G Andrei Makarov (Saskatoon, 2011-13) has cleared KHL waivers and been assigned by Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia, KHL) to CSK VVS Samara (Russia, Vysshaya Liga). This season, with Nizhnekamsk, he got into one game playing 33 minutes and allowing three goals on 14 shots, for a 5.36 GAA and a.786 SP.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes reported to shareholders on Monday that they made a profit 
of $422,443 in 2017-18. . . . That was down from the $737,710 profit the previous season. However, the 2017-18 financials included a payment of $167,000 to the City of Lethbridge that was due after improvements were made to their home arena. . . . The Hurricanes lost out in the Eastern Conference final in each of the past two seasons. . . . There was other interesting item to come out of the annual meeting. The Hurricanes will be out of their arena early in the playoffs next spring, what with the World men’s curling championship in the ENMAX Centre from March 30 through April 7. General manager Peter Anholt told shareholders that the tentative plan is for the team to play early home playoff games, if necessary, in the Nicolas Sheran Arena. . . . According to the City of Lethbridge’s website, the Nicolas Sheran Ice Centre has a seating capacity of 978. It is home to the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s and men’s hockey teams. . . . “We’ve talked to a lot of other teams that have moved from their venue to another venue outside of their city, and it doesn’t work,” Anholt said. “We’ve got the Nicolas Sheran. It’s not perfect, there’s going to be some unhappy fans and unhappy advertisers, but we’ll deal with it.” . . . Aaron Mahoney of lethbridgenewsnow.com has more right here. . . . Interestingly, Mahoney reported that the Hurricanes didn’t make as much in 2017-18 as the previous season, despite “an increase in ticket sales by $30,000.”
The Portland Winterhawks appear to have gotten down to three 20-year-olds by releas
ing F Connor Barley, who no longer appears on their roster. Barley, from St. Andrews, Man., played last season with the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers, putting up 35 goals and 32 assists in 58 games. . . . His departure leaves the Winterhawks with D Brendan De Jong, just back from a stint in camp with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, F Conor MacEachern and D Jared Freadrich as the three 20s. . . . The Winterhawks also got down to two goaltenders — sophomore Shane Farkas, who turns 19 on Dec. 1, and freshman Dante Giannuzzi, 16 — by releasing Evan Fradette, a 17-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., who was a fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . Giannuzzi, from Winnipeg, was a fifth-round selection in the 2017 draft.
The Kootenay Ice dropped three veteran skaters from their roster on Monday, leaving it 
with 26 players on its roster, including two goaltenders and 10 defencemen. . . . F Gunnar Wegleitner, 20, F Sebastian Streu, who turns 19 on Nov. 22, and F Eli Lieffers, 18, all were released. . . . The Ice had acquired Wegleitner from the Brandon Wheat Kings on July 20 for a conditional sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. From Vancouver, he has also played for the Everett Silvertips and Victoria royals. In 112 regular-season games, he has 11 goals and nine assists. . . . From Neuwied, Germany, Streu had nine goals and three assists in 54 games as a freshman last season. He has dual Canadian/German citizenship so wasn’t classified as an import. . . . From Saskatoon, Lieffers was fourth-round pick by the Ice in the 2015 bantam draft. He had one goal and one assist in 11 games over three seasons with the Ice. Lieffers was pointless in two games with the Ice last season. . . . Two of the 10 defenceman on Kootenay’s roster are imports — veteran Martin Bodak, a Slovakian who will turn 20 on Nov. 28, and Finnish freshman Valtteri Kakkonen. The Ice also has sophomore F Gilian Kohler, who is from Biel, Switzerland, on its roster.
The Saskatoon Blades are down to two goaltenders after returning G Koen MacInnes, 16, 
to the Burnaby Winter Club where he is expected to play for the Burnaby Winter Club’s midget prep team. A second-round pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft, MacInnes started three exhibition games and went 3-0-0, 2.27, .929. . . . His departure leaves the Blades, as expected, with Nolan Maier, 17, atop the depth chart and Dorrin Luding, 19, as the backup, at least to open the regular season. . . . The Blades also dropped F Braden Plaschewsky, 16, from their roster. A second-round pick in that 2017 bantam draft, he is expected to play for the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes. He had two goals in six exhibition games with the Blades. . . . Saskatoon is carrying 26 players, including two goaltenders and nine defencemen.
Among the players making their way back to WHL teams from NHL camps on Monday — D Vladislav Yeryomenko to the Calgary Hitmen from the Nashville Predators; G Liam Hughes to the Seattle Thunderbirds from the Philadelphia Flyers; F Brett Davis to the Kootenay Ice from the Dallas Stars; and D Wyatte Wylie to the Everett Silvertips from Philadelphia. . . . Yeryomenko was a fifth-round pick by Nashville in the NHL’s 2018 draft. . . . Hughes was on an amateur tryout with the Flyers. . . . Dallas selected Davis in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL draft. . . . The Flyers grabbed Wylie in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL draft.
Logan Proulx, who played two-plus seasons in the WHL, has joined the junior B Fairview, Alta., Flyers of the North West Junior Hockey League as an assistant coach. A defenceman, Proulx, who is from Trail, B.C., played 137 games over three seasons (2007-10) with the Edmonton Oil Kings, putting up nine goals and 13 assists.
You will recall mention here late last week of the junior B Kamloops Storm of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League after they incurred a one-year suspension to owner Barry Dewar, a 20-game suspension to a head coach who wasn’t really the head coach, and a $10,000 fine, all for tampering. . . . Now comes word that Jassi Sangha, the club’s real head coach, has been suspended for a game after playing an ineligible player in a 4-3 loss to the visiting Princeton Posse on Saturday. . . . Larry Martel, the KIJHL’s first-year president, told Kamloops This Week that it was a clerical era. . . . KTW’s piece is right here.
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. You might even be the person to push her total over $3,000. Thank you!
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.
on March 26; F Blake Allan, 16; and D Jordan Chudley, 16. . . . Lieffers was a fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. He had five goals and seven assists in 15 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts this season. . . . Allan was a third-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. This season, he had 10 goals and 23 assists in 42 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. . . . Chudley was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. From Souris, Man., he played for the midget AAA Southwest Cougars, putting up two goals and nine assists in 42 games. . . . All three played in Sunday’s 4-3 OT loss to the Oil Kings in Edmonton. Allan, in fact, scored his first WHL goal.
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.
Cougars, 4-3 in OT, on Friday night. Yes, the Cougars had a day off on Saturday in Victoria. . . . The Royals are second in the B.C. Division, three points behind Kelowna. Victoria has two games remaining. . . . Prince George (23-37-9) has lost five in a row (0-4-1). . . . Victoria went 5-2-1 in the season series; Prince George was 3-3-2. . . . F Aaron Boyd (13) gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead just 15 seconds into Sunday’s game. . . . The Royals took a 2-1 lead on goals from F Tarun Fizer (2), at 2:36, and F Matthew Phillips, on a PP, at 13:53. . . . The Cougars tied it at 17:14 on D Joel Lakusta’s ninth goal. . . . The visitors went ahead 3-2 at 19:02 of the second period when F Jackson Leppard (15) counted on a PP. . . . Victoria F Igor Martynov (18) tied it at 8:09, and Phillips (47) got the winner, on a PP, at 13:08. . . . The Royals got two assists from F Tyler Soy, who set a franchise record for games played (321), one more than D Ryan Gagnon (2012-17). . . . F Jared Bethune and F Brogan O’Brien each had two assists for the Cougars. . . . Victoria was 2-2 on the PP; Prince George was 1-3. . . . The Royals got 33 saves from G Griffen Outhouse, who won his franchise-record 35th game of the season. That broke the record he set last season. . . . G Tavin Grant stopped 30 shots for the Cougars. . . . Victoria has scored 284 goals this season, breaking the franchise record of 281 (2015-16). . . . Announced attendance: 5,815.
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.
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 