When Hockey Canada needed a coach for its womens hockey team less than two months before the Sochi Olympics, Kevin Dineen stepped up. Tim Heed Jersey . Not long after he won gold, the phone rang again for a job leading the under-18 mens team. "One call to him at the under-18 level, he just said yes right away," Hockey Canadas Scott Salmond said. On Monday, Dineen began the next chapter of his coaching career as he was named as an assistant on Joel Quennevilles staff with the Chicago Blackhawks. "He doesnt care if hes coaching women or men or kids or what it is. Hes a coach, and thats what he loves to do," Salmond said in a phone interview. "To me, great coaches like challenges and they want to coach, they want to be busy, they want to work and Kevins a great example of that. It wasnt a surprise to me that someone in an organization like Chicago would recognize that and his value and what hell bring there." The Toronto native will return to the NHL less than a year after being fired as head coach of the Florida Panthers, armed with plenty of international experience. Salmond, Hockey Canadas senior director of hockey operations and national teams, enjoyed how much energy and passion Dineen put into his work with the national womens and under-18 mens teams, even though he had no previous connection to either. "I think that the players realized right away that he cares," Salmond said. "He really cares about them. And one thing he talked about with the under-18s the whole time was just trying to make them better and trying to have them leave with something. And yeah we wanted to have team success, but if they could gain something from the experience, then that was great." From those experiences, Salmond expects Dineen to be an even stronger coach as he returns to dealing with professionals with the Blackhawks. "I know he spent a lot of time one-on-one both with the women and the men and communicating with them and sharing ideas and having them buy in and share their ideas as well," Salmond said. "The communication side, I think, is huge. Good coaches have that, and certainly its a strength for him." Dineen conceded in Sochi that he was learning on the fly how to communicate differently with women than he did men in previous jobs, joking that he wasnt using the F-word nearly as much. He was not made available by the Blackhawks, who have a policy of not allowing assistant coaches to speak to reporters. Dineen wrote on Twitter that he was "excited about the opportunity to work with this group of people. World class players and organization." The 50-year-old replaces Jamie Kompon, who became general manager and coach of the WHLs Portland Winterhawks, filling the void left by Mike Johnston when he took the head-coaching job in Pittsburgh. "I am thrilled to join Joel Quenneville, a future hall of fame coach, and (assistant) Mike Kitchen, as we strive to reach the ultimate goal in professional hockey," Dineen said in a statement released by the Blackhawks. "The measure of success is very high in Chicago. I look forward to supporting the coaching staff and working with some of the best players in the National Hockey League." During his playing days, Dineen spent time as a linemate of Quennevilles with the Hartford Whalers. In total he played 1,188 NHL games, finishing with 355 goals and 405 assists. "Kevin brings proven leadership qualities, having served as an alternate captain and captain for several of his teams during his 19-year NHL career," Chicago general manager Stan Bowman said in a statement. "He will bring another well respected voice to our coaching staff and we look forward to his contributions to our team." Dineen represented Canada in international competition six times as a player, including the 1984 Olympics and 1987 Canada Cup. He only added to his international resume with his most recent international coaching jobs, and Salmond called Dineen "a great friend to Hockey Canada." Salmond credited Dineen for changing "a bit of the culture" with the womens team after taking over for Dan Church, who resigned in December, and capturing the nations attention with the gold-medal run. With the under-18 mens team, which won a bronze medal, Salmond said Dineen did a fantastic job by helping Canada play to a level it hadnt reached in recent years. "I think we are very grateful for what he was able to bring," Salmond said. "Hes obviously a professional, a former professional player and I think he brings that kind of mentality to coaching. He was great for our program, kind of gave us another perspective and helped us with some things both on the womens side and on the mens side that hell leave behind." Dineen coached the AHLs Portland Pirates for six years before taking over the Panthers. Florida made the playoffs in one of his two full seasons behind the bench, and Dineen was fired 16 games into 2013-14. Barclay Goodrow Jersey . After not scoring 40 points in the opening quarter in the last five seasons, the Rockets have done it five times this season and twice in the last three games. Chris Tierney Jersey . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team.Government officials in Washington state, home to four Western Hockey League teams, have been investigating the working conditions of the teams mostly-teenaged players over the past year, TSN has learned. Matthew Erlich, a spokesman for Washingtons Department of Labor and Industry, told TSN that officials recently referred the case to the state attorney generals office and added that the labor department is waiting for a legal opinion from the attorney general before pursuing its investigation further. This is a matter that focuses on child labor issues and potential wage-payment claims, both are important at labor and industries, where our top important goal is to ensure workplaces are safe, Erlich said. Employees should also be paid for the work they do. Over the past few months, the debate over whether major junior hockey players should receive more money for playing has become a polarizing one. On one side, team owners say players receive modest reimbursements for their expenses, as well as a lucrative scholarship package that can be exercised so long as they dont go on to a career as a pro hockey player. Moreover, many teams in small markets are struggling to get by, the owners say. Our teams in Washington and Michigan have been in contact with government officials and have explained that our players are student athletes and are participating in and contribute to their sport the same way as other amateur athletes, Canadian Hockey League commissioner David Branch told TSN. But officials with Unifor, Canadas largest private-sector union, paint a different picture. They say major junior hockey teams have become cash machines and that any problems that small market teams might have can easily be solved with revenue sharing. Unifor is pressing the Ontario provincial government to form task forces to scrutinize the working conditions in the Canadian Hockey League. Unifor president Jerry Dias hopes other governments follow suit. To that end, Dias met Tuesday with B.C. Premier Christy Clark, making his case for government action. She was shocked, Dias said. We explained that in the Western Hockey League, players are still making $50 a week, same as they did in the 1980s. Its just not right. These clubs are being run as for-profit businesses, and so little of the money finds its way to the players. Its basically slave labour. The stakes are high for CHL team owners. Dias said an average 40-hour work weeek adds up to about 2,000 hours a year. Joe Thornton Jersey. If players in Ontario were paid the minimum wage of $11 per hour for half the year, it would work out to about $11,000 per player, or at least $220,000 a year for each team. Its unclear how much teams now pay for players, but in recent years, the OHL paid players $55 a week. The league recently introduced new guidelines where teams reimburse players for expenses instead of paying them a set weekly amount. Eight of the CHLs 60 teams are based in the U.S. The four teams in Washington are the Everett Silvertips, the Seattle Thunderbirds, the Spokane Chiefs and the Tri-City Americans. In the OHL, the Plymouth Whalers and Saginaw Spirit are in Michigan. If players on U.S.-based teams were declared by the government to be employees, instead of student athletes, as the CHL says they are, they might also have more rights under worker compensation laws. One CHL team owner said that he has been in touch with his local member of provincial parliament to caution that if the governments do change their policies on major junior hockey, it might have a ripple effect on sports across the country. If we have to pay minimum wage, then other junior leagues, Junior B and Junior C leagues, will have to do the same thing, said the owner, who asked for anonymity because he said CHL team owners have agreed that Branch will speak publicly for the group about the issue. Maybe it will apply to Canadian universities that charge admission for sports games. It could have a huge effect. But that might not be completely true. Theres a difference between a Junior B hockey player or Canadian university player and a player in major junior - teams in major junior hold a draft and control for years the rights of a player. The players dont choose where to play. It should not come as a surprise that team owners are active in their communities and some may be in contact with elected officials at all levels to express their views on range of issues, Branch said. Any change to the status of CHL hockey players would undoubtedly impact all other amateur athletes in our country, regardless of what sport they participate in, he said. For all of these sports there are multiple complicated questions regarding expenses and the status of student athletes and other amateur athletes, all of which have the potential to impact on numerous sports programs in Ontario and throughout Canada. China Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Throwback China NFL Hoodies NFL Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Jerseys From China ' ' '
