Too much Mucha for Bruins

Kurtis Mucha, the Portland Winter Hawks’ superb 18-year-old goaltender, stopped 65 shots Saturday night to lead his mates to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Chilliwack Bruins . . . Yes, Mucha set a Portland franchise record with the 65 saves . . . But was it a WHL record? . . . The WHL Guide doesn’t list such a record. It does, however, credit the Brandon Wheat Kings with a single-game record 85 shots on goal in a 14-4 victory over the visiting Regina Pats on March 12, 1979 . . . So the next question is: Did one goaltender start and finish for Regina? . . . The answer: No . . . The 1978-89 Wheat Kings may have been the greatest team in WHL history. That night, they put up their 55^th victory. It was also the start of a stretch in which Regina would play, yes, six games in six nights. So Regina head coach Gregg Pilling, his squad in a battle for playoff position with the Edmonton Oil Kings, rested Dirk Graham, Bill Ansell, Doug Wickenheiser and No. 1 goaltender Jeff Lastiwka. As Pilling put it before the game: “We would need a shipment of arms to beat the Wheat Kings.” . . . But back to the goaltenders. Ken McNabb started in goal for Regina and stopped 19 of 26 shots. When the second period started, Darren Wilcox made his WHL debut and, over his 40 minutes, he stopped 52 of 59 shots . . . For now, then, give Mucha the WHL single-game saves record. At least, until someone can prove otherwise . . . By the way, Brandon D Don Dietrich had a goal and four assists in that victory. He has two sons, Jacob and Nick, on the Winter Hawks’ roster . . . Kelly McCrimmon, now the Wheat Kings’ owner, GM and head coach, didn’t play in that game thanks to an ankle injury . . .

The lights are out and no one is home in the WHL for the next few days. The next action is Thursday when the Vancouver Giants visit the Prince George Cougars in a game that originally was scheduled for Friday . . . No games Sunday because of the Grey Cup – for our American friends, that is our Super Bowl and it features the combatants who meet annually in the Labour Day Classic and, one week later, the Banjo Bowl . . . The Regina-based Saskatchewan Roughriders will meet the Winnipeg-based, uhh, Winnipeg Blue Bombers in our Big Game in Toronto. The Bombers, with starting quarterback Kevin Glenn out with a broken left arm, are the underdogs, by something like 11 points. The Roughriders, though, are best known for breaking their supporters’ hearts . . . So don’t be surprised if . . .

The WHL also is taking some down time with two ADT Challenge games scheduled for these parts during the week . . . The WHL team and the touring Russian side will meet in Cranbrook on Wednesday and in Medicine Hat on Thursday . . .

SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

In Moose Jaw, F Levi Nelson scored the only goal of the shootout as the Swift Current Broncos beat the Warriors, 2-1 . . . The Broncos (15-8-0-5) had lost three in a row; they also have lost five shootouts this season . . . The Warriors (11-9-4-2) haven’t lost in regulation in four games (2-0-1-1) . . . Swift Current G Travis Yonkman stopped 33 shots, three more than Moose Jaw’s Joey Perricone . . . C Zack Smith scored for Swift Current in the middle of the first period, with Moose Jaw RW Martin Filo tying it at 12:06 of the second period . . . Nelson was the seventh shooter in the circus as it went four rounds. He scored, with Joel Broda, the last shooter, failing to get the equalizer . . .

In Kamloops, C Steve Da Silva scored twice to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 3-2 victory over the Blazers . . . The Ice (15-10-3-0) is 8-0-1-0 in its last nine games, the blemish a 7-6 OT loss in Kelowna on Friday . . . The Blazers (13-11-1-1) had won five in a row . . . The Blazers scored the
game’s first goal but then surrendered three in a row, with Da Silva’s line getting all three. LW Michael Stickland had two assists and RW Andrew Bailey had three . . . Stickland moved up to that line as the Ice was without LW Kevin King, who will be out up to two weeks with a knee injury. He was hurt Friday in Kelowna when he was hit by Rockets C Cody Almond . . . The Blazers had plenty of opportunities to at least tie this one as the Ice was hit with four straight minor penalties in the third period and, at one point, enjoyed a 5-on-3 advantage for 30 seconds. But the home side had few clear-cut chances and, when they did, G Kris Lazaruk was there. Lazaruk, who was yanked in Kelowna after giving up three goals on 10 shots, finished with
32 saves . . . G James Priestner of the Blazers, who was 4-1-0-1 as a starter, stopped 26 shots . . .

In Kelowna, LW Dana Tyrell had a goal and two assists to lead the Prince George Cougars to a 4-3 victory over the Rockets . . . F Morgan MacLean, who had been held out of a Friday game in Kamloops after missing a Thursday morning workout, had two goals for the Cougars . . . Prince George (10-18-0-0) had lost nine in a row . . . Two weeks earlier, the Rockets (14-9-2-2) swept a weekend doubleheader in Prince George, 5-1 and 6-1 . . . F Evan Bloodoff had two goals for Kelowna, which led 2-0 at 18:28 of the first period and then gave up a goal to MacLean 52 seconds later . . . The Rockets were without C Cody Almond, who drew a two-game suspension for a kneeing major and game misconduct he incurred the previous night . . . G Tommy Tartaglione, back in after Real Cyr started three in a row, stopped 28 saves for the victory . . . D Ty Wishart’s eighth goal, at 8:35 of the third period on the PP, broke a 3-3 tie . . .

In Calgary, the Hitmen scored two third-period goals and beat the Red Deer Rebels, 2-0 . . . G Dan Spence stopped 15 shots for his second shutout of the season and ninth of his career . . . C Ian Duval’s 11th goal of the season, at 7:03 of the third period, stood up as the winner . . . The
Hitmen (19-8-0-2), who are 10-4-0-0 at home, remain atop the Eastern Conference. . . . Calgary is 7-0-0-1 in its last eight outings . . . The Rebels (7-18-4-1) are in the cellar. . . . C Ryan White got the insurance marker on the PP at 10:34 . . . Red Deer has lost three straight . . . Rebels C Tomas Polak was tossed with an interference major and game misconduct at 11:05 of the third period . . . Calgary had 49 shots on goal, meaning it has fired 105 shots on goal in its last two games. Calgary had 55 shots in a 5-3 victory over visiting Edmonton on Friday . . .

In Lethbridge, the Hurricanes jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and hung on for a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings . . . The victory allowed Lethbridge (18-9-1-1) to stay within two points of the Eastern Conference-leading Calgary Hitmen. Lethbridge had lost its last two games .
. . The Oil Kings (10-14-1-3) have lost two in a row . . . Colton Sceviour, on the power play, Cam Braes, at even strength, and Carter Bancks, shorthanded, scored for Lethbridge in the first period . . . Edmonton, which was 2-for-10 on the PP, got second-period goals from Brenden Dowd and
Brett Breitkreuz . . . The Hurricanes, who killed of four 5-on-3 disadvantages, were 1-for-7 on the PP . . . Lethbridge GM Roy Stasiuk earned a bench minor after chatting with referees Jason Mercer and Ryan Thompson in the second intermission . . .

In Prince Albert, LW Derek Hulak broke a 1-1 tie at 13:02 of the third period as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Prince Albert Raiders, 3-1 . . . LW Ondrej Fialo sewed up with an empty-netter at 19:28 . . . D Stefan Elliott had his fifth goal, on the PP, in the first period for the Blades . . . P.A.’s Ryan DePape tied it, also on the PP, at 5:20 of the second . . . The victory allowed the Blades (10-16-1-0), who are 11th in the Eastern Conference, to close to within three points of the 10th-place Raiders (10-15-3-1) . . . Saskatoon has won two in a row; the Raiders have lost two
straight . . .

In Medicine Hat, the Tigers won a rematch of last season’s championship final, beating the Vancouver Giants, 4-3 . . . The Tigers won the WHL championship in seven games last season; the Giants, as the host team, went on to win the Memorial Cup . . . Medicine Hat C Daine Todd broke a 3-3 tie at 4:47 of the third period. That was somehow fitting as the Giants’ third goal, which was credited to D Craig Schira, had bounced off his head and past Medicine Hat G Tomas Vosvrda, who stopped 32 shots. He stood tall in the game’s last 30 seconds when the Giants pressed . . . Todd’s goal came on the PP after the Giants had been nailed for too many men . . . C Casey Pierro-Zabotel scored his first WHL goal for the Giants . . . Medicine Hat, which led 3-1 at one point, was 2-for-6 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-for-1 . . . The Tigers (15-10-2-0) had lost two in a row . . . Vancouver (18-7-1-2) slid to second in the Western Conference, two points behind the Spokane Chiefs . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., the Spokane Chiefs won the battle of the U.S. Division’s top two teams, beating the Tri-City Americans 5-3 in front of 4,959 fans . . . C Chris Bruton had two goals and three assists for the Chiefs, with red-hot LW Drayson Bowman scoring twice and adding an assist . . . The Chiefs (19-3-1-2) have the WHL’s best record. They are atop the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Vancouver Giants and three up on the Americans . . . The Chiefs, who have won six straight, got 19 saves from G Dustin Tokarski . . . The Americans (19-6-0-0) had won six in a row. They now are 13-2-0-0 at home . . . Spokane C Mitch Wahl, who plays on a line with Bowman and Bruton, had four assists . . . The Chiefs had two players go down with injuries. D Jared Spurgeon (ankle) left in the second period after going hard into the boards, while F Seth Compton (ankle) left after blocking a shot in the third period . . . Next up for the Chiefs is a five-game swing into the Central Division. They open Friday in Calgary . . .

In Seattle, RW Bud Holloway scored in the shootout to give the Thunderbirds a 3-2 victory over the Everett Silvertips . . . The Thunderbirds (10-9-4-1) got a big game from G Jacob DeSerres. He stopped 35 shots and then stopped three shooters in the circus . . . Seattle went into the game having gone 0-5 this season in games that needed OT or a shootout . . . Seattle actually had lost 13 straight shootouts . . . In fact, Seattle hadn’t won a shootout since Feb. 4, 2006, when it beat Vancouver, 3-2 . . . The Silvertips (14-12-0-2) have lost three games in a row . . . Everett, which has just four wins in 23 trips to Key Arena, outshot Seattle 37-23, including 17-6 in the first period and 5-2 in the second . . . Everett remains without RW Dan Gendur (shoulder) and D Dane Crowley (concussion), while Seattle D Scott Jackson (ankle) is still out, as are the Schappert boys – C Josh (back) and D Jeremy (shoulder) . . . The teams again Friday in Everett . . .

In Portland, G Kurtis Mucha, as referenced earlier, was the story as the Winter Hawks got past the Chilliwack Bruins, 4-3 . . . Chilliwack outshot its hosts 17-12, 19-13 and 32-5 by period . . . Portland (5-19-0-0) is on its first two-game winning streak of the season. It beat the visiting Regina Pats 4-3 on Tuesday . . . The Bruins (13-12-3-0) are 0-5-1-0 in their last six . . . Portland led this one 4-0 at 18:06 of the second period, thanks to first-period PP goals from Luke Walker and Travis Ehrhardt , a shorthanded effort by Tyler Swystun and an even-strength score by Matt Schmermund, the latter two goals coming in the second period . . . The Bruins got third-period goals from C Mark Santorelli, at 3:47, RW Oscar Moller, his 23^rd, at 15:18, and Brandon Camps, at 19:31 . . . The Chilliwack power-play unit was 1-for-10, while Portland was 2-for-9. . . . There was an interesting situation in this game when Chilliwack D Cody Hobbs was listed as a scratch but got into the game. In fact, he played into the third period when he incurred a minor penalty for kneeing. At that point, as per the rules, he was removed from the game . . . And, yes, it was Teddy Bear Night in Portland . . . Walker’s goal, the first of the game, should have resulted in the stuffed toys being tossed. Unfortunately, F Chris Francis had scored one of those ‘goals’ that ended up being waved off, but that triggered the toss.