Showing posts with label Misko Antisin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Misko Antisin. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2016

Warriors GM says he received apology . . . Burke joins new club . . . Hurricanes drop veteran forward


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D Giffen Nyren (Moose Jaw, Kamloops, Calgary, 2006-10) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Dijon (France, Ligue Magnus). This season, he was pointless in one game with the Colorado Eagles (ECHL). . . .
F Martin Šagát (Kootenay, 2003-05) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Slavia Prague (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). Last season, he had four goals and seven assists in 36 games with the Herning Blue Fox (Denmark, Metal Ligaen). . . .
F Kirill Starkov (Red Deer, 2006-07) has signed a tryout contract with La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland, NL B). Last season, he had 13 goals and 21 assists in 44 games with Red Ice Martigny (Switzerland, NL B). He was the team captain. . . . 
A completely random note: La Chaux-de-Fonds lost to Ajoie in a shootout 3-2 (4-3 in the SO) Sunday. The shootout went 23 rounds. IIHF.com indicates that this is a men's international record. The NHL record is 20 rounds.
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Peter Anholt, the general manager of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, has apologized for comments he made last week, according to Alan Millar, the general manager of the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Anholt traded high-scoring F Brayden Burke to the Warriors on Tuesday. Later, when asked why he moved Burke, Anholt made a number of statements for which he later was fined $1,000 by the WHL.
While Anholt and Burke haven’t spoken, Millar said that an apology has been issued.
“The apology came from my discussion with Peter,” Millar said. “Peter put a note in writing to me and Brayden and his family, and we’ve left it at that.”
Anholt couldn’t be reached for confirmation on Monday night.
As for further comment, Millar said: “We’re going to move onward and upward. I’m not going to try and
figure out why Pete made those comments. I’m not going to know what’s going on in Lethbridge. I’m going to worry about the Moose Jaw Warriors. I’m going to worry about Brayden Burke. I’m going to go to bat . . . I’m going to defend our player . . . We’re very comfortable with the trade we made. We’re very comfortable with the homework that we did.
“I’ve been in this game a long time. I understand when things aren’t going well, we can go off the handle a little bit and make comments. I might have made a few to the referee supervisor who was here the other night. It’s a competitive game, emotions run high.”
Burke also was present at the media availability in Moose Jaw, but if there were questions about Anholt’s comments directed his way they were edited from the video that was posted on the Warriors’ website.
“I’m really excited,” Burke said. “They’ve got a really good team here. I think i can come in and help and hopefully we can get a long playoff push and win some hockey games.”
Burke had 23 points, including 19 assists, at the time of the trade. Last season, he finished third in the WHL scoring race, with 109 points, including 82 assists.
“They’ve got a lot of guys that can score here,” he said. “Hopefully, I can set them up and be a good 200-foot player.”
Head coach Tim Hunter said it could be that he doesn’t find a firm spot for Burke in the lineup until F Brett Howden returns from a shoulder injury. He is listed as day-to-day.
“We’ll see,” Hunter said. “We have to find some chemistry . . . on where he’s going to fit . . . whether he’s going to play left wing or right wing . . . he’s played both (and) he’s comfortable at both spots.
“But he’s going to be a difference-maker for us.”
Moose Jaw has played two games without Burke, who was acquired on Tuesday but didn’t join the team until Sunday. The Warriors lost both games at home — 5-4 to the Regina Pats and 8-7 to the Red Deer Rebels.
The Warriors next play Thursday when they meet the Blades in Saskatoon. 
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have dropped F Jesse Zaharichuk, 19, from their roster.
“He admittedly isn’t committed enough . . .,” general manager Peter Anholt told the podcast 110 Percent (Hurricanes This Week) on Monday.
Anholt said Zaharichuk has been “assigned” to the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. “I don’t know if that’s
where he’ll end up,” Anholt said. “But he won’t be back with us.”
Zaharichuk had 17 points, including eight goals, in 17 games this season. A native of Sherwood Park, Alta., Zaharichuk also has played with the Kamloops Blazers and Kootenay Ice. In 125 regular-season games, he has 73 points, 23 of them goals.
Anholt had little to say about his decision to trade F Brayden Burke, 19, the team’s leading scorer, to the Moose Jaw Warriors last week.
“I don’t think we have to talk about the Burke trade,” Anholt said. “I think there’s been enough said about that . . . and enough repercussions.”
If you’re a regular here, you’re aware that the WHL fined Anholt $1,000 for comments he made following the trade. On the podcast, Anholt explained his comments this way: “You don’t trade your 100-point guy and not have to say something about it. We’ll just leave it at that.”
In exchange for Burke, who finished third in the WHL scoring race last season, the Hurricanes acquired F Ryan Bowen, a second-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2019 draft. Bowen has a shoulder injury and it’s hoped that he will be in the Lethbridge lineup for weekend games.
As well, D Brady Reagan, who was suspended by the team on Oct. 28 for “violating team rules,” is expected to be back in the lineup on Wednesday against the visiting Kootenay Ice. Reagan, 19, will have sat out six games.
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Yes, it’s early, but there are indications that the Regina Pats are in the infancy of one of those seasons. They are 14-0-3 and continue to be the only one of the CHL’s 60 teams not have lost a game in regulation time. They have won 10 in a row. They have yet to lose in regulation time. . . . Kevin Shaw, who is the go-to guy when it comes to Pats stats, writes: “The last time the Pats won 10 straight games happened in the 1985-86 season. The streak started with a 6-4 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Oct. 13, 1985 and was ended by the Moose Jaw Warriors on Nov. 11, 1985.” . . . Shaw has a whole lot more on the Pats right here.
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Coaching
The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have signed Drake Berehowsky as head coach, replacing Anthony Noreen, who was fired on Monday. This is the second stint with Orlando for Berehowsky, 44. He was the franchise’s first head coach, in 2012-13. Between then an now, he has worked as the head coach of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes and with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves. He was in his second season as the Wolves’ associate coach when the Solar Bears called. . . . Orlando (5-5-1) is tied for fourth in the seven-team South Division, four points out of third place. . . . Noreen, 33, was in his second season with the Solar Bears after four seasons as GM/head coach of the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.
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Misko Antisin has been named the interim head coach of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks. He is expected to be in that position for the remainder of this season, replacing Brandon West, who was fired last week. . . . Antisin was an assistant coach with the Silverbacks for the previous two seasons. He moved to Steamboat Springs, Colo., prior to this season, and was the general manager/head coach of a Tier 3 franchise that the Silverbacks purchased. . . . The Silverbacks, who won two games over the weekend with assistant coaches Brooks Christensen and Darrell Hay in charge, will have Antisin behind the bench on Thursday when they meet the host Surrey Eagles.
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JUST NOTES:

Victoria F Matt Phillips picked up his 50th goal and 100th point with the Royals during Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the visiting Tri-City Americans. He is the 18th player in franchise history with at least 100 points. . . . Phillips also set a Royals record as the quickest sniper to score 50 goals. He did in 93 games. F Oscar Moller did it in 86 games with the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?), who morphed into the Royals. . . . 
F Dylan Stewart, 19, no longer is with the Kootenay Ice. The team tweeted Monday that the parties “have mutually agreed to part ways.” Stewart, from Edmonton, had two goals and four assists in 19 games this season. He was a fifth-round pick by the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2012 WHL bantam draft. He was dealt to the Ice, along with a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft, for F Drew Warkentine on Oct. 21, 2015. . . . He has 23 points, including 12 goals, in 143 career games. . . . The Ice now is carrying 22 players, including two goaltenders and seven defencemen. . . .
Patrick Conway’s regular team-by-team look at the KHL is right here. He also has news of the KHL and possible contraction.
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MONDAY’S GAMES:

No Games Scheduled.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Calgary at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
Prince George at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Kootenay, 7 p.m.
Seattle at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Red Deer at Swift Current, 7 p.m.
Prince Albert at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.


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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:39 PM
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Monday, June 23, 2014

A mother talks about her son and mental illness . . . Lambert takes over in Kelowna








D Jonathan Harty (Everett, 2004-08) has signed a one-year contract with Björklöven Umeå (Sweden, Allsvenskan). Last season, with Mora (Sweden, Allsvenskan), he had nine points, including three goals, in 46 games.
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After writing a bit about hockey and mental illness in this space yesterday, I heard from a mother.
It was heart-wrenching. It’s one thing to deal with mental illness in a parent; I can’t imaging what it must be like when one of your children is affected.
This mother has a teenage son who is a hockey player and who “suffers from depression and anxiety.“
“He has always had anxiety disorder and this year it crept into the dark side of depression,” she wrote. “The sad truth is no one wants to talk about it. When I spoke to his coaches about it and what was happening, it almost seemed as though they thought he was just mentally weak. I feel like coaches/teachers and such need to learn more and realize this is an illness, not a sign of weakness.
“It makes me mad,” she continued. “If you were diagnosed with cancer your employer . . . would rally around you.”
Yes, mental illness is just that . . . an illness, and the sooner people realize it is,  the better off we all will be. Unfortunately, when it comes to mental illness, there are employers in the hockey world who prefer to look the other way.
When we are ill, we take medication. I have had open-heart surgery and take medication. My wife has had a kidney transplant and takes medication. When someone has a mental illness, of course there is medication involved.
“Our son is on medication right now and is doing so much better,” the mother wrote, adding that there are times when he wants to go off his meds.
“We just say to him when he wants to stop taking meds that a diabetic doesn't stop his insulin when he is feeling good,” she wrote. “I take meds and am not afraid to admit they help me.”
A couple of other notes . . .
Her husband is involved in hockey and she noted that because of his experience at home he “is very aware of little changes in his own players now and is not afraid to ask questions and investigate when he thinks something is a little off.”
This family has a history in hockey, something she said led to her son facing “unreal” expectations.
Unfortunately, I’m guessing that there are a lot of stories out there that are just like this one, and the thought that there are people out there who may not get the help they need is terrifying.
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Dan Lambert is the new head coach of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. His promotion from assistant coach was announced Monday afternoon, about three hours after the NHL’s Calgary Flames announced that they had signed Rockets head coach Ryan Huska as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Flames.
In time, observers will recognize Huska as one of the best coaches in WHL history.
With 295 regular-season victories, he is the winningest coach in franchise history. Only once, in 2011-12, did one of his teams not finish above .500; that team went 31-31-10. The Rockets followed that up with 52- and 57-victory seasons, both of which were franchise records.
Huska was never one to promote himself, so he hadn’t pursued other positions. In the end, the Flames came calling. He was in Calgary on Thursday and a contract offer arrive on Friday.
"I felt really good about the meetings I had and told my wife, Denise, when I got home that I hoped things would work out," Huska told the Kelowna Capital News. "What they stand for just feels right. . . . It's a great opportunity that I'm looking forward to."
No one has won more Memorial Cup championships than Huska, who won three with the Kamloops Blazers (1992, 1994, 1995) and one (2004) as an assistant coach with the Rockets.
A native of Cranbrook, Huska, who turns 39 on July 2, understands how important it is to surround yourself with good people.
"If you don't have good people who aren't passionate about what they do, then you don't get to have individual success," Huska told the Capital News. "Reflecting back, we're proud of the records we've had and the banners we've had, but I'm going to be remembering the team, and all the people that allowed us to get to that point, and allowed me the opportunity to move on. That's what's really special about this organization."
The Flames’ AHL affiliate, which is relocating from Abbotsford, B.C., where it was the Heat, will play out of Glens Falls, N.Y. Huska will replace Troy Ward, whose contract wasn’t renewed.
The 44-year-old Lambert, meanwhile, is a former all-star defenceman with the Swift Current Broncos, who had been an assistant coach with the Rockets for five seasons. He won a Memorial Cup with the 1989 Broncos.
"We spent a lot of time together over the last five years,” Lambert told the Capital News, “and it is sad to see him go but there's no doubt Ryan was ready to move on.
“Him being successful has allowed me to grow as a young coach and now to get this opportunity, I'm very grateful to the Hamilton family and that they trust in me that I can follow in Ryan's footsteps."
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1. That’s quite the Medicine Hat Mafia that the Vancouver Canucks are putting together. . . . Willie Desjardins, signed to a four-year deal as head coach, is, of course, a former Tigers GM and head coach. Canucks president Trevor Linden played for the Tigers and is from Medicine Hat. . . . It’s also expected that Doug Lidster, an assistant coach under Desjardins with the AHL’s Texas Stars, will be on the Vancouver coaching staff. Lidster, a native of Kamloops, is a former Tigers coach. He was on Desjardins’ staff with the Tigers in 2002-03; that was Desjardins’ first season as head coach. Lidster also is a former Canucks captain; in fact, Linden followed Lidster in that role.

2. With Vancouver, the Nashville Predators (Peter Laviolette), Washington Capitals (Barry Trotz), Florida Panthers (Gerard Gallant) and Carolina Hurricanes (Bill Peters) having signed head coaches, all eyes turn to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They lost out on Peters and Desjardins, and now GM Jimmy Rutherford will be going back on the interview circuit. It’s believed that one person he wants to chat with is Mike Johnston, the GM and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Darren Dreger of TSN tweeted Monday evening that Johnston “is considered a strong candidate.”

3. Steve Smith has left the Edmonton Oilers after four seasons as an assistant coach. He has signed on as an assistant with the Carolina Hurricanes. That will lead to speculation involving Derek Laxdal, the head coach of the Memorial Cup-champion Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins wanted Smith to move from behind the bench to the press box as an eye in the sky during games. Smith chose to leave for Carolina. . . . You wonder if Laxdal would want to make such a move if it means being the eye in the sky and being that far from the game action.

4. Of course, the Oilers own the Oil Kings. So if Laxdal were to end up on Eakins’ staff, one has to surmise that Oil Kings assistant coach Steve Hamilton, who is highly thought of, would be promoted to head coach.

5. The AHL’s Texas Stars now need a head coach, with Desjardins having moved to the Canucks. Perhaps Laxdal ends up there. . . . Don’t you just love the coaching game of musical chairs?

6. Elliotte Friedman, who is leaving Hockey Night in Canada (RIP) for Sportsnet and its NHL coverage team, has filed his latest 30 Thoughts and it’s right here. Among the news: The Vancouver Canucks, in pursuit of the No. 1 selection in this weekend’s NHL draft, may have offered Medicine Hat Tigers F Hunter Shinkaruk to the Florida Panthers.

7. The Vancouver Giants are the lone WHL team without a head coach. I’m thinking the best candidate is Jim Hiller, who has had success as a WHL head coach with the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?) and Tri-City Americans. . . . Of course, perhaps he is shopping for a pro job, and maybe that’s holding things up in Vancouver.

8. "Back when we were young, we thought it (smokeless tobacco) was a safe alternative to smoking,” San Diego Padres manager Bruce Bochy told Richard Justice of MLB.com. "We didn't realize how dangerous it was. It's one of the hardest habits to break."
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THE COACHING GAME:
If you are a coach with junior/high performance experience, you may be interested in stepping behind the bench with the major midget Okanagan Rockets, who are based in Kelowna. . . . Mack O’Rourke, who led the Rockets to a league championship, a Pacific Regional title and a third-place finish at the TELUS Cup, is leaving for a job in the oil and gas field. . . . That means that GM David Michaud is searching for a successor. . . . “Our program,” Michaud tells me, “has pushed itself to the point where we need a high-level coach.”
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The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks have added Misko Antisin to their coaching staff as an assistant under head coach Brandon West. Antisin (Victoria Cougars, 1983-85) had a lengthy playing career in Europe before getting into coaching. From Vancouver, Antisin has coached in the BCHL, as an assistant coach with the Westside Warriors, and also in the B.C. Major Midget League, as well as in Switzerland.
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The NHL’s Anaheim Ducks have signed Trent Yawney as an assistant coach. Yawney had been the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals. . . . In Anaheim, Yawney will work under head coach Bruce Boudreau and alongside assistants Brad Lauer and Scott Niedermayer, and video co-ordinator Joe Piscotty. . . . Yawney (Saskatoon, 1982-85) is no stranger to the Ducks, having been an associate coach with their AHL team when it was in Syracuse. He also has scouted for the Ducks. . . . Jim Hodges, in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, reported last night that Admirals assistant coach Jarrod Skaldi is expected to move up as Norfolk’s head coach.
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According to a Monday morning tweet from News1130 Sports, the Vancouver Giants “won't name Don Hay's replacement as head coach till after the NHL draft.” . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes and Rock 106, which is owned by Rogers Media, have signed a three-year contract involving broadcast rights. They haven’t haven’t yet named a play-by-play voice. The Hurricanes had been heard on 94.1 CJOC for the past seven seasons. . . .
The Seattle Thunderbirds have signed D Sahvan Khaira, who was selected in the ninth round of the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft. Last season, with the Penticton, B.C.-based Okanagan Hockey Academy midget prep team, the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder had 22 points, two of them goals, in 28 games. A native of Cloverdale, B.C., he is the younger brother of F Jujhar Khaira, who played last season with the Everett Silvertips after being a third-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL’s 2012 draft. . . . The Vancouver Giants have signed F James Malm, a second-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft, to a WHL contract. Malm, from Langley, B.C., had 144 points, including 70 goals, in 56 games with the Burnaby Winter Club’s Bantam A1 Tier 1 team. . . . The Saskatoon Blades have signed D Schael Higson, a Grande Prairie, Alta., native they listed after he wasn’t selected in the 2013 bantam draft. Higson attended the Blades’ camp prior to last season, then spent the season with the midget AAA Grande Prairie Storm, putting up 20 points, including eight goals, in 33 games.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 11:41 PM
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Schenn to stay in L.A.?

It turns out that D Corbin Baldwin of the Spokane Chiefs wasn’t hit with a gross misconduct during their 4-2 loss to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday night. While the online scoresheet did at one time have Baldwin down for a gross misconduct, it has been changed to show that he received a double roughing minor, a misconduct and a game misconduct.
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Chris Walker, the athletic trainer with the Everett Silvertips, writes with news of an auction in aid of Chris Garner, the equipment manager for men’s hockey at the University of Minnesota at Duluth.
“Chris and I went to school together at St. Cloud State and both worked with hockey there,” Walker writes. “Chris is battling cancer right now. He had a bone marrow transplant about two months ago and is now in process of recovering.”
The auction site is right here. When you go there, click on ONLINE AUCTIONS and go to OnLine Chris Garner Benefit Auction. When I visited Monday night, there were 189 items up for grabs, including a whole lot of jerseys from various hockey teams.
And there are links about the auction on Facebook here and here.
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While at the Memorial Cup in Brandon last spring, I came to enjoy the postgame comments of Danny Flynn, the general manager and head coach of the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. They were the first team out of the four-team competition, but Flynn impressed me with his obvious love and respect for his players and for the game. On Saturday, Flynn became the winningest had coach in that franchise’s history. Neil Hodges of the Moncton Times & Transcript has the story right here.
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Larry McNabb, one of the toughest men ever to play hockey, is battling cancer in Nanaimo. On Saturday night, Don Cherry recalled a bout he had with McNabb during their days in the old Western Hockey League. It’s funny that McNabb doesn’t remember things quite the same way. Walter Cordery of the Nanaimo Daily News has that story right here.
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The Regina Pats reassigned two players on Monday, sending D Travis Sparrow, 19, to the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars. Sparrow had one point and 46 penalty minutes in 39 games with the Pats last season. This season, he had 13 penalty minutes in 10 games. The Pats also assigned D Landon Peel, 16, to the MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders. He had two penalty minutes in four games with Regina this season. Regina now is carrying 23 players, including two goaltenders and seven defencemen. . . . The Pats are at home to the Saskatoon Blades tonight. . . . By the way, the Pats have four victories this season, with three of them over the Swift Current Broncos.
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F Craig Cunningham of the Vancouver Giants is the WHL’s player of the week. He had a goal, eight assists and was plus-6 as the Giants went 3-0-0 during the week. . . . He is atop the WHL points derby, with 31 in 15 games. . . . Mac Carruth of the Portland Winterhawks was nominated as the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He went 2-0-0 with a 0.48 GAA and a .979 save percentage. . . . The QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan have hired veteran coach Réal Paiement as their new head coach. Paiement is a true coaching veteran, having already spent 16 years in the league with five franchises. He has a 509-489-52. He last coached the St. John’s Fog Devils (2005-08). With the Titan, he replaces Ron Choules who was fired Wednesday despite a 10-5 record. . . . From the Dept. of Interesting Scheduling: The Portland Winterhawks have a week off after beating the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds 2-1 in a shootout on Friday. And now they are preparing for a doubleheader against the Kelowna Rockets. The teams will play Friday and Saturday, with both games in Portland. . . . Earlier this season (Oct. 8 and 9), the Winterhawks went to Spokane and played a Friday-Saturday doubleheader with the Chiefs. . . . The B.C. major midget league’s Okanagan Rockets are looking for a head coach after Misko Antisin (Victoria, 1983-85) left to sign on as head coach of Engleberg in the Swiss second division. He played pro in Switzerland for 18 years. Rockets assistant coach Brandon West is the interim head coach as manager David Michaud looks for a replacement.
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To listen to Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray, the Brandon Wheat Kings can forget about getting C Brayden Schenn, 19, back from the NHL team.
Schenn, the fifth overall selection in the 2009 NHL draft, was a healthy scratch Monday night when the Kings met the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, Minn.
Murray told Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times that Schenn "is going to be a real good hockey player. We just need to continually pull him aside and talk to him about his shifts, reviewing the video, putting a focus on the checking part of the game. . . . For Schenn right now, the important part is understanding the checking part of it. The part of the game that we value greatly is playing without the puck and there's some issues and some areas of the game that he's breaking down in our own D-zone coverage. So we'll go back at it and talk and review and practice and get it back in again."
Murray told Elliott the Kings don’t plan on returning Schenn to Brandon. Nor do they plan on returning F Kyle Clifford, 19, to the OHL’s Barrie Colts.
"My plan is to have them contribute as we get into February and March," Murray said.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter
Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 1:32 AM
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