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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on a few of their scouts on Saturday evening. Morey Gare, the head of their pro scouting department, was fired, as was head amateur scout Stu MacGregor. . . . Two other amateur scouts also were dropped, although their names weren’t available last night. . . . MacGregor, who I am told had one year left on his contract, once scouted for the Kamloops Blazers, and then was the team’s general manager for three seasons (1995-98). He left the Blazers to scout for the Dallas Stars, then joined the Oilers’ scouting staff in 2000. On Sept. 10, 2007, he was named the team’s director of amateur scouting.
F Logan Aasman, who spent three seasons with the Everett Silvertips, has signed with the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. Aasman is heading into his 20-year-old season. . . . Aasman’s 2014-15 season was interrupted by concussion issues that limited him to 40 games. He had 11 points, two of them goals. . . . Aasman is from Medicine Hat. . . . With Aasman no longer in the picture, Silvertips would appear to have five candidates for their three 20-year-old spots — D Cole MacDonald, F Remi Laurencelle, G Austin Lotz, F Jake Mykitiuk and F Carson Stadnyk.
Canada’s national women’s development team for 2015-16. . . . Gylywoychuk lives in Winnipeg. (If you are wondering, that was him and his two daughters in yesterday’s Tweet of the Day.) . . . Delaney Collins of Pilot Mound, a former national team player, will work as his assistant coach. . . . From a Hockey Canada news release: “Gylywoychuk is no stranger to the national program, having piloted the development team to gold at the 2014 Nations Cup. Gylywoychuk also won gold as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2014 Four Nations Cup and gold again at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Under-18 Championship in the same capacity.” . . . Collins played for 12 seasons with the national women’s team. She also is an assistant coach at Mercyhurst U. . . . The NDT will hold a selection camp in Calgary in August, before playing exhibition games against the U.S. U-22 team in Lake Placid, N.Y. . . . The Canadian women are preparing for the Nations Cup in Germany in January. . . . It’s worth noting that Collins’ father, Rod, is opening a hockey academy in Pilot Mound. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Free Press has more on that story 
Former NHLer Mike Van Ryn is the new head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. Van Ryn spent the past two seasons with the Rangers, last season as associate coach. . . . He replaces Troy Smith, who was fired after last season. . . . The Rangers also announced that Jay McKee, like Van Ryn a former NHL defenceman, has been signed as associate coach. He had been an assistant with the Erie Otters. Also coming on board, as an assistant coach, is Daniel Tkaczuk, who was with the Owen Sound Attack for the past three seasons. . . . Meanwhile, Mike McKenzie has moved up from assistant coach to assistant GM, although he also will have some coaching duties.
The Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, made it official on Friday — Todd Nelson is their head coach. Nelson, 46, takes over from Jeff Blashill, who moved up as the Red Wings’ head coach following the departure of Mike Babcock. . . . Nelson had finished last season as the interim head coach of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. He had joined the Oilers from the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons, where he was head coach. . . . Nelson, a former Grand Rapids player and assistant coach, signed a three-year deal with the Griffins. From Prince Albert, he played four seasons (1986-90) with the Raiders.
“The Western Hockey League is prepared to ‘exhaust every avenue’ to keep the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook, but commissioner Ron Robison reaffirmed there is a demand from other markets, including in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland, for a franchise if relocation becomes a reality,” writes Cam Tucker of Metro Vancouver. . . . That story is 
Tom Keca has taken over as the general manager and head coach of the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons. Keca, 44, has previous experience with the Oil Barons, as an assistant coach for nine seasons (2000-06, 2011-14). He also spent four seasons (2006-10) as head coach of the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. . . . Keca, who also played for the Oil Barons, takes over from Curtis Hunt, who resigned and signed on as general manager with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders.
USA Hockey has rounded out the coaching staff for its national junior team. Earlier, it named former NHL coach Ron Wilson as head coach. Joining him as assistant coaches are former NHL players Chris Chelios and Danton Cole, along with Kevin Reiter. . . . Since his retirement as a player, Chelios has worked as an advisor to hockey operations with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. . . . Cole is preparing for his sixth season as a head coach in the U.S. National Team Development Program. . . . Reiter has completed two seasons as the NTDP’s goaltending coach. . . . The U.S. will hold its summer evaluation camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., Aug. 1-8. . . . The 2016 World Junior Championship will be decided in Helsinki, Finland, from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.
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