Cuts and things and and Mahbod gets a new home.

Let's divide this by league, shall we...

ECHL:

The Alaska Aces have signed forwards Shawn Skelly and Samson Mahbod (pronounced muh-BAWD) and defenseman Mike Baran (pronounced BARE-uhn), Alaska Aces Head Coach Rob Murray announced on Friday. The additions are much needed for the shorthanded Aces, who prior to these signings were down to 12 active skaters for Friday. All three players have met the Aces on the road, and are expected to be in the lineup on Friday night. The Aces begin a three-game road trip on Friday night against the Idaho Steelheads at 5:10pm AKT [...]

Mahbod, 23, is set to make his season debut with the Aces this weekend in Idaho. This is the third pro season for the 5'10", 171lbs. forward. He spent his rookie season in the ECHL and last year played for the Arizona Sundogs in the Central Hockey League. Following a junior career split between the QMJHL and the QJAHL the Montreal, Quebec native played for four different ECHL teams as a rookie. He had a combined 26 points (10g, 16a) in 47 regular season games with the Elmira Jackals, South Carolina Stingrays, and Cincinnati Cyclones. He also played in six playoff games with the Utah Grizzlies, tallying one goal. Last year with the Sundogs, Mahbod totaled 22 points (7g, 15a) in 43 games in an injury-shortened season. This season Mahbod took training camp with the Orlando Solar Bears, but was released prior to the start of the season. In major junior hockey, Mahbod had 168 points (57g, 111a) in 164 games for four different clubs. He finished his junior career with two tremendous seasons in the QMJHL, combining for 50 goals, 93 assists and 143 points in 118 games. In 2009 as a member of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Mahbod had 13 points (5g, 8a) in 19 games, while helping Drummondville to their first ever QMJHL Championship. Mahbod recorded an assist in a 3-2 win during Game 7 of the Finals. He also scored in the Semifinals of the Memorial Cup in an eventual 3-2 overtime loss.

Not entirely sure I'm down with that pronunciation  and I really didn't need to read that last sentence (or the last part of the last sentence) but I digress.

NHL: After I let some terrifying waiver-claim nightmare scenarios dance around in my brain yesterday, Frédéric St-Denis was allowed to go back to Hamilton in the end. After last night's scrimmage, Gabriel Dumont will join him. Mike Hoffman was sent back to Binghamton while Guillaume Latendresse's new number is 73. Meanwhile, Dmitry Kulikov signed a new deal with Florida. Official rosters are due to be set this afternoon at 5:00 p.m....

AHL: With a depleted Hamilton lineup, Philippe Lefebvre was able to score his first goal of the season against Abbotsford. The Bulldogs lost in the shootout 2-1, however.

CIS: At their carnival game that by all accounts was a packed house, McGill beat UQTR 4-2 on Wednesday. Here is what that scoresheet looked like:

SCORING SUMMARY
-- 1st --
McGill	14:55	PP - David Rose (Jean-Philippe Mathieu & Marc-Olivier Vachon)
McGill	15:41	PP - Guillaume Monast (Hugo Laporte & Chris Longpre-Poirier)
-- 2nd --
UQTR	9:18	Tommy Tremblay (Pierre-Luc Lessard & Antoine Quevillon)
UQTR	15:48	Emmanuel Boudreau (Olivier Donovan & Marc-Olivier Mimar)
-- 3rd --
McGill	0:32	Marc-Olivier Vachon (David Rose & Benoit Levesque)
McGill	18:50	EN - Max Le Sieur (Jean-Philippe Mathieu & Benoit Levesque)

Their next game is tonight at 7 p.m. against Ottawa and will be webcast live on www.ssncanada.ca/games/ .

Meanwhile, on the same night, UNB plastered St. Thomas 7-0. Marc-Antoine Desnoyers recorded two assists and a team-high 7 shots on goal.

In regular news, Drummondville still hasn't played that game against Rimouski yet. Get to it already.

And so it ends.

It's been so long since Game 4's untimely, tragic end that I've forgotten what I came here to say. My first thought is "well, thank goodness that's over."

Perhaps that's harsh. But no less true. The greatest blessing my first-ever favourite team, the Montreal Canadiens, gave me that day was firing Pierre Gauthier. Not because of the obvious. The overtime loss and therefore four-game sweep of the Drummondville Voltigeurs was not Reason Numero Uno anyone made their way to the Quebec Remparts' post-game press conference. That, of course, was Patrick Roy. Hurrah for overblown speculation sweeping very real embarrassment under the rug!

It's also true because, instead of focusing on what could have been, it gives way to the future. The Domenic Grahams et compagnie have valuable experience to add to their resumes and another fresh crop of prospects and acquisitions (because in my experience I have never known Dominic Ricard to miss the boat during or after trade period) will make their way into the fold. They'll all step up to the plate together and try again.

Together. I'm going to draw from the departing André Bouvet-Morrissette's quote: "Les gars doivent retenir que lorsqu’on est unis, tout devient possible."

Together everything is possible. I hope everyone he's left an impression on (read: an entire population and thensome) in his brief two-year passage takes that message to heart and even tattoos it on for next year and beyond.

Speaking of Stilts, he has apparently attracted a couple of NHL clubs such as the Sharks and the Kings (among a class of others, I'm sure). I've got an eye out for ATO/PTOs, and will certainly pass along the news here and/or Twitter if he finds a home.

Bet you didn't know: David Desharnais' first AHL club was the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who offered him a tryout after Chicoutimi was eliminated six years ago. I think they may regret not signing him to a real deal.

This has not been Photoshopped. He has been able to stand tall before!

Around the league: Saint John (duh), Halifax, Blainville-Boisbriand, Baie-Comeau (eek), Chicoutimi, Rimouski, and #theshawi are the other teams that have moved on. Quebec next takes on the Mooseheads, BLB and Rimouski are facing off, the Mem Cup hosts are up against Chicoutimi and...Baie-Comeau awaits the crushing block. Not to say they don't have momentum, though, which'll throw a wrench in a few predictions.

Dose of mind-f*ckery: Back to that Patrick Roy debacle. TVA Sports spoke to Richard Martel this week, who is looking for his next project. Mix that thought in to the seed of doubt that's been planted surrounding Roy's status...

As much as half of me is shouting all sorts of profanity against the inference that seems hopelessly wrong, the other half is proverbially sitting in the Colisée Pepsi with a jumbo bag of popcorn.


Alum-watch: I can't even write anything mind-blowing here to detract from my obvious sadness that started this post. But for what it's worth, Philippe Lefebvre scored a goal (from Massé!) in a comeback victory by the Bulldogs on Saturday, and Ondrej Palat and Philip-Michael Devos scored in the same game on the same side and were named second and first star respectively, all of which still weirds me out. For his part, Palat has a seven-game point streak happening right now. Oh, and Derick Brassard has gone slightly bonkers pointswise himself (6 in 6 GP) lately and Sean Couturier scored a goal yesterday and added an assist today.