The Tri-City Americans expect to have LW Radek Meidl, 19, join them early in the New Year. Meidl, from Sparta, Czech Republic, will play in the World Junior Championship in his home country and then is expected to join the Americans, who placed him their list about six weeks ago. . . . Last season, Meidl has 27 points in 72 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . With WHL teams allowed to keep two import players, Meidl lost out to Czech LW Jan Eberle, 18, and Finnish G Riku Helenius, 19. . . . Tri-City general manager Bob Tory is believed to have spoken with Meidl and his agent and both have indicated the player will report in the new year. . . . He will join Czech LW Petr Stoklasa, 18, as the Americans’ imports. . . . Meidl is on the Czech Republic’s preliminary roster for the WJC. It will be played in the Czech cities of Liberec and Pardubice beginning on Dec. 26. . . .
FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
In Cranbrook, C Dustin Sylvester scored shorthanded while down two men and the Kootenay Ice went onto drop the Red Deer Rebels, 5-2. . . . Sylvester, who broke a 1-1 tie late in the first period, has 16 goals this season. . . . C Steve Da Silva had a goal, his 22nd, and an assist for the Ice, as did RW Andrew Bailey. . . . The Rebels were without rookie F Landon Ferraro, who suffered a rib injury Friday. . . . Associate coach Jesse Wallin ran the Red Deer bench with head coach Brian Sutter attending a bull sale in Alberta. Wallin is the older brother of Ice D Jordan Wallin. . . .
In Calgary, G Joey Perricone stopped 25 shots to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 3-1 victory over the Hitmen. . . . Calgary (21-9-1-2) lost in regulation time for the first time in 12 games. . . . The Warriors (15-9-4-2) have won four in a row. . . . Moose Jaw got two PP goals from F Jordan Knackstedt. . . . Calgary F Ian Duval scored the game’s first goal early in the second period. . . . Knackstedt, who also had an assist, responded with his 15th and 16th scores of the season. . . . The Warriors were 2-for-6 on the PP; the Hitmen were 0-for-6. . . . Calgary has been using defencemen Eric Frere and Ryan Gillen on its fourth forward unit. . . .
In Edmonton, Lethbridge D Jesse Craige and F Mike Wuchterl, playing in their hometown, both scored as the Hurricanes came from behind to beat the Oil Kings, 3-2. . . . The Hurricanes (22-9-1-1) have won nine of their last 11 outings. . . . The Oil Kings (11-17-2-3) have lost four in a row. . . . Edmonton F Tomas Vincour, who scored on a first-period breakaway, has 11 points over his last eight games. . . . Wuchterl broke a 1-1 tie at 2:28 of the third period. . . . Lethbridge G Juha Metsola stopped 28 shots, 11 more than Edmonton’s Alex Archibald. . . .
In Seattle, RW Prab Rai, who had 19 assists on the season, scored his first goal of the season as the Thunderbirds dumped the Portland Winter Hawks, 7-1. . . . Seattle D Brenden Dillon chipped in his first WHL goal. . . . Seattle (13-10-5-1) got goals from seven different players in beating Portland (5-25-0-0) for the second straight night. . . . D Travis Erhardt scored for Portland, tying the score 1-1 in the first period, but it was all Seattle after that. . . .
In Kamloops, C Jason Reese scored twice and set up two others goals to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-1 victory over the Blazers. . . . The Americans (22-7-1-0) were coming off back-to-back losses to the Silvertips in Everett earlier in the week. . . . C Shaun Vey added a goal and two assists for the winners, who again had GM Bob Tory and assistant coach Terry Virtue running the bench. Head coach Don Nachbaur remains in Prince George due to an illness in his family. . . . It was Teddy Bear Night and Kamloops C Brock Nixon scored the goal at 7:08 of the first period. The game was delayed 12 minutes while the ice was cleared of stuffed toys. . . . Kamloops (15-14-1-1) had won its previous two games. . . . Tri-City G Chet Pickard stopped 31 shots, including 19 in the third period. . . . Tri-City LW Colton Yellow Horn had an assist to run his points streak to 14 games. He has 28 points, including 15 goals, over that stretch and is one game shy of the longest points streak of the season (Steve Da Silva, Kootenay, 15 games, Oct 30 to Dec. 4). . . .
In Chilliwack, LW Travis Dunstall and C Sean Ringrose each had two goals and an assist to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Bruins (17-13-3-0). . . . Medicine Hat (17-12-3-1) had lost 6-3 to the Giants in Vancouver on Friday. . . . Chilliwack forwards Mark Santorelli and Oscar Moller were both blanked, ending six-game point streaks as the Bruins went 0-for-5 on the PP. . . . Chilliwack head coach Jim Hiller lifted G Matt Esposito after Ringrose scored at 8:27 of the third to put the visitors ahead 4-1. Lucas Gore, recalled from the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers, finished up. Esposito stopped 29 shots, while Gore stopped two of three. . . . Hiller also had Moller playing defence in the third period. . . . G Ryan Holfeld stopped 29 shots for the Tigers who are three games into an eight-game road swing. . . . Chilliwack RW Partik Bhungal returned after sitting out four games for disciplinary reasons. . . .
In Prince George, RW Justin Bernhardt scored two goals for the second straight night as the Prince Albert Raiders beat the Cougars 3-2 in overtime. . . . Bernhardt, who had two goals in a 5-4 shootout loss in Kamloops on Friday, also drew an assist on the OT winner. It was scored by Devon LeBlanc at 3:08. It was his 11th goal of the season. . . . Bernhardt’s second goal, his 12th of the season, at 13:48 of the third period forced the extra time. . . .
In Spokane, D Mike Reddington scored the Teddy Bear goal at 3:20 of the second period as the Chiefs dumped the Swift Current Broncos, 3-1. . . . It was Reddington’s first goal of the season and resulted in 3,948 stuffed toys hitting the ice. . . . The Broncos got the game’s first goal, from F Levi Nelson in the first period. . . . The Chiefs, just home from a swing through the Central Division, had just four shots in the opening period. . . . LW Judd Blackwater scored 19 seconds after Reddington and that goal stood up as the winner. . . . Spokane (23-5-1-2) has 49 points, tops in the WHL. . . . The Broncos (17-11-0-5) opened a U.S. Division tour with the loss. . . . The Chiefs are without D Stefan Ulmer who is with the Austrian junior team at the World Junior Division 1A championship in Bad Tolz, Germany.
Posts
