F Zdeněk Blatný (Seattle, Kootenay, 1998-2001) has been released by mutual agreement by Dornbirn (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). He had eight goals and two assists in 25 games. . . .
F Richard Mueller (Brandon, Saskatoon, Calgary, 1998-2003) has signed a one-year extension with Löwen Frankfurt (Germany, DEL2). This season, in 38 games, he leads his team in scoring with 47 points, including 28 goals, in 38 games. . . . The Frankfurt general manager is Rich Chernomaz (Saskatoon, Victoria Cougars, 1979-83 . . . Frankfurt’s head coach is Tim Kehler, who was an assistant coach with Swift Current (2007-10). . . .
F Jakub Langhammer (Spokane, 2002-04) has signed for the rest of this season with Dresdner Eislöwen (Germany, DEL2). He had been released on Wednesday by Regensburg (Germany, Oberliga) at his request so that he could sign with Dresden. He had two goals in two games with with Regensburg.
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The Saskatoon Blades visit the Broncos in Swift Current tonight. That means Blades D Brycen Martin gets to face his former team for the first time. Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has more right here, and Martin doesn’t mince words when he explains how he believes things went south for him in Swift Current.
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No WHL player has put up better numbers of late than G Evan Sarthou of the Tri-City Americans. Before losing 7-5 in Portland on Sunday, Sarthou had put up four shutouts in his previous five starts. With G Eric Comrie on the roster of Canada’s national junior team and now injured, Sarthou has made 20 straight starts. . . . Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald has more right here.
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In the last few games, the Kootenay Ice has lost twice to the Saskatoon Blades and once to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, two non-playoff teams. The Ice gets a chance to undo some of the damage when it begins a seven-game homestand tonight against the Regina Pats. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has more right here.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors, under general manager Alan Millar, have taken a long, hard look at all aspects of their scouting game. It resulted in the firing of head scout Rob MacLachlan last week, even though he had the rest of this season and next left on his contract. Marc Smith of discovermoosejaw.com takes a look right here at all that happened and why it happened.
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Dave McLellan, the GM and head coach of the junior B Nelson Leafs, has been suspended for the balance of this Kootenay International Junior Hockey League regular season. The ruling came down after the Leafs were found to have played an ineligible player for nine games. . . . Bruce Fuhr of the Nelson Daily has more right here.
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F Charlie Zuccarini of the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters has been suspended for the balance of this season and the playoffs after he slashed a referee during a game last weekend. . . . From Shelton, Conn., Zuccarini is a 20-year-old, meaning that his junior career is finished. . . . He has committed to Arizona State U. . . . During the game against the Coquitlam Express, Zuccarini was hit with a match penalty after slashing referee Kirk Wood on one wrist. . . . According to a news release from the Smoke Eaters, Zuccarini “took responsibility for his actions and did not question that he was in the wrong.” . . . He had 56 points, including 27 goals, in 45 games. . . . The Smoke Eaters' news release is right here.
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Note to Jim Hiller: All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. If you haven’t already, put it on your reading list.
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The CFL’s B.C. Lions announced Thursday that they have signed received Austin Collie, who has a history of concussions. A couple of days before he signed, but with Collie's signing somewhere in the CFL said to be imminent, Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press filed an interesting column that is right here.
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“The rate of concussions among NFL players fell 25 per cent this season, according to the league, even as injury reporting and trips to injured reserve list rose overall,” writes Howard Fendrich of The Associated Press from Phoenix, site of Sunday’s Super Bowl. . . . That is especially interesting considering the increased attention on concussions these days. . . . Fendrich’s story is right here.
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Here’s how Ray Ratto of CSNBayArea.com summed up the NFL’s concussion report:
“The NFL said concussions were down 25 percent in 2014, which is fine. They said it. Means nothing though, since their protocols for reporting are still laxly supervised and are left to individual teams and (worse) to individual players who feel pressure to play through the haze. Plus, the NFL has lost its right to be believed anyway.
“So congratulations to all players who didn’t have a concussion in 2014. Whoever you are.”
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“A new study of NFL retirees found that those who began playing tackle football when they were younger than 12 years old had a higher risk of developing memory and thinking problems later in life,” writes Ken Belson of The New York Times. “The study, published in the medical journal Neurology by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine, was based on tests given to 42 former NFL players, ages 41 to 65, who had experienced cognitive problems for at least six months. Half the players started playing tackle football before age 12, and the other half began at 12 or older.” . . . The complete story is right here.
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If you are wondering about concussions in the WHL this season, it is impossible to keep track. There is no transparency in the WHL when it comes to injuries and it’s impossible to count concussions by anecdotal evidence.
In many WHL markets, the media types who cover the teams don’t concern themselves with trying to identify injuries, other than going with upper- and lower-body information, as supplied by the league.
However, judging by anecdotal evidence and the number of “upper-body injuries” there have been and continue to be in the WHL, I would suggest that the number of concussions incurred by WHL players isn’t decreasing.
There also have been at least three players suffer concussions in fights in recent games.
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F Barrett Sheen, 16, has signed with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. An undrafted list player, Sheen is from Airdrie, Alta. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder is playing for the midget AAA UFA Bisons, who play out of Strathmore, Alta. . . .
Vancouver is scheduled to visit Everett tonight, which means Giants D Mason Geersen and Silvertips F Nikita Scherbak will renew what has turned into quite a rivalry. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province has more right here. . . . Ewen also points out that the Giants have yet to say who will replace injured G Payton Lee on their roster for the weekend. . . . Vancouver D Clayton Kirichenko, out since Nov. 26 with an undisclosed injury, is expected to return tonight. . . .
The Saskatoon Blades, who are expected to be without D Kolton Dixon, F Luke Gingras and F Mitch Skapski due to undisclosed injuries tonight in Swift Current, have added F Brayden Uhrich and D Mackenzie Dwyer to their roster. . . . Dwyer is a 17-year-old Winnipegger who is playing for the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers. He was an 11th-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Uhrich is the younger brother of Saskatoon F Josh Uhrich. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that F Brett Stovin, the team’s captain, is listed as probable due to an undisclosed injury.
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Only in Canada. Stick tape and sock tape in the vending machine with the candy and chips pic.twitter.com/ISDOc9s3g6
— Thom Beuning (@ThomBeuning) January 29, 2015
There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.
The Saskatoon Blades lost a pair of players Thursday when D Ryan Coghlan and F Landon Welykholowa left for junior A teams. . . . Coghlan has joined the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, while Welykholowa is off to the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons. . . . Coghlan, a 19-year-old from Nanaimo, had six points, including two goals, in 22 games with the Blades. He started the season by going pointless in two games with the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Welykholowa, an 18-year-old Calgarian, was pointless in one game with the Calgary Hitmen, then had five goals and four assists in 31 games with the Blades. . . . The Blades brought in F Brayden Uhrich, younger brother of F Josh Uhrich to practice and he may make his WHL debut tonight in Lethbridge. Brayden, 17, has been playing minor hockey in Rosetown, Sask., after going to camp with the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Blades will be without F Garrett Armour, who will be serving a two-game WHL suspension for a boarding major he incurred on Saturday.
F Ty Ronning is expected to be in the Vancouver Giants’ lineup tonight for the first time this season. Ronning, a first-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft, has been out since injuring a collarbone during the exhibition schedule. . . . Last season, as a freshman, Ronning had 20 points, nine of them goals, in 56 games. . . . Ronning, 17, is the son of former WHL and NHL F Cliff Ronning. . . . The Giants, who are at home to the Medicine Hat Tigers tonight, have also brought in D Matt Barberis. He was the 20th overall pick in the 2013 bantam draft and is playing with the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget League. He is from Surrey, B.C.
Regina Pats fans are expected to get their first look at F Jake Leschyshyn tonight against the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Leschyshyn, 15, was acquired this week from the Red Deer Rebels and is expected to be a key component on the Pats’ roster in future seasons. After all, Red Deer selected the Saskatoon native with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 bantam draft. . . . He is eligible to play five games with the Pats before his team, the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers, has its season end. . . . Asked by Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post about the trade, Leschyshyn replied: “I was pretty shocked at first. But with the Memorial Cup being held there (next season) I know Red Deer is definitely going to be stacking up to try to win the whole thing. Regina on the other hand is looking to build for the future. I thought I’d fit well in Regina.” . . . Leschyshyn’s father, Curtis, is a former WHL and NHL defence man who coaches his son with the Blazers. Last season, Curtis was an assistant coach with the Saskatoon Blades, working under head coach Dave Struch, who now is the Pats’ lead assistant.
The Prince George Cougars have signed G Patrick Gora, an 18-year-old from St. Albert, Alta. Gora was a ninth-round pick by the Regina Pats in the 2011 bantam draft. He has been playing with the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks, going 19-4-1, 1.98, .922. . . . Gora is expected to join the Cougars in time for tonight’s game in Victoria against the Royals. . . . The Cougars are carrying three goaltenders, with Gora joining Ty Edmonds, 18, and Tavin Grant, 16. 
F Nic Petan, who starred for Canada as it won the gold medal in the 2015 World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, won’t play for the Portland Winterhawks tonight when they meet the Chiefs in Spokane. Petan apparently is ill.
F Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings is playing a regular shift, killing penalties and manning a point on the power play. He’s a 16-year-old freshman whose father played with the Wheat Kings and Buffalo Sabres, whose uncle was an NHL defence man and whose grandfather played in the CFL. Paul Wiecek of the Winnipeg Free Press has more 
Bob Green, who had a whole lot to do with the building of the Edmonton Oil Kings into a Memorial Cup championship team, is being promoted within the Edmonton Oilers organization. Bob McKenzie, the Ultimate Insider, tweeted Thursday that Green “has been elevated to oversee EDM player development.” . . . Green has been the Oilers’ director of free agent amateur scouting. . . . Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal has more 
In Victoria, F Dryden Hunt, in his first game with Medicine Hat, scored the winning goal and added an assist as the Tigers got past the Royals, 3-2. . . . The game had been scheduled for Wednesday, but the Tigers were waylaid in Revelstoke, B.C., because the Trans-Canada Highway was closed due to avalanche control. They weren't able to get to Victoria until Wednesday night. . . . Hunt and D Kyle Burroughs, who were acquired this week from the Regina Pats, made their Tigers debuts. . . . Hunt’s 15th goal gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead at 10:29 of the third period. It came via the PP. . . . Burroughs drew an assist on Hunt’s goal. . . . Hunt now is riding an 11-game assist and point streak. . . . Tigers D Ty Schultz, a 17-year-old freshman from New Westminster, B.C., broke a 1-1 tie with his first goal at 4:08 of the third. He was the 16th overall pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . F Austin Carroll had two assists for the Royals. . . . D Joe Hicketts was back in Victoria’s lineup after helping Canada win gold at the WJC. . . . F Alex Forsberg made his debut with the Royals after coming over from the Saskatoon Blades, while G Justin Paulic, acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors, was on the bench in support of Coleman Vollrath. . . . The Tigers (28-9-3) have won four in a row. . . . The Royals (20-19-3) had a three-game winning streak end.
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