D Shawn Belle (Regina, Tri-City, 2000-05) signed a tryout contract with Adler Mannheim (Germany, DEL). He didn’t have any points in nine games with the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche (both NHL) and six goals and 20 assists in 51 games with the Oklahoma City Barons and Lake Erie Monsters (both AHL) last season. The contract is through Sept. 22.
———
The Swift Current Broncos have suffered something of a blow with the departure of G Steffen Soberg.
Soberg, 18, is from Oslo, Norway, and was a fourth-round pick by the Washington
Capitals in the 2011 NHL draft. The Broncos used the sixth overall pick in the CHL’s 2011 import draft to take Soberg.He arrived at the Broncos’ training camp and was expected to be the Broncos’ No. 1 goaltender. Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Broncos, reported that Soberg “played half an exhibition game before injuring his knee and missing the Edmonton tournament.”
Soberg didn’t go to the Capitals’ camp, and the Broncos, according to Mullin, are saying that “Soberg had to leave to deal with personal issues.”
This isn’t to say Soberg won’t return to Swift Current, but his departure leaves the Broncos with Austin Smith and Steve Myland as their goaltenders.
Smith, an 18-year-old from Calgary, was a second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. Smith was 0-6-0, 4.86, .871 in 11 appearances with the Broncos last season.
Myland was acquired from the Kootenay Ice in the January blockbuster in which the Broncos surrendered F Cody Eakin. Myland, a 17-year-old from Cloverdale, B.C., played last season with the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget League. The Ice selected him in the 10th round of the 2009 bantam draft.
———
On the afternoon after his side absorbed a 10-1 loss at the hands of the Medicine Hat Tigers, GM/head coach Rich Preston of the Lethbridge Hurricanes acquired a new goaltender.
The Hurricanes picked up G Damien Ketlo, 20, from the Regina Pats for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft.The plan in Lethbridge would seem to call for Ketlo, who is entering his fourth WHL season, to partner with Brandon Anderson, 19, who has signed with the NHL’s Washington Capitals. Or perhaps the plan is to move Anderson, who would seem to be a rather valuable asset.
In speaking with Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska on Friday, he mentioned that he feels his club’s one-two punch in goal — Adam Brown, who is expected to return from the camp of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, and Jordon Cooke — is as good as any in the league.
Huska put it like this: “If we get Adam back, which we are expecting we will, we feel like we have a good one-two punch . . . some teams don’t have a one.”
That being the case, Anderson might become a really valuable chip.
Ketlo is one of four 20-year-olds on the Hurricanes’ roster, joining F Cam Braes, F Austin Fyten and F Brody Sutter.
The deal leaves Regina with three 20-year-olds on its roster — D Brandon Davidson, D Art Bidlevskii and F Garrett Mitchell, all of whom are at NHL camps.
The Pats are down to three goaltenders now — veteran Matt Hewitt, 19, and freshmen Teagan Sacher of Winnipeg, who turns 17 on Dec. 1, and Adam Beukeboom, 17, of Sundre, Alta.
———
A story in Coquitlam Now contained an interesting quote from Jon Calvano, the head coach of the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express.
His club recently had two players — Austin Carroll and Jason Fram — move on to WHL teams. Carroll, a ninth-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft, is with the Victoria Royals, while Fram, an eighth-round pick in 2010, went to the Spokane Chiefs.
“It's an old cliché, but it is what it is,” Calvano told the newspaper. “We are both in the position of developing players and both in it to win. I'd be foolish to say that the WHL is not a good league and won't open doors for players; we're just different options. When it's all said and done, I wish both players well.”
———
According to Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist, the Victoria Royals will be without D Zach Habscheid (upper body) for “up to six weeks.” D Tyler Stahl also has an upper body injury, meaning the Royals are missing two of their top four defencemen. . . . As well, Victoria F Brendan Persley is out with mononucleosis. . . . Stahl was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the sixth-round of the NHL’s 2010 draft. His injury has prevented him from joining them in training camp. . . . RW Jordan DePape (hip flexor) didn’t get on the ice a whole lot in the Kamloops Blazers’ camp before leaving to join the Winnipeg Jets’ rookie team for a tournament in Penticton. The Jets kept DePape off the ice Sunday — he did work out off the ice — but hope he can play in a game today. ———
TWEET OF THE DAY:
From D Matt Dumba of the Red Deer Rebels:
“Would rather punt my dog off a bridge than lose to Calgary.”
That was after the Calgary Hitmen beat the Rebels 4-2 on Saturday.
———
And now for something completely different. . . .
Buzz Bissinger, who wrote Friday Night Lights, provides his take on remembering 9/11. You’ll find it right here.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter
Posts
