More from Thursday . . .

Former WHL G Todd Ford has signed with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Ford, 24, played one game with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies last season, but he spent most of the winter with the ECHL’s Columbia Inferno, going 21-14-5 with a 3.01 GAA and a .906 save percentage. He was a third-round selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL’s 2002 draft. He played in the WHL with the Swift Current Broncos, Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants.
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Got a note today from old friend Brian Munz, the former radio voice of the Prince Albert Raiders. (Can’t mention the Raiders’ play-by-play job without remembering Morley Jaeger, who did that job more than a couple of years ago, back when Terry Simpson and the Raiders ruled the junior A world.) . . . Munz is preparing for his third season of calling Manitoba Moose games on Winnipeg radio station CJOB.
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The Tri-City Americans have signed three players to WHL contracts — F Justin Feser, F Tanner Olstad and F Spencer Asuchak. . . . Feser, a 16-year-old from Red Deer, had 30 points in 30 games with the midget AAA team in Red Deer last season. He was a ninth-round pick in the 2007 WHL bantam draft. . . . Olstad, a 16-year-old from Calgary, had 53 points in 28 games with a midget AA team in his hometown last season. The Americans got Olstad in the eighth round of the 2007 draft. . . . Asuchak, 17, is from Kamloops where he spent last season with the major midget Thompson Blazers. He had 25 points in 35 games. The Americans put him on their list last season. . . . All three were in the Americans‚ rookie camp and played well enough to get invited to main camp. They are on the roster for this weekend‚s tournament in Everett and next weekend’s Red Lion Hotels tournament in Kennewick.
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Ozzie Guillen, the volatile manager of the Chicago White Sox, was one of Jay Mariotti’s favourite targets while he was a columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times. Here’s what Guillen had to say to the Sun-Times once he learned that Mariotti was leaving:
“When people wish the worst on people, you have to be careful because the baseball gods are going to get you. He was not asking just for my job, he was asking for thousands and thousands of people’s jobs over the years. I’m not going to say I will get the last laugh because I will get fired from this job. But the day I get fired is the day I lose interest in this game.
“Am I enjoying this? Yes, because he tried to make my life miserable. He did everything in his power to make my life go the wrong way, but he didn’t make me miserable because I don’t believe him. Maybe if somebody else wrote that stuff about me, then I would put attention on it. And that’s what he wanted. He wanted attention. He has to thank me because I gave him a lot of (stuff) to work with. I know I helped him the last four years to make his money, and, obviously, he did not help me at all to make my money.”
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The OHL’s Ottawa 67’s opened camp on Thursday morning and GM/head coach Brian Kilrea was front and centre. It’s his 32nd season with the 67’s and, yes, he is the winningest coach in Canadian major junior history. He also is 74 years young and won’t even hint as to whether this might be his last season.
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The Swift Current Broncos have signed D Reece Scarlett, 15, the 12th overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft. From Sherwood Park, Alta., he had 30 points in 33 games for the bantam AAA team there last season.
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The Prince George Cougars have dealt G Alex Wright, 18, to the Spokane Chiefs for a conditional pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Wright was with the major midget Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars last season. . . . Earlier this summer, the Cougars acquired G Kevin Armstrong, 20, from the Chiefs. He will open the season as the Cougars’ starter. . . . The Chiefs now have three goaltenders on their roster, the others being starter Dustin Tokarski, 19, and James Reid, 18, who spent some time with Spokane early last season.
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The Regina Pats were unable to sign F Spencer Braaten, 18, who has left the Saskatchewan capital and will keep his NCAA options open. According to the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder: “Braaten had been with Regina since the start of training camp, but the sides reached an impasse regarding his status for this weekend’s preseason tournament in Edmonton. If Braaten had dressed for an exhibition game, he would have lost a year of NCAA eligibility. Therefore, he was seeking some guarantees that the Pats weren’t prepared to offer before they could evaluate him in a live WHL environment.” . . . Brent Parker, the Pats’ general manager, told Harder: “The NCAA rules don’t allow a kid to explore his options. It’s a shame because it’s really punishing the kid by not giving him an opportunity to see if he can play at the top level (of junior hockey). Instead they have to settle for playing at a secondary level.” . . . Braaten had 79 points in 43 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers last season.
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Barry Smith, the new head coach of the Kamloops Blazers, played his minor hockey in Wenatchee, Wash. Corey Voegele of the Wenatchee World caught up with Smith the other day and that story is right here.
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The Los Angeles Kings have signed Regina D Colten Teubert to a three-year entry-level NHL contract. Teubert, 18, was the 13th overall selection in the NHL’s 2008 draft. Teubert had 23 points and 135 penalty minutes in 66 games with the Pats last season. Regina took him with the first overall pick in the 2005 WHL bantam draft. If he doesn’t earn a berth with the Kings in training camp, he will be returned to Regina. If that’s the case, watch for him with Team Canada at the 2009 world junior tournament.