Sunday notes and highlights . . .

RW Brad Riege of the Moose Jaw Warriors can expect a call from the WHL office Monday. He received a match penalty for attempt to injury during a fight with Everett F Kyle Beach in the Silvertips’ 6-1 home-ice victory Saturday night. . . . Riege, who perhaps didn’t get the drumstick he wanted at the Christmas table, is alleged to have bitten Beach on one hand during a line brawl. . . . The good news is that the bite didn’t break the skin; the bad news is that WHL hanging judge Richard Doerksen frowns on such behaviour. . . . However, Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak has told the Moose Jaw Times-Herald that Riege is pleading innocent. “He swears up and down that he never bit him,” Hunchak said, “and there’s some video
evidence showing that he didn’t. It’s up in the air right now as to what the
final say is going to be on the suspension.” . . . Riege didn’t play in the Warriors’ 3-2 victory over the Thunderbirds in Seattle on Sunday. . . .

Mr. Doerksen has been a busy man since the end of the Christmas break. . . . Going into weekend action, he already had suspended five players for being naughty since Christmas. . . . LW Adam Chorneyko of the Lethbridge Hurricanes is out indefinitely for a boarding major and game misconduct in Calgary on Friday, while RW Dale Weise of the Swift Current Broncos also got an indefinite sentence under supplemental discipline for an incident against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday. . . . Swift Current RW Keegan Dansereau drew a one-game sentence for a charging major and game misconduct in that same Friday game. . . . LW Dustin Cameron of the Prince Albert Raiders sat out one game for an elbowing major and game misconduct against the visiting Saskatoon Blades on Thursday. . . . Regina Pats LW Todd Kennedy drew an indefinite suspension under supplemental discipline for a hit on C Jay Fehr of the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Thursday. . . .

Did anyone put on more miles during the Christmas break than Everett Silvertips D Jon Harty. The 19-year-old defenceman, who is the Everett captain, is from Oromocto, N.B., and, yes, he went home for Christmas. That took him through four time zones. All told, Harty spent more than 28 hours traveling. . . .

As 2007 fades away and 2008 looms on the horizon, there is bad news for WHL fans who live in the Seattle area. The Seattle Times is going through some tough times, which means cutbacks and changes in coverage. As a result, it no longer will provide its readers with coverage of Silvertips home games, nor will it have a writer reporting from all Thunderbirds home games. . . .

SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Edmonton, the Oil Kings got goals from five different players in beating
the Prince Albert Raiders, 5-1. . . . Edmonton has won two straight since
coming back from the break. . . . Edmonton C Brent Raedeke scored once and now has goals in three straight games. At one point before Christmas, he went 15 games without a goal. . . . D Mark Pysyk, the third pick in the 2007 bantam draft, played his second game for the Oil Kings and picked up his first point, an assist on his club’s last goal. . . . The Raiders (13-21-3-2) had won their previous two games. . . . The Oil Kings are 14-18-2-4. . . .

In Calgary, the Hitmen scored the game’s last four goals to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 6-5. . . . The Hitmen (25-12-1-2) are 2-0 versus Brandon, having beaten the host Wheat Kings 4-3 on Sept. 28. . . . Brandon (23-12-0-1) is 10-6-0-1 on the road. . . . RW Ian Schultz scored three times for the Hitmen. He got the game’s first two goals, at 4:23 and 12:25 of the first period. Then, after Brandon scored five straight games, Schultz tied it 5-5 at 14:31 of the third period. . . . RW Carson McMillan, who is from Brandon, won it with his 11th goal of the season at 19:33 of the third period. . . . It was Schultz’s first WHL three-goal game. . . . Calgary trailed 5-2 with under 12 minutes to play. . . . LW Matt Calvert had two goals and an assist for Brandon. . . . C Kyle Bortis got his 20th goal of the season for
Calgary. . . . Brandon G Joe Caligiuri stopped Bortis on a penalty shot at 14:06 of the second period. . . .

In Kamloops, LW Alex Rodgers tied the game with 34 seconds left in the third period and LW Shayne Wiebe won it in a shootout as the Blazers beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-4. . . . C James Wright had given Vancouver a 4-3 lead at 5:09 of the third period after Mitch Czibere had tied it 3-3 at 19:01 of the second period. . . . The Blazers (18-18-1-1) have won two straight after having lost five of six. . . . The Giants (26-7-1-4) had an eight-game winning streak end. . . . The one point for getting to the circus lifted the Giants into a tie with the idle Spokane Chiefs for first place overall. . . .

In Regina, the Saskatoon Blades, with the WHL’s worst road record, beat the Pats, 2-1. . . . Yes, the game included a line brawl, which is dog bites man news when these teams meet. . . . The Blades (13-21-2-1) had lost four straight. . . . The Pats (24-15-1-1) had won their last two games, including a 3-2 shootout victory in Saskatoon on Saturday. . . . Regina lost the game despite outshooting the visitors 8-0 in the third period and 24-16 overall, and despite having three straight third-period power plays. . . . Saskatoon RW Walker Wintoneak’s goal at 14:54 of the second period broke a 1-1 tie. . . . Regina C Tim Kraus needs reconstructive surgery after being hit in an ear with a puck in the second period. Pats coach Terry Perkins told the Regina Leader-Post that the ear “blew apart.” . . . Saskatoon LW Ondrej Fiala left in the first period with an undisclosed injury. . . .

In Seattle, the Moose Jaw Warriors scored three first-period goals and hung on to beat the Thunderbirds, 3-2. . . . The Warriors (20-10-4-3) are 2-1-0-0 on their U.S. swing. . . . The Thunderbirds (16-12-5-1) had won their previous two games. They are 11-3-3-1 at home. . . . Moose Jaw G Joey Perricone stopped 40 shots. That included stopping RW Greg Scott on a penalty shot at 11:20 of the second period. . . . The Warriors are to attend an NBA game on Monday (it’s the Philadelphia 76ers at the Seattle SuperSonics) before continuing their swing Wednesday in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans.