D Ivan Baranka (Everett, 2003-05) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga) after requesting and obtaining his release from Vítkovice Ostrava (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had three goals and five assists in 34 games.
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As I put tonight’s notes and roundup together my mind constantly wandered back to a night exactly five years ago.
It was then that I put together a newspaper’s sports pages for the final time.
Yes, the Kamloops Daily News has been gone for five years . . . gone, but not forgotten.
I still get told by folks on a regular basis how much they miss having a daily newspaper.
They aren’t alone.
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The Vancouver Giants have trimmed two defencemen from their roster, releasing D Ty 
Ettinger and D Parker Hendren. . . . Ettinger, 18, is expected to land in junior A, while Hendren, 17, will join the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. . . . Ettinger, from Ardrossan, Alta., was a fifth-round pick by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. The Giants acquired him from Brandon on Oct. 1, giving up a seventh-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft in return. He had three assists in 31 games with Vancouver. . . . Hendren, from Regina, was a seventh-round pick by the Giants in the 2016 bantam draft. He had one goal and one assist in 26 games with Vancouver this season. . . . The Giants had to make some moves after acquiring three defencemen — Dallas Hines, Seth Bafaro and Nicholas Draffin — in recent days.
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The BCHL’s Langley Rivermen have acquired the junior A rights to F Bronson Sharp, 19, from the Merritt Centennials in exchange for future considerations . . . From Mission, B.C., Sharp has played seven games with the Everett Silvertips this season, but hasn’t been played since Oct. 13 because of a concussion. In 102 regular-season WHL games — 84 with the Portland Winterhawks and 18 with Everett — he has two goals and three assists. . . . Everett acquired Sharp from Portland on Jan. 10, 2018, giving up a fifth-round pick in the 2020 WHL bantam draft in the deal.
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FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS:
F Brett Davis scored once and drew three assists to help the Red Deer Rebels to a 5-3 
victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon. . . . Red Deer (24-13-3) has points in three straight (2-0-1). It is tied for second in the Central Division with Edmonton, one point behind Lethbridge. . . . Brandon (16-17-6) has lost three in a row and now is eights shy of a playoff spot. . . . The Rebels took control by breaking a 1-1 tie with three second-period goals, from F Alex Morozoff (7), F Chris Douglas (11) and Davis (13). . . . F Cam Hausinger added two goals for Red Deer, giving him 14. . . . F Stelio Mattheos scored twice for Brandon — he’s got 28 — and added an assist, and F Ben McCartney (12) added one. . . . Davis enjoyed the second four-point game of his WHL career. He has six goals and 10 assists in 13 games since the Rebels acquired him from the Kootenay Ice. He had seven goals and 12 assists in 24 games with the Ice. . . . D Braydyn Chizen, acquired from the Kelowna Rockets this week, made his Brandon debut. . . . The Wheat Kings remain without F Linden McCorrister.
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F Andrej Kukuca scored twice on the PP and added an assist to lead the Seattle 
Thunderbirds to a 7-2 victory over the Warriors in Moose Jaw. . . . Seattle (14-21-4) has won two in a row and now is 3-2-0 on an East Division trip that ends tonight in Swift Current. The Thunderbirds now are one point away from the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Moose Jaw (21-10-7) has lost three straight (0-2-1). It remains a comfortable third in the East Division, nine points behind Saskatoon and 11 ahead of Brandon. . . . F Brayden Tracey (16) gave Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead at 5:15 of the first period. . . . The visitors erased that with four seocnd-period goals — from F Nolan Volcan (16), Kukuca, on a PP, F Sean Richards (11) and F Keltie Jeri-Leon (6). . . . The latter two scored their first goals with Seattle since being acquired from Everett and Lethbridge, respectively. . . . F Tristin Langan (32) got the Warriors to within two goals, on a PP, at 2:49 of the third, but the visitors put it away with three more goals, from D Jarret Tyszka (3), Kukuca (11) and F Tyler Carpendale (5). . . . F Noah Philp had three assists for Seattle. . . . G Roddy Ross stopped 24 shots for Seattle and now is 3-0-0 since joining the team from the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks. . . . Seattle D Cade McNelly missed a second straight game after completing a three-game suspension. . . . The Warriors had F Carson Denomie, acquired from Kamloops, and F Alec Zawatsky, who was acquired from Swift Current, in their lineup.
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F Brett Leason broke a 2-2 tie in the third period as the host Prince Albert Raiders beat 
the Portland Winterhawks, 4-2. . . . Prince Albert (36-5-1) now is 19-3-0 at home, where it had lost three of its previous four outings. The Raiders lead the Eastern Conference by 15 points over Saskatoon. . . . Portland (25-12-5) had points in each of its previous 10 games (7-0-3). It is 4-1-0 on an East Division tour that wraps up tonight in Saskatoon. Portland is second in the U.S. Division, 11 points behind Everett. . . . The Winterhawks had won each of its past four games in Prince Albert. . . . F Seth Jarvis (11) put Portland ahead at 6:57 of the first period with his fifth goal in seven games. . . . The Raiders took the lead later in the period on goals from F Cole Fonstad (15), at 11:58, and D Zack Hayes (3), at 15:40. . . . F Jake Gricius (19) got Portland into a tie at 17:06. . . . Leason broke the tie with his 29th goal, his first since returning from the WJC, at 8:52 of the third period. He leads the WHL with eight game-winners. . . . F Sean Montgomery (18) iced it with the empty-netter at 18:38. . . . G Ian Scott earned the victory with 27 saves. It was his career-best 25th victory, one more than he recorded last season. . . . G Joel Hofer, who was acquired from Swift Current for six bantam draft picks, made his Portland debut, stopping 23 shots. . . . F Josh Paterson, who was acquired from Saskatoon also made his Portland debut. . . . G Boston Bilous, acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday, was on the Raiders’ bench backing up Ian Scott. . . . D Bryce Bader, acquired from Calgary, and D Loeden Schoefler, who came over from Seattle, were scratched by the Raiders. . . . Portland D Brendan De Jong (concussion) missed his seventh straight game. . . . The Winterhawks are down to two goaltenders — Hofer and Shane Farkas, 19 — after dropping Evan Fradette and Dante Gianuzzi from their roster. Fradette, 17, was returned to the midget AAA St. Albert, Alta., Raiders without getting into a WHL game. Giannuzzi, 16, has returned to Winnipeg “to prepare as a potential black ace for the playoffs and training camp,” according to a tweet from Joshua Critzer, who follows the Winterhawks for dubnetwork.ca. Giannuzzi made four appearances with Portland, going 1-2-0, 4.09, .833.
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F Mark Kastelic’s second goal of the game, this one in OT, gave the Calgary Hitmen a 4-3 
victory over the Blades in Saskatoon. . . . Calgary (21-16-4) has won six in a row. The Hitmen are in possession of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, three points behind Medicine Hat. . . . Saskatoon (26-12-6), which had won four straight at home, has points in three straight (2-0-1). It is second in the East Division, 15 points behind Prince Albert and nine ahead of Moose Jaw. The Warriors hold six — yes, six! — games in hand. . . . Saskatoon went 2-0-2 in the season series; Calgary was 2-2-0. . . . Calgary overcame a 3-1 deficit to win this one. . . . F Gary Haden (16) gave the home side a 1-0 lead at 4:56 of the first period. . . . Kastelic tied it at 14:42. . . . The Blades went ahead 3-1 on second-period goals from F Kristian Roykas Marthinsen (11), at 5:30, and F Ryan Hughes (18), at 8:23. Hughes, who also had an assist, was playing in his first game with Saskatoon after being acquired from Portland. . . . D Egor Zamula (9), who also had two assists, pulled Calgary to within a goal at 19:42. . . . The Hitmen forced OT when F Carson Focht (11) scored at 19:35. . . . Kastelic won it with his 29th goal, on a PP, at 1:28 of OT. . . . Calgary had the only three shots of OT. . . . F Jake Kryski helped the winners with three assists. . . . G Jack McNaughton stopped 21 shots in his 16th straight start for Calgary. . . . The Blades got 35 saves from G Nolan Maier. . . . The Blades had F Kirby Dach back after a four-game absence, while F Cyle McNabb, acquired from Kootenay, made his Saskatoon debut. . . . Saskatoon D Nolan Kneen is expected to be out for a month with an undisclosed injury.
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F Brett Kemp, in his first game with Medicine Hat, scored twice to lead the Tigers to a 5-2 
victory over the visiting Regina Pats. . . . Medicine Hat (23-16-3) has won five in a row on home ice. It is fourth in the Central Division, two points out of third. . . . Regina (12-29-2) has lost six in a row (0-5-1). . . . Medicine Hat won the season series, 4-0-0. . . . Kemp was acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday in a deal that had F Josh Williams go the other way. . . . Medicine Hat took a 1-0 lead when F Elijah Brown (7) scored at 6:36 of the first period. . . . Regina F Riley Krane (9) tied it at 19:22. . . . Kemp gave the Tigers the lead with two second-period goals, at 4:46 and 8:16, the latter on a PP. He’s got 24 goals now. . . . F Sebastian Streu (3) got the Pats back to within two, at 12:53, but the Tigers put it away before the period ended on goals from D Cole Clayton (3) and D Linus Nassen (5), on a PP. . . . G Matt Pesenti, on Regina’s roster because Max Paddock is ill, made his WHL debut as he came on in relief of Dean McNabb to start the third period. Pesenti, 17, plays for the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. . . . Pesenti stopped all four shots he faced. . . . Prior to the game, the Tigers announced that F Nick McCarry, 17, will remain with them for the remainder of this season. A list player from Calgary, he had seven goals and seven assists in 30 games with the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons before joining the Tigers. . . . The Tigers will be without F Hayden Ostir for at least the next four weeks after he suffered a dislocated kneecap in a 5-3 victory over the visiting Kootenay Ice on Jan. 4. At the same time, they hope that F Ryan Chyzowski will only miss another week with a skate cut near a knee that was incurred during a 4-3 loss to the Hitmen in Calgary on Jan. 5. . . . The Tigers did have F Bryan Lockner (concussion) back in their lineup and he helped out with two assists.
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F Scott Atkinson scored twice to help the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 5-1 victory over the 
Hurricanes in Lethbridge. . . . Edmonton (22-14-7) had lost its previous two games. The Oil Kings have equalled last season’s total of 22 victories. The Oil Kings are tied with Red Deer for second in the Central Division, one point behind the Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge (22-11-8) had points in each of its previous six games (4-0-2). . . . F Adam Hall gave Lethbridge a 1-0 lead at 3:02 of the first period. His first WHL goal came in his 27th game. . . . Atkinson tied it at 3:21. . . . F Vince Loschiavo (19) broke the tie at 1:33 of the second period, and Edmonton took control with two more quick goals, from F Liam Keeler (6), on a PP at 7:08, and F Jalen Luypen (6), at 7:48. . . . Atkinson, who also had an assist, completed the scoring with his seventh goal at 12:45 of the third period. . . . Atkinson had the first three-point and two-goal game of his WHL career. . . . Three of Edmonton’s goals — the two by Atkinson and Loschiavo’s — were unassisted. . . . G Todd Scott blocked 24 shots for Edmonton. . . . F Josh Williams, who was acquired from Medicine Hat on Thursday, was in Edmonton’s lineup.
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The host Prince George Cougars scored four first-period goals on 17 shots en route to a 7-
2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Prince George (15-22-3) was playing its first home game since Dec. 2. The victory lifted it into a tie with Kamloops for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Cougars and Blazers are five points behind third-place Kelowna in the B.C. Division. . . . Kelowna (17-20-4) has lost four in a row (0-3-1). . . . The Cougars got two first-period goals, one on a PP, from F Josh Maser, who has 15, and singletons from F Ethan Browne (7), on a PP, F Matéj Toman (4) and D Cole Moberg. . . . D Jack Sander added his first goal of the season for the Cougars, with Moberg adding a second goal, giving him nine. . . . Sander’s goal came in his 32nd game. Last season, as a freshman, he scored twice in 62 games. . . . Kelowna got PP goals from F Leif Mattson (18), at 19:26 of the second period, and F Nolan Foote (21), at 14:03 of the third. . . . Maser and Moberg also had an assist each for three-point nights, while Browne added two assists to his goal. . . . The Cougars held a 37-20 edge in shots, including 17-5 in the first period and 10-5 in the second. . . . Earlier in the day, the Cougars announced that D Cole Beamin, 17, will be staying for the remainder of this season. A second-round selection in the 2016 WHL bantam draft, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Beamin had been playing with the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks, where he had two goals and one assists in 28 games. . . . The Cougars also have released D Tyson Phare, 16. He is expected to go to the Delta Hockey Academy. The 18th-overall selection in the 2017 bantam draft, he was pointless in 14 games with the Cougars this season.
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The Victoria Royals scored the game’s first three goals en route to a 4-1 victory over the 
visiting Kamloops Blazers. . . . Victoria (22-15-1) has won four in a row. It is 5-1-0 in the season series. The Royals are second in the B.C. Division, five points behind Vancouver and seven ahead of Kelowna. . . . Kamloops (15-21-3) has lost three straight. It is tied with Prince George for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot, 11 points behind Tri-City. . . . The Royals had beaten the Blazers, 5-3, on Wednesday night in Victoria. . . . The Royals have won 14 of 16 games against the Blazers in Victoria, including an 8-0-0 run. . . . F Kody McDonald (9) gave the Royals a 1-0 lead with his third goal in two games, this one on a PP at 14:42 of the first period. . . . F Dino Kambeitz (7) upped it to 2-0 at 13:13 of the second, and D Scott Walford (4) made it 3-0 at 0:59 of the third. . . . F Jermaine Loewen (12) scored for the Blazers, on a PP, at 10:00, but Victoria F Tanner Sidaway finished it with his fourth goal, at 15:55. . . . Victoria G Griffen Outhouse, who stopped 27 shots, has 104 career regular-season victories, 13th all-time. The career record of 120 is shared by Tyson Sexsmith (Vancouver, 2004-09) and Corey Hirsch (Kamloops, 1988-92). . . . F Alex Bolshakov, 16, made his WHL debut with the Royals. From Seattle, he was a fourth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. He is playing a second season with the Everett Jr. Silvertips 16U team. . . . Kamloops lost D Joonas Sillanpää to a slashing major and game misconduct at 13:13 of the second period, on the play in which Victoria went ahead 2-0. . . . The Blazers were without F Jeff Faith, who was hit with a five-game suspension under supplemental discipline after an incident in Wednesday’s 5-3 loss in Victoria. “In reviewing this play, which occurred later in the game, it was evident that Faith made direct contact with the opponent’s head,” Kevin Acheson, the WHL’s director of player safety, said in a statement on the WHL’s website. “As a result of the contact, the opponent was injured.”. . . Faith will be eligible to return to the Blazers’ lineup on Jan. 20 when they are to meet the Cougars in Prince George. In between, he will miss Saturday’s game in Vancouver, home games against Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, and a Jan. 19 game in Prince George. . . . Victoria D Remy Aquilon, who was hit by Faith, was scratched last night.
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F Parker AuCoin broke a 3-3 tie with a shorthanded goal in the third period as the Tri-
City Americans got past the Silvertips, 4-3, in Everett. . . . Tri-City (21-15-2) had lost its previous two games. The Americans, who hold the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot, are fourth in the U.S. Division, six points behind Spokane. . . . Everett (32-9-2) had won its previous three games. It also had won 11 straight on home ice. The Silvertips are atop the Western Conference, but now trail Prince Albert by seven points in the race for first place overall. . . . This was the third time in eight days that these teams met. The host Americans won, 3-2, on Jan. 4, with the Silvertips winning, 4-1, at home the next night. . . . Last night, F Bryce Kindopp (22) sent Everett ahead at 1:18 of the second period. . . . The Americans then took a 2-1 lead on goals from F Kyle Olson (10), on a PP, at 7:58 and F Nolan Yaremko (17), at 11:27. . . . The Silvertips reclaimed the lead as F Zack Andrusiak (30) scored at 17:56, and D Jake Christiansen (8) counted at 8:19 of the third period. . . . The Americans pulled even when F Sasha Mutala (10) scored at 13:22. . . . AuCoin won it with his 21st goal, at 14:14, with Everett trying to win it on a PP. . . . The Americans got 36 saves from G Beck Warm, two more than Everett’s Dustin Wolf. . . . F Samuel Huo, acquired Thursday from Seattle was in Tri-City’s lineup. . . . F Robbie Holmes, who came over from Regina in a Thursday deal, made his Everett debut.
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TAKING NOTE 