Regular season finally arrives; Thursday’s coast-to-coast

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ... please swing by for the first Chatravaganza of the season at 12 noon ET/9 a.m. PT.

WHL

The Western League has new rules to deal with staged fights. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Coming Down The Pipe!)

With 17 players back, the Edmonton Oil Kings are looking tough. (Sportsnet, Edmonton Sun)

How will Portland fare with so many news faces in the lineup? (Portland Tribune)

In a little more than 24 hours, No. 1 overall pick Jake Virtanen plays his first game as a full-fledged regular for the Calgary Hitmen. He scored during his second game of last season's cameo. (Calgary Herald)

The Vancouver Province picks the Dub's best players; it's a little heavy on defence. (Vancouver Province)

Moose Jaw's Brayden Point for rookie of the year in the Eastern Conference, and other fearless predictions from Dean Millard. (Coming Down The Pipe!)

Newcomer Nick Buonassisi is promising to make up for some of the scoring that the Brandon Wheat Kings lost at the end of last season. (Winnipeg Sun)

Since highly touted Kamloops Blazers D-man Jordan Thomson is now a full-time junior player, there's a reason to make more Wawanesa references. It's even more fun than saying "Bobby Hebert." (Kamloops Daily News)

OHL

The NHL's director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell, on the OHL's new 'fight threshold' rule: "We'll be watching closely. It'll be interesting to see how it works. (ESPN)

Plymouth Whalers coach-GM Mike Vellucci "wouldn't shy away" from his team being proclaimed the Western Conference favourite. (Plymouth Observer & Eccentric)

The Owen Sound Attack do not know when/if Belarussian forward Artur Gavrus will report. That's not good. (Owen Sound Sun Times)

Bob Duff is for a good scrap, but not pointless fighting, which seems to be the point of the OHL's new rule. (Windsor Star)

There probably is no muting the expectations 15-year-old phenom Connor McDavid will face in Erie. The last early-entry forward, current New York Islanders star John Tavares, admits he combated homesickness with the Oshawa Generals in 2005. (Erie Times-News)

Condolences to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds extended hockey family: Walter Dubas, a winning coach with the 'Hounds in the 1960s and grandfather of GM Kyle Dubas, died Tuesday at age 83. (Sault Star)

Another Smith has gone from Windsor to Oshawa: 17-year-old forward Hunter Smith moves to the Generals with overage grinder Emerson Clark moving west to the Spitfires. (Windsor Star)

QMJHL

Halifax Mooseheads coach Dominique Ducharme on going from mediocre to good to possibly great: "Last year we learned about winning and this year we need to be learning about being a contender." (Halifax Chronicle-Herald)

May we call the three ex-Shawinigan players Danny Flynn acquired in the off-season the "WildCataractes?" Steve Turcotte surveys the Maritimes Division. (Le Nouvelliste)

Quebec Remparts coach-GM Patrick Roy is eyeing the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada as a threat for the President's Cup. (Le Soleil)

Dave Ainsley tees up the Telus East Division, which isn't quite as cutthroat as last season. (Le Quotidien)

Import forward Evgeny Chatkohtkin has been released in Baie-Comeau. (Le Soleil) —

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.