WHL officials: We were robbed! . . . Tale of twins continued . . . Izzy golden for Rockets . . . Saturday in the WHL

A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

First, a couple of housekeeping items . . .

Please note that Taking Note has a new domain name — greggdrinnan.com — that came into effect on Saturday morning. In order to reach this page, that’s all you have to type into your browser or save in your bookmarks.

Feel free to spread the word.

Also, there now is a DONATE button over there on the right. Thanks in advance.


You will recall the piece here yesterday about the Lethbridge Hurricanes having signed twin brothers Adam and Justin Hall, 16, Edmontonians who were selected in the eighth whland seventh rounds, respectively, of the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.

Mention was made of the Taphorn twins — Kaeden and Keenan, 17 — who are playing with the Kootenay Ice.

Emails on Saturday provided more twins info, which is provided here in chronological order . . .

Bob and Ted McAneeley, now 67, were the league’s first twins. From Cranbrook, B.C., they played with the Calgary Buffaloes in the league’s first season (1966-67). Bob, a forward, played for the Calgary Centennials in 1967-68, while Ted, a defenceman, was with the Edmonton Oil Kings. The twins were together again, in 1968-69, with the Oil Kings.

Unfortunately, the McAneeley boys just missed the Oil Kings run of seven straight Memorial Cup appearances (1960-66), during which time they won two titles (1963 and 1966).

The Sutter twins — Rich and Ron — played together for three seasons (1980-83) with the Lethbridge Broncos. From Viking, Alta., they both were forwards. The twins, now 54, played with the Broncos in the 1983 Memorial Cup, but weren’t fortunate enough to win a championship.

The Pohl brothers — Trevor and Troy — are from Vernon, B.C. Now 50, they played together with the Portland Winterhawks in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Both forwards, they were with Portland for all of the 1986-87 season and some of 1987-88.

The 49-year-old Kruger twins — Darren, a defenceman, and Trevor, a goaltender — are from Swift Current and played for the Broncos. Darren played there for two seasons (1987-89), while Trevor was there for three (1986-89). They were key contributors to the Broncos’ 1989 Memorial Cup championship. The Krugers are believed to be the only twins to have played together on a Memorial Cup winner from the WHL.

Thanks a bunch to those of you who took the time to email.


Three WHL on-ice officials were robbed of their equipment in Marysville, Wash., on Friday afternoon.

The three were en route from Vancouver to Kent, Wash., to work the Friday night game between the Seattle Thunderbirds and the visiting Kelowna Rockets.

They stopped in Marysville for their pregame meal. After eating, they returned to their vehicle and noticed that a bag that had been inside now was missing. There also was some damage to one of the door handles.

Aware that someone had been inside the vehicle, they checked the trunk and discovered that all of their equipment bags and suitcases were gone.

Kevin Muench, the WHL’s director of officiating, explained the rescheduling that had to be done:

“One referee was already in Seattle and we were able to contact two of our linesmen in Everett and have them go to Seattle. One of the referees scheduled to work (the game in Langley, B.C., between the Victoria Royals and Vancouver Giants) was redirected to Seattle.”

The game in Kent began with three officials on the ice, but the fourth official arrived early in the first period.

“We were able to make another assignment change with the help of another league to get a second referee to Vancouver in time for the game there,” Muench said.


Myles Mattila has done a whole lot in the world of mental health awareness in recent times, and he’s only 18 years of age. Mattila, this season a forward with the KIJHL’s  Kelowna Chiefs, was featured in a piece on Sportsnet that is well worth watching. . . . Mattila is a special young man who hasn’t let any of the publicity get to him. He just continues to do great work and to spread the word that help is available. . . . The Sportsnet feature is right here.


The junior B Golden Rockets of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League started Izzy Palumbo, 15, in goal on Saturday as they beat the visiting Columbia Valley Rockies, 7-4. . . . Palumbo stopped 28 shots in leading the Rockets to only their third victory in 38 games. . . . Palumbo, who plays for a Tier 3 midget team in Revelstoke, has always played on a boys’ team. She was signed as an AP with the Rockets in December.


If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).


Scoreboard

SATURDAY:

At Saskatoon, the Blades got 45 saves from G Nolan Maier and an OT goal from F Eric Florchuk as they beat the Regina Pats, 4-3. . . . Saskatoon (23-21-3) had lost its previous Saskatoontwo games. It holds down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, four points behind the Pats. . . . Regina (24-20-5) has lost two in a row (0-1-1). It is fourth in the East Division, seven points behind Brandon. . . . Florchuk, who has nine goals, opened and closed the scoring in this one. . . . He opened the scoring at 9:17 of the first period. . . . F Chase Wouters (13) made it 2-0 at 16:22. . . . Regina scored the next three goals, with F Jesse Gabrielle (5) counting at 18:13 of the first period, former Blades F Cam Hebig (32) getting one at 5:32 of the second, and F Sam Steel (17) scoring at 18:43. . . . Saskatoon D Evan Fiala (5) tied it 3-3 at 12:22 of the third period. . . . Florchuk won it at 1:37 with boyhood pal Kirby Dach getting the lone assist. . . . Florchuk was acquired from Victoria at the trade deadline. . . . Dach was back in the lineup after not playing since Dec. 27. . . . Hebig and Steel each had an assist for the Pats. . . . Saskatoon was 0-1 on the PP; Regina was 0-4. . . . G Max Paddock, who hadn’t played since Dec. 27, stopped 28 shots for Regina. . . . The Pats were without F Jake Leschyshyn for a second straight game. On Friday, John Paddock, the Pats’ GM/head coach, told Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post that Leschyshyn is “hurting. . . . He’s got a little bit of stuff going on, that’s all.” . . . Announced attendance: 4,346.


At Red Deer, G Dylan Ferguson stopped 25 shots in his ninth straight start to lead the Kamloops Blazers to a 3-1 victory over the Rebels. . . . Kamloops (20-23-3) has won two in Kamloops1a row, both on this quick three-game trip into the Central Division, but remains eight points from a playoff spot. The Blazers will play their third game in fewer than 48 hours this afternoon in Edmonton. . . . Red Deer (10-25-11) has lost 13 in a row (0-7-6). . . . F Josh Tarzwell (4), who is from Red Deer, scored his first goal with the Rebels at 10:07 of the first period. He started the season with Lethbridge. . . . F Jackson Shepherd (4) got Kamloops into a tie at 12:24 of the second period, and F Travis Walton (2) broke the tie at 16:30. . . . F Orrin Centazzo (8) put it on ice for Kamloops at 17:54 of the third period. . . . Red Deer was 1-4 on the PP; Kamloops was 0-3. . . . G Riley Lamb stopped 23 shots for Red Deer. . . . Don Hay of the Blazers now has 740 regular-season victories as a WHL head coach. He is two away from tying Ken Hodge for the most regular-season coaching victories in WHL history. . . . The Blazers are in Edmonton this afternoon, then return home for two games against Hodge’s former team, the Portland Winterhawks. They actually will play three straight games — Friday and Saturday in Kamloops, and Sunday in Portland. . . . Announced attendance: 4,374.


At Medicine Hat, D Vojtech Budik scored in OT to give the Prince Albert Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Tigers. . . . Prince Albert (18-20-8) has won two in a row. It is five points PrinceAlbertaway from a playoff spot. . . . Medicine Hat (24-18-5) has lost three straight (0-1-2), but still leads the Central Division by five points over Lethbridge. . . . F Mark Rassell (39) gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead at 9:27 of the second period. . . . The Raiders took a 2-1 lead on goals from F Curtis Miske (15), at 11:01, and F Regan Nagy (21), on a PP, at 17:48. . . . Medicine Hat tied it at 2:25 of the third period when F Josh Williams (5) scored. . . . Budik (7) won it with his fourth goal in three games, this one coming 1:00 into OT. . . . F Jordy Stallard had two assists for the Raiders, with Miske adding one. . . . Prince Albert was 1-3 on the PP; Medicine Hat was 0-7. . . . G Ian Scott earned the victory with 33 saves, nine more than Medicine Hat’s Michael Bullion. . . . Nagy appeared to injure his right knee when he came together with Tigers D Dalton Gally. Nagy wasn’t able to put any weight on his right leg as teammates helped him off the ice. . . . The Raiders are 2-0-0 in their trip into the Central Division. They will play their third game in fewer than 48 hours this afternoon in Calgary. . . . Announced attendance: 3,475.


At Prince George, the Cougars scored the game’s last three goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Prince George (18-23-7) had lost its previous three PrinceGeorgegames. It is eight points from a wild-card spot. . . . Lethbridge (22-20-4) was 5-0-1 in its previous six games. it is second in the Central Division, five points ahead of Kootenay. . . . The Cougars broke a 2-2 tie with third-period goals 16 seconds apart by F Max Kryski (6), at 10:38, and F Josh Curtis (8), at 10:54. . . . F Jared Bethune (16) had given the home side a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 3:27 of the first period. . . . Lethbridge took a 2-1 lead on first-period goals from F Keltie Jeri-Leon (3), at 12:45, and F Jake Elmer (14), at 13:22. . . . D Austin Crossley pulled the Cougars into a 2-2 tie with his first goal, at 3:39 of the second period. . . . Prince George was 1-7 on the PP; Lethbridge was 0-3. . . . G Tavin Grant made 28 saves to earn the victory over Logan Flodell, who stopped 28 shots. . . . The Hurricanes dressed 17 skaters, one under the maximum. They were without F Taylor Ross and F Dylan Cozens, who have been playing alongside Logan Barlage. . . . Lethbridge is 2-1-1 on a five-game swing into B.C. that ends Tuesday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice. . . . Announced attendance: 2,704.


At Langley, B.C., G Shane Farkas recorded the shutout as the Portland Winterhawks beat the Vancouver Giants, 2-0. . . . Portland (27-15-4) had lost its previous three games (0-2-1). PortlandIt is second in the U.S. Division, two points behind Everett. . . . Vancouver (25-15-7) had points in each of its previous 10 games (7-0-3). It is third in the B.C. Division, one point behind Victoria. . . . Farkas stopped 31 shots to earn his first WHL shutout. It came in his 22nd appearance. He is 6-4-0, 3.41, .904 as the backup to Cole Kehler. . . . F Ty Kolle (5) gave Portland a 1-0 lead at 13:32 of the third period, and F Mason Mannek (7) got the empty-netter, at 19:07. . . . Portland was 0-1 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-3. . . . The Giants got 25 saves from G David Tendeck. . . . F Ryan Hughes (ill) and F Cody Glass were out of Portland’s lineup for a second straight game, while F Kieffer Bellows missed his third game. It all meant that Portland again dressed eight defencemen and 10 forwards. . . . Mike Johnston, Portland’s general manager and head coach, was back behind the bench after a one-game absence while he was on a scouting trip. . . . Announced attendance: 4,154.


At Kelowna, F Kole Lind had a goal and three assists and G Cole Tisdale, 15, got his first WHL victory as the Rockets doubled the Victoria Royals, 8-4. . . . Kelowna (29-14-3) is atop KelownaRocketsthe Western Conference standings, one point ahead of Everett. . . . Victoria (27-17-4) had lost its previous four games. It is three points behind Kelowna. . . . Tisdale, 15, stopped 23 shots in his first WHL start. Tisdale is from Lethbridge, but he spent one year living in Kelowna. Before the game, he told Rockets play-by-play man Regan Bartel: “I came to a few Rockets games, but I always had to wait until after the Ogopogo head went up because I was scared of it.” If you haven’t been to a game in Kelowna, an Ogopogo likeness is lowered to the ice prior to the game and the Rockets make their entrance by skating through it. . . . Tisdale was an eighth-round pick by the Rockets in the 2017 bantam draft. He normally plays for the minor midget Lethbridge Hurricanes, but is with the Rockets because James Porter Jr. and Roman Basran are injured. . . . Victoria starter Griffen Outhouse blocked 32 of 39 shots in 52:08. Dean McNabb finished up with two saves in 5:32. . . . Kelowna took control of this one with three goals in the first 8:20 of the first period. . . . Lind (22) got it started at 3:18, with D Cal Foote (9) scoring at 4:33 and F Dillon Dube (21) making it 3-0, on a PP, at 8:20. . . . Victoria F Tyler Soy, in his 300th regular-season game, got his 22nd goal, on a PP, at 16:32. . . . F Kyle Topping (17) upped Kelowna’s lead to 4-1, on a PP, 31 seconds into the second period. . . . The Royals then got to within a goal on PP scores from F Matthew Phillips (32), at 12:23, and F Dante Hannoun (20), at 14:14. . . . But the Rockets put it away with four straight goals, starting with F Leif Mattson (15), shorthanded, at 17:03 of the second. F Jack Cowell added a pair in the third period, giving him 10, while F Carsen Twarynski got his 30th. . . . Cowell’s second goal, at 14:28 of the third, was into an empty net. . . . Victoria F Igor Martynov (15) closed out the scoring on a late penalty shot. . . . Kelowna got two assists from each of D James Hilsendager, Nolan Foote and Conner Bruggen-Cate, with Dube, Cal Foote and Mattson getting one apiece. . . . F Tanner Kaspick and Phillips each had two helpers for Victoria and Hannoun added one. . . . Victoria was 3-7 on the PP; Kelowna was 2-6. . . . The Royals are without 6-foot-3 D Kade Jensen (WHL suspension) and 6-foot-4 D Chaz Reddekopp (undisclosed injury). . . . Announced attendance: 5,941.


At Everett, G Carter Hart stopped 25 shots to record the shutout as the Silvertips beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 4-0. . . . Everett (29-16-2) has won six in a row and leads the U.S. EverettDivision by two points over Portland. . . . Brandon (28-14-4) has lost four straight (0-2-2). It is 0-2-1 and has been blanked twice on its U.S. Division trip. The Wheat Kings are third in the East Division, 10 points behind Swift Current. . . . Hart now has six shutouts this season and 25 in his career. The WHL career shutout record (26) belongs to Tyson Sexsmith (Vancouver, 2005-09). Sexsmith played in 179 games; Hart has made 169 appearances. . . . F Matt Fonteyne, who opened the scoring at 16:16 of the first period, had two goals and an assist. He’s got 27 goals. . . . Everett also got three points — a goal and two assists — from F Patrick Bajkov. He’s got 258 regular-season points now, and that’s just four off the franchise record held by F Zach Hamill (2003-08). . . . F Connor Dewar (22) had Everett’s other goal. . . . D Kevin Davis picked up two assists. Davis, 20, has six goals and 40 assists in 46 games. He has had 12 games with two or more assists. . . . Everett was 1-4 on the PP; Brandon was 0-1. . . . G Logan Thompson made 41 saves for Brandon. . . . The Wheat Kings will play their third game in fewer than 48 hours this afternoon in Portland. . . . Announced attendance: 5,917.


At Kent, Wash., D Turner Ottenbreit, who has 21 goals in 259 career regular-season games, scored in the eighth round of a shootout as the Seattle Thunderbirds beat the SeattleSwift Current Broncos, 7-6. . . . Seattle (24-16-6) has won four in a row and now is third in the U.S. Division, four points behind Portland. . . . Swift Current (33-10-4) has points in nine straight (7-0-2), and is 2-0-1 on a U.S. Division trip. It is second in the overall standings, seven points behind Moose Jaw. . . . The teams were tied 2-2 going into the second period, F Glenn Gawdin (37) and D Colby Sissons (11) having scored for the visitors, with F Nolan Volcan (24), on a PP, and F Sami Moilanen (19) having done the same for Seattle. . . . The Thunderbirds took a 5-2 lead on second-period goals from F Donovan Neuls (17), on a PP, at 0:58, F Matthew Wedman (9), at 7:59, and F Zack Andrusiak (21), at 14:42. . . . F Giorgio Estephan on a PP, got one back for the Broncos at 16:40, but F Noah Philp got that one back for Seattle just 40 seconds later. . . . Swift Current then erased a 6-3 third-period deficit on goals from F Tyler Steenbergen (36), at 6:29, Estephan (22), on a PP, at 17:03 and F Beck Malenstyn (5), at 18:46. . . . The Broncos twice scored in the shootout (Steenbergen and D Artyom Minulin), only to have Neuls and D Austin Strand tie it. . . . Andrusiak added two assists to his goal, with Neuls and Wedman getting one each. . . . Steenbergen also had four assists, with F Aleksi Heponiemi getting three as he ran his point streak to 27 games. Estephan and Malenstyn added one each. . . . The Broncos were 2-3 on the PP; the Thunderbirds were 2-5. . . . Seattle G Dorrin Luding stopped 26 shots. The Thunderbirds got a scare late in the third period when Luding went down and got a visit from trainer Phil Varney. With two other goaltenders injured, Seattle had Cole Schwebius, 15, on the bench backing up Luding. . . . This was Seattle’s Teddy Bear Toss game, with Volcan getting the goal at 5:14 of the first period. . . . The Broncos were without F Matteo Gennaro (undisclosed injury) for a second straight game. . . . Announced attendance: 6,142.


At Spokane, F Kailer Yamamoto scored in OT to give the Chiefs a 5-4 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Spokane (24-19-3) has won two in a row. The Chiefs hold down the SpokaneChiefsWestern Conference’s second wild-card spot, two points behind the Americans, who now are fourth in the U.S. Division. . . . Tri-City (23-16-7) has points in three straight (1-0-2). . . . The Chiefs got out to a 3-0 lead on goals from F Ethan McIndoe (13) and F Jake McGrew (11), on a PP, in the first period, and F Zach Fischer (20), at 4:32 of the second period. . . . Tri-City cut into the lead on second-period goals from D Jake Bean (8) and F Isaac Johnson (13). . . . Spokane F Luke Toporowski (3) restored the two-goal lead at 10:43 of the third period. . . . The Americans tied it on goals from F Sasha Mutala (7), at 14:21, and D Mitchell Brown (2), at 15:33. . . . Yamamoto, who also had two assists, won it with his fifth goal 47 seconds into OT. . . . Yamamoto has nine points, three of them goals, in four games since returning from the WJC. . . . McIndoe added an assist to his goal. . . . The Americans got two assists from D Dylan Coghlan and one each from Mutala and Bean. . . . Spokane was 1-2 on the PP; Tri-City was 0-3. . . . G Bailey Brkin stopped 31 shots for Spokane. . . . Tri-City starter Beck Warm allowed two goals on 14 shots in the first period. Patrick Dea finished up with 27 saves on 30 shots in 40:47. . . . Announced attendance: 10,397.


SUNDAY (all times local):

Moose Jaw at Saskatoon, 2:05 p.m.

Prince Albert at Calgary, 4 p.m.

Kamloops at Edmonton, 4 p.m.

Swift Current at Everett, 4:05 p.m.

Brandon at Portland, 5 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

Hockey loses writing legend . . . It’s twins for the Hurricanes . . . Halbgewachs is first sniper to 50 . . . Bellerive, Topping, Volcan fill their hats

A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

Many observers are in agreement that the newspaper business is headed for an abyss.

If that, indeed, is the case, it is a tragedy that generations to come won’t ever enjoy the thrill of waiting for their daily newspaper to be delivered in order to read the likes of Red Fisher, who died Friday at the age of 91.

When I was a youngster, I delivered the Winnipeg Tribune. It arrived in our town via a train, which came in three nights a week. That meant I delivered two papers at a time. First, though, I would camp under a street light and read Jack Matheson. Later, in the mid-1970s, I was fortunate enough to spend five years working for Matty, which is how I came to meet the legendary Jim Coleman, who was the national columnist for Southam, which owned a number of Canada’s major dailies.

Coleman was one of the greats, and so was Fisher.

Back in the day, newspapers entered into exchanges with other newspapers. We would send you a copy of our product; you would reciprocate. That’s how I came to read Fisher on a regular basis.

As Michael Farber, no slouch himself, wrote on Friday for the Montreal Gazette, Fisher’s “career touched seven decades.” Think about that for a moment or two.

Think about this, too — the first Montreal Canadiens game that Fisher covered, as Farber pointed out, “was the Richard Riot, that singular marriage of hockey, sociology and, ultimately, mythology that has marked Quebec for generations.”

Take a minute today and think about Fisher and all that he stood for as a journalist who was there when teams and writers travelled via train and was still writing when Twitter arrived.

He really did see it all, and he wrote it all, too.

Do yourself a favour at some point today. Pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee, and read Farber’s story celebrating the life and career of Red Fisher. It is right here.


I continue to hear from people wondering if I’m back writing again, or if it’s all over. So please don’t be afraid to tell your friends and neighbours that I’m back up and pass along the address. Thank you.


Danny Flynn made his debut as a WHL head coach on Friday night as the host Portland Winterhawks dropped a 5-3 decision to the Swift Current Broncos.

With Mike Johnston, Portland’s general manager and head coach, on a scouting trip, PortlandFlynn took over. Johnston, who apparently was at the bantam AAA John Reid Memorial tournament in St. Albert, Alta., on Friday,

is expected to rejoin the Winterhawks back for tonight’s game in Langley, B.C., against the Vancouver Giants.

Of course, it’s not like Flynn doesn’t have any experience as a head coach. For starters, he was in the Memorial Cup last season as head coach of the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs. He also has been head coach of the OHL’s Belleville Bulls and Soo Greyhounds, and the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats.

Flynn and Johnston both are from Dartmouth, N.S., which had a lot to do with Flynn’s joining the Winterhawks as an assistant coach prior to this season.

Evan Richardson, the play-by-play voice of the Winterhawks, pointed out via Twitter that Flynn is the fourth person to serve as a head coach in all three major junior leagues, joining Mike Kelly (Brandon, Windsor/North Bay, Saint John), Ron Harris (Spokane, Windsor, Saint-Jean) and Joe Canale (Medicine Hat, Sarnia, Shawinigan/Chicoutimi/Beauport/Sherbrooke).


The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed twin brothers Adam and Justin Hall, both of whom were selected in the 2016 WHL bantam draft. . . . The twins, 16, are from Edmonton. Justin was a seventh-round selection; Adam was taken in the eighth round. . . . This season, they are playing for the midget AAA CAC Edmonton Canadians. Justin has 10 goals and eight assists in 27 games, while Adam has seven goals and 13 assists in 27 games.

While there have been a number of brother acts in the WHL, twins are a whole lot rarer. Of course, the Taphorn brothers — Kaeden and Keenan — are with the Kootenay Ice. The 17-year-olds are from Yorkton, Sask.

Know of any other twin acts? Email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.


Hartley Miller, in his weekly Hart Attack column, wonders if winning is enough to draw hockey fans to an arena these days. He notes that the Prince George Spruce Kings are in the hunt for first overall in the BCHL, but their attendance is off about 10 per cent over last season and is the poorest it has been since 2010-11. . . . Miller points out, too, that the Spruce Kings are running a “Friday night promotion where they practically give away their product.” If you go to Save-On-Food, you are able to purchase the Friday Family Special — four tickets, including two adult, four soft drinks and four popcorn for $19.72. The regular price would be $68. . . . Now that’s a promotion. . . . Miller’s column is right here.


On Thursday, Jim Matheson, the Hockey Hall-of-Famer who covers the Edmonton Oilers for Postmedia, tweeted that he has been hearing that the annual Young Stars preseason tournament in Penticton, B.C., might be done.

The 2017 tournament was the eighth annual, but according to Matheson “many NHL scouts” have been saying that it “was disappointing for (the) calibre of kids taking part.”

However, Andrew Jakubeit, a former WHL on-ice official who now is the mayor of Penticton, told infonews.ca that all of this is news to him.

Jakubeit, who also is the event’s chairman, said that “we are still working with the (Vancouver) Canucks to finalize the details of the Young Stars tournament. It is our intention to host the event again this year.”


If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).


If you enjoy stopping by here, and even if you don’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause by visiting my old site, taking note.ca, and clicking on the DONATE button. Thank you, in advance.


Scoreboard

FRIDAY:

At Regina, F Jayden Halbgewachs scored twice, giving him 50 goals in 47 games, to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 5-3 victory over the Pats. . . . Moose Jaw (37-7-3) has won MooseJawWarriorstwo in a row and continues to lead the overall standings by eight points over Swift Current. . . . Regina (24-20-4) had points in each of its previous five games (4-0-1). It holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . The Warriors took control with four first-period goals, two of them via the PP, as they outshot their hosts, 22-8. . . . Halbgewachs got it started, on a PP, at 5:46. . . . F Vince Loschiavo (14) made it 2-0 at 7:30, and D Dmitri Zaitsev (5) scored, on a PP, at 14:37. . . . F Tanner Jeannot (32) upped it to 4-0 at 19:34. . . . F Jesse Gabrielle (4) scored for Regina, on a PP, at 5:59 of the second period, but the Warriors got that one back when Halbgewachs got No. 50 at 3:35 of the third. . . . Halbgewachs joins F Theo Fleury and Kent Hayes as the only players in Warriors history to enjoy two 50-goal seasons. Halbgewachs finished last season with 50 goals in 71 games. Fleury had 61 in 1986-87 and 68 the following season. Hayes had 56 goals in 1984-85 and 50 in 1985-86. . . . The Pats’ last two goals came from D Josh Mahura, who has 16, at 8:53 and 19:09. . . . F Brayden Burke and D Kale Clague each had two assists for the Warriors, with Loschiavo adding one. . . . Mahura also had an assist to go with his two goals. . . . Moose Jaw was 2-3 on the PP; Regina was 2-4. . . . G Brody Willms earned the victory with 42 saves, 21 of them in the third period when his guys were outshot 23-5. . . . G Ryan Kubic stopped 32 shots for the Pats. . . . F Jake Leschyshyn was among Regina’s scratches. . . . Announced attendance: 6,484.


At Calgary, G Dylan Ferguson turned aside 32 shots to lead the Kamloops Blazers to a 2-1 Kamloops1victory over the Hitmen. . . . Kamloops (19-23-3) had lost its previous three games. It is eight points out of a playoff spot. . . . Calgary (14-26-6) is 13 points out of a playoff spot. . . . Don Hay of the Blazers now has 739 regular-season victories as a WHL head coach, three short of the all-time record that has belonged to Ken Hodge since the end of the 1992-93 season. . . . Ferguson was particularly busy in the third period when he stopped 19 shots. . . . The Blazers got their goals in the second period, from F Luc Smith (12), at 17:29, and F Quinn Benjafield (13), at 18:54. . . . D Vladislav Yeryomenko (11) scored for Calgary, on a PP, at 16:58 of the third period. . . . Calgary was 1-4 on the PP; Kamloops was 0-5. . . . The Hitmen got 34 stops from G Nick Schneider. . . . Announced attendance: 6,196.


At Red Deer, D Vojtech Budik scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Prince PrinceAlbertAlbert Raiders to a 5-1 victory over the Rebels. . . . Prince Albert (17-20-8) is five points behind Saskatoon, which holds down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Red Deer (10-24-11) has lost 12 in a row (0-6-6) and has fallen into the league’s basement. . . . Budik, who has six goals, scored at 1:50 and 11:00, the latter via the PP, of the first period, then drew an assist on D Jeremy Masella’s fourth goal at 16:01. . . . F Jordy Stallard (31) made it 4-0, on a PP, at 4:55 of the second period. . . . D Alex Alexeyev (6) scored for Red Deer, on a PP, at 19:06. . . . The Raiders got their last goal from F Parker Kelly (19), shorthanded, at 7:00 of the third period. . . . Kelly also drew two assists. . . . The Raiders were 2-3 on the PP; the Rebels were 1-5. . . . Prince Albert got 29 saves from G Ian Scott. . . . Red Deer starter Ethan Anders allowed two goals on seven shots in 11:00. Riley Lamb came on in relief to stop 24 of 27 shots in 49:00. . . . Announced attendance: 3,987.


At Cranbrook, B.C., F Brendan Semchuk and F Colton Kehler each scored two first-period goals to get the Edmonton Oil Kings started towards a 5-1 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . EdmontonOilKings. . Edmonton (13-26-6) had lost its previous two games. . . . Kootenay (20-23-3), which opened a seven-game homestand, had won its past two games. It is third in the Central Division, five points behind Lethbridge. . . . Semchuk opened the scoring at 3:37 with his first goal since being acquired from Vancouver at the trade deadline. . . . Kehler, who has 20 goals, made it 3-0 with goals at 4:27 and 8:19, the latter via the PP. . . . Semchuk got his 10th goal at 14:54. . . . F Sebastian Streu (6) got the Ice’s goal, on a PP, at 4:43 of the second period. . . . Edmonton F Carter Souch (2) closed out the scoring at 13:49. . . . F Tomas Soustal had two assists for Edmonton, with Kehler adding one. . . . The Oil Kings were 1-2 on the PP; the Ice was 1-6. . . . Edmonton got 43 saves from G Todd Scott, 20 of those in the second period. . . . G Matt Berlin allowed five goals on 19 shots in his first start for the Ice since being acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline. He hadn’t played since Dec. 29 due to an undisclosed injury. . . . Announced attendance: 2,431.


At Portland, F Aleksi Heponiemi had three assists as he ran his point streak to 26 games in the Swift Current Broncos’ 5-3 victory over the Winterhawks. . . . Swift Current (33-10-SCBroncos3) has points in eight straight (7-0-1) and is 2-0-0 on its U.S. Division trek. The Broncos are second in the overall standings, eight points behind Moose Jaw. . . . Portland (26-15-4) has lost three in a row (0-2-1). It is second in the U.S. Division, two points behind Everett. . . . G Giorgio Estephan (20) gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead at 4:45 of the first period. That was the 300th regular-season point of his career. He later added two assists and now has 302 points in 301 games, the first 297 of those with Lethbridge. . . . F Skyler McKenzie (35) got Portland into a 1-1 tie at 14:11. He’s got five goals in his past three games and 14 goals in 13 games. . . . D Colby Sissons put the Broncos back out front at 7:50 of the second period, only to have F Alex Overheard (11) tie it, on a PP, at 15:20. . . . The Broncos took a 4-2 lead on third-period goals from F Beck Malenstyn (4), at 1:05, and Sissons (11), on a PP, at 11:21. . . . Portland F Joachim Blichfeld (15) cut into the lead at 17:55, but the Broncos iced it on an empty-netter from F Tanner Nagel (5) at 19:56. . . . Portland got two assists from D Dennis Cholowski, with Blichfeld and McKenzie adding one each. . . . Each team was 1-3 on the PP. . . . The Broncos got 34 saves from G Stuart Skinner. At the other end, Cole Kehler blocked 21 shots. . . . Cody Glass, Kieffer Bellows and Ryan Hughes (ill) were Portland’s scratches, each of them a top-six forward. . . . Portland did get back F Lane Gilliss and F Jake Gracious from injury-related absences. . . . The Winterhawks have added F Jaydon Dureau to their roster. An eighth-round selection in the 2016 bantam draft, Dureau has 27 goals and 31 assists in 28 games with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians this season. . . . Still, Portland only has 10 healthy forwards on its roster, so Dureau slotted in on Portland’s fourth line with defencemen John Ludvig and Conor MacEachern. Yes, the Winterhawks are running short of forwards, which may have something to do with GM/head coach Mike Johnston missing this game while on a scouting/recruiting assignment. . . . F Matteo Gennaro was among Swift Current’s scratches after having a run-in with a goal post during the Broncos’ 3-2 OT victory over the host Tri-City Americans on Wednesday. . . . Announced attendance: 5,300.


At Prince George, F Jordy Bellerive scored three times to help the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 6-2 victory over the Cougars. . . . Lethbridge (22-19-4) has points in six straight (5-0-1). LethbridgeIt is second in the Central Divison, four points behind Medicine Hat. . . . Prince George (17-23-7) has lost three in a row and is eight points from a playoff spot. . . . Bellerive, who has a career-high 29 goals in 44 games, picked up his first WHL hat trick. He scored 27 goals in 70 games last season. This season, he also career highs in assists (34) and points (63). . . . F Owen Blocker (2) gave Lethbridge a 1-0 lead at 5:32 of the first period. . . . The Cougars tied it at 8:14 as F Josh Curtis scored. . . . The Hurricanes scored the next three goals, all in the second period. . . . Bellerive scored at 1:46, with F Brad Morrison (16) counting at 4:08 and F Jake Elmer (13) at 4:33. . . . Morrison, who also had an assist, is from Prince George and played the first 260 regular-season games of his WHL career with the Cougars. They traded him to Vancouver prior to the start of this season, and he dealt to Lethbridge earlier this month. . . . Curtis (7) cut into the lead at 14:46. . . . Bellerive completed his hat trick with goals at 15:20 of the second period and 17:09 of the third. . . . Lethbridge got three assists from D Igor Merezhko. . . . D Joel Lakusta had two assists for the Cougars. . . . Lethbridge was 0-4 on the PP; Prince George was 0-5. . . . G Logan Flodell earned the victory with 22 saves. . . . G Taylor Gauthier started for the Cougars. He gave up four goals on 13 shots in 24:33 before being lifted in favour of Isaiah DiLaura, who stopped 13 of 15 shots in 35:27. . . . Announced attendance: 5,138.


At Kennewick, Wash., F Jordan Topping completed a three-goal night with a PP goal in OT to give the Tri-City Americans a 4-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . .Tri-City TriCity30(23-16-6) had lost its previous five games (0-4-1). It and Seattle are tied for third in the U.S. Division, four points behind Portland. . . . Brandon (28-13-4) has lost three straight (0-1-2) and is 0-1-1 on its swing into the U.S. Division. Still, the Wheat Kings are third in the overall standings. . . . The Americans took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from Topping, on a PP, at 10:07, and F Isaac Johnson (12) at 11:26. . . . The Wheat Kings tied it on PP goals from F Baron Thompson (13) at 3:01 of the second period and F Stelio Mattheos (31) at 7:19 of the third. . . . Topping put Tri-City back out front at 12:28. . . . Brandon forced OT when F Evan Weinger (20) scored at 19:18 with the extra attacker on the ice. . . . Topping won it with his 26th goal at 2:49 of extra time. . . . Tri-City got three assists from D Dylan Coghlan and two from F Morgan Geekie. . . . F Ty Lewis had two helpers for Brandon, with Mattheos and Thompson getting one each. . . . Brandon was 2-2 on the PP; Tri-City was 2-3. . . . The Americans got 35 saves from G Patrick Dea, who was making his 150th regular-season appearance. . . . G Dylan Myskiw stopped 32 shots for Brandon. . . . The Americans had F Max James back from a four-game absence, the first three of which were due to a WHL suspension, but remain without D Juuso Valimaki, F Michael Rasmussen, F Kyle Olson and D Roman Kalinichenko. Rasmussen, who had pre-Christmas wrist surgery, is back skating, but he’s wearing a non-contact sweater and isn’t shooting the puck especially hard. . . . Earlier in the day, the Wheat Kings named D James Shearer, who is from Brandon, as the team captain. He takes over from F Tanner Kaspick, who was traded to the Victoria Royals on Jan. 10. . . . Announced attendance: 3,463.


At Langley, B.C., F Tanner Kaspick scored in the sixth round of a shootout to give the Victoria Royals a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Victoria (27-16-4) has won VictoriaRoyalsfour straight and is second in the B.C. Divison, one point behind Kelowna and one ahead of Vancouver. . . . Vancouver (25-14-7) has points in 10 straight (7-0-3). . . . F Ty Ronning gave the Giants a 1-0 lead at 5:23 of the first period. . . . Victoria went ahead 2-1 on goals from F Dante Hannoun (19), on a PP, at 17:20 of the first and F Jeff de Wit (9), at 4:48 of the second. . . . Ronning, who has 42 goals, tied it at 11:11. . . . Victoria went back out front at 1:00 of the third period on F Tyler Soy’s 21st goal. . . . The Giants tied it again on D Dylan Plouffe’s eighth goal, at 7:51. . . . F Tyler Benson and F Owen Hardy each had two assists for Vancouver. . . . Victoria was 1-2 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-2. . . . G Griffen Outhouse stopped 40 shots through OT for the Royals. At the other end, David Tendeck made 22 saves. . . . The Giants remain without Slovakian F Milos Roman, who last played on Jan. 9. He has eight goals and 21 assists in 34 games. On Friday, the CHL announced that Roman, a freshman, won’t be playing in the Top Prospects Game on Thursday in Guelph. He was replaced by F Liam Foudy of the OHL’s London Knights. . . . The Giants did have D Darian Skeoch in the lineup after he sat since Jan. 9 with an undisclosed injury. . . . Announced attendance: 3,637.


At Kent, Wash., F Nolan Volcan scored three goals to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 7-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Seattle (23-16-6) has won three in a row and is Seattletied with Tri-City for third in the U.S. Division. . . . Kelowna (28-14-3) leads the Western Conference by one point over Victoria and Everett. . . . Seattle scored the game’s first three goals. F Zack Andrusiak (20) got it started 59 seconds into the first period. Volcan made it 2-0 at 8:01. . . . F Noah Philp (9) upped it to 3-0 at 6:07 of the second period. . . . F Dillon Dube (20) got the Rockets on the scoreboard, on a PP, at 10:20. . . . The Thunderbirds reply with three more goals, from Volcan, at 12:00, D Turner Ottenbreit (6), at 13:40, and F Blake Bargar (9), at 6:43 of the third period. . . . F Conner Bruggen-Cate (13) got Kelowna’s second goal at 10:34. . . . Volcan, who has 23 goals, completed his hat trick, on a PP, at 17:33. . . . Seattle got three assists from each of D Jarret Tyszka and F Sami Moilanen. . . . The Thunderbirds were 2-6 on the PP; Kelowna was 1-4. . . . G Dorrin Luding blocked 27 shots for Seattle. . . . The Rockets opened with G Brodan Salmond, who was beaten five times on 16 shots in 33:40. Cole Tisdale, 15, came on in his WHL debut and stopped 15 of 17 shots in 26:20. . . . Announced attendance: 6,057.


SATURDAY (all times local):

Regina at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Kamloops at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Prince Albert at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.

Lethbridge at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Portland vs. Vancouver, at Langley, B.C., 7 p.m.

Victoria at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.

Brandon at Everett, 7:05 p.m.

Swift Current vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

This actually was from Thursday, but it holds up with the Tigers not playing on Friday . . .

WHL’s Saturday roundup: A quick look at 11 games . . . Big night for Giants in Langley . . . Who is the KHL’s King of Hat Tricks?

MacBeth

F Petr Šenkeřík (Kootenay, Prince George, 2009-10) has been assigned on loan by Slovan Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic, 1. Liga) to Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, 1. Liga) for the rest of this season. This season, he had three assists in 12 games with Vsetín (Czech Republic, 1. Liga), and two goals and two assists in nine games with Labem.


A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

It was on Jan. 6, 2014, when the announcement was made that the Kamloops Daily News was soon to be buried.

Employees worked their final shift on Friday, Jan. 10.

Since then, former employees have gathered once a year to renew acquaintance. We did just that on Saturday, which is why the night’s WHL games weren’t rounded up here on Sunday morning.

It’s always a good time when we gather. In a lot of instances, it’s the one time a year when we see each other so there is a lot of catching up to do. What was interesting this time is that there wasn’t a lot of reminiscing about our days at the newspaper. Instead, it was more about catching up with each other and discussing current events.

If you aren’t familiar with Kamloops, you should know that the city demolished The Daily News building late in 2017. The site now is a paved parking lot. Yes, they paved paradise . . .

You may be aware that the city had paid $4.8 million for the building. Yes, that’s one pricey parking lot.

While I am not about to pontificate on the newspaper industry, there is one thing that often is overlooked with the death of a smaller community’s newspaper. That is this: There no longer is a daily chronicle — a daily diary, if you will — of the area’s history. You can’t overestimate the impact of that loss.


Anyway . . . here are some notes from Saturday and short recaps of the night’s WHL games . . .

At Prince Albert, F Kody McDonald’s 21st goal, on a PP at 7:55 of the third period, stood up as the winner as the Raiders beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 4-3. . . . The Raiders had lost 4-0 to the visiting Swift Current Broncos on ‘Guaranteed Win Night’ just 24 hours earlier. The Warriors lead the overall standings by eight points over the Broncos. . . . F Jordy Stallard had goals No. 28 and 29 for the Raiders. . . . F Brayden Burke, the WHL’s scoring leader, had two assists for Moose Jaw. . . . The Warriors had been 9-0-1 in their previous 10 games.


At Regina, D Josh Mahura had a career high five points as the Pats skated to an 8-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Mahura had a goal and four assists, and was a plus-6. . . . The Pats have points in four straight (3-0-1); the Hitmen have lost four in a row. . . . Four other Pats — F Sam Steel, F Jesse Gabrielle, F Jared Legien and D Cale Fleury — had three-point nights. . . . Announced attendance: 6,217.


At Swift Current, the Broncos got goals from nine different players as they whipped the Edmonton Oil Kings, 9-1, before a sellout crowd. . . . Before the game, the Broncos saluted D Artyom Minulin (Russia), F Aleksi Heponiemi (Finland) and F Tyler Steenbergen (Canada), all of whom played in the WJC. . . . The Broncos have points in six straight (5-0-1). . . . The Broncos have gone over 2,100 in season-ticket sales, with quite an upsurge since Wednesday’s trade deadline. That means they will be giving away one 2018-19 season-ticket at each of their final 10 home games. . . . Announced attendance: 2,879.


At Brandon, F Ryan Jevne’s goal at 1:02 of OT gave the Medicine Hat Tigers a 4-3 victory over the Wheat Kings. . . . The Tigers overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, with F Gary Haden forcing OT with a PP goal at 7:42 of the third period. . . . Brandon has points in five straight (3-0-2). . . . Announced attendance: 3,721.


At Lethbridge, F Dylan Cozens scored three times and added an assist as the Hurricanes dumped the Kootenay Ice, 5-2. . . . From Whitehorse, Cozens, who will turn 17 on Feb. 9, has 16 goals and 19 assists in 37 games as a freshman. . . . F Logan Barlage had two assists for Lethbridge, giving him four points, including two goals, in three games — all victories — since being acquired from Swift Current. He also has a shootout winner. . . .  The Ice has lost six in a row (0-5-1). . . . Announced attendance: 3,651.


At Red Deer, the Saskatoon Blades scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Rebels, 3-2 in OT. . . . F Josh Paterson tied it with his 21st goal, at 18:17 of the third period, and F Max Gerlach won it at 1:21 of OT. . . . Gerlach, who drew the primary assist on Paterson’s goal, was acquired from Medicine Hat at the deadline. . . . D Dawson Davidson and F Eric Florchuk, two other acquisitions, had the assists on the winner. . . . The Rebels have lost 11 straight games but have loser points in six of those games (0-5-6). . . . Announced attendance: 4,301.


At Portland, the Winterhawks skated to 3-0 and 5-2 leads en route to a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Portland F Skyler McKenzie scored twice, giving him 31, including one on a shorthanded penalty shot. . . . F Kieffer Bellows had three assists for Portland, which has won four in a row. . . . Seattle, which has lost three straight (0-2-1), got two goals from F Dillon Hamaliuk, who has 10. . . . Announced attendance: 8,622.


At Langley, B.C., F James Malm broke a 2-2 tie at 8:35 of the third period as the Vancouver Giants beat the Kelowna Rockets, 3-2. . . . The game drew the largest crowd for a Giants Vancouverhome game since the franchise moved from Pacific Coliseum to the Langley Events Centre prior to last season. . . . Malm, who also had an assist, has 17 goals. . . . F Ty Ronning scored his 40th goal of the season for Vancouver, which has points in nine straight (7-0-2). . . . The Rockets had won their previous three games. . . . The victory lifted the Giants to within one point of the Western Conference-leading Rockets. . . . Announced attendance: 4,753.

Before the game, the Giants announced that they have played D Bailey Dhaliwal on the long-term injury list. He will miss the remainder of this season. . . . The Giants also announced that they have added F Hunor Torzsok, who will turn 18 on Feb. 1, to their roster for the remainder of the season. Torzsok was born in Budapest, Hungary but has played his minor hockey in Canada so is not an import. The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder had seven goals and eight assists in 15 games with the major midget Valley West Hawks this season, and three goals in 10 games with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers.


At Spokane, F Garrett Pilon scored three times to lead the Everett Silvertips to a 5-2 victory over the Chiefs. . . . Pilon, who has 21 goals, was playing his second game since being acquired from the Kamloops Blazers on Jan. 7. . . . F Matt Fonteyne had Everett’s other two goals, giving him 24. . . . G Carter Hart earned the victory with 31 saves in his first appearance since returning from winning gold with Canada at the WJC. . . . Everett has won three in a row. . . . Announced attendance: 6,541.


At Kennewick, Wash., the Prince George Cougars scored three second-period goals and went on to a 5-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . F Jared Bethune scored his 15th goal, into an empty net, and added two assists for the Cougars. . . . The Americans were without seven — yes, seven! — of their top-end players — D Juuso Valimaki, F Michael Rasmussen, F Max James, F Nolan Yaremko, F Kyle Olson, F Morgan Geekie and D Roman Kalinichenko. James is serving a suspension; the others are injured. . . . “Never seen anything like it,” Bob Tory, the Americans’ GM, told Taking Note. . . . The Americans have lost three in a row. . . . Announced attendance: 3,704.


At Victoria, F Dante Hannoun’s second goal of the game, at 16:29 of the third period, gave the Royals a 5-4 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The visitors led 3-0 before the first period was 11 minutes old and never trailed until Hannoun scored his second goal. . . . He’s got 18 goals, nine of them in seven games against Kamloops. . . . F Jeff de Wit, who came up short on a second-period penalty shot, also scored twice for Victoria, giving him eight goals. . . . The Royals were without F Lane Zablocki, who served a one-game suspension from a checking-from-behind major he took the previous night. . . . Announced attendance: 6,786.


If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).


If you enjoy stopping by here, and even if you don’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause by visiting my old site, taking note.ca, and clicking on the DONATE button. Thank you, in advance.


SUNDAY (all times local):

Medicine Hat at Moose Jaw, 4 p.m.

Saskatoon vs. Kootenay, at Cranbrook, B.C., 4:05 p.m.

Everett at Portland, 5 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

If you were wondering about former Kootenay Ice sniper Nigel Dawes . . . he is the KHL’s King of Hat Tricks.

Monday’s WHL deals: Pats, Blades make big trade . . . Ice adds, subtracts goaltender . . . Portland acquires some muscle . . . Kelowna rolls dice

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 37

PLAYERS: 67

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 45

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 5

THE DEADLINE: Wednesday, Jan. 10 (2 p.m. PT, 3 p.m. MT, 4 p.m. CT)


THE DEAL: The Regina Pats acquire D Libor Hajek, 19, from the Saskatoon Blades for D Dawson Davidson, 19, F Tristen Robins, 16, and a first-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Interestingly, the Blades and Pats are tied for the Eastern Conference’s ReginaPats100two wild-card spots. They are 10 points behind third-place Brandon in the East Division and seven points ahead of Prince Albert in the wild-card chase. . . . The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Hajek has eight goals and 17 assists in 33 games with the Blades this season. In 167 games, all with the Blades, he has 15 goals and 62 assists. . . . Davidson, 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, has nine goals and 28 assists in 83 games with Regina after being acquired from the Kamloops Blazers. In 207 career WHL games, he has 100 points, including 21 goals. This season, he has seven goals and 20 assists in 43 games. . . . Robins plays at the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg, where he has 10 goals and 12 assists in 17 games for the midget prep team in the CSSHL.

THE INFO: The Pats and Blades next play each other on Jan. 20 in Saskatoon. . . . Hajek, an alternate captain with the Blades, played well for his native Czech Republic in the SaskatoonWorld Junior Championship in Buffalo. He had a goal and seven assists in seven games as the Czechs placed fourth. He was a second-round pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s 2016 draft and has signed an NHL contract. . . . The Pats acquired Davidson, who is from Moosomin, Sask., from the Kamloops Blazers on Dec. 27, 2016. Kamloops had picked him in the third round of the 2013 bantam draft. . . . Robins is the son of former WHL G Trevor Robins, who played three seasons (1989-92) with the Blades and one (1992-93) with Brandon. Tristen was a fourth-round pick by the Pats in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . The acquisition of Hajek left Regina with three imports, one over the limit, so it placed Russian D Egor Zamula, 17, on waivers. He has seven assists in 38 games as a freshman. . . . Finnish F Emil Oksanen, 19, is Regina’s other import.

WHY: The Pats are of the opinion that they needed another top-end defenceman, even after acquiring Cale Fleury from the Kootenay Ice on Nov. 13. They are hoping Hajek fills that role. . . . The Blades add a solid defenceman who may return as a 20-year-old and a prospect who scored 51 goals in bantam AAA last season in Winnipeg. Saskatoon also gets a first-round draft pick in 2019, the draft that follows the Pats’ Memorial Cup-hosting season. As Blades GM Colin Priestner put it in a news release: “If history is an indicator, Regina’s first-round pick next year has a serious chance of being a lottery pick as Memorial Cup host teams often go through a tough phase. So to have that first pick next year . . . we feel that gives us a good chance at selecting a star player.”


THE DEAL: The Kootenay Ice acquired G Matt Berlin, 19, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a fifth-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Berlin made 24 appearances with the Thunderbirds this season, going Kootenaynew12-7-3, 3.40, .893, with one shutout. . . . Last season, Berlin was 7-2-2, 2.82, .902 in helping the Thunderbirds to the WHL championship. . . . In 44 career appearances, seven with Spokane and 37 with Seattle, Berlin is 20-10-7, 3.33, .891.

THE INFO: Berlin joins Duncan McGovern, 17, as the Ice’s goaltenders. . . . Berlin was a seventh-round pick by the Spokane Chiefs in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . Seattle is left with three goaltenders on its roster, in Liam Hughes, 18, who has made four straight starts, Dorrin Luding, 18, and Carl Stankowski, 17. However, Stankowski has yet to play this season due to hip problems. . . . The Thunderbirds had been without a fifth-round pick, having dealt their 2018 and 2019 fifth-rounders to the Ice for F Noah Philp on Sept. 11.

WHY: Seattle is able to get a draft pick for a player who likely wouldn’t be on its roster next season. . . . The Ice, meanwhile, continues its search for a goaltender. Since May 24, Ice general manager Matt Cockell has traded for five goaltenders — Mario Petit (Everett), Bailey Brkin (Swift Current), Kurtis Chapman (Regina), McGovern (Medicine Hat) and Berlin.


THE DEAL: The Spokane Chiefs acquired G Bailey Brkin, 18, from the Kootenay Ice for an eight-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: In 23 appearances with the Ice, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Brkin, a SpokaneChiefsfreshman, was 7-12-2, 4.51, .874.

THE INFO: The native of Sherwood Park, Alta., played last season with the AJHL’s Calgary Mustangs (45 games, 5.19, .890). . . . He won’t be joining the Chiefs, at least not right away; instead, he will play for the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. . . . Brkin was a list player with the Swift Current Broncos, who dealt him to Kootenay earlier this season.

WHY: With Brkin having some WHL experience, the Chiefs added some depth to the organization’s goaltending. They also have Dawson Weatherill (12-9-3, 3.23, .888) and Donovan Buskey (8-6-0, 3.51, .874) on their roster. On Monday, they brought back Arnold Campbell, 15, and he is expected to be in Kamloops on Tuesday when the Chiefs meet the Blazers. Arnold was a second-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. Arnold, from Nanaimo, B.C., plays at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. . . . You are free to specualte if Weatherill or Buskey is injured, or if another move is in the works.


THE DEAL: The Portland Winterhawks acquired F Lukus MacKenzie, 18, from the Red Deer Rebels for a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2020 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: This season, in 30 games — 13 with the Saskatoon Blades and 17 with PortlandRed Deer — the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder has eight assists. In 138 career games, he has eight goals and 20 assists.

THE INFO: The Rebels dropped the Calgarian from their roster on Thursday and he joined the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. He was pointless in one game with the Oilers. . . . Saskatoon selected him in the third round of the 2014 bantam draft.

WHY: The Winterhawks obviously wanted to add some toughness to their lineup because MacKenzie was one of the Eastern Conference’s toughest players when he was on a roster. . . . He has 163 penalty minutes in his WHL career, but don’t forget that the WHL chooses not to include some penalties, such as misconducts and game misconducts, in its penalty totals.


THE DEAL: The Vancouver Giants acquired D Brennan Riddle, 20, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for F Brad Morrison, who turned 21 on Jan. 4.

THE NUMBERS: Riddle has a goal and five assists in 37 games this season. In 216 career Lethbridgegames, he has five goals and 29 assists. . . . This season, Morrison has 11 goals and 24 assists in 42 games with the Giants. In 302 career regular-season games, split between Vancouver and the Prince George Cougars, he has 96 goals and 127 assists.

THE INFO: Lethbridge acquired Riddle, who is from Balgonie, Sask., from the Prince Albert Raiders early last season. This season, Riddle was an alternate captain in Lethbridge. The Calgary Hitmen selected him in the first round of the 2012 bantam draft. VancouverHe never played for the Hitmen, who dealt him to Lethbridge on Jan. 7, 2014. . . . Morrison was selected by the Prince George Cougars with the seventh overall pick in the 2012 bantam draft. He is from Prince George. The Giants acquired him from the Cougars on June 2. The New York Rangers selected him in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2015 draft, but he was never signed. Prior to this NHL season, he was in the Calgary Flames’ rookie camp.

WHY: It isn’t often that WHL teams are involved in a straight-up swap of two 20-year-olds, but that’s the case here. After three seasons out of the playoffs, Vancouver finds itself in contention for top spot in the Western Conference and wants to tighten up defensively. . . . The Hurricanes want more offence and should get that from Morrison and linemates. Morrison is a tremendous playmaker.


THE DEAL: The Calgary Hitmen acquired G Nick Sanders, 19, from the Prince Albert Raiders for a sixth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-2 Sanders was 8-13-5, 3.91, .888 in 38 appearances over two Calgaryseasons with the Raiders. He got into four games with the Raiders this season (0-1-1, 4.89, .854) before being dropped from their roster. He has been with the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats (6-5-2, 2.95, .915). . . . In 67 career games, split between the Raiders and Tri-City Americans, he is 19-22-6, 3.61, .890.

THE INFO: The Raiders acquired Sanders, who is from Calgary, from Tri-City on Oct. 13, 2016. . . . Bothered by hip issues, Sanders had offseason surgery and was late starting training camp with the Raiders. . . . He was selected by the Americans in the sixth round of the 2013 bantam draft.

WHY: The Hitmen have started a major rebuilding program, so are looking for competition at all positions. They are hoping Sanders can provide that among the goaltenders this season, and then compete for a 20-year-old spot prior to next season. . . . Also on the Calgary roster are Nick Schneider, 20, and Matthew Armitage, 18. Schneider is the starter, at 13-16-6, 3.51, .888. Armitage, a freshman, is 0-6-0, 3.70, .878.


THE DEAL: The Kelowna Rockets acquired F Ryan Bowen, 19, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for an eight-round selection in the 2019 WHL bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: This season, Bowen had one goal and five assists in 13 games with the KelownaRocketsHurricanes. In 143 career games, between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Lethbridge, he has 21 goals and 36 assists.

THE INFO: Bowen was on Lethbridge’s suspended list after refusing an earlier trade to an unnamed team. From Chilliwack, he now is with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs, although he has yet to play a game with them. . . . Bowen was a fifth-round pick by Moose Jaw in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . His younger brother, Ethan, a forward, was a second-round pick by Kelowna in the 2017 bantam draft. He hasn’t signed with the Rockets, choosing instead to commit to the U of North Dakota for 2020-21.

WHY: The Rockets rolled the dice, giving up a late draft pick in the hopes that they will be able to convince Ryan to join them. Of course, should that happen, it might allow them to get a foot in the door in terms of trying to get Ethan signed. . . . “We’re working to see if we can get (Ryan) here, but it looks like he may play junior A this (season),” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and GM, said in a news release. “But he’s a prospect that we will certainly have as an affiliate player and we’ll try to get him in eventually.”

Two more Sunday WHL deals: Vancouver gets rights to highly touted d-man . . . Belcourt asks out, lands in P.A.

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 27

PLAYERS: 56

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 37

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 5

THE DEADLINE: Wednesday, Jan. 10 (2 p.m. PT, 3 p.m. MT, 4 p.m. CT)


THE DEAL: The Vancouver Giants acquired D Joel Sexsmith, 15, from the Swift Current Broncos for a first-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Sexsmith, 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds, was picked by the Broncos with the Vancouverninth overall selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. Last season, he had four goals and 12 assists in 30 games with the bantam prep team at the Rink Hockey Academy. . . . This season, he has a goal and three assists in eight games with the Northern Xtreme midget prep team.

THE INFO: Sexsmith is the only first-round pick from the 2017 bantam draft who has yet to sign a WHL contract. He is represented by Gerry Johnson, whose firm includes former Vancouver GM Scott Bonner. . . . Sexsmith, who is from Edmonton, played for Team Alberta at the WHL Cup earlier this season, scoring once and adding two assists in five games.

WHY: The Giants didn’t make the playoffs in any of the previous three seasons and now are in the chase for top spot in the Western Conference. This deal allows them to add a highly touted young defenceman to their protected list without surrendering anything off their roster; of course, they still have to sign him. . . . At the moment, Vancouver also holds three second-round picks in the 2019 bantam draft, so could afford to give up a first-rounder.


THE DEAL: The Prince Albert Raiders acquired D Konrad Belcourt, 17, from the Kelowna Rockets for fifth- and eighth-round picks in the 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 5-foot-11, 160-pound Belcourt had one goal and three assists in 64 PrinceAlbertgames over two seasons with Kelowna. This season, he has one goal and two assists in 20 games.

THE INFO: From Sherwood Park, Alta., Belcourt was a fourth-round pick by Kelowna in the 2015 bantam draft.

WHY: Belcourt had asked for a trade in the hopes of getting more playing time. . . . Including Belcourt, the Raiders show eight defencemen on their roster. But Sergei Sapego is injured and Kaiden Guhle, 15, will have to go back to the OHA Edmonton bantam prep team at some point. . . . The Rockets show eight defencemen on their roster, but four of those are freshmen. You can expect Kelowna

Americans’ Valimaki on shelf . . . Winning debut for McDonald in P.A. . . . No stopping Blades or Giants

MacBeth

F Chase Witala (Prince George, 2010-16) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Žilina (Slovakia, Extraliga). This season, he had three goals and seven assists with the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL), and was pointless in five games with the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL).


A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

The Tri-City Americans, already without F Michael Rasmussen for up to eight weeks, are going to have to play without D Juuso Valimaki for the next while.

Valimaki has been with the Finnish national junior team at the World Junior TriCity30Championship in Buffalo.

The 19-year-old Valimaki is in his third season with the Americans. The Calgary Flames selected him in the first round of the NHL’s 2017 draft.

Wes Gilbertson, who covers the Flames for Postmedia, tweeted Saturday evening that Valimaki “was playing through injury” at the WJC.

Valimaki went from Buffalo to Calgary where he was examined by the Flames’ medical staff. According to Gilbertson, any injury isn’t major, but is enough to keep Valimaki on the shelf for “likely . . . a couple of weeks.”

Valimaki has five goals and 15 assists in 19 games with Tri-City, but missed five games between Nov. 18 and Dec. 8 with an undisclosed injury. He returned to play three games and then left to join Finland’s national junior team.

Of course, when Valimaki does return, he will get to skate with D Jake Bean, one of the WHL’s top players, who was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen last night.

Rasmussen, meanwhile, had surgery before Christmas to repair a damaged wrist. A first-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL’s 2017 draft, he has 31 points, including 16 goals, in 22 games this season. However, he didn’t play between Nov. 18 and Dec. 2, then came back to play five games. He last played on Dec. 16.


The Prince Albert Raiders got down to three 20-year-olds on Saturday by releasing F Devon Skoleski. The move became necessary after the Raiders acquired F Regan Nagy, 20, from the Victoria Royals earlier in the week. . . . From St. Adolphe, Man., Skoleski had eight goals and nine assists in 38 games this season, his third in the WHL. He played the previous two seasons with the Everett Silvertips. In 169 regular-season games, he has 31 goals and 39 assists. . . . The move leaves the Raiders with Nagy, F Curtis Miske and F Jordy Stallard as their 20-year-old players.


The Kootenay Ice has signed D Benjamin Zloty, who was a sixth-round selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. From Calgary, he has three goals and six assists in 11 games with the midget AAA Calgary Royals this season. . . . The Ice now has signed seven of the 10 players it selected in the 2017 bantam draft.


Scoreboard

SATURDAY:

At Prince Albert, F Kody McDonald, acquired in a trade earlier in the day, scored in OT to give the Raiders a 2-1 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. . . . The Raiders (15-17-8) have PrinceAlbertpoints in three straight (2-0-1). They now are five points out of a wild-card playoff spot. . . . The Rebels (10-21-9) have lost seven straight (0-3-4). . . . The Raiders had D Vojtech Budik back after his stint with Czech Republic at the World Junior Championship and he opened the scoring with his third goal of the season, 48 seconds into the second period. . . . That goal came after a first period in which the home side held a 17-0 edge in shots. . . . F Reese Johnson (13) pulled the Rebels even at 19:33 of the second. . . . McDonald won it at 1:08 of extra time with his 20th goal of the season. . . . Budik earned an assist on the winner. . . . Prince Albert was 0-2 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-3. . . . G Curtis Meger earned the victory with 18 saves. . . . Red Deer got 33 saves from G Ethan Anders. . . . Both teams will make it three games in fewer than 48 hours today as they hit the road — the Rebels will play in Swift Current, while the Raiders are in Regina. . . . Announced attendance: 1,901.


At Swift Current, the Broncos broke a 2-2 tie with two third-period goals and beat the Regina Pats, 4-2. . . . Swift Current (28-10-3) has points in three straight (2-0-1). The SCBroncosBroncos are second in the overall standings, 10 points behind Moose Jaw and six ahead of Brandon. . . . Regina (20-19-3) had won its previous four games. The Pats hold down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, five points ahead of Prince Albert. . . . The Broncos took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from F Kaden Elder, at 9:34, and F Matteo Gennaro, at 11:42. . . . Regina tied it in the second period as F Bryan Lockner (6) scored, on a PP, at 4:41 and F Nick Henry (7) counted at 18:46. . . . Gennaro (26) broke the tie at 15:15 of the third period and Elder (11) added insurance at 18:31. . . . D Josh Mahura had two assists for the Pats. . . . Regina was 1-4 on the PP; Swift Current was 0-3. . . . The Broncos got 33 saves from G Logan Flodell. . . . Regina starter Tyler Brown allowed two goals on 11 shots in 11:45 before being relieved by Jacob Wassermann, who made his WHL debut by stopping 15 of 17 shots in 48:15. Wassermann, who plays for the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos, is on the Pats’ roster while G Max Paddock is sidelined. . . . F Austin Pratt, acquired earlier in the day from Red Deer, was in the Pats’ lineup. However, F Jesse Gabrielle and D Jonas Harkins, who came over to Regina from Prince George on Friday, didn’t play. . . . D Artyom Minulin played for the Broncos after returning from the World Junior Championship where he played for Russia. . . . Announced attendance: 2,284.


At Saskatoon, the Blades ran their winning streak to seven games with a 4-2 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Blades (21-17-3) now have won 10 of their past 11 games. They Saskatoonare in the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, two points ahead of Regina. . . . The Ice (18-21-3) has lost five in a row, going 0-4-1 as it played five games in six nights. This also was its eight game in 11 nights since the end of the Christmas break. Kootenay remains second in the Central Division, two points ahead of Lethbridge. . . . F Gage Ramsay, who went into the game with two goals this season, got his guys off to a quick start by scoring twice in the first period, at 3:07 and 12:46. . . . F Josh Paterson (20) made it 3-0 at 17:13. . . . Saskatoon F Cam Hebig (30) upped the lead to 4-0 at 8:33 of the third period. . . . The Ice got two late third-period goals from F Keenan Taphorn (4), at 15:48, and F Brett Davis (11), at 18:44. . . . Ramsay added an assist to his two goals, while Hebig had two helpers. . . . D Zachary Patrick had two assists for the Ice. . . . Kootenay was 0-1 on the PP; Saskatoon was 0-2. . . . Saskatoon G Nolan Maier stopped 27 shots. He’s got 10 victories in his past 10 starts. . . . Kootenay starter Bailey Brkin was beaten three times on 17 shots in the first period. Duncan McGovern finished up by stopping 14 of 15 shots in 38:51. . . . This was the first meeting of four between these teams this season. . . . D Libor Hajek, who played so well for Slovakia at the World Junior Championship, was back in the Blades’ lineup. . . . The Blades will make it three games in fewer than 48 hours when they meet the Wheat Kings in Brandon today. The Wheat Kings were idle last night. . . . Announced attendance: 3,241.


At Edmonton, F Jayden Halbgewachs, the WHL’s top sniper, scored twice to help the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 7-2 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Moose Jaw (33-6-3) has points MooseJawWarriorsin eight straight (7-0-1) and is 10 points clear atop the overall standings. . . . The Oil Kings (10-24-6) have lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . . The Warriors jumped out front 2-0 on first-period goals form F Tanner Jeannot (31) and Halbgewachs, at 5:05 and 10:32. . . . Edmonton tied it before the period ended on PP goals from F Davis Koch (18) and F Trey Fix-Wolansky (17). . . . The Warriors scored the game’s last five goals. . . . F Luka Burzan (6) broke the tie at 12:00 of the second period, and F Justin Almeida added insurance at 17:18. . . . Almeida (24) scored again at 2:14, Halbgewachs (44) got his second of the game, while shorthanded, at 14:25, and F Tate Popple (4) finished the scoring at 17:32. . . . F Brayden Burke, who leads the WHL points race, had three assists. . . . Fix-Wolansky and Koch each had an assist for Edmonton. . . . The Oil Kings were 2-7 on the PP; the Warriors were 1-4. . . . The Warriors got 16 saves from G Brody Willms, while Edmonton’s Josh Dechaine stopped 25 shots. . . . Moose Jaw lost D Matthew Benson to a headshot major and game misconduct at 3:23 of the third period. . . . The Oil Kings were without F Colton Kehler, who served a one-game suspension after a slew-footing incident in Medicine Hat on Friday night. . . . Announced attendance: 7,375.


At Lethbridge, F Andrew Fyten scored Calgary’s first two goals and the Hitmen went on to a 6-1 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Calgary (13-21-6) has won four straight from CalgaryLethbridge and leads the season series, 4-2-0. Calgary is fourth in the Central Division, five points behind Lethbridge. . . . Lethbridge (17-19-3) has lost two in a row. It is 2-3-1 in the series with Calgary. The Hurricanes are third in the division, two points behind Kootenay with three games in hand. . . . Fyten gave his guys a 1-0 lead at 5:38 of the first period. . . . Lethbridge F Jordy Bellerive (24) tied it at 15:05 with his seventh goal in six games. . . . Fyten (6) put the Hitmen back out front at 17:34. . . . The visitors took control with three second-period goals, from F Luke Coleman (8), at 1:34; D Jameson Murray (1), at 6:34; and F Riley Stotts (9), at 8:53. . . . F Cael Zimmerman (4) closed out the scoring, on a PP, at 19:19 of the third period. . . . James and F Jake Kryski each had two assists for Calgary, with Coleman and Stotts each adding one. . . . The Hitmen were 1-4 on the PP; the Hurricanes were 0-3. . . . Calgary G Nick Schneider stopped 37 shots. . . . The Hurricanes started G Stuart Skinner, who allowed five goals on 17 shots in 28:53. . . . Reece Klassen played the final 31:07, stopping 16 of 17 shots. . . . Calgary F Jakob Stukel came up short on a second-period penalty shot. . . . The Hitmen will play their third game of the weekend today when they entertain the Kelowna Rockets, who didn’t play last night. . . . Announced attendance: 3,773.


At Medicine Hat, the Vancouver Giants scored the game’s last two goals to beat the Tigers, 5-3. . . . Vancouver (23-14-5) has points in six straight (5-0-1) and has won six straight road Vancouvergames. The Giants, who have missed the playoffs each of the previous three seasons, are tied with Kelowna for first place in the B.C. Division. . . . Medicine Hat (22-16-3) had been 3-0-1 in its previous four games. It leads the Central Division by eight points over Kootenay. . . . F Tyler Preziuso (11) scored a shorthanded goal at 2:08 of the first period to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. . . . F Dawson Holt pulled the visitors even at 6:51. . . . The Tigers went back out front when F Ryan Chyzowski (14) scored, on a PP, at 2:53 of the second period. . . . Vancouver pulled even again just 55 seconds later when F Brad Morrison (11) scored. . . . The Giants took their first lead at 8:27 as F Brayden Watts (12) scored while shorthanded. . . . Medicine Hat tied it at 9:53 when F Gary Haden (10) scored while on the PP. . . . The Giants won it with two third-period goals. . . . F Ty Ronning (36) broke the tie, on a PP, at 5:38, and Holt (6) provided insurance with his second goal of the game at 11:36. . . . Morrison and Watts had an assist each for Vancouver. . . . Chyzowski added an assist to his goal, too. . . . Medicine Hat was 2-7 on the PP; Vancouver was 1-4. . . . G Todd Scott stopped 23 shots for the Giants, two fewer than Medicine Hat’s Jordan Hollett. . . . F Ryan Jevne of the Tigers completed a three-game suspension by sitting out this one. . . . Announced attendance: 3,353.


At Kamloops, the Victoria Royals erased a 3-0 first-period deficit and beat the Blazers, 5-4 in OT. . . . Victoria (23-15-4) has won two in a row and is third in the B.C. Division, one VictoriaRoyalspoint behind Kelowna and Vancouver. . . . Kamloops (17-19-3) now is eights points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Blazers got first-period goals from F Nick Chyzowski (13), at 0:51; F Garrett Pilon (18), who ended a six-game drought, at 4:44; and F Travis Walton, with his first goal in his 21st game, at 19:08. . . . F Tyler Soy (18) got Victoria on the scoreboard at 14:52 of the second period, but D Joe Gatenby (9) got it back for Kamloops just 1:07 later. . . . The Royals got to within two goals at 16:52 as F Dino Kambeitz scored his ninth goal. . . . D Jared Freadrich (9) made it 4-3, on a Victoria PP, at 10:12, and F Matthew Phillips (30), who was the game’s best player and also had two assists, tied it at 14:36. . . . The game ended on the first shot of OT at 0:23. Soy won a puck battle deep in the Royals’ zone, and rifled the puck up ice to send Phillips and D Chaz Reddekopp in 2-on-1. Phillips made the pass to give Reddekopp a look at an open net and he didn’t miss for his fifth goal of the season. . . . Soy and Reddekopp also had an assist each. . . . The Blazers got two assists from D Nolan Kneen and one each from Pilon and Gatenby. . . . Victoria was 1-3 on the PP; Kamloops was 0-3. . . . G Griffen Outhouse stopped 32 shots to record the victory over Dylan Ferguson, who made 30 saves. . . . The Blazers had F Justin Sigrist back after his time with Switzerland at the World Junior Championship. . . . F Jeff de Wit, who finished Friday’s 5-0 victory over visiting Everett, was among Victoria’s scratches. . . . The Royals left immediately after the game for Everett where they are scheduled to play the Silvertips today. . . . Announced attendance: 4,740.


At Prince George, F Parker AuCoin scored two third-period goals to force OT then got the only goal of a shootout as the Tri-City Americans, who had trailed 4-1, came back to beat TriCity30the Cougars, 6-5. . . . Tri-City (21-12-5) had lost its previous two games. It is third in the U.S. Division, one point behind Everett. . . . Prince George (15-18-7) has points in four straight (2-0-2) and is tied with Kamloops, eight points out of a playoff spot. . . . F Jared Bethune, who had scored three times in the Cougars’ 4-3 victory on Friday night, got his 13th goal at 7:32 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. . . . F Aaron Boyd (7) made it 2-0 at 8:51. . . . F Sasha Mutala (5) cut into the deficit, on a PP, at 16:40. . . . The Cougars went ahead 4-0 with a pair of second-period PP goals just 1:31 apart — F Jackson Leppard (9) scored at 11:24 and D Dennis Cholowski (13) followed up at 12:55. . . . The Americans got to within a goal by scoring twice before the period ended, as F Jordan Topping (20) scored at 13:11 and F Max James got his sixth goal at 15:55. . . . The Cougars went ahead 5-3 at 3:30 of the third period when F Max Kryski got the third goal of his freshman season. . . . The Americans tied it on a pair of AuCoin PP goals, at 10:41 and 12:16. He’s got 10 goals. . . . AuCoin, the shootout’s first shooter, scored and his goal held up as the winner. . . . The Americans got two assists from each of D Mitchell Brown and Topping, with James getting one. . . . Leppard and D Joel Lakusta had two assists apiece for the Cougars, with Cholowski and Bethune adding one each. . . . Lakusta, who went into his third season with three goals and 16 assists in 104 games, has four goals and 16 helpers in 40 games this season. He has recorded six assists in his past four games. . . . Tri-City was 3-5 on the PP; Prince George was 2-4. . . . G Beck Warm stopped 38 shots for the Americans, and that included a save on F Josh Curtis on a penalty shot at 1:19 of OT. . . . The Cougars got 34 saves from G Tavin Grant. . . . Newly acquired F Kjell Kjemhus, who came over from Regina, and D Rhett Rhinehart (Prince Albert) made their Prince George debuts. . . . The Americans were fined $250 on Saturday for a “warm-up violation” prior to Friday’s game. . . . Tri-City will complete a three-game weekend today in Kamloops. . . . Announced attendance: 2,841.


At Everett, F Jake Gricius scored at 19:21 of the third period to give the Portland Winterhawks a 4-3 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Portland (23-13-3) had lost its previous Portlandthree games (0-1-2). The victory lifted it past Everett and into first place in the U.S. Division. . . . Everett (23-16-2) has lost two straight. . . . Portland scored the game’s first three goals. . . . Gricius opened the scoring at 17:41 of the first period, and F Ryan Hughes (6) made it 2-0 just 17 seconds later. . . . F Ilijah Colina (3) upped the lead to 3-0, on a PP, at 1:39 of the second period. . . . Everett tied it with the next three goals, all via the PP. . . . F Wyatte Wylie (3) made it 3-1 at 8:11 of the second period. . . . F Matt Fonteyne made it a one-goal game, at 9:49, then tied it with his 20th goal, at 7:59 of the third period. . . . The teams appeared headed to OT when Gricius won it with his ninth goal of the season. . . . F Mason Mannek had two assists for the Winterhawks. . . . Everett got two assists from each of D Kevin Davis and F Patrick Bajkov. . . . Everett was 3-5 on the PP; Portland was 1-2. . . . G Cole Kehler stopped 36 shots for the Winterhawks, two more than Everett’s Dustin Wolf. . . . The Silvertips brought in D Dylan Anderson from the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League, but he wasn’t in the lineup. Anderson, 15, was a fourth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. . . . Announced attendance: 7,019.


At Kent, Wash., F Donovan Neuls scored twice and added an assist as the Seattle Thunderbirds dumped the Spokane Chiefs, 4-1. . . . Seattle (20-14-5) has points in eight Seattlestraight (7-0-1). . . . Spokane (21-16-3) is tied with Seattle for fourth in the U.S. Division, two points behind Tri-City. Seattle and Spokane hold down the Western Conference’s two wild-card spots. . . . Neuls opened the scoring at 18:10 of the first period. . . . Seattle D Jarret Tyska (6) made it 2-0 at 6:36 of the second period. . . . F Jaret Anderson-Dolan (22) scored for Spokane at 12:44 of the second period. . . . Neuls (13) restored the two-goal lead, on a PP, at 16:05. . . . Seattle F Matthew Wedman (7) stretched the lead, on another PP, at 5:54 of the third period. . . . F Zack Andrusiak and D Turner Ottenbreit each had two assists for the winners. . . . Andrusiak, 19, went into this season with six goals and five assists in 67 games. This season, he has 18 goals and 20 assists in 39 games. . . . Seattle was 2-5 on the PP; Spokane was 0-6. . . . G Liam Hughes earned the victory with 39 saves, 10 more than Spokane’s Dawson Weatherill. . . . Announced attendance: 5,180.


SUNDAY (all times local):

Saskatoon at Brandon, 4 p.m.

Red Deer at Swift Current, 4 p.m.

Prince Albert at Regina, 4 p.m.

Kelowna at Calgary 4 p.m.

Victoria at Everett, 4:05 p.m.

Tri-City at Kamloops, 5 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

Saturday’s WHL trades: Cougars get first-rounder, more from Raiders for McDonald . . . Pats add forward from Rebels

WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 24

PLAYERS: 45

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 29

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 5


THE DEAL: Prince Albert acquired F Kody McDonald, 19, and a conditional fourth-round pick in the WHL’s 2018 bantam draft for D Rhett Rhinehart, who turned 16 on Nov. 27, D PrinceAlbertAustin Crossley, 18, and the Raiders’ first-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: McDonald was the Cougars’ leading goal scorer, with a single-season career-high of 19. He also had 17 assists in 35 games. . . . In 232 regular-season games, all with the Cougars, he had 60 goals and 66 assists. . . . The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Rhinehart had one assist in 31 games with the Raiders this season. . . . Crossley, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, had four assists in 19 games with the Raiders this season, after recording a goal PrinceGeorgeand an assist in 30 games last season.

THE INFO: McDonald is from Lethbridge and was in his fourth season with the Cougars, who selected him in the second round of the 2013 bantam draft. It was evident on Friday evening that something was up as McDonald was scratched from the lineup just moments before the Cougars met the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . Rhinehart, a right-hand shot from Lloydminster, Alta., was a first-round pick, 12th overall, by the Raiders in the 2016 gantam draft. He played last season for the midget prep team at the Yale Hockey Academy, putting up 30 points, nine of them goals, in 25 games. . . . Crossley, from Fort St. John, B.C., signed with the Raiders last season after playing 25 games with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers.

WHY: Despite being seven points out of a playoff spot at the time of the trade and playing in the toughest division in major junior hockey, the Raiders continue to work at strengthening this season’s roster. They are looking for McDonald to bring goals and grit. . . . The Cougars also were seven points out of a playoff spot at the time of the trade, which is all about looking down the road. This deal gets them back into the first round of the 2018 bantam draft after they dealt their pick to the Raiders on Nov. 18, 2016, in a deal that had D Brendan Guhle go to Prince George. The Raiders also got D Max Martin, F Kolby Johnson and a third-rounder in 2019 in that exchange. Apparently, the Raiders keep the Cougars’ first-round pick in 2018, while sending their pick to Prince George.


THE DEAL: The Regina Pats acquired F Austin Pratt, 18, from the Red Deer Rebels for a third-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Pratt was in his third season with Red Deer. ReginaPats100This season, he had seven goals and nine assists in 39 games. In 165 career games, he has 62 points, including 31 goals.

THE INFO: Pratt, from Lakeville, Minn., was a fourth-round selection by the Rebels in the 2014 bantam draft. . . . NHL Central Scouting had him ranked 103rd among North American skaters eligible for the NHL’s 2017 draft, but he wasn’t selected. . . . The trade came the morning after Pratt was victimized on the game-winning goal in a 3-2 loss to the host Saskatoon Blades. “You have to be able to pick your guy up in your own zone,” Brent Sutter, the Rebels’ GM and head coach, told Greg Meachem of reddeerrebels.com. “It’s a back door play and Pratter lets his guy go. He’s puck watching, not watching his man. The guy drives the net and scores.”

WHY: Pratt adds more depth to the Pats’ forward ranks, while the Rebels add another chip for what is an obvious rebuild.

O Canada! Steenbergen is our hero . . . Blades’ winning streak reaches six . . . Giants keep rolling on the road

MacBeth

F Pavel Brendl (Calgary, 1998-2001) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Wings Arlanda (Sweden, Division 1). Brendl didn’t play last season. In 2015-16, he had 19 goals and 10 assists in 46 games with Skalica (Slovakia, Extraliga), and three goals and three assists in six games with Zvolen (Slovakia, Extraliga) 6.


A LITTLE OF THIS …

With D Linus Nassen on the shelf, the Medicine Hat Tigers had D Eric Van Impe make his WHL debut on Friday night against the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings.

Van Impe is the son of former WHL D Darren Van Impe (Prince Albert, Red Deer, 1990-Tigers Logo Official94).

The Tigers acquired Eric from Spokane, along with F Hayden Ostir, and a second-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft, on Oct. 19, sending F Zach Fischer to the Chiefs.

Van Impe, a second-round pick by the Chiefs in the 2016 bantam draft, has eight goals and 13 assists in 21 games with the midget AAA Calgary Northstars. Last season, he had five goals and 10 assists in 34 games with the Northstars.

CHAT News Today reports that Nassen, a freshman from Sweden, will miss up to eight weeks with a broken radial bone near one wrist. CHAT also reports that Ostir is week-to-week with a broken hand.

The Tigers are still waiting to get F Mason Shaw back after he suffered a knee injury that required surgery while with the NHL-Minnesota Wild’s entry in a preseason tournament.

F Josh Williams, who suffered a broken collarbone at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge, returned to the Medicine Hat lineup last night.


The Red Deer Rebels, who likely aren’t going to be in the playoffs in the spring, continued Red Deerto get younger on Friday when they added F Alex Morozoff, 16, to their roster. . . . Morozoff, from Saskatoon, was a seventh-round selection by the Rebels in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . This season, he had 15 goals and 10 assists in 27 games with the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts. Last season, he finished with five goals and 11 assists in 44 games with the Contacts. . . . Morozoff made his WHL debut in his hometown last night, scoring once in a 3-2 loss to the Blades.


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Tyler Steenbergen of the Swift Current Broncos, Canada’s 13th forward for most of the World Junior Championship, broke a 1-1 tie at 18:20 of the third period as his guys won Canadagold with a 3-1 victory over Sweden on Friday night in Buffalo. . . . Steenbergen’s winner came as he skated to the left side of the Swedish goal with his stick on the ice and redirected a hard pass from D Conor Timmins past G Filip Gustavsson. . . . When Steenbergen left for Team Canada’s selection camp early in December, he had 35 goals in 27 games with the Broncos. . . . G Carter Hart stopped 35 shots in posting his eighth WJC career victory. He now shares the Team Canada record for career victories with Jimmy Waite and Stephane Fiset. . . . Team Canada included eight WHL players — D Jake Bean (Calgary), D Kale Clague (Brandon), F Dillon Dube (Kelowna), D Cal Foote (Kelowna), Hart, F Brett Howden (Moose Jaw), F Sam Steel (Regina) and Steenbergen — along with assistant coach Tim Hunter (Moose Jaw), athletic therapist Brian Cheeseman (Edmonton) and video coach Tim O’Donovan (Kamloops). . . . Brad McEwen, a familiar face in WHL arenas for a lot of years, played a key part, too, as Hockey Canada’s head scout. . . . In the video above, that’s Clague celebrating with this family. That’s his father, Jason, to the left. He is a former WHL goaltender. . . .

D Cale Makar, who is in his first season at UMass-Amherst, may have been Canada’s top defenceman in the tournament. He finished with three goals and five assists in the seven games. . . . A 19-year-old from Calgary, Makar was selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2017 draft. . . . The Medicine Hat Tigers picked Makar in the eighth round of the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft, but he chose to play for the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits and then take the NCAA route. . . . It’s interesting that Brad McEwen, now Hockey Canada’s head scout, was Medicine Hat’s assistant GM and director of scouting when the Tigers drafted Makar. . . . A former Tigers scout told Taking Note last night that “Makar being on the Canadian team has Brad McEwen’s fingerprints all over it. . . . We had hoped he would come over to the WHL, but it never happened. . . . Brad has spent many years scouting in the Dub and obviously drew on some of that knowledge in putting the different pieces together on this team.” . . .

F Kieffer Bellows of the Portland Winterhawks scoredtwice as the U.S. beat Czech Republic, 9-3, in the third-place game at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo on Friday. That left Bellows with nine goals in the tournament — one of them came in a shootout, and the IIHF credits scorers with those goals. That is the most goals scored by an American in any one WJC, breaking the record that had been set by Jeremy Roenick at the 1989 tournament in Anchorage. In that event, Roenick had eight goals and eight assists in seven games as the U.S. finished fifth.

It’s worth noting that F Kailer Yamamoto of the Spokane Chiefs played in Friday’s game, despite having to be helped off the ice near the end of Thursday’s 4-2 loss to Sweden in a semifinal game. In the dying seconds, Swedish F Oskar Steen slashed Yamamoto behind the right knee. Yamamoto went down in a heap and teammates had to help him to the dressing room. In Friday’s pregame warmup, Yamamoto appeared to be favouring the leg, but as time went on — and he got warmed up — he looked to be playing at top speed.

Steen received a warning from the IIHF disciplinary committee and played in the championship game later in the evening.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that F Joachim Blichfeld of the Winterhawks, who played for Denmark at the WJC, wasn’t seriously injured when he was checked into the boards and struck his head. Blichfeld, who missed some games earlier in the season with a concussion, was stretchered off the ice and taken to hospital for tests.

Kevin Kurz, who covers the NHL’s San Jose Sharks for @TheAthleticSF, tweeted that a Sharks spokesman had told him there was “nothing serious” and that Blichfeld would “rest for a bit” and be back with Portland soon.

Blichfeld was selected by the Sharks in the seventh round of the NHL’s 2016 draft and signed an NHL contract on Dec. 28.


THE COACHING GAME …

The OHL’s Peterborough Petes fired head coach Jody Hull on Friday and replaced him with assistant Andrew Verner, at least on an interim basis. . . . At the time of the move, the Petes were 16-20-3, good for fourth place in the East Division and sixth place in the Eastern Conference. . . . Hull took over as interim head coach on Dec. 20, 2012, and had the interim tag removed on Feb. 14, 2013. His regular-season record with the Petes is 167-147-30. . . . Hull played for the Petes (1985-88) before going on to a 16-year pro career. . . . Verner is in his third season as an assistant coach with the Petes. He had been the team’s goaltending coach for two seasons (2013-15), and also played for the Petes (1989-92).


Scoreboard

FRIDAY:

At Prince Albert, F Regan Nagy, in his first game with the Raiders, scored twice in a 7-3 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . Nagy, who hadn’t played since Nov. 28 because of a PrinceAlbertfinger injury, was acquired from the Victoria Royals earlier in the week. . . . The Raiders (14-17-8) had lost their previous five games (0-4-1). They are seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Ice (18-20-3) has lost four in a row (0-3-1). It finishes a stretch of five games in six nights tonight in Saskatoon. Kootenay is second in the Central Division, eight points behind Medicine Hat. . . . F Jordy Stallard (27) gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead 34 seconds into the first period. . . . Ice F Colton Veloso tied it at 1:25. . . . The Raiders took control with the next four goals. . . . D Brayden Pachal broke the tie at 9:36, with F Brett Leason (7) scoring, shorthanded, at 7:30 of the second period. . . . F Parker Kelly (17) upped the lead to 4-1 at 1:05 of the third period. . . . Pachal (4) got his second goal of the game at 2:37. He has three of his four goals in his past two games. . . . Veloso (14), on a PP, and D Jonathan Smart (5), shorthanded, added third-period goals for the Ice. . . . Nagy got the game’s last two goals, at 14:59 and 19:57. . . . Stallard added an assist to his goal. . . . The Ice got two assists from F Peyton Krebs. . . . The Ice was 1-5 on the PP; the Raiders were 0-1. . . . G Ian Scott earned the victory with 21 saves. . . . Kootenay starter Duncan McGovern was beaten three times on 14 shots in 11:14. Bailey Brkin came on to finish up and stopped 12 of 16 shots. . . . D Jeremy Masella, acquired by the Raiders from Victoria on Thursday, had one assist. . . . Announced attendance: 1,882.


At Saskatoon, D Jake Kustra broke a 2-2 tie at 10:35 of the third period as Blades beat the Red Deer Rebels, 3-2. . . . Saskatoon (20-17-3) has won six straight games and is tied with SaskatoonRegina for the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card spots. . . . The Rebels (10-21-8) have lost six in a row (0-3-3). . . . F Braylon Shmyr (20) put the home side ahead 1-0 at 19:19 of the first period. Shmyr, who drew the primary assist on the winner, has goals in five straight games. He also is on a six-game multi-point tear during which time he has six goals and 11 assists. . . . The Rebels took a 2-1 lead on second-period goals from F Reese Johnson (12), at 8:44, and F Alex Morozoff (1), on a PP, at 13:51. From Saskatoon, Morozoff was making his WHL debut. . . . F Bradly Goethals (9) pulled the Blades even at 16:42. . . . Kustra won it with his second goal of the season. It was his fourth goal in 128 career games. . . . Red Deer was 1-2 on the PP; Saskatoon was 0-1. . . . G Nolan Maier stopped 22 shots for the Blades, two fewer than Red Deer’s Riley Lamb. . . . F Mason McCarty (ill) was among Red Deer’s scratches. . . . Announced attendance: 3,169.


At Brandon, F Ty Lewis scored in OT to give the Wheat Kings a 3-2 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Brandon (26-12-1) had lost its previous four games. . . . Swift Current BrandonWKregular(27-11-2) is second in the overall standings, four points ahead of Brandon. . . . F Matteo Gennaro scored twice for the visitors, giving him 24 goals. He gave his guys a 1-0 lead at 16:53 of the first period. . . . After Brandon F Baron Thompson (11) tied it, at 6:27 of the second period, Gennaro put his boys out front again, at 7:10 of the third. . . . F Evan Weinger (19), on a PP, tied it for Brandon at 9:31. . . . Lewis won it with his 21st goal of the season at 3:32 of extra time. . . . Weinger had the lone assist on the winner. . . . F Max Patterson had two assists for the Broncos. . . . Brandon was 1-4 on the PP; Swift Current was 0-1. . . . The Wheat Kings got 24 saves from G Logan Thompson. . . . Logan Flodell stopped 32 shots for the Broncos. . . . Announced attendance: 3,351.


At Calgary, the Moose Jaw Warriors jumped out to a 4-0 lead and went on to a 5-3 victory over the Hitmen. . . . Moose Jaw (32-6-3) has points in seven straight games (6-0-1) and MooseJawWarriorsleads the overall standings by 10 points over Swift Current. . . . Calgary (12-21-6) is 13 points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Warriors scored two goals in each of the first two periods. . . . F Jayden Halbgewachs (42) got it started while shorthanded, at 9:35 of the first and F Tanner Jeannot upped it to 2-0 at 17:47. . . . D Dmitri Zaitsev (3) scored on a PP at 7:33 of the second and Jeannot (30) made it 4-0 at 15:17. . . . F Riley Stotts got Calgary’s first goal, on a PP, at 11:58 of the third period. . . . Moose Jaw F Vince Loschiavo (13) got that one back at 14:33. . . . Stotts (8) and D Layne Toder, with his first WHL goal, scored for Calgary before the period ended. . . . The Warriors got two assists from F Tristin Langan and one each from Loschiavo, Zaitsev, Jeannot and Halbgewachs. . . . Moose Jaw F Brayden Burke, the WHL scoring leader, was held pointless. . . . Toder also had an assist for Calgary. . . . Calgary was 1-4 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 1-5. . . . G Adam Evanoff started and stopped all 18 shots he faced in 45:53 for Moose Jaw, before giving way to Brady Willms, who was beaten three times on five shots in 14:07. Evanoff went to the dressing room with trainer Brooke Kosolofski after taking a blow to the head. . . . Calgary starter Nick Schneider was beaten four times on 31 shots through two periods. Matthew Armitage stopped 10 of 11 shots in the third period. . . . Announced attendance: 5,435.


At Lethbridge, F Tyler Benson scored twice to help the Vancouver Giants to a 5-2 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . The Giants (22-14-5) are 4-0-1 in their past five games. They also Vancouverhave won five straight on the road. They are second in the B.C. Division, two points behind Kelowna. . . . Lethbridge (17-18-3) had points in its previous three games (2-0-1). It is third in the Central Division, two points behind Kootenay. . . . F Jordy Bellerive (23) gave Lethbridge a 1-0 lead at 8:02 of the first period. . . . D Alex Kannok Leipert (2) tied it at 15:56. . . . Benson gave the visitors their first lead at 4:30 of the second period. . . . G Giorgio Estephan (18) tied it at 5:50. . . . Benson (17) snapped that tie at 6:29, with F Ty Ronning (35) adding insurance at 3:39 of the third period, on a PP. . . . F Jared Dmytriw (11) got the empty-netter, on a  PP, at 17:31. . . . Ronning, D Darian Skeoch and F Brayden Watts each had two assists for the winners. . . . Bellerive also had an assist for Lethbridge. . . . Vancouver was 2-6 on the PP; Lethbridge was 0-5. . . . The Giants got 33 saves from G David Tendeck. . . . G Stuart Skinner blocked 21 shots for the Hurricanes. . . . F Cole Shepard, a second-round pick by the Giants in the 2017 bantam draft, made his BCHL debut with the Penticton Vees last night. From West Vancouver, B.C., has has 10 goals and 25 assists in 23 games with the Delta Hockey Academy’s CSSHL prep team. . . . Announced attendance: 3,475.


At Medicine Hat, F Max Gerlach had two goals and an assist to help the Tigers to a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Medicine Hat (22-15-3) has points in four Tigers Logo Officialstraight games (3-0-1). It leads the Central Division by eight points over Kootenay. . . . Edmonton (10-23-6) had points in each of its previous six games (3-0-3). . . . Gerlach opened the scoring, on a PP, at 8:28 of the first period, and F Baxter Anderson (1) made it 2-0 at 5:05 of the second. Anderson, 17, had one goal in six games last season. He’s got a goal and three assists in 27 games this season. . . . D David Quenneville (17) made it 3-0, on a PP, 46 seconds into the third period. . . . F David Kope (6) scored while shorthanded for Edmonton, at 2:57 of the third period. . . . F Mark Rassell (34) and Gerlach (16) scored for the Tigers before the period ended. . . . D Kristians Rubins had two assists for the winners, with Gerlach, Rassell and Quenneville adding one apiece. . . . The Tigers were 2-8 on the PP; the Oil Kings were 0-6. . . . G Michael Bullion earned the victory with 19 saves, two fewer than Edmonton’s Josh Dechaine. . . . The Oil Kings lost F Colton Kehler at 18:45 of the second period with a match penalty for attempt to injury after he slew-footed D Dylan MacPherson of the Tigers. . . . Freshman F Josh Williams, 16, was back in Medicine Hat’s lineup for the first time since Oct. 28. He had four goals in 14 games when he suffered a broken collarbone at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. He was the fifth-overall selection in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . D Logan Dowhaniuk, 15, made his WHL debut for the Oil Kings. From Sherwood Park, Alta., he was a second-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. . . . Announced attendance: 3,059.


At Prince George, F Jared Bethune scored three times to lead the Cougars to a 4-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . The Cougars (15-18-6) have points in three straight (2-0-PrinceGeorge1). They are tied with Kamloops for fourth in the B.C. Division, seven points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Americans (20-12-5) have lost two in a row. They are third in the U.S. Division, two points behind Portland. . . . Bethune, who has 12 goals, gave the home side a 2-0 first-period lead with goals at 14:42, on a PP, at 16:51. . . . F Nolan Yaremko (13) pulled the Americans to within a goal at 1:41 of the second period. . . . F Josh Maser (16) got that one back for Prince George at 11:58. . . . Bethune completed the hat trick, his second in the WHL, with a PP goal at 6:40 of the third period. . . . The Americans made it interesting with goals from F Sasha Mutala (4), on a PP, at 9:46, and F Riley Sawchuk (5), at 19:00. . . . Maser, D Dennis Cholowski and D Joel Lakusta each had two assists for Prince George. . . . Mutala added an assist to his goal. . . . The Cougars were 2-3 on the PP; the Americans were 1-5. . . . G Tavin Grant stopped 34 shots for the Cougars. . . . The Americans got 16 saves from G Patrick Dea. . . . F Kody McDonald was among Prince George’s scratches. He was in the lineup but then was a late scratch. . . . Announced attendance: 2,855.


At Kelowna, the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Rockets, 6-4. . . . Seattle (19-14-5) has points in seven straight games (6-0-1). It holds down Seattlethe Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Kelowna (24-12-3) had won its previous six games. It has also won 13 in a row at home. The Rockets lead the Western Conference by two points over Vancouver. . . . Seattle D Aaron Hyman, back after being out since Dec. 1 with an undisclosed injury, scored his first goal of the season — and fourth in 134 career games — at 1:36 of the opening period. . . . F Dillon Hamaliuk (7) made it 2-0 at 13:52. . . . F Leif Mattson (11) got Kelowna on the scoreboard at 16:11. . . . Seattle got that one back when F Donovan Neuls scored, on a PP, at 7:23 of the second period. . . . The Rockets took a 4-3 lead on second-period goals from D Gordie Ballhorn (3), on a PP, at 8:25; F Kyle Topping (15), at 10:10; and F Carsen Twarynski (27), at 17:16. . . . Seattle pulled even as Neuls (11) got his second goal of the game, at 18:19. . . . F Nolan Volcan scored his 17th goal at 8:59 of the third period to give Seattle a 5-4 lead. . . . D Austin Strand (13) upped it to 6-4 at 12:09. . . . Volcan, in his fourth season with Seattle, had 16 goals in each of his previous two seasons. . . . Seattle got two assists from each of D Jarret Tyszka, F Zack Andrusiak and F Matthew Wedman. . . . F Nolan Foote had two helpers for Kelowna. . . . F Sami Moilanen had an assist in his return to Seattle’s lineup. He hadn’t played since leaving in December to try and crack the roster of Finland’s national junior team. . . . Seattle was 1-1 on the PP; Kelowna was 1-7. . . . G Liam Hughes earned the victory with 26 saves, five more than Kelowna’s James Porter Jr. . . . Announced attendance: 5,230.


At Spokane, F Hudson Elynuik and F Jaret Anderson-Dolan each had two goals as the Chiefs whipped the Portland Winterhawks, 9-3. . . . Spokane (21-15-3) is tied with Tri-City SpokaneChiefsfor third in the U.S. Division, but the Americans hold four games in hand. . . . Portland (22-13-3) had been 1-0-2 in its previous three games. It is second in the U.S. Division, one point behind Everett. . . . The Chiefs took control of this one with three first-period goals, from F Ethan McIndoe (10), on a PP, at 5:55; D Tyson Helgesen (5), at 9:11; and Anderson-Dolan, at 19:07. . . . F Jake Gricius (7) scored Portland’s first goal, at 4:26 of the second period. . . . Spokane F Zach Fischer (18) restored the three-goal lead, on a PP, at 8:32. . . . Portland F Cody Glass (23) scored at 11:23. . . . The Chiefs put it away with the next three goals, from F Jake McGrew (7) and two from Elynuik, who now has 21 goals. . . . F Skyler McKenzie (28) had Portland’s last goal. . . . Anderson-Dolan (21), on a PP, and D Luke Gallagher (1) rounded out Spokane’s scoring. . . . The Chiefs got three assists from F Eli Zummack, two from each of D Nolan Reid and D Ty Smith, and one each from Helgesen, McGrew and Elynuik. . . . Spokane was 3-4 on the PP; Portland was 0-2. . . . G Dawson Weatherill made 16 saves for the Chiefs, while Portland’s Cole Kehler stopped 41 shots. . . . Announced attendance: 5,042.


At Victoria, G Griffen Outhouse tied a franchise record as the Royals blanked the Everett Silvertips, 5-0. . . . Outhouse had 10 career shutouts, tying the Chilliwack/Victoria VictoriaRoyalsfranchise record that he now shares with Lucas Gore. . . . Victoria (22-15-4) had lost its previous two games (0-1-1). It is third in the B.C. Division, one point behind Vancouver. . . . Everett (23-15-2) leads the U.S. Division, by one point over Portland. . . . Outhouse stopped 38 shots in recording his second shutout of this season. . . . The Royals got goals from three recently acquired players. . . . F Braydon Buziak (3), who came over from Regina, made it 1-0 at 16:05 of the second period. . . . F Jeff de Wit (5), acquired from Kootenay, increased the lead to 2-0 just 17 seconds into the third period. . . . F Andrei Grishakov (12), who was acquired from Calgary, scored the game’s last goal, at 17:40. . . . F Dante Hannoun (14) and F Matthew Phillips (29) also scored. . . . F Kaid Oliver had two assists, with Buziak, Phillips and Hannoun each getting one. . . . Victoria was 0-2 on the PP; Everett was 0-3 on the PP. . . . Everett starter Dustin Wolf allowed four goals on 22 shots in 51:18, beefier Danton Belluk came on to stop two of three shots in 8:42. . . . Announced attendance: 5,207.


SATURDAY (all times local):

Red Deer at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Regina at Swift Current, 7 p.m.

Kootenay at Saskatoon 7:05 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Edmonton 7 p.m.

Calgary at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

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

Victoria at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Portland at Everett, 7:05 p.m.

Spokane vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash. 7:05 p.m.


TWEET OF THE DAY

 

Blichfeld leaves WJC game on stretcher . . . Organizers declare WJC a success . . . Royals add import from Hitmen, make deal with Raiders

A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

The Portland Winterhawks boarded their bus Thursday afternoon and headed for Spokane where they will play the Chiefs tonight.

But you can bet the Winterhawks’ thoughts weren’t on the road in front of them. Rather, Portlandthey will have been wondering about the condition of F Joachim Blichfeld, a teammate who was stretchered off the ice midway through the second period of a relegation-round game at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo earlier in the day.

Blichfeld hit his head on the boards after taking a high hit from behind from D Dmitri Deryabin of Belarus, who was assessed a match penalty on the play.

Blichfeld did flash a thumbs-up signal as he was carried from the ice surface. He was taken to hospital for further examination.

Blichfeld, 19, is from Frederikshavn, Denmark. He was selected by San Jose in the seventh round of the NHL’s 2016 draft and signed with the Sharks on on Dec. 28 while in Buffalo.

In Game 1 of the best-of-three relegation series on Wednesday, Blichfeld had two goals and an assist as Denmark won the opener, 5-4.

On Thursday, Blichfeld had two primary assists as Denmark opened up a 2-0 lead. Belarus came back to tie it before Denmark won it, 3-2, in a shootout. The victory means Denmark stays in the top group for the 2019 WJC, with Belarus sliding back to Division 1A. (If you’re wondering, Kazakhstan won promotion to the big group, so will be in Victoria/Vancouver for the next tournament.)

This season with Portland, Blichfeld has 13 goals and 17 assists in 26 games. He missed a handful of games early in October with what is believed to have been a concussion.

This latest injury, then, depending on the diagnosis, might be his second brain injury of the season, meaning the Winterhawks will be extra careful with a player who is key part of their roster.


Officials from the IIHF and organizers of the 2018 World Junior Championship held a Buffalostate-of-the-event news conference in Buffalo on Thursday afternoon. Michael Traikos of the National Post was there and, as he wrote, “With noses growing, they called it a success.” . . . During the news conference, Traikos continued, “Organizers bragged that more than 200,000 tickets had been sold, ignoring that a quarter-final between the U.S. and Russia on Tuesday night had only 6,242 fans in a building that seats more than 19,000. They highlighted the record-setting crowd that braved the snow to watch an outdoor game that ‘was a little bit of magic,’  but then blamed the same weather for driving away fans at the other indoor games. . . . His complete column is right here.

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News also was at the news conference, and his take is right here.

Interestingly, Campbell reported that Rene Fasel, the IIHF president, said that 50 per cent of the tickets already have been sold for the 2019 WJC that is to be held in Victoria and Vancouver.

That, Campbell wrote, “is quite a feat considering the 18-game pack (and one pre-tournament game) for Vancouver ranges in price from $650 ($34 per game) to $2,250 ($118 per game).”

Ron Toigo, the majority owner of the Vancouver Giants, told Vancouver sportscaster Rick Dhaliwal of NEWS 1130 and Sportsnet 650 on Dec. 28 that tickets are “well over 60 per cent sold.”


The Portland Winterhawks lost F Lane Gilliss to an undisclosed injury on Sunday during a 4-3 shootout loss to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. As a result, they have brought back F Jaydon Dureau from the midget AAA Regina Pats Canadians. He had been with the Winterhawks but was returned to the Pat Canadians following the Christmas break. The Pat Canadians won the Mac’s tournament in Calgary on Monday. Dureau had two goals and two assists in the championship game, a 4-0 victory over the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs. . . . Dureau, 16, was an eighth-round pick by Portland in the 2016 bantam draft. This season, he has 56 points, including 27 goals, in 26 games with the Pat Canadians. . . . Portland also returned D Nick Cicek to junior A, in his case to the MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues, but quickly brought him back when D Keoni Texeira went down with an undisclosed injury.


The Edmonton Oil Kings have brought in F Jake Neighbours for a look-see. From Airdrie, Alta., Neighbours was the fourth overall selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. He made his WHL debut with the Oil Kings earlier this season. . . . In 23 games with the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes, Neighbours has 17 goals and 25 assists. . . . If you’re interested in the return of D Brayden Gorda to the Oil Kings, there is more right here.


The Red Deer Rebels have dropped F Lukus MacKenzie, 18, from their roster and he is expected to join the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. . . . MacKenzie had four assists in 17 games with the Rebels after being acquired from the Saskatoon Blades, with whom he had four assists in 13 games. . . . From Calgary, MacKenzie was a third-round pick by the Blades in the 2014 bantam draft. . . . In 138 games, he has eight goals and 28 assists.


WHEELING AND DEALING …

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 20

PLAYERS: 35

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 21

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 4


THE DEAL: The Victoria Royals acquired F Andrei Grishakov, 18, from the Calgary Hitmen for a third-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: Grishakov, from Chelyabinsk, Russia, has 22 goals and 39 assists in 107 VictoriaRoyalsgames with the Hitmen. This season, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder has 11 goals and 15 assists in 37 games. . . . The Hitmen selected him in the CHL import draft after he put up 21 goals and 24 assists in 32 games with Traktor Chelyabinski’s U-17 team in 2015-16. He also played four games with the U-18 side that season, recording four goals and five assists.

THE INFO: Grishakov should be in Victoria’s lineup tonight (Friday) against the visiting Everett Silvertips. If he doesn’t play then, he will get another opportunity on Saturday when the Royals visit Kamloops. Yes, it’s a quick turn-around for Victoria.

WHY: The Royals have had room for an import since F Yan Khomenko returned to Russia and signed with Ak Bars Kazan, a KHL team. He is pointless in three games with Irbis Kazan, a junior team. . . . The Royals are hoping that putting Grishakov into their top six will ignite his offence. . . . Grishakov joins F Igor Martynov, who turns 19 on Jan. 19, as the Royals’ import players. Martynov is from Belarus and has been representing his country at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo. . . . The Hitmen, who aren’t likely to make the playoffs, have been in sell mode since Nov. 25 when they dealt top-flight forwards Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn to the Swift Current Broncos. Now it’s all about freeing up ice time for younger players.


THE DEAL: The Victoria Royals have acquired F D-Jay Jerome, 18, from the Prince Albert Raiders for D Jeremy Masella, 18.

THE NUMBERS: From Lethbridge, Jerome has one assist in 31 games with the Raiders. PrinceAlbertHe split last season between the Red Deer Rebels and the Raiders, recording eight goals and eight assists in 55 games. . . . Masella had three goals and four assists in 35 games with the Royals. In 63 career games, all with Victoria, he has three goals and five assists.

THE INFO: Red Deer placed the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Jerome on their protected list in 2016. The Rebels dealt him to Prince Albert on Dec. 28, 2016, along with a 2017 third-round bantam draft pick, for F Austin Glover. . . . The 6-foot-5, 214-pound Masella is from Phoenix. He had been on Victoria’s protected list since 2015. . . . This is the second deal between these teams this week. On Tuesday, the Royals dealt F Regan Nagy, 20, to the Raiders for the rights to F Hunter Strand, 15, sixth- and 10th-round picks in the 2018 bantam draft and a third-rounder in 2019. . . . Cam Hope, the Royals’ general manager, has made seven trades since Dec. 1.

WHY: For starters, both players get fresh starts and a chance to earn more ice time with new teams. . . . The Royals had been carrying eight defencemen so it seemed that someone would go before the Jan. 10 trade deadline. Victoria also adds another bigger forward as it continues to alter the size of its forward ranks. . . . The Raiders add size to their back end. Their roster shows nine defencemen, but Sergei Sapego is injured, Vojtech Budik is at the WJC in Buffalo, and Kaiden Guhle, the first overall selection in the 2017 bantam draft, is only 15 so will have to go back to his club team at some point.


Scoreboard

THURSDAY:

No Games Scheduled.


FRIDAY (all times local):

Kootenay at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Red Deer at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Swift Current at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Calgary, 7 p.m.

Vancouver at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

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

Tri-City at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Seattle at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.

Portland at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.

Everett at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.

Royals, Raiders make a deal . . . OHL swap includes 5-year-old . . . Skinner returns with record shutout

Scattershooting

Come on, folks. Lighten up. Anyone piling on Christian Wohlwend, the Swiss junior team’s head coach, for his comments on Sunday needs to stop drinking so much coffee. He’s a funny man, and his team had zero chance of beating Canada. You can bet his players knew it, too, so how be we cut him some slack.


Canada dumped Switzerland, 8-2, on Tuesday, as Wohlwend had pretty much predicted. Did I watch? No, because I took Wohlwend at his word.


However, I did watch Sweden and Slovakia, with Dennis Beyak and Craig Button doing their usual excellent job. Earlier in the day, Beyak and Button called a thriller between Finland and Czech Republic. Later, I went in and out of the game between Russia and the U.S. The host team playing the Russians and the arena was devoid of people and atmosphere.



Let’s be honest. We all want to see Canada and the U.S. on a real ice surface in Friday’s championship final. We’ll watch then, unless the poohbahs take the game and move it outside.



Willie Desjardins, the head coach of Canada’s Olympic team, is in Buffalo now, having conquered Europe — they won the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland, last week. Also there are assorted other Team Canada officials, including GM Sean Burke, as they continue to look for those who would be Canadian Olympians.


This morning at 11 o’clock, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops is expected to introduce Curtis Atkinson as its new athletic director. He will take over from Ken Olynyk, who is retiring after 14 years in charge. Atkinson, who has been working for Canada West, is a former interim AD at the U of Regina. Former WHLer Peter Soberlak, who is on staff at TRU, was the other candidate who received serious consideration.


BTW, America, can’t you do something about President Tweet? If you aren’t aware, he has become something of an embarrassment.


After President Tweet’s big button shot at North Korea on Tuesday, how comfortable are you if you’re preparing to head for South Korea and the Olympic Winter Games? Yeah, that’s what I thought.


A reader sends this note . . .

Before their loss in Kamloops on Monday, the Victoria Royals were listed as 1-0-0-1 in the ‘Streak’ column in the standings on the WHL website. That was for a win on Thursday against Prince George and a shootout loss Saturday in Kelowna. After Monday’s regulation loss to the Blazers, the Royals’ streak now is listed as 0-1-0-1. So I guess that a shootout loss can be part of both a winning streak and a losing streak.


MacBeth

F Rodrigo Ābols (Portland, 2015-17) has been assigned on loan by Örebro (Sweden, SHL) to Karlskoga (Sweden, Allsvenskan). The length of the loan wasn’t specified. He had one assist in 26 games, while averaging 7:34 time on ice per game with Örebro this season.


A LITTLE OF THIS . . .

There have been a number of trades in the OHL over the past few days, but only one of them included a five-year-old who, as Scott Radley of the Hamilton Spectator points out, “is somewhere in Ontario currently enjoying his Christmas break from the grinding rigours of kindergarten.” . . . Yes, a deal made Monday between the Windsor Spitfires and Kingston Frontenacs included a selection in the OHL’s 2028 draft. No one trades picks like OHL teams, and this deal was no different. Windsor traded away two veterans for a 16-year-old centre and draft picks from 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2027 and, yes, 2028. . . . Radley has more right here and it’s an entertaining read.


The Seattle Thunderbirds are down to three 20-year-olds with the news that F Tyler Adams has joined the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. . . . A native of Regina, Adams got into only one game with Seattle this season, thanks to an undisclosed injury. He was acquired last season from the Swift Current Broncos, and had three goals and five assists in 41 games with the WHL-champion Thunderbirds. . . . His departure leaves Seattle with F Donovan Neuls, D Turner Ottenbreit and D Austin Strand as its 20-year-olds.


The Calgary Hitmen have added F Bryce Bader, 16, to their roster. From Sherwood Park, Alta., he was a second-round selection by the Hitmen in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . This season, he has 10 goals and 12 assists in 25 games with the midget AAA Sherwood Park Kings. . . . He got into one game with the Hitmen last season, but was pointless.


WHEELING AND DEALING . . .

NUMBER OF TRADES (since Nov. 13): 18

PLAYERS: 32

BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 20

CONDITONAL BANTAM DRAFT PICKS: 4


TUESDAY:

THE DEAL: The Victoria Royals have acquired the WHL rights to F Hunter Strand, 15, a third-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft, and sixth-and 10th-round picks in 2018 from the Prince Albert Raiders for F Regan Nagy, 20.

THE INFO: Strand was selected by the Raiders in the sixth round of the 2017 bantam draft. He hasn’t yet committed to the WHL. In fact, on Nov. 30, he made a verbal commitment to attend Notre Dame and play for the Fighting Irish, starting with the 2021-22 season. Of course, verbal commitments are non-binding, so the Royals have plenty of time to deliver their pitch. . . . Strand, who is in Grade 9, has a late birthday; he turned 15 on Nov. 13. . . . Nagy had  been a part of the Victoria organization since being a second-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft.

THE NUMBERS: The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Strand, who is from Anchorage, is playing for the U-16 Alaska Oilers, a midget AAA team in the Alaska State Hockey Association. In his first 21 games this season, through Nov. 5, he had 26 goals and 16 assists in 21 games. The Oilers’ website doesn’t include stats past that date. . . . The Royals got a good look at Strand in December 2016, when he put up 10 goals and eight assists in five games at the Rick LaPointe Memorial bantam tournament in Victoria. . . . Nagy, who is from Ogema, Sask., has 18 goals and six assists in 26 games this season. He hasn’t played since Nov. 28 due to a finger injury. Last season, the 6-foot-0, 195-pound Nagy had 18 goals and 23 assist in 69 games. In 253 career games, he has 50 goals and 47 assists.

WHY: The Royals are hoping they can convince a young player with high-end offensive skills to sign with them. They also added three bantam draft selections and those always are useful. . . . Moving Nagy also gets the Royals back to three 20-year-olds — D Kade Jensen, D Chaz Reddekopp and F Tyler Soy. . . . With the trade deadline arriving on Jan. 10, the Raiders, despite being seven points out of a playoff spot, appear to have signalled that they aren’t in a selling mode. Acquiring Nagy gives them four 20-year-olds, one over the maximum, meaning they will have to move one over the next week. The others, all forwards, are Curtis Miske, Devon Skoleski and Jordy Stallard.


Scoreboard

TUESDAY:

At Lethbridge, G Stuart Skinner, who had been in sick bay, stopped 20 shots to help the Hurricanes to a 7-0 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Hurricanes (17-17-3) have Lethbridgepoints in three straight games (2-0-1). . . . The Ice (18-18-3) have points in each of its previous seven games (5-0-2). . . . Kootenay is 0-1-1 to being a stretch of five games in six nights. The Ice will be in Swift Current tonight. . . . Lethbridge is third in the Central Division, two points behind Kootenay, which is five points back of Medicine Hat. . . . Skinner was back in goal after not having played since Dec. 16. He became ill after the Christmas break. He posted his fourth shutout this season and the 10th of his career. He now holds the franchise’s career record with one more than Logan Koopmans (1999-2004). . . . It may have been key that the Hurricanes scored in the last minute of each of the first two periods. . . . F Jordy Bellerive opened the scoring, on a PP, with five seconds left in the first period. . . . F Giorgio Estephan, who also had three assists, scored his 17th goal, on a PP, at 8:43 of the second period. . . . F Jadon Joseph (4) made it 3-0 at 19:08. . . . The home side put it away with four third-period goals, from Bellerive (22), at 3:43; F Taylor Ross (10), at 4:36; F Zachary Cox (1), at 5:42; and F Lane Zablocki (11), at 10:50. . . . Lethbridge got two assists from each of D Calen Addison, F Dylan Cozens and D Igor Merezhko, with Zablocki and Joseph adding one each. . . . Lethbridge was 2-4 on the PP; Kootenay was 0-4. . . . G Duncan McGovern stopped 34 shots for the Ice, which was outshot 34-13 over the final two periods. . . . D Nolan Jones, 16, a second-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft, was in Lethbridge’s lineup, as was D Alex Cotton, 16, who was a fifth-round pick in that draft. Jones, who was pointless in three games last season, is from Moose Jaw and has four goals and 11 assists in 28 games with the midget AAA Moose Jaw Generals. Cotton, who made his WHL debut, is from Langley, B.C. He has four goals and 32 assists in 24 games with the CSSHL’s Yale Hockey Academy prep team. . . . F Holden Kodak, 16, who is from Cloverdale, B.C., made his WHL debut with the Ice. An 11th-round selection by the Portland Winterhawks in the 2016 bantam draft, he was placed on Kootenay’s protected list in October and signed on Dec. 19. Kodak has been playing with the Yale Hockey Academy’s prep team in the CSSHL. He has 60 points, 36 of them goals, in 26 games. . . . Announced attendance: 2,973.


WEDNESDAY (all times local):

Brandon at Regina, 7 p.m.

Kootenay at Swift Current, 7 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Calgary, 7 p.m.

Vancouver at Edmonton, 7 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.


THURSDAY (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.


TWEET OF THE DAY

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