Wednesday. . . .

The Prince George Cougars will have a new player in their lineup this weekend. F Matt Sokol, an 18-year-old free agent, will play Friday and Saturday against the visiting Chilliwack Bruins. Sokol, who is from Los Angeles, played 63 games last season with the Portland Winter Hawks and had 12 points and 55 penalty minutes. He had one goal in three games with Portland this season. . . .

Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights? . . . On the heels of D Michael Hengen, 20, leaving the Edmonton Oil Kings for “personal reasons” earlier this week comes news that F Scott Skrudland, 19, also has left the WHL expansion team. Skrudland, who is from Winnipeg, is expected to return home and play in the MJHL. . . . The Oil Kings now have a 21-player roster -- most teams carry 23 -- so you can expect some movement there. . . .

The WHL will announce the roster for its ADT Challenge games against a Russian team at a news conference today in Calgary. . . . Yes, the series should have been cancelled this year after the September-October Canada-Russia series. . . . In the four years of the ADT series, the WHL is 8-0 and has outscored the visitors, 47-11. This year’s games, scheduled for Medicine Hat and Cranbrook, won’t be any different. . . .

The OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs canned head coach Bruce Cassidy prior to Tuesday‘s game in Sudbury. The Frontenacs, 2-9-0-1, then lost 4-0 to the Wolves with director of hockey operations Larry Mavety in as the interim head coach. . . . If you‘re counting, that‘s seven straight losses for the Frontenacs.