Former NHL star Alexander Mogilny has signed a new contract with Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, according to the club’s official website. Mogilny will continue his work there as a sports consultant. He was previously responsible for the selection work in North America.

The elusive Mogilny last played for the New Jersey Devils (and their AHL Affiliate at the time, the Albany River Rats) before slipping into retirement at the end of the 2005-06 season. An Olympic and Stanley Cup champion, Mogilny once left behind the city and country he again embraces, having defected from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1989 to play for the Buffalo Sabres.

Khabarovsk, where Amur is based, is Mogilny’s native city. Located in the Far Eastern part of Russia, it is a long way from Moscow but rather close to the North America. That’s quite comfortable for Mogilny who lives in the USA, if I am not mistaken.

So let’s wait and see what this famous player will be responsible for this season in the KHL.

Photo: Alexander Mogilny from HC Amur Khabarovsk’s official website.

The Canadian Hockey League crowned its champion on Sunday and the trophy doesn’t have to go very far. Bob Boughner and his Windsor Spitfires successfully defended their Memorial Cup championship with a 9-1 thrashing of the host Brandon Wheat Kings.

It was a really good tournament with Windsor going undefeated in four games, which included an OT tilt with Calgary. Calgary and Brandon both won twice; but poor Moncton went home with an 0-fer for the tournament. Oh well, at least they’ll have a shiny new QMJHL banner for their barn in the fall.

Also repeating is rumored No. 1 draft pick Taylor Hall as the MVP of the tournament. Master Hall is not only the first player to repeat as the most valuable player; but he scored nine points with five goals and four assists including three of those points in the championship game.

Speaking of the draft, the next thing on the junior hockey docket is the NHL Draft Combine that is being held this week in Toronto. The combine, which will run May 24-29, is an opportunity for teams to meet and interview prospects, which are the top 100 available in the world, as well as see them tested in an off-ice setting. And my boys have an attendee there: Goalie Kent Simpson who is ranked 83 on the list from NHL.com.

After the combine, we look to June and the draft, which will be in Los Angeles at the Staples Center; and I’m hoping I can somehow get there to see it. It’s so much fun to be there with a whole building of friends, families and fans to see these young men be chosen for a chance to play the greatest game in the world in the greatest league in the world.

So that is your update from the world of junior hockey … stay tuned for more.

Here are the awards from the Memorial Cup tournament:

2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup Awards:
Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (Most Valuable Player) – Taylor Hall, Windsor Spitfires
Ed Chynoweth Trophy (Top Scorer) – Taylor Hall, Windsor Spitfires
George Parsons Trophy (Most Sportsmanlike Player) – Toni Rajala, Brandon Wheat Kings
Hap Emms Memorial Trophy (Outstanding Goaltender) – Martin Jones, Calgary Hitmen

2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup All-Stars:
Goaltender – Martin Jones, Calgary Hitmen
Defence – Travis Hamonic, Brandon Wheat Kings
Defence – Cam Fowler, Windsor Spitfires
Forward – Taylor Hall, Windsor Spitfires
Forward – Jimmy Bubnick, Calgary Hitmen
Forward – Matt Calvert, Brandon Wheat Kings

Photo: The Memorial Cup winning team by Getty Images via daylife.com.

It’s that time of the year again where the pitter-patter of hearts that belong to junior hockey players and fans go into overdrive as the Memorial Cup tournament begins. The Memorial Cup is the Canadian Hockey League’s version of the Stanley Cup and is not too far behind Lord Stanley’s bowl in the respect it garners in the hockey world.

It began in 1919 when it was donated by the Ontario Hockey Association to be awarded to the junior champion of Canada. The name Memorial Cup was to honor the fallen Canadian hockey players who had been killed in World War I, and there were several who were Canadian stars that had given their lives in service to His Majesty’s Forces. From its inception until 1971, the Memorial Cup was open to all Junior A teams in the country and was awarded following a series of league, provincial and regional playoffs. In 1972 it changed to a three-league tournament with the champions of the WHL, OHL and the QMJHL; and finally in 1983, the CHL included the host team to make it a four-team round-robin event.

The first American team to win it was the Portland Winterhawks in 1983, which was also the first year that the Hawks hosted it as well. That was a really great team that included Mike Vernon, Cam Neely, the Sutter twins and one of my personal favorites, “Chicken Parm: (aka Ray Ferraro). Quite a few NHL players have competed for the Memorial Cup over the years; and there have been a number of guys that have gone on to win the big bowl too like Scott Niedermayer, Brad Luckowich and Ray Whitney.

This year, the tournament is being hosted in Brandon, Manitoba by the hometown team, the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League. The Wheaties beat out both the Kelowna Rockets and my own Everett Silvertips for the honor of being the hosts after promising a whole bunch of money to upgrade their barn. Whatever … we have a nice new beautiful place that’s already hosted Skate America and an NHL exhibition game. It’s too bad, too, because since my boys were out after the first round, it would have been nice to see them playing again especially on such a grand stage. Besides Brandon there are the Calgary Hitmen from the Dub, the defending champions from Windsor called the Spitfires, who are from the OHL; and the Moncton Wildcats who are the Quebec League champs but play in New Brunswick.

It should be a good tournament and even though I think that Windsor has a really good chance to repeat; I won’t be surprised if they don’t. Only three teams have repeated in the last 30 years: Dougie Gilmour and Dale Hawerchuk were part of the Cornwall Royals in 1980 and 1981, the 1987 and 1988 Medicine Hat Tigers, who had my beloved Trevor Linden on board; and the Kamloops Blazers in 1994 and 1995, with Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla and (Goddess Kaatiya fave) Darcy Tucker.

If you would like to see this tournament and don’t live in Canada; never fear … it is being shown on the NHL network. Yay! It begins tomorrow afternoon and the final game is next weekend. Here’s the schedule:

Friday, 5/14: Windsor vs. Brandon, 5p PDT/8p EDT
Saturday, 5/15: Calgary vs. Moncton, 12p PDT/3p EDT
Sunday, 5/16: Brandon vs. Moncton, 12p PDT/3p EDT
Monday, 5/17: Calgary vs. Windsor, 5 pm/8p EDT
Tuesday, 5/18: Moncton vs. Windsor, 5 pm/8p EDT
Wednesday, 5/19: Brandon vs. Calgary, 5 pm/8p EDT
Thursday, 5/20: Tiebreaker (if necessary), 5 pm/8p EDT
Friday, 5/21: Semifinal, 5 pm/8p EDT
Sunday, 5:23: Championship final, 12 pm/3p EDT

Photo: The Memorial Cup from The Hockey Hall of Fame website.

An Internet aquaintance just told me she supports the players on her team no matter what they do on the ice. This was in regard to a discussion about dirty players.

Wow, really?

Do you, as hockey fans, support your players no matter what? If one of your players deliberately injures an opponent, do you firmly stand behind him?

I hope I’m not the only person who doesn’t.

Discuss.

Yep, the Colorado Avalanche are out. I don’t know why, but watching the kids this year scrap their way into a spot this year has really endeared me to them  — more so than many other teams.  Yes, they weren’t supposed to make it to the playoffs this year, and were slated to finish last in the NHL.  Yet I can’t help but feel a bit of heartache for the kids.

Maybe it’s because I know that I’ve probably seen Darcy Tucker for the last time with the Avs.  It seems like just yesterday when Goddess Kaatiya called me to tell me we had signed him.  One of my all-time favorite players, I was ecstatic.  Tonight, he waited until the rest of the team had exited the ice before giving the fans a big wave.  How could have time passed so quickly?  Still, we saw almost every single home game he played with the Avs

Then there are the kids.  Who doesn’t love to see a bunch of 18-to-mid-20-year-old kids play their hearts out each night?  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a bunch of kids over achieve than the team of old talent reach a quarter of their potential year after year.  Yeah, they made the games worth attending this year, and my heart breaks a little bit for them.

Maybe it’s that we’ve finally given up our season tickets for next year.  I’ll save the details for another post, but it was time.  I actually love this team more than I have in years, but the folks at Kronke Sports Enterprises and team management have proven to me this year that it’s not worth dumping another several thousand into the least fan-friendly organization in the league.  And it makes me sad knowing that we no longer have those 40 games to go to in the middle of winter.

I hope the future holds more energy and fire, and I’d love to see them pick up a talented, skating European — a Swede or a Russian would be nice.  But alas, the Avs seem to be an “all American, all the time” team anymore (with a couple of exceptions.)  Now THAT might bring me back to season tickets.

But that’s all in the future.  For now, I think I’ll just listen to the down and depressing music of the Drive-By Truckers and wallow in some self-pity.  I went to almost all the home games this year.  I deserve it.

Photo: Darcy Tucker by Goddess Sasha. Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.

With the exposure of Olympic hockey, and with the Matt Cooke incident provoking headlines, here in New England there has been a lot of hockey talk lately in the media. Unfortunately, that means bandwagon fans and self-proclaimed experts are coming out of the woodwork. If these sorts are driving you mad (as they are me), feel free to direct them here for Savvy’s Rules of Hockey Fandom:

1. Know the sport. This seems like a given, but I’ve actually known of hockey “fans” who don’t know what icing is. There’s no shame in admitting your ignorance. We all had to start somewhere. Learn the game, THEN you can spout off.

2. Know the players. You don’t have to know the entire roster of every team (even the “experts” don’t), but at the very least you should know your own team.

3. Pronounce their names correctly. You may say you are a Bruins fan, but if you can’t pronounce “Lucic,” you are not a Bruins fan. (Hint: it’s not “Loo-shick.”)

4. Don’t wax nostalgic for the “good old days.” Hockey players are bigger, stronger, faster, and, with a few exceptions, better than they were 20, 30, 40 years ago.

5. Don’t whine that you can’t tell who the players are because they wear helmets. If you can’t tell the difference between Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin because of their helmets, you either never watch hockey, or you’re blind.

5a. And don’t opine that the game would be “better” if the players didn’t wear helmets. That is, in a word, insane.

6. Anyone who leaves a game early deserves this:

7. Don’t play the blame game. The other team doesn’t always score because your guy screwed up. Sometimes, the other guy makes a stupendous play. They get paid too.

8. Sometimes, shit happens. The game is played on ice. The puck bounces around. Guys fall down, the puck takes funny bounces. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes the other guy gets lucky. It’s part of the game.

9. Don’t ever, ever, EVER call an NHL player a pussy. Because, you know, they aren’t. And this is you: