Tag: Dawson Weatherill

WHL marketplace starts to heat up . . . Blades add a defenceman, move out two . . . Chiefs juggle to firm up goaltending

COUNTDOWN TO DEADLINE

(WHL trade deadline: Jan. 10, 3 p.m. MT)

Wednesday’s action:

No. of trades: 4.

Players: 5.

Bantam draft picks: 4.

Conditional draft picks: 0.

——

Total deals (since Nov. 26):

No. of trades: 21.

Players: 42.

Bantam draft picks: 32.

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.)

The Saskatoon Blades made a pair of trades on Wednesday, both of them involving defencemen.

The Blades began the day by acquiring D Reece Harsch, 19, from the Seattle SaskatoonThunderbirds for D Zach Ashton, 17, and a fifth-round pick in the WHL’s 2022 bantam draft.

Later, the Blades sent D Seth Bafaro, 19, to the Vancouver Giants for a fifth-round selection in the 2021 bantam draft.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Harsch was selected by Seattle in the eighth round of the 2014 bantam draft.

In 149 regular-season games with Seattle, he had 15 goals and 32 assists. He also was part of the Thunderbirds’ 2016-17 championship team. This season, Harsch has two goals and eight assists in 28 games.

“Reece is an experienced player we’ve had our eye on for a while,” Saskatoon general manager Colin Priestner said in a news release. “He plays a hard game, has 25 games of playoff experience, and knows what it takes to win a championship in this league.”

Harsch should be available Friday when the Blades entertain the Regina Pats.

Ashton, from Calgary, was a third-round selection by Saskatoon in the 2016 bantam draft. This season, as a freshman, he had one assist in nine games with the Blades. He played the previous two seasons with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes.

This season, Bafaro, who was born in Kamloops, has four goals and three assists in 27 Vancouvergames this season. In 116 career games, 31 with the Tri-City Americans and 85 with the Blades, he has seven goals and 11 assists.

Vancouver general manager Barclay Parneta is quite familiar with Bafaro. Parneta was Tri-City’s head scout and assistant GM when Bafaro began his WHL career with the Americans in 2016-17. The Americans selected him in the third round of the 2015 bantam draft.

Tri-City traded Bafaro to Saskatoon on July 5, 2017, getting back two bantam draft picks — a third-rounder in 2019 and a fifth-rounder in 2020.

The Giants are four games into their Central Division trip, having played in Medicine Hat on Wednesday night. Bafaro wasn’t in the lineup for that one, but should be available on Friday in Lethbridge.

BTW, Vancouver’s roster now includes nine defencemen, including Matt Barberis, who is injured and has only played nine games this season.

The Tri-City Americans have acquired F Nick Bowman, 18, from the Kootenay Ice for a tri-citysixth-round selection in the 2021 WHL bantam draft. . . . Bowman, who is from Sherwood Park, Alta., was acquired by the Ice, along with a sixth-round pick in the 2021 bantam draft, from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Oct. 22, in exchange for forwards Kaeden and Keenan Taphorn, who are twins. . . . The Edmonton Oil Kings selected Bowman in the sixth round of the 2015 bantam draft. On May 3, they dealt him to Moose Jaw, with a sixth-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft, for F Vince Loschiavo. . . . This season, Bowman had one assist in 10 games with the Warriors, then scored twice in 10 games with the Ice before choosing to leave the team. . . . In 137 career WHL games, he has 15 goals and 14 assists. . . . Bowman is playing for the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders and, according to Tri-City general manager Bob Tory, will remain there for the remainder of this season “and will affiliate with the Americans.”

The Spokane Chiefs did some juggling in their goaltending department on Wednesday.

For starters, they announced that Dawson Weatherill won’t play again this season. SpokaneChiefsAccording to a news release, Weatherill “is awaiting surgery.” The Chiefs didn’t specify what kind of surgery.

They then acquired Reece Klassen from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a seventh-round selection in the WHL’s 2020 bantam draft.

And, finally, the Chiefs returned Campbell Arnold to the junior B Spokane Braves of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Arnold got into one game with the Chiefs, stopping 10 of 11 shots.

Klassen, 19, is from Cloverdale, B.C. The Hurricanes signed Klassen in 2017 after he went undrafted. This season, with the Hurricanes, he is 11-4-7, 3.57, .891. In 49 regular-season games over two seasons with the Hurricanes, he is 16-12-10, 3.59, .889.

The Hurricanes moved Klassen after acquiring Liam Hughes, 19, from the Seattle LethbridgeThunderbirds on Tuesday. The Hurricanes now have Hughes and freshman Carl Tetachuk as their two goaltenders.

In Spokane, Klassen will team up with Bailey Brkin as the Chiefs’ goaltenders. Brkin, 19, is 14-7-2, 2.68, .919.

Weatherill, 19, is from Red Deer, and was a second-round pick by the Rebels in the 2014 bantam draft. This season, he was 6-6-2, 4.33, .862 with the Chiefs, but hadn’t played since Dec. 16, which was Spokane’s last game before the Christmas break.

In 102 career appearances — five with the Rebels and 97 with the Chiefs — he is 44-33-14, 3.46, .885. The Chiefs acquired him from Red Deer on Sept. 28, 2016, in a deal that had G Tyson Verhelst go the other way.

The Chiefs are scheduled to entertain the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night.

Hamilton talks a bit about lawsuit . . . Are Chiefs all-in on this season? . . . Pats player draws six-game suspension

Deer

We had some visitors to our backyard on Friday afternoon. Two does — one with two offspring, the other with one — stopped by to say hello and see how the hedge tasted. Oh, and the two moms also sampled what’s in the bird feeders. It’s amazing how their tongues fit perfectly in the slots in the feeders.

MacBeth

G Andrei Makarov (Saskatoon, 2011-13) has been placed on waivers by Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia, KHL). In one game, he was 5.36, .786.

ThisThat

Bruce Hamilton, the president and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors, was in attendance earlier this week when the Moose Jaw Warriors held their annual general meeting.

Among other things, the Warriors, one of the WHL’s four community-owned teams, MooseJawWarriorsrevealed a profit of $704,182 for the 2017-18 season and a bank balance of $1,157,466. As Marc Smith of discovermoosejaw.com reported, that bank balance is “after the team spent $233,648 on new boards and glass at Mosaic Place.” (Smith’s story on the annual meeting is right here.)

After the formal part of the meeting, Hamilton took part in an open session that also included Warriors general manager Alan Millar and head coach Tim Hunter.

According to Smith, Hamilton provided an update on the minimum-wage lawsuit that some of the CHL’s teams are facing. If you’ve tuned in late, some past and present players are involved in a class-action lawsuit asking, among other things, that teams pay minimum wage to players. The leagues/teams are fighting the lawsuit.

“We have legislation in every province now except Alberta and Ontario,” Hamilton said, referring to legislation to exempt teams from minimum-wage laws in some jurisdictions. “We anticipate Ontario when the new premier can find time to work towards that . . . we feel confident that it will go through; Alberta, we may need to wait until there’s an election there.”

Of the possibility that the teams could lose the lawsuit, Hamilton said: “It’s sad because if it came to be, it would really impact a lot of other sports and amateur athletics in Canada.”

According to Smith, Hamilton also said: “We’re confident that in the end, we’ll succeed, but how long it takes is the thing that probably wears people out a bit. But we can only do what we’re asked to by the courts and in the end our plan is to be successful and save the amateur status for the players.”

What I don’t understand is this . . . major junior players aren’t amateurs. They just aren’t.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines amateur as “one who engages in a pursuit, study, science or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession.”

Over at dictionary.com, it’s “an athlete who has never competed for payment or for a monetary prize.”

Another online definition: “A person who engages in a pursuit, especially a sport, on an unpaid basis.”

By those definitions, there are few, if any, true amateurs left in our sporting world.

Major junior players already receive a stipend of some kind so they aren’t amateurs, something with which the NCAA obviously agrees.

So why not bring an end to all of this by negotiating a settlement, making certain that players receive, if not minimum wage, at least something from merchandise sales and cash cows like the World Junior Championship and Memorial Cup tournament?

If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of the book written by former NCAA and NBA basketball player Ed O’Bannon. It’s title is Court Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA.

Yes, comparing the CHL and its teams to the NCAA is in a lot of ways comparing apples and oranges. But O’Bannon’s book is all about the rights of a player to control his likeness — including in computer games — and there are similarities, for sure.

By the way, Smith’s piece on the hot-stove session is right here.

The WHL’s three other community-owned teams are the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Prince Albert Raiders and Swift Current Broncos.

The Raiders held their AGM on Aug. 21 and declared a loss of $168,430 for 2017-18, after losing $250,850 in 2016-17. The Raiders made the playoffs last spring, but lost a seven-game first-round series to the Moose Jaw Warriors.

The Hurricanes’ AGM is scheduled for Sept. 17, with the Broncos’ on Sept. 25.

A year ago, the Hurricanes announced a profit of $737,710 for the 2016-17 season. In 2017-18, they reached the Eastern Conference final for a second straight season.

For 2016-17, the Broncos announced a profit of $135,922. That came after reaching Game 7 of a second-round playoff series. In 2017-18, the Broncos won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as playoff champions, so it will be most interesting to see what that has meant to the franchise’s bottom line.

If early indications mean anything, it would appear that the Spokane Chiefs are all-in on SpokaneChiefsthe 2018-19 WHL season. . . . It isn’t often that a WHL team keeps two 19-year-old goaltenders on its roster, but that’s the position in which the Chiefs find themselves after dropping Campbell Arnold, 16, from their roster. . . . The move left the Chiefs with a pair of 19-year-olds — Dawson Weatherill, who has rejoined the team after being in camp with the NHL’s Boston Bruins, and Bailey Brkin. . . . Weatherill made 46 appearances with the Chiefs last season, going 26-12-6, 3.09, .893. . . . Brkin got into 23 games with the Kootenay Ice (7-12-2, 4.51, .874) before being acquired by the Chiefs. In Spokane, he was 4-2-0, 2.59, .913 in seven games. . . . Arnold, a second-round selection in the 2017 WHL bantam draft, will remain on the Chiefs’ protected list. He played last season at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. . . .

Last season, the Chiefs, under head coach Dan Lambert, who was in his first season in Spokane, went 41-25-6 to finish third in the U.S. Division. They lost a seven-game first-round playoff series to the Portland Winterhawks.

F Brian Harris has joined the MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders after being released by the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Harris, 19, is from Wawanesa, Man. . . . Last season, he had two goals and one assist in 49 games with the Oil Kings. In 2016-17, he had one goal in five games with Edmonton. He also played with Swan Valley that season, putting up 15 goals and 11 assists in 60 games. . . . He was an 11th-round selection by Edmonton in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. . . .

G Nick Sanders, 20, who was released by the Calgary Hitmen, has joined the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. Sanders missed a lot of last season due to hip problems, but he did get into 13 games with the Bobcats and four with the Prince Albert Raiders, who dealt him to the Hitmen. . . .

F Blake Bargar, 20, who played the past four seasons in the WHL, has joined the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild. Bargar, from Torrance, Calif., spent two seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors and one each with the Victoria Royals and Seattle Thunderbirds. In 238 regular-season games, he put up 19 goals and 23 assists.

The Moose Jaw Warriors now have four 20-year-olds on their roster after bringing in D Dalton Hamaliuk, who had been released by the Spokane Chiefs. Hamaliuk was in the Warriors’ lineup on Friday night for an exhibition game in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. He scored once in a 3-2 loss to the Wheat Kings. . . . From Leduc, Alta., Hamaliuk has six goals and 31 assists in 213 regular-season games, all with the Chiefs. . . . In Moose Jaw, he joins G Brodan Salmond, D Brandon Schuldhaus and F Tristin Langan in the competition for the three 20-year-old spots. . . . By the way, Schuldhaus will sit out the first three games of the regular season with a suspension left over from last season. He was suspended after taking a match penalty in Game 7 of a second-round playoff series with the visiting Swift Current Broncos on April 16.

D Parker Gavlas of the Regina Pats has been hit with a six-game suspension after taking a Patschecking-to-the-head major and game misconduct during an exhibition game against the host Saskatoon Blades on Thursday night. . . . Gavlas, 19, is from Saskatoon. He was pointless in eight games with the Pats last season. He had one goal and 11 assists in 35 games with the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers. . . . The Blades won Thursday’s game, 3-2, to run their exhibition record to 6-0-0. . . . Gavlas sat out Regina’s final exhibition game — a 5-2 loss to the visiting Prince Albert Raiders on Friday night — and will miss the first five games of the regular season.

If you would like to support my wife, Dorothy, as she celebrates the fifth anniversary of her kidney transplant by taking part in the 2018 Kamloops Kidney Walk — a walk, I should point out, that she is helping to organize — you may do so right here. Thank you!

There was an interesting development in the camp of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. They announced that, effective immediately, they will be much more specific when it comes to reporting player injuries. In other words, there won’t be any more lower-body and upper-body injuries in the Blackhawks’ injury reports.

They were as good as their word on Friday, too, with goaltender Corey Crawford speaking with reporters about a concussion he suffered last season. He admitted that he still has symptoms, so hasn’t yet been cleared to take part in training camp.

Riley Cote played four seasons (1998-2002) with the Prince Albert Raiders before going on to a pro career that included 156 regular-season NHL games. He was an enforcer with the Philadelphia Flyers, totalling one goal, six assists in 411 penalty minutes. . . . These days, the 36-year-old native of Winnipeg is “preaching the gospel of medicinal marijuana,” writes David Shoalts of The Globe and Mail. . . . Canada will legalize marijuana in October, and Shoalts also spoke with CHL president Dave Branch, who said that his organization is educating itself about what remains a banned substance. . . . Shoalts’s complete story is right here.

Tweetoftheday

Winterhawks ask for minimum-wage break . . . Steel leads Pats to win . . . Chiefs, Weatherill blank Giants

A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

The Portland Winterhawks have asked state lawmakers for an exemption from any PortlandOregon law that requires employers to pay at least minimum wage to employees.

Katie Shepherd of the Willamette Week reports that the Winterhawks have asked the state government “for a custom-made law that would allow the team to continue not paying its players.”

Oregon’s minimum wage is $11.25 per hour.

According to Shepherd, Tim Bernasek, an attorney representing the Winterhawks, wrote to the Oregon House Judiciary Committee that “without an exemption for amateur athletes under Oregon law, the Portland Winterhawks will be forced to either declare bankruptcy or relocate.”

A class-action lawsuit asking the courts to force CHL teams to pay minimum wage to players is underway in Canada. The WHL’s five U.S. teams have been ruled exempt from that lawsuit, but the plaintiffs have appealed.

Obviously, the Winterhawks aren’t waiting for the outcome of that appeal.

Shepherd reports that the Winterhawks “asked the Oregon Legislature to change the law in 2017. The Senate approved the Winterhawks’ proposal, but the House rejected it as too broad.

“So the team is trying again. Lawmakers expect the new bill will pass.”

Shepherd’s complete story is right here.

F Mason Shaw of the Medicine Hat Tigers has been cleared to return to skating. Shaw has Tigers Logo Officialbeen in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota Wild’s medical staff gave him a going over. He suffered a knee injury that needed surgery while with the Wild’s rookie team at a preseason NHL tournament on Sept. 10. . . . “I’m very excited,” Shaw told CHAT News Today. “I came down here looking for that news, and to be able to leave Minnesota knowing I can come back on skates is something I’m looking forward to, and it’s a long time coming. It’s time to get some skates on.” . . . There isn’t a timetable for his return but he hopes to be back in time for the playoffs. . . . Last season, Shaw, a fourth-round pick by the Wild in the 2017 bantam draft, had 27 goals and 67 assists in 71 games.

If you like what you get here, please consider clicking on the DONATE button over there to the right and helping the cause.

If you have a tip or just want to chat, email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com. You are able to follow me on Twitter at @gdrinnan.

And don’t forget that the domain name here is greggdrinnan.com.

Enjoy!

Another set of twins has been added to our list to those who played together in the WHL.

Jeremy and Joshua Schappert, now 29, were with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Jeremy whlplayed five seasons (2005-10) with the Thunderbirds; Joshua was there from 2005-07 and for 23 games in 2007-08.

Twins who played together . . .

Darren and Trevor Kruger, Swift Current (1987-89)

Bob and Ted McAneeley, Edmonton (Calgary Buffaloes, 1966-67; Edmonton Oil Kings, 1968-69)

Trevor and Troy Pohl, Portland (1986-88)

Jeremy and Joshua Schappert, Seattle (2005-08)

Rich and Ron Sutter, Lethbridge Broncos (1980-83)

Kaeden and Keenan Taphorn, Kootenay (active)

——

Twins who played but not together . . .

Connor and Curtis Honey, Seattle, Brandon (2011-14)

Kris and Ryan Russell, Medicine Hat and Kootenay (2003-07)

Beck and Will Warm, Tri-City and Edmonton (active)

——

Officials who are twins and work together . . .

Chad and Cody Huseby, linesmen from Red Deer (active)

Scoreboard

WEDNESDAY:

At Regina, F Sam Steel drew five assists to lead the Pats to a 7-3 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Regina (25-20-5) holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-ReginaPats100card spot, six points ahead of the Blades. . . . Saskatoon (23-23-3) is four points ahead of Prince Albert, which holds two games in hand. . . . Including in Steel’s night was his 300th career regular-season point. Steel now has 303 points, including 196 assists, in 237 games. . . . Earlier in the game, Regina F Cam Hebig got point No. 200. The first 193 points of Hebig’s WHL career came with the Blades, who dealt him to Regina earlier this month. . . . D Josh Mahura (17), who also had three assists, gave the Pats a 1-0 lead at 2:39 of the first period. . . . Saskatoon F Chase Wouters (14) tied it at 8:30. . . . Regina took control with the game’s next four goals. D Libor Hajek (9), an acquisition from the Blades, gave the Pats a 2-1 lead at 12:21. . . . F Nick Henry (8) upped it to 3-1 at 4:43 of the second period, and F Jesse Gabrielle (6) scored, on a PP, at 10:51. . . . F Jared Legien (18) made it 5-1, on another PP, at 14:29. . . . Saskatoon then got two goals from F Max Gerlach, who has 22 this season. He made it 5-2 at 19:15, then 5-3 just 32 seconds into the third period. . . . Hebig iced it with his 33rd and 34th goals, the latter shorthanded, at 1:13 and 12:31. . . . Hajek and Hebig also had an assist each. . . . D Jake Kustra had two assists for Saskatoon. . . . Regina was 3-6 on the PP; Saskatoon was 1-7. . . . G Ryan Kubic, who started the season with Saskatoon, stopped 26 shots for Regina. At the other end, G Tyler Brown, who began the season with the Pats, blocked 38 shots for the Blades. . . . The Blades hold a 4-2-0 edge in the season series, but it isn’t that lopsided because the Pats are 2-2-2. That means the Blades have eight points and the Pats have six. Ahh, the loser point is a glorious thing, isn’t it? . . . Saskatoon, which beat the Pats 4-3 in OT in Saskatoon on Saturday, was missing F Eric Florchuk, who is at the Top Prospects Game. . . . The Pats continue to be without F Jake Leschyshyn. . . . The Blades lost D Evan Fiala to a cross-checking major and game misconduct at 14:29 of the second period for a hit on Steel, who wasn’t injured. . . . Announced attendance: 5,454.

At Edmonton, D Kristians Rubins scored in OT to give the Medicine Hat Tigers a 4-3 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Medicine Hat (25-19-5) had lost its previous four games (0-Tigers Logo Official2-2). The Tigers lead the Central Division by six points over Lethbridge. . . . Edmonton (13-27-7) has lost two straight (0-1-1). . . . The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead when F Colton Kehler (22) scored, on a PP, at 14:39 of the first period. . . . The Tigers scored the next three goals, all in the second period. F Ryan Jevne (12) got a PP score at 13:03. D Dalton Gally made it 2-1 with his first goal, at 18:34. F Josh Williams (6) upped it to 3-1 at 18:45. . . . The Oil Kings tied it on third-period goals from F David Kope (7), at 11:54, and F Tomas Soustal (12), at 14:32. . . . D Matthew Robertson assisted on both of those Edmonton goals. . . . Rubins won it at 1:03 of OT. He has five goals, three of them winners with two of those coming in OT. . . . F Ryan Chyzowski had two assists for the Tigers, with Jevne adding one. . . . Edmonton was 1-2 on the PP; Medicine Hat was 1-5. . . . G Jordan Hollett stopped 27 shots for Medicine Hat, including a stop on Soustal on a penalty shot at 3:30 of the third period. . . . G Josh Dechaine stopped 36 shots for the Oil Kings. . . . Announced attendance: 6,008.

At Lethbridge, F Kole Lind had four points, including the OT winner on a breakaway, as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Hurricanes, 4-3. . . . Kelowna (30-14-3) has won two in a KelownaRocketsrow. It leads the Western Conference by a point over Everett. . . . Lethbridge (22-21-5) has lost three straight (0-2-1). It is second in the Central Division, four points ahead of Kootenay. . . . D Kaedan Korczak (2) gave Kelowna a 1-0 lead 20 seconds into the second period. . . . Lethbridge F Jadon Joseph (5) tied it 12 seconds later. . . . Lind, who finished with two goals and two assists, put the visitors out front, on a PP, at 10:02. . . . The home team took a 3-2 lead on goals from F Jordy Bellerive (31), at 18:14 of the second, and D Igor Merezhko (4), at 14:00 of the third period. . . . Kelowna F Carsen Twarynski (31) forced OT when he scored at 19:22. . . . Lind won it at 4:33 of OT. . . . Kelowna had a 6-1 edge in OT shots. . . . F Nolan Foote had two assists for the winners, with Twarynski adding one. . . . F Zane Franklin had two assists for Lethbridge and Joseph had one. . . . A tip of the Taking Note hat to Kelowna head coach Jason Smith for giving the start to G Cole Tisdale. The 15-year-old is from Lethbridge so got to make his second career WHL start in his hometown where he began the season with the minor midget AAA Hurricanes. He is with the Rockets due to injuries to James Porter and Roman Basran. . . . Tisdale earned the victory with 25 saves. . . . Lethbridge G Reece Klassen stopped 45 shots. . . . Kelowna was 1-2 on the PP; Lethbridge was 0-2. . . . The Hurricanes were without D Calen Addison for a second straight game. He’s at the Top Prospects Game. . . . Lethbridge also is without injured forwards Dylan Cozens and Taylor Ross. Before being injured, they were on the Hurricanes’ top line, along with Logan Barlage. . . . Announced attendance: 3,974.

At Langley, B.C., G Dawson Weatherill stopped 31 shots and F Kailer Yamamoto had two goals as the Spokane Chiefs beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-0. . . . Spokane (26-19-3) opened SpokaneChiefsa seven-game stretch of road games by winning its fourth straight. The Chiefs are fourth in the U.S. Division, one point behind Seattle and two ahead of Tri-City. Spokane and Tri-City hold down the Western Conference’s two wild-card berths. . . . Vancouver (25-16-7) has lost three in a row (0-2-1). It is third in the B.C. Division, one point behind Victoria. . . . Weatherill, an 18-year-old sophomore from  Red Deer, has two career shutouts, both of them coming this season. . . . F Zach Fischer (21) got the Chiefs’ offence started at 1:03 of the first period. . . . Yamamoto, who has eight goals, scored 59 seconds into the second period and again at 3:10. The second goal came with the Chiefs shorthanded. . . . Yamamoto has seven goals and 10 assists in a seven-game point streak. He has put together seven straight multi-point games. . . . F Luke Toporowski (4) and F Hudson Elynuik (23), who also had two assists, had Spokane’s other goals. . . . Elynuik now has 201 career points, 125 of them assists. . . . Vancouver starter David Tendeck stopped 23 of 27 shots through two periods. Trent Miner came on to play the third period. In his WHL debut, he stopped 14 of 15 shots in 20 minutes. . . . Each team was 0-6 on the power play. . . . Spokane was missing D Ty Smith, who is at the Top Prospects Game. . . . The Giants are without F Milos Roman, who has been seen with a walking boot on one foot. . . . Announced attendance: 2,579.

THURSDAY (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.

FRIDAY (all times local):

Prince George at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Edmonton at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Kelowna at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.

Brandon vs. Kootenay, at Cranbrook, B.C., 7 p.m.

Portland at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Victoria vs. Vancouver, at Langley, B.C., 7:30 p.m.

Seattle at Everett, 7:35 p.m.

TWEET OF THE DAY