Hamilton still hunting for coach . . . 3-on-3 coming to WHL? . . . Kessel won't play this season

G Kevin Nastiuk (Medicine Hat, 2001-05) signed a one-year contract with Eisbären Berlin (Germany, DEL). Last season, with Dresdner Eislöwen (Germany, DEL2), he had a 3.29 GAA with two shutouts in 33 games. . . .
D Juraj Valach (Tri-City, Vancouver, Regina, Red Deer, 2006-08) signed a tryout contract with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, KHL). Last season, with Slavia Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had six goals and seven assists in 43 games. . . .
F Robin Soudek (Edmonton, Chilliwack/Victoria, 2008-12) signed a tryout contract with Olomouc (Czech republic, Extraliga). Last season, with the Stockton Thunder, Rapid City Rush and Evansville Icemen (all ECHL), he had 18 goals and 21 assists in 62 games. . . .
F Jan Eberle (Seattle, 2006-08) signed a tryout contract with Olomouc (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with Kladno (Czech Republic, 1. Liga), he had 18 goals and 19 assists in 52 games. He was an alternate captain.
D Mitch Versteeg (Lethbridge, 2006-07) signed a one-year contract with Kaufbeuren (Germany, DEL2). Last season, with the Nikko Icebucks (Japan, Asia HL), he had four goals and 10 assists in 40 games. . . .
F Mark Derlago (Brandon, 2003-07) signed a one-year contract with the Nikko Icebucks (Japan, Asia HL). Last season, with Esbjerg (Denmark, Metal Ligaen), he had 65 points, including 25 goals, in 36 games. He finished third in the league’s scoring race and was a first-team all-star. He also was an alternate captain.
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Bruce Hamilton, the president and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets continues to go through the process of hiring a head coach to replace the one-and-done Dan Lambert.
“I’m still waiting . . . there’s one particular individual that I’m waiting to see what he wants to do,” Hamilton told Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “If he’s interested, then I would bring him in (for an interview) right away. . . .
“I’ve reached out to this guy. Someone who knows me contacted me and said ‘hey, this guy might be interested or might be looking.’ . . . A lot of times you’re dealing with guys who are in jobs right now and trying to decide whether they want to stay there or not.”
Lambert now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. He spent five season as an assistant coach with the Rockets, under head coach Ryan Huska. Last season, Lambert helped guide the Rockets to the WHL championship.
Fisher’s story is right here.
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On Monday evening, I posted a ‘Scattershooting’ piece here in which I wrote: “The WHL hasn’t announced it yet, but you can bet it will be going to 3-on-3 overtime in the upcoming season. Why? Because it mirrors the NHL, that’s why.”
It wasn’t long after that piece was posted than a couple of readers were in touch to inform me that WHL commissioner Ron Robison recently was on The Pipeline Show and said that the WHL was going to 3-on-3 OT this season.”
Robison appeared with The Pipeline Show guys on July 14. Asked about “changes on ice” that fans can expect to see, Robison responded:
“We have to take the time to make sure we all are on the same page and want to move forward with what the NHL has adopted. Our agreement with the NHL calls for us to mirror their playing rules. We really like the 3-on-3 overtime rule. I think there are some other areas that we will have some further discussion on. We still have the ability to determine at what stage we implement those new rules, but our thoughts are certainly to move forward for the upcoming season and we’ll take those steps in consultation not only with the general managers within our league but obviously the CHL as well to make sure we’re as consistent with our playing rules across the country as possible.”
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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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Greg Ireland has resigned as head coach of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack in order to accept a coaching position elsewhere. However, no one is saying just where that position is. . . . Ireland had been with the Attack since 2011-12. . . . Ireland’s departure leaves the Attack with at least three vacancies on its coaching staff. Earlier this summer, assistant coach Drew Bannister left to become head coach of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and assistant coach Daniel Tkaczuk now is on the Kitchener Rangers’ coaching staff.
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Dave Brown is the new general manager of the OHL’s Erie Otters. He replaces long-time GM Sherry Bassin, who was moved out as the franchise changed hands. . . . Brown has been with the Otters for four seasons, serving most recently as director of hockey operations. . . . The Otters also are working on a contract extension with head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose current deal runs through 2015-16.
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Amanda Kessel, who hasn’t played hockey since the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, won’t play again this season thanks to post-concussion syndrome, meaning her college career is over. Kessel, the sister of Pittsburgh Penguins F Phil Kessel, suffered a concussion while with the U.S. women’s Olympic team. She was injured before the Games, but was cleared to play in the Games. . . . A star with the U of Minnesota Golden Gophers, she didn’t attend school after the Olympics. She won’t return to hockey in the upcoming season, although she may attempt to attend school. . . . Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forts Herald has more right here.
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Congrats to one of the hardest working men in show biz @ChadScharff on his new gig with @BladesHockey

— Morley Scott (@Morley_Scott) July 21, 2015

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Another player done, at least for now . . . Warriors cycle for Ethan

F Lukáš Vartovník (Everett, 2006-08) has signed a one-year contract with Spišská Nová Ves (Slovakia, 1. Liga). Last season, with Liptovský Mikuláš (Slovakia, 1. Liga), he had five goals and 11 assists in 36 games. . . .
F Martin Cibák (Medicine Hat, 1998-2000) has signed a one-year contract with Olomouc (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, he was the captain of Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia, KHL), and had 12 points, including six goals, in 38 games. He was traded to Vityaz Podolsk (Russia, KHL), and had two goals and an assist in 16 games.
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CONCUSSION REPORT:

The WHL may have lost another player to post-concussion syndrome.
F Brandon Del Grosso, 18, isn’t with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
“As of right now,” he told Taking Note, “I’m just going to school and taking things day by day. I was not ready to return to Moose Jaw this year as I haven’t played in a hockey game in quite a while.”
Del Grosso played one game last season. On Oct. 9, he took a hit from behind that, he said, left him with whiplash and a concussion. Almost a year later, Del Grosso is still feeling it.
“I still have symptoms (from) time to time,” he said.
A ninth-round pick by Moose Jaw in the 2011 bantam draft, he had 43 points, 13 of them goals, in 43 games with the major midget Vancouver-Northwest Giants in 2012-13. He also got into three games with the Warriors that season.
So, to date, his WHL resume shows four games, with no points.
From New Westminster, he is now attending Douglas College, which is located in his hometown.
“As far as hockey goes,” he said, “I’m not currently playing but that could change in the future.”
Making the decision to leave the game, especially when it wasn’t on his terms, “wasn’t easy, that’s for sure,” he said.
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If you missed it, Sean Rooney and Ryan McCracken of the Medicine Hat News reported Wednesday that F Gavin Broadhead of the Medicine Hat Tigers has had to retire due to post-concussion syndrome.
That story is right here.
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Meanwhile, the U of Minnesota Gophers announced Wednesday that Amanda Kessel, the sister of Toronto Maple Leafs star Phil Kessel, won’t play this season because of post-concussion syndrome.
Amanda Kessel didn’t play for the Gophers last season as she was with the U.S. women’s national team. She incurred a concussion while with the national team.
"It’s obviously a difficult decision and one that I’ve taken time to come to terms with,” Kessel said in a news release. “As someone who has played through a lot of injuries, it wasn’t until suffering a concussion that I fully understood the importance of being 100 per cent healthy when I’m on the ice. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case right now.
"My No. 1 priority is my health, and I hope that I’ll be able to return to the ice in the future."
She has been working with doctors and specialists at the Carrick Brain Center in Atlanta.
Kessel, who has one year of eligibility remaining, won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award in 2012 as the NCAA’s top Divison I women’s player.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors lost a member of their organization in July when F Ethan Williams of Winnipeg committed suicide.  Williams, who would have turned 17 on Aug. 22, was to have attended his third Warriors training camp. . . . On Wednesday, Katie Brickman of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports right here, 11 veteran players “participated in the Cycle Around the Globe for World Suicide Prevention Day . . . with a certain person in mind.” . . . Warriors GM Alan Millar told Brickman: ““I think it is very important to be in the community and give back to the Moose Jaw community that supports us so well but, as part of that, there are a number of causes that are so important. This day is close to our hearts with what happened to a young man, Ethan Williams, recently. He was part of our family.”
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It could be that Russian F Nikita Scherbak has played his last game with the Saskatoon Blades. Scherback led the Blades last season in goals (28), assists (50) and points (78). He was selected in the first round of the NHL’s 2014 draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He turns 19 on Dec. 30, so has to play in the NHL or be returned to the Blades. . . . Because he was a first-round NHL pick, the Blades were allowed to pick twice in the CHL’s 2014 import draft, which they did. On top of that, there is a one-year moratorium on trading import draft selections. . . . So, as Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports right here, the Blades already are contemplating finding Scherback another WHL team with which to play.
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“Government officials in Washington state, home to four Western Hockey League teams, have been investigating the working conditions of the teams' mostly-teenaged players over the past year, TSN has learned.
“Matthew Erlich, a spokesman for Washington's Department of Labor and Industry, told TSN that officials recently referred the case to the state attorney general's office and added that the labor department is waiting for a legal opinion from the attorney general before pursuing its investigation further.”
Those are the first two paragraphs of a story by Rick Westhead, TSN’s senior correspondent. The complete story is right here.
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TSN posted its first Craig’s List of the 2014-15 season on Wednesday. The list, compiled by TSN’s Craig Button, features his ranking of the top 40 players who are eligible for the 2015 NHL draft. This list, which is right here, includes one WHLer, Seattle F Mathew Barzal, in the top 20, but there are five in the top 30 and 10 in the top 40.
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The Prince George Cougars have hired Craig Hyslop as an athletic therapist. Hyslop, 28, is from Prince George. He spent the last two years with CBI, a health services centre in Prince George. According to general manager Todd Harkins, Hyslop will “take care of (the players’) health and well-being,” while Chico Dhanjal “takes care of their equipment.” . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman tweeted Wednesday that D Landon Cross, 20, has received his release and will join the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. Cross, who is from Brandon, was acquired by the Kootenay Ice from the Kamloops Blazers last season. He didn’t report to the Ice this season, saying he wanted to finish his junior career with the Pistons. . . .
The Saskatoon Blades will open the season with Troy Trombley, 20, and Trevor Martin, 18, as their goaltenders. The 6-foot-7 Trombley, from Sherwood Park, Alta., was 9-30-3/4.08/.899 last season. He also has played with the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans. Martin, from Ardossan, Alta., split last season between the midget AAA Leduc Oil Kings and the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines. . . . Saskatoon’s roster sits at 29, including two goaltenders and 10 defencemen.

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The new third jersey is here! pic.twitter.com/SifZ5ktKBX
— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) September 11, 2014

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