Showing posts with label James Patrick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Patrick. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Ice signs veteran NHL assistant ... Hitmen, Royals need head coaches ... Chiefs sign two prospects


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 F Juraj Hollý (Calgary, 2010-11) has signed a one-year contract with Liptovský Mikuláš (Slovakia, Extraliga). This season, in 22 games with Hermes Kokkola (Finland, Mestis) he was 2.63 and.904.
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Four days after firing Luke Pierce, the Kootenay Ice named James Patrick the eighth head coach in franchise history on Tuesday morning.
Pierce, 33, had been the Ice’s head coach for two seasons.
Patrick, who will turn 54 on June 14, signed a three-year contract.
He has spent the past 11 seasons as an NHL assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres (2006-13) and
JAMES PATRICK
Dallas Stars (2013-17), working alongside head coach Lindy Ruff in both stops. The Stars announced on April 9 that Ruff’s contract wouldn’t be renewed. At the same time, they chose not to extend Patrick’s deal.
While Pierce came to Cranbrook with six years as a junior coach under his belt — he had been the general manager and head coach of the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials — Patrick has little in the way of junior hockey experience.
Patrick is from Winnipeg, as are Ice owners Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell. However, Patrick told Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun right here that is simply a coincidence.
Patrick played for the SJHL’s Prince Albert Raiders (1980-81) then moved on to the U of North Dakota for two seasons. He followed that up with a season with Canada’s national team, then moved on to an NHL career that took him through 2003-04 and featured stints with the New York Rangers, who selected him with the ninth overall pick of the 1981 NHL draft, Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames and Buffalo. A defenceman, he had 149 goals and 490 assists in 1,280 regular-season games.
After playing with the DEL’s Frankfurt Lions in 2005-06, Patrick retired and joined the Sabres’ coaching staff.
According to a news release from the Ice, Patrick is familiar with the East Kootenay region as he has owned a condo “near Fernie for the last 20 years.”
Patrick is an uncle to F Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings, who is expected to be one of the first two selections when the NHL draft opens in Chicago on June 23. Nolan’s father, Steve, a former WHL and NHL player, and James are brothers.
In fact, it was through watching Nolan’s games via video over the past three seasons that apparently got James interested in the WHL. He told Brad McLeod of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman that “I tried to watch the majority of his games when I could, and I really got familiar with the league.
“I started seeing what a high level of play it was. So many teams play really similar to NHL teams with their structure and systems.”
Having been moved out by the Stars, Patrick got in touch with Kelly McCrimmon, who owns the Wheat Kings and also is the assistant GM with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. Patrick was looking see in what direction the Knights were going with their coaching staff; McCrimmon put Patrick in touch with Cockell, the Ice’s president and GM who once was the Wheat Kings’ goaltending coach.
One thing led to another and Patrick now is the Ice’s head coach.
The Ice has been rebuilding for a couple of seasons now and has finished with the WHL’s poorest record in each of the past two seasons.
Fettes and Cockell purchased the franchise from the Chynoweth family following the end of this season.
McLeod’s complete story is right here.
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Three WHL teams have hired head coaches since the end of the 2016-17 regular season and two teams — the Calgary Hitmen and Victoria Royals — still have vacancies.
It’s interesting to note that each of the three teams that has made a hire has gone in a different direction from the other two.
Of those three teams, the Spokane Chiefs are the only one to have turned to someone with WHL coaching experience. The Chiefs announced Monday that Dan Lambert is their new head coach, replacing Don Nachbaur, who had been there for seven seasons. Lambert was introduced to fans and media in Spokane on Tuesday afternoon.
Lambert spent five seasons as an assistant coach with the Kelowna Rockets and was their head coach in 2014-15 when they won a WHL title. He spent 2015-16 as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and this season as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.
Meanwhile, the Everett Silvertips announced on May 15 that they had hired Dennis Williams as head coach, replacing Kevin Constantine whose contract wasn’t renewed after four seasons of a second go-round in Everett. While Williams doesn’t have any WHL experience, he spent the past seven seasons coaching the USHL’s Bloomington Thunder (2014-18) and NAHL’s Amarillo Bulls (2010-14), both junior franchises.
The Bulls, Thunder and Silvertips are owned by CSH International Inc., the sports division of The Monarch Corporation, which is headquartered in Medicine Hat under the leadership of Bill Yuill, the chairman and CEO. Williams had two years left on his contract when he was named the Silvertips’ head coach. Jesse Geleynse of the Everett Herald reported that 
Williams got a four-year deal from the Silvertips.
On Tuesday, the Kootenay Ice announced that it has signed James Patrick as its head coach. Patrick, a former NHL player and assistant coach, has never been a head coach and hasn’t been associated with a junior team since 1980-81 when he was a defenceman with the SJHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. He was teammates with Lindy Ruff for three seasons with the NHL’s New York Rangers, then spent a total of 11 seasons as an NHL assistant, seven with the Buffalo Sabres and four with the Dallas Stars, all of them with Ruff as the head coach.
The Chiefs didn’t reveal any of Lambert’s contract details, while the Ice announced that Patrick has a three-year deal.
Now the spotlight falls on the Calgary Hitmen, who are looking to replace Mark French, who has signed to coach in Switzerland, and the Victoria Royals must replace Dave Lowry, who has signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
Interestingly, there had been speculation of late that the Royals were interested in Lambert.
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The WHL had at least part of its 2017-18 exhibition schedule on its website on Tuesday, but it all disappeared later in the day. . . . The OHL and QMJHL already have released their 2017-18 regular-season schedules. The WHL won’t release its schedule until some time after its annual general meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Vancouver, June 13 and 14.
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The Spokane Chiefs signed a pair of 2017 prospects on Tuesday — F Jack Finley and D Tyson Feist. . . . Finley, who will turn 15 on Sept. 2, was the sixth overall selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. From Kelowna, he is the son of former NHL D Jeff Finley, who now is the Detroit Red Wings’ chief amateur scout. Jack had 48 points, 23 of them goals, in 27 games with the Kelowna-based Pursuit of Excellence bantam prep team this season. . . . Feist, 16, was an invitee to the Chiefs’ 2016 training camp and was placed on their protected list in September. From Dawson Creek, B.C., he was 5-foot-10 at training camp and grew to 6-foot-2 during the season. He had three goals and 14 assists in 30 games with the Pursuit of Excellence Elite 15s.
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BCHLThe BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks are looking for an assistant coach following the departure of Darrell Hay. The son of long-time WHL head coach Don Hay, Darrell spent one season with the Silverbacks. . . . Hay, 37, played four seasons (1996-2000) with the Tri-City Americans before going on to a pro career that included seven seasons in Europe. He retired after two seasons (2014-16) with the Sheffield Steelers of the Elite Ice Hockey League. . . . The Silverbacks announced Hay’s departure two days after he was married. . . . Interestingly, the Kamloops Blazers, with Don Hay as the head coach, are in the market for an assistant coach after Terry Bangen left to join the expansion Worcester, Mass., Railers of the ECHL. However, according to Salmon Arm’s news release, Hay “will be moving back to Colorado this fall.”
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I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:58 PM
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Prince Albert Raiders will add four ex-players to their Wall of Honour on Feb. 18 as they play host to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Peter Anholt, James Patrick, Ken Baumgartner and Mike Modano will be added to the wall as the Raiders continue to celebrate their 40th anniversary season.
No one deserves this more than Anholt, a defenceman who played on three Centennial Cup (now RBC Cup) champions and later returned as an assistant coach and later worked as the club’s head coach.
Patrick, also a defenceman, played one season with the Raiders (1980-81), helping the team win its third Centennial Cup. He was named junior A player of the year and also was the Centennial Cup MVP and an all-star.
Baumgartner, also a defenceman, was a physical presence of mythical proportions from 1983-86, including the Memorial Cup-championship season of 1984-85. Legend has it that Baumgartner often would skate into post-whistle scrums with the words: “Daddy’s home.” . . . He was the Raiders’ Scholastic player of the year in 1985 and 1986. Fans seated near the penalty box in Medicine Hat would bring text books to games and pretend to be reading them whenever Baumgartner was sent off, which happened quite frequently.
Modano, a centre, put up 294 points in 176 games with the Raiders (1986-89). His third season was cut short when he suffered a broken scaphoid during the WHL all-star game in Brandon. One of the best players ever to play in the WHL, Modano was taken first overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the NHL‘s 1988 draft.
The Raiders also will add four builders to the Wall of Honour -- the Booster Club, which was formed in 1975; Steve Peneff, a former trainer (1972-84) and volunteer; John Holash, a long-time fan and supporter who was instrumental in bringing some international games to Prince Albert in the early 1990s, which benefited the Raiders financially; and, the Bring Back the Magic Campaign committee that worked so hard on raising money so that the Comuniplex could be renovated in order to meet WHL requirements. Included on that committee were Ab Pellegrini, Vic Lemieux, Gary Anderson, Craig Mitchell, Joe Barczai and Bob Twyver.
(Thanks to Craig Mitchell for pointing out this announcement.)
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Sometimes common sense does prevail. . . . The Ontario Minor Hockey Association has lifted the suspension of Peterborough coach Greg Walsh. He is the coach who took his team off the ice after one of his players was the object of a racial slur. The Toronto Sun story is right here.
Veteran hockey writer Terry Doyle examines the situation right here.
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F Nino Niederreiter of the Portland Winterhawks is looking forward to playing for Swizterland at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo. Katie Strang of Newsday has more on her blog right here.
After Switzerland’s performance last season, Neiderreiter and Co. may have been thinking a medal would be within reach this time around. However, the Swiss won’t be sneaking up on anyone this time around. Last night, they lost 8-0 to Canada in an exhibition game.
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The NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers have signed Joe Paterson as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms. John Paddock had been serving as head coach since Nov. 8, when Greg Gilbert was fired. At that time, Paterson joined the Phantoms as an assistant coach. He was scoouting for the Atlanta Thrashers before getting back into coaching. Paddock now returns to his duties as the Flyers’ assistant GM. . . . How small is the hockey world? Paterson last coached in 2008-09 with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, whose head coach was Greg Gilbert. . . . The Spokane Chiefs should sleep well over the Christmas break. They are 11-2-4 in their last 17 games, which followed an 8-8-1 start. . . . Lost in the rush for Christmas was Spokane head coach Don Nachbaur’s 450th career victory. He is tied with Peter Anholt for eighth on the all-time list. . . . Nachbaur would never admit it, but you can bet that the fact No. 450 came against the Vancouver Giants -- the host Chiefs put up a 4-0 victory on Saturday -- and Don Hay, who won his 500th game earlier in the season. . . . G James Reid earned that victory, his 69th with the Chiefs, second only to Dustin Tokarski’s 77. . . . It was Reid’s 11th shutout, leaving him four back of Tokarski’s franchise record. . . . Figure out this one: Spokane F Dominik Iher, who turns 18 on Dec. 31, had one point in his first nine games this season. In his next 18 games, he put up 21 points. He goes into the break with seven goals over his last five games. Gotta think he wanted to keep playing. . . . F Jonathan Parker of the Prince Albert Raiders is the WHL’s player of the week. He had nine points, including four goals, in three games last week. . . . Tyler Bunz of the Medicine Hat Tigers is the WHL’s nominee as the CHL goaltender of the week. He was 2-0-0 with a 0.50 GAA and a .984 save percentage. . . .
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Latvia and Denmark have earned promotion to the IIHF World Junior Championship that is scheduled for Calgary and Edmonton next year. . . . Latvia won the Division 1 Group A tournament in Belarus. Latvia beat Belarus 3-1 in a final round-robin game that featured two teams that had been 4-0. . . . This is the group that is one level below the big boys, who will open their tournament on Sunday in Buffalo. Latvia’s roster included F Kristians Pelss of the Edmonton Oil Kings. He had two goals and two assists in five games. One of those assists came on the game-winner against Belarus. His NHL rights are owned by the Edmonton Oilers, who took him in the seventh round of the 2010 draft. . . . Denmark won the Division 1 Group B tournament in Slovenia, with a 4-1 record. Denmark‘s roster included Brandon Wheat Kings F Mark Mieritz. He had three points, two of them goals, in five games. . . . F Gal Koren of the Kelowna Rockets played for host Slovenia in that tournament, putting up eight points, including three goals, in five games. He also was plus-8. F Gasper Kopitar, who began the season with the Portland Winterhawks had four points, including two goals, for Slovenia. The Slovenia’s also had a 4-1 record, but they lost 2-1 to Denmark. . . . The highlight for Slovenia was a 3-2 victory over highly favoured Austria, with Koren and Kopitar both scoring.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 2:26 AM
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