Wednesday . . .

After acquiring G Jamie Tucker, 18, from the Vancouver Giants on Wednesday morning, the Prince Albert Raiders did the expected and dropped G Dalyn Flette, 19. Bruno Campese, the Raiders’ general manager and head coach, told John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Daily Herald that they are trying to find a place for Flette in the WHL or junior A. . . . The Raiders gave up a 2011 second-round bantam pick for Tucker. . . . Later, the Raiders acquired F Jonathan Parker, 18, and a 2010 fifth-round bantam pick from the Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent for D Ryan Aasman, 17. Parker’s arrival gives the Raiders three players on their roster from California. Parker is from Solara Beach, while F Colin Reddin, who was acquired earlier this season from the Portland Winterhawks, is from Corona Del Mar, and F Garrett Taylor, who came over from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, is from San Diego. . . . The Raiders, who lost three games last week to the Moose Jaw Warriors, are at home to Lethbridge on Friday and Moose Jaw on Saturday. . . . Raiders F Igor Revenko (jaw) and F Andrew Herle (shoulder) might play Friday, but D Ryan Button (ill) remains sidelined.
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F Tyler Johnson, who helped the U.S. win gold at the World Junior Championship, may not play this weekend as his Spokane Chiefs play three games in as many nights. He was injured in the first period when he fell awkwardly into the boards during the U.S.’s 6-5 overtime victory over Canada on Tuesday in Saskatoon. “It’s one of the worst injuries I’ve ever had,” Johnson told Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. “It’s so embarrassing to say. My butt muscle was cramping up, I couldn’t put any pressure on it. I tried going back out three or four different times but my leg, after taking four or five strides, was shot. I didn’t think I could help the team by not going fast.” . . . Johnson said he was told that he could expect to be “stiff and sore” over the next few days. . . . The Chiefs are at home to the Chilliwack Bruins on Friday and the Tri-City Americans on Saturday and then open an eight-game road swing against the Silvertips in Everett on Sunday.
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The World Junior Championship totalled 31 games. And, yes, the two Canada-U.S. games were terrific. But in the entire tournament there were only six one-goal games and three decided by two scores. . . . The remaining 22 were decided by three or more goals. There were 10 games decided by six or more goals. . . . And that’s far too many. . . . Here’s hoping the rumblings that the IIHF is thinking of upping the teams in the tournament to 12 is only a rumour.
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The U.S.’s 6-5 overtime victory over Canada, while painful here in the Great White North, can only be good for the WJC. With Canada having won five in a row leading into this tournament, and with more and more of these things being scheduled for Canadian turf, the whole thing was in danger of becoming virtually meaningless.
As it stands, though, here’s hoping that something happens to improve the level of competition.
Let’s face it. Canada played two games against meaningful competition — and those were the two games against the U.S.
The early games in the tournament, certainly from a Canadian perspective, were horrible.
Maybe it was just me but this tournament was starting to resemble the international women’s game in that the U.S. and Canada were at a level above everyone else.
If the competitiveness isn’t better next year in Buffalo, one has to think the 2012 tournament might be a tough sell in Alberta.
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Down the road, the 2010 WJC will be remembered for one thing — the size of the 50-50 draws. The winner on Tuesday went home with $149,700. Over the length of the tournament, the payout was nearly $1 million.
But what does it say when an international hockey tournament in Canada is overshadowed by a 50-50 draw?
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Jay Varady, the Everett Silvertips’ associate coach, was the video coach on the U.S. team at the World Junior Championship. He arrived in Kelowna, with his gold medal, in time for the Silvertips’ game with the Rockets. . . . Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier reports that the Silvertips gave him a pregame standing ovation in their dressing room. . . . Team captain Zack Dailey, who is from Healy, Alaska, told Potenteau: “It was a standing ovation for him. We cheered ‘U.S.A.’ and he was happy.”
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WEDNESDAY:
In Brandon, the Wheat Kings erased a 1-0 deficit with four second-period goals and went on to a 6-1 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Wheat Kings are 28-13-0-2 and have won three in a row. . . . Lethbridge D Reid Jackson scored his first goal, on the PP, at 19:18 of the first period. . . . Brandon got two goals from F Jay Fehr, who has , and two assists from each of F Mark Stone, F Shayne Wiebe, F Aaron Lewadnkuk and D Alexander Urbom. . . . Each of Brandon’s 18 skaters finished plus-1 or plus-2. . . . The Hurricanes (13-23-3-1) had won three of four. . . . Brandon was without F Brayden Schenn, who stayed at home in Saskatoon for a few days after playing there with Canada’s national junior team. . . . Attendance was 3,935. . . . Brandon had G Brett McDonald backing up G Andrew Hayes, with Jacob De Serres out with a sore neck. McDonald plays for the Crocus Plains Plainsmen of the Westman high school league. . . . Hayes stopped 18 shots, while Lethbridge’s Linden Rowat turned aside 29.
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In Chilliwack, F Ryan Howse scored three times to lead the Bruins to a 5-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Howse, who is from Prince George, has a WHL-leading 33 goals. Last season, he scored 31 goals in 61 games. . . . F Taylor Orser scored his first goal for the Cougars, knotting the score 1-1 at 8:19 of the first period. . . . The Bruisn scored the next three goals — one in the first and two in the third. . . . The Bruins improved to 19-18-1-5, while the Cougars fell to 9-30-1-1. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore stopped 18 shots. . . . Prince George G Alex Wright stopped 26 shots. . . . Attendance was 3,163. . . . Cougars F Brock Hirsche didn’t return after absorbing a hard hit from Bruins F Kevin Sundher in the second period. . . . Prior to the game, the Bruins saluted Czech F Roman Horak and Cougars F Marek Viedensky, who is from Slovakia, for playing in the World Junior Championship. Each player was presented with a Future Shop gift card and an iPod.
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In Kelowna, F Shane Harper had a goal and two assists as the Everett Silvertips dropped the Rockets, 6-2. . . . It was Everett’s second victory as many nights as it beat the Blazers 5-3 in Kamloops on Tuesday. . . . Everett led this one 3-0 after one period and was never really threatened after that. . . . F Josh Winquist, a 16-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., scored his first goal in his 24th game. . . . D Ryan Murray was back in Everett’s lineup. After playing in the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in Timmins, Ont., he rejoined the Silvertips in Kamloops on Tuesday. But his equipment didn’t catch up to him until Wednesday in Kelowna. . . . .The Silvertips (23-16-2-1) have won four in a row. . . . Kelowna (19-22-2-0) has lost seven of eight. . . . The Rockets, who were without seven injured players, didn’t dress F Brandon McMillan, who played for Canada at the World Junior Championship. . . . Attendance was 6,068. . . . Earlier in the day, Everett reassigned F Dale Hunt, 19, to an unspecified MJHL team. Hunt was acquired last season from the Prince George Cougars, who took him with the third overall pick inthe 2005 bantam draft. This season, he had three points in 35 games with Everett. . . . With all the injuries, the Rockets have been using three 15-year-olds but were to return the three — D Damon Severson, F Colton Heffley and F Tyrell Goulbourne — to their club teams on Thursday.
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In Cranbrook, B.C., F Dustin Sylvester scored three times to lead the Kootenay Ice to an 8-1 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades. . . . Saskatoon scored first with F Darian Dziurzynski getting his fourth goal at 10:56 of the first period. . . . Sylvester scored at 15:40 of the first and added another at 1:08 of the second and the Ice (23-15-1-2) was off to its sixth straight victory. . . . Sylvester got his third goal, and his 23rd of the season, at 4:22 of the third. He has three hat tricks this season and four in his WHL career. . . . In his last seven games, Sylvester has 16 points, including eight goals. . . . F Brock Montgomery added two goals for the Ice, giving him nine. . . . Ice D Ryan Molle had one assist and was plus-5, while D Joey Leach had one helper and was plus-4. . . . The Blades (29-8-1-3) had a six-game winning streak snapped. They had been 5-0-0-0 on the road swing that ended with this game. . . . Saskatoon was playing its fourth game in five nights and had three players at minus-5 — D Teigan Zahn, F Burke Gallimore and F Charles Inglis. . . . Attendance was 2,495. . . . Enjoyed this from Jeff Bromley of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman: “Talk about a tough crowd — with the home side up 6-1 the zebras were actually heckled coming out for the third. Then, again, so was popular former Ice account executive Don MacMillan when it was announced he had won the 50/50."
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In Moose Jaw, the Warriors built up a 4-0 lead in the third period and went on to a 5-1 victory over the Tigers. . . . F Thomas Frazee scored twice for the Warriors, giving him 14, while F Brandon Rowinski opened the scoring with his 24th. . . . Moose Jaw G Jeff Bosch stopped 27 shots, losing his shutout when D Mark Isherwood scored on the PP at 16:35 of the third period. . . . The Warriors were 2-for-3 on the PP; the Tigers (24-13-3-4) were 1-for-6. . . . Attendance was 2,071. . . . The Warriors (21-15-1-2) have won four in a row.
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In Red Deer, F Craig Cunningham took over the WHL scoring lead as his Vancouver Giants dumped the Rebels, 6-2. . . . Cunningham had a goal, his 23rd, and an assist, giving him 65 points, two more than F Brandon Kozun of the Calgary Hitmen. Kozun has been with Canada’s national junior team. . . . Kozun and G Martin Jones are expected to play for the Hitmen on Thursday as they entertain the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Giants (26-14-1-2) began a stretch of 10 straight road games with this victory. . . . Vancouver D Kevin Connauton had three assists, as did D Neil Manning. . . . Vancouver F Brendan Gallagher scored twice, giving him 26, while F Connor Redmond, acquired earlier from Red Deer, got his first. . . . The Giants were 2-for-3 on the PP; the Rebels were 0-for-8. . . . F Andrej Kudrna, acquired by Red Deer from Vancouver earlier in the season, had the game’s first goal, his 18th. . . . Vancouver G Mark Segal stopped 33 shots. G Derek Tendler, brought in earlier in the day from the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins, was backing him up. . . . The Rebels (22-16-0-3) had won their last five home games. . . . Attendance was 4,061.