Thursday . . .

Don Nachbaur, head coach of the Tri-City Americans, was a guest on Dan Russell’s open mouth show from Vancouver radio station CKNW on Wednesday night. G Carey Price, who played for Nachbaur, had made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the evening. The Americans, of course, are owned by Washington Capitals G Olaf Kolzig. Asked by Russell who he’ll be cheering for when the Caps and Habs meet, Nachbaur laughed and said: “Dan, that’s an easy one. Olie’s paying me.” . . . Ever the coach, though, Nachbaur then backed up and added: “I’m hoping it’s a 0-0 tie.” . . .

The Americans have assigned D Joel Woznikoski, 18, to the BCHL's Westside Warriors. The Americans acquired Woznikoski, who spent most of last season in Westside, from the Kamloops Blazers earlier this season. . . .

D Cody Vann, 18, has left the Prince Albert Raiders for what the club says is “personal reasons.” Vann was in his third season with the Raiders and had one assist and 11 penalty minutes in four games. . . . Last season, in 63 games, he had five assists and 163 penalty minutes. . . . Vann, from Winnipeg, was the 100th pick in the 2004 bantam draft. . . .

D Ryan Gillen of the Calgary Hitmen has two goals in 169 regular-season WHL games. His second one came Sunday in Prince George, where he used to play for the Cougars. After the game, Jim Swanson of the Prince George Citizen asked Gillen, who is from Golden, B.C., how he would be describing the goal to his family. The response: “I got the puck behind the net, dangled through the whole team, and some guys were off-side so I dangled back and had to go through them all one more time — that’s three times, so I went around something like 15 players. Then I went in on a breakaway and shelfed it.” . . . Then there is what really happened: “The puck popped out and I was worried it was going to jump over my stick, because that stuff happens to me. I saw their forward, I think it was Evan Fuller, go down to block, so I just wanted to get it over him and I put it in the general direction of the open side and it went in. My role is to get it deep and turn around and play defence, so I didn’t see it go in.” . . .

The Red Deer Rebels are still be hopeful, it seems, of getting back Russian LW Kirill Starkov, 20, who had 71 points in 72 games last season. The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets had assigned him to the AHL’s Scyracuse Crunch but he then was asked to report back to Red Deer. It seems, however, that he refused and has been shipped to the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals. . . . “That’s what they’re talking about now,” Rebels head coach Brian Sutter told the Red Deer Advocate. “He’s indicated that he doesn’t want to come back to Red Deer, but we’ll see what happens. We’re trying to work on some things there, so we’ll see how that goes. It doesn’t look like he’s coming, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t, either.” . . . Starkov had a team-high 34 goals for Red Deer last season. . . .

I was going to rant about the WHL’s failure to disseminate information efficiently and completely on the 20-year-old cutdown day. But I see that Alan Caldwell over at Small Thoughts At Large, has said about all that needs saying. Amen!