Friday . . .

Two of the WHL’s 22 general managers spent a lot of time chatting Friday night as the Vancouver Giants were playing the Blazers in Kamloops. That would be Craig Bonner of the Blazers and his brother, Scott, of the Giants. . . . Craig is in his second season with the Blazers and the brothers have combined on five trades in that time period. . . . So were they cooking anything up Friday night? . . . “I’m through trading with him,” Craig said. . . . Yes, he was smiling when he said it.
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Earlier this week, the Prince Albert Raiders held their annual general meeting and announced a loss for the 2008-09 financial year of about $93,000.
As Drew Wilson, who calls the games on radio station CKBI, put it: “It all came down to having the lowest attendance in the Western Hockey League which averaged a little over 2,100.”
Wilson continued:
“During our end of season interview during a Raiders hockey broadcast, president Dale McFee said the bottom line if they can't get more fans into the Art Hauser Centre this team will not be here. This wasn't a warning of impending and immediate doom. He didn't suggest it would be at the end of this season, next season or in five seasons.
“However the message is clear and was repeated on opening night when only 2,150 fans watched the 6-1 win over Brandon.
“When you add the loss from 2008-09, it totals more than $225,000.”
There’s more from Wilson’s blog right here.
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This is a special day for the Evason family of Brandon, including former WHL player and coach Dean Evason, who is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Washington Capitals. That’s because the late Dan (Heavy) Evason, Dean's brother, will be among those inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in Winnipeg. Heavy, who was a familiar face in hockey arenas throughout the west and gave a huge part of himself to Special Olympics, was 41 when he died in 2004. He was on the Kamloops Blazers’ scouting staff at the time. . . . The induction will mean a lot to Dean, who was inducted into the Manitoba hall in 2005.
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FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Kamloops, G Justin Leclerc stopped 47 shots through OT and added three more stops in the shootout as the Blazers got past the Vancouver Giants, 2-1. . . . The Blazers (5-1-0-0) and Giants (4-1-0-2) are tied for first place in the Western Conference. . . . The Giants could have won it in OT when F Brendan Gallagher was awarded a penalty shot. He tried to go five-hole and Leclerc made the save. . . . Attendance was 4,516.
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In Kent, Wash., G Calvin Pickard turned aside 57 shots in leading the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 1-0 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . The Americans held a 25-5 edge in shots in the first period alone. It was 16-2 in the third period. . . . Pickard has one shutout this season and four in his career. . . . Attendance was 3,099. . . . The Thunderbirds (3-1-0-1) halted a four-game losing streak. . . . The Americans (2-2-0-0) have lost two straight. . . . F Sena Acolatse scored the game’s lone goal, on a PP at 19:59 of the second period. It was his first goal of the season. There was less than a second left on the clock when he scored, but video review allowed the goal to stand. . . . Pickard has faced more than 40 shots three times in his career and is 3-0 in such games. . . . Tri-City G Drew Owsley stopped 19 shots.
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In Brandon, F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins record his first WHL three-goal night as the Red Deer Rebels beat the Wheat Kings, 6-3. . . . Brandon G Andrew Hayes went into the game riding a three-game shutout streak. He went 192 minutes 16 seconds without being beaten before former Brandon F Nathan Green scored four minutes into the first period. . . . Green also set up two goals. . . . F Scott Glennie had a goal and two assists for Brandon (3-2-0-0). . . . Attendance was 4,549. . . . Red Deer (3-3-0-0) outshot its hosts, 40-23. . . . Red Deer was without F Landon Ferraro (knee). His father, Ray, set the WHL’s single-season scoring record when he scored 108 goals for the Wheat Kings in 1983-84. . . . Nugent-Hopkins, the first pick in the 2008 bantam draft, has six goals. . . . Brandon, with four 20-year-olds, sat out F Del Cowan.
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In Prince George, the Lethbridge Hurricanes won for the first time in seven starts, scoring four times on the PP and beating the Cougars, 5-2. . . . The teams play again Saturday in Prince George. . . . Lethbridge was 4-for-10 on the PP. . . . The Hurricanes (1-6-0-0) wrap up their season-opening eight-game road trip tonight. They have been away from home due to renovations to the Enmax Centre. . . . The victory was the first for Rich Preston as a WHL head coach since he left the Regina Pats after two seasons (1995-97). . . . “There’s no question. It’s nice to get that first win,” Preston told the Lethbridge Herald. “(The coaches) were just talking and I can’t remember as a player or a coach losing six in an row and Matt (Kabayama, associate coach) couldn’t either. But it’s just a credit to the kids they hung in here. Nobody panicked, they stayed with it and kept working. We played some good games we didn’t win.” . . . Lethbridge G Linden Rowat stopped 28 shots. . . . Attendance was 2,147. . . . Lethbridge got a goal and two assists from F Carter Bancks and three assists from D Brennan Yadlowski. . . . The Cougars are 2-4-0-0.
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In Spokane, F Nino Niederreiter scored twice to help the Portland Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Chiefs. . . . Niederreiter, a Swiss freshman, has three goals this season. . . . The Winterhawks (4-1-0-0) broke open a 1-1 game with three goals in the second period. . . . Portland D Troy Rutkowski set up two goals. . . . Portland G Ian Curtis stopped 23 shots. . . . Spokane G James Reid turned aside 30 shots. . . . Attendance was 5,418. . . . The Chiefs are 2-1-1-0.
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In Kelowna, F Kyle St. Denis scored three times to lead the Rockets to a 6-4 victory over the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . St. Denis hadn’t scored yet this season going into this game. . . . He had 22 points, including eight goals, in 22 games last season, one that was full of injuries. . . . The Rockets (2-2-1-0) trailed 3-2 after one period but scored the game’s next four goals. . . . F Dylen McKinlay scored twice for the Bruins (1-4-0-0). . . . D Zach Habscheid also scored for Chilliwack. He is the son of Chilliwack GM/head coach Marc Habscheid, who was behind the bench in Kelowna for a meaningful game for the first time since leading the Rockets to the 2004 Memorial Cup title. . . . The teams play again tonight in Chilliwack.
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In Edmonton, the Oil Kings scored two goals 40 seconds apart in the first period and went on to beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 3-2. . . . Edmonton F Logan Proulx, who scored four goals in 58 games last season, was credited with the winner when he deflected a shot past G Jeff Bosch at 19:13 of the second period. . . . The Warriors (3-3-0-0) were of the belief that Proulx deflected it with a high stick, but video review proved inconclusive and the goal stood. . . . Moose Jaw F Jason Bast, who scored twice, got his club to within one at 18:17 of the third period. . . . The Oil Kings are off to a 4-1-0-1 start. . . . Attendance was 5,012.
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In Prince Albert, F Ryan Harrison scored the only goal of the shootout as the Raiders beat the Saskatoon Blades, 2-1. . . . F Derek Hulak scored for the Blades at 12:58 of the first period. . . . F Justin Maylan scored Prince Albert’s goal at 8:10 of the second period. . . . Prince Albert G Garrett Zemlak, who used to play for the Blades and is buddies with Hulak, stopped 43 shots, including five in OT and three in the circus. . . . Attendance was 2,316. . . . The Raiders (3-3-0-0) were coming off a 9-3 loss to the visiting Regina Pats on Wednesday. . . . Saskatoon C Jeremy Boyer, acquired earlier in the week from the Seattle Thunderbirds, played alongside Travis Toomey and Darian Dziurzynski and also saw some PP time. . . . The Raiders, with four 20-year-olds, scratched D Patrick Kozyra. . . . The Blades (2-1-0-2) scratched F Walker Wintoneak as their fourth 20-year-old.
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In Cranbrook, the Calgary Hitmen got out to a 2-0 lead and hung on to be the flu-riddled Kootenay Ice, 2-1. . . . Calgary G Michael Snider stopped 39 shots. . . . Calgary got goals from F Chase Schaber, at 9:30 of the first period on a PP, and F Joel Broda, at 8:13 of the second. . . . D Peter Senkerik, at 16:42 of the third on the PP, replied for the Ice (2-3-0-0). . . . With flu running through its roster, the Ice didn’t practice Thursday and played without defencemen Hayden Rintoul and Cason Machacek. . . . The game featured Kootenay F Dustin Sylvester, 20, against his brother, Calgary F Cody Sylvester, 17. . . . Attendance was 2,696. . . . The Ice now heads out on a 10-day road trip, starting Saturday in Medicine Hat against the Tigers. . . . The Hitmen, at 5-0-0-0, are the only team not to have lost this season. They are at home to Moose Jaw on Sunday afternoon.
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In Regina, the Pats got two goals from F Jordan Eberle as they dumped the Swift Current Broncos, 6-1. . . . Regina (3-4-0-0) has outscored its opposition 15-4 in its last two games and Eberle has four goals and two helpers. . . . Attendance was 4,050. . . . F Killian Hutt scored for Regina, giving him two goals in two games with his new club. . . . Regina held a 37-23 edge in shots. . . . “I saw total domination everywhere from their team tonight,” Broncos GM/head coach mark Lamb told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. . . . The Broncos are 2-3-0-0.