Friday, June 28, 2014
Bryce Reddick of Las Vegas will play for Brest Albatros in France this season. Bryce, 24, skated for the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers last winter. In juniors, Bryce was a star player for the BCHL Cowichan Valley Capitals. He skated four seasons with NCAA Michigan Tech. Bryce’s new club plays at the Rinkla Stadium in Brest, France.

//Goal scorer Mitch Walhl (AAA L.A. Jr Kings) has signed with the ECHL Florida Everblades. Mitch, 24, last season scored 17 goals for the ECHL Idaho Steelheads. He is 6’5″, 205.

//Tyler Maxwell (AAA L.A. Jr Kings), who played in Italy last winter, signed with the ECHL Stockton Thunder. He was a 20-goal scorer for Valpellice in Italy’s top-rated A1 Division last season. Tyler is 23.

//Luke McColgan (AAA L.A. Jr Kings) was acquired by the BCHL Chilliwack Chiefs. Luke, 19, skated for the SJHL Battlefords Stars last year.

Tuesday, June 24, 2012

Roy Henderson and his Las Vegas Global Showcase at the Las Vegas Ice Center this week is the best there is and there’s been quite a few Showcases here in town. For years Roy has helped Las Vegas players advance to the junior and college level of the game. Roy knows the game, knows talent when he sees it, and says “there’s a team somewhere for every player we have here at Global.”  He was one of the first to say Jason Zucker of Las Vegas would play in the NHL and two years ago said Vito Carlo of Las Vegas is the real deal. Roy is one of the owners of the BCHL Langley Rivermen as well.

—-

Jimmy Samuels, 16, of Las Vegas was playing the NHL 2014 game on his XBox when he found a WHL app on the game. He went to it, scrolled through the rosters and discovered Beau McCue who plays for the WHL Tri-City Americans. “Skated with Beau when he was here in town with the Nevada Storm bantams,” Jimmy said. “Now he’s on my fantasy hockey team.”

—-

Most folks at Crystal Palace know Chris Raveling as a referee in the men’s league roller games. What they don’t know is that when Chris skates on the big rink it’s a miracle. When he was in third grade, he was on a bicycle going to school. He forgot his homework.  When he rode his bike home, he went through a school crosswalk, was struck by a car and had a fractured skull, punctured lungs, induced coma. Somehow, someway he recovered and, got back on his skates.  Four years ago Chris skated in the NARCh Nationals Championships with the Adam Tamura-coached Sin City Snipers.

And what was Chris thinking when he hit the floor that very first game at the Nationals?

“Heaven,” he telling the folks at the rinkboards last night.

—

When Gabe Gauthier got the job as the head coach of the WSHL Las Vegas Storm the first thing he learned is that he was starting from scratch – not a single player on his roster.

“Does the WSHL give you a few players,” we asked.

“No, we’re a new club and we have to get every player ourselves,” he said.

—-

Eddie Samuels’ nephew is five-year-old Ryan Zurfluh. He wants to play roller hockey. So last night he brought his own net with four sticks – two of them plastic – at the Crystal Palace roller rink on North Rancho Drive. He pulled on his green skates and in a few moments, a big game was on over by the vending machines by the North wall. His hockey mom MC was a big soccer star in high school so maybe that’s the connection.  At home, Ryan’s sister Leah, age 2 1/2, is the goalie

Las Vegas – Micah Sanford, the scoreking in ice and roller in Las Vegas, is back on the bench. He will be reunited with former BCHL Chilliwack Chief teammate Gabe Gauthier who is the new hockey director at the Las Vegas Ice Center and the head coach of the new WSHL Las Vegas Storm junior club.

“Gabe called me back in April and I decided to coach again,” Micah said on Friday.

Micah will be the head coach of AA Las Vegas Storm bantam 14u ice team. It will be the first time he has coached at the Ice Center in four seasons, the last being when he was head coach of an AAA Nevada Storm 16u team and was a top assistant for an AAA Nevada Storm 18u team. Pokey Reddick was the head coach of the 18s that season.

Micah and Gabe Gauthier skated together in 2001-02 on an awesome BCHL Chilliwack Chiefs team which went 47-10-4 in the regular season, then won the Doyle Cup and qualified and competed in the Royal Bank Cup.

Micah had 47 goals, 58 assists in the regular season, set a BCHL record in the playoffs with 21 goals, 11 assists – breaking a record held by Brett Hull – then had 4 goals, 3 assists in Doyle Cup action and another 4 goals, 8 assists in the RBC – the Royal Bank Cup Championships.

Totalled, Micah had 76 goals, 80 assists for the Chilliwack Chiefs that season. Or, as head coach Harvey Smyl said, “He was a man among boys in the biggest of games.”

When Gauthier was hired and came into Las Vegas earlier this year, he hooked up with Micah.

“Gabe and I were teammates but we never really played on the same line at Chilliwack,” Micah said. “Rather, we played on power plays and penalty kills together.”

Micah and his older brother David run the Crystal Palace roller rink on North Rancho Drive. Micah’s father Larry has retired although he usually will get back onto the bench when the Las Vegas Tour Rebels NARCh Pro team competes in the summertime NARCh Nationals.

As an ice coach this autumn, Micah will be assisted by Evan Zucker who is one of the all-time goal scoring leaders in Las Vegas hockey in ice and roller, like Micah.