Morton (Mort) Johnston, an assistant coach with the junior B Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, was killed in a car accident on Sunday afternoon. He was 25.
Johnston, who was from Princeton, played four seasons with the Posse (2014-18).
Johnston was driving to Revelstoke for a Sunday playoff game when his car, a 
2009 Toyota Corolla, left the highway and went down an embankment. Johnston, the lone occupant of the vehicle, was declared dead at the scene. Princeton RCMP are conducting an investigation into the crash.
Andrea DeMeer and Josh Piercey of the Similkameen Spotlight reported that RCMP Sgt. Rob Hughes told them police were informed of an accident at about 2 p.m.
“A car left the road and travelled down an embankment,” they wrote, “struck several trees, and flipped over. The driver was ejected from the car and while the airbag was deployed the seatbelt was found fully retracted, according to Hughes.”
From a KIJHL news release: “The Posse received the news around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday prior to their conference championship-clinching Game 6 win in Revelstoke and made the decision to play in Morton’s honour with the support and encouragement of his family.” . . . The Posse beat the Grizzlies, 2-1, to win the series, 4-2, and advance to the KIJHL final against the Kimberley Dynamiters.
The Posse played the game with a No. 18 sweater — Johnston wore No. 18 when he played with the Posse — hanging behind the bench. DeMeer and Piercey reported that Posse captain Jake McCulley carried a No. 18 sweater when he went to centre ice after the game to claim the conference’s championship banner.
According to the Spotlight story, “Johnston (was) a well-loved local personality on and off the ice.”
Besides being on the Posse coaching staff, Johnston was playing for the Penticton Silver Bullets, a senior team, this season. They were preparing to play in the Coy Cup tournament — for the B.C. senior AA title — but pulled out on Monday. The Coy Cup is to be played in Quesnel this weekend.
“He was a glue guy, he held everyone together,” Matt Fraser, the Silver Bullets’ manager, told the Penticton Herald. “He loved the locker room, loved being a Silver Bullet and always showed up with a smile on his face. He played hard-nosed hockey, worked hard and never backed down from anyone. He kept this locker room together.”
DeMeer had occasion to speak with Johnston almost five years ago following the April 6, 2018, crash involving the SJHL-Humboldt Broncos’ bus that claimed 16 lives.
Johnston was a player with the Posse on Feb. 4, 2018, when its bus left the road and went down an embankment as the team was returning to Princeton after a game in 100 Mile House.
After the Broncos tragedy and with Posse team members having escaped their accident with fairly minor injuries, Johnston said: “It just makes you realize how lucky you are.”
At the time, people in Princeton agreed many would wear sports-themed sweaters in memory of the Humboldt victims on April 12, 2018, something with which Johnston was in full agreement.
“I hope everyone can show their support,” Johnston said, adding that his family would be wearing sweaters. “It’s a really hard situation. I hope everyone sends their prayers and thoughts their way.”
Jared Picklyk, a goaltender who made WHL stops with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Tri-City Americans and now plays for the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos, was taken into custody by RCMP early Saturday after the truck he was driving left a road and struck a home in Humboldt. . . . Picklyk, who turned 20 on March 18, was arrested and charged with refusal to comply with a breath screening. He has a May 8 court date. . . . On Friday night, Picklyk and the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos had eliminated the Nipawin Hawks from the playoffs. Picklyk made 25 saves in a 6-2 victory over the visiting Hawks as the Broncos won the series, 4-1. . . . On Monday afternoon, the SJHL announced that Picklyk had been suspended indefinitely. . . . Picklyk played in 38 games with Lethbridge (2020-23) and two with Tri-City (2022-23). . . . With the Broncos this season, the Kelowna native went 11-1, 3.20, .908 in the regular season.
It’s official. . . . The WHL added an assist to F Riley Heidt of the Prince George Cougars on Monday. That was his 72nd assist of the season, moving him into a tie for the WHL lead with F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats. . . . The scoring change comes from a Friday night game in Kamloops in which the Cougars beat the Blazers, 7-2. Prince George’s fourth goal was scored by F Koehn Ziemmer and originally was unassisted. The change on Monday provided Heidt with the lone assist. And if you watch a video of the goal you will agree that the assist definitely was earned.
In the end, Bedard still won the WHL Triple Crown, as he led in goals (71), assists (72) and points (143); it’s just that he now must share part of it with Heidt, who finished with 97 points in 68 games.
(NOTE: Hey, WHL, you’ve got a story on your website headlined ‘Bedard claims Bob Clarke Trophy as WHL Scoring Champion for 2022-23.’ The story was posted there on Sunday. It contains this: “Bedard’s 72 assists were also first in the WHL, one ahead of the runner up. Fellow 2023 NHL Draft prospect Riley Heidt of the Prince George Cougars finished the season with 71 helpers.” . . . That now is factually incorrect; perhaps you can get in there and fix it for posterity’s sake.)
The Calgary Hitmen will be without D Keagan Slaney when they open the playoffs after he drew a three-game suspension for a charging major and game misconduct he incurred in Saturday’s 3-2 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton. Slaney sat out Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Oil Kings in Calgary. He will miss the first two games of Calgary’s series with the Red Deer Rebels. Those games are to be played in Red Deer on Friday and Saturday.
Headline at The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) — NHL fan singing national anthem, honouring soldier with standing ovation thinks Pride Nights are too political.
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Gibson, 15, six conditional WHL draft picks and a fourth-round pick in the 2004 draft from the Seattle Thunderbirds for the rights to F Dylan Guenther, 19, the rights to F Jordan Ramsay, who will turn 16 on Jan. 24, and a 2023 eighth-round pick. . . . The conditional picks — a second in 2023, sixth in 2024, fourth in 2025, and first, fourth and fifth in 2026 — all hinge on the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes assigning Guenther to Seattle. . . . Guenther, a first-round pick by the Coyotes in the NHL’s 2021 draft, has three goals and eight assists in 22 games with Arizona this season. . . . He scored the OT goal on Thursday as Team Canada beat Czechia, 3-2, in the World Junior Championship final in Halifax. . . . The Oil Kings selected Guenther with the first overall pick of the WHL’s 2018 draft. He helped the Oil Kings to the WHL championship last season as they beat the Thunderbirds in the championship final. . . . 
CHL at the moment, acquired F Jake Chiasson, 19, from the Brandon Wheat Kings for a first-round WHL draft pick in 2023, a second-rounder in 2025 and a conditional second in 2026. . . . Chiasson, from Abbotsford, B.C., was a fourth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL’s 2021 draft. The Wheat Kings selected him in the first round of the WHL’s 2018 draft. . . . He was in his fourth season with Brandon, having put up 30 goals and 41 assists in 141 regular-season games. . . . This season, he has 10 goals and 18 assists in 37 games. . . . From the Saskatoon news release: “Chiasson made international news earlier this winter as he and three teammates, who were driving over a bridge in Brandon, helped save the life of a distressed man.” . . . The 2023 first-round pick was Saskatoon’s and not the one the Blades acquired from Seattle in the deal that had F Brad Lambert’s rights move to the Thunderbirds. . . .
Wiesblatt, 20, from the Prince Albert Raiders for three conditional draft picks — a first in 2025 and two seconds in 2026. . . . The picks — one of the second-round picks was acquired from Brandon earlier on Tuesday —
acquiring F Zac Funk, 19, from the Calgary Hitmen for F Carter MacAdams, 18, and three WHL draft picks — second-rounders in 2023 and 2024, and a fourth in 2024. . . . Funk, from Coldstream, B.C., had 13 goals and 19 assists in 33 games with the Hitmen this season. In 129 career games, he has 78 points, 39 of them goals. . . . He was a second-round pick by Calgary in the 2018 draft. . . . MacAdams, from South Surrey, B.C., was picked by the Cougars in the fourth round of the 2019 WHL draft. He has 18 goals and 30 assists in 117 regular-season games over three seasons with Prince George. This season, he has six goals and 15 assists in 36 games.
Swift Current Broncos for a ninth-round pick in the WHL’s 2026 draft. Weigel, from Warman, Sask., is with the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos and, according to the Blazers, “will remain with the Broncos for the 2022-23 season and become an affiliate player.” . . . He has six goals and 18 assists in 31 games with Humboldt this season. . . . Weigel has played in 25 WHL games — one with the Regina Pats and 24 with Swift Current. He has six assists in those games. . . . Regina picked him in the sixth round of the WHL’s 2018 draft.
had passed, the Regina Pats acquired F Steel Quiring, 19, from the Everett Silvertips for a fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2026 draft. Quiring, from Vernon, B.C., had three goals and three assists in 30 games with Everett. He also has played for the Kelowna Rockets and Calgary Hitmen. The Silvertips acquired him from the Hitmen on Sept. 30. . . . The Rockets selected him in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. . . . Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge) pointed out on Twitter that “the Pats are Quiring’s 4th WHL team in the last
list. With WHL teams limited to three 20-year-olds, bringing back Thomson meant another move was in order.
Lethbridge, Thacker had 22 goals and 91 assists. Last season, he put up 14 goals and 50 assists in 68 games. This season, in 16 games, he has a goal and six assists. . . . Thacker’s departure leaves the Hurricanes with three 20-year-olds — Thomson, F Jett Jones and F Cole Shepard. . . .
sixth-round pick in the 2024 draft. The Hurricanes had selected him in the seventh round of the 2018 WHL draft. From Kelowna, he was 14-14-2, 3.25, .879 in 38 regular-season games with Lethbridge. This season, he is 4-5-0, 3.50, .877. . . .
two days and third since Oct. 25. . . . In the latest deal, Seattle acquired F Ty Hurley, 18, and a seventh-round selection in the 2025 WHL draft from the Swift Current Broncos for fifth-round picks in 2023 and 2025. . . . 
and the fifth is returned to Swift Current. . . . Got that? . . . 
TAKING NOTE 