks:
“The Portland Winterhawks have announced the formation of the Winterhawks Amateur Hockey Association (WAHA), a comprehensive amateur hockey program designed to increase participation in the sport. In addition to the Winterhawks, WAHA includes the Junior Hawks program, Mountain View Ice Arena, Sherwood Ice Arena, Valley Ice Arena, and the Lloyd Center Ice Rink.
“This summer, WAHA will officially get underway with numerous youth hockey camps with the goals of introducing kids to the game, improving the skills of kids who already play, and keeping kids active during summer months.Through WAHA, the Winterhawks will be running a series of both ice hockey and floor hockey camps throughout the summer in a fun, supportive environment while keeping kids active in an attempt to help combat childhood obesity.
“For kids who have never had any exposure to hockey, WAHA will host free floor hockey/introduction to skating camps throughout the area all summer. They will focus on basic hockey rules and skills and are geared towards kids who are interested in learning the game for the first time. Included in the floor hockey programs will be an introduction to ice skating, which is also of no charge.”
For more info, visit winterhawks.com.
Wednesday's stuff . . .
THE MacBETH REPORT: F Juraj Grácik (Tri-City) signed a one-year contract with Nitra (Slovakia Extraliga). He had one goal and three assists in 50 games with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia Extraliga) this season.
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As expected, Willie Desjardins, the GM and head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, was named the head coach of Canada’s national junior team by Hockey Canada on Wednesday.
The assistant coaches will be Dave Cameron of the OHL’s Mississauga-St. Michael’s Majors; Steve Spott of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers and Andre Tourigny of the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
The 2010 world junior championship opens Dec. 26 in Regina and Saskatoon. Canada has won four straight championships.
You can bet that being head coach will mean a lot to Desjardins, considering that he was born in Climax, Sask., which, by the way, also is the hometown of former NHL and WHL defenceman Gord Kluzak.
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It was 20 years ago — May 13, 1989 — when the Swift Current Broncos won the Memorial Cup, beating the Blades in Saskatoon on Tim Tisdale’s overtime goal. It was only fitting, then, that the Broncos would announce Wednesday that the 1989 team will be inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame on July 17. . . . . Tisdale, by the way, lives and works in Swift Current, where he also served as the analyst on Broncos‚ radio broadcasts this season.
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If you’re wanting to keep tabs on goings-on at the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Que., you should check out Terry Doyle’s blog, Loose Pucks. There is a link over there on the left. He also has posted his memories of the last nine Memorial Cups and there is some good reading there.
———
The Tampa Bay Lightning has signed C Mitch Fadden of the Tri-City Americans to a three-year NHL contract. Fadden, whom the Americans acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes early this season, played out his WHL eligibility. Fadden, a fourth-round pick by the Lightning in the NHL’s 2007 draft, had 76 points, including 37 goals, in 63 games this season. He played 341 regular-season WHL games, scoring 136 goals and adding 182 assists. . . . F Carson McMillan of the Calgary Hitmen has joined the Houston Aeros, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. McMillan, who co-captained the Hitmen, signed with the Wild during the WHL playoffs. McMillan, 20, joined the Aeros in Milwaukee on Tuesday. . . . The Aeros, coached by former Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine, won a seven-game series with the Admirals in Milwaukee on Wednesday night. The Aeros won Game 7, 5-2, eliminating the Admirals, whose head coach is Lane Lambert, a former head coach of the Prince George Cougars. . . . F Sahir Gill, a player being heavily recruited by the Kamloops Blazers, was selected in the fifth round, 56th overall, by the Chicago Steel in the USHL’s entry draft. Gill played this season with the Royal Bank Cup-champion Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. You can see a draft list right here.
———
As expected, Willie Desjardins, the GM and head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, was named the head coach of Canada’s national junior team by Hockey Canada on Wednesday.
The assistant coaches will be Dave Cameron of the OHL’s Mississauga-St. Michael’s Majors; Steve Spott of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers and Andre Tourigny of the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
The 2010 world junior championship opens Dec. 26 in Regina and Saskatoon. Canada has won four straight championships.
You can bet that being head coach will mean a lot to Desjardins, considering that he was born in Climax, Sask., which, by the way, also is the hometown of former NHL and WHL defenceman Gord Kluzak.
———
It was 20 years ago — May 13, 1989 — when the Swift Current Broncos won the Memorial Cup, beating the Blades in Saskatoon on Tim Tisdale’s overtime goal. It was only fitting, then, that the Broncos would announce Wednesday that the 1989 team will be inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame on July 17. . . . . Tisdale, by the way, lives and works in Swift Current, where he also served as the analyst on Broncos‚ radio broadcasts this season.
———
If you’re wanting to keep tabs on goings-on at the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Que., you should check out Terry Doyle’s blog, Loose Pucks. There is a link over there on the left. He also has posted his memories of the last nine Memorial Cups and there is some good reading there.
———
The Tampa Bay Lightning has signed C Mitch Fadden of the Tri-City Americans to a three-year NHL contract. Fadden, whom the Americans acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes early this season, played out his WHL eligibility. Fadden, a fourth-round pick by the Lightning in the NHL’s 2007 draft, had 76 points, including 37 goals, in 63 games this season. He played 341 regular-season WHL games, scoring 136 goals and adding 182 assists. . . . F Carson McMillan of the Calgary Hitmen has joined the Houston Aeros, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. McMillan, who co-captained the Hitmen, signed with the Wild during the WHL playoffs. McMillan, 20, joined the Aeros in Milwaukee on Tuesday. . . . The Aeros, coached by former Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine, won a seven-game series with the Admirals in Milwaukee on Wednesday night. The Aeros won Game 7, 5-2, eliminating the Admirals, whose head coach is Lane Lambert, a former head coach of the Prince George Cougars. . . . F Sahir Gill, a player being heavily recruited by the Kamloops Blazers, was selected in the fifth round, 56th overall, by the Chicago Steel in the USHL’s entry draft. Gill played this season with the Royal Bank Cup-champion Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. You can see a draft list right here.
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