A wild fire-fuelled night in B.C. ... Glass signs with Vegas ... MJHL players to pay development fee

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— Terry Massey (@TerryMassey) July 6, 2017

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It’s been a wild and unpleasant night in the fire-ravaged areas of B.C. — north and west of Kamloops and in Lake Country, just a bit north of Kelowna.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those people who lost their homes and/or were forced to flee from the fires. 

As for Kamloops, the city is teeming with evacuees. There already were lots of evacuees here, including those from the Ashcroft, Cache Creek and 100 Mile House areas, when Williams Lake was hit with an evacuation order last night. Many of those people registered at the Sandman Centre upon arrival but, with Kamloops fairly bursting at the seams, others were to have been directed to Chilliwack.

Some of Saturday’s rogue fire activity was caused by winds from a cold front moving in off the Pacific Ocean. Who knows what awaits B.C. in the morning? The forecast is for cooler temperatures, perhaps in the low 20s, and higher humidity. It ain’t rain, but it will help.

In Kamloops, there were a couple of scares from grass fires last night, but quick action by fire crews got things under control.

We live 20 kilometres east of Kamloops, on the north side of the South Thompson River and haven’t been threatened. We also have had only two days of heavy smoke; in fact, the last three days have been sunny and warm with nothing but blue skies.

Yes, we are among the fortunate ones, at least to this point, and we know it.

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Couldn't be more excited to sign with @GoldenKnights, thanks to everyone who helped me along the way! @TheHockeyAgency @pdxwinterhawks pic.twitter.com/GFp0gNNPKR

— Cody Glass (@Cody12Glass) July 15, 2017

F Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks has signed his first professional contract — a three-year entry-level deal with the Vegas Golden Knights, who selected him sixth overall in the 2017 NHL draft. . . . Glass, 18, is from Winnipeg and is expected to return for a third season with the Winterhawks. He is eligible to play with the Golden Knights, but because of his age can’t be assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. . . . Last season, Glass had 94 points, 32 of them goals, in 69 games with Portland. That followed a freshman season in which he totalled 10 goals and 17 assists in 27 games. . . . The Winterhawks selected him in the first round of the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. . . . The Golden Knights had three first-round selections in the 2017 NHL draft; they signed the other two selections on Saturday, too. F Nick Suzuki of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack and D Erik Brannstrom. Suzuki is expected to return to the Attack, while Brannstrom, who won’t turn 18 until September, will play for HV71 in Sweden’s Elite League.

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Players wanting to play in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League will have to pay starting in 2017-18. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun reports that the league will be implementing a player development fee. . . . “It’s a move sources say that will allow for the league to better advertise itself during its annual showcase, bringing in more scouts and more attention to the event. The move will also help provide better health and dental benefits for the league’s 250-plus players,” Billeck reports. “The league has yet to officially announced the development fees, which are said to be set at $500 per player, but sources say it is a move that has been in the works for a while. The league will take in just under $130,000.” . . . Billeck’s story is right here.

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The MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons have signed Paul Dyck, their general manager and head coach, to a contract extension that runs through 2020-21. Dyck, who is from Steinbach, has been with the pistons since 2010-11 when he was an assistant coach under Rich Gosselin. Dyck stepped in as head coach during 2011-12 and has been the GM/head coach since the summer of 2012. . . . Here’s Grant Lazaruk, the president/governor of the community-owned team’s board of directors, in a news release: “Paul’s coaching ability and what he has done for the club on and off he ice has been tremendous. I look at it as this ownership group has owned this club now for five seasons. In those five seasons, he has led the team to an MJHL championship, two appearances in the final, and two semi-final appearances, so in regards to his on-ice team performance, he has done a tremendous job.” . . . Dyck, 46, played two seasons (1989-91) with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

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The AJHL’s Calgary Canucks announced Saturday morning that James Poole, their general manager and head coach, is leaving the organization “to pursue other opportunities.” . . . Poole spent one season with the Canucks, going 37-19-4, the first time the team finished above .500 since 2009-10. . . . Anyone interested should send a resume to Pat Loyer at phloyer@shaw.ca.

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Buddy Bodman, who coached the ill-fated Spokane Flyers of the WHL for 26 games in 1980-81, died Wednesday morning at his home in Spokane. He was 75. . . . Bodman was best known in the Spokane area for his career as a player – he played for the senior Spokane Flyers, Comets and Jets. Aside from his stint as the WHL Flyers’ head coach – they were 4-21-1 under him – he coached the senior Jets and junor B Braves, Flames and Rockets. . . . Bodman resigned as the Flyers’ coach and the team went through two more coaches (Tom Gauthier, 3-8-0, and Wayne Coxworth, 10-25-0) before season’s end. The following season, the Flyers started 3-22-1 under Ron Harris before folding. . . . Bodman was a native of Saskatoon. He and his wife, Judy, had five children.
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Chris Hartsburg, an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips, has been added to the coaching staff of the U.S. team that will play at the U-17 Five Nations tournament in Czech Republic next week. Hartsburg will be the team’’s video co-ordinator. Barry Smith, the former Kamloops Blazers head coach who will coach in Tilburg, Netherlands, this season, is Team USA’s head coach. . . . The Five Nations tournament runs Aug. 7-11 in Chomutov, Kadan and Klasterec, Czech Republic. Team USA, which flew to Europe on Wednesday, will play an exhibition game against Czech Republic on Sunday before opening tournament play Wednesday against Germany. . . .
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The MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons have signed David Anning as assistant general manager and assistant coach. Anning had been the GM/head coach of the Winnipeg Saints. However, he lost that position when the franchise was sold and relocated to Virden, with the Oil Capitals hiring Troy Leslie as GM/head coach. . . . In Steinbach, Anning will work alongside GM/head coach Paul Dyck.
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The MJHL’s Winkler Flyers have signed Blaine Neufeld as their goaltending coach. Neufeld played for the Flyers and was an all-star in 2004-05. In 2006-07, he was part of the Memorial Cup-champion Vancouver Giants. Neufeld also played in the WHL (2004-07) with the Medicine Hat Tigers and Saskatoon Blades. . . . Neufeld also is an assistant coach with the midget AAA Pembina Valley Hawks, who play out of Morden, Man.
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The New York Islanders have signed D Griffin Reinhart, who was the 20th overall selection in the NHL’s 2012 draft. Reinhart has 61 points in 105 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings over the last two seasons. . . . He had 36 points in 58 games last season as the Oil Kings won the WHL championship. . . . He is the son of former NHL D Paul Reinhart. . . . Griffin has two brothers who also play in the WHL. Max, a 20-year-old forward who has played four seasons with the Kootenay Ice, has signed with the NHL’s Calgary Flames and finished last season with their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. . . . Sam, who turns 17 on Nov. 6, also plays in Kootenay. He is projected as an early pick in the NHL’s 2014 draft. . . .
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A Thursday evening tweet from F Henrik Samuelsson of the Edmonton Oil Kings: “I would like to thank @Griffin Reinhart in advance for all the things he is going to buy me now that he’s a show guy #congrats.”

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jakub Sindel (Brandon, 2004-05) signed a tryout contract with Kärpät Oulu (Finland, SM-Liiga), terms not announced. He had two assists in five games during a tryout with Kloten (Switzerland, NL A) at the start of the season that was interrupted by a broken jaw. He then was with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL), where he had one goal in 21games before being released. Sindel played in SM-Liiga last season for Pelicans Lahti, getting 15 goals and 18 assists in 59 games. There is a family history in Finland as well. His father, G Jaromir Sindel, played in SM-Liiga for five years, from 1989 to 1994.
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It was almost 20 years ago when Marc Habscheid got into coaching. Now the GM/head coach of the Victoria Royals, Habscheid started out with the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs.
“I loved it in Melfort, small-town Saskatchewan,” Habscheid tells Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. “One day I came home and there was a bag of vegetables at my door from a fan and a ‘thank you’ for coaching their team. How can you beat it? Cobs of corn for coaching. Do you think Ron Wilson gets that sort of thing in Toronto?”
For more from Matty’s Hockey World, including more from Habscheid and some good stuff from Paul Coffey on concussions, click right here.
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In the SJHL on Saturday night, the Humboldt Broncos beat the host La Ronge Ice Wolves 3-2 in a shootout. . . . Humboldt F Ryan Marshall, who didn’t score on his first attempt, got the winner in a shootout that went 17 rounds. The goaltenders — Humboldt’s Matt Hrynkiw and La Ronge’s Alex Rajotte — gave up only three goals in the shootout. . . . F Zac Ashdown scored on La Ronge’s first shootout attempt and that was it for the Ice Wolves. The next 16 shooters all came up short.
Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post has more right here.
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Cam Tucker of the Vancouver Sun checks in with Bruce Banman, the new mayor of Abbotsford, B.C., and the subject is the AHL’s Heat.
Banman told Tucker that had he been the mayor he wouldn’t have signed the 10-year deal that brought the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate to the city.
But the deal was done and Abbotsford is working with the Heat in an attempt to improve attendance.
That story is right here.
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The Kelowna Rockets and Kamloops Blazers both concluded East Division swings on Saturday night and then headed for home. The Rockets were coming off a 5-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades; the Blazers dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to the Moose Jaw Warriors.
After both teams stopped at the airport in Calgary, they continued on their way west. And they ended up sitting side-by-side on the Trans-Canada Highway, between Golden and Rogers Pass, while avalanche control was taking place. It seems the delay was about 75 minutes.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors claimed F Charles Wells, 20, on waivers last week, but it sounds as though the club isn’t expecting him to report.
Wells left the Portland Winterhawks last week and was placed on their suspended list. He was then put on waivers as the Winterhawks got down to the league-mandated maximum of three 20-year-olds.
The Warriors had room for a 20-year-old because F Sebastian Svendsen went home to Demark late last month.
“We did put a claim in on him in the understanding that we weren’t sure where his interest level was in remaining in the WHL,” Alan Millar, the Warriors’ director of hockey operations, told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “We’ve had one conversation with Charles at this time and the indication is that he’s thinking about things, but in essence doesn’t seem like he’s all that prepared to remain in the league right now.
“We’re going to talk again on Boxing Day, but I would think that right now it would be unlikely that he will join us after the break.”
Gourlie’s complete story is right here.
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SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
The WHL’s Christmas break didn’t begin until the very last second of the third period of the last game, as that’s when F Jordan Weal scored to give the Regina Pats a 6-5 victory over the host Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Weal’s second goal of the game, and 30th of the season, came on a breakaway at 19:59 of the third period. . . . The Oil Kings had won 11 straight games. They also had won 15 in a row at home. . . . This was an afternoon game, meaning the Pats played three road games in a span of 42 hours. Now think about that for a few moments — and you’re free to wonder what the schedulemaker was thinking!. . . . D Colton Jobke also scored twice for Regina, which got three helpers from each of F Morgan Klimchuk and D Brandon Davidson. . . . “We demand so much from our kids and then to have them play three games in 42 hours, it’s a real credit to them,” Regina head coach Pat Conacher told Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “They saddled up and went back at it again. It was awesome.” . . . Conacher also admitted to Hamilton that he was preparing for OT when Weal scored the winner. “Art Bidlevskii had the puck behind the net and I was telling him to stay there to make sure we got the point,” Conacher told Hamilton. “But he threw it up the boards to Klimchuk, Morgan made a great pass to Jordan in the neutral zone and he went in and potted it.” . . . Regina was 2-1-0 in its three-game weekend which actually was three games in less than two days. . . .
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If you haven’t already seen it, check out the Edmonton Oil Kings’ Christmas video. This, undoubtedly, is the highlight of the WHL’s festive season. If it doesn’t bring a smile, you definitely are a Grinch. . . . If that link doesn't work, try this one right here.
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Tyler Bunz, the Medicine Hat Tigers’ starting goaltender, saw that video and tweeted:
“like to give a shout out to the @EdmOilKings for their christmas video.. made me laugh. @wilson_oh9 shoulda been an actor..job well done sir.”
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THE COACHING GAME:
The MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons made a coaching change Friday after head coach Rich Gosselin resigned. . . . The Pistons are in their third season and Gosselin (Flin Flon, 1973-76) had been their only head coach. . . . Assistant coach Paul Dyck (Moose Jaw, 1989-91) took over as head coach. . . . The Pistons are 12-22-4 and in last place in the six-team Addison Division.