Hurricanes keeping busy . . . Tigers lose assistant GM to NHL

D Mitch Versteeg (Lethbridge, 2006-09) has signed a one-year contract with the Nikkō Icebucks (Japan, Asia HL). Last season, with Heilbronner Falken (Germany, DEL2), he had six goals and 11 assists in 27 games. He also played for Bad Nauheim (Germany, DEL2), picking up 14 points, including two goals, in 24 games. . . .
F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) has signed a one-year contract with Bolzano (Italy, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga), he had 14 goals and 15 assists in 50 games.
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TRADE WIRE:

THE DEAL: The Lethbridge Hurricanes get G Zac Robidoux, 18, from the Medicine Hat Tigers for a third-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2017. The latter is conditional on Robidoux playing in the WHL in 2016-17. He is the son of Florent Robidoux, who played two seasons (1978-80) with the Portland Winterhawks.
THE SKINNY: The Hurricanes lost G Justin Myles, who retired Friday due to problems associated with a brain injury suffered last season. Thus, they need some depth at that position. . . . Robidoux, from Morden, Man., is 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds. He played last season with the MJHL’s Portage Terriers, finishing with a slash line of 17-9-0/2.19/.924 in 27 appearances. With the Tigers, he was 2-1-0/2.27/891 in three games. He was a sixth-round pick of the Tigers in the 2011 bantam draft.
THE ANALYSIS: The Hurricanes used six goaltenders last season as they stumbled to a WHL-worst 12-55-5. Taking a look at Robidoux can’t hurt because it’s too early for Stuart Skinner, 16, the 17th pick in the 2013 bantam draft, to be the go-to guy. . . . The deal would seem to signal the Tigers’ contentment with a goaltending tandem of Nick Schneider, 17, and Jared Rathjen, 20. Schneider was acquired last season from the Regina Pats; Rathjen came over this summer from the Vancouver Giants.
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All eyes were on the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday, and they didn’t disappoint.
They didn’t trade D Macoy Erkamps, but they did place F Reid Duke on the suspended list, announced that G Justin Myles has retired, and acquired G Zac Robidoux from the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Erkamps, 19, didn’t show up for camp on Thursday and has requested a trade. The native of Delta, B.C., has played three seasons with the Hurricanes.
Duke, 18, was one of Lethbridge’s better players last season, his second with the Hurricanes after being the fifth overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft. (D Ryan Pilon, selected by Lethbridge with the third pick in that draft, asked for a trade last season and ended up with the Brandon Wheat Kings.)
Duke put up 40 points, including 15 goals, in 62 games. In 131 career regular-season games, he has 25 goals and 45 assists.
General manager Brad Robson said Thursday that Duke would be placed on the suspended list if he wasn’t in camp by Friday, at 2 p.m. Duke now is on that suspended list.
Myles, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Jan. 5 when he was with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Since then, he has been traded to the Kamloops Blazers and the Hurricanes.
Robson told Pat Siedlecki of Lethbridge radio station CJOC that doctors advised Myles not to play due to concussions. The conditional draft pick that went to Kamloops in the trade has reverted to Lethbridge.
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Mitch Wilson was a tough hockey player, witness 436 penalty minutes with the WHL’s Seattle Breakers in 1981-82. Now he’s taking on ALS, as documented right here by Mike Morreale of NHL.com. . . . Wilson, a Calgary native, has been sailing the seas for the last 20 years, most recently as a tugboat captain. He played two seasons (1980-82) with the Breakers; he piled up 253 penalty minutes in his first season. . . . In 124 regular-season games, he had 66 points, including 26 goals. He went on to play professionally into the mid-1990s, and got into 26 NHL games, scoring twice, earning three assists, and picking up 104 penalty minutes.
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G Christopher Tai, who turns 19 on Dec. 1, is in camp with the Kelowna Rockets. A native of Delta, B.C., Tai played last season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes (eight games), Medicine Hat Tiger (1) and Brandon Wheat Kings (1). In 2012-13, he got into 12 games with the Hurricanes. . . . In 22 regular-season games, he is 5-6-0, 4.54, .867. . . . In Kelowna, it’s anticipated that veteran Jackson Whistle will open as the starter, after backing up Jordon Cooke last season. Cooke has used up his junior eligibility.
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The Kamloops Blazers revealed Friday morning that F Carson Bolduc, 18, has decided not to report to training camp. . . . According to a news release, he is evaluating his hockey career. . . . “Carson informed us prior to training camp that he did not want to compete at the level necessary to play in the WHL,” general manager Craig Bonner said in that news release. . . . Bolduc, from Salmon Arm, had 20 points, eight of them goals, in 121 career regular-season games. He was acquired last season from the Prince George Cougars and had 11 points, including three goals, in 44 games with the Blazers. . . . The Cougars selected him in the third round of the 2011 bantam draft.
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The Kamloops Blazers have three sets of twins in their rookie camp. Andrew and Lucas Palladino, from Sturgeon County, Alta., both are forwards, as are Michael and Ryan Van Unen, who are from Kamloops. Benson and Jordan Thorpe are from Saskatoon. Benson is a right winger, while Jordan is a defenceman. All are 15 years of age. . . . Kamloops has D Clint Colebourn of North Vancouver and F Phillip Knies of Phoenix on its main camp roster. Both were 2013 bantam draft picks, Colebourn in the seventh round and Knies in the fourth, but both were injured an unable to attend camp a year ago. . . . F Tyler Ward of Kamloops turned 15 on Tuesday, but had to pull out of the Blazers’ camp with an injury. The 5-foot-6, 130-pound Ward was an 11th-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft.
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Dan Olsen is the new head coach of the Calgary-based SAIT Trojans. Olsen is a former player and assistant coach with the Trojans. . . . He is SAIT’s first new hockey coach in 27 years. Olsen, 53, takes over from Ken Babey, the former head coach and athletic director who resigned from both positions in June. . . . Olsen was Babey’s assistant coach for five seasons (1991-95). . . . Most recently, Olsen has been the head coach of the Calgary Buffalo Hockey Association’s minor midget Triple A Rangers.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed F Noah Gregor, 16, who was acquired last season from the Victoria Royals. The Royals picked up Gregor and two third-round bantam draft picks, in 2014 and 2016, for D Travis Brown, 19. . . . The Warriors traded that 2016 pick last week when they acquired F Jaimen Yakubowski, 20, from the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Last season, Gregor played for the midget AAA Leduc Oil Kings. In his freshman season, he led the league in scoring, with 51 points, including 21 goals, in 35 games. . . . Victoria had selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Gregor will take it slow over the weekend, thanks to “a minor back and hip flexor injury.” . . . Gourlie also reports that the Warriors didn’t invite F Brandon Del Grosso, 18, to camp. He was limited to one game last season after suffering a brain injury on Oct. 10. . . .
D Liam Schioler, 16, is taking part in the Regina Pats’ rookie camp. Schioler, from Winnipeg, was a second-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft. He plans on returning to Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn., for a second season. . . . The NHL’s Calgary Flames have added Brad McEwen to their scouting staff. He had been working with the Medicine Hat Tigers as their head scout and assistant general manager. McEwen will begin work for the Flames on Sept. 1. A veteran of Western Canadian hockey arenas, he had been the Tigers’ head scout since 2007. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors will donate all proceeds from Sunday’s intrasquad game to the Journey to Hope in memory of Ethan Williams. A fifth-round draft pick by the Warriors in 2012, Williams committed suicide last month in his hometown of Winnipeg. He was to have attended this training camp.
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Why are some of these players quitting? Would u eventually run out of gas too if u were playing/training for hockey 12 months of the year?
— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) August 22, 2014

Changes in Canes land: the voice of the team hasn't even mentioned the two missing veterans. Controlling the message?
— Dylan Purcell (@dylpurcell) August 22, 2014

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

THE MacBETH REPORT:


F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) signed a one-year contract extension with the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). He had 16 goals and 19 assists in 52 games split between Red Bull Salzburg (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) and the Capitals. . . .


F Matt MacKay (Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Brandon, 2008-11) signed a one-year contract extension with the Schwenninger Wild Wings (Germany, 2. Bundesliga). He had three goals and five assists in 42 games with the Wings this season. . . .

D Robert Schnabel (Red Deer, 1997-99) signed a one-year contract extension with the Manchester Phoenix (England, Premier). He had eight goals and 18 assists in 45 games with the Premier League champs this season. . . .

F Lauris Darzins (Kelowna, 2004-06) signed a one-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk (Russia, KHL). He had four goals and eight assists in 24 games with Ak Bars Kazan (Russia, KHL) this season. Darzins also was captain of the Latvian national team at the world championship last month, where he had five goals and one assist in seven games. He also was Latvia’s leading scorer at the 2014 Olympics Qualifying Tournament with three goals and two assists in three games. Latvia won its group and qualified for Sochi. . . .

And an interesting note from the KHL. The league has mandated going to NHL-sized rinks starting with the 2013-2014 season. Hmmm. . . .
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There was a time when the WHL would at least put out a news release in advance of its annual general meeting.
These days, it seems the WHL would prefer to operate in secrecy.
There was no news release early in the week to provide even a speck of information on what would be on the agenda. That annual two-day meeting apparently was held in Vancouver and ended Wednesday. (Allow me to ask once again: Why not hold the annual meeting in one of the league’s smaller cities, providing a hotel or two and a restaurant or three with some offseason business? Or perhaps it could have been held in Portland where it might have received far more media attention than it did in Vancouver.)
Anyway . . .
According to the WHL’s own news release:
“One of the highlights of the meetings was a report on the WHL Concussion Management Safety Program indicating that concussions were down over 20% overall during the 2012-13 season compared to the 2011-12 season. The reduced number of concussions is largely a result of the WHL's Seven Point Plan, a comprehensive education and prevention program designed to reduce contact to the head and concussions, introduced prior to the 2011-12 season.”
The WHL, of course, didn’t provide any numbers. It expects us to take this at face value.
Brain injuries, it wants us to believe, are down more than 20 per cent. Of course, that could mean 20.1 per cent; it could mean 50 per cent. It could mean anything more than 20 per cent.
But more than 20 per cent of what? The WHL needs to start giving the media and fans credit for some intelligence; in other words, don’t expect that stuff to be swallowed like so much pablum.
The WHL started hiding its injury information following a 2010-11 season in which players accumulated more than 100 brain injuries and alarm bells started to go off. Those alarm bells got louder when some media outlets made something out of the WHL having surpassed the century mark.
The WHL’s response was to start reporting all injuries as being of the upper- or lower-body variety.
And now, with no point of reference, the WHL wants us to drink the Kool-Aid and believe that brain injuries were down more than 20 per cent this season.
I would suggest that if there was a drop of even 20 per cent, it means that brain injuries were way up — way, way up — in 2011-12 from 2010-11.
It is impossible to document a precise number because the WHL and its teams simply refuse to be truthful about such injuries. However, tracking upper-body injuries and using anecdotal evidence gathered throughout this season, I would suggest there were somewhere between 75 and 110 brain injuries.
Again, this is pure speculation, the numbers having been compiled by perusing the WHL’s weekly injury list and then attempting to research each upper-body injury.
What is known is that a number of players including F Spencer Main of the Kelowna Rockets, F Brayden Cuthbert of the Moose Jaw Warriors and F Shae Howorko of the Swift Current Broncos weren’t able to start the season because of previously incurred brain injuries.
A number of others, including forward Brent Benson of Swift Current, D Albin Blomqvist of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, D Reid Jackson of the Moose Jaw Warriors, G Daniel Wapple of Moose Jaw, F Phil Tot of the Tri-City Americans and F Tyrel Seaman of the Brandon Wheat Kings were shut down during the season to allow them more time to recover from brain injuries.
Two years ago, the WHL announced a “Seven-Point Plan” aimed at reducing brain injuries.
Then, following its annual meeting a year ago, the league said in a news release: “Despite a slight increase in concussions, the WHL remains confident the Seven Point Plan will assist in reducing concussions in the future.”
In the same news release, commissioner Ron Robison stated that the league actually expected that increase.
“We anticipated the rate of concussions may increase this past season as there is more emphasis being placed now than ever before on the care and treatment of concussion injuries,” Robison stated. “We remain confident that the WHL's Seven Point Plan will address this matter effectively and reduce concussions in the seasons ahead.”
Of course, no one from the WHL has said exactly how many brain injuries were suffered during that 2011-12 season. So, again, there is no point of reference.
We aren’t likely to find out how many there were in 2012-13 either because the WHL continues to hide the numbers.
But, as mentioned, that total would appear to be between 75 and 110, and that’s far too many, especially if you are one of the unfortunate young men who has ended up with a brain injury that may have a long-term impact on your life.
But until the WHL chooses to become more transparent and provide hard numbers, we will never know what is really happening.
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The WHL’s news release from its annual meeting that benefited the economy of Vancouver also mentioned:
1. The league will use video replay “in the offensive zone to review goal situations when a player may have scored as a result of a hand pass or high stick.” This change is too late to help the Swift Current Broncos who lost a home playoff game in OT because the on-ice officials missed a gloved pass in the goal area that resulted in a goal.
2. The league is using a “new computer assisted scheduling system.” . . . The exhibition schedule is to be released June 25, with the regular-season schedule to follow the next day.
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1. The Tri-City Americans have acquired F Jessey Astles, 20, from the Saskatoon Blades for a conditional sixth-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft. Astles had two points in 26 games with the Blades. He missed a lot of the season after suffering a skate cut to one wrist during a November game against the Regina Pats. The injury required surgery. Astles, a sixth-round selection by Kelowna in the 2008 bantam draft, played three seasons with the Rockets He was dealt to the Blades last summer.

2. The Americans now have six 1993-born players on their roster. The others are F Tyson Dallman, F Lukas Walter, D Zach Yuen, D Mitch Topping and G Luke Lee-Knight. . . . The Blades, meanwhile, have 13, but two of those are imports. . . . Teams are allowed to carry three 20-year-olds after a mid-October deadline.


3. The Prince Albert Raiders have signed F Lance Yaremchuk, a local lad who led the Saskatchewan midget AAA league in goals (38) with his hometown Mintos this season. Yaremchuk, a sixth-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft, is a 1996-born player. He had 63 points, leaving him fourth in the league scoring race.


4. Dan Lambert, who is prepping for his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Kelowna Rockets, has been named head coach of Team West, the Manitoba-Saskatchewan combines who will play in the U17 World Hockey Challenge in Cape Breton, Dec. 28 through Jan. 5. . . . Lambert, 43, replaces Malcolm Cameron, who stepped aside after being named head coach of the Regina Pats last month.

5. Lambert, then a defenceman with the Swift Current Broncos, played for a similar U17 team that met a touring Soviet side in a three-game series late in 1986. It was while he was with that team that the Broncos’ bus crashed, on Dec. 30, 1986, killing four of his teammates. . . . The book that is linked to at the top right of this page — Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos — is about that crash and all that happened afterwards.

6. The OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds have signed general manager Kyle Dubas to a two-year extension, taking him through 2015-16. Dubas, 27, is a Sault Ste. Marie native who signed with the team in April 2011. . . . Earlier, the Greyhounds picked up an option on head coach Sheldon Keefe and now have him signed through 2014-15.


7. Doug Harrison of CBC Sports has spoken with Sherry Bassin, the majority owner and general manager, of the OHL’s Erie Otters about the CHL’s decision to prohibit European goaltenders. That story is right here.
Bassin, who has been around since they flooded the ice with water barrels and gunnysacks, talks a lot about the lack of coaching provided to goaltenders in minor hockey.
But at the end of the story he opens another can of worms by telling Harrison that it wouldn’t surprise him if all European players were prohibited from playing in the CHL in the not-too-distant future.
Discuss.

8. The Grand Rapids Griffins closed to within one victory of the AHL championship with a 4-2 victory over the visiting Syracuse Crunch last night. . . . The Griffins lead the best-of-seven final for the Calder Cup, 3-0. Game 4 is scheduled for Friday night in Grand Rapids. . . . F Jan Mursak broke a 2-2 tie at 15:11 of the third period. . . . Game 4 will be available on AHL Live, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, and ESPN America). Game time is 7 p.m. ET. . . . Attendance for Game 3 was 10,102.

9. Ken Campbell of The Hockey News has a piece right here speculating on the future of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. Will they stay, or will they go? And if they go, what is their destination? . . . Interestingly, Campbell has former Tampa Bay Lightning co-owner Oren Koules involved in a group that is “lurking in the background.” . . . Campbell also speculates that the Coyotes could end up relocating to Tacoma. Why Tacoma? Because Seattle’s Key Arena no longer has ice-making equipment or an accessible chilling system. That would precede a move to Seattle, should Chris Hansen get a new arena built for an NBA franchise that he hasn’t yet obtained. . . . Campbell doesn’t suggest an owner should the Coyotes end up Tacoma/Seattle, but I have to wonder if Bill Gallacher, who owns the Portland Winterhawks, would be involved.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The OHL’s Ottawa 67’s have added Travis Crickard, 25, to their staff as an assistant coach. A native of St. John’s, N.L., Crickard spent this season as the head coach of the major midget Ottawa Jr. 67’s, who played in the Telus Cup.
Paul Fixter has signed on with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves as the associate coach. He had been with the Kitchener Rangers as assistant GM/associate coach since 2008.
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From Guy Flaming (@TPS-Guy): "Petr Mrazek and the Grand Rapids Griffins lead Syracuse 3-0 in the AHL finals. Waiting for AHL to ban Euro goalies now.”
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From WHL Facts (@WHLFacts): “#35 - So I propose to have the Euro Netminder ban be dubbed the ‘Bartosak Rule’, since apparently he's too good for the CHL #GoalieOfTheYear”

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 MacBETH REPORT:
F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) agreed to a transfer for the rest of this season from Red Bull Salzburg (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) to the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). He had nine goals and 14 assists in 29 games for Red Bull this season. The Capitals have six forwards out with injuries and approached Red Bull and Keller to gauge their interest in a move.
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The WHL in Nanaimo?
Sorry, Chilliwack, but it would appear to be closer than it has ever been.
Robert Barron of the Nanaimo Daily News had a story late in the week involving meetings between Mayor John Ruttan, city staff and RG Properties, owners of the WHL‘s Victoria Royals. RG Properties also is in the arena management business.
RG Properties, you may recall, purchased the franchise that was the Chilliwack Bruins and relocated it to Victoria.
"We're at the very early stages to determine how interested the city is in pursuing this," Graham Lee of RG Properties told Barron. "It would create an interesting rivalry between Victoria and Nanaimo if a WHL team was established here. It would be a good fit for the two cities and the league."
You can bet the message to the good people of Nanaimo is: Build it and we will come.
As soon as an arena with at least 5,000 seats is built there will be a WHL team calling Nanaimo home, either via relocation or expansion. Bet on it!
Many of the WHL’s other 21 teams aren’t all that thrilled with having to travel to Vancouver Island with only one team over there. It is a costly proposition — if you play a night game, you can't get off the ferry until the next morning and that means a hotel night — and the logistics caused by travel are most problematic.
Barron’s complete story is right here.
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If you haven’t already seen this piece by Charles P. Pierce of Grantland, it is linked here for your Sunday morning reading enjoyment. This pretty much sums up how it is that the NHL got to where it is today.
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Moose Jaw, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored three third-period goals and beat the Warriors, 4-2. . . . The Wheat Kings had beaten the Warriors 4-2 in Brandon on Friday. . . . This is Brandon’s first two-game winning streak since it open the season at 4-0-0. . . . Last night, Moose Jaw F Sam Fioretti’s 19th goal gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead at 15:09 of the second period. . . . Brandon F Chad Robinson tied it at 14:52 of the third, with F Taylor Cooper’s second goal of the season, at 17:52, standing up as the winner. . . . Robinson added an empty-netter, his seven goal this season. . . . Moose Jaw freshman F Josh Uhrich’s first WHL goal just 36 seconds into the game launched the teddy bears. . . .

In Saskatoon, the Blades ran their winning streak to six games with a 5-2 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Blades played those games over an eight-day stretch. . . . Saskatoon F Matej Stransky scored twice, giving him 21 goals this season. He has at least one goal in each of his last seven games. . . . F Nathan Burns had a goal and two assists for the Blades. . . . Saskatoon G Alex Moodie stopped 25 shots in running his record to 4-0-0 since taking over for Andrey Makarov, who is with Russia’s national junior team. . . .

In Calgary, G Mack Shields stopped 18 shots to lead the Calgary Hitmen to a 2-0 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Shields, a 17-year-old from Saskatoon, record his first career shutout as he improved his record to 5-2-1. He backs up Chris Driedger with the Hitmen. . . . F Greg Chase got the game’s first goal, at 1:46 of the first period. . . . F Cody Sylvester, who drew the lone assist on Chase’s eighth goal, added his 19th, shorthanded, at 19:18 of the third period. . . . Regina was 0-for-10 on the PP. . . .

In Spokane, G Eric Comrie turned aside 36 shots as the Tri-City Americans edged the Chiefs, 2-1. . . . F Justin Feser, with his 19th, and F Malte Strömwall, with his 11th, gave Tri-City a 2-0 lead with early third-period goals. . . . It was Teddy Bear Toss night and the Chiefs were in danger of being blanked before D Reid Gow scored at 16:46 of the third. . . . Comrie had lost his last six decisions before this game. . . .

In Edmonton, the Oil Kings erased a 2-1 deficit with four straight second-period goals and beat the Victoria Royals, 5-2. . . . F Steven Hodges gave the visitors a 2-1 lead at 2:56 of the second period, but Edmonton F Michael St. Croix tied it at 5:24, on the PP, and F T.J. Foster put the home side out front at 7:50. . . . The teams combined for an even 100 penalty minutes, with Edmonton taking 55 of those. . . .

In Red Deer, the Kelowna Rockets improved to 4-0 on an Alberta swing as they beat the Rebels, 6-1. . . . F Dylen McKinlay had three assists for the Rockets. . . . The Rockets are 3-0 versus Red Deer this season, with G Jackson Whistle putting up all three victories. . . . F Myles Bell scored his 20th goal of the season for Kelowna, which gave up the game’s first goal and then scored six in a row. . . . D Mitchell Wheaton got the Rockets started with his first WHL goal in his 32nd game. . . . Whistle stopped 28 shots in improving his record to 7-1-0. . . . Kelowna, which has won six straight, is six points behind the second-place Kamloops Blazers in the Western Conference and holds four games in hand. . . . The Rockets will use up one of those games when they play in Calgary this afternoon. . . .

In Prince George, G Brett Zarowny stopped 23 shots and F Chase Witala had four points as the Cougars blanked the Vancouver Giants, 6-0. . . . The Giants had beaten the visiting Cougars 2-1 on Friday night; the teams play again this afternoon in Prince George. . . . Zarowny, a 17-year-old freshman from Edson, Alta., has two shutouts this season. . . . Witala had a goal, his fourth, and three assists. . . . F Colin Jacobs, just back from a six-game suspension, scored the game’s first goal, his 11th. Jacobs, who also had two assists, hadn’t played since Nov. 30. . . . Prince George D Rinalds Rosinskis played his last game before joining the Latvian national junior team. . . .

In Medicine Hat, D Dylan Busenius scored a PP goal in OT to give the Tigers a wild 7-6 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Busenius got his sixth goal of the season at 3:01 of OT with Kamloops F Tim Bozon off for tripping. . . . Kamloops, which gave up 10 power plays in a 4-2 loss in Lethbridge on Friday, ran into penalty problems again in this one. The Tigers were 3-for-8 with the man advantage; the Blazers were 0-for-3. . . . Medicine Hat D Ty Stanton, who went into the game with a goal and two assists in 21 games, had a goal and three helpers in this one. . . . Kamloops D Joel Edmundson had a goal and three assists. . . . Stanton gave Medicine Hat a 6-4 lead at 1:50 of the third. . . . Kamloops F Matt Needham cut into the lead with a shorthanded gol at 11:26 and Edmundson tied it at 14:34. . . . The Blazers lost F Aspen Sterzer at 7:26 of the third period when he was hit with a major penalty and game misconduct for checking to the head after a hit on F Trevor Cox. Sterzer was playing his fourth game since he served a one-game suspension for a checking-to-the-head major on Dec. 7 against the visiting Prince George Cougars. . . . Sterzer’s departure left the Blazers with nine forwards. . . . There was a situation during this game in which the Blazers scored a goal but play went on until the next stoppage, after which it went to video review. The stoppage was to hand out three minor penalties. The goal was awarded to Kamloops, meaning time was reset back to that point. But the penalties were handed out, just the same. I got caught by this rule last season and it was pointed out to me that the penalties are called. Under rule 78.6, “Any penalties signalled during the period of time between the apparent goal and the next stoppage of play shall be assessed in the normal manner, except when a minor penalty is to be assessed to the team scored upon, and is therefore nullified by the scoring of the goal. If an infraction happens after the first stoppage of play following an apparent goal (infraction after the whistle) by either team, it is assessed and served in the normal manner regardless as to the decision rendered by the Video Goal Judge.”

In Portland, F Taylor Leier scored the game’s first two goals and the Winterhawks went on to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Seattle took 99 of the game’s 163 penalty minutes. Merry Christmas! . . . Seattle made a goaltending change at 5:01 of the first period, with Brandon Glover, who was beaten twice on four shots, leaving in favour of Danny Mumaugh, a 16-year-old from Denver who was making his WHL debut. He stopped 29 of 31 shots. . . . Leier’s first goal was for the Teddy Bears. . . . Portland F Nic Petan had two assists and now is tied for second in the WHL scoring race. He and F JC Lipon of the Kamloops Blazers are at 57 points, five behind F Colin Smith of Kamloops. . . . The victory lifted the Winterhawks to the top of the overall standings. They have 55 points, one more than Kamloops which has played five more games. . . . The Winterhawks are in Everett this evening.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Bryson Gore, Moose Jaw
F Lukas Sutter, Saskatoon
D Jagger Dirk, Kootenay
D Tanner Faith, Kootenay
D Ashton Sautner, Edmonton
D Landon Cross, Kamloops
F Connor Honey, Seattle
D Marc McNulty, Prince George

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
F Cody Sylvester, Calgary
F Aspen Sterzer, Kamloops (major)
F Elgin Pearce, Medicine Hat
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Erin in PDX (@girlonavespa21): “Coaches Travis Green and Steve Konowalchuk got up close and personal with each other at the end of the Winterhawks/T’birds #whlrivalrytilt”
Two more WHL coaches exchange late-game Christmas greetings. In this instance, both drew bench minors, albeit at game’s end.

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 MacBETH REPORT:
F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) signed a one-year contract with Red Bull Salzburg (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). He had 20 goals and 19 assists in 44 games with Linz Black Wings (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) last season. Keller led the league in playoff goals with nine in helping Linz win the league championship. . . .
F Konstantin Pushkaryov (Calgary, 2004-05) signed a two-year contract with Spartak Moscow (Russia, KHL). He had one goal and two assists in 20 games with Barys Astana (Kazakhstan, KHL) and five goals and two assists in six games on assignment to Barys-2 Astana (Kazakhstan, Premier League) last season. . . .
F Tyler Metcalfe (Seattle, 1999-2005) signed a one-year contract with Szekesfehervar (Hungary, Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 14 goals and 23 assists in 50 games for Arystan Temirtau (Kazakhstan, Premier League) last season. . . .
F Michal Repik (Vancouver, 2005-08) signed a one-year contract with Lev Prague (Czech Republic, KHL). He had 14 goals and 21 assists in 55 games with the San Antonio Rampage (AHL) and two goals and three assists in 17 games with the Florida Panthers (NHL) last season. . . .
F Cody Almond (Kelowna, 2005-09) signed a three-year contract with Genève-Servette (Switzerland, NL A). He had seven goals and eight assists in 46 games with the Houston Aeros (AHL) and one goal in 10 games with the Minnesota Wild (NHL) last season. According to the press release from Genève-Servette, it was discovered that Almond has dual Canadian-Swiss citizenship; thus, he will not count as an import.
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The Central league’s Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have ceased operations after nine seasons. “The economics of playing in the Valley are no longer financially viable,” reads a news release issued by the organization. “The loss of Laredo for this coming season and the losses of close rivals such as Corpus Christi and Austin in recent years have created a larger financial burden than the team can bear.”
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F Brendan Leipsic of the Portland Winterhawks was honoured Tuesday night as Winnipeg’s Jewish Athlete of the Year at the 40th annual Y Sports Dinner. Leipsic, 18, had 58 points, including 28 goals, in 65 games with Portland. He is eligible for this weekend’s NHL draft.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have signed two members of their front office to multi-year extensions. . . . Alan Millar, who has been director of hockey operations for two seasons, also has had his title changed to general manager. . . . Corey Nyhagen, the director of business operations, also received an extension. . . . The length of the extensions wasn’t announced.
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Dan Elliott is the new manager of media relations for UBC Athletics. Elliott starred as a linebacker with the Thunderbirds football team (1994-98) and was an integral part of the Vanier Cup-wining team in 1997. He was a two-year captain (1997-98), a three-time Canada West all-star (1996-98) and a second team All-Canadian (1998). . . . Elliott spent the last two seasons as the radio voice of the Vancouver Giants for whom he also handled media relations.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Dave MacQueen, a veteran OHL coach, has signed on as head coach of the Dornbirn Bulldogs in Austria. . . . He had been general manager and head coach of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting from 2006 until being fired on Feb. 6, 2011. . . .
Craig Hartsburg, the former Everett Silvertips head coach (2009-11), is off to the Columbus Blue Jackets as associate coach to head coach Todd Richards. Hartsburg spent last season with the Calgary Flames, but was dumped after the season with one year left on his contract. With Columbus, he replaces Brad Berry,  who left to return to the U of North Dakota coaching staff. . . . The Blue Jackets also added Keith Acton as an assistant coach. He was last on the staff of the Toronto Maple Leafs. . . .
Dean Evason, who was named Tuesday as head coach of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Wednesday’s game between the Brewers and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. He did it while wearing shorts and flip-flops, and Brewers slugger Ryan Braun apparently hit it about 600 feet.

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Saturday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) signed a one-year contract
extension with Linz (Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 21 goals and 12 assists in 34 games for Linz this season.
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If you read one thing today, make it this piece from Saturday’s Globe and Mail. Written by Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goaltender, the headline on the piece is -- Ken Dryden on hockey violence: How could we be so stupid?
The piece is right here.
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In Everett, F Nino Niederreiter ran his goal-scoring streak to seven games as his Portland Winterhawks beat the Silvertips, 2-1. . . . Portland G Keith Hamilton, starting again in place of the injured Mac Carruth, made 36 saves. . . . Hamilton is 15-5-2. . . . Niederreiter, who has 38 goals, has 11 goals over that seven-game run. . . . Everett has lost seven in a row, including a 6-3 loss to visiting Portland on Friday. . . . Attendance was 8,423, the Silvertips’ largest crowd this season. . . . The Winterhawks remain atop the Western Conference, one point up on the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Everett slipped into eighth, one point behind Prince George and two ahead of Kamloops. . . .
In Kelowna, shootout goals by F Geordie Wudrick and D Tyson Barrie gave the Rockets a 1-0 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 33 shots, seven fewer than Jeff Bosch, who made his 22nd straight start for Kamloops. . . . F Thoms Frazee had a shootout goal for Kamloops. . . . The Blazers, who lost 5-1 to the visiting Rockets on Friday night, now have lost five in a row. . . . Kamloops was without F Brendan Ranford, who is under WHL suspension after he was hit with a game misconduct for cross-checking linesman Kris Hartley on Friday night. . . . The Rockets are in Chilliwack today. . . .
In Kent, Wash., the Prince George Cougars scored four times in the latter half of the third period and beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-1. . . . F Spencer Asuchak broke a 1-1 tie at 11:02 of the third. . . . The victory lifted the Cougars into seventh place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Everett. . . . The Thunderbirds, with four games left, are four points behind Everett. . . . The Cougars will be in Kennewick, Wash., today to play the Tri-City Americans. . . .
In Spokane, the Chiefs got a shootout goal from F Levko Koper to beat the Kootenay Ice, 4-3. . . . Koper was the ninth shooter in what was a five-round event. . . . Spokane F Tyler Johnson had a goal, his WHL-leading 51st, and an assist. . . . The Chiefs have won seven in a row but continue to trail Western Conference-leading Portland by a point. . . . The Ice is fourth in the Eastern Conference, five points behind Medicine Hat with three games left. . . .
In Lethbridge, F Kellan Tochkin had two goals to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-1 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . The Tigers were without F Linden Vey (neck), who leads the WHL’s points derby. . . . The Tigers are two points behind the Central Division-leading Red Deer Rebels. Each team has three games left. . . . The Hurricanes are ninth, two points behind Prince Albert, with each team having three games left. . . .
In Moose Jaw, the final meeting in the Crushed Can between the Warriors and the Regina Pats went to a shootout before the home team won, 2-1. . . . The game drew 2,945 fans, which is a couple of hundred more than capacity. Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that fans “stood five-deep to watch the game.” . . . How much did the game mean to Moose Jaw? Here’s Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak talking to Gourlie: “Our whole focus was to try to win the game for the city of Moose Jaw and our supportive fans. Coaches come and go. Players come and go. But the fans have been supportive and consistent and behind this team for 26 years. It’s not that it didn’t mean a lot to us — because it did — it was focus of ours. To be able to pick up that puck in our building meant an awful lot to the fans that support our hockey team year in and year out.” . . . One more note from Gourlie: “Warriors left-winger Cody Beach left the game in the third period after Neigum ducked out of the way of a hit and Beach landed awkwardly after being undercut. Beach left the ice favouring his left leg and was taken to hospital post-game for further evaluation.” . . . The Warriors will finish fifth and look to be headed to a first-round matchup with Kootenay. . . . The Pats are six points out of a playoff spot with three games left. . . .
In Brandon, F Mark Stone picked up two assists, giving him 101 points, as the Wheat Kings dumped the Prince Albert Raiders, 7-3. . . . Stone is the first Brandon skater to surpass 100 points since F Eric Fehr (2004-05), who now is with the NHL’s Washington Capitals. . . . Brandon F Scott Glennie had a goal and three assists to get to 90 points for the first time in his career. . . . Prince Albert F Jonathan Parker left in the second period with an elbowing major and the accompanying game misconduct. . . . The Wheat Kings now are sixth in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of Edmonton. . . . Prince Albert continues to cling to the conference’s last playoff spot, two points up on Lethbridge. . . .
In Saskatoon, the Blades blanked the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-0 to set a franchise record with their 53rd victory of the season. . . . G Steven Stanford stopped 35 shots to earn the shutout, his third this season and the fifth of his career. . . . D Stefan Elliott had a goal and an assist, giving him the franchise record for career points by a defenceman. He has 240. The previous record had been held by Pat Price (1970-74). . . . The Oil Kings still were able to clinch a playoff spot. They are seventh in the conference. . . . The Blades will finish first overall. . . .
In Red Deer, G Darcy Kuemper stopped 31 shots as the Rebels blanked the Swift Current Broncos, 5-0. . . . Kuemper has 13 shutouts this season and that ties the WHL’s single-season record. He now shares it with Bryan Bridges (Seattle, 2004-05) and Kelly Guard (Kelowna, 2003-04). . . . The Rebels have three games remaining. . . . F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three goals and two assists, to get to 101 points. The last Red Deer skaters to get to 100 were F Justin Mapletoft and F Kyle Wanvig, both of whom did it in 2000-01. . . . The Rebels, who meet the Hitmen in Calgary today, are the conference’s second seed, two points up o Medicine Hat. . . . The Broncos won’t be in the playoffs. In Chilliwack last night, the Bruins got two goals from F Ryan Howse as they dumped the Vancouver Giants, 8-5. . . . Attendance was 4,193. . . . Howse has 50 goals, the second WHLer, behind Spokane F Tyler Johnson, to get there this season. . . . Vancouver, which still was able to clinch a playoff spot, has lost six straight for the first time this season and has been outscored 28-6 in the process. . . . The Bruins had beaten the Giants 6-2 in Vancouver on Wednesday. . . . F Spencer Bennett scored four times for the Giants, giving him 34 on the season. . . . The Bruins, who clinched a playoff spot with the victory, have closed to within a point of the Giants, who are fifth in the Western Conference. Each team has four games remaining. . . . The Bruins are at home to the Kelowna Rockets today. . . .

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca

     

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