D Brenden Kichton (Spokane, 2008-13) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with SaiPa Lappeenranta (Finland, Liiga). Last season, he had four goals and 20 assists in 63 games with the Charlotte Checkers (AHL).
The WHL’s 20-year-old deadline came and went on Wednesday and featured one trade.
The Medicine Hat Tigers got down to the maximum of three 20s by sending D Dalton 
Gally to the Kelowna Rockets for a 10th-round selection in the 2020 bantam draft.
Gally had been scratched from four straight games after D Dylan MacPherson and D Linus Nassen were returned by the NHL’s Florida Panthers. Both skaters had been in camp with the Panthers’ AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
F Ryan Jevne is the Tigers’ third 20-year-old player.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Gally, from Eagle River, Alaska, played 135 regular-season games with the Tigers, totalling three goals and 18 assists. This season, he was pointless in five games. Last season, he put up two goals and 10 assists in 72 games.
Gally was a sixth-round pick by the Calgary Hitmen in the 2013 bantam draft.
The Tigers actually didn’t have to get down to three 20s on Wednesday; in fact, they had . MacPherson and Nassen returned on Oct. 2, and WHL teams are given 14 days in which to get down to the maximum in a situation where a player or players come back from a pro team.
With Gally in town, the Rockets will have four 20-year-olds on their roster, the others 
being F Ryan Bowen, D Braydyn Chizen and F Lane Zablocki.
Zablocki, who was acquired earlier from the Victoria Royals, has yet to play for the Rockets and is expected to be out at least another 10 days with an undisclosed injury.
The Rockets, who are off the to the poorest start in franchise history, are hoping Gally can bring some physical play to their game.
“We had an opportunity to add another defenceman and, with Zablocki out for at least 10 more days, it was an opportunity to get a player in here and have a look at him,” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, said in a news release. “We currently have five right-handed defenceman and we needed to get a left-handed guy in here to help out with some of the young players that are playing on their off-side. That’s the main reason why we’ve looked at this.
“He’s going to come in and we’re going to give him a chance to show us what he can do. He is a big, heavy guy that isn’t afraid to get involved physically, which is something I think we need also.”
Meanwhile, the Swift Current Broncos and Tri-City Americans continue to carry four 20-year-olds, but injuries mean they don’t yet have to cut down to three.
Broncos D Artyom Minulin (shoulder) is injured and has yet to play this season. With him on the injury list, the Broncos don’t yet have to trim one 20-year-old. Minulin underwent off-season shoulder surgery and only recently rejoined the Broncos. However, he has yet to be cleared for a return to action.
The WHL’s reigning champions also are carrying F Andrew Fyten, F Tanner Nagel and D Matthew Stanley.
The Americans have F Parker AuCoin, D Anthony Bishop, F Brett Clayton and F Nolan Yaremko on their roster. However, Bishop is out with an undisclosed injury and may not return until December.
The Vancouver Giants may be without G Trent Miner for games this weekend.
Miner, the CHL’s reigning goaltender of the week, has returned to his family home in 
Brandon following the deaths of two grandfathers.
Last week, Miner, a freshman, made his first two appearances of the season, and went 2-0-0, 1.00, .964, with a shutout.
Miner was the 20th overall selection in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft.
With Miner gone, the Giants will look to veteran David Tendeck to carry the load. He is 4-1-0, 1.59, .940.
The Giants (6-1-0) are scheduled to play host to the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night, then head to Victoria for a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader against the Royals (6-0-0).
It will be Bronco Strong night on Nov. 2 when the Swift Current Broncos play host to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
From a news release:
“The Humboldt and Swift Current Broncos share a name and, unfortunately, also share the heartache of tragic accidents in their respective histories. The 1986 Swift Current Broncos were involved in a bus crash on Dec. 30, 1986, which claimed the lives of four young hockey players. Tragedy struck again on April 6, 2018 when the Humboldt Broncos’ bus collided with a semi-trailer. This time, 16 lives were lost and many others were left with life-altering injuries. The members of each of these teams will be invited to attend the Nov. 2 game, along with family members.
“Both Broncos teams have partnered to create a sweater that will represent the communities of Swift Current and Humboldt. These sweaters will be worn by the Swift Current Broncos on Nov. 2 and will be auctioned off with 100 per cent of the revenue going toward STARS Air Ambulance. The Humboldt Broncos will wear the uniforms as a third sweater for the remainder of the season. A generous donation by Scotia Wealth Management will cover the cost of both sets of uniforms.
“The Bronco Strong jersey design will be released at a later date.”
The complete news release is right here.
The Calgary Hitmen are going to play three February home games in the 6,450-seat Stampede Corral, which cost $1.25 million to build and opened on Dec. 15, 1950.
Games against the Brandon Wheat Kings (Feb. 1), Regina Pats (Feb. 6) and Prince Albert Raiders (Feb. 8) will be played in the Corral, which happens to be the building in which the Pats won the 1974 Memorial Cup.
From a news release:
“As a tribute to the city’s hockey history, the Hitmen will dedicate each game to a former elite team that once called the Stampede Corral home by wearing commemorative jerseys of the Calgary Centennials, Calgary Wranglers and Calgary Cowboys.”
The complete news release is right here.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT NOTES:
F Tristyn DeRoose, who was released by the Moose Jaw Warriors, has joined the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins. DeRoose, 19, is from Ceylon, Sask. He had five goals and eight assists in 108 regular-season WHL games, split between the Vancouver Giants and the Warriors. . . . DeRoose’s brother, Darcy, played 136 games with the Bruins over five seasons. Darcy also played 38 WHL games — three with the Warriors and 35 with the Everett Silvertips (2012-14).
F Ty Kolle scored twice to help the host Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 4-2 victory over the 
Regina Pats. . . . Kolle, who was acquired last week from the Portland Winterhawks, has two goals this season. . . . Lethbridge is 1-2-1 at home. . . . The Pats (1-6-0) are 0-4-0 on the road. . . . Regina was without F Sergei Alkhimov and and F Jake Leschyshyn, both of whom served one-game suspensions. . . . Regina also was without D Liam Schioler (leg) for a second game in a row. . . . The Pats did get back G Max Paddock after he sat out two games with an undisclosed injury.
F Noah Philip, who had never scored more than once in a WHL game, counted four times 
to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 9-6 victory over the host Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Thunderbirds, who scored four PP goals in five opportunities, took control with five first-period goals, three of them from Philp, who got his first four goals of the season. His fourth goal came in the second period. . . . Philp went into Kelowna with 28 goals in 208 career regular-season games. . . . Seattle F Dillon Hamaliuk had his five-game goal-scoring streak end, but he drew three assists, as did D Jake Lee. . . . Seattle got a goal and two assists from each of F Zack Andrusiak and F Andrej Kukuca. . . . F Leif Mattson scored two goals and added two assists for Kelowna, with F Kyle Topping earning four assists. . . . The Rockets continued the poorest start in franchise history. They now are 1-8-0 and have lost four in a row.
F Cody Glass, who was named Portland’s captain earlier in the day, scored two goals and 
added two assists to lead the Winterhawks to an 8-2 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . F Joachim Blichfeld, the WHL’s leading scorer, had five assists. He has 22 points in eight games. . . . Glass has 17 points in six games. . . . F Reece Newkirk, the third member of that line, helped out with a goal and two assists. . . . Portland scored four times on the PP. . . . The Winterhawks have won five in a row. . . . Edmonton is 0-3-1 on a road trip that stops in Everett and Kent, Wash., on Friday and Saturday nights.
for a fourth-round selection in the 2019 WHL bantam draft and a conditional fifth-rounder in 2020. . . . “With a long-term injury to Anthony Bishop, we felt it was necessary to add a veteran defenceman,” Americans general manager Bob Tory explained in a news release. . . . The Swift Current Broncos selected Schmiemann in the first round of the 2014 bantam draft. . . . From Wilcox, Sask., he had one assist in four games this season. Last season, he put up a goal and 10 assists in 47 games with Calgary after being acquired from the Broncos. In 135 regular-season career games, he has two goals and 22 assists. . . . His younger brother Quinn, 17, is in his first season with the Kamloops Blazers. He, too, is a defenceman.
He was a seventh-round selection of the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft. . . . He was pointless in two games with the Broncos this season, after recording one goal and three assists in 55 games last season. . . . “Basically, he decided that he wanted to play closer to home,” Dean Brockman, the Broncos’ director of hockey operations and head coach, told David Zammit of 
Kamloops. This one was 1-1 when a point shot by D Mitchell Prowse changed directions off the shaft of F Dante Hannoun’s stick and beat G Dylan Garand at 9:21 of the third period. . . . Hannoun has four goals this season. . . . The Royals got 26 saves from G Griffen Outhouse, who has played every minute of all six victories. . . . Garand, a 16-year-old from Victoria, made his first start of the season, stopping 20 shots. Garand, a third-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft, made two starts last season at the age of 15. . . . Kamloops D Nolan Kneen played in his 200th regular-season game on Friday in a 5-3 loss to the visiting Portland Winterhawks. . . . The Blazers, who opened the season with a home-and-home sweep of the Kelowna Rockets, now have lost five in a row. . . . The Royals are 3-0-0 against Kamloops, having beaten the Blazers 3-2 and 6-3 in Victoria on Sept. 28 and 29. . . . 
3 victory over the Pats in Regina. . . . Brandon’s second-period explosion included short-handed goals 28 seconds apart from F Caiden Daley and F Lynden McCallum. . . . The Pats, last season’s Memorial Cup host team, slid to 1-5-0. . . . 
a 5-4 victory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Broncos, the reigning WHL champions, are 0-6-0 and one of two teams in the 22-team league without a victory. The Calgary Hitmen, who were idle last night, are 0-4-1 after going 6-0-0 in the exhibition season. . . . In those six losses, they have scored 12 goals and given up 31. . . . Langan, who has five goals, scored three in a row, with the final one giving his guys a 4-1 lead 13 seconds into the third period. . . . The Broncos made it close with two goals late in the third. . . . F Justin Almeida had three assists for the winners. . . . The Broncos next play on Friday when they are at home to the Spokane Chiefs.
of his five games this season. Going back to last season, he has scored in six straight regular-season games. . . . According to Tbird Tidbits (@TBirdTidbits), Hamaliuk is believed to be the first Seattle player “to score a goal in the team’s first five games . . . since Petr Nedved” in 1989-90. . . . G Liam Hughes, back in action after sitting out one game with an undisclosed injury, stopped 44 shots for Seattle. . . . The Rockets now are 1-7-0. . . . With D Reece Harsch out after taking a high hit on Friday night, the Thunderbirds brought in D Luke Bateman, 16, from the major midget Thompson Blazers, who are based in his hometown of Kamloops. He was a fourth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. . . . Kelowna G Roman Basran, who stopped 28 shots, was in the thick of things for a lot of the night. He took three minor penalties in the first period — a minor for high-sticking at 7:32 and a double minor for high-sticking at 20:00 — and another in the third period (leaving the crease). . . . At 10:45 of the second period, Basran was involved in a collision that resulted in Seattle F Nolan Volcan getting ejected with a goaltender interference major and a game misconduct. . . . In the third period, Basran skated from his net well over the centre red line as players scrummed in the Seattle zone. Linesmen intercepted him before anything could happen. . . . The Thunderbirds and Rockets will meet again Wednesday, this time in Kelowna.
George Cougars. . . . On Friday, the Giants had beaten the host Cougars, 3-0. . . . G Trent Miner stopped 33 shots last night for Vancouver. . . . The Giants took a 3-1 lead at 19:22 of the second period when D Bowen Byram (2) scored. . . . The Cougars lost F Josh Maser to a major penalty for a slewfoot on F Justin Sourdif at 0:11 of the second period. . . . The Giants have won four games in a row and have allowed only 11 goals in seven games. . . . Joey Kenward, a former radio voice of the Giants who now works for Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, pointed out via Twitter on Saturday morning that the Giants, in their 17th season, “have posted back-to-back road shutouts for the first time in franchise history.” . . . Miner posted a 5-0 shutout over the Rockets in Kelowna on Wednesday, and David Tendeck followed that up by beating the Cougars on Friday.
third period and went on to a 5-3 victory over the Blazers in Kamloops. . . . The Winterhawks, who have won three straight, had beaten the host Blazers, 7-3, on Wednesday night. . . . Kamloops has lost four straight. . . . Last night, each team scored twice on the PP. . . . F Joachim Blichfeld scored twice — once on the PP and once shorthanded — and added an assist for Portland. . . . Blichfeld has six goals and seven assists in six games. . . . Kamloops F Jermaine Loewen was tossed with a headshot major at 10:12 of the first period for a hit on Portland D Matthew Quigley, who left the game and didn’t return. The Winterhawks scored twice in the final 30 seconds of Loewen’s major. . . . Loewen could end up being suspended before the Blazers entertain the unbeaten Victoria Royals tonight. . . . Portland F Ryan Hughes scored once in his return to Portland’s lineup. He missed the first five games with an ankle or foot injury, one that at one time required a walking boot. . . . If last night was any indication, both teams have some work to do in the discipline department. . . . The Blazers and Winterhawks will complete their regular-season series in Portland on Oct. 27 and 28. . . .
Moose Jaw Warriors a 3-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Brook also had two assists. . . . D Jett Woo was in Moose Jaw’s lineup for the first time this season. A second-round selection by the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL’s 2018 draft, he had what was reported was a minor knee procedure early in September. As a result, he missed Vancouver’s training camp and also sat out Moose Jaw’s. . . . This was the third meeting of the young season between these teams. Brandon is 2-0-1 in the three games; Moose Jaw is 1-2-0. . . . 
Silvertips a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . G Cole Schwebius stopped 39 shots for the Thunderbirds in first WHL start. Schwebius, 17, was a 10th-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . G Liam Hughes, the Thunderbirds’ No. 1 guy, is sidelined with an undisclosed injury. With Hughes out, Seattle had Eric Ward, 17, on the bench in a backup role. . . . Seattle F Dillon Hamaliuk (4) tied the game at 19:03 of the third period. He has goals in four straight games. . . . Everett F Sean Richards took a headshot major and game misconduct at 14:02 of the third period. That was for a hit on Seattle D Reece Harsch, who needed on-ice help from trainer Phil Varney and didn’t return to the game and is doubtful for a game tonight against the visiting Kelowna Rockets. . . . 
Kelowna. . . . F D-Jay Jerome (3) gave the Royals a 4-1 lead at 10:18 of the second period, on the PP. . . . The Rockets got close on goals from D Lassi Thomson (3) and F Leif Mattson (6), the latter at 12:31 of the third, but weren’t able to equalize. . . . Victoria now is 5-0-0 as it travels to Kamloops for a Saturday night date with the Blazers. . . . F Liam Kindree scored once in his return to the Kelowna lineup after missing the first six games. He was injured during an exhibition game in Kelowna. . . . The Rockets (1-6-0) visit the Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent, Wash., tonight.
him in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2016 NHL draft and have signed him to a three-year entry-level deal. . . . Gregor, from Beaumont, Alta., had been in camp with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. . . . The Raiders acquired Gregor from the Victoria Royals on July 25 for a conditional third-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2021. The conditions are triggered by point totals and games played. The Royals could end up with none, one or both picks depending on how Gregor does this season. . . . The Royals selected him in the third round of the 2013 bantam draft, later dealt him to the Warriors, then re-acquired him. . . . He split last season between Victoria and the Moose Jaw Warriors, totalling 29 goals and 36 assists in 60 games. In 194 career regular-season games, he has 205 points, including 86 goals. . . . Gregor also has played in 28 playoff games, recording 11 goals and 12 assists. . . . The Raiders open a Central Division swing tonight (Wednesday) in Medicine Hat and should have Gregor in their lineup against the Tigers.
acquired D Ty Ettinger, 18, from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Monday, added D Ryan Pouliot, 20, off waivers.
period deficits en route to a 5-4 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Blades have lost two in a row after opening the season with three straight victories. . . . The game featured two PP goals by each team. . . . F Jeff de Wit scored twice for Red Deer. He’s got five goals in six games; he finished last season with 11 goals in 43 games split among the Regina Pats, Kootenay Ice and Victoria Royals. . . . Red Deer D Alex Alexeyev had two assists to run his point streak to six games.
put on a tremendous show, icing the cake by winning the whole thing. . . . Who wouldn’t want to spend 10 days in May in Kelowna? . . . Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, is the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors. He is the most-powerful person in the WHL and don’t discount that as a factor. . . . Including standing room, Prospera Place, which opened in 1999, has room for 6,286 fans. . . . The Rockets are off to a slow start (1-4-0) but history shows that they are more likely to be a contender than a pretender come next season. . . . Odds: 1-1.
The Hurricanes, under general manager Peter Anholt and Terry Huisman, the general manager of business operations, have made a remarkable turnaround. After the 2014-15 season, the Hurricanes had missed the playoffs for six straight seasons and lost more than $1.25 million. Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, was urging shareholders to sell the franchise to private interests. Today, the Hurricanes have reached two straight Eastern Conference finals and shown more than $1 million in profits over those two seasons. . . . On the ice, the future looks bright, led by forwards Dylan Cozens and Logan Barlage, two of the WHL’s best young players. . . . The ENMAX Centre, which opened in 1974 but has undergone recent upgrades, has a capacity of 5,479. . . . Odds: 2-1.
them three Memorial Cup titles in four years. The 2020 tournament will be the 25th anniversary of the third one. . . . Tom Gaglardi and Co. are into their 11th season as the franchise’s owners and have yet to show they can build a winner. That won’t help their cause with the BoG. Neither will the ham-handed fashion in which the retirement/dismissal of Don Hay was handled in May. . . . The Blazers’ new braintrust — headed up by GM Matt Bardsley and head coach Serge Lajoie — hasn’t had time to prove itself. . . . Kamloops, the Tournament Capital of Canada, has a wonderful history of playing host to events like the Brier, the Canada Games and the IIHF World Women’s Championship, something that should hold the bid in good stead. . . . The Sandman Centre had 5,464 seats before some were removed in order to put loge seating in the upper deck on one side. That new seating, in itself, will be an attraction. Unfortunately, the Sandman Centre doesn’t include an on-site restaurant like Prospera Place and the ENMAX Centre. . . . Odds: 5-1.
again on Wednesday in Calgary. When the WHL’s board of governors votes on a host team/city for the 2020 Memorial Cup, it could easily decide to go with the bid that includes the highest guaranteed profit — teams all get a cut of the profit. If it comes to that, Kamloops may have an edge because the Gaglardi family has more chips than the Kelowna or Lethbridge owners. . . . Earlier this year, Canadian Business estimated the net worth of the Gaglardi family, through Northland Properties, at $3.92 billion, up 10.4 per cent from 2017. . . . Tom Gaglardi owns the NHL’s Dallas Stars and is the majority owner of the Blazers. Might he be interested in attempting to buy the hosting rights for the 2020 Memorial Cup?
Monday that they will be getting back defencemen Dylan MacPherson and Linus Nassen. Both players had been in camp with the NHL’s Florida Panthers before being assigned to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. . . . MacPherson, from Redcliff, Alta., has played two seasons with the Tigers, putting up four goals and 18 assists in 124 regular-season games. . . . Nassen, from Sweden, was a third-round pick by the Panthers in the NHL’s 2016 draft. Last season, his first in the WHL, had had one goal and 25 assists in 44 games. . . . With those two in town, the Tigers have four 20-year-olds on their roster, the other two being F Ryan Jevne and D Dalton Gally. . . . As an import, Nassen would be a two-spotter should the Tigers keep him. His arrival won’t affect the Tigers’ import situation as freshmen G Mads Sogaard is their only other European player.
decision to the host Oshawa Generals on Sunday night. According to the North Bay Nugget, Butler, the Battalion’s director of hockey operations and head coach since 1998-99, said before the game that he plans to take time “to try to get some things sorted out.” Butler, 62, apparently met with Oshawa’s club doctor before deciding not to go behind the bench on Sunday. . . . Butler was behind the bench on Saturday night for a 6-1 loss to the Niagara IceDogs in St. Catharines. . . . In Butler’s absence, assistant coaches Scott Wray and Adam Dennis ran the bench. . . . Butler is the fourth-winningest head coaching OHL history, his 703 victories trailing Brian Kilrea (1,194), Bert Templeton (907) and Dale Hunter (728). . . . Butler spent one season (1996-97) in the WHL, as the head coach of the Prince George Cougars.
I referred to as “old-fashioned news releases.”
the 2019 WHL bantam draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2021 bantam draft. . . . The Royals’ news release indicated that both draft picks were conditional; the Rockets’ news release didn’t use the word ‘conditional.’ . . . The Royals got Zablocki from the Lethbridge Hurricanes at last season’s trade deadline, giving up a second-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft, a conditional third-rounder in 2019 and a sixth-rounder in 2018. . . . He recorded one goal and five assists in 25 regular-season games with the Royals, then added two goals and an assist in 10 playoff games. . . . Zablocki also has played with the Regina Pats and Red Deer Rebels. In 201 regular-season games, he has 58 goals and 64 assists. . . . Zablocki, from Wetaskiwin, Alta., was a fifth-round pick by the Prince George Cougars in the 2013 bantam draft. The Detroit Red Wings selected him in the third round of the NHL’s 2017 draft. . . . 
selected in the CHL’s 2018 import draft. From Norway, Roykas Marthinsen will turn 19 on Tuesday. He was selected by the Washington Capitals in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL draft. He has yet to sign with them, but has twice skated at their development camp. . . . Last season, he had 23 goals and eight assists in 23 games with Almtuna IS J20 in Norway’s elite junior league. . . . Saskatoon has yet to sign D Emil Malysjev, its other selection in the CHL import draft. Malysjev, 17, has dual Sweden-Russian citizenship. He spent the past two seasons in HV71’s organization, and may play with its elite 18 team this season.
Ewen of Postmedia via Twitter: “Do you know if he’s been released?”
CHL import draft. Schultz, from Rodovre, Denmark, played last season with the Rodovre Mighty Bulls of Denmark’s top pro league. He had five goals and seven assists in 40 games. He added nine goals and eight assists in 10 games with Rodovre SIK, which plays in the second tier. . . . The Royals finished last season with F Igor Martynov of Belarus and and Russian F Andrei Grishakov as their imports. Both are eligible to play this season as 19-year-olds; however, the Royals chose to bring back only Martynov, who had 18 goals and 25 assists in 63 games as a freshman last season.
TAKING NOTE 