Man, June 22 and it’s all about hockey. Evgeni Nabokov won’t be back with the Sharks. We get women in the Hall of Fame, finally; Angela James and Cammi Granato join Dino Ciccarelli, but it’s Pat Burns’ absence from the list that inspired lots of emotion. (Edit: The Down Goes Brown view is, as always, worth a read.) Got an NHL schedule (here’s the Isles‘, in handy text form courtesy of Eric Hornick, and the Rangers‘, ditto courtesy of Rick Carpiniello). Nighthawks hero Rollie Melanson is the Canucks’ new goalies coach. Scott Niedermayer retired. Big trade between Boston and Florida. Tom Renney takes over in Edmonton.
And Don Nachbaur stepped down in Binghamton.
| TEAM | Old | New |
| SYR* | Ross Yates (4/12) | Mark Holick (5/21) |
| HOU | Kevin Constantine (4/15) | Mike Yeo (6/16) |
| PEO | Rick Wamsley (5/6) | Jared Bednar (6/15) |
| ROC | Benoit Groulx (5/31) | — |
| MTB | Scott Arniel (6/8, CLB head coach) | Claude Noel (6/21) |
| HAM | Guy Boucher (6/10, TB head coach) | — |
| LOW | John MacLean (6/17, NJ head coach) | — |
| BIN | Don Nachbaur (6/22) | — |
*-Syracuse’s new coach was hired by Anaheim. Springfield’s new coach will be hired by Columbus. Oklahoma City takes over Edmonton’s affiliation but won’t bring Rob Daum. The latter few will be added to the list when they take effect.
And more.
Dave Andrews was happy with the league’s year. He notes a couple of things I’ve forgotten to mention: (1) the CCM/Reebok deal was extended through 2016; (2) the AHL’s CBA with the PHPA expires shortly. (The NHLPA extended its CBA through 2012.)
Neat story on World Cup referees, and World Cup referee training sessions, from Filip Bondy. And I shouldn’t laugh. Meanwhile, got a bad feeling about the prospects of getting the USA soccer game on TV at the golf Wednesday. Got a worse feeling about the prospects of getting the Italian soccer game on TV on Thursday.
Speaking of which, hope you saw “The Two Escobars” tonight on ESPN. Brilliant.