F Petr Kalus (Regina, 2005-06) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Djurgården Stockholm (Sweden, Allsvenskan) after his release by Fassa (Italy, Serie A). He had eight goals and 14 assists in 20 games with Fassa this season. . . .
F Jeremy Williams (Swift Current, 2000-04) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Eispiraten Crimmitschau (Germany, 2. Bundesliga) after being released by mutual agreement from his contract with Sierre (Switzerland, NL B). He had six goals and nine assists in 28 games with Sierre this season.
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The Canadian Lacrosse Association has moved to get fighting out of its game.
As a result of recommendations made by a task force established by the CLA, its board of directors has approved changes to Rule 45 in the Box Lacrosse Rule and Situation Handbook.
Starting with the 2013 season, “A major penalty and game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player/goalkeeper who fights.”
As well, “if there is an instigator or clear aggressor in a fight, a major penalty and a game misconduct plus any other penalties shall be assessed to the offending player(s). Where an instigator or clear aggressor penalty is assessed the non-offending player shall not receive a game misconduct.”
“If an athlete, at any level, takes part in a fight, they will be removed from the game,” the CLA said in a news release. “Fighting in the sport is an unnecessary risk — it is a dangerous activity for any athlete to be a part of. Incidents of concussions can increase with every fight that happens; it is becoming more apparent that a blow to the head area has the potential to cause severe and long-term injury.
“The health and safety of all participants in Canada’s national summer sport is amongst the leading concerns of the Canadian Lacrosse Association.”
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If you missed it, our last poll closed earlier in the week. It began with: The disciplinary measures taken by the WHL against the Portland Winterhawks were . . .
“Far too stiff” was the runaway winner, getting 44 per cent of the 278 votes that were cast. That worked out to 123 votes.
“Just right” drew 80 votes, or 28 per cent.
“Too stiff” ended up with 45 votes (16 per cent) and “not stiff enough” got 30 votes (10 per cent).
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If you are looking for books as Christmas gifts — even if it’s a gift to yourself — here are two more suggestions, both of which are hockey related.
You absolutely can’t go wrong with Wayne Gretzky’s Ghost, a book by Roy MacGregor that is subtitled And Other Tales from a Lifetime in Hockey.
If Canada had a sports essayist emeritus, it would be MacGregor, who writes for The Globe and Mail.
This work contains a whole lot of previously published essays and it seems that every single one of them is terrific. You start reading and one just flows into another and into the one after that.
Good stuff!
Chapter One, which is titled Wayne Gretzky’s Ghost, is awfully good. I was intrigued because that chapter deals with MacGregor ghost-writing a newspaper column that carried Gretzky’s byline.
The chapter also gives the rest of the essays a tough act to follow. But MacGregor is up to the task, and we shouldn’t be surprised.
And don’t think for a moment that his book is all essays about players past and present. Because it isn’t. There is, for example, a scathing look at Hockey Night in Canada that was published in The Globe and Mail on Oct. 2, 2010. And it was as true as last season ended as it was when it first appeared in print.
If you need a hockey fix with the NHL locked out, this will get you well into 2013.
Another option is Over The Line (Wrist Shots, Slap Shots, and Five-Minute Majors), but the retired Al Strachan, who was one of the last ‘pure’ sports writers, a guy who wasn’t afraid to tell it like it is.
As he reminds us in the Introduction, he’s the guy who wrote Why the Leafs Suck “and was fired from Hockey Night in Canada as a result.”
In this book, Strachan tells story after story after story from his days covering the NHL. When he covered hockey, writers were in the dressing rooms, in the coaches’ offices and in the bars with players and coaches. So there are a lot of anecdotes here.
There also is a terrific Foreword that was written by the afore-mentioned MacGregor. “I laughed until I cried at some parts,” he writes. “And I wept for what has become of sports journalism over recent years.”
You really can’t go wrong with either book, both of which are available in soft cover.
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F Mason Wilgosh (Tri-City, 2007-12), who now plays for the U of Prince Edward Island, has drawn a 12-game suspension for a headshot during a Nov. 30 game. He won’t be eligible to return until Feb. 8, which is when UPEI plays its final regular-season game.
Monty Mosher of the Halifax ChronicleHerald has more right here.
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G Bolton Pouliot hasn’t played in more than a month but the Red Deer Rebels will turn to him tonight against the visiting Calgary Hitmen. Patrik Bartosak, the Rebel’s
starter, now is with the Czech Republic’s national junior team. . . . Spencer Tremblay will be backing up Pouliot. . . . Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate also reports that F Filip Vasko (knee), F Cory Millette (facial cut) and F Jesse Miller (undisclosed) won’t play. . . . F Adam Musil, 15, will play for Red Deer. He has 22 points in 17 games with the major midget Greater Vancouver Canadians. The younger brother of Edmonton Oil Kings D David Musil, Adam was the sixth overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft.———
TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Brandon, the teams combined for 93 shots as the Saskatoon Blades got past the Wheat Kings, 7-5. . . . Earlier in the season, the Blades lost 9-6 in Brandon. . . . F Matej Stransky had a goal and two assists for the Blades. . . . F Jayce Hawryluk led Brandon with a goal and three helpers. . . . Saskatoon G Alex Moodie stopped 35 shots, while Brandon’s Corbin Boes blocked 46. . . . The Blades have won three in a row. . . . F Brenden Walker, who was traded from Brandon to Saskatoon over the summer, broke a 4-4 at 15:06 of the third period. The Blades weren’t caught after that goal. . . .
In Cranbrook, F Tyson Baillie scored twice as the Kelowna Rockets got past the Kootenay Ice, 3-1. . . . The Rockets scored three times in the third period. . . . F Collin Shirley gave the Ice a 1-0 lead on an early second-period PP goal. . . . Baillie tied it on a PP at 12:42 of the third, with D Colten Martin’s second goal of the season, at 14:17, winning it. . . . The Rockets were without F Henrik Nyberg, who sat out the first of a two-game suspension handed out through supplemental discipline for something that happened against the visiting Prince George Cougars on Saturday. . . .
In Prince George, G Steve Myland earned his first WHL shutout as the Swift Current Broncos beat the Cougars, 2-0. . . . Myland, getting a start with G Eetu Laurikainen having left for the Finnish national junior team, stopped 17 shots. . . . Broncos F Adam Lowry scored his 17th goal as he ran his point streak to nine games. . . . D Reece Scarlett was back in the Broncos’ lineup after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. (Injured in Kelowna) . . . The game featured two minor penalties, both against the Cougars. . . . The Cougars had two 2013 bantam draft picks in their roster in F Brad Morrison and D Jansen Harkins. Harkins was the second overall pick, while Morrison went seventh overall. . . . The Broncos went 2-3-0 on their B.C. Division tour, with all three losses one-goal decisions. . . .
In Calgary, F Colin Smith scored twice in regulation time and once in the circus as the Kamloops Blazers came from behind to beat the Hitmen, 3-2. . . . With the Blazers trailing 2-0 in the second period, Smith scored to get his club to within one. He then tied it 19 seconds into the third period on a PP. . . . Calgary F Victor Rask scored the first goal of the shootout. Smith tied it and F Brendan Ranford won it after G Cole Cheveldave made a glove save on Calgary F Greg Chase. . . . Smith leads the WHL in goals (25), assists (36) and points (61). . . . The Blazers, who have won four straight, are 6-0-0 on the road in the Central Division this season. . . . Kamloops plays in Edmonton tonight. . . . The Blazers are back in sole possession of first-place overall, two points ahead of the idle Portland Winterhawks. But after tonight’s action the Winterhawks will hold five games in hand. . . .
In Seattle, F Alex Gogolev scored two goals and set up anotehr as the Victoria Royals dumped the Thunderbirds, 6-2. . . . The Royals scored the game’s first two goals and led 4-1 after the second period. . . . Gogolev has 13 goals this season. . . . The teams combined for 120 penalty minutes, with Seattle taking 70 of those. There were 18 roughing minors handed out. . . . 
In Kennewick, Wash., F Josh Winquist scored the only goal of the circus as the Everett Silvertips beat the Tri-City Americans, 2-1. . . . Winquist was the first shooter in the shootout. . . . F Justin Feser scored for the Americans, on the PP, at 17:28 of the first period. . . . Everett F CarsonStadnyk tied it at 10:46 of the third period. . . . Everett G Austin Lotz stopped 45 shots. . . . Feser goal leaves him with 285 career regular-season points with the Americans. He is tied for eighth, with co-owner Stu Barnes, on the franchise’s all-time list. F Dylan Gyori is seventh (286).———
CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Ben Walker, Victoria
F Ryan Chynoweth, Tri-City
CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None
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From Portland D Josh Hanson (@HansoloCup4): “The next person that cuts me off without giving the courteous ‘thank you’ wave will get their tires slashed. #NotEvenJoking #HaveSomeManners”
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From Vancouver G Liam Liston (@liamliston): “just wondering who’s gonig to refund me my 7 dollars and 1h37 mins of my time for watching ‘killing them softly’ . . . you let me down Brad.”
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More from Liston: “And you’re lucky that it was cheap movie night or else I’d be asking for the full 15 back #joke”
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From veteran scout Mike Fraser (@MikeFraser29), now with the Brandon Wheat Kings: “Last three games I’ve watched have each ended in ties. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. @gdrinnan #shootoutssuck”
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