Rich Preston named General Manager and Head Coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes are pleased to announce the hiring of Rich Preston as the team’s new General Manager and a Head Coach. Preston was introduced to the Lethbridge media by Hurricanes President Brian McNaughton at a press conference this afternoon.

Preston is a former WHA and NHL player with 388 regular season NHL games and 285 points (133G, 152A) with the Chicago Blackhawks and New Jersey Devils. Preston began coaching in 1991 as an assistant coach with the Blackhawks under Mike Keenan and was part of the Blackhawks 1992 Campbell Conference Championship. In the ‘95-‘96 season, Preston signed on as the Head Coach of the WHL’s Regina Pats. While there he helped the team from a 26-43-3 record the year before his hiring; to a 37-33-2 record in his first season as Head Coach. He then followed this up in ‘96-’97 with a record of 42-27-3, at the time, the franchise’s first 40 win season in over a decade. While there he also helped in the development of future NHL players Kyle Calder, Brad Stuart and Derek Morris to name a few.

Preston has spent the last 11 seasons in the NHL as an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames. He was an assistant coach with the Flames in 2004 and helped to guide that team to the Stanley Cup Finals. In 15 seasons and 1198 games, his overall record in the NHL as an assistant coach is 564-461-134-39. Preston brings with him a wife; Laura of 28 years and three boys; Troy, Lucas and Thomas.

“The candidates who applied for the GM and Head Coaching job left us in the enviable position of choosing from several qualified individuals. This also meant that we were forced to go through a very thorough and extensive interview process.” said McNaughton “Myself and the Board of Directors are pleased with our final decision and have the utmost confidence and respect for Rich Preston as a leader, coach and individual.”

Lightning top pick Hedman to debut at prospects camp
By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune
29th Pick Ashton also attending camp
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TAMPA - Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, the No. 2 overall pick in last week's NHL Draft, headlines the additions to an updated list of players who will attend a prospect camp in Tampa next week.

Hedman, 18, will take the ice for the first time in a Lightning jersey during the week-long event, which begins on July 9.

The team is designing a special Hedman T-shirt for the occasion, to be given away free to the first 200 people who attend an intrasquad scrimmage on July 11. Voting for one of three potential designs is being conducted on the team's Twitter page at www.twitter.com/TBLightning.

The camp, which is open to the public, will run from July 9-15 at the St. Pete Times Forum. The scrimmage/skills competition will be from 7-9 p.m. on July 11, with newly signed free agents Mattias Ohlund and Matt Walker expected to join the prospects to sign autographs before and after the scrimmage session.

The team's other first-round selection, No. 29 pick left wing Carter Ashton, also is scheduled to participate in the camp, plus forward Alex Hutchings (fourth round) and goaltenders Michael Zador (fifth round) and Jaroslav Janus (sixth round)...
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Hurricanes draft Kolppanen in 2009 CHL Import Draft
Lethbridge, AB – The CHL Import Draft kicked off this morning with the first overall selection by the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Sea Dogs used the first overall pick to select Russian forward Stanislav Galiev, a top prospect for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft who played with the Indiana Ice in the USHL this past season.

The Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League used the second overall pick on forward Nino Niederreiter, who played with HC Davos in Switerzerland and the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League traded up to the third overall selection to acquire Swedish forward Gabriel Landeskog, who played this past season with Djurgarden.
Each team in the CHL is permitted to carry two European Import players each season.  These players are selected annually at the Import Draft, with the order of selection rotating through each of the three leagues in the CHL using an inverse order of their final regular season standings from the 2008-09 season.

This morning, Canes newly appointed GM and Head Coach Rich Preston announced that Lethbridge selected Finnish goaltender Ville Kolppanen with their first round pick (32nd overall) in the 2009 CHL Import Draft. The 6’1” 195 pound Finn is a 92-born goaltender who hails from Tampere, Finland; the same city as Hurricanes “Finnish Phenom” Juha Metsola. Kolppanen hails from the same junior club – Ilves Jr. which produced Metsola as well as Finnish standouts Tuuka Rask, Riku Helenius.

“Ville comes highly recommended from several sources and he has the size, skill and potential to be a very good goaltender in this league” said Preston “All of the scouting reports we have on him say he plays more of a North American style, so he should be able to adapt very quickly to the WHL game. We see him adding depth at the position for us and being a part of our program for several years.”

In 2008 the Canes moved their first round pick to the Kootenay Ice in exchange for Kootenay’s 7th round pick in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft. Lethbridge used their 2007 CHL Import Draft picks to select the Finnish born Metsola and Swiss born defenseman Luca Sbisa.