Another player done, at least for now . . . Warriors cycle for Ethan

F Lukáš Vartovník (Everett, 2006-08) has signed a one-year contract with Spišská Nová Ves (Slovakia, 1. Liga). Last season, with Liptovský Mikuláš (Slovakia, 1. Liga), he had five goals and 11 assists in 36 games. . . .
F Martin Cibák (Medicine Hat, 1998-2000) has signed a one-year contract with Olomouc (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, he was the captain of Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia, KHL), and had 12 points, including six goals, in 38 games. He was traded to Vityaz Podolsk (Russia, KHL), and had two goals and an assist in 16 games.
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CONCUSSION REPORT:

The WHL may have lost another player to post-concussion syndrome.
F Brandon Del Grosso, 18, isn’t with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
“As of right now,” he told Taking Note, “I’m just going to school and taking things day by day. I was not ready to return to Moose Jaw this year as I haven’t played in a hockey game in quite a while.”
Del Grosso played one game last season. On Oct. 9, he took a hit from behind that, he said, left him with whiplash and a concussion. Almost a year later, Del Grosso is still feeling it.
“I still have symptoms (from) time to time,” he said.
A ninth-round pick by Moose Jaw in the 2011 bantam draft, he had 43 points, 13 of them goals, in 43 games with the major midget Vancouver-Northwest Giants in 2012-13. He also got into three games with the Warriors that season.
So, to date, his WHL resume shows four games, with no points.
From New Westminster, he is now attending Douglas College, which is located in his hometown.
“As far as hockey goes,” he said, “I’m not currently playing but that could change in the future.”
Making the decision to leave the game, especially when it wasn’t on his terms, “wasn’t easy, that’s for sure,” he said.
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If you missed it, Sean Rooney and Ryan McCracken of the Medicine Hat News reported Wednesday that F Gavin Broadhead of the Medicine Hat Tigers has had to retire due to post-concussion syndrome.
That story is right here.
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Meanwhile, the U of Minnesota Gophers announced Wednesday that Amanda Kessel, the sister of Toronto Maple Leafs star Phil Kessel, won’t play this season because of post-concussion syndrome.
Amanda Kessel didn’t play for the Gophers last season as she was with the U.S. women’s national team. She incurred a concussion while with the national team.
"It’s obviously a difficult decision and one that I’ve taken time to come to terms with,” Kessel said in a news release. “As someone who has played through a lot of injuries, it wasn’t until suffering a concussion that I fully understood the importance of being 100 per cent healthy when I’m on the ice. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case right now.
"My No. 1 priority is my health, and I hope that I’ll be able to return to the ice in the future."
She has been working with doctors and specialists at the Carrick Brain Center in Atlanta.
Kessel, who has one year of eligibility remaining, won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award in 2012 as the NCAA’s top Divison I women’s player.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors lost a member of their organization in July when F Ethan Williams of Winnipeg committed suicide.  Williams, who would have turned 17 on Aug. 22, was to have attended his third Warriors training camp. . . . On Wednesday, Katie Brickman of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports right here, 11 veteran players “participated in the Cycle Around the Globe for World Suicide Prevention Day . . . with a certain person in mind.” . . . Warriors GM Alan Millar told Brickman: ““I think it is very important to be in the community and give back to the Moose Jaw community that supports us so well but, as part of that, there are a number of causes that are so important. This day is close to our hearts with what happened to a young man, Ethan Williams, recently. He was part of our family.”
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It could be that Russian F Nikita Scherbak has played his last game with the Saskatoon Blades. Scherback led the Blades last season in goals (28), assists (50) and points (78). He was selected in the first round of the NHL’s 2014 draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He turns 19 on Dec. 30, so has to play in the NHL or be returned to the Blades. . . . Because he was a first-round NHL pick, the Blades were allowed to pick twice in the CHL’s 2014 import draft, which they did. On top of that, there is a one-year moratorium on trading import draft selections. . . . So, as Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports right here, the Blades already are contemplating finding Scherback another WHL team with which to play.
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“Government officials in Washington state, home to four Western Hockey League teams, have been investigating the working conditions of the teams' mostly-teenaged players over the past year, TSN has learned.
“Matthew Erlich, a spokesman for Washington's Department of Labor and Industry, told TSN that officials recently referred the case to the state attorney general's office and added that the labor department is waiting for a legal opinion from the attorney general before pursuing its investigation further.”
Those are the first two paragraphs of a story by Rick Westhead, TSN’s senior correspondent. The complete story is right here.
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TSN posted its first Craig’s List of the 2014-15 season on Wednesday. The list, compiled by TSN’s Craig Button, features his ranking of the top 40 players who are eligible for the 2015 NHL draft. This list, which is right here, includes one WHLer, Seattle F Mathew Barzal, in the top 20, but there are five in the top 30 and 10 in the top 40.
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The Prince George Cougars have hired Craig Hyslop as an athletic therapist. Hyslop, 28, is from Prince George. He spent the last two years with CBI, a health services centre in Prince George. According to general manager Todd Harkins, Hyslop will “take care of (the players’) health and well-being,” while Chico Dhanjal “takes care of their equipment.” . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman tweeted Wednesday that D Landon Cross, 20, has received his release and will join the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. Cross, who is from Brandon, was acquired by the Kootenay Ice from the Kamloops Blazers last season. He didn’t report to the Ice this season, saying he wanted to finish his junior career with the Pistons. . . .
The Saskatoon Blades will open the season with Troy Trombley, 20, and Trevor Martin, 18, as their goaltenders. The 6-foot-7 Trombley, from Sherwood Park, Alta., was 9-30-3/4.08/.899 last season. He also has played with the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans. Martin, from Ardossan, Alta., split last season between the midget AAA Leduc Oil Kings and the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines. . . . Saskatoon’s roster sits at 29, including two goaltenders and 10 defencemen.

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The new third jersey is here! pic.twitter.com/SifZ5ktKBX
— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) September 11, 2014

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Warriors, Thunderbirds make deal . . . Struch signs with Pats

A sendoff to Robin Williams, from Mark Knight, an editorial cartoonist
with the Melbourne (Australia) Herald Sun. Knight posted it on his
Twitter account (@Knightcartoons).

If you haven’t already seen it, Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press spent some time Tuesday with the family of Ethan Williams, a young hockey player who committed suicide on July 29.
MacIntyre’s story is right here.

The Williams family wanted their son’s story to be out there in the hopes that it might help prevent such tragedies in the future.
Ethan, who would have been 17 on Aug. 22, was a fifth-round selection by the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. He played last season with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. He was to have attended the Warriors’ training camp later this month.
One thing the family told McIntyre is that Ethan had had eight diagnosed concussions during his career. Understandably, Ethan’s family wonders whether those injuries can be connected to his depression.
Sheryl Ubelacker of The Canadian Press writes: “Teenagers who have suffered a traumatic brain injury such as a concussion have a significantly higher risk of attempting suicide, being bullied and seeking help for mental-health issues from crisis help lines, a study has found.”
Ubelacker’s story, which was written in April, is right here.
As research into brain injuries progresses, there are more and more such studies and stories out there.
Unfortunately, the issues of concussion- and mental health-awareness aren’t going to go away.
The death of actor/comedian Robin Williams on Tuesday has shone a light of unprecedented brightness on mental illness. The reaction on social media has been nothing short of amazing, and is likely to provide one more push that will help remove the stigma that rides on the shoulder of someone with such an illness.
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Meanwhile, Shannon Sampert, the Free Press’ politics and perspectives editor, writes right here about suicide and the media’s responsibilities in reporting it.
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One day after losing D Cole Wedman as a 20-year-old, the Moose Jaw Warriors acquired F Jaimen Yakubowski, 20, from the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Warriors also got a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft, while surrendering a 2016 third-round selection.
Yakubowski had 19 points, nine of them goals, in 47 games with the Thunderbirds last season. He was acquired on Oct. 24, along with F Sam McKechnie from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for F Carter Folk, F Riley Sheen and a third-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft.
Yakubowski, a native of Dalmeny, Sask., was used in more of a checking role in Seattle, so the Warriors are hoping he can recapture his scoring touch from 2012-13 when he had 50 points, 32 of them goals, in 66 games with Lethbridge. In 145 games with the Hurricanes, he had 79 points, including 49 goals. (Dalmeny is a few slapshots north of Saskatoon.)
The Warriors now have four 20-year-olds on their roster, all of them forwards. The others are Scott Cooke, Tanner Eberle and Jack Rodewald.
The Thunderbirds, meanwhile, still have six 20-year-olds on their roster -- G Taran Kozun, D Adam Henry, D Evan Wardley, F Justin Hickman, F Connor Honey and McKechnie.
Seattle GM Russ Farwell isn’t likely to take six 20-year-olds to camp next week, so don’t be surprised if there is another move or two in the next few days.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors will add F Reed Low and D Scott Schoneck into the Conexus Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame as players this season, while the late Doug Hetherington will be inducted as a builder. . . . Low, from Moose Jaw, played two seasons (1995-97) with the Warriors, putting up 46 points and 449 penalty minutes in 123 games. He later played 256 NHL games, 250 of them with the St. Louis Blues, who selected him in the seventh round of the 1996 draft. He is retired and lives in St. Louis, where he works for Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers. Low also coaches minor hockey and conducts private lessons. . . . Schoneck, from Abbey, Sask., spent five seasons with the Warriors (1995-2000), putting up 209 points, including 53 goals, in 283 regular-season games. He is the Warriors’ all-time leading point-getter among defencemen. He later spent five years at the U of Saskatchewan, where he played for the Huskies and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in business economics. He now is a national account manager in Western Canada for PepsiCo Foods Canada. . . . Hetherington was on the Warriors’ board of directors (2004-11), serving as alternate governor. He also was an original member of the Multiplex Builders Group. He died on Jan. 16, 2011. . . . The Hall of Fame weekend is scheduled for Nov. 28 and 29, with the induction ceremony on Friday and the Hall of Fame game, versus the Saskatoon Blades, on Saturday.
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The Saskatoon Blades have signed G Dorrin Luding, the 66th overall selection in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. Luding, from North Vancouver, played last season at North Shore Winter Club, going 34-3-1 with 18 shutouts. He finished with a 0.966 GAA and a .934 save percentage in 38 games. He helped NSWC win the Western Canadian bantam championship. . . . The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Luding is expected to play this season with the major midget Cariboo Cougars, who play out of Prince George.
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F Derek Hulak (Regina, Saskatoon, 2006-10) finished up last season with the Texas Stars, who won the Calder Cup as AHL champions. It was his turn with the trophy on Wednesday and he had it in his hometown of Saskatoon. Yes, he took it by Credit Union Centre, where he had played with the Blades, and Rutherford Rink, where he played with the U of Saskatchewan Huskies. But he also took it to one other special place. Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has a wonderful story right here.
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With the summer collegiate baseball regular season having wrapped up, it’s worth noting that the Victoria HarbourCats, in just their second season of existence, have made their way into the top 50 of Baseball Business’ annual Summer Collegiate average attendance rankings. . . . The Madison Mallards (Northwoods League) are No. 1, at 6,139, followed by the LaCrosse Loggers (Northwoods), at 3,150, and the Elmira Pioneers (Perfect Game League), at 3,020. The Okotoks Dawgs (Western Major Baseball League) moved up one spot to No. 4, at 2,827. . . . The HarbourCats are No. 28, at 1,576, having led the West Coast League in attendance. Jim Swanson, the former sports editor of the Prince George Citizen, is the HarbourCats’ general manager. . . . Victoria drew 42,563 fans to 27 home games. . . . The HarbourCats finished 25-29, a three-game improvement over last season, but didn’t make the playoffs. . . . The top 50 is right here.
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Ask someone about the best TV show ever and you will get any number of answers. Ask me and the answer will be The Wire.
Click right here and you will be taken to a piece by David Simon, who hadn’t yet
created The Wire when he had an encounter with Robin Williams.
Yes, there are all kinds of pieces out there right now describing meetings with Williams. But without this encounter in a Baltimore morgue, The Wire may never have happened.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The Regina Pats announced Wednesday that they have signed Dave Struch as an assistant coach to work alongside John Paddock, the club’s new senior vice-president of hockey operations and head coach. . . . Struch spent the last eight seasons with the Saskatoon Blades, seven as an assistant coach and last season as head coach. The Blades went through an ownership change as the 2013-14 season began and Struch wasn’t re-signed after the season ended. . . . Contract details weren’t announced, but Taking Note has been told that Struch got a four-year deal.
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Mike Brodeur has signed on with the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons as their video and goaltending coach. . . . Brodeur, 31, is from Calgary. He played 41 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2003-04, before going on to a pro career that ended after the 2012-13 season. . . . In Fort McMurray, he will work alongside GM/head coach Curtis Hunt, who was the Warriors’ head coach in 2003-04 so is quite familiar with Brodeur. . . . The Oil Barons open camp on Aug. 15.
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I'm running, join me? RT @gdrinnan Isn't Dorothy grand . . . the preparations continue! . . . http://t.co/prY86uyIWq
— Jenn Rensch (@jrensch) August 14, 2014

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Struch on way to Pats? . . . Warriors lose d-man to U of A

This is the front page of Wednesday's edition
of the Winnipeg Free Press, as tweeted by
reporter Mike McIntyre (@mikeoncrime). He
spent part of Tuesday with the family of Ethan
Williams, a young hockey player who committed
suicide late last month.

One day after actor/comedian Robin Williams committed suicide, Mike McIntyre, a reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press, spent a few hours with the family of Ethan Williams.
Williams, from Winnipeg, committed suicide on July 29. He would have turned 17 on Aug. 22.
McIntyre’s story gets big play on the front page of today’s Free Press.
The Williams family wanted their son's story to be heard, so McIntyre was there on Tuesday. As McIntyre learned, Ethan Williams had suffered eight concussions that were diagnosed. Williams’ father also is terminally ill with cancer.
Williams is one of at least four teenaged hockey players to commit suicide in Western Canada in the past few months.
The Moose Jaw Warriors had selected Williams in the fifth round of the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. He played one game with the Warriors in 2012-13 and spent last season with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. He was to have attended the Warriors’ training camp later this month.
At some point today (Wednesday), McIntyre’s story should be available right here.
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It appears that Dave Struch, who spent the past eight seasons on the coaching staff of the Saskatoon Blades, is on the verge of joining the Regina Pats, after all. A source familiar with the situation has told Taking Note that he is “99.9 per cent sure” that Struch will be named associate coach with the Pats. . . . Another source has told Taking Note that Struch will get a four-year deal. . . . A native of Flin Flon, Man., Struch, 43, was an assistant with the Blades for seven seasons before taking over as head coach prior to last season. Of course, the Blades’ ownership changed hands just as last season got started and the new owners dropped Struch after last season. In a rebuilding season after loading up as the host team for the 2013 Memorial Cup, the Blades went 16-51-5. Struch also played four seasons (1988-92) with the Blades.
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The Thompson Rivers University (TRU) WolfPack may play again, but it won’t be in 2014-15. Trevor Bast of Victoria, who has been trying to save the program that was dropped by the school on July 29, has informed players that it won’t happen in time for the approaching season.
“I have just spoken to the league commissioner and they can no longer wait to release the schedule,” Bast informed players in an email on Tuesday afternoon. “I'm sorry our rescue effort fell short and I appreciate everyone being on board.
“Don't feel like you didn't make a difference because you did. There was not much of a chance of it coming back next season the way things ended. Now we are having active and continuing conversations with TRU, the BCIHL and sponsors about icing a team next year.
“I can't express how much I regret you guys not playing next season. I know what the game and the camaraderie mean to you. For those of you who aren't going to school because of this I feel even worse.
“I will keep people notified of our progress moving forward.”
In a news release, Ken Olynyk, TRU’s athletic and recreation director, said: “I am not saying that the hockey program won’t come back in some form in the future. But as it stands right now, any efforts to put a team on the ice for the 2014-15 B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League season have ceased.”
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D Cole Wedman has decided to attend the U of Alberta, rather than play out his WHL eligibility with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Wedman, 20, is from Edmonton and will play for the Golden Bears. . . . In three seasons with the Spokane Chiefs, Wedman had 29 points, including eight goals, in 181 regular-season games. . . . On May 6, the Warriors acquired Wedman for a conditional fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. That pick now goes back to the Chiefs. . . . Wedman’s departure leaves the Warriors with three 20-year-olds -- F Scott Cooke, F Tanner Eberle and F Jack Rodewald. . . . "Between now and the beginning of the season we're evaluating where some of our young guys are and who will have the ability to step up. We may look at other options on 20-year-olds," Warriors general manager Alan Millar told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. "There's no rush and no panic to replace that 20-year-old that we lost with Wedman." . . . Millar’s acquisition of D Austin Adam, 19, from the Everett Silvertips on June 13 now is looking rather prescient. Adam, 6-foot-6 and 200 pounds, is a stay-at-home defender with 11 points in 127 regular-season games with the Silvertips. . . . Gourlie’s complete story is right here.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed D Ethan King, a second-round selection in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound King, from Vernon, B.C., had 36 points, six of them goals, in 55 games with a team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna last season.
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The Saskatoon Blades have signed D Jake Kustra, a second-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft, to a contract. Kustra, from Yorkton, Sask., is the son of former Blades G Damon Kustra (1989-90). Jake played last season with the bantam AAA Notre Dame Hounds, putting up 16 points, five of them goals, in 28 games. . . . Jake’s brother, Matt, is a 17-year-old goaltending prospect with the Prince George Cougars.
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The Edmonton Oilers have signed F Leon Draisaitl, the third overall selection in the NHL’s 2014 draft, to a three-year entry-level contract. Draisaitl, from Germany, put up 105 points, including 38 goals, in 64 games with the Prince Albert Raiders last season. In two seasons with the Raiders, the native of Cologne totalled 163 points, including 59 goals, in 128 games. . . . A lot of observers expect Draisaitl to play with the Oilers, perhaps even as their No. 2 centre, in the upcoming season.
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When the NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs hired a new assistant coach the other day, it didn’t make much of a splash. Had it been the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers hiring Becky Hammon as the NBA’s first full-time female assistant coach, it would have been a huge story. But the Spurs? Hey, all they do is win. . . . Jere Longman of The New York Times looks at the Hammon signing right here.
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According to Dr. James Andrews, one of the best known surgeons in the sporting world today, “Almost half of sports injuries in adolescents stem from overuse.” . . . More from Dr. Andrews: “Professionalism is taking these kids at a young age and trying to work them as if they are pro athletes, in terms of training and year-round activity. Some can do it, like Tiger Woods. He was treated like a professional golfer when he was 4, 5, 6 years old. But you’ve got to realize that Tiger Woods is a special case. A lot of these kids don’t have the ability to withstand that type of training and that type of parental/coach pressure.” . . . If you have a child playing sports, you should read this piece right here.
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Robin Williams may be dead, but he still will be up there on the big screen. He is in four films that are scheduled to be released by early in 2015. Andrew Ryan of The Globe and Mail looks at those films right here. . . . Unfortunately, it seems that a planned sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire isn’t likely to proceed.
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Meanwhile, over at Grantland, Wesley Morris takes a look back at “The Legacy of Robin Williams: The Movies.” . . . That is right here.

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Warriors prospect dies at 16 . . . Former WHL assistant coach to Canucks

F Garrett Festerling (Portland, Regina, 2003-07) has signed a three-year contract extension with the Hamburg Freezers (Germany, DEL). Festerling now is under contract with Hamburg through the 2017-18 season. Last season, in 53 games, he had eight goals and team-leading 29 assists. . . .
F Owen Fussey (Calgary, Moose Jaw, 1999-2003) has signed a one-year contract with the Guildford Flames (England, Premier). Fussey didn’t play the last two seasons. In 2011-12, with the Coventry Blaze (England, UK Elite), he had 68 points, including 37 goals, in 60 games. He led the Blazers in goals.
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ETHAN WILLIAMS
(Moose Jaw Warriors photos)

F Ethan Williams, a fifth-round selection by the Moose Jaw Warriors in the 2012 WHL bantam draft, has died. Williams, who was from Winnipeg, would have turned 17 on Aug. 22.
“Our entire organization is very saddened with the news of Ethan Williams’ passing,” Warriors general manager Alan Millar said in a news release. “Ethan was a fine young man, and a very talented hockey player. Our thoughts and prayers are with Chris and Shannon and the entire Williams family during this difficult time.”
Williams, 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, signed with the Warriors after their 2012 training camp, and he played one game with them in 2012-13. During that 2012 camp, he scored a goal in his first WHL exhibition game, against the Swift Current Broncos.
In his draft season, Williams had 71 points, 25 of them goals, with a bantam AAA team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna.
Last season, he had eight points, four of them goals, in 23 games with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers.
Williams still was on the Warriors’ protected list and had been expected to attend training camp next month.
“Ethan has all the tools needed to play in the WHL and a great chance to hone those skills to advance to the highest level,” former NHL and WHL forward Darcy Tucker said of Williams shortly after the 2012 bantam draft. “Ethan can use his body, skating ability and hands to create scoring chances almost at will. We are very happy for Ethan’s success, and will be following him closely this season as he progresses.”
Tucker is a partner in Turning Point Sports Management, the firm that represented Williams at the time.
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The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks will have a new video coach when the new season arrives. A source has told Taking Note that the Canucks have signed Ben Cooper as their video coach. He will work with Willie Desjardins, the Canucks’ new head coach. . . . Cooper has been coaching a varsity team at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C., and also was scouting for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Before that, he was an assistant coach with the WHL’s Victoria Royals. He also has extensive video experience with Hockey Canada.
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Former WHL head coach Jim Hiller has signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. Hiller, 45, spent the past five seasons as head coach of the Tri-City Americans, but his contract wasn’t renewed after last season. He was the CHL and WHL coach of the year in 2011-12. Hiller also was head coach of the Chilliwack Bruins for three seasons. . . . As an NHL player, Hiller played 21 regular-season and two playoff games with the Red Wings in 1992-93. . . . Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press has more right here.
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Levi Moon finished his second season of bantam hockey and walked away from the game. He decided he was going to be a baseball player. Moon, 18, attended the Badlands Baseball Academy in Oyen, Alta., and soon he’s off to Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, N.Y., on a baseball scholarship. His father, Cam, is the radio voice of the Red Deer Rebels. . . . Danny Rode of the Red Deer Advocate has more right here.
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The Prince George Cougars have named Bob Simmonds as their director of scouting. Simmonds, who spent 37 years with the RCMP before retiring, works out of Edmonton. He has been part of the Cougars’ scouting staff for seven seasons. . . . Bill Horton of St. Paul, Minn., has been promoted to director of U.S. scouting. Horton, 27, is preparing for his second season with the Cougars. . . . Cougars GM Todd Harkins also announced the addition of Trevor Sprague of Prince George and Tom Hengen of Vancouver to the scouting staff. Sprague, the head coach of the major midget Cariboo Cougars, will work as a travelling scout, while Hengen will focus on B.C.’s Lower Mainland. Sprague had been scouting for the Portland Winterhawks. Hengen is the father of Michael Hengen, the Cougars’ new assistant coach. Tom spent the past six seasons as head scout for the BCHL’s Penticton Vees.
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With the news that Vin Scully will return in 2015 for a 66th year calling baseball games, the Los Angeles Times took a look at his movie appearances. That piece is right here.
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Thoughts and prayers go out today to the friends, family and teammates of Ethan Williams. Gone far too soon... #RIPEthan
— Mike Fraser (@MikeFraser29) July 30, 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 Lethbridge Hurricanes have dealt F Nick Buonassisi, 20, to the Brandon Wheat Kings for a fifth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. Buonassisi came over from the Prince George Cougars last season in exchange for D Reid Jackson. Buonassisi had 45 points, including 14 goals, in 45 points with Lethbridge. He had put up four points in 10 games with the Cougars. As he goes into his fifth WHL season, he has 137 points in 270 regular-season games. . . . The move gets the Hurricanes down to three 20-year-olds — G Ty Rimmer, D Daniel Johnston and F Graham Hood. . . . The Wheat Kings will open camp with four 20-year-olds in town — Buonassisi, D Tyler Yaworski, who was acquired earlier in the month from the Prince Albert Raiders, D Ryley Miller and F Dominick Favreau.
———
The Tri-City Americans have signed G Evan Sarthou to a WHL contract. He was a third-round pick, 65th overall, in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Sarthou, from Black Diamond, Wash., played last season with the bantam AAA L.A. Selects, going 2.33 and .910 in 47 games. . . . He was in the Americans’ rookie camp and stopped all 15 shots he faced in helping Team White to a 5-2 victory over Team Blue in the Blue-White game. . . . Sarthou will play for the U-16 L.A. Jr. Kings this season. . . . The Americans have signed four of their first five 2012 draft picks.
———

The Americans’ bus is getting a facelift, with a whole lot of help from Kyle Weibold and Noah’s Ark at Getaway Charters.
According to a news release, “The bus, which becomes a second home to the players as they cover over 13,000 miles each season, will feature a striking Canadians Red paint job, with the Americans' primary stars and bars logo printed on both sides of the bus along with the team's website.”
———
The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed F Ethan Williams and D Tyler Brown, both of whom are represented by Turning Point Sports Management. . . . Both were fifth-round selections by the Warriors in the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft. . . . Williams, from Winnipeg, played last season at Pursuit Of Excellent in Kelowna. This season, he will play midget AAA in Winnipeg. . . . Brown also played at PoE last season. This season, he will play for the U-16 AAA Omaha Lancers, who are coached by former WHLer David Wilkie. . . . Interestingly, Carlos Sosa of Turning Point once represented Wilkie, a defenceman with the Kamloops Blazers. In fact, Wilkie was Sosa’s initial first-round NHL draft pick when he was taken by the Montreal Canadiens with the 20th overall selection in 1992. . . . Turning Point also is acting as family advisor for Wilkie’s son, Chris, who has joined USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Chris was selected by the Victoria Royals in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2011 bantam draft.
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Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that F Ty Ronning will be out for a couple of weeks with “a hairline fracture in his forearm.” . . . Ronning, who will turn 15 on Oct. 20, was selected by the Vancouver Giants with the 15th overall pick of the 2012 bantam draft. According to Ewen, Ronning, the son of former NHLer Cliff Ronnig, “was injured in a collision along the boards at training camp.” . . . “Stuff happens,” Ty Ronning told Ewen. “I’ll be fine.” . . . Later, Ronning plans on going to camp with the major midget North West Giants.
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A Sunday tweet from James Shewaga, the sports editor at the Brandon Sun:
“Wheat Kings F prospect Geordie Maguire, 17, looks ready to commit. He tweeted today he is heading to Brandon on Monday to meet his billets.”
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Team Red beat Team White 5-1 in the Spokane Chiefs’ annual intrasquad game on Sunday. Veterans Mike Aviani and Collin Valcourt each had a goal and two assists. . . . However, the biggest number was 2,877. That was the attendance at the Spokane Arena. . . . The Chiefs are holding out three veterans with undisclosed injuries — G Mac Engel, F Marek Kalus and F Liam Stewart.
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F Brayden Point had three goals and two assists to lead Team Black to a 10-2 victory over Team White in the Moose Jaw Warriors’ final rookie scrimmage of camp. Team White won the Hamonic Cup with the victory. . . . Point will be fun to watch this season. He’s only 16 but is coming off a playoff run in which hs put up 10 points in 14 games. . . . “Confidence is everything,” Point told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “I feel I have a lot more confidence after playing in the playoffs. To be able to come here and have a little bit of success just gives me more confidence.” . . . Gourlie reports that everyone left in camp played in the game, with the exception of F Brayden Cuthbert (concussion), F Tanner Eberle (shoulder) and D Morgan Rielly.
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The Prince George Westcana Electric Axemen, the host team, won the Canadian senior men’s baseball championship Sunday night, beating the Windsor Stars 9-5 before 1,015 fans. . . . The Axemen were managed by Jim Swanson, who spent a number of years covering the WHL’s Prince George Cougars as sports editor of the Prince George Citizen.
Swanson has left the Citizen and now works for Telus in Prince George.
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OK. Enough is enough.
I’m referring to the CHLPA, which I don’t think has any toes left.
The CHLPA has no clothes. It has no credibility. It has nothing. It certainly doesn’t have one good reason as to why David Branch, the CHL president, should give it even the time of day.
And it won’t have any credibility until the people involved in it start telling the world exactly who they are and why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports has the latest right here.
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Three players from the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds were charged Saturday with sexual assault.
Brian Nicholas Cousins of Belleville, Ont., Andrew Douglas Fritsch of Brantford, Ont. and American Mark Anthony Petaccio were charged by Sault Ste. Marie police.
Cousins, 19, was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL’s 2011 draft, while Fritsch, 19, went to the Phoenix Coyotes in the
The Philadelphia Flyers drafted Cousins, 19, with the 68th pick in the 2011 NHL draft, while the Phoenix Coyotes took Fritsch, also 19, in the sixth round. Pettaccio, 18, is undrafted.
Randy Miller of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post, a newspaper in New Jersey, has a story right here.

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