Minulin ready so Silvertips move Walker to Pats . . . Ontario gov’t set to back OHL . . . Team USA will camp out in Everett and Kamloops


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With D Artyom Minulin poised to make his Everett debut, the Silvertips have traded D EverettKyle Walker to the Regina Pats for a fifth-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. . . . The draft pick originated with the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Pats acquired it in a deal on May 23, 2017 that also included F Matt Bradley and a second-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft moving to Regina and G Jordan Hollett going to Medicine Hat. . . . Walker, an 18-year-old list player from Leduc, Alta., was pointless in 14 games with Everett this season. Last season, he had a goal and five assists in 50 games. . . . The Pats are scheduled to play the visiting Tri-City Americans tonight. . . .

Minulin, a 20-year-old Russian, was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos on Oct. 31 in exchange for D Alex Moar, 17, and an eighth-round pick in the 2021 bantam draft. Minulin has yet to play this season after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery. . . . He now has been cleared to play and has his immigration status looked after, so could play tonight against the Blazers in Kamloops. He was in Vancouver dealing with paperwork on Wednesday and was to meet the Silvertips in Kamloops on Thursday night. . . . In 206 regular-season games over three seasons with the Broncos, he had 26 goals and 100 assists.


Here’s Ken Campbell of The Hockey News:

“It should come as absolutely no surprise that it appears the Ontario government has quickly and unconditionally thrown its support behind the Ontario League’s attempts to prevent its players from making minimum wage. This is the same government that, early in its mandate, effectively killed Bill 148, which would have raised the minimum wage from $14 an hour to $15 an hour, along with granting two paid sick days, 10 emergency leave days and pay equity for casual and part-time workers. It was a move that prompted the president of the Ontario Federation of Labor to declare premier Doug Ford, ‘an enemy of workers.’”

Campbell’s complete piece is right here and there is input from a few agents, including one who makes quite a point in the last paragraph.


USA Hockey’s national junior team will train in Everett and Kamloops prior to the start of the 2019 World Junior Championship in Victoria and Vancouver. . . . Team USA will be in Everett from Dec. 14 through Dec. 18, then move to Kamloops and work there from Dec. 19 through Dec. 23. . . . The tournament is scheduled to open on Dec. 26. . . . Team USA’s training camp roster will be announced early in December.



Due to Justin Timberlake’s bruised vocal cords, the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings have had to reschedule a game in February. Timberlake was to have performed in Edmonton on Nov. 4 and 5, but was forced to postpone the stops on his Man of the Woods Tour because of bruised vocal cords. . . . The Edmonton stops now have been rescheduled for Feb. 6 and 7. . . . The game between the Raiders and Oil Kings that was to have been played on Feb. 6 at Rogers Place has been moved to Feb. 4.


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The junior B Campbell River Storm of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League announced late Wednesday night that it and general manager/head coach Lee Stone “have mutually agreed to part ways.” . . . Bill Brett has taken over as general manager, with Cam Basarab the head coach. . . . Brett had been an assistant coach, while Basarab was assistant GM/assistant coach. . . . “Stone, while pursuing other opportunities, will stay on board as a senior advisor to the owner and staff, shifting his focus to running a successful Cyclone Taylor Cup,” reads the announcement that ended with this: “There will be no further comment from the club.” . . . At the time of the moves, the Storm was 14-6-1 and leading the North Division standings by eight points over the Nanaimo Buccaneers.


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‘Tips looking at bizarre schedule . . . Ex-Raiders forward Edmonton’s top cop . . . OHL’s Firebirds get first victory


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D Nolan Yonkman (Kelowna, Brandon, 1996-2001) has signed a contract through Jan. 20 with JYP Jyväskylä (Finland, Liiga). Last season, with JYP, he had two goals and an assist in 52 games. . . .

D Austin Madaisky (Calgary, Kamloops, 2008-12) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Kölner Haie Cologne (Germany, DEL) after a successful tryout in which he had one goal and two assists in 16 games. . . .

F Geordie Wudrick (Swift Current, Kelowna, 2005-11) has been released by Harzer Falken Braunlage (Germany, Oberliga) after an unsuccessful tryout in which he scored once in seven games.


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The Everett Silvertips and Kamloops Blazers will play a doubleheader this weekend.

They will meet in Kamloops on Friday, 7 p.m, and they’ll do it all over again in the EverettSandman Centre on Sunday, 5 p.m.

Nothing unusual about that. The WHL schedule often has teams play two games in a row in the same arena, although it mostly happens on back-to-back nights in places like Prince George and Victoria.

But what if I told you that the WHL has the Silvertips playing a Saturday night game, too? What if I told you that game is scheduled for Kent, Wash., against their arch-rival, the Seattle Thunderbirds?

Would you believe me? Well . . . you should.

The Silvertips will ride the bus to Kamloops today. They will challenge the Blazers on Friday night, then get back on the bus and head for home, then play the Thunderbirds in Kent on Saturday night. After that, it will be back on the bus and back to Kamloops for the Sunday game.

As one interested observer asked Taking Note on Wednesday: “Who signed off on this?”

And you thought the WHL’s wild weekends would go away when the WHL cut back from 72 to 68 games.

But wait . . .

This is just the start of a horrendous bit of scheduling for the Silvertips, who also will play three games in fewer than 48 hours the following weekend, too.

In fact, by the time they get through with playing the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Nov. 18, they will have played seven games in 10 nights. Throw in a visit by the Calgary Hitmen on Nov. 20 and it’s eight games in 12 nights.

When that part of the schedule is over, the Silvertips will have played 11.8 per cent of their schedule in only 12 days.

Maybe the players could be given a bonus when it’s over, like, say, a pay raise to the minimum wage, at least for the 12 days.

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BTW, the Silvertips have another bizarre stretch of schedule to deal with in February. . . . They are to play the visiting Red Deer Rebels on Feb. 13, then travel to Kelowna for a game with the Rockets on Feb. 15. On Feb. 16, they have to be in Kent, Wash., for a game with the Seattle Thunderbirds. That’s a Saturday night. It’ll be on the bus right after that game because they’ll be playing the Cougars in Prince George on Monday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. . . . They’ll stay in Prince George for a game the next night, too, before returning home to play on Feb. 22 (Seattle) and Feb. 23 (Prince George). . . . At some point in time the Silvertips obviously did something to offend the WHL’s scheduling guru, whoever/whatever that is.



The Kootenay Ice has added D Ben Zloty, a 16-year-old from Calgary, to its roster. He was a sixth-round selection by the Ice in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. This season, he has three goals and 10 assists in 12 games with the midget AAA Calgary Royals.


Dale McFee, a former player with the Prince Albert Raiders, has been named Edmonton’s PrinceAlbertchief of police. He will begin his new duties early in the new year. . . . McFee, 53, is from St. Albert, Alta. He spent four seasons (1982-86) with the Raiders, totalling 270 points, including 118 goals, and 535 penalty minutes in 269 games. . . . McFee also did a stint as the police chief in Prince Albert and has been the president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. He has been Saskatchewan’s deputy minister of justice for six years. . . . McFee was an assistant coach with the Raiders in 1993-94, and served as team president for nine years (2008-17). He remains a member of their board of directors.



The OHL’s Flint Firebirds won their first game of the season on Wednesday afternoon, beating the visiting Sarnia Sting, 7-4, in front of an announced crowd of 3,534 in what was billed as a ‘School Day Game.’ . . . F Jake Durham had three goals for the Firebirds, who now are 1-16-1, having scored 45 goals and allowed 108.



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Ex-Raiders captain succeeds Coach Q in Chicago . . . Kootenay suspends veteran defenceman . . . Russians earn split with WHL


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Last season, there wasn’t even one mid-season coaching change in the NHL. On Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Joel Quenneville, giving the league its second PrinceAlbertfiring in 48 hours days.

The Los Angeles Kings relieved John Stevens of his duties on Sunday, and promptly named Willie Desjardins as the interim head coach.

In Chicago, Jeremy Colliton was named the head coach of the Blackhawks.

Colliton, 33, is from Blackie, Alta. He played four seasons (2001-05) with the Prince Albert Raiders and was the team captain for the last two.

Colliton has been coaching since Jan. 15, 2014, when he was named the interim head coach with Mora IK in the Allsvenskan in Sweden. He spent three full seasons (204-17) as Mora IK’s head coach, before moving on to the Rockford IceHogs, the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate. He was in his second season as the IceHogs’ head coach when the Blackhawks promoted him to Chicago on Tuesday.

Glenn Hicks of panow.com spoke with former Raiders F Mark Odnokon about Colliton’s days in Prince Albert and that’s all right here.


The Kootenay Ice apparently has suspended veteran D Sam Huston.

Huston, a 19-year-old from Brandon, hasn’t played for the Ice since taking part in a 7-2 Kootenaynewloss to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings on Oct, 26. The WHL’s roster report of Oct. 30 showed him as having been deleted from Kootenay’s roster with no mention of having been placed on a suspended list.

The WHL roster report that was issued yesterday doesn’t contain any mention of Huston or F Brendan Semchuk, 19, who no longer is with the Ice.

According to Bradley Jones of Cranbrook radio station Summit 107FM, the Ice issued a statement saying that Huston’s “current status is suspended.”

Jones added: “It appears that Huston’s suspension from the team is indefinite as there were no further details provided about the current situation . . .”

The Ice didn’t provide any details as to why Huston was suspended.

A ninth-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft, he played 119 games with the Ice, and had four goals and 13 assists. This season, he had one goal in 12 games.

Semchuk, meanwhile, has left the team to “pursue his educational goals,” according to the Ice. He last played on Oct. 28 in an 8-5 home-ice loss to the Red Deer Rebels. Semchuk is shown as having played in a 2-1 shootout victory over the Broncos in Swift Current on Oct. 30, but, in fact, he was scratched.

Semchuk, from Kamloops, was acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sept. 27 for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft. Semchuk, 19, had two goals and three assists in 15 games with Kootenay. The Vancouver Giants selected him 10th overall in the 2014 bantam draft. In 159 career regular-season games, he recorded 23 goals and 30 assists.


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The Everett Silvertips have added D Dylan Anderson, 16, to their roster. Anderson, from Langley, B.C., plays for the prep team at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C., where he has 12 points, including two goals, in 12 games. . . . He was pointless in one game with Everett last season. . . . Anderson was a fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. . . . The Silvertips are scheduled to play Friday against the Blazers in Kamloops.


Paul Elliott, a former WHL defenceman, has signed on as an assistant coach with the USA-Central Hockey League’s Laredo, Texas, Bucks. Elliott will work alongside Jarred Mohr, the team’s new head coach. Mohr has taken over from Wayne Smith, who left for what the team says is personal reasons after just one game, that on Oct. 26. . . . Elliott, 38, is from Surrey B.C. He played five seasons in the WHL (1996-2001), spending time with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Medicine Hat Tigers, Kamloops Blazers and Regina Pats. . . . He played five seasons with the Bucks of the now-defunct Central Hockey League. . . . The USA-CHL is a four-team junior league in its first season of operation.


F Stepan Starkov broke a 1-1 tie with a late PP goal as Team Russia beat Team WHL, 3-1, canadarussia2017in Langley, B.C. . . . The WHL had won the opener of the CIBC Canada Russia Series, 2-1, in Kamloops on Monday night. . . . Starkov’s first goal of the series came at 18:18 of the third period with WHL F Nolan Foote serving a high-sticking minor. The WHL had failed to score on a PP opportunity just four minutes earlier. . . . Russia was 1-3 on the PP; the WHL lads were 0-3. . . . The WHL took a 1-0 lead on a goal from D Ty Smith of the Spokane Chiefs at 5:10 of the first period. . . . F Bulat Shafigullin tied it at 19:07 of the first. . . . The Russians put it away at 19:10 of the third period as F Ivan Muranov got the empty-netter. . . . The Russian side got 33 saves from G Pyotr Kochetkov, who had backed up Daniil Tarasov on Monday. . . . G David Tendeck of the Vancouver Giants stopped 25 shots in a solid night’s work. . . . F Dillon Hamaliuk was added to Team WHL’s roster yesterday, replacing F Justin Almeida of the Moose Jaw Warriors who was injured in Monday’s game. Almeida suffered an apparent shoulder injury and left the game early in the first period. . . . The series is scheduled to continue on Thursday in Sarnia, Ont., with the Russians playing Team OHL. Game 4 is to be played on Monday in Oshawa. . . . The games featuring Team QMJHL are scheduled for Sherbrooke on Nov. 13 and Drummondville on Nov. 15.


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Surgery likely for Anderson-Dolan . . . Hurricanes’ prospect going NCAA route . . . WHL opens series with victory


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F Jaret Anderson-Dolan of the Spokane Chiefs wasn’t listed on the most-recent WHL roster report, which was released on Oct. 30.

After the host Chiefs beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-1, later that night, Kevin Dudley of SpokaneChiefsthe Spokane Spokesman-Review reported that the Chiefs “were without Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who missed the game for undisclosed reasons.”

When Anderson-Dolan didn’t play in a 6-2 loss to the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Saturday, it was reported that he was out with an upper-body injury.

It all became clear on Monday afternoon when TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the king of hockey insiders, reported via Twitter that Anderson-Dolan has a broken bone in one wrist and is in Los Angeles where it is anticipated that he will undergo surgery.

Anderson-Dolan, 19, was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the NHL’s 2017 draft. He started this season with the Kings and have one assist in five games when he was returned to the Chiefs on Oct. 22.

He got into two games with the Chiefs and scored twice.

Assuming Anderson-Dolan undergoes surgery, he would be out up to two months, Canada’s national junior team is scheduled to open its selection camp in Victoria on Dec. 10. The 2019 World Junior Championships is scheduled to being in Vancouver and Victoria on Dec. 26.


F Carson Dyck of Lethbridge has committed to Penn State where he will play for the Nittany Lions starting in the 2020-21 season. Dyck, 17, is playing with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. . . . He was a second-round selection by the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft. . . . On Jan. 9, the Broncos dealt his rights and a third-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for F Ryley Lindgren, then 20, and a sixth-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft. . . . Carson is the son of Michael Dyck, the first-year head coach of the Vancouver Giants.


The Swift Current Broncos have signed F Ian Briscoe, 19, and added him to their roster. Briscoe, from Winnipeg, had three assists in 25 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season. He also played with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings, putting up six goals and nine assists in 17 games. . . . The Thunderbirds selected Briscoe in the fifth round of the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. . . . In 2016-17, he had two goals in 20 games with Seattle. . . . Briscoe could make his debut with the Broncos against the host Prince Albert Raiders on Friday.


F Connor Gutenberg of the Brandon Wheat Kings has been suspended for one game after he was hit with a charging major and game misconduct during a 4-3 loss to the host Kelowna Rockets on Saturday. . . . Gutenberg was tossed after a hit on Kelowna F Leif Mattson in the neutral zone. . . . The teams were 3-3 when Gutenberg was penalized at 15:57 of the third period. Kelowna F Kyle Topping snapped the tie at 18:50, with the Rockets on the PP.


Willie Desjardins spent his first full day as head coach of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings on Monday. If you are wondering how it went, Jon Rosen of lakingsinsider.com has a comprehensive look right here. This is good stuff!


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F Jordy Bellerive of the Lethbridge Hurricanes scored the winning goal as Team WHL opened the CIBC Canada Russia Series with a 2-1 victory in Kamloops. . . . Game 2 will be canadarussia2017played tonight in Langley, B.C., before the spotlight shifts to the OHL. . . . F Dylan Cozens, who also plays for the Hurricanes, gave the WHL a 1-0 lead at 14:00 of the first period. Cozens is expected to be an early selection in the NHL’s 2019 draft. . . . The Russians tied it just 26 seconds later when F Pavel Shen scored. Shen, whose NHL rights belong to the Boston Bruins, was named the Russian’s player of the game. . . . Bellerive’s goal, at 10:31 of the third period, broke the 1-1 tie. Bellerive has signed with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . G Ian Scott of the Prince Albert Raiders stopped 27 shots for the WHL. His NHL rights belong to the Toronto Maple Leafs. . . . Russian G Daniil Tarasov, whose NHL rights belong to the Columbus Blue Jackets, wasn’t as busy as Scott, with 21 saves, but he made several top-notch stops. . . . F Justin Almeida of the Moose Jaw Warriors left the game early in the first period — he took a bit of a cross-check to the back from Russian D Alexander Lyakhov — and didn’t return. . . . F Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks, who was selected as the WHL’s player of game, grabbed for his right knee after going awkwardly into the end boards late in the third period. He finished the shift, but looked to be in some discomfort at the bench as time wound down.


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Mondays with Murray: Kings Have a Cool Hand in Luc

SUNDAY, MAY 2, 1993 SPORTS

Copyright 1993/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

Kings Have a Cool Hand in Luc

It was less a game than a dock fight. The hockey version of a Rocky movie — all offense.

  The goaltenders might have been Laurel and Hardy. They couldn’t stop a beach ball. This is the way Charlie Chaplin would have played the part. Goals flew in from all over mondaysmurray2the place. Most of the night, the goalies looked like guys trying to fight off a cloud of bats.

  No one ever likened the 1993 Los Angeles Kings to the 1927 Yankees, but after consecutive nine-goal victories, you have to wonder if Murderers’ Row has taken to the ice. Eighteen goals in two games is the wildest kind of long-ball hitting for this sport. Most teams don’t score 18 goals in a month. Some teams couldn’t score 18 goals into an empty net.

  To be sure, Calgary’s Jeff Reese proved to be the next best thing to an empty net, a turnstile goalie. A measure of his ineptness can be found in the fact that the Kings in one period — the second — had four shots on goal and three of them went in. He gave up six goals in 13 shots and nine in 23. That is the rankest kind of generosity.

  Calgary might as well have had a snowman with a carrot for a nose, hunks of coal for eyes and a stovepipe hat in the crease. He ministered to the Kings’ growing reputation as a pack of wild-swinging, hip-shooting bad guys playing desperado hockey. Home-run hitters. Knockout punchers. Bomb throwers.

  The left wing, Luc Robitaille, takes issue with that image.

  “No,” he shakes his head. “It’s more like, we get the lead, and then they have to take chances to get even and they get reckless. When they do, we know they’re over-committed, over-extended and we take advantage and strike quickly.”

  However it was done, it put the Kings into May still alive in the NHL tournament, a first for the franchise.

  An even more curious factor in the Kings-Flames game Thursday that moved the Kings into the division final against Vancouver was that it was done with Robitaille getting no shots on goal.

  If you think that isn’t unusual, you haven’t been paying attention. Because, almost unnoticed in the evolution of the team, Luc has become the cleanup hitter of the Kings. Larrupin’ Luc.

  Hardly had Robitaille settled in as a King when Wayne Gretzky became one. This is like joining the Yankees about the same time as Babe Ruth, or playing left field with Willie Mays in center. Your chances of being overlooked are good to astronomical.

  Gretzky, of course, is Babe Ruth, the most potent force ever to play this game, with the most goals ever scored in a season, 92; most assists, one season and lifetime, 163 and 1,563, respectively, and more records than the next five guys combined.

  Still, if Robitaille were on a team not overshadowed by a legend, he would be approaching superstar status himself. This season, he scored more goals, 63, and piled up more points, 125, than any other left wing in history.

  If he played for Montreal, he would be on billboards and giving interviews in his native French. In L.A., they find out he’s a hockey player and they ask him if he knows Gretzky personally, or they pronounce his name “Robo-telly” instead of the correct “Robo-tye.”

  No one calls him “Rocket” or “Punch” or “the golden Gorilla” or “the Great One” or even “King” or “Boom Boom,” but the goalies know who he is.

  He comes out shooting. He leads the Kings annually in shots on goal — 265 this season, 240 last year. His nickname should be “Two-Gun.” Billy the Kid never pulled the trigger so much.

  But what he lacks in press attention, he gets on locker-room blackboards. Hockey has a sub-tier method of recognition. Enemy teams might even let the great Gretzky get loose on the point in key situations, but Billy the Kid Robitaille usually finds a posse surrounding him. Guarding Robitaille is a growth industry.

  The theory for years has been that, if you bottle up Gretzky, someone is open somewhere. But when Robitaille doesn’t get a single shot to rattle off the nets or the goaltender’s pads, attention to him is being paid somewhere.

  Luc is used to being overlooked. He wasn’t fast. He didn’t have this 100-m.p.h. slap shot. He had all his teeth. His face didn’t look like a zipper. So they drafted him along about the time they were signing the Zamboni driver, 171st.

  But Robitaille always had an instinct for the end zone — on this case, the net. Skating under a clock, there were dozens ahead of him. Skating through a line of enforcers or going in the corners with a team called the “Bullies,” he was as fast as he had to be. When he got the puck, he tended to disappear. Marcel Dionne, no less, once commented on his balance, “You can’t knock him off the puck.”

  If hockey had a three-point shot, the Kings’ final victory over Calgary would have been double. Gretzky’s first score was a slap shot from the blue line and Jari Kurri’s smash to make the game 4-2 was a 50-footer with more air time than a tee shot by John Daly.

  The Kings have now found their niche. When you can airmail in nine goals in only 23 shots one night and nine in 35 on another, you don’t need stick-handling or behind-the-net smuggling. You just open fire. Send the other team into bunkers or diving for cover. If you get the other guys toe to toe, you win.

  If they’re going to play grip-it-and-rip-it, Robitaille can play that game, too. He has 348 lifetime goals, no current threat to Gretzky’s 765, but when the Kings can fire in nine a night, the chances are that Robitaille is diverting the attention of someone somewhere on the ice.

  A guy who was drafted 171st and then went out and became rookie of the year, and who has all his teeth and ears after seven years and 476 penalty minutes, is a force. If the Kings are going to come into town in these playoffs now like the James Gang with a reputation for a fast draw and shooting first, the guy they call “Lucky” will be riding shotgun.

Reprinted with the permission of the Los Angeles Times

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation, P.O. Box 60753, Pasadena, CA 91116

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What is the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation? 

  The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, established in 1999 to perpetuate the Jim Murray legacy, and his love for and dedication to his extraordinary career in journalism. Since 1999, JMMF has granted 104 $5,000 scholarships to outstanding journalism students. Success of the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation’s efforts depends heavily on the contributions from generous individuals, organizations, corporations, and volunteers who align themselves with the mission and values of the JMMF.

Like us on Facebook, and visit the JMMF website, www.jimmurrayfoundation.org.

Scattershooting on the eighth Sunday before Christmas . . . Desjardins goes to Hollywood . . . Tigers, ‘Hawks both get victories

Scattershooting

A note from Jack Finarelli, the Sports Curmudgeon: “Memo to Commissioner Manfred — I know you cannot predict which games will take forever and which ones will be over in short order. Nonetheless, please use your ‘Commish authority’ to require one game in the World Series to be played with an afternoon start. In fact, let me be more specific — make it the Saturday World Series game. You may get lucky and have a great game on TV at a time when a lot more people can be awake to see it happen.”


Headline at TheOnion.com: Golden State raises 2018, 2019, 2020 championship banners.



So . . . the NHL sends the Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets to Finland and games on Thursday and Friday, both of which began at 11 a.m. PT, were regional telecasts via one TSN channel in Canada. Meanwhile, games between the Chicago Blackhawks and host Vancouver Canucks, and the Colorado Avalanche and host Calgary Flames, which had been played the previous nights, were being replayed Thursday and Friday mornings on four Sportsnet channels. . . . Is this what the NHL calls growing the game?

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Thankfully, ICYMI, the Christmas movie season is upon us. Yes, at least one channel on my satellite package is showing Christmas movies for something like 20 hours a day. Yes, every day. You’re welcome. Hey, that’s really growing the game.


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“A man using a blowtorch to kill spiders burned down his mother’s house in Fresno, Calif.,” writes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “He reportedly got the idea watching Jon Gruden tinker with the Raiders’ roster.”

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One more from Perry: “We can just picture Dodgers shortstop Manny (Don’t Call Me Charlie Hustle) Machado drowning his sorrows after the World Series . . . ‘Bartender, make it a single.’ ”



On my way home from a Friday night hockey game, I drove past a home that featured a Christmas tree all lit up and standing in a corner of the living room. Umm, Friday was Nov. 2. . . . Just for those folks, right here is Darlene Love with All Alone for Christmas.


Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe, has a question: “How long until Vegas looks at the purchase of the Oakland Raiders under California’s Lemon Law?”


“Four kids came to our door dressed as Jacksonville Jaguars,” relates comedy writer Alex Kaseberg of Halloween, “handed us a $64,170 bar tab and then ran away.”



A note to Toronto sports writers from RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com: “Auston Matthews is a good hockey player, but he’s not a god or a saint. So stop writing columns like hte Gospel According to Matthews.”

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“Retired Olympic gold-medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton just got divorced after 27 years,” reports Currie. “I’m not saying she’s ready to start dating, although she may give you a tumble.”


MacBeth

F Tyler Coulter (Brandon, 2012-17) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Vimmerby (Sweden, Division 1). Last season, he had one goal and three assists in 14 games with the Jacksonville IceMen (ECHL), and two goals and one assist in 11 games with the University of Calgary (Canada West, USports).


ThisThat

ICYMI, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings fired head coach John Stevens on Sunday morning in a move that had a number of WHL ties. . . . Willie Desjardins, 61, was named the interim head coach, which should take him through the remainder of this season. . . . Desjardins spent 2002-10 with the Medicine Hat Tigers, the first three seasons as head coach and the last five as general manager and head coach. . . . Desjardins also was the head coach of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks for three seasons (2014-17). The Kings are scheduled to visit Vancouver on Nov. 27. . . . Desjardins spent last season as the head coach of Canada’s national men’s team. . . . Assistant coach Don Nachbaur, the third-winningest head coach in WHL history, also was fired by the Kings. Nachbaur, who was in his second season on the Kings’ staff, has coached in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs. His 692 regular-season victories trail only Don Hay (750) and Ken Hodge (742). . . . Dave Lowry, a former WHL coach, remains on the Kings’ coaching staff, as does goaltending coach Bill Ranford. Lowry coached with the Calgary Hitmen (2005-09) and Victoria Royals (2012-17). He is in his second season with the Kings. . . . Ranford played three seasons (1983-86) with the New Westminster Bruins and has been with the Kings since 2006-07.

There is more right here from Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times.


Chances are that most hockey fans had never heard Elgar Petersen’s name before the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crashed on April 6. After that accident, though, his name was heard rather frequently because the arena in Humboldt, which is home to the SJHL’s Broncos, is named after him. Petersen died on Saturday evening at the age of 82. Phil Tank of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has more on Petersen right here.


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SUNDAY NIGHT NOTES:

D Linus Nassen scored two goals and added an assist to help the Medicine Hat Tigers to a Tigers Logo Official5-4 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . The Tigers (9-7-2) had lost their previous two games (0-1-1). . . . The Hitmen (5-11-2) have lost two in a row. . . . Calgary was playing its third game in as many nights. It beat the visiting Tigers 7-5 on Friday, then dropped a 1-0 home-ice decision to the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday. . . . F Kaden Elder got the Hitmen to within a goal, at 3-2, at 6:16 of the second period. . . . Nassen, who has four goals, then stretch the lead to 5-2 with goals at 14:43 and 18:01, the latter on a PP. . . . The Hitmen got close on goals from F Luke Coleman (4), at 18:33 of the second, and Elder (8), at 17:55 of the third. . . . Nassen, a 20-year-old Swedish sophomore, has three three-point outings this season after enjoying two of them last season. . . . Medicine Hat was 2-4 on the PP. . . . Calgary held a 44-33 edge in shots, including 16-1 in the third period. . . . The Tigers got 40 saves from G Jordan Hollett.


The Portland Winterhawks struck for four PP goals en route to an 8-6 victory over the PortlandChiefs in Spokane. . . . The Winterhawks (10-6-1) won three games in as many nights this weekend. They swept a Friday-Saturday doubleheader from the visiting Victoria Royals, 7-3 and 2-1. . . . The Chiefs (8-6-3) have lost two in a row. . . . Spokane actually led this one, 5-3, with five minutes left in the second period. . . . F Jake Gricius (9) pulled Portland to within one, on a PP, at 15:22 of the second. . . . F Joachim Blichfeld, who finished with two goals and three assists, tied it at 4:04 of the third. . . . D Nolan Reid (3) gave the Chiefs the lead, again, at 5:41. . . . Portland put it away with the last three goals — from F Ryan Hughes (6), on a PP, at 6:18; F Reece Newkirk (10), on a PP, at 17:00; and Blichfeld (14), into an empty net, at 19:27. . . . Portland G Dante Giannuzzi came on in relief to stop four of the five shots he faced in 27:18 and earn his first WHL victory. . . . Blichfeld now has 35 points, including 21 assists, in 17 games. This was his second five-point game of his career, both of which have come this season. . . . Portland got four assists from D Jared Freadrich, who enjoyed the first four-point night of a career that is into its fourth season. . . . The Chiefs got two goals and two assists from F Riley Woods, who has 12 goals, with F Ethan McIndoe (4) scoring once and adding two assists, and F Jake McGrew drawing three assists. . . . Portland F Jaydon Dureau scored his second goal of the season on a penalty shot at 18:09 of the first period, tying the score 3-3 in the process. . . . The Winterhawks outshot the Chiefs, 53-23, including 23-10 in the first period. . . . Portland F Ryan Hughes, who left Saturday’s game in the first period after absorbing a hard hit, was back in the lineup last night and had a goal, his sixth, and an assist. . . . The Winterhawks were without F Cody Glass, while the Chiefs scratched D Ty Smith and F Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Glass and Smith are expected to play for Team WHL against a touring Russian side tonight in Kamloops as the annual CIBC Canada-Russia series gets started. Anderson-Dolan would play if healthy, but now has missed three games with an undisclosed injury. . . . F Seth Jarvis (Portland) and F Jack Finley (Spokane) are at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge.


Note that after Sunday’s games, the WHL is off until Friday.


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Humboldt mourns loss of legend . . . Goaltenders shine in WHL games . . . Broncos win second OT in row


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SATURDAY NIGHT NOTES:

G Ethan Anders stopped 34 shots to lead the visiting Red Deer Rebels to a 1-0 victory over Red Deerthe Calgary Hitmen in an afternoon affair. . . . Red Deer (11-4-1) has won three in a row. . . . Calgary (5-10-2) is 0-3-1 against Red Deer this season, having lost three of those games by one goal. . . . Anders was especially busy in the third period when the Hitmen, helped by three straight PP opportunities, held a 16-1 edge in shots. He has one shutout this season and two in his career. . . . F Jeff de Wit (10) scored the game’s only goal, on a PP, at 17:34 of the first period, redirecting a point shot by D Dawson Barteaux past G Jack McNaughton. . . . D Alex Alexeyev had an assist to run his point streak to seven games. He has four goals and seven assists over that stretch. For the season, he has 21 points, 14 of them assists, in 16 games. Alexeyev is the only WHLer on the Russian roster for the first two games of the CIBC Canada-Russia series in Kamloops and Langley, B.C., on Monday and Tuesday nights. . . . G Cam Ward of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, who played with Red Deer, was in the Saddledome and stopped by to see the Rebels before the game. The Blackhawks played the host Flames last night.


F Keenan Taphorn scored two goals to help his new team, the host Moose Jaw Warriors, MooseJawWarriorsbeat his old team, the Kootenay Ice, 5-1. . . . The Warriors improved to 7-5-3. . . . The Ice (6-9-3) has lost two in a row. . . . Taphorn’s fourth goal, at 7:14 of the second period, gave the home team a 2-0 lead, and his fifth goal of the season, on a PP, handed Moose Jaw a 4-1 edge. . . . This was the first matchup between these teams since a mid-October trade in which F Nick Bowman joined the Ice and twins Kaeden and Keenan Taphorm moved to the Warriors. Kaeden, however, is out with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Warriors had a 43-18 edge in shots, including 21-7 in the second period and 14-4 in the third. . . . Warriors D Josh Brook had two assists. He’s got 15 points, including 10 assists, in 12 games.


The Regina Pats scored the game’s last two goals and beat the visiting Saskatoon Blades, Pats6-5. . . . The Pats improved to 5-12-0, while the Blades slipped to 10-7-2. Saskatoon was 1-2-0 in playing three games in as many nights. . . . The Blades erased a 4-2 deficit and took a 5-4 lead with three second-period goals in a span of 3:14, the scores coming from D Seth Bafaro (1), F Max Gerlach (12) and F Chase Wouters (2). The latter two came via the PP. . . . The Pats tied it when F Jake Leschyshyn (9) scored at 9:03 of the third period, and F Nick Henry (8) won it, on a PP, at 15:48. . . . The Pats were 2-for-2 on the PP; the Blades were 3-for-6. . . . D Aaron Hyman had three assists for Regina, with Leschyshyn and Henry each scoring twice and adding an assist. . . . The Blades got three assists from F Kirby Dach. . . . Regina F Scott Mahovlich was awarded a penalty shot at 12:27 of the third period, with the score 5-5, but wasn’t able to beat G Dorrin Luding. . . . Gerlach scored twice for Saskatoon, giving him 198 career regular-season points, including 111 goals. . . . The Pats had F Logan Nijhoff back for a second straight game after he recovered from a concussion, but F Korby Morrisseau (concussion) and F Robbie Holmes (knee) remain out. . . . Darren Steinke, the travellin’ blogger, was on hand and his post is right here.


F Andrew Fyten, playing in his 200th regular-season game, scored in OT to give the Swift SCBroncosCurrent Broncos a 4-3 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Broncos (3-14-1) have points in three straight (2-0-1). They have won two OT games in as many nights. Their other victory came in a shootout. . . . The Oil Kings (10-7-2) have points in six straight (5-0-1). . . . Fyten’s fourth goal of the season came 41 seconds into OT. He was playing in his 45th game with the Broncos, after spending 155 with the Calgary Hitmen. . . . F Alec Zawatsky (7) gave Swift Current a 3-1 lead at 17:53 of the second period. . . . F Brett Kemp (11) pulled Edmonton to within a goal at 19:26, and D Matthew Robertson (2) tied it at 6:18 of the third. . . . Swift Current was outshot, 45-20, including 21-2 in the third period. . . . The Broncos got 42 saves from G Isaac Poulter, who recorded his first WHL victory. . . . F Trey Fix-Wolansky had three assists for the Oil Kings. In his last three games, he’s got one goal and 10 assists. He has at least a point in seven straight games and has moved into a tie for the WHL scoring lead. Fix-Wolansky and F Brett Leason of the Prince Albert Raiders, who had the night off, are tied, with 39 points. Fix-Wolansky has a WHL-leading 28 assists.


F Nolan Foote and F Kyle Topping scored third-period PP goals to give the host Kelowna KelownaRocketsRockets a 4-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Rockets (7-10-0) are 3-0-0 under new head coach Adam Foote and have won five of six. . . . The Wheat Kings (8-4-5) went 2-3-2 on a seven-game road swing. That includes a 2-2-1 record in the B.C.Division. . . . Brandon, which was 3-for-6 on the PP, went ahead 3-2 when D Braden Schneider (3) scored at 11:55 of the second period. . . . Foote (10) tied it with his second goal of the game, at 3:46 of the third. . . . Brandon lost F Connor Gutenberg to a charging major and game misconduct at 15:57, and Topping broke the 3-3 tie with his seventh goal at 18:50. . . . F Luka Burzan (11) scored Brandon’s first two goals.


G Shane Farkas stopped 34 shots to lead the Portland Winterhawks to a 2-1 victory over Portlandthe visiting Victoria Royals. . . . The Winterhawks, who had beaten the Royals 7-3 in Portland on Friday, are 9-6-1. . . . The Royals now are 9-5-0. . . . The Winterhawks took a 2-0 lead on second-period goals from F Cross Hanas (2), at 2:10, and F Joachim Blichfeld (12), on a PP, at 8:46. . . . F Dino Kambeitz (3) got Victoria’s goal, on a PP, at 5:31 of the third period. . . . G Griffen Outhouse stopped 36 shots for Victoria. . . . F Cody Glass had two assists for Portland. He’s got 29 points, including 23 assists, in 14 games. . . . The Royals, already without F Dante Hannoun due to an undisclosed injury,  scratched F Kaid Oliver and D Ralph Jarratt, both of whom played on Friday. . . . F Ryan Hughes of the Winterhawks left in the first period after absorbing a hard hit. He didn’t return.


G Taylor Gauthier stopped 37 shots to lead the Prince George Cougars to a 2-0 victor over PrinceGeorgethe visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Cougars (7-7-3) had beaten the Thunderbirds, 4-1, on Friday night. . . . Seattle (7-6-2) has lost three in a row. . . . D Cole Moberg (5) opened the scoring at 6:19 of the first period, and F Jackson Leppard (4) added insurance, on a PP, at 6:57 of the second. . . . Gauthier was especially sharp in the third period when his guys were outshot 17-5. That was his first career shutout and came in his 45th appearance, 13 of them this season. He is 5-5-2, 2.90, .909 this season.


The visiting Everett Silvertips opened up a 5-0 second-period lead and cruised to a 6-2 Everettvictory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Everett now is 11-6-0. . . . The Chiefs are 8-5-3. . . . The Silvertips scored only two goals on 55 shots in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Tri-City Americans on Friday night. Last night, Everett scored six times on 23 shots. . . . F Connor Dewar (12) got Everett started at 12:36 of the first period and F Jackson Berezowski (2) made it 2-0 at 13:56. . . . F Sean Richards (2) upped the lead to 3-0, on a PP, at 7:35 and the Silvertips were in clear control. . . . D Sahvan Khaira had three assists for the Silvertips. . . . Everett G Dustin Wolf stopped 23 shots. He is 11-6-0, 1.84, .924. . . . The Chiefs remain without F Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who has an undisclosed injury. . . . Spokane D Filip Kral played his second game since returning from an undisclosed injury that kept him out of the early part of the season.


G David Tendeck stopped 30 shots to help the Vancouver Giants to a 2-1 victory over the VancouverKamloops Blazers in Langley, B.C. . . . The Giants (12-3-2) have won two in a row. . . . The Blazers (6-7-2) had points in five straight (4-0-1). . . . F Milos Roman (8) gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 19:18 of the first period as he ran his goal streak to three games. . . . F Yannik Valenti (2) made it 2-0 at 12:49 of the second period. . . . F Tristen Nielsen, acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in a swap for F James Malm earlier in the week, played his first game with Vancouver and drew an assist on Valenti’s goal. . . . The Blazers got to within a goal when F Zane Franklin (12) scored, on a PP, at 17:20 of the second. He’s got 12 goals in 15 games this season, after totalling 14 in 67 with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last season. . . . Tendeck, who is on the roster of the WHL team that will play against a Russian side on Monday and Tuesday in Kamloops and Langley, is 8-3-1, 2.33, .907. . . . The Giants, with three defencemen out with injuries, have added D Landon Fuller, 19, to their roster, at least for the short term. From 100 Mile House, B.C., he played 16 games with the Tri-City Americans over the previous three seasons. This season, he had one assist in eight games with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. . . . Vancouver GM Barclay Parneta was with the Americans when they selected Fuller in the WHL bantam draft. . . . The Giants remain without D Dylan Plouffe, Matt Barberis and D Joel Sexsmith.


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Leason, Raiders freeze out Ice . . . King gives Broncos an OT victory . . . Ams’ Warm too hot for Silvertips


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The Edmonton Oil Kings announced Friday afternoon that F Ty Gerla “has left the team to pursue opportunities outside of hockey.” . . . Gerla, 19, is from Calgary. . . . He was pointless in seven games this season. . . . Last season, he had three goals and 15 assists in 59 games, after putting up five goals and six assists in 43 games as a freshman in 2016-17. . . .

Meanwhile, the Regina Pats announced earlier in the day that D Jonas Harkins “is no longer with the team and has gone home to B.C.” . . . Harkins, 18, had one assist in 10 games this season. In 34 career regular-season games, split evenly between the Prince George Cougars and the Pats, he has two assists. . . . The son of former Cougars GM Todd Harkins, Jonas was dealt to Regina on Jan. 5 in a deal that also included F Jesse Gabrielle.


Last week, Hartley Miller of 94.3 The Goat in Prince George posted another edition of Cat Scan, a podcast that deals with the Cougars. Miller provides colour on home game broadcasts, so follows the Cougars closely. In this edition, he chats with Eric Brewer, the former NHL/WHL defenceman who is one of the franchise’s six owners. It’s interesting and it’s all right here.


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FRIDAY NIGHT NOTES:

F Max Gerlach scored twice to help the Saskatoon Blades to a 5-2 victory over the Warriors in Moose Jaw. . . . Saskatoon improved to 10-6-2. . . . The Warriors (6-5-3) had points in each of their previous two games (1-0-1). . . . F Kirby Dach (11) gave the Blades a 2-1 lead at 12:57 of the second period and they weren’t caught after that. . . . Gerlach, who has 10 goals, gave the visitors a 3-1 lead at 15:16, then made it 4-2 at 17:01 of the third period. . . . Saskatoon had a 36-26 edge in shots. . . . Moose Jaw associate coach Mark O’Leary is at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge.


F Brett Leason scored twice and added two assists as the host Prince Albert Raiders PrinceAlbertbounced the Kootenay Ice, 7-2. . . . Prince Albert (16-1-0) has won nine in a row. Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow) reports that the Raiders have trailed for only two minutes 44 seconds in those nine victories. . . . Kootenay (6-8-3) had won its previous two games. It is 2-1-0 on a four-game trip into Saskatchewan. . . . Leason leads the WHL in goals (17) and points (39). He has at least a point in each of his 17 games this season. Leason, 19, finished last season with 16 goals and 17 assists in 66 games. . . . The Raiders scored the game’s first three goals, two of them via the PP, to take control. Leason’s first goal, at 3:33 of the third period, gave them a 6-1 lead. . . . F Parker Kelly (7) scored a shorthanded goal for the Raiders at 16:32 of the second period. That was the Raiders’ 10 shorthanded goal of the season; they have allowed only six PP goals. . . . Kootenay D Dallas Hines and F Brett Davis each played in his 200th regular-season game. Hines, 20, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft, has played only with the Ice. Davis, 19, played 85 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes before moving on to the Ice. The Hurricanes selected him in the fourth round of the 2014 bantam draft. . . .The Ice added D Anson McMaster, 16, to its roster for the game. From Siksika, Alta., he was a second-round pick in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. The 6-foot-4, 175-pounder has one goal and six assists with the midget AAA Okotoks Oilers. . . . The Raiders had F Cohner Saleski, 16, and D Nolan Allan, 15, in their lineup. Saleski, a first-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft, had one assist in two games earlier this season. He has seven goals and 10 assists in 12 games with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. Allan was pointless in two earlier games with the Raiders. He has seven goals and eight assists in 15 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. . . . The Raiders were without D Kaiden Guhle and F Ozzy Wiesblatt, both of whom are at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. Thus the need to add Saleski and Allan. . . . Prince Albert had D Sergei Sapego back after a three-game absence due to illness.


The Edmonton Oil Kings scored the game’s first five goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the Pats in Regina. . . . The Oil Kings (10-7-1) have won five in a row. This was the opener of a six-game road trip. . . . The Pats fell to 4-12-0. They are 1-9-0 at home. . . . F Brett Kemp (10) scored twice for Edmonton, providing 2-0 and 3-0 leads, and added an assist. . . . Edmonton F Trey Fix-Wolansky had four assists. He has five goals and 13 assists in his last six games, and leads the WHL with 25 assists. . . . D Brady Pouteau was in Regina’s lineup for the first time this season after recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. . . . F Dylan Guenther, the first-overall selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft, made his debut with the Oil Kings. From Edmonton, Guenther has 15 goals and 10 assists in 12 games with the Northern Alberta X-Treme prep team.


F Noah King scored in OT to give the host Swift Current Broncos a 5-4 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Broncos (2-14-1) had lost their previous eight games (0-7-1). Both of their victories this season have come in extra time. They beat the Wheat Kings in Brandon, 3-2 in a shootout, on Oct. 13. . . . The Hurricanes (7-5-4) have lost two in a row (0-1-1). . . . F Ty Kolle (4) gave Lethbridge a 4-3 lead with a PP goal at 17:14 of the third period. . . . The Broncos tied it when D Connor Horning (3) scored on the PP at 19:24. . . . King won it at 2:59 of extra time with his second goal of the season. . . . D Alex Moar, who was acquired from the Everett Silvertips during the week, had the primary assist on the winner. . . . Lethbridge F Jadon Joseph ran his point streak to 10 games with his eighth goal, on a PP.


F James Malm, in his first game with his new club, broke a 5-5 tie at 18:42 of the third period as the Calgary Hitmen beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 7-5. . . . Calgary (5-9-2) had lost its previous three games. . . . Medicine Hat (8-7-2) had points in its previous three games (2-0-1). . . . F Jake Kryski (9), who also had two assists, had given Calgary a 5-4 lead at 10:11 of the third period. . . . D Cole Clayton (2) pulled the Tigers even at 13:04. . . . Malm snapped the tie at 18:42. He has 10 goals, nine of them with the Vancouver Giants, who dealt him to Calgary for F Tristen Nielsen during the week. . . . Calgary F Mark Kastelic (14) iced it with an empty-netter. He finished with two goals and an assist.


F Stelio Mattheos scored twice, including the OT winner, as the Brandon Wheat Kings BrandonWKregularbeat the Blazers, 3-2, in Kamloops. . . . Brandon (8-3-5) has points in three straight (2-0-1). It is 2-2-2 on a seven-game trip that ends tonight in Kelowna. The Wheat Kings are 2-1-1 in the B.C. Division portion of their road swing. . . . Kamloops (6-6-2) had won its previous four games. . . . Mattheos, who has 16 goals, pulled Brandon into a 1-1 tie at 19:51 in a goal that was counted after video review. Brandon crashed the net and the puck got across the goal line. Referee Steve Papp ruled ‘no goal’ because the net was off its moorings before the puck crossed the line. However, video review proved otherwise. . . . D Chase Hartje (2) gave Brandon a 2-1 lead at 7:05 of the third period. . . . Kamloops D Luke Zazula (2) tied it at 13:47. . . . The Wheat Kings won it when F Linden McCorrister hit Mattheos with a long pass and he went in to score at 3:34. . . . This game featured two goaltenders whose NHL rights belong to the Vegas Golden Knights. Brandon’s Jiri Patera, a 19-year-old from Czech Republic, was selected in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2017 draft. He has yet to sign an NHL deal. . . . Ferguson, 20, was taken by the Dallas Stars in the seventh round of that draft and later traded to Vegas. . . . Ferguson has signed with the Golden Knights. . . . Patera played last season with the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders so isn’t a stranger to North America. . . . Both goaltenders were outstanding, too. Ferguson finished with 38 saves, while Patera turned aside 32.


F Cody Glass had a goal and three assists to help the host Portland Winterhawks to a 7-3 victory over the Victoria Royals. . . . Portland (8-6-1) had lost its previous three games. . . . Victoria slipped to 9-4-0. . . . The Winterhawks took a 3-1 lead into the second period, only to have the Royals tied it on second-period goals from F Kaid Oliver (11), at 3:11, and F D-Jay Jerome (8), at 8:31. . . . Portland replied with the game’s last four goals. . . . F Ryan Hughes (5) broke the tie at 15:04 of the second, and F Joachim Blichfeld (11) added insurance at 9:55 of the third period. . . . D Jared Freadrich (2), who was acquired from Victoria in May, had Portland’s first goal. . . . D Brendan De Jong (4), who is from Victoria, had the Winterhawks’ second goal. . . . Glass now has 250 career regular-season points, including 85 goals, in 214 games, all with Portland. This season, he has six goals and 21 assists in 13 games.


The host Prince George Cougars scored four times in the first period and went on to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Cougars (6-7-3) had lost their previous four games (0-2-2). . . . Seattle (7-5-2) has lost two straight. . . . F Josh Maser (5) got the Cougars started just 41 seconds into the game. D Joel Lakusta (3), F Vladislav Mikhalchuk (3) and F Tyson Upper (2) added goals before the first period ended. . . . The home team held a 17-7 edge in first-period shots. . . . Seattle got its goal from F Samuel Huo (2) at 19:22 of the third period. . . . The Cougars got 21 stops from G Isaiah DiLaura.


G Beck Warm stopped 53 shots to lead the visiting Tri-City Americans to a 4-2 victory tri-cityover the Everett Silvertips. . . . The Americans (10-4-0) have won six in a row. . . . Everett (10-6-0) had won its previous three games. . . . The Silvertips held a 55-16 edge in shots, including 26-5 in the third period. . . . Tri-City F Sasha Mutala (4) broke a 1-1 tie at 7:06 of the second period, just 21 seconds after F Connor Dewar (11) had scored for the home team. . . . F Nolan Yaremko (11) gave the Americans a 3-1 lead at 19:24. That goal turned into the winner after F Riley Sutter (8) scored for Everett at 12:35 of the third. . . . F Parker AuCoin (10) got the empty-netter for Tri-City. . . . The Silvertips are without head coach Dennis Williams, who is at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in New Brunswick, through Nov. 10. In his absence, assistants Harry Mahood and Louis Mass are running things.


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Rybinski asks out of Medicine Hat . . . Krebs leads Ice past host Blades . . . Winkler Flyers forced to move


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F Petr Vala (Seattle, 1997-98) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Zell am See (Austria, Alps HL). Last season, with Zell am See, he had 13 goals and 25 assists in 35 games. He led the team in assists and points.


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F Henrik Rybinski is no longer with the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The Tigers revealed on Thursday that they “along with the family and the agent of Henrik Rybinski have mutually agreed to pursue a trade.”

In short, Rybinski wants more playing time, but found himself third on the team’s depth Tigers Logo Officialchart at centre, behind veterans James Hamblin and Ryan Chyzowski.

Shaun Clouston, the Tigers’ general manager and head coach, pointed out in a news release that with those two as the club’s top centres “we are not able or willing to meet that request.”

Rybinski’s agent is Daren Hermiston of PointsWest Sports & Entertainment.

Rybinski, 17, is from Vancouver. The Tigers selected him in the second round of the 2016 WHL bantam draft.

Last season, as a freshman, he had three goals and nine assists in 63 games with the Tigers. This season, the 6-foot-1, 170-pounder recorded one goal and four assists in 14 games.


The Prince George Cougars have added F Kjell Kjemhus, 17,to their roster. He will be PrinceGeorgeavailable to play tonight and Saturday against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Kjemhus, from Grande Prairie, Alta., had one assist in 10 games with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Last season, he had two goals and two assists in 25 games with the Cougars. . . . He was a fourth-round pick by the Regina Pats in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft. The Cougars acquired him from the Pats, along with D Ethan McColm and third- and fifth-round picks in the 2018 bantam draft on Jan. 5, in a deal that had F Jesse Gabrielle and D Jonas Harkins go to Regina.


The Kamloops Blazers have promoted Tim O’Donovan to director of hockey operations. O’Donovan, 32, has been with the Blazers on a full-time since 2009. Most recently, he has been the director of hockey/media administration.


F Alex Young, a sixth-round selection by the Everett Silvertips in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft, has made a commitment to attend Colgate University and play for the Raiders starting in 2020-21. . . . Young, 17, is from Calgary. He is in his second season with the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles and has 10 goals and nine assists in 16 games. Last season, he finished with 21 goals and 29 assists in 60 games.


Mike Benton, the radio voice of the Everett Silvertips, always — which is every second season — chronicles the team’s East Division road trip on his blog Benton Hockey. This season was no different and, as usual, it’s an entertaining read. . . . It’s all right here. Enjoy!


If you stop off here and enjoy what you see — or even if you don’t — feel free to click on the DONATE button over there on the right and make a contribution. Thanks in advance.


The MJHL’s Winkler Flyers will be out of their home arena for the next few weeks, so are Winklerin the process of shifting their operations to Morden, which is about 13 km to the west. . . . The City of Winkler revealed Thursday morning that the Winkler Centennial Arena will be closed for perhaps four weeks due to a mechanical failure that must be repaired immediately. . . . The problem was discovered Tuesday and the arena was closed on Wednesday night. . . . The Flyers practised in Morden on Thursday and will remain there for the next few weeks. . . . Interestingly, head coach Steve Mullin and assistant coach Rylan Price live in Morden, as do a number of players. . . . Winkler’s next home game is scheduled for Nov. 9 when the Waywayseecappo Wolverines come calling.


THURSDAY NIGHT NOTES:

The Kootenay Ice erased a 2-1 deficit with three third-period goals and beat the host KootenaynewSaskatoon Blades, 4-2. . . . This was the only game played in the WHL on this night. . . . The Ice (6-7-3) has won two in a row. . . . The Blades now are 9-6-2. . . . F Gary Haden (4) gave the Blades a 2-1 lead at 19:45 of the second period. . . . F Brad Ginnell (4) got Kootenay into a 2-2 tie at 6:02 of the third period. . . . F Jaeger White (9) broke the tie at 9:32, and F Peyton Krebs, who also had two assists, added insurance at 18:56 with his sixth. . . . White, 20, is one goal shy of his career high. He had 10 in 68 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season. . . . Krebs, 17, has six goals and 16 assists in 16 games. . . . G Duncan McGovern stopped 32 shots for the Ice. . . . Kootenay had lost its last eight games in Saskatoon. . . . Earlier in the day, the Ice announced that it had brought in D Karter Prosofsky for the game. Prosofsky, 15, is from Saskatoon and plays for the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. He was a second-round selection in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft. . . . Prosofsky’s father, Tyler, played in the WHL with the Tacoma/Kelowna Rockets (1992-96). Karter’s uncle, Garrett, played with the Saskatoon Blades, Prince Albert Raiders and Portland Winterhawks (1996-2001). . . . Karter made his WHL debut in this one, as did F Owen Pederson, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft.


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Silvertips add to defence corps . . . Giants and Hitmen swap veteran forwards . . . Ice trims two from roster


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The Everett Silvertips, it’s safe to say, are all in this season. Any doubt one may have had about that was erased on Wednesday when the Silvertips acquired Russian D Artyom EverettMinulin, 20, from the Swift Current Broncos.

The Silvertips gave up D Alex Moar, 17, in the exchange, while also getting back an eight-round selection in the WHL’s 2021 bantam draft.

The Silvertips had room on their roster for a 20-year-old and an import, so Minulin fills both of those spots. The import spot was available because F Peter Melcher, a freshman from Slovakian, is, as general manager Garry Davidson put it, “currently unavailable to play.” Melcher was listed on this week’s WHL roster report as being out indefinitely with an upper-body injury.

Minulin has yet to play this season after having had off-season shoulder surgery. The Broncos’ roster report listed him as day-to-day.

In 206 career regular-season games, all with the Broncos, Minulin put up 126 points. Last season, he had 13 goals and 30 assists in 64 regular-season games, then added a goal and seven assists in 20 playoff games as the Broncos won the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

“Artyom Minulin is a special talent who elevates the play of his teammates,” Davidson said in a news release. “The role he’s excelled in as a high-impact defenceman played a big piece in helping Swift Current win the WHL championship last season . . .

“He carries a tremendous reputation as a defenceman with an extremely hard shot, deft touch with the puck, and acumen to excel in all three zones.”

F Sean Richards and D Sahvan Khaira, a teammate of Minulin’s for the previous two seasons with the Broncos, are Everett’s other 20s. The other import on Everett’s roster is sophomore F Martin Fasko-Rudas, a Slovakian.

Moar was pointless in four games with the Silvertips. From Prince Albert, he was a fifth-round selection by the Silvertips in the 2016 bantam draft.

Last season, with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos, Moar had six goals and 23 assists.

The defending-champion Broncos, who have the 22-team WHL’s poorest record (1-14-1), SCBroncosstill are carrying nine defencemen. They are next scheduled to play Friday against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Silvertips (10-5-0) lead the U.S. Division, by one point over the Spokane Chiefs (8-4-3) and two on the Tri-City Americans (9-4-0). Everett entertains Tri-City on Friday, but Minulin isn’t expect to play until sometime next week, once immigration issues get sorted out.

Meanwhile, G Max Palaga, 18, who was acquired by the Silvertips from the Kamloops Blazers earlier in the week, has arrived in Everett and practised with his new team on Wednesday. He joins Dustin Wolf as healthy goaltenders on the Silvertips’ roster.


The Calgary Hitmen and Vancouver Giants got together on Wednesday and swapped a Calgarypair of disgruntled forwards.

The Hitmen acquired F James Malm, 19, and an undisclosed conditional selection in the 2020 WHL bantam draft in exchange for F Tristen Nielsen, 18.

Malm, from Langley, B.C., led the Giants in goals (9) and points (15) in 13 games. He hasn’t played since suffering an undisclosed injury in a game against the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Oct. 20. The Giants’ weekly roster report lists Malm as being out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

On Sunday, however, Malm asked Vancouver general manager Barclay Parneta to trade him.

A fourth-round selection by the Giants in the 2014 bantam draft, he has 134 points, including 48 goals, in 179 career regular-season games.

Malm could make his Calgary debut on Friday against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.

Nielsen, from Fort St. John, B.C., was selected by Calgary in the first round of the 2015 Vancouverbantam draft. He was in third season with the Hitmen when he chose to leave the team and ask for a trade.

This season, he was pointless in five games; he didn’t play in seven games after asking to be moved. Last season, he put up 19 goals and 16 assists in 49 games in a season that was partially derailed by a wrist injury. In 2016-17, as a freshman, he had three goals and four assists in seven games.

Nielsen arrived in Ladner, B.C., on Wednesday afternoon and is to practise with his new team today.

Nielsen is expected to be in Vancouver’s lineup on Saturday when they meet the Kamloops Blazers in Langley, B.C.

Steve Ewen of Postmedia has speculated that the Giants, under new head coach Michael Dyck, are playing a more structured game, one that Malm felt didn’t suit his game. . . . Ewen has more right here on this trade.


The Kootenay Ice apparently has released two veteran players. According to the WHL’s Kootenaynewweekly roster report, D Sam Huston and F Brendan Semchuk no longer are with the team, and both have been dropped from the team’s official roster. . . . Huston, 19, is from Brandon. He was in his third season with the Ice, and had scored once in 12 games. In two previous seasons, he totalled three goals and 13 assists in 107 games. The Ice selected him in the ninth round of the 2014 WHL bantam draft. . . . Semchuk, from Kamloops, was the 10th overall selection by the Vancouver Giants in the 2014 bantam draft. They later dealt him to Edmonton and the Ice acquired him from the Oil Kings on Sept 27, giving up a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft. Semchuk, 19, had two goals and three assists in 14 games with the Ice. In 159 career regular-regular-season games, he has 23 goals and 30 assists. . . . Huston last played on Friday, while Semchuk is shown on the scoresheet as having played Tuesday night against the Broncos in Swift Current. Interstingly, that game will have been played well after the weekly roster report was posted on the WHL’s website.


Patti Dawn Swanson covered WHL teams in Winnipeg for the Tribune back in the day, and now blogs at pattitherivercityrenegade.wordpress.com.

On Thursday, she offered up these thoughts on a possible move by the Kootenay Ice to Winnipeg . . .

I have fond memories of riding the iron lung with Gerry Brisson, Muzz MacPherson and the Winnipeg Clubs/Monarchs in the 1970s, so the prospect of the Western Hockey League returning to Good Ol’ Hometown is intriguing.

I’m skeptical about it working, though.

If you missed it, Mike Sawatzky reported in the Winnipeg Free Press that the Kootenay Ice are having a rough go of it in Cranbrook, B.C. Average attendance is 2,307, lowest in the WHL, and the town’s mayor, Lee Pratt, told the Cranbrook Daily Townsman this: “With the fan support they are getting right now it’s not a viable operation.”

The Green Bay Committee held a town hall meeting in support of the Ice (on Oct. 24), and they’ll gather again tomorrow night (Thursday) in the hope they can corral 500-600 new season-ticket subscribers to save the franchise. Failing that, team owners Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell might be inclined to pull up stakes and head east.

That begs questions, though. To wit:

Would they be better off in River City?
Would a WHL franchise operating out of the University of Manitoba attract 2,000 or more customers?
If an average head count of 2,307 can’t work in Cranbrook, how can it possibly work in Winnipeg?
Would the arrival of a WHL outfit strike the death knell for Winnipeg Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League?

Remove the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and I’d say Fettes and Cockell might have a chance in Good Ol’ Hometown. As it is, I don’t see it happening. But I hope I’m wrong.


David Michaud, who has been a familiar face in B.C. arenas for a number of years, has been named president of Keycorp Sports and Entertainment Ltd., the owners of lacrosse’s legendary Victoria Shamrocks. . . . According to a news release, Michaud will be “responsible for growing the division of the Keycorp group of companies by working with new and existing sports teams, entertainment venues, concert promoters, and more to bring professional-level promotion, ticketing, and event-day production to Victoria, and across British Columbia. He also will be working with the Victoria Shamrocks to continue the excellence in promotion and entertainment that the club has provided in the Greater Victoria area for the last 70 years.” . . . Prior to this move, Michaud spent three years with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees as director of corporate partnerships. He also was the team’s alternate governor. He also has worked with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and with the major midget Okanagan Rockets. . . . Michaud won’t be too far removed from the BCHL in his new position. The Shamrocks play out of the Q Centre in Colwood, which has a capacity of 2,780 and also is home to the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies.


The Fort Sask Chiefs, a senior AAA men’s hockey team that played out of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., has folded, at least for the remainder of this season. . . . According to a team-issued news release: “Various factors led to the tough decision that it would no longer be sustainable for our organization to continue to operate this year. With that being said, we are hopeful our hockey club be back playing senior again in the coming years.” . . . The Chiefs were 0-6-1 and in last place in the five-team Allan Cup Hockey West. Their demise leaves the league with teams in Rosetown, Sask., and the Alberta communities of Stony Plain, Lacombe and Innisfail.


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Stephen Peat was as tough as they come during a four-season career in the WHL (Red Deer, Tri-City Calgary, 1996-2000), and he maintained that reputation in a pro career that included 130 NHL games. Now he’s living in his truck or couch surfing with friends on the Lower Mainland of B.C. Jeremy Allingham of CBC News has more right here.


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