You are free to wonder about the chances of the Lucius brothers both playing in the WHL next season, Chad with the Portland Winterhawks and Cruz with the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . After completing his freshman season at the U of Minnesota with nine goals and 10 assists in 24 games, Chad signed with the Winnipeg Jets on April 27. He was the 18th overall selection in the NHL’s 2021 draft. That came three years after the Winterhawks selected him in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2018 draft. . . . Chad, who turned 19 on Monday, is eligible to play next season in the NHL, with the Jets’ AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, or in Portland. . . . Cruz, 18, had committed to playing at Minnesota starting in 2022-23; however, he de-committed on Monday and now is exploring his options. The Thunderbirds selected him in the eighth round of the WHL’s 2019 draft. Cruz is coming off two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Chad spent two seasons there, too, before going to Minnesota.
Kyle McIntyre is the new commissioner of the 12-team SJHL. He takes over 
from Bill Chow, who resigned after spending 11 years in the position. . . . From an SJHL news release: “McIntyre, a Saskatoon product, played U18 hockey with his hometown Contacts and Blazers before playing four seasons in the SJHL with Swift Current and Yorkton. He also served recently on the board of directors for the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos and Saskatchewan High School Athletics and was heavily involved in both minor hockey and minor baseball in Swift Current.
“McIntyre holds a Master of Educational Administration and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan and recently retired after a 30-year career in education including the past 20 years in a senior leadership position. McIntyre will assume the role fully on June 1.”
And then there were eight. . . . The first round of the WHL playoffs concluded on 
Monday night as the host Vancouver Giants eliminated the Everett Silvertips. . . . So now it’s on to the second round, which will open on Thursday with the No. 3 Red Deer Rebels visiting the No. 2 Edmonton Oil Kings. The other Eastern Conference series is to being on Friday with the No. 4 Moose Jaw Warriors in Winnipeg to meet the No. 1 Ice. . . . In the Western Conference, the No. 8 Giants will be in Kamloops to face the No. 2 Blazers on Friday, while the No. 4 Seattle Thunderbirds will open at home in Kent, Wash., to the No. 3 Portland Winterhawks on Saturday. Due to building availability in Portland — the arena is booked for high school graduation ceremonies — the Portland-Seattle series will have a 1-2-1-1-1-1-1 format. . . . Meanwhile, here’s a look at what happened last night in Langley, B.C. . . .
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MONDAY IN THE WHL:
Western Conference
In Langley, B.C., the Vancouver Giants scored three first-period goals, each one from a defenceman, as they completed one of the biggest playoff upsets in WHL 
history with a 6-3 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . The No. 8 Giants, who finished 47 points behind the No. 1 Silvertips, won the series, 4-2. . . . How large was this upset? Prior to the game, Steve Ewen of Postmedia wrote: “Since the junior league went to a 16-team post-season split between two conferences in 2002, a No. 8 seed has never beaten a No. 1 in the first round of the playoffs, according to the league office.” . . . D Connor Horning (2) gave the Giants 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 1:15, with D Alex Cotton (4) upping it to 2-0 at 3:15, and D Mazden Leslie (2) making it 3-0 at 11:43. . . . After Horning’s goal, the Giants’ PP was 13-31 (41.9) in the playoffs. In the regular season, it operated at 17.7, good for 18th in the 22-team league. . . . F Ben Hemmerling (1) got Everett to within two goals at 12:40 of the second, only to have F Zack Ostapchuk (3), who assisted on each of the first two goals, get that one back at 17:51. . . . F Ryan Hofer’s sixth goal of the series, on a PP, at 10:00 of the third period cut the Everett deficit to two. . . . Vancouver restored its three-goal lead when D Damian Palmieri (1) scored at 15:32. . . . F Adam Hall’s seventh goal in six games, at 16:52, upped the lead to 6-2. . . . Everett D Jonny Lambos (1) closed out the scoring at 18:35. . . . Ostapchuk finished with a goal and four assists, giving him a WHL-leading 16 points, including 13 assists, in the series. . . . F Fabian Lysell added four assists. He totalled 15 points in the series. . . . The Silvertips were without three of their five leading scorers. Already without 46-goal F Jackson Berezowski (season-ending surgery), they lost F Niko Huuhtanen to an apparent leg injury in Game 5 on Saturday. He didn’t play last night and neither did F Michal Gut. Those three combined for 101 goals and 126 assists in the regular season.
Marty Hastings covers the Kamloops Blazers for Kamloops This Week.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: D Nolan Allan of the Prince Albert Raiders has joined the Rockford IceHogs, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. Allan, 19, has signed with the Blackhawks, who selected him 32nd overall in the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . F Colton Dach of the Kelowna Rockets also has joined the IceHogs. Dach, 19, was selected by Chicago in the second round of the 2021 draft and signed an NHL contract on Oct. 1. . . . Rockford opens a best-of-three first-round series against the visiting Texas Stars on Wednesday. . . .
Nick Oliver is the new head coach of the USHL’s Fargo Force. He had been an assistant coach with the St. Cloud State Huskies since 2018, after working as assistant coach/director of scouting with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede for three seasons (2015-18). He also spent two seasons (2009-11) playing with the Force. He replaces Scott Langer, who spent one season as head coach. The Force was 28-28-4 and lost out in the first round of the playoffs. Langer remains the winningest regular-season coach in NAHL history, thanks to a five-season run with the Aberdeen, S.D., Wings.
My wife, Dorothy, is preparing to take part in her ninth Kamloops Kidney Walk. . . . It will be held on June 5, but thanks to the pandemic it again will be a virtual event. . . . If you would like to sponsor her, you are able to do so right here.
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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
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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
announced Friday night that Bruce MacDonald, a veteran member of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs’ broadcast crew, has been banned permanently from any broadcast involving a BCHL team. . . . “We have a zero tolerance for this type of behaviour and Mr. MacDonald is banned from any future broadcast involving the Bulldogs or any other BCHL team,” the league said in a statement in which it also apologized to Owen Kim of the Langley Rivermen, the player targeted by MacDonald. . . . David Michaud, the Bulldogs’ president and governor, later tweeted: “Tonight our game was overshadowed by an inexcusable comment on our broadcast. With the support of the BCHL, we removed the commentator immediately. On behalf of the Bulldogs, I’d like to apologize to Owen and the Kim family. Racism has no place in hockey.” . . . 
Edmonton Oil Kings, the Eastern Conference’s second seed, had opened post-season play on Thursday night with a 4-1 victory over the visiting No. 7 Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Things held mostly true to form last night, with only the Vancouver Giants upsetting the apple cart. In fact, as Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun tweeted: “Before Vancouver shocked Everett in overtime, the top seeds had outscored the bottom seeds 37-5 with three shutouts in the other seven” opening games of the WHL playoffs. . . . In the Western Conference last night, three starting goaltenders were yanked as the top four seeds outscored the other teams, 17-3, through two periods in each game. . . . There are eight games on tap tonight as each series heads into Game 2 in the same venues as the openers. . . . 
Raiders, but may have lost F Matt Savoie in the process. . . . Savoie, who had 35 goals and 55 assists in the regular season, left in the third period. Winnipeg journalist Ken Wiebe tweeted that Savoie had “what appeared to be an injury to his left knee/leg.” . . .
the No. 3 Rebels bounced the No. 6 Brandon Wheat Kings, 5-0. . . . Coward, who also recorded an assist, had two shutouts in 35 regular-season appearances. This was his first playoff start. . . . The Rebels led 1-0 and 4-0 at the intermissions. . . . F Jace Isley got them started with a shorthanded score at 9:34 of the first period. . . . F Arshdeep Bains, who won the regular-season points derby, had one goal. . . . F Ben King, who topped the WHL in goals, picked up one assist. . . .
5-1 victory over the No. 5 Blades. . . . Moose Jaw took a 3-1 lead into the third period where it scored two more goals and held a 15-5 edge in shots. . . . F Atley Calvert and F Jagger Firkus gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead in the first period and they went from there. . . . Moose Jaw got 18 saves from G Carl Tetachuk. . . . Saskatoon starter Nolan Maier left at 8:54 of the third period after allowing five goals on 26 shots.
Vancouver Giants stunned the No. 1 Silvertips, 5-4. . . . Everett took a 2-0 lead into the second period, only to have Hall score on a PP at 3:18. . . . Everett F Jacob Wright got that one back at 19:02. . . . The Giants then scored four of the game’s last five goals. . . . After Vancouver F Colton Langkow and Everett F Niko Huuhtanen exchanged goals, Hall got the Giants to within one at 6:47. . . . D Alex Cotton, who had two assists, forced the extra time when he scored at 18:40. . . . Hall ended it at 9:47 of OT. . . . Vancouver F Fabian Lysell drew five assists. . . . Vancouver got three assists from F Zack Ostapchuk. . . . G Jesper Vikman stopped 34 shots for the Giants. He had been sidelined since March 4 with an undetermined injury. . . . The Silvertips had Olen Zellweger, the WHL’s highest-scoring defenceman, back in the lineup after a two-game absence. However, 45-goal man Jackson Berezowski was scratched. . . .
the No. 2 Blazers dropped the No. 7 Spokane Chiefs, 9-0. . . . G Dylan Garand stopped 25 shots to record his first WHL playoff shutout in his fourth post-season appearance. He played 123 minutes in three appearances in 2019. . . . Stankoven scored 44 seconds into the first period, made it 4-0 just 52 seconds into the second period, and completed his hat trick at 12:17 of the third. . . . F Luke Toporowski, who came over the Chiefs in a mid-season deal, had two goals, one of the shorthanded, and an assist, with D Quinn Schmiemann adding three assists. . . . Spokane starter Mason Beaupit left early in the second period after being beaten five times on 17 shots. . . . F Grady Lane of the Chiefs was hit with a match penalty for attempt to injure at 7:08 of the third period. . . . 
seven minutes en route to a 5-2 victory over the No. 6 Prince George Cougars. . . . F Aidan Like, at 1:55, and F James Stefan, at 6:02, gave Portland that early lead and F Cross Hanas made it 3-0 at 8:43. . . . The Cougars were chasing from the outset and couldn’t catch up. . . . G Taylor Gauthier, who was acquired by Portland from Prince George during the season, earned the victory with 32 saves. . . . The Cougars lifted starter Ty Young after he gave up three goals on 13 shots. . . . Cougars F Craig Armstrong was hit with a checking-to-the-head major at the end of the third period. . . . Portland D Clay Hanus didn’t finish the game. Mike Johnston, Portland’s GM and head coach, told Joshua Critzer of @pnwhockeytalk that Hanus “took a nasty hit in the first period and wasn’t feeling good in the third.” . . .
Thunderbirds to a 6-0 victory over the No. 5 Kelowna Rockets. . . . Milic was making his first playoff appearance. . . . F Jared Davidson had two goals and an assist for Seattle, which held period leads of 3-0 and 5-0. . . . Seattle got three assists from D Kevin Korchinski. A Saskatoon native who will turn 18 on June 21, Korchinski is coming off a superb regular season in which he put up four goals and 61 assists in 67 games. . . . Kelowna starter Talyn Boyko left at 13:43 of the second period, having allowed five goals on 22 shots. . . . Seattle was 4-for-7 on the PP; the Rockets were 0-for-7.
Flint Firebirds’ president of hockey operations, for conduct that is “prejudicial to the welfare” of the league. An investigation, sparked by an allegation that was made via the OHL’s player communications system, revealed that Christensen had make remarks that violated the league’s Harassment and Abuse/Diversity Policy. . . . “His conduct violated the league’s expectation of the appropriate conduct of a representative of an OHL Team and he has lost the privilege to participate in the League,” the league said in a statement. . . . Christensen had been with the Firebirds since May.
from Calgary, was in his fifth season after spending four seasons as the video coach with the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Lethbridge general manager Peter Anholt, in a news release: “Jeff is a good man and a hard worker, and this wasn’t an easy decision, but we felt it was time to make a change. We weren’t happy with the development of our defence and the accountability of our blueline.” . . . The Hurricanes’ coaching staff now comprises head coach Brent Kisio, Matt Anholt, the assistant GM/assistant coach, and video coach Ryan Aasman. According to the news release, those three will run things “for the remainder of the season.”
Wheat Kings, 6-3. F Mikey Milne’s 28th goal of the season, at 2:37 of the third period, broke a 3-3 tie. . . . Through a promotion involving Heritage Co-op, fans 18 and older who purchased an adult ticket received a $10 gas card. Announced attendance was 2,880. . . . The same teams meet again tonight in Winnipeg. . . . The Ice (38-9-5) leads the East Division by 12 points over the Moose Jaw Warriors. Winnipeg, with five games in hand, trails the Eastern Conference-leading Edmonton Oil Kings by eight points. . . . The Wheat Kings (28-19-5) are a comfortable sixth in the Eastern Conference. . . .
Regina Pats beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 4-3. . . . Whitehead has seven goals. . . . Regina F Connor Berard had a goal, his 35th, and an assist as he ran his point streak to 16 games. He has 33 points, including 16 goals, in what is the WHL’s longest active such streak. . . . Lethbridge is 2-3-1 on a seven-game road trip while the Canadian men’s curling championship is in their home arena. The Brier ends on Sunday. . . . Regina (21-27-4) is 11th in the Eastern Conference, but just two points shy of eighth. . . . Lethbridge (23-27-4) is seventh, two points ahead of the Prince Albert Raiders and Calgary Hitmen, who are tied for eighth. . . . From Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post: “Factoring in last season, when Bedard debuted as a 15-year-old, he has 99 points (including 47 goals) in 61 games as a WHLer. Bedard is on the verge of tying the Pats’ record for most WHL goals by a player who has yet to turn 17. Jeff Friesen had 48 goals over his first 74 games. He scored three goals in four games as a 15-year-old call-up with the 1991-92 Pats. The following season, he had 45 goals in 70 games en route to being named the CHL’s rookie of the year.” . . . 
2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders before a sellout crowd of 2,600. . . . G Nolan Maier turned aside 49 shots for the Blades, but wasn’t selected as one of the three stars. Gee, do you think the Blades are that unpopular in P.A.? Maier now has 117 regular-season victories, three shy of the WHL career record that, according to 
Royals to a 5-3 victory over the Cougars in Prince George. Fizer, who has three goals and five assists in his past three games, iced this one with an empty-netter. . . . The Cougars, who have lost seven in a row, had been 7-0-0 against the Royals this season. . . . Prince George led 2-0 before the game was seven minutes old, but surrendered the next four goals. . . . Victoria (17-33-6) closed to within one point of Prince George (19-32-3) and the Spokane Chiefs, who are tied for seventh in the Western Conference. . . . 
both with their goaltender on the bench in favour of the extra attacker, but ended up dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to the Portland Winterhawks. . . . D Luca Cagnoni, the 14th shooter, won it with the only goal of the circus. . . . Portland nursed a 2-0 lead from the 11:18-mark of the second period. . . . Seattle F Reid Schaefer (27) scored at 17:58 of the third period and F Jared Davidson (28) tied it at 19:28. . . . Portland got 51 saves through OT from G Taylor Gauthier . . . The Thunderbirds saluted head athletic trainer Phil Varney, one of hockey’s good guys, as he worked his 1,000th game. He is in his 15th season with Seattle. . . . Seattle F Henrik Rybinski missed his fifth straight game with an undisclosed injury. . . . Seattle F Lucas Ciona, who has 32 points, including 17 goals, didn’t finish with apparent arm injury. . . . Portland (38-14-5) is third in the Western Conference, one point out of first. . . . Seattle (34-14-6) trails Portland by seven points. . . . 
Winterhawks and Seattle Thunderbirds. Because when these two teams meet now . . . stuff happens. And there often seems to be an aftermath, too.
Rempe, who is listed at 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, was given a kneeing major and game misconduct.
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 
WHL exhibition schedule on Friday night and admittance was $5 “or free with food donation.” The Broncos also had a vaccine clinic on site. Anyone getting a vaccination was given free entry to the game. Well done!
Vancouver Giants. Don Sweeney, the Bruins’ general manager, told reporters at a prospects tournament in Buffalo on Sunday that “in all likelihood” Lysell will play in Vancouver.
schedule is as fluid as the South Thompson River and it likely will continue that way for a while yet. . . . From a WHL news release that was issued on Wednesday: “Due to ongoing border restrictions preventing non-essential bus travel from Canada to the U.S., WHL clubs in the U.S. Division will compete exclusively against U.S. Division opponents, while WHL clubs in the B.C. Division will compete exclusively against B.C. Division opponents during the month of October.” . . . The original plan was to have teams in each conference playing only within their conferences in 2021-22. That plan remains in place for the 12 Eastern Conference teams. . . . As things now stand, the U.S. and B.C. division teams will play within their divisions until Nov. 3 when the Kamloops Blazers are scheduled to visit the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Unless COVID-19 decides otherwise, of course. . . . Fans of the 10 Western Conference teams are advised to consult online schedules for changes that have been made. . . . 
scheduling another one in Prince George against the Cougars. . . . Interior Health, which covers Kamloops, won’t allow more than 50 fans to attend indoor events. Northern Health, which governs Prince George, will allow teams to play in front of crowds that are 50 per cent of capacity. . . . Why the difference? How do they get the caramel in the Caramilk bar? . . . Anyway, Adrian Dix, B.C.’s health minister, told Radio NL in Kamloops that “this is why we’re bringing in the vaccine card. So that if we’re going to Blazer games — and there will be people going to Blazer games this year — will be able to do so safely. Knowing that everyone in the rink is vaccinated . . . vaccine cards don’t stop people from doing things, they enable people to do things.” . . . It all means that the Victoria Royals won’t play in Kamloops on Sept. 15, and the Cougars won’t visit on Sept. 17. . . . The Blazers, however, will play in Prince George on Sept. 15. Kamloops also will play in Prince George on Sept. 18 in a game that was on the original exhibition schedule.
Wenatchee, Wash., Wild play a complete season after sitting out what there was of a 2020-21 regular season. . . . The Wild is the BCHL’s only American franchise. . . . The league announced Wednesday that because the U.S.-Canada border is closed to non-essential travel going north, the Wild will play only road games “in the early part of the season.” That means its four scheduled October home games have been dropped, hopefully to be rescheduled later in the season. . . . The Wild will open the season on Oct. 9 in Penticton against the Vees. It then will play five more road games from Oct. 16 through Oct. 30 and two in Vernon against the Vipers on Nov. 5 and 6. The Wild now is scheduled to play its home-opener on Nov. 12 against the West Kelowna Warriors. . . . “The BCHL’s Return to Play Task Force continues to investigate solutions if the land border remains closed beyond October,” the league said in a news release.
Braves pulling out of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League for a second straight season. . . . If you’re a regular here, you will recall a piece I posted here on Aug. 29 that included snippets of a conversation between Bruce Hamilton, the owner of the Kelowna Rockets and chairman of the WHL’s board of governors, and Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Rockets. In that conversation, Hamilton said that having teams cross the U.S.-Canada border remains “in question.” He added: “To have our team travel (to the U.S.), we would have to take a rapid test going down and a PCR test coming home, so you are looking at $5,000 to $6,000 each time for every trip you make across the border.” . . . Taking Note was told that KIJHL teams weren’t about to pay that kind of money to go south, and that contributed in large part to the Braves’ decision. . . . You can bet that expense will impact WHL and BCHL teams, too, if the U.S. chooses not to open the border to Canadians for non-essential travel over the next two or three months.
to have a street in the Wheat City named after him. City Council has voted unanimously to honour Dietrich by naming a street in the Bellafield development after him. . . . Dietrich was from Deloraine, a community south of Brandon. He spent three seasons with the Wheat Kings (1978-81), playing on a WHL championship team in 1978-79 and captaining the club in 1980-81. . . . According to the Brandon Sun, Coun. Shawn Berry said: “This was a man who through his life battled cancer twice and Parkinson’s disease most of his life from 30 on, and never once felt pity or sorry for himself. He went back to his hometown, gave back to the community, started a breakfast program for kids to come out and learn hockey before school started on his own time. . . . He left us way too young, but even through he wasn’t a Brandon boy, Don’s legacy in Westman is well known and I know the short time he was in Brandon here he was very well respected.” . . . Brandon also is home to other streets named after former Wheat Kings, including forwards Ray Allison, Laurie Boschman, Ron Chipperfield, Bill Fairbairn and Ray Ferraro, and G Glen Hanlon. . . . Interestingly, there doesn’t appear to be a street named after the late Brad McCrimmon. Perhaps the City of Brandon is preparing to name its next new development after the McCrimmon brothers, Brad and Kelly.
Kamloops locations. . . . Ownership is closing both restaurants from Sept. 13 through Sept. 20 for “a mental health break.”
contract (ELC). The Bruins selected him in the first round, 21st overall, of the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . The Vancouver Giants grabbed Lysell’s major junior rights in the CHL’s 2021 import draft and have been hoping that the Bruins might steer Lysell their way. . . . Because he was drafted out of Europe, Lysell is eligible to play in the NHL, AHL or WHL. That means the Bruins could choose to assign him to the AHL’s Providence Bruins. . . . He had three goals and six assists in seven games for Sweden at the 2021 IIHF U-18 World Championship in Texas. . . . Lysell is seen as a tremendous skater with a great work ethic who is a real offensive threat. . . .
@pnwhockeytalk, tweeted on Monday afternoon that he is “hearing Jesper Wallstedt and the Minnesota Wild have informed” the WHL team that “he will not be reporting.” . . . Wallstedt, a native of Västerås, Sweden, who will turn 19 on Nov. 14, was selected 20th overall by the Wild in the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . The Winterhawks acquired the rights to Wallstedt from the Moose Jaw Warriors on June 7, giving up a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2023 draft. . . . In 2020-21, Wallstedt was 12-10-0, 2.23, .908 with Lulea HF of the SHL, Sweden’s top pro league. . . .
acquisition of D Luke Bateman, 19, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2021 draft. . . . That draft, which normally is held in the spring, is scheduled for Dec. 9, thanks to the pandemic. . . . The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Bateman was picked by Seattle in the fourth round of the 2017 bantam draft. . . . From Kamloops, he has two goals and 16 assists in 83 regular-season games. . . . 
TAKING NOTE 