Fun and games from Saturday

SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:

In Saskatoon, LW Ondrej Fiala scored his 13^th goal just 53 seconds into overtime to give the Blades a 3-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The game, which celebrated 20 years of Credit Union Place, drew 6,607 fans. . . . The victory allowed the Blades (20-32-3-3) to move into a ninth-place tie in the Eastern Conference with the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Wheat Kings (32-19-2-1) slipped to eighth, a point behind the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Brandon got second-period power-play goals from D Colby Robak and C Brayden Schenn to take a 2-1 lead. . . . C Travis Toomey forced overtime with a goal at 7:42 of the third period. . . . Schenn has 22 goals in his rookie season. . . . Brandon was 2-for-5 on the PP; Saskatoon was 1-for-4. . . . Saskatoon held a 38-30 edge in shots. . . . Brandon started Saskatoon native Graham Hildebrand in goal. Hildebrand, 16, plays for the midget AAA Beardy’s Blackhawks. . . . Why did Hildebrand, whose numbers are the best in the Saskatchewan midget AAA league, get his first WHL start in this one? Because Brandon GM/head coach Kelly McCrimmon chose to rest Andrew Hayes, who had played at home on Friday, and because Joe Caligiuri has allowed 17 goals in his last three starts. Hey, the playoffs are on the horizon and messages are being sent. . . .

In Regina, C Jordan Eberle’s second-period goal gave the Pats a 2-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Eberle is second in the WHL with 35 goals. . . . He broke a 1-1 tie at 19:00 of the second. . . . The Warriors led 1-0 when Regina D Victor Bartley tied on the PP at 13:53 of the second period. . . . Moose Jaw was 0-for-5 on the PP; Regina was 1-for-9. . . . According to the online summary, the Moose Jaw bench was given a game misconduct at 19:13 of the third period. Which means someone will be writing a cheque to the WHL office early in the week. . . . As well, the Warriors refused to make any of their players available to the Regina Leader-Post. According to Leader-Post scribe Greg Harder, the Warriors claimed “they didn't want them saying anything about the officiating that would cause them to get fined.” . . . Now that is a really smooth move. . . . Methinks someone in the Warriors’ office should be writing two cheques to the WHL office early in the week. . . . Regina won the first half of the home-and-home series 4-3 in a shootout on Friday night in Moose Jaw. . . . For more on goings-on in Regina, including Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak waving the white flag and a postgame kerfuffle, check out Harder's blog. There's a link to it over there on the left. . . .

TIME OUT FOR EDITORIAL RANT: According to the WHL Media Services Policy – see Page 25 of the WHL Guide: “All players requested for post-game interviews must be available . . . within 15 minutes following leaving the ice at the conclusion of the game. . . . A member of the coaching staff of each team must be available to the media for interviews within 15 minutes following the game.” . . . Hey, it’s right there in black and white. . . . Unfortunately, WHL teams far too often violate this policy. Too many teams have little or no understanding of the role of the print media and the deadlines under which writers work. If we miss a deadline, it costs the newspaper money – which is why we don’t miss deadlines. . . . The WHL’s greatest shortcoming may be its failure in recognizing ways in which it could use the print media to its full advantage. A good start would be to improve the co-operation. Understand that we writers are not on your team – we are neither for you or against you; we simply have a job to do. . . . That job, in effect, is providing you with free advertising. And if you’re too slow to take advantage of that, well, you should take a look in the mirror. . . . Anyway, I am recommending that the Warriors be fined the sum of $1 million and that the money be turned over to the Western Major Junior Hockey Writers Association which, in turn, would hand the money over to the citizens of Moose Jaw to help them as they strive for a new arena. . . .

In Medicine Hat, F Colton Grant scored two goals and set up another as the Tigers doubled the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 4-2. . . . C Tyler Ennis had his 32^nd goal for the Tigers (32-18-5-2), who moved into fifth in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Hurricanes (35-16-2-3) are the conference’s third seed. . . . G Ryan Holfeld stopped 40 shots for the Tigers. . . .

In Prince Albert, G Dustin Butler stopped 30 shots to lead the Raiders to a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Raiders (19-33-3-2) are 11^th in the Eastern Conference, four points behind the Oil Kings (18-29-4-6). . . . LW Braeden Adamyk got credit for Edmonton’s goal at 17:53 of the first period. That ended Edmonton’s goalless stretch at 237 minutes 55 seconds, or almost four full games. . . . Edmonton has lost four straight as it prepares for a five-game swing through the B.C. Division. . . .

In Red Deer, G Mark Guggenberger continued to pen his amazing story for the Swift Current Broncos. He stopped 23 shots to post his third shutout as the Broncos beat the Rebels, 3-0. . . . Guggenberger was acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks after G Ian Curtis was shipped to the Prince George Cougars. Guggenberger, an 18-year-old from Richfield, Minn., started the season with the Winter Hawks but had been suspended and sent home. In four games with the Broncos, he has posted three shutouts, has allowed but one goal, and is 4-0. . . . The Broncos (32-20-0-5) have won nine straight and forced their way into the Eastern Conference race. They have moved into seventh, a point up on Brandon and just six points behind third-place Lethbridge. . . .

In Seattle, G Jacob DeSerres stopped 22 shots as the Thunderbirds beat the Portland Winter Hawks, 3-0. . . . DeSerres has three shutouts this season and six in his career. . . . The Thunderbirds (28-18-5-2) are 9-0 versus Portland (9-47-1-1) this season and they have three games yet to play. . . . Seattle is sixth in the Western Conference, a point behind the Everett Silvertips. . . . Seattle holds five games in hand on Everett. . . . F Greg Scott had one of Seattle’s goal for the 100^th point of his WHL career. . . . Seattle, which had a 35-22 edge in shots, scored three times in the second period. . . . Portland G Kurtis Mucha’s record fell to 7-30-1-1 as his save percentage slipped under .900 – it’s at .899. . . . Portland D Scott Gabriel received a match penalty for slashing at 13:17 of the third period. . . .

In Everett, the Silvertips scored three second-period goals and went on to beat the Prince George Cougars, 5-1. . . . The victory came one night after the Silvertips beat the Cougars, 4-2. . . . RW Dan Gendur scored his 24^th goal for the Silvertips. . . . Everett (31-25-0-2) remained fifth in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Seattle. . . . The Cougars (15-37-1-3) have lost four in a row. . . . G Joel Danyluk made his first WHL start for the Cougars. He stopped 34 shots. . . . F Alex Poulter had Prince George’s goal, a shorthanded score. Everett has given up a league-high 15 shorthanded goals. . . .

In Vancouver, the Kootenay Ice skated to a 3-1 victory over the Giants. . . . Even with the Canucks playing at home, the Giants drew 9,091 fans. . . . The Ice (33-18-4-2) is 4-0-0-1 in its last five, including a 4-3 shootout victory in Chilliwack on Friday. . . . Kootenay moved past Moose Jaw and into fourth in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Giants (36-13-1-5) had a four-game win streak halted. They are seven points behind the Western Conference-leading Tri-City Americans. . . . The Giants, who are 22-0-0-2 when leading after one period, now are 0-8-0-2 when trailing after 20 minutes. . . . C Dustin Sylvester scored the game’s first goal midway through the first period. . . . The Ice went into this game having gone to the circus in four straight games, three of which it won. . . .

In Spokane, LW Colton Yellow Horn, the WHL’s leading sniper, struck four times to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 7-2 victory over the Chiefs before 10,366 fans. . . . The Americans (41-12-1-2) now have sole possession of first place overall, two points ahead of Spokane and three up on the Calgary Hitmen. . . .Tri-City has won six straight. . . . The Chiefs (39-11-1-4) had been 7-0-0-1 in their last eight outings. . . . Yellow Horn has a WHL-high 42 goals. . . . The Americans are 6-2 against the Chiefs, including 4-0 in Spokane. . . . The Americans were 3-for-9 on the PP; the Chiefs were 0-for-4 and gave up a shorthanded goal. . . . In the season series, the Chiefs are 0-for-38 on the PP. And, uhh, they’ve given up three shorthanders. . . . The Ams held a 16-4 edge in shots in the third period. . . . Tri-City scored the game’s last four goals, with three of them coming from Yellow Horn. Last season, he had 40 goals in 59 games.

In Kelowna, the Chilliwack Bruins scored the game’s first four goals and beat the Rockets, 4-1. . . . RW Evan Pighin had two goals for the Bruins, with LW Mark Santorelli and C Oscar Moller each drawing two assists. . . . Chilliwack D Nick Holden had a goal and an assist. . . . Santorelli closed to within two points of Kelowna C Colin Long, who leads the WHL with 83 points. Long had an assist in this one. . . . The Bruins (24-24-3-4) moved into a tie for seventh with the Kamloops Blazers in the Western Conference. Chilliwack holds two games in hand. . . . The Rockets, now 0-3-0-1 in their last four, are fourth.