Sunday's serving . . .

Trade deadline: Thursday, 3 p.m. Calgary time

The Chilliwack Bruins have added F Randy McNaught from the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. McNaught, 17, was acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks prior to the expansion draft that helped stock Chilliwack’s roster. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder had five points and 54 penalty minutes in 25 games with Nanaimo. . . . The Bruins also have decided to keep D Scott Ramsay on their roster. A fourth-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft, Ramsay was called up to fill in during the Christmas stretch. . . .

The Regina Pats have been rebuilding, it seems, since they played host to the 2001 Memorial Cup. But now that they are into their 90th anniversary season general manager Brent Parker has seen enough. He has swung three deals since New Year’s Day as he quickly turned a pretty decent hockey team into one that is going to be awfully hard to play against.
1. He acquired D Ryan Bender, 20, and D Victor Bartley, 19, from the Kamloops Blazers for D Nick Ross, 18, D Spencer Fraipoint, 19, and a 2008 fourth-round bantam pick;
2. He acquired D Dallas Jackson, 18, from the Red Deer Rebels for LW Troy Ofukany, 20, and D Juraj Valach, 18; and,
3. He acquired RW J.D. Watt, 20, and RW Scott Doucet, 19, from Red Deer for C Cody Gross, 18, and RW Brett Miller, 16.
The Pats, who have been close to the top for the last couple of seasons, have an opportunity to get to the top rung and Parker chose to maximize it.
“We want to do whatever we can to give our fans a product that they can be excited about,” Parker told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. “I’ve said it a lot of times, junior hockey is a very cyclical thing so when you have that opportunity my philosophy and our philosophy as an organization is we’re going to try to take a run at it if we can. Hopefully we’ve given ourselves that opportunity.”
If you look at the moves Parker has made, you realize that he is looking past the regular season. He has added a whole lot of experience with Bender, Bartley, Doucet and Watt. These also are players who are big and strong and should pay dividends in the marathon that is the playoff run.
“We felt we were competitive (before the deals),” Parker told Harder. “We just felt we had to be harder to play against. Down the stretch and come playoff time, that’s where you win. You have to play well as a team and be gritty and (have) character. That’s what gives you success.”
You’ve got to think, too, that Parker may not be done. The trade deadline arrives Thursday afternoon and with what he has done since New Year’s Day, you’ve got to think he’d be willing to pay a price to bring in a proven scorer.
In fact, Harder is reporting that the Pats may be close to acquiring Swedish F Robin Figren from the Edmonton Oil Kings.

SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Brandon, F Matt Calvert had two goals and two assists as the Wheat Kings dumped the Prince Albert Raiders, 9-3. . . . The Brandon line of Calvert, Brayden Schenn and Scott Glennie, all first-year players, combined for 11 points. Glennie set up four goals; Schenn had a goal and two helpers. . . . D Theran Yeo added two Brandon goals. . . . Brandon (26-13-0-1) is one point behind the Regina Pats, who are the Eastern Conference’s second seed at the moment. . . . The Raiders (14-23-3-2) are 14 points out of a playoff spot. . . .

In Edmonton, the Calgary Htimen went 5-for-7 on the power play and beat the Oil Kings, 6-2. . . . Calgary (30-12-1-2), the first team to 30 victories, is tied with the Vancouver Giants for first overall. . . . C Ryan White had a goal and two assists for the Hitmen. . . . Calgary concluded a six-game road trip with its, yes, sixth victory. . . . Calgary took a 3-2 lead into the third period before putting it away with three goals. . . . Edmonton (14-20-2-6) is 11 points out of a playoff spot. . . . Calgary C T.J. Galiardi had one assist, giving him 42 points, tops among WHL freshmen. . . . Calgary’s power play has 12 goals in its last 21 opportunities. . . . Edmonton F Tomas Vincour sat out a one-game suspension for a hitting-from-behind penalty the previous night. . . . Calgary D Alex Plante (concussion) remains sidelined. . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., F Kyle Beach scored the winner in the circus as the Everett Silvertips beat the Tri-City Americans, 4-3. . . . The Silvertips (22-19-0-2) have won two in a row and are fifth in the Western Conference. . . . The Americans (28-10-1-1) lost three times over the weekend, the first time they have lost three in a row all season. . . . The Americans took a 3-1 lead into the third period. . . . Everett tied it on goals by LW Lukas Vartovnik and D Jon Harty, the latter tying the score at 17:26 of the third period on the PP. . . . Everett G Shayne Barried stopped 33 shots and then added two more saves in the circus. . . . G Chet Pickard made 27 saves for Tri-City. . . . Harty also scored in the shootout, while LW Colton Yellow Horn, playing his 300th WHL regular-season game, scored for the Americans. . . . Tri-City was playing its fifth game in seven nights. . . . The Americans were without C Shaun Vey (concussion), who was injured Saturday. . . . Tri-City C Taylor Procyshen, who has missed 16 games with a concussion, had an MRI on Wednesday. It was negative and he is slowly resuming some activities. He hasn’t played since Nov. 23. . . . Everett C Zack Dailey (groin) remains on the shelf. . . .

In Swift Current, C David Stieler’s second goal of the game, at 4:07 of overtime, gave the Broncos a 3-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Stieler, a sophomore from Czech Repulic, has 14 goals, one more than he scored last season. . . . Assistant coach Tim Kehler ran the Broncos’ bench in the absence of GM/head coach Dean Chynoweth, who sat out Game 2 of a two-game suspension. . . . Stieler drew an assist on the Broncos’ other goal, which came from C Levi Nelson on a 5-on-3. . . . Regina C Matt Strueby forced OT with his fourth goal midway through the third period. . . . Regina G Linden Rowat stopped 31 shots, 14 more than the Broncos’ Travis Yonkman. . . . Swift Current won 2-1 in overtime in Regina on New Year’s Day. . . . The Broncos (21-17-0-5) moved to within a point of the seventh-place Moose Jaw Warriors in the Eastern Conference. . . . Regina (25-15-3-1) leads the East Division by a point over Brandon. . . . Regina was without RW J.D. Watt, who sat out a WHL suspension after picking up an elbowing major and game misconduct on Saturday. . . . Regina assistant Terry Perkins ran the Pats’ bench, and went 4-2-3-0, with head coach Curtis Hunt serving as an assistant with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship. . . . Regina had LW Jared Jagow back in the lineup. He sat out seven games with an ankle problem. . . .

In Portland, G Jordan White won for the first time this season as the Winter Hawks beat the Prince George Cougars, 3-1. . . . White, who started last season with the Cougars, stopped 41 shots, including 17 in the third period. . . . C Tristan King had two goals for Portland, giving him four on the season. . . . Portland (8-31-0-1) is last in the Western Conference, 10 points behind the Cougars. . . . Prince George (13-27-1-0) has lost four in a row. . . . . Prince George G Real Cyr made 37 saves. . . . White is 1-9-0-1 on the season. . . . The Cougars have won just four their last 23 games. . . . And there’s this from sports editor Jim Swanson of the Prince George Citizen: “Perhaps, all it took was a slip by play-by-play voice Ron St. Clair early in Sunday's game to foreshadow what was to come in Portland. ‘Poulter, from the far hash pipe . . .’ St. Clair quickly corrected himself to ‘hash marks,’ but the tone was set — this season is quickly going up in smoke.” . . .

In Vancouver, D Craig Schira had three assists as the Giants dumped the Kamloops Blazers, 8-1. . . . The Giants (29-8-1-4) moved into first place in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Vancouver and the Calgary Hitmen are tied for first overall. . . . The Blazers (19-2-1-1), who have lost twice and been outscored 14-2 since making two trades Saturday, are tied for seventh with Seattle, although the Thunderbirds have five games in hand. . . . Fourteen of Vancouver’s skaters earned at least one point. . . . Vancouver is 10-1-0-1 without RW Michal Repik (concussion), whose return isn’t yet on the horizon. . . . D Justin Palazzo and C Casey Pierro-Zabotel, both of whom are from Kamloops, both scored for the Giants. . . . The Giants held a 46-20 edge in shots on goal.