Cleaning Up The Desk

I want to be clear that the image to the left isn't my desk. In fact, if my desk were to ever get to that point with things piled on top of one another where it can only be descibed as "organized chaos", I'd probably just set the thing on fire and let it burn to ash. I'm not an OCD guy by any means, but that mess drives me nuts and it's something of which I'd be ashamed. Thankfully, my desk is more just a laptop, a scanner, and an organizer for specific papers, so keeping things in order is easy. That's why we're going to look at all the little stories off the desk today by publishing a few paragraphs on each story, and those notes can be removed from the desk! Let's go!

Back To The Future

It seems the St. Louis Blues have been busy not only preparing for the draft and free agency, but they were removing all the Blues logos around the Enterprise Center last week. That, of course, led to speculation that that Blues were going to be wearing a new note on their chests this winter, and we got to see that logo on Tuesday.

As per their release, the Blues will play the 2025-26 season in "modernized versions of the team's heritage color palette and iconic Blue Note logo". The franchise also went off the board by introducing new "wordmarks, brand font, and secondary and tertiary marks highlighting the shared cultural influences of St. Louis and the Blues". The treble clef "fleur" is a cool design, the STL mark feels a little busy, and that trumpet incorporating the St. Louis Arch and the water of the Mississippi River feels forced. Overall, these work as secondary marks, but I'm hoping we don't see them on every publication.

These redesigned jerseys are clean and easy to read, so full marks for the Blues in not making this modernization overly complicated. If they can stick with this modernized heritage logo and jersey for a few decades, the Blues may have hit a high note with this redesign!

Jumping To The Pros

The PWHL Draft was held last night in Ottawa and I'll have more thoughts on this entire event below, but I wanted to congratulate Chanreet Bassi who was selected in the sixth round by the new expansion Vancouver franchise. Chanreet will have a chance to suit up professionally in Vancouver after playing her entire university career for the UBC Thunderbirds and growing up in Kelowna! If you needed a made-in-British-Columbia story, Bassi's is one of relentlessness, hard work, and talent coming together for the biggest opportunity of her career as the UBC grad joins the pro ranks! She'll need to work harder than ever, but here's hoping she makes the roster!

In 166 games with UBC over five seasons, Bassi scored 51 goals and 83 assists. More impressively, she scored 30 goals and 38 assists over her final two seasons with the Thunderbirds, and scored more than 33 points in each of her final three seasons. If you're doing the math, she got better as she matured, and her two-way game became a hallmark of her play as she was just as good on the backcheck as she was on the forecheck. She was instrumental in UBC's success!

Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to earning a roster spot with Vancouver as they have a solid roster of talent, but Bassi has proven time and again that she's willing to not only work hard, but play the role she's given to the best of her ability. It's that kind of adaptability that should give her a good shot at making Vancouver's roster!

An Electric Signing

When Norwegian defender Emma Bergesen graduated from Mount Royal University, it was hard to deny that she should have gotten a longer look when it came to the PWHL. Never one to complain about her opportunities, Bergesen went over to Sweden where she joined SDE in the SDHL, and she showed she belonged there with three goals and 16 points in her professional rookie campaign. It seems someone on this side of the pond was keeping tabs on her progress in Sweden because the PWHL's Ottawa Charge announced on Saturday that they had signed the former Canada West Defender of the Year to a one-year deal, and I could not be happier for her!

After scoring the "Golden Goal" to give Mount Royal the U SPORTS National Championship in 2023, Bergesen took the opportunity to jump to the SDHL where she found her groove with SDE where she finished in a tie for third-overall in team scoring. Bergesen also helped Norway move to the IIHF Women's World Championship in 2025 after winning the IIHF Women's Championship Division-1 tournament this season while leading the team in scoring!

Ottawa's getting a heckuva defender, an incredible person, and someone that should be part of the PWHL for a long time. Bergesen was always a step ahead in Canada West, and she'll get a chance to bring that talent to the Ottawa team who, I'm certain, will benefit from her play. Congratulations, Emma, and welcome back to Canada!

Full Circle Coaching?

It's been a long time since Mount Royal Cougars head coach Scott Rivett has been an assistant coach at the top level of university hockey, and he's seen a number of his assistant and associate coaches go on to bigger opportunities thanks to his mentorship. One of his former assistant coaches is Carla MacLeod who went on to coach at the University of Calgary and is now the head coach of the PWHL's Ottawa Charge, but she's been making a huge impact as the head coach of the Czechia National Team. On Tuesday, Carla returned the favour that Scott gave her because she added Scott Rivett to Czechia's women's Olympic team coaching staff for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy!

Rivett has certainly earned his accolades after guiding the Mount Royal Cougars to the 2023 National Championship while being named the 2024 Canada West Coach of the Year. Rivett also won four ACAC titles and was named ACAC Coach of the Year four times prior to joining the Cougars. His 107 regular-season wins remain the most in ACAC women's hockey history, and he continues to add wins to his total in U SPORTS. There's no stretch in saying he's one of the best!

Rivett was part of the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship Czechia coaching staff, so today's announcement is more of a formality for a man who appears to be a vital part of Carla MacLeod's coaching staff! Nevertheless, a big congratulations on going to the Olympics, Coach Rivett! Keep up the great work!

Letting The Kids Play

Back on June 10, the Spengler Cup released a quiet little tidbit of news that should excite some people. As we know, HC Davos and Canada always are represented at the Spengler Cup, and the other four teams are invited from other European leagues. We've seen a few AHL teams make the jump over to Switzerland for the Spengler Cup over the years, but the AHL teams seem to be rarely invited when teams from the Liiga, SHL, Czech and Slovak Extraligas, KHL, and Swiss League all have the week between Christmas and New Year's Day off. This year, though, the Spengler Cup is going off the script because they will, for the first time in the history of the tournament, invite a team of stars from the NCAA to come and play in one of the world's most famous hockey venues!

As written in their release, both "the University of Minnesota (1981) and the University of North Dakota (1982)" have played at the Spengler Cup, but this will be the first time that a team of NCAA stars from various schools will play together. The reason for this decision seems to be the diversity of players shown at the NCAA as the Spengler Cup recongizes that "representation from Canada, Sweden, and Finland as well as players from Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic" all compete at the NCAA level alongside the US students who play for teams. As we know, there are lots of good players heading to the NCAA from the CHL as well, so the pool of talent from which they can build this team will be deep!

Might we see an NCAA All-Star Team win the Spengler Cup this season? It could happen as the "US Collegiate Selects" will compete with HC Davos, Team Canada, IFK Helsinki, HC Sparta Praha, and HC Fribourg-Gotteron for the trophy. If you're not a fan of this tournament because you're watching the World Junior Championship instead, the Spengler Cup organizers and the NCAA just gave you another reason why this tournament shouldn't be missed this December!

Spend Some Money On A Venue

Mark Walter just dropped $10 billion to purchase the Los Angeles Lakers from the Buss family, so it seems pretty clear that he has money to spend. I say that because the PWHL Draft held in Ottawa felt like it was an old MuchMusic "Intimate and Interactive" concert. Here's how the venue looked at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Having the teams sit up on the stage while the players sat at the tables felt a little off, and having the TSN crew sit at the other end of the room away from the stage seemed to make interviews a little more awkward as players had to wander around the venue. I know this is Year 2 of PWHL drafts, but this needs to improve in a major way. I'm not saying that they need to do it like the NHL does, but this year's draft was a bad television event once again. That seems to be a running theme with PWHL events, so I'm not hopeful for change.

To the 48 women who were selected over six rounds, get out there and give it everything you've got. You earned this opportunity, so go seize it and make it yours. While you may be realizing a dream of playing professionally, this is where the hard work starts so that dream becomes reality! Congratulations to all the selections!

That will officially clear off the desk on a Wednesday as we get ready for the NHL Entry Draft on Friday and Free Agency Madness on Tuesday. I'm still working on making up the lists of recruits for each of the nine Canada West schools that will be posted on Tuesday as I always do on July 1, so I'm hoping schools will find a way to post their information on who they've recruited before then. I doubt that will happen, so feel free to email me if you're a player whose information has been missed and I'll make sure your info is included!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!