THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Brett Breitkreuz (Kelowna, Edmonton, Vancouver, 2006-10) signed a one-year contract extension with Kölner Haie (Germany, DEL). He has three goals and five assists in 29 games for Cologne this season. . . .
F Ivan Dornic (Portland, 2003-05) signed a contract for the rest of this season with AaB Aalborg (Denmark, AL-Bank Ligaen). He had nine goals and seven assists in 25 games with Metallurg Zhlobin (Belarus, Extraliga) this season. . . .
F Patrik Valcak (Lethbridge, Kelowna, 2003-04) was released by Nitra (Slovakia, Extraliga). He had one goal and seven assists in 18 games for Nitra. Valcak began the season with Trinec (Czech Republic, Extraliga), where he was pointless in eight games.
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JUST NOTES:
F Chris Wilkie, a fourth-round selection by the Victoria Royals in the WHL’s 2011 bantam draft, has committed to the U of North Dakota. Wilkie, 15, has 37 points in 14 regular-season games with the Omaha Jr. Lancers program. According to a Lancers news release, he leads “all three PHL divisions (18U, 16U, 14U) in scoring . . . and has quickly become one of the best young prospects the PHL has seen in its three-year history.” . . . That would be the North American Prospects Hockey League. . . . Wilkie is coming off a five-game, 23-point performance in a weekend PHL event in Dallas. . . . Wilkie’s father, David, coaches the Lancers. David also is a former WHL defenceman (Seattle, Kamloops, Regina, 1991-94) who was a first-round selection by the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL’s 1992 draft. . . . Carlos Sosa and Darcy Tucker of Turning Point Sports Management are the Wilkie family’s advisors. . . . Interestingly, David Wilkie was Sosa’s first client to be a first-round selection in the NHL draft. Wilkie also introduced Sosa to Tucker, then a forward with the Kamloops Blazers. Wilkie recommended that Sosa take on Tucker as a client, which is what happened. Sosa and Tucker have since partnered in TPSM.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have named F Brody Sutter as their captain, replacing F Cam Braes, 20, who was traded Monday to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Sutter, 20, was named captain just two days after his name was being bandied about in trade talks. . . . Sutter, a seventh-round selection of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2011 NHL draft, is the 21st captain in franchise history. . . . He is the son of former WHL/NHL F Duane Sutter.
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F Brett Connolly, whose WHL rights went from the Prince George Cougars to the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday, was in action with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. Connolly, 19, played nine minutes 43 seconds over 15 shifts as the Lightning lost 5-2 to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. . . . He played nine minutes 42 seconds of even strength, with one second of PP time. . . . Hello, Steve, this is Bob Tory calling.
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F Patrick Holland of the Tri-City Americans got through the WHL trade deadline without having to pack up and move. But two days later he was involved in an NHL trade. On Thursday night, the Calgary Flames dealt Holland, F Rene Bourque and a 2013 second-round draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens for F Mike Cammalleri, G Karri Ramo and a 2012 fifth-round draft pick. . . . A seventh-round selection by the Flames in the NHL’s 2010 draft, Holland has 56 points in 39 games with the Americans this season. He is ninth in the WHL scoring race. Holland, 19, has yet to sign an NHL contract. . . . Later in the evening, Holland tweeted: “Guess it's time to thank my parents for putting me in 9 years of french immersion. Hoping I can please the @CanadiensMTL fans someday.”
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The Vancouver Giants are checking out F Austin Fyten, 20. Fyten underwent major knee surgery after suffering an injury during a Sept. 8 exhibition game with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that Fyten became a free agent on Tuesday when the Hurricanes dropped him at Tuesday’s trade deadline. According to Ewen, Fyten is “slated to come to town early next week to meet with Giants doctors, who will assess what rehab it may take for him to return this season.” The Giants are thinking perhaps they can get him into the lineup late in March or early in April. . . . Fyten, a second-round selection the 2006 bantam draft, had 177 points, including 55 goals, and 287 penalty minutes in 193 games with Lethbridge. Last season, in 52 games, he had 54 points, including 24 goals, and 103 penalties.
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There is going to be some emotion at an upcoming Portland Winterhawks game with former player and coach Brent Peterson in the house. He plans on attending a game or two early in February.
Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune has more right here.
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The Saskatoon Blades are expected to start G Alex Moodie, 16, again tonight as they play the Broncos in Swift Current. Moodie was to have been sent back to the midget AAA Winnipeg Wild. But the Blades lost G Andrey Makarov to a concussion so ended up keeping Moodie. All he did was go into Brandon and blank the Wheat Kings 2-0 on Wednesday night. That made him, according to Les Lazaruk, the radio voice of the Blades, the first 16-year-old goaltender in franchise history to post a shutout. . . . Once Makarov gets a clean bill of health, which could come early next week, Moodie will be going back to the Wild. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has more on the Blades’ goaltending situation right here.
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THURSDAY’S GAME:
In Medicine Hat, F Dylan Wruck scored two goals and set up another to help the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 6-2 victory over the Tigers. . . . Edmonton also got two goals from F Rhett Rachinski, with F Tyler Maxwell scoring once and drawing two helpers. . . . F Emerson Etem got his 35th of the season for the Tigers. . . . Emerson scored the game’s first goal, at which point he had scored Medicine Hat’s last four goals. . . . Tigers G Tyler Bunz, who is stuck on 99 victories, left after two periods. He gave up five goals on 30 shots. . . . Edmonton D Griffin Reinhart (undisclosed) was scratched. . . . F Henrik Samuelsson made his Edmonton debut. He had one assist.
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Friday . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers solved their 20-year-old problem on Friday by named F Joey Frazer as an assistant coach. He joins head coach Shaun Clouston and assistant Darren Kruger. Frazer, a 20-year-old from Brainerd, Minn., played two seasons with the Tigers, but got caught up in the numbers game this week. He cleared waivers Friday and is a free agent, but chose to join the Tigers’ coaching staff.
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An emailer responds to the mention here earlier that perhaps the WHL should go to five 20-year-old players, an increase of two from the present maximum.
“For years teams were comprised of a core group from 16 to19, with five others (two Euros and three 20-year-olds). . . . Might not be a bad idea to let clubs make up their five extra players however they want. . . . e.g., two Euros and three 20s, one Euro and four 20s, or no Euros and five 20s.
“Euros are kind of a crap shoot these days anyway and it would be giving some of these older players like Joey Frazer an extra lease on life at little or no cost to the CHL clubs.
“Just a thought.”
And a good one at that. . . .
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F Darcy Tucker (Kamloops, 1991-95) has chosen to end his playing career. He made the announcement Friday. Tucker, 35, played 14 seasons in the NHL and now will partner with veteran player agent Carlos Sosa in Turning Point Sports Management. Tucker’s aim is to become a certified agent. " I have always been a guy who needed something to move on to and I'm both thrilled and excited about this opportunity," Tucker told Darren Dreger of TSN.ca . . . Added Sosa: "He's the guy you want next to you in the foxhole. We've been together a long time and neither of us wanted that to end. Darcy will be our primary indentifier of talent all over." . . . Tucker won three Memorial Cup championships while playing with Kamloops.
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The Saskatoon Blades have given up the CHL rights to F Andrej Stastny, a 19-year-old Slovakian whom they selected in the CHL’s 2010 import draft. The Blades had been unable to get his release from the Slovakian Ice Hockey Federation. And, with the return of F Marek Viedensky from the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, they found themselves with two import players, which is the maximum. The other import in Saskatoon is Czech F Matej Stransky, another 2010 CHL import selection.
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James Poole is the new head coach of the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. He has resigned as head coach of the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes in order to take over as the Oilers’ general manager and head coach. Poolre replaces Garry VanHereweghe, who resigned a couple of weeks ago.
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C Neal Prokop, 20, would like nothing better than to finish is WHL career standing up. Prokop had his 2009-10 season come to a crashing halt when he lost and edge and suffered a badly broken left leg while playing for the Tri-City Americans against the Bruins in Chilliwack. It was Game 3 of a first-round playoff series. He needed surgery and spent some time in Chilliwack General Hospital. He later returned home to Winnipeg and that is where he is now, working on rehabbing the leg. Asked how it’s going, Prokop said: “Not too bad. It’s starting to come.” . . . As for the future, he added: “We’ll see how much better I can get in the next couple months.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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