Priestner has agreement to purchase Blades

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Lukas Vantuch (Calgary, Lethbridge, 2005-07) signed a tryout contract with Landshut (Germany, DEL2). He had one goal and four assists in 31 games with Liberec (Czech Republic, Extraliga), one assist in five games on loan to Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), and was pointless in two games on loan to Benatky nad Jizerou (Czech Republic, 1. Liga) last season. . . .
F Judd Blackwater (Spokane, 2005-08) signed a one-year contract with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 19 goals and 31 assists in 69 games with the Las Vegas Wranglers (ECHL) last season. Blackwater is expected to arrive in Ljubljana on Friday. . . .
F Adam Chorneyko (Kamloops, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, 2004-09) signed a one-year contract with the Friesland Flyers Heerenveen (Netherlands, Eredivisie). He had no points in two games with the Colorado Eagles (ECHL), no points in four games with the Rapid City Rush (CHL), and two assists in five games with the Arizona Sundogs (CHL) last season.
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An agreement to sell the Saskatoon Blades to Mike Priestner has been reached. Jack Brodsky, his brother, Bob, and their sister, Debbie, have applied to the WHL’s board of governors for a transfer of ownership. The board will meet in Calgary on Sept. 4 to review the application. . . . Priestner, who attempted to purchase the Kamloops Blazers over the summer of 2007, is the owner of Go Auto, an Edmonton-based company that owns more than 30 automobile dealerships. . . . According to a WHL news release: “A special resolution vote of two-thirds majority from the Board of Governors is required in order to grant approval for the sale. If approval is granted at the Sept. 4 meeting, Mr. Priestner will assume control of the Saskatoon Blades franchise prior to the start of the 2013-14 WHL season.”
After issuing the news release, the WHL then dropped the cone of silence on the entire situation, as it did after it whacked the Portland Winterhawks in November. “The WHL, the Brodsky family and Mr. Priestner will not be making any further comments on this matter until following the WHL Board of Governors Meeting on Sept. 4,” concluded the news release.
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The Victoria Royals have signed F Matthew Phillips and D Ralph Jarratt to WHL contracts. . . . Phillips was the 33rd overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft. He had 77 points, 40 of them goals, in 37 games with the Calgary Bisons of the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League last season. . . . Jarratt, from Fort St. John, B.C., was taken selecctions after Phillips. Jarratt played last season in the Pursuit of Excellence’s bantam AAA program, putting up 29 points in 28 games. . . . F Dante Hannoun, Victoria’s first selection in the 2013 bantam draft, has left the Royals’ camp. Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist reports that Hannoun “took ill” and he and the team decided it would be best for him to return home to Delta, B.C., so that he could get proper rest and get better.
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The Tri-City Americans have signed F Maxwell James to a WHL contract. James, from Kamloops, was a sixth-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft. Last season, he put up 12 points in 40 games with the major midget Thompson Blazers. . . . The Americans now have signed their first six selections from the 2012 bantam draft.
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Pat Mangold, who played with the Calgary Wranglers and Kamloops Blazers (1981-85), died in a personal watercraft accident on Okanagan Lake near Kelowna on Saturday evening. According to Castanet.net, Mangold, 47, “was riding his (personal watercraft) on Okanagan Lake about 8:30 p.m. Saturday when (he) struck a log boom near Traders Cove” on the west side of the lake. . . . It is believed that Mangold died instantly, and that speed and visibility may have been factors. . . . Mangold, who was from Kelowna, played three games for the Wranglers in each of the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons, and 69 games in 1983-84. He moved to the Blazers early in 1985-86. In 133 regular-season games, he had 52 points, including 28 goals.
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The Kootenay Ice has added Mike Dyck to its coaching staff. Dyck, a former head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, will attend training camp and will return to the team to help first-year assistant Jay Henderson on the bench when head coach Ryan McGill serves as an assistant coach with Canada’s national junior team in December. . . . “With Ryan going to the World Juniors and this being Jay's first year coaching in the WHL,” Chynoweth said in a news release, “we felt another coach was needed during this time frame. We feel very fortunate to be able to add a coach with the experience that Mike has in the WHL." . . . Dyck spent five seasons as Lethbridge’s head coach, going 132-120-16 and reaching the WHL’s championship final in 2008. He also worked as an assistant coach with Lethbridge and the Vancouver Giants.
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The Swift Current Broncos have signed F Brandan Arnold, 16. Arnold, from Dodsland, Sask., was taken by the Broncos in the seventh round of the 2012 bantam draft. He has 23 points with the midget AAA Tisdale Trojans last season. . . . Arnold signed in time to play in the Broncos’ 5-4 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors last night. He picked up an assist on the game’s first goal, a power-play score 9:18 into the opening period.
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JUST NOTES: F Lucas Grayson, 19, now is on the roster of the BCHL’s Powell River Kings. From Port Hardy, B.C., Grayson had a goal and two assists in 117 regular-season WHL games split between the Red Deer Rebels (41) and Everett Silvertips (76). . . . F Colten Mayor, 20, has joined the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines. He split last season between the Calgary Hitmen and Regina Pats. He also played with the Red Deer Rebels during his WHL career. The native of St. Albert, Alta., put up 94 points, including 38 goals, in 228 WHL games.
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From Saskawhat (@saskawhat): “So it begins. Warriors coach Stothers on tonights rookie game loss to @SCBroncos: ‘1 team actually played rookies; the other team didn't.’ ”

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Blazers' Blue-White game on tap tonight

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers are getting down to the nitty gritty.
And things will get nittier and grittier tonight as the WHL team holds its annual Blue-White intrasquad game, 7 p.m., at the Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers have 39 players left in training camp. Most of them took part in a controlled scrimmage on Tuesday night, the exceptions being five veterans — forwards Tim Bozon, JC Lipon, Matt Needham and Colin Smith, along with goaltender Taran Kozun.
All hands are expected to be on deck tonight, however.
“The two games will tell the tale for some of the players,” head coach Dave Hunchak said. “It allows us to give a real good evaluation to those kids who are on the bubble.”
While the microscope is on everyone, it is especially on Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Cameron Pateman of Regina, who are competing to back up starting goaltender Taran Kozun.
Each played two periods last night — Teams Black and Orange played 5-on-5 in the first, 4-on-4 in the second and alternated special teams in the third — and it is quite possible that Kehler, who doesn’t turn 16 until Dec. 17, has the edge on the two 17-year-olds going into tonight’s intrasquad game.
However, the highlight of training camp, at least to now, may well be the team’s 1998-born players.
As Hunchak said: “The ’98 group, the forwards we have, that’s a special group of kids.”
That group is headed up by two first-round selections from the 2013 bantam draft — Quinn Benjafield of North Vancouver, whom the Blazers took with the 19th overall pick, and Jake Kryski of Vancouver, the 11th overall pick who was acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders in the Cole Cheveldave exchange — and Jermaine Loewen of Arborg,  Man., who was a third-round selection.
“Benjafield is a strong power forward,” Hunchak said. “Kryski has a lot of skill and plays a great 200-foot game. And just look at Jermaine Lowewne and the package he brings. He’s going to be something special down the road, too.”
Hunchak also pointed to Garrett Pilon, another 1998-born forward. From Saskatoon, the son of former NHL defenceman Rich Pilon was taken in the seventh round.
“Pilon looks like he’s playing pond hockey all the time,” Hunchak said, “and I mean that in a good way. He always looks like he’s enjoying the game and having fun.”
After last night’s scrimmage, Pilon was assigned to the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts.
It’s not known what the forward lines will look like tonight, but Loewen, Kryski and Benjafield, left to right, were on the ice together a fair amount last night. It’s fair to say that they created some magic.
JUST NOTES: Team Orange beat Team Black 8-7 in a shootout last night. Nick Chyzowski had two goals, plus the shootout winner. Kryski and Joe Kornelsen also scored twice for Orange, while Nathan Looysen and Chase Souto each scored twice for Black. . . . The Blazers also assigned F Spencer Bast of Macklin, Sask., to the midget AAA Battlefords Stars and F Josh Stang, who also is from Macklin, to the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. . . . The WHL’s exhibition season began last night with the host Swift Current Broncos beating the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-4. . . . The Blazers meet the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday and then are at home to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, 6 p.m. . . . D Connor Hamonic, 17, of Winnipeg, a seventh-round pick by the Blazers in 2011, was released by the Red Deer Rebels yesterday. . . .
F Max James, 16, of Kamloops has signed a WHL deal with the Tri-City Americans, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2012 bantam draft. James had 12 points in 40 games with the major midget Thompson Blazers last season. . . . Pat Mangold, who played for the WHL Blazers in 1984-85, was killed Saturday evening on Okanagan Lake near Kelowna when the personal watercraft on which he was riding struck a log boom near Traders Cove. Mangold, 47, was a native of Kelowna, who also played in the WHL with the Calgary Wranglers. With the Blazers, he had 20 points, nine of them goals, in 53 games.

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