More from Wednesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: Tonight (Wednesday) marked the first exhibition game of the upcoming season in Finland, where Sport Vaasa (Mestis) beat Kärpät Oulu (SM-Liiga) 4-2 in front of 1,681 people (the rink in Vaasa seats 4,300). Lou Dickenson (from the first season of Making the Cut) had two assists for Sport, the defending Mestis champions. . . .
Here are the starting and ending dates and number of games in the regular season for the major leagues in Europe . . .
FINLAND (SM-Liiga) — 58 games. Starts Sept. 10; ends March 20.
SWEDEN (Elitserien) — 55 games. Starts Sept. 21; ends March 13.
RUSSIA (KHL) — 56 games. Starts Sept. 10; ends March 7.
CZECH REPUBLIC (Extraliga) — 52 games. Starts Sept. 9; ends
March 5.
SLOVAKIA (Extraliga) — 51 games. Starts Sept. 11; ends March 9.
GERMANY (DEL) — 60 games. Starts Sept. 3; ends March 21.
SWITZERLAND (NL A) — 50 games. Starts Sept. 11; ends March 6.
AUSTRIA (Erste Bank Liga) - 54 games. Starts Sept. 10; ends
Feb. 19.
ITALY (Serie A1) — 45 games. Starts Sept. 26; ends March 2.
DENMARK (AL-Bank Ligaen) — 40 games. Starts Sept. 25; ends
March 2.
NORWAY (GET-Liga) — 45 games. Starts Sept. 12; ends March 2.
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Garth MacBeth had hoped to include the UK Elite League and the Asia Hockey League but, like the WHL, they apparently have yet to release their 2009-10 schedules.
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MacBeth adds that the temperature reached “an all-time record high in Seattle today (103F, 39.5C), breaking the old record of 100 set in 1941 and tied in 1994. . . . At 8 p.m., it was 101F in Seattle. . . . Somebody noted that it was 84F in Hell, Mich., so “we can truly say that Seattle is hotter than Hell.”
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On that note, I think it hit 38C in Kamloops, where the city will set records for most July days over 30C and most days over 35C. . . . Hockey season, and the coolness of the arenas, can’t get here soon enough.
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D Nolan Toigo of the Vancouver Giants has accepted a free-agent invite to the Vancouver Canucks’ rookie camp. Toigo, 20, left the Giants in October 2007, joined the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles and then returned to the Giants for last season’s playoffs. It’s anticipated that Toigo will be one of Vancouver’s three 20-year-olds this season. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province also reports that Giants G Jamie Tucker, 18, is going to camp as a free agent with the Columbus Blue Jackets, while F Craig Cunningham, 18, will skate with the New York Rangers. Cunningham recently attended a Rangers’ prospects camp. . . .
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As expected, the Vancouver Giants have signed D Kevin Connauton, 19, who played last season at the U of Western Michigan. He had 18 points in 40 games with the Broncos. Connauton was a third-round pick by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2009 NHL draft. . . .
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Former WHL GM/head coach Rick Wilson, an NHL assistant coach for 20 years, has signed on as associate coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Wilson will work with the Lightning’s defencemen. He spent the last 16 seasons with the Dallas Stars but was swept out the door when Joe Nieuwendyk took over as GM and redid the coaching staff.