Coaching moves in Seattle and Regina

THE MacBETH REPORT:
G Kevin Nastiuk (Medicine Hat. 2001-05) signed a one-year contract with Dresdner Eislöwen (Germany, DEL2). He had a 2.21 GAA in 26 games with Heilbronner Falken (Germany, 2.Bundesliga) last season. . . .
D Bohdan Visnak (Saskatoon, 2006-07) signed a one-year contract extension with Montpellier (France, Division 1). He had four goals and 13 assists in 26 games last season. Montpellier opens their training camp on Aug. 12.
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It doesn’t seem to be getting much play in North America, but it could be that the biggest story in hockey this summer is playing out in Finland.
If you are a regular here, you will recall that The MacBeth Report filled us in a couple of weeks ago on the goings-on involving the Finnish hockey team Jokerit and its home arena.
Here’s more . . .
“The whole Jokerit Helsinki to the KHL thing is getting uglier. It has been reported that Harry Harkimo, Jokerit owner and former majority shareholder of Hartwall Areena, went to the minority owners in Hartwall Areena and bought their shares without telling them that he was buying up all the minority interests nor what he planned to do.
“At the same time, he created a shell company and transferred the rights to the Jokerit name to it and then transferred the ownership of Hartwall Areena to it, all without any resolutions from the respective boards of directors.
“If I understand this correctly, it was this shell company that Harkimo sold to Russians Gennady Timchenko and the Rotenberg family. Legal scholars in Finland speculate that these transfers may be illegal under Finnish law.
“As if that wasn’t enough, the other 13 members of SM-Liiga are alleging that Jokerit’s actions to unilaterally leave SM-Liiga and move to the KHL are ‘a breach of the (SM-Liiga’s) shareholder agreement and did harm to the image of the league.’
“All 14 clubs are bound by this SM-Liiga shareholders’ agreement. The 13 clubs are considering kicking Jokerit out of SM-Liiga immediately and some clubs are saying anonymously that such a vote would probably carry unanimously, with one club executive saying ‘Jokerit playing in SM-Liiga this season is far from certain. To consider allowing Jokerit to continue in SM-Liiga this coming season is likely to be even more damaging to our own credibility.’
“A press release from SM-Liiga dated July 16 says that Jokerit’s transfer to the KHL requires consent of the Board of Directors. Such authorization has not been asked of SM-Liiga, and no binding agreements allowing the transfer have been made. The Liiga Board of Directors and shareholders are considering the follow-up to the situation in the near future.’
"Jokerit is scheduled to play its first exhibition game on Aug. 8. The regular season is set to open on Sept. 14, but SM-Liiga has removed its 2013-2014 regular-season schedule from its website."
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It is doubtful if anyone in Canada knows more about concussions than Dr. Charles Tator, who is a neuroscientist at Toronto Western Hospital. Laura Kane of the Toronto Star writes right here that Dr. Tator “has published a new guide to treating and preventing concussions in the Canadian Medical Journal.” . . . Kane’s complete story, which deals mostly with the long-term effects of these brain injuries, is right here. . . . At the end is a list of “10 things you should know about concussions — but probably don’t.”
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If you’re an NFL fan, perhaps you are a regular reader of Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback. And now he has a football-themed website. Right here is a look at how King got here from there.
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The concussion noose may well be starting to tighten around the NCAA. As Nathan Fenno of the Washington Times writes right here, “This is an organization, after all, founded in 1905 to protect the safety of college athletes. Email after eye-opening email, however, reveals a bureaucratic wasteland that’s strayed far from the original mission.” . . . The emails to which he refers are part of a lawsuit that has been filed against the NCAA in federal court.
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So . . . how did they miss it? As Gordon Rayner of The Telegraph writes, “The world’s media had been camped outside St. Mary’s for weeks in the hope of being first with the news of her hospital admission,” but when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at the hospital not one photographer got the picture. . . . How did that happen? . . . Rayner’s story is right here.
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That mother in Romania who said she had burned seven works of art that were worth millions of dollars? She now says she didn’t do it. But where are the paintings? It seems we may never find out. . . . That story is right here.
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Outfielder Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, who vehemently denied any wrongdoing not that long ago, was hit with a 65-game suspension by MLB on Monday for multiple violations of baseball’s drug program and labour contract. . . . Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports has more right here.
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Ryan Braun a cockroach? Well, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports thinks he is. That piece is right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The Seattle Thunderbirds have signed Matt O’Dette to work as an assistant coach with head coach Steve Konowalchuk and assistant Jim McTaggart. . . . O’Dette spent the past two seasons as director of hockey operations and head coach of the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors. Before that, he worked as assistant GM/assistant coach with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder.
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Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds are looking for a new goaltending coach after Dusty Imoo, 43, signed on with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. He will serve as the Jets' developmental goaltending coach. Imoo, a former WHL goaltender (New Westminster, Lethbridge, Regina, 1987-91), spent two seasons with the Thunderbirds.
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The Regina Pats have completed their coaching staff with the hiring of Bill McGuigan as an assistant. He will work alongside head coach Malcolm Cameron and assistant Josh Dixon. . . . McGuigan is a veteran of the Maritime junior leagues. Last season, he was the head coach of the Summerside, P.E.I., Western Capitals, who reached the RBC Cup final. . . . He also has worked with the Canadian men’s sledge hockey team. . . . Bo Ford of the Charlottetown Guardian has more right here.
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Bryan Helmer has joined the OHL’s Peterborough Petes as an assistant coach under head coach Jody Hull. . . . Helmer will work alongside assistant Andrew Verner. . . . Helmer is the AHL’s alltime leader in games played, assists and points by a defenceman. He played 24 games last season with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons.
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Kurt Kleinendorst is the new head coach of the AHL’s Iowa Wild today. . . . The Wild is the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, which relocated the team team from Houston after last season. . . . Kleinendorst was a finalist for the Aeros’ head-coaching job in 2010, but it went to Mike Yeo. He now is the head coach in Minnesota. . . . Kleinendorst, the head coach at the U of Alabama-Huntsville last season, replaces John Torchetti, who now is head coach the KHL’s CSKA Moscow.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Vancouver journalist Jim Mullin (@Jim_Mullin): “I called world class badminton on Shaw today and a fist fight broke out between two players & RCMP were called in. Go figure!”
If you haven’t seen the video, you are able to watch it right here.
The scrap featured former doubles partners Maneepong Jongjit and Bodin Issara, who played in the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London. Jongit is alleged to have struck Issara with a racket. Issara then chases Jonglit, catches him, and punches and kicks him. Jongrit ends up shirtless and is led away.
Issara needed two stitches to repair some damage. The WHL would list him day-to-day with an upper body injury.


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Back by request, a look at some of the books I read over the last year. . . . I actually meant to post this before Christmas, but forgot. So, if you have a gift certificate to a bookstore, well, maybe this will help. . . .
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Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink (by David Margolick): A wonderful look at the Louis-Schmeling rivalry -- a black American against a white German -- and a reminder of just how huge boxing once was. Louis and Schmeling fought twice, in 1936 and 1938, with the Second World War not too far over the horizon. In this wonderfully researched work, Margolick uses the fragility of Europe and the United States to frame what was, at the time, the greatest rivalry in sports. (Knopf, hardcover, US$37.95)
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Dreams from My Father (by Barack Obama): First published in 1995, the book carries the subtitle A Story of Race and Inheritance. And it is precisely that. Through most of this book Obama, a young black man in an ever-changing America, is searching for something -- the meaning of life? family? -- as he sets out on what has become a rather meaningful existence. His visits with family in Kenya are especially intriguing. (Three Rivers Press, soft cover, US$14.95, Cdn$16.95)
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Get Capone (by Jonathan Eig): It’s simple. When I see Jonathan Eig’s name on a book, I want to read it. He also wrote Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. It is a masterpiece. The research and the writing are impeccable and the look into the life of Al Capone, one of the best-known Americans in history, is amazing. This was the best nonfiction book I read in 2010. (Simon & Schuster, hard cover, US$28.00, Cdn$36.00)
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Game Six (by Mark Frost): This is a look back at the 1975 World Series and the teams and players who took part. It was the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, and by now you have seen Carlton Fisk urging that ball to stay fair about a gazillion times. I found the flashbacks hard to follow at times, likely because there wasn’t anything to set them apart from the rest of the story. The segments on then-Boston pitcher Luis Tiant, however, are amazing. (Hyperion, soft cover, US$15.99)
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (by Stieg Larsson): This is the third in Larsson’s trilogy, all of which was published after his death and all of which topped the best-seller list(s). I don’t read a lot of fiction but, for some reason that I really can’t put a finger on, the three books -- the other two are The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire -- are captivating. If you haven’t already, start with the first one. Just don’t have all three in your home at the same time -- you may not sleep for three or four days. (Penguin Group, hard cover, Cdn$32.00)
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Gretzky’s Tears (by Stephen Brunt): Written by The Globe and Mail essayist, who is one Canada’s most thoughtful writers, this is kind of a sequel to his Searching for Bobby Orr, which was published in 2008. Both books are solid reads. The highlight of Gretzky’s Tears has to be Brunt’s take on former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, who speaks quite openly about his sins, and all the goings-on surrounding the Edmonton news conference at which the trading of Gretzky was announced. (Knopf Canada, hard cover, Cdn$34.95)
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The Hanging Tree (by Bryan Gruley): This book would qualify as beach reading or for a couple of those rainy days at the cottage. I include it here because the book’s main character, Gus Carpenter, is a reporter for the Pine County Pilot and also a hockey player. He was a goaltender in minor hockey but now plays forward in a rec league. His take on the goaltending position and the pressures inherent in it are marvellous. This is a fictional murder mystery that perhaps goes on a bit too long, but I enjoyed it enough that I will find the author’s debut novel. (Simon & Schuster, soft cover, US$15.00, Cdn$17.00)
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Hollywood Moon (by Joseph Wambaugh): Spend a few days with the gang from the Hollywood police department, through the writing of a man who has been there. It’s vulgar, but it’s hilarious. I hadn’t read Wambaugh in a long time, and this one is right up there with his best stuff. Stephen King is right, when he says, this book is “full of hilarious anecdotes that ring absolutely true.” (Grand Central Publishing, paperback, Cdn$19.99)
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I’d Trade Him Again: On Gretzky, Politics, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal (by Terry McConnell and J’Lyn Nye, with Peter Pocklington): The authors are quite up front about this being Pocklington’s take on all things Canadian and then some. If you’re a Canadian hockey fan or follow Canadian politics, there isn’t a whole lot new here. But it is hard to believe there are so many people out there who have it in for Pocklington. Or are these just crocodile tears? (Fenn, hard cover, Cdn$32.95)
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Monday Morning Quarterback (by Peter King): No one has better, or more, insight into the National Football League, its teams and its players. If you are one of the gazillion NFL fans out there, you won’t want to miss this one. A very tasty morsel, indeed. It’s a compilation of some of his Internet columns but also is loaded with tidbits and anecdotes. It was release slightly more than a year ago but is still a gret read. (Sports Illustrated, hard cover, US$25.95, Cdn$30.95)
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Opening Day (by Jonathan Eig): This one is subtitled The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season. And it is exactly that. But it is more than that because Eig is the master of this kind of book. It actually was published in 2007, and I hadn’t had my hands on a copy until earlier this year. The story of Robinson’s first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers truly is amazing. If it wasn’t enough that he was the first black to play in the major league, he also had to play first base, which wasn’t his natural position, and, believe it or not, he wasn’t known as a terrific baseball player when the season began. This simply is an amazing, amazing story, and it is awfully well-written, which is an Eig trademark. He also has written Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. Opening Day, which was saluted as one of 2007’s best books by the Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post, is a keeper.
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Pistol (by Mark Kriegel): Subtitled The Life of Pete Maravich, this is one of the best biographies I have read. It is an incredible story of a father and a son and the consequences -- the reader can decide on the positives and negatives -- of the former living vicariously through the latter. (Simon and Schuster, soft cover, US$15, Cdn$17.50)
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Why The Leafs Suck And How They Can Be Fixed (by Al Strachan): The title says it all. The cynical and sarcastic Strachan starts in 1967-68 (the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1967) and tears apart just about every owner, general manager, head coach and head scout who has had anything to do since then with the on-ice product -- with the exception of Cliff Fletcher and perhaps Pat Burns. An interesting read if you despise the Leafs. It’s a quick read, too, with fairly large type and wide spacing, and there is a whole lot of filler in the back end. Still, this one is better than Leafs Abomination -- which was a look into “why the Leafs stink” -- that came out around the same time. The latter book simply gets too bogged down in the machinations with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, etc. (Collins, soft cover, Cdn$22.99)

Jim Swanson, who is into his last few days as sports editor of the Prince George Citizen, is correct when he informs me that I missed one. The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran gets his vote as what he calls his "book of the year." Written by Dirk Hayhurst, a pitcher who has gone from living the dream to not wanting to admit the dream is over, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book and one to be recommended. Why wasn't it listed above? Because it is my grocery book -- it is in our car and when my wife is in a store getting groceries, I am in the car reading it -- and I haven't yet finished it. . . . But if you're a sports fan, don't miss this one. It is hilarious, poignant, and even more hilarious. And it is available in paperback. . . . When he wrote the book, Hayhurst was in the San Diego Padres' organization. Now he is with the Toronto Blue Jays, although injuries caused him to miss all of 2010.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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