A few odds and ends . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Tomas Netik (Medicine Hat, 2000-01) signed a two-year contract with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, KHL). He had three goals and three assists in seven games with Liberec (Czech Republic, Extraliga) and 13 goals and eight assists in 38 games with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia, KHL) last season.
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How did Kevin Prendergast feel when Hockey Canada fired him as its head scout? “Shocked would be an understatement . . .,” he tells Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier. . . . Prendergast was dumped during Hockey Canada’s annual general meeting last month. . . . “I did my job,” he told Fisher, “we didn't win and I think some people in Hockey Canada really have a hard time trying to understand that the rest of the world is catching up to us.” . . . Fisher’s complete story is right here.
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Here’s columnist Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports: “Aaron Hernandez wanted to be Christopher Moltisanti more than he wanted to be Kellen Winslow. Sounds crazy until you look around and see there are 1,000 times more aspiring Kim Kardashians than Hillary Clintons.” . . . Give him a read right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Bill Rotheisler is the new general manager and head coach of the junior B Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. . . . Rotheisler, who signed a contract calling for two years and an option season, spent last season as the head coach of the junior B Comox Valley Glacier Kings of the Vancouver Island junior league. . . . In Princeton, he takes over from Dale Hladun, who left the organization in May, with one year left on his contract and claiming that he was owed $15,000. The Posse has since undergone something of a makeover at the board level. . . .
The Spokane Chiefs have hired Scott Burt as their new assistant coach. He replaces Jon Klemm, who left the Chiefs following last season. Burt will be working with head coach Don Nachbaur. . . . Burt has spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces, the first two as a playing assistant coach. . . . Burt played four seasons in the WHL (Seattle, Swift Current, Edmonton Ice, Red Deer, 1994-98). In his first season, with Seattle in 1994-95, he played for Nachbaur, who was in his first season as a head coach.

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1. One day after the Memorial Cup tournament ended, the Saskatoon Blades began pruning the tree of 20-year-olds by dealing D Dalton Thrower to the Vancouver Giants for a conditional second-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft. The pick is conditional on Thrower, who is from Squamish, playing in the WHL next season. He doesn’t turn 20 until Dec. 20 but, under hockey’s system, 2013-14 will be his 20-year-old season. . . . Thrower was a second-round selection by the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL’s 2012 draft, but he has yet to sign with the Habs. . . . Thrower found out that he had been traded while doing his exit interview on Friday. . . . The Blades now have 13 potential 20-year-olds on their roster. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has more right here.

2. Alan Caldwell over at Small Thoughts At Large has some closing thoughts on the Memorial Cup and the immediate future of the Saskatoon Blades. Check it out right here.

3. It got lost a bit in the Memorial Cup hoopla, but Hockey Canada dumped its head scout, Kevin Prendergast, and its goaltender coach, Ron Tugnutt, on the weekend. . . . Isn’t it interesting how the coaches and the head scout get shown the door but upper management stays the same?

4. The Montreal Canadiens have hired Shane Churla (Medicine Hat, 1983-85) and named him their chief amateur scout. Churla, 47, had been a scout with the Dallas Stars. After being a sixth-round pick of the Hartford Whalers in the NHL’s 1985 draft, Churla played 11 seasons in the NHL, splitting his career between the Whalers, Calgary Flames, Minnesota North Stars/Dallas, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers. In 488 games, he had 71 points and 2,301 penalty minutes.

5. Meanwhile, Stéphane Leroux of RDS has reported that Ryan Jankowski, an amateur scout with the Canadiens since the summer of 2010, has interviewed with Hockey Canada for the position of head scout. Jankowski is a former assistant GM and director of amateur scouting with the New York Islanders. He moved to the Habs after being dropped by the Islanders.

6. Paul Buker of The Oregonian visited with the Portland Winterhawks after they arrived back home on Monday. He’s got plenty of insight right here on the players’ mindset after losing the Memorial Cup final, along with some thoughts from GM/head coach Mike Johnston on the future of Travis Green, who has been acting GM and head coach since Nov. 28.


7. Earlier Monday, Buker tweeted this quote from Johnston: “We feel quite comfortable that we're going to be a contender for next couple years for sure.”

8. The Memorial Cup grist mill spit out some rumours, as it always seems to do. . . . Among the speculation: (a) Former Regina Pats head coach Pat Conacher may end up as the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes; (b) Brian Pellerin is the name most-often mentioned in terms of the opening with the Prince Albert Raiders; (c) the Everett Silvertips want to chat with Travis Green, now that the Memorial Cup is over; (d) the job as lead assistant coach with the Kamloops Blazers if Curtis Hunt’s if he wants it.

 9. The KHL held its 2013 junior draft on Monday, with teams selecting only players born in 1996. Two WHLers were selected, with Calgary Hitmen F Jake Virtanen going to Medvescak with the last pick of the second round and Moose Jaw Warriors F Brayden Point being taken by Traktor Chelyabinsk late in the fifth and final round. . . . The complete draft list is right here.
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From former WHL D Brandon Underwood (@BUND3RWOOD): “If ABC wants real entertainment they should try The Bachelorette with 25 junior hockey players competing for one girl #woof”

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Friday . . .

Brett Connolly of the Prince George Cougars has his first NHL contract.
(Dub Nation photo)

F Brett Connolly of the Prince George Cougars has signed an entry-level contract with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. The signing has yet to be announced but a source familiar with the situation tells me that it’s a done deal.
Connolly, 19, was the sixth overall selection in the NHL’s 2010 draft despite the fact that hip problems had limited him to 16 games in the 2009-10 season. He was the first No. 1 selection made by Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman, who was running his first draft with the Lightning.
Connolly, who is from Prince George, enjoyed a healthier 2010-11 and put up 73 points, 46 of them goals, in 59 games. Unfortunately for him and the Cougars, his season ended in the first game of the playoffs when he suffered a shoulder injury in Kelowna against the Rockets. Kelowna went on to sweep the Cougars.
In 144 regular-season WHL games, Connolly has 152 points, including 86 goals.
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Hockey Canada is running its elite goaltending camp this weekend in Calgary as it continues to evaluate players with an eye towards the 2012 national junior team.
There is some consternation because Canada just isn’t producting goaltenders the way it did in the recent past.
Why not?
Well, Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast has a theory that he explained to Allan Maki of The Globe and Mail:
“Every junior team has a goalie coach. In some cases, midget teams have a goalie coach. All those coaches try to teach a technique. We’re taking the athleticism away from all our kids. We’re turning them into robots. We’ve turned the position into a job rather than just let them play. Dominik Hasek had no technique. Tim Thomas has no technique. We’ve gotten to the point where teaching the position has gotten in the way.”
Maki’s complete story is right here.
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THE COACHING GAME: The Simon Fraser University hockey team is looking for an assistant coach to fill a spot that had been occupied by former Tacoma/Kelowna Rockets D Burt Henderson. If you’re interested in joining the SFU staff, check out www.sfuhockey.com or contact GM Jeff Dubois via email at hockey@sfu.ca.
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As the teams head back to Boston for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, it strikes me, and I’m sure some other sports fans, that this series bears something of a resemblance to the 1960 World Series.
At least, it does if you consider the scores.
That World Series featured the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had home-field advantage, and the New York Yankees.
The Yankees won Games 2, 3 and 6 by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0.
The Pirates won the other four games — 6-4, 3-2, 5-2 and 10-9, winning Game 7 on Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run.
Add it all up and the Yankees lost the World Series despite outscoring the Pirates, 55-27.
In this Stanley Cup final, the Vancouver Canucks won the first two games — 1-0 and 3-2 in OT — and then took Game 5, 1-0, on Friday night. The Bruins were victors in Games 3 and 4, by 8-1 and 4-0 counts.
So, through five games, the Canucks hold a 3-2 edge, although they have been outscored, 14-6.
Game 6 is to be played Monday night in Boston with a seventh game, if needed, scheduled for Vancouver on Wednesday.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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