That's it for Tuesday. . . .

WHL TRADE DEADLINE: Thursday, 3 p.m. Calgary time.

ON THE MOVE (since Jan. 1):
Players: 23
Bantam draft picks: 5
Conditional bantam draft picks: 2

TRADE BANTER: Craig Bonner, the Vancouver Giants’ assistant GM/assistant coach, attended Tuesday’s game between the Saskatoon Blades and host Edmonton Oil Kings. Presumably, Bonner was paying close attention to Edmonton D Bretton Stamler and Matt Swaby. Both are 20-year-old defencemen, something the Giants covet. . . . D Mark Louis, another 20-year-old, was thought to be available but that may not be the case. Louis was acquired by the Rebels from the Brandon Wheat Kings earlier in the season. According to the Red Deer Advocate, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Louis’s “presence has bolstered a relatively young Red Deer blueline and his value as a mentor is priceless.” . . . The Red Deer Rebels said Tuesday that C Brandon Sutter isn’t going anywhere. Randy Peterson, the team’s vice-president of hockey operations, told the Red Deer Advocate: “He’s the face of the franchise. There are certain players you don’t move.” . .. . The Lethbridge Hurricanes, looking for a defenceman, didn’t get anything done Tuesday. But today might be the day. The Lethbridge Herald reported that “indications late Tuesday were that Prince Albert defenceman Jeff May was the most likely candidate to land in Lethbridge. The 20-year-old blueliner . . . was conspicuously held out of the lineup last night when the Raiders played in Swift Current, which generally indicates a deal has already been brokered.”

CZECHING IN WITH AMERICANS: The Tri-City Americans will have Czech LW Radek Meidl, 19, in their lineup tonight when they meet the Silvertips in Everett. “He practised with us today and he’s tired, but he’ll play,” Tri-City GM Bob Tory said Tuesday afternoon. Meidl played for Czech Republic at the World Junior Championship that concluded Saturday. Meidl had 27 points, including 16 goals, with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season. But the Thunderbirds chose to go this season with freshman G Riku Helenius (Finland) and sophomore LW Jan Eberle (Czech Republic) as its two imports. . . . The Americans will be without C Shaun Vey (concussion), while C Taylor Procyshen, who has missed 16 games with a concussion, remains out. Procyshen was back on an exercise bike yesterday for the first time since he was injured. . . .

TUESDAY CHATTER: Roger Lemire, the Vancouver Giants’ vice-president of sales and marketing, will leave the team early next month. He is going to work in marketing with CTV. Lemire was one of the first people hired by the Giants when they were putting together their staff prior to the 2001-02 season. . . . The Kelowna Rockets have assigned LW Matthew Brusciano, 18, to the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles. He missed 21 games with a concussion, and has two points in 14 games. . . . It turns out that C Justin Maylan, who was dealt by the Moose Jaw Warriors to the Prince George Cougars in Monday’s Ty Wishart deal, had asked for a trade, thus waived the no-trade clause that a lot of 16-year-olds have in their contracts. “This is great — way better than Moose Jaw,” Maylan told Jim Swanson of the Prince George Citizen. “I initiated it, let my agent know before Christmas that it wasn’t working out. He found out Prince George was an option, and I was thrilled because Prince George is a great hockey town. This is a good, young team with good coaching and good management, and I think I’m going to get to play a lot more. “The reasons (for asking for a trade), they were personal, but the big thing was icetime.” . . . RW Brad Riege, 18, the other player Prince George acquired in that deal, is to join the Cougars on Tuesday. He took an extra day to consider his options. . . . Lethbridge G Juha Metsola, who has missed three games with a groin problem, practised Tuesday. . . .

TUESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Edmonton, G Alex Archibald earned the first shutout in the Oil Kings’ history as they dumped the Saskatoon Blades, 4-0. . . . Archibald made 24 saves as the Blades were blanked for the fourth time this season. . . . The Oil Kings (15-20-2-6) had lost four in a row; they also had lost four in a row at home. . . . The Blades (13-25-2-1) have lost four straight. . . . Saskatoon F Colton Gillies wore the ‘C’ after the Blades traded captain Justin McCrae to the Spokane Chiefs on Monday. . . . C Brenden Dowd scored the game’s first goal, his 11th, at 14:22 of the first period stood up as the winner. . . . F Burke Gallimore, acquired Monday from Spokane in the McCrae deal, played for the Blades. He is a regular with the midget AAA Edmonton Canadian Athletic Club (Gregg’s Distributors). . . .

In Medicine Hat, C Dustin Sylvester scored twice in the third period, one of them shorthanded, to help the Kootenay Ice edge the Medicine Hat Tigers, 5-4. . . . The Tigers (24-15-3-1) had won four of five going into this one but now have lost two in a row. . . . The Ice (25-14-3-0), which now is one point ahead of the Tigers, has won four of five. . . . The Ice holds a 2-1 edge in the season series but this was the first time the road time has won. . . . Sylvester’s shorthanded goal gave the Ice a 4-3 lead. RW Arnaud Jacquement, in his first game since playing for Switzerland at the World Junior Championship, added an empty-netter before Medicine Hat got a late goal from RW Mikeal Ahle’n. . . . Ahle’n hit a goal post on a penalty shot in the first period. . . . Jacquement finished with two goals and was plus-3. . . . Medicine Hat led 3-1 going into the third period. . . . Sylvester scored eight minutes into the third, with LW Matt Fraser getting the equalizer at 9:19. Sylvester then put the Ice ahead with his 23rd of the season at 15:39. . . . The Tigers visit Cranbrook on Friday. . . .

In Swift Current, the Prince Albert scored the game’s first goal and then gave up five in a row as the Broncos put up a 5-1 victory. . . . The Broncos (22-17-0-5) have won three in a row. . . . They had GM/head coach Dean Chynoweth back after a two-game suspension. . . . The Raiders (14-24-3-2) have lost four of five. They had been 4-0 against the Broncos. . . . C Zack Smith scored twice for the Broncos, giving him 17 this season. He had 16 in 71 games last season.