Record isn’t Stankoven’s just yet . . . Makaj, Ice freeze out Broncos . . . Almeida sparks Warriors past Blazers

——

MacBeth

G Brett Jaeger (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Saskatoon, 2000-04) has signed a one-year contract extension with the Bayreuth Tigers (Germany, DEL2). This season, in 22 games, he is 10-10-0, 3.72, .892.

——

ThisThat

Whoops!

It seems that F Logan Stankoven doesn’t own the major midget Thompson Blazers’ thompsonblazerssingle-season points record. At least, not yet.

The Kamloops-based Blazers, who play in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League, sent out a tweet on Monday that indicated Stankoven, now with 63 points, had broken the record of 59 that had been set by F Riley Nash in 2005-06.

Except it seems that F Alex Rodgers finished that season with more points than did Nash, and it seems that Nash actually finished with 60.

Marty Hastings of Kamloops This Week asked a few questions and got a response from Nash, who now plays for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. Nash told Hastings that Rodgers “actually holds the scoring record.”

Hastings got in touch with Rodgers “who thinks he had 67 in 2005-06.”

Or as a laughing Rodgers told Hastings: “Who is this kid coming after my record? Just write down 87 to keep him motivated.”

So, for now, the record doesn’t belong to Stankoven. But it will in time.

While Stankoven keeps piling up the points, the search for evidence of Rodgers’ 67-point season will continue.

Hastings’ story is right here.

Meanwhile, Stankoven played his second career WHL game on Tuesday night. His hometown Kamloops Blazers selected him fifth overall in the 2018 bantam draft. He had one assist in his first WHL game. Last night, he played his second game as the Blazers dropped a 5-2 decision to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors.

——

Notes from the WHL’s weekly roster report:

F Jake Kryski of the Calgary Hitmen is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. Kryski, 20, is in his fifth WHL season and this one was shaping up as the best of them all. He has 46 points, including 19 goals, in 41 games. His goal total is one off his single-season high from 2016-17. . . .

The Everett Silvertips have dropped F Bronson Sharp from their roster. Sharp, who turned 19 on Dec. 29, is from Mission, B.C. He was pointless in seven games with Everett, but hadn’t played since Oct. 13 because of a concussion. . . . His junior A rights were traded on Thursday, going from the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials to the Langley Rivermen. . . .

The Regina Pats are showing G Max Paddock as being out indefinitely with an illness. With him out, G Matt Pesenti, 17, has been backing up Dean McNabb. . . . Pesenti, from Saskatoon, plays for the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. . . .

F Eli Zummack of the Spokane Chiefs is out week-to-week with a lower-lower-body injury. Zummack, 18, is in his third WHL season and already has single-season career highs in assists (33) and points (45), in 41 games. . . . He had a goal and an assist in an 8-3 victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans on Jan. 12.

The weekly roster report is right here.

——

The AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats have signed Nigel Dube, their general manager and head coach, to a five-year contract. Dube, 30, joined the Bobcats in mid-November, replacing the fired Travis Clayton, who was in his third season in Lloydminster. . . . At the time he joined the Bobcats, Dube was in his second season as the associate coach with the aJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks. . . . The Bobcats are 8-33-1 and in last place in the eight-team Viterra AJHL North.

——

The junior B Osoyoos Coyotes of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League announced Tuesday that assistant coach Dean Maynard has been named interim head coach. . . . He replaces Mark Chase, who was fired on Monday.

——

TUESDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

G Jesse Makaj stopped 16 shots to help the Kootenay Ice to a 2-0 victory over the Broncos Kootenaynewin Swift Current. . . . Kootenay (9-29-7) had lost its previous nine games (0-8-1). . . . The Broncos (9-31-3) now trail the Ice by four points in the race to stay out of the WHL’s cellar. . . . Makaj, who will turn 18 on Jan. 27, posted his first career WHL shutout by making 16 saves. It came in his 27th appearance, 26 of them this season. . . . The Broncos got 32 stops from G Isaac Poulter. . . . F Jaeger White (17) gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 0:51 of the second period. . . . F Peyton Krebs (16) added insurance, on a PP, at 4:55 of the third period. . . . F Alex Thacker made his WHL debut with the Broncos. Thacker, 16, is from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., and was a sixth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. He is in his second season with the midget AAA Fort Saskatchewan Rangers. . . . Thacker is the 37th player to have suited up for the Broncos this season. . . . The Ice has had 43 players dress for at least one game.

——

F Justin Almeida scored two goals and added two assists to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors MooseJawWarriorsto a 5-2 victory over the host Kamloops Blazers. . . . Moose Jaw (22-11-7) had lost its previous four games (0-3-1). The Warriors, who began a seven-game road trip with this one, are 13-3-1 on the road. They are third in the East Division, seven points behind Saskatoon but with five games in hand on the Blades. . . . Kamloops (15-23-3) has lost five in a row, and remains two points away from the Western Conference’s second wild-card playoff berth. . . . F Tristin Langan (33) gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 3:26 of the first period. . . . F Brodi Stuart (13) tied it at 6:40. . . . Moose Jaw took a 3-1 lead before the period ended on goals from Almeida, on a PP, at 9:59, and F Daniil Stepanov (4), at 16:01. . . . F Jermaine Loewen (15) got the Blazers to within a goal at 12:03 of the second period. . . . The Blazers hung around but weren’t able to get the equalizer past Moose Jaw G Adam Evanoff, who finished with 34 saves. . . . Moose Jaw put it away with two late third-period goals from Almeida (13), at 15:27, and D Dalton Hamaliuk (3), on a PP, at 17:55. . . . Moose Jaw had either D Josh Brook or D Jett Woo, or both of them, on the ice for every shift in the third period until the score was 5-2. . . . Kamloops G Dylan Ferguson allowed three goals on 13 shots in the first period. Dylan Garand played the last two periods, stopping 17 of 19 shots. . . . Almeida enjoyed his third four-point game this season. He has 55 points, including 42 assists, in 36 games this season. . . . F Logan Stankoven, the fifth-overall selection in the 2018 bantam draft, played his second game with the Blazers. . . . F Carson Denomie, who was acquired Thursday by the Warriors, played his third game with his new teammates and his first against his ex-teammates. Yes, head coach Tim Hunter had him in the starting lineup. . . . Blazers F Jeff Faith sat out the third game of a five-game WHL suspension. . . . With Faith, who can also play on the back end, and the injured Quinn Schmiemann out, the Blazers dressed five defencemen. . . . The Warriors are without D Daemon Hunt, who is listed as being out week-to-week. . . . According to the Warriors’ Twitter account, this road trip will involve playing seven games in 14 days, and spending 51 hours on the bus to travel 4,629 km.

——

Tweetoftheday

Blades and T-Birds add forwards . . . Rebels’ Hagel gets NHL deal . . . Two goalies get first WHL victories

ThisThat

The Saskatoon Blades have acquired F Zach Huber, 18, from the Calgary Hitmen for a Saskatoonsixth-round pick in the 2020 WHL bantam draft. . . . This season, Huber had four goals and an assist in 14 games with the Hitmen, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Last season, he had two goals and three assists in 56 games as a freshman with Calgary. . . . Huber could be in the Blades lineup when they entertain the Kootenay Ice on Thursday. . . . “Zach adds some depth scoring and some grit to our lineup,” Colin Priestner, the Blades’ general manager, said in a news release. “He’s a right-handed shot and 18 years old as well, which we feel fits our needs.”


The Seattle Thunderbirds have acquired F Brecon Wood, who will turn 18 on Dec. 5, Seattlefrom the Moose Jaw Warriors for a seventh-round pick in the 2020 WHL bantam draft. . . . From Edmonton, Wood was a seventh-round pick by the Warriors in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . In 91 regular-season games with Moose Jaw, he had five goals and two assists. This season, he had one goal in seven games before choosing to leave the Warriors and join the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints.



The Chicago Blackhawks have signed F Brandon Hagel, 20, to a three-year entry-level Red Deercontract. Hagel is third in the WHL scoring race with 28 points, including 12 goals, in 15 games. . . . Hagel, from Morinville, Alta., wasn’t selected in the WHL bantam draft. In 208 regular-season games, all with the Rebels, he has 205 points, 74 of them goals. . . . Hagel, who will remain with the Rebels, signed as a free agent. He was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL draft but was never signed. Prior to this season, Hagel was in the Montreal Canadiens’ rookie camp. . . . “Negotiations started a few days ago and were just kind of finalized today,” Hagel told Greg Meachem of reddeerrebels.com. “It’s a dream come true. My goal was to prove (the Sabres) wrong and I think I did a pretty good job of it. . . . Meachem’s story is right here.


If you stop off here and enjoy what you see — or even if you don’t — feel free to click on the DONATE button over there on the right and make a contribution. Thanks in advance.


There is a move afoot in the United States to change the process by which athletes are recruited by NCAA Division 1 schools. . . .

Here’s Matt Wellens of the Duluth, Minn., News Tribune: “Last month the NCAA Division I council introduced two recruiting proposals into the legislative process in hopes of slowing down recruiting not only in hockey, but all sports. Should the proposals pass in April, the days of verbal commitments by high school sophomores, freshmen and even eighth-graders will be a thing of the past.

“The creators behind these proposals also believe the changes will reduce the number of decommitments and maybe even bring some civility back to a recruiting environment that has become hostile in recent years as the validity of verbal commitments is questioned.”

Wellens’ complete story is right here.


The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks have added Tyler Shattock to their staff as an assistant coach. Shattock, 28, is from Salmon Arm.  . . . He played four seasons (2006-10) in the WHL, three-plus with the Kamloops Blazers and the last part of 2009-10 with the Calgary Hitmen. He won a WHL title with the Hitmen and put up seven points in four Memorial Cup games. . . . He had an eight season pro career that ended after he played last season with the EIHL’s Braehead Clan.


TUESDAY NIGHT NOTES:

The Kootenay Ice scored the only goals of a shootout and beat the host Swift Current KootenaynewBroncos, 2-1. . . . The Ice (5-7-3) had lost its previous two games, and now is 1-3-2 on the road. . . . The Broncos (1-14-1) have lost eight in a row. They are 0-4-1 at home. . . . F Peyton Krebs and F Brett Davis scored in the first two rounds of the shootout, while both Swift Current shooters were blanked. . . . F Ethan Regnier (3) gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead at 14:32 of the first period. . . . Davis (6) tied it, on a PP, at 15:49 of the third. . . . The Broncos spent the first four minutes of OT on the PP after Kootenay F Jaeger White was given a double minor for slewfooting as the third period ended. . . . The Ice got 41 stops through OT from G Jesse Makaj as he posted his first WHL victory. He now is 1-3-1 this season. . . . Earlier in the day, the Broncos released D Carter Spenst, 17. He was pointless in four games. He is expected to join the Northern Alberta X-Treme prep team, which is where he played last season. . . . Meanwhile, the Ice added F Owen Pederson, 16, to its roster. He had 20 points, six of them goals, in 12 games with the OHA Edmonton prep team. Peterson was a fifth-round pick by the Ice in the 2017 WHL bantam draft.


The Brandon Wheat Kings erased a 3-1 deficit and went on to beat the host Prince George BrandonWKregularCougars, 5-4. . . . The Wheat Kings (7-3-5) are 1-2-2 on a seven-game road trip; they now are 1-1-1 in the B.C. Division. The trip wraps up after games in Kamloops on Friday and Kelowna on Saturday. . . . The Cougars (5-7-3) have lost four in a row (0-2-2). . . . F Josh Maser (4) gave the home side a 3-1 lead at 19:41 of the first period. . . . The Wheat Kings got second-period goals from F Connor Gutenberg (6), on a PP, F Linden McCorrister (3) and D Braden Schneider (2) for a 4-3 edge. McCorrister added two assists to his goal. . . . F Stelio Mattheos (14), who also had three assists, upped the lead to 5-4 at 10”14 of the third period. . . . Prince George got to within a goal when F Vladislav Mikhalchuk (2) scored at 11:20. Mikhalchuk also had two assists. . . . Mattheos has 25 points, including 14 goals, in 15 games. This was his fourth career four-point game. . . . Brandon got 26 saves from G Ethan Kruger as he earned his first WHL victory. He is 1-0-2 in three starts this season. . . . The Cougars started G Taylor Gauthier, but he left after being shaken up in a goal-mouth collision with three seconds left in the second period. Gauther, who stopped 23 of 27 shots. was on the bench for the third period as Isaiah DiLaura stopped 16 of 17.


D Ty Smith drew three assists to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 victory over the visiting SpokaneChiefsSeattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Chiefs improved to 8-4-3; the Thunderbirds now are 7-4-2. . . . F Riley Woods (10) scored two PP goals for Spokane, giving it a 2-0 lead at 7:59 of the second period and making it 3-1 at 6:20 of the third. . . . F Egor Arbuzov (1) added the empty-netter at 18:57. . . . The Chiefs got 22 saves from G Bailey Brkin. . . . Spokane was without F Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who has an undisclosed injury.


Tweetoftheday

Tragedy averted as junior B team’s bus leaves road . . . O’Rourke not impressed with Warriors . . . WHL honours Rick Brodsky

MacBeth

F Jeremy Williams (Swift Current, 2000-04) has signed a one-year extension with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). He has 21 goals and 19 assists in 49 games. He leads the Tigers in goals and is tied for the team lead in points. As part of the contract extension, Straubing has agreed to loan Williams to Örebro (Sweden, SHL) for the rest of this season. Straubing has three games left in the regular season and cannot make the playoffs. Örebro has 10 games left in its regular season.


A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

Tragedy was averted early Sunday when a bus carrying the junior B Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League slid off a B.C. highway.

The Posse was on its way home after having played Saturday night in 100 Mile House.

Head coach Mark McNaughton gave full marks to the bus driver, saying that he did a “phenomenal job.”

According to McNaughton, the bus came upon ice and started sliding.

“He adjusted to go the right way,” McNaughton told Andrea Demeer of Black Press. “He steered it straight into a snow bank instead of over towards the embankment.”

The driver, whose named wasn’t included in the story, and one player were taken to hospital in Princeton and later released.

Demeer’s story is right here.


Prince George had just dropped a 4-1 decision to the host Moose Jaw Warriors on PrinceGeorgeSaturday night, and Steve O’Rourke, the Cougars’ associate coach, didn’t like what he saw . . . from the Warriors.

“It’s not easy when a team plays only two lines for pretty much the whole night,” O’Rourke said on 94.3 the GOAT’s post-game show. “It’s embarrassing to watch (the Warriors) to tell you the truth. I’m very upset.

“To come out here and see a top place team and really they played two (or) two-and-a-half lines.

“I thought we did a good job of keeping them to the outside. Yes, we gave up some chances and (goaltender Taylor Gauthier) played really well. We knew that was going to happen with a team this powerful.

“If you are not willing to play four lines during a 72-game schedule, it’s going to catch up to you somewhere. They are a good hockey club, give them credit, but I don’t know about the long term. Personally, I didn’t think it looks good on junior hockey. They have a fourth line that didn’t see the ice all night.”

There’s nothing like some fightin’ words to fire up things in the WHL, something we rarely hear these days. Unfortunately, the Warriors and Cougars aren’t scheduled to play again this season.


Rick Brodsky, a longtime owner and a former chairman of the board of governors, has whlbeen presented with a WHL Governors Award. . . . His involvement in the WHL began in 1977 when his family purchased the Saskatoon Blades. He left that ownership group early in 1992 when he purchased the Victoria Cougars, a franchise that he moved to Prince George after the 1993-94 season. . . . He sold the Cougars after the 2013-14 season and since has been only an interested observer. . . . Brodsky did two stints as the chairman of the board of governors, from 1986-90 and again from 1992-96, when he carried a lot of weight at the top levels of major junior hockey. . . . Brodsky’s brother Jack, who was involved in the Blades’ ownership for a long time, was a recipient of the same award for 2013-14.


Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets, reported Monday that the team will be without sophomore F Nolan Foote “for a significant amount of time.” Foote suffered an undisclosed injury in Saturday’s 8-2 loss to the host Everett Silvertips. That was Foote’s 100th WHL regular-season game. . . . Foote, a sophomore, has 12 goals and 26 assists in 48 games this season.


Bob Ridley, the radio voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers, tweeted Sunday that the Tigers “limp home from winless road trip without goaltender Jordan Hollett. Sidelined indefinitely (with) lower-body injury.” . . . Hollett was injured during Saturday’s 5-4 loss Tigers Logo Officialto the Vancouver Giants in Langley, B.C. He left in the second period, apparently favouring his right leg.

“It looked liked (Ty) Ronning might’ve got the tongue of his skate trapped with the top of the pad and it was just a little freak thing,” Tigers assistant coach Bobby Fox told Zach Amin of CHAT News. “Just the speed off the rush and you could tell right away in the video that he wasn’t himself.”

Fox said the Tigers will add G Garin Bjorklund, 15, or G Kaeden Lane, 16, with Hollett out. . . . Bjorklund, a first-round pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft, is with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes. Lane plays at the Burnaby Winter Club. . . . The Tigers next are scheduled to play on Wednesday when they entertain the Edmonton Oil Kings.


The Spokane Chiefs have added F Cordel Larson, 16, to their roster. Larson, who plays for the midget AAA Notre Dame Hounds of Wilcox, Sask., should be with the Chiefs on Wednesday when they visit the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Larson, from Weyburn, Sask., was a ninth-round pick in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft. He has 12 goals and 28 assists in 38 games with the Hounds this season.


The Kootenay Ice has added G Jesse Makaj, 16, to is roster. From Vancouver, he plays for the Greater Vancouver Canadians of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. In 14 games, he is 6-7-0, 3.14. Makaj was selected by the Ice in the second round of the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft. . . . Ice G Dustin McGovern likely will be suspended after being hit with a match penalty for attempt to injure during Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the visiting Swift Current Broncos. Should that happen, Makaj will back up Matt Berlin. . . . The Ice is scheduled to visit Saskatoon tonight (Tuesday).


John Grisdale, the BCHL’s commissioner since 2003, revealed Monday that he is stepping aside following this season. Grisdale became the BCHL’s first commissioner when he succeeded Ron Boileau, who had been the league’s president. . . . “The BCHL has meant a lot to me and I’m happy with the work we’ve done but the time is right for me to step aside and let a new face run the show,” Grisdale said in a news release. “I believe the league is in a good place and I think I’m leaving it in a better position than when I began so I take great pride in that.” . . . For more, click right here.

——

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.


Scoreboard

MONDAY (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.


TUESDAY (all times local):

Regina at Brandon, 7 p.m.

Kootenay at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY