F Petr Sachl (Tri-City, 1996-97) signed a try-out contract with Pontebba (Italy, Serie A). He had eight goals and 15 assists in 44 games with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Erste Bank Liga) last season. The contract with Pontebba is for seven games, running through Nov. 3.
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The Portland Winterhawks have dealt G Cam Lanigan, 20, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a seventh-round selection in the 2013 WHL bantam draft.
Lanigan was 3-0 with a 1.00 GAA in three starts with the Winterhawks before the NHL’s
Chicago Blackhawks returned G Mac Carruth, who was Portland’s starter each of the last two seasons.The Winterhawks had claimed Lanigan off waivers from the Kamloops Blazers over the summer.
The Winterhawks are left with three 20s — Carruth, D Troy Rutkowski and F Taylor Peters.
The Tigers, meanwhile, now have four 20s, although D Alex Theriau is on the injury list as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. The others are Lanigan, F Elgin Pearce and D Derek Ryckman. When Theriau returns, the Tigers will have 14 days to get down to three.
The Tigers have been using Czech freshman Marek Langhamer and sophomore Dawson MacAuley, a pair of 18-year-olds, as their goaltenders.
However, they are 4-7-1 and dropped a 7-6 decision to the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday night. MacAuley stopped 35 of 42 shots in that game.
The Tigers next play Saturday when they meet the Oil Kings in Edmonton.
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JUST NOTES:
F David Stephens (Edmonton, 2010-12) now is with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. Stephens, 19, has two assists and four penalty minutes in eight games. . . . He had three points in 30 games with the Oil Kings in 2010-11, then played only two games last season before moving on to the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior League. . . . Stephens, who is from Whitehorse, played with the major midget Cariboo Cougars in Prince George before joining the Oil Kings.
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The National Lacrosse League is introducing standardized concussion-testing protocol for all players and all games, and also has stiffened its high-sticking rule. No longer will the NLL rules include a minor penalty for high-sticking.
According to an NLL news release:
“Penalties for high-sticking will now be assessed by the game officials as either a major penalty (five-minute penalty) or a match penalty. A match penalty ejects the offending player from the game AND (provides) a one-game suspension for the team's next game. The offending player's team is also assessed a major penalty. The penalty assessed will be based on the severity of the incident as judged by the game officials. High-sticking infractions may no longer be assessed by officials as a major and game misconduct.”
According to Brian Lemon, the NLL’s vice-president operations, “The Competition Committee felt that by removing the middle classification of major and game misconduct penalty for high-sticking, we will create a greater deterrent for players from making contact on opponents with a high stick. Player safety is of the utmost concern to us, and the NLL will remain at the forefront of protecting its players."
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WEDNESDAY’S STUFF:
F Brendan Ranford and F Colin Smith, both of whom are from Edmonton, scored in the shootout as the Kamloops Blazers scored a 5-4 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton. . . . The Oil Kings were 3-for-9 on the PP, with the third goal, by F Henrik Samuelsson at 18:01 of the third, giving them a 4-3 lead. . . . Kamloops F JC Lipon scored a shorthanded goal at 35 seconds later to force OT. . . . Lipon, the WHL’s leading scorer, had two goals and an assist. He has seven straight multi-point games. . . . Lipon also missed 15 minutes after taking a fighting major and misconduct — his tiedown either broke or wasn’t done up. . . . After the game, Kamloops LW Tim Bozon, who plays on a line with Smith and Lipon, tweeted: “It’s not whl it’s #lipsleague.” . . . Smith had two assists in running his point streak to 11 games. . . . The Blazers, who were 0-for-3 on the PP, moved up from No. 3 to No. 1 in the CHL rankings that were released earlier in the day. At 10-0-1, they are the only one of the CHL’s 60 teams not to have lost in regulation time. . . . Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave ran his record to 7-0 with a 34-save effort. . . . Kamloops has won eight in a row. . . . The Blazers conclude their five-game trip by visiting the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday and the Kootenay Ice on Saturday. . . .
F Kohl Bauml’s two goals helped the Everett Silvertips to a 3-1 victory over the Broncos in Swift Current. . . . Everett G Daniel Cotton stopped 28 shots. . . . Everett D Ryan Murray had three assists. He passed F Peter Mueller and moved into fifth on the Silvertips’ all-time assists list, with 90. . . . Everett scored the game’s first two goals and Bauml sealed it with an empty-netter. . . . Everett plays Friday in Prince Albert and Saturday in Saskatoon before heading home. . . .
D Daniel Johnston had a goal and an assist on his 20th birthday to help the host Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 6-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Wheat Kings are 1-1 on a seven-game road trip, but have given up 12 goals in the two games. . . . F Macoy Erkamps and F Brady Ramsay each had a goal and two assists for Lethbridge. . . . Ramsay was playing his first game after serving a five-game WHL suspension. . . . Brandon F Jayce Hawryluk, whose freshman season was slowed by a concussion, scored his first WHL goal. . . . Lethbridge F Jamal Watson came up short on a second-period penalty shot against Brandon G Curtis Honey. . . . The Wheat Kings will be without F Jason Swyripa indefinitely after he suffered an injury to his left wrist during a 7-6 victory in Medicine Hat on Tuesday. His left wrist was in a cast on Wednesday. He is to undergo further tests today in Calgary. . . . 
F Matej Stransky’s OT goal gave the Saskatoon Blades a 3-2 victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . Stransky scored at 1:16 of OT. . . . F Josh Nicholls scored both of Saskatoon’s regulation-time goals, the second one tying the score at 17:37 of the second. He has 10 goals this season, eight of them coming over his last four games. . . . Nicholls’ first goal last night was the 100th of his WHL career. . . . The Americans, who play Friday in Regina and Saturday in Swift Current, had their four-game winning streak snapped, but have points in eight straight. . . . Tri-City G Eric Comrie stopped 31 shots in his 12th consecutive start. . . . Saskatoon D Duncan Siemens played in his 20th regular season game. . . . Saskatoon was without F Brent Benson (flu). . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix notes that Tri-City F Jesse Mychan and Blazers associate coach David Struch are cousins. . . . Mychan actually was a 10th-round selection by the Blades in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . The Blades, whose bandwagon was emptying a week ago, now have won three in a row to get to 5-7-0. . . . F Rodney Southam, who signed with the Americans earlier in the week, made his WHL debut and earned an assist. He is from Saskatoon and plays for the midget AAA Contacts.———
CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Tyler Bell, Kamloops
CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From the Okanagan Sun (@Okanagan_Sun) of the B.C. Football Conference: “Older Sun director mentions Eagle Keys at practice. Someone responds: 'the ski jumper?' Lol, time flies when you are a CFL legend.”
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TWEET OF THE DAY II:
F Brendan Shinnimin (@shinboslice), who is with the AHL’s Portland Pirates, actually tweeted this on Tuesday evening: “Just as I go to sit down and eat my home cooked meal....earthquake!..literally. #scary #aftershock #hitthedeck @Martyman17 @vizzer29”
(Tip of the cap to Bruce for this one.)
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TWEET OF THE DAY III:
From Andy Eide (@Andy Eide), who follows the Seattle Thunderbirds for 710 ESPN Seattle: “My new mission is to get mentioned by @gdrinnan in his tweet of the day. #pandering #Ihavebigego #needtoseemynameinprint”
(Andy, keep trying!)
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Sponsors were abandoning Lance Armstrong like bees running from a smoking hive on Wednesday, all of them, including Nike, wanting to distance themselves from the scandal-riddled cyclist. Jason Gay of the The Wall Street Journal has his take on the Armstrong debacle right here.
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