Chad Suer skated Tuesday for the first time since injuring his shoulder in practice eight days ago. Suer skated on his own in the morning and the outlook isn't great. The 19-year-old defenceman was aiming for a weekend return in Alberta, but that will almost certainly be pushed back. The Warriors are waiting to see how he progresses before setting a definite timeline for a return, but it could be another 10 days to two weeks.
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Brandon Glover is going to get his first start of the season Wednesday against the Red Deer Rebels.Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak is also going to juggle his lines. Granted, Hunchak's lines can often evolve over the course of a game, but Wednesday the Warriors are expecting to ice:
Howden-Bast-Honejsek
Herman-Rowinski-Frazee
Paradis-Smuk-Edwards
MacMaster-Scott-Hood
Hood gets the obvious demotion after playing the wing with Howden and Bast. In the season opener in Swift Current Hood suffered a similar fate as Edwards took his spot. Hood sat out some shifts, but had a lot more jump once he got back on the ice.Herman is rewarded for a good debut Saturday against Brandon with a bigger role. Honejsek — a left-handed shot — will play his off-wing. The Czech rookie has looked comfortable as a right winger so far.
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Hunchak also pulled an unusual move at practice Tuesday. Unhappy with his team's play in practice he kicked them off the ice. He told the entire team to leave until they were ready to be good enough to practice. About seven or eight minutes later the team decided to return to the ice and Hunchak said they were much sharper. It isn't the first time the third-year Warriors coach has banished his players and it probably won't be the last.
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The Rebels made some moves Tuesday as they dealt Cass Mappin to Vancouver in exchange for Andrej Kudrna. Mappin, a 19-year-old left winger was entering his fourth season with the Rebels. Kudrna, 18, scored 18 goals and had 38 points in 67 games with the Giants last season. He is expected to be with the Rebels in time for Wednesday's game.
The acquisition of Kudrna gave the Rebels three Europeans, so they deprived the league of one of its best names by releasing rookie Slovak defenceman Jindrich Barak.With the loss of Barak and Alex Petrovic (who will be out for a month with high ankle sprain), the Rebels only have five healthy defencemen as of this writing.
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The rich get richer as the Wheat Kings will get Matt Calvert back from Columbus. This gives the Wheat Kings an abundance of 20-year-olds (Aaron Lewadniuk, Jay Fehr and Del Cowan being the others) and an abundance of talent. James Shewaga of the Brandon Sun reports that Calvert turned down another contract offer from Columbus to return to his hometown team as they host the Memorial Cup.
