Kootenay owners ice head coach ... Giants, Cougars make deal ... Warrant out for ex-WHLer

F Carter Ashton (Lethbridge, Regina, Tri-City, 2006-11) has been traded by Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod to Lada Togliatti (both Russia, KHL) for cash considerations. This season, he had 18 goals and 10 assists in 59 games with Torpedo. . . .

F Spencer Edwards (Red Deer, Seattle, Moose Jaw, 2006-11) has signed a one-year contract with Bordeaux (France, Ligue Magnus). This season, with Dijon (France, Ligue Magnus), he had 15 goals and 13 assists in 42 games. He was an alternate captain. . . . 

F Tayler Thompson (Prince George, 2010-12) has signed a one-year contract with Brest (France, Division 1). This season, with the Fayetteville FireAntz (SPHL), he had 18 goals and 42 assists in 56 games. . . .

F Kyle Chipchura (Prince Albert, 2001-06) has signed a one-year contract with Kunlun Red Star Beijing (China, KHL). He had 13 goals and 16 assists in 59 games with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, KHL) this season. . . .

D Ryan Button (Prince Albert, Seattle, 2007-11) has signed a one-year contract with Red Bull Munich (Germany, DEL). This season, with the Iserlohn Roosters (Germany, DEL), he had four goals and 18 assists in 49 games.

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And now there are four . . . WHL teams without head coaches, that is.

The Kootenay Ice’s new owners fired head coach Luke Pierce on Friday morning, joining the Calgary Hitmen, Spokane Chiefs and Victoria Royals as teams in the market for a new leader.

“We are committed to a fresh start for the organization and this includes the business and hockey operations,” Matt Cockell, the president and general manager of the Ice, said in the second paragraph of

The Kootenay Ice has fired head coach Luke Pierce.

a news release. “We feel that this was a necessary decision to accomplish that objective.”

The third paragraph of the Ice’s four-paragraph news release read: “No further comment will be provided.”

Meanwhile, Pierce told Brad McLeod of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman that he didn’t see it coming.

“This is the first time that this has happened to me [and] you go through a lot of emotions,” Pierce told McLeod. “You go through it all: some anger, some disappointment, some embarrassment, you name it. We’re just trying to cope with it the best we can as a family.

“I think that when these things come about you can use hindsight a little bit to maybe look for reasons, but I really didn’t see it coming,” he said. “It was a shocker for me, for sure.”

McLeod’s story is right here.

Pierce spent two seasons as the head coach of the rebuilding Ice, going 14-46-12 this season after finishing 12-53-7 in 2015-16. The Ice had the WHL’s poorest record each season.

Pierce, who is from Merritt, B.C., replaced Ryan McGill on May 26, 2015. Pierce, 33, had spent the previous six seasons as the general manager/head coach of the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials, going 168-111-21 and making the playoffs each season.

From 2004-09, Pierce attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., graduating with a bacher or arts with a psychology major and business minor. He also has an MBA with a concentration in strategic management.

Cockell and his partner, Greg Fettes, purchased the Ice from the Chynoweth family in a deal that was approved by the WHL’s board of governors on April 27.

The Hitmen are looking to replace Mark French, who will coach in Switzerland this season, while the Chiefs and Don Nachbaur went their separate ways after the season despite his having a year left on his contract, and the Royals lost Dave Lowry this week when he signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

Last month, the Everett Silvertips named Dennis Williams their new head coach, replacing Kevin Constantine whose contract wasn’t renewed after the season.

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F Klim Kostin is NHL Central Scouting’s top-ranked international skater for the 2017 draft, which is scheduled for Chicago, June 23-24. The Kootenay Ice hold Kostin’s CHL rights, having selected the Russian with the first overall pick in the CHL’s 2016 import draft. . . . However, Kostin chose not to report, preferring to stay and play in Russia. Unfortunately, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in January and was limited to a total of 18 games — he was pointless in eight games with the KHL’s Dynamo Moskva, had one goal in nine games with the VHL’s Dynamo Balashikha, which is one step below the KHL, and had one goal in one game with HK MVD Balashikha in the MHL, a junior league. . . . This week, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Kostin has been at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. On Thursday, he told Joe Yerdon of NHL.com that he plans on playing in North America in 2017-18, but that he “will never go there,” in reference to Kootenay holding his CHL rights. . . . Of course, the NHL team that selects Kostin in the draft will be able to sign him and assign him within its organization because he will have been drafted out of Europe.

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Bet heavy on Morrison combining with Tyler Benson and Ty Ronning on @WHLGiants No. 1 line to at least begin the season. https://t.co/WtIc23SSzZ

— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) June 2, 2017

The Vancouver Giants have acquired F Brad Morrison, 20, from the Prince George Cougars for a selection in the 2018 WHL bantam draft.

According to the Cougars’ news release, it’s a second-round selection; the Giants’ news release referred

BRAD MORRISON

to it as a conditional second-round pick.

Morrison, who is from Prince George, was the seventh overall pick in the 2012 bantam draft. In 260 regular-season games with the Cougars, he had 85 goals and 103 assists. He added 11 points, three of them goals, in 11 playoff games.

The New York Rangers selected Morrison in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL draft, but didn’t sign him by Thursday’s deadline, so he is eligible for the 2017 draft.

Morrison is one of six 20-year-olds on the Giants’ roster, the others being F Jack Flaman, F Ty Ronning, D Darian Skeoch, F Johnny Wesley and D Jordan Wharrie.

In Prince George, the Cougars still have 10 20-year-olds on their roster, including three who have signed NHL contracts — F Jesse Gabrielle (Boston Bruins), D Brendan Guhle (Buffalo Sabres) and F Jansen Harkins (Winnipeg Jets). Also there are F Jared Bethune, F Radovan Bondra, F Aaron Boyd, D Shane Collins, F Brodan O’Brien, D Tate Olson and F Tanner Wishnowski.

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Tim Petruk of Kamloops This Week reported Friday that “a warrant has been issued” for Rudy Poeschek, “a former National Hockey League enforcer accused of breaching his probation.” . . . Poeschek didn’t show up for court on Friday where he was to have gone on trial in provincial court on allegations he missed meetings with his probation officer last summer. . . . Poeschek, who played junior hockey in Kamloops, is one of the former players who is involved in a concussion-related lawsuit against the NHL. . . . Petruk’s story is right here.

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D Matt Sozanski, who played out his junior eligibility this season with the Moose Jaw Warriors, will attend Carleton U in Ottawa and play for the Ravens in 2017-18. Sozanski, from Calgary, played three seasons with the Spokane Chiefs before being dealt to Moose Jaw. This season, he had three goals and 33 assists in 63 games. In 207 career games, he had six goals and 55 assists.

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The Mount Royal U Cougars have added a pair of former WHLers for the 2017-18 season — F Mitch Lipon and D Kord Pankewicz. . . . Lipon (Kamloops, Saskatoon, Spokane, 2012-15) played this season with the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines, putting up 25 goals and 48 assists in 58 games. In 71 WHL games, he had eight goals and seven assists. . . . Pankewicz (Brandon, Lethbridge, 2012-17) started this season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and finished it with the AJHL-champion Brooks Bandits. He had six goals and 22 assists in 31 games with Brooks. In 243 WHL games, he had 13 goals and 99 assists.

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Former WHL D Barret Jackman (Regina, 1997-2001) has rejoined the St. Louis Blues, this time as the NHL’s team’s development coach. Jackman ended a 14-year NHL career by retiring in October. . . . Jackman, 36, got a feel for the position late this season when he spent time with the Chicago Wolves, who at the time were the Blues’ AHL affiliate, and some prospects. . . . Jackman played 803 games with the Blues before finishing up his NHL career with the Nashville Predators in 2015-16.

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PGSS Citizenship Award @myles_mattila12 #Grad2017#Classof2017 #GetLoud #SoProud @CityofPG @cariboocougars pic.twitter.com/5GhQ5WEjHz

— Don R Mattila (@MattilaDon) June 2, 2017

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Winterhawks back on even ground; meet the bus driving radio man

With apologies to Elliotte Friedman, here are 10 thoughts . . .
1. Via Twitter, Friedman, of Hockey Night in Canada, explained the Quenneville-Lucic discipline discrepancy, of US$25,000 vs. $5,000: “Comparing Quenneville's fine to Lucic: players have a CBA, coaches don't. That's the difference. Drives coaches crazy.”
2. How many fighting majors have been handed out through four days of Stanley Cup play? Two? Four? Six? Eight?
3. There have been two fighting majors through 13 games, going into Sunday’s play. . . . Obviously, this is more proof that fisticuffs aren’t needed if hockey is to be entertaining.
4. You watch Boston Bruins F Milan Lucic spear D Danny DeKeyser of the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks D Brent Seabrook drill F David Backes of the St. Louis Blues, and you wonder where the respect factor has gone? Shouldn’t the game be about taking the puck from an opponent, rather than putting an opponent out of the game?
5. If you’re a sporting fan, you have to admit that it’s neat to see some basketball fever in Toronto. And it is going to be interesting to see how much NBA commissioner Adam Silver lightens the wallet of Raptors GM Masai Ujiri for his “(Bleep) Brooklyn” comment on Saturday. . . . I’m thinking the fine will be closer to Quenneville country than to Lucic country.
6. If you weren’t aware, Brooklyn Nets small forward Andrei Kirilenko, who didn’t get off the bench on Saturay in Toronto, is preparing to open the first Hooters restaurant in Russia. The grand opening is scheduled for Moscow on April 28. As Sam Laird of mashable.com wrote, the restaurant “will include 40 flat-screen TVs for sports-watching, as well as a gift shop featuring the Hooters merchandise Russians don't yet know they need.” (BTW, AK-47’s wife turned to Instagram to question why Nets head coach Jason Kidd kept her husband on the bench. Ahh, you just gotta love social media.)
7. If you were wondering, the two fighting majors went to F Brandon Prust of the Montreal Canadiens and D Radko Gudas of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They scrapped at 2:56 of the second period in Game 2 on Friday night.
8. By the time the Portland Winterhawks and Kelowna Rockets get through with each other, you wonder how much the survivor will have left. After two games, this is shaping up as one of those epic series that people will talk about for a long time. (If you’ve Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston, who is your starting goaltender for Game 3?)
9. If the Saskatoon Blades haven’t handed a blank cheque to Mike Williamson, who was deposed as head coach of the Calgary Hitmen a couple of days ago, you have to assume it’s only because it’s a long weekend in Canada and their banker was at the lake getting his cabin ready for summer, which may only be two months away.
10. You realize, of course, that five OT goals have been scored in these Stanley Cup playoffs and that three have come from WHL grads. D Barret Jackman (Regina Pats, 1997-2001) and F Matt Calvert (Brandon Wheat Kings (2007-10) scored in extra time for the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. On Wednesday, F Dale Weise (Swift Current Broncos, 2005-08) scored an OT goal for the Montreal Canadiens.
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If you read one thing today, make it this column by Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun. It’s all about the legendary Bob Ridley, the bus driving radio man who is the voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers. This is good stuff.
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Joel Quenneville, the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, was fined US$25,000 for grabbing his man region as he expressed his disgust with the officiating in Game 1 of a playoff series against the St. Louis Blues the other night.
F Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins will be fined, perhaps $5,000, for a spear to the groin of Detroit Red Wings D Danny DeKeyser in Game 1 of their series on Friday evening.
Of course, the NHL is a bit confused.
Chris Peters of cbssports.com has more right here.
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D Jaynen Rissling, who played out his eligibility with the Calgary Hitmen this season, had his NHL rights dealt by the Washington Capitals to the Nashville Predators on Saturday for a seventh-round pick in the NHL’s 2014 draft. . . . Rissling, who played five seasons with the Hitmen, had 37 points, including eight goals, in 54 games this season. He was Calgary’s captain. . . . He was a seventh-round selection by Washington in the 2012 NHL draft.
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THE THIRD ROUND (best-of-seven; all times local):
(x - if necessary)
EASTERN CONFERENCE
EDMONTON (1) vs. MEDICINE HAT (4)
(Edmonton leads, 1-0)
Season series: Edmonton, 5-0-1; Medicine Hat, 1-5-0.
(All games on Shaw TV)
Friday: Medicine Hat 3 at Edmonton 8 (7,694)
Sunday: Medicine Hat at Edmonton, 4 p.m.
Tuesday: Edmonton at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Edmonton at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
x-Saturday: Medicine Hat at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
x-Monday, April 28: Edmonton at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
x-Tuesday, April 29: Medicine Hat at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
INJURIES
Edmonton: D Blake Orban, day-to-day.
Medicine Hat: F Anthony Ast, day-to-day; F Gavin Broadhead, day-to-day; F Hunter Shinkaruk, indefinite.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
KELOWNA (1) vs. PORTLAND (2)
(Series tied, 1-1)
Season series: Kelowna, 4-0-0; Portland, 0-4-0.
Friday: Portland 4 at Kelowna 5 (6,218)
Saturday: Portland 5 at Kelowna 3 (6,341)
Tuesday: Kelowna at Portland (Moda Center), 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Kelowna at Portland (Moda Center), 7 p.m.
Friday: Portland at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
x-Sunday, April 27: Kelowna at Portland, 2 p.m.
x-Tuesday, April 29: Portland at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
INJURIES
Kelowna: F Myles Bell, week-to-week.
Portland: None.
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SATURDAY’S GAME:
In Kelowna, the Portland Winterhawks erased a 3-1 deficit with three quick second-period goals and went on to beat the Rockets, 5-3. . . . The Western Conference final is tied 1-1 with Games 3 and 4 scheduled for Portland on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. . . . Kelowna took a 2-0 lead into the second period, thanks to first-period PP goals from F Nick Merkley, at 12:05, and D Ryley Stadel, at 12:37. . . . Portland F Dominic Turgeon got his first playoff goal 24 seconds into the second period, but Kelowna D Madison Bowey got that one back, with his fifth, just 1:09 later. . . . The Winterhawks then struck three times in 2:10, with F Nic Petan getting it started on a PP at 9:54. F Oliver Bjorkstrand tied it with his 12th goal at 11:51, and F Brendan Leipsic gave his guys the lead, with his ninth goal, at 12:04. . . . F Alex Schoenborn provided Portland with some insurance at 8:45 of the third. . . . Petan also had two assists, while Portland D Derrick Pouliot had three assists. . . . Bjorkstrand and Medicine Hat F Curtis Valk lead the WHL, each with 12 goals. . . . With 8:54 left in the second period and Kelowna leading 3-2, Portland freelancer tweeted that the Winterhawks already had 26 shots “which are as many as it had in the entire game (Friday) night.” . . . Portland outshot its hosts 24-14 in the second period and had a 4-1 edge in goals. . . . Of course, Portland took a 4-3 lead into the third period on Friday, too, and ended up losing, 5-4. . . . Portland opened with Brendan Burke in goal. But he left at 1:33 of the second period, after giving up three goals on nine shots. Corbin Boes, a January acquisition from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, came on to stop all 15 shots he faced. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 48 shots. . . . The Rockets were outshot 17-4 in the third period. . . . The Rockets were 2-for-3 on the PP; the Winterhawks were 1-for-7, with three of those coming in the game’s last seven minutes. . . . Which goaltender does Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston start in Game 3. Here’s a post-game tweet from Sepich (@SSepich): “Mike Johnston noncommittal about Burke or Boes right now, though he thought Burke was out of position on 2 goals and a change was needed.” . . . Johnston also told Sepich: “"We played our game tonight. When we're on, our puck movement is really crisp, really sharp. We were snapping it around good.” . . . Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska told Sepich: “They were the better hockey club tonight. They were skating, when you stand around against them they'll do that to you.”
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From Randy Sportak (@SUNRandySportak) of the Calgary Sun: “Hate when coaches say, ‘I didn't see it.’ Makes them just as culpable. Show some leadership and admit your player has to stop that crap.”
That was after Boston head coach Claude Julien said he hadn’t seen video of Bruins F Milan Lucic spearing Detroit Red Wings D Danny DeKeyser in the groin.
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From Brad Ziemer (@BradZiemer) of the Vancouver Sun: “That cute Because it's the Cup #nhl marketing phrase takes on new meaning with Lucic incident.”
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From Kevin Paul DuPont (@GlobeKPD) of the Boston Globe: “Lucic $5k fine for DeKeyser spear. Coach Q weeps.”
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From Makenna (@Mak_Alberts24): “My sister got out of a speeding ticket by telling the officer we were on the way to the @pdxwinterhawks viewing party!”
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From Dan Russell (@DanRussellST): “Never's worked for me!”

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