Cool Bird proves he can fly on Wednesday at KeyArena in Seattle.
(Photo courtesy Seattle Thunderbirds)

THE COACHING GAME:
The Lethbridge Hurricanes have exercised the option on general manager/head coach Rich Preston’s contract, meaning he now has two years left. Yes, he is signed through 2013-14. . . . Which takes care of rumours that he was soon to join the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings as an assistant coach under old friend Darryl Sutter. . . .
The OHL’s Soo Greyhounds have signed Joe Cirella to a two-year deal as an assistant coach. Cirella is a former OHL and NHL defenceman who captained the Oshawa Generals to the 1983 OHL title. . . . He later went on to a 14-year NHL career. . . . He has worked as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Florida Panthers (1997-98) and has spent seven seasons as an assistant with the Generals, which is where he was for the last two seasons. . . . In Sault Ste. Marie, Cirella will work alongside head coach Mike Stapleton and fellow assistants Mike Oliverio and Seamus Kotyk. . . .
The Edmonton Oil Kings have re-signed Randy Hansch, the assistant general manager and director of player personnel, and assistant coach Steve Hamilton. . . . Hansch, a former goaltender, joined the Oil Kings after spending 15 seasons with the Kamloops Blazers. He has been with Edmonton since before it took part in an expansion draft in 2007. . . . Hamilton has spent two seasons with the Oil Kings. Prior to that, he was the GM/head coach of the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints for four seasons. . . . The length of the contracts wasn’t disclosed. . . .
Ryan Mougenel, the head coach of the ECHL’s Las Vegas Wranglers, was involved in an attempt to save a man from drowning in Boston on Thursday. . . . Ed Hauth of the Las Vegas Sun has that story right here.
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D Kevin Smith, who played 286 regular-season and playoff games in his WHL career, has decided to go to the U of British Columbia and play for the Thunderbirds. Smith, who is from North Vancouver, split last season between the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and the BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies.
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F Mason Wilgosh, who played five seasons in the WHL, will attend the U of Prince Edward Island and play for the Panthers. The Charlottetown-based Panthers play in Atlantic University Sport. . . . Wilgosh, from Winnipeg, played out his WHL eligibility last season with the Tri-City Americans. He had 38 points in 59 games.
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F Brenden Silvester, who played 159 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds (2007-10), is headed for Simon Fraser University where he will play for the school’s British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League team.
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Cool Bird, the Seattle Thunderbirds’ mascot, attended the Seattle Storm’s Kid’s Day game on Wednesday.
The Storm, a WNBA team, was playing host to the Atlanta Dream.
According to Ian Henry, the Thunderbirds’ media guru, Cool Bird “took part in media timeouts and halftime promotions, including a dunk contest with other mascots.”
Henry added that he was told the game, at KeyArena, was sold out.
The game began at noon and is a big promotion involving chidren’s summer camps and youth groups getting in through special ticket offers.
The KeyArena was home to the Thunderbirds before they moved to Kent.
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The Buffalo Sabres have signed Latvian F Zemgus Girgensons, 18, who ws the 14th overall selection in the NHL’s 2012 draft. Girgensons played last season with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and had committed to the U of Vermont. By signing a pro contract, of course, he has forsaken his NCAA eligibility. . . . Girgensons WHL rights are held by the Kelowna Rockets, who selected him in the CHL’s 2011 import draft. However, it is unlikely that Girgensons will ever see Kelowna. Because he was drafted out of the USHL and because he has never played in the CHL, he is eligible to play with Buffalo’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. . . . Girgensons had 104 points, including 45 goals, and 115 penalty minutes in 100 USHL regular-season games over two seasons.
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If you’re a baseball fan, you are aware that the Washington Nationals plan to shut down pitcher Steven Strasburg at around 160 innings, which should happen in early September. This has become one of the biggest talking points in Major League Baseball this season. Everyone has an opinion. Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post explains right here why this is the right thing to do.
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The can of worms opened just a little bit wider on Thursday when the Michigan Daily released this statement:
“On June 28 The Michigan Daily published an article on its website that said hockey player Jacob Trouba was considering an offer to play for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. The article was updated to include further developments on July 2, July 3 and July 4. The Rangers and the Trouba family have denied the offer, and the Rangers have threatened legal action. The Daily stands behind the story and the reporter, Matt Slovin. The Daily will respond to threats of legal action in an appropriate fashion.”
To go back, Slovin’s original story claimed, via an OHL source, that the Rangers had come up with a $200,000 package in an attempt to entice Trouba, a first-round selection by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2012 NHL draft, to Kitchener instead of the U of Michigan.
The Rangers, a community-owned team, was quick with the denials. The Trouba family quickly issued a statement saying that Matt was going to Michigan and would play for the Wolverines.
The Rangers also threatened legal action if there wasn’t a retraction.
The retraction never came.
On Tuesday, the Waterloo Region Record reported that the Rangers did indeed visit court and filed a suit seeking $500,000 in general damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.” The suit was filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kitchener.
The blog United States of Hockey summed it up this way:
“The Rangers may be backed into a corner now into where they have to stand by their word and pursue this case despite the fact that it is unlikely they will be able to collect damages. This is due to the SPEECH Act protecting U.S. media outlets from foreign libel/defamation judgments so long as the report satisfies First Amendment standards. Should the Daily lose the case, most likely the worst that will happen is the defendants would be denied entry into Canada due to the outstanding judgment (via Student Press Law Center).
“This case has so many different angles of importance from how the Canadian Hockey League’s member leagues and clubs do their business to NCAA vs. CHL recruitment to journalism ethics and ‘libel tourism.’ The eyes of more than just the hockey world will be fixed on this case.”
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If you’re a fan of the Boston Red Sox, well, this doesn’t appear to be your season. And it sure looks like the snowball is gathering speed as it tumbles down the hill. Right here is a piece by veteran baseball write Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com on the trials and tribulations of the BoSox and manager Bobby Valentine.



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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Jay Fehr (Brandon, 2006-10) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Dresdner Eislöwen (Germany 2.Bundesliga) after withdrawing from Acadia University (CIS). He had three goals and seven assists in 17 games at Acadia this season. Fehr was expected to be in Dresden in time to practice with the club this morning. . . .
F Brett Lysak (Regina, 1996-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with SönderjyskE Vojens (Denmark AL-Bank Ligaen) after obtaining his release from Jesenice (Slovenia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga) earlier this week. He had 20 goals and 18 assists in 39 games for Jesenice this season. Lysak played the past three seasons in Denmark prior to signing with Jesenice last summer and led AL-Bank Ligaen in goals with 23 last year while with Esbjerg.
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The Saskatoon Blades expect to have F Brayden Schenn in their lineup Saturday when they are at home to the Calgary Hitmen. Schenn, the MVP at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo where he starred for Team Canada, was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Jan. 10.
However, he suffered a shoulder injury at the WJC and hasn’t played since the tournament finale, which was played on Jan. 5.
In practice with the Blades this week, Schenn, who is from Saskatoon, has been skating on a line with Curtis Hamilton, who also played for Canada at the WJC, and Jake Trask, a Saskatoon native who was acquired earlier in the season from the Kamloops Blazers.
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JUST NOTES: F Brenden Silvester, 19, won’t play this season. A back problem has kept Silvester, who is from Port Coquitlam, B.C., from playing since March 14. The Swift Current Broncos acquired Silvester and D Tanner Muth, 17, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for D Travis Bobbee, 20, and a conditional draft pick. . . . Muth (fractured clavicle) has played only 19 games this season, while Bobbee also is injured. He is out for perhaps another three weeks with a shoulder injury. . . . Darcy Kuemper of the Red Deer Rebels is the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He was 3-0-0, 0.32, .988 last week. He put up two shutouts last week and leads the entire CHL with eight blank jobs. . . . It also was the third time this season that Kuemper has won the award. . . . G Jordan White (Prince George, Portland, 2006-08) was in the NHL on Thursday night. White, who attends the U of B.C. and plays for the Thunderbirds, signed a one-game amateur tryout deal with San Jose and backed up starter Antti Niemi in a 2-1 shootout victory. White is from Surrey, B.C. He was practising with the Thunderbirds when he got the call. . . . With G Adam Morrison not feeling well, the Saskatoon Blades have brought in G Tyler Oswald, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, from the midget AAA Pembina Valley Hawks, who play out of Morden, Man. . . . Doug Hetherington, a member of the Moose Jaw Warriors’ board of directors, died suddenly on Sunday. He was 58. There is more right here. . . . Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald reports that Silvertips D Chad Suer, 20, is to get the wires removed from his broken jaw on Jan. 31 and could return shortly after that. He hasn’t played since being injured on Dec. 17 and has since missed 10 games. . . . Olivier Roy of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan became the second-winningest goaltender in QMJHL history Thursday with a 4-2 victory over the P.E.I. Rocket. It was the 111^th career victory for Roy, leaving him behind only Jacques Cloutier, who won 142 games with the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs (1976-80).gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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