Wednesday stuff

Recent news and stuff....

Portland unveiled their new web site yesterday. Seems OK to me although they need to use a different font for the text. Fun to see that the team owner has a blog on the site. Nobody else in the league has their owners blogging about team going-ons.

Broncos p-b-p guy Jon Keen has a wrap of yesterday's camp action on his blog. I thought WHL teams weren't allowed to open camps until tomorrow. Is this an official camp day for the Broncos or just an informal thing? I'll have to find out.

Profile on Bruins prospect Jadon Potter in the Chilliwack paper today. Thing I found most interesting about the piece is the mention that "Evan Piggin" is in the mix for a job there. Is this actually Evan Pighin, who played for Red Deer last year? He was traded to Prince George a month back and then told the Cougars he was going to play Jr A in Salmon Arm next year instead. Perhaps he had a change of heart if the Cougars dropped him from their list?

Maybe the most significant news of the day? Ondrej Fiala is back in Everett. You'll recall Fiala caused a stir when he left the team in midseason last year to go home and have surgery on his knee - surgery the Tips didn't think he needed to have. Apparently all is well now and he'll have a chance to play for them again this year as an overage import, provided he doesn't stick in the Minnesota Wild system. Of course there is the other matter of the Tips having two other imports and five other overagers already but you'd have to think he would have a good chance at making the team.

Still with Everett, beatwriter/blogger Nick Patterson says his information indicates that Dane Crowley should be back with the team as an overage this year. Getting more crowded in that Everett O/A situation by the day. I also note the Silvertips will apparently have a Ryan White of their own in camp this year. If he makes the team and the Kamloops one finds work in the league as an overage, there will be three Ryan Whites in the league this year. The third and best one is in Calgary of course.

In Vancouver, the Giants' Garet Hunt is headed to training camp with the Canucks (he chose them over another offer from the Oilers....so not only can the Oilers not get NHLers to come there, they can't get CHLers either) and says his hideously-broken leg is "25% stronger than last year. What did they do, replace the bone with titanium?

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns mens hockey team announced their 07-08 key recruits yesterday and it includes several ex-WHLers. Goalies Jesse Deckert and Scott Bowles, and defencemen Curtis Cooper and Darren Deschamps for sure, plus a couple more unnamed forwards who are committed to the team if pro tryouts don't work out.