You have to have at least some understanding of what the Backmeyer family has been through over most of the past six years to understand what they are going through right now.
Oh, things continue to go swimmingly as Ferris, 6, continues to make progress from a kidney transplant at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto four weeks ago.
However, Lindsey, Ferris’s mother, just can’t shake that feeling that things have been going too well. With all that she, husband Pat and the three girls have dealt with they now find themselves in a whole different world.
The emotion was raw as Lindsey explained what she is going through. She admitted to being confused because things have been going so smoothly. She just isn’t used to this. Will she be able to get used to it?
“So many feelings,” Lindsey wrote on Facebook. “All the excitement over the reality that we are here. The fear of it all falling apart. It’s just been such a drastic change so fast, so unreal and truly unbelievable. With this gift comes tremendous responsibility.
“I’m anxious (and am) genuinely shocked with every set of labs. Waiting for the (other) shoe to drop. But so far nope! No complications??? I’m confused. It’s just so incredibly foreign to us for things to be smooth for this long. It’s an odd struggle to have to manage.
“Anyone who knows transplant knows that rejection meds given on time is super important. Our med schedule and life schedule (still some really late nights) are so messed up that we set alarms to give 8 a.m. meds. I don’t sleep well at all. Waking hourly most nights because I’m worried I’m gonna sleep through the alarm! Anyone who knows me knows that’s a real possibility!!”
But, as she added, “Those are small potatoes for worries though these days.”
There are, as she notes, “so many reasons to be smiling these days.”
As mentioned, things are going great with Ferris, and her big sisters — Tavia, 11, and Ksenia, 9 — have returned from the trip they made to California with Lindsey’s mother. So the family is back together and preparing for the next chapter.
Now it’s a matter of having all of Ferris’s tests in order and getting the OK to head west.
“Today,” Lindsey wrote on Thursday, “we had labs and ultrasound! We knew that if results were good, we’d get the green flag to transfer back to (BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver) next week! Labs were awesome! Ultrasound looked better!
“Unless something major develops between now and then, we are leaving Toronto next Thursday! Whoop whoop! Only disappointing thing is that we’ve been told that (Ronald McDonald House) in Vancouver is full until Aug. 15 . . . ughhhh. I’m not gonna dwell on it. Hoping we can get in sooner than that.
“I advocated hard for a suitable accommodation for us. But as of yet am unsure where we will be staying. Just throwing it out there that this sorts itself out. That we belong at (Ronald McDonald House) BC, that going home is not really home if we are moving to Vancouver and staying somewhere else. That all the good luck we’ve had recently continues and it doesn’t end up being as bad as it feels.”
In the meantime, the Backmeyers will try to make the best of what they hope will be their last weekend in Toronto.
“We had originally planned to try to escape the city for the weekend,” Lindsey wrote, “but have instead decided to stick around and cram in the last of the ‘Toronto’ things we wanted to do. One more week and hopefully we are wrapping up this chapter . . . the best one yet!”
No one follows goings-on in the BCHL any closer than does Brian Wiebe who operates the BCHL Network (bchlnetwork.ca) and tweets at @Brian_Wiebe.
The piece he wrote on Tuesday after BC Hockey replaced junior B hockey with Junior A Tier 1 and Junior A Tier 2 is the best that I have seen on the subject.
You are able to read it right here, and you should if you are following all that is happening with this file.
It is evident that, from a BC Hockey perspective, all of this is a work in progress.
As Cam Hope, BC Hockey’s CEO put it in Wiebe’s story: “It’s in progress right now, but I can give you the broad parameters of some of the things. Around officiating, I think all the leagues are committed to going to a four-person system. We have to watch the landscape a little bit this year, some officials have left and gone non-sanctioned with the BCHL.
“The things you might expect — standards (like) coaching certifications, some standards around player experience having to do with committed dressing rooms, facilities and most importantly around practices — practice quality, practice volume, (and) travel. (It’s) the usual check checklist for any league, but the details of it are something that we’re all working on together.
“We want to be mindful of the fact that this is pretty quick for some of these franchises, and some are far ahead of others. It’s a work in progress, but yeah, it’s a pretty long list, but it’s little by little we’re going to get there.”
The one thing that I found most interesting in Wiebe’s piece is that Hope has left the door open for any of the BCHL’s 17 teams to return to BC Hockey.
“There are some communities around B.C. that felt Junior A was maybe just a little bit out of reach,” Hope said. “There are some communities in northern B.C. with good arenas and great fan support that did not have a league to play in at a Junior A or Junior B level. And there are some clubs now that are playing non-sanctioned junior hockey this year in the BCHL and elsewhere that may want to have a place to return to sanctioned hockey.
“Getting the ecosystem set the way that we’re setting it this year I think solved all of those problems if and when they start to arrive. When I say problems, they’re good problems and that’s communities that want to come in and join what we’re trying to do here.”
There is a whole lot more to Wiebe’s piece, so give it a read and you’ll have a good understanding of just what is happening.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
The Red Deer Rebels have acquired F Carson Latimer, 20, from the Wenatchee Wild for a couple of WHL draft picks, a fifth in 2024 and a conditional third in 2025. . . . According to Wild, the third-rounder is conditional upon Latimer’s reporting to Red Deer. He was a fourth-round pick by the Ottawa Senators in the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . Latimer, from White Rock, B.C., was a third-round selection by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2018 draft. He has put up 97 points, including 38 goals, in 143 regular-season games split among the Oil Kings, Prince Albert Raiders and Winnipeg Ice. . . . Last season, with the Ice, had had 14 goals and 26 assists in 53 games. . . . After the trade, Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge) tweeted: “According to my spreadsheet, the 2024 5th and 2025 3rd that Wenatchee got from Red Deer for Latimer are now Wenatchee’s highest picks in both those drafts.” . . .
The Everett Silvertips have acquired 2003-born F Teague Patton from the Victoria Royals for a fourth-round selection in the WHL’s 2026 draft. . . . Patton, from Kelowna, had 16 goals and 33 assists in 68 games with the Royals last season. . . . He played in 78 games over three seasons (2019-22) with the Medicine Hat Tigers, putting up 25 points, including 12 goals. . . . After moving Patton, the Royals, according to play-by-play man Marlon Martens, still have six 20-year-olds on their roster — F Matthew Hodson, G Braden Holt, F Grady Lane, D Gannon Laroque, F Justin Lies and D Luke Rybinski. The Royals acquired Lane from the Spokane Chiefs on June 27, and got Lies from the Saskatoon Blades on June 2. . . .
F Sam Honzek of the Vancouver Giants has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Calgary Flames, who selected him with the 16th pick of the NHL’s 2023 draft. . . . Honzek, from Slovakia, had 23 goals and 33 assists in 43 games as a freshman with the Giants last season. He also played for Slovakia in the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. . . . Honzek, who will turn 19 on Nov. 12, will be back with the Giants for the 2023-24 season, unless, of course, he cracks the Flames’ roster. . . . Interestingly, he went by Samuel last season, but judging by the Flames’ announcement on Tuesday, he now is going by Sam. . . .
The Lethbridge Hurricanes and 106.7 ROCK have agreed to a four-year contract extension that will have the radio station as the home to game broadcasts through the 2026-27 season. . . . They have been broadcast partners for the past nine seasons, starting with 2014-15. . . .
The Seattle Thunderbirds will retire F Patrick Marleau’s No. 12 on Nov. 3 prior to a game against the Spokane Chiefs. Marleau, from Aneroid, Sask., played two seasons (1995-97) with the Thunderbirds, totalling 199 points, including 83 goals, in 143 regular-season games. He is the NHL’s all-time leader in regular-season games played (1,779) after skating with the San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Marleau will be the second Seattle player to have his number retired. The Thunderbirds honoured F Glen Goodall (No. 10) in 1990. . . .
The junior B Keystone Junior Hockey League has added a seventh franchise by granting one to the Waywayseecappo First Nation, which is located near Russell, Man. . . . The team will begin play in 2023-24 and will play as the Waywayseecappo Wild.
THE COACHING GAME:
The WHL’s Wenatchee Wild has rounded out its coaching staff with the hiring of Andrew Sarauer as an assistant coach. Sarauer, a 38-year-old from Saskatoon, has retired as a player after spending 15 seasons in the ECHL, AHL and Europe. . . . He played with the BCHL’s Victoria Salsa and Langley Hornets before spending four seasons at Northern Michigan U. . . . In Wenatchee, he will be working with head coach Kevin Constantine and associate head coach Chris Clark. . . . Sarauer played nine seasons with Fehérvár AV19 in Hungary. Constantine was the head coach there for the last two of those seasons.
——
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.
be quick to salute Calder Anderson, Jake Chiasson, Nolan Ritchie and Ben Thornton of the Brandon Wheat Kings as this site’s sportsmen of the year. . . . In case you missed it, in the words of the Brandon Sun’s Perry Bergson, they “successfully interceded to help a distressed man who was contemplating suicide on the First Street Bridge” on the evening of Nov. 29. . . . “We’re very happy that we were able to save him and get him some help,” Thornton told Bergson, who added: “They also learned another lesson when 30 or 40 vehicles drove by without stopping in the short span they were trying to help the man. Yet they never considered leaving until the man was safe.” . . . Gentlemen, I salute you. . . . Bergson’s complete story is 
abysmal record unless being selfish and uncaring is the objective. Really, had you told me four years ago that the time was coming when our children would by dying, when our children would be unable to get much-needed surgical procedures, when our hospital’s emergency rooms would be over-run and that society would refuse to help by doing something as simple as masking up, well, I would have told you that you were crazy. . . . But, well, here we are.
in NHL history. So stop trying to tell me that he is. He’s still 88 behind Wayne Gretzky. Have people already forgotten just how great Gretzky was? . . . Allow me to point out that Gretzky also scored 92 goals in the WHA, which was a better league than many of those same people seem to recall. As for Gordie Howe, well he scored 801 NHL goals and another 174 in the WHA. . . . But when Ovechkin puts in No. 895, then you can call him the greatest goal scorer in NHL history. OK?
Canada beat Sweden, 5-1 — and left the game in obvious discomfort thanks to an injury to his right shoulder area. Dach, who turns 20 on Wednesday, has 17 points, nine of them goals, in 14 games with the Rockets this season. Earlier, he missed some time with a concussion. . . . The Rockets (12-18-3), who have lost five in a row, are eighth in the conference, seven points ahead of the Victoria Royals (8-24-4). . . . 
suffered a skate cut to the back of his left leg on Wednesday as his Slovakian side beat the U.S., 6-3. The 18-year-old Honzek, who is expected to be out as long as six weeks, leads the Giants in assists (26) and points (43) in 31 games. . . . Vancouver (14-16-6) is tied for fourth in the conference with the Tri-City Americans, who hold two games in hand. They are one point ahead of the Everett Silvertips. . . .
personal reasons, was dealt to Everett in exchange for Braden Holt. . . . Palmer, from Fernie, B.C., was in his second season with Victoria. He left the Royals sometime after a 7-4 loss to the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Nov. 12. . . . Holt, from Bozeman, Mont., was in his fourth season with Everett. In his first start with Victoria, he stopped 35 shots in a 3-0 victory over the host Vancouver Giants. . . . Having acquired Holt, the Royals then traded G Logan Cunningham, a 17-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., to the Edmonton Oil Kings for a fifth-round pick in the 2025 WHL draft. . . . After adding Cunningham to their roster, the Oil Kings dropped G Ronin Geraghty, 18. From Burnaby, B.C., he was 0-5-0, 6.48, .819 in seven games with Edmonton. . . .
Kootenay International Junior Hockey League took time out from chasing a puck to exchange Happy New Year greetings as they began the second period on Saturday evening. . . . The Leafs are the team in white in the above video, and the video evidence would seem to indicate that they were first off the mark. . . . The puck now has been passed to Jeff Dubois, the KIJHL commissioner. . . . Happy New Year, Mr. Dubois.
did 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. . . . 
WHL’s defending champions, clearly in rebuilding mode, have added a possible eight draft picks in the past week (the asterisks denote conditional picks) . . . 
the 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. . . .
goals 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. . . . 
Oil 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.
Calgary 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.
an eighth-round selection in the WHL’s 2023 draft, the Ice gave up G Dawson Cowan, 17, and three draft picks — a fourth-rounder in 2025 and third- and sixth-rounders in 2026. . . . In 71 regular-season games with the Chiefs, Beaupit was 24-35-7, 3.83, .888. . . . He was a fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2018 draft. . . . Following last season, he was named the Chiefs’ player of the year, after going 20-22-4, 3.63, .893. . . . This season, with the Chiefs’ clearly in a major rebuild, he was 0-8-0, 5.58, .833 
in nine games. . . . From Surrey, B.C., Beaupit’s NHL rights belong to the San Jose Sharks, who took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. . . . Beaupit will team with Daniel Hauser as Winnipeg’s goaltenders. Hauser, 18, went into Friday games at 13-0-0, 2.37, .915. . . . Cowan, from Warren, Man., was 3-1-0, 2.52, .901 in five appearances with the Ice this season. . . . The Chiefs now have two 17-year-old freshman goaltenders on their roster — Cowan and Cooper Michaluk, who is 3-2-1, 4.97, .853. Michaluk started against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night, with Cowan backing up.
game losing streak (0-5-1). . . . The Rebels (15-2-1), who opened the season with 15 straight victories, now have lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . . The Wheat Kings got shootout goals from F Brett Hyland, F Nolan Ritchie and F Jake Chiasson. F Kai Uchacz scored in the shootout for the Rebels, He also scored once in regulation time, taking over the WHL goal-scoring lead (16). A few hours later, F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats scored twice to pull into a tie with Uchacz. . . . Red Deer F Craig Armstrong tied the score, 2-2, at 15:48 of the third period. . . . Red Deer remains without veteran F Ben King, who led the league in goals (52) last season. . . . Brandon was able to dress only 16 skaters, including four defencemen. . . . Lucas Punkari of the Brandon Sun reported that D Mason Ward is injured, while Eastyn Mannix and Zach Turner both were “unable to dress due to illness.” The Wheat Kings then lost Owen Harris to injury in the first period, so F Calder Anderson slipped into the rotation. . . .
and never looked back en route to a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Raiders improved to 6-12-2; the Oil Kings, who have lost three in a row, are 2-15-1. . . . F Harrison Lodewyk’s second goal of the season gave the Raiders the early lead and away they went. . . . F Carson Latimer had a goal and two assists for the winners, who were 2-2 on the PP. . . . 
over the Tigers in Medicine Hat. . . . The Warriors (11-6-0) have won two straight. . . . The Tigers (4-9-4) have lost seven in a row (0-4-3). . . . D Bogdans Hodass pulled the Tigers into a 4-4 tie at 12:56 of the third period. . . . The Warriors had scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the opening period but weren’t able to hold the lead. . . . F Jagger Firkus gave them a 4-3 lead at 11:07 of the third, only to have Hodass tie it 1:49 later. . . . F Noah Degenstein, a second-round pick in the WHL’s 2022 draft, made his debut with the Warriors. From Airdrie, Alta., he plays for his hometown U18AAA CFR Bisons. . . . These same two teams will play tonight in Moose Jaw. . . . 
route to a 7-2 victory over the Chiefs. . . . F Gracyn Sawchyn, F Nico Myatovic and D Kevin Korchinski all scored unassisted goals for Seattle before the first period was five minutes old. . . . The Thunderbirds (12-3-0) have won two in a row. . . . The Chiefs (3-11-1) have lost nine straight (0-8-1). . . .
second period and hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Everett (12-5-0) has won four straight. . . . Tri-City (7-10–0) has lost two in a row. . . . F Ryan Hofer scored twice — he’s got 12 — as Everett grabbed a 4-0 lead at 1:30 of the second period. . . . F Tyson Greenway pulled the Americans to within one at 3:50 of the third period, but they weren’t able to equalize. . . . D Lukas Dragicevic had two assists in running his point streak to 11 games. He has two points in each of his last two games, and has 23 points, including five goals, in 17 games. . . . 
will be going into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Monday. Unfortunately, he wasn’t available to attend Friday’s news conference and ring presentation as he is recovering from COVID-19. By taking an extra day to recover, he is hopeful of attending Monday night’s ceremony and perhaps other events over the weekend. . . . Mask up!
player who started the season as the Regina Pats’ head coach, have been named to the coaching staff of the Canadian team that will play in the IIHF U-18 world championship. . . . That tournament is to be held in Landshut and Kaufbeuren, Germany, from April 23 through May 1. . . . Team Canada’s coaching staff also includes Kori Cheverie, who will be the first female to coach one of the country’s national men’s teams. She spent five seasons (2016-21) as an assistant with Ryerson U’s men’s team and this season worked with the Canadian women’s Olympic team. . . . Baumgartner was a defenceman with the Kamloops Blazers when they won the 1994 and 1995 Memorial Cup titles. He had been part of the Vancouver Canucks organization since 2012 until he was let go in a regime change this season. He was with the Canadian men’s Olympic team at the Winter Games in Beijing earlier this year. . . . Struch spent nine seasons with the Regina Pats before being fired as head coach earlier this season. He played four seasons (1988-92) with the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The U-18 team’s coach staff also includes assistant coach Todd Miller, who is a former head coach of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and was an assistant coach with the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2020-21, and goaltending consultant Brad Kirkwood, who works with the Calgary Hitmen and the U of Calgary women’s and men’s teams. . . . The complete news release is 
Gorgendiere, their 19-year-old captain, won’t play again this season. He will be undergoing surgery to repair an undisclosed injury. . . . “Aidan has been battling through an ailment for most of the season and, over the weekend, it finally reached a point where surgery was the only option for him,” Colin Priestner, the Blades’ president and general manager, said in a statement. “We will miss his leadership and it certainly is difficult news given how much he means to our team on and off the ice.” . . . De La Gorgendiere is the Blades’ highest-scoring defenceman, with 45 points, including 41 assists, in 54 games. His 45 points are the fourth-highest on the team. . . . F Tristen Robins, 20, wore the captain’s ‘C’ for the first time on Wednesday night as the Blades dropped a 3-2 decision to the Pats in Regina.
Novosibirsk and Omsk, Russia, but those plans were scrubbed after the dictator chose to attack Ukraine. There have been reports that the IIHF has asked Canada to play host, even though the 2022 tournament is to be held in Edmonton in August. One option for Canada is for Ottawa and Quebec City to share hosting duties, while organizations in Regina and Saskatoon are preparing a joint bid. . . . From a press release issued by Tourism Regina and Tourism Saskatoon: “This is an exciting opportunity to host the IIHF World Junior Championships throughout Saskatchewan with potential games being played in municipalities like Humboldt, Swift Current, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw.”
victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . D Ryker Evans’ 14th goal, on a PP at 1:31 of the third period, stood up as the winner. . . . The Blades had stopped Regina F Connor Bedard’s 21-game streak on Friday in Saskatoon and held him to one assist last night. . . . The Blades won the season series, 5-1-0. . . . The Pats (24-31-5) are five points from the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot. . . . The Blades (34-24-4) are fifth, three points behind the Moose Jaw Warriors, with each team having six games remaining. . . .
the Raiders to a 2-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings in Prince Albert. . . . Latimer, who has 16 goals, struck at 14:27 and 16:33. . . . C Charlie Elick, the third overall selection in the WHL’s December draft, scored his first goal for Brandon. . . . The Raiders, who got 34 saves from G Chaika Tikhon, had lost their previous four games. . . . Prince Albert (25-32-5) now are within three points of eighth place but have only six games left. . . . The Wheat Kings (30-25-5) appear headed to a sixth-place finish in the conference. . . .
empty-netter as the visiting Swift Current Broncos beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 6-4. . . . Pelletier, who also had an assist, now has 19 goals. He went into this season with six goals and nine assists in 69 career regular-season games. This season, he now has 46 points in 60 games. . . . The Broncos (26-31-7) are seventh, one point ahead of eighth-place Lethbridge (27-30-4), which is three points ahead of Prince Albert. . . .
to a 8-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . The Blazers, who led 6-0 before the second period was four minutes old, clinched first place in the B.C. Division. . . . F Logan Stankoven led the Blazers with two goals, giving him 40, and two assists. . . . Stankoven, a Kamloopsian who turned 19 on Feb. 26, has 91 points in 53 games. He leads the WHL in points per game — 1.72. F Ridley Greig of the Brandon Wheat Kings is second, at 1.62. . . . F Koehn Ziemmer scored his 30th goal of the season for the Cougars. He is the first Prince George freshman to get there since F Brett Connolly (2008-09). . . . Kamloops has had its two largest announced crowds of the season for its last two games — 4,969 for a 6-0 victory over the Kelowna Rockets on Friday and 4,745 last night. . . . With two games left in the season series, the Blazers hold an 8-2-0 edge; the Cougars are 2-7-1. . . . Kamloops (45-15-2) is two points behind the Western Conference-leading Everett Silvertips (43-10-8), who hold a game in hand.
Game 4, seven men held a meeting to discuss an alleged sexual assault that had occurred one of the two previous days. The incident involved video coach Brad Aldrich and Kyle Beach, one of the Black Aces.
with the team after being away following a diagnosis of prostate cancer. He will be taking another leave in December as he undergoes surgery.
scoring three third-period goals in a 3-1 victory. . . . F Connor McClennon (10) gave the Ice a 1-0 first-period lead. . . . F Dylan Guenther (4) tied it at 3:28 of the third, and F Carson Latimer (5) broke the tie at 11:42. F Jaxsen Wiebe (2) added the empty-netter. . . . The Oil Kings (7-2-1) have won three in a row. They also have posted 10 straight victories against the Ice. . . . The Ice (11-1-0) had won its first 11 games. The 1988-89 Swift Current Broncos hold the WHL record for longest winning streak to open a season (12). . . . The Ice and Oil Kings were ranked second and third, respectively, in the CHL’s weekly release. The No. 1-ranked Quebec Remparts (9-2-0) lost, 2-1, to the visiting Shawinigan Cataractes on Thursday. . . .
Silvertips, 4-3, in a shootout. . . . G Dante Gianuzzi stopped 36 shots for Portland (4-5-1), which had lost three straight. . . . Everett (6-0-1) had a 7-0 edge in OT shots. Silvertips Color Guy (@TipsATG) tweeted that Everett hit three crossbars in OT. . . . The Silvertips scored three first-period goals, two via the PP. . . . D Clay Hanus (3) pulled Portland into a tie at 18:37 of the third period. . . . Portland’s first two goals also came via the PP. . . . F Cross Hanas, the first shooter, scored the lone goal of the shootout. . . . 
added a shootout goal as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Raiders, 5-4. . . . G Ethan Kruger, who had been out of Brandon’s lineup since being injured on Oct. 9, stopped 33 shots. . . . Hyland’s first career three-point game came in his 33rd outing over three seasons. He has a goal and four assists in seven games this season. . . . The Wheat Kings (5-6-0) had lost their previous three games. . . . The Raiders (2-7-1), who have lost three in a row, got three assists from D Kaiden Guhle. . . . D Remy Aquilon scored his first two goals of the season for Prince Albert. . . . Hyland and F Tyson Zimmer scored shootout goals for Brandon, with Guhle doing the same for the Raiders. . . . Darren Steinke, the travelling blogger, was on hand and posted this story 
Kamloops Blazers, made his NHL debut on Sunday with the Nashville Predators. And he did it in style, turning aside 33 shots in a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild. . . . The Wild went into the game as one of the NHL’s unbeaten teams, at 4-0. . . . Dean Evason, one of the Blazers’ all-time great players, is the Wild’s head coach. . . . The Predators are 2-4-0. They recalled Ingram from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals on Oct. 16 because G David Rittich was added to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list. . . .“I still don’t think it’s hit me a little bit,” Ingram, 24, told reporters. “Ignorance is bliss at this point where you don’t really realize what’s going on yet, but it felt good.’’ . . . Ingram was beaten for the first time when F Nick Bjugstad beat him at 11:30 of the second period. . . . “My first shot in the Western League, my first shot in the American League both went in, so I was kind of half-expecting it to go in today, but it didn’t so that’s a nice way to start.’’ . . . The Predators next are scheduled to play on Tuesday night against the visiting San Jose Sharks. . . .
impact the 2022 World Junior Championship that is scheduled for Red Deer and Edmonton, from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5
Saskatchewan Huskies and Regina Cougars was postponed. According to a Canada West news release, “Positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed within the Cougars.” The two teams had played in Saskatoon on Friday night. . . . Earlier in the week, Canada West postponed a series between the Calgary Dinos and MacEwan after positive tests were found in the Griffins’ program. . . . 
their 3-2 OT victory over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night. . . . But based on that one game Travis Green should be the favourite for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year. . . . Oh, and maybe the Canucks’ ownership might see fit to sign him to a contact before he chooses free agency after this season. . . . If you aren’t aware, Green was one of the 20-plus folks in the Canucks organization who tested positive for COVID-19 — and that doesn’t include numerous family members. Green also was quite ill. . . . If you are wondering what he went through, Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet has that story 
Tuesday. . . . The 18 teams in the league played between 27 and 43 games. . . . The Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Moncton Wildcats and Saint John Sea Dogs, the league’s three New Brunswick-based teams, open a nine-game round-robin tournament on Tuesday. There aren’t any playoffs for the other Maritimes teams because of travel restrictions. . . . The round-robin is scheduled to end on May 2, with the winner meeting the Charlottetown Islanders in the Maritimes Division final. The Islanders finished with the QMJHL’s best record (35-5-0). . . . The Maritimes winner and three Quebec-based teams that emerge from their series will meet in a bubble event to decide the championship.
Brandon Wheat Kings got past the Winnipeg Ice, 5-4, in Regina. . . . F Peyton Krebs (10) had given the Ice a 4-3 lead, on a PP, at 15:23 of the third period. . . . F Ridly Greig, who was in the penalty box when Krebs scored, tied it at 18:34. . . . Schneider took a headshot minor at 19:49 of the third period, then scored the winner, his fourth goal this season, at 1:56 of OT. . . . F Nolan Ritchie (8) and F Marcus Sekundiak (2) scored first-period goals for Brandon, with F Jakin Smallwood (11) counting for Winnipeg at 19:35. . . . F Owen Pederson (11) got the Ice into a tie at 4:08 of the second. . . . D Neithan Salame (3) put the Wheat Kings back out front at 13:31. . . . Ice F Connor McClennon tied it at 8:16 of third period with his 13th goal. He also had two assists as he ran his point streak to 12 games. He has nine goals and 11 assists over that stretch. . . . Brandon (15-3-2) has won four in a row; it went 4-0-0 against Winnipeg in this shortened season. . . . The Ice now is 13-5-1. . . . Winnipeg was 3-for-8 on the PP; Brandon was 1-for-4. . . . F Ben McCartney drew four assists for the Wheaties. . . . Krebs added three assists to his goal and now is on an 18-game point streak. He was blanked in the season’s first game and now leads the Regina hub with 35 points, 25 of them assists. . . .
the Prince Albert Raiders, 4-3. The game was played in the Regina hub, but the Pats were the visiting team. . . . Englot scored his first goal, on the PP, in 19 games at 17:59 of the second period. . . . The Pats (7-9-3) had lost three in a row. . . . The Raiders (7-9-3) had been 3-0-1 in their past four outings. . . . F Cole Dubinsky and F Carter Chorney (3) gave Regina a 2-0 lead before F Tyson Laventure got the Raiders on the board at 9:03 of the second period. . . . Dubinsky (4) upped Regina’s lead to 3-1 just 48 seconds later. . . . Laventure scored his fourth goal of the season at 14:28 and D Tre Fouquette (1) tied it at 15:50. . . . Laventure has four goals and three assists this season, all against the Pats. . . . Fouquette, a fourth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft, also added an assist in just his second WHL game. . . . The Raiders lost F Justin Nachbaur in the first period with a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on F Braxton Whitehead. . . .
6-2 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . F Ethan Regnier completed his first WHL three-goal game at 15:33 of the third period. He’s got six goals. . . . Regnier and F Jalen Price (1) gave Everett a 2-0 lead with second-period goals. . . . Everett F Brendan Hunchak, who turned 18 on April 10, earned the primary assist on Price’s goal for his first career point in his eighth game. He is the son of former WHL coach Dave Hunchak. . . . F Seth Jarvis (7) got Portland on the board at 11:42 of the second, but Regnier got that one back at 16:23. . . . D Ryan McCleary (2) pulled the Winterhawks to within one at 19:36. . . . The Silvertips put it away with third-period scores from F Hunter Campbell (5), F Ryan Hofer (3) and Regnier. . . . G Dustin Wolf earned the victory with 37 stops. . . . Everett is 11-3-0 after its second straight win. . . . Portland (6-5-3) had points in each of its previous three games (2-0-1). . . . 
Vancouver Giants beat the host Kamloops Blazers, 4-0. . . . Miner leads the WHL with four shutouts. He blocked 30 shots in a 4-0 victory over the Blazers on April 5. . . . The Giants (7-3-0) have put up five shutouts in their 10 games. . . . Nielsen enjoyed his second natural hat-trick of the season as he gave the Giants a 4-0 lead with the game’s last three goals. . . . F Zack Ostapchuk (3) got the game’s first goal at 3:34 of the first period. . . . Nielsen, who has 11 goals in 10 games, scored at 11:01 of the first period and 9:20 and 18:07 of the second. . . . The Blazers (7-2-0) had won their previous three games. . . . 
to a 5-3 victory over the Hurricanes in Lethbridge. . . . Souch, who has four goals, opened the scoring at 9:23 of the first period. . . . F Josh Williams (9) made it 2-0 at 17:24. . . . F Dino Kambeitz, who had sat out the Hurricanes’ last two games, scored his fourth goal 40 seconds into the second period. . . . The Oil Kings came back with goals from F Caleb Reimer (2) and Souch at 1:44 and 2:15 for a 4-1 lead. . . . F Carson Latimer (5), who also had two assists, had Edmonton’s other goal, while F Logan Barlage (5) and F Noah Boyko (9) finished Lethbridge’s scoring. . . . Edmonton F Jake Neighbours ran his point streak to 15 games with one assist. He’s got 26 points, 20 of them assists, during his tear. . . . The Oil Kings now are 14-1-1. . . . The Hurricanes are 7-8-2. . . . On Saturday, Lethbridge went into Edmonton and won 6-5 in a shootout after losing 4-0 to the visiting Oil Kings on Thursday.
TAKING NOTE 