Giants down to three 20s. . . . A retirement in P.A.

D Ray Macias (Kamloops, 2002-07) has signed a two-week tryout contract with Székesfehérvár (Hungary, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite), he had two goals and three assists in eight games. . . .
F Martin Podlešák (Tri-City, Lethbridge, 2000-02) was granted his release by the Nottingham Panthers (England, UK Elite) for personal reasons. Last season, with Hradec Králové (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had three goals and four assists in 23 games. He also had a goal in three games with Litoměřice (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). . . .
F Clinton Pettapiece (Tri-City, Medicine Hat, 2003-06) was released by Tingsryd (Sweden, Allsvenskan). Last season, with the Dordrecht Lions (Netherlands, Eredivisie), he had 61 points, including 22 goals, in 36 games. . . .
F Tomáš Troliga (Calgary, 2003-04) signed a one-year-plus-option contract with Hradec Králové (Czech Republic, Extraliga) after a successful tryout. Last season, with Dukla Trenčín (Slovakia, Extraliga), he had 24 points, including 13 goals, in 46 games.
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The Vancouver Giants have settled on their three 20-year-olds, at least for now. They placed F Travis McEvoy on waivers on Tuesday, leaving them with F Matt Bellerive, F Joel Hamilton and F Dalton Sward. . . . McEvoy, from Thorsby, Alta., has 49 points, 23 of them goals, in188 regular-season WHL games. He played 111 of those with the Giants, after starting his career with 77 games with the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Bellerive, from North Vancouver, is with the Giants for a second go-round. He played 98 games with them through the end of 2011-12, when he was dealt to the Red Deer Rebels. Last season, the Rebels traded him to the Kamloops Blazers, who sent him to the Giants this summer. In 227 games, he has 97 points, 43 of them goals. . . . Hamilton put up 46 points, including 13 goals, in 70 games with the Giants last season. From Cochrane, Alta., he played his first two seasons with Red Deer, recording 57 points, 14 of them goals, in 114 games. . . . Sward, from Abbotsford, is entering his fifth sesaon with the Giants. He has 96 points, including 48 goals, in 237 games.
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The Swift Current Broncos released veteran F Justin Spagrud, 19, on Tuesday. Spagrud, from Gull Lake, which is just west of Swift Current, was pointless in 39 games last season. In 2012-13, he had three goals and two assists in 39 games.
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F Carson Perreaux, who turns 20 on Dec. 28, has left the Prince Albert Raiders, choosing to end his WHL career in order “to pursue education and work opportunities,” according to a news release. . . . In 186 games with the Raiders, the Brandon native had 58 points, including 32 goals. . . . “He’s decided it’s time for him to step away,” Raiders GM Bruno Campese told Andrew Schopp of the Prince Albert Daily Herald. “He’s been a great citizen. He and his family have been very dedicated to the Raiders organization and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” . . . The Raiders, who now are carrying 29 players, still have four 20-year-olds on their roster -- F Calder Brooks, F Dakota Conroy, F Jayden Hart and D Sawyer Lange. . . . The Raiders also are down to two goaltenders -- Nick McBride, 17, and Rylan Parenteau, who turns 18 on Nov. 6. McBride, from Maple Ridge, B.C., was 12-7-2/2.95/.908 as a freshman last season. Parenteau, from Saskatoon, has played 69 minutes with the Raiders over the last two seasons.
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The Kamloops Blazers have signed F Garrett Pilon, 16, who has been returned to the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts. . . . The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Pilon, the son of former NHL/WHL D Rich Pilon (Prince Albert, 1985-88), was a seventh-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. Last season, Garrett had 29 points, including 10 goals, in 43 games with the contacts.
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If you were one of the viewers who stayed up into the wee hours of Tuesday morning to watch No. 6 Milos Raonic and No. 11 Kei Nishikori play in the U.S. Open, Juan Jose Vallejo of Rolling Stone has his take right here.
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Magnus Carlsen is a 23-year-old Norwegian who already is being billed as perhaps the best chess player in history. He’s in St. Louis these days and Dave McKenna of Deadspin takes a look right here.
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that F Ty Mappin, who suffered a brain injury last week, has resumed skating but hasn’t been cleared for contact. . . . The Blades released F Nick Gomerich, 18, on Tuesday. Last season, as a freshman, he had five points in 44 games. From Nanaimo, B.C., he was a sixth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The SJHL’s Notre Dame Hounds have added Bear Trapp to their staff as an assistant coach. He will work alongside GM/head coach Clint Mylymok. Trapp is the son of former WHL F Doug Trapp (Regina, 1982-85) and the grandson of former WHL coach and longtime scout Barry Trapp.


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Cam Lanigan, here in a game against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday in
Everett, is one of five goaltenders still in camp with the Portland Winterhawks.
Lanigan was claimed off waivers from the — you guessed it — Kamloops
Blazers over the summer.
(Christopher Mast / Mastimages.com)

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Craig Weller (Kootenay, 2000-02) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Ingolstadt (Germany, DEL) after a successful tryout. Weller was with Villach (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) last season, getting five goals and six assists in 45 games.
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Best wishes to Rob Morphy, a veteran hockey scout, who is in a Vancouver hospital after having received a visit from a scalpel-wielding surgeon or two. . . . Rumour has it the NHL season is on hold and won’t start until you’re up and around, big guy.
Morphy, who is from Kamloops, signed on in June to work as the director of scouting and head scout for the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
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The biggest hockey story of Wednesday had nothing to do with the NHL’s impending lockout. No, it had everything to do with a report out of Boston on the Boston University Terriers’ hockey team.
The report came out of an internal investigation and showed, according to an Associated Press report, that “a culture of ‘sexual entitlement’ exists among some BU men’s hockey players.
The university’s president commissioned a task force after two alleged sexual assaults occurred last season.
The AP report is right here, and there’s a bit more right here from boston.com.
Anyone involved in the management of any team at a level where players are idolized in their community needs to take a good look at this report for obvious reasons.
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The Prince George Cougars have signed F Aaron Boyd, a Winnipegger who was a second-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. He had 35 points in 30 games with the bantam AAA Winnipeg Hawks last season. Boyd played in two victories at the Edmonton Oil Kings’ tournament in St. Albert, Alta., last weekend. In other words, the Cougars are 2-0 with him in the lineup. . . . Boyd will play midget AAA this season, for either the Winnipeg Hawks or Winnipeg Thrashers.
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Jason Peters of the Prince George Citizen reports that the Cougars are down to two goaltenders — Devon Fordyce, 18, and Brett Zarowny, 17. . . . Ty Edmonds, 16, was released from camp after the Cougars finished play in St. Albert. . . . Fordyce backed up starter Drew Owsley last season, going 2-8-1, 4.30, .875. Owsley played out his eligibility last season. . . . Zarowny played for the midget AAA Leduc Oil Kings. . . . "It will be a good battle between the two of them to see who can earn the right to start most of the games," Cougars head coach Dean Clark told Peters. . . . Fordyce was a sixth-round pick in the 2009 draft; Zarowny was taken in 2010’s third round.
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The Victoria Royals have dealt F Justin Spagrud, 17, and a conditional second-round bantam draft pick to the Swift Current Broncos for F Evan Richardson, 18. . . . Spagrud, a third-round pick by the Tri-City Americans in the 2010 bantam draft, is from Gull Lake, Sask., which is just a stone’s throw from Swift Current. In fact, I can’t mention Gull Lake without pointing out that it is the hometown of Roger Aldag, the Hall of Fame offensive lineman who had such a great career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. . . . Last season, Spagrud had 36 points and 48 penalty minutes in 31 games with the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. . . . A year ago, Victoria acquired Spagrud and a second-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft from Tri-City for D Mitch Topping. . . . The Broncos selected Richardson, who is from Nanaimo, with the 15th overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft, but he has yet to play in the WHL. Last season, he had 55 points in 48 games with the BCHL’s Powell River Kings. He also has played for the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies and Alberni Valley Bulldogs. . . . The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Richardson has committed to Boston College. The conditional draft pick the Broncos received pays off only if Richardson plays in Victoria.
“Evan is not expected to report to our camp, but if he has a change of heart, we’d welcome him,” Cam, Hope, the Royals’ GM, told Ron Rauch of the Victoria Times Colonist. “Everybody’s plans do change and he is just the type of player that is worth having on your list.”
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The Calgary Hitmen have dealt D Keaton Lubin, 18, to the Regina Pats for a conditional sixth round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. Lubin, from Okotoks, Alta., was a third-round selection in the 2009 bantam draft. He had one goal in 36 games with the Hitmen in 2010-11 and one assist in 14 games with Calgary last season.
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Former NHL F Jeremy Reich is into the coaching game. He has signed on as assistant GM/assistant coach with the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles. Reich, 33, is from Craik, Sask. He played in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Swift Current Broncos (1995-2000). While in Swift Current, he was teammates with Andrew Milne, who is the Eagles’ GM/head coach. . . . “I’ve known Jeremy for the past 15 years and he will be a huge addition for the Canmore Eagles hockey club this year,” Milne said in a press release. “He’s played at the highest level possible and knows what it takes to be successful in hockey. His professional experience will be a great asset on the practice rink, in the dressing room and on the bench.” . . . Reich last played in the NHL in 2007-08 when he was in 58 games with the Boston Bruins. Last season, he played in Germany. . . . Kurtis Jones, a four-year assistant, remains with the Eagles. However, Jones also works as an electrician so hasn’t been able to give the Eagles as much as he would have liked.
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The Portland Winterhawks are down to four 20-year-olds after having released F Jason Trott. . . . Trott, from Anmore, B.C., had five points in 36 games with Portland last season, after getting three pints in 32 games in 2010-11. . . . His departure leaves the Winterhawks with G Mac Carruth, G Cam Lanigan, D Troy Rutkowski and F Taylor Peters as the four 20-year-olds in camp. . . . Carruth, however, has signed with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and may well start the season in their organization. . . . The Winterhawks still have three other goaltenders in camp, as Carruth and Lanigan are joined by holdover Brendan Burke, 17, Brendan Jensen, 19, and Jarrod Schamerhorn, 17. . . . G Adin Hill, 16, was the sixth netminder in camp but has returned home to Calgary where he is expected to play for a midget AAA team.
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F Jesse Mychan, 20, of the Tri-City Americans is expected to play his first game of the exhibition season on Friday against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. Mychan, who joined Tri-City in a trade from the Everett Silvertips last season, suffered a severed Achilles tendon during the first round of last spring’s playoffs and subsequently underwent surgery.
“He is back and healed up,” Tri-City head coach Jim Hiller told Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald. “You can see the work he has put in in the meantime. He’s dropped 23 pounds and that ties into his frame of mind. He’s into it fully.”
Mychan is one of five 20-year-olds on the Americans’ roster, the others being D Drydn Dow, F Justin Feser, F Jordan Messier and D Derek Ryckman.
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Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that the Vancouver Giants will salute Joe Sakic on Feb. 1 when the Kelowna Rockets visit Pacific Coliseum. . . . Sakic, 43, is a native of Burnaby, B.C., who won two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche. He will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 12. . . . Sakic played two seasons (1986-88) with the Swift Current Broncos. He survived the Dec. 30, 1986 bus crash that claimed the lives of four teammates.
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Here is the start of an Associated Press report that was filed on Wednesday:
“A study of former NFL players finds they were unusually prone to dying from degenerative brain disease, the latest indication that repeated blows to the head may cause serious trouble later on.
“The death rate from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease combined was about three times what one would predict from the general population, researchers reported.”
That story is right here, and it includes a comment from Dr. Robert Cantu, the co-director of the center at Boston University that studies CTE.


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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Brad Voth (Medicine Hat, 1996-2002) signed a one-year contract extension with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite). He had 22 goals and 16 assists in 50 games for the Devils last season. This will be Voth's seventh season in Cardiff. . . .
F Jade Galbraith (Saskatoon, 2001-02) signed a one-year contract with the Braehead Clan (Scotland, UK Elite). He had 28 goals and led the league with 65 assists in 58 games for the Nottingham Panthers (England, UK Elite) last season. . . .
F Derek LeBlanc (Brandon, Calgary, 2003-07) signed a one-year contract with the Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland, UK Elite). He had 25 goals and 25 assists in 66 games with the Rapid City Rush (Central Hockey League) last season.
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Bob Tory, the general manager of the Tri-City Americans, certainly isn’t on a summer vacation.
Tory completed his second major trade in two days Friday, this time acquiring D Mitch Topping, 18, from the Victoria Royals.
In exchange, the Americans gave up F Justin Spagrud, 16, and a second-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Topping, who is from Red Deer, played the last two seasons with the Chilliwack Bruins, who relocated to Victoria following the 2010-11 season.

Former Chilliwack defenceman Mitch Topping now is a
member of the Tri-City Americans.

The eighth overall selection in the 2008 bantam draft, Topping had 16 points in 71 games last season, following a 13-point freshman season.
Topping becomes the sixth experienced defenceman on Tri-City’s roster along with Sam Grist and Zach Yuen, both 18, Drydn Dow, 19, and Matt MacKenzie and Brock Sutherland, both 20.
It is doubtful that both MacKenzie and Sutherland will spend the season with the Americans, who have five 20-year-olds on their roster.
They had six before dealing G Drew Owsley to the Prince George Cougars on Thursday. The Americans got back G Ty Rimmer, 19, in that exchange. The Americans also gave up a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2013 draft, while picking up a third-rounder in 2012 and a fifth in 2013.
Spagrud was a third-round pick by the Americans in the 2010 bantam draft. He is from Gull Lake, Sask., the hometown of Roger Aldag, the great Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive lineman who is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Spagrud had 16 points, including nine goals, in 36 games with the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires last season. He also played for Saskatchewan at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax in February.
In his draft season, Spagrud put up 62 points, 35 of them goals, in 26 games with the bantam AA Swift Current Kabos Raiders.
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If you’re a WHL fan, or just a hockey fan, you are going to want to come out and watch the Everett Silvertips when they are in your town in the approaching season.
Why?
Because of defenceman Ryan Murray.
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal has a look at Murray right here.
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Corey Carlson, who played on the Vernon Lakers when they won the 1989 BCHL championship, was killed last weekend when two small planes collided in mid-air north of Anchorage. Carlson’s wife and two young daughters also died.
Roger Knox of the Vernon Morning Star has more right here.
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Gotta think that the commissioners of major junior hockey’s three leagues about choked on their morning cereal when they read a piece by the afore-mentioned Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal on Dougie and Freddie Hamilton, who are hoping to become only the second set of brothers ever to play together on Canada’s national junior team.
Included in Matheson’s piece is this gem:
Dougie said he didn’t study much during IceDogs’ road bus trips in the Ontario Hockey League circuit.
“A lot of people say players bring their laptops and binders on the bus to do school work, but I’ve never seen it. I think that’s what the league says to convince the people to come.
“I try to get it done before, so I don’t have to worry about it,” said Dougie. “I just do my best and those are the marks I get. In school, I’m there to work and learn. Same as the rinks.”
Read the entire story right here.
Gotta think Paul Kelly of College Hockey Inc. has hit cut, paste and send a few times on that one.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Mark LeRose, who did a stint as an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips, has joined the coach staff of EC Red Bull Salzburg, which plays in the Austrian elite league. LeRose, 41, will work with Red Bull Salzburg, which has Pierre Page as its head coach, and with the U-20 club. . . .
Lyle Mast is the new goaltending coach with the Tri-City Americans. Mast, who has coached goaltending for more than 25 years, spent the last two seasons working with the Edmonton Oil Kings, and had worked with the U of Alberta Golden Bears since 2007. He is the owner of Optimum Reaction Sports, a goaltender training company that researches and develops programs through biomechanics related to the position. . . . Former WHL/NHL goaltender Olaf Kolzig, who owns part of the Americans, worked with the goaltenders last season but now is working with the NHL’s Washington Capitals, thus the need for another coach in Kennewick. . . .
Derek Lalonde is the new head coach of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. He spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the U of Denver Pioneers. he takes over from Eric Rud, who now is an assistant coach with the Colorado College Tigers.

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