Showing posts with label Colin Priestner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colin Priestner. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Seattle head coach off to NHL ... Change the import draft? Why not? ... Portland got "a stud"


F Roman Tománek (Calgary, Seattle, 2004-06) has signed a one-year contract with Freiburg (Germany, DEL2). Last season, with Banská Bystrica (Slovakia, Extraliga), he had one goal and three assists in 17 games. He was loaned to Dukla Trenčín (same) on Jan. 3, and had a goal and three assists in nine games. . . .
F Jacob Doty (Seattle, Medicine Hat, 2009-14) has signed a one-year contract with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, with the Chicago Wolves (AHL), he had one assist in four games; he also had five goals and six assists in 11 games with the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL).
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STEVE KONOWALCHUK
The WHL-champion Seattle Thunderbirds are looking for a new head coach after the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks announced on Wednesday that they have signed Steve Konowalchuk as an assistant coach.
Konowalchuk, 44, was the Thunderbirds’ head coach for six seasons. The Thunderbirds reached the WHL final in 2016, where they lost to the Brandon Wheat Kings. In 2017, the Thunderbirds won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, beating the Regina Pats, 4-2, in the best-of-seven final. That was the Thunderbirds’ first WHL title.

Konowalchuk was 219-176-37 in regular-season games with Seattle. He joined the Thunderbirds on June 16, 2011, after spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He also played in the NHL, with the Washington Capitals and Colorado, after spending two seasons (1990-92) with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
Of the U.S. Division’s five teams, only Portland (Mike Johnston) and the Tri-City Americans (Mike Williamson) will return with the same head coach as last season.
The Everett Silvertips, who finished on top of the division, didn’t renew head coach Kevin Constantine’s contract. He will coach in South Korea next season. Dennis Williams is Everett’s new head coach.
The Spokane Chiefs have hired Dan Lambert, a former WHL star defenceman who coached in Kelowna, to replace Don Nachbaur, the head coach for the previous seven seasons. Nachbaur now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles.
The Kings also signed Dave Lowry, the head coach of the Victoria Royals for the previous five seasons, as an assistant coach. The Royals have since promoted assistant coach Dan Price to head coach.
At the moment, Seattle and the Calgary Hitmen are the only two of the WHL’s 22 teams without head coaches. The Hitmen are looking to replace Mark French, who left after three seasons to coach in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the Ducks also added Mark Morrison to their staff as an assistant coach. Morrison, 54, is a former WHL player (Victoria Cougars, 1979-83). He spent four seasons (2007-11) as the GM/head coach of the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings. For the past six seasons, he has been assistant coach in the Winnipeg Jets’ organization, first with the St. John’s IceCaps and for the past two seasons with the Manitoba Moose.

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The CHL’s 2017 import draft was held Wednesday and I posted a lengthy look at the WHL teams and their selections a short while after it ended.
Included in that report was a link to a Saskatoon StarPhoenix story in which Blades general manager Colin Priestner commented on the intricacies of this draft.
Shortly after I posted that piece, I heard from Jeff Hollick, a former long-time radio voice of the Kootenay Ice. Hollick sent me a link to a piece that he had written for dubnetwork.ca on how to provide teams with a more level playing field in the import draft. That piece is right here.
As the Ice’s play-by-play voice, Hollick would have spent a lot of time around Jeff Chynoweth, then the team’s general manager. While not necessarily opposed to the draft, Chynoweth wasn’t reluctant in voicing his objections to the way it is conducted.
In the WHL, most owners and general managers look upon it as a necessary evil. But few, if any, enjoy it.
So why not do away with it? Why not just pull the plug on it? Teams no longer are allowed to draft European goaltenders, so why not just dump the draft altogether?
(If you’re wondering, USHL teams are allowed to use import goaltenders, but each one counts as two imports. USHL teams are allowed six import players, but two of them must be Canadians.)
In place of the draft, why not allow teams to list players, just like they do with North American players? Why not allow teams to start listing European players at 16 years of age?
The only difference would be that each team would be allowed to list only a set number of Europeans, say three. There are a gazillion European skaters available, so numbers wouldn’t be an issue.
That would allow teams to scout players, list them and then try to sell them on the organization. If that doesn’t work, the team could simply drop the player from its list and move on.
That also might do away with the messy system now in place where teams can end up with three or four import skaters in their training camp, knowing full well that two of them will have to go.
Seriously, almost anything is better than the system now in place.
However, nothing will change. Why not?
Because, as one general manager told Taking Note, “The OHL and QMJHL would never agree. They like their dominance in that draft.”
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IMPORT DRAFT NOTES:

The Portland Winterhawks selected one player, taking Swedish F Samuel Fagemo, 17, with the 28th pick. One WHL general manager told Taking Note that Fagemo is “a stud,” but that he doesn’t expect Portland to bring him over until 2018-19. That’s because Portland’s roster already includes two solid imports in Finnish D Henri Jokiharju and Danish F Joachim Blichfeld. . . . Jokiharju was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the NHL draft on Friday. . . . Blichfeld was taken by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2016 draft. . . . Each WHL team is allowed to keep two import players. Were Portland to have Fagemo and Blichfeld in camp and then have Jokiharju come back, they would have two weeks from his return to trade one of the veterans or release Fagemo. “And,” said the GM, “they aren’t going to trade Blichfeld.” . . .
The Vancouver Giants selected Slovakian F Milos Roman with the fifth pick and are hoping that he slots into their top six forwards. They took German F Yannik Valenti in the second round, 56th overall, but Steve Ewen of Postmedia reports they don’t plan on having him here until 2018-19. “Their thinking,” Ewen writes, “is that they’ll need a boost offensively then, with (Brad) Morrison and (Ty) Ronning graduated and (Tyler) Benson likely playing in the Edmonton Oilers’ system as a 20-year-old. Valenti put up 20 goals and 23 assists in 40 games last season with Jungadler Mannheim, a team in the German Junior League.” . . . Ewen’s story is right here. . . .
A year ago, the Giants had the fourth overall pick and took Czech F Filip Zadina. As Ewen points out, Zadina chose not to report and the Giants dropped him. On Wednesday he was selected by the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads with the 10th pick and quickly tweeted that he is “really excited to be part of great organization.” . . . 
Meanwhile, the OHL’s Flint Firebirds and the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders both selected Nikita Alexandrov in the first round of the CHL import draft. . . . Flint took Russian D Nikita Alexandrov and, a few picks later, Charlottetown took F Nikita Alexandrov, who has played the past five seasons in Germany. . . . Flint’s Alexandrov, who apparently is 6-foot-5 and 155 pounds, is 18. The Islanders’ Alexandrov, who is 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, will turn 17 on Sept. 16.  
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G Michael Herringer, who played out his junior eligibility with the Kelowna Rockets last season, has decided to attend the U of Regina and play for the Cougars. . . . From Comox, B.C., Herringer began his WHL career by playing two games with the Victoria Royals in 2012-13. He played three seasons (2014-17) with the Royals and was their starter each of the past two seasons. In 115 career regular-season appearances, he was 71-29-5, 2.88, .904.
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I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 The KHL is only a few days from the opening of training camps for the 2017-18 season. Patrick Conway of Conway’s Russian Hockey Blog has been filling us in on the KHL’s coaches, and he’s back right here with a look at the Chernyshyov Division. This is where veteran coach Mike Keenan is hanging his hat this season.
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Trent Cull is the new head coach of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Cull takes over from Travis Green, who now is the Canucks’ head coach. . . . Cull, 43, had been an assistant coach with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. In fact, he spent eight of the previous 11 seasons with the Crunch. . . . He also spent three seasons (2010-13) as the head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 11:17 PM
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WHL teams select 27 imports ... Ice takes Kohler third overall ... Blades' GM: It's an odd draft ...

The CHL import draft was held on Wednesday, which means a whole lot of general managers held their noses and jumped into the pool.
One who didn’t was Colin Priestner of the Saskatoon Blades. His team has two imports scheduled to return, so Priestner didn’t have to spend “500 hours on the phones and emails” to prepare for the draft.
“It really is an odd draft,” Priestner told Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
“It’s the only draft in the world where you don’t know what the players are. Every team’s got a different list of players from the agents; it’s agent-driven. Some teams are told this player’s under contract in Europe and will not be coming over, and the same player gets drafted five picks later to a big-market team, and suddenly, they don’t have a (European) contract.
“You get told no a lot. You’re calling agents, and you’re getting told no hundreds of times, then you’re seeing these players show up in Ontario or Quebec. It’s frustrating, because there’s no defined list of who’s opting in. The obvious solution to that is an opt-in draft. But the problem with that is, if a player opts in for the CHL draft and someone takes him in a small town in Quebec he doesn’t want to go to, he’ll just stay in Europe. It’s a frustrating situation for all our managers to go through, because you really don’t know who’s available.”
This isn’t new to this draft; it’s been going on since Noah first set sale. In fact, former Kootenay Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth talked about this exact thing for years and for a while even chose not to participate.
For whatever reason, though, the CHL chooses to maintain the status quo, other than banning the selection of goaltenders, that is.
Anyway . . . Mitchell’s complete story with Priestner is right here.
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The OHL’s Barrie Colts had the first pick in Wednesday’s CHL import draft and, as expected, took Russian F Andrei Svechnikov, who already is being seen as a potential No. 1 selection in the NHL’s 2018 draft.
Last season, he had 29 goals and 29 assists in 48 games with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.
The CHL’s 60 teams combined to take 72 players, with 22 WHL teams taking 27 players, and don’t forget that the picking of goaltenders is verboten.
What follows is a team-by-team look at the WHL’s 22 teams and how they fared. Note that I use a different numbering system than most teams. When a team passes on a pick, I don’t give it a number because no player was selected. This means that, for example, while the CHL will say that the Regina Pats took F Emil Oksanen with the 120th selection, he actually was the 70th player chosen. Yes, there were a total of 48 passes in this draft.
Anyway . . . here we go:
Kootenay Ice — 3. F Gilian Kohler (2000), Switzerland. . . . Had eight goals and a league-high 42 assists in 43 games with a U-20 team in Switzerland last season. Also had a goal and five assists in 21 games with Switzerland’s U-18 team. . . . 55. D Martin Bodak (1998), Slovakia. . . . Has played the past two seasons in Finland. . . . Last season, he had seven goals and 15 assists in 38 games with Tappara’s U-20 team. . . . These are the first import selections by the Ice’s new owners — Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell. . . . This would seem to indicate that Russian D Nikita Radzivilyuk won’t return for a second season.
Vancouver Giants — 5. F Milos Roman (1999), Slovakia. . . . Had four goals and two assists in 29 games last season with HC Frydek-Mistek, a pro team in the second tier of pro hockey there. . . . Also had five assists in four games for Slovakia at last summer’s Ivan Hlinka Memorial. . . . He is represented by Gerry Johansson of Edmonton-based The Sports Corporation, which is where former Giants GM Scott Bonner now works. . . . 56. F Yannik Valenti (2000), Germany. . . . Had 20 goals and 23 assists with Jungadler Mannheim’s U-19 side. . . . Was pointless in three games with Germany at the U-18 Worlds (Division I Group A). . . . The two selections would seem to indicate that Dutch F Bartek Bison, 19, won’t be back. He was acquired last season from the Prince George Cougars.
Prince Albert Raiders — 8. F Dominik Bokk (2000), Germany. . . . Had 34 goals and 37 assists in 41 games with Kolner EC, a U-19 team. . . . “He’s considered to be the top talent to come out of Germany since Leon Draisaitl,” Curtis Hunt, the Raiders’ GM, said in a news release. . . . Led the IIHF U1-8 Worlds (Division I Group A) with seven goals and was tied for second in points (10), in five games. . . . The Raiders passed in the second round as they expect Czech D Vojtech Budik, 19, back for a third season.
Edmonton Oil Kings — 11. F Andrei Pavlenko (2000), Belarus. . . . Last season, he had 11 goals and 19 assists with the Belarussian U-18 team. . . . Had two goals and two assists in three games with a U-17 team at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary. . . . Had two goals and one assist in seven games at the U-18 Worlds. Played on line with Oil Kings F Artyom Baltruk . . . With Baltruk returning, Edmonton passed in the second round.
Saskatoon Blades — The Blades passed in both rounds. . . . Czech D Libor Hajek and Russian D Mark Rubinchik both are expected to return.
Spokane Chiefs — 15. F Milos Fafrak (1999), Slovakia. . . . Had 11 goals and 28 assists in 44 games with the Slovakian U-18 team in the U-20 Extraliga. . . . Added two goals and two assists in five games at the U-18 Worlds. . . . 59. D Filip Kral (1999), Czech Republic. . . . Put up four goals and six assists in 13 games with HC Kometa Brno in the Czech U-20 league, then was moved to Kometa Brno in the Czech Extraliga, where he had two assists in 23 games. . . . Neither of the two Czechs from last season — F Pavel Kousal nor F Ondrej Najman — will be back.
Calgary Hitmen — The Hitmen passed as they anticipate having Russian F Andrei Grishakov and D Vladislav Yeryomenko of Belarus back for another go-round.
Brandon Wheat Kings — 20. F Martin Kaut (1999), Czech Republic. . . . Last season, had four goals and 12 assists in 22 games with Pardubice in U-20 Czech league. . . . Also played 26 games with HC Dynamo Pardubice in Czech Elite League. . . . Brandon’s other import is Czech D Daniel Bukac, who will return for a second season.
Red Deer Rebels — 23. F Kristian Reichel (1998), Czech Republic. . . .Had two goals and six assists in 41 games last season with Litvinov (Czech Extraliga). . . . Was pointless in five games at the World Junior Championship. . . . His father, Robert, put up 630 points in 830 regular-season NHL games (1990-2004) split between the Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs. . . . Red Deer made just the one selection as Russian D Alexander Alexeyev will return for a second season.
Victoria Royals — 26. F Igor Martynov (1999), Belarus. . . . Last season, had four goals and seven assists in 20 games with Belarus’ U-20 team. . . . Played at U-18 World Championship, leading team with three goals and four assists in seven games. . . . Had two assists in five games as Belarus won gold at the U-20 Worlds (Division 1 Group A). . . . Was selected in 2016 import draft by the OHL’s Peterborough Petes but didn’t report. Also was picked by Dinamo Minsk in the third round of the KHL’s 2016 draft. . . . The Royals passed in the second round. Russian F Yan Khomenko, who was acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors on May 4, is their other import.
Portland Winterhawks — 28. F Samuel Fagemo (2000), 17, Sweden. . . . Last season, played for Frolunda’s U-18 and U-20 teams, totalling 17 goals and 22 assists in 41 games. . . . Had seven points in six games as Sweden won the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. . . . Portland was allowed to pick one import because Finnish D Henri Jokiharju was a first-round selection (Chicago Blackhawks) in the 2017 NHL draft. . . . Also on Portland’s roster is Danish F Joachim Blichfeld. Keep in mind that if the Winterhawks sign Fagemo and he makes the roster, he can’t be traded. That means that if Jokiharju and Blichfeld both return, one of them would have to be moved.
Tri-City Americans — 31. D Roman Kalinichenko (2000), Russia. . . . Played last season for CSKA Moskva’s U-17 side, scoring twice and adding four assists in 29 games. . . . Also played for Russia at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. Was pointless in six games. . . . Is scheduled to play for Russia at Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in August. . . . 61. D Sergei Sapego (1999), Belarus. . . . Last season, he had 20 points, including three goals in 26 games with Belarus’ U-18 team and one assist in 12 games with the U-20 team. He had a goal and an assist in seven games at the U-18 Worlds. . . . The Americans’ roster also includes Finnish D Juuso Valimaki, who was a first-round pick by the Calgary Flames in the NHL’s 2017 draft, and they are expecting veteran Russian D Vladislav Lukin, 20, at training camp.
Swift Current Broncos — The Broncos passed in both rounds as Finnish F Aleksi Heponiemi and Russian Artyom Minulin are expected to return.
Kamloops Blazers — 36. Justin Sigrist (1999), Switzerland. . . . Last season, he had nine goals and 22 assists in 41 games with the GCK Lions, a U-20 team in the Elite Junior A League. . . . Added a goal and two assists in five games at the U-18 Worlds. . . . Twin sister Shannon played for Switzerland at 2016 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Kamloops. . . . Czech D Ondrej Vala will be back for a third season, so the Blazers passed in the second round.
Moose Jaw Warriors — 39. D Oleg Sosunov (1998), Russia . . . They say that he’s 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds, so he could have an impact in the Eastern Conference. . . . Last season, he was pointless in 32 games with Loko Yaroslav of the MHL. . . . The Tampa Bay Lightning selected him in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . With Russian D Dmitri Zaitsev returning, Moose Jaw passed on its second selection.
Lethbridge Hurricanes — 42. F Yegor Zudilov (2000), Russia. . . . Had 31 goals and 34 assists in 36 games with Avangard Omsk’s U-17 team last season. . . . Won’t turn 17 until Sept. 10. . . . Russian D Igor Merezhko will return for a third season, so Lethbridge passed in the second round. F Ebor Babenko, 20, also is on the Hurricanes’ roster.

Kelowna Rockets — 45. D Libor Zaransky (2000), Czech Republic. . . . Last season, had nine goals and 26 assists with HC Kometa Brno’s U-20 side. . . . Son of D Libor Zabransky, who was taken by the St. Louis Blues in ninth round of NHL’s 1995 draft . . . 67. F Marek Skvrne (1999), Czech Republic. . . . Was a teammate of Zaransky’s with Kometa Brno. Had eight goals and 13 assists in 21 games. . . . The Rockets’ roster also includes Czech F Tomas Soustal, 20.
Prince George Cougars — 48. F Vladislav Mikhalchuk (1999), Belarus. . . . Had 14 goals and 21 assists in 31 games in the U-18 program last season, and also had four assists in 13 games with the U-20 team. . . . Helped a team from Belarus win the Mac’s midget event in Calgary, putting up six goals and three assists in seven games. . . . The Cougars passed in the second round, as Russian F Nikita Popugaev is expected to return.
Seattle Thunderbirds — 50. F Nikita Malukhin (2000), Russia. . . . Last season, had four goals and two assists in 28 games with Irbis Kazan (MHL). . . . The Thunderbirds will have Finnish F Sami Moilanen back for a second season, so they passed in the second round. . . . Danish F Alexander True, 20, likely won’t return as a two-spotter. He scored the championship-clinching goal in Game 6 in Regina as the Thunderbirds won their first WHL title. . . . His brother, Oliver, 17, was picked yesterday by the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.
Everett Silvertips — 52. F Martin Fasko-Rudas (2000), Slovakia. . . . Last season, he had 15 points, including eight goals, in 31 games with Slovakia’s U-18 team in a U-20 league. . . . Also had a goal and three assists in two games with HK Dukla Trencin’s U-20 team. . . . 70. F Pavel Azhgirei (2000), Belarus. . . . Won’t turn 17 until July 12. . . . Shown at 6-foot-6 and 192 pounds . . . Last season, he had five goals and five assists in 34 games with Belarus’ U-17 team, and also had three assists in 13 games with the U-20 team. . . . Finnish F Eetu Tuulola won’t be back for a second season, while Austrian F Dominic Zwerger has used up his junior eligibility.
Medicine Hat Tigers — 53. F Mick Kohler (1998), Germany. . . . The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder had 60 points, including 16 goals, in 31 games with Kolner EC’s U-19 team, and had two goals and two assists in 20 games with Dresdner Eislowen (DEL 2). . . . 71. D Linus Nassen (1998), Sweden. . . . He had 16 points, including three goals, with Lulea’s U-20 team, and also had a goal and an assist in 21 games with Lulea of the SHL. . . . Was selected by Brandon in the 2016 import draft but didn’t report . . . Was a third-round selection by the Florida Panthers in the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . F Swedish F John Dahlstrom, 20, will play professionally at home in 2017-18. Latvian D Kristians Rubins, 20, remains on the Tigers’ roster.
Regina Pats — 54. D Yegor Zamula (2000), Russia. . . . Had three goals and 23 assists in 36 games with U-17 Metallurg Magnitogorsk . . . 72. F Emil Oksanen (1998), Finland. . . . Played professionally last season, putting up 13 goals and six assists in 48 games with Espoo United of the Mestis League. . . . Also had three goals and four assists in seven games with Finland’s U-20 team. . . . Swedish F Filip Ahl won’t return for a second season. The Pats’ roster also includes Russian D Sergey Zborovskiy, 20, who is expected to play in the New York Rangers’ organization.


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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 1:29 PM
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Monday, March 20, 2017

No coaching changes appear imminent . . . Blades staff back for sure . . . Lawsuit moves to Toronto




F Jakub Rumpel (Medicine Hat, 2006-07) has signed a one-year extension with Preussen Berlin (Germany, Oberliga). This season, he had eight goals and 15 assists in 12 games. He started the season on a tryout with Schönheide (Germany, Oberliga). He had a goal and two assists in four games, then was released on Nov. 23. He signed with Preussen on Jan. 20. . . .
F Jan Eberle (Seattle, 2006-08) has signed a one-year extension with Olomouc (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had seven goals and 10 assists in 51 games this season.
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Here’s a look at the 22 WHL head coaches who have more than 300 regular-season victories to their credit (following 2016-17):
1. Ken Hodge (Edmonton, Portland), 742
2. Don Hay (Kamloops, Tri-City, Vancouver) 720
3. Don Nachbaur (Seattle, Tri-City, Spokane) 692
4. Lorne Molleken (Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Regina) 626
5. Ernie McLean (Estevan, New Westminster) 548
6. Mike Williamson (Portland, Calgary, Tri-City) 534
7. Pat Ginnell (Flin Flon, Victoria, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, New Westminster) 518
8. Peter Anholt (Prince Albert, Seattle, Red Deer, Kelowna, Lethbridge) 466
    Jack Shupe (Medicine Hat, Victoria) 466
10. Dean Clark (Calgary, Brandon, Kamloops, Prince George) 465
11. Kelly McCrimmon (Brandon) 456
12. Bob Lowes (Seattle, Brandon, Regina) 453
13. Brent Sutter (Red Deer) 441
14. Marc Habscheid (Kamloops, Kelowna, Chilliwack, Victoria, Prince Albert) 424
15. Doug Sauter (Calgary, Medicine Hat, Regina, Brandon) 417
16. Marcel Comeau (Calgary, Saskatoon, Tacoma, Kelowna) 411
17. Bryan Maxwell (Medicine Hat, Spokane, Lethbridge) 397
18. Graham James (Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Calgary) 349
19. Bob Loucks (Lethbridge, Tri-City, Medicine Hat) 340
20. Willie Desjardins (Saskatoon, Medicine Hat) 333
21. Kevin Constantine (Everett) 326
22. Shaun Clouston, Medicine Hat 320
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Colin Priestner, the general manager of the Saskatoon Blades, says the team’s coaching staff will be back for another go-round next season.
When Taking Note queried Priestner on that subject, he quickly responded: “For sure. They did an
unbelievable job.”
Dean Brockman was in his first season as head coach, after spending two seasons working with Bob Woods, the previous head coach, who now is an assistant with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Bryce Thoma and Ryan Keller completed their first seasons as Saskatoon’s assistant coaches. Of course, Jerome Engele, the other assistant coach, is a Blades lifer.
The Blades have yet to appear in the postseason during the Priestner era. Mike Priestner, who is based in Edmonton, purchased the team prior to the 2013-14 season. The Blades had been the host team for the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament.
This season, they dealt with a number of long-term injuries, but were in the playoff chase right to the final weekend.
Meanwhile, Steve Ewen of Postmedia points out that “Jason McKee is the longest-serving (head) coach that the Vancouver Giants have had among the past four bench bosses. He’s lasted an entire season.”
The Giants missed the playoffs in McKee’s first season behind their bench, but they went all-in for the future at the trade deadline and also paid the price when F Tyler Benson and D Darian Skeoch, two key performers, had their seasons cut short by injuries.
Vancouver is on the outside looking in for a third straight season, and the fourth time in five springs, 
Still, as Ewen writes, “By all accounts, owner Ron Toigo is bringing back McKee, 37, and general manager Glen Hanlon, 60, for a second season. There’s a calm. They need to capitalize on that.”
Ewen’s piece is right here.
McKee has two seasons left on his contract.
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The Spokane Chiefs joined the Vancouver Giants as the other Western Conference team not to make the playoffs. Don Nachbaur, the Chiefs’ head coach and the third-winningest coach in WHL regular-season history, has one season left on his contract.
In the Eastern Conference, the other non-playoff teams are the Edmonton Oil Kings, Kootenay Ice and Prince Albert Raiders.
Steve Hamilton, the Oil Kings’ head coach, signed what was announced as a “multi-year” deal in July 2014, and you would think he isn’t going anywhere. He spent four seasons as an assistant under Derek Laxdal and moved up when Laxdal left for a job with the AHL’s Texas Stars. Hamilton has Oil Kings bloodlines — his father, Al, is a former team captain who also captained the Oilers. The Oil Kings committed to a rebuild when they dealt D Aaron Irving and F Lane Bauer, two key 20-year-olds, at the deadline.
The future of Luke Pierce, who has completed two seasons as head coach of the Kootenay Ice, may hinge on what appears to be the impending sale of the franchise. Pierce signed a three-year contract, so has a year left on his deal. The Ice went young two seasons ago and has paid a steep price, going 26-99-19 during Pierce’s stint in Cranbrook.
In Prince Albert, veteran WHL coach Marc Habscheid has a contract that runs through 2018-19. He took over from the fired Cory Clouston on Nov. 1, 2014.
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Rick Westhead, a senior reporter with TSN, has filed his latest piece on the proposed class-action lawsuits that more than 400 present and former major junior players have filed. The lawyers were in a Calgary courtroom last month and, while there hasn’t been a decision rendered from there just yet, the scene now has shifted to Toronto.
“The Ontario Hockey League says its teams may have to pare back their drug education, anti-doping, concussion management, and medical and dental programs if the league loses a minimum-wage lawsuit, according to a new court filing,” Westhead writes.
“The OHL made the claims days before it appears in Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday to begin a hearing into whether a lawsuit filed against the league by former players should be certified as a class action.”
According to a rebuttal filed by the plaintiffs: “. . . The vast majority of the benefits which the defendants claim are threatened are not true player benefits. It would be impossible for the league to operate without coaches, away games, billeting, equipment, etc. Accordingly, the likelihood of these ‘benefits’ being cut is virtually nil.”
Westhead’s latest story is right here.
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MONDAY-THURSDAY GAMES:

No Games Scheduled.
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FRIDAY GAMES (all times local):

(Game 1, best-of-seven series)
Swift Current at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.
Brandon at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary at Regina, 7 p.m.
Kamloops at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
Victoria at Everett, 7:35 p.m.
Tri-City vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.
Portland at Prince George, 7 p.m.
——

SATURDAY GAMES (all times local):

(Game 2, best-of-seven series)
Red Deer at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.
Swift Current at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.
Brandon at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary at Regina, 7 p.m.
Kamloops at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
Victoria at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
Tri-City vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m.
Portland at Prince George, 7 p.m.

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:21 PM
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Saturday, January 7, 2017

Priestner: "We're absolutely not selling" . . . Two Portland games postponed . . . Warriors win in Regina

F Igor Valeev (Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Swift Current, 1998-2000) has signed for the rest of this season with Chelmet Chelyabinsk (Russia, Vysshaya Liga). Last season, with Kulager Petropavlovsk (Kazakhstan, Kazakh Vysshaya Liga), he had 10 goals and 17 assists in 45 games.
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It sounds as though Colin Priestner, the general manager of the Saskatoon Blades, is tired of the rumours.
This one has Bruce Urban, the owner of the National Lacrosse League’s Bruce Urban working to
purchase the Blades from owner Mike Priestner and his family.
Colin Priestner told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix that it is “the fakes rumour that’s ever got out there.”
The Priestner’s bought the Blades from Jack Brodsky for $9 million in 2013.
““The rumours are just stupid,” Priestner continued. “I didn’t move my family and (team president Steve) Hogle didn’t move his family and all of us, to sell a hockey team. That makes no sense. We’re invested in the community and this team. We bought houses here. We’re raising our families here. It’s just a fake rumour that got out, that somebody made up one day. I don’t know who made it up. You can make up anything. We’re absolutely not selling now or any time.
“We’re all fully committed in the long term. It’s a team that our family plans on owning for generations, not just years.”
The complete StarPhoenix story is right here.
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On Friday, the Kelowna Rockets acquired F Reid Gardiner, 20, from the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for a conditional first-round selection in the 2017 or 2018 WHL bantam draft, a fifth-round pick
in 2017 and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2019. . . . Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier reports that the conditions on that first-round pick involve the Raiders having “to decide on the year at least 15 days in advance of this May’s draft.” . . .
This also was only the second time that Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, has surrendered a first-round bantam draft pick in a trade.
Two years ago, you’ll recall, the Rockets acquired F Leon Draisaitl from the Raiders for a 2015 first-round draft pick, a 2016 fourth-round pick, a conditional fourth-rounder in 2016 or 2017 and two players — F Kris Schmidli and D Dalton Yorke.
With Draisaitl in the lineup, the Rockets went on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and reach the Memorial Cup final.
The Raiders used that 2015 first-round draft pick on F Carson Miller, who had 107 points, including 49 goals, in 31 games with the bantam AA Yorkton Terriers. Miller, 16, has five goals and seven assists in 34 games as a freshman with the Raiders.
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The Portland Winterhawks were forced by inclement weather to postpone a pair of weekend home games. . . . The Everett Silvertips already were in Portland for Saturday’s game when the postponement was announced. Obviously, the WHL and the Winterhawks didn’t want to put fans in the position of having to travel to the game in such conditions. . . . Late Saturday night, immediately after Kamloops had dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Rockets in Kelowna, the Winterhawks announced that a game scheduled for today (Sunday) with the Blazers also had been postponed. The decision was made before the Blazers had left Kelowna for Portland. . . . The games will be played at a date yet to be decided upon. . . . As you can see from the above tweet, it could be that Winterhawks assistant coach Kyle Gustafson maybe didn’t mind the postponements.
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:


At Brandon, F Reid Duke scored three goals and added two assists to help the Wheat Kings to an 8-4 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Duke’s second goal was the 100th of his career. . . . It was Duke’s
REID DUKE
second hat trick this season — he scored four times in an 8-1 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades on Nov. 18. He has four career three-goal games and three games in which he has scored at least five points. . . . F Ty Lewis added a goal and three helpers for Brandon. . . . D Scheel Higson of the Wheat Kings was pointless but finished plus-6. . . . Duke scored his first two goals 12 seconds apart late in the first period to give the home side a 2-0 lead. . . . Calgary F Beck Malenstyn (17) got his guys on the scoreboard at 1:08 of the second period, with Brandon F Connor Gutenberg (8) getting that one back at 10:56. . . . D Vladislav Yeryomenko (3) got Calgary to within one, on a PP, at 16:27. . . . The Wheat Kings then outscored Calgary 5-2 in the third period. . . . Duke got his 23rd goal at 4:23, with F Stelio Mattheos scoring No. 14, on a PP, at 6:02 for a 5-2 lead. . . . The Hitmen scored the next two — F Matteo Gennaro (16), on a PP, at 8:24, and F Carsen Twarynski (10), shorthanded, at 10:37 — to get back to within one. . . . Brandon put it away with the last three goals, as Lewis got No. 21 at 14:31, F Tanner Kaspick scored his 14th at 15:52 and F Cole Reinhardt (3) finished the scoring at 19:40. . . . Kaspick has 34 points in 34 games; last season, he finished with career highs of 12 goals and 18 assists in 53 games. . . . Mattheos and Gutenberg each added an assist, as did Twarynski and Gennaro. . . . G Jordan Papirny stopped 18 shots for Brandon. . . . Calgary got 32 stops from G Kyle Dumba. . . . The Hitmen lost G Cody Porter to an apparent shoulder injury in the second period of Friday’s 6-2 loss to the Pats in Regina. . . . With Porter out, the Hitmen had G Cody Levesque, a sixth-round selection in the 2015 bantam draft, on the bench. From Carnduff, Sask., he played for the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. . . . The Hitmen were 2-2 on the PP; the Wheat Kings were 1-3. . . . Brandon had D Kale Clague back in the lineup after he played for Canada at the World Junior Championship. . . . Brandon F Zach Russell played after sitting out 13 games with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Wheat Kings (20-16-4) have won two in a row and hold down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . The Hitmen (14-19-5) have lost four straight (0-2-2). They are seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . Announced attendance: 4,141.
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At Kelowna, F Kole Lind’s goal in the sixth round of a shootout gave the Rockets a 3-2 victory over the
KOLE LIND
Kamloops Blazers. . . . F Collin Shirley scored for Kamloops in the fourth round, but F Tomas Soustal countered with a goal to keep it going. . . . The Rockets forced OT when F Reid Gardiner scored while shorthanded at 12:31 of the third period. Gardiner, 20, was playing his first game with Kelowna after arriving Friday from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. The Rockets had acquired his rights from the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . F Nick Merkley gave Kelowna a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal, on a PP, at 2:42 of the first period. . . . The Blazers scored twice in the second period. F Rudolfs Balcers (22) tied the game at 4:09 and F Nick Chyzowski (12) gave Kamloops the lead when he scored on a penalty shot with .1 showing on the clock. . . . Kelowna got 26 saves from G Brodan Salmond. . . . G Dylan Ferguson stopped 34 shots in making his 13th straight start for Kamloops. Connor Ingram, who was with Canada at the World Junior Championship, was on the bench. . . . The Rockets were 1-4 on the PP; the Blazers were 0-3. . . . The Blazers beat the visiting Rockets 3-1 on Friday night. . . . The Rockets (24-15-3) had lost their previous four games (0-3-1). They are third in the B.C. Division, two points behind Kamloops. . . . The Blazers (25-15-3) have points in three straight (2-0-1). They are five points behind the division-leading Prince George Cougars, who hold two games in hand. . . . Kamloops was to have ridden the bus to Portland after the game for a Sunday date with the Winterhawks. However, that game has been postponed due to inclement weather. . . .  Announced attendance: 5,751.
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At Lethbridge, G Stuart Skinner stopped 44 shots and F Tyler Wong scored twice as the Hurricanes beat
STUART SKINNER
the Red Deer Rebels, 3-1. . . . F Jordy Bellerive gave Lethbridge a 1-0 lead with his 17th goal, at 10:34 of the first period. . . . Wong upped the lead to 2-0, on a PP, at 4:56 of the second period. . . . Red Deer D Ethan Sakowich (2) got the Rebels close at 7:18 of the second period. . . . Wong put it away with his 28th goal, an empty-netter, at 19:04 of the third period. . . . D Brennan Menell and F Giorgio Estephan each had two assists for the Rebels. . . . Skinner turned aside 17 shots in the second period and 19 in the third. . . . G Riley Lamb stopped 31 shots for Red Deer. . . . F Brandon Hagel (undisclosed injury) and F Michael Spacek (ill) were among Red Deer’s scratches. . . . Lethbridge was 1-4 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-4. . . . The Hurricanes (22-15-5) have won two in a row. They are second in the Central Division, seven points ahead of the Rebels (18-17-6). . . . Announced attendance: 3,547.
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At Medicine Hat, F Steve Owre scored his third goal of the game on a 2-on-0 shorthanded break late in the third period to give the Tigers a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Owre’s 14th goal of the
STEVE OWRE
season came with seven seconds left in regulation time. . . . F James Malm (12) gave the Giants a 1-0 lead at 1:17 of the first period. . . . Medicine Hat F John Dahlstrom (18) tied the score at 18:30. . . . The Giants took a 3-1 lead on second-period goals from F Ty Ronning (16), at 8:33, and F Jack Flaman, at 11:14. . . . Flaman’s 11th goal was the Giants’ first shorthanded score of the season. . . . The Tigers got the next three goals to take a 4-3 lead. Owre scored twice, at 13:05 of the second and 1:07 of the third period. . . . F James Hamblin’s ninth goal, at 6:37, gave the Tigers the lead. . . . Malm’s second goal of the game, on a PP, at 17:55, tied it 4-4. . . . Owre, who recorded his first career hat trick, has 49 points, including 35 assists, in 40 games. That is a single-season career-high in assists. He finished with 52 points in 55 games in 2014-15. . . . Medicine Hat got three assists from F Chad Butcher and two from F Zach Fischer. . . . Malm and Ronning had one each for Vancouver. . . . G Michael Bullion stopped 27 shots for the Tigers. He was making his first start since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Giants got 35 saves from G Ryan Kubic. . . . Vancouver was 1-6 on the PP; Medicine Hat was 0-1. . . . Vancouver is 2-2-0 on an Alberta swing. . . . The Tigers (28-12-1) had lost their previous two games. They lead the Central Division by eight points over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Giants (16-22-3) have lost two in a row, both by one goal. They are eight points out of a playoff spot. . . . Announced attendance: 3,583.
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At Prince George, the Cougars erased a 1-0 deficit with four straight goals en route to a 4-2 victory over
JARED BETHUNE
the Victoria Royals. . . . One night earlier, the Royals had won, 2-1. . . . The Royals took a 1-0 lead when, according to a Victoria tweet, F Jansen Harkins of the Cougars “passes the puck into his own net on a delayed penalty call!” . . . That goal was credited to F Carter Folk (3) at 1:01 of the first period. . . . Harkins tied the score with his 10th goal at 5:42. . . . D Tate Olson (4) gave the Cougars the lead, on a PP, at 10:01 and F Colby McAuley added his 14th goal at 15:30. . . . F Nikita Popugaev (23) added insurance with his first goal since being acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Thursday, at 1:28 of the second peroid. . . . Victoria F Tyler Soy (17) completed the scoring, on a PP, at 10:21 of the third period. . . . F Jared Bethune had two assists for the Cougars, with McAuley adding one. . . . G Ty Edmonds stopped 21 shots for the Cougars, while Victoria’s Griffen Outhouse turned aside 38 shots. . . . Victoria was 1-4 on the PP; Prince George was 1-5. . . . The Cougars improved to 28-11-2. They are second in the overall standings, three points behind the Regina Pats. . . . The Royals (22-16-4) had points in their previous six games (5-0-1). They hold down the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot and are fourth in the B.C. Division, three points out of third. . . . Announced attendance: 4,335.
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At Regina, G Zach Sawchenko stopped 39 shots and F Jayden Halbgewachs scored twice to lead the
JAYDEN HALBGEWACHS
Moose Jaw Warriors to a 4-1 victory over the Pats. . . . That left the Pats’ home record at 15-1-4. . . . Goals from F Tristin Langan (4) and Halbgewachs, at 2:17 and 3:10 of the first period, gave the visitors a 2-0 lead. . . . Regina F Sam Steel’s 31st goal cut the deficit to one at 12:12. . . . The Warriors regained the two-goal lead when F Brett Howden scored No. 20, on a PP, at 14:06 of the second period. . . . Halbgewachs scored his WHL-leading 37th into an empty net at 18:53 of the third period. . . . The Warriors got two assists from F Brayden Burke, while Howden had one. . . . Sawchenko improved his record to 17-4-5. . . . Regina G Tyler Brown blocked 34 shots. . . . Moose Jaw was 1-3 on the PP; Regina was 0-1. . . . This was the fourth of eight meetings between the teams this season — the Pats are 2-2-0; the Warriors are 2-1-1. . . . The Pats had D Sergey Zborovskiy (Russia) and F Filip Ahl (Sweden) in their lineup after both played at the World Junior Championship. . . . The Warriors (25-9-7) are 5-0-2 in their last seven games and have closed to within four points of the East Division-leading Pats. . . . Regina (27-4-7) had points in each of its previous seven games (6-0-1). It leads the overall standings by three points over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Announced attendance: 6,484, a sixth straight sellout.
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At Saskatoon, G Rylan Parenteau stopped 25 shots to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 2-0 victory over
RYLAN PARENTEAU
the Blades. . . . That is the first shutout this season for the Americans and came in Parenteau’s hometown. . . . He has four career shutouts, the first three last season with the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . F Morgan Geekie gave the Americans a 1-0 lead with his 22nd goal, at 17:29 of the first period. . . . F Nolan Yaremko’s fourth goal, on a PP, iced the victory at 19:54 of the third period. . . . The Blades got 33 saves from G Logan Flodell. . . . The Americans were 1-4 on the PP; the Blades were 0-4. . . . The Americans (24-17-3) have won two in a row to open their six-game East Division swing. They are second in the U.S. Division, six points behind the Everett Silvertips. . . . The Blades (15-22-6) have lost two in a row. They were blanked 4-0 by the Warriors in Moose Jaw on Friday. . . . Saskatoon is four points out of a playoff spot. . . . Announced attendance: 3,274.
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At Spokane, F Reed Morison scored the only goal of a nine-round shootout to give the Kootenay Ice a 3-
REED MORISON
2 victory over the Chiefs. . . . Morrison, an 18-year-old freshman from Calgary, has yet to score in 33 games this season. He has one goal in 44 career games, that coming in one of the four games he played last season. . . . F Matt Alfaro (11) scored shorthanded to give the Ice a 1-0 lead at 19:35 of the first period. . . . F Keanu Yamamoto (16) pulled the Chiefs into a 1-1 tie, on a PP, at 18:15 of the second period. . . . The Ice took the lead 1:27 later when F Michael King scored his second goal of the season. . . . The Chiefs tied it again at 7:57 of the third period when F Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored No. 19. . . . Yamamoto and Anderson-Dolan each added an assist. . . . Spokane F Hudson Elynuik picked up one assist, giving him 45 points in 35 games. Last season, he finished with 44 points in 56 games. . . . G Jakob Walter stopped 45 shots through OT for the Ice. . . . Spokane G Jayden Sittler turned aside 21 shots. . . . Spokane was 1-6 on the PP; Kootenay was 0-6. . . . The Ice improved to 9-24-8. . . . The Chiefs (17-16-7) had won their previous two games. They are two points out of a wild-card spot. . . . On Friday night, the Chiefs beat the host Ice, 4-1. . . . Announced attendance: 5,373.
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At Swift Current, the Broncos erased a 1-0 deficit with three straight goals and went on to a 5-2 victory
TYLER STEENBERGEN
over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . D Kolten Olynek (8) gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead at 11:02 of the first period. . . . The Broncos took control with goals from F Calvin Spencer (10), at 13:54, F Arthur Miller (5), at 19:28, and F Ryan Graham (12), at 1:24 of the third period. . . . F Simon Stransky’s 13th goal, on a PP, pulled the Raiders to within one at 6:20. . . . Broncos F Tyler Steenbergen became the league’s third 30-goal man, at 12:51 of the third period, and F Aleksi Heponiemi wrapped it up with his 12th goal, at 16:56. . . . Steenbergen, Heponiemi and Spencer added an assist each. . . . Swift Current got 24 saves from G Taz Burman, while Ian Scott stopped 33 at the other end. . . . The Raiders were 1-3 on the PP; the Broncos were 0-4. . . . Swift Current (23-12-7) is third in the East Division, four points behind the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Raiders (8-31-3) have lost six in a row (0-5-1). . . . Announced attendance: 1,870.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Medicine Hat at Edmonton, 4 p.m.
Vancouver vs. Kootenay, at Cranbrook, B.C., 4 p.m.
Kamloops at Portland, postponed, weather.
Seattle at Spokane, 5:05 p.m.

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:52 PM
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