Dube's Back

Turns out my semi-educated guess was correct, and today's press conference was held to announce the return of defenseman/captain Serge Dube.

Dube had told the crowd at the season ticket holder postseason party on April 30 that he would be watching the 2008-09 season from the stands, but luckily for head coach/general manager Terry Ruskowski, the captain changed his mind.

Coach is genuinely 100 percent ecstatic about this decision, and understandably so, considering how many rookies he has coming in for this campaign.

Dube credits losing in the Conference Finals for drawing him back, as he did not want to end his career that way. He only recently turned 29, so according to all parties involved, he could have a few more years left in him. But, he also said that if the Bucks win the Cup this season, it will be his last.

I have plenty of quotes that I will post on here later...but possibly much later as I have to write this story then head out to the SAC for the LBJ-Monterrey Tech football game.

More Defense for Bees

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have announced three more defensive players for the upcoming season, re-signing Dan McNeill and inking fresh faces Nicolas Dumoulin and Jesse Perrin.

Brian Sandalow has more.

Another One?

Somebody on chlforums.com seems to have stumbled on some interesting information about another possible rookie signing for the Bucks.

Center Justin Saulnier, who has spent the past six years between the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Maritime Junior Hockey League, has signed with Laredo, according to the Yarmouth Mariners' Web site.

Press Conference

The Bucks will be holding their second press conference of the summer on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the Doctors Hospital lobby. That's good for me in that it's close to home, but I can't say I'm too fond of hospitals...

Meanwhile, the press release about the conference says the Bucks will be making "an announcement about the playing future of one of the team’s most popular players."

Considering the short notice and the fact that high school football starts on Thursday night, I will be disappointed if it's anything less than Serge Dube announcing that he will be playing another season after all.

Obviously, some other possibilities include re-signing announcements for Jeff Bes or Adam Rivet, two of the expected returners who have yet to be made official.

Do you have any ideas?

Another Rookie

The Bucks have announced their 11th signing, and their seventh rookie, for the upcoming season in "top prospect" Ryan Fuller.

Fuller, a 20-year-old forward from Morgan Hill, Calif., spent the past four seasons playing junior hockey for the North American Hockey League's Texas Tornado. Here is his profile from that team's Web site.

At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, Fuller is certainly another sizable forward. His stats from the past two seasons are not on HockeyDB, but the Bucks' press release says he played in a total of 213 games with Texas, scoring 66 goals with 53 assists. The team made the playoffs in each of his four seasons there.

Today's a bit busy, as it is our deadline for high school football tab stories, but I will have more on Fuller as soon as I can.

For now, here is a list of previous NAHL alumni who are playing/have played in the CHL, which includes former Bucks forward Jeff Genovy.

UPDATE: Here is Fuller's Poinstreak page, which lists his stats from the 2007-08 season. His penalty minutes (114) saw a bit of an increase from 2005-06 (77), but I'm not sure where they were at in 2006-07. The -14 plus/minus is a little suspect, though.

ANOTHER UDPATE: Here is his previous Pointstreak page. Apparently, the 2007-08 season is separated from the others for some reason. The 114 penalty minutes were certainly a jump from 56 in 2006-07. Five game-winning playoff goals for a team good enough to win two championships certainly isn't a bad stat to have.

Schedule Changes

The CHL announced its official 2008-09 schedule today, and with it came some changes to the Bucks' itinerary for the coming season.

Just days after the team received winger Erick Lizon from the Oklahoma City Blazers, it was revealed that the only meeting between these two teams this season has been canceled. The Blazers are now the only team who the Bucks will not face this season.

Laredo's game against the Tulsa Oilers on Jan. 16, the day before the game scheduled against Oklahoma City, has also been canceled. Instead, the Bucks will get two extra division games, facing the Corpus Christi IceRays on Jan. 16 and the Texas Brahmas on Jan. 17.

Of course, the Bucks were not the only team affected by scheduling changes, which took place because of schedule conflicts between the Blazers and Oklahoma City's NBA franchise. You can read about the change for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees here.

In other Rio news, the team officially announced the return of defenseman Kurtis Dulle today, while also revealing the signing of former IceRays d-man Jay Hardwick. Brian Sandalow has more on that and the solid defense the Bees are building.

UPDATE: The IceRays held an introductory press conference for first-year head coach Sylvain Cloutier today, and Greg Rajan has posted his Q&A with Cloutier, general manager Pat Dunn and forward Justin Quenneville.

More Southeast Signings

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have brought back another former player, this time defenseman Kurtis Dulle. Brian Sandalow has that story.

On Wednesday, the Corpus Christi IceRays announced two more signings of their own, defenseman Mike Campaner and goaltender Bryce Luker. Greg Rajan points out some interesting facts about each of these new signees.

In the Northwest, Adam Dunivan catches up with the Colorado Eagles' recent signings.

Hurley and Lizon Mini Bios

Here's the basic info on the Bucks' two latest signees:


Kevin Hurley
Position: Right Wing
Previous Team: University of Waterloo Warriors (CIS)
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 187 pounds
Date of Birth: May 14, 1983
2007-08 Stats: 28 games, 13 goals, 21 assists (34 points), 64 penalty minutes

Erick Lizon
Position: Wing
Previous Team: Oklahoma City Blazers (CHL)
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 205
Date of Birth: November 29, 1985
2007-08 Stats: 23 games, two goals, three assists (five points), 67 penalty minutes

Lizon Story

Here is my story about the Lizon signing in today's Times.

Head coach/general manager Terry Ruskowski sounded genuinely excited to have nabbed Lizon and said that Lizon is thrilled to be coming to Laredo, which makes enough sense.

I wanted to be able to talk to Lizon himself for my story, but coach was out of town and didn't have Lizon's number on him, so that will have to wait.

As Greg Rajan notes, all four Southeast teams have at least one marquee fighter, so this could be a pretty physical season...but hopefully no games quite this.

See How He Fights

My first thought upon receiving an email saying the Bucks had acquired someone "hard nosed" was that I needed to go on YouTube and see what he's got. So, here's a taste of his fights at different levels, from different angles:











Two things are for sure: the kid loves to fight, and he's got fast fists. Coach told me that the past couple seasons he's gotten guys to fill the enforcer role that he thought were tough enough only to find that they weren't, but he's confident that Lizon will get the job done.

As you probably recall, Alex Penner was the go-to fight guy for most of last season, and his most memorable fight was one his fists had with Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs defenseman Matt York...while York was already down for the count. That resulted in a 10-game suspension for Penner and the acquisition of Gabe Yeung, who got his butt handed to him in every fight he had for Laredo, which isn't to say there were many.

Bucks Acquire Enforcer

Just in case the sizable forwards the Bucks have been signing can't quite take care of themselves, the team has acquired winger Erick Lizon from the Oklahoma City Blazers for future considerations and inked him for the upcoming season.

Lizon missed a large part of last season after suffering an injury in the Blazers' season opener but picked up 17 penalty minutes in his first period back.

In the Bucks' press release, head coach/general manager Terry Ruskowski describes the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Lizon as a "defensive forward" who will "be the guy protecting everyone else." Guess that means Ryan Shmyr has his work cut out for him when the Killer Bees come to town...

UPDATE: Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees head coach Chris Brooks has started bringing in his former Western Michigan University players, trading the rights to Jason Weitzel for those to former Bronco Brian Bicek. Brian Sandalow has more about Bicek and everything the two of them have in common...

Hurley Story

Here is my story about the Hurley signing in today's Times.

In the first paragraph, it states that Hurley is the sixth official signing for the upcoming season, but that is obviously not the case. He is the sixth rookie to be announced as a signee, but the ninth signing overall. Sorry about that.

You can find Greg Rajan's story about the IceRays' signing of Ryan Bennett yesterday here.

UPDATE: Right wing Trevor Weisberger has officially signed with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for the upcoming season. Brian Sandalow has a recap of the acquisition and signing, which notes that all of the Bees' veteran spots are full.

Bucks Sign Hurley

There's another rookie in the mix, as the Bucks have signed forward (right wing?) Kevin Hurley, who comes to Laredo from the University of Waterloo Warriors.

Hurley is 6-foot-3, weighs 210 pounds, led his college team in scoring twice and was a captain for their 2007-08 season.

This signing ups the rookie count on this season's roster to six, but there are only nine players announced so far. I know that more players have been signed, but there are definitely still a few roster spots open, including the one for the team's "go-to" goaltender.

Interesting note - "if" assistant coach Jeff Bes re-signs as a player for the upcoming season, he has more professional experience than the entire current roster combined with 15 years of service between the IHL, ECHL, AHL, FNL, DEL and CHL. On top of the six rookies, who combine for zero years, the Bucks have forward Matt Summers (one year), forward/defenseman Igor Agarunov (four years) and defenseman Steve Weidlich (six years).

Oh, and here is the Bucks' press release on the signing.

P.S. I apparently saved my previous few posts as drafts and forgot to actually publish them, so there's a bit of new material below.

UPDATE: The Corpus Christi IceRays have signed another scorer, this time winger Ryan Bennett. According to Greg Rajan, several other teams were after Bennett, so it seems Sylvain Cloutier's connections are already paying off for Corpus.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Brian Sandalow has more on Rio's front office moves...and birthdays.

Monday's News

Yesterday saw a few more CHL signings, including former Bucks goaltender Kevin Beech being signed by the Mississippi RiverKings.

The Colorado Eagles added two more, re-signing two lifelong Eagles in defenseman Jay Birnie and winger Fraser Filipic. As the press release states, Filipic was named "Best Fighter, Pound-for-Pound" in last season's CHL Best of the Best poll, edging out then-Buck James Hiebert, who came in second in that voting...

Here, again, is the complete list of offseason transactions.

In the Southeast, the Corpus Christi IceRays officially announced the Chris Richards signing, while the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees announced some front office changes, including the departure of one of their staffers to the AHL.

One Week

We are one week away from the Bucks' Open House, which will be held at the LEC from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. next Saturday.

The event is billed as one where fans can meet some players for the upcoming season, so I'm curious to see who exactly will be there. Most of the announced players are home in Canada for the summer and have jobs to attend to, but we know that at least Igor Agarunov, Jeff Bes and Steve Weidlich are in the area. Serge Dube and Adam Rivet have also been seen around Laredo this summer, but neither has re-signed for the upcoming season...or at least not publicly.

Regardless of who else is there, I certainly will be...at least for some time. So, if you see a girl with curly hair staring adoringly at the animals from the Laredo Animal Shelter, feel free to say hi.

IceRays Sign Scorers

Big news for the Southeast today, as the Corpus Christi IceRays have signed high-scoring vet John McNabb and Greg Rajan has word that another experienced scorer, Chris Richards, will be heading to Corpus, as well.

Between the two of them, McNabb and Richards have 18 years of professional experience but haven't shown any signs of slowing down, as each scored 80+ points last season.

According to Brian Sandalow, signings like these are going to make this division a much more competitive one than other teams may be used to. And all this on top of adding the Texas Brahmas...

Re-Signing Story

Sorry to be so late in linking this, but here is my story about the Weidlich and Agarunov re-signings from today's Times.

I have at least 10 minutes worth of leftover quotes from coach, so I'll be sure to post some of them later, including some information on what he thinks the lineup is still lacking and what he is looking for as far as goaltending.

For now, here are a couple of other quotes from Iggy about why he's happy to stay in Laredo, playing as both a forward and defenseman and his feelings on the way last season ended :

"I’m very excited. This is really the only place I’d want to play. Laredo’s like my home. This will be my fifth season here, and I really wanted to come back."

"I think it’s great. I love playing both positions. I played 'D' when I was younger and a little bit in juniors, so whenever Terry does put me back on 'D,' I feel comfortable. I like it; it kinda changes up the way you have to think during the season instead of thinking one position, so I like to be put back and forth."

"Losing last year to Arizona in Game 7, especially at home, left a bad taste in our mouths. We just have to learn from it, and if we’re in that position again, come through."

Speaking of Arizona, the Sundogs announced yesterday that defensemen Sean Sullivan and David Schlemko, who each played in Arizona for at least part of the 2007-08 season, will be appearing in two rookie games for the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes against the Los Angeles Kings' prospects.

Sullivan was the captain of the Boston University hockey team when I was in my senior year there, so I had been excited to see him play while he was still with the Sundogs before moving up to the AHL's San Antonio Rampage last season. The Great One will be behind the bench for both games, so this could be a pretty big opportunity for these guys.

I Love Sports Commercials

I have always had a soft spot for sports-related commercials, and maybe one day I will post a montage of some of my favorites. But today, my focus is on a NIKE Courage spot that I just saw for the first time somehow. I apologize for the lack of hockey, but how could anyone not love this?

Weidlich and Agarunov Return

The Bucks announced the re-signings of defenseman Steve Weidlich and forward/defenseman Igor Agarunov at today's press conference. Weidlich was my first guess when I found out about the conference, so I guess I was half right. I think these two were definitely expectable returnees, and now we know for sure that they are coming back.

Obviously, there will be a story in tomorrow's Times about this announcement, complete with plenty of quotes from both players, as well as Head Coach/General Manager Terry Ruskowski. I'll be sure to post the leftovers on here.

Jeff Bes was at the conference in his assistant coaching capacity, so I have some quotes from him, too. Of course, he has not yet been announced as a re-signed player...

In talking to coach about his thoughts on these re-signings and the departures of forward Andrew Desjardins and defenseman David Walker to the ECHL, he revealed that forward Chris Korchinski, a fan favorite in Laredo, has also signed with an ECHL team, purportedly the Las Vegas Wranglers, for the upcoming season. I'll have more on that as soon as I can find anything.

Tomorrow's Press Conference

The day of the big model home press conference is almost upon us, and Bucks Director of Media Relations/Broadcasting Bryan Benway has offered some insight about whether the announcement will involve one player or more than one.

Apparently, the answer lies in this paragraph of his press release:

"After the press conference Ruskowski and the players will be available to the media for interviews, and to the fans for pictures and autographs."

So now we know it will be more than one player, but odds are it won't be more than two.

I had some ideas about who it may be if only one player was being announced...but if it's going to be a pair, I'm not too sure. I'd love to hear your guesses if you have any.

Down in Rio, the Shmyr signing was made official today, as expected. According to Brian Sandalow, the Killer Bees are now equipped with "thunder and lightning." Let's see what the Bucks do to counteract that...

Some Things...

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees will be holding a press conference tomorrow to announce "a key addition to the 2008-09 playing roster."

According to Brian Sandalow, that addition will be someone familiar to the Bees, Rio fan favorite Ryan Shmyr.

Up in Odessa, the Jackalopes are now affiliated with the New York Islanders and have signed center Kory Karlander.

In other signing news, the Colorado Eagles announced that they are bringing back forwards Steve Haddon and Scott Polaski and defenseman Jason Beatty for their 2008-09 season.

Press Conference

The Bucks will be holding their first press conference for the 2008-09 season on Wednesday to announce at least one player re-signing.

Head Coach/General Manager Terry Ruskowski will be at the conference, and it's probably fair to assume the player who is re-signing will be there, as well.

The conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the Westwind Homes Los Agaves Estates model at 3168 Dos Reales Loop.

For more information, including directions, you can read the team's press release here.

The Hockey News has released its CHL logo rankings, and the Bucks' logo, which often gets much love from everyone who votes on things like this, was ranked second. You can voice your own opinion here.

More Signings

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have announced another signing, adding "speedy winger" Jesse Bennefield to the list of players on their 2008-09 roster. I think we can assume Brian Sandalow will have more on this later, but for now, here's his first post about the signing.

Rio was also involved in a trade today, sending defenseman Bernie Chmiel and some good ol' "future considerations" to the Rocky Mountain Rage in exchange for the rights to forward Trevor Weisgerber. The Rage also made a deal with the Odessa Jackalopes, acquiring defenseman Chris Brannen in exchange for some future considerations of their own.

Another team in the Southeast has also been stocking up on players, as the Texas Brahmas have now signed forwards Lance Galbraith and Andrew Leach and re-signed center Tyler Skworchinski, defenseman Mike Vellinga, forwards Mark Carragher and Greg McConnell and goaltender Brett Jaeger. These obviously are not all recent signings, but you can read more about them on the Texas Brahmas Insider blog.

UPDATE: Sandalow has more, but not so much about Bennefield just yet. It seems Weisgerber's return is the bigger story in the Valley today.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The IceRays have signed goaltender Kris Tebbs and forward Jeff Grant. Greg Rajan has some interesting info about them both.

SIDE NOTE: This is, sadly, a retroactive remark, but I'd like to wish a happy birthday to someone who has accomplished a lot more in and for hockey by the ripe young age of 21 than many people can ever dream of doing. Yes, I know Sidney Crosby will never read my blog...but here's looking at you, Kid.

Norrie Story

I was able to talk to Coach Ruskowski yesterday, and you can read more of what he had to say about Shaun Norrie in my story about the signing in today's Times.

In other news so far today, the Mississippi RiverKings have signed right wing Adam Smyth, who played for the Youngstown Steelhounds under current RiverKings Head Coach Kevin Kaminski last season and will now do the same in Mississippi. The RiverKings have also changed their schedule a bit from what was originally released last month.

More Norrie

Shaun Norrie

Position: Right Wing

Previous Team: University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (CIS)

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 200 pounds

Date of Birth: Sept. 15, 1982

2007-08 Stats: 28 games, 9 goals, 11 assists (20 points), 71 penalty minutes

Bucks Add Norrie

The Bucks have made their sixth signing announcement for the upcoming season, inking yet another rookie, and this time one with connections to two other Bucks players.

Today's announcement revealed that Laredo has signed right wing Shaun Norrie, who will come to the Bucks from the University of Lethbridge. As you may recall, one of Laredo's earlier offseason rookie signings, defenseman Devin Featherstone, was also on the Lethbridge squad last season.

Norrie was also once a teammate of forward/defenseman Igor Agarunov, who has played for Laredo for the past four seasons but has not yet been announced as a member of the 2008-09 squad. The two played together for the 2002 Memorial Cup Champion Kootenay Ice.

The Edmonton Oilers selected Norrie in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL Draft, during his five-year junior career. He also played at Lethbridge for five seasons.

You can read Bucks Director of Media Relations/Broadcasting Bryan Benway's press release about this acquisition here.

According to his quotes from Head Coach/General Manager Terry Ruskowski, signing Norrie was a priority for the Bucks based on his size, physicality, scoring ability and Agarunov's "stamp of approval."

"Norrie was the right wing on our line when we won the cup that year," Agarunov says in the release. “We had a good checking line thanks to him. Whenever we had a big play, he seemed to always be involved in it somehow. He was a key part to that title team."

I will be getting in touch with coach to discuss those topics a bit further and see if there is anything else that appealed to him about this sizable winger, who honestly sounds a bit like a taller, slightly more disciplined James Hiebert from the way coach and Agarunov describe him.

I'm sure everyone is starting to get curious about why the team is signing so many rookies, especially with the splashy veteran signings by Southeast Division rivals in recent days. Obviously, there are still plenty of other names to be announced, but I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the ones we've been given so far.

Good News

Les Borsheim has been moved to the Craig Rehab Hospital a little over two months after his motorcycle accident, and things are definitely looking better for the former Colorado Eagles defenseman.

Jason Baird has also been progressing well since his July 17 lawnmower accident and, according to his wife's updates, should be able to come off a ventilator next Monday following facial surgery this week.

In other news and notes around the league, defenseman Jason Tessier has gone from one team owned by Randy Sanders to the other and the Eagles have started reloading by re-signing defenseman Erik Adams and forward Ed McGrane.

Closer to home, the Bucks have extended their free gas promotion, taken part in a fashion show, had their community efforts featured in the CHL Summer Digest and created new season ticket holder awards. The team should be making some more announcements later in the week...

News from Corpus

The Corpus Christi IceRays have announced their first signings for the upcoming season, re-inking four players from last year's Rayz squad.

These returnees are forward Justin Quenneville, defenseman Chris Mei, left wing Adam Powell and winger Chris Shaffer, who played the end of last season with the Youngstown Steelhounds after starting out with the Rayz.

Here is the story on the Quenneville signing from last Friday, and here is the story about the other three, who were all re-signed on Monday.

In other news, coming out of Corpus only in its online dispersion by Greg Rajan, the new PHPA-approved veteran limit will stand at four...but goaltenders will not count toward that limit. We'll see how many teams take advantage of that.

UPDATE: The IceRays announced their first new signing for the upcoming season today in defenseman T.J. Reynolds. Rajan has more on that here and a story here.

Walker Back to Cali

As you may have heard, 2007-08 Bucks defenseman David Walker has signed with the Ontario (California) Reign of the ECHL, knocking one more name off the list of possible returnees for the upcoming season.

Here is the press release from the Reign:


ONTARIO REIGN SIGNS FIRST-EVER PLAYER TO ROSTER SPOT

Local So-Cal player David Walker joins Reign Roster

ONTARIO, Calif. – The Ontario Reign of the ECHL, proud affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, announced today the signing of Defenseman David Walker as the first-ever player in Ontario Reign history. Per Club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Walker, 29, skates onto the Reign’s roster after spending the past year with the Laredo Bucks of the CHL. While with the Bucks, Walker accrued 15 points (1g, 14a) in 38 games and accumulated 88 penalty minutes. The 6-foot, 200-pound Bridgewater, Nova Scotia native made his home in Long Beach, Calif. nearly five years ago when he made his professional hockey debut in 2004-05 with the former Long Beach Ice Dogs of the ECHL. While with the Ice Dogs until the 2006-07 season, Walker played in 181 games netting 47 points (8g-39a) and amassing 352 penalty minutes. Walker led the Ice Dogs with 151 penalty minutes during 2006-07.

“It feels good to be back in Southern California,” said Walker. “I feel comfortable playing for the people in charge of the organization; from Justin and Barry Kemp to Karl [Taylor] and the Los Angeles Kings. [California] is my home now and it is a place I can rest my hat. I am happy to play with a team here again and to be closer to my family. I came out to California about five years ago with the intention of winning a championship; this is just another opportunity to bring one home.”

Prior to suiting up for the Ice Dogs, Walker played four years (2000-04) for Dalhousie University (CIS) in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he appeared in 106 games and netted 15 goals and 36 assists. Walker also played for the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL from 1996-00 where, in his second year, he racked up 226 penalty minutes in only 41 games.

“We are pleased to have David join the Reign,” Head Coach Karl Taylor said. “He is a great addition to the team and with his experience playing professional hockey he will be able to use his skill to help the younger players develop.”


Walker and forward Andrew Desjardins are two players who will definitely be coming back to Laredo, as Desjardins signed with the ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners earlier this summer.

I will get coach's reaction when I talk to him about some other news later this week...

Big Bees News

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have announced their first new signee for the 2008-09 season in high-scoring winger Robin Bouchard. This is arguably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, signings in Bees' history, which explains why Bouchard is going to be the player/assistant coach...

Brian Sandalow had the announcement a bit before Bees Director of Media Relations/Broadcasting Rich Bocchini published the press release on the team website. Sandalow has his full story here.

Just a Reminder

Sorry there hasn't been much Bucks news since the signing the other day, but I just wanted to post a reminder about the fashion show this weekend. Coach Ruskowski, Jeff Bes, Serge Dube, Igor Agarunov, Director of Media Relations/Broadcasting Bryan Benway and Director of Public Relations Nicole Kupaks will all be participating, and the proceeds benefit a good cause.

The event, "Noche de Estrellas," will be held Sunday at the Civic Center at 6:30 p.m. You can get any other information from the team's press release or by calling Maria Guajardo at (956)712-9151.

In other news, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have posted a recruiting video that is apparently all the rage these days...I don't have sound on this computer, but just watching it strikes me as ironic considering what Killer Bees Director of Media Relations/Broadcasting Rich Bocchini wrote on his blog recently about some of the reasons he saw behind the team's struggles last season.

Rio was also a topic of discussion lately because of a deal that sent Mike Tuomi to the Mississippi RiverKings to complete a previous trade that was apparently never really announced. Rich cleared that up on his blog.

Former Corpus Christi IceRays (Rayz) goaltender Jason Tapp (Go BU!), whose rights were controlled by the Odessa Jackalopes has signed with the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL.

The defending champion Arizona Sundogs seem to like re-signing in threes, as they announced the returns of forwards Tyler Liebel and Rob Lehtinen and defenseman Matt Suderman on Wednesday.

There have been plenty of other transactions, which you can read about one-by-one here or see in the complete list here.

Oh, and the CHL has released its 2008-09 Summer Digest.