Friday notes

Just a collection of stuff....

Seattle forward Josh Schappert remained at home in Winnipeg after the Christmas break, saying he would like to be traded from the Thunderbirds. In a twist on the story though, his twin brother Jeremy did report back to the T-Birds......so Josh has a problem with the team or city that his twin brother does not. Wonder if he'd like to play for Tri-City.....after all, they have every other Winnipeg-born player in the WHL on their team. Or it seems that way anyway.

The two western teams at the World U-17 Challenge in London, Ontario will meet today in the bronze medal game. Team Pacific (B.C./Alberta players) lost to Team USA in one semifinal yesterday while Team Western (Saskatchewan/Manitoba players) lost to Team Ontario in the other one. Chase Schaber (Hitmen), Evander Kane (Giants), and Justin Maylan (Warriors) are leading Pacific in scoring with six points each in five games, while Brayden Schenn (Wheat Kings) and Jimmy Bubnick (Blazers) are atop the Western scoring with ten points each in five games. Complete tournament results and stats can be found here.

Rebels coach Brian Sutter was calling out some of his players after their New Years Day loss to Brandon. Tomas Polak, Cass Mappin, Colin Archer, Brennan Sonne, Mark Louis, Luke Egener, and Cody Esposito were some of the names who got some public Sutter-style tough love in that article, including an early entry for year's best quote for this zinger about Esposito: "You can't be built like Tarzan and play like Jane".

From the not-for-the-really-squeamish department; Pats forward Tim Kraus was on the receiving end of a gruesome injury last Sunday when a slapshot from teammate Juraj Valach hit him in the ear. The ear "blew apart" (assistant coach Terry Perkins' words) and the arena doctor couldn't fix him up, sending him straight to the hospital instead. Today, Pats broadcaster Rod Pedersen has a picture of Kraus's ear on his blog. One word: Ugly.

Everett has a new player, scooping up 18 year old defenceman Tyler Kieffer from the USHL, with an assist in his recruitment going to former Silvertip goalie David Reekie. If Kieffer turns out to be any good, losing Reekie for nothing to the OHL/USHL might turn out to be not so bad a trade for the Tips after all, eh?

Another word about Kieffer though.....is it just me, or has this been a banner year for the WHL as far as persuading players with NCAA scholarships to come to the 'dub instead? Besides Kieffer, there has been T.J. Galiardi and Keith Seabrook (Hitmen), Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Garry Nunn (Vancouver), Jeff Lee (Edmonton), Jamie Benn (Kelowna), Sean Ringrose (Medicine Hat) and Jim O'Brien (Seattle).

At the World Juniors, a bit of a surprise as Switzerland will join Denmark as the two countries which will be relegated to the B-pool next year. After 13 years in the A-pool - including a bronze medal in 1998 - the Swiss will not play with the big boys next year in Ottawa after losing a relegation round game to Slovakia yesterday. I know some of us had come to think of Switzerland as one of the cream of the crop among the 2nd-tier hockey countries, but really, apart from that 1998 World Jr bronze - and a 4th-place finish at the World Championships that same year - they really haven't done anything since. They finished 4th again in 2002 but otherwise have been in the 8th/9th spots almost every year. Just good enough to avoid relegation (until now anyway) but not good enough to beat the big seven countries of Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and USA.

Oh, and there's some semifinal thingy at the World Juniors today too.....Canada vs USA. Either of them any good?