Tag: Andrej Meszaros

Ex-Blades import signs in Sweden. . . . Matvichuk joins hockey ops at BWC. . . . Chiefs lose goaltending coach

MacBeth

D Jesse Forsberg (Prince George, Seattle, Moose Jaw, 2008-14) has signed a one-year contract with the Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland, UK Elite). Last season, with U of Saskatchewan (USports, Canada West), he had six goals and 15 assists in 24 games. He was the Huskies’ captain. . . .

F Eric Fehr (Brandon, 2000-05) has signed a one-year contract with Genève-Servette (Switzerland, National League). Last season, with the Minnesota Wild (NHL), he had seven goals and eight assists in 72 games. . . .

F Mário Múčka (Everett, 2016-17) has signed a one-year contract with Nové Zámky (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, with Nitra U20 (Slovakia, Extraliga Juniori), he had seven goals and 22 assists in 28 games. . . .

D Andrej Meszároš (Vancouver, 2004-05) has signed a one-year contract extension with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, in 39 games with Slovan in the KHL, he had two goals and five assists. He was an alternate captain. . . .

D Jindřich Barák (Red Deer, 2009-10) has signed a one-year contract extension with Slavia Prague (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). Last season, he had one goal and five assists in 31 games. . . .

F Kristian Røykås Marthinsen (Saskatoon, 2018-19) has signed a one-year contract with HC Dalen Norrahammar (Sweden, Division 1), where he will play with his older brother Andreas. Last season, with the Saskatoon Blades (WHL), he had 13 goals and 16 assists in 62 games. . . .

F Milan Kytnár (Kelowna, Saskatoon, Vancouver, 2007-10) has signed a one-year contract with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, in 56 games with Zvolen (Slovakia, Extraliga), he had 29 goals and 14 assists. He was an alternate captain. He led the team in goals and was tied for third in the league.

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F Kristian Røykås Marthinsen won’t be back for a second season with the Saskatoon Blades. . . . As you will have read in The MacBeth Report, the 20-year-old from Lorenskog, SaskatoonNorway, has signed with HC Dalen Norrahammar (Sweden, Division 1). . . . He had 29 points, including 13 goals, in 62 games with the Blades last season. . . . Røykås Marthinsen was a seventh-round pick by the Washington Capitals in the NHL’s 2017 draft but wasn’t signed. . . . Saskatoon also lost its other import from last season as D Emil Malysjev has chosen to remain in Sweden. He had three goals and 14 assists in 63 games last season, then added one goal in 10 playoff games. . . . The Blades, who knew well in advance that neither would return, selected Czech D Libor Zabransky and Czech F Radek Kucerik in the CHL’s 2019 import draft. . . . Zabransky, 19, has WHL experience, having played with the Kelowna Rockets in 2017-18 and for part of last season. He finished it with the USHL’s Fargo Force. . . . Kucerik, who won’t turn 18 until Dec. 21, had six goals and 17 assists in 43 games with HC Kometa Brno’s U-19 team last season. He was the team captain. He also had two goals and three assists in 22 games with the national U-18 team. . . . Zabransky also is a product of the Kometa Brno organization.

Richard Matvichuk is the Burnaby Winter Club’s new hockey director. He will start his new job on Aug. 1. Matvichuk, 46, spent the past two-plus seasons as the head coach of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars. He guided the Cougars to the B.C. Division title in his first season, 2016-17, then was fired last season, less than two seasons into a rebuild. . . . Prior to joining the Cougars, he spent two seasons as the director of hockey operations and head coach of the ECHL’s Missouri Mavericks. . . . As a player, he spent three seasons (1989-92) with the Saskatoon Blades before going on to a pro career that included 796 regular-season and 123 playoff NHL games.

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JUST NOTES:

Ryan Cyr isn’t returning to the Spokane Chiefs as their goaltending coach after having joined the 50 Below Sports + Entertainment ownership group in Winnipeg. . . . Cyr, a former WHL goaltender (Seattle, Lethbridge Saskatoon, 2000-05), had been with the Chiefs since 2011. . . . He is the co-founder of what now is Rink Goalie Development in Winnipeg. He also is the president of Rink Training Centre. . . . The 50 Below Sports group owns the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice, MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues, the Rink Hockey Academy and the Rink Training Centre. . . .

Brad Cole is the new head coach of the men’s hockey team at the Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Sask., just west of Moose Jaw. . . . Cole, who is from Miniota, Man., played four seasons in the WHL (Seattle, Kootenay, Saskatoon, 2003-07). A defenceman, he went on to play in the AHL and ECHL, and spent five seasons in Europe. . . . Cole, 32, played 14 games with the Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks in the North Central Hockey League last season. He put up five goals and 23 assists in those 14 games. . . .

Andy Murray has signed a five-year contract extension as the head coach of the Western Michigan Broncos. The deal runs through 2023-24. Murray, 68, is prepping for his ninth season as the Broncos’ head coach. . . . How many fans remember Murray as the quarterback of the Brandon U Bobcats? Yes, BU once had a football team. Garry Davidson, Murray’s boyhood pal and now the general manager of the Everett Silvertips, also played for the Bobcats. . . .

Mark Chase has signed on as an assistant coach with the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. Chase, from Kamloops, spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires before working last season as the general manager and head coach of the junior B Osoyoos Coyotes of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.

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Pats, Chiefs sign import skaters . . . Moose Jaw d-man has KHL tryout . . . Americans add former Calgary forward

MacBeth

D Dmitri Zaitsev (Moose Jaw, 2016-18) signed a tryout contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia, KHL). Last season, he had six goals and 22 assists in 62 games with Moose Jaw. . . . Zaitsev’s contract lasts through the end of the exhibition season, after which the two sides will decide on extending the contract. Metallurg plays its first exhibition game on Aug. 4 and its last on Aug. 26. The KHL regular season begins on Sept. 1. . . .

D Andrej Meszároš (Vancouver, 2004-05) signed a one-year contract extension with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, KHL). The team captain, he had six goals and 11 assists in 51 games last season. . . .

D David Turoň (Portland, 2002-03) signed a one-year extension with Polonia Bytom (Poland, PHL). Last season, he had eight goals and 15 assists in 38 games.

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The Regina Pats have signed both of their selections from the CHL’s 2018 import draft — PatsRussian F Sergei Alkhimov and Russian D Nikita Sedov, both of whom played last season with the Colorado Evolution, a U-16 midget team that plays out of the Evolution Elite Hockey Academy in Denver. . . . Alkhimov, 17, recorded eight goals and 15 assists in 13 games, while Sedov, also 17, had three goals and eight assists in 11 games. . . . According to the Pats, both players are “in training camp with Team Russia, competing for spots at the 2018 Gretzky Hlinka Cup.” . . . Sergei Bautin, a Russian defenceman who played with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets (1992-94), is the head coach of the Evolution Elite midget team. John Paddock, the Pats’ general manager, was the Jets’ head coach when Bautin played in Winnipeg.

D Dmitri Zaitsev, 20, who played the past two seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors, has MooseJawWarriorssigned a tryout deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, a Russian team in the KHL. The MacBeth Report spells out the details of the agreement above. . . . Zaitsev is from Togliatti, Russia, and played for Metallurg’s youth teams, before coming over to the NAHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights for the 2015-16 season. . . . He had two goals and 18 assists in 70 games with Moose Jaw in 2016-17, then had six goals and 22 assists in 61 games last season. . . . The Warriors also had Russian D Oleg Sosunov on their roster last season. Sosunov, 20, is expected to play in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s organization in 2018-19. . . . The Warriors made two selections in the CHL’s 2018 import draft, taking F Daniil Stepanov, 17, from Belarus, and F Yegor Buyalsky, 17, who also is from Belarus.

The Spokane Chiefs have signed Russian D Yegor Arbuzov, 17, after selecting him in the SpokaneChiefsCHL’s 2018 import draft. He played last season for CSKA Moskva’s U-17 club, scoring eight goals and adding five assists in 22 games. . . . Arbuzov owns sophomore D Filip Kral as the Chiefs’ two import players. Kral, from Czech Republic, was the club’s rookie of the year last season, after putting up nine goals and 26 assists in 54 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs selected him in the fifth round of the NHL’s 2018 draft.

The Portland Winterhawks have added assistant general manager to Kyle Gustafson’s portfolio. Gustafson, who is preparing for his 15th season with the organization, also is Portlandthe associate head coach. . . . According to the Winterhawks, Gustafson “will take on an increased role in player recruitment and scouting. Travis Green, now the head coach of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, was the last person to hold the combined position with the Winterhawks.”

As well, Matt Coflin, Portland’s head scout in B.C. since 2012, now is the assistant to the general manager, director of scouting and player development. He will “oversee the Winterhawks’ scouting department, as well as the development of Portland’s list players.” Coflin has been with the Winterhawks for six seasons.

Lisa Hollenbeck, who had been director of hockey administration, now is senior director, hockey operations. She has been with Portland since 2011. According to the news release, “She will handle all hockey operations’ communications, fillings, reporting with WHL, while maintaining a working understanding of rules and regulations, and organizing training camp.”

Again, from the news release: “These moves come in response to former assistant general manager Matt Bardsley accepting the position of general manager with the Kamloops Blazers in May.”

The Tri-City Americans have signed F Matt Dorsey, 19, after he played last season with tri-citythe BCHL-champion Wenatchee Wild. Dorsey is from Wenatchee. . . . He had four goals and seven assists in 18 games with the Wild, then added two goals and an assist in 14 BCHL playoff games. . . . The Calgary Hitmen selected Dorsey in the third round of the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft after he had 32 goals and 20 assists in 30 games with the U-14 Arizona Bobcats. . . . The Americans selected him in the 11th round of the 2018 bantam draft. . . . In 2016-17, he had three goals and three assists in 34 games with the Hitmen. . . . He missed most of two seasons (2014-16) with knee problems.

The Americans also have signed F Tyson Greenway, who was a fourth-round selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. Greenway had 21 goals and 26 assists in 34 games with the bantam AAA St. Albert Sabres last season. This season, he is expected to play with the midget AAA St. Albert Raiders.

The Swift Current Broncos have acquired F Colum McGauley, 18, from the Kelowna SCBroncosRockets for an eighth-round selection in the WHL’s 2021 bantam draft. . . . McGauley had two goals in 47 games as a freshman with the Rockets last season. . . . From Nelson, B.C., he was a fourth-round pick by the Spokane Chiefs in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Kelowna acquired him from Spokane for F Tanner Wishnowski on Oct. 17, 2016.

Meanwhile, the Broncos have added Nathan MacDonald to their front office as director of business operations. With his Chartered Accountant designation since 2011, he has been working with Crowe MacKay LLP in his hometown of Calgary for seven years. He takes over from Dianne Sletten, who left the organization on May 25. She had been with the Broncos through six seasons.

The AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs have “released” Larry Draper, their assistant general manager and associate coach, “due to budget constraints and position reformation,” according to a post on the team’s website. . . . Draper had been with the Pontiacs for five seasons. . . . Rick Swan has been the Pontiacs’ GM and head coach since 2013.

Brian Lizotte has signed a three-year deal as head coach of the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan, the defending Memorial Cup champions. . . . Lizotte takes over from Mario Pouliot, who left to join the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies as general manager and head coach. . . . Lizotte worked the past two seasons as associate coach alongside Pouliot.

Johnathan Aitken, a former NHL first-round draft pick off the roster of the Medicine Hat Tigers, is the first general manager and head coach of the Cold Lake, Alta., Wings, a franchise in the Western Provinces Hockey Association, which is part of the Western States Hockey League, a pay-to-play circuit that has branded itself as junior A. . . . Aitken, from Edmonton, has been coaching minor hockey in Edmonton. . . . Aitken, 40, played four seasons (1994-98) in the WHL, the first two with Medicine Hat and the last two with the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Boston Bruins selected him eighth overall in the NHL’s 1996 draft. He went on to play 44 NHL games — three with the Bruins and 41 with the Chicago Blackhawks.

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