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wxy1123
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Dec 6 2012, 01:11 AM
Post #1
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- Posts:
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MONTREAL -- Scott Mellanby wasnt happy as a coach and couldnt resist when the chance came up to work for the team he loved as a child. Aldon Smith Womens Jersey . Mellanby was announced Monday as director of player personnel for the Montreal Canadiens, as new general manager Marc Bergevin continued to rebuild the clubs management team. The announcement followed the hiring on Friday of management veteran Rick Dudley as assistant general manager and the extension of the contract of assistant GM Larry Carriere, a holdover from former GM Pierre Gauthiers administration. Mellanby, a Montreal native, spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. He found that coaching is not in his blood. "Coaching is something you have to have a passion for because of the day-to-day grind," he said on a conference call from his home in St. Paul, Minn. "The management side allows you have a more even keel. "You can control your schedule more. In coaching, youre never home." Mellanby played 21 NHL seasons as a big, scoring forward until he retired after the 2006-07 season. Before trying his hand at coaching, he spent a year as an advisor to the general manager and another as a pro scout, both under Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gilles. Bergevin has opted to have a specific person in charge of player personnel, while previously the work was only part of Carrieres job title. Mellanby will oversee players on the NHL club, in the minor league system and prospects in junior leagues and in Europe. He will be part of the group making decisions on trades, free agents and other acquisitions. "Scott has an impressive background and a commanding knowledge of the league, having played for 21 seasons in the NHL before holding various management positions over the last four years," Bergevin said in a statement. "Scott is known for his character and his leadership, which made him a great team captain during six seasons with the Florida Panthers and the Atlanta Thrashers. "He has extensive knowledge of the game, is well respected in the hockey circles and will become an important asset for our organization." Mellanby said that when his friend and former teammate Bergevin asked St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong for permission to talk, he jumped at the chance. "Whats not intriguing?" Mellanby said. "Its the Montreal Canadiens, the greatest franchise in our sport. "Plus I always thought about working with Marc. My contract was expiring and I wasnt thrilled about coaching. It all came together." He said Montreal was the only team he talked to about a job. Mellanby played 1,431 NHL games, amassing 364 goals and 476 assists as well as 2,479 penalty minutes. He also played 136 playoff games with 24 goals, 29 assists. The son of former Hockey Night in Canada executive producer Ralph Mellanby spent the first six years of his life in Montreal before the family moved to Toronto, but he said he remained a Canadiens fan. "I grew up idolizing the Canadiens, Guy Lafleur in particular," he said. "I referred to (broadcaster) Dick Irvin as my uncle while growing up." With the front office taking shape, Bergevin still needs to decide on a head coach to replace former interim bench boss Randy Cunneyworth. Frank Gore Red Jersey . -- Mark OMeara is the latest big name to pull out of the 2012 Montreal Championship. Kendall Hunter Womens Jersey . Campoli tore his hamstring on Oct. 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. To make room for him on the blue line, Alexei Emelin will be made a healthy scratch. Catch the action regionally on TSN Canadiens beginning at 7:30pm et/8:30am pt. http://www.sanfrancisco49ersroom.com/frank-gore-jersey . Outfielder Lucas Duda broke his right wrist while moving furniture last month at his apartment in Southern California. Carlos Rogers Womens Jersey . Ben Revere and Denard Span can still put on quite the skills competition. Joe Montana Jersey . Chris Abongo, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi and a rural development consultant, said that China is ensuring that its aid and loan programs to Africa go more directly to people at the grassroots level and are on a larger scale.MONTREAL -- Marco Di Vaio wasted no time in connecting with his new fan base on Monday. Di Vaio made his first comments in French, his second language, after the Montreal Impact introduced their newly-signed Italian striker as the Major League Soccer teams first designated player. The Serie A veteran was touched when he and his family were greeted by a crowd of some 150 Impact fans upon arrival at Trudeau International Airport on Sunday night. He decided to return that courtesy by reaching out in French as soon as the opportunity presented itself. "Merci, beaucoup," Di Vaio said at Mondays introductory news conference. "Bonjour tout le monde." The 36-year-old Italian internationals wife and daughter looked on as Di Vaio continued to speak in measured but comfortable French, thanking Bologna, his former team in the top Italian league, for allowing him to leave to play in Montreal. "Its an honour for me to be here to work with the Impact in the MLS," said Di Vaio, who flew with his family via London. "Its not easy for me right now but I hope my French will get a little bit better." Di Vaio then alternated between French and Italian throughout the press conference at the Impacts downtown offices. Di Vaio, who scored 142 goals in 342 games in Serie A, joins fellow Italians Matteo Ferrari and Bernardo Corradi, the latter who is expected to team with his countryman up front. "I know they brought me here to score goals," Di Vaio said in Italian, with his comments translated into French by Impact sporting director Nick De Santis. "Ive done that throughout my whole career and thats the challenge in front of me. Im excited about everything to do with building up a new team together. I want to be a part of this team, not just as an individual but as part of the group, as well." Di Vaio will take a two-week vacation with his family in Florida. He will be eligible to play for Montreal when the international transfer window opens on June 27. "I could have probably stayed and played at the highest level in Italy,&" Di Vaio said. Randy Moss Jersey. "I felt that it was time for me to move away and try something new. The Italian championship is very demanding and I just felt that there was a new experience that I wanted to try." The team store had an Impact "Di Vaio" No. 9 jersey on display. "I want to thank Marco and his family as well for believing in the Impact," said team owner Joey Saputo. Having noted that he had delivered on his promise of signing a designated player, Saputo offered a fans perspective assessment of Di Vaio. "He happens to be at the right place at the right time in order to score the right goals," Saputo said. Two days after seeing his team drop a second game in a row with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss at Colorado, head coach Jesse Marsch was all smiles about his newest player. "For our team I think hes the perfect fit," Marsch said. "We need somebody in the attacking third that can really make sense of things and ultimately score goals. And the person that Marco is cant be remissed either because he has shown such great interest in being here. "He has already talked about how important it is to be part of a club and what thats meant for his experience at Bologna, and I know that hell add to us in that way, which I think is extremely important and cant be forgotten." Marsch expects that Di Vaio will not have a difficult transition to playing in the MLS. "Hes an incredibly intelligent player and I think more than anything thats the quality that he has. He figures out the game, he knows how to slow things down, around the goal hes quite remarkable so I think there will be an adjustment period for both him and for the team, but I expect the transition to be fairly smooth based on the fact that its still football." Whats key for Di Vaio is that its a type of soccer that he wanted to experience for himself. "I wanted to see this new soccer," Di Vaio said. "Theyre speaking a lot about MLS and North American soccer in Europe and I want this new challenge." ' ' '
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