Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: D Mike Card (Kelowna, 2002-06) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Kassel (Germany DEL) after a successful tryout. Card had one assist in 19 games with Portland (AHL) last season. He has played only 42 games the past two seasons due to injuries. . . . D Ben Clymer (Seattle, 1998-99) signed a one-year contract with Ingolstadt (Germany DEL). He had three goals and 14 assists in 49 games for Dinamo Minsk (Belarus, KHL) last season. . . . F Shane Endicott (Seattle, 1997-2001) signed a two-month contract with Ravensburg (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had 26 goals and 23 assists in 36 games for Oji Eagles (Japan, Asia Hockey League) last season. The club has the option to extend the contract for the rest of the season after the two-month period.
F Steve Kelly (Prince Albert, 1992-96) reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga). Kelly had one goal and two assists in two games for Olimpija. . . . Details are sketchy about this “mutual agreement,” but it appears that Kelly was injured in a game against Salzburg on Sept. 22. Apparently, that injury turned out to be more serious than originally thought. The headline on the Olimpija website reads: Steve Kelly Ends Career. However, the team doesn’t provide any indication of the nature of the injury.
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F Mitch Wahl, 19, of the Spokane Chiefs has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Wahl, who had 67 points last season with Spokane, was a second-round pick by the Flames in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Wahl, who is from Seal Beach, Calif., has six points in five games this season.
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Well, that didn’t take long. The QMJHL’s P.E.I. Rocket fired Guy Chouinard, its director of hockey operations and head coach on Tuesday. Team president Serge Savard Jr. said the organization felt it “needed a change behind the bench.” The Rocket, which doesn’t play until Saturday, didn’t name a replacement, but did say that Corrado Micalef will stay on as an assistant coach. . . . And you’re wondering: How bad is the Rocket’s record? . . . The Rocket is 5-3-0-2.
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There were a few former WHL players in Tuesday’s ECHL transactions.
The Ontario Reign has added D Mike Egener to its training camp roster, while F Dwigth King was assigned by the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
The Toledo Walleye have added F Adam Hobson, who was assigned by the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. Also on his way to Toledo is F Dan Bertram, who once was highly recruited by the Vancouver Giants, who selected him second overall in the 2002 bantam draft.
The Victoria Salmon Kings have signed F Matt Pettinger to a tryout deal.
And the Utah Grizzlies have added F J.D. Watt, after he was reassigned by the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat.
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F Brett Connolly of the Prince George Cougars still was on crutches Tuesday and the team says he won’t play for at least two or three weeks. Connolly, the CHL’s rookie of the year last season, aggravated a hip flexor injury Saturday night and left a 9-2 loss to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes in the third period. . . . The Cougars next play Friday when they meet the Blazers in Kamloops.
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TUESDAY’S GAME:
In Prince Albert, F Igor Revenko scored twice to help the Raiders to a 4-2 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . Revenko’s second goal broke a 3-3 tie with 3:56 left in the third period. He has six goals this season. . . . The Raiders (4-4-0-0) leave Wednesday morning for Spokane where they meet the Chiefs on Friday. . . . The Ice (3-5-0-0) was playing the first game of a road trip in which it will play six games in 10 days. . . . F Matt Fraser scored twice for Kootenay, while F Steele Boomer and F Kevin King each had a goal and two assists. . . . Attendance was 1,824.
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In Swift Current, the Broncos held their annual general meeting on Tuesday and announced a net profit of $158,285 for its last fiscal year. This is the third straight year in which the Broncos have recorded a profit, following $89,550 in 2008 and $161,603 in 2007. . . . According to the Southwest Booster: “The Broncos announced a $779,554 loss in hockey operations but, as usual, made up for it with additional revenue streams such as $252,196 from promotions and advertising. Four home playoff games helped keep the club in the black with $99,308 in playoff revenues. Other notable revenues included a sizeable contribution from the Hockey Hounds in the form of $130,507.”
The Southwest Booster story is right here.
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Dan Kinvig of the Abbotsford News has a nice story on former Everett Silvertips G Leland Irving, who is with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat. That story is right here.
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Some of you may enjoy watching WHL games on our home computer. The company that provides the software that makes that possible has changed hands. That story is right here.
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Could it be that tickets are moving slowly for the 2010 World Junior championship in Regina and Saskatoon? Organizers have repackaged some tickets and put them on sale. That story, from Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post, is right here.
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The Everett Silvertips come out of hibernation — actually, they’ve been practising through a 10-day gap in their schedule — to play host to the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday night. The teams meet again in Everett on Sunday. At one point, the Silvertips beat the Winterhawks in 13 straight games. Now, though, the Winterhawks are 5-1-0-0 and rolling. . . . Everett head coach Craig Hartsburg is in his first WHL season. Here’s what he told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald: "All I know is what I've seen this year, and there's not much struggle to their game. They play a really skilled, fast game. To me, from what I've seen and based on their start, I think they're probably the best team in the league right now.” . . . Now you don’t suppose a WHL coach would try blowing smoke before a game, do you? Nah, never happen.
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The Kelowna Rockets again will be without D Tyson Barrie, F Max Adolph and D Mitchell Chapman when they play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday night. All three were injured in the first period of a 4-1 loss to the Blazers in Kamloops on Sept. 25. . . . Barrie (knee, shoulder) skated by himself on Monday as he began to work towards a return perhaps in a week. . . . Chapman (shoulder) is skating but won’t play until next week at the earliest. . . . Adolph (ankle) has yet to return to skating.
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The Saskatoon Blades added some toughness to their lineup Tuesday with the acquisition of F Randy McNaught, 19, from the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . Going the other way is F Jamie Crooks, 17, and an undisclosed conditional bantam draft pick. That pick likely will be contingent on McNaught playing as a 20-year-old. . . . The 6-foot-5, 221-pound McNaught has 32 penalty minutes in six games and has been in four scraps. He had five fights in 2007-08 and six last season. . . . Crooks, who has been getting fourth-line time with the Blades, won the Alberta midget AAA league scoring champion last season. He had 71 points in 33 games with the Lloydminster Bobcats.
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The Blades will be without F Milan Kytnar, 20, on Wednesday when they play host to the Kootenay Ice. Kytnar has the dreaded upper body injury. He is one of four 20-year-olds on the Blade’ roster, the others being F Derek Hulak, D Sam Klassen and F Walker Wintoneak. The deadline for teams to get down to three is Oct. 15.
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If you missed it, former Vancouver Giants F Milan Lucic signed a three-year extension Tuesday with the Boston Bruins. Lucic will get US$12.25 million over the three years of the deal, which is to expire after the 2012-13 season. If Lucic, 21, getting a contract like that isn’t motivation for major junior players to buckle down and work hard, nothing will be. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that the Calgary Flames are expected to announce any day now that they have signed Giants captain Lance Bouma to a three-year NHL contract. Bouma, 19, was a third-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft. Like Lucic, Bouma is a banger and a disturber who plays a high-energy game. “I just heard about Lucic’s deal today and it’s pretty cool that it happened for us at the same time,” Bouma told Ewen. “This is huge for my confidence. I don’t have to worry about when they’re going to sign me or if they’re going to sign me. I can just go out and play my game, and that will help me out and hopefully help our team out.”
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The big game Wednesday has the Calgary Hitmen in Brandon to meet the Wheat Kings. The Hitmen go in at 5-1-0-0, having lost 4-3 to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors on Sunday, while the Wheat Kings are 4-2-2-0. . . . Brandon is one of five East Division teams with eight points. . . . The Hitmen, don’t forget, took out Brandon in four games in the Eastern Conference final last spring. . . . The Wheat Kings are listing F Toni Rajala (knee) as probable. He has yet to play this season.