Swift Current reaches milestone ... 2018 WJC packages available ... Bennett stays in NHL

Hey folks @gdrinnan Taking Note is working just loading really slowly thanks to a new script from @blogger be patient. #SameGreatWriting

— Terry Massey (@TerryMassey) July 6, 2017

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F Peter Quenneville (Brandon, 2013-15) has signed a one-year contract with Pardubice (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, he had a leave-high 30 goals, along with 19 assists, in 45 games with Aalborg (Denmark, Metal Ligaen). He finished fourth in the league's scoring race. . . . Pardubice’s general manager is Dušan Salfický (Tri-City, 1990-91). . . .

F Riley Stadel (Kelowna, Edmonton, 2011-17) has signed a one-year contract with the Dundee Stars (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, he had five goals and two assists in 29 games with the Kelowna Rockets (WHL), and two goals and eight assists in 16 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). . . .

F Danis Zaripov (Swift Current, 1998-99) has signed a two-year contract with Ak Bars Kazan (Russia, KHL). Last season, as an alternate captain with Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia, KHL), he had 16 goals and 29 assists in 56 games. He added 15 goals and seven assists in 18 playoff games. He led the playoffs in goals. . . .

F Mike Aviani (Spokane, 2009-14) signed a one-year contract with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, Erste Bank Liga). He has dual Croatian-Canadian citizenship. Last season, as an alternate captain with the Florida Everblades (ECHL), he had five goals and 13 assists in 22 games. He also had two goals and three assists in 13 games with the Rochester Americans (AHL). . . .

D Tomáš Kudělka (Lethbridge, 2005-07) has signed a one-year contract with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with Piráti Chomutov (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had three goals and three assists in 37 games. . . .

F Evan Bloodoff (Kelowna, 2006-11) has signed a one-year contract with the Fife Flyers (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, he had eight goals and eight assists in 36 games with the Florida Everblades (ECHL), and a goal and three assists in seven games with the Reading Royals (ECHL). . . .

F Pavel Karnaukhov (Calgary, 2014-16) has signed a three-year two-way extension with CSKA Moscow (Russia, KHL). Last season, he had one assist in 11 games. Karnaukov also played with CSKA farm club Zvezda Chekhov (Russia, Vysshaya Liga), scoring seven goals and adding 11 assists in 24 games. He also was pointless in two games with CSKA junior team Krasnaya Armiya Moskva (Russia, MHL).

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A tip of the cap to the good people of Swift Current.

As Cory Coleman of CBC News reports:

“Safe Places, a program launched in Swift Current early in 2016, has reached 1,000 certified members in just over a year.”

Safe Places is a program that was introduced to Swift Current by Respect Group Inc., an organization whose co-founder is Sheldon Kennedy, and Jerrod Schafer, a former mayor of Swift Current.

Kennedy, of course, was one of the players sexually abused by GM/head coach Graham James while both were with the Swift Current Broncos.

Safe Places aims to create 

As Coleman reports:

“Safe Places trains and certifies people in the community who are interested in working with young people, such as coaches or instructors. . . . the program was created to ensure people working with youths are qualified, and to give parents peace of mind when their children participate in programs.”

Coleman’s report is right here, and here’s hoping more communities buy into Safe Places.

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As we all can imagine, I’m sure, there are so many things with which you have to concern yourself when you run a WHL team. Billets . . . trades . . . promotions . . . scheduling . . . signing players . . . and on and on.

These days, of course, you also have to be concerned with social media and the volcanoes that can erupt from any one of those outlets at any time of the day or night.

Sheesh, when you went to general managers’ school, there wasn’t any instruction on what to do if . . . a player soon to play in his first WHL season posted video on a social media site of the signing his first WHL contract, a video in which his pay scale is in evidence.

For the record, the player in question is to be paid $250 per month for each of his first two seasons, with an extra $300 a month should he be in the WHL as a 20-year-old.

Off the record, chances are he already has received a phone call from a general manager.

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Eight- and 12-game ticket pages now are available for the 2018 World Junior Championship that is scheduled to be held in Buffalo, Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

The cheapest package, which features upper-level seats for eight games, including either the outdoor game between Canada and Team USA or the championship game, will set you back $400.

The same eight-game package in the lower level is going for $550.

The 12-game packs, which include the outdoor and championship games, are marked at $600 and $800.

All prices American, of course. No, single-game tickets aren’t yet available.

If you’re interested, you are able to order tickets by clicking right here.

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Ray Bennett, who has ties to the WHL, has joined the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche as an assistant coach. He will work alongside head coach Jared Bednar, assistant coach Nolan Pratt and goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila, who also was added on Friday. . . . Bennett, 55, spent the past 10 seasons as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. He also spent seven seasons with the Los Angeles Kings. . . . In the WHL, he worked with the Spokane Chiefs and Moose Jaw Warriors.

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Jeff Bes is the new head coach of the SPHL’s Pensacola Ice Flyers. He spent the previous two seasons as the head coach of the SPHL’s Fayetteville FireAntz. . . . Prior to that, he was the head coach of the SPHL’s Mississippi Surge for three seasons. . . . With the Ice Flyers, he replaces Rod Aldoff, who left the club late in June.

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Schad Richea is the new athletic therapist at Brandon U, replacing Steve Dzubinski, who is retiring after 42 years. . . . Richea most recently worked with the  CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, but also has spent time with the Calgary Flames, Calgary Vipers, the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association and the U of Calgary. . . . He also has worked in the WHL with the Regina Pats (1997-2004). . . . Interestingly, the Okanagan Hockey Academy had named Richea its manager of athletic therapy and medical services on June 22.

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Home-ice advantage for Game 7? Scooter checks in ... Ice inks top pick ... Ex-WHL coaches out of work

F Patrick Baum (Swift Current, 1997-98) has retired, per Dresden (Germany, DEL2) website. This season, he had two goals and eight assists in 48 games. He played his entire 10-year professional career in DEL2. . . .

F Kevin King (Kootenay, 2006-11) has signed a one-year contract with the Milton Keynes Lightning (England, Premier). This season, he hd 16 goals and 15 assists in 44 games with Gap (France, Ligue Magnus). He was an alternate captain on the team that won the French championship. . . .

F Lukáš Zeliska (Prince Albert, 2006-07) has signed a one-year contract with Dunkerque (France, Division 1). This season, with Cholet (France, Division 1), he had nine goals and eight assists in 24 games.

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In this space yesterday, with the help of Hartley Miller of 94.3 The Goat in Prince George, we pointed out that home teams went 44-41 in the WHL’s 2017 playoffs.

Having read that, Dean (Scooter) Vrooman, who has been around the WHL almost as long as ice, sent along a note. Scooter is the go-to guy when it comes to chronicling winners and losers in series that have gone seven (or nine) games.

This time he passed along some numbers that involve series that have gone the distance over the years.

Here we go . . . 

From 2012 through 2017, the road team was 4-11 in Game 7s. Road teams were 2-2 in Game 7s in 2017.

From 2004 through 2010, the road team was 10-10 in Game 7s.

From 1986 through 2003, the road team was 3-29 in Game 7s (or Game 9s).

From the beginning of the WHL in 1966-67 through 1984, the road team was 5-10 in Game 7s or Game 9s.

Overall numbers are: In 82 deciding games in series that went the distance (seven or nine games) in league history, the home team is 60-22.

And with Lethbridge and Regina each coming from 3-1 down to win a playoff series this year, there is this interesting factoid: Teams have rallied 11 times since 1996 from 3-1 down to win a best-of-seven playoff series. In 2017, two teams rallied from 3-1 down in the same playoff year to win a series for the first time since 1998.

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The Kootenay Ice has signed F Connor McClennon, who was the second overall selection in the 2017 WHL bantam draft. McClennon, from Wainwright, Alta., will turn 15 on June 25. He played this season for the bantam prep team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna, putting up 99 points, including 45 goals, in 30 games. . . . McClennon is the first player signed under the Ice’s new ownership team of Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell.

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Will former Moose Jaw Warriors F Kelly Buchberger sign on with the New York Islanders as an assistant coach with good friend Doug Weight, who is the head coach? Elliotte Friedman, in his latest 30 Thoughts, reports that Buchberger and Weight spent some time watching the WHL championship series, specifically F Mathew Barzal of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . That piece is right here.

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The Victoria HarbourCats of baseball’s West Coast League have signed Claire Eccles, a left-handed pitcher, as the league’s first female player. Eccles, 19, is from Surrey, B.C., and has played for the Canadian women’s national baseball team. Eccles was introduced at a news conference in Victoria on Tuesday. . . . Jim Swanson, the HarbourCats’ managing partner, is a former sports editor of the Prince George Citizen who covered the Cougars for a number of years. . . . There is a news release right here.

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The NHL’s New York Rangers have fired Ken Gernander, the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Gernander, 47, had been the coach in Hartford for 10 seasons. Including his time as a player, he had been there since 1997. The Wolf Pack was 388-304-84 with Gernander as head coach and made the playoffs in five of 10 seasons. However, it missed the playoffs the last two seasons and four of five. . . . At the same time, the Rangers named Chris Drury has Hartford’s general manager. Jim Schoenfeld, who had been the GM, is the Rangers’ senior vice-president and assistant GM and will focus on working with the NHL club.

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Ray Bennett and Rick Wilson, both of whom have ties to the WHL, were among four assistant coaches fired by the NHL’s St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. . . . Bennett, 54, had been on the Blues’ staff for 10 seasons, after spending seven with the Los Angeles Kings. A native of Innisfail, Alta., Bennett worked with the Spokane Chiefs and Moose Jaw Warriors before heading to L.A. . . . Wilson, a Prince Albert native who spent one season with the Blues, has been an NHL coach for 28 years. Before joining the New York Islanders, Wilson, 66, was a coach with the Prince Albert Raiders for eight seasons (1980-88), the last two as head coach. . . . The Blues also dropped assistants Ty Conklin and Steve Thomas.

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Adam Keefe, 33, is the new head coach of the Belfast Giants. He spent the previous two seasons with the Giants as a playing assistant coach. Keefe, the team captain from 2012-17, has been with the organization since 2011, helping the Giants win two Elite League championships. . . . Keefe replaces Derrick Walser, whose contract wasn’t extended after this season ended.

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There are three kinds of tweeters pic.twitter.com/iIehafbg4K

— Etan Weisfogel (@EtanHeytan) May 16, 2017

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