Winterhawks to introduce new man today . . . Three teams still looking

F Brandon Segal (Calgary, 1999-2004) has signed a two-year contract with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, KHL). Last season, he had 44 points, 17 of them goals, in 63 games with the Hershey Bears (AHL).
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1. The Portland Winterhawks are scheduled to introduce Jamie Kompon as their new general manager and head coach at a news conference today. Mike Johnston, who had been GM/head coach since October 2008, will be on hand to do the introduction. Johnston now is the head coach of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Kompon spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks. He has two Stanley Cup rings, from the 2012 Los Angeles Kings and the 2013 Blackhawks. . . . Tommy Gorman, the head coach of the Blackhawks and Montreal Maroons (1934-36), was the last person to win back-to-back Stanley Cups with different teams. . . . Almost a year ago, Cory Smith of the Niagara Falls Review wrote a neat story about Kompon taking the Stanley Cup to visit family. That story is right here.

2. With Portland having its head coach in place, that leaves three other WHL teams still in the hunt. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors are looking to replace Mike Stothers, who now is head coach of the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs. . . . The Regina Pats need a head coach and two assistants after the franchise’s new owners fired Malcolm Cameron and lost two assistants to resignations. . . . The Vancouver Giants will replace Don Hay, who left after 10 seasons to return to Kamloops and coach the Blazers.

3. If you’ve lost track, here’s a look at WHL teams that have signed new head coaches for the upcoming season:
Calgary Hitmen (Mark French; replaces Mike Williamson, who was fired after last season).
Edmonton Oil Kings (Steve Hamilton; promoted to replace Derek Laxdal, now head coach of the AHL’s Texas Stars).
Kamloops Blazers (Don Hay; replaces interim head coach Guy Charron).
Kelowna Rockets (Dan Lambert; promoted to replace Ryan Huska, now head coach of the AHL’s Adirondack Flames).
Portland Winterhawks (Jamie Kompon; replaces Mike Johnston, now head coach of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins).
Saskatoon Blades (Bob Woods; replaces David Struch, who was fired after last season).
Tri-City Americans (Mike Williamson; replaces Jim Hiller, whose contract wasn’t renewed after last season).

4. Germany 7, Brazil 1. . . . If you are old enough to remember the 1972 Summit Series, that is about all to which I can compare Tuesday’s World Cup result. At the World Cup, like in that 1972 Canada-Russia series, it wasn’t one team against another; it was country versus country. If you can remember the feeling in Canada when a nation realized that the Great Russian Bear had quite a hockey team, well, multiply that by 10 and you will know what it’s like in Brazil today. . . . Brazilians waited a long time to play host to this World Cup and no one, absolutely no one, anticipated the dream ending the way it did. . . . Of course, if you’re ESPN, you equate Brazil’s loss to LeBron and the Miami Heat losing the NBA final to the San Antonio Spurs. Seriously!

5. The Seattle Thunderbirds have signed F Matthew Wedman, an Edmontonian who was a second-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft. Last season, he had 72 points, including 32 goals, in 33 games with the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club bantam AAA side. . . . His brother, Cole, 20, played three seasons with the Spokane Chiefs before being dealt to the Moose Jaw Warriors this offseason. Another brother, Dan, has played two seasons with the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs and has committed to Cornell.

6. NHL Central Scouting has released its “2014-15 Futures North American list.” Included on the list are 19 WHL players, including three members of the Seattle Thunderbirds. If you’re into such rankings, the complete list is right here.

7. The Russian Hockey Federation and the Russian Ministry of Sport are putting together a 10-team women’s hockey league. According to a report right here, each team will be allowed three foreign players “and the FHR is thinking about not allowing foreign goalkeepers starting from the 2015-16 season.” Gee, that sounds familiar. . . . Former NHLer Alexei Yashin, who is the general manager of the Russian national women’s team, will run this new league.

8. Ken Campbell of The Hockey News offers up his opinion right here on the latest move to unionize major junior hockey players. This, he writes, is good news for the players and bad news for the owner/operators.

9. With another move afoot to attempt to unionize major junior hockey players, Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News talked to a few players in an attempt to measure the level of interest. His column is right here, and it’s worth a read, if only for the line about players paying for Subway sandwiches with change.

10. Blaine Neufeld is the new head coach of the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles, replacing Peter Schaefer, who had been general manager and head coach. Neufeld, a goaltender who played in the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Saskatoon Blades and Vancouver Giants (2004-07), is from Winkler, Man. He  had joined the Eagles in April as director of hockey operations. . . . Schaefer, who had a year left on his contract, will continue to work with the Eagles in a consulting role. Schaefer told Nick Greenizan of the Peace Arch News that he and the Eagles had agreed to a “mutual” parting of the ways. . . . Greenizan’s complete story is right here.
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F Mitch Barker, a 10th-round selection of the Spokane Chiefs in the 2011 bantam draft, says he will play next season with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. Barker, who is from Kamloops, turns 18 on Oct. 12. He had four points in 24 games with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings last season. In 2012-13, he put up 39 points, 19 of them goals, in 48 games with the junior Kelowna Chiefs of the Kootenay International Junior League. . . . The AHL’s Manchester Monarchs have signed Chris Hajt as their new assistant coach. Hajt, 36, spent the last six seasons with the OHL’s Guelph Storm, most recently as assistant GM. He is the son of former NHL D Bill Hajt.
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Haven't seen anything so utterly helpless since Man shot Bambi's mother and he was alone in the forest.
— George Johnson (@GeorgejohnsonCH) July 8, 2014

Attention Brazil soccer writers: don't answer phone or e-mail. Editors calling with orders for 12-pt series on what's wrong with your game.
— David Shoalts (@dshoalts) July 8, 2014

Haven't seen defence this bad by Brazil since 13-4 Oilers rout NJ in 80s where Gretzky called NJ Mickey Mouse
— Jim Matheson (@NHLbyMatty) July 8, 2014

Of all the sports, I didn't think id miss 3 goals in soccer while peeing
— Peter Holland (@PeterHolland13) July 8, 2014

If this were baseball, Germany would not be allowed to steal bases, according to the unwritten rules.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 8, 2014

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1. So who is the 14-year-old — he’ll turn 15 on June 19 — who already has committed to the U of Minnesota-Duluth? F Joey Anderson, a ninth-round selection by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2013 bantam draft, says: “I was ready for this and now I can just go out and play.” . . . Kevin Pates of the Duluth News Tribune has more right here.

2. Team officials from the Medicine Hat Tigers have seen the plans for a new arena for that city and they like what they saw. A design for a new arena is scheduled to be made public on June 11. Collin Gallant of the Medicine Hat News has more right here.

3. That didn’t take long. Less than a week after negotiations fell apart with their radio home for 19 years, 99.3 The Drive, the Prince George Cougars have a five-year deal with 94X Radio. All games will be carried at 94.3 FM and online at 94xfm.com. Dan O’Connor returns for a third season as the play-by-play voice with Hartley Miller, 94X’s sports director, also in the booth. . . . 94X is owned by Vista Radio; 99.3 The Drive is owned by The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group. . . . Peter James of the Prince George Citizen has more right here.

4. The Vancouver Giants have signed G Ryan Kubic, who was a second-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft. Kubic, from Winnipeg, played with the bantam AAA Winnipeg Hawks, putting up a 1.31 GAA and .941 save percentage in 24 games.

5. Darrell Romuld of CTV in Lethbridge tweeted Tuesday that “reliable sources tell me that Drake Berehowsky will be the next head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. We’ll find out next Thursday.” . . . Berehowsky just finished his first season as head coach of the ECHL’s Orlando SolarBears. Prior to that, he spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen. He also spent two seasons (2007-09) as an assistant with the OHL’s Barrie Colts. A defenceman, Berehowsky was the 10th overall selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL’s 1990 draft and went on to play 549 NHL games with Toronto, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks and Phoenix Coyotes.

6. ESPN broke the story yesterday that Major League Baseball may suspend a whack of players for up to 100 games for using whatever it was they were getting from the Biogenesis clinic in South Florida. Michael Rosenberg of SI.com has a good piece right here on the sample collector who got singed by Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers.

7. An assistant coach who also is the team president? Hey, why not? That’s what’s going on in Surrey where the BCHL’s Eagles have named Peter Schaefer (Brandon, 1994-97) as the team president. Schaefer just completed his first season as an assistant coach with the Eagles. "As an ownership group, we were excited to have Peter as a part of the coaching staff last season," said Eagles majority owner Chuck Westgard in a news release. "He showed an interest in having an increased role, and we're extremely pleased that Peter will be taking over the daily operations of the team.”

8. Of course Chicago Blackhawks D Duncan Keith should be suspended for at least one game for reckless use of his stick. Why is this even open for debate? . . . In fact, give him one game for that and another because the stick made contact with an opponent’s head.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Jason Becker will be back for another go-round as an assistant coach with the Prince George Cougars. Becker, who has been with the Cougars since December 2009, and the Cougars have agreed on a one-year contract extension, taking him through 2013-14. . . . Becker is a former WHL player (Saskatoon, Red Deer, Kamloops, Swift Current, 1990-95), who went on to spent three seasons with the U of Saskatchewan Huskies before playing nine seasons in Europe.

Steve Turcotte of lapresse.ca reports that Bernard Martin will be the next head coach of the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes. . . . He will replace Denis Chalifoux., who left at season’s end despite having two years left on his contract. Chalifoux cited a desire to spend more time with his family. . . . Martin was the head coach of the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigres (2006-08).


The ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets have named Gary Graham as their new head coach. Graham spent this season guiding the Pensacola Ice Flyers to the Southern Professional Hockey League title. Before that, he worked as an assistant coach for four seasons under Al Sims, who retired following the end of the season. Graham is a native of Fort Wayne.


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Pam and Jim Duquette want only for their 10-year-old daughter Lindsey “to be a normal kid.”
Hopefully, their wish will come true now that Jim, a long-time baseball executive who now is a broadcaster, has had one of his kidneys surgically transplanted into Lindsey.
The New York Daily News has a story right here.
Kevin Kaduk of Big League Stew has more right here.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Nathan Rempel (Saskatoon, 1994-98) signed a one-year contract extension with the Guildford Flames (England, Premier). He had 43 goals and 30 assists in 47 games this season with the Flames. Rempel was named to the First All-Star Team in the English Premier league and was the Flames leading scorer this season. . . .
F Mikhail Fisenko (Vancouver, Calgary, 2008-11) signed a two-year contract with Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia, KHL). He had one goal and two assists in 27 games for Metallurg Novokuznetsk (Russia, KHL), one goal and five assists in 13 games for Yermak Angarsk (Russia, Vysshaya Liga), and one goal and one assist in three games for Kuznetskie Medvedi (Russia, MHL) this season.
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Dr. Charles Tator, the foremost concussion expert in Canada, will be honoured for his work by USA Hockey on Wednesday in Colorado Springs. Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail has the latest with Dr. Tator right here.
According to Dr. Tator, MacGregor writes: “There is currently zero treatment for concussions” that can be proven effective, apart from time itself. Much of the treatment there is in today’s sports medicine is, in his learned opinion, “worthless” and needs to be“discarded.”
“Research is sadly lacking,” Tator says. “It has been a neglected issue in medical research.”
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THE COACHING GAME:
Peter Schaefer, who was honoured as the WHL’s top player in 1996-97, has joined the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles as an assistant coach and also will work in the area of player development. Schaefer, from Yellow Grass, Sask., played nine NHL seasons. In Surrey, Schaefer will work with GM/head coach Matt Erhart. . . .
The Saskatoon Blades have added Curtis Leschyshyn as a full-time assistant coach. He will work alongside GM/head coach Lorne Molleken and assistant coach David Struch. . . . Leschyshyn worked with the Blades on a part-time basis this season. . . . Leschyshyn played 127 regular-season games with the Blades (1985-88) before going on to a pro career. He was selected by the Quebec Nordiques with the third overall pick in the 1988 NHL draft. . . . The Blades are to be the host team for the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament. . . .
The QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles have signed Jean Francois David as a new assistant coach. He replaces Kevin Higo, whose contract wasn’t renewed. . . . David, who will work alongside head coach Ron Choules, played five seasons in the QMJHL before going on to a nine-year pro career. . . . Higo worked in the AJHL before spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Higo now is the director of hockey operations and head coach, varsity boys hockey, at Rothesay Netherwood School in Rothesay, N.B. . . .
Steve Martinson has signed on as head coach of the Central league’s Allen Americans. The signing was announced Monday night as minority owners Ed Belfour, Mike Modano and Craig Ludwig, along with assistant coach Richard Matvichuk, all took part in a press conference that was open to the American’s fans. . . . Martinson was the head coach of the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals (2007-10) and was the head coach of the ECHL’s Chicago Express this season. The Express ceased operations after the season.
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JUST NOTES:
D Max Mowat, who played one game with the Kamloops Blazers in 2009-10 but has since been dropped from their list, has been involved in a BCHL transaction. Mowat, who will turn 19 on June 23, has been dealt by the Vernon Vipers to the Trail Smoke Eaters as the future considerations in a deal that was made on Jan. 10. Mowat, who is from Coldstream, B.C., had 15 points in 46 games with the Vipers this season.
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John Branch of The New York Times has written a devastating piece about the late Derek Boogaard and the ease with which he was able to obtain prescription drugs. . . . Len Boogaard, Derek’s father and a long-time RCMP officer, did a lot of digging into his son’s death, wanting to know why it had to happen.
Branch writes: “Len Boogaard knows that his son supplemented his drug habit with purchases of pills from dealers in Minneapolis; New York; and Regina, Saskatchewan. But he has found no sign of abuse until injuries sustained in fights were followed by steady streams of pills provided by team doctors.”
At one point, Len Boogaard tells Branch: “Derek was an addict. But why was he an addict? Everyone said he had ‘off-ice’ issues. No, it was hockey.”
You won’t want to miss this. It’s right here. All of it.
Just the other day, I was listening to an interview with an NHL player who talked of not being able to unwind on game nights until after the "adrenaline and Sudafeds" have worn off.
And I can't help but wonder if there is a connection from the use of Sudafeds to the abuse of prescription drugs.


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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Peter Schaefer (Brandon, 1993-97) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Ingolstadt (Germany DEL). He had a goal and an assist in 16 games with the Vancouver Canucks (NHL) this season. . . .
F Dale Mahovsky (Kootenay, 2000-06) was granted his release by the Newcastle Vipers (UK Elite). He had 16 goals and 14 assists in 33 games for the Vipers this season. Mahovsky told the Vipers' website that he "had a very good offer from the U.S. and it's just too good to turn down." . . .
G Scott Langkow (Portland, 1991-95) signed a two-year contract extension with the Krefeld Pinguine (Germany DEL). The extension keeps Langkow with the Pinguine through 2012-13. He has a 2.53 GAA and a .905 save percentage in 33 games for Krefeld this season.
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If it wasn’t the biggest trade in WHL history, it certainly rates right up there.
The Swift Current Broncos on Sunday dealt C Cody Eakin, 19, to the Kootenay Ice for five players and three draft picks.
The Broncos acquired one player off the Ice’s roster — forward Christian Magnus, 18, who is from Saskatoon and has 17 points in 42 games this season — and one other, forward Ryan Bloom, who will join them this week. Both are expected to play Friday against the visiting Saskatoon Blades.
Bloom, 17, was with the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons for whom he had 21 points in 20 games. A second-round pick by the Ice in the 2008 draft, he had one goal in six games with the Ice this season.
Magnus, who actually was selected by the Broncos with the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft, and Bloom should be in Swift Current’s lineup Friday against the visiting Saskatoon Blades. (At the trade deadline in 2009, the Broncos dealt Magnus, D James Martin and 2010 second- and fourth-round picks to the Broncos for D John Negrin and F Michael Stickland.)
On Sunday, the Broncos also acquired forward Jarett Zentner, 17, who is with the AJHL’s Calgary Mustangs; F Colby Cave, 16, of the midget AAA Battlefords, Sask., Stars; and, goaltender Steven Myland, 16, who is from Cloverdale, B.C., and is with the major midget Valley West Hawks.
Zentner, from Red Deer, was a fourth-round pick in the 2008 draft. On Friday, he was acquired by the Mustangs from the Okotoks Oilers. He had four points in 20 games with Okotoks. He managed one assist in seven games with the Ice.
Cave, from Battleford, Sask., was the 13th overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft. He has 20 points in 30 games with the Stars.
Myland, a 10th-round pick by the Ice in 2009, has a 1.64 GAA and a .934 save percentage with the Hawks.
The Broncos also got first- and second-round selections in the 2011 draft and a third-round pick in 2012.
As large as this trade is, in terms of numbers, it only came together over the last few days. In fact, it’s not that long ago when Mark Lamb, the Broncos’ GM and head coach, had no intention of moving Eakin.
 “The offer came a while ago,” Lamb told me Sunday evening as the team bus left Medicine Hat, after a 7-1 loss to the Tigers, and headed for home, “and I had no interest in it at all.”
Not only was Lamb saying, in his words, “No. No. No. No!”, he said he “didn’t want to even think about it.”
Jeff Chynoweth, the president and GM of the Ice, said that “for the longest time Cody Eakin wasn’t available. This came about more in the last three or four days.”
In the end, however, the opportunity for Lamb to put something into an empty cupboard made the difference.
“The situation that we’re in . . . we don’t really have (much) for next season,” Lamb explained. “We don’t have the (1992-born players) . . . the cupboards are bare.”
Lamb also pointed out that the Broncos are a good team that has dealt with a whole bunch of injury problems, and that they “haven’t had Cody a lot this season.”
Eakin had some injury problems and has played only 30 games. And he likely shouldn’t have dress for a few of those.
“We work hard and we’re fine. We’re not a great team but we’re not a bad team,” said Lamb, whose club is 22-23-1 and sixth in the 12-team Eastern Conference. “We’re in the pack. We’re not with Medicine Hat and Kootenay and Saskatoon and Red Deer. We’re in the pack and Cody’s value was unbelieveable.”
Now that might by the understatement of the season.
“I know how good (Eakin) is and how much he means to the team and the organization,” Lamb continued. “I know what he’s done for the organization and what’s he’s done for Swift Current. He’s just done everything. I’ve said he’s the next best player to (Joe) Sakic that has ever come out of Swift Current and I really believe that. I think this kid is going to be a real good pro.”
Eakin was a third-round selection by the Washington Capitals in the 2009 NHL draft. He has signed with the Capitals; in fact, he came awfully close to making their team in training camp prior to this season.
Eakin won’t play for the Ice for a week or two. He played for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship and returned home to Winnipeg with a hand injury. With the Broncos, he put up 39 points, including 18 goals, in 30 games.
Eakin, whose father, Grant, and uncle, Bruce, both played in the WHL, was in his fourth season in Swift Current. The sixth overall pick in the 2006 bantam draft, Cody had 195 points, including 100 goals, in 212 regular-season games with the Broncos.
The Ice, meanwhile, is 27-12-3 and holds a two-point edge over the Red Deer Rebels atop the Central Division. According to Chynoweth, the fact that his team is competitive forced his hand.
“We identified at the start of the year four or five players that, if we were competitive and these players were available, we would look at stepping up to the plate to make a good offer,” he explained. (Chynoweth admitted that the Ice was one of the teams involved in serious talks involving C Brayden Schenn of the Brandon Wheat Kings.)
The other thing that figured into the equation was that the Ice holds Vancouver’s first-round pick from a deal prior to last season in which D David Musil moved to the Giants.
“If we didn’t have that (pick) we wouldn’t have done this,” Chynoweth said. “There was no way. We’re a small-market team and we have to be very careful what we can do.
“We knew it was going to cost a lot when we saw the Carter Ashton deal and then the Craig Cunningham deal. But we felt there were still a couple of players out at that time that were worth it to pay that price.”
On Dec. 10, the Regina Pats dealt Ashton, a 19-year-old forward, to Tri-City with the Americans getting two players and three draft picks, including a 2011 first-rounder.
On Dec. 28, the Portland Winterhawks acquired Cunningham, a 20-year-old forward, from Vancouver for two players and two draft picks, including a 2011 first-rounder.
One other thing that came into play for Chynoweth was that his brother, Dean, knows all about Eakin.
“(Dean) coached Cody Eakin and just raved about his work ethic and his compete,” Chynoweth said. Dean, now an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, was the GM/head coach in Swift Current before Lamb.
As for his willingness to pay such a steep price for a player whom he may only get 30 or 40 games out of, Jeff Chynoweth said: “I want the best player right now. Prospects, whatever . . . we’re looking for the best player right now to make the Kootenay Ice a better hockey club.”
Still, Chynoweth admitted, there are concerns, and they would have been there had the Ice ended up with Schenn rather than Eakin.
“You’re always leery when you make a deal of this magnitude,” he stated. “How much is left in the tank with either player? They’re both signed players. That’s always a concern.”
At the moment, they both are injured, too, and you can bet that also is a concern.
One other thing that came into play with this deal is that the Ice — along with a whole bunch of other WHL teams — feel that the 2010 draft, in which 1995-born players were selected, was tremendous. The Ice feels it got some great depth out of that draft, something that allowed it to include Cave and Myland in the Eakin trade.
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At least one blockbuster deal is expected to be announced prior to the arrival of today’s trade deadline. (It gets here at 3 p.m. Calgary time.)
Centre Brayden Schenn, 19, of the Brandon Wheat Kings, who was a teammate of Cody Eakin’s on Team Canada, is likely to be dealt to the Saskatoon Blades.
Despite a whole lot of rumour and speculation on the Internet on Sunday, the Schenn deal didn’t get done Sunday. Sources tell me that the holdup may have been no movement clauses in the contracts of some players whose names have come up.
That should be cleared up today and the deal then will be announced.
Schenn returned to his Saskatoon home from the World Junior Championship with a shoulder injury that could keep him out for a couple of weeks. Assuming the trade gets done, he certainly won’t play Tuesday when the Wheat Kings are in Saskatoon.
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As for big trades in WHL history, a couple spring to mind.
One, in August 1983, had Brandon send C Blaine Chrest to Portland for F Ray Ferraro, D Brad Duggan, F Derek Laxdal, F Dave Thomlinson and F Tony Horacek.
Ferraro, of course, went on to set the WHL single-season goal record in 1983-84, when he counted 108 times in 72 games. (To put that in perspective in the dead-puck era, the Calgary Hitmen have scored 105 goals and the Everett Silvertips 103, both in 42 games this season.)
Jeff Chynoweth admitted that while this deal was coming together he couldn’t help thinking of another deal he made with the Broncos.
On Dec. 4, 2001, the Ice dealt F Jason Jaffray, D Aaron Rome, G Jeff Harvey and a 2002 first-round pick to the Broncos for F Duncan Milroy, G B.C. Boxma and a 2004 fifth-round pick.
In another monster deal, this one a 6-for-1 swap completed Jan. 11, 1981, the Saskatoon Blades dealt F Rocky Trottier, who had asked for a trade, to the Billings Bighorns for F Pat Rabbit, F Dave Brown, D Brad Duggan (the same guy who was in the afore-mentioned Chrest trade), D Dave Chartier, F Al Acton and F Lyndon Byers. (The Blades turned around and dealt Byers to the Regina Pats for F Todd Strueby.)
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In another Sunday deal, the Vancouver Giants dealt F Mark Reners, 18, to the Edmonton Oil Kings for a fifth-round pick in the 2012 draft. Reners had three points in 11 games with the Giants. He was acquired Dec. 9 from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a 2012 fifth-round pick. . . . If you missed it earlier, the trade deadline is today at 3 p.m. Calgary time. Why Calgary time? Because that is where the WHL office is located. . . . F Kyle St. Denis, 20, who was released earlier this season by the Kelowna Rockets after a series of concussions, has yet to play this season, From Trail, he has said he would like to play for the BCHL’s Smoke Eaters. However, his rights belong to the Victoria Grizzlies. I’m told a deal was all but made Thursday, only to come apart when the terms changed.
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A final note on the acquisition of C Cody Eakin by the Kootenay Ice on Sunday . . .
While Jeff Chynoweth wouldn’t talk about it, you have to wonder if there isn’t a message in this deal for the hockey fans of Cranbrook and area. He said that all he wanted to do with this deal was make the Ice better.
According to the WHL Guide, the arena there seats 4,264. The Ice’s average attendance, through Jan. 3, was 2,463. that is down 147 from the same point last season.
This franchise has put up seven 40-victory seasons in its 12 years in Cranbrook. It has won two WHL titles and one Memorial Cup. Each of its last four head coaches has gone on to the pro ranks.
In its first season in the new arena (2000-01), the Ice average 3,635 fans per game, but attendance has fallen off since then.
It isn’t likely that the Ice is going to pick up and move — Chynoweth and the City signed a 15-year lease two years ago — and Chynoweth said yesterday that the “City has been outstanding.”
He also admitted that he has heard the talk, that he wants to leave Cranbrook, but he said that just isn’t true.
“I love it here. I really do,” he said. “It’s a great place to raise a family. People kill me when they say I don’t want to be here.”
It will be interesting to watch the attendance in Cranbrook over the next couple of months now that Chynoweth has proven he is willing to live dangerously.
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One more final, final note on the Eakin trade . . .
I spoke with F Killian Hutt of the Broncos late Sunday night. He hasn’t played since suffering a concussion on Dec. 10 in Kamloops.
If you don’t know how big Eakin is in Swift Current, Hutt has the answer.
“That’s kind of like the Gretzky trade, to be honest,” said Hutt, 19. “He’s an icon in Swift, that’s for sure.”

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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