Will he, or won’t he? Is he, or isn’t he? The eyes of the Vancouver Giants and their fans are on C Casey Pierro-Zabotel . . . Pierro-Zabotel, who leads the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials, has committed to Michigan Tech but with his arrival there having been delayed until at least December there have long been rumours that he’ll end up with the Giants before this season is out . . . Those rumours picked up speed this weekend with Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reporting that Giants GM Scott Bonner had a “lengthy meeting” with player agent Kevin Epp, who is Pierro-Zabotel’s family advisor (hey, NCAA – wink, wink!) . . . Pierro-Zabotel was a third-round selection by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL’s 2007 draft. He had 116 points in 55 games with Merritt last season and has 27 in 17 games this season . . .
Garth MacBeth, our man with both eyes on the European scene, reports that F Justin Taylor (Medicine Hat/Red Deer) has signed with Metallurg Novokuznetsk (Russian Superliga). He had been with Norfolk (AHL) . . . F Ben Thomson (Medicine Hat) has moved from Klagenfurt (Austrian Erste Bank Liga) to EV Ravensburg (2.Bundesliga). Thomson had three goals and two assists in 17 games with Klagenfurt. Klagenfurt released Thomson after signing former NHLer Rob Valicevic.
Russian won the round-robin Karjala Cup in Helsinki, with Sweden second, Czech Republic third, and Finland fourth . . . Oleg Saprykin had two goals in three games for Russia and was +1 – he was the only Russian to score more than once in the tournament. Czech G Milan Hnilicka was 1-1-0 with a 3.00 GAA and .887 save percentage. D Josef Melichar had two assists and was even; Filip Novak had one assist and was +1; Vaclav Varada had one assist and was -1.
At the Deutschland Cup, in Hannover, Germany, Switzerland won the tournament, beating USA 3-2 in a shootout. Germany beat Slovakia 5-3 in the third-place game, and Japan beat Denmark 5-2 in the fifth-place game . . . Jason Holland had three assists and was -1 and Yannic Seidenberg has one assist and was -1 for Germany . . . Aaron Keller had no points and was even for Japan. G Rastislav Stana was 0-2-0 with a 3.53 GAA and a save percentage of .883 for Slovakia.
Back in the WHL, the Red Deer Rebels have dealt F Clayton Bauer, 20, and a 2008 sixth-round bantam pick to the Everett Silvertips for F Brennan Sonne, 20, and D Matt Strong, 17. Sonne is in his third WHL season and has three points and 44 penalty minutes in 19 games. Strong, a rookie, was with the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats last season. This season, he has one goal and 11 penalty minutes in 17 games. . . . Bauer will be joining his fourth WHL team. His career began with the Kelowna Rockets, who dealt him to the Kootenay Ice after two seasons. Earlier this season, the Ice traded him to the Rebels. He had eight points and 29 penalty minutes in 15 games with the Rebels.
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