Snark break: Oh, but it's new to us, love

Obligatory sideswipe at MLSE: Steve Yzerman is not good enough to rebuild the Leafs, but Wayne Gretzky says it is "no secret" he is good enough to be GM of Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics. Pierre LeBrun has also been hinting about Stevie Y for a couple days, but it's more definitive coming from the Great One.

(That would be Gretzky.)

Here's a prop bet: The Liberals will get back in office about the same time Michael Bishop gets through an entire CFL season without being benched.

Long story short, The Guardian over in England -- they speak really good European over there -- ran the same silly article about the Leafs that you've read 1,000 times. Cox Bloc has fired back.

NHLer Chris Chelios believes the doofus from Def Leppard placed the Stanley Cup upside-down on purpose.

There is no need to announce that Game 6 of the World Series will be pushed back to air a special by Barack Obama. It will long be over by then — the Series, not the election.

(See. Non-partisan political humour is possible. It's just blander than the federal leaders in Canada — all of them.)

The Portland Winter Hawks will soon have their new owner. And another domino falls in Doug Springer's quest to be hailed as the worst owner in the Canadian Hockey League.

(The Guardian is great, yet somehow "peak" instead of "peek" made it into print, proving once again that spell check will make idiots of us all, eventually. Also, apparently pointing out that "north of the U.S. border, ESPN's hockey coverage lasts a good deal longer than it does in the U.S.," is an apposite observation overseas).

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• A couple junior hockey players from our neck of the woods, Jeremy Franklin of Bath, Ont., and David Pratt of Napanee, who play with the Wellington Dukes, have been selected to play for Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge in Camrose, Alta., in next month.
  
  As further proof all Canadians know each other, David Pratt's mother teaches with Kathie Sager, Official Mom of Out of Left Field, whose former students include Jeremy Franklin.
  
  David Pratt is apparently planning to play NCAA hockey at Clarkson University, by the way.
• Taking Note reports that the Kingston Frontenacs' Taylor Doherty and Ethan Werek are both among the Top 30 NHL draft prospects, according to Central Scouting. Doherty is No. 20 on the International Scouting Service list.
• John Murray, the overage goalie who was a bit of a band-aid on a brain tumour for the Frontenacs last season, has signed with the ECHL's Ontario Reign. The team is based in California, by the way.
• There's another Doornekamp coming down the pipeline ... the Whig-Standard had a feature on a 15-year-old basketball player named Laura Doornekamp (cousin of Aaron and Nate, for those of you scoring at home).

Junior Jungle: Central Divison Pilot Underway

The OPJHL’s new Central Division had its inaugural game Friday night at St. Michael’s College School Arena between the St. Michael’s Buzzers and Markham Waxers. Commissioner Mike McCarron dropped the puck between Buzzer captain, Greg Miller and the Waxers' Giancarlo Iurio took the ceremonial faceoff as the captains from the six other Central Division pilot project teams watched on from the red carpet.

While The Buzzers jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, the Waxers mounted a fierce comeback with three straight goals before Greg Miller's hat trick goal turned the tide back in the Buzzers favour and they eventually won 7-3. Bryan Black had two goals for the Waxers.

Looking on was Michigan Wolverines associate coach, Mel Pearson. When asked about the new pilot project he said, “It is too early to tell but I am hoping that this division will get other teams (around the league) to buy into the same philosophy and ideas (behind the creation of the Central Division).

The game also marked the debut of Buzzers coach Greg Kelly.

Junior Jungle: UCC gets in the game

Neil Acharya's regular reports on the Provincial Junior Hockey A League has a name, for now.

The OPJHL will welcome a new team into the fold for the 08-09 season -- the Upper Canada Hockey Club will play their first game on the road against the Seguin Bruins, Sept, 6.

Beginning in November, UCHC will begin playing home games at a new arena being constructed on the campus of Upper Canada College.

There is no formal affiliation between the private school and the hockey club. The institution-team relationship will be similar to that of St. Michael's College and the Buzzers.

Until the finishing touches are in place on the new arena, the team will play home games in Ricoh Coliseum. Having to switch home rinks during the course of the season is just one of the obstacles coach Frank Stegnar is going to have to face.

“Forming this team only 2 weeks ago, we have a tremendous job a head of us. Several GMs have contacted me wishing us well but at the same time not to envious of our situation. Being only the second team in OPJHL history to start this late before the season has been a challenge. However, the ownership has been tremendous and supportive of our four-year plan. I do expect the team to use our speed and desire to succeed to our advantage.”

Stegnar was an assistant coach for two seasons with the Toronto Junior Canadiens.
The team will be sporting blue, yellow and red sweaters this season and is slotted in the new Phillips Division.

Some might be quick to assume that because many high powered teams have joined the Central Division, a young team like UCHC may have picked a good year to enter as an expansion team.

Stegnar quickly puts the notion to rest, “I’d say (it is going to be) more of a learning curve and developmental cycle for the young men of UCHC. With strong teams such as Aurora in our division, any mistakes we make will be quickly capitalized on with opponents such as them."

The team was purchased in the off-season by a Toronto-based ownership group. Prior to the purchase, the club was known as the Bancroft Hawks and last played in the OPJHL in 2006-07.

OPJHL hopes to fly high with new pilot division

A massive pilot project has taken the OPJHL by storm.

Eight teams have created a new Central Division, in an effort to create an division within the league that gets away from the appearance of a "watered-down product." Central Division teams will play an independent schedule within the league, with the champion advancing to the OPJHL playoff semifinals where they will face off against the rest of the league.

The eight teams involved are the Cobourg Cougars, Hamilton Red Wings, Markham Waxers, Newmarket Hurricanes, St. Michael's Buzzers, Stouffville Spirit, Toronto Junior Canadiens and the Wellington Dukes. This has come over some objections with the league.

Marc Mercier, governor of the Cobourg Cougars and member of the executive board for the new Central Division, explains the rationale.

“We believe, strongly, that the changes we have made for the upcoming season as part of the pilot will have a very positive impact on the future direction of junior hockey in Ontario.”

The changes Mercier are alluding to include “stronger franchise governance principles, the use of division-wide educational agreements, meaningful reduced roster sizes, mandatory play rules for 16 year-olds, reduced roster positions for 20-year-olds, the use of 2-referee systems, among various other changes.”

Fellow Central Division executive board member and Anthony Pietramala, the co-owner and president of the Newmarket Hurricanes, feels that there was a pressing need to create a test project in the OPJHL.

“The watered-down product and quality of programs offered in a 36 team league has noticeably deteriorated in recent years as evident by the disparity of teams in all current divisions as well as the substantial reduction in OPJHL players advancing to the next level be that the OHL, CIS, NCAA or Professional Hockey,” he says .

While many in the league are in agreement with Pietramala’s assessment, things are not all that rosy. There were numerous clubs that either declined to comment or did not return phone calls in connection with this story.

Frank Robinson, GM of the Whitby Fury -- a non-pilot team -- sees both sides of the coin.

“The Central Division is a good mission, it is setting an example for Junior A hockey. It's the right thing to do. However, if you think everyone was happy, no they weren't.”

Robinson sees how teams were chosen for the new division as a sticking point.

“We’ve known for the last three years that something was going to happen," he says. "The bone of contention is how did those eight teams get chosen, it should have been an invite, (however) it was done by all types of calls in the background."

There is reason to believe that other teams are far more at odds with how these changes will affect their operating costs, especially with the loss of divisional rivals that are in close traveling proximity. The Kingston Voyageurs, for instance, lose Cobourg and Wellington as conference opponents. Instead, they gain Whitby (formerly Durham), the Ajax Attack and Pickering Panthers.

Mercier acknowledges as much.

“We understand that some of the teams in the OPJHL are disappointed with the emergence of the Central Division. However we are very encouraged by the number of those teams who have indicated to us that they support our vision, our core operating principles and objectives and very much look forward to working with us closely.”

Pietramala explains how the pilot is really in its infancy.

“Initially there will not be a major impact as the recruiting of players for this year was not based on this test pilot but rather the current system.”

Major changes this year will include roster sizes being pared down from 23 players to 21 and the number of players dressed from 20 to 19.

The number of 20-year-olds will be reduced from nine to seven and as well, teams must dress their 16-year-old players unless there are special circumstances preventing them. All teams in the OPJHL will play four more games this year for a total of 53.

Pietramala sees the upcoming season as a challenge but thinks that if it is successful, it will benefit the league as a whole. “Change is never easy to manage and I’m sure there will be growing pains and challenges to educate in one year - players, scouts and associations - as to why the concept will be beneficial to junior hockey long term,” he says.

“The intent of this pilot is to improve junior hockey as a whole across Ontario at all levels. This is a test pilot and it may prove to be only that a one year pilot but like anything else sometimes you need to isolate a small group to understand what changes are best for a wider group,” he adds.

Meanwhile, even though he understands and agrees with the motivation for the new
Central Division, Robinson is more sombre about what the future may hold.

“Some teams will survive the changes and some teams won’t.”

Pietramala does not deny that at some point if the pilot lasted long term, beyond this season and expanded, there could be a drop off in the number of teams hitting the ice in the OPJHL.

“Potentially less teams over a larger geographic region would make for a more competitive product on the ice night after night which would benefit players wanting to develop for the next level, be that the OHL, CIS or NCAA.”

Movin' On Up: Rich Ricci joins the Generals, reunites with DiPiero

The Oshawa Generals are looking to take the next step in the upcoming OHL season after bowing out in the Eastern Conference final this past spring to the Belleville Bulls. 

A new face behind the bench for the Generals will be former St. Mike’s Buzzers coach Rich Ricci. He will be entrusted to guide the team along with old friend and current head coach Chris DiPiero.

Ricci joins the team as an associate coach and assistant GM. “I am very excited about the upcoming year. I have been afforded a tremendous opportunity along with tremendous responsibility,” says Ricci.

DiPiero and Ricci have a long history together that can be traced back to their days as teammates, playing at St. Michael’s College School Arena in Toronto. “Chris DiPiero and I have known each other since about the age of 9-10. We played hockey together at St Mike's, attended the high school together, went to U of T together, coached the Buzzers together for 7 yrs and have been the best of friends for 30 plus years.”

The Buzzers are coming off a year in which they lost only 4 games in regulation time in a 49 game regular season. The Buzzers were highly touted to make a long playoff run but fell short in the second round against their heated rivals, the Markham Waxers. The Waxers are coached by Rich Cornacchia, who led the Generals to a Memorial Cup title in 1990.

Although there may have been some banter between Ricci and the Generals in early spring, he indicates the talks did not begin in earnest until well after the Buzzers season ended and the ownership situation in Oshawa was shored up. “There were some casual talks over a period of time but they heated up quickly when the ownership changed in Oshawa recently.”

The ownership group, as it stands, consists of current Florida Panthers bench boss, Peter DeBoer, Rocco Tulio, and two time Stanley Cup Winner Adam Graves. “I am extremely excited about our 3 owners and what they bring to the table,” says Ricci.
Meanwhile back at SMCS arena, Ricci believes the Buzzers couldn’t be in more capable hands as former head of scouting

Carmen Cogliano takes over as GM.

“Carmen Cogliano was the only person I interviewed as I was confident that he was the right person, the only person. His contacts in hockey at all levels is an asset and being a parent here previously will undoubtedly assist him in his recruiting of players “ Cogliano is the father of Edmonton Oiler Andrew Cogliano, a Buzzers grad.

The Buzzers announced this past week that Greg Kelly will be their new coach.