D Greg Kuznik (Seattle, 1995-98) signed a one-year contract with Fassa (Italy, Serie A). He had four goals and nine assists in 28 games with Villach (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) last season. This will be Kuznik's second tour of duty with Fassa, having played for them in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Fassa is coached by former NHL F Miroslav Frycer. . . .
F Kevin Saurette (Regina, 1997-99) signed a one-year contract with Kaufbeuren (Germany, 2.Bundesliga). He had 21 goals and 23 assists in 48 games for the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven (Germany, 2.Bundesliga) last season.
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The Victoria Royals have named Cameron Hope as their general manager. Hope is a former assistant general manager responsible for hockey administration with the NHL’s New York Rangers. He was with the Rangers for seven seasons, the last four as assistant GM, before leaving prior to 2011-12. . . . Glen Sather, the Rangers’ president and general manager, was one of the owners of the Chilliwack Bruins, the franchise that was sold to RG Properties last summer and relocated to Victoria. . . . Hope has a law degree and spent the last year working in that area in his hometown of Edmonton. . . . Hope now is looking for a head coach for the Royals and said he hopes to sign someone over the next two weeks. . . . The Royals, of course, are replacing Marc Habscheid, who had been the franchise’s GM/head coach since June 3, 2009. He has been moved upstairs with the parent company, GSL Holdings Ltd.
Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist has more right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The Texas Stars have hired Doug Lidster as an assistant coach under head coach Willie Desjardins. The Stars are the AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars. . . . Lidster, who had a lengthy NHL playing career (1983-99) that included a stop in Dallas, is a former assistant coach of the Canadian national women’s team. Lidster was an assistant coach with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2002-03 when Desjardins was the head coach. . . . For the last five seasons, Lidster, 41, has been the hockey director for the Victory Honda AAA youth program in Michigan. He also did a stint as head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. . . .
Jeff Beukeboom is the new assistant coach with the Connecticut Whale, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers. Hw had been an assistant coach with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves for three seasons. . . . Beukeboom replaces J.J. Daigneault, now an assistant coach with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. With the Whale, Beukeboom, 47, will work with head coach Ken Gernander and assistant coach Pat Boller.
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The CHL’s bad, horrible, terrible, horrendous anti-doping rule has struck again. This time, it’s F Steve Lebel, who played last season with the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Saguenéens who will sit for eight games after testing positive for methylhexaneamine, a stimulant that appears on the list of substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. . . . “Steve Lebel was very cooperative throughout this long process,” QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said in a news release. “After hearing the player's explanations, we are convinced that the player used a supplement without knowledge that it contained a prohibited stimulant," stated QMJHL Commissioner, Gilles Courteau.” . . . This is at least the fourth CHL player who has drawn an eight-game suspension and been branded a druggie and a cheat because of inadvertent use of a banned substance in a supplement. All four have tested positive for the same thing, methylhexaneamine. A lot of ingredients, many of them banned substances, often don’t appear on the list of ingredients in supplements. . . . Lebel, 20, is expected to play for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada next season. His suspension kicks in with the start of the season. Better he should have delivered a headshot and left an opponent concussed. Might only have gotten five games for that.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have traded D Shayne Gwinner, 18, to the Prince Albert Raiders for two bantam draft picks — a fourth-rounder in 2013 and a sixth in 2014. . . . Gwinner was a second-round pick by the Warriors in the 2010 draft. . . . He had 11 points and 51 penalty minutes in 51 games with Moose Jaw last season.
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D Dylan McIlrath, a product of the Moose Jaw Warriors, has had surgery to repair a dislocated kneecap suffered last week during the New York Rangers’ prospects camp in Greenburgh, N.Y. . . . McIlrath, 20, had surgery on Friday. McIlrath was the 10th overall selection in the 2010 NHL draft. He still has one season of WHL eligibility remaining, but is expected to begin the 2012-13 season with the Rangers or the AHL’s Connecticut Whale. . . . Early this morning, McIlrath tweeted: “Would like to thank every one for the wonderful support, looking forward to a fast and healthy recovery!”
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The gang at The Coaches Site — that’s their ad at the top of Taking Note’s home page — have interviewed a number of prominent hockey coaches.
The first of these is with Brent Peterson, a former assistant coach who now is the hockey operations advisor with the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
That interview is right here. Enjoy!
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