MOVEMENT NEWS 

As just about everyone knows, Michael Sauer has been returned back to Hartford after his ever too brief stint with the Rangers. In his place, Corey Potter was sent up. With Miika Wiikman and Matt Zaba now both healthy Maxime Daigneault has been returned to the Charlotte Checkers.

Daigneault has appeared in three games this year for the Wolf Pack, totaling 117 minutes of playing time, and is 0-2-0 with seven goals-against on 61 shots (a 3.58 goals-against average and an 88.5% save percentage).  In 23 games with Charlotte, Daigneault is 11-10-1, with a 3.29 goals-against average and an 89.8% save percentage.

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Also, without a single spare defenseman on the roster and Corey Potter up in New York, the Pack announced today that they have signed a 19-year old native of Plzen, Czech Republic, David Stich.

Stich has skated the past three seasons for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).  The 6-2, 215-pounder led the Sea Dogs defensemen in goals this season with 10, and added 17 assists for 27 points, in 52 games.  Stich also served 37 minutes in penalties.  In playoff action, he scored one goal and chipped in two assists for three points in four games, and was Saint John’s only plus player, at a +1.

In 174 career QMJHL games for the Sea Dogs, Stich totaled 14 goals and 46 assists for 60 points, along with 261 penalty minutes.

Stich was also captain of the Czech Republic team at the IIHF World U20 Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa.

Based upon the limited information we could glean on the young man, it would appear that Stich is also a physical defenseman who is not afraid to hit,   fight or apparently score.

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As loyal readers, we were toying with the idea of having a web chat here at Howlings. If you recall on Blueshirt Bulletin we used to host what we called the “Four-On'-Four” every month. We haven’t done that here because quite frankly we didn’t have the traffic to warrant trying. However, we’re getting pretty good traffic to the site now and with the season ending in the next two weeks and the playoffs about to begin, we thought it might be a fun thing to try if you’re up for it.

If you are interested in having that, and we will check with the team and see if we can get a player or two to participate, by all means leave a message. If there is enough interest and enough people that will attend then we will make the necessary inquiries.