D Mitch Versteeg (Lethbridge, 2006-09) signed a one-year contract with Heilbronner Falken (Germany, DEL2). He had eight goals and 14 assists in 55 games with the Trenton Titans and Kalamazoo Wings (both ECHL) last season. . . .
F Justin Feser (Tri-City, 2008-13) and F Shayne Wiebe (Kamloops, Brandon, 2006-11) both signed one-year-plus-option contracts with Olten (Switzerland, NL B). . . . Feser had 44 goals and 62 assists in 72 games with the Americans and two assists in six games with the Portland Pirates (AHL) last season. . . . Wiebe had one goal and two assists in 25 games with the Connecticut Whale (AHL) and seven goals and five assists in 12 games with the Greenville Road Warriors (ECHL) last season. . . . Feser is expected to arrive in Olten on Aug. 4. Wiebe isn’t expected before Aug. 12.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Dean Evason, the head coach of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, has received a contract extension through 2014-15. Evason, a former WHL player and coach, now is signed through 2014-15. The Admirals are affiliated with the NHL’s Nashville Predators. . . . Milwaukee went 41-28-4-3 last season, Evason’s first as its head coach. Prior to that, he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach with the Washingon Capitals.
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The ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones have signed Ben Simon as their new head coach. Simon is from the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, so is an Ohio native. . . . He spent the past two seasons as an an assistant coach with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. . . . Simon takes over from Jarrod Skalde, who now is an assistant coach with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals. Skalde spent three seasons as Cincinnati’s head coach.
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D Shaun Heshka (Everett, 2003-06) and F Tomas Vincour (Edmonton, Vancouver, 2007-10) each signed one-year contracts with Ak Bars Kazan (Russia, KHL). . . . Heshka had eight goals and 23 assists in 60 games helping Ässät Pori (Finland, SM-Liiga) win the Finnish championship. . . . Vincour had 18 goals and 21 assists in 53 games with the Texas Stars (AHL) and the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL) and two goals and two assists in 17 games with the Dallas Stars (NHL) and Colorado Avalanche (NHL) this season.
Is the CHL’s decision to ban European goaltenders legal? Is it in violation of Canada’s Competition Act? Might it be a violation of human rights laws? Yahoo! Sports has an interesting piece 
D Brennan Evans (Seattle, Kootenay, 1999-2003) scored the winning goal as the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins won the AHL championship with a 5-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch on Tuesday night. . . . The Griffins won the series 4-2 after winning the first three games. . . . F Mitch Callahan (Kelowna, 2008-11) had a goal and an assist for the Griffins, while F Landon Ferraro (Red Deer, Everett, 2007-11) had two assists. F Triston Grant (Lethbridge, Vancouver, 2000-05) added an assist for Grand Rapids. . . . This is the Griffin’s first championship in the franchise’s 17-year history and the first title in Grand Rapids’ 27-year history in the pro game. . . . The Griffins are the Detroit Red Wings’ AHL affiliate; the Crunch is hooked up with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Mike Haviland is the new head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Haviland, 45, has been a pro coach for 14 seasons. He spent this season as associate coach with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals. . . . Haviland replaces Mark French, whose contract wasn’t renewed after four seasons behind the bench of the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Washington Capitals. French has since signed on as head coach of the KHL’s Medvescak Zagreb, a Croatian team that is new to the KHL, having played in the Austrian league.
The NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes have extended the contracts of the coaching staff of their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. Head coach Ray Edwards and assistants John Slaney and Mike Minard. . . . Edwards, 42, is preparing for his fifth season as the head coach of the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate. He has been head coach for two seasons with each of the Pirates and, before that, the San Antonio Rampage. . . . Slaney is going into his third season as an assistant with the Pirates. He ended his pro career after the 2010-11 season when he played with Plzen HC in Czech Republic. . . . Minard is heading into his third season as the goaltending and video coach with the Pirates.
F Robin Soudek (Edmonton, Chilliwack/Victoria, 2008-12) requested and was granted his release by Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had one goal and one assist in 11 games this season before suffering a knee injury that caused him to miss the rest of the season. Soudek signed a two-year contract with the club last summer but asked for his release so he can return to Canada and go to school.
F Justin Feser of the Tri-City Americans is the Western Conference’s player of the year. . . . . Feser, from Red Deer, completed his WHL eligibility this season and now is with the AHL’s Portland Pirates. . . . He finished his final season with 106 points, including 44 goals, in 72 games. He had 40 more points than Tri-City’s second-leading scorer. . . . He also set a WHL record by playing in 321 consecutive regular-season games. . . . Feser is the third Tri-City player to be so honoured in the last five years – F Brendan Shinnimin was saluted last season, while F Colton Yellowhorn was the pick in 2008. . . . F Adam Lowry of the Swift Current Broncos was named the Eastern Conference’s player of the year on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Wade Klippenstein, the Prince George Cougars’ assistant GM and director of player personnel, tweeted this from @CoachKlipp: “One more day, then off to see the best 1998 born players BC has to offer. #WHLBantamDraft13 #Bcbestever @BCHockey_Source”
They’re playing musical franchises in the AHL and the season isn’t even over. . . .
In Edmonton, F Brady Brassart scored at 1:44 of OT to give the Calgary Hitmen a 3-2 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Brassart has seven playoff goals, having scored three times in each of Calgary’s previous series-opening games. . . . Calgary G Chris Driedger stopped 33 shots, while Edmonton’s Laurent Brossoit turned aside 16. . . . Edmonton F Henrik Samuelsson forced OT with his seventh goal of the playoffs, on the PP, at 13:05 of the third period. His father, former NHLer Ulf Samuelsson, was in the stands. . . . Edmonton F Curtis Lazar hit the crossbar just 13 seconds into OT. . . . The Oil Kings didn’t give up even one PP goal over their first two series. The Hitmen, however, scored on their first PP opportunity, taking a 2-0 lead on a goal by F Zach Jones at 3:32 of the second period. . . . The Hitmen were outshot 10-3 in the first period but scored on their first shot, by F Victor Rask, just 85 seconds in. . . . Rask has at least one point in each of Calgary’s 11 playoff games. . . . Calgary F Jake Virtanen, the first overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, had two assists. . . . F Trevor Cheek, who began his WHL career with Calgary in 2010-11, got Edmonton on the board at 13:42 of the second. . . . F Dylan Wruck had two assists for Calgary. . . . The Hitmen have played five road games in these playoffs and each one has gone to OT. They are 3-2 in those games. . . . It also was Calgary’s franchise-record sixth OT game of these playoffs. . . . Amazingly, the teams hadn’t played each other since concluding their regular-season series on Dec. 18.
F Brad Moran (Calgary, 1995-2000) signed a one-year contract with Linz Black Wings (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). He had five goals and three assists in 37 games with Växjö (Sweden, Elitserien) and five goals and 10 assists in 14 games with SaiPa Lappeenranta (Finland, SM-Liiga) this season. The head coach of Linz is Rob Daum, who coached, either as the head man or as an assistant, with Prince Albert, Swift Current, and Lethbridge.
F Adam Lowry of the Swift Current Broncos is the Eastern Conference’s player of the year. Lowry, who has played for the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps since the WHL season ended, signed with the parent Winnipeg Jets of the NHL earlier this week. He was a third-round selection in the 2011 NHL draft. . . . Lowry, a son of Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry, had 88 points, including 45 goals, this season. As Bruce Luebke, the radio voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings, pointed out on Twitter, Lowry scored 21.8 per cent of the Broncos’ goals and was in on 42.7 per cent of them.
Sunaya Sapurji of Yahoo! Sports takes a look 
The QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan recently changed hands for $3.4 million. The P.E.I. Rocket now is for sale and is said to have a price tag of $3.5 million hanging from its cap. Speculation in hockey circles is that a WHL owner was approached to see if his team was available and he said, yes, for $9 million. Hmmmm. . . .
The Spokane Chiefs announced Wednesday that assistant coach Jon Klemm is leaving the club “citing the desire to be closer to his family.” . . . Klemm was the Chiefs’ captain when they won the Memorial Cup in 1991 and later went on to an NHL career that included two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche. He returned to the Chiefs as an assistant coach in 2009 and has filled that position for four years. . . . According to a Chiefs’ news release, Klemm “will return to Dallas after getting married this summer. His four teenage children live in Chicago.” . . . "I will get more opportunities to see my kids and see my son play hockey. I haven't seen him play in three years. This move gives me flexibility in the winter months," Klemm said. . . .
The OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs have moved assistant coach Darren Keily to director of hockey operations — he also is assistant GM — and signed Jeff Reid as assistant coach. Reid, who has a lot of junior B and junior C coaching experience, has worked in the OHL as an assistant coach with the Owen Sound Attack (2007-10). He will work alongside head coach Todd Gill, who has completed two seasons with the Frontenacs.
In Kent, Wash., F Myles Bell scored at 10:39 of OT to give the Kelowna Rockets a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds (of Kent). . . . Strangely, the game’s first six goals all came in the first period. . . . Kelowna F Cody Fowlie scored 22 seconds into the game. . . . Seattle then took a 3-1 lead as it scored three times on its first four shots. . . . F Connor Sanvido, F Adam Kambeitz and F Luke Lockhart, who would hit a post early in OT, put Seattle out front. . . . F Tyrell Goulbourne and Fowlie, with a second goal at 16:20, forged the 3-3 tie. . . . Seattle G Brandon Glover stopped 55 shots, 15 more than Kelowna’s Jordon Cooke. . . . It was the fourth time in six games that the teams went to OT. Seattle had taken a 3-0 lead in the series by winning three times in extra time. . . . The Rockets lost D Jesse Lees late in the second period when he took a check to the head from Seattle F Justin Hickman. . . . Hickman left with a major and game misconduct and could be suspended for Game 7. . . . Lees didn’t return to the ice, although he was on the bench. That left the Rockets to finish up with four defencemen. . . . Seattle was 0-2 on the PP and now is 0-24 in the six games. . . . The Rockets had six regulars out of the lineup — F JT Barnett (ill), F Rourke Chartier (back), D MacKenzie Johnston (shoulder), F Carter Rigby (shoulder, foot), F Colton Sissons (shoulder) and D Mitchell Wheaton (shoulder). As a result, the Rockets had F Nick Merkley, 15, and F Justin Kirkland, 16, in their lineup last night and they saw ample ice time. . . . The Thunderbirds were without F Connor Honey as he served Game 2 of a three-game suspension for a hit on Johnston in Game 4. . . . "We just have to put that game behind us," Glover told freelancer Jim Riley, who covered the game for the Seattle Times. "Before this series began, if we'd have known we just had to steal a Game 7, we'd have taken that every time. We just have to look at the positives."
skating with the Rebels for a couple of weeks and took part in his first full-contact practice on Monday.
the Kamloops Blazers and Medicine Hat Tigers, had been Calgary’s director of business operations. This is Moore‘s 16th season in the WHL, his fifth with the Hitmen. . . According to a news release, “His hockey operations duties will be in addition to his current responsibilities of operating the business side of the organization.” . . . Kelly Kisio is the team’s general manager, executive vice-president and alternate governor.
The Dallas Stars have signed F Taylor Peters of the Portland Winterhawks to a three-year, entry-level NHL contract. Peters, who turned 21 on Jan. 24, has 111 points in 313 career regular-season games with the Winterhawks. This season, he has 37 points in 62 games. Peters is one of the WHL’s top penalty-killing forwards and a superb defensive player. He also is a terrific faceoff man.
The New York Rangers have signed — or are close to signing — F Josh Nicholls of the Saskatoon Blades to a three-year, entry-level NHL contract. Nicholls was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the 2010 NHL draft but never signed. This season, he has 73 points, including 41 goals, in 65 games. . . . Bob McKenzie of TSN tweeted: “Nicholls contract with NYR is standard three-year entry level deal, listed with annual cap hit of $925K. Gets SB of $92.5K in each of 3 yrs.” . . . At the same time, Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported that Gerry Johannson, who is Nicholls’ agent, wouldn’t confirm a deal, but said he hoped to have something done today.
In Prince George, the Tri-City Americans erased a 1-0 deficit with three goals in 1:06 in the first period and went on to beat the Cougars, 6-3. . . . D Mark McNulty gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead with his eight goal, via the PP, at 4:37. . . . F Justin Feser tied it with his 41st at 11:06, on the PP. F Connor Rankin, with his 26th, gave the Americans the lead at 11:42, and D Mitch Topping added his 13th at 12:12. . . . Feser later added an assist, getting him to the 100-point plateau. . . . Rankin finished up with two goals. . . . The same teams will play again tonight in Prince George. . . . The Americans moved into fourth in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Spokane Chiefs. Each team has seven games to play. . . . The Cougars, who have lost five in a row, are eight points out of a playoff spot with eight games left, six of them on the road.
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