F Tomas Kopecky (Lethbridge, 2000-02) signed a lockout contract with Dukla Trencin (Slovakia, Extraliga). He had 10 goals and 22 assists in 80 games with the Florida Panthers last season. . . .
D Tomas Mojzis (Moose Jaw, Seattle, 2000-03) has been assigned on loan for an indefinite period by Lev Prague (Czech Republic, KHL) to Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He has no points in five games with Lev this season.
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The Prince George Cougars have made a move in an attempt to solve some early-season goaltending woes.
The Cougars gave up a 2014 fourth-round bantam draft pick in order to acquire G Mac Engel, 19, from the Spokane Chiefs.
Engel spent the previous two seasons with the Chiefs, but lost the starter’s job to Eric Williams during last spring’s playoffs. Williams then won the No. 1 spot during training camp and the Chiefs sent Engel home to Red Deer last week to await a trade.The Cougars (5-3-1) have been going with Devon Fordyce, 18, who backed up Drew Owsley last season, and freshman Brett Zarowny, 17.
Fordyce hasn’t finished two of his last three starts.
"Every game there's been a goal that hasn't been good," Cougars head coach Dean Clark told Sheri Lamb of the Prince George Citizen. "It's not a good thing. When you're a goaltender for me you've got to stop all the easy ones and most of the hard ones, not most of the hard ones and some of the easy ones.”
Prince George general manager Dallas Thompson said the Cougars will go with three goaltenders, at least for now.
The Cougars are at home to the Calgary Hitmen tonight and will meet the Rockets in Kelowna on Thursday. Then, wouldn’t you know it, the Cougars will play three in a row against the Chiefs. They’ll play Saturday in Spokane, and Tuesday and Wednesday in Prince George.
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Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, handed out 14 games worth of suspensions to four players on Monday.
F Lucas Grayson of the Everett Silvertips drew five games for a checking-to-the-head
major in a game at Regina on Saturday. Pats F Dryden Hunt, who had just returned from a concussion, left after the hit and didn’t return. Grayson will miss games in Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Prince Albert and Saskatoon, and a home game against Spokane.F Ryan Olsen of the Kelowna Rockets will sit for three games after taking a checking-to-the-head major at Victoria on Saturday. He was penalized for a high hit on Royals D Joe Hicketts. Olsen will sit for visits by Prince George and Brandon, and won’t play in Medicine Hat on Oct. 24.
D Dalton Thrower of the Saskatoon Blades got two games for a checking-to-the-head major at Lethbridge on Saturday. Thrower didn’t play Sunday against the host Lethbridge Hurricnes, so will complete his suspension by missing Wednesday’s game against the visiting Tri-City Americans.
F Tim Vanstone of the Prince Albert Raiders will watch for four games after taking a checking-from-behind major at Moose Jaw on Saturday. F Miles Warkentine of the Warriors, who was hit by Vanstone, was left with a concussion. The Raiders start a seven-game game homestand tonight against Tri-City. Vanstone will miss that game and visits by Everett, Swift Currrent and Moose Jaw.
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F Lyndon Martell (Kamloops, Regina, 2010-12) of the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings suffered a concussion during an Oct. 6 game against the host Langley Rivermen. So far, Martell, 19, has missed three games.
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Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reported Monday that, according to the Vancouver
Giants, “the WHL has changed how it’s counting Kale Kessy’s 12-game suspension and he’ll now be available to the Giants for a Friday, Oct. 26 visit from the Victoria Royals.” . . . The Giants acquired Kessy from the Medicine Hat Tigers last week. He is serving a suspension for an incident in a game on Sept. 22. . . . Had he not been traded, he would have been eligible to return to the Tigers’ lineup for an Oct. 26 game in Calgary. . . . While Kessy was Tigers’ property, he sat out six games. From Oct. 12 through Oct. 25, inclusive, the Giants are scheduled to play four games. . . . ———
The Red Deer Advocate reports that Rebels G Patrick Bartosak has vacated the Chateau
Bow Wow.Bartosak, a 19-year-old Czech sophomore, returned to practice yesterday after being suspended by the club late last week.
“It was a disciplinary thing that has been dealt with,” Brent Sutter, the Rebels owner and general manager, told the Advocate. “He understands it, he knows why (he was suspended). I don’t think we need to go any deeper with it than that.
“It was something that had to be done. He’s a great kid and he’s obviously a heck of a goaltender, one of the best in our league.”
The Rebels are at home to the Kamloops Blazers tonight.
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The Tri-City Americans, who are on their six-game East Division swing, stopped at a
Tim Hortons outlet in Moose Jaw on Monday before making their way to Saskatoon.“Tim Hortons is about $350 richer,” Jim Hiller, the Americans’ head coach, jokingly told Annie Fowler of the Tr-City Herald.
The Americans are 2-0-0 on their swing. They are in Prince Albert tonight and Saskatoon on Wednesday.
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F Rodney Southam of the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts has signed with the Tri-City Americans. The 5-foot-11, 167-pound Southam, 16, has 10 points, five of them goals, in his first five games with the Contacts. . . . Southam was listed by the Americans in July. Last season, as a rookie with the Contacts, he had 23 points and 93 penalty minutes in 43 games. . . . Southam will be with the Americans on Wednesday when they play the Blades in Saskatoon.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings have assigned F Quintin Lisoway, 17, to the MJHL’s Steinbach
Pistons. Lisoway, a ninth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft, had one assist in three games with the Wheat Kings. Last season, he had 46 points with a midget team in Omaha, Neb. . . . The Wheat Kings, who left Monday on the longest road trip of their season, are carrying 24 players, including eight defencemen and 14 forwards. . . . The Wheat Kings (5-3-1) open the swing tonight in Medicine Hat.———
F Cody Fowlie, who was released last week by the Everett Silvertips, has signed with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Fowlie got caught up in the 20-year-old numbers game after the Silvertips claimed D Connor Cox, who had been dropped by the Saskatoon Blades. That left Everett with four 20s, meaning one had to go. That one was Fowlie, who turns 20 on Nov. 5. Fowlie had 40 points, including 14 goals, in 72 games last season with Everett.
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The QMJHL’s Val-d’Or Foreurs fired head coach Marc-André Dumont on Monday. Assistant
coach Mario Durocher moved up as head coach. Dumont was in his fourth season as head coach. The Foreurs are 4-6-0 and in fourth place in the six-team West Division. Dumont said he already is looking for an assistant coach. . . .Meanwhile, the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles have dismissed general manager Pierre Roux. Head coach Ron Choules will handle the GM’s duties on an interim basis. Interestingly, Roux was hired in May 2011 to replace Mario Durocher. The Screaming Eagles are 2-6-3, sixth in the six-team Maritime Division
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Jack Todd writes an entertaining read in Monday editions of the Montreal Gazette. Part of this week’s piece was ‘The Top 10 Things We Don’t Miss About NHL Hockey:
10. Foghorn Dreghorn telling us that “TSN has just learned that the Stanley Cup is awarded to the team that wins the NHL playoffs.”
9. Barry Melrose, with or without the mullet.
8. Pierre Gauthier.
7. Leaf fans waving tin-foil Stanley Cups after the team wins two in a row in October.
6. Scott Hartnell’s hair.
5. Brian Burke’s 21,375th interview.
4. Morning skates.
3. “We just have to stay focused and take it one game at a time.”
2. Lobotomized fans watching themselves on the big scoreboard.
And the No. 1 thing we don’t miss about NHL hockey? Don Cherry.
For Todd’s complete column, click right here.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Saskatoon Blades (@blades hockey): “Hey @justinbieber, the members of @blades hockey wanted to send out an invite to come practice with the team when your in Saskatoon tomorrow.”
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If you haven’t seen this right here, well, give it a look. It’s a music video that involves members of the Red Deer Rebels taking off on the latest fad — Gangnam Style. . . . It also features members of the morning crew from Red Deer radio station The Kraze 101.3. . . . The star of the show, however, is Morris Flewwelling, the obviously fun-loving mayor of Red Deer. . . . If you’re wondering where Brent Sutter, the Rebel’s owner and general manager, is in the video, well, if you look behind the flower beds at about the 1:27 mark.
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