Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: Garth MacBeth, who keeps both eyes on the European scene for us, has put together some numbers . . .
As of Saturday morning (Oct. 10), I have been able to find 230 ex-WHL players currently signed and playing in 30 different leagues in 22 countries. There are seven countries with at least 10 ex-WHL players:
Germany -- 60
Czech Republic -- 30
Russia -- 28
Sweden -- 19
United Kingdom -- 15
Austria -- 11
Italy -- 11
Other countries are Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
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There are seven leagues with at least 10 ex-WHL players:
DEL (Germany) -- 44
Kontinental Hockey League (Russia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Belarus) -- 27
O2 Extraliga (Czech Republic) -- 20
Erste Bank Liga (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) -- 15
2.Bundesliga (Germany) -- 12
Elitserien (Sweden) -- 11
UK Elite Ice Hockey League -- 11
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I heard from Jeff Paterson, a former radio voice of the Kamloops Blazers, on Tuesday morning. It seems that when you call the play of a game in which a team gives up 12 goals, well, you don’t soon forget it. And he seemed to recall that the Blazers had given up 12 goals to the Portland Winter Hawks while he was calling their games. He did a little research and, sure enough, discovered that it had happened in Kamloops on Jan. 17, 1997.
In the story I wrote on the Medicine Hat Tigers’ 12-5 victory over the Blazers in Kamloops on Monday afternoon, I referred to the Blazers never having allowed a dozen goals in one game on home ice. That, of course, turns out to be in error, as this was actually the second time.
When I checked my records, I discovered that I had that game as having been played in Portland. As Jeff points out, it wasn’t; it was played in Kamloops and it apparently is one he won’t, or can’t, forget.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have traded G Michael Tadjdeh, 18, to the Spokane Chiefs for a 2011 eighth-round bantam draft pick. A sophomore, he was 10-10-0-0, with a 3.52 GAA and a .873 save percentage last season. This season, he was 0-2 in three games when the Hurricanes sent him to await a move. . . . With the Chiefs, he joins James Reid, who has been the starter, and Chase Martin as the goaltenders. Reid will turn 19 on Dec. 15; Martin is 17.
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The deadline for WHL teams each to declare a maximum of three 20-year-old players arrived Thursday. The Saskatoon Blades got down to three Tuesday by dealing Slovakian F Milan Kytnar to the Vancouver Giants for a 2010 third-round bantam draft pick. Kytnar, who has been sidelined with an abdominal problem, was a fifth-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2007 NHL draft and has signed with them. The Blades really didn’t expect to get him back after he went to camp with the Oilers, but he was reassigned. . . . That move resulted in the Blades releasing freshman Swedish F Hampus Gustafsson, as they were prepared to go with Kytnar and D Jyri Niemi as their two imports. . . . That changed with Tuesday’s deal. . . . The Blades will go with F Derek Hulak, D Sam Klassen and F Walker Wintoneak is their 20-year-olds. . . . Kytnar, who had 64 points in 65 games last season, now is one of four 20-year-olds on the Giants’ roster, but F Garry Nunn is out for up to six weeks with a broken leg so Vancouver is likely to receive an injury exemption. D Nolan Toigo and D Ryan Funk are Vancouver’s other 20-year-olds.
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G Jacob Edwards, 17, who was released last week by the Prince Albert Raiders, has joined the AJHL’s Calgary Royals. He is from Calgary. . . . Edwards lost his roster spot when the Raiders acquired Dalyn Flette, 19, from the Brandon Wheat Kings to back up Garrett Zemlak, 20. . . . Edwards was a sixth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft.
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The Dallas Stars are wanting F Jamie Benn, formerly of the Kelowna Rockets, to shoot the puck . . . and shoot the puck . . . and shoot the puck. That story is right here. . . . Gee, I wonder if this is familiar to Rockets head coach Ryan Huska?
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And if you happened to catch Buffalo’s 6-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, you saw D Tyler Myers, who was so good with the Rockets in the latter half of last season and the playoffs. Myers was one of the best players on the ice Tuesday so you’ve got to think Kelowna has seen the last of him, unless the Sabres are on TV again.
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Thieves broke into an office in Portage la Prairie, Man., the other day and stole some hockey memorabilia. That story is right here.
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Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times checks in with former Vancouver Giants F James Wright right here.
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TUESDAY:
In Kelowna, the Tri-City Americans got 30 saves from G Drew Owsley as they beat the Rockets, 4-2, snapping the home team’s six-game winning streak. . . . Freshman F Sergei Drozd, a Belarussian, scored his first goal for the Americans. . . . Don’t look now but the Americans are 6-2-0-0 and have won four in a row. . . . Both Kelowna goals came from F Kyle St. Denis, who has six this season. Both came via the PP. . . . The Rockets are 6-3-1-0. . . . Attendance was 6,064. . . . Kelowna had seven players scratched with injuries – C Max Adolph (ankle); D Tyson Barrie (knee, shoulder); F Evan Bloodoff (knee); D Mitchell Chapman (shoulder); G Mark Guggenberger (sports hernia surgery); F Brandon McMillan (stress fracture in a toe); and D Kyle Verdino (ankle).
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In Kent, Wash., the Prince Albert Raiders jumped out to a 5-1 third-period lead en route to a 6-4 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent. . . . D Nathan Deck scored twice, set up another and was plus-4 for the Raiders (5-6-0-0), while F Ryan Harrison had a goal and three helpers and also was plus-4. . . . Seattle F Colin Jacobs was an ugly minus-5. . . . With GM/head coach Bruno Campese in Kelowna for meetings, assistant GM/assistant coach Steve Young ran the Raiders’ bench. . . . The Thunderbirds (2-6-0-1) scored three goals in a nine-minute span of the third period to get to within one before Raiders F Brandon Herrod iced it with an empty-netter. . . . Raiders G Garrett Zemlak stopped 34 shots. . . . Attendance was 3,096. . . . Earlier in the day, the Thunderbirds announced that Russian F Mikhail Sentyurin, 17, “has received his release from Moscow Dynamo and can start taking part in all T-Bird team activities.” He was Seattle’s first-round pick in the CHL’s 2009 import draft. He was a healthy scratch last night because he has yet to practise with the team. He will practise Wednesday and could play Friday in Everett against the Silvertips or Saturday at home to the Prince George Cougars.