Sunday hockey links

A few items from around the world of hockey.

• A couple of notes: NHL free agency begins Tuesday. Monday is also the deadline for ECHL teams to give qualifying offers to eight players. The rest become free agents, meaning we'll likely see a lot of signings in the next few days.
• A deeper look into the 5 Indiana Ice players picked in the NHL Draft. The Lansing State Journal looks at Devils pick (and future MSU Spartan) Josh Jacobs. Some quotes from Ryan Mantha after being picked by the Rangers, and a brief video. Also, a story from Delaware on Dwyer Tschantz going to the Blues. The Toronto Sun looks at Rinat Valiev, and the St. Catharine's paper gives a perspective on Blake Siebenaler.
• An old friend has a new job, as Rod Davidson will be the first coach of the Southwest Pennsylvania Magic of the single-A Federal Hockey League. Davidson coached the Indianapolis Ice in their first three CHL seasons, from 1999-2002, winning a championship in 2000. The FHL has teams in Dayton, Danville (Ill.), Danbury (Conn.) & Watertown (N.Y.), and is probably best-known for this "beer fight.
• Better post this before Sam Gagner gets traded again. 

5 Ice taken in NHL Draft

Five Indiana Ice players were taken in the 2014 NHL Draft, including 3 members of the 2014 Clark Cup champions -- Josh Jacobs (NJ), Rinat Valiev (TOR), Blake Siebenaler (CBJ), Ryan Mantha (NYR) & Dwyer Tschantz (STL).

The five Ice players selected are the most in a single draft year. 

Jacobs' selection as the 41st overall pick makes him the second-highest Ice player to be drafted. John Carlson was the only one picked higher, taken 27th overall by Washington in 2008. He is the fourth player to be picked in the second round, joining Adam Erne (2013-TB), Sam Kurker (2012-STL) & Cristoval Nieves (2013-NYR). There have been 33 players from the Indiana Ice picked in the NHL Draft.

More below the jump.

Pre-draft link roundup

On NHL Draft eve, a few links to peruse while going through your favorite mock draft:

• On Monday, former Indianapolis Ice goaltender Dominik Hasek became the 17th person with Indianapolis hockey ties to be chosen for the Hockey Hall of Fame. THN's Matt Larkin makes the case for the Dominator to be considered the greatest goalie ever. That was a title many once bestowed to another HOFer to matriculate in Indianapolis -- Terry Sawchuk.
• This week, former Indiana Ice defenseman (and Fort Wayne native) Blake Siebenaler was profiled in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. Siebenaler is one of several Ice players who are considered NHL Draft prospects. Also getting some ink this week in larger draft stories: 2012-13 Ice D Rinat Valiev & 2013-14 player Mitch Slattery, who was an affiliate list member who played one game for the Ice this past season. Ryan Mantha and Josh Jacobs are also projected to be picked in the draft. The first round is Friday night, with rounds 2-7 on Saturday. 
• We look forward to the draft, but it's also a time to look back. With the Indy Fuel being affiliated with the Chicago Blackhawks, members of past draft classes could be in Indianapolis this fall. ESPN.com looks back at the 2010 class (which includes a familiar face in Nick Mattson -- whose development the Blackhawks seem to be happy with. Mattson will play at North Dakota this year), as well as the 2011, 2012 and 2013 classes. 
• On the fun side, the Indy Fuel have unveiled the team mascot, a dragon. They're now seeking fan input on a name. 
• ECHL affiliation news: the South Carolina Stingrays announced an affiliation with the NHL's Washington Capitals. South Carolina had previously been affiliated with the Boston Bruins. Washington moved its affiliation from Reading, which aligned with the previously-unaffiliated Philadelphia Flyers. This currently leaves Boston as one of five teams without an ECHL affiliation (the others: Colorado, New Jersey, San Jose, Ottawa). Currently, two of the ECHL's 21 teams are listed as independent, although Fort Wayne is reportedly open to seeking affiliation (the other team is Colorado). There are six ECHL teams that each have two NHL affiliates. Current ECHL-NHL affiliations.
• More NHL news: the Pittsburgh Penguins have found a coach from the Western Hockey League: Mike Johnston of the Portland Winterhawks.
• Don't forget to check our posts from earlier in the week: an interview with the Fuel's first player, Pete Massar, the Fuel's second signing - Rhett Bly, the ECHL's new division alignment and rules changes, and former Ice player Torey Krug being named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team.

Hockey link roundup: June 23

A little bit to cover on Draft Week:

• ICYMI, Dominik Hasek was elected to the 2014 Hockey Hall of Fame class on Monday. Hasek is the 17th person with Indianapolis ties to be chosen for the Hall of Fame. 
• The NHL Draft is this weekend. Five players with Indiana Ice ties -- Josh Jacobs, Ryan Mantha, Blake Siebenaler, Rinat Valiev and Mitch Slattery -- are projected to be picked. Check out profiles of each. A few mock drafts from the NHL Bleacher Report, The Hockey Writers & The Hockey News. Looking ahead, there's a lot of scout comments about several USHL prospects (including Jacobs & Slattery) at OTB.
• Also, an update on Jeff Brown, the Indiana Ice's championship coach, going to Ottawa.

Ryan Huska with the Ice.

Former Indianapolis Ice captain Ryan Huska is moving up the coaching ladder. The longtime coach of the WHL's Kelowna Rockets, Huska was named as the head coach of the AHL's Adirondack Flames on Monday. They are the top affiliate of the Calgary Flames, and are based in Glens Falls, NY (the Flames' ECHL affiliate is the Kelly Cup champion Alaska Aces). Huska's boss in Calgary, Brad Treliving, is also a former IHL Ice player, although their tenures did not coincide. Treliving was also the president of the Central Hockey League when the Indianapolis Ice played there.

In other former Ice player news, Bruce Cassidy is mentioned as a possibility for the Boston Bruins' coaching vacancy (scroll down the article to catch it). He is currently the head coach of the AHL Providence Bruins, and his development work has been heavily praised. Cassidy played for, and later coached, the IHL's Indianapolis Ice. He also has been the Washington Capitals' head coach. 

There are also a couple new NHL head coaches: Gerard Gallant in Florida, Willie Desjardins in Vancouver. And, as of yet, nobody in Pittsburgh.

Indiana native Mike Emrick describes for SI his call (and subsequent 110 seconds of silence) of the Kings' Stanley Cup championship moment, as well as a brief interview with the broadcasting legend. 

If you need to know when your favorite NHL team is playing, the 2014-15 schedule is out. It opens Wednesday, Oct. 8, and will conclude on Saturday, April 11.

The ECHL meetings took place over the weekend. This link has a small recap, but expect a few changes to be announced soon. Among the notables, a voice that might be familiar to Central Indiana fans, Fort Wayne's Bob Chase, was named Broadcaster of the Year. The 88-year-old is on his seventh decade as the Komets' broadcaster

Looks as if @ECHL will have a new divisional alignment and playoff format next season. Expect it to be announced in the next week or so.
— Barry Schickling (@DoubleSMedia) June 23, 2014

Friday link roundup

A few items of interest to local hockey fans have popped up in the last couple of days, so time for another link roundup.

• ICYMI, a couple of posts from yesterday: 
• The ECHL Indy Fuel have signed their first player, Pete Massar.
• Our post on Jeff Brown & several Ice personnel on the move. Lots of links from Ottawa on Brown heading to coach the OHL's Ottawa 67s. Associate coach Adam Krug is headed to a similar position with the Green Bay Gamblers. Defenseman Chris Martenet is also headed to the OHL's London Knights.
• The NHL Draft is a week away. Three players with Indiana Ice ties were rated in the top 100 by THN's Ryan Kennedy. Josh Jacobs is rated 43rd, 2012-13 Ice player Blake Siebenaler is rated 74th and defenseman Ryan Mantha was rated 85th. The Hockey Writers' Shawn Reznik has Jacobs rated 32nd in his top 60. Several other current and former USHL players are also on the list. THW's profile on Jacobs is here.
• The United States of Hockey's Chris Peters has an interesting blog post on USA Hockey participation around the nation. Indiana's 5,922 players ranks 21st in the nation, but the growth (2.1%) is higher than the national average.
• Indiana Ice 2008-09 Clark Cup champion-turned-Boston Bruin Torey Krug has a new website. Check it out at ToreyKrug.com.
• A few NHL items with potential local interest: 
• It's been known for some time that the Washington Capitals will host the 2015 Winter Classic. We now know their opponent - the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks will be playing in their second Winter Classic -- they hosted the second one at Wrigley Field -- and third outdoor game. The Hawks also hosted Pittsburgh in a Stadium Series game last season at Soldier Field.
• Boston Bruins assistant Geoff Ward is taking a head coaching job in Germany, leaving a vacancy on Claude Julien's bench. One candidate widely mentioned to be moving up? Former IHL Ice player and head coach Bruce Cassidy, who is the head coach of the Bruins' AHL affiliate in Providence. Cassidy also has NHL head coaching experience with the Washington Capitals.
• The Carolina Hurricanes hired Bill Peters as their head coach on Thursday. Peters had previously coached in the Blackhawks' organization in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs.
• The 2014-15 NHL schedule will be announced Sunday. 

• The Pan Am Pavilion, where the Indiana Ice played a significant number of home games the last two seasons (as well as a handful of games in previous seasons) is officially closed. The site is slated for redevelopment into a two-tower hotel. Here was their Facebook post on the closing: "This is how it ends. The funeral dirge for Pan Am pavilion, a building that has seen 30 years of hockey figure skating and even curling pass through its doors and onto the ice of two rinks. The altogether unimpressive brick and mortar clothing metal girders has undoubtedly held the echoes of many of you for the last time. From the echo of private conversation to the constant hum of the compressors the building will sit silent because of all the life taken from it. All that life belonging to you our customers, from the die hard, week in and out attendees to those who visited once in a great while you will all be missed. Because in the end Pan Am the building was just that; a building. It was the great people whom passed through those doors that gave it life. It’s from the bottom of our hearts and with the most sincere offering we the staff say thank you. Thank you for bearing through it all with us, and most importantly thank you for helping us chase a dream and afford the blessing of working in a field where our hearts passion was the main focus of our livelihood."

Ice's Jacobs, Mantha among CSS top 150

Two current Indiana Ice players and three more with ties to the franchise were rated in the final NHL Central Scouting Service pre-draft rankings for the 2014 NHL Draft. The rankings list the top players eligible for the NHL Draft -- generally 1996 birth-year players.

The full CSS list is here

Defenseman Josh Jacobs is ranked 43rd on the CSS list among North American skaters -- which would project him to be picked somewhere between the second and fourth rounds. Jacobs, who stands 6-2, 193 pounds, has been a member of the Ice for two years. He has five goals and 18 assists this season, posting a +36 rating that was second to defensive partner Austin Kosack among USHL defensemen. A right shot from Shelby Twp., Mich., Jacobs is committed to Michigan State University. Jacobs is the seventh-highest rated USHL player (and the second-highest rated from a team other than the USNDTP -- Green Bay's Nick Schmaltz is ranked 19th. The highest-rated USHL player is forward Alex Tuch of Team USA, ranked 12th among North American skaters).

Ice Defenseman Ryan Mantha ranks 149th on the list. The 6-5, 225-pound rearguard joined the team halfway through the season in a trade with Sioux City. A physical, big defender, he has two goals, nine points and a +11 rating in 24 games with the Ice. In two USHL seasons, he has played 103 games, with four goals and 22 points. Mantha is a right-shot defender from Clarkston, Mich.

Mitch Slattery is an affiliate list player who played one game with the Ice this season. He's a 6-0, 185-pound left wing from Hill-Murray High School in Minnesota.

Among former Ice players, defenseman Blake Siebenaler is rated 55th among North American skaters. The Fort Wayne native played 11 games for the Ice in 2012-13 before moving to Niagara of the Ontario Hockey League this year.  He has six goals and 30 points for the IceDogs this season. Siebenaler stands 6-1, 192.

Defenseman Rinat Valiev ranks 83rd on the CSS list among North American skaters. He had six goals and seven assists in 36 games for the Ice in 2012-13. This year, he had five goals and 23 assists to go along with a +27 rating for the Western Hockey League's Kootenay Ice. He's a 6-1, 190-pound left-shot defenseman from Russia. 

Three current members of the Ice roster have already been drafted -- right wing Sam Kurker was taken in the second round of the 2012 draft by the St. Louis Blues, forward Aidan Muir was taken in the fourth round of the 2013 draft by the Edmonton Oilers, and center Brian Pinho was taken in the sixth round of the 2013 draft by the Washington Capitals.

Indiana Ice in the NHL Draft 
Round/pick: Player (drafted team) (years w/Ice) (current team)
2013
2R/33: Adam Erne (Tampa Bay) (2010-11) (AHL-Syracuse)
4R/113: Aidan Muir (Edmonton) (2013-14) (USHL-Ice)
6R/174: Brian Pinho (Washington) (2013-14) (USHL-Ice)
20122R/56: Sam Kurker (St. Louis) (2013-14) (USHL-Ice)
2R/59: Cristoval "Boo" Nieves (NY Rangers) (2011-12) (NCAA-Michigan)
3R/75: Jon Gillies (Calgary) (2010-12) (NCAA-Providence)
5R/136: Robbie Baillargeon (Ottawa) (2011-13) (NCAA-Boston U.)
2011
3R/62: Samu Perhonen (Edmonton) (2013-14)
3R/75: Blake Coleman (New Jersey) (2009-11) (NCAA-Miami)
4R/101: Brian Ferlin (Boston) (2009-11) (NCAA-Cornell)
5R/133: Sean Kuraly (San Jose) (2009-12) (NCAA-Miami)
2010
3R/86: Stanislav Galiev (Washington) (2008-09) (AHL-Hershey)
6R/168: Anthony Bitetto (Nashville) (2008-10) (AHL-Milwaukee)
6R/180: Nick Mattson (Chicago) (2009-11) (NCAA-North Dakota)
7R/183: R.J. Boyd (Florida) (2011-12)
2009
7R/198: Nic Dowd (Los Angeles) (2009-10) (AHL-Manchester)
7R/199: Mike Cichy (Montreal) (2008-09) (NCAA-Western Michigan)
20081R/27: John Carlson (Washington) (2007-08) (NHL-Washington)
3R/81: Corey Fienhage (Buffalo) (2007-08) (ECHL-Orlando)
7R/183: Garrett Roe (Los Angeles) (2004-07) (Austria-Salzburg)
2007
4R/108: Brett Bruneteau (Washington) (2007-08)
4R/120: Ben Blood (Ottawa) (2007-08) (AHL-Binghamton)
5R/135: Paul Carey (Colorado) (2007-08) (NHL-Colorado)
6R/153: Scott Darling (Phoenix) (2007-08) (AHL-Milwaukee)
2006
5R/135: Alex Kangas (Atlanta) (2006-07) (ECHL-Alaska)
6R/157: Brent Gwidt (Washington) (2006-09) (ECHL-Utah)
2004
3R/85: Brian Gifford (Pittsburgh) (2004-05)
7R/218: Sergei Kukushkin (Dallas) (2004-05)

Non-drafted Ice NHL players
Torey Krug (Boston) (2008-09)
Cameron Schilling (Washington) (2007-08)
Joel Rechlicz (NY Islanders) (2005-06)

Ice add 5 in USHL Futures Draft

Here is the rundown of the Indiana Ice's 2012 Futures Draft picks. They went defense-heavy, using their first two picks on defenseman, and also bringing in a tendered defenseman. Jake Evans, a two-way forward from Toronto, is the third-round pick. The Ice also picked another big goaltender to replace Jon Gillies -- 6-foot-5 Edwin Minney. Two of the picks are Canadians -- Jake Evans from Toronto and Luca Leone from Vancouver.

Round 1: 5th overall: Adam Baughman, D, Chicago Mission. DOB 1/3/96. Had 3 assists, 10 PIMs in 22 games in the High Performance Hockey League. Big defenseman, 6-2, 175 pounds. Played for the U.S. in the Youth Olympic Games. Slightly Chilled's Ryan Clark called him one of the defenseman to watch in this year's draft. He is a Chicago native.
Round 2: 20th overall: Blake Siebenaler, D, Cleveland Barons. Had 9 goals and 21 points in 64 games this season.
Ice regular pick was used to tender D Josh Jacobs, 6-2, 171 pounds, 2014 Michigan State commit. From the Honeybaked U16 program. 17 points in 24 games with in the HPHL. 2/15/96 DOB. Also played in Youth Olympic Games.
Round 3: 34th overall: Jake Evans, C/RW, Mississauga Rebels (Ont). Toronto native, also picked by the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, but has told OHL teams he plans to go the NCAA route. Notre Dame commitment. 6-1, 150. DOB: 6/2/96
Round 4: 56th overall: Edwin Minney, G, D.C. Capitals. Played for U.S. in Youth Olympic Games this year. 2.43 GAA. Another big goaltender -- 6-5, 194. DOB 3/29/96, from the Poconos area of Pennsylvania.
Round 5: no pick
Round 6: 86th overall: Luca Leone, Shattuck St. Mary's U16. Vancouver native, right-shot forward, had 9-25-34 line in 45 games for Shattuck this year. 6-0, 180. DOB 2/24/96.