Showing posts with label Portland Winterhawks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portland Winterhawks. Show all posts

Sunday, July 16, 2017

A wild fire-fuelled night in B.C. ... Glass signs with Vegas ... MJHL players to pay development fee


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It’s been a wild and unpleasant night in the fire-ravaged areas of B.C. — north and west of Kamloops and in Lake Country, just a bit north of Kelowna.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those people who lost their homes and/or were forced to flee from the fires. 
As for Kamloops, the city is teeming with evacuees. There already were lots of evacuees here, including those from the Ashcroft, Cache Creek and 100 Mile House areas, when Williams Lake was hit with an evacuation order last night. Many of those people registered at the Sandman Centre upon arrival but, with Kamloops fairly bursting at the seams, others were to have been directed to Chilliwack.
Some of Saturday’s rogue fire activity was caused by winds from a cold front moving in off the Pacific Ocean. Who knows what awaits B.C. in the morning? The forecast is for cooler temperatures, perhaps in the low 20s, and higher humidity. It ain’t rain, but it will help.
In Kamloops, there were a couple of scares from grass fires last night, but quick action by fire crews got things under control.
We live 20 kilometres east of Kamloops, on the north side of the South Thompson River and haven’t been threatened. We also have had only two days of heavy smoke; in fact, the last three days have been sunny and warm with nothing but blue skies.
Yes, we are among the fortunate ones, at least to this point, and we know it.
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F Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks has signed his first professional contract — a three-year entry-level deal with the Vegas Golden Knights, who selected him sixth overall in the 2017 NHL draft. . . . Glass, 18, is from Winnipeg and is expected to return for a third season with the Winterhawks. He is eligible to play with the Golden Knights, but because of his age can’t be assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. . . . Last season, Glass had 94 points, 32 of them goals, in 69 games with Portland. That followed a freshman season in which he totalled 10 goals and 17 assists in 27 games. . . . The Winterhawks selected him in the first round of the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. . . . The Golden Knights had three first-round selections in the 2017 NHL draft; they signed the other two selections on Saturday, too. F Nick Suzuki of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack and D Erik Brannstrom. Suzuki is expected to return to the Attack, while Brannstrom, who won’t turn 18 until September, will play for HV71 in Sweden’s Elite League.
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Players wanting to play in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League will have to pay starting in 2017-18. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun reports that the league will be implementing a player development fee. . . . “It’s a move sources say that will allow for the league to better advertise itself during its annual showcase, bringing in more scouts and more attention to the event. The move will also help provide better health and dental benefits for the league’s 250-plus players,” Billeck reports. “The league has yet to officially announced the development fees, which are said to be set at $500 per player, but sources say it is a move that has been in the works for a while. The league will take in just under $130,000.” . . . Billeck’s story is right here.
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The MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons have signed Paul Dyck, their general manager and head coach, to a contract extension that runs through 2020-21. Dyck, who is from Steinbach, has been with the pistons since 2010-11 when he was an assistant coach under Rich Gosselin. Dyck stepped in as head coach during 2011-12 and has been the GM/head coach since the summer of 2012. . . . Here’s Grant Lazaruk, the president/governor of the community-owned team’s board of directors, in a news release: “Paul’s coaching ability and what he has done for the club on and off he ice has been tremendous. I look at it as this ownership group has owned this club now for five seasons. In those five seasons, he has led the team to an MJHL championship, two appearances in the final, and two semi-final appearances, so in regards to his on-ice team performance, he has done a tremendous job.” . . . Dyck, 46, played two seasons (1989-91) with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
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The AJHL’s Calgary Canucks announced Saturday morning that James Poole, their general manager and head coach, is leaving the organization “to pursue other opportunities.” . . . Poole spent one season with the Canucks, going 37-19-4, the first time the team finished above .500 since 2009-10. . . . Anyone interested should send a resume to Pat Loyer at phloyer@shaw.ca.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 12:26 AM
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Seattle head coach off to NHL ... Change the import draft? Why not? ... Portland got "a stud"


F Roman Tománek (Calgary, Seattle, 2004-06) has signed a one-year contract with Freiburg (Germany, DEL2). Last season, with Banská Bystrica (Slovakia, Extraliga), he had one goal and three assists in 17 games. He was loaned to Dukla Trenčín (same) on Jan. 3, and had a goal and three assists in nine games. . . .
F Jacob Doty (Seattle, Medicine Hat, 2009-14) has signed a one-year contract with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, with the Chicago Wolves (AHL), he had one assist in four games; he also had five goals and six assists in 11 games with the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL).
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STEVE KONOWALCHUK
The WHL-champion Seattle Thunderbirds are looking for a new head coach after the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks announced on Wednesday that they have signed Steve Konowalchuk as an assistant coach.
Konowalchuk, 44, was the Thunderbirds’ head coach for six seasons. The Thunderbirds reached the WHL final in 2016, where they lost to the Brandon Wheat Kings. In 2017, the Thunderbirds won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, beating the Regina Pats, 4-2, in the best-of-seven final. That was the Thunderbirds’ first WHL title.

Konowalchuk was 219-176-37 in regular-season games with Seattle. He joined the Thunderbirds on June 16, 2011, after spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He also played in the NHL, with the Washington Capitals and Colorado, after spending two seasons (1990-92) with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
Of the U.S. Division’s five teams, only Portland (Mike Johnston) and the Tri-City Americans (Mike Williamson) will return with the same head coach as last season.
The Everett Silvertips, who finished on top of the division, didn’t renew head coach Kevin Constantine’s contract. He will coach in South Korea next season. Dennis Williams is Everett’s new head coach.
The Spokane Chiefs have hired Dan Lambert, a former WHL star defenceman who coached in Kelowna, to replace Don Nachbaur, the head coach for the previous seven seasons. Nachbaur now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles.
The Kings also signed Dave Lowry, the head coach of the Victoria Royals for the previous five seasons, as an assistant coach. The Royals have since promoted assistant coach Dan Price to head coach.
At the moment, Seattle and the Calgary Hitmen are the only two of the WHL’s 22 teams without head coaches. The Hitmen are looking to replace Mark French, who left after three seasons to coach in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the Ducks also added Mark Morrison to their staff as an assistant coach. Morrison, 54, is a former WHL player (Victoria Cougars, 1979-83). He spent four seasons (2007-11) as the GM/head coach of the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings. For the past six seasons, he has been assistant coach in the Winnipeg Jets’ organization, first with the St. John’s IceCaps and for the past two seasons with the Manitoba Moose.

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The CHL’s 2017 import draft was held Wednesday and I posted a lengthy look at the WHL teams and their selections a short while after it ended.
Included in that report was a link to a Saskatoon StarPhoenix story in which Blades general manager Colin Priestner commented on the intricacies of this draft.
Shortly after I posted that piece, I heard from Jeff Hollick, a former long-time radio voice of the Kootenay Ice. Hollick sent me a link to a piece that he had written for dubnetwork.ca on how to provide teams with a more level playing field in the import draft. That piece is right here.
As the Ice’s play-by-play voice, Hollick would have spent a lot of time around Jeff Chynoweth, then the team’s general manager. While not necessarily opposed to the draft, Chynoweth wasn’t reluctant in voicing his objections to the way it is conducted.
In the WHL, most owners and general managers look upon it as a necessary evil. But few, if any, enjoy it.
So why not do away with it? Why not just pull the plug on it? Teams no longer are allowed to draft European goaltenders, so why not just dump the draft altogether?
(If you’re wondering, USHL teams are allowed to use import goaltenders, but each one counts as two imports. USHL teams are allowed six import players, but two of them must be Canadians.)
In place of the draft, why not allow teams to list players, just like they do with North American players? Why not allow teams to start listing European players at 16 years of age?
The only difference would be that each team would be allowed to list only a set number of Europeans, say three. There are a gazillion European skaters available, so numbers wouldn’t be an issue.
That would allow teams to scout players, list them and then try to sell them on the organization. If that doesn’t work, the team could simply drop the player from its list and move on.
That also might do away with the messy system now in place where teams can end up with three or four import skaters in their training camp, knowing full well that two of them will have to go.
Seriously, almost anything is better than the system now in place.
However, nothing will change. Why not?
Because, as one general manager told Taking Note, “The OHL and QMJHL would never agree. They like their dominance in that draft.”
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IMPORT DRAFT NOTES:

The Portland Winterhawks selected one player, taking Swedish F Samuel Fagemo, 17, with the 28th pick. One WHL general manager told Taking Note that Fagemo is “a stud,” but that he doesn’t expect Portland to bring him over until 2018-19. That’s because Portland’s roster already includes two solid imports in Finnish D Henri Jokiharju and Danish F Joachim Blichfeld. . . . Jokiharju was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the NHL draft on Friday. . . . Blichfeld was taken by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2016 draft. . . . Each WHL team is allowed to keep two import players. Were Portland to have Fagemo and Blichfeld in camp and then have Jokiharju come back, they would have two weeks from his return to trade one of the veterans or release Fagemo. “And,” said the GM, “they aren’t going to trade Blichfeld.” . . .
The Vancouver Giants selected Slovakian F Milos Roman with the fifth pick and are hoping that he slots into their top six forwards. They took German F Yannik Valenti in the second round, 56th overall, but Steve Ewen of Postmedia reports they don’t plan on having him here until 2018-19. “Their thinking,” Ewen writes, “is that they’ll need a boost offensively then, with (Brad) Morrison and (Ty) Ronning graduated and (Tyler) Benson likely playing in the Edmonton Oilers’ system as a 20-year-old. Valenti put up 20 goals and 23 assists in 40 games last season with Jungadler Mannheim, a team in the German Junior League.” . . . Ewen’s story is right here. . . .
A year ago, the Giants had the fourth overall pick and took Czech F Filip Zadina. As Ewen points out, Zadina chose not to report and the Giants dropped him. On Wednesday he was selected by the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads with the 10th pick and quickly tweeted that he is “really excited to be part of great organization.” . . . 
Meanwhile, the OHL’s Flint Firebirds and the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders both selected Nikita Alexandrov in the first round of the CHL import draft. . . . Flint took Russian D Nikita Alexandrov and, a few picks later, Charlottetown took F Nikita Alexandrov, who has played the past five seasons in Germany. . . . Flint’s Alexandrov, who apparently is 6-foot-5 and 155 pounds, is 18. The Islanders’ Alexandrov, who is 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, will turn 17 on Sept. 16.  
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G Michael Herringer, who played out his junior eligibility with the Kelowna Rockets last season, has decided to attend the U of Regina and play for the Cougars. . . . From Comox, B.C., Herringer began his WHL career by playing two games with the Victoria Royals in 2012-13. He played three seasons (2014-17) with the Royals and was their starter each of the past two seasons. In 115 career regular-season appearances, he was 71-29-5, 2.88, .904.
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If you’re a regular here, and even if you aren’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 The KHL is only a few days from the opening of training camps for the 2017-18 season. Patrick Conway of Conway’s Russian Hockey Blog has been filling us in on the KHL’s coaches, and he’s back right here with a look at the Chernyshyov Division. This is where veteran coach Mike Keenan is hanging his hat this season.
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Trent Cull is the new head coach of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Cull takes over from Travis Green, who now is the Canucks’ head coach. . . . Cull, 43, had been an assistant coach with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. In fact, he spent eight of the previous 11 seasons with the Crunch. . . . He also spent three seasons (2010-13) as the head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 11:17 PM
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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Silvertips lose import to HPK ... Ferguson cancels fishing trip ... Royals sign assistant coach


F Josh Nicholls (Saskatoon, 2008-13) has signed a one-year contract with Litvínov (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with the Colorado Eagles (ECHL), he had 11 goals and 21 assists in 30 games. He also had a goal and three assists in six games with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). . . .
G Kevin Nastiuk (Medicine Hat, 2001-05) has signed a one-year contract with the Coventry Blaze (England, UK Elite). Last season, with Dresden (Germany, DEL2), he was 16-6-0, 1.99, .938 with one shutout in 25 games. He led the league in GAA and save percentage. . . . Nastiuk will attend Coventry University Business School while playing for the Blaze. . . .
F Petr Vala (Seattle, 1997-98) has signed a one-year contract with Zell am See (Austria, Alps HL). Last season, with Lustenau (Austria, Alps HL), he had 17 goals and 25 assists in 38 games. He led his team in goals and points. . . .
D Vladimír Mihalik (Red Deer, Prince George, 2005-07) has signed a one-year extension with Banská Bystrica (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, he had two goals and nine assists in 52 games.
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 The WHL released its 2017-18 regular-season schedule on Tuesday. Check your favourite team’s website for more info.
As usual, there are some quirks . . . 
For example, the Portland Winterhawks will play four straight games against the Kelowna Rockets in a span of eight days (Oct. 14-21). Those are the only times the teams, who are projected as two of the
Western Conference’s top clubs, will play each other during the regular season. . . . They’ll play in Portland on Oct. 14 and 15, before heading for Kelowna and games on Oct. 20 and 21. In between, the Rockets will stop in Kennewick, Wash., for a single with the Tri-City Americans on Oct. 17.
Later, the Winterhawks and Kamloops Blazers will play three of their four games on consecutive nights (Jan. 26-28). They will play in Kamloops on Friday and Saturday nights, then head for Portland and a Sunday game.
That nifty bit of scheduling brought this response from a Portland follower:
“I give up — it is so evident that common sense left the scheduling process years ago. . . . As far as the three-game set against the Blazers . . . does the league know this is hockey and not baseball where three-game series are common? . . . It’s obvious that the league doesn’t care two cents about their customer base . . . and more importantly doesn’t care two cents about the quality of play that those customers are going to be watching.”
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The Regina Pats, the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup, are looking at two eight-game road swings, one from Nov. 18 through Dec. 6 when the Canadian Western Agribition takes over the Brandt Centre in late November, and the other from Feb. 19 through March 8 when the Canadian men’s curling championship is in the house. The Pats will play three games in three days on two occasions, which is nine fewer than the Everett Silvertips.
The Silvertips’ schedule calls for them to play three games in three nights on 11 occasions. That includes three in January, three in February and one in March.
One fan from the Pacific Northwest tells me that Everett will play three games in three nights in three different cities on three occasions, while the Seattle Thunderbirds, the reigning champions, do that four times.
“That produces bad hockey,” the fan wrote. “It’s not good for the players or the fans.”
Keep in mind that three games in three nights actually means three games in fewer than 48 hours.
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The Saskatoon Blades will open the season with four straight home games — in 15 days. Les Lazaruk, the veteran radio voice of the Blades, tweeted that the only other time Saskatoon played its first four games at home was 1972. The Blades will open on Sept. 22 against the Swift Current Broncos, but then won’t play again until Sept. 29 when they entertain the Medicine Hat Tigers.
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F Eetu Tuulola won’t be back for a second season with the Everett Silvertips. Instead, he will be playing for HPK in his native Finland.
Last season, as an 18-year-old freshman, Tuulola had 18 goals and 13 assists in 62 games while on loan
EETU TUULOLA
to the Silvertips from HPK with whom he had signed a three-year contract.
The Calgary Flames selected Tuulola in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. The Flames have yet to sign Tuulola, but because they drafted him out of Europe — and not off a CHL team’s roster — they hold his rights for four seasons.
With two seasons left on that HPK contract, Tuulola will return to Finland and play there. For him to remain in Everett, the Flames would have had to buy out the deal with HPK and then sign him. With Calgary choosing not to do that, HPK has brought him home.
This means that the Silvertips will select two players in today’s CHL import draft. F Dominic Zwerger, their other import last season, has played out his junior eligibility.
The draft is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. PT, with the OHL’s Barrie Colts making the first selection. They are expected to take Russian F Andrei Svechnikov, who is seen by observers as a possible No. 1 selection in the NHL’s 2018 draft.
From Barnaul, Russia, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Svechnikov had 29 goals and 29 assists in 48 games with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks last season.
The Kootenay Ice, the first WHL team on the board, hold the third selection.
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Here are a few more WHL players who are in NHL development camps as undrafted free agents:
D Jonathan Smart, 18, of the Regina Pats has been invited to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ camp, as has F Ethan McIndoe of the Spokane Chiefs. McIndoe will turn 18 on July 22.
D Aaron Irving, who completed his junior eligibility with the Everett Silvertips last season, is with the Vancouver Canucks. He was selected by the Nashville Predators in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL draft but went unsigned.
F Giorgio Estephan of the Lethbridge Hurricanes will skate with the Minnesota Wild. Estephan, 20, was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2015 draft. The Sabres didn’t sign him, then he went undrafted last weekend.
D Nolan Kneen, 18, of the Kamloops Blazers was invited to camp by the Florida Panthers.
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So much for the fishing trip! Instead of going fishing with his family, G Dylan Ferguson of the Kamloops Blazers found himself in Las Vegas on Tuesday. That’s because the NHL’s expansion Las Vegas franchise picked him up from the Dallas Stars in a trade on Monday and now he’s at the Golden Knights’ development camp. . . . There’s more right here.
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The Vancouver Giants have signed G Todd Scott to a WHL contract. Scott, 17, was a 10th-round selection in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. From Albertville, Minn., he played last season with the NAHL’s Coulee Region Chill and the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers. He was 3.56, .904 in 15 appearances with the Chill, and 2.51, .903 in seven games with the Musketeers. He also was 2.00, .912 in three games with the U-16 Omaha AAA Lancers. . . . The Giants finished last season with two goaltenders on their roster — Ryan Kubic, now 19, and David Tendeck, who won’t turn 18 until Nov. 25. Also on their depth chart: Trent Miner, 16, of Souris, Man., who was a first-round selection in the 2016 bantam draft; and Jacob Wassermann, 17, of Humboldt, Sask., who was taken in the eighth round of the 2015 bantam draft.
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Trevor Redden is the new play-by-play man for the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Redden had been the business manager and radio voice of the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. . . . Drew Wilson, the team’s radio voice on CKBI, moved to Saskatoon following last season and now is part of the sports department of the Saskatoon Media Group, which is headed up by Les Lazaruk, who does the Saskatoon Blades’ games.
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There was a time when F Kyle Beach may have been the most-despised player in the WHL. Beach played for the Everett Silvertips, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Spokane Chiefs. He could score and scrap and stick and all of that stuff. Oh, he was disliked. The complete package was enough for the Chicago Blackhawks to select him 11th overall in the 2008 NHL draft. Now playing in Austria, Beach has yet to get into even one NHL game. With last weekend’s draft in Chicago, David Haugh spoke with Beach filed this piece right here to the Chicago Tribune.
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A tip of the cap to Bobby Pillote of Awful Announcing for this piece on the silliness of ranking drafts immediately after they are held. . . . He writes: “Draft grades are also almost entirely meaningless; a single set of draft grades is about as likely to predict the future as Stephen A. Smith is likely to correctly pick the winner of the NBA Finals.” . . . He also provides a number of NBA- and NFL-related examples. No, he doesn’t mention the NHL, but the tweet above is self-explanatory.
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If you’re a regular here, and even if you aren’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching Game


 The Victoria Royals have signed J.F. Best, 33, as an assistant coach. Last season, the Ottawa native was an assistant coach with the CCHL’s Kanata Lasers and their U-18 AAA affiliate. . . . On the Royals’ staff, he will fill the vacancy created when Dan Price moved up to head coach after Dave Lowry signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. . . . Best has worked in performance analysis with the Danish Ice Hockey Federation since 2015, including at the 2017 World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, and at the 2017 Worlds in Cologne and Paris. . . . He spent one season (2015-16) as director of performance analysis with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. In 2013-14, he was on staff with the Tri-City Americans as performance analyst and hockey operations assistant.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks revealed Tuesday that Ben Cooper, their video assistant coach, no longer is with the team. Cooper is a former Royals assistant coach.
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Rod Aldoff has left the Pensacola Ice Flyers after a second stint as the SPHL team’s head coach. Aldoff, who is from Lethbridge, began last season as the head coach of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, but was fired on Nov. 29 after a 2-11-4 start. He was hired to coach the Ice Flyers on Feb. 14 -- there were 20 games left in the regular season -- after Kevin Hasselberg was fired. The Ice Flyers went on to lose out in the second round of the playoffs. . . . Through all of this, Aldoff has been under contract to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. . . . Earlier in his coaching career, Aldoff guided the Ice Flyers to a pair of SPHL titles.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:14 PM
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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Scattershooting about NHL draft ... McGrew, Ferguson intriguing picks ... Emotional week for Patrick

Scattershoot

SCATTERSHOOTING ON NHL DRAFT:

The NHL draft’s first round was held on Friday night in Chicago. Once again it was a gaudy celebration of middle-aged white men parading across the stage and shaking hands with Gary Bettman, the NHL’s commish, on the way.
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The star of Sportsnet’s first-round coverage had to be Sam Cosentino. He isn’t on Twitter, but that doesn’t stop him from knowing his stuff when it comes to draft-eligible hockey players.
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The goofiest thing of draft week may have occurred early on when Colin Campbell, the NHL’s executive vice-president and director of hockey operations, told reporters the league had taken an in-depth look at four playoff games and discovered 60 to 110 uncalled slashes per game. . . . You were watching the playoffs and you saw that; I was watching the playoffs and I saw that. So why did the NHL have to study video to see it?
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The NHL has a rulebook in which slashing is declared illegal. So how could that many go uncalled in one game? Hey, that’s a lot of uncalled hacking and whacking. . . . It was TSN’s Gord Miller who tweeted: “Take out the rulebook and call it.” … Gee, what a crazy idea.
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The Portland Winterhawks had four players selected off their roster during the draft. Two went in the first round, with F Cody Glass going to the Vegas Golden Knights sixth overall and D Henri Jokiharju to the Chicago Blackhawks with the 29th pick. As well, D Brendan De Jong was taken by the Caroling Hurricanes in the sixth round (166th) and F Skyler McKenzie went to the Winnipeg Jets in the seventh round (198th). . . . Meanwhile, four players whose WHL rights belong to the Winterhawks also were drafted. . . . F Ryan Poehling of Lakeville, Minn., was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, 25th overall. Poehling, 18, was a freshman at St. Cloud State last season, putting up seven goals and six assists in 35 games. He is a Portland list player. . . . With the very next pick, the Dallas Stars took G Jake Oettinger, a good friend of Poehling’s who also is from Lakeville. Oettinger, who is to turn 19 on Dec. 18, has completed his freshman season at Boston U. The Winterhawks selected him in the ninth round of the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft. . . . F Scott Reedy of Prior Lake, Minn., was picked by the San Jose Sharks in the fourth round, 102nd overall. Reedy, 18, played last season with the U.S. National U-18 team and is committed to the U of Minnesota for 2017-18. Portland picked him in the fourth round of the 2014 bantam draft. . . . F Cole Guttman of Northridge, Calif., was taken in the sixth round, 180th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Guttman, 18, played last season with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and will be the team captain in 2017-18. He has committed to St. Cloud State for 2018-19. The Winterhawks selected him in the eighth round of the 2014 bantam draft. . . . All of this is worth mentioning because F Kieffer Bellows, 19, has decided to leave Boston U after one season and join the Winterhawks, who selected him in the seventh round of the 2013 bantam draft. The New York Islanders took Bellows in the first round, 19th overall, of the NHL’s 2016 draft.
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One of the draft’s more intriguing selections came in the sixth round when the San Jose Sharks took F Jake McGrew of the Spokane Chiefs with the 159th pick. McGrew, an 18-year-old from Orange, Calif., didn’t play at all last season after suffering a knee injury. An eighth-round pick by the Chiefs in the 2014 WHL bantam draft, McGrew had a goal and two assists in six exhibition games when he was hurt in practice. . . . In 2015-16, he put up 29 goals and 18 assists in 32 games with the U-16 Los Angeles Jr. Kings.
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Another intriguing move came in the seventh round when the Dallas Stars took G Dylan Ferguson of the
DYLAN FERGUSON
Kamloops Blazers with the 194th overall pick. Ferguson, from Lantzville, B.C., spent the past two seasons backing up Connor Ingram with the Blazers. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Ferguson got into only 16 games in 2015-16, going 4-10-0, 4.13, .875. Last season, he played in 31 games and was 16-10-2, 2.74, .922. . . . Ferguson played most of those 2016-17 games in December and early January, while Ingram was with Canada’s national junior team. Ferguson lit it up, too — he was 9-4-1 while Ingram was away — resulting in a lot of scouts showing up in Kamloops after Christmas when they knew he would be starting. . . . With Ingram, 20, expected to play in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s organization in 2017-18, Ferguson, who turns 19 on Sept. 20, should be the Blazers’ starter. . . . Don’t forget, too, that Tom Gaglardi, the Stars’ owner, also is the majority owner of the Blazers.
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The WHL-champion Seattle Thunderbirds had one player selected on Saturday and another traded. . . . D Jarret Tyszka, 18, was taken by the Montreal Canadiens in the fifth round, 149th overall. He will play
KEEGAN KOLESAR
his third season in Seattle in 2017-18. . . . Meanwhile, veteran F Keegan Kolesar was acquired by the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. They gave the Columbus Blue Jackets a second-round selection, No. 45, in return. Originally, that pick had belonged to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Golden Knights got it from Tampa Bay for agreeing to take D Jason Garrison off the Lightning’s roster in the expansion drafat. . . . Columbus promptly took French F Alexandre Texier. . . . The Blue Jackets had taken Kolesar in the third round of the 2015 NHL draft. . . . The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Kolesar, now 20, is from Brandon. He had 26 goals and 34 assists in 54 games last season, then was the leading scorer in the WHL playoffs with 31 points, including 12 goals, in 19 games. . . . Kolesar signed with the Blue Jackets on Dec. 20, 2015. He is expected to begin the season with the Knights’ AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
"I left Winnipeg for Columbus at 7 (a.m.) because we have development camp this weekend," Kolesar told Mike Sawatzky of the Winnipeg Free Press on Saturday afternoon. "I land in Chicago and they call me and tell me I just got traded to Vegas. I'm in Columbus in a hotel room right now and I've gotta leave tomorrow or the next day for camp in Vegas. So, it's been a whirlwind, not even 24 hours for me.” . . . That story is right here.
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The NHL’s 31 teams combined to select 89 players off the rosters of the 60 CHL teams — 42 from the OHL, 33 from the WHL and 14 from the QMJHL. . . . The number of players selected from WHL teams, starting in 2017 and going back to 2007: 33, 34, 35, 37, 33, 32, 33, 43, 31, 37, 37. . . .
All told, 17 of the WHL’s 22 teams had at least one player selected. . . . The Portland Winterhawks and Tri-City Americans each had four players go, while the Brandon Wheat Kings, Medicine Hat Tigers and Spokane Chiefs were at three. . . . The Swift Current Broncos, Regina Pats, Kootenay Ice and Kelowna Rockets each had two players taken, with one player being drafted from each of the Moose Jaw Warriors, Lethbridge Hurricanes, Red Deer Rebels, Prince Albert Raiders, Victoria Royals, Prince George Cougars, Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers. . . . Shut out of this draft were the Calgary Hitmen, Edmonton Oil Kings, Everett Silvertips, Saskatoon Blades and Vancouver Giants.
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And, finally, condolences to Nolan Patrick and his family on the death of their grandmother and mother, June. Nolan, a forward with the Brandon Wheat Kings, was the second overall pick in the draft, taken by the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. He had a big week, too, including throwing out the ceremonial pitch prior to a Wednesday game at Wrigley Field. You can bet that he did it all with a heavy heart, his grandmother having died on June 16 in Winnipeg. She was the mother of Nolan's father, Steven, and uncle, James, who is the Kootenay Ice's head coach. . . . A complete obituary is right here.
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 F Dustin Sylvester (Kootenay, 2004-10) has signed a one-year extension with Dornbirn (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, he had 14 goals and 22 assists in 46 games. . . . 
F Tomáš Netík (Medicine Hat, 2000-01) has signed a one-year contract with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had three goals and four assists in 20 games, and two goals in nine games with Třinec (Czech Republic, Extraliga). . . .
F John Dahlström (Medicine Hat, 2016-17) has signed a two-year contract with Almtuna Uppsala (Sweden, Allsvenskan). Last season, with the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL), he had 30 goals and 29 assists in 63 games.
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 Next up: The CHL import draft is scheduled for Wednesday, starting at 8 a.m. PT. It is held via telephone. . . . The Kootenay Ice is scheduled to be the first WHL team to make a selection. That will be the third-overall pick, behind the OHL’s Barrie Colts and the QMJHL’s Moncton Screaming Eagles. . . . The order of selection is right here.
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The Red Deer Rebels have signed F Jace Isley, who was a fifth-round selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. Isley, who won’t turn 15 until July 14, is from Grande Prairie, Alta. Last season, he had a goal and 14 assists in 23 games with a bantam prep team at OHA Edmonton.
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F Harrison Blaisdell, 16, has committed to play for the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs in 2017-18. Two seasons ago, he had 20 goals and 34 assists in 25 games with a bantam prep team at the Yale academy in Abbotsford, B.C. Last season, with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians, he put up 20 goals and 21 assists in 40 regular-season games. . . . Blaisdell, who already has committed to attend North Dakota for 2020-21, is the son of former Regina Pats F Mike Blaisdell, who was a 71-goal man in his only full WHL season. He played one season (1978-79) at the U of Wisconsin, then joined the Pats early in 1979-80. . . . Harrison was selected by the Vancouver Giants in the second round of the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.
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The BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs have acquired F Luke Gingras, 19, and futures from the Vernon Vipers for F Jordan Sandhu, 18. . . . Sandhu, from Richmond, B.C., was a fourth-round pick by the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. Sandhu has played two seasons with the Bulldogs. He has committed to Arizona State for 2018-19. . . . Gingras, 19, played 114 games with the Saskatoon Blades over the past three seasons, scoring six goals and adding seven assists. The Blades dropped him from their protected list during the 2017 bantam draft. . . . He was a fourth-round pick by the Blades in the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft. . . . Gingras started last season with the Blades and finished up with the Vipers.
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The BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings have acquired F Shawn Kennedy, 18, from the CCHL’s Carleton Place Canadians for G Tavin Grant, 19, and futures. . . . Grant played 18 games with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars in 2014-15 and got into one game with them last season. . . . Interestingly, when G Nick McBride, 20, revealed in May that he was leaving the Cougars in order to go to school and with G Ty Edmonds, 20, moving on to the U of Lethbridge, general manager Todd Harkins said told the Prince George Citizen: “I’m not too worried about it because we’ve got young goalies and we have Tavin Grant.” . . . Also on the Cougars’ depth chart is Taylor Gauthier of Calgary, who was the ninth overall pick in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.
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If you’re a regular here, and even you aren’t, feel free to contribute to the feeding of the Drinnan family by making a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 Bob Woods is back with Bruce Boudreau. The Minnesota Wild announced Saturday that Woods, who has a long history with Boudreau, its head coach, has signed on as an assistant coach. Woods, 49, was an assistant coach with Buffalo last season, but lost his job as the Sabres went through another regime change. . . . Woods spent two seasons (2014-16) as the GM/head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. . . . This will be the fourth time Woods will have worked as an assistant coach alongside Boudreau. They were together with the Anaheim Ducks (2012-14), Washington Capitals (2000-12) and the AHL’s Hershey Bears (2005-07). . . . Woods also played in the WHL with the Brandon Wheat Kings (1987-89).
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The KHL season has yet to start, but that didn’t keep Dynamo Minsk from relieving head coach Craig Woodcroft of his duties. According to a release from the team, Woodcroft’s contract “was terminated by agreement of the parties.” . . . Dynamo CEO Anatoly Kurilets said the team was willing to move forward with Woodcroft as head coach, but that Woodcroft “wished for the termination of the contract, (so) we agreed . . . without paying severance pay.” . . . Woodcroft, 47, had signed a three-year contract in April 2016. . . . Assistant coaches Rob Davison and Ron Pascoe and trainer Christian Scarfagen also left Dynamo Minsk. Their departures were revealed three days before Woodcroft’s termination was announced.

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:02 PM
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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Blazers won't replace departed coach ... Iverson inks pro deal ... Will Hossa have to retire?


F Rodrigo Ābols (Portland, 2015-17) has signed a two-year contract with Örebro (Sweden, SHL). Last season, with he had one assist in two games with the Portland WInterhawks (WHL), then moved east and had 18 goals and 32 assists in 52 games with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL). . . .
D Dalton Yorke (Kelowna, Prince Albert, Tri-City, 2012-17) has signed a one-year contract with Löwen Frankfurt (Germany, DEL2). Last season, he had 15 assists in 72 games with Tri-City. Yorke has dual German-Canadian citizenship. . . .
F Filip Ahl (Regina, 2016-17) has signed a one-year contract with Örebro (Sweden, SHL). Last season, he had 28 goals and 20 assists in 54 games with Regina.
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 The Kamloops Blazers revealed on Tuesday that they won’t be replacing veteran assistant coach Terry Bangen. He left to join the Worcester Railers, an expansion team that will begin play in the ECHL in 2017-18.
Jamie Russell, who is a Kamloops native, is the general manager and head coach in Worcester and was able to get Bangen to head east.
The remainder of the Blazers’ coaching staff will remain intact, with Don Hay back for a fourth season. Hay will go into the 2017-18 season with 720 regular-season coaching victories, just 22 shy of the record held by Ken Hodge, who coached with the original Edmonton Oil Kings and the Portland Winterhawks.
Mike Needham is returning for a fourth season as Hay’s lead assistant, while Chris Murray is back for a fourth season in a part-time role. Dan De Palma will begin an eighth season as the club’s goaltending coach.
As well, Colin (Toledo) Robinson returns for a 13th season as the team’s athletic trainer. This will be his 22nd season in the WHL.
The Blazers also will have Matt Recchi back as the director of player personnel, with Ken Fox returning as head scout.
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F Keegan Iverson, the captain of last season’s Portland Winterhawks, has signed an AHL contract with the Ontario Reign, which is affiliated with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. . . . Iverson played 293 regular-season games over six seasons with the Winterhawks. He put up 190 points, including 80 goals. . . . Last season, as a 20-year-old, he had 26 goals and 44 assists in 55 games. . . . He also played for the Winterhawks as they won the WHL’s 2013 championship. . . . From St. Louis Park, Minn., Iverson was selected by the New York Rangers in the third round of the NHL’s 2014 draft but they never signed him.
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Stefan Burzan of Surrey, B.C., is the new general manager of the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. He takes over from Rob Evers, who now is the team’s head coach. . . . Burzan, 22, was a sixth-round pick by the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft and played two games with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2011-12. . . . He presently is a business student at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
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Hockey Canada has invited about 200 players and all kinds of support staff to various summer camps. For more info, including rosters, check out Hockey Canada’s website. At the same time, let’s banish all thoughts about summer hockey being a nuisance and admit that when the governing body gets involved like this it officially is declaring hockey a year-round thing. So, kids, forget about playing more than one sport and forget about golfing and fishing and ice cream at the Snack Shack. Hey, get back into the gym, then get the blades sharpened and hit the ice. There no longer is an off-season when it comes to hockey.
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Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada has filed his weekly 30 Thoughts, and he leads with a piece on former Portland Winterhawks F Marian Hossa. Friedman reports that Hossa has developed a nasty allergy, one that involves the hockey gear that he wears, and may have to retire. . . . That, and so much more, is right here.
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If you enjoy stopping off here and catching up with goings-on in the hockey world and especially the WHL, you may want to make a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you are free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 The QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads have named Jim Midgley as their new head coach. He takes over from Andre Tourigny, who left to become head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. . . . Midgley spent the past six seasons with as an assistant coach in Halifax, one working alongside Tourigny and five with Dominique Ducharme. . . . Midgley also has been on the coaching staff of the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, as well as the Acadia U Axemen.
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Kyle Adams is the new head coach of the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder. Adams has junior A coaching experience in B.C., Alberta and the Maritimes. . . . He spent last season with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs as assistant GM/associate coach. . . . The Thunder recently underwent an ownership change. . . . Adams takes over from Jesse Dorrans, who resigned in May.


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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:02 PM
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Thursday, June 1, 2017

Scooter on Memorial Cup format ... Warriors set hockey operations ... Ex-WHLer suffers two strokes


F Dominic Zwerger (Spokane, Everett, 2013-17) has signed a three-year contract with Ambri-Piotta (Switzerland, NL A). This season, he had 28 goals and 47 assists in 67 games with Everett. . . . Zwerger is Austrian but qualifies as a non-import because he played minor hockey in Switzerland. . . .
F Dane Byers (Prince Albert, 2001-06) has signed one-year contract with the Manchester Storm (England, UK Elite). This season, with Cologne (Germany, DEL), he had seven goals and five assists in 49 games. He plans on studying for his MBA at the University of Salford while playing for the Storm.
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 With the on-going debate about the Memorial Cup and its format, it’s only fitting that Taking Note should hear from Dean (Scooter) Vrooman, who was there in 1983 when the four-team tournament, featuring a host team, first was held.
Here’s Scooter:
“Since Portland was the first host team in 1983 and won it, I remember all the angst about how that would
DEAN VROOMAN
destroy the tournament, but it should be pointed out that only seven host teams have won the Cup in the 35 years of this format without also winning their league championship.
“And Windsor was the first team in 35 years of this format to win the Cup without winning at least one playoff series.
“The host team had lost its opening game six straight years from 2009-14 until Quebec beat Kelowna 4-3 in 2015. Red Deer also lost its first game in 2016.
“So, overall, one could argue the teams that ‘earn their way in’ have done very well in this format.
“Every time a host team wins, the format will come into question — but the very small crowds in Hull, Que., at the 1982 Cup (the last three-team tournament) was what really motivated Brian Shaw to champion the host team format, both from a financial standpoint and from the atmosphere standpoint.
“He felt that the event was worthy of bigger crowds and most of the time during this 35-year run that has happened. The atmosphere has been really good.”
Vrooman, now the Portland Winterhawks’ director, sponsorship sales and service, was a long-time radio voice of the team.
Shaw was the co-owner and general manager of the Winterhawks at the time and he really championed the move from a three-team tournament to a four-team affair that provides automatic entry to a host team.
One other thing that has to be remembered in discussing the Memorial Cup and its format is this: After the 2013 tournament was held in Saskatoon, each of the WHL’s teams received $148,913, a figure that was $118,477 following the 2016 event in Red Deer.
If you are thinking about a new format, you need to take that into consideration because that, as much as anything, is why it won’t change in the near future.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed general manager Alan Millar and head coach Tim Hunter to what a news release says are “multi-year” contract extensions. . . . The Warriors didn’t release any information as to length of contracts or when they might expire. A source familiar with the situation told Taking Note late in the regular season that the board of directors of the community-owned team had agreed to terms with Millar on a five-year extension but had yet to announce it. . . . Millar is entering his eight season with the Warriors. . . . Hunter, 56, has been the Warriors’ head coach for three seasons. He has 14 years as an NHL assistant coach on his resume. He also was an assistant coach with Canada’s national junior team at the 2017 World Junior Championship and will be back in that role for the 2018 tournament. . . . The Warriors are 110-83-23 under Hunter, having made the playoffs each of the past two seasons. They lost in the second round of the playoffs last season and to the Swift Current Broncos in seven games in this season’s first round. Moose Jaw had gone 42-21-9 in the regular season, good for second in the East Division, five points ahead of the Broncos. . . . The Warriors also announced contract extensions to assistant coaches Mark O’Leary and Scott King, Doug Gasper, the director of scouting, and Brooke Kosolofski, the head athletic therapist. . . . The Warriors also have hired Tanner Arnold as equipment manager. He spent the past two seasons as the trainer/equipment manager with the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers.
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The Tri-City Americans have signed F Isaac Johnson, 18, to a WHL contract. Johnson, from Andover, Minn., played this season with the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers, scoring 14 goals and adding 14 assists in 47 games. . . . NHL Central Scouting has the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Johnson ranked No. 97 among North American skaters for this month’s NHL draft.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed F Noah Boyko, who was the 16th overall selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. Boyko, from St. Albert, Alta., had 25 goals and 27 assists in 36 regular-season games with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers of the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League this season. He added seven goals and 11 assists in 14 playoff games as the Rangers won the provincial title. He then recorded six goals and four assists in five games at the Western Canadian championship.
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F Michael Spacek of the Red Deer Rebels has signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Winnipeg Jets, who selected him in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2015 draft. The contract has an annual average value of US$833,300. . . . Spacek, 20, had a team-high 85 points, including 30 goals, in 59 games with the Rebels this season. In two seasons with them, he had 139 points, 48 of them goals, in 120 games. . . . A native of Czech Republic, he finished this season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, earning one assist in four games. . . . He also played for Czech Republic in three straight World Junior Championships. . . . Because he was drafted out of Czech Republic, he is eligible to play in the Jets’ system in 2017-18, or he could return to the WHL as a two-spotter — a 20-year-old import.
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AJHLA group that includes former Moose Jaw Warriors F Ryan Smyth has purchased the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. The AJHL announced Thursday that its board of governors has unanimously approved the sale. . . . Darren Myshak had owned the Saints fo rthe past 14 seasons. . . . The new ownership group, known as Silent Ice, also includes Lindsey and Dan Leckelt, owners of Silent-Aire, an engineering and manufacturing company. Silent Ice also owns the senior AAA Stony Plain Eagles. Smyth, who played three seasons (1992-95) with the Warriors before going on to play 1,270 regular-season NHL games, is the Eagles’ captain. . . . Smyth will be the Saints’ president and is looking for a general manager and head coach after it was revealed that Mike Ringrose “has decided to leave the Saints to pursue other opportunities” after just one season. . . . Smyth also announced that Steven Goertzen (Seattle, 2001-04) is on board as hockey skills development coach. Goertzen is a native of Stony Plain.
Meanwhile, the AJHL’s board of governors also approved the sale of the Drayton Valley Thunder from a community group to a group that includes Cindy and Monte Waronek and Judy Sweet, all of whom, according to a news release, “are longtime residents and business owners in Drayton Valley.” . . . You have to wonder if Ringrose might surface with the Vancouver Giants, who have an opening for an assistant coach. Vancouver head coach Jason McKee spent 10 seasons with the Saints, and Ringrose was there for six of them.
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Bob McGill, a former WHL defenceman, revealed via Twitter on Thursday morning that he has suffered a stroke. . . . Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun later reported that McGill “is in a Peterborough-area hospital after suffering a blood clot-related stroke.” According to Hornby, “McGill, 55, fell ill Wednesday at his cottage, according to friends. He tweeted about his condition early Thursday, wryly noting he ‘survived 705 NHL games and 190 fights, but in for my toughest fight now,’ while confirming the clot and the stroke.” . . . Later Thursday, Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star reported that McGill suffered two strokes — one at his cottage and another while in hospital. . . . McGill, a native of Leduc, Alta., played two seasons (1979-81) with the Victoria Cougars, totalling eight goals, 54 assists and 525 penalty minutes in 136 games. . . . The Toronto Maple Leafs selected him in the second round of the NHL’s 1980 draft. He went on to play 705 NHL games, splitting them between Toronto, the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders and Hartford Whalers. He finished his NHL career with 17 goals, 55 assists and 1,766 penalty minutes in 705 games. . . . McGill spent a lot of this season on the broadcast crew for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.
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If you’re a regular here, and even you aren’t, feel free to contribute to the feeding of the Drinnan family by making a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 The Swift Current Broncos have signed Dave Rathjen as their goaltending coach. Rathjen actually joined the Broncos late this season on an interim basis through the end of the playoffs. Rathjen is a former WHL goaltender, having played 11 games with the Tri-City Americans in 1997-98. . . . From Penticton, B.C., he owns and operates Above the Crease Goaltending LTD.
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DAVID WILKIE
Former WHL D David Wilkie has been named head coach of the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. Wilkie played for the Lancers and was part of their championship team in 1990-91. . . . Wilkie, 43, has spent the past seven seasons coach with the Omaha AAA Hockey Club. Most recently, he has been its director of hockey operations and the head coach of the U-18 and U-16 teams. . . . Wilkie also has coaching experience as an assistant with the U of Nebraska-Omaha in 2007-08 and as head coach of the ECHL’s Augusta Lynx in 2002-03. . . . He split four WHL seasons (1990-94) between the Seattle Thunderbirds, Kamloops Blazers and Regina Pats. He was part of the Blazers’ 1992 Memorial Cup-winning team.
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Scott Atkinson is the new head coach of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks. He also will work as the assistant general manager, alongside Troy Mick, the organization’s president and GM. . . . Atkinson, from Calgary, had been coaching at the Edge School in Calgary since 2009. Prior to that, he was the head coach of the U of Calgary Dinos in U Sports’ Canada West conference. He also spent 11 seasons as the head coach at Mount Royal College in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. . . . In Salmon Arm, he takes over from Misko Antisin, who stepped down at season’s end. Antisin started the season as the head coach of the Steamboat, Colo., Wranglers of the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League, but returned to Salmon Arm in November when head coach Brandon West was fired.
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Former NHL D Moe Mantha has signed on as the new general manager and head coach of the NAHL’s Brookings Blizzard. He replaces Dan Daikawa, the head coach for the past three seasons whose contract wasn’t renewed. . . . Mantha played 12 seasons in the NHL. He has coached with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires and Saginaw Spirit. . . . This season, he coached the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League while scouting for Saginaw.

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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:28 PM
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