Taking Note

THE MacBETH REPORT:
Dinamo Minsk has recalled F Sergei Drozd (Tri-City, 2009-10) from assignment to Neman Grodno (Belarus, Ekstraliga). He had 17 points, including five goals, in 17 games with Neman. . . .

F Jaroslav Kristek (Tri-City, 1998-2000) has been released by mutual agreement from Dinamo Minsk (Belarus, KHL). He had one assist in seven games.
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1. The Vancouver Giants revealed on Tuesday that F Tyler Benson, the first overall pick in the 2013 bantam draft, will make his WHL debut on Nov. 16 against the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . Benson, 15, has 34 points, including 15 goals, in 16 games with the Pursuit of Excellence U-18 Prep team. . . . Veteran WHL referee Steve Papp has been selected to work the World Junior Championship that begins Dec. 26 in Malmo, Sweden. . . .

2. The Kamloops Blazers' roster stands at 22 after the club dropped F Mitch Friesen, 17, on Tuesday. . . . A native of Surrey, B.C., Friesen had two assists in 55 games with the Blazers over last season and this one. This season, he had one assist in nine games. . . .


3. The QMJHL's Saint John Sea Dogs fired Mike Kelly, their general manager and head coach, on Tuesday. . . . At 5-10-2, the Sea Dogs have the WHL's second-poorest record and are winless in eight. . . . Kelly, a former head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings, was the Sea Dogs' associate coach when they had three straight 50-win seasons (2009-12) and also won a Memorial Cup. He had been head coach since the summer of 2012. . . . A new coach is expected to be introduced within days.

4. The Everett Silvertips will be without G Austin Lotz for up to four weeks. It seems he suffered an ankle injury during a 7-6 overtime victory over the Blazers in Kamloops on Saturday -- he apparently was injured in regulation time and he did finish the game -- and now is encumbered with a walking boot. . . . Lotz started his 11th straight game on Saturday. . . . With Lotz injured, Daniel Cotton, 19, moves up the depth chart, while the Silvertips have brought in Nik Amundrud, 16, to back him up. Amundrud, who is from Melfort, Sask., was a third-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft.

5. If you are a baseball fan of a certain vintage, you recognize the radio call letters KMOX. Yes, that is the AM radio home of the St. Louis Cardinals. KMOX is at 1120 on the AM dial and its 50,000-watt signal covers a good part of North America and beyond. . . . David Waldstein of The New York Times set out Sunday to see if he could outdrive the signal while Game 4 of the World Series was being played. . . . This is good stuff and it's right here.

6. The St. Louis Cardinals are in Boston to meet the Red Sox in Game 6 of the World Series tonight. And you are wondering what it would cost you to get into Fenway Park for this one. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports has the answer(s) right here.

7. If you're a regular here, you will recall that yesterday I had a bit about Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella and the way he is playing his top three forwards well over 20 minutes per game. . . . That led me to wonder whether an NHL coach really needs 12 forwards at his disposal. . . . In Tuesday's Vancouver Sun, columnist Iain MacIntyre pointed out that the Caucks had gone into Monday's game against the visiting Washington Capitals not having practised in 10 days. Seriously. . . . The Canucks didn't practise while on a seven-game road trip and when the trek was over Tortorella gave his side two days off. That led them into Monday's game, which they won, 3-2. . . . The Canucks, who are 9-4-2 going into tonight's game against the visiting Detroit Red Wings, played nine of their first 15 games on the road. . . . Prior to Monday's game, Tortorella promised that "we'll practice (Tuesday). Win or lose." . . . They did. . . . But 10 days without a practice. Sacrilege, surely.

8. Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that the Moose Jaw Warriors are concerned that an unnamed junior A team may have tampered with F Todd Fiddler, 20, before he was dropped from the WHL team's roster on Monday. . . . That story is right here.
www.mjtimes.sk.ca/Sports/Hockey/2013-10-28/article-3450719/Fiddler-and-Warriors-part-ways/1

TUESDAY NIGHT:
In Prince Albert, the Medicine Hat Tigers unleashed a 50-shot attack and beat the Raiders, 3-1. . . . G Cole Cheveldave stopped 47 shots for the Raiders, 26 more than Marek Langhamer of the Tigers. . . . The Tigers were without F Hunter Shinkaruk (hip) for a second straight game. . . . F Mike Winther of the Raiders sat out Game 2 of a four-game suspension for a headshot. . . . This was the 10th time the Clouston brothers opposed each other as WHL coaches. Cory, who has coached the Kootenay Ice, Brandon Wheat Kings and Prince Albert, is 5-4-1, while Shaun, the Tigers' head coach, is 5-5. . . .

In Kent, Wash., F Seth Swenson had a goal and two assists to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Seattle is 11-3-2 and now leads the Western Conference, by one point over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Wheat Kings are 0-3 on their swing through the U.S. Division. . . . Swenson scored his fourth goal in three games, this one coming on a second-period penalty shot. . . . F Sam Mckechnie scored in his first game with the Thunderbirds. He and F Jaimen Yakubowski were acquired last week from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Yakubowski made his Seattle debut on the weekend; Mckechnie hadn't had as much opportunity to skate after he and Yakubowski were sent home to await a trade, so his debut had to wait. . . . Meanwhile, Yakubowski got a major and game misconduct in the first period for a headshot on D Taylor Green. . . .

 In Prince George, F Jackson Houck struck for three goals to lead the Vancouver Giants to a 6-5 victory over the Cougars. . . . Houck now has two WHL hat tricks to his credit. . . . The teams play again tonight in P.G. . . . Houck went into the game with three goals this season. . . . F Chase Witala scored one of the Cougars' goals as he ran his sniping streak to six games. . . . Witala also had three assists, giving him 20 points, 10 of them goals, in 10 games. . . .

In Lethbridge, F Connor Sanvido's shootout goal gave the Swift Current Broncos a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Sanvido was the only one of six shooters to score. . . . The Hurricanes have lost three in a row and have won once in their last 10 outings. . . . F Riley Sheen, acquired last week from the Seattle Thunderbirds, scored in his first game with the Hurricanes.

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