The Wenatchee Wild, the WHL’s newest franchise, is looking for a head coach. Dick and Lisa White operated the Wild as a BCHL franchise for the past eight 
seasons, but they now have purchased the Winnipeg Ice and have moved the franchise to the Washington city. . . . The Wild announced on Thursday that Chris Clark, who was the head coach of the BCHL team, will remain with the organization as assistant general manager and associate head coach. He has been with the Wild for all 15 years of its existence. . . . The Wild also is keeping Leigh Mendelson as director of scouting and Jarrod Boman is staying in a hockey operations role. . . . The Wild is looking for an athletic therapist and an equipment manager, with Pepe Sandoval staying on as an assistant to both positions. . . . Mendelson has been with the Wild for six years. His extensive background includes one season (2008-09) as an assistant coach with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. . . . On Thursday, the Wild posted this on Twitter: “With the news of our staff updates this morning, we are continuing to hunt for the right head coach and an additional assistant coach to lead us into the WHL era. All resumes can be mailed to our general manager at blittler@wenatcheewildhockey.com.
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And so ends, at least for now, the WHL coaching career of James Patrick, who had been the Ice’s head coach for six seasons — two in Cranbrook and four in Winnipeg. . . . The Ice announced on Feb. 10, 2020, that it had agreed to terms with Patrick on a three-year contract extension. That extension expired after the 2022-23 season, and there was speculation that Patrick, 60, wasn’t going to return even if the franchise hadn’t been sold.
No real news emanated from a 28-minute Zoom meeting that featured Ron 
Robison, the WHL commissioner who is heading into his final season, and some members of the media on Thursday. . . . Asked what the WHL could learn from what happened in Winnipeg where the Ice’s owners weren’t able to build a promised arena, Robison responded: “That scenario was really all about the facility. In our league we have very clear requirements for facility standards and if those standards aren’t met then we have to look at alternate locations. In this particular case, we probably should have had a more firm commitment on the facility as far as construction underway, that type of thing, to make sure that we didn’t encounter the challenges we did. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t get to a position where we had a facility . . . in Winnipeg to play in because we obviously value that market extremely high, but without that the viability of that franchise in that market just didn’t make sense to us.” . . . The complete session is available on the WHL’s website.
The junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League has applied to BC 
Hockey to have its status upgraded to junior A. The league reached the decision at its annual general meeting in Sicamous on Saturday and went public with the move on Thursday. . . . The 20-team KIJHL features 19 teams in B.C., and one, the Spokane Braves, in the U.S. . . . B.C. doesn’t have a junior A league with the decision by the BCHL to operate as an outlaw league — that sounds better than independent, doesn’t it? — outside of Hockey Canada. . . . From a KIJHL news release: “The KIJHL’s application to BC Hockey was submitted after an exhaustive consultation process with the league’s minor hockey partners that resulted in letters of support from all four of the regional minor hockey districts in which KIJHL teams operate, as well as 19 separate minor hockey associations.” . . . Brett Holt of the Columbia Valley Rockets, who is the chairman of the KIJHL’s board, offered: “We’re looking forward to further dialogue with BC Hockey on our application and our desire to further the growth of grassroots junior hockey in our province, and ultimately a vote by their Board.” . . . The KIJHL news release is right here.
THE COACHING GAME:
Two former WHL players and coaches have signed on as coaches with NHL teams. . . . Mitch Love, the two-time reigning AHL coach of the year, has joined the Washington Capitals as an assistant coach under freshman head coach Spencer Carberry, while Travis Green is back in the game, this time as an associate coach under head coach Lindy Ruff with the New Jersey Devils. . . . Love played five seasons (1999-05) in the WHL, seeing time with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos and Everett Silvertips. He spent seven seasons as an assistant coach with Everett and two seasons as head coach of the Saskatoon Blades before signing with the NHL’s Calgary Flames. He was the head coach of their AHL affiliate — the Stockton Heat in 2021-22 and the Calgary Wranglers in 2022-23 — for the past two seasons and was named the AHL’s coach of the year for both seasons. . . . Green hasn’t coached in the NHL since the Vancouver Canucks fired him as head coach early in the 2021-22 season. He had been with the Canucks since 2017. He played four seasons (1986-90) in the WHL — three-plus with the Spokane Chiefs and 25 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers. He spent three seasons (2010-13) on the coaching staff of the Portland Winterhawks. . . .
Ken MacKenzie is the new head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, taking over from his son, Derek, who has signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Nashville Predators. . . . Derek spent 50 games as the club’s head coach, going 23-20-7, then losing to the eventual champion Peterborough Petes in the first round of the playoffs. . . . Ken had been the Wolves’ assistant general manager. . . . Rick Dorval and Gary Ricciardi will be back as assistant coaches. . . . Ken had stepped in as interim head coach when the Wolves fired head coach Craig Duncanson early last season. Ken coached until Derek was hired as head coach. . . .
The NHL’s Calgary Flames have hired former NHLer Marc Savard as an assistant coach to work alongside freshman head coach Ryan Huska. Savard spent the previous two seasons as head coach of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
The 2025 World Junior Championship will be played in Ottawa, running from Dec. 26, 2024 through Jan. 5, 2025. . . . They’ll play 17 games, including the semifinals and bronze and championship games, in the Canadian Tire Centre, home of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. TD Place, home to the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, will see 14 games. . . . The 2023 WJC was played in Moncton and Halifax. The 2024 tournament is scheduled for Gothenburg, Sweden, from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5. . . .
The Calgary Hitmen have waived 2003-born D Blake Heward, who now is a free agent. Heward had two goals and 10 assists in 41 games with the Hitmen last season. In 103 regular-season games, 23 of those with the Edmonton Oil Kings, he put up four goals and 21 assists. . . . His father, Jamie, is a former WHL player and coach. . . .
Paul Duarte, the owner of the junior B London Nationals of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, has drawn a two-year suspension from Hockey Canada-sanctioned activities following an investigation into accusations of abuse, bullying, harassment and misconduct. According to the London Free Press, the Ontario Hockey Federation began an investigation “for what multiple sources (said) was a bounty allegedly offered for a London player to target a skater on the Komoka Kings in the fall of 2021.” . . . According to the Free Press, “The sources, who spoke to the Free Press on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal, said they were told the amount of the bounty was $100.” . . . There’s more on the story right here.
THINKING OUT LOUD: The B.C. Lions went into Winnipeg on Thursday night and absolutely dominated the Blue Bombers, 30-6, and who saw that coming? . . . Winnipeg had lost just two of its previous 21 home games with Zach Collaros at quarterback. . . . The Lions are 3-0 and have allowed only 21 points. Now that’s impressive, especially in the CFL. . . . The next time someone with NHL tries to tell you that “hockey is for everyone” you are free to laugh in their face. The NHL should be embarrassed about its decision to get rid of specialty warmup sweaters, but too many of the old white guys who run that league don’t have a sense of understanding. . . . I’m told that the junior B KIJHL wants to have all of its teams play under a junior A flag in 2023-24, after which it would split into two tiers. After that, perhaps it would run a relegation system just like some international soccer leagues.
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Firebirds, 3-2 in OT, in Game 7 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears became the first team to win on the road in this season’s final. . . . F Mike Vecchione’s fifth goal of the playoffs won the game at 16:19 of the first OT period. . . . Former Regina Pats D Ryker Evans had a goal and an assist as the Firebirds took a 2-0 lead with goals at 4:41 of the first period and 0:24 of the second. . . . The Bears tied it on second-period goals from F Connor McMichael, at 13:42, and F Hendrix Lapierre, at 17:09. . . . Evans put up two goals and eight assists in the final series. . . . The Firebirds, who were in their first AHL season, sold out each of their last five home playoff games. . . . The Firebirds are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken; the Bears are hooked up with the Washington Capitals. . . . Hershey, the AHL’s oldest franchise, won its 12th championship. . . . The Bears’ Game 7 lineup included former WHLers Lucas Johansen, Vince Iorio, Beck Malenstyn, Garrett Pilon, Riley Sutter, Aliaksei Protas and team captain Dylan McIlrath. Head coach Todd Nelson and assistant Patrick Wellar also are former WHLers.
That’s because the Winnipeg Ice WHL franchise is moving to Wenatchee where it will operate as the Wild. The BCHL franchise, meanwhile, won’t operate in the 2023-24 season.
the franchise to Wenatchee, Wash., where it will operate as the Wild. (Just wondering, but might the moving vans go through Cranbrook on their way from Winnipeg to Wenatchee?)
a 1-0 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 5 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears, who lost the first two games of this series on the road, now hold a 3-2 edge after winning three in a row on home ice. . . . The series resumes Monday in Thousand Palms, Calif., with Game 7, if needed, there on Wednesday. . . . Pilon’s fourth playoff goal came off a shot through traffic from about 15 feet in front of the blue line. . . . Hershey got 21 saves from G Hunter Shepard, while Joey Daccord stopped 30 for the Firebirds. . . . Pilon, 25, is in his fifth season in Hershey. He has 10 points in 18 playoff games. He played three seasons (2015-18) in the WHL, two-plus with the Kamloops Blazers and the last 30 games with the Everett Silvertips.
35,000. Wenatchee is located in Chelan County, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau had a population of 79,646 in 2021. Neighbouring Douglas County’s population was 43,696.
ment, “we were unable to confirm our ability to build a new facility in Winnipeg that met the WHL standards on a timeline that was acceptable to the WHL. Unfortunately, we were never able to get the project on solid footing due to the changing landscape (during and post-pandemic). Simply put, we ran out of time.”
for the Calder Cup after beating the Hershey Bears, 4-0, in Thousand Palms, Calif., on Saturday night. They’ll play again in Hershey on Tuesday and Thursday, with a fifth game, if needed, there on Saturday. . . . The Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, are in their first season of existence. . . . On Saturday, Coachella Valley scored four second-period goals to take control of the game. D Ryker Evans, who played with the WHL’s Regina Pats, had a goal and an assist. . . . G Joey Daccord stopped 33 shots in putting up his second straight shutout. The Firebirds won the opener, 5-0, on Thursday. . . . The last time an AHL goaltender opened the championship series with back-to-back shutouts? Moe Roberts of the Cleveland Barons did it in 1939 against the Philadelphia Ramblers. The Barons won the best-of-five final, 3-1.
championships when they completed a sweep of the Idaho Steelheads in Estero, Fla., on Thursday. . . . The Everblades completed the sweep with a 4-3 victory in front of a Hertz Arena record crowd of 7,855. Florida now is one of three teams to have three Kelly Cups. No team has won more than that. . . . The Steelheads erased a 2-0 first-period deficit and held a 3-2 lead 21 seconds into the third period. . . . D Stefan Leblanc’s first playoff goal pulled Florida even at 4:19 and F Tyler Irvine score the eventual winner at 7:59, with the primary assist going to former WHL F Levko Koper. . . . Florida, which is an affiliate of the NHL’s Florida Panthers, went 16-4 on its playoff run. . . . The Everblades’ Game 4 roster included Koper (Spokane Chiefs, 2006-11) and D Cole Moberg (Prince George Cougars, 2016-20). . . . Brad Ralph, who did a turn as the Kelowna Rockets’ head coach in 2015-16, is Florida’s head coach and director of hockey operations.
them to the public. . . . The regulations were set after committee meetings involving owners, general managers and members of the staff of Mario Cecchini, the league’s new commissioner. . . . The main points: Addition of a game misconduct penalty for any player involved in a fight; addition of an automatic one-game suspension for any player declared the instigator of a fight; addition of a minimum two-game automatic suspension for any player identified as the aggressor; and, in addition to the game misconduct, an automatic one-game suspension will be imposed once a player has reached his second fight, rather than his third. . . . If you click 
involving frequently asked questions posted on its website on Thursday, the league notes: “The BCHL is simply the British Columbia Hockey League. We don’t need to classify ourselves otherwise.” . . . If you have any questions about what is happening with the league that left Hockey Canada as May turned into June, there is a lot of information 
final on Thursday with a 5-0 victory over the Hershey Bears before a sellout crowd of 10,087 in Thousand Palms, Calif. . . . The Firebirds are affiliated with the NHL’s Seattle Krakken. . . . G Joey Daccord stopped 25 shots for the shutout. . . . F Kole Lind (Kelowna Rockets, 2014-18) had three assists. He leads the AHL scoring race with 26 points, 19 of them assists, in 20 games. . . . D Ryker Evans (Regina Pats, 2018-22) also had three assists. A first-year pro, Evans has three goals and 16 assists in 19 playoff games. . . . A note from the AHL: This was the 128th Calder Cup final game in Bears franchise history, and the 92nd game overall in Firebirds franchise history. . . . They’ll play Game 2 in Thousand Palms tonight, then head for Hershey and the next three games, on June 13, 15 and 17, if necessary. If more games are needed, they’ll finish up in Thousand Palms on June 19 and 21.
summer. The move apparently has become necessary, or so the speculation goes, because the Ice’s owners, who moved the franchise from Cranbrook after the 2018-19 season, have failed to deliver on a promise to build a new arena, thus they are stuck in the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena on the U of Manitoba campus. The WHL, ’tis said, has had enough of that particular situation. (BTW, I believe there still is a lawsuit kicking around somewhere involving the City of Cranbrook versus the WHL and the Ice’s owners. Something about a lease.)
Cup championship in Kamloops, G William Rousseau was dealt to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Wednesday. . . . In return, the Remparts got a first- and a second-round draft pick, both in 2024. . . . The 2003-born Rousseau picked up the shutout on Sunday as the Remparts blanked the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-0, in the winner-take-all championship game. . . . During the regular season, he was 35-11 with a 2.22 GAA. . . . Rousseau had been selected by the Remparts in the fifth round of the QMJHL’s 2019 draft. . . .
TAKING NOTE 