Wednesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: F Travis Brigley (Lethbridge, 1993-97) has been released by Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga). Brigley had 14 goals and 11 assists in 22 games for Olimpija this season. . . . G Aleksandr Fomichev (Calgary, Seattle, 1997-2000) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (Russia KHL). Fomichev was released last week by Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia KHL). Some followers of the blog might better recognize Nizhny Novgorod by its communist era name of Gorky. . . . D Ivan Baranka (Everett, 2003-05) has signed a two-year contract extension with Spartak Moscow (Russia KHL). The extension takes the contract through the 2011-2012 season. Baranka has three goals and 12 assists in 31 games for Spartak this season. . . .
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Two players from the WHL — F Tyler Johnson of the Spokane Chiefs and F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks — have been named to the U.S. national junior team that will play in the World Junior Championship in Regina and Saskatoon. . . . Johnson, who was born and raised in Spokane, played on the U.S. team last season. . . . Walker made the team despite undergoing surgery earlier in the month to repair facial injuries suffered when he was struck by a puck. Walker was born in New Haven, Conn., while his father, Gord, was playing professionally.
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G Alex Pechursky officially joined the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday. The Russian goaltender, who was selected by the Americans in the CHL’s 2009 import draft, was a fifth-round selection by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL’s 2008 draft. He had been with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Continental Hockey League but had gotten into only one game. . . . “I have been on this since the beginning,” Americans general manager Bob Tory told Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Drew (Owsley) is still our guy, but he can’t play 70 games in fear of burning out or risk of injury. With the type of season we’ve had, it only makes sense to have two quality goalies in the second half of the season.” . . . . Prior to the Christmas break, Owsley had played in 1,947 minutes over 34 games, while backup Brett Martyniuk had played only 154 minutes in seven games. Owlsey is 25-8-0-0 with a 2.50 GAA and a .917 save percentage.
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The WHL announced Wednesday that it and FSN Northwest have cut a multi-year deal making “FSN Northwest the WHL’s exclusive Pacific Northwest cable broadcast home starting with this season.” The deal runs through 2011-12. The network will televise a minimum of 10 regular-season games each season.
Here is this season’s schedule:
Jan. 8: Everett at Seattle, in Kent, Wash. (tape delay), 9:30 p.m.
Jan. 13: Portland at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
Jan. 15: Everett at Chilliwack, 7 p.m.
Jan. 22: Everett at Portland, 7:35 p.m.
Jan. 29: Seattle at Spokane, 7 p.m.
Feb. 5: Seattle at Portland, 7:35 p.m.
Feb. 12: Spokane at Everett, 735 p.m.
Feb. 19: Everett at Tri City, 7 p.m.
March 5: Seattle at Spokane, 7 p.m.
March 12: Tri-City at Spokane, (tape delay), 11 p.m.
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The interesting thing about that agreement being announced Wednesday is that the schedule, with one change, appears on Page 18 of the WHL’s 2009-10 Guide. . . . The schedule in the Guide has a Seattle at Kelowna game on March 5 being televised. The game that will be shown on March is Seattle at Spokane.
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F Drew George won’t be joining the WHL’s Regina Pats, despite having skated with them earlier this month. Instead, it seems he will be joining the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings. There’s more from Greg Harder right here.
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Damien Cox of the Toronto Star has a thought-provoking look at Hockey Canada’s cash cow, aka the World Junior Championship, right here.