1. Another fan checks in with thoughts on the WHL's decision not to print its Guide for this season:
"I too was disappointed that the WHL did not publish a print copy. I did go to fedex office and they printed out the guide for me in a spiral bind for $27."
2. F Ryan Pruden of the Saskatoon Blades was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday in Winnipeg to repair a fractured scaphoid left over from March. The Winnipegger is likely to miss at least two months. . . . Pruden, 17, was pointless in three games this season. He was a 13th-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft.
3. The Vancouver Giants, who have been short on size and depth up front, have acquired F Trent Lofthouse, who turns 19 on Nov. 17, from the Victoria Royals for a 2014 eighth-round bantam draft pick. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Lofthouse, who has two points in 11 games with Victoria, is in his third WHL season. A native of Surrey, B.C., the son of former WHLer Mark Lofthouse, Trent began his career with the Everett Silvertips. He has 23 points in 112 regular-season games. . . . Lofthouse is expected to make his debut with the Giants on Friday against the visiting Kamloops Blazers.
4. The BCHL's Trail Smoke Eaters' board of directors reacted to a 4-9-1-1 start by firing general manager/head coach Bill Birks on Wednesday. Birks had been head coach since May 2011. He joined Trail as an assistant coach during the summer of 2010. . . . Barry Zanier and Craig Clare, the club's two assistant coaches, have taken over as interim head coaches while the board searches for a new head man.
5. The Everett Silvertips have dropped D Lucas Skrumeda, 17, from their roster. He is expected to join the MJHL's Winnipeg Blues. He had yet to get into a game with the Silvertips.
6. D Zach Hodder, 20, has joined the BCHL's Coquitlam Express. Hodder had one assist in six games with the Moose Jaw Warriors before leaving the team last week. He also has played in the WHL with the Vancouver Giants, Saskatoon Blades, Prince Albert Raiders and Medicine Hat Tigers.
7. Former Moose Jaw Warriors general manager Ralph Schmidt died on Saturday in East Chatfield Beach, Sask., near North Battleford. . . . He was the Warriors' general manager for three years, leaving in June 2001. . . . An obituary is located right here.
8. D Riley Stadel, who scored twice in 49 games as a freshman last season, counted three times last night as his Kelowna Rockets dropped the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes, 6-0. Stadel, who also had an assist, has seven goals this season. . . . The Rockets, who held a 62-26 edge in shots, were 3-for-13 on the PP as the Hurricanes took 72 of 106 penalty minutes. . . . Lethbridge, which has lost seven in a row, went 0-4 on a swing into the B.C. Division and was outscored 21-4 in the process. . . . F Tim Bozon scored twice as the host Kamloops Blazers beat Seattle, 3-1, to snap the Thunderbirds' five-game winning streak. F Ryan Gropp, who left the BCHL's Penticton Vees and joined the Thunderbirds on Tuesday, didn't play as he waits for the paperwork to be completed. . . .
Brandon D Ryan Pulock tied it with 16 seconds left in the third period and F Taylor Cooper won it at 1:51 of OT as the Wheat Kings got past the host Moose Jaw Warriors, 3-2. . . . In Portland, F Adam Rossignol scored the winner on his 20th birthday as the Winterhawks dumped the Tri-City Americans, 4-1. D Garrett Haar was plus-4. . . .
F Logan Nelson ran his goal-scoring streak to six games as his Victoria Royals beat the visiting Prince George Cougars, 5-4. Nelson scored his side's fifth goal, giving Victoria a 5-3 lead after it had almost given up a 4-0 edge. . . . In three previous meetings, the two teams had combined for six goals. . . . Victoria G Patrik Polivka is 8-0 against the Cougars over the last two seasons. . . . The Royals have won five in a row, all at home. . . . F Mitch Holmberg and F Mike Aviani each scored twice and added two assists as the host Spokane Chiefs dropped the Swift Current Broncos, 5-1. Holmberg has 14 goals; Aviani has 11.
9. One of the problems with concussions is that they can't be measured definitively. Geoffrey Mohan of the Los Angeles Times writes right here about a man who is working to shed light on that situation and the key may involve fruit flies. Seriously, give this a read.
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