F Zach Benson’s eighth goal, at 13:31 of the third period, broke a 4-4 tie as the host Winnipeg Ice beat the Everett Silvertips, 5-4, on Tuesday night. . . . F 
Connor McLennon had two goals — he’s got 10 — and two assists for Winnipeg. . . . F Austin Roest scored his 11th for the visitors. . . . G Daniel Hauser stopped 37 shots for the Ice as he posted his 11th straight victory. His career regular-season record now is 52-3-2. . . . Everett has two Winnipeggers on its roster — F Ryan Hofer and F Caden Zaplitny — and they each scored once. . . . The Ice (14-1-0) has won nine in a row, with its next eight games on home ice where it is 2-0. . . . F Connor Geekie and D Graham Sward, who was acquired on the weekend from the Spokane Chiefs, were among Winnipeg’s scratches. Geekie was serving a one-game suspension after being penalized for slew-footing in a game against the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday. . . .
F Jaden Lipinski’s OT goal gave the Vancouver Giants a 3-2 victory over the 
Tigers in Medicine Hat. . . . F Zack Ostapchuk, the Giants’ captain, pulled his guys into a 2-2 with 5.4 seconds left in the third period. . . . Lipinski won it at 3:28 of OT. . . . F Gavin McKenna, 14, the first pick in the WHL’s 2022 draft, played his second game with the Tigers. He was in the lineup on Sept. 24 and had four assists in a 9-1 victory over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was held off the scoresheet last night. . . .
In Prince Albert, the Raiders coughed up a 4-0 lead before beating the Tri-City 
Americans, 5-4. . . . F Landon Kosior broke a 4-4 tie on a PP at 1:09 of the third period. . . . Kosior finished with two goals and two assists. F Carson Latimer had three assists for the winners. . . . F Luke Moroz, a first-round selection in the WHL’s 2022 draft, made his debut with the Raiders. He was added to the roster after F Cole Peardon and F Ryder Ritchie headed to Langley, B.C., and the U-17 World Hockey Challenge that is to begin on Thursday. Moroz, 15, is playing with the Regina Pat Canadians of the SMAAAHL. . . . The Raiders began the game with nine forwards, then lost F Zach Wilson after a couple of scraps 12 minutes into the first period. . . .
In Kent, Wash., the Seattle Thunderbirds led 2-0 at 1:11 of the first period en 
route to a 5-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . The Thunderbirds, now 10-1-0, got a goal and two assists from F Kyle Crnkovic, who has points in 11 straight games. Yes, he has a point in every game this season. . . . F Reid Schaefer had his second three-goal game this season for Seattle, giving him 13. He is tied for the WHL lead with F Connor Bedard of the idle Regina Pats. . . . F Kevin Korchinski added three assists for Seattle. . . . This completed a tripleheader between these teams. They split on Friday and Saturday in Prince George, with the Thunderbirds winning 5-4 and the Cougars winning 4-1. . . . Seattle F Jared Davidson had two assists but his five-game goal streak was halted. . . .
D Nolan Bentham scored two goals to help the host Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 
5-1 victory over the Victoria Royals. . . . The Hurricanes scored the game’s last four goals. . . . F Deegan Kinniburgh, who is from Taber, Alta., made his WHL debut with the Royals. Kinniburgh, who plays for the U18AAA Hurricanes, was a ninth-round pick in the WHL’s 2021 draft.
A long-time WHL fan from the Portland area has what he says is a “pet peeve” that he asked me to pass along . . .
“Dear WHL announcers based in Canada:
“Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., are NOT part of Canada . . . they are NOT part of the nation of Canada.
“Yes, their WHL teams both are ranked in the Top 10 of the CHL poll . . . but that does NOT make them the ‘nation’s third-ranked’ team or ‘the nation’s seventh-ranked’ team, etc., etc.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
Before Everett played the Pats in Regina on Sunday, Casey Bryant, the radio voice of the Silvertips, walked fans from the bottom level of the Brandt Centre to the press box. Yes, it’s quite a hike. It’s interesting that the Brandt Centre crew didn’t show him to the freight elevator, though.
BTW, just kidding about the freight elevator.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
D Corbin Vaughan of the Regina Pats has been suspended for four games after he was hit with a headshot major and game misconduct against the visiting Tri-City Americans on Sunday. He was playing his second game after having served a four-game suspension that was a issued under supplemental discipline after a game against the Prince Albert Raiders on Oct. 12. . . .
The BCHL’s Cranbrook Bucks and Ryan Donald, their general manager and head coach, have agreed on a six-year contract extension. The Bucks are 39-41-7 since Donald was named head coach in March 2020. He is the only coach the team has known since it entered the BCHL. . . . The news release didn’t indicate when the extension would expire, but Donald signed a four-year contract on March 24, 2020. That deal started with the beginning of the 2020-21 season, so would have gone through 2023-24. Six seasons on top of that would take the Bucks and Donald through 2029-30. . . . If you were wondering, hockeydb.com shows the Bucks’ announced average attendance at 2,341, third-best in the BCHL. The Penticton Vees (2,710) and Chilliwack Chiefs (2,585) are ahead of them.
THINKING OUT LOUD — The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets won a game on Monday, improving to 2-5, and head coach Steve Nash was gone the next morning. Gotta think Nash is relieved about no longer having to deal with Dr. Kyrie Irving on a daily basis. . . . The Nets dropped a 108-99 decision to the visiting Chicago Bulls last night. . . . The NFL’s trade deadline came and went on Monday. Perhaps the most interesting deal had the Atlanta Falcons trade WR Calvin Ridley to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Uhh, Ridley is serving an indefinite suspension — he can apply for reinstatement in February — for betting on games. At one point last season, he bet on the Falcons to beat the Jaguars. . . . Houston Astros 0 at Philadelphia Phillies 7. The Phillies lead 2-1 and are in a position to win the World Series at home. Five homers in each of the next two games will do it.
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Saturday in a game that, if you’re a Victoria fan, ended in bizarre fashion. If you are a Giants’ supporter, well, you must have loved it.
Centre — on Sunday and won their second game in a row for the first time this season, beating the Kamloops Blazers, 6-3. . . . Each team was playing for the third time in fewer than 48 hours; the Giants were playing their fourth game in fewer than 96 hours. . . . Vancouver (3-5-3) also is taking its show on the road. The Giants will play six games in the Central Division, starting Thursday night against the Edmonton Oil Kings — and two against the Prince George Cougars before next playing at home against Kamloops on Nov. 18.
Hitmen on Sunday. Fiddler-Schultz, the team captain, struck for five goals, four of them in the first period, in leading the Hitmen to a 6-1 victory. . . . Fiddler-Schultz tied F Pavel Brendl’s franchise record for most goals in one game. Brendl scored five in an 8-2 victory over the visiting Raiders on Nov. 11, 2000. . . . Fiddler-Schultz’s four first-period goals tied Brendl and F Owen Fussey for most goals in a period. Brendl scored four third-period goals in a 5-2 victory over the Warriors in Moose Jaw on Oct. 18, 2000; Fussey had four in the third period of a 7-3 victory over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes on Feb. 6, 2002. . . . Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow) also tweeted that Fiddler-Schultz, who had gone six games without a goal, now has had one three-goal game, a four-game and this five-goal effort during his career. Brandow also noted that Fiddler-Schultz set a franchise record for fastest three goals (2:43) — F Michael Bubnick held the previous record (6:48) from a 5-3 less to the visiting Red Deer Rebels on Jan. 13, 2002. . . . 
ally . . . returned to the supposedly friendly confines of Rogers Arena. And this one had it all. It had the road team opening the scoring with a fluky power-play goal. A gentleman wearing a retro Canucks jersey and a paper bag on his head, posing for photos with other fans in his section. The fans booed during play as the game twisted away from Vancouver. They booed as the Sabres top line cycled the puck endlessly in the Vancouver end. They booed the Canucks on the power play. They even booed ‘Sweet Caroline.’ ”
outings — as they come out of a bye week and prepare to meet the visiting Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. . . . The fun began on Tuesday when Cody Fajardo, the starting quarterback, didn’t take an active role in practice. Head coach Craig Dickenson, whose job would seem to be on the line, said that Fajardo was taking a “vet” day and that he would start on Saturday. Headline at leaderpost-com — Cody Fajardo given ‘vet day’; will start Saturday against Calgary. . . . On Wednesday, however, Dickenson said that backup Mason Fine will start. On top of which, Fajardo told the newshounds that he had been told five days previous that he wouldn’t be starting. . . . “Cody Fajardo has absorbed more than his fair share of hits during the 2022 CFL season,” writes Murray McCormick of The Leader-Post, “but even he was blindsided by his demotion from starting quarterback to second string with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.” . . . As for Fajardo, he told those same newshound: “I hope there’s somebody out there that might still want me. I don’t think this is the end of the Cody Fajardo book. But it might be the end of this chapter.” . . . With two games remaining — they finish up next weekend in Calgary — the Roughriders haven’t yet been eliminated from the playoff picture, but time is of the essence. . . . “We need a spark,” Dickenson said in giving his reason for the QB switch. . . . Well, take a trip around social media and check out the Saskatchewan fans. I think Dickenson’s spark has started a fire. Yes, they do take their football seriously on the flatlands.
beaten, 3-0, by the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Rockets find themselves with three goaltenders on their roster after the NHL’s New York Rangers returned Boyko on Monday. Boyko, selected in the fourth round of the NHL draft, has signed with the Rangers, who had assigned him to the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen. . . . The Rockets acquired the 6-foot-8 Boyko from the Tri-City Americans early last season. With Kelowna, he was 28-12-4, 2.79, .913 in 46 games. In 102 career WHL regular-season games, he is 43-43-8, 3.56, .899. . . . The other two goaltenders on the Rockets’ roster are both 18-year-old freshmen — Nicholas Cristiano of Langley, B.C., and Jari Kykkanen of Lloydminster, Alta. Kykkanen, a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2019 draft, is 3-3-1, 3.71, .883 in seven appearances; Cristiano, who has been in three games, is 0-1-0, 2.61, .879. . . . The Rockets now are carrying two 20-year-olds — Boyko and F Adam Kydd. . . . 
won’t play tonight (Friday) against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. Steve Ewen of Postmedia reports that Ostapchuk “reportedly will be sidelined two to three weeks” and that GM Barclay Parnetta said he “wasn’t expecting to see Ostapchuk . . . back for as many as four weeks.” . . . Ostapchuk was a second-round selection by the Senators in the NHL’s 2021 draft. . . . On Wednesday, the Giants dealt F Cole Shepard, 20, to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a third-round pick in the 2023 WHL draft. Shepard, who has struggled with injuries for the past few seasons, had seven goals and 13 assists in 28 games last season with Vancouver. Shepard is in camp with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.
news release is “Long-Term Injury Reserve.” F Jakub Demek, 19, D Graydon Gotaas, 18, and F Tyler Horstmann, 20, all went on LTIR as they continue to recover from offseason surgery to repair undisclosed injuries. . . . With Horstmann on the shelf, the Oil Kings claimed F Reid Jacobson, 20, off waivers from the Spokane Chiefs. Jacobson put up 35 points, including 12 goals, in 114 games over three seasons with the Chiefs. . . . The Oil Kings now have four 20-year-olds on their roster, with Jacobson joining D Logan Dowhaniuk, F Carson Golder and F Jaxsen Wiebe.
same people were even more surprised to find out that Lindgren, a fourth-round selection of the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL’s 2022 draft, had asked out of Kamloops. . . . So what happened? . . . “It was the best thing for me for personal reasons and I’m just excited for this new opportunity,” Lindgren told Greg Meachem of 
Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Regina on Sunday. . . . With the game tied 17-17 in the fourth quarter, and neither team having yet scored in the second half, the Roughriders had moved into field goal range when a schmozzle developed at the Saskatchewan bench. WR Duke Williams of the Roughriders, not dressed because of an ankle injury, was flagged for yapping with fewer than 11 minutes to play. Saskatchewan took a holding penalty on the next play and, because the penalty had pushed them out of field goal ranger, was forced to punt.
in Herning, Denmark, on Sunday to understand. . . . Yes, that was Scott Smith, the president and CEO of Hockey Canada, handing out the gold medals to the Canadian team after its 2-1 victory over the U.S., in the process allowing controversy to creep into what should have been a time that belonged strictly to the winners. . . . The arrogance, the tone deafness . . . call it whatever you want . . . it was off the charts. . . . What it wasn’t was surprising. . . . If you haven’t realized it before, you should be aware by now that the Hockey Canada pooh-bahs seem to be planning to wait this out while the whole mess gets swept (shovelled?) under the carpet and disappears from the public mind. . . . At the end of the day, it’s all about the power and the accompanying perks. Once your nose is in the trough, it’s awfully hard to walk away on a voluntary basis. Obviously, the time has come for someone — politicians? sponsors? — to push harder.
Unfiltered tried to answer the question: “Why?” . . . Here’s what he wrote: “Because it’s a hockey thing and it involves hockey people, a group that, generally speaking, loves to wear its status as an outlier like a badge of honour. It’s such an insular, tribal group and it believes the problems that plague the game can only be solved by people who are deeply involved in it, people who are well-versed in the supposed complex and unique nuances involved in a game where players chase a black disc around the ice. Even if those are the same people who cause the problems in the first place.”
coach with head coach Brad Lauer, who has joined the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets as an assistant alongside head coach Rick Bowness. . . . From an Oil Kings’ news release: “In his four seasons behind the Edmonton bench as an assistant coach, Pierce helped guide the club to a record of 154-46-13-10, four straight Central Division championships and the 2022 WHL championship while overseeing the team’s defence and penalty-kill unit. During his tenure, the Oil Kings have finished in the top 10 in penalty killing each season and had the best penalty kill during both the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.” . . . Pierce has previous WHL head-coaching experience from two seasons (2015-17) with the Kootenay Ice (remember them?). . . . From Merritt, B.C., he was the general manager and head coach for his hometown Centennials of the BCHL for five-plus seasons (2009-15). . . . It also must be pointed out that Pierce has served as vice-president and chairman for Hockey Gives Blood since 2018.
Mark Holick left the club on June 10, citing personal reasons. Now there are rumblings that Don Hay, the winningest head coach in WHL history, is returning to the Blazers to work alongside Shaun Clouston, the general manager and head coach. . . . The Blazers will be the host team for the 2023 Memorial Cup tournament, and wouldn’t it be fitting for Hay to conclude his long coaching career in his hometown? . . . You may recall that Tom Gaglardi, the Blazers’ majority owner, announced Hay’s retirement on May 10, 2018. “Don Hay is a legend and it is only fitting that he is able to retire with his hometown Kamloops Blazers as the winningest coach in WHL history,” Gaglardi said in a news release. . . . Not so fast, though. Hay, it turns out, wasn’t finished. He has spent the past four seasons (2018-22) with the Portland Winterhawks, the first three as assistant coach and last season as associate coach. . . . All told, Hay has spent 13 seasons on the Blazers’ coaching staff — six (1986-92) as an assistant coach and seven (1992-95, 2014-18) as head coach. . . .
Well, it just so happens that Kyle Gustafson, who spent 18 seasons in their organization, is available. Gustafson, 41, is from Portland. He was an assistant coach with the Winterhawks for 14 seasons (2003-17), the associate coach for one (2017-18), and the assistant general manager and associate coach for three (2018-21). . . . He spent last season as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks, but lost his job in the offseason as the NHL team shuffled its coaching staff. . . . A return by Gustafson to Portland also would allow the Winterhawks to put in place a plan of succession that could see him take over the head-coaching duties from Mike Johnston, 65, in a year or two. . . . Johnston, who has been with the Winterhawks for a total of 12 seasons covering two stints, also is the franchise’s vice-president and general manager. . . . 
Michael Dyck’s staff because associate coach Keith McCambridge, 48, left after two seasons to join the Bakersfield Condors, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, as an assistant coach. . . . Don’t be surprised if the Giants sign Adam Maglio, 36, to fill that spot. He joined the Spokane Chiefs as the associate coach for 2019-20, then was promoted to head coach on Aug. 27, 2020, replacing Manny Viveiros, who had moved on to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. . . . The Chiefs fired Maglio on Feb. 10, and named assistant coach Ryan Smith the interim head coach. Smith has since had the interim tag removed and is preparing for his first season as the Chiefs’ head coach. . . . Maglio, who is from Nelson, B.C., spent four seasons with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings, the last two as head coach, before signing with the Chiefs.
had made its way into their locker room. This week, it’s the Calgary Stampeders. . . . The Roughriders had at least 11 players, including starting QB Cody Fajardo, test positive and had to push back their game against the visiting Toronto Argonauts from Saturday to Sunday. . . . Now the Stampeders have a problem. Five players, three of them starters, missed Tuesday’s practice. Danny Austin of Postmedia reported that head coach Dave Dickenson “confirmed there was at least one case of pneumonia and several in COVID protocol.” . . . The Stampeders (4-1) are scheduled to entertain the two-time defending Grey Cup-champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-0) on Saturday night.
summer weather — on Tuesday, at 8 p.m., it was 32 C in Kamloops — it’s easy to forget that the 2022 World Junior Championship is scheduled to open in Edmonton on Aug. 9. . . . It’s hard to disagree with Dan Barnes of Postmedia who wrote on Tuesday that the tournament “seems much less like a potential money-maker and far more like the proverbial turd in the punch bowl.” . . . Yes, it seems ticket sales for games not involving Team Canada are in the dumper. Because, as Barnes wrote, “it seems the boys of winter are not the same kind of draw in the dog days of summer.” . . . He also wrote: “Two weeks out, the tournament does not have an overt presence in the city. Officials from Hockey Canada and the IIHF have not answered interview requests from Postmedia regarding the tournament.” . . . Could it be that there is some ducking and running going on, what with Hockey Canada neck deep in other things these days? . . . Barnes’ column, which is well worth a read, is 
his show to The Lizard. . . . Bartel, the Rockets and Kelowna radio station 104.7 FM — aka The Lizard — announced on Monday that he will continue as the play-by-play voice of the local WHL team, a job he has held for 22 years. . . . The Rockets had been with Bell Media’s AM 1150 for more than 20 years, but announced earlier this month that they were making the move to The Lizard, which is owned by Pattison Media. At the time, Gavin Hamilton, the Rockets’ vice-president of business development, said in a news release: “We especially want to recognize Regan Bartell (sic). Regan has an incredible voice and his dedication to our fans to produce a first-class broadcast for all Rockets games will always be appreciated.” . . . In a news release on Monday, The Lizard offered that Bartel’s signing is “all part of a strategy to restore the Rockets profile in the city.”
TAKING NOTE 