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F Ned Lukacevic (Spokane, Swift Current, 2001-06) has signed a one-year contract with Jegesmedvék Miskolc (Hungary, MOL Liga). This season, he had six goals and four assists with Katowice (Poland, PHL), and a goal and an assist in eight games with the Quad City Mallards (ECHL). . . .
G Brett Jaeger (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Saskatoon, 2000-04) has signed a one-year extension with Löwen Frankfurt (Germany, DEL2). This season, in 40 games with Frankfurt, he was 2.89 and.895. He was named the DEL2 player of the month for April and was honoured as the most valuable player of the DEL2 playoffs.
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The last "major" Seattle hockey title? The Seattle Totems winning the Lester Patrick Cup (champ of former pro WHL) in 1968. https://t.co/ugADxBe8fV— Ray Marcham (@rmarcham) May 13, 2017
The Seattle Thunderbirds get their first opportunity to win the franchise’s first WHL championship when they meet the Pats in Regina tonight (Sunday).
The Thunderbirds have won the last two games of the WHL’s championship final for the Ed Chynoweth Cup — 6-1 on Wednesday and 7-4 on Friday, both victories coming in Kent, Wash.
That gave Seattle a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven final. Should the Pats win tonight, they’ll settle it in Game 7 in Regina on Monday night.
The winner advances to the Memorial Cup that is scheduled to run May 19-28 in Windsor, Ont. The other three teams in the tournament have been established with the OHL-champion Erie Otters and the QMJHL-champion Saint John Sea Dogs joining the host Spitfires.
Should Seattle win the WHL championship, the Memorial Cup tournament would feature two American teams for the third time in its history.
In 1998, the host Spokane Chiefs and WHL-champion Portland were in the tournament, with the Winterhawks winning it.
In 2007, the tournament was held in Vancouver and included the QMJHL-champion Lewiston Maineiacs and the OHL-champion Plymouth Whalers, from Maine and Michigan, respectively. The host Vancouver Giants won it all, beating the WHL-champion Medicine Hat Tigers in the final.
For what it’s worth, neither the Maineiacs nor the Whalers are with us today. The OHL folded the Maineiacs on May 31, 2011; the Whalers moved to Flint, Mich., after the 2014-15 season, and now are the Firebirds.
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What a feeling signing with the @PARaidersHockey can't wait for the future with this organization! pic.twitter.com/UANw00nAtC— Ozzy wiesblatt (@ozzywiesblatt) May 14, 2017
The Prince Albert Raiders held an all-access open house on Saturday and during the festivities took time to sign their first three selections from the 2017 WHL bantam draft — D Kaiden Guhle, F Cohner Saleski and F Ozzy Wiesblatt. . . . Guhle, from Sherwood Park, Alta., was the first overall selection. The brother of D Brendan Guhle, Kaiden had 17 goals and 23 assists in 30 games for OHA Edmonton in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. . . . Saleski, from Warman, Sask., was the 17th overall selection. He had 43 goals and 42 assists in 30 games with the bantam AA Saskatoon Stallions. . . . Wiesblatt, from Calgary, was taken with the 25th pick. He recorded 38 goals and 35 assists in 32 games with the bantam AAA Calgary Bisons.
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SATURDAY’S GAME:
No Game Scheduled.
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SUNDAY’S GAME (all times local):
Seattle at Regina, 6 p.m. (Seattle leads, 3-2)
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MONDAY’S GAME (all times local):
Seattle at Regina, 7 p.m. (if necessary)
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as an assistant coach with the Prince George Cougars. . . . Vopat played two seasons in the WHL, with the Moose Jaw Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders, before going on to a 16-year professional career that included 133 NHL games. A native of Litvinov, Czech Republic, Vopat and his family reside in Cranbrook. . . . With the Ice, he’ll join head coach Luke Pierce and fellow assistant Gordon Burnett behind the bench.
The WHL’s championship final, for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, will begin with games in Brandon on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets for those games will go on sale in Brandon on Monday morning. . . . The series will follow a 2-3-2 format. . . . The Wheat Kings last met the Kelowna Rockets in the final in the spring of 2005. The Rockets won that series in five games. . . . The last time Brandon and Portland met in the final, in 1998, the Winterhawks won, 4-0.
In the OHL, F Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists to lead the Erie Otters to a 7-3 victory over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. The Otters won the Western Conference final, 4-2. . . . The game was 2-2 in the second period when Soo F Hayden Verbeek was given a match penalty for slewfooting Erie G Devin Williams. The Otters scored twice on the PP. . . . McDavid has 42 points, including 19 goals, in 15 games in these playoffs. . . . The Oshawa Generals lead the Eastern Conference final 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for today in North Bay.
F Ned Lukacevic (Spokane, Swift Current, 2001-06) has signed a one-year extension with the Fife Flyers (Scotland, UK Elite). Lukacevic started this season with Tohoku Free Blades Hachinohe (Japan, Asia HL), putting up seven points, two of them goals, in 10 games. . . . He signed with the Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) on Oct. 22 and was pointless in one game. He was claimed on waivers on Oct. 28 by the Reading Royals (ECHL) and scored twice in nine games. He signed with Fife on Dec. 14 and had 44 points, 15 of them goals in 34 games. . . . The Fife head coach is Todd Dutiaume (Brandon, 1991-94), who has been at Fife as a player, player-coach, or coach since 1998-99.
Suddenly, there are more names mentioned for the Vancouver Giants’ head-coaching vacancy than minority owner Michael Buble has songs in his repertoire. . . . News 1130 Sports tweeted early Thursday that Perry Pearn is “very high” on the list. “Coaching search not done,” the tweet read, “but Pearn emerging as leader.” . . . Earlier, News 1130 Sports had tweeted that Pearn, Marc Habscheid and Tim Hunter are “just some of the names who have applied” for the job. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that the Giants “apparently” talked with former Portland Winterhawks head coach Travis Green, who is the head coach of the Utica Comets, the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate. According to Ewen, Green “told them that he wants to stay in the pro ranks.” . . . Ewen also reports that former Saskatoon Blades F Jason Christie, now the head coach with the ECHL’s Ontario Reign, “is said to be on the Giants’ radar,” as is Edmonton Oil Kings’ assistant coach Steve Hamilton. . . . I was told Thursday that the Saskatoon Blades, who are in need of a general manager and head coach, also are wanting to chat with Hamilton, who is kind of busy at the Memorial Cup these days. Hamilton is wrapping up his fourth season as an assistant with the Oil Kings. Of course, should Edmonton head coach Derek Laxdal move on after what has been another successful season, perhaps Hamilton would be in line for a promotion. When former GM Bob Green moved to the parent Edmonton Oilers, it was his assistant, Randy Hansch, who moved up, so there is at least some history in the organization of promoting from within.
Jay Wells has joined the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit as an assistant coach. Wells, a veteran of 18 seasons as an NHL defenceman, spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the OHL’s Barrie Colts. . . . Wells and Spirit head coach Greg Gilbert played together on the 1993-94 New York Rangers, who won the Stanley Cup. . . . The Spirit, which earlier added former NHLer Phil Myre as its goaltending coach, also announced that associate coach John Kisil is returning.
Head coach Brad Ralph and the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads have reached agreement on a two-year contract extension that will take him through 2016-17. The 33-year-old Ralph, who also is director of hockey operations, has been with Idaho for two seasons, reaching the playoffs in both. The Steelheads got into the second round this season, after losing out in the Western Conference final a year ago.
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