Two former Chiefs on the move . . . Bobylev plays for Spartak . . . Lowdown on Deflategate

F Chris Bruton (Spokane, 2004-08) signed a one-year contract with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, he had two goals and two assists in 52 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL). . . . Braehead head coach Ryan Finnerty said Bruton is "going to take advantage of the MBA course at the University of the West of Scotland." . . .

F Brad Schell (Spokane, 1999-2004) signed a one-year contract with Heilbronner Falken (Germany, DEL2). Last season, with Herning (Denmark, Metal Ligaen), he had 11 goals and 54 assists in 36 games. He led the league in assists, was fourth in the points race and was second in plus-minus, at plus-34. . . .
F Pavel Brendl (Calgary, 1998-2001) signed a one-year extension with Skalica (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, he had 13 goals and seven assists in 19 games.
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F Vladimir Bobylev was in the lineup for Spartak Moscow in a 4-3 exhibition loss to SKA St. Petersburg on Wednesday afternoon in Espoo, Finland. Bobylev, wearing No. 47, was listed as the fourth-line centre. A game summary wasn’t available, other than goals, and Bobylev didn’t score. . . . Spartak’s schedule had it practising in Espoo on Thursday and flying to Moscow today, where they will skate on Saturday. Spartak’s next game is scheduled for Thursday against Amur Khabarovsk in Moscow.
Bobylev, 18, played last season with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, who released him earlier this summer. He then was selected by the Victoria Royals in the CHL’s import draft. They are expecting Bobylev to be at their training camp later in August.
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The ECHL’s Quad Cities Mallards have signed D Kevin Gibson, a 25-year-old out of the U of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He is the son of former major league baseball player and manager Kirk Gibson. Marc Nesseler of Quad-Cities Online has more right here.
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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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If you have been paying any attention at all to Tom Brady, the NFL and Deflategate, you should give this right here a read. It’s a column by Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post and it ties it all up rather nicely and puts a big bow on top. Good stuff!
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Hey Kids, this long weekend please stay out of the rink and off the ice. Go to a lake, see your family, have fun. It's a long season.

— Ben Cooper (@MrCoopification) July 30, 2015

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JUST NOTES: The visiting Peoria Rivermen and Rockford IceHogs went 16 rounds in a shootout on Saturday, before Peoria D David Shields won the AHL game, 3-2. Of note was that one of the game’s two fights featured Peoria’s Chris Bruton (Spokane, 2004-08) battling Rockford’s Kyle Beach (Everett, Lethbridge, Spokane, 2005-10)just 23 seconds into the game. . . . The AHL’s Chicago Wolves released D Kyle Verdino, 20, on Saturday. Verdino had left the Seattle Thunderbirds last week for a tryout with the Wolves. . . . F Charles Inglis of the Prince George Cougars will be hearing from the WHL office after taking a major and game misconduct for checking to the head of D Tyler Stahl during a 6-5 loss to the visiting Victoria Royals on Saturday night. . . . F Jamie Crooks led the Royals with three goals, the first time he has done that in 156 regular-season games. . . .
Also on Saturday night, F Brendan Gallagher was back in the Vancouver Giants’ lineup and had one goal. But it wasn’t nearly enough as the Giants were beaten 6-3 by the Rockets in Kelowna. Vancouver has given up 22 goals over its last four games. . . . According to DubNation: “After Saturday's contest, Vancouver held a lengthy closed-door session.” . . . Gallagher was returned by the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens on Friday and began his Saturday at 1:45 a.m. . . . G Corbin Boes stopped 23 shots for his second career shutout as the host Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Saskatoon Blades, 6-0. F Mark Stone scored three times for Brandon, giving him the second hat trick of his WHL career. He had one three-goal game in 2009-10, when he scored 11 goals. He wasn’t able to turn the trick last season when he scored 37 times. He has 13 points, including five goals, in five games this season. . . .
 F Anthony Bardaro had three goals to lead the host Spokane Chiefs to a 7-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans. He had one hat trick last season en route to a 24-goal finish. . . . The Chiefs lost three players to injuries -- F Mitch Holmberg took a high-stick to the face and will be seeing a dentist, while D Tanner Mort and F Liam Stewart left with undisclosed injuries. “I don’t know if I want to comment. I know I had guys hurt,” Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur told Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. “I didn’t see it and I haven’t viewed it on the video so it’s really difficult for me to comment. . . . We spent a lot of time on the power play.” The Chiefs were 4-for-12 on the PP; the Americans were 0-for-5. . . . Spokane also got four assists from sophomore D Reid Gow, who had 11 points in 41 games last season.
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Two more former U.S. college football players have sued the NCAA, saying it failed to protect them from concussions.
There is more right here.
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Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail opens a Saturday column by writing about “mad hatters” and the fact that nine out of 10 doctors once preferred Camels.
“And so it goes with hockey,” MacGregor writes. “This early fall of 2011 may well go down as the moment the Canadian game chose to step out of its own Alice-in-Wonderland world of make-believe and bring an end to the scourge of head hits – all head hits, including the accidental, including hits delivered by fists.
“We are not there yet, but we are getting there – and that alone is cause for hope.”
There is one quote in the MacGregor piece that simply jumps off the page. It comes from referee Bruce Tennant, a veteran of more than 30 years in stripes. He told MacGregor: “If I had a son who wasn’t showing the potential to play at the highest levels, I really don’t think I’d let him play contact hockey.”
MacGregor’s complete column is right here.

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

Please take a couple of minutes out of your busy day and remember Brad McCrimmon by clicking on right here.
McCrimmon, one of the best defencemen ever to play in the WHL, was the head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and one of 44 people killed in a plane crash on Sept. 7.
A funeral mass will be held today in Farmington, Mich.
McCrimmon, the older brother of Kelly McCrimmon, the Brandon Wheat Kings’ owner and general manager, was 52.
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The Victoria Royals (nee Chilliwack Bruins) played at home for the first time on Friday night. They lost 3-2 to the Vancouver Giants.
The big news, however, was at the gate as 5,396 fans took in the game.
Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist was there and his story is right here.
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JUST NOTES: D William Wrenn, 20, was back from the San Jose Sharks’ camp and skating with the Portland Winterhawks on Friday. . . . The WHL has suspended Regina Pats F Mikael Jung for four games for a check to the head on Brandon Wheat Kings F Jason Swyripa on Wednesday night. The host Pats won that game 4-0. . . . .Neither Jung nor Swyripa played in Friday’s rematch in Brandon, won 5-0 by the Wheat Kings. . . . Regina got D Art Bidlevskii, 20, back from the camp of the New York Islanders, but he didn’t play. Regina still has five players at NHL camps — D Brandon Davidson (Edmonton), D Ricard Blidstrand and F Campbell Elynuik (Philadelphia), F Garrett Mitchell (Washington) and F Jordan Weal (Los Angeles). . . . Davidson and Mitchell both are 20, while Mitchell also has signed with Washington. . . .
F Killian Hutt scored one goal to help the host Fort McMurray Oil Barons to a 4-2 victory over the Okotoks Oilers in an AJHL game on Friday night. Hutt, 20, hadn’t played since Dec. 10 when he suffered a serious concussion during a game in Kamloops against the Blazers. He was with the Swift Current Broncos, who released him prior to training camp as they worked to get down to three 20-year-olds. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors had D Morgan Rielly back in the lineup Friday as they beat the visiting Saskatoon Blades, 4-3. Rielly had his appendix taken out a couple of weeks ago. . . .
The Vancouver Giants went into Everett and beat the Silvertips 4-2 without four players who have advanced to main camps with NHL teams. F Brendan Gallagher (Montreal), D Davi Musil and D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen (Edmonton) and F Marek Tvrdon (Detroit) all advanced. . . . F Chris Bruton, who captained the 2008 Memorial Cup-winning Spokane Chiefs, has signed with the ECHL-champion Alaska Aces. Bruton, 24, played the last three seasons at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
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The Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat blog reports that the Dallas Stars dropped more than US$91.5 million in the three years leading up to Thursday’s bankruptcy filing, and are projected to lose $31 million in the fast-approaching season.
There’s more right here.

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