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 MacBETH REPORT:


 F Greg Scott (Seattle, 2005-09) signed a one-year contract with Brynäs Gävle (Sweden, Elitserien). He had 13 goals and 19 assists in 69 games with the Toronto Marlies (AHL) this season. . . .



F Martin Tomasek (Red Deer, 1996-97) signed a one-year contract with Karvina (Czech Republic, 2. Liga). Tomasek started this season by spending one week with Karvina, getting two goals and seven assists in three games, before signing with Neuilly-sur-Marne (France, Division 1), where he had 19 goals and 26 assists in 22 games. Karvina’s press release states that the contract has an escape clause should Tomasek sign with another European club, something the club expects will happen.
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1. Kevin Constantine back with the Everett Silvertips? It could happen, according to a source who told me Wednesday night that “I've heard that this may be a done deal already.” . . . Constantine was fired by the Swiss club HC Ambri-Piotta 14 games into the 2011-12 season. He signed there in October 2010 and is under contract through 2013-14. . . . But word in hockey circles is that he has been trying to get back to this side of the pond and that he also has applied for the opening at the U of Alaska-Anchorage. . . . Constantine was the Silvertips' first head coach and was there from 2003-07.

2. The Montreal Impact and host Vancouver Whitecaps played to a 2-2 draw in a soccer game on Wednesday night. Add ’em up. That’s four goals. . . . In the NHL on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Kings beat the visiting San Jose Sharks 2-1 in Game 7 of one series, while the host Chicago Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in OT in a Wednesday night Game 7. . . . Yes, the NHL has a scoring problem so, please, no more soccer jokes.

3. Glen Sather, the president and general manager of the New York Rangers, fired head coach John Tortorella on Wednesday. Katie Strang of ESPNNewYork.com explains right here what happened to the fiery Tortorella and how it all went downhill.

4. Nicholas J. Cotsonika of Yahoo! Sports weighs in right here on the firing of John Tortorella by the New York Rangers. . . . “He might be a bully, but he will be back as soon as another team decides it needs a bully — a bully with a Stanley Cup ring and a Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year,” Cotsonika writes.

5. On Tuesday, Matthew Boudreau, a forward with the Halifax Mooseheads, was getting a tattoo to commemorate his team’s Memorial Cup victory. On Wednesday, he was talking to Willy Palov of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald about having been traded to the Shawinigan Cataractes. Palov’s story is right here.

6. Things are heating up in Anchorage where the U of Alaska-Anchorage athletic director is out and he isn’t leaving quietly, suggesting that the school’s president may be “mentally ill.” And it all started with the firing of the school’s hockey coach. . . . Beth Bragg of the Anchorage Daily News has more right here.

7. Taylor Leier’s Memorial Cup didn’t go quite the way he had hoped it would. The Portland Winterhawks forward missed the last two games with a brain injury. No, he doesn’t remember that hit that hurt him. But he’s back in his hometown of Saskatoon and Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the StarPhoenix has spoken with him. That story is right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Chris Lewgood is the new general manager and head coach of the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins. Lewgood, 31, has been t he head coach of the junior B Pilot Butte, Sask., Storm for the last six seasons. . . . With the Bruins, he replaces Keith Cassidy who was dropped after the season. . . . Josh Lewis of the Estevan Mercury has more right here. . . .


Derek Stuart, an assistant coach for three seasons with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers, has signed on as general manager and head coach of that league’s Calgary Mustangs. . . . Stuart takes over from Mario Amantea, who spent one season with the Mustangs. . . .

Dale Hladun has signed on as the general manager and head coach of the junior B Fernie Ghostriders of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. If you’re a regular here, you’ll recall reading that Hladun left the Princeton Posse earlier this month after spending more than eight seasons there. . . . In Fernie, he takes over from Barry Wolff, who now is head coach of the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express. . . . A tip of the cap to George Hurlbut, who blogs right here. . . .

The QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are looking for help after general manager and head coach Andre Tourigny accepted an offer to be an assistant coach with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. Of course, the Avalanche signed Patrick Roy as head coach earlier in the week. . . . Tourigny has been the Huskies’ head coach since 2003-04, missing the playoffs just once in 10 seasons.

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