Justen Maric – TAKING NOTE

Rebels have their head coach . . . Giants’ guy moving on . . . Pats to introduce new one today

One new coach coming in . . . one veteran coach leaving . . . and another new coach to be introduced today (Thursday) . . . such was Wednesday in the WHL . . .

Derrick Walser is the new head coach of the Red Deer Rebels, replacing Steve RedDeer Konowalchuk who left the organization after his second season with the team. . . . Walser, 45, had been an assistant coach with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes since 2017. The Petes won the OHL title last season. . . . As a player, he spent five seasons in the QMJHL, split between the Beauport Harfangs and Rimouski Oceanic. He then went on to a 19-season professional career before turning to coaching. The coaching career began with the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League where he was the playing head coach for two seasons. . . . The Rebels’ news release is right here.

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Steve Ewen of Postmedia reported that head coach Michael Dyck is leaving the Vancouver Giants after five seasons with the team. Ewen wrote that “multiple sources” indicated that Dyck will be joining the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, as an assistant coach. . . . Dyck took over as the Giants’ head coach for the 2018-19 season and guided them to the WHL final where they lost Game 7, 3-2 in OT, to the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Ewen’s complete story is right here.

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The Regina Pats are to name their new head coach today (Thursday). The Regina leading candidate would appear to be Brad Herauf, an assistant coach with the team since 2015-16. From Regina, he spent two seasons as head coach of the U18 AAA Regina Pat Canadians before joining the Pats as an assistant coach. . . . John Paddock, the Pats’ vice-president of hockey operations, general manager and head coach, announced his retirement on Monday. Alan Millar now is the vice-president of hockey ops and GM.

Here’s a photo from the late 1980s of a couple of men who went on to coach in the WHL. That’s Don Nachbaur (26) getting a tip from John Paddock, then the head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Thanks to Craig West for the photo.

That moment when a guy from Manitoba first sees his name on the Stanley Cup. https://t.co/2pjDPG2bEI

— Paul Friesen (@friesensunmedia) July 11, 2023

Paul Friesen touched base with a couple of Manitobans the other day, both of whom have ties to the WHL and both of whom now have their names on the Stanley Cup. Vaughn Karpan runs the Vegas Golden Knights’ pro scouting department; Bob Lowes is in charge of amateur scouting. And they both were more than thrilled to see their names etched on Lord Stanley’s mug. . . . Friesen’s piece is right here. . . . BTW, I cannot tell a lie. When the photo of the Golden Knights’ place on the Stanley Cup hit social media, the first thing I did was check for three names — Karpan, Lowes and Kelly McCrimmon. It did my heart a lot of good to see them there. Well done, gentlemen!

Things could get interesting when it’s time for the IIHF to hear bids for the 2026 World Junior Championship. KSDK News out of St. Louis reported Tuesday that “the St. Louis Sports Commission and St. Louis Blues have put together a coalition to bid to host” the 2026 event that would open on Dec. 26, 2005. . . . Short afterwards, Gord Miller of TSN, who has a lot of sources in and around the IIHF through his role as the network’s primary play-by-play voice of the tournament, tweeted: “Hearing Seattle, Tampa and Vegas are also interested in hosting the 2026 World Juniors in the US.”

The junior B Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, which features 11 teams, announced on Tuesday that it has “applied to BC Hockey, asking to reclassify as a junior A league for the 2023-24 season.” . . . This means that two of the province’s three junior B leagues have applied to BC Hockey for junior A status. The 20-team Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, which includes the Spokane Braves, said last month that it wants to move up. . . . At the moment, B.C. doesn’t have a junior A league because the BCHL has chosen to go (a) rogue, (b) outlaw, (c) independent, or (d) all of the above, and operate outside of Hockey Canada. . . . From a VIJHL news conference: “Recent meetings with BC Hockey and the three leagues (VIJHL, PJHL, KIJHL) have assisted to get a better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed and potential course of action to remedy the concern. . . . The focus on the three leagues is to provide an avenue or pathway that our B.C.-born players can choose to follow their hockey aspirations. All three junior B leagues continue to work collaboratively to assist in filling the void.” . . . The 14-team Pacific Junior Hockey League operates on the province’s Lower Mainland. The PJHL hasn’t yet indicated if it, too, wants junior A status.

Wakeupcall

JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

The Portland Winterhawks have acquired G Justen Maric, 19, from the Moose Jaw Warriors for s sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2026 draft. Maric went 16-1-0, 2.39, .934 in 17 regular-season appearances with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars last season. From Edmonton, Maric got into three games with the Warriors last season (0-1-0, 3.84, .864). . . . He was a fifth-round pick by the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL’s 2019 draft but played in only one game with them in the 2021-22 season. . . .

F Nate Danielson of the Brandon Wheat Kings has signed a three-year entry-level deal with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. They selected him ninth overall in the 2023 NHL draft. . . . Danielson, from Edmonton, has 33 goals and 45 assists in 68 games last season. . . . He won’t turn 19 until Sept. 27 and has to be returned to the Wheat Kings unless he plays in the NHL next season. . . .

Eight WHL players have been named to the roster of the Canadian team that will play in the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup that is to be played in Breclav, Czechia, and Trencin, Slovakia. The tournament is scheduled to run July 31 through Aug. 5. Canada opens on July 31 against Finland in Trencin. . . . Kris Mallette, the head coach of the Kelowna Rockets, is one of the team’s assistant coaches. . . . The complete roster is right here.

Snails

THE COACHING GAME:

The NHL’s Anaheim Ducks have added Brent Thompson to their staff as an assistant coach. Thompson, 52, is from Calgary and played three seasons (1988-91) with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . For the past nine seasons, he has been the head coach of the Bridgeport SoundTigers/Islanders, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s New York Islanders. . . . Thompson has two sons playing in the NHL — Tage is with the Buffalo Sabres; Tyce is with the New Jersey Devils.

Kids today stay in the house and fart around all day on their phones. In the 70s, we were outside chasing greatness. And sometimes we achieved it. Sail high into neighborhood immortality, you sweet bastard. pic.twitter.com/aCKMGdhGJM

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) July 11, 2023

THINKING OUT LOUD: Major League Baseball really needs to get rid of those ghastly all-star uniforms and put the players back in their team gear. Of course, it won’t happen because it’s all about selling merchandise, isn’t it? . . . Is it true that Jeff Hamilton of the independent Winnipeg Free Press is the only newspaper writer travelling the CFL beat this season? It seems that Postmedia, which owns at least 11 newspapers in CFL cities, isn’t putting any writers on the road. . . . The Edmonton Elks’ 19-game home-field losing skid is on the line tonight against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Should be fun. . . . Interestingly, the Saskatchewan Roughriders had lost seven straight at home before beating the Elks, 12-11, a week ago. . . . And the Ottawa RedBlacks had lost 13 in a row at home before they dumped the Elks, 26-7, two weeks ago.

Nearly 6,000 kidney transplants performed in the U.S. in 2022 were made possible by
living donors. Stand with us to protect the rights of living organ donors and fight for those who are fighting for their lives. Send an Action Alert to Congress➡️ ➡️ https://t.co/v8QMlHeHZm. pic.twitter.com/DuiVInyx0T

— American Kidney Fund (@KidneyFund) July 12, 2023

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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

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Or, for more information, visit right here.

Nothing

CFL players back to practice fields as strike ends . . . WHL conference finals on tap . . . Two veteran goalies change teams

Welcome back, everybody. 🏕#CFL pic.twitter.com/hJQlHYvapo

— CFL (@CFL) May 19, 2022

Significant gains for the players isn’t a “loss” for the league. Being known as a league that treats its players fairly should be important to the @CFL. And it’s good for business when it comes to player recruitment. #CFL #CFLPA

— Dave Naylor (@TSNDaveNaylor) May 19, 2022

Thankfully (mercifully?), the CFL and the CFLPA moved out of the media spotlight earlier this week, went quietly in behind closed doors and emerged with a seven-year agreement.

The CFL’s nine teams were on their respective practice fields on Thursday, with CFLlogo players and the board of governors expected to ratify the agreement in the days to come.

The players, it seems, made what TSN’s Dave Naylor referred to as “significant gains” in this agreement. But that doesn’t mean it was one of those deals with winners and losers.

Yes, Virginia, these labour disputes can have winners and winners. At first glance, this looks to be one of those deals.

In this instance, a league that has long talked about having its players as partners may actually have taken giant steps in that direction.

For example, while we don’t have access to numbers, the deal is said to include a decent increase in the salary cap and, more importantly for the players, the inclusion of all revenues, including from the Grey Cup game, as football-related revenues. And, it’s said, the players will have access to the books so will be able to have them independently audited.

Players also will be able to have some guaranteed money if they sign for a third year with the same team. Football, of course, is famous for having contracts that don’t feature guaranteed money.

The guaranteed money is all part of an attempt to keep players with teams for more than a year or two. While this CBA doesn’t directly tinker with the ratio and all that goes into that — teams must have seven Canadian starters — but it does allow players who have been with one team for three years or five in the league to, as Naylor put it, “play as Canadians in some circumstances.”

On top of all that, the players will get improved medical benefits from teams that want more padded practices. There will be 12 such practices permitted this season.

While this is a seven-year agreement, there is a clause that could end it after five years, which is when the current TV deal with TSN is to expire. If you aren’t aware the TSN deal is the CFL’s meat and potatoes. Without it, the CFL would starve to death.

One other key part is that this agreement is to end 30 days before the start of training camp. Past deals, including the one that just expired, were up the day before training camps opened, something that meant players had all travelled to sites and then had to sit around and wait. In the future, those extra 30 days could prove most important to those same players.

The exhibition season was to have started on Monday with the defending-champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers to travel to Regina for a game with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. That game now will be played on May 31.

The first exhibition games now will be played on Friday, with the Toronto Argonauts in Ottawa to face the Redblacks, and the Edmonton Eskimos in Winnipeg.

The regular season is scheduled to open on June 9 with the Montreal Alouettes visiting the Calgary Stampeders.

Naylor’s piece for TSN is right here.

A dream became reality today! Thanks to our partners with Dakota Dunes CDC, Battleford Agency Tribal Council, and Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) we officially unveiled the statue of Fred Sasakamoose at SaskTel Centre today @8_synergy pic.twitter.com/20raFHwCug

— troy davies (@troydavies4) May 18, 2022

F Kris Foucault, who spent four seasons (2007-11) in the WHL, ran and swam to the rescue on May 10 in Nassau, Bahamas, when a six-year-old girl found herself in trouble at a beach. . . . “As I got through the wave, I saw her lifeless body floating on the top about 50 feet in front of me,” he told Lauren Merola of nhl.com. “I actually thought I was just recovering a body.” . . . The little girl was alive, but in great danger, and you can credit Foucault with saving her life. . . . Foucault, 31, has played the past six seasons in the DEL, Germany’s top league. This season, he had 12 goals and 16 assists in 24 games and now is coming off shoulder surgery. . . . Merola’s story is right here.

Strait

The WHL’s conference finals open tonight in Winnipeg and Kamloops. The last WHLplayoffs2022 four standing are the teams with the first-, second-, fourth- and seventh-best regular-season records. Yes, that’s comparing apples and oranges because teams didn’t play outside their conferences this season, but it does show the quality of the remaining teams. . . . In Winnipeg, the Ice, who finished atop the overall standings, will play host to the No. 2 Edmonton Oil Kings. The Ice are 8-2 in the playoffs; the Oil Kings are 8-0. . . . In Kamloops, the Blazers, the No. 2 team in the Western Conference, will entertain the No. 4 Seattle Thunderbirds. The Blazers are 8-2; the Thunderbirds are 8-4, with four of those victories coming on the road. . . . Each of the two series will continue Saturday with games in Winnipeg and Kamloops.

The WHL held its annual draft on Thursday and you are able to find all the WHL details at whl.ca. . . . There also were a couple of trades involving veteran goaltenders, who could be impact players next season.

The Moose Jaw Warriors acquired G Connor Ungar, G Justen Maric and a fourth-round pick in 2026 from the Red Deer Rebels for G Kyle Kelsey, a fourth-rounder in yesterday’s draft and a sixth in 2026. With that fourth-round pick, which originally belonged to the Victoria Royals, the Rebels took D Tate Dolinsky of Winnipeg.

Ungar, a 20-year-old Calgarian, was acquired by Red Deer from the Brandon Wheat Kings prior to this season. He went 21-9-1, 2.43, .911 with the Rebels. . . . Maric, 18, is from Edmonton, and played this season with the U18 AAA CAC Canadians. The Rebels selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. . . . Kelsey, 18, is from Maple Ridge, B.C. He was 14-12-0, 2.83, .913 with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies this season. The Warriors had picked him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft.

Ungar joins F Calder Anderson, D Daemon Hunt, D Cole Jordan and F Ryder Korczak as the 2002-born players on Moose Jaw’s roster.

As things now sit, the Rebels have Chase Coward, 19, and Kelsey atop their goaltending depth chart, with Chase Wutzke, who turns 16 on July 26, in the third slot. Coward was 22-10-2, 2.51, .906 in 35 games this season.

The Rebels still have six 2002-born players on their roster — D Blake Gustafson, F Jace Isley, F Ben King, F Dallon Melin, D Christoffer Sedoff and D Joel Sexsmith.

In the other deal involving a veteran goaltender, the Regina Pats got Koen MacInnes from the Everett Silvertips for two draft picks — a sixth yesterday (130) and a conditional seventh in 2024. . . . MacInnes, 20, is from Burnaby, B.C. He played with the Saskatoon Blades in 2019-20 and the 2021 development season. This season, with Everett, he went 21-7-5, 2.60, .909. . . . The Pats were lacking in experience in the goaltending department this season and are hoping MacInnes will solve that problem for 2022-23. . . . The Silvertips used that sixth-round pick to take F Lukas Kaplan of Spruce Grove, Alta.

In the only other draft-day trade the involved a player as opposed to picks, the Prince George Cougars got F Noah Boyko from the Saskatoon Blades for a fourth-round pick yesterday. . . . The Blades had acquired Boyko, 20, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in late December. From Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., he totalled 30 points, 16 of them goals, in 47 games. . . . Boyko and D Aiden Reeves are the lone 2002-born players on Prince George’s roster. . . . Saskatoon used that fourth-round pick to take F Maxx Hamelin of Winnipeg. . . . Boyko’s departure leaves the Blades with four 2002-born players on their roster — F Kyle Crnkovic, D Aidan De La Gorgendiere, F Josh Paulhus and F Josh Pillar.

Friendly reminder the Oilers still paying Milan Lucic to be an absolute menace.#Flames #Grateful pic.twitter.com/UBepfC4SDN

— The Canadian Mando™ (@thehockeymando) May 19, 2022

From Wednesday’s New York Times: Federal health officials warned on COVID Wednesday that a third of Americans live in areas where the threat of Covid-19 is now so high that they should consider wearing a mask in indoor public settings. They cited new data showing a substantial jump in both the spread of the coronavirus and hospitalizations over the past week. . . . Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the seven-day average of hospital admissions from Covid rose 19 percent over the previous week. About 3,000 people a day were being admitted with Covid, she said, although death rates, a lagging indicator, remained low.

One more from The New York Times: More than 70 New York City judges descended on a Long Island resort last week to enjoy an annual three-night retreat. In the days after, 20 tested positive for the coronavirus. . . . Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for New York’s courts, confirmed Wednesday that the judges had tested positive. He said that, to his knowledge, none of the judges were seriously ill, and that those who were symptomatic had not reported to work.

Decisions

JUNIOR JOTTINGS: The Penticton Vees completed a BCHL championship series sweep of the host Nanaimo Clippers with an 8-2 victory on Wednesday night. Penticton lost its first game of this spring’s playoffs, then won 16 straight. . . . The Vees held a 58-23 edge in shots, including 21-1 in the third period. . . . F Bradly Nadeau, a Penticton native, led the Vees with three goals and an assist. Nadeau, who turned 17 on May 5, is committed to the U of Maine. His brother, Josh, who also is headed for Maine, added a goal and two assists. . . . The announced attendance was 2,069. . . . While the 10-team national junior A championship for the Centennial Cup opened Thursday in Estevan, Sask., the Vees weren’t there. You will recall that the BCHL pulled out of the CJHL, which oversees junior A hockey in Canada, prior to the start of this season. . . .

The BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs have signed former WHLer Wacey Rabbit to a two-year contract extension as assistant coach. He just completed his first season as an assistant alongside Joe Martin, the general manager and head coach. . . . Rabbit, 35, played five seasons (2002-07) in the WHL, enjoying stints with the Saskatoon Blades and Vancouver Giants. He finished his pro career with three seasons (2018-21) with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen. . . .

Jake Grimes, who stepped down as head coach of the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles during this season, is joining the U of Waterloo Warriors as an associate coach. Grimes also has worked in junior hockey with the OHL’s Belleville Bulls, Peterborough Petes and Guelph Storm. With the Warriors, he will be working alongside head coach Brian Bourque, who was a minor hockey teammate in Nova Scotia back in the day. . . .

The BCHL’s Merritt Centennials have added Sam Waterfield and Tyler Steel to their coaching staff. Waterfield, who had been with the Cowichan Valley Capitals, will be the assistant general manager and associate coach, while Steel, a former Centennials goaltender, is the new goaltending coach.

Masher

My wife, Dorothy, is preparing to take part in her ninth Kamloops Kidney Walk. . . . It will be held on June 5, but thanks to the pandemic it again will be a virtual event. . . . If you would like to sponsor her, you are able to do so right here.

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