F Waltteri Hopponen (Everett, 2013-14) signed a one-year contract with Peliitat Heinola (Finland, Mestis). Last season, he had five goals and 14 assists in 46 games with Espoo United (Finland, Mestis). Espoo United declared bankruptcy after last season and was dissolved. . . .
F Anthony Bardaro (Spokane, Prince Albert, 2009-13) signed a two-year contract extension with Asiago (Italy, Alps HL). Last season, he had 31 goals and 25 assists in 39 games. He was the Alps HL’s most valuable player. He led the league in goals, and also led in playoff assists and points, putting up six goals and 17 assists in 14 games.
Some reaction off my Twitter timeline from yesterday’s report here about the WHL working to restrict the trading of younger players . . .
The Prince Albert Raiders have acquired F Noah Gregor, who is to turn 20 on July 28, from the Victoria Royals.
According to a news release from the Raiders, “Terms of the trade were not disclosed.”
According to a news release from the Royals, they received “conditional compensation.”
Gregor was a fourth-round selection by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL’s 2016 draft, so is eligible to start the season with their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracudas.
Chances are that Victoria received a bantam draft pick that is conditional on Gregor playing with Prince Albert, with the round changing depending on the number of games he plays. Or perhaps there is a big bag of cash involved? Hey, just kidding.
The Royals selected Gregor in the third round of the 2013 WHL bantam draft. They dealt him to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Jan. 6, 2014, in exchange for D Travis Brown. The Warriors also got third-round selections in the 2014 and 2016 bantam drafts, and an undisclosed conditional pick, as well.
On Dec. 11, 2017, the Royals reacquired Gregor from Moose Jaw, getting him and a 2018 eighth-round bantam draft pick for F Ryan Peckford and a fourth-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.
Last season, he had 14 goals and 22 assists in 36 games with Moose Jaw, and 15 goals and 14 assists in 30 games with Victoria.
In 194 career regular-season games, Gregor has 86 goals and 119 assists.
The Raiders have three other 20-year-olds on their roster — F Kody McDonald, F Sean Montgomery and G Curtis Meger.
I think the Royals still have five 20-year-olds on their roster — F Braydon Buziak, F Dante Hannoun, D Ralph Jarratt, G Griffen Outhouse and F Lane Zablocki.
Later in the day, the Royals announced that they have acquired D Brayden Gorda, 19, 
from the Edmonton Oil Kings for a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2019 bantam draft.
Last season, Gorda had one goal and three assists in 30 games with Edmonton. In 151 regular-season WHL games, all with the Oil Kings, he had six goals and 26 assists.
Edmonton selected him in the third round of the 2014 bantam draft.
Gord was late reporting to the Oil Kings last season as he took time away from hockey to deal with the death of a close friend.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed the two players they selected in the CHL’s 2018 
import draft — Swiss G Akira Schmid and D Danila Palivko of Belarus. . . . Schmid, 18, was a fifth-round pick by the New Jersey Devils in the NHL’s 2018 draft. Last season, he put up a 2.60 GAA in 32 games with the U-20 Langnau club. Schmid will get a chance at being the Hurricanes’ starter in 2018-19 as they have to replace Logan Flodell, who played out his eligibility last season. . . . Palivko, who turns 17 on Nov. 30, played 40 games with Belarus’s U-17 team, putting up six goals and 20 assists. In 12 games with the U-18 team, he had six assists. The Hurricanes saw him at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary, where he had two assists in four games. . . . The Hurricanes finished last season with Russian F Egor Zudilov and D Igor Merezhko, who is from Ukraine, on their roster. The Hurricanes announced prior to the 2018 CHL import draft that Zudilov wouldn’t be back for a second season. Should Merezhko return, he would be a two-spotter as a 20-year-old import.
A third WHL player has had to bow out of Hockey Canada’s World Junior Showcase 
because of an undisclosed injury. F Justin Almeida of the Moose Jaw Warriors has been replaced by F Serron Noel of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. . . . Noel was a second-round pick by the Florida Panthers in the NHL’s 2018 draft. . . . Earlier, D Josh Brook of the Warriors and F Jordy Bellerive of the Lethbridge Hurricanes were scratched because of injuries. Brook apparently has a wrist injury, while Bellerive continues to recover from burns suffered in an accident involving a bonfire. . . . There now are eight WHLers on Canada’s roster — D Cale Addison of Lethbridge, D Ty Smith of the Spokane Chiefs, D Jett Woo of Moose Jaw, F Jaret Anderson-Dolan of Spokane, F Connor Dewar of the Everett Silvertips, F Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks, F Stelio Mattheos of the Brandon Wheat Kings and F Michael Rasmussen of the Tri-City Americans. . . . The Showcase opens Saturday in Kamloops and runs through Aug. 4. It features teams from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the U.S.
Mike Needham has returned to the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton. Needham, who was fired by the Kamloops Blazers on May 10, has been named OHA’s skills and development co-ordinator. . . . Needham, 48, spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the Blazers. Prior to that, he was the head coach of OHA’s bantam prep team for three seasons.
Cst. Curtis Warner, who works traffic with the Regina Police Service, is worth a follow on Twitter. Would love to see someone working traffic like this, and tweeting about it, in Kamloops.
make 58 trades that involved 110 players, 77 bantam draft picks and 12 conditional bantam draft picks. (I started counting on Nov. 13 because that was when the Regina Pats, the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup, made the first big deal, acquiring D Cale Fleury from the Kootenay Ice.)
eighth-round selection in the 2019 WHL bantam draft. . . . Sidaway, who is from Victoria, split last season between the Kootenay Ice and Regina. He had a goal and an assist in five games with Kootenay, then recorded three assists in 58 games with the Pats. In 2016-17, he had two goals and six assists in 65 games with the Ice. An undrafted player, he originally was listed by the Red Deer Rebels. . . . On Jan. 3, 2016, the Ice acquired Sidaway, F Presten Kopeck, 20, D Ryan Pouliot, 17, and second- and third-round picks in the 2016 bantam draft from Red Deer for F Luke Philp, 20. . . . On Oct. 10, the Ice dealt Sidaway and a seventh-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft to Regina for F Jeff de Wit, 19.
. . He replaces Dean Chynoweth, who left after one season and has signed as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. . . . As a player, Heward spent parts of nine seasons in the NHL, after playing four seasons (1987-91) with his hometown Regina Pats. . . . Heward, 47, spent the past six seasons with the Swift Current Broncos, as an assistant coach and the director of player development. . . . This means that the Broncos, the WHL’s reigning champions, have lost three coaches since the season ended. Head coach Manny Viveiros now is an assistant with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, while assistant coach Ryan Smith has joined the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Hurricanes and the City of Lethbridge for the 2020 Memorial Cup. . . . Terry Huisman, the Hurricanes’ general manager of business operations, will be the co-chair. . . . Reddick is a partner with Mercer Wilde Group Chartered Accountants in Lethbridge and has long been involved with minor hockey in that city. . . . Huisman has been the general manager of business operations since 2012 and has played an integral role in leading the franchise out of the financial mess it was in not that long ago. . . . The Hurricanes, Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and Victoria Royals all are preparing bids for the 2020 Memorial Cup. They are scheduled to present those bids at a meeting of the WHL’s board of governors in Calgary on Oct. 3. A host city is expected to be named at the conclusion of that meeting.
neighborhood, right?
2001-02, their first season in the WHL. . . . The Giants announced on Friday morning that Brown has been hired to fill the new position of senior advisor. . . . Brown has spent the past 16 seasons as a scout with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. . . . Before that, he was the general manager of the Kamloops Blazers for 10 seasons (1986-95) and is generally recognized as the man who built the Kamloops teams that won the Memorial Cup three times in four years (1992, 1994, 1995). He was unceremoniously fired two weeks after the Blazers won the third of those championships. . . . In his time in Kamloops, the Blazers won 435 games, seven division titles and five WHL championships. . . . Brown then went on to work for five seasons (1995-2000) as the vice-president and general manager of the Tri-City Americans. . . . Brown was inducted into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame in Penticton as a builder in 2009. In 2013, Brown also was part of the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame proceedings as the 1993-94 and 1994-95 Blazers were inducted. . . . Barclay Parneta, the Giants’ recently hired GM, worked as a scout under Brown with the Americans, who were owned at the time by Ron Toigo, who is the Giants’ majority owner.
for a conditional sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. . . . Wegleitner, from Vancouver, B.C., had 10 goals and nine assists in 57 regular-season games last season. In 2014-15, he had one goal in 43 games with the Everett Silvertips. In 2016-17, he was pointless in 12 games with the Victoria Royals. . . . The Ice now has five 1998-born players on its roster, as Wegleitner joins Slovakian D Martin Bodak, who would be a two-spotter, D Dallas Hines, a veteran of three seasons in Cranbrook, D Ryan Pouliot, who has played two-plus seasons with Kootenay, and G Matt Berlin, who was acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds on Jan. 8. . . . Taking Note has been told that Bodak, who will turn 20 on Nov. 28, hasn’t yet made a decision as to whether to return for a second season with the Ice. It could be that he and his agent are hoping to land a contract with a team in Europe. . . . The trade leaves Brandon with three 20-year-olds on its roster — D School Higson, F Linden McCorrister, and F Ty Lewis, who has signed with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and may open the season with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
Jennifer Gilligan as their goaltending coach. Gilligan has worked with Next Level Goaltending in Abbotsford, B.C., and The Advantage Hockey Development in Vancouver for eight years. According to the Panthers’ website, she also “is the manager and senior instructor at Pro Formance Goalie School and the female varsity assistant coach at the Delta Hockey Academy.” . . . Gilligan also has worked as an assistant coach with Team BC at the National Aboriginal championship and is an apprentice coach with the U-18 Team BC that will play in the 2019 Canada Winter Games.
all-sports radio station . . . will broadcast all Vancouver Giants games live . . .” The length of the agreement wasn’t revealed. . . . Sportsnet 650 also holds the radio broadcast rights to the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. . . . Dan O’Connor will return for a second season as the radio voice of the Giants. Before joining the Giants, he was the voice of the Prince George Cougars. . . . Last season, the Giants’ rights belonged to TSN 1040. . . . Steve Ewen of Postmedia takes a look 
this morning (Thursday) at 8 o’clock.
Aubin spent the previous 11 seasons scouting northern Alberta for the Spokane Chiefs. From St. Alberta, Alta., Aubin also spent 11 seasons scouting for the Kamloops Blazers, and for 14 years was a chief instructor for the Canadian Trinity Hockey School. . . . Aubin will replace Jamie Porter with the Broncos. Porter had been with the Broncos since 2003, and had been the director of player personnel since 2006. He announced that he was leaving as Dean Brockman was named director of hockey operations and head coach. . . . Since that announcement, the Broncos’ entire scouting staff is believed to have resigned, as did associate coach Ryan Smith, who has joined the Medicine Hat Tigers as an assistant coach. The Broncos, however, have yet to acknowledge any departures on their website.
OHL champions — to sign on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s New York Islanders. Gruden spent two seasons as the Bulldogs’ head coach. . . . His departure means that each of the four teams that competed in the 2018 Memorial Cup will have a new head coach when the new season arrives. . . . The QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who won the tournament, had to replace Mario Pouliot after he left to take over as general manager and head coach of the Rouyn-Norana Huskies. The Titan has since signed Bryan Lizotte to a three-year deal as head coach. . . . In Regina, the host Pats promoted Dave Struch from assistant coach to head coach. He takes over from John Paddock, who remains as general manager. . . . In Swift Current, the WHL-champion Broncos lost head coach Manny Viveiros to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers when he joined them as an assistant coach. The Broncos later named Dean Brockman as director of hockey operations and head coach. . . .
the 10th head coach in Calgary’s history on Tuesday morning.
a couple of days — they have added Ryan Smith to their coaching staff. . . . Smith, 44, spent the past three seasons as associate coach with the Swift Current Broncos, helping them win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions last season. He left the Broncos after Dean Brockman was named director of hockey operations and head coach. . . . With the Tigers, Smith fills the void created when assistant coach Bobby Fox was named director of player personnel to replace Carter Sears.
and isn’t that often the case in minor league baseball, which is something to which major junior hockey teams should be paying more attention. . . . You see, they are giving away a funeral package at tonight’s game. Yes, they are. . . . Jim Swanson, the former sports editor of the Prince George Citizen, now is the HarbourCats’ managing partner. . . . “He’s the one who came up with the idea of holding a prize draw for a funeral package,” writes Jack Knox, the Victoria Times Colonist’s terrific columnist. “Actually, he borrowed the notion (or, more accurately, stole it like Ricky Henderson) after googling weird and wonderful promotions when he became the team’s general manager in 2014.” . . . As Knox points out, though, there also is a serious side to Swanson’s idea. “When Swanson’s uncle drowned off Salt Spring Island a year and a half ago, the grieving family had the additional burden of figuring out what to do in the absence of a will or other arrangements. “He did not have his affairs in order,” Swanson says. So, the draw (fans just have to fill out an entry form at the game) is a gentle (or not so gentle) reminder to prepare for what, ready or not, awaits us all.” . . . Still, this is a promotion that fits right in what all the wonderful and whacky things that go on in minor league baseball. . . . Knox’s column is 
TAKING NOTE 