THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Tim Kraus (Vancouver, Regina, 2003-08) signed a one-year contract with the Dundee Stars (Scotland, UK Elite). He had one goal and one assist in four games with the Wichita Thunder (CHL) and no points in one game with the Dayton Gems (CHL) last season. Kraus was in camp with the Denver Cutthroats (CHL) on a try-out basis earlier this month but did not make the Cutthroats' season-opening roster.
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The CHL’s weekly rankings came out Wednesday, as they always seem to, and the Kamloops Blazers are No. 1 for a second straight poll.
At 12-0-1, they remain the only one of the CHL’s 60 teams not have tasted defeat in regulation time. Combine that with last week’s 5-0-0 trip into the Central Division and it’s only right that the Blazers are No. 1.
Now I normally don’t pay a whole lot of attention to these polls, as they are public relations vehicles that aren’t worth much if only because there isn’t any inter-league play within the CHL’s three leagues.
But I am here today to question the lack of respect shown to the Tri-City Americans.
No, the Americans aren’t in the top 10. Yes, they are given an honourable mention. That’s not good enough. They should be in the top 10, maybe even in the top five.
Why?
Because they are 9-3-2.
Because they are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games.
Because included in their last 10 games was a 6-0-1 road swing.
Because included in that road swing was a 5-0-1 record in the East Division.
Because they are 7-1-1 on the road.
Because they are doing all of this after having lost their big three from last season — Patrick Holland, Adam Hughesman and Brendan Shinnimin.
Because their No. 1 goaltender, Eric Comrie, is the real deal.
For some reason, however, the Americans of GM Bob Tory and head coach Jim Hiller just don’t garner nearly the respect that is their due.
I mean, the Americans are there year after year. In fact, they now are gunning for their seventh straight 40-victory season. Only the Kamloops Blazers (1989-96) and Regina Pats (1979-86) have won 40 or more games in seven straight seasons.
Honourable mention? Uhh, no.
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F Brendan Persley, 19, of the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers had surgery Tuesday to repair a broken leg. Persley, who was in training camp with the Tri-City Americans prior to this season, played 55 games with the Chilliwack Bruins (2009-11) and nine with the Victoria Royals last season. . . . He is expected to be out of the Vernon lineup for at least six weeks.
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Fighting is down 32.1 per cent in the OHL this season, following the introduction of a rule that calls for suspensions for players as they surpass a 10-fight barrier.
Dave Nayor of TSN reports that “just five weeks into the 2012-13 season, the new measure has had a dramatic influence on the number of fights across the league.”
"I'm surprised, I really am," OHL commissioner David Branch told Naylor. "I didn't think there would be that kind of immediate, shall we say, impact on the number of (fights)."
It’s also interesting to note that about 27 per cent of fights in the OHL have included an instigator penalty.
The OHL, under Branch, once again proves to be one of the most, if not the most, progressive hockey leagues in the world.
Naylor’s piece is right here.
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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:
G Cam Lanigan stopped 55 shots, including eight in OT, and wasn’t beaten in the circus as the host Medicine Hat Tigers got past the Kelowna Rockets, 4-3. . . . The Tigers had lost their last three games. . . . Kelowna held a 58-28 edge in shots. . . . Kelowna F Zach Franko forced OT with a goal with 24.7 seconds left in the third period and G Jordon Cooke on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . Medicine Hat F Curtis Valk scored twice, running his goal streak to four games. . . . F Hunter Shinkaruk and F Elgin Pearce scored in the circus for the Tigers, while the Pats came up empty. . . .

G Teagan Sacher recorded his first WHL shutout as the Regina Pats went into Cranbrook and beat the Kootenay Ice, 3-0. . . . Sacher stopped 28 shots. He’s a Winnipegger who turns 18 on Dec. 1. . . . F Lane Scheidl scored twice, giving him six. . . .

The host Moose Jaw Warriors erased a 1-0 deficit with three second-period goals and went on to beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 3-2. . . . D Morgan Rielly’s fourth goal stood up as the winner. . . . The Warriors got their three goals in a span of 7:20. . . . F Sam Mckechnie scored his eighth goal of the season for the Hurricanes, who had points in each of their last four games. . . . Mckechnie had 13 goals in 72 games as a freshman last season. . . . Warriors D Reid Jackson left early with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Warriors continue to play without F Miles Warkentine and F Jordan Messier, both of whom are injured. . . .

The visiting Brandon Wheat Kings broke a 1-1 tie with PP goals 1:18 apart in the third period and went on to beat the Vancouver Giants, 3-2. . . . The Giants had Payton Lee, 16, in goal. Lee, who was in camp with the Giants but has been playing for the junior B Richmond Sockeyes, stopped 25 shots. . . . F Nick Buonassisi, who is from Coquitlam, B.C., scored twice for Brandon. He’s got six goals. . . . Brandon D Tyler Yaworski may be looking at a suspension after taking a major at 19:34 of the third period. The WHL’s online scoresheet records it as a checking-to-the-head penalty; however, Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun is reporting that it was a charging major. . . . The game was 1-1 until Buonassisi and F Tim McGauley scored PP goals 1:18 apart early in the third. . . . The Giants’ record slipped to 2-9-0; they have lost five in a row. . . .

The host Prince George Cougars snapped a six-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Chiefs had won the first two games in what was a three-game series between the teams. . . . Attendance was announced as 1,371 and that’s 11 fewer than Tuesday night. . . . The Chiefs got the game’s first goal, then the Cougars got the next four.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
D Tyler Yaworski, Brandon (major)
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From Tyler King (@tyler_king), the play-by-play voice of the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons: “Am told Dauphin Kings (#MJHL) leading scorer Brendan Hurley has left the team to join the Calgary Hitmen (#WHL).”

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The Crushed Can comes tumbling down.
(Photos by Lynette Biech)

The Crushed Can has fallen.
It’s true.
And we have the photographs to prove it.
Lynette Biech of Moose Jaw took a few pictures of the Moose Jaw Civic Centre on Thursday and sent them along to Taking Note.
If you click right here you will find a look back at the Crushed Can as Rob Carnie, a former radio voice of the Moose Jaw Warriors, reminisced. This piece originally appeared here on March 9, 2011.
One supposes that with the Crushed Can having hit the canvas, the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon now is the undisputed heavyweight champ among arenas at that level.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Garrett Bembridge (Saskatoon, 1997-2001) signed a one-year contract with the Nikko Icebucks (Japan, Asia Hockey League). He had 18 goals and 18 assists in 46 games with Valpellice (italy, Serie A) and finished the season with the Wichita Thunder (CHL), going pointless in three games. Former Medicine Hat and NHL F Mark Pederson is an assistant coach with the Icebucks. The Asia League opens its regular season on Saturday.
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Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports that the Regina Pats’ scouting staff has undergone a couple of changes. Bob Trumbley of Regina has left the club after 17 seasons as a scout, while former Pats D Chris Anderson now is working in Calgary and stepped aside due to time constraints. . . . Filling those sports are Jim Shepherd, a minor hockey coach in Calgary who will keep an eye on southern Alberta for the Pats, and Mike Rooney, who has NHL scouting experience with the Nashville Predators and will keep busy in southern Saskatchewan on behalf of the Pats.
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G Casey Parker is at home in Regina covering from a concussion suffered last week in the camp of the Tri-City Americans. Parker, the 17-year-old son of Regina Pats president Brent Parker, apparently got kicked behind an ear in a goalmouth collision during the last scrimmage of training camp on Wednesday.
He had hoped to see some action with the Americans during the weekend tournament in Everett, but instead was at home in Regina feeling light-headed and lethargic.
He was a 10th round selection by the Everett Silvertips in the 2010 bantam draft. He spent most of the last two seasons with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians but now isn’t sure where he will play. First, he has to get healthy.
“Not the best timing,” Brent Parker wrote in an email. “He wants to play in the WHL so badly and he was really hoping to go to the pre-season tournament Everett.
“I don't know when he will get back on the ice. He will go the (junior A) route if need be, but wants to get an opportunity to play in our league.”
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The Regina Pats apparently have signed F Rylee Zimmer, who was a fifth round selection in the 2012 bantam draft. Zimmer, from Russell, Man., played last season for the midget AAA Notre Dam Argos in Wilcox, Sask. News of his signing was tweeted by Scott Norton of Norton Sports Management.
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F Brendan Persley, 19, who is in camp with the Tri-City Americans, has had his junior A rights dealt by the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers to the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals. . . . Persley, a native of Kelowna who was selected in the eighth round of the 2008 WHL bantam draft by the Prince Albert Raiders, has played 64 WHL games over the last three seasons — 55 with the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?) and nine last season with the Victoria Royals. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder has nine points and 116 penalty minutes in those 64 games. . . . He had 14 points and 37 penalty minutes in 36 games with Vernon last season. . . . In exchange for Persley’s rights, Virden gave up F Mitch Van Teeling, 19. In May, Van Teeling, who is from Brandon, moved from the Dauphin Kings to the Steinbach Pistons as the future considerations from an earlier deal. In July, he was traded by Steinbach to Virden.
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G Austin Smith, 19, who spent the last two seasons with the Swift Current Broncos, has joined the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. The Calgary native got into 31 games with the Broncos over the last two seasons. He went 3.73, .885 in 20 games last season. Smith was a second-round pick by the Broncos in the 2008 bantam draft.


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F Ty Rattie scored four times, including three in the first period, as the host Portland Winterhawks dumped the Swift Current Broncos 6-2 on Sunday. . . . The game featured a late line brawl that included battling goalies. Ch-ch-ch-ching!!!! . . . The Winterhawks also should be fined by the WHL office for disrespecting the Grey Cup game. . . . Rattie scored three times in the first period as he posted Portland’s first hat trick of the season. . . . Scott Sepich reports that the last Portland player to score four times in a game was D Brayden Coburn on Feb. 4, 2005. . . . Portland has won seven in a row at home. . . . Rattie also had an assist. . . . Linemate Sven Bartschi drew four assists. . . . Portland D Joe Morrow scored to run his goal-scoring streak to five games. That’s pretty neat for a defenceman. . . . Swift Current took 105 of the 200 minutes in penalties handed out by referee Trevor Hanson. . . . Of those, 166 came at 18:37 of the third period. That included 12 fighting majors and 10 game misconducts. . . . And just in time for Christmas, too. . . . At least there weren’t any checking-from-behind penalties.
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Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate reports that Rebels F Adam Kambeitz (broken wrist) will be out for up to six weeks. He was injured Friday during the Rebels’ 5-1 loss to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Red Deer F Daulton Siwak (undisclosed) also is out, but should be back in about a week. . . . At the same time, F Turner Elson has drawn one of those ‘tbd’ suspensions and F Joel Hamilton took a headshot during Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers and he, too, is on the shelf. Medicine Hat F Kale Kessy will draw a suspension for the hit on Hamilton. . . . And let’s not forget D Aaron Borkejko, who is day-to-day with some kind of injury.
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F Brendan Persley, 18, who was released last week by the Victoria Royals, has rejoined the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Persley, who is from Kelowna, played a few games for the Vipers in 2009-10. He had a goal in nine games with Victoria, after putting up eight points and 62 penalty minutes in 43 games with the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?) last season.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Oleg Tverdovsky (Brandon, 1994-95) was assigned by Salavat Yulayev Ufa (Russia, KHL) to Toros Neftekamsk (Russia, Vysshaya Liga) after clearing KHL waivers. He has no points in 12 games for Salavat Yulayev this season. . . .
F Dan DaSilva (Portland, 2002-05) was not offered a contract by Biel (Switzerland, NL A) after his four-day tryout ended Thursday. He had one assist in 15 games with Lev Poprad (Slovakia, KHL) earlier this season.
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It would seem that Bob Green, the general manager of the Edmonton Oil Kings, has served notice that he feels his club can contend in the Eastern Conference.
Or he at least wants to serve notice to the other teams that, hey, “We’re in this, too.”
On Thursday, Green surrendered D Griffin Foulk, 16, and a 2012 third-round bantam draft pick in order to acquire F Tyler Maxwell, 20, from the Everett Silvertips.
Maxwell had been sent home to Manhattan Beach, Calif., a couple of weeks ago after asking for a trade.
In 216 games with Everett, Maxwell put up 195 points, including a franchise-record 107 goals.
Maxwell flew from SoCal to Everett on Thursday and will get into Edmonton today. He should arrive in time to play tonight against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.
The acquisition of Maxwell dictated another move from the Oil Kings, as that left them 20-year-old over the maximum of three, the others being forwards Josh Lazowski, Jordan Peddle and Rhett Rachinski. They promptly placed Lazowski on waivers. A native of Leduc, Alta., he had eight points in 17 games this season. Last season, he put up 28 points in 32 games.
Meanwhile, Foulk is from Broomfield, Colo. He was an eighth-round selection by Edmonton in the 2010 bantam draft, and has been in each of the Oil Kings’ last two training camps. He is playing a second season of major midget with the Colorado Thunderbirds.
The Oil Kings (13-8-3) go into the weekend in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, where nine of 12 teams have winning percentages above .500.
The Tigers have beaten the Oil Kings twice this season, 5-3 in Edmonton on Sept. 30 and 4-3 in a shootout in Medicine Hat the next night.
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JUST NOTES: D Josh Caron of the Kamloops Blazers drew a three-game suspension for a Wednesday night check to the head of Kootenay Ice F Max Reinhart. . . . D Martin Marincin of the Prince George Cougars will play for Slovakia in the 2012 World Junior Championship. . . . The Victoria Royals have released F Brendan Persley, 18, who had one goal in nine games this season. He missed training camp and the start of the season with mononucleosis. Persley, who had eight points in 43 games last season with the Chilliwack Bruins (hey, remember them?), is from Kelowna.
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There’s a neat story right here from Stephen Whyno of the Washington Times. It involves F Brooks Laich, now of the Washington Capitals, and Dean Chynoweth, now an assistant coach with the New York Islanders. Back then, though, Laich was with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Chynoweth was the head coach.

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