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| Don Hay, the Vancouver Giants' head coach . . . working on a new coaching strategy? (Photo by Dan Elliott / Vancouver Giants) |
THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Richard Mueller (Brandon, Saskatoon, Calgary, 1998-2003) signed a one-month contract with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). The club has the option to extend the contract for the duration of the season. Mueller was on a two-week unpaid try-out contract he had signed last week. He had three goals and one assist in 18 games with Ingolstadt (Germnay, DEL) and five goals and five assists in 15 games with Eispiraten Crimmitschau (Germany, 2.Bundesliga) last season.
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OK. Here’s one that you absolutely have to read. You may even want to bookmark the blog address and revisit it from time to time.
The blog is titled: Eastside Stories — Diary of a Vancouver Beat Cop.
This particular entry details the visit made earlier this week by Tim O’Donovan, the Kamloops Blazers’ communications and media co-ordinator, and six of the team’s veteran players.
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You may be wondering about the photo accompanying this compilation of notes and stuff. That is, of course, veteran Vancouver Giants head coach Don Hay in the suit and tie and some hockey gear. What is he doing, you ask? He was taking part in a photo shoot for BC Business Magazine. . . . The Giants open at home to the Victoria Royals on Friday night and then visit the B.C. capital on Saturday. If you were wondering, the Giants will have to over-night in Victoria as the last ferry to mainland on weekends leaves Sidney by the Sea at 9 p.m. So the Giants will catch the ferry Sunday at 7 a.m. . . . The Kamloops Blazers will play doubleheaders in Victoria on Nov. 29-30 and Jan. 27-28. Rather than bus in the day before the first game, the Blazers will go in the day of the game. They then will spent two nights there before catching the ferry the morning after the second game. . . . By the way, Vancouver F Michael Burns will miss both those games with Victoria after being hit with a two-game suspension for a kneeing major he incurred in a Saturday exhibition game.
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It will become official tonight.
The Crushed Can is dead; long live the Crushed Can!
The Brandon Wheat Kings will meet the Moose Jaw Warriors tonight to open the WHL’s 46th regular season, and they’ll do it in Mosaic Place, Moose Jaw’s brand new multi-purpose facility.
The game will be televised on Shaw. The pre-game festivities will include appearances by former Warriors captains Mark MacKay, Mike Keane and Spencer Edwards.
Moose Jaw will be without D Joel Edmundson, who came back from the camp of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues with an ankle injury. He likely will sit for two weeks.
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The Saskatoon Blades have claimed F Jesse Paradis, 20, off waivers from the Warriors.
Paradis has 70 points and 173 penalty minutes in 239 regular-season games, split between the Kelowna Rockets and the Warriors.
His arrival in Saskatoon leaves the Blades with four 20-year-olds — the others being F Darian Dziurzynski, who is in camp with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, F Jake Trask and G Adam Morrison.
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The Columbus Blue Jackets are to return some players to junior teams today, meaning D Austin Madaisky will be on his way back to the Kamloops Blazers. The Portland Winterhawks, however, shouldn’t be expecting F Ryan Johansen back. It’s expected that Johansen, the fourth overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft and perhaps the team’s most highly touted prospect, will get a long, long look.
Meanwhile, among those on the way back are F Mark McNeill, Chicago to Prince Albert; F Brad Ross, Toronto to Portland; F Josh Nicholls, Toronto to Saskatoon;
D Dylan Buselius, Nashville to Medicine Hat; F Cole Grbavac, Dallas to Medicine Hat; G Tyler Bunz, Edmonton to Medicine Hat; D David Musil, Edmonton to Vancouver; D Brandon Davidson, Edmonton to Regina; D Colton Jobke, Minnesota to Kelowna; D Josh Caron, Minnesota to Kamloops; D Troy Rutkowski, Colorado to Portland; F Michael Ferland, Calgary to Brandon; F Brooks Macek, Detroit to Calgary; F Victor Rask, Carolina to Calgary; D Keegan Lowe, Carolina to Edmonton; D Joey Leach, Calgary to Kootenay; F Patrick Holland, Calgary to Tri-City; F Brody Sutter, Carolina to Lethbridge; F Turner Elson, Calgary to Red Deer; and F Jordan Weal, Los Angeles to Regina.
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JUST NOTES: The NHL’s San Jose Sharks have assigned F Curt Gogol, 20, of the Victoria Royals to their AHL affiliate, the Worcester Sharks. Gogol has signed with the Sharks so is eligible to play in their organization. . . . The Sharks also assigned D Sena Acolatse to Worcester. He played out his eligility last season with the Prince George Cougars. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes got F Brody Sutter back from the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, meaning the WHL team now has four 20-year-olds on its roster. The others are F Cam Braes, F Austin Fyten and G Damien Ketlo. . . . As was mentioned here the other day, G Deven Dubyk didn’t play for the Medicine Hat Tigers in a 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings in St. Alberta, Alta., on Sept. 5. The on-line game sheet originally indicated that he did play. That now has been corrected. It seems Kenny Cameron’s name should have appeared on the game sheet, as it now does. . . . Cameron and Dawson MacAuley are neck-and-neck in the scrap to back up Tigers’ starter Tyler Bunz. . . . It would appear that the BCHL has delivered a message as it has suspended Penticton Vees F Logan Johnston for 20 games. Johnston, a 20-year-old who is from Penticton and into his fourth season with his hometown team, delivered a hit in a Saturday exhibition game that broke the jaw of Coquitlam Express F Cody Michelle.
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The Edmonton Oil Kings have cut some ticket prices by 30 per cent. With the Oil Kings generally seen as a team on the rise with an abundance of young talent, it will be interesting to see how the Edmonton-and-area marketplace responds to this move. Cam Tait of the Edmonton Journal has more right here.
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As only he can do, Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail suggests that the NHL could cut down on fighting simply by trimming the number of players allowed on team rosters. MacGregor was in the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Tuesday night as the Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets engaged in two first-minute fights. His piece is right here.
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For today’s good read, we give you a scintillating piece written by former WHLer Brent Severyn (Seattle, Brandon, Saskatoon, 1983-86). Severyn was a pretty good defenceman during his WHL career. In order to get into the NHL and to stay there, he became an enforcer. He now has told his story to Sports Illustrated and it is more than a little engrossing. It is right here. Don't miss this one!
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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