Saturday . . .

A couple of fine-related lines from Friday night . . .
In Swift Current, Jon Keen, the radio voice of the Broncos, asked Regina Pats head coach Curtis Hunt about the $500 fine he received after he tossed a water bottle onto the ice and was ejected from Wednesday’s 9-3 victory over the Raiders in Prince Albert.
Hunt referenced former Broncos GM/head coach Dean Chynoweth in replying: "Well . . . I didn't quite have the accuracy that Chinner did in Swift Current, but you have to do what you have to do sometimes."
Meanwhile, in Kamloops, press box wags were talking about the Tuesday line brawl between host Vancouver and the Lethbridge Hurricanes that resulted in the Giants being fined $250. The incident began when Lethbridge F Carter Bancks fired an elbow at Vancouver G Jamie Tucker, after which Giants captain Lance Bouma came riding to the rescue.
Said Vancouver GM Scott Bonner: “We’ll pay that fine every time.”
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F Mike Small (Prince Albert, Chilliwack, 2007-09) has been involved in a trade in the AJHL. Small, a 19-year-old from Edmonton, was dealt by the St. Albert Steel to the Brooks Bandits for D Nolan Smith, a 20-year-old from Billings, Montana. Small was a 12-round pick by the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2005 bantam draft. . . . Billings, you will recall, once was home to a WHL franchise named the Bighorns.
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F Carter Ashton of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has signed a three-year contract with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. Ashton, 18, was selected 29th overall by the Lightning in the NHL’s 2009 draft. He scored once in three exhibition games with Tampa Bay. Ashton, from Saskatoon, is the son of former NHLer Brent Ashton, who played in the WHL for the Saskatoon Blades (1975-79).
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The Swift Current Broncos reassigned G Chad Ketting, 18, earlier in the week. He is from Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast of B.C., and hopes to land with a BCHL team. . . . That move gets the Broncos down to 24 players -- 15 forwards, seven defencemen and goaltenders Morgan Clark, 19, and Alex Sirard, 18.
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The Calgary Hitmen will hold a 15th birthday party when they meet the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors today (Sunday). Game time is 2 p.m., and the party will include a salute to Bret (Hitman) Hart, who will take part in the ceremonial faceoff. If you weren’t aware, he was in the original ownership group and the team is named after him.
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SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Brandon, G Andrew Hayes stopped 25 shots to help the Wheat Kings to a 3-0 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Hayes has four shutouts this season, all of them in his last five starts. . . . He has 10 shutouts in his career. . . . F Del Cowan’s shorthanded goal at 16:55 of the first period was the only goal Brandon (4-2-0-0) would need. . . . D Colby Robak had a goal and two assists. . . . Saskatoon was 0-for-3 on the PP and now is 2-for-35 on the season. . . . Attendance was 4,439. . . . Saskatoon is 2-2-0-2. . . . The victory was the 251st of Kelly McCrimmon’s career as head coach of the Wheat Kings. He is tied for second on the Wheat Kings’ all-time list, with the late Dunc McCallum. The top rung is occupied by Bob Lowes (363 victories).
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In Regina, F Jordan Weal had a goal and three assists as the Pats dropped the Red Deer Rebels, 7-3. . . . D Matt Delahey added two goals and an assist for the Pats (4-4-0-0), who have won three in a row, outscoring the opposition 22-7 in the process. . . . Attendance was 4,130. . . . D Brandon Davidson had just one assist but was plus-4 for Regina. . . . F Andrej Kudrna, acquired earlier in the week from the Vancouver Giants for F Cass Mappin, had all three Red Deer goals, with F Willie Coetzee assisting on all three. They all came via the PP as Red Deer (3-4-0-0) was 3-for-5. . . . Red Deer was again without F Landon Ferraro (knee).
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In Medicine Hat, F Dustin Sylvester’s overtime goal gave the Kootenay Ice a 5-4 victory over the Tigers. . . . Sylvester scored 26 seconds into OT on the power play. . . . Medicine Hat had a 32-30 edge in shots but the Ice had the only two shots of OT. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . F Dominik Pacovsky drew three assists for Kootenay. . . . The Tigers got two goals from freshman F Emerson Etem. He has four goals in the young season, all of them at the expense of the Ice. . . . Etem’s second goal, 36 seconds into the third period, gave Medicine Hat a 4-3 lead, but the Ice tied it 24 seconds later on D Petr Senkerik’s second goal of the season.
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In Swift Current, the Broncos erased a 4-1 deficit and beat the Prince Albert Raiders, 6-4. . . . Down 4-1 with 15 minutes gone in the second period, the Broncos exploded for the game’s last five goals. . . . Attendance was 2,147. . . . The Broncos outshot the Raiders 40-24, including 16-2 in the third period. . . . F Adam Lowry, the son of former NHLer Dave Lowry, had his first two WHL goals for the Broncos. . . . The Broncos were 3-for-6 on the PP; the Raiders were 0-for-5.
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In Prince George, F Cam Braes scored three times to lead the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 9-2 victory over the Cougars. . . . The Hurricanes were 0-6-0-0 when they traveled to Prince George; they head for home having swept a doubleheader. . . . Lethbridge plays its first home game of the season Friday against the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . F Carter Ashton added two goals for the Hurricanes, while F Brent Henke had a goal and two assists. . . . Prince George D Kurt Torbohm and D Art Bidlevskii each was minus-4, as was F James Dobrowolski. . . . Attendance was 2,271.
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In Vancouver, F Craig Cunningham’s OT goal gave the Giants a 5-4 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Cunningham, who also had two assists, won it on the PP at 4:31 of extra time. . . . It was Cunningham’s second OT goal of the season. He scored in extra time on opening night as the Giants beat the Rockets 6-5 in Kelowna. . . . Last night, the Giants came back from 3-1 and 4-2 deficits for the victory. . . . Czech D David Musil, the 16-year-old who was the subject of that top secret one-player import draft held by the WHL prior to season, had three goals for the Giants. . . . Musil scored his second goal at 12:59 of the third period and forced OT with his third goal at 16:02. . . . Those were his first WHL goals. . . . Vancouver held a 53-27 edge in shots. . . . Through seven games, Kamloops has been outshot 296-199, an average of 42.3 to 28.4. . . . F Jake Trask had two goals for Kamloops. . . . Vancouver G Jamie Tucker was replaced by Brendan Jensen at 16:41 of the first period after allowing three goals on nine shots. . . . Attendance was 6,284. . . . The victory allowed the Giants (5-1-0-2) to take sole possession of first place in the Western Conference, with the Blazers (5-1-1-0) a point back. The Blazers had beaten the visiting Giants 2-1 in a shootout on Friday.
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In Chilliwack, F Brett Bulmer scored two goals and set up another to lead the Kelowna Rockets to a 7-2 victory over the Bruins. . . . F Stepan Novotny scored his seventh goal of the season for Kelowna (3-2-1-0), which broke open a scoreless game with four goals in the second period. . . . Attendance was 3,143. . . . F David Robinson had both goals for Chilliwack (1-5-0-0).
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In Kennewick, Wash., F Justin Feser scored three goals and set up another as the Tri-City Americans dumped the visiting Spokane Chiefs, 6-2. . . . It was Feser’s first four-point game in the WHL; he went into the game with one point, an assist, this season. . . . D Brett Plouffe added three assists for the Americans, who were 3-for-7 on the PP. . . . F Levko Koper had both goals for Spokane (2-2-1-0). . . . Tri-City (3-2-0-0) had lost its previous two games. . . . Tri-City F Brendan Shinnimin had two assists. He has nine assists in five games, after recording 13 in 64 games last season. . . . Attendance was 4,741.