D Craig Weller (Kootenay, 2000-02) signed a one-year contract with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite). He had four goals and 14 assists in 74 games with the Houston Aeros, Providence Bruins and Chicago Wolves (all AHL) last season. . . .
F Mike Green (Edmonton/Kootenay, 1996-2000) announced his retirement. He had 15 goals and 20 assists for Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (Germany DEL) last season. Green made his announcement through the team's website. . . .
F Mark Brown (Spokane, Prince Albert, 1996-99) signed a one-year contract with Zall am See (Austria Nationalliga). He had four goals and 12 assists in 25 games with Alleghe (Italy Serie A) last season. . . .
D Burke Henry (Brandon, 1995-99) signed a one-year contract with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had seven goals and four assists in 27 games with Olimpija last season. . . .
F Jason Reese (Vancouver, Moose Jaw, Tri-City, 2003-09) signed a tryout contract with Dortmund (Germany Oberliga). He had seven goals and 18 assists in 57 games split between the Texas Brahmas, Arizona Sundogs and Wichita Thunder (all Central Hockey League) season.
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Two days after F Curt Gogol, 19, was benched during a game, the Saskatoon Blades traded him to the Chilliwack Bruins. In exchange for Gogol and an eighth-round 2011 bantam draft pick, the Blades get F Chris Collins, 18.
The Blades acquired Gogol from the Kelowna Rockets in January.In 58 games with the Blades, Gogol, the son of former WHLer Brent (Calgary, Victoria, Billings, 1976-79), had nine points and 208 penalty minutes.
Curt Gogol attended the San Jose Sharks’ camp as a free agent and came away with a three-year NHL contract.
Saskatoon GM/head coach Lorne Molleken, concerned with a lack of discipline, had Gogol on the bench for much of a 5-3 victory over the Hitmen on Sunday in Calgary.
“We took far too many unnecessary penalties and the decision has been made that if you take bad penalties, you don't play," Molleken told Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
On Saturday, in a 7-1 loss to the Rebels in Red Deer, Molleken benched freshmen forwards Lukas Sutter and Levi Bews.
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Marc Weber of the Vancouver Province reported Tuesday that the Giants may have lost Slovakian F Marek Tvrdon (right shoulder) for the season.
"He goes Thursday to see the surgeon," Giants GM Scott Bonner told the newspaper. "He's out 60 days minimum and, if he gets surgery, it's six
months. I'm 90-per-cent sure he's getting surgery. "He's had an MRI and CT scan already and none of them have been positive. The labrum has nothing to attach to."
Tvrdon, 17, last played Oct. 16 against the Chilliwack Bruins. He had 11 points, including six goals, in 12 games.
Earlier in the season, Swedish F Casper Carning, 19, left the Giants and went home.
So losing Tvrdon means the Giants wouldn’t have any import players on their roster.
However, after Carning left the Giants placed Slovakian F Andrej Stastny, 19, on their protected list. He had been selected by Saskatoon in the 2010 CHL import draft but the Blades weren’t able to secure his release.
The Giants hope to have Stastny join them after the 2011 World Junior Championship ends in Buffalo on Jan. 5.
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Mac Carruth of the Portland Winterhawks is the Vaughn WHL goaltender of the month. Carruth, 18, was 6-1 with a 1.56 GAA and a .952 save percentage in October. . . . F Craig Cunningham of the Vancouver Giants is the Husky WHL player of the month. Cunningham 20, put up 36 points in 18 games in September and October. . . . F Andrej Kudrna of the Red Deer Rebels is the CHL player of the week. He had seven points, including four goals, in two games. . . . F Landon Ferraro, the captain of the Everett Silvertips, has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. Ferraro, 19, was a second-round selection in the 2009 NHL draft. The Silvertips acquired Ferraro from Red Deer over the summer, in exchange for F Byron Froese, also 19. Ferraro has 11 points, including five goals, in 13 games with Everett. He is a son of former NHL/WHL player Ray Ferraro. . . . The Moose Jaw Warriors have assigned G Brandon Glover to the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. Glover, 18, left the Warriors earlier this season and requested a trade. Last season, he was 9-8-6, 3.40, .890. . . . When Spokane beat the Pats 11-1 in Regina on Saturday, it was the first time the Chiefs had scored 11 goals in a road game since Jan. 16, 1999, when they beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 11-2. The last time Spokane scored 11 times at home? That would be Feb. 14, 2009, in an 11-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . It was the seventh time in franchise history that the Chiefs scored in double digits in one game. The record for most goals in one game is 16, set Jan. 30, 1988 in a 16-7 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. The team record for most goals in a road game is 12, set March 22, 1986, in a 12-9 victory over the Victoria Cougars. . . . The visiting Kingston Frontenacs scored a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa 67’s in a Tuesday OHL game. Get this -- the game began at 10:30 a.m. Yes, 10:30 a.m., on a school day. Attendance was 9,826 and, yes, there were a whole lot of school children there. . . . OK. Which WHL team will be first to try that? . . . F Jesse Sinatynski, 18, who was reassigned last week by the Kamloops Blazers, is on his way to the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings. Originally, it was thought he might end up with the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons. . . . Ed Boychuk, who refereed in the WHL when it was the Western Major Junior Hockey League, died Monday in Regina. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has that story right here. . . . ---
Patrick King of sportsnet.ca has an interesting take on Tyler Pitlick and the Medicine Hat Tigers. “The Medicine Hat Tigers are the Western Hockey League’s little, big market,” he writes. “The Tigers are disproving the myth that small market teams can’t compete with larger markets with recruiting high-profile American players.” . . . Read the entire column right here.---
Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports adds some thoughts -- mostly culinary in nature -- to the Pitlick piece. That is right here.
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And, finally, how about an 86-yard punt on a play that took one minute four seconds from start to finish? Seriously. Check it out right here.
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TUESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
CHILLIWACK 6 at KOOTENAY 2: G Lucas Gore stopped 32 shots for the Bruins (9-5-0), who have won five of six. . . . The Ice (11-4-1) had its seven-game winning streak snapped. . . . The Bruins scored the game’s first six goals, taking a 4-0 with three goals in a 3:44 span early in the second period. . . . F Kevin Sundher and F Robin Soudek each had two assists for the Bruins. . . . F Ryan Howse had a goal, his 15th, and an assist for Chilliwack, which was 2-for-5 on the PP. . . . The Ice was 1-for-5. . . . Ice F Adam Rossignol scored his first career goal to round out the scoring late in the third period. . . . Attendance was 2,259. . . . Checking-from-behind count: Two minors, to Soudek and Chilliwack D Brandon Manning.---
MEDICINE HAT 2 at CALGARY 1: F Linden Vey had a goal and an assist for the Tigers (8-5-0), who handed the Hitmen (4-11-0) their seventh straight loss and their sixth straight on home ice. . . . The Hitmen are 0-5 on a six-game homestand that ends Friday when the Kamloops Blazers hit town. . . . F Emerson Etem broke a 1-1 tie with his ninth goal, on the PP, at 7:52 of the third. . . . Vey, with his sixth, on the PP, scored at 17:12 of the second. . . . Calgary D Ben Wilson, with his first, tied it at 6:22 of the third, also on the PP. . . . Medicine Hat got two assists from F Wacey Hamilton. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz stopped 28 shots, seven more than Calgary’s Michael Snider. . . . Medicine Hat was 2-for-6 on the PP; Calgary was 1-for-6. . . . Attendance was 7,149. . . . Checking-from-behind count: Zero.---
SPOKANE 3 at SASKATOON 2: The Chiefs scored three times in the first period and went on to hand the Blades their first home loss of the season. Saskatoon (11-5-0) is 7-1-0 at home. . . . D Jared Cowen, a native of Saskatoon, got what proved to be the winning goal when he scored his third at 19:22 of the first period. That gave the Chiefs (7-7-0) a 3-1 lead. . . . The Chiefs are 2-1-0 on their East Division swing. . . . D Brenden Kichton scored Spokane’s other two goals, at 1:10 and 7:08 of the opening period. He has three. . . . This was Kichton’s first two-goal game in his 134-game WHL career. . . . F Jake Trask, with his first of the season, pulled the Blades to within one at 10:05. . . . F Josh Nicholls, with his seventh, got the Blades to within one, again, at 17:33 of the second. . . . Spokane G James Reid stopped 22 shots, while Adam Morrison of the Blades turned aside 26. . . . Each team was 0-for-3 on the PP. . . . Attendance was 5,121. . . . Checking-from-behind count: Zero.---
PRINCE GEORGE 2 at KELOWNA 6: F Mitchell Callahan had two goals and two assists for the Rockets (5-10-0), who had lost three in a row. . . . F Geordie Wudrick, with his second of the season, and Callahan, with his sixth, gave Kelowna a 2-0 lead heading into the third period. . . . F Zach Franko, with his fourth, upped that to 3-0 at 2:21 of the third, on the PP, before F Tayler Stefishen, with his third, got the visitors on the board. . . . The Rockets then put it away with three goals in 3:40, with Callahan, D Tyson Barrie, with his second, and D Colton Jobke, with his first, scoring. . . . It was Jobke’s first WHL goal and came in his 83rd game. . . . Barrie also had two assists. . . . The Cougars (9-7-1) had won their last two games, both on the road. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 28 shots, seven more than Prince George’s James Priestner. . . . Kelowna was 2-for-4 on the PP; the Cougars were 0-for-2. . . . Attendance was 6,018. . . . Checking-from-behind count: Zero.---
RED DEER 1 at SEATTLE 4: F Burke Gallimore scored twice, giving him nine, for the Thunderbirds (6-3-4), who had lost five straight but now have points in 10 of their 13 games. . . . The Rebels (11-6-0) had a three-game win skein end. . . . Gallimore and F Colin Jacobs, with his fifth, scored in the second period. . . . Gallimore added another at 9:06 of the third, before D Matt Dumba got his third for Red Deer at 13:17 of the third on the PP. . . . F Charles Wells got an empty-netter at 19:20. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard, who has started all 13 of his side’s games, stopped 46 shots. He was coming off a 49-save effort in a 3-2 OT loss to the Blazers in Kamloops on Saturday. . . . Red Deer G Bolton Pouliot turned aside 13 shots. . . . Red Deer was 1-for-6 on the PP; Seattle was 1-for-3. . . . Attendance was 2,725. . . . The Thunderbirds open an East Division swing Saturday in Brandon. . . . Checking-from-behind count: One minor, to Red Deer F Byron Froese.gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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