Silvertips end Cougars' run . . . Portland powers past Wheaties . . . Giants blank Oil Kings

F Jordan Knackstedt (Red Deer, Moose Jaw, 2004-08) has signed a one-year contract with Herlev (Denmark, Metal Ligaen). Last season, he had 12 goals and 19 assists in 45 games with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL), and three goals and 10 assists in 18 games with the Quad City Mallards (ECHL).

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The NHL’s Buffalo Sabres returned D Brendan Guhle, 19, to the Prince Albert Raiders on Tuesday. Guhle was a second-round selection by the Sabres in the NHL’s 2015 draft. He has signed with the Sabres. Last season, he had 28 points, including 18 assists, in 63 games. He finished the season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, recording a goal and three assists in six games. . . . The Raiders visit Brandon on Friday and then play host to the Wheat Kings on Saturday night.

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The Red Deer Rebels will be without G Tyson Verhelst, 19, and F Reese Johnson, 18, for a while. . . . Greg Meachem of reddeerrebels.com reports that Verhelst has an undisclosed injury. Verhelst, who suffered at least two concussions last season, hasn’t played for the Rebels since being acquired from the Spokane Chiefs on Sept. 29. . . . Johnson, who has been plagued by injuries, had shoulder surgery last season and that allowed him to play only 36 games. He injured his other shoulder during an exhibition game and is scheduled for more surgery this month. “He’s had a tough go,” Brent Sutter, the Rebels’ GM and head coach, told Meachem. “He has to have his other shoulder done now and hopefully once he gets it done he’ll be a new man and won’t have to worry about shoulder problems anymore. He’s out until the end of March, for sure.” . . . Meachem’s story is right here.

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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have released D Riley Shamray, 18, from their roster. He is expected to play for the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines. . . . Shamray is from Oak River, Man. The Hurricanes acquired him from the Calgary Hitmen over the summer, giving up a seventh-round 2017 bantam draft pick in the exchange. . . . He was pointless in five regular-season games with Lethbridge. . . . The Hurricanes now have 23 players on their roster, including two goaltender and seven defencemen.

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The Kelowna Rockets have released F Tate Coughlin, 19, who was into his third season with the WHL team. He had four goals and nine assists in 112 regular-season games. . . . Coughlin, from Victoria, had two goals and two assists in 49 games last season.

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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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Cubs, I am 87 and I am getting too old for this... #GoCubsGo #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/d4tnkgRCl0

— Bob Newhart (@BobNewhart) October 12, 2016

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TUESDAY’S GAMES:

Wow! The @pdxwinterhawks boys came to play. Lots of family, friends, and fans here in Brandon tonight- cool to see. Off to Regina! #FOTC

— oliverdavid (@coachodavid) October 12, 2016

At Brandon, the Portland Winterhawks scored five PP goals and beat the Wheat Kings, 7-6. . . . Goals by D Jordan Wharrie, his first with the Wheat Kings, and F Ty Lewis gave the home side a 2-0 lead before the first period was 13 minutes old. . . . The Winterhawks went back in front with three goals in the first half of the second period, from F Lane Gilliss, F Joachim Blichfeld and D Keoni Texeira, the latter two coming via the PP. . . . Brandon F Tanner Kaspick tied it at 11:44, only to have F Alex Overhardt put Portland out front on another PP, at 14:52. . . . Kaspick, who has five goals, tied it again at 16:14. . . . F Keegan Iverson restored Portland’s lead, on a PP, just 29 seconds into the third period. . . . F Reid Duke, in his first game since returning from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, scored shorthanded at 1:15 and it was tied again. . . . Portland F Cody Glass got the eventual game winner on, yes, another PP, at 2:26. . . . The Winterhawks got insurance when F Evan Weinger scored into an empty net, at 18:52. . . . Brandon F Nolan Patrick completed the scoring at 19:56. . . . Blichfeld added two assists to his goal, while F Skyler McKenzie had three assists and D Caleb Jones had two. Weinger and Texeira each added assists to their goals. . . . Duke added two assists to his goal and Patrick had one. . . . Portland G Cole Kehler made 40 saves, 11 more than Brandon’s Jordan Papirny. . . . The Winterhawks (6-3-0) finished 5-9 on the PP; the Wheat Kings were 2-9. . . . Portland has scored 15 PP goals in nine games. . . . The Winterhawks are 3-2-0 on their East Division trip. . . . Brandon (2-3-1) has lost two in a row. . . . With Duke back, the Wheat Kings have four 20-year-olds on their roster. Able to dress only three per game, they scratched F Duncan Campbell last night. . . . The Winterhawks placed F Rodrigo Abols on waivers as they got down to the maximum of two import players. Abols, 20, is available to each of the other 21 teams. If he clears WHL waivers, he will be made available to OHL and QMJHL teams. . . . Announced attendance: 3,420.

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At Edmonton, G Ryan Kubic stopped 28 shots to help the Vancouver Giants to a 2-0 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . F Radovan Bondra ended a scoreless game in the third period. . . . The Giants were outshot 13-2 in the first period and 20-9 through 40 minutes. . . . Bondra scored his sixth goal at 9:02 of the third period. . . . F Tyler Benson added an empty-netter, while on a PP, at 19:52. . . . The Giants (3-7-0) have won two in a row. They had beaten the Hitmen 5-3 in Calgary on Monday afternoon. . . . The Oil Kings are 3-4-1. . . . Kubic has one shutout this season and five in his career. . . . Edmonton G Liam Hughes blocked 18 shots. . . . The Giants were 1-3 on the PP; the Oil Kings were 0-3. . . . This was Game 1 in a seven-game homestand for Edmonton. . . . Announced attendance:  5,000.

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At Medicine Hat, G Griffen Outhouse turned aside 40 shots to lead the Victoria Royals to a 5-1 victory over the Tigers. . . . F Dante Hannoun’s first goal gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 11:22 of the first period. . . . F Blake Bargar’s second goal upped that to 2-0 at 6:00 of the second period. . . . F Max Gerlach’s PP goal got the Tigers on the board at 16:23. He’s got four goals. . . . The Royals put it away with three third-period goals, from F Matt Phillips (3), F Tyler Soy (4) and F Jared Dmytriw (2), the latter into an empty net. . . . Soy also added an assist to his goal. . . . Tigers G Nick Schneider stopped 36 shots. . . . The Royals improved to 4-4-0 with their second straight victory. . . . The Tigers (5-3-0) have lost two in a row, both by 5-1 counts at home. . . . The Royals were 1-4 on the PP; the Tigers were 1-6. . . . Announced attendance: 3,532.

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At Prince George, the Everett Silvertips broke open a scoreless game with three second-period goals and went on to beat the Cougars, 4-0. . . . Prince George (8-1-0) went into the game riding an eight-game season-opening winning streak. . . . The Silvertips now are 5-1-1. . . . The teams meet again Wednesday night in Prince George. . . . G Carter Hart blocked 19 shots to record his first shutout of the season and 11th of his career in his 100th regular-season appearance. . . . F Devon Skoleski scored the game’s first goal at 1:03 of the second period. . . . F Sean Richards, who also had an assist, made it 2-0 at 5:55 and F Dominic Zwerger upped it to 3-0 with his third goal in as many games, at 9:51. . . . F  Brett Kemp completed the scoring at 19:22 of the third period. . . . G Nick McBride blocked 23 shots for the Cougars. . . . Everett was 0-6 on the PP; Prince George was 0-2. . . . F Orrin Centazzo, 16, made his WHL debut with the Silvertips. From Marwayne, Alta., he was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Announced attendance:  2,625.

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Saw two people who appear to be on a first or second date awkwardly greet each other outside @ShoWareCenter. 2-for-Tuesday spreads love.

— Seattle Sportsnet (@alexSSN) October 12, 2016

At Kent, Wash., F Kailer Yamamoto broke a 1-1 tie 40 seconds into the third period and the Spokane Chiefs skated to a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . F Pavel Kousal’s second goal gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead at 6:00 of the second period. . . . Seattle F Scott Eansor pulled his guys even at 16:33. . . . Spokane F Curtis Miske got the empty-netter, at 19:46 of the third. . . . The Chiefs got a big game from G Dawson Weatherill, who made 44 saves. . . . Seattle got 19 saves from G Rylan Toth. . . . The Chiefs (2-3-0) had lost their previous two games. They play in Kamloops on Wednesday night. . . . The Thunderbirds are 2-3-0. . . . The Chiefs were 0-2 on the PP; the Thunderbirds were 0-4. . . . F Ryan Gropp was pointless in his return to Seattle’s lineup from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. . . . According to TBird Tidbits (@TBirdTidbits), Seattle went into last night’s game have won six in a row at home over the Chiefs, outscoring the visitors 21-9 in the process. Spokane was held to one goal in five of those six games. . . . The game featured the Hamaliuk brothers — Dalton, a defenceman with the Chiefs, and Dillon, a forward with the Thunderbirds. . . . The Thunderbirds learned earlier in the day that F Mathew Barzal, 19, had made the roster of the NHL’s New York Islanders. . . . Announced attendance: 4,019.

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WEDNESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Spokane at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Victoria at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Everett at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Portland at Regina, 7 p.m.

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Paper questions Tigers' attendance figures . . . Rebels, Chiefs swap goalies . . . Cougars dynamite on road

The Canalta Centre, the second-year home of the Medicine Hat Tigers, lost $440,000 — that’s $80,000 more than expected — in its first year of operation, reports Collin Gallant of the Medicine Hat News. . . . There are a couple of interesting notes in his story. . . . For starters, Jeff Dunham, a comedian and ventriloquist, drew the centre’s only sellout during its first year when a crowd of 6,124 showed up on March 18. . . . Gallant also reported that while figures compiled by the WHL indicate that the Tigers’ average attendance for 36 regular-season home games was 4,247, “a study by the News suggests that number was closer to 3,100 — about half the capacity of the one-year-old $75-million arena and one-quarter less than the number of seats in the Medicine Hat Arena.” . . . According to a report presented to a city committee, the total attendance including major events during the facility’s first 12 months of operation was 165,400. According to the report, 16 non-hockey events drew about 51,300 folks. Do the math and it shows that 114,100 fans attended Tigers’ games, an average of 3,083 per game. The WHL’s figures have the Tigers’ regular-season attendance total at 152,912. . . . Gallant’s complete story is right here.

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The WHL is working towards digitizing statistics from the first 30 years of its existence. At the moment, you can only find on-line information from games played after 1996.

“There has been so much change in technology and just managing the new
website and the social media platforms,” Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, told Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun. “There are
reasons why we haven’t got to it, but we will get to it. We have to get
it completed and get it completed soon.”
Bergson dug up some numbers showing that when the QMJHL did it in 2005 “it took 24 people more than 12,000 hours over three years to
snap pictures of 10,000 scoresheets and then input the data.”

According to Bergson, one of the challenges faces by the WHL “is locating all of the scoresheets, which are scattered across Western Canada and the northwestern U.S. after 50 years.”

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The Red Deer Rebels and Spokane Chiefs were involved in an exchange of goaltenders on Wednesday. The Rebels acquired Tyson Verhelst, 19, and a third-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft for G Dawson Weatherill, 17, and a fifth-round pick in the 2018 draft. . . . Verhelst played two seasons with Spokane but the Chiefs revealed prior to training camp that he had chosen to quit hockey. As a result, the Chiefs acquired G Jayden Sittler, 20, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . It came out last week that Verhelst, who is from Kemnay, Man., was on the Chiefs’ suspended list and that they were trying to trade him. . . . In 81 games with the Chiefs, he was 34-33-5, 3.31, .889. Last season, he was 23-22-5, 3.16, .892. . . . Verhelst was a third-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Earlier, the Rebels dealt G Rylan Toth, 20, to the Seattle Thunderbirds, indicating at that point that were prepared to go with Trevor Martin, 20, and Riley Lamb, 18, as their goaltenders. . . . The Rebels play this weekend in Moose Jaw, Brandon and Regina. Verhelst will skate in Red Deer over the weekend and then practise with his new teammates next week before seeing game action. . . . Weatherill, from Red Deer, was a second-round selection in 2014. He was 1-1-0, 3.69, .881 in five appearances with the Rebels last season, but hadn’t seen any action this season. . . . In Spokane, he will join Sittler, who also is from Red Deer, and Matt Berlin, an 18-year-old from Edmonton.

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Among the WHL players returned by NHL teams on Wednesday:

Everett Silvertips — F Eetu Tuulola, Calgary Flames.

Kamloops Blazers — G Connor Ingram, Tampa Bay Lightning; F Deven Sideroff, Anaheim Ducks.

Kelowna Rockets — F Dillon Dube, Calgary Flames; F Calvin Thurkauf, Columbus Blue Jackets.

Moose Jaw Warriors — F Brett Howden, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Prince Albert Raiders — G Rylan Parenteau, Vancouver Canucks.

Prince George Cougars — D Sam Ruopp, Columbus Blue Jackets.

Red Deer Rebels — D Josh Mahura, Anaheim Ducks; F Adam Musil, St. Louis Blues.

Saskatoon Blades — D Libor Hajek, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Swift Current Broncos — Max Lajoie, Ottawa Senators; F Lane Pederson, Arizona Coyotes.

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With G Rylan Parenteau, who is to turn 20 on Nov. 16, on his way back from the camp of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, the Prince Albert Raiders’ roster now includes four 20-year-old players. Parenteau joins F Austin Glover, F Tim Vanstone and F Kolten Olynek. That number will swell to five if F Reid Gardiner is returned by the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Parenteau is one of three goaltenders on the roster, joining sophomore Ian Scott, 17, and newcomer Curtis Meger, 18.

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The Prince George Cougars learned Wednesday that D Sam Ruopp, 20, is on his way back from the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. His arrival will leave Prince George with four 20-year-olds, the others being F Colby McAuley, D Shaun Dosanjh and G Ty Edmonds. . . . Edmonds also is one of three goaltenders on the roster, along with Nick McBride, 19, and Tavin Grant, 18.

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The Calgary Hitmen, meanwhile, placed D Scott Allan on waivers earlier in the week. The 6-foot-6, 235-pounder from Denver cleared and now will rejoin the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors. Allan has played in the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Seattle Thunderbirds and Medicine Hat Tigers. In 93 games, he has a goal and three assists. . . . The Hitmen are left with three 20s — F Tyler Mrkonjic, F Taylor Sanheim and D Micheal Zipp.

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The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning have returned G Connor Ingram, 19, to the Kamloops Blazers. He will join his teammates in Victoria where the Blazers will play the Royals in a Friday-Saturday doubleheader. . . . Ingram was 34-15-9, 2.61, .922 with the Blazers last season and now is in the running to be on the roster of Canada’s national junior team. . . . The Blazers have been going with Dylan Ferguson, who backed up Ingram last season, and Carter Phair, who was acquiredfrom the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sept. 6. Ferguson has been nursing a tender ankle left over from the first period of a 5-1 loss to the host Kelowna Rockets on Saturday.

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JUST NOTES:

F Keegan Kolesar of the Seattle Thunderbirds will be out for at least six weeks. Aaron Portzline, who covers the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets for the Columbus Dispatch, tweeted Wednesday that Kolesar has had “surgery for a supraumbilical hernia. . . . That is a hernia in the area of the navel. . . . Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen told Aportzline that the hernia didn’t have anything to do with hockey, that it developed on its own. . . . Last season, Kolesar, a 19-year-old Winnipegger, had 30 goals and 31 assists in 64 games with Seattle last season. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, he also brings size to the Thunderbirds’ forward ranks. . . .

G Brandon Kegler, 19, is back with the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks. The native of Leduc, Alta., was released earlier by the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Kegler was 3.09, .910 in 22 games with Salmon Arm last season. . . . To make room for Kegler, the Silverbacks dealt G Mike Botiz to the Surrey Eagles for future considerations. . . . 

F Andrew Shaw of the Montreal Canadiens will be on the phone with the NHL’s department of safety today (Thursday) after he drilled D Connor Hobbs of the Washington Capitals into the end boards from behind in a Tuesday exhibition game. Hobbs, who is likely to be returned to the Regina Pats at some point this week, was left face down on the ice. However, he apparently wasn’t injured and returned to the game. . . . 

The Portland Winterhawks are without a director of player personnel with the news that Eric Doyle has left for a scouting position with the NHL’s New York Rangers. Doyle had been Portland’s director of player personnel since 2014. He is a former WHL defenceman, having played five seasons with the Everett Silvertips, Swift Current Broncos and Portland. He moved to Portland as a 20-year-old in 2009-10. . . . 

An interesting note from Jesse Geleynse of the Everett Herald, from the Silvertips’ Tuesday practice: “Everett practised a new drill for the first time. It involved kicking pucks toward the net (from outside the crease). A new WHL rule states that any goal that deflects off a skate from outside the (crease) is a goal — regardless of whether or not there was a ‘kicking motion.’ No surprise that Kevin Constantine’s squad is looking to use any rule change to its advantage.” . . . 

F Owen Hardy of the Vancouver Giants suffered an undisclosed injury during Tuesday’s 7-6 loss to the visiting Prince George Cougars and apparently won’t play in weekend games. Hardy, 17, was a second-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. He had five goals and four assists in 45 games last season. This season, he is pointless in three games.

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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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WEDNESDAY'S GAME:

Cougars HC Richard Matvichuk very familiar with #Kelowna. Owned summer home here for 12 years and was part of Big White Fire Department.

— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) September 29, 2016

At Kelowna, G Ty Edmonds stopped 32 shots to lead the Prince George Cougars to a 2-1 victory over the Rockets. . . . The Cougars have opened the season with four straight victories, all on the road. . . . The two head coaches — Richard Matvichuk of the Cougars and Jason Smith of the Rockets — are in their first WHL seasons after combining to play in 1,804 regular-season and 191 playoff games in the NHL. . . . F Jared Bethune gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead with his fourth goal of the season just 56 seconds into the game. . . . Kelowna F Tomas Soustal tied it at 13:53 of the second period, while shorthanded. . . . F Yan Khomenko’s first goal broke the tie at 18:14 of the second period. Bethune picked up the lone assist. . . . G Michael Herringer turned aside 24 shots for the Rockets (1-2-0). . . . The Cougars were 0-5 on the PP; the Rockets were 0-3. . . . The teams now head north for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader in Prince George. . . . Announced attendance: 4,341.

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THURSDAY'S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.

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Kompon era starts in Portland . . . Silvertips promote La Forge

D Brett Carson (Moose Jaw, Calgary, 2001-06) has signed a one-year contract with the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with AIK Stockholm (Sweden, SHL), he had 10 points, including three goals, in 49 games. . . .
G Jeff Glass (Kootenay, 2002-05) has signed a one-year contract with Lada Togliatti (Russia, KHL). Last season, with Spartak Moscow (Russia, KHL), he was 2.32 and .919 in 37 games. He was traded to CSKA Moscow in January and was 1.31, .944 in six games. . . .
F Mark Derlago (Brandon, 2003-07) signed a one-year contract with Esbjerg (Denmark, Metal Ligaen). Last season, with Aalborg (Denmark, Metal Ligaen), he had 49 points, including a team-high 25 goals, in 33 games. He was third in the league in goals. . . . Derlago broke an ankle on March 9, in the first game of the playoffs. “I just kind of fell back and a guy landed on me wrong and I knew something was wrong right away,” he told Brandon Sun sports editor James Shewaga. Derlago is playing baseball and summer hockey in Brandon in this off-season. “It’s not quite there yet, but it’s getting there,” he told Shewaga. “I have a screw in my ankle that I have to get taken out before I go (to training camp next month), but I have been skating and playing ball and everything, so it feels pretty good.”
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1. As expected, the Portland Winterhawks introduced Jamie Kompon as their general manager and head coach on Wednesday afternoon. . . . Kompon, 47, brings two Stanley Cup rings to the Winterhawks, having been an assistant coach with the 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings and the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks. . . . He takes over from Mike Johnston, who had been with the Winterhawks since October 2008 and guided the club into the last four WHL championship finals. 
Portland freelancer Scott Sepich covered the news conference for The Oregonian, and his story is right here.

2. On Wednesday, Mitch Peacock of CBC Winnipeg tweeted that Hockey Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk, who is in Winnipeg as a guest coach at the Jets’ developmental camp, “says some of today's prospects suffer from over-coaching and specializing in a single sport too young.” . . . Hawerchuk, whose background in the game gives him a whole lot of credibility, joins a chorus that includes Brent Sutter, the owner/GM/head coach of the Red Deer Rebels. . . . If you missed it, Sutter told Jason Gregor of the Edmonton Journal a while ago that there aren’t as many really good athletes playing hockey now and that he feels it’s because there isn’t enough variety in their athletic careers. Check that out right here.

3. The Everett Silvertips have signed Bil La Forge to a three-year contract extension that runs through 2016-17 and changed his title from head scout to director of player personnel. . . . La Forge, 40, has been with the Silvertips since 2008 and had been head scout since the summer of 2011. La Forge, from Edmonton, also has scouted for the Tri-City Americans and Lethbridge Hurricanes.

4. By now you’re likely aware that Unifor, a rather large player on the Canadian union front, is attempting to unionize major junior hockey players. In this story right here, Robert Cribb and Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star detail how Unifor is using former players to try and recruit today’s players to the organization. . . . There are a couple of interesting notes near the end of that story. At one point, they write: “The CHL this year has increased the monthly stipend for players to $450 from $200, and has agreed to give each player $1,000 to go towards off-season training.” That’s interesting because the OHL announced late last season that it was making those moves, but the WHL never did state that it would follow suit. In November 2012, when the WHL took disciplinary action against the Portland Winterhawks for what were deemed illegal player benefits, one of the claims was in the area of paying for off-season training. . . . Also in the Star story is this: “(CHL president David) Branch said . . . that (Tim) Bozon’s case was a fluke that won’t be repeated because of changes to the WHL’s medical coverage. Bozon’s expenses are being covered by his team and league, Branch said.” . . . Again, the WHL has never stated that it and the Kootenay Ice are covering the medical and rehabilitation costs incurred by Bozon, who spent March battling Neisseria meningitis in a Saskatoon hospital, and his family. . . . At the time, the WHL also promoted a fund drive, asking fans to donate money to help Bozon and his family. The WHL has yet to state publicly just how much money was donated by fans.

5. The Red Deer Rebels have signed F Jake Leschyshyn, the sixth overall selection in the 2014 WHL bantam draft, and G Dawson Weatherill, who was taken 37th overall. . . . Leschyshyn, the son of former Saskatoon Blades and NHL D Curtis Leschyshyn, had 59 points, including 31 goals, with the bantam AA Saskatoon Stallions last season. . . . Weatherill was 2.52 and .929 in 18 games with the bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels White. . . . The Rebels also added former WHL G Taylor Dakers as a full-time member of their coaching staff. Dakers, who is moving from Calgary to Red Deer, is the goaltending consultant after working with the club on a part-time basis last season.

6. Brent Sutter isn’t certain that he will make an official bid to play host to the 2016 Memorial Cup, but the Red Deer Rebels’ owner/GM/head coach informed the WHL on Tuesday that his organization remains interested. According to Greg Meachem, the sports editor of the Red Deer Advocate, “Sutter, who has twice come up short in bidding for the national major junior championship event, is still waiting for more input from league governors concerning whether they will go for the almighty dollar in determining the WHL host city for the 2016 tourney.” . . . “At the end of the day, we still need to know what they’re doing from a league standpoint,” Sutter told Meachem. “We don’t want to go through the exercise that we did last time, with the hard work and the commitment and dollars that were put in . . . when it’s almost automatic that someone else is getting it. There’s still some research that needs to be done from the league’s perspective, but we’ve thrown our name in the hat and we’ll see where it goes from there.” . . . Vancouver Giants majority owner Ron Toigo has said that his organization will be involved in the bidding.

7. The BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals announced Wednesday that G Lane Michasiw and D Mitch Stapley have committed to them for the 2014-15 season. . . . Michasiw, an 18-year-old from Saskatoon, was the tournament MVP as the Prince Albert won the 2014 TELUS Cup as national midget AAA champions. His WHL rights belong to the Victoria Royals. . . . Stapley played last season with the major midget Vancouver Northwest Giants. He was a ninth-round selection by the Vancouver Giants in the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. . . . Kevin Rothbauer of the Cowichan Valley Citizen has more right here.

8. At 3-0, one fan of Brazil’s soccer team said: “This was not normal for us. The players were dumb cockroaches in the field. I realize that only a miracle could save us.” . . . If you are wondering just how the people of Brazil felt as the dream died during Tuesday’s 7-1 World Cup loss to Germany, check out this piece right here by Sam Borden of The New York Times. “When the fourth goal went in,” added another Brazilian, who watched the game in a bar, “people started saying, I am ashamed to be Brazilian.”
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The BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies have added Micah Aivazoff (Victoria Cougars, 1985-89) to their staff as associate coach. . . . Former NHLer Denny Lambert has been named head coach of the Batchewana Attack, one of eight teams committed to play in a new junior league in Ontario -- the Canadian International Hockey League. The league features a couple of other former NHLers as head coaches, Denis Maruk with the Milton Battle Arts Cobras and Tom McCarthy is with the Espanola Rivermen.
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One of primary reasons I recommended Kompon to Gallacher is that he actually read my books. You would think it's time rest of the WHL did.
— Fake Mike Johnston (@FakeMikeJ) July 9, 2014

 


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