A look at Lorne Frey . . . Still hope for WolfPack . . . Constantine pays for early exit

Lorne Frey of the Kelowna Rockets may have the longest title in the WHL -- assistant general manager, head scout and director of player personnel. Besides being one of the good guys, he has an eagle eye for talent. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet has a video look at Frey right here. It’s good, and it’s 5:34 in length.
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F Tyler Nanne, an 18-year-old from Edina, Minn., has signed a national letter of intent with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Nanne, whose WHL rights belong to the Vancouver Giants, is expected to begin playing there next season. This season, he is with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede. A fifth-round selection by the New York Rangers in the NHL’s 2014 draft, he is a grandson to former NHL executive and player Lou Nanne.
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F Colt Conrad, whose WHL rights belong to the Brandon Wheat Kings, has signed a national letter of intent with the Western Michigan University Broncos. . . . Conrad, 17, is attending Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn. He is from St. Alphonse, Man. . . . Conrad was selected by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the third round of the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. On Nov. 16, his rights were dealt to Brandon. The Hurricanes sent D Ryan Pilon and Conrad to the Wheat Kings for D Nick Walters, F Taylor Cooper and D Tanner Browne. Should Conrad end up with Brandon, the Hurricanes would get a fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
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Mario Forgione, a former owner of the OHL’s Mississauga IceDogs, says CHL teams are making money on the backs of teenagers, who aren’t getting back nearly what they should. . . . “Fortunately,” offers CHL commissioner David Branch, he’s no longer an owner in our league. . . .” Rick Westhead of tsn.ca has that story right here.
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Trevor Bast, who heads up a group hoping to revive hockey at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, and Cam Weir, a WolfPack player, met with athletic director Ken Olynyk on Monday.
According to Bast, “The meeting . . . went great.”
While Bast didn’t get approval to restart the program that was axed prior to the start of this season, it seems that his proposal will move on to the next level.
That means waiting until after Dec. 2 when “the other decision-maker,” as he put it, returns from a business trip to China.
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JUST NOTES:

Kevin Constantine, the head coach of the Everett Silvertips, has been fined $500 for talking his way out of Sunday’s 7-1 loss to the Winterhawks in Portland during the first period. . . . He is the second WHL head coach to be fined this season. Steve Konowalchuk of the Seattle Thunderbirds paid $750 for post-game comments concerning the officiating after a 2-1 loss in Everett on Oct. 25. . . .
F Sam Reinhart of the Kootenay Ice has 160 career regular-season assists, two shy of the franchise record held by F Jarret Stoll (1998-2002). . . . The Ice is at home to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday.
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THE COACHING GAME:

The MJHL’s OCN Blizzard has made a coaching change, with Jason Smith having replaced Clay Debray. . . . According to a news release, Debray resigned effective Nov. 13, with Smith, who had been the assistant coach, taking over for the remainder of this season. . . . The Blizzard, which plays out of The Pas, has a 10-13-1 record, good for seventh place in the 11-team league. . . .
The AJHL's Calgary Mustangs hired Chad Allen as their head coach earlier this month, replacing Derek Stuart, who was fired and has since returned to the Okotoks Oilers as an assistant coach. . . . The Mustangs are 7-18-1 and last in the eight-team South Division. . . . Stuart was in his second season as their head coach. He spent three seasons with Okotoks before signing with the Mustangs.

The worst baseball card ever?

F Rob Trzonkowski, whose 2012-13 season ended with an early January knee injury three games after Vancouver acquired him from the Kamloops Blazers, is in camp with the Giants. Vancouver GM Scott Bonner told Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province that Trzonkowski, 19, “came in unbelievable shape and he looks like a guy who is quite focussed on not just making the team but also being a contributor." Trzonkowski has 21 points in 155 regular-season games. . . .
Among the players released by the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday was F Brayden Cuthbert, 19, who missed all of the 2011-12 season with post-concussion syndrome after being injured while with the Moose Jaw Warriors the previous season. Last season, Cuthbert, a Brandon native, had 37 points in 51 games with the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives. . . .
The junior A rights to G Andy Desautels, 19, have been traded by the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers to the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors for future considerations. Desautels, from White City, Sask., got into 13 games with the Prince Albert Raiders last season. When the Raiders acquired G Cole Cheveldave, 20, from the Kamloops Blazers earlier this season, Desautels is believed to have asked Prince Albert to trade him. . . . He was 2-7-1, 4.01, .873 with the Raiders last season. . . . Brian Wiebe at briansbanter.com was the first to report this deal. . . .
A source in Portland indicates that Winterhawks F Taylor Leier is back on the ice and appears “to be healthy and 100 per cent.” You’ll recall that Leier’s Memorial Cup tournament ended when he took an elbow to the head and then had his head bounce twice on the ice when he went down. Although there wasn’t a penalty on the play, Saskatoon Blades D Dalton Thrower later was suspended for the remainder of the tournament — it turned out to be one game.
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The worst baseball card ever produced? Think hard. And then read this right here by Josh Levin of slate.com. Tough to argue with what he writes, that’s for sure.
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Janet Maslin of The New York Times writes that Elmore Leonard’s “prime never ended.” She is correct. Leonard, who died on Tuesday, was one of a kind. Maslin’s piece is right here.
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From Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) of the Vancouver Province: “#WHL D Tyler Nanne has left Giants training camp and returned to Minnesota. Word is Lou Nanne's grandson wants to finish Grade 12 at home.”
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From Tyler Nanne (@Tyler23Nanne): “I've decided to stay my senior year of high school, can't wait to put the hornet jersey on for one more season! #hornets”

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) signed a one-year contract extension with Lausanne (Switzerland, NL A). Burki, who holds dual Canadian-Swiss citizenship, had 12 goals and 17 assists in 39 games this season. Lausanne won the NL B Championship and promotion to NL A for next season. . . .
D Vladimir Mihalik (Red Deer, Prince George, 2005-07) signed a two-year contract extension with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, KHL). He had two goals in 15 games with Slovan this season.
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A little of this and some of that . . .
1. The line of the night goes to Les Lazaruk, the veteran play-by-play voice of the Saskatoon Blades. It was the middle of the second period when Lazaruk commented that the fans were really into the game “complaining about everything.” . . . Pause . . . Then he added: “I’d swear it was Moose Jaw.”
2. Bob Wilkie, who won a Memorial Cup in Saskatoon the last time the tournament was played in Saskatoon, is the new director of player development and scouting for the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks. Wilkie, who is from Calgary, was a defenceman with the Swift Current Broncos when they beat the Blades in the final of the 1989 tournament.
3. There will be a lot of talk about the hit by Saskatoon D Dalton Thrower on Portland F Taylor Leier in the first period. . . . If you haven’t seen it, it’s right here.
4. At this point of the Memorial Cup, all disciplinary situations are handled by the NHL’s Hockey Operations department. The people there will be taking a whole lot of looks at Thrower’s hit and will make a decision (suspend or not) early today. . . . Meanwhile, I would be surprised if Leier, who was awfully woozy as he left the ice, plays again in this tournament.
5. The Winterhawks filled Leier’s spot on their second line, alongside Chase De Leo and Oliver Bjorkstrand, with Paul Bittner, a 6-foot-4, 195-pounder from Crookston, Minn. And he was a factor in Portland’s second goal, De Leo’s score that put the Winterhawks up 2-1 at 4:08 of the third period. . . . This really spotlights Portland’s depth. Don’t forget that the Winterhawks lost three of their top four scorers from last season (F Sven Baertschi, F Brad Ross and D Joe Morrow) and really didn’t miss a beat.
6. I’m thinking that Portland F Brendan Leipsic was kind of busy in the second intermission, because that’s when word broke on Twitter that he had signed with the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Must have faxed the contract in from the Winterhawks’ dressing quarters. . . . He then came out and scored his first goal of the tournament at 6:27 of the third period, and that one proved to be the winner. . . . (Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports reported later that Leipsic actually signed on Sunday.)
7. Attendance was 9,239, so cue the groans. . . . The London Knights, the host team for the 2014 tournament, have announced that ticket packages will sell for between $600 and $680. They play in the 9,100-seat Budweiser Gardens. If they are able to create a demand for tickets, they’ll sell out. The Blades, who play in the 15,195-seat Credit Union Centre, aren’t able to create a demand for tickets.
8. After Portland F Ty Rattie scored his fourth goal of the tournament in the third period, WHL Facts (@WHLFacts) tweeted: “450 — If you count up his reg season, playoff, & MC points.. You'll see that @pdxwinterhawks Ty Rattie just recorded the 450th of his career.”
9. The Blades meet the London Knights in the tiebreaker game tonight, with the winner moving on to play the Winterhawks in the semifinal game on Friday. . . . The Halifax Mooseheads are into Sunday’s final.
10. Driving home from work on Wednesday night, I noticed two gas stations charging $1.41.9 for a litre of regular gasoline. That’s up seven cents a litre from earlier in the day and 30 cents from February.
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The Vancouver Giants have placed D Tyler Nanne, 17, on their protected list and are working hard in an attempt to land the grandson of former Minnesota North Stars icon Lou Nanne. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province has more right here.
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Well, Wenatchee, Wash., wasn’t without the NAHL for long. Just a few days after the Wild announced that it was relocating to Hidalgo, Texas, the Fresno Monsters have revealed that they will be moving to Wenatchee. . . . One of the reasons the Wild left was an inability to reach a lease agreement with the Town Toyota Center; the Monsters apparently had no such problem. . . . Michelle McNiel of the Wenatchee World reports that the NAHL board of governors is to meet today and Friday, and approval for the move is expected to be granted.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Geoff Grimwood is return for a second season as the head coach of the B.C. Major Midget League’s South Island Royals, who play out of Victoria. The Royals were 11-22-7 last season. . . . Grimwood also is an part-time assistant coach with the WHL’s Victoria Royals. . . . Rob Milliken has signed on as an associate coach alongside Grimwood. Milliken coached the major midget team from 2005-10.

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