Monday . . . and a new link

THE MacBETH REPORT: G Kelly Guard (Kelowna) has been released by Brunico (Italy Serie A) by mutual agreement. The club's press release states that Guard "is planning to retire." He had a 3.30 GAA and a save percentage of .894 in eight games this season. Last season, Guard split time between the China Sharks (Asian Hockey League), Vienna Capitals (Austria Erste Bank Liga) and Junior Minsk (Belarus). . . . F Kevin Marsh (Medicine Hat/Calgary/Kelowna/Red Deer) has signed with Aalborg (Denmark AL-Bankligaen). He had 15 goals and 14 assists in 40 games with Växjö (Sweden Allsvenskan) last season. Aalborg's general manager, Ole Nielsen, says: "We're looking for a great goal scorer and Kevin Marsh's merits speak for themselves. It has been important for us to find a man who knows the AL-league and has delivered the goods in the Danish league and, in this context, we cannot find a better man than Kevin Marsh. At the same time, we have in the negotiations felt that Kevin really wanted to come to Aalborg and we look forward to his debut." Marsh played for Herning in the Danish league in 2005-06 and 2006-07, getting 40 goals and 41 assists in 60 games over the two seasons.
---
MORE MacBETH REPORT: Lots of national team play this week. . . . The Karjala Cup, in Helsinki, Finland, features Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden. . . . The Deutschland Cup, in Mannheim and Frankfurt, Germany, includes teams from Canada, Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland. . . . The Euro Ice Hockey Challenge, in Oslo, Norway, has Austria, France, Italy and Norway. . . . There also are three Olympic prequalification tournaments. Group B is in Narva, Estonia, with Estonia, Kazakhstan, Netherlands and Spain. Group C is in Budapest, Hungary, with Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania and Serbia. Group D is in Sanok, Poland, with Great Britain, Japan, Poland and Romania. . . . The winners from each group advance to final qualification in February.
---
STILL MORE MacBETH REPORT: Most but not all teams have announced their rosters for these tournaments. WHLers that have been named so far include:
Czech Republic -- F Jakub Klepis (Portland; Avangard Omsk Russia KHL).
Russia -- F Oleg Saprykin (Seattle; CSKA Moscow Russia KHL).
Germany -- D Chris Schmidt (Seattle; Iserlohn Germany DEL); F Richard
Mueller (Brandon/Saskatoon/Calgary; Hamburg Germany DEL).
Japan -- D Aaron Keller (Kamloops; Oji Eagles Asian Hockey League).
---
Here is a website -- www.masseyratings.com/index.htm -- that every WHL fan should have bookmarked. Visit this website and you will discover computerized rankings of WHL teams that take into account offence, defence, wins, losses, strength of schedule, etc. Click on hockey and then junior and then WHL and there you are.
While the rankings are, of course, based on past performance and not on anticipated future performance, there also is a section that provides predictions. For example, according to the computer the Calgary Hitmen should beat the visiting Kootenay Ice 3.7-1.7 on Monday night. Calgary went into the game ranked third, with Kootenay ranked 11th. . . . Including all games played through Sunday, the Massey Ratings have the Vancouver Giants ranked first, followed, in order, by the Saskatoon Blades, Calgary, Swift Current Broncos and Tri-City Americans. Perhaps surprisingly the Spokane Chiefs are 10th. . . . I now have linked to the Massey site from this blog, so check it out and then let the discussion begin. . . . By the way, Portland fans will be interested to know that according to the Massey Ratings, their beloved Winter Hawks no longer are No. 22 in a 22-team league.
---
JUST NOTES: D Scott Maetche, acquired last week by the Tri-City Americans from the Calgary Hitmen, got into one game with his new team and now is out indefinitely a concussion. The Americans have just four healthy defencemen, with Eric Mestery (knee) and Brett Plouffe (upper body) also hurting. . . . Vancouver Giants D Jon Blum is the Husky WHL player of the month – no, this award isn’t named in honour of Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose nickname is Husky. Blum had 14 points and was plus-20 through Oct. 31. . . . LW Dana Tyrell of the Prince George Cougars is the Boston Pizza WHL player of the week after totaling seven points, including three goals, in two games. The Cougars went 1-0-0-1 in those games. Mark Guggenberger of the Swift Current Broncos is the WHL’s nominee as the ADT CHL goaltender of the week. He was 2-0-0-0, 1.00 and .966 last week.