Blades Balance
The Saskatoon Blades feel they have better balance with top NHL prospects Duncan Siemens and Dalton Thrower on separate defence pairings.
Five years after they broke into the league together, Josh Nicholls can’t believe he’s on a line with former Brandon standouts Brendan Walker and Michael Ferland.
Nicholls joked that he and the Blades should’ve taken their fitness and nutrition a lot more seriously when they were younger.
Similar to Shawinigan using Bob Hartley last year, the Blades have brought in recently fired Glenn Gulutzan and will use him as an eye-in-the-sky for the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Coach Talk
As usual, the annual ‘Meet the Coaches’ presser provided little insight. While pressed on a few occasions, each coach remained tight-lipped and provided typical ‘coach speak’.
The big coaching term used these days is: “stay in the moment.” You’re likely to hear a lot of that in the coming days, especially from Halifax bench boss Dominique Ducharme.
Both Ducharme and Dale Hunter (of the London Knights) said they watched some of On The Edge, the series that told the story of the Saskatoon Blades. Through one episode, Ducharme said he really enjoyed it.
When the question of focusing on MacKinnon and Drouin came up, Ducharme was quick to answer using the team/city name (Halifax) as opposed to the individuals.
Put me in Coach
Congratulations to Dave Hunchak on being named Head Coach of the Kamloops Blazers. Guy Charron will move into an advisor’s role.
The Blazers also extended the contract of GM Craig Bonner for what has been termed a multi-year deal.
Forgot to mention this yesterday, but Greg Gilbert’s contract extension with Saginaw is significant in that the Spirit will be contenders in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference next season and should be league-wide contenders within two years.
No surprise here, but after what happened with his son Stefan, father Stephane will not return to Blainville-Boisbriand as an Assistant Coach.
Prince Albert general manager Bruno Campese and Director of Player Personnel Dale Derkatch have signed two-year extensions.
Other Stuff
The final three teams arrived Wednesday.
Participating teams draw for their hotels.
It’s likely you will see Seth Jones, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon at a press conference today.
With all the focus on the likely top three picks in the NHL draft, it may be easier for Halfiax and Portland to prepare their teams. Most coaches must employ their own diversionary tactic, while this one is built-in.
Be sure to tune into our Mastercard Memorial Cup preview show. You can check here for local listings
Patrick King will also be in attendance, so be sure to check him out throughout the tournament.
All official info on the tournament can be found here