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F Bud Holloway (Seattle, 2003-08) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Skellefteå (Sweden, SHL). He was released by CSKA Moscow (Russia, KHL) on Nov. 18 after recording three goals and six assists in 12 games. . . . Holloway has played three seasons (2011-14) for Skellefteå. He was the SHL’s leading scorer with 71 points, including 51 assists, in 55 games, and won the league’s MVP award in 2012-13.
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The Red Deer Rebels have added F Matt Campese and D Jacob Herauf to their roster.
Campese, who will turn 19 on Dec. 10, was released by the Kamloops Blazers early this season and has been with the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors. He has 17 points, including six goals, in 15 games with
Herauf, 16, has been with the midget AAA Sherwood Park, Alta., Kings. The Rebels selected him with the 16th overall pick of the 2015 bantam draft. He already has played nine games with the Rebels this season, recording one assist.
Why the additions? Perhaps because Red Deer GM/head coach Brent Sutter is looking for more out of his roster.
When Greg Meachem of reddeerrebels.com asked Sutter about his club’s play after a 4-3 OT victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday, the response was: “Truthfully? I’m not a very happy camper right now. I wasn’t happy at all with the way we played the second period. We took some dumb penalties. We do self-inflicted things that hurt us and we don’t stick to what allows us to be a good team.
“We played well in the first period and did some good things in the third. When we keep the game simple, play straight lines, do things right and have a good transition where we’re getting pucks back up the ice, we play well and we’ve proven it at different times this (season).”
The Rebels’ inconsistent play has been bothering Sutter for some time now. It would seem he is going to try and fix it by bringing in competition for the players on his roster.
The addition of Campese also provides some depth should the Rebels lost F Michael Spacek and/or F Adam Musil to the Czech Republic’s national junior team.
The Rebels (13-11-4) got into the weekend in second place in the Central Division. They are 4-4-2 in their previous 10 games. They also are 13 points behind the Medicine Hat Tigers (21-5-1), but just three ahead of the Lethbridge Hurricanes (12-11-3), who have won five in a row.
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Hockey Canada and the CHL announced on Thursday afternoon that a bid from Vancouver and Victoria to play host to the 2019 World Junior Championship has been selected.
Included in the bid are the cities of Vancouver and Victoria, along with Sport Hosting Vancouver, Sport Host Victoria, Tourism Victoria, the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals, and BC Hockey.
The Vancouver/Victoria bid won out over others from Calgary/Edmonton, Saskatoon/Winnipeg and London/Windsor.
The tournament last was played in B.C. in 2006 when there were games in Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver. Attendance totalled 325,138 for that event. The 2019 tournament will be played in Vancouver and Victoria. Whichever pool includes Canada will play out of Rogers Place in Vancouver; the other pool will play in the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria.
The Vancouver/Victoria organizing committee will be co-chaired by Ron Toigo, the managing director of Shato Holdings and the majority owner of the Giants, and Barry Petrachenko, the CEO of BC Hockey.
The 2017 tournament opens on Boxing Day and will be played in Toronto and Montreal. Those cities also played host in 2015, while last year’s tournament was held in Helsinki, Finland. The 2018 tournament is to be played in Buffalo.
The awarding of the 2019 tournament to Vancouver/Victoria means that the tournament will have been played in North America four times in a five-year stretch.
This also will signal to smaller markets — once and for all — that they need not waste their time or money getting involved in the bidding process. It’s all about the guarantee and having a guarantor in place to cover losses if that guarantee isn’t met.
The decision to award the 2019 event to Vancouver/Victoria is “another rejection for London and Windsor — and all smaller junior hockey markets who still hold increasingly diminishing hopes they’ll ever get to stage a world junior hockey championship,” writes Morris Dalla Costa of the London Free Press. . . .That piece is right here.
The 2021 WJC also is to be played in Canada, and you can bet everything you own that it will go to Calgary and Edmonton.
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The Kelowna Rockets will have two of their players in the 2017 World Junior Championship. F Calvin Thukauf is to join Team Switzerland in Oshawa as it prepares for the tournament that opens Boxing Day in Toronto and Montreal. F Tomas Soustal will join Czech Republic in Montreal. Both players are scheduled to leave Kelowna on Dec. 12. . . . Team Russia released its preliminary roster on Thursday and it included one WHLer — D Sergey Zborovskiy of the Regina Pats. He is one of 12 defencemen on the preliminary roster. The Russians will hold a pre-tournament camp in Kingston, Ont. Zborovskiy is to leave Regina on Dec. 18.
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12 hours after this goalie's 14th shutout, it's 15 minutes of new friends and recess.— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) December 1, 2016
📍 Seattle Hill Elementary pic.twitter.com/esh6qDgU5W
G Carter Hart of the Everett Silvertips has posted three straight shutouts, meaning he is one shy of the WHL record that has been held by Chris Worthy of the Flin Flon Bombers for almost 50 years. Worthy put up four in a row from Dec. 29, 1967, through Jan. 13, 1968. . . . Hart has gone 187 minutes 1 second without allowing a goal. Worthy holds that record, too, at 265:13. . . . Hart’s next test comes tonight, assuming that he is Everett’s starter, when the Silvertips play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers. This game matches the WHL’s highest-scoring team, the Tigers, against the stingiest, the Silvertips. . . . The Tigers (21-5-1) have won 10 in a row and lead the overall standings by one point over the Silvertips (19-3-4), who have won four straight.
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As you no doubt are aware, the NHL will have a new franchise in play next season — the Vegas Golden Knights. Their front office is full of men with ties to the WHL, including Kelly McCrimmon, Bob Lowes, Vaughn Karpan, Erin Ginnell, Bruno Campese, Murray Craven and Jim McKenzie. . . . If you are interested in what goes into putting an NHL expansion team together and getting it on the ice, get a copy of Tom Lynn’s book How to Bake an NHL Franchise from Scratch: The First Era of the Minnesota Wild. . . . It’s an entertaining and informative look at one of the NHL’s most-recent expansion franchises. . . . Lynn was an executive with the Wild; he now is an agent with Veritas Hockey.
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If you’ve got a comment, some information you would like to pass along, or if you just want to say hello, feel free to contact me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
If you would like to donate to the cause, please visit the bottom of this post and go right ahead.
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JUST NOTES:
D Cam Reagan, 19, who was released by the Prince Albert Raiders on Monday has signed to play with his hometown AJHL team, the Sherwood Park Crusaders. . . . He had two assists in 18 games with the Raiders. In 117 regular-season WHL games, 99 of those with the Kamloops Blazers, he put up 10 assists. . . .
The AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders have acquired the rights to F Jesse Zaharichuk, 19, from the Drumheller Dragons for future considerations. Zaharichuk, who is from Sherwood Park, had 17 points, including eight goals, in 17 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was assigned to Drumheller early in November, but he hadn’t yet played there. . . .
The AJHL’s Brooks Bandits have signed D Kord Pankewicz, 20, who was placed on waivers by the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes earlier this week. He had a goal and eight assists in 24 games with Lethbridge this season. Pankewicz is from Drayton Valley, Alta. . . .
The Portland Winterhawks have dropped F Ty Kolle, 16, from their roster and he is returning to the Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. Kolle had three assists in 13 games with Portland. From Kamloops, he was a fourth-round pick by Portland in the 2015 WHL bantam draft.
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Our @ianaterry may have captured the most Everett Silvertips photo of all time last night: pic.twitter.com/bVJNGhrbrQ— Jesse Geleynse (@JesseGeleynse) December 1, 2016
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THURSDAY’S GAMES:
No Games Scheduled.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):
Saskatoon at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Everett, 7:35 p.m.
Red Deer at Lethbridge, 7 p.m. (TBG)
Moose Jaw at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Victoria at Prince George, 7 p.m.
Kootenay vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.
Kelowna at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Calgary at Swift Current, 7 p.m. (TBG)
Portland vs. Tri-City, at Kennewick, Wash., 7:05 p.m.
Brandon vs. Vancouver, at Langley, B.C., 7:30 p.m.
TBG: Teddy Bear Game.
There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.
Mark Lamb and the Swift Current Broncos have agreed to terms on a three-year contract extension. Lamb was entering the last year of a three-year deal. . . . According to a news release, “That year has been expunged in favour of this new contract.” That means he is signed through 2016-17. . . . Lamb spent seven seasons as an NHL assistant coach, one with the Edmonton Oilers and six with the Dallas Stars, before signing with the Broncos. He has been the GM/head coach since the summer of 2009. . . . The Broncos are 164-165-31 in five seasons under Lamb, including 38-25-9 last season when they finished fifth in the 12-team Eastern Conference. They have make the playoffs in three of his five seasons, but haven’t been able to get out of the first round. Last spring, they lost in six games to the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Lamb, one of the WHL’s straightest shooters, has brought stability to the Broncos organization. This season, led by a strong defence, they should be one of the conference’s top four teams.
The Kootenay Ice was short two veteran defencemen when training camp began earlier this week in Cranbrook. Landon Cross and Landon Peel, a pair of 20-year-olds, didn’t show up on Monday. . . . Cross, who was acquired from the Kamloops Blazers last season, had concussion issues. From Brandon, he has decided he would rather finish his junior career in the MJHL and hopes to play for the Steinbach Pistons. . . . “As a parent, not as a general manager, I was concerned about him and what he was going through,” Jeff Chynoweth, the Ice’s president and general manager, told Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. Cross informed Chynoweth of his decision on June 9. . . . Peel, from Virden, Man., had been expected in camp. “He told me at the end of (last season) he was definitely coming back and wanted to compete for one of the 20-year-old spots,” Chynoweth said. “He caught us a little bit off-guard.” . . . Peel wants to play for the MJHL’s Portage Terriers, who will host the RBC Cup tournament next spring. . . . For now, Cross and Peel are on the Ice’s suspended list. . . . Rocca’s story is 
The Victoria Royals have signed D Scott Walford, the 18th overall selection in the 2014 bantam draft. He will play this season at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C. Walford, from Coquitlam, B.C., played with the OHA bantam prep team last season, putting up 48 points, including 12 goals, in 56 games. . . . The Royals also signed 1997-born G Evan Smith, who is from Parker, Colo. Smith played last season with the Pikes Peak Miners U18 team in the North American Prospects Hockey League. The 6-foot-5 Smith went 1.95/.921 in 13 appearances. The Royals had placed him on their protected list in July 2012. . . . The Royals also signed F Ryan Peckford, a second-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft. From Stony Plain, Alta., Peckford played last season for the Parkland Athletic Club Saints of the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League. He had 60 points, 28 of them goals, in 33 games. . . . D Brayden Pachal, a second-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft, also signed with the Royals. From Estevan, Sask., he had 27 points, including 14 goals, in 31 games with the bantam AA Estevan Bruins last season. . . . Victoria also signed Slovakian F Kristian Ferletak, its first-round selection in the CHL‘s 2014 import draft. From Trstena, he played last season with the Slovakian U-18 team, putting up 32 points, including nine goals, in 44 games. At the IIHF World U-18 championship, he had two goals and an assist in five games.
The Kamloops Blazers have signed F Jesse Zaharichuk, 17, to a WHL contract. From Sherwood Park, Alta., the 5-foot-8, 150-pound Zaharichuk was placed on the Blazers’ protected list in September 2012. Last season, with the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons, he had 14 points, four of them goals, in 48 games. He added nine points, five of them goals, in 15 playoff games. . . . He likely will see some playing time tonight against the visiting Vancouver Giants or Saturday against the Rockets in Kelowna.
The Everett Silvertips have signed D Jantzen Leslie, the 15th overall selection in the 2014 bantam draft. Last season, he captained the bantam AAA Lloydminster Heat, which won the provincial championship. He had 40 points, 15 of the goals, in 30 regular-season games. In 12 playoff games, he added two goals and 10 assists. . . . The Silvertips also have signed F Bryce Kindopp, a teammate of Leslie’s who was a third-round pick by Everett.
The Swift Current Broncos signed five players -- F Tyler Adams, 17; D Jaydan Gordon; D Matthew Parsons, 16; F Owen Seidel, 16; and D Colby Sissons, 16. . . . Adams, from Regina, had 50 points, 13 of them goals, in 58 games with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians last season. . . . The 1997-born Gordon, from Cochrane, Alta., had 35 points, including 31 assists, in 36 games with the midget AA Bow Valley Timberwolves last season. He is the younger brother of Broncos F Coda Gordon. . . . Parsons, from Middle Lake, Sask., was a third-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. He had a goal and 11 assists in 54 games with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos last season. . . . Seidel, from Richmond, B.C., was a seventh-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. He had 36 points, 10 of them goals, in 40 games with the major midget Greater Vancouver Canadians last season. . . . Sissons, from Edmonton, had 31 points, including nine goals, in 37 games with the minor midget AAA Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club Bulldogs last season.
The Prince Albert Raiders have signed three players -- F Parker Kelly, F Sean Montgomery and D Curtis Roach. . . . Kelly, from Camrose, Alta., was a seventh-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft. Last season, he had 58 points, including 35 goals, in 31 games with the Camrose Red Wings of the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League. . . . Montgomery, from Calgary, was taken in the sixth round of the 2013 bantam draft. He had 37 points, 19 of them goals, in 35 games with the Calgary Royals of the Alberta Midget Hockey League. . . . Roach, 
The Tri-City Americans have signed three players from the 2013 bantam draft -- D Mark Drohan, a third-round pick; F Jordan Roy, who was a fifth-round selection; and G Nicholas Sanders, who was taken in the sixth round. . . . Drohan, from Calgary, had 17 points, six of them goals, with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes last season. . . . From Kimberley, B.C., Roy will turn 16 on Sept. 9. The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder had six points, two of them goals, in 26 games with the midget AAA Lethbridge Hurricanes last season. . . . Sanders, from Calgary, was 3.65/.890 in 39 games with the minor midget Calgary Rangers last season.
The Regina Pats have signed four players -- D James Hilsendager, D Ryan Krushen, D Brady Pouteau and F Kyle Westeringh. . . . Hilsendager, from Lloydminster, Alta., was a ninth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder played last season for the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Midget Hockey League, putting up 14 points, three of them goals, in 33 games. . . . Krushen, a list player from Sherwood Park, Alta., had 16 points, four of them goals, in 37 games with the Sherwood Park Squires of the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League last season. . . . The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Pouteau, a fourth-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft, is from Oak Bluff, Man. He played last season with the Pembina Valley Hawks of the Manitoba Midget Hockey League, earning 14 points, including four goals, in 40 games. . . . Westeringh, an 18-year-old list player from Rosedale, B.C., had 19 points, including 10 goals, in 55 games with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs last season.
The Seattle Thunderbirds have signed five players -- F Wyatt Bear, D Reece Harsch, F Nick Holowko, F Luke Osterman and F Mackenzie Wight. . . . Bear, from Hodgson, Man., was a fifth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. He had 51 points, 18 of them goals, in 33 games with the bantam Interlake Lightning last season. . . . Harsch, from Grande Prairie, Alta., was an eight-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. He had 14 points, two of them goals, for a bantam team in Grande Prairie last season. . . . Holowko, from Burnaby, B.C., was added to Seattle’s list after its 2012 camp. He had two goals and nine assists in 33 games with the junior B Delta, B.C., Ice Hawks last season. . . . Osterman, from Stillwater, Minn., was an eighth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. He had 13 points, six of them goals, with a team from Omaha, Neb., that played in the NAPH16 League last season. . . . Seattle has seven of its 10 selections from the 2012 draft under contract. . . . Wight, from Burnaby, B.C., was a seventh-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. He played for the bantam A1-T1 team at Burnaby Winter Club last season.
The Portland Winterhawks have signed F Cody Glass, a Winnipegger who was the 19th overall selection in the 2014 bantam draft. He had 77 points, 31 of them goals, in 32 games with the bantam AAA Winnipeg Hawks. He added 17 points in 11 playoff games.
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