Wednesday . . .

The WHL drops the puck on a new season Thursday night in Kelowna with the defending-champion Rockets facing the Vancouver Giants. . . . The Rockets will be without G Mark Guggenberger (groin) annd F Evan Bloodoff (knee). . . . The Rockets had 12 players off last season’s roster in NHL camps. They hope to have D Tyson Barrie (Colorado Avalanche) back in time for faceoff. D Tyler Myers. 19, still is with the Buffalo Sabres, while C Colin Long, 20, is with the Phoenix Coyotes. . . . F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan returned from the Detroit Red Wings and will play. . . . The Giants are without F Evander Kane (Atlanta Thrashers) and F Garry Nunn (broken leg). They found out Wednesday that James Wright, their top centre, won’t be back in time to play in Kelowna. He is with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Giants thought Wright would be back, but the Lightning held him over and may play him in an exhibition game on Friday.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Steve Kelly (Prince Albert, 1992-96) has signed a one-year contract with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 10 goals and 12 assists in 45 games with Syracuse (AHL) last season. He joins former WHL players D Greg Kuznik (Seattle, 1995-98), F Frank Banham (Saskatoon, 1992-96), and G Norm Maracle (Saskatoon, 1991-94) in Olimpija's lineup.
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If you’re a follower of the Regina Pats, or just a junior hockey fan, you will want to be on the lookout for Junior Hockey’s Royal Franchise, a book that is tentatively scheduled to hit bookstores in October. The book was written by Darrell Davis, a former Regina Leader-Post sports writer whose late father, Lorne, played for and coached the Pats, and Ron (Scoreboard) Johnston, who knows everything there is to know about the franchise and then some. Scoreboard also has a blog to which there is a link over there on the left. “Ron did all the research so there‚s no book without it,” Davis told Tim Switzer of The Leader-Post. “What I did was try to take his research and turn it into stories that complement all the wonderful statistical work that he did. It’s his passion — obsession might be a good word, too — and hopefully I didn’t damage any of his stuff. I just tried to add some of the stuff that caught my eye and turn parts of those things into stories.”
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The Edmonton Oilers reassigned/released a whack of players Wednesday night, although they weren’t expected to issue a press release until Thursday morning. However, a source has told me that G Kurtis Mucha of the Portland Winterhawks was not included. Mucha, 20, was a free-agent invitee to the Oilers’ camp and is one of five goaltenders still there.
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Congratulations to old friend Frank Kovacs, a former Regina Pats captain, who was married Thursday. He and Melissa McKnight were married in a small ceremony in Salmon Arm, B.C. One week earlier, Kovacs, 38, learned that he is among the 2009 inductees into the Regina Sports Hall of Fame. Kovacs, who is from Regina and now is a member of the Regina Police Service, is the Pats’ franchise leader in games played (352). As a 16-year-old, he was a member of the Pup Line, skating alongside fellow 16-year-olds Mike Sillinger and Jamie Heward in 1987-88.
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The Central league’s Corpus Christi IceRays have signed D Stephen Later (Saskatoon, Prince George, Brandon, 2002-05). Later is preparing for his fifth season as a pro. He spent last season with the IHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.
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Former Spokane Chiefs F Brad Schell (1999-2004) has been invited to camp by the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. The team is coached by Bill Peters, a former head coach of the Chiefs.
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The Red Deer Rebels have reassigned G Cam Gorchynski, 17, to the BCHL’s Westside Warriors. He was a fifth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. He joined the Rebels late last season and went 0-3-0-0 in eight games. . . . The Rebels now are down to 25 players.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins have assigned C Casey Pierro-Zabotel, the reigning WHL scoring champion, to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Pierro-Zabotel played out his eligibility with the Vancouver Giants last season.
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Among the players reassigned or released by NHL teams on Tuesday: C Byron Froese, from Chicago to Everett; D Teigan Zahn, from Chicago to Saskatoon; F Carter Bancks, from San Jose to Lethbridge; G Thomas Heemskerk, from San Jose to Everett; D Kevin Connauton, from Vancouver to Vancouver; F Tyler Maxwell, from Los Angeles to Everett; G Martin Jones and F Brandon Kozun, from Los Angeles to Calgary; F Linden Vey, from Los Angeles to Medicine Hat; and D Radko Gudas, from Los Angeles to Everett.
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F Tyler Ennis, who turns 20 on Oct. 6, has signed a three-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres, who took him with the 26th pick in the 2008 NHL draft. Ennis spent the last four seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers. He likely will end up with the Portland, Me., Pirates, Buffalo’s AHL affiliate.
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Leigh Mendelson, who spent last season as an assistant coach with the Spokane Chiefs, has been named an assistant coach with the Norfolk Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.
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The Swift Current Broncos have cut their roster to 25 players by reassigning D Taylor Ernst and G Austin Smith. . . . Ernst, 17, will play for the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings. He was a second-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . Smith, 16, goes to the midget AAA Calgary Royals. He was the 34th pick in the 2008 bantam draft.
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For more on the Memorial Coliseum in Portland and its recent designation as an Historic Place, check this out right here. And why do I get the feeling that this story is hardly anywhere near its end.