THE VERDICTS ARE IN: The Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades have been fined $750 apiece after each being involved in their fourth line brawls of the season on Sunday. Yes, it happened in Regina. Yes, the rematch is Friday. Yes, that, too, will be played in Regina. . . . Get your tickets now!!!! . . . Regina D Colten Teubert drew an automatic two-game suspension for incurring his fourth game misconduct. . . . Saskatoon F Mike Reich got a one-game sentence for picking up game misconduct No. 3. . . . The Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder reports that Reich has been told by WHL disciplinarian Richard Doerksen that he has to toe the line the rest of the way. According to Harder: “The 19-year-old pugilist took several free shots at Pats rookie Garrett Mitchell during a second-period brawl after Mitchell had been restrained by referee Reagan Vetter. The ref was hit by several glancing blows from Reich, who later had to be restrained at the bench to keep him from rejoining the fracas.” . . . Harder notes, in passing, of course, that “Reich leads the league with 17 fighting majors.” . . . Both head coaches, Regina’s Curtis Hunt and Saskatoon’s Lorne Molleken, escaped suspensions because they weren’t with their teams during an earlier brawl. Hunt was in Europe with Canada’s national junior team at that time, while Molleken was off on a scouting expedition. . . . Oh yes, and Regina GM Brent Parker was fined $500 for saying more than “hello” to WHL officiating supervisor Brad Howard in the press box after the donnybrook. . . . Meanwhile, Doerksen also suspended Brandon D Matt McCue for two games for a checking from behind penalty – originally hit with a match penalty, it has been changed to a major – and hit Portland Winter Hawks D Scott Gabriel with two games for a charging incident. . . . Oh yes, the Winter Hawks and Oil Kings also got fined for a line brawl they staged in Edmonton on Saturday. Edmonton paid $500 for what was their third line brawl; Portland got touched for $250 as it was their second such incident. . . . There wasn’t any discipline stemming from a line brawl between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Blazers in Kamloops on Sunday.
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Here’s a look at fines paid by teams this season, showing number of fines and total amount paid:
Regina 4/$1,750
Saskatoon 3/$1,500
Edmonton 3/$1,250
Portland 4/$1,000
Spokane 2/$500
Brandon 1/$250
Chilliwack 1/$250
Medicine Hat 1/$250
Moose Jaw 1/$250
Prince George 1/$250
Seattle 1/$250
(Notes: Portland, Spokane and Seattle have been fined because of battling goaltenders; Saskatoon and Moose Jaw got dinged for warmup violations.)
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A list of coaches and general managers who have been disciplined by the WHL this season, showing games suspended, number of times fined and total amount fined:
Games Fines/Total
John Becanic, Everett 0 2/$1,000
Don Hay, Vancouver 0 2/$1,000
Dean Chynoweth, Swift Current 2 1/$500
Greg Hawgood, Kamloops 0 1/$500
Dave Hunchak, Moose Jaw 0 1/$500
Curtis Hunt, Regina 0 1/$500
Wade Klippenstein, Prince George 0 1/$500
Brent Parker, Regina 0 1/$500
Bill Peters, Spokane 0 1/$500
Steve Pleau, Edmonton 0 1/$500
Roy Stasiuk, Lethbridge 0 1/$500
Turner Stevenson, Seattle 0 1/$500
Rob Sumner, Seattle 0 1/$500
Brian Sutter, Red Deer 0 1/$500
TOTALS 2 16/$8,000
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TWO COACHES BITE THE DUST: The QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan have fired head coach Denis Francoeur. He has been replaced by Ron Choules, who had been scouting for the Titan. The Titan was 23-22-1-2 when it let Francoeur go. Before joining the Titan, he spent 11 seasons with the Shawinigan Cataractes. . . . In the SJHL, the Battlefords' North Stars have fired GM/head coach Gary Clark, with assistant coach Blair Atcheynum taking over both jobs for the balance of this season. The North Stars, one of the SJHL’s youngest teams, were 5-39-3-3 when the move was made. Atcheynum played four seasons in the WHL with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos and Saskatoon Blades (1985-89) . . .
JUST NOTES: The Portland Winter Hawks finally headed south from Red Deer on Tuesday morning. The Winter Hawks, 4-1 losers to the Rebels on Sunday night, encountered bus problems due to the cold weather and ended up spending Sunday and Monday nights in Red Deer. . . . Former WHL goaltender Tommy Tartaglione stopped 36 shots, scored a goal and was the first star Tuesday as the Surrey Eagles beat the Powell River Kings 5-2 in a BCHL game.
TUESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Calgary, the Hitmen scored twice in the game’s first 1:33 and went on to beat the Kootenay Ice, 5-1. . . . Calgary (36-13-1-3) ran its winning streak to four and stayed two points behind the Spokane Chiefs, who lead the overall standings. . . . The Ice (29-17-4-1) had won three in a row on the road. . . . C Ryan White scored 39 seconds in and C Kyle Bortis made it 2-0 at 1:33, at which time Kootenay head coach Mark Holick used his timeout. . . . After Bortis scored his 26th goal at 4:04, Holick yanked G Kris Lazaruk and sent in Thomas Heemskerk. Lazaruk was making his return from a groin injury. . . . LW T.J. Galiardi upped the lead to 4-0 at 1:18 of the second, with Bortis drawing an assist, and the Hitmen coasted from there. . . . Calgary has won four of five from the Ice with the teams wrapping up their series Wednesday in Cranbrook. . . .
In Chilliwack, G Matt Esposito turned aside 49 shots but it wasn’t enough as his Bruins fell 3-2 in the circus to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge (32-14-2-3) is third in the Eastern Conference and has won four in a row. It is 3-0-0-0 on a tour of the B.C. Division. . . . The Bruins (22-23-3-2) have lost four in a row and are 5-11-0-2 since Dec. 8. They are eighth in the Western Conference, two points behind Kamloops. . . . The Bruins led 2-0 in the second period before the visitors tied it on goals from its big line. Mitch Fadden got his 25th at 2:23 of the second and Colton Sceviour, with his 22nd, tied it five minutes later on a power play. . . . Dwight King and Fadden scored in the circus to win it as G Juha Metsola stopped Chilliwack’s Mark Santorelli and Mitch Holden. . . .
In Everett, the Prince Albert Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead and went on to a 2-1 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Everett (29-22-0-2) had won six of seven and is fifth in the Western Conference, five points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds, who hold five games in hand. . . . The Raiders (17-30-3-2) ended a three-game losing skid. They are 20 points out of a playoff spot. . . . Prince Albert got a goal from C Max Brandl with 28.2 seconds left in the second period that stood up as the winner. . . .
In Kamloops, RW David Rutherford’s goal at 14:18 of the third period broke a 1-1 tie as the Spokane Chiefs dumped the Blazers, 2-1. . . . The Chiefs (37-10-1-3) have won five straight and are 19-6-1-0 on the road. Spokane leads the overall standings by two points over the Calgary Hitmen. In the Western Conference, Spokane is eight points ahead of the second seed, the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants and five points ahead of the Tri-City Americans, who are second in the U.S. Division. . . . D Nick Ross scored for Kamloops. He has 14 points, including four goals, in 13 games since being acquired from the Regina Pats. . . . The Blazers (24-26-1-2) are seventh in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Chilliwack Bruins. . . .
In Red Deer, G Joey Perricone stopped 30 shots to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 6-0 victory over the Rebels. . . . Perricone has five shutouts this season, one short of the franchise single-season record, and 10 in his career. . . . The Warriors (28-14-4-4) moved into a tie for fourth with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Eastern Division. They have won seven of eight. . . . The Rebels (14-33-4-2) are 25 points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Warriors scored their first three goals on the PP as they went 3-for-6 with the man advantage. . . . The Rebels were 0-for-7. . . . Moose Jaw LW Frazer McLaren and Red Deer D Mark Louis fought three seconds into this one. . . .
In Saskatoon, F Geordie Wudrick scored twice and set up two others to lead the Swift Current Broncos to a 7-3 victory over the Blades. . . . The Broncos (27-20-0-5) have won four in a row. They are eighth in the Eastern Conference but now are just three points behind the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Blades (17-29-3-2) have lost three in a row and are 20 points behind Swift Current. . . . The Broncos scored the game’s first three goals. . . . LW Ondrej Fiala got Saskatoon on the board when he counted on a late first-period penalty shot. . . . Wudrick, who has 15 goals, then scored goals 3:04 apart early in the second period to about put it out of reach. . . . D Bretton Stamler added a goal and two helpers for the winners. . . . The Broncos were 2-for-3 on the PP; the Blades were 0-for-3. . . . G Mark Guggenberger stopped 26 shots to run his record to 2-0 with the Broncos. . . . Frigid weather conditions kept attendance to 2,437. . . . The teams meet again Wednesday in Swift Current. . . . F Burke Gallimore, a midget AAA player from Edmonton, played his second game with the Blades. He was acquired from the Spokane Chiefs in a deal at the trade deadline.
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