Sentencing date set for Blazers' owner . . . Brandon, Lethbridge settle on goaltenders

Tom Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, will be in a Kamloops courtroom on Oct. 10 to be sentenced after being found guilty in August of two environmental-related charges. Tim Petruk of Kamloops This Week reports that “the maximum penalties for harmful alteration of a fish habitat are fines of up to $1 million and/or six months in jail.” . . . Petruk’s story is right here.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings got down to two goaltenders on Saturday by releasing Josh Dechaine, 16, who will join the midget AAA St. Albert, Alta., Raiders. . . . That leaves Brandon with Jordan Papirny, 18, the Wheat Kings’ rookie of the year last season, and freshman Logan Thompson, 17, on its roster. Papirny, the 22nd overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, is in camp with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Thompson, from Calgary, was a sixth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . The Wheat Kings close out their exhibition schedule against the Warriors in Moose Jaw today. . . . Bruce Luebke, the long-time radio voice of the Wheat Kings, tweeted Saturday morning: “At Young Stars Tourney, @bdnwheatkings D and @NHLFlames prospect Eric Roy left in 1st period last night with upper body injury.” . . . Later, Luebke pointed out that Roy missed part of the Flames’ camp a year ago “because of an abdominal injury.”
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes got their roster down to 28 early on Saturday as they released D Connor Rokosh, F Reid Nemeth and G Jonny Hogue. . . . That leaves the Hurricanes with two goaltenders -- Zac Robidoux, 18, who was acquired from the Medicine Hat Tigers earlier this month, and Stuart Skinner, who turns 16 on Nov. 1. Skinner was the 17th overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . The Hurricanes gave up a third-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft for Robidoux. If he is on a WHL roster next season, the Tigers also will get a fourth-round pick in 2017. . . . Hogue was an eighth-round pick in 2011, while Nemeth was a ninth-round pick in 2011. . . . Hogue was 2-10-0/5.94/.855 last season. . . . Nemeth had five points, including three goals, in 58 games last season. . . . Rokosh, a fourth-round pick in 2013, will join the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club midget AAA team.
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Former WHL D Bobby Zinkan, 19, has joined the junior A Summerside, P.E.I., Western Capitals. Zinkan, from Calgary, was a fourth-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the 2010 bantam draft. He played 102 games with the Broncos, picking up two goals and two assists, before being dealt in May to the Vancouver Giants for F Luca Leone and a sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. The Giants released him last week. Zinkan is likely to make his debut with the Capitals on Friday. . . . Tip of the hat to Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Broncos, for the tweet on Zinkan. . . .
Swift Current was without D Jordan Harris on Saturday night as they beat the Saskatoon Blades 4-2 in a game played in Maple Creek. Harris suffered an undisclosed injury on Friday night. . . . Last night, the Broncos played with only 16 skaters, two under the maximum allowed. . . . Broncos D Dillon Heatherington, 19, suffered an undisclosed injury on Friday night while playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a tournament in Traverse City, Mich. He didn’t practice Saturday, nor did he play in that evening’s 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. . . .
Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald reports that F Taylor Vickerman, 18, has been cleared to return to action with the Tri-City Americans. Vickerman, who is from Kennewick, Wash., suffered a knee injury on Feb. 15. He is expected to be available to play in the Americans’ season-opener on Saturday. The Edmonton Oilers have signed F Greg Chase of the Calgary Hitmen to a three-year entry-level contract. He was a seventh-round selection in the 2013 NHL draft.
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Former #BWK and @VanCanucks Ted Taylor is Saturdays ST #20in20 Contest winner! $100 gift card from @MontanasBrandon pic.twitter.com/PbRTyLK4Fa
— Brandon Wheat Kings (@bdnwheatkings) September 13, 2014

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Flin Flon's Whitney Forum is home to a number of banners.

With the Moose Jaw Civic Centre (aka the Crushed Can) having lost a battle with the wrecking ball, it would seem that Flin Flon’s Whitney Forum is the undisputed heavyweight champion of arenas.
A tweet from @boxcullen: “The TOUGHEST rink in Canada. All due respect to the Can in the Jaw. #jungleahockey”
A tweet from @HamWilder: “epic barn, i took a YouTube video for posterity last time I was home #flinflonflu #welcometothezoo”
Of course, one of these two gents may be a little biased, seeing as his father played goal for the Flin Flon Bombers back in the day. LOL!
No matter! We have a photo that was sent along by @boxcullen, and, oh boy, the memories . . .
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Roman Teslyuk (Kamloops, Tri-City, 2003-07) signed a one-year contract with Arlan Kokshetau (Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Vyschaya Liga). He had 10 goals and 17 assists in 48 games with Beibarys Atyrau (Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Vyschaya Liga) last season.
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Let the debate begin . . .
In Regina, the Pats dropped F Tanner Olstad, 20, who had nine points in 63 games last season. The Pats acquired Olstad from the Tri-City Americans during the 2010-11 season. In 39 games in Regina that season, he had 16 points. From Calgary, his junior A rights belong to the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers.
Shortly after Olstad was released, Pats president Brent Parker tweeted: “The crappy part of this business is releasing a quality kid like @TOlstad13 solely because of his birth certificate! @WHLpats #greatkid.”
Later in the day, Pats head coach Pat Conacher told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post he would like to see the WHL increase its 20-year-old limit.
Harder wrote:
“(Conacher) sees merit in allowing teams to distribute five players as they see fit under the overage and import quotas, meaning you could stick with the standard three 20s and two Europeans or go with four 20s and one Euro, even five 20s and no imports.”
“That gives us the option,” Conacher told Harder. “That way everybody’s happy.”
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The Tri-City Americans have dealt D Derek Ryckman, 20, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a fifth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. Ryckman, 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, was

DEREK RYCKMAN

acquired by the Americans from the Lethbridge Hurricanes last season. He had 12 points in 71 games last season, putting up 10 of those points in 60 games with the Americans. In his career, he has 40 points and 293 penalty minutes in 227 regular-season games. . . . The move leaves the Tigers with three 20-year-olds, the others being F Kale Kessy and D Alex Theriau. Theriau is expected to be out until sometime in October as he rehabs from hip surgery. . . . The Americans are down to four 20s — F Justin Feser, F Jordan Messier, F Jesse Mychan and D Drydn Dow. F Patrick Holland also is in camp with the Americans, but has signed with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. If there is an NHL lockout, he will go to camp with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs later this month.
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Mark Lamb, the GM and head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, has a brand new three-year contract extension in his back pocket. Shawn Mullin, the Broncos’ radio voice, reports that Lamb had one year left on his original deal; this deal erases the last year of that contract, so it runs through 2014-15. . . . Lamb has been with the Broncos since July 2009.
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The Vancouver Giants have dealt F Logan Harland, 17, to the Saskatoon Blades for a conditional seventh-round 2014 bantam draft pick and future considerations. Harland, who is from Paradise Hill, Sask., had a goal in 10 games with the Giants last season. . . . Vancouver F Anthony Ast has been suspended for four games and will miss his team’s regular-season opener. Ast took a check-to-the-head major and game misconduct for a hit on F Chase Souto in a game against the Blazers in Kamloops on Wednesday. Souto left the game and didn’t return as a precaution. He wasn’t injured. . . .
The Prince George Cougars released D Linden Springer, 18, who is from Lloydminster, Alta., and now is with the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. Springer had six points and 89 penalty minutes in 56 games with the Cougars last season. . . . D Jordan Harris, the 10th overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, has returned home to Prince Albert from the Cougars’ camp. He will play for the midget AAA Mintos or with a junior A club. . . . The Cougars also have returned D Sam Ruopp, 16, to the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. He was a fourth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. Yes, he is the younger brother of Prince Albert D Harrison Ruopp. . . .
The Everett Silvertips have released F Tre Potskin, 17, who is returning home to Prince George where he will play for the major midget Cariboo Cougars. . . . Everett also assigned F Luke Gordon, 18, to the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. He has played three WHL games with the Calgary Hitmen over the last two seasons. He spent most of last season with the Clippers. . . .
The Regina Pats assigned F Dane Schioler to the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers. Schioler, 16, was a second-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . .
The Kootenay Ice has its roster down to 28 players after having assigned F Kurt Johnas, 18, to the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. The Ice is carrying two goaltenders, nine defencemen and 17 forwards. . . .
The Saskatoon Blades have added F Luke McColgan, 17, to their roster. He is the younger brother of Saskatoon F Shane McColgan, who was acquired over the summer from the Kelowna Rockets. Luke actually was in camp with the Rockets for a bit, although he didn’t play in any exhibition games. Luke, from Manhattan Beach, Calif., played for the L.A. Kings U-18 team last season. . . .
F Jake Trask (Kamloops, Saskatoon, 2008-12) has signed with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. Trask, from Saskatoon, had 59 points, including 23 goals, in 62 games with the Blades last season. . . .
James Shewaga of the Brandon Sun reports that D Ryley Miller (flu) is back on the ice with the Wheat Kings after being sidelined for a lot of last week. F Dominick Favreau (back) and F Jens Meilleur (back) have been clearned to to return, while F Jayce Hawryluk (concussion) remains out. . . .
The defending-champion Edmonton Oil Kings are being touted in most corners as a favourite to repeat. Their lineup is awfully deep and full of returning players, which will be at least part of the reason that three 16-year-olds were assigned from their camp on Monday. F Brandon Ralph, F Mitchell Walter and D Aaron Irving all are on the move. Ralph is returning to the midget AAA Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Rangers, while Walter is headed to the midget AAA team in Spruce Grove, Alta. . . . Irving, the ninth overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft, is to play for the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs. . . . Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal reports that Oil Kings D Martin Gernat (upper body) and D Dylan Wruck (shoulder) have been slowed. Wruck had off-season surgery and is awaiting medical clearance. . . . The Oil Kings are carrying 26 players, including two goaltenders and 15 forwards. Of that number, 20 were part of last season’s championship team. . . .
The Lethbridge Hurricanes got down to 26 players by trimming a pair of 16-year-olds from their roster. F Carter Amson will play midget AAA in Saskatoon, while D Bryton Sayers is to join the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. . . . Both were second-round picks in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The Hurricanes are carrying three goaltenders, eight defencemen and 15 forwards. . . .
The Spokane Chiefs have assigned F Nakeh Lamothe to the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. Lamothe, 17, was a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . The Chiefs are down to 28 players, including three goaltenders and nine defenceman. They have 19 veterans still in camp.

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The Prince Albert Raiders have their roster down to 26 players after moving out D Brendan Guhle, 15, F Matteo Gennaro, 15, and D Matt Waseylenko, 19. . . . Guhle, the third overall pick in the 2012 bantam draft, will join a midget AAA team in Sherwood Park, Alta., while Gennaro, the 41st overall selection, will play midget AAA in St. Albert, Alta. . . . Waseylenko is expected to report to the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks. From St. Albert, he was fifth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. He had three points in four games with the Raiders, but played most of the season with the Kodiaks.
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The Victoria Royals placed two 20-year-olds — F Mike Forsyth and G Keith Hamilton — on waivers Sunday. . . . Forsyth, from Calgary, had 15 points in 72 games last season. In 143 career games, including one with the Medicine Hat Tigers and 68 with the Chilliwack Bruins, he has 32 points. . . . Hamilton was the Royals’ starting goaltender last season, going 20-31-1 in 58 appearances. He had a 4.10 GAA and .880 save percentage. . . . The Royals are down to two 20-year-olds — F Jamie Crooks and D Tyler Stahl. . . . Stahl is looking at a suspension after a check-to-the-head major on Friday night against Kelowna. . . . The Royals also trimmed F Clay Spencer, 17, from their roster.
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The Vancouver Giants assigned F Logan Harland, 17, to the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs on Saturday, getting their roster down to 27. . . . On Sunday, WesternEliteHockeyPr (@WEHPscout) tweeted: “The @bladeshockey have acquired forward Logan Harland from the Vancouver Giants. Put up some numbers as a midget player.” . . . Harland, from Paradise Hill, Sask., had one goal in nine games with the Giants last season. He had eight points in 38 games with the Pontiacs.
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D Jordan Harris’s name no longer appears on the Prince George Cougars’ roster. So look for word sometime today that he has been assigned elsewhere. Harris was the 10th overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . Harris is from Prince Albert, so perhaps he’ll return for a second season with the midget AAA Mintos. He had 14 points and 48 penalty minutes in 43 games with the Mintos last season. . . . The Cougars are down to 26 players, including nine defencemen and two goaltenders.

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Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Andrej Podkonicky (Portland, 1996-98) signed a two-year contract with Kometa Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had nine goals and 19 assists in 52 games for Liberec (Czech Republic, Extraliga) this season.
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Here are the highlights to date from the WHL annual general meeting which is being held somewhere in Calgary, as tweeted Tuesday by Cory Flett, whose title is Director, Communications:
1. “We did not issue a #WHL AGM agenda yesterday, will issue a release outlining the outcome of the mtg tmrw at 1pm MT.”
2. Three hours later . . . “The #WHL has officially decided to move away from printing a 'pocket schedule' for the 11-12 reg. season #makesense”
3. Immediately after that one . . . “The #WHL however, will remain the only League in the #CHL that does a FULL print order of media guides still #makessense”
So . . . there you have it, WHL fans. Another exciting day at another WHL AGM.
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Here’s a thought: Why doesn’t the WHL hold its AGM in the home city of its championship team? Gotta think it wouldn’t have done the Kootenay Ice any harm at all to have all of the WHL pooh-bahs talking it up in Cranbrook.
Of course, if the WHL isn’t going to let people know what’s going behind its closed doors, it may as well hold the AGM in Rankin Inlet.
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JUST NOTES: City council in Swift Current voted Monday night to spent $251,000 on a new scoreclock that will have video capabilities. However, it isn’t likely to be installed in the Credit Union i-plex in time for the start of the 2011-12 season. . . . The Prince Albert Raiders have signed F Reid Gardiner, the eighth overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft. Gardiner, a Prince Albert native, had 81 points in 24 games with the bantam AA Humboldt Broncos last season. . . . The Prince George Cougars have signed D Jordan Harris, the 10th overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft. Harris, from Prince Albert, had 34 points in 23 regular-season games with the bantam AA Prince Albert Pirates, who won the provincial championship. . . . The NHL’s Calgary Flames have purchased the NLL’s Calgary Roughnecks. Mike Moore, the Calgary Hitmen’s director of business operations, will wear the same hat with the Roughnecks. Moore is a former GM with the Kamloops Blazers and Medicine Hat Tigers.
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Two former WHLers -- Terry Ruskowski and Terry Egeland -- are said to be in the running for the vacant head-coaching position with the Central league’s Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. There is more right here.
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A few thoughts on the NHL and the way its game is being played in the Stanley Cup final:
1. It is quite evident that the cross-check is back in the game, especially has wielded by a player defending the turf in front of his goaltender.
2. I still am trying to come to some kind of understanding of the four-game suspension given to Vancouver D Aaron Rome for that hit on Boston F Nathan Horton. . . . Mike Murphy, who is handling discipline in this series on behalf of the NHL, said the hit was late. By one second. . . . If that one second is worth a four-game suspension in the Stanley Cup final and if the NHL is going to maintain consistency, that hit is going to be worth at least 12 games in the 2011-12 regular season.
3. I thought the NHL had outlawed the can-opener, but Boston D Johnny Boychuk took out Vancouver F Mason Raymond with it just 20 seconds into Game 6 on Monday night. (Raymond ended up with a compressed fracture of a vertebrae and won’t play again for perhaps four months.) There wasn’t a penalty on the play and the NHL chose not to take another look at the incident.
4. I am not a fan of the blustery Brian Burke, who is the king of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But were he the GM of the Vancouver Canucks, do you think he may have come up with a world-class rant to take some of the heat off that team? Surely you remember his rant from a 2002 series with the Detroit Red Wings: "I want to point out to the officials that Todd Bertuzzi does not play for Detroit, it just looks like that because he's wearing two or three Red Wings sweaters all the time. . . . Sedin is not Swedish for punch me, or headlock me in a scrum.” . . . The Canucks, the Sedins and Roberto Luongo in particular, really could have used something like that to relieve the pressure. And you just know that the media would have eaten it up.
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So . . . who wins Game 7? I’m thinking Luongo wins 1-0 (or 2-0 with an empty-netter). Like a hitter who sees the ball well in a particular park so has real success there, Luongo’s comfort zone in Rogers Arena seems especially large. So I would look for him to play well there, again. . . . But should the Bruins win, and that is a real possibility, I would expect the Left Coast of British Columbia to slide quietly into the water.
And the light created by the burning of those Canucks flags flying from automobile windows will light up the sky and confuse a whole lot of birds.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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