Monday . . .

The Kelowna Rockets didn’t get any good news on Monday. Already with three veterans out with long-term injuries, the Rockets added four more players to the injury list, all of them injured in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the visiting Vancouver Giants. D Collin Bowman (ankle), F Mitchell Chapman (fractured ribs), F Codey Ito (shoulder) and F Geordie Wudrick (separated shoulder) all are expected to miss anywhere from two to four weeks. . . . Bowman and F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan had been the only players to have gotten into each of the Rockets’ first 38 games. . . . “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and GM, told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “And these aren’t just nicks and bruises we’re dealing with.” . . . The Rockets already were without F Brandon McMillan, who is with the Canadian national junior team, and F Lucas Bloodoff (knee), F Evan Bloodoff (knee) and F Kyle St. Denis (concussion). . . . Historically, the Rockets have shied away from using 15-year-olds, but Hamilton said he will bring in D Colton Heffley of Swift Current and F Tyrell Goulbourne of Edmonton. Heffley was the 39th overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft, while Goulbourne was taken with the 105th selection. . . . The Rockets are at home to the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday.
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Whatever happened to Dwayne Norris, who a while back was a Canadian hero at the World Junior Championship? It turns out that he’s enjoying life in Germany and the St. John’s Telegram has the story right here.
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The already hurting Regina Pats, who have lost seven straight games, are hurting some more. . . . They lost RW Killian Hutt to a concussion in a 5-2 loss to the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Monday night. . . . G Damien Ketlo (dislocated shoulder) will sit for another couple of weeks, as will C Dominick Favreau (knee), who is back skating. . . . The Pats meet the Hitmen in Calgary on Tuesday. . . . Regina had G Joel Danyluk, who has been with the SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves, backing up started Dawson Guhle in Medicine Hat on Monday.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have brought in three players of their protected list. . . . D Morgan Rielly was the second overall selection in the 2009 bantam draft. He has 21 points in 24 games with a midget AAA team at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. . . . D Joel Edmundson, 16, was a sixth-round pick in the 2008 draft who plays for the midget AAA Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . LW Danny Gayle, 17, has 24 points in 40 games with the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. . . . Moose Jaw will be without D Ryan Stanton for the immediate future as he is suspected of having mononucleosis. . . . F Jason Bast, who has missed 12 games with facial fractures that needed surgery to repair, may play Tuesday night. . . . The Warriors are at home Tuesday to the Prince Albert Raiders, the first of three straight games between these teams. They will play Wednesday in Prince Albert and back in the Crushed Can on Sunday.
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The Spokane Chiefs have added D Reid Gow to their lineup. He was the 16th overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft and is expected to play Tuesday against the Winterhawks in Portland. He has 18 points in 18 games with the midget AAA Southwest Cougars in Manitoba.
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Shortly after the WHL’s Christmas trade freeze was lifted, the Everett Silvertips dealt RW Cameron Abney to the Edmonton Oil Kings for LW Clayton Cumiskey. . . . Cumiskey, from Abbotsford, B.C., has 51 points in 153 career regular-season WHL games. The 19-year-old has 12 points and 17 penalty minutes in 23 games this season and should play Tuesday in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans. . . . Abney, 18, is from Aldergrove, B.C. He has six points in 34 games this season and should play for the Oil Kings on Tuesday against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes. Abney was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the third round of the NHL’s 2009 draft. The Oilers own the Oil Kings.
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The Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent have brought in F Brandon Troock, the 12th overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft, for a look. Troock, from Edmonton, watched them lose 3-2 in OT to the visiting Chilliwack Bruins on Sunday night.
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The Prince Albert Raiders have added RW Marc Mackenzie, 16, to their roster for their next four games. Mackenzie, from Kelowna, plays for the junior B Chase, B.C., Chiefs of the Kootenay International league. He has 13 points and 111 penalty minutes in 31 games with the Chiefs. He is to play Tuesday against the Warriors in Moose Jaw. . . . The Raiders are without F Mark McNeill and F Harrison Ruopp, both with Team West at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge, F Igor Revenko (jaw) and F Andrew Herle (shoulder).
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MONDAY:
In Swift Current, G Mark Friesen stopped 32 shots to lead the Broncos to a 4-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . F Cody Eakin scored his 28th goal and added two assists for the winners, who got two goals from F Brad Hoban. . . . The Wheat Kings led 2-1 in the second period when Hoban tied it at 16:59 while on the PP. He then got the winner at 16:16 of the third. It was his 13th goal this season. . . . Eakin added an empty-netter. . . . Eakin, F Bretton Cameron of the Medicine Hat Tigers and F Ryan Howse of the Chilliwack Bruins are one goal behind F Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats, who leads the WHL. . . . Brandon G Andrew Hayes stopped 24 shots. . . . Brandon F Scott Glennie returned after a three-game absence, two of them due to a concussion suffered at the national junior team’s selection camp. . . . Brandon F Matt Calvert had a 13-game point streak end. He had 21 points over that stretch. . . . Attendance was 2,284. . . . The Broncos (20-17-0-2) have won three straight and now are seventh in the Eastern Conference, a point ahead of the Red Deer Rebels and one behind the Kootenay Ice and Prince Albert Raiders. . . . The Wheat Kings (25-12-0-2) are tied with Saskatoon for second, but the Blades hold four games in hand.
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In Vancouver, the Giants scored three times in the first period and went on to beat the Kamloops Blazers, 6-3. . . . D Kevin Connauton had three assists for the Giants (24-12-1-2). . . . RW Jimmy Bubnick had a goal and an assist for the Blazers (15-18-2-3) as he ran his point streak to seven games, while C C.J. Stretch had two assists and also has a seven-game point streak going. . . . F J.T. Barnett scored twice for Vancouver. He has 16 goals on the season. . . . The Giants led 5-0 after two periods, before giving up three third-period goals. . . . Vancouver G Jamie Tucker stopped 33 shots, one fewer than the Blazers’ Jon Groenheyde. . . . Kamloops F Brendan Ranford earned a charging major and game misconduct in the second period for running Vancouver D Nolan Toigo over Tucker. . . . The Giants had F Milan Kytnar (shoulder) back in their lineup. He picked up his 100th regular-season point, an assist on Vancouver’s fifth goal. . . . Vancouver F Sebastian Svendsen was back after playing for his native Denmark in the IIHF U-20 World Division I championship in Megève and Saint-Gervais, France. He had five points in five games as the Danes lost 4-0 to Germany in the final. Germany won promotion to the World Junior Championship, which will be played next season in Buffalo. Last night, he got his fourth goal of the season, with five seconds left in the third period. . . . Attendance was 8,543. . . . For fans of the loser point, the Giants are 4-0-0-1 against Kamloops but the Blazers are 1-2-1-1 against Vancouver. That means that 13 points have been handed out from five games. All of which makes no sense. None.
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In closing, here is Ottawa Senators head coach Cory Clouston, the former head coach of the Kootenay Ice, in conversation with CanWest News Service:
"I don't know what the answer is to be honest. It's tough. We've had this for quite a while now, I know the fans enjoy the shootout and the overtime. It does play havoc with the standings, when teams are battling for playoff spots and you have these three point games, it makes it actually more difficult to judge who's playing well and who's not.
“A shootout, to me, is a tough way to win. We'll take it when we win, but if we lose, it's frustrating. It's like in soccer, you play a 90-minute full team sport and all of a sudden it's left to one-on-one, goaltender versus forward position."