Thursday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: F Sergei Varlamov (Swift Current, 1995-98) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Dinamo Minsk (Belarus, KHL). Varlamov started the season with Sokol Kiev (Ukraine, plays in Belarus League), getting five goals and 19 assists in 22 games. Last season, he had no goals and four assists in 25 games split between Severstal Cherepovets (Russia KHL) and SKA St. Petersburg (Russia KHL) and one
assist in two games with HC VMF St. Petersburg (Russia High League).
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The Vancouver Giants, with shutouts from three different goaltenders this season, appear poised to try for a fourth.
They have acquired G Derek Tendler from the Regina Pats and it is anticipated that he will be given an opportunity to win their starting job.
The Giants got Tendler, who turns 18 on Jan. 1, Regina’s first pick in the 2010 import draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft for F Cass Mappin, who turns 19 on Sunday, D Mitch Spooner, 17, and F Mikael Jung, 17.
The Giants’ roster includes goaltenders Mark Segal and Jamie Tucker, both of whom are 18. Each has put up one shutout this season, with Segal, who joined the Giants late last month from the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, having blanked the visiting Chilliwack Bruins 5-0 on Wednesday. The Giants also used Brendan Jensen, 16, who picked up one shutout before being assigned to the NAHL’s Wenatchee Wild.
Tendler got into one game with the Pats this season, playing four minutes. He has been with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins. He is 5-6-1-0 with a 3.14 GAA and a .904 save percentage. Tendler was a fifth-round pick by Regina in the 2007 bantam draft. Two seasons ago, he played for the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians and was the Saskatchewan league’s MVP.
Spooner was the 19th overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft. With the Pats, he will slide into the spot created earlier in the week when D Alex Pym, 18, chose to leave the team.
Jung, the younger brother of Edmonton Oil Kings G Torrie Jung, was a sixth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. Mikael has nine points in 27 games with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals.
The Giants acquired Mappin from the Red Deer Rebels on Sept. 29, with F Andrej Kudrna going the other way. Mappin’s stay in Vancouver was hampered by the flu and a shoulder injury.
Mappin and Spooner are to meet the Pats in time to play against the Hurricanes in Lethbridge on Friday.
F Carter Ashton and F Craig Orfino, who were acquired by the Pats on Wednesday from Lethbridge, should play Friday against the Tigers in Medicine Hat.
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post asked Pats’ general manager Brent Parker, who has acquired five players in the last two days, if he was through dealing.
“Am I done? For today,” Parker told Harder. “I don’t envision us doing too much more, if anything. We wanted to do some of this stuff before Christmas to give ourselves a chance to have a little longer to get some cohesion. We’ll let things settle out now. The trade moratorium starts at the beginning of next week. We don’t envision doing anything at all prior to that.”
The WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10.
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D Steve Chaffin has announced his retirement from the WHL‚s Seattle Thunderbirds. "After consulting with team doctors, my family and the T-Birds, I have decided to retire from hockey," Chaffin, an 18-year-old from Calgary, said in a press release issued Thursday. "I have enjoyed my three years with the T- Birds but after suffering multiple concussions I have decided not to risk further injury." . . . "Steve will take the rest of this year to determine his field of interest and will move on to make use of the WHL scholarship (program)," said Seattle GM Russ Farwell. "This is the purpose of our scholarship program and we expect Steve to make full use of this benefit."
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F Kyle St. Denis of the Kelowna Rockets won‚t play again until sometime after Christmas. St. Denis returned from a concussion to play Tuesday against the Broncos in Swift Current. However, he suffered another head injury during the game and wasn‚t able to finish. He has flown home to Trail, B.C., for the Christmas break.
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The QMJHL’s Lewiston Maineiacs have fired president and head coach Don MacAdam and assistant coach Jamie Dumont. The Maineiacs have lost 14 straight and are 10-21-0-1, which has them last in the Central Division. Replacements haven’t yet been named.
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F Tayler Jordan of the Portland Winterhawks will sit for three games after being suspended by the WHL for a game misconduct he received in the first period of a 4-3 OT victory over the Silvertips in Everett. Jordan was tossed after squirting referee Andy Thiessen with a water bottle. . . . This was the seventh suspension of Jordan's WHL career.
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D Blaine Tendler, 19, is back playing hockey. John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Daily Herald reports that Tendler has joined the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers. Tendler was in training camp, preparing for a fourth season with the Prince Albert Raiders, when he left the club, saying he had lost his passion for the game. The Raiders have listed Tendler as an AP.
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The AHL’s Toronto Marlies have released D Andy Rogers (Calgary, Prince George, 2002-06) from his pro tryout contract. Rogers, 23, was pointless with 29 penalty minutes in six games. The Tampa Bay Lightning selected him with the 30th selection of the NHL’s 2001 draft.
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The QMJHL has taken steps to deal with what it terms “unlawful draft practices.” The QMJHL press release dealing with that is right here.
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You have to think that Mark MacKay is a proud father these days. MacKay was the WHL’s rookie of the year in 1984-85 in his only season with the Moose Jaw Warriors. In fact, he was the top rookie as a 20-year-old player. . . . His son, Matt, played for the Warriors before being dealt to the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Both experienced the rivalry between the Warriors and the Regina Pats. And Matt, knowing that the Pats will be in Medicine Hat on Friday night, chatted with Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News. . . . “It is one of those things, where I still hate them,” Matt said. “That is how bad it gets. I still don’t like playing against them. I still have that bad blood against them. It is going to be one of those things where I am sure it will carry over for me to the game. . . . It is how Medicine Hat is here with Lethbridge. You come into it. Guys are already talking about the rivalry. It is almost like one of those brainwashing things. Night in and night out when you play the Pats when you are in Moose Jaw you don’t like them. It is almost a playoff atmosphere every time we played against them.” . . . You just know his father can relate to that.