Victoria fans doff hats for Bedard . . . Howe’s six-pack sparks Pats . . . Firkus, Warriors stun Rockets with late goal

F Connor Bedard’s I Can Sell Out the B.C. Division Arenas Tour made its second stop on Saturday night, this one in Victoria. How’d it go? Well, his team won, he scored three goals and some fans threw hats onto the ice. And when is the last time that happened for a visiting player?

Anyway, the Pats (11-11-2) won the game, 9-5, and now are 2-0-0 in the B.C. ReginaDivision. . . . The Royals (3-17-3) have lost eight straight (0-7-1). . . . The announced attendance was 7,006. That is the largest crowd in Victoria since Feb. 22, 2020, when 7,006 fans watched the Royals beat the Kelowna Rockets, 4-3 in OT. . . .

Bedard, F Tanner Howe and D Stanislav Svozil combined for 14 points. . . . Howe, a Prince Albert native who will turn 17 on Monday, scored four times and added two assists. This season, he has 33 points, 15 of them goals, in 23 games. In 87 games over his 16- and 17-year-old seasons, he has 102 points, including 42 goals. . . . Svozil, a sophomore from Prerov, Czech Republic, had a goal and three assists. He has four goals and 20 assists in 21 games this season. . . .

As for Bedard, well, he scored three times — the second time he has done that this season and the fourth time in two seasons — and added an assist as he extended his point streak to 23 games. He leads the WHL in goals (22), assists (31) and points (53). His leads are four, five and 14, respectively. . . . In 101 career regular-season games, Bedard has 181 points, 85 of them goals. . . .

The Royals actually led this game 2-1 at 14:51 of the first period. The Pats scored the next six goals — three by Bedard, two by Howe and one by Svozil. . . . F Jake Poole (13) had a goal and two assists for Victoria, which ws 4-5 on the PP, with F Alex Thacker adding three assists. . . .

The Bedard tour continues with stops in Kelowna on Tuesday and Kamloops on Wednesday. . . . Yes, both building will be sold out. . . . Perhaps the B.C. Division teams could kick back 10 per cent of the gate to Berard?

——

ELSEWHERE IN THE WHL ON SATURDAY NIGHT:

F Tyson Laventure scored three times to lead the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 6-Lethbridge4 victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon. . . . The Hurricanes swept the weekend doubleheader, having won 4-3 in Brandon on Friday. . . . Lethbridge (14-10-1) has won two in a row. . . . The Hurricanes are 3-1-0 on a six-game swing that continues Friday in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans. . . . Brandon (8-15-2) has lost two straight. . . . Brent Kisio, the Hurricanes’ head coach, posted his 249th regular-season victory, all of them with Lethbridge. According to Dustin Forbes, the Hurricanes’ radio voice, Kisio is 40th coach in WHL history to get to 250. . . . Laventure, who has eight goals, opened and closed the scoring, and his second goal, at 6:35 of the second period, provided a 4-1 lead and proved the winner. He completed his first WHL hat trick with an empty-netter. . . . F Jett Jones had three assists for the winners. . . .

F Jagger Firkus scored the winner with 18 seconds left in the third period as the WarriorsNewMoose Jaw Warriors beat the Rockets, 4-3, in Kelowna. . . . The Warriors (15-9-0) have won two in a row. . . . The Rockets now are 9-10-1. . . . Firkus (14) had two goals and two assists as he ran his point streak to 17 games. . . . Larry Fisher (@LarryFisher_KDC) pointed out that Firkus and the goaltender he beat, Jari Kykkanen, were U15 teammates in Lloydminster, Alta., for two seasons. . . . F Brayden Yager (13) added two goals and an assist — he set up the winner with a terrific pass on a PP — for Moose Jaw. . . . Moose Jaw had a 3-1 lead until F Andrew Cristall (16) and F Colton Dach (7) got Kelowna even in the latter half of the third period. . . . The Warriors were 3-5 on the PP. . . .

F Riley Fiddler-Schultz’s three-point night sparked the Calgary Hitmen to a 5-Calgary2 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat. . . . The Hitmen now are 12-6-3. . . . The Tigers (8-11-5) had won their previous two games. . . . Calgary erased a 1-0 deficit with three second-period goals — from F Zac Funk (7), F Sean Tschigerl (5) and F David Adaszynski (2). . . . Fiddler-Schultz’s 13th goal came with the man advantage as the Hitmen were 3-8 on the PP. . . . The Tigers were 0-6. . . .

F Caedan Bankier broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period and the Kamloops KamloopsBlazers went on to beat the Cougars, 4-1, in Prince George. . . . The Blazers (11-5-4) moved into a tie atop the B.C. Division with the Cougars (13-10-0), who had won their previous four games. Kamloops holds three games in hand. . . . Bankier’s 14th goal of the season came at 4:11 of the second period, and F Fraser Minten (7) added insurance, on a PP, at 8:02. . . . Bankier got his second goal of the game, shorthanded, just 40 seconds into the third period. . . . Kamloops F Logan Stankoven now is on a 16-game scoring streak after drawing one assist. . . . The Blazers got 34 stops from G Dylan Ernst, who is 10-4-2, 2.29, .922 this season. . . .

In Red Deer, the Rebels scored the first six goals en route to a 6-1 victory over RedDeerthe Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Red Deer (17-4-3) has lost its previous three games (0-1-2). . . . The Raiders (9-13-2) had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . F Kai Uchacz (18) had a goal and two assists. . . . F Arjun Bawa scored his first WHL goal for the Rebels. He is the son of Robin Bawa, who played in the WHL with the Kamloops Junior Oilers, Kamloops Blazers and New Westminster Bruins. Robin was the first person of Indian descent to play in the NHL. He split 61 games between the Washington Capitals, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. . . . Prince Albert is 1-1-0 on a five-game road trip that continues today in Medicine Hat as the Raiders play their third game in fewer than 48 hours. . . .

F Egor Sidorov struck for three goals as the Saskatoon Blades got past the Saskatoonvisiting Winnipeg Ice, 5-2. . . . The Blades (16-5-0) gained a measure of revenge on the Ice, which had beaten them, 6-3, in Saskatoon on Friday. . . . The Ice (22-3-0) had won its previous two games. . . . Sidorov completed his hat trick with the game’s last two goals, at 13:11 and 16:24 of the third period. . . . F Trevor Wong had three assists for Saskatoon. . . . Ice F Ty Nash (12) scored the game’s first goal; he has goals in five straight. . . . Sidorov, now with 12 goals, has played in only 10 games this season. He also has nine assists. . . . The Blades held Pride Night for this one, thus the sharp sweaters in the above tweet. . . .

In Swift Current, the Broncos scored the game’s last two goals to beat the SwiftCurrentEdmonton Oil Kings, 5-3. . . . The Broncos (11-11-0) had beaten the visiting Oil Kings, 5-2, on Friday. . . . The Oil Kings (4-20-1) have lost three in a row. The Oil Kings, the WHL’s defending champions, lost 18 games (50-14-4) all of last season. . . . Edmonton overcame one-goal deficits on three occasions, but couldn’t do it a fourth time. . . . F Josh Filmon (12) broke a 3-3 tie at 13:07 of the third period, and F Mathew Ward (12) added insurance at 18:06. . . .

F Parker Bell had two goals to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-2 victory over Tri-Citythe Spokane Chiefs in Kennewick, Wash. . . . The Americans (9-13-0) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Chiefs (4-15-1) have lost four games. . . . F Carter Streek (6) has goals in three straight after giving Spokane a 1-0 lead at 2:53 of the first period. . . . The Americans scored the next four goals, two of them from Bell (8). . . . Tri-City D Lukas Dragicevic had an assist as he ran his point streak to 15 games.


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

The BCHL’s Penticton Vees now are 23-0-0 this season after posting a 4-2 victory over the Kings in Powell River on Saturday night. . . . The Vees went 9-0-0 in November. . . . They are scheduled to entertain the West Kelowna Warriors on Dec. 3 and then travel to Wenatchee, Wash., for a Dec. 9 date with the Wild.


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Lowbridge

Sim overshadows Bedard in Pats’ victory . . . Warriors hang on to win in Kamloops . . . Thunderbirds slow down Portland express

A reminder that former WHLer Andrei Lupandin and his family have left their native Ukraine and are in Saskatoon hoping to start a new life after losing their home in the ongoing Russian onslaught.

Lupandin, 44, and his wife and two sons arrived in Saskatoon “with little more than a hockey bag and one suitcase for the family of four,” according to a GoFundMe page that is up and running.

“They have no work and need to start over. We are raising funds to help them with buying essentials, saving money to live and for future accommodations and household items.”

That GoFundMe page is right here.



FRIDAY IN THE WHL:

F Connor Bedard’s I Can Sell Out the B.C. Division Arenas Tour got started in Langley, B.C., as his Regina Pats beat the Vancouver Giants, 3-0, before an Reginaannounced crowd of 5,276. . . . That is the largest crowd for a Giants’ home game in the Langley Events Centre since they moved there to start the 2016-17 season. . . . The Pats (10-11-2) had lost their previous three games. . . . The Giants now are 8-10-4. . . . G Drew Sim was huge for the Pats, kicking out 47 shots to record his second shutout this season and the third of his career. Sim, 19, was a third-round pick by the Giants in the WHL’s 2018 draft. His first 11 WHL appearances were with the Giants. . . . Vancouver dealt him to Regina on Oct. 21, 13, 2021, for a conditional fourth-rounder in 2024. . . . Bedard, who takes his tour on to Victoria to meet the Royals tonight, was playing in his 100th regular-season game. He had one assist as his point streak reached 22 games. He was blanked in the season’s first game and hasn’t been shut out since then. . . . Bedard leads the WHL in goals (19), assists (30) and points (49). . . . Bedard is from North Vancouver, and this was his first WHL game on the Lower Mainland of B.C. . . . F Borya Valis (10), who had missed the last two games, got Regina’s first goal, on a PP, at 12:47 of the first period. . . . F Riley Ginnell, 20, made his Regina debut after being acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors earlier in the week. . . .

The visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes scored three PP goals en route to a 4-3 Lethbridgevictory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Lethbridge improved to 13-10-1. It is 1-2 on a six-game road trip. . . . The Wheat Kings are 8-14-2. . . . These teams will play in Brandon again tonight. . . . The Wheat Kings took a 2-1 lead into the second period, but the Hurricanes scored the next three goals. . . . F Tyson Laventure (5) had two goals and an assist for the winners, with D Logan McCutcheon (1) chipping in a goal and two assists. . . . Lethbridge was 3-4 on the PP; Brandon was 2-5. . . . The Hurricanes got 37 stops from G Harrison Meneghin. . . .

In Calgary, F Sloan Stanick and F Keaton Sorensen each had four points to help PrinceAlbertthe Prince Albert Raiders to a 4-2 victory over the Hitmen. . . . The Raiders (9-12-2) have won four in a row. . . . The Hitmen (11-6-3) had points in each of their previous two games (1-0-1). . . . After F Zac Funk (6) gave Calgary a 2-1 lead 48 seconds into the second period, the Raiders scored the game’s last four goals. . . . Sorensen (11) had two goals and two assists, with Stanick drawing four assists. . . . Raiders F Evan Herman, the team’s captain, scored his fifth goal this season — it was the 50th of his career — and added two assists. . . . The Raiders got 32 stops from G Tikhon Chaika. . . .

The Kelowna Rockets struck three times in the second period and went on to Kelownabeat the Silvertips, 4-2, in Everett. . . . Kelowna improved to 9-9-1; the Silvertips, who had been 0-3-1 in their previous four games, now are 12-9-1. . . . F Colton Dach (6), Kelowna’s captain, broke a 2-2 tie at 17:24 of the second period. He also had an assist. . . . F Max Graham (2) iced it with an empty-netter. . . . Kelowna D Jackson DeSouza had two assists and now is on a four-game point streak, with seven points over that stretch. He went into this season with one goal and 10 assists in 70 games. This season, he has three goals and five assists in 17 games, with all eight points having come over the past five games. . . . Everett F Jackson Berezowski, who hadn’t played since Nov. 4 as he missed six games, scored his 13th goal. . . .

The Moose Jaw Warriors scored the game’s first three goals, two via the PP, and WarriorsNewhung on to beat the Blazers, 3-2, in Kamloops. . . . The Warriors (14-9-0) are 1-1-0 on this seven-game road swing. . . . The Blazers (10-5-4) had points in each of their previous five games (3-0-2). . . . F Brayden Yager (11) had a goal and an assist for the Warriors, the goal giving them a 3-0 lead at 13:52 of the second period. . . . F Jagger Firkus of the Warriors ran his point streak to 16 games with an assist. . . . Kamloops F Logan Stankoven (14) scored 45 seconds into the third period and later added an assist to extend his point streak to 15 games; he has hit the scoresheet in each game in which he has played this season. . . . The Warriors got a big game from G Connor Ungar, who made 36 stops. . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers scored three times in the shootout to beat the Rebels, MedicineHat3-2, in Red Deer. . . . The Tigers (8-10-5) have won two straight. . . . The Rebels (16-4-3) have lost three in a row (16-4-3). . . . F Kai Uchacz (17) scored while shorthanded to give Red Deer a 2-1 lead at 2:26 of the second period. . . . F Brendan Lee got the Tigers even with his 14th goal at 15:39 of the third. . . . Lee, who also had an assist, has goals in six straight games, putting in eight over that stretch. He also scored Medicine Hat’s first goal in the shootout. . . . The Tigers had a 42-31 edge in shots. . . .

In Saskatoon, the Winnipeg Ice broke a 1-1 tie with three straight goals en route Saskatoonto a 5-3 victory over the Blades. . . . The Ice (22-2-0) has won two in a row. . . . The Blades (15-5-0) had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . The will have a rematch tonight, also in Saskatoon. . . . F Ty Nash (11) gave the Ice a 4-1 lead at 4:16 of the third period. He has goals in five straight games. . . . The Blades got PP goals from F Josh Pillar (4) and F Justin Lies (4) to get within a goal, but weren’t able to equalize. . . . The Ice got a goal and two assists from D Ben Zloty (6), while F Connor McClennon had three assists. . . . Zloty, 20, has 28 points in 24 games this season. . . . G Daniel Hauser made 30 saves to earn the victory. This season, he is 16-0-0, 2.43, .914. In his career, he is a remarkable 57-3-2. . . . F Zach Benson was one of the Ice’s scratches. . . .

The Seattle Thunderbirds have points in six straight games after beating the SeattlePortland Winterhawks, 6-1, in Kent, Wash. . . . The Thunderbirds (15-3-1) are 5-0-1 in their past six games. . . . The Winterhawks (17-3-1) had points in each of their previous 12 games (10-0-2) and had won nine in a row. . . . F Kyle Crnkovic (10) led Seattle with a shorthanded goal and two assists. . . . The only goal of the first period came from Seattle D Nolan Allan. He has five on the season, but this was his first with Seattle since being acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders on Nov. 16. . . . Seattle outshot Portland, 35-21, including 24-7 through two periods. . . . The Winterhawks had F Jack O’Brien and F Robbie Fromm-Delorme back after one-game absences. Joshua Critzer (@jjcritzer) tweeted that “both are wearing full shields/fish bowls due to coming off illness.” . . . The Thunderbirds remain without injured D Luke Prokop. . . .

F Josh Davies scored the game’s first three goals to lead the host Swift Current SwiftCurrentBroncos to a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Broncos (10-11-0) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Oil Kings (4-19-1) have lost two in a row. . . . The same teams will meet again tonight, also in Swift Current. . . . Davies, who has eight goals, scored twice while shorthanded — at 14:02 of the first period and 9:39 of the second — to complete his first WHL hat trick in his 106th game.


Looters


THE TRADING PLACE:

The Regina Pats skated at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday in advance of their Friday night game against the Vancouver Giants. Afterwards, John Paddock, the Pats’ senior vice-president of hockey operations, general manager and head coach, met with the media. Of course, he was asked about the possibility of trading highly touted F Connor Bedard. Paddock’s response: “That’s a stupid question. That’s my response. There’s only one place where that’s come out of all year and that’s in B.C.” . . . You will note that he didn’t say “NO!” Could it be that the Pats are keeping open all of their options? . . . Hey, John, any chance of your trading Tanner Howe? . . .

The Brandon Wheat Kings have acquired F Anthony Wilson, 17, and D Luke Shipley, 18, from the Victoria Royals for F Teydon Trembecky, 17, and three WHL draft picks — a third-rounder in 2023 that originally belonged to the Red Deer Rebels, a fifth in 2024 and a fourth in 2026. . . . Wilson, a third-rounder selection in the 2020 WHL draft, had nine goals and nine assists in 81 games with the Royals. He is from Swift Current. . . . Shipley was a sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft. From Powell River, B.C., he had four goals and 18 assists in 105 games with Victoria. . . . Trembecky, a third-round pick by Brandon in the 2020 draft, is from Strathcona, Alta. He had two assists in 24 games with the Wheat Kings. . . . 

Since Oct. 25, WHL teams have combined on 13 trades involving 22 players, 30 draft picks and four conditional picks. . . . Only the Calgary Hitmen, Everett Silvertips, Kelowna Rockets, Medicine Hat Tigers, Portland Winterhawks and  Vancouver Giants haven’t made at least one deal in the past month.


Spotted


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

The Regina Pats got down to three 20-year-olds by releasing F Jakob Brook. He is expected to join the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings. . . . The Pats had indicated in Tuesday’s WHL roster report that they had dropped Brook. But there wasn’t an announcement until Thursday. . . . A second-round pick by the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL’s 2017 draft, Brook had three assists in seven games this season. In 164 career regular-season games, split between the Pats and Raiders, he put up 14 goals and 23 assists. . . . Brook’s brother, Aidan, 19, also is on Dauphin’s roster. Aidan has WHL experience with the Medicine Hat Tigers (24 games) and Prince George Cougars (11). . . .

F Max Streule, a sophomore from Zurich, Switzerland, has cleared WHL waivers and has left the Winnipeg Ice for the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Streule, 19, had two goals and nine assists in 52 games last season; this season, he was pointless in six games. . . . Streule’s departure leaves F Vladislav Shilo, who is from Minsk, Belarus, as the Ice’s lone import. . . .

G Ève Gascon, who made history last season as the third female to play in a QMJHL regular-season game, with the Gatineau Olympiques, has committed to play NCAA hockey for the U of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. . . .

The BCHL’s Penticton Vees ran their season-opening winning streak to 22 games on Friday, as they dumped the host Alberni Valley Bulldogs, 7-1. . . . The Vees are to travel to Powell River to meet the Kings tonight. . . .

Meanwhile, we shouldn’t be ignoring the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars, who have opened the season by playing 23 games without a regulation-time loss. . . . They will take a 20-0-3 record into their next game, against the visiting Notre Dame Hounds on Dec. 2.


Freedom


THINKING OUT LOUD — Just how big is the NFL in the world of TV and sports. Well, you may have noticed that the NHL didn’t have even one game scheduled for Thursday, which was American Thanksgiving and featured three NFL games. One of those games — New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys — averaged 42 million viewers on FOX-TV. It now is the most-watched NFL regular-season game in history. . . . I never cease to be amazed by the number of people on the sidelines of a football game in the U.S., be it NFL or NCAA. Does each one of those people have a particular responsibility, or are they just there? . . . Mask up whenever the situation calls for it. Those people with suppressed immune systems will thank you for it.


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Breakfast

Michigan-based OHL team wants to host Memorial Cup . . . Winterhawks equal franchise record . . . Bedard, Pats selling out B.C. tour


There was an interesting development out of the OHL on Wednesday when it OHLwas announced that the Kingston Frontenacs, Niagara IceDogs, Saginaw Spirit and Soo Greyhounds all have expressed the intent of bidding to play host to the 2024 Memorial Cup. . . . You will be aware that Saginaw is in Michigan; the Memorial Cup hasn’t been played in an American city since 1998 when the Spokane Chiefs were the host team. . . . Bids are to be submitted by Jan. 31 with the winning bid to be announced in March. . . . Kingston, Niagara Falls and Saginaw haven’t served as the host city for a Memorial Cup tournament; it was held in Sault Ste. Marie in 1993. . . . The OHL last played host to the tournament in 2017 when it was in Windsor. . . . The 2023 tournament is scheduled to be held in Kamloops.


You can bet that some WHL teams are paying close attention to the NHL’s RedWingsDetroit Red Wings and the organization’s goaltending situation these days. . . . That’s because the Red Wings claimed G Magnus Hellberg on waivers from the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday. . . . WHL teams are going to be watching to see how Hellberg slots into the goaltending depth chart and just how the dominoes will fall. That’s because the Red Wings already have Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic on their NHL roster, with Victor Brattstrom and Jussi Olkinuora with the AHL-Grand Rapids Griffins. The guy some WHL teams are interested in, Sebastian Cossa, is one of three goaltenders with the ECHL’s Toldeo Walleye. Cossa, 20, was a first-round selection by the Red Wings in the NHL’s 2021 draft. He then backstopped the Edmonton Oil Kings to the 2021-22 WHL championship. . . . The Oil Kings are in a rebuilding mode and haven’t been shy about trading players off that team’s roster; F Jakub Demek, F Shea Van Olm, D Luke Prokop and F Jalen Luypen all have been dealt as Edmonton stockpiles draft picks and younger players. . . . So if the Detroit dominoes fall in such a way that the 6-foot-6, 210-pound Cossa is returned to Edmonton, you have to think his stay there won’t last long.


Run


WEDNESDAY IN THE WHL:

The Portland Winterhawks remain the only one of the WHL’s 22 teams with one Portlandregulation-time loss after they skated out of Everett with a 5-2 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Portland (17-1-2) now has points in 12 straight (10-0-2). . . . Everett (12-8-1) had lost four in a row (0-3-1). . . . Portland erased a 1-0 first-period deficit with the next four goals. . . . F Dawson Pasternak (4) and F Josh Zakreski (4) each had a goal and an assist for Portland, which held a 45-26 edge in shots, including 18-4 in the second period. . . . The Winterhawks had F Cole Cairns, 15, and F Hudson Darby, 15, in their lineup for the first time, having lost F Kyle Chyzowski and F Diego Buttazzoni to injury. Cairns plays for the U18 team at the RINK Hockey Academy in Winnipeg, while Darby is with the U18 Swift Current Legionnaires. . . . Portland also scratched F Robbie Fromm-Delorme, its leading scorer, and F Jack O’Brien, neither of whom was shown in Tuesday’s roster report. . . . F Jackson Berezowski, who last played on Nov. 4, and D Aidan Sutter were among Everett’s seven scratches. . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers got goals from six players as they skated to a 6-1 MedicineHatvictory over the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Tigers (7-10-5) had lost two in a row (0-1-1). . . . The Oil Kings (4-18-1) had won their previous two games. . . . F Mason Finley (5) gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead in the first period. . . . The Tigers scored the last six goals, two of them via the PP. . . . F Brendan Lee had a goal (13) and an assist as he ran his goal streak to five games and a point streak to six games. He has 22 points in 22 games this season. Last season, he totalled 21 points in 52 games split between Medicine Hat and the Saskatoon Blades. . . . F Tyler MacKenzie and F Andrew Basha each had three assists. . . .

The Prince George Cougars ran their winning streak to four games with a 5-2 PrinceGeorgevictory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Cougars, who lead the B.C. Division, are 13-9-0. Prince George holds a five-point lead on Kamloops with the Blazers having five games in hand. . . . The Warriors (13-9-0) had won their previous two games. This was the start of their swing through the B.C. Division. . . . The Warriors led 2-0 late in the first period, but the Cougars tied it on two goals from F Caden Brown (6) before the period ended. Brown also had an assist for a three-point night. . . . F Chase Wheatcroft’s 17th goal, at 2:14 of the third period, broke a 2-2 tie and stood up as the winner. . . . The Cougars outshot the visitors 46-21, including 24-4 in the second period when they were unable to solve G Connor Ungar. . . . F Koehn Ziemmer of the Cougars had an assist to run his point streak to 14 games. . . . F Jagger Firkus of the Warriors also had an assist as he ran his point streak to 15 games. . . . The Warriors had F Riley Niven back in the lineup after he hadn’t played since Oct. 8. . . .

F Jared Davidson scored twice to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-2 victory Seattleover the Kelowna Rockets in Kent, Wash. . . . The Thunderbirds (14-3-1) have points in five straight (4-0-1). . . . The Rockets (8-9-1) had won their previous two games. . . . Davidson, who has 10 goals, gave his guys 1-0 and 2-1 leads. . . . Kelowna D Jackson DeSouza scored his third goal in two games to get Kelowna into a 2-1 tie. Before this mini-hot streak, he had one career goal in 84 regular-season games. . . . F Kyle Crnkovic (9) scored at 11:12 of the second period and that one was the winner. . . . F Ty Hurley made his Seattle debut after being acquired from the Swift Current Broncos last week. . . . The Thunderbirds were without D Luke Prokop, who is listed on this week’s roster report as being out week-to-week. . . . Kelowna F Colton Dach sat out with a one-game suspension. . . .

F Zack Ostapchuk broke a 3-3 tie with his second goal of the game to help the VancouverVancouver Giants to a 6-4 victory over the Chiefs in Spokane. . . . The Giants (8-9-4) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Chiefs (4-14-1) have lost three in a row. . . . Ostapchuk, the Giants’ captain, gave his side a 4-3 lead at 17:15 of the second period with his ninth goal. . . . F Colton Langkow, who has four goals, scored two PP goals, one at 5:38 of the third period for a 5-3 lead and an empty-netter at 19:59. Langkow also had an assist. . . . The Giants got 34 stops from G Brett Mirwald, who was making just his second start — and third appearance — in November. . . .

The Kamloops Blazers have points in five straight games after beating the Tri-KamloopsCity Americans, 6-1, in Kennewick, Wash. . . . The Blazers (10-4-3) are 3-0-2 in their past five games. . . . The Americans (8-13-0) have lost two in a row. This was the first of seven straight home games for them. . . . F Caedan Bankier (13) scored twice for the Blazers, while F Logan Stankoven had a goal and two assists to run his scoring streak to 14 games. He has played in 14 games since being returned by the NHL’s Dallas Stars and has multiple-points in nine of them. . . . Tri-City D Lukas Dragicevic had a goal to run his point streak to 15 games. . . .

F Zach Benson figured in the game’s last two goals to help the host Winnipeg WinnipegIceIce to a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Ice improved to 21-2-0; the Hurricanes are 12-10-1. . . . The Hurricanes had beaten the host Ice 2-1 on Tuesday night, snapping Winnipeg’s 15-game winning streak. . . . Benson drew the primary assist as F Ty Nash (10) tied the score, 2-2, at 17:29 of the second period. Benson’s 14th goal, at 5:16 of the third, stood up as the winner. . . . Lethbridge is two games into a six-game road trip that continues with games in Brandon on Friday and Saturday nights. . . . Ice F Conor Geekie had his point streak snapped at 12 games. . . . G Dan Hauser started for the Ice after a two-game absence. He missed one game due to illness, than backed up Mason Beaupit on Tuesday. Hauser got the victory with 19 saves as he improved his record this season to 15-0-0. He is 56-3-2 in his career.


Snow


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

According to the WHL’s weekly roster report that was posted on Tuesday, the Regina Pats have deleted F Jakob Brook, 20, from their roster. Such a move would allow the Pats to get down to the maximum of three 20s, although Brook still was listed on their roster on Wednesday afternoon. . . . Dropping Brook leaves the Pats with D Luke Bateman, D Tanner Brown and F Erin Ginnell, who was acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors this week, as their 20-year-olds. . . .

BTW, according to figures compiled by the WHL, the Pats, whose roster includes F Connor Bedard, are ninth in announced attendance in the 22-team league, averaging 3,297 fans per home game. . . . Bedard, likely to be the first selection in the NHL’s 2023 draft, and his Pats are two games into a 10-game road trip that will take them through the B.C. Division. . . . The Kelowna Rockets announced Wednesday that their game against the Pats on Tuesday already is sold out. . . . The Vancouver Giants, who play out of the Langley Events Centre, have announced that their game with the Pats on Friday is sold out, and the Victoria Royals have said the same for the Pats’ visit on Saturday. . . . The Pats are in Kamloops on Wednesday and that game is down to scattered singles and some standing room being available. . . .

The Red Deer Rebels have acquired D Marek Schneider, 19, from the Saskatoon Blades for a fourth-round selection in the WHL’s 2023 draft and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2026. . . . The 2023 selection originally belonged to Red Deer. . . . Schneider, from Prince Albert, was a second-round pick by the Blades in the WHL’s 2018 draft. . . . In 78 games with Saskatoon, he has two goals and six assists. This season, he has one goal and one assist in 14 games. . . .

Two former WHLers are to head up the off-ice staff for Canada’s entry at the 2022 Spengler Cup. Shane Doan, who played for the Kamloops Blazers and now is one of the team’s five owners, will be Canada’s general manager, while Travis Green is to serve as the head coach. . . . Green played with the Spokane Chiefs and Medicine Hat Tigers, and later coached with the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Spengler Cup is to run from Dec. 26 through Dec. 31 in Davos, Switzerland. . . .

The BCHL’s Penticton Vees ran their season-opening winning streak to 21 games on Wednesday night with a 5-3 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (11-8-1). . . . Salmon Arm led this one 2-0 after the first period. . . . Russian F Aydar Suniev, a sophomore from Moscow, figured in each of the Vees’ goals, with two goals and two assists. . . . The Vees are scheduled to visit the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (9-9-2) on Friday and the Powell River Kings (6-11-3) on Saturday.


Vaccine


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Ham

Ex-WHLer, family leave Ukraine for Saskatoon . . . Are you able to help them? . . . Hurricanes halt Ice’s 15-game tear

If you have been a follower of the WHL for a few seasons, the name Andrei Lupandin should ring a bell.

A native of Kharkov, Ukraine, he played four seasons (1995-99) with the Brandon Wheat Kings, putting up 159 points, 56 of them goals, in 239 regular-season games. He also had 23 points, including 17 assists, in 43 playoff games. He then went on to a pro career that had him play in the IHL, WCHL, CHL, ECHL, AHL and UHL. Lupandin wrapped up his career after playing six seasons in Belarus and three more in Ukraine.

After that, Lupandin, now 44, returned to Kharkov where he and his wife, Antonina, started a family. They have two boys — Ilya, 14, and Denys, 12.

Unfortunately, their home became a casualty of the Russian war on Ukraine. With the boys unable to attend school, the Lupandins chose to leave everything behind and move to Saskatoon in the hopes of getting a new start.

A GoFundMe page now is up and running in the hopes of raising some money to help the family get that start.

On the GoFundMe page, it explains: “They escaped to Slovakia and made the decision to start a new life in Canada, leaving family, friends and their life behind. They have moved to Saskatoon due to the large Ukrainian population, (arriving) with little more than a hockey bag and one suitcase for the family of four.

“They have no work and need to start over. We are raising funds to help them with buying essentials, saving money to live and for future accommodations and household items.”

Also from that page: “As they left Slovakia to come to Canada, Andrei’s father died. Andrei wasn’t able to go say goodbye. Now he has no family remaining in the Ukraine and wants to make a better life for his boys.

“Please consider supporting this strong and brave family as they try to make Canada their home.”

That GoFundMe page is right here.


Juggler


The WHL’s Dept. of Discipline added $1,500 to its Christmas shopping fund following a Saturday night skirmish between the visiting Prince George Cougars WHLand Victoria Royals. Each organization was fined $500 for a “multiple fight situation” that broke out as the final buzzer sounded. As well, the Royals were fined an additional $500 for “instigator in last five minutes” of the game. F Alex Edwards of the Royals drew the only suspension out of the incident; he will miss one game for being the instigator in the game’s last five minutes. . . .

Elsewhere, three players got one-game sentences out of penalties issued in Saturday games. . . . F Colton Dach of the Kelowna Rockets will sit out after taking a headshot major and game misconduct against the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . F Jace Isley was suspended after taking a goaltender interference major and game misconduct against the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . D Sam McGinley of the Swift Current Broncos will miss a game after taking a game misconduct against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors.


Nose


The Moose Jaw Warriors got down to three 20-year-olds on Monday by trading F Riley Ginnell to the Regina Pats for a fifth-round selection in the WHL’s 2026 Reginadraft. . . . Ginnell had one goal and two assists in 14 games with the Warriors this season. They acquired him from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Oct. 11 for a fifth-rounder in 2024. In 113 regular-season games over four seasons with Brandon, he had 21 goals and 26 assists. Last season, he had single-season highs in goals (14), assists (20) and points (34). . . . Ginnell’s father, Erin, is a former WHLer who played with the Swift Current Broncos, Calgary Wranglers, New Westminster Bruins, Seattle Thunderbirds and Regina Pats. He played in 27 games with the Pats in 1986-87, putting up 10 goals and 12 assists. . . . Erin is in his seventh season as an amateur scout with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. . . . Riley’s grandfather, Pat, was a the WHL’s coach of the year in four different seasons. . . .

The Warriors found themselves with four 20-year-olds, one over the maximum, when the New York Rangers returned F Ryder Korczak last week. By moving Ginnell, the Warriors have chosen to go with Korczak, D Cole Jordan and G Connor Ungar. . . . Ginnell joins F Jakob Brook, D Luke Bateman and D Tanner Brown as Regina’s 20-year-olds. With four on the roster, another move can be expected here. The Pats are two games into a 10-game road trip, and Ginnell is expected to join them in time for a game against the Vancouver Giants in Langley, B.C., on Friday. . . .

If you were wondering, there have been 11 trades since Oct. 25 with teams moving 18 players, 26 draft picks and three conditional draft picks.



TUESDAY IN THE WHL:

The Lethbridge Hurricanes rode a pair of first-period goals to a 2-1 victory over Lethbridgethe host Winnipeg Ice. . . . Lethbridge improved to 12-9-1 as it ended Winnipeg’s 15-game winning streak. The Ice now is 20-2-0. . . . Winnipeg is 8-1-0 at home; Lethbridge is 5-5-0 on the road. . . . F Tristan Zandee (2) scored on a PP at 6:14 of the opening period, and F Tyson Zimmer (5) made it 2-0 at 18:20. . . . F Brayden Edwards had the primary assist on each of those goals. . . . F Ty Nash, who was acquired by the Ice from Lethbridge earlier this season, scored his ninth goal of the season, at 1:28 of the third period, to get the home side to within a goal. . . . G Harrison Meneghin, the game’s first star, turned aside 36 shots. . . . The Ice, which was outshot 19-10 in the first period, got 37 stops form Mason Beaupit. . . . Ice F Conor Geekie extended his point streak to 12 games with an assist. . . . These same teams will play again tonight in Winnipeg.


D Steven Holtz of the Michigan Wolverines was hospitalized and on a ventilator last week as a virus made its way through some team members. He now has been released from hospital, and was at practice on Tuesday. However, head coach Brandon Naurato said Holtz has a ways to go before he’s back on the ice. . . . There’s more right here from collegehockeynews.com.


Suitcase


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


LoanShark

Recovering Leonard could use some $$ help . . . Ice victory streak at 15 . . . Winterhawks are rolling, too

Seth Leonard played games in six WHL seasons (1998-2004), spending time with the Kelowna Rockets (133 games) and Prince Albert Raiders (166). In his final season, he struck for 50 goals and added 40 assists in 72 games with the Raiders.

Now he could use some help from the hockey world.

Gina Ratcliffe, a family friend, has started a GoFundMe after Leonard was in a car accident near his hometown of Nakusp, B.C.

Leonard, writes Ratcliffe, “was on his way to Nakusp to pick up his daughter when he was in an bad accident due to the road conditions.”

According to Ratcliffe, Leonard’s back was broken “in three different spots.” He was taken to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, where he underwent surgery. He now will be returning home to begin his recover.

Leonard’s girlfriend, Brittany, has taken time off work and there is no indication as to when Leonard will be able to return to work. Yes, they now find themselves in a financial pinch.

If you are able to help that GoFundMe is right here.


Headline at fark.com — Former FIFA boss says giving the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake. It sure took a long time for that check to clear.


SATURDAY IN THE WHL:

F Evan Herman, the Prince Albert Raiders’ new captain, scored twice and added PrinceAlbertan assist in a 5-4 victory over the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . The Raiders (8-12-2) have won three straight. . . . The Tigers (6-10-5) had points in each of their previous four games (2-0-2). . . . Herman, who has four goals this season, was named captain after the Raiders dealt D Nolan Allan to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Wednesday. . . . F Sloan Stanick (6) also scored twice and had an assist for the winners. His second goal broke a 3-3 tie at 10:56 of the third period and Herman made it 5-3 at 16:53. . . . The Raiders were 2-11 on the PP; the Tigers were 1-5. . . .

G Connor Ungar turned aside 33 shots to lead the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors to WarriorsNewa 6-0 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Warriors (13-8-0) have won two in a row. They beat the Broncos 5-4 in Moose Jaw on Friday night. . . . Swift Current (9-11-0) has lost two straight. . . . Ungar, a 20-year-old from Calgary, posted his first shutout of this season and the third of his career. . . . F Brayden Yager’s 10th goal, a shorthanded effort at 3:25 of the first period, stood up as the winner. . . . F Jagger Firkus scored once as he ran his scoring streak to 14 games. He has 10 goals and 10 assist over that stretch. . . . The Warriors are carrying four 20-year-olds, and D Cole Jordan was the odd-man out for a second straight game. The Warriors had Ungar, F Ryder Korczak, who had two assists, and F Riley Ginnell, who had one helper, in the lineup. . . .

The Edmonton Oil Kings won their second straight game, beating the EdmontonHurricanes, 4-2, in Lethbridge. . . . Edmonton now is 4-17-1. . . . The Hurricanes (11-9-1) had points in their previous seven games (6-0-1). . . . Trailing 2-1 with fewer than seven minutes remaining in the third period, the Oil Kings scored three times in 6:05, with the winner coming from F Marshall Finnie (4) at 19:42. . . . Finnie is from Lethbridge. . . . F Carson Golder, who has seven goals, figured in Edmonton’s last three goals, scoring twice and assisting on Finnie’s score. . . . The Oil Kings are without F Jaxsen Wiebe, who is serving a seven-game suspension. . . .

F Ryan McCleary struck late in OT to give the host Portland Winterhawks a 3-2 Portlandvictory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Winterhawks (16-1-2) have points in 10 straight (9-0-1). . . . The Blazers (9-4-4) have points in four in a row (2-0-2). Kamloops is 0-3 in OT this season. . . . Portland is 3-0-0 against Kamloops this season, winning twice in OT. . . . Kamloops took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from F Matthew Seminoff (7) and F Daylan Kuefler (9), the latter on a PP. . . . F Marcus Nguyen (8) scored for Portland, on a PP, at 19:41. . . . D Luca Cagnoni (8) got the home team even at 2:30 of the second period. . . . McCleary’s fourth goal ended it at 4:45 of OT. . . . G Michael Schnattinger made his first start for the Blazers since Oct. 22 and he was just fine, with 41 stops. . . . It was a battle of Czech goaltenders, with Jan Špunar stopping 32 shots for Portland. . . . Portland scratched F Kyle Chyzowski after he suffered an undisclosed injury late in Friday’s 4-1 victory over visiting Everett. . . . Kamloops F Logan Stankoven drew an assist on the first goal as he ran his point streak to 13 games. He has 27 points, 12 of them goals, in that streak. . . .

The Brandon Wheat Kings snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 Brandonvictory over the Rebels in Red Deer. . . . The Wheat Kings (8-13-2) went 1-4-0 on a five-game road trip. . . . Red Deer (16-4-2) had points in each of its previous two games (1-0-1). . . . Brandon erased a 2-1 deficit with the game’s last three goals. . . . F Nolan Ritchie (9) tied it at 16:48 of the second period, on a PP, and F Nate Danielson (11) scored the next two goals, at 11:29 and 18:44 of the third, the latter into an empty net. . . . Red Deer F Jace Isley, who scored his 13th goal, was ejected at 13:45 of the second period with a major penalty for interference on a goaltender. . . . The Wheat Kings got 40 saves from G Nick Jones, an 18-year-old from Calgary who recorded his first WHL victory and was chosen as the game’s first star. A fifth-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 draft, he was 0-1-0 last season and began this season with five straight losses. . . . 

F Gracyn Sawchyn’s goal in OT gave the Seattle Thunderbirds a 2-1 victory over Seattlethe Everett Silvertips in Kent, Wash. . . . Seattle (13-3-1) has points in four straight (3-0-1). . . . Everett (12-7-1) has lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . . This was Everett’s first visit to Kent this season. In the other meeting between these teams, in Everett, the Thunderbirds rang up an 11-3 victory. . . . F Roan Woodward (2) gave Everett a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 4:52 of the second period. . . . F Kyle Crnkovic (8) got Seattle even, on a PP, at 8:19 of the third. . . . Sawchyn’s fifth goal of the season won it at 2:04 of extra time. . . . The Thunderbirds had D Nolan Allan, who was acquired this week from the Prince Albert Raiders, and D Kevin Korchinski paired together and in the starting lineup. Both are first-round NHL draft selections of the Chicago Blackhawks and both are from Saskatoon. . . .

The Calgary Hitmen unleashed a 60-shot attack in skating to a 6-2 victory over Calgarythe host Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Hitmen (11-5-3) had lost their previous two games (0-1-1). They went 3-1-1 on a U.S. Division swing. . . . The Chiefs (4-13-1) have lost two in a row. . . . Calgary held an 18-9 edge in shots in the first period and 29-8 in the second. . . . D Grayden Siepmann  (6) and F Carson Wetsch (4) each had a goal and two assists for the Hitmen. . . . G Dawson Cowan, a recent acquisition from the Winnipeg Ice, got his first start for Spokane. He went the distance, making 54 stops. . . .

In Winnipeg, the Ice erased a 1-0 deficit with four second-period goals and WinnipegIcewent on to beat the Regina Pats, 5-2. . . . Winnipeg (20-1-0) has won 15 in a row. . . . Regina (9-11-2) has lost three straight. . . . The Pats are 0-3-0 on their 10-game road trip that picks up Friday in Langley, B.C., against the Vancouver Giants. . . . After F Connor McClennon (16), playing in his 200th regular-season game, got the Ice even at 1-1 at 2:51 of the second, F Zach Benson (13) scored twice for a two-goal lead. His first goal game while shorthanded; the second came via the PP. . . . Benson also had two assists for a four-point outing. . . . Regina F Connor Bedard had two assists in extending his point streak to 21 games. He leads the WHL in goals (19), assists (29) and points (48). . . . G Mason Beaupit, acquired last week from the Spokane Chiefs, made his first start for the Ice. G Daniel Hauser, who is 14-0-0 this season, was scratched. . . . According to the online game sheet, the Ice didn’t dress a backup goaltender. . . . The Pats lost F Jaxsin Vaughan to a boarding major and game misconduct at 8:34 of the second period. . . .

The visiting Prince George Cougars ran their winning streak to three games PrinceGeorgewith a 5-2 victory over the Victoria Royals. . . . The Cougars now are 12-9-0. . . . The Royals (3-16-3) have lost seven in a row (0-6-1). . . . The Cougars had cruised to a 10-3 victory in Victoria on Friday night. . . . F Cole Reschny’s first WHL goal pulled Victoria into a 2-2 tie at 15:17 of the second period. . . . But the Cougars, who got two goals from F Cole Dubinsky (8), scored the next three goals — in a span of 2:48 before the period ended. . . . Things got a bit heated in the game’s final minute with the officials handing out 132 penalty minutes, including 12 fighting majors and six game misconducts. . . . Cougars F Koehn Ziemmer extended  his scoring streak to 13 games with an assist. He has 23 points, 10 of them goals, in that stretch. . . . Cougars D Hudson Thornton also had an assist and now is on a 13-game streak. He has five goals and 18 assists in that time. . . .

In Kelowna, the Rockets scored the game’s last four goals as they beat the Tri-KelownaCity Americans, 5-3. . . . Kelowna (8-8-1) has won two in a row. . . . The Americans are 8-12-0. . . . The Americans held a 3-1 lead early in the second period but couldn’t hold it. . . . D Jackson DeSouza’s second goal of the game — and second of the season — got the Rockets to within one at 3:47 of the second. They were shorthanded at the time. . . . F Adam Kydd (9) tied it at 9:57, and F Andrew Cristall (15) broke the tie at 7:18 of the third. . . . Kydd (10) added an empty-netter. . . . F Gabriel Szturc had three assists for Kelowna, as did Cristall. . . . The Americans got a goal and two assists from F Ethan Ernst, who was acquired from the Rockets early last season. He has career highs in goals (13), assists (14) and points (27) in just 19 games. . . . Tri-City D Lukas Dragicevic ran his point streak to 14 games with two assists. He has 22 points, 18 of them assists, in that streak. . . . The Rockets lost F Colton Dach, their captain, to a headshot major and game misconduct at 19:00 of the second period.


YardSale


IT’S NOT OVER — From The New York Times: “John Kerry, the United States special envoy for climate change, has tested positive for Covid-19, a State Department spokeswoman said, a development that will sideline him at a crucial moment in the waning hours of negotiations at United Nations climate talks. Mr. Kerry, 78, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday morning and worked from his hotel all day, said his spokeswoman, Whitney Smith, who described Mr. Kerry’s condition as ‘mild.’ ” . . . Kerry is at the COP27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt.


Moonshine


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

Marty Williamson, the head coach of the Barrie Colts, picked up his 500th OHL regular-season victory on Saturday night, a 3-2 OT triumph over the visiting Sarnia Sting. . . . The retired Brian Kilrea is atop the victory list, with 1,194. . . .

Apologies to the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. They have won so many games in a row to open this season that I am unable to keep up. Yes, I shortchanged them by one here on Friday night, when they actually extended that streak to 19 games. . . . And, on Saturday night, they made it 20 in a row with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . The Vees are 12-0-0 on home ice. . . . Next up for the Vees? The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (11-7-1) will be in town on Wednesday, then it’s off to visit the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (Friday) and Powell River Kings (Saturday). . . . If anyone knows the BCHL record for consecutive victories to open a season, please email me at greggdrinnan.gmail.com. Thank you! . . .

F Jadon Joseph of the U of Calgary Dinos set a Canada West record for fastest three goals in one game on Saturday in a 5-2 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans in Langley, B.C. . . . Joseph actually red-shirted with the Spartans last season before transferring to Calgary over the summer. . . . With Calgary leading 2-1 in the second period when Joseph struck at 13:29, 14”13 and 15:05. . . . Three goals in 1:36 smashed the previous record of 5:17 that had been held by F Connor Rankin of the Mount Royal U Cougars since 2016. . . . Joseph, 23, played four seasons in the WHL, spending time with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Regina Pats, Vancouver Giants, Moose Jaw Warriors, Kelowna Rockets and Tri-City Americans. . . . The Dinos have won nine games in a row.


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Fajita

Gallant’s diagnosis has him into Movember movement . . . Hodnett has a game for Oil Kings . . . Thornton’s six-pack sparks Cougars

As you no doubt are aware, we are well into Movember, that time of year when so many men grow moustaches as a fund-raiser for the fight against prostate cancer.

KevinGallant
KEVIN GALLANT

Statistics show that at least 1.4 million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.

Kevin Gallant, a fun-loving former radio voice of the Regina Pats, was one of those 1.4 million. He has been diagnosed with prostate cancer (stage 4). It’s why he is working hard this Movember.

“I am getting involved this year because I don’t want others to suffer or go through what I have, which is stage 4 prostate cancer,” he writes. “Funds we raise will help those much younger then me.

“I was completely shocked when I was diagnosed with PC, and wish I would have caught it much earlier because more can be done. I have a beautiful family with a loving wife and two boys that I want to make many more memories with. I hope no one has to go through what our family has.”

If you would like to join Kevin’s team, you are able to do so by making a donation right here.


Dragon


FRIDAY IN THE WHL:

The Moose Jaw Warriors broke a 1-1 tie with four straight goals en route to a 5-WarriorsNew4 victory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Warriors (12-8-0) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Broncos slipped to 9-10-0. . . . The Warriors got two goals from F Jagger Firkus (11). . . . F Mathew Ward (10) scored twice and added an assist for the Broncos, making things interesting with his second goal at 19:13 of the third period. . . . Ward now has 103 points, 65 of them assists, in 107 career regular-season games. . . . Swift Current was 2-2 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 1-7. . . . The Warriors had F Ryder Horczak, 20, in their lineup for the first time since the NHL’s New York Rangers returned him earlier in the week. He picked up one assist. . . . With four 20-year-olds on their roster, one over the maximum, Moose Jaw scratched D Cole Jordan. . . . The Warriors and Broncos will have a rematch tonight in Swift Current. . . .

F Egor Sidorov scored in OT to give the host Saskatoon Blades a 4-3 victory over Saskatoonthe Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . The Blades (15-4-0) have won four straight. . . . The Tigers (6-9-5) have points in four straight (2-0-2). . . . Sidorov’s ninth goal came at 1:11 of OT. . . . F Brendan Lee, who played 30 games with the Blades last season, had a goal and an assist for the Tigers. His goal, at 3:56 of the third period, tied the score, 3-3. . . . Lee went into this season with 40 points in 123 regular-season games. This season, he has 19 points, 11 of them goals, in 20 games. . . . Darren Steinke was in attendance and posted this report right here to his blog. . . .

F Noah Chadwick’s shootout goal gave the host Lethbridge Hurricanes a 3-2 Lethbridgevictory over the Red Deer Rebels. . . . The Hurricanes (11-8-1) have points in seven straight (6-0-1). . . . The Rebels (16-3-2) have points in their past two outings (1-0-1). . . . F Jayden Grubbe had a goal (6) and an assist for the Rebels, his goal tying the score 2-2 at 1:07 of the third period. . . . F Tyson Zimmer (3) had a goal and an assist for Lethbridge. . . . G Bryan Thomson, who has yet to play after having off-season surgery, was on the Lethbridge bench in support of starter Harrison Meneghin, who made 35 stops. . . . G Kyle Kelsey stopped 33 shots for Red Deer, 15 of them in the first period when his guys were outshot, 16-4. . . . D Kale Tipler, a sixth-round pick in the 2021 WHL draft, made his WHL debut with the Hurricanes. He plays for the U18 AAA Lloydminster Bobcats. . . .

The Edmonton Oil Kings scored three PP goals as they snapped a five-game Edmontonlosing skid with a 5-3 victory over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Edmonton now is 3-17-1. . . . Brandon, which has lost four straight, is 7-13-2. . . . F Gavin Hodnett, who had gone eight games without a point, led Edmonton with three goals, his first goals in the WHL, and two assists. A first-round pick in the 2021 bantam draft, the Winnipegger had two assists in five games last season; this season, he now has three goals and seven assists in 16 games. . . . F Cole Miller (5) added two goals and an assist for the winners. . . . F Nolan Ritchie (8) scored twice for Brandon. . . . G Kolby Hay of the Oil Kings stopped 36 shots. . . .

In Portland, the Winterhawks scored the game’s first four goals and went on to Portlandbeat the Everett Silvertips, 4-1. . . . Portland (15-1-2) has points in 10 straight (8-0-2). . . . Everett (12-7-0) has lost two in a row. . . . After a scoreless first period, the Winterhawks struck three times in the second period. . . . D Ryder Thompson got Portland started with his first goal of this season and his second in 87 career games. He also had an assist. . . . F Robbie Fromm-Delorme (11) and F Aidan Litke (5) also had a goal and an assist each. . . . Portland finished with a 36-27 edge in shots; it has outshot each of its opponents through 18 games. . . .

In Kelowna, the Rockets scored three first-period goals and went on to beat the KelownaSpokane Chiefs, 10-3. . . . The Rockets are 7-8-1; the Chiefs now are 4-12-1. . . . F Marcus Pacheco (5), F Colton Dach (5) and F Andrew Cristall (14) each had two goals and two assists. . . . F Grady Lenton scored his first WHL goal for the Rockets. It came in his 12th game. . . . G Dawson Cowan, who arrived in Spokane in a deal that had G Mason Beaupit go to the Winnipeg Ice, got into his first game with the Chiefs as he took over from Cooper Michaluk with the score 5-0. . . .

F Tyson Greenway’s second goal of the game, this one in OT, gave the Tri-City Tri-CityAmericans a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen in Kennewick, Wash. . . . The Americans (8-11-0) had lost their past three games. . . . The Hitmen (10-5-3) are 2-1-1 on their U.S Division trek that wraps up tonight in Spokane. . . . Greenway, who has 10 goals, tied it, 3-3, at 7:44 of the third period, then won it at 2:50 of OT. . . . The Americans overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits. . . . Tri-City D Lukas Dragicevic had two assists in running his point streak to 13 games. He has two points in each of his past five games. . . . F Oliver Tulk (10) scored twice for Calgary. . . . F Ethan Ernst scored once for the Americans. He has 12 goals and 12 assists in 18 games; last season, he finished with 12 goals and 12 assists in 62 games. . . . G Jared Picklyk, acquired by the Americans from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Thursday, wasn’t dressed. They started Tomas Suchanek and had Nick Avakyan on the bench. . . .

D Hudson Thornton had a career night as the visiting Prince George Cougars PrinceGeorgedumped the Victoria Royals, 9-1. . . . The Cougars (11-9-0) have won two in a row. . . . The Royals (3-15-3) have lost six straight (0-5-1). . . . Thornton finished with six points — his first three-goal game and three assists — as he ran his point streak to 12 games. . . . Thornton, a 19-year-old from Winnipeg, has 29 points 22 of them assists, in 20 games. . . . F Chase Wheatcroft scored his 15th goal for the Cougars, making them the only one of the WHL’s 22 teams with two 15-goal men. F Koehn Ziemmer, who was held to one assist last night, also has 15 goals. . . . The Royals released F Caleb Willms as they got down to the mandated three 20-year-olds. They kept F Alex Thacker, who was acquired Thursday from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, F Jake Poole and F Riley Gannon. Thacker was in the lineup last night. . . . F Grant Reid, a third-round pick in the WHL’s 2022 draft, made his debut with Victoria. Reid, 15, plays for the U18AAA team at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. . . . The Royals also had F Cole Reschny, the third overall selection in the 2022 draft, in the lineup for the third time this season. He plays for the U18 AAA Saskatoon Blazers. . . . And, with G Tyler Palmer out for personal reasons, Victoria had Jayden Kraus, who turned 16 on Friday, backing up Logan Cunningham. Kraus plays for the U18AAA Prince Albert Mintos. He was a third-round pick in the 2021 draft. Kraus entered the game with his guys trailing 5-0 and stopped 17 of 21 shots. . . . The Cougars and Royals will meet again tonight in Victoria. . . .

F Logan Stankoven ran his point streak to 12 games as he led the Kamloops KamloopsBlazers to a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants in Langley, B.C. . . . The Blazers (9-4-3) have points in three straight (2-0-1). . . . Vancouver (7-9-4) has lost two in a row. The Giants played at home for the first time since Oct. 23. They were 4-3-1 on their road swing. . . . Stankoven , who had a shorthanded goal and two assists, has 26 points, 12 of them goals, in the 12 games in which he has played since being returned by the NHL’s Dallas Stars. In eight of those games, he has put up at least two points. . . . In 189 career regular-season games with the Blazers, the Kamloops native has 93 goals and 96 assists.


Vegan


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

The BCHL’s Penticton Vees ran their season-opening winning streak to 19 games on Friday, beating the visiting West Kelowna Warriors, 11-2. The Vees will go for No. 20 tonight at home against the Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . There are some players on Penticton’s roster who have won their last 35 games, because the Vees finished last spring’s playoffs on a 16-game run. . . . The 2011-12 Vees, who finished 54-4-2, own the BCHL record for longest winning streak, having won 42 in a row. . . .

The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks have reached an agreement with the Shuswap Recreation Society and the City of Salmon Arm that will keep them in the Shaw Centre through the 2025-26 season. The facility has been home to the Silverbacks since 2001-02.


Bulldozer


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Busdoor

Hurricanes make room for Thomson’s return in goal . . . Americans add depth in Picklyk . . . Savoie’s six-pack leads Ice past Pats


The Lethbridge Hurricanes were involved in two trades on Thursday, both of them the result of adding G Bryan Thomson, 20, to their roster from the injured Lethbridgelist. With WHL teams limited to three 20-year-olds, bringing back Thomson meant another move was in order.

So . . . the Hurricanes dealt F Alex Thacker, 20, to the Victoria Royals for a fourth-round selection in the 2026 WHL draft. . . . Thacker, from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., was one of Lethbridge’s alternate captains. . . . He was taken by the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL’s 2017 draft and later was traded to Lethbridge in a deal that included D Wyatt Wilson, who now is with the Royals. . . . In 164 regular-season games with VictoriaRoyalsLethbridge, Thacker had 22 goals and 91 assists. Last season, he put up 14 goals and 50 assists in 68 games. This season, in 16 games, he has a goal and six assists. . . . Thacker’s departure leaves the Hurricanes with three 20-year-olds — Thomson, F Jett Jones and F Cole Shepard. . . .

The Royals now have four 20s on their roster — Thacker, F Caleb Willms, F Riley Gannon and F Jake Poole — so there will be another move coming here before long. . . .

Lethbridge also traded G Jared Picklyk, 19, to the Tri-City Americans for a Tri-Citysixth-round pick in the 2024 draft. The Hurricanes had selected him in the seventh round of the 2018 WHL draft. From Kelowna, he was 14-14-2, 3.25, .879 in 38 regular-season games with Lethbridge. This season, he is 4-5-0, 3.50, .877. . . .

The Hurricanes are left with two goaltenders on their roster — Thomson and freshman Harrison Meneghin, 18. Thomson has made 93 regular-season appearances over four seasons with the Hurricanes. He underwent off-season surgery to repair an undisclosed injury and has yet to play this season. . . .

The Americans acquired Picklyk to provide goaltending depth because starter Tomas Suchanek is soon to join the Czechia team that will compete at the 2023 World Junior Championship.

“As a result,” Americans general manager Bob Tory said in a news release, “we needed to add another goaltender. For the short term, we will carry three goaltenders. Jared is an experienced WHL goaltender who will provide depth to our team.”

The Americans’ other goaltender is sophomore Nick Avakyan, 18, a native of Glendale, Calif., who is 0-4-0, 5.74, .825 this season.

——

Yes, the Seattle Thunderbirds made another trade on Thursday, their second in Seattletwo days and third since Oct. 25. . . . In the latest deal, Seattle acquired F Ty Hurley, 18, and a seventh-round selection in the 2025 WHL draft from the Swift Current Broncos for fifth-round picks in 2023 and 2025. . . .

Pay attention here because this gets complicated. . . . On Dec. 27, the Broncos acquired D Eric Van Impe and a seventh-rounder in 2025 from Seattle for D Chase Lacombe and a 2025 fifth-rounder. . . . Those two draft picks are the same ones involved in Thursday’s exchange. So . . . the seventh goes back to Seattle SwiftCurrentand the fifth is returned to Swift Current. . . . Got that? . . .

From Sherwood Park, Alta., Hurley is in his second WHL season after the Broncos took him in the fourth round of the 2019 WHL draft. He has one assist in 16 games this season, after recording a goal and two assists in 31 games last season. . . .

The Broncos also released D Rayan Bettahar on Thursday. From Rodgau, Germany, he was in his second season with them after being selected in the CHL’s 2021 import draft. In 77 games, Bettahar, 18, had one goal and 15 assists. This season, he had one assist in 14 games. . . .

That move leaves the Broncos without any import players on their roster.


Yes, this once was a junior hockey palace. Stop and think for a moment about the 1986-87 and 1987-88 WHL seasons when Joe Sakic was with the Swift Current Broncos, Mike Modano sparked the Prince Albert Raiders and Theo Fleury led the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Oh boy, were there some shows put on in the Crushed Can! . . . And we won’t even get into the stuff that went on between the Warriors and the Regina Pats and the fans. . . . Yes, those were the days!


THURSDAY IN THE WHL:

F Matt Savoie picked up six points in leading the Winnipeg Ice to a 9-5 victory over the visiting Regina Pats. . . . The Ice (19-1-0) has won 14 in a row. . . . Regina (9-10-2) has lost two in a row. . . . They’ll play in Winnipeg again on Saturday. . . . Savoie (9) enjoyed his first career three-goal game and also had three assists. . . . This game actually was tied, 4-4, going into the third period. . . . Savoie broke the tie at 2:58 and the Ice put it away with three more goals in 1:28. . . . The Ice got two goals and two assists from F Owen Pederson (12), a goal and three assists from F Connor McClennon (15), and F Zach Benson (11) added a goal and two assists. . . . F Connor Bedard had a goal and two assists for the Pats, the goal coming 10 seconds into the game. He leads the WHL in goals (19), assists (27) and points (26). He also is riding a 20-game point streak. He was blanked in the season-opener and has at least one point in every game since then. . . . Winnipeg G Mason Beaupit stopped 21 shots in his first appearance since being acquired from the Spokane Chiefs on Nov. 10.


The No. 3 U of Michigan Wolverines men’s hockey team has been hit hard by some kind of virus that left it so short-staffed that its third-string goaltender, Tyler Shea, was used as a forward in a 5-2 home-ice loss to the No. 2 Minnesota Gophers on Thursday night. . . . The Wolverines were without six players, all of whom are ill. . . . Among the players to have been stricken is junior D Steven Holtz, who was admitted a hospital’s intensive care unit earlier this week. His mother, Sylvia Jacobs-Holtz, posted on Facebook that her son was on a ventilator after being admitted with “a virus and complications.”


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

The junior B Castlegar Rebels of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League have fired Arnie Caplan, their head coach and general manager. He was in his second season with the Rebels, having been hired on Sept. 17, 2021. . . . Assistant coach Nick Headrick has taken over as the head coach. . . . The Rebels are 5-12-1 this season, after finishing 16-24-2 last season.


Lottery


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Trash

Thunderbirds pay steep price for defender . . . Give up three players, six picks . . . Lee helps Tigers past Wheat Kings

The Seattle Thunderbirds reached the WHL’s championship final last spring.

Even though they didn’t win, losing to the Edmonton Oil Kings in six games, it Seattlewould seem that the Thunderbirds liked it there . . . and that they badly want another taste.

If there was any doubt, they erased it on Wednesday by sending nine assets — yes, NINE! — to the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for D Nolan Allan, a first-round NHL draft pick by the Chicago Blackhawks, and F Reese Shaw, a 17-year-old who is playing in New Mexico.

The Thunderbirds gave up F Brayden Dube, 17, D Easton Kovacs, 18, and F Gabe Ludwig, 18, along with six WHL draft picks — a first-rounder in 2023 that originated with the Kelowna Rockets; first- and third-rounders in 2024, a sixth in 2025, a second in 2026 and a conditional sixth in 2026.

This trade came three weeks after Seattle acquired D Luke Prokop, 20, from the Edmonton Oil Kings for first- and third-round picks in the WHL’s 2025 draft and a third-round in 2023. He was a third-round pick by the Nashville Predators in the NHL’s 2020 draft.

Seattle’s defence also includes Kevin Korchinski, 18, of Saskatoon, who was selected by Chicago with the seventh overall pick of the NHL’s 2022 draft. He has three goals and 18 assists in 14 games this season, after putting up 65 points, including 61 assists, in 2021-22.

Allan, who also is from Saskatoon, was the Raiders’ captain. He has four goals and seven assists this season. In 2021-22, he finished with seven goals and 34 assists in 65 games. In 162 career games, he had 14 goals and 49 assists.

“He’s a tough, stay-at-home defenceman,” one WHL insider, who has seen Allan regularly over the last while, told Taking Note, “but it’s a giant price.”

Shaw, from Coon Rapids, Minn., is playing with the NAHL’s New Mexico Ice Wolves in Albuquerque. The Raiders selected him in the ninth round of the WHL’s 2020 draft.

Dube, from Roblin, Man., has two goals and two assists in 14 games as a freshman. Last season, he had 24 goals and 22 assists in 49 regular-season games with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings.

The 6-foot-4 Kovacs is from Delta, B.C. He began his WHL career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who dealt him to Seattle over the summer. He has one assist in 10 games this season.

Ludwig, from Eagle River, Alaska, has three goals and two assists in 15 games this season. In 93 games over three seasons, he has nine goals and 15 assists.

The Thunderbirds are 12-3-1, with points in three straight (2-0-1). They are five points behind the U.S. Division-leading Portland Winterhawks (14-1-2). The Everett Silvertips (12-6-0) are one point behind Seattle.

Portland has beaten Seattle in both meetings to date, winning 5-1 at home on Nov. 4 and 5-3 in Kent, Wash., one night later.

The Thunderbirds next are scheduled to play on Saturday against visiting Everett.

The Thunderbirds and Winterhawks next will meet on Nov. 25 in Kent and Nov. 30 in Portland.

The Raiders (7-12-2) have won two in a row. They are tied for ninth in the 12-team Eastern Conference.

——

——

THINKING OUT LOUD — So if Nolan Allan, a rock-solid defender, is worth three players and six draft picks, how much would it take to pry F Connor Bedard away from the Regina Pats. There apparently isn’t any truth to the rumour that the Kamloops Blazers are thinking about offering up a package that includes a couple of Sandman Hotel and Suites. . . . Remember when WHL insiders and followers would snicker and giggle when teams in the OHL or QMJHL made what seemed like bizarre deals loaded with draft picks. Well, there’ll be no more of that after Tuesday’s Seattle-Prince Albert deal. . . . There is often a price to be paid for pushing all of your chips into the middle of the table. . . . The Saskatoon Blades were the host team for the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament. They spent some assets in an attempt to load up. They went 16-51-5 in 2013-14. . . . The Regina Pats, the host team in 2018, went 19-45-4 the following season. . . . The Swift Current Broncos, who won the WHL championship in 2018, were 11-51-6 the next season. . . . Of course, if you check the previous season’s standings, you will discover that the reloading often takes a lot longer than one season. . . . I will close out this day by watching a couple of episodes of Hogan’s Heroes, in memory of Robert Clary, who died Wednesday at 96. Thanks for the laughs, Louis LeBeau.


Sub


WEDNESDAY IN THE WHL:

F Brendan Lee scored twice and set up another as the host Medicine Hat Tigers MedicineHatdumped the Brandon Wheat Kings, 6-1. . . . The Tigers (6-9-4) have points in three straight (2-0-1). They have won two straight for the first time this season. . . . The Wheat Kings (7-12-2) have lost three in a row and nine of 10. . . . Lee, who has 10 goals, gave his guys a 2-0 lead, on a PP, at 11:39 of the first period, and then made it 3-1 at 7:16 of the second. . . . F Oasiz Wiesblatt helped out with three assists. . . . The Tigers took a 3-1 lead into the third period and promptly scored three times in 75 seconds to take complete control. . . . Medicine Hat held a 37-19 shot advantage, including 15-2 in the second period.


If Saskatoon is to get a new arena, it will be built in the downtown area, just Saskatoonnorth of the Midtown shopping mall. Saskatoon City Council voted unanimously to approve that site on Tuesday. . . . Bryn Levy of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix wrote: “City director of technical services Dan Willems told council Wednesday’s decision ‘opens the door’ for more detailed funding and design proposals before a final council vote on whether to proceed with a project.” . . . The SaskTel Centre, the home of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, has been open since Feb. 9, 1988. . . . Levy’s story is right here.


Aussie


If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:

Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

——

Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.


Crash

Blazers, Oil Kings swing deal . . . WHL issues lengthy suspension . . . Ex-NHL coach helping Cougars

Fans of the Kamloops Blazers have been waiting for the 2023 Memorial Cup tournament’s host team to make an impact on the trade front. Well, the Blazers Kamloopsdid that on Monday, but those fans are going to have to wait until mid- to late-January to see F Jakub Demek in action. . . . Demek, 19, was acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings for a possible four WHL draft picks. However, he underwent shoulder surgery after the 2022 World Junior Championshp, has only just returned to skating, and isn’t expect to play in a game for at least two more months. . . .

The Blazers handed over a 2023 first-round pick that originated with the Regina Pats, and a fourth-rounder in 2026. Also going to Edmonton were two conditional selections — a second in 2024 and a third in 2026. . . . The second is conditional on Demek playing an undisclosed number of games with the Blazers. . . . The third is conditional on his returning to the WHL as a 20-year-old. . . .

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Demek, a Slovak, had 20 goals and 34 assists in 55 regular-season games with Edmonton last season. In 19 playoff games, he added five goals and 12 assists. . . . The Vegas Golden Knights hold his NHL rights, having taken him in the fourth-round of the 2021 draft. . . . Demek played for Slovakia in the 2022 WJC in Edmonton in August, earning one assist in four games. . . .

The Blazers now hold the CHL rights to three imports — Demek, Czech G Michael Schnattinger and Finnish D Aapo Sarell, the latter two in their first WHL seasons. Each CHL team is allowed to have two imports on its roster. With the WHL trade deadline set for Jan. 10, the Blazers — if they are to activate Demek — would have to get down to two on Jan. 8. . . .

——

Andrew Peard, the radio voice of the Edmonton Oil Kings, points out that the EdmontonWHL’s defending champions, clearly in rebuilding mode, have added a possible eight draft picks in the past week (the asterisks denote conditional picks) . . .

2 — 1st round picks (2023, 2025)

1 — 2nd round pick (2024*)

3 — 3rd round picks (2023, 2025, 2026*)

1 — 4th round pick (2026)

1 — 7th round pick (2024*)

The other big deal, of course, had the Seattle Thunderbirds coughing up three draft picks for D Luke Prokop. Seattle gave up a first-rounder in 2025, a third in 2023 and a third in 2025.

Edmonton also sent F Shea Van Olm to Kamloops for a conditional seventh-rounder in 2024.

It’s worth remembering, too, that Edmonton’s selling off of players from the championship roster actually began on Aug. 9 when F Jalen Luypen, 20, was traded to the Tri-City Americans. The Americans also got two conditional draft picks in the exchange — a fifth in 2024 and a second in 2026. In return, the Oil Kings picked up F Rhett Melnyk, 18, D Bryson Andregg, 19, and a conditional second-rounder in the 2023 draft. (More on Luypen further down.)

Don’t forget, too, that Edmonton doesn’t have its own first- or second-round picks in the 2023 draft, having dealt those away while loading up for its 2021-22 championship run.

And don’t forget, too, that two other players who part of Edmonton’s championship run last season still could end up back in the WHL. Should G Sebastian Cossa, 20, and/or F Dylan Guenther, 19, end up back in Edmonton, the Oil Kings would be able to add even more draft picks to their collection. . . . Cossa, a first-round selection by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL’s 2021 draft, has seen playing time with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye to this point in the season. . . . Guenther, a first-round pick by the Arizona Coyotes in 2021, has three goals and four assists in 14 NHL games this season.


Headline at The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) — ‘See No Covid, Hear No Covid’ strategy working about as well as expected.


Fingers


TUESDAY IN THE WHL:

The Prince Albert Raiders scored the game’s first two goals and went on to beat PrinceAlbertthe host Moose Jaw Warriors, 2-1. . . . Prince Albert (7-12-2) has won two in a row. . . . Moose Jaw (11-8-0) has lost two straight. . . . F Carson Latimer (7) gave the Raiders a 2-0 lead at 5:14 of the second period. . . . D Denton Mateychuk (4) got the Warriors to within a goal, on a PP, at 17:33. . . . G Max Hildebrand earned the victory with 17 saves. . . . F Ryder Korczak, who was returned to the Warriors by the NHL’s New York Rangers on Monday, didn’t play. . . .

The host Swift Current Broncos erased a 1-0 deficit with three second-period SwiftCurrentgoals as they beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 4-2. . . . The Broncos improved to 9-9-0, while Brandon (7-11-2) lost its second straight game. . . . F Josh Davies (5) pulled the Broncos into a 1-1 tie at 1:07 of the second period as he scored while shorthanded. . . . Brandon has allowed a WHL-leading eight shorties this season. . . . D Connor Hvidston (6), who also had two assists, and F Mathew Ward (8), with his 100th career point, also scored for the Broncos in the second period. . . . Ward has 36 goals and 64 assists in 106 regular-season games. . . . The Broncos got 37 stops from G Gage Alexander. . . .

The Red Deer Rebels got back on the winning track with a 4-1 victory over the RedDeerOil Kings in Edmonton. . . . The Rebels (16-3-1) had lost four in a row (0-3-1) after opening the season with a 15-game winning streak. . . . The Oil Kings (2-17-1) have lost five in a row. . . . The Rebels scored three PP goals, two of them from F Kalan Lind (4). . . . F Jayden Grubbe added a goal (5) and two assist, with D Christoffer Sedoff, who reached 100 career points, drawing three assists. . . . Red Deer was 3-7 on the PP; Edmonton was 1-11. . . . The Oil Kings were without F Jaxsen Wiebe, who started serving a seven-game suspension. He was given a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct in a game at Saskatoon on Saturday. He also is a repeat offender, having been given a four-game suspension under supplemental discipline following a game in Saskatoon on Oct. 23. . . . That is the longest suspension handed out by the WHL since Feb. 15, 2020, when F Ryley Appelt of the Kamloops Blazers got eight games after taking a checking-from-behind major against the Victoria Royals.

In Portland, the Winterhawks scored the game’s last four goals as they beat the PortlandCalgary Hitmen, 4-1. . . . Portland (14-1-2) has points in eight straight (7-0-1). . . . Calgary (10-5-2) had won its previous seven games. . . . The Hitmen now are 2-1-0 on their U.S. Division trip. . . . F Kyle Chyzowski (7) scored twice for Portland. . . . G Dante Giannuzzi stopped 33 shots in earning the victory over Brayden Peters, who had 36 saves.



Earhart


JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

Jim Playfair, a former NHL player and coach, has been spending time on the ice with the Prince George Cougars of late. He also has helped out as an eye in the sky at some games. “He comes in for practice and helps out with our team play,” Mark Lamb, the Cougars’ general manager and head coach, tells Hartley Miller on his podcast — Hartley’s Cat Scan — that will be released today. “It’s been a real joy having him around, all that experience with our younger coaches, with Carter Rigby and Josh Dixon, and picking his brain. I think he’s really helped our organization.” . . . Playfair, 58, is from Fort St. James, B.C. . . .

The NHL’s New York Rangers have returned F Ryder Korczak, 20, to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Korczak, who was selected by the Rangers in the third round of the NHL’s 2021 draft, was pointless in in five games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. . . . Last season, he had 79 points, including 25 goals, in 68 games with the Warriors. . . . The Warriors now are carrying four 20-year-olds and have two weeks to get down to three. The other 20s are F Riley Ginnell, D Cole Jordan and G Connor Ungar. . . . Korczak wasn’t in uniform Tuesday night as the Warriors dropped a 2-1 decision to the visiting Prince Albert Raiders. . . .

The Tri-City Americans lost a defenceman on Tuesday when Ian Ferguson, a 20-year-old from Missouri City, Texas, announced his retirement from hockey. . . . He was in his fourth season with the Americans. . . . Ferguson had two goals and three assists in 16 games this season. In 127 regular season games, he had four goals and 11 assists. . . . The move leaves the Americans with F Reese Belton and F Ethan Ernst as their 20s. . . . The move also creates room for the Americans to add F Jalen Luypen, 20, to their roster from the long-term injury list. . . . The Americans acquired Luypen from Edmonton on Aug. 9, after he had spent four seasons with the Oil Kings. However, he underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season and has yet to return to game action. . . . Luypen, a seventh-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL’s 2021 draft, had 64 points, including 29 goals, last season. In 200 regular-season games with the Oil Kings, he put up 61 goals and 63 assists. . . . At present, Luypen is in Chicago where the Blackhawks’ medical staff is looking things over. . . .

The Victoria Royals have received a commitment from Czech F Robin Sapousek, although they don’t know when he will make his debut. The Royals grabbed his rights in the CHL’s 2022 import draft. Sapousek, 18, has been playing with HC Karlovy Vary’s U20 side, putting up nine goals and nine assists in 11 games. He also is pointless in seven games with HC Energy Karlovy Vary in the Czech Extraliga. . . . From a news release: “The precise date of Sapousek’s arrival in Victoria and his first game in a Royals uniform this season will be announced in the near future.” . . .

The OHL’s Niagara IceDogs fired head coach Daniel Fitzgerald on Monday. They brought in Jeff Angelidis as interim head coach. He has been coaching with the OJHL’s Brantford 99ers. . . . The IceDogs came out of the weekend with a 4-10-3 record, leaving them 19th in the 20-team league. . . . Fitzgerald was named the IceDogs’ head coach on July 8. He had spent the previous four seasons as the head coach of the 99ers, who are owned by Darren DeDobbelaer, who purchased the IceDogs in July. . . .

The Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Junior Hockey League have signed Geoff Walker as their new head coach. Walker signed a contract that runs through the 2023-24 season. . . . Kam River had fired head coach Matt Valley late last month, despite the team being in first place. At the time, management said it was in need of a full-time coach. . . . Walker spent the previous four seasons as the head coach of the SIJHL’s Red Lake Miners, then left to coach in Sweden after 2021-22. That apparently didn’t work out.


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Living Kidney Donor Program

St. Paul’s Hospital

6A Providence Building

1081 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

Tel: 604-806-9027

Toll free: 1-877-922-9822

Fax: 604-806-9873

Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca

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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney 

Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre

Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182

kidneydonornurse@vch.ca

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Or, for more information, visit right here.


Thieves

Mondays With Murray: The One and Only

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar, Nov. 20 through Dec. 18. This will be the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world, and the second held entirely in Asia, after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. In addition, the tournament is scheduled to be the last with a 32-team field; it is to increase to 48 teams for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. 

 Pelé Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on Oct. 23, 1940 in Três Corações, Brazil, is likely the most famous and possibly the best paid athlete in the world. Pelé was part of Brazilian national teams that won three World Cup championships — 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Today we bring you Jim Murray on the legendary Pelé, the’Black Pearl of the Brazilian Planalto.’ 

ENJOY! 

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SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 1978, SPORTS

Copyright 1978/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

The One and Only

They may be the best-known four letters in all sport. P-E-L-E.

Certainly, R-U-T-H was never known in places where P-E-L-E is. A-L-I may mondaysmurray2give him a run for it but there are parts of the world where, if the two of them were together on a platform, the audience would wonder “Who’s up on that platform with Pele.”

They used to scribble in the high school annuals or class autograph books “Fate tried to conceal him by naming him ‘Smith.’ ” Fate tried to conceal Pele by naming him “Edson Arantes do Nascimento.” But the first time they saw him kick a soccer football, he was “Pele,” one of the most felicitous fittings of word to deed in the annals of athletics.

“Pele” doesn’t mean anything in Brazil. Or, rather, it means everything. It means only the man who owns it, the world’s greatest soccer player, maybe the world’s greatest athlete.

Kings’ hands trembled when they shook hands with him. The Pope was awed. The Shah of Iran waited three hours in the rain just to shake his hand. He is an honorary citizen of the world. Wars have been halted when he came to town. Chinese border guards put down their rifles when he passed through.

**********

More than 140 countries worldwide take part in the World Cup of soccer. Only 16 get to the finals. Which are held every four years. Pele’s teams have won three World Cups, and astonishing performance. Pele is the only man in the world to play on three world championship teams in his career.

He has scored almost 1,300 goals, almost three times as many as anyone else who ever played the game. They knighted a guy in England once for reaching the incredible plateau of 500 goals. Pele scored virtually a goal a game through his career. He scored his first on Sept. 7, 1956. He may score one last time on the night before his funeral. Pele will die in front of a net — of very old age.

Because a goal in club soccer is like a home run in major league baseball, Pele’s goal-a-game pace, translated to more-understandable (to Americans) sports, boggles the imagination. Babe Ruth would have had to hit 2,503 home runs instead of the 714 he did. Henry Aaron would have had to hit 3,298 instead of 755.

**********

You would think from the foregoing that Edson Arantes do Nascimento would be built along the general lines of Godzilla or the-creature-that-ate-Topeka, that he would have three or four eyes, one more leg than anyone else and would be able to jump 80 feet straight up in the air.


Actually, he’s a little nearsighted. He’s barely 5-9. He weighs 160 pounds. To be sure, he can see 360-degrees around him, he has Olympic sprinter speed. He can kick a ball through a designated window of a moving train from 90 yards, he can curve it around a goaltender like Koufax could throw it around a bat. He could kill a squirrel with a football from 60 yards and he could dribble a cannonball through the whole West German team — or army — from goal-to-goal in 15 seconds.

He pioneered the so-called “bicycle kick” in which the player turns his back to the direction he’s going to shoot the ball, then levitates with the ball on his instep until he’s lying parallel to the ground like a body on wires in a magic act — and then sends the ball sizzling accurately back over his head into a net or at a teammate.

His ball travels just slow enough not to ignite in flight.


Pele, at 38, has been a man with-a-mission. His job is to take the world’s most popular outdoor sport and make it popular in the one land that had resisted it. It was a little as if they asked Babe Ruth to spend his declining years popularizing baseball in Tibet but, as usual, Pele delivered the ball safely to the net. Sellout crowds came out to see this “Black Pearl of the Brazilian Planalto” as if he were a living King Tut exhibition.


Pele doesn’t need soccer, soccer needs him. He is one of the richest men in Brazil, he’s on more TV commercials than Ford cars. He is Madison Avenue’s dream, good-natured, personable, dependable, doesn’t drink or smoke, is happily married, has no interest in Disco 54, is a practicing Catholic. He smiles all the damn time.

In Brazil, he ranks just below coffee as a natural resource. He’s the only guy in the country with a statue without a gun in his hand or a ball under him instead of a horse.


He is in town to appear when the New York Cosmos play at the Rose Bowl today against the L.A. Aztecs and to promote his biography, “Pele, My Life and The Beautiful Game” with Robert L. Fish.


He won’t play, only appear. But not going to see Pele is like not getting up to see a solar eclipse, pulling the shades going past Niagara Falls, not looking up when a great man passes, or not going to Paris on a trip through Europe. It’s your loss. You’re going to hate yourself someday. Because there’s nothing like him on the horizon.

Reprinted with the permission of the Los Angeles Times

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation P.O. Box 661532, Arcadia, CA 91066

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The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation’s mission is to establish a permanent legacy to Jim Murray. The JMMF has joined forces with the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and MLB share significant and timeless overlapping history with Jim Murray. Jim Murray wrote more columns on baseball than he wrote on any other sport, bringing baseball’s history and legends to life through sports journalism.

The JMMF will continue its “Mondays with Murray” posts indefinitely with a link to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame website supporting its new Jim Murray initiative. The JMMF will dissolve its 501(c)(3) status and distribute its remaining financial assets to the Hall of Fame.

Baseball Hall of Fame non-profit 501(c)(3) #15-0572877

Preserving History. Honoring Excellence. Connecting Generations.

info@jimmurrayfoundation.org|

www.jimmurrayfoundation.org