D Mitch Versteeg (Lethbridge, 2006-09) has signed a one-year contract with the NikkÅ Icebucks (Japan, Asia HL). Last season, with Heilbronner Falken (Germany, DEL2), he had six goals and 11 assists in 27 games. He also played for Bad Nauheim (Germany, DEL2), picking up 14 points, including two goals, in 24 games. . . .
F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) has signed a one-year contract with Bolzano (Italy, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga), he had 14 goals and 15 assists in 50 games.
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TRADE WIRE:
THE DEAL: The Lethbridge Hurricanes get G Zac Robidoux, 18, from the Medicine Hat Tigers for a third-round
pick in the 2015 bantam draft and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2017. The latter is conditional on Robidoux playing in the WHL in 2016-17. He is the son of Florent Robidoux, who played two seasons (1978-80) with the Portland Winterhawks.THE SKINNY: The Hurricanes lost G Justin Myles, who retired Friday due to problems associated with a brain injury suffered last season. Thus, they need some depth at that position. . . . Robidoux, from Morden, Man., is 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds. He played last season with the MJHL’s Portage Terriers, finishing with a slash line of 17-9-0/2.19/.924 in 27 appearances. With the Tigers, he was 2-1-0/2.27/891 in three games. He was a sixth-round pick of the Tigers in the 2011 bantam draft.
THE ANALYSIS: The Hurricanes used six goaltenders last season as they stumbled to a WHL-worst 12-55-5. Taking a look at Robidoux can’t hurt because it’s too early for Stuart Skinner, 16, the 17th pick in the 2013 bantam draft, to be the go-to guy. . . . The deal would seem to signal the Tigers’ contentment with a goaltending tandem of Nick Schneider, 17, and Jared Rathjen, 20. Schneider was acquired last season from the Regina Pats; Rathjen came over this summer from the Vancouver Giants.
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All eyes were on the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday, and they didn’t disappoint.
They didn’t trade D Macoy Erkamps, but they did place F Reid Duke on the suspended list, announced that G
Justin Myles has retired, and acquired G Zac Robidoux from the Medicine Hat Tigers.Erkamps, 19, didn’t show up for camp on Thursday and has requested a trade. The native of Delta, B.C., has played three seasons with the Hurricanes.
Duke, 18, was one of Lethbridge’s better players last season, his second with the Hurricanes after being the fifth overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft. (D Ryan Pilon, selected by Lethbridge with the third pick in that draft, asked for a trade last season and ended up with the Brandon Wheat Kings.)
Duke put up 40 points, including 15 goals, in 62 games. In 131 career regular-season games, he has 25 goals and 45 assists.
General manager Brad Robson said Thursday that Duke would be placed on the suspended list if he wasn’t in camp by Friday, at 2 p.m. Duke now is on that suspended list.
Myles, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Jan. 5 when he was with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Since then, he has been traded to the Kamloops Blazers and the Hurricanes.
Robson told Pat Siedlecki of Lethbridge radio station CJOC that doctors advised Myles not to play due to concussions. The conditional draft pick that went to Kamloops in the trade has reverted to Lethbridge.
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Mitch Wilson was a tough hockey player, witness 436 penalty minutes with the WHL’s Seattle Breakers in 1981-82. Now he’s taking on ALS, as documented right here by Mike Morreale of NHL.com. . . . Wilson, a Calgary native, has been sailing the seas for the last 20 years, most recently as a tugboat captain. He played two seasons (1980-82) with the Breakers; he piled up 253 penalty minutes in his first season. . . . In 124 regular-season games, he had 66 points, including 26 goals. He went on to play professionally into the mid-1990s, and got into 26 NHL games, scoring twice, earning three assists, and picking up 104 penalty minutes.
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G Christopher Tai, who turns 19 on Dec. 1, is in camp with the Kelowna Rockets. A native of Delta, B.C., Tai played last season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes (eight games), Medicine Hat Tiger (1) and Brandon Wheat Kings (1). In 2012-13, he got into 12 games with the Hurricanes. . . . In 22 regular-season games, he is 5-6-0, 4.54, .867. . . . In Kelowna, it’s anticipated that veteran Jackson Whistle will open as the starter, after backing up Jordon Cooke last season. Cooke has used up his junior eligibility.---
The Kamloops Blazers revealed Friday morning that F Carson Bolduc, 18, has decided not to report to training camp. . . . According to a news release, he is evaluating his hockey career. . . . “Carson informed us prior to training camp that he did not want to compete at the level necessary to play in the WHL,” general manager Craig Bonner said in that news release. . . . Bolduc, from Salmon Arm, had 20 points, eight of them goals, in 121 career regular-season games. He was acquired last season from the Prince George Cougars and had 11 points, including three goals, in 44 games with the Blazers. . . . The Cougars selected him in the third round of the 2011 bantam draft.---
The Kamloops Blazers have three sets of twins in their rookie camp. Andrew and Lucas Palladino, from Sturgeon County, Alta., both are forwards, as are Michael and Ryan Van Unen, who are from Kamloops. Benson and Jordan Thorpe are from Saskatoon. Benson is a right winger, while Jordan is a defenceman. All are 15 years of age. . . . Kamloops has D Clint Colebourn of North Vancouver and F Phillip Knies of Phoenix on its main camp roster. Both were 2013 bantam draft picks, Colebourn in the seventh round and Knies in the fourth, but both were injured an unable to attend camp a year ago. . . . F Tyler Ward of Kamloops turned 15 on Tuesday, but had to pull out of the Blazers’ camp with an injury. The 5-foot-6, 130-pound Ward was an 11th-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft.
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Dan Olsen is the new head coach of the Calgary-based SAIT Trojans. Olsen is a former player and assistant coach with the Trojans. . . . He is SAIT’s first new hockey coach in 27 years. Olsen, 53, takes over from Ken Babey, the former head coach and athletic director who resigned from both positions in June. . . . Olsen was Babey’s assistant coach for five seasons (1991-95). . . . Most recently, Olsen has been the head coach of the Calgary Buffalo Hockey Association’s minor midget Triple A Rangers.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed F Noah Gregor, 16, who was acquired last season from the Victoria Royals. The Royals picked up Gregor and two third-round bantam draft picks, in 2014 and 2016, for D Travis Brown, 19. . . . The Warriors traded that 2016 pick last week when they acquired F Jaimen Yakubowski, 20, from the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Last season, Gregor played for the midget AAA Leduc Oil Kings. In his freshman season, he led the league in scoring, with 51 points, including 21 goals, in 35 games. . . . Victoria had selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Gregor will take it slow over the weekend, thanks to “a minor back and hip flexor injury.” . . . Gourlie also reports that the Warriors didn’t invite F Brandon Del Grosso, 18, to camp. He was limited to one game last season after suffering a brain injury on Oct. 10. . . .
D Liam Schioler, 16, is taking part in the Regina Pats’ rookie camp. Schioler, from Winnipeg, was a second-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft. He plans on returning to Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn., for a second season. . . . The NHL’s Calgary Flames have added Brad McEwen to their scouting staff. He had been working with the Medicine Hat Tigers as their head scout and assistant general manager. McEwen will begin work for the Flames on Sept. 1. A veteran of Western Canadian hockey arenas, he had been the Tigers’ head scout since 2007. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors will donate all proceeds from Sunday’s intrasquad game to the Journey to Hope in memory of Ethan Williams. A fifth-round draft pick by the Warriors in 2012, Williams committed suicide last month in his hometown of Winnipeg. He was to have attended this training camp.
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Why are some of these players quitting? Would u eventually run out of gas too if u were playing/training for hockey 12 months of the year?
— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) August 22, 2014
Changes in Canes land: the voice of the team hasn't even mentioned the two missing veterans. Controlling the message?
— Dylan Purcell (@dylpurcell) August 22, 2014
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 SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs have fired general manager/head coach Gavin Holcomb. . . . Trevor Blevins has stepped in as interim head coach. Blevins is a former Melfort player and assistant coach. . . . Dwight Kulchysky will remain on as assistant coach and also will serve as the interim general manager. . . . The Mustangs are 10-12-0-4 after beating the visiting Estevan Bruins 4-2 on Friday night. Melfort is fourth in the four-team Sherwood Division, four points behind the division-leading Nipawin Hawks.
The Brandon Wheat Kings have traded G Christopher Tai, 18, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for an undisclosed 2015 bantam draft pick. With the move, Brandon made room for G Curtis Honey, who missed 14 games with an undisclosed injury. He played the third period of Brandon’s 4-3 loss to the visiting Swift Current Broncos Friday night. . . . Tai played in one game with Brandon, after coming over from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He gave up one goal in 30 minutes with the Wheat Kings. Tai is expected to arrive in Medicine Hat on Monday. . . . The Tigers need a goaltender with G Marek Langhamer soon to leave for the selection camp of the Czech Republic national junior team.
In Brandon, the Swift Current Broncos erased a 2-1 first-period deficit with three second-period goals in a 7:16 span and beat the Wheat Kings, 4-3. . . . The Broncos (19-11-3) have won three in a row and lead the Eastern Conference by four points. . . . F Dakota Odgers opened the game’s scoring for the Broncos with his first WHL goal. It came in his 13th game, four of which have come this season. . . . F Andrew Johnson’s fourth goal, at 13:36 of the second, stood up as the winner. . . . Broncos G Eetu Laurikainen stopped 38 shots. . . . The Wheat Kings were without F Jayce Hawrulyk, their scoring leader, who served the first game of a two-game suspension. He drew the punishment under supplemental discipline for a hit on Regina D Kyle Burroughs on Wednesday night. Burroughs, who is going through the WHL’s concussion protocol, didn’t play Friday night. . . . Regina F Max Kammerer also is concussed. . . .
In Moose Jaw, the Regina Pats scored two shootout goals to beat the Warriors, 5-4. . . . The Warriors actually took a 4-2 lead into the third period. . . . F Dyson Stevenson got the Pats to within one with his 16th goal at 12:26 of the third, with F Chandler Stephenson forcing extra time with his second goal of the game, and his 13th this season, at 16:26. . . . Stephenson also had an assist. . . . F Brayden Point scored twice, giving him 11, and added an assist for Moose Jaw, which got three assists from D Jesse Forsberg. . . . F Boston Leier and Stevenson scored for the Pats in the shootout, while the Warriors got a goal from F Torrin White. . . .
In Edmonton, F Mitchell Moroz and F Reid Petryk scored shootout goals to give the Oil Kings a 5-4 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Winterhawks erased a late 4-2 third-period deficit to force OT. F Taylor Leier scored twice, giving him 22, at 17:13 and 19:04. . . . F Edgars Kulda had his ninth goal and an assist for Edmonton, which has won four straight. . . . F Nic Petan had a goal and two assists for Portland, giving him 64 points and moving him to within two points of the WHL points lead. He also had Portland’s lone goal in the shootout. . . . Portland (21-5-4) has points in seven straight (5-0-2) and leads the overall standings by two points over the Kelowna Rockets and Everett Silvertips. . . . This was a meeting of the two teams that appeared in the last two WHL finals, Edmonton winning the first title and the Winterhawks now the defending champions. . . . Edmonton D Dyson Mayo scored the game’s second goal at 15:20 of the first period; it was the Teddy Bear goal. . . . Portland D Derrick Pouliot had a goal and two assists. . . .
In Kamloops, F Tim Bozon burned his former team for two goals and two assists as the Kootenay Ice beat the Blazers, 7-3. . . . Bozon has 19 points, including six goals, since being acquired by the Ice from Kamloops. He has nine goals on the season. . . . F Jaedon Descheneau had two goals, giving him 21, and an assist for Kootenay, while F Sam Reinhart had two assists. . . . F Eric Krienke scored his first WHL goal for the Blazers. He’s a 17-year-old freshman from Calgary. . . . Kamloops D Sam Grist was hit with a match penalty for attempt to injure during a third-period scrap with Ice F Jon Martin. Grist apparently used Martin’s helmet to strike the Ice player. . . . The Blazers are at home to the Everett Silvertips tonight, so Grist may have to sit out depending on how the WHL office views the matter. . . . Ice F Ryan Chynoweth was among the scratches. He was injured when hit from behind during a game in Vancouver on Wednesday night. . . . Kamloops, which has lost 11 in a row, is without F Aspen Sterzer, who suffered an undisclosed injury on Nov. 29 against visiting Kelowna. Sterzer isn’t expect to play tonight, either. . . .
In Prince George, F Braden Purtil scored his third goal of the season at 4:21 of OT as the Tri-City Americans beat the Cougars, 4-3. . . . Cougars F Todd Fiddler forced OT with his 11th goal at 18:15 of the third period. . . . F Lucas Nickles had a goal, his seventh, and two assists for the Americans, who have won three in a row. . . . Americans G Eric Comrie turned aside 38 shots. . . . Prince George F Troy Bourke completed a three-game suspension. . . . The Cougars are hurting through sickness and injuries. Ted Clarke of the Prince George Citizen reports that the Cougars had just six forwards available for one practice this week. . . . Prince George F Zach Pochiro (concussion) was symptom free only to have headaches return. Also out with concussions are F Jari Erricson, D Tate Olson and F Brad Morrison. . . . Also out of the Cougars lineup are D Raymond Grewal (ankle), F David Soltes (knee) and G Brett Zarowny (groin). . . .
In Kelowna, the Rockets scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Everett Silvertips, 3-1. . . . Kelowna F Ryan Olsen got his fifth goal, on the PP, at 10:55 of the second and D Damon Severson, with his eighth on a PP just 57 seconds into the third, broke the 1-1 tie. . . . Olsen, whose first goal was the Teddy Bear score, later scored his second of the game. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 26 shots. . . . Everett F Josh Winquist had his point streak snapped at 18 games. He had 40 points, including 16 goals, over that stretch. That is the longest point steak in the league this season. . . . The Rockets, who have the WHL’s best winning percentage (.846), have won five straight. . . .
In Victoria, F Brandon Magee scored twice, the last one into an empty net, as the Royals doubled the Vancouver Giants, 4-2. . . . Magee has 10 goals. . . . Royals F Taylor Crunk snapped a 2-2 tie with his third goal at 9:50 of the third. . . . Vancouver lost F Tim Traber, who spent two seasons with the Chilliwack Bruins and two with the Royals, to a boarding major and game misconduct at 10:44 of the first period. . . . The Giants had earned at least a point in each of their previous 11 games. . . . 
In Spokane, F Branden Troock struck for three goals and added an assist as the Seattle Thunderbirds dropped the Chiefs, 7-3. . . . Troock, who enjoyed his first WHL hat trick, has 13 goals. . . . Seattle, which won 5-1 in Spokane on Sunday, has won five in a row. . . . Seattle D Shea Theodore had four assists for the first time in his career, with D Jarret Smith scoring his first goal and adding two helpers for his first three-point outing. Smith has two goals in 101 regular-season games. . . . F Adam Helewka had two goals, giving him 14, and an assist for Spokane. . . . Chiefs F Mitch Holmberg, who leads the WHL in goals (32) and points (66), was held pointless and, in fact, was ejected after becoming involved in a multi-fight situation at 17:41 of the third period. . . . Seattle held a 25-15 edge in shots on goal. 
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