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F Josh Holden (Regina, 1994-98) has signed a one-year extension with Zug (Switzerland, NL A). This season, Holden, the team captain, had 14 goals and 25 assists in 49 games. . . . Next season will be Holden’s 10th with Zub. According to Zug's website, Holden is eligible to apply for Swiss citizenship this year. . . .
F Josh Green (Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Portland, 1993-98) announced via his Twitter account that he has retired. “Walking away on my terms,” he wrote. . . . This season with KooKoo Kouvola (Finland, Liiga), he had 11 goals and six assists in 38 games. He was the team captain.
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With their arch-rivals, the Seattle Thunderbirds, flying high over Western Canada, bringing home the Ed Chynoweth Cup on Monday afternoon, the Everett Silvertips announced that they have a new head coach.
As expected, the Silvertips have brought in Dennis Williams, a 37-year-old native of Stratford, Ont., to replace Kevin Constantine, whose contract wasn’t renewed following this season.
Williams becomes the fifth head coach in the franchise’s history, which began with the 2003-04 season.
Constantine has done two four-year stints as head coach, winning 326 regular-season and 45 playoff games in the process.
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| DENNIS WILLIAMS |
This season, Everett went 44-16-12 — for the second 100-point season in its history — and finished atop the Western Conference and the U.S. Division. The Silvertips also were the WHL’s best defensive club, allowing only 169 goals in 72 games. In the playoffs, they took a first-round series from the Victoria Royals in six games, then got swept by the Thunderbirds.
Everett management is hopeful that Williams can inject a little more run-and-gun into the Silvertips’ game.
From a Silvertips’ news release:
“Williams has 11 years of head-coaching experience across junior and college levels, carrying a lifetime winning percentage of .673 over the past seven seasons as head coach with Bloomington of the United States Hockey League and Amarillo of the North American Hockey League. After guiding Bloomington to a 29-24-7 record and fifth place in the Eastern Conference in their expansion season of 2014-15, he led the Thunder in 2015-16 to a 36-18-6 record, an appearance in the Eastern Conference final, and a victory shy of reaching the league’s Clark Cup final.”
Williams has been the USHL-Bloomington, Ill., Thunder’s general manager of hockey operations and head coach for three seasons. Before that, he was the director of hockey operations and head coach of the NAHL’s Amarillo, Texas, Bulls.
CSH International, Inc., the sports property division of The Monarch Corporation, owns the Silvertips, Thunder and Bulls. The Monarch Corporation is a private investment company that is headquartered in Medicine Hat and is headed up by Bill Yuill.
Taking Note was told last week that Williams had two years left on his contract with Bloomington.
The Silvertips’ news release didn’t mention either assistant coach Mitch Love or goaltender coach Shane Clifford. Brennan Sonne, the team’s other assistant coach this season, has left the club and signed on as head coach of Angers, a professional team in France.
The Silvertips’ news release on Williams is right here.
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The Calgary Hitmen are in the market for a general manager after they announced on Monday that their hockey operations are being restructured.
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| MIKE MOORE |
The Hitmen are owned by the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, the parent of the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
On Monday, Mike Moore, the WHL franchise’s vice-president of business operations and general manager since 2013, was named vice-president and alternate governor.
According to a news release, Moore’s “new role will see a continued focus on business operations while also acting as an advisor and providing support to the general manager.”
Moore has been involved in the WHL since 1997. He spent one season (1997-98) as Calgary’s assistant general manager, before moving to Kamloops as the Blazers’ GM (1998-2004). He was the Medicine Hat Tigers’ GM for one season (2004-05), before spending three seasons as director of athletics at the Calgary-based Edge School.
Moore returned to the Hitmen for 2008-09, as director of business operations, later adding assistant GM to his responsibilities, then being name GM and vice-president of business operations in 2013.
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Teams in the WHL each play 72 regular-season games as they strive to earn home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
Right?
But is home-ice advantage worth anything when the real season starts?
Well, the final figures are in and it seems that there isn’t much of an advantage, if any.
Hartley Miller is the sports director at 94.3 The Goat in Prince George and also provides analysis on broadcasts of the Cougars’ home games.
What follows is from numbers he compiled . . .
In the first round of the WHL playoffs, the home team was 22-22.
That figure was 13-10 in the second round, 6-6 in the third round, and 3-3 in the championship final.
Add it all up and the home team was 44-41 in the 2017 playoffs.
Four series went seven games. In Round 1, the home team was 1-1 in Game 7s and 1-1 in Round 2.
As Miller notes, “In the conference finals, the Regina Pats ended the series in Lethbridge and the Seattle Thunderbirds did the same in Kelowna.” As well, the Thunderbirds ended the championship final in Regina on Sunday night.
“In other words,” Miller notes, “the location of the game seems to mean less and less the bigger the series.”
Miller also took a look at the NHL playoffs, including Monday’s game.
In the opening round, the home team was 19-23. In the second round, it was 15-11.
Including Monday, the home team is 2-2 in the third round.
To this point, then, the home team is 36-36 in the NHL playoffs.
Advantage? Not really.
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F Matt Revel, who played out his junior eligibility this season, has decided to attend UBC and play for the Thunderbirds. A native of Abbotsford, B.C., Revel split his final season between the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks, totalling nine goals and 12 assists in 42 games. He missed a chunk of the season after suffering a collarbone injury. While recovering from that, the Blazers placed him on 20-year-old waivers and he was claimed by Portland. In 314 career WHL games, he had 71 goals and 101 assists. He played the first 104 of those regular-season games with the Saskatoon Blades.
F Matt Revel, who played out his junior eligibility this season, has decided to attend UBC and play for the Thunderbirds. A native of Abbotsford, B.C., Revel split his final season between the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks, totalling nine goals and 12 assists in 42 games. He missed a chunk of the season after suffering a collarbone injury. While recovering from that, the Blazers placed him on 20-year-old waivers and he was claimed by Portland. In 314 career WHL games, he had 71 goals and 101 assists. He played the first 104 of those regular-season games with the Saskatoon Blades.
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The Tri-City Americans have signed D Tom Cadieux, who was a second-round selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. This season, the Saskatoon native had eight goals and 13 assists in 29 games with the bantam AAA Notre Dame Hounds of Wilcox, Sask. Cadieux, who won’t turn 15 until Sept. 11, also had a goal and an assist in four games with the midget AAA Hounds.
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A lot of snow has gone into the Zamboni since Dave King was the head coach of the WHL’s Billings Bighorns. These days, the man who is one of the godfathers of Canadian hockey coaches is in Paris as an assistant coach with Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship. Lucas Aykroyd sat down with King and what resulted is a two-parter. Part 1 is right here. Enjoy!
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Tyler Kuntz won’t be returning to the Vancouver Giants for a third season as an assistant coach. The Giants revealed Monday that they have “parted ways” with Kuntz. He spent two seasons with them, working with head coaches Lorne Molleken (2015-16) and Jason McKee (2016-17). Before joining the Giants, McKee was the head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds.
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The SPHL’s Knoxville Ice Bears announced on Monday that head coach Mike Craigen’s contract won’t be renewed. Craigen was 206-151-35 in seven regular seasons with the Ice Bears. In the playoffs, he was 16-15. When the Ice Bears won the 2014-15 championship, Craigen became the first person in SPHL history to win championships as a player (2006, 2008) and coach.
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George Burnett, preparing for his first season as the general manager and head coach of the OHL’s Guelph Storm, said Monday that assistant coaches Todd Harvey and Luca Caputi will be back as assistant coaches, with Matt Smith returning as goaltending coach. . . . As well, Phil Golding has been named the Storm’s assistant general manager. He has been with the organization since 2007, working in the business operations department.
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Alex Evin has signed on with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings as their associate coach. Evin, 30, has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Before that, he spent three seasons with Selkirk College of the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League, one as head coach and two as an assistant coach. With the Spruce Kings, Evin will be working alongside head coach Adam Maglio.
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from San Jacinto, Calif., had 14 points, 10 of them goals, in 71 games with the Royals last season. In four seasons in Victoria, he has 43 points, including 21 goals, in 241 games. He will bring a lot of grit and toughness to the Vancouver lineup. The Giants were 7-27-2 on the road last season, the biggest reason they missed the playoffs. . . . Crunk’s acquisition also leaves the Giants with four 20-year-olds, the others being D Arvin Atwal, F Jackson Houck and F Carter Popoff. Each WHL team is allowed to have three on their roster after the mid-October cut-down date. D Mason Geertsen also is on the Giants’ roster but is expected to play in the Colorado Avalanche’s organization. . . . The Royals show six 20-year-olds on their roster, including G Justin Paulic and G Coleman Vollrath. Also in that group are forwards Greg Chase, who has signed with the Edmonton Oilers and could play in their organization, Logan Fisher, Alex Forsberg and Jack Palmer. . . . However, Palmer no longer is on the Royals’ roster, having cleared waivers earlier this summer, while Paulic is moving on after three seasons in the WHL. He is expected to attend the U of Manitoba and play for the Bisons.
Flames selected him in the second round, 60th overall, in the NHL’s 2015 draft. . . . He is from Stockholm and is under contract for two years with AIK, a Swedish professional team. . . . Kylington’s WHL rights belong to the Brandon Wheat Kings, who selected him last month in the CHL’s import draft. . . . As I understand it, if Kylington doesn’t make the Flames out of training camp, his first option is to return to AIK. If AIK declines — and who knows why that would happen? — the Flames would have the option of putting him with their AHL team — the Stockton Heat — or the Wheat Kings. . . . Interestingly, Kylington has been in Spain, training with D Johnny Oduya, who was an unrestricted free agent before signing a two-year deal with the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. He had been with the Stanley Cup-champion Chicago Blackhawks. . . You have to think Kylington and Oduya did some celebrating last night. . . . Here’s hoping they didn’t run with the bulls in Pamplona.
The AJHL’s Calgary Canucks announced Wednesday that Ryan Barrett, their director of hockey operations and head coach, “has been relieved of his duties.” . . . Barrett took over as head coach prior to the 2011-12 season. He replaced Don Phelps, who had been the team’s head coach since 1977. . . . Last season, the Canucks went 17-33-10 and finished last in the eight-team Viterra South Division. . . . If you’re interested, contact Pat Loyer, the Canucks’ new president, at 403-681-9625 or by email at phloyer@shaw.ca.
Chad Scharff is back in the WHL, this time as the Saskatoon Blades’ equipment manager. . . . Scharff, 29, spent 11 seasons with the Vancouver Giants, where he played, scouted, worked as an assistant coach and also was the head equipment manager. He spent the past two-plus seasons with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers as an assistant equipment manager. . . . With the Blades, he takes over from Graham (Spike) Watt, who now is with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
F Josh Green (Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Portland, 1993-98) has signed a one-year extension with Tappara Tampere (Finland, Liiga). In 41 games, he has 29 points, including 20 goals. Seventeen of those 20 goals have come at even strength. Green made the announcement of the extension himself, in Finnish in a video posted on the Tappara website.
In Brandon, the Calgary Hitmen scored the game’s first five goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the Wheat Kings. . . . Calgary moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference with the victory. . . . The Hitmen have won three in a row and have points in 13 straight. . . . Calgary F Brady Brassart had a goal, his 34th, and an assist as he ran his point streak to 16 games. . . . Calgary D Ben Thomas also had a goal, his sixth, and an assist. He has three goals in four games against Brandon. . . . F Connor Rankin of Calgary, who scored his 20th goal, via the PP, in the second period, left the game favouring a shoulder. . . . Calgary G Chris Driedger stopped 23 shots. He lost his shutout bid at 18:31 of the third period when F Rihards Bukarts scored his 24th goal. . . . The Hitmen were 2-for-4 on the PP. They have at least one PP goal in each of their last 13 games. . . . Calgary (44-15-7) is atop the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Brandon (31-27-9) is seventh, four points ahead of the Red Deer Rebels. . . . 
In Swift Current, F Jay Merkley broke a 3-3 tie at 17:04 of the third period as the Broncos beat the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-3. . . . F Henrik Samuelsson had two goals, giving him 32, and an assist for the Oil Kings, his second goal, at 6:50 of the third period, giving them a 3-1 lead. . . . F Nate Burns scored his 24th at 12:58 and F Colby Cave tied the score with his 31st at 13:21. . . . Merkley has 28 goals this season. . . . F Jake DeBrusk had two assists for the Broncos, who got 26 saves out of G Eetu Laurikainen. . . . Edmonton G Tristan Jarry stopped 31 shots. . . . The Broncos (34-25-9) are sixth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Oil Kings (45-17-3) are two points behind Calgary and hold a game in hand. . . . 
In Prince Albert, D Josh Morrissey and F Leon Draisaitl each scored twice to help the Raiders to a 9-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Draisaitl, who has 32 goals, also had two assists. . . . Morrissey, who has 25 goals, added one helper. . . . Raiders D Tomas Andrlik had three assists. . . . Moose Jaw G Justin Paulic stopped 27 shots. With Zach Sawchenko, their other goaltender, unavailable because of illness, the Warriors had Logan Morhart of the midget AA Prince Albert Raiders on their bench as an emergency backup. The only way they could have lifted Paulic was due to injury. . . . F Brayden Point scored twice, giving him 31, for the Warriors. . . . Prince Albert G Nick McBride, making his third start in the team’s last four games, made 19 saves. He stopped F Torrin White on a first-period penalty shot. . . . The Raiders last scored nine times in a game when they beat the visiting Regina Pats 9-4 on Jan. 9, 2013. . . . The Raiders (31-30-5) are tied with the Red Deer Rebels for the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot. . . . The Warriors (17-40-9) are 2-7-1 in their last 10. . . .
In Cranbrook, G Patrik Bartosak stopped 32 shots as the Red Deer Rebels beat the Kootenay Ice, 4-0. . . . Bartosak has seven shutouts this season and 13 in his career. He is tied with Tristan Jarry of the Edmonton Oil Kings for the WHL lead this season. . . . Three of Bartosak’s shut outs this season have been against the Ice, all of them in Cranbrook. . . . According to Jeff Hollick, the radio voice of the Ice, it was the sixth time Kootenay has been shut out this season and the third time on home ice, both of which are franchise records. . . . F Aspen Sterzer and F Rhyse Dieno each had a goal and an assist. Sterzer has 26 goals, while Dieno, who got an empty-netter, has 23. . . . Ice G Mackenzie Skapski turned aside 28 shots. . . . The Ice dressed 16 skaters, two under the maximum. . . . Red Deer (31-30-5) is tied with Prince Albert for the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot. Each team has five games remaining. . . . The Ice (37-25-4) is fifth in the conference, one point ahead of Swift Current. . . . 
In Everett, the Silvertips scored two first-period goals 22 seconds apart and went on to a 5-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . F Jujhar Khaira, with his 16th, and D Ben Betker, with his sixth, scored at 11:07 and 11:29 of the first period to get the home boys started. . . . Everett F Josh Winquist scored twice, giving him 41, and added an assist. . . . Khaira also had two assists. . . . Winquist is within one of the franchise records for goals in one season (Shane Harper, 2009-10). . . . Everett G Austin Lotz stopped 23 shots, losing his shootout on goal by F Justin Kirkland, his 15th, at 4:49 of the third period. . . . Everett had a 38-24 edge in shots. . . . Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Rockets, called his 1,000th Kelowna game. Back in the day, he also did 360 games with the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Silvertips, who have won four in a row, had lost eight straight to the Rockets. . . . Everett (34-23-9) is sixth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Kelowna (52-10-4) leads the overall standings.
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