F Jaroslav Svoboda (Kootenay, 1998-2000) signed a one-month contract with Red Ice Martigny (Switzerland, NL B) as an injury replacement. Last season, with Chomutov (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had eight goals and four assists in 25 games. . . .
F David Turoň (Portland, 2002-03) has been released by Havířov (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). Last season, with Meran/Merano (Italy, Inter-National-League), he had 22 points, 12 of them goals, in 25 games. He also had two goals and seven assists in 16 games with Fassa (Italy, Serie A). . . .
F Colton Yellow Horn (Lethbridge, Tri-City, 2003-08) has signed a one-year contract with Nippon Paper Cranes Kushiro (Japan, Asia HL). Last season, with Székesfehérvár (Hungary, Erste Bank Liga), he had 43 points, including 20 goals, in 43 games.
D Vladimír Sičák (Medicine Hat, 1998-2000) has signed a one-year contract with Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had three goals and eight assists in 40 games. The contract includes a clause that Sičák can exercise in December and January to move to another club outside of Czech Republic.
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The Prince Albert Raiders are hoping to sell at least 200 more season tickets between now and their regular-season opener. General manager Bruno Campese tells Darryl Mills of the Prince Albert Daily Herald: “At the moment, we’re at about 1,500. We need to be at 1,700.” . . . Campese wonders if tickets sales have been hurt by summer chatter involving the future of F Leon Draisaitl and D Josh Morrissey. . . . Mills’ story is right here.---
F Sam Steel was the second overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft. That means, of course, that he couldn’t play regularly with the Regina Pats last season, so now is preparing for his freshman season. As Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports right here, Steel is off to a great start with seven points in two games. Yes, it’s the exhibition season, but you're free to start with the nicknames. ---
It appears that F Reid Duke’s camp did ask the Lethbridge Hurricanes to trade him when he chose not to report for the start of training camp. But, as Dale Woodard of the Lethbridge Herald reports right here, that didn’t happen and now Duke is back with the team and rarin’ to go.
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Portland freelancer Scott Sepich (@SSepich) tweeted Wednesday afternoon that “it appears that 20-year-olds Trace Elson and Trent Lofthouse have been removed from the Winterhawks preseason roster.” . . . He followed that up with: “Hawks decided to go younger with Evan Weinger and Jack Flaman up front, means they likely keep Josh Smith/Josh Hanson as 20s on back line.” . . . Elson and Lofthouse both are forwards with WHL experience. Elson, who doesn’t turn 20 until Nov. 25, played five games with the Red Deer Rebels in 2011-12 and 15 games with the Vancouver Giants last season. Lofthouse has split 148 regular-season games between the Everett Silvertips, Victoria Royals and Vancouver. He is the son of former WHLer Mark Lofthouse (New Westminster, 1974-77). . . . The Winterhawks are left with three 20s on their roster in F Adam De Champlain, D Josh Hanson and D Joshua Smith. Smith, from Lacombe, Alta., will turn 20 on Oct. 10. His WHL experience? He has played 93 games with the Prince George Cougars since 2009-10. He has 11 points, including one goal, in that time, but will bring some ruggedness to Portland’s back end.---
The Red Deer Rebels released D Kirk Bear on Wednesday. Bear, 19, is from Whitewood, Sask. He was pointless in 35 games as a freshman with the Rebels last season. . . . Bear is expected to join the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires. . . . The Rebels’ roster is down to 26 players. . . . Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate reports that veterans Kolton Dixon, 19, and Devan Fafard, 20, both of whom played defence last season, are trying to make the Rebels’ roster as forwards.---
The Vancouver Giants have released D Bobby Zinkan, 19, who has 102 regular-season WHL games on his resume, all of them with the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Zinkan, from Calgary, was a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . In 102 games with the Broncos, he had two goals and two assists. . . . On May 7, the Giants dealt F Luca Leone, 18, and a sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft to the Broncos for Zinkan.---
The Tri-City Americans have released F Jake Mykitiuk, who turns 19 on Nov. 21, and he is expected to return to the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. . . . The 5-foot-7, 160-pounder played two seasons (2011-13) with the Prince George Cougars, putting up 21 points, including seven goals, in 126 games. . . . F Dawson Leedahl of the Everett Silvertips will sit out two weekend games with a WHL-issued suspension. He took a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct against the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday.
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Baseball broadcaster just used term, "concussion-like symptoms." Can't believe that terminology still exists.
— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) September 3, 2014
Well, this is happening at Dodger Stadium #dodgers pic.twitter.com/fbWJkc8uX5
— Greg Merideth (@gregofla) September 3, 2014
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F Trace Elson has left the AJHL's Whitecourt Wolverines and is joining the Vancouver Giants. . . . Elson, who will turn 19 on Nov. 25, had 30 points, including 13 goals, in 20 games with the Wolverines. He also was the team captain. Last season, he had 26 points, 13 of them goals, in 55 games with Whitecourt. From St. Albert, Alta., he had one assist in five games with the Red Deer Rebels in 2011-12.
The Prince George Cougars will be without D Joseph Carvalho, who suffered a broken jaw in Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. Carvalho, who turned 18 on Nov. 6, took a puck to the face when he went down to block a shot in the second period. The sophomore from Burnaby, B.C., had seven points, one of them a goal, in 23 games. . . . The Cougars meet the Chiefs in Spokane on Friday.
The Moose Jaw Warriors have dropped D Royce Rossignol, 17, from their roster. Rossignol, from Cloverdale, B.C., was pointless in three games this season. He was a seventh-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . Meanwhile, the Warriors, who will play their next five games on the road, have brought in F Brett Howden, the fifth overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft, from the midget AAA Eastman Selects, and F Ethan Lazaro, from the midget AAA St. Albert Raiders. . . . Lazaro, 16, was a seventh-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Howden is the younger brother of former Warriors F Quinton Howden, who was selected by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the NHL's 2010 draft and is with the AHL's San Antonio Rampage. . . . Warriors F Jack Rodewald underwent surgery yesterday to repair a broken jaw suffered in Tuesday's 5-3 loss to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes. Moose Jaw also is without injured forwards Brandon Del Grosso and Brandon Potomak. . . . The Warriors will play three games in four nights in Alberta, starting tonight against the Oil Kings in Edmonton.
In Saskatoon, F Chad Robinson scored twice as the Brandon Wheat Kings dumped the Blades, 5-2. . . . Robinson went into the game with one goal this season, that one coming on Sept. 21. . . . His second goal of the season, at 17:01 of the second period, broke a 2-2 tie. . . . Robinson's second goal of the game actually came when Saskatoon F Matt Revel cleanly won a faceoff and pulled the puck off Blades D Ayrton Nikkel and past G Troy Trombley. Robinson was credited with the goal. . . . With G Curtis Honey injured, G Jordan Papirny made his sixth straight start for Brandon. . . . Brandon F Richard Nejezchleb opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the first period. That was his ninth goal in his last six games and his 17th on the season. . . . Among Brandon's scratches was D Eric Roy, who was injured while blocking a shot on Monday. . . .
In Swift Current, G Eetu Laurikainen turned aside 14 shots as the Broncos blanked the Kootenay Ice, 3-0. . . . The Broncos have won nine in a row. . . . Laurikainen, a Finnish sophomore, has one shutout this season and two in his career. . . . Broncos F Jay Merkley scored his eighth goal at 15:30 of the first period and it stood up as the winner. . . . Broncos F Graham Black got his 13th goal, shorthanded, at 18:20 of the first period. . . . Black left 22 seconds into the second period for a brief time. According to a tweet from Brad Brown of the Prairie Post, Black was favouring his left shoulder after crashing into the boards. He missed a shift or two before returning to the game. . . . The Ice, which was able to muster only a season-low 14 shots on goal, has been shut out three times this season. . . . Kootenay D Rinat Valiev was in his first WHL fight and also picked up a game misconduct for his efforts. Ice assistant coach Jay Henderson told Trevor Crawley of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman that Valiev got the game misconduct for a slew foot. . . .
In Kamloops, the Medicine Hat Tigers opened a 2-0 lead with two PP goals and beat the Blazers, 3-1. . . . Medicine Hat F Logan McVeigh was back playing in Kamloops for the first time since the Blazers dealt him to the Prince Albert Raiders on New Year's Eve of 2011. . . . McVeigh drew an assist on the game's first goal, a PP score by D Kyle Becker. . . . D Tommy Vannelli had two assists for the Tigers. . . . The Blazers were without D Jordan Thomson, the fourth overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft. He has left the team and is at home in Wawanesa, Man., pondering his future. . . . Kamloops D Connor Clouston, 16, the son of Shaun Clouston, the Tigers' general manager and head coach, got his first WHL point when he drew an assist on D Sam Grist's third-period goal. . . . The Blazers have lost four in a row. . . . The Tigers are 2-0 on a swing into the B.C. Division that continues Friday in Vancouver. . . .
In Everett, F Dyson Stevenson scored at 1:11 of OT as the Regina Pats erased a late 5-3 deficit and beat the Silvertips, 6-5. . . . The Pats tied the game on goals by F Dryden Hunt at 14:29 of the third period and D Dmitry Sinitsyn, on the PP, at 18:51. F Connor Gay drew an assist on each of those goals. . . . Sinitsyn, who drew an assist on the winner, finished with a goal and three helpers. The Russian freshman went into the game with seven points in 21 games. . . . Everett F Tyler Sandhu scored three times, giving him nine this season. It was his second career hat trick. . . . Everett F Josh Winquist continued his hot streak with three assists. He has 38 points in 21 games. In his last 10 games, he has put up 26 points. In fact, he has had multiple points in nine of those games. . . . Everett G Austin Lotz was on the bench, backing up Daniel Cotton, the first time he had been in uniform since suffering an ankle injury on Oct. 26. . . . Regina played without F Chandler Stephenson, who completed a two-game WHL suspension. . . . The Pats are 3-1-0 on an eight-game road trip that continues Friday against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. . . . Everett has points in six straight games as it prepares to play host to the Portland Winterhawks on Kevin Constantine Bobblehead Night on Friday.
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