Apologies for the late filing – it’s 1:55 a.m. in Kamloops. Just back from Kelowna and watching the Rockets beat the Blazers in a highly entertaining and physical match. . . . Also am able to tell you one of Dan Russell’s trade secrets. Russell, of course, has been the host of Vancouver radio station CKNW’s open mouth show since about the time Moses was chiseling out the tablets. Anyway, Russell also does play-by-play on many of Shaw’s WHL telecasts. So there he was in the press box at Prospera Place on Friday night and there was Doyle Potenteau, who covers the Rockets and the WHL for the Kelowna Daily Courier, putting a nice-and-neat knot in Russell’s tie, making him look good for TV. . . . Once again, a newspaper guy bails out the electronic media. . . . Of course, there likely are those – hello, there, Brian Burke; is that you, Gary Bettman – who figure Potenteau likely didn’t make the knot tight enough . . .
One day after dealing D Chris Stevens to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Chilliwack Bruins have acquired D Chris Vanduynhoven from the Prince George Cougars for a 2009 fourth-round bantam pick. Vanduynhoven, 18, was in his third season with the Cougars. In 142 regular-season games with Prince George, Vanduynhoven, who is from Burnaby, has 16 points and 152 penalty minutes. . . . He is expected to be in Chilliwack’s lineup Saturday when it meets the Blazers in Kamloops. . . .
The Chilliwack Bruins scratched D Dylan Chapman, 20, and RW Partik Bhungal, 19, for Friday’s game with the visiting Portland Winter Hawks. Both players are alternate captains. . . . Both players were being disciplined but no one is talking about what they did. . . . Both players have lost their letters, with one of them going to C Mark Santorelli. . . . It’s not known whether the two will play Saturday in Kamloops. . . . .
The Prince George Cougars have released C Matt Sokol. An 18-year-old centre, Sokol had three points in 14 games with the Cougars. From Los Angeles, he was one of six Americans on the P.G. roster. . . . And still they don¹t play The Star Spangled Banner before their games. . . .
The Seattle Thunderbirds welcomed back D Scott Jackson (sprained ankle) on Friday and so released D Todd Panchyson, 19, who was acquired earlier from the Portland Winter Hawks. . . .
Someone has to say it so here it is. . . . The Teddy Bear Toss is the worst great idea this league, or any other, has ever had. And surely there is a better way to do it. On Friday night in Lethbridge there was a 39-minute delay as the stuffed toys were cleaned off the ice. . . . There isn’t a coach in the league who will speak up against this promotion – after all, it’s for the best cause in the world – but you can bet there isn’t one coach who likes it. . . . And sometimes the delays are simply too much. . . . Too bad the game in Lethbridge hadn’t been on Shaw Cable. Would have been interesting to watch the talking heads fill that much time. . . . Seriously, there has to be a better way to collect stuffed toys than have fans throw them onto the playing surface. . . .
FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
In Kelowna, D Luke Schenn turned in his usual workhorse effort and also chipped in a goal and an assist as the Rockets dumped the Kamloops Blazers, 7-4. . . . The Rockets led 3-0 by 5:19 of the first period but the game was even at 4-4 in the second period. . . . The Rockets (15-9-2-2) had lost two of three going into this one. . . . The Blazers (13-12-1-1) have lost two straight after a five-game winning streak. . . . Kelowna C Colin Long had an assist. He has at least one point in 20 of his last 22 games. . . . See game story posted just below for more on this game. . . . This was a highly entertaining, physical game. Yes, it was junior hockey about at its best. . . .
In Calgary, C Chris Bruton’s 15th goal, at 4:03 of OT, gave the Spokane Chiefs a 2-1 victory over the Hitmen. . . . Bruton, who is from Calgary, had at least 30 family members and friends in the crowd of 7,792. . . . The Chiefs (20-3-1-2), playing their first game on a Central Division tour, have won seven in a row and have the WHL’s best record, two points up on Calgary. . . . The Hitmen (19-8-1-2) had won three in a row and seven of eight going into this one. . . . Spokane D Justin Falk, who played nine games for Calgary (four in 2004-05 and five in 2005-06) had Spokane’s other goal, a power-play score in the second period. . . . RW Carson McMillan had Calgary’s goal in the third period. . . . Spokane G Dustin Tokarski stopped 26 shots, while Calgary’s Dan Spence turned aside 22. . . . Spokane was 1-for-1 on the PP; the Hitmen were 0-for-2. . . . Yes, the game featured only three minor penalties. . . . The referee was Matt Kirk. . . . Spokane was without D Jared Spurgeon (ankle). . . . Spokane LW Drayson Bowman had his 11-game point steak end. He had 25 points, including 14 goals, over those 11 games. Sheesh, the way the game is played these days, that’s a good season for a lot of guys. . . .
In Chilliwack, the Bruins ended a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Portland Winter Hawks. . . . The Bruins (14-12-3-0) had lost 4-3 in Portland on Saturday. . . . The Winter Hawks (5-20-0-0) had won two straight for the first time this season. . . . Portland G Kurtis Mucha, who stopped what is believed to be a WHL single-game record 65 shots Saturday, December 01, 2007, made 38 saves in this one. . . . Chilliwack C Mark Santorelli, who leads the WHL scoring race, had his first career hat trick. . . . Bruins RW Oscar Moller scored his league-leading 24th goal and added four assists. . . . The line of Santorelli, Moller and Evan Pighin combined for 10 points. . . .
In Lethbridge, the Hurricanes scored five times before allowing a shot on goal as they romped to an 8-2 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Lethbridge (19-9-1-1) is 11-5-1-0 at home. . . . Saskatoon (10-17-1-0) had won its last two games. . . . The game drew a sellout (5,202). . . . It was Teddy Bear Night and C Colton Sceviour’s goal at 2:24 of the first period resulted in the stuffed toys hitting the ice. . . . Lethbridge had an 18-2 edge in shots in the first period and 38-16 on the game. . . . Lethbridge C Mitch Fadden had a goal and four assists. Fadden has nine points in two games against the Blades. If Lethbridge played the Blades 72 times, that would compute to 648 points which would be a WHL single-season record. . . . Lethbridge D Mitch Versteeg left after a first-period fight with Saskatoon C Mike Reich. Might be a concussion. . . . The Hurricanes also lost D Ben Wright, their captain, in the first period. He suffered a partially torn triceps. . . .
In Regina, G Linden Rowat stopped 27 shots as the Pats blanked the Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-0. . . . Regina (19-11-0-0) has won three in a row. This was its first game after a U.S. Division swing in which it won its last two games. . . . The Pats have won their last two games with the Tigers, that after losing eight in a row to The Hatters. . . . Medicine Hat (15-11-2-0) was 0-for-4 on the PP and is 3-for-50 on the PP in 11 road games. . . . Regina C Jordan Eberle scored his 22nd goal, shorthanded at 8:46 of the first period, and it stood up as the winner. . . . RW Todd Kennedy scored his first WHL goal for the Pats in the second period and added an assist on RW Brett Leffler’s third-period goal. . . . Rowat has two shutouts this season, both coming in his last two starts, and seven in his career. . . . Medicine Hat has been blanked three times this season. . . . LW Travis Dunstall, acquired Wednesday from Kamloops, wasn’t in the Tigers’ lineup. . . . Regina scratched LW Troy Ofukany, 20, for disciplinary reasons. He will sit out one more game. . . . The Pats also listed C Tim Kraus, their leading scorer, as a healthy scratch. . . . Hmmm. . . .
In Swift Current, C Steve Da Silva reached the 20-goal plateau as he scored three times to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 7-5 victory over the Broncos. . . . The Ice scored five times in the first period and then hung on as the Broncos (15-9-0-5) scored the game’s last three goals. . . . The Ice
(16-10-3-0) has won nine of 10. . . . Da Silva has 14 goals in his last 12 games. . . .
In Everett, D Scott Jackson, back after missing 13 games with a sprained ankle, scored the winner as the Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Silvertips, 2-1. . . . Jackson’s second goal of the season broke a 1-1 tie at 4:51 of the third period. . . . Seattle (11-9-4-1) has won three of four. . . . The Silvertips (14-13-0-2) have lost four in a row. . . . Not much offence in this one as Seattle G Riku Helenius made 11 saves, with Everett’s Shayne Barrie stopping 16 shots. . . . Seattle closed to within three points of the Silvertips, who are sixth in the Western Conference. . . . Everett scratched LW Kyle Beach for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. . . . Everett G Leland Irving and C Vitali Karamnov took the night off after playing in Thursday’s ADT Challenge game between the WHL and Russia in Medicine Hat. . . . Everett also was dinged once again for having too many men on the ice. The Silvertips also took three delay-of-game penalties after putting the puck over the glass from the defensive zone. . . . Everett RW Matt Ius left the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury.
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