Wednesday . . .

Yes, I’m back. . . . After a seven-day Alaskan cruise and a quick trip to Edmonton (my wife got to see Neil Diamond in concert), I am back so tell all your friends and fellow fans that this is the gathering place. . . . And here we go . . .
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THE MacBETH REPORT: D Dan Mercer (Red Deer/Moose Jaw/Spokane/Calgary) signed with White Caps Turnhout (Belgium). . . . F Adrian Foster (Saskatoon/Brandon) signed with Red Bull Salzburg (Austria Erste Bank Liga) after successfully completing his tryout.
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Some WHL moves of note from the last few days. . . .
Sept. 15: Prince George released RW Isak Quakenbush, 18, who had been acquired earlier from the Seattle Thunderbirds for F Colin Haas, 19.
Sept. 15: Moose Jaw trades LW Giffen Nyren, 19, and a 2010 fifth-round bantam draft pick to Kamloops for fourth- and fifth-round picks in the 2009 draft. (The Blazers will move Nyren back to defence in hopes of adding some experience at that position. The 2009 fifth-round pick that went to Moose Jaw had been acquired by the Blazers from the Warriors in an earlier deal.)
Sept. 17: Prince Albert trades C Jared Jagow, 20, to Seattle for a conditional ninth-round pick in the 2010 draft. (It’s interesting that Seattle now has three 20-year-olds, all of them having arrived from Prince Albert. The other two are LW Devon Leblanc and LW Ashton Hewson.)
Sept. 17: Regina trades D Dallas Jackson, 19, to Prince George for a 2010 fourth-round bantam draft pick.
Sept. 17: Red Deer trades D Mike Scarborough, 18, and D Dominic Perrault, 17, to Regina for a 2009 sixth-round pick and a 2010 fifth-round pick.
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Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s hanging judge, has been busy. . . . D Ian Barteaux of the Kootenay Ice will sit out Thursday’s season-opener and two more games, the result of a boarding major and game misconduct at Lethbridge on Sept. 13. . . . A reminder that Dan Russell will have the call of tonight’s game – Spokane vs. Kootenay at Cranbrook – on Shaw Cable. . . . C Wacey Hamilton of the Medicine Hat Tigers will miss their opener with a one-game suspension from a cross-checking major and game misconduct against Red Deer on Sept. 13. . . . But the big one went to Saskatoon C Mike Reich, who drew an eight-game sentence after he picked up a match penalty for gouging an eye belonging to Regina D Victor Bartley on Sept. 13. Reich, who was hit hard at least in part because he is a multiple offender, maintained his innocence. "Missing three weeks of hockey is like someone getting thrown in jail for three weeks for something they didn't do," he told Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. "They have no physical evidence that I did it. I didn't eye gouge him. If I wanted to eye gouge, I could have ripped his eyeball out. I didn't do it." . . . Reich, who drew four games in suspensions from three incidents last season, went after Bartley after the Regina defenceman hit Blades F Darian Dziurzynski with a check that resulted in a broken nose. The league reviewed that check and ruled that it was a legal hit, with Bartley’s shoulder catching Dziurzynski in the face. . . . As for the suspension to Reich, Doerksen told Wolfe: "Those (situations) are difficult for us. We have one player saying he did; we have one player saying he didn't. In this particular case, we had both linesmen directly involved and from their reports, I was quite comfortable that there was some type of action in and around that face area." . . . Wolfe pointed out that last season’s stiffest suspension was seven games in duration and went to Vancouver F Garet Hunt for charging.
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Saskatoon C Chris Langkow, 19, who was acquired last season from the Spokane Chiefs, didn’t play in the exhibition schedule due to an ankle injury. He has been cleared to play in Friday’s opener against Prince Albert, though. . . . The Edmonton Oil Kings will be without F Braeden Adamyk (broken jaw) for up to six weeks. He was injured while blocking a shot in an exhibition game against the Prince George Cougars. . . . Among the team captains named are Regina D Victor Bartley, Brandon D Keith Aulie and Everett C Zack Dailey. . . . The Kelowna Rockets settled on Adam Brown, 16, as the backup to starting goaltender Torrie Jung. Brown, from Yorba Linda, Calif., is the son of Newell Brown, a former professional defenceman who now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. . . . Former WHL commissioner Dev Dley is to be officially welcomed as a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia on Friday. Dley, who lives in Kamloops, was named to the post in June. He had been practising law in Kamloops. . . . Red Deer D Luke Egener, 20, is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and has been cleared to play in their opener Friday in Calgary. But two other Rebels defencemen – Joel Kot (back) and Justin Weller (leg) – aren’t expected back before the second half of October. . . . Red Deer F Josh Cowen, who suffered facial injuries while blocking a shot on Sept. 6, sat out three exhibition games but should play Friday.
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Tony Aasman, a longtime hockey fan and minor hockey coach, executive and organizer, died in Medicine Hat on Wednesday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 47. Aasman, the father of Prince Albert D Ryan Aasman, got to coach the Tigers in an exhibition game with the visiting Raiders earlier this month. Ryan, 16, has been told by the Tigers to take as much time as he needs before returning to the club. A funeral will be held Monday, 1 p.m., in the Kinplex in Medicine Hat.
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Here’s a note written by Vern Faulkner of the Prince Albert Daily Herald:
“It is custom that the Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce lunch functions begin with a prayer from director Joe Bexson.
”On Wednesday, during the luncheon where Prince Albert Raiders GM and coach Bruno Campese spoke, Bexson asked for a little help from above.
"Please, don't let us finish last again,' he said. "In the Lord's name, Amen."