Friday in the WHL: Warriors romp; so do Broncos . . . Kubic big in Regina . . . Winterhawks roll on road

MacBeth

D Cam Barker (Medicine Hat, 2001-06) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Langnau (Switzerland, NL A) after obtaining his release from Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, KHL). He had two goals and eight assists in 37 games with Slovan this season. Slovan has seven games left in the regular season and was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday.


A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed F Michael Horon, 16, whose rights they acquired from the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday. From Lethbridge, Horon has nine goals and 13 assists in 24 games with the midget AAA Hurricanes. . . . The Hurricanes gave up a sixth-round pick in the 2019 WHL bantam draft for Horon. He was a ninth-round pick by Everett in the 2016 bantam draft.


F Kyle Bettens, 16, has committed to attending Bemidji State and playing hockey for the Beavers. This season, he has 23 goals and 28 assists in 32 games with the midget AAA Winnipeg Wild. He also has three assists in one game with the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. . . . He is the younger brother of D Rylan Bettens of the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Brandon selected Kyle in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.


The Red Deer Rebels have brought in F Zak Smith, 16, from the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives for the weekend. Smith, from Austin, Man., has eight goals and seven assists in 32 games with Neepawa. . . . The 6-foot-2 Smith is an undrafted list player.


When the Prince George Cougars traded D Jonas Harkins, 17, to the Regina Pats as part of PrinceGeorgea multi-player deal this week, you may have wondered how that all went down. Well, it seems that Cougars GM Todd Harkins, who happens to be Jonas’s father, was under pressure from his wife, Kirsten, and from Newport Sports at the time. In a revealing interview, Harkins, who is in the last year of a four-year contract, also talked about what it was like having sons on his team’s roster. Hint: It wasn’t easy. . . . There’s lots more from Hartley Miller right here.


Mike Sarada, an assistant coach with the bantam AA Estevan TS&M Bruins, was killed Monday when he got out of his car on Highway 39 north of Estevan and was struck by a big rig. Sarada, who lived in Midale, Sask., was driving to a Bruins’ practice when the accident occurred. . . . There’s more right here.


A hotel in Squamish, B.C., has filed a lawsuit asking for compensation for what it claims was more than $200,000 in damages caused by a hockey team in February 2016. Named in the lawsuit are the Abbotsford Minor Hockey Association, a team representative and 60 unidentified players and parents. According to a Canada Press story, “A notice of civil claim says water from a damaged line leaked into the hallway and down an elevator hoistway after an ice machine was allegedly kicked or pushed by one or more players, causing damages to the structure and contents of the hotel.” . . . There’s more on the story right here.


If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).


If you enjoy stopping by here, and even if you don’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause by visiting my old site, taking note.ca, and clicking on the DONATE button. Thank you, in advance.


Scoreboard

FRIDAY:

At Moose Jaw, F Brett Howden returned to the Warriors’ lineup with three goals and two assists as they skated to an 8-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Warriors MooseJawWarriorsalso got three goals and two assists from F Jayden Halbgewachs. . . . The Warriors (35-6-3) have points in 10 straight (9-0-1). They continue to lead the overall standings by 10 points over Swift Current. . . . The Oil Kings (12-25-6) were coming off OT victories in Brandon and Regina. . . . Howden, in his first game since winning gold with Team Canada at the WJC in Buffalo, opened the scoring at 13:27 of the first period. . . . F Branden Klatt (2) made it 2-0 at 15:37, with Howden upping it to 3-0 at 16:21. . . . Halbgewachs scored his first of three 34 seconds into the second period. . . . Edmonton got its first goal from F Colton Kehler at 1:36. . . . Moose Jaw responded with the next three goals — from F Justin Almeida (26), Howden, who has 16 goals, and Halbgewachs. That goal was the 100th of Howden’s career. He has played 220 games, and also has 227 assists. . . . Kehler, who has 18 goals, scored again for Edmonton in the third period, before Halbgewachs completed his hat trick with his WHL-leading 47th goal at 4:38. He’s played 44 games. Last season, he finished with 50 goals in 71 games. . . . Halbgewachs now has 84 points, one fewer than teammate Brayden Burke, who leads the WHL scoring derby. Burke had one assist in this game. . . . Moose Jaw got three assists from F Ryan Peckford. . . . F Brett Kemp had two assists for Edmonton. . . . Moose Jaw was 0-2 on the PP; Edmonton was 0-3. . . . G Adam Evanoff stopped 17 shots for the Warriors. . . . Edmonton starter Josch Dechaine was beaten five times on 12 shots in 24:35. Todd Scott came on in relief, making his Oil Kings debut by stopping 24 of 27 shots in 35:25. He had been acquired from the Vancouver Giants. . . . Howden and Halbgewachs each was plus-6. D Kale Clague, in his first game with the Warriors, had one assist and was plus-4. He came over from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Wednesday. . . . Announced attendance: 3,639.


At Prince Albert, the Raiders, who had guaranteed victory, dropped a 4-0 decision to the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Even with the loss the Raiders distributed vouchers to fans SCBroncosthat could be returned for free tickets to tonight’s game against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Broncos (30-10-3) have points in five straight (4-0-1). They are second in the overall standings. . . . The Raiders (15-19-8) have lost two in a row and are seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . G Stuart Skinner, who was acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes this week, stopped 29 shots in his Broncos debut. He has four shutouts this season and 11 in his career. . . . F Glenn Gawdin had two goals and an assist for the Broncos. He opened the scoring at 8:03 of the first period and closed it out with his 34th goal at 17:26 of the third period. . . . F Kaden Elder (12) and D Colby Sissons (9) also scored. . . . F Tyler Steenbergen had one assist in his first game back after he scored Canada’s gold medal-winning goal at the WJC. . . . The Raiders got 21 stops from G Ian Scott. . . . Swift Current was 0-2 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 0-4. . . . Announced attendance: 1,916.


At Regina, G Ryan Kubic stopped a career-high 47 shots in his Pats debut to spark his ReginaPats100guys to a 3-1 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Kubic was acquired from the Saskatoon Blades at the trade deadline. . . . Regina (22-19-4) has points in three straight (2-0-1). It holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, three points ahead of Saskatoon. . . . The Tigers (23-17-3) lead the Central Division by eight points over Lethbridge. . . . D Josh Mahura gave Regina a 1-0 lead at 12:03 of the first period. . . . The forwards tied it at 6:37 of the second period on F Mark Rassell’s 35th goal. . . . F Cam Hebig (31), who came over from the Blades with Kubic, scored at 3:48 of the third period and that goal stood up as the winner. . . . F Sam Steel (15) got the empty-netter at 19:53 of the third period. . . . Mahura and Bradley each had an assist. . . . The Tigers got 28 saves from G Jordan Hollett. . . . Announced attendance: 6,033.


At Brandon, G Logan Thompson stopped 28 shots to help the Wheat Kings to a 4-1 victory BrandonWKregularover the Calgary Hitmen. . . . The Wheat Kings (28-12-2) have points in four straight (3-0-1). They are third in the overall standings, five points behind Swift Current. . . . The Hitmen (13-24-6) have lost three in a row. . . . The Wheat Kings took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from D Zach Wytinck (4), at 3:59, and F Caiden Daley (5), at 7:27. . . . F Connor Gutenberg (13) made it 3-0 at 6:03 of the third period. . . . Calgary F Vladislav Yeryomenko (9) scored Calgary’s goal, on a PP, at 8:28. . . . F Linden McCorrister (13) got Brandon’s last goal at 13:29. . . . Dailey and Wytinck added an assist each. . . . G Nick Schneider stopped 36 shots for the Hitmen. . . . D Chase Hartje and F Luka Burzan made their Brandon debuts after being acquired from Moose Jaw. Burzan had an assist. . . . Calgary was 1-3 on the PP; Brandon was 0-6. . . . Announced attendance: 3,825.


At Red Deer, F Logan Barlage broke a 3-3 tie with two third-period goals as the Lethbridge Hurricanes beat the Rebels, 6-4. . . . Lethbridge (19-19-3) has won two in a Lethbridgerow. It is second in the Central Division, two points ahead of Kootenay. . . . The Rebels (10-23-10) have lost 10 straight (0-5-5). . . . Barlage had one goal in 38 games with the Swift Current Broncos this season. The fourth-overall selection in the 2016 bantam draft, he was part of a multi-player swap on Tuesday. That night, Barlage scored the shootout winner as the Hurricanes beat the visiting Rebels, 5-4. . . . Last night, D Colin Paradis (2) gave Red Deer the lead 26 seconds into the game. . . . F Brad Morrison (14) tied it at 2:57. . . . The Rebels took a 3-1 lead before the period ended, on goals from F Grayson Pawlenchuk (14), at 16:27, and F Reese Johnson (16), at 17:48. . . . The Hurricanes tied it on two second-period PP goals, from F Jordy Bellerive (25), at 11:56, and F Taylor Ross (11), at 16:51. . . . Earlier in the day, Bellerive was name the Hurricanes’ new captain, taking over from Giorgio Estephan, who now is with the Broncos. . . . Barlage snapped the tie with goals at 8:54 and 12:02 of the third. . . . F Mason McCarty (21) got Red Deer to within a goal at 13:23, but F Dylan Cozens (13) got it back at 18:51. . . . Bellerive and Morrision also had two assists each, with Ross and Cozens each adding one. . . . Lethbridge was 2-5 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-3. . . . F Kristian Reichel had two assists for Red Deer, with Pawlenchuk, McCarty and Paradis getting one each. . . . Red Deer F Brandon Hagel had one assist in his first game since Dec. 1. . . . G Logan Flodell earned the victory with 23 saves, two fewer than Riley Lamb of the Rebels. . . . Announced attendance: 4,179.


At Spokane, G Bailey Brkin made his Chiefs debut with 36 saves as they beat the Prince George Cougars, 6-2. . . . Spokane (22-18-3) had lost its previous three games. It holds SpokaneChiefsdown the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Prince George (16-20-7) is seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . Brkin was acquired from the Kootenay Ice on Tuesday, although the Chiefs said at the time he was “expected to report to the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits.” . . . Spokane F Kailer Yamamoto, in his return from a stint with the U.S. at the WJC, opened the scoring at 1:11 of the first period. . . . The Chiefs went ahead 3-0 on goals from F Jake McGrew, at 4:39,a nd F Riley Woods (19), at 9:27. . . . F Liam Ryan (1) got the visitors on the scoreboard at 14:10 and F Aaron Boyd (8) pulled them to within a goal, while shorthanded, at 0:26 of the second period. . . . But the Chiefs took back control with two second-period goals, from McGrew (8), on a PP, at 5:11, and F Jaret Anderson-Dolan (24), while shorthanded, at 17:49. . . . F Ethan McIndoe (11) added a third-period goal for the Chiefs. . . . Anderson-Dolan added two assists to his goal, with Elynuik also getting two, and McIndoe and Yamamoto one each. . . . F Ilijah Colina had an assist for the Cougars in his first game since moving over from Portland. . . . Spokane was 1-5 on the PP; Prince George was 0-7. . . . G Taylor Gauthier stopped 22 shots for the Cougars. . . . Announced attendance: 4,354.


At Kennewick, Wash., the Portland Winterhawks, with all hands on deck, skated to a 5-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Portland (25-13-3) has won three straight and is Portlandback atop the U.S. Division, one point ahead of Everett. . . . Tri-City (22-14-5) has lost two in a row. It is third in the U.S. Division, three points behind Everett. . . . The Winterhawks welcomed back F Kieffer Bellows, D Henri Jokiharju and F Joachim Blichfeld, all of whom had played in the WJC. They also had D Dennis Cholowski in the lineup after the was acquired from the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday. As well, D Keoni Texeira, the captain, returned after last playing on Dec. 12. . . . The Americans had D Jake Bean in their lineup for the first time since getting him from the Calgary Hitmen, But the Americans are without D Juuso Valimaki, F Michael Rasmussen, F Morgan Geekie and F Kyle Olson, all of whom are injured. . . . The Winterhawks scored the game’s first five goals, three of them coming in the second period after a scoreless opening 20 minutes. . . . Bellows, who has 21 goals, scored twice, with F Alex Overhardt (10), Jokiharju (8) and F Lukus MacKenzie (1) adding one each. . . . MacKenzie was acquired Wednesday from the Red Deer Rebels. He had been scoreless in 30 games split between Red Deer and the Saskatoon Blades this season. . . . Tri-City got its goal from F Isaac Johnson (10) on a third-period PP. . . . D Matthew Quigley, F Skyler McKenzie and Blichfeld each had two assists for Portland, with Overhardt getting one. . . . Portland was 1-4 on the PP; Tri-City was 1-5. . . . G Cole Kehler stopped 28 shots for Portland. . . . Tri-City starter Beck Warm allowed three goals on 27 shots in 34:56. Patrick Dea finished up by stopping 11 of 13 shots in 25:04. . . . Announced attendance: 3,911.


At Victoria, F Dante Hannoun scored twice before the first period was three minutes old and the Royals went on to a 6-5 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Victoria (24-16-4) VictoriaRoyalsis third in the B.C. Division, two points behind Vancouver. . . . Kamloops (18-21-3) is seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . Hannoun, who has 16 goals, scored at 1:21 and 2:32 of the first period. . . . F Jermaine Loewen got Kamloops started at 5:39. . . . F Igor Martynov (13) restored Victoria’s two-goal lead at 14:37. . . . The Blazers tied it on second-period goals from F Orrin Centazzo (7), at 4:13, and F Carson Denomie (6), at 10:36. . . . D Mitchell Prowse (2) gave Victoria a 4-3 lead 57 seconds into the third period, and F Jeff de Wit (6) scored, on a PP, at 2:30. . . . F Luc Smith (10) got Kamloops back to within a goal, on a PP, at 12:00, only to have F Tanner Kaspick (13) get it back at 19:16. . . . Loewen (17) added his second goal of the game, on another PP, at 19:40. . . . The Royals got two assists from F Matthew Phillips, with Kaspick adding one to his goal in his first game since moving over from the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . F Tyler Soy had one assist to set the Chilliwack/Victoria franchise record for career assists, with 152. He had shared the record with F Brandon Magee. . . . D Joe Gatenby had two assists for Kamloops, with Loewen and Smith adding one each. . . . Kamloops was 2-4 on the PP; Victoria was 2-5. . . . G Griffen Outhouse made 23 saves for Victoria, while Dylan Ferguson stopped 40 shots at the other end. . . . Victoria F Lane Zablocki left at 7:39 of the first period with a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct. . . . D Luke Zazula was among the Blazers’ scratches. He was attending a family funeral, but should be back for tonight’s rematch. . . . Announced attendance: 4,790.


At Kent, Wash., the Kelowna Rockets scored four PP goals as they beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 6-2. . . . Kelowna (27-12-3) has won three in a row and now leads the B.C. KelownaRocketsDivision by three points over Vancovuer. . . . Seattle (20-15-6) had points in each of its previous nine games (7-0-2). It holds down the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . The Rockets scored the game’s first five goals to lead 5-0 before the third period was half over. . . . They got first-period PP goals from F Carsen Twarynski and Jack Cowell (8), then added second-period scores from F Colum McGauley (2) and F Leif Mattson (12). . . . Twarynski (29) scored again in the third period, before F Dillon Hamaliuk (8) and D Austin Strand (14) scored for Seattle. . . . Mattson (13) got the empty-netter at 18:12 of the third period. Actually, he was awarded a goal after Strand threw his stick at the puck while trying to thwart a breakaway on the open net. . . . The Rockets got three assists from D Cal Foote, two from F Kyle Topping, and one from Mattson. . . . Hamaliuk added an assist to his goal. . . . Kelowna was 4-8 on the PP; Seattle was 0-5. . . . G James Porter Jr. earned the victory with 21 saves. . . . Liam Hughes stopped 37 shots for the Thunderbirds. . . . Kelowna F Dillon Dube (ill) didn’t play. . . . Announced attendance: 4,259.


SATURDAY (all times local):

Moose Jaw at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Calgary at Regina, 7 p.m.

Edmonton at Swift Current, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Brandon 7:30 p.m.

Kootenay at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Saskatoon at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Seattle at Portland, 6 p.m.

Kelowna vs. Vancouver, at Langley, B.C., 7 p.m.

Everett at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.

Prince George vs. Tri-City, at Kennewick, Wash., 7:05 p.m.

Kamloops at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

Vipers’ owner dies at 68 … WHL hits two GMs with fines … Raiders guarantee win over Broncos

MacBeth

F Brady Ramsay (Lethbridge, 2010-14) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Fife Flyers (Scotland, UK Elite). He started the season with the Sheffield Steelers (England, UK Elite), scoring one goal and adding four assists in 13 games. He was released by the Steelers on Dec. 5.


A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

The hockey community is in mourning today following the death of Duncan Wray, the longtime owner of the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Wray, who had owned the franchise since 1992, died suddenly Thursday morning, which happened to be his 68th birthday. . . . Besides owning the Vipers, Wray also was the chairman of the BCHL’s board of governors. . . . It was just on Saturday when the Vipers and Prince George Spruce Kings played the final game in the history of Vernon’s Civic Arena. Prior to the game, Wray had, according to Roger Knox of the Vernon Morning Star, “received a loud ovation” when he was introduced to the crowd. . . . Former Vipers head coach Troy Mick too Knox: “This is the saddest day of my life. Part of my heart feels ripped out. I haven’t stopped crying since this morning.” . . . Knox’s story is right here.


The WHL’s disciplinary office added to its coffers on Thursday, having fined a couple of its general managers.

Peter Anholt of the Lethbridge Hurricanes got touched for $750 “for actions following” a whlJan. 5 game against the visiting Vancouver Giants, who won that contest, 5-2.

Stu MacGregor of the Kamloops Blazers will be $500 lighter after being fined “for actions following” a game against the visiting the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday night. The Blazers won that game, 2-1.

Meanwhile, two players have drawn three-game suspensions.

D Matthew Benson of the Moose Jaw Warriors will sit out after taking a headshot major and game misconduct in a game against the host Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday.

F Max James of the Tri-City Americans got hit with three games after he took a charging major and game misconduct for a hit during a game against the host Everett Silvertips on Wednesday night.


The Swift Current Broncos, having gone all-in at the WHL trade deadline, are hoping their fans will follow suit at the box office. The team announced Thursday that it is selling SCBroncospro-rated season tickets — prices are based on the number of regular-season home games remaining — through Jan. 31.

Season-ticket holders, of course, also have the first option on their seats for the 2018 playoffs. As well, should the Broncos have 2,100 season tickets sold by Jan. 31 — they went over 2,000 on Thursday — they will be giving away one free 2017-18 season ticket during each of the last 10 home regular-season games.

According to Dianne Sletten, the team’s director of business operations, “We’ve sold (more than) 250 season tickets this week and are thrilled to see an electric atmosphere as we push forward.”

The Broncos are at home Saturday when they entertain the Edmonton Oil Kings. Three of the Broncos — D Tyler Steenbergen, Canada’s golden boy, D Artyom Minulin (Russia) and F Aleksi Heponiemi (Finland) — will be saluted for having played in the WJC in Buffalo.


The Swift Current Broncos are scheduled to play their first game since the trade deadline tonight against the host Prince Albert Raiders.

What makes this game noteworthy is that the Raiders, who are 19th in the 22-team PrinceAlbertWHL’s overall standings, have guaranteed a victory over the No. 2 Broncos.

Yes, they have!

“Here’s how it works,” reads a Raiders’ news release. “After we beat Swift Current, we’ll all be happy. To be honest, we don’t think we’re going to lose.

“In the small chance that the Broncos pull off a miracle, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll hand out ticket vouchers to all fans in attendance on the way out. Each fan can bring that voucher, as well as the used game ticket from Friday night, to the Raiders box office on Saturday, Jan. 13, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and redeem it for a free ticket to Saturday night’s game against the Moose Jaw Warriors.”

After the Raiders post the victory, they will trail the Broncos by 21 points.


On the subject of players having returned from the WJC, the Kelowna Rockets honoured D Cal Foote and F Dillon Dube prior to a 7-4 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday night. Both played for Canada in Buffalo, with Dube serving as team captain. . . . Unfortunately, Dube wasn’t in attendance on Wednesday, as a flu bug kept him out of action.

Meanwhile, the Portland Winterhawks welcomed back F Kieffer Bellows (U.S.) and D Henri Jokiharju (Finland) on Thursday. Both players are expected to play tonight (Friday) in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans. The Americans should have D Jake Bean, who also played for Canada, in their lineup tonight, too. Bean was acquired by the Americans from the Calgary Hitmen earlier in the week. He arrived in Kennewick on Thursday.


The Tri-City Americans have signed F Blake Stevenson, 16, to a WHL contract. Stevenson has five goals and three assists in 27 games with the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks and will remain there for the remainder of this season. Last season, he had 23 goals and 32 assists for the minor midget AAA CNHA Canucks. . . . The Americans selected him in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.


The Saskatoon Blades have released F Dryden Michaud, 19, and he has joined the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles. From Maple Ridge, B.C., Michaud had two goals and two assists in 29 games this season. Last season, he had one goal in 29 games with the Blades.


The Saskatoon Blades have added F Tristen Robins and F Kyle Crnkovic to their roster for a three-game road trip that features stops in Red Deer on Saturday, Cranbrook, B.C., on SaskatoonSunday, and Calgary on Tuesday. . . . Robins, who turned 16 on Nov. 15, is from Brandon and plays at the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg. He is the son of former Blades G Trevor Robins. Tristen was acquired from the Regina Pats earlier in the week. They had selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 bantam draft. . . . Crnkovic, the Blades’ first-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft, played two WHL games earlier this season. He is playing for the Northern Alberta X-Treme prep team in the CSSHL. . . . The Blades won’t have F Kirby Dach on this trip. Dach, who is to turn 17 on Jan. 21, has four goals and 19 assists in 23 games. However, he hasn’t played since Dec. 27 and is sidelined on a weekly basis with an undisclosed injury.


F Ian Briscoe, 18, who was released by the Seattle Thunderbirds, has signed with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings. Briscoe, from Winnipeg, had three assists in 24 games this season. Last season, he had two goals in 20 games. He also played 22 games with Dauphin last season, recording six goals and 10 assists. . . . Seattle selected him in the fifth round of the 2014 bantam draft.


The Moose Jaw Warriors have dropped D Brenden Kwiatkowski, 17, from their roster. He is expected to join the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm. Kwiatkowski, who is from Grande Prairie, had one assist in 22 games with the Warriors.


If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).


If you enjoy stopping by here, and even if you don’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause by visiting my old site, taking note.ca, and clicking on the DONATE button. Thank you, in advance.


Scoreboard

THURSDAY:

No Games Scheduled.


FRIDAY (all times local):

Edmonton at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.

Swift Current at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Regina, 7 p.m.

Calgary at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.

Lethbridge at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Prince George at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.

Portland vs. Tri-City, at Kennewick, Wash., 7:05 p.m.

Kamloops at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.

Kelowna vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

Wednesday in the WHL: A pair of four-goal games … ‘Sudden-Death’ Kemp beats Pats … Wolf howls in Everett

Scattershooting

Thankfully, the madness that was the WHL trading deadline has passed us by. Might I suggest that somewhere along the line some people appear to have forgotten that this is junior hockey. . . . Is it not completely absurd to be moving around 15- and 16-year-olds, some of whom haven’t even had a taste of the WHL?


Just putting this out there, but when the Regina Pats lost 4-3 in OT to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings last night they had four players — D Josh Mahura, F Nick Henry, F Robbie Holmes and D Liam Schioler — in the lineup who played in Game 6 of last spring’s WHL championship final. F Jake Leschyshyn, who played last night, missed last season’s playoffs with a knee injury. F Sam Steel, who didn’t play last night, is resting after playing for Team Canada at the WJC in Buffalo. . . . The Pats made seven trades after the Christmas break. . . . This is what you call a massive makeover.



The biggest winners at the WHL trade deadline? How about the folks who recruit for NCAA hockey teams? Hey, with the whacky WHL schedule and teams combining to move 110 players and 77 bantam draft picks since Nov. 13, you have to think NCAA recruiters are fine-tuning their sales pitches.


It didn’t used to be this way, you know. There was a time when players and draft picks didn’t fly around like snowflakes at the WHL trade deadline. Asked what changed, one GM told Taking Note: “Greed. It’s all about the money now. You can’t build a team anymore.”



One thing to keep in mind after all that has gone on in the last while is this: At the end, only one team can win.


The way I see it, there are four legitimate championship contenders in the WHL right now. My rankings look like this: 1. Portland; 2. Moose Jaw; 3. Everett; 4. Swift Current. . . . For the fans of the other 18 teams, well, the WHL is sorry but there’s always next season.


I would say that Tri-City and Kelowna are close, and I really like Vancouver as a dark horse. But they aren’t quite there. The Americans? They need to get their key guys healthy, something they haven’t been able to do for most of two seasons now.


Thanks to eliteprospects.com, a site that is invaluable during a hockey season, but even moreso with a trade deadline approaching.


Peter Anholt gets it. He really does. On Tuesday morning, the general manager of the Lethbridge Hurricanes traded two players — G Stuart Skinner and F Giorgio Estephan — who have been cornerstones of that franchise. Later that night, after the Hurricanes scored a 5-4 OT victory over the Red Deer Rebels, Anholt met with fans to explain the trade and to answer any questions they might have.


All those players who left Regina over the past while? Here’s hoping their parents didn’t purchase Memorial Cup tickets and make travel plans.



MacBeth

F Jared Aulin (Kamloops, 1997-2002) has signed a one-year extension with Rapperswil (Switzerland, NL B). This season, he has 10 goals and 33 assists in 30 games. He leads his team in assists and points; he is fourth in the league’s scoring race and second in assists.


A LITTLE OF THIS …

Scott Burt, an assistant coach with the Spokane Chiefs, will have his number (12) retired by the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads on Feb. 3 when they entertain the Utah Grizzlies. Burt played 403 games with the Steelheads over seven seasons (2000-07). Burt is second in Steelheads history in games played (403), third in goals (111) and third in points (250). He played on two ECHL-championship clubs. . . . Burt, now 40, played four seasons (1994-98) in the WHL, making stops with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Swift Current Broncos, Edmonton Ice and Red Deer Rebels.


The Swift Current Broncos have dropped F Logan Foster, 18, from their roster. He has joined the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires. From Kamsack, Sask., Foster had one assist in seven games with the Spokane Chiefs last season. This season, he had two goals and an assist in 22 games with the Broncos. The Chiefs selected him in the seventh round of the 2014 bantam draft.


The Red Deer Rebels have dropped D Sam Pouliot, 17, from their roster. He is expected to join the BCHL’s Powell River Kings. He had one goal in 12 games with the Rebels. A native of Ottawa who now calls North Vancouver, B.C., home, he is an undrafted list player who was in his first WHL season.


The Medicine Hat Tigers have dropped F Jaxon Steele, 17, from their roster and he is expected to join the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks. He was pointless in 17 games with the Tigers.


THE COACHING GAME …

KABOOM! The junior B Kimberley Dynamiters of the Kootenay International Junior KimberleyHockey have signed Derek Stuart, their general manager and head coach, to a two-season contract extension that contains an option on a third season. . . . Stuart is a former Dynamiters player. From Calgary, he is in his second season on the bench. This season, the Dynamiters are 27-6-1-1 (one OTL and one tie) and lead the overall standings by a point over the Nelson Leafs.


Scoreboard

WEDNESDAY:

At Moose Jaw, F Tristan Langan scored four goals, including three in a row in the first period, to lead the Warriors to an 8-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Moose Jaw (34-MooseJawWarriors6-3) has points in nine straight games (8-0-1) and leads the overall standings by 10 points over Swift Current. . . . Calgary (13-23-6) had lost two in a row. . . . F Jakob Stukel gave the Hitmen a 1-0 lead at 4:22 of the first period. . . . The Warriors scored the next six goals. . . . Langan, who has 12 goals, scored at 7:42, 14:12 and 19:36 of the first period. His fourth goal, at 8:08 of the second period, gave the home side a 6-1 lead. . . . F Justin Almeida (25), F Brecon Wood (2), F Tyler Smithies, with his first WHL goal, and F Tate Popple (5) also scored for Moose Jaw. . . . Stukel, who has 20 goals, scored twice, the second one coming on a third-period penalty shot. . . . F Carson Focht also scored for Calgary. . . . The Warriors got three assists from each of F Tanner Jeannot and Jayden Halbgewachs, with D Dmitri Zaitsev getting two and Smithies one. . . . The Warriors were 2-4 on the PP; the Hitmen were 1-3. . . . The Warriors got 17 saves from G Adam Evanoff. . . . Calgary starter Nick Schneider gave up six goals on 22 shots in 28:08. Matthew Armitage came on to stop 10 of 12 shots in 31:52. . . . Announced attendance: 3,048.


At Regina, F Brett Kemp scored at 1:40 of OT to give the Edmonton Oil Kings a 4-3 victory over the Pats. . . . The Oil Kings (12-24-6) have won two in a row. . . . The Pats (21-19-4) EdmontonOilKingshave points in two straight (1-0-1) and hold down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, one point ahead of Saskatoon. . . . One night earlier, Kemp, who has 11 goals, scored at 2:06 of OT to give Edmonton a 3-2 victory in Brandon. . . . Last night, F Robbie Holmes gave Regina a 2-0 lead before the first period was half over. Holmes, who has 12 goals, scored at 4:37 and 9:59. . . . F Trey Fix-Wolansky (18) got Edmonton’s first goal, at 12:12. . . . The Oil Kings took a 3-2 lead on two goals from F Colton Kehler, at 1:07 of the second period and 1:13 of the third. . . . The Pats forced OT when F Matt Bradley (26) scored at 14:25. . . . Fix-Wolansky also had an assist. . . . F Austin Pratt drew two assists for Regina and Bradley had one. . . . The Pats were 0-2 on the PP; the Oil Kings were 0-3. . . . G Josh Dechaine stopped 33 shots for Edmonton, four more than Regina’s Ryan Kubic, who was acquired earlier in the day from the Saskatoon Blades. . . . F Cam Hebig, who went to Regina in the same deal, didn’t play. . . . D Libor Hajek, who came over from Saskatoon on Tuesday, made his Regina debut. F Jesse Gabrielle, who was acquired from Prince George, also was in Regina’s lineup. . . . Announced attendance: 5,372.


At Saskatoon, F Bryan Lockner scored in his Medicine Hat debut as the Tigers beat the Blades, 3-2. . . . Medicine Hat (23-16-3) leads the Central Division by 10 points over Tigers Logo OfficialLethbridge and Kootenay. . . . Saskatoon (22-18-3) has lost two in a row and now holds the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, seven points ahead of Prince Albert.. . . . The Blades actually acquired Lockner from the Regina Pats on Wednesday morning, then flipped him to Medicine Hat in a deal that brought F Max Gerlach to Saskatoon. Gerlach made his Saskatoon debut and had an assist. . . . The Tigers opened up a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from F Gary Haden (11), at 1:57, and Lockner (8), at 6:00. . . . F Braylon Shmyr (22) pulled the Blades to within a goal at 17:39. . . . D David Quenneville (18) gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead at 12:31 of the third period. . . . The Blades got to within a goal when F Chase Wouters (11) scored at 19:45. . . . Quenneville also had an assist, as did F Elijah Brown, who was acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday. . . . Wouters had an assist for Saskatoon. . . . The Blades were 0-2 on the PP; the Tigers were 0-4. . . . G Jordan Hollett earned the victory with 31 saves, 12 fewer than Saskatoon’s Nolan Maier. . . . Maier was backed up by Tyler Brown, who was acquired from Regina earlier in the day. . . . F Ryan Jevne was back in Medicine Hat’s lineup after serving a three-game suspension. . . . Announced attendance: 2,709.


At Prince George, F Josh Maser scored four goals, the last one coming in OT, as the Cougars beat the Vancouver Giants, 4-3. . . . Prince George (16-19-7) had lost its previous PrinceGeorgetwo games (0-1-1). The Cougars are tied with Kamloops, six points out of a wild-card spot. . . . Vancouver (24-14-6) is 7-0-1 in its past eight games. It went 4-0-1 on a five-game road trip that ended with this game. The Giants are second in the Western Conference, one point behind Kelowna. . . . One night earlier, the Giants had beaten the host Cougars, 5-1. . . . Last night, seven goals were scored and they all came from two players, as F Ty Ronning had all three Vancouver goals. . . . Ronning, who has 39 goals, scored the game’s first two goals, at 10:16 of the first period and 7:53 of the second. . . . Maser, who now has 20 goals, gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead with goals at 9:17 of the second and 0:08 and 17:35 of the third. . . . The Giants forced OT when Ronning completed his hat trick with 29.9 seconds left in the third. . . . Master won it at 2:49 of OT. . . . The Cougars got two assists from F Josh Curtis. . . . Vancouver was 0-2 on the PP; Prince George was 0-3. . . . G Taylor Gauthier stopped 27 shots for the Cougars. . . . The Giants got 33 saves from G David Tendeck. . . . The Giants had traded G Todd Scott to Edmonton earlier in the day, a move that left them without a backup goaltender. Ted Clarke of the Prince George Citizen reports that Cougars G Isaiah DiLaura was on the lineup sheet as the Giants’ backup “and would have been called into service” had Tendeck been injured. . . . D Darian Skeoch was among Vancouver’s scratches. He had played in Tuesday’s victory. . . . Announced attendance: 2,495.


At Everett, G Dustin Wolf turned aside 29 shots to lead the Silvertips to a 4-0 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Everett (25-16-2) has won two in a row and leads the U.S. EverettDivision by a point over Portland. . . . Tri-City (22-13-5) had won its previous two games. It is third in the U.S. Division, two points behind Portland and three ahead of Seattle. . . Wolf, 16, has been starting for Everett in the absence of Carter Hart, who won gold with Team Canada at the WJC in Buffalo. Wolf now is 9-5-0, 2.17, .933, with three shutouts. . . . Hart is expected to return Saturday in Spokane. . . . The Silvertips got two goals from each of F Connor Dewar and D Kevin Davis. . . . Dewar, who has 18 goals, scored the game’s first and fourth goals, at 5:27 of the first period and 8:35 of the third, on a PP. . . . Davis made it 2-0 while shorthanded at 10:41 of the second period, then added his sixth goal at 4:35 of the third. . . . F Matt Fonteyne had two assists, and Davis had one. . . . Everett was 1-4 on the PP; Tri-City was 0-3. . . . G Patrick Dea started for Tri-City and allowed four goals on 51 shots in 50:05. Beck Warm finished up by stopping all six shots he faced in 9:55. . . . Tri-City F Max James was handed a charging major and game  misconduct for a hit on Everett F Matt Fonteyne at 7:24 of the third period. . . . F Garrett Pilon and D Ondrej Vala, both acquired Sunday from Kamloops, made their Everett debuts. Vala had a game-high 11 shots on goal. . . . The Americans were without D Jake Bean, who is expected to make his debut on Friday against Portland, and F Morgan Geekie, F Kyle Olson, D Juuso Valimaki and F Michael Rasmussen, all of whom are hurt. . . . Announced attendance: 2,997.


At Kelowna, F Kyle Topping score two goals and added an assist to help the Rockets to a 7-4 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Kelowna (26-12-3) has won two in a row and KelownaRocketsleads the Western Conference by a point over Vancouver. . . . Spokane (21-18-3) has lost three straight. It holds down the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Topping, who has 17 goals, got the scoring started at 5:14 of the first period. . . . D Kaedan Korczak’s first WHL goal made it 2-0 at 14:57. . . . The Chiefs followed that with three straight goals, from D Jeff Faith (4), at 18:27; D Tyson Helgesen (6), at 0:19 of the second period; and F Jaret Anderson-Dolan (23), on a PP, at 2:11. . . . The Rockets erased the deficit and took a 5-3 lead as F Nolan Foote (12) scored at 3:37, D Cal Foote (7) counted, on a PP, at 14:20, and D Braydyn Chizen (4) added another at 7:53 of the third period. . . . F Zach Fischer (19), who also had an assist, pulled the Chiefs to within a goal at 15:41. . . . The Rocket put it away as Topping scored at 18:06 and F Kole Lind added his 21st goal at 18:55. . . . The Rockets got three assists from F Carsen Twarynski, with Lind, Topping and Nolan Foote adding one each. . . . Kelowna was 1-2 on the PP; Spokane was 1-3. . . . G Roman Basran started for Kelowna but was shaken up and left at 5:53 of the first period. He stopped all five shots he faced. James Porter Jr. finished up, stopping 23 of 27 shots in 54:07. . . . The Chiefs got 18 stops from G Donovan Buskey. . . . Spokane again had Campbell Arnold, 15, backing up Buskey with Dawson Weatherill scratched again. . . . Announced attendance: 5,372.


THURSDAY (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.


FRIDAY (all times local):

Edmonton at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.

Swift Current at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Regina, 7 p.m.

Calgary at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.

Lethbridge at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Prince George at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.

Portland vs. Tri-City, at Kennewick, Wash., 7:05 p.m.

Kamloops at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.

Kelowna vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.

The numbers are in: Since Nov. 13 … 58 trades … 110 players … 77 bantam draft picks … 12 conditional picks

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 58

PLAYERS: 110

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 77

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 12

THE DEADLINE: It came and went on Wednesday, Jan. 10.


Why did I start counting on Nov. 13? Because that’s the day when the trading season got serious; that is the day when the Regina Pats, the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup, went out and got D Cale Fleury from the Kootenay Ice.


THE DEAL: The Portland Winterhawks acquired D Dennis Cholowski, 19, and G Ty Taylor, 18, from the Prince George Cougars for F Ilijah Colina, 17, F Connor Bowie, 16, Portlandfirst- and third-round picks in the 2020 WHL bantam draft, and second-rounders in 2018 and 2019.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Cholowski, in his first WHL season, had 13 goals and 26 assists in 37 games with the Cougars. Among WHL defencemen, he is second in goals and sixth in points. . . . The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Taylor is 16-3-3, 1.90, .929 in 22 games with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Last season, also with Vernon, he was 13-12-2, 2.96, .908. . . . Colina had four goals and 23 assists in 83 career games with Portland. This season, he had three goals and 12 assists in 37 games. . . . Bowie, 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, is playing for the NEBC Yukon Trackers in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League, where he has 20 goals and 15 assists in 18 games. He had a goal and four assists with Portland in the exhibition season.

THE INFO: Cholowski was the Cougars’ captain. From Langley, B.C., Cholowski was a first-round pick, 20th overall, by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL’s 2016 draft. He has PrinceGeorgesigned with the Red Wings. The Cougars selected him in the 10th round of the 2013 bantam draft. . . . The Winterhawks selected Taylor’s brother Trey in the ninth-round of the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. Neither Taylor has signed a WHL contract. . . . Colina, from Delta, B.C., was an eighth-round pick by Portland in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Bowie, from Fort St. John, B.C., was a seventh-round pick by Portland in the 2016 bantam draft.

WHY: Cholowski, one of the WHL’s top defencemen, should be a perfect fit with the Winterhawks. As GM/head coach Mike Johnston put it in a news conference: “It’s always been our philosophy to have transitional defencemen on our back end and he fits in perfectly with out style of play.” . . . The Cougars, reloading after going all-in last season, have added a roster forward, a prospect and draft picks to the cupboard.


THE DEAL: The Moose Jaw Warriors acquired D Kale Clague, 19, from the Brandon Wheat Kings for F Luka Burzan, who turned 18 on Jan. 7, D Chase Hartje, who turned 18 MooseJawWarriorson Dec. 17, first-round selections in the WHL’s 2019 and 2021 bantam drafts, and a second-round pick in 2018.

THE NUMBERS: Clague, 6-foot-0 and 180 pounds, had 10 goals and 37 assists in 28 games with Brandon this season. His 47 points have him second among WHL defencemen. In 169 career games, he has 25 goals and 118 assists. In 40 playoff games, he has eight goals and 13 assists. He was part of Brandon’s 2015-16 championship roster. . . . Burzan, 6-foot-0 and 180 pounds, has six goals and 13 assists in 42 games this season. Last season, as a freshman, he had 14 goals and 13 assists in 27 games. . . . The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Hartje had four goals and 21 assists in 25 games with Bemidji, Minn., High School last season. He had 17 assists in 31 games with the Warriors.

THE INFO: Clague, from Lloydminster, Alta., is fresh of winning a gold medal with Team BrandonWKregularCanada at the WJC in Buffalo; he won silver with Team Canada at the previous year. The Wheat Kings selected him in the first round, sixth overall, of the 2013 bantam draft. Clague was picked by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the NHL’s 2016 draft and he has signed with them. . . . Moose Jaw selected Burzan, who is from Surrey, B.C., with the sixth overall pick of the 2015 bantam draft. In his draft season, he had 80 goals and 51 assists in 62 games with a bantam A1-T1 team at the North Shore Winter Club. . . . Hartje was listed by the Warriors. Last season, he also played in 16 games with Great Plains of a U.S. high school league and had two goals and four assists in nine games with the NAHL’s Bismarck Bobcats.

WHY: The Wheat Kings, third in the overall standings and third in the East Division, behind Moose Jaw and Swift Current, who were buying, decided the prices were too high so they sold. This deal, and the one below with Victoria, has allowed Brandon to feel positive about its future. . . . The Warriors, meanwhile, add one of the WHL’s top defencemen, something that allows it to keep pace with Swift Current and Regina, at least on paper.


THE DEAL: The Victoria Royals acquired F Tanner Kaspick, 19, and F Cameron MacDonald, 15, from the Brandon Wheat Kings for D Jonathon Lambos, who will turn 17 on Jan. 14, F Ty Thorpe, who will turn 16 on Jan. 27, and first-round picks in the WHL’s 2019 and 2021 bantam drafts.

THE NUMBERS: Kaspick had 11 goals and 25 assists in 35 games with the Wheat Kings VictoriaRoyalsthis season. Last season, he had 19 goals and 26 assists in 49 games with his hometown team. In 191 career games, he has 45 goals and 86 assists. . . . MacDonald has 22 goals and 14 assists in 20 games with the West Valley Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. The 5-foot-8, 160-pounder also has two assists in four games with the BCHL’s Powell River Kings. . . .

Lambos, 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds, has two goals and 12 assists in 21 games with the Rink Hockey Academy’s prep team in Winnipeg. He played last season in the Omaha Lancers organization. . . . Thorpe has seven goals and eight assists in 18 games with the Rink Hockey Academy Prep team.

THE INFO: Kaspick was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2016 draft and he has signed with them. The Wheat Kings picked him in the second round of the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft. He was part of the Brandon team that won the 2016 WHL title. . . . MacDonald, who is from Surrey, B.C., was picked by Brandon in the fifth round of the 2017 bantam draft. He has yet to sign a WHL contract. . . . Lambos, from Winnipeg, was a third-round pick by Victoria in the 2016 bantam draft. He hasn’t yet signed a WHL deal. . . . The 5-foot-11, 145-pound Thorpe, from Brandon, was a third-round pick by Victoria in the 2017 bantam draft. He also hasn’t yet signed a WHL contract.

WHY: As Royals president and GM Cam Hope said in a news release: “There are very few opportunities to acquire a player with Tanner’s skill, character and experience.” Kaspick will fit nicely into Victoria’s top six forwards. . . . Hope and Brandon GM Grant Armstrong also moved three prospects; keep in mind that Armstrong worked with the Royals before signing with Brandon prior to 2016-17. Armstrong also got two more first-round draft picks for his scouts to drool over, at least for now.


THE DEAL: The Lethbridge Hurricanes acquired F Keltie Jeri-Leon, 17, from the LethbridgeKamloops Blazers for a seventh-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Jeri-Leon had a goal and two assists in 21 games with the Blazers. Last season, he had two goals and an assist in 46 games with Tri-City. He was pointless in two games there this season.

THE INFO: The Blazers acquired Jeri-Leon, who is from West Kelowna, B.C., from the Tri-City Americans on Oct. 8 for a seventh-round bantam pick in 2018. . . . He turns 18 on Jan. 19. . . . The Americans selected him in the fifth round of the 2015 bantam draft.

WHY: Kamloops gets a draft pick for a player they acquired but was having trouble getting into their lineup. . . . Lethbridge adds a depth forward.


THE DEAL: The Everett Silvertips acquired F Spencer Gerth, 19, from the Victoria Royals Everettfor a seventh-round selection in the 2019 WHL bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: This season, Gerth, an undrafted list player, had three goals and three assists in 43 games with the Royals. In 156 games split between Victoria and, yes, Everett, he has five goals and five assists.

THE INFO: Gerth, from Langley, is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. The Royals acquired him from Everett on Nov. 22, 2016, for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft.

WHY: Gerth is an energy guy and that’s what the Silvertips wanted.


THE DEAL: The Everett Silvertips acquired F Bronson Sharp, who turned 18 on Dec. 29, from the Portland Winterhawks for a fifth-round pick in the WHL’s 2020 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Sharp had two goals and one assist in 38 games with Portland this season. In 84 career games, all with Portland, he has two goals and three assists. . . . He had 16 goals and 21 assists in 22 games with the Yale Hockey Academy prep team in the CSSHL in 2015-16.

THE INFO: From Mission, B.C., the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Sharp was listed by Portland.

WHY: Sharp will add more depth to Everett’s forward ranks.


THE DEAL: The Lethbridge Hurricanes acquired the WHL rights to F Michael Horon, 16, from the Everett Silvertips for a sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Horon has nine goals and 13 assists in 24 games with the midget AAA Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Last season, he had 77 points, including 38 goals, in 37 games with the minor midget Hurricanes.

THE INFO: From Lethbridge, Horon was a ninth-round pick by Everett in the 2016 bantam draft.

WHY: The Hurricanes have the opportunity to recruit a hometown lad into their organization.


THE DEAL: The Seattle Thunderbirds acquired F Jaxan Kaluski, 18, from the Moose Jaw SeattleWarriors for a sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Kaluski had two goals and an assist in 22 games with the Warriors this season. He had one assist in 16 games last season.

THE INFO: Kaluski, from Lloydminster, Alta., was listed by the Warriors. He was limited to 16 games by a fractured ankle that required surgery.

WHY: Kaluski adds depth and energy to Seattle’s roster.


THE DEAL: The Regina Pats acquired D Aaron Hyman, 19, from the Seattle Thunderbirds ReginaPats100for F Owen Williams, 17, and a second-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Hyman had a goal and six assists in 26 games with Seattle. Last season, he had a goal and six assists in 20 playoff games. . . . The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Williams, a freshman, had one goal and six assists in 26 games with the Pats.

THE INFO: If he stays healthy, Hyman will get a chance to play in a second straight Memorial Cup tournament. He was on Seattle’s championship team last season. From Calgary, Hyman was selected by the Hitmen in the third round of the 2013 bantam draft. They traded him to Seattle on Dec. 27, 2016, for a third-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft. . . . Williams, from Delta, B.C., was picked by Regina in the ninth round of the 2015 bantam draft.

WHY: The Pats wanted size and they got it in Hyman, who is 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds. He’ll play hard in his zone. . . . The Thunderbirds move him for a defenceman with some upside and an early draft pick.


THE DEAL: The Regina Pats acquired D Brady Pouteau, who turned 20 on Tuesday, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a seventh-round pick in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Poteau had a goal and 10 assists in 31 games with Lethbridge this season. In 122 career games, the first 61 with Regina, he has four goals and 26 assists.

THE INFO: Poteau, from Oak Bluff, Man., was selected by the Pats in the fourth round of the 2013 bantam draft. They traded him to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan. 5, 2017 for a seventh-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft.

WHY: The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Poteau brings more size and experience to Regina’s back end.


THE END

Wednesday’s WHL trades, Part I: Blades, Pats get together, again … Gerlach’s on the move … Giants, Oil Kings agree on Koch

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 48

PLAYERS: 91

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 61

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 12

THE DEADLINE: It came and went on Wednesday, Jan. 10.


THE DEAL: The Regina Pats acquired F Cam Hebig, 20, and G Ryan Kubic, who turned 20 on Jan. 7, from the Saskatoon Blades for G Tyler Brown, 20, F Bryan Lockner, 17, a first- ReginaPats100and second-round selections in the WHL’s 2020 draft, and third-round picks in the 2019 and 2021 bantam drafts.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-0, 180-pound Hebig has 30 goals and 28 assists in 48 games. In 238 career games, he has 193 points, including 87 goals. . . . Kubic, 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, was 8-11-1, 3.96, .871 with the Blades this season. In 129 career appearances, the first 109 of those with the Vancouver Giants, he is 40-69-13, 3.59, .892. . . .

Brown, a list player, was in his fourth season with the Pats. He has made 152 career appearances, going 76-47-16, 3.02, .904, with seven shutouts. He was Regina’s starter last season as it reached the WHL’s championship final. In that playoff run, he was 14-9 (five of the losses came in OT), 2.56, .915. . . . This season, Brown was 15-13-3, 3.31, .891 with the Pats. . . . This season, Lockner has seven goals and five assists in 39 games. In 101 career games, he has recorded 11 goals and 14 assists.

THE INFO: Including the first five rounds of the bantam draft, Alan Caldwell, who tracks such things at smallatlarge.blogspot.ca, believes Regina cupboard includes only a third-Saskatoonround pick in 2018, a fourth- and two fifth-rounders in 2019, and a fourth- and a fifth-rounder in 2020. . . .

Hebig, from Saskatoon, had been with the Blades since the age of 16. He was an NHL free agent until signing a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL Oilers on Dec. 28. He missed all of last season with an injury that was first believed to be a concussion but Hebig has since indicated that he never did get a clear-cut diagnosis. . . . The Blades selected Hebig in the third round of the 2012 bantam draft. . . . Kubic, from St. Andrews, Man., has made one appearance with the Blades since returning from an injury that had kept him out since Dec. 16. He was selected by Vancouver in the second round of the 2013 bantam draft. They dealt him to the Blades on Sept. 21, getting back a second-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft. The Pats also have two other goaltenders — Max Paddock, 17, and Jacob Wassermann, who turned 18 on Tuesday — on their roster. Paddock has been injured, so Wassermann was brought in from the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos to back up Brown. . . . While Kubic has yet to play even one minute of playoff hockey in the WHL, Brown helped the Pats to the WHL’s championship final last season. . . . Brown, from Winnipeg, was listed by the Pats before the 2014-15 season. . . . Lockner is from Windsor, which is in the northern part of Colorado. he was a third-round pick by the Pats in the 2015 bantam draft.

WHY: The Pats are the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup — it is the team’s 100th season and it will be the 100th anniversary of the Memorial Cup — so Regina is more than all-in. They wanted Hebig’s offence, and in adding a 20-year-old had to give up one, which turned out to be Brown. . . . The Blades got Lockner, and then, in adding a sniper to their lineup, flipped him to the Medicine Hat Tigers.


THE DEAL: The Saskatoon Blades acquired F Max Gerlach, 18, from the Medicine Hat Tigers for F Bryan Lockner, 17, Saskatoon’s first-round selection in the 2020 WHL bantam draft and a second-round pick in 2021.

THE NUMBERS: In 2015-16, as a freshman, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Gerlach had 30 goals Tigers Logo Officialand 15 assists in 72 games. Last season, he recorded 34 goals and 28 assists in 72 games. This season, he has 16 goals and 19 assists in 35 games. . . . Add it all up and Gerlach has 80 goals and 62 assists in 179 career games. . . . For Lockner’s numbers, see the previous trade.

THE INFO: From Flower Mound, Texas, Gerlach was a sixth-round selection by the Tigers in the 2013 bantam draft. He played in the Colorado Thunderbirds organization before joining the Tigers.

WHY: The Blades got a pure scorer in Gerlach and that’s what they wanted. They expect him back next season as a 20-year-old. “Players like (Gerlach) do not come available very often,” Blades GM Colin Priestner said in a news release, “and the fact he can play for this year and next year as an overage made this decision easy for us.” . . . Gerlach was one of eight 19-year-olds on the Tigers’ roster, so they get younger with this deal.


THE DEAL: The Everett Silvertips acquired D Jameson Murray, 18, from the Calgary EverettHitmen for a conditional sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 or 2020 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Murray had one goal and five assists in 28 games with Calgary this season. Last season, his first in the WHL, he had a goal and two assists in 35 games. In 2015-16, he had 14 goals and 36 assists in 56 games with the major midget Okanagan Rockets, who are based in Kelowna.

THE INFO: The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder is from Kelowna. He is a right-hand shot, always a valuable commodity among defencemen.

WHY: Everett adds some size and depth to its back end. . . . The rebuilding Hitmen add another draft pick to their collection.


THE DEAL: The Victoria Royals acquired F Lane Zablocki, who turned 19 on Dec. 27, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for second- and sixth-round selections in the 2018 WHL VictoriaRoyalsbantam draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: This season, the 6-foot-0, 190-pound Zablocki has 11 goals and 14 assists in 40 games split between the Hurricanes and Red Deer Rebels. In 176 career games, he has 57 goals and 59 assists.

THE INFO: Zablocki, from Wetaskiwin, Alta., joins his third team this season and the fourth in two seasons. . . . The Prince George Cougars selected Zablocki in the fifth round of the 2013 bantam draft. He never played for the Cougars, who dealt him to theRegina Pats on Aug. 11, 2015. The Pats moved him to Red Deer on Jan. 10, 2017, and the Rebels traded him to Lethbridge on Dec. 9. . . . The Detroit Red Wings picked him in the third round of the NHL’s 2017 draft.

WHY: The Royals continue the attempt to remake their image by adding size and grit. They will be looking for that and some offence from Zablocki, who just might be back as a 20-year-old. . . . Lethbridge adds three draft picks to its coffers, something GM Peter Anholt no doubt will be able to use.


THE DEAL: The Saskatoon Blades acquired F Eric Florchuk, who was traded on his 18th birthday, from the Victoria Royals for first-round selections in the 2019 and 2021 WHL bantam drafts and a fourth-round selection in 2018.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-1, 165-pound Florchuk, a WHL sophomore, had seven goals and 21 assists in 43 games with the Royals. In 94 career games, he has 10 goals and 27 assists.

THE INFO: From Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Florchuk was selected by the Royals in the first round, 13th overall, of the 2015 bantam draft. In 2014-15, he had 24 goals and 22 assists in 33 games for the bantam AAA Fort Saskatchewan Rangers.

WHY: The Blades added to their roster of young forwards whom they feel have lots of upside. . . . The Royals moved out a forward whose ice time may have decreased with the trade additions they have made and you can’t scoff at a return that included two first-round draft picks.


THE DEAL: The Tri-City Americans acquired D Austin King-Cunningham, 17, from the TriCity30Vancouver Giants for a conditional fifth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: King-Cunningham was pointless in five games with the Giants this season. Last season, he had one assist in three games. . . . he has been playing with the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins for whom he has three assists in 16 games.

THE INFO: The 6-foot-4, 195-pound King-Cunningham is from Pilot Butte, Sask. . . . He was an undrafted bantam who was added to Vancouver’s protected list.

WHY: Tri-City adds a prospect who will provide some depth in their organization while staying in Estevan. . . . The Giants get a draft pick for a player who wasn’t able to crack their roster.


THE DEAL: The Vancouver Giants acquired F Davis Koch, 19, and an conditional third-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft from the Edmonton Oil Kings for F Brendan VancouverSemchuk, 18, G Todd Scott, 17, and a third-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-0, 165-pound Koch has 18 goals and 21 assists in 40 games this season. In 225 career games with Edmonton, he has 59 goals and 99 assists. Last season, he put up 21 goals and 49 assists in 72 games. . . . Semchuk, 6-foot-0 and 185 pounds, had 17 goals and 24 assists in 127 games over three seasons with the Giants. This season, he had eight goals and 11 assists in 33 games. . . . Scott, a WHL freshman, was 8-7-4, 4.11, .869 with the Giants.

THE INFO: Koch, from Surrey, B.C., requested a trade from the Oil Kings. He was a EdmontonOilKingssecond-round pick by Edmonton in the 2013 bantam draft and was an alternate captain this season. . . . Semchuk, from Kamloops, was on Vancouver’s suspended list after leaving the team in a dispute over playing time. He was a first-round selection, 10th overall, in the 2014 bantam draft. . . . The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Scott, from Albertville, Minn., joins Boston Bilous, 16, Josh Dechaine, 19, and Travis Child, 20, as goaltenders on Edmonton’s roster. However, Child is injured and hasn’t played since Dec. 15. . . . With Scott gone, Vancouver added G Trent Miner, 16, to their roster for the remainder of the season. From Souris, Man., Miner was a first-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. This season, he was 17-3-0, 1.64, .941 in 30 games with the midget AAA Brandon Wheat Kings.

WHY: In a news release, Vancouver GM Glen Hanlon described Koch as “dynamic” and a “game-changer.” The Giants also expect Koch to be excited about returning to the Lower Mainland and playing in front of friends and family. . . . The Oil Kings appear to have done OK, considering Koch had asked for a trade, something that sometimes puts the squeeze on the team. They will need Semchuk to live up to his potential and for Scott to continue to grow as a goaltender.


LOTS MORE TO COME . . .

Three high-profile players kept off ice on eve of trade deadline . . . Giants keep winning on road . . . Ferguson carries Blazers to victory

A LITTLE OF THIS …

With the WHL’s trading deadline arriving this afternoon, a couple of veteran forwards and a high-profile defenceman were kept off the ice by their teams on Wednesday.

F Cam Hebig didn’t practise with the Blades in Saskatoon. GM Colin Priestner admitted whlthat four teams had inquired about Hebig and the Blades didn’t want to risk an injury in case something could be worked out. Hebig missed all of last season with an injury.

This season, Hebig, who is to turn 21 on Jan. 21, has 30 goals and 28 assists in 40 games. From Saskatoon, he has 193 points, 87 of them goals, in 238 career games, all with the Blades. They picked him in the third round of the 2012 WHL bantam draft.

If Hebig isn’t dealt, he is expected to play tonight against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.

Meanwhile, in Brandon, F Davis Koch didn’t play as the Edmonton Oil Kings met the Wheat Kings. Koch, 19, is from Surrey, B.C. This season, he has 18 goals and 21 assists in 40 games.

In 224 regular-season games, he has 59 goals and 99 assists. The Oil Kings selected him in the second round of the 2013 bantam draft.

In Prince George, D Dennis Cholowski, the team captain, didn’t play for the Cougars as they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Vancouver Giants. After the game, Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk admitted that Cholowski, 19, was scratched in order to keep him healthy just in case.

Cholowski, a first-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2016 NHL draft, has signed an NHL deal. In his first WHL season, he has 13 goals and 26 assists in 37 games.


The Calgary Hitmen claimed D Egor Zamula off waivers from the Regina Pats on Tuesday. Zamula, 17, is from Chelyabinsk, Russia. A freshman, he had seven assists in 38 games with the Pats, who had to drop an import player after acquiring D Libor Hajek from the Saskatoon Blades on Monday. . . . The Hitmen had an opening for an import after they sent F Andrei Grishakov to the Victoria Royals for a third-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft on Jan. 4. . . . Calgary’s other import is sophomore D Vladislav Yeryomenko, 18, who is from Belarus.


The Everett Silvertips have returned two players — D Dylan Anderson and F Gage Goncalves — to the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. . . . Anderson, 15, was pointless in one game with the Silvertips. He was a fourth-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft. . . . Goncalves, a list player, also was pointless in one game with Everett.


Scoreboard

TUESDAY:

At Brandon, F Brett Kemp scored in OT to give the Edmonton Oil Kings a 3-2 victory over the Wheat Kings. . . . Edmonton (11-24-6) had lost its previous three games (0-2-1). It is 4-EdmontonOilKings3-3 in its last 10. . . . Brandon (27-12-2) had won its last two outings. The Wheat Kings are third in the overall standings, five points behind Swift Current. . . . F Ty Lewis (24) gave the Wheat Kings a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 16:03 of the first period. . . . D Jayden Platz (1) pulled the visitors even at 2:26 of the second period. . . . Brandon went back out front when F Baron Thompson (12) scored at 11:38 of the third period. . . . F Scott Atkinson (2) tied it for Edmonton at 14:53. . . . Kemp won it with his 10th goal at 2:06 of OT. . . . D Brayden Gorda had an assist and was plus-2 in his first game back with the Oil Kings. He returned to the Oil Kings last week after missing the first half of the season for personal reasons. . . . Brandon was 1-4 on the PP; Edmonton was 0-3. . . . G Josh Dechaine earned the victory with 34 saves, 12 more than Brandon’s Dylan Myskiw. . . . Brandon D Kale Clague has yet to return to the lineup after playing for Canada at the WJC. . . . Announced attendance: 3,225.


At Lethbridge, F Logan Barlage, acquired earlier in the day in the rather large trade, scored in the sixth round of a shootout to give the Hurricanes a 5-4 victory over the Red LethbridgeDeer Rebels. . . . The Hurricanes (18-19-3) had lost their previous two games. They moved into a second-place tie with Kootenay in the Central Division, eight points in arrears of Medicine Hat. . . . The Rebels (10-22-10) have lost nine in a row (0-4-5). . . . G Logan Flodell, who came over with Barlage in that swap with the Swift Current Broncos, got the victory with 29 saves through OT. He also stopped the last five Red Deer shooters in the shootout. . . . F Brad Morrison, acquired earlier from the Vancouver Giants, scored Lethbridge’s first two goals, both on the PP, at 6:26 and 17:53 of the first period. He’s got 13 goals. . . . In between, Red Deer D Alex Alexeyev (5) got his guys on the scoreboard. . . . F B Brendan Stafford (1) gave Lethbridge a 3-1 lead at 3:17 of the second period. . . . Red Deer took the lead on three second-period goals, two PP scores from Reese Johnson, who has 15 goals, at 7:16 and 8:52, and a goal from F Mason McCarty (20), at 10:19. . . . F Dylan Cozens (12) tied it again at 15:22. . . . The third period was scoreless. . . . Lethbridge got two assists from each of F Jordy Bellerive and F Taylor Ross, with Cozens adding one. . . . F Kristian Reichel and Alexeyev each had two assists for Red Deer, and McCarty had one. . . . Lethbridge was 2-2 on the PP; Red Deer was 2-4. . . . Red Deer G Ethan Anders allowed four goals on 27 shots through two periods. Riley Lamb came on for the third period and OT, stopping all 14 shots he faced. . . . Lethbridge acquired four players from Swift Current in the morning and all four played last night — Flodell, Barlage, D Matthew Stanley and F Owen Blocker. . . . F Jacob Boucher, a ninth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft, made his WHL debut with the Hurricanes. He’s from St. Albert, Alta. . . . After the game, Lethbridge general manager Peter Anholt played host to a town hall as he explained to fans the deal he made with the Swift Current Broncos earlier in the day. . . . Announced attendance: 2,696.


At Kamloops, G Dylan Ferguson stopped 47 shots to lead the Blazers to a 2-1 victory over Kamloops1the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Kamloops (18-20-3) had lost its previous two games (0-1-1). It is six points behind Spokane, which holds down the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Spokane (21-17-3) has lost two in a row. . . . The Blazers got first-period goals from F Quinn Benjafield (12), at 2:49, and F Luc Smith (9), at 19:09. . . . F Riley Woods (18) got the Chiefs to within a goal at 1:10 of the third period. . . . D Joe Gatenby had two assists for Kamloops. . . . F Orrin Centazzo, acquired Sunday from Everett, had an assist in his Kamloops debut. D Montana Onyebuchi, who also came over in that deal, sat out with the flu. . . . Kamloops was 0-3 on the PP; Spokane was 0-7. . . . G Donovan Buskey stopped 26 shots for the Chiefs. . . . Spokane F Kailer Yamamoto, who played for the U.S. at the WJC, sat out, and he won’t play tonight in Kelowna against the Rockets, either. . . . Announced attendance: 3,289.


At Prince George, the Vancouver Giants ran their road winning streak to seven games with a 5-1 victory over the Cougars. . . . Vancouver (24-14-5) is 6-0-1 in its past seven Vancouvergames. The victory lifted the Giants into a tie with Kelowna for the Western Conference lead. However, Kelowna has three games in hand. . . . Prince George (15-19-7) had points in each of its previous four games (2-0-2). . . . Vancouver took a 3-0 first-period lead on goals from F Dawson Holt (7), at 7:27, F James Malm (16), at 9:00, and D Matt Barberis (4), on a PP, at 16:04. . . . The Cougars’ goal came from F Jared Bethune (14), at 16:17. . . . D Kaleb Bulych (1) added more insurance for the Giants at 2:21 of the second period and F Jared Dmytriw (12) finished the scoring at 12:04. . . . The third period was scoreless. . . . Malm and Holt added two assists each. . . . Vancouver was 1-2 on the PP; Prince George was 0-2. . . . G David Tendeck made 21 saves for the Giants. . . . Cougars starter Tavin Grant allowed five goals on 21 shots in 32:04. Taylor Gauthier finished up by stopping all 10 shots he faced in 27:56. . . . D Brennan Riddle made his Vancouver debut after being acquired Monday from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Cougars had recent acquisitions D Austin Crossley and F Ethan Browne in the lineup for the first time. . . . The same teams will meet in Prince George again tonight. . . . Announced attendance: 2,477.


At Kent, Wash., F Ryan Hughes scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Portland Winterhawks a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Portland (24-13-3) has won Portlandtwo in a row and is back on top of the U.S. Division, one point ahead of Everett with two games in hand. . . . Seattle (20-14-6) has points in nine straight games (7-0-2) and holds down the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. Seattle also is three points behind third-place Tri-City in the U.S. Division. . . . Portland had taken a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from F Skyler McKenzie (29), who was playing in his 250th game, at 1:31 and F Alex Overheard (9) at 19:58. . . . Seattle got second-period goals from F Sami Moilanen (17), at 0:57, and D Reece Harsch (9), on a PP, at 11:48. Hirsch left the game after two periods with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Thunderbirds were 1-5 on the PP; the Winterhawks weren’t given even one opportunity. . . . G Cole Kehler blocked 33 shots for Portland, seven more than Seattle’s Liam Hughes. . . . Seattle F Donovan Neuls, in his fourth full season there, had an assist to give him 42 points this season. He now has 29 assists, two more than he had last season, and 42 points, also a career high after he had 41 in 2016-17. . . . The Winterhawks are without three regulars who played in the WJC — F Kieffer Bellows (U.S.), D Henri Jokiharju (Finland) and F Joachim Blichfeld (Denmark). Blichfeld was injured in a late tournament game and he hasn’t yet been checked out by Portland’s medical staff. . . . Announced attendance: 5,020.


WEDNESDAY (all times local):

Calgary at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.

Edmonton at Regina, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Vancouver at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Everett, 7:05 p.m.

Spokane at Kelowna 7:05 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

Tuesday’s WHL deals: If Broncos weren’t all-in before, they are now . . . Hurricanes land Barlage . . . Three other deals, too

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 41

PLAYERS: 78

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 49

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 8

THE DEADLINE: Wednesday, Jan. 10 (2 p.m. PT, 3 p.m. MT, 4 p.m. CT)


THE DEAL: The Swift Current Broncos acquired F Giorgio Estephan, 20, F Tanner Nagel, 19, and G Stuart Skinner, 19, from the Swift Current Broncos for F Logan Barlage, 16, F Owen Blocker, 17, D Matthew Stanley, 19, G Logan Flodell, 20, first- and third-round selections in the 2020 WHL bantam draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2021.

THE NUMBERS: Estephan, the Hurricanes’ captain, put up 297 points, including 119 SCBroncosgoals, in 297 regular-season games with Lethbridge. This season, he had 58 points, including 18 goals, in 39 games. . . . Estephan is fifth on the Hurricanes’ career list for games played (297), tied for seventh in points (297), nine in goals (119) and fourth in assists (178). . . . Last season, he finished with 35 goals and 54 assists in 68 games, then added 11 goals and 13 helpers in 18 playoff games. . . . Nagel was acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Sept. 16, 2016. He has played 107 games with Lethbridge, recording 13 goals and 11 assists. This season, Nagel has three goals and five assists in 35 games. . . . Skinner made 182 appearances with the Hurricanes, going 88-66-13, 3.30, .907. He is first in franchise history in four career categories — games played (182), minutes played (9,885), saves (5,318) and victories (88). . . .

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Barlage has one goal and six assists in 37 games with the Broncos this season. Last season, he had 37 goals and 39 assists in 44 games with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. In 2015-16, his draft season, Barlage put up 60 goals and 65 assists in 30 games with the bantam AA Humboldt Broncos. . . . Blocker, 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, has one goal in 27 games this season. In 71 career games, he has one goal and one assist. . . . In 40 games this season, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound. . . . This season, Stanley has four assists in 40 games. In 91 career games, he has five assists. . . . Flodell made 35 appearances with the Broncos this season, going 24-8-3, 3.07, .913 with three shutouts. The Broncos acquired him from the Saskatoon Blades earlier in the season.

THE INFO: The Broncos now have five first-round selections from the 2013 bantam draft Lethbridgeon their roster — D Josh Anderson (Prince George), F Tyler Steenbergen (their own pick), Skinner, F Beck Malenstyn (Calgary) and F Kaden Elder (Seattle). However, the Broncos have traded away all of their first-rounders from 2014 through 2020 — D Dominic Schmiemann, 2014 (Calgary), F Riley Stotts, 2015 (Calgary), Barlage, and D Joel Sexsmith, 2017 (Vancouver). . . . The Broncos did get a 2019 first-round pick from Vancouver for the rights to Sexsmith. . . . Estephan, from Edmonton, was the fourth-overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft. He was a sixth-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL’s 2015 draft, but was never signed. . . . Nagel, who turns 20 on Jan. 27, is from Mossbank, Sask., but pretty much grew up in Swift Current. He was an alternate captain with the Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge selected Skinner in the first round of the 2013 bantam draft. The Edmonton Oilers picked him in the third round of the NHL’s 2017 draft. He has yet to sign a pro contract. . . .

The Broncos selected Barlage, who is from Humboldt, Sask., with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 bantam draft. He will turn 17 on Friday and is eligible for the NHL’s 2019 draft. . . . In 2013-14, with a peewee AA team in Humboldt, Barlage had 274 points, including 175 goals, in 56 games. . . . From Oakbank, Man., Blocker was selected by the Broncos in the second round of the 2015 bantam draft. . . . The Broncos picked Stanley in the 12th round of the 2013 bantam draft. He’s from Balmoral, Man. . . . Flodell, from Regina, was a third-round pick by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 2012 bantam draft. Last season, with Saskatoon, he was an Eastern Conference second-team all-star.

WHY: Swift Current’s braintrust apparently felt it was one rung below Moose Jaw — at the time of the deal, the Warriors led the overall standings by eight points over the Broncos — and chose to try and do something about it. So the Broncos struck in a big way, but the price was steep. You have to think they know that’s the way it would be when Manny Viveiros, their director of hockey operations and head coach, first inquired about getting both Estephan and Skinner. . . . At the same time, the Hurricanes were eager to get their hands on Barlage. As Lethbridge GM Peter Anholt said in a news release: “To be able to get Barlage in the trade was the key to this move. He’s a big, young guy who has a lot of potential and we think he will be a real good player who will be an important piece to us now and (in the) future.”


THE DEAL: The Swift Current Broncos acquired F Andrew Fyten, 19, from the Calgary Hitmen for the rights to D Ethan Martini, 17, or a conditional third-round selection in the 2020 WHL bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Fyten had six goals and 10 assists in 40 games with the Hitmen this Calgaryseason. In 155 career games, all with Calgary, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder has 14 goals and 21 assists. . . . Martini is in his second BCHL season with his hometown Trail Smoke Eaters after playing at the Edge School in Calgary. He has six assists in 40 games this season. Last season, he had a goal and four assists in 58 games.

THE INFO: From Sundre, Alta., Fyten was a fifth-round pick by the Everett Silvertips in the 2013 bantam draft. He was dealt to Calgary on May 8, 2015, for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . The Broncos selected Martini in the third round of the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. Under the terms of the deal, if he doesn’t sign with Calgary, the Hitmen will get that third-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft.

WHY: The Broncos added some depth and some grit to their forward group, while the Hitmen get to take a shot at recruiting Martini, who has been a pretty solid junior A defender.


THE DEAL: The Medicine Hat Tigers acquired F Elijah Brown, who turned 18 on Jan. 5, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a second-round pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft Tigers Logo Officialand a conditional third-round pick in 2019.

THE NUMBERS: Brown had six goals and 14 assists in 80 games with Seattle. He had a goal and an assist in two games in 2015-16 and four goals and nine assists in 64 games last season. This season, he had a goal and four assists in 14 games when he chose to go home.

THE INFO: The Thunderbirds selected Brown, who is from Edmonton, in the first round of the 2015 bantam draft. . . . He had been on Seattle’s suspended list since Nov. 1 when he chose to leave the club due to what he felt was a lack of playing time. . . . Medicine Hat assistant coach Bobby Fox and Brown were together on Team Alberta at the Western Canada U-16 Challenge Cup in 2015.

WHY: The Tigers get to add a former first-rounder who has some upside to their roster, while the Thunderbirds get a couple of assets for someone who didn’t fit with them.


THE DEAL: The Prince George Cougars acquired D Cameron MacPhee, 18, from the PrinceGeorgeMedicine Hat Tigers for a seventh-round pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder, who is from Edmonton, had one goal in 20 games with the Tigers this season. Last season, he had one assist in 16 games.

THE INFO: The Tigers had dropped MacPhee from their roster in November, saying that he had gone home to deal with a personal matter.

WHY: The Cougars didn’t pay a whole lot to get a half-season look at someone who could spend the next two seasons with them. . . . The Tigers add a draft pick for a player who wasn’t coming back to them.

Ice may have lost pick to UND . . . Ex-WHLer’s son makes verbal commitment . . . Hitmen make some moves

MacBeth

F Richard Nejezchleb (Brandon, Tri-City, 2012-15) has been assigned on loan by Litvínov (Czech Republic, Extraliga) to České Budějovice (Czech Republic, 1. Liga) for the rest of this season. He had five goals and one assist in 22 games with Litvínov this season.


A LITTLE OF THIS …

F Jake Sanderson, the son of former WHL/NHL F Geoff Sanderson, has made a verbal commitment to attend the U of North Dakota and play for the Fighting Hawks starting in 2021-22.

Jake, who won’t turn 16 until July 8, was a fourth-round selection by the Kootenay Ice in UNDthe WHL’s 2017 bantam draft.

From Calgary, Sanderson is a Grade 9 student at the Edge School. He has six goals and 12 assists in 14 games with the school’s elite 15 entry in the CSSHL.

His father played three seasons (1988-91) with the Swift Current Broncos, totalling 112 points, including 62 goals, in 1990-91.

Sanderson is one of a number of WHL bantam draft picks who have said they will attend UND.

D Luke Reid, a second-round pick of the Victoria Royals in the 2016 bantam draft, also has committed to UND, but for 2020-21. Reid, 16, is from Warman, Sask. He is in his first season with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees.

D Tyler Kleven, 15, has committed to UND, but for the 2022-23 season. Kleven, from Fargo, N.D., was a 10th-round selection by the Portland Winterhawks in the 2017 bantam draft. He is playing with Great Plains in the Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League.

D Jacob Bernard-Docker, 17, is in his second season with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers and has said he will go to UND for 2019-20. The Swift Current Broncos selected him in the fifth round of the 2015 bantam draft.

D Jonny Tychonick, a 17-year-old Calgarian who is in his second season with the Vees, has committed to UND starting next season. The Saskatoon Blades selected him in the first round of the 2015 bantam draft, but dealt his WHL rights to the Calgary Hitmen on Nov. 7, 2016, for a third-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft and a conditional first-round selection.

Brad Elliott Schlossmann of the Grand Forks Herald has more right here.


The Edmonton Oil Kings have added F Matthew Culling, 16, to their roster. From Regina, Culling has 23 goals and 26 assists in 31 games with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. . . . The Oil Kings selected him in the 10th round of the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.


The Calgary Hitmen have added F Ryder Korczak, 15, to their roster. From Yorkton, Sask., he was a second-round pick in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. He has 11 goals and 14 Calgaryassists in 29 games with the midget AAA Yorkton Maulers.

Meanwhile, the Hitmen have returned three players to their midget teams.

D Luke Prokop, 15, has two assists in 11 games with the Hitmen this season. The seventh-overall selection in the 2017 bantam draft, he is on his way back to the Northern Alberta X-Treme prep team.

D Devan Klassen, 16, who was pointless in nine games with the Hitmen, is returning to the midget AAA Grande Prairie, Alta., Storm.

F Bryce Bader, 16, was a second-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. He was pointless in three games with Calgary, and now is going back to the midget AAA Sherwood Park, Alta., Kings.


Scoreboard

MONDAY:

No Games Scheduled


TUESDAY (all times local):

Edmonton at Brandon, 7 p.m.

Red Deer at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Spokane at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Vancouver at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Portland vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m.


WEDNESDAY (all times local):

Calgary at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.

Edmonton at Regina, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Vancouver at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Everett, 7:05 p.m.

Spokane at Kelowna 7:05 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

Monday’s With Murray: Goodbye to a Friend

   Fifty-six years ago, almost to the day, the Los Angeles Examiner printed its last edition. The Examiner was a place that Jim Murray once called home and it’s because of that we bring to you this week a column Jim wrote about the death of the Examiner. Given the state of newspapers today, it seems appropriate.

   But first an excerpt from Jim Murray’s autobiography about his time at the Examiner:

   Gawd, we had fun on the old L.A. Examiner. It was a Hearst paper and the literati looked down their noses on it, but we pulled all the stops on murders, suicides, public scandals and, particularly, on Hollywood stories. L.A. was exciting. The world was in flames. We told it all in dripping red headlines.

   The city editor, Jim Richardson, was a one-eyed, iron-lunged, prototypical Hearst city editor, a tyrant of the city room. But he liked the way I wrote and for a time I was the youngest rewrite man in the whole Hearst chain. 

   I can tell you all you need to know about Jim Richardson with one anecdote: In the Black Dahlia murder, in which a young army camp follower, Elizabeth Short, was found slain and cut in half on an empty lot in L.A., the Examiner was able to score a scoop in identifying her by means of wirephotoing (a fairly new process at the time) her fingerprints to the FBI in Washington. 

   Armed with her identity, Richardson instructed a reporter, Wain Sutton, to telephone her mother in Massachusetts. “Don’t tell her what happened,” he instructed. “Tell her that her daughter’s just won a beauty contest at Camp Roberts. Then get all the information on her.” 

   Sutton did as instructed. The mother happily confided her daughter’s life history. Then Sutton put his hand over the mouthpiece. “Now what do I do?” he wondered. Richardson looked at him wickedly. “Now tell her.” He purred. Sutton looked at him. “You miserable S-O-B!” he said. Richardson just smiled. 

   One slow day, Richardson handed me a routine suicide on Skid Row (Fifth and Main streets, in downtown L.A.).  A poor old wino had hanged himself in a hotel room. 

   I wrote it straight. “John Jefferson, 51, was found dead in his room at the Hotel Barclay yesterday. Police dubbed the death as suicide by handing.” 

   Richardson handed it back to me. “Try to get a little more oomph in it,” he ordered. He meant pathos. I rewrote it. He was dissatisfied. I rewrote it again. He shook his head. Finally, in desperation, I handed in a lead: “John Jefferson, 51, tired of it all, stepped off a chair into eternity.” 

  Richardson looked at it. He knew he had driven me too far. He dropped the story in the wastebasket. “Why don’t you just go get a cup of coffee, kid?” he asked with unaccustomed gentleness.”

— Excerpt from Jim Murray: The Autobiography of the Pulitzer Prize Winning Sports Columnist – Macmillan, Copyright © 1993

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1962, SPORTS

Copyright 1962/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

 JIM MURRAY

Goodbye to a Friend

   I don’t think I’d like to write about sports today, if you don’t mind. I don’t feel much like fun and games.

   You see, an old friend of mine died over the weekend — the Los Angeles Examiner.

   Startle you? It shouldn’t. The Examiner was competitive, sure. But no newspaperman rejoices in the death of another newspaper. A little of you dies with each one if you’ve mondaysmurray2loved this business and the people in it as much as we all have.

   Besides, I worked for the Examiner once. That was when I first came to town — 1944.

   Los Angeles was a wildly exciting place in those days. The shipyards were humming at the harbor, there were troop movements going to every point of the compass, there were so many murders the city was running neck-and-neck with the South Pacific. Life was the only thing the OPA couldn’t keep the lid on. Life and Los Angeles.

   There was seldom a dull moment. And if there were, the front page of the Examiner never admitted it. Its shrill calamitous presence was felt from Lincoln Heights jail to the hibiscus-studded mansions in Beverly Hills. As young reporters were in short supply that war year, we slept with our socks on like firefighters waiting for the next alarm in that kookie city out there that made my native Connecticut look like a monastery with a State House.

  I fell in love with Los Angeles then, an affair of the heart that I doubt I will ever outgrow and it was the Examiner that brought us together. I never wrote sports in those days, but I never missed a sporting event either. I used to jeer at the old Angels and bawl out a poor hardworking catcher named Mickey Kreitner (“Kreitner, you’re a bum!”). I cheered the old Hollywood Stars where my favorite player was a first baseman named ‘Butch’ Moran because I approved of ballplayers named ‘Butch’ automatically.

   But most of my fun was in the city room of the Examiner. There was no such thing as a small story to us. We lived at headlong apoplexy — from journalism school graduates to gold-bricking old-timers. Our leader, hardly beloved, was a city editor who was such a combination of literary light and Attila the Hun that his rewrite man, Hank Sutherland, once dubbed Jim Richardson “Half-Oaf, Half Elf.”

   The prose justified the dripping red headlines. When Tokyo fell, there was almost nothing left but to sell a front page actually in flames. Bodies were being delivered in trucks to Union Station so regularly that we were thinking of suggesting the railroad give special rates for them. Hollywood was alive with lurid stories. Louise Peete, who had murdered one man, went to prison for half a lifetime, got out and murdered again, sent the makeup editor trumpeting through the city room, cackling “Louise Peete is in a rut!”

   So, I guess were we. But we thought we were the luckiest guys on earth. New Year’s Eve 365 days a year. On a big story, the city room looked like a bust out in an insane asylum. Sob sisters turned out drivel by the ream, reporters dug up bloody angles by the edition. Murderers were on the phone every other midnight, it seemed. The torso of a young lady on an empty lot was enough to push the steel strike back in the want ads as we set about to helping the police solve the case. Neither of us ever did.

   We had campaigns and sacred cows. The ‘Chief’, Mr. Hearst himself, was alive in those days and called at midnight almost as often as the murderers. Usually he would just want something like a croup kettle or an out-of-manufacture cookie from his youth, but he would periodically discover our city was in the midst of a crime wave — usually when some acquaintance of the royal family got hit over the head coming out of a night club — and we would print a daily box score of crime, everything from spitting on the sidewalk to double-parking. It scared hell out of the tourists and we quit it.

   There were heartaches, too. I remember almost the first story I covered — a little girl on the north side got run over by a truck and lost a leg. The thought of her going through life that way made me shrink. It still does. She must be 21 years old now and I wonder how she has managed. I remember I had $8 left of my paycheck (which was only $38 to begin with in those days) and I bought her a whole armful of toys and brought them to the hospital and those silly nurses were embarrassed and told me I’d have to take them back, and I said, like hell I would, give them to that little girl or I’ll bring the power of the press (whatever that was) down on you.,

   I don’t know what they did with those toys any more than I know what life has done to that little girl.

   I suppose the Examiner really died when the Old Man did. Newspapers, like other institutions, are lengthened shadows of men who love them and drive them. All I know is it died in its sleep. And part of all of us did with it. I hope I haven’t bored you. But I just wanted to say goodbye to an old friend.

Reprinted with the permission of the Los Angeles Times

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

———

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

Monday’s WHL deals: Pats, Blades make big trade . . . Ice adds, subtracts goaltender . . . Portland acquires some muscle . . . Kelowna rolls dice

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 37

PLAYERS: 67

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 45

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 5

THE DEADLINE: Wednesday, Jan. 10 (2 p.m. PT, 3 p.m. MT, 4 p.m. CT)


THE DEAL: The Regina Pats acquire D Libor Hajek, 19, from the Saskatoon Blades for D Dawson Davidson, 19, F Tristen Robins, 16, and a first-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Interestingly, the Blades and Pats are tied for the Eastern Conference’s ReginaPats100two wild-card spots. They are 10 points behind third-place Brandon in the East Division and seven points ahead of Prince Albert in the wild-card chase. . . . The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Hajek has eight goals and 17 assists in 33 games with the Blades this season. In 167 games, all with the Blades, he has 15 goals and 62 assists. . . . Davidson, 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, has nine goals and 28 assists in 83 games with Regina after being acquired from the Kamloops Blazers. In 207 career WHL games, he has 100 points, including 21 goals. This season, he has seven goals and 20 assists in 43 games. . . . Robins plays at the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg, where he has 10 goals and 12 assists in 17 games for the midget prep team in the CSSHL.

THE INFO: The Pats and Blades next play each other on Jan. 20 in Saskatoon. . . . Hajek, an alternate captain with the Blades, played well for his native Czech Republic in the SaskatoonWorld Junior Championship in Buffalo. He had a goal and seven assists in seven games as the Czechs placed fourth. He was a second-round pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s 2016 draft and has signed an NHL contract. . . . The Pats acquired Davidson, who is from Moosomin, Sask., from the Kamloops Blazers on Dec. 27, 2016. Kamloops had picked him in the third round of the 2013 bantam draft. . . . Robins is the son of former WHL G Trevor Robins, who played three seasons (1989-92) with the Blades and one (1992-93) with Brandon. Tristen was a fourth-round pick by the Pats in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . The acquisition of Hajek left Regina with three imports, one over the limit, so it placed Russian D Egor Zamula, 17, on waivers. He has seven assists in 38 games as a freshman. . . . Finnish F Emil Oksanen, 19, is Regina’s other import.

WHY: The Pats are of the opinion that they needed another top-end defenceman, even after acquiring Cale Fleury from the Kootenay Ice on Nov. 13. They are hoping Hajek fills that role. . . . The Blades add a solid defenceman who may return as a 20-year-old and a prospect who scored 51 goals in bantam AAA last season in Winnipeg. Saskatoon also gets a first-round draft pick in 2019, the draft that follows the Pats’ Memorial Cup-hosting season. As Blades GM Colin Priestner put it in a news release: “If history is an indicator, Regina’s first-round pick next year has a serious chance of being a lottery pick as Memorial Cup host teams often go through a tough phase. So to have that first pick next year . . . we feel that gives us a good chance at selecting a star player.”


THE DEAL: The Kootenay Ice acquired G Matt Berlin, 19, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a fifth-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Berlin made 24 appearances with the Thunderbirds this season, going Kootenaynew12-7-3, 3.40, .893, with one shutout. . . . Last season, Berlin was 7-2-2, 2.82, .902 in helping the Thunderbirds to the WHL championship. . . . In 44 career appearances, seven with Spokane and 37 with Seattle, Berlin is 20-10-7, 3.33, .891.

THE INFO: Berlin joins Duncan McGovern, 17, as the Ice’s goaltenders. . . . Berlin was a seventh-round pick by the Spokane Chiefs in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . Seattle is left with three goaltenders on its roster, in Liam Hughes, 18, who has made four straight starts, Dorrin Luding, 18, and Carl Stankowski, 17. However, Stankowski has yet to play this season due to hip problems. . . . The Thunderbirds had been without a fifth-round pick, having dealt their 2018 and 2019 fifth-rounders to the Ice for F Noah Philp on Sept. 11.

WHY: Seattle is able to get a draft pick for a player who likely wouldn’t be on its roster next season. . . . The Ice, meanwhile, continues its search for a goaltender. Since May 24, Ice general manager Matt Cockell has traded for five goaltenders — Mario Petit (Everett), Bailey Brkin (Swift Current), Kurtis Chapman (Regina), McGovern (Medicine Hat) and Berlin.


THE DEAL: The Spokane Chiefs acquired G Bailey Brkin, 18, from the Kootenay Ice for an eight-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: In 23 appearances with the Ice, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Brkin, a SpokaneChiefsfreshman, was 7-12-2, 4.51, .874.

THE INFO: The native of Sherwood Park, Alta., played last season with the AJHL’s Calgary Mustangs (45 games, 5.19, .890). . . . He won’t be joining the Chiefs, at least not right away; instead, he will play for the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. . . . Brkin was a list player with the Swift Current Broncos, who dealt him to Kootenay earlier this season.

WHY: With Brkin having some WHL experience, the Chiefs added some depth to the organization’s goaltending. They also have Dawson Weatherill (12-9-3, 3.23, .888) and Donovan Buskey (8-6-0, 3.51, .874) on their roster. On Monday, they brought back Arnold Campbell, 15, and he is expected to be in Kamloops on Tuesday when the Chiefs meet the Blazers. Arnold was a second-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. Arnold, from Nanaimo, B.C., plays at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. . . . You are free to specualte if Weatherill or Buskey is injured, or if another move is in the works.


THE DEAL: The Portland Winterhawks acquired F Lukus MacKenzie, 18, from the Red Deer Rebels for a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2020 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: This season, in 30 games — 13 with the Saskatoon Blades and 17 with PortlandRed Deer — the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder has eight assists. In 138 career games, he has eight goals and 20 assists.

THE INFO: The Rebels dropped the Calgarian from their roster on Thursday and he joined the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. He was pointless in one game with the Oilers. . . . Saskatoon selected him in the third round of the 2014 bantam draft.

WHY: The Winterhawks obviously wanted to add some toughness to their lineup because MacKenzie was one of the Eastern Conference’s toughest players when he was on a roster. . . . He has 163 penalty minutes in his WHL career, but don’t forget that the WHL chooses not to include some penalties, such as misconducts and game misconducts, in its penalty totals.


THE DEAL: The Vancouver Giants acquired D Brennan Riddle, 20, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for F Brad Morrison, who turned 21 on Jan. 4.

THE NUMBERS: Riddle has a goal and five assists in 37 games this season. In 216 career Lethbridgegames, he has five goals and 29 assists. . . . This season, Morrison has 11 goals and 24 assists in 42 games with the Giants. In 302 career regular-season games, split between Vancouver and the Prince George Cougars, he has 96 goals and 127 assists.

THE INFO: Lethbridge acquired Riddle, who is from Balgonie, Sask., from the Prince Albert Raiders early last season. This season, Riddle was an alternate captain in Lethbridge. The Calgary Hitmen selected him in the first round of the 2012 bantam draft. VancouverHe never played for the Hitmen, who dealt him to Lethbridge on Jan. 7, 2014. . . . Morrison was selected by the Prince George Cougars with the seventh overall pick in the 2012 bantam draft. He is from Prince George. The Giants acquired him from the Cougars on June 2. The New York Rangers selected him in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2015 draft, but he was never signed. Prior to this NHL season, he was in the Calgary Flames’ rookie camp.

WHY: It isn’t often that WHL teams are involved in a straight-up swap of two 20-year-olds, but that’s the case here. After three seasons out of the playoffs, Vancouver finds itself in contention for top spot in the Western Conference and wants to tighten up defensively. . . . The Hurricanes want more offence and should get that from Morrison and linemates. Morrison is a tremendous playmaker.


THE DEAL: The Calgary Hitmen acquired G Nick Sanders, 19, from the Prince Albert Raiders for a sixth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-2 Sanders was 8-13-5, 3.91, .888 in 38 appearances over two Calgaryseasons with the Raiders. He got into four games with the Raiders this season (0-1-1, 4.89, .854) before being dropped from their roster. He has been with the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats (6-5-2, 2.95, .915). . . . In 67 career games, split between the Raiders and Tri-City Americans, he is 19-22-6, 3.61, .890.

THE INFO: The Raiders acquired Sanders, who is from Calgary, from Tri-City on Oct. 13, 2016. . . . Bothered by hip issues, Sanders had offseason surgery and was late starting training camp with the Raiders. . . . He was selected by the Americans in the sixth round of the 2013 bantam draft.

WHY: The Hitmen have started a major rebuilding program, so are looking for competition at all positions. They are hoping Sanders can provide that among the goaltenders this season, and then compete for a 20-year-old spot prior to next season. . . . Also on the Calgary roster are Nick Schneider, 20, and Matthew Armitage, 18. Schneider is the starter, at 13-16-6, 3.51, .888. Armitage, a freshman, is 0-6-0, 3.70, .878.


THE DEAL: The Kelowna Rockets acquired F Ryan Bowen, 19, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for an eight-round selection in the 2019 WHL bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: This season, Bowen had one goal and five assists in 13 games with the KelownaRocketsHurricanes. In 143 career games, between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Lethbridge, he has 21 goals and 36 assists.

THE INFO: Bowen was on Lethbridge’s suspended list after refusing an earlier trade to an unnamed team. From Chilliwack, he now is with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs, although he has yet to play a game with them. . . . Bowen was a fifth-round pick by Moose Jaw in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . His younger brother, Ethan, a forward, was a second-round pick by Kelowna in the 2017 bantam draft. He hasn’t signed with the Rockets, choosing instead to commit to the U of North Dakota for 2020-21.

WHY: The Rockets rolled the dice, giving up a late draft pick in the hopes that they will be able to convince Ryan to join them. Of course, should that happen, it might allow them to get a foot in the door in terms of trying to get Ethan signed. . . . “We’re working to see if we can get (Ryan) here, but it looks like he may play junior A this (season),” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and GM, said in a news release. “But he’s a prospect that we will certainly have as an affiliate player and we’ll try to get him in eventually.”