D Ricard Blidstrand (Regina, Prince George, 2010-12) has been assigned on loan by Västerås (Sweden, Allsvenskan) to Kallinge/Ronneby (Sweden, Division 1). The term of the loan is open-ended. Blidstrand had five goals and 21 assists in 62 games split between Regina and Prince George last season.
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As you make your way through today, please take a moment and remember the tragedy that hit the hockey world one year ago. It was on Sept. 7, 2011 that the plane carrying Lokomotiv Yaroslavl went down, killing all of the hockey team’s personnel, including former WHL player and coach Brad McCrimmon.
A memorial parade is scheduled for today in Yaroslavl and Maureen McCrimmon, Brad’s widow, and their two children, Carlin and Liam, will be there.
Eric Duhatschek of The Globe and Mail talks with Kelly McCrimmon, Brad’s brother and the owner/GM of the Brandon Wheat Kings, right here.
It also came to light on Thursday that the two pilots of that particular plane were in the air illegally. There’s more on that right here.
Tal Pinchevsky of NHL.com takes a look right here at the players and coaches who died in the crash.
And for today’s good read check out this piece right here by Scott Burnside of espn.com as he visits with Brad McCrimmon’s family.
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has a piece right here on Blades G Andrey Makarov, who rejoined the team on Tuesday. The kid had a tremendously busy summer – when will the pooh-bahs start letting these guys get away from the game for more than a few days during the summer? – and you can bet Blades’ GM/head coach Lorne Molleken will be closely monitoring the workload this season.
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The Prince George Cougars have signed D Tanner Lishchynsky, a 1995-born skater from Saskatoon. The 6-foot-0, 172-pounder played the last two seasons with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. He had 27 points in 41 games last season. . . . Lishchynsky is one of 10 defencemen on the Cougars’ roster going into a two-game set at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
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Hockey Alberta is the latest sports organization to made the decision to implement the Respect in Sport parent and activity leader programs. Respect in Sport is an on-line bullying, abuse, harassment and neglect prevention program that is the brainchild of partners Wayne McNeil and former NHL/WHL player Sheldon Kennedy. . . . There is more right here on Hockey Alberta’s decision.
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The NHL’s New Jersey Devils have signed two WHLers – D Reece Scarlett of the Swift Current Broncos and D Damon Severson of the Kelowna Rockets – to three-year entry-level contracts. . . . Scarlett was a sixth-round pick in the 2011 NHL draft. Last season, he had 49 points in 71 games with the Broncos. . . . Severson was taken in the second round of the 2012 NHL draft and attended the Devils' summer came in mid-July. Last season, he had 37 points in 56 games with Kelowna.
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JUST NOTES: D Alex Theriau, 20, of the Medicine Hat Tigers won’t play until perhaps October as he continues to recover from off-season hip surgery. . . . F Sean Aschim, 20, had been in Medicine Hat’s camp but was released and has joined the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires. . . . The WHL-champion Edmonton Oil Kings are in Prince George for games tonight and Saturday with the Cougars. Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal reports that the Oil Kings left a number of veterans at home, including F T.J. Foster, D Martin Gernat, D Keegan Lowe, F Michael St. Croix and F Henrik Samuelsson. D Griffin Reinhart did make the trip and is expected to play in at least one of the games.
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When you think of hard-hitting football players of recent times, the name Rodney Harrison may be one of the first ones to spring to mind. He’s retired now and, at the age of 39, says he is “scared to death of what may happen to me.” There’s more right here.
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You are the coach of a high school football team. You are 0-2 and have been outscored 98-8. You have 14 healthy players. You had 16 but two have missed time with concussions. What do you do? Cadott, Wisc., head coach Perry Myren called off the rest of the season. . . . That story is right here.
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