Cool Bird proves he can fly on Wednesday at KeyArena in Seattle.
(Photo courtesy Seattle Thunderbirds)

THE COACHING GAME:
The Lethbridge Hurricanes have exercised the option on general manager/head coach Rich Preston’s contract, meaning he now has two years left. Yes, he is signed through 2013-14. . . . Which takes care of rumours that he was soon to join the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings as an assistant coach under old friend Darryl Sutter. . . .
The OHL’s Soo Greyhounds have signed Joe Cirella to a two-year deal as an assistant coach. Cirella is a former OHL and NHL defenceman who captained the Oshawa Generals to the 1983 OHL title. . . . He later went on to a 14-year NHL career. . . . He has worked as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Florida Panthers (1997-98) and has spent seven seasons as an assistant with the Generals, which is where he was for the last two seasons. . . . In Sault Ste. Marie, Cirella will work alongside head coach Mike Stapleton and fellow assistants Mike Oliverio and Seamus Kotyk. . . .
The Edmonton Oil Kings have re-signed Randy Hansch, the assistant general manager and director of player personnel, and assistant coach Steve Hamilton. . . . Hansch, a former goaltender, joined the Oil Kings after spending 15 seasons with the Kamloops Blazers. He has been with Edmonton since before it took part in an expansion draft in 2007. . . . Hamilton has spent two seasons with the Oil Kings. Prior to that, he was the GM/head coach of the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints for four seasons. . . . The length of the contracts wasn’t disclosed. . . .
Ryan Mougenel, the head coach of the ECHL’s Las Vegas Wranglers, was involved in an attempt to save a man from drowning in Boston on Thursday. . . . Ed Hauth of the Las Vegas Sun has that story right here.
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D Kevin Smith, who played 286 regular-season and playoff games in his WHL career, has decided to go to the U of British Columbia and play for the Thunderbirds. Smith, who is from North Vancouver, split last season between the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and the BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies.
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F Mason Wilgosh, who played five seasons in the WHL, will attend the U of Prince Edward Island and play for the Panthers. The Charlottetown-based Panthers play in Atlantic University Sport. . . . Wilgosh, from Winnipeg, played out his WHL eligibility last season with the Tri-City Americans. He had 38 points in 59 games.
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F Brenden Silvester, who played 159 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds (2007-10), is headed for Simon Fraser University where he will play for the school’s British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League team.
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Cool Bird, the Seattle Thunderbirds’ mascot, attended the Seattle Storm’s Kid’s Day game on Wednesday.
The Storm, a WNBA team, was playing host to the Atlanta Dream.
According to Ian Henry, the Thunderbirds’ media guru, Cool Bird “took part in media timeouts and halftime promotions, including a dunk contest with other mascots.”
Henry added that he was told the game, at KeyArena, was sold out.
The game began at noon and is a big promotion involving chidren’s summer camps and youth groups getting in through special ticket offers.
The KeyArena was home to the Thunderbirds before they moved to Kent.
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The Buffalo Sabres have signed Latvian F Zemgus Girgensons, 18, who ws the 14th overall selection in the NHL’s 2012 draft. Girgensons played last season with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and had committed to the U of Vermont. By signing a pro contract, of course, he has forsaken his NCAA eligibility. . . . Girgensons WHL rights are held by the Kelowna Rockets, who selected him in the CHL’s 2011 import draft. However, it is unlikely that Girgensons will ever see Kelowna. Because he was drafted out of the USHL and because he has never played in the CHL, he is eligible to play with Buffalo’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. . . . Girgensons had 104 points, including 45 goals, and 115 penalty minutes in 100 USHL regular-season games over two seasons.
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If you’re a baseball fan, you are aware that the Washington Nationals plan to shut down pitcher Steven Strasburg at around 160 innings, which should happen in early September. This has become one of the biggest talking points in Major League Baseball this season. Everyone has an opinion. Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post explains right here why this is the right thing to do.
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The can of worms opened just a little bit wider on Thursday when the Michigan Daily released this statement:
“On June 28 The Michigan Daily published an article on its website that said hockey player Jacob Trouba was considering an offer to play for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. The article was updated to include further developments on July 2, July 3 and July 4. The Rangers and the Trouba family have denied the offer, and the Rangers have threatened legal action. The Daily stands behind the story and the reporter, Matt Slovin. The Daily will respond to threats of legal action in an appropriate fashion.”
To go back, Slovin’s original story claimed, via an OHL source, that the Rangers had come up with a $200,000 package in an attempt to entice Trouba, a first-round selection by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2012 NHL draft, to Kitchener instead of the U of Michigan.
The Rangers, a community-owned team, was quick with the denials. The Trouba family quickly issued a statement saying that Matt was going to Michigan and would play for the Wolverines.
The Rangers also threatened legal action if there wasn’t a retraction.
The retraction never came.
On Tuesday, the Waterloo Region Record reported that the Rangers did indeed visit court and filed a suit seeking $500,000 in general damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.” The suit was filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kitchener.
The blog United States of Hockey summed it up this way:
“The Rangers may be backed into a corner now into where they have to stand by their word and pursue this case despite the fact that it is unlikely they will be able to collect damages. This is due to the SPEECH Act protecting U.S. media outlets from foreign libel/defamation judgments so long as the report satisfies First Amendment standards. Should the Daily lose the case, most likely the worst that will happen is the defendants would be denied entry into Canada due to the outstanding judgment (via Student Press Law Center).
“This case has so many different angles of importance from how the Canadian Hockey League’s member leagues and clubs do their business to NCAA vs. CHL recruitment to journalism ethics and ‘libel tourism.’ The eyes of more than just the hockey world will be fixed on this case.”
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If you’re a fan of the Boston Red Sox, well, this doesn’t appear to be your season. And it sure looks like the snowball is gathering speed as it tumbles down the hill. Right here is a piece by veteran baseball write Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com on the trials and tribulations of the BoSox and manager Bobby Valentine.



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A look at some Seattle Thunderbirds merchandise displayed
on a fleece blanket. Each season-ticket holder receives a blanket.

Marketing.
It is a word that is often heard around and throughout the WHL.
Should a team “market” while it is on the upside of the curve of success?
Or should it “market” during the seasons when it struggles on the ice and, in the successful seasons, let the winning do the “marketing” for it?
But what is “marketing?” Or is it another word for “promoting?”
The Seattle Thunderbirds left their long-time home during the 2008-09 season and moved into the brand new ShoWare Centre in Kent, Wash.
This season, although the team has struggled on the ice and is scuffling to make the playoffs in the 10-team Western Conference, attendance is up markedly over last season.
Like the chicken or the egg, or why the chicken crossed the road, you could argue for ages on why the Thunderbirds’ attendance is up that much.
But one thing you can’t argue about is how hard the team works to attract fans.
Ian Henry, the Thunderbirds’ director of public and media relations, says that his organization feels “we have the best marketing and promotional materials in not just the U.S. Division, but the entire WHL.”
You can bet there are other WHL teams that will take issue with that statement, but that’s not the point here. The point of this is to try and provide you with some idea of how hard teams work to attract and keep fans.


A Colin Jacobs' children's t-shirt.

Henry provided a list showing some of the special nights and items that have been made available during the Thunderbirds’ 2010-11 schedule. Taken individually, it might not seem like such a big deal — one game on one night with some kind of giveaway.
But when you look at the overall package, you start to realize what a huge production one WHL season is for some of these teams.
This season, here’s a quick look at some of what the Thunderbirds have done:
Sept. 25 — The first 6,000 fans received a T-Birds train whistle; all fans received a magnetic schedule.
Oct. 16 and Jan. 14 — The first 1,000 children received BECU T-Birds beanies. (BECU is a community credit union.)
For the games of Nov. 19, Jan. 21 and March 11, fans were able to purchase 10 tickets, 10 Pub Night t-shirts and 10 beers for $200.
On Nov. 20, the first 4,000 fans received Valley Medical Center T-Birds scarves.
On Nov. 27, the first 3,000 fans each got a bobblehead of goaltender Calvin Pickard. On Jan. 1, the handout, to the first 1,000 children, was a Colin Jacobs t-shirt.
Rather than do up sets of player cards, the Thunderbirds and the University of Phoenix chose to have the players photos put o playing cards. And the first 3,000 fans who showed up Feb. 5 each received a deck of cards.
If you were at the Thunderbirds’ game on Feb. 12, you will be aware that everyone in attendance received Valley Medical Center Thunderstix.
All fans attending the game on March 12 will receive a team poster, sponsored by Sterling Savings and Valley Medical Center.
On March 19, each of the first 2,500 fans through the doors will receive a University of Phoenix T-Birds umbrella.

Cool Bird bobblehead.

The Thunderbirds also cut a promotional deal with State Farm and had magnets made up that feature a different player on each one. They made a series of seven of these, each featuring a different player, and handed them out on Oct. 26, Nov. 2, Nov. 30 Dec. 14, Dec. 28, Jan. 18 and Feb. 1. These went to the first 2,500 fans at six games, the first 3,000 at another.
On top of all that, every fan in Calvin’s Corner, which includes 50 seats, receives a neon green cap. The Thunderbirds also have a children’s birthday party package with each participand receiving a blue Thunderbirds cap.
Meanwhile, if you purchased a season-ticket you received a T-Birds fleece blanket and a T-Birds license place holder.
And if you happened to purchase a 2010-11 Holiday Flex Pack, you received a Cool Bird Bobblehead — Cool Bird being the team’s mascot.
Phew!
And that doesn’t include the Thunderbirds’ calendar.
Keep in mind, too, that this stuff doesn’t happen overnight. Someone in the front office doesn’t wake up on game day and say, “Hmm! We should hand out Calvin Pickard bobbleheads tonight.”



Even the Calvin Pickard bobblehead makes the save!

The decision to have a bobblehead night has to be made months in advance. As Henry explained, a prototype has to be approved and production will take about six weeks. Most likely, the items are produced overseas, perhaps in China, so there is shipping time to take into consideration.Henry also explained that a decision has to be made on whether you have one bobblehead night or three or four. Let’s say you order 4,000 bobbleheads -- do you have one night and hand out one to each of the first 4,000 fans; or, do you have four nights and give one to each of the first 1,000 fans?

The Kamloops Blazers will hold the first bobblehead night in franchise history tonight when the Lethbridge Hurricanes are at Interior Savings Centre. The first 3,000 fans through the doors will receive Jarome Iginla bobbleheads. The team also made the decision to hold back what a press release described as “a limited quantity” and sell them during the last three regular-season games. Iginla, of course, played for the Blazers and is one of the team’s five owners.

The Blazers are coming off the largest crowd of their season. They drew 5,527 fans on Wednesday night. That was 900 people more than showed up for a Dec. 28 game against the Vancouver Giants.

The Wednesday crowed raised the Blazers’ average attendance this season from 4,084 to 4,130 fans per game.

And how did they do that?

Through marketing. It was the second annual First Nations Night, and the Stanley Cup was in the house.