Wednesday's News and Notes: Bittner and Turgeon Compete at USA WJEC

Werenski

USA Wins in OT Over Finland 5-4:
-Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Zach Werenski scored the over-time winner for the United States as they completed a comeback from a 4-2 deficit in Lake Placid during World Juniors Evaluation Camp. Jack Roslovic, Erik Foley, Matthew Tkachuk and Sonny Milano were the other goal scorers for the U.S.

This was the first game for the U.S. as a combined squad after the roster was cut down from 39 to 32 players yesterday.

As Portland Winterhawks Defenseman Jack Dougherty was cut from the team yesterday and Caleb Jones was a healthy scratch, the only Hawks to suit up in this one were Paul Bittner and Dominic Turgeon. Bittner was given an excellent chance to prove himself as he was placed on the de facto top line for the U.S. with Auston Matthews and Jeremy Bracco. While they did not score, they were the team's most consistent line and created multiple scoring chances. Bittner seems like a natural fit to play with Matthews as the possible #1 overall 2016 NHL draft pick, is amazing at finding a way to get the puck towards the net and Bittner's large frame is perfect for creating enough space to receive a pass or find a rebound. Unfortunately for Bittner, he could not have ingratiated himself much with USA Head Coach Ron Wilson after committing three minor penalties. In one series he committed a slashing infraction and then when he was getting out of the box, he played the puck while his feet were still inside. He was immediately whistled for an "illegal substitution penalty" and went right back to the sin bin. Hopefully, Team USA will look at his overall play more than that particular series.

Turgeon

Dominic Turgeon centered the second line between Sonny Milano and Nick Scmaltz and continued to play the solid 2 way game that Hawk's fans are used to seeing. Turgeon was paired with Milano as Team USA's top penalty killing forwards and did a pretty effective job. It's obvious that he's suited to this role and it's likely his best chance at making the team as a 3rd line Center. He was part of an offensive play that led to Milano's 3rd period game tying goal.

Jones should see the ice tomorrow for Team USA's 1pm PST game against Team Sweden.

Glass Wraps Up Play at U-17s:
-Hawk's 16 year old Forward Cody Glass played his last game for "Team Red", at the U-17 Program of Excellence in Calgary and his team beat Team Gold 4-3 finishing the tourney 1-2 overall. In the 6 team tourney, Canada Red finished tied for 4th overall with Canada Black and Glass had 1 assist in the 3 games. He is vying to make one of Canada's three rosters for the U-17 World Challenge.

Ralph Named Kelowna's New Head Coach:
-Former Idaho Steelheads Coach: Brad Ralph was named the successor to Dan Lambert and will take over the reigning WHL champion Kelowna Rockets. Ralph was considered by many to be an off the radar decision by Bruce Hamilton but did coach the Steelheads to three straight 39 win or more seasons in his only three seasons with the club. Ralph is from Richmond, Ontario and played for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL from 1997-2000 before having a "cup of coffee" with the Phoenix Coyotes. The strangest thing about the Ralph hiring though was the fact that prior to being announced as the Head Coach yesterday, he'd never even been to Kelowna.

Pederson

Seattle Trades Lane Pederson to Red Deer:
-The Seattle Thunderbirds traded 18 year old Center Lane Pederson and a conditional 5th round 2017 pick to Red Deer in exchange for 18 year old Goalie Taz Burman. Pederson was buried on the depth chart last season for Seattle and should get a chance to play a little more for Red Deer. Of note is the fact that his birthday was actually yesterday. So for his birthday he gets a guarantee to play in the Memorial Cup for the host Rebels. Burman went 9-5 for Red Deer last year and had a 3.08 GAA and 0.89 Save %.  He will be joining 18 year old Logan Flodell as Seattle's Goalies this season. Bringing in a  Goalie of the same age is an interesting decision by Seattle G.M. Russ Farwell but giving up on the talented Pederson may end up being a worse decision (Lonny Bohonos anyone...?).

Tri City Trades Rights to Brandon Hickey:
-The Tri City Americans traded away the rights to Boston University Defenseman Brandon Hickey to Red Deer for a 2016 5th round pick and 2 conditional Bantam Draft picks. Hickey was a Calgary Flames 3rd round draft pick in 2014. The most likely route to Red Deer for Brandon is if Calgary signs him to a pro deal, which would make his ineligible to continue to play in college. This is a win-win trade for both teams as Red Deer, as Memorial Cup hosts would be a far more likely location for Calgary to send him then Tri City and the Americans get a draft pick out of having his rights.

Tuesday's News and Notes: Catching Up with Winterhawks at National Camps

Dougherty

Dougherty Cut From USA WJC Evaluation Camp Roster:
-Defenseman Jack Dougherty was one of the seven cuts made from the USA U-20 roster today. This makes the second year in a row he's been invited and then cut loose from the U.S. roster. While Dougherty did not play badly, despite his team giving up 15 goals over the last two games vs. Sweden and Finland, but neither did he really stand out. With several other right handed D-man, as well as, several other shutdown style D-men, the coaches may have thought that his playing style was repetitive.

Jones

Bittner, Turgeon and Jones Impress:
-Meanwhile at camp, Paul Bittner has scored 3 goals over the 2 games and 1 scrimmage and has played more physically, which is something that U.S. Coach Ron Wilson asked him to do. In Monday's lopsided loss to Finland, Bittner threw a crushing open ice check that was sure to impress Wilson. Bittner was kept over fellow 6'4" power forward Jordan Greenway, which could mean that the U.S. has designs on using him as their token power forward. The fact that Bittner also has the speed to keep up with the rest of the U.S.'s most skilled forwards and has played with offensively elite players in his past has to help his odds of making the team.
-Dominic Turgeon had his ups and downs over the 2 games, but the fact that he was the forward who played the most, by himself in a 5 on 3 capacity, as the U.S. committed penalty after penalty Monday. He is not going to beat Auston Matthews or Dylan Larkin as Centers on the depth chart, but if he plays really well over the rest of camp, he could put himself in the 3rd line Center role. Depth up the middle is one of the things that the U.S. is lacking and Turgeon should have a spot there.
-Caleb Jones displayed far more offensive ability and speed then I knew he had. He was used as a power play quarterback for Team Blue and was the most effective on the team in this capacity. His positioning defensively needs a lot of work as he let Swedish and Finnish forwards behind him on the bigger ice surface. However, he was not the only Blue D-man to struggle with this capacity. Having a unique skill set that sets him apart is probably why he was kept past the cuts, but he needs to be better overall in order to make the team.

Glass

Glass Playing at Canada U-17 Camp in Calgary:
-Winterhawks first round 2014 Bantam Draft pick has played two of three games so far at U-17 Canadian Camp and has one assist in the two "Team Red" losses. His team lost 3-2 Saturday and 6-4 last night. I watched the first game and Glass displayed excellent ice vision and passing ability. He set up Team red teammates multiple times with adept passes through traffic into the slot from the wing. He definitely seems to look to pass first, which is his obvious strength, but I'd like to see him drive to the net more. Overall, though there's been some obvious improvement since last season, when he played several games with Portland, as a 15 year old. Glass and Team Red play their last game today vs. Team Blue. If Glass has impressed enough, he will be named to the final Canadian U-17 roster for the U-17 Challenge this October.

Yahoo Profile on Caleb Jones:
-Cool piece on Winterhawk's D-man Caleb Jones. He stated the obvious when he said that: "the comparison can get annoying," when referring to people constantly bringing up his older brother Seth around him. I think that about every time I read an article on him and half the article is asking him about his brother. A successful season this year in Portland could help him make a name for himself in his own right.

Hossa Named Slovak Hockey Player of the Year:
-Formwer Winterhawk: Marian Hossa (1997-98) won in landslide in the annual Slovakian poll on who is the best Slovakian hockey player. He received 197 votes, 99 more then the 2nd place: Tomas Tatar of the Detroit Red Wings. The future Hall of Famer could end his career as arguably the best Slovakian hockey player ever and another Stanley cup or three certainly will not hurt.

Kolle Makes Team B.C.:
-Winterhawks 4th round 2015 Bantam Pick: Ty John Kolle was named to the Team B.C. shortlist today. He looks like he will play for B.C. at the Western Challenge Canada Cup this winter.

Thursday, July 30th Winterhawks News and Notes

Walker Signs Extension in Austria:

Walker

-Former Winterhawk: Luke Walker (2007-10) signed a 1 year contract extension with the Graz 99ers of the Austrian Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Last season was Walker's second playing in Europe but first playing in Austria as he played 2013/14 in the KHL for the Croatian club: Medvescak Zagreb. For Graz last year he dropped 31 points in 51 games and was his teams 2nd leading scorer. In 2015/16 he will be Graz's leading, returning scorer and will be looked at to help carry the team.

How Much Scoring Did Hawk's Lose?
-Something that Alan Caldwell over at Small Thoughts at Large does seemingly every year is the tabulation of how much scoring each team is losing from the last season. Until we get his work, I thought I would look at what the Winterhawks are likely losing.

Bjorkstrand

Here is whom the Hawks are for sure or at least not very likely to get back and their point totals from 2014/15:

1. Oliver Bjorkstrand 63-55- 118 pts
2. Nic Petan 15-74-89 pts
3. Chase De Leo 39-45-84 pts
4. Miles Koules 26-32-58 pts
5. Layne Viveiros 8-35-43 pts
6. Anton Cederholm 9-10-19 pts
7. Adam Henry 8-10-18 pts
8. Josh Hanson 1-9-10 pts
9. Tyson Predinchuk 2-6-8 pts
10. Josh Smith 0-1-1 pt

Here are Portland's returning scorers and their point totals from last season:

1. Paul Bittner 34-37-71 pts
2. Dominic Turgeon 18-25-43 pts
3. Keegan Iverson 15-24-39 pts

   

   Bittner

4. Alex Schoenborn 15-18-33 pts
5. Keoni Texeira 8-18-26 pts
6. Evan Weinger 7-19-26 pts
7. Blake Heinrich 5-17-22 pts
8. Skyler McKenzie 4-12-16 pts
9. Alex Overhardt 2-9-11 pts
10. Ethan Price 4-5-9 pts
11.  Brendan De Jong 2-3-5 pts
12. Colton Veloso 1-0-1 pt
13. Austin Gray 0-1-1 pt
14. Jack Flaman 0-1-1 pt

 Some quick math reveals that Portland is losing 448 points from last years squad and is returning 304 total points. That means they are returning only 40.4% of their points from last season.

Looking just at goals, they will be losing 171 goals and returning 115 goals. This means they are returning 40.2% of last year's goals.

So I guess it's pretty easy to say that Portland is only returning 40% of last year's offense and thus losing 60%. That is a massive loss of point production from last year and will mean that they need a ton of increased offense from the likes of Turgeon, Bittner, Iverson and Schoenborn, combined with more goals from rookies Rodrigo Abols, Carl Ericson, Jack Dougherty and Caleb Jones to be as successful as they were last year.

Jones

The recipe for success for Portland this year is going to have to be a much better defense. They will need to give up far fewer then the 217 goals they gave up last season. With a top 4 Defensive corps of Jones, Dougherty, Texeira and Heinrich, combined with a possibly improved Adin Hill, this improvement is possible. How many fewer goals they will give up this season depends on much more then this though and some of Portland's best possession and defensive forwards are not returning.

Another year in the WHL for Portland Coach Jamie Kompon is perhaps the best asset that they have entering this season as the Hawks team defense got better as the season and playoffs went on last year.

We will find out soon just how much this lost offense will impact this year's team.

Tuesday, July 28th: Winterhawks News and Notes

Abols

Ericson and Abols Signed:
-The forward group for 2015/16 is taking shape now as the Winterhawks announced Monday that they have signed their two 2015 CHL Import Draft picks to Education Contracts. The Hawks first pick is 6'3" 179 lb, 19 year old, Latvian Center: Rodrigo Abols. He has played for the Latvian International team for multiple years and has provided points for the team a each tournament he's played in. Abols has also worn letters on multiple occasions and could wear the "C" for the Latvian team at the World Junior Championships Division 1A tournament this December. If he is named to the Latvian team for Division 1A tournament it would mean he would be playing at the U-20s for the 3rd straight year.

While playing for the Maritime Hockey League's HK Riga last year, Abols notched 38 points in 35 games and was named to the All Star Team. He also moved up to the Continental Hockey League (KHL) where he scored 5 points in 14 games for the Latvian based: Dinamo Riga. It was likely he would've played again in the KHL this year as a 19 year old, but he's elected to come over and play for the Winterhawks instead.

Ericson is a 5'9" 163 lb, 19 year old Center from Sweden that was taken in the 2nd round of this year's import draft. He's played for the Leksands J18 and J20 and last year in Sweden's Junior League he scored 42 points in 43 games before moving up to Sweden's pro league, where he was pointless in 11 games. I don't think it's fair to compare the two player's stats when they moved up top the professional level as Abols has a bigger frame and thus more equipped to play against grown men then Ericson probably was.

While Head Coach/GM Jamie Kompon praised both Abols and Ericson for their "200 foot game" and commitment to both ends of the ice, Hawks fans should be patient with them for the first couple months of the season, while they get adjusted, especially if Kompon puts one of them at the 2nd line Center spot, which is likely.

Here's how I see the forward depth chart as it now looks:

1. Paul Bittner-Dominic Turgeon-Keegan Iverson
2. Alex Schoenborn-Rodrigo Abols*-Evan Weinger
3. Skyler McKenzie-Alex Overhardt-Ethan Price
4. Jack Flaman-Carl Ericson*-Cody Glass
5. Austin Gray-Reed Morison-Colton Veloso
6. Brett Clayton*

And the Defense group:

1. Caleb Jones*-Jack Dougherty*
2. Blake Heinrich-Keoni Texeira
3. Brendan De Jong-Nick Heid
4. Carter Czaikowski-Justin Greer
5. Conor MacEachern*-Jackson Caller*
6. Jake Hobson*

Finally the Goalies:

1. Adin Hill
2. Michael Bullion 

*=Has not played a game for the Winterhawks as of yet.

Greer

Price and Greer are question marks at this point as Price left the team mid-season last year to play for the USHL's Lincoln Stars, while Greer missed training camp with an illness last season and it is unknown if he played at all last year (I could not find proof that he played anywhere).

If these two are in the fold then Portland currently has 16 Forwards and 11 D-men signed to Education Contracts. Usually there is a couple signings around when the Neely Cup happens in late August, but outside of some of the 15 year olds and the likely signing of a 3rd Goalie, I really could not see them adding many more players. Obviously, if Kieffer Bellows, Fredrik Olofsson, Jack Glover or Ryan Collins decided to come then they would be sure to find room.

One of the interesting things as the season starts is if the Hawks will go after a 3rd over-age player as right now they only have Heinrich and Schoenborn. Having this many players already on the roster will give Portland's coaching staff the ability to assess where help is needed the most and they can go after that position in a trade.

Bartschi Still Without a Contract:
-Vancouver Head Coach Willie Desjardins is apparently a big fan of former Winterhawk Sven Bartschi but that till does not mean that the Canucks have given in and signed him to a long term deal. They appear to just be offering a 1 year "show me" 2-way deal but Bartschi's camp wants a 1 way contract for longer then 1 year. Now today with the Canucks sending away a large piece of the Ryan Kesler trade in Nick Bonino and also a top prospect in Adam Clendening, signing Bartschi has to be imperative. If they cannot find  a way to sign him then they essentially blew another trade. I would look for him to be signed soon.

Kopitar

 Kopitar Signed by Manchester:
-Former Winterhawk Gasper Kopitar  signed with the ECHL's Manchster Monarch's today. He played 12 games between 2009-11 for Portland before leaving for Des Moines of the USHL. Since then he's played over-seas and in the ECHL. Last year for the Ontario Reign he scored 25 points in 41 games.

Johansen in Portland:
-Ryan Johansen has been visiting Portland this week as part of the Winterhawk's Hockey Camp for kids. He was also a part of the Winterhawk's Golf Tournament over the weekend. It's great to see someone who's succeed at the professional level come back and give back to the community.

Winterhawks Add Defenseman Jack Dougherty

Dougherty

The Nashville Predators signed 1996 born Defenseman and 2014 2nd round pick (51st overall) to an Entry Level Contract today, meaning that per NCAA rules, he was no longer eligible to return to his team: the Wisconsin Badgers of the NCAA. As part of the statement they released today, Nashville also announced that Dougherty is expected to play the 2015/16 season for the WHL team that owned his rights which happens to be Portland, who added him to their protected list a couple seasons ago.

Dougherty is from St. Paul, Minnesota and is a product of the St. Thomas Academy, where he helped win back back to back Class A Minnesota State titles from 2011-13. Then in 2013/14 he played for the USNTDP U-18 Team and notched 6 goals and 16 assists for 22 points in 55 games. He also helped the U.S. win gold at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament. He then played a lot of minutes as a Freshman for the University of Wisconsin, which had one of it's worst seasons in it's entire history. Dougherty was an awful minus 25 and notched only 9 points in 33 games. 

It did not appear that Wisconsin was going to be much better this season and this was probably one of the reasons that Nashville signed him and had him come over to the WHL and play for a team that's at least made the Western Conference final for 5 straight seasons. Not only is consistently losing bad for a player's development; only getting to see them play 33 games a season, really does not allow for you to properly assess his skill level. Also, NCAA rules do not allow prospects to attend rookie camp so now he will be able to get all kinds of tutelage from the Predators coaching and be informed about what he needs to improve on this coming season.

Dougherty played for the U.S. internationally and like Dominic Turgeon was invited to World Juniors Evaluation Camp, but also did not make the team. Dougherty was invited back this season and if he has a solid camp at Lake Placid, he should make a U.S. team that goes in as one of the favorites to medal. Oddly enough at Lake Placid Camp, all four Winterhawks hopefuls will be playing for the Blue Team. If fellow D-man Caleb Jones and Dougherty establish some chemistry, we may be looking at a top 4 pairing for the 2015/16 Hawks.

Now getting to what Dougherty brings to the Winterhawks: taken straight from Future Considerations: "Dougherty is an intelligent defenseman who tries to blend strong positioning while trying to inflict a physical dimension on his opponent. He isn't the fleetest of foot, but does get where he needs to go. He also makes a strong first pass and has solid offensive instincts."

At 6'2" and 190 lbs it's easy to see why Dougherty is a strong physical D-man. The fact that he's apparently great at positioning himself in his own zone, should mean that he will transition well to the WHL style and ice surface. From the little I've seen of him, I don't think he's that slow and I really doubt the stacked U.S. World Junior team would even think about making room for him if he was that slow, especially when playing on the larger International ice surface. The "strong first pass" aspect is essential to Coach Jamie Kompon's system as they will need a great outlet pass to establish possession in the opponent's zone. Portland's Blake Heinrich is a very solid outlet passer and if Dougherty can bring this from the right side of the defense, Portland could set up a lot of odd man chances this coming season.

But the biggest thing that Dougherty has the potential of  bringing is a great right handed shot. While Mathew Dumba briefly brought a howitzer of a right handed point shot, Portland has not entered a season with a dynamic right handed shot form the blue line since Troy Rutkowski played his over-age season in 2012/13.  Since then D-men like Derrick Pouliot (in 2013/14) and Layne Viveiros (in 14/15) have been forced to play right D on Portland's top pairings. While both did an admirable job (Pouliot was named CHL D-man of the year for Christ's sake), this was not their natural position and at times it was exposed. Not only does Dougherty bring a solid shot form the point, he's a natural right D, who reportedly is great at positioning,

In the clip below, Dougherty moves over from the right side to the left, takes a pass on his backhand, moves to an opening towards the slot and seamlessly lifts a wrist shot over the Goalie's blocker side. This shows a lot of comfort with moving the puck and it looks like he would be a natural fit on the power play.

With the addition of Dougherty it appears that Portland's defense is going to enter the 15/16 campaign in much better shape then it did last season and Dougherty could help replenish some of the multitude of goals that Nic Petan, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Chase De Leo and Miles Koules took with them when they left. 

Thursday, July 23rd: Winterhawks News and Notes

Price Listed on Lincoln's Preseason Roster:
-Portland Winterhawks forward Ethan Price is listed on the USHL's Lincoln Star's preseason roster that was released this week. Where Price will report this season is a big question as we get closer to Portland's training camp and the Neely Cup. Price is a 1997 born player and would provide one of the few right handed shots returning to this year's team. In 38 games last year, Price notched 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points, while playing mostly on the 3rd and 4th lines. Due to some family issues, Price was sent home to Lincoln, where midway through last season and he played in 30 games for the Lincoln Stars, scoring 3 goals and adding 6 assists. Price played mostly on the Hawk's 4th line last season but could see a lot more playing time due to the loss of RWs Oliver Bjorkstrand and Miles Koules, who were above Price on the depth chart. Him being on the Star's preseason roster, doesn't necessarily mean that he's for sure not coming back to the Hawks but if he's not around for the Neely Cup in August, then we can assume he will be staying in the USHL. A lot of players go the USHL route in order to play in the NCAA when they turn 18. This is not an option for Price as he played in the WHL and thus is ineligible to ever play in the NCAA.

Taking a look at Portland's returning Wingers that scored points for them last season, shows how much they could use him this coming season.

In the table below are the returning point getters that played games at either RW or LW last season for Portland.

Bittner

Of note is the fact that RW Mitchell Walter played 19 regular season games and 16 playoff games without scoring a point last year. 1998 born Forward: Brett Clayton is another player who could play wing for the Hawks this coming season. Overall, in looking at the table, you can see that Portland could use as many proven WHL scorers as they can in their lineup this year.

Player (Position)	G P	Goals	Assists	Points	Birth Year
Paul Bittner (LW)	66	34	37	71	1996
Keegan Iverson (RW)	68	15	24	39	1996
Alex Schoenborn (RW)	49	15	18	33	1995
Evan Weinger (RW)*	61	7	19	26	1997
Skyler McKenzie (C/LW)*	65	4	12	16	1998
Ethan Price (RW)	38	4	5	9	1997
Colton Veloso (RW)*	8	1	0	1	1997
Austin Gray (RW)*	5	0	1	1	1997
Jack Flaman (C/LW)*	34	0	1	1	1997

*=Rookie in 2014/15

Pearce Eviston Re-signed by Quad City:
-Former Winterhawk: Pierce Eviston(2010-12) was re-signed by the ECHL's Quad City Mallards after scoring 27 points in 60 games for them last year. Eviston only played 20 games for Portland over 2 years and had a tough time getting into the lineup for teams that were loaded with talent at his position. He ended up going back to the BCHL and seems to have found a way to get a nice pro career going, despite not being successful in the WHL.

Lofthouse

Lofthouse Going to University of Regina:
-Former WHLer: Trent Lofthouse who suited up for Portland in the preseason last year before being released prior to opening night, has committed to the University of Regina. Last year he ended up playing for Fort McMurray of the AJHL, where he scored 39 points in 43 games. From 2011-14, he played for Everett, Victoria and Vancouver and scored 38 points in those 4 years. He will now be using the 4 years of college that he earned and also play for the University of Regina.

Saad and Johnansen Could be a Dynamic Duo:
-One of the most interesting things to watch during the 2015/16 NHL season will be how much better former Winterhawk Ryan Johansen will be with a prolific winger in Brandon Saad playing with him. Both Saad and Johansen have shown glimpses of greatness and are both only 22 years of age. This piece by Adam Gretz of CBS Sports looks into how good Saad and Johnansen could be together.

Tuesday, July 21st: Winterhawks News and Notes

Demin and Kim Find Scoresheet at U.S. Select 15 Camp:
-Recent Winterhawks Bantam Draft picks Stanislav Demin and Noah Kim both assisted on goals for their teams yesterday, during the last games for each of them at Select 15 camp. Demin, who is a 6'0", 165 lb left shot D-man from Cypress, California, assisted in his team: Team Kelly's 8-4 loss to Team Red. Team Kelly finished with an 0-5 record at the Camp. Kim's assist, which was his 2nd of the tournament, came in an 8-5 loss to Team White. The loss meant that his team: Team Gold came in 2nd in their Division, with a 3-2 overall record. Kim is a 5'10", 168 lb, right shot D-man from Fullerton, California.

Ginnell

Ginnell and Paul are Passed Over for Team Alberta:
-Recent Winterhawks Bantam Picks: Forwards Bradley Ginnell and Justin Paul, were passed over for Hockey Alberta's U16 short list for the Western Canada U16 Championships. Ginnell was a 5th round pick (105th overall) and played last season for the Calgary Royals Bantam AAA team last season, while Paul was an 11th round pick (237th overall) out of Sherwood Park. It appears that Portland's top pick in the 2015 Bantam Draft is their only prospect who has a shot at playing in the U16 Championships as Kamloops, B.C. native and 4th round pick (70th overall): Ty John Kolle was at Team B.C. Provincial Camp last week and could have a shot at being named to Team B.C. (the roster will be announced in October).

College Commit Signs with Tigers:
-Max Gerlach, who had committed to the University of North Dakota, signed with the Medicine Hat Tigers today, meaning he has given up his NCAA eligibility. The decision seemed to come as somewhat of a shock to those in the know as he seemed to be gearing up to play in the USHL this season. Of note is the fact that two of Portland's prospects: Forwards Mitchell Mattson and Luke Voltin are also commits to UND and Mattson is of the same birth year as Gerlach (1998).

Jones and Wardley Sign With University of Lethbridge:
-Zane Jones and Evan Wardley committed to the University of Lethbridge today and will be playing CIS hockey next season. Montreal had expressed some interest in Wardley last season and even invited him to training camp, but it looks like he will not be signed by them. Wardley was an over-age D-man for Seattle this year and along with Jared Hauf combined to be one of the most physical D-pairings in the WHL. Jones was originally drafted by Chilliwack and ended up playing for 5 different teams over his career in the Dub.

Bartschi and Canucks Yet to Hash Out Deal:
-Former Winterhawks Forward Sven Bartschi is in the middle of contract negotiations with the Vancouver Canucks and appears to be desiring a commitment from Vancouver that he will not be given a 2 way deal and play yo-yo between the AHL and NHL like he did for the Calgary Flames. Vancouver's G.M. is former Winterhawks D-man Jim Benning and as of yet neither former Hawk has given in. The Vancouver Province has a good piece going over what players could be seen as comparables to Bartschi and whom has the upper hand in negotiations.