Monday, July 10, 2017

Today is it for Hitmen ... Kisio moves up with U-18 side ... Inside the KHL in tweets


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 D Keaton Ellerby (Kamloops, Moose Jaw, 2004-08) has signed a one-year contract with Mora (Sweden, SHL). Last season, he had three goals and nine assists in 43 games with Lukko Rauma (Finland, Liiga).
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The Calgary Hitmen are poised to make some personnel introductions today (Tuesday).
As was first reported here late Saturday, the Hitmen will name Jeff Chynoweth their new general
manager, with Dallas Ferguson taking over as head coach.
As well, Dallas Thompson will move up to head scout after working for the Hitmen in B.C. for the past two seasons.
Chynoweth, of course, has long been associated with the Edmonton/Kootenay Ice. He, his mother Linda and brother Dean sold the Ice earlier this summer to Winnipeggers Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell.
With the Hitmen, Chynoweth will take over from Mike Moore, who now is  vice-president and alternate governor. Moore had been the GM since 2013.
Ferguson, a native of Wainwright, Alta., will succeed Mark French, who left after three seasons as head coach to take a job in Switzerland. Ferguson, 44, has been at the U of Alaska-Fairbanks since 2004-05. He spent four seasons as an assistant coach and has been the head coach since 2008-09. Ferguson was named head coach on May 21, 2008, about a month after he had stepped in as interim coach following the resignation of Doc DelCastillo.
As a player, Ferguson spent four seasons (1992-96) as a defenceman with the Nanooks.
Thompson, a former WHL player who spent 16 seasons with the Prince George Cougars, the last 10 as GM, will replace Dan Bonar, who had been with the Hitmen for 14 seasons, the last four as director of player personnel.

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Brent Kisio, the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, has moved up to head coach of the Canadian U-18 team that will play in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup next month. . . . Kisio, who was named as an assistant coach earlier this summer, replaces Paul McFarland, the former head coach of the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs who now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Florida Panthers. . . . Kisio is preparing for his third season as the head coach in Lethbridge. . . . Drew Bannister, the head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, has been added to the U-18 team as an assistant coach. . . . The Ivan Hlinka Memorial runs from Aug. 7-12 in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Bratislava, Slovakia.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes won’t have Russian F Egor Babenko back for a third season. This means that they are looking at veteran D Igor Merezhko, who is from Ukraine, and Russian F Yegor Zudilov as their two imports in 2017-18.
Merezhko, 19, has two goals and 29 assists in 128 regular-season games with the Hurricanes.
Zudilov, who will turn 17 on Sept. 10, was selected in the CHL’s 2017 import draft. He had 65 points, including 31 goals, in 35 games with Avangard Omsk’s U-17 team last season. The previous season, he put up 63 points, 31 of them goals, with Avangard Omsk’s U-16 side.
Babenko, now 20, has signed a two-year contract with Lada Togliatti of the KHL. He had 53 goals and 71 assists in 133 regular-season games with the Hurricanes.
Babenko is eligible to play one more season in the WHL, but as a 20-year-old import he would have been a two-spotter.
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One day after losing director of player personnel Ryan Jankowski to the Buffalo Sabres, Hockey Canada waved farewell to one of its goaltending coaches Monday as Fred Brathwaite left to join the New York Islanders. . . . Brathwaite has worked with Hockey Canada’s U-18 team for the past three seasons. He also has been involved with Canada’s national junior team.
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If you are planning on attending the seventh annual TeamSnap Hockey Coaches Conference but haven’t yet registered, don’t forget that we’ve got a deal for you. . . . The conference runs Friday and Saturday in Vancouver, so time is running out for you to register. You are able to get 20 per cent off the registration fee by clicking right here. Tour around the site and when you register just enter the coupon code TakingNote and you will get the discounted rate.
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If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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If you have any interest at all in the inner-workings of the KHL — i.e. how does it survive? — read this series of tweets from Slava Malamud.


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