Friday notes

The last weekend of the preseason is upon us.....players trying to make WHL teams have only the games today, tomorrow, and Sunday remaining to impress their coaches in game action. Look for a bunch of cuts over the weekend and early next week as teams pare down to their final rosters, etc.

One more trade I forgot to mention yesterday, Medicine Hat sending 18 year old forward Thomas Frazee east to Moose Jaw for a conditional 2009 5th round pick. This is Frazee's 2nd trade in a year after being Portland's first-round bantam pick in 2005. I wonder if the off-ice issues that saw him sent home from Portland in 06-07 are still there because a conditional 5th pick for a player with his great size and skill level is a pretty low return.

Another past first round pick failed to make the cut too, as Red Deer has cut Regina's first round pick from the 2006 draft, Brett Miller. The Rebels acquired Miller in a trade at the deadline last season but he obviously wasn't good enough to make the team this year.

It's preseason and these rankings have historically been meaningless, but the first Mastercard CHL Top Ten are out. The OHL's Windsor Spitfires are ranked #1, with the Spokane Chiefs (#2), Kelowna Rockets (#7) and Brandon Wheat Kings (#8) representing the WHL on the list. No surprises from the WHL there, I think most WHL observers would have those three teams in their top five heading into the season, if not their top three. I know they're my top three.

To the news stories of the day.....

Hitmen tough guy Ian Schultz wants to prove this year that he can do as well with the gloves on as he does with them off.

Kelowna's Colin Long is back to take another run at the scoring title he lost by one point last year.

Chilliwack's Kevin Sundher might be a whiz at hockey, but on the basketball court, he regularily loses to a girl.

Brody Sutter couldn't hack it on his uncle Brent's team, but he appears to have sewn up a spot on the Blades this year. Still, the dub will be a far cry from those one-timers on John Vanbiesbrouck, set up by Rob Niedermayer....

And one more note, the Pats released Ryan DePape and Josh Elder, so those two are free for anyone to pick them up. They are hanging onto Kirt Hill's rights for now though.