Thursday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Garrett Bembridge (Saskatoon, 1997-2001) signed a one-year contract with Eispiraten Crimmitschau (Germany 2.Bundesliga). He had 27 goals and 26 assists in 51 games for Riessersee (Germany 2.Bundesliga) last season. . . .
D Josef Melichar (Tri-City, 1997-99) signed a six-month artist’s contract with Linköping (Sweden Elitserien). Under Swedish tax law, a player who signs a six-month artist’s contract does not have to pay tax in Sweden but cannot be physically in Sweden for more than six months. Melichar had five goals and nine assists in 52 games for Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic Extraliga) last season. He was on a try-out contract earlier this summer with HV Lev Poprad (Slovakia, KHL). However, the team was not able to resolve issues and receive permission from the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation to play in the KHL, so the KHL removed HV Lev from the league for this season and every player was released. . . .
F Ryan Watson (Lethbridge, 1998-2000) signed a one-year contract with Ritten/Renon (Italy Serie A). He had 16 goals and 18 assists in 37 games with Cortina (Italy Serie A) last season. . . .
F Curtis Billsten (Red Deer, Everett, Lethbridge, Kootenay, 2002-07) signed a one-year contract with Herne (Germany Oberliga). He had 11 goals and 18 assists in 41 games for the Laredo Bucks (Central Hockey League) last season.
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F Mikhail Sentyurin, who had five points in 41 games last season with the Seattle Thunderbirds, is on the preliminary roster of the NAHL’s Wichita Falls Wildcats as they prepare for the league’s season-opening Showcase that opens Sept. 15. Sentyurin, from Russia, was the lone import on Seattle’s roster when last season ended. . . . The Thunderbirds picked two players in the 2010 import draft, taking German F Marcel Noebels with the 10th pick and grabbing Swiss D Dave Sutter with the 34th selection.
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Jarrod Skalde is the new head coach of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, who go into the approaching season as the defending champions. Skalde spent the last two seasons as head coach of the IHL’s Bloomington Prairie Thunder. He resigned earlier in the week. Skalde, a second-round pick by the New Jersey Devils in the 1989 NHL draft, played 115 NHL games during a 17-year pro career.
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It would seem that the next owner of the NHL’s Dallas Stars will be either Bill Gallacher or Tom Gaglardi. Gallacher, of course, owns the Portland Winterhawks. Gaglardi is the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Stars owner Tom Hicks has said a deal should be done by Oct. 6, which is opening day for the NHL’s 2010-11 season. . . . Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News has the latest right here, including news that News Corp. has said it won’t be bidding on the Stars.
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Bill Wilms, a familiar voice and face to WHL fans, has won his third straight B.C. super-senior golf championship. Wilms, an analyst on Vancouver Giants radio broadcasts and Dan Russell’s partner on Shaw telecasts, shot a 69 on Thursday at the Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in the Fraser Valley to win the championship for golfers 65-plus. “It’s like being the tallest midget,” Wilms told Dan Kinvig of the Abbotsford News. “But the super-senior is a nice consolation prize if you can’t win the (senior) tournament.” . . . Wilms finished 10th overall in the senior championship.
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Gerry Warner of the Cranbrook Dailky Townsman has a heart-felt tribute to the late Bobby Kromm, one of hockey’s most under-appreciated coaches. That piece is right here.