Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Moose Jaw Warriors have released veteran F Jesse Paradis as they work to get down to the maximum of three 20-year-old players.
Paradis played a season and half with the Kelowna Rockets before landing in Moose Jaw during the 2008-09 season. He has put up 70 points, including 27 goals, and 173 penalty minutes in 239 regular-season WHL games.
The Warriors are left with four 20-year-olds in their camp, thanks to the arrival of G Deven Dubyk, who was claimed off waivers from the Medicine Hat Tigers. Dubyk had joined the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos and it was thought he might stay there as they are the host team for the RBC Cup this season.
Also on the Warriors’ roster are F Sebastian Svendsen, F Brett Lyon and D Collin Bowman, who is in camp with the New York Rangers. Should the Warriors keep Svendsen, who is from Denmark, he would be a two-spotter — an import and a 20-year-old.
Dubyk joins two other goaltenders in Moose Jaw — Brandon Stone, 18, and freshman Spencer Tremblay, 17.
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There is an interesting aside to the Dubyk story.
Of course, he started training camp with the Medicine Hat Tigers, having backed up Tyler Bunz there last season.
The Tigers met the Edmonton Oil Kings in St. Albert, Alta., on Sept. 5 and the WHL’s on-line game sheet shows that Dubyk started, played 29 minutes 37 seconds, and gave up three goals on 22 shots in a 3-2 loss.
However, Dubyk told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald that he didn’t get into any exhibition games with the Tigers. In fact, Dubyk sayd he didn’t even make the trip to St. Albert for that game.
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The Red Deer Rebels are down to 28 players after moving three players off their roster. F Trace Elson, who turns 17 on Nov. 25, will play for the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders. D Kevin Pochuk, 16, will join the MJHL’s Winnipeg Saints. G Dawson Guhle, who turns 19 on Oct. 15, was released and is expected to play for the AJHL’s Kamrose Kodiaks. . . . The Rebels still have five players at NHL camps. . . .
The Kootenay Ice got its roster down to 27, including five players in NHL camps, by moving four players on Sunday. G Wyatt Hoflin 16, is off to the midget AAA team in St. Albert. D Dylan Schellenberg, 18, is to join the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. F Jared Iron, 17, is to play for the SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves. F Kurt Johnas, 17, will be with the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. . . . The Ice is without G Nathan Lieuwen (Buffalo) and F Drew Czerwonka (Edmonton), with three others — D Joey Leach, D James Martin and F Max Reinhart – in camp with the Calgary Flames. . . . The Ice roster includes three goaltenders and eight defencemen. . . .
The Prince Albert Raiders got down to 26 players by releasing F Brock Balson, 18, and reassigned F Joey Santucci, 17, and D Matt Waseylenko, 18. . . . Balson, a third-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, had three points in 48 games last season. . . . Santucci is likely to play in the BCHL, while Waseylenko is expected to join the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks.
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F Steve MacIntyre is with the Pittsburgh Penguins now and the 6-foot-5, 250-pound winger is ready to bang and fight his way through another hockey season.
“I might have a couple screws loose, but you know what?” he told Jonathan Bombulie of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice. “I enjoy it.”
That story is right here.
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Here’s veteran NHL writer Kevin Paul Dupont, in the Boston Globe:
"Three NHLers, all of whom made their living chiefly with their fists, died far before their time this summer. RIP Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak, none of whom I knew better than their on-ice performances. To say, though, that it’s mere coincidence that three guys who were like-minded in their careers all came to anguishing, premature ends? That’s the same kind of connecting of the dots that kept Whitey Bulger a free man in Malibu. Look, I don’t have the answer. No matter who has it, I am willing to bet a lot of people who love hockey won’t accept it. But I do know, as I stated in this space back in June, it’s time for fighting to be taken out of the game. The deaths of these three young men don’t make that case in its entirety. But I am convinced they make part of it, adding more to a mosaic that probably never will be fully understood. Sometimes, though, you just have to say there’s enough of the picture to complete the idea."
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Among the players returned to WHL teams from NHL camps have been F Mitch Elliot, by Washington to Seattle; G Mac Carruth, by Chicago to Portland; D Richard Nedomlel, by Detroit to Swift Current; G Kent Simpson, by Chicago to Everett; F Zach Franko, by Detroit to Kelowna; F Brooks Macek, by Detroit to Tri-City; F Marek Tvrdon, by Detroit to Vancouver; D Martin Gernat, by Edmonton to Edmonton; F Kristians Pelss, by Edmonton to Edmonton; D Ricard Blidstrand and F Campbell Elynuik, Philadelphia to Regina; F Austin Fyten, from Philadelphia to Lethbridge; D Sam Grist, from Philadelphia to Tri-City; F Marcel Noebels, from Philadelphia to Seattle; F Brendan Ranford, from Philadelphia to Kamloops; D Harrison Ruopp, from Phoenix to Prince Albert; and D Justin Weller, from Phoenix to Red Deer.
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The Portland Winterhawks started out with 15 players at NHL camps and still are missing a dozen. They open the season Friday against the visiting Everett Silvertips at the Rose Garden.
The Winterhawks will raise two pennants — U.S. Division and Western Conference champions — but may have only a few players off last season’s roster on hand.
Right now, they’ve got G Mac Carruth, D William Wrenn and D Tyler Wotherspoon back from NHL camps. F Seth Swenson, F Brendan Leipsic and D Derrick Pouliot also played on last season’s club and are back. However, Leipsic didn’t play in the exhibition season due to an injury.
On Monday, the Winterhawks announced that they have signed D Layne Viveiros, 16, who was a ninth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft.
Viveiros is the son of former Prince Albert Raiders D Emanuel Viveiros, who coaches in Austria and also is head coach of the Austrian national team.
Layne played last season in Austria, but he was born in Edmonton so was eligible for the bantam draft.
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The Edmonton Oilers have released three WHLers from their ATO deals, meaning F Chase Schaber and F Colin Smith will be on their way back to the Kamloops Blazers, while D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen will return to the Vancouver Giants. . . . The Oilers also released F Brett Ferguson and D Tyler Schmidt, both of whom played out their junior eligibility last season and are going the Canadian university route. Ferguson, who played last season with the Red Deer Rebels, will attend the U of Alberta, while Schmidt, from the Tri-City Americans, will go to the U of Manitoba. . . . The Oilers also assigned F Toni Rajala (Brandon, 2009-10) to Ilves Tampere of the Finnish Elite League. . . . The Washington Capitals released F Thomas Frazee, who completed his junior eligibility last season with the Kamloops Blazers. Frazee is headed for the U of Calgary. . . . D Madison Bowey of the Kelowna Rockets, who suffered a knee injury on Sept. 9 in a game in Kamloops, is listed as week-to-week. . . .
The NHL’s Ottawa Senators have signed F Mark Stone of the Brandon Wheat Kings to a three-year contract. Stone, who had 106 points in 71 games last season with Brandon, was a sixth-round pick in the 2010 NHL draft. . . . The Swift Current Broncos have scheduled their annual shareholders’ meeting for Oct. 5. . . . The Victoria Royals are down to 26 players, including three goaltenders, and GM/head coach Marc Habscheid told Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist that there won’t be any more cuts before the weekend. The Royals play the Giants in Vancouver on Friday and then play host to the Giants the next night. . . . Victoria still has two forwards — Kevin Sundher and Curt Gogol — at NHL camps. Sundher is with the Buffalo Sabres, Gogol with the San Jose Sharks. . . . The Royals are carrying three goaltenders — Braden Gamble, 20, Keith Hamilton, 19, and Jared Rathjen, 17. . . . As of late Monday, there were fewer than 500 tickets left for the Royals’ home-opener. The Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre seats 7,000. . . .
D Joel Edmundson of the Moose Jaw Warriors came back from the camp of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues with an ankle sprain and is week-to-week. . . . D Ryan Jorde (Tri-City, Lethbridge, Moose Jaw, 1997-2002) has returned to North American after playing the last two seasons in Europe. He has signed with the Central league’s Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. Last week, the Killer Bees signed D Scotty Balan (Regina, Saskatoon, 1997-2002). He spent last season playing in the Netherlands.
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Eri Morath of The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Tom Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, may have some competition as he attempts to purchase the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
“The price tag for the Dallas Stars hockey team, expected to be as much as $265 million even without competing bidders, could be on the rise,” Morath wrote. “Chuck Greenberg, who doggedly pursued the Texas Rangers baseball team through a bankruptcy-court auction last year, announced Monday via his attorney that he is eyeing the Stars.”
That complete story is right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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