Curtis Valk is another former member of the Medicine Hat Tigers to with connections to the Vancouver Canucks.
When the Canucks drafted Tigers' forward Hunter Shinkaruk with the 24th selection in the 2013 NHL draft, it seems to have started a trend.
At the time Shinkaruk was selected, Mike Gillis was entering his sixth season as Vancouver's president and general manager. But after the Canucks weren't able to exceed expectations and missed the playoffs, he, head coach John Tortorella and associate coach Mike Sullivan, all were relieved of their duties.
At the same time, the relationship between the Canucks and their fans was clearly damaged.
So, it was time to add someone who had a strong connection with the team and someone whom the Vancouver faithful had trust in to turn the franchise around.
That person is Trevor Linden.
He had spent three seasons with the Tigers, and another 16 with the Canucks. Throughout his time with Vancouver, he had become one of the most respected sports figures the city has ever had.
While the relationship with the fans may take a while to get back to where it was, filling the presidential position was complete.
The Canucks still needed a general manager, though.
They officially announced the hiring of Jim Benning on May 21. He had spent seven seasons with the Boston Bruins as their assistant general manager.
No, he didn't have any previous history with the Tigers.
What he did have, though, was a connection with Linden. The two played for the Canucks in 1988-89 and 1989-90.
With the vacancies in the Canucks' management filled, they still had to do the same with their coaching staff.
Vancouver named Willie Desjardins as its head coach on June 23.
It had to be patient in order to be granted an interview with the 57-year-old, as he was the head coach of the AHL's Texas Stars, who battled all the way to the Calder Cup final. They went up against the St. John's IceDogs in a best-of-seven series, and defeated them in five games to win the championship.
After Desjardins was named the head coach of the Canucks, he decided to bring Doug Lidster, one of his assistant coaches in Texas, to Vancouver in the same role.
It just happens that, prior to running the same bench in Texas, the duo coached together with the Tigers in 2002-03. Desjardins would spend seven more seasons with the team, while Lidster took a promotion and became the head coach of the OHL's Saginaw Spirit the following season.
With such a strong presence in the Canucks organization that had a track record with Medicine Hat, it didn't come as much of a surprise when they invited Valk to their development camp in July.
He was in his last season with the Tigers in 2013-14 and ended up with 92 points, including 45 goals.
Earlier, Valk dressed for four games with Medicine Hat in Desjardins' last season with the Tigers in 2009-10.
For the 21-year-old, earning an invite from Vancouver meant that he would be on the Canucks' roster for the annual Young Stars tournament in Penticton, B.C.
This was an opportunity for the Canucks to allow media, and management to see how their prospects compete with the futures of the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets.
“You train all summer, you train hard,” Desjardins told the prospects prior to playing the Edmonton Oilers in the tournament opener for both teams on Friday. “You got to be excited about getting to play to see where you are at. Especially as a coach, you always wonder how guys have (improved) over the summer. You can make a difference in your summer training in terms of where you are at.
“So I think for the guys that are here, you can make a name and spot for yourself, and maybe get yourself on a different line or whatever. I encourage you to go hard. A couple things that the organization is about is pretty simple. We're about winning, and we're about playing hard. Winning will take care of itself if you play hard so just focus on playing hard. Good luck at the tournament and I look forward to watching you.”
Valk, a 21-year-old Medicine Hat native, took Desjardins' words to heart.
He scored two goals, as the Canucks lost 4-3 in overtime.
“It was a good game for myself,” Valk stated. “I think there is still room for improvement, though. I think for myself and the team, we got off to a little bit of s slow start and it seemed to cost us in this one.”
Some observers may consider the Young Stars tournament as an opportunity to simply get back into game action.
Not Valk.
"I think it's just a huge opportunity to make an impression,” he said. “I think that my job here in Penticton is to prove that I deserve to play at this level and I am just going to try to do that.”
So far, so good.
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opportunity to chat with him. And guess what? Holden says his junior team, the Chilliwack Bruins, would have survived just fine had the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat not arrived on the Lower Mainland hockey scene. . . . That piece is 
The Vancouver Canucks inducted former general manager Pat Quinn into their Ring of Honour on Sunday. Ed Willes, a sports columnist with the Vancouver Province, wrote a column on Quinn that appeared in Sunday’s paper. Buried deep in that piece was a quote from Ron Toigo, the majority owner of the Vancouver Giants, that is rather interesting. It seems that Quinn, a minority owner with the Giants, isn’t all that enamoured with the Giants’ style of play of late.
D Ryan Pulock of the Brandon Wheat Kings will finish his season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders. Pulock was a first-round selection, 15th overall, by the Islanders in the 2013 NHL draft. . . . Pulock played his first game with the Sound Tigers on Monday night, going pointless in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Adirondack Phantoms.
The Moose Jaw Warriors’ two main hockey men will be back in 2014-15. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reported late Sunday, via Twitter, that general manager Alan Millar and head coach Mike Stothers, each of whom is believed to have one year left on his contract, were “given a vote of confidence by the MJ Warriors’ board.” . . . Gourlie also reported that assistant coach Mike Vandenberg won’t be back, as he leaves to focus on business interests. . . . According to Gourlie, assistant coach Mark O’Leary will be Stothers’ “main assistant coach” next season. . . . The Warriors (21-42-9) finished 10th in the 12-team Eastern Conference and missed the playoffs for a second straight season. . . . Millar has been with the Warriors through four seasons. Stothers just completed his third season as head coach.
entertain any thoughts of making a playoff appearance.
In Lethbridge, the Medicine Hat Tigers scored the game’s first four goals and went on to beat the Hurricanes, 6-2. . . . The game had been postponed from Friday due to water-related problems in Lethbridge. . . . F Curtis Valk scored his 47th goal for the Tigers, giving him career highs in goals and points (92). . . . D Connor Hobbs, who turned 17 on Jan. 4, scored his first WHL goal for the Tigers. From Saskatoon, he scored in his 10th game. . . . F Riley Sheen had a goal, his 19th, and an assist for the Hurricanes. . . . Tigers G Nick Schneider stopped 24 shots as he improved his record to 6-0-0 since coming over from the Regina Pats in a swap. With the Tigers, the 16-year-old from Leduc, Alta., is 1.42, .943. . . . The Tigers had beaten the visiting Hurricanes 6-3 on Saturday. . . . The Tigers (44-24-4) are the Eastern Conference’s No. 4 seed and will meet the Swift Current Broncos in the first round. . . . Lethbridge (12-55-5) finished the season on a 14-game losing skid and with the poorest record in franchise history. Previously, the poorest season had been by the Winnipeg Jets, who were 16-42-10 (that’s 10 ties) in 1972-73. The poorest record in Lethbridge came in 1987-88 when the Hurricanes, in their first season there after moving from Calgary where they had been the Wranglers, went 20-48-4 (that’s four ties). . . . The Hurricanes, who wound up with 37 fewer points than last season, are out of the playoffs for a fifth straight season. . . .
In Edmonton, G Patrik Bartosak stopped 20 shots as the Red Deer Rebels beat the Oil Kings 5-0 to force a tiebreaker game for eight place in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Rebels and Prince Albert Raiders will meet in Red Deer on Tuesday night. The winner will go on to play the Oil Kings in the first round of the playoffs with the series opening in Edmonton on Saturday. . . . The WHL last had to go to a tiebreaker prior to the 2009 playoffs. The Oil Kings beat the Raiders 2-1 in OT in that one. F Rhett Rachinski won that one at 8:54 of OT. . . . Bartosak finished this season with seven shutouts; he has 13 in his career. He also is the Rebels’ career leader in saves,having passed Mike Whitney (1994-98) on Sunday. . . . F Rhyse Dieno had a goal, his 25th, and two assists for Red Deer, which opened the scoring at 1:25 of the first period when F Adam Musil got his 11th. He also had an assist. . . . F Wyatt Johnson and F Scott Feser also had a goal and an assist each. Johnson has 14 goals; Feser has 15. . . . Among the Oil Kings scratches were big guns Henrik Samuelsson, Curtis Lazar and Edgars Kulda, along with D Griffin Reinhart and starting G Tristan Jarry. . . . The Oil Kings had a three-game winning skein end. . . .
In Portland, F Nic Petan scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Winterhawks beat the Everett Silvertips, 5-4. . . . Portland D Derrick Pouliot and Everett F Josh Winquist exchanged goals, before Petan won it in the fourth round. . . . Portland F Taylor Leier, who scored twice, forced OT with a shorthanded goal at 8:13 of the third period. He finished with 37 goals. . . . Petan had a goal, his 35th, and an assist. He finished with 113 points, five away from Spokane Chiefs F Mitch Holmberg, who won the scoring title. . . . Portland F Brendan Leipsic, who shared the scoring title with Petan last season, each with 120 points, finished with 91 points, including 39 goals. . . . The Winterhawks, who have won seven in a row, took a 2-0 lead into the second period, only to have Everett, which is 9-0-2 in its last 11, tie it. . . . Petan gave Portland the lead again at 11:47 of the second, but Everett got goals from D Matt Pufahl, his 15th, and F Josh Winquist to go out front, 4-3. . . . Winquist scored twice as he finished with 47 this season and 101 in his career. He also finished with 93 points this season, tying the franchise’s single-season record set by F Zach Hamill in 2006-07. . . . Portland G Adin Hill stopped 17 shots. . . . Everett G Carter Hart, who came on for Austin Lotz after the first period, turned aside 30 shots through OT. . . . The Winterhawks (54-13-5) finished five points behind the Kelowna Rockets, who were atop the overall standings. Defending-champion Portland, which won 28 of its last 29 regular-season games, will meet the Vancouver Giants in the first round. . . . The Silvertips (39-23-10) had moved into fourth place in the conference on Saturday night, but the stay was short-lived. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., D Shea Theodore scored twice and added an assist as the Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Tri-City Americans, 6-1. . . . Theodore set a franchise record for career goals by a defenceman when he scored his second of the season. That was the No. 45, one more than Deron Quint (1993-95). . . . Theodore scored 22 times this season. . . . Seattle F Mathew Barzal, the first overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft, had one assist. He finished his 16-year-old season with 54 points, including 14 goals, in 59 games. . . . The game featured two penalty shots, with Seattle F Branden Troock unsuccessful against Tri-City G Evan Sarthou in the second period and Tri-City F Parker Bowles unable to beat Seattle G Taran Kozun in the third. . . . Tri-City F Morgan Geekie, who is from Strathclair, Man., scored his first WHL goal in his first game. He signed with the Americans earlier in the week. . . . Seattle (41-25-6) and Everett have never met in the playoffs. Until now, that is. . . . The Americans (29-33-10) will face the Kelowna Rockets in the first round. . . . Following Sunday’s game, F Donovan Neuls, an eight-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft, tweeted that he had signed with the Thunderbirds. Neuls, who turns 17 on Oct. 24, is from Melville, Sask. He played this season with the midget AAA Moose Jaw Generals.
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