THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Mark Santorelli (Chilliwack, 2006-08) signed a one-year contract with Tingsryd (Sweden, Allsvenskan). He had eight goals and 13 assists in 64 games with Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) last season. . . . Santorelli won the WHL scoring title with 101 points in 2007-08.
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The Los Angeles Kings have assigned F Linden Vey, 20, the WHL’s defending scoring champion, to the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs. . . . Vey could still be returned to the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Meanwhile, the Tigers got F Emerson Etem, 19, back from the Anaheim Ducks. . . . The St. Louis Blues have sent D Brett Ponich, 20, to the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen. He is signed but could still be returned to the Portland Winterhawks.
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SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
The host Tri-City Americans built up a 5-0 lead and hung on to beat the Portland Winterhawks, 6-5. . . . Tri-City F Connor Rankin turned a 2-0 lead into 5-0 when he scored three times in the space of 1:53 in the first three minutes of the second period. . . . Rankin also had an assist, while Tri-City F Adam Hughesman had four helpers. . . . Portland F Ty Rattie had two goals and an assist and now has six points in two games. . . . G Eric Comrie went the distance for the Americans. He stopped 32 shots, including 12 of 13 in the third period. . . . The Winterhawks, playing their third game in as many nights, opened with Brendan Burke in goal. Mac Carruth came on at 2:16 of the second period with his side trailing 4-0. . . .
In Red Deer, F Adam Kambeitz, the team captain, scored the game’s last two goals as the Rebels erased a 3-1 second-period deficit and beat the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-3 in OT. . . . Kambeitz scored his third goal of the season at 1:24 of extra time. . . . The Oil Kings held a 3-1 lead early in the second period when they were handed six straight minor penalties — they faced three 5-on-3s. The Rebels scored two PP goals, 1:01 apart, to tie the game. . . . Red Deer D Alex Petrovic, just back from the camp of the Florida Panthers, had three assists. . . . Red Deer F Turner Elson (upper body) didn’t play. . . . Yes, it’s the first week of the regular season and we’re into upper- and lower-body injuries. . . . By the way, Wayne Gretzky spent some time in Edmonton last week and left a note for the Oil Kings before he left. That’s it in the above photo.
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Last week, the BCHL suspended a player for 20 games for a hit that resulted in another player suffering a broken jaw.
So it will be interesting to see how it handles a line brawl that broke out Friday in a game between the Cowichan Valley Capitals and Victoria Grizzlies.
Now normally I wouldn’t write a word on something like this, but it happened to involve battling goaltenders -- Jamie Tucker, a former WHLer who is with the Grizzlies, and Derek Dun of the Capitals.
Dun’s post-fight comments to Don Bodger of the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial are just too good to ignore.
“That’s my first one,” Dun told Bodger. “It was on my bucket list.
“I’ve always wanted to do it. I never thought it was going to happen.”
If Dun spelled his surname Dunn, you might think he was related to Dickie Dunn.
“I heard (Tucker) broke his hand,” Dun continued. “He was hitting the ice most of the time. He got a couple of good shots, nothing too drastic.”
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Conversation from a recent night:
Reporter to WHL team owner: What’s it cost to take a bus over to Vancouver Island?
Owner: It used to be $150, so it might be about $300 now.
Reporter to WHL team general manager: How much does it cost to take you bus over to Vancouver Island?
GM: Oh, likely about $1,200 or $1,300.
Owner: WHAT!
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Mario Annicchiarico of the Victoria Times Colonist has some observations right here on the Victoria Royals’ home-opener in which they beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-3, on Saturday.
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For today’s good read, we bring you Jack Todd in the Montreal Gazette. You won’t agree with everything he writes, but his Monday column always is an interesting read. It’s right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Check out the cap that Mason Carter is wearing as he
meets his pal, Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Mason Carter is a 16-year-old hockey fan who lives in Teulon, Man.
He recently received some help from the Rainbow Foundation, which granted him a wish.
That wish was to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter (aka Duane Chapman).
That meeting recently took place and you can bet that the Tri-City Americans are loving the cap that Mason chose to wear for the meet and greet.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:

F Lee Goren (Saskatoon, 1995-96) signed a contract for the rest of the season with Bern (Switzerland NL A) after his release by the Straubing Tigers (Germany DEL) on Sunday. He had 12 goals and 25 assists in 33 games for Straubing this season. . . .

F Kyle Wanvig (Edmonton/Kootenay, Red Deer, 1997-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Poprad (Slovakia Extraliga) after his release by the Augsburger Panther (Germany DEL). He had five goals and 10 assists in 37 games for the Panther this season. . . .

D Gennady Razin (Kamloops, 1996-98) and D Deron Quint (Seattle, 1993-96) signed two-year contract extensions with Traktor Chelyabinsk (Russia, KHL). Razin has three goals and six assists in 48 games and Quint has 17 goals and 10 assists in 48 games this season for Traktor.

———The Portland Winterhawks have lost a second player to serious injury.
Last week, they announced that F Oliver Gabriel would be having shoulder surgery so won’t play again this season.
Now it’s D Brett Ponich who has a date with a surgeon. Ponich, 19, will have surgery Thursday to repair a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). The surgery may cost him the rest of his season.
Ponich, who has played 249 games over five seasons with Portland, was injured Jan. 18 in a 5-4 OT victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans. He has 12 assists in 45 games and is plus-23.
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Ponich was a second-round selection of the St. Louis Blues in the NHL’s 2009 draft. He has signed with the Blues.
The loss of Ponich is a big hit to the Winterhawks, who remain on top of the Western Conference, although the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans are nipping at their heels.
Ponich, whose size is an intimidating factor out there, is as good as any shut-down defenceman in the WHL.
And now how prescient do the Winterhawks look for having landed D William Wrenn.
Wrenn, 19, left the U of Denver Pioneers and joined the Winterhawks at the Christmas break. He has six assists and is plus-18 in just 12 games with Portland. And you can bet he will be playing an increased role with Ponich gone, as will D Derrick Pouliot, the 16-year-old from Weyburn, Sask., who was the first overall pick in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft.
As for Gabriel, he had surgery on his right shoulder last week in Columbus, Ohio, and has begun the recovery and rehabilitation process. He has signed with the NHL’s Blue Jackets, having attended their 2010 training camp as an undrafted free agent.
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John Blanchette, the sports columnist at the Spokane Spokesman-Review, takes a look at exactly what it is that has the Spokane Chiefs going in the right direction. Blanchette’s column on head coach Don Nachbaur and his impact on the Chiefs is right here.
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Bob Florence of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix takes a look at Les Lazaruk, who has called the play for more than 1,300 games involving the Saskatoon Blades. About all that is missing is a summary of Lazaruk's Strat-O-Matic baseball days. That piece is right here.
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The Red Deer Rebels take their 11-game winning streak into Saskatoon tonight to face the Blades, who, at 38-10-2, boast the WHL’s best record. The Blades have won 16 of their last 20 outings. . . . The Rebels are three points in arrears of the Blades. . . . Red Deer G Darcy Kuemper leads the WHL in victories (33), GAA (1.83), save percentage (.933) and shutouts (10). Kuemper just happens to be from Saskatoon. . . . F Cody Chikie of the Kelowna Rockets is the WHL’s player of hte week. He had seven points, including six assists, in two games. . . . Kent Simpson of the Everett Silvertips is the WHL’s nominee as the CHL’S goaltender of the week. He was 3-1-0 last week, with a 1.25 GAA and a .965 save percentage. . . . The Calgary Hitmen and Kootenay Ice were fined $250 each for warmup violations prior to weekend games. . . . F Ryan Harrison of the Everett Silvertips drew a one-game suspension for a checking-from-behind major he incurred Sunday during a 2-1 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Seattle F Travis Toomey is under one of those tbd (to be determined) suspensions under supplemental discipline for something that happened in that loss to Everett on Sunday.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Ranford looking to next year

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Hockey Canada released the names of the 39 players it has invited to try out for the country’s national junior team on Monday.
The roster doesn’t include left-winger Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers, never mind that not one of the 23 forwards has scored more goals than the Edmonton native.
However, Ranford, an 18-year-old who leads the WHL with 24 goals, wasn’t all that disappointed.
“No, not really,” he said. “I looked at the list and there are a lot of good guys who are off the list. You can’t really complain about that. There are good players there and they should do well.”
The selection camp runs Dec. 11-15 in Toronto. The 2011 World Junior Championship is scheduled for Buffalo, Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.
Ranford, like so many other Canadians, young and old, always watches the tournament, and this one will be no exception.
Ranford will watch and hope for an invitation next November, when he will be 19 and in his last season of tournament eligibility.
“My biggest thing,” he said, “has always been my skating. I have to be the best skater that I can be and I have to improve on my speed and my quickness. Hopefully, that is going to help me make the camp next year.”
Of the 39 players selected for the camp, 17 are from the WHL, with 11 from the OHL, six from the QMJHL, four from the NCAA and one from the AHL.
Centre Chase Schaber and defenceman Austin Madaisky of the Blazers, like Ranford, were given at least some consideration — all three played for the WHL in the Subway Super Series — but they weren’t selected, either.
Others to have played in the Super Series who didn’t make the grade were defencemen Stefan Elliott of the Saskatoon Blades, Matt MacKenzie of the Calgary Hitmen, Neil Manning of the Vancouver Giants, Alex Petrovic of the Red Deer Rebels and Brett Ponich of the Portland Winterhawks, forwards Jimmy Bubnick of Calgary, Scott Glennie of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Jordan Weal of the Regina Pats, Red Deer’s Byron Froese, Portland’s Ty Rattie, Brendan Shinnimin of the Tri-City Americans, Brandon Herrod of the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon’s Darian Dziurzynski, and goaltender Kent Simpson of the Everett Silvertips.
Also missing from the roster is forward Brayden Schenn, 19, of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Schenn began the season with  the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and was assigned to the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs two weeks ago on a conditioning stint. He has since returned to the Kings, but was a healthy scratch Monday night amid speculation that he will be returned to Brandon.
There are only three returning players on the Team Canada roster — defencemen Jared Cowen of the Spokane Chiefes, Calvin de Haan of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and Ryan Ellis of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires.
Defenceman Brandon Gormley of the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats dislocated his right kneecap in a weekend game. A first-round selection, 13th overall, by the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL’s 2010 draft, he won’t be available for the camp.
Canada earned a silver medal last season in Saskatoon, losing 6-5 in overtime to the United States in the championship final.
This year, Canada opens against Russia on Dec. 26.
The complete selection camp roster is in Scoreboard.