THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Yashar Farmanara (Seattle, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, 2003-08) signed a one-year contract with Miskolci Jegesmedve (Hungary, MOL Liga). He had seven goals and 10 assists in 23 games for the University of Western Ontario (CIS) last season. In case you need a hockey fix, the club opens training camp Aug. 1 and plays its first exhibition game on Aug. 10.
F Brad Schell (Spokane, 1999-2004) signed a one-year contract with Lillehammer (Norway, GET-Ligaen). He had 18 goals and 32 assists in 27 games with Dornbirn (Austria, Nationalliga) and one goal and one assist in four games with the Graz 99ers (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) last season. Lillehammer plays its first exhibition game on Aug. 18. . . .
D Jason Beckett (Seattle, 1997-2000) signed a one-year contract with the Nottingham Panthers (England, UK Elite). He had two goals and three assists in 32 games with Kallinge/Ronneby (Sweden, Division 1) and one goal and six assists with Västervik (Sweden, Division 2) last season.
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Here’s a little extra from The MacBeth Report:
The newspaper Örnsköldsviks Allehanda was reporting Sunday night that MoDo Örnsköldsvik has called a press conference for Monday at 1.30 PM local time (4.30 a.m. PDT). The paper speculates that the presser will announce that MoDo has signed Vancouver Canucks F Samuel Påhlsson. Påhlsson told the paper in late May: "My family and I are considering moving home, but there is nothing definite. There are many pros and cons and it is a big decision to make. After all, my wife and I have been living abroad for most of our adult lives. Meanwhile, we have family and friends back home in Sweden. If I go home, I will play for MoDo."
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My man The Sports Curmudgeon sent me this link right here. It’s an old Nike baseball commercial featuring Tom Glavine, who once was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, and Greg Maddux. And it is hilarious. Give it a look.

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The Red Deer Rebels will be wearing special jerseys on Saturday
when they meet the visiting Calgary Hitmen.

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Jakub Sindel (Brandon, 2004-05) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Ässät Pori (Finland, SM-Liiga). He had two assists in five games with Kloten (Switzerland, NL A), one goal in 21 games with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL), and three assists in 11 games with Kärpät Oulu (Finland, SM-Liiga) this season. . . .
F Jan Fadrny (Brandon, Kelowna, 1998-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Martin (Slovakia, Extraliga). He had 13 goals and 25 assists in 26 games for Königsbrunn (Germany, Regionalliga) this season. . . .
F Brad Schell (Spokane, 1999-2004) was released by Dornbirn (Austria, Nationalliga). He had 18 goals and 32 assists in 27 games for Dornbirn this season. Schell was released to open a import roster slot for former NHL and AHL F Scott Barney. . . .
D Ross Lupaschuk (Lethbridge, Prince Albert, Red Deer, 1996-2001) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Jokerit Helsinki (Finland, SM-Liiga). He had 10 goals and 17 assists in 38 games with the Vienna Capitals (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) this season. . . .
F Kyle Bruce (Kamloops, Prince Albert, Vancouver, 1999-2004) signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Dundee Stars (Scotland, UK Elite). He had two goals and 11 assists in 26 games with the Braehead Clan (Scotland, UK Elite) this season. . . .
F Kirill Starkov (Red Deer, 2006-07) signed a contract for the rest of this season with SønderjyskE Vojens (Denmark, AL-Bank Liga). He had three goals and 12 assists in 39 games with Rögle (Sweden, Allsvenskan) this season. . . .
D Jason Beckett (Seattle, 1997-2000) was released Monday by Kallinge/Rommeby (Sweden, Division 1). He had two goals and three assists in 32 games with Kallinge/Ronneby this season. . . . On Tuesday, Beckett signed a contract for the rest of this season with Västervik (Sweden, Division 2). . . .
F Jaroslav Kristek (Tri-City, 1998-2000) was assigned on loan by Lev Poprad (Slovakia, KHL) to Kosice (Slovakia, Extraliga) for the rest of this season. He had eight goals and six assists in 36 games for Lev this season. . . .
G Tyler Plante (Brandon, 2003-07) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Djurgården Stockholm (Sweden, Elitserien). He started the season with the San Antonio Rampage (AHL), playing two games with a 3.14 GAA and a .899 save percentage. Plante also appeared in four games with the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL), registering a 2.65 GAA and a .896 save percentage. After being released by Florida Panthers, he signed on with Mora (Sweden, Allsvenskan). There, he had a 3.00 GAA and a .899 save percentage in six games. . . .
F Milan Kytnar (Kelowna, Saskatoon, Vancouver, 2007-10) was assigned on loan by the Edmonton Oilers to HPK Hämeenlinna (Finland, SM-Liiga) for the rest of this season. He had one goal and two assists in 13 games with the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL), five goals and three assists in 14 games with the Stockton Thunder (ECHL) and was pointless in one game with the Oilers this season.
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ASK THE COMMISSIONER:
Why does the WHL not shut down for the CHL Top Prospects Game? Your ticket buyers are denied watching a number of your best players over the Christmas/New Year season because of the various international assignments. So why not shut down for three days while the TPG and its skills competition are being held and give the ticket-buying public a break?
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THE COACHING GAME:
Lonny Bohonos (Moose Jaw, Seattle, Portland, 1991-94) is the new head coach of the Thunder Bay North Stars of the junior A Superior International league. Bohonos was named interim head coach following the firing of Todd Howarth. . . . Howarth stepped down, citing personal reasons. He had been the head coach since 2002-03. . . . Bohonos, who is from Winnipeg, has lived in Thunder Bay since 2006, where he has coached in the Thunder Bay Kings organization. . . . The North Stars are 22-15-5 and in third place.
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JUST NOTES:
The Red Deer Rebels have hooked up with Finning Canada for a Saturday promotion to benefit KidSport in Central Alberta. The Rebels will wear special sweaters for Saturday’s game against the visiting Calgary Hitmen. The sweaters will be part of a silent auction to be held during the game. . . . According to a Rebels’ news release: “The silent auction will begin when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. It will conclude, at the latest, by the end of the first period intermission. There will be a limit of one jersey per fan, and each jersey will have a ‘buy now’ price. After the game, each player will sign his jersey before presenting it to the person who made the successful bid.” . . .
The Saskatoon Blades have added D Nelson Nogier, 15, to their lineup for tonight’s game against the visiting Swift Current Broncos. Nogier, the son of former WHL G Pat Nogier, is from Saskatoon and plays for the midget AAA Contacts. Nelson was a fourth-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . The Blades are without F Lukas Sutter and D Dalton Thrower, both of whom are at the Top Prospects Game in Kelowna, D Matt Pufahl (ankle) and F Travis McEvoy (concussion). . . . McEvoy and Pufahl both were injured in fights during a game on Saturday. Pufahl broke an ankle and has had surgery. He is expected to be out up to eight weeks. . . .
The Blades also have added former D Curtis Leschyshyn to their coaching staff. He will help out for the next couple of weeks with Jerome Engele away until the middle of February. . . .
The Portland Winterhawks will induct Brent Peterson, a former player and coach, into their Hall of Fame on Friday, prior to a game against the visiting Everett Silvertips. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. . . . The Winterhawks will be looking to extend their franchise-record home-ice winning streak to 19 games. The Silvertips are coming off a doubleheader sweep in Prince George.
Doug Harrison of CBC Sports has done up an interesting feature on Sherry Bassin, the general manager of the OHL’s Erie Otters. You may check it out right here. If you do, pay particular attention to the sidebar in which Bassin talks about the importance of delegating wisely.
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I really don’t know why it took until now for me to stumble upon a blog that is titled The Agents of Change. But I did happen upon it and it’s definitely worth your checking out. Written by long-time agent Ritch Winter, there is lots of food for thought here.
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The Detroit Red Wings will play the Flames in Calgary tonight. Prior to the game, the Flames will honour the memory of Brad McCrimmon, who played for both teams. McCrimmon, who played for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and coached the Saskatoon Blades, was killed when a plane carrying the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl club crashed on Sept. 7.
There’s more right here.
And if you haven't yet made a donation and got your Love for Lokomotiv bracelet, skip on over to right here and get it done.


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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Jason Beckett (Seattle, 1997-2000) signed a one-year contract with Kallinge/Ronneby (Sweden, Division 1). He had one goal and five assists in 39 games with Jesenice (Slovenia, Austria Erste Bank Liga) last season. Beckett was introduced to the local media Friday and is expected to be in the lineup for Sunday's game. . . .
F Codey Burki (Brandon, 2002-07) has been assigned on loan by Lugano (Switzerland, NL A) to La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland, NL B). He had seven goals and five assists in four games on loan to Thurgau (Switzerland, NL B) last season. The loan agreement is on a game-by-game basis. Lugano says that Burki is awaiting Swiss citizenship. . . .
F Marek Curilla (Kootenay, Medicine Hat, 2005-06) has been assigned on loan by Slovan Ustecti Lvi (Czech Republic, 1.Liga) to Zvolen (Slovakia, Extraliga) until Oct. 31. He had 15 goals and 11
assists in 40 games for Slovan last season and was pointless in three games thus far this season. . . .
G Ville Kolppanen (Lethbridge, 2009-10) has signed a two-year contract extension with Ilves Tampere (Finland, SM-Liiga). He was recalled from loan to LeKi Lempäälä (Finland, Mestis), and assigned on loan to Snezhnye Barsy Astana (Kazakhstan, Russia MHL, the top Russian junior league) until the end of January. He had allowed two goal in two games with a .969 save percentage for LeKi this season. Last season, Kolppanen had a 2.89 GAA and a .903 save percentage in 19 games for Ilves A-Juniors (Finland, A-Junior SM-Liiga). The contract extension runs through the 2013-14 season.
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There are a lot of great people in hockey and Glen Hanlon, the Vancouver Giants’ assistant coach, is one of them.
So it was great to chat with him before the Giants game in Kamloops on Friday night.
He also is one of hockey’s great story tellers.
He said he got quite a chuckle one day when a Giants player asked him if he had gone to the NHL draft when he was eligible to be selected.
“Yeah,” Hanlon said. “I went to the Brandon Sun and spent the draft hunched over the teletype machine watching for my name.”
He didn’t have to wait too long. He was selected in the third round, 40th overall of the NHL’s 1977 draft. He also was a third-round pick in the WHA draft, taken 30th overall, by the Houston Aeros.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers got three goals from F Emerson Etem on Friday as they beat the Oil Kings 5-3 in Edmonton. It was the fourth time in his career that Etem has scored at least three goals in a game. However, it was the first time he has done it since his freshman season. That season, he scored 37 times, including two-three-goal games and a four-goal effort. Last season, Etem struck for 45 goals but never scored more than two goals in a game, something he did on 10 occasions. Etem now has 149 points, including 86 goals, in 139 career regular-season games. . . . The Oil Kings drew 7,273 fans to their home-opener. . . .
F Max Reinhart had two goals and two assists to lead the host Kootenay Ice to a 5-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . It was Regina’s first loss in four games this season. The Pats hadn’t started 3-0 since 1984-85. . . . It was the fifth time Reinhart has had at least four points in a game. Last season, he enjoyed a five-point outing and two four-point games. . . . Regina got a shorthanded goal from D Brandon Underwood, who now has two scores in four games this season. He went into the season with two career goals in 149 regular-season games with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Ice also got a goal and two helpers from F Dylen McKinlay, an offseason acquisition from the Victoria Royals. . . .
Morgan Rielly, one of the WHL’s bumper crop of defencemen, helped the Warriors to a 6-5 shootout victory over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders. The Warriors trailed 5-3 when Rielly scored at 16:50 of the third period and then drew the lone assist on a PP goal by F Sebastian Svendsen at 19:14. Rielly then scored the shootout goal that ended the game. . . . F Brandon Herrod had two goals and two assists for the Raiders. It was the second four-point night of his career, the first since 2009-10. . . . Attendance in Moose Jaw was 3,545. . . .
In Prince George, G Keith Hamilton stopped 48 shots through overtime as the Victoria Royals went on to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Cougars. . . . Neither of Prince George’s two shootout participants was able to beat Hamilton, who also came out the winner on a second-period penalty shot by F Tayler Thompson. . . . Attendance in Prince George was 4,530. . . . On Sept. 24, Hamilton made 48 saves as the Royals beat the visiting Vancouver Giants, 4-3. . . . The Royals acquired Hamilton, a 19-year-old from Kelowna, from the Portland Winterhawks over the summer. . . .
The Swift Current Broncos won for the first time in four games, beating the Wheat Kings 5-4 in a shootout. . . . That left the Broncos at 1-2-1. . . . Brandon now is 0-2 at home. . . . The Broncos, who were without F Dillon Wagner (knee), lost F Andy Blanke, who left after a first-period scrap with Brandon F Michael Ferland. . . . Brandon had F Brenden Walker in the lineup for the first time since he suffered an concussion in a playoff game against the Medicine Hat Tigers last spring. . . .
In Portland, G Ty Rimmer improved to 2-0 as the Tri-City Americans beat the Winterhawks, 4-1. Rimmer stopped 32 shots as the Americans moved to 3-0 for the second straight season. . . . Tri-City meets the Chiefs in Spokane tonight.
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JUST NOTES: The U of Calgary Dinos and the WHL announced Friday the creation of the Ed Chynoweth Memorial Hockey Award. It wwill go annually to a former WHL player who is attending the U of Calgary and playing for the Dinos. . . . If you’re a long-time hockey fan, you may remember hearing about Sven Tumba, or Sven Johansson, as he was born. The Swedish hockey star also was known to some as Tumba Johansson. Tumba, who was one of the first Europeans to skate in an NHL training camp, died today in Stockholm. He was in camp with the Boston Bruins back in the day. There’s more on Tumba right here.
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Ken Dryden, who knows a thing or two about hockey and about writing, has put fingers to keyboard and come up with a brilliant piece about headshots in sports. It you haven’t already seen it, it is right here, and it is only the best piece written on this subject to date. Dryden’s piece explains better than anything else I have seen exactly why headshots -- intentional, accidental and incidental -- and fighting must be taken out of the game of hockey, and why it has to happen now. Not tomorrow. Right now.
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Ken Dryden and Globe and Mail columnist Roy MacGregor are preparing for an online discussion on “why we need to rethink hockey.” It will begin Monday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT).
For more info, click right here.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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