Leffler, Esposito commit to Cougars

Link from the U of R Cougars website.

Leffler, Esposito commit to Cougars

5/31/2010 11:23:55 AM
University of Regina men’s hockey head coach Blaine Sautner announced Monday that forwards Brett Leffler and Cody Esposito have both committed to the Cougars.

Leffler comes to the U of R after five full seasons with the Regina Pats. Listed at 6’2” and 195 lbs., his best season came during the 2008-09 campaign when he scored 33 goals and added 24 assists for 57 points in 64 regular season games. During his WHL career, Leffler accumulated 75 goals, 76 assists, and 151 points in 309 games.

“Brett is a high-end recruit for us,” Sautner said. “We think he’s a pretty complete package, as he’ll bring size, skill, and grit to our program. It’s nice to keep the local guys around and he’s the type of player that will be able to play in a lot of different situations for us.”

Leffler was selected by the Washington Capitals in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He will become the first drafted player to suit up for the Cougars since forward Jeff Lucky, who played for the U of R during the 2004-05 season after being selected by the Capitals in 2001.

Esposito scored 23 goals and had 18 assists for 41 points in 43 games last year with Dauphin. The Kings won both the MJHL championship and the Anavet Cup and finished as the runners-up at the 2010 Royal Bank Cup.

“Cody is a big guy who skates exceptionally well,” Sautner said. “He’s good on the forecheck, plays in the tough areas, and goes to the net hard. He’s a great team guy and he’ll be able to contribute in many roles for us.”

Esposito, who checks in at 6’3” and 204 lbs., played in 167 career WHL games with Red Deer and Spokane before finishing off his junior career in Dauphin.

Leffler and Esposito are the eighth and ninth members of Sautner’s 2010 recruiting class.

2010-11 University of Regina Men’s Hockey Recruiting Class
F Terrance Delaronde (6’2”, 205 lbs.) - Winnipeg, Man. – University of Manitoba
F Cody Esposito (6’3”, 204 lbs.) – Airdrie, Alta. – Dauphin Kings (MJHL)
F Cody Gross (6’0”, 187 lbs.) – Winnipeg, Man. – Melville Millionaires (SJHL)
F Lucas Isley (5’10”, 175 lbs.) – Bonnyville, Alta. – Bonnyville Pontiacs (AJHL)
F Brett Leffler (6’2”, 195 lbs.) – Wynyard, Sask. – Regina Pats (WHL)
F Tyler Penny (5’10”, 170 lbs.) – Weyburn, Sask. – Weyburn Red Wings (SJHL)
D Jordan Reeve (6’0”, 190 lbs.) – Regina, Sask. – Melville Millionaires (SJHL)
F Matt Strueby (6’2”, 195 lbs.) – Regina, Sask. – Regina Pats (WHL)
G A.J. Whiffen (5’11”, 195 lbs.) – Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L. – Weyburn Red Wings (SJHL)

Take note of the recruiting class: 4 former Pats heading to the Cougars Leffler, Strueby, Delaronde and Gross. I think that these four will help the Cougars turn the corner and maybe make some noise. Then again CIS hockey is tough to tell sometimes. They join former Pats Matt Sawa, Ryan Bender, Justin Scott and Jared Jagow on the roster.
on May 31, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |  

Pats sign top pick Morgan Klimchuk

Link from the Pats is here.

From Greg Harders Slap Shots

Pats sign top pick Klimchuk
By Greg Harder Sun, May 30 2010 COMMENTS(0) Slap Shots

The Regina Pats signed their top pick in the 2010 WHL bantam draft, Morgan Klimchuk, this afternoon. He's in town along with 20 other prospects for the team's spring camp. The Leader-Post's Rob Vanstone spoke to Klimchuk and wrote the following story:

Morgan Klimchuk is known for his speed, which was on display during and after the Regina Pats’ spring camp on the weekend.

After impressing the Pats’ brass on Saturday and Sunday at the Co-operators Centre, the 15-year-old centre jumped at the opportunity to sign a standard WHL player contract.

“I’m really excited,” Klimchuk said on Sunday, five minutes after applying his signature to the contract. “I’ve been looking forward to this and waiting for it for a while. It’s finally done now and I’m looking forward to playing.”

The Pats selected the 5-foot-10, 155-pound Calgary resident fifth overall in the 2010 WHL bantam draft. At 15, he is ineligible to play full-time in the major-junior ranks until the 2011-12 season.

Klimchuk is likely to spend 2010-11 with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes before joining the Pats at 16. He was with the bantam AAA Buffaloes this past season, registering 33 goals and 19 assists in 28 games.

“He really impressed me this weekend, not only on-ice, but how he conducted himself off-ice,” Pats general manager Chad Lang said Sunday. “He’s a character individual and he has a lot of leadership skills for a kid his age. We talk about the future and having to build and develop from within. He’s a guy who we can build with.”

Klimchuk noticed the tension building as the spring camp approached, given the scrutiny to which first-round picks are subjected.

“You just want to get here and get playing as soon as you can,” Klimchuk said. “This is a good taste of what it’s going to take to actually play here. I was really excited, and I was really nervous, to be honest. They made it really comfortable and really easy.”

The same applied to the contract signing.

The Pats approached Klimchuk’s parents (Kade and Michelle) and agents (J.P. Barry and Mark Mackay of CAA Sports) and discussed the contract. All parties were willing to proceed, so the offer was made to an unhesitating Klimchuk.

The contract includes the league’s standard education agreement, which provides for one year of post-secondary school for every season spent in the WHL.

“I was really excited to get it done and get started with this organization,” Klimchuk said. “I was 100-per-cent set on the WHL and with Regina, for sure.”

Regina is a logical fit, considering that Klimchuk was born in the Queen City. He was a baby when his parents moved to Calgary. Now his comportment belies his years.

“He’s a very mature kid,” Lang said. “He’s very focused. He understands what he wants, and it’s going to take work to get there. He’s willing to put in that work. That type of attitude and dedication is what we’re looking for.

“The other thing is he’s very proud to be a Regina Pat. That’s important to us. We’re really happy that we could get him committed this early. Now we can continue to work with him and help him develop so that he’s ready in a year to step in.”
on May 30, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |  

Pats Spring Camp Thoughts

Some quick thoughts......

I was only able to make it to the Saturday edition of the camp so I can't really say too much from the drills the players did. Off topic a bit.... the Co-Operators Centre is a pretty nice facility and it was really cool to see the ice and boards without ads plastered all over them.

It was nice to actually go to a camp and know who the kids are. They all had NAME BARS! I was impressed.

Both goalies in attendance looked like they hadn't played hockey in the last month so I can't really comment on their performance.

Stephenson looks ready to step in. Peel seems to have gained some quickness and looked decent on the back-end. List player AJ Fossen looks like he could be the real deal showed some real skill. 2010 first rounder Klimchuk looks to have the capabilities and skill to be a legit sniper and is super quick! Burroughs seems like a very capable player in the defensive zone and doesn't seem to shy away from the physical contact. Sagen looked like the biggest prospect amongst the forwards (he's not even that big) and against the kids he seemed to be able to push his way to the net with ease. Sorry I don't have more thoughts but I was trying to concentrate on a short list.

A general comment about the prospects is that they all seem small (or are small). Jordan Eberle was taller than most of them. McLean is tiny.... close to a foot shorter than Borstmayer.... and really reminds me of Todd "Itty Bitty" Davison.

I didn't get to see Harris, DeJong or Baskerville as they weren't dressed but it appeared that there was 2 players sitting on the bench watching the drills.

That's about it.

K
on May 30, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |  

Pats Spring Camp

I know that this has been posted a few days ago on other blogs and sites but I figured I would add it to my blog now that I am more committed to it. I was going to post that it would make almost zero sense to have a camp and not have a GM in place to evaluate what we have for prospects. Now that Chad Lang is in as GM he can get started to re-build the Pats to be a "Crown Jewel" of the WHL. Here is the story from reginapats.com

Pats Spring Camp Set to Go

Regina, Saskatchewan – This weekend the Regina Pats will have their top prospects in the Queen City for spring camp. The goal of the camp is to get the players acclimated to the Regina Pats Hockey Club before training camp in late August and for the coaching staff to get an exclusive look at the prospects playing within their own age group.

21 of the Pats top prospects will take part in 2 practices, seminars on education, training regiments, nutrition as well as getting to know the Pats staff and learning about the WHL. 8 of the top 9 picks from the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft as well as all 9 of the Pats remaining players from the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft will attend this weekend’s camp.

Practices will be Saturday and Sunday from 10:30am to noon at the Co-Operators Centre. Jordan Eberle, Garrett Mitchell, Andrew Rieder and Tyler Borstmayer will be on hand to help mentor the young prospects both on and off the ice.

2010 Draft Picks Attending: 2009 Draft Picks Attending: Other Attendees:
Morgan Klimchuk (1st Rd) Chandler Stephenson (1st Rd) Ryan Baskerville (8th '08)
Kyle Burroughs (3rd Rd) Landon Peel (3rd Rd) Michael Sagen (8th '08)
Colby Williams (4th Rd) Ryan Leonzio (7th Rd) A.J. Fossen (listed)
Ty McLean (5th Rd) Jack Rodewald (8th Rd) Dryden Hunt (listed)
Brett Harris (5th Rd) Garrett Lockeridge (9th Rd)
Tanner Burghardt (6th Rd) Jesse Roden (10th Rd)
Nolan DeJong (7th Rd) Darrin Robinson (10th Rd)
Demico Hannoun (9th Rd) Sean Whelan (11th Rd)
Tyler Mueller (12th Rd)

Players and coaches will be made available for interviews after the practices are over on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

---------
I plan on going down on Saturday to check it out. I will post my thoughts that afternoon. I look forward to seeing these kids a year older, a year more mature and that much closer to helping out the Pats.

K
on May 28, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |  

So much for the GM rumours

Chad Lang will officially be named as Regina Pats GM this afternoon.

Greg Harder has the story here.

Lang to be named Pats GM
By Greg Harder Fri, May 28 2010 COMMENTS(0) Slap Shots

The flirtation with Al Murray has ended and sent the Regina Pats right back to where we thought they'd be from the start of their GM search.

Over to you Chad Lang.

I expect an official announcement on his hiring sometime today.

Based upon what I can gather, the Pats did indeed negotiate with Al Murray but couldn't come to terms. When it looked like that deal wouldn't come together, president Brent Parker moved quickly to land his other top choice, Lang. Parker had to act quickly or risk losing Lang to the Swift Current Broncos, who had an offer on the table and were pressing for an answer.

Now they have one — and so do you.

More later . . .

I think that Chad Lang will be a great hire. Good job BP.

K
on May 28, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |  

I'm Back

Well after a 3 week hiatus from my blog I’m back. I’ve been working on a side project and will be for the next couple of months but I will continue on blogging way more regularly at least 3 or 4 times a week. As you can see I have yet again changed the style of my blog and I really do like the clean crisp look of this one and I’m going to keep it. I may tweak the colours a bit and maybe add some graphics but I'm pretty happy about what I have here.

On to things I’ve missed in the last 21 days…. man a lot of things have happened in the last 21 days.

Jordan Eberle made his Team Canada World Championship debut and totally lit it up in his first appearance with a goal and 3 assists against Norway. He ended up playing in 4 games I believe.

Way to go Jordan. I’m glad he was able to take part in such a big tournament with a bunch of guys that lots of people have never really heard of. What was Hockey Canada thinking? It was a good tournament to watch it’s too bad Canada and the States didn’t have more competitive teams. I think that the tournament should be like the Spengler cup with no active NHLers participating. Maybe then it would be more even. I dunno. I do feel like I’m rambling a bit about this so I’m going to finish with this: Good job Jordan, good luck in Edmonton next year!

Rod Pedersen is no longer the voice of the Pats.

It’s going to be an interesting change for us as Pats fans not having Rod call the games for the 2010-11 season. I personally think it sucks. He totally bleeds red, white and blue and it was prominent in every broadcast he did. You could hear the emotion in his voice when the Pats scored, got scored on, got a bad penalty called against them and so on. From that most fans could tell that he was more than “just a broadcaster” he was a fan. I didn’t know if the p-b-p he called was accurate or not but I didn’t care. I had WHL WebTV this year but quit watching it (the quality is somewhat to be desired and I couldn’t stand some of the announcers… sorry other announcers no names will be mentioned) to listen to Rod and Dan Plaster. I think I’m a little old school but enjoy listening to hockey on the radio. I’ve been trying to think of someone in my life growing up to compare Rod to but had trouble pinning it down until I thought of announce duos and included Dan into my equation. Rod and Dan became by hockey version of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler (for fans of the WWE you know who I mean). There were some great moments this year (especially this year…. The night the lights went out in Swift Current). Rod will be hard to replace but I do look forward to his call of Rider games and I hope the 2010 Riders will let Rod make the call “GO CRAZY SASKATCHEWAN! GO CRAZY!” Also, The Sports Cage is AWESOME! Congrats and Great Job Rod!

Man that was long-winded (and I hope it makes sense… I feel a little scatterbrained today). Now I wonder who they will get to replace Rod as the p-b-p guy. For the games that Plaster called last year I think he did a good job and I think I could handle listening to him for a full season. I haven’t had the privilege of listening to too many other broadcasters outside of the WHL so I can’t even imagine who they have talked to about the job.

Jordan Eberle wins CHL Player of the year. Joining Pats greats Ed Staniowski and Doug Wickenheiser as the only winners of the award.

Yet another award for Mr. Eberle. It has been a privilege to watch you grow in your career and totally take your game to the next level. Such an honour is something that will be remembered for a long time. Congrats Jordan!

Windsor Spitfires won the Memorial Cup handily over the host Brandon Wheat Kings 9-1 in the final.

For some reason I just couldn’t get into this tournament (I think it has something to do with my NHL team the Flyers having some emotional games). I watched all but 5 games this NHL playoffs so I think I may have been a bit hockey’d out. I always watch the Cup but this year I couldn’t do it. I taped games and skimmed through them. Congrats to the Windsor Spitfires for showing what it takes to be back to back champions. Congrats to the Montcon Wildcats and Calgary Hitmen for winning their leagues and trying to de-throne the Spits. And Congrats to the Brandon Wheat Kings for putting on a great tournament (so I’ve read and what I have seen on TV). It’s too bad the whole thing wouldn’t have been more competitive to make it more exciting for the fans. Good Job.

Jordan Eberle jersey # retirement talk.

I’m not sure where to go with this one. Jordan was an amazing Pat and probably one of the best ones I can remember seeing wear a Pats Jersey. Although I only go back just over 30 years and the first few years I wish I would have been able to remember seeing some of the beauties from the late 70’ and early 80’s play (Brian Varga, Jock Callander, Dave Michayluk, Darren Veitch, Garth Butcher, Taylor Hall [the first one], John Miner, that’s all I can think of off the top on my head). Jordan was a great Pat but deserving of a jersey number retirement when he just graduated? I don’t think so; at least not yet…. maybe in 10 years. There could probably be a case for every number from 1-19 to be retired for the Pats. The team has been around since 1917 so there would be some worthy players. I also remember jersey retirement talk for Chad Mercier and Josh Harding at one time too. If that would be the case most players would have to wear “football” numbers as I like to call them. Oh yeah one more thing… Jordan only wore the number 7 for two seasons. He wore 27 for his first two seasons. Would they have to retire both numbers to cover his exploits? I say hold off for a couple of years at least.

New Pats GM rumours.
This has gotten interesting. The names that have been floating around are all interesting people. I don’t think I will mind having any of the names mentioned: Chad Lang, Al Murray, Ryan Jankowski, Stu MacGregor, Ross Mahoney and Bruce Franklin. I’m sure I missed some but I wouldn’t be too upset if any of them were hired. Rumours are awesome…. No one seems to know the truth abour who is being pursued or who has been talked to and so on. Greg Harder is reporting that the Pats are “in hot pursuit of Al Murray” and it seems as though Chad Lang has been relegated to plan B… you can read it here. I can’t wait until an announcement is made and I can get on with life…. Just kidding about that. But c’mon get a new GM in place or all the good candidates may be gone.

Man I have missed a lot.

K
on May 28, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |  

Pats call a Press Conference for Friday

From Rod's blog... http://rodpedersen.blogspot.com/2010/05/regina-pats-press-conference.html

Date: Friday, May 7th, 2010
In attendance will be:
President/Governor – Russ Parker
General Manager – Brent Parker
Coaching Staff

A press release and more information will be released prior to the press conference.

From Greg Harders Slap Shots....
Parker Decides Future

The Regina Pats have called a media conference for Friday afternoon at the Brandt Centre, where general manager Brent Parker is expected to announce a restructuring plan for the organization. The focal point of that plan is the veteran GM, who’s not expected to sever ties with the WHL club. However, it is anticipated that he’ll take a step back from the hockey side.

The next task for the Pats is to find an experienced hockey man to take over some of his duties. Former Moose Jaw Warriors GM Chad Lang remains a leading candidate.

More in Friday's Leader-Post.

I wonder if today is the day that people will be happy? Or at least happier that BP is out of the GM chair. So many rumours out there as to who the next GM will be.... Will it be Chad Lang? I honestly wouldn't mind having him as the GM he seems to know what he's doing, especially with the Warriors. Will it be Curtis Hunt getting the dual role as GM and Head Coach? I don't know about this one. I think Hunt is a good hockey mind but I think that both roles will be too much (especially in Regina, where it seems like people are never happy). I wouldn't mind seeing Hunt as GM and maybe having Shaun Sutter as Head Coach (I really think this guy will be an amazing HC somewhere down the road). Or will it be someone totally off radar?

I can't wait for the press conference to start.

K
on May 07, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |