The NHL draft . . . Rathjen on move . . . Blades hire assistant coach

F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) has signed a one-year contract with Olten (Switzerland, NL B). Last season, with Lausanne (Switzerland, NL A), he had three points, including one goal, in 30 games. He has dual Canadian-Swiss citizenship, so doesn’t count as import. . . .
F Brett Sonne (Calgary, 2004-09) has signed a one-year contract with Mora (Sweden, Allsvenskan). Last season, with Dornbirn (Austria, Erste Bank Liga), he had 30 points, seven of them goals, in 43 games. . . .
D Tyson Marsh (Vancouver, 2001-05) has signed a one-year extension with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite). Last season, in 63 games, he had 41 points, including nine goals, and was a second-team all-star. . . .
G Kristofer Westblom (Kelowna, 2004-08) has signed a one-year contract with Gap (France, Ligue Magnus). Last season, with the Brampton Beast (CHL), he was 3.22 and .903 in 41 games.
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THE NHL DRAFT (aka Mostly White Men in Suits):
Sorry, but there is no way I was going to sit down and watch the draft live. Not a chance. All that talk and all those commercials. And all those Mostly White Men in Suits with more White Men in Suits reporting from the floor and doing the interviewing.
So . . . let’s go to the PVR, with ample use of the FF button.
Keeping in mind that this is Philadelphia where football fans once booed Santa Claus, the reception given NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is rather epic. I mean, there’s booing and then there’s this. . . . Give Bettman credit, though. He gets booed everywhere and he keeps coming back for more.
Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen (‏@vanguy) offered this up via Twitter: “The Wells Fargo Center crowd has just been nominated for a special Grammy award for its booing of Gary Bettman.”
First off, you have to like what the Vancouver Canucks did on Friday. They got F Ryan Kesler out of the room, sending him to the Anaheim Ducks, and brought in F Nick Bonino, who will be among their top six forwards for a few seasons, and D Luca Sbisa, who will surprise if given the opportunity to play on a regular basis. Vancouver also picked up a first-round pick (No. 24) in this draft. . . . And that doesn’t take into account the trading of D Jason Garrison, who doesn’t skate well enough to fit into what Vancouver’s braintrust is trying to do here, to the Tampa Bay Lightning, or the acquisition of pain-in-the-butt F Derek Dorsett, who played for new head coach Willie Desjardins in Medicine Hat, from the New York Rangers. (In Dorsett, the Canucks finally have an answer to F Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins.)
OK . . . here we go.
1. The Florida Panthers have the first selection. They have eight men in suits (MIS) on the stage. They take D Aaron Ekblad from the OHL's Barrie Colts. If you want to win the Stanley Cup, you have to have a stud defenceman.
2. The Buffalo Sabres are up. It‘s Tim Murray’s first pick as GM. He is the first of a number of GMs who get to the podium and announce their pick. No thanking anyone. No congratulating anyone. Just the pick. The Sabres take Kootenay Ice F Sam Reinhart, who might have the best hockey IQ in the draft. . . . The Sabres have seven MIS.
3. The Edmonton Oilers add to their stable of young forwards with German F Leon Draisaitl of the Prince Albert Raiders. No surprise here. . . . The stage holds five MIS, including owner Daryl Katz. Also there his son, Harrison, wearing an Oilers jersey (No. 14) and sporting the draft’s best hair, even better than his father’s. Harrison also is bigger than most of Friday’s draftees.
4. The Calgary Flames take F Sam Bennett from the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. Already he is being compared to the retired Doug Gilmour, who is the GM in Kingston. . . . The Flames have eight MIS on stage, and that includes Brian Burke, their president of hockey operations, and his hair.
5. The New York Islanders, with seven MIS, use their first pick on F Michael Dal Colle of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. They later will trade back into the first round.
6. The Vancouver Canucks take F Jake Virtanen from the Calgary Hitmen. That is the second year in a row that the Canucks, who have been accused of ignoring WHL players, have taken a WHLer in the first round; a year ago, they took F Hunter Shinkaruk of the Medicine Hat Tigers with the 24th pick. . . . This is the first pick of the Trevor Linden/Jim Benning regime. There are seven MIS on stage.
7. The Carolina Hurricanes, in an apparent attempt to stave up the expected booing, send former Flyers favourite Rod Brind'Amour to the podium. He gets a rousing reception. . . . They take D Haydn Fleury of the Red Deer Rebels. He is the 12th first-round selection from the Rebels and the other 11 all have played in the NHL. . . . There are five MIS, including new head coach Bill Peters, a former head coach of the Spokane Chiefs.
8. The Toronto Maple Leafs, with eight MIS up there, select F William Nylander, the Swedish son of former NHLer Michael Nylander. TV shows his family and there is blonde hair everywhere.
9. The Winnipeg Jets decide on F Nikolaj Ehlers, a Dane who plays for the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads. We don’t know it at the time but he will be only QMJHL player taken in the first round. . . . Oh, there are seven MIS on stage.
10. The Anaheim Ducks go for size with F Nick Ritchie, who is said to be 6-foot-3 and 226 pounds. He also has hands, witness 39 goals in 61 games with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes. He also has a late birthday; he turns 19 on Dec. 5. . . . How big is Ritchie? Former NHLer Jim Sandlak, known as House when he played, now scouts for the Ducks. Ritchie looked to be a tad bigger than Sandlak. . . . There were seven MIS.
11. The Nashville Predators reach into Sweden and take F Kevin Fiala, who was born in Switzerland to Czech parents. (Gee, wonder if he knows Tim Bozon, who was born in St. Louis to French parents and later lived in Switzerland?). . . . We digress. The Predators paraded eight MIS to the stage.
12. The Arizona Coyotes, once known as the Phoenix Coyotes, have seven MIS on stage as they take F Brendan Perlini, who plays for the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. Bob McKenzie, as usual the star of TSN’s draft show, informs that he covered Perlini’s father, Freddie, when he played for the Toronto Marlies back in the day. Brendan was born in Guildford, England, while his father was playing there. . . . Freddie was an eight-round pick by the Leafs in the 1980 draft, so his son has bragging right snow.
13. The Washington Capitals, with Ross Mahoney, the new assistant general manager, take F Jakub Vrana, a Czech who played in Sweden. Barry Trotz, the Caps’ new head coach, also was on the stage. He was one of five MIS.
14. The Dallas Stars pick D Julius Honka, the first member of the Swift Current Broncos to go in the first round since Vancouver took F Nathan Smith with the 23rd selection in 2000. The Broncos had 25 players taken in the next 13 drafts, but none in the first round. . . . Whoops! Here’s a tweet from Mike Heika, who covers the Stars for the Dallas Morning News: “Jim Nill just said they will talk to Julius Honka about moving from WHL to play in Finnish Elite League next season.” . . . Nill is the Stars’ GM. . . . He was one of nine MIS on stage, a number that will give the Stars the lead at halftime.
15. The Detroit Red Wings, with eight MIS, take F Dylan Larkin from the U.S. National Team Development Program. He is the first American-born player selected.
16. The Columbus Blue Jackets reach into the USNTDP for F Sonny Milano. Yes, the name sounds as though he should be an associate of Tony Soprano’s. Sonny’s given name is Frank; his father also is Frank. . . . There are six MIS when CBJ makes its pick.
17.  With his first selection as the Philadelphia Flyers’ GM, Ron Hextall, who is from Brandon, reaches down the Trans-Canada Highway to Elkhorn and grabs D Travis Sanheim of the Calgary Hitmen. Elkhorn also is the home of Sheldon Kennedy. . . . Going into last season, only friends and family seemed aware of Sanheim, who rocketed up the ratings as the season progressed. . . . The Flyers have only four MIS, including the legendary Bob Clarke, who was, yes, the 17th overall selection by the Flyers in the 1969 NHL draft.
18. The Minnesota Wild, with six MIS, go for F Alex Tuch, another USNTDP player.
19. The Tampa Bay Lightning select D Anthony DeAngelo of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. He had 71 points in 51 games, but missed 15 games due to suspensions for (a) a slur against a linesman, (b) a slur against a teammate, (c) verbally abusing an official. The Lightning will work with him on what would appear to be anger management issues. . . . Still, DeAngelo is from South Philadelphia so you know this was a big night for him. . . . The Lightning trotted 10 MIS to the stage and took the lead from Dallas.
20. The Chicago Blackhawks grab F Nick Schmaltz of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, the first player to be taken from a junior A league. His brother, Jordan, plays for the St. Louis Blues, who took him 25th overall in 2012. The Blackhawks have five MIS on stage.
21. The St. Louis Blues, with seven MIS, select F Rob Fabbri of the OHL’s Guelph Storm. He had a fabulous playoff run as the Storm won the OHL championship, and you know that always helps.
22. The Pittsburgh Penguins send Rick Tocchet, a former Flyers star who now is an assistant with Pittsburgh, to the podium. It doesn’t work as the booing is loud. The Flyers take F Kasperi Kapanen, the son of former Flyers F Sami Kapanen. Sami also played for the Carolina Hurricanes. Former Carolina GM Jim Rutherford now is the Penguins’ GM. . . . There are seven MIS, including new head coach Mike Johnston.
23. The Colorado Avalanche, with classy Joe Sakic making the pick, take F Conner Bleackley of the Red Deer Rebels. So you can make it 13 Red Deer first-rounders. No wonder Red Deer owner/GM/head coach Brent Sutter was smiling last night. . . . The Avalanche took five MIS to the stage.
24. The Canucks are back, with a pick acquired from Anaheim in the Kesler deal. This time, they go for F Jared McCann of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds. Again, they had seven MIS.
25. The Boston Bruins, with six MIS up there, select F David Pastrnak, another Czech who played in Sweden.
26. The Montreal Canadiens reach into the WHL for Russian F Nikita Scherbak of the Saskatoon Blades. His interview with TSN host James Duthie will become the stuff of legend. Who knew Scherbak was a big curling fan? The Habs have eight MIS, including former WHL/NHL heavyweight Shane Churla, who has become one of the game’s top scouts.
27. The San Jose Sharks, with five MIS taking part, pick Russian F Nikolay Goldobin of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting.
28. The Islanders are back, having acquired this pick from Tampa Bay. GM Garth Snow (see Tweet of the Day) selects F Josh Ho-Sang of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires for whom he had 85 points in 67 games. For some reason, there are questions about his character. The Isles again have seven MIS.
29. The Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings go to Sweden for F Adrian Kempe. The Kings also show up on stage with 11 MIS, to take over the lead from Tampa Bay. Hey, when you’re the champs . . .
30. The New Jersey Devils, with five MIS, close out the first round by selecting F John Quenneville of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Quenneville had to work to get to the stage as he was going against the traffic with fans heading for the exits. He didn’t shy from contact, which must have made Devils superscout David Conte happy. . . . Edmonton Journal writer Jim Matheson later tweeted that his wife gets her nails done by Quenneville’s mother, which is an apt spot to wrap up the first-round coverage.
SOME NOTES: TSN’s draft coverage once again set the standard for all sports. This, of course, was their last kick as Sportsnet has signed a 12-year contract with the NHL. . . . Last night’s first round featured 25 forwards and no goaltenders. It was the second year in a row that goaltenders were blanked in the opening round. . . . For a story on bloodlines and this draft, check out this nhl.com piece right here. . . . Quenneville was the ninth WHLer taken in the first round. All nine were from the Eastern Conference, with five of those from the Central Division. That’s right. Not one Western Conference players was taken. . . . The WHL had nine players taken in the first round in each of the 2007 and 2008 drafts. Last year, that number was eight. . . . There were 10 OHL players taken, with only one QMJHL player selected. . . . There were five U.S.-born players selected. . . . Not one player taller than 6-foot-3 was selected, while a handful of players under 6-foot-0 were selected. Yes, it was a victory, albeit a small one, for smaller, skilled players. . . . Round 2 is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. Eastern today.
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1. G Jared Rathjen, 20, is on his way to his third WHL team. Rathjen, from Prince George, began his WHL career with the Victoria Royals, who dealt him early in 2012-13 to the Vancouver Giants. . . . On Friday, the Giants sent him to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a conditional fifth-round selection in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. . . . Rathjen got into 29 games with the Giants last season and played well when Payton Lee was hurt. Rathjen finished 13-8-5, 2.98, .898. . . . The Tigers finished last season with two goaltenders on their roster -- Marek Langhamer and Nick Schneider. Langhamer, who turns 20 on July 22, is from Czech Republic and has signed with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. Schneider, who turns 17 on July 21, came over from the Regina Pats last season and went 6-0-0, 1.42, .943 in limited time behind Langhamer. . . . The Tigers’ roster also includes other potential 20-year-olds in F Miles Koules, D Tyler Lewington and D Kyle Becker. . . . Among Vancouver’s potential 20-year-olds are F Dalton Sward, F Travis McEvoy, F Trent Lofthouse, F Joel Hamilton and F Matt Bellerive.

2. The CIS Acadia Axemen, who play out of Wolfville, N.S., announced their 2014 recruiting class on Friday and it included a few names familiar to WHL fans. . . . Head coach Darren Burns lost seven players to graduation and also had D Colin Archer (Red Deer, 2007-10) move on when he was accepted into medical school at the U of Alberta. . . . D Matt Pufahl (Red Deer, Saskatoon, Everett, 2010-14), F Zach Franko (Kelowna, Kootenay, 2010-14), F Sam Fioretti (Moose Jaw, 2010-14) and F Boston Leier (Medicine Hat, Regina, 2010-14) all are among Acadia’s newest recruits.

3, The Young Stars Classic preseason tournament is scheduled for Penticton, B.C., Sept. 12-15. The six-game event will feature teams of prospects from the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale on July 11. Emanuel Sequeira of the Penticton Herald has more right here.

4. Bob Mackin, a freelancer who lives and works on the Lower Mainland of B.C., is one of my favourite journalists. He is doing journalism the way it’s meant to be done. . . . It’s doubtful that any journalist on the West Coast has more people who don’t respond to interview requests than Mackin. . . . On Friday, he filed a piece to the Vancouver Courier that ended up with this headline: World Cup slows City of Vancouver websites. . . . It carried this subhead: Too many city employees watching soccer online at work. . . . That story is right here.

5. Bobby Womack, a legendary singer, songwriter and musician, died on Friday at the age of 70. The New York Times obituary, written by Paul Vitello, is right here. . . . According to Vitello, Womack remained a gospel singer at heart. “Me being from the old school, I would not say ‘bitch’ on a record,” he said. “I couldn’t face my mother if I did.” . . . That’s Womack’s Across 110th Street in the great movie Jackie Brown. Here’s Across 110th Street right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Dean Brockman, a four-time coach of the year in the SJHL, has joined the Saskatoon Blades as an assistant coach. Brockman, who had been hoping to land the head-coaching job that went to Bob Woods, got a four-year deal. He had been the GM/head coach of the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos for 10 seasons. Before that, he was GM/assistant coach (1997-2003). . . . The Blades also announced that assistant coach Jerome Engele, one of the WHL’s really good guys, and goaltending coach Tim Cheveldae (he’s a good guy, too) will be back. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has the story right here.
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Former Prince George Cougars head coach Lane Lambert has joined the NHL’s Washington Capitals as an assistant coach. Lambert, 49, spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators. Barry Trotz, who was dropped as Nashville’s head coach after the season, is preparing for his first season as Washington’s head coach. . . . Lambert also spent two seasons (2002-04) as an assistant coach with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
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Jamie Russell, a native of Kamloops, is the new head coach of the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals. Russell, 47, spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Providence College. Before that, he was the head coach at Michigan Tech from 2003-11. . . . Russell replaces Dwight Mullins (Lethbridge, Calgary, Saskatoon, 1982-88), who left to take over as head coach of the ECHL’s Evansville IceMen.
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Garth Snow, on TSN, on Ho-Sang: "He'll fit right in. They shit on me, too."
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) June 28, 2014

Garth Snow, um, cleanup on Isle Six...
— Adam Proteau (@Proteautype) June 28, 2014

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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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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) signed a one-year plus club option contract with Lausanne (Switzerland, NL B). He had one goal and two assists in 13 games with Lugano (Switzerland, NL A) and two assists in three games while on loan to La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland, NL B) last season. Lausanne notes in its announcement of the signing that Burki is expected to obtain Swiss citizenship before the start of the season and thus will not count as an import player. . . .
F Tyler Beechey (Kootenay, Calgary, 1997-2002) signed a one-year contract with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). He had 15 goals and 18 assists in 52 games with Dusselsorf (Germany, DEL) last season.
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D David Musil of the Vancouver Giants has signed his first NHL contract with the Edmonton Oilers. Musil, 19, was the 31st selection in the 2011 NHL draft. He has played three seasons with the Giants, who acquired his rights from the Kootenay Ice after it obtained them in a WHL draft that was so secret it was like something out of a John le Carré novel.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Terry Murray has taken over as head coach of the Adirondack Phantoms, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. . . . This will be Murray’s third go-round with the Flyers organization. . . . He started last season as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings but was dismissed in December. . . . With the Phantoms, Murray, 61, replaces Joe Paterson, who was fired in May. He had been the head coach since December 2010.
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Denis Chalifoux is the new head coach of the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes, who won the 2013 Memorial Cup as the host team. Chalifoux, who signed a three-year contract, takes over from Eric Veilleux, who resigned following the season. . . . Veilleux now is head coach of the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Jason Beckett (Seattle, 1997-2000) signed a one-year contract with Kallinge/Ronneby (Sweden, Division 1). He had one goal and five assists in 39 games with Jesenice (Slovenia, Austria Erste Bank Liga) last season. Beckett was introduced to the local media Friday and is expected to be in the lineup for Sunday's game. . . .
F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) has been assigned on loan by Lugano (Switzerland, NL A) to La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland, NL B). He had seven goals and five assists in four games on loan to Thurgau (Switzerland, NL B) last season. The loan agreement is on a game-by-game basis. Lugano says that Burki is awaiting Swiss citizenship. . . .
F Marek Curilla (Kootenay, Medicine Hat, 2005-06) has been assigned on loan by Slovan Ustecti Lvi (Czech Republic, 1.Liga) to Zvolen (Slovakia, Extraliga) until Oct. 31. He had 15 goals and 11
assists in 40 games for Slovan last season and was pointless in three games thus far this season. . . .
G Ville Kolppanen (Lethbridge, 2009-10) has signed a two-year contract extension with Ilves Tampere (Finland, SM-Liiga). He was recalled from loan to LeKi Lempäälä (Finland, Mestis), and assigned on loan to Snezhnye Barsy Astana (Kazakhstan, Russia MHL, the top Russian junior league) until the end of January. He had allowed two goal in two games with a .969 save percentage for LeKi this season. Last season, Kolppanen had a 2.89 GAA and a .903 save percentage in 19 games for Ilves A-Juniors (Finland, A-Junior SM-Liiga). The contract extension runs through the 2013-14 season.
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There are a lot of great people in hockey and Glen Hanlon, the Vancouver Giants’ assistant coach, is one of them.
So it was great to chat with him before the Giants game in Kamloops on Friday night.
He also is one of hockey’s great story tellers.
He said he got quite a chuckle one day when a Giants player asked him if he had gone to the NHL draft when he was eligible to be selected.
“Yeah,” Hanlon said. “I went to the Brandon Sun and spent the draft hunched over the teletype machine watching for my name.”
He didn’t have to wait too long. He was selected in the third round, 40th overall of the NHL’s 1977 draft. He also was a third-round pick in the WHA draft, taken 30th overall, by the Houston Aeros.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers got three goals from F Emerson Etem on Friday as they beat the Oil Kings 5-3 in Edmonton. It was the fourth time in his career that Etem has scored at least three goals in a game. However, it was the first time he has done it since his freshman season. That season, he scored 37 times, including two-three-goal games and a four-goal effort. Last season, Etem struck for 45 goals but never scored more than two goals in a game, something he did on 10 occasions. Etem now has 149 points, including 86 goals, in 139 career regular-season games. . . . The Oil Kings drew 7,273 fans to their home-opener. . . .
F Max Reinhart had two goals and two assists to lead the host Kootenay Ice to a 5-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . It was Regina’s first loss in four games this season. The Pats hadn’t started 3-0 since 1984-85. . . . It was the fifth time Reinhart has had at least four points in a game. Last season, he enjoyed a five-point outing and two four-point games. . . . Regina got a shorthanded goal from D Brandon Underwood, who now has two scores in four games this season. He went into the season with two career goals in 149 regular-season games with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Ice also got a goal and two helpers from F Dylen McKinlay, an offseason acquisition from the Victoria Royals. . . .
Morgan Rielly, one of the WHL’s bumper crop of defencemen, helped the Warriors to a 6-5 shootout victory over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders. The Warriors trailed 5-3 when Rielly scored at 16:50 of the third period and then drew the lone assist on a PP goal by F Sebastian Svendsen at 19:14. Rielly then scored the shootout goal that ended the game. . . . F Brandon Herrod had two goals and two assists for the Raiders. It was the second four-point night of his career, the first since 2009-10. . . . Attendance in Moose Jaw was 3,545. . . .
In Prince George, G Keith Hamilton stopped 48 shots through overtime as the Victoria Royals went on to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Cougars. . . . Neither of Prince George’s two shootout participants was able to beat Hamilton, who also came out the winner on a second-period penalty shot by F Tayler Thompson. . . . Attendance in Prince George was 4,530. . . . On Sept. 24, Hamilton made 48 saves as the Royals beat the visiting Vancouver Giants, 4-3. . . . The Royals acquired Hamilton, a 19-year-old from Kelowna, from the Portland Winterhawks over the summer. . . .
The Swift Current Broncos won for the first time in four games, beating the Wheat Kings 5-4 in a shootout. . . . That left the Broncos at 1-2-1. . . . Brandon now is 0-2 at home. . . . The Broncos, who were without F Dillon Wagner (knee), lost F Andy Blanke, who left after a first-period scrap with Brandon F Michael Ferland. . . . Brandon had F Brenden Walker in the lineup for the first time since he suffered an concussion in a playoff game against the Medicine Hat Tigers last spring. . . .
In Portland, G Ty Rimmer improved to 2-0 as the Tri-City Americans beat the Winterhawks, 4-1. Rimmer stopped 32 shots as the Americans moved to 3-0 for the second straight season. . . . Tri-City meets the Chiefs in Spokane tonight.
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JUST NOTES: The U of Calgary Dinos and the WHL announced Friday the creation of the Ed Chynoweth Memorial Hockey Award. It wwill go annually to a former WHL player who is attending the U of Calgary and playing for the Dinos. . . . If you’re a long-time hockey fan, you may remember hearing about Sven Tumba, or Sven Johansson, as he was born. The Swedish hockey star also was known to some as Tumba Johansson. Tumba, who was one of the first Europeans to skate in an NHL training camp, died today in Stockholm. He was in camp with the Boston Bruins back in the day. There’s more on Tumba right here.
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Ken Dryden, who knows a thing or two about hockey and about writing, has put fingers to keyboard and come up with a brilliant piece about headshots in sports. It you haven’t already seen it, it is right here, and it is only the best piece written on this subject to date. Dryden’s piece explains better than anything else I have seen exactly why headshots -- intentional, accidental and incidental -- and fighting must be taken out of the game of hockey, and why it has to happen now. Not tomorrow. Right now.
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Ken Dryden and Globe and Mail columnist Roy MacGregor are preparing for an online discussion on “why we need to rethink hockey.” It will begin Monday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT).
For more info, click right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

MIKE SILLINGER
(REGINA PATS PHOTO)

The Regina Pats will celebrate the career of Mike Sillinger by retiring his No. 16 on Jan. 14 prior to a game with the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“It's truly an honor to have my jersey hanging up in a place where I have had some of my greatest memories,” Sillinger said in a news release. “I was lucky to play my entire junior career here with the Pats and was always so proud to represent a great organization. As a hometown boy, wearing that Pats jersey was a dream come true and I will cherish those days forever.”
Sillinger, who is from Regina, played with the Pats from 1987-91. He is third on the franchise list in goals (178), third in assists (241) and second in points (419).
The 1990-91 season was a fantastic cap to his WHL career as that winter, he put on the Red and White of Team Canada and helped the squad to a gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, later that season, he was named a WHL Eastern Conference all-star.
Sillinger was selected by the Detroit Red Wings with the 11th pick of the NHL’s 1989 draft and went to a 16-year professional career during which he played for 12 teams.
Sillinger will become the eighth Pats player to have had his number retired, following Ed Staniowski (1), Brad Hornung (8), Clark Gillies (9), Doug Wickenheiser (12) and Dennis Sobchuk (14), Dale Derkatch (16) and Bill Hicke (17). Builders to have been honoured by the Pats are Lorne Davis, Al Ritchie, Gord Staseson, Graham Tuer, Bob Turner and Del Wilson.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) has been assigned on loan from Lugano (Switzerland NLA) to Thurgau (Switzerland NL B). Burki has not played in a game yet with Lugano but played one game on loan to Sierre (Switzerland NLB) earlier this season. He was pointless in that game. . . .
D Tomas Slovak (Kelowna, 2001-03) was released by Avtomobilist Ekaterinberg (Russia KHL). He had three assists and was -6 in 21 games this season for Avtomobilist.
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D Bruin McDonald, 18, who started this season with the Spokane Chiefs, has been released by the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques. In five games with the Olympiques, McDonald didn’t have a point, but was plus-1 with nine penalty minutes.
The Olympiques had signed McDonald to a contract that covered this season and next, but, of course, those contracts don’t guarantee roster spots.
As someone familiar with the situation put it, “Obviously, what (the family) was told and promised was not worth the air they were spoken with. But that is the business . . .”
So, at least for now, McDonald has decided to get on with his life and is sounding as though he won’t play hockey again this season.
The Chiefs had acquired McDonald’s rights from the Prince George Cougars. However, Spokane released him upon having D Jared Cowen reassigned by the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. McDonald then joined the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies, who dealt him to the Vernon Vipers. It was right after that trade occurred that the Olympiques came calling.
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For the record, the WHL’s trade moratorium runs through Dec. 27. The WHL office will begin accepting trades on Tuesday, Dec. 28, at 12:01 a.m. MT. . . . That moratorium began Dec. 15. . . . WHL goaltenders are on schedule to put up 76 shutouts this season, which would be 12 fewer than last season. That also would be the lowest total since some time before 2003-04. (I don’t have season breakdowns prior to 2003-04.) The single-season record (141) was set in 2004-05. . . .
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Bruce Eakin (Saskatoon, 1980-82) and his family are heading from Florida to the Buffalo area to watch nephew Cody play for Team Canada in the World Junior Championship. Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun has that story right here. Cody, of course, is the captain of the Swift Current Broncos.
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After giving it a whole lot of thought, I have shut off the comments area of this blog.
I don’t mind a little give and take, but when a gutless stalker, obviously made bigger and braver by the mask of anonymity afforded by the Internet, continually makes unfounded accusations it’s time to say enough is enough and pull the plug.
So . . . as much as I enjoy the readers’ participation, I have had to cut it off. For that I apologize.
Still, those of you wishing to make an intelligent comment, point out errors or take part in reasonable discourse may continue to reach me at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter