Penticton Vees GM/coach Fred Harbinson a hot commodity
The hottest prospect with the Penticton Vees might be general manager and coach Fred Harbinson, if you believe the rumour mills.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Harbinson, who is fresh off leading the Vees to the RBC Cup national Junior A tournament, has been approached about an assistant’s job with the University of Wisconsin Badgers. He would only tell the Journal, “I haven’t applied for any job openings in college.”
Meanwhile, WHL circles also have the Vancouver Giants considering him for their head coaching spot. Ted Nolan, the former Buffalo Sabres bench boss, is among those who have also been linked to that gig.
Contacted on Thursday, Harbinson, 43, was preparing for the Vees spring camp, which started later in the day, and maintained, “that’s what I’m concentrating on.” As for the various job possibilities, Harbinson played coy, explaining, “there’s a lot of interesting things going on in the hockey world right now.”
Penticton lost 2-1 in overtime to Ontario’s Carleton Place Canadians on Saturday in the RBC semifinals in Portage la Prairie, Man.
The tournament host Portage Terriers beat Carleton Place 5-2 in the Canadian final on Sunday.
This season marked the second time in four years that Penticton has advanced to the RBC. They won the Canadian banner in 2011-12, after setting various BCHL records with their 54-4-0-2 regular season.
Penticton was a BCHL-best 44-9-3-2 during the 2014-15 season.
Harbinson, a Calgary native, has been at the helm of the Vees since 2007-08. Prior to that, he was in the NCAA as an assistant at Minnesota’s St. Cloud State for five seasons.
Harbinson is best known for his recruiting. That 2011-12 team included eight players from Minnesota, highlighted by defenceman Mike Reilly, 21, who is getting all sorts of attention these days as a pending unrestricted NHL free agent after forgoing his senior campaign at the University of Minnesota.
This season, Harbinson landed hotshot 16-year-olds Tyson Jost and Dante Fabbro, who are being billed in some corners as potential firstround picks for the 2016 NHL draft.
Fabbro, a defenceman, has said he plans to return to Penticton next season. Jost, a forward, has completed high school early, according to Harbinson, and might try to land with an NCAA team for 2015-16. If he doesn’t, he, too, is looking at coming back to Penticton, according to Harbinson.
It will be interesting to see if that has any tie to what Harbinson ends up doing. Conversely, will Fabbro or Jost go another route if Harbinson doesn’t return?
Jost led the Vees in goals, scoring 33 times in 67 combined regular season and playoff games. He added 26 assists. Fabbro was third in assists on the team in BCHL play, amassing 40 in 65 combined BCHL regular season and playoff games. He had also tallied eight times. Junior A is generally dominated by older players more so than major junior because it permits more 20-year-olds. The WHL, for instance, allows three 20-year-olds per team. BCHL clubs can have up to six. Five of the 10 Junior A leagues across the country allow up to nine 20-year-olds per team.
Jost, who’s from Leduc, Alta., but played his bantam with the Kelowna-based Pursuit of Excellence, was picked seventh overall by the Everett Silvertips in the 2013 WHL bantam draft. Fabbro, from Coquitlam and a Burnaby Winter Club product, was selected eighth overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds that same year.