THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Travis Ehrhardt (Moose Jaw, Portland, 2004-09) signed a one-year contract with TPS Turku (Finland, SM-Liiga) after a successful try-out. Ehrhardt had one goal and six assists in 41 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) last season. The TPS press release (in Finnish) with picture is right here.
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Another email from a fan of the Whitney Forum:
“Noticed your comment on the Whitney Forum. The place is incredible. Team photos lining the walls from as early as the 1920s, championship banners, hockey hall of fame. Spent 5 years with the Bombers, 4 with Norm Johnston who guided the team to their last championship in 1992-93 restoring the pride to the Bursting B. The Bombers are having a 20th anniversary of that championship September 28-29 with at least 15 of the 23 players returning. There is a story on the Bomber website.”
Indeed, there is news of that reunion right here.
The writer also notes that “an interesting view on youtube is highlights of that series, game 6 in Flin Flon with over 3,000 jammed in the Forum that has a capaciy of 1800 and a jammed Melville Stadium with 10 bus loads from Flin Flon for game 7.”
Having been in Melville for that Game 7, I can attest to the craziness in the building that night. I can only guess at what Game 6 in Whitney Forum must have been like.
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The Vancouver Giants will open the season with Liam Liston, 19, and Tyler Fuhr, 17, as their goaltenders. . . . On Wednesday, the Giants assigned Payton Lee, 16, to the junior B Richmond Sockeyes of the Pacific International league. Lee, a second-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft, is seen as the club’s goaltender of the future. . . . Liston was acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes over the summer, while Fuhr, who is from Sherwood Park, Alta., and not related to Grant Fuhr, was perhaps the biggest success story of Vancouver’s training camp. He was a fourth-round selection by the Brandon Wheat Kings the 2010 bantam draft but was a free agent when he arrived in Vancouver’s camp.
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The Regina Pats spent part of Wednesday helping Habitat for Humanity on a project. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post was there and discovered something of a competition between the city and rural players.
An excerpt from Harder’s story . . .
“I got to go there and work and show the city slickers what to do,” offered forward Dyson Stevenson, who has some carpentry experience working on his family farm near Shaunavon. “I got to use the table saw. I was working with (goaltender Matt Hewitt), he was doing my measurements. I think every three measurements I had to re-cut a board because he had no idea what he was doing. Then he wanted to cut. I let him do the last board. I was pretty scared. I had my glasses on and was about 10 feet away from the tablesaw when he was trying to cut it. I’m surprised he didn’t get his fingers caught in there.”
Harder’s story is right here.
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Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that Lorne Molleken, the Blades’ GM/head coach, “is taking part in the Food Basket Challenge, where he will attempt to live off items from a food bank basket for the next week. Molleken begins his challenge this morning.”
According to Nugent-Bowman, Molleken “receives a basket from the Saskatoon Food Bank, five basic pantry items and a food allowance of $5 for the next seven days.”
That story is right here.
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Nugent-Bowman also reported that the Blades have ordered all of their defencemen to wear Shot Blockers, plastic guards that fit over their skates and are designed to absorb most of the blow caused by blocked shots.
“It’s a situation where we expect our players to pay a price and part of that is blocking shots,” Molleken told Nugent-Bowman. “It’s a huge part of the game today. We’re hoping that this will prevent any type of foot injury.”
That story is right here.
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D Ryan Murray was back on the ice with the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday. Murray, who was taken by Columbus with the second overall pick of the 2012 NHL draft, would be going to camp with the Blue Jackets if not for the labour problems at that level.
The Silvertips captain didn’t get shown a whole lot of respect during his first practice.
As Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald wrote: “. . . in his first practice with the team he sacrificed some blood to the hockey gods.”
It turns out that F Ty Mappin caught Murray with an elbow.
"(Mappin) caught me with a little elbow there in the corner," a laughing Murray told Patterson. "It's the way she goes, though. I guess that's my welcome back."
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If you aren’t aware, Richard Doerksen, who handles discipline for the WHL, already has been busy.
And he dropped the hammer on Wednesday when he suspended Victoria Royals D Tyler Stahl for six games for a checking-to-the-head major and game misconduct from a game against the Kelowna Rockets on Friday.
The exhibition season isn’t even over and Doerksen has suspended 10 players for a total of 21 games. Of that total, 14 games have been dished out for checking-to-the-head penalties.
You are free to wonder if this is the season when Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, starts handing out 10- and 20-game sentences.
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The Moose Jaw Civic Centre (aka the Crushed Can) is gone. If you click right here, it will take you to a cbc.ca compilation of photos that mark the demolition of the arena.
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The Tri-City Americans have added another defenceman to their stable, with the acquisition of Brodie Clowes from the Victoria Royals for a fifth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. . . . Clowes will turn 17 on Oct. 30. . . . Clowes, from Calgary, was selected by Victoria in the fifth round of the 2010 bantam draft. . . . The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder played 46 games with the AJHL’s Olds Grizzlys, earning 13 points and 56 penalty minutes. . . . Clowes suffered an undisclosed injury in Victoria’s camp and is expected to miss the season’s first month. . . . Even without Clowes, the Americans are carrying nine defencemen, with six of those having been contributors to the Tri-City cause last season.
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D Derrick Pouliot of the Portland Winterhawks has signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Pouliot, a 5-foot-11, 195-pounder from Weyburn, Sask., was the eighth-overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft. . . . He had 59 points in 72 games last season, his second with the Winterhawks, and then added 17 points in the playoffs.
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The Red Deer Rebels kept their roster at 26 after assigning two players and adding two others. . . . F Dexter Bricker, 17, is to join the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks, while F Vukie Mpofu, 16, will play for the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts. Both players are from Saskatoon. . . . Red Deer added F Ryley Bennefield, 18, to their roster on a tryout basis. A native of Wetaskiwin, Alta., he had been in camp with the Calgary Hitmen and scored twice in three exhibition games. A second-round pick by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2009 bantam draft, he has played three games with Lethbridge and six with the Portland Winterhawks over the last three season. . . . The Rebels also are taking a look at F Wyatt Johnson, 17, who played last season with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. He had 45 points in 42 games with the Blazers. He had been in the Vancouver Giants’ camp and will get checked out in Red Deer because he has been out with a concussion.
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There was some ugliness in an SM-liiga exhibition game between HIFK and Jokerit in Finland recently and a whole whack of suspensions were handed out. That included eight-game suspensions to three coaches.
There’s more right here.

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A humorous text exchange with a WHL coach on Tuesday morning after he had seen the photo from inside the Whitney Forum that was posted here . . .
COACH: Just read your blog this a.m. Flin Flon was a tough place to play. Had a chuckle to myself this morning. Some good memories.
ME: Long bus rides to Flin Flon for some players!
COACH: And coaches! I did both.
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Marty Aalto of Port Orchard, Wash., with a note on the toughest rink debate:
“What about Queen's Park in New West? I only went there once in the Big Bad Bruins era but it scared the heck out of me. . . .  It's tough for anyone to really appreciate the Bruins of the mid-’70s if you weren't actually there to see it.”
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Radek Meidl (Seattle, Tri-City, 2006-08) signed a try-out contract with Berounsti Medvedi (Czech Republic, 1.Liga). Meidl had no points in seven games with Michalovce (Slovakia, 1.Liga) and two goals in seven games with Prostejov (Czech Republic, 2.Liga) last season. . . .
D Jordan Henry (Moose Jaw, Red Deer, 2003-07) signed a three-week try-out contract with Södertälje (Sweden, Allsvenskan). He had two goals and nine assists in 68 games with the Abbotsford Heat (AHL) and the Chicago Wolves (AHL) last season.
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Troy Mick, a former WHL player and coach, has stepped aside as head coach of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm SilverBacks. He will stay on as the club’s general manager and will retain his status as a minority owner.
“This was a very tough decision but the right one for the players and the franchise,” Mick said in a statement issued by the club. “I needed to be a full-time coach for the players and I could not fulfil those commitments as my other duties were always getting in the way.”
The new head coach is Scott Robinson, a former Salmon Arm assistant coach and a two-time BCHL coach of the year.
Robinson, a native of Salmon Arm, spent the last two seasons as head coach of the NAHL’s Dawson Creek Rage. The franchise folded after last season.
The SilverBacks, who are 0-2 after the opening weekend of regular-season play, hold their home-opener Friday against the Vernon Vipers.
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Ryan Hanes is a defenceman trying to crack the roster of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. No, Ryan Hanes used to play with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazesrs and now is a forward with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. . . . Yes, there are two Ryan Hanes, and both are 20 years of age. . . . Josh Brown of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record has more right here.
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Ron Robison, the commissioner of the WHL, has told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post that the WHL’s 20-year-old rule isn’t about to change.
Harder writes:
“That’s the official word from WHL commissioner Ron Robison, who said Tuesday the league won’t increase its three-player overage limit to accommodate the potential for an influx of talent from an NHL work stoppage.”
Robison also told Harder that the league won’t change its approach to import players.
Pats head coach Pat Conacher had told Harder he would like to see teams given five 20-year-old/import slots to use as they see fit.
“There has not been any discussion at this point in time,” Robison told Harder. “We’re continuing on with the same ratios of three overage players and two import players. We’re comfortable overall in where we are in that regard. The whole thing is subject to change from time to time. But we’re happy with the complement the way it is right now.”
What this means is that the WHL continues to see its role as a developmental league first and an entertainment vehicle second.
Harder’s complete story is right here.
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D Mitchell Wheaton, 17, is to return to the Kelowna Rockets this week after having committed to the WHL team. The 6-foot-5 Wheaton was a 10th-round selection in the 2010 bantam draft. He opened camp with the Rockets, but then returned to the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. . . . Last season, he had 14 points and 62 penalty minutes in 45 games with the Saints.
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The Portland Winterhawks appear to be down to four goaltenders now that Jarrod Schamerhorn, a 17-year-old from Kelowna, has been assigned to the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers.
Schamerhorn, who has signed with the Winterhawks, played last season with the major midget Kootenay Ice.
That leaves the Winterhawks with returnees Mac Carruth,, 20, and Brendan Burke, 17, along with Cam Lanigan, 20, and Brendan Jensen, 19. Carruth, however, has signed with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and is expected to start the season in their organization.
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D Ryan Murray, who was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the second pick of the 2012 NHL draft, will begin making his way to Everett today.
Murray, 18, is the captain of the Everett Silvertips and, without an NHL labour dispute, would have been given a good shot to make the Blue Jackets’ roster.
Instead, it would seem that he will start the season in the WHL.
But what happens if top prospects start their season in major junior and then there is a settlement between the NHL and the NHLPA?
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch takes a look right here.
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The AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons swung a deal Tuesday that landed them F Danny Gayle, 20, who was released earlier by the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Gayle had 39 points in 61 games with the Hitmen last season but lost out in the 20-year-old numbers game. . . . The Oil Barons sent F Jessey Touchette, an 18-year-old from Fort McMurray, to the Lloydminster Bobcats for Gayle’s rights.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers have their roster at 29 players after assigning G Keelan Williams, 16, to the midget AAA Calgary Rangers; D Nathyn Mortlock, 16, and F Alex Mowbray, 16, also were assigned. Mortlock played last season with the midget AAA UFA Bisons who play out of Strathmore, Alta., while Mowbray was with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes. . . . The Tigers are carrying three goaltenders, 10 defencemen and 16 forwards. That includes Czech G Marek Langhamer, 18, who arrived in Medicine Hat late last week. He was a seventh-round selection by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2012 NHL draft. . . . The other goaltenders on the roster are Kenny Cameron and Dawson MacAuley. Cameron, 19, got into 14 games with the Tigers last season, while MacAuley, 18, played in one.
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The ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors have offered an amateur tryout deal to RW Justin Bieber.
"Very rarely do you see this combination of skill and toughness," said Condors head coach Matt O'Dette in a press release. “We share a common Canadian heritage since we both hail from Ontario. I've scouted some video of him online skating with my hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I think he could provide some elusive speed up front for us. Plus, he's a right-handed shot which we've been looking to add.”
The Bakersfield Californian has more right here.
Bieber is 18 years of age, which makes you wonder why a junior team hasn’t offered him a contract and guaranteed him a spot on the roster. Sheesh, the guy has 17 million Twitter followers so you have to think having him on the roster would be worth an immediate boost to attendance. It might not do much for beer sales, though.
And, sheesh, just imagine Bieber Bobblehead Night!

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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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