Taking Note

The Vancouver Giants played their intrasquad game on Wedneseay night in Ladner, B.C. There were six former players acting as coaches and there were times when they had to help restore order — there were seven scraps and a near brawl. The Giants, it seems, are bound and determined to be tougher than they were last season. Steve Ewen of The Province was there and his report is right here.
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JUST NOTES: The Victoria Royals have signed D Joe Hicketts, the 12th overall selection in the 2011 WHL bantam draft. Hicketts, from Kamloops, was in the Royals’ main camp and now is in main camp. He is expected to play in the Royals’ first exhibition game tonight in Kamloops. Hicketts captained the bantam AAA Jardine’s Blazers last season, putting up 57 points in 50 regular-season games. He has been short listed by Hockey BC for the team that will play at the U-16 Western Branch Challenge in Moose Jaw, Oct. 27-30. . . . The Prince George Cougars have signed Wade Klippenstein, their assistant general manager and director of player personnel, to a two-year extension. Presumably, that takes him through 2013-14. . . .
Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Swift Current Broncos, tweeted this on Thursday morning: “The @SCBroncos have only sold 1,232 season tickets so far. That’s over 200 less than at this point last year. Scary numbers I’d say.” . . . Scary? He’s not kidding. . . . The Saskatoon Blades have signed F Landyn Hickmott, the 66th pick in the 2011 bantam draft. From Mission, B.C., Hickmott was Saskatoon’s first pick in the draft. He had 163 points in 65 games with Mission’s bantam AA team last season. . . . Saskatoon also signed F Ryan Graham, who was taken in the fifth round of the 2011 bantam draft. He had 24 points in 33 games with the bantam AAA Calgary Royals last season. . . . Thanks to the Medicine Hat Tigers for posting their roster on their website. The Tigers, you should know, are down to 39 players. . . .
G Chris Driedger of the Calgary Hitmen is out for up to four weeks with a high ankle sprain. Driedger, 17, was acquired from the Tri-City Americans in July and is expected to scrap for playing time with Brandon Glover, 19, and 20-year-old Michael Snider. . . . The Everett Silvertips have signed F Ty Mappin and F Dawson Leedahl, a pair of 2011 bantam draft picks. Mappin was the seventh overall selection after picking up 71 points, including 37 goals, in 33 games with the bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels. Leedahl, the 40th overall pick, had 127 points, 56 of them goals, in 54 games with the bantam AA Saskatoon Maniacs. The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder also piled up 196 penalty minutes.
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The Kelowna Rockets and the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints are having quite a dance over F Zemgus Girgensons. . . . Ryan Clark has the latest on his blog, Slightly Chilled, over there on the right.
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Kelly Friesen of Yahoo! Sports takes a look a 10 new faces in the WHL this season, all of them worth keeping an eye on. That piece is right here.
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that F David Greyeyes, now 20, will attempt to resume his hockey career this season.
“Constant headaches and hardly being able to exert any physical energy without vomiting were all side effects from a serious concussion he sustained in training camp with the Prince George Cougars in 2009,” Nugent-Bowman writes. “The hit from behind, administered by a teammate, quelled what was a budding career.”
The complete story is right here.
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Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post is of the opinion that fighting in hockey has outlived its usefullness.
His column is right here.
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Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail offers up his thoughts on the  crisis that has wrapped its tentacles around the game of hockey. That piece is right here.
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We go back to March 24, 1997, for today’s good read. Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated takes a look at hockey’s enforcers in a story headlined: The World Job In Sports. . . . Pour a cup of coffee and give this a read. It’s right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
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