Source: Winterhawks lose assisant coach to Texas . . . Sloan wins big in N.S.

G Brett Jaeger (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Saskatoon, 2000-04) has signed a one-year extension with Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven (Germany, DEL2). Last season, he put up a 2.66 GAA in 24 games with the Fischtown Pinguins.
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1. The Portland Winterhawks, who apparently are close to naming a new GM/head coach, also are looking for an assistant coach. A source familiar with the situation told me Sunday that Karl Taylor has left the Winterhawks to join the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, as an assistant coach under new head coach Derek Laxdal. . . . Taylor spent one season with the Winterhawks. He was hired after Travis Green, their assistant GM/assistant coach, signed on as head coach of the AHL’s Utica Comets. . . . Taylor has lots of coaching experience, having spent six seasons in the ECHL as a head coach.

2. The coaching world really is bizarre at times. . . . Consider that the Portland Winterhawks, under GM/head coach Mike Johnston, lose the WHL final to the Edmonton Oil Kings of head coach Derek Laxdal. . . . Johnston ends up signing on as head coach of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Laxdal joins the AHL’s Texas Stars. . . . The Oil Kings and Winterhawks have met in three straight WHL championship finals and supposedly are mortal enemies. . . . So, naturally, Texas hires Portland assistant coach Kris Taylor to work with Laxdal.

3. Freelance journalist Patrick Blennerhassett has written an in-depth story on The Concussion Conundrum. That’s the headline the Winnipeg Free Press put on the story that is quite interesting, simply because Blennerhassett writes about his own recent concussion problems. . . . He also talks with a handful of doctors, each of whom provides valuable insight. . . . This important story is right here.

4. Roger Sloan, who is from Merritt, B.C., won the Nova Scotia Open, a Web.com Tour stop in Halifax, on Sunday. It took Sloan, 27, an extra hole to defeat Derek Fathauer of Stuart, Fla. . . . Sloan pocketed $117,000 and moved into 12th spot on the tour’s money list. He needs a top-25 finish to get his PGA Tour card. . . . As Sloan made a 5-foot putt for the victory, fans spontaneously broke into O Canada. . . . "I love being a Canadian," Sloan said. "They just broke out in song. This means so much to win this here. I don't know which feels better — to win or to be done today. It was a long day." . . . Tropical Storm Arthur had wiped out Saturday’s third round, so golfers played two rounds Sunday. . . . If you were watching on Golf Channel, that was Sloan’s mother, Cathy, with a victory hug for her son after the final putt. She surprised him by showing up on Friday, the first time she has attended a Web.com event. . . . There’s more on Sloan’s victory right here.

5. It’s hard to believe that more than three years have passed since Roger Sloan won the Western Championship, the Canadian Tour’s only stop in Kamloops. That was quite a weekend for the Sloan family. Right here is what I wrote once it was all over.

6. Another Wimbledon fortnight came to an end on the weekend, and things went pretty well for Canada. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated puts a big bow on things right here, with 50 Parting Thoughts.

7. The Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league baseball team, celebrated “25 years of nothing” on Saturday and the park was sold out as they honoured the debut of Seinfeld. . . . They even found a real-life George Costanza to take part. . . . Hunter Atkins of the The New York Times was there and his story is right here.
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NS Open champ Roger Sloan with mother Cathy who watched her son play on http://t.co/t4FG5WdSMX Tour for 1st time. pic.twitter.com/rLqJKmwigP
— Glenn MacDonald (@CH_GMacHerald) July 6, 2014

Some moves in Portland

THE MacBETH REPORT:
G Chris Mason (Victoria/Prince George, 1993-97) signed a one-year contract with Ritten/Renon (Italy, Serie A). He had a 3.73 GAA and a .873 save percentage in 11 games with the Nashville Predators (NHL) last season. . . .


F Stefan Meyer (Medicine Hat, 2000-05) signed a one-year contract with the Sheffield Steelers (England, UK Elite). He had 12 goals and 10 assists in 39 games with Schwenninger Wild Wings (Germany, 2. Bundesliga) last season.
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The Portland Winterhawks have hired Karl Taylor as their new assistant coach and moved Matt Bardsley from director of hockey operations to assistant general manager. . . . The moves were necessitated when Travis Green, their assistant GM/assistant coach, took on the head coaching job with the AHL’s Utica Comets. . . . Taylor, a native of North Bay, Ont., spent six seasons (2005-11) as a head coach in the ECHL. In 2011-12, he was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. . . . As well, Kyle Gustafson, who has done a lot of the club’s video work, will get more responsibilities as an assistant coach and will be on the bench during games. He spent the last half of last season on the bench with Green after GM/head coach Mike Johnston was suspended by the WHL.
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The 2013 Hockey Coaches Conference is 95 per cent sold out, which means there still is time for more coaches to register. . . . Included on the conference’s agenda will be on-ice presentations by Derek Popke and Yogi Svejkovsky of the Vancouver Hockey School. The title of their presentation will be The Foundations of Checking. . . . Popke is the founder of Vancouver Hockey School and is a highly respected skating coach who also has made regular appearances on Dan Russell’s SportsTalk where they have discussed minor hockey-related issues. . . . Svejkovsky, a former WHL and NHL player, is a skills coach with the Vancouver Giants and the founder and director of the B.C. Bears spring program.
“This presentation will be more relevant than ever in light of the recent Hockey Canada ban on body checking at the peewee level,” said Aaron Wilbur, managing director of The Coaches Site, in a news release. “Derek and Yogi will be able to provide invaluable information to coaches on how to prepare players for the contact side of hockey.”
The clinic runs this weekend, starting Friday and running through Sunday, at the Delta Hotel & Conference Centre in Burnaby. Register online at www.thecoachessite.com, or click on the banner ad at the top of this web page.
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If you are so inclined, visit the junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s website right here and give a read to the regulations that will be in play this season as they pertain to fighting.
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And now for something completely different. . . . If you click right here, you will go to lonelyplanet.com and a list of the 10 greatest bookshops in our world. Seriously!
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Olympic athletes and gay rights activists are making lots of noise about Russia’s stand against gay rights. But, as Jere Longman of The New York Times writes right here, IOC officials have had a tepid response, if that.
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And right here is perhaps the most interesting story of the day. It involves ESPN analyst Jay Bilas and some NCAA hypocrisy.
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From F Axel Blomqvist (@AxelBlomqvist) of the Lethbridge Hurricanes: “Pretty pumped about signing an ato contract with the winnipeg jets. Back to lethy in a couple of weeks then Winnipeg a week after that.”
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From Vancouver broadcaster Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff): “Had fun doing some @WHLGiants broadcasts last season. Was told tonight, not part of their plans for coming season.”
Paterson is a former radio voice of the Kamloops Blazers.


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It won't be Crushed Can II

The Seattle Thunderbirds have acquired D Kyle Verdino, 20, from the Swift Current Broncos for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. Verdino, from Phoenix, began his WHL career with the Kelowna Rockets, who dealt him to the Broncos. The 6-foot-0, 205-pounder has 44 points, including five goals, and 315 penalty minutes in 217 regular-season WHL games. Last season, he had 20 points, four of them goals, and 167 penalty minutes in 67 games.
The Thunderbirds now have three 20-year-olds on their roster, the others being D Cason Machacek, who was acquired earlier from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, and veteran F Burke Gallimore. Seattle also holds the rights to D Ryan Button, 20, who is under contract to the Boston Bruins and likely will open the season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins.
The Broncos, meanwhile, are whittling away at their pile of 20-year-old players. Last week, they released F Killian Hutt. That and the trading of Verdino leaves them with four -- Brad Hoban, Jordan Peddle, Taylor Vause and Dillon Wagner. All four are forwards.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The Chicago Wolves, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, have added Karl Taylor, 40, as an assistant coach. He had been the only head coach in the three-year history of the ECHL’s Ontario Reign. Taylor will work alongside head coach Craig MacTavish. . . . The vacancy was created when Ron Wilson left the Wolves for an assistant coaching position with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. . . .
Ryan Cyr has signed on as the Spokane Chiefs’ goaltending coach. He replaces Denis Sproxton, who left after 10 seasons due to family commitments. Cyr (Seattle, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, 2000-05) was dropped by the Regina Pats after last season. He spent four seasons there as goaltending consultant. . . .
Jim Camazzola (Kamloops, Seattle, New Westminster, 1982-85) has joined the Simon Fraser University’s hockey team as an assistant coach. He will work alongside head coach Mark Coletta. Camazzola is from Burnaby, so is joining a hometown team. Recently, he has coached in Italy’s Serie A, with Asiago HC, and the junior B Delta Icehawks. . . . SFU opens camp on Aug. 27 and will travel to Wenatchee, Wash., to play the Air Force Academy in an exhibition game on Oct. 1. . . .
Jeff Bes is the new head coach of the Southern Professional league’s Mississippi Surge. Bes, who spent the last eight seasons as a player/assistant coach with the Central league’s Laredo Bucks, replaces Steffon Walby, who was fired by new owner Tim Kerr in July. . . .
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The new arena in Moose Jaw has a new name, and it isn’t Crushed Can II.
The City of Moose Jaw and The Mosaic Company have cut a deal for naming rights for the multi-use facility which will be home to the Moose Jaw Warriors starting this season.
The 4,367-seat building will be known as Mosaic Place under the terms of a 10-year, $1.5-million deal.
The facility includes an eight-sheet curling facility, banquet and meeting rooms, and private suites and club-seating.
Mosaic Place opens Aug. 19.
The Mosaic Company is one of the world’s leading producers and marketers of concentrated potash and phosphate crop nutrients.
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JUST NOTES: F Grant Toulmin (Swift Current, 2005-09) will attend Nipissing University and play for the Lakers, who are based in North Bay, Ont. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Toulmin spent last season at Mount Royal University in Calgary, picking up 19 points in 28 games. The Royals won the national college championship.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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