Brantford Bulldogs announces new hockey operations team
The Brantford Bulldogs are promoting some of their own.
It was announced Thursday that Spencer Hyman, the team's vice-president and chief operating officer, will be taking over as General Manager. Justin Ismael, the current Director of Hockey Operations, has been promoted to Assistant General Manager, while Mike Galati will become Director of Hockey Operations and Scouting.
The Bulldogs also have two new Directors of Player Development, Adrian Vilaca and Gary Roberts.
Roberts was in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 21 seasons. He played for the Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning. Before joining the NHL, he played one season with OHL's Guelph Platers.
'This new and exciting addition will add tremendous value to the Bulldogs by leveraging their storied reputations as the go-to on and off-ice development team; a team that calls some of the best current and developing hockey players in the world as their clients,' a press release said. 'We are thrilled to welcome them to the Bulldogs.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
6 minutes ago
- CBC
High jumping is a slam dunk for this Team N.L. athlete
Will Wallbourne landed a spot on Newfoundland and Labrador's Canada Games roster by raising the bar on a skill he already had. CBC NL caught up with this Fogo Island teen who has "calves like Popeye," as his coach says.
CBC
34 minutes ago
- CBC
Thunder Bay youth soccer players face international competition at new tournament
Thunder Bay's young soccer players are getting a chance to see how they measure up against some international opponents. The first-annual U13 Thunder Bay Chill International Invitational Tournament has been running since Wednesday at Chapples Park.. In addition to the Chill, the tournament also includes Thunder Bay's Superior Rush, Winnipeg's 1v1 Futbol Dreams, Toronto Azzurri and Venezia Nettuno Lido from Italy. "They play very, very nice soccer," Tony Colistro, executive director of the Chill, said of the Italian team. "You can see that. I think the players are always excited to play teams from different competition, from different cultures. I think it was exciting also for the fans just to see a different brand of soccer being played. So it was nice for everyone." Playing in a tournament like this one is vital to the development of young players, Colistro said during an interview at Chapples on Friday. "You could train every day, but if you don't have the competition where you're playing games and in and out, it's really hard to speed up that development, right?" he said. "So these kinds of games where you're seeing a different team from a different city, different country, it's only going to help you hone your skills." Cole Perna of Superior Rush said he's been enjoying playing in the tournament so far. "Every team here, [is a] very good team. But definitely [we have] a lot of confidence in our team," he said. "Just gotta keep playing our game, keep doing what we're doing." "Moving on the ball, and off, and yeah, I think very good chance we either win this tournament or make it to the finals." The finals will be played on Tuesday "I've just played one game," Thunder Bay Chill player Paolo Galle said Friday. "It was good, we played Italy." "They were pretty good, they pass the ball really good," he said. "But we just scored our chances and ended up winning." Galle's teammate Brody Scott said playing against the Italian team was a good learning experience. "I think we had a good performance," he said. "They taught us a lot because of their play style. I think it was very technical and fast." Colistro said the Chill hope to not only continue to the tournament next year, but expand it, as well. "We'll definitely go back and revisit," he said. "So far, we're liking what we see." "Our plan is to expand the tournament to both a male and a female division, and to older age groups, like a U15 and a U17." Play continues Tuesday at Chapples Park, with the bronze medal game taking place at 4 p.m.
CBC
36 minutes ago
- CBC
As Beer Stores shut their doors, who will take your empties?
Social Sharing With more and more Beer Stores closing across Ontario, charities and non-profits that rely on bottle collection are hoping to cash in on your empties. The Beer Store currently processes about 1.6 billion empty alcohol containers per year. But it has closed dozens of locations across the province since the arrival of beer in convenience stores, and plans to shutter still more this September. At least five of the actual or planned closures are in Ottawa, including one in the Glebe, where Operation Come Home runs a bottle drive as part of its BottleWorks social enterprise. Executive director John Heckbert hasn't noticed any impact yet — but he's hoping more residents will call on BottleWorks to collect their empties. "We would be very happy to help people if they find that they're accumulating bottles or that they would like somebody to come pick them up," he said. "It's definitely bad news for the people that are affected by the closures," he added. "But it is a positive for our program in the sense that we can provide more employment opportunities and more activity for our youth." Operation Come Home provides housing, employment and eduction programs for homeless youth, who staff the BottleWorks program. They ride around in the truck and collect from practically anywhere in Ottawa, though suburban areas have higher minimums for collection. Residents can fill out a form on the BottleWorks website and schedule a collection date. They can get a tax receipt in return. "We are going to be adding two new trucks to the road in the coming year," Heckbert said. "We're going to expand the capacity of the program and this timing will help us make sure that the trucks are always full." Animal rescues also hopeful BottleWorks isn't the only group that will pick up empties. Fundraisers for animal rescues also collect bottles and cans to pay for food and vet bills. Darlene Charman of Empties for Paws Orleans said empties play a major role in their fundraising. She saw a major uptick in collections during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was tougher for people to get out for returns. She wonders whether the Beer Store closures might trigger a similar trend. "It could bring a little bit more of an influx of the empties to the animal rescues, because the people won't be bothered to drive further out," she said. Melody Lachance collects empties for several animal rescues through her fundraising group, Barrhaven & Area Empties. She too is hoping for a boost. "They may just contact us and say, 'Do you want my empties, because I'm not going to drive to wherever to cash them in,'" she said. Lachance is already looking to nearby Manotick, where a store is set to close later this month. But further closures could also be a hindrance, since both Lachance and Charman rely on the Beer Store for returns. Waste reduction advocate worried Duncan Bury of Waste Watch Ottawa agreed that charities can pick up some of the slack left as Beer Stores closed, but not enough to compensate for the overall decline of a collection system he already sees as severely lacking. Where other provinces like B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan collect about 80 per cent of their empties, Ontario brings in only about half. "That 50 per cent number will surely fall," Bury said. "The whole system, which is not very good to start with, is just going to get worse." Buty noted that most other provinces accept non-alcoholic containers and offer far more locations for residents to return their empties. Quebec has 1,200, while B.C. has 600. Currently, the Beer Store is required to keep at least 300 locations open as part of a contract with the provincial government. But that will end as of Jan. 1. Bury fears that could mean more closures and even fewer options for returns. "The options to recover those containers are frankly disappearing," said Bury. On that same date, the province will require grocery stores that sell alcohol to accept empties for collection. Bury said that could work. It's a major component of British Columbia's successful system. "If they can do it in British Columbia, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be able to do it in Ontario," he said. But he's concerned it won't happen. The province already requires about 70 grocery stores in areas without Beer Stores to accept empties. But a report in May found that few were actually complying. Bury said the province needs to be tough with the grocers, but it should also do more. He said Ontario should open stand-alone depots for bottle returns, like Quebec and British Columbia. Heckbert said BottleWorks could help businesses that sell alcohol by taking the empties off their hands. "I could imagine that for a grocery store, space and inventory will be an issue. It's the same thing that our bars and restaurants encounter," he said.
