Wednesday stuff

It looks like the dreams of Kelowna Rockets fans are about to be answered. Various media sources are reporting that the NHL's Calgary Flames have gotten Swedish junior star Mikael Backlund released from his Swedish men's league team and are going to assign him to the Rockets this week.

Backlund did not return to Sweden with the rest of the Swedish World Junior team yesterday and instead flew to Calgary with Flames G.M. Darryl Sutter. Backlund told reporters in Calgary that he would be playing in North America the rest of this season, which means he'll either be in Kelowna or with the Flames' AHL affiliate, the Quad Cities Flames. Bet on Kelowna, he'll get a ton of ice time there which is probably what Calgary wants since that was their problem with his Swedish team.

Adding Backlund will help the Rockets close the gap between them and the Giants in the B.C. division.....it might not bring them even with the Giants but they'll certainly be a better team for having the guy. It also means that Lukas Matejka's time with the Rockets is about to come to an end. The Rockets will have to trade or release him before adding Backlund.

Speaking of players whose time with a team has come to an end, Regina reassigned former Seattle first round bantam pick Cody Hanson to the SJHL yesterday. Keeping Hanson beyond the January 10 roster deadline would have meant the Pats owed the Birds a 5th round pick for Hanson so that probably tells you all you need to know about why that decision was made. Sucks for the players that decisions are made for these reasons, but at this level it's a business too.

And back to the import talk, it sounds like Spokane is about to get Ondrej Roman back in their lineup. Roman did not report to the Chiefs this season - allegedly due to visa issues - and has been playing in the Czech Republic up until his stint with the Czechs at the World Juniors. A Spokane TV station is reporting that Roman is on his way back to the Chiefs though. If so, this is a big boost for Spokane's struggling offence.