Tuesday notes . . .

C Jim O’Brien has joined the Seattle Thunderbirds and will practise with the team on Tuesday afternoon. O’Brien, Ottawa’s first-round pick, 29th overall, in the NHL’s 2007 draft, has been with the Senators while rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery. He left the U of Minnesota after being drafted by and signing with the Senators. The Thunderbirds play home-and-home -- in the Little Apple on Friday and in Seattle on Saturday -- with the Kelowna Rockets this weekend and O’Brien is expected to play in both games. . . .

The Thunderbirds have dealt C Cody Hanson, 17, to his hometown Regina Pats for a conditional 2009 bantam draft pick. The conditions weren’t disclosed. Hanson was a 2005 first-round pick (16th overall). He had 42 points in 42 games with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians last season. . . .

Doug Sauter, the mustachioed one, is in the news these days after gaining control of a team of Belgian horses that had become spooked while pulling a wagon during the Oklahoma State Fair. Sauter, a former WHL goaltender who went on to a lengthy career as a WHL GM and coach, now runs the Central league’s Oklahoma City Blazers. It seems Sauter put the bite on one of the horses -- chomping on an ear -- in order to get the out-of-control team back under control. "That's how you stymie a horse," Sauter told the Oklahoman newspaper. "You bite as hard as you can, and it won't move." . . . These days, they're calling Sauter 'Iron Mike' . . .

The Swift Current Broncos have dealt C Brady Leavold, 20, to the Kelowna Rockets for a conditional bantam draft pick. Neither the year nor the conditions were revealed. . . . The Broncos were left with four 20-year-olds, one over the league maximum, when they acquired LW Erik Felde from the Tri-City Americans. Their other 20s are D R.J. Larochelle and D Michael Wilson. . . . Leavold had 50 points in 132 games with the Broncos over the last three seasons. He now becomes one of four 20-year-olds with the Rockets, the others being LW James McEwan, D Lyon Messier and G Kris Westblom.