F Zdeněk Bahenský (Saskatoon, 2004-06) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Mulhouse (France, Ligue Magnus) after obtaining his release by mutual agreement from Corona Braşov (Romania, Erste Liga). He had one assist in three games. Last season, with Sterzing/Vipiteno (Italy, Alps HL), he had seven goals and 13 assists in 23 games.
(WHL trade deadline: Thursday, Jan. 10, 3 p.m. MT)
Thursday’s action:
No. of trades: 4.
Players: 7.
Bantam draft picks: 8.
Conditional draft picks: 0.
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Total deals (since Nov. 26):
No. of trades: 25.
Players: 49.
Bantam draft picks: 40.
Conditional draft picks: 10.
(Note: On Nov. 30, Kelowna traded F Jack Cowell, 19, to Kootenay for a third-round selection in the 2020 bantam draft. Cowell chose not to report and the deal was voided, so isn’t included in these totals.)
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The Prince Albert Raiders, already with the WHL’s top offence, added another big gun on Thursday by acquiring F Dante Hannoun from the Victoria Royals.
In exchange for Hannoun and fourth- and eighth-round selections in the WHL’s 2019 
bantam draft, the Raiders surrendered F Carson Miller, 18, F Kody McDonald, 20, and a third-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft. (The fourth-round pick originated with the Brandon Wheat Kings; the eighth-rounder was Prince Albert’s originally, so goes back to the Raiders.)
The Raiders are more than halfway through what has all the signs of being a record-breaking season. With a 34-3-1 record, they lead the WHL’s overall standings by nine points over the Everett Silvertips (29-7-2) and are ranked No. 1 in the 60-team CHL.
On offence, the Raiders have scored 179 goals, 25 more than the Silvertips and Portland Winterhawks.
Before acquiring Hannoun, the Raiders already had five players who are averaging more than a point per game. That figure now is six.
Hannoun, the 11th overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft, played 286 regular-season games with the Royals. From Delta, B.C., he has 19 goals and 17 assists in 28 games this season.
For his career, the 5-foot-6, 160-pound Hannoun has 98 goals and 150 assists, his 248 
points leaving him tied for fourth on the Royals’ all-time list. He also is fourth in assists, fifth in games played and seventh in goals.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Miller, a native of Yorkton, Sask., was the 21st overall pick in the 2015 bantam draft. This season, he has 10 goals and eight assists in 38 games with the Raiders. In 156 career games, he has 20 goals and 27 assists.
McDonald, from Lethbridge, moved from the Prince George Cougars to Prince Albert at last season’s trade deadline. The Raiders gave up D Rhett Rhinehart, F Austin Crossley and a first-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft — the Cougars took F Craig Armstrong, who was added to their roster earlier this week — for McDonald and a conditional third-round pick in the 2018 draft.
McDonald, who was a second-round pick by the Cougars in 2013, has six goals and 12 assists in 30 games this season. In 295 career games, he has 81 goals and 93 assists.
The Royals are to continue their six-game Central Division trip against the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight.
Hannoun could make his Prince Albert debut tonight against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors.
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John Paddock, the general manager of the Regina Pats, was up early on Thursday.
How early?
Early enough to complete three trades before noon.
By morning’s end, Paddock had acquired two players and two WHL bantam draft picks, 
one of them a third-rounder, for a pair of players and three picks, the earliest a fifth-rounder.
“It’s what we’ve set out to do from the start,” Paddock told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. “We got a third-round pick in a deal and two 17-year-old players who are both playing in the league. It’s a little bit harder to get younger players (due to the league’s new trade restrictions) . . . but we know it’s the direction we want to go. It’s up to us as an organization to improve them over the next three to four years.”
The Pats, who are reloading after being the host team in the 2018 Memorial Cup, got D Tyson Feist, 17, and a 10th-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft from the Spokane Chiefs for an eighth-round pick in 2019 and a fifth-rounder in 2019. The eighth-round pick originally belonged to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“Tyson has waived his no-trade clause as he is looking for more ice time,” Scott Carter, the Chiefs’ GM, said in a news release.
This season, Feist, 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, had five assists in 25 games with the Chiefs. He also played five games with them last season, going pointless.
Feist could make his Regina debut tonight when the Pats meet the Blades in Saskatoon.
The Pats also sent F Scott Mahovlich, 19, and an eighth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a third-round selection in 2019.
Mahovlich, who is from Abbotsford, B.C., had five goals and four assists in 38 games with the Pats this season. In 130 career games — the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder also played with the Kamloops Blazers — he had six goals and 12 assists.
The Hurricanes are at home to the Vancouver Giants tonight.
Paddock’s day began when he dealt D Marco Creta, 18, to the Kootenay Ice for F Blake Allan, 17.
Allan, a 6-foot-1, 165-pounder from Davidson, Sask., was a third-round pick by the Ice in 
the 2016 bantam draft. Last season, he had one goal and one assist in four games with the Ice. This season, he has three assists in 31 games.
Creta is from Oak Bluff, Man., which is practically on the southwestern outskirts of Winnipeg. The Ice, which is reported to be relocating to Winnipeg after this season, has acquired six Manitoba-born players in as many trades since Oct. 8. One of those players, F Jack Cowell, refused to report and his rights reverted to the Kelowna Rockets.
In 66 games with the Pats, Creta had three goals and 11 assists. This season, he put up two goals and seven assists in 33 games.
The Ice is to meet the Tigers in Medicine Hat tonight.
With the WHL’s trade deadline less than a week away, the Portland Winterhawks have added a third goaltender to their roster. . . . Evan Fradette, a fifth-round selection in the 2016 WHL bantam draft, has joined the Winterhawks, who open a six-game East Division trip in Swift Current tonight. . . . The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Fradette, 17, has been playing for his hometown midget AAA St. Albert Raiders, who won the prestigious Mac’s tournament in Calgary earlier this week. Fradette was named the tournament MVP and the top goaltender, and also was chosen for the all-star team. . . . Fradette joins veteran Shane Farkas and freshman Dante Giannuzzi as Portland’s goaltenders. Farkas, 19, is 20-9-5, 2.96, .898; Giannuzzi, 16, is 1-2-0, 4.09, .833.
The Saskatoon Blades have signed D Alex Ozar, who will turn 17 on Jan. 24, to a WHL contract. Ozar, from Prince Albert, is in his second season with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos. He is the team’s captain. This season, he has five goals and 16 assists in 21 games. Last season, he finished with five goals and 26 assists in 44 games. . . . Ozar was a fifth-round pick by the Blades in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft.
The Regina Pats have added D Makai Mitchell, 16, to their roster, likely for the remainder of this season. Mitchell, from Fort Collins, Colo., had been playing with the Rocky Mountain Roughriders 16U team. He had a goal and an assist in 11 games. He also was pointless in three games with the Pats earlier this season.
F Ethan Leyh of the BCHL’s Langley Rivermen has committed to Quinnipiac U and the Bobcats for the 2019-20 season. Leyh, 17, has 15 goals and 17 assists in 31 games with the Rivermen. From Anmore, B.C., he was an eighth-round pick by the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.
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with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. Twarynski, 20, was a third-round selection by the Flyers in the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . From St. Alberta, Alta., he has 43 goals, 17 of them via the PP, and 27 assists in ?? games this season. His previous career highs were 20 goals and 45 points. . . . Twarynski has appeared in the Flyers’ past two development camps, and has played in one game in each of the past two preseasons. . . . The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder wasn’t selected in the WHL bantam draft. He has played in 255 regular-season WHL games, the first 161 with the Calgary Hitmen. He has 86 goals and 94 assists in those 255 games. . . . With the Rockets, he has 50 goals and 42 assists in 94 games.
15-3) has won two straight and now leads the overall standings by five points over Swift Current. Each team has three games remaining. . . . Brandon (37-27-5) had won its previous three games. It holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, four points ahead of Prince Albert. . . . With two games left in the season series, Moose Jaw is 5-1-0; Brandon is 1-5-0. . . . Both teams played three games in fewer than 48 hours, with each going 2-1-0. . . . The Warriors took a 2-0 first-period lead on two goals from F Vince Loschiavo (19), at 14:24 and 16:47. . . . Brandon tied it on goals F Gunnar Wegleitner (10), at 10:39 of the second period, and F Rylan Bettens (7), at 5:56 of the third. . . . Halbgewachs broke the tie with his WHL-leading 68th goal, at 6:12, only to have Brandon F Caiden Daley (6) tie it at 13:09. . . . F Ryan Peckford (20) gave Moose Jaw a 4-3 lead at 15:07, and F Tanner Jeannot (37) got the empty-netter at 19:07. . . . Halbgewachs assisted on each of the last two goals. He now has 125 points, one more than F Glenn Gawdin of Swift Current. . . . Moose Jaw got two assists from F Brett Howden and one from Jeannot. . . . The Warriors were 0-1 on the PP; the Wheat Kings were 0-2. . . . G Brody Willms earned the victory with 18 saves, two fewer than Brandon’s Dylan Myskiw. . . . F Brayden Burke was among Moose Jaw’s scratches for a fourth game in a row. The Warriors also were without D Brandon Schuldhaus and D Dmitri Zaitsev, both of whom were injured during a 4-2 victory over visiting Swift Current on Saturday. . . . With the two defencemen out, the Warriors brought in D Matt Sanders from the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes. . . . Also missing from Moose Jaw’s lineup was F Barrett Sheen, who has been given a TBD misconduct after he took a charging major and game misconduct for a hit on Swift Current F Tyler Steenbergen on Saturday. . . . The Wheat Kings scratched G Logan Thompson. . . . Announced attendance: 3,326.
38-6) has lost 10 in a row (0-7-3). . . . Edmonton won the season series, 4-1-1; Kootenay was 2-3-1. . . . The Oil Kings got the game’s first goal when D Conner McDonald (9) scored at 8:42 of the first period. . . . F Blake Allan (1) tied it at 12:40, and D Martin Bodak (7) gave the Ice the lead at 4:31 of the second period. . . . The Oil Kings went ahead 3-2 as F Trey Fix-Wolansky (30) and F Brett Kemp (16), on a PP, scored at 11:43 and 19:03. . . . The visitors forced OT as F Cameron Hausinger (19) tied the score at 19:33 of the third period. . . . McLeod won it with his second goal of the season. . . . Edmonton was 1-1 on the PP; Kootenay was 0-4. . . . The Oil Kings got 36 saves from G Josh Dechaine. . . . G Duncan McGovern stopped 25 shots for Kootenay. . . . Announced attendance: 10,533.
Conference standings, four points behind Everett (44-19-5), which had won its previous three games. . . . Each team has three games remaining. . . . Portland went 5-4-1 in the season series; Everett was 5-5-0. . . . Everett was playing for the third time in fewer than 48 hours. It went 2-1-0. . . . Kehler turned aside 28 shots in posting his fourth shutout this season and the sixth of this career. This season, he is 29-15-5, 2.72, .910. . . . The Winterhawks moved out front, 1-0, when D Brendan De Jong (5) scored at 10:06 of the first period. . . . The home side made it 2-0 at 13:54 of the third period on D Henri Jokiharju’s 10th goal, on a PP. . . . F Cody Glass had two assists for Portland. . . . The Winterhawks were 1-3 on the PP; the Silvertips were 0-5. . . . G Carter Hart stopped 29 shots for Everett. This season, he is 29-5-4, 1.55, .950. Three of his regulation-time losses have been to Portland. . . . Everett was without D Ondrej Vala, who drew a TBD suspension after he was tossed from a Saturday game with a cross-checking major and game misconduct following a hit on Seattle F Zack Andrusiak. . . . Portland scratched F Alex Overhardt (ill) and then lost F Lukus MacKenzie to what appeared to be an arm or wrist injury in the first period. . . . Announced attendance: 8,263.
24-9) has won two in a row. It looks destined to finish in the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . Vancouver (34-25-9) is third in the B.C. Division, five points behind Victoria with three games to play. . . . Tri-City won three of four games between the teams this season. . . . D Jake Bean (10) gave the Americans a 1-0 lead at 14:27 of the first period. . . . F Ty Ronning pulled Vancouver even at 16:40. . . . Ronning had been ejected from a Saturday game with a clipping major and game misconduct, but the WHL obviously chose not to issue a suspension. . . . The Americans went ahead 2-1 on F Morgan Geekie’s 28th goal, at 17:31. . . . Ronning scored again — he’s got 59 — at 0:32 of the second period, this one on a PP. . . . The Americans moved into a 4-2 lead on two quick goals from F Michael Rasmussen (28) and F Riley Sawchuk (14), at 17:41 and 18:04. . . . F James Malm (19) got Vancouver’s third goal, at 18:16 of the third period. . . . D Anthony Bishop had two assists for Tri-City. . . . The Giants got two assists from F Davis Koch and one from Ronning. . . . Vancouver was 1-4 on the PP; Tri-City was 0-4. . . . Tri-City G Patrick Dea stopped 37 shots, one more than Vancouver’s David Tendeck. . . . Both teams were playing their third game in fewer than 48 hours. The Giants lost 6-2 to the host Americans on Friday, then moved on to Spokane where they beat the Chiefs, 6-5 in shootout, on Saturday. Then it was on the bus and back to Kennewick for this one. . . . The Americans won 6-2 in Portland on Saturday, so had a 3-0-0). . . . Dan O’Connor, the radio voice of the Giants, called his 500th WHL game. He is in his first season after having worked with the Prince George Cougars. . . . Announced attendance: 3,030.
TAKING NOTE 