THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Brock Nixon (Kamloops, Calgary, 2003-08) signed a one-year contract with Kallinge/Ronneby (Sweden, Division 1). He had nine goals and 16 assists in 28 games as captain of University of Calgary (CIS) this season before joining the Colorado Eagles (ECHL), where he had two goals in five games. Nixon reports to Kallinge/Ronneby on Aug. 1. . . .
F Danis Zaripov (Swift Current, 1998-99) signed a two-year contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia, KHL). He had 19 goals and 17 assists in 46 games with Ak Bars Kazan (Russia, KHL) this season. . . .
F Marcel Hossa (Portland, 1998-2001) signed a one-year contract with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL). He had eight goals and 11 assists in 50 games with Lev Prague (Czech Republic, KHL) this season. . . .
D Rory Rawlyk (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Prince Albert, Red Deer, 2000-03) was one of nine players who were not offered contracts for next season by Corona Brasov (Romania, MOL Liga). He had 11 goals and 31 assists in 37 games in MOL Liga play this season and four goals and 19 assists in seven games in the Romania National League; Corona participated in both competitions. Rawlyk was second in penalty minutes in MOL Liga with 211.
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Don’t hold your breath waiting for the City of Nanaimo to build a new arena that would be home to a WHL franchise.
“Some Nanaimo officials feel lukewarm about looking further into a multiplex facility in the city despite recent interest from the Western Hockey League, which hopes to relocate a franchise to the harbour city,” writes Spencer Anderson of the Nanaimo Daily News.
“A report from Nanaimo city staff members says a feasibility study would be the best way to determine the economic impact such a facility might have on the city.
“The cost of the study would be in the neighbourhood of $150,000, city staff estimate. Such a study could also include where the facility could be located, market potential and design and operation.”
Anderson’s complete story is right here, and it would seem, as Coun. Bill Bestwick said:
“There's not an appetite to pursue a sports and entertainment centre multiplex in the near future.”
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The Prince Albert Raiders will have a new look when a new season arrives. The Raiders unveiled what they are calling the ‘Green Movement’ on Thursday.
According to a news release, this is the third uniform change in the team’s 43-year history.
For a look at the new look, go right here.
Dave Leaderhouse of the Prince Albert Daily Herald has a story that explains the entire process. The newspaper’s website was down late last night, but when it’s up that story should be available right here.
There also are a number of photos from the unveiling right here.
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The Red Deer Rebels will have Brent Sutter back behind their bench in 2013-14. Sutter, the franchise’s president and general manager, took over as head coach on Nov. 12, replacing Jesse Wallin. Sutter said Thursday that he’ll be back as head coach. . . . At the same time, the Rebels announced that associate coach Jeff Truitt, who joined the team on Nov. 12, has signed a multi-year contract. . . . Steve O’Rourke (Tri-City, Moose Jaw, 1991-94) has been signed as an assistant coach. He was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat (2009-11). . . . Veteran equipment manager Dave (Radar) Horning, who has been with Red Deer since 1995 and in the WHL since 1991, also signed a multi-year deal. . . . The Rebels have added Jordan Aube to their staff as athletic therapist. He has worked with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. . . . Also returning are Al Parada (strength and conditioning), Brent BeleckI (goaltending consultant), Craig Kinney (video co-ordinator), Derek Robinson (mental performance consultant), Davis Claffey (assistant to the general manager) and Mikel McIver (dressing room attendant).
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F Cody Fowlie, who played out his junior eligibility this season with the Kelowna Rockets, will attend the U of Regina and play for the Cougars. Fowlie, from Airdrie, Alta., played three WHL seasons, splitting time between the Everett Silvertips and the Rockets. He had 40 points in 59 games this season.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Bryce Thoma is the new head coach of the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings. Thoma had been an assistant coach with the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels since 2008, but left the club following the end of its season. Thoma, a 31-year-old native of Saskatoon, played with the Rebels (1999-2003) and was on the team that won the 2001 Memorial Cup. . . . The Red Wings have been without a full-time head coach since December when long-time coach Dwight McMillan left the organization.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Lukas Zeliska (Prince Albert, 2006-07) signed a one-year contract extension with Bordeaux (France, Division 1). He had 12 goals and 15 assists in 24 games with Bordeaux this season.
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Last week, it was Hockey Alberta. On Sunday, it was Hockey Nova Scotia choosing to prohibit body checking in peewee hockey starting next season. According to Alan Maki of The Globe and Mail: “Both associations referred to medical studies, including one done by the University of Calgary that showed Alberta peewees were at three times the risk of being injured, and four times the risk of suffering a concussion, when compared to peewee players in Quebec who did not body check.”
Maki notes that “Hockey Nova Scotia is also banning body checking at the bantam B and C levels (ages 13 to 14) and at midget B and C (ages 15 to 17).”
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“The family of Derek Boogaard has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the National Hockey League,” reports John Branch of The New York Times. “It contends that the N.H.L. is responsible for the physical trauma and brain damage that Boogaard sustained during six seasons as one of the league’s top enforcers, and for the addiction to prescription painkillers that marked his final two years.”
Branch’s complete story is right here.
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A couple of notes from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal:
“Travis Green, who has filled in admirably for suspended Portland Winterhawks head coach/general manager Mike Johnston the last 5-1/2 months, is a hot item around the Western Hockey League. He could be coaching the Everett Silvertips next season. The connection: Everett GM Garry Davidson used to work as Portland’s director of player personnel. Plus, the former NHLer’s family lives in California. Johnston can’t be in any WHL rinks, even to watch games, which means he likely can’t sit in the stands at Saskatoon, either, for the Memorial Cup. He does watch all the games on his computer and talks to Green every day.
“I keep hearing Hockey Canada wants Red Deer Rebels owner/GM/coach Brent Sutter to coach the world junior team at Malmo, Sweden, this Christmas. Sutter, who won gold in 2005 at Grand Forks, N.D., and in 2006 at Vancouver, could let assistant Jeff Truitt, the one-time Oilers farm coach at Springfield, Mass., take care of the Rebels in his absence.”
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The WHL’s playoff situation:
CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Portland vs. Edmonton
(Portland wins, 4-2)
Game 1: Friday, May 3 — Edmonton 4 at Portland 1 (10,097)
Game 2: Saturday, May 4 — Edmonton 0 at Portland 3 (10,947)
Game 3: Tuesday — Portland 3 at Edmonton 1 (8,513)
Game 4: Wednesday — Portland 2 at Edmonton 1 (8,400)
Game 5: Friday — Edmonton 3 at Portland 2 (OT) (10,947)
Game 6: Sunday — Portland 5 at Edmonton 1 (7,449)
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SUNDAY’S GAME:
In Edmonton, F Ty Rattie scored three times, two of them while shorthanded, to lead the Portland Winterhawks to a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . F Nic Petan added three assists for Portland, which got 26 saves from G Mac Carruth. . . . The Winterhawks won their third WHL championships, having also capped the 1981-82 and 1997-98 seasons with titles. . . . The Winterhawks were in the final for the third straight season, having lost to the Kootenay Ice in 2011 and the Oil Kings a year ago. . . . Rattie was named the series MVP. . . . Rattie led the league in goals (20) and points (36). He also set a WHL career record with 50 goals, breaking the mark of 47 that he had shared with F Mark Pederson (Medicine Hat, 1983-88). . . . Petan led all scorers in assists, with 19. He finished second to Rattie, with 28 points. . . . Rattie has 95 career playoff points, leaving him third on the all-time list. . . . Edmonton F Travis Ewanyk scored the game’s first goal, at 1:04 of the first period, but that was it for the home team’s offence. . . . Rattie scored shorthanded at 4:28 and then added a second shorthanded goal at 7:15 to give Portland a 2-1 lead. . . . Both goals came while Portland F Chase De Leo served a double minor for high-sticking. . . . F Oliver Bjorkstrand upped the lead to 3-1 at 3:54 of the second, with Rattie adding his third goal of the game at 13:25. . . . Portland F Taylor Leier concluded the scoring with an empty-net goal. . . . The Oil Kings were 0-5 on the PP; the Winterhawks were 0-2. . . . When the Oil Kings look back at the series, they will wonder what happened to their PP. They were 0-for-14 with the man advantage in the six games. Portland was 2-for-22. . . . The Oil Kings were again without D Griffin Reinhart and F Trevor Cheek. . . . Portland will play its first game at the Memorial Cup on Saturday, against the QMJHL-champion Halifax Mooseheads. . . . Portland won the Memorial Cup in 1983 as the host team — yes, Virginia, there was a time when the Memorial Cup was held in the U.S. — and again in 1998 as the WHL champions
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Attendance at Game 6 in Edmonton was 7,449. the smallest crowd to attend any of the championship series’ games.
The announcement was greeted by derision on Twitter and that’s something I have never understood.
You can’t blame the fans for not showing up; it’s their hard-earned money that they are choosing not to spend. Rather, the onus is on the teams involved to get the fans to part with those dollars and get them into the arenas.
As the playoffs proceed, the price of tickets rises to the point where it will cost a family of four in the neighbourhood of $100 or more to get in the doors. As well, some series are televised live, which was the case with the Portland-Edmonton championship final.
On top of that, the WHL games are often up against NHL playoff games on television.
There are a lot of reasons, then, for people to stay home, and we haven’t even touched on whether the weather, as winter turns to spring and spring turns to summer, is a factor.
Those are the things that junior teams have to overcome to get people into their buildings at this time of the year.
At the end of the day, though, you can’t belittle the people who don’t attend.
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“You know their moms are still proud of them,” writes Dave (Crash) Cameron of the Edmonton Sun. His game story is right here.
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Columnist Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun was there and his report is right here.
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Chris O’Leary of the Edmonton Journal writes that the torch has been passed. His game story is right here.
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Columnist John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal writes: “The Portland Winterhawks proved Edmonton Oil Kings goaltender Laurent Brossoit wrong in the end, but they certainly didn’t diminish his post-season performance.” . . . His column is right here.
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Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal covered the game for The Oregonian. His story is right here.
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Paul Buker of The Oregonian spoke with Portland GM/head coach Mike Johnston, who has been suspended since late November. That piece is right here.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT (21):
None

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT (7):
None
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From Paul Danzer (@360Danzer): “Mike Johnston tells crowd how proud he is of organization. He will see his players for the first time since December in a few minutes.”

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jason Chimera (Medicine Hat, Brandon, 1996-99) signed a lockout contract with Chomutov (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had 20 goals and 19 assists in 82 games with the Washington Capitals last season. The contract is for the rest of this season, should the NHL lockout last that long.
Chomutov has six former WHL players on the roster in addition to Chimera: Radek Duda (Regina, Lethbridge, 1998-2000), Karel Hromas (Everett, 2004-06), David Hruska (Red Deer, 1995-96), team captain Milan Kraft (Prince Albert, 1998-2000), Brett Palin (Kelowna, 2000-05) and Lukas Pulpan (Vancouver, 2003-04). The GM of Chomutov is Leo Gudas, father of current AHL-Syracuse D Radko Gudas (Everett, 2009-10).
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The Red Deer Rebels (10-11-2) woke up Wednesday morning tied for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and, with 22 points, they are seven points out of first place, tied with the Moose Jaw Warriors for the conference’s last playoff spot. Only 12 points separate first from 11th in the conference.
So Brent Sutter, the Rebels’ owner, president and general manager, did what most observers thought he would do in July or August — he dumped head coach Jesse Wallin and moved behind the bench himself.
Sutter, whose contract wasn’t renewed by the NHL’s Calgary Flames after last season, named himself the interim head coach. (The press release announcing the change was interesting in that it’s very last line reads: “Brent Sutter will be the interim Head Coach.”
Sutter told Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate:
“After discussions with Jesse I made the decision to move forward in a new direction with our head-coaching position. Coaching is a tough racket. Jesse is a very good coach, but for whatever reason the message just wasn’t getting through to the players and I really don’t know the exact reasons why that was or has been the case.
“The right thing is to make a change. Sometimes in life it’s never easy to do the right thing, but this is the right thing to do today moving forward. It’s too bad, though. It’s not a day that I’m sitting here feeling good about at all. It’s just not. But I know it’s something that has to be done.”
(Meachem’s complete story is right here.)
Sutter said Wallin will be offered another position in the organization.
“I told Jesse to go home for now and be a dad and a husband and spend time with your family, and then we’ll sit down in a couple of weeks,” Sutter said. “Jesse is a really good person and a good hockey man, but his time here ran its course. That happens in coaching and it’s not his fault, or anyone’s fault.
“You have to move forward and I had to make this decision, which was not an easy one to make.”
Sutter also named Jeff Truitt as associate coach. Truitt, a former head coach of the Kelowna Rockets who also worked in the Moose Jaw Warriors’ front office, spent last season as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Texas Stars. Most recently, he had been working with the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
Assistant coach Bryce Thoma remains in place.
Wallin was a defenceman through four seasons (1994-98) with the Rebels and then joined their coaching staff in 1997 after post-concussion syndrome brought an end to his professional playing career.
He was an assistant coach until being named associate coach for 2005-07. He was in his fifth season as head coach and is seen as one of the bright, young coaches in the game today.
The Rebels didn’t make the playoffs last season when they finished 32-34-6. But they were hit with a horrible string of injuries and Wallin received a lot of credit for keeping his club playing hard every night.
He was the head coach of Canada’s Under-18 team that finished third at the 2012 IIHF World U-18 championship last spring in the Czech Republic.
This will be an interesting test for Sutter, whose coaching record over the last few seasons has been a bit spotty.
He missed the playoffs in each of his three seasons with the Flames, although he did win 40 and 41 games in his first two seasons (2009-11) there.
In two seasons (2007-09) with the New Jersey Devils, he won 46 and 51 games but bowed out in the first round of the playoffs each time.
He was the head coach when the Rebels won the 2001 Memorial Cup and lost in the WHL final in 2004. The Rebels lost out in the third round in 2003-04 and were gone in the first round in 2004-05.
It has been a while, then, since Sutter has seen even the second round of a playoff series.
Yes, these will be interesting times in Red Deer.
The Rebels next play Saturday when the Swift Current Broncos pay a visit.
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Sutter’s first player personnel move was to send home F Charles Inglis, 20, who leads the Rebels in goals (11) and points (14).
The Rebels acquired Inglis from the Prince George Cougars on Dec. 29, giving up F Daulton Siwak, who turned 19 on Oct.25, and a 2012 third-round bantam draft pick in the exchange.
At the time, Inglis was at home awaiting a trade, having been sent home by the Cougars. He began his WHL career with the Saskatoon Blades, but wore out his welcome there and was dealt to the Cougars.
“At this point in time he leads our team in goals and points, so the fact we’re sending him home kind of speaks for itself,” Sutter told the Red Deer Advocate. “What more can you say? His time here has run out.
“He’s being sent home (to Saskatoon) to await a trade. If nothing happens he’ll go on waivers next week and if there’s no interest then he’ll play with a junior A team if he wishes.”
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Inglis (@CharlesInglis) let the Twitter world know that he was gone: “Thank you red deer for the past year going to miss a lot of the guys and the city, fans here are second to none love the city #RebelsHockey”
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that the Saskatoon Blades could be without F Jessey Astles, 19, for quite some time.
Astles was injured Friday during a 6-3 victory over the visiting Regina Pats when he suffered a self-inflicted skate cut to a wrist following a fight.
According to Nugent-Bowman, Astles “had surgery Saturday to repair the radial artery and four cut tendons, leaving a large S-shaped scar running halfway down his forearm.”
Lorne Molleken, the Blades’ general manager and head coach, said Astles could miss anywhere from two months to the rest of the season.
The Blades open a B.C. Division tour on Friday in Prince George.
Nugent-Bowman’s story is right here.
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In Wednesday’s Globe and Mail, Hall of Famer Roy MacGregor takes a look at Edge School for Athletes, which is located in Calgary. . . . When it comes to hockey, from the junior level on down, there is a whole lot of symbolism in having an ATM machine mentioned in the essay’s first sentence. . . . That piece is right here.
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F Travis Ewanyk of the Edmonton Oil Kings left Wednesday’s Super Series game in Vancouver with an injury. Prior to the start of the third period, TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted that Ewanyk had suffered “an injury (foot or ankle) and not expected to return.”
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From F Jesse Mychan (@jmychan28): “Found out the bomb used in Hiroshima was built in tri! #crazyness #who knew”

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
G Barry Brust (Spokane, Calgary, 2000-04) signed a one-year contract with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). He had a 2.53 GAA and a .925 save percentage in 52 games for the AHL-champion Binghamton Senators last season. . . .
D Lawrence Nycholat (Swift Current, 1996-2000) signed a one-year contract with the Krefeld Pinguine (Germany, DEL). He had five goals and 23 assists in 32 games for the Hershey Bears (AHL) last season. . . .
F Scott King (Kelowna, 1996-97) signed a one-year contract with the Hannover Scorpions (Germany, DEL). He had seven goals and 15 assists in 49 games with Adler Mannheim (Germany, DEL) last season. . . .
G Rastislav Stana (Moose Jaw, Calgary, 1998-2000) signed a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow (Russia, KHL). He had a 2.24 GAA and a .917 save percentage in 26 games with Severstal Cherepovets (Russia, KHL) last season.
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I was saddened to read that Ralph Borger, who for years owned the MJHL’s St. Boniface Saints and was a driving force behind that junior A league, died on Sunday, 18 days past his 81st birthday. . . . Back in the day, when I was at the Winnipeg Tribune, I got to know the always-smiling Ralph and always enjoyed his company. And no one was more supportive of the MJHL than was Ralph. . . . Oh, those were some kind of meetings with Ralph and Ben Dzikowicz in attendance! . . . For more on Ralph and his contributions to hockey, check out this right here. . . . You have to know that hockey is better for this man having taken a huge interest in it.
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Alan Caldwell over there at Small Thoughts At Large has done up his annual study of the WHL teams and mileage they will accumulate in the approaching season. Yes, the Prince George are No. 1 on the bus parade. . . . Check it out via the link over there on the right.
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The Vancouver Giants have added veteran WHL scout Todd Ripplinger to their front office. Ripplinger, whose contract wasn’t renewed by the Regina Pats last month, is the Giants’ new director of player development. Ripplinger had been Regina’s director of scouting since 1997. . . . The Giants also extended the contracts of director of player personnel Jason Ripplinger and scouting director Terry Bonner, both of whom have been with the club since Day 1. . . . Yes, the Ripplingers are brothers. . . . Terry Bonner is the father of Giants general manager Scott Bonner and Kamloops Blazers GM Craig Bonner.
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F Kevin King (Kootenay, 2006-11) has signed with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. He had 76 points, including 33 goals, in 68 games with the Ice last season, then added 16 points in 19 playoff games as the Ice won the WHL championship. He had 227 points in 335 games with the Ice over five seasons. . . . Mark Holick, a former Ice head coach, is heading into his second season as the Crunch’s head coach.
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Ben Pherson of the Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin offers up his opinion of what’s going on with NCAA hockey. That is right here, and he doesn’t think this is such a good idea.
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Mark Driver of the Providence Journal checks in with old friend Ed Staniowski, whose goaltending helped the Regina Pats win the 1974 Memorial Cup at the Corral in Calgary. Staniowski certainly has had an interesting time since his hockey career came to an end. That story is right here.
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JUST NOTES: F Marcel Noebels of the Seattle Thunderbirds has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. From Germany, he was a fourth-round pick in the 2011 NHL draft. Last season, his first in the WHL, Noebels had 54 points, including 28 goals, in 68 games. . . . The MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers have acquired the rights to F David Conrad (Spokane, Tri-City, 2008-11) in a deal with the Winnipeg Saints. Conrad, from Winnipeg, is a 20-year-old. He had 24 points in 69 games with Tri-City last season. . . . G Julien LaPlante, who lost his scholarship to Union College, because he didn’t tell the coaching staff he had played 20 minutes in an exhibition game for the Portland Winterhawks, will attend Providence College. There’s more right here.
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THE COACHING GAME: Former NHL player John Marks is the new director of hockey operations and head coach of the USHL’s Fargo Force. He spent last season as head coach of the MJHL’s Winkler Flyers. With the Force, he takes over from Jason Herter, who left for an assistant coaching role with the U of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. Marks was attractive to the Force at least in part because he played and coached at the U of North Dakota. . . . Former WHL coach Jeff Truitt is one the move again. But this time he is at least staying in Texas. Truitt, a former assistant and head coach with the Kelowna Rockets, stepped down as director of hockey operations with the Moose Jaw Warriors a year ago to become an assistant coach with the San Antonio Rampage, then the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. But the Coyotes have moved their affiliation from San Antonio to the Portland, Me., Pirates, with the Florida Panthers now the Rampage’s parent club. Truitt, who just last week was working the Coyotes’ development camp, was named Monday as an assistant coach with the Texas Stars, who are hooked up with the NHL’s Dallas Stars. Glen Gulutzan, who was the Texas head coach last season, has moved up as head coach in Dallas. Last week, Texas named Jeff Pyle its new head coach. . . .
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By now you likely have heard that former WHL and NHL star Joe Sakic scored a $1-million hole in one on Sunday. If you haven’t seen it, the video is right here, and it is outstanding. I can’t ever recall seeing the normally reserved Sakic celebrate like that after scoring a goal.
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Today’s good read comes from Adrian Dater of SI.com. . . . Get yourself a double-double and check out this story right here. It’s all about Tim Horton and Tim Hortons.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Kootenay, Victoria cut a deal

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Todd Dutiaume (Brandon, 1991-94) signed a one-year contract extension as player-head coach with the Fife Flyers (UK Elite). He had six goals and 12 assists in 14 games for the Flyers last season as they played in the UK Northern Ice Hockey League. . . .
F Igor Valeev (Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Swift Current, 1998-2000) signed a one-year contract with Kazzinc-Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk (Kazakhstan, Russia Vysshaya Liga). He had no goals and three assists in 24 games for Molot-Prikamie Perm (Russia, Russia Vysshaya Liga) and two goals and three assists in nine games with Arystan Temirtau (Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Vysshaya Liga) last season. . . .
D Darrell Hay (Tri-City, 1996-2000) signed a one-year contract with Liberec (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had five goals and 10 assists in 52 games for Mlada Boleslav (Czech Repoublic, Extraliga) last season. Liberec GM Ctibor Jech: "Last year in Mlada Boleshla, he was one of the best defencemen. After the season, we decided to make him an offer and we are very pleased that he accepted. We expect that in addition to the typical Canadian style, as a right-hander, he will also contribute on the power play." . . .
F Jeremy Boyer (Seattle, Saskatoon, 2005-10) signed a one-year contract with Valence (France, Division 1). He had 42 goals and 45 assists in 50 games with the Humboldt Broncos and Yorkton Terriers (both SJHL) last season.
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The Kootenay Ice, with a glut of potential 20-year-olds on their roster, have made a move to at least partially alleviate that situation. They dealt D Hayden Rintoul, 20, and an undisclosed conditional bantam draft pick to the Victoria Royals for F Dylen McKinlay, 19.
The Ice, the WHL’s reigning champion, still has six 20-year-olds on that roster, but Kootenay isn’t expecting D Brayden McNabb (Buffalo Sabres) or F Cody Eakin (Washington Capitals) to return.
The other four 20s are F Joe Antilla, F Jesse Ismond, G Nathan Lieuwen and D James Martin.
“Victoria wanted a puck-moving d-man and we wanted a forward who could possibly play in our top six,” Jeff Chynoweth, the Ice’s president and general manager, told me via text message. “We have liked him for a long time and inquired about him two years ago.”
McKinlay, from Langley, B.C., is heading into his fourth WHL season. His first three all were with the Chilliwack Bruins. He had a break-through season in 2009-10, with 43 points, including 20 goals, in 72 games. Last season, he struggled with some injuries and finished with 20 points, six of them goals, in 55 games. He also has some sandpaper in his game and you can bet B.C. Division teams won’t be sad to see him in another division.
McKinlay was a seventh-round selection by the Minnesota Wild in the NHL’s 2010 draft but wasn’t made a qualifying offer, so is a free agent.
Rintoul, from Calgary, also is going into his fourth WHL season. He played his first three seasons with the Ice, totalling 93 points, including 19 goals, in 188 regular-season games. Last season, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder had 26 points, eight of them goals, in 67 games. He had four points in the Ice’s 19-game run to the championship.
The Royals, then in Chilliwack, carried two 20-year-old defencemen — Jeff Einhorn and Brandon Manning — last season, so were looking for some experience on the back end.
Included among eligible 20-year-olds on the Bruins’ season-ending roster were G Braden Gamble, F Curt Gogol and F Robin Soudek.
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Cleeve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist has more on the trade right here.
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Jeff Hollick, the radio voice of the Ice, reported later Thursday that Kootenay has added Russian F Alex Kuvaev, 18, to its protected list. Kuvaev had 24 points, including 11 goals, with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last season but was dropped by them prior to the CHL’s 2011 import draft.
The Ice won the WHL championship last season with a roster that didn’t include any import players. As well, president/GM Jeff Chynoweth chose not to take part in the import draft for a second straight year.
Asked if Kuvaev would report, Chynoweth told me, again via text: “Don’t know that for sure. All indications are he is, but I have not been able to confirm everything with his new agent.”
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THE COACHING GAME:
Murray Baron, who played 988 regular-season NHL games, has signed on as an assistant coach with the junior B Kamloops Storm of the Kootenay International junior league. Baron, 44, will work alongside new head coach Geoff Smith, who joined the Storm after his contract wasn’t renewed by the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers. . . . Also on the Storm’s coaching staff are Brent Fritz and Brad Priestlay. . . .
Dave King, a one-time head coach of the WHL’s Billings Bighorns, has stepped aside as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes and has been named the NHL team’s development coach. . . . Jeff Truitt, another former WHL head coach (Kelowna, Moose Jaw) was on the ice helping run the Coyotes’ development camp on Thursday. Truitt was an assistant coach with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, which was affiliated with the Coyotes last season but now is hooked up with the Florida Panthers.
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F Brett Connolly of the Prince George Cougars has moved to Toronto and is working with a personal trainer as he tries to shake the injury bug that has plagued him the last two seasons. Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune has that story right here. These days, Connolly, the sixth overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft, is in camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning prospects.
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Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald is reporting that an official announcement is expected Wednesday regarding a new conference for some of the NCAA’s top college hockey schools.
That story is right here.
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Remember the Detroit Red Wings fan who was charged for taking part in the age-old tradition of tossing octopi during the playoffs?
Well, he was back in court on Thursday.
Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports has the latest on the Puck Daddy blog right here.

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