Kennewick vote looks like "No" . . . Hitmen need assistant coach

F Radek Duda (Regina, Lethbridge, 1998-2000) has signed a one-year contract with Freiburg (Germany, DEL2). Last season, he had seven goals and nine assists with Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, Extraliga), a goal and nine assists in two games with Sokolov (Czech Republic, 2.Liga), and a goal and three assists in 20 games with Litvinov (Czech Republic, Extraliga). . . .

F Ned Lukacevic (Spokane, Swift Current, 2001-06) has been released by Chamonix-Morzine (France, Ligue Magnus) at his request. Last season, with the Coventry Blaze (England, UK Elite), he had four goals and nine assists in 21 games. He also had nine goals and 12 assists in 25 games with the Edinburgh Capitals (Scotland, UK Elite). . . .

F Gal Koren (Kelowna, 2010-11) has signed a one-year extension with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, he had three assists in 17 games with the Manchester Storm (England, UK Elite) and two goals and an assist in 32 games with Olimpija Ljubljana. . . .

D Colin Joe (Kelowna, Saskatoon, 2004-09) has signed a one-year contract with Jegesmedvék Miscolc (Hungary, MOL Liga). Last season, with the Colorado Eagles (ECHL), he had three goals and 11 assists in 58 games.

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It appears that voters in Kennewick, Wash., have voted against the implementation of a sales tax that would have resulted in improvements to the Toyota Center, the home of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. . . . As of Thursday night, there were about 2,000 ballots yet to count, with the no side holding a lead of 53 to 47 per cent. . . . According to the Tri-City Herald, “The Kennewick Public Facilities District asked voters to approve a two-tenths of a percent sales tax increase to fund a $35-million upgrade to the (Three Rivers Convention Center). It would have added 2 cents to a $10 purchase in the city.” . . . Wendy Culverwell of the Herald reported earlier in the week that a ‘yes’ vote would have allowed the replacing of “aging equipment, including the 28-year-old ice plant for the hockey arena and the old locker room. The project would have made Toyota Center more accessible to visitors with disabilities, as well by upgrading parking and entrances and increasing seating.” . . . The vote took place on Tuesday, with a voter turnout of 30 per cent. . . . Bob Tory, the Americans’ general manager, told Taking Note last night that he will withhold comment until everything is finalized on Aug. 16.

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The Calgary Hitmen are in need of an assistant coach after Trent Whitfield left to join the Providence Bruins, the AHL  affiliate of the Boston Bruins. Whitfield, a 39-year-old native of Alameda, Sask.,
had been with the Hitmen for one season. He played four seasons (1994-98) with the Spokane Chiefs. He also had played four seasons (2009-13) with Providence. . . . Whitfield spent 2014-15 as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Portland Pirates. . . . Boston announced Thursday that it has hired Whitfield and Jay Leach as Providence assistant coaches. They will work alongside Kevin Dean, who took over as head coach on July 18. . . . If you are interested in the Hitmen posting, email a resume to assistantcoach@hitmenhockey.com.

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F Deven Sideroff of the Kamloops Blazers has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Anaheim Ducks, who selected him in the third round of the 2015 NHL draft. . . . Sideroff, a 19-year-old from Summerland, B.C., is in Hockey Canada’s summer evaluation camp for national junior team prospects. . . . According to generalfanager.com, the contract calls for NHL salaries of US$667,500, $742,500 and $742,500, with a $70,000 salary in the AHL. The first year carries $257,500 in performance bonuses, with $182,500 in each of the last two years. Sideroff also gets a $277,500 signing bonus, payable in three annual instalments. . . . Sideroff, a superior skater, had 59 points, including 19 goals, in 63 games last season after missing the start with mononucleosis. . . . In 141 career regular-season WHL games, he has 109 points, including 39 goals.

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The Everett Silvertips have hired Rob Tagle as their athletic trainer. He takes over from Wayne Duncan, who was there for the past two seasons. According to a news release, Duncan “assumes supervision of medical and health needs, and pursuing the objective of injury prevention and minimal recovery time for Silvertips players.” . . . Tagle, 25, previously worked with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins as a graduate assistant athletic trainer. He is from West Freehold, N.J.

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The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks are looking for an athletic therapist/equipment manager for the 2016-17 season. If you are interested, you can send an email to team president Troy Mick at gm@silverbacks.com. . . . A job description is posted right here.

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Dave Barry, the Miami Herald’s superb columnist, is in Rio de Janiero, so it’s time for the Olympic Summer Games to begin. Barry takes a look at the buildup to the Games right here.

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A Wayne Gretzky rookie card (1979 O-Pee-Chee) has sold for US$465,000, a record for a hockey card. The card sold at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, N.J. The card is believed to be one of a kind because it has been graded as PSA 10. It is impossible to earn a higher grade.

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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.

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Patrick Wellar has signed on as an assistant coach with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. Wellar, a 32-year-old from Carrot River, Sask., played four seasons (2000-04) in the WHL, with the Portland Winterhawks and Calgary Hitmen. . . . He was a player-assistant coach last season for the ECHL’s Alaska Aces, getting 14 points, 12 of them assists, in 72 games. . . . During his playing career, he won three ECHL titles and one AHL championship.

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A mint Wayne Gretzky rookie card sold for 465,000 dollars today. I've got one of my own. #timetocashin pic.twitter.com/bKI01UVvoY

— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) August 5, 2016

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Everett GM gets extension . . . Hitmen hire assistant coach . . . Americans add goalie coach

D Matt Delahey (Regina, Chilliwack, 2004-10) signed a one-year contract with the Fife Flyers (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, with the University of Saskatchewan (CIS), he had a goal and seven assists in 22 games. He was a CIS West second-team all-star. Delahey also was an alternate captain for Canada at the World University Games as Canada won a bronze medal in Granada, Spain, in February.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed general manager Garry Davidson to a contract extension that runs through 2019-20.

GARRY DAVIDSON

Davidson, 64, will begin his fourth full season as GM this fall. He has been the GM since Feb. 15, 2012, when he replaced Doug Soetaert.
Prior to joining the Silvertips, Davidson spent four seasons as the director of player personnel with the Portland Winterhawks.
Before joining the Winterhawks, he had been in the BCHL, working in Salmon Arm, Penticton, Nanaimo, Victoria and Trail.
His last BCHL stop was Salmon Arm where he spent seven years (2001-08) as owner, GM and head coach.
It’s interesting that during his time in the BCHL he became Enemy No. 1 in WHL circles. No one recruited harder than did Davidson and there were many people inside the WHL who detested him because of it.
Now he is in the process of putting together an impressive run in Everett.
In 2012-13, his first full season, the Silvertips were 25-40-7, finishing fifth (and last) in the U.S. Division and eighth in the 10-team Western Conference.
In 2013-14, they wound up 39-23-10, tying for second in the division and fourth in the conference.
Last season, Everett’s 43-20-9 record left it atop its division and second in the conference with what was the WHL’s third-best record.
Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald has more on Davidson’s signing right here.
Patterson’s story also includes an update on the seemingly never-ending saga of F Auston Matthews, an 18-year-old who continues to explore his options.
“I know there's been a lot of speculation about Auston Matthews,” Gary Gelinas, the Silvertips’ president, said. “I can tell you that from talking to his agent, he was going to come to Everett until the U-18 (World Championship in April, when Matthews was named MVP) when some pro teams saw him. Auston has no issue playing in Everett. We were the first choice until the pro thing occurred, and we're still in the mix. A lot of the credit for that goes to Garry Davidson.
“Obviously, we're disappointed, but we respect that he's looking at all his options, and we're not giving up hope.”
Everett selected Matthews in the third round of the 2012 bantam draft, Davidson’s first as the Silvertips’ GM. Matthews now is seen as a possible first overall selection in the NHL’s 2016 draft.
He is believed to have signed a contract with the ZSC Lions, who play in Switzerland’s top pro league, but is having problems getting a work permit.
Were he to end up in Everett, his presence would immediately make the Silvertips a championship contender.
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Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe dipped into the sports department’s old Rolodex — actually, the cards all are in a drawer now — and came up with a neat column. It’s right here.
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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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Trent Whitfield is joining the Calgary Hitmen as an assistant coach, filling the opening created when Brent Kisio signed as head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Whitfield, 38, will work alongside head coach Mark French, assistant Joel Otto and goaltending coach Darcy Wakaluk. . . . Whitfield, from Alameda, Sask., retired as a player following 2013-14 and spent last season as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Portland Pirates. He played 16 seasons as a pro. . . . Whitfield played four seasons (1994-98) in the WHL, all with the Spokane Chiefs.
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The Tri-City Americans have named Rejean Beauchemin as the team’s goaltending coach, while adding Jerry Price as goaltending consultant. . . . Beauchemin, 30, replaces Lyle Mast, who is exploring pro options after three years with the Americans. . . . Beauchemin, from Winnipeg, played three seasons (2002-05) with the Prince Albert Raiders before going on to a pro career that ended after 2011-12. He has been working as a strength and conditioning coach and a goaltending instructor. . . . Price is a former WHL and pro goaltender who also is the father of Montreal Canadiens G Carey Price, who played for the Americans.
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Ken Hodge won the 1980-81 coach of the year but I can't get past Patty Ginnell wore a cowboy hat while coaching. #WHL pic.twitter.com/MOROhK805z

— Victoria Cougars (@victoriacougars) July 14, 2015

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Warriors' Jackson retires, cites post-concussion syndrome

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Bernhard Keil (Kamloops, 2010-11) has been assigned on loan by the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL) to Kaufbeuren (Germany, DEL2). He had two assists in 40 games with Straubing and one goal and three assists in nine games on loan to Regensburg (Germany, Oberliga) last season. . . .
F Trent Whitfield (Spokane, 1993-98) signed a one-year contract with Bolzano (Italy, Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had six goals and six assists in 48 games for the Providence Bruins (AHL). Whitfield was captain of the Bruins last season. . . .
F Tomas Polak (Red Deer, 2007-09) had his tryout contract with Landshut (Germany, DEL2) terminated due to injury. Polak suffered a broken wrist in his second exhibition game with Landshut on Monday. The injury will force him out of action for two to three months. Last season, Polak had one goal in one game with Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, Extraliga), three assists in 11 games on loan to Most (Czech Republic, 1. Liga), and two assists in 27 games on loan to Berounsti Medvedi (Czech Republic, 1. Liga).
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After 168 regular-season games over four WHL seasons, D Reid Jackson has retired.
“With the number of concussions I've had over my WHL career, my family and I decided it was time to stop,” he told me Thursday night in a lengthy conversation via Facebook.
“I haven't been able to work out at full capacity since last October and my memory isn't as good as it used to be.”

REID JACKSON

Under normal circumstances, Jackson, who is from Weyburn, Sask., and whose father, Les, is the assistant GM of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, would be preparing for his 20-year-old season.
However, Reid is suffering from post-concussion syndrome.
Asked how many concussions he incurred during his WHL career, Jackson replied: “I would say anywhere between five and eight in my four seasons.”
Jackson began his WHL career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, playing 50 games in 2009-10. Early in the 2011-12 season, he was dealt to the Prince George Cougars. On May 3, 2012, the Cougars traded him to the Moose Jaw Warriors.
He played only 12 games with Moose Jaw, shutting it down after an Oct. 24 game against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Jackson said he has tried working in construction but had some “episodes” and now has decided to go to school.
“I did have episodes where I would have to stop and take a break from being light-headed or dizzy,” he said, adding that he “just recently took a few weeks off to recover and decided to get out of a physical labour career and go to school.”
Jackson also had issues with depression, something “my doctor and I believe has stemmed from the injuries.”
While he fights this latest battle, Jackson said he keeps in contact with his agent, Jason Taylor, and that he regularly hears from the Warriors.
The Warriors, he said, call to “see how things are going” and suggesting that if he ever needs anything to let them know.
Interestingly, Jackson and Brent Benson, another WHLer who has had to quit hockey due to post-concussion syndrome, are the best of friends.
“We have been since childhood,” Jackson noted.
As Jackson attempts to resume something of a ‘normal’ lifestyle, he said that he is able to watch TV and to read without experiencing any issues.
“Living an every day lifestyle is pretty normal,” he said, “but there isn't any chance of any more contact sports.”
Jackson was a defenceman who played a gritty game. Now having been forced into retirement, he said one of the keys to dealing with brain injuries rests with players who have been injured.
“I don't think they can be avoided,” he said. “I think the players with concussions need to be more honest with their symptoms so the chances of them getting another are less and they won't suffer the long-term effects.
“I think hockey should stay as a rough sport. I think they just need to teach kids to protect themselves at a young age, rather than punish kids for playing the game the way it is meant to be played.”
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Wade Klippenstein has signed on as the Brandon Wheat Kings’ new director of scouting. He takes over from Al Macpherson, who stepped down as director of player personnel earlier this summer after being with the club since 1986. . . . Klippenstein, 43, was born in Boissevain, which is about six slapshots south of Brandon, and raised in Dauphin, which is that far north of Brandon. He spent the last six seasons with the Prince George Cougars. For the last four seasons, he was assistant general manager and director of player personnel. Klippenstein left the Cougars just before the 2013 bantam draft; neither he nor the Cougars have explained the obvious falling out. . . . Klippenstein also is the head scout for Team Pacific, which will play in the U-17 World Hockey Challenge.
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F Tanner Eberle of the Moose Jaw Warriors will go to camp with the Montreal Canadiens’ prospects, Sept. 5-9. “I was pretty excited,” the undrafted Eberle, 19, told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. I’ve kind of stuck in the shadows until I got my chance and hopefully I can break out. Getting to go to a camp is a big deal for me and that’s something I’ve wanted to do since I got to the WHL.” . . . Eberle had 36 points in 65 games last season.
Gourlie reports that two other Warriors — D Morgan Rielly (Toronto) and D Travis Brown (Chicago) — also will go to NHL camps.
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Greg Meachem, the sports editor at the Red Deer Advocate, reports that the Red Deer Rebels will have players going to NHL camps — D Mathew Dumba, Minnesota; G Patrik Bartosak, Los Angeles; F Rhyse Dieno, Minnesota; D Kayle Doetzel, Nashville, and F Lukas Sutter, Winnipeg. . . . Dumba, Bartosak and Sutter are NHL draft picks, while Dieno and Doetzel are free-agent invitees.
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F Logan Nelson, 20, of the Victoria Royals will play for the Buffalo Sabres’ prospects in the annual tournament at Traverse City, Mich., Sept. 5-9. Nelson was a fifth-round selection by the Sabres in the 2012 NHL draft. . . . Royals F Ben Walker, 20, also will play in that tournament. He is a free-agent invitee to the Minnesota Wild’s camp. . . . Victoria D Keegan Kanzig, a third-round pick by Calgary in the 2013 draft, will play for the Flames at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B.C., Sept. 5-9. . . . Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Time Colonist also reports that F Steven Hodges was to attend the Florida Panthers’ prospects camp but that he may have to sit this one out because “of an injury that might require minor surgery.” He was a third-round selection by Florida in 2012.
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F Eetu Selanne, 15, will be in camp with the Calgary Hitmen rookies today. Yes, he is Teemu’s son. Eetu was born in Coto de Caza, Calif. . . . F Brayden Cuthbert, 19, who last played in the WHL in 2010-11, is in camp with the Saskatoon Blades. Cuthbert played 39 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2010-11 before his season was ended by a brain injury. He last played on Jan. 22, 2011. Cuthbert didn’t play in 2011-12, and spent last season with the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives. . . . G Spencer Tremblay, 19, who got into one game with the Red Deer Rebels last season after playing 20 for the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2011-12, is in camp with the Saskatoon Blades, as is F Daniel Wray, 18, who had one assist in 31 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season. . . .
F Daniel Nachbaur, the son of Spokane Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur, is in camp with the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials. Daniel will turn 18 on Sept. 30. . . . The Centennials opened the BCHL preseason last night with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Salmon Arm SilverBacks. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that F Taylor Vickerman, 17, hasn’t reported to the Vancouver Giants “and scuttlebutt around the league is that the sophomore left winger would prefer a trade closer to his Kennewick, Wash., home.”
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Richard Sandomir of The New York Times has an interesting piece right here.
He writes: “ESPN on Thursday ended its official association with ‘Frontline,’ the public television public affairs series, on a two-part documentary about concussions in the N.F.L. that is scheduled to be televised in October. After 15 months on the venture, ESPN chose to strip its name, logo and credit from the films, ‘League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.’ ”
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And now for some really good news. . . .
The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to announce today that the legendary Vin Scully will be back calling the play in 2014. Scully, 85, will be calling baseball for a 65th season in 2014.
The Los Angeles Times has more right here.


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