THE MacBETH REPORT:
No moves Friday but there was that press conference in Helsinki. Here is what the main Helsinki newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, and YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, are reporting . . .
Jokerit Helsinki will start playing in the KHL in 2014-15. The team is still owned by Harry Harkimo, who also became the president of the team (he's been the chairman of the board).
Hartwall Areena was sold by Harkimo to Russian Arena Events, which is owned by Gennadi Timtsenko and the Rotenberg family. Timtsenko is the chairman of the board of the KHL and the president of SKA St. Petersburg. Arkadi Rotenberg is the owner and chairman of Dynamo Moscow and his brother, Boris Rotenberg, is a part-owner with Timtsenko of SKA St. Petersburg.
Boris Rotenberg's son, Roman Rotenberg, is the vice-chairman of SKA.
The price of the arena deal wasn’t revealed.
Harkimo remains the principal owner of Jokerit but the Russian group has purchased an undisclosed interest in the club and has an option to buy a controlling interest.
Harkimo will provide consulting to Arena Events for the next five years.
Timtsenko commented that with Jokerit in the KHL, it'll become a true European league. Harkimo said that going into the KHL, Jokerit will get new sponsors and a bigger budget. According to Harkimo, Jokerit will not only want to be in the KHL, but also want to win it. He added that Jokerit will take their last season in SM-liiga seriously and try to win it.
Timtsenko and the Rotenbergs are all close friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Forbes magazine estimates Timtsenko’s worth at US$14.1 billion and Roman Rotenberg’s at $1.4 billion.
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On the subject of ownership change, might there be one in the future of the Saskatoon Blades.
Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports right here that Blades owner Jack Brodsky is exploring his options and “appears ready to test the market.” . . . This comes with the team having just begun a rebuilding project and with its lease with Credit Union Centre due to expire after the 2013-14 season.
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The water mostly has vacated the Medicine Hat Arena and the job of cleaning up the mess has begun. Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News reports right here that a restoration crew was scheduled to arrive Saturday.
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THE COACHING GAME:
John Becanic is the new head coach of the NAHL’s Corpus Christi IceRays. Becanic has previous NAHL experience with the Wenatchee Wild, Pittsburgh Forge and Bismarck Bobcats. Becanic, 47, takes over from Justin Quenneville, who resigned in June. . . . In the WHL, Becanic has coaching experience with the Everett Silvertips, Seattle Thunderbirds and Vancouver Giants.


The Central league’s Arizona Sundogs have hired Kevin Colley as their new head coach. Colley joins the Sundogs after spending five seasons as head coach of the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. . . . Colley replaces Scott Muscutt, who chose not to return after taking over during last season.



Grant Kerr has resigned from his position as an assistant coach with the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express. A longtime coach in the B.C. hockey scene, Kerr is returning to the coach staff of the B.C. Major Midget League’s Vancouver Northwest Giants.



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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Shawn Limpright (Moose Jaw, 1998-2002) signed a one-year contract with Mulhouse (France, Ligue Magnus). He had 28 goals and 53 assists in 65 games for the Rapid City Rush (CHL) this season, which was good enough for fifth in CHL scoring. . . .
F Lance Monych (Brandon, 1999-2005) signed a one-year contract with Löwen Frankfurt (Germany, Oberliga). He had 29 goals and 30 assists in 27 games with Ratinger Ice Aliens (Germany, Oberliga) this season.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Former WHL coach John Becanic is back in the game. Becanic, who has WHL coaching experience in Everett, Seattle and Vancouver, spent this season as head coach of the NAHL’s Wenatchee Wild. He left the Wild at the end of the season. . . . He now is the head coach the Team Seattle Major Bantam Team. . . . Team Seattle is the combined rep teams for Seattle Junior Hockey and Sno-King Amateur Hockey. . . .
Ron Gay is the new general manager and head coach of the USHL’s Indiana Ice. Gay takes over from Charlie Skjodt, who is back to being the club’s president. Gay has been with the Ice since September 2011 when he signed on as skills development coach and head coach of the Indiana Jr. Ice U18 team.
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Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun has more right here on the 15-year-old hockey player who drew a suspension from some summer tournaments after he slashed a linesman during a game in Brandon. It turns out he is a draft pick of the Prince Albert Raiders.
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Just in case you don’t yet understand that major junior hockey is a big, big business, check out this piece right here by Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette.
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Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News notes right here that the agreement between the CHL and NHL is in need of an adjustment. It is time, he writes, that players drafted by NHL teams out of the CHL be provided with the same options as those drafted out of NCAA programs.
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Sean McMorrow, the former Rochester Americans tough guy, was sentenced to 24 months in a federal prison on Wednesday. Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has the story right here.
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“A culture is shifting sharply,” writes Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal. He is referring to football and its culture of violence. He points out that many mothers and fathers are having second thoughts about allowing their children to play football, and if there aren’t any feeder leagues – “those furthest from the paychecks” as Jonah Lahrer of Grantland.com puts it – there won’t be an NFL.
A world without the NFL? Don’t laugh.
Gay’s piece is right here.
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Today is the day for a number of WHL players who were selected in the 2010 NHL draft. If a player from that draft doesn’t sign an NHL contract by today, he becomes eligible for the 2012 draft.
As of late last night, D Alex Theriau, D Troy Rutkowski, D Tyler Stahl, D Brandon Davidson, D Ricard Blidstrand, F Brendan Ranford and F Josh Nicholls had yet to sign.
The Philadelphia Flyers aren’t expected to sign Blidstrand, but have been negotiating with Ranford’s agent, former WHLer Mark MacKay.
The Calgary Flames said Wednesday that they won’t sign Kootenay Ice D Joey Leach, who was a third-round selection.
Check out Alan Caldwell’s blog, Small Things at Large, for a list of who has signed and who hasn’t.
I would suggest the one real surprise here Rutkowski, who was a fifth-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche. Rutkowski had a terrific playoff and is a big-time shotblocker, something that seems to be popular in NHL circles these days.

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The always eloquent Ken Dryden has written another piece for The Globe and Mail, this one headlined: The anatomy of three hits. . . . It begins with an enthralling anecdote involving Johnny Bower, who is behind his goal line with Gordie Howe bearing down on him. . . . Check it out right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
John Becanic, who has WHL coaching experience with Everett, Seattle and Vancouver, won’t be back as head coach of the NAHL’s Wenatchee, Wash., Wild. He announced his resignation Friday, although he told Brent Stecker of the Wenatchee World that he made the decision and informed management in February. “As a coach, you have a set of standards and beliefs that you coach within,” Becanic told Stecker. “Not necessarily does everyone involved understand those standards and beliefs, and having done this as long as I’ve done, I knew it was the right thing to step back and pursue other hockey opportunities.” . . . Becanic took over the Wild in the middle of the 2010-11 season, replacing Paul Baxter. This season, the Wild went 36-17-7, finishing second in the West Division. The Fairbanks Ice Dogs completed a division final sweep of the Wild on Thursday night. . . . The Wild, under president Bill Stewart, has been pushing for a couple of seasons to get into the BCHL. . . .
The Northern Ontario junior A league’s Soo Thunderbirds will be without their head coach and assistant coach when they begin play in the Royal Bank Cup in Humboldt, Sask., next weekend. Preston Mizzi and Jamie Henderson have been suspended indefinitely by the league as a result, according to the Sault Star’s Peter Ruicci, “of seven incidents in which alcohol was allowed and consumed by players on staff” on the team bus. . . . Zoltan (Toots) Kovacs, a former Soo head coach, has been named interim head coach. . . . Ruicci’s story is right here.
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JUST NOTES:
The OHL’s Oshawa Generals have hired Jeff Twohey as their general manager. Twohey, who spent 17 years as the Peterborough Petes’ GM, worked the last two seasons as a scout for the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. All told, Twohey spent 30 years in the Petes’ organization, a relationship that ended after the 2009-10 season. To those unfamiliar with the OHL, the General and Petes go together like oil and water. Twohey replaces Chris DePiero, who was fired earlier this month along with head coach Gary Agnew and assistant coach Joe Cirella. . . .

Tyler Olsen, a writer with the Chilliwack Times, spent a lot of time a year ago covering the mess that was the sale and relocation of the Chilliwack Bruins. It all resulted in his winning a Canadian Community Newspaper Association award for best business writing, circulation 10,000 and over. When someone sent congratulations via Twitter, Olsen replied with: “It wouldn't have happened w/out Darryl Porter & Ron Robison.”
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Here are the dates for the WHL’s championship final (all times local):
Thursday, May 3: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 4: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 6: at Portland (Rose Garden), 6 p.m.
Tuesday, May 8: at Portland (Rose Garden), 7 p.m.
x-Thursday, May 10: at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
x-Saturday, May 12: at Portland (Rose Garden), TBD
x-Sunday, May 13: at Edmonton, TBD
You can bet both teams are hoping this thing doesn’t go seven games, what with the schedule calling for the last three games to be played over four nights, which really works out to playing three times in little more than 72 hours.
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FRIDAY’S GAME:
In Edmonton, D Martin Gernat scored two goals as the Oil Kings scored a 4-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors to advance to the WHL’s championship final. . . . The Oil Kings, who won the series in five games, are in their fifth season, having been an expansion team in the 2007-08 season. . . . They will meet the Portland Winterhawks in the final. The Winterhawks used to be the Oil Kings; they moved to Portland after the 1975-76 season. . . . Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal was a 16-year-old winger on the Portland team that won the 1983 Memorial Cup as the host team. Laxdal later was dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Last night, F Michael St. Croix opened the scoring for Edmonton at 2:46 of the first period, with Gernat getting a PP goal at 17:44. . . . F Sam Fioretti got the Warriors on the board at 7:09 of the second, but Edmonton F Curtis Lazar restored the two-goal lead with his eighth goal of the playoffs 10 minutes alter. . . . Gernat completed the scoring at 9:06 of the third with another PP goal. He has five goals in the playoffs. . . . F Tyler Maxwell and D Griffin Reinhart assisted on both Gernat goals. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit, who was named the series MVP, stopped 37 shots in running his record to 12-1. . . . Moose Jaw gave Justin Paulic, 16, his third WHL start and second straight in these playoffs. He turned aside 20 shots. . . . The Warriors were 0-7 on the PP; Edmonton was 2-3. . . . There were seven series in the Eastern Conference and not one went past five games. . . . As if the Warriors didn’t have a bad enough night, they ran into bus problems in Lloydminster as they made their way home. A tweet from James Gallo, the club's radio voice on CHAB: "Bus died in Lloyd, can this night get any longer"

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After Laxdal picked up 13 points in 39 games with Portland in 1982-83, he found himself part of one of the biggest swaps in WHL history. On Aug. 28, 1983, the Brandon Wheat Kings dealt F Blaine Chrest to Portland for Laxdal, D Brad Duggan, F Dave Thomlinson, F Tony Horacek and F Ray Ferraro.
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A Friday night tweet from Ferraro (@rayferrarotsn): “Congrats and good luck to a couple of old teammates, Travis Green(portland) and Derek Laxdal(edm) in the WHL final.”


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The Prince George Cougars plan on unveiling a brother act today (Sunday) when they play host to the Moose Jaw Warriors. F Alex Forsberg, the first overall selection in the 2010 WHL draft, will make his WHL debut. His brother, Jesse, is a defenceman in his second season with the Cougars. The two are from Waldheim, Sask. Jesse plays for the midget AAA Beardy’s Blackhawks, for whom he has 15 points in 12 games. He had seven points in four games with the Blackhawks at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary and will play for Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S., in February. . . . Alex is expected to start on a line with James Dobrowolski and Taylor Stefishen, the Cougars’ two 20-year-old forwards. That spot ordinarily would be filled by Brett Connolly, who is with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship. . . . It’s Family Day in Prince George, with game time set for 2 p.m.
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John Becanic, who has coached in the WHL with Everett, Seattle, and Tri-City, is off to a positive start as head coach of the NAHL’s Wenatchee, Wash., Wild. The Wild, now 4-0-0 under its new head coach, beat the visiting Fresno Monsters 4-3 on Friday night in Becanic’s first game on home ice. . . . Attendance was 3,207. . . . Becanic was named head coach on Nov. 24, replacing the fired Paul Baxter. Becanic had been working as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Giants.
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When the Red Deer Rebels blanked the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday, G Darcy Kuemper set a couple of positive franchise records. It was the sixth shutout for him this season, breaking the single-season mark that had been shared by Shane Bendera (2000-01) and Cam Ward (2002-03). It also was Kuemper’s 12^th career shutout, breaking Ward’s record of 11. Ward’s Red Deer career ran from 2000-04.
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D Ty Wishart (Prince George, Moose Jaw, 2004-08) was the price paid by the Tampa Bay Lightning to acquire G Dwayne Roloson, 41, from the New York Islanders in an NHL trade made Saturday. . . . Wishart, 22, was the 16^th overall pick in the 2006 NHL draft. He has 18 points in 31 games with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals this season.
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Some notes from Saturday’s WHL games. . . .
In Regina, the Pats opened up a 3-0 lead and went on to a 3-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. D Austin Bourhis will be hearing from the WHL office after picking up a charging major and game misconduct early in the third period. F Shayne Neigum opened the scoring for Regina with his third goal in four games and his fourth of the season. . . .
In Saskatoon, F Marek Viedensky had a goal and three assists to lead the Blades to a 7-3 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 40 shots, while D Connor Cox drew three assists and D Dalton Thrower had two goals, giving him five. . . .
In Lethbridge, F Austin Fyten scored three goals and set up three others as the Hurricanes dropped the Swift Current Broncos, 8-2. F Cam Braes added two goals and an assist for Lethbridge. Braes and Fyten each finished at plus-5. . . . Braes has 18 goals; Fyten has 15. . . . F Trevor Cameron, who joined the Broncos from the SJHL’s Notre Dame Hounds, scored his first WHL goal. Cameron, 18, had 29 points in 32 games with the Hounds. . . . F Graham Black, whose rights the Broncos acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings over the Christmas break, has decided to stay with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. He skated with the Broncos but declined an opportunity to join them for the remainder of this season. Black, who leads the Saskatchewan midget AAA league in goals and points, continues to explore his NCAA options. . . .
In Medicine Hat, G Brandon Glover stopped 22 shots and F Justin Kirsch scored his 17^th goal to help the Calgary Hitmen to a 3-1 victory over the Tigers. . . .
In Everett, F Brendan Shinnimin scored twice and drew an assist as the Tri-City Americans beat the Silvertips, 3-1. Shinnimin now has 13 goals. . . . Everett F Tyler Maxwell was ill and didn’t play, which allowed F Ryan Chynoweth, the Silvertips’ first pick in the 2010 WHL draft, to make his WHL debut. . . .
In Kelowna, F Levko Koper scored three times to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 5-2 victory over the Rockets. He has 18 goals. His third goal was into an empty net at 19:37 of the third period. . . .
In Kent, Wash., F Dylan Willick broke a 2-2 tie at 13:37 of the third period to give the Kamloops Blazers a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . F Brendan Ranford scored his WHL-leading 29^th goal for Kamloops in the first period. . . . The victory lifted Kamloops out of 10^th place in the Western Conference, past Everett and Chilliwack, and into eighth spot.gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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THE COACHING GAME: John Becanic has left his role as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Giants to take over as head coach of the NAHL’s Wenatchee, Wash., Wild. Becanic was in his first season with the Giants. He spent last season as an assistant coach with the Seattle Thunderbirds, after spending six seasons with the Everett Silvertips. The Giants aren’t expected to replace Becanic, meaning head coach Don Hay and assistant coach Chad Scharff will carry the load for the rest of this season. . . . The Wild fired Paul Baxter (Winnipeg, 1973-74) as head coach on Nov. 24 despite his having led the club to division titles in each of his first two seasons. . . . .The SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers have fired head coach Larry Wintoneak. They were 16-15-2 and fourth in the six-team Sherwood Division. Assistant coach Rockie Zinger has been named interim head coach. . . . In the OHL, the Guelph Storm has removed Jason Brooks from behind its bench, with GM Mike Kelly taking over on an interim basis. Brooks had been on the Storm’s coaching staff since 2001-02. He was in his second season as head coach. Brooks has been offered another position with the Storm. The Storm is 13-13-5, which has it tied for fourth in the five-team Midwest Division of the Western Conference.
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The Vancouver Giants got some good news concerning the injury suffered last week by D David Musil.
Originally thought to have a hairline fracture in a leg, it turns out that Musil as a deep bone bruise.
Head coach Don Hay, appearing Monday night on Dan Russell’s Sportstalk on CKNW, said that Musil had undergone an MRI that showed a bruise rather than a hairline fracture.
Hay said the Czech Ice Hockey Federation will decide by Wednesday whether to invite Musil to its national junior team camp.
“He may get an opportunity to go there,” Hay said.
Hay said that Musil wouldn’t be ready to play this weekend, but that he should be back after the Christmas break.
“It’s better than we first thought,” Hay said. “I would think he’d be ready after Christmas. It’s how much pain David can take in that type of situation.”
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Is any WHL team hotter these days than the Spokane Chiefs? They played three games last week and scored 22 goals, which gives them the WHL’s top offence, at 4.10 goals per game. . . . The Chiefs, in fact, are the only team in the league scoring more than four goals a game.
“And suddenly,” writes Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review, “the team that lost 103 goals and 301 points from a half-dozen regulars last season is leading the league in scoring.”
Spokane also has the WHL’s second-best PP, at 24.1 per cent. And, as Trimmer points out, this PP unit once went 23 chances in a row without scoring. . . . They scored four PP goals in beating the visiting Kamloops Blazers 10-5 on Saturday and also have at least one PP goal in each of their last 13 games.
The Chiefs also are fourth in the 22-team league in defence and fourth on the penalty kill.
Veteran C Tyler Johnson scored 10 points in three games to move into a tie for third place in the WHL points derby, with 46.
You may recall that the Chiefs got off to something of a slow start, at 2-5-0. Since then, they are 14-4-4, and now are tied for second in the U.S. Division with the Tri-City Americans. . . . The Chiefs, who are 7-0-2 in their last nine outings, have one regulation loss in their last 15 games.
Interestingly, the Chiefs will meet the Seattle Thunderbirds four times in their next games, starting with a home-and-home set this week. The teams play tonight in Spokane and Wednesday in Kent, Wash.
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Should the WHL just give its rookie-of-the-year award to Sven Bartschi for Christmas? Hey, just asking.
The Portland Winterhawks newest Swiss sensation has 46 points and is the league’s highest-scoring freshman, by 13 points. He and Spokane Chiefs C Tyler Johnson are four points of the lead in the WHL scoring race.
Bartschi, with seven points in his last five games, also has taken over the Winterhawks’ scoring lead. In fact, he is the only freshman in the WHL to be leading his team in points.
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Rich Preston, the GM/head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, is soon to be reunited with an old teammate.
Preston and Gordie Howe were teammates for three seasons with the WHA’s Houston Aeros. For part of that time, Preston played on a line with Gordie and Mark, one of his sons.
And now Mr. Hockey will be in Lethbridge on Feb. 2 as the Hurricanes meet the Vancouver Giants. Howe, along with son Marty, will attend a small gathering that is being billed as Mr. Hockey Dinner on Feb. 1 and the game on Feb. 2.
Check the Hurricanes’ website for more details.
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F Cody Eakin of the Swift Current Broncos is the WHL’s player of the week. He had nine points, including six goals, in three games as the Broncos went 2-1-0 on the road. . . . Drew Owsley of the Tri-City Americans is the WHL’s nominee as the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He was 2-0-0, 1.07, .958 last week. . . . The Kamloops Blazers have recalled F Aspen Sterzer, 16, from the midget AAA EDGE prep team in Calgary. Sterzer will be with the Blazers for games against the Winterhawks in Portland on Wednesday and in Prince George against the Cougars on Friday and Saturday. Sterzer has 27 points, including 20 assists, in 25 games at EDGE. He played four games with the Blazers earlier this season. . . . The Blazers have signed forward Cole Ully, a 15-year-old from Calgary, to a WHL contract. Ully was a second-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. The Blazers now have signed their first four selections from that draft. Ully has 19 points, including 11 goals, with the midget AAA Calgary Flames.
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Some highlights from Monday’s lone WHL game . . .
In Edmonton, F Jordan Hickmott enjoyed a career night as the Oil Kings dropped the Regina Pats, 9-3. . . . Hickmott, a 20-year-old from Mission, B.C., had six points, three of them goals. . . . He has 31 points, including 16 goals, in 31 games. Last season, he had 49 points, 21 of them goals, in 72 games with the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . F Dylan Wruck added two goals and two assists, while F T.J. Foster also scored twice. Foster actually has scored at least once in each of his last eight games. He has 12 goals on the season, nine of them over his last eight games. . . . Edmonton F Michael St. Croix had three assists. He is on a 10-game point streak, with 23 points over that stretch. . . . Edmonton D Adrian Van de Mosselaer had a goal and two helkpers, while F Stephane Legault had three assists. . . . Regina trailed 2-1 after one period but the Oil Kings scored the game’s next five goals. . . . Edmonton had a 31-25 edge in shots. . . . The Oil Kings are 15-14-2. Last season, they finished with 16 victories. . . . Attendance was 2,967. . . . The Oil Kings are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. They next play Wednesday against the visiting Swift Current Broncos, who finish up a B.C. Division tour tonight in Prince George against the Cougars.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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