Saturday . . .

Pierre LeBrun of espn.com has news of a WHL owner who may be interested in moving up to the NHL. Yes, that would be Bill Gallacher, who owns the Portland Winterhawks. . . . I was told during the summer of 2008 that the NHL had wanted Gallacher to take at least a piece of the Nashville Predators but that he turned it down. I also was told that at one time there was at least some interest in the St. Louis Blues. . . . Anyway, LeBrun’s piece is right here.
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During the 2010 World Junior Championship, Team Canada will wear green jerseys in one tournament game. It also will wear the jerseys in one exhibition game. According to Hockey Canada, it’s all in honour of “Saskatchewan’s love affair with the CFL’s Roughriders and as a salute to the province.” The tournament is being played in Saskatchewan, with most of the games in Regina and Saskatoon. . . . Of course, the greenies will be available should you want to purchase one, and game-worn jerseys will be auctioned off at eBay.ca, with details to come. . . . The 1991 tournament also was held in Saskatchewan. . . . While it’s nice that Hockey Canada is honouring a football team that boasts such incredible popularity, why not salute the Regina Pats, the oldest junior team in the country, or the Saskatoon Blades, the only team in the WHL that has been in the league since Day 1? The Pats and Blades both have contributed players to teams that have played in the WJC. Can’t think of any Roughriders who made the grade, although former offensive lineman Bob Poley once played for the Pats.
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The ESPN show E:60 will air a piece on Theo Fleury that also will include an interview with Sheldon Kennedy. That show will air Tuesday and there’s more right here.
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SATURDAY:
In Saskatoon, the Blades got a goal and an assist from F Walker Wintoneak as they dropped the Kamloops Blazers, 4-1. . . . Kamloops opened a six-game East Division swing with a 5-4 OT victory over the Pats in Regina on Oct. 16, but then lost five straight. . . . The Blazers (8-7-2-0) were without C Colin Smith (arm), C Dalibor Bortnak (spleen), C C.J. Stretch (WHL suspension), RW Tyler Shattuck (charley horse), F Ryan Hanes (concussion) and LW Shayne Wiebe (upper body). As well, D Linden Saip (knee) went down as Wintoneak scored a PP goal at 8:50 of the first period. . . . Kamloops dressed 17 skaters, one under the maximum, and had three defencemen -- Giffen Nyren between Tyler Hansen and Josh Caron -- on one forward line. . . . The Blades (9-3-0-2) were 3-for-7 on the PP. . . . Kamloops G Justin Leclerc, who is from Saskatoon, stopped 45 shots. . . . The Blades had a 22-6 edge in shots in the first period. . . . Attendance was 5,717. . . . Saskatoon G Stephen Stanford stopped 23 shots, losing his shutout when F Jake Trask, who is from ’Toontown, capitalized on a strange bounce. . . . The Blades were without F Randy McNaught, who has been suspended for an elbowing major he picked up Friday in Swift Current. The length of the suspension has yet to be determined.
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In Everett, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored the game’s last four goals and beat the Silvertips, 5-2. . . . F Jay Fehr scored 43 seconds into the third period to pull Brandon (8-6-0-1) even and F Matt Calvert got his ninth of the season, shorthanded, at 8:43, to give the visitors the lead. . . . Everett went into the game having outscored its opposition 18-5 in third periods. . . . Fehr added a second goal, on the PP, at 14:59. He has seven goals this season. . . . F Scott Glennie added an empty-netter at 19:53. . . . Fehr is on a nine-game point streak, with 11 ponts over that span. . . . Everett (6-4-0-0) got 29 saves from G Kent Simpson, while Brandon’s Andrew Hayes made 24 saves. . . . Everett C Chris Langkow (upper body) was scratched after the warmup. He was injured Friday in Vancouver. . . . Brandon is 2-1-0-0 on a seven-game swing that continues Tuesday in Portland against the Winterhawks. This one promises to be good, what with Portland at 11-5-0-0 and having won three straight.
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In Kelowna, F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan scored in overtime as the Rockets got past the Vancouver Giants, 4-3. . . . The Rockets (7-5-1-0) actually trailed 3-0 halfway through the second period before roaring back. . . . F J.T. Barnett scored his 10th goal of the season for the Giants (9-3-1-2). . . . The Rockets, who had lost three straight, got second-period goals from Cody Chikie and Antoine Corbin, his first, and tied it on Stepan Novotny’s 10th at 0:40 of the third. . . . Callahan won it at 1:29 of OT, scoring his fourth of the season from a scramble. . . . D Tyson Barrie had two assists for Kelowna. . . . The teams meet again Sunday, this time in Vancouver. . . . Among the Giants scratches was F Cass Mappin, who was acquired earlier in the month from the Red Deer Rebels for F Andrej Kudrna. Earlier in the week, Vancouver head coach Don Hay had expressed concern about Mappin’s work ethic.
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In Spokane, the Tri-City Americans scored twice in the game’s last 6:05 and beat the Chiefs, 4-3. . . . After F Tyler Johnson gave the home side a 3-2 lead with a penalty shot score at 2:52 of the third, F Brooks Macek pulled the Americans even on the PP at 13:55. . . . Sophomore F Spencer Asuchak, with his second goal this season, got the winner at 14:36. . . . Belarussian F Sergei Drozd had a goal and two assists for the Americans. . . . Attendance was 8,735. . . . Tri-City G Drew Owsley stopped 29 shots in running his record to 11-2-0-0. Owsley, 18, is quickly becoming one of the great stories of the season’s first half. After playing in 755 minutes over 17 games all of last season, he has played in 775 minutes covering 13 games this season, with a 2.32 GAA and a .918 save percentage. . . . The Americans, at 11-2-0-0, have won nine in a row, one shy of the franchise record set in 1991-92. The Americans next play Tuesday in Chilliwack. . . . The Chiefs are 5-4-1-0.
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In Prince George, the Cougars coughed up a two-goal lead before recovering to beat the Chilliwack Bruins 5-4 in a shootout. . . . The Bruins (4-6-1-3) have points in seven of their last eight games (3-1-1-3). . . . Attendance was 2,017. . . . Prince George D Dallas Jackson, playing just his second game after recovering from a should injury suffered in training camp, tied the game 4-4 at 18:54 of the third period with G Alex Wright on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . Wright, a Prince Georgian making his first WHL start, stopped 34 Shots, including five in OT. He also stopped all four shooters he faced in the circus. . . . The Bruins have lost three shootouts this season and have yet to score even one goal. . . . F Nick Buonassisi, the Cougars’ fourth shooter, won the game. . . . The Cougars are 3-10-0-0. . . . The Bruins’ next game is Wednesday at home against the Tri-City Americans. The Americans, the hottest thing on ice these days, are coached by Jim Hiller, who was fired by the Bruins after last season. . . . The Bruins were without D Jesse Craig (knee) and lost D Zach Habscheid to injury on Saturday.
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In Edmonton, F Tristan King had two goals and two assists to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 7-1 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . F Linden Vey added a goal and three assists, while F Emerson Etem had a goal and two helpers. . . . The Tigers (8-3-2-2) were 4-for-9 on the PP; the Oil Kings were 0-for-5. . . . F Josh Koper, an Edmonton native acquired earlier in the week from Medicine Hat, scored for the Oil Kings. . . . Medicine Hat scored four first-period goals -- two on the PP, one shorthanded and one at even strength. . . . The Oil Kings (6-8-0-2) have lost four straight. . . . "That's the worst performance I've seen in the two and a half years that I've been here," Edmonton head coach Steve Pleau said on the team’s website. "That's unacceptable from every stand point. We were out-played, out-competed, out-coached, out-everythinged."
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In Cranbrook, F Dylan Hood scored a PP goal late in the second period and the Moose Jaw Warriors went on to a 1-0 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . G Jeff Bosch stopped 18 shots for his first shutout of the season and the third of his career. . . . Ice G Todd Mathews, who played 33 games with the Warriors over the last two seasons, stopped 34 shots. . . . Hood has five goals this season. . . . Attendance was 2,477. . . . The Warriors, 10-4-0-0, have won five in a row. They are first in the East Division and are just two points behind the Eastern Conference-leading Calgary Hitmen (11-3-0-0). . . . The Hitmen are at home to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon; the Warriors meet the Hurricanes in Lethbridge on Sunday evening.
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In Swift Current, F Cody Eakin’s 13th goal of the season gave the Broncos a 2-1 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Eakin scored with 17 seconds left in the third period. . . . F Michael Stickland of the Broncos and F Jordan Eberle of the Pats had traded first-period goals. . . . Swift Current G Morgan Clark stopped 30 shots, while Regina’s Damien Ketlo turned aside 37. . . . The Broncos (9-5-0-1) have won three in a row. . . . Regina is 5-8-2-0. . . . The teams meet again Sunday night in Regina.