Giants get their coach . . . Guess who's back with Hurricanes?

It has been quite a while since Taking Note has included a poll. But there is one here today.
With three WHL franchises having indicated they are likely to bid on the 2016 Memorial Cup tournament, I thought it would be fun to see how readers of this blog feel about the subject.
So . . . there’s a poll over there on the right. Please take a moment and make your choice.
Thank you.
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F Jens Meilleur (Brandon, 2010-14) has signed a one-year contract with the Kassel Huskies (Germany, DEL2). He has dual Canadian-German citizenship. Last season, with Brandon (WHL), he had 26 points, including 11 goals, in 67 games.
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Trilight Entertainment, which purchased an option on Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos, is still hoping to do some of the filming in the southwestern Saskatchewan city.
Shayne Putzlocher, a producer with Trilight Entertainment, was in Swift Current on Tuesday “doing some preliminary scouting and meetings,” he said via email. “(We are) still trying to do what we can to shoot some of this movie in Swift.”
The book, which was published in November 2012, takes a look at how the Broncos dealt with the aftermath of a bus accident in which four players died and how the team went on to win the 1989 Memorial Cup championship. (If you haven’t read it yet, you may order it over there on the right.)
To date, Trilight Entertainment has received funding from Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund, and a first draft script is being written.
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1. And then there were two. . . . The Vancouver Giants will introduce a new head coach this morning, leaving only the Moose Jaw Warriors and Regina Pats as WHL teams without head coaches. . . . The Warriors are looking to replace Mike Stothers, now the head coach of the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs. The Pats’ new owners created a vacancy when they fired Malcolm Cameron last month. . . . One rumour that just won’t go away has Lorne Molleken and David Struch signing in Regina as head coach and assistant coach. Molleken was the Pats’ head coach in 2000-01 when they were the host team for the Memorial Cup. Most recently, he was the general manager of the Saskatoon Blades, but he was dropped after last season. Struch, Molleken’s long-time assistant coach in Saskatoon, spent last season as the Blades’ head coach and was fired following the season. . . . Meanwhile, Cameron has expressed an interest in the Warriors’ vacancy. . . . Hey, wouldn’t it make things interesting if Molleken and Struch do end up in Regina and Cameron surfaces as the Warriors’ head coach? . . . Now that would add some heat to some rivalries!

2. The Vancouver Giants have signed Troy Ward as their head coach and are scheduled to introduce him at a news conference this morning. Ward will replace Don Hay, who left to return to his hometown of Kamloops and work as the Blazers’ head coach. The Giants have been looking for a new coach since May 1. . . . Ward, a 52-year-old native of St. Paul, Minn., spent the last three seasons as the head coach of the Abbotsford Heat, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames. His contract wasn’t renewed following last season. . . . Ward also spent part of a season (34 games in 2005-06) as head coach of the Victoria Salmon Kings, a now-defunct ECHL franchise. . . . Ward, a coach since 1990-91, hasn’t coached junior hockey since 1993-95 when he was the head coach of the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints. He spent three seasons (2002-05) on the coaching staff at the U of Wisconsin.

3. The Abbotsford Heat, of course, have relocated to Glens Falls, N.Y., where they now are the Adirondack Flames. The parent Calgary Flames reached into Kelowna and signed Rockets head coach Ryan Huska to replace Troy Ward as the head coach of their AHL affiliate. . . . Calgary has yet to sign any assistant coaches for Adirondack and a source told me Tuesday night that Mark Ferner will be joining the AHL team’s staff. Ferner, 48, spent last season as the associate coach with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . He and Huska, 39, both played junior in Kamloops.

4. The Prince George Cougars did the expected on Tuesday, naming Todd Harkins as their new general manager. . . . Harkins, 45, had been head scout and director of player personnel at the time of an ownership change earlier this summer. When former GM Dallas Thompson wasn’t kept on, Harkins stepped in as interim GM. . . . According to team president Greg Pocock, “We took the time needed to make sure that we got the best person for the job. We had 17 candidates, talked to eight, interviewed five and hired the best one -- Todd Harkins.” . . . Harkins is a former Miami University player who went on to play in the NHL, with the Calgary Flames and Hartford Whalers. He retired in 2001 after a four-year stretch in Germany. . . . Later, he worked as the hockey director at the North Shore Winter Club. He also coached the major midget Vancouver Northwest Giants to back-to-back provincial titles in 2011 and 2012. . . . Harkins also is the answer to a trivia question: “Who played Russian forward Valeri Kharlamov in the movie Miracle? . . . Harkins’ son Jansen is heading into his second season with the Cougars. Jansen was the second overall pick in the 2012 WHL bantam draft. . . . Harkins’ contract is for four years, with an option for a fifth season. . . . The Cougars are expected to name a new director of player personnel in the not too distant future.

5. The Cougars also gave head coach Mark Holick a contract extension. Holick had expressed an interest in the general manager’s position, but it’s believed that he was told as early as April that the new owners, EDGEPRO Sports, preferred to split the general manager and coaching duties. . . . Holick, 45, is preparing for his second full season as the Cougars’ head coach. He replaced Dean Clark in January 2013. Holick, who had two years left on his contract, received a two-year extension and now is signed through 2017-18. . . . Holick’s family spent last season at their home in Penticton, but wife Janet is planning on moving to Prince George this summer. . . . A former WHL player (Saskatoon, New Westminster, 1984-88), Holick was the head coach of the Kootenay Ice for three seasons (2007-10). . . . The Cougars have missed the playoffs for three straight seasons and haven’t been out of the playoffs since reaching the Western Conference final in the spring of 2007.

6. The Lethbridge Hurricanes have added Bryan Maxwell to their coaching staff. He will work as an assistant, alongside head coach Drake Berehowsky and fellow assistant Mike Craig. . . . Maxwell, 58, is a veteran WHL coach, having worked in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Spokane, but he has been out of the game for a while. . . . He was the WHL’s coach of the year with the Spokane Chiefs for 1991-92. . . . Maxwell was the head coach of the 1986-87 Medicine Hat Tigers, who won the Memorial Cup. . . . He then spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, before taking over as head coach of the Chiefs, a job he held for five seasons. . . . He took over as the Hurricanes’ head coach in 1995-96 and also held the job from 1997-2001 and for 34 games in 2002-03. . . . He sat out the 1996-97 season with a suspension following a post-game altercation involving referee Brent Reiber on March 23, 1996.

7. Ed Habetler, one of the founding fathers of the Prince Albert Raiders, died on the weekend. Habetler, 78, had been battling cancer for some time. . . . According to a Raiders’ news release: “Habetler was on the original board of directors of the hockey club established in 1972 by the Northern Hockey Development Association. . . . Habetler (and) his wife Violet have had season tickets with the hockey club for each of the 43 seasons in club history.” . . . A funeral mass is scheduled for Thursday, 10 a.m., in St. Roman’s Catholic Church in Prince Albert. . . . Almost four years ago, the Prince Albert Daily Herald profiled Habetler right here.

8. The NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs have named Gord Dineen as head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. . . . Dineen takes over from Steve Spott, who has moved up to the Maple Leafs as an assistant coach. . . . Dineen, 51, has been a Marlies’ assistant coach for five seasons. . . . The Leafs also promoted Marlies assistant coach Derek King to associate coach. King, 47, also has been with the Marlies for five seasons.
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Happy to see @TrilightEnt scouting locations in @City_SC today for the Swift Current Broncos movie! Great to have you in Sask! #skfilm
— SMPIA Office (@SMPIAOffice) July 15, 2014

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Story about Broncos moves closer to big screen

Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos has moved closer to the big screen.
Shayne Putzlocher, the founder of Trilight Entertainment, a Calgary- and Regina-based production company, said Thursday that “we have been approved for our development financing for the Sudden Death first-draft script.”
That financing has come through Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund.
Rob King, a veteran writer/director, started working on the first draft of a script on Thursday.
The book tells the story of the 1986-87 Swift Current Broncos, a Western Hockey League team that had four players killed in a bus crash on Dec. 30, 1986. In the spring of 1989, the Broncos won the Memorial Cup. Sudden Death was written by Leesa Culp, who witnessed the accident from the cab of a big rig; former Broncos defenceman Bob Wilkie, who was on the bus and the Memorial Cup team; and Gregg Drinnan, who has written about the WHL and its teams for more than 40 years.
The book was published by Dundurn Press in the fall of 2012 and is available in book stores or through the link on the top right of Taking Note’s home page.
Trilight Entertainment purchased an option on the book shortly after it was published.
Putzlocher, who has been on board from the beginning as the project’s producer, has brought in Rob Merilees as co-producer. Merilees is the founder of Foundation Features, a Vancouver-based production company. Of late, Merilees has been producing Motive, a CTV series that just wrapped its second season. Merilees also has been involved in movies like Capote, Just Friends and The Snow Walker.
Putzlocher approached Merilees, whom he describes as “one of my mentors and a really good friend,” and asked if he would co-produce. Putzlocher felt he needed the help “because of the scope of what this is going to be.”
Putzlocher and Merilees got to work and, as Putzlocher said, “between him and myself we were able to raise all the money we needed for this round of development.
“We got financial participation from Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund.”
The two producers simply sold Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund on the hockey team’s story.
“We put a package together and it was just the story of the Swift Current Broncos . . . the story of what the book is,” Putzlocher explained. “People know what the story is . . . it wasn’t trying to sell them anything else other than what the story was.
“It’s not just about people in the west or around the WHL who want to see this film made. Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund see that this story wants to be told. They realize that this is a great story that deserves to be told.
“I would like to give a huge thank you to Telefilm Canada and the Alberta government, and Minister Klimchuk, for supporting this film.”
Heather Klimchuk is Alberta’s minister of culture and community spirit. She was part of an announcement earlier this month involving a $22.8-million studio and sound stage that is to be built in Alberta before the summer of 2015.
With development financing in place, it’s full speed ahead for Sudden Death.
“The first stage of development,” Putzlocher said, “was to get the option on the book and come up with the concept and treatment of what this story is going to be like.
“The second stage is taking that treatment and actually writing a script.”
That's where King comes in. According to Putzlocher, King is a “big junior hockey fan.”
At one point, not long after the Broncos won the 1989 Memorial Cup, a different production company, including King, was in the early stages of developing the Broncos’ story into a movie. However, that project was derailed with the revelations involving Graham James, the Broncos’ general manager and head coach, who eventually was convicted of sexually abusing players.
“I’ve known Rob King since I started in the industry,” said Putzlocher, who has been in the industry for more than 15 years. “He’s a great guy and a great writer. He’s been a great advocate of the industry in Saskatchewan; he’s been around a very long time.”
Putzlocher isn’t prepared to provide any script or production deadlines. As he said, “It takes quite a while . . . it’s taken a year since we developed it. There have been some delays along the way . . .
“But at the end of the day we’re right where we want to be. We are moving forward.”
He paused and continued . . .
“I can’t give you a timeline of when the first draft will be done . . . or when we’ll go on to the second draft or when we want to shoot this. In a perfect world, I know the 30-year anniversary of the accident is coming up.
“But, at the same time, we have to be realistic.”


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Shayne Putzlocher of Trilight Entertainment is off to Berlin and the Berlin Film Festival today as he begins to spread the word about plans to turn the book Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos into a movie. . . . Oh yes, he’s also looking for financing. . . . Before leaving, he appeared on Saskatoon radio station CKOM and, among other things, touched on the chances that the movie might be filmed in Swift Current. That interview is right here.



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F Tyler Benson of the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club Southgate Lions is in the process of rewriting the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League record book. There also is speculation that he may apply for ‘exceptional status’ in order to allow him to play in the WHL next season on a full-time basis, even though he will be only 15 years of age. Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald examines that issue right here.
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If you have always wanted to own a piece of a hockey team, here’s your opportunity.
For $2,000, you now may purchase a share in the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos, who are calling this membership campaign ‘Saddle Up For Success’.
According to a news release from the Broncos: “All members hold a vote at the Annual General Meeting, provide influence on the organization through the Board of Directors and receive a charitable tax receipt issued by the City of Swift Current.”
Liam Choo-Foo, the chairman of the Broncos’ board of directors, adds: “I certainly acknowledge those people that stepped forward over 25 years ago as the original members, but as time has gone on we have lost a majority of that membership and it’s now down to less than 100 people. We would like to see it renewed and bring in new energy and enthusiasm as we go through this whole renewal of the Bronco organization.”
If you’re interested in this program, visit www.scbroncos.com.
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While the Broncos were announcing this initiative in an attempt to raise money and help guarantee their future in Swift Current and in the WHL, the league’s pooh-bahs were meeting in Las Vegas.
Yes, that Las Vegas.
You are free to wonder why the pooh-bahs wouldn’t gather in, say, Swift Current, if for no other reason than to spread some goodwill in a community that certainly does a lot to support its franchise.
You have to think the WHL folks left a fair chunk of change in Nevada, but not one penny of it will have done the league any good in terms of marketing or public relations in any of the communities in which it plays.
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The WHL has suspended D Tyler Yaworski of the Brandon Wheat Kings for six games. That’s the result of a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on Pats D Luke Fenske in Regina on Saturday. Yaworski is a repeat offender, having served a three-game suspension for the same infraction during a game in Vancouver on Oct. 24. . . . Fenske, who is concussed, didn’t play in Regina’s 5-2 loss to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes last night.
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The way Ryan Lambert of Yahoo! Sports sees it, the NHL is doing less to prevent and deal with concussions than is the NFL. And we all know how much concussion-related heat the NFL is receiving these days.
Lambert explains the way he sees things right here.
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Bill Simmons of ESPN and Grantland is a prolific writer who also happens to be a fan of all teams Boston. That, however, is something that hampers his thinking only on occasion. The vast majority of the time he writes with clarity and this piece right here is no exception. The title on it is Daring to Ask the PED Question.
Pour yourself a cup of coffee and dig in.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Regina, F Jamal Watson scored twice to help the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Pats. . . . Hurricanes G Ty Rimmer stopped 48 shots. . . . Lethbridge jumped out front 2-0 by 6:03 of the first period and never looked back. . . . Regina G Matt Hewitt left at that point, having been beaten twice on four shots. . . . Watson has 14 goals this season. . . . F Sam Mckechnie got his 24th goal for Lethbridge. . . . The Pats scratched D Luke Fenske (concussed) and Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that they lost D Tye Hand with concussion-like symptoms during the game. . . .

In Prince Albert, the Edmonton Oil Kings erased a 3-1 third-period deficit and beat the Raiders 4-3 in OT. . . . The winner came from D David Musil at 3:31 of extra time. It was his seventh goal of the season. . . . The Oil Kings have won nine in a row and now hold a 13-point lead over the Calgary Hitmen atop the Eastern Conference. . . . D Davis Vandane gave the Raiders a 3-1 lead at 7:56 of the third on the PP. . . . F Michael St. Croix got his 27th goal at 12:10, on the PP, to get Edmonton to within one, and F Stephane Legault, with his 11th, tied it at 13:29. . . . Raiders G Luke Siemens stopped 48 shots. . . . The Raiders had won three in a row from Edmonton. . . .

In Saskatoon, the Blades twice erased deficits en route to a 5-4 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Blades have won five in a row. . . . F Tanner Eberle’s shorthanded goal gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead at 16:17 of the first period. . . . F Brett Stovin scored goals 33 seconds apart, pulling Saskatoon into a tie at 3:50 of the second. Stovin, who now has seven goals, had scored just once in his previous 23 games. . . . F Brayden Point, who had two goals, gave Moose Jaw a 3-2 lead at 11:11, only to have the Blades come back with three straight goals, the last two from F Brenden Walker, who now has 18 goals. . . . Saskatoon D Duncan Siemens had one assist and was plus-4, while D Darren Dietz was pointless and plus-4. . . . Moose Jaw G Justin Paulic stopped 50 shots. . . . The Blades now trail the East Division-leading Prince Albert Raiders by six points. The teams meet tonight in Saskatoon. . . .

In Victoria, F Alex Gogolev scored his 20th goal but later left the game with a skate cut as the Royals beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-1. . . . Gogolev left early in the third period with an apparent skate cut that required immediate medical attention. . . . Cleve Dheensaw in the Victoria Times Colonist reported: “In what may be bad news for the Royals, leading-scorer Gogolev was helped off the ice in the third period with his left skate off and leaving a trail of blood from his foot. The club did not have information about the extent of the cut immediately following the game.” . . . D Joe Hicketts scored his second goal and added an assist for the Royals. . . . Victoria moved into a fifth-place tie with the idle Spokane Chiefs in the Western Conference.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
D Darren Dietz, Saskatoon
D Ryan Gagnon, Victoria
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From the Edmonton Oil Kings (@EdmOilKings): “ 'I had Manson and Baumgartner both on me at the same time' — Coach Laxdal reminiscing about his playing days at the Art Hauser #OldTimeWHL”
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From Regan Bartel (@Reganrant), the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets: “USHL reduces schedule by 4 games going from 64 to 60. When does WHL reduce schedule to eliminate exorbitant amount of 3 games in 3 nights?”

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I have been a sports writer for more than 40 years.
When I write, I’m often making reference to places like Moose Jaw, Spokane, Prince Albert and Lethbridge.
One day last week, I had a conversation with a man who threw out names like Berlin and Cannes. He talked of film festivals. He mentioned TIFF and it wasn’t a picture.
You write a book, someone who makes movies for a living expresses an interest, and you learn there’s a whole other world out there.
As most of you will be aware, the book project with which I was involved – Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986
Swift Current Broncos – has been optioned by Trilight Entertainment Inc. The Regina-based production company has plans to turn the book into a feature-length film.
All of this is completely new to me. I will say this book stuff has been an interesting ride and the movie stuff is just an extension of that. At least some of you may be interested in the process and I’m prepared to take you along for the ride.
We’ll start with a conversation I had with Shayne Putzlocher of Trilight Entertainment.
Asked how he came to be in the movie business, Putzlocher, a Regina native, says he has “always just loved it.”
He graduated from high school and was looking for his place in life when he saw an advertisement suggesting some courses that could lead to a career in movies. He took the courses and then “started from the bottom, picking garbage and sitting at the side of the road.”
He really did work his way up the ladder.
Trilight Entertainment, the production company, has been around since 2009. Putzlocher was involved in originating it after working on various productions, including the hit TV show Corner Gas.
Which brings us to Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos.
“The first step,” Putzlocher says, “was securing an option.”
That was done through an agreement with Dundurn, the publishers of the book.
With the option looked after, the process of script development begins.
Putzlocher recalls that this isn’t the first time someone has worked towards bringing this story to the big screen.
Minds Eye Entertainment, another Regina-based production company, worked on a similar project about 20 years ago.
“There was a script . . . they were almost in production,” Putzlocher recalls. “They were financed and everything. Then the scandal hit and – BOOM! – that show went away.”
The scandal, of course, involved Graham James, the general manager and head coach of the Broncos who was charged with sexually abusing players.
Putzlocher said he has had this project in the back of his mind since he first heard that our book was in production. He says he “thought long and hard about” the earlier effort. But he wanted to wait until the book was out and he had read it before forming an opinion.
Leesa Culp, the main push behind the book project, made sure Putzlocher got a copy. He was in production on a children’s movie, Step Dogs, at the time, but found time to read Sudden Death over the Christmas holiday.
“There is obviously a story here,” Putzlocher says, “but how it gets told was how I had to look at it.”
That’s what was going through his mind as he read the book.
His vision is to “concentrate on the triumphs over adversity, and the team and the camaraderie, and people in the town, and what it did in those moments of the funeral and making the playoffs that year and everything like that.”
In other words, this won’t be a movie about Graham James.
The shaping of that story already has begun. Putzlocher talked to his business partner, Holly Baird, and the decision was made to find “a real good feature film writer.”
They found that person in Rob King, who had been involved in the Minds Eye project “so was very excited to do this.”
Already King is working to prepare what Putzlocher says will be “a 10- to 20-page treatment to say what the story actually is going to be about.”
“We knew this is a story we really want to tell so it’s worth investing in,” Putzlocher continues. “We’ll wait for him to do that. It’ll probably take him a good month or so to come back with a 10- to 20-page treatment . . . then after that, if we like the way he’s going, we might tweak a few things, then it’s ‘OK you can start writing a script.’ ”
If things fall into place, a script could be completed by year’s end, at which time they will begin to research the project, do a whole lot of fact checking, look after waivers . . . and on and on.
“It’s a lot of money in legal and it’s a lot of work,” Putzlocher says. “We’ll take our time with this whole thing and we’ll make sure it’s done right.”
While all of this is going on, Putzlocher and Baird will be starting the hunt for financing. It is going to cost big money to bring this story to the big screen, simply because it is a ‘period’ piece. No, not ‘period’ in the sense of, say, Downton Abbey. But the incident around which Sudden Death is based occurred on Dec. 30, 1986, meaning cars and clothes, just for starters, were rather different than what we see on the streets and on people today.
“Uniforms, clearances, buses, extras . . . this is an expensive movie and you have to try to do it right,” Putzlocher says, adding that he’s talking about as much as $7 million. “Trying to raise that money in Canada isn’t impossible, but we will need public money from Canada on board and foreign sales.”
There are various grants and some development money available, and the process of applying for those has begun.
Putzlocher will be in Berlin later this week for the Berlin Film Festival that runs from Thursday through Feb. 17.
In brief, here’s what will be happening . . .
In Berlin, the pitch will begin to sales people to “see if we can generate some interest just on concept.”
The Cannes Film Festival runs May 15-26 and Putzlocher will be there, too. By then, he says, there’ll be a foreign sales agent on board and that person will “start trying to sell concept.”
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is scheduled for Sept. 5-15. By TIFF, he says, “we’d like to have some really good treatment and start going to Canadian distributors.”
In 2014, Trilight Entertanment will make the rounds again, this time with a script.
“And,” Putzlocher says, “we’ll start looking at cast, who’s going to be our director . . . we want a really high-profile director.”
This whole project, really, is about the art of selling. And were this simply a Canadian hockey movie, it wouldn’t have much of a chance. Putzlocher sees this as a whole lot more than that.
“Internationally,” he says, “hockey movies don’t sell that well. Just because we’re from Canada doesn’t mean everybody loves hockey. But this is more than just a hockey movie. . . . and we have to think of the international market.”
They also have to think about a theatrical distributor, and there are hopes that CBC will “take the TV rights after it goes theatrical.”
So what does all this mean?
If all goes well, if everything falls into place, Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos could be coming to a theatre near you in November or December of 2015.
Now that would make for a Merry Christmas!

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