Coaching & Broadcasting Dominoes Keep Falling

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In case you missed it in our update that appeared below yesterday, it appears that Terry Virtue leaving Tri City for personal reasons, meant he wanted to join Owen Sound. He is now an assistant coach with the Attack of the OHL. Hockeydb.com shows Virtue as being born in Scarborough so maybe going back east was his reason. Tri City also looks like they have someone in mind for the vacant gig, word is it's Scott Beattie who was an assistant coach with Kootenay last year.

Speaking of vacant gigs, who is getting the Warriors open G.M. job?


I had heard in the past that Curtis Hunt was sniffing around the post, but former voice of the Pats Rod Pedersen made a convincing case for why that might not happen when he joined TPS on Tuesday. Rod told us that Hunt has 2 years left on his coaching contract with the Pats and that he didn't exactly leave the Warriors on good terms the a few years back. TPS has heard that Hunt and new Pats G.M. Chad Lang don't exactly see eye to eye, but Pedersen thought the relationship was pretty good. As for who he thought might be getting it, Petersen thinks Dave Hunchak should be the man, especially after getting passed over for Jeff Truitt who didn't even make it to the regular season before bolting for the AHL. The voice of the Riders also said current Pats assistant coach Jamie Heward would likely join Hunchak in Moose Jaw if he was promoted. Several sources have told me that Hunchak has denied this, but he could be doing that simply because he doesn't have the Warrirors G.M. job just yet.

Interesting times in the WHL right now, with a some WHL play by play jobs still vacant. The TEAM 1260 has yet to hire a play by play man for the Oil Kings, but an announcement should be coming soon. If I was making the call, I would hand the duties over to long time employee Corey Graham. He hosts Edmonton Sports Night Live from 9-midnight, and also does a great job calling Alberta Golden Bear games. It's about time the TEAM rewarded Corey for his hard work, after he started as an operator for TOTAL SPORTS many years ago. To my knowledge, Vancouver and Kamloops still have openings. Prince George recently made a change with Andy Neale taking over, and congrats to the "Action Man" Dan Plaster who will be replacing Rod Pedersen in Regina. Dan and I have worked together in the past and I'm sure he's going to do a fine job, although filling Hot Rod's shoes will be tough.