Tuesday's notes . . .

The WHL exhibition season gets started tonight with the Moose Jaw Warriors meeting the Raiders in Prince Albert. . . .

The most interesting battle in the Chilliwack Bruins’ camp may be for the backup goaltending position. Starter Matt Esposito is coming off a knee injury but is expected to be ready to be the go-to guy. Right now, Mark Friesen and Lucas Gore all in the scrap to be the No. 2 guy. Friesen, 17, is from Winkler, Man., and played for the midget Pembina Valley Hawks who are based out of Morden. He also played for Manitoba at the Canada Winter Games. Gore, who turns 17 in October, was with the major midget Thompson Blazers, who play out of Kamloops. . . .

The Red Deer Rebels are down to 28 players, including three players who will attend pro camps — LW J.D. Watt (Calgary Flames), C Brett Sutter (Calgary) and G James Reimer (Toronto Maple Leafs), as well as 15-year-olds Alex Petrovic and Connor Redmond. The latter two will leave after playing in an exhibition game or two. . . . Red Deer has assigned G Adam Gingras, 18, to the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs. . . . In camp, along with Reimer, are goaltenders Morgan Clark, 17, who played last season, and Travis Rolheiser, 18. . . .

F Jan Fadrny (Brandon/Kelowna) has signed with Zilina in the top Slovakian league. He was with Vsetin of the Czech Extraliga (the top league) last season. . . .

The Brandon Sun’s James Shewaga reports that the hockey community in the Wheat City raised $9,535 at a recent barbecue to benefit Wheat Kings trainer Rob Stouffer, who is fighting liver cancer. "I'm speechless. I honestly don't know what to say," Stouffer told Shewaga. Stouffer is preparing for a ninth round of chemo in Winnipeg next week. "You always know that Brandon is a great community, they back everybody and
everything ... but to see that kind of support, it makes you feel humble." . . . The Wheat Kings have created an alumni association and this was one of that group’s first official functions. "I would say it was an overwhelming success," said former Wheat King captain Ken Schneider, who is on the association’s executive. . . .

No announcement appears to have been made but there is an interesting sight on the Kootenay Ice website where the name of Carter Sears now appears as a scouting consultant. Sears was the head scout who was credited by many hockey people for shaping the 2001 Memorial Cup-winning Red Deer Rebels. He parted company with the Rebels a while later. . . .

Former Kamloops Blazers head coach Mark Ferner made his debut Tuesday as GM/head coach of the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers, who beat the host Westside Warriors, 3-2. “It was a good game by both sides,” Ferner told the Kelowna Daily Courier’s Doyle Potenteau. “Obviously, this being
preseason, we have to work on some areas because we were sloppy in some areas. But we’ve been going pretty hard, as I’m sure Westside has, too. The guys were a little tired and some of our younger guys were pretty
nervous, not knowing what to expect. But as the game went on, we got
better.” . . .

Alan Caldwell, over at Small Thoughts At Large, has been compiling and posting training camp rosters. Take a look through his link to the left.